#also oh my god this was such a long project i almost went insane i canNOT draw chibis | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

raibebe · 4 years ago

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Of needles and seduction

Genre: Fluff and smut Words: 15.2k Prompt: Johnny tattoo shop AU featuring best friends Yangyang and Jaemin Warnings: contains smut, Daddy-kink, size-kink, mentions of mirror-sex

A/N: This is very self-indulgent, I’m sorry. While I do have piercings myself, I know next to nothing about tattoos, so I’m sorry if anything is inaccurate. Also I don’t advise what some characters in this are doing for yourself. Just a quick special thanks to @burtonized who has listened to me ramble about this story and Johnny and helped me write this by giving me ideas and support. Thank you darling! This fic is a beast, I have never written anything this long,it’s insane. If smut isn’t for you, you can stop reading after the phone call and still have a pretty decent story. If you feel like, you’ve seen this post before, you might have. I deleted the original one because tumblr decided to delete it from the tags.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” You asked for what you felt was the tenth time in the past five minutes. “It’s going to be fine. The shop is clean and sanitary,” your friend Yangyang groaned while running his hands through his messy, blonde hair. It was getting way too long, hanging low into his eyes. “I’m just saying that this doesn’t seem like a safe place,” you mumbled but followed your hyper friend through a more than dubious looking side street of Itaewon. “Jaemin got his piercings done in the same shop and those healed just fine, stop being a baby,” the blonde said while rolling his eyes. He quickly checked his phone for the address of the (probably illegal) piercing and tattoo shop and took a sharp turn into an even shadier looking street. “I still don’t get while you need me to come with you when you want to get your nipples pierced for god knows what of a stupid reason.” “It’s easy,” Yangyang grinned at you, “Ten said I wouldn’t dare to do it. And I’m going to prove him wrong and you’re going to document the progress.” “Do you ever listen to yourself talk? You’re literally paying someone to stab you into your nipples to shove a piece of metal through it just to prove a point.” “It’s just one nipple though.” “How does that make it any better, Yangyang?” You deadpanned. Your friend groaned again. “I knew I should have taken Guanheng with me. He would have been supportive.” “He would also be supportive of getting ‘I love Tacos’ tattooed on your ass.” “He would,” Yangyang agreed with an exaggerated dreamy look on his face. “What a madlad.”

You sighed but couldn’t help smiling at his antics. You had befriended the hyper exchange student when you had been assigned to be partners for a group project for your mandarin class. Yangyang had only taken the class for extra credit and easy good grades while you were struggling like crazy and had seriously questioned all your life choices that had let to you taking the class. (But mostly you regretted listening to Renjun who had convinced you it would be an easy class.) The group project turned out to be rather easy when you had a native speaker as your partner and you had become fond of the younger student, staying in touch with him and helping him find his way around the big campus. If you had known that he was a package deal with a bunch of other equally hyper and questionably crazy exchange students, you might have thought a little longer about keeping in touch after the project was over. But who were you kidding, the other boys and Yangyang were incredibly dear to you and if Kun had his regular morning coffee, the others weren’t even that chaotic.

“That’s it,” Yangyang suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a small beat up looking wooden door that looked like it was ready to fall out of the doorway any second. But a little green neon sign that hang next to it flashed the word “open” onto the street indicating that a shop must be hiding behind it. Your arguably best friend quickly grabbed your hand as if he had been sensing that you were about to complain again and dragged you into the shop. A little bell jingled quietly when Yangyang closed the door behind you two. You took a deep breath to calm your nerves (hell you weren’t even the one to get stabbed with a needle) and took a look around the small room. It was small and poorly lit and every free space on the walls was plastered with drawings and photos of both freshly done and healed tattoos. You had to admit that whoever had done those had done a good job, they looked really neat. You guessed that at least two artists must be working in the shop. A good portion of the art were very neat black and white works (some looking freakishly realistic) while others were very vibrant and artistic.

With a confident bounce in his step, Yangyang went up to the counter to a man with wild bubblegum pink hair wearing a black tank top that showed off the ink on his arms and torso, all kept in black except for a deep red rose on the side of his neck. His eyes were lined with dark eyeliner, making them seem like dark bottomless orbs, and they were fixed to the screen of a laptop that was covered in stickers that were a wild mixture of cute characters and various rock and hip-hop bands. “And what brings you here?” The man asked with a surprisingly deep voice, turning his head towards your friend. “A friend of mine told me I could get pierced here,” Yangyang spoke, his hands fumbling with the loose threads of his sweater. “And if that was the case, what would you want to get pierced?” “My nipple.” At that the other man raised one of his perfectly arched eyebrows. “People usually start off with getting an earring or something.” “Go hard or go home,” Yangyang grinned, making the other man snort. “If you have 70.000 Won in cash, I can look if one of the piercers is free.” When your friend got out his worn wallet and put a couple of bills onto the counter, the other man smiled for the first time. It didn’t quite fit his whole dark punk aesthetic but you couldn’t deny that he was really good looking.

“Don’t run away now kiddo, I’ll see if someone is free,” he grinned, “I’m Taeyong by the way.” When he disappeared behind a curtain made out of pearls into the back, Yangyang turned towards you with the biggest smile on his face. “I told you it was going to be fine.” You just hummed nonchalantly, still not entirely supportive of the whole idea. “One of the guys is ready in a bit,” Taeyong said when he came back to the main room. “Are you getting anything?” He asked, looking at you. “Oh no, she’s a scaredy-cat, just here for moral support and to document that I actually did it,” your friend answered for you. Your face immediately heated up under the intense gaze of the pink haired tattoo artist. “Too bad,” he just shrugged. “So technically you need to sign stuff for legal issues and whatnot. But since this place doesn’t exactly exist on records, we’re skipping that part. You’re not on drugs or any meds, right?” “I’m not,” Yangyang shook his head, making his hair flop back into his face. “Any issues with fainting or other medical conditions?” “Nope.” “Great. Had a good meal before coming here?” “I had breakfast,” Yangyang shrugged. “You had a slice of cold pizza from yesterday,” you groaned. “That I ate in the morning, therefore it’s breakfast,” he argued. “Well in that case,” Taeyong interrupted your bickering and threw a granola bar into Yangyang’s hands, “Eat that and let your girlfriend treat you to some proper food afterwards.” Before the blonde could deny anything, you had already opened your mouth to tell the other man that in fact you weren’t dating.

“Sure, sorry for assuming,” he shrugged and sat back behind the counter, taking out an iPad and began drawing something, probably a tattoo design. “Nervous yet?” You asked Yangyang who was uncharacteristically quiet while munching on the granola bar. “Shit, I’m really doing this,” he replied, exhaling shakily. “You don’t actually have to, Yangyang,” you tried to comfort him. “And let Ten just get away like that? No way. I am doing this. I’m not his little baby Yangyang anymore,” he said like the stubborn child he was. You could just sigh and roll your eyes at him. “He might have just been joking, you know?” “One does not simply challenge Liu Yangyang like that and not expect consequences.” “Kun is going to actually flip and pop a vein,” you tried to reason with your friend for a last time. Kun was doing a lot of coordination work for the exchange students with a Chinese background and had taken on almost a fatherly role for the younger students that hadn’t been in Korea for long. And even though Ten wasn’t even that much younger than Kun, he almost lost his otherwise calm composure when the Thai boy had announced that he successfully had pierced his ear by himself yet again after he had convinced a poor med student to smuggle some equipment for him. And from there the situation had somehow escalated into Ten daring Yangyang to get a nipple piercing. “Well he can’t do anything about it once it’s done. We’ll just make sure he’s with someone who can call an ambulance if he ends up having an aneurism.”

“Someone still wants their nipple pierced?” A new voice interrupted your conversation and a tall man with dark inky hair came into the room, making the pearls of the curtain clink against each other. One side of his head was shaved while the longer hair on the other side framed his handsome face beautifully. He was wearing a loose black T-shirt paired with ripped jeans with almost as many holes as there was fabric that hugged his long legs perfectly, showing that he had also ink on his legs. From his lobe dangled a little silver chain and of course his arms were covered in intricate designs, one arm strictly black ink while the other sported some colorful pieces as well. In the center of his plush lower lip sat a black ring and just beneath his left eye two little silver balls were reflecting the low light. You couldn’t deny that the man looked absolutely stunning despite his unusual appearance.

“Yes, me,” Yangyang eagerly answered the man’s question and walked towards him, tugging you with him. “Too bad,” the piercer grinned cheekily and winked in your direction, making your heart flutter in your chest and heat rise to your face, before he extended a big hand to shake Yangyang’s much smaller one. “I’m Johnny,” he introduced himself before leading you both into a smaller room in the back with a simple black padded bench in the middle of the room and a desk tucked into a corner. The walls were plastered with art and photos like the main room, showing that Johnny apparently was able to pull off a bunch of different tattoo styles. He seemed to have a thing for florals and roses though. The only free space was taken up by a full body mirror at the opposite wall. Johnny sat down on the little stool that was standing by the desk and motioned for Yangyang to sit on the bench while you sat down in the only other chair in the room, made of worn looking black leather.

“Let me see your chest before we start this whole thing,” Johnny spoke to your friend after he had grabbed a pair of silver framed glasses that sat low on his elegant nose and slipped on a fresh pair of black gloves. With only slightly trembling hands, Yangyang pulled his sweater over his head, keeping his hands buried in the fabric. “Looks good to me. Left or right one?” “Ehrm, I haven’t really thought about it,” he confessed. Johnny chuckled. “Spontaneous decision to get your nipple pierced?” “He does it to prove a point to a friend,” you supplied before Yangyang had the chance to answer. “Seems like a valid reason,” the tattoo artist grinned, “You play guitar or anything where the strap could irritate the new piercing?” “Just the violin,” Yangyang supplied, demonstrating how he would hold his instrument. “Then I’d suggest we go for the left one,” Johnny concluded, grabbing a bunch of stuff he needed. “Is it going to hurt badly?” “No idea, mine aren’t pierced.” “The first one is fine,” another voice chimed into the conversation and a pink mess of hair appeared in the doorway. “My client is there and Jaehyun isn’t back from his break yet, have an open ear for the door.” Johnny just hummed but it seemed enough to satisfy Taeyong who disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared.

“You ready?” Johnny asked one last time. Yangyang took a deep but shaky breath and nodded. “You better film this so Ten knows it’s real,” he said, holding out his phone towards you. Rolling your eyes, you got up from your actually really comfortable chair and took the phone from your best friend’s hands while Johnny disinfected Yangyang’s nipple and drew two little circles where the bar would go through it before grabbing a small mirror to show him. “Let’s do this,” your best friend nodded and you pressed record. “It’ll be quick,” Johnny promised, disinfecting one last time before he grabbed a pair of tongs to hold the nipple in place and freed a needle from a foil package. “I’ll count to three and then I’ll start, alright?” “A-Alright.” “Last time to chicken out.” “No, I’m doing this,” Yangyang gritted out, closing his eyes. After that everything happened really fast: Johnny counted to three and steadily pushed the needle through Yangyang’s nipple, who bit his lip hard. He then let the needle dangle from the nipple while freeing a little barbell from another foil package to insert it through the canal he just had made. “And that’s it,” he announced when he secured the little balls on either side of the barbell. You ended the recording when Yangyang left out the breath he had been holding in. “Now no sports, especially no swimming or sexual activities for a while. Clean it well and don’t worry if it gets sore, that’s normal. It can take a while to heal, so be patient and don’t let it get infected. You can get a smaller barbell or a ring once it’s healed. Just come back to get it changed to be safe.” “Fuck I really did that,” Yangyang cursed and looked down to his chest, “I think I need a minute before I can get up.”

“Take your time, I don’t have any clients for another half an hour,” Johnny reassured him, putting the used materials into the trash. “Just please don’t vomit all over the floor or hit your head while fainting.” “That has happened before?” You asked, eyes wide. “Not on me but it’s not unheard of. You sure you don’t want anything?” he asked, turning towards you. His silver framed glasses had slid down his nose a little and you couldn’t deny that the man looked really hot, looking at you from beneath his lashes. “She’s too scared,” Yangyang teased. He couldn’t feel too bad if he still could do that then. “Too bad, I think you would really suit a little conch or something,” the piercer motioned around his own ear to indicate what piercing he meant. “A conch?” You asked, turning towards the mirror to try to imagine it. “Wait let me show you.” Johnny quickly got up to search through the drawers of his desk before he pulled out a little box with a bunch of jewelry, grabbing a small hoop. He stood behind you in front of the mirror. “Hold still for me,” he breathed and bend down to push your hair behind your ear before he carefully put the fake piercing in place. For a moment you could swear that time had stopped. You felt his breath fanning over your skin gently and could smell the intoxicating smell of his cologne. You were so close to each other, you were sure that if you turned your head, your noses would brush against each other. But before you could do anything stupid, Johnny pulled back and gently turned your head so you could see the little silver ring. “I think I could put an even smaller one if you wanted,” he said, watching you through the mirror with an intense gaze from his dark eyes. “I’ve never thought about getting a piercing,” you admitted shyly. While you did get your lobes pierced when you were a child, you never thought of it much. “It looks good. Not so much like daddy’s good girl anymore,” the piercer grinned. You almost choked on air when the words left his plush lips, feeling the heat rush to your cheeks.

“How much?” “For you I’ll do it for free, darling,” he grinned, running a hand through his thick dark hair, making his muscles shift beneath his inked skin. While your brain was still short-circuiting from the nickname, Yangyang seemed to be back to 100%, destroying whatever the atmosphere between you and the tattoo artist just was. “Are you really going to say no to a free piercing, dude?” You could just groan and roll your eyes at your best friend. “Stop calling me dude, Yangyang.” “Only if you get that piercing.” “That’s blackmailing.” “Just do it, it won’t even hurt right?” “It’s just a bit of pressure,” Johnny assured you, his lips curled into a smile. “I can always take it out if I don’t end up liking it,” you thought out aloud. “The beauty of temporary body modifications,” Johnny sighed before he stepped in front of you to take the fake piercing off again. With his face so close to yours again, your eyes traveled over the little silver balls beneath his left eye, over his elegant nose down to the black ring in his lower lip and you briefly wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. “So what will it be?” You looked over to your best friend who had put his hoodie back on and nodded his head enthusiastically, making his fluffy hair flop into his eyes. He really needed a haircut.

“Alright, let’s do this,” you decided. “That’s what I like to hear,” Johnny grinned and moved to get his stuff ready. “Need me to hold your hand?” Yangyang grinned when you took his place on the bench. “I wouldn’t want to contaminate you with girl germs,” you teased, sticking your tongue out at him. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind some girl germs if they’re coming from such a pretty girl,” Johnny cut in when he rolled back over on his stool, his glasses pushed back up his nose again. You couldn’t even fight the heat that crept onto your face at his words, he sure could feel it radiating off your cheeks from where his gloved hands were touching your skin. “I’ll do it where I placed the fake one, just with a smaller ring, alright?” He spoke softly when he disinfected your ear. You could just nod, anxiety taking over, making your heart race and skin prickle. When you heard the plastic bag that held the sterile needle rip, you pressed your eyes shut and balled your hands to fists. “Take a deep breath for me, doll,” Johnny mumbled, gently caressing your skin where he had grabbed your face to stabilize you. “In and out.” You shakily did as he asked you, his low voice comforting and calming your anxiety a lot. “Now you breathe in and let me count to three, then you gently release that breath. Can you do that for me, darling?” “Yeah,” you breathed, eyes still closed so you missed the soft smile on Johnny’s face. “Alright, deep breath in. One, two, three,” the pain of the needle piercing through your skin made you clench your fists harder, “And breathe out.” You tried your best to release the breath evenly until the pressure of the needle was just a low thudding. “You’re doing great, darling,” the handsome piercer reassured you, “I’ll just push the ring through and we’re all done here. Take another breath for me.” This time the feeling wasn’t as painful, just a really uncomfortable feeling of pressure. “All done, pretty,” Johnny concluded, clicking the ring closed. “Open your eyes.”

When you did open your eyes again, he held the little hand mirror from before in his still gloved hands so you could see the little ring that sat against your ear now. The skin was a bright red and you could feel your pulse throb around the metal but it actually fit the shape of your ear really nicely. “Thank you,” you smiled at Johnny. “It’s been a pleasure,” he winked before gathering the used needle and tissues to throw them away. “Take good care of it and try to not sleep on that side for a couple of nights and it will be healed in no time.” “Let’s go home, big baby,” Yangyang chirped in, already on his feet to leave the room. “I’m starving.” “There’s a good ramen shop a little up the street, not too expensive either,” Johnny recommended.

“Thanks for the piercings, man,” your best friend thanked the artist when he took you back to the main room. “No big deal,” Johnny shrugged and sat down where Taeyong had sat before, putting his long legs up on the counter. “Well, have a nice day, maybe we’ll come back for more some time,” Yangyang grinned, opening the door to leave the shop. “Oh I’m sure you will,” the artist replied, locking eyes with you before winking. “Take good care of that piercing, doll. You know where you have to come to if you want more.” You nodded shyly before bowing to the man. “Thank you, Johnny.” “I’ll see you again,” it wasn’t a question. Somehow you and him both knew that this wouldn’t be the last time you would step into the shady tattoo shop.

The next time that you found yourself in the shady streets of Itaewon came faster than you had thought. This time you were accompanying Jaemin to his tattoo appointment after Jeno had ditched him because he had to take over a shift at the cat café he worked at. (That poor boy had to take antihistamines before every shift because of his allergies but couldn’t resist the charm of the kittens.) “You’re a lifesaver seriously,” the hyper boy repeated while jumping up and down excitedly, “Sitting still for hours on end is really so boring if you have no one to talk to.” “Can’t you talk to your artist?” You asked confused. “He threatened to stab me with the tattoo gun the last time when I was trying to talk to him while he worked,” Jaemin pouted. You could only imagine how irritating Jaemin and his moods could be to someone who wasn’t used to him. Ever since he had decided that he wanted to commit to what he had dubbed a soft punk look, he had been going to the shop somewhat regularly to start a collection of tattoos and piercings. It had started a year ago when he first had dyed his hair to a light blue color. Shortly after that he had first gotten his ears and then his nose pierced. The two lip rings in his lower lip were his newest addition as far as piercings went. The tattoos came a little later. After much consideration he had made the decision to start a floral piece on his arm, the center would be a hummingbird, all with black ink for now.

After a little bit of Instagram stalking you had easily identified the intricate flowers that adored Jaemin’s upper arm as Johnny’s work and the thought of seeing the handsome tattoo artist again had made your heart beat faster in your chest. Not that Jaemin needed to know that you weren’t coming with him for his sake but rather because of your desire to see the dark haired flirty man again. You had been thinking about his dark eyes behind his silver framed glasses and how he scrunched his eyebrows when he was concentrating a lot for the last weeks. (Not that you had replayed the video of him piercing Yangyang an unhealthy amount of times or anything…) Every time you took care of your new piercing it reminded you of how his fingers felt on your skin and how his deep voice had gently guided you through everything. Not to forget how easily the pet names had rolled from his lips. And oh god his lips… His Instagram account featured a good amount of pictures of himself both casual and while working and the way his plush lips would curl into a confident smirk did things to your heart. His latest update had been the actual death of yours though. It had shown the new tattoo he had gotten recently: It was an intricate eagle that spread over his muscled chest, the feathers of the wings blending seamlessly into the other art covering his strong shoulders and biceps. Did you already mention that he was freaking shirtless in the picture? And that he was hiding a seriously ripped body beneath the wide T-Shirt he wore the last time you were at the shop? So to say that your thoughts had started to spiral after seeing that post was a little understated.

You still felt a little uneasy when you followed Jaemin through the backstreets of Itaewon but when the shabby door with the neon green ‘open’ sign came in sight, you felt the feeling disappear, only for it to be replaced with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Jaemin grinned widely when he pushed the door open and his good mood was always infectious, a smile creeping on your lips. This time a new man sat at the counter, lazily rocking back and forth on the chair with his phone in his hand. His hair was dark and hung into his eyes and he wore a dark, long sleeved hoodie, so you couldn’t see if he had as many tattoos as his colleagues but if the tattoos on his hands and neck were any indication, he must be pretty covered as well. You recognized the rose on the back of his hand from one of Johnny’s Instagram posts. When the man looked up, you saw that he didn’t only have tattoos but piercings as well: In his lower lip sat two rings right next to each other, a ring dangled from his nose and two little silver balls sat in the hollows of his dimples that showed when he smiled at Jaemin. “Back for more?” He asked with a deep, rumbling voice and got up to greet Jaemin properly, bumping their shoulders together. “Got an appointment with Johnny for my sleeve,” the blue haired boy replied. “I see the snake bites healed well.” “Done by the best piercer of the shop.” “You know it,” the man laughed, throwing an arm around Jaemin. “Brought your girlfriend?” “I’m just a friend,” you quickly corrected the piercer. (Why couldn’t you just platonically join a friend for his tattoo session?) “Alright, just a friend, I’m Jaehyun. Johnny should be ready by now. You know the way?” Jaemin nodded and pulled you with him to Johnny’s room.

When Jaemin pulled the curtain to the room open, you weren’t prepared for what you were seeing: Johnny was standing in front of the full length mirror with his black button up shirt unbuttoned, applying cream to his still tender looking eagle tattoo on his chest, making his beautiful sunkissed skin glisten. “You’re early, Jaem,” he spoke. “Jaehyun said you were already ready,” the blue haired boy shrugged and plopped down onto the black bench. “Oh you brought company,” Johnny turned around when he spotted you and grinned, “I knew you’d come back, doll. How’s your piercing healing?” You had to summon all your strength to rip your eyes from Johnny’s strong and glistening chest to meet his dark eyes. “It’s fine as far as I know, doesn’t hurt anymore,” you stumbled across your words. Couldn’t he just button his shirt back up? “Let me see.” Before you could protest he had made two big steps and was right in front of you, the intoxicating smell of his perfume filling your senses. He gently tucked your hair back to have a look at the piercing and you swore you could feel electricity buzz beneath your skin where he had touched you. “You took great care of it, darling. Not regretting it yet?” “No, I like it.” I like you. The words had laid on your tongue but you managed to swallow them back down.

“Stop flirting with her, I’m the one paying for your attention,” Jaemin whined from where he was sitting. You of course immediately felt all your blood rush to your head but Johnny just chuckled. “I haven’t seen any cash yet, boy.” The tattoo artist gave you a last wink before turning towards his actual client, buttoning his shirt back up but leaving the last two buttons unbuttoned, letting the head of the eagle just barely poke out. Taking a deep breath you sat down in the worn leather chair while Jaemin handed Johnny a bunch of bills that the taller quickly counted. “Alright, I’m all yours for the next five hours or so,” he grinned, “You saw the drafts I sent you?” Jaemin nodded while he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeve of his T-Shirt to expose the ink on his arm. It was already beautiful even though it wasn’t even halfway done. The hummingbird was still missing its shading and he hung in the air for now, the flowers and leaves stopping above its head. “Yeah, I’m still not sure about the color though. Can’t we just do more flowers instead?” “Sure but the inner arm and near the elbow is going to hurt like a bitch. So it’s either that or you let me color that hummingbird.” Jaemin groaned dramatically, turning his arm to look into the mirror. “He does look weird just half-finished like that.” “So color it is?” Johnny asked while rolling up the sleeves of his shirt a bit, exposing his own tattoos: A snake like dragon curled around his entire right arm, kept in all black ink. “I really liked that green-blue watercolor thing you sent,” Jaemin supplied when he turned to lie down. “Right, then I’ll do some flowers directly surrounding the bird and color that thing.” He snapped his black gloves on and turned to prepare his machine and the colors.

“Come closer with that stupid chair,” Jaemin whined, making grabby hands at you. After Johnny nodded, you pushed the chair closer with great effort. “Are you going to whine for the whole time?” You groaned but smiled fondly at your friend. “Most likely,” Johnny answered instead of Jaemin and rolled over on his little stool, his silver framed glasses back on his nose and a pen between his lips. “I’ll freehand a bunch of flowers first to make sure they fit around that little guy nicely.” “And I thought you liked putting others in pain,” Jaemin joked when Johnny adjusted a little lamp and began to draw flower after flower. It was really fascinating how quick his hand drew delicate petals and leaves, filling up the space around the hummingbird. “Oh if I put others in pain, they usually like it,” he grinned, his voice dropping an octave. You almost choked on plain air and had to try to mask it as coughing but if the way Johnny’s eyes twinkled was any indication, he had seen right through it and dared to be smug about it. “Wow my third appointment and we’re already talking about kinks?” “Sorry Jaem, not interested,” the artist laughed, “I’m more into cute girls.” He leaned back to examine his drawing, throwing you another quick wink. You barely held in a squeak. He really wasn’t even trying to be subtle about his flirting anymore. “Ready for the big gun?” “Oh dick jokes now, nice,” Jaemin chuckled while you were sure your head was about to explode from how much blood was collecting in there. You covered your hot cheeks with your hands in a hopeless attempt to cool them. “Oh look Johnny, she’s getting shy already.” “I haven’t even started yet, baby.” That was it. This man was going to be the death of you. You really didn’t need to know what it sounded like when he spoke those words that were dripping with honey. “Why did I agree to come with you?” You groaned, hiding your face in your hands. “Because you missed me”, Johnny said at the same time as Jaemin said: “Because you’re a good friend.”

After a beat of silence in which Johnny arranged his actual tattoo gun and Jaemin stared at you while his smile grew bigger and bigger, he asked: “Now which one is it?” “I’m not answering that,” you mumbled from beneath your fingers. “No answer is an answer as well,” Jaemin singsang but luckily the low buzzing of the tattoo machine saved you from any further embarrassment… For now… “Now hold still or I’ll actually stab you,” Johnny warned before he dipped the needle into black ink and began to trace the lines he had just drawn on with a fine needle. “Yessir,” Jaemin joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Johnny was unusually quiet while he worked, completely tuning out the chatter of you and Jaemin about shitty professors and assignments. You were absolutely fascinated by the confidence he radiated while dragging the needle over his client’s skin. He went back and forth between two different tattoo guns and rubbed Jaemin’s skin every now and then to get rid of excess ink. Soon Jaemin’s whole upper arm was decorated with delicate flowers and leaves and Johnny leaned back to both take a deep breath while stretching his back and to look at his work. “Let’s take a break before I do the color,” he proposed, wiping down the skin. “It looks great,” you complimented his work, taking a picture for Jaemin so he could see it himself. “Damn that pain really pays off,” your friend grinned, zooming in and out of the picture before posting it to his Instagram. “Does it hurt badly?” “You get used to it,” he shrugged, not taking his eyes from his feed, “It’s more like someone continuously scratching you.” “I can show you if you want,” Johnny chimed in from where he was cleaning his tattoo gun from the black ink. “I don’t think I’m spontaneous enough for a sudden tattoo.” “Not even if I offer it for free again?” He laughed. “I’m not mentally prepared for that,” you tried to reason. “I can still show you how it feels though. Without ink.” You shyly nodded and held out your arm for him that he quickly wiped down with disinfectant when he was done putting a fresh needle into the gun. “Just don’t flinch, darling,” he softly spoke before the buzzing of his tattoo gun filled the silence. You expected it to hurt a lot more when the needle touched your skin but it really wasn’t that bad. It was an odd kind of pain you couldn’t really describe. “It’s not that bad,” you told him, looking into his beautiful brown eyes behind his glasses. “It hurts more when it’s directly on the bone or at a more tender area,” Johnny explained and turned the gun off again, bending down to look at the slightly reddened skin of your arm before chucking the used needle into the nearby trashcan. “Let’s patch that up real quick, just treat it like any other scratch.” You nodded and let the handsome man put a band-aid over it. But before you could pull your arm back again, he leaned down to press a kiss on the cloth “For a good and quick healing,” he breathed and grinned smugly when you quickly turned your head away to hide your heated face.

“When you’re done flirting, will you finally put some color into me?” Jaemin interrupted, grinning widely. “That’s what she said,” you mumbled under your breath, making Johnny chuckle. “All you need to do is ask, darling.” Before you could even wrap your mind around what the tattoo artist had just implied, he had already rolled back over to your blue haired friend to take a look at the hummingbird. “Alright let’s do this,” he grinned before wiping down the skin once more. The buzzing of a new machine filled the room and Jaemin scrunched his eyes shut when the needle dipped in turquoise ink met his skin. “This is nasty,” he complained. “Don’t be a baby,” Johnny murmured, dragging the needle over your friend’s skin that accepted the ink quickly. “You want to hold my hand?” You giggled. What you didn’t expect was for Jaemin to actually reach out to you with his unoccupied arm, making a grabby hand. “Jeno always holds my hand,” he whined. “You’re such a big baby, Nana,” you sighed but still laced your fingers together, yelping loudly when Jaemin squeezed down hard. “You said it didn’t even hurt, you big liar,” you squeezed out between gritted teeth. “You’re not the one getting stabbed,” Jaemin argued, “That shit hurts different than the black.” “It’s a different needle,” Johnny explained, “People usually say it hurts less than outlines though.” “It’s not more or less, it’s just different.” “Well it’s going to hurt more if you keep seizing up like that, relax.” “You’re one to fucking talk,” Jaemin sounded upset. “Don’t curse at me for giving you a pretty tattoo,” Johnny just said, dipping his needle into the little pot that held the color again. “Talk him through it,” the artist said to you, looking up from behind his glasses that had slipped down his nose again.

“Hey, remember that time when Donghyuck was so drunk he wanted to jump from the roof into the pool at that frat house?” You quickly said, the silly story coming to mind first. The memory made Jaemin giggle. “Jeno and Mark had so much trouble holding him back once he managed to climb out of the window,” the blue haired boy chuckled. “They were lucky they didn’t fall off.” “That would have made for an even better story though,” Jaemin laughed. “They could have hurt themselves,” you said, scandalized, “You’re hanging out with Renjun too much.” Jaemin didn’t answer, instead he just hummed and wiggled his dark eyebrows.

“Did you ever go to college?” You asked Johnny out of curiosity even though Jaemin had said that the artist preferred to keep quiet and concentrate on his work. “Do I look like I went?” He just laughed, cocking one of his stupidly perfect eyebrows at you when he looked up. “Well, I didn’t want to assume,” you shied away under his gaze. “I dropped out of high school to learn tattooing,” Johnny shared while painting Jaemin’s skin as blue as his hair, “I wasn’t good in school anyways. So art school or something wasn’t an option either. Not that I would have had any money for that.” “What made you want to pick up tattooing then?” You asked curiously. “Art usually is very temporarily and if you make a mistake, you can just erase it or paint over it with another color. Not so much with tattoos. I like that. It’s immortal as long as you don’t start shooting lasers at it.” “I’ve never thought about it like that,” you confessed. Tattooing had never seemed like art to you but that was exactly what it was. Just not on a canvas but under your skin. “Thinking about getting one now?” Jaemin teased, squeezing your hand that he still held. “I haven’t even told my parents about the piercing,” you scoffed, “They would disown me.” “Well too bad, I know a pretty good tattoo artist,” he joked and poked his tongue out. “Do you now?” Johnny asked, a grin on his lips, wiping down Jaemin’s arm before going in with a lighter color. “Yeah, he works in this shady ass shop in Itaewon and I am pretty sure you can buy drugs there as well.” “Those are not for sale,” the artist chuckled when he saw your scandalized expression. “It’s just anesthetics for certain piercing procedures, calm down doll.” “So sadly, it turns out you can’t buy drugs at their shop but it still looks shady and I’m pretty sure they’re paying part of the mafia so the police won’t come to investigate.” “I know nothing of transactions of this sort,” Johnny commented before you could get an actual heart attack. Illegally tattooing and piercing was one thing but mingling with the mafia was a whole other thing. “Anyways, he does pretty cool tattoos and pierces as well,” Jaemin continued, a grin on his lips, “Also talking male to male here, he’s pretty ripped.” At that Johnny started grinning as well. “Wanna know his name?” Jaemin asked you when Johnny turned to clean his needle and you just rolled your eyes but nodded, wondering what he was getting out of all of this. “It’s Jaehyun.” “Excuse me?” Johnny exclaimed with wide eyes when both you and your blue haired friend started laughed at his stupid joke. “This kid,” he mumbled and shook his head before putting the needle back to Jaemin’s skin who seemed to have forgotten to whine about the pain.

The rest of the appointment was spend with you and Jaemin chatting about this and that and a short video call from a red eyed Jeno who had finished his shift at the cat café and wanted to apologize and promised to buy you two dinner after you were done. “I think that’s all I can do for today,” Johnny said after he had stared at the little hummingbird for a while, “Your skin took the color well but if I do any more, I’ll stress the skin too much. I can go in another time if I need to fix anything.” Jaemin nodded, sitting up so he could inspect the colorful hummingbird in the mirror. “Wow that looks sick,” he commented, his eyes going wide, “Totally worth the pain.” “That’s what I wanna hear,” the artist grinned, grabbing some paper towels to rub the tattoo down once more. “Let me snap a picture to post.”

After both men had taken about 20 photos each, Johnny quickly wrapped Jaemin’s arm in plastic wrap, reminding him how to take care of it. “Text me for the next session, I think we could fit some pretty roses at the bottom. Maybe add a dash of color here and there or other animals,” the artist smiled, slipping the glasses off his nose, gently placing them on the table. “I’ll think about it but first I gotta slave away behind the bar to make more money,” Jaemin sighed, shrugging his jacket back on. “And you darling?” Johnny asked, putting on his confident smile again. “When will I see you again?” You just stared at him, at a loss for an answer. Did he really want to see you again? But before you could even open your mouth, Jaemin had already pulled your phone from your grasp, unlocked it and shoved it towards Johnny. “Put your number in already,” he sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. Laughing, Johnny did as your friend had said. “Very smooth, Jaem.” “I- I guess I’ll text you,” you stuttered when Johnny gave your phone back, your fingers tingling where his touched yours. “I’ll be waiting, darling,” he winked, raking a hand through his inky strands. “Alright, time to leave, before you start drooling,” Jaemin destroyed the intense atmosphere and grabbed your arm to pull you back to the main room and out of the parlor, leaving a laughing Johnny behind in his room.

“I wasn’t even drooling, what the fuck Jaemin,” you argued when you were outside, your phone clutched to your chest. “Stop complaining, I got you his number, you should be thankful,” he just grinned, absolutely shameless, tugging you along through the little street. “I will not thank you for embarrassing me in front of him,” you pouted, unlocking your phone to confirm that Johnny had indeed put his number into the contacts with a little black heart behind his name.

“Is it too early to text him?” You asked when you and Jaemin sat in the subway on the way to his and Jeno’s dorm to take him up on his offer for food. Your friend just laughed at you, making an elderly man scowl at the two of you, who shook his head in disapproval. Well, Jaemin’s visuals didn’t help him when he acted like this in public. But as long as he didn’t care, you wouldn’t care either. “Text him after we’ve eaten,” he advised you. “Then you don’t seem as desperate as you are,” he added, which earned him a punch to his not tattooed arm.

All through dinner, Jaemin retold every embarrassing moment that happened at the tattoo parlor, making Jeno laugh so hard that he almost choked on his rice. You really needed to find new friends. These ones were just harassing you at this point. (Aside from the fact that Jaemin had indeed managed to get you Johnny’s number, you’d thank him later when he couldn’t make fun at you.)

Later that night, you laid in bed in your own dorm room, staring at the screen of your phone. Your fingers were hovering over the keyboard but you really couldn’t think of what you should text Johnny. You didn’t want to seem weird. With how confident he was, he probably did this a lot and you were too proud to make a fool of yourself. Groaning you tossed and turned in your bed for a while, still staring at the empty chat box that by now must be mocking you for your cowardice. Sighing you typed out another short message to immediately delete it again. Should you just send him a simple ‘Hi’ or ask him if he had eaten? How the rest of his day went? In moments like this you whished you were more confident in yourself.

The sound of an incoming message suddenly filled the room and made you jerk. When you saw Johnny’s name on the screen, your heart first stopped for a second before it started beating about three times as fast as it should. How did that happen? With shaking hands you unlocked the phone to see that you in fact didn’t delete the last message but accidentally send it. Luckily it wasn’t as embarrassing as it could have been and Johnny had just answered that he was glad that you had finally texted him. Before you could think of an answer he sent another text asking you why you were still awake this late when he expected you to be a ‘good girl’. You could practically hear his smirk and you couldn’t fight the heat that rose to your cheeks. You replied that you were already in bed and were about to sleep if he was concerned about your sleep pattern that honestly wasn’t the greatest ever since the semester had started. ‘Oh, sexting already’ he replied, making you shriek in embarrassment. Was this what your message had looked like? ‘You alone?’ He asked and with a furiously beating heart you answered with a simple yes.

A couple of seconds went by with no answer from him which definitely didn’t lower your anxiety before the loud sound of your ringtone tore through the silence, Johnny’s name on the display. You quickly answered it to not wake up anyone on your floor, pressing it tightly to your ear. “Hello?” “Good evening, miss,” you heard the rumble of Johnny’s voice, “Missed me already?” “You’re the one who called,” you argued, making the man on the other end of the line giggle. “That is true.” “Why did you call?” You asked curiously, shifting to lie down on your back, staring at the ceiling. “Just wanted some company. My last client just left and I’m cleaning up the shop for today, the others already left,” he explained. “Jaehyun and Taeyong?” “Yeah those two guys,” he sighed and you heard him rummaging in the background. “Is it just you three at the shop?” “Yeah, it was just me and Taeyong at first but Jaehyun is an incredibly quick learner once he had found someone who was willing to teach him a thing or two. So he quickly joined the two of us.” You just hummed, your fingers playing with your hair, unsure of what to say. It was somehow easier to talk to him like this when you couldn’t see his eyes twinkle in mischief or his lips curling up in that confident smirk. Like this he was just a boy who wanted company and not an insanely handsome, heavily tattooed man who flirted shamelessly. “Do you usually work this late?” You asked to fill the silence and out of curiosity as well. If the shop wasn’t legal there sure weren’t any laws regulating how long the artists were supposed to work. “I don’t,” Johnny laughed, “But thank you for your concern. I was just tattooing a friend for free after my last paying client left because he was in the area.” “You do that a lot? Offering up your services for free?” “Just for friends and special people, doll,” he chuckled, “Why? Are you considering getting inked after all?”

Well were you? You didn’t even know at this point. Whenever you had thought of tattoos you had only ever thought about big bold and very black lines, of skulls, names of exes on your skin forever and warped pictures of people’s faces. But never of delicate flowers, bright colors and intricate designs. Johnny had made it obvious that it was art that he was doing and that it wasn’t just some technical procedure to get color beneath your skin. “I- I don’t know,” you confessed, “I never thought much about tattoos until Jaemin started getting them.” “I thought so,” the artist chuckled, “But I bet I could design a pretty piece that would compliment you nicely.” “I don’t think I’m the type for it though,” you argued, thinking about the amount of ink on Johnny’s body and you hadn’t even seen half of it. (Not that you planned on doing so but you were curious to know if there was more hiding beneath his clothes.) “It doesn’t have to be an obvious one. Just something only you know about.” That really got you thinking. His tattoos were really delicate and you had seen that he could write in really pretty cursive. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything, darling. But if you ever want one, you know who to ask.”

“Yeah, thank you Johnny,” you murmured, lost in thought about how you would look like with multiple tattoos. “I like the way you say my name.” “You- what?” You stuttered when he caught you off guard like that, making him laugh. “You’re cute,” he said once he had calmed down. “Stop pouting,” he added when you weren’t answering. “How did you know I was?” Johnny chuckled again. “I just knew.” “Thank you for keeping me company,” he said when you hadn’t said anything in a while. “It’s alright. I like talking to you,” you confessed. You could hear a door closing and his deep chuckle on the other end of the line. “You probably hear that a lot…” you murmured, embarrassed at how the words had slipped past your lips. “I actually don’t,” Johnny said, “I appreciate the words, darling. I’m all done cleaning up now, thank you for keeping me company.” “It’s fine, no need to thank me.” “You should go sleep now, it’s already late. Sweet dreams, doll. Maybe I’ll even visit you.” “Goodnight, Johnny,” you squeaked. The last thing you heard before he ended the call was another chuckle and a hushed goodbye. Smiling widely you turned your face into your pillow to muffle the scream you let out. How could this man make your heart beat faster like that with just a few simple words? And why did this short phone call make you so happy? Sighing, you put your phone to your nightstand and cuddled tightly into your blanket, the thought of Johnny’s smooth voice guiding you to sleep where he indeed did visit you.

After that initial phone call, Johnny called you more and more often. Sometimes when he was on his lunch break and his colleagues were still working, sometimes later at night when your head was spinning from studying and he was cleaning up the shop. You two talked about your days, you complained about professors, deadlines and assignments and he told you about tattooing and his sometimes crazy clients. And every now and then Johnny would bring up his offer to tattoo you. Which made your thoughts spiral every single time. In class you would scroll through Johnny’s Instagram account, imagining what some of the intricate, more feminine designs would look like on your skin. After much consideration you definitely ruled out anything big or colorful. But something small wouldn’t hurt, right? Well it would, you would be giving him permission to stab you with an automated needle a bunch of times which in itself sounded really scary. But Jaemin’s tattoo looked nice. And after his skin had peeled, the hummingbird truly looked absolutely incredible and you couldn’t wait for him to visit the shop again to keep working on the sleeve.

So in a whim of bravery and with the help of the little glass of wine you had drank you told Johnny that he should tattoo you. “Are you for real?” He asked. “I am,” you giggled, “I’ve thought about it a lot the past weeks.” “I am honored, darling. What will it be?” “Something small and no colors please,” you told him. “That’s all you’re asking for?” “Yeah, I… I like the simple black stuff you do,” you stuttered, suddenly really nervous and unsure if this was actually a good idea. “I’ll design something that’ll match you perfectly,” Johnny promised, sounding very eager. You could hear some rummaging on his end of the line. “I could fit you in Friday evening after my last client. It won’t be too late and I need some time to come up with a design that’s worthy of being in your body.” You swallowed dryly. If you said yes, you couldn’t back out anymore. You would be getting inked. Secretly. Without telling anyone. Not to mention illegally. In a reasonably shady shop that was owned by the most gorgeous man you had ever met. Taking a deep breath, you nodded before you realized that he couldn’t see that. “I’ll be there,” you promised. “I’m looking forward to it, doll,” Johnny said before he wished you sweet dreams just like every time when he called you late at night.

The neon light in front of the door to the shop was already shut off when you arrived the next Friday late in the evening but the door gave away when you pushed it open with trembling hands after taking a deep breath. “I thought you weren’t going to come, darling, you left me waiting,” Johnny greeted you, jumping down from the counter he had sat on. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt with a little white rose design over his heart that fit him perfectly. His hair was elegantly swept back, exposing the freshly shaved part on the side. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled, fumbling with the sleeves of your hoodie. “Don’t be nervous, I’ll take good care of you,” he promised, quickly locking the front door before taking you to his room where he motioned for you to sit on the bench. “Do you trust me?” He asked, tipping your head up so you would look into his dark eyes. “I- I think I do,” you stuttered. “I won’t tell you what you’re getting,” Johnny grinned and your eyes widened in shock. “You will like it and it’s not that big.” “I’m not sure, Johnny,” you voiced your concerns but he just pressed his index finger to your lips before you could say any more. Your breath hitched and he could definitely feel your shaky exhale against his finger. “You said you trust me, doll.” Taking another shaky breath, you nodded and a smile spread over his plush lips. “I need you to take off your shirt and lie down on your left side,” he spoke, his voice casual but you could feel something shift in the air between you. At a loss for words you just nodded again and did as Johnny asked when he turned around to gather his stuff.

“Take a couple of deep breaths for me, darling,” he instructed you when he rolled over on his little stool, his glasses sitting low on his nose and his hands already gloved. “It’s going on your ribs,” he told you so you wouldn’t flinch when he quickly dragged a razor over the area before disinfecting it. “I’ll draw a quick sketch first. I don’t want to mess it up when it’s going on your beautiful skin.” You felt the tip of his pen meet your skin in a gentle stroke, tickling your skin so you had to giggle. “Don’t make me mess this up, baby,” Johnny scolded, playfully slapping your back. “It tickles,” you pouted. “I’m trying to be gentle with you,” he said and you could hear the smile in his voice. While he was sketching, you closed your eyes, trying to figure out what he was drawing. But all you could figure out was that it was something rather small which calmed your nerves a bit.

“All done,” the tattoo artist announced after a while and quickly pulled his little side table with his tattoo gun and ink closer. When the low buzzing noise filled the air, you pressed your eyes shut even tighter, balling your hands into fists. Technically you knew it wouldn’t hurt badly, Johnny had shown you before. But you were still getting stabbed a bunch of times and fuck, you were really doing this. Letting this man put something on your body that was going to be there forever and you didn’t even know what it was going to be. “Relax, darling. I’ll be as gentle as I can be,” he promised, running a hand up and down your back. “It’s going to be on me forever,” you said. “It is. Your own personal piece of art on your body. Just for you to have.” That was a beautiful way to see it, you thought. It’s not just some pigment stabbed into your skin but art. Something unique no one else had. And Johnny would be painting it on just you for you and you alone. “Okay, let’s do this,” you breathed. “That’s my good girl,” Johnny praised and the words made your stomach twist with a feeling you didn’t want to further explore.

The pain was bearable. It was weird at first and the ribs sure hurt more than it had on your arm and the bones somehow seemed to amplify the buzzing, making it travel through your body. You had to grit your teeth when Johnny went over what seemed to be the middle part of the tattoo, where he grazed the skin in quick successions. “That hurts.” “I know, baby. But you’re almost done. You’re doing so well for me,” he soothed and gave you a small break to breathe before he went back in.

“All done, darling,” Johnny announced a little later, turning off his machine and rubbing the tattoo down with a wet paper towel. “Can I see it now?” You asked. “In a bit, keep your eyes closed,” he spoke softly and took your hands in his now ungloved ones to first guide you into a sitting position and then off the bench and over to what you assumed to be the mirror. He turned you so your side was facing the glass and put one of his big hands on your waist. It felt hot on your exposed skin and made goosebumps break out on your skin. “Open your eyes, doll.” You did and looked directly into his dark chocolate brown eyes behind his glasses. “I’m too scared to look now, is that silly?” You asked, losing yourself in his eyes and leaning towards his body that just seemed to radiate heat. “It’s beautiful, just like you,” he assured you, squeezing your waist reassuringly. After taking a deep breath, you tore your gaze away from him and turned to look at yourself in the mirror where a delicate, black chrysanthemum was awaiting you on the skin over your ribs. It indeed looked beautiful, absolutely stunning. It was small but looked so delicate and realistic and fit well with the curves of your body. “It’s stunning,” you whispered.

“Thank you, Johnny.” “No need to thank me, darling,” he chuckled and when your eyes met again, his were dark and almost hungry. “But I think I should reward you for being so good while I tattooed you.” Before you could ask what kind of reward he was talking about, he had already connected your lips in a passionate kiss and pulled your body flush against his. You couldn’t help but sigh now that you finally knew what the metal of his lip piercing felt like against your lips. Johnny was a good kisser and you were boneless in his strong grip not long after he had slipped his tongue past your lips after you had moaned into the kiss when he had started to push you backwards to the bench again, hoisting you back up. “Let me make up for the pain I’ve caused you,” he breathed against your swollen lips when you broke apart to breathe. “Just keep kissing me like that,” you demanded, burying your hands in his soft black locks to kiss him again. He chuckled and let you dominate the kiss for a while, toying with the black ring in his lip and exploring his mouth. Meanwhile Johnny’s hands started to wander from their place on your waist down to grope at your ass, pulling you forward against him, so you could feel his growing erection between your legs which made a spark of arousal shoot through you.

“Let me make you feel good, baby,” he breathed heavily while kissing down your neck, gently taking the skin between his teeth. “Please Johnny,” you begged, feeling the arousal simmer low in your stomach. Grinning he pulled back and raked his dark eyes over your figure before making quick work of your belt and sliding your jeans along with your panties from your legs, only shortly struggling with your shoes. “It’s not Johnny now, baby,” he rasped when he kneeled down in front of you, pulling you towards him roughly, so your glistening core was exposed to him. “It’s Daddy,” he added before licking a broad stripe through your folds and flicking his tongue at your clit. You could just mewl and throw your head back in pleasure. You didn’t know that this would be such a turn on for you. “Say it, baby,” Johnny demanded, lazily dragging his tongue over your sensitive bundle of nerves. “Please Daddy,” you whimpered and you could feel his low groan vibrating against your core. He wasted no time to attach his plush lips to your clit, gently sucking and grazing his teeth over the little nub, making you mewl and shiver in pleasure. He definitely knew what he was doing, altering between stimulating your clit to the point where it almost became too much before he focused on dragging his tongue through your folds, gently prodding against your entrance before it gave away. When Johnny moaned you could feel it travel straight through you, making your head swim with pleasure. Looking down to the man kneeling in front of you, you were met with his dark eyes, staring straight up into yours. Moaning, you threaded your fingers into his soft hair and pressed his face closer to your core, not even taking the chance that he could move back. “Feels so good, Daddy,” you moaned when he spread your labia with his fingers so his tongue could dive deeper into you, stimulating your velvety walls. When he hummed it send sweet vibrations through your core and you could feel your orgasm approach almost embarrassingly fast. “Mmmh, so close Daddy.” “You wanna cum, baby?” He rasped, his hot breath fanning over your clit that he was lazily rubbing with two fingers. You bit your lip and met his dark eyes, nodding furiously. “Then beg for it, doll. I could stay here for hours,” Johnny spoke before he turned his head to mouth at your thigh, gently biting and sucking at the sensitive skin until it bruised under his ministrations. “I would just keep you right on the edge for hours until you’re a shaking mess for me, begging for release.” His lips split into a wicked grin when he saw how his dirty words affected you and he slowed his fingers on your clit until it was just enough to keep you stimulated but not enough to make the knot in your stomach snap. “Please Daddy,” you whimpered. “Please what baby?” He rested his head on your thigh, looking up at you from innocent eyes as if he wasn’t driving you insane with just his fingers. “What is it beautiful?” He repeated the question, replacing his fingers with his tongue. “You wanna cum?” “Yes please,” you whined, grinding your hips against his tongue to get more friction. “Well if you ask so nicely…” Johnny immediately slipped two fingers inside you with almost no resistance from how ridiculously wet you were and began pumping them in and out of your core fast, crooking them to search for your sweet spot. “Come on baby,” he growled, locking eyes with you again when he closed his lips around your clit. Almost screaming his name, you came hard when his fingers finally found your sweet spot, rubbing at it mercilessly to help you ride out your orgasm. Your thighs were shaking and you fell back onto the bench, the leather sticking to your back where you just laid for a while, your head spinning, breathing heavily.

“You look gorgeous like that,” Johnny complimented you, when he got back up from the floor, raking his clean hand through the mess that was his hair before he shamelessly took his fingers that were covered in your essence into his mouth, sucking them clean. Through half lidded eyes you could see the way he was still straining against the fabric of his jeans and the sight made your mouth water. “You’re still hard,” you said breathless. “I am,” he said matter of factly. You wordlessly let your thighs fall open for him, exposing your core to him. “Oh baby,” Johnny cursed, pressing the heel of his palm against his bulge, “As much as I want to fuck you right now, you still have a fresh tattoo, doll.” “Please, Johnny, I want it,” you begged. “Shh, baby,” he soothed you rubbing a hand over your thigh, “Let me dress that tattoo and then I’ll take you upstairs to fuck you on an actual bed like you deserve.” You nodded, amazed by his amount of self-control.

Johnny worked quickly and efficiently: Cleaning your tattoo one last time before putting some ointment on it to keep it moisturized. At last he gently taped down a small sheet of plastic foil to keep it safe. “All done, beautiful,” he spoke before pecking your lips, “You still want to come upstairs with me?” “Yes Daddy,” you answered and you swore you could see his eyes darken just from the word alone. “Hold on tightly,” he ordered before scooping you up into his arms, holding you up by your thighs. Squealing you quickly wrapped your arms and legs around him, holding on tightly. “I’ll get your clothes before we open up tomorrow,” he mumbled when he carried you through the back door of the shop that lead to a dusty staircase. You pressed your body closer to his, nuzzling your face into his neck where the smell of his cologne was the strongest, to have some of his warmth seep into your skin when you started to shiver from the cold air. Lazily you let your lips travel over his skin, sucking a mark next to a splash of ink.

Johnny quickly grabbed the keys to his apartment’s door from atop of the doorframe (not really safe) and unlocked his door while holding you up with just one of his arms, the display of strength making your head spin. With quick steps he crossed the way to his bed and gently laid you down on the soft sheets, immediately crawling on top of you, crowding you against the mattress. “I knew you would look good in my bed,” he rasped, kissing your neck while his hands made quick work of the bra that you were still wearing for some reason. “You’re gorgeous, doll,” he breathed after he had sat up on his knees, looking down at you with dark eyes, his big hands roaming your body. Feeling shy under all the attention and compliments he was giving you, you tried to hide your face behind your fingers but he wasn’t having any of it, quickly grabbing your wrists in one hand to pin them above your head. “Don’t hide from me baby. Daddy wants to see how much you’re enjoying yourself.” You could just nod, trying to force down the whimper that almost spilled past your lips, he hadn’t even done much yet and you were already feeling arousal pulse through your veins. “I couldn’t hear your answer,” Johnny teased, gently grabbing one of your boobs to massage the soft flesh. “Yes, Daddy.” “That’s my good girl,” he grinned, releasing your wrists to slip his T-Shirt over his head, revealing his strong chest where the eagle majestically spread its wings and the hard lines of his abs. “Like what you see?” He asked smugly, climbing off the bed to unbuckle his belt and slip his jeans off his narrow hips, revealing strong, muscled thighs. One of them was covered with the face of a growling panther while the other was decorated with a colorful koifish tattoo that disappeared beneath the fabric of his dark boxers that were doing very little to hide a prominent bulge. “Let me,” you breathed and crawled over to hook your thumbs into the waistband. But before you pulled them down, you pressed a couple of kisses to the cherry blossom branch tattoo that seemed to stretch from his back over his hipbone and further down, mingling with the koi tattoo further down. With every centimeter of skin you exposed, more ink from the blossoms became visible and you kissed every single one of the delicate flowers. When his length finally sprang free, you had to swallow dryly: His cock was huge and hung heavy between his legs. Licking your lips you looked up to him, to find him grinning down at you. “Go to town, baby.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice, you were itching to feel his heavy weight on your tongue. You pressed a sweet kiss to his tip before placing a hand at the base only to find him surprisingly soft as you experimentally pumped your hand once. “It takes a while for it to get fully hard,” he groaned when you moved your hand up and down his shaft a couple of times, feeling it pulse beneath your fingers. Damn if he wasn’t even fully hard, how big would he be if he was? Holding him at the base, you licked a broad stripe up the whole length before you swiped your tongue around the pink head, pulling another groan from Johnny’s lips. Taking a deep breath, you finally took him in your mouth and hollowed your cheeks, tasting his skin. The weight on your tongue felt just right and you couldn’t help but moan as you slowly started to take more and more of him until you felt him hit the back of your throat. Shit, you were barely able to fit half of his length in your mouth like this. “You’re so big,” you moaned when you pulled off of him with a wet pop, spreading your saliva down the shaft with both of your hands. Johnny just hummed and grabbed a handful of your hair to shove your mouth back onto his dick. He cursed when the velvety heat surrounded him again and gently began to thrust in and out your mouth. “Fuck you look so good with my cock in your mouth,” he breathed heavily. You could only moan where your lips were stretched around his length and hollow your cheeks when he pulled out, the grip he had on your hair keeping you in place while he snapped his hips. “Shit baby,” Johnny cursed when he pulled out, panting while he rested the head of his cock on your outstretched tongue. “I could cum like this.” You whined pathetically, looking up at him with pleading eyes. He chuckled and gently slapped his cock against your lips, smearing them with precum. “But you don’t want that, don’t you, baby? You want my cock inside you? Stretching you out?” “Yes Daddy, please. I need it so bad,” you blabbered, not even knowing where those words were coming from but you seemed to have said the right thing with how Johnny’s dick twitched in his hand.

“Then get on your hands and knees for me, baby. Ass up.” It was almost comically how fast you complied, baring yourself to him. “Such a good girl,” he praised, grabbing your asscheeks to knead and pull them apart. “Beautiful.” “Please Daddy,” you begged him, arching your back further. “Patience baby,” he chuckled. A frustrated groan got stuck in your throat and turned into a drawn out whine when he pushed two of his fingers inside you, pumping them quickly and curling them to find your sweet spot again. Soon two fingers became three and he had reduced you to a moaning mess with how he abused your sweet spot once he had found it again. “You think you’re ready for my cock, baby?” “Yes. Oh god, yes please,” you begged while shamelessly grinding back on his fingers that he had stilled inside of you. “Spread your cheeks for me,” he ordered while quickly grabbing a condom from his bedside table and rolling it onto his cock. Balancing your weight on your knees and shoulders, you reached around yourself to pull your asscheeks apart so Johnny could see your core clenching around nothing. “You’re such a good girl for me,” he rasped, running his palm along the curve of your body while lazily thrusting his cock through your folds, making it glisten with your essence. Finally you could feel him nudging at your entrance with the thick head of his cock. “You want it, baby?” “Yes please Daddy,” you gasped, trying hard to be good and not grind back against him. “You’re such a good girl for me,” he chuckled, “And good girls get what they want if they ask so politely.” With that he finally sank into you in one agonizingly slow thrust until you could feel his hip bones press against your skin. You had to screw your eyes shut and bite your lip to suppress a whimper. You had never felt so full before.

“Fuck baby, you’re so tight,” Johnny groaned, grabbing you by the dip of your waist with his big hands, grinding you on his cock. “I’m so full, Daddy,” you gasped when he slowly pulled out until only the head of his cock was inside you before he languidly thrust back in. “Yeah? You like that? Being stuffed full of my cock?” You could only moan and nod where your head was pressed into the sheets. His cock was so big that it seemed to press against every good spot that was inside you, setting your nerve endings on fire, the pain from being stretched like that only adding to your pleasure. “You‘re sucking me right back in baby,” he cursed and gripped your waist harder, pulling you back on his cock as he picked up the pace, low groans falling from his lips. Your moans got progressively louder and louder the faster Johnny snapped his hips. “Hands behind your back, baby,” he ordered panting and immediately grabbed both your wrists in his hands to use them as leverage so he could fuck into you faster, the change of angle and pace making you moan his name. Your head was swimming with pleasure and you could only moan and mewl beneath him, imagining how he would bite his lip while watching his dick disappear inside you over and over again, stretching out the delicate skin of your sex. “God baby, your ass looks amazing,” Johnny groaned, praise after praise falling from his lips that reduced you to a moaning mess.

With one particularly hard thrust he buried himself to the hilt inside you and draped his body over yours, his hot breath fanning over your face when he spoke, a deep rumble in his chest while grinding his dick right against your sweet spot that had you seeing colors behind your closed eyes. “Wanna see you bounce on my dick, doll. Can you do that for me?” Taking a deep breath, you nodded. Your ability to form coherent sentences had left you as soon as he had begun to fuck you in earnest. “You’re such a good girl,” he purred and gently pulled out, making you whimper from the loss. You felt the bed dip next to you and when you opened your eyes, you were met with Johnny’s pleased smirk as he leaned against the headboard of the bed, his cock resting against his hip, too heavy to properly stand up and you couldn’t stop another whimper. “Come on baby, I know you want it,” he grinned, crooking a finger in a ‘come closer’ motion. Dragging your limbs from beneath you with great effort, you climbed onto his lap, immediately claiming his lips in a messy kiss. You buried your hands in his stupidly perfect hair to mess it up and tug at the inky strands, causing Johnny to moan into the kiss. “Hmm, my baby is feisty,” he chuckled when he broke the kiss, the pupils of his dark eyes blown so wide that they seemed almost black. “But you promised me to ride my dick,” he reminded you. “And I’m gonna,” you slurred, reaching between your bodies to grab his cock, giving it a couple of strokes. “But turn around for me baby. Wanna see how much my fat cock is going to stretch you out,” he rasped, playfully biting your lips. “But I want to see you too,” you complained. “Oh you can,” he grinned and pointed over your shoulder. You reluctantly turned around before you saw what he meant. Right across from the bed was a big mirror and you gasped because of how fucked out you already looked. A couple of tears had rolled down your cheeks and messed up your makeup and your lipstick was smeared around your lips.

You carefully grabbed Johnny’s cock again and held it steady so you could sink down on him, watching yourself in the mirror until you sat snug on his lap and had to close your eyes because the feeling was so overwhelming. He felt even bigger like that. “You okay, baby?” He asked, grabbing your hips tightly to help you swivel them on his cock, making it press into your walls just how you liked it. “How does your cock feel even bigger like this?” You gasped as you leaned forward and slowly started to ride him at first to get used to his size and figure out the best angle for you. Your legs shook with the effort to keep your rhythm but the look Johnny had on his face, his eyes glued to where you two were connected, made it worth it. Suddenly a wicked grin spread on his lips and he snapped his hips up when you lowered yourself again, tearing loud moans from both of you. “Fuck, do that again,” you demanded when you raised your hips again. “What’s the magic word?” Johnny teased, holding you up so you wouldn’t drop down again. “Please, Daddy.” Groaning he started to snap his hips up every time you ground down on him, making your skin slap together with an obscene noise.

God you wanted to die on his dick. “Do you now?” Johnny laughed. Shit did you say that out loud? “Want to feel how deep it goes inside you?” He rasped, wrapping his strong arms around your waist. You went lax in his hold and mewled helplessly. Who knew that a little display of strength and a big dick were such turn ons for you that your brain was reduced to mush. Grinning he carefully pulled you up and against his chest and draped your legs over his after he had planted his feet firmly onto the mattress. “Watch, baby,” he ordered as he lifted you off of him until only the tip was barely inside you anymore before letting you drop down again. You mewled and thrashed in his hold, the feeling just on the edge of too much. Feeling him deep inside you was one thing but actually seeing it was a whole other thing and it messed with your head. Curiously you pressed your hand down on your lower stomach when Johnny had started to piston his hips up into you instead of dropping you down onto his cock every time and you swore you could feel him move inside you. A drawn out curse left your lips and you threw your head back onto his shoulder.

With the way he was snapping his hips up you could feel your orgasm approach at lightning speed and you were so far gone that you shamelessly reached between your legs to stimulate your clit. “Fuck baby, you’re so hot like this,” Johnny groaned, grinding his dick inside you as you quickly rubbed your clit, toeing right on the edge. “Please Daddy,” you cried out, not sure what you were even begging for. “You gonna cum on my cock?” He rasped, snapping his hips harshly, “Wrapped around my big cock stretching you out like this?” You nodded your head furiously, your eyes screwed shut. You were so close that you could already feel your toes curling. “Show me baby. Show Daddy how good his cock makes you feel.” That’s what pushed you over the edge, the way he was panting in your ear, his voice strained from how he was drilling into you. The coil in your stomach snapped and you almost screamed his name, your body curling inwards and thighs shivering as your orgasm washed over you, making a bunch of colors explode behind your lids. In the back of your mind you registered Johnny’s curses and how he was grinding his cock inside you to help you ride out your orgasm. “Such a good girl,” he praised when your body went lax on top of him, your chest heaving with heavy breaths. You briefly wondered if you had ever cum this hard and you couldn’t think of any other time. “Thank you Daddy,” you panted, turning your face to press a messy kiss to his plush lips that were bitten raw. He chuckled lowly when you whimpered when his still hard cock shifted when you tried to turn around.

“Will you let me fuck you for a little longer, baby?” He asked, running a hand through your sweaty hair. Instead of answering him, you lifted yourself off his dick to turn around on his lap, capturing his lips again. “Want you to ruin me,” you whispered between kisses, “Want you to ruin me for any other men. Want to only remember how you feel inside of me.” Johnny growled deep in his chest before he pushed you down onto the bed, hungrily licking into your mouth. “You’re the one who is ruining me,” he panted, rising to his knees. He quickly grabbed your legs and threw them over his shoulders before he sank into you again with a low groan. This time he didn’t waste any time with building up the pace and immediately snapped his hips harshly, chasing his own orgasm. “You’re taking me so well, baby,” he panted, folding your thighs to your chest so he could push into you even deeper, making you see stars with how he was nailing your sweet spot with the new angle. And even though you had just cum, you felt another orgasm build inside your stomach. A row of curses left Johnny’s lips when he could watch his dick slide in and out of you again and he gripped your thighs so hard you were sure you’d have bruises there tomorrow. But that was something you’d worry about later, right now your world was only made up of the handsome man with his huge cock that was currently rearranging your guts with how vigorously he was snapping his hips, making your skin slap together with lewd sounds.

“I’m gonna cum baby,” Johnny grunted, his hips losing their rhythm. “On me,” you managed to choke out, still lost in your own pleasure. Another groan left his bitten lips before he quickly pulled out and ripped the condom off, jerking his cock with quick strokes, his eyes fixed to yours. All it took was a couple of jerks before he threw his head back and you could see his abdominal muscles contract before the first burst of white hot cum spurted from his dick and covered your chest and stomach. With parted lips he stroked himself through his orgasm, milking rope after rope from his cock until he hissed with overstimulation. “Fuck,” he cursed before giggling when he saw the mess he had made of you, his cum dripping from your boobs and running down your stomach. He cursed again before claiming your lips. “You want to cum one last time, baby?” “Please Daddy,” you whined, spreading your legs further for him. “My good girl,” he sighed, sinking two fingers into your heat, quickly crooking them to stimulate your sweet spot while his thumb was putting sweet pressure on your clit, making you thrash beneath him. “You look so good covered in my cum,” he rasped before he kissed you harshly to swallow your moans and cries of pleasure. You desperately held on to his shoulders, breaking the kiss when your head was spinning from the lack of oxygen. While speeding up his fingers, Johnny began sucking bruises low on your neck and over the soft skin of your cleavage. “Shit, I’m gonna-“ you didn’t get to finish your sentence because right that moment he had sucked one of your nipples into his mouth which was just enough to send you over the edge for a third time that night, your lips parted in a silent scream of his name and your thighs shaking and closing around the handsome man kneeling between them. “That’s my good girl,” he praised breathily and gently rocked his fingers to help you ride out your orgasm before he pulled them out, instead winding his strong arms around your body, holding you to his inked chest.

For a while he just held you close, not caring that his cum was now also stuck to his chest. “Fuck that was a lot,” you chuckled, burying your face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his calming scent. “Not what you thought would happen when you get a free tattoo?” Johnny softly spoke, carding his hand through your messy hair. “Not at all.” Another question was burning inside your head but you were too scared to ask it. You didn’t want to push him and ruin the mood. “I should clean you up and see if that tattoo is still okay. Then we can cuddle, alright?” The tattoo artist said before he detangled your bodies from one another to get up from the bed. He looked around on the floor for a cloth and you could finally see where the cherry blossoms on his hip were coming from. A big samurai was stretched over half his back, surrounded by the pinkish blossoms. It seemed like it wasn’t a complete piece yet, the samurai staring at the still untouched skin of Johnny’s left shoulderblade. “Your back tattoo is really pretty,” you mumbled to fill the silence while Johnny was wiping his chest clean before he gently did the same to you, taking extra caution when looking at your still fresh tattoo. “Thank you,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to your forehead, the metal of his piercing feeling warm on your skin, “We should change that foil real quick.” You just nodded and let him do his work, exhaustion settling into your bones.

“Do you do this with all your clients?” Shit. You hadn’t meant to ask that, the question had just slipped your lips and you could feel Johnny freeze where he was dressing your tattoo again before he secured the last piece of tape. He sighed and slipped beneath the covers, pulling you against his chest, so you could listen to his heartbeat. “Not all of them,” he answered eventually, “I haven’t slept with a client in a while. It happens sometimes but usually I don’t think much about it.” “And now you do?” He just hummed nonchalantly, playing with your hair. “They usually don’t come back after I fuck them.” He paused, holding his breath. “Will you come back?” Your heart started to race and you could feel a bright smile spreading over your lips. “For more free tattoos and piercings?” “Oh, yeah, I guess,” he sounded so deflated, the confident tattoo artist suddenly gone. “You idiot,” you giggled, pillowing your head on his sternum so he could see the smile on your lips, “I like you Johnny. I’ll come back if you want me to.” Now he was also smiling, his features softening. “Don’t make jokes like that, my heart is fragile,” he joked, wrapping you up in his strong arms.

“Which one was your first one?” You asked him when the silence between you stretched while you traced the scales of the dragon that wound around his arm. “My first tattoo?” Johnny shifted around for a while before he showed you his other arm that had all kinds of different designs on it, some in bright colors, some strictly black. “That little guy over here,” he said with a smile on his lips and pointed to a little sunflower at the bend of his elbow, “To remind me to always look at the sun, at the bright side of life.” “It’s cute,” you breathed, touching the yellow petals. “And then it went downhill from there,” he chuckled, “It’s addicting.” “Let’s hope I can stay abstinent.” “What a shame, I’d love to cover you in my art,” Johnny confessed, tilting your face up so he could claim your lips in a kiss. “Maybe one or two more,” you breathed in between kisses, making him chuckle against your lips.

#kafenetwork #johnny #seo youngho #johnny suh #nct #johnny smut #johnny fluff #nct smut #johnny imagines #johnny scenarios #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct fic #johnny fic #johnny fanfic

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queenofbaws · 2 years ago

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(im sending this So late in the day, but i hope ur havin a good one queenie ;w;) i imagine that the hacketeers are both too polite to ask but also nosy enough to theorise amongst themselves about why jessica is covered in what looks like a concerning amount of scratch and bite marks... but i also feel like if she Was asked, jess would just come up with more and more insane stories

definitely more than six sentence sat(or)sunday!!!

It was something she’d gotten used to over the years, people asking about the scars. She couldn’t blame them, really…not when it was something she’d do in their place. Lots of people had scars after all, tiny little nicks or pale shapes standing out here and there, but very few people had scars like hers. Or quite as many.

She had to hand it to the Hacketteers, though…it took two and a half weeks for the first person to ask.

“Hey, so like, super personal question, feel free to ignore it or tell me to shut up or whatever,” Emma had said, and Jess had never been much of a mind-reader, but she’d almost been able to mouth along with what came next: “But how did you get those?”

They’d snuck away while the campers were at lunch, her and Emily lounging on the dock with their shirts rolled up to let their bellies tan, and though she’d stayed flat on her back with her hands behind her head, she’d known Emily had sat up by the sound of the wood creaking beneath them.

Jess, however, had kept her feet dangling, letting her toes skim the water of Lake Septimus, and she’d pointed to the indents on her stomach instead. “These?” she’d asked before heaving a long, exasperated sigh. “Ohmigod, you wouldn’t even believe it…I fell into a tanning booth once. The glass broke and just went everywhere, it was this whole mess.” She’d heard the wood creak again, and known without looking that Emily’d set herself back down. “Sued the shit out of them, though. The tanning place. Then Em and I went out and bought these killer shoes. I’ll have to show you them sometime.”

And Emma had been quiet, then, the same way people always went; there’d been a look on her face that suggested she didn’t know whether to believe her or not. “Oh,” was all she’d said. Then she’d rolled onto her stomach to let her back get some sun, and that had been the end of that.

A few days later and most of them had been milling inside the lodge, hanging the week’s art projects where all the kids could see them. She’d picked up a papercutting and stretched it out, the single shape spreading and spreading to reveal the abstract snowflake shape that’d been cut into it, and to either side of her, Abi and Dylan had gone strangely still.

“Gnarly scars,” Dylan had said, sounding a little too off-handed to be believable.

Hardly loud enough to hear, Abi had breathed, “Oh my God,” and though Jess hadn’t looked, she’d felt her cringe into herself.

“What, these?” Jess had asked, still holding the snowflake out wide, but nodding towards her arms with an innocent smile. “Yeah, I guess they sort of are, huh? Go figure.”

“How’d you get ‘em? Fighting a bear? Slow dancing with a lawnmower?”

“Dylan,” Abi had hissed, and when Jess had glanced her way, she’d seen her ears and cheeks and neck had gone cherry-red. “You don’t just ask that stuff, oh my God…”

Jess had stuck a sliver of her tongue out then, just enough to make it look like she was concentrating, and she’d hung the snowflake on the wall. “Huh? Oh, don’t even sweat it, I don’t mind! It’s really sort of an embarrassing story, but it’s not like…bad. I got chickenpox really, really bad when I was a kid, and you know how the doctor tells you not to scratch? Well.” She’d allowed herself a little laugh, then pointed to the series of scars that were most obviously slash marks. “They tell you that for a reason, okay? I learned that the hard way.”

“You…scratched yourself. That deep.” Despite Abi’s obvious mortification, Dylan hadn’t been able to let it go, bending a bit to peer closer at the marks. “How itchy were you?”

And because she’d had years and years to practice, Jess held her hand out so her fingernails lined up with the jagged marks. More or less. “Really itchy,” she’d laughed.

“And you…didn’t get stitches for that or anything?”

“Oh no, I did,” she’d beamed, shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes and acting for all the world like she was the dumbest person alive. “Scratched them open too. Chickenpox, man…” She’d glanced Abi’s way and shook her head before grabbing the next art project to hang. “Serious shit.”

The questions had become less subtle as time went on – which she’d expected – and by the time the kids had been sent to bed and it was only counselors around the dying embers of the firepit, Jacob hadn’t pulled any sort of punch.

“Jess! Level with me, wouldya?”

“Wuh-oh,” Mike had groaned. “This spells trouble.”

“Ah, shuddup dude. Look, everyone’s thinking it but no one’s got the stones to ask – is that a fuckin’ bite you got there on your shoulder?” He’d been laughing, but even in the low light of the fire, she’d watched Mike and Matt’s expressions go stony. “How’d that happen?”

Before either of them had been able to leap to her defense, she’d raised her eyebrows and stood from her seat, sauntering over to take the half-eaten s’more out of Jacob’s hand. She’d finished it, chewing thoughtfully, and then carefully sucked the marshmallow fluff from each of her fingers in turn. “What can I say,” she’d smiled, patting his shoulder before heading back to her seat. “Em’s kind of an aggressive kisser.”

There’d been some laughs at that, and a wolf-whistle or two, but it’d passed as quickly as it’d come on. Even if Mike and Matt had made a point to bookend her for the rest of the night, letting her rest her head against them and rubbing her back where no one else could see.

It wasn’t until the end of the summer that she ran out of stories. They’d been packing up pool toys, the pool house stiflingly hot and reeking of chlorine, and she’d been tired enough that Kaitlyn had caught her completely off guard.

“Hey,” she’d said, helping her secure the last of the floaties in the closet before taking her by the arms in a gentle, worried-mother hold. “This is rude. I know it’s rude. Buuut I heard the guys saying some stuff the other night, and I just…look, they’re all idiots and I know there’s no way they’re telling the truth. I know you didn’t let a snapping turtle near your face, okay? You can play ditzy-doo all you want, but I’m not buying it honey, not for one second, nuh-uh. So…can I ask how…?”

“I think we should head back to the lodge,” Sam had said, clapping her hands together with a smile so perfectly warm on the outside no one would’ve ever been able to guess at the discomfort it was covering up. “You guys know how Mr. Hackett gets if we – ”

But Jess had just met Kaitlyn’s look with a smile of her own, tired and resigned, and she’d mimicked the hold by setting her own hands on Kaitlyn’s shoulders. “We had this friend named Hannah, once. I played a really mean prank on her, and because of that, she turned into a monster and tried to kill me. All of us, really, but…well, she was sort of maddest at me. She pulled me through a window and dragged me through a forest, and when none of that killed me, she dropped me down a mineshaft. I got cut up pretty much…everywhere. And most of them didn’t heal right because of the frostbite. And because apparently there’s a lot of weird stuff in monster-spit, so I got a few infections too.”

From over Kaitlyn’s shoulder, she’d watched Sam’s shoulders go lower and lower until they seemed weighted down by anvils. Her smile had remained, but Jess hadn’t been able to remember a time where her eyes had looked so sad. Not in years, anyway.

Kaitlyn had watched her for a moment, then snorted so hard that she covered her mouth and nose. “Uh huh,” she’d laughed. “Oookay, you got me. Super rude thing to ask, I deserve that. But seriously, if you ever do want to talk about what really happened, I’m a girl who loves a good story!”

Jess had smiled, and Jess had nodded, and in the end, Jess had said what she always did: “Oh, for sure! But I’m warning you now…you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

#fudgeroach #six sentence weekend #queenie writes supermassive #HEY SO i didnt mean for this to become. EMOTIONAL. but. HERE WE ARE I GUESS!!!!!!!#ty ash for this glorious prompt - i am havin a good one ty and i hope you had a good one too!!!#fr tho i need to write.........so much more jess. i love her so much.

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collecting-stories · 3 years ago

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She’s Kinda Hot - Sarah Cameron

Request: omg i really wish i could write but, can you do one with sarah and kind of like kie reader(rich but hang out with the pogues)where they are enemies and are stuck together for a project and the reader keeps annoying sarah to make her mad and the reader tells sarah she’s hot when she’s mad and then they end up getting together or something. sorry this is really long this is also my first time requesting so i’m kinda new lo

A/N: I really freaking love Sarah Cameron. That is all. Enjoy the fic.

Outer Banks Masterlist

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Sarah was pretty sure that there was one of those personal rain clouds hanging directly over her head as she sat in math class with you. Who even assigned school projects in math class? Wasn’t that kind of thing reserved for english or science? But no, her math teacher...your math teacher...decided that a project to highlight Women in Math was a brilliant idea for Women’s History Month and, in an even greater stroke of genius, she stuck Sarah and you together as partners. It was all your fault really, that was all Sarah kept thinking as she stared across the classroom at the side of your head. That if you hadn’t walked into class late, in the middle of assignments, Sarah would’ve ended up with the next person alphabetically behind Cameron. Instead, she was stuck with you.

“Why don’t we just split the assignment into parts and then put it together at the end?” Sarah suggested, after the bell rang and she managed to chase you down the hall of the kook academy to your locker.

“Why not just work together?” You replied, shrugging a shoulder as if it shouldn’t be the worst thing that could ever happen to Sarah to be paired together for the project.

“I’d rather not.”

“Cause you broke up with me-”

Sarah hushed you immediately, covering your mouth with her hand and looking back and forth down the crowded hallway. “You know what happened!”

You pushed Sarah’s hand away and rolled your eyes, “well too bad princess, I need this grade so you’re gonna have to deal with seeing me.” You said, “everyday. After school.”

“That’s bullshit,” Sarah snapped, following after you when you shut your locker and started down the hallway to your next class, “you do not need that fucking grade! You’re at like, the top of the class.”

“Are you the teacher?” you asked, looking back at her. “Don’t worry Sarah, I promise I’ll stay six feet away and I won’t try to tempt you. Wouldn’t want anyone to find out you’re into girls.” You said, whispering the last part so only she could hear it.

Sarah stopped in her tracks, watching you walk the rest of the way to your class. She wanted to scream after you, that wasn’t the reason. That wasn’t why she’d totally annexed you from her life. It wasn’t just that she knew this project was going to get her in deep shit, it was that she was one hundred percent positive that she would not be able to work with you without letting her feelings get the better of her.

It wasn’t like the kook academy was a big place, there wasn’t exactly room to avoid you completely, but Sarah had done a pretty decent job so far. Even when the two of you crossed paths in class, and it happened more than Sarah would’ve preferred, she managed to keep herself away from you. At least until now, she was stuck with you as her partner for some ridiculous math project. She’d been banking on you wanting as little to do with her as she tried to have with you but instead you seemed totally fine. Unbothered by everything that went down between the two of you.

She thought about asking Kiara what she would do but Sarah could already hear her best friend telling her that she wasn’t going to take sides. Kiara was friends with both of you and the most advice she would ever offer was “I don’t get what happened between you two anyway”.

No, asking Kiara wouldn’t work. Sarah would have to resign herself to this project. She could this. It was just a three-week project. She could survive three weeks with you.

“Hey, if I get lunch, what’d’ya want?” You asked, hanging your head off of Sarah’s bed and holding your phone out so you could tap through your doordash app.

Sarah wanted to scream, it was still half-way through the first week and you had been to her house three times in as many days, spending your after-school hours driving her crazy. She was pretty sure that you were doing this on purpose.

“It’s almost 5:30,” Sarah replied, not looking up from her laptop, “I think lunch is over.”

“Dinner then.” You said.

“No. I don’t want dinner.” She snapped, “and I don’t want lunch or whatever else...I just want to finish this project.”

“We’ve got like, two weeks left Sarah,” you pointed out, rolling over onto your stomach and looking at her across the room, “just chill out.”

You knew you were pushing Sarah’s buttons but you couldn’t help it. When things between the two of you had gone bad, when she’d told you that it was over and, worse than that, it was a mistake, you had been heartbroken. There wasn’t a better word for it. You hated how upset you’d been after Sarah broke it off with you but when things settled, you couldn’t deny that there was still something there. Little looks, fleeting in the hallway, moments you caught her staring and you knew she caught you too. It felt like boiling tension, the same way it had before, when you’d gotten together.

“Chill out?” She huffed, “you’ve been at my house all week driving me fucking nuts and now you tell me to ‘chill out’. No, you need to help me with this fucking project!”

You sat up on the bed, unable to contain the smile as you looked over at Sarah, “god, I totally forgot how insanely hot you are when you’re pissed off.”

Sarah tossed her pencil across the room at you, “will you knock it off. You always pull this shit with me.”

“What shit?” You almost laughed, “you’re the one who told me that dating was an ‘accident’ and you were ‘confused about your feelings’. What am I doing, exactly, to pull shit with you? If anything, Sarah, you leading me on was pretty much exactly that.”

“I wasn’t leading you on.” She groaned, flicking her hair over her shoulder the way she always did when she was pissed with something someone said to her. “What was I supposed to do anyway?” She said, voice dropping lower so no one would hear her. You might’ve been in her closed bedroom but if there was one thing you’d learned about Tanny Hill it was that someone was always listening. “Do you know what my family would do if they found out?”

“Found out that you were dating...basically a pogue? Or dating a girl?” You deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at her in question. You knew what the answer was. Sarah had been trying to live up to every expectation that Ward set for her from the moment she was born. She was always trying to make up for Rafe or Wheezie doing something to upset him by making sure she never did. And while other people dating whoever they wanted was totally fine with him, his favorite daughter, his pride and joy, dating a girl...maybe if it’d been Wheezie a few years down the line. But not Sarah, who was supposed to date a rich kook and go to UNC and marry the same rich kook and they could have a couple kids and buy a big house near his. He’d been planning it all out for her since before she was born and you had thrown a wrench in that plan.

“It’s a delicate subject.”

“No,” you laughed and shook your head, “your dad’s a total homophobe. What’s he got against two super-hot girls dating each other?”

“When one of them is his daughter, I don’t think it’s at the top of his approved list.” She replied. “We should be working on this project anyway...I want a good grade and so do you.”

“Sarah-”

“No. Cause you’ll say something that you know I wanna hear and then you’ll do the stupid slow walk over to my chair and put your hands on the arm rests and I’ll be totally defenseless and then I’ll do something I totally regret...like kissing you.” Sarah said, “or letting you kiss me.”

“You’d totally regret it if we kissed?” You asked. “Positive?”

“Yes I’m positive.”

“We could test it out? Just to make sure?”

“No.”

You shrugged, grabbing your math text off the bed and setting it on your lap again, “okay, I guess we should get back to work then.”

“What?” Sarah almost sounded shocked and really she shouldn’t have been. She should’ve known when the teacher put the two of you together for the project that this was exactly where she would end up at some point within the three weeks. Though really, she’d held out a lot longer than she ever thought she would be able to. “That’s it? You’re just going back to the project?”

“You said that’s what you wanted to do.”

She groaned and tugged at the roots of her hair for a second before looking at you, “you are the most frustrating, annoying, dense person in the entire world and I cannot believe that we-”

While she reamed you out, you had put your book aside and gotten up, going over to her and doing exactly what she said you would. You put your hands on the armrests of her desk chair and you leaned in and kissed her mid-sentence. “Is that what I was supposed to do?” You asked, pulling away just enough to see her face.

Sarah wrapped her arms around your neck, pulling you toward her and forcing you to stabilize yourself with a knee on the side of her leg, practically sitting on her lap. “Something like that.” She finally said, “though I would’ve appreciated a little warning.”

“Oh, sorry, you seemed stressed,” you replied, feigning innocence, “I just wanted to help you relax.”

“Is stressed the word?” She joked, tension melting as she brushed her nose against yours. She leaned forward so your foreheads were touching, her eyelashes just ghosting a touch on your cheeks when she closed her eyes for a split second.

“Extremely hot? Sexy...a major turn on.” You joked, kissing her again. “God, imagine if you’d been paired with like...Topper for this? You’d be kissing him right now.”

“Stop trying to ruin the moment and kiss me.” Sarah laughed.

#sarah cameron imagine #sarah cameron fanfic #sarah cameron fanfiction #sarah cameron fic #sarah cameron x reader #sarah cameron x you #sarah cameron x y/n #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #sarah Cameron fanfic #outer banks fanfic #outer banks fic #obx fic #obx imagine #obx fanfiction #obx fanfic #collecting stories imagine

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hermannsthumb · 3 years ago

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possible prompt for a university au: newt is the biology major who maintains all the fish tanks in the physics building at 11pm and hermann is the physics student who likes to wander the halls to think. newt accidentally flings water all over the ground and hermann trips, hijinks ensue.

earlier today I was thinking about how I wrote a college AU fic almost 3 years ago to the date, and how I wanted to do more bc its fun thinking about newt and hermann as dumb college students

----

Newt's not really sure how he ended up with the weirdest work-study job on the planet, but honestly, things could be much, much worse (he could be stuck down in the dining hall, or dealing with confused freshmen in the school bookstore) so he keeps his thoughts on the whole thing to himself. Every Friday at eleven sharp, Newt pulls on his grodiest t-shirt and a pair of long rubber gloves and treks all the way over to the physics department to set to work scrubbing down the fish tanks that line the classroom walls. Why does the physics department have fish tanks? Newt's not really sure about that, either. It's kind of an insane amount of them, too, more than even the marine bio department has. Maybe it's supposed to boost morale or something. Hey, look at these crazy cool tropical fish who get to do nothing but eat and swim in circles, sorry you're stuck inside calculating velocity and shit.

Whatever, Newt's not complaining about that either. Let the physics nerds have their fun. It'll be good for them to branch out a little, realize there's life beyond robotics club meetings.

Also, Newt likes the fish. They're cute. He likes to think they like him, too, because they're very well behaved when he has to scoop them out of their tanks and plop them into smaller fish bowls (the kind goldfish in movies always use). He's going to teach them tricks eventually—he had a beta fish once who would do a little flip when Newt tapped the glass a certain way because he knew he'd get rewarded with dried worms, so Newt knows it's possible. Just imagine, a hundred fish doing flips on command. Newt Geiszler, fish whisperer.

Yeah, maybe the job could be more glamorous. It's really hard to get algae out of the gloves, and he hasn't been allotted the budget for a new pair yet.

"Hey, guys!" he shouts as he pushes in the door to room 214. The fish don't acknowledge him: they just continue swimming in their giant tank. In and out of plastic plants and rock caves. The rock caves were a gift from Newt three months into the job, and so were some of the moss balls—stimulation is important for fish! He wouldn't want to be trapped in a glass box with nothing to do, either. "I bet you missed me. Ready for a clean tank?"

Newt always talks to the fish, even if they don't talk back, because he thinks it's important to build their trust. He'll usually keep a running commentary of his week as he scrubs the tanks, just get everything off his chest that he needs to get off. Stuff he's worried about. Stuff that went well. Stuff that went badly. Therapy's expensive, and Newt's student health insurance can only cover so much, but talking to fish? That's free.

That's also kinda why he does it so late at night and over the weekend. The last thing he wants is an audience. Because, one, talking to fish is admittedly weird, and two, no one wants a glimpse at Newt's psyche like that, probably not even the fish.

The first step in cleaning the tanks is relocation. Newt digs his stereotypical goldfish bowls and an industrial-size mesh wand out of the supply closet, fills the former with some of the special tank salt water, and begins the slow and arduous task of scooping out the fish and depositing them into the bowls. "I had the lamest week," he announces once he's about three clownfish in. "I was working on a group project Saturday—"

Then Newt stops, because he hears footsteps in the hallway just outside the classroom.

Serial killer, Newt's instincts supply helpfully.

No, Newt corrects himself, that's dumb. Why would a serial killer wander into the physics building at eleven o'clock at night? Why would anyone, period? He's probably imagining stuff. Lack of sleep, stress over his upcoming projects, residual embarrassment from his disaster study session Saturday, all of it culminating in Newt thinking there's someone there. No, definitely imagining it. Newt can only even get in this late to the department because his ID swipe card is set up with the right permissions—not even the physics students have the permissions he does to be in this late at night. Well, not unless they clean the kitchenette in the student lounge or something.

Or if Newt left the door unlocked.

More footsteps. Closer now.

Newt's pretty sure he didn't leave the door unlocked, because he thinks it locks automatically behind him, and he would have to literally prop it open for anyone to get in after him. But anything's possible. The door could've caught on a dropped pencil or a paper scrap or other weird shit that physics students leave around, and a serial killer could've noticed and taken the opportunity to sneak inside on the off chance a hapless young biology major was scrubbing slime off fish tanks in the middle of the night. Any minute now, Newt's about to end up on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The Physics Department Murder. The Disappearing Biologist. (Nah, neither of those are very good titles, but that's why Newt isn't on the creative writing track.)

Step-tap-step. Closer now; Newt's heart leaps to his throat. Step-tap-step. Step-tap-step. Pausing just outside the door of room 214. God, why didn't Newt turn the lights off? Why didn't he shut the door?

Newt reaches for the first vaguely weapon-shaped thing he can find—an empty fishbowl, because Newt's not going to sacrifice any of the fish for this—and, as the door swings open, hurls it with a cry.

The bowl clunks on the ground. Except it turns out Newt grabbed the wrong fish bowl, because (even though it doesn't shatter, thank God) water quickly begins to seep across the slate floor tiles towards Newt's serial killer, a pathetic little clownfish (Newt thinks this one is named Albert, because the physics department is made up of nerds who do shit like name their random pet fish after their kind) flopping around in the puddle. Newt's serial killer, meanwhile, cries out similarly, his arms windmilling as he loses his footing and slips backwards, his cane—

Oh, fuck.

The intruder is not a serial killer. It's someone possibly worse, actually: Newt's mortal enemy, Hermann Gottlieb.

Newt's not really sure at what point Hermann became his mortal enemy and not just some guy I have class with that I hate, but he can pretty easily say that they've hated each other since the moment Hermann walked through the doors of Engineering 101 and was deigned Newt's lab partner by the Alphabetized By Last Name Seating Chart god. Something about Hermann just gets under Newt's skin. It's not his prissy English accent, or his oversized sweaters, or his absolutely horrendous haircut, and it's not even that he takes every opportunity to savagely rip apart every single thing Newt says in class. Don't get Newt wrong, that's all super fucking annoying, but it's annoying levels he can deal with.

It's the stuff they have in common that makes Newt hate him. It's like Hermann's a slightly broodier and more angular mirror that reflects all of Newt's most egregious faults—his arrogance, his stubbornness, his social awkwardness, his desperation to be taken seriously—right back at him. It sucks.

Plus, one time Newt caught Hermann ripping down the flyer he put up on the quad for Anime Club to advertise his stupid chess club instead, and he's never managed to forgive him for that.

Newt may hate Hermann, but he's not about to let him land on his ass in a puddle of fishy water (especially not on a freezing November night) just because the subsequent bitching would be unbearable, and, yeah, it would be supremely shitty of Newt, so he leaps forward just in time to catch Hermann and his cane before he hits the ground. He's so impressed with himself with his amazing catch that it takes him a few seconds to realize that Hermann is shouting and probably has been shouting since he slipped.

"—bloody maniac! What on earth are you doing in here? How are you in here? Did you just assault me? I'm going to phone campus police, you wretched—"

"Hold that thought," Newt says.

He rights Hermann and snags the mesh net and rescues poor Al before it's too late, dropping him back into the big tank with the rest of his friends. Newt can't be sure, but he thinks Al blows a bubble in thanks at him. Maybe he needs to make friends outside fish.

Hermann is still yelling at him.

"I am going to tell the head of the department you're—you're skulking about in here after hours!" he declares. "You're a menace. Pay attention to what I'm saying to you, Newton!"

Newt sighs and turns around. Hermann's turned an interesting shade of red—sort of like an over-boiled lobster, or if he fell asleep in the sun for too long. Newt wonders if it's from embarrassment (almost falling on his ass) or anger (almost being knocked on his ass). Probably anger. "Look, dude, I'm sorry," Newt says. His face twists like he ate a lemon, and he hopes Hermann doesn't notice. Newt hates apologizing to Hermann. "It's my job to clean the tanks every weekend. You scared the shit out of me and I freaked out—it's just that, like, no one ever comes by this late. Ever." He decides not to mention the serial killer thing. Hermann might make fun of him for being jumpy or paranoid or something.

Hermann's scowl doesn't lessen, but he does nod. Plus, he stops shouting. That's as much as Newt's gonna get of forgiveness. "Hmph," Hermann says. "You clean the tanks?"

"Every weekend," Newt repeats. He realizes he got some fish tank slime on Hermann's button-up when he caught him. Oops. Hopefully Hermann won't notice until Newt's in the safety of his dorm. "Gotta pay for my textbooks somehow." Then he frowns. "Wait, so what are you doing here? I didn't know you had access to the building this late."

Maybe Hermann is the kitchenette-cleaning guy after all. But, to his surprise, Hermann sniffs and casts his eyes to his dorky Oxford shoes. "Er," he says. "It's just—I was having trouble working out a solution to a problem, and thought a walk might do me good. Chilly nights like this one always do. And I quite like this building at night—it's calm, and much quieter than my dormitory." He fidgets. "And—well—only don't say anything to anyone, but I rewrote the permissions of my ID card so I could come and go wherever I please ages ago."

"You rewrote the permissions?" Newt says. "What the hell, wouldn't you have to hack into the security system or something to do that?"

"Well, obviously," Hermann says.

Despite himself, and despite Hermann being his Mortal Enemy, Newt is genuinely impressed. "Dude," he says. "That is so badass." Since when has Hermann been a badass?

Hermann's eyebrows jump, and he blinks at Newt behind his dorky librarian glasses. What twenty-one-year-old wears librarian glasses? With a chain? "You think so?" he says.

"Uh, totally," Newt says. "What problem were you stuck on? The one from Saturday?"

Being lab partners for engineering means Newt and Hermann have to collaborate on pretty much everything, including their midterms. Their midterm is what they've been working on for the past two weeks. On Saturday, though, they met in neutral ground to work on it (a reserved study room in the library), and, after a stupid and massive argument that had the librarians hoisting them out by their shirt collars and threatening to ban them for life, Hermann called Newt an idiot and stomped off into the night. Newt still hasn't gotten around to giving the problem another shot. Whatever, they have another week before the dumb thing is due. Plenty of time. Hermann nods. "Yes," he says. "Er—that one."

Newt glances at the clock ticking away on the wall. Quarter after eleven. Hermann's delayed him a whole fifteen minutes. Technically, he reminds himself, he doesn't actually have to have the tanks scrubbed by Friday night—he has the whole weekend to get it done. Also, he kind of feels like he owes Hermann for attacking him the way he did. Accidentally attacking. "Listen, Hermann," he says, feeling totally insane for what he's about to suggest. But he kind of wants to know more about Hermann The Badass. "What if we went back to my place and worked on it together? I'll buy us pizza, and I have, like, a bunch of energy drinks." The pizza place nearest campus is open until three in the morning, almost definitely because they get all of their business from sleep-deprived undergrads. Plus, they have midnight specials where you get free breadsticks with every pizza. Newt could go for some breadsticks. "It might be...fun," he adds.

Fun? With Hermann? Hermann will think he hit his head or something.

But to his surprise, Hermann doesn't hesitate even a second before saying "Alright, then."

"Oh," Newt says. He honestly thought Hermann would put up more of a struggle. "Cool!"

"But I might need to borrow a jumper," Hermann says. "If you'd be so...courteous, that is. I'm a bit chilly."

For some reason, the thought of Hermann (Newt's mortal enemy, but also a secret badass) curled up in one of Newt's baggy sweatshirts makes Newt feel all weird and warm all over. He swallows a few times, because his throat feels a little weird, too. Too tight. Like he just ate something he's allergic to. "No sweat," Newt says. "Let me just get these fish back in the, um, the tank. And—" He waves his slimy, gloved hands. "Take these off. And clean up that puddle. Gimme—um, gimme like, ten minutes?"

"Of course," Hermann says, and gives Newt a small, terse nod.

From Hermann, it's a smile. Newt almost slips on the puddle he's so blindsided by it. Stupid Hermann, making him feel all weird and clumsy.

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag #Anonymous

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nikosheba · 3 years ago

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Marco -> Jake????

Oh my god where do i start i'm sorry this is gonna get long

One: young teens in the 90s who joke constantly about being in love with their best friends almost never grew up to be Completely Straight (if you are a teen who jokes constantly about being attracted to, being married to, and being in love with your best friend, just gotta say, start examining that now, it'll save you time). I'm compiling a giant text doc of snippets where Marco makes Very Funny Jokes about how into Jake he is (saying he gets all tingly when Jake takes charge, pretending they're married, asking if Jake has a kiss for him, calling him, "Hey, Handsome!" my folder is actually getting huge). If you made dozens of public jokes about how extremely into your best friend you were and you are at least 30 years old and you ARE completely straight now, let me know. (only olds!!! if you're born after 1990 life is legitimately different for you!!! seriously!!!! I'm not saying queer kids now have it easy but It Was Different!!!!)

Two: Marco joins the war for Jake. Marco goes on the Rachel for Jake. Marco's entire reason for making all the biggest choices in his life that will destroy him are for Jake. He even says in #15 that his entire identity is the funny and smart one who would follow Jake anywhere without blinking. Every other character has a crisis of wondering whether they should actually follow Jake! Cassie, his girlfriend, goes against his orders when Tom grabs the morphing cube (50). Rachel goes off on her own (37). Tobias loses faith in Jake completely and sees him as a manipulator (by 33, again in 43, completely after the war). Ax disobeys and incapacitates him when he thinks he has a good reason (52). Marco never does. He'll sneak around or try to weasel out of stuff, but he never has a moment where he loses faith in Jake. Even at the end, Jake goes around asking everyone to follow him - except Marco. He already knows Marco will follow him. He even tells Cassie that he doesn't have to ask, he knows Marco will follow him. Ouch!

Three: Marco aggressively pursues girl after girl after girl but he doesn't actually care about any of them. He deliberately chooses the most un-gettable girl around ( Marci, the "prettiest girl in school," Rachel, Jeanne, etc.), and if they ever DO show interest back, he gets nervous and tanks whatever it is (falling asleep on his symphony date in #25, dropping the eagerness in MM4, immediately turning around and joking to Jake as soon as Jeanne rejects him then never mentioning it again during the months they're on the ship, as if he's done his performative part and that's over with).

Four: Just to be clear: I very much headcanon Marco as not being entirely aware of this aspect of himself during the series. I could go either way on whether he's figured it out about himself by the time they get on the Rachel. I absolutely do hc Jake as being sadly 100% straight, which is a pretty rare headcanon for me to have about anyone, fictional or nonfictional lmao. (I'm also an enormous fan of Jake/Cassie, this isn't me saying Jake/Marco is my ship, but I absolutely, completely do believe that Marco --> Jake is a thing). There's also the fact that he already dealt with a HUGE loss of status - specifically, he went from "having the perfect family" and "living almost next door to Jake" to living in an apartment in the bad part of town. He's already gone from "the same social rank as Jake" to "significantly lower," and acknowledging there's something else about him that would demote him again in the same way? That would be terrifying.

Five: I'm just going to say: Look at these two descriptions from #5:

[image ID: Two screenshots of The Predator, Animorphs #5. The first one reads: "Jake is my best friend, even though, unfortunately, he is kind of a pain sometimes. He's one of those serious-type guys. You say the word "responsibility" and he snaps to attention. He's the kind of guy who always seems like he's bigger than he actually is. That's because he has that whole "I'm in charge, and you can trust me" thing going on. He has sensible brown hair, and trustworthy brown eyes, and one of those confident chins. He also has a great sense of humor and is very smart, and I would trust him with my life any day, any time, not that I would ever tell him that." The second image reads: "Rachel is Jake's cousin, and a total babe who, unfortunately, is also totally insane. See, somehow, underneath all that perfect hair and perfect teeth, there's this lunatic Amazon warrior-queen, just fighting to get out. Here's what Rachel'll say whenever we decide to do something so dangerous it makes you want to wet yourself: "I'm in! Let's go! Let's do it!" End Image ID]

I'm just saying. Which Berenson does it sound like he's really into?

Six: I'm projecting! I was a queer kid in the 90s who was in love with my best friend and I'm completely projecting! Because it genuinely looks like Marco is going through all the same things I went through!

#marco #marco animorphs #animorphs #sexuality headcanons #marco --> jake

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leiawritesstories · 3 years ago

Text

Speak To My Heart

Rowaelin Month, Day 15: A bad day

Word count: 3422

Warnings: language, bit of depression, fighting. In short, there is angst in this fic. Hope the ending makes up for the rest.

Linguistics and foreign languages are two of my personal passions, so please bear with the bits of language talk that I couldn’t resist including. Brief word of clarification: a lot of expressions we use in English either translate into something extremely rude or don’t make sense in other languages. Translation companies have been trying for quite some time to make sure they don’t accidentally send a client a translated instruction manual that reads “fuck your mother” instead of “for questions, contact your local energy department.” All right I’ll get off my soapbox. :)

The phrases in foreign languages, marked with *, are translated into English at the end. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rowan’s day had been shit. The second he walked through the door, he’d been bombarded with an endless slew of crash reports, malfunctioning equipment, faulty passwords, and best of all, having to rewrite half the security firewalls because one of the rash young idiots in his department couldn’t be bothered to check his work for errors before sending it to management. And management thought it was the department boss’s job to fix all of his employees’ fuckups.

He hated IT.

Even more so since being promoted to department chair.

All he wanted to do was the fun stuff--program design and development, fixing the flaws in his own designs, and of course making those who tried to break into his company’s systems regret their pitiful existence. But Cadre Tech’s bitch of a CEO refused to let the best software engineer on her staff actually do his job.

Most days, he could cope with the pile of useless shit she directed to his desk. Most days. Today was not one of those days. Probably because on top of all the meaningless tasks he’d had to field, he was also forced to sit through one of Maeve’s bullshit “department head strategy sessions,” where every department chair had to pretend they gave a single shit about any word coming from their CEO’s garishly red, pinched mouth.

As if she knew anything her staff actually did.

Thanks to the compulsory meeting, Rowan was stuck in his office at nearly ten o’clock, painstakingly combing through the final draft of the update to CT’s translation program. This program had shot the company to fame and fortune, or at least insane stock value. “A Google Translate that actually translates,” their marketing department called it, and by the gods, that stupid slogan worked. And made sense. Rowan knew the program was just as good as it claimed to be.

He’d put in the hours, alongside a team of linguists, software engineers, designers, and people fluent in at least one other language. Frequent were the sessions where the project whiteboard turned into a jumble of words in twenty or more languages, Spanish alongside Arabic next to a column of simplified Japanese characters spilling over into a row of Cyrillic lettering. Rowan himself spoke German and some Spanish, but even he was lost amid the cacophony of eighteen different people switching from language to language, trying to figure out how idiomatic expressions translated from one language to another and what words should never, ever be placed together.

It took the team well over a year of bickering, or as they called it, friendly linguistic disagreements, to make it from loosely mapped concept to functioning program. By the time it hit the market three years ago, the software had been so well promoted that companies all over the world snapped up their chance to finally communicate properly with the client they’d offended years ago with a bad translation.

At launch, of course, Maeve stood in front of a sea of shouting reporters brandishing microphones, smiling her serpentine smile, and proceeded to thank the creative team for all their “contributions” before taking all the credit herself.

Said creative team went to the bar that had become their usual gathering spot that night to get drunk and shit-talk their horrible boss, not necessarily in that order.

His favorite memory of that night was hearing the chief linguist, an outside contract with multiple advanced degrees who spoke eight separate languages besides English fluently, refer to Maeve as “quella puttana rugosa che non riusciva a convincere un cazzo a venire a dieci metri da lei se si vestiva da figa.*” The Italian speakers on the team were crying with laughter, and so was everyone else, once she translated it.

And then she downed another shot of vodka and hissed something that sounded like “sukya bliyad, no puedo mich betrinken con esta ordures.**” When everyone blinked in confusion, she sighed and relayed the sentiment in English.

Nobody had laughed as hard as Rowan. Aelin Galathynius just had that effect on him.

She brightened his darkest days.

But she couldn’t ease the strain of today.

And it was all his fault.

Aelin glanced up at the clock on her wall and cursed in three different languages when she saw that it was nearly eleven. Without meaning to, she’d spent all afternoon and evening writing lesson notes on idiomatic expressions. She really couldn’t help herself once she got into the topic; it was her pet project.

And the subject of one of her dissertations. Yes, she had multiple.

She’d worked her ass off for years to get through college, then through graduate and doctoral work while teaching at universities to offset costs, then earned a full-time teaching position at one of the top-ranked universities in the world. She got to teach linguistics, her lifetime love, and give guest lectures at other universities and at conferences, teaching people all over the world about the complexities and interrelatedness of language. Hell, she spoke ten; she’d be qualified to speak on linguistic relationships by virtue of that alone.

Gods, she was the chief linguist behind the most successful translation software ever produced. Even if the bitch who owned the rights to said software had literally threatened to sue over ownership rights if any of the people who’d poured their figurative blood and sweat and literal tears into building the program tried to claim a small piece of the credit each of them so richly deserved.

That software and her role in its creation--even though Maeve Ond had claimed the public credit, the creative team spoke at interviews and made news features for their work in Cadre Tech’s massive success--had solidified her credentials as a professor of linguistics, had boosted her into her lecturer spot.

Last year, her university granted her tenure.

She should have been overjoyed, and she was, but not as much as earning tenure deserved.

Because there was nobody to share her joy.

Three years ago, in the wake of CT’s overnight jump to worldwide fame, Aelin fled a love she did not and never would deserve.

She told herself she would never look back. But she did. Almost every day, she looked back at the life she’d shared with Rowan and tried to convince herself that she did the right thing.

Try as she might, she could never silence the whisper that echoed always in her mind.

“You broke both of your hearts”

Someday, she told herself, someday she would be back in Doranelle. Someday, she would have a chance to apologize. Someday, maybe she could fix the Rowan-shaped chasm that gaped wide in her heart.

Yet here she was, sitting in a very nicely appointed hotel room in the university district of Doranelle, typing furiously away as if burying herself in notes and prep for tomorrow’s lecture could make the urge to contact Rowan disappear.

Three years earlier. Doranelle.

“Knock, knock.”

Rowan’s head jerked up from where it had most definitely not been slumped on his desk. “Wha--Oh. Hi, Aelin.”

“You’re falling asleep, buzzard, let’s go home.” He heard laughter in her soft voice.

“As if you won’t just get home and start cross-checking every single one of the phrases on your ‘potential problem’ list.”

She chuckled, walking over to him. “Fine. We’re both perfectionist work whores. Doesn’t mean we don’t need sleep.”

“I know you too well to believe you’re actually going to sleep.”

“All right, you win. Come home now, I’ll make some food, and you can put me to bed.” She winked saucily at him, leaving very little doubt what putting her to bed would entail, and he was up out of his chair in seconds.

“Hand over your computer, Fireheart,” he grinned as they walked into the small house they shared on the outskirts of the city.

“What?”

“Your computer, love. I’m leaving both of our work bags on the shelf by the front door so we can actually catch some rest tonight.” He pressed a finger to her mouth to silence her protests. “Uh-uh, Ae, we have interviews tomorrow and I won’t let the genius behind this program’s flawless word-to-word be anything but well-rested.”

She sighed, but he saw the love in her eyes. “Here, then, my dear brilliant software engineer. Leave your notebook, too, because I know if it’s anywhere near you, you’ll be up at three in the morning scribbling blocks of gibberish and picking apart your faultless code until you go insane.”

Both of their work satisfactorily put aside, Aelin made good on her promise to cook Rowan dinner.

And then he made very good on his promise to put her to bed.

The next morning, they were both awake with the sunrise, content to lay curled in each other’s arms as the morning light spread across their room.

Rowan drifted back into sleep, waking for good when he caught a whiff of coffee from the kitchen’s direction.

“Morning, you sleepy buzzard,” Aelin grinned, sipping from her mug.

Rowan dropped a kiss on her head as he reached for his mug. He took a long drink, sighing as the milky, sweetened caffeine hit his mouth.

“I will never understand how you drink your coffee black, Fireheart.”

“Not all of us need to sweeten the hell out of coffee to drink it, Ro. Maybe if you can’t handle the real thing, you should go back to your pretty little cups of crappy cafe tea.”

“Mention my pretty little teacups again, Ae…”

She giggled. “You be quiet and drink your coffee-flavored milk, my love. We both know you’re impossibly grumpy until you have caffeine in your veins.”

He grumbled something unintelligible as he drank his coffee.

They were nearly late to work that morning, even having planned an extra half hour to arrive, thanks to Aelin wearing what Rowan dubbed her “sexy professor suit.” She fixed the pins in her French twist in the car, making herself once again a portrait of professionalism, and slipped Rowan’s hand from her leg.

“Two hands on the wheel, Whitethorn.”

He pouted. “But I’m a safe driver and I want to hold your hand.”

“My hands are over here, love, not down by my skirt.”

When he pulled into his spot, Aelin closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath.

“You good, Fireheart?”

Gods, she loved hearing him call her that. “Yeah. I just…needed a moment to settle myself. To tell myself the cameras aren’t here to tear apart what I say.”

Rowan wrapped his hands around hers. “Dr. Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the bland reporters are here to stand in awe of your expertise. Not a single word you say will come across as anything but brilliant and beautifully said.”

She squeezed his hands, her usual confidence returning. “I love you, buzzard.”

“I love you too, Fireheart. Let’s go talk about our amazing achievement.”

The day sped by in a blur of reporters, interviewers, teleprompters, practiced speeches, lights, cameras, and crew. When the last bleached-blonde anchor of the last interview of the day cut her crew’s cameras, Aelin flopped against her second-in-linguistic-command, Dr. Nehemia Ytger, the expert on ethnic African languages.

“If I never see a news crew again, it’ll be too soon,” she sighed. “I’m beat.”

Nehemia snickered. “But we’re done talking about how proud we are that Maeve and her marvelous company have done such a grand service to the world.”

Aelin snorted softly. “Right. And now we servicepeople want to go home and take off our heels.”

“Amen to that.”

As the team filed out of the studio, Rowan made his way over to Aelin. “Holding up?”

“Not anymore,” she said, leaning casually into his side. “My heels are killing me, there’s a hairpin stabbing into my scalp, and I really, really need to pee.”

Rowan laughed, deep and husky. “Let’s get you home, then.”

“I’m stopping in the bathroom first.”

Just before she left the ladies’ room, Aelin heard voices in the break area. Familiar voices--Rowan’s, Maeve’s, and the snippy, borderline whiny tones of Remelle Frelau, who worked in the marketing department and had a hell of a boner for Rowan.

“--looking at revenue over--” Maeve’s voice cut out, but from the gasps of the other two, the revenue was through the roof.

“And it’s all thanks to this genius here,” drawled Remelle, who if Aelin had her guess was probably clinging onto Rowan like a platinum-blonde leech.

“Ms. Frelau, this was the product of a team. No single person could possibly have made it happen alone.”

“Oh, call me Remelle, or even better Remy. And you’re the team leader, so you practically did create it by yourself.”

Aelin snickered to herself. Vapid bitch had no idea what she was saying.

“That’s not how teams work, Ms. Frelau. We wouldn’t be here without Dr. Galathynius and Dr. Ytger’s language expertise, not to mention the creative genius of the engineers, graphic designers, linguists, and programmers.”

“Ms. Frelau, though her judgment is clearly biased, has a point, Mr. Whitethorn,” Mave said. “You demonstrated remarkable collaborative leadership qualities throughout this project, and I fully expect that you will continue to do so.” Maeve’s heels clicked away. Rowan’s voice followed her.

“Thank you, Ms. Ond, but I have to credit Dr. Galathynius--”

“Will you stop kissing that woman’s ass?” snorted Remelle. “Gods, she’s not worth your time or your praise; all she does is translate words into different languages and you idiots drool over that like it means anything.”

Aelin jerked like she’d been slapped. She knew Remelle was a self-centered, shallow, spiteful bitch, but she hadn’t known she would do this.

“--did more for this project than you and your useless whiteboard of catchphrases,” growled Rowan.

“I don’t care what she ‘did for the project,’ Rowan, she’s never going to be good enough for you.”

“Thank you for caring about my welfare, Frelau, now please kindly fuck off.”

Aelin chose that moment to saunter out of the bathroom and head straight for Rowan, her face showing no hint of having heard that conversation. She did note with satisfaction Remelle’s vain attempt to march out of the room with some semblance of dignity. Too bad her heel caught on the seam of the hallway carpet and the break room’s tile flooring and she had to grab the doorframe to keep from collapsing.

“You’re awfully quiet, Aelin.”

“Just thinking. Processing, really. It’s been a hell of a day.”

Rowan nodded. “I bet.”

“And hearing fucking Remelle rip into me for being useless…didn’t make it better.”

“Shit, you heard that?”

“Yeah. I heard that.” Her voice was hollow.

Rowan pulled into their driveway and shut off the engine. Reaching across the console, he cupped Aelin’s face in his hands. “Aelin. You are brilliant. You are terrifyingly smart. You are a force of nature. Nothing, nothing you will ever do is useless. Don’t let that jealous bitch make you think you are less than the perfect woman.”

She smiled tentatively at him. “She…she told me before that last interview that I could never be enough for you. Because you--because of Lyria.”

Rowan raked a hand through his hair. “Ae, can we talk about this inside?”

That night, he told her about his former fiancé, Lyria. He told her about their whirlwind romance, their youthful dreams. He told her about the horrific crash that stole away Lyria’s life. A drunk trucker, a narrow pass in the mountains. He showed her the box in which he kept all the memories of that life. He cried. Aelin cried. He curled against her, let her comfort him.

“Sometimes, I wish she was still here. She’d understand everything. She always did.”

Aelin had no response. She let Rowan fall asleep, his weight shifting off her and into his bed, and looked through the box. Everything she saw served as another reminder that this was the first woman he loved, the woman who understood everything.

She was worthy of him.

But was Aelin?

The more she looked at Rowan and Lyria’s happiness, the more the answer solidified.

No.

When Rowan woke up the next morning, Lyria’s box sat on Aelin’s side of the bed, a side that had not held Aelin.

He glanced out the window.

Her car was gone.

He got up and frantically paced through the house.

Everything she’d brought into his home was gone.

As was she.

Present day.

Rowan opened his front door mechanically, pulled off his shoes, dropped his work backpack on its shelf, and was halfway to his bedroom before he realized he’d just opened his front door. His front door that was always locked.

Someone was in his house.

Someone who either had a duplicate key or insanely good lockpicking skills.

Exactly one person owned a duplicate key to his house.

Aelin.

That’s impossible, she lives in Orynth, she can’t be here, he told the traitorous part of his brain that leapt with joy at seeing Aelin’s face again.

He turned around and made his way through the kitchen--nobody there--to the living room. He flicked on a lamp, casting a soft light around the room.

And nearly had a heart attack.

Aelin Galathynius sat on his couch.

For a moment, he just gawked at her. She looked so…different. Older. Gone was the infectious smile that had captured his heart. Dark shadows smeared under her eyes, testament both to the long hours she devoted to her work and to recent sleepless nights. She was twisting a ring on her right hand, a familiar sign of her nerves. From his angle, Rowan could see a hint of dark script on her wrist. A tattoo. The Aelin he knew didn’t have tattoos.

“I’m not a ghost.” Her voice, weary and hollow, broke the tense silence.

Rowan crossed the room, propped an arm on the fireplace. “Why?”

“Why am I here? Why did I leave? Why did I cut you out of my life?”

“Everything.” He couldn’t keep the waver from his voice, but his eyes burned into hers.

She took a steadying breath. “I’m here to apologize, first of all. I’m here to face what I ruined and to try and start mending it. I’m here to come to terms with everything I broke when I left three years ago.”

Whatever he’d expected her to say, it certainly wasn’t that.

“I’m sorry, Rowan. I’m sorry I left like that. I was…I was scared.”

“You can’t just run away from your fears, Aelin!” He couldn’t keep the frustration from his tone. “You can’t just abandon someone when you have a bad day!”

“I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have left! I know I can’t run from my fears; I’ve spent the last three years trying and fucking failing to do that! But I don’t know what else to do.”

“Saying something about it would have been a good first step.”

“I’m bad at emotions, Rowan. I tried. It wasn’t enough.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse.”

Aelin flicked a tear from her face. “I know.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m so sorry, Rowan. I should never have left. I let some stupid comment root into my head and make me doubt myself. I made myself believe I would never be good enough for you. I left you. I loved you, and I still left you. I still love you, even though I’ve tried to suppress it. I can never make up for that. I…I just wanted to tell you how much I’ve regretted that horrible decision all these years. I want you to be happy, Rowan, I--”

“How am I supposed to be happy without a source?” He’d dropped onto the couch, close enough to touch her but still keeping his distance.

“What?”

“You didn’t just take yourself away, Aelin. You were my happiness. I’ve spent three fucking years trying to make myself believe I’m better without you in my life, and I can’t.”

She was unabashedly crying by that point. “What do you want me to do? How can I make up for abandoning you?”

“Stay.”

Her gaze locked onto his, both of their eyes pooling with tears.

“Stay with me, Fireheart.”

“But--”

“I never stopped loving you either.”

A choked sob ripped out of Aelin. Rowan couldn’t hold himself in check any longer; he reached out and tugged her gently into his arms. To his shock, she didn’t resist, burying her face into his chest as sobs shook her shoulders. When she calmed, he tilted her chin up.

“Will you stay, Aelin?”

“Yes. Even though I will never deserve your forgiveness, yes.”

Translations:

* = “that pinched old whore who couldn’t convince a dick to come within ten metres of her if she dressed up provocatively” (Italian)

** = loosely translated as “Fucking hell, I can’t get drunk off this garbage.” (in order, Russian (badly phonetically spelled out because Rowan POV), Spanish, German, Spanish again, French) (the Russian doesn’t directly translate, so it could mean several different variations of expletive)

Might there be a second part? Perhaps......

#my writing #rowaelin month #aaaaaangst

60 notes · View notes

otomotoelzhinee · 3 years ago

Text

SAILOR MAX: Chapter 1

Before we start, I just wanna thank everyone for being so, so patient with me and this project!! I’ve worked hard on this AU, and I can only hope it was worth the wait. I also wanna thank the people who helped me with the project in general with stuff like worldbuilding, character relationships etc; and with the chapter itself by offering criticism to my writing (cause as we know, it’s not my forte). You know who you are and I just want you to know most of this stuff wouldn’t have been possible without your help. Lastly, thanks to my partner for the ungodly amount of support and patience, cause I know my perfectionism can get messy and they were always there to set me straight. I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to go through with this if it wasn’t for them. With all that out of the way...

“The Day a Lagomorph became a Sailor Soldier“

Word count: 18,361

Fog.

An intense fog was covering the entire place. Wherever he walked, no matter how much he had advanced, Max was not capable of seeing anything, or hearing anything. The atmosphere was cold and heavy, there was a weight that came directly from his legs, as they struggled to move across the intense fog field.

He desperately wanted to run through it, in hopes of finding something, someone, anything at all that could help him understand his situation. But no matter how hard he tried, his legs would not move. It almost felt as if he was slowly floating around.

He hadn’t even realized that, this entire time, he never felt his feet touching the floor, or a ground of any sort. The fog had made it impossible to see anything under him.

There were no echoes, no wind, not even the sound of his own breath was something he could perceive. Just pure, overwhelming silence. “What kind of place is this?” He wondered.

“I’m so cold…”

“…Where are you?”

As that last sentence crossed his mind, his ears finally began to capture a sound. It was the distant screams of a crowd, they were screams of terror. Or, were they cheering…?

No…it was both, both sounds from two different groups, clashing with one another. It became hard to tell exactly what was going on, but Max kept running forward. The sounds became louder and clearer, a clash of hard metals joined the chaos. There was a moment where he could hear the current event surrounding him. But despite this, no matter how much his eyes searched, no one was there with him.

The screams, the pleadings, they wouldn’t stop. His eyes kept searching, but it was all so loud and fast, was he going insane? Only the frantic sounds of his heart, pounding harder and harder into his ears, was able to overshadow it all. He closed his eyes and held his ears tightly.

“Where’s everyone? What is happening?!”

It was then when Max felt another presence approaching him, something physical. Something he might actually be able to see, someone he might be able to speak to! But there was no way for him to tell who it was without turning around first.

Disoriented and stumbling a little, he opened his eyes, turning around awkwardly. All he saw at that moment, was…

“MAXIMILIANO!”

Max gasped. The loud and angry voice made him jump on his bed, his heart almost escaped out of his chest. He hardly had the time to process the situation before hearing that voice again, scolding him from the floor below him.

“Maximiliano, you have FIVE minutes to get ready for school, or you’re going to be late! You hear me? FIVE. MINUTES.”

The entire room was made out of vague shapes and shadows, Max barely managed to recognize the clock by his side. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, and what he saw made him release a scream of pure horror.

He jumped from his bed and quickly started to get dressed. He stood in front of a large mirror that was standing against the wall, on the back of his bed.

“MOM! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?”

His mother was still on the second floor. “I tried waking you up nicely- Three times! But you wouldn’t answer, even with the alarm. So now you’re late!”

Max, now all well dressed in his gakuran, went down the little stairs in his room and opened the little door on the floor to release the ladder. He threw his briefcase to the second floor before going down the ladder, only to stop halfway and jump down since it wasn’t very high. He grabbed his briefcase and started running downstairs to the kitchen as fast as he could, so fast, in fact, that he ended up rolling down the stairs instead.

His mother heard the impact and immediately became worried. “Max! Geez, are you okay?!” She spoke from the kitchen, sitting at the table where she was previously reading the newspaper.

“Oww…’Course I’m not, Mom!” He stood up and rubbed his lower back as he approached the kitchen, making loud and long hisses through his teeth to make it as evident as possible to her he was in pain. Although in reality, and surprisingly, Max didn’t feel the impact at all.

His mother, while genuinely concerned, was still too upset to give Max the attention he was asking for.

“Ay, este cabro…” She sighed “…You’re too careless! Here, take your lunch and leave already, and be careful out there!”

“Yeah, yeah!” He received the little lunch bag grudgingly and ran to the main door, but his mother made one last question before he opened the door.

“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Max took a second to look around him and think, he had his lunch in one hand and his briefcase in the other. He had his notebooks, a pencil, what else could he be missing…?

“…Oh c’mon.”

Reluctantly, he approached his mother again to give her a quick peck on the cheek. His mother chuckled and said goodbye to her son as he closed the door. Because of his height, anyone would assume it’d take him a while to arrive to the school. But Max was incredibly agile, even for a lagomorph, and this physical ability had saved him from getting late a couple of times before. However, he had no idea what fate would prepare for him today.

He was getting his hopes high as he quickly recognized the streets, knowing he was getting closer to his destination, “I can make it, I can make it! I’m gonna make it!!” he repeated to himself.

And he would have made it! If only he had noticed the little creature in front of him lying on the sidewalk. His foot stepped on it and quickly made him lose balance, making him fall on his precious face.

His nose was bleeding a bit, but that didn’t bother him. He was mostly worried about how the teacher would react to this ‘new look’.

“AGH! Damn it, that’s gonna leave a mark! What the hell did I trip over with, anyway?”

When he looked back, he noticed that the creature in the sidewalk was actually a small, white, and poor little rat that had the bad luck to cross paths with Max.

His first reaction was disgust, he shivered as he loudly reaffirmed that he just stepped on a rat, even if no one was around to hear. Then he noticed the rat was not moving, and now he was terrified he may have just committed his first murder, and he just began high school this year! What a world, what a world…

He was hesitant to hold the creature for obvious reasons, but it didn’t seem dirty. Its hair was pure white and radiant, it seemed soft at first glance, the only strange detail was the band aids it had on its forehead. Maybe it was already wounded before encountering Max? What if it had an owner? And what if it was a rich person who would seek the head of anyone who tried to hurt their pet? Max was about to panic at that very moment, so he gently pushed the little rodent with one of his fingers to see if there was any reaction. When he saw it shaking at the touch, he finally held it between his trembling hands.

“H-hey, are you alive?! Oh crap, I’m so sorry! I didn’t break any bones, did I?”

The little rat opened its eyes slowly, Max’s weight on its body really stunned it, but nothing the rodent wouldn’t be able to survive. The rodent started to shake in Max’s hands, seemingly trying to get to the band aids, its sudden movements almost made Max drop the creature, but he did his best to keep himself calm.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like the band aids? …Do they itch, or something?”

It seemed like they were seriously annoying the rat, and Max was actually curious as to what kind of wound it could have on its forehead. Is it just a scratch? Or maybe something more horrific, more morbid and disgusting, that would keep him wild awake every night for the rest of his life? Whatever it was, he had to know!

With a small (not really) grin of curiosity on his face, he quickly began to remove the band aids from the rat’s forehead, and to his surprise, there were no signs of blood whatsoever. But before he could inspect better, the rat gave a high jump to his head, as a way to impulse itself in the air. The rat landed at the top of a wall that surrounded a garden of one of the houses, and its eyes seemed to be locked in Max’s eyes.

As the rat kept looking, Max finally took the chance to look at its forehead. It had a peculiar mark, a bald spot that resembled a crescent moon looking upward, which was quite funny to him.

The rat inclined itself to look at Max better, and with that he felt a slight sensation of intimidation. “Just what kind of rodent was this? Do they all behave this way?” His question would have to wait for another day, because the school’s bell gave its last rang, and now Max was officially late.

“…GOD DAMNIT! I shouldn’t be wasting time like this! Crap, crap, CRAP!”

He cleaned his nose, grabbed his briefcase, and restarted his race to the school. The little creature kept its eyes on him, until he was out of its sight.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

“Ah…Crap.”

As Max took the time to catch his breath, he stood in front of the closed door of his classroom. Because he had arrived late, he knew that if he called out for his teacher or knocked on the door, he would not be let in. But worst of all, he was probably deemed absent from this class, and would not be allowed inside until the first hour had passed.

He felt humiliated, having to stand in the corridor all by himself, but also tired, with his eyes slowly feeling dry and heavy. If only he hadn't spent the night reading manga, he might have woken up at a decent time, and then made it in time for school. Just who was responsible for that?

“Geez…I can't believe a cute lil’ lagomorph like me has to be standing up in the middle of the corridor. My feet hurt so much because of these stupid school slippers...Ugh, and I really tried to get here fast!”

Instead of continuing complaining to himself, Max started looking outside the window seeking for anything to distract him. Sadly, all there was were the clouds crossing across the sky, and a few birds flying by. The small creatures quickly reminded him of the small rodent he encountered not too long ago, and the strange event made him think of his even stranger dream from this morning.

If he was being honest, this was not the first dream he had that was related to that fog and those feelings of incapacity. But these dreams started so long ago, Max could no longer remember when exactly, and the mere act of trying brought him headaches.

There was something about these dreams that made him feel nervous, as if something horrible was going to happen soon. Or maybe it was something that had already happened, and his mind was trying to recall the event. But no matter how familiar the scenario felt in his mind, it still didn’t ring any bells, Max was sure he had never been in such a situation before in his whole life!

And yet…

“…Ugh.” he rubbed his eyes. “Maybe my head is making up this stuff ‘cause of the lack of sleep. I hate waking up so early, my eyes are burning.”

And suddenly, he heard an uproarious growl making itself present all across the corridor. Of course... He completely forgot he didn’t have breakfast this morning, no wonder he felt exhausted.

Max looked around the corridor to make sure he was alone, and took his lunch bag from his briefcase, desperately trying to untie the knot. Once his bento box was uncovered, he opened it without a care. The smell that came out of the box was mesmerizing for him, and the content’s reveal was too much to handle. His mouth was watering, and his stomach only growled louder at the sight.

“Well… I’m sure it’ll be fine if I just take a small bite to compensate for skipping breakfast! Thanks for the food!”

But just as Max was about to insert his teeth into the delicious food, the door of the classroom slipped open.

“Tsukino Maximiliano, what do you think you’re doing?”

Max hid the bento box behind his back in an attempt to pretend he wasn’t doing what he was clearly caught doing, but somehow, his plan failed; and the look on Miss Gibbens face said she was not pleased in the slightest. He then tried to find an excuse, but his teacher did not give him a second to speak, so she proceeded.

“It is for behavior like this that your grades are declining!”

And with that statement out of the way, she showed Max the results of his last English test, putting the test right in front of his face.

With only a quick inspection to the piece of paper, Max felt like he wanted to disappear at that very moment. Only 30 points? How embarrassing, and it was especially frustrating because he actually did know all the answers to these questions. If only he hadn’t fallen asleep during the test, maybe he could’ve answered properly, and with a more readable handwriting, too. He managed to hear a few chuckles from his classmates before the teacher finally allowed him inside the classroom.

“This day can only get better”, he sarcastically thought to himself.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

In another part of the world, in a much more cold, dark and desolate location, a heavy snowstorm was taking place. And among that storm, somewhere under the snow, an old castle of great size lay hidden. The material of the walls was rusty and cracked, and the colors had faded. Some of the pillars that decorated hallways had collapsed long ago, and darkness swallowed every room to the smallest corner. Only the weak light, emitted by the very few torches hung on the walls, would allow anyone to watch where they step.

Somewhere, in one of the many hallways, a tall anthropomorphic dog in a dark blue suit was walking through. His fur was of a pale, prim color, and his snoot was of a much whiter tone. He had short pointy ears hanging from his head, and his eyes were of a pastel blue color. He adjusted his white gloves with care as he approached his destination, his eyes fixated on it as they looked forward.

He arrived at a small sanctuary of sorts, where at its center resided a small pit completely filled with clay. He stood up in front of it, he stretched his right arm, and with a firm tone in his voice he called a name…

“Rise up, Morgana! Oh fervent servant of our mistress!”

The clay inside the pit began to shake, and it quickly raised together, struggling violently as it tried to take form. Eventually it transformed into a humanoid creature with a curvy shape, and once the base of the body was done, the clay figure began to draw in itself clothes, hair, eyes and other details. Once it all solidified, color began to fill its cheek, to then spread to its entire body, the creation was complete.

“Now listen closely, Morgana, your mission today will be to collect a large amount of human energy. But above it all, you must find an ancient object, a Silver Crystal. It is of great importance to our queen, so do not disappoint me.”

The humanoid figure smiled at the order and made a reverence to her master, before vanishing in the air.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

Back at the school, everyone was getting ready for lunch time, but Max was still sitting at his desk, completely asleep. The view was quite disturbing, actually, his mouth was completely open and leaking disgusting fluids all over his desk. He was so still he may as well be dead, but Inés was so used to this she didn’t give it any second thoughts. She and Max have been friends since Elementary school, and his weird mannerism was an everyday thing for her, it was amusing at best.

“Max…Hey, Max.”

She put her hand on his back and shook the lagomorph's body in hopes of getting a reaction. It took Max a second, but he finally came back to some of his senses and slowly opened his eyes.

“I-Inés…What are you doing here?” He cleaned his mouth with the sleeve of his gakuran in a sloppy manner.

“What do you mean?” She laughed. “We’re at school, what else am I going to be doing here?”

“S-School…?” Max’s eyes were squinting as he tried to look at his surroundings. He barely recognized the shape of Inés in front of him, and even less the entire classroom.

“Geez, how can you get that disoriented after a nap? C’mon, it’s lunch time, Lorne and the girls are waiting.”

Max rubbed his eyes as he began to search for his lunch bag among his other stuff, and Inés cleaned the mess over his desk with her handkerchief.

“You’re just like a baby.” She commented as a way to tease him.

After Max was ready and fully awake, they began walking downstairs on their way to the schoolyard, both him and Inés carrying their bentos. Inés didn't take long to ask him what the reason behind the hijinks of this morning was, with a mocking smile on her face. The Lagomorph didn’t take the interrogation too kindly, claiming everything that happened today was out of his control. But there was one situation that he did not even think of mentioning to his friend, and that was the strange encounter with the white rodent.

In reality, he pretty much forgot about the encounter at this point, thinking of it as some sort of fever dream, an illusion of his head at best. And right now he had only one thing in his mind: Sit on his favorite bench, gossip with his friends and eat until his lunch was no more.

When Inés stopped the teasing for the sake of Max’s ego, the duo finally arrived with Lorne, who was waiting for them with an orange juice box on his hand; Sitting on a bench that was under the trees. In a bench right next to the last but in a vertical position, two other girls were sitting on it. Their names were Amano and Suri, friends of Inés from another class who would sometimes join in the little group of Max, Lorne and Inés.

Inés sat together with the girls, leaving Max no choice but to sit at the other extreme of the bench, which was nearest to Lorne. Max didn’t like having to sit this close to Lorne, as his sole presence would put him in a bad mood, but he wasn’t quite sure why. Lorne wasn't a bad kid, he was only a huge nerd who never shut up, but that seems to be enough of a reason for Max to sort of dislike his “friend”.

The group greeted each other and began talking about how their day went, and which classes they had today. Lorne immediately mentioned the English test results, saying, or rather showing off in Max’s eyes, how he got a better score than most kids in the class.

“I thought it’d be an easy exam, but 95 points is all I managed to get. I guess I should have prepared myself more! Tests are just like games, aren't they?”

‘Games’? How could he even say such a thing! How dare he presume to be better at English than him. Max was focusing on his food to avoid looking at Lorne, but he was absolutely furious, nobody was even laughing at his joke!

Well…Inés did chuckle a little, but Lorne was still irritating in Max’s eyes, and no one would be able to change his mind.

“Oh! By the way, how many points did you get, Mr. Max?”

Max choked on his tamagoyaki, he swallowed it the best he could before starting to laugh as loud as he could.

“Ah, me? Well, I got a perfect score, of course! Haha!”

“Wow! Really?! Well, you are a genius when it comes to English, Mr. Max!”

Lorne was a kid who had no malice in his heart. His admiration towards Max’s capacity to understand a foreign language that, to him, seemed so complex and sophisticated, was as true and honest as it can be. And as much as Max disliked Lorne, he had to admit, Lorne knew how to flatter a guy. After all, who doesn't like a bit of praise for their accomplishments?

“Could I see your test? I-I’d just like to see what answers you have so I can understand what I did wrong! Of course, if you don’t have a problem with that!”

At that point, Max was no longer laughing, his thoughts were rushing in his head trying to find a good excuse not to seem suspicious. That was the sign for Inés to interfere and help her friend get out of the hole he was digging himself in.

“Hey now, how about we change the subject?” Inés said calmly. “We shouldn't be thinking about school in our recess anyway, this is our time to relax.”

Lorne was quick to apologize, not wanting to disturb any of his friends. Max on the other hand, resumed his affairs and continued eating his lunch, swallowing both the food and the shame deep down his throat. Meanwhile everyone else kept the conversation going. That’s when one of Inés' friends, Amano, took the chance to speak.

“Oh, that’s right! Inés, have you heard about the recent robbery in a jewelry store at Chūō? It happened in the middle of the night, and the owners almost got hurt! There’s been lots of crimes near Minato ward these days, too. You and your mother should be careful!”

“Yes, I’ve heard, and you’re right. My mom’s been taking precautions, but she says there’s nothing to worry about, that our store is safe.”

Inés put her hands together, tightly. “Still, it’s a little scary to think that something could happen to us. I’m honestly not sure what I’d do…”

Her friends immediately noticed her concern, and Suri began rubbing her back as a way to comfort her. Lorne thought this would be a good time to share his own news, and that way lighter up the mood of the conversation.

“But you forgot the most important detail, Amano! Sailor V arrested the criminals from the Chūō robbery! It’s been confirmed!”

“No way!” Amano gasped. “Sailor V? You mean it?”

Max’s right ear twitched, and finally he raised his head up to look at Lorne. “Sailor V? What the heck is that?”

“You don't KNOW?” The group exclaimed in awe.

Max shrugged his shoulders and lowered his ears. He shouted “I’m not DEAF, you guys!”

Lorne chuckled, he began to fix his glasses and showed an unusual confidence in his face. After quickly cleaning his throat, he began his tale.

“Sailor V is a beautiful and mysterious heroine in shining armor, who wears a mask to hide her identity. She appeared a couple of years ago out of nowhere, and has been helping keep the city a safe place ever since. Many people know about her existence, but pictures of her are very rare, and always unclear! She always leaves the crime scene before the arrival of the police, leaving the criminals tied up and unconscious, ready to be arrested!”

“Woah!” The girls exclaimed.

“It is said she has very long hair that shines in the dark, and that she's incredibly strong! But the biggest rumor that’s being spread is that she works as a special agent for the police, but nobody knows for sure…”

The three girls were fascinated by the tale, but Lorne was impatiently waiting for the response of Max the most. There was a second of silence before Max finally raised his head and looked at Lorne.

“…Oh, yer done already? Sorry, I stopped listening after you said ‘Sailor V’.”

Everyone sighed.

“Anyway...” Suri started. “I'm so happy Sailor V is back on her rounds! It’s been a couple of months since we’ve heard of her!”

“Could you imagine, though?” Amano sighed as she fixed her hair. “Being surrounded by so many beautiful, sparkling, precious gems? Honestly, I don’t think I could resist the temptation myself!”

“Ah, you’re right. Jewels are just so beautiful!”

“Now we’re talking!” Max quickly joined in the conversation. “Inés, your mom has the jewelry store open today, right?”

“Oh, yes! In fact, there’s a special sale today, you can find some jewelry for half the original price.”

“That’s great! We should go check out those prices, then! What do you say, girls?”

“Inéees?” The girls stared at her.

“…Weeell…” She pondered in a teasing tone. “…I don’t see why not!”

When Max said all, of course, he was not trying to include Lorne. As the boy drank his juice, Amano, Max and Suri cheered in excitement.

Max then noticed Inés resting her hand on his small shoulder, she was looking at him with a smile.

“What’s wrong, Inés?”

“Sorry, but I just remembered I’ve got a surprise for you. Follow me!”

The word “surprise” made him think of the word “gift”, and because Inés was relatively rich, his expectations were always high. Inés could see the interest sparkling in his eyes, and Max did not hesitate to follow her back inside the school building. That is until he noticed that the direction they were going would actually lead them to the bathrooms of the first floor.

“Hey, Inés, what gives?”

“Okay, so!” She stopped the walk and turned around to see Max. “I know you’re going to freak out, but hear me out. I need you to get in the girls bathroom and wait for me in the last stall.”

“What?! Why?”

“Hurry up before the break is over. I promise I’ll be back soon!”

“No, but-! I-Inés! What is…!”

As Inés ran upstairs, she left Max standing in front of the bathroom with a good amount of questions wandering around his head. He stood in that same spot for a few minutes, debating on what he should do. Should he just wait outside instead? Or should he go back with his friends and ignore this nonsensical request?

What was she thinking anyway? Inés was not usually like this, and Max really hated to be left in the dark. But because she was his best friend, and quite honestly, he really wanted that expensive gift, he thought he should trust her. After all, what reasons did he have not to?

And so, making sure nobody was looking, he ran inside the bathroom and into the stall Inés had told him to go. He stood still in a corner, quite nervous, and he had two main reasons. One: because he didn’t want to get caught by some girl passing by. And two: Because he absolutely did not want to accidentally step near the toilet, who knows what sort of disgusting and horrible acts have been committed there.

Everything was quiet, for the most part. Except for the noisy voices of kids playing outside, this was mainly the floor of the junior high students, after all. Thankfully, none of the little girls had approached the bathroom so far, which made him feel a bit less anxious, yet not enough to lower his guard.

He stood there for just a few minutes, yet it felt like an eternity to him. Suddenly, he began to hear some steps entering the bathroom that slowly approached his stall. He thought it may be Inés, but didn’t dare to speak up. What if it’s another girl? The sole idea made him stop breathing for a second.

It wasn’t until he heard a quiet “Max? Are you there?” that he sighed with relief.

“Yeah, I’m here, but what the heck are we doing here, Inés? I could get in serious trouble for this!”

“Shh!” she gave Max a warning as he was being a bit too loud. “I know, I’m sorry! I just wanted to make sure nobody would look at you weird. Now here, open it quick!”

‘Look at you weird’? What exactly was she referring to? Most kids would already look at him weird for being one of the very few Lagomorphs at this school, so what could possibly draw more attention to Max?

Inés slid a black bag under the door of the stall, Max took it and began to rip it apart without much care. Although the sound of the bag being torn apart echoed through the room, he thought it was better to do it quickly and get this over with, rather than do it slowly and wait for someone to come and catch them.

Once he recognized the content inside the bag, his anger vanished, only leaving pure and utter happiness that reflected through his face. It was a dark blue sailor uniform, with a big bow of the same color attached to the blouse and two thin red stripes in the collar and the cuffs. It was the design used by the senior high school girls from this establishment, and it was his size! Max did not think twice about trying it out.

When Max was finally ready, he left the bathroom stall he was hiding in and began to show Inés his new look, giving a quick spin around to show the entire outfit.

“So! How do I look?”

Inés giggled. “Well, the important question is: How do you feel? Do you like it?”

He began to look at himself, holding his skirt from each side like a princess in a big dress. The dark color of the uniform gave him a feeling of maturity and realization. For the very first time, he felt like a full-blown senior high school student, which drew a big smile on his face.

“I… LOVE IT!”

He jumped into Inés arms and hugged her as tightly as he could, clinging onto her like a child holding onto his mother. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” is all he kept repeating. Inés smiled as she reciprocated the hug.

“How did you manage to get one of my size? And with the summer blouse included!”

“I, uh, didn't. I got the smallest uniform there was and I had to cut and sew some parts myself.”

“Wait, wait! Wait... You made this uniform? For ME?”

“You said you wanted to wear a skirt this year, something different to start high school with, and I just-”

“No, no, no. Say no more…” He purposefully hid the upper half of his face under his arm as he kept holding onto his friend. “You’re such a kind soul… I-I really don’t deserve you, Inés. I think…I may even cry a little…”

“Oh, please.” she gave a quick eye roll. “You’re not the type.”

Max drastically changed his tone and stopped covering his face. “Ah, you’re right! You know me so well, Inés!”

They both laughed it off.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

It was now around 3 in the afternoon. School was finally over and Max, alongside his friends, were ready to start their favorite activity of the day: Window shopping!

Max was pretty cheerful, maybe a bit too cheerful, but not for the reasons the girls thought. While he was indeed excited to go see precious stones and gems, among other stuff, all he really thought about was how cute he felt in his new uniform. When Amano and Suri saw him they just laughed it off, not thinking much of his look. Inés on the other hand, was happy to see that her small action had brought so much joy to her friend.

“Max, Look!” Inés called his attention, as he was still with his head in the clouds. He shifted his attention to the tall, very fancy building at the end of the street. Its exterior walls were white and the first floor’s showcase had purple windows, while the other three upper floors had crystal clear windows.

Max instantly knew what the building was, but it didn't take much work to figure it out, since there was already a big and very "in your face" signboard at the upper left of the first floor, which had the store's name written with big cursive letters, the Jewelry ABE・P.

"Kinda cheesy" he thought. But that didn't stop him or the girls from running right to the store's showcase and see what they had for sale.

Inés on the other hand, simply stood behind them, as a way to not disturb them. The shiny rocks that were on sale were nothing she hadn't seen before, considering it’s her mother’s work, and jewelry itself was not one of her biggest interests anyway. But she still explained in the most brief way possible all the articles that were being displayed in the showcase, just to make her friends happy.

"And that one is called ‘Pigeon blood ruby’, it costs one billion yen! Unfortunately, this one is not on discount.”

Max frowned. “You're serious? Who the heck would have that much money these days?”

“C’mon Max, I’m sure there’s more accessible prices inside the store!” Suri smiled at Max before following Amano inside the building. Inés then approached him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s go, Max.”

As the automatic door opened, the group was immediately able to hear the lousy crowd of women. Looking at, taking, and wearing as much jewelry as their wallets could afford. The view was shocking at first, but nothing that could be considered strange, this was a discount sale after all. Whatever reason a person may have, the opportunity to get a pretty necklace, or a shiny ring, would not be wasted.

And of course, Inés’ mother knew she only needed to give these people a little tiny bit of encouragement to buy everything. And so, with her sales megaphone, she continued to cheer on the crowd.

“Thank you everyone for coming! Go ahead and look, there’s enough jewelry for everyone! Our jewels are of the best quality, I assure you that you will not find these beautiful pieces anywhere else at this price!”

Inés’s mother, ‘Mrs. Abel’, was a middle aged woman with light brown, short curly hair. She enjoyed dressing up in fancy clothes and wearing a modest amount of jewelry, along with some red lipstick to highlight her face.

‘Mrs.Abel’ also liked to keep her store clean, the floor was sparkling white, and Max could practically see his own reflection.

The room was huge, with cream colored walls on the first floor, and sky blue colored walls on the second floor, which was visible from the group’s position; alongside the many rooms of the second floor. The second floor was also being supported by big, white pillars (three on each side of the first floor), that would give the store a classy vibe.

At the top of it all, a great Chandelier full of crystals was hanging from the ceiling, currently being unused. Max assumed that because of its great size, it would be more than enough to illuminate the entire room during the night.

“Mom, I’m home!”

“Ah, Inés! Welcome home, darling!” ‘Mrs. Abel’ turned around to greet her daughter, as she smiled cheerfully. “Are those your friends?”

“Yes.”

‘Mrs. Abel’ giggled. “Wonderful! Don’t worry girls, I know there’s a lot of people here, but feel free to look at anything you like. I’ll even give you a special discount for being friends of Inés!”

“Seriously?!” Max and the girls stared at each other with their mouths open, the sale was already crazy cheap, now they would get another discount on top of the already established one? ‘Mrs. Abel’ either hit her head really hard today, or just didn’t care how much money she would be losing.

Either way, Amano and Suri immediately ran into the crowd of women to see if there was anything that they could find intact, and Max was just about to follow them. But then, it hit him, a fact he completely dismissed for the entire day, something he could‘ve prevented, but was now too late…

He was out of cash. And what’s worse, even if he ran back home right now, he could not ask his parents for a single yen, no. Not after that terrible grade he got on his English test. He knew what would happen once they found out, which would be soon or later.

So, as he quickly accepted his defeat, he limited himself to stay beside Inés and watch with melancholy how his friends got to enjoy the sale. Without him.

“…You know, something about this feels…Wrong.” Inés murmured.

“Tell me about it…”

“I mean, I know my mom is very enthusiastic… But, we've never had so many sales before, and never at this scale! I wonder what’s gotten into her.”

Max just sighed, his eyes completely fixed on the crowd.

“Please, do not push each other!” ‘Mrs. Abel’ kept on cheering her clients. “I promise there’s enough for everyone!”

Inés stared at her mother, trying with all her might to discover what was going on inside her head at this moment. Despite them being in the same room, Inés felt a certain distance between the two, but what could be causing these feelings? This is her mother, she has been in this business for years, and she absolutely must know what she’s doing.

Yet, why is she doing this? Inés’ little head kept working out an answer, yet it would not come out.

And speaking of questionable intentions, Max just had an idea.

“Oee, Inés.” He whispered.

“Oh-” Inés snapped back into reality “Yes?”

“Ye think you could, please, pretty please, lend me some money? I forgot mine at home!”

“Ah, sure. What do you need it for?”

“Mmm, well…” Max danced around the question for a little. “You knooow~”

Inés tilted her head slightly.

“…Ah, I see. No, sorry Max.”

“Aww, c’mon! You’re my best friend in the whole wide world! Can’t you help out a friend in need?”

Inés used a more serious tone, without trying to be rude. “Max, any money I have was given to me by my mother. If I lend it to you to buy jewelry, there would be no gain for my mother’s business. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no this time.”

“Geez! A simple ‘no’ would've been enough.” He crossed his arms and looked in an opposite direction.

Inés sighed. Max was exasperating sometimes, it was hard to say no to him without getting on his nerves. Yet somehow, neither of them could stay angry at each other for too long.

“Alright…But could you at least let me use the bathroom? I need to change clothes.”

“Oh, yes. Of course! Follow me.”

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

Max said goodbye to Inés before leaving the store, and started walking to the direction of his house, now wearing his gakuran; its dark and lifeless blue color only lowered the mood for him. What a big chance he had right now, he could’ve gotten something pretty for himself like a ring, or a necklace, but he had to screw it up by wasting his allowance on childish stuff. And not to mention that darn test…

He took the piece of paper out of his bag and stared at it, it was covered in red lines crossing out all the questions he didn’t answer, while the ones he did answer were all perfect. “If my mom sees this, she’s definitely gonna kill me…”

Part of him had gotten used to this by now. How he couldn’t bring himself to study, getting yelled at by his teacher for his poor grades, getting yelled at back at home again. But, he was supposed to be good at this one subject, it was his thing! And because of a single mistake, he ruined it.

What bothered him most, is that there was only one person to blame for this, but his pride wouldn’t let him say who exactly.

“…BAH! Let the wind blow it away!” He crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it behind him.

There we go, now that he got rid of the test, he could just lie to his mom and say the test results haven't been given yet. Eventually, she will forget about it, and Max will avoid any further trouble-

“Hey, Bunny-boy!”

…Perhaps not.

Max felt a shiver down his spine. Something about the tone in the stranger’s voice instantly told him he must’ve done something bad to bother him.

“Do I look like a trash-can to you? You should be more careful where you aim at, it hit my face.”

Max held his breath in for a moment, how is it possible he didn’t notice someone standing behind him? Was he really that stupid? As much as he would’ve loved to run away home and avoid the conflict, he turned around to face the stranger.

“I-I’m really sorry, sir! I-I wasn’t paying attention!”

Max didn’t really know who he was talking to or how old they were, but he assumed he was a ‘sir’ when he noticed all the fancy clothes he was wearing. Max knew nothing about fashion, otherwise, he would’ve been able to guess what he was looking at was a morning dress. Max did, however, recognize the quality of the fabric, and the amount of earth-like colors in the suit.

From the dark green coat and his green beige waistcoat, to his brown trousers, along the orange necktie that stood out from the entire combo. To Max it was quite hexcentric, ridiculous even, but of course- He would not voice his opinion of fashion to this stranger.

Besides the peculiar clothing, the man was tall, extremely tall. Especially for Max, who could barely reach the guy’s stomach. Even though he looked quite chubby, there was no doubt for Max that a single push from the guy could leave him in the ground. He also looked like an anthropomorphic being, just like him, but Max couldn’t tell what kind.

Max began to search for more clues. At first he thought he could be a bear, mainly for the color of his fur. But despite his height, the stranger wasn't tall enough to pass as one. Max then tried to get a look at his face, but the stranger had it covered with a wrinkled piece of paper in front of him, the same one Max threw at him by accident.

Wait a minute... It was Max’s test!

“…30 points?” The stranger smirked.

Now he was making fun of him! The shame, the horror! Right now, a good punch in the gut from the man didn’t seem like such a terrible option for Max. At least if he was left unconscious, he wouldn’t have to hear any more humiliating comments about his poor performance.

“Geez. You should focus on your studies first, rather than carelessly littering people on the street, Bunny-boy."

“B-Bunny?” Although he might have been afraid, there was one thing Max would absolutely, not by any means, tolerate from anyone in this world; and that was being called a bunny. He may have let it slide the first time, but he would not do the same for a second time.

“Excuse me, sir, but you should get your eyes checked! Because I am a Lagomorph, not a Bunny!”

The stranger chuckled at Max’s reaction and returned the wrinkled piece of paper to him, placing it right on his face as a way of teasing him. “Well, you should pay more attention in class, Lago-boy.”

Max growled at the rude gesture, he took his test and violently put it aside, finally allowing the man and him to be face to face. “That- Is none of your business!”

Max was frozen. He stared into the stranger’s eyes, and despite the fact that he was wearing shades, Max could still see right through them. Finally, he was able to figure out the anthro-being he was dealing with.

He was an anthropomorphic dog with black eyes. His snoot was round and his ears were long and fluffy, they were practically hanging from his head, and Max felt the strange need to touch them.

He started to get the feeling that something about this guy was very, very familiar. And the more he stared at him, taking the time to analyze all of his features, searching for that ‘ah-ha!’ sign that would help him understand: “Just who is this guy?” The more he felt the two of them had, somehow, already met. But where and when, exactly? He couldn’t tell.

“Hey, Lago-boy? Did you lose something?” The dog waved his hand in front of Max’s face.

“H-Huh?” Max blinked twice, startled.

“Oh, geez. You just keep living in the clouds and refuse to get down, don’t you?”

“What? N-no!”

“Alright, alright, if you say so. It’s ‘none of my business’ anyway.”

The dog turned around in the other direction and said goodbye to Max, but Max wasn’t done with this conversation just yet.

“Wait a second!”

“Hmm?” The dog stood still and looked back at Max.

Every part of his body was shaking, his hunch was practically screaming, he had to know! Max had to know if, by the smallest chance…If it was him.

…But he did not have the courage to ask. Too many unpleasant things happened today, and now, based merely on feelings, he was going to ask this total stranger if he was ‘this’ certain person? And what if he said no? Max would only look like a complete idiot in front of someone he doesn’t even know. No, he would rather leave things just like this, as mere coincidences, and avoid any further embarrassment.

“…Sorry, nevermind. Must’ve confused you with someone else.”

Max then walked in the opposite direction without saying anything else, leaving the dog in front of the jewelry store. The stranger was a bit confused, but he quickly dismissed the moment as nothing of importance, as he had other things to worry about. He shifted his attention to the tall building in front of him and examined every inch of its structure, including the windows, until he was convinced that this was the place he was looking for.

Max kept going on his path, also trying to dismiss the event that just happened, and get home as soon as possible. Perhaps he could get a nice nap, too, he felt like he deserved it after such a stressful day. But that guy, his face…

“It had to be him, I know it was him.” He kept repeating those words to himself, and he would argue back at himself. “But it’s impossible, it can’t be, they look nothing alike, and he would never dress like that!”

The ideas kept clashing with one another over and over again, and Max felt a headache was coming soon if he didn’t do something about this matter. That’s when he noticed that he was passing right in front of a game center, one he casually visits now and then, The Game Center CROWN. And to his surprise, a poster had been recently added to the wall promoting a new game.

The poster was a cartoony illustration of a girl with long, light blonde hair and a red mask covering her eyes. She was wearing stylized armor that seemed inspired by a sailor uniform. She had the look of a hero ready to fight the bad guys, which were also depicted in the poster, but without taking the hero’s spotlight. The game was called Sailor V: Hero of the Night! Now where has he heard that name before…?

“Ah, this must be the girl Lorne was talking about! ‘Sailor V’, huh?”

Max examined the poster for a while, with slight annoyance, the thought of this popular superhero girl really tickled his anger, and his envy as well. Why was she getting all the attention? What made her so special? Is it because she had a fancy name and cute clothes? Anyone could do that. At least that’s what he thought, as he imagined himself in the spot of Sailor V. But that was just a fantasy, deep down, he knew it was impossible. Some people’s lives are just too easy, he thought, and he was not one of the lucky ones.

“…What a stupid name. What does the V stand for, anyway-?”

“Good afternoon, sir.”

Max released a fast scream of pure, sheer terror and stood back, leaning against the door entrance of the arcade. He looked back at the person who just spoke to him, and felt great relief when he realized who it was.

“H-Hyōsuke! I, uh…Didn’t see you there!”

Hashimoto Hyōsuke was the son of the owner of the game center CROWN, and had a part time job in the arcade. He had tanned skin and his hairstyle was similar to a ‘pompadour’, he also liked to wear shades all the time and never take them off.

They met at a time when Max used to visit the arcade frequently, and somehow became good friends. Despite the fact that Hyōsuke is a University student, Max always addresses him by his first name and almost never used honorifics, and despite Max being younger than him, Hyōsuke always treated him in a very polite manner. Although, to be fair, he tends to treat everyone respectfully no matter their age, and Max loved this! Being treated like some sort of respected gentleman always boosted his ego.

“Please step aside from the door, sir, before it-”

“WOAH-!”

“…Opens.”

Max, who just met with the cold and crystal clear floor of the game center, immediately started complaining. Not because the fall was painful in any way (And even if it was, he lacked sensitivity to pain.), but because he liked complaining, it was a way to release stress.

“God- DAMN IT! Why does this keep happening to me?!”

“It’s okay sir, everyone has accidentally fallen into an automatic door once in their lives, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Hyōsuke offered his hand to Max as a way to help him stand up, the lagomorph took it with certain embarrassment.

“Thanks, Hyōsuke…But that’s not what I mean.”

“Did something happen?”

“Eh… Let’s just say this wasn’t my day, at all.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Perhaps a time in the arcade would help you clear your mind.”

“Woah, sneaky guy! But, I’m sorry to tell you I don’t have a single coin in my pocket.”

“Are you quite sure, sir? We have a new game available since yesterday.”

“A new game?!” The smile that had just formed in his face quickly came and went as the gears in his head started to turn. “…Wait, you’re not talking about that Sailor V chick, right? Because in that case, I-”

Max froze for a mere second and shook his left ear. He felt a presence behind him, something with his eyes fixated on his back, but once he turned around, he couldn’t see anyone else. It was just him and Hyōsuke, and yet, he could still feel there was someone else.

"Something troubling you, sir?"

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing at all! Sorry, I’m a little distracted and I just want to go home and rest.”

There was something troubling him indeed, but Max couldn’t figure out himself what it was exactly that gave him these feelings, and he found no point in telling his friend.

“Alright sir, be careful on the way home.”

“Yeah, I will. Goodbye, Hyōsuke!”

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

As the sun slowly sank through the pink clouds, Max had finally arrived at his home, and he was ready to take a snack from the fridge, relax and take a good nap. He opened the door and announced his arrival.

“Mama, I’m home!”

His mother came from the kitchen, cleaning her wet hands with her apron. “Welcome home, hun! What took you so long?”

“Ah, Sorry! I was hanging out with Inés and we didn’t notice how late it was getting!”

“I see… Oh!”

Mrs. Tsukino giggled as their conversation was abruptly interrupted by tiny bundles of joy, her six youngest daughters, who were happy to see her big brother finally at home.

“Max! Max! Max!” they shouted as they jumped and pushed each other playfully, trying to get a chance at hugging their big brother. Max had to make an effort not to lose his balance.

“What took you so long?” said Olivia in an upset tone, as if trying to scold Max.

“Did you bring us something?” Said Asami, the tiniest of the sisters.

“Asami! Don’t be rude!” Replied Josefa, the tallest and oldest of the sisters.

“We really, really, really missed you!” Said Isabella, the dearest sister out of the six.

Since she was born without one of her legs, she had to use a special prosthetic leg for a tiny lagomorph like herself. But she didn't mind. In fact, she thought it looked cool.

“Hey, Hey! One at a time, kiddoes! You're gonna make me fall on my butt!”

The little ones began to laugh.

“Girls, please. Give your brother some space.”

The little ones apologized, finally leaving the poor lagomorph a moment to breathe and stand up properly. The girls hid behind their mother as she began retaking her conversation with her son.

“By the way, Max. How did you do in your exam?”

“Oh, That! Well, you see-”

“Because I crossed paths with Lorne earlier today, and he told me you guys got the results already. He said he got 95 points!”

Max stood still with a blank expression, admiring how his entire plan crumbled in front of him, thanks to his gossipy little friend. “That blabbermouth, I’m gonna strangle him for this!” He took a mental note before proceeding to answer to his mother.

“…OH! REALLY? Woah that’s AMAZING isn’t it?” He laughed it off, pretending to play dumb as a last attempt to escape his mother’s interrogation. But it didn't work out.

“Now tell me, how did you do?”

“Well…Ah, you see! …Th-the thing iiis…!”

“Maximiliano.”

Max was looking to the ground avoiding eye contact, but he already knew his mom’s tender, welcoming smile was vanishing, along with her patience. He sighed and accepted that there was no escape from the hell that was about to rise, and decided to give her the test in her hands.

Mrs. Tsukino took it and examined it for a moment, a moment that felt like an eternity for Max. The little ones got on their tip toes trying to take a look as well. Everything was quiet for a few seconds, until…

“Maximiliano Santiago Tsukino SILVA!”

The rage Mrs. Tsukino felt was so strong, Max swore he could see fire in her eyes.

“Uh-Ooh.” The little girls stepped aside, knowing exactly what was coming for their big brother.

Max began to sweat, somehow; despite lagomorphs being incapable of it. He chuckled nervously. “M-Mama…I can explain!”

“¡Cómo se te ocurre traerme una nota tan baja a MI casa! ¡AFUERA! ¡NO TE QUIERO VER!”

“W-WAIT! WOAH-!”

Mrs. Tsukino furiously pushed Max outside of the house and shut the door in front of him, leaving him in the front yard to think of what he just did. In part, it could’ve been worse, at least he didn’t get an ear pulling or something similar. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure for how long his mom was planning on leaving him there, and the mere thought of spending the night outside wasn’t comforting. So he followed the next step of his plan B.

He began to make a scandal.

“MAMAAA! C’MON, IT’S NOT THAT BAD, PLEASE LET ME IN, PLEAAASE!”

“What’s going on here?”

Max’s left ear twitched, he recognized that voice! It was the annoying and overly confident voice of his little brother, Dante, the oldest of the group of the six lagomorph boys. They approached the front door as they were eating their lollipops, seemingly showing them off to their big brother as they walked past him.

“What, did you get kicked out again?” said Dante with a big smile.

“Wouldn’t that make it the 4th time?” Said Bruno, a chubby, small lagomorph.

“No, actually. Last time, mom locked the house after she went shopping and forgot Max was going to arrive late, so he had to wait outside. This is only the 3rth time Mom kicks him out for failing an exam.” Said Hiroaki, the smartest of the six boys.

“What an Idiot! Why didn't he use the back door?” Said Yukio, who was carrying a chocolate bar and a soda inside his open backpack.

“We don’t have one.” Replied Hiroaki.

“We don’t?”

“Hey!” Max had enough of these kids and their mean comments. “How can you treat me like that? I’m your big brother, you should respect me!”

“It’s not our fault you have such terrible grades! I wish we had a big brother that was actually smart!” Dante then made a funny expression to mock him, sticking his tongue out.

“That’s IT!”

The boys were laughing uncontrollably at Max and how easy it was to provoke him. He was getting ready to throw a kick at them and they quickly went inside the house to avoid it. Dante shut the door as fast as his giggling body allowed him, without realizing that the poor door would be the one receiving the impact of that Kick.

Max hit the door with his bare foot, harder than he expected. He hit it so hard that he actually felt that pain slowly building up from his heel to his brain and the tip of his ears. He held it in, he was really trying to hold it in, but he couldn't. He let out a scream of pure pain, combined with more whining. While he was indeed insensitive to pain, there were still certain things he could feel, and right now he wished he didn't.

“MOOOM! OPEN THE DOOR, DANTE HIT ME!”

The boys were still giggling inside the house, they couldn’t help it, but the girls didn’t enjoy this attitude in the slightest; so they made an attempt at trying to talk things out with their mom. They tugged her apron gently, asking to please let their big brother back inside the house. “He didn’t mean to!” they said. But Mrs. Tsukino was not going to let him in that easily, what he did was unforgivable, and he deserved to be reprimanded for it!

…Although, if he kept screaming for a few more minutes, she may consider letting it pass. After all, she was still young and she wanted to conserve her good hearing intact. And the neighbors may start complaining there’s a squeaky rabbit that won’t shut up.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

Back at the Jewelry store, where the sun’s rays were no longer illuminating the streets, and the moon was slowly making itself more present, a dark and imposing figure stood up at the other side of the street. The mysterious stranger, who was dressed in fancy clothing and covered his eyes with a white mask, hid in the shadows provided by the buildings. He was waiting for a chance to enter the store, which seemed to be closed, as the lights were off.

His intentions were obvious. What he was searching for were precious and shiny stones for him to take home, and he was willing to take them no matter who stood in his way. Although he was not here to start a fight, it was not outside the realm of possibilities. He'd just kindly take a few gems without the owner of the store's knowledge and no one would get harmed, simple, like always.

Little did he know, the vast majority of the articles being displayed this morning were no longer available, thanks to “Mrs. Abel’s”…Or rather, Morgana’s big sale.

The first part of her plan was a complete success. Now all the women and men who bought those precious objects were contaminated with dark energy, energy that Morgana herself placed inside all those fake stones that decorated the collars and rings, making them look shinier and more appealing to the human eye.

“Humans and their pitiful wants, they are so gullible.” She laughed.

Now all she had to do was call back the energy of her victims as they wore the jewels. She was using a special red glass container of a cylindrical shape to store all the human energy in it as it arrived. She placed it on the counter and activated it with a single move of her hand. The energy began to flow right from the houses of the victims and back at Morgana’s artifact.

Every person in the city wearing their recently bought jewelry at that moment, quickly began to feel weak, disoriented. Some even felt dizzy and had to go to the bathroom urgently, as the nausea was too much to handle.

“So much energy…Lord Jadeite will surely be pleased! Although…”

She began to look at her surroundings, several times.

“…The object he entrusted to me doesn't seem to be here. I will have to make one last quick inspection to the building before I-”

The door beside the counter, where Morgana was standing, started to open. A thin figure was standing under the door frame, letting the light of the other room get into the store.

“Mom? What are you doing?” Inés spoke in a gentle tone.

Morgana could’ve come up with an excuse, but she didn’t bother. She was done with her job, and she already knew what she had to do with intruders.

Inés kept going as she received no answer. “I thought you had closed the store already…?”

Morgana turned her face around, allowing the light coming from the other room to reach her. She let her teeth show off, growing into fangs, twisting her face slightly as she smiled; she had nothing else to hide from this kid.

Inés gasped loudly and stepped back, her eyes couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her mind began to rush, trying to find an explanation, was this an illusion? Is she dreaming?

Her body began to shake, begging for her to run upstairs, back to her room and lock herself there. She couldn’t respond to the signs on time, as Morgana stretched her limbs to an unhuman capacity and violently grabbed her arm, pulling her inside the store.

The door had been closed, and Inés had nowhere to go.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

Back at the Tsukino residence, Max was climbing the ladder to his room halfheartedly. He sat in the tiny stairs of his room for a moment, letting the small door close as the ladder came back to its original position. He then yawned and stretched as he walked to his bed.

When he left the house in the morning, he left his bed undone, but now it was fixed and he could only guess it was his mother, who may have entered the room during the day. The empty glass that he left over the nightstand was also gone, but the manga he was reading last night was still at the window.

He left his briefcase over the white, small round table near the bed, and sighed. “Finally, she let me in! Geez, I don't know why she gets like that, she's so mean to me…”

”…I don’t wanna do my homework, I think I'll just take a small nap and then figure it out.”

And following his last words, Max laid down in the warm bed comforter and closed his eyes, falling asleep in just a couple of minutes.

The minutes kept passing as Max kept dreaming, and the wind began to blow against his window, making him shake slightly because of the noise; but it was not nearly enough to wake him up. If he had woken up at that moment, he probably would’ve noticed the small shadow in front of his window, standing still.

The wind somehow made its way into the room, unhooking the window lock, opening it slightly for a moment, before shutting down abruptly. Finally the lagomorph opened his eyes and sat on his bed, rubbing his eyes before looking at the window. Once his vision was getting clear, he saw a small, white and blurry figure, slowly taking shape into the curious rodent he encountered earlier today. And, once again, the creature was staring at him with its tiny eyes.

“What the…The rat with the bald spot? How did you get here?”

“Oh, Holy Lunar Trinity…” She said exasperated. “It is not a bald spot, okay? It’s a tattoo. Quite the rude assumption, child.”

Max blinked twice, his eyes fixed on the rodent. There’s no way he heard that, there’s no way those words came out of this tiny creature’s mouth. There is absolutely no way the rat just spoke to him like a tiny grandma scolding her grandchild. Rats don’t do that! …Right?

But, the rat kept going with what she had to say, and Max just couldn’t react to any of it.

“Ahem! Anyways, my name is Luna, and I’ve been looking for you for quite a long time, Max. I’d also like to thank you for taking off the band aids from my forehead. Because of that obstruction, I wasn't able to speak, and it also affected my sensory skills. The kids of this neighborhood are so naughty!”

“Ahh…” Max seemed to wake up from his trance, nodding slightly. “I see now.”

“You do? I’m glad! It’s good to finally meet you, dear, I really don’t know what I would've done if I hadn't found you-”

“Good night.”

Luna was so wrapped up in her excitement that she didn't realize the moment Max was laying down in bed again, facing the opposite direction.

“Eh? M-Max! What do you think you’re doing? Wake up, this is no time to rest!”

But Max ignored Luna’s complaints entirely. She jumped to his bed and began shaking him as strongly as her tiny body allowed her, and it was not enough to even bother the Lagomorph. Maybe if I stay like this, she’ll go away. That was his plan, but Luna was not gonna stand there with her little arms closed.

“Ah, I just remembered! I’ve also got a gift for you, Max dear.”

Max’s ears twitched, that was everything Luna needed. She stood back on her two hind legs and the mark on her forehead began to shine. She gave a high jump followed by a spin in the air. As she was doing this stunt, the mark on her forehead began to shine even brighter, until the light became a solid object that left sparkles around as it materialized.

Luna finally landed on the bed, and with one last spin in her place she stood on one leg (her other leg raising high), and caught the object with her right hand. She made each movement look elegant and so simple, her eyes were closed the entire time. But more interesting than her dance moves, Max was much more interested in the object Luna held between her tiny, pink hands.

“Here, this is a special brooch, it’s magical.” She winked.

The brooch was made of pure gold and had a crescent moon symbol at the center, along a pink gem at the top. The contour of the brooch also had smaller gems: A blue one at the bottom, a red one at the top, a green one at the left and an orange one at the right.

“Wait, this is for me? You’re seriously giving it to me?” Max smiled.

“Of course!”

“WOAH!” Max took it with excitement and jumped out of the bed. “Thank you! It’s so shiny, I love shiny things! But, wait, how am I gonna…?”

“Max?” Luna waved her hand at him to call his attention.

“Ah! I’ve got it!” Max sat on his knees near the white table and began to open his briefcase quickly.

He started to throw everything inside the briefcase around the floor of his room, not caring where it would land or how, and stopped once he was able to take out what he was really looking for: His sailor uniform. He took it from the black bag where it was and tossed the bag away, quickly taking off his gakuran and putting on the other uniform; all of this while Luna was still trying to get Max’s attention.

“Max, please, you’ve got to listen to me! There’s been a lot of strange events happening all around the city of Tokyo, crimes that not even the police can figure out! And it is your duty to stop this chaos, Max, you’re our chosen Sailor Soldier!”

Max was now fully dressed and wearing his new brooch, which he placed at the center of the bow in his blouse. He took a big mirror that was around the room and placed it carefully in front of him. Admiring his new accessory in the mirror, Luna took the chance to jump to the night stand to be in front of Max, trying to get the Lagomorph to look at her, and it seemed to work.

“And besides!” She proceeded. “You must find your allies as well, to find and protect our princess!”

“Aha, Aha, Aha. Sure! Anything else?”

“…You don’t believe a single word I told you, do you?”

“Oh no, no!” Max shook his head. “Sure I believe you!”

Max was smiling and giggling, but Luna knew he wasn’t buying her story, he only cared about the pretty brooch. That was okay with her, as she was not going to give up just yet.

“Okay, if that’s true, then repeat these words after me…Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!”

Max chuckled. “What?”

“You said you believed me.”

“I do! I promise!”

“Go ahead, then.”

Max giggled one last time before taking a deep breath, frowning suddenly, forcing his cheeks not to smile again. Max did believe in Luna’s words, actually. The issue lied in the fact that he didn’t believe any of this was real. He had a rough day after all, so maybe, his mind was making up for it by creating a magical dream in which he’s a superhero. Someone wanted, someone needed! Someone useful and important! And he was going to enjoy this dream for as long as it lasted.

He put his hand in the air, pretending to stand in an epic pose, and shout the ‘magical phrase’ his ‘magical rat’ gave him.

“Moon Prism Power! Make-UP!”

Max couldn't have possibly imagined what came next, as this energy bursted suddenly from his chest, it was a strong and powerful feeling surrounding his entire body, wrapping him in a cocoon of indescribable warmth. It was overwhelming, scary, yet exciting. It filled him with great joy and determination!

He closed his eyes, holding onto this feeling for as long as he could. But just as it came, the moment he opened his eyes, the feeling was completely gone. All that was left was him, standing in front of the big mirror, and Luna, who seemed quite happy for some reason.

He stared at Luna in confusion as to what just happened, before taking a look at himself in the mirror. There was something… different, Max had to take a moment to realize it, his chest bow seemed to have changed its color, he was wearing earrings too. And, did his skirt just… shrink?

No, that wasn’t quite it, this was an entire different outfit. What Max was wearing was a white leotard with a chest protector over it, and a blue collar with two white stripes. He also had white shoulder pads, gloves, and a blue skirt, along with a big red-ish pink bow at the center of his chest and his back, a choker and a pair of red boots of the same color, with a white border at the top.

His boots had golden crescent moon ornaments, just like his earrings and his choker. And the crown of it all was his tiara, which has special ornaments and a dark pink gem at the center.

What the hell was all this?

“So, how’s that for a proof?” Luna spoke. “Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

Max took a good look at his new clothes, feeling the texture of his gloves and admiring how his new jewelry shined. He felt an unusual comfort, even more than earlier today when he wore his other uniform, this suit just felt…Right.

He giggled. “Look at me! I look like a superhero!”

“Max!”

“Aw, don’t worry Luna, I said I believed you!”

“That’s good, but I’m afraid you’re still not taking me seriously! Just-- Quit spinning around, please, and listen!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure!” Max waved his hand in a condescending manner. “So, what else do I need to know-?”

Suddenly, at that moment, the gem in his tiara began to project an intense shine. Max’s ears began to twitch as they captured a sound, it was muffed, but Max made an effort to pay closer attention, until the sound began surrounding him. It was a voice, a plea, and it didn't take long for him to recognize the person making it. It was his friend Inés.

Max was surrounded in this aura of danger and malice, but he was the only one who could perceive it. All that Luna saw was how the teen was completely ignoring her instructions, and she was getting tired of this treatment. “Max, can you hear me?”

“Inés? But how…?”

“MAX!”

“AH!”

Max pressed his hand against his chest, the threatening aura had finally disappeared. “Ah, Luna, you startled me!”

“Startled you?”

She started connecting the dots in her head.

“You heard a cry of help, didn’t you?”

“‘Cry of help’…Yeah, you could say that.”

“Tell me, what did you hear?”

“Umm, well…” Max rested his left hand on his waist, rubbing his chin with one finger of his right hand. “I think I heard Inés screaming! She said something about her mom, but I couldn't hear the rest.”

Luna stood up in the nightstand. “Inés is the girl that owns a Jewelry store, right? Perhaps the store is being robbed. Max, now that you've transformed into a Sailor Soldier, you must go and help her!”

“…Eh?”

Luna pointed a finger at Max, accentuating his importance at this moment in time. “Consider this your first training session. Now go there and save Inés! Go, Sailor Moon!”

‘Sailor Moon’, was that supposed to be his ‘hero’ name? Well, it certainly had a nice ring to it.

Wait, but that would imply he would actually have to fight people, hand to hand combat. Well, maybe he could bite them in the arm and they would eventually give up!

But wait! Most thieves are armed, right? And they’re very dangerous by nature! And Max could barely remember the last time he had a fight, he must’ve been as tall as a chair back then!

…Actually, he hasn’t grown all that much since then, he still had issues sitting in chairs that were not made specifically for small creatures like him.

“Wait, me?” Max made a gesture pointing at his own face. “You’re talking about me? Shouldn’t we, uh… Call the police for this kind of thing?”

“Forget the police! Now, let’s go save your friend!”

Luna immediately ran to the window and proceeded to carefully walk on the house’s roof, climbing down a pipe to get to the ground. Max, who was sitting on his bed near the window, looked at her quite displeased.

“Hey, hold on! Where are you going? You don’t expect me to jump from here now, do ya?”

“You’re a bunny, your species is agile. I'm sure you can handle a jump to the balcony on the lower floor”

“B-BUNNY? I am NOT…!” Max stopped his incoming rant, as he saw Luna climbing down the pipe with the least bit of interest in what he had to say.

“Oh, I’ll show you…’Bunny’!”

He carefully sat on the window as he kept mumbling under his breath. He was so angry at Luna that he almost forgot how dangerous the act he was doing truly was, which could be considered an advantage, as he did not hesitate when falling down from the window of his room to the balcony of the second floor. Once he realized he had landed without a single bruise, the next jump didn’t seem so scary, and proceeded to hold onto the other side of the wooden railing to do his second jump. “What a strange dream this is!” He thought, but this small act of bravery began to fill him with security, with a twist of excitement as to what dangers he’d find in the jewelry store.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

“No! Stop! Get away from me!”

Morgana laughed, slowly approaching the defenseless girl. As she walked, her body kept changing, almost deteriorating.

As the color of her skin was fading and her limbs began to extend in an unnatural manner, Inés kept clinging onto the piece of furniture she had cornered herself against, trying to look away from her. This creature, this… Monster. Was clearly not her mother, but her resemblance was still there, and she could not bear to see it rot in front of her.

“What’s wrong, darling? Are you afraid of seeing your own mother's face?”

“How dare you!” Inés was now in tears. She shut her eyes and confronted Morgana to the best of her ability. “What did you do to my mother? Where did you take her?!”

Morgana violently stretched her arms directly towards the girl’s neck. She began to squeeze it little by litte, lifting her from the ground, as Inés struggled to break free.

“Do you want to know what happened to your mommy? Do you want me to tell you what I really did to her?”

The fear in Inés' eyes only fed Morgana’s cruelty even further. The teen kept struggling against her grasp, kicking her feet in the air, using all of the force in her body to push the monster away. But that force was fading, as Morgana continued to squeeze every bit of breath from her body

“D’aww. Don’t you worry, little one. Soon, you and your mother will be together forever!”

Morgana let out a strong, heartfelt laugh. Knowing she had successfully completed most of her task, and that no one could possibly stop her at this point.

“STOP RIGHT THERE! You ugly WITCH!”

Morgana freezes, letting go of Inés’ neck just for a second, enough for her to simply pass out from the exhaustion and dizziness. But not before her eyes managed to capture a single, small shadow, standing under the door of the jewelry store.

Morgana stood still, only turning around her neck. She bitterly replied to the stranger. “Who is this? Who are you?!”

“Aha! Excellent question. My name is…!”

“…Hey, Luna. Who am I again?”

Luna gave a harsh sigh. “You are Sailor Moon, the soldier of Love and Justice!”

“AHA! Yes, I am…What she just said! And I’ve come here to kick your butt!”

Max kept showing a confident smile on his face, which only further reflected his complete ignorance of what was at stake right now, and who was at the hands of Morgana right now. But Luna didn’t seem to notice the peculiarity of these actions. All she saw was Max’s cocky attitude taking over him, and decided to let it pass. It was better for him to be confident than afraid.

Morgana then responded with a loud, wicked laugh. Dropping the unconscious girl to the ground.

“Sailor Moon?” She emphasized in a burlesque tone. “I've never heard of such a RIDICULOUS name ever before!”

Morgana stretched her hand back to the counter, grabbing the red artifact where she had stored all the human energy. She held it up, shouting. “Rise up, SLAVES! Come and serve the purpose of our dark mistress!”

“Gee-eez!” Max held his ears down. “Keep it down, old lady! Are you trying to wake up the entire city?”

“Precisely.”

“…Huh?”

There was a moment of silence inside the building.

Max then began to hear a particular sound, getting louder, closer. Until finally, he was able to recognize it. Steps. Many, Many steps behind him…

“Wh- …HAAH?! WHAT ARE ALL THESE LADIES DOING HERE?!”

Max turns around to discover a crowd of women standing right outside the jewelry store, all of which were wearing expensive jewelry accessories in different parts of their bodies. Their eyes were lost, as if a part of them was not even there at all. Max began to take a few steps back.

“Now, slaves! Get rid of him!”

“No. Wait, wait, wait. Timeout! TIMEOUT!”

Max moved his feet and began to run as the crowd entered the building. They chased after him through every corner of the room, meanwhile Max clumsy, but effectively avoided the women’s grasps. He ran, crouched and jumped over every obstacle, not caring if he broke a piece of glass from one of the empty display cases.

“Luna! What am I supposed to do?”

“Stay still and calm down! Just give them a good punch!”

“WHAT? No WAY! I’m not gonna hit a buncha old ladies, one of them could be as old as my mom!”

“You have to defend yourself, Sailor Moon. Fight! Then your tiara, and…!”

Unexpectedly for Luna, one of the possessed women among the crowd had the clever idea of breaking one of those display cases, getting a fairly sized piece of broken glass in her hands.

She began to chase the Lagomorph with great speed, Max was barely able to escape her deadly hand swings. But once he managed to run past her, his feet tangled against one another, making him instantly fall in the pieces of shattered glass that were scattered on the ground.

He quickly gathered his composure and ran towards one of the pillars in the room, falling near it in the process. He leaned against it, using it as a support to stand up, but one of his feet had slipped and made his behind fall back on the floor.

“I…I can’t…” He gasped. “I can’t keep up…Why…?”

Then, the revelation laid right in front of his very eyes. A small, burning and fresh cut on one of his knees, which opened his eyes to all the small bruises he had accumulated on both of his knees.

But that couldn’t be possible, no. No way…

Luna then appeared behind the pillar, whispering. “What are you doing, Sailor Moon? Stand up! You have to fight!”

But Max, surprisingly, had nothing to respond.

“Sailor Moon! They’re coming to get you, quickly!”

The crowd was slowly surrounding the lagomorph. But he could only stare at his wounds. He mumbled something under his breath, something about his bruises.

“Sailor Moon?”

“…This isn’t a dream.”

Max had finally managed to lift up his view and look around him, but it was far too late. The group of women had him trapped against the pillar. Max managed to catch a glimpse of a pair of legs, laying on the ground far away, before the group got in the way of his vision. He felt the air escaping from him, those clothes, could they have been Inés’s?

Was she…?

“Look out, MAX!”

Max was shook away from his thoughts by Luna.

Morgana, raising behind the crowd, began to stretch her limbs and reach out for Max from the other side of the room. Max could see the wrinkled hand getting closer, he could almost feel her long and red claws stabbing his neck. But it didn’t matter how much Luna, or himself, begged for his body to move; Max had been frozen in place.

But then… A scream of pure pain came from Morgana. She had to stop her hand and return it to its place. A clear and burning cut on the back of her hand, but how? What could’ve possibly been the cause?

“Who did this? Who are you?! SHOW YOURSELF!”

The group of women began to stand back in confusion, allowing Morgana to see the other side of the room. Her victim was still in the exact same spot, still paralyzed, but his gaze was focused somewhere else. Following his gaze, Morgana found the perpetrator of her wound embedded in the floor.

A single Red Rose.

And suddenly. BANG! BANG! BANG!

One shot right after the other, more Roses of red and white colors began to stab the floor. A column of Roses was formed, and before anyone in the room could breathe, an explosion surrounded the women. They had no choice but to run back to Morgana, as a thick smoke screen began to fill the room.

“S-Sailor Moon!” Luna covered her mouth with one hand and squeezed her nose with the other, containing her coughs the best she could. She called out to her pupil, but he was no longer there.

Max had his eyes shut tightly, unknowing of the fuss that was going on. He felt a strange, but comforting warmth surrounding him, making him hold tightly onto it.

It was then he heard a particular melody, a short ballad being whistled in a soothing manner. He opened his eyes with slight fear, looking for the source of the melody.

A tall, masculine figure covered in black, and a white mask covering his eyes. He was holding Max firmly with only one of his arms, using the other to spin his cane in the air and dispel the smoke that came from the floor below. The fabric of the clothing was something Max had never seen before, it was smooth and sparkling. But what concerned him most, was how familiar this was, how familiar the stranger’s shape really was…

Morgana, along with her mind controlled slaves, were immediately drawn by the movement at the second floor. As the smoke began to fade, the unwanted stranger’s shape became clearer to them.

“Show yourself, coward! How dare you hurt ME, Morgana! Faithful servant of Lord Jadeite!”

The stranger then spoke directly to the crowd.

“To harm innocent lives is simply an act of cowardice, no matter the reasons, and I am not one to stand such vile acts. Whoever you are, I will make sure to put you back to the hellish hole you came out of!”

“Such insolence…!” Morgana hissed. “SLAVES! Teach this fool a lesson!”

The group under Morgana’s control went directly to the door behind the counter, but were unable to reach it in time. A single shot echoed inside the store, and just like that, a red rose had been put in their way, making them run to the other direction before it inevitably exploded.

Max stared at the gun in awe. It was a gorgeous weapon of a pure white color, with a flower pattern all over the frame, and small vines drawn at the top of the barrel. He had never seen anything like it.

The stranger in black put down the lagomorph, walking towards the balcony as he re-loaded his gun. Max’s jaw almost dropped when he realized he was using rose seeds. He at least expected a fully bloomed rose, as that would’ve made much more sense in his head. Regardless, how could that even be possible? Was he really, truly awake?

“So, lil’ pal. Any ideas on how to get rid of the ol’ witch down there?”

“Huh?” Max blinked twice. “Ah- Yeah! I mean, I-I’m here for that! …I think?”

A couple of shots echoed in the room. Followed by the screams of distress of the group of women running in circles.

“Perfect. Then I’m counting on ya to take her down.”

“And what are you gonna do, uhhh…” Max took a second to get his thoughts together. “...‘Mister’?”

The stranger pushed his large cape aside, revealing a device of a small grappling hook on his belt. He shot the grappling hook towards the giant chandelier, tensioning the cable to make sure it was secure.

“I'll be the distracting factor.”

And just like that, the stranger jumped from the balcony right into action. Using his weight, he rocked around the room in a circle. The women would run from one direction to the other, desperately avoiding the red roses the stranger in black would shoot.

It was a sight of chaos, a black smoke began to cover the first floor as more roses kept exploding, marks of dust were all over the floor and the walls; and the women ran desperate like chickens. Morgana, being unable to instruct them properly, started to lose her patience. She tried to reach out the stranger with her other hand, which only resulted in yet another injury on the back of her hand.

Max was having the time of his life watching everything unfold from the second floor, but what fascinated him most, was the stranger.

Max wasn’t sure if this man was probably used to this environment. Maybe he had seen many other ugly monsters that possess humans for their evil schemes, it had to be that. Otherwise, how could he be so confident in his actions?

He swayed around, from left to right, every shot landing exactly where it needed to. And despite the havoc he was causing, not a single rose managed to hurt the ladies.

The stranger was in his playground, the smile on his face could not be hidden behind that mask.

And something about that fact brought butterflies to Max’s stomach…A sight only for him to admire, only for him to remember. No one but him. That brought a big, goofy smile to his face.

“SAILOR MOOON!”

Max screeched. As if he had just been caught doing something dirty.

“L-Luna! I-I wasn’t…!”

“I’ve been calling you out three times now! I swear, you’re living up in the clouds.”

“Hey! That’s-”

“Ah-Ah!” Luna exclaimed, putting her paw right in front of Max’s face as a gesture to silence him. “Now listen to me! While that guy down there is messing around with the mob, you need to sneak behind Morgana and finish her off.”

“Ah-Ha. Yeah. And how exactly am I gonna do that?!”

“You’re right, I did not mention this before, I’m sorry.”

“You should be! I could’ve been killed down there-!“

“Please, pay close attention!” Luna now had both paws over Max’s mouth. “The tiara you’re wearing isn’t a mere piece of jewelry, it’s a weapon. You need to call it by shouting ‘Moon Tiara…’”

Another couple of explosions were heard from the down floor, slightly shaking the second floor.

“…And then throw it at the enemy!”

“Uhm-Hum. Und whot iff I fail?”

“You won’t! The tiara will never fail you. Now get down there and show that old hag who’s boss!”

Luna then put her hands away from Max’s mouth and jumped to his shoulder, as he carefully got on top of the balcony. He tried not to look down, feeling his legs shaking slightly by the mere thought of it. Sure, he had previously jumped from a high place and landed safely, but that was before he discovered it was all real. That confidence he had built up before was now completely gone.

“Are you sure I’m not just gonna. Y’know. Die?”

“Just relax, you’re a Sailor Soldier. Hard as a rock!”

And just before Max could give his last protest, Luna used her own weight to push Max down, forcing him to Jump.

While the stranger kept terrorizing the ladies, Morgana kept screaming at the top of her lungs for one of them to PLEASE do something about the intruders. Meanwhile, Max had landed on the ground safely, and was getting ready to summon his attack.

He reached out to the tiara, and the red gem at the center began to shine with intensity. Once he removed the tiara from his head, the piece had transformed into a disc shape with a sharpened outer edge. It was shining bright as a star, Max could feel the warmth coming from the object.

He knew what he had to do.

He held the weapon tight, took air into his lungs, and shouted...

“MOON TIARA… CHAKRAM!”

And WOOSH! He threw the weapon with all of the strength in his arm.

The tiara flew at great speed across the room, past Morgana. And she turned around to see where that breeze had come from.

“…It’s you!” Morgana wrinkled her nose and began to stretch her limbs again, making her taller, and taller... “You, little pest! I’m gonna make you pay for what you’ve done…!”

But then…

SLASH!

The Tiara had returned, slicing Morgana’s neck side to side! Her head coming off of her body, and one last expression of pure disbelief plastered all over her face. Her body almost immediately dropped the red artifact, shattering into tiny pieces the moment it reached the ground, and all the stolen energy began returning to their rightful owners.

The giant and beheaded corpse began to highlight a shine coming from the neck, running all across the body. And just like that, Morgana was gone with a bang.

Max stood still for a couple of seconds. He then slowly lifted his head from behind the display case he was hiding at.

“Is it over…?”

Luna came out and began to search for any sight of Morgana, only finding a pile of powdered clay in the middle of the room, alongside the shards of the container of human energy. Meanwhile, the women that had been previously brainwashed, were now laying down on the floor unconscious.

“I think so. Good job, Sailor Moon!”

Max let out a deep sigh, but the night was not over yet.

Both Luna and Max turned around the moment they heard a heartfelt laugh coming from the second floor, at the other side of the room. It was the stranger in black.

“Good job, lil’ buddy. We got rid of that monster just in time!”

Max got out of his hiding place, fixing his skirt in a quick manner. “Ah, yeah! Th-Thank you for your help!”

The man chuckled. “No, thank you. This night would not have been nearly as entertaining without you.”

A warm, intense feeling began burning Max’s cheeks. Which he quickly dismissed. “Ahaha! Oh, well. You know! That’s my job.”

“Oh?” The stranger fixed his mask in a playful manner. “Am I in the presence of a hero?”

“That’s right! My name is Sailor Moon, and don’t you dare forget it!”

“I would never.” He smiled.

The stranger then searched inside his jacket. “Here, a hero deserves a reward!”

He threw an object at Max, who, miraculously, managed to catch it in the air. He kept the object inside his hands for a moment, trying to take a guess before opening up the surprise. The object was small, but heavy and with sharp edges.

“Eh…?”

Max opened his hands. The object was a white gemstone, sparkling many other colors in the palm of his hands. It was gorgeous, certainly pretty expensive, but where did he…?

…Oh.

“Hold it…DID YOU STEAL THIS JUST NOW?”

The stranger laughed once again, and said his goodbyes before jumping outside the window, leaving the store for good.

“W-WAIT!”

Max ran outside the store. Luna chased after her pupil.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU THIEF! YOU CAN’T JUST…!”

Max felt the time freezing, just for a moment. He saw the stranger do many impossible things tonight, but this might be the one that takes the cake.

After the stranger had jumped from the window of the second floor, he managed to land at the top of a light pole in the street. Not a single scratch was done to the material, and not a single sight of hesitation was visible from the man. With a single foot, he firmly jumped again from the light pole. Now floating high in the sky, light as a feather, with all the city streets shining below him.

How…How was he capable of such wonders? No creature on earth should be capable of these acts. And yet, in front of his very eyes, there he was defying everything Max took for a fact.

The stranger looked down to the lagomorph one last time.

“Remember me as well. My name is Tuxedo Mask. We’ll meet again, Sailor Moon…”

Max was left in a trance, unable to look away from the man. Many thoughts rushed through his mind, and not a single one connected with the other. And just like that, by the mere blink of an eye, the stranger was gone. Max was only left with a single piece to remember the encounter, which he held tightly to his chest, as if desperate to cling onto something that was real. Something that could tell him this was, indeed, not a dream.

“Sailor Moon! Let’s move!” Luna appeared right behind him.

“Huh…?” It took a moment, but Max was finally set free from his thoughts. “Ah, right! Yeah! But, what about the store-?”

“-Inés!” Max started to panic. “She’s still inside! I have to check on her!”

“Calm down, calm down!” Luna got in his way before he tried to enter the store again. “She’s perfectly fine, if only unconscious like everyone else!”

“But…!”

Both Luna and Max twitched their ears, as they felt something approaching at great speed, but still quite far away. A bunch of loud sounds coming from many cars in movement.

“The police. Just in time.” Luna snickered. “We have to leave now, or else we’re gonna be here all night!”

Max found himself in a small dilemma. He knew what would happen if the cops found him in the middle of the crime scene, and would probably not believe him if he told them a giant monster that looks like a witch came in and caused all of this mess.

As the sirens began to sound louder and clearer, he realized he couldn’t ignore his decision any longer. Leaving Inés alone, as bad as it felt, was the only thing he could do.

“…Damn it.”

And so, Max and Luna made a run for it.

The police arrived almost immediately after the duo’s escape, with an ambulance. And from one of the cars, a tall and distinguished man was the first to come out and enter the building.

The first thing the police noticed was the amount of bodies all over the floor. They were immediately checked upon and assisted by the paramedics. The distinguished man then commanded his team to search around the area, as he walked around the room digging for some clues himself.

Very deep inside the room, far away from everything, the man found a small white rose still embedded in the floor. Its petals were closed, it seemed like it had not bloomed yet. He got on his knees to take a closer look…

“Inspector Kamino! Don’t!”

One of the police men tried to warm him, but it was too late, the rose opened its petals and blew up on the Inspector’s face. He was not injured, but instead received all of the thick, white smoke the rose released.

The inspector stood up and covered his mouth and nose with his forearm. “What the hell is this?!”

“It’s another one of Tuxedo Mask’s toys, sir! It’s brand new.”

“Goddamn it! Fell for it immediately.” He coughed.

“There’s also marks of small explosions all over the walls and the floor. There’s no doubt he was here.”

“Hmm…” The inspector scratched his chin, making a loud sound as his fingernails scratched his beard. “He was definitely here, but…He’s not one to make such a mess. He’s usually a lot more, y’know, subtle.”

“Do you think someone else was involved?”

“Possibly, it does look like a war zone here. Keep searching, we’ll interrogate the victims later.”

“Inspector Kamino!” Another policeman came in. “We found a woman in the store’s basement! She’s still conscious, but needs help immediately.”

The inspector ordered to bring more paramedics before running back with the second police man back to the basement, hoping to get a bit of info from the woman before she was taken away. He needed to know just what happened to this place, and who exactly was behind all of this.

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

Meanwhile, back at the cold, desolated castle. The tall, anthropomorphic dog known as Jadeite, had been carefully watching the events of that night from a purple crystal ball. From the moment that ‘Sailor Moon’ arrived, to the moment where his clay doll had been beheaded in cold blood. A shame, really. Morgana was one of his favorites, always did her job, until now. She had grown overly confident, and she let two intruders ruin their plans. Only a fool could’ve made such a mistake.

Because of this mistake, they just lost a great amount of human energy, and that meant their plans would be horribly delayed. Jadeite was furious, truly. But he would not allow this inconvenience to get the better of him.

“Such a waste of good clay, that was…” Said Jadeite in a cold tone. His blue eyes fixed on the Crystal Ball. The images had stopped to a certain moment where Sailor Moon’s face was the most visible.

“Sailor Moon…I’ll remember your name. And I’ll make sure the next doll takes special care of you next time.”

The light of the Crystal Ball began to blink, little by little losing its power. Until finally its light faded, leaving Jadeite alone, surrounded by darkness…

══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

The next morning, Max attended school like usual. Except this time, little ol’ Luna decided to accompany him. It was a shocker finding her inside the school grounds, but luckily, it seemed no teachers had noticed her presence so far.

During recess, Max was walking around the corridors of the school, searching for his friends, when he stopped at a corner to see a big surprise. His friend, Inés, was safe and sound! She was talking to her group of friends like usual, seemingly excited about the subject of the conversation.

Max had not seen Inés in the first hours of class that morning, so he had assumed she was going to stay home that day. But of course, someone as remarkable as her wouldn't let this situation stop her from fulfilling her duty as a young citizen. Inés wasn’t exactly a nerd, unlike Lorne, but she was committed. Something Max genuinely admired about her.

However, as much as he wished to, Max couldn’t bring himself to talk to his friend. He still felt quite guilty for having to leave her behind, and did not know how to act casual about everything that happened last night. What if Inés started to suspect him? How could he possibly explain something not even he understands? He began to hold his skirt tightly, trying to control his nerves.

Instead, both he and Luna decided to eavesdrop on the group of teens.

“And then! Then she- grabbed me by the neck! And started to squeeze me, harder and harder!” Inés made a gesture with her hands near her neck. She then showed her classmates the remaining marks she had on her neck from last night, to prove it was real.

Her friends gasped at the horrific tale. “How did you manage to escape?!” Amano asked with a certain corner in her tone.

“I’m not sure.” Said Inés. “I think…There was someone else there.”

“Someone else? Like who?” asked Suri.

“I didn’t see them clearly, but…”

“Uh-hu?” said everyone.

“…I think it was a hero. Before I passed out, I heard them say ‘stop right there, ugly witch!’.” Inés made a voice she considered cool to imitate her hero. “And then they said something about being a Sailor.”

“Sailor? Like Sailor V?!” Lorne jumped immediately into the convo.

“Sailor V.” Max chuckled in a derogatory manner. “She wasn’t even near the area!”

“Shh!” Said Luna, trying to listen to the kid’s conversation further.

“No…” Inés continued. “This one was nothing like Sailor V. I don’t know who they were, or how they look. But they saved me and my mother’s life. I can never repay that.”

Those words made Max show a smile from cheek to cheek. It was all he needed to hear, that his actions had caused a good outcome, that he had finally done something right for someone! He stopped listening to the conversation and rested against the wall, letting out a rewarding sigh.

“Well, at least we know she’s not gonna be an issue.” Said Luna.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I was worried she might have caught you, of course! You need to be careful with your identity, Max. If someone else found out you’re a Sailor Soldier…”

“Well, I’m sure Morgana appreciated you telling her my real name before I cut her head off.” Max replied sarcastically.

Luna started to babble for a second. “W-w-well! It was a matter of life and death! Y-you weren’t moving, and I was…!”

Luna stared at the lagomorph with a certain shame in her eyes. She then sighed.

“I’m so sorry I put you through all of that, Max. I assumed the moment you transformed, your will as a Sailor would wake up with you! But that was careless of me, and I should’ve explained to you how to fight before sending you there. I’m deeply sorry, child.”

“Geez…” Max chuckled. “Don't get all mushy on me now, grandma! It’s okay, I forgive you.”

“You’re sure!”

“Of course!” Max gave her a big smile. “Besides, had we not gone there, who knows what would’ve happened to all those victims…!”

Max twitched his left ear. Seemingly freezing in his place.

Luna stared at the kid with concern, until she started to hear it too.

Loud footsteps began approaching the duo, the kind of footsteps only a tall creature could make. Max looked towards the direction they were coming, and his heart dropped the very second he laid eyes on that person. With his brown, brushed fur, his long, fluffy ears, and a sparkling clean Gakuran.

It was him, the man he saw the other day outside the jewelry store. But, he was actually a student? Oh, how stupid Max must’ve looked calling him a “Sir”.

But that wasn’t all that was in his mind.

As the anthro dog walked in front of him, Max gave him a second, much careful look. And even after the guy had already walked past him, Max continued to stare at him. From the back of his head, to his shoulders, the size of his arms, all of his shape spoke to him…

After all this time. All these years. Could it be? Could it really be him…?

“…Sam.” He whispered.

Notes:

"Cabro" o "Cabrito": Is a word used in Chile to refer to a young boy. But the literal spanish to english translation would be "goat".

Bento: a Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of items such as rice, vegetables, and sashimi.

Tamagoyaki: A sweet rolled Japanese omelette.

Gakuran: Classic Japanese Male uniform.

#long post #sam and max #Sailor Max AU #fanfiction #SA's Art #Happy happy birthday Max!!

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