#I won't get to the new stuff for a while anyways because I put off playing the 2.5 update

[gyoobies]

Title: Campfire Connection

Pairing: Lee Know x Fem Reader

Genre: fluff, smut

MINORS DNI! Go do your homework or something.

CONTAINS, Smut, slight angst, mutual pining, unprotected sex ( don't do this, always protect yourself).

<That's all I got.... Sorry, not sorry.

You had honestly never been rejected by anyone, nor had you ever really had to pursue any romantic interests.  It was just always kind of your luck that whoever you were into was usually into you as well. So it was a pretty big blow to your ego when the person you were interested in this time showed up to the group camping trip with some random waitress he'd met only a few weeks prior.  

"Hey, the guys noticed a couple of the single sleeper tents were damaged while they were putting them up, so you'll have to share with someone." Your best friend said as they approached you sulking at one of the picnic tables nearby. You rolled your eyes as your friend delivered the news.

"OK, well, I'll share with Felix." 

"Actually, everyone is paired off already. Felix is with Hyunjin and Han because they have a bigger tent, Seungmin is with Jeongin, so that leaves you and Minho."

"Seriously? Did no one check the tents beforehand?" You said as you sighed, startling a bit when you you heard a voice respond that wasn't your friend's.

"Sorry I wasn't more thorough. I can swap with Felix since you're not happy about the setup." Minho said as he walked off.

Your friend nudged you to follow. "Don't be like that. It's getting late and for the most part, everyone has started dropping their stuff in their tents.

"Fine, but don't think I don't suspect you and Chan for this little arrangement. Why was Minho even over this way anyway?!"  You whisper Yelled.

"Maybe he was looking for you." Your friend said while wiggling their eyebrows, causing you to scrunch your face as you made your way to the tent you'd be sharing with Minho. 

Toeing off your shoes and dipping down to enter the tent, you notice Minho starting to put his things back into his bag. "Hey, wait, you don't have to switch. It's nothing against you, I just wasn't expecting to be sharing a tent."

'Not with me at least.' He thought to himself. Although you had only informed your friend and their boyfriend Chan about your crush on Changbin, Minho wasn't stupid. It was easy for him to see how you looked at Changbin whenever he was around because it's how he looked at you, not that you ever noticed.

"Wow,  this is probably the best sleep setup I've ever seen camping. I'm jealous, and the cat pillows are adorable." You giggled. 

Minho smirked, "if you like, you can sleep here, I mean, I can sleep on whatever you have and you can sleep here."

"Oh no, I couldn't, it seems like you've put a lot of effort into making it cozy, but thank you. Thanks for letting me sleep in your tent too." You said as you began to set up your sleeping bag on the opposite side of the tent. 

"No need to thank me, it's my fault it turned out like this, remember. " He said with the sweetest smile, as if he wasn't lowkey shading you from the incident earlier. 

The sound of the tent zipper saved you from having to apologize again.

"Hey,  so yea, we're going to start a fire soon and like, don't be mad, but I kind of forgot to pack the extra blankets you brought in the car."  Said an obviously nervous Chan.

"So, what I'm hearing is my friend is going to be single soon." You said as you flung your pillow at Chan, but he easily dodged it. 

"Whoa relax! Good thing your aim isn't that great." 

"But mine is." 

Before you or Chan could register what Minho meant, the pillow had already hit it's target, Chan's face.

"Yes! That was perfect!" You said through your laughter.

 "Hey, it's ok. You won't freeze, I've got more than enough to share with you."

Although you knew it was an offer for extra blankets, the way he said it made your mind wander just a bit.

"See! You're upset for nothing, Minho has got you covered...get it?! Because he's sharing his blankets with you?" Taking the death glares from both you and Minho as a hint, he decided to leave.

Once you had set up your sleeping area, you made your way over to where the fire had been started and took a seat next to your friend.

"About time you joined us." 

"Whatever, move over loser."

"So, Minho is fighting your battles I hear."

"Please, can you not."

"What?! You're the one that said you thought he was attractive when I first started seeing Chris, and if I remember correctly, you wanted him before you wanted Binnie. Just saying, he's single, you're single, maybe."

"Maybe... I'd like to not be a notch on his belt, and yes, you're absolutely correct. I was interested in him in the beginning, but the guy literally has a new prospect every other week. I'll pass thanks."

With that the conversation between you and your friend about your love life ended. 

A few drinks and roasted hot dogs in, you were all feeling good, and you fully understood why paying extra for the campsite a bit further way from the other sites, with its own bathhouse was necessary. 

"The sex can't be good." Your friend said as they nodded in the direction of Changbin's date grinding stiffly against him.

You burst out laughing pulling your friend to their feet so the two of you could dance together.

"Let's make the boys jealous." you whispered.

Rolling your bodies together, you smirked at each other when you noticed the sudden silence around you. You were so busy dancing you didn't realize your friend was plotting against you. You felt their hand creeping up your thigh, and before you could even react, they had wrapped their arm around your waist, lifting the oversized hoodie you were sporting to reveal the barely there yoga shorts hidden underneath.  You glared at them earning a giggle in response. 

"Why?"

"Because you have a great ass and you should share it with the world."

"Sorry to break up a good time, but I'm getting jealous." Said Chan with the cutest pout on his face.

"Ugh fine! You can have them back now. Hater." You rolled your eyes playfully as you walked away, heading toward the cooler to grab a water before calling it a night and heading back to the tent.

About a half hour later Minho returned to find you huddled up in your sleeping bag with the extra blanket he'd given you, watching a movie on your phone. You were startled when Minho put another blanket over you. 

"Minho! What are you doing?"

"It's supposed to get really cold tonight."

"Then you'll need this." You said as you tried to give him his blanket back. 

"I still have more than enough to keep me warm, I promise." 

There it was, that damn smile, still as breathtaking as the first day you'd met him.

"You ok?"

"Huh? Oh! Yea you're fi- I mean I'm fine." You said as you turned away quickly, thanking him for the blanket and trying to pretend like you were really into the movie you had been watching, and not dying of embarrassment on the inside.

Minho smirked to himself at the thought of you getting all starry-eyed for him. 'Maybe he still had a shot after all', he thought to himself as he settled in for the night. 

You woke early the next morning, surprisingly well rested for having slept on the ground. You gathered all you needed to shower before really starting your day, being careful not to make too much noise, and wake your tent mate. You made a mental note as you stepped out into the brisk morning air after your shower to thank Chan for having the brain power to think of getting a site with a bathhouse despite his recent failures.  You bounced over to the area where you had all gathered the night before and started another fire in preparation to make breakfast for everyone. Nothing spectacular just easy to fix over a campfire.  Setting everything you needed out, you got to work. 

"Want some help?" Came a voice still thick with sleep from behind you.  Much to your surprise, it was Changbin.

"I wasn't expecting anyone else to be awake for at least another hour or so."

"Well, I guess I could always go back to sleep. "

"Oh no! It's too late now, I'm gonna put you to work." You laughed.

The two of you worked well together, laughing and playing around as you went. With an extra pair of hands helping, everything was ready in no time at all.

A comfortable chatter had set in between the two of you as you began to set out the food on the picnic tables. Changbin was always good company. It was one of the reasons you developed a crush on him in the first place.

First to arrive was was Felix, quickly followed by Han, Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jeongin. 

"Mmmm, the food smells so good"  Felix says, voice a few octaves lower than usual as he rested his head on your shoulder, watching you boil water for anyone that would like tea or coffee. 

"Wow! And I thought your voice couldn't get any deeper." You laughed. "Go eat before it gets cold, or they eat it all."

"Coooffeeeeeee, cooooooooofeeeeeeeeee"

"I know who that is." You giggled as you turned to see your friend, who of course was walking toward you like a zombie as they continued to vocalize their desire for caffeine.

"Black, no sugar, no cream,  just the way you like it." 

"Blessings on you and your vibrator, may the mortor stay lively and the battery stay full." they declared as you handed them the cup.

 Their humor was one of their most charming points, and you could only laugh, being used to this behavior.

"Wow, how embarrassing."

You looked up to see Changbin's +1 glaring at you.

"And why would that be embarrassing?" You questioned.

"If you're fine with the world knowing you're lonely, then I guess it's not embarrassing for you." She said with a smug look on her face as she gripped Changbin's arm.

"Who said I was using the vibrator alone?"  You laughed, walking to take a seat at the table that was now filled with blushing men. Felix nudged your side with a playful smirk. "She's so annoying." he whispered.

You and Felix carried on much like usual, makingnfun of Chan and exchanging knowing looks anytine Changbin's tag along opened her mouth. Despite all the fun you were having being caty with Felix, it didn't take long for you to realize someone still hadn't showed up to eat, so you took a moment to step away and  stash some food for him, knowing if you didn't, he wouldn't have a snowballs chance at getting any.

Finally finding the strength to get up, after a rough night of trying to sleep, Minho groaned realizing he had unfortunately underestimated how much he would need that extra blanket in the middle of the night. Making his way out of the tent, he began to approach the group. Taking a look around at all the tables, he noticed he was the last one to wake, so he had zero expectations that any of whatever everyone was eating was left. 

"Finally, you've decided to join us!" said a disgustingly energetic Chan.

Minho offered little more than a grumble as a response, while he went to rummage through the bin that held the dry goods, settling on a couple of granola bars, he shuffled over to take a seat.

You watched as he took a seat at the far end of the table wearing a very dissatisfied pout as he looked around at the now empty plates. You watched him for only a moment before you decided to put an end to his grumpy mood. 

"I think this will taste better." you said as you placed the plate of food you had stashed away in front of him with a hot cup of coffee.

The look of surprise quickly turned into a smile, accompanied by a soft "Thanks for thinking about me."

That simple statement, for reasons you weren't willing to admit, gave you butterflies.

"What kind of person would I be if forgot about you after you gave me your extra blankets?" 

It was then that he decided that he could sleep through two more nights of cold if it meant getting a little more attention from you. 

You thoroughly checked your camera equipment as you packed everything you'd need to take with you on your hike. You exited the tent so quickly you almost crashed face first into your tent mate, who had obviously just come from the showers based on the damp towel around his neck and the wet strands of hair that laid across his forehead.

"From the looks of that camera bag, I assume you're not going swimming with everyone else?"

"No, maybe I'll go tomorrow, but the weather right now is perfect, so I'm going to go explore and take some photos. What about you?"

"I'm not sure actually. I'm not really in the swimming mood."

"Well, you're welcome to tag along with me if you'd like."

Minho answered so quickly, you wondered if he had been hoping you'd ask him to accompany you in the first place.

"Sounds good, just give me a second to get ready." He said as he flashed that knee weakening smile.

You  watched everyone excitedly getting ready to go swimming as you waited patiently at the picnic tables, a bit nervously if you were being honest, but why were you nervous in the first place? You weren't interested in him anymore, now you wasted time trying to figure out how Binnie ended up with such an annoying bitch. The minute he stepped out of the tent and began to make his way towards you, you remembered why. Minho was insanely hot, even though he was sporting a simple tee, shorts and a backwards cap, he looked absolutely edible. In all your pining over Changbin you had actually forgotten how bad you used to have it for him.

"All set!" He said as he stopped in front of you.

You gave a nod and began to lift the bag you'd packed but Minho quickly grabbed it from you. 

"Let me carry it, you're letting me tag along, so the least I can do is carry your bag." He said. As he squatted to tie his shoe.

" I also saved you from starvation, don't forget that." You joked.

He looked up at you just before finishing up his double knot in his laces. "I'll never forget that." He smiled, and stood before turning to head out of the camp.

"Wow, so you two are ditching us?!" Screamed Chan while the two of you waved him off as you began to leave.

"I hope he makes a move, I'm tired of watching him steal glances at her and pouting when she runs off with Felix." Said Chan, causing your friend to giggle at his serious father like expression.

" He better! Binnie is not an option anymore, so he'd better claim her before this guy she works with gets the courage to ask her out."

"There's another guy?!

Your friend laughed at Chan's shocked expression. " Yes, but he's shy. The poor guy is a constant shade of blush pink anytime she's around him. Oh! and he's hot! Like crazy hot. Probably a sub too, she'd have fun with that I bet. Ooooo she could dress him up in a harness to show off those abs."

"Hey! Are you cheering for Minho or the hot shy sub with abs she works with?!"

"Seoho."

"What?"

"Seoho, that's his name, and of course I'm pulling for Minho! I'm just saying she won't be available forever, especially not if her hot neighbor makes a move."

"NEIGHBOR!"

Your friend just laughed. I'm kidding, both her neighbors are gay...but one is a lesbian and she is bi so..."

Before your friend could even finish their sentence Chan was already frantically texting Minho.

"Wow this place is seriously so beautiful" you said as you took photos of the wildflowers that littered the landscape. Every intricate detail of each flower holding your attention, so much so that you didn't notice the way Minho was smiling at you.

"Cute"

"Huh?"

" You, you're so excited about flowers, it's cute."

You gave a bashful smile and began taking photos.

The rest of the day went much like that, you taking photos and Minho complimenting your photography style and your little quirks. 

Minho watched you fondly as you photographed a patch of flowers by a small creek, until his phone began to vibrate. He took it out of his pocket to see that it was his weather app that had sent a storm alert. He quickly opened it to see when the storm would hit, and noticed a few text messages from Chan. After getting the information he needed from the app he opened the messages Chan had sent.

"Make your move!"

"There's a hot sub with abs that wants her to dom him! Apparently really hot!"

"And shy!"

"Did you know she's bi?!"

"She has a lesbian neighbor!"

Minho just stared at his phone with a confused expression on his face, trying to decipher what he was trying to say.

"Everything ok?" You questioned as you looked at the odd expression on his face.

"Huh? Oh, yea, we should head back. I just got a weather alert that says it's going to rain in a couple hours."

You sighed, you hated that you had to cut your litte photo session short, but you quickly packed up.

"Great! Knowing our luck Chan probably didn't pack any tarps."

That statement earned a chuckle from Minho.

"You're right because I packed them." He said as he held out a hand for you.

It was unexpected but you didn't hesitate to grab hold of it, taking notice of the way your hands fit together perfectly. 

"Its a bit rocky, we have to move quickly, and I don't want you to fall."

You trailed hastily behind Minho as he navigated the way back with urgency. This in no way stopped you from admiring his physique. He was on the shorter side, just a few inches taller than you, but his broad back, and toned legs were signs that he was strong. This lead you to daydream all the way back to camp about how he could probably lift you easily.

The two of you were first to arrive back at the  campsite, Minho wasted no time getting the tarps out to put up. 

"What should I help with?" 

"Well, if you want, you can set out the tarps, ropes and stakes next to the other tents. It'll make the process faster for them if its organized already when they get back."

Nodding your head in agreement you set off to get the tarps. You worked diligently to untangle a few of the ropes, and once you'd gotten everything separated you began to lay all they would need next to each tent. Minho watched you as you moved about the campsite until he saw the pleasant expression that had been plastered on your face change to an unreadable one when you'd made it to Changbin's tent.

You hadn't meant to invade anyone's privacy, but you couldn't help but notice the box of condoms proudly on display in Changbin's tent through the slightly open entrance. You were startled out of your daze when you heard a yelp, quickly turning your attention to the direction of the sound.

Minho internally scolded himself, he was so distracted by you and trying to figure out what you saw that changed your expression, that he wasn't watching where he was going as he backed up to check his handy work on the tarp and tripped over a fallen branch. Quickly you made your way to him, worried he could be seriously hurt.

 "Minho! Are your ok? Does anything hurt?"

With smiling eyes he looked up at you as you kneeled at his side. "Only my pride."

Why did he have to be so damn cute? 

You grabbed his hand to help him sit up and found yourself staring directly into his eyes. 

"Are you sure?"  You said dropping your eyes to scan over him for any cuts or bruises.

"I promise, I'm not hurt" He said softly as he tucked his finger under your chin to guide your eyes back to his. His gaze was more than reassurance that he was ok, it was like a beacon, calling to the desires you thought you no longer had. Luckily everyone started to arrive back to the camp before you did something stupid. Quickly you stood up and held your hand out to help him up. 

"We're back!" Said Chan as he made his way to begin hanging the tarp over his tent.

You sighed in annoyance at the smirk on your friend's face as they looked back and forth between you and Minho. 

"Hey! We're probably going to be stuck in our tents for a while until the heaviest part of the rain passes." Minho shouted out for all to hear.

"Yea I figured. Let's make some ramen for now and campfire pizzas or something for later and grab snacks for the tents."  Your friend suggested.

"do you want me to grab any specific snacks from the food tent" you asked Minho as you began to step away.

"anything is fine." He responded coyly.

You knew the moment you were alone, the questions would be neverending, so you decided to spill before they had the opportunity to ask anything. The minute you both walked into the food tent you started talking.

"I'm confused."

"Huh? About what?"

"Everything I thought I knew about Minho's personality, but I think I was wrong." You said as you avoided looking at your friend.  You knew there was most likely a smug look on their face.

"Oh! Really?"

"Shut up! But he's actually really sweet, smart, and funny."

"Don't forget ridiculously fucking hot! Like wow!"

"Please, shut up."

"What? It's true!"

You sighed loudly "I know! And I don't know if it's the lack of sex, the scenery, the realization that we have a lot in common or a combination of it all, but if you had taken a little longer to come back I probably would have mounted him."

"Damn, that's hot! I don't see the issue."

"Of fucking course you don't! I like him, but I don't want to be his flavor of the week."

"Who said you would be? Maybe you're just assuming he's like that, just like you assumed you knew other parts of his personality. Now here you are having a sexually frustrated meltdown in a tent, desperately clutching cup ramen. Look, I'm not saying he's perfect, but just because he may have dated a lot, does that mean he doesn't deserve a chance to show you something different?"

You mulled over your friends words as the two of you prepared food. They weren't wrong, you wouldn't want someone to hold your past relationships against you. You also had to remind yourself that you weren't even sure if he was actually into you. 

After every tarp was up and everyone had filled their tents with snacks, everyone spent the time before the rain, chatting and eating cup ramen together.

"So what did you two find when you ditched us." Said Hyunjin. 

"Peace" you responded causing the group to chuckle.

Before Hyunjin could offer any snarky responses rain began to fall. You all began to scramble tossing the trash and making sure everything was secured. Before you made your way to the tent, your friend pulled you aside to remind you to be open minded.

You dipped to make your way under the tarp and found that Minho had thoughtfully brought a small plastic bin with a lid to keep your shoes in so they were sure not to get wet from the rain while sitting outside.

Once inside you found your tent mate had changed his clothes and was now relaxing among his pillows, headphones on and eyes closed. You had to admit, you were hoping that being confined to your tent would give you a little more time to get to know him better, but that didn't seem to be in the cards, so you settled into your sleeping area and decided to watch a movie. Before you could even find one that interested you, Minho had thrown a pillow and startled you.

"HEY!" You hissed.

"Sorry, I thought you had earbuds in." He laughed.  "Do you wanna watch a movie with me?" He said as he made room for you next to him. "You'll have to come over here because I need to set-up on that side."  

"Set-up?"

"You'll see. Just come."

You made your way over to his adorable sleeping area and tried to make yourself comfortable as you watched him set-up a mini projector that connected to his phone and a screen the he pulled from his bag.

"Wow you really camp in luxury. I'm really regretting not taking you up on your offer to swap now that I know how comfortable it is." You said through laughter.

Minho shot you wink over his shoulder.

"Well, its big enough for two if you dont mind sharing? I would offer to swap, but truthfully, I am starting to feel that fall from earlier a bit, so I kind of need the extra cushion." In that moment you mentally thanked your friend and Chan for inviting you on this camping trip.

"I can massage where it hurts if you'd like."

You noticed his ears begin to turn red before he answered, a bit shyly. "Um, it's ok, I'm not sure asking you to rub my ass is appropriate."

You quickly burried your face in the pillows to muffle your laughter. " I'm sorry, I just didn't think about the fact that it could have been anything other than your back that hurt."

You studied his features that showed all the signs of embarrassment as he continued his set-up. His ears were now a blazing red, and a slight tint of pink could be seen across his face.

"Cute." You mumbled.

Once he had everything set up, he took his place beside you so you could pick a movie together. After a couple of minutes you decided on an action movie.

 Minho made himself comfortable and laid on his side, resting his head on his hand. You followed his lead, laying on your stomach and resting your head on your arms so you didn't block his view.

About thirty-five minutes in, you had to say something. 

"Minho?"

"Yea?"

"This movie sucks."

 He erupted into laughter. "You picked it!"

"I know!" You groaned as you rolled to your back and let out an exasperated chuckle. 

"Well, we can watch something else, but you can't pick " 

You immediately hit him with one of his cat pillows. 

"Aww you're pouting!  Cute." He cooed.

You turned your head slightly to find Minho's eyes lingering on your face.

"You say that a lot."

"Only when it's true." He said as he moved a bit closer to you.

You could feel the pull again, the attraction, the need to feel his lips on yours, but you needed to know something first.

"You know who else is really cute? That girl  you're dating, with the short hair." 

A smirk crept onto his face. 

"Ah! Yea, she is cute, but I'm not dating her."

"Oh! Sorry. The girl that came over with the red hair about a week ago was cute too."

You felt him move a bit closer. "Hmmmm she is too, but I'm not dating her either."

"Oh! Well the gi-"  before you could fish for anymore information, Minho cut you off.

"I'm not dating anyone currently. I haven't dated anyone seriously for a while. Some of the girls you see come over are there to review their dance videos so I can instruct them on what needs to be cleaned up. I have them come to our place because sometimes they aren't able to make it to the studio before the building closes. Others are dates, but you don't see them around for long because I know what I'm looking for and they weren't it. So, do you wanna know about the girl I brought over a few months ago too, orrrr?"

You were visibly embarrassed to have shamelessly questioned him about his dating life and he definitely picked up on it because once again he was laughing at your expense.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry."

"It's fine really. I guess now that I think about it, it probably didn't look good from the outside looking in, to see me with a different girl every week."  Minho paused when he noticed you looking at him with a soft smile pulling at your lips. "What?"

You turned to stare at the ceiling of the tent before confessing. "Nothing, I'm just glad things worked out how they did. You're a lot different from how I perceived you and I may have never gotten to know you if it wasn't for this trip. You probably think I'm a lot different too huh?" You said as you turned your head to him slightly.  The expression on his face was very serious as he responded with a very clear "No". You didn't know exactly how to react other than to question his response.

"No? You don't have any change in your opinion of me now that you know me better?"

"No" He said again as he shifted even closer to you. Now able to look down at your face as he spoke. "My opinion of you is the same now as it was the first day you came over and Chan introduced you as his partner's partner in crime. You're smart, confident, funny, and beautiful, you're perfect. I don't see anything different, so I don't need to change my opinion."

You we taken back by his statement at first, but decided he must be joking to get a flustered reaction out of you. "Yea, sure, whatever." you said laughing it off as you rolled your eyes, turning away from him slightly.

At that moment his phone chimed signaling a new message was waiting. Minho almost felt defeated. Did you really not believe him? Or were you pretending you didn't believe him to possibly deter him from confessing? Maybe you were still holding on to your feelings for Changbin.  Again, his phone chimed, this time he opened the messages.  Of course they were from Chan.

"Did you tell her yet?"

"Don't miss your chance."

"Remember she had a crush on you first, not Changbin."

He was blankly staring at Chan's messages trying to work up the nerve to really confess and prepare himself for a possible rejection. It was only when you began to get up to move away from him that he realized he had made the situation awkward by going silent. 

"WAIT!" Without thinking, he pulled you back into his chest, and let out a deep breath to calm his nerves. Finally finding the courage to speak, he let everything he'd kept to himself out.

"You know how I said the girls I dated didn't last long because they weren't what I was looking for?" He pause for you to answer.

"Yea."

"I guess I phrased it wrong. I shouldn't have said they weren't what I was looking for, but they weren't who I was looking for.  It doesn't  take long for me to figure out when someone's not a good match for me, it also doesn't take me much time to figure out when someone is probably perfect for me, but they have eyes for someone else."

You tried to turn over so you could see his face but he held you in place.

"Please, just let me finish this while I have the nerve. I know who I want, I've known for months, and this camping trip was gonna be my last attempt to get you to notice me."

You were surprised to hear him confessing like this. You knew he likely found you attractive, but you hadn't really thought he'd have such deep hidden feelings for you.

"You're so confident and sure of yourself, I've seen women literally fall over themselves when you're around, so why were you nervous to tell me how you feel?" You questioned.

"Please don't be upset with how this is going to come out, but how am I supposed to feel when the woman I've been secretly falling for was falling for one of my best friends? Seeing you com over to have movie nights, and just hang out with him. It's not exactly a confidence booster and I didn't want to ruin anything. You both seemed to enjoy being around one another and from what I had seen in his last relationship, Bin was a good boyfriend, I thought maybe he'd probably treat you better than I could, so I decided to try to let go, but I couldn't and I don't want to anymore. Today was the best date I've had in years, and it wasn't even a real date. Wow! that sounds so pathetic, but it's true." He took another deep breath to calm his heart that felt as if it was going to beat right out of his chest.

"I think I'm going to shut up now, before I embarrass myself any more."

You sat there for a moment with his arms still wrapped around you, his forehead now pressed to your shoulder and just tried to process everything that he said.

You were wrong. So, so, so, so wrong in your assumptions about Minho. Yes, he was blunt, tough, and a bit sarcastic, but he was also sweet, attentive, funny and apparently very misunderstood by you.

"I'm sorry." Was the first thing you thought to say, but you realized when you felt his grip loosen that maybe you should have started off with something else, something less rejection sounding. You quickly turned to face him, cupping his face with both your hands you kissed him softly before continuing.  "I meant I'm sorry that I made assumptions about you, I wrote you off before really getting to know you. I'm glad you decided to take a chance and try again."

Minho smiled at you sweetly before kissing you again. "Does this mean you want to try dating me?"

"Yes, but I need to know that it won't bother you knowing I had a crush on your friend?"

"I'm not going to say I won't be jealous when you interact with him sometimes, but I think I'll be ok, so long as you promise to stop eye fucking him and start eye fucking me."

 You both erupted into laughter only stopping when you leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I may have decided against trying to date you, but I never stopped eye fucking you. Besides I can do more than just eye fuck you now."

"You better be careful, teasing will get you punished." He growled.

"Hmm I do like the thought of being punished by you, but not today. Today, I'm going to be so good, gonna be the best girl to you. Lay down for me." You whispered sweetly.

Minho did as you asked, resting his upper body back against his pile of pillows. His eyes followed your movements as you removed your pants and top, revealing soft pink panties and a matching bra.

"So cute." He said with a smile.

"Oh baby, if you like my camping underwear, wait til we get back home. I have some really nice ones you'll love". You giggled.

"I want to see them all."

"I'll  show you whatever you want." You said as you ran your hands up his thighs, stopping when you reached the waistband of his sweats. You looked up to find Minho watching, waiting for your next move. "Can I have permission to touch you?"

Throwing his head back he let out a low groan, he didn't know if you were just guessing or if you could read him that well already, but one thing was for sure, if you were this good at being "the best girl" for him, he couldn't wait for the day you'd be a bad girl.

 "Yes, you have permission to do anything you want."

You tucked you fingers inside his waistband making sure you grab his underwear as well, before pulling them off.

"I knew such a pretty face would have an equally pretty dick to match."  You said just before spitting on his dick to stroke it. You watched as he threw his head back again, enticing you with that pretty neck of his.  A few more strokes and then you took him in your mouth, earning a sinful moan from Minho. If it was possible you'd spend every day with his dick shoved down your throat just to hear his soft breathy moans.

He threaded his fingers in your hair and began to gently thrust into your mouth. His moans quickly went from soft and breathy to low, sinful grunts with every thrust and you took this as a signal that he was going to cum.  Soon he was just fucking your throat and all you could think about was swallowing every drop of him. 

*chime*

*chime*

*chime*

Minho groan in annoyance letting go of your head. I have to respond or he'll just keep asking. You removed Minho's dick from your mouth briefly to respond.

"It's Chan, isn't it?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. He's been messaging me the entire time to encourage me to confess, he even messaged me while we were hiking."

"OK well, tell him you did so he'll stop interrupting." You said while trailing your finger along the length of his dick causing it to twitch.

"Baby, this is Chan he'll just have more questions."

"Fine! We'll do it this way." You huffed as you moved to grab his phone noticing the background was a photo of you in the wildflower field from earlier. You turned to to him with a questioning look, making him flustered as he reached for his phone.

"I'm sorry. I know I should have asked, but everything in that moment was perfect and I figured I could at least have that memory if you rejected me."

 Your heart fluttered knowing he had sneakily taken a picture of you as a keepsake, and as badly as you wanted him before, that feeling had increased exponentially now. You straddled him moving your panties to the side to grind your wet pussy on his dick.  You lifted slightly to line him up with your entrance, gasping in unison with him when you eased all the way down, filling yourself with him completely.  You leaned down to kiss him and he took the chance to flip you over, positioning himself on top of you. 

 "Can you open wider for me?" He said as he pushed your legs further apart.  "Just like that" He moaned. His slow deep strokes sent waves of tingles across your body with every thrust.  

*chime*

"That's it!" You screamed as you grabbed his phone to call your biggest inconvenience since this trip began. The phone barely rang before an eager Chan could be heard. Minho slowed his thrusts so as not to give away what you were doing, but you didn't care if they heard, in fact, you called so he could hear, effectively answering any and all of his questions about how the confession went.

"Finally! how did it go? Does she feel the same?"

"Chan!"

 "Oh! It's you!"  

"Yes its me, and if you don't stop interrupting I will gladly choke you tomorrow."

"But where-" Chan's train of thought derailed the moment Minho picked up the pace grunting as he did and you whimpered into the phone. 

"He's busy, oh fuck! Right there! Bye." You moaned.

You could hear your friend cheering in the background as you ended the call. 

You always just thought sex so good it made your toes curl was just an exaggeration until now. Wrapping your legs around his waist you pulled him closer needing to feel his weight on you.  

"You feel so good." He said as he took one of your legs from his waist, and hooked it over his shoulder. The new angle gave you everything you needed and it wasn't long before he groaned at how your pussy squeezed his dick, mimicking the way your hands were squeezing forearms as you came.

Breathlessly you called his name he continued to fuck you, never letting up even after the second orgasm that quickly followed your first. You whimpered when he pulled out of your dripping pussy and flipped you to your stomach.

"Ass up baby, I can stop holding off now that I've gotten two orgasms out of you."

You whimpered as you got into position, arching your back so that your ass was at the perfect angle for him to pound into you.

"Fuck" He whispered before diving in to taste you.  You jolted at the unexpected feeling of his mouth on you. Why was he so good at everything?! You had to bury your face deep into the pillows to muffle your cries. Sure, your tent was further away from the other tents and the sound of the pattering rain was drowning out almost every sound as it got heavier, but the last thing you wanted was for them to hear you screaming his name and begging him to fuck you senseless. Satisfied with finally tasting you the way he had always wanted, he rose to his knees and positioned himself behind you, caressing your ass gently before sliding inside you. Minho leaned over you momentarily to nip at your shoulder as he began to thrust into you. Confident that you had adjusted to this new position he picked up his pace. Mesmerized by the way your ass jiggled every time he snapped his hips into you, he hadn't even realized his thrusts had gotten harder and faster until his final thrust that made you collapse, caused him to slip out of you just before his climax. Quickly he pumped himself to completion, groaning as he reached his release, painting your ass and thighs with his cum.

He took a moment to catch his breath and admire the sight of his pearly droplets beginning to drip down the curve of your ass, he wondered momentarily if you'd allow him to do the same to your tongue, before rummaging through one of his bags, and retrieving a towel to clean you of his mess.

Taking his place beside you, he ran his fingers up and down your back soothingly, kissing your shoulder. He gazed at you fondly as you laid there, eyes closed, head still surrounded by his mountain of pillows. He was exhausted and he was sure you'd both be asleep in no time, if you weren't already. 

The next morning Minho woke first, happy to see he wasn't just dreaming. You opened your eyes as he greeted you with a kiss to your forehead.

"Good morning kitten. How do you feel?"

"I don't think I have a lower half anymore."

Minho burst into giggles. "Well, I guess that means I have to carry you the the showers."

"I can manage but you have to shower with me in case my legs betray me for last night."

"I can definitely do that, but let's rest a little more first, it's still early, it's only 6."

Wrapping the blankets around the both of you tighter, Minho held you close as you both drifted off to sleep again. 

"Aren't you glad I wasn't more thorough with checking tents now?" He laughed. 

Epilogue: The bonfire crackled as Changbin took another sip of his beer. It's been about two months since the camping trip and about two weeks since he called it off with the girl he'd taken on the camping trip. She was never meant to be long term, just another distraction from the heartbreak of his ex cheating on him and a way to keep you from falling for him. He knew eventually he'd want something more serious again one day, someone more compatible with him. He thought of how you were always there to cheer him up, to coax him out of whatever funk he was in and get him to hang with the group to help ease his pain after his breakup. Over time, he could feel a shift in your friendship, and it scared him. He wasn't ready to date anyone, let alone someone like you. You were ready to love, and give your all and it wouldn't be fair for him to take that from you when he just wasn't ready to give it back, especially when one of his best friends couldn't keep his eyes off you. He knew Minho had an interest in you from the day they all met you. He felt a pang of guilt as he thought about how your efforts to cheer him up got in the way of you getting to know Minho better. Sure, that didn't stop the others, especially Felix and Hyunjin from building relationships with you, but Minho's situation was a bit different. Kind of hard to show interest in someone if they're busy showering their affection on someone else. It was best for him to step aside so you two could find each other.

"Do you regret it?" Han said as he came to sit beside his friend.

Looking over to the patio where you and Minho had snuggled up on the porch swing, Changbin sighed. "Sometimes I do, but then I see how happy they are, and that's how I know I made the right choice."

NOTE: If you guys want to experience this story from the bestie's POV Here 👈🏾

[neonscented]

I will hide reverie spoilers under #Reverie spoilers so please blacklist that tag to avoid them.

[urfavoritegirlkisser]

"Midnight Rain" - Rockstar!Ellie Williams x Popstar!Reader

a/n - finally getting back to writing!! it's been tough with school and stuff but I was finally able to write this, which had three drafts of how it could maybe go so enjoy!

Tags: Fem!Reader, Fem!Popstar!Reader, Rockstar!Ellie, wlw, slightly suggestive since it's kinda implied they had a one night stand, lightly proof read sorry babydolls, petnames like sweetheart and honey, playboy!Ellie, asshole!Ellie kinda, use of y/n, a little angsty won't lie, insecure!reader, lemme know if I forgot anything xoxo

You wake up to the constant ping of your phone on your nightstand, quickly realizing this wasn’t the hotel room your manager had arranged for you and registering the faint sound of the shower running.

Sitting up, you let yourself fully wake up before reaching over to grab your phone from the nightstand

The top one is a message from your manager with the link to a news article

“Pop Star Y/N Not As Innocent As She Seems?”

The article is about some grainy photos and a video of you last night at an after party with Ellie, who is in a rock band under the same label as you, it was your first big win taking home a Grammy for ‘Best New Artist’ and you decided to let yourself loose for once.

Your management wanted to keep up this facade of a sweet young pop star and that meant no ‘going wild’ as your manager liked to call it.

So the photos of you dancing and making out with Ellie Williams, who was known for her bad reputation and playboy tendencies was not good for your reputation apparently.

Speak of the devil…

You realize the shower has turned off and you see as Ellie walks into the room, clad in just a sports bra and sweats as she dries her hair off with a towel.

She looks over and smirks, “Well look who finally decided to wake up” she says with a chuckle and offers you a shirt of her own

You blush slightly, putting on the shirt before grabbing your discarded undergarments and quickly slipping them on, “My manager messaged me an article, apparently someone took some photos and videos of us last night at the party”

Ellie sits on the bed with her back against the headboard, “So? Not the first time this has happened” she says while fiddling with the rings on her fingers

You sigh and roll your eyes, “I mean to you maybe, but my manager is currently on my ass about what we’re supposed to do now and-”

Ellie cuts you off with a scoff, “Sweetheart it’ll be fine, they’ll circulate the pictures for a few weeks and then everyone will be over it”

You sit there before turning to her fully, “Will you be over it too?” you ask softly

The look in her eyes makes you regret even asking that.

“What? You think this is going to continue once you walk out that door?” she says with a laugh that makes your heart drop to your stomach, “Look you’re cute and all but I have a reputation to keep, honey”

You felt stupid, because of course this would just be a one time thing for her, and you knew that.

Maybe you thought you would be the one to change that.

“Right…sorry, yeah, I’m gonna go” you say as you take off her shirt and just put on the dress you wore to the after party, grabbing your things and making your way to the door of Ellie’s hotel room.

“Honey, don’t be like that” Ellie calls after you but you simply walk out the door and to the elevators where you go to your room a couple floors up, setting your stuff down, changing into casual clothes and sitting down on your bed.

You don’t know why you thought that you could change her mind, it was a fun night, but one that was meant to be forgotten.

Everyone will forget it happened, including Ellie.

You’ll forget it happened.

an - sorry if that was all over the place, I rewrote this like three times, anyways go drink water you girl kissers xo

[llamagoddessofficial]

May we please have more crumbs of farmtale sans?

I wanna follow the trail to the source 👀

I'm SO glad that everyone seems to like farmer Sans as much as I do. It warms my heart to see people appreciating the bumpkin.

Here's more romantic-leaning headcanons.

Though his giving love languages are gifts and acts of service, his receiving love languages are very different. He likes doing stuff for his loved ones but he's incredibly awkward when you do stuff for him; he appreciates it, of course, but he won't know how to react.

He prefers receiving quality time, and touch.

Offer to accompany him on one of the many long car rides that come with living in the country. You can listen to music together on the shoddy radio. Do the early morning farm rounds with him! You don't even have to help- he might actively stop you from helping, bundling you in his coat because he's worried about you getting too cold or tiring yourself out. He'll see you nodding off while standing (it's 5am) and he'll scoop you up so you can sleep against his shoulder. He only needs one hand to do his chores anyway.

What matters to him is you're there.

Alternatively, give him casual gentle touch. It drives him wild. Put your hand on his arm when you laugh at his jokes, bump him when he's being teasing, nudge his knee with yours. Lean on him for any reason. He's good at masking how flustered he is in the moment but later, he'll be hiding his face in his pillow while recalling it.

A gentle touch on his cheekbone will have him flustered for days.

He's unintentionally a great flirt. He has a very soothing voice, and if he speaks softly enough completely normal polite sentences sound incredibly hot. He'll wink and say "i'm likin' the new hair, dolly. s'real cute." and you'll be reeling.

During winter, you'll pretty much never be alone. Either you're at his and Papyrus' place, or they're at yours. They're worried about you feeling lonely.

He tells his plants all about you. He's even named his favourite flowers after you. He'll take that secret to his grave.

It's not just Papyrus who's vying for you and Sans to end up together. It's pretty much the whole monster community. Sans, the quiet fella who's never enthusiastic about anything at all, is head over heels for the new human in town? A good love story is ALL the rage somewhere nothing ever happens. You've got an entire community desperate to hear wedding bells.

Sans is completely unaware of the fact that you might think he's hot while working. You see a confident, strong, sexy skeleton with his sleeves rolled up over his big arms. Meanwhile the second he notices you're approaching, he's sniffing his shirt because he's self conscious of how intensely he smells of cows and sweat.

Having just said he doesn't do great with receiving gifts... if you cook something for him he'll love you forever.

He's prone to jealousy. It doesn't show, but he'll pout if he feels like someone is stealing your attention. Time is a valuable currency in the countryside and he doesn't like when someone steals yours from him.

[cherriteaa]

Draken x Black Fem Reader

Honestly, I watched the ep with emma and seeing Draken cry like that hurt me soooo bad. So I'm gonna write some sweet cutesy stuff abt Draken being sooo in love with his pretty gf. And Her taking care of him bc he deserves it. 

Contents: Suuugary sweet fluff 

(not proofread)

I always think it's so cute that they call eachother's gf's in Toman their 'wifey' omg 

Draken is def 100% calling you his wife all the time. Some of the members of Toman even call you by his last name just to mess with you. It's become such a routine joke that it's just become standard. Yall are together 24/7 anyways, might as well get used to it. 

On the topic of that. He will never ever call you out of your name. Not unless it's a petname or something like that. He thinks guys who call women out their name should be jumped. He won't let any other guy get away with calling you out of your name either.

He's super protective of you. He prefers to keep you in his line of sight when you guys are out with gang members just because he knows there are other gangs who play dirty who can attack at any time. He knows other members of Toman will protect you, but nobody can protect you like he can protect you. He's definitely the type to drape his jacket over your shoulders. Not only does he think it's cute, but it also lets anyone know that you are his. 

He's an arm around the shoulders kinda guy. For some reason, holding hands in public gets him a little flustered, but he'll totally put his arm around your shoulders and pull you close. 

He tries his best not to let you know when things are getting to him, but you've been around him long enough to notice what it means when he gets quiet, or when he's clenching his jaw more than normal. Please, please, please take care of him. He appreciates it more than he lets on. Especially when you let him sleep in your cute room. He likes to tease you about you unfathomable amount of plushies and pink items, but it's genuinely the most comfortable place he could ever be. He gets the best sleep of his life there, and you think it's so cute. Literally this tiktok .

Sometimes, guys literally just need to be held by their girlfriends. Of course, he isn't the type to ask though. You might notice he'll be a little more touchy, but he's more silent. However, if you join him in your bed and wrap your arms around him, you just might hear him huff a huge sigh before wrapping his arms around you. You're home to him. Play with his hair and watch all the stress and tension melt from his shoulders. 

On really bad days, for example when Pah or Kazutora went to jail, he will seek you out and just pull you into a hug, resting his chin on your head. He'll mumble something simple like 

"Just needed to hold you." 

Otherwise, he's really content with being the big spoon when you cuddle. He's a big fan of rubbing your back when you cuddle. He's also the type to latch onto you when you're cooking, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder while you cook and just resting his eyes. There's just something about you that brings him peace. 

He's also the type that gets SO embarrassed when he gets caught staring at you. His friends tease him about it all the time, but he can't help it when you're just being...you. He gets a soft smile on his face and he drifts off in his own little world. If he's feeling bold, he just may walk over to place a kiss to your temple, or wrap his arms around you. 

Draken is also a very perceptive man. He absolutely will notice if you got your nails or lashes done. Even if you so much as try dressing a new style, expect some kind of attention drawn to it. He'll grab your hand and admire the new set, or tilt your chin up to look at your eyes and compliment your lashes, or even stepping back to admire your outfit.

As we all know, tokyo rev boys are literally ALWAYS OUT. Which means they often pass shops and things. Occasionally, he might buy a sanrio plushie or cute keychain or trinket to give to you later on. He's very familiar with your obsession with cute things after listening to all your rants.

He's an old-fashion gentleman as always. Opening doors for you, walking so that you are on the inside part of the sidewalk, always making sure you're seated and not him in an area crowded with limited seats, holding the umbrella for you both ect. If he has one helmet and you're riding with him, he's 100% making sure you're wearing his helmet. He thinks you look cute in it anyways.

If you have any younger siblings, he definitely tries to show off just a little. He likes being seen as cool and stuff, and its kind of cute watching him lift heavy stuff or show off his bike to impress them. 

HE LEARNED HOW TO DO YOUR HAIR. He watches you do it, and watches youtube videos. He knows the specific products for your specific hairtype, and if you ever need or want help in any part of your hair process, he'll help you. He's so damn good at detangling, even if you're tenderheaded. 

He takes your problems seriously. He thinks guys who brush their girlfriend's problems off as insignificant are assholes. He's genuinely there for you always. While he may tease you a little if its not something that causes you a lot of distress, and may add some jokes about 'just beating them up' here and there, he always has really good insight on what to say. You can have deep conversations with him and he likes that about you. He's always in awe of how you can think of things he's never thought of.

Overall, he's such a caring boyfriend. At least he tries to be. He's easily flustered and tries to play some things off as cool, but that man will genuinely move mountains for you. His relationship with you is a comfortable one, thats heavy on you both checking in on eachother and making sure you're ok. Even though he's not the gentlest person ever, he tries his hardest for you.

A/n: Omg I'm so excited to get back to writing again!! I love Toman sm so expect more Tokyo Rev posts.

btw, Kisaki is a TRICK ASS BITCH bro. Like die....now. 

as always, please please please reblog and/or comment. I'm restarting my writing blog again, and would love love love to meet mutuals. 

My requests are: Open!

[rekino2114]

Training with fem!gojo

A/n:Enjoy my poor attempt at writing a fight scene because I've been seeing way too many gojo vs sukuna edits(guess who's back in his jjk phase). Also, if this does well, I might make more fighting based posts for this au cause I really liked writing this so if you have any ideas for what y/n's cursed technique might be I'd love to hear them

(This is part of my "fem!gojo with a reader stronger than her" au here's parts 1 and 2)

"Allllright everyone are you all excited for today's super special lesson?"

"Well sensei......you haven't really told us what the lesson is about"

".......Oh really?"

"Yeah, you just dragged us here without explanation. This better be good. I skipped my training for this"

"Calm down maki, I'm sure it's gonna be fun"

"It will be, yuta, I can guarantee you that....well for me at least"

".........what?"

Gojo ignored megumi and walked away, turning back to her students after a while

"For today's lesson, we have a very special guest, the strongest sorcerer of today, not to mention my boyfriend:y/n l/n!"

She moved out of the way to reveal you, who just yawned in response while she was hyping you up

"Oh is l/n-sensei going to be teaching us?"

"Nope we're going to fight"

"...........what?"

"I thought that seeing a fight between the strongest sorcerers would be a great alternative lesson. You can learn new stuff and have fun, well I'll have fun"

"I only agreed to this because I was bored, fighting weak curses all the time gets repetitive quickly"

".....that's-"

"AWESOME! I can't wait to see it"

"Very well, I knew you'd be excited"

"Wait, wouldn't a fight be useless since we know y/n is stronger?"

"To make things fair, I'm not allowed to use any of my innate techniques, and satori can't use her strongest ones like her domain or purple"

"OK get away a bit, I wouldn't want you to get caught in the blast"

Before anyone had any chance to complain, all of the students backed away as you and your girlfriend got into position

"You ready with the barrier, ijichi?"

The man with glasses nodded and proceeded to make a large barrier to defend the students.

Seeing this, gojo smiled and started to take off her clothes, leaving her in a tight black shirt (which made you blush a bit as it hugged her muscles and curves perfectly). Meanwhile, you started stretching to get ready

"Be sure to not hold back, I won't even if you're my girlfriend"

Satori smirked at your words and took off her blindfold, throwing it away

"Don't worry, we both know......I never hold back"

You both got into position and immediately ran at each other at blinding speed. She started throwing punches that you dodged. You tried to do the same but were blocked by her infinity

"Tch"

You sprinted away from her and began thinking

'Just as I thought, her infinity is as annoying as always'

You made a fist with your hand as it started glowing with (your favorite color) colored cursed energy

'Luckily, I know just how to counter it'

She teleported towards you and punched you unsuccessfully. You swung your fist at her again, but this time, it started putting strain on the invisible barrier. However, gojo teleported away before it could connect fully

"W-what? Did you see that? He was about to touch gojo-sensei!"

"Did she deactivate her technique?"

"No, the barrier was still there. It was just being weakened, was that one of y/n's techniques?"

"But he said he wasn't going to use any"

"No.....he said he wasn't going to use any that were exclusively his"

"Domain amplification Eh? Can't say I'm surprised"

'Because he's not using any innate techniques, he can focus on using domain amplification all the time,at this rate he's going to go trough infinity soon it's better to deactivate it and focus on blue for now'

"Can we get sushi if I win?"

"Hm?"

"It's been a while since we went out and I want sushi, If I win can you pay?"

"What are you talking about? I always pay anyway"

You cracked a small smile as you got into a fighting position again

"Eh, true"

You raced at her, and you started trading blows at each other like before. Only now, you could freely touch her

'She stopped using her technique?.......good'

You focused all your energy in your punches and continued aiming at satori who couldn't keep up with your strength

"It's insane! the moment he figured out she stopped using infinity he immediately amped up the cursed energy in his fists by undoing the technique, he's so fast"

"And his strength is absurd, he's definitely winning in terms of hand to hand combat"

Just as yuji said that gojo tried to land a punch on your stomach but you blocked it with both hands, thinking she had a chance she raised her other fist but you ducked causing her to lose her balance, you grabbed her by the arm and raised her in the air before making her fall and pinning her to the ground

"You know, I'd actually quite enjoy this position if we weren't fighting"

"Shut up"

"Very well"

You saw her raise her fingers and move them to the right

"Blue"

you were flinged to your right by an invisible force. You put your hands on the ground to stop your motion, but before you could even move, you saw more blue energy form right where you landed

"Ugh!"

"Cursed technique amplification blue maximum output"

You were swept up in the blue sphere of energy that formed under you and that engulfed even the ground beneath you, after playing with it for a while satori threw her blue right at the edge of the barrier, damaging you.

'She's keeping me away because she knows I'm stronger in a close ranged fight, and because I can't use my techniques, I don't have any ranged attacks. she has a big advantage......well, that just means I'll have to get closer one way or another'

You wiped a bit of blood from your face and smirked

".......thank you, this is what I wanted to see, thank you for not holding back"

You suddenly punched the ground with great force,making the rubble and dust spread everywhere, making a veil

'Is he trying to conceal his position? Did he forget about the six eyes?'

Gojo used blue to move the dust and debris out of the way, and to everyone's surprise, you weren't there

"W-what? where did he go?"

'Wait I figured it out! Before, when I used blue to move the rubble away, he got moved too. He used my own technique to move out of my six eyes range........that means'

"Look!"

A mere second before yuta yelled, satori turned her head, but it was already too late as she saw you standing behind her with a fist full of cursed energy.

The honored one tried to activate her infinity to stop the punch, but that was futile as you immediately started using domain amplification when she did. You landed the most powerful punch you had thrown in a while on gojo's back, causing her to spit blood

"That punch.......even I can tell how strong it was"

"It probably would have killed a grade 2 curse, at least. and it wasn't even a black flash"

"Wait, it's still not over"

"Eh?"

The students looked in shock as you didn't even let the special grade sorcerer fly away from the punch because immediately after it connected, you grabbed her by the hair threw her to the ground punching her in the stomach when she landed.

"THIS IS THEIR TRAINING? HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S TRYING TO KILL HER!"

You stood over her body as you looked at her bloody face, mentally apologizing even knowing she definitely wouldn't mind

"We can finish this if you-"

"This is why I love you"

"Eh?"

"Every time I fight you, I feel this sensation....I have only felt with toji, you....you make me feel so understood.......so ecstatic!.....I'm so glad I find you"

You saw her smiling at you. It warmed your heart, and a small smile crept up your face

"You didn't figure it out, did you?"

You suddenly got worried as she kept talking

"Immediately after your first punch, I deactivated infinity so I could focus on expanding blue and red's outputs"

She raised her arm and did a finger gun gesture with it, aiming it at you

"And I haven't used red yet"

You tried running but a red light started to glow from her finger and engulf your vision

"Cursed technique reversal red maximum output"

Gojo fired off an incredibly large red, which hit you directly in the face and sent you flying away, but before you could hit anything solid, gojo teleported behind you and kicked you making you fall to the ground painfully

You stood breathing heavily for a moment, blood dripping from your face before you smiled back at her once again

"Hey, can we allow RCT since the fight is truly getting started?"

The moment you said that you saw gojo heal from the wounds you gave her which prompted you to do the same

"I don't see why not"

"Good........then can we also throw all the rules out of the window since it's getting serious"

Gojo's smile got even wider as she knew what you meant. She giggled a bit before holding her hand up

"I thought you'd never ask"

Everyone who was watching gasped as satori did the hand sign they were so familiar with. you held your hand(s) too in another gesture that everyone could deduce the use for

"Domain expansion: infi-/domain expansion:(doma-"

As you were about to expand your domains, you both saw the barrier being lifted as you grunted in confusion, gojo turned towards ijichi and saw that Yaga was now with him

"Hey what's this? We were just about to get to the good par-"

"What's this!? How about you look at what you did!"

You both turned to see the area of the courtyard you were fighting in completely destroyed

"You decide to have a fight with y/n without asking me in our courtyard!?"

"Well, it wasn't for nothing, you know? My students have learned a lot from watching us"

Gojo looked at them with an hopeful look that they didn't reciprocate as all of them shook their heads simultaneously

".............."

".............."

"S-sorry sensei I was also going to say, wasn't me watching this fight a bit risky since sukuna is inside me and could learn all of your techniques and counters by watching the fight?.......hehe....."

"..............."

".............."

You and your girlfriend seemingly ignored everything everyone said and started walking away unconcerned with your hands behind your head

"So which sushi restaurant you wanna go to?"

"Does that even count? We didn't finish the fight"

"Eh, who cares"

".......you were going to buy me sushi no matter what happened right?"

"Awwww, you know me so well"

She gave you a kiss on the cheek, and you blushed while the principal continued to yell at you two

"HEY WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

In response, gojo simply held your hand and waved at everyone there before teleporting both of you out of there

"..........are they serious?"

"How are those two the strongest?"

".......wait gojo forgot her clothes and blindfold........who wants to give them back to her?"

Everyone present sighed, knowing how much of a bother it was to deal with you and satori

[tonguetiedraven]

Rin was wrong about the Kyoto arc and most of you are too

But like Rin, you don't have to hold onto your assumptions.

With the slight resurgence in aoex popularity, I'm seeing a new rise in some fundamental misunderstandings about the characters and plot. I've been asked a lot of questions about a few certain characters over the years, and I've noticed that the base of the misunderstandings people tend to have with everyone originates in the Kyoto Arc.

What am I calling the Kyoto arc? Everything that happens in the second season of the anime and everything that happens after chapter 13 in the manga . (The point when the anime said let's go off and do our own wild thing and forget about the story and characters Kato is making! It'll be fun and totally not still be causing long lasting chaos over a decade later) and up to chapter 35. It's a 20 chapter arc, roughly. And honestly I think most of the manga exclusive Kraken arc should be included in the Kyoto arc because it is a direct continuation of Rin and Yukio's story line there, but I digress and we will get to that!

I am going to assume that you, the reader of this lengthy essay (I'm wordy and won't apologize for it, lol), are aware enough of the manga and Blue Exorcist to know that every episode in the first season of the anime after episode 16 is NOT CANON and does a poor job of depicting all the characters involved from Angel to Yukio. (There is no character with a Z, lol. So Yukio wins that role.) No one comes out looking correct in that. I know some people will argue that Rin is fine, but no. He is not similar to his canon hot headed, impulsive, loud, often violent/aggressive, and past avoiding self who would never have let his twin pull a gun on Kuro and would never have let Yukio leave after that without a fight. Sorry guys, they nuked him too. Just in a more pathetic victim way so people let it slide because he obviously needs to be protected from all the other meanies.

I am also going to assume you know character names. You can google them if you get confused  ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

Anyway, back on topic. I'm going to go heavily into the start of this arc and more broad as it goes on. The initial area is where most of the misconceptions start and they kind of carry through from then on meaning the entire rest of the arc and arcs there are a few flaws in the understanding of character motivations and reasons and some just basic plot stuff.

In chapter 13 of the manga, we get this tremendous clip

Just before this moment the exwires have found out that their classmate is not a human and is powerful.

You'll notice Shima leaning against the railing there. That's because he has a cracked rib and probably a concussion. Konekomaru is now sporting a broken arm, and Ryuuji got strangled out enough to be choking on blood. Shiemi was hypnotized and controlled and carried around like a possession by a demon king who tried to eat her eyes and kept taunting about making her his bride all while she was unable to move or do anything. There is not enough written about the truly terrifying kind of assault that is for the youngest member of their group, and that's without the tangle of a relationship Amaimon and Shiemi have in it.

It is vital that everyone take a second to think about that. Izumo and Takara were not there. They stayed in the camp. They didn't pursue Amaimon, Shiemi, or Rin. They chose not to fight or try to help. The Kyoto Trio did (because Ryuuji/Bon is impulsive and ran after Rin and Shiemi to help and the others followed him) and it took all of thirty seconds for the Demon King Amaimon to knock them all out without even really putting any effort into his attack.

They manage to get out of the forest and back to the pictured bridge with Yukio leading them out while the forest catches dramatically on blue fire. (Remember that the Kyoto trio grew up hearing about how much the blue flames of Satan destroyed their home and killed their family members. Their entire life was irrevocably changed because of blue flames.) And Rin and Amaimon are wildly fucking shit up. They even yeeted Mephisto who is a much higher ranking king.

All that leads to the Paladin appearing, Arthur Angel, who orders the exwires to be interrogated and checked by medics. (Honestly a step up for True Cross. They almost never remember medics.)

The Paladin appears and then Mephisto appears, and he has Rin in tow. Rin who is entirely feral and tries to lunge for the exwires. The traumatized exwires see Rin try and attack them with an entirely demonic face. They do not know anything about his story or Shirou or even ow he got here, but they can easily see that he's tied to Satan because of the flames and now he clearly wants to hurt. Hurt them.

Now in Rin's defense, he's not in his right mind. Mephisto sheaths the sword and the demonic part is forced to retreat and Rin passes out until he's slapped awake. At that point he's the Rin we know again (the exwires still have no idea what the hell is going on) and Angel takes him into custody. Rin looks over and sees his friends bloodied and bruised and sees Ryuuji with blood on his mouth staring with an unreadable expression.

It leads to this shot:

Question for the group: Who is Ryuuji asking this to?

Not Rin, that's for sure. It's Mephisto, in my opinion. Ryuuji is asking, quite understandably, why the hell the child of Satan was put in a class of ordinary students and why none of them were told about it. They just had a Demon King attack their class of exwires all of which were struggling against a simple moth and had to reseal it instead of exorcising it. A Demon King that attacked them because he wanted to do something to the son of Satan and they had no extra protection against that. Enough so that four of them are injured or traumatized.

(Also, if you get strangled do not yell and IMMEDIATELY seek medical help. There are a lot of terrible conditions and long lasting effects that can occur with strangulation.)

So at this point everyone is made to split ways. The exwires will get a small update from Yukio, and Rin will get put on trial for his life. Neither party knows what the other is aware of, and as far as we can tell, Rin does not remember that he tried very hard to lunge at and attack the exwires.

That does not mean that Rin did not lunge for and try to attack them. Not remembering trauma you caused someone else does not erase that trauma.

There is also this moment, and you best believe I am also here to defend Shiemi because she deserves it.

Go girl. You're so right. There's nothing funny about any of this. Not your abduction, not how assaulting that entire thing was, and not the fact that he was feral and that you're feeling like a lot of this is your fault. (And it was not her fault.)

Rin's defense in most bad situations is laughter and ignoring whatever the uncomfortable thing is. This rubs everyone around him the wrong way almost every time. And that's their right. I also truly think he doesn't know what he just did and doesn't remember much past drawing the sword and he's scared, and he's able to tell the vibes are bad and he's in trouble, but doesn't really get why/how. He is a bit (a lot) of an idiot and we love him for that.

Another vital thing to understand about Rin is that he sees the demonic and violent parts of himself as someone else. He is not that demon. He is not the guy that tore apart the forest, everyone is wrong. He didn't lunge after his friends, someone else did that. He isn't out of control of his flames, that isn't him. That demon with the flames and frightening strength and burning anger isn't him. They've got it all wrong. He's just Rin.

That is a big part of Rin's story. Rin accepting that he is all those things. He is the human and he is the demon and he is all the things that comes with both of those things. He is right and wrong and kind and cruel and caring and callous and gentle and dangerous. He is Yuri and Satan and Shirou's son, and he is complicated and trying his best and slowly learning to accept what he is and isn't.

Anyway, they split ways for a shitty night. Rin's is unquestionably shittier, but again, the rest of the exwires don't get told what the hell happened.

Anime only fans will already be noticing differences, but wait, there's a lot more that was missed/ skipped over.

The Kyoto trio are all at the hospital for the next few days and get a call about the temple having been attacked. Shima's dad and Ryuuji's dad were said to have been hurt in it.

This is the second hint we get that Ryuuji is not on good terms with his dad, and the mere mention of Kyoto visibly upsets him. That'll be important a little later.

Rin goes back to class with the girls but is pulled out by Yukio for his own individual classes with Shura before anyone can say anything. The cram teacher then explains the following:

The entirety of their school is giving them instructions on what to do if Rin goes wild because the exorcist and teachers all think he will go feral again.

Rin does not know they're getting this instruction.

We then see what Yukio told them is basically: Yeah, my twin has flames. I don't because I was too weak. I get tested daily for it. The koma (a nickname for Kurikara because you can't exactly go around calling a stolen sword by its name or people will catch on) sword sealed him. I don't know why we were allowed to live when True Cross has a very loud 'no Satan or Satan offspring allowed' policy. Kay, thanks, byyyeeeeee.

So no one is happy and no one really knows anything. Just Yukio who has always known everything and had the biggest emotional, responsible, and mental burden of everything about his brother. He was left holding the bag again. Responsible for a class he's the same age as, mourning his father whose death he doesn't know the full story of, responsible for killing his own brother if he goes feral, now ostracized even more by a community of exorcist he already didn't blend in with, and now made to bear all this. Yukio is a king for holding out for so damn many arcs without showing how bad his mental health was getting with all that stress.

At this point we see Ryuuji is placing the guilt for Konekomaru and Shima being injured on his own shoulders (Konekomaru tells him it was his fault that they were injured) and Shiemi is realizing that Rin became her friend as he was revealed and that she was never as much of a support or friend to either of them as she thought.

Meanwhile Izumo who, and I cannot stress this enough, did NOTHING in the fight and was not part of most of this and has at this point made NO effort to be friends with anyone past cleaning a shirt Rin loaned her, is judging all of them visibly.

A brief interlude of Toudou being a creep and Rin showing he cannot follow orders from absolutely anyone and making Yukio and Shura frustrated at how unpredictable and manageable he is, and we're now given the mission to go to Kyoto and help there.

Ryuuji is just so blatantly shocked and not okay with the assignment to his home. Like I genuinely don't think we have a shot of Ryuuji looking more shook and shit gets wild in this manga.

Ryuuji does not want to go back to Kyoto. He left on terrible terms with his parents and swore he would not return until he had his meisters and rank. He defied his parents in even going to the cram school and now he's being forced to return a bit busted up and long before he was ready. If you do not have a bad family dynamic, you can't really get how devastating this is, but try and imagine it. It's a tremendous source of stress and frustration for Ryuuji, and the main thing he's dealing with through this arc. He has a lot of history with his father ignoring and denying him and trying to control him, and it is not a healthy dynamic. THAT is what drives Ryuuji in this arc. Kyoto, the temple, and his father. It is NOT Rin. Rin is at the bottom of his list of things to be thinking about right now.

This is essentially Ryuuji's arc, and it is, quite simply, not about Rin for him. Rin becomes a part of it, but not until later. At the moment, it is Kyoto and the shame and frustration and resentment about that which is driving him forward.

Shiemi is melting under her own self loathing at this point. She is hating herself and has never been confident and always been prone to thinking poorly of herself, and shown she is unaware of when relationships are abusive with how severely Izumo bullied her and continues to bully her.

(And I could write another essay on how fucking misogynistic it is that everyone flocks to team Izumo when she's slightly nice to Rin and blatantly ignores the Shiemi abuse because well Shiemi is annoying anyway. Check yourself and ask why you feel that way if you do. Why is violence and cruelty okay against Shiemi? Why is it forgivable in her case but not in others?)

We all board a train to Kyoto and see each other for the first time. Rin has zero ability to ever read a room (we love him for it even if he will occasionally kill us with second hand embarrassment) and is acting like he didn't try to kill them on their last interaction and like everything is normal and there isn't a big and awkward elephant in the room taking up most of the train space.

THIS GOES DOWN DIFFERENTLY IN THE MANGA THAN THE ANIME. The manga stretches this scene out to give three characters very important breathing room while the anime cuts this far shorter and mixes up the dialogue some, muddying the motives.

Rin, not reading the room, sees Shiemi and calls out happily to her. Shiemi utterly freezes and can't decide how she should respond or what she should say. She has, as far as we know, never had a friend outside of her family and the twins. She doesn't know how to interact with them and she is drowning in guilt of failing them as a friend. A lot of that is because Rin said she wasn't his friend to the Kyoto Trio and because Izumo is always telling her she's failing as a friend and saying she doesn't like her. Izumo is a bully at this point. I will not back down on that point and will continue to reiterate it. You do her incredible arc a disservice to pretend otherwise.

That leads us to the confrontation:

Ryuuji does not show any sign of anger until Rin talks about Kyoto. Then it's instant grouchy face Grouchy face and grouchy boy until one of the other two interject and then he swallows all that Kyoto frustration right back down and stomps off to sit behind Rin with Konekomaru -- who has been given a talk by their superiors on what to do if their classmates loses his shit and goes feral on them and who lost his entire temple and family to the Blue Night -- voicing his worry about Rin losing control of his flames on a tiny train where there is no where to go.

Rin visibly deflates and sinks back on his chair Izumo, the drama queen who would deny being one, enters and sees. Now Izumo has conflicting reasons for her next act. She has been ostracized and bully quite a lot in her younger life, and that is part of why she is now an ice queen. She sees Rin and wants to help him feel better and is no more in the know of what the others are actually dealing with than Rin, and I dare say that was her first and primary motive.

However Izumo cannot allow herself to do something solely out of kindness to help someone. That is a weakness she will not allow herself and dangerous. Kindness and helping gets you hurt or killed by stronger parties and she has sworn off that in all cases but Paku. (No one quite knows what magic Noriko Paku possesses, but man does she, lol.)

So Izumo sits next to Rin and waits until after the debriefing about why they're here (meaning Ryuuji is now even more upset because yep, it's absolutely his temple and their miasma and their secrets and their weaknesses being discusses and revealed and flaunted) and they chat a little about the fact that lots of people have demon blood (*cough* FORESHADOWING *cough*) and then, after getting flustered about Rin complementing her and thanking her and getting buddy-buddy enough to use a nickname, she goes cruel and decisive and makes a pointed jab at Ryuuji, who takes it in stride for a moment, and then Shiemi, who visibly deflates thinking even less of herself and that Ryuuji does not take in stride.

Izumo did a kind thing in sitting with Rin, however, the others did not do a cruel thing by not sitting with him. They simply chose to give themselves a little space from a situation they were still struggling with. The cruelest one in the moment before she spoke was probably Konekomaru, and even he wasn't talking to Rin. He was nervous and scared and talking to his friends about Rin. None of them owed Rin anything. They did not owe him their time or space or attention. They are allowed to recover from their trauma and physical injuries while not having him constantly shove his over-excited puppy-energy self in their faces constantly and make everything all the more difficult for them while they try and reconcile that guy with the feral monster that wanted to take a chunk out of them and who was not in control of the flames they've grown up terrified of.

We see the story mainly through Rin's perspective, all the more so if you're an anime only, but that does not mean Rin is always an honest and reliable narrator. He is unaware he tried to hurt them and unaware of their own trauma. He can't imagine any of their actions and reactions aren't centering around him at this moment because Rin too is going through a lot of trauma and stress of his own that they don't know about.

What I find over and over again in this story is that people excuse any poor or selfish or cruel act of Rin's because of trauma and not being perfect, but they will not excuse it in any one else. This makes for a frustrating unfairness in expectations, and frankly, turns the story boring. If no one but Rin can make mistakes, or you choose only to see other's mistakes and not Rin's, you are robbing the characters and Rin of their complexity and growth.

Izumo was kind in sitting next to Rin, and she was purposefully cruel at the exact same time. This is who Izumo is. Kind and cruel for quite a long time. Brave and selfish. Confident and self conscious. Guarded while slowly falling in love and denying it every step of the way.

So the train ride immediately goes to shit and they get loud with Ryuuji calling her out (reminder, she can call them coward all day long but she did not leave the circle and didn't fight and has not stepped forward once in any of their missions to work as a group or fight until she had to)

And Shure (in the manga) wakes up and makes them sit in a different car of the train with bariyons on their laps as punishment. Konekomaru continues to stress, Ryuuji tells him to chill, Shiemi continues to hate herself, and Izumo continues to be purposefully cruel.

The bariyons get aggressive and one pins Shiemi to the ground. Rin does Rin and burns it without warning, freaking everyone out because wow! Blue flames are just suddenly everywhere. Ryuuji interferes because again, his temple was devastated by Blue flames and he has no reason to think they can behave differently and he is nothing if not determined to protect and help his team at all times.

Shiemi realizes Rin still has control of them and tells everyone to relax, and they do.

The flames are put out and Rin immediately attacks Ryuuji.

Rin demands trust and honestly, I could understand if he was unaware that he'd caused mayhem in the forest and tried to lunge for them, but if he was aware then he has to be smoking those flames of his because there is no reason to trust him at this point. He's lied (he didn't have a choice but they don't know that and reasons do not negate that a lie happened and we are now in the lies arc) and he has shown he is dangerous and that Demon Kings kind of follow him and will attack indiscriminatingly. (It's not like they know Amaimon is not allowed to kill them.)

Rin knows he won't hurt them and thinks that should be enough. No one else knows that they can believe this at this point. Ryuuji explains that Blue Flames have killed a lot of his people and that he can't trust someone who endanger his family. It is once again Kyoto he is thinking about and Kyoto he is worried about. They are on a train to Kyoto where Blue Flames destroyed a lot and now they're bringing the one guy with Blue Flames there and he keeps flaming up so it seems like what little he still has there is going to be devoured by flames.

Rin says basically, sorry that happened but it has NOTHING to do with me. This is a naïve thing to say and while technically right, is missing the point of what Ryuuji said. I can't trust you because you haven't shown me I can trust those deadly flames with you and they have absolutely devastated my home before.

The fight amps up more -- and again, Rin was the aggressor. They're both hot headed but he's the one that grabbed Ryuuji, not the other way around, and in a fairly close way to how Amaimon had grabbed Ryuuji and that can't be helping things. The fight gets louder and Konekomaru bravely intervenes and grabs both of their arms and tells them to stop. A bariyon choses that moment to cause chaos and try to kill Ryuuji and Shura has had enough and kills it but kindly doesn't kill the exwires for interrupting her nap twice over and the conversation is left entirely unresolved.

And for the next long stretch, they will not have that conversation resolved. They get back, Ryuuji is immediately accosted by his powerhouse of a mom, Torako Suguro who is pissed, and finds out that his dad has been absent and that things are going south fast in Kyoto.

From this moment on, Ryuuji will have one goal and that is to find his dad and save what few temple members he can. He wants to reunite his temple--that has always been his goal--and his dad's failure to lead and potential at being the traitor in their midst is causing what few of his sect are left to fracture even more. He is around Rin a few times in the next chapter, but his mind is never on Rin or their drama. He is wholly focused on Kyoto and the drama here.

This is where a lot of people misunderstand him. He is not avoiding Rin, he simply has a much bigger priority, as he should. This is his family and this temple is everything to him. We find out that Tatsuma has thrown their reputation in the mud and that he has caused a lot of their sect to abandon the temple, and that he has fought Ryuuji's hopes and goals every step of the way, and that he was the first to laugh at Ryuuji (which we know is an immensely traumatic memory for him) and that Tatsuma is actively working to avoid Ryuuji, and that he was at the Keep during the break in, and that several members of the Sect absolutely think Tatsuma is the traitor.

And if he isn't the traitor, then he is still failing them and running away from his duties. What's worse, we see a few of the sect (Mamushi specifically) even place some of the blame of the failure on Ryuuji.

Rin is seen working with the Kyoto trio on some kind of chore after they arrive, and actively being ignored and mistreated by the teachers. They absolutely deserve ire for the way they treat Rin like he's already gone feral and refuse to let him help.

Rin is being ostracized and thinks everything happening here is about him. He thinks the others are ignoring him and that they're upset about him. They're largely just... Not. Izumo and Shiemi are put on helping the large volume of patients and from what we see, Izumo doesn't chat with Rin again after the bus.

Shiemi sees this as a way to not let people down (she thinks she let everyone down in the forest. That it was her fault and she isn't good enough or strong enough or just enough to be their friends. Probably partly because the one friend she thinks she has is a bully.) and dives hard into work. She still doesn't know what to say to Rin and freezes up a lot.

That leads to a fantastic scene in chapter 18 with Izumo and Shiemi in the garden and Shiemi positively sobbing about being a useless friend and not being strong enough to help like she wants and Izumo telling her she's really strong and able to talk about friends and her emotions without getting embarrassed and that she's stubborn and strong as a weed and Shiemi, who has clearly not gotten enough praise in her life just glows and determines to be as strong and stubborn as a weed.

It's a vitally important moment for both these girls. Izumo is kind and doesn't turn it cruel and sees how strong Shiemi is and helps Shiemi see herself as strong too. Izumo has done a lot to break Shiemi down but she is also, arguably, the one that did the most to build her back up too.

She dives back into her work to the point she inspires Rin to try harder on his own training because he is lazy and she isn't, and he admires that.

At this point Shima has decided that to keep going on his own path in the laziest way he can manage that ignoring Rin was too much work so they're just going back to before and acting like nothing ever happened. Rin is drunk and insults him in this with the list.

Rin confronts Konekomaru later and finds out what happened to Konekomaru's family and Konekomaru begs Rin to leave Ryuuji alone because he is dealing with a lot of stress. Rin (correctly for once) realizes that Konekomaru will absolutely be his friend if he can show that his flames aren't a danger. If he puts in the work to get control of those, he can be friends. Rin goes off determined to do that.

Ryuuji and Shiemi are now the only two who haven't had their Rin moment, and they firmly busy in their own stuff. Rin still thinks they're avoiding him because they're mad at him and blaming him for the Blue Night stuff and they're simply not. At no point does he ever really seem to get that he's assuming stuff incorrectly about all this either.

Ryuuji does some not at all stealthy spying and follows Juuzou to the Keep to find most of the staff unconscious and gets himself in the middle of the theft of the Impure King's last eye. Mamushi betrays them to Toudou and states that it is because of Tatsuma that she is. That he has failed them as a leader and conspired with Mephisto by giving away the sacred relic of their temple (Kurikara) and letting the son of Satan have it.

She is not entirely wrong, and she is not entirely right. She is very wrong about Toudou, but they both escape to cause more havoc elsewhere and leave Ryuuji to finally catch up to Tatsuma.

We have been building for several chapters at this point that Ryuuji and Tatsuma do not have a great relationship. There is a lot of frustration and confusion and hurt in it. A lot of history and pain and Ryuuji is trying to get his dad to tell him anything. To deny the allegations if they're not true and do something to help with the fact that one of their members just left.

Tatsuma refuses to. We later learn why and it sucks, but it doesn't lesson the hurt in this moment. Being unable to explain something does not mean that your actions, justified or not, did not and do not hurt someone.

Ryuuji, seeing his dad turn his back on him without even a hint of an explanation to all the terrible accusations and all the pain and trauma around them, pleading for some kind of explanation to anything, plays the only card he has left.

His father has already all but disowned him for the cram school, so he returns that. He warns that if Tatsuma leaves now and like this, he might as well not bother to come back because Ryuuji will no longer (can no longer) consider him his father.

Rin, who has kind of snuck into this dramatic meeting, overhears this and has a violent trauma induced reaction.

Now, Rin has trauma and it is entirely understandable why hearing those words would make him react dramatically. That does not excuse the violence he reacts with. You enduring trauma and having triggers and painful emotions does not give you the right to inflict violence on someone else.

And inflict violence Rin very much does. Once again flaming up some too, not at all in control.

This was not Rin's fight to get in the middle of. I will die on the hill that others do not get to determine what a child can and cannot do in their own parent and child relationship. Others can offer opinions and advice, but they do not get to order or dictate the relationship. They are not part of it and cannot possibly know what it is actually like. This is the same sort of mentality that tells people who have had to make the immensely difficult choice to go no contact with a parent that they should try and make up because it's hard to be a parent like it's easy to be a child and under the parent's control and guidance. Ryuuji has a lot of reasons to have made that ultimatum, and while we will learn a lot more about why Tatsuma has failed as a parent and leader, the reason does not absolve or eliminate the failures. He has failed Ryuuji multiple times and at this moment, tied by a cruel fate, he has to fail and hurt him again.

He did not have to choose to do it this way though, and do not forget that.

And Rin knows nothing about their relationship. He is putting his own reactions and motivations on Ryuuji who does not have them.

Rin is in the wrong in this moment. I will not back down from that either. Rin hurt his friend and revealed himself, and in the next panels defied Shura and continued to try and fight Ryuuji and make him understand that you can't disown your father because you can't take that back--

And it is in this fight that Ryuuji is first made aware that when Rin talks about his dad, he has not been talking about Satan. Rin was raised by someone else. They still don't learn the real story yet, we're not really told when or if they do get the full story about Shirou, but you can see him realize something happened to whoever raised the twins, and it was bad.

Rin gets knocked out and arrested and Ryuuji is sent to ice his swollen face and he will have the injuries Rin inflicted on him here through the entire rest of the arc.

And I am now over 5k words so I'll try and wrap this up some. I'm going to have to post the Yukio half on another post xD

Rin gets a letter that tells him that Tatsuma and Shirou were in cahoots about the sword (look, Mamushi was partially correct) but that the sword did not have Karura in it like it was supposed to. He also finds out that Tatsuma wants him to kill the Impure King. Mephisto then shows up and locks him away giving him a death sentence. Yukio has to leave with that knowledge to try and stop the rising Impure King before he infects and kills all of Japan.

Tatsuma goes and shows that he had made a pact with Karura and that the Suguro line has always guarded the secret that the Impure King was kept sealed under the temple by Karura. That were he to be reunited with his eyes, he would rise again. Toudou wants to get Karura so he did all of this to get Tatsuma to reveal Karura.

Tatsuma is stabbed through the back of the throat and Karura mostly devoured, and the Impure King is rising and reforming and going to poison everyone.

Shura gives the letter to Ryuuji and Kurikara and offers the camouflage ponchos to go break Rin out if they want, and Ryuuji and Shiemi are the only two who do not hesitate for even a moment to go and rescue him.

The jail freezes them and gives nonviolent Shiemi a moment to shine. She confronts her own self doubts and goes to find Rin and coaxes him back out, showing she knows he won't be a danger to her by embracing him and his flames. She realizes that her fears and self loathing caused her to only think about her own emotions, and not how he was feeling (something Rin could also very much stand to do) and she immediately switches to comforting and encouraging him.

Rin busts the prison with style, Konekomaru says he's ready to be friends, Shima and Izumo state they're only here on Shura's orders, and

Rin still doesn't get it. He still has no idea what Ryuuji is dealing with or why he's upset about any of it. He has spent this entire arc trying to find his dad and trying to help the sect, and failing every step of the way. He has tried to help everyone around him in any way he can and show that he can be depended upon and trusted.

Rin has never opened up to any of them. Rin demands that they lean on him and listen to his advice and accept him entirely, and gives them nothing in return for that vulnerability and openness. He doesn't talk about his own life or emotions or thoughts. He keeps conversations light and easy and doesn't even tell them that he was raised by a guy that's now dead. He shoves himself in conversations and dynamics that don't concern him all the while demanding trust, and then will not let them in in return.

Ryuuji is seeing that so clearly now and it is hurting. How can you trust a guy who won't trust you back? How can you trust someone you thought was one thing who never showed you who they really are and still won't be open and real with you? Who has enough power at every moment to level half the world and is emotional and stupid and impulsive and won't be real with you?

Rin has been under a death sentence and told he had to keep his heritage a secret, but even outside of that, he really doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't open up to his friends like he expects them to open up to him. Neither brother is good at expressing themselves (and a lot of that is because they weren't raised to be that way. Shirou did his best but had a lot of limitations too.)

He demands they trust him wholeheartedly but will not trust them in return. Or he hasn't shown in any way that he does trust them.

This arc, at its core, is about lies and how those and trauma can and do make relationships messy. How even ancestral drama can go down the line and get us caught in cycles of it. But it also shows that we can do the work to get past them, and that it's messy and painful and loud and not always easy to see what's right and wrong while we do it, but we can get past it and move on together. We can make terrible mistakes and seek forgiveness and understanding and sympathy or empathy and try to do better. We can laugh in a field of disease and trust entirely on someone because we know we can even if the world is falling down around us and it doesn't make sense.

Neither Rin nor any of the exwires or Yukio are a villain in this arc. Even Mamushi and her cruel words and betrayal are not a villain in this arc. Everyone acts kindly and selfishly or in fright or confusion or in motives that are entirely misunderstood. They're all dragging their own emotional baggage with them and they're all getting tangled up and not listening, but they still strive on and strive to understand and talk it out when they can, because they care about each other and getting it right.

To act like it's as simple as "The exwires bullied Rin!" is naïve and robs Kato's story of so much richness and deprives the later arcs of so much character value she built starting here. Kato does a beautiful job of building all of her characters and giving them rich personalities and motivations and flaws and she shows us them through Rin sometimes, but she also gives them a lot of time without him at the forefront. She gives him flaws too, and a lot of wrongs, and that's why he's such a powerful and alive protagonist for our series.

You're free to dislike who you like and love who you like, but I do so encourage anyone who thinks the exwires were villains in this arc to really dive into the manga. Read through all the scenes and ask yourself why did Kato show that? Why is this character thinking that? Why did the character react that way? Kato gives us so much richness to dive into and to see so many people not do that and to take such quick and often incorrect or fragmented interpretations of the events is heart breaking and honestly robbing those people of a really good story.

Rin was wrong in assuming that everyone hated him and assuming that it was as simple as trust. He was wrong to try and force things and to try and force his own interpretations on others. It was only once he started to listen and hear what they themselves were saying that things got better. Now some of this is just the mess of the anime between season one and the start of season two, but a lot is just misinterpretation by the fandom. It can happen to anyone, but that does not mean it suddenly becomes factual because of that.

It's been at least six thousand words and I don't know if this came across as clearly as I wanted it to, but I hope it encourages those who haven't to dive in deeper. It's a rich arc with so many fascinating moving parts in it. I've barely brushed on Tatsuma, Juuzou, Mamushi, and Mephisto in this and their plots are all entirely interesting and add so much! Expect a Yukio and Izumo and possibly Shiemi follow up at some point, lol. Probably just as long though I'll try to be more concise.

If you read this far, thank you! You deserve to crash with the rest of the exwires in Toraya on a nice futon.

[angelpuns]

50au Part 17

Donnie groaned from where he was laying across the table, facedown against the cool surface. He had barely slept, too consumed with helping Mikey with the montage and planning their next move. 

“Raph seconds that, “ Raph murmured, yawning and resting his chin on his hands. 

None of them had really slept last night. 

But Mikey seemed to be the only one with energy to spare. 

He was working on breakfast, humming to himself and nodding along with whatever random song he'd thought up now. He had been up as long as Donnie had and still had all this energy? 

It must have been all the razzmatazz. Or the lack of walking yesterday. 

“Mikey, how are you not tired?” Donnie muttered, letting his eyes shut for a moment. He was used to pulling all-nighters, sure, but he hasn't slept well in…quite a while. So the extra lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him. 

Not to mention the worry and the fact that they barely had any data to work with and weren't any closer to figuring out how to fix it. 

It was all so exhausting, he just wanted his dum-dum brother to remember them so he could take a nap. Preferably with said dum-dum nearby. Just in case Donnie lost him again. 

“ Dunno, maybe it's cause I got that do-” 

Mikey cut himself off with a quiet gasp. 

There was only one thing that could elicit that sort of reaction. 

Donnie wrenched his head off this table, hand poised on his - new and improved - tranq-gun under the counter. 

He wasn't sure if the montage would work, so he had locked down the security in the lair, hidden Leo's sword and kept the gun on his person. 

Just in case. 

They really couldn't afford to waste another day chasing Leo around New York. 

( not that it’d be too difficult tracking him this time. Donnie had also replaced the chip while he slept - hopefully putting it somewhere more difficult to get to.)

Upon looking up it was indeed Leo, standing in the doorway in a hoodie. 

“ Um…hi. I guess all that stuff in the video is…true?” He asked, with a faint shrug. He still looked sceptical to Donnie, but maybe Donnie didn't know his twin that well anymore. 

“ You believe us?” Mikey asked, voice far too hopeful. 

“ M…maybe? I mean, it's kinda hard to believe, but…I’d rather not be…restrained, so…” Leo shrugged. Ah, that was more like his twin. 

“ Well, won't need to if you comply,”  Donnie shrugged, “ simply put, we haven't found a way to fix the curse yet and we really can't spend another day cha-”

Right, Leo wouldn't remember what they had done yesterday. 

“ We can't spend another day sitting on our asses doing nothing,” He corrected. 

Leo squinted, analyzing him for a moment before he flinched and held his head with a low whine. 

“ …RIght. It'd be a little easier to comply if I knew your names, though,” 

Donnie wanted to smack himself. Right. They'd forgotten. 

“ Oh, yes. I'm Donnie,” He gestured to himself, then Raph, then Mikey, “ Raph and Mikey,” 

“Nice to…uh…meet you?” Leo shrugged, “ Um..”

He stood there awkwardly for a moment, rocking back and forth on his heels and glancing between them. 

Likely trying to figure out if he could take them all out at once. 

Which, no, definitely not. Not in his current conditIon, anyway. 

“ How do I know this isn't some trick to…to, like, complete your evil plan or something?” 

Donnie sighed, “ well, when you were ten you broke your arm because you were ‘trying to prove you could jump from the second floor and live’. Obviously you lived, but you were in a cast for a long time. When you were 7, you thought JJ was going to come out of the TV and take you to the moon, so you slept in your astronaut Halloween costume for months. It smelled so bad afterwards we had to burn it-”

“OKAY! Okay, I get it, no need to air my dirty laundry like that,” Leo muttered, quickly taking a seat at the table, “ I do remember getting hit with a spell, but I thought it was a dud. And I guess this does explain the mysterious bedrooms and all,” 

He sighed and rubbed his temples, “Let’s get this stupid  curse gone, even if it's probably bullshit,” 

“ Cab we eat breakfast first, though? I made french toast!” Mikey offered Leo a plate, and he hesitantly took it. 

Donnie thought maybe things would work out, until he spotted Raph's expression. 

Broken, staring at Leo with guilt seeping out of every pore. His gaze distant and gone, likely as far back as the invasion. Maybe more. 

Donnie knee what he was thinking without asking. Knew that every second they'd been holding him down was replaying like a broken record in Raph’s head. 

Between the curse and Raph’s distant gaze, this was going to be a long day

----

I was too sleepy to post this last night and was gonna write more but I literally forgot what I was gonna write so??? Yeah. Next part will probably be like a time skip/moving around on the timeline a bit cause I don't wanna get too bogged down with the nitty gritty stuff, esp since this is just me writing pretty much stream of consciousness and I don't wanna take it too seriously.

part 1 | Part 16 | Part 18

[baby-yongbok]

Okay, so if you're into hip hop and stuff like that, you know that Kendrick and Drake are ripping each other apart right now.

I woke up to bubble messages from Chan saying that the rap beef going on these days is crazy and that he won't say what side he's on (I think he's on Kendrick's side... how could you not be?)

Anyway, I thought about how 3Racha must be talking about the rap beef, so I wrote this, and it's really just Crack but I thought it was kinda funny.

Word Count : 352

“So then he dropped a song called 6:16 in LA, and that one was crazy because-” You shake your head in confusion as you try to keep up.

“Wait who dropped that one?” Jisung sighs from across the room, and Chan smiles your way.

“Kendrick.” Chan says.

“But I thought he already put out a diss.” Changbin groans, standing behind Chan's chair across from you. 

“He put out three, actually.” You furrow your brows. 

“There's four now.” Changbin corrects his hyung, and Chan shakes his head. 

“Right, yeah, there's four.”

“Okay wait, what.” Changbin runs his hands through his hair as he turns to Jisung. 

“Get the PowerPoint.” The youngest stands and grabs his laptop.

“On it.”

“What the fuck is going on?” You're confused and Chan is the only one who finds this amusing. Jisung starts up his laptop and pulls up a very well put together PowerPoint titled ‘Why Kendrick won.’

“Hush. Chan get the lights.” Your boyfriend cuts the lamp off as he fights back a heavy laugh. “Alright, so this all started with Drake's song, First Person Shooter. It had J.Cole as a feature and -” 

“J.Cole is in this too!?” Chan's doubled over in hysterics. Jisung is disappointed in you, and Changbin is ready to tape your mouth shut so that he can feed you this information. 

Just as Bin is about to answer, Hyunjin walks in. He looks around at the four of you, then at the laptop screen, and sighs. 

“They got you too, huh?” Your eyes meet his. 

“I'm so confused.”

“It's a lot. I know, we've been in New York for a day, and they know this all by heart.” Changbin groans, clearly upset with the two of you. 

“Ya'll should be quiet before Bin explodes.” Jisung warns, and Chan shakes his head, agreeing. 

“Okay wait wait… How is Drake West Coast if he's from Canada?” Chan loses it, falling off of the bed while the others groan in what sounds like deep pain. 

“I had the same question.” Hyunjin defends before Changbin yells. 

“Drake is East coast For fucks sake!”

[meeludrawz]

New Rehab Program - P5

A/N: Hey if you wanna get tagged, just tell me! Cuz life makes me update slow, rip Warnings: Mention of blood, mention of you being badly injured, mention of death

About three weeks later, you were looking through the fridge with your phone in hand. "I know, I know but I think he's gonna eat the walls if he doesn't go out" You threw a glance at Tomura. "No offense" You mouthed.

The ex-villain, sitting on the kitchen counter, yes ON the counter, only stucked his tongue out while he played on his phone. You recently found out that he liked sitting on any surfaces, like a cat. You often told him to not do that, but he never listened so you quickly gave up.

All Might was trying to change your mind. He wasn't against the idea of giving Shigaraki more freedom but your bosses would put you and the retired hero in trouble.

"I know it has been only three weeks since your last visit and I know he's gonna hang out with Dabi- I mean Touya, next week" You sighed. "But he needs to go out or he's gonna chew his cage, I'm telling you"

"Ew" Tomura mumbled.

You playfully stuck your tongue out at Shigaraki before your face slowly faded into disappointment as you listened to All Might.

The villain looked up and immediately frowned. {He's smart} You thought with a sad smile because, one again, society was stopping him from having fun.

You silently nodded. "Yes I understand.. Thanks All Might" You almost whispered before hanging up.

You peeked at the white haired man. "Sorry, we-"

He jumped off the counter and put his hand on your mouth, cutting you off. "Turn off your phone and let's go"

You blinked multiple times, removing his hand from you. "What? Why?"

"Let's get groceries anyway" He walked to the entrance, putting his red shoes on.

Your eyes widened. "What? No, I'll get in trouble"

"C'mon, I won't do shit, plus I'm sick of not having any Monster"

You scoffed and rolled your eyes at the mention of the energy drink, before quickly following him.

Once at the grocery store, you grabbed a cart and the white haired man climbed in it.

"Didn't you say you weren't going to do shit, mister?" You chuckled. "And you're not a kid"

"This is nothing compared to what I would've done before, so shut up and drive" He grumbled while he got comfy.

You sighed and playfully rolled your eyes before entering the fruit and vegetables area.

You only grabbed what you needed while Tomura didn't pick anything until you reached the snacks aisle.

There, he snatched energy drinks, chips and some other sweets. You, on the other hand, took more sweets than anything else.

"My therapist is a fucking sweet tooth" He mumbled as you put the stuff in the cart.

"Hey, you took chocolate too!"

"Well, I didn't just take that!" He teased as you drove the cart towards the cash registers.

You paid for everything then as you started pushing the cart towards the exit, his whispers made you shiver. "Stay silent and hurry"

"Why?" You whispered back, nervously looking around as you quickened your pace.

He only answered once you were at your car. You opened the trunk and started putting the bags inside with Tomura's help.

"The cops are here and they don't look happy" He grumbled in a low voice, holding your wrist and throwing glances here and there.

"Oh fuck, am I going to jail??" You whispered-yelled as you spotted them too

"Maybe" Tomura grinned at your horrified expression "But hey, you wouldn't be alone"

"I'd rather NOT go to jail Tomura" You mumbled with gritted teeth

"Just stay behind-"

Gunshots were fired and you immediately fell to the floor. But for Tomura, it felt like you were falling in slow motion, as he tried to catch you. "NO!"

He didn't know why, but everything got blurry. Your voice, his surroundings, the cops, your face, everything. It all felt surreal for some reason and yet, he was holding you tight against him and breathing like he had just ran a marathon.

The villain glared at each damn cops that was surrounding him. They'll fucking pay.

"Tomura?"

Wait that was your voice, he looked at you, but you were dead. Eyes opened, not any single light in it and blood had ran down your chin

"Tomura!"

The young man blinked and found himself in a new room. Where the fuck was he?

He felt something pet his head and he sat up in a jolt.

"Hey, it's okay! It's just me!" You lifted your hands in a defensive way. "You were having a nightmare so I woke you up"

Tomura stared at you. A nightmare? He observed his surroundings. You were both on a bench, secluded from… multiple cubicles. What stood out the most were the people in uniforms.

Cops

He frowned. "Why are we here?"

"Remember that call with All Might earlier?"

He turned back to you and nodded.

"Yeah, well after that, we went to the grocery store, right?" He nodded again. "All Might called again when we were gone and since we didn't pick up, he got anxious and called Eraser Head and the police" You gave him a small smile, scratching the back of your neck.

"They found us- I mean found me when I walked out of the store cuz you were asleep in the cart" You then chuckled. "You should've seen that, All Might literally grabbed you bridal style like a little baby because I asked to not wake you up"

Shigaraki made the most hilariously-disgusted face you've ever seen and that made you laugh. "I'm so sad I didn't bring my phone to take a pic"

He rolled his eyes. "That doesn't explain why we're here"

"Right! So we're here to get scolded.. kinda? Anyways, All Might and Eraser Head are getting scolded for disturbing the police for "nothing". They started with them because I insisted, again, that you should sleep"

Tomura raised a brow. But before he could even ask why, you added: "Don't look at me like that, I know you have trouble sleeping"

Shit, how did you know? He avoided your gaze. "Maybe I'm just playing all night"

You shook your head and crossed your arms. "I have good ears sir, plus, you don't close your door anymore and I'd hear the clackety of your controller, the tapity of your keyboard or the clickety of your mouse"

The young man stayed silent. He turned his body and leaned his back against the wall, still sitting next to you.

You put your hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He hesitated for a couple of long seconds. What could he even tell you? "I.. Keep dreaming about this person.." He stopped for a bit, thinking of how he should phrase this. "They keep dying in front of me"

It was your turn to stay silent. You were almost anxious to even answer because for once, he was willing to talk. He was finally opening up to you about his problems! Which was why you were scared to fuck things up.

"It's my reaction to their death that annoys me" Tomura mumbled.

"Why? Do you start laughing?" You tried to guess.

He shook his head and his frowned deepened. You could read his face, he was trying to understand his dreams on his own but he couldn't and that was frustrating him. Normally, you would've smiled and told him it was okay but you couldn't activate too much your therapist mode. In case he'd figure and close himself again.

"No.. it's.."

You let him figure his words on his own. If he didn't, you'd try to help as subtly as possible.

He clenched his fists, glaring at the ground. "I don't fucking know, but I hate it" It felt like he was pouting, which was cute, somehow.

"Hate what? Your reaction? That person? Seeing them die?"

He took a few moments for himself. It took so long that you thought he figured this was kind of a therapy, which got you nervous, but he answered. "Them dying, I just don't get it.. Normally I don't give a shit"

You smiled a little. "Well.. Maybe you do now" He gave you an annoyed look. "I mean, deep down, inside you, you're afraid of losing that person. And you maybe actually like them a lot more than you may think"

The white haired man crossed his arms, looking down, you could almost see the gears turn in his head.

The silenced installed itself in between the two of you. You actually appreciated it while Tomura was breaking down his brain piece by piece.

Though, you thought that he shouldn't think too much about this. After all, it was just a dream. And they didn't always mean something.

You smirked a littke and nudged his shoulders with yours. "How's that for a first therapy session?"

Shigaraki blinked, coming back to reality, then turned to you, taking a few seconds before he realized. He then frowned, fuck maybe you fucked up.

"Fuck off" He gently pushed you off the bench you both were sitting on since you arrived at the station.

He was smirking so you smiled back. "Hey!" You stood up and grabbed his wrists, trying to pull him off the bench too.

He scoffed as it wasn't working.

You fooled around like that for a while, seemingly not realizing that the two heroes were watching you.

His blonde colleague smiled. "I believe this is working well"

"Apparently.." Aizawa crossed his arms.

He felt odd about this, no, he felt… Proud? Why? Normally, he'd feel that kind of pride for his students. But now, for some reason, he was glad that Tomura Shigaraki and his therapist were getting along and having fun.

Maybe All Might's plan to rehabilitate Tomura- Tenko wasn't as worthless as he thought after all..

Prev Next

[jazziejax]

𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲

𝐌𝐬.𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥

Pairings- Black!OC x Abbott Elementary Cast, later Black!OC x Manny (Can be read as x Reader though!)

Summary- S1E1-Light Bulb with Naoya Lovel

Warnings- Swearing, kids, mixed race reader( those aren't warnings really, just what to expect)

Jazzie'sNotes!- let me know what you guys think!! I've been really obsessed with Abbott Elementary recently and I'm contemplating if I want to write S1&S2 just to get to the Manny season. I want to get there fast but I know what won't be possible with two seasons worth of writing. Let me know what you guys think I should do.

Word Count- 5,680

“Ten seconds!” Jacob yelled over his shoulder at the people in the room. Melissa and Barbra rushed over to the sitting area in front of the television that played the action news. Naoya sitting the opposite of them on the small couch.

“Oh, we love Action News! Get in early just to watch it.” Melissa said to the cameras. “It just really calms you down after wanting to take a wrench to someone's side mirror in traffic.” She beamed as if what she said was totally normal.

“But the Philadelphia region continues to suffer, temperature in the mid-90s with a heat index approaching 100…” The television said as they all sat and watched.

“Now I’m a proud married Christian woman and I love my husband. But there’s something about that Jim Gardner.” Barba gushed to the cameras. “That non-regional diction.” The woman was practically blushing just at the thought of the man.

“It is so important to support and acknowledge local journalism, okay?” Jacob started. “There’s no agenda here. This is—This is one going, in the streets, powerful stuff.” He explained seriously.

“I get in early just to see my aunt Magnolia on the screen. She’s a news anchor and I like telling her what I like and dislike about her outfits every morning.” Naoya nodded nonchalantly.

“Wouldn’t want to see that dog in traffic.” Jim Fardner said as they all laughed while watching a little Pomeranian dog drive a toy car.

“Yes, Jim.” Barbra agreed, not seeing the confused look Noaya gave her from the side.

“I like the news because that’s when I can say whatever I want and nobody asks any questions.” Mr.Johnson told the cameras with a smirk.

“I’m taking a personal day.” The old man said as he entered the room, looking at the backs of everyone’s heads as they continued to watch the morning news. “Going fishing with my friends. Anyways, toilet papers in the closet.” He said before walking out.

“I hear him.” Naoya nodded, giving the people behind the camera a small smile. “I hear everything. Plus he is a hilarious old man and I wanna know all his secrets. I am this close to cracking him.” She said with an evil smirk making its way into her face as she lined her fingers together to indicate a small amount.

“I saw Jim Gardner once. At the Chipotle.” Barbra smiled bashfully, not taking her eyes away from the television. “Ooh, he orders a bowl so handsomely.” She gushed. Naoya gave the older woman another look, this time more concern than confusion.

It was only a moment later that Jacob was going through the break room fridge, poking around for something. “Who’s branzino is this?” He asked, holding the fish dish in his hands. “This is a very powerfully smelling fish to put in a shared fridge.” The boy complained as politely as he could, closing the ice box with a disgusted look on his face.

“Don’t touch it,” Melissa said looking up from her phone. “I’m making it right at my cousin Annette’s.” She made her way over to have a seat in her usual spot next to Barb. “She thinks she’s the best cook in the family. I’m gonna show her in a non-threatening way. Imma look cuter than her too.” She smirked.

“I have a distant cousin named Annette,” Naoya said, finishing up the delicious breakfast sandwich that she had every morning. “She was psychotic though, used to put poison in the condiments at restaurants.” The younger woman stated, looking off in thought as the rest stared at her in disbelief. “I haven’t seen her in ages. Don’t want to either, she was butt ugly.” She then took a sip of her orange juice.

Just as she finished, Janine walked into the room, putting her bag down on the table in front of Melissa and Barbra. “Guys, the lights in the back hallways have been out for weeks.”

“Thank you for the update,” Melissa said as she applied more makeup.

“What are you wearing?” Barbra asked, looking her up and down.

“And we need to do something about it. Okay?” The short woman tried to sound demanding but it didn’t come off that way. “Uh, Melina, from your class.” She started, pointing at Melissa. “Yeah, she was afraid to come to school this morning. Said it looked like “The Shining.” And I don’t even get how she knows that reference.”

“She loves “The Shining,” Melissa stated.

“It’s a classic movie.” Jacob chimed in.

The camera panes Naoya’s way, who looks at them at their movements. ‘Never seen it.’ She mouthed with a shrug of her shoulders.

“This isn’t okay, alright?” Janine stressed. “And I already talked to Mr.Johnson and he said that there isn’t anything he can do.

“What do you want us to do about it?” Barbra asked the girl tiredly.

“I mean, it can’t be hard. It’s just screwing in a few new bulbs.” The small woman stated.

“Janine, just worry about what can be controlled.” Barbra cut her off.

“Exactly.” Melissa agreed. “All we can do on a hot day like this is our own jobs, anyway.”

“I know what’s right,” Ava said as she barged into the room and made her way over to the coffee machine. “Why is it February and hotter than the devil’s booty hole outside?” She asked.

“Climate Change.” Jacob and Naoya said at the same time, causing them to point at one another in recognition while Ava shot both of them a tired look. “We are living in the middle of its disastrous effects. The permafrost in Russia—” He was about to rant before Ava cut him off.

“Nerd.” The woman said between coughs, which sounded more like a laugh. Naoya rolled her eyes while Jacob just turned back to what he was doing.

“Ava.” Janine started, walking up to the woman who was still laughing from her childish joke. “Can someone from the city come and check on the back hallway lights?”

“Girl, no.” The woman answered, her usual judgmental look on her face. “Do I look like the Kool-Aid man?” She asked, halving around the room. Her eyes stopped on Naoya, who raised her eyebrows in question. “Don’t answer that.” She pointed at the woman, who just shrugged it off. “I don’t have enough juice to manipulate the inner workings of city hall.” The principal continued, looking back at Janine and scoffing before making her way out. “They’ll probably come in the summer.” She said as the bell rang.

“I’m the summer?” Janine asked after doing a double take at her words. But the woman was long gone and the others were making their way out of the room to their classes.

“Tough break. Want some egg white bites?” Jacob asked, easing closer to Janine and holding out a plate. The solemn woman looked up at him with a new determination. “No. I don’t have time to eat.” She said before walking out. Jacob was mid-bite when he turned and faced Naoya, who was putting her bag over her shoulder. And before the man could even speak, the woman stopped him. “No, I don’t want your peasant food, Jacob. It’s insulting that you would ask someone as cultured as myself such a question.” She started before strutting out of the break room. Jacob stood there in disbelief.

“It’s just egg white bites, you put them in the microwave.”

▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣

“Janine, what on earth are you doing on that thing?” Naoya asked as she rushed down the hall to the smaller woman who stood on a ladder. She had just come from using the restroom and leaving a class of a bunch of nine to ten-year-olds unattended for even a few seconds could lead to chaos. She didn’t know that chaos would be the grown woman who was the height of a nine to ten-year-old.

“I’m going to fix this broken light.” The woman said determinedly, only a step above the floor in the heightening tool. Naoya made it next to her, seeing the woman wasn’t doing much movement. She placed her hands on her hips, a smug look on her face. “Janine, you are not meant to go to those heights. God gave you your stature for a reason. Plus you’re terrified.”

“I am not terrified.” The woman said, shooting a glance at her. At that, Naoya gave her a knowing look before ushering the woman to go ahead. Janine nodded and looked back at the matter, fear gripping her. She gulped looking back at Naoya. “Okay, I am terrified but I’m gonna do it because I’m on a mission.” She said before carefully making her way up the ladder.

“If this backfires, you buy my dinner,” Naoya asked, after checking in on her classroom through the glass door, seeing them still doing their reading time. At that, Janine gave a confused look to the air, since she was too scared to look down. “Uh, no. This bet is not in my face, at all.”

“Well, at least have some faith in yourself, goodness gracious.”

At that, Janine continued, taking the cover off the lights and continuing to tweak at the wires. “See, look at this. It was just a loose wire.” The woman said, briefly glancing down at the people below her. She then connected the wire with another one, watching as the light stopped flickering. But it didn’t stop for long, the bulbs brightening before bursting in her face.

“Oh!” The woman screamed as she ducked:

“Janine!” Naoya yelled from below her, hosing her arms out in case the woman fell. Instantly, all the rooms were filled with the sounds of confusion and discomfort. The doors opened as the teachers exited.

“Oh, God! Can someone please help me down?” Janine asked, her voice shaking from the fear of the height she was at and the bulb exploding before her.

“And why would we do that since you caused this situation?” Melissa asked as she propped her door open.

“Okay, I didn’t know doing this would cause all the power to go out.” Janie tried to justify, still clutching onto the ladder.

“Well, the power is not all out,” Barbra stated. “It’s on in some places and off in others.”

“It’s off in my room,” Gregory said.

“On in the gym.” The coach said tiredly, slugging up to the group.

“Yeah, it’s off in my room,” Melissa spoke back up. “Thank God we got the A/C or we’d all be meltin’ already.”

“Okay, well before anyone freaks out, the best thing to do in these situations is just stay calm and—” Naoya started as she looked around the group but was silenced by the frantic voice of their terrible and terrified principal.

“Okay! This is it, y'all! The End Times!” The woman said as she rounded the corner in a hurry, a light strapped to her head. “It’s three months early, but it’s happening!” She said, as she closed in on them, giving the closest thing to her a tousle, which happened to be the very thing that was holding Janine up.

“Aah, don’t shake the ladder.” The smaller woman yelled from up top.

“Gregory is the only person that can stay in my bunker, so stop asking.” The crazed principal continued. Naoya’s head jerked back at her words, shocked at the woman’s blatant advancements that were harassment at this point.

“Ava,” Barbra started, holding her arms out in a non-offensive manner to calm the woman. “It is just a partial power outage. Alright, listen up everyone—.”

“Listen to Barbra, y'all!” The doomsday woman yelled, still latched into the latter out of fear.

“Are you kidding me?” Janie asked, clasping at the top of the ladder for support as it shook again.

“This is what we’re gonna do.” Barbra started again. “Everybody without power, please, head to the gym.”

“Head!” Ava chimed in again.

“We will conduct classes there until this is all fixed. It is not ideal—.” She stressed, looking up at the culprit on the ladder. “But it will work.”

“You hear her. Let’s go!” Ava demanded with a nod.

“Guys!” Janie called from the top of the ladder, causing them all to look up at her. “I-I just wanna I-I’m sorry, everybody.” The woman said nervously. “I just thought if I could get up here and get this done then we wouldn’t have to wait and..”

“And look where it landed us, baby girl.” Barbra cut in. “Everybody please head to the gym. We’ve got bigger fish to fry now.”

“Oh, Jesus! My branzino! Everybody out of the way. Out of the way!” Melissa yelled as she sprinted down the hall filled with children.

“Well, if someone can please help me! I feel like I’m one wobble away from death!” Janie begged from where she fluted the top of the ladder. At that, Naoya walked closer, raising her hand to help guide the woman down but was intercepted by Gregory's large arms. The two people glanced at each other, unexpected by the other one's move. Naoya waved her hand, signaling him to help instead. “Thank you,” Jannie said, too spooked to even pay attention to the odd interaction before her. “Okay, give me your hand. Take your time.” Gregory soothed, his large hand latched onto Janine’s. When he was turned away from her, she gave the camera an odd look, scratching the back of her ear. “Whenever you're ready.”

“Okay.” Janine sighed. There was a moment of silence between them all as they waited. “Am I doing it?” Janie asked, just standing there.

“No, honey,” Naoya spoke up, raising an eyebrow at such an odd question.

“Okay, let’s do a count of three.” Janine reiterated, adjusting herself to prepare.

“Okay,” Gregory started. “One, two…three.” He finished and the woman still wasn’t moving. “One more time.” He said.

▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣

“This is all my fault,” Janie said as she looked around the gymnasium at all the students. The shock clock then went off, the constant noise startling Gregory, who paused his class to speak to the woman. “Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have tried to do the job of a newly graduated DeVry student, but this is okay.” The man sassed, with an awkward smile as she gestured around the room. Melissa was teaching her kids the best she should with something in flashcards, while Barbra was teaching her students to tell time.

Naoya was on the other side of the room, all her students sitting in rows with their eyes closed and taking deep breaths, with her in the front as a group meditation process. She chose this alternative instead of their gym scheduled gym activities, so the kids weren’t accidentally hitting four-year-olds in the head with basketballs.

Janine sighed, going to pick up her phone that pinged. She read the messages she got from Tariq, and that pissed her off even more. Well, it wasn’t helping her attitude for today.

“I made this mess, and I need to fix this.” She said again, looking around at the distressed room of teachers.

“Okay, but fix this how? Gregory asked her. “It seems very outside of your skill set. You should probably just wait for somebody to get to it—.” He tried to reiterate what Barbra had been saying all along and Janine was not having it.

“I don’t want to wait for someone to get to it!” Janine hissed. “You know, our children have needs that deserve to be met. And I’m going to fix this. Nothing is going to get in my way.” She said determined.

“What if you have to climb another ladder?” Gregory finally asked. “Those seem very tricky for you.”

“No.” That was all Janie gave him. “Not today.

Sometime later, the bell rang, signaling to everyone that it was much time.

“Aren’t you going to lunch, Janine?” Melissa asked as she, Barbra, Gregory, and Naoya made their way to the gymnasium doors.

“Uh, no, I’m actually gonna stay and help the lunch ladies with lunch.” The shorter woman tried to find a reasonable excuse.

“The lunch ladies don’t like you, Janine. They never say hello back.” Naoya said, crossing her arms as she looked at the woman across from her. “So, is that what you’re really doing?”

“Yes!” She answered. “And maybe trying to get the lights back on.” She rushed out at the end, hoping no one heard. At that, the two older women groaned.

“Would you give that a rest?” Melissa started. What do you want? To make the whole school blow up?”

“No!” The woman said as she folded her arms. “Plus, I can’t. Luckily the school was built as a bomb shelter in WWII, so…”

“Let it go.” Barbra practically begged the girl before her before she and the rest of the teachers started walking away.

“Okay, I will.” The woman told them, watching them exit. She and Gregory held long eye contact, both knowing the truth deep down. After they were gone, Janine looked back down at her phone, not paying attention to her friends next to her.

“You’re not gonna let it go, are you?” Jacob spoke up.

“No, I’m not gonna let it go, Jacob, okay?” She said, giving the two of them a look. “I need to right my wrongs.”

“Okay, we’ll count me out.” He said, waving her off.

“I never counted you in,” Janine said to him, confused about where he got that from.

“Well, then count me in.” He restated. “Because I don’t have any lunch plans.”

“Okay.” She sighed. She then looked at the woman next to him, her purse on her shoulder. “Weren’t you going to lunch?” She asked.

“You owe me lunch, remember? Your plan backfired.” She reminded the woman from earlier with a shrug. Janine sighed, turning away from them and walking, knowing they would follow. “That’s not how bets work, Naoya. Both people have to agree.”

“That’s how my bets work and you owe me food, woman!”

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“This is just like the one in my apartment, this is going to be easy,” Janine stated as the three of them made their way to the breaker box that was in the custodian closet. “Me and Tariq have to go in that thing like three times a month.” She said them behind her, Jacob holding the flashlight above her head.

“Maybe you should move.” The man suggested.

“Yeah. Tariq says he is “practicing” his credit score.” Janine struggled out and she pushed to get the metal box open. “Apparently 380 isn’t a good—.” She continued to struggle, her words getting lost in her. “Let me try,” Naoya said as she softly nudged the smaller woman out of the way. She gave the box a pull and the thing popped open. She turned and smiled at the two. “I loosened it,” Jannie said, trying to save face.

“Sure, Jan,” Naoya said, going back to looking in the box. “Oh..” she said, looking at the jumbled mess of wires and switches.

“Oh, no,” Janie said, looking at the same thing. “Don’t touch. Not even a little bit.” She read out loud, giving the camera a certain look. “Uh, okay. What’s that say?”

“End of the Road? It’s so hard to say goodbye?” Naoya read out loud, looking at the labels next to some of the switches. “What? Motownphil—These are Boyz II Men songs.” She deadpanned, turning to the rest of them.

“Why?” Jannie asked, moving to stand in front of the box herself.

Jacob chuckled. “It’s ironic ‘cause I’m on Bended Knee.” He joked, giving the camera a brief look. Naoya genuinely snickered while Janie just laughed awkwardly. “Heh. Okay.” She said before going back to the wires. “Oh God, why is that one hot?” Offering them a glance of concern. “Let me try this one.” She said and just a flip of a switch caused a giant spark to erupt, the trio screamed and jumped back to dodge the sparks as best as they could.

“What in the world.”

“What going on?”

Melissa and Barba exclaimed as she entered the hot and dark school building with children running around. “It’s so hot I’m gonna frizz.” Just then, Janie and Jacob came out of the appliance closet, their hair a mess from the static they endured. The three teachers who left for lunch automatically knew who the culprit for everything was.

“Janine! What did you do?!” Barbra asked, quite fed up with the younger woman. “Looking like ‘who shot John.’”

“Barbra, look, I know you told me to let it go, but I couldn’t. Jacob and Naoya—.” At that, she looked back to see where the woman was but she was nowhere to be found. “Jacob helped me open the breaker.” She was quick to accuse.

“I ran away as soon as the sparks started flying. I was looking out for myself.” The woman shrugged as she leaned against the wall next to her. “Plus, I wasn’t about to get yelled at by Barb for this whole mess.”

“It was a chance to support a strong Black woman.” The man next to her breathed out, in a state of shock, quite literally.

“The breaker?!” Melissa asked. “Janine! You can’t do this stuff! What had you come to work today and lose your mind?”

“Look, I—.” She tried to find something to say. “I just have—she gulped—I feel lightheaded.” She said as she swayed.

“Ohh, okay,” Barbra said worriedly as they all closed in on the smaller girl.

“Did you eat today, because I know you didn’t have lunch,” Melissa asked the girl worriedly.

“And you didn’t have any breakfast,” Jacob stated, his tone showing his concern for the woman’s wellbeing. Janine couldn’t even say anything, her balance was off and her mind was delirious.

“Okay, we’re losing her,” Melissa yelled, easing up on the girl. “Do I have your consent to slap you?” At that, Janine fell backward into Gregory’s arms just as Ava and Naoya rounded the corner. “There she goes,” Melissa said over the shocked screams of her colleagues. “She’s out.”

“Yall feel this heat?” Ava asked, just now seeing the sight of the woman on the floor before her. “Oh my God! She’s pale like a zombie! You know, they eat the hottest people first, let me back my tasty ass up.” Ava said, going back to where she came from down the hall. At her stupid words, Naoya was tempted to follow her but snapped out of it when she saw Janine on the floor.

“Uh, okay! I’m gonna go see if I can get some water out of the fridge. Hopefully, it’s still cold.” Naoya said before running off.

“Oh my God, my branzino!” Melissa yelled, moving to push Barb back.” “Excuse me, Barb. She’ll be okay!” She yelled as she pushed the older woman out of her way and jumped over the unconscious woman.

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Once Janine woke up from her little coma, the coach told her that all the kids and teachers were outside. She walked out to see all of them playing in the water that was sprouting from the fire hydrants while the teachers lunged in chairs. “Oh, look who’s back in the land of the living,” Melissa said once she saw the small woman exit the school.

“Who opens the fire hydrant?” Janine asked

“Well, as Melissa would say, snitches get stitches,” Barbra said.

“It was Naoya,” Jacob whispered to his shorter friend, pointing over at said woman who was playing in the water with the children. She had her bat at her side, leaning her weight on it as she splashed the kids who came near her to throw water her way.

“That is correct.” Melissa started again. “But I am not talking to you on account of you killing my branzino.” She said, before leaning back in her seat. Barbra gave her a look and cleared her throat. Melissa looked at the woman from under her shades and sighed a little before sitting back up. Barbra then got up from her seat, allowing Janine to take it.

“So that’s it, huh?” Janine asked, looking around at the kids. “I , uh, gave it my all, passed out, and ruined the school day?”

“Oh, you tanked,” Melissa told her. “You tanked Janine. You took the whole school down with you. It was impressive.” She pressed, knowing she was pushing the woman’s buttons.

“Look, I know. I should’ve stopped. I’m sorry.” Janine sighed. “I just felt so bad when I saw that look on Melina’s face this morning.”

“You don’t think it kills us to see those faces in the morning?” Melissa asked her. “What, are we made of stone? You’re not the first person to feel things, kid. We care.”

It was silent for a moment as Janine thought over the woman’s words. “How do you and Barbra stop yourselves from caring too much if that’s a thing.”

“Because it’s the opposite.” Melissa smiled at the girl as she took off her shades. “We care so much we refuse to burn out. If we burn out, who’s here for these kids? That’s who you gotta take care of yourself.”

“Yeah, what’s with you today Nini?” Both women jumped at the sound of Naoya’s voice, while the woman just stood behind them with her bat. “You’re normally bananas, but…” She trailed off, waving at the girl's aura.

“Uh, I don’t know. Just some stuff at home, I think.” Janine shrugged with an answer.

“Oh, okay,” Melissa said with a nod. “See, that’s the other thing me and Barbra learned. All that at-home stuff—you gotta leave it at the door. Otherwise, you open up a whole nother Panera’s box of problems.”

“I think you mean Pandora’s box,” Naoya told the woman sitting in front of her.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s Panera’s box.” She nodded, while Janine and Naoya both gave the camera a look.

Later on that day, Naoya was in her room in the process of changing the clothes she had on into some that she kept in her closet. She enjoyed playing in the water with the kids but she was not going to go home wet. As she was in the process of changing, she got a phone call. Looking down at her phone, she saw the contact and quickly answered the phone.

“Hello, Adona.” The girl sighed into the phone as she pulled a new shirt over her head.

“Oh, well don’t sound so pleased.” The feminine voice over the phone said to her. Naoya rolled her eyes, as she opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out a plastic store bag. She offered the camera a glance, knowing they were probably thinking as to why she kept so many plastic bags in her drawer. But all she could offer them now was a shrug as the voice over the phone continued.

“Anyways, how are you?”

“What do you want, Adona?” Naoya spat, stuffing her semi-wet clothes into the plastic bag.

“What? I can’t see how my own sister is doing?” The woman said over the phone, the hurt in their voice obviously sarcastic.

“No, but I know you. And I know that you only call when you need money. Money for something other than your child.” The younger girl snapped over the phone. All she got in response was a sigh and some shuffling from the other end.

“You know, you don't have to rub it in.” Adona started, and Naoya rolled her eyes at the woman’s words, knowing this conversation was about to go to the argument they always had. “This all would have been so much easier if the rest of us weren’t left out of her will.”

“That’s not my fucking fault, Adona. I tell you that every time you call. Do you think I want the burden of you and the others calling me every month for some fucking bill for me to pay? Not to ask how I’m doing?” Naoya spat at her sister over the phone. She could feel her eyes start to sting, she was never the best at arguing when it came to her family. She’d been called sensitive all her life and it rang true every time she talked to her siblings.

“ “The others”? That’s what you call us? You’re family?” That was all Adona could say back. Naoya rolled her eyes and let out a scoff, pulling the phone away from her face as she sniffed and held her head back, trying to stop her tear flow. After only a few quick seconds, she brought the phone back to her face. “Uh, I can already see where this is going, so I’m gonna end it here. Just send the amount and I’ll talk to you some other time. Take care.” She said before pressing the red button on her screen to end the call.

She placed her phone in her back pocket and moved around her room to gather her things, trying her best to occupy her mind from what just ensued. She was so in her head that she forgot the cameras were there. And she didn’t hear the voice of Gregory at her door.

“Naoya?” He called out to her.

She looked up at the sound of his voice as she placed her things into her bag. “Oh, Hello Gregory.” She smiled, her face showing none of the emotions she was feeling.

“You’ve eaten?” He asked, just standing in the doorway of her classroom.

“Uh, no, actually. Janine was supposed to buy me lunch because I bet that her plan would backfire.” The woman said as she placed her things in her arms. At that, Gregory gave her a questioning look. Naoya raised her hands in surrender. “I know, I sound like a terrible friend. But it’s not that I don’t believe in Janine, I just know how to black a bet. Get it from my father.” The girl shrugged. She and Gregory both laughed lightly. And when it died down, they just started at one another, the air between them oddly peaceful.

“But, uh, are you offering?” She asked, looking at the man before her.

“Uh, yeah. I was going to ask Janine too.” He said, pointing his thumb in the direction of the said woman’s room.

“Cool! Let’s go.” She said with a genuine smile, causing the man to smile at her as well. They walked out and over to Janine’s room, where it looked like the woman was doing something on her phone. Gregory knocked on her door to get her attention. “Hey.” He said.

“Hey,” Jaimie said, looking at the two.

“Have you eaten?” He asked.

“Oh. No. The um, lunch lady gave me that can of peaches but no can opener, so, no.” She chuckled, pointing at the can on her desk.

“What? No fair! You’re so lucky. Well, besides the whole can opener situation. ” Naoya said jokingly.

“Alright, we’ll, you wanna go get something to eat? With me?” Gregory said before Naoya lightly cleared her throat. “With us?” Gregory was quick to reiterate. Naoya nodded, offering the slightly flustered older man a brief look.

“Oh,” Janine said, looking between the two. “I was gonna wait for my boyfriend to finish his show to eat…” She said. Naoya nodded at her words, understanding where she was coming from. Well, understanding as best as she could because she’d never wait to eat for a man. But maybe that was love. She caught the way Gregory’s posture changed at Janin’s words out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t say anything but she did give me a crazy side-eye, hoping he noticed.

“But…no.” The shorter woman started back up with a laugh. “I’m hungry now, so I should eat now, right?”

“That’s typically how hunger works, yeah.” Gregory played along.

“Right! Normal people eat at normal times, like…4:00.” She said, pointing over at the clock on her wall.

“Yeah. All true.” Gregory said with a nod before smiling. “So, let’s go eat.”

“Let’s. Okay.” Janine said with an equally large smile before moving to grab her things. At that, Naoya turned around to head out the door, not wanting to be in the middle of an obvious love fest. She gave the cameras outside a knowing look, a large smirk on her face.

Seconds later, the two of them walked out of the room, Naoya joining them to go down the hall. On their way, they ended up meeting Jacob.

“Oh, hey guys, what up?” The man said.

“We’re just headed to get something to eat,” Gregory answered.

“Oh, great, I’ll join.” The man just inserted himself, not catching the looks thrown his way by the three. “After school crew.” He continued.

“Ooh, “After School Crew.” I like that.” Janine smiled. They all ended up stopping at the lights coming on within the school. They looked over to see Mr.Johnson in the supply closet, standing next to the breaker machine in his fishing gear.

“You touch the lights, didn’t you, Janine?” He asked, shooting an accusatory look the woman’s way.

“Yes,” Janine answered with a defeated look.

“Good thing I got me a system.” The man told her, flicking the breaker box closed. “I’ll make love to you. Like you want me to.” He continued to sing. This caused them to all sigh and continue walking. Naoya stayed behind, a fond smile on her lips as she watched the old man. When he caught the sight of the woman still there, he paused and looked at her.

“You have a good fishing trip?” She asked the man, crossing her arms over another. The man looked at the girl kind of shocked that she asked and that she knew.

“Yeah. Yeah, I actually did.” He said, offering her a smile of his own. Naoya nodded at his words before walking away, following the crew that left her. Mr.Johnson looked at the spot she left, a fond smile on his face as she continued to sing the song.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Since you can do MMD stuff now I have a request!

The Fontaine gals with an S/O who likes to eat ice cream with them atop somewhere high while watching the sunset! (Inspired by Kingdom Hearts)

(Genshin Impact) Navia, Furina, and Lynette eating ice cream with their S/O

I'd throw my sea salt ice cream at Xion's head.

Navia prefers baked treats over cold ones, but she'll have no complaints about sharing either with her S/O!

And when it comes to their choice of their scenery, Navia absolutely loves it.

Watching the sunset with her lover at her side gets her heart racing.

Though with that being said, she only goes along if that evening is not particularly windy.

The last thing she wants is her hat flying off into the wind at that height.

Mostly because she'll go after it, which S/O would have to grab Navia and make sure she won't fall.

And with how strong she is, she's taking S/O with her.

She also tries to make sure the ice cream doesn't drip down onto her dress, but other than that, sitting next to them is one of her new favorite past times!

===

Navia smiled as she took a bite into the frozen treat, turning to S/O and raising her sunglasses.

S/O blushed at her bright expression, staring more at her than the sunset itself.

(S/O) "Sure thing! I'm sure you can make it taste better too!"

(Navia) "Aw, I can't make it without you, silly! Now, what did you call this again?"

(S/O) "Sea Salt Ice Cream."

(Navia) "Sea Salt, got it! There should be no shortage of that around here, I'm surprised no one's made this sooner!"

(S/O) "A friend of mine taught me the recipe. He liked sitting up here with his friends and eating the same thing."

Navia's sunglasses dropped back down as she moved closer to S/O, taking another bite from her ice cream.

(Navia) "Well...I'm glad you wanted to share this sight with me too!"

Furina is a woman of class, only enjoying the most delectable of desserts adorned with fancy decorations.

And their taste must be nothing short of sublime!

So when it comes to ice cream, admittedly, she finds them lacking, but sweets are sweets!

And the ones S/O had chosen to share with her passed her expectations!...When it comes to the taste, anyway.

But when it came to their choice of location, Furina was more than happy to watch the sunset in silence with S/O.

It was honestly a nice change of pace than the opera houses they'd frequent. This secluded place on the wall overlooking a large part of Fontaine felt like a special place, reserved only for them.

===

Furina examined the treat before her under close scrutiny. Appearance-wise, it was just a block of blue. Boring!

But, S/O had made this specially for her. The taste passed her inspection but it was admittedly bland. She would have to properly inform them how to make amazing treats!

(S/O) "Do you like it?"

(Furina) "The taste is adequate. But would it have killed you to put some flair onto this ice cream?"

(S/O) "Well, my friend never really taught me to do anything special with it."

(Furina) "Your friend?"

(S/O) "Oh, did I not tell you? He's the one who taught me how to make it! We all shared the ones he made at this very spot. Heh, everytime he showed us, he'd ask if we "got it memorized" every single time!"

While Furina was listening, she became enraptured by S/O's face as they recalled their fond memory, smiling as the sun was shining on them.

They had noticed she was staring and tilted their head curiously.

(S/O) "Is something wrong?"

Furina smiled and tasted her ice cream, then leaning the treat towards S/O.

Admittedly, Lynette did not try too many dishes that were either too hot or cold. The only exception for that being tea, and even then she had to wait for it to cool off.

Due to inheriting the cat-like traits, a very sensitive tongue was one of the things she had to learn to live with.

So, ice cream was something she did not have often, although she admittedly did enjoy it, but not to the same degree as other dessert aficionados.

But she won't say no to a free meal, especially one provided by her S/O.

And seeing how happy S/O was to give her the homemade ice cream, she couldn't refuse that smile.

Doubly so when she got to watch the sun set next to them, though feeling the heat directly made her want to take a nap more than anything.

===

Lynette looked at the ice cream in her hands, noticing how basic the shape was.

Shrugging, her tongue poked out from her lips as she gave the ice cream a lick, immediately recoiling.

S/O chuckled at her cute reaction.

(S/O) "I mean, it is ice cream, Lynette. How did it taste?"

Lynette stared blankly at S/O before failing to contain a small smile from growing. She waited for a few moments before taking another lick, noting the taste.

(Lynette) "Salty, but sweet at the same time. Surprisingly not too strong in either direction."

(S/O) "Okay, good! My friend would never let me live it down if I messed up the recipe for my girlfriend."

Now it was Lynettte's turn to quietly chuckle as she looked at the setting sun, feeling the warmth on her skin.

(Lynette) "I don't think Lyney would either. Speaking of which, do you mind making more for him as well?"

(S/O) "Sure. Want me to teach you as well? It's pretty simple."

Lynette paused for a moment, her ears twitching.

(Lynette) "I don't have to use any appliances, do I?"

(S/O) "The stovetop and freezer, mostly."

(Lynette) "I...think I'll watch, so that way I don't break it."

S/O laughed, almost dropping their own ice cream.

(S/O) "Okay. You'll at least eat them when I make them, right?"

Lynette smiled at them before getting back to slowly finishing up the ice cream.

(Lynette) "I won't eat one every day, but I will when you make them."

[flippinpancakes64]

Hi, can I request the Cullens with a reader who likes to party and goes to raves. Like the reader likes to have a good time but still has their stuff together.

The Cullens with a reader who likes to party

Uhm this will be another call-out post because I have never been to a party or a rave. I mean, I write fanfic on tumblr for fun so. Anyway just saying that this might be inaccurate so just be prepared for that

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

Edward:

He's not really a partying type of person

He prefers to brood and stew in misery

He's just that kinda guy

But he will accompany you if you ask him

Personally, he doesn't mind what you do for fun

If you enjoy it and you're not in any immediate danger, then he's all for it

I could see him being a bit put off by your rave outfits though

He's... traditional

He would ask you a couple of times to cover up a bit, but if you say no... then he will keep asking

He's really not comfortable with you wearing next to nothing to go party in a group of strangers

Those are the instances where he might come with you

No matter who you are, you could literally be a 7 foot body builder and he still wouldn't trust the crowds

But overall he just doesn't really care

You're responsible, your partying isn't hindering you any, and you still hang out with him so all's well

Alice:

She is the definition of a party person

She wants to go with you

And yes she would love a rave

It challenges her to make different types of outfits that she never has before

And she loves dancing so

It's just an added bonus that you are also really on top of things

She greatly admires that you can be gone all night partying and then come back the next morning and still get to school on time

Occasionally, though, she will ask you to take a break

Even though you can stay up partying until 4 am and still get to school by 7 doesn't mean that you should

She goes with you to everything and tries to get you to leave earlier so that you can actually sleep

But that only happens like once a week

Every other day she is right there dancing next to you

Jasper:

Opposites attract I guess?

To him, being in a club or at a rave actually sounds like a new torture method developed just for him

He truly does not understand the appeal

Like what do you mean you want to be in a room filled with sweaty, drunk people listening to music that is so loud it'll make you go deaf by 30?

He will not go with you sorry

If you beg him enough he might go to a club

But he will stand in the corner looking like he's about to vomit

Being around crowds is already a challenge for him

But this is too much

But otherwise he doesn't care what you do

It's your life, this is what you find fun, he doesn't mind

Occasionally though he will ask you to stay home for a night just because he misses you

Please hang out with him :(

Rosalie:

I don't think she's ever been to a rave before

But she loves it

She loves the outfits, all of the attention that she's getting from guys (she does NOT reciprocate guys don't worry), and the atmosphere

The music is a bit loud for her taste, but she gets over that

But she doesn't join you every time, just occasionally

She's a bit concerned at first though

She's worried that you aren't focusing enough on school, your job, or anything else

But after a few weeks and she sees that you do actually have a pretty good balance, she drops it

She makes you stay home at least 2 nights a week though

You need sleep

Emmett:

Party animal

I have no clue if he has ever actually been in a frat, but I would be shocked if he wasn't

He loves to dance and be crazy

So he joins you almost every time you go out

He only stays back if you ask him to or if he has something else to do

Like Edward, he never lets you go to a rave alone

He just doesn't trust all of those strangers not to pull something while you're wearing your exposing outfits

Unlike Edward, though, he won't tell you to change

He doesn't tell his partner what to wear cause he can fight

He does not care about your academics

You could literally flunk out of school he wouldn't care sorry

The only thing he would care about is that you are taking care of yourself

Esme:

She is not a party person

I talked about it forever ago in one of my other posts, but it's just not her scene

She will not go with you sorry

Even if you beg

And she is a bit skeptical of your outfits

She's very concerned about strangers

And yes she does ask you to cover up a little more

But it is entirely because she's worried for you

And she is definitely worried about your life

She doesn't want you to be missing sleep or neglecting your work

She will need a bit of reassurance

And by a bit I mean like a couple weeks

And you'll need to compromise with her a bit by staying home a couple of nights or making sure you're home by a certain time

She's just worried about you

Carlisle:

He's not a partying person either but he does understand the appeal

A place where you can go just to have fun and let loose he understands

He'll join you a couple of times and he won't complain, but it's pretty obvious it's not his thing

He does not care what you wear btw

It's your life and he's not your dad so who is he to tell you what to do

He trusts you to be safe and you know that you can call him at any time if you need him

The doctor in him doesn't let you stay out forever though

Again, he needs you to stay home and relax at least 3 times a week

And you need to eat a good meal every time before you leave

But he can tell that your grades are still good, you seem to still be in good health, and most of all you're happy so

Overall he's chill

Vampire! Bella:

Take her with you please

She loves it

She was never really a party person when she was alive but now she's immortal and she's ready to have some fun

She loves raves

And she loves the club

She does still have two left feet though

Like she cannot dance

So she just sort of sways side to side

And also she will not be wearing a rave outfit

She could care less what you wear, though

She also doesn't care if you're responsible or not

Your grades are slipping? Okay is she supposed to care?

You're really tired? Stay home and go to bed. Or just go out again, who's she to stop you?

[convexicalcrow]

fic: when the void stares back (ren&false)

a/n: posting a bit late bc i've had family stuff going all weekend oml. written for the @hermitadaymay solstice social event! found out too late that my partner wasn't able to participate in the end due to irl stuffs, so i only have a fic for you, but i hope you still enjoy it. <3

read here, or on ao3

-

"Ren."

"Yes, Falsie?"

"Don't you ever get…"

False walked to the small window in the bridge, watching nothing but stars fill the view. She wasn't sure how to word her thoughts. Perhaps she'd been cooped up here too long, maybe that was it. Certainly, she'd broken the silence because it had grown a little too uncomfortable.

"Don't I ever get what?"

"I dunno, I think maybe I thought space would be … more filled with people or something. I wasn't expecting the silence."

Ren joined her and stood next to her, tail wagging gently behind him. "Yeah, well. It is pretty empty this side of the galaxy. We got another two months travel though, do you want to go back into stasis?"

She scrunched her nose up at the thought. "Oh, it's not that. Besides, someone has to keep you sane out here."

Ren laughed. "I mean, that's very true."

She turned to face him and smiled. "Don't want you hallucinating again, do we?"

"Hey, it was one time! And it was the spores, I promise! I'm all good now!" Ren protested.

False gently moved past him, shaking her head. "I mean, you say that Ren."

"Hey!" Ren pretended to sound offended, but even he knew what he was like. "At least this new planet won't have spores, or so Gigacorp tells me."

"Yeah, but their planetary intel is 20 years behind at this point. I mean, even this ship is old for one of her size. There's so much she can't do that the newer ships can. We wouldn't need to travel an extra two months in a new ship, that's all I'm saying. And the squirtapods create more than enough spores as it is," False said.

"True, true. I've been tinkering behind the scenes on all the blueprints, trying to modernise them, but it's hard. So much of the new tech these days doesn't retrofit easily! It's such a pain!" Ren said.

"At least you're trying. Anyway. Not sure I like the idea of another two months of this, but there's not really much choice there, right? Company policy doesn't let us pilot alone, you know that as well as I," False said.

Ren sat down at a console, pretending to idly check the dials. In reality, they didn't need to do much to run the ship. Grumbot kept it all running well enough with the maintenance drones while they were in stasis and would alert them to any issues. All they had to do was pass the time.

"I dunno, maybe I wish I had…"

Ren's voice faded off. False turned to him. "More people? I think that's it. More people."

Ren idly scratched an ear. "Yeah, I think that's it. More people."

-

This ship was too big for the two of them. A Hermetheus class ship needed a crew of at least 50 to feel in any way full of life. With just the two of them, it felt like they were piloting a casket. Maybe if they had crew in stasis, it might feel okay. She could wake them up to get some more company, take her place while she has some time in stasis as well to keep her own sanity. Instead it was just her and Ren, and the vast emptiness of space.

Had she really signed up for this when she joined Gigacorp? Well, yes, actually. That was the whole reason. Get away from, well. Get away from things. And of course, you didn't need a full crew to scout out planets to colonise. A pair will do. Once they find good planets, then the rest of the group can follow to build up the infrastructure needed for the meganodes or whatever they're called.

She smiled grimly at that thought. She was working for a jumped up telco, of all things. Of course, communications were vitally important in space, she knew that as well as anyone, so it made sense. But it still sounded so silly in her head to be travelling around, finding good planets to put big satellite towers on. Hardly felt glamorous, really. They were tradespeople, electricians, not astronauts. Not that she'd go back, of course.

Her hand clasped around her gun again purely out of habit. It sat at her waist, standard issue Gigacorp weaponry to be used when necessary. It wasn't a very good gun though. It had a janky trigger that False did not like, and its accuracy was atrocious. If there wasn't a sensor in the holster to check the gun was still in there, she'd have ditched it for a proper weapon ages ago. But Gigacorp didn't work like that.

She sat on her bed. She'd been having stasis dreams again. Always tended to happen in the few weeks after leaving stasis. She could tell them apart from regular dreams because they were so strange to her. Figments of places, people, memories of building things and rivers and giant eagles and all sorts. Lots of towers on fire and laboratories she didn't really remember the purpose of. Her sister-

She hadn't thought about her sister in a very long time. Hadn't really seen her since she was a kid anyway. Just remembered her standing in the doorway of a burning ship, telling her to run. So she did. False ran.

She'd dreamed of her before, of course, but not like this. She was her sister, seeing through her eyes. Seeing False leaving her behind. Seeing jail cells and dead scientists and fire and a maniacal laughter. It had shaken her to her core. It was just a dream though, right? Yeah, it was just a dream. Stasis hallucinations to keep her mind busy. That's all it was. Perhaps her hand clutched her gun a little tighter, just in case.

-

False busied herself with inventory. There was still a lot to do before they arrived at the planet, and the sooner they had their equipment and supplies organised, the better. At least, it made False rest easy, and it gave her something to do. Ren usually just took care of the navigation and computers, making sure they had all the supplies on order that they needed. There were always some things they had to order in from Gigacorp, and at least they were finally close enough to tap into the local networks to get more up to date information on the planet they were heading to.

False busied herself in the hangar bay where all the ships were. The exploration ships they would take out to find suitable landing spots needed to be supplied with what would be needed to begin a colony, unpacked from the cargo they'd left with. Sand, dirt, grass, seeds, and, of course, squirtapods and their containment equipment.

The droids were doing the heavy lifting. They were faceless silver things, with simple voices and simple functions. Good enough to maintain a ship at a basic level and lift heavy supplies, but that was about it. But then these droids were as old as the ship itself. A newer ship, and newer droids, would do so much more than they could right now.

She sighed as one of the droids stumbled across a grill and nearly dropped the bag of soil it was carrying. "Oi! Don't you go breaking yourself, or it'll be coming out of our wages!"

"Sorry Ms Symmetry," the droid intoned as it straightened itself up. There was no fluid movement here, just a jerky slow correction to its gait and its foot position as it rebalanced itself.

"Yeah, so you should be. Honestly. You have, like, one job! I have like, sixteen! Get it together!" False said, half-serious, half-laughing at the struggling droid.

She got out of the way once the droid had corrected itself. She didn't really need to supervise them. Grumbot was doing that. But she at least wanted to feel busy, so this was what she did with her time. The thing was, the time would pass faster than she always thought it did. Six weeks very quickly turned into two weeks, and that's when the panic kicked in, even though they were very well prepared.

She sat down on the floor, watching the droids pack the ships up. It occurred to her that Ren was, at least, ten minutes away from her. Maybe twenty if the elevators fucked up like they always did. If something happened to her, something the droids couldn't help with, she was dead. Just, straight up dead. Ren would never get to her in time.

That thought sent a shiver up her spine. She didn't want to die, of course. But they were far too few on a ship that was way too big. The nearest ship could be months away, too. Communications could take days to arrive, if they arrived at all. She tried not to think about this too much. It tended to just make her anxious.

"Falsie, how's the inventory going?" came Ren's voice on the radio, breaking the silence.

"Oh, it's going. Droids are packing up the ships. How's things up there? Still heading on the right track?" False said.

"Yeah, all good up here. You want a break? I'll make you a cuppa tea?" Ren said.

False smiled. "Yeah, sure, be right there."

-

She wasn't, of course, right there. It did take a while to navigate back to the bridge. But she found Ren sitting there with a thermos of tea and a plate of biscuits, a rare treat they'd been saving for months. Thankfully, they had kept well. They'd moved a spare table and chairs into the bridge as there wasn't really anywhere close to take a break or just sit down without risking spilling things onto the consoles. False took a seat and Ren poured her a cup of tea.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ren said.

"Oh, you know, the vastness of space, how alone we are, how we really should have more crew here, the usual." She laughed to dismiss the fears in her head. It was fine. She was fine.

Ren laughed. "Yeah I hear you, hey Falsie? Wish Gigacorp would stop hoarding their money and get us more crew members. There's all those stasis pods going to waste for crying out loud!"

"I just can't imagine it's cheaper or more efficient to run a ship this big with only two people as opposed to like, I dunno, fifty, you know? We could get prepared for landing in a week instead of two months," False said.

Ren sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Look, I have told them this repeatedly, but do they listen? No! Of course not! There's too much of the universe to explore, they can't spare 50 person crews for every ship!"

"No, I mean, it's not like they're the richest and only corporation in the universe. Can't hurt those profit margins though, can we now? That's why we run in old ships. Too expensive to get new ones," False said.

"Yeah, well, there's worse jobs out there for sure. At least we get to see a bunch of different planets though! That's good, right?" Ren said.

"I mean, I guess? But you can do that on your own. You can just buy a ship with a warp drive and you're set. Small ones aren't that expensive anymore if it's just you," False said.

"What do you think I did before Gigacorp? I went to so many cool planets, Falsie! And now I get to do it as a job! It's so awesome! Don't you think it's awesome?" Ren said, the enthusiasm clear in his voice.

"I guess so, maybe. If you like exploring," False said.

"Don't you like exploring? Surely you must like exploring! Why else would you sign up for these missions?" Ren said.

False shrugged and took a sip of her tea. "Sometimes you just need to- Never mind."

"Oh! Also! I finally managed to get some images of the planet we're going to! Current ones!" Ren said.

He got up and headed over to the console to bring up the pictures. He flicked through a series of pictures of the planet's surface. They showed a rocky planet with pockets of ocean and green land. It didn't look promising to False.

"I bet it's another uninhabited world," False said, going to join him.

"It might not be! There could be life there! Life can thrive anywhere!" Ren said enthusiastically.

"Hmm." False was not yet convinced. "It's just, thirteen out of the last fourteen worlds were uninhabited, is all I'm saying."

"Look, not every planet can have abundant intelligent life! That's actually what we're doing here! We go to a planet, see if it can sustain life, and leave that information for Gigacorp to deal with. Then we move on to the next assignment. It's a perfectly fine system," Ren said.

"What do Gigacorp do with all these planets anyway?" False said. "Feels like it's just busy work at this point."

"It's for the Giganodes! It's connecting the Gigaverse together! Why wouldn't you want to be involved with that?" Ren said.

"So what you're saying is that we're the chumps installing satellite. We're doing the boring cable laying gruntwork of the Gigaverse more like," False said. "I'm not paid enough to care that much about the Gigacorp vision, if I'm honest."

"Aww, come on, it's great work we're doing here! Spreading the love of Gigacorp to new and exciting planets!" Ren said.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Ren."

-

False ran her hand over her ship, a small Valkyrie class tucked behind all the Gigacorp vehicles in the hangar. They'd been all over the galaxy together, and she'd smuggled her aboard when she joined Ren as crew. She wasn't as old as the ship they were piloting, but she had a knack for upgrades and repairs, so she was as good as the newest ships out there at the moment. Warp drive, chameleon skin, the works.

She could just fly off. She could get inside, open the doors, and fly off. Leave all of this behind. It wouldn't take much. She could stash enough supplies in here and just go.

She got inside, in spite of herself. It was comfortable in here. She knew this ship better than she knew herself. She always had a stash of emergency supplies in here. Sometimes, it was quicker to take her to rendezvous with supply ships and stations than get their Hermetheus to change course.

It was always nice to get away from the ship for a while. Talk to different people. Catch up with contacts and friends. Upgrade her ship. Profit a little on the side when she could. She knew how to take care of herself. Ren was always fine. She put Grumbot in autopilot and told him not to touch anything, and they were fine.

She sunk into the pilot's chair, her hands going to the controls through muscle memory. The desire to fly away was very strong. But she knew it would pass. Part of the training was dealing with that flight response that came from spending too much time with your partner. She knew it would pass. Just breathe. Find a supply station. Talk to other people. She'd be fine.

She closed her eyes. Imagined saying the words to open the hangar doors. Powering up the ship. Disappearing into the void like she always wanted to do.

She opened her eyes, still sitting in her ship. She shook the itchiness from her body and left, softly touching her nose as she closed the doors and powered down the ship. One day they would fly again. One day. But not today.

-

"Falsie."

"Yes, Ren?"

Ren shifted a little in his chair. "Did you know you'd never see your home again when you joined Gigacorp?"

"I mean." False glanced at him. "To be honest, I'd left home a long time ago. It didn't really worry me. I was already homeless. Best kind of person for these kinds of missions, I think. No attachments."

"Yeah, but like…" Ren paused. "I mean, you can die out here, and who'd even notice? Everyone's so so far away! By the time they get here, we'll just be skellingtons in the sand or something."

"You been having stasis dreams again, hey?" False said. "What's brought all this on?"

"I dunno. I guess the distance kind of just hit me earlier. Seeing how far we are from anywhere, really. I mean, sure there's planets out there close by, but inhabited planets? The last one was the one we left hundreds of light years away, you know?"

"I think you should stop worrying. Nothing much you can do about it. I mean, what do you want me to do? Magically make an inhabited planet appear? If it's getting to you, you can always retire, of course," False said. "Sorry, that sounded mean. But you know what I mean, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Maybe we should stop at that refuelling station coming up in a couple of days. I think I need to get out of this place for a while. It's doing my head in," Ren said, resigned.

False touched his arm for a moment. "Yeah, maybe we just need to get some time off the ship. Before we get to the planet, of course. We don't actually need to refuel, do we?"

"I mean, it doesn't hurt to get everyone topped up before a mission. And we've been travelling a helluva long time to get here, you know?" Ren said. "And, I dunno, maybe it's a good idea, you know, stock up on anything we need before we land."

"Ren, you don't need to justify it this much. We can just stop there, it's fine," False said.

"Yeah, but, like-"

"Ren, it's fine. We might as well if it's close by. And you clearly need a distraction, so. Maybe we take inventory tomorrow, and then we'll know what to pick up while we're there. Then at least it's a business expense," False said.

"True, true." Ren sighed. "I'll be honest, Falsie, there's really only one thing I want, and it's some actual good stinking food! I'm tired of living off the supplemental day rations! I'm wasting away here, Falsie, I swear!"

False smiled. "You're not wrong. I know why it's there, of course, it's all that will survive the journey, but god, I could do with some actual food."

"We're gonna dine out so stinking good, I promise. So much good food we can take to the planet with us! That'll set us up for a good start," Ren said.

"Yeah, of course," False said.

Ren fell quiet. He got up and went over to the navigation console. False saw him adjust their trajectory to head to the refuelling station. They were lucky one was close by. Sometimes they were months away, and they would have to get by on base power until they got there. Which, to be fair, was not that hard to do with only the two of them. Sometimes, they could go into stasis if there was enough power, but other times, it was just to isolate themselves in a small corner of the ship, power that for life support, and shut down most of the rest of the ship.

It would be nice to be off the ship, though. Talk to some different people. See some different things. Trade in some of the, well. Some of the things she'd collected over the years. If she'd learned anything at all over her lifetime, it was to keep your own money that your employer couldn't touch. You never know when you'll need to make an escape.

[sandy-the-glader]

Hi!! I hope this is okay!! If not, no worries!! 💜💜💜 (I love you lots!)

Can I please request an Adrian Chase x fem!innocent!reader Where while Adrian is out and about doing his Vigilante work he comes across a bunch of criminals in a warehouse, and after they’re all “taken care of”, he hears someone crying and finds a girl hiding behind a pile of the criminal’s stuff, and she’s handcuffed to something over there, so she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. She’d obviously be completely terrified of Vig, but as we know, he is very good at reading a person and would clearly see that she is innocent, and had been taken by the bad guys. Normally he would just set the innocent girl free and be on his way, having already taken care of the bad guys, however… He had unfortunately taken off his mask right before finding her, and had forgotten to put it back on, so she has seen his face. Panicking, he just picks her up, and takes her to his car with him, driving straight to the 11th Street Kids HQ, carrying in a terrified Y/n, he himself all panicked, and the team is like “wtf did you do????” “Did you abduct her???” And he’s just like, “No no, I saved her! But then she saw my face… So I guess, yes??”

Lmao it’s honestly a mess, but the team takes care of Y/n’s injuries, apologies for Adrian’s behavior lmao, and lets her stay there until she has recovered, as not only is she hurt, but very scared. After a while of staying with them, she gradually starts warming up to Adrian, him desperately trying to get her not to be afraid of him anymore (for a while there she was terrified of him), and their relationship eventually grows into a more romantic and intimate one🥺🥺🤧

Afraid of Me

*Not my gif*

Character: Adrian Chase x SoftFem!Reader

Type: Fluff and sorta angsty

Length: 5.4K (a bit long)

Summary: Request above <3

Trope: Strangers to friends to lovers, Slow-burn

A/N: LONG A/N!! Sorry this took forever I've been busy with a lot of stuff and I just haven't had any time but I worked on this whenever I could. Btw again I bent the request a little bit (I'm not sure if I wrote what you wanted for it and I apologize ) so I hope it’s okay I just made this go over the whole period of time the show does and like more so there's more time for a bond to be built lol

I heard a quick gunshot followed by another. Tears continued to fall from my eyes as I was tied to some random wall in some warehouse, Apparently, I was not supposed to come across two men selling heroin to each other but here I am. They claimed I saw too much, took me, and tied me up. Who even does that?

I just wanted to return to my apartment and read this new book I bought. That's all I had planned for my day anyway. Yet now I was tied to a pole in some wet and cold warehouse with random crates surrounding me. I tugged and tried to break from but it was helpless. I cried and sniffled as I continued to try but there was no avail.

Were those shots from them or someone else? Please god, let someone save me. I had been here for hours and I was scared of what they had planned for me. They already hit me pretty hard over the head which caused a small trail of blood to fall from my temple.

I heard loud and heavy footsteps coming towards me. I braced myself and waited for the figure to come around the crate to where I was. He was wearing a teal suit, with blood covering it. It was Vigilante. Should I be happy or terrified? He's a killer but isn't he supposed to be a hero?

"Fuck oh my god." He gasped slapping a gloved hand over his mouth. He was missing one exceptionally important part of his suit. His mask. That must have been why he was so frantic.

In all honesty, he looked nothing like I always pictured him. He was lanky with glasses and he looked really young. He looked mid-twenties though I had a feeling he was older. He honestly looked nerdy.

"I'm sorry. I really won't tell anyone who you are. I-I mean I don't even know your name." I stammered. He didn't care though because he continued to curse.

"Fuck fuck fuck. This is so not good." he groaned. The man ran a thick hand through his hair while bouncing back and forth. "Umm." He pondered confused about what to do. "Shit, I can't let you go." My eyes widen. He already has saved me why not let me go on my merry way? He took off his glasses and put his mask back on.

He came over to me and examined my situation. He crouched down and started untieing the rope that kept me on the pole but didn't bother with the ones around my hands or feet.

I was about to thank him for his acts but he picked me up and started to carry me out. Oh, he's actually not letting me go.

"What are you doing!?" I panicked. I started wiggling my body in his grasp then he held me tighter. "Where are you taking me? This hurts." He continued to keep walking until we reached his car a couple of feet from the warehouse.

Holding me with one hand, he opened the door to his back seat and tossed me in. Judging by his face, he didn't mean it to be as aggressive but it was enough to get me to shut up. He slammed the door and rushed over to the driver's seat.

This is it. After all that's happened today I'm being kidnapped by Vigilante and who knows what's going to happen. I guess the law doesn't apply when it comes to him. I actually can't believe it right now.

The entire car ride was silent. Not a sound from the man or from me. It was terrifying. All I could think of was what was going to happen to me. it took him forever to get to his destination and when we got there I realized it was some rundown video store. That couldn't be where we're going right?

-

"Guy's we got a fucking situation!" Adrian called opening the door with the girl in his hands. The whole team in the building stared at him with wide 'What the fuck' like eyes.

"Who the fuck is that?" Economos asked adjusting his glasses and leaning over his desk.

Adrian (not so carefully) dropped the woman on the floor making her yelp out in shock and pain.

"Did you just kidnap a girl?" Adebayo's eyes widened at the sight.

"No Adebayo!" He yelled defensively. "Okay, well technically yes but-" He was cut off quickly.

"And why did you bring her here?" Harcourt burst out running a hand through her blonde hair.

"Okay, I was doing my badass stuff, right? Like beating up these bad dudes and I found her behind some crates." They all stared at him waiting for him to continue. "And since I didn't know these dudes took a hostage I took my mask off and that's-" He removed his mask again and replaced the glasses on his face. "Really bad." He grimaced.

"Adrian what the hell dude you could have left her. She would have never turned you in. Look at her. No offense." Chris said. She stayed silent like she never heard the comment in the first place.

She was scared to death, trembling on the floor with small tear streaks down her face. Some of the tears mixed in with blood on the left side of her face. She looked innocent as could be and she definitely didn't deserve to be in this mess.

"Dude what the fuck!" He shouted at Chris. "Now she knows my real name! You have so fucked me!" He continued to cure which didn't make the girl feel any better.

"I did not fuck you! Besides it's your fault for bringing her here anyway." Chris furrowed his eyebrows looking back and forth between the petrified girl and his idiotic friend.

"What is happening out here?" Murn came out from one of the rooms and immediately regretted his decision. "We're supposed to be working on the project butterfly case what are you doing Chase?" He asked sternly.

"Oh, now she knows about Project Butterfly!" Harcourt placed a hand on her forehead.

"Well, it's not like I can kill her because she's innocent" The girl's face drained at the mention of death. "and we can't get rid of her because she might tell someone who I am!" Adrian wined out. He was finally right about one thing.

"She also might screw our plan up," Murn muttered trying to think of a reasonable thing to do with this girl.

"Then what do you suppose we do with her?" Economos folded his arms. The girl had been silent the entirety of this conversation but she finally piped up.

"Um.." Her voice caught everyone's attention and they turned their heads to look at her. "I-I can clean and o-organize around here." She stammered. "I can help you guys just please don't kill me." She pleaded. They all non-verbally agreed she had been through enough judging by the look of blood running from her temple and dirt caking her shirt.

"Yeah that honestly could be useful," Harcourt spoke. She looked around the room to only be met with agreeing faces. She let out another deep sigh before Murn spoke up.

"You will work the same hours as us and will get paid a fair amount." He folded his arms tightly over his chest. He didn't ask he just demanded she work.

"I'm also a fast learner and I can help you with anything you need. I don't have a current job so that would be perfect." She tried to look at the bright side of the situation. I can work for money but this is a destructive and hard-core business she pondered. "And since this is a very um dangerous job I just so happened to be trained in medical care." She offered.

"Oh, sweet! That's perfect so now dyed bear can stop doing such a shit job of stitching me up!" Chris smiled.

"Hey!" Economos protested. It was perfectly fine he thought.

"What about my living situation? C-can I still stay In my apartment?" She asked. They all looked around at each other because that was one thing they hadn't thought of. If they let her stay, she could always tell people without them knowing.

"If we let you stay in your apartment, you must realize he" Murn pointed at Adrian Chase himself. "has to keep watch of you? He somehow always knows if someone is doing something they shouldn't be." She nodded slowly. "And if you tell anyone and I mean anyone you will be terminated immediately, do you understand?" He spoke firmly making her hands tremble.

"I understand." She muttered.

"Now that everyone is done with this whole situation I suggest you get back to work," Murn concluded walking back to his office annoyed with the inconvenience.

-

I sat there absolutely stunned at what just happened. I just got myself into a bat shit crazy job. I mean I don't even know these people and one of them literally abducted me. This is not normal.

Project butterfly? Are these guys all heroes or something? I already was aware of Vigilante's existence and somewhat Peacemaker but there's a lot more than just those two.

"Oh my god, he didn't even untie you." The blonde-haired woman spoke in surprise. I didn't say anything because really what was I supposed to say? "I'm Harcourt." She kneeled beside me. She opened a switchblade and sliced through the ropes binding my hands together and then my feet. "Come on let's get you cleaned up. She went and collected the first aid kit from one of the desks on the left side of the room and motioned for me to sit at her desk. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Y/n L/n." I said quietly as I stared into my lap anxiously.

"Come sit Y/n." She said calmly trying to make me comfortable.

I stood up uneasily and almost fell back down. I steadied myself and carefully walked over to the chair and sat down gently. She pulled out a couple of cotton swabs and some alcohol. She poured the strong liquid onto the small ball.

"I'm sorry about him." Harcourt hummed taking the cotton swab to my forehead.

"Hm?" I replied softly.

"Adrian." She looked me in the eyes. "He just isn't all there sometimes." She mumbled. She tossed the bloodied-up swab in the trash and put a bandage over the small cut.

I looked over at Vigilante who I guess was named Adrian. He was talking to Peacemaker and he looked perfectly innocent. Not even an hour earlier he was tossing me into the back of his car. Jesus, what did I really get myself into? Not only does he have to escort me home, but now I have to work with him. He's a psycho!

"She has a point you know." The woman I was pretty sure was Adebayo spoke up. I glanced at her and she nodded trying to make me realize it. "He's a really good guy you just have to get to know him. I get it he basically kidnapped you but he's stupid in everything but fighting."

"Yeah okay," I mumbled softly. I don't care what they say now I can't trust him after what he did unless he really proves he's trustworthy. At least these people actually had the decency to tend to my wounds.

She continued to bandage and take care of every cut I had on my arms and face. I enjoyed her already because she was delicate to me and cared about my feelings. Pretty quickly she finished and put all the materials away.

"Come over here I think we found a box of old clothes you could change in." She led me back into the store and I could feel Adrian's eyes burning into my back.

-

"Dude she's afraid of me!" I panicked at Chris looking him dead in the eye. I waited for her to leave before I talked to my best friend about the whole thing.

"Well, I mean you did throw her in the back of your car. Chicks don't really dig that. Unless they're like hardcore." Okay yeah obviously I fucked up big time but I was under a lot of pressure and I wasn't doing what I should have!

"Dude I didn't know what else to do." I whined

"I mean you just gotta make things right with her I guess. I don't know I usually don't have to apologize to girls." He shrugged his shoulders. Great okay how am I supposed to do that when she's obviously afraid of me? Fuck. "Listen when you walk her to her apartment just be like 'Sorry for kidnapping you in my shitty car that was a pretty bad thing to do!' or something like that." I let out a heavy sigh. This is never going to work.

-

I came back out to the main room in a sweatshirt with the video store's logo on it and sweatpants that were longer than my actual legs with the same logo down the side of it. I held my original clothes in my arms and I was quiet.

What do I do now? Go home? How am I supposed to feel safe in my own home when I know that guy is watching me?

"Listen." Harcourt grabbed my attention. "You can take as much time as you need before you go home. I know that was probably a traumatic experience for you so let me know when you want to leave." She spoke as if she had read my mind. I nodded. "Also we have your address so we can get you home easily." Okay well, I told her my name and that was all it took to find out where I lived. Spectacular.

"What are my work hours?" I still can't believe I got myself to work for these people.

"Just don't get here any later than 8. Hours are different every day. Since you now work here I guess I should tell you who everyone is." She pointed to Peacemaker and Vigilante who were still chatting near the corner of the room "Chris and Adrian ." Then to the other man in glasses. "Economos." The guy in the other room that I could see through the glass. "Murn." Finally, she pointed at the last girl which I already knew. "and Adebayo."

I stood around for not too much longer before very anxiously describing to Harcourt my wishes to leave. She understood fully and went over to Adrian to make him take me home. He looked at me with some sort of care in his eyes but I just couldn't look at him so my eyes fell back to the sight of the floor.

"Come on kid." Harcourt motioned with her head to leave out the door with the man. I walked out the door and the cool air hit me as the sun started to sink down below the horizon.

One car ride and then I'm home. This time I got to sit in the front seat of his car instead of being thrown in the back like a doll. I secured my seatbelt and then just slumped against the car door. All I could really do was pay attention to the passing cars outside and the quiet buzz of the radio.

I also noticed the pleasing smell of his cologne that filled the car or how he hummed along to the Taylor Swift song on the radio. Someone like him is a swiftie?

"I'm sorry that I kidnapped you." Adrian broke the silence between us in an attempt to apologize. I ignored it and kept looking out the window. It was a long day and I genuinely couldn't tell if he was being sincere or was just trying to make me feel like he cared. "Please talk to me. I know I fucked up." I glanced over at him; his eyes flickered between the road and me. "Hey." He reached for my hand and flinched away with wide eyes and a quickened heartbeat.

His eyes lit up in sorrow. He looked like he felt bad. He backed off and for the rest of the car ride, he didn't talk anymore. There was so much tension in that car I felt like I was going to suffocate. I could barely look at him. I was still scared of his guts.

Every turn and stop made me think over and over about the events that occurred today. It was nauseating.

Finally walking through the door of my apartment left me with this feeling I couldn't describe. All of the events that happened today were fucking unbelievable.

The book I was planning to read was on my bed and was quickly tossed on my side table with a small thud. I sprawled out on my bed not bothering to do anything else tonight.

What. The. Fuck.

-

It's my first day on the job and my teammate already hit someone with a car. A van actually. I got to the disguised video store a bit after seven and Murn described the plan to me. Since I wasn't significant to the plan I just stayed in the car with a first-aid kit just in case things went south. And oh they did.

"Is he dead!?" I stood in the van looking at Economos dumbfounded. He didn't reply at first he was just making shocked quivering noises.

"I... I don't know?" My eyes widened as he started to get out of the car holding a crowbar tightly in his hands. I left the kit on the seats (since I had been fidgeting with the latches the whole ride) and followed him for support or something like that. Maybe I thought I could help. He inspected inside the car which he had hit fully force.

Judomaster was crawling on the ground in front of the car slowly. Economos inched closer and closer to him holding the crowbar. He whacked him once over the head and jolted backward then his body went limp. We waited and sure enough, he kept crawling. He hit him again and he still was moving. I slapped a hand over my mouth as he repeatedly hit him on the back of the head. He poked him a few times like you would a bug making sure he wasn't moving.

"Oh my god." He let out. "Fuck yeah!" He turned around to high-five me. I lightly returned it. "Don't worry he's not dead." He said sensing my shock. "They're hardcore it takes a lot."

"Well, what do we do with him now?" I looked at Economos for ideas. We ended up tying him up and throwing him in the back of the van. I watched him intensely. When would this dude wake up? I really hope not any time soon. Murn radioed us and let us know that they would be coming back soon with of course Vigilante. Economos drove us back to the spot we were supposed to be in and awaited their arrival.

"You're pretty cool." I complimented him. He was taken aback by the positive words.

"Well thank you." He adjusted his glasses with a bright smile.

We waited for 15 minutes until they finally arrived and loaded themselves into the van. Everyone looked untouched besides Harcourt's messy hair, a couple cuts on Peacemaker's face and Vigilante crying about his bleeding toe. I grabbed the medical kit I had set down on the seats just minutes before and rushed to Adrian's side.

I motioned for him to move his foot up to where I needed it. He hesitated for a moment but then proceeded to lift his foot into my lap. I scoped out his injured toe and I pulled out the needed materials.

Yikes. I was definitely glad that I stayed in the van. Adrian’s foot jerked in my lap as I tried to get some alcohol.

"Hold still!" I complained to Adrian trying to hold his leg down from wriggling under my grasp. From the looks of it, this man had managed to get half of his pinky toe cut off. That is such a bizarre thing for torture.

“It hurts so bad though!” He wined when I took the alcohol to his foot. He had obviously had worse happen to him but this?

“It could have been worse,” I said. My hold got tighter on his leg since it kept jolting side to side.

“Pft yeah, this was nothing!” He lied as if he hadn’t been complaining two seconds ago. “I’ve gone through worse in DND.” A small smile appeared on my cheeks. DND huh? Who knew the big strong Vigilante was a total nerd? And a swiftie...

“One of my characters got their arm bitten off by a bear so I’d say you’re okay,” I said. His eyes lit up at the mention that I had played before." Just sit still it's about to get worse." His eyes clenched shut.

"Oh shit!" He screamed out making everyone irritated in the van. I shushed him gently with a soft hand on his leg. He shut up very quickly but his body still tensed occasionally with every sting. I held his foot carefully as I bandaged it up thoroughly.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" I asked. I still didn't dare to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, but I can wait until we get back." He tried to act tough but I could hear the pain in his voice. I noticed a couple of holes in his shirt. Maybe I could fix his shirt while I'm at it. God am I being too nice?

I mean I'm trying to think of the bright side of what happened yesterday and honestly, it didn't seem so bad anymore. He saved my ass and I'm having a paying job. I can only imagine the pay is fantastic for what these people have me doing. I sat next to Adrian. I was feeling a little less scared of him now when I thought about him like that. Even through the visor, his eyes were peeled onto me. It felt like since I got here they never left.

Getting back to headquarters I couldn't get Adrian to get out of the van without making a scene. I dragged him quickly into the store so he wouldn't draw any attention from people lurking around In the streets. I pulled him by his hand and made him sit in the closest chair I could spot. He whined and moaned obnoxiously loud. I knew the stories and new articles about the man. He was tough and put up a big fight, he never lost against criminals.

I grabbed the larger bandages from an area Harcourt showed me just this morning and also some more alcohol.

"Show me where you're hurt." I looked at him curious about what else had happened to him. He pulled off his chest plate and revealed the deep stab wound in his shoulder. The fabric of his shirt clearly revealed the bloody mess it left. My eyes widen. "You kept this from me until now?"

"I could handle this. The toe I'm not entirely sure." I cleaned and bandaged the wound with intense concentration. I was careful and sure not to cause any more harm after this long night. "Thank you." He said softly. I just nodded and didn't reply with anything else.

-

The days passed as we worked on this project and the days were long and there was a lot of work to do. I didn't have almost any free time anymore so it was hard to make time for friends I actually wanted to talk to or things I really wanted to do. Adrian continued to try his hardest to earn my trust and befriend me.

I started to warm up to him crazy enough. He did little things for me I thought were sweet. Sometimes he brought me breakfast or he would try to learn about things I liked so he could talk about them with me. I started to trust him more and more as the mission proceeded because he was really good company. He would talk and I would listen.

A couple of days after the whole 'Adrian getting his pinky toe almost cut off' situation he got himself arrested. I didn't even know until Harcourt talked to me about it and what Adebayo said to him. I felt bad for him because as much as I thought I disliked him, I hated to hear he was where he was and how Adebayo literally manipulated him into doing it.

The night he got out he showed up at my apartment because he still needed to check up on me and since he hadn't been able to. For the first time, I felt comfortable enough to hug him. So I did, I wrapped my arms gently around his torso and gave a small squeeze. We stood like that for a minute before he quietly wished me a 'goodnight' without any further words. That was the kindest moment we had ever shared with one another

Then the next day we had another mission. Since all this time has passed, I had been informed on what a Butterfly fully was. At first, it was entirely confusing until I realized these were tiny alien butterflies here to kill us. I know it sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

I had to sit through a whole meeting in the morning next to Adrian where he (the whole time) joked with me. It felt sorta nice honestly. He never stopped being friendly and I just kind of started to accept it more.

And the whole mission went by quickly.

"Oh my god." I blurted when everyone arrived back in the truck. Peacemaker and Economos were fully drenched head to toe in blood, Harcourt had a good amount on her, and Adebayo and Adrian had little to none on them.

"We fought a fucking gorilla!" Adebayo exploded with astonishment. Jesus, sometimes I wish I didn't sit in the car the whole time.

"Economos is the fucking man." Peacemaker clapped him on the back with a proud grin. I did miss a lot if those two are now getting along.

"All the blood is the gorillas right?" I asked startled for a second considering the amount.

"Yeah we're all fine," Harcourt said tiredly.

"At least no one's arm got bitten off, like your DND character right?" Adrian nudged me in the side and sat down next to me. Sure I had only told him a few days ago about that but it still made me happy that he had remembered that tiny detail.

"Right." I smiled. Chris sat in the front and started playing music like he had at the beginning of the ride. I sang along with the rest of my team members to 11th Street Kids and I actually started to enjoy my work a little more.

I looked over at Adrian who was dancing like a dork. He looked so adorable? He was playing air drums and making up random dances as he went. I don't know why but I started to not hate him anymore. I started seeing this more personal side of him. Not Vigilante but Adrian.

"C'mon dance," Adrian whispered in my ear and nudged me again. I started to sway along with the group.

Later that night Harcourt made a group chat with all of us and sent a photo she had taken in the van. I set the book down I had finally got to reading beside me on my bed and picked up my phone.

Everyone was dancing in the van but on the right side, you could see me looking at Adrian with the sweetest smile on my face. The chat is filled with different emojis. The only number I had was Harcourts but from the merman emoji, I already knew it was Adrian. I liked his message and sent a fitting emoji to match the others.

I set my phone down and continued reading with a big smile. I never seemed to stop today.

-

It was the final day of the project and I wasn’t allowed to go. I wasn’t entirely complaining since this job was so bizarre but I was also disappointed. I mean all this build up and I don’t even get to go. They said it would be safer for me and of course, I understood.

But as the night carried on and the morning came through I was nervous. I had no texts or word from anyone. Sure, they still could be busy and have to do some other stuff before texting me but what if?

I heard a rushed-sounding knock on my door which threw me off. I ran to my door since the person decided to not stop knocking.

"What do you want?" I hissed as I threw open the door but I was only met with Adrian. My eyes soften upon seeing him. Oh, thank god he’s alive. "Adrian. Hi." I paused when noticing he was in a pair of shorts and a nursing gown. "Come inside." I ushered him in with wide eyes and closed the door quickly behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Listen I jumped out of a hospital building to be her so-"

"Adrian!" I scolded him for being careless. I had started to really enjoy him I didn't need him being so careless all the time.

"Shut up. Sorry, but I need to tell you this." I stared at him silently with folded arms awaiting what he was about to tell me. "Okay, so after almost dying, I know what you're about to say please just wait. After almost dying, I realized had more feelings for you than I have ever had for someone and that's like a lot for me." He stepped closer to me. "I had to tell you those feelings just in case I actually died sometime. But now I'm scared if you reject me because of the whole kidnapping thing when we first met and usually I would be okay with rejection but I don't feel usual with you." He rambled and his hands made several confusing gestures along the way.

Everything about him told me he was being truthful. His hands were trembling with nervousness, He literally came from a hospital to tell me this and he just had that look on his face.

The feelings from the other day came rushing back. I really enjoyed being with genuine Adrian. The time we spent together over the course of this project was enjoyable. I noticed small things about him like the way he always made sure to keep an eye on me and was careful not to get me into anything super dangerous. He had become almost like a personal guard.

He even taught me how to use weapons, and also never overstepped my boundaries. So yeah maybe I developed a crush on my kidnapper co-worker.

"Why are you looking at me like that I'm like really nervous right now." He asked.

"Because I feel the same way. Even though you did totally kidnap and traumatize me." I nudged him smiling but he didn't return it. "Adrian I was playing with you. But I really do feel the same way." He let out a long breath. I was quite sure he had stopped breathing for a little while.

"Oh thank god." Adrian stepped closer and picked me up in his arms as he kissed me deeply. I've kissed a couple of times in the past but never did it feel as amazing as this. I held him close to me as if he would slip away again. He pulled away to look closely at my face.

"Just because you kissed me doesn't mean I won't scold you for almost dying." I glared at him but he just smiled kindly and kissed me again.

"If I keep. Kissing you then. I won't. Get yelled at." He said in between kisses making me start to laugh.

“Don’t scare me like that again Chase.” I shook my head kissing him passionately once more. I could get used to this feeling.

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 1]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.2K

"Wait, hold on. You're opening in 3 days and you don't have anyone to cook?" Mingi blinked at his best friend. The two of them were seated in the soon-to-be opened cafe/ restaurant.

"I... Look, I had a guy, we spoke over the phone and everything but he ghosted me!" Yunho defended.

"Yeah, he probably got frightened off when you said he was going to do everything solo! I would too. You can't just pluck random chefs off the job ad site, Yun... You have to put together a crew." Mingi sighed, slapping his forehead.

"I'm sorry, okay?! It's my first time doing this. I'm nervous and stressed, I have not been sleeping." Yunho groaned, letting his head drop onto the table.

"You really don't know anything about running a restaurant, don't you?" Mingi scoffed.

"I literally just said this is my first time doing this." Yunho growled.

"I'll ask the others if they have connections. Let's hope lady luck is on your side and the universe can give you a kitchen crew in 3 days." Mingi clicked his tongue, typing away on his phone.

"Why did I do this again? What do I know about running a restaurant?" Yunho asked himself.

"Apparently nothing." Mingi stated.

"Mingi!" Yunho hissed.

"What? I'm just stating the truth. Look, Yunho, you're doing this because this has always been your dream, with your halmeoni. When she passed, she gave you all this money to open your own place. You'll be fine, you have San, Yeosang, Hongjoong hyung and myself. We won't let this place fail." Mingi promised.

"Thank you, Mingi ah." Yunho smiled softly. Mingi was direct but Yunho was glad to have him, knowing Mingi will always encourage and support him.

'Wait, you're opening in 3 days and you don't have a kitchen crew? How are we going to have food? We can't cook! - Yeosang'

'Speak for yourself. I can make great ramen! - San'

'We can't make ramen for our opening! And yes, we have established that Yunho doesn't know anything about restaurant planning and/or what a kitchen crew needs. Move on. - Mingi'

'Gee, thanks Mingi ah. - Yunho'

'You're welcome. - Mingi'

'I may know someone but I think he's just a sous chef. Let me see if he is looking for a job and if he can recommend a crew. I'll keep you posted, Yunho ah. - Hongjoong'

"Let's hope Hongjoong hyung's friend comes through." Mingi told Yunho, sipping his coffee.

"At most, we'll survive the cafe portion. We can all make coffee and help around this gets settled. Only when we can secure a kitchen crew, then we'll have dinner service." Yunho said, trying to calm himself down.

"Yeah. We'll manage. A cafe doesn't need to be fully waited on anyway. We can take turns doing the barista stuff while you manage the counter." Mingi suggested.

"At least the place is done. That's one less thing to stress about." Yunho looked around the empty place.

"And soon it'll be bustling with people. Customers." Mingi smiled.

"I can't wait! I only wish halmeoni was here to see it and be a part of the process." Yunho grinned. It was not easy but he was glad it was finally happening.

"I'm sure she knows and can see it." Mingi assured. Even if he personally may not believe in the afterlife, Yunho did.

"Yes, I hope Joong hyung comes back with good news. Then all will be good and smooth!" Yunho smiled, his mood flipping quickly. Mingi looked at his best friend in amusement, Yunho rarely let anything put him down. But seeing him so happy and excited, Mingi nodded along. He'll help Yunho to make him happy.

-

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"(y/n)?" You frowned at the person who called your name, squinting one eye open to see who it was that disturbed your sleep. Seeing that it was Seonghwa, you grumbled and closed your eyes again.

"Good you're awake, I need to talk to your about something. Don't go back to sleep." He said.

"Hwa... it's too... early... Come back... another time..." You groaned.

"It's 2pm, darling." Seonghwa stated. Seeing as to how he wasn't going to leave, you sighed and scooted to the side.

"Fine. Come... here..." You said sleepily, patting the space beside you. Seonghwa chuckled and walked over, sitting on the mattress, looking over at you to make sure you're listening.

"Talk... Am listening..." You mumbled into your pillow.

"So one of my old classmates, we're not that close but we add each other on LinkedIn, as people do on a business or acquaintance level. We've only ever seen each other at old class reunions and such, nothing major. " He started. You suddenly raised a hand, making him pause in his speech.

"Hwa... I love you and all. But please, get to the point or I'm going to fall back asleep." You placed a hand on his thigh.

"Right. So, he just texted me. One of his friends is opening a restaurant cafe type thing in 3 days and he needs a kitchen crew. My friend is going to be the Maitre D." He informed.

"(y/n)? Did you hear what I said?" Seonghwa poked you when you didn't reply him.

"Yeah... I did. What idiot opens a restaurant in 3 days and doesn't have a kitchen crew?" You frowned.

"That's what I thought too. But that's beside the point, are you in?"

"You know I don't stay in one kitchen for too long." You finally opened your eyes to look at him. Seonghwa nodded, he was part of your crew. Where you go, he goes.

Wherever you have went, he has went.

"Hang on, let me wake up first. Can you call the others to come over in a bit? I need to clean the kitchen. I was so tired after recipe testing that I completely crashed on the couch. Then made it back to my room at sunrise." You sat up, rubbing your eyes.

"I cleaned when I arrived this morning. But yes, I'll call the others over." Seonghwa smiled, stroking your head.

"Thanks, Hwa." You cracked a small smile. He hummed and stood up to let you get ready. Seonghwa was one of the few people you let have access to your house. You didn't trust people easily.

When you shuffled to your bathroom, you brushed your teeth and washed your face. You changed out of your sleepwear and into more presentable clothes.

"I brought coffee." Jongho said when you stepped out.

"Thanks, Jongho. Life saver." You said with a rubberband in your mouth as you pulled your hair up into a bun.

"Let me move all this." You moved the equipment off the kitchen island and counter. When you designed this house, you didn't care for a dining room area so you extended the kitchen to take up a bigger area of the house. Not like you had people over regularly where you needed a whole dining area.

"Where's Wooyoung?" You asked.

"On the way. He had just woken up." Seonghwa informed. You nodded, leaning against the counter and drinking your coffee.

"In the mean time, I'll make breakfast. Or lunch... I got nice chanterelles yesterday and the gochujang cured bottarga I made months ago might be done." You said and opened the fridge door.

"Are you sure you want to cook? Aren't you tired from recipe testing?" Seonghwa asked.

"I'm fine, Hwa." You waved him off.

"Okay but we're doing the dishes after." Jongho said. You nodded and took ingredients out to cook. Your fridge was full of your recipe testing dishes.

"I'll prep the chanterelles." Jongho got up, putting the expensive mushrooms in a bowl to brush clean.

You made a simple meal of goat cheese, spinach and sundried tomato frittata, grating the gochujang cured bottarga (mullet roe) over the top for a spicy, salty kick. On the side, Seonghwa cooked the chanterelles in a basic beurre blanc with thyme.

"Sorry, I'm late. I got ready the moment Hwa hyung called me." Wooyoung said as he entered.

"It's fine. Sorry for calling all of you to come on your rest day. But Seonghwa has a proposal and it is only fair that all of you are present to hear it. And we can have a meal together too." You told him.

"What is it?" Wooyoung raised an eyebrow, putting his coat over the back of your couch.

"Hi." He smiled to you, hugging you tightly. Wooyoung always liked skinship, you were still getting used to it after all these years.

"An old friend contacted me. He has a friend opening a restaurant in 3 days and he doesn't have a kitchen crew. He seems desperate, on behalf of his friend." Seonghwa informed.

"But (y/n) doesn't stay at one place for so long." Wooyoung pointed out with his fork.

"That's what I said." You chuckled.

"And where (y/n) goes, we go." Jongho added. You softened at that, they didn't need to follow you, they could always have big culinary careers on their own but they still always moved with you, they trust you. You've been together for so many years, you worked well together, like a well oiled machine.

"Besides, are you sure this place would even be good? What kind of restaurant owner looks for a crew 3 days before opening?" Wooyoung raised an eyebrow.

"I said that too." You replied.

"I think we should give it a shot. Don't make promises of staying. We can always test it out. If we don't like it, we leave." Seonghwa said.

"We need more details. What's the concept of the place? What cuisine are they expecting us to serve?" Jongho asked the most important question.

"Oh yeah, I never thought about that. Good thinking, Jong. Hwa?" You nodded in agreement, turning the the tallest.

"Apparently it's a cafe in the morning so pastries and sweets. Night time, restaurant. And if my friend is right, we have creative liberty with the menu. No set cuisine. You like that, don't you (y/n)?"

"I do." You nodded, slightly more tempted and inclined to actually learn more about this now.

"But that's barely a concept. This restaurant owner really has no culinary knowledge, does he? Who lets a random kitchen crew walk in and decide your menu? This is suspicious." Wooyoung shook his head with a frown.

"You think we shouldn't do it then?" You turned to the male. Wooyoung made a face but shrugged, taking another bite of food. That was enough of an answer.

"If all of you feel like we shouldn't do it, then we won't... Simple as that." You crossed your arms.

"Like Seonghwa hyung says, I think we should check it out. If it doesn't suit us, we don't stay. No harm in that." Jongho said.

"What about you, (y/n)? Do you think whould we try it?" Seonghwa asked. You remained quiet for a bit, wanting to collect your thoughts before saying anything.

"You really don't want to do it?" You turned to Wooyoung.

"You know that I'll follow you, no matter what. It's just suspicious, that's all I'm saying." He replied. You looked at Seonghwa and nodded.

"We'll head down tomorrow to check the place out and speak with the owner. But no promises." You decided. Seonghwa took his phone out, presumably to text his friend. You finished the coffee Jongho bought you and headed to the fridge to pour yourself some more from your own cold brew stash.

"Don't go overboard with the caffeine and give yourself a migraine." Seonghwa reminded. You nodded, taking a sip of the cold coffee and took your iPad from the charger.

"Thoughts on the gochujang mullet roe?" You looked at the 3.

"I think it can do better with more days of salt cure. Did you add salt to the gochujang?" Wooyoung asked.

"No. But maybe I will in the future since the sodium content of the gochujang is lower than a miso or just pure salt." You said, noting down their comments and feedback on your iPad.

"Would you try doing a few weeks of salt cure first then moving to gochujang?" Jongho suggested.

"Oh... That's an idea." You raised your eyebrows, intriged now.

"I just realised. If we take this job offer, we'll be expected to churn out pastries and desserts too." Seonghwa said, putting his phone down. The boys all looked at each other.

"You make it sound like you guys can't bake. We have done desserts before, even for full banquet dinners of like hundreds of people. We've made both pastries and cakes." You scoffed at them. Wooyoung and Jongho looked at Seonghwa who sighed softly.

"But (y/n), those were 300 copies of the same dessert. Now, we'll have to make a variety of pastries and cakes for a cafe. On top of a dinner service." Seonghwa explained it to you.

"It might be too much to do for just 4 of us." Wooyoung added.

"Should we not do it then? Or tell them we'll only try out for dinner service?" You asked.

"(y/n) will be fine. She runs on no sleep and coffee." Jongho snorted. You shot him a flat look for exposing you while Seonghwa glared at you, he was always worrying about you and your unhealthy habits.

"Look, I say we meet the owner, find out what he actually wants from us. Then we go from there, okay?" You sighed.

"Okay." The boys said. You nodded with a hum of approval as you slid off your bar stool and shuffled over to your fridge. You took a tray out with ramekins.

"Here. I randomly made smoked creme bavarois last night when my brain couldn't work. These two are Madagascar vanilla and these two are Tahitian." You explained, putting the tray on the island for them. Then you took out a bowl with mixed forest berry compote that you made to go over.

"Let me." Wooyoung took a cooking spoon and carefully spooned just the perfect amount of sauce over each ramekin. Then passing them out to the others.

"Hmm, I always like Madagascar vanilla. Brings out the more floral notes in the berries." Seonghwa sighed blissfully.

"But for infusing into alcohol, Tahitian is nicer. Good with a bourbon and rum." Jongho noted.

"Oh, like that amazing rum cake Jongho made the other time." You smiled, remembering how delicious the cake was, even thought he was nervous about it being a new recipe.

"Yeah I used Tahitian then. That bourbon poaching liquid for the poached apricots the other time was also Tahitian." He informed.

-

That evening, Hongjoong, San and Yeosang dropped by the restaurant. Yunho and Mingi were there, chatting happily as they started to unbox the coffee equipment and tools to set up the barista counter. Yunho looked up when he heard the door open.

"Hey!" He waved happily.

"Good evening. We brought some dinner, guessing you two have been here the entire day." Yeosang said, putting the boxes of fried chicken down on one of the tables.

"Our dear Yunho is too excited for the opening. We might have tod rag him out later or he might sleep here." Mingi chuckled.

"T-That's not true! I just want everything to be perfect!" Yunho defended himself.

"The place really looks great, Yunho ah." San complimented, making the taller male grin proudly. He was ready to start this new adventure with his closest friends.

"Did you hear back from your friend, Hongjoong hyung?" Yunho asked.

"Oh yeah! Right. Their crew would like to come and meet you here tomorrow to discuss things. See what their expectations are and what your expectations are before making a decision. You're free to meet tomorrow right? Don't worry, I'll be here too during the meeting." Hongjoong assured.

"Yes! Tomorrow is great! And did you say 'crew'? Your friend has a kitchen crew that he is a part of?" Yunho blinked. This was working out great.

"Well, I say crew but it is just 4 of them. I don't know much about them but I heard they usually help out at pop up events held by chefs. Or temporary kitchens." Hongjoong explained.

"Your friend, he is the head chef of the crew?" Yeosang asked.

"No. He's the sous chef? His name is Seonghwa. From the way he put it, there is a head chef. There's another sous and a prep chef."

"Wow, even if it is just 4 people. That's 4 more people than Yunho has so you're a life saver at this point, hyung." Mingi laughed. Yunho pouted at his best friend's taunt.

"I'm trying my best!" Yunho exclaimed.

"Hmm, should we test them though? Like ask them to prepare a dish or something? I mean, a lot of people can claim to be chefs but how good are they?" San brought up. The others nodded in agreement while Yunho hummed.

"I would but at this point, I am desperate for a crew. I don't think there is time to 'test' them. Plus, Hongjoong said they work with professional chefs. It shouldn't be that bad, right?" Yunho said.

"Well, that's the information I pulled from Seonghwa's LinkedIn profile... Look, we're not THAT close." Hongjoong raised an eyebrow.

"So we're just waiting to see how they do on Day 1?" San's eyes widened in shock.

"Do we have a choice? We can't be unfair and suddenly ask them to whip up dishes for us tomorrow. And we barely know anything about food ourselves." Yeosang scoffed.

"I see where San is coming from but honestly, if they were such a big shot kitchen crew, they wouldn't work at a brand new restaurant for Yunho." Mingi reasoned.

"What do you mean?" Hongjoong asked.

"Yeah. What DO you mean?" Yunho crossed his arms, suddenly looking at his best friend with the most offended look ever.

"Think about it. Yunho is a first time businessman who is opening in 3 days and doesn't have anyone in the kitchen. They wouldn't risk it and there's no reputation. We shouldn't expect a professional kitchen crew who has worked with Gordon Ramsay. Plus, if they have, Yunho might not be able to afford them." Mingi explained.

"I guess Mingi is right. Look I just want people who cook well. I don't need Michelin meals. We'll go into tomorrow's meeting with an open mind and low expectations." Yunho said to the group.

"Maybe not low... Just, not that high." Hongjoong corrected.

"Right." Yunho nodded in confirmation with a smile. With that, the boys all gathered around the table and dug into the fried chicken.

"Other than the whole kitchen crew situation, I can confidently say that we're good to open. I've got to unpack the silverware, plates, bowls, all that." Yunho updated.

"We'll help with that." San said.

"The shelving is all done and designated with labels so it should be done quickly." Mingi nodded over to the rack.

"I've put the ads out on social media like you wanted and put some posters up around the nearby universities. Seems like there's quite a bit of positive responses online." Yeosang reported. Yunho felt his heart pound in his chest.

"Are you okay?" Mingi asked worriedly, seeing Yunho clutch his chest like he's having a heart attack.

"I'm fine. Just really excited for this. It might not be a smooth journey but I know we'll work out way around the obstacles." Yunho smiled, looking at all his friends.

~

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