#Smart Fire Hydrants

[spookysaladchaos]

Global Top 14 Companies Accounted for 31% of total Smart Fire Hydrants market (QYResearch, 2021)

According to the new market research report “China Smart Fire Hydrants Market Report 2023-2029”, published by QYResearch, the China Smart Fire Hydrants market size is projected to reach USD 15.27 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period.

Figure.   China  Smart Fire Hydrants Market Size (US$ Million), 2018-2029

Figure.   China  Smart Fire Hydrants Top 11 Players Ranking and Market Share (Ranking is based on the revenue of 2022, continually updated)

The China key manufacturers of Smart Fire Hydrants include Hangzhou Zhibin, Zhejaing Kelong, Hanwei Technology, Henan Fuerdun, Zhejiang Haidun Electrical, Shanxi Tuopusuoer, Zhengzhou Jintelai Electronic, Tangshan Pingsheng Electronic, Zhuocan Fgroup, Wuhan Tuobao, etc. In 2022, the China top five players had a share approximately 31.0% in terms of revenue.

About QYResearch

QYResearch founded in California, USA in 2007.It is a leading global market research and consulting company. With over 16 years’ experience and professional research team in various cities over the world QY Research focuses on management consulting, database and seminar services, IPO consulting, industry chain research and customized research to help our clients in providing non-linear revenue model and make them successful. We are globally recognized for our expansive portfolio of services, good corporate citizenship, and our strong commitment to sustainability. Up to now, we have cooperated with more than 60,000 clients across five continents. Let’s work closely with you and build a bold and better future.

QYResearch is a world-renowned large-scale consulting company. The industry covers various high-tech industry chain market segments, spanning the semiconductor industry chain (semiconductor equipment and parts, semiconductor materials, ICs, Foundry, packaging and testing, discrete devices, sensors, optoelectronic devices), photovoltaic industry chain (equipment, cells, modules, auxiliary material brackets, inverters, power station terminals), new energy automobile industry chain (batteries and materials, auto parts, batteries, motors, electronic control, automotive semiconductors, etc.), communication industry chain (communication system equipment, terminal equipment, electronic components, RF front-end, optical modules, 4G/5G/6G, broadband, IoT, digital economy, AI), advanced materials industry Chain (metal materials, polymer materials, ceramic materials, nano materials, etc.), machinery manufacturing industry chain (CNC machine tools, construction machinery, electrical machinery, 3C automation, industrial robots, lasers, industrial control, drones), food, beverages and pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, agriculture, etc.

[tainsan]

misfits (college!ateez x reader)

When your world comes crashing down, the only people who are able to comfort you are the notorious group, Ateez. You’ve heard rumour after rumour about the eight males who are ice cold, yet for some reason, they are the warmest people you know.

Please read me: {hello! so finally i have wrote enough for me to release the first chapter and i really hope it is good enough for the lovely people who have been patiently waiting. there will be more chapters to come in the future so please do look forward to them! just so you all know there is a few trigger warnings i have to go through so just in case you are uncomfortable with certain subjects to read with caution and with your own comfort in mind. at the start of every chapter i will put the warnings that correlate with the said chapter. in this story there are topics of swearing, depression, anxiety, ptsd, suicide, negelection and mental abuse. so if you are not comfortable reading these please either avoid this story or read with extreme caution. your wellbeing is more important than anything. 

Now like i said in my previous post, this is going to be a poly!ateez story so hence there will be future smut and suggestive themes (which i will also put in the warnings before the chapter starts) but the message in the story is very much about past trauma and finding people who can help, heal and love you despite your imperfections.

With that all said! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of ‘Misfits’ and thank you kindly for waiting. 

do not steal my work or repost on places other than tumblr. 

with thanks to @musicdork and @moraxology for the help and ideas shared with me. thank you <3

-----THIS IS AN 18+ FANFICTION MINORS DO NOT INTERACT-----

Misfits, Chapter 1

⇢ masterlist ⇠ 

⇢ next chapter

warnings: anxiety attack, swearing, mentions of a house fire.

word count: 8.8k

Heart dropping to your stomach, you attempt to make sense of the words that are displayed on the small illuminating screen sat in front of you. Devastation hits you like a ton of bricks as you realise once again, it feels like the world is trying to punish you. Reading over the email once again, you let out an exasperated groan and let your head fall down onto your arms relaxing on the table.

“You’re homeless?” Your best friend almost screeches, scanning over the email present on your small laptop screen. 

“Okay a little louder Jisung and the aliens on the Saturn will fucking hear you,” You react, your voice muffled by your clothes.

“What happened? I thought your place was in one of the nicer areas?” 

Looking up from the desk, you see Jisung peering at you with a concerned expression.

“Do you remember those new tenants that moved in below me?” you ask, causing Jisung to nod his head, "Well they accidentally started a fire, and it burnt down half of the place because the owners weren’t smart enough to install fire hydrants around the residence.

“Isn’t it illegal to not have designated fire hydrants in a building?” 

“Probably, I mean that’s what I get for going for the cheapest available housing I could find, they say it's going to take at least a year to repair the damage.”

"Are all of your belongings okay?" 

"Not really, I managed to save most things like my books and some clothes but everything else is burnt. They say they are going to give me some money back for the damage, but I doubt it’ll be much."

"Then where are you staying now?"

"Yeji said I could stay with her for a few days, but she has a roommate moving in soon, so I have to get out before the end of this week."

"You have to start looking for a place to live __, I wish I could help you," 

Jisung lives with his boyfriend and friends in great student accommodation, there are only four rooms, yet they manage to fit eight grown men in there. Sadly, there's simply not enough space for another person.

“I’m aware of that, but all the school properties are full, and I’ve seen no flyers from people searching for roommates. There’s no way I'm looking for housing outside of the area, I would have to sell both my kidneys to afford a month's worth of rent. This apartment was the only place that was in my budget if I didn't want a roommate. At this point, I should probably start looking for a nice cosy bridge to live under.” 

Jisung lets out a stifled laugh before quickly covering his mouth realising the two of you are residing in a library. Being in a secluded area, noise isn’t really a problem, yet three other people are sitting near you, resting on the opposite side of the large wooden table. Two huddled next to each other, sharing a laptop, likely watching YouTube and one with striking blonde hair resting his head on his arms, undoubtedly sleeping.

“How many days until you have to move out?” Jisung inquires, laying his head on his hand and gazing at you. 

“Uh, I think like a week,” 

“Oh, so it’s not like you have to move out right now,” your best friend replies, a calm smile covering his features.

“Yeah, but I doubt that somebody is abruptly going to need a roommate out of nowhere,” 

Then, you hear rustling, then suddenly the guy who was sleeping on your table abruptly stands up, grabs his things, and rushes out of the library. 

“Probably had a nightmare or something,” Jisung chuckles, lighting up your mood.

“When’s your next lesson?” You ask, hoping he doesn't have to leave too soon. 

Observing as Jisung whips out his phone and looks at the time, he lets out a sigh.

“Starts in seven minutes, it takes like five minutes to walk there. I better get going,” Jisung replies, grabbing his books and laptop.

“Must you leave so soon? You can’t leave me here to tutor for three hours straight.” You let out a fake cry and hang onto his arm, pleading for him to stay. 

“You're the one who wanted the extra credit, don't blame me!” 

Bickering for a minute more, you eventually let Jisung get to his class, the two others across the table departing as well, leaving you alone.

Grumbling to yourself, you wonder why you even offered to tutor people, the extra credit is little to nothing. Alas, it’s too late to back out now as you have two people arriving soon. Typically, you only take people who you know personally, but Jisung’s boyfriend, Minho, said two of his classmates requested him to ask you to tutor, telling him they really needed assistance in maths. You hope they are pleasant because you are not about to be spending the next three hours with two arseholes.

You also typically only take one person at a time but due to your current tight schedule, you decided to just do two at once. You need the time later to look for new places to live anyway. The unknown two needed teaching in the same subject at least, works out fine.

Returning to your laptop you start typing, trying to finish as much of your lab report as you can before they show up.

“No Yeosang said she was around this corner.” 

A hushed voice breaks you out of your concentration, yet you pay no interest and hurriedly get back to typing.

“You’re __ right?” A monotone voice speaks out from your left.

You turn upon hearing your name and see a guy standing next to where you are sitting. Quickly you scan over his face, noticing the way his cheeks display small dimples as his face shifts and the slit in one of his eyebrows.

“I’m San, Minho told you about us, right?” 

Noting the way he said ‘us’, you turn fully backwards and see a noticeably built man standing by San, his face holding little to no emotion as he stares blankly towards you. In your mind, you hope these aren’t the two you are tutoring, noticing how intimidating their presence is.

“We are here for tutoring lessons,” the unnamed person speaks, and you curse upon your luck.

“Oh right, you can take a seat where you’d like.”

You mentally cuss out Minho for not informing you about how intense and handsome his classmates were, you let out a scoff under your breath as you start to pull out your maths textbooks.

“So, what were your guy's names, I’m not too good with names so if I forget, please don't take it personally,” you shyly confess, hoping they are not going to take it the wrong way. You detect the way some sort of stunned expression goes across their faces, but it disappears as soon as it had appeared.

“I’m Choi San, good to meet you.” San nods in your direction, his emotions still unreadable, a subtle glare still present along his features.

“San, I see. You too,” You mumble, slightly scared by his strong character. You attempt a small smile and shake his hand, trying to ignore the way you feel his eyes boring into your skull. Moving your attention to the man sitting next to him, you smile gently, noticing the way his cheeks are dusted with a light pink colour.

“Choi Jongho,” He reaches out his hand and you gladly take it, feeling slightly less intimidated by the seemingly kinder man.

Replying with your own name, you realise they already knew it, making you curse yourself for the sheer awkwardness emitting from your body as you notice Jongho and San are neither looking at you.

Slightly glancing up at you, San notices your flustered state and a faint smile ghosts his face.

Shaking off your clumsiness rapidly, you start to focus on the task at hand.

“So, what are you two looking to go over today?” you ask, opening your notebook that was conveniently placed in front of you. What you don’t expect is Jongho and San immediately look at each other with wide eyes, almost as if they are taken aback by the question.

“You guys don’t know what you want to go over?” 

“No, sorry, we have been having problems with our two recent algebra assignments.” Jongho replies, his tough exterior cracking ever so slightly as he ruffles his black hair. 

“Okay then,” you answer, a little puzzled at the two's sudden and strange gestures, yet you pay no mind to it as you reach into your backpack to grab your mathematics textbook. You’ve seen much stranger things in this college anyway.

When you proceed with the session you are surprised by the two men sitting in front of you. Although being very intimidating, the two are very good listeners and attentive to everything you say or do. Writing notes and nodding at almost every word you say. After an extensive explanation, you let Jongho and San try to solve a practice question. During this time, you take the time to admire the two in front of you. You can see they are extremely close by the way their bodies face each other naturally, and the way they look at each other. Meanwhile, you can’t help but wonder why you haven't seen them on campus before. Certainly, you would've heard or seen something about these two very good-looking men, knowing how much the people here like to gossip. Well after all, you have never been one for gossip and fangirling over the popular campus heartthrobs. Brushing your thoughts to the side, you start to read over the same page for the fifth time.

After the second hour, it intrigues you how smart they are, only needing you to once go over something and they already have the answer or even occasionally you swear you see one of them write an answer without you describing how to find it. Perhaps they are fast learners? Due to the fact, they are so quick, it only takes two of the three hours for you to cover everything they wished to go over, and their assignments are almost finished, just needing the final touches.

"There we go,” you exclaim, stretching your arms over your head, letting out a content groan as you let your back straighten up, "if you need future help, you can always call me." Even though it’s perhaps pretentious to offer this to such tough guys, you’re happy to be able to have such good students who actually listen. Unlike your last session which you spent way too many hours on.

Jongho looks up from his laptop with a wide eye look, "that’d be helpful," 

"Can you take my number?" San holds his hand open, expecting your phone and you are shocked at his utter forwardness. Even though you know it’s not intended in a flirtatious way, your heart quickens at the gesture, never having been asked for your number before. 

Passing your phone to the male in front of you, you notice San observing the Sanrio stickers stuck to the back of it. The male lets out a short burst of air through his nose, and you don’t know whether he’s mocking you or scoffing. As you look at him to analyse his reaction, you see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, but it doesn’t seem in a taunting way. You continue staring at him as he puts his number into your phone.

Unexpectedly he looks up and straight into your investigating eyes, catching you by surprise, immediately looking away from him and at the open book in front of you pretending to read it, even though you know he knows you have already read over the page multiple times in the past ten minutes.

“Wait, what time is it?" Jongho asks San. Watching San pull out his phone, you see a glimpse of his phone case, it looks something like a character, but you can’t see it as he places his phone face up on the table.

"Quarter to twelve," San responds, his phone screen lighting up for a split second, you manage to catch a quick sight of his lock screen. It appears to be a group photo, with numerous faces smiling brightly at the camera. So, they have more friends.

"We have about thirty minutes till ecology, do you want to go to the canteen?" Jongho questions as he begins to put his belongings into his bag. 

"I could use a snack,” San answers, stretching back into the chair, his arms above his head just as you did earlier.

"Coming with us?" Jongho asks as he stands up from his chair and pushes it back beneath the table.

Bewildered by the question, you wonder as to why they want you to come when they have been nothing but distant this entire time. Glancing back at your unfinished lab report displayed on your laptop, you feel conflicted. Yet a break from the tedious work would be rather nice. There's no harm in pulling another all-nighter.

"I could also do with something to eat," Your smile is bright as you stuff your laptop into your bag, happy to have a reason to escape the tedious work on the small screen of your laptop. 

It is a rather fast walk to the canteen; it is conveniently on the same wing as the library. Expecting the canteen to be full to the brim of students getting lunch, you’re surprised to see the canteen completely empty. You are rather pleased with the serenity of the canteen, feeling at ease that there are no judging eyes watching your every move. Pacing over to the cooled section of food, your footsteps echo in the large room, then you notice San and Jongho trailing after you, looking quite lost. 

"Have you guys never been to the canteen before or something?" You inquire, chuckling at their antics before grabbing a carton of banana milk and an apple.

"It's not particularly our scene, we eat our meals at our place." San answers, staring down at the banana milk in your hand. So, they live together, it makes sense seeing how close they are.

“You guys don't live in student buildings?” You question, that does explain why you've never seen them around, knowing most people who reside in the student dorms. You resume walking towards a table to sit, you grab two more banana milk before sitting down and popping a straw into your drink.

"No, we live near the new park, Eastwood Drive," Jongho replies.

This information almost makes you spit out your drink. Eastwood is not only part of a huge real estate area but one of the richest areas near our school. Absolutely no students would be able to afford that. It's an area full of houses like mansions or condos bigger than a regular house.

"Are you okay?" Jongho asks, hurriedly rushing to your side and patting your back, San chuckles at the scene and passes you a bottle of water from his seat. 

"Yes, I'm fine," You say between coughs, "thank you," you take a gulp of water from the bottle before handing it back to him.

"Sorry it's just, how on earth do you afford that house there's no way you guys just have it. Did you have to sell your soul to the devil or something?" 

Both males let out soft laughs and for the first time you see something other than scowls on their faces, instead replaced by gentle amusement.

"No, we didn't, one of our roommates' mothers is the owner of the real estate and she lets us live there," San answers your question.

"We do still have to pay rent, which is above average, but it's not anything like the rent we would have to pay if we were actually living there," Jongho adds, "plus we have quite a few roommates, so it's spread out pretty evenly." So, they have multiple roommates.

"I see," you hum as you let the information in. Of course, they have several roommates, the house is big enough for ten people, most likely. 

"And you?" Jongho questions looking at you. His expression is back to his resting face, until he realises his question, eyes going wide he continues, “not in a creepy, I'm sorry please don't take it the wrong way!" he rambles on. 

Laughing out, you wave your hands in a friendly way to dismiss his thoughts.

"No no, it's okay," you chuckle, not really sure how to explain to them that your house was recently made into a fresh stock of charcoal.

“It's kind of complicated I'll be honest," you start, San and Jongho’s expressions twitch in curiosity, "Well I was living at Coast Lane," 

"Oh, the one near the shopping centre?" Jongho inquires. You nod your head back in confirmation.

"Wait but wasn't that place burnt down a few days ago?" San asks, looking at Jongho and then back at you with a worried look. Their hearts fill with worry for you.

"Yep," you say, popping the p at the end, "that's why I said I was living," you say looking down, chucking dryly.

"Where are you living now then?" San asks, his voice laced with something similar to worry. 

"I'm staying at a friend's house, but they are getting a new roommate at the end of this week, so I need to move out by then." 

"Have you found anywhere to live yet?" Jongho questions, looking sorrowful. You are surprised by the amount of worry you suddenly feel from San and Jongho. However, you shake your head as 'no' and proceed to take another sip of your drink. 

"I have an idea." San abruptly says standing up from his chair, catching your and Jongho's attention, "Excuse me I have to talk to someone, Jongho. Joong." 

Jongho's eyes light up with some sort of awareness and he also rapidly stands from his chair, leaving you even more confused, unsure where the sudden energy comes from, you also wonder who the fuck 'Joong' is and why do they need to see him so suddenly. 

"See you soon, __.” Jongho’s smile is warm and contagious, he then turns to leave with the taller man.

"Wait, guys!” You exclaim, "here," you hand them both a cartoon of banana milk that you grabbed earlier. "Drink these, you can't focus if you're dehydrated, " you say, heat rising up from your chest. 

Both of the men look at you shocked at the kind gesture, surprised someone actually cares about their well-being. Giving you a thank you, the two men leave with red subtly covering their cheeks, both trying to immediately force it away before someone sees them with a giddy expression.

 ----

"Then they just stood up and left," You replay the events from earlier today to Jisung, who is sipping on a mojito. After the busy day you both shared, Jisung and you decided to go to a bar that recently opened not too far from campus. It is small and cosy, not too full of people, mostly students from your school rewinding from the day, just like you.

"Psycho behaviour," Jisung jokes whilst you take a sip of your drink. Laughing, you push Jisung's arm gently.

"I don't know, they were certainly intimidating but I could tell they were okay people," you exclaim truthfully. If you said that the three hours you spent with the two weren't pleasant you’d be lying.

"Do you have a crush on them or something?" Jisung inquires, rather loudly, getting far too excited. Hoping that no one heard him through the low jazz music resounding in the small bar, you quieten down your best friend quickly by covering his mouth with your free hand.

"Ji the entire bar does not need to know about my personal endeavours, and no I do not have a crush on them, they are just simply cute," you say exasperated.

“So, you do find them cute! The last time you had a crush as back in high school, this is big news,”

“There is no news dumbass, they are just cute. I find kittens cute, and I don’t want to date them.”

Jisung’s face contorts into a mixture of disgust and humour.

"Wait, what are their names?" Jisung questions his voice back to a reasonable volume.

"Choi San and Choi Jongho, I've never even heard of them, to be honest. You'd think I would've seen these handsome men bef, what is with that look on your face?" you stop your ramble as you see the very obviously shocked look on Jisung's face. 

"Are you fucking serious?" Jisung says slowly.

Confused, you simply answer, "yeah they needed help with maths. it was your boyfriend who set the tutor session up."

"Yeah, because they probably threatened him?" Jisung says tensing up.

"What do you mean threatened, they were huge sweethearts," you say amused at Jisung. Your laughing momentarily halts when you see the serious look on Jisung's small face.

"What is it?" 

"___, Choi San and Choi Jongho are part of that group." 

Your baffled expression remains on your features, clearly unfazed by this information.

"What is that like a cult or something?" you joke.

"Girl, are you living under a fucking rock? Ateez, the group called Ateez. The super scary ones practically haunt this school. I'm surprised they talked to Minho. I'm pretty sure he's going to be scarred now."

Slowly but surely, your brain starts to put things into place.

"Wait, that group Sola told us about?”

As Jisung confirms your question, you feel the hairs on the back of your neck rise. A few months ago, you had been told by some classmates about them briefly, they were talking rather loudly about them. Apparently, they had done some terrible things when they were in high school then just disappeared for a few years. Most people thought they dropped out or moved abroad. The year they returned, they started this university out of nowhere together and have been a notorious group ever since, being known for staying foul and bitter towards everyone except themselves. Yet, nobody seems to know the reason for their ice-cold hearts. You never really bothered to keep up with the rumours or gossip, it wasn’t necessary for you to know, however you start to think maybe you should pay more attention due to your recent interaction with two of the people in the group.

"But they were nice?" your question, more to yourself than to Jisung.

"I don't know about you, but you probably got the wrong people." 

You don't believe Jisung is lying but at the same time… The two men you had tutored earlier today were definitely not members of the notorious group. 

Surely not. 

Yes, they were intimidating, but nowhere near as bad as anything people say about them. From what you've heard about the group, they are cold, heartless, selfish, and miserable. Staying only in the group of eight, others not even daring to look them in the eyes as they pass them.

"If they were the people that you were tutoring yesterday, you may have gotten yourself into something you can't get out of. They have hundreds of fangirls, who are very possessive over them and people who want them dead. I don’t know of a single person who is fond of them. It’s best if you stay far away from them." Jisung says with a nervous expression. 

Unexpectedly, his phone lights up and you see Minho's caller ID appear. Jisung glances back up at you with a questioning look, requesting if he can take it.

"Go ahead," you push your smile and watch as he leaves to find a quiet place.

Your heart beats heavily against your chest and you feel your throat tighten. ‘Come on’ you think, this isn't the best place for you to have an anxiety attack. Possibly, it's that the new information is far too overwhelming. You are barely keeping up with your classes, your apartment just burnt down, and now you’re somewhat engaged with an apparently dangerous group that has no good stories. Feeling your breathing getting jagged and your heart getting heavier by the second, you attempt to focus on your breathing. Trying to remember the breathing exercises your mother taught you when you were younger, you attempt breathing in deeply, but it doesn't work, leaving you to breathe in and out in a fast manner. It's okay, it's okay. You repeat yourself, in an attempt to comfort yourself, but your brain is yelling 'it's not okay, look how stupid you've been and got yourself into a senseless situation again. Fucking idiot'. You put your head in your hands and start gently rocking on the barstool, tears threatening to fall out of your eyes. Unexpectedly, a presence appears next to you and before you know it, their warm hand is rubbing up and down your back in a soothing manner. 

"Shh it's okay, it's all going to be okay." a deep voice speaks from your right. You don't care to look up, only basking in the way the figure's hand caresses your back in a comforting way. To your surprise, it works miracles. Your breathing is back to a reasonable state within the next minute. Only then do you look up from your hands, your eyes lock with a beautiful man. He wears a comforting smile, his eyes full of sympathy and something else you can't quite put your finger on, his hand not slowing on your back. Trying to smile back at him, you wipe the tears you didn't even know had fallen, with the sleeves of your sweatshirt before regaining the words to speak.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," you say, abruptly embarrassed that a very handsome man just had to see a small breakdown of yours. 

"It's perfectly okay. I've had enough anxiety attacks to know you can't control where you have them." the man admits, scratching the back of his neck with an awkward smile on his face. The voice of the man is deep, yet soft, making you feel awfully relaxed.

"You have anxiety?" you ask, sniffling your nose.

The man chuckles and looks down at his hands, "longer than I can remember, yeah," he looks back up at you, "rubbing my back is how my friends comfort me, so I hope it somewhat worked for you too." 

"It worked amazingly, it's actually how my mother used to comfort me," you express, still slightly ashamed to be sharing this information with a stranger, let alone such a good-looking one. Yet knowing he goes through the same things as you, comforts you more than you realise. The male looks around him, almost as if he’s worried someone will see him, he then looks back down to your smaller figure which is closer to him than he remembered. Clearing his throat, he steps away a little bit, concerned you would feel uncomfortable with the closeness of your bodies. 

“I do need to go now, but it was nice to meet you," The man says whilst leaving the barstool to your right. Not sure why, but you feel sad that he has to leave so soon. Feeling so relaxed around a stranger has you shocked, wishing you could stay with this unknown feeling.

"Thank you," you say, grateful to have him there for you.

"Anytime.”

"I’ll see you around." You return his smile.

Nodding his head, he gives one last smile before departing the bar's exit, a growing smile adorning his features as he exits the bar.

“Hey I’m back.”

Whipping your head to the left, you see Jisung sitting back in his stool. Opening your mouth to tell him about what just happened, you attempt to get the words out but for some reason, you are unable to find the words. Not wanting to worry your best friend with your sudden onset anxiety attack, you decide to stay quiet.

What are these unexplainable encounters you've been having with handsome men recently?

----

Climbing over bags and coats, you find a seat in a calmer area of the stadium you just arrived at. Spotting Minho in the field doing some warm-ups with his team, you feel relaxed to see someone you know. When he sees you, he waves happily. Smiling, you reach for your phone to quickly text Jisung asking where he is. All of a sudden, a rush of cold air gets swept in by the wind, causing you to freeze up. Never liking the cold, you debate heavily at this moment whether you should just leave. However, you travelled all the way from Yeji’s to here in the cold. It seems like a waste to just go back, even if it freezes you to death to stay. After all, you need to support Minho, him being one of your only friends, for the football game. Jisung is supposed to be joining you but you’re sure he's busy picking out a cute outfit to swoon Minho. 

Over the past few days Jisung has been trying to teach you the names of Ateez so you know to run if they approach you. Seemingly stupid, but you do need fewer distractions in the hope to graduate with honours. From what Jisung has told you, there are eight members, and they are all of similar age, the youngest being in the same classes as he managed to skip a year due to him exceeding the level of people his age. However, Jisung teaching you their names doesn’t really stick to you, never being good at names it doesn’t help that you don’t know what they look like. It would be much easier learning their names if you actually had photos so you can put a name to a face, but of course they don’t have Instagram accounts, and if they saw people taking photos of them, they’d likely murder you on the spot. Or that’s what Jisung says.

You are suddenly brought out of your thoughts when a voice sounds in your ears.

“Could I sit here?” a soft, yet deep captivating voice speaks out. 

Curiously, you look to your left to see who the owner of the voice is. Surprisingly, you see a blonde male with a mask covering his face. He is standing next to the seat where you have placed your bag, and you realise he is asking for the seat.

“Oh yes, of course, sorry,” you hurriedly grab your bag and place it between your legs, allowing the male to take a place next to you.

“Thank you,” he says, a very small smile on his lips. When he sits down, he takes off his mask, and you glance at him one more time, taking in his visuals. With his fluffy hair and red tinted cheeks and a small mark of pink next to one of his eyes, he is truly a work of art. Yet, for some reason, you can't help but feel like you've seen him before.

“I'm sorry have I met you before, you seem really familiar?” you ask inquisitively, not being able to match a name to a face.

“We may have run into each other once or twice,” the blonde male puts his hand out for a handshake.

Gladly taking his hand in yours, you shake with a small smile on your face.

“It is a small world, I'm __.” 

The male takes his hand away and back into his coat pocket, shivering in the icy air.

“Are you Jisung's girlfriend?” he questions.

Rolling your eyes, slightly annoyed at the question, you go to answer. It has been thousands of times that people have asked about your and Jisung's relationship, mistaking you for a couple and not just a couple of friends. After a while it gets rather irritating, the question being asked countless amounts of times.

"No, we aren't, we are just best friends, I'm pretty sure Jisung came out as gay like two years ago. Plus, he's literally dating the quarterback, Lee Minho." you chuckle slightly.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to offend you in any way." 

"No! It's really okay, it's just I get asked a lot, so it becomes annoying after a while. I mean look at Jisung, he has baby girl written all over him." 

“Cold?” he questions.

The blondie next to you lets out a small chuckle acknowledging the man you are always with isn’t your boyfriend.

Sensing a gaze on you, you turn back to the blonde male whose eyes are looking at the goosebumps on your exposed arms.

“I probably should’ve brought at least a jumper. I've been so wrapped up with exams and tutoring I’ve been forgetting everything,” you say, laughing slightly, embarrassed that you went outside wearing just a t-shirt in the middle of November.

The male lets out a laugh before speaking, “it’s okay, I understand. If I’m being honest, I've also been having so much struggle with studying, my stress is all over the place.” He wonders for a second why he even shared this with you, concerned for a second you will see him in a bad light.

“I'm sorry to hear that.” you contemplate for a moment, “Look I have these if you want,” reaching into your pocket, you grab some rescue drops. “These help me a lot,”

You place the small bottle in his hand, and a giant smile covers his face. “What? I’ve actually been looking for these everywhere and I can never find them! They’ve been sold out in every shop.” Blondie looks back up at you, “but you have anxiety you need these more than me,” 

Pausing for a second, you wonder how he knows you have anxiety, nonetheless, you continue “It’s perfectly fine, Jisung’s parents work at a pharmacy back in my hometown and they send me a few of these whenever they are in stock, you can keep them.” you inform him, his smile brightening your cold mood shockingly fast. You’re not even sure why you gave him them, it was your last bottle. You guess that’s what happens when you are a people pleaser. The smile on the male’s face only grows wider, his heart jumping at your kind action.

“Thank you so much __,”

“It’s no worries, if you ever need some more, look for the loud group of small guys acting like four-year-olds.” you laugh, and he chuckles along with you, making a mental note, even though he knows he will likely never approach the group.

Before you can focus back on the starting game, you feel a soft material cover your shivering body. It is a large zip-up that smells of rich, sweet perfume. Turning quickly to the blonde guy with confusion covering your features, you hurriedly dismiss the action, seeing his arms exposed to the winter air.

“I can’t take this; you’ll get too cold.” you stop your words as he pulls out another sweater from his bag. 

“I've got my friend’s sweater, you keep mine until you’re warm.” he turns to face the game, "or until Jisung sees and freaks out and tells everyone you have a secret boyfriend." he jokes.

“You seem to know Jisung?” you ask, wondering how he knows Jisung’s personality quite well.

“Well, we know each other, but we aren’t particularly friends,” blondie turns fully towards you, “are you sure you don’t know me at all?”

“I'm sorry but I really only have like two friends, I don't really go out.” 

“But Jisung is super popular, aren't you in his huge partying friend group?”

“Not really, his friends are lovely but I’m only close with him and his boyfriend, I'm not too good at making friends.” you quietly mumble the last part. You look over at the blondie and see he has slight confusion on his face.

“You are so kind, I’m sure anyone would want to be your friend." 

"You’d be the first to think that" you dryly admit, which causes the male to feel a twinge of pain and guilt in his heart, "I would rather stay inside all-day binge-watching television whilst eating away my stress,"

"Well, that’s one thing we have in common." 

Sharing a warm smile with him, you start to get lost in your thoughts again, but then you realise a question you never returned.

“I’m so sorry I never got your name.”

“No worries, I’m Yeosang.” he has the same smile on his face, making you feel warm despite the bitter winter air. Then his familiarity dawns on you.

“Kang?” you inquire, your voice rising ever so slightly.

“That’s me,” he smiles at me, and you don't know if your heart rises because of how beautiful his smile is or because you recognise the name from Jisung’s teaching session with the members of Ateez.

“Like from Ateez,” you question, watching your words, if Ateez is as bad as Jisung is saying then you definitely need to watch your words.

Yeosang turns to you, almost looking baffled.

“I thought you didn't know about Ateez?” he questions, shocked.

“What made you think that?”

“Just a guess I suppose, being that you don't really go out I assumed you weren’t really interested in the groups and stuff.” 

“Ah well not particularly, but recently I suppose I’ve gotten to know about it better.”

“You're not scared, are you?” you see Yeosang tense up a little, his eyebrows furrowed. He hopes for the best, not knowing how you will react. Surprisingly, your heart softens at this question, he seems upset for some reason, as if he doesn't want to be seen this way. You feel bad for ever acting stressed towards him.

“Don't worry, the only person that scares me is Jisung when he's hungry.” you joke out, relaxing the tension and calming him. From what you can see, Yeosang is just kind and calm. The only thing that's menacing about him is the fact he’s drop-dead gorgeous.

Yeosang lets out a small chuckle, “well I guess now I know I need to avoid Jisung if he’s hungry,”

You agree with the blonde man, whilst lightly laughing.

“Wait, but why are you watching? Aren’t you supposed to be on the pitch?” You ask him, confused, remembering Jisung informing you that Yeosang is a part of one of the school's football teams, along with someone else whose name you can’t remember at the moment. For a moment Yeosang’s chest fills with pride, knowing you know something about him.

“Someone is taking my spot today, I was told to analyse the opposing team to find out their habits and stuff, hence the notepad.”

Looking down, you notice the small notepad with doodles all over the cover, making your heart swell. Yeosang continues to talk,

“Don’t tell my tactics to Minho,” he jokes with a grin on his face, knowing Minho is on the other team.

“I would never betray you like that,” you place your hand over your chest acting offended. 

Both cracking up, you speak up again, “don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

“Sang!” You hear a voice call from the left, and your eyes lay on another attractive man, “Coach told us to sit with him,” this male also has a notepad in his grip. 

You know this guy. He works in a small café not too far from campus, it is down a narrow alleyway, covered by vines and moss. It was a very hidden spot and only locals really knew the place. Only knowing it because you walked past it every day for a year as the alleyway was a shortcut to your housing from the campus. Barely anyone goes there, the regulars being either old women or businesspeople quickly rushing in to get a coffee before work starts. Back at the beginning of the semester, you used to go to the café a lot because of the raspberry muffins, yet they stopped selling them thus forth you stopped going as much. It was also due to the fact you had barely any time to sleep, so you cut it out of your morning schedule to be able to sleep in a little. You think the guy’s name was Wooyoung if you can remember his name tag correctly. You notice he sees you sitting next to Yeosang, with his friend’s hoodie over your shoulders and a smile consumes his entire face. 

“Muffin?” he looks confused, yet somewhat glad to see you once again. The nickname extremely takes you aback. “Why did you stop coming to the café?”

As far as you can recall, back when you visited the café, this server was rather distant and limited to saying little to no words whilst waiting. Seeing him like this confuses you severely. Alas, you let out a giggle and both of the boys' grins widen visibly.

“You two better get going, I'm not sure your coach wants to wait any longer.” 

Yeosang stands up and straightens out his pants before turning to you,

“Hopefully I’ll see you around.” he smiles warmly. Smiling back at him, you nod. Yeosang starts to leave with Wooyoung before he turns around.

“I better see you at the café tomorrow! Plus, that sweater looks good on you, Muffin.” he winks and Yeosang slaps the back of his head.  You can’t help but giggle yet feel flustered. 

Yeosang and Wooyoung walk towards the coach’s section, Yeosang slightly more affected than the male next to him. Hopefully he will get his hoodie back, and hopefully it will smell like you. After this interaction, your mind was even more confused. If you remember correctly, Yeosang and Wooyoung have a very big reputation for being some of the rudest and coldest towards people. Yet they were so friendly when you were with them. Is everything all these people are saying about them true or maybe the group of eight is just deeply misunderstood?

Whatever it is, you need to talk to Jisung about this, but you will wait until the game is over.

----

The night of the interaction between Yeosang and Wooyoung, Jisung, Minho and you reside at their apartment, eating chicken and watching a shitty romcom for background noise. The rest of his roommates are out celebrating the start of the football season. You have no idea why it started mid-way through November but okay.

“I said I would come; they were too sweet to say no to!” You exclaim, throwing your head back against the couch, regretting saying yes. 

“It was definitely Yeosang and Wooyoung?” Minho questions, not believing any part of my story.

“Yes! Yeosang has the birthmark next to his eye like Ji described and Wooyoung was the guy who works at that one café I used to go to all the time,”

“Well, I never knew Wooyoung worked at a café, that doesn't really match the hardcore scary image they are going for, are you sure you’re not going delusional?” Jisung admits, chuckling.

“What are you going to do?” Minho questions, passing you a drumstick. 

You take a big bite, before speaking, “I should just go, if I don't show up, they might murder me as you two say. Which is very unbelievable seeing how fucking cheerful they’ve all been.”

“Well, you’ve only met four, the rest are probably a nightmare,” Jisung says, his mouth full of chicken, Minho humming in agreement next to him.

“You two are supposed to be comforting me.” you groan, throwing your head into your hands. 

“Okay, don't worry __, if they have been as nice as you’ve been saying then just show up and if they aren't nice then call Chan and Changbin and I’m sure they will gladly sort them out for you.” Minho laughs.

 ----

Keeping your promise, you showed up at the café the next day. 

Opening the painted door, the bell rings notifying your entrance. Immediately you spot Wooyoung relaxing against the counter, scrolling through his phone, visibly bored. There are only a few people in the café, mostly reading books or typing on laptops. You see a flash of pink hair in the corner, yet you lose focus as quickly as you had it as you continue to walk further in.

“Welcome to Veranda Café,” Wooyoung says unbothered, still staring at his phone as you walk closer to where all the cakes were on display. Much to your dismay, you fail to see a raspberry muffin on display.

“I see you still don’t have any raspberry muffins.” You speak out in front of where Wooyoung is standing, making his head immediately snap up.

“__! I was starting to worry you weren't going to show up.” He exclaims, a contagious smile wide on his face. Immediately putting his phone in his pocket, giving his attention to you. He leans on the counter. Extremely happy you showed up.

“I never break my promises,” you grin at the black-haired man.

“Oh, one moment.” He speaks out excitedly, like a puppy, and turns to where he was sitting. Opening up a small fridge, he brings out the biggest, most beautiful raspberry muffin you have ever seen.

“Yeosang and I made this morning for you.” he gestures over to the corner, and you see the blonde male from yesterday, he is sitting next to someone, yet you can’t see them from where you’re standing. Yeosang shyly waves and you smile and wave back. Heart beating faster and cheeks warming up, you take the muffin happily. Wooyoung smiles brightly at you, feeling prideful at the way your eyes light up from the muffin.

“We stopped making these muffins because the owner didn’t think anyone was buying them, it made me upset because I knew you liked them,” Wooyoung says, making direct eye contact with you, making you weak at the knees. Wondering how he even remembered you, you still feel thankful he thought of you, even if it was a long time ago.

“It’s a shame but I'm sure there are lots of other tasty things here too. Anyways, thank you so much, you guys are the best.” you say, sincerity dripping in your words. Wooyoung just shrugs like he doesn't care, but the big smile on his face and the redness dusting his ears tells a different story.

“How much do I owe you?” you ask, getting out your purse.

Swiftly, Wooyoung grabs your hand halting its actions, “it’s on us, for being so kind, Yeosang and one of our friends really needed those rescue drops.” He lowers his voice, “between us, their anxiety has been really bad recently, and the stuff works wonders. Plus, you were always my favourite customer anyways.” Wooyoung admits, smiling, his cheeks get a deeper colour of red. Your heart warms up once again, which is strange to you. You haven't felt this happiness in a very long time. Maybe things are starting to get better. Happily taking the muffin, you make your way to Yeosang who is reading a book.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” you inquire, repeating his words from yesterday, yet when your eyes meet the figure sitting next to him, they light up as you recognise him.

“I know you!” You exclaim, a little too loudly, causing people around you to glare in your direction. Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden attention, you quickly sit down in a shielded area, away from all the glares. 

“You two know each other?” Yeosang asks, intrigued by your sudden remark.

“It is you, right?” you ask just in case you’re mistaking him for another pink-haired male.

The tall male smiles widely, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m Mingi,” he turns to Yeosang, who is visibly confused, “we met briefly in a bar the other day,” 

Yeosang lets out an ‘ah’ in realisation, yet you fail to see the jealous look he points at the pink haired man as he turns back to his book. Reaching for a dessert fork placed in the middle of the table, Mingi quickly grabs it and hands it to you. Quietly thanking him, you start to cut your muffin into four pieces. You acknowledge a gaze on you, so you halt your movements and look up, noticing Yeosang and Mingi’s eyes on you. Suddenly feeling awfully small, you start to feel your heartbeat rise and your breath deepen, never really liking people watching you eat, the stares from the two make you anxious. Luckily, they seem to immediately notice your change in behaviour and start apologising.

“I’m sorry, we will look away. We were just wondering whether you were going to like the muffin,” Mingi explains, his voice stumbling over words.

“It’s okay! I’m sorry, I’ve always been kind of awkward when people watch me eat.” you confess, your cheeks heating up. The two males nod trying to remember this information for the future. Instantly, the two men completely look away and focus on their own things, not paying any attention to you. Their antics make you giggle slightly, and you look back down at your muffin. Slowly, you pick up a quarter and place it on Mingi’s empty plate in front of him. You then do the same for Yeosang. They both look up at you with wide eyes.

“This is your favourite, we can't take it,” Yeosang says hurriedly, trying to put the cake back on your plate. 

“Stop, stop! I want to. I want to share it with my friends!” You blurt out before you can control your mouth. The wide eyes on both Yeosang and Mingi, make you realise what you said. You have to remember that even though they seem normal they are very clearly part of a group who apparently can kill people with their stare. What the hell are you doing? Of course, they aren’t your friends, you met them both once for less than ten minutes.

“Wait, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that I didn't intend to push your boundaries, we have only met like twice I didn't just assume we are friends!” You start to ramble, scared they will take it the wrong way, trying to fix your words as quickly as possible so you don’t get on their bad sides.

Before you can say anything more, Yeosang cuts you off by taking a bite of the muffin, “it tastes amazing! Thank you,”

“Woo!” Mingi’s voice calls out, ignoring the angry glares of people around him, “come get some cake!” Watching Wooyoung jump over the counter towards the three of you, you smile to yourself, glad you haven't done something that would cause future problems. Yeosang feeds Wooyoung the cake and makes an over-exaggerated reaction, “the flavours are melting on my tongue!” he exclaims in a funny voice, making Yeosang and Mingi cringe but you just laugh at his amusing antics. You can’t help but imagine how the whole group is when they are together. 

For the remainder of the hour, you are just conversing with Wooyoung and Mingi, sometimes Yeosang if he wants to add to the conversation, but more focusing on his book, yet looking up intently whenever you speak. You are broken out of your conversation as you hear the bell of the entrance ring, notifying the entrance of new customers. Wooyoung groans and stands up from his chair next to you. It seems to be three girls from our school. You recognise one of them from your calculus class.

Then the next thing that happens confuses you more than any other thing that has happened. As Wooyoung reaches the counter to take their order, his demeanour changes almost immediately, you would've missed it if you had blinked. 

Mingi and Yeosang seem to notice your confusion but blatantly ignore it, their smiles quickly disappearing from their faces. The atmosphere turns from warm and friendly to cold and foreign.

“What do you want?” Wooyoung asks bluntly. You furrow your eyebrows, confused out of your mind as to where the sweet friendly Wooyoung disappeared to.

“You know you should be nicer to your customers, it would help with business,” one of the girls speaks out, looking smug as if she has immensely hurt the man’s feelings.

“You should probably focus on your studies rather than going to cafes, sitting with a random document open and pretending to study when we all know you are miserably failing all your classes.” Wooyoung says monotone, whilst scrolling through his phone, not even looking at the three girls who now have shocked and offended looks on their faces. Some curses are thrown before the girls end up storming out of the café without even beginning to look at the menu. As soon as the girls leave, Wooyoung returns to the table nonchalantly, acting as if nothing had happened. Opening your mouth to say something, it gets caught in your throat before you get the words out.

Are you going insane?

{feedback is always appreciated and i love hearing from all of you. remember you are loved.} 

part two is out now!!!

[suzukiblu]

Ko-fi thank-you sentences for @sil-sol-set behind the cut; the Gotham Kid.

“Yeah, alright,” Pete says, still wearing that mean and merciless grin. “So who's got a pottery wheel in here?” 

“I'd rather go straight for the kiln, boss,” one of his guys mutters. 

“There any sprinklers?” the other asks doubtfully as he looks around the room. “Clay ain't shit when it gets too wet, right?” 

If Kid had heat vision or ice breath . . . 

Yeah, well. If Kid had heat vision or ice breath, he wouldn't be here, would he. 

“Fire hydrant's on the corner,” Pete says with a mean grin, which is . . . really smart, actually. Smarter than Kid would've expected. 

Not smarter than Superman's memories do, though. 

“How the hell are we getting a fire hydrant open, boss?” the first guy asks incredulously. “Much less fuckin’ aimed.” 

“Hm,” Pete says, his mouth twisting just a little bit humorlessly. “Anybody got a crowbar?” 

“Why the fuck would we have crowbars?” one of his guys says incredulously. Pete laughs. It sounds mean too. 

Kid . . . hesitates. 

Then he claps his hands together once to get their attention. Pete glances down at him, raising an eyebrow. 

“What do you want, kid?” he asks. Kid thinks he understood him fingerspelling earlier, so . . .

c-r-o-w-b-a-r, he signs, then points at himself. He doesn’t have a crowbar, obviously, but it’s the quickest way to say he can handle the hydrant without involving a lot of questions. Or–he thinks it is, anyway. 

Pete narrows his eyes at him. Tilts his head a little. 

“You do realize you'd have to go outside for that,” he says. “Where it might or might not be Clayface.” 

Kid shrugs helplessly. What else is he supposed to do? 

He's–not a superhero. Not Superboy. And even less is he Superman. He'll never be any of those things. But this place is full of people who can't take a hit like he can; can’t take the kind of damage he can. People who don't have TTK to crack that fire hydrant with. 

People he can help. 

So . . . yeah. 

Like he said: what the hell else is he supposed to do? 

Pete looks at him for a moment longer. Then he smirks, and it’s mean again. 

“Fine,” he says. “Just try not to die before you get it done, we don’t have time for fucking around here.” 

yes, sir, Kid signs. Even if might-be-Clayface catches him, he won’t be expecting TTK. He won’t hit hard enough, at least to start, and that’ll mean Kid’ll have the chance to get the hydrant open. 

“Oh, you’re really not from around here, huh,” Pete observes with a snorted laugh, like he’d have any reason to know that a Crime Alley kid would never call anybody “sir” that easy. And Kid’s not a native, obviously, but . . . 

Technically, he’s lived here just about his whole life. The handful of weeks he spent in Metropolis and the things he “remembers” about . . . Smallville, those are . . . 

They’re not his. Not really. Metropolis is Superman’s, and Smallville is Clark Kent’s, and Kid . . . 

Kid’s not from Crime Alley, but he’s only ever been in Gotham, it feels like sometimes. 

It’s easier, when he pretends like that’s true.

[heartfullofleeches]

Omg 😭 would be so pissed if I was trying to fight somebody and they literally caught my hands 😭😭😭

@ VENDETTA TURN OFF THE IMPENETRABLE SKIN AND FIGHT ME BRO. OR AT LEAST LET ME BREAK MY KNUCKLES I NEED ONE GOOD PUNCH

(Love him but also have the urge to kick him into the sun team rocket style)

Does Doomsday Reader just get more scared as he catches their punches, or would they get mad too?

I'd be a mix of pissed at and absolutely terrified of a man who could catch my flying fist like we're playing baseball and he's a big league player and I'm just a kid with a bat. Vendetta really doesn't wanna see you hurt- but if you insist...

-

You clutch your hand to your chest as a cry of anguish rings through the chilled night air, losing your footing and falling into the arms of the monstrosity that's been tailing you for God knows how long as the pain climb to your shoulder. Vendetta chuckles - not a mark of your punch on him besides the odd angle of his neck and gead. If he hadn't moved along with it you'd be in worse pain than you are now. It felt like you just punched a fire hydrant. Vendetta breathes in, holding you with one arm and pulls off his gloves with his teeth - shelding his armor.

"Ahhhh, see - what I tell you? Play dumb games, win dumb prizes and we both know you're too smart for that. I'll let you land as many licks as you want when you're all healed up, but consider this a lesson. Believe it or not, but im here to keep you safe. I can start by getting you some ice to put on that."

[ramp-it-up]

Taste

Pairing: Mob Boss! Sam Wilson x Rumlow! Reader; Bucky Barnes x Reader (platonic); Steve Rogers x Reader (platonic); Brock Rumlow x Reader (platonic)

Word Count: around 4K

Warnings: 18+ As always, MINORS DNI, Not Beta’d. All mistakes my own. Childhood hoods, childhood crush, childhood nicknames based upon appearance, young Brock, Steve, Bucky and Sam, skinny Stevie Rogers, sibings being sibings, bratty behavior, Angst, allusion to underage drinking and crime, toxic parents, protective bothers, allusions to underaged drinking, bratty behavior, a punch in the nose (accidental), bloody nose, shirtless Sam, kind of innocent reader, fingering, oral sex (female receiving) loss of virginity, pain during sex, p in v, raw sex (wrap it or don’t tap it), praise kink, after care. This entire fic is comprised of two flashbacks.

A/N: This is in the same AU Try a Little Tenderness and The Representative, and comes directly after Addicted To You. The AU is called This Thing of Ours.

I no longer operate a taglist. Follow @rampitupandread to be notified when I post.

I Do NOT consent to my work being reposted, translated or presented on any other blog or site other than by myself.

You were ten years old, it was 2002, and you were spending the summer in Brooklyn at your father’s house. 

It was long before the mob war that he created which separated your brother Brock from his best friends. 

And it was a time that would change you forever.

The July afternoon was hot and so was the block. Music was blaring from the speakers of someone’s radio and there was a buzz in the air: adolescence, ambition and a potential for violence. 

You a slave to a page in my rhyme book/Gettin' big money, playboy, your time's up/Where them gangstas at?/ Where them dimes at?/They shootin'! Aw, made you look

They called you Bunny because of your teeth and your size. But you were a scrapper and could stand up for yourself. Your father taught you that. 

You also had a smart mouth, and roasted anyone who dared talk about you or your family. 

Your mother taught you that. 

When you came to your father’s house while your mother took her annual girls trip that summer, you found that your big brother was suddenly different. Gone was the quiet gangly 12 year old who drew up plans for world domination in composition books in his room; a wiry 13 year old who had friends who were just as scrappy and hungry as he was had taken his place.

Little Stevie Rogers never backed down from a fight. That’s where his best friend Bucky Barnes came in, backing him up when Stevie was against the wall. Brock was the kid with vision, the one who had a plan to get them where they wanted to be.

In power.

Your brother tried to ignore you, but you trailed after him because there was nothing better to do. One day, you sat in the stoop and watched him and his friends working to open the fire hydrant across the street from your dad’s house.

Your brother felt your eyes on them as you hugged your knees.You were a sight, bushy hair, glasses, braces, and an intense look on your face. He felt bad. 

For a second.

“Why don’t you go on over there and play dolls with Shandy and “n’em, Bunny?”

You glanced over at the girls playing on the next stoop, their braids wilting in the sun. They were playing with stiff dolls with stiff plastic hair and legs that didn’t bend. Not your scene.

You just poked your tongue out at him and moved to stand in the water now dripping out of the hydrant, your strawberry sneakers with the bows getting drenched. You smiled down at them, thinking of how mad your mother would be.

“Aw, c’mon Brock. She ain’t hurtin’ nobody. Let her have some fun.”

Bucky’s blue eyes shone down at you and you pushed up your glasses and looked up at him, squinting in the sun. Stevie’s bony elbow bumped into yours as you hopped to avoid the bruising gush of water along the pavement as they succeeded in their quest.

“Sorry.”

Stevie smiled at you. He really was a nice boy, even though he was pugnacious. Bucky was a smart ass, however.

“You don’t want her to melt, do ya? Your old man would skin you alive.” 

Stevie and Bucky laughed as Brock scowled. He didn’t have time for benevolence or little sisters. He had plans. He shook his head.

“Focus. We gotta stick with the plan. Sammy Wilson is coming over to talk about what’s happening tonight, and she doesn’t need to be around.”

You flipped Brock off behind Bucky and Stevie’s back, and he just scowled harder at you. No matter what you did, he didn’t engage with you like you wanted him to. How boring.

Bucky whistled. 

“Wilson is fast. That dude can run his ass off.”

Sam was on the track team at the high school down the block.

“I can beat him.”

Stevie puffed his bird chest out and Brock and Bucky laughed at him. You felt bad. 

“I believe you Stevie.”

He grinned at you and ducked his head.

Brock rolled his eyes and you flipped him off.

He pointed back at you.

“I’m sick of you. I’m telling Dad.”

You thrilled at the attention.

“Go ahead, I’ll tell him what you’re up to.”

Brock grabbed you by the shirt, snarling.

“You better not say a fucking word.”

You pulled away and landed on the pavement, your knee skinned. You kneeled, bending over to look at it, and to keep your tears inside, when you heard the voice of an angel.

“Need some help?”

You looked up into a face haloed by the sun. You reached for the hand that was offered and stood up to look into the face of 14 year old Sammy Wilson. And you were done for.

That gap tooth smile, those eyes. That skin.

You stared at him as you registered laughter around you. Sam spoke again.

“You okay?”

He seemed like he really wanted to know how you were.

“Y-yeah.”

He chuckled.

“You better clean that off.”

Sam took your hand and led you back over to the hydrant. He kneeled down, cupped water in his hand and cleaned off your knee.

“Sssssss!” 

It stung.

“Sorry. But it’s for your own good.”

You felt warm, and not just from the heat, as you let him take care of you.

You stared at him as he finished.

“That’s the best I can do. You need to get a band-aid.”

“Okay.” 

You would do anything he said. Sam looked up at you and it was like the air was sucked out of your body. You didn’t know what this feeling was, but it intrigued you.

“No problem. I got a little sister at home. Sarah. Just looking out. You gotta be careful.”

He smiled as he stood up and walked away. 

You watched him move over to the other boys, forever changed because that’s when you fell in love with Sammy Wilson.

You spent that last summer in Brooklyn as the unofficial mascot of the Savage Crims, the newest gang on the block. Steve, Bucky, and Sam adopted you and you became scout, lookout, and spy. It was the best summer of your life.

Your mother moved to Los Angeles that fall and took you with her. She started dating more legitimate businessmen, meaning the same type of men as your father, just with generational wealth and privilege.

It was a different world than New York. You went to fancy private schools and learned how to play the game. You were now a “friendly black hottie,” sidekick to the main character in every scene. 

But you were smart. 

As you grew older, you watched and learned and played the part, and soon, you were running the game. By the time you graduated from high school, you were the center of attention, just the way you liked it. 

Your mother was engaged, and you and she were on the cusp of something she’d dreamed of her entire life: being iconic.

You started your first two years in college at UCLA, but you convinced your mother that fashion was how you would enable yourself to meet the best type of men, and that Parsons School of design in New York was the place to be. 

You acted as if you were uninterested in reconnecting with Brock, who your mom thought hadn’t contacted you in eight years aside from telling you that your father had died.

You convinced your mother that you wouldn’t venture off the island of Manhattan, and she believed you because she was in the midst of applying the full court press on her man.

The truth was, you and Brock kept in touch regularly, and you were eager to see your brother again. 

And his friends.

So you flew back East in 2012, 10 years after you left, butterflies threatening to fly out of your mouth as you landed at Laguardia. 

After a few weeks in the city establishing your dominance, you showed up at the boys’offices unannounced. He knew you were in town, and told you about how successful he was now, with the help of Bucky and Steve. 

And Sam. 

You were going to go see just how successful everyone was. 

And how lucky you could get.

“Who the hell is that?”

Bucky peered at the camera about the buzzer to the brownstone. Steve came over to look as well.

“It can’t be… Brock, c’mere.”

“What is it? We’re trying to work out this next shipment…”

Brock looked at the camera as Sam watched his jaw drop from the table.

“Who is it?”

“Fuck! That’s Bunny!”

Brock backed up as Steve pressed the buzzer. He opened the door to wait for you to climb the stairs.

“Stevie!?” 

Your excited shriek was muffled as the now beefy blonde picked you up immediately to twirl you around into the loft space.

You stood back, feeling his muscles through his shirt.

“Wow! You have filled out.”

“I must have learned from you…” 

Steve looked you up and down when you heard a roar in your ear.

“Bunny!”

Bucky gave you a bear hug to where you couldn’t breathe. You pounded his back and punched him in the pecs when he let go. You caught your breath and then turned to Brock, whose eyes were shining.

“God, you’re grown up. You’re not my little Bunny anymore.”

“Shut up, stupid.”

You embraced your brother, surprised at your emotion. You were choking up, about to sob in his arms.

“I missed you.”

You whispered into his shirt.

“Missed you too, kid.”

You let him go and you dabbed at your eyes. You heard someone clear their throat and looked over to see Sam standing next to you.

“Hey Sammy!”

You tried to make your voice light, so as not to betray your feelings. You’d replayed this moment in your mind a million times.

He was a man now. And damn. What a man. Tall, dark and handsome. But with that same smile. 

Sam tried to be cool. Brock was right. You weren’t little any more. A full grown woman. He tried to not check you out because he knew Brock was watching, but damn. You were beautiful. All over.

“Well? Can I get a hug?”

Sam unfroze himself.

“Of course.”

You seemed to melt into him, your breasts pressed against his chest, his lats seeming to mold around you. He could do this all day. 

When Sam opened his eyes, he saw Bucky’s raised eyebrow and he released you, stepping back and over to the table to try and pretend that all of his senses were not tuned on you.

“How’s Sarah?”

Sam smiled.

“Good. You should call her.”

You smiled back

“I will.”

Bucky interrupted.

“Tell me all about your socialite world, Ms.Y/L/N.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Rumlow ‘til I die.”

You locked eyes with Sam.

“Who does a girl have to screw to get a drink around here?”

You joked and the room fell silent.

“No one.” Brock deadpanned. “And you’ll wait another year until you’re legal.” 

You rolled your eyes.

“Yes, like everything is legal up in here.”

It was just like old times: you giving them all hell. Although Sam’s hell was different now. 

Bucky handed you a bottle of water.

“Thanks Buck!” 

You sat and crossed your legs across from Sam and Brock.

“So. How’s things?”

You four talked for hours, ordering pizza from Sal’s and shooting the shit. It was almost midnight when they drew straws to see who would take you home. Sam drew the short straw. 

Lucky him.

You rode in the passenger seat of Sam’s BMW, arms folded across your chest, an adorable bratty pout on your delectable lips. He’d been watching that mouth all night, torturing himself with visions of those in various places on his body. He was getting hard. 

Sam stifled a moan which he tried to play off.

You jumped a little when he growled at you.

“What the hell is wrong with you, little girl?”

You turned toward him, mad.

“First of all, I’m not a little girl any more.”

“Yeah, Right.”

It sounded dismissive, but Sam was really just agreeing with you.

“Second of all, y’all really drew straws to take me home?”

You glared at him as he laughed at your outrage.

“I’m not the little tagalong from years ago. I didn’t even need you to take me home. I could call anyone to come get me. To come get this.”

You held up your flip phone and indicated your body. Sam’s dark eyes took you in and felt possessive. Holy shit, he was in deep. 

“I’m sure you got lots of hardheads after you.” 

Sam clenched his jaw and looked back at the road as he drove to The Village.

“We’re busy men, Bunny. We got important work to do. Brock will be working for a couple more hours, Bucky is running the streets, and Steve probably has a date right now…”

“At 1 am? You mean a booty call.”

Sam continued, ignoring you.

“But what will never change is us protecting you. We’re family, Bunny.”

You pushed his head and he glared at you.

“Same little boys is all I see. Important crimes, you mean.”

You huffed back into your seat, your breasts bouncing in your spandex dress. Sam fought to keep his eyes on the road.

“I’ll show you a little boy. Don’t try me, Bunny.”

You turned back to him, batting your eyes, but your attitude on 1000.

“I’d love to try you Sammy.”

Sam had the urge to take you by the throat and slide you up and down his dick, but he just squeezed the steering wheel harder, trying to ignore you. 

“Hey Sammy.”

He sideyed you. Your voice was too sweet.

“Let’s go get a drink.”

“Fuck no!”

“C’mon, don’t be a prude. I drank all the time in Europe this summer.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t Europe, and I don’t give a fuck.”

You sat back in your seat, grumbling and frustrated. He would never see you as anything but little Bunny. By the time you got to campus, you didn’t even wait for Sam to park before you jumped out. He caught up with you, long legs gaining ground quickly. He grabbed your arm.

“Hey!”

“Let me go!”

You turned around and popped him in the nose by reflex.

“Shit!” 

Sam held his face and doubled over.

“Oh, my damn! I’m sorry Sammy. Let me see.”

“Stop…”

Sam pulled away from you and as his hands moved, blood spattered all over his shirt and the concrete below him.

“Oh no. Oh no. I’m so sorry.”

Sam was moving away.

“Just.. leave me alone. I’m okay…”

“No you’re not. I’m sorry Sammy. Come up to my place. Please. I’ll clean you up.”

Sam opened his watery eyes to see your remorseful face and let you lead him up to your apartment, up three flights of stairs. You took him immediately to the bathroom and you washed him up, giving him a wet washcloth and telling him to lean his head forward, indicating the toilet.

Sam sat down and did as he was told, pinching the bridge of his nose.

You sat on the floor below him and stared up at him, hugging your knees.

“I’m so so so so sorry Sammy…”

He looked at you, silent, and continuing to pinch his nose.

You stayed with him for 15 minutes until he stopped bleeding and stood up again, cleaning up a bit more. You felt so bad.

You stared at his shirt as he stood.

“Jeez, Sammy, take that shirt off, let me soak it.”

Sam remained silent, but took off his shirt.

You bent over to get some hydrogen peroxide from the cabinet, scrubbed the shirt a little, then soaked it in cold water.

Sam was watching your ass, almost feral at the fact that you were such a brat. You needed to be tamed. But you were Brock’s kid sister. He was so torn. 

“You can grab a sweatshirt out of my –” 

You turned around toward and stopped mid thought, mind blank at the sight of Sam’s shirtless form.

“Holy shit.”

Sam gave you a lopsided grin.

“You keep sweatshirts in your holy shit?”

You didn’t even hear the tease, just licked your lips as you stepped toward him.

“Sammy?”

Sam gulped and tried to calm down. But the look on your face was everything at the moment. He knew he probably should have, but he didn’t stop you as you entered his space. You reached your hand up to his nose.

“Are you ok?”

“I think so.” 

Sam reached up and manually shifted his nose. 

“Probably just broken for the third time. Been in a couple of scraps.”

Your fingers entwined with his and you brought them to your lips. Tears started to slide down your face.

“I’m sorry.”

Sam wiped the tears from your face with his thumbs.

“Don’t cry. I’m ok.”

He pulled you in for a hug, and then leaned back.

As you looked up at him, he whispered, “So damn beautiful, Bunny…” 

Suddenly, he was kissing your face, collecting your salt water with his lips. Then, he pulled away.

“What are we doing?” 

You began to nuzzle his palm, while your hands reached for his pecs.

“Stop thinking so much, Sammy…”

“Thinking’s what got us into this..”

You nodded.

“D’you know how long I’ve been thinking about this?”

Your eyes followed your hands as they traced his chest, then his sternum down to his happy trail. His stomach clenched at the sensation. He was too far gone.

“How long?”

“From the first time someone tried to be with me sexually. I never really wanted to, I mean I’ve messed around, I can suck your soul out, but I’ve never wanted anyone inside of me.”

You were tracing his hard on outside of his pants, your face upturned now.

“Are you trying to say that…you’re…”

You nodded again.

“You were always in the back of my mind, Sam. I only want you.”

Sam tilted his head downward and captured your lips in a kiss, as though it were inevitable.

You both drew back and then your lips crashed together again, your bodies pressed up against each other urgently.

The kiss was everything you ever imagined and everything Sam didn't know that he wanted. Your hands went for his belt buckle. At that moment, Sam placed his hands on your arms and pushed you away from him.

“We can’t do this.”

You nodded, stepped back and took a deep breath.

“You’re right. You’re one of my brother’s best friends. No need for you to pop my cherry or anything.”

You two stared at each other. Then you licked your lips. Sam cocked his eyebrow, trying to restrain himself from the animalistic urges your filthy mouth gave him.

“You little brat.”

Sam grabbed your neck to pull you close to him. He reached down to pull your skirt up and he rubbed your ass like he was trying to shine it. He then put both hands on you to spread your cheeks apart. Your wetness was evident in the sound. You buried your face in his chest, embarrassed.

“Sounds like you really want this.”

For once in your life, you were speechless, and Sam reached down and angled your head up so he could look at you.

“I need you tonight Sam.”

You kissed him again and tried to get on your knees. But Sam stopped you and led you over to your bed.

“You’re the queen right now.”

You pulled off your dress and stood there in your bra and panties as Sam pulled you toward your bed to lay beside him, his hand caressing down the side of your body. 

He moved his fingers over the lace of your bra to find your nipple, and when it was discovered, he pinched it to see your reaction. The way your eyes closed halfway and your mouth opened was everything. He reached behind you to expertly unhook your bra and looked down on you.

“You're so beautiful.”

And he dipped his head running his tongue around the edges of your areola, making your nipple rock hard against his breath. Then, he started sucking in earnest, his huge hand going to tweak and play with the other. You threw your head back in earnest, the feeling in your cunt growing with each pull of his mouth. You started moaning.

“You mean to tell me…. That no one has ever… had the pleasure…”

Sam asked the important question between having his mouth on you. He couldn’t get enough.

You shook your head and furrowed your brow. It was taking you out of the moment. Sex was just a means to an end for you up until now.

“I suck them off, and they’re satisfied. S’not a big deal….. Ahhhhh.”

Sam stopped what he was doing to look into your eyes. 

“It is a big deal, Bunny. You deserve everything.”

Sam tenderly kissed your lips as he pulled your panties off, and then returned to your breasts. Tears slipped down your face to the pillow beneath your head as he finally parted your legs. His hand, led by his long middle finger slid down your wet, wet folds to play in your slick. 

“Mmmmmm. That’s that shit I like.” 

Sam rumbled in his chest, and the vibrations reached your nipple, causing you to arch into his mouth and hand. Sam’s fingers worked your clit and you could feel it get hard and plucky. You heard the sloshing wetness of your arousal. So did Sam. He pulled off to look at you again.

“You ever play with yourself?”

The look on his face was part possession and part genuine concern.

“Of course. But not this goooddddd…. Shit Sam. I just hit it and quit it…. Fuckkkk that feels good.”

Sam was plucking your nipple with one hand and rubbing your clit in expert circles with the other, watching the ecstasy on your face as you neared your peak. 

“C’mon for me now. Cum. right here in my hand…Yes…. That’s a girl…”

It hit you like a ton of bricks.

“Holy mother of……ssshhhhhhiiiiittttt! Sam! Fuckkkk fuck fuck fuck!”

You tried to grab his hand to move it away, but he was strong. Oh so strong. He didn’t stop.

“Sam… I… Sam stop..I can't…”

“You can, and you will. Take it. You’re tough. You can take it.” 

You convulsed as your pulses slowed down and you tried to relax.

“That’s a girl. Just give it to me. Let me have it. Love that shit. You’re beautiful right now, you know that?”

You calmed under his praise and got into the groove of his pleasure.

Sam’s fingers started exploring you, one of them sliding easily inside you, so he added another, but when he reached the second knuckle, you clamped down hard.

“Shit, Bunny. You’re so so tight.”

Sam looked at you with lust and you could feel his cock throbbing against your thigh, his precum making a mess.

“Thought that first one would have loosened you up. Looks like you need at least one more.”

Your eyes grew wide as he slid down your body, fingers still inside you, but now his mouth clamping around your clit, which was still sensitive. Your knees closed around his head and he pried them off with one hand.

“Take it Bunny. You deserve.”

It was the last thing he said before he destroyed your soul with his mouth. He licked and sucked and lapped, and his fingers slid inside you and curled the spark of pain muted by the fireworks behind your eyes as you came harder than you ever had in your life, including a few minutes earlier.

“Hnnnnh, hunnnnnnhh. Sam…”

He was kneeling up now, grabbing for his pants and a condom. When you saw the foil packet, you stopped him.

“No Sammy. Wanna feel you.”

Sam raised his eyebrow.

“Mom put me on the pill when I was 13. It’s like a vitamin now. I’m good.”

Sam nodded and his thumb went to your still vibrating clit as he swiped his head in your viscous slit. He managed to pop his thicker-than-you-thought head inside you, but you yelped in pain as he tried to slide in.

He leaned down, arms on either side of your head as you clutched his shoulders.

“You good?”

You nodded, tears in your eyes as you smiled.

“I want it, I need it. Give it to me.”

Sam looked at you, shook his head and smiled.

He slid inside you slowly, seeming to grow wider and longer with each inch that he gave you. The burning between your legs was soothed by his praise and tender kisses on your forehead.

“There you go.  Feels so so good for me Bunny. You’re doing so good. I can’t believe this… Make me wanna cum already. This pussy is so tight. And so good. Better than I’ve ever had…”

Sam relaxed you, and you began to enjoy that he was taking you apart. When your moans matched his thrusts was when he started to give it to you, his will power waning.

You were the epitome of desire.

He hiked your leg above his hip so that he could dig deeper and his thumb found your clit again.

“One more Bunny. Just one more…”

He felt you flutter around him and he gripped the base of his cock. 

“Sammy….”

“Yes… oh… fuck yes….”

“Ohhh! Ah!”

Your cream gushed around him as you came and Sam grunted and let go inside you.

“Fuuuuucckkkkkkkk aahhhhhhh ahhhh. Fuck!”

Sam felt like he his balls would never empty and he slumped on top of you, feeling your arms snake around him to hold him.

“Mmmm… Sammy.”

He could hear the smile in your voice. He leaned up off of you and kissed your nose, looking into your eyes.

“Are you okay?”

You smiled at him and Sam’s heart was gone. You had it locked up.

“Better than okay.”

He kissed you again.

“Stay right here.”

He went to the bathroom, coming backwith a washcloth and tenderly cleaned you up. You heard the bath running.

“You’re going to be sore.”

“Yes. I’m going to feel you for a week.”

Sam grinned and you saw his cock come to life. You smirked and gingerly moved ot get out of bed.

“Join me in the bathtub Sammy. Wanna try the wet and wild….”

Sam was hypnotized by the sway of your ass.

He didn’t think of the implications of what just happened. He’d had a taste, and his hunger was voracious. He just wanted you.

And that would become a problem.

Reblogging is always a good thing if you liked it.

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #1

- Ready to listen to what (I can only assume) is a brand new theme song, and check out the animation style for the first time since a glimpse in the first trailer.

- I should also mention I haven't read any of the synopses for episodes or even for the show itself. My understanding is that this is set in the future, in a non-Dimmsdale city, and rumor has it there's time travel in here somewhere?

- I also saw an early story bible glimpse of some kid who does ASMR, and that's about the end of my knowledge. I'm very nervous about that one because the description I saw for him did not set me up with the belief the writers knew what they were implying.

- Looks like this is a double-part first episode, so I might stop after watching this one today.

- The new animation style SHOULD mean new background characters. However, if I see Steve time-traveling for the second time, with or without the rest of his clones, you WILL know, and I will NOT be happy.

OKAY! Let's start this theme song.

---

Dimmadelphia? Got it, okay. Literally the first thing you see when starting the theme and honestly, that's really smart.

I had to rewind, that tower in the background... oh no.

I like how "pop"-y the city is as it appears. This is fun.

This city is super pretty. It's got storefronts and stuff? This is gonna be a fun place to set fanfics.

Ya Boix drinks? Oh, thank goodness we're getting in-universe products again. If this turns out to be a plot point because it comes from a magical business and it's foreshadowed within the first 2 seconds of the theme, I'm gonna lose my mind.

!!!!! It starts with a car drive and her name? Like Timmy's theme starts with the bus and his name? Love that.

!!! The fire hydrant!! All the details are so cute. A lot of love went into this.

Her whole life changed with a... bet quite strange? Bed?

Oh, this is a BEAUTIFUL callback.

I'm glad he's a dork, look at him...

??? Fish guy? Hazel, what? What is this? Is this where your imagination just went, or is this a reoccurring character from a comic book? ... Hmm. That's a wild design to throw at you with bright colors and no context.

PENNY-FARTHING DIRT BIKE??? I like this kid.

Okay, I love that theme. We're set up nicely with a nice, friendly callback to the old show and an implication that it is remembered and it is loved.

lol, no more head gags. I cannot blame them even slightly.

Theme done and here we go~!

(Oh, Hazel doesn't have a blog tag yet. I call Timmy #perfect pink beaver boy and Chloe #rebellious golden child. I'd like to give her a funky one too. I'll leave her alone for now and come back and tag her when I have something suitable)

[lambsouvlaki]

Moments in Between - Dog

Characters: Jason Todd x fem!oc

Rating and warnings: G, attempted mugging.

Word Count: 1,331

Summary: Red Hood saves Andy from a mugging, from the perspective of her dog.

Masterlist

Marlow, the 150 pound Irish Wolfhound, walked dutifully at Andy’s side through Crime Alley. He was smelling their way home. 

Andy had taken them out for dinner. It was someplace new, filled with very exciting smells and nice people who gave him many pats and told him he was a good boy. He didn’t get to inspect Andy’s food, because they brought out something dried and meaty for him to chew on, and by the time he was done she had finished. He didn’t know how that kept happening. 

Afterwards they walked to the bus stop. 

Marlow didn’t like the bus. It made too many noises and rumbles, the smells were bad, and it stopped and started without warning.

No bus came. Andy started to become nervous. There were a few other people walking past as the night got darker. The street lights turned on, sickly yellow and hissing. Andy looked around, and tapped her fingers against her leg. She started to smell like stress. Marlow stood up, anxious on her behalf. 

He wished the bus would come already so Andy would feel better. He was tough, he could put up with the rumbles. 

The night grew darker, and the roads emptier. Less people walked past.

The bus did not come. 

Andy sighed. “Let’s go.” 

She tugged lightly at his leash as she turned and walked along the pavement. 

Marlow trotted to walk slightly in front of her, just in case. Andy was smart and the best person, but her eyes weren’t very good, and her nose was entirely broken. She would walk right into trouble if he didn’t say anything. 

The wind sighed through the dirty streets, giving him the full report on who had come through here today. That nice rottweiler had gone for a walk this way at lunch time but was gone now. A stressed german shepherd who didn’t belong had peed on the fire hydrant. Marlow left his own mark over it. 

It was a long walk home, past all sorts of people Marlow didn’t like. Men especially. Marlow didn’t trust the men. Too many of them looked at Andy and smiled. Then they looked at him, and stopped smiling. Good. Look at someone else. No smiling. 

Some of the streetlights didn’t work here, and many shops were boarded up. There were still some people out selling things but they didn’t want to buy them. 

One of the nice ladies on the corner said hello to Andy. That was okay. They smelled like horrible too-strong flowers and alcohol, and sometimes worse things, but they were mostly safe. The men who floated around them were not. 

One of the younger ladies crooned at him and tried to give him pets. 

He wasn’t going to get distracted. He pulled against the lead as he kept walking, the harness firm around his shoulders. They weren’t home yet. No stopping.

The roads got emptier. 

Andy’s heeled ankle boots tapped too loud against the pavement. She pulled her jacket tight around herself. 

They approached their street. Two more turns and they would be home. In the daytime they usually cut through an alleyway, but when it was dark they would stay on the main road.

The wind brought him the scent of three people standing on the side of the road a little beyond the alley, right where their turn was. They smelled sour. Old vomit, drying blood. Desperation. They were watching them approach. 

Andy kept her head down. Her fear spiked.

They walked past the alley. Marlow stopped, and Andy bumped into his backside. 

Red Hat friend! He was sitting in the dark on top of a dumpster. He wasn’t moving and the narrow alley was so dark even Marlow struggled to see him, but he smelled him loud and clear. 

Marlow tried to go that way, but Andy pulled on his leash. 

“Come on,” she hissed. 

He whined. 

Red Hat was safe. Even though he was very big and sometimes smelled like blood, Andy was never afraid around him. He brought dinner home last week when Andy was sad, and took Marlow out for very exciting runs. Never with the hat on, though. He gave excellent pats. Sometimes, Marlow even let him look after Andy while he was sleeping.

Andy walked faster past the entry of the alley. She didn’t even say hello. 

Marlow huffed and trotted with her. He didn’t like this. Red Hat watched them go by. 

The three on the street smelled worse the closer they got. 

Marlow didn’t like this. Two of the three were leaning against the wall, and all openly looking at them. Andy held Marlow’s leash very short so he was pressed up against her side, between them and her.

They got close enough to try and pass on the side of the road, Andy with her head down and shoulders hunched. The three of them stepped out to block the sidewalk. 

Marlow growled. 

The strangers said something, voice low and sharp.

Andy was terrified.

Marlow barked, furious. 

Andy yanked on his leash and snapped a command to heel, but she was so scared and they were bad, bad, bad. He didn’t want to back down. 

The people in front of him stank of fear and desperation. Good! They should be scared! Marlow was angry! 

There was a click in front of him, and one of them pointed something shiny at Marlow. 

There was another click behind them, and a crunchy metal voice interrupted.

Red Hat friend. 

He was angry too. He said something, numbers. Counting down. 

The three turned and bolted.

Marlow chase! 

They disappeared down the road, no! Catch them, bite them, tear them to bits! 

His leash pulled hard, and he reared up on his back legs then dropped back down. No, no chase, he had to look after Andy. 

He swung around and ran back. He gave everyone a sniff. Andy was breathing hard, one hand pressed flat to her chest. Marlow licked it. She gave a nervous laugh and absently scratched behind his ear. 

His leash was in Red Hat’s hand, which explained why Marlow hadn’t dragged Andy off her feet when he ran. He forgot sometimes how little she was. Not very good at running. The two humans were standing strangely far apart. 

Red Hat smelled scared too now. He was upset and his leg was hurting. Marlow trotted over to say hello and gave him some friendly licks. His gloves tasted bad, but his jacket was smooth and tasty. 

The crunchy metal voice didn’t stop talking to Andy. He stood like he wanted to go to her, to check she was okay. He didn’t. Andy reached out just enough to get the leash back and then retreated. She smelled embarrassed, and interested in that way she sometimes did around Red Hat. She didn’t get any closer. 

Red Hat didn’t give any pats. He tried to push Marlow’s head away. 

First no chasing and now no pats? Oh dear. Marlow gave him another lick to comfort him then bumped his head against his hand. 

His voice stopped, cutting off a laugh. He patted Marlow on the head. 

“Good boy.”

Yes, he knew. 

“Get your Ma home safe. Off you go.” 

Andy pulled him back and walked away hurriedly. 

Red Hat wasn’t coming home?

Marlow, with his head turned while trotting to keep up, saw him sneak back into the alley. Why wasn’t he coming home? Where Marlow could keep them all safe? 

Andy guided him on a short leash the rest of the way home. The bad people were gone, the smell trailing off down the wrong road. Andy looked back over her shoulder every now and again, still vigilant. The wind curled over the buildings. Red Hat was standing up on top of the roof in the opposite direction, smelling vaguely worried. Marlow barked at him. He disappeared back out of view before Andy could see him. 

Marlow huffed. 

Everyone was being very silly tonight.

Next>>

[icy-watch]

Oh, that was smart. You threw her towards there fire hydrant, where there's, you know, water?

[grapecaseschoices]

rotating rotating

I don't know his name yet. I just have been wanting to use him as a musician for some time. The initial game I had saw him for didn't click, but thankfully I had a eureka moment. His name will probably Argentinian

I know I said no more white boys other than Andy but he's also spicy white [is his pb? idk but I have decided]. So it's okay. And he may be part Welsh inspired by that one AITA post So he's like Black for the British [I can say that because I AM Black. You can't though.]

Anyway, I think he's 21. He went to Stanford for Music - and he probably had that focus in his travel aboard as well - and though he has been told REPEATEDLY that it is not a REAL/safe focus, he got some slack when he got into Stanford.

Though he got some shit still, because everyone knows he is smart. Like REALLY smart. He has a great memory and was really good in all his cources outside of math [cant deside if he has dyscalculia or it was anxiety] --> EITHER WAY this wasn't really addressed as it should've been and it eventually is what led to his dropping out.

[tl;dr he was great with music theory and history and had a great singing voice but stuggled to learn to play instruments & compose -- which led him to feeling like a fraud. Naysayers didn't help either. Funny [in a sad way] thing is, he's not bad at the guitar as he's been teaching himself but he let's his frustrations overwhelm him / he is too nervous to perform]

Uma is his "platonic" soulmate. He is a man in clown shoes. IN LOVE WITH UMA?? What do you mean? He just loved cuddling against them when they were younger and kissing their cheek and would feel the rare rage monster whenever someone else not him and Travis paid them attention and was physically sick when he first left home and it was a phone call from her that made him feel stable. But that's because they are SOULMATES DUH!

In his defense, it was hard to see anything past the friendly bickering turned to [semi-] belligerant UST between him and Travis. Which he was freaking out/in denial about

Also he is SO demi [and just clueless ... but very very demi squared].

Fun facts: Boy has never been able to keep a shirt on. Not when he was a kid, not now. He used to always walk around in his swim shorts because he was always READY for fire hydrant fun times -- especially in the summer. He also loves the rain. Strangely isn't a good swimmer, because he didn't have muuch time for classes, but he loves the beach.

He has no tattoos. Ignore the fc's tatts.

[themculibrary]

Genius/Smart Peter Parker Masterlist

5 Times Everyone Forgot How Smart Peter Actually Was… (ao3) - Zenny01 G, 3k

Summary: Peter is really smart. Some might even compare his IQ to that of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. He can even keep up with the likes of Shuri! But not everyone knows that. Actually, no one does. One by one, the Avengers begin to discover that Peter is smarter than he lets on.

A False Sense of (In)security (ao3) - driftingskies237 T, 2k

Summary:

“I can’t believe you know all of that!” Uncle Ben smiles as a young Peter rambles to his Uncle on the way to the Expo. “You’re a really smart kid, Peter.” Younger him blushes, “Sure, Uncle Ben.” “You really are. I wouldn’t lie to you,” He promises.

Peter’s not sure what his Uncle would say about him now.

A picture says a thousand words (ao3) - madasthesea G, 1k

Summary: Tony goes to Peter’s Academic Decathlon competition, has an epiphany and his picture taken.

Avenger's Tower -> A Spider’s Playground (ao3) - MistingDreams_ThunderingSeams G, 3k

Summary: Flash’s voice lowered. “They don’t actually know what Spider-Man’s powers are? Don’t they work with him now a days?”

“Sometimes.” Peter shrugged. “I still catch plenty of photos with Spider-Man patrolling on his own.”

“What’s this? Spider-Man?” The Osborne heir sounded bored and disinterested.

“Spider-Man is the best.” Flash glared at him. “He’s out there for the little guy!”

Harry smirked. “Guess it’s just that I’m not one of the ‘little guys’, Flash. I don’t really need the everyday vigilante.”

going up in the world (in your esteem, actually, but that's my world) (ao3) - Sunpops1 G, 7k

Summary: But here he is. A pre-programmed contact in his phone like Peter put him in there himself. Tony Stark.

Peter guesses he shouldn’t be surprised. It is a Stark phone. Tony is an eccentric billionaire. This is a logical conclusion.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter says, in disbelief, after he picks it up. He asks: “Is it really you?”

“Hey, we need to take pictures,” Tony says.

-

Or: The Stark internship becomes a real thing. They take pictures.

How to Repair a Broken Heart (ao3) - InfluentialPineapple happy/pepper M, 227k

Summary: The Mechanic has a lot on his plate; Thanos is coming, the Guardians of the Galaxy are marooned, Thaddeus Ross is reaching right down his throat, and a budding super hero deserves his full attention.  

Kid Genius (ao3) - inkinmyheartandonthepage G, 958

Summary: There is a bomb about to go off and the team has split up. The Avengers learn just how smart Peter Parker is.

Martian Child (ao3) - name_me_regret E, 59k

Summary: Peter is a super genius and gets discovered by Tony Stark almost a year early… Also, he doesn’t know he’s Spider-Man…

Mini Boss, Let Me Adopt You (ao3) - AriaEmu pepper/tony T, 4k

Summary: People always thought the Stark Industries were made by genius, composed people who always know what to do in every pinch situation.

my Dad-Fu is better than yours (ao3) - Besidemyself pepper/tony G, 7k

Summary: Tony is a proud dadTM who likes to brag about the awesome things Peter is doing in school.  

Peter Parker Sets It Straight (and has a run-in with a fire hydrant) (ao3) - Marvelchinchilla T, 3k

Summary: Peter Parker has a run-in with a fire hydrant and the Avengers.

Problem Solved (ao3) - SilverDraconyx G, 1k

Summary: What do you do when you accidentally discover a dangerous secret? Or rather a dangerous lack of security that could basically lead to world war three!

Or is Peter just being dramatic?

Either way, who the heck can he tell? Who would even believe him?

Progress Report (ao3) - sameuspegasus N/R, 10k

Summary: Ms. Warren has some questions for Tony Stark regarding the exact nature of Peter’s internship. She gets invited to the lab to see for herself.

Show Off (ao3) - TheAsexualofSpades G, 4k

Summary: Peter doesn't want to go to the big fancy party with the Avengers. He's afraid he'll just feel out of place the whole time. Of course, the rest of the team knows better, and they're gonna show him so.

It's a good thing Peter doesn't get embarrassed easily, right?

Hmmm...

The Marvel that is Spider-Man (ao3) - Kamikaze132 peter/gwen, pepper/tony M, 76k

Summary: For a long time, I've been reading spidey fics that have always portrayed Peter Parker as a shy, immature teenager who seems to be overly reliant on Tony Stark. And while those I can enjoy, I yearn for a fic that portrays a mature, grown up and confident Peter Parker who can stand without Tony Stark supporting him. What if, instead of meeting a shy, cocky, immature Peter Parker, Tony Stark met a man whose intelligence rivals his own, and who knows exactly what he's doing? This story is about a Peter Parker who is confident, sassy, not afraid to let his intelligence shine through, and a spider man who can handle just about anything.

[soysaucevictim]

Gdi, brain. Back on the "want to draw feral Remus" shit again, when I need to write this nonsense.

Having Begotten!Remus sate his Hunger is just... so much easier to to do man. There's a lot of chaos you can pull busting a fire hydrant near a used car dealership.

Like, Begotten!Roman is probably the second most conventionally "smart" Roman in my AUs. This really shouldn't be that hard to wrap my head around writing this heist scene, man.

(The first being Promethean!Roman - but that's mostly thanks to being "alive" for almost an entire century.)

Third place in smart, second place in himbo status is iZ!Roman.

The most himbo version of Roman here is TOTALLY Gymrat!Ro.

[azeutreciathewicked]

There are some great series out there - Discworld is excellent!

I'll also suggest the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. First book is titled So You Want To Be A Wizard? In this world, wizards are self-taught and can be any type of being, including cats and white holes! There are horrific animated cars and fire hydrants that can eat you! It's so creative and genre-bending. The Young Wizards series is also great for young readers - it's solidly middle grade but SUPER SMART. And I love the Feline Wizards series, starting with The Book of Night With Moon. Another series I recommend, especially for younger readers, is the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce. This is a great series for gifted and neurodiverse kids, because the protagonists don't "fit" into normal ways of doing magic, and work with special mentors to embrace their special talents. It's super affirming - there are gay characters and there is positive masculinity, and found family. The books tackle important difficult topics and crises at a middle grade level too. It's a great, well-designed magic system too! As with Discworld, these series were written before HP, and they all deserve to be read and appreciated for amazing creativity and great writing! Let younger generations read a diverse array of books and series about magic - they are better in all ways!

It has been said before but it bears repeating: if you are struggling to divest yourself of the Harry Potter franchise, may I suggest getting into Discworld, not as a replacement but as an UPGRADE? Perks of Discworld include, but are not limited to:

-41 books (no, you don’t have to read them in any given order, most work as standalone although there are some that are arguably part of a series)

-specifically British charm

-magic (including different systems of magic and not just one poorly explained type)

-funny af

-author isn’t a transphobic POS

-golems (including an arguably transgender golem named Gladys)

-EXTREMELY expansive world building that takes place over a long time, covering different populations, the Industrial Revolution, magical AND non-magical groups, and even a whole section of “science” books which discuss the physics, biology, and so on

-well-written female characters

-nuanced moral messages

-death is a cat person

[bethestaryouareradio]

Endless summer

By Cynthia Brian

“Magnificent Autumn… It is the funeral anthem of the dying year.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When I was young, I was a surfer girl. I spent many weekends catching waves in Santa Cruz, Bolinas, and Hawaii. My favorite movie was The Endless Summer.  I dreamt of traveling the globe in search of the perfect ride.

Today, I surf gardening catalogs and magazines looking for the waves of new plant species and hardy specimens that are deer-resistant and drought-tolerant to thrive in our clay soils.

The first few days of autumn were refreshing. The cooler temperatures prompted me to start digging and enhancing the soil as I anticipated the joys of fall plantings. But Mother Nature had other plans and decided to shower us with an endless summer of sizzling sunshine and stifling nights. The winds have been so ferocious that I awoke to my patio umbrellas blown across my backyard. Until recent years, summer has always been a favorite season, but as our globe warms, an endless summer portends a major drought in the future. While the East Coast suffers from torrential rains, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes, the West Coast endures another heat wave and increased risk of deadly wildfires. 

As temperatures soared to 103 degrees, our street suffered a fire hydrant leak this week, resulting in our neighborhood’s water being shut off for twenty-four hours without warning. It was disconcerting to turn on the tap with no drip available. My empathy for those anguishing in disaster areas and war zones soared when water and basic necessities are unavailable. Water is life.

Before I provide tips on drought-tolerant plants that you may wish to include in your landscape, I want to remind you that although fire season in California is considered year-round, October is an especially monstrous month for wildfires. Make sure you have your home Go-Bag up-to-date and ready to go in the event of an emergency. It’s a smart idea to keep an additional Go-Bag in your car in case you get stranded and can’t make it home. Fill these Go-Bags with all the necessities you, your family, and your pets will need for three days, including water, protein bars, a first-aid kit, medications, masks, gloves, extra chargers, blankets, change of clothes, jacket, socks, headlamp, and a flash drive with your important documents, photos, or other digital items that you don’t have in the cloud.

When working in your yard, on red-flag days, scorching hot or windy days, refrain from using any equipment that could cause a spark: lawnmower, weed whacker, or chainsaw. Do not ignite a fire pit, cook over an open flame, vape, or smoke outdoors. Be fire-safe.

In September articles, I discussed how to prepare your soil for fall plantings (Prescription to Plant: https://lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1815/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Prescription-to-Plant.html) and also suggested plants that are deer resistant, (Dear Deer! https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1816/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Dear-Deer.html). But how do we move forward in an endless summer of heat and heavy winds?

The answer is to keep your landscape appropriately watered so that established plants and trees don’t perish. WAIT to plant anything until the weather cools. The soil will still be warm, but the air temperatures will be lower. In this scenario, with minimal watering, the roots can establish themselves and be less stressed.

If you are considering reseeding your lawn or adding sod, start preparing the soil. Turn the soil six inches, mix in compost, then WAIT for chillier weather. Double-check your irrigation system to make sure that your sprinklers will reach every part of your grass. If you are ordering sod, start now researching the type of grass you want to install and get a quote from a reputable landscaper or grower. In the past few weeks, I had to replace my irrigation controllers. I hired my handyman from HoneyHomes to help me. I also repositioned several sprinkler lines. Thankfully, everything is working perfectly now after several years of pulling hoses. If you need help, this company has qualified service people in Lamorinda and you can get a major discount with my code https://honeyh.me/eXEn. As soon as the weather cools, I’ll be reseeding and overseeding, knowing that when I turn on a sprinkler, it will work.

Drought-tolerant plants to consider for fall:

If you’ve been perusing my garden columns, you already have a list of deer-resistant plants and know how to prepare the soil with mulch and drainage that retains moisture without waterlogging. Here are a few of my favorite low-water options that can be planted before the winter cold arrives and after our endless summer has ceased. Remember, no matter how drought-tolerant a plant is, every plant needs some water. California natives will be the most tolerant, conserving more water and requiring less maintenance. Many natives are also deer-resistant. 

Natives:

Manzanita

California Poppy

California lilac (ceanothus)

Muhly grass

Pink flowering currant

Blue-eyes grass

Salvia

Yarrow

California fuchsia

Blue elderberry

Shaw’s Agave

Other Drought-Tolerant Plants:

Lavender

Aloe Vera

Echeveria

Barberry

Sedum

Russian Sage

Feather Reed Grass

Black-eyed Susan

Pride of Madeira

Stonecrop

Succulents

Cacti

Many wildflowers

For a flash of annual border color, buy pansies. They use relatively little water, are low maintenance, and provide beauty in the winter.

You can create a beautiful and sustainable landscape with native and drought-tolerant plants. Biodiversity is increased, and you’ll cultivate a garden that will thrive in arid and water-scarce conditions. Save every drop of water by putting a bucket in your shower or a bowl near your sinks. I use the water for my indoor plants and patio potted plants. If you want to go the extra mile, install a rain catcher or barrel to collect the water from downspouts. 

On a positive sunny note, my tomato plants are enjoying this endless summer. They have mingled with my Jacobinia Justica Carnea and continue to sprout new flowers which will provide me with tomatoes for a few more months.

As we look forward to a magnificent autumn, catch a gardening wave in this endless summer! Soon enough, the funeral anthem of a dying year will be playing, and we’ll be longing to surf the sunshine again.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing!

 Lamorinda WEekly: https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1817/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Endless-Summer.html

For more gardening advice for all seasons, check out Growing with the Goddess Gardener at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/books. Raised in the vineyards of Napa County, Cynthia Brian is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® 501 c3 which was just honored as the 2024 Nonprofit of the Year by the Moraga Chamber of Commerce. Tune into Cynthia’s StarStyle® Radio Broadcast at www.StarStyleRadio.com. Her newest children’s picture book, Books in the Barnyard: Oh Deer!, from the series, Stella Bella’s Barnyard Adventures is available at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store. Hire Cynthia for writing projects, garden consults, and inspirational lectures. Cynthia@GoddessGardener.com  https://www.CynthiaBrian.com

[industrialcontent]

Global Fire Hydrant System Market: Projected Growth to USD 4.6 Billion by 2033

The global fire hydrant system market is projected to reach a value of USD 3,026.2 million in 2023. From 2022 to 2032, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8%, reaching USD 4,614.8 million by the end of the forecast period.

The market is expanding due to rising service expectations from industrial and commercial clients, coupled with strict fire safety regulations enforced by governments worldwide, driving demand for fire hydrant systems.

As populations in APAC nations grow, there is an increasing need for more factories, hospitals, commercial complexes, and residential structures, leading to a heightened demand for fire hydrant systems in the region.

The stringent requirements for installing fire safety systems in businesses present significant growth potential for the fire hydrant system market. India’s Startup India initiative has spurred the development of new startups, which will drive demand for fire safety equipment in the coming years.

Furthermore, the adoption of advanced safety measures and the expansion of commercial spaces like shopping malls and offices, alongside extensive piping systems in countries like China, India, and Japan, are expected to fuel market growth in the Asia Pacific during the forecast period.

A key trend in the market is the integration of smart nodes or wireless sensors, which improve water efficiency in fire hydrant systems by enabling rapid response and reducing maintenance costs.

Market Competition During the forecast period, major players in the worldwide fire hydrant market are projected to confront severe rivalry. Companies are also pursuing mergers and acquisitions in order to improve their performance and outcomes. The following companies are major participants in the worldwide fire hydrant market: • Tyco Fire Products • K.B. Building Solutions • ZedEx Fire Services • Fire Hydrant Systems Pty Ltd • Akash Uni Safe Equipment • Waterous • Smith & Sharks • Minimax • Naffco • Kennedy Valve • Angus Fire • Rapidrop The global market for fire hydrant systems is expanding due to increased service expectations from industrial and commercial clients. Governments throughout the world have opted to enforce strict fire safety regulations, which have resulted in a surge in demand for fire hydrant systems.

Key Segments Profiled in the Fire Hydrant Systems Industry Survey

By Product Type:

Wet Barrel

Dry Barrel

By Operation:

Diesel-operated

Electric-operated

Hybrid-operated

By End Users:

Industrial Use

Commercial Use

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa

Report Preview: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/fire-hydrant-system-market

About Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights, Inc. (ESOMAR certified, recipient of the Stevie Award, and a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce) offers profound insights into the driving factors that are boosting demand in the market. FMI stands as the leading global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, consulting, and events for the Packaging, Food and Beverage, Consumer Technology, Healthcare, Industrial, and Chemicals markets. With a vast team of over 400 analysts worldwide, FMI provides global, regional, and local expertise on diverse domains and industry trends across more than 110 countries.

Contact Us: Future Market Insights Inc. Christiana Corporate, 200 Continental Drive, Suite 401, Newark, Delaware - 19713, USA T: +1-347-918-3531 For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com LinkedIn| Twitter| Blogs | YouTube

[hilcoindustrial]

The Importance of Fire Fighting Equipment in Ensuring Safety

Ensuring safety in any environment requires having the right fire fighting equipment readily available. From fire extinguishers to sprinkler systems, these tools are essential in preventing and controlling fires. For businesses looking to equip their facilities without overspending, purchasing used equipment can be a smart and cost-effective solution. Hilco Industrial, a trusted name in used industrial equipment sales, offers a wide range of high-quality used equipment. Their inventory allows you to access reliable tools at a fraction of the cost of new equipment, ensuring safety without compromising on budget.

Types of Fire Fighting Apparatus

Fire Extinguishers

Fire extinguishers are the most common and widely used fire fighting tools. They come in different types, each designed to combat specific kinds of fires. Knowing which type of extinguisher to use in a given situation can prevent the fire from spreading and causing more damage.

Fire Hoses and Hydrants

Fire hoses, when connected to hydrants, provide a continuous supply of water to combat fires. They are essential in larger fires where fire extinguishers might not be sufficient. Fire hydrants are strategically placed in communities and industrial settings to provide quick access to water during emergencies. Ensuring these systems are well-maintained and functional is vital for effective firefighting.

Sprinkler Systems

Automatic sprinkler systems are installed in many commercial and residential buildings to provide a rapid response to a fire. When a fire is detected, the system activates and releases water directly over the flames, helping to contain and extinguish the fire before it can spread. Regular maintenance and testing of sprinkler systems are essential to ensure they function correctly when needed.

Smoke Detectors and Alarms

Smoke detectors are critical for early fire detection. When smoke is detected, the alarm sounds, providing an early warning to evacuate the area and take action. These devices can be lifesavers, especially in residential settings where fires often start while occupants are asleep.

Thus, if you are searching for such apparatus, you can connect with Hilco Industrial. Being the best leader in the market of used industrial equipment for sale, we offer you effective equipment to solve your purposes. We also used to join in many used industrial machinery auctions.

The Importance of Regular Maintenance and Training

Having fire fighting equipment is only the first step in ensuring safety. Regular maintenance, inspection, and testing of this equipment are essential to ensure it will work effectively in an emergency. For example, fire extinguishers need to be checked for pressure levels, and hoses must be free of leaks or damage.

Moreover, proper training is crucial for anyone who may need to use this equipment. Understanding how to operate a fire extinguisher, use a fire blanket, or activate a fire alarm can make a significant difference during an emergency. Regular fire drills and safety training sessions can help ensure that everyone knows what to do in the event of a fire.

Investing in used fire fighting equipment from Hilco Industrial is a practical way to enhance your safety measures while managing costs. With our extensive selection and commitment to quality, we ensure that you get the necessary tools to protect your property and personnel. By choosing our used equipment like oil and gas processing equipment, fire equipment, and many more, you can maintain a safe environment without the high expense of new products.