#also !! were going to see design for a living this saturday

[uygfiug]

went back to the guy who cut out my wisdom teeth today bc he had to take something out & he just pointed the lamp right at my eyes?? through the whole thing?

[01zfan]

bad friend: AITA

bf bestfriend!eunseok x reader | 5.8k words

uhm…a little something i’m working on. i don’t condone cheating in any circumstance UNLESS you’re getting your lick back but most of the times I DON’T CONDONE IT. Also, nothing in this fic reflects either eunseok or sungchan's personalities. all fiction and all fun heh.

contains: cheating on your boyfriend with his bestfriend, sungchan and eunseok are bestfriends they swear, sungchan is a bad boyfriend and arguably a worse friend, eunseok is no better.

Eunseok knew you first. He made sure to stress that. He specified that he knew you long before Sungchan entered the picture. 

You were the barista who worked every weekday, standing behind the espresso machine that made Eunseok cortado and rung up the bottled of pressed orange juice that he nursed every morning.

With his computer in the corner closest to the outlets Eunseok knew you first. He talked to you first, he built a rapport with you and got close to you first. He knew about how being a barista was your part time job until you found a something related to what you studied in college, that you lived in the apartment complex ridiculously close to where he lived. 

Eunseok blamed the closeness of the cafe to his apartment for the reason you and Sungchan met. He didn’t say it was fate that you were at the cafe on a Saturday, but instead that it was by terrible design of your work schedule and coincidence that Sungchan wanted to tag along so badly. Eunseok said his roommate was awful for wanting to know how he spent his early mornings. Eunseok described it as keeping his lives separate, his safe haven away from his regular life. The balance was disrupted when he came in with Sungchan in tow and saw you perk up behind the counter to greet him. The slowness of the cafe early in the morning allowed you to ask about Sungchan, and his tendency to swoop in and steal things he knew Eunseok wanted made him talk your ear off for hours. 

Eunseok didn’t blame you nearly as much as he blamed himself. He didn’t expect you to know that he mostly started coming to the cafe to see you and steal bits of conversation throughout the morning. He didn’t expect you to pay attention to the way he paid attention to you. But that was his method of courting. Months of hopeless pining, and then one day when he could finally get the courage, he’d ask for your number. He swore he was going to do it soon, written on the back of a receipt he’d give to you before leaving the cafe swiftly. Then he would wait for a text back, or find a different cafe entirely if you messaged him that you weren't interested. Eunseok had a plan, an inkling of one, but a plan nonetheless. 

The plan was ruined when Sungchan leaned in close to him and asked your name. A simple question, but he knew the infliction of his bestfriend’s voice all the same. He had an interest in you, and Sungchan had a different way of courting. One that didn’t include months of reconnaissance but instead one that manifested to him getting your number before they even left the cafe. Eunseok watched it with his own two eyes. He was looking past his laptop screen in the corner of the cafe locked in on you and Sungchan. Leaning across the bar towards you and telling you his latte was well made. 

(Even though he told Eunseok that there was too much milk and the shots were burned. He also said that the pastry was dry, and that the music from the playlist you made was too boring. He also said that there was a better cafe ten minutes away, and Eunseok was wasting his time and money coming to this one.)

Sungchan smiled at you and you ducked your head as you smiled back. Eunseok watched with his own two eyes how you fell head over heels infatuation with Sungchan just from a single compliment. Something Eunseok had been working at for weeks, Sungchan did it in a span of ten minutes right before the morning rush started. He timed it perfectly. Right as customers started coming in he put his phone on the counter, asking you something Eunseok couldn’t hear. Then he saw you steal the fastest glance towards him before you wiped your hands off on your apron and reached for Sungchan’s phone. 

Eunseok also made sure to mention that you two had more in common than you and Sungchan ever did. You were both quiet, something Sungchan bothered Eunseok about but loved on you. He would always brag to Eunseok about how quiet you were, how you were so shy anything he did made you look down and smile sweetly. You both had nonconventional interests, ones that Sungchan mocked Eunseok for, so much to the point that you silently let your interests go. The first time you ever came over you looked at Eunseok’s manga collection. Eunseok didn’t miss the way your eyes lit up in familiarity before Sungchan remarked that his roommate was a weeb. Eunseok watched you let go of the manga before you nodded your head and smiled at your boyfriend’s joke. He even brought up the time that Sungchan said jokingly you two would make a good couple. Eunseok counted his lucky stars that his skin was already red from the liquor, and not from the shame of knowing you two would be a better couple.

Sungchan knew it too, Eunseok knew he had to. Sungchan unfortunately knew what Eunseok liked after years of knowing him and living in close quarters practically their entire adult lives. He saw the meek girls his roommate would bring around on the rare occasion. Shy just like him, they gushed over his manga collection and had quiet conversations about their interests. A majority of them were a spitting image of you. 

Sungchan had to have known that he was trying to do things right with you, and that’s why Eunseok tried to keep you two far apart. Long before their stark personality difference became a point of contention, Sungchan always had the habit of taking things Eunseok wanted. The toys in the sandbox. The valedictorian spot. The last pan fried dumpling. The bigger room in their shared apartment. 

Eunseok had his fair share of taking the things Sungchan wanted, but he made sure to omit that. He also made sure to omit the fact that he never explicitly said he wanted the aforementioned things. Sungchan often cautioned his friend on being so easygoing, that it opened the opportunity for people to take advantage of him. Sungchan prided himself on being attentive, but he could only do so much. How was he supposed to know not to take if Eunseok said nothing about it? Of course he noticed the touching and the stolen glances and Eunseok’s kicked puppy expression, but he is only human. You didn’t stop him from getting your number and Eunseok didn’t do anything about it either.

Sungchan knew that Eunseok was meek. He knew his bestfriend had the tendency to let Sungchan walk over him in the name of diplomacy. But Sungchan would’ve never thought it’d all culminate into what happened apparently a week ago from last night.

You and Sungchan were really happy together at first. Everyone knew it. Opposites attract, he got you out of your shell and you showed him new things. In the beginning, when you two were finding out about eachother, each day was something new. Your giggles filtered through the walls and boomed in the quietest of places. You two went outside dressed the same, hand in hand trying new places together. Eunseok even mentioned in the beginning that you two seemed to make a good couple. He was looking at his game when he said it and it was a quick comment thrown over his shoulder, but it was validation nonetheless.

You two were good for eachother. 

Were.

Towards the three month mark there was a bump in the road. Sungchan told Eunseok in confidence that there was hesitancy in your side. The cocked eyebrow in Eunseok’s expression should’ve told Sungchan to stop talking. But he kept going, laying into his grievances of you and your relationship. You were too quiet, too shy. You didn’t like going out, but you were always breathing down Sungchan’s neck when he would enjoy his nights. Sungchan could admit he was being a little dramatic, but when you are drunk two texts seems like your phone is being blown up. 

He chalked it up to you two not being matched well. Eunseok chalked it up to that too then. His friend asked him carefully after a beat of silence if Sungchan was going to break up with you. He couldn’t describe the emotion then, but now Sungchan would define it as indignation that bubbled in his chest when he shook his head quickly and said no. 

Towards the four month mark, you and Eunseok started to get close. Sungchan believed then that it was another one of your small acts of defiance. When you really broke out of your shell and started bringing up your grievances, he was quick to find an excuse. Those girls that hung around Sungchan were just a part of his much larger friend group, and it wasn’t fair to take Sungchan away from his friends. Even if they had the habit of hanging off of him and calling him their boyfriend when drunk, they were just friends. You were reading too much into it, and you decided to test if you were overthinking things when you got a friend of your own. But it wasn’t your coworkers, wasn’t the strangers you met throughout your day. You didn’t look far to find Eunseok, and it wasn’t long before you were leaving to hang off of his arm when Sungchan was busy.

In the beginning, it was innocent. Atleast Sungchan can have peace of mind that in the beginning when you would take Eunseok to things he didn’t want to go to it was for companionship. Even though you had girl friends that were interested in those things, but Sungchan digressed. He didn’t want to have another fight and be forced to confront the fact that the girls he hung around wanted more than to just be his friend, and that he shamelessly entertained it when he was feeling like it. In the beginning, Eunseok was just your friend and a pawn in your game of chicken. Who would be the first to set the boundary, who would be the first to admit they were in the wrong? Sungchan knew then it wasn’t him, and he still had trouble admitting it now. Even if he was allegedly the one who pushed you right into Eunseok’s arms.

Eunseok didn’t spare the details after the warning. Sungchan couldn’t help but lean in even closer. He ignored the pain in his back as he focused.

The first instance of there being something more was when Sungchan chose his friends over you. The situation was so minor, something as simple as getting lunch with them over going to the store with you. Eunseok was with you during your errands, insisting on paying for your food and meandering through the aisles of a store with you. When you guys were in the game section you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the games you wanted to look at. Something that was so simple turned into something that had you two ducking your heads and never bringing it up again.

Until it happened again. The guilt was something you only seemed to bare until Sungchan chose someone over you again. This time it was at one of the few parties Sungchan was able to bring you to. He noticed that you were more than willing to go after Eunseok asked if he could tag along. Sungchan should’ve picked up on the signs, how you two had stopped talking for a few days after the lunch he didn’t ask you about. But you visibly perked up, asking Sungchan which outfit you should wear while Eunseok bit his tongue to hold back a suggestion.

Sungchan didn’t even know about the second time. He was admittedly too involved in a game of beer pong and brushing you off the whole night to know what you were doing. He was certain you had found a lawn chair in the backyard and stayed there, looking at your phone and sipping on a beer. He knew now that you were sitting there, waiting for your boyfriend to be done before the knight in shining armor came in. He crouched beside you in the lawn, the same beer in his hand as he offered you the bottled water that was in the other. You looked to Sungchan one last time before you took the water, and thanked Eunseok so sincerely but he only shook his head and said don’t mention it. He was entirely too cool as of late, and now Sungchan knew why. He bet Eunseok didn’t even ask you if you wanted to go somewhere else, he only flicked his head back towards the party that was continuing on inside before you got up from your chair and dusted yourself off. 

Sungchan could admit now he remembers you telling him where you were going. He wasn’t paying much attention to your quiet voice as he tried perfecting the bend in his arm to throw the ball into the cup across the table. But he did know he acknowledged you leaving because he thought you’d be right back. He didn’t know you were leaving to sneak upstairs through throngs of people.

The dimly lit bathroom let Eunseok see all of you. The way you pulled him closer, the way you locked the door before looking up to him entirely.

Eunseok described your lips as shiny. The were covered in a thin layer of the gloss that he bought for you on another run to the shop. The cashier told you that you had a good boyfriend and you didn’t deny it, even if the man swiping his card was very much not your boyfriend. Your lips were soft and slow pressing against his, and hesitant until Eunseok looked you deep in your eyes and asked you if this was alright. He could swim in his reflection in your wide eyes as you slowly nodded your head up and down. When he said you could stop him at any time and moved his hand to cradle the back of your neck you went in more sure of yourself. The light pecks Sungchan complained about turned into something more hungry quickly. The hunger made Eunseok’s other hand wander your body quickly, feeling the parts of you only Sungchan had touched. Your mutual hunger made Eunseok lift you up to place you on the edge of the sink, it made you stick your tongue into his mouth as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

“He doesn’t deserve you.” 

That was the first time Eunseok ever let the confession slip out. He meant it with everything in him, and it showed that he didn’t regret what he was doing. He would never leave you alone the way Sungchan left you alone, he would never leave you to think that anyone in his life held a candle to you. You didn’t refute his claims either. You only pulled away and nodded again with tears beginning to dot your waterline before you went back in again. 

Eunseok only took his hands off of you to take his jacket off. The top layer was entirely too hot as you pushed it off his shoulders. He didn’t care if his jacket fell to the floor of the bathroom, black hides stains and he didn’t want to take his lips off of yours. You two breathed into eachothers mouths to avoid breaking apart entirely, and when his jacket was off you pulled him so close and so fast by his white shirt he had to brace himself by holding the edges of the ceramic sink. He gave you his tongue quickly, laving the top row of your teeth as his hands found your thighs again. 

Eunseok had to take a detour just to say how everything about you was just so soft. He couldn’t believe it. A tiny part reserved only for himself he talked about your soft hands, soft lips, soft legs, and soft heart. It wasn’t fair someone as kind as you was pushed to do such terrible things. He lamented that you were so loyal, and Sungchan often said one of the best things about you was that you were too shy to cheat.

But as the tight skirt Sungchan suggested rode up your legs, you weren’t that person anymore. When you nodded as Eunseok wedged his hands between your thighs you weren’t meek. He was enamored by the soft feeling of your thighs closed around his hand, bringing him closer to the fabric of your panties. Eunseok was completely surrounded by you as he dragged his hand against you, the heavy pressure against your cunt made you whine into his mouth. Sungchan and Eunseok could both agree on your sounds being beautiful. Your reactions made him want to continue. He would’ve done it, if your phone didn’t start vibrating from a call on top of the toilet seat. The sound of the vibrations pulled you from Eunseok entirely. Sungchan’s picture taking up your entire screen made you realize the situation you were in. 

He had to go through another week of radio silence from you after the party. Eunseok described it as guilt. Even when Eunseok found out Sungchan never found out, you two refused to go back to normal. Even when he continued to choose his friends over you, you were still quiet. The third time Eunseok had to go to you.

Sungchan should’ve seen the signs. He knows that now. He came into their shared living room entirely too heated. Eunseok was already there, his interest piqued as he paused his show. He asked Sungchan what was wrong, and he could only pretend nothing happened for a second before he spilled everything.

“She broke up with me.” Sungchan said.

He opened the fridge just to close it. Leftovers from your takeout sat right next to his, and your tiny reminder of him not to eat it was the first thing he say. 

“Did she say why?” Eunseok asked.

Sungchan had to furrow his eyebrows at the sudden tension that was in the room. Why did it feel like Eunseok was asking that question for all the wrong reasons? When Sungchan had been broken up with in the past, the only thing Eunseok offered was a drink and well wishes. Now he had the show completely paused, leaning forward like he was trying to pick up on every word. He should’ve listened to the hairs that raised on the back of his neck, but instead he shook it off. Maybe his friend was trying to be more involved, that had to be it. Eunseok was his friend before he was yours, and he didn’t have it in him to have ulterior motives. 

“She said we weren’t a good match.” Sungchan answered.

He was too distracted to see that Eunseok’s expression shifted. The tension dissolved and Eunseok let out the smallest sigh of relief before his sights cut back to the television. Sungchan was too focused on the comfort his friend was giving him. A pat on his back and an it’s okay was enough to convince Sungchan everything really was okay. He wasn’t a bad boyfriend, he just didn’t meet his match. Sungchan went to bed telling Eunseok he was such a great friend.

He had no idea that once he went to bed, Eunseok was on his phone in an instant. Opening up your message history to tell you that Sungchan told him what happened. You told the truth and said you didn’t tell him about what happened at the party, but you lied by saying Eunseok wasn’t one of the reasons. If he truly wasn’t it wouldn’t have been so easy to open your door to him. All Eunseok had to tell you was that your leftovers were still in the fridge, and he could bring it to you and you two could talk. Just talk, both of you specified that.

Sungchan would’ve loved to not know how long you lasted before you folded. But unfortunately, he knew it all. You invited Eunseok into your apartment visibly cleaned up from the crying you did all day, and you took the leftovers before throwing it in your fridge with the rest of your takeout. You didn’t even like the food from the restaurant. You put it in the fridge just to see if Sungchan would be a bother and eat it just like all the other times you left food in his fridge. Sungchan knew that you two started by talking on Eunseok’s couch, mentioning everything but the reason he was there and why you had used tissues balled up on your coffee table. It wasn’t until the movies credits started to roll that you two looked at eachother knowingly.

“He broke my heart.” You said truthfully.

The tears were so obvious. Eunseok was a mediator. He was a thinker down to the bone, always trying to get people to look at the situation objectively. But you crawled closer to him, your head resting over his heart as he put his arm over you. Eunseok gave in immediately, rubbing your shoulder before kissing the crown of your head.

“You deserve better.” Eunseok said.

Sungchan imagined that when the situation sunk in and you realized Eunseok was his friend everything fell into place. His comforting words served their purpose, but you wanted more. He even described the sad look in your eye shifting to lust with a hint of contempt as you looked up to him. Eunseok brought his other arm to your waist. That was soft too.

“I do.” You said quietly, looking to his lips.

The only part Eunseok spared was you leading him to the bed. Sungchan imagined that part vividly though, after a continuation of the makeout session Sungchan rudely interrupted by calling his girlfriend you jumped off the couch to grab Eunseok by the hand. He only wondered if Eunseok got undressed there, if you gave him a show taking off your clothes the same way you’d always do with him. He imagined his friend sitting there dumbfounded as you took off your shirt and bra. He imagined him drooling as your fingers messed with the band of your sleeping shorts. 

Eunseok didn’t know what to do with all of you, Sungchan refused to believe that. He was just a good storyteller, crafting a lie filled with the tiny habits Sungchan noticed very early on. The tiny squeaks you make, your affinity to being manhandled into place. Your tiny talk to me’s, because you need someone to talk you through everything. There’s no way Eunseok had it in him to flip you from your back to your stomach, to lift your bottom half and spread your legs apart with his hands as he slotted his body between them. There’s no way he could muster the audacity to lean in close until his front was pressing to your back to whisper he was so mean to you baby right in your ear. His meek friend didn’t have it in him. There was no way.

Sungchan looked on in disbelief at the thought of you whining and nodding hopelessly. You liked being crushed, to feel someone’s frame over yours. Eunseok would’ve superimposed your body as he separated from you, looking down at where he was about to be inside of you. If he fucked you in the dark he would be able to see you glisten, if he was able to get the bedside lamp on he’d see the way you preened and wiggled your ass towards his cock. You’d preemptively grab a pillow to muffle your moans as Eunseok pressed a hand to your lower back. He had to have everything perfect, he had thought about this for too long. Fucking you in missionary would’ve been ideal—he was a romantic after all—but he didn’t think you were ready. So he settled for fucking you in one of Sungchan’s favorite positions, one he raved about when it came to you. 

Eunseok slid in slowly. He said it himself, hand on the bible like he was testifying in court. Your hand quickly reached underneath you to feel the rest of his length as he slid in. When his hips kissed yours, and your hand was looking for somewhere else to go, he held it so tight and pressed it to your lower back. You started babbling about wanting him when he slid all the way out to his tip just to go right back in. When he started picking up the pace and clasped a hand around both of your wrists you started talking about love. 

Apparently your walls were soft to. Wet and warm and soft, clasping around his cock like you two were made for eachother. He made it his mission to make you forget about anyone else you had in that moment. Eunseok picked up the speed and let go of your wrists just to watch them fall heavy to the mattress. His hands grabbed at your waist to help guide you back. Eunseok put his hands behind his head and watched you do your own thing for a short period of time. He disappeared inside of you, the lewd sounds combining with the muffled whimpers behind the blankets. 

When you ran out of energy, like you always did, Eunseok moved his body forward. His front was against your back again, but the layer of sweat kept you glued together. Eunseok applied more and more weight on your body until you collapsed all together, your stomach flat against the mattress while Eunseok somehow wedged deeper inside of you. He was able to take away the covers entirely at this point, and your unbridled moans filled the room. They were pathetic whimpers at this point, cut off words, and the beginning of Eunseok’s name all rolled into one. He nodded and cooed to each one, kissing the side of your face to show he was with you.

“I got you.” Your pussy clenched around his cock again at the rough edge in his voice. “I’m here.”

He eventually had to start swiping your tears away with his thumb. He stayed still inside of you for a long time as you regained yourself. He selfishly wanted to draw out whatever this was, because after tonight you two would actually have to talk about what this was before going any further. So while you helplessly clenched around Eunseok in preparation for your orgasm he kissed you gently, trying to back you away from the edge.

“Seokie.” You babbled.

“Hmm.” His heart jumped at the nickname and how sweet it sounded coming out of your mouth in such a whiny tone.

“Feels good.” You uselessly tried lowering and lifting your hips in an effort to fuck yourself on his cock again. “Please keep going.” You begged.

You begged for more as if the line of drool and your body twitches weren’t enough of an indication. Eunseok still nodded and kissed your cheekbone again as he pulled back his hips to slam into you roughly. That’s what you always liked in the end. Rough and slow, Eunseok’s heavy pants on the sweaty base of your neck as he pressed he head against yours. He was feeling the edge himself as he started rambling off at the mouth.

“You’re so perfect.”

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

“I’d treat you so well.”

“All mine.”

These were all things you agreed with. Nodding against your blanket in between your loud moans and declarations of your own. You told Eunseok he was so much better right before you told him you were about to cum. You told him that your cunt liked him better, that it hit a spot deep inside of you. Sungchan didn’t know you had it in you to say such crude things in bed. He didn’t know you were capable of such intimate pillow talk afterwards. Asking him to stay the night, kissing and cuddling until the two of you fell asleep.

Sungchan knew that there were other times he had seen you. His friend that continued to come home at odd hours in the morning and midday with half-assed explanations was seeing you instead. Fucking you, holding you, talking about Sungchan with you. Even though that night was the only encounter Eunseok talked about explicitly, he knew there was more. 

When Sungchan saw that there were other dates marked underneath the conclusion paragraph that’s when he finally pulled away. He looked at the top of the Word document again, blinking hard as he tried to make sense of what he read. But it was right there for him, in big black bold letters, less than an admittance of betrayal but moreso the beginning of a thesis paper.

AITA: ME AND MY BESTFRIEND’S EX-GIRLFRIEND HAD SEX WHEN I WENT TO COMFORT HER ABOUT THEIR BREAKUP.

With his fingers on the trackpad, Sungchan scrolled to the bottom of the document back up to the top. The TL;DR summed up the situation Sungchan read with his own two eyes. 

He was still hanging off every word, from the beginning where Eunseok defined the codewords fro your two names down to the scroll blinking on the very last period, silently asking if the writer wanted to continue. The music playing throughout the lobby of this new cafe was more Sungchan’s taste, but he couldn’t hear anything over the blood rushing in his ears. 

He felt sick looking at the last edit made timestamp at the top. Less than ten minutes ago, while Sungchan sat right in front of Eunseok talking about his recent breakup. His friends reaction made sense now. The tiny nods to the details Sungchan didn’t remember mentioning before. How involved he was in the conversation, when just a week ago Eunseok seemed like he wanted nothing less than to talk about the relationship. Eunseok’s habit of asking about you first, his eyebrows knit in worry as he asked how you were handling all this. Eunseok taking your side instead of his. Everything made too much sense. The timelines coincided too. Sungchan remembers that stormy night when your location was off and he caught a whiff of you on his bestfriend the next morning. He thought it was the remnants of you taking up his mind, but now he knew it was really you.

Sungchan felt anger replace the bile when he remembered all the times Eunseok lied to him too easily. He was seeing you when Sungchan told him he was at the store, he was sneaking off to see you at parties in secluded rooms when he said he was getting drinks. When Eunseok looked his bestfriend dead in the eyes and said he hadn’t even thought about you, he had seen you the previous night. 

Sungchan was played a fool by the one person he believed to be dumber than him. He found solace in the fact that he could walk over his complacent friend, take what Eunseok wanted so desperately to be his. From the time they were kids up until a week ago, it was too easy. Eunseok’s submission was what made their relationship work. Now that Eunseok has turned their dynamic into a pissing contest—one that Sungchan didn’t know he was horrifically losing—he didn’t know what to do. 

His first instinct was to smash Eunseok’s laptop on the ground. The cement floor would’ve turned his laptop to smithereens. He could grab his coffee and poor it right over the keyboard. Maybe if he was lucky the thing would produce smoke, maybe even catch fire right before his eyes. Sungchan could also wait until Eunseok emerged from the bathroom, wait until he was unaware of everything and sucker punch him. They could start a brawl between these two tables, absolutely make a mess of this fine establishment. 

But then Sungchan thought about how Eunseok would have that smug look on his face. As of a week ago, Eunseok got increasingly better at pushing Sungchan’s buttons, saying comments so slick that it left him confused on how to react. He imagined it now, Eunseok’s calm demeanor before telling him Channie, why are you so quick to anger? Like he already knew how his friend would react if he knew what he was writing for the past hour. 

Being predictable is what made Sungchan take a deep breath. He  couldn’t behave the way he wanted to, the way Eunseok would expect him to. Also, there was that one time the two of them fought in grade school and Eunseok beat his ass. He’s sure he could take him now, he’s absolutely positive of it. But Sungchan tells himself he goes back to calmly sitting across from Eunseok because he has a plan. He smiles instead of letting his emotions show on his face when Eunseok comes out of the bathroom because he knows what he’s going to do. Sungchan doesn’t know what he’s going to do just yet, but it’s going to wipe the worried look off Eunseok’s face when he leans in close to Sungchan’s scowl.

“Is everything alright, Sungchan?” Eunseok points to Sungchan’s drink. “Is it the coffee?” He asks.

Sungchan shakes his head and takes a sip to prove it’s alright. Eunseok nods his head and goes back to typing. Sungchan nearly chokes on his drink.

“Better than the other cafe, right?” Eunseok asks, looking at his screen.

Sungchan watched his friend look from the document back up to him. He calms the fire in the pit of his stomach as he nods to his friend. Eunseok goes back to the document and Sungchan can see him switch to a different window. He grips the armrest of his sofa, something Eunseok doesn’t notice as he goes back to typing.

“Way better.” Sungchan says.

He messes with the rim of his cup. Another breath in.

“Eunseok.” He says.

Eunseok stops typing to look at Sungchan. The genuine concern on his face makes Sungchan want to lunge over the table.

“What did you ever do with that food left in the fridge.” When Eunseok looks confused Sungchan clears his throat. “From a week ago.” He specifies.

Sungchan watches him register what happened a weak ago. He has the nerve to hesitate and look up to think like he doesn’t already know. Sungchan’s tongue pokes the inside of his cheek as he looks down at his coffee.

“I threw it out. So you wouldn’t have to deal with it.” Eunseok answers after a beat of silence.

Sungchan takes another deep breath in. He looks up to Eunseok with a smile on his face.

“You’re a good friend.” Sungchan says.

He can see the hesitancy in Eunseok’s head nod. Eunseok knows he can see it too.

[marcelloshdz]

double duty

summary: when you're asked to host and perform on saturday night live, you and marcello hit it off quite well. marcello x female!singer host. requested by anonymous.

“i’m so excited to be here!” you cheered as you walked through the hallways of NBC studios. you were pulling double duty on saturday night live this week, and you were absolutely over the moon. you’d been a fan of the show for as long as you could remember, and this was quickly becoming a “pinch me” moment. you were walking with some of the producers and writers on the show, getting a little tour of the studios. the writers had already pitched you some amazing sketch ideas, and you couldn’t wait to work on them and see what ended up in the final show.

the week quickly became very busy, but you were also making sure to take the time to soak it all in and truly enjoy your time there. you were having so much fun working through the sketches and meeting and making friends with the cast. you were a huge fan of the current cast, and you couldn’t believe that you were getting to work with them.

it was wednesday afternoon, and everyone had just settled into their seats for the table read. as you made your way through the scripts, your cheeks were hurting from laughing. everyone had written such incredible sketches, and you couldn’t believe that you were getting to be part of them.

the first hour passed by, and you’d made your way to a sketch that you were in with marcello hernández, playing a couple. admittedly, you’d been a bit nervous about working with him, as you’d become a fan of his (and developed a bit of a crush) in the three years he’d been on the show. you sat at opposite ends of the table as you read through the script, stifling laughs and playing off of each other very well. you looked around the table as the cast was laughing through the sketch as you and marcello and the other cast members that were part of the sketch read through the script. once you reached the end, the two of you exchanged the briefest of glances, and he shot you a soft smile. you smiled back, feeling your face flush as you moved to the next sketch. 

the rest of the week flew by, and it was finally show day. you’d been hanging around the studio all day running through the scripts a few more times before rehearsals. you’d also been rehearsing your songs, settling on your set designs and costumes. you were performing your two most recent singles, ahead of your album release coming within the next couple of weeks. 

you finished rehearsal of your first song, ready to take a break as they ran through weekend update. as you left the stage, you ran into marcello. he shot you a wide smile as he continued walking up to you.

“hey!” you said with a smile.

“hi. i liked your song.” he said softly.

“thanks.” you said awkwardly, standing there in a brief silence before he spoke again.

“so, i just wanted to let you know that our sketch got moved. we’re gonna be the first one back after update, instead of going before. that’ll give you more time to get ready before your first performance.” he said. 

“get ready, calm my nerves, all the same.” you joked.

“nah, you’ll be great.” marcello reassured you. you smiled again, whispering a small thanks before you had to move to rehearsal for the next sketch. 

before you knew it, it was finally time for the show. you stood backstage watching the cold open before moving behind the famous door. your heart raced in your chest as the announcer read through the names of the cast members during the intro sequence, followed by your name as host and musical guest. 

“ladies and gentlemen, y/n!” rang through the speakers. you pushed through the door and down the stairs, taking your place at the edge of the stage. you smiled wide, waving at the audience and taking in all the cheers. 

“wow, wow, wow. thank you very much. my name is y/n, and i am so grateful to be here hosting saturday night live!” you began your monologue, hitting all the jokes in the right places, and getting amazing laughs from the audience.

you ran through the first few sketches, getting many words of affirmation backstage from the cast and crew between set changes and commercial breaks. before you knew it, it was time for your first performance. 

“ladies and gentlemen, y/n.” you’d brought a close friend of yours to new york with you for this week, and the producers were kind enough to let them introduce your first song. 

you made it through your first song without a hitch, taking in all the applause that erupted around you. you were then rushed backstage, and allowed to take some time to take a break during the commercials and while weekend update was on. you met up with marcello for another quick little run through of your sketch before it was time to go back on stage. 

the premise of the sketch was you bringing him over to meet your friends for the first time, and him making a weird first impression. basically, a different version of his now-famous “protective mom” sketches with pedro pascal. hearing him calling you his girlfriend gave you butterflies in your stomach. way more than you’d like, but you’d never admit that out loud.

heidi gardner, ego nwodim, and bowen yang were also in the sketch, playing your friends, and taking the sketch to new heights. the jokes were getting laugh after laugh from the audience. you and the other cast members were even having trouble keeping it together. 

once the sketch finally concluded, you took in as much of the applause that you could before being rushed off the stage to get back and change for your next performance. just as you were stepping out of your dressing room, marcello found you and pulled you into a tight hug.

“you killed it! thanks for doing the sketch with me.” he said excitedly.

“thanks for trusting me! i know you had a heavy hand in writing it, and i’m glad it was picked for my episode.” you pulled away from him, giving him a wide smile before being whisked off to your spot on the performance stage to get ready for your next song. 

they began counting down from the commercial break, and you took a couple deep breaths before they came back. 

“once again, y/n.” you heard marcello’s voice announce from the main stage. your heart fluttered in your chest at the way your name sounded in his voice.

you finished your second song, and the episode began to wrap up. once it was over, everyone gathered on the main stage for good nights. you said your thank yous to the cast and crew, thanking everyone who came in for cameo appearances, and wishing everyone a good night. 

later that night, marcello found you at the after party. you both already had a couple of drinks in you, and had loosened up after a stressful week.

“hello again.” you said, sitting up on the barstool and giving him your full attention. 

“hey. i just wanted to congratulate you on a successful week. when you were confirmed for host, i gotta admit, i was really excited.” he said. 

“oh yeah?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at him. he laughed and nodded. 

“ooooh yeah. i’ve been listening to your music for a while. my sister is a fan, and she’s played a lot of your songs for me a few times.”

“mmm, she’s smart.” you laughed. “i didn’t know you were gonna be introducing my second song. that was a nice surprise.” you said, marcello taking a step closer to you.

“i’m glad you thought so. i asked specifically if i could do it.” he said with a smirk.

“wow, aren’t i special?” you asked, reciprocating his smirk. you sat up further on your barstool as marcello continued to close the space between you.

“very.” he said softly, fingertips drumming along your thigh. “so, i never do this, but,” he took a deep breath, “would you maybe wanna hang out some time? outside of all of this.” he said.

“sure. i’d like that. i’ll be in new york for a few more days before heading back to LA, so we could get together before i leave.” you said, nodding excitedly. you exchanged numbers and made your plans.

“we’re heading into an off week, so i have all the time in the world.” he said with a smile. 

you and marcello spent the rest of the night together, talking and getting to know each other. it could’ve been mostly the alcohol, but you were so comfortable with him.  you enjoyed being around him, and you loved talking and laughing with him. 

at the end of the night, marcello walked you outside to your uber that was taking you back to your hotel. 

“thanks again for a great night, and a great week. i really enjoyed getting to work with you.” you said to him as you stood on the sidewalk. 

“and i you.” he said with a smile. just then. your uber pulled up and he opened the door for you to get in. “text me when you get to your hotel.”

“i will.” you said. before climbing into the car, you pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, his face immediately turning a bright crimson. “see you later.” 

you watched from the window as marcello stood on the sidewalk, smiling and waving as your uber drove off. you let out a sigh of content, still not believing that tonight was even real, and that you’d already made plans to see each other again.

you turned to your friend, who raised an eyebrow at you.

“what are you smiling like that for?” they asked.

“just over the moon about tonight.” you said, evading a direct answer.

your uber ride was quiet as you rode back to the hotel. once you were finally back in your room, you took your phone out and text marcello to let him know that you were back at your hotel. he immediately replied, telling you that he couldn’t wait to see you again, and he wished you a good night.

you wished him a good night as well and got ready for bed. you slept peacefully that night, excited that you were going to see marcello again in just a few days. 

[miuszn]

i’m actually so obsessed with your bouncer!ellie.. we need a fic immediately 🤭 -🪐

taste of lust

SETTING : modern au

WC : 5011

WARNINGS : sexual harassment ( nothing graphic ) ( but reader is sort of implied to have trauma related to it , nothing stated explicitly tho ) , bouncer!ellie x bottlegirl!reader , idk shit about clubs so like some stuff might be insanely inaccurate but i did my best to research ( sorry in advance ) , dash of dealer!ellie bc who doesn’t love her , dom!ellie , sub!reader , teasing , overstimulation if u squint , ellie calls u pretty girl & princess , readers first time with a strap , ellie refers to her strap as her cock , i’m not fluent in english yet so there might be mistakes , not beta read

A / N : hello everyoneeee !!! i know this took FOREVER to finish and i’m so sorry about that .. i’ve been super super busy and this fic was so long omg T_T there was a point i started over completely bc i didn’t like the direction it was heading to .. this fanfic shit gets serious truly . in case u missed the warning there is sexual harassment in this fic and reader is implied to have trauma related to it . putting this here again to make sure u guys see it . anyway , i took so long to post this and so much stuff happened !! but alas , it is here , the bottlegirl!reader and bouncer!ellie fic !! this is my fav fic of mine so far so i hope u guys enjoy reading this as much as i liked writing it <3 ( and yes there will be a part two !! )

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

being a bottle girl wasn’t exactly the job of your dreams. having to deal with creepy rich men every friday and saturday night was definitely not something you enjoyed doing, but that was what paid the bills and allowed you to live a rather comfy lifestyle for a college student. the bad part no one tells you about going to a top college on a full-ride scholarship is that a lot of the students are rich kids who most definitely cheated their way through high school, who live in nice apartments paid for by their mommy and daddy, who use birkins and other designer brand bags as their school bags, who would never be caught dead eating at the cafeteria. of course, you felt out of place. you weren’t exactly poor, but your family definitely could never afford that kind of lifestyle.

you’re pretty. extremely pretty. and you knew you could use that to your advantage. so when you saw a new club in the city that was looking for bottle girls you immediately knew you had to apply. sure, you had to deal with a couple creepy customers every night and sometimes even had to remind them they’re not allowed to touch you, which was annoying. you also hated being seen as an object, and you knew that’s exactly how these men saw you, and what was even worse was those very unsettling “you remind me of my daughter” comments from older men since you were so young. but the money was the main thing you needed, and you were able to put up with all this because of the pay. although the salary itself is just enough to survive, most of your earnings were in tips, and you made good tips. with a little bit of flirting and pretending you were really into customers, you scored lots of tips in the hundreds and sometimes even thousands. that wasn’t really enough for you to be able to afford luxury items whenever you wanted, but you were able to treat yourself every once in a while and that was enough for you.

you and your coworker ellie are the only college students that worked at that club. she wasn’t a bottle girl, however, she was a bouncer. during busy nights the bouncers typically took turns being at the door, and the rest would be inside the club making sure everything was fine. she didn’t mind being inside, it meant she could steal glances at you. truth was, she was into you, and it was obvious. but you took it as her just wanting to get a reaction out of you. that’s what it seemed like. but you can’t lie, whenever she wasn’t looking, you’d stare back as discreetly as you could.

she was a little possessive over you, which you weren’t really aware of. whenever she saw you flirting with customers, she couldn’t deny she felt a little jealous. she of course knew you were just trying to get more tips. regardless, she still couldn’t stand seeing the way you twirled your hair, spoke in that sweet and flirty tone, and even sometimes gave them compliments, and the fact it wasn’t towards her. she wanted it to be her, and her only. she wanted you to be hers. but she never did anything aside from flirt with you a little every once in a while, because she was scared she’d make you uncomfortable.

ellie. where does one even begin to describe her? her strong arms, her short auburn hair she styled as a mullet or put in a half bun when she felt a little lazier, her mesmerizing green eyes. from the moment you laid eyes on her you found her extremely attractive, but you were too shy and didn’t know how to approach her. what’s funny is this is the total opposite of the character you put up for your customers, an extroverted, flirty girl. the thing with you is, you can flirt with people, but only when you’re not attracted to them. when you are, such as in cases like these, the main thing you do is avoid avoid avoid. you rarely had the opportunity to interact with each other, but when you did, you always felt she was trying to subtly flirt with you. it was the kind of flirting where it was hard to tell wether she was flirting with you or just being nice, so you simply took it as being nice because you didn’t think there was any possibility she could be into you. she was just out of your league. even if it was flirting, you didn’t know if she had any other intentions. so you decided to play it safe.

that night was different from the others. your boss informed you that there’d be a bachelor party tonight and surprise surprise, you’d be serving them. the thing about bachelor parties is they’re very demanding and their tips can vary a lot. and demanding in your vocabulary is basically a synonym for entitled. they’ll insist you sit down, have a drink with them, maybe even try to grope you or something. you were not happy about having to deal with them tonight, but your boss told you they were short-staffed tonight, so you’d simply have to suck it up.

the moment the group of about 15 men came in, ellie sensed something was wrong. she rejected about half of them at the entrance before being informed by her supervisor that it was a bachelor party. she didn’t really care. she knew they were up to no good.

“i really don’t think we should let ‘em in.” she crossed her arms.

“any good reason?” he asked, annoyed.

“something just feels.. off,” she whispered, “i dunno. feel like they’re up to no good.”

“i don’t pay you to do ‘vibe checks’ on people.”

“i still don’t think we should let ‘em in. feels like they have bad intentions. have you seen how they’ve been eyeing the rest of the female staff?”

“big deal, this is a night club,” he brushed her off. “that’s how men look at women in nightclubs, williams. suck it up.”

“that still doesn’t-“

“do you want to keep your job or not?” he snapped.

she sighed and rolled her eyes, defeated, and hesitantly let the group in. her eyes were glued on them until they sat down at a table, the feeling in her stomach worsening when she realized you’d be dealing with them. it was one thing for any of the other girls to have to deal with them, but for some reason, she found herself way more worried about you. you were newer to the job and a little younger than the other girls. she couldn’t bear the thought of someone possibly harming you, or taking advantage of you, or anything like that. she felt this strange desire to protect you, something she hadn’t really felt towards anyone before. she felt this way toward you, yet she barely knew anything about you.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

tonight was going to be a long night. the moment those men sat down, you could immediately tell. you could tell by their piercing gazes, which you swore you could physically feel even though you weren’t looking at them, that you’d have to remind them several times they can look but not touch. you heard them whispering stuff to each other while looking at you and then laughing and hitting each other as if they were a group of teenagers. you took a deep breath, put on a smile, and finally went over to their table.

“hey boys,” you greeted with a flirty tone, “anything i can get you guys today?”

“yeah, a piece of that ass.” one of them said, while the rest laughed.

you faked a giggle, trying to do your best to handle this professionally, as you would with all the other annoying customers.

“anyway,” you continued, “do you guys have anything in mind? if not, you can take a look at the stuff we have over there at the bar.” you said, while pointing at the bar.

“we’ll need a moment, babygirl.” one of them replied, holding out his credit card.

you nodded, took the card, and quickly walked away. you absolutely hated that nickname. before you took this job, you didn’t really mind it. but when you started getting called it by basically every single customer you eventually grew to hate it. if you hadn’t been working, you at the very least would’ve given them a death stare or contemplated telling them off (even though you knew you’d never have the balls to do anything of the sort.)

after a couple of minutes, one of them whistled at you to get your attention. strike two. another thing you very much hated. now you were even being treated like an animal. who the hell do they think they are?

you walked over to them and plastered a fake smile on your face and asked if they were ready.

“we just wanted to know what you recommend. i’m sure you drink lots since, you know, you work here.”

some of them chuckled, and you didn’t really get what was funny. but you decided to not start anything and just answered the question.

“well, we have lots of options,” you responded, “we have many of the classics you can find anywhere else, and we also have some that are less common. we just got the louis xiii cognac which is very hard to find, so i’d recommend that one.”

“yeah? are you just saying that ‘cause it’s the most expensive?”

“if you want less pricey options, we have those too.” you replied, avoiding the question. of course you were suggesting it because it was the most expensive. that’s kinda your job. you’re supposed to make money.

“we can afford it.” one of them said.

“yeah, bring us that one.” another chimed in.

you smiled and nodded, walking away. gosh, you felt them draining any energy you had every second you spent near them. you carefully took the bottle and put it on your tray, and grabbed a few glasses and put them with the bottle. you made your way over to their table, placing their glasses in front of them one by one, and although you weren’t looking at any of them, you knew they all had their eyes glued on you. you tried your hardest to pour their drinks quickly enough so you could just get out of there, but not too quickly that they’ll notice. unfortunately for you, they caught onto what you were doing.

“why’re you pouring so fast, babygirl? you in a hurry?”

tonight was going to be a long night.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

ellie couldn’t wait for her turn at the door to be over. she made sure to peek inside every chance she had, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t eyeing you. she couldn’t help it. she couldn’t stop looking at how the black shorts and black baby tee you wore hugged your body and showed off your figure, and she had never been more grateful for the existence of the uniform. but above looking at you because of how attractive you were, she wanted to make sure you were safe. she had dealt with lots of men like them before, and she wouldn’t hesitate to kick them out if things escalated even the slightest bit.

after a while, her supervisor dismissed her and told her to stay inside to make sure nobody was causing any trouble. of course, she went over to the area you were, since there was no one watching over that area and because you were there.

“why’re you pouring so fast, babygirl? you in a rush?” she overheard one of the men speaking to you, with a sort of entitled tone. if she hadn’t been paying attention before, she definitely was now. with the way they were acting, it seemed like they didn’t notice she was there. you were clearly uncomfortable, but tried to play it off, you didn’t want to cause trouble or provoke them. she watched closely as they kept offering you to sit down and drink with them, not listening to you no matter how many times you politely told them you’re not allowed. telling you to “just have one drink, it’s fine” and “no one will know” and they “won't tell your boss.” but your boss was not the only concern. the concern was you. you didn’t know these men, you didn’t know what they could do.

but suddenly, one of the guys sitting on the edge of the seat pulled you in by the hip and forcibly sat you down. in that moment, ellie immediately went over to the table and knew she had to step in.

“sir, you’re not allowed to put your hands on the employees. i’m gonna have to ask you and the rest of your party to step outside.” she said in a stern tone.

“she willingly sat down with us,” one of them lied, “she just wanted to have a drink. nothin’ wrong with tha-“

“i saw what happened. no point in lying. now please step outside before i have you forcibly removed from the premises.”

“yeah?” he stood up to face her. “you’re just a woman. what’re you gonna do? you can’t get all of us out of here.”

“sir, back down.” she warned.

“or what?”

she didn’t respond. instead, she punched him in the face, breaking his nose. a few of his friends stood up, but before they could do anything, some of the security had already gone over to the scene and stopped them, escorting them out as ellie went with you to the break room.

“you alright?” she asked, seeing how shaken up you were.

“i’m, uh, i’m fine. don’t worry.” you responded, sitting down on the couch, still uneasy from the experience. you hated people touching you without your consent, even something that was sort of minor like this. you were already uncomfortable, and this just made it even worse. you didn’t notice ellie had sat down next to you until she wrapped her arm around you and you melted in her embrace. you felt a little embarrassed at how comfortable you felt with a girl you’ve only had small talk with prior, but you were able to push that feeling away because in that moment, you didn’t care. the fact she hadn’t judged you and said “it’s part of the job” or something along those lines, let alone saying you were overreacting was enough to tell you that you could trust her.

“do you, uh, want me to drive you home?” she broke the silence.

“i can’t. i have to finish this shift.” you mumbled. “plus, my roommate has someone over tonight. i can’t go home right now.”

“then, if you want, we can go to my place,” she suggested, quickly adding on “but just so you don’t have to stay in this environment, i’m not trying to be creepy i promise,” because the last thing she wanted was for you to take it the wrong way and be uncomfortable.

“thanks, but, i still have to go back out there and finish my shift.”

she was a little sad. if it was up to her, she’d make you quit and happily support you. she made a lot of money for a college student, between working as a bouncer and dealing weed on the side. she had more than enough to support the both of you, but she’d never talk about anything of the sort out loud.

“i can speak to management for you,” she said, “i’m sure they’ll understand.”

you accepted hesitantly, the voice in the back of your mind telling you you’d just end up fired. but that didn’t matter to you in the moment. you had to get out of there. you couldn’t stand it anymore.

ellie guided you through the back door, making sure you wouldn’t have to face those men again, holding you by the wrist with just enough strength to make sure she wouldn’t let you go easily but not too hard so she wouldn’t make you uncomfortable. she opened her car door for you, waiting a couple seconds for you to get settled in in case you needed her help for whatever reason.

the car ride was short and silent. it wasn’t the awkward kind of silence, more so the kind of silence when there’s nothing to say. it was a comforting silence, a drastic contrast from the loud music in the club that had been blasting in your ears for the past 2 or so hours. you were looking out the window, watching the city lights and buildings as you passed them. ellie would be lying if she said she didn’t steal a few glances at you when you were looking away. she couldn’t help it, you were just so mesmerizingly beautiful she couldn’t help but look at you any chance she could.

when you finally arrived at her place, you were surprised to see she had a house and not an apartment. it wasn’t a big house, but it seemed like it could house about 3 people. you were about to ask about her roommates, but almost as if she read your mind, she said;

“sorry about the mess, i uh, i live alone, so. don’t usually have people over either.”

“it’s fine,” you shook your head, “i’m just grateful you let me come here.”

she noticed you sounded like you were in a better mood. “you feeling a little better now?”

you nodded. “yeah. i guess i just needed to get out of there.” you bit your lip in worry. “but now i don’t know what to do. i’m pretty sure i’ll end up getting fired after leaving like that.”

“after what happened to you? nah. it’s understandable,”

“are you sure? i-i mean, am i not supposed to let them know beforehand-“

“you’ll be fine, don’t worry.” she reassured you. “you’re sort of new, aren’t you?”

“not really. i’ve been working there for a couple months.”

“so you’re new. got it.”

you playfully rolled your eyes. “sure, let’s say that.”

she smiled. “anyway, you wanna do anything? or do you just wanna rest?”

“i guess we could watch a movie or something,” you suggested, “if you want, of course.” you were surprised at how bold you were. it wasn’t anything too bold, sure, but that’s only true for everyone else. for you, something like that, which others might think is minor, is sort of a big deal. not only were you at this girl’s house, but suggesting to watch a movie as well. you were a bit scared that might’ve been too much.

“yeah, sure,” she replied, “you into horror?”

“uhh.. not really..” you admitted.

“it’s fine, we can just watch something else.”

“no, no, it’s fine!” you insisted. it was, in fact, not fine. especially at this time, horror was not your thing. it wasn’t a huge fear of yours or anything, but you were a little embarrassed of the fact you still got scared while watching them, sometimes even got nightmares. but no way you’d admit that to her right there. you felt you were already being too much of a burden on her, so you’d just suck it up to not bother her any further.

a few moments later, you were both on her couch watching some random horror movie she had picked out. you didn’t even know what was going on in the plot, you were way too scared. you’d argue this was one of the scariest movies, scratch that, media in general you’ve ever seen. where did she even find this sort of stuff? ellie was full of surprises indeed.

you didn’t notice you had snuggled up to her, your head laying on her chest, from the fear. once you realized, your face turned red as you pulled away in embarrassment and mumbled some apologies as you moved away. to your surprise, she lightly tightened her grip of her arm she had wrapped around you (which you only now noticed as well), telling you with no need for words that it was fine, and you could stay that way. you didn’t really know how to react to that, but you stayed. something about her was so comforting. you barely knew her, yet you trusted her as if you’d known her all your life. it was a strange feeling. you’d been on multiple dates with the same person many times before yet you still felt more of a connection with your coworker who you had only spoken to a handful of times beforehand. you weren’t even paying attention to the movie anymore. your mind was too busy paying attention to the thoughts racing in your head to process what was going on in the screen about a meter in front of you. you had lots of questions, and the more that popped up in your head, the more your heartbeat sped up.

ellie could feel something was wrong. she lightly lifted up your chin to make you face her, locking eyes with you. she asked if it was because of what happened earlier. you felt like you should look away, but you couldn’t. something about her was just so mesmerizing. you lightly nodded, not wanting to admit all the thoughts in your mind at that moment. you looked into each other's eyes for a couple seconds, before she planted a soft kiss on your lips. it was the type of kiss that happened almost as a reflex, the type that you have almost no control over. you could feel her try to pull away after realizing what she did, but before she fully pulled away you pressed your lips against hers, pulling her in this time in a deeper kiss.

before you knew it, you were straddling her lap as she placed kisses on your neck, occasionally sucking on it softly and leaving light purple marks on your skin. you hadn’t realized how much it was turning you on until you started lightly rocking your hips back and forth, desperate to get any sort of friction. ellie realized what you were doing, and placed her hands on your waist, almost guiding your movement, causing you to let out a few soft moans and whimpers.

“ellie..” you whined.

“i know, baby, i know.”

she carefully lifted you off her lap and laid you down on the couch, hovering over you. she tugged on the hem of your shorts.

“let’s get these off.” she said, as she undid the button and slipped them off you with ease, revealing your soaked cotton panties. “cute,” she thought to herself.

“i’ve barely touched you n’ you’re already so wet,” she teased, rubbing your clit through the thin cloth causing you to moan softly.

after a moment, you started to whine, tired of her teasing.

“desperate, huh?”

you broke eye contact as you looked away in embarrassment. in the back of your mind, you couldn’t believe everything that was going on. you found it a little embarassing, hooking up with a coworker you had barely spoken to prior. but as you had been doing the whole night, you tried to push those thoughts to the back of your mind and focus on the moment.

“don’t feel ashamed, pretty girl.” she said, noticing you felt a little off. something about her caring but almost demanding tone was turning you on even more.

she carefully pulled your panties to the side, sliding two fingers in, thrusting them at a slower but steady pace. this was better, but it still wasn’t enough. you bucked your hips ever so slightly, to tell her you wanted more.

“you’re gonna have to try a little harder than that, baby,” she said. she knew exactly what you meant, but she wanted to hear you say it. you whined in complaint, hoping she wouldn’t make you say it out loud.

“use your words, princess,” she smirked while locking eyes with you.

“please, ellie..” you begged.

“please what?”

“please, more..”

“good girl,” she said under her breath, speeding up her pace and thrusting her fingers inside you twice as fast as she was before, causing you to moan and whimper louder. soon you started feeling a knot forming in your stomach, making you attempt to grip the couch.

“ellie.. fuck..” you moaned.

“i know, pretty. but you don’t get to cum yet.” she smirked, suddenly pulling her fingers out.

you whined at her words and the sudden emptiness inside you, as ellie softly chuckled at your reaction. she found it so cute. she found pretty much everything about you to be cute.

she stood up, and went to grab something from her closet. it was a bright purple strap, and it was quite big. you weren’t sure it would even fit inside you. you watched as she effortlessly took off her pants and put the harness on, walking back to the couch and positioning herself, the tip right in front of your entrance.

“i want you to cum from my cock.”

she started sliding it along your slit, coating it in your slick, causing you to whine a little, before positioning it once again in front of your entrance and slowly sliding the tip inside you easily.

you were still a little scared since you had never done anything like this before. you’ve gotten fingered before, sure, but this was the first time someone used a strap on you. especially one this big.

“ellie..”

“hm?”

“i’ve never, uh,” you stuttered, “done something like this.”

“never gotten fucked with a strap before, huh?” she said, “i could tell. you seem kinda nervous. but relax, princess, i’ll take care of you.”

the nickname only turned you on more. you didn’t get why you loved it so much. it had never crossed your mind, yet you were now sure it was your favorite pet name ever.

with that, she started slowly sliding it in, looking at your facial expressions to make sure she wasn’t hurting you. surprisingly, you were able to take it all. she started thrusting it at a slow pace, gradually speeding up, but not quite fast yet. she definitely wanted to fuck you way harder and faster, but she wanted you to get used to the feeling first.

after a few thrusts you started to get used to the feeling, and it was amazing. she sped up her pace a little more, gripping your thighs, and this time she was able to locate your sweet spot, and boy was she about to abuse it. she hit it with every thrust, making you twitch and moan at every wave of pleasure.

“good fuckin’ girl,” she praised, “already taking my cock so well.”

“ellie.. please..” you begged, between moans, “faster..”

“yeah? you sure you can handle it, tough girl?”

you nodded, and she immediately sped up. she fucked you a little faster than you expected, and it was a little too much, but the overwhelming pleasure was, at the same time, addicting. the sounds of your moans and whimpers, her groans, and your wet cunt filled the room. soon, that familiar knot in your stomach started forming again, except this time it was much more intense, causing you to try and grip the couch once again. she realized what was going on, and started using her thumb to rub circles on your clit. you started tearing up from the overstimulation which was the littlest bit painful but also overwhelmingly pleasurable.

“i wanna hear you say my name, baby,” she demanded, “i know you’re close.”

and almost on cue, you came all over her cock as you moaned her name, just as she demanded, as she fucked you through your orgasm and finally pulling out with a slight pop.

— 𓆩♥︎𓆪 —

it had been about an hour since you finished your.. activity. she insisted on getting a bath started for you, and now there you were on her bed, in one of her t-shirts that was a little big on you, freshly out of the bath. you texted your roommate before getting in the bath to tell her you wouldn’t be coming home tonight, and of course, she didn’t mind that at all.

not only were you on ellie’s bed, but you were cuddling her, trying to sleep. she told you you didn’t have to, and that she just enjoys sleeping with body warmth, but you knew better. maybe it was true, but it sure as hell was not the only reason. but you didn’t mind. you acted stupid and like you bought her story, because truth is, you really wanted to cuddle with her, and you were even thinking of similar excuses if she hadn’t brought it up first.

“you awake?” ellie whispered.

“mhm, sort of.” you replied, in a sleepy voice.

“i just, uh,” she paused for a moment, “i just wanted to know. when will i see you again?”

“on our next shift together.” you joked.

“no, dummy, i mean like this.”

you thought about it for a moment.

“i guess we’ll see,” you responded softly, “i’m pretty sleepy. i think we should talk about this later.”

she seemed satisfied with your response, but she still had the fear you were only saying that to be polite, and you didn’t want anything more or didn’t want this to repeat. of course, she’d respect you if that was the case, although she’d be a little disappointed. but she felt there was something more there, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. you weren’t like any of the other girls she’s hooked up with before. she wasn’t exactly sure what set you apart from them, but she knew there had to be something.

maybe it was just feelings.

but even if it didn’t seem like that was the case because of your shy personality, you wanted something more. just like her.

[midnight1nk]

So, this week's episode...

[Spoilers below cut]

Past Ink: Guys, it's fine. This isn't a serious episode, it would be too soon for another arc. It's just gonna be another silly Saturday.

Current Ink: ....

(the following is my live reaction:)

[*unholy screaming*] FOUR NOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOW WHAT A GREAT START TO THIS EPISODE, SCRATCH EVERYTHING THAT I SAID ABOUT THIS BEING A "NORMAL" EPISODE

NOPE I NEED TO PAUSE, I NEED TO TAKE A WALK BC I'M NOT GONNA GET OVER IT, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS COULD LEAD

they're not gonna do it in this episode BUT the fact that goop!4 is being acknowledged in every way possible, we might just have a sequel in our hands

NO NO NO CUT THE INTRO, I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED THE EPISODE YET AND YOU WANT ME TO MAKE A THEORY ON IT ALREADY? HOLD YOUR FUCKIN HORSES, I'LL GET THERE GEEZ

anyway, we have to press play...

I'm pretty sure someone already has done a pirate au (no I'm not over what I just watched) and anyway, artists: here's pirate SMG4

Four, you should've read the file name before downloading it [*shakes head*]

Wait, is this going to be a parody of computer buddies? That's actually pretty fun..... OH NO NO NO

Ah, so we are doing computer buddies

Actually, yeah, can we have Mario as president please

love how it says "no one even compares to mario. especially smg4 who sucks booty cheeks [or ass] and mario doesn't"

Observe as the SMG4 fandom gets terrified of the word "perfect" [*screams*]

MARIO MARIO NO NO NO HE DIDN'T SAVE

I felt that in my core omg

as a graphic designer, this hurts

apparently, there's a whole new dimension in our computers, Only in the SMG4 Universe [*cheesy thumbs up*]

We really are getting all the computer buddies, huh? I wonder if KinitoPET will appear

[*silver the hedgehog voice*] It's no use!

BRITISH SMG3

wow what a funny bit... WAIT HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE, LOOK AT THE MEDIA BOX

the eyes....

w̷̹̓e̷̼̽ ̸̯́n̴̩͆e̵̝̓v̴̼͑ë̵̤r̴͓͛ ̷̭͝l̵̦̎e̴̞͗f̵͉̐ṯ̴͗

and the left eye too... oh god, the EYE OF RA— [*gets shot*]

honestly, Four, you improved your aim ever since Western Spaghetti (ik you also did for PV but that's not the point)

I knew they were gonna bring in buff Luigi again

I'M SCREAMING

THERE IS NO WAY THE TEAM JUST DROPPED THAT ON US, THIS CAN'T BE REAL

ok first off, the fact that Four has a folder labeled "Super SECRET Spicy Memes" is giving "totally homework" folder energy (and I don't want to even think more about that)

hey, Four did say that Three brings some spice into his life (yeah, "rosemary to my bread" and all that jazz)

SECOND, the fact he has an image of SMG3 with him saying "whats the matter smg4 kun?"

THEN the "I know what you are" audio clip...

Four, buddy, you're down bad aren't you?

like "woah smg4's bisexual, I didn't know that", the closet is out of GLASS so we been knew but I DID NOT expect this

having Three be a tsundere is one thing, but FOUR....

🫵🏳️‍🌈⁉️

"they're dating behind the scenes" at this point, yeah

we have to keep going... [*secretly puts this clip on the fridge*]

I hate this so much /silly

[*chaos ensues*] [*sips my coffee*] just another tuesday saturday

GOTTA GO FAST GOTTA GO FAST— [*gets tazed*] i can never catch a break c'mon man

oh hey Swag!

four dollars is four dollars, you got yourself a deal

ok, I'm gonna need everyone to see Four's cute little hops here:

look at him go, my silly little goober :) oh, now you have? then let's keep going

holy shit, this fight scene is so well animated!!! LET'S GOOOO

never thought I'd see the day of seeing biblically accurate bonzi in an SMG4 episode and yet here we are.

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE, I'M ASCENDING

"...but they hugged before" NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

A normal hug, where two people cross each other and are unable to see the other's face since it's over their shoulder, is just as it is: a normal hug. It can be seen as platonic and/or romantic.

THIS is a lot more intimate. 3 and 4's heads touch while they hold each other by the hand. This type of hug is reserved more for romantic partners when the situation leads them to a devasting end, where they face each other to look at and remember what their partner looked like, one last time before they die.

In this case, it makes sense as the computer is collapsing within itself.

"It's not actually them tho." Yes, they're digital copies of 3 and 4 but that's the thing: they're COPIES, acting on what 3 and 4 would actually do

SMG34 shippers, we are eating GOOD today yum yum

but then, that begs the question: would there be a moment where 3 and 4 would reveal their feelings for each other at the worst possible time?

(you guys are not going to be ready for my next episode concepts) What, who said that?

uh anyway them 💙💜 gotta put it on the fridge

I feel for you, Four, but I have a horrible feeling about this

...

Foreshadowing is a literary device—

no seriously, I feel like this could be part of a future arc where a past villain would ruin everything Four has and would offer up a deal when Four would be the most desperate. There's always a catch. Hmm, why does that seem familiar...?

Your life's work or your friends, it's your call, SMG4

:)

HELL YEAH FOUR, THROW IT AWAY (omg just like how he chose Three over the USB, I'm crying dude)

also congrats to Ourstor08954957 for the lovely art in the end credits 🎉 such cute doodles ❤️

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Oh boy, what an episode. I feel like I'm in another plane of existence right now. Everything was absolutely incredible, great job Team!!

Everyone, say THANK YOU to whoever put the SMG34 crumbs in there, we shall treasure it for the rest of our lives. I'm gonna put those moments on my fridge. OH I would love to see the artists draw the SMG34 hug or pirate Four!

Love the fighting scene right by the end and the little details they have added in there. I guess it's "Torture Ink with the Idea that Goop!4 May Happen" day but hey, I'm so normal about it (no I'm not). I've been a bit stressed since finals are coming up so I'm thankful for anything this episode for me.

(If anyone is curious, the WOTFI website is still up and yes, I am logging its status just in case.)

I'm sure everyone is going crazy over this...

"They gay fr :3" [BenJoJoGV, Twitter]

🧍

BEN YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THESE THINGS—

[paceprompting]

spontaneous

written for ‘pining’ | wc: 1000 # | steddie | rated: t | cw: no archive warnings apply | tags: post-season four, pre-relationship, charged situation, tattoo artist!eddie, pining steve

@steddieholidaydrabbles

"Are you sure this is a good idea?” Steve asked, hands clenched on the armrests of the chair in his living room.

It was the dead of winter in Indiana, so Steve had been wearing a green sweater and sweats; anticipating a relaxing Saturday in his own home with movies and popcorn. And Eddie.

Eddie had come straight from work, bundled up a tad more in a heavy coat and scarf to compensate for the low-coverage of his sleeveless t-shirt.

In fact, that shirt was probably to blame for the whole situation.

Because when Steve had gotten bold and explored the plethora of tattoos along Eddie’s arms—a mix of D&D, icons from metal covers (some of which Steve knew)—asking what it was like to get one, how Eddie had chosen (or didn’t).

Eddie had given one answer and one answer only.

Why don’t I give you one?

And now, Eddie was knelt between Steve’s legs, with Steve in an armchair sans his sweats. They’d put a pillow on Steve’s opposite thigh for Eddie’s elbow, one gloved hand bracing on the upper part of Steve’s thigh, where he hadn’t just shaved away the dark, downy hair.

Apparently, to Eddie this was an extremely good idea.

“Yeah,” Eddie smiled at him. “You gotta scoot closer, though.” And he leaned back to let Steve resituate with his butt sat closer to the the edge of the cushion.

Eddie slid his hands back into place, his touch like brands on Steve’s bare skin—one at the top of Steve’s thigh, pushing up his boxers, and the other resting lower, tattoo machine ready in his hand to ink a design Steve was leaving completely up to Eddie onto his skin.

Even though Eddie had just spent twelve hours at the shop doing the same thing all day for people who would actually pay him for it.

All because Steve wanted his first tattoo.

And no one else would know that Steve only wanted Eddie to go it. Eddie was fucking good at what he did. And Steve wanted very good.

Steve would also be lying if he didn’t also enjoy the idea of wearing Eddie Munson’s permanent ink.

He thought he did well with the first pass of the needle over his skin. Eddie must have been familiar with the shift of muscle underneath his hand, and hopefully Steve had kept his breathing even and his leg still.

He wanted to be good.

Steve watched Eddie as he worked. As his dark curls fell into his eyes, but Eddie hardly seemed to notice, entirely focused on his work with his tongue sticking just slightly out as the machine buzzed away and Steve’s blood thrummed in his veins.

About ten minutes in, Eddie glanced up at him.

Steve wasn’t ready, and so he met Eddie’s dark eyes head on.

His cheeks flushed a hot pink straight across, and Steve could only guess that his pupils were so blown out the light brown of his irises were practically gone.

Eddie wet his bottom lip, and Steve tracked the movement.

“Doin’ okay?” Eddie asked in a soft voice.

Steve answered, but not quite the question Eddie asked.

“Your hair’s in your eyes.”

Eddie had stopped tattooing, and he let out this half-laugh as he said, “Happens.”

Steve thought he remembered Eddie mentioning once that that only time he put his hair up was when he was tattooing, and that Steve had so desperately wanted to see it—but didn’t dark to ask.

He had no problem looking at Eddie, any way that he was.

And Eddie hadn’t gone back to the tattoo yet, which had to be the reason Steve thought it was a good idea to shift forward and card his long fingers through the curls hanging in Eddie’s face—stray strands along with his bangs—and hold them out of the way.

Steve didn’t think it was really how Eddie would normally have tattooed anyone, but maybe Steve was actually helping a little bit and maybe, just maybe, Steve had tucked away a few dreams of doing this exact thing for an entirely different reason.

And for Eddie to be doing it to him.

Not that he’d ever said anything about it.

Even though they’d had a standing movie night just for them for almost two years now. And that Eddie was still staring up at him from down on his knees, pink lips partly open. Head cocked slightly to the side—like something had clicked into place.

He looked the same when he figured out one of the Will’s plots in their game when Steve hosted. Steve usually hosted nowadays, usually also focused on Eddie.

“This okay?” he asked.

And no, not really, he knew.

But also, absolutely.

All Steve could hope for, for sure, was that he was grateful for the pillow over his crotch that was keeping him from being completely given away and embarrassed out of his mind while he was finally getting Eddie (in at least half) the way he’d been craving for a long time.

Maybe since a certain boathouse.

Certainly since Eddie had made Steve put himself first while the bat bites on his sides and his throat healed. So bratty and pushy, but had probably save Steve from horrible infection.

Eddie blinked, seeming to come back to himself a little bit. Enough to give a bit of the confident smirk Steve had to hide how weak he was for and say, “That’s usually my line.”

And apparently, a lot of old habits died hard, because of bit of the old King Steve kicked in while Steve’s heart and mind were spiraling, and the words tumbled out of his mouth in a tone he never thought he’d try to use on Edie.

“Should we switch places, then?”

Eddie smiled wider, rolling his wrist before setting the needle back to Steve’s skin.

And if Steve tipped his head back to run his hand through his hair on a long exhale, Eddie didn’t say a word.

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

Las Vegas 2023

-This whole race was on YouTube!!

-Saw Logan in the intro and immediately lost it

-It feels so weird watching this in such clear definition

-“This town has waited 40 years for the pinnacle of Motorsport to return” On a Saturday night??

-Such a unique track shape fr

-Yuki P20?!??!

-Ohmygod, why are the McLaren in the back of the grid

-I’m going to cry, Logan p6

-Someone take me back to 2023 and make me watch this qualifying live

-“It is the childhood rivalry at the front of the field”

-So many celebrities in the garages

-Oooh the Alpha Tauri livery and the Ferrari rear wing! Hope those designers got a raise

-Ohmygod not even a second in and they’re both off the track

-I just watched Logan lose a place and make it back up, I’m never recovering from this

-VSC and everyone in the pits

-“Max I think we’re happy to say that you were ahead when you went off the track, happy to stay there” “Of course I was ahead” Confidence is so sexy

-“This needs to be addressed now. It is a joke if he keeps the position.” The rivalry is rivalry-ing

-Damn Yuki! P11!

-Oh shit Lando! That was so sudden! He must have hit that barrier really hard

-Ah yeah and looking at that replay? I wonder if he was injured

-Why do all the cars look so shiny

-Why wouldn’t the sphere just be showing live race results instead of the usual adverts?

-I love when all the cars zig zag behind the safety car, so cute

-“The question is, how early will Max bolt” “…And he’s gone already”

-Oh wow that overtake by Oscar?

-Feels like a lifetime ago, the last time I saw Carlos and Fernando fighting it out

-“Definitely looks like he’s on a rush on to get out of here” lol Max’ hate for Vegas is so real

-“Let’s go Lewis!” I say, five seconds before I realize the person he’s gone past is Yuki

-Five second penalty

-Why didn’t I start watching races last year? It’s not like I had anything else to obsess over then

-“Yeah that’s fine, send them my regards” Cold

-Ocon! Come on man, why’d you do that to Kevin

-Okay can’t even be mad about Oscar doing it too cause that was extremely cool

-Yes Kevin! He got back!

-And he’s lost it again

-Not Yuki falling back to last place

-“Carlos Sainz facing up against his childhood hero” It’s the race for childhood lores

-“Our first Saturday Grand Prix since 1985” Why??

-Seeing Logan and Zhou in the top 12. I am so extremely gutted to have not witnessed this live

-So many things happening everywhere in the track but all I can focus on is Logan in p6 and praying that he doesn’t fall too far back when he stops for tires

-Seeing Checo make up so many places also is making me feel a lot of feelings

-Don’t like seeing Daniel so far down :/

-Ocon! Come on not again! And on Logan?!

-Although…seeing Logan and Oscar right behind each other is definitely adds to the race of childhood lores

-Oh god can Logan at least stay in the points, he got passed by like three cars

-Oh Mercedes trying an undercut?

-“He looks like he might get this done on track”

-“I don’t think this is Max managing, this is Max under pressure “

-Love when Charles goes for it! That was amazing!

-Ohmygod there’s so much happening, I forgot about the penalty, also so many people coming in to box at the same time, the leaderboard is all mixed up now

-Lewis has a puncture?

-“There’s just so much action happening in this Grand Prix it’s difficult to follow it” Exactly!

-Holy shit Zhou p7?!

-“Car’s not stopping, *****” Haha the way that bollard flew off??

-The recovery drive from Checo though??

-Somehow Logan and Oscar have ended up one after another again

-Checo p2!

-I wonder how drivers who aren’t typically up front feel about having the chance to be at front during a race. Are they like “holy shit how am I running alongside the top three teams right now?” “Do I really have a Mercedes in my mirrors??”

-“As the world champion is on the charge begind him”

-Woah the speed at which he went past George??

-“Max Verstappen has the fastest lap of the race. Do not count him out of this one” I don’t think anyone can

-It’s so funny to me that Lance is p2. It’s giving Germany 2019 before he lost it in the end

-“Sainz, Russel, Verstappen” Honestly amazing how Carlos made it up there

-George and Max going past all cars ahead of them together. It’s almost like George is making way for him

-Oh bloody hell I spoke too soon, they’ve made contact

-“There’s Charles Leclerc making the pass on Lance Stroll”

-Red Bull double stack? Ooh yes!

-“This is what happens in a street circuit, they either behave themselves cause they’re worried about chaos or you get action for every minute”

-“Piastri is up 14 places”

-Can I just say, this safety car is so diva

-“Charles Leclerc has a new Red Bull to fight this time”

-“He just turned in onto my wheel. I guess he didn’t expect me to pass him there” The nonchalant confidence is even better

-“Late, late, late in the breaks, and later still for Oscar Piastri” Is it an Australian thing do we think?

-So cool seeing all the cars bunched up so close together

-“This is the resurgence of Sergio Perez” Yes! Let’s go!

-Ohmygod Checo!!

-Oh they are showing the race results on the sphere!

-Ah the Alpine’s are fighting

-Charles stuck in a Red Bull sandwich

-“Max Verstappen looking to demoralize the ones ahead even further” That’s so funny wth

-Ohmygod Charles how does one even make that pass??!

-“This is a three horse race” funnn

-“That’s one of those passes where I’m coming through or there’s going to be a lot of debris” it’s giving I’m not taking my leg of the pedal until I see god or the checkered flag

-🎶 Max! Max! Super Max! 🎶

-“Charles going right who is it? In the mirrors? It’s the world champion”

-“Let’s work together here. We can get him”

-✨Rihanna✨ (my brain just went blah blah proper name place name backstory stuff)

-“Stay with him. Double tow here. We work together” Damn that goes so hard

-The way the Red Bulls just switched around. Didn’t actually think Max was going to make it there actually

-The commentators: “Sainz, further back in the pack”

Me who has forgotten about every car but the top three: “Who?”

-“Hunt them down George” Oh alright then

-The way Carlos, Fernando, and Lewis went past Alex right after George did, that has got to hurt

-Woah Charles?? That was so unfortunate

-That was such bad strategy on McLaren parts wasn’t it? Why not change his tires to the right ones earlier?

-Haas, when I find you Haas

-Yuki?? There were like two laps left! What happened??

-“Bieber’s got the flag, has Leclerc got the move” Ha

-“Help to tow him along, might be useful” “Ok I’ll try”

-Charles actually might make it back to P2…He’s done it!!

-“He’s pulled it off. As he does. Max Verstappen finds a way to win”

-“Yes, let’s go guys, that was quite fun out there. At least I had fun”

-🎶 Vivaa Las Vegas 🎶

-“ Into the pit lane Max, or should I call you Elvis?” Haha

-Post race drivers>> (especially Logan) (I’m going to conveniently forget he didn’t end up in the points)

-Them being so confused by the post race spectacle of it all is so amusing

-Maxplaining and Leclarifying in full bloom

-“We go straight to the nightclub. Skip everything. See you tomorrow evening…or not!” He thinks he’s so funny

-“It was a nice race actually” It really was

[dazaih]

wingman - luke skywalker x reader

chapter one chapter two chapter three -> cloud city

your university roommate han solo finds a rival (and love interest) in student council president leia skywalker, but both of them are too stubborn to admit that they have feelings for each other. luckily, you and her twin brother, luke, devise a plan to get the two of them to spend more time together. challenges arise, however, when you start to develop a crush on him.

chapter warnings: drugs and alcohol, slight sexual tension

a/n: here is part 3 as promised! also just an advanced warning that the next chapter will have violence and drama, but i’ll mark where the violent parts are so you can skip if anyone is queasy about that sort of thing :)

The days trudged on as usual, and the events of Friday night felt far away come Monday morning. The rest of your weekend was relatively uneventful, you and Han going to see some local bands at a bar nearby on Saturday, and sleeping off the hangover and doing homework Sunday. Pretty standard weekend.

Classes were uneventful too, though midterms were rapidly approaching and you were beginning to feel the pressure. By Friday, you were growing exhausted, and you needed a break. Walking home from class, you felt your phone buzz in your pocket.

roomies 😈🧨

2 notifications

From Han: Live show tonight downtown. Some upscale venue, but Lando’s a manager there so he got us tickets. Interested?

Han: Also, the twins wanna know if we wanna come do homework with them on Sunday at their apartment. I don’t really wanna go alone so if you’re not up to it I’m just gonna tell her royal highness that we can meet at a library.

You smiled at the screen, excited to be going somewhere tonight and getting a much needed break from academics.

You: ohh they share an apartment? think it’ll be luxurious? should we wear suits?

Han: I’d rather die. Bet it’ll be pretty nice though. Might even shower before we go.

You: how thoughtful of you <3

Chewie: nah i gotta meet my project partners sunday

Chewie: han r u sure it’s a good idea 2 go to cloud city tn? thought u and lando were on bad terms??

Han: He extended an olive branch, so I’m taking it. No big deal.

Chewie: lol whatever u say. i’ll tag along to keep u out of trouble but if u get into some shit it’s all on u bro

Han: Thanks pal. Glad you have my back.

Giggling quietly to yourself, you slipped your phone back into your pocket. Tonight would be fun.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Cloud City was one of the nicer bars you’d been to. You almost felt that the three of you were underdressed, given the crowd that had shown up. Most of them were the preppy peers you’d gotten so accustomed to, and you supposed that even if the band was slightly less polished, the quality of the bar itself still attracted that rich college kid demographic. You all, on the other hand, were dressed in your usual secondhand attire, though you’d done quite a nice job layering a stylish lace top with a turtleneck, and you swapped your usual combat boots for ones that were a little bit sleeker.

Han had dressed up a little too, his Carhartt jacket having been replaced by a brown leather one, though the rest of his attire was mostly the same. Chewie was in his usual flannel and jeans, but his long hair was tied into a loose bun tonight, and his beanie was nowhere to be seen. You guys cleaned up nicely.

You quickly made your way to the front of the crowd, trailing behind Han, who always wanted to be as close to the stage as possible. You were surrounded by boys in fraternities and girls with designer party dresses, but as you moved along with the music, you didn’t feel so out of place. Everyone was incredibly drunk anyway, and when Chewie disappeared only to return with a glass of whiskey for Han and a mixed drink for you, you couldn’t help but follow suit. You swayed along to the music some more before the band took a break, at which point you followed Han to the bar.

Lando—you’d only met him a few times—stood behind it, face lighting up as he caught sight of you all.

“Han Solo!” he exclaimed, reaching across the bar to give the man a hug. Han stiffened, but tried to be as cordial as possible, giving the other man an awkward pat on the back. You leaned against the bar and rested your elbows on the counter, trying to hide your smile behind your hand as you watched Han’s discomfort unfold.

“Haven’t seen you in forever! Or your dear friend,” he added, surprising you by taking your hand and placing a soft kiss upon your knuckles. Your face flushed, and Han smacked his wrist as he pulled away. Lando only smiled.

“Good to see you, Lando,” you said politely, “Thanks for getting us these tickets. How’d you get a gig like this anyway?”

“My supreme management skills, I suppose,” he replied with a wink before greeting Chewie and then shifting his attention back to Han.

The two of them chatted, Lando offering to get you all drinks on the house. You sipped yours and listened to them reminisce on old times, and you recalled that the two of them had been friends when Han had gone to community college outside of the city.

Growing bored, you let your eyes wander across the venue, feeling a little more awkward now that you had a chance to look at the crowd. Lululemon tops and Golden Goose sneakers stared back at you, and you suddenly felt a little self conscious. A particularly rowdy group of men got your attention, drunkenly shouting their entire conversations and swaying. Those were the type of men you were least comfortable around, always expecting them to make fun of you or give you a hard time. You had intended on looking away from them before you could accidentally make eye contact, but it was too late. One of them caught your eye, and when he met your stare so did the guy next to him. You were expecting them to yell at you to mind your own business, but whether or not they would have remained a mystery, because the third person to turn to look at you was someone you knew.

There, in all of his drunken glory, stood Luke Skywalker, his arm slung around another man and his other hand holding a pint of beer. You remembered that Luke didn’t like beer, and wondered why he was drinking it. When he saw you, his eyes widened, and you briefly wondered if he was going to pretend not to know you.

How wrong you were.

You had half the mind to step away from the bar—and Han—as he approached you, the very group you’d been eyeing judgmentally strolling behind him, clearly confused but content to follow him around anyway. He called out your name excitedly, and when he arrived at where you were standing, he pulled you into a warm embrace. You flinched a little, spilling your drink right onto his sparkling white slacks, and you braced yourself for the interaction to quickly sour.

“Oh shit,” he mumbled, looking down at his pants with a frown, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to spill your drink. I’ll get you another one.”

You didn’t have time to refuse his offer before he was grabbing your hand, pulling you to the bar and immediately getting the attention of Lando, who looked just as shocked as you were to see you being dragged along by a very drunk Luke Skywalker.

“Lando!” he hollered, offering the other man a wide smile, “Can you please make another—well, whatever that was? You can add it to my tab. Thank you!”

Lando seemed amused and happily brewed another drink for you, but in reimbursing you, Luke had also taken you all right back into Han’s space. His eyes were wide too, and he gestured for you to come to where he was sitting. You complied, sneaking away from Luke for a second to stand by Han’s side.

“What the hell?” he whisper-yelled, hands on your shoulders, “This—this is crazy. You don’t think the princess is here, do you? I’m too drunk for this shit. Whatever Lando gave me was strong.”

“It’s okay. I think he’s here with the soccer team or his friends or whatever. I don’t know. I didn’t even think he was gonna speak to me, and then he did, and I spilled my vodka cran all over his white pants and—“

“And now he’s buying you a drink. What have we done?” Han said, sighing and putting his head in his hands, “Now everyone’s gonna think we’re getting friendly with snot-nosed rich kids.”

“You’re the only one who cares about that shit anyway. Your reputation will be fine,” you snorted, adding, “And I can keep him out of your way. He’ll probably go back to whatever he was doing after a little small talk. It’s not a big deal.”

“You keeping him out of my way is exactly what I’m worried about. The kid’s stumbling over his own two feet, and you know how drunk men act—especially entitled ones like him.”

“Han,” you warned, “I told you not to get overbearing with me. I’ll be fine, and you and Chewie are here too.”

Chewie let out a hum of acknowledgement, giving Han a thumbs up when he looked his way.

“Okay,” he said, sighing in defeat, “But if he tries anything, come get me immediately.”

“You know I will,” you assured him, squeezing his shoulder.

Just then, Luke returned to your side, having found your new location.

“Oh shit! You guys are here too?” he cheered, standing between Han and Chewie and pulling them into a group hug, “This is so exciting! Lando, can you get a round of shots for the four of us? You can throw in a fifth for yourself, if you want. My tab again.”

“Alright, kid, you really don’t have to—“ Han began, but was cut off by a beaming Luke.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You guys were so nice to have me over the other day. It’s the least I can do.”

“You already brought us those donuts,” you told him, and, upon hearing your voice, he returned to your side, releasing Han and Chewie from his embrace. You noticed he was empty handed, and briefly wondered where the drink he’d bought you was.

“Lando has your drink,” he explained, as if reading your mind, “Wanted him to hand it to you. Just so you don’t have to worry about that stuff, y’know?”

Luke’s explanation was only partly clear, but you think you understood: he didn’t want you to be concerned that he’d put something in your drink while he was away. It was an amusing gesture, but also surprisingly thoughtful. You nodded, and Lando handed your newly brewed beverage to you across the bar. When the round of shots came out, Luke raised his glass to your lips. Your face flushed, but again, you understood. You placed your glass to his lips as well.

“Cheers!” he said happily, and he poured the shot into your mouth with a delicacy that you were impressed he could pull off in his already intoxicated state. You followed his lead, pouring the drink into his mouth as he tilted his head back. You watched each other carefully, and that familiar glint of mischief shone in his eyes once more.

Before Han could react to that, you pulled Luke away from him, and the two of you drifted back into the crowd. His friends hovered nearby, all of them regarding you with some element of shock and confusion. Maybe Luke didn’t flirt with many people in public, but judging by his skill at it, you found that difficult to believe.

You were snapped back into reality by the feeling of his thumb pressing against the corner of your mouth, swiping up a stray bit of alcohol that had escaped your shot glass. You knew your face had to be beet red at the moment, and you almost passed out when you felt the pad of his thumb press against your bottom lip. Wordlessly, you took the tip of his finger into your mouth, licking the drop that lingered there. He stared at you with wide eyes, and you momentarily panicked, worried that he hadn’t intended for you to do that at all. However, when his smile widened and he flashed you those pearly whites, you knew you had done the right thing. He leaned forward, placing a hand on your arm.

“You’re somethin’ else,” he whispered, his breath fanning across your neck, once again sending a shiver down your spine.

“Just following your lead,” you whispered back, leaning into his touch slightly.

Just then, the band took the stage again, and you watched Han and Chewie start to make their way into the crowd. Before you could say anything, however, Luke gestured towards his friends, beckoning them to come closer. When they finally did, you couldn’t help but feel self conscious. They were all fit men, and all conventionally attractive. They wore slacks and polos, and you realized that Luke was the only one who wore a loose fitting sweater out of the group. He looked slightly out of place amongst them, his style and his slightly shorter stature being an obvious explanation, but there was something else that you couldn’t quite place. Perhaps it was the smile he wore, genuine and reaching his eyes.

“These are my teammates,” he explained, and then he proceeded to name five of them. You would never remember their names, but you didn’t think they’d ever seek you out to speak to you again anyway, so it wasn’t a huge issue.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you greeted them politely, offering a small wave, “Are you enjoying the band?”

Most of them looked at you awkwardly, but one of them did actually dignify your question with a response. It was the man Luke had his arm around earlier, you noted. You thought his name might have been Biggs.

“I’m not really into this type of music,” he replied, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder, “But Luke loves it, and I like the bar, so here I am.”

You must have looked at Luke with visible surprise, because he offered you a small explanation.

“Leia is really into the punk scene, so she plays stuff like this a lot. And grunge. Anything you could get punched in the face to, she likes,” he told you.

“Of course she does,” one of the other men said, “Probably likes actually punching people in the face too, doesn’t she?”

Luke rolled his eyes, and you felt his grip on your arm tighten slightly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to indicate that he was a little irritated by that comment. You knew these guys probably didn’t like you very much anyway, so you decided to push back on them a bit.

“Leia? I couldn’t imagine her punching anyone,” you said, before adding, “Unless they deserved it.”

“You’re kidding,” the third teammate replied, staring at you skeptically, “I’ve never had a positive interaction with her, and I’m over at their apartment all the time. The best I can hope for is that she just leaves when we get there.”

“Really? I’ve only ever had positive interactions with her. I think she’s sweet.”

Everyone except for Biggs looked at you strangely, but you felt Luke relax a little, and that seemed more important. Just then, someone across the bar started beckoning Luke over, and he squeezed your arm and said, “One second. I’ll be right back.” Once he was gone, it was just you and his teammates.

“The only thing about her that’s sweet is her ass,” one of them remarked once Luke had drifted far enough away from the group, “And the rest of her body too, I guess. If she wasn’t such a bitch I’d probably take her out.”

You were starting to get a better idea of what Luke’s teammates were like, and you didn’t think you cared much for them.

“Maybe that’s why she doesn’t like you. Because you talk about women like that,” you muttered, but you knew he’d heard you when he raised his eyebrows and scoffed.

“Uh huh,” he began, moving so that he was standing directly in front of you, “And what do you know about her? Think you’re an expert on the Skywalkers because Luke wants to sleep with you? I’ve seen him pull that shot pouring trick on countless people—even other dudes. The only thing that sets you apart from them is that you dress like you grew up in a trailer park, but I hope you know that being his new charity case doesn’t make you special.”

You felt your blood boil and you clenched your fists at your sides, doing everything in your power to resist smacking him across the face. Instead, you took a deep breath to steady yourself, and you met his eyes.

“Don’t speak to me like that ever again,” you said sternly, inching just a bit closer to him and shoving your hand against his chest, “If you think my clothes are dirty, you should see how I fight.”

“You fight dirty?”

Luke’s voice nearly made you jump out of your skin, and you immediately let your hand fall back to your side, stepping away from his friend.

“Luke—“ the man began, but Luke just waved his hand dismissively.

“Nah, don’t care, Elias,” he said before turning back to you, “Much more interested in what you mean by fighting dirty. Can you show me what you’re talking about?”

You couldn’t help but let out a surprised laugh, staring at him with wide eyes. You could never anticipate how he was going to react to things.

“We might find out if Elias doesn’t calm the fuck down,” Biggs replied with a sigh, taking the man’s drink out of his hand, “You always turn into such an asshole when you have too much, dude.”

“What’d he say?” Luke asked you, and you briefly deliberated on whether or not you were going to out Elias and his bad manners.

“Don’t worry about it,” you told him, looking at Elias smugly, “Just friendly fire, right?”

Your adversary studied your face for a moment, realizing that his best bet was to stop challenging you entirely.

“Just friendly fire,” he muttered, before turning to you, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and his expression apologetic, “I’m sorry. Biggs is right. I get a little confrontational when I drink too much.”

“It’s fine,” you said, sighing and subconsciously leaning into Luke a little, “I should be getting back to my friends. It was nice talking to you again, Luke. And it was nice meeting all of you. I’ll see you soon.”

Despite Luke’s call of your name and protests, you made your way to the front of the crowd, finding Han and Chewie jostling each other around in a lighthearted mosh pit. Upon your return, Han pulled you into his side, ruffling your hair with his free hand.

“Somethin’ wrong, kid?” he asked when the song ended, the pause in music giving you a brief moment to explain yourself.

“His teammates suck,” you said simply, frowning a bit.

“Ah,” Han replied, seeming to understand, “Yeah. Leia doesn’t like them.”

Trying not to let your giddiness at the fact that Han and Leia had been learning more about each other show, you just nodded.

“They were talking shit about her as soon as Luke turned his back. That’s why we started arguing. And then one of them called me poor.”

“And what did you say?”

“Threatened to hit him,” you murmured, slightly embarrassed by your outburst.

“Good,” Han replied with a proud grin, offering you some of his drink, “Looks like he’s taking your side, at least.”

You peered through the crowd to see Luke with his arms crossed over his chest, looking thoroughly unimpressed by whatever his friends were telling him. Elias was trying to explain himself, it seemed, and you had seen the words “fuck off” uttered enough in your lifetime to be able to read Luke’s lips at the moment. He disappeared from your view when he walked back to the bar, Biggs following him and the rest of his teammates trailing farther behind.

“Whatever. He’ll find someone else to flirt with. Someone in his tax bracket.”

You weren’t sure why, but knowing that Luke had flirted with so many other people before you that he’d developed a formulaic technique for it had wounded your pride a little. It’s not like you had any real hopes of the two of you being together, and you didn’t even know him well enough to feel anything towards him, but you were self conscious about your own relative inexperience.

“Don’t talk like that,” Han chided, frowning at you.

“You talk like that all the time,” you argued, looking to Chewie for help. He just shrugged, a silent plea for you to leave him out of it.

“But you shouldn’t put yourself down,” he said, “He’d be lucky to have you, y’know.”

You sighed, trying to let yourself relax a little.

“Thanks,” you said sincerely, “It doesn’t usually bother me, but sometimes—I don’t know. I feel so out of place sometimes.”

“I understand. ‘S alright to feel like that, but you belong at this venue more than the rest of those punks.”

You chuckled quietly, and when the next song began, you allowed Han and Chewie to pull you into their mosh circle. With the alcohol warming your blood, you let yourself get lost in the music. You couldn’t help it, however, when your mind wandered to the memory of Luke pouring that shot into your mouth, longing for more than the fleeting feeling of his finger pressing against your parted lips.

[crystal-moon-101]

A while ago I had made up a Zak for each day of the week to match Zak Saturday and Monday for fun, and because I wanted to give Zak some more AU similar to how Ben gets a lot of them. So not only do they all have different last names, but each have their own backstories and colour theming! So I hope you enjoy my little AU concepts.

-Zak Saturday-

Classic original Zak. I decided to draw them all when they're 11, start of the series vibes. So that's why he doesn't look like the ways I normally draw him currently, since those are when he's 14. Nothing different with his design here, beyond still giving him those vivid orange eyes.

-Zak Sunday-

Also known as Zak Argost, having been taken in by the man after he had a certain encounter with Zak's parents, resulting in their deaths. When Argost found the young toddler, seeing the start of Zak's power, he was happy enough to take the child with him and use his powers to his benefit. Due to being taken when he was very young, Zak doesn't remember his parents at all, fully believing in anything Argost tells him, the only family he has. So he happily helps his guardian in keeping cryptids tamed during Weird World shows, or during trips to learn about them, even if Argost puts Zak in more danger than he should. Due to his appearances on Weird World, Zak is a celebrity of sorts, even if he doesn't get to go out often. Argost also gives him a lot of gifts, keeping the child in a positive mood to keep him under his thumb. So Zak truly believes that Argost cares about him.

Though things start to turn when Argost finally decides it's time to hunt down Kur and take his powers, hiring Van Rook and Doyle on the mission. This leads to Zak and Doyle getting to know each other, with Doyle feeling protective over this random kid for some reason. Eventually this leads to him taking Zak away when this whole Kur business gets out of hand. While Doyle can't seem to convince Zak that Argost doesn't care about him, the pair do at least agree to try and find Kur first, Zak worried that even Argost shouldn't handle such powers. However, only time will tell if the pair discover the truth behind their unknown family history.

-Zak Monday-

The good old twisted gremlin of a child, Zak Monday and his family were a result of the smoke mirror. They come from a world that twists the very nature of people, a poor reflection of their negative aspects. If you're naive, then your mirror self is incredible dumb. If you're a bit of a perfectionist, then your mirror self is a control freak. And Zak Monday represents the twisted doubts of Zak feeling like a monster, so why have any doubts when you can be the monster?

I decided to change Zak Monday a bit to have the green eyes and green shirt with his own logo, cause I liked the idea that after his first appearance, they switch back to what they're suppose to look like. But other than that I kept the concept of him looking just like Zak, minus the inverted hair colour.

-Zak Tuesday-

The young naga is the son of Rani Nagi. Born solely to have Kur's soul enter and be a host, but whoops! Looks like Kur's memories aren't there, but that wasn't going to stop Rani Nagi, who thinks if she keeps at her plans, eventually her son will become the old cryptid king she once knew. Even going as far as to solely call her child Kur, who secretly calls himself Zak due to him often watching humans in the shadow, curious about them and wanting a name for himself. Zak Tuesday has a lot of identity issues, not helped by his mother's teachings towards him, ignoring all his dreams and personal thoughts. Eventually he just got really good at lying rather than convincing Rani Nagi.

However, the young cryptid prince is suddenly kidnapped by Argost one day, as he figured out where Kur's soul was currently living. Zak knew he would have died that day if not for Drew and Doc recusing him, having been chasing Argost over this Kur situation. Though they're a little surprise that upon meeting the new Kur, they find it's just a young naga who really doesn't know who he is. At first Doc and Drew didn't know what to do with him, but Zak begged them to not send him back home, and let him stay at their place until he could figure things out. He wasn't foolish, he knew the nagas were planning a war, and he wasn't keen on being the face of it all. So now the Tuesdays just have a snake living around the house, but they can't exactly complain as he is a well mannered guest at least. And perhaps the house doesn't feel so lonely with him around either.

-Zak Wednesday-

Some of you might recognize this one, but this Zak is from my old Zur AU, where Kur was reborn via the Kur Stone due to it being an egg, and Zak is a dragon that shapes between human form and dragon form. I decided to update him, making him Zak Wednesday now, with a pink theme! I also decided that instead of Kur being reborn, I wanted to shake things up a bit and have it that Zak was directly Kur's son. His mother is unknown, and as Kur saw how the world was at the time, he put Zak's egg into a stasis situation until it was discovered again. After saving it from Argost, the egg hatched among the secret scientist, leading to them chasing the child of Kur. But upon using his shapeshifting abilities to look like a child of Drew and Doc, they just couldn't help but adopt him on the spot, siting there was no sense in blaming Kur's son over what happened years ago.

The growing dragon is very playful with a cheeky personality. He exhibits a lot of draconic behaviors, with a wild and free spirit. He is aware of his family history, but he doesn't like to think about it, unsure in how to view his father based on the stories he's heard. Besides, Doc and Drew are his parents, and that's all that matter to him. Though perhaps this sudden appearance by Argost, claiming he was going to far Zak's father, has been a bit rattling to deal with.

-Zak Thursday-

When Kur knew he was going to die, and also knew his soul wasn't able to live the mortal realm, he made plans to make it so his reborn self would both be born in hopefully a better time, and be without his memories. It was better that way, so that his new self could live a lovely life without the sins from his past. But that didn't exactly pan out properly, as Kur was reborn and sadly remembers everything. It took him a while to understand this growing up, his young human mind not processing it until he was roughly 7-8, and even then he needed time to think about it. And now he's a depressed 11 year old who now has to be stuck with the fact his plan didn't work, unable to run away from the person he once was. Doc and Drew found out the truth when Zak tried running away one day, their son sitting them down and telling them the truth in hopes they'd just leave him, it would be better that way. But to his surprise they disagreed, as he was still their son, Kur or Zak, and it would be too dangerous to leave him alone.

So now Zak lives with his parents? Are they really his parents? The family keeping this dark secret to themself, even from the other scientists. Doc and Drew still reach out to their son, doing their best to connect with him, but he can't help but push them away. He doesn't deserve this, and they deserve better. However, their secret might come out after Argost stole the Kur Stone and now hunts for Kur, not realizing the truth right in front of him. So now the family tries to get the stones back, wanting to protecting Zak/Kur from others finding out. Doesn't help that he has to go through being a child again with such dark memories lingering in his head, feeling tired and overwhelmed with the world. Hasn't he suffered enough?

-Zak Friday -

In a world where Kur and cryptids successfully wiped out humans, the king ruled the lands for a while after, before one day he mysteriously vanished. Many concluded that he had died somehow, the details unknown, but this lead to a prophecy that one day their king would return, leading to many claiming to be him, or praying that they will be him for the power and wealth. In this universe, Zak and his family are all cryptids, with Zak being a a Chuvash Dragon, Drew and Doyle are Epimeliads, and Doc is a Gargoyle (Other characters are also cryptids in this timeline). Zak is a serpent like dragon that breathes fire, as a very twistable body, and can freely shapeshift. He's heard about the legend of Kur returning, but frankly he thinks they don't need him, even if the cryptid world has been shattered without a king for years now.

But when a yeti named Argost claims that Kur is back, being backed up by the Nagas, everyone starts to gossip and run around trying to figure out who the new Kur is. So maybe it's best that Zak doesn't tell the whole world about his sudden new powers to control and communicate any fellow cryptid is walks by.

[darlingshane]

Something Crazy

Pairing: Michael Berzatto x F!Reader

Summary: On Natalie's wedding day, life takes an unexpected turn when you learn that your former crush, Michael, might be interested in you.

Content/Warnings: 18+, Explicit, Smut, P in V, Vanilla, Alcohol, Eating, Fluff, Crack, Pet Names, Kissing, Dancing.

Word Count: 4,6k

— You can read below or at AO3.

Today is the big day for your best friend Natalie. She's marrying her long-time boyfriend, Pete, and you've come back to Chicago for only two days to celebrate this lifetime milestone with them.

They've picked a perfect Saturday in the middle of spring to celebrate their union. Flowers are in full bloom, gardens are lush green, wind has calmed, welcoming a balmy weather to allow having a wedding ceremony outdoors.

Bright Sun rays slip like gold ribbons through the sheer fabric of the curtains as you carefully hang Natalie's gown and remove the garment bag. It's a simple but stunning empire dress, strapless, with lace and pearls adorning the corset. Though you've never fantasized about your own wedding before, as your hand slides softly along the skirt, you can't help but imagine yourself as a giddy bride, wearing that same dress.

Tying the knot is not on top of your list right now. Settling with someone? That's more likely to happen. But there's nothing like being chosen as the maid of honor, especially if you're single, to find yourself trapped in that Disney daydream of getting to meet your prince charming and live happily ever after. Hopefully, that unwelcome, sudden longing will vanish after a few drinks at the reception. Until then, your top priority is making sure your best friend's special day is as magical as she planned.

You're in the designated dressing room of the hotel with the rest of the bride's party laughing, sipping rosé, telling stories while the beautician works against the clock, getting all four of you primped and ready.

While you help Natalie get into her dress, Gigi comes back with a tray of pastries to soak the alcohol before anyone gets too drunk.

“You guys gotta see Mikey. He's so fucking hot I could die. I've never seen him all dressed up and clean like that,” she announces loudly, going around the room like a whirling handing croissants and muffins. “I swear to god his pants are so tight, it’s like looking into an x-ray photograph… you can see everything. And I mean everything,” Gigi stares at you, raising an eyebrow, while you stuff part of a croissant into your mouth.

“Ew, that's my brother,” Natalie frowns in disgust.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” you say after swallowing part of your pastry.

“She's looking at you like that because, as we all recall, it was you who had a crush on him for the longest time,” the bride sharply indicates.

“She's got a point, babe.”

“I was like fifteen,” your tone pitches a little higher, as if you were still that age. “Why do you always have to bring that up?”

“Cause let's be honest, you were hung up on him for way longer than you said, and your face still lights up every time you see him. Why can't you just admit you're still love-struck?”

You open your mouth to counter her accusation, but words refuse to come out. You can't even lie for dear life cause admittedly, as fucking annoying as they are, they're also right. Michael was one of those crushes that was hard to shake off. Your friends quickly jumped from one infatuation to another, but you pinned for Sugar's cooler, slightly older brother for longer than you should have. And that's probably the reason every time all your friends get together, they use that embarrassing piece of information to tease you. Even if you ever wanted to forget, they'll never let you.

The last time you saw Michael in person was a few weeks ago for only a few minutes when you came to help Natalie with the last details of the wedding and barely exchanged a couple of words. You moved to Detroit for work three years ago, and the few times you've come back here, you haven't crossed paths with him that often. The soon-to-be married couple also forgo the rehearsal dinner altogether to save money, so you didn't get a chance to see him before the ceremony.

“All I'm saying is if you wanna take a stab at that, this is the perfect time. He's single, he has great hair, he's wearing a dope suit, and did I mention hot?” Gigi keeps cajoling. “Hell, I'll hit that, If you don't. So better act fast.”

“He always had great hair,” Samira agrees, downing the rest of her wine.

“And he asked about you the other day when I showed him the pics of our trip,” Sugar adds.

“Oh,” you try not to sound too pleased, cause you doubt he ever paid any attention to you. Why would he start now?

“Yeah, he was definitely checking you out, and loved that video of you at the karaoke bar,” Samira chimes in as she pours another glass.

“Okay, you're making that up. No more wine for you, missy,” you promptly snatch the bottle from your friend and put it away while they all laugh. “Wait… he saw the video of me singing?”

“Uh-hm.”

You file that information for later and once you are all dressed up, you hand Natalie a stunning bouquet of roses before leaving the room.

“Thanks,” she grabs your arm for a second as Gigi and Samira head out. “Sorry for making fun of you… again. You know we love you and that we just want the best for you.”

“I know,” you mumble timidly.

“Sweetie, you don't need my permission, but if you wanted to ask Michael out, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He'd be lucky to have someone like you.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because… You've always been like a sister to me, and part of me wanted him to see how amazing you are, so I kept telling him about you. I showed him photos and videos, hoping that he would. And he did! He really loved that one of you vibing to TLC. Thought you were funny.”

“You told him, didn't you?”

“I plead the fifth.”

“I'd stab you if you weren't about to get married,” your serious tone makes her snort.

“Look, you’re not dating anyone. He’s not dating anyone… I could ask him if he's interested before Gigi swipes him up.”

“Nat,” you sigh into a heavy pause, looking into her clear blue eyes. “We’re not in school anymore, you don’t have to play matchmaker. And it's your day! The last thing on my mind is hooking up with someone. Let alone your brother. So drop it.”

“Just saying. It could really be a wedding present for me if you two were to…” you scowl at her, which makes her leave that thought unfinished.

“Okay, that's gross, let’s get you married, so I can kill you right after.”

“Alright, alright. I promise I won’t mention it again.”

In your lavender dress and matching heels, you wait for your cue as the wedding starts. The quartet starts playing. Once the officiant and the groom are in position, groomsmen, and bridesmaids walk down the aisle in pairs. You line up with the bridesmaids by the floral arch on the side of the bride in the lush garden and watch as Natalie walks down the aisle, escorted by both brothers, Carmen and Michael.

She looks radiant, but your stare darts slightly to your former crush. He’s dressed in a dark suit and royal blue shirt, no tie. His fluffy hair pushed back, shining under the sun like black licorice. His features are sharply defined as usual, but there's definitely a certain glow around him that makes him look more handsome than you remember.

Credit where credit's due, Gigi was right. They all were. He still manages to stir those intense feelings and butterflies in your stomach that you thought gone when your eyes meet for a split second as they get closer to the altar. There's also a glimpse of a smile in his lips, directed at you. Or so it looks like. Maybe you're making it up in the chaotic mess that is your mind.

Carmy and Michael kiss either side of Natalie's face when they reach the altar, and then they take their seats on the first row as she stands face to face with Pete.

The quartet stops playing, the officiant starts speaking, and you aim your focus to the ceremony.

Once Natalie and Pete are pronounced husband and wife, there's a time dedicated to take a few pictures of the wedding party in that very same garden before losing the natural light.

Despite promising she was going to let it go, your now-married friend insists on making sure you and Michael end up in several pictures together.

“Mmm… Marcus, is it?” you shake hands with him, pretending to have forgotten his name.

“Michael,” his grip is firm around your hand.

“Oh, sorry, Mario. I have a terrible memory.”

“Don't be cute. I know you remember,” he scoffs, amused, linking one arm around your waist per the photographer's instructions.

You swallow, nervously placing your hand on his firm back, trying to keep your cool. As the photographer takes a series of snapshots, Michael starts humming a familiar song. No scrubs. The one you sang in that famous video your friends filmed.

You press your lips together, and pretend you're not hearing it. It seems like they've all been scheming together against you, or in your favor. You're not sure. You know Sugar wouldn't do anything to make you uncomfortable, but this is getting ridiculous.

“Save me a dance later, would you?” he requests with a wink once the photoshoot session is over.

“I can't, Mitchell. I've already promised that to one of the groomsmen,” lie.

“You're gonna keep that bit the rest of the day?”

You shrug your shoulders, “it's not up to me, Marley.”

“Alright, come find me when you grow up.”

He presses his lips in a tight smile and walks away, leaving you dwelling in that awkwardness that washes over you, and wondering if he's messing with you or if he's suddenly into you. Those are good questions that you can't leave unanswered. If there's a chance that Michael Berzatto likes you, and that's a big IF, you really need to find out. The ball is in your court now. The question is… Do you want to throw it back?

The party moves to the banquet room in the hotel. There's plenty of food, drinks, music, and people in the room, but none of it can't distract you from the presence of Michael. This isn't how you expected to spend the day of your friend's wedding. And it's really going to bother you if you don't at least try to have a nice conversation with him. This is probably your last chance, so right after your heartfelt toast, you wipe your tears, throw back some liquid courage to walk up to his table.

He's nursing a glass of scotch, watching people on the dance floor, when you quietly take the empty chair besides him.

“No Richie today?” you break the ice.

“Oh, you remember his name but not mine?”

“Get over yourself, Michael. You know, I always got a little awkward when I was nervous. And unfortunately, it still happens.”

“Think you're doing pretty good right now.”

“Had a little help,” you tilt your glass in his direction.

“Well, I'm glad you decided to join me,” he nods and points at the bar where Richie is conversing animatedly with your friend Gigi. “I had to convince Sugar to invite him. Hope he behaves for my sake.”

“Oh no, you're a dead man. Nothing good is gonna come out of that.”

“How so?”

“They're both insane, divorced and desperate. That's a dangerous cocktail nobody wants to drink,” you point out.

“Yeah, you're right. I guess I didn't really think it through.”

“You're screwed, Berzatto,” you take a sip of your glass and turn your eyes from the bar to Michael. “You know I was just joshing earlier, right? It surprised me that you were so… Direct.”

“Men aren't usually direct with you?”

“No, I guess I haven’t been very lucky in that department… Or maybe I’m just a bitch with unreachable standards that scares away any potential suitors.”

“That would explain a lot.”

“Gee, thanks!”

“I’m kidding. I’m sure your standards are reasonable. And I don’t think you’re a bitch if that helps.”

“Yet you’re wondering why I came here alone?”

“Not really. I didn't bring a date, either.”

“Yeah? Why is that?”

“I dunno. Maybe I have really high standards, too,” he winks casually at you, knocking you out of your game.

You should have come prepared for this, but you never thought in a million years that Michael Berzatto would ever show any interest in you.

Still trying to figure out if you're picking up the right signals from him, you prop your elbows on the table and let out a sigh as he presses the rim of his glass to his mouth to take a swig.

You bite your lip and watch the guests swaying animatedly on the dance floor.

“So. Do you wanna dance?” he softly taps one of your arms.

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Did your sister put you up to this?”

“Why would she?”

“Don't play dumb. I used to have the biggest crush on you, and if you didn't notice, I'm sure your Sugar has told you.”

His lips draw a lopsided smile. “She might have mentioned something a while ago, but she didn't put me up to this, I swear. This is all me. I only asked you for a dance. I didn't ask you to marry me.”

“I suppose a dance wouldn’t be that bad.”

“I'll take that,” he throws back the rest of his drink in one gulp, stands up, offering his hand up to you, “shall we?”

You were hoping to have some more time to prepare, but his sharp conviction is something you can’t reject. That’s part of Michael Berzatto’s appeal. He’s always been such a bold and outgoing guy, it's daunting. It’s good to see that hasn’t changed at all. The only thing that’s different is that now he’s wasting his charms on you.

With some apprehension, you follow his steps into the dance floor. There’s a mid-tempo song playing that you don’t recognize that makes you forget altogether how to move your body. So you just stand there, three feet away from him, like a deer caught in headlights, bobbing your head, avoiding his eyes.

Michael stares at you, slightly entertained by how uncomfortable you look right now, and throws you a lifeline by stepping closer, picking up your hands and placing them on his shoulders.

“What are you so afraid of, sweetheart?” he asks, planting his palms on your waist, guiding you slowly to move with him.

“I'm afraid that I'm not a very good dancer.”

“I doubt that.”

“Wait till I step on you,” you subconsciously look down at your feet.

“Follow my lead. You'll be fine.”

“Okay, Johnny Castle, but don't make me mambo, salsa, waltz… Or anything that requires taking my feet off the ground.”

“Who the hell is Johnny Castle?”

“Patrick Swayze? Dirty Dancing?” you question, as if it was the most outrageous thing that he hadn’t heard about that film.

“I’m more of a Road House kinda guy.” Of course, he is. “Was that another crush of yours?”

“Oh, big time!”

“Ok, got it, nothing fancy, we're just swaying. See?” His hands guide your body to move side to side, but it's impossible not to feel a little clumsy in your steps.

“Hey, what do you think of Pete?” He asks, using his head to point at the newly-weds.

“Uhh,” you glance to the side to see Pete wrapping an arm around Natalie, “he can be a total douche sometimes, but he's always sweet to her. I guess that's what matters. Why? What do you think about him?”

“Words out of my mouth.”

“Michael?” You glance up to his deep dark eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Be honest, why did you want to dance with me?”

“Do I really need to spell it out for you?”

Your lips pull up on the sides as your head nods.

“Cause I wanted to dance with the prettiest girl I've ever met.”

If this is a dream, you don't wanna wake up to find out that this was just a concoction of your mind. It's not. It feels real. If you weren't holding onto him, you'd fall to your knees after hearing his words roll past his beautiful lips.

There are so many questions you wanna ask, but you can only sigh, and smile wider under the sweet glow of his brown eyes fixed on you.

“You really think that I’m that pretty or interesting?” your mouth opens after a pregnant pause, at the same time the song switches to something incredibly romantic.

“I've always thought that. It just took me a while to realize it.”

“God, you have the perfect answer to everything. That's really annoying.”

“I don't. I swear. You just caught me in a good mood.”

“I don't remember you ever being in a bad mood.”

“I have my moments. Trust me.”

He unexpectedly picks one of your hands from his shoulder, lifts it in the air to have you spinning ungracefully under his elbow before quickly wrapping his opposite arm around your waist to dip you. He grins at the shocked expression on your face for a second before bringing your body upright.

“Please, don't do that again,” you brace your hands to his chest right after.

“Why? That was perfect, sweetheart,” he laughs, “Johnny Castle would be proud.”

Your lips curl softly, letting your palms tentatively slide on his blazer until they're caught on the warm surface of his neck.

“Am I making you nervous?” he dares to ask, knowing pretty much that he's driving you crazy.

“A little,” a lot, actually.

He whispers, – sorry – as you run your fingers at the hair at his nape. You observe up close how he licks his lips, noticing his hands clutching harder to your waist. His head leans closer, and you draw a breath, preparing yourself for having his lips colliding against yours. It feels like the world stops spinning for a second and just about when he's about to kiss you something, someone in this case, crashes against your back making you lose your balance. Michael anchors you to the floor quickly before you can fall, as a slurred-drunk voice apologizes at your back.

“Fucking idiot,” Michael mutters and checks on you, “you okay, sweetheart?”

You're not. The spell is broken, and your dress suddenly feels cold and wet from the drink that was spilled along your hip.

You excuse yourself, and rush out of the dance floor, so you can clean yourself up.

There’s a big surprise in the nearest bathroom you find, and that is your friend Gigi making out with Richie with such passion, they don't even notice you opening and quickly closing the door.

The tiny glimpse that you caught of Richie propping your friend on the sink and sliding his hands under her skirt makes your jaw almost fall to the floor. You wish you could erase that from your memory immediately, but at least it has made you forget momentarily about your dress.

When you turn around, you’re faced with Michael again. You ran out so fast you didn’t notice him following behind.

“What’s wrong?”

“Richie and Gigi,” smacking your lips, you point with your thumb to the door with no further explanation.

“Wow, they didn’t waste any time.”

“That's the thing about weddings. They make people do crazy things.”

“Tell me about it,” Michael looks down for a beat, licks his lips, and steps closer.

He holds your chin between his fingers, tilting your head up. As he leans to capture your mouth, you flinch, “what are you doing?”

“Something crazy,” the corners of his mouth quirk up, making another move, and you jerk your face a second time in reflex. It’s not that you don't wanna kiss him, you absolutely do. You just need another moment to process it.

“Damn, girl. Can you just stay still, so I can kiss you already?” He demands without an ounce of entitlement. Just driven by the desire to taste your lips.

“Alright, okay… just give me a second,” you yield to his craving, letting him slowly guide you, so your back is pressed against the wall.

There’s no escape now, this is the moment you’ve dreamed with many moons ago that seemed like a pipe dream back then. All those thoughts vanish the moment his lips are pressed against yours firmly, before letting them bounce a couple of times together. His alcohol-tainted breath mixes with yours as his lips part wider. He captures your lower lip with a light suck, followed by the tip of his tongue shamelessly drawing the curve of your mouth. It's deliciously sexy and sweet and everything in between. You close your eyes and follow his lead, opening your mouth and letting him slot his lips against yours. His tongue invades past your teeth without resistance. It challenges you to kiss him back. It takes you a moment to respond, but soon enough, you're fully immersed in the depth of his mouth, taking the reins of the kiss.

You haven't been kissed like this in a while. Maybe ever.

When your mouths separate, you realize your hands are anchored to his back, and he's fully pressed against you. His lips are covered in your saliva and vice versa.

“I'm going to change my dress,” you sigh, giving him a little push, so you can put yourself together.

“Oh… Okay,” there's a hint of disappointment in his tone.

You clear your throat and harness an ounce of confidence to ask, “do you wanna come? I might need some help. The zipper is a little tricky in this thing.”

Right.

His expression turns on a dime, eyes wide open, white edge teeth showing behind his slightly parted lips. Speechless by the implication of your proposal, he cleans his lips on his palm before responding, “I… sure.”

Proud of yourself for taking a gamble and hitting the jackpot, you go back inside the banquet hall first to collect your purse from the table and then head up to the elevators with him following closely behind.

A palm lands at the small of your back while you press the button. The anticipation makes your stomach flutter wilder than ever. Who would have thought you'd be taking Michael to your room on this day? It feels surreal. Absolutely bananas.

You don't say a word during the elevator ride up to the fourth floor.

When you reach your door, you notice his palms framing your hips from behind. His touch makes your pulse tremble while using the key card. It takes you a couple of tries to open the door.

There's a strange force, an electricity buzzing, that grows more powerful the second you're inside.

You hit the light switch, drop your purse on the chair and turn to face him.

Following that unstoppable whim, you place your palms on his chest and push back his blazer. He shrugs it off as you move to undo the few buttons he's fastened. Your fingers tremor anxiously as you uncover his defined torso. You want to stick out your tongue and trace those two lines forming a V oh his abdomen that leads to the outline of his cock behind the tight fabric of his dress slacks. It’s too bold of a move for you right now, so you let your fingers do your bidding.

When your hands reach his belt, they proceed to unbuckle it under the lust-filled shadow of that flame of his gaze that could scorch the surface of the earth if he wanted to in a second.

He’s already half hard when you unzip his fly, and that's as far as he allows you to go. Michael's dying to touch you, to undress you and fuck you. He quickly turns you around, making you gasp, and finds the zipper of your dress. Your skin rises into goosebumps when he pulls the tab down. He nibbles at the crook of your neck, pushing the top of your dress down to your waist. You shimmy your legs out of it as his hands invite themselves to your skin.

His all hands and mouth around you as he removes your strapless bra and guides you to lay down on the bed.

The fire that lights up his eyes sears through yours as he slips out of his unbuttoned shirt. He then props a knee on the bed, hovering over you, and lowers his head to kiss your stomach. His tongue darts out and draws a circle around your navel. Your head falls back on the mattress, as he leaves a trail of wet kisses up your torso. He nibbles once more at your neck, increasing your arousal up to eleven.

“Michael, please,” you groan as he presses himself between your legs, grinding slowly behind layers of fabric, coaxing your juices to stain your underwear and growing himself a hard-rock erection that can barely be held by his boxers.

Lifting lifts his head, he props himself on his elbows, and surveys the tortured expression on your face as his hips keep relentlessly moving.

“Fuck, you're goddamn gorgeous, baby,” he exhales, proceeding to swiftly rid you off your panties, and pushing his pants and underwear down.

He drives his hardness inside you with great care, pushing inch after inch of that monumental erection that stretches your slicked walls. You close your eyes as he experiments with his thrusting, molding your opening to its generous size.

“Is this how you imagined this?” he pants against the corner of your mouth.

“No. This is better… Much, much better,” you purr, palming his ass, encouraging him to move faster.

If you had a free hand, you'd pinch yourself to check if this is really happening right now. It still blows your mind thinking that Michael Berzatto is deeply buried inside you, wanting you, claiming every cell of your body for his enjoyment. You gladly surrender to his desires as the cadence of his hips drive you into madness. As much as you try to contain your moans, he does everything in his hand to force every moan, curse, and breath to fly out past your teeth.

He slams into you with passion, bites your skin, grips your tits, devours your mouth, setting every inch ablaze. It’s as mind-blowing as it is fast, but he earns himself a good squeeze of your walls when he brings you to orgasm. He comes undone just merely a second after, releasing a wild grunt that ripples all over your skin, and pouring all his warm seed into the depths of your pussy, having his hips jerking erratically until he’s spilled every drop.

His cum sticks to your walls as he rolls to the side of the mattress with a grunt. Your head is spinning out of its usual axis, overtaken by that powerful boost of endorphins, and your lungs struggle for a deep breath.

For a long minute, you both stare at the ceiling while you regain your breath.

When he composes himself, he turns to the side to look at you, sweetly letting one of his fingers brush your cheek, “do you wanna do this again tomorrow?”

“Can't. I'm leaving, remember?”

“Right.”

“But you can stay the night if you want. And repeat later. And maybe one more time even later. Would you like that?”

“I'd love to, sweetheart.”

[comics-and-fanworks]

Hi! I found this Drabble and was curious on how you’d write your own story around it because of how amazing you are! So, if it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could write a Maribat story around this prompt please? Thank you!

“It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.  

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty apartment living room.  It had been another dream of something that was impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality.

It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying them was that in every one it was the same boy.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment.”

Hi! So sorry for taking so long! I’m currently in college and it’s killing me slowly, there’s been a lotta ups and downs, and my mental health is realistically not where it should be. Thank you so much for being patient with me, I really should have gotten this done sooner. Also I didn't know which batboi you wanted so I put them all on a wheel and spun it. I also rewrote some of the scenes in Miraculous like Lila's first appearance to make her a bit craftier and such.

I love this prompt! Thank you for suggesting it to me and for your sweet words! I hope you like this super cute Soulmate AU!

Also heads up this is super long and only loosely adheres to canon! The thing is so long because it took so long for me to get this done, one thing led to another and here we are. This thing is pages long and has 23,741 words. P. S, some of this was written on my phone sorry if the formatting is inconsistent! Also, let me know if I miscalculated ticket prices or made mistakes, and I’ll fix it! How I did the math was I googled a Disneyland Paris ticket price, took the highest value, multiplied that by the number of students going (They had a pass for ages 3-17 that I used for the students), and then did adult ticket prices for the two teachers. I multiplied those by seven days and added the results. My result came up to about 9,667 not including tax, so I chucked on a few extra thousand to account for Lila pocketing some of the money. 

TW: swearing, mentions of bullying, and minor violence, hints of PTSD, mentions of death

~~~~~~~~

Marinette knew the minute she had her first dream about him. She was sitting on a couch in a library working on her designs. A faceless man approached her, holding two mugs, and set one down in front of her, gently kissing her head. Despite her inability to identify this man, she felt safe with him and could feel love and affection swelling in her chest. He set his mug down and sat beside her, chuckling as she snuggled up. In comfortable silence, they worked on their own projects, not a care in the world.

When Marinette woke up that Saturday, she immediately called Alya. "Girl guess what? I just had my first soulmate dream!" She quickly removed the phone from her ear, correctly predicting the excited shriek from Alya. "Oh my gosh, Marinette! This is amazing! Did you see his face? Was it a guy? Was it Adrien?" Marinette jumped out of bed, an extra bit of pep in her step. It was going to be a great day, she knew it! "Yes, it was a guy. I couldn't see his face though... so that rules out Adrien." She hadn't even thought of that. Everyone knew that you wouldn't see your soulmate's face in your dreams until you met them! She would have to face the reality that Adrien was not meant to be hers. Alya heard her tone change, and thought quickly, "That doesn't necessarily mean that! People are reporting that they haven't seen their soulmate's face even though they had already met them in real life because the time wasn't right! Maybe Adrien is your soulmate but now isn't the right time because his supervillain of a father who could make Hawkmoth look like a saint won't let him date. Or girl have you considered that your soulmate could be a superhero? Lois Lane stated that she knew her soulmate before she saw his face in her dreams because he had a secret identity that obscured it! Your soulmate could be Chat Noir," Marinette made a face as she styled her hair, " or one of the vigilantes from Gotham! The way I see it is that you have three options. 1. It is Adrien, it just isn't the right time. 2. You haven't met them yet. 3. It's a superhero." Marinette laughed, "What if they're a supervillain?" "No way girl. You’re too sweet and pure for a villain. Anyways-" An Akuma alarm sounded, cutting their conversation short. "Welp, that's my cue. I gotta go Mari, duty calls!" And with that, Alya hung up to chase down the Akuma, while Marinette shouted out, "Tikki! Spots on!"

There she was, hiking through the woods with her soulmate. She still couldn't see his face, but she immediately knew why they were there. He wanted to show her someplace special, somewhere he'd never taken anyone before. Eventually, they found a stream, and she turned to see her partner rolling up his pant legs and taking off of his boots. "Throw a stick in the water to see how strong the current is. If it's too strong we'll have to turn pack." His voice was slightly garbled so she couldn't identify it, but she could clearly hear what he said. Picking up a stick she tossed it far out into the creek, watching as it lazily floated away. With that, she took off her own hiking boots, and the two made their way into the creek. The water was cold and she almost lost her footing, only to be caught by strong arms and pulled against her soulmate's broad chest. Marinette couldn't help the blush rising to her face as he held her. She could feel his gentle breath by her ear, along with the steady rise and fall of his chest. She could fall asleep listening to his heartbeat. He whispered, "Careful love. I don't want you getting hurt." He helped her stabilize and the two continued to make their way up the creek until-

Marinette woke with a start to the sound of her alarm clock. She cursed the thing, of course, it had to go off when she was getting to the good part. She realized as she rushed to get ready for school that she was able to identify something about her soulmate, they were both adults in this dream. She had been having them for a few months now, but this was the first time she could figure out any detail about when they would meet. It also didn't rule out any of Alya's theories either. She kissed her Maman and Papa and sprinted to school, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't late. However, she was in for a surprise when she arrived at Mrs. Bustier's classroom. There was a new girl sitting in her seat, while the whole class gathered around her. Alya noticed her and waved her over. "Marinette! This is Lila Rossi! She just transferred here and she's from Italy! Guess what girl? She knows Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale too! She saved Jagged's cat and he wrote a song for her, and she taught Clara some of her most famous dance moves! She also works with Prince Ali on environmental charities!! She's so amazing!" Marinette paused. Jagged Stone doesn't have a cat, he has Fang the alligator, and Prince Ali focuses on charities for children, not the environment. She could also remember Clara doing all of her own choreography, so her suspicions were already raised. She had serious doubts about the girl in front of her, and despite wanting to voice them she held her tongue. "It's very nice to meet you, Lila! I'm Marinette the class president, welcome to Dupont." Lila looked her up and down and gave her a saccharine smile which only raised Marinette's suspicions even more. "Hello, Marinette! I hope we can be good friends! Alya tells me you like fashion, I happen to be a personal friend of Hubert de Givenchy, so maybe I can introduce you to him!" Marinette's eyes narrowed, Hubert de Givenchy had passed away in 2018, and if Lila really knew him she would have known that. Her classmates looked on with bated breath, clearly believing Lila knew these famous people.

"Oh, you knew him?" Lila nodded, "I was so sad to hear when he passed away in 2018. He really was an inspiration of mine," Marinette said, watching as Lila's eyes widened, but was impressed with how quickly she recovered, "Oh I know! I misspoke earlier, I meant his nephew!" Before Marinette could reply, the bell rang. Alya turned to her and said, "Marinette I hope you don't mind. Lila has really bad tinnitus from when she saved Jagged's cat from getting run over by a plane. She struggles to hear so we gave her your seat." Marinette looked around and noticed no one was in their normal seats. If Lila had her seat, it meant the only place left to sit was alone in the back. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I really would have appreciated it if you waited for me to get here. I have no problem with Lila sitting there if she needs it I just wish you would have-" Lila cut her off with fake tears, "Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to cause problems I just wanted to be able to hear the lessons! I can move to the back if that makes things better." Shit, she was good. Marinette looked around at her classmates who were now glaring at her. Did they not hear what she said? She had no problem with Lila sitting there if she needed it, she just wished someone would've let her know! "Don't worry Lila, you can stay there it's not your fault. I guess Marinette has decided to have an attitude today," Alix said, glaring at Marinette. "I just said I wished someone would have let me know!" Marinette shouted. "Girl it's just a seat it's no big deal. Why are you acting like a child about this?" Alya crossed her arms looking at her. "It's not even about the seat," Marinette started, "It's about you making a decision that affects me without talking to me about it!" "Well, we figured that since you're our Everyday Ladybug you'd have no problem with it. Come on Mari, you're supposed to be nice." Adrien scolded, and before she could defend herself the second bell rang, signaling the start of class.

She dreamed of walking down the streets of Paris, her soulmate nowhere in sight. However, she felt happy, it was a good day. She was going to her favorite bulk fabric supply store and texting some friends about the project ideas that danced in her head. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she knew this path by heart. She was planning on buying fabric to make a new spring line when she ran straight into someone, how embarrassing. Looking up, there was her soulmate, with his clouded face. He chuckled and asked where she was going in such a rush, and she stuttered out an apology. He offered to walk with her, making Marinette smile, they must have done this before many times.

The next few months were rough. Later that first day she had gone to talk to Alya and had presented evidence to prove Lila was a liar, but her best friend had simply shaken her head and told Marinette that jealousy was not a good look on her. Marinette had been stunned, she had nothing to be jealous about until Alya told her that everyone could see Lila had a crush on Adrien. Alya's words still burned in her brain, "I can't believe you Marinette. To try and ruin another girl's reputation because of a crush. You need to take a good look in the mirror." Marinette couldn't fathom why her best friend wouldn't listen to her and decided to go for a patrol as Ladybug. Then while she had been passing by the park, she had overheard Lila telling Adrien that she was the fox hero, Volpina. She had to say something, Lila might not realize how much danger she was putting herself in by making those claims. So she swung down, (and tried her best to keep her cool) and explained to Lila that there was no fox hero and that if Hawkmoth had overheard her she could be in danger. Of course, that caused Lila to get akumatized. To make things worse, a couple of days later Lila had cornered her and threatened her! Despite everything, she still believed her classmates would come around and see the truth.

That was exactly five years ago. Marinette really should have had less faith in the people around her. Lila got her expelled, Alya disavowed their friendship, and Adrien betrayed her worst of all. In his endless quest to avoid any confrontation, he pressured her to keep quiet, and when she didn't he turned his back on her. Marinette had quit trying to expose Lila years ago, but the brunette had kept her promise. Adrien just watched as their class left her out of their plans, destroyed her things, and ripped up her work, among other things. When she confronted him about why he was allowing this to happen, he just shook his head and told her it never would have if she had done what he said. Her heart shattered, and she prayed that her soulmate wasn't Adrien. The only people she had in her corner were her parents, Luka, and Kagami (who had quickly seen through Lila's bullshit after she'd tried to lie her way into Marinette's room), Nino, and Kim (they snapped out of it after Lila accused Marinette of pushing her down the stairs), and she had the newfound support of Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose. The last three didn't want to rock the boat or have Lila's wrath directed towards them but had expressed seven months ago that they figured out Lila was lying, but after Marinette was nearly knocked into the path of an oncoming car, they began to be more vocal in their opposition. Chloe had also stepped back from tormenting Marinette, the two girls never talked, but were never hostile. Her friends couldn't do much while they were in school, and since they were busy with their own lives, Marinette truly felt alone. Even under the mask as Ladybug she was alone, witch Chat Noir had gotten so frustrated with her constantly refusing his feelings, that he'd almost completely stopped showing up two years ago. Her only solace was that Paris seemed to be on her side with that one, and whenever Chat Noir did emerge he was met with anger from the citizens he'd broken his oath to. On top of all that, Marinette hadn't had a soulmate dream in years, which terrified her to her core. Did her soulmate die?

"Tikki, I haven't dreamt of him in years! What's wrong with me!?" Marinette sobbed, holding onto a pillow on her bed. Most of her days ended like this, with tears. The Kwami were kind enough to protect her from akumas during these times, after realizing that Marinette was only putting herself at risk by bottling up her emotions. Her room had changed since the Lila Era began. She had taken down all of her photos, save a few, her bright pink walls seemed to lose their hue, and she only ever designed for commissions, simply because she knew she needed a portfolio for college. Tom and Sabine had tried their hardest to get their little girl out of Dupont, but her transfer papers kept getting "lost." They tried to get her into therapy, but with Hawkmoth around every therapist had a waitlist that was beginning to enter into years. Tikki was growing more concerned with each passing day, her Chosen was close to breaking. "Oh baby bug, there's nothing wrong with you! Soulmate dreams are different than regular dreams because they're tied to real people in this world. The interesting thing about them is that they show up when you need them." "But I've needed them! I need to know I'm not alone, that I haven't been abandoned, and that the universe doesn't hate me enough to take away everything," Marinette just sobbed harder before she froze, "What if Adrien really is my soulmate and that's why I'm not having dreams? I'm unlucky as it is, so this would be on par for me," Tikki was horrified that Marinette would even think that, and before she could say anything, a new voice cut her off. "No. That brat is not your soulmate, I won't allow it." There was Plagg, in her room, holding a familiar silver ring in his paws. "Pigtails after what he's done to you, as Adrien and Chat Noir," Marinette and the other Kwami gasped, "I won't let him. I won't let him hurt you anymore! Marinette I am so sorry, I should have done this a long time ago, but I let my gluttony and my pity for the kid cloud my judgment. I let him fail you inside and outside of the mask, Kitten I promise you I will never let a black cat holder hurt you again." Plagg nuzzled against her cheek, gratefully accepting Marinette gently kissing his head letting him know all was forgiven. "Besides! His karma is coming for him, but I have to warn you too. He's going to try and pursue you romantically because he doesn't like who his soulmate is." Marinette perked up at that, "Adrien knows who his soulmate is?" Plagg nodded, "Yep. One Lila Rossi. A liar and an enabler, how fitting. He had rejected her because at the time he was still convinced that Ladybug was his soulmate, but now that that's not true, he's turning his attention toward you. He found out from Alya that you had a crush on him, and so even though he knows you aren't his soulmate he's going to try and pursue you anyways." Marinette's brows furrowed, deep in thought. No wonder Lila was so obsessed with Adrien, and it explained why she wanted to get close to him. What Marinette needed was a plan, so she hopped out of her bed and made her way down to the kitchen where her parents were talking. "Maman, Papa. Would it be alright if I took a mental health day tomorrow?" Her parents seemed to light up at the thought, seeing this as an opportunity to give their child a break from her tormentors. "Of course! In fact, why don't you take the whole week off? You're ahead on your work and haven't missed any school this year. We'll call the school tomorrow and take care of everything." Sabine said, right before she and Tom were tackled by their daughter for a hug. With time to plan, Marinette made her way upstairs to begin her work.

It was gentle moments like this that made her life worth it.  Of course, these moments were few and far between, but they were there, and that’s what mattered.  She leaned into the gentle touch, the loving way his fingers ran through her hair.  The rise and fall of his chest.  The warm, beautiful sound of his heartbeat against her ear.  It was wonderful, so wonderful she knew that it wasn’t real.

She opened her eyes, letting the tears slip down her cheeks as she looked around her cold empty room.  It had been another dream of something impossible.  She had been alone for so long, going outside as little as possible so that her curse of misfortune would not spread.  But she longed to make that dream a reality. It was strange though, she had similar dreams before, but from what she could tell after studying it was that it was the same boy she had dreamed of before.  Despite never seeing his face even once, despite never once meeting them, she longed for them.  Longed for the gentle love that they showed her, even if it was only for a moment. Marinette quickly snapped out of her sorrow when she had a realization: She had dreamt of her soulmate again! She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. A knocking on her trapdoor snapped her out of her thoughts, and her mother's voice brought her back to reality, "Marinette sweetie? Are you up? I have some news. We couldn't have timed this better, it's your spring break, so we don't need to worry about problems from Damocles or Bustier! Also, your class has left for their trip, so there's no way you'll bump into them! Alright, that's all I've got, go back to sleep." Marinette couldn't sleep, not after hearing that great news! The kwami were already waking up and grabbing their food from the minifridge she kept in her room, while Marinette dashed to her wardrobe. She had made herself an outfit a while ago but was too afraid her classmates would ruin it. It was a short light pink sundress, perfect for today's weather. She was going to spend the day out on the town enjoying her life. She had a considerable chunk of fun money saved up from her commissions and decided that she deserved a self-care day.

She had just left her favorite brunch spot and was making her way to her fabric shop of choice, texting her friends who had gone on the class trip. Marinette was the only one who was purposely excluded from it, and while her friends tried to drop the trip, Mrs. Bustier made them go because if that many people dropped there would be no way the class would hit their fundraising goal. Marinette was pretty sure some of that money was going straight into Lila's pocket, but she wasn't class president and had no way to get her hands on the class's records. Marinette didn't know the average price of sending 13 students plus two teachers to Disneyland Paris, but 12,000 euros seemed like a lot. And the worst part: she was still expected to contribute! Marinette was so wrapped up in the sheer ridiculousness of it all, that she didn't realize where she was going until she ran right into someone! As she began to fall, she felt a strong arm grab her by the waist and suddenly she was standing upright and looking up at the man she had just run into. He was stunning, at least 6'2 with medium-length dark hair he kept neatly styled. His tan skin radiated warmth, and his muscles were clearly defined by the dress shirt he was wearing. As her eyes trailed up from his sharp jawline, she froze when she saw his eyes. They were a rich green, held a deep, almost mysterious gleam, and were as sharp as a panther's. Like the cat, there was something wild about his eyes, hidden just below the surface. The only thought running through her head was a simple, 'He should be Plagg's next holder.' Suddenly the man staring at her let out a deep chuckle that rumbled in his broad chest, "What's the rush little Lily?" His voice was deep, with a sort of sharpness to it, like this kind of conversation was new to him.

"I, I am SO sorry sir! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran into you! I hope I didn't mess up your outfit!" Marinette was in full panic mode, the most attractive man she'd ever seen in her life and she just made a fool of herself. Instead of the rage she expected and was used to, he only smiled, "No harm done. I don't have anywhere I have to be, and besides you only bumped into me, you didn't spill anything on me. Can I ask where you're going? My family has just arrived from the U.S. and I was exploring the city." Marinette blushed, he looked so intimidating, but so far he'd been nothing but kind. Still, she had learned never to drop her guard, but... If he wasn't from here she supposed it wouldn't hurt to be polite. "I'm going to some of my favorite fabric shops in the fashion district... I'm a clothing designer and I was going to pick up some to start working on a spring and summer collection," She decided to take a gamble, "If you have nothing to do I can show you around." He smiled, "I would love that Ms...," "Marinette, and you are?" "Damian." Marinette smiled as the two began to walk toward the fashion district together, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Damian, even if it was in interesting circumstances."

When Damian heard his father talking about going to Paris to investigate the Hawkmoth situation, he quickly volunteered to go along as well. His official pitch was that he was closest in age to the young heroes of Paris, and would have an easier time getting them to talk. He also said it would look good to add a bit of international travel and education abroad to his resume. However, he had a secret reason for wanting to go to Paris: to meet his soulmate. Younger him would have scoffed at the thought, but he was not the same person he was when he first came to his father. Thanks to his brothers and Jon (mostly Jon), he had grown as a person, and now that he was close to graduating high school, he was beginning to think about the rest of his life and how he wanted to spend it. Of course, there were the staples, going to college, starting at least 5 charities for animals, and inheriting the cowl, but a part of him wanted more. A part of him didn't want to be alone. So he started looking back at all the soulmate dreams he'd been having since he was thirteen. Even though he'd dismissed it at that age, he at least had the foresight to write everything down, and using his Batfamily-honed detective skills, he deduced his soulmate was somewhere in Paris. One dream stood out to him, he was standing on a sidewalk in Paris when his soulmate crashed into him. From the way she spoke in the dream, he deduced that this was when they would meet. So there he was, standing on the exact sidewalk in the exact spot. He knew how ridiculous he must've looked as he texted his family, his official story being that he was going to look for clues about the heroes. Right as he was about to reply to a snarky text from Tim, he felt a small mass crash into him with way more force than it should have. He quickly spun around and caught the woman, and as he stabilized her he was able to get a good look at her. The first thing Damian noticed was how small she was, at least compared to him, however, she did have quite a bit of lean muscle. Her skin was pale, with a slight pink undertone to contrast her shoulder-length ebony hair. Her cheeks were lightly dusted pink with small patches of freckles, and her lips were ruby red. She almost resembled a porcelain doll. She was gorgeous, but what really took his breath away was her eyes. Framed in long dark lashes they were a beautiful deep blue. They reminded him of an ocean, deep and rich and sparkling under the sunlight. This had to be his soulmate. He learned her name, Marinette, and she invited him to go with her to the fashion district. Damian was content, while she may not recognize him as her soulmate yet, it was undeniable that she felt the same pull towards him that he felt towards her.

Before she knew it, Marinette had spent her entire spring break with Damian. She couldn't help it, she felt drawn to him, like she needed him to breathe. What surprised her the most, was the dream she had the night after she met him. She was sitting atop a building as Ladybug, watching the sunset, and next to her with the black cat Miraculous, was Damian. They watched the sun sink below the horizon, and suddenly the sky erupted into fireworks of all colors. The show ended with a sentence spelled out in fireworks "Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit." She knew the moment she opened her eyes that Damian was her soulmate, and from the texts, she'd received, he knew it too. The two of them agreed to take it slow, they were still very young and had just met. However, as the mini vacation went on, the pit of dread in her stomach began to grow, and she would have to return to school. She had told Damian what was happening with Lila, Adrien, everything. Needless to say, Marinette was surprised when he told her he would be in her class, and that he wouldn't let them do anything to her (Little did they know Tom and Sabine heard them, and Damian had just won their approval). So when he arrived to pick her up, he made sure they got to Dupont early. Marinette gave him a tour, and as they were walking he stopped to talk to people. "Don't you normally hate talking to people?" "Normally I do my Lily, but in this case, I do not mind. However, I do have an ulterior motive. By talking to these people, I've created an alibi. Look over there," Marinette looked over and saw Sabrina and Alix watching them and whispering, "Those are two of that liar's sycophants right? Well now that they've seen that you spent your time before class giving me, a new student, a tour, if Lila claims that you did something to her, two of her own followers have seen evidence disproving it. So either they mention that there's no way you could've done it because they saw with their own eyes that you have not even interacted with her, or they say nothing and you know what kind of people they are." It was brilliant. Marinette was a little miffed she hadn't thought of it before. The two walked to class, and Marinette whispered, "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Adrien will give you the most problems. I heard from a friend that he was interested in me, even though he already knows who his soulmate is." "Is it Lila?" "Yes. I know enough about her to know that she's incredibly selfish, she hated it whenever Adrien gave me any attention, because-" "Because he was her ticket to fame and fortune, and if he had picked you she would be locked out." "Exactly. I do not doubt that the second she hears your last name, she won't give a shit about Adrien and will focus her full attention on breaking us apart." Marinette was shocked when Damian told her his last name, she may be oblivious but even she knew who the Waynes were. Plagg joked that it was the Universe trying to make up for how shitty it had been to her. She was not expecting the wicked grin Damian gave her as they arrived at their classroom. "I would like to see her try."

Before the two could reach their seats in the back of the room, Marinette was yanked away from Damian by Kim and Nino, "We don't know who you are but you don't deserve her!" Kim shouted, holding onto Marinette. "Yeah! Mari's the nicest dudette the world has ever seen, if you hurt her we'll kick your ass!" Nino said as he put himself between Damian and Marinette. There was a small moment of awkward silence before the group laughed. Marinette had warned him that her two best friends would try something like this, especially after she told them that he was her soulmate. Taking their seats at the back of the class, the group chatted about their spring break, until Lila walked in with the rest of the class. She readied a fresh accusation to fling at the ravenette but caught herself just in time. WHO was that gorgeous man sitting with Marinette? He put Adrien, a freaking model, to shame. Everyone else seemed to share that sentiment, and Alya was about to start demanding answers when they were spotted. The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees as the man glared at them. Marinette waved to Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel, who quickly took their seats near the group of outcasts while Damian Batglared the rest of the class. "Can I help you?" He asked in an icy tone, one that demanded immediate answers. Alya balked, "We, we were just curious about you, since you're, um, a new student here." Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed, "My name is Damian Wayne, yes, from that family. I came to Paris with my father for a business trip, and to find my soulmate, Marinette," Little mutterings of "no way," "That's impossible," and "I didn't think that bitch would have a soulmate," filled the room. "I plan on staying until graduation, and from there I will be going to college with Marinette. Let me make one thing clear: I will not hesitate to retaliate against anyone who tries to hurt my soulmate in any shape or form." Nathaniel could be heard whispering, "Oooh, I like him," To the rest of their little group, who nodded in agreement. After waiting for a second for anyone to challenge him, Damian turned back to Marinette, and almost like a switch flipped, began showing her pictures of his cat.

Lila couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Damian Wayne was in her class, the richest, most eligible bachelor in the world was in her class... and his soulmate was fucking Dupain-Cheng! She swore this had to be some sick joke. There was no way that THE Damian Wayne (whom she had instantly recognized because she had seen him once at a charity ball her mother had taken her to and committed his face to memory) had someone as pathetic as Marinette as his soulmate. The universe truly was cruel. She'd thought she was lucky when she found out Adrien was her soulmate and was devastated when he told her over the break he was going to pursue Marinette. But now? Now Lila knew she must be the luckiest girl in history! Glancing over at Adrien confirmed her belief, the dumbass pushover glared at his rival, and she knew he wasn't going to back down. This was perfect. All she would have to do is separate Marinette and Damian, use the mountain of evidence against Marinette that she made over the years to convince her future husband that his soulmate was no good, and then bam! In a few short years, her name would be Delilah Wayne! Adrien's persistence would only help her case, especially with Marinette's former crush on the blond it would be so easy to frame her for cheating. She would have to be careful though, just from the look in his eyes she could tell he would be much sharper than the rest of her classmates had been: he would be her greatest challenge yet. For now, she would bide her time, and perfect her plan.

Lila made her first move at lunch. She and Alya were sitting at a table, observing Marinette and her friends talking with Damian. "He's so kind to them, why is he such an asshole to us?" Alya muttered. Ah, an opening. "Well, I don't think it's really his fault. I mean he did say that he had come to Paris to find his soulmate, and well, Marinette IS a pathological liar," Lila said as she picked at her food. Alya nodded, "I just can't understand why they still hang out with her! They know what she does to you, they know she's a bitch!" "I think it's a mix of sunk cost fallacy and denial Alya. Nino and Kim have known her since they were little, so I think the reality of Marinette being a bully just can't compute for them. As for Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel, I think they feel indebted to her or something," Alya nodded, agreeing with her logic. "Girl you're so in tune with people it's crazy!" 'Yes I am,' Lila thought, 'You have to be able to read people to trick them.' "Alya... Can I tell you something? Something bad happened between Adrien and me over the trip." The reporter's head snapped around to her, "What did that bastard do?" Lila began to channel the sorrow she felt when Adrien confronted her over the break, "He... He told me he didn't want me!" She wailed, just loud enough for Damian to overhear, "He called me a liar and all of these awful names, and he told me he was in love with Marinette and that he knew she felt the same for him! He told me if I told anyone about this he'd ruin me!" She cried. It was amazing that Adrien had just handed her this opportunity, completely unaware that he'd done so. As Alya promised revenge against Adrien and the whore who stole him from Lila, the girl in question carefully glanced over to see Damian looking right at her. Perfect. When Lila had decided on this plan, she decided the initial bonding point would be that they had both been betrayed by their soulmates. If Damian was emotionally vulnerable he would be that much easier to manipulate, it would also be the perfect story to pitch to the media as well, they were both betrayed by their soulmates and fell in love!

Lila was quiet for the rest of the day, waiting eagerly for their classes to end. She had a feeling that Adrien would make a move and wanted to be there to see what she'd have to work with. She made an excuse to leave class early and quickly hid behind the stairs. She had to wait a bit for them to leave and spent the time doing research about Damian on her phone. So he loved animals, was passionate about the arts, and was a master swordsman and martial artist. He also spoke seven languages including Italian!! Lila sighed, he was perfect. Finally, the bell rang, and students began making their way out of the building. Lila knew Marinette usually spent some time helping the art teacher before she left, so she was certain Adrien would wait for the girl. Risking discovery, she poked her head out and saw her plan falling into place. Adrien was standing at the top of the stairs, clearly waiting for Marinette. He was muttering to himself, about how it wasn’t fair, about how he couldn’t understand how Marinette could trust a stranger she’d just met. Lila had to keep herself from letting out an amused snort. Isn’t that rich considering their class’s track record? 

She had to wait for about fifteen minutes before she heard laughter coming towards the entrance of the school, it was Marinette, laughing at something Damian had told her, “Oh my gosh, are all your brothers on crack?” she gasped for air, “Sometimes it feels like it,” Damian chuckled. The two were about to walk down the stairs when Adrien stepped in front of them. “Hi, Mari. Can I talk to you, please? Alone.” Wow. Lila didn’t know Sunshine Boy could have such venom, she figured he must’ve been directing that at Damian. Lila could only imagine the glares between the two boys, not daring to poke her head out now and get caught, however, when she thought she heard footsteps back into the school she took out her phone and pressed record. “Why? So you can pressure me into silence again? If you need to tell me something, say it now because Damian and I have plans.” Lila had known about Adrien’s high road advice, and that Marinette had been so in love that she listened. She doubted the ravenette would fall for that now. Lila waited with bated breath to see what Adrien would do, and could not believe what she heard. “I think you should stay away from him. You only just met him, he’s probably lying about who he is Mari. You saw how he treated our friends-” “He has been nothing but kind to MY friends. That’s so rich coming from you Adrien. Lila comes along and lies about everything and it’s totally fine, I meet my soulmate and now suddenly you care about honesty?” “It’s a different situation and you know it Marinette. Lila’s not hurting anyone and if you expose her she could be akumatized.” “What about me Adrien? What if I’m akumatized because of the lies that have ruined my reputation, my belongings are destroyed, when I’m being excluded from practically everything? Do I not matter to you?” “What- no Marinette you matter to me! Besides it’s not that bad and you’re our Everyday Ladybug so-” “SO WHAT? So I’m supposed to accept being mistreated and abused? What are you even here for Adrien?” Lila could tell that Marinette was losing her patience and for a moment, she genuinely wondered if this would be what got her rival akumatized. Adrien took a deep breath, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend.” Perfect! Adrien had given her just what she needed. Lila kept recording because even if Marinette didn’t respond how she wanted, she might say something Lila could doctor later. And it would seem that Marinette was finally shaking off her shock, “Are you crazy? Adrien, I haven’t loved you since we were thirteen, since you made it clear that not rocking the boat was more important to you than me. Besides, I’ve met my soulmate, and yeah we haven’t known each other long, I want to focus on getting to know him.” Adrien did not back down, “Come on Marinette! I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I know we’re meant for each other. The reason I know he’s not good for you is that you’re MY soulmate!” Wow. Lila wasn’t expecting such a bold lie from the blond, he must have been banking on the fact that Marinette had no way of knowing that Adrien was HER soulmate. Now that she had what she needed, she carefully snuck through the bushes and as soon as she turned a corner, she booked it for home. She wasn’t going to risk slowing down to look behind her, she figured since the two were still arguing that she’d successfully completed her mission. Soon it would be all over the media, ‘Model Adrien Agreste Ditches Soulmate for Useless Nobody: How Lila Rossi Saved the Day and Won Damian Wayne’s Heart.’ Lila knew she had a lot of work to do, and couldn’t wait to get started.  

After a long day, Damian returned to the upscale apartment his father was renting during their time in Paris. Marinette hadn’t been joking, her class was a nightmare! Damian had been skeptical at first, no way people could be that ignorant, but after what he saw today, he realized it ran deeper. They looked at Lila the same way people looked at him: They wanted something. Marinette had told him that Lila lied and faked evidence conveniently showing she knew famous people in their fields of interest, so it was likely they followed her because they wanted her to boost their careers. The Ladyblogger, someone who should have known to fact-check followed Lila like a sycophant, either knew she was lying or was really bad at her job. Then there was the other big problem in the class, Adrien Agreste. He seemed to believe he was entitled to Marinette’s love, despite his soulmate making it clear she wanted nothing to do with the blond. He had texted Nino about the Adrien-Marinette situation, and the DJ had filled him in. Marinette used to have a crush on and did some very crazy things to get his attention (Nino had also admitted the class had pushed her into some of the crazier situations), but Adrien either ignored her or was oblivious. At the time this was going on, he had a massive crush on Ladybug and still had a crush on her until recently. Googling the Parisian hero, he found a few things that made his blood run cold. First,  Ladybug had stated that she would never date a civilian (smart) in an interview. Second, the videos he’d seen from when Chat Noir was acting showed the hero displaying the same entitled behavior Adrien did, along with a couple of the same speech patterns and body language. Finally, Ladybug and Marinette looked very similar. There were some differences, but he couldn’t deny that the two could be sisters. A theory was forming in his head, Adrien had been Chat Noir, and after being rejected constantly by Ladybug, decided to set his sights on someone who looked similar to Ladybug. It was clear he still believed Marinette was a sweet, naive girl who would never say no to him, so he potentially thought he could pressure her into accepting his feelings.

  Damian was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that his father and Tim had returned home, however, they certainly noticed. Bruce decided that this was one of those moments where Damian might need some fatherly advice, and Tim decided he wanted to hear whatever was giving Demon-Spawn trouble. It must be interesting. “How was your day Damian? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you lost in thought,” yes he could. It was right after Damian had been brought back from the dead. He watched his son’s head snap up, “I… I’m fine. My day was fine.” ���No, you’re not fine. Something’s been on your mind since B mentioned going to Paris, so you can either tell us what’s up or I’ll hack your phone.” Dammit, Tim not now. Damian sighed, surprising both that he wasn’t putting up more of a fight. “The reason I wanted to come to Paris was that I had figured out my soulmate was here.” 

Tim dropped the coffee mug he was filling, and Bruce stared at his son in shock. “Oh my gosh! Did you meet them yet? What are they like? When will we meet them? How did you meet them-” “Tim.” “Sorry B,” “Start from the beginning Damian.” “I met her last week. She was going to buy fabric and bumped into me. We spent every day of her spring break hanging out and getting to know each other, and I was lucky enough to be in her class at the school you enrolled me in. I also found out she had been having trouble with some of her classmates,” “Is she drama-prone?” “Tim let him talk,” “Not necessarily. She’s being bullied and has been for the past few years. Her classmates are the typical users we encounter at Galas and believed her bully because she promised them she had connections. My main concern isn’t the bully, I can deal with her, but a boy in her class has begun to show some alarming behavior... From what I’ve figured out, he was the hero Chat Noir, and I think he’s become obsessed with Mari- my soulmate because of how similar she looks to Ladybug. From my information, I know that he has never shown any interest in her before and that when they were younger she used to have a crush on him. I also know that for whatever reason he’s no longer active as Chat Noir.” “So your theory is that because he no longer has access to his obsession that he’s shifted targets to someone he thinks he still has power over in order to pressure her into fulfilling his fantasy?” “Yes. However, I don’t think he’s realized that. I think a part of him genuinely believes he has feelings for her. I did some research on him, and he grew up with a very controlling and sheltering father, so he’s still incredibly naive, that or he’s so deep in denial he’s become delusional. He still seems to believe that staying silent about my soulmate’s tormentor purposely lying to ruin her reputation and all the physical torment she’s receiving is the right thing to do.” Bruce raised an eyebrow and Tim clutched at his pearls. “So how do you plan on handling this?” Bruce was worried, they needed to find out why Chat Noir was no longer active, if Damian’s theory was true and the former Hero of Paris got akumatized he could still be a massive threat. However, Damian was his father’s son, “I looked into some of the old posts on the Ladyblog before it… strayed. From some clips, I think my soulmate might actually have a connection to Ladybug.” Tim raised his eyebrow, “Damian it’s not that I don’t want you to be happy, but she sounds a little too good to be true. An amazing talented woman who just happens to know celebrities and heroes? Isn’t that the same thing that girl with the weird hair on the Ladyblog claims?” “Well, my soulmate can actually back up her claims.  Her class has had the most akumatizations minus the pigeon man, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Ladybug noticed, and my soulmate is connected to one of the most popular boulangeries in Paris that Ladybug has been seen stopping by. I was going to go out on patrol, and if I couldn’t meet Ladybug that way I’d find a way to see if my soulmate could get her attention.” Bruce nodded. The spotted heroine had been incredibly elusive, and he was beginning to suspect magic was involved. He gave Damian his blessing, and as his youngest son left to get ready for patrol he and Tim turned their attention to a new mystery: Figuring out who his son’s soulmate was.

Paris was beautiful at night. Damian stood atop the Eiffel Tower, looking out over the city. He could almost run the path between his classmates’ homes by muscle memory alone. While he may not like them for their treatment of Marinette, he knew his soulmate still cared about them to some degree, and if anything happened to them it would kill her. He was debating swinging by Marinette’s home but decided against it. While he felt like he could trust her with his life, their relationship was still too young to bring the baggage of a hero into it. He almost didn’t pick up on the gentle thud behind him, and when he turned to snap at Tim for bothering him, he froze. “Mari? My Lily?” He couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing in front of him was Ladybug… who looked exactly like Marinette. Her costume had changed since her initial debut, but there was no doubt who the woman in front of him was. This whole time his soulmate was also the hero they were trying to contact. “Damian? You’re Robin?!” “And you’re Ladybug.” That seemed to snap Mari out of her stupor, “I can explain! Please don’t be mad!” He would address that last bit later, but for now, he just leaned against the railing and watched as she began pacing back and forth. He’d wait all night if that’s what Mari needed to get her thoughts together. “I became Ladybug when I was thirteen. I was chosen by the Guardian of the Miraculous, and he snuck the Ladybug Miraculous into my bag.” “Forgive me but what’s Miraculous?” “Oh right,” He watched as Marinette took off the red and black earrings, “Miraculous are magical objects that are often worn as jewelry. Each Miraculous is connected to a Kwamii, and each Kwamii is the embodiment of a fundamental force of the universe,” A bright red flash came from the Miraculous, and next to Marinette was a floating Ladybug-like creature. The little Kawaii-thing flew up to him, and he carefully held up a hand to allow it to land. “Hello! Damian Wayne, Robin, Son of Bruce Wayne, Grandson of the Demon, and Heir to the Cowl. I am Tikki, the Kwamii of Creation! I am bound to the Ladybug Miraculous that my Chosen uses, and am the source of her powers! If you’ll excuse me I’m going to refuse with Marinette, it’s awfully chilly up here.” With that Tikki zipped back to Marinette, as soon as the two touched a bright red flash appeared and Ladybug stood before him again. “The previous Guardian, well long before he left and left the title and other Miraculous to me, lost two Miraculi, the peacock and the butterfly.” “Which are being used by Hawkmoth and Mayaura.” “Exactly.” Damian nodded, their theory was correct, magic was involved with the Paris situation. 

“Lily, didn’t you used to have a partner?” He watched his soulmate huddle into herself and immediately got off the railing to comfort her. “I did. Chat Noir wielded the Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction. He was my other half, my balance. Over time he got it into our head that because our Miraculi were complimentary, that meant we were soulmates. He began flirting with me constantly, calling me these embarrassing nicknames even when I asked him to stop, and would needlessly throw himself into danger to try and impress me. Eventually, he got tired of me turning him down, and he started missing battles and patrols. When he did show up he’d just get in the way, saying he’d help me again if I admitted we were soulmates. It got so bad his own Kwamii took the Miraculous back from him and brought it to me. I used to have temporary heroes I could count on, but they’re out of the question because their identities were exposed or they’ve chosen Lila’s side.” Damian hugged her tightly, he wasn’t one for physical affection but she was the exception. “So you’ve been alone this whole time? Oh my, Lily I’m so sorry,” he sighed, “Does Adrien know you’re Ladybug?” Marionette’s eyes widened, amazed he knew who Chat was. “Not that I’m aware of. He thinks we look really similar, but he’s seen Ladybug and I in a room together so I doubt he thinks we’re the same.” Damian nodded, “Mari I promise you I’ll help you through this, I just need you to trust me. My brother Red Robin and my father Batman are here-“ “BATMAN IS HERE?!?!” “- yes love. We’re here to help you take down Hawkmoth. I’ll help you take down Lila and figure out how to deal with Adrien, and then as soon as we graduate I’ll steal you away to Gotham.” He looked into her eyes and watched as a hopeful spark began to reignite. 

It was time for phase two of Lila’s plan. She was going to paint herself as Damian’s ideal woman, not by exactly mirroring his interests, he’d catch on to that. A good idea would be to lean into his love of animals. She had researched some well-known animal charities, and even though she really hated getting dirty, she had gone to a volunteer event the other day. Sure, the puppies were super cute, but Lila would rather spend her time working on her manicure. But now she has photos, timestamped photos. She took extra care to make sure her hair and make-up were absolutely perfect, checking on her secret weapon one last time before she left. She was going to save it until she absolutely had to, it would be either her killing blow or her final saving play. As she walked to school, she mentally mapped out her plan for today. She would brag to her class about her volunteer work, and show them the photos on her phone, then she would spread a rumor about seeing Marinette talking and being affectionate towards some random guy. ‘Lila Rossi!’ she thought, ‘You can do better than that! He would see through that in a heartbeat, they spend all of their time together.’ She decided to settle on making Marinette look bad. She’d have to be sneaky, Damian was clearly aware of her tricks and would be on guard, but Lila still thought she had a window of opportunity to convince him Marinette was the evil one. She went into a coffee shop and ordered an iced coffee, Lila wasn’t going to drink it, it was simply a prop she’d spill on herself as a direct result of Dupain-Cheng. She hated to sacrifice her favorite outfit but consoled herself with the knowledge that this would be rags compared to the luxury she’d wear as the girlfriend of a Wayne. Now she just had to decide how she’d spill the coffee, would she make it look like Marinette shoved her? No… too complicated. How about tripping? That won’t work, the little brat’s gotten too smart and now specifically looks for it. She would make it look like Marinette ran into her, and while it wouldn’t do as much damage as she’d like it to, it would be good to show Damian that his soulmate was WAY too clumsy to represent the Wayne Family. She was excitedly daydreaming about all the galas and events she’d go to, hell maybe she would start an acting career! Lila was so caught up in her fantasies that she almost ran into Alya! “Hey, girl! Don’t you look lovely today!” Lila smiled, “Hey Alya! I think you’ve got me beat today! Have you seen Damian? I’m worried Marinette might have said some things about me… and I wanted to talk to him and show him I’m not the person she says I am.” Alya scowled at Marinette’s name, “Ugh I bet she did! But she’s not here today. Her parents called and said she’d gotten sick over the weekend. Damian called in sick as well, and come to think of it, Adrien isn’t here either! Today should be an easy day for you!” Lila had to force a smile, this screwed up her plan damn it! Oh well, maybe if she got the chance, she could poke around Marinette and Damian’s lockers to see if there was anything she could find, it would also be a good chance to strengthen her hold on the class. If Lila is anything, it’s flexible, and she would never let an opportunity slip by.

Damian was looking around Marinette’s room, marveling at just how much his soulmate had accomplished. It looked less like a bedroom and more like a design studio, with mannequins adorned with projects ranging from just starting to fully complete, the walls papered with designs, and the occasional photo of friends or loved ones. Just underneath the papers, he could see the faint hint of a light pink painted wall. Bolts of fabric were arranged against another wall, organized by color and material, as well as a massive piece of wall art made to conveniently store different yarns. There was a closet filled with cases of embroidery floss and other art supplies. Under Marinette’s loft bed was a table with two sewing machines, a modern one able to do large-scale embroidery and Esme. Esme was Marinette’s pride and joy, a vintage singer sewing machine that was practically indestructible. Esme has been through everything, leather, denim, silk, you name it she’s sewn it. When she wasn’t in use, she was kept on her own table, in a place of honor within the room. Beside Esme was a vase of white lilies he’d given her, and a massive book. This was Marinette’s logbook, in which she kept meticulous records of everything: Who commissioned her, how much they paid, what they wanted, how much of each material she had, where it was, and other expenses. It seemed like wherever Damian looked, he saw something new. She made clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, accessories, and the evidence of that was in her controlled chaos. Even though it was smaller than the Manor, he loved it, he loved everything about Marinette’s home and her family. They were warm and inviting, and it was reflected in their home, and in the daughter Tom and Sabine had raised. Marinette’s room was like her, bright and full of unique colors and energy. She was currently moving Esme to her spot of honor, and opening a special compartment in her desk. From the compartment, she pulled out a vintage sewing box that looked almost ancient (I’m sorry but they made the Miraculous box an EGG when they could have done something that could blend in). 

As soon as Marinette opened the box, sixteen bright lights shot out of it, flying around the room. “Alright everyone listen up!” Mari clapped her hands together to get the light’s attention. They eventually came to a stop in front of her, and Damian looked at them in shock. There were… SO many Kwamii, and apparently there was supposed to be more his soulmate had to recover from around the world. “This is Damian, my soulmate. He’s-” Marinette was cut off by the excited shriek of some of the Kwamii, “He’s going to help us take down Hawkmoth and Mayaura and rescue Duusu and Nooroo. He and his family are superheroes from Gotham and-” “He’s going to be the next Cat,” Plagg interrupted, the seriousness of his tone taking everyone by surprise. The cat Kwamii flew over to Damian, holding a small ring. “The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are connected. One cannot be active for long without the other.” Damian’s eyes met Plagg’s, “And how do you know I am compatible with the Miraculous? I am Marinette’s soulmate but that doesn’t mean I am a match for you.” Plagg cackled, flying around Damian, who stood with his arms crossed, “You’ll do just fine! Much more serious than my last holder for sure! You are more compatible than Adrien was for the simple reason that you are deeply connected with Destruction itself. You come from a tragedy on both sides, a father driven to fight an endless war to avenge his parents’ murder, a mother who needed a pawn and heir to an empire of assassins. Not to mention, the Lazarus Pit.” Damian froze at the mention of the pits, and for a moment, he could almost feel the blazing fire of twisted life rushing through his veins. “Damian? Are you alright? Plagg? What did you do?” Marinette gently rested a hand on Damian’s cheek, she could tell he was reliving something… Plagg simply flew back towards the box. “I’m doing things differently this time Pigtails. I had some time to think… I need to be more responsible for you and for future cats and bugs. Nothing should be hidden between partners, and I know you love him, I know he loves you, but there are people in his life who will not approve. I think he should be the one to tell you when he’s ready. It’s a conversation that needs to be had for both of you. There can be no more secrets.” And with that, the Kwamii flew back over to Damian and gently placed the ring in his hand. The weight of it seemed to snap him out of his flashback, and he looked down at the ring in his hand. He remembered what he’d seen from the videos, he knew the basics of the Black Cat’s powers, and combined with his training, he would be formidable. “I’ll do it. What do I have to say to transform?” Plagg smirked, “Alright kid, all you’ve gotta say is, Plagg claws out!”

Alya was out with her class, chilling in the park after school. They had stopped and gotten smoothies and were working on their own projects in comfortable silence. Alya was busy chasing two leads: What were the Waynes doing in Paris, and where was Chat Noir? Sure, he didn’t do much in most Akuma fights, but he was still one of the heroes of Paris! Come to think of it, no new heroes had been called up since Hawkmoth discovered their identities. She had to take a little bit of pride in that, they were so good that Ladybug couldn’t find any good replacements. She thought about asking Lila for the inside scoop, but with how stressed her bestie had been lately due to Adrien and Marinette’s actions she decided against it. That was another mystery: Marinette. When had the switch flipped? What caused the switch to flip? Was she always like this and Lila was just the first to uncover it? She was also curious about Damian, why would nobody Marinette have such an impressive soulmate? She figured his bad attitude was Marinette’s fault, although, from the articles on her laptop, he’d never been the most approachable or friendly. ‘An asshole for an asshole,’ she thought. Although she’d noticed Lila had been eying Damian since he arrived, maybe she was giving him the benefit of the doubt? Alya shook her head and went back to her research. Something had happened to Chat Noir and Ladybug has been silent about it. She had her theories, and normally she’d run them by Nino, but since the two had broken up all those years ago… Alya sighed. Marinette split the class in two and nothing has been the same since. The Girl Squad was disbanded, she and Nino broke up, and class events rarely hit their goals because if the bully wasn’t invited, her supporters wouldn’t go either. Alya groaned and shifted positions, she NEEDED to finish her research about Chat Noir's disappearance. It’s been forever since she uploaded  Ladybug and Chat Noir content to the Ladyblog, even Alya would admit her blog had started to shift towards Lila content only. Just as she was beginning to give up, a message popped up on her screen.

Hello Ladyblogger. I have some information you might be interested in.

Alya stared at her screen. Was this a scam? She tried to click off the message, but it stayed. She should close her computer, and ask Max to take a look at it, but… what if this person was an inside source!? Carefully she typed out a reply.

Who is this? Why should I trust you? 

Her elusive new friend was quick to respond.

That’s funny. You were so quick to trust before. What changed?

She didn’t know if she should be freaked out or offended, but her curiosity would get the best of her.

I got betrayed by someone I thought I could trust. Now what do you want?

Oh, you got betrayed alright, or to be more exact, you’re currently being betrayed, you’re just too deep in denial to realize it.

‘What?! What could they possibly mean by that?’ Alya thought as her eyes narrowed and she looked around at her friends.

Look if this is you Marinette I don’t want any of your bullshit.

My name isn’t Marinette. It’s Red, and I happen to know about Chat Noir’s whereabouts or his lack thereof. But, if you want the file, you’re going to have to do me a favor.

Oh shit. There were many things Alya was willing to do for a lead, but she had a couple of lines that she refused to cross.

Oh Yeah? And what kind of favor is this? 

I need you to look into your class’s multiple akumatizations.

The feeling of wielding a Miraculous was exhilarating. Domain’s whole body was practically vibrating with an energy he’d never known. It felt like everything was amplified, he wanted to, no he needed to run, and could feel his senses sharpening and his emotions, or at least how he felt them, intensify. ‘This must be what Starfire feels like,’ He thought as he admired his new suit. It was all black with acid-green accents and made from the same material as his Robin suit. Instead of a belt tail and ears, he wore a long cloak with a hood, and two tiny bits poked up to form the ears. The cloak was lined in gold and the ears were tipped in gold as well. A solid black domino mask hid his identity, and his eyes were a bright shade of acid green to match the accents on his suit. The suit itself was made of a similar material as his Robin suit and was solid black, but if you looked at it in the right light, leopard spots were visible. He’d said to hell with the bell, and holding his cloak on and the sash-belt that doubled as a tail were held in place by a deep green cat’s eye gemstone His boots and gloves were solid black, and fitted with braces for extra support when landing. At the tips of his gloves were retractable claws that glistened in the light, and they were slightly curved so he could use them to grab onto buildings and climb. He still had the baton, but a sword was really more his style, but even still he marveled at the magical weapon. “Before you make your debut, you should come up with a name so you aren’t put on the spot like I was,” Mari said as she looked him up and down in the new suit. Damian thought for a moment, “Panthère de Nuit. Night Panther.” his soulmate let out a pleased hum, “Letting Hawkmoth know he faces a more dangerous apex predator?” “Indeed my Lily,” Marinette smiled, and with a quick, “Spots on,” the two were ready to begin Damian’s first patrol as Paris’s new hero.

The two heroes raced along the rooftops, with Panthère de Nuit easily keeping up, a credit to Damian’s training and time as Robin. The two finally came to a stop on a rooftop near the Eiffel Tower, they could see their class in the park below. “Okay, the second Alya sees us, she’s going to try and flag us down for an interview. Do you want to speak with her?” Damian thought for a moment and shook his head. “No. Since Lila has taken over her blog, I don’t think she is a reliable source of information. I do not trust your local news here as well, they seem to lean into rumors. Is there anyone reliable we can talk to?” Ladybug looked around and spotted a familiar parasol. Aurore. The two had gotten to know each other better since Marinette distanced herself from her classmates, and she found out that the blonde ran her own Ladybug-themed blog called On the Spot. While Aurore didn’t get the close-up Akuma footage that Alya had, she was far more accurate in her reports. She recorded information such as the time of akumatization, rough location, and the direction the akumas had been seen traveling from. She had meant to begin working with Aurore and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to start. “See that girl over there? The blonde one? She runs her own blog, On the Spot, and while it’s less popular than the Ladyblog, it is more accurate. We can talk to her, but we need to make it look natural, so our class doesn’t think we ignored them. 

As luck would have it, an Akuma decided to make an appearance. Frozer was back and seemed to be determined to turn Paris into a winter wonderland. “He has ice powers similar to Mr. Freeze, and the Akuma is in his ice skates,” Marinette said as the two rushed into battle. “The easiest way to get the skates would be to immobilize him. If we could somehow trip him, you could cataclysm the skates and release the Akuma.” Damian nodded, “Not my first time dealing with ice-themed villains. I can distract him, while you try to use your yoyo to catch him off guard. Do you want Batman and Red Robin to help with this?” “No. If Hawkmoth finds out they’re in Paris, he’ll for sure try to target them. Please be careful,” Damian gave her a reassuring smile. “Darling I promise I’m not the type to pick fights I can’t win.” With that, he leaped into action. Frozer had sent a blast of ice towards his classmates, which Panthère de Nuit skillfully blocked with his blade. The world around them seemed to, well, freeze as everyone took a moment to process what just happened. “And who are you?” Frozer asked as Hawkmoth’s signature mask appeared over his face. “Panthère de Nuit, the new black cat.” Frozer laughed, “Oh? So Ladybug’s finally replaced that mangy feline? Well no matter, you’ll be just as easy to defeat!” With that, several more blasts of ice were thrown at Damian, who easily dodged, blocked, and reflected. Frozer seemed to pale, if that was even possible, and began to back up for a hasty retreat. Damian couldn’t help himself, “What’s wrong? Not used to fighting a competent Cat Miraculous holder? Too bad.” His eyes met Ladybug’s and he nodded, the sound of her yoyo zipping through the air, and the thud from Frozer hitting the ground confirmed their plan had worked. Damian simply waltzed up to Frozer, and one Cataclysm later, a dark butterfly made a break for it, only to be caught and purified by Ladybug. “That was amazing! I didn’t even have to use my Lucky Charm! Well, I still have to reverse the damage but, you know!” Ladybug exclaimed as she did just that. Damian looked at his ring to check how much time he had before he transformed back and noticed the little pawprint was still full. Weird, he’ll have to ask about that later. A crowd of people had begun to gather, including their classmates and Aurore, Ladybug noticed her and smiled, which encouraged the blonde to ask her questions. “Hello, Ladybug! Great job with the Akuma, that has to be a record!” “Thank you! Aurore is it? Of On the Spot?” The blonde nodded excitedly, “Although, I can’t take all the credit. My new partner was amazing!” Damian sensed this was his cue, and stepped up to answer Aurore’s next question, “Who are you, and what happened to Chat Noir?” With one last glance at Ladybug, Damian spoke, “My name is Panthère de Nuit, and I am Ladybug’s new partner. Chat Noir, as well as some of the temporary heroes, have been permanently retired. The Black Cat Miraculous was taken from him by his Kwamii, who felt he was no longer worthy to wield it,” This was met with cheers from the surrounding civilians. “I promise to do a better job and be a reliable and competent hero that Ladybug and all of Paris can count on. All I can say to Hawkmoth and Mayaura is that your days are numbered.” And with that, the two heroes left to roaring applause. 

Adrien was watching his TV in horror. Plagg, not Ladybug, not the Guardian, PLAGG had taken his Miraculous. His own kwamii had betrayed him, did Plagg even have the power or right to take the ring from him? And now, he was seriously in a bind. If Plagg took the ring, it was safe to say that Ladybug had no idea who he was, and most likely had no idea who her new partner was so he couldn’t ask her to get it back for him. Not to mention the last time they spoke, they weren’t exactly on good terms. Yeah in retrospect skipping patrol and all those akuma battles wasn’t his best idea, especially because that soured his relationship with the people of Paris. If his dad had taught him anything, it was that public opinion mattered a lot, and now he couldn’t exactly count on the public’s support for Chat Noir. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his best chance of EVER getting a Miraculous again was to pretend to support this new cat, and hope that gets him Ladybug’s attention. Adrien let out a groan and flopped on his bed, his whole life was a mess. Plagg had taken his ring and hadn’t even given him a chance to fix his mistakes (He’d been given many chances), Lila was his soulmate and causing trouble in the class, and then Marinette shows up one day with Damian Wayne claiming to be her soulmate! He’d looked it up, and it really was Damian Wayne, and not some imposter using his name, but it was still so frustrating! He couldn’t figure out just why Marinette was so smitten with the man when he seemed like such a terrible fit for her! Marinette was kind, compassionate, and warm while Damian was cold, selfish, and quite mean. Adrien had been nursing a small crush on Marinette for a while and had known about her crush on him before Alya told him. He still loved Ladybug but realized after a while that she really might not feel the same way, and he couldn’t help it when a brilliant girl like Marinette was in his class. It didn’t hurt that she and Ladybug could be sisters, but he just figured he had a type. What he couldn’t figure out was why she was so focused on Damian when she’d been in love with him for years! “Calm down Adrien,” he muttered to himself, “Mari’s always been a hopeless romantic, so it’s probably just the fact he’s claiming he’s her soulmate.” He also needed to do something about Lila. Sure, he still believed the high road was the best way to go, but he had never expected things to escalate to the point Lila and their class were physically harming Marinette. Walking over to his closet and pulling out a whiteboard and some markers, he began to work on Operation Win Back Marinette.

Across Paris, another student was working on a plan: Alya. She had been working on her newest lead, and chatting with her new friend, Red. True to his word, Red had given Alya information about Chat Noir and Panthère de Nuit. What she knew so far was that Chat Noir’s behavior had gone on longer than anyone in Paris had realized, and that this was not Panthère de Nuit’s first time as a hero. In return, she had compiled a list of all her class’s akumatizations, and why they were akumatized. She slowly began to notice four outliers in their class: Marinette, Damian, Adrien, and Lila. Damian she could explain away easily, he had just gotten to Paris and hadn’t had the chance to be akumatized yet, but that was where easy ended. Marinette had a few failed akumatizations, in which she was always able to break out of Hawkmoth’s control. Alya chalked it up to Gina teaching her some meditation methods she used, but what was harder to explain was why Marinette was almost akumatized. The first time made sense, she had just been expelled, but the others were a complete mystery. Adrien hasn’t been akumatized (I’m not counting Cat Blanc or Ephemeral), but it almost seemed like the akumas never targeted him. She had seen him express negative emotions before. Then there was Lila Rossi, who had been akumatized into Volpina a scarily high number of times. Drawing from her own experience as Rena Rouge, Alya knew that the Fox Miraculous was all about illusions, and an Akuma based off of a Miraculous will share its powers, but in a weaker state. Come to think of it, there were times Lila was akumatized into Volpina that didn’t fit. She would be crying because Marinette had bullied her, and still turn into Volpina. Alya knew that you would only turn into an akuma twice if you felt the same emotions both times, such as Mr. Pigeon, so something wasn’t adding up. Opening her laptop, she typed out:

Red? Are you on? I have a few Questions.

She waited nervously, tapping her fingers on the desk as she checked her phone.

Yeah. What’s up Ladyblogger?

Alya could’ve kissed her computer, she felt like she was closer than she’d ever been to uncovering something big.

I was going back through the list of my class’ akumatizations and noticed a couple of outliers. Do you have any information on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste, and Lila Rossi?

I never thought you’d ask. Here’s what I have.

Red sent over a bunch of files, with a ton on Adrien and Lila, and very few on Marinette.

Why does Marinette only have like, three things?

She isn’t a public figure like the other two, well at least under that name. Ever heard of MDC? That’s her. You aren’t a true celebrity if you don’t have an MDC original. 

Marinette was MDC?! This was news to Alya, but she guessed it would make sense. Marinette had stopped making them things a few years ago, saying she was too busy. If she was covertly running a fashion empire that would explain it. However, one last thing still haunted Alya, especially as she began to click through the files on Adrien and Lila. She paused for a moment, Red had sent her camera footage from the day Marinette was expelled, but why was it labeled as Lila’s file? As she pressed play and began watching, she began noting some inconsistencies. Before returning to the video, she typed out one last message. 

Red? I’m starting to think I’ve been lied to. 

For the next week or so, all anyone would talk about was Panthère de Nuit, and the hype was justified. He’d been spotted a few more times since Frozer, at Akuma fights and on patrol, and was just as skilled as his first fight. Videos were made speculating about his powers if he had any new ones, and where he could have possibly gotten the skills he used in his fight. The most popular theory came from Aurore, who hypothesized that Panthère de Nuit was not new to being a hero. The public was still a little apprehensive, since they remembered what they’d been through under Chat Noir, but were rapidly warming up to the man. Of course, a certain someone claimed to have more info than she did. Marinette sat in her spot with Damian by her side and rolled her eyes as Lila went on and on, “I’m so happy I was finally able to convince Ladybug to replace Chat Noir! I’ve been telling her for years that he isn’t a good partner, but she’s so sweet and sentimental, so she was hesitant to get rid of the partner she’s had since the beginning. Maybe now that he’s not around to get jealous, I can convince her to give you all your Miraculous again! Well, some people might not be worthy of wielding one, but that’s their own fault.” The class snickered and shot looks at Marinette and her friends, who simply ignored them. Lila had no way of knowing that some of the class would never wield any Miraculous again, their identities had been exposed and it was too much of a risk. Lila went on and on, even when Ms. Bustier came in and tried to start class. However, someone caught Marinette’s attention: Alya. Her former best friend was sitting with her laptop open to the Ladyblog analytics page, and she was watching Lila with narrowed eyes. She would occasionally stop and type something out. Her concentration seemed to stop when Adrien walked into the room, and Marinette quickly looked away to avoid eye contact with either. Damian shot a glare at the blond who was trying to get Mari’s attention, and the ravenette paid him no mind. Nino (Who still had connections in the Adrien fan club) had informed her that the model talks about her at his shoots, and when people ask if they’re dating he never denies it. “He’s trying to create a public narrative,” Damian had explained, “If the media picks up the story and the public catches on, it could spread like wildfire. Remember how everyone thought Ladybug and Chat Noir were in love and destined for each other? That resulted in people pressuring Ladybug to admit feelings she didn’t have.” The group nodded, clearly understanding that Damian was worried the same thing would happen to Marinette.

Adrien made his next move at lunch. Marinette and Damian, along with their friend group were going to spend their lunch at a nearby cafe. The group didn’t want to deal with Lila, and wanted to be able to discuss their topic privately: Reopening an investigation into who Hawkmoth is. Marinette had a theory board about it that she had made with Alya when they were younger, but the two stopped when they had their falling out. As they were leaving, Adrien approached them. “Hey, Mari! So where are we going for lunch?” I know a great place-” “We? Dude, you haven’t been caught dead anywhere near us since middle school,” Nino practically growled and crossed his arms. The ending of their friendship had been… explosive. Nino had gone to Adrien after he figured out Lila was lying, hoping to gather support to expose Lila and save his childhood friend’s reputation, and was horrified to find out that Adrien knew and pressured Mari to keep quiet. The following argument resulted in Nino being akumatized into Maskless, who was determined to “remove the masks” and expose people for who they truly are. It was a difficult fight for Ladybug, and after it was over, Nino disavowed the two boys’ friendship for good, the last thing he’d spoken to Adrien before now was, “I just can’t be friends with someone who would sacrifice a friend to avoid having to deal with a little discomfort. Talk to me when you grow a spine and maybe I’ll forgive you.” And the future director had kept his promise. This was the first time he’d spoken to Adrien in years. The callout seemed to catch the blond off guard, and he stumbled out, “Well uh, my father wanted me to talk to Marinette about an internship, so I was going to do that today at lunch. So Mari where do you want to go eat?” And with that Adrien made a move to grab Mari’s wrist, but was blocked by an angry Kim and pissed Damian. “Didn’t your dad teach you it’s rude to grab someone without consent?” Kim snarked. Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka nodded, with Juleka working up the courage to add, “You’re forgetting that you aren’t the only model in the class anymore. I’m in the same gossip circles you are now, and I know you’re trying to make people think that Adrienette is a thing.” “That’s not true I-,” “Enough,” Marinette cut in, Adrien gave her a hopeful smile, while the others snickered. “Adrien, I already have plans with my friends and it would be rude of me to cancel at the last minute. Plus I seem to remember two very important things you’re conveniently forgetting: First, the conversation in which I very clearly told you I wasn’t interested, and second, the letter I received in the middle of class a year ago from your father telling me I’ve been blacklisted from the company. And from the looks on both your and Lila’s faces I can conclude you both had something to do with that. If Gabriel wants me to work for him, he needs to start by addressing the elephant in the room and the damage he’s done to my career before I could even graduate. Come on guys, we need to actually get something to eat before lunch is over,” and with that, Marinette and her group sidestepped a disappointed Adrien and made their way toward a cafe.

After they’d gotten their food, they got to work on their theory of who Hawkmoth was. “Here’s the list of people I considered before I knew for sure he had a partner,” Marinette set a stack of papers down, “And here’s the list of suspects after I had to start over once Mayura came onto the scene.” That list was twice as long and seemed to radiate an aura of frustration. The others each took papers and began crossing out people that they knew couldn’t be Hawkmoth. “Soooo… I think we can rule out some people based on the fact they don’t have time to be Hawkmoth or Mayura. Like we know they aren’t any of our parents because they’re too busy with work,” Rose chirped as she crossed off names with her sparkly pink Pom Pom pen. “So I hate to be that person but are we sure Mayura is Hawky’s only partner?” Nathaniel asked, playing with a pencil. Damian nodded, “Surely he has to have someone else. He can’t guarantee that someone in Paris is going to feel upset enough to attract an akuma even though Paris is a big city. It would make more sense if he had someone working to actively cause akumas,” the group seemed to be stuck for a moment after the obviously innocent people have been ruled out. The problem with Akumatizations is how little solid evidence is left behind. Hawkmoth can emotionally hijack someone and leave behind no DNA or fingerprints, or really anything. 

Damian had (and none of them except Marinette knew this) checked the databases the Justice League and Batfamily kept on the various super criminals of the world only to have it turn up empty, so the group was stuck… until a new voice cut in, “You’re assuming he’s smarter than he really is. I should know, I’ve helped him before.” Chloe and Sabrina stood in front of their table, with the heiress making a point to sit herself down at the head of the table and continued, “Be honest with yourselves, I’m not the only person with an attitude problem in Paris who didn’t care how many akumas I caused. There are many more who don’t care, and those people are the backbone of Hawkmoth’s operation whether they realize it or not. Unless you and Ladybug have a plan to make everyone in Paris act as sweet as pie, you need to stop acting like Hawkmoth is a genius. He thrives off dumb luck and takes advantage of problems others cause.” Marinette froze at the mention of her alter ego, “Why do you think I know Ladybug?” Chloe snorted and gave Marinette a look, “Dupain-Cheng you got that wannabe reporter an interview with her! Despite your family’s lack of financial wealth, you have connections coming out of your pigtails. If anyone in this hellhole keeps regular contact with Ladybug it would be you. Anyways, Hawkmoth isn’t the brains of the operation, that could be Mayura if she would stop going along with all his ridiculous schemes and grow a backbone. In the few times I’ve willingly helped him, it was clear that his plan was only cobbled together at best and completely on the fly at worst.” “Why did you help him in the first place?” Rose blurted out, and realizing her mistake she quickly covered her mouth. 

Chloe simply sighed, “I guess I do owe you all an explanation since I was responsible for most of your akumatizations. When I agreed to help him, I was at my lowest. He prays on weakness in any form it comes in. I was always taught that I was born lucky, and everyone else was just lucky to be born- yes Kim I know what show I’m referencing- and for the longest time I believed it. I believed I had the right to act the way I did, and my parents encouraged it, but as I started getting older, it became clear that I didn’t inherit my mother’s talent so she started distancing herself from me. My father tried to fill the void by just giving in to everything I wanted. I know he loves me, but he wanted to be my friend instead of my parent, and that whole dynamic messed me up even more. Then I met Marinette fucking Dupain-Cheng, a girl who my parents taught me to consider less than dirt beneath my feet… but she somehow had everything I wanted,” Chloe clutched the smoothie in her hand, and couldn’t meet Marinette’s eyes, “Your parents love you so much, and are so involved. They made it to every event our class had, while mine couldn’t be bothered, they encouraged you when you failed and promised to help you, while my mother would scream at me and tell me I was a waste of her time. They helped you learn how to deal with your problems instead of paying them to go away. I was and still am, so jealous of you Marinette. I’d give anything in a heartbeat to trade places with you, but instead, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I lashed out. I made your life hell for years, long before Lila came around, in fact, I’m surprised that you didn’t dump our class sooner. In all the years I bullied you, not a single one of them helped you, they avoided you, and the second you stood up to me they tried to act like all those years just disappeared,” Damian, who was mainly focusing on how Marinette was reacting, quickly noticed the shame on the faces of their friends. While he wanted to rage at them for what they’d done to his soulmate, he stopped himself, he knew he couldn’t now that he was Panthère de Nuit if Hawkmoth found an opening… He focused back in on Chloe’s story to try and calm down, “Anyways, when Ladybug came onto the scene, I immediately latched onto this idea that if she was my friend, all my problems would be fixed. I would have an amazing friend who would get my parent’s attention and make all my problems go away, but I screwed it up royally. When I found the Bee Miraculous, I thought it was a chance to redeem myself. I should have just returned it to Ladybug instead of causing that train accident, I thought if I showed her that I could be a hero then maybe she’d accept me. She kept giving me chance after chance, and I kept fucking up because I would let my ego get the better of me. When I lost the Bee Miraculous, when I realized Ladybug wanted nothing to do with me, and when I realized it was all my fault, I broke. I was convinced that I was destined to destroy anything good in my life, and that was when Hawkmoth approached me about becoming Miracle Queen. I was so emotional that I forgot who I was talking to, and gave him everything he needed to convince me to join him. After that… I was bitter, bitter at the world, Ladybug, Zoe, you name it I was upset at it because something had occurred to me during that time. I realized that I was never born lucky, that’s you Marinette, I was actually the one lucky to be born- shut up Kim let me have this- even though you were going through hell, you still had people in your corner who support you unconditionally. I know Ladybug hates me, I know you do too, but if she really wants to defeat Hawkmoth all she needs to do is get him at his lowest, and Mayura will follow him down.” With her speech over, Chloe and Sabrina simply got up and left, leaving a stunned table in their wake. “Get him at his lowest…” Marinette murmured to herself, and she kept muttering it all the way back to school. 

As the school day neared the end, Marinette had gone to the restroom, promising to meet Damian by her locker. As the Wayne heir waited, he heard a gentle, ‘ahem,’ and turned, expecting to see his soulmate. Instead, he felt his blood pressure spike as he was face to face with the ravenous wolf that looked at him as if he were a gullible lamb, a.k.a, Lila. She looked a mess with puffy red eyes and mascara streaks down her face reaching her chin, it was clear to anyone she had been crying. Damian narrowed his eyes, this might not be one of her fake crying episodes, but it clearly was still a carefully laid trap. They were alone, with no witnesses to watch what was about to go down. Lila hesitantly held her phone out to Damian, and tears began rolling down her cheeks again, “I… I thought you should know,” she sniffed, pressing the play button. Damian listened with a raised eyebrow to the conversation Lila had supposedly recorded, “Marinette you are an amazing woman, what I wanted to tell you was that I accept your feelings and will be your boyfriend,” Adrien’s voice could be heard loud, and clear through the recording, Damian opened his mouth but Lila cut him off, “There’s more hang on,” Soon after, his Lily’s voice could be heard, “Adrien, I have loved you since we were thirteen-” With that Lila stopped the recording and began to cry, “I know Marinette’s probably told you all these nasty things about me… but it felt wrong to say nothing and let her keep manipulating you like this when I know what I heard.” With that, Lila went back to sobbing and wailing about how her bully ‘stole’ her soulmate and was a filthy cheater. If anyone else was around, they would have caught the Bat Glare Lila herself was too wrapped up in her act to see. Damian wasn’t surprised Lila stooped this low, in fact, he wasn’t surprised she didn’t stoop lower and try to fake a pregnancy or something, but it dawned on him that this was the perfect opportunity to end Marinette’s torment and he decided to take it. “Oh, you were there for that conversation too?” Lila froze, and looked up at him with fresh tears still rolling down her cheeks, “E-excuse me?” A deep laugh that rumbled like thunder cut through the tension. “Do you seriously think I would have let Adrien speak to my Lily alone when I knew he would try to pull something? And do you seriously think I wouldn’t consider the possibility someone could have been listening in,” With that, Damian pulled out his own phone, shooting Lila a vicious smirk. “Let me fill you in on what you conveniently missed,” As he pressed play, the smirk only grew as he watched the color drain from Lila’s face and his voice played from the speaker, “Agreste there is no way you are her soulmate. I saw Marinette in my dreams, and she saw me in hers. Besides, I know your soulmate is Rossi. She was determined to make a scene today at lunch, and it tipped me off that you would try something like this. I suggest you listen well Agreste because this is the only time I will be kind enough to give you some advice. Leave Marinette alone. All you have done is hurt her and allow others to hurt her. You have stood by and watched as a petty ectoparasite burrowed into Marinette’s class and allowed her to spread her manipulative disease. Even if by chance you have somehow seen the light and exposed the truth tomorrow, which we both know you will not do because you are too much of a coward and care more about what other people think of you, it’s too late. You have blown all your chances, and Marinette is far too good for you, someone who will throw her to the wolves to avoid a minor inconvenience. So stay away Adrien, if you know what is best for you.” With that, Damian placed his phone in his pocket and looked back at Lila. 

“You know, I really ought to thank you, Rossi, you tipped me off to Agreste’s plan and allowed me to collect evidence to foil your own. I have that entire conversation recorded from the moment he approached my Lily, and I have already been recording this one too,” Lila’s eyes widened and she looked like she was about to faint, so Damian moved in for the kill, “Do you really think you’re the first one to try and pull a stunt like this? I am from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the world, did you really think you would be the first to lie about my soulmate? How convenient, you happen to have a recording of Marinette supposedly accepting a confession from Adrien, and that you finally worked up the ‘courage’ to tell me the first moment I am alone and Marinette is not here to defend herself. I will give you some credit though, your editing skills could fool someone who is not looking for signs of manipulation, and could have definitely fooled our gullible classmates, which brings me to my next point,” Damian channeled his rage into a calm, icy glare, “You will cease tormenting my soulmate immediately. I am not afraid to expose your lies and underhanded tactics to our class, but let me give you some more incentive. Before, Marinette did not have the… legal resources to handle you properly, but I have my family’s lawyers on speed dial Rossi. Marinette is not my wife yet, but the same protections that cover the Wayne family extend to her. So if you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth and never speak ill of my soulmate again, or my lawyers will see what other secrets you have been hiding.” Taking that as her queue to leave, Lila booked it toward the exit like the devil was on her heels. Operation: Lila Wayne was clearly dead in the water, and Damian would be sure it stayed that way. Once she was gone he took a deep breath and got his emotions in check, just in time to see the love of his life jogging towards him. “Sorry! I realized while I was in the bathroom that I left some stuff in the art room!” He smiled as the familiar feeling of warmth returned to him. It was wonderful, being in love.

Alya just got finished pacing around her room for what felt like the hundredth time. She stared at her computer, open to the video she had yet to publish, and the one that would be the final nail in the coffin for her career. She knew deep down she had to do this, it was the only way to atone for all she’d done. A chat popped up on the screen from Red:

Are you okay Ladyblogger? I know this is a tough decision, and I’m here for you. 

Alya smiled, over their many late-night conversations, Red had become a good friend and close confidant. She’d never meet up with him in person, that was online safety 101, but he’d helped her come to some difficult conclusions.

Yeah. Just trying to settle my nerves a bit. I know I have to do this, it’s the right thing to do, and lately, I’ve struggled with that.

You’ve got this. I think it will go over better than you think it will. 

With that, Alya closed her eyes, counted to ten, and pressed the upload button. A video titled after one of the worst things she’d ever said was now on the front page of the Ladyblog, a video she could never take back.

Marinette and Damian were in her room, munching on a variety of cookies and discussing their plan to end Hawkmoth’s reign of terror once and for all. Their brainstorming was interrupted when a notification popped up on Marinette’s phone, and a new video had been posted to the Ladyblog. The two shared a look and a shrug, sure, why not? It wouldn’t hurt to see what Lila was saying now, instead, they were met with a thumbnail of Alya sitting at her desk, and a video called ‘A Good Reporter Always Fact Checks’ was staring back at them. Damian pressed play, and the two sat back to see what this was about. 

“Hey everyone, it’s the Ladyblogger. This video is VERY different from what I normally post, and it needs to be because I have a lot I need to say. Many years ago, when I was just starting out I posted a video about a girl named Lila Rossi who claimed that she was Ladybug’s best friend. That video has been removed, but at the time I thought nothing of it. A girl who was my friend confronted me about it, and rightly, called me on the fact I had no evidence to prove anything Lila had said. Instead of fixing my mistake, I told her that a good reporter always fact-checks, but that wasn’t what I did. I am here today to apologize to her and to all of you for failing you. I neglected to do the right thing and gave a liar a platform to spread dangerous misinformation, but I also took that liar’s side and turned against the best friend I’ve ever had. 

I met Lila Rossi when I was thirteen, and I along with most of my classmates naively believed every word that came out of her mouth like it was gospel. She told us that because her mother was a diplomat, she had gotten to meet and work with all these famous people and that she could talk with them and help our careers. We were so excited, there was someone who could help us reach our dreams and she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Hindsight really is 20/20, and looking back there was no way any celebrity in their right mind would be that deeply involved working with a teenage girl to the extent Lila claimed. I can’t speak for my classmates but I know a part of me kept believing her because the fear of pissing her off and then it all turning out to be true kept me loyal to her. I was a coward and afraid that if I questioned her I would lose out, and that later turned into fearing what I’d done in her name if it turns out she was lying. This resulted in me interviewing her and publicizing her lies and misinformation, giving her a platform to fuel her own ego. To put it simply: I didn’t fact-check, and now everyone is paying the price. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so, sorry. Taking her videos down doesn’t fix the damage she caused, and just saying I’m sorry won’t either. It sounds cringy but I promise to do better, but I don’t expect you all to stick with me now that I’ve proven not to be a reliable source. For accurate, truthful information, check out Aurore’s blog On the Spot. She’s a great reporter and has done a much better job than I did. I would also like to apologize to Ladybug, and not just for giving Lila Rossi a platform. I want to apologize for all those shitty things I did to try to figure out her identity and push LadyNoir even after she clearly expressed multiple times that she was uncomfortable. Most importantly, I want to apologize to my former friend and ex-boyfriend,” Marinette’s eyebrow raised a bit, “They caught on to Lila’s bullshit years before I did and tried to snap me out of it because they cared about me. But instead, I dug my heels in and participated in icing them out from the class, and stood by while they were harassed. I broke up with my boyfriend over this whole mess because I was appalled he’d take Lila’s “Bully’s” side when the truth was that they were the ones being bullied. All I can say to them is that I’m sorry and that they don’t have to forgive me. My teacher taught us that we always need to forgive and be the bigger person, but forgiveness isn’t something owed, it's earned. I’ve acknowledged my wrongdoings but I haven’t yet begun to work to make things right. So to that girl who was my best friend and one of the best people I’ve met: I should have trusted you. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine, and I am so sorry for what I’ve done.” Marinette sat and stared, stunned at Alya’s admission and watching in awe as the blogger exposed Lila’s lies to the world. Out of all the people to do it, she never thought it would be Alya, Lila’s self-proclaimed BFF. However, it also meant the last variable in her plan was taken care of, so walking over to the Miraculous box, she took what she needed and gave a variety of Miraculous to Damian. Standing on her toes she kissed his cheek and whispered, “Text Red Robin and Batman, tell them to meet us at the Eiffel Tower at Midnight. And if you would be so kind, please take these Miraculous to their most recent holders. I know I said I retired the old heroes, but we’ll need most of them again. I have one errand to run, and I’ll meet you there.” Damian nodded, and kissed Mari’s forehead, “Be careful my Lily.” and She hesitantly broke away from his embrace, transformed, and snuck out through her balcony. 

Alya was scrolling through the comments on her apology/Lila Rossi exposè video, it was a habit she never could break. Yes, there were quite a few harshly criticizing her, and a couple were straight-up name-calling, but the majority of people were happy she’d seen the light and were encouraging her not to give up on her dream. Her phone was blowing up with texts and calls from her classmates (and quite a few angry voicemails from Lila), but she couldn’t bring herself to care. A part of her felt at peace, even though she mourned the loss of her dream. A knock on her door snapped her out of her spiral, it was probably her mom coming to give her a pep talk and reassure her she did the right thing. But as she opened the door to her room, a familiar set of pigtails nearly made her jump out of her skin. “Hi… I came to talk,” Marinette said, and Alya moved back to let her in. This felt so right, but wrong. It called back to the many sleepovers they had, laughing about boys and reading superhero comics, but this time it was like two opposing soldiers laying down their arms in a tentative truce. Marinette decided to break the awkward silence, “So I saw the video. I have to admit, I certainly wasn’t expecting you to expose Lila like that.” Alya gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Neither did she. She’s been blowing up my phone with voicemails calling me every name she can think of and promising to ruin me. Well, she’s too late 'cause I already did that.” Marinette looked over at the comments, skimming through them. “Not necessarily. You apologized, admitted you were wrong, and have already begun working to undo some of her damage,” “But that doesn’t excuse what I did to you, to Nino, and your friends.” “No, it doesn’t, but you’ve owned up to it which is admirable. What snapped you out of it?” Alya smiled softly, “I made a friend who got me to stop and think… and also got me access to the school’s cameras. I don’t know how much of the video you watched but I played the video from the day you got expelled and it showed Lila framing you so Damocles and Bustier are in some hot water right now.” Marinette laughed, genuinely, it felt so strange for Alya to hear, “About time! I can’t help but wonder how many other people they messed up, besides us.” “Oh, a lot. I plan on exposing more, but that’s a problem to take out another day.” Marinette perked up a bit, “Speaking of taking out problems, I need your help with a big one.” Alya nodded eagerly, ready to make up for her years of inaction. “I asked Aurore to post this too, but I need you to post this article,” Marinette handed her a piece of paper to read, as she read, her brow furrowed a bit, “You’re not planning on taking on Hawkmoth, are you? Oh my god, you are. I don’t know what secret weapons stash the Waynes have but-” “Tikki spots on,” Standing there, in her room, was Ladybug, where her former best friend once stood. Before Alya could find her words Maribug, no, Ladynette, no, Ladybug cut her off, “I have a plan but I’m going to need Hawkmoth to panic thinking the Miraculi are slipping out of his grasp. We need this to bait him out.” Alya was stunned, and began to stammer, “Of course! I-” “You said you wanted to work to make things right, so if you’re willing,” Marinette held out an oh-so-familiar fox necklace, “I’ll need Rena Rouge’s help too.”

Chloe was sitting in her room with Sabrina, pretending to be invested in whatever show they were watching. In her mind she kept replaying that day she spotted Marinette and her group in her favorite cafe. The conversation she had… she had never expected to spill her heart out like that. Her mother always told her that she could never be vulnerable, she could never let others see any weakness, and yet there she sat pouring out her heart. Eventually, Sabrina had to leave, they did have school tomorrow, and the heiress was left alone. Alone was something familiar to Chloe, especially since her Icarus Moment, as she called it, was something she dreaded. She knew her parents would leave her out to dry in a heartbeat, she knew Zoe had her own life and that the two sisters would never be close, and she knew all her daddy’s employees would quit the moment they found something better. All she had left was Sabrina, so she clung on for dear life. She’d stopped treating her friend like a servant a long time ago, and even when she was at her worst, Sabrina stuck by her. Initially, it was out of fear, Sabrina knew that if she was going to swim with sharks it was better to be a remora. She had many chances to leave but stuck around time and time again and Chloe realized that maybe Sabrina really did care for her. Then there was the hot mess that was Adrien. He’d tried to give Chloe the “Her lies aren’t hurting anybody” speech a while ago, but the heiress wasn’t having it. This girl had humiliated her and needed to pay. She and Sabrina decided to gather information, and that was how they overheard Adrien making Marinette agree not to do anything and later Lila threatening Marinette. 

Chloe had always felt a little bad for the baker’s daughter, she was madly in love with Adrien but had no idea what he was really like, he could be incredibly manipulative if it meant avoiding an uncomfortable situation. She knew that Marinette wouldn’t trust her to outright accept help from the heiress, so she decided to back off entirely, a cease-fire of sorts. It helped that this coincided with her revelation that she was jealous of Marinette and her family. When Damian Wayne joined the class and declared himself Dupain-Cheng’s soulmate, Chloe thought, ‘About damn time.’ She’d seen how the former class president was treated and knew she most likely had another major stressor (Chloe theorized she was Ladybug’s woman in the chair, working behind the scenes), so she was a bit relieved to see the universe finally being kind to the ravenette. Unfortunately, it also marked the turn for Adrien to go off the deep end. He had confessed to Chloe before that he knew about Marinette’s crush, but that he was pretty sure his soulmate was Ladybug, and he’d also said that she’d be his second pick if that didn’t work out, and she certainly got an earful when he found out his soulmate was Lila. After she and Sabrina returned to school after their run-in with the Mari Squad, Adrien stopped her and asked her to help him win back Marinette. “Agreste,” She remembered snapping, not bothering with any nicknames, “You’ve lost your mind. Dupain-Cheng finally, FINALLY has something positive working out for her and you, one of the main sources of all her anguish think you can just waltz back in? You don’t really love her Adrien, you said it yourself she’d always be your second choice, and when your first choice fell through and your soulmate turned out to be Lila you sought out your consolation prize. Let me give you some advice: Life isn’t a fairytale, you can’t expect Marinette to wait for you forever or to completely throw away her life for you.” She doubted Adrien would get the message, but at least she tried. If she was naïve, Chloe would wonder if this marked the start of the end of their rivalry and the beginning of a new friendship, but the logical part of her knew that the damage she did was too great. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a sound coming from her balcony. She groaned and got up, thinking a pigeon had crashed into the door and was now stunned on the floor. But when she opened the door, she was shocked, there was Ladybug and Rena Rouge on her balcony. Ladybug smiled gently, and in almost a whisper asked, “Is Queen Bee available?”

The three women arrived at the Eiffel Tower just before midnight. Their arrival was acknowledged by a majority of the Miraculous team and Red Robin. Batman stood back, silently observing. Marinette could feel the nerves rising in her stomach. There was Batman, in person, and he was here to help her. Alya seemed to be going through a similar mental process, trying desperately to act professional and not fangirl, until Red Robin greeted her, “Well, well, well. Gotta say I wasn’t expecting to see you here Ladyblogger!” Alya’s jaw dropped, “Red??” Tim threw his head back and laughed, “Yep! I needed some information for our investigation, and figured I’d help you off the sinking ship in the process.” Before Alya could reply, Batman spoke, “Speaking of information, we were able to figure out That Hawkmoth and Mayura are Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur by hacking into various cameras to track the akumas, and from there we monitored his activity through his security system,” “For the record I’ve seen better security from Rogues like Crazy Quilt,” Red Robin interjected, Batman sighed and continued, “We have solid evidence that will hold up in court, so our main objective will be to catch him,” the Dark Knight turned to Ladybug, “So I’m assuming you called us here because you have the plan to do that.” Ladybug nodded and stepped forward to begin to tell the team her plan, “So as most of you know Hawkmoth and Mayura get their powers from the Kwamii within their Miraculous, that’s the same thing that gives us our powers,” She clarified for the Gotham heroes, “All we have to do is remove the Miraculous from them, and their transformation will be dropped and they’ll be powerless. However, the tricky part is actually getting them to come to the fight themselves. The nature of their Miraculous allows them to create minions to fight for them, hence the Akumas and Sentimonsters, so it’s very likely that they’ll try and distract us so they can escape. We have a mostly full Miraculous team, minus the mouse, rabbit, ox, and horse, but those can easily be given to other holders to fill that void,” The group felt a mix of emotions at the realization that some of their classmates had still yet to try and make amends for what they did, but knew that it was for the better until they could fully trust the former team members again. “So in order to get them out, we need to get them to their lowest, a point in which they’ll be so desperate that they’ll feel like they have no choice but to face us themselves, and we’ll do that by making them think that everything is slipping out of their grasp.”

Adrien had just gotten home from school, and turned on the TV in his room, flopping down on his bed. His day was AWFUL because the night before Alya had made a video on the Ladyblog exposing Lila completely out of the blue. Needless to say, the class was furious, and then their fury was directed at him when they found out he’d known the whole time and the things he did to keep Marinette from exposing Lila. He’d tried to argue that yeah he’d made a mistake, but no major damage had been done and that the small stuff could be fixed, so they should all just move on and be friends again. That had only added fuel to the fire, and all of this was before Marinette and Damian walked in. Adrien could practically feel his blood pressure rising at the thought of his rival’s name. He’d changed Marinette, encouraged her to stand up for herself, and in Adrien’s opinion was shaping her into a toxic person, but it seemed like he was the only one who could see it! More and more people gravitated to Mari like moths to a flame, and she was enjoying quite the popularity spike while he and Lila were seemingly deemed the school’s outcasts. If he still had his ring he would go to her as Chat Noir and demand that she stop the bullshit and fix everything, but he couldn’t even do that. Lila had contacted him, screaming that he’d ruined her plan to split up Dupain-Cheng and Wayne, and if he’d just followed her lead, he’d have what he wanted and she’d have what she wanted. For once he wished he listened to Lila, especially when she told him that Damian had a recording of his confrontation with Marinette and her rejection. His lawyers explained that there was nothing he could do,  the Wayne family was a legal juggernaut so even if they did have a valid case, they would simply be able to drag it out until the Agrestes had no choice but to drop it, the same thing Gabriel had done to countless people before. They drilled into his head that any move he made against Damian Wayne would bring the wrath of his lawyers and that for once, Adrien was in a position of weakness. 

He was brainstorming ideas on how to convince Marinette to leave her soulmate when the TV switched over to breaking news. “Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit will be meeting with members of the Justice League and Justice League Dark today in order to transfer over the Miraculous to the hero teams. According to statements from Ladybug posted to the Ladyblog and On the Spot, ‘Hawkmoth’s attacks have become far more brazen, and in order to assure the safety of Paris, I felt it was necessary to entrust the Miraculi, including the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, to people who can properly protect them,’” The screen cut to Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit handing over what was supposedly the Miracle Box to the superheroes Batman, Red Robin, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate, The box was almost in Zatanna’s hands when a loud boom caught the attention of the heroes, and as the camera turned to show what they saw, Adrien gasped. There were Hawkmoth and Mayura on the back of a massive multi-headed dragon Sentimonster, with an army of akumas and amoks floating around them, ready to turn at least half of Paris into their own army. A burst of fire was shot from one of the heads of the dragon, with Ladybug, Panthère de Nuit, Batman, and Red Robin easily dodging. Zatanna and Doctor Fate, along with the Miracle Box disappeared in the familiar smoke of an illusion from the Fox Miraculous breaking, in fact, the whole area seemed to disappear, and when the smoke settled, it showed the heroes and villains trapped in a large Shell-ter. It struck Adrien that this was never a poorly executed plan that Hawkmoth discovered, this was an ambush. Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t get involved, he didn’t have a Miraculous and would be putting himself in great danger. However, he was convinced that if he showed Ladybug that he could still be a hero, she would have to give him a MIraculous, and he could prove to Marinette that he was the best match for her. So he left for the battlefield.

Everything so far was going according to plan. Hawkmoth and Mayura had taken the bait and were now trapped in the Shell-ter with the Heroes. Rena Rouge was working overtime, creating illusion after illusion to confuse the devious duo. Carapace’s Shell-ter was holding strong, preventing anyone from entering and potentially getting akumatized. Vipereon was given the rabbit miraculous as well and was currently hopping between dimensions and using Second Chance to reset the fight and figure out the next moves they should make. King Monkey (with help from the Mouse Miraculous), Pigella, and Caprikid were using their respective powers to work with Batman and Red Robin to try and throw off Hawkmoth and Mayura’s concentration. Meanwhile, Ryuko, Panthère de Nuit, Purple Tigeress (also using the Ox Miraculous), and Rooster Bold were handling the massive dragon Sentimonster. Ladybug herself was along the outskirts of the battle, with Miss Hound and the “new” Bee hero Swarm. Ladybug was using her yo-yo to get her allies out of the way of various attacks, and waiting for the signal from Vipereon to use Lucky Charm. Swarm was waiting for an opportunity to use Venom to stun either Hawkmoth or Mayura, while Miss Hound was using the Horse Miraculous to teleport around to take shots at hitting the villains’ Miraculous. All of the heroes were connected with earpieces so they could communicate and monitor how each other was doing, and so far everything was going smoothly. 

For the first time in forever, Ladybug was beginning to feel hopeful that this nightmare would be over soon, when Miss Hound caught everyone’s attention, “Ummm… Why is Adrien trying to get in? Does he know that Hawkmoth is his dad?” Red Robin dodged an attack from an enraged Mayura, and quickly answered, “Not that we’re aware of. Although we did find out that he was Chat Noir, so maybe he thinks he can help,” Ladybug sighed and declared she would handle it, swinging off to the border. Sure enough, there was Adrien, banging on the Shell-ter, and he perked up as soon as he saw her. The only thing standing between the former partners was a magical green wall. “What are you doing here Adrien? It’s not safe!” Ladybug crossed her arms and glared, she did NOT have time for this! “I’m here to help My Lady! So tell Carapace to drop Shell-ter and let me in,” The blond boy shot her his best Chat Noir smile, while Ladybug simply raised an eyebrow, “I can’t do that Adrien. Lifting the shelter would allow thousands of akumas to escape and terrorize Paris. It would be too much of a risk and put too many people in danger. Besides you don’t have a way to fight, so you wouldn’t be any help.” She hoped that would put an end to it, but she was wrong, “But I can help! If you give me a Miraculous I can help you defeat Hawkmoth. Please Ladybug we’re partners, we’re soulmates! I should be there fighting with you!” Adrien was persistent she’d give him that, but there was no way she’d let him in, potentially ruining everything when they worked so hard. “No Adrien, I will not be giving you a Miraculous! Every single one of them is in use right now and to take one away from someone would put them in danger. Besides, you already blew your chance when you were Chat Noir! You proved that you were never in it to protect people, and you were barely a decent partner! There were several times Hawkmoth almost won because you were goofing off or just didn’t even show up. Finally, you aren’t my soulmate, you never were. Just go home, go home, and sit this one out,” That seemed to cause him to only get more upset, “This is because of the new cat isn’t it?! He’s convinced you I’m some awful person so you’d give him the Cat Miraculous instead of me! It’s mine, not his! Master Fu chose me! I am the real holder of the Cat Miraculous, so you have to do what’s right and give it back if you’re such a ‘real hero’!” Ladybug sighed, “And Plagg, the Kwamii of the Cat Miraculous took it away from you because he felt you were unworthy to wield it. Why would I give it back to you then? Leave Adrien.” With that, she turned away, ready to rejoin the battle, but stopped dead in her tracks, “I should have known all along Ladybug, you aren’t a real hero. You’re just a narcissistic, pathetic, lonely girl pretending to be this great, benevolent hero because, in your real life, nobody loves you. Nobody wants you. I used to think I was your soulmate, and it’s clear I’m not because there’s no way such a vile person like you could ever have one. This is the only way you can get attention, and you strung me along in the process! If anything, you’re just as bad as Hawkmoth!” Adrien spat, before storming off. Ladybug took a deep breath, fighting back tears. It hurt to have someone she cared about, and used to love say such vile things about her, but now was not the time to lose focus, she had a battle to win. 

Diving back into the fray, she quickly tugged Caprikid out of the way as Hawkmoth tried to strike him. “You good,” He asked as the two regained their footing on a building, “You left your earpiece on so we kinda heard all of that. Panthère de Nuit looked ready to kill him at one point, and the rest of us would back him up if you want.” Ladybug chuckled a bit, “Thanks but the Miraculous Team is adopting the Bat’s no-killing rule. I’ll be okay, no, I’ll be amazing once we end this!” “Then I’m happy to inform you that it’s time for Lucky Charm,” Vipereon chimed in, “Swarm! Miss Hound! Take the shot! Lucky Charm!” Panthère de Nuit Cataclysmed the Sentimonster, causing cracks to form, destabilizing Hawkmoth and Mayura, with some help, the Amokized pendant was caught and quickly broken. Swarm hit Mayura with Venom, and her Miraculous was taken with Miss Hound’s fetch, leaving a defeated Nathalie, and Hawkmoth standing alone. Ladybug would have to move quickly so Hawkmoth couldn’t Akumatize Nathalie, and looked down at the Lucky Charm in her hand: A lily. Looking around, she quickly developed a plan, Grabbing a few supplies, she made her way to the tallest point within the Shell-ter, and set a trap for the Akumas. Sure enough, the allure of a flower overpowered Hawkmoth’s control over the butterflies, and as a result, they left the villain powerless. The heroes were quick to surround Hawkmoth, and with no Akuma and nowhere to ruin, it looked like his reign of terror was over. “You’re done Hawkmoth, you lost,” Ladybug declared as she jumped down to meet the villain. His cane, which contained a small blade, was ripped out of his hands by Batman, who did not want to risk the former villain attempting to stab Ladybug out of desperation. Seeing as he had no way out, all Hawkmoth could do was sigh in defeat and remove his Miraculous. Once it was securely in Ladybug’s hand, Carapace let the shelter down, and one Miraculous Ladybug later, the destruction of the battle seemed like a distant memory. 

It was like waking up from a dream. For a moment, no one said anything, what was left to be said? News helicopters were now flying overhead, as people began to gather around. A few stunned police officers made their way to the front of the crowd to arrest Gabriel and Nathalie, and as they were marched away the crowd erupted in a roar of jubilation. The Miraculous heroes were quick to leave the scene, and not a moment too soon, since their transformations dropped shortly after they landed on a distant roof. As the rest of her team celebrated, Marinette turned to look at the Eiffel Tower, where it all started five years ago. It didn’t feel real, Marinette looked down at the celebrating crowd below,  she was happy, but she also felt lost in a way. Being Ladybug had been such a huge part of her life, and she hadn’t really planned what she’d do once Hawkmoth was defeated. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a familiar arm wrapped around her waist, “Hey,” Damian murmured. She could feel a smile growing on her face, “Are you doing okay my Lily? I thought you would’ve been celebrating as well,” Marinette leaned into his side, “I feel like I won the lottery… but I’m not sure where to go from here. I’ve been Ladybug for a good chunk of my life, all the plans I made revolved around being Ladybug and responding to Akumas. Now I don’t really know what to do with myself,” “Come to Gotham,” Tim shouted at the pair, effectively ruining the moment. Damian turned, shooting Tim a glare over his shoulder. “He’s not wrong you know,” Batman started, getting everyone’s attention, “You’ve proven yourself to be incredibly capable, and now that the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous are back in your possession, the threat they pose has been taken care of. We would be honored to have you join us and the rest of the Gotham Knights.” Marinette was stunned, she stammered over her words trying to piece together a sentence, “I, I don’t know what to say-” “How about yes?” Damian asked as he leaned in for a kiss. “Alright then. yes. “ Marinette responded as her eyes fluttered closed. Before their lips could meet, the moment was ruined, “Get a room!” Tim called, resulting in a groan from the couple, and laughter from their friends. 

Marinette took one last look around her bare room, almost everything was gone except for her bed and a change of clothes. This was her last night in Paris for a while, maybe forever unless she came back to visit. In the month since Hawkmoth’s defeat, all of Paris had been in a state of constant celebration, and tonight there was supposed to be the biggest party of all: to wish Ladybug good luck and farewell as she joined the Batfam and by extension the Justice League. She would be the only hero moving up to the big leagues, with the rest of the Miraculous holders involved in the final battle releasing a statement that they would be permanently retired until further notice. They cited that it would be too dangerous to have so many Miraculous out and active on a permanent basis, potentially giving supervillains multiple targets to go after, and the potential danger each Miraculous could pose if they were to fall into the wrong hands. They wished Ladybug well and stated that they’d always be ready if she needed them again. Panthère de Nuit was publicly revealed to be Robin, the vigilante from Gotham, along with a slightly watered-down version of why the Bats were in Paris in the first place. No one really cared about the schematics, Hawkmoth was gone, and people could live their normal lives again. Marinette plopped down on her bed, sighing as she watched the Kwamii fly about the room. There really was nothing left for her in Paris, Hawkmoth and Mayura were gone, the rest of her class finally apologized, Lila was exposed and she’d just graduated high school alongside her soulmate. All she had to do now was go to college in Gotham, build her fashion empire, and help defend the world whenever she was needed. She was excited, who wouldn’t be? That excitement was dampened by a sense of melancholy, Paris was her home and she had so many good memories here, some she could remember vividly, like her soulmate dreams. “Hey Tikki?” The little Kwamii paused, floating over to her champion, “Now that I’ve met Damian, am I going to stop having soulmate dreams? I mean I’ve never had them consistently before… but it would be weird for them to suddenly stop right?” Tikki sat for a moment in Marinette’s hand, pondering her chosen’s question. “Well, it depends. Soulmate dreams work differently for different people, but you primarily seem to get them when you’re in a situation relating to hope. When you’re either full of hope or desperately need it, that’s when your dreams seem to come to you. They act like a promise, a promise that all will be well. So I imagine that you may occasionally have one when you need it most or when you feel particularly hopeful. Anyways, I hope you’re ready, it’s almost time for the party to start!” Tikki cheered as the Kwamii surrounded the two. 

Damian sat atop the Eiffel Tower as Panthère de Nuit, he watched Ladybug (It’s Lady Miracle now, he reminded himself) as she made her way across the rooftops to him. She was followed by cheering from the crowd of people, who all seemed to surge forward towards the celebration. Occasionally she would stop to pull a few people out of the crowd who looked like they were having trouble, but nonetheless, she was making good progress. She landed next to him gracefully, and he stood to meet her. “Hello my Lily,” he whispered as he pulled her into an embrace. “How was your last day in Paris?” She hummed contentedly as she kissed him, pausing a moment to snuggle closer. “It was good. I finally got apologies from the rest of the class, and anyone else who believed Lila. I only had to deal with Adrien for a few minutes, he tried to convince me to stay in Paris and go to college with him instead of leaving for Gotham. Papa showed him the door. And I also finished up the last of my packing! I’ve never seen the room so empty, it’s kinda scary.” Damian sighed, It seemed like Adrien would always be a pain in their sides, he couldn’t do much, but he seemed determined to be a constant presence in their lives. The two decided they wouldn’t focus on it now, they had a celebration to attend to. 

The heroes wove their way through the crowds, talking to people, and occasionally stopping at vendors to purchase some snacks or merch. Eventually, the two made their way to where the old Ladybug and Chat Noir statue stood. There were plans to take it down and replace it. “It should just be a statue of Ladybug, I only came to help defeat Hawkmoth, but she has been fighting him the whole time,” Panthère de Nuit explained to the mayor and various sculptors and architects that were discussing it. Ladybug was munching on a chocolate croissant from her parents’ booth, when someone spoke, “So this is it huh? You won and now you’re just packing up and leaving?” She turned to see Lila standing there, arms crossed and looking a mix between furious and annoyed. ‘Annoyed Hawkmoth didn’t drag me down with him,’ Marinette thought, swallowing the bite of croissant. “Hello, Lila. Yes, I got invited to join the Justice League, so I’ll be spending a few years in Gotham training with Batman. How about you? Got any plans?” It was a bit of an antagonistic question. Since Gabriel Agreste was exposed, the brand Gabriel had been in a perpetual death spiral. Adrien, with the help of the board of directors and some lawyers, was able to stabilize the company, but it was going through a serious rebrand and may have to downsize. So Lila’s future as a model was shaky at best. Lila however, did not show any uncertainty, “Oh I’m probably going to continue modeling, after I finish college that is. Who knows, maybe I’ll leave that behind and branch into acting. Now,” her gaze hardened, “Let’s drop the pleasantries shall we? Hawkmoth is gone, so I expect I won’t be having any more trouble with you-” “Unless you decide to work with a terrorist again. The only reason you haven’t been arrested is because there isn’t enough evidence Lila.” “And it's going to stay that way. You have no reason to go snooping around my life anymore, and besides,” Lila shot her a smirk, “I’m sure the Justice League wouldn’t like it if it got out that their newest member was stalking an innocent model, accusing her of outlandish crimes.” Ladybug laughed, “Considering some recent revelations about you I don’t think I’ll have a problem convincing them you’re anything but trustworthy. So stay out of trouble, because you’ll certainly end up getting in over your head, and someday no one will be around to bail you out.” Lila made a sound similar to an outraged chicken, and placing a hand over her heart she cried, “Is that a threat?” an obvious attempt to make a scene. Ladybug simply shrugged, “Nope. It’s a warning. Do with it what you will,” and with that, she walked over to Panthère de Nuit, and the two swung back up to the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks. The show was amazing, the symbols of all the Parisian heroes lit up the sky, and Marinette contentedly sighed as she leaned into Damian’s side. Life was good. After a couple of minutes, the grand finale began, with the final fireworks spelling out: Thank you Ladybug and Panthère de Nuit.

[szanne7000]

🟢Windswept ~ A Witch Cottage🟢Simblreen Gift🟢TS4🟢

Windswept is a Simblreen Gift for all of you! I started this build on October 11th & finished it October 20th when I sent it to Bodaccia for testing. I started working on finding all the links (that I was able to find) Saturday, the 21st. Let me tell you that there are over 900 pieces of cc (and several of their swatches!) in this build… I think I’ve been dreaming about missing texture files, links, Google, & Wayback Machine every night when I finally went to bed, LOL. Bodaccia informed me of some things that needed changing, & I worked on those over Wednesday & Thursday & finished them all on Friday when I sent it back to Bodaccia for “emergency” testing. While she was doing that, I was finishing up the links & taking pictures. I think the only time I’ve worked harder & faster was when I was participating in DOTY. It is now about 4 pm on Saturday, October 28th, & I just need the Tumblr to work…

Happy Simblreen!!! I hope you are pleased with Windswept for a long, long time.

1 Bed/1 Bath

Living, Dining, Kitchen

Workroom & Consult Area

Spell Room

Séance Room

This build came about as a wish from my youngest son, Ben. He wanted a fantastical Witch Cottage to play in, & we both thought that all of you might enjoy it, too. Windswept is based on real-life architectural plans & my imagination. As many of us adults, he has loved The Sims since the beginning. In fact, both my sons (Travis is my oldest) were responsible for getting me into this game. Without my sons’ interest in this game, my love of building, landscaping, & decorating in The Sims would not have happened. Thank you, my Loves, for your push.

The Credits & Links pdf file included with the build contains everything you need to enjoy this build. Go see all of these Amazing Creators in their native habitats!

A Gigantic & Special Thank You to the following Creators who allowed me to include their content as a Gift with this build:

@karzalee -001StudioK @ADVMabra, @aggressivekitty @mel-bennett @psychicpeanutkitty @irinaseverinka @solistair & @theeaax

I want to give a Huge Thank You to all the Creators whose generous TOUs allow inclusion of their content with builds, which for this Simblreen Gift is most of you.

2SIS @alf-si Angel74 Anidup animefemme @pinkbox-anye @arcanewonder @ars-botanica @artrui Asyli @aroundthesims @baufive Bodaccia @budgie2budgie @buildingdiva @chalipo-all4sims @simthingnew - Chicklet Chisami @clarasims4fan @coralitt-sims Daer0n X MDN Daer0n S4D IDBD Elfydrell @ethericall @exzentra FAB @patchouli-sugar flirtyghoul @haruinosato @helen-sims Hel Studio Hel Studio X @sundays-sims @hydrangeachainsaw Ichosim @ilonastuffforsims4 @simverses - Ingeli @jools-simming @kerriganhouse @kitkatssimporium @lady-moriel lavi3enrose @leaf-motif Ledger Atelier-Modern @leosims4cc @lina-cherie Llen @loree-sims4 @loveratsims4 LunaLuciaLuna @luumia @lumenniveus @magnolianfarewell Mammut @mangosims4-blog @mimoto-sims @imminervaa @mio-sims @msteaqueen @mxims Nelfeah neriney-moxXxes, @nynaevedesign Ohmysims @oldbox1310 OrangeMittens @omorfi-mera @serenebluesims @cross-design @rumorukaraizon @sanoysims @saudade-sims4 sg5150 @simdertalia @sims4luxury @simspirationbuilds X Hel Studio Sn4 Snowhaze @sooky88 @syboubou Tekinkah thealienships-Willow Gardens @thejim07 @therran91 @tilly-tiger @tkangie @wykkyd-sims @xelennsimblr @yumesims & @yumia-x

The few creators whose content you need to get can break between patches; they all deserve an Enormous Thank You for everything they do.

@dorocash @momo-cc aka MountainSplitter @natdreamsims @simcredibledesigns & thepancake1 and @mizoreyukii

I also want to give a Massive Thank You to the Modders/Creators whose contributions make my game easy to finagle & look gorgeous: You do impossibly great work!

20thCPlumbob @bakiegaming crosire @k-hippie @lotharihoe @pictureamoebae @ravasheencc @simp4sims TwelthDoctor1, @twistedmexi @yakfarm & @zerbu

Lastly, I need to thank my Bestie, @bodaccia48. She’s absolutely the Bestest Bestie there has ever been. Even though she’s been under the weather this week, she fully play-tested this build to ensure that you & your simmies can enjoy it without issue. She even dragged herself out of bed right before I did a final save of the lot to run an emergency check to make certain some necessary fixes actually worked. Seriously, they don’t come better than you, Bestie!

🟢Download🟢

MEGA

MediaFire

YouTube Presentation

[notomys-mordax-blog]

I've let my thoughts marinate for a while after finishing up Dragon Age Veilguard. In the spirit of contributing to a fandom that I love, I'm going to be shouting my general thoughts about the game into the void instead of having the decency to keep them in my head.

TLDR: it's complicated. Better than expected, but still pretty flawed.

Things I liked:

I was initially pretty meh on the toonier direction they took the character art in. It felt like ... knock-off overwatch. However the style really grew on me as I played the game and I found that the character models were really expressive in a fun way.

The environment design was really colorful and fun! One of my biggest critiques of DA:O was how ... brown and ugly the game was. While I think it was probably the right artistic choice to remove the hilariously over the top post-combat blood splatter effects, I do miss it. This game had some really interesting visual design.

Watching Solas's worst memories like episodes of Real Housewives with the crew.

The combat was also more fun than expected. I definitely prefer tactical combat in games, and don't generally enjoy action games, but I had fun with it and felt like it struck (for me) the right balance between difficulty and frustration.

There were some really interesting and subtle things in some of the writing (especially when combined with character expressions). There were little characterization details that I thought were really well done (for example: the fact that Lucanis was obviously the most rattled at weisshaupt) . The prison of regret was a high point in the series.

I really liked a lot of the big lore reveals.

It was fun seeing some of the environments that we've only heard about. in the previous games.

I actually really enjoyed how direct Taash's gender adventure was. There was no room for "well actually, they aren't non-binary, they are this unique fantasy term that isn't actually queer". I also enjoyed how it acted as a vehicle for the other gnc characters in the story to have their moments. Bonus points for also having non-binary characters doing something other than gender with their lives.

The game was functional, complete and ran well on launch! I had to put down BG3 for like two months because it was unplayably buggy when I picked it up, and the ending of DA:I really doesn't have any impact without Tresspasser, which came out much later.

Things I didn't like:

The writing was very uneven and pretty awkward at times. The number of times the phrases "Gods, Rituals and Artifacts" were uttered by different characters, often without any further explanation, really made me itchy. It was really weird to me why the characters kept calling the Evanuris Gods (especially with a non-elven Rook). I also wanted to grab Neve by the shoulders and shake her whenever she talked about the venatori doing a ritual. WHAT KIND OF RITUAL? GIVE ME SOME JUICY LORE TIDBITS BEFORE I CHEW MY ARM OFF.

The venatori and the antaam were straight out of Saturday cartoon villains. Their motivation also made absolutely no sense from a world-building point of view (maybe if they leaned more into the fact that the elven gods were also the Tevinter old gods ...?). This whole conflict really felt ... underbaked.

I can respect the game design choice to want the player to be completely heroic, and frankly -- given that most people don't pick the "evil" path, it makes sense to devote more effort in creating permutations of the good path ... but I do feel like they really could have pushed the themes of "as a leader, sometimes you won't have any good choices" a little bit harder (idk -- I think it would have been interesting if instead of the blight dragon, you would have to chose whether or not you'd ally yourself with the venatori and leave Treviso to the Antaam or vice versa).

DA:I does a good job convincing me that Inky is creating complicated alliances between different powerful factions. DA:V falls flat in this regard. I think they were aiming for the different factions to feel small and scrappy, but with the exception of the Shadow Dragons (and maybe the Lords) ... the Wardens, the Mourn Watch, and the Crows are major political forces ... which feel weirdly small.

All of the companions were pretty ... unobjectionable and straightforward heroes. As someone who personally loved the dynamic between Anders and Fenris in DA:2, I was pretty disappointed by the lack of inter-party conflict. Serious cultural conflicts between characters such as Emmrich and Tassh were resolved .... without much fuss. I didn't feel like any of the conversations about the fact that Lucanis kills people for money had any teeth.

In that vein, I felt like the worldbuilding was also pretty defanged. Topics of racism and religious oppression were very prominent in earlier games. I think it's pretty obvious why having an oppressed racial minorities gods being the main villain would be a bad look. Heck, I can also understand and respect these themes being less fun for the writers to explore in the hellhole that is 2025, but I think this could have been handled in a more elegant way. Instead it felt weird and hand-wavy.

The crows really must've hired a PR team after that whole incident with Zev. My headcanons really had to do some heavy lifting.

We finally get to see Minrathous, the biggest magical city in Thedas ... and the area we explore is just a generic fantasy fishing town? We see the cool floating canons in the intro sequence! Give us more of those.

The game was inconsistent about incorporating bits of Rook's origins into the dialog. For example, the seer in Rivain explaining their relationship with spirits felt really weird with a Lord of Fortune Rook. Another (minor) example, Mourn Watch Rook eats the fish, it would have been neat to have the option for him to be vegetarian (given that this is common in Nevarra).

Romance is my favorite part of dragon age, and I felt like all of the romances were very ... paint by numbers.

Dreadwolf would have been a much better name.

Some of the comments from people involved in the game (specifically the AMA -- but also the whole "this is the most romantic dragon age game ever") had a weird vibe.

Where are Solas's agents? What happened to them?!

We were not betrayed by any of our apostate companions, 0/10 this is an important aspect of any dragon age game.

Rook felt like the boss that nobody wanted to invite to do anything fun. The companions seemed like they had a lot of dynamic with each other, but they never really directly spoke with Rook. It was weird how you couldn't talk to them. You had to awkwardly listen in on their conversations. Pretty much all of the companions have more chemistry with each other than Rook.

I have more thoughts about specific characters and plot points that I may share later, but I needed to expunge this from my mind like an exorcism.

[visceral-stories]

Inheritance

I’m back! Thank you all for staying with me during my long hiatus! I truly appreciate it and I hope you enjoy the story! 

Ko-fi |Twitter 

6:30 PM seemed like a rather late time for a job interview, but it had been the only option to work with Garrett Carmichael’s hectic schedule. An ambitious high school senior, his weekday afternoons were usually fully booked. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he participated on his high school’s Quiz Bowl team and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he attended meetings  with his math league. Unfortunately, being a productive, ambitious scholar was not a lucrative venture, save for the college scholarships he was already applying for. Garrett’s nonexistent financials were what brought him to apply for the position of a waiter at his town’s local banquet hall. 

He also needed something to balance out the drag that high school had become. He didn’t mind the schoolwork or classes as much, but none of his few close friends - or acquaintances even - shared his same classes. It felt like he was just going through the motions, forced to interact with people who he didn’t care for. The absolute worst was his fourth hour in World History where a gaggle of dim-witted football jocks made the class a living hell. They weren’t physical with him by any means, but they were the type to whisper under their breaths and mock the way he talked or his answers to questions. As a result, it made him far more apprehensive to raise his hand whenever he knew the answer in class. School sucked and on the weekends, he was free. Too free. Having abundant free time was nice, but it wasn’t like he had many hobbies outside of playing videogames with his fellow math league teammates or doing deep-dives on the internet about the multitude of scientific topics that interested him. Not only did he need money, but he just wanted to get out of the house for a few hours and not watch the Saturdays and Sundays glide past him every week. 

The application process had been momentarily bewildering for Garrett who had no clue how the website worked and he had to ask his mom what the digits to his social security number were. Every other high schooler his age had gotten a job already and he felt dumb for getting daunted by the simple process, but ultimately he persevered. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he stepped out of his car and walked to the front door. 

“Wow,” Garrett said with awe as he stepped into the nicest waiting room he’d ever seen. An immaculate tessellation of white and yellow rectangles adorned the ceilings accented by bold, curving polygons painted emerald green to resemble vines. The design appeared to extend far beyond the puny waiting room he was in and across the ceilings and walls of the main banquet hall, which he could see for a long distance. 

“Can I help you, sir?” croaked a male voice.

Garrett looked back in front of him to see a man sitting inside a booth in the corner labeled “COAT CHECK” - the only other fixture in this small, open space. He had broad shoulders and was wearing a fancy tuxedo, nearly filling up the whole window with his width. “I-ummm,” Garrett coughed and cleared his throat, peeved at the inopportune phlegm that had formed. “I’m here for a job interview to be a waiter here.” 

A warm feeling of dread filled Garrett’s body when the coat check guy just looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. Garrett remembered the man he’d been messaging in his emails. “I’m supposed to talk to a uhh…Mr. Clifford Atkinson.”

Thankfully, the man’s stoic face lit up with recognition. “Oh yes, he should be here within the next 15 minutes. His reservation starts at 6:45.” 

“Oh, okay,” Garrett replied. He adjusted his glasses and wondered why the Clifford guy needed a reservation. Didn’t he work here?

“You can take a seat over there and wait for him if you’d like,” the man offered with a faint smile. 

Garrett curtly nodded and quickly sat down in one of the few dark red office chairs outside the front door. He pulled out his phone and searched for that email he’d received from Mr. Atkinson. He could’ve sworn the email he’d received yesterday had told him to arrive at 6:30, but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found no matter how hard he searched for it. Crud. He must’ve deleted it or something. Emails were weird. 

The next ten minutes ticked slowly by, leaving Garrett with minimal entertainment besides a few men and women who intermittently came and went through the front door. They were dressed up in tuxedos just like the coat check guy. It was intimidating the way they moved to and fro. Their solid black jackets with stark white shirts bounced up and down with their movements, taunting Garrett with their sophistication. A layer of sweat formed around him as he realized he might’ve come to this thing underdressed. His casual attire of a light blue short-sleeved shirt, a Mandalorian Star Wars tie, and brown cargo shorts clashed heavily with the fashion here. He’d just gotten here and he’d already made a mistake. It was too late to go back home and change clothes so he decided to drown his fears by scrolling through social media. As he was catching up on IGN’s most recent game review, the door flung open. Garrett glanced up, expecting to see Mr. Atkinson, but instead, the last person he wanted to see stumbled inside. 

A tall, muscular  jock stepped inside, dressed in a light gray short-sleeve t-shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans, and of course - a signature backward cap. “Hey, what’s up man?” he announced as he swaggered up to the man in the coat check booth. “I’m here for the uh…waiter position.”

Garrett’s blood ran cold. It was Devon Kearney - one of the dumbest guys alive and unfortunately, the most prolific nuisance in his fourth-hour World History class. Every day, his deep, stupid voice filled the room as he tended to share every impulsive thought he had with the other football jocks in the class. He was a real menace, rude to everyone besides his little clique or, of course, girls in the class he found attractive. 

Garrett watched the employee gesture for Devon to sit in the chair next to him and a wave of fear filled his body as the jock’s face lit up.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” he boomed as he sidled over to Garrett, causing heads to turn. “You’re  that kid from history class!” He snapped his fingers, trying to remember. “Carmichael, Carmichael, Carmichael. Shit, what’s the first name?” he asked aloud as if Garrett wasn’t even there. 

Garrett clenched his fists. “My name is Garrett, you big-”

“Ah! That’s right, that’s right! I knew that!” Devon roared as he sat down two chairs away from his far skinnier comrade. “You look like a Garrett too,” he snickered with a cocky sneer that made Garrett want to strangle him. Devon was so fake, trying to act all cool and friendly with him as if he hadn’t spent the last three months mocking Garrett in class. Most of the time when Garrett raised his hand to answer a question, he could hear Devon or one of his stupid friends whisper to each other and giggle. Those jerks. Garrett couldn’t wait till he graduated in May and never had to interact with those bozos ever again.

“So what the hell are you doing here, man? Are you applying for a job too?” Devon asked.

Garrett sighed. He wanted to tell Devon to screw off, but that sure as hell wouldn’t go over well at school tomorrow. It wasn’t like the jocks had ever been physical, but he didn’t want to find out. “I’m applying for a job,” he said, not even bothering to continue eye contact. 

“No way! What position? Dishwasher?”

Garrett held his ground as he felt the spit in the back of his throat dry up. “Waiter.”

“You? A waiter? No way, that’s the role I’m training for too!” Devon let out a boisterous laugh that made Garrett’s skin crawl. “Hey, I support it man, but no offense, I…uh….I don’t see you being super social. Being a waiter means like…talking to people a bunch and making ‘em your friends to get stacks of tip money! And at a real fancy place like this, they’re gonna have fat bank accounts! No cap!” 

“Whatever,” Garrett huffed quietly, cringing at the “no cap” comment the most. He turned his phone back on and released an embittered breath.

“It is what it is, man,” Devon snarkily added. He began talking, mostly to himself, again as he pulled out his phone. “Oh man, wait till I tell the boys about who I found at the banquet hall!” 

An awkward silence filled the hall once more, save for Devon’s subtly obnoxious open-mouthed breathing, but moments later, the door swung open and a middle-aged man waddled inside. Garrett caught a faint glimpse of his massive torso out of the corner of his eye. His silver-haired head looked like a snow-covered peak nestled in between the two mountains that were his massive shoulders. Even more shocking was the fact that his pecs were even larger than his bodybuilder-level deltoids. They had entered the room before he did and only drew more attention as they were thinly veiled beneath the strained white dress shirt he was wearing. The top three buttons were undone, revealing a scandalous amount of male cleavage complemented by a light dusting of silver chest hair. 

Garrett noticed that even Devon was also gawking at this colossal guy as he trudged over to the coat check. He leaned over on the desk as he talked with the attendant and Garrett’s cheeks turned pink as he gazed at the man’s massive, imperious figure. Especially his round butt. The dude was absolutely caked up! The buttons of the back pockets of his blue dress pants looked ready to snap. He’d never even considered the idea that men could have butts that big. 

All of a sudden, the hefty stranger spun around on his heels and made direct eye contact with the two teenagers who were obviously gawking at his size. His jaw was the size of a lantern and his eyes had a piercing sapphire coloration to them. He looked like he was plucked straight from Hollywood or something. “Ah, Gentlemen, welcome! It’s nice to see you!” he boomed, the volume of his bassy voice sending a shockwave through Garrett and Devon.  

“Nice to see you too, man!” Devon replied, clearly in awe of the massive male specimen in front of him 

“Sorry about the outfit, boys. These tits of mine have been fighting me to get dressed today,” Cliff said with a playful jiggle of his partially-exposed pecs. “Getting dressed up is quite the hassle isn’t it?”

“Yeah for sure!” Devon said, intentionally lowering his voice to match the other man’s volume. What a kiss-ass. Garrett didn’t even know how to react. He just watched as the other young man hopped to his feet and extended his arm out for a handshake to which the man obliged. “I’m Devon.”

“Cliff Atkinson,” the man boomed as he shook Devon’s hand. Garrett promptly hopped to his feet as the man turned to him. “And who might you be?” he asked. “Just kidding, Garrett. I know who you are. Bring it in. I’m so proud of you.”

Before Garrett could even process what was happening, the man had pulled him in for a bear hug. It was unbelievably awkward, considering he had to hunch over to get down to Garrett’s 5’6” height. As Cliff gave him a firm, tender beat hug as tight as a vice, Garrett swore he could feel his lungs compressing from the immense pressure. It wasn’t like he knew what to say anyway. He had never seen this man before and now he was talking to him so intimately. It was so weird. When Cliff released him and gave him a tender pat on the back, he was nothing short of disoriented. 

Garrett was gasping for breath. Before he could voice his confusion, the mountainous man stood straight up again and clapped his dumbbell-sized hands together with a smile. “I am quite glad to see you both, but I must say both of your outfits are quite unbecoming. The guests should be showing within a half hour. Maybe even earlier.” He turned to Devon. “I’m sure you are new here so all is forgiven, but this is a high-class banquet hall and we take attire very seriously here. Not to worry though, we have some proper clothes for you! Do you know where the dressing rooms are?” 

“No sir,” Devon replied. Garrett peered over and locked eyes with a very sour-faced Devon, whose eyes were still boggling wide with disbelief. 

Cliff smiled. “Not a problem, I’m happy to show you.” He turned to Garrett. “Garrett can go with you too. We must get you out of those dreadful street clothes. It’s your very special day after all.”  

Garrett’s throat was dry from how shocked he was, but Cliff had already started leading the way before he could ask him a question - and he certainly had many options!  Like “why the hell did you say you’re proud of me?”  Or “what do you mean by special day?” But just the thought of questioning this hulking beast of man seemed way too daunting, no matter how tame he seemed.

Cliff turned and led the two boys into the banquet hall, which was far more capacious than Garrett had expected. The place must’ve been at least three-thousand square feet, with every inch of it decorated with Italian Renaissance artwork similar to what was in the lobby. Intricate geometric patterns lined the walls and surrounded the various paintings around the hall, which were also complemented by beige accents around the perimeters. There also had to be around fifty or so round tables all spread out in the open area. Some of the chairs were so close together that Cliff had to walk sideways just to get his broad figure past. 

“So how the hell does a guy like you know a guy like that?” Devon whispered as the two traveled through the array of round tables, his voice rife with envy. 

“I have no clue,” Garrett replied - the exact same question was on his mind. 

“Whatever,” Devon snarled, his tone rich with vicious envy. “I’m a better fit for the job than you anyway. You don’t even know how to talk to girls.”

Garrett coiled his fists. He wanted to retaliate, but he knew that wouldn’t end well. Imagining the five other football players targeting him would be a living hell. He decided to voice a general comment anyway. “Well Devon, it appears that we may have both gotten the job. I mean he never said otherwise.” 

“Bullshit, sir,” Devon hissed before his eyes widened with confusion after a few moments. “Wait, why did I just call you, sir? I-”

Before Garrett could respond, Cliff’s roaring bass silenced the boys’ tiff. “Downstairs is the staff apparel room,” he boomed as they reached a locked door on the opposite end of the hall and twisted a key in the lock. “Devon, was it? We have freshly laundered uniforms listed by size and you can find what best correlates with your size. We will meet you back here when you are dressed.”

“Okay. Yes sir! Sounds good, sir!” Devon replied, raising his voice to feign confidence. Garrett grunted in frustration. He wanted to wipe that stupid smug grin off that suck-up’s face. 

Garrett winced as he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. “You’d best follow him too,” Cliff added. “You know better than to dress like that. I’d expect that out of Devon because he’s just showing up to work, but your apparel is usually not this…pedestrian.”

Garrett’s heart leapt into his throat. Why on earth was this man commenting on his apparel of all things? He just got here! And why was he talking to him like he’d already gotten the job? Yet at the same time, Cliff was talking to him like he’d known him for years. “Oh, I uh…okay,” Garrett meekly apologized, acquiescing to the man’s strange claims. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to ask the man about his inappropriate hug earlier. “Say, when you said you were proud of me earlier, what did you-”

A marimba ringtone suddenly blared from Cliff’s pocket. He held up his index finger and produced an iPhone from his pocket although his meaty hands made it look like a toy. 

“Sorry Garrett, it’s the caterers,” Cliff barked. “I’ll meetcha back here in 15, alright?” 

“Oh um..I just-”

Cliff had already answered the phone and started walking away, revealing another glimpse at his broad backside. Garrett readjusted his big glasses and sulked. As he watched the burly stranger depart, he couldn’t help but feel some kind of attachment to him: a benevolence of sorts. It was almost eerie how overly-nice he was being, but it seemed earnest. Perhaps he could tell that Garrett was internally sweating bullets just to be here and was being accommodating. At least it appeared that he’d gotten the job without question? Both he and Devon. God, he didn’t wanna work with that doofus, but it appeared he had no choice. He also didn’t want to let Cliff down after all. The man had been generous enough to hire him on the spot. 

Descending down the old, stone staircase, Garrett entered a far less decorated area of the banquet hall. It smelled ancient down here. The air had a decadent, musty odor of men’s colognes mixed with a faint hint of mildew. As he rounded the corner, he noticed Devon was already sifting through a cabinet full of what appeared to be black uniforms. This room looked quite old and was rather charmless, save for a few photos of past galas and smiling well-dressed people on the walls. Something about this place was giving Garrett the creeps, but he couldn’t quite place it.

There was something different about Devon too. Even though his back was to Garrett, his entire outfit seemed a lot more…faded somehow? Maybe the light was playing tricks on him because the jock’s light denim jeans looked much silkier…and greyer in this light for some reason. Unfortunately, the poor basement lighting could not explain the shirt collar that had materialized around the jock’s neck. 

“How do they not have my size?” Devon griped, his back still to Garrett.

As Garrett walked closer to his acquaintance, a hazy feeling filled his head, as if he’d inhaled way too much of the dust down here. The ground started to feel farther away for some reason. “Wait, why are you shorter…than me?” he asked aloud.

“Shorter?” Devon snorted, now spinning around to face Garrett. “I’m not-”

The two boys stared at each other with unspoken shock as Devon’s tall figure began to squash down. He looked down in horror as the tall, muscular legs he used to score touchdowns were quickly reduced to two chubbier-looking nubs. The dramatic truncation left him at a condensed height of 5’8”, six inches shorter than before. His athletic torso appeared virtually unchanged, but his height - one of his most defining attributes - had been cruelly taken from him in an instant. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?” Devon roared, his composure gone in a flash. 

“I-I-I didn’t do this!” Garrett squeaked. If he wasn’t so terrified from Devon’s uproar, he would’ve giggled at his puny height. The jock’s muscular stature looked a lot cuter with his height condensed down - like he was a junior version of himself. “I…promise I didn’t. I don’t even-WHOA!” 

Garrett’s plea was cut short as he promptly shot up like a weed. At one point he’d been eye-level with Devon, but his legs and lower torso just kept stretching taller and taller until stopping at an imposing height. He flailed his arms out for a moment as his new 6’6” body nearly toppled over. It felt like he was walking on stilts! “Whoa! What the heck is happening?” he asked as he placed a hand on his forehead. Glancing upward, the newly-minted lanky sapling of a boy realized he was now only a few inches from touching the low, old ceiling. “No, no, I c-can’t be tall,” he stuttered. From the flabbergasted look on Devon’s face, he could tell he was shocked and quite jealous. Mostly jealous. 

Devon craned his neck up at Garrett and scowled with disgust. “This doesn’t even make any-DUDE, your clothes!” 

“My clothes?” Garrett asked. He glimpsed down and watched as his clothes suddenly started to cascade down his body. The first thing he saw were his t-shirt sleeves gliding down from his upper arms to his elbows until they stopped at his wrists. A pair of French cuffs formed on the ends of his new flowy sleeves, accompanied by a pair of distinct “POPS!” as two golden cufflinks materialized. They were nothing short of glossy, refracting the shoddy basement lighting beautifully. Simultaneously, Garrett’s cargo shorts started shuddering all on their own. They too began to distend further and further to the floor until they rested just above his sneakers. Darkness intruded upon the brown coloration of his shorts, turning them into a maroon and then a vibrant sable. A silky fabric also enveloped the khaki of the cargo shorts, stealing away their bagginess and eradicating the oversized front pockets.  

“What the hell is happening to us?” For once, Devon’s confident voice wavered, giving way to audible apprehension.

“I…I don't KNOW!” Garrett squealed as his new pair of pants was suddenly hoisted up by an invisible force. Or it wasn’t invisible, it appeared to be a pair of brown, leathery suspenders with metal clips that glistened in the light…which had magically materialized over him somehow? They locked in place and pulled Garrett’s pants up around his stomach. The movement scrunched up his t-shirt for a moment before the fabric magically levitated and gingerly tucked itself in, leaving zero wrinkles behind. “Y-you’re s-seeing this too, right?” he stuttered.

“Of course I fucking am!” Devon snarled, his face red with anger and embarrassment. Garrett’s eyes goggled incredulously as Devon’s new outfit looked even more elaborate than his. Gone forever was his grey t-shirt and blue jeans and instead he now sported a long-sleeved dress shirt fit with an array of vibrant mother-of-pearl buttons complemented by a pair of black suit pants. Devon’s new dapper attire accentuated every ripple of his body from his larger-than-average arms and legs. Most interestingly, his belly had a faint bump to it now, like he was bloated or something. 

Garrett was mesmerized as he watched the jock struggle in his new, expertly-tailored clothes. Simultaneously, he couldn’t resist the urge to steal glances at himself and watch as his shirt dyed itself blue and his new dress pants dyed themselves a relaxing shade of light grey. In unison, both of their respective waterfalls of new clothing entered their final cascade. To mark its near terminus, a brand new pair of black suspenders sprung up from Devon’s dress pants. They yanked his pants up high up past his belly button. “GUH!” Devon cried in anguish as the suspenders attached around his shoulders and locked his pants in a painful-looking position. Garrett didn’t dare look for long, but he noticed that the jock’s genitals were bulged up in the pants’ fly as a result. 

“This fucking hurts!” Devon cried, unable to hold in his rage “I can’t even feel my co-o--ock!”

Unlike Garrett, Devon’s clothes had a few more tricks up their sleeves. Firstly, an ocean of black stitching materialized over his pristine white dress shirt. It started at his shirt collar and promptly swallowed up his back and his pecs, until finally stopping just above his waist. Devon’s attempts to undo his tight suspenders were cruelly cut short as a brand new black suit jacket concealed his entire torso. Garrett gawked in disbelief, no longer concealing his curious glances. Devon pulled and picked at his new blazer with much ire. Three buttons appeared in the center of the boxy item of clothing and promptly fastened themselves. Devon’s abdomen and self-proclaimed “rock-hard abs” were concealed by the jacket while the top half of the blazer allowed for a triangle of view of his dress shirt. To complete his new expensive outfit, two black ribbons appeared on either side of his neck. Gracefully, they pirouetted around each other and promptly fastened a tight knot, leaving a spiffy black bowtie just under Devon’s Adam’s Apple. As a final touch, a purple strand of satin formed around the young man’s waist of all things. It wrapped around his obliques and banded over his lower back, creating a brand new indigo cumberbund and finalizing Devon’s extravagant uniform.

To finalize Garrett’s much less-invasive changes, a suit jacket of his own materialized and gently wrapped itself around his upper body. A checkerboard of green and white squares covered the illustrious, new fabric. He moved his arms around in it and was surprised to find that it felt light and breathable. Garrett’s eyes fell back onto Devon, who looked like a deer in headlights. Neither knew what to say. The strangest part was the fact that Devon’s pants were so tight - tight enough that Garrett could even see his balls all bunched up in the front. What was that called again? A camel toe? A moose-knuckle? Devon Kearney, one of the douchiest jocks in school, had an actual moose-knuckle. Before Garrett could stop himself, a small chuckle escaped his lips. 

“You think this is fucking funny?” Devon snarled before immediately placing a hand on Garrett’s chest and forcefully shoving him into the wall. For a body three-quarters as tall as it once was, he still retained quite a lot of strength. 

Garrett was petrified. “No, no, Devon, I-”

“This is all your fault somehow!” Devon roared, now inches from Garrett’s face. “Of course, being paired with Garrett Carmicheal of all people would result in some fucking weird nerdy black magic shit!” He tugged at his dapper uniform in disgust. The only remnant of his street clothes was the baseball cap still on his head. “I look like such a fucking dork!” 

Devon was speechless. It was disturbing to see the jock’s unflappable, cocky exterior completely shattered, replaced by flagrant rage. “Devon, I-” 

“Give me one reason why I shouldn't pound the shit out of you!” 

“Devon, no…stop!” Garrett stuttered, overcome with fear. 

Then, the strangest thing happened. Instantly, Devon obeyed the command. He released his tight grip on Garrett’s sternum and stepped back in an almost robotic fashion. “Huh?”

“My sincerest apologies, sir,” Devon replied, placing his muscular arms to his side and standing up as straight as possible. He shook his head. “Wuh, why did I…do that?” 

Garrett wasn’t sure how to react. Instead, he just focused on catching his breath and peering down at his disoriented comrade. It was wild to think that Devon, the 6’4” tall linebacker who towered over Garrett in history class, had been reduced to a meager 5’8” height. Even crazier was the fact that he actually obeyed a command. 

POP! POP!

It took a moment for Garrett to realize that the two sharp pings had actually been his top two shirt buttons flying loose. “My shirt…” was all he could say as he wordlessly glanced down at his now, partially-exposed chest. Instead of seeing a flat chest and distinct collar bone, he was surprised to see that his pecs were actually protruding out? And they were still inflating!

“Goodness gracious!” Devon exclaimed before putting a hand over his mouth. 

The two boys could only watch helplessly while Garrett’s chest continued inflating. His pecs were a statement now - two growing muscular slabs, as sturdy as bricks, that tempted with their masculinity. Short, spindly dark chest hairs sprouted up in the center, which had now formed a small chasm. Although Garrett was enticed, he was unbelievably confused. A scrawny geek like him wasn’t supposed to have tits like this! He’d never even set foot in a gym. Or maybe he had? After all, it must’ve taken a decade’s worth of vigorous exercise to get pecs this round and supple. They were so huge that even his nipples had been pushed to the side and had puffed out, now each closely resembling the tip of a baby’s bottle. They were so sensitive too. He could imagine them tensing up every time his French cuffs grazed them or whenever he would give them loving squeezes in private. In fact, he could recall they gave him some kind of unorthodox pride - seeing them perked up in every formal picture he’d ever taken. His bros would even joke and call him Kate Upton because of it. 

Garrett’s cock ascended, and noticeably tented his wool dress pants. Absent-mindedly, he ran a hand through his thick, long hair and parted it to one side - something he’d never done before. Of course, the hair didn’t stick due to the lack of product and instead, it just hung there as a gnarled mess with most of it flattened down and the other half sticking straight up like a porcupine’s quills. “God, what is happening to me,” Garrett huffed as he impulsively grabbed at his bulge. 

“It appears you’re changing, sir,” Devon aptly replied, his voice sounding a lot more monotone. 

“I…I really am,” Garrett replied, his voice nearly crescendoing into a moan as he gave his bulge a shake. “I look different, don’t I? More cleaned up, eh? More prim and proper. More mature, even.”

“T-that you do,” Devon confirmed, stuttering his words as he was forced to swallow a snarky rebuttal. He was losing his will to be a contrarian. Instead, his disposition was becoming far more accommodating and congenial, accompanied by an enhancing vocabulary. “Me too!” he pouted, his monotone voice once again possessing his familiar churlishness. “I hate this tux thing I’m dressed in. I don’t want to look mature! Although spectacular, my regalia is quite oleaginous, isn’t it? GAHH! What am I saying?!” 

Garrett gazed back up at Devon, or rather peered down at him - the fear and frustration was evident on the other teen’s distraught face. He also appeared to have put on a few more pounds somehow. His growing arms and pec muscles took on a far more squishy shape and his tight stomach crafted by years of high school football had a much pudgier contour to it. 

“GUHH!” Garrett roared, at a low register, similar to Devon’s voice, realizing the changes were far from over. Two shockwaves of blood surged through his arms, immediately filling them with volatility. A pair of massive, bodybuilder-sized biceps gradually inflated within the confines of the bespoke twill shirt. Garrett could only watch transfixed as his skinny, noodle arms - the things he’d hated the most about himself - became nothing of the sort. The muscles in his forearms followed suit as they pulled apart and tightened up with protein-laden muscle, becoming permanent, cylindrical-shaped obtrusions in every shirt he would ever wear. Around fifteen seconds later, Garrett’s barrel-sized arms were now tastefully concealed beneath the tight, stretchy fabric of his dress shirt. Mercifully, his golden cufflinks remained intact and undisturbed, their dazzling opulence a necessary accentuation of his rigid wrists. Garrett was in awe. Even his hands looked manlier - they looked more plump and more formidable somehow. His nails were perfectly manicured and his digits must’ve doubled in size, dropping their nimble slimness in favor of a more boxing glove-like shape. 

A wave of growth undulated through his abdomen as it began to slowly extend forward to a similar breadth of his mighty pecs. With it came two distinct pops, but this time it came from deep within his abs. It felt like he was flexing abdominal muscles that had never made themselves known before. To confirm his suspicion, the two pops multiplied into four and then six until concluding on eight square-shaped indentations etched into his abdomen. Bespoke twill felt incredible against his brand new eight-pack. “God, I’m really filling out, huh?” Garrett smirked as an impulsive affirmation to himself. 

“Yes, I am too,” Devon answered nervously. 

Garrett glanced down and the first thing he noticed about Devon was the bulbous sphere that his belly had become. It wasn’t like he was obese or anything, but to call Devon a jock would be laughably inaccurate. This stomach of his had to be at least fifty pounds and it jutted straight out like a boulder. It didn’t sag low like a belly normally would, it hung high and tall, suspended by hidden, rigid muscle. Something told Garrett it would only get bigger.

“AGH!” Garrett yelped as he felt two muscles viciously tingle each of his shoulders before they began to stretch upward. A pair of glorious trapezius muscles flared out, giving him a menacing hood of muscle around his neck similar to a king cobra. Quickly, their immensity made his small, boyish head and mop of brown, unkempt bowl cut look extremely out of place. As Garrett’s trap muscles finished their transition into ones that a bodybuilder would envy, he attempted to turn his head 90 degrees, but found that to be quite a challenge. His neck too had also stretched wider to compete with the overgrown atoll of his trap muscles. Eliminating the soreness in his new muscular neck, Garrett rocked it back and forth and felt his bones and veins snap into place. The process sent a giant tear through the back of his Star Wars tie, whose lopsided Windsor knot had also fared no match for Garrett’s expanding, meaty neck and shoulder. It now hung loosely, dangling precariously over his massive tits about to plop to the ground.

“Pardon me sir, your tie is askew,” Devon piped up.

Before Garrett could react, his portly acquaintance gingerly removed the tie from his figure and was running it through his hands. He blinked and all of a sudden, Devon’s hands were concealed beneath a pair of satin white gloves. Paired with that, his hands looked larger too - like two baseball mitts. 

“What is with this tie?” Devon added, staring at the Star Wars Mandalorian emblems on the tie. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah, it’s my good luck tie,” Garrett replied. “I wore it for…the interview…” He trailed off for a moment as his memories of an interview grew a little hazier. They were both here for some reason, but this seemed like a strange situation for an interview. “Have you always been wearing gloves?” It was a straightforward thing for him to ask, but he genuinely was curious.

“Yeah, it’s a part of the uniform,” Devon nodded although his brow furrowed with confusion over his own comment. It was as if he didn’t know what he was going to say next. 

“Okay,” Garrett replied intently, giving Devon a snide smirk. His cock bobbed in his trousers as he thought of the idea of a football player bending to his whim and being involuntarily supportive. 

Devon’s face didn’t show much more emotion. Instead, he was putting his new man-hands to work some magic on the tattered tie. As he rolled up the tie, the array of Mandalorian emblems began to fade. First, the helmet’s outline faded before diffusing in all directions and melting into the navy blue coloration of the tie. In some miraculous animation, Garrett watched as the colors danced into each other before brightening until they reached a divine, subdued seafoam green. With a firm shake from Devon’s hands, the tie fattened up and lost any trace of its former self. 

“What did you do?” Garrett asked, his heart sunk as his favorite tie from one of his favorite movies was gone forever.

“Hermés,” Devon said, answering a question never asked. “Mint is quite the nice touch for the outfit too.” He handed it to Garrett who just looked at it dumbly. “You know how to tie a tie don’t you?” Devon asked smugly, his voice sounding much more…posh and preppy. “We don’t want that Cliff fellow to be mad.” 

“Yeah for sure,” Garrett replied as he unconsciously wrapped the tie around his collar. In only a few seconds and a few deft maneuvers, his hands nimbly created a Windsor knot. 

“I taught you well,” Devon applauded, his eyebrow crooked as he dissected his statement. Still, his mouth continued its whimsical dialogue. “You can tie a tie as fast as I can tie my shoes. Or at least as fast as I used to be able to tie them.” He gestured at his bass drum of a belly and chuckled at himself. 

Garrett couldn’t help but snicker too. Devon’s bubbly nature was somewhat infectious. It was kind of hot - imagining the portly ex-jock catering to his needs, but also being a genuinely nice person. That would be a nice change.  

“Isn’t that better?” Devon asked. A faint panic still permeated his eyes, as if he wasn’t sure why he was asking these questions and indulging Garrett like this. 

“Yeah,” Garrett smiled with a conceited grin as he ran a hand through his floppy, greasy mop of crumpled hair. The movement caused more strands to flop down successfully, causing them to be quaffed straight back as if they were drenched in gel. Garrett didn’t pay it any mind. He just enjoyed how perfectly his mint tie complemented the checkered pattern of his blazer. This nearly-gaudy attire - he wanted to hate it - but he couldn’t. It accentuated his muscles perfectly! Oh yeah. His muscles. “I feel like a million bucks!” Garrett said with an honorary flex. 

“Good, good,” Devon jovially replied. In accordance with his jolliness, a new layer of fat formed around his stomach and stretched out his resplendent tuxedo even further. A wave of compassion and maturity overcame him, replacing his adolescent panic. Looking at a burgeoning young stud like Garrett made him feel…proud in a way? It made him feel oddly paternal, as if their ages were different or something? “You have to look your best for your special day,” Devon added, before grimacing at how cringe he sounded. Still, it felt eerily correct to assist Garrett with his newfound sartorial knowledge. 

“My special day?” Garrett asked before smirking once more. “That’s right. It…is my special day. I just can’t remember why.” 

“Me neither,” Devon admitted. His adolescent rage towards Garrett had faded completely. It was impossible to get mad a young, promising stud like him. Instead, he glared down at his new rotund body ruefully. “I look like a fucking gumdrop,” he pouted as he poked and prodded at his round belly and pecs. He craned his stubby neck to see that even his broad, hulking thighs made his dress pants look vacuum-sealed. It reminded him of wearing padded football pants. His chest was ridiculously huge too - his pecs were like two airbags resting atop a giant, protrusive boulder. Thankfully, his pecs didn’t sag like other older men’s man-boobs often did. They just hung there, taunting Devon with their undeniable stoutness. It was enthralling in a way - the idea of his cannonball-shaped stomach on display in every shirt he ever wore. That made him feel so…mature, like a father figure of sorts. His corpulence, unapologetically masculine, equally disgusted and excited him. At least his plump body looked well-dressed and concealed perfectly by this uniform. Devon could picture so many men his age, or…his father’s age, who didn’t know how to dress themselves - the type to have the undersides of their bellies exposed in public and who wore thin, ill-fitting t-shirts with visible, nasty sweat stains. Devon felt some strange pleasure in the fact that his clothes were tailored just for him. It made him feel much more…powerful that way. This well-dressed, paunchy body of his was an extension of his own masculinity. 

Garrett was lost in his own self-indulgent thoughts as he inspected his own chest. He gave his nipples a tweak and winced at how sensitive they were. Rubbing the back of his meaty hand against the expensive fabric, he could feel a  God, he loved being a man. A huge, hunky, muscular, young, confident man. One whose body jutted out in every direction in his formal clothes - kinda like Devon’s did, only Garrett’s were far more perky and traditionally attractive. He’d never clamored over his body like that before. It was quite the rush - a premonition of his constantly evolving virility and an extension of his own masculinity. 

“Wait, do you hear that?” Garrett asked abruptly, causing Devon to return back to reality. The two of them froze and sure enough, they realized that there was now an abundance of noise emanating above them. A faint bassline and drums could be heard accompanied by a moderately-loud chatter of people conversing. “There’s people upstairs.” 

Devon turned white as a ghost. “Oh no, oh shit dude, people can’t see me like…like this!” he cried, holding up his pudgy, balloon-shaped belly in rife disgust. 

“Yeah, you look like a blimp,” Garrett chuckled. For a moment, he almost regretted saying it, but his fear of Devon was dissipating. They were equals now - no longer bound by archaic notions of a teenage hierarchy. 

“Manners please,” Devon retorted, primping his suit. He didn’t appear to be that offended by the comment though, considering he didn't give Garrett any vicious retaliation. In fact, he seemed to be captivated by his tuxedo jacket. “My coattails. They nearly stretch to the floor!” he said with dopey astonishment, stretching his neck to inspect the way the coat draped over his pot-bellied frame. “They kinda look like a superhero’s cape. It’s quite…marvelous, isn’t it?” 

“Whoa, your voice! It sounds British!” Garrett laughed. “Would you like some tea and crumpets, governor?” 

Devon was not amused. “Sir, please,” he huffed, far more displeased than angry. “I don’t think it’s quite appropriate to make fun of my accent. I surely don't mock you for your deep voice.”  

A twinge of guilt pulsed through Garrett. If a jerk like Devon could learn politeness, surely he could too.  “Right, right, I’m sorry,” he said, completely oblivious while his voice lost its teenage squeak in favor of a commanding, baritone register. “I guess I never expected a football player to act so formal.” The voice that Garrett now had sounded like it belonged to a male country singer rather than a raspy 18 year old. 

“Football?” Devon gasped. He could recall playing it for a brief moment, but the memories of it all came crashing down instantly. Like a piece of paper being incinerated to ash. A man of his rotund stature certainly wouldn’t be the greatest at the sport unless he was an offensive lineman. “I have…never played football before,” Devon said, almost in a state of shock as the words left his lips. “I wouldn’t be too fast on the field. Not with a belly like…OOOFF…like this.” Without warning, fifty more pounds were piled onto Devon’s stomach, causing him to look like even more of a portly freak. This monster gut looked ready to rip free from his uniform at any moment, but thankfully it had swiftly stretched with his beastly proportions to prevent that. 

“Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s not called soccer where you’re from.” 

“Huh? I…oh yes, that’s quite correct.” Devon’s head was spinning. His definition of the sport was changing. Football was nothing like it was here in the States. It was a far less violent and barbaric sport in the U.K. but most importantly, it was an excuse to get a pint with the lads and watch his favorite team whenever he went back home. Or wait, wasn’t this home? Everything was getting fuzzy. 

Garrett was feeling the same way as he zoned out for a moment, gazing down at his sophisticated clothes. Or rather hunky, sophisticated body - the clothes were just an extension of himself. “Well, I think we should head upstairs and talk to that Cliff guy and maybe he can help us.” 

“Ah Cliff, what a fine gentleman!” Devon perked up, like a robot coming to life. His deep, Welsh accent teeming with merriment. “Yes, let’s!” 

Garrett tried his hardest not to snicker as Devon led the way. His bouncy, blubbery figure certainly didn’t move the way it once did. At first, he clearly was trying to move at the speed of a highschool quarterback, but his gait was reduced to a sluggish waddle. Something else had also changed about Devon. It was his back - which looked quite broader for some reason. Paired with his angular shoulders, his upper body was turning into quite an imposing-shaped rectangle. For a man of smaller stature, his figure was still quite imposing. 

“I’m sure everyone is waiting to see you.” Devon said merrily as he reached the wooden stairs.

“Ah that’s right,” Garrett replied and a burst of dopamine suddenly hit his brain, promptly inhibiting any more questioning of their predicament. It was his special day. Being the center of attention was something he craved - people all gathered around him, listening to him talk in length - it was like adrenaline to him : a formative adrenaline. He cherished all the accolades his hulking muscles would receive. From friends, from family members, from romantic partners. After all, he’d put in years of hard work!  

Garrett was aghast as he walked up the steps behind his paunchy companion. Devon already had the tight, muscle butt of a high school quarterback, but the ascent up the staircase immediately began shaping it into an enormous cushion that was impossible to ignore. With each step upward, his glutes flared outward in all directions, stretching his wool dress pants like lycra. Inflating like balloons, Devon’s mountainous asscheeks lost some of their muscled firmness. They rhymically bobbed up and down over and over, indicative of their increased fat concentration. By the time they reached the top of the stairs, two mounds the size of basketballs and as wide as pillows had replaced Devon’s former ass. He appeared to be none the wiser as he turned sideways for a moment and readjusted his cummerbund.

Garrett froze. His cock had risen to full mast and he hated it. Illuminated by a single overhead light, Devon’s mammoth figure cast a marvelous silhouette. The equal breadth of his glorious, distended stomach and protruding suited buttocks were so oddly compelling. And stupidly erotic. Then again, Garrett had been hard since the changes started…or for the past hour while he’d been getting ready. Yeah. That was right. Dressing up always got his hormones firing. 

“It seems like only yesterday you had gotten into college,” Devon reminisced as he turned his stubby neck up to Garrett who climbed to the top step. 

“College?” Garrett asked. He hadn’t even graduated high school. “I don’t think-”

“Look at yourself, Garrett, ” Devon boomed. The newfound sagacity in his voice sent a shiver up Garrett’s spine. “You’ve really changed from the small, precocious lad you once were. You heed advice and apply it into your own life. In university and in bodybuilding. Why, I remember when I used to be larger than you. Hah hah hah! That’s not quite the case anymore, is it?” 

“Bodybuilding? College?” Garrett was dumbfounded. Two retrospections ran parallel in his brain. In one, he was a teenage misanthrope who would much rather keep to himself and his hobbies while another, more forceful side of him savored the attention of being a heartthrob, junior bodybuilder. He craved it, actually. He wanted to loathe the feeling, but he couldn’t. Everything around him was spinning out of control so beautifully, but something told him that this was a very good thing.

“Why yes,” Devon replied, “We’re all so proud of you. You have that ambition that’s going to get you very far in life.” His voice cracked a bit. “I wish I had more of that when I was a lad.”  

Before Garrett could stop himself, he’d already wrapped his arms around the portly man.  Given their height difference, he’d had to lean down slightly, but he didn’t even realize he’d done that. Devon quickly reciprocated and a mutual wave of growth radiated through the two of them. It was a weird burst of unbridled sympathy the two had never felt for each other once. But it was real. 

Firstly, Devon’s belly gained a final thirty more pounds, swelling larger than a yoga ball and tight as a bass drum. At one point, he’d competed in bodybuilding competitions just like Garrett was…or was going to. But now, a stout aging man like Devon much preferred to possess a distended, glorious muscle gut formed from decades of hard work and newfound relaxation. His body type was truly one of a kind - he had to make his own custom clothes for it too - and nothing made him more enthusiastic that Garrett appeared to be following the same fate of growing gigantic. Finishing its inflation, Devon’s belly pressed tightly against Garrett’s abdomen, which was starting to shrink in exchange. Any remaining pudge Garrett had was trimmed away and repurposed into a lean, X-shaped of a competition-ready bodybuilder. His nonexistent butt also began to change, promptly losing its shapelessness as it inflated into two boulders. His rear was only around three-quarters the size of Devon’s, but it had equal strength. Garrett had an enormous, perky muscle butt formed by nearly a decade of strenuous squatting and consistent training. In tandem, Garrett’s slender thighs beefed up, becoming a set of poles that could effortlessly support his hulking frame. Subconsciously, he rocked back and forth on them and the new muscles tightened into pillars as thick as stone. 

“Thank you,” Devon replied as the two pulled apart. His eyes were glassy and his face had a myriad of more pronounced lines on it now. He was so happy now, happier than he had ever been from his life as a football player. Being a British butler, a man of superlative etiquette, and passing eclectic style and machismo onto a man like Garrett - that was his new purpose. “You’ve become the man deep down that I knew you always could be.”

“Of course,” Garrett smiled. He felt like his heart was going to explode. While studying Devon’s new venerable face and more mature sunken eyes, he blinked and all of a sudden, his baseball cap disappeared! Not only that, Devon’s head of vibrant blonde hair had vanished too, leaving behind a faint horseshoe of hair. He pictured Devon as having a younger, boyish face in his head, but those memories were crinkling away as he looked into this new, mature man.“Your…your hat,” was all Garrett could say. 

Faint wrinkles texturized themselves around Devon’s face as he smiled. “Yes, the bowler hat felt a little unfitting on a very formal occasion like this.” 

“No, you were wearing a…” Garrett trailed off, immediately forgetting that a bald, astute gentleman like Devon would ever wear a baseball cap. That seemed too…juvenile for him. Whenever he did wear a hat, it was usually a top hat or something. Even more paralyzing to Garrett was the fact that this man in front of him didn’t feel like a stranger anymore. He felt like a family member. Like a mentor of sorts. It made sense. After all, he’d known Devon his entire life. A hazy memory traveled through Garrett’s brain. He could remember being young, back when Devon had a full head of hair and he’d wanted so badly to impress him. Now he had and the family butler couldn’t be more proud. Wait, family butler? That seemed correct for some reason, but it make any-

“Have a fun night, kid,” Devon smiled, uniquely giving the words a staccato affectation with his charming British accent, as he opened up the wooden door to the banquet hall. 

Bright lights inundated Garrett’s corneas, like he’d stepped into heaven. When his eyes adjusted, he could make out around what appeared to be one hundred or so people occupying the previously vacant hall. Their attire was ritzy - like nothing Garrett had ever seen. Women adorned with beautiful, stylish dresses paired next to men dressed up in bespoke three-piece suits of various colors. A multitude of tuxedoed waitstaff were maneuvering in between the crowd of affluent guests. All parties involved seemed to be engrossed in pleasant, light-hearted conversation. 

Seeing them all sent a tidal wave of fear through Garrett and the same teenage nerves he thought he’d banished inundated his brain. “Devon, there are so many-”

He turned, but Devon had already begun conversing with a crowd of five male waiters nearby who were dressed in identical tuxedos. He wanted to chuckle at how Devon’s cartoonishly massive butt eclipsed his view of the men he was talking to, but he couldn’t. In his peripheral vision, he could see people start noticing him. All the confidence he’d once had vanished instantly replaced by his familiar teenage nerves. He hated crowds - hated them so much. And now here he was trapped in the middle of one of the largest ones he’d ever seen. 

Just as Garrett took his first step forward to try and slink towards the wall, he nearly collided with the silhouette of a huge, imposing man who nearly knocked him to his feet. Luckily, his reflexes were quick and he jumped back on his heels. 

“Vince, there you are!” thundered the familiar, lofty stranger. It was Cliff - his interviewer of all people? He also looked more put together than before. His massive pecs were thinly concealed by a tight dress shirt preventing any chest hair from peeking through. At his side was a breathtaking entourage of beautiful guests, a group of men wearing flashy, velvety suits and a group of women wearing extravagant, ruched dresses. “We were wondering what was taking you so long!” 

“Huh? My name’s not-” Garrett stopped. His deep voice, almost as low as Cliff’s, startled him and reminded him how manly he sounded. Before he could analyze it, two new heels abruptly shot out of Garrett’s sneakers, launching him a half-inch higher into the air - allowing him to become eye level with Cliff - the man who’d previously towered over him. He wanted to tremble, but there was something so comforting about the older man’s face. It made him feel seen. There was a broad, beaming smile on Cliff’s brick-shaped jaw, emanating the same sage-like reverence as Devon had. 

“There’s the man of the hour!” another well-dressed man around three-quarters the size of Garrett exclaimed. By this point, the group of guests had swarmed all around him, rendering any chance of escape impossible. His heart felt like it was going to explode out of chest, from stress and a weird, weird sense of familiarity with these people, especially one of the men in front of him. His face was devoid of wrinkles and his forehead devoid of furrows. Must’ve been a lot of Botox. Even his hairline mirrored Garrett’s, which was impressive given he looked to be in his sixties or so. “Put ‘err there, Vince!” the dapper stranger exclaimed, extending out his hand. 

Garrett acquiesced, not wanting to be rude. He didn’t realize how clammy his hands were until they were against this man’s dry ones. “Thanks, Uncle James. It’s so good to see you,” he replied before flinching at his weird, automatic response. 

The man didn’t seem to care about being Garrett’s uncle. It did seem to make sense though. He looked like Cliff, only a few years older. “Look at that! He already got himself a Rolex! Lookin’ sharp, son!” 

“A…what?” Garrett looked down at his right wrist and sure enough, there was a watch with a rich, emerald hue that looked nothing short of expensive. Upon further inspection, he realized it was the same green shade as his preppy checkered blazer and it had the same eye-catching shimmer of his cufflinks. Fuck. That turned him on for some reason. Luxury. Power. Being all dressed up. “Yeah, doesn’t it have a marvelous sparkle to it?” Garrett added, unable to contain his excitement. His voice sounded different now - a little more pompous. He was really holding the vowels of words in his mouth for longer now. It reminded him of the rich kids from his high school. Wait, where did he go to school again?

A lady in a lavender velvet dress holding a bubbling glass of champagne spoke next. She used big gestures to the group, as if she was showing Garrett off like a trophy. “Our son - the Yale graduate,” she declared, her voice sounding as proud as Cliff’s and as proud as Devon’s. “I can’t believe he finally did it.” 

“Top of his class too!” Cliff added, sipping on a glass of scotch. “Don’t forget about that, Pauline.” 

“Of course,” the woman smiled. “We never doubted our son for a second.”

“Graduated? From Yale? No, I’m…” Garrett sputtered as the final realization hit him. This was a party. All for him. And Cliff and Pauline. They were…his parents? That didn’t seem right, but Garrett had trouble recalling any other alternative. He could recall glimpses of his upbringing in opulent rooms, going to high-class events and developing a sartorial affinity. He now truly felt like an adult just like them. His parents’ positive words echoed in his head, filling him up with joy. For the first time in a long time, Garrett felt proud of himself. His memories of a recluse were fading while recollections of being a valedictorian and relaxed, sociable young athlete took their place. 

“Looks like he’s been hitting the gym at the same time!” Uncle James piped in. “What’s your current weight?”

“280,” Garrett replied and instinctively performed a front lat spread to the group who all laughed pompously. 

“Don’t get him started,” Pauline replied with a playful tap on Garrett’s shoulder. 

Another man spoke up who looked muscular too, although not as muscular as Garrett. “Even during football, you were never half this size. You really took to bodybuilding during college! I can’t believe I’m looking at the same kid!”

Garrett beamed with pride and his posh accent swallowed up his old one completely. “Once I knew football wasn’t in the cards for me, I decided to take weightlifting more seriously and it really helped me.”

“Isn’t that great,” one of the ladies in the crowd smiled. 

“He sure takes after his old man!” Cliff smiled, wrapping his arm around his equally-strapping son. 

Garrett froze as he fully took in the breadth of his alleged father. For lack of a better word, he was just so manly. Even being a man in his fifties, he still had some incredible size to him. He must’ve been sixty pounds heavier than Garrett, which was nothing short of impressive. Cliff’s cerulean three-piece suit looked ready to rip off. Garrett could recall some strong feelings about that: the idea of getting to a massive size where all of his suits had to be custom-made to contain his sheer width. He could faintly recall a short, plump man measuring him with yellow tape as he crafted measurements for him.  

Holy shit. That man was his family butler. The one he’d just seen earlier. What was his name again? Acrid guilt pulsed through Garrett’s head. This butler had been with his family his entire life and he couldn’t even remember his name. Even Garrett’s own name was growing harder to remember, but he knew one thing for sure. His name certainly wasn’t Vincent. 

“Any refills on champagne?” chirped a familiar ebullient voice. 

“Yes please, thank you Reginald,” one of the ladies chirped back as the butler filled up her tall glass. 

Garrett turned and sure enough, his family butler was right there: Reginald Chapman - a 400 pound intimidating colossus who was actually a kind-hearted giant. 

Garrett tried not to laugh. This whole situation was so far-fetched. It reminded him of that one Rick & Morty episode where the family in the show had gained memories of a butler who they thought had always been part of their family. But this situation was different from a silly cartoon like that. It wasn’t like Reginald lived with them although he was over at the house working full-time. Hell, he’d even gone on family vacations with the Atkinsons. He’d even brought his husband along. It had been a strange sight - seeing the family butler and his equally-large middle-aged husband on the beach, but it had been illuminating. But still, Reginald had his own life. He was simply the Atkinsons’ staff member. A lifelong, steadfast one at that. Happy to cater to Garrett’s needs whenever necessary and give him advice on life and bodybuilding. It seemed weird to have a private butler, but not for a family like the Atkinsons who were filthy rich. 

For a moment, Garrett found that somewhat exciting - the idea of a massive man catering to his needs, but it wasn’t weird like that. Even with his portly figure, Reginald had been quite an inspiration for Garrett to take bodybuilding seriously. He’d wanted to grow - to get as big as one of his idols - a kind-hearted Englishman who was like his second father. In fact, it had been a conversation on a Bahamian beach with Reginald and his burly partner Oliver that had made Garrett realize he was bisexual - a whole separate epiphany.  

“I assume the college grad over here needs a fresh glass too!” Reginald piped up, producing a clean wine glass for Garrett. He poured the perfect amount of the liquid into it and smiled. “He’s truly one of a kind isn’t he?” 

The group smiled and laughed in agreement. Garrett took notice of the other patrons in the background who were also turning his way. Reginald had the volume of a foghorn after all. In the crowd, Garrett could make out a few guys and girls his age - some of the friends from college. Some of them were really attractive. This really was quite the celebration. And it was all for him.

“Dom perignon, sir,” Reginald smiled, handing Garrett the glass, his fifty-six year old face glowing with adulation. 

Garrett took a sip and smiled - the expensive liquor tasted incredible. He swore he could feel the bubbles fizzing in his mouth after he swallowed. 

“Raise your glasses, please!” Reginald boomed. The guests immediately obeyed, all with smiles on their faces as they stared warmly at Garrett. “To Vincent Atkinson!” Reginald thundered as the background chatter quieted down. “A young man who has changed my life as much as I hope I’ve changed his!” 

There was that name again. Garrett wanted to reply, but instead a warm, compassionate feeling overcame him. He was touched by the sweetness of the family butler - a man who inspired him every day. 

A cheer from all of the guests echoed through the banquet hall. They all took a sip except for Reginald who just warmly smiled. “Have a glorious night you all,” he said with a bow of his head before swiftly walking away to tend to other patrons. That’s right. Reginald was on the clock. That enthusiastic, diligent butler. Garrett watched as his plump body bounced within the confines of his long, dangling coattails as as he sidled over to another crowd. 

“Vince has grown up so fast!”  chimed in a male patron as the chatter started back up. “He’s sure got that Atkinson family chin!”

“Wait until he gets those Atkinson family veneers!” chimed in another who received a chastising shove from his wife. 

“Family…chin?” Garrett mumbled as he felt a bubbling sensation emanating from the bottom of his face. It was the weirdest feeling, like someone was popping bubble wrap under his chin. The final piece of him was changing - his face. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to see it happen in real time. He just had to. “Excuse me, please,” Garrett said before promptly darting away before any patron could stop him. With each distinct footstep, his dress shoes grew more and more glossy, echoing throughout the opulent hall. Luckily, he located a bathroom nearby and promptly slunk inside, but not before feeling his broad shoulders scrape against the sides of the old, wooden doorframe. Garrett skulked to the mirror a panicked, breathy mess and promptly froze with disbelief at his strapping reflection. 

Everything about him was huge. Unbelievably huge.

He turned to his side and ogled over his humongous chest and back jutting out in either direction. Even his biceps looked prime to rip right out of his checkered suit jacket. Lower on his body, his bulge and tight, muscle ass also jutted out from his midsection, quivering with his movements, both exuding undoubtable manliness. Now in complete privacy, Garrett’s cock rose back up to full mast. His body - it reminded him of Cliff’s - his new father - unyieldingly masculine and provocative. He was burning up under this sexy yet stifling outfit his butler had picked out. 

“I’m an Atkninson,” he said to himself, eager to look like just his father - his idol.

With a distinct set of cracks, his stubby chin erupted forward, immediately doubling its width and acquiring a brand new shovel-shape. Any awkward half-grown teenage facial hair vanished with it, endowing Garrett with a clean-shaven, spotless chin accompanied by the subtle aroma of expensive aftershave. Next his lips inflated like two balloons, puffing out to an extremely kissable level. His teeth straightened and became a pure shade of white. Transfixed by his reflection, Garrett watched in wonder as his unsightly pimples and zits were eradicated from his face. In one swift blink, his eyes changed from hazel to a bright blue accompanied by a slightly thicker yet attractive nose. Propelled down by an invisible wave, Garrett’s unkempt bowl cut was finally subdued and all of the long, strands shortened to a preppy, professional length. An expertly-placed layer of gel coated the young man’s greasy brown hair, slicking it back in an instant, taking off a few inches with it. 

“Mmm fuck,” Garrett huffed as he swore he felt a gust of air rush over his head. A glorious tidal wave of bright blond hair came next, swallowing up his old bushy brunette forever. He wanted to be mad at how preppy he looked, but it didn’t make sense why. This was how he’d dressed his whole life. 

“I’m an Atkinson,” Garrett repeated, hard as a rock while he watched his boyish features mature ever so slightly, eradicating anyone ever mistaking him for a teenager ever again and aging him up in a man in his early 20s. That wasn’t who he was after all. Everyone was here tonight for his college graduation. 

Garrett was treated to a final, illustrious animation of his altering face in the mirror as any remaining “Garrett-hood” he had was eliminated. His hairline pulled down slightly making his forehead less prominent, his eyes grew a little closer together, and his ears shrunk ever so slightly. And then as if Garrett had been staring at some magic-eye poster, it all clicked into place. His handsome face looked just like a younger version of his father. “Fuck yeah, I’m…Vincent Atkinson,” he trembled, his voice rife with anticipation. 

That utterance - it sent a shockwave through Vincent. In an instant, an invisible sonic boom erupted through the room. It forced down his eyes and locked all of his handsome new attributes in place - never to be taken from him. Simultaneously, his rock-hard cock became flaccid. When Vincent reopened his eyes, he was left staring at his reflection in the mirror and there was a watery sheen over his aquamarine-shaded eyes. He was on the verge of crying for some reason? He blinked a few times and the tears only welled up further in his eyes. The lifetime of Garrett Carmicheal disappeared, replaced by a brand new handsome stud. Forever. 

The instant Vincent’s mind transformed, the bathroom door flung open and in stepped a familiar, enormous man. 

He flinched. His eyes were still watering. Why wouldn’t they stop? Why did he feel so sentimental all of a sudden? 

Vincent’s father’s stern face immediately softened as he sidled up to his son. “Hey, hey, it’s alright to cry at these things, Vince,” he soothed his father as he wrapped his tree trunk of an arm around his son’s shoulders. 

Vincent sighed and a single tear rolled down his cheek before he could stop it. The emotions were so much. He couldn’t believe what he’d been through. All of the schooling and now this - a graduation: which felt like the destruction of his youth. “I don’t even know why I’m crying,” he admitted, his voice hardly trembling. “It’s just so much. I can’t believe I’m like…like a real adult now.”

“It’s alright. Sometimes the emotions can be too much to endure. Come on, bring it in,” Vincent’s dad said, pulling his son in close for a mighty bear hug, which was immediately reciprocated. Immense strength radiated between the Atkinson men as they squeezed each other tenderly as hard as they could. The immeasurable comfort of his father - the man who had helped shape him into the confident, buff specimen he was meant to be - was so much to bear. An involuntary whimper escaped Vincent’s lips as he rested his head on top of one of his father’s strong shoulders. “I love you, kid. I’m so proud of you. We all are!” Vincent’s father added as the two released each other. He wiped a tear of his own from his own face and exhaled. 

“Thanks dad,” Vincent replied before coughing and standing up straight again. He sighed and re-flattened one of his French cuffs - obsessed with the idea that his clothes were just an extension of his masculinity. Formalwear was always such a confidence-booster. Reginald had helped inspire that in him. “I think I’m alright now,” Vincent smiled. “I really needed that.”

“Anytime,” Vincent’s dad replied and the two of them headed back to the bathroom door, their two muscular butts both wider than the doorway. “How’s it feel to be a graduate?”

“Incredible,” Vincent smiled. “Like the world is at my fingertips.” 

[bcacstuff]

Timeline 12 March 2024 - June 2024

For completeness and to consult when there’s discussion about his whereabouts. In addition to the previous timelines.

Timeline 12 covers 2 March 2024 - 29 June 2024

For previous dates see timeline 11

On 2 March he's at the Hyrox races in Glasgow, some fan pics were posted. He was registered and results showed up on the website, but it's unclear if he competed himself or someone else in his slot as he never posted any pics

In the weeks after he stays in Scotland a fan pic was taken on March 6th in Doune

Same day he posted some stories from Loch Lubnaig, recording a promo for MoM and getting interviewed by Charlotte Reather at his home for The Field magazine.

On 17 March he posts a story showing the St. Patrick Parade in London. A day later Paul Telfer posts a pic saying he met Sam in London over the weekend. Another fan pic taken on 20 March shows he's still in London.

On 21 March Starz finally get the word out OL S7b will be released in November, fans are not happy. Most likely they recorded the same day a promo showing S8 production started Monday 25 March,

while we already saw he was back home on Friday 22 March by a story, and a post on 24 March, the last one recorded over the weekend

More fan service posted on 1 April by Starz and confirmation of a 4 day break over Easter, back to work on Tuesday 2 April

On 13 April he's at Landcon 6 in Paris where he tells they've been filming S8 for 3 weeks now. Lots of videos and pics are shared as well as a live blog (also see my archive)

The next day he's registered for Hyrox Cologne but doesn't turn up, instead he's spotted by 2 fans in Paris. He flies back the evening of 14 April to Edinburgh

On 21 April he's spotted in Edinburgh by 2 fans, he apparently is there to treat his OL team on a lunch at Tony Singh's Supperclub in Edinburgh. In the evening he's spotted again

The next day on Monday evening 22 April he visits Midhope Castle with AN, where he's gifted some socks, but everyone is more curious what he's holding in his hands as it looks like a map or documents!

On 25 April he's in Edinburgh getting interviewed, two youtube videos are posted on 24 May

The weekend of 27 & 28 April is the MPC Gala weekend, lots of videos and pics are posted from the workout session on Saturday evening and the Peaker Games at Murray Filed on Sunday and the closing Gala. (see my archive for more footage)

On 30 April, his birthday he gets his birthday cake at the read through of Block 2 S8.

On 4 May he posts a couple of selfies showing he's in London. The same day a fan spots him in Kensington having lunch with SHer. He went to see her race at the Hyrox event in the same area, he didn't compete himself despite being registered (again)

It's unclear if he has been on set the week after, there are some doubts. Though he seems to be (back) home on 14 May when he posts a story from a magazine which shows his kitchen counter on the background.

The next day 15 May, he's clearly back on set showing his trailer which seems to be decorated during his absence by a costume designer (he tags). It's food for jokes during the next days and week.

On 24 May he posted a video announcing from the decorated trailer he'll be at Top Shelf in SF on October 5&6.

On 29 May an article is published by JJ of him holding hands on Dean street in London with a 'mystery woman', which caused quite some stir, he even adjusts the settings on his IG for some days

On 30 May he drives Dries Vos around Glasgow on his motorbike as if nothing happened.

On 1 June (OL Day) a teaser for S7b is released and a final date is announced (22 November)

On 2 June he posts a video and pics from a Kayak trip he apparently had the day before with some of crew members

On 5 June he posted a video joking about Taylor Swift who's going to give some concerts during the next weekend in Edinburgh which most of the cast will attend per his saying

On 7 June he apparently attended a concert of James at the OvoHydro in Glasgow. Most likely with a crew member as that person posted about it as well

On 8 June the main cast of OL and Maril and publisher Louisa attended the Eras Tour Concert from Taylor Swift in Edinburgh. Many posted their videos and pictures (more in archive)

The weekend of 15 June he stayed at the Avochie Estate where he spent an afternoon fly-fishing on the River Deveron

On 21 June he posted a story showing the new Mudlarking book from his kitchen counter

On 23 June he did a self-guided mountainbike ride at Comrie Croft, some fans posted a picture at the Tea Garden at Comrie

On 29 June he attended (again) the Giorgio Armani Tennisclassics. He was spotted seating in the audience next to a woman who turned out to be Alice P. showing some PDA

Other timelines:

Pre Hawaii timeline

Timeline 1 August 2020 Timeline 2 September 2021 Timeline 3 February 2022 Timeline 4 August 2022 Timeline 5 October 2022 Timeline 6 January 2023 Timeline 7 April 2023 Timeline 8 June 2023 Timeline 9 August 2023 Timeline 10 October 2023 Timeline 11 December 2023

[raconteur-wanpi]

One Piece 1132

I don't have a lot of thoughts on this one, yet somehow it might be my favorite Elbaph chapter so far based on vibes alone!

OK I'M GONNA START WITH THE MID-CHAPTER DOUBLE SPREAD BECAUSE WOWWWWW. Wow. God the atmosphere and the scale and the art is off the charts. The Luffy and Usopp bit made me smile sooo hard I'm going insane in the head.

They're so cute. Usopp is so cute here, shut up!!! I'm so happy, this is so important to both of them! This gives me hope that their dynamic will be explored more once again. My boy's dream is coming true.........

Anyway as I said, I don't have too many thoughts this time around, but I am so so glad Oda found a way to unite every single group of characters in this chapter.

I tend to hate "everyone is separated and therefore confusion / misunderstandings / hijinks ensue" type plots, so this was a relief. But also, the convergence was just done in a very competent way, and the whole time there's a lighthearted and fun atmosphere that makes it fun to read.

This chapter in general just made me happy. It's a very charming and explorative chapter of small good things happening, before we settle into any serious plot. Somehow because of that, as I mentioned earlier, it's been my favorite so far!

Also I know I said this last time too, but I love Goldberg and Gerd so much as a little character duo. They have a very charming dynamic and really cute designs, I hope we see much more of them throughout the arc!

I like how Gerd comes off as kinda unintentionally patronizing towards humans lmao. She has good intentions but she kinda treats them like lost little puppies or something.

And speaking of the New Giant Pirates, people were probably right on Rodo being based on Gargamel a bit, lmao. This brought me back to my childhood, it definitely has that vibe. Good Saturday-Morning-Cartoon slapstick. Nice to see he continues to be absolutely terrible. But hey, at the very least he gets the lights kicked out of him by Goldberd and Gerd.

Speaking of old nostalgic cartoon and comic-book properties that inspired Oda in this arc, we also see a lot of that giant kid who seems to be based on Vicky the Viking again. Turns out his name is Colon and his family lives on the village on the second layer (the "Sun Realm" as they call it). The barmaid, who is presumably his mother, also mentions a character called "Ripley", but we don't know anything about who that is yet. I hope Colon ends up being the Aisha / Tama etc of this arc, it'd be really cute!

As far as more plot-important events go, we do find out that Loki and Luffy did in fact make a deal. Luffy does try to keep the secret, so that tells me he accepted it. I have a feeling this is Not Going to Go Well!

The chapter however, despite being very cheerful and fun, ends in a pretty sinister and spooky note. That tells me we're actually going to be here for a while lol, I'm so curious on where this will go. Note that Arnot is a character who's been mentioned before! Apparently he published a book with his adventures decades ago, and he was first mentioned having written about Whiskey Peak and Little Garden.

In this final page, we also see the silhouette of the mystery man in the kasa hat who's been allegedly waiting for the Strawhats again! Place your bets on who's it going to be. Is it Shiki? Gaban? The "Hinokizu / Flame-scar" Man? Someone from the Red-Hair Pirates? A completely new guy? Who knows! Looking forward to the next chapters!

(Hope I can find the time to do a little redraw of Usopp's little crying face, what a highlight for me!)