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sadceline · 3 months ago

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THE ENHYPEN HOST || 5

|| Reverse harem || ft. TXT, Mingyu (Seventeen) & BTS

WARNINGS: foul language, explicit content, group sex, humiliation, sex in public, threesome, foursoome, rough sex, red flags, immoral acts, unprotected sex, morbid jealousy, comedy, parody, possessiveness, violent quarrels, arguments, betrayals, lies, femdom sometimes. GENRE: +18, reverse harem, comedy, enemy to lovers, friends to lovers

SUMMARY: You moved to Seoul to start over after a bad experience, and everything seems to be going well, you even manage to work for HYBE. You discover, however, that you owe them almost a billion won, money you don't have and don't know how to recover: but don't worry because Hybe itself offers you a solution.

Your body in exchange for paying off your debt.

Do you accept?

PREVIOUS CHAPTER:

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER:

"Don't you have a nutritional regimen?" I ask, looking around.

Jay crosses his arms over his chest before shaking his head. "We know how many calories to ingest."

"We make spaghetti! She's Italian, she'll be able to cook them well!" Sunoo proposes.

"I don't think we can eat pasta, and we went overboard on carbs yesterday." Puffs Jake worriedly.

"It's not that bad come on…" Sunghoon replies, peeking out from the hallway, perhaps he has just returned.

"What do you say?" Jay asks.

"I mean, we don't have any TV appareances this week, right?" Heeseung adds.

I get it, Sunghoon wants me to cook so he can make fun of me, right? Heeseung too I guess. I can already hear them saying, "she's not even good for cooking."

I wonder how he heard the argument if he wasn't even in the kitchen.

I don't try to hide my annoyance with him, blatantly ignoring him as I check in the various kitchen counters. I don't even give him a sidelong glance.

No matter how unconscionably handsome he is, he called me "prostitute", and I will not easily forget that. He is the only one who cannot save himself even with his pretty face.

"Let's just do it." Heeseung continues.

Sunoo nods, Jungwon laughs nervously. "Are you sure?"

"Let's start eating normally again tomorrow. - Jaeyun says, nodding in turn. - By the way, could you take care of the groceries from now on? Our manager said there won't be the people who took care of these works before, I guess because you are there."

No problem Jake, if you're the one to ask then.

"I'll make you a list." He tells me.

"What would you cook now?" Jungwon then asks.

Actually, there is not much to improvise an italian pasta in this kitchen, and if I have to choose from the most famous dishes on the peninsula, I have to rule out pesto - which I don't know how to make and the one from the korean supermarket isn't good; also my beloved tortellini, I don't think they exist here, so the choice falls to carbonara.

The ingredients are variable and the substitutions easy to find in Korea: for example, if there is no pork cheek I can use pancetta, and instead of pecorino romano you can use the far more consumed and common parmesan cheese.

"Do you even have pasta here?" I sigh, confused. The counters are full of korean stuff, rice, condiments.

Sunoo puts a finger between his lips as he thinks, I pause to look at how beautiful and elegant he looks in person. "Maybe? We had it."

"And where is it?"

"We cooked it the night Heeseung went crazy." Jungwon reminds to the others, visibly embarrassed.

Jake and Sunoo burst out laughing, in completely opposite ways, Sunghoon mumbles amused, Jay just smiles, Niki does not seem amused. New connection? No, to tell the truth, the others say a lot, too.

"Was he going crazy?"

"He gets … irritable sometimes." Jungwon explains.

"Sometimes when? I should know!"

Heeseung chuckles, seeming satisfied to have caught all eyes. "Anyway, should we go buy it?"

"Sure." Jake replies ironically.

"I don't mean everyone, of course."

They're talking about me, I know. "I'll get changed and go."

"Do you have your things in Jay's room?"

"Yes." Jonseong answers for me.

Jake, who actually already knew the answer, twists his lips. "You shouldn't go into other people's rooms during someone else's shift."

How cute, why does he say things like that? Careful Jake, you've awakened a long-hidden part of me.

"It doesn't change anything, does it?" I ask him in a tone a little too smug, to the point that everyone turns to me.

I die a moment realizing that I'm not really in the right situation for answers like that.

I live with seven guys now, let's not forget, whoever they are.

"Instead it changes!" He retorts very belatedly, Jake.

"Instead it doesn't change shit." Jay blurts out, annoyed by the skit.

Heeseung coughs. "So I was saying, let's go shopping?"

"Shut up, the grown-ups are talking." Jay replies.

The oldest of them all (Heeseung) is so surprised that he starts laughing, and actually so am I with him.

"She should keep things in all the rooms." Jaeyun proposes.

Jongseong rubs his forehead unnerved. "What's the point? It's a waste of time."

"I don't even have enough things to distribute them in five rooms." I add, honestly amused.

"You don't have five things?" Sunghoon asks, with a bully grin that erasing my smile.

"That's not the point!" He brings them back to order, Jay.

"Look then the next day she goes to someone else's room, what's the big deal if she does it for a second on your day?" Sunoo then asks, turning to an embarrassed Jake.

"It changes for me."

"Then keep things in Jake's room too, the others don't mind." He fixs everything, the good leader Jungwon, democratically.

"Fine for me." Jake nods.

"Of course is fine for you." Jay comments.

"So, I was saying, shall we go shopping?" Heeseung resumes the conversation.

"Go who?" Asks from the back of the kitchen, Niki, whose voice practically thunders.

"I can go alone."

"Of course you should, isn't because we don't want to accompany you - says Jungwon with ears adorably reddened - but because we would be recognized."

"I disguise myself well." Heeseung explains.

"You can't accompany her on my shift." Jake replies, again with this.

"I said I'm going alone." They ignore me.

"But why, are you jealous?" Heeseung asks him.

Oh no, here we go. What a fucking situation, thank you very much. It's not that I doesn't know, he asked that in a disgusted tone, as if it's something negative - it's also obvious why, and I… get hurt, again, way too much.

But why? What do I care, after all?

It's just that in front of others, who treat me as a human being anyway, I feel ashamed. I feel very ashamed.

"No, I just don't like to share. I can disguise myself too."

Heeseung mumbles in disbelief. "They would recognize you in a second."

"You too!" Jake responds curtly.

"Yah, use honorifics when talking to someone older!"

"The question is - Sunghoon interrupts them - why all this?"

"This is escalating. Go alone." Jay practically commands me, I nod and flit into his room.

With the door closed behind me I feel anxiety pressing in my chest, but what's going on in there? And is Jake sincere? I mean, really? Why is he so possessive? And anyway, isn't this somehow insulting to me? We don't even know each other, in fact it's like I'm an object he wants to appropriate.

The strange thing is that, it is a time service.

I don't like this situation, I don't like these feelings.

But still - as Sunghoon said, why? He can be an asshole Heeseung too, but he wanted to accompany me too, right? I stop mulling it over as I get dressed, rejoin them who have scattered and turn to Jay.

"Keys, please."

"Go with Sunghoon."

"What?" No way, and why is he telling me this?

"He can't stand you, and he's a stubborn guy. Make friends."

"Are you asking me to seduce him?" I improvise comically.

He looks at me ruefully. "No, to make friends. That guy hangs out with Wonyoung, I really don't think he's going to give in - he crosses his arms over his chest, looks thoughtful - but Jake? What have you done with him? Has he asked you to fuck?"

Is he giving me the third degree? What about Heeseung anyway? Why is he interested in me? If he doesn't mention it means he's certainly playing with me, bullying me like Sunghoon, but in a funny way sometimes.

"Jake is peculiar, huh?" I ask amused.

Jay is not in the same mood. "You find? Anyway, don't do it if you don't want to, you did it yesterday. It wouldn't be a problem if you refused."

"I don't think he has those intentions." I say that but I don't know if I mean it.

It seems unlikely to me anyway that he wants to do it right away, maybe he wants a friend to worship him, and in return, he'll give her a chance to sleep with him sometimes? Why is this idea so specific?

This scenario is not bad…

"Okay, that's better."

"But why with Sunghoon? I can go alone, it's not far. It's not even that late."

"Does it bother you that much? Sunghoon, I mean."

"Exactly."

"Make friends with him, in my opinion you have the ability. Show that you are not interested in him, he will trust you in time."

Me? The ability to be friends with Sunghoon? But then why do I have to be one even if I don't like him? He doesn't like me either.

"He called me prostitute."

"He didn't know you yet, though."

But why is Jay's tone so authoritative? It makes my knees shake and not only. I look at him in silence, then lower my gaze like a child who has been scolded.

"If he hurts you or hurts you, I'll take care of it. But try, at least."

"Okay, but Heeseung could still come." I say, and I know I shouldn't, but I'm still curious.

"And why him?"

"He was the one who proposed."

"And you shouldn't care, right? We decide who does what, that's fine, don't make unnecessary problems for yourself."

How cold he became, all of a sudden. Did I make him angry? Why don't I feel guilty?

Okay, I will remain curious. I apologize.

He gives me the keys and a reassuring look, and as I reach the door I find myself slamming my shoulder against Sunghoon's arm. I stagger, but I don't fall. He doesn't even apologize, just glares at me and adjusts the black t-shirt he is wearing.

He is not happy with this choice either; I get the impression that it was some kind of punishment. Not that it's all that much better for me.

However, I can't help noticing how he has changed, that he now wears a tight black t-shirt, a black cap, and a raised mask almost over his eyes. He is handsome, darned if he is, even though only his eyes are visible.

They make so much of his broad shoulders, his height, his simple presence.

"Come on." He says, rudely opening the door for me.

I walk past him with my head held high, who cares.

Let him complain all he wants, I just have to buy the ingredients - still, I can't help but wonder why he gave in to their will, or why they wanted to force him.

"Why didn't you stay home?" I ask him, as we wait for the elevator.

"They have to give you a credit card, so we're paying for now. No one trusts you to leave their card so someone should have come anyway."

"You could have made a transfer if it was necessary. But I have the money for this expense, I didn't need it anyway." I mumbles, entering first.

He snorts as well, looking annoyed. "I don't care what you say, I'm here now, so stop complaining."

"I don't care what you say either, let's be clear." I reply.

When we reach the ground floor, exiting the building where the penthouse is located, I walk toward the nearest supermarket indicated by Mappe but he grabs me by the collar of the long-sleeved cotton t-shirt I'm wearing.

"Where are you going?"

"Let go of me, we have to go this way!" I protest, still being held by the shirt.

He mumbles in disbelief. "What? No, let's go with the car."

I'm not listening to him, I'm reminded of something I didn't ask Jay: why didn't Jake drive me, it being his shift?

Damn, I really don't want to go along with him, my body rejects the idea of getting along with him.

"Why didn't Jake come? It was his shift."

He doesn't leave me; in fact, he starts dragging me by the collar. "Because he's an idiot. The shift thing, absurd…" He shakes his head in disbelief.

"Yes, but leave me."

He doesn't listen to me, just keeps walking, and I'm forced to follow right behind him. "Really, you're not even that beautiful."

"Neither are you, actually."

I reply, but I don't think so at all. I have to lie, I have no weapons against him, practically.

"Bullshit." He sneers.

I snort, he still holds me back. "Seriously, if I had to choose in order who to fuck, you'd be the last."

"Aside from that, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'll never sleep with you - he says, laughing heartily. - Secondly, if I wanted to sleep with you, I'd only need, to be generous, thirty seconds."

I laugh too, unsure though. "That's what you'd like."

"I don't like you enough to challenge you." He ends the conversation, having reached the parking lot.

He lets go of his grip on my shirt almost throwing me against the car, however, I realize that he was not violent at all in pushing me, on the contrary. I even notice his gaze become surprised when he notices me banging against the car, but I think he is worried about the latter.

"Then stay with the doubt." I reply, before getting into the car.

"Are you trying to use reverse psychology?"

"There are girls who do not desire you. They exist."

"Really? I don't see any."

They all have bigger egos than each other, it's obvious.

"What? Can't you tell when someone doesn't like you? Are you… kind of stupid?" I ask him, as he starts the car.

He chuckles coldly. "We don't have that confidence, stay in your safe zone."

"Then don't insult me. Don't make fun of me. If possible, don't even talk to me. You'll be crossing the line of bearability anyway." I reply, looking fixedly in front of me.

"If you hadn't wanted that, you wouldn't have come here."

"Then I should have asked you for the money for the lawyer, the trial, and the inevitable compensation."

"You should have worked something out with your parents, they would have been able to advise you." He says all calmly, while driving with a relaxed air.

"But what do you know?!" I ask loudly, very loudly.

But how? What's the matter with me? I shouldn't listen to him, annoying me is his goal, and I'm letting him win.

"We don't all have loving families to support us if we want to skate or become idols. - I continue, I'm really fed up with it. - You talk so much because you are rich, does it seem easy to procure a billion won?"

"But what do you know?" He asks, in a much, much colder tone of voice. I have never heard him so serious, I have chills.

"I don't know anything, that's why I don't talk out of turn!"

"You just did."

"You started it! I know you think I'm some kind of crazy person who wants to live the fan dream, but as true as that may be, it's not like I haven't looked for other solutions."

"And you don't care what we think of you in the end?"

"It's obvious, I think about it all the time. - I rant, looking at him. - But let's be honest, is the opinion of some singers I have a crush on more important, or a debt that can potentially lead me to criminal prosecution if I don't pay it back? If you have parents who love you, and protect you, surely you are more comfortable, but I don't have that fortune nor do I have the strength to take on a lawsuit that I will lose regardless."

Sunghoon does not move his gaze even once in my direction; on the contrary, he remains silent for a long time. My words hang in the air, no feedback, no reaction, I am genuinely hurt by him.

I wasn't hoping to touch his heart, but at least to reconcile the situation, explain my motives, show that I am not the opportunist he thinks I am.

However he doesn't care, evidently, he parks as if nothing happened in the parking lot of a large supermarket and then gets out of the car. I stay a few seconds inside, still shaken, even if he doesn't care I have to at least be the one to console myself, to tell me it's all right, or the tears will come out and Sunghoon will have won, again, like the kids that tormented me as a child.

I breathe deeply, swallow, and then get out of the car. I must endure, I must behave. To do so, I have decided that from now on I will ignore him, pretend he doesn't exist.

I just have to find the ingredients.

At this time of the afternoon, on an ordinary weekday , there are not many people. They're all at work, it makes sense, and that's good for Sunghoon, whose six feet is pretty conspicuous anyway, especially in South Korea, where ladies stare and chatter loudly when they see a tall guy.

"What do you need? What do you need to cook?"

I don't care what he says, I proceed toward the relevant departments, and although I see him keeping up with difficulty, I have no intention of backing down. This guy is a soulless monster, that's why his room looks like this.

"Why don't you answer me?"

I take a whole piece of smoked bacon, it's not exactly what I was looking for but it will still do. He watches, perhaps expecting some kind of answer, but I advance to the pasta section, where I desperately look for bucatini. Nothing of the sort, I settle for thick spaghetti.

"Oh, you're bothering me." He says, following me like a little dog.

Yes that's right Sunghoon, that's what you are, a dog.

"Do you feel excited because you're ignoring Sunghoon from Enhypen?" He asks amusedly, whispering.

I just put a couple of bags of parmesan cheese in the basket. I don't care, I won't say anything. To me it's as if he doesn't exist, and it's only after a while that I realize I've taken it a little too personally - what else could I expect in this situation? For him to hug me and comfort me?

Of course, though, not even a word of support, not a blink, like a soulless robot. Just thinking about it makes me angry again.

"It needs.... what else does it need? - I ask myself, under my breath, looking at the basket. - Ah! The eggs!" I exclaim, in italian.

He looks at me strangely and annoyed, not knowing what I said, i'n too angry to rejoice.

"You know what? I don't even know why I'm trying to talk to you. I don't care." He blurts out, crossing his arms over his chest as he continues to follow and observe me.

I reach for the eggs, grab some black pepper, at this point I think I have everything. Will the pasta be enough? How much do seven guys eat? In Italy I would say not even two kg would be enough, but considering that these are koreans, idols to boot, maybe a kilo will be enough and more. I'm not that hungry either, to tell you the truth, someone closed my stomach.

I should ask Sunghoon but I won't.

However, I don't even have the number of the others. I have to ask Jay somehow.

I have an idea! I don't want to do it in front of Sunghoon, so I move around a bit taking advantage of a moment when he's distracted to check his phone, pulling out mine and going to the Enhypen's official account, it's the only desperate move I can make.

I write in direct, with my account: how much pasta?

I stay a few seconds waiting, they don't even display, I don't even know if they are running the account. I mean, probably not, however I thought they at least had access - but even so, who knows how many people write to them.

I put my hands in my hair, how annoying. Should I ask him? No, better to get more, at most it won't cook.

I completely lost track of Sunghoon, hopefully he'll leave on his own, I'll pay, I don't care. I can go back to the pasta department, I'll get another packet.

"Looks like you want to make a carbonara." Says a guy, behind me, in english.

I turn around and see him observing in my basket, I narrow my eyes, I think I've already figured out what kind he is, I've met several of them in Korea and they are quite common.

"Yeah - I nod, embarrassed and in a bit of a hurry. The guy in front of me is a nice enough guy, he keeps himself in shape, I can tell from his tight clothes and even though he's not too tall he still makes his figure. - I really have to go now."

"You speak english very well." He tells me quickly, preventing me from truncating the discussion.

I roll my eyes annoyed. "Thank you."

"And you can speak korean, too?"

"Yes."

"Where are you from? I've never seen a girl like you."

There it is, the classic foreign pickup line. There are some guys in South Korea who make it a philosophy of life to bed as many foreigners as possible.

"Look, I'd be in a bit of a hurry." I remind him cordially, taking a short bow.

"Can you at least give me your number? Or instagram?"

I don't physically have the time to think about dating from anyone right now, nor do I have any interest in becoming the next line on his list.

"I'm engaged." I nod.

"Come on, really? We can be friends anyway."

Insistent this guy, it's time to just go.

"No, thanks." I reply, turning around ready to go.

"Yah, how dare you? - He takes it personally, this idiot, grabbing me by the arm, speaking in korean. - Just because I was nice you can't ignore me like that."

If you knew how I'm ignoring Sunghoon from Enhypen you wouldn't be so offended.

"Look, this is not the day. Let go of me." I chill him, with a chilling look.

"I just wanted your fucking contact." He raises his voice, but how dare he? I move my arm forcefully.

Blatant, it's a just as I thought. Since I'm a foreigner, and I'm pretty, he has to convince me at all costs to meet him, it's not even a surprise - it's happened to me before, but I've always rejected overly rough approaches, like this one.

"Are you done fucking? I've been watching you for a while."

I turn around, Sunghoon has appeared behind me. I'm not impressed that he seems to want to defend me; on the contrary, I find it humiliating and don't want his help.

"Are you her boyfriend?" Blurts out the one, who is obviously unnerved by the taller boy's interruption.

"What? - He asks in a disgusted tone. - No."

"Then turn away, you idiot."

"What did you call me?" Sunghoon sneers, approaching the guy, who perceives the height difference much more judging by the way he looks at my roommate.

"I just want his contact."

I see Sunghoon's pupils roll; he's fed up. "And she doesn't want to give it to you, so you're the one who has to turn away, right?"

I know, I know. Sunghoon is an asshole, I know that right now he's only helping me so as not to cause trouble, also because if the guy went too far maybe he would have to intervene and it would be risky in his position, however…

The way he proudly keeps his hands in the pockets of his black pants, the threatening way he looks at this guy, his warm, deep voice, his confidence, it's a little too much for a poor, poor girl like me to handle.

"I'm leaving." I announce, waving goodbye to the stranger and resuming walking, this time toward the speakers.

Sunghoon follows me, the guy doesn't, I guess a little intimidated by him. "But what is it, does everyone like you?"

"I'm too pretty, in fact."

Shit, I forgot the vow of silence, the answer came from my mouth first than from my brain, I didn't have time to reason.

I hear him sneer. "You'd like that. You're talking to me now, huh? Why did I defend you? Are you that dumb?"

Ah, what a nuisance, what a nuisance. I had even avoided him, sowed, but that harassing guy wasted my time and Sunghoon caught up with me.

At the checkouts there is not much of a line, but as I try to get behind an elderly man waiting his turn, Sunghoon grabs me back by the collar of my shirt and makes me change direction.

"Let's go to the checkout machines, dumb."

"We're not close, stop talking to me like that." I reply, starting to pass products over the cash register.

"I'm paying for you, how can we not be close?"

"For that matter - I say - let me pay. When the card is ready I will use your money, or that of someone other than you."

"I'm not paying because I want to do you a favor - he replies, shifting with his hand mine that held the phone next to the pos, using his to pay. - I have to, so don't bother."

We exit the supermarket, look at each other for a split second, then he proceeds to the car. I, holding the bag, look around - I don't know Gangnam, so I don't know my way around, but there are bound to be means of getting back alone.

"What are you doing?" He asks, noticing that I haven't followed him.

"I'm going home alone, I don't want to go with you."

"Do you know how?"

I mumble annoyed. "Yes."

"It doesn't seem real. Anyway, we don't have to talk - he huffs, reaching over to take the grocery bag from my hands. - Besides, they'd bust my balls if I came back alone, I'd have to wait for you to come back with the means. Let's just go."

He says that, but I don't move.

He's not my friend, we don't even know each other, but then why am I so deeply offended? I should just put on a good face, pretend that I don't care, that he hasn't hurt me, but I just can't.

"Yah, are you listening to me?" He starts to get nervous.

"You called me prostitute, you kept teasing me, humiliating me in front of others, you criticized me not knowing me, not knowing anything about me. When I tried to explain how I felt, you didn't bat an eye, I don't want to spend a second with you."

"Would you rather be treated as an object? Like Jake and Jay do? I act the way I am, don't you realize that the only one who respects you is me?"

Huh? What…. say all of a sudden? And why does it hurt? No, they-they don't? They treat me like a human being, don't they? Or do they? And then - he, respect me? I don't think so, on the contrary I think he attacks me just for fun.

"I'm still at your service, no? In order for this period to end quickly and without any side effects, I just have to make sure that I don't make trouble, and that's what I'm going to do. Honestly, I too have feelings, I too am sensitive, I too get hurt-"

"Do you want me to apologize?" He interrupts me, serious.

I don't know what to say at the moment, then I tighten my lips angrily. "No, I have no use for your fake apology. I'm just asking you to treat me normally and I won't bother you, I'll strive to never be a problem for you."

"Did you feel so bad about the thing in the car? - He sighs, as if tired of my unnecessary trouble, as we get to his expensive car again. I don't know why, but I can't answer truthfully, he turns to me. - Is that so? Did you expect…"

"I didn't expect anything. I don't want anything from you."

"Then why are you so angry?"

I don't fucking know, Sunghoon!

"Let's stop talking about it, I don't care anymore."

He sneers again. "Do you want it to be okay between us?"

"What?" I ask, sitting back in the passenger seat as he rests the grocery bag between my ankles and I for a second, not breathing, he's honestly too close to my legs as he sorts things out.

"Then be good."

"Be good how?"

"Are there other ways to play nice in a situation like this?"

Huh? Are you asking me not to indulge or something? It still doesn't make sense, if we assume that I disgust him, however, it might make sense as far as the balance of the band is concerned.

I don't feel like a threat frankly, I just see males being males and therefore wanting to get laid.

"I really don't care that it's good between us." Is my answer.

As he drives off in the car, a warning light starts to go flashes, it sounds like the seat belt light but we both have it, so I see him looking at me confused. I move a millimeter to check that mine is attached properly, but surprise, this one being unfastened abruptly returns to its place, hitting me with the metal part on my face.

"Fuck!" I shout in italian, holding my sore nose.

He bursts out laughing, has a… he has a beautiful laugh. "You dumb, tie her up good."

"Don't call me dumb, I said!" I groan, still with bandaged nose, still sore.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

Huh?

Shit, I don't answer. I have like a thud in my heart.

"No, you can leave." I say, lacing it up properly.

"So you don't care if it goes well with us."

"If it goes well with you, it might go badly with everyone else - I say, not understanding why the pain doesn't go away, it's strong, it burns me so bad. - However, your CEO has been clear on the issue, it's not like I can just refuse."

"He is not our CEO." He explains, as he turns left.

I look at him, am i... sad?

Recently, Enhypen have, in fact, been integrated by Hybe, despite being Belift before, a sort of branch of the former. I have no idea how this was received by the boys, but judging from Sunghoon's reaction, he not exactly well.

"Why are you still holding your nose?" He asks me after a while, never returning to the old argument.

I don't want to admit that it still hurts, so I take my hand away and don't answer.

I see him, turning to me briefly and then looking back at the road. "You're bleeding."

"What?!" I practically scream, lowering the sunshade to check in the mirror: I have a line of blood about to reach my lips.

Meanwhile, Sunghoon has surprisingly pulled over. "Wait, don't touch." It's not advice so much as an order.

"Why did you pull over? It's nothing, he's passing by."

"You're dirtying my car." He reminds me.

Idiot! Idiot! Do you think he cares about you, someone like him?

As he opens the glove compartment in front of my legs, his uncovered arm grazes my thigh covered by too-thin pants evidently, as I perceive this contact as incredibly intense.

I shudder; I have to pull myself together.

He has a small purse inside, pulls out a pack of tissues and hands them to me. "Come on, clean yourself up and I'll go again." What an arrogant tone, as if he were the injured party.

I do as he tells me, use a handkerchief to wipe myself by looking in the mirror, when I finish I close the sunshade. "Okay, let's go."

I tell him, but he is still looking at me.

"More is coming out, maybe I should take you to the hospital?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What if you die in the car?"

"Then it gets dirty, right?"

"No, then I get arrested."

Man, I feel like laughing but I don't want to, with every fiber of my being I definitely don't want to laugh.

I see him take another handkerchief after taking the package out of my hands, roll it up creating a small tip. Then, suddenly, in a totally uncalculated way, he approaches me and, first wipes away my other blood, then uses the same handkerchief to close my nostril.

He has a delicate touch, actually. His focused eyes are quite beautiful. Her breathing, calm and regular, is easier to listen to at this distance, and it is really pleasant. The one not breathing evenly is me, having him so close.

I like the way he touches me, I like the way he dabs the blood gently.

"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

Well, to be honest, I don't feel anything now. The only burning is the one that's enveloping my whole body and it's his fault.

"Yes." I answer coldly.

He doesn't even look at me as he stows his purse, closes the dashboard, touching my thigh with his elbow again, and then gets back behind the wheel. "Okay, let's go."

Throughout the trip we don't talk about anything, we don't even call each other names - I don't know if I've been able to accomplish the quest Jay has given me, I haven't even tried really, though, it's definitely different in our relationship now.

Not necessarily for the better.

When we get back to the penthouse, Jake opens the door for us, in a second, as if anxiously waiting. He looks at me, I try to do the same but lower my gaze because I'm still a little uncomfortable with his disarming beauty.

"What did you do to her, you bastard!" Jaeyun asks, grabbing him by the shirt.

"Are you idiot?"

"What happened?" Jay asks, arriving slightly late at the door. Noticing the damage to my nose, he glares at Sunghoon.

"Really? - Rant the suspect. - I didn't do it."

"But what happened?"

"His car hates me." I reply, under my breath, passing them and entering with the grocery bag.

NEXT CHAPTER:

#enha smut #sunghoon smut #enhypen smut #enhypen #kpop smut #enha sunghoon #sunghoon #ff sunghoon #enhypen jake #enhypen jay #enhypen heeseung #enhypen niki

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acti-veg · 1 year ago

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about the last post, the "no matter what it is, if it's associated with vegans they will find a reason to hate it" and I can say nothing truer has ever been said. I live in Italy and we have vegan staples like pasta with oil, garlic and chilli pepper, or pasta with beans. and people when think of veganism just FORGET about them. they think I as a vegan eat just salad all day. like??? my guy. my pal. pasta with beans is right there. rice with peas is RIGHT THERE. why would I deprive myself of those delicacies just because in the minds of meat eaters vegans are miserable?

I’ve seen this at parties and work events so many times, a very normal food like a potato or pasta salad is labelled vegan, and nobody wants to touch it. Doughnuts where the only thing that is different is that the dairy milk has been replaced with oat milk and they’re consistently the only ones people don’t eat.

I don’t know how we can get people to understand that vegan food is just normal food that we’ve been eating for thousands of years that doesn’t contain animal products. Vegan fabrics are just regular fabrics we’ve all been wearing our whole lives. Most of the staple foods of most of the world are plant-based foods, this insistence on including meat or dairy in every meal is a privileged habit that is very new in the grand scheme of things.

People miss out on so much delicious food and sustainable fabric options just because they have a prejudice against anything with the word ‘vegan’ on it, even ‘plant-based’ has the same bizarre stigma for many. More than that, people will have to dramatically reduce their meat and dairy consumption and opt for more sustainable fabrics in order to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Avoiding anything that isn’t made of meat, dairy or leather is the complete opposite of what they need to be doing at this stage.

#vegan #ask #sustainability

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krafterwrites · 2 years ago

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All The Sonic Cafe Foods

Because I can’t find a concrete source that lists every single food from the Sonic 25th Anniversary Cafe, I’m going to list all the foods I can find here (And talk about them a bit I guess)

Sonic Chili Dog

I don’t like hot dogs or chili but it looks decent, and the onion rings with the leafy greens seem pretty nice

Shadow Burger

Not going to lie I would genuinely eat this. The black bun looks a bit weird but I love burgers, and it would be really funny to eat a slice of cheese that has a render of Shadow printed on it

Eggman Takoyaki

This looks really good, it’s probably one of the most appetizing things on the menu. I’ve never had Takoyaki before, but it looks sooo good here, so I’m sure I would love it

Imagawa-yaki

This is basically just a pancake filled with sweet red bean paste, which sounds pretty good. I also really like the illustrations on them, they look very nice

Classic Team Sonic Pancakes

This is a pretty good one, it’s three pancakes that have Team Sonic printed on them with maple syrup, butter, and I think cream with raspberry? It’s pretty simple, but still good

Sundae Supreme

This is definitely the best item on the entire menu. This looks soooo good. If I had amnesia and didn’t remember my name, I would name myself after this too, because it looks amazing

Triple S Cafe Drinks

Sonic’s drink is a latte, Shadow’s drink is cocoa, and Silver’s drink is mocha. I don’t drink cafe drinks, but apparently a mocha is a chocolate drink, so that sounds pretty nice

Tails’ Hot Lemonade

I’ve never heard of hot lemonade before, but it probably isn’t as good as cold lemonade. I would try it at least once though, because it does sound interesting

Amy, Knuckles, And Chao Sodas

Amy’s soda is peach flavored (The description also says that if you drink it, your girl power will improve and you might become like Amy, so I suppose they put estrogen in the soda), Knuckles’ soda is strawberry flavored, and the Chao soda didn’t have a flavor listed so I’m guessing it’s just blue flavored. All these sodas also look like they have a scoop of vanilla ice cream in them, which is a nice extra

Eggman Omurice

This looks a tiny bit gross because of the sauce, but honestly it doesn’t seem that bad. I like eggs and rice, so I would probably enjoy this if I got it. The veggies are a bit random though, they could have just done bell peppers and it would have gone with the eggs and rice better

Another Chili Dog

This looks like a different dish from the one at the top of this list, and it looks a bit better than it too. The sign is a nice touch, the onion rings look more normal, and there’s more veggies on the side

Shadow Curry

Like the omurice, this looks a bit weird, but I would eat it if I was given the opportunity since curry and rice is delicious. Once again though, the veggies are just kind of random, although they do have a bell pepper this time around (Or it could be a weirdly shaped tomato wedge). They also have what looks like fried... something, I genuinely cannot tell in the slightest. Also they should have made Blaze Curry instead, it would’ve been more fitting

Tails Carbonara

Okay, this one is a little bit unappetizing even to me. Just a little bit though. It’s entirely because of the slice of cheese they printed Tails on, cheese on pasta is nice, but an uncut slice of it draped over wet noodles and sauce is not. I would still eat this though, maybe because my standards for food are low

Green Hill Roll Cake

This one looks nice, it’s chocolate cake with green frosting and some sort of cream filling, as well as a few pieces of assorted fruit. I’m not much of a fruit person, but this still looks tasty

Amy’s Homemade Pink Cake

This is probably the best looking desert (Aside from the Sundae Supreme of course), I can’t tell precisely what all of it would taste like just from looking at it, but I’m sure it would be enjoyable

Tails’ Lab Experiment Solution

This looks like another soda, although I can’t really tell what flavor it is by looking at it, if I had to guess I’d say it’s orange. I also don’t know what’s up with the stuff in the cup. I think I vaguely remember having sugar crystals at a restaurant one time that looked like these and fizzed in my mouth, so maybe you’re supposed to add those things to the soda to make it extra fizzy/sweet?

Silver’s ESP Soda

I really want to drink this one. It looks like it’s made up of clear soda, blue sorbet (Which I almost mistook for cotton candy the first time I saw this image because it looks so light) and green jello just kind of sitting there at the bottom. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with it, maybe slurp it up like boba? Or just eat it once you’ve drank all the soda, I guess

Sticks’ Jungle Juice

Another soda drink with ice cream! I don’t know what flavor this is for sure, but based on the fact that it’s orange and it was described as wild and tropical, I’m going to say it’s mango soda. No clue what the icre cream is, but I do love the little boomerang that’s stuck into it

Knuckles’ Power Drink

Knuckles gets two drinks, and this one is basically a red slurpee with vanilla ice cream, which actually sounds really nice. It’s probably cherry flavor, although it could be strawberry or even watermelon

Sonic Latte

Not much to say about this one, it’s just a latte with Classic Sonic’s face on it

Infinite’s Jello Dessert

This one looks tasty, mostly because of its great presentation. I’m not sure what flavor the jello inside or outside the cup is, but I’m going to go with strawberry and bitter cherry respectively. It also looks like there’s some whipped cream in addition to the fruit and mint sprig (I think? It could be something else but it’s probably mint), which would all pair nicely with fruit jello

Knuckles Boba

That’s right, Knuckles has ANOTHER drink. He has three drinks. The site that I’m using for this last series of images (Which started with the Infinite Jello Dessert) doesn’t have any descriptions, so I just have to guess from here on out. I really have no clue what the drink could be, and even less clue on what the boba taste like since I’ve never had boba before. My best guess for the drink is peach flavored soda or possibly sweet tea, but I’m completely stumped on the boba pearls

Eggman Scotch Eggs

This one doesn’t look too bad (Except for the watery and slimy looking meat sauce), the eggs, meat, and casing all look pretty nice. Even as I was typing this, I thought the mark on the right egg was some seaweed or something, but I just realized that it’s the Eggman Empire logo. I may be stupid. Anyways, I still don’t get why they put broccoli and cauliflower with all of Eggman’s meals. Broccoli does not go with scotch eggs, or eggs in general

Cat Rookie Drink

This is one of the best looking drinks, it looks super appealing. The drink itself looks like strawberry milk with ice, and you also get whipped cream and sprinkles to go with it. This is definitely an extremely sweet drink, which I really like

Bird Rookie Drink

This one also looks really good, entirely due to its neon green coloring that looks straight out of Shadow’s tube. We have a clearer view of the sugar crystals that went with Tails’ drink, which fit this drink pretty well, since making it even fizzier adds to its forbidden science liquid vibe. I think there could be boba pearls or something like that at the bottom, but it’s hard to tell, and I have no clue what they would taste like if they actually are there

Shadow’s Root Beer Float

This is a super good drink, it’s a root beer float with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and two cherries. I guess it could be coke, but it’s way more likely than it’s root beer. It doesn’t have much to do with Shadow, the last drink probably would have fit him better since it looks like the liquid he was birthed in, but now that I think about it Shadow probably would enjoy a good root beer float

Chaos’ Soda

Now this is a drink! It’s so blue and refreshing looking, I want to slurp this up right now. I don’t know for sure what it’s flavored like, probably blue raspberry, but I know it has to taste amazing based on how good it looks

Classic Sonic’s Boba Drink

This one is also a delicious looking cool blue that makes me want to down the whole glass, but like the battery acid/Shadow’s nutrient fluid drink, it has some mystery boba pearls (I think?) in it too. Like I said last time, I have no clue what these would taste like, but they can’t be that bad if they’re soaking in such a pretty liquid

Sonic’s... Something

I’m going to level with you, I do not know what this is. It just looks like a patty of rice with onion rings, veggies, and a cutout of Sonic on it. Maybe that’s what it actually is. Honestly that wouldn’t be too bad since rice and onion rings are tasty, but it would be a very strange dish to serve if that’s really it, which is why I think I’m missing something here. Let me know what you think this is if you have any theories

Tails’ Udon

This looks gross and tasty at the same time. I love udon noodles, and the chives really add to it, but the omelette looks very soggy and wet, which is gross. At least, I think that’s an omelette. It could be fried meat or something, which would make this dish really good, since fried meat and noodles are a killer combo. Also, carrot stars. I didn’t mention them on any of the foods before because they were just a little garnish, but they’re cool! I wouldn’t eat them with the dish though, carrot wouldn’t go well with most of the dishes I’ve listed

Gadget’s Pancakes

This is a great pancake meal, it puts the one with Team Sonic on it to shame. There’s two pancakes (One with Gadget printed on it), maple syrup, sprinkles, whipped cream, fruit and mint, and a chocolate pen thingy. I think the chocolate pen thingy either has chocolate liquid in it or is meant to be broken up and put onto the pancake like chocolate chips. Either way, this is a spectacular desert/breakfast, and I really wish I could try it

And with that, we’re done! I suppose there could be foods out there that I missed, considering I had to scour several unofficial sources to find all this, but I’m pretty sure I got them all. If you got this far, thanks for reading! I’m glad you liked it, because typing all this hurt my finger

#Sonic #Sth #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Cafe #I could tag all of the characters but I don't want to be annoying #Krafter Talks

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deadlifts-and-deadlines · 10 months ago

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I ordered the little Ninja 16 oz smoothie blender last night. I absolutely need to work more fruits and veggies into my diet, and I’m somewhat limited in how I can consume them. I can’t eat veggies raw; I won’t digest them at all; they need to be very soft - so steaming them, cooking them in like a soup or stew, and sometimes roasting is okay. Corn and green veggies are generally a hard no. Nothing with seeds or skins, either. I’m going to try really hard to stay away from more inflammatory foods.

For breakfasts and lunches and I’m going to try and lean into sourdough toast with eggs and avocado and smoothies.

Lunches and dinners will be more rice bowls and meats like ground chicken and salmon (I got the “chicken ick” a week ago and can’t bring myself to eat normal chicken right now so I’m gonna try ground chicken for a bit to see if that helps. I should also try ground turkey, but I hate ground turkey, so if anyone has any bomb seasoning recommendations I’m all ears. As for sides, I can generally do peeled potatoes, peeled carrots, white rice and pasta, so those are options as well. I wish I liked sweet potatoes and cucumbers more because those are also good anti inflammatory foods. Think I’m gonna make salmon and rice bowls for dinner tonight. I can eat the same thing over and over again, it doesn’t bother me, so I just need to get a couple easy meals figured out so I can run with it.

#I also need to suck it up and staying buying the decaf coffee for home again #I found a brand I love (wandering bear) but it is $$$$

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yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit · 5 months ago

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Any further tips/advice for freezing veggies? Or any kinds of dish that are good for frozen veg that loose their usual texture (like celery, potatoes etc)?

Basically, cut and clean them to the size you will want in the final dish, since they'll be a bitch to try to cut once freezing makes them soft. For anything juicy, spread it out to freeze first so it doesn't all stick together in one chunk, or portion it into the servings you want to take it out in.

[When I get a camera cord, remind me to photograph my freezer stash, I have mixed potatoes, cabbage, celery and some other things in there now waiting on doing a duck roast,]

And honestly I haven't noticed much loss of texture after cooking. Unless you are used to very lightly steamed celery, the difference in texture there, as example, isn't notable. I don't use celery in stir fry, for example, because I don't eat stir-fry, but I use it in sauces and soups or in tiny bits in stuffing for poultry, so there's no difference there.

If it's the kind of thing that browns you can try tossing it in vinegar or lemon juice but honestly I don't care much about the look of my potatoes or whatever oxidizing slightly.

Pasta sauce and soups, or sauce put put on rice, curry etc.. is a good use for bits of frozen veg.

Really any dish where they normally get cooked a lot in with other things or fluids of any kind. Even tossed into meat pies I haven't notice a difference. It seems scary when they're raw because they seem weirdly soft like if they went bad, but it's because the water in their cells has burst out, much like it would with cooking anyway.

You can puree onion and garlic or herbs instead of having to cut it and make ice-cubes with it, and toss them in a bag, or even pre-caramelize all the onions and then make ice cubes of them to take out one at a time.

And potatoes, potatoes you don't freeze after cooking into a dish, you freeze them pre cut into either chunks for boiling, fries, wedges or shreds, freeze them, and when they come out you put them in whatever you would normally, like boiling them to make mashed potatoes, or mixing them into hash or latkes... It's like how you can get bags of frozen french fries and they bake or deep fry like fresh. I would not pre-make mashed potatoes necessarily because the other ingredients might separate oddly, unless I was making perogis to freeze for later or something. But freezing can even help get out extra water so they're easy to drain and dry or squeeze out for frying or adding to batter.

The goal isn't to necessarily find something to batch cook, it's to just get them cut up in a usable state and in the freezer with as little work as possible before they spoil. Deal with actual meal planning later as a whole separate process.

Pre-shredding carrots can mean having shred carrot to add to things easily, like cakes, tomato sauces, meat or vegetable pies, soups potato hash, ect, but it might help to freeze it spread out on a tray so it all doesn't stick together in a lump, or ice cube tray it, and then bag it, or -alternately- dehydrate carrots in a dehydrator in thin slices for soups. Dehydrated carrot is shelf stable a long time but if you freeze it dehydrated they last indefinitely, which can help make use of those huge bags of big cheap carrots that go on.

I'm not big on eating vegetables raw or half raw due to digestive sensitivities, and boiling or baking them makes them way softer than freezing does anyway. It isn't going to give you something lightly roasted or steamed, but it's better than throwing them out.

If you want to get clever about it keep track of how you cut up various veg for various meals and settle on 1-2 sized you are okay with them being in a variety of things and go with that.

The main thing is to predict to some degree what you'll want to make, but the benefit is being able to just reach into the freezer and grab pre cut veg. I like to grab out a pinch of frozen onion slices one meal at a time, rather than having an onion to work through in the fridge.

And if you are really into soups, you can actually puree tomatoes, cucumber and even lettuce that's about to go off, just clean it up and blend it, and then add it to soup stocks and stews and sauces, where it won't add much to the texture, but it'll add in those nutrients you would have missed from throwing them out instead. Most veggies that turn to utter mush when frozen can be blended and used for soups and sauces so long as you are at peace with them not adding any texture, and looking like goop or a block of coloured ice coming out of the bag.

Just make sure you clean and cut them like you would for meal prep first. You will NOT be able to clean and cut them properly -after- freezing, so you can't just shove them in there thinking you'll deal with any of the prep later, you have to do it first.

Personally, I batch prepare veggies this way into freezer bags before winter and stock up my box freezers with them, that way I have veggies all winter that are nearly fresh. I can just reach in and grab pre-cut peppers, onions and mushrooms to toss into a meal.

It's kind of easier to batch process like 10+ bell peppers at once and not worry about any other meal prep and then just have them for later, as example, and you can buy the bulk packages of stuff that's on sale because it's about to go off. It ends up saving money, sure but also means you are eating a more well rounded diet because you end up with this selection of veggies to just grab and toss in to anything on a whim... That aren't going bad.

You can buy enough corn on the cob to feed a big family, when it's cheap or on sale, and then just defrost one or two at a time for yourself.

Frozen ginger gets soft enough that you can squeeze out all the juice with a garlic press and leave behind the stringy bits, so if you cut it into 1/2-1inch chunks it can be good for that, and then you can take the crushed bit and brew it in a cup of tea, or soup stock... just rinse the ginger off before freezing it.

I also buy huge cuts of meat when they are on cheap, portion them myself and freeze them for later, so basically any meal just becomes taking out your pre-portioned ingredients and doing the actual cooking part with about 0 food waste. I also take the bones and fat off of meat I am cooking and freeze that separately for soup later, or frying or baking etc. Bones are a mash of bits by the time I am throwing out the remains.

Have leftovers you don't want to eat immediately in the following day? Frozen for later! next time you are hungry and don't want to cook you just toss that boy in a baking dish, bam! No food waste.

And when a whole bunch of something is about to go off, you don't have to stand there trying to figure out what you want to cook in the next 3 days that's going to use up 20 potatoes, you just cut them up and put the pause button on them.

If you don't have a box freezer, they are typically sold for 100$ second hand on facebook or kijiji and are a good one time investment when a tax cheque comes in.

Just make sure you are actually using the frozen food. You can't be thinking of it as less good than fresh or harder to make use of, because if you avoid using it and just keep buying more, you are going to run out of space and end up with freezers full of food you aren't eating. Get comfortable reaching for portions of frozen vegetables to add into things, and shop your freezers when you are getting ready to cook meals. [Pinch of bell peppers? Don't mind if I do! It's like a spice rack of vegetable add-ins now! Peruse.]

The last tip I have is to not buy a bunch of stuff to do this with all at once thinking you will have the spoons to do a week of meal prep with it all. Space it out. Buy the big bag of onions one trip, and get most of them frozen before you worry about grabbing a big bag of apples or potatoes, buy cabbage and celery the next trip and cut up most of those to freeze when you get home, or in the following days. Whatever is about to go bad, if it comes to that, just clean it up cut it and freeze it. or prep the whole things when you get to the meal you bought some of it for, depending on what it is, and freeze what you don't use.

Before long you'll have a stash of basically everything you use on hand. Then you can get pickier about waiting to buy things until they are on sale when you can. Like I buy butter on sale only and keep it frozen, but I also buy raw cranberries once a year at Christmas for 2$ or less a bag and just rinse and freeze the whole bags [they have holes int he bags for air flow]. I buy pumpkins for sale -after- halloween and cut them into quarters, bake the quarters so they are squishy, fold them flat into freezer bags, and then have a quarter pumpkin to use in pies or whatever I want. You get pumpkins for like a dollar, so you get each bag of frozen pumpkin for 25 cents [I have known people who do this -after- carving them for Halloween, if they aren't outside, just rinse bake and freeze them for food]. They have a sale rack sometimes of food that's about to go off that's all been bagged up together and discounted, and that is your friend if you are taking home one thing at a time and actually using it.

Frozen apple wedges, btw, do fine in an apple pie. And apple dehydrates nicely at home too. Same logic applies as carrots, if you dehydrate and then also freeze them, they don't stick together and you can have them indefinitely, and they take up a lot less space. But really I just freeze apple slices and then make pie filling with them [or add them to stuffing].

I will eventually formalize and share actual recipes, but so much of the cooking I do is measuring with my feelings that I need the spoons to go through making each dish and documenting what has it come out the best. There's some batch cooking things I do like pre-roasting chickpea flour to coat dumplings and rolls in so they don't stick together in the freezer. I make about 50+ spring rolls at once from frozen bean sprouts and etc, and then freeze those to eat 2-3 at a time.

I just can't stand having food go bad in the fridge if I don't have the energy to cook, and I hate the idea of simply not eating vegetables because of it. I'm trying to save money and also eat well and my response to problems tends to be a little "smash it all with one simple elegant solution". If you have any specific questions please let me know <3

#either keep it alive by planting it freeze it or dehydrate it #basically #learn to love either soup or sauces #Sometimes I make green pasta sauce with just green vegetables like peas green beans frozen lettuce or cuc and whatever #which you would think wouldn't be good but if you like a hot vinaigrette they way I do it with and aged cheese it's good #but also I am probably insane a little bit #I take things to very uncompromising extremes with my systems for dealing with things #thank you for the ask <3

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theashemarie · 2 years ago

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Can you please post the scene from Aftershocks where Casey and Mikey go grocery shopping like you did the drawing scene? It's one of my favorites

Yeah, I got you bud.

[Context: Post-invasion, the fam is low on food and Mikey and Casey head up to the surface to get some. The only open place is a crowded Trader Joes; Casey, who has suffered some emotional missteps when it comes to talking to the boys, wants to have a heart-to-heart with Mikey, but Mikey is focused on getting in and out of the grocery store as quickly as possible.]

Read Aftershocks on ao3.

Also the aforementioned drawing scene.

Over an hour later, Mikey stood in the line for checkout with his hands wrapped around the push bar of the cart. The sleeves of his hoodie were long enough to cover his fingers, and he kept his head down to avoid any wandering eyes. Casey stood a little in front of him, fingers wrapped around the side of the cart like a child, staring ahead with steadfast determination. Around them, people peered at Casey, recognizing him from the photos that were cycling around social media, and then at Mikey, trying to discern if the small orange blob was anyone of note. Mikey stayed the course, head bowed, and ignored the whispers that flared up anytime someone got a good look at him.

Usually, large, crowded places like this were friendly territory. It was a lot easier to blend into a crowd, especially in the middle of New York City, where a group of teen boys in strange turtle outfits weren’t worth commenting on or were overlooked entirely as everyone on the street went selectively face-blind, but, today, everyone was on high alert, looking for aliens or turtle-boys. It was a testament to Casey’s hard expression and Mikey’s long stare at his feet that no one had approached yet.

The grocery run had been a large success otherwise. Despite the overcrowded state of the place, the necessities that Mikey was after were all available. Normally, he went to the farmer’s market in Union Square every Friday for perishables and ordered delivery for the rest (or bribed April into picking it up), so he found himself as lost as Casey as he stared at the stacks of bright yellow and blue Styrofoam egg cartons and the sweaty milk jugs, slid forward on their tilted tracks. Casey, for his part, was handling all the newness around him like a champ, and he listened intently as Mikey explained things to him: how to locate expiration dates, the difference between sell by and use by, how to check eggs for cracks, the different uses for canola and olive oils, how to identify if cheese was real or not, how to select the best bunch of grapes. By the end, Mikey was confident enough in his newfound knowledge to let him order cold cuts and cheese from the deli counter—turkey, ham, prosciutto, pastrami, salami, provolone, pepper jack, a half-pound of American cheese because that was what Leo preferred—and watched him accept the small, wrapped bundles with his five-fingered hands.

In the end, their cart was stacked to bursting, and Mikey was satisfied that they would survive for a week or two without issue. He’d mentally prepared himself to make small, versatile meals—omelets, paninis, quesadillas, soups, tacos, fried rice, pasta—and their haul was a perfect picture of this plan. Seven dozen eggs, four boxes of pancake mix, three gallons of milk, eight pounds of cold cuts, five boxes of Raph’s favorite cereal (or the closest Trader Joes approximation), four loaves of bread, three baguettes (to be frozen), a large jar of peanut butter, three packages of chicken breasts, two things of chicken thighs, eight pounds of hamburger meat, five pounds of pasta, six big cans of tomato sauce, three bags of spinach, seven heads of romaine, three large containers of pre-cut pineapple (for their anti-inflammatory properties), and two bags of grapes (because Donnie liked to snack on them frozen while he worked in the lab). Plus the snacks that his brothers had been requesting over text throughout the trip, causing multiple backtracks through the store—Leo really wanted sour gummy worms—and other fruits and vegetables that he had vague plans for.

Casey mouthed the names of the foods to himself as Mikey handed them to him to place in the cart, glancing over the text on the packaging with wide eyes. He stacked everything prudently, taking extra care to keep the cold stuff together after Mikey asked him to, with militant exactness. It all fit, despite the overabundance of food, and Mikey felt something small and sad twang in his chest at the sight of Casey shifting everything around. He was so careful, as if every item had infinite value, and he kept everything in order. It made Mikey wonder about the future he’d come from, where everything was so chaotic that Casey had probably had to find order wherever he could, had to value objects in ways Mikey couldn’t fathom, even living as he did below the city, where supplies could be sparse and precious.

Eventually, after walking every aisle, Mikey declared that they’d gotten everything worth getting, and paced to the front, where the check-out line snaked long. He paused, trepidatious, and steeled himself. They would have to stand there, stuck in one place, vulnerable, with their full cart and familiar faces, and there was nothing he could do about it.

And that was how the world found Casey Jones (Junior? The second? Still a little foggy on that one.) and Michelangelo Hamato waiting to check out in a Trader Joes. The line moved quickly, despite its length, which meant they went shuffling forward every couple seconds, and Casey kept glancing at Mikey, wired tight like a charged lightning rod. He had a look on his face that said that he was thinking about something dangerous, something he wanted to talk about, and Mikey felt his hands tighten around the push bar.

“Mikey,” Casey began, mouth forming strange around the word, as if it was unfamiliar to him. “I’m sor—”

“Casey, I need you to do something for me,” Mikey cut in. This wasn’t the time to be having a heart to heart. “When we get up there, you need to step forward and start loading everything onto the conveyor belt. Take this.” Mikey pulled the credit card out of the pocket of his jeans and forced it into Casey’s hand. “When everything is scanned and they tell you to the total, stick the card into the little slot on the bottom of the machine. See that little silver square on the front?” He waited for Casey to identify the chip on the card and nod. “That side goes in first. Got it?”

“I— I guess? I’ve never—”

“I know.” Mikey gave him a small, patient smile. “But you’re human, so I need you to do all the human stuff. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

Casey swallowed once, heavy, and it was the first time Mikey had seen him this nervous. Even when facing down the end of the world, he’d been terrified, angry, determined, but never nervous—not like this. “Okay.”

“Good.” Mikey winked at him. “Today, you’re the face-man. Wait until we tell Leo.”

Casey stiffened a little at the wink, but Mikey didn’t get a chance to ask because a checker opened up and motioned them over. Casey shook himself, squared his shoulders, and marched forward.

Mikey helped Casey line everything up and watched the screen as the middle-aged man ran their purchases over the scanner. Casey fidgeted next to him, and Mikey directed him to load the bagged groceries back into the cart, which he jumped on. He followed directions promptly—another oddity that Mikey filed away to deal with later.

Eventually, the man mumbled the total toward them, barely glancing up from the screen, and Casey fumbled the card. The reader beeped angrily at him, giving a chip read error, and the checker took the card from him with a sigh, turning the reader toward himself.

He paused as he read the name on the card and glanced up at Casey, trying to draw a line between the Japanese name and the young man standing in front of him, and Mikey felt his heart sink when he asked, “Whose card is this?”

Mikey stepped in front of Casey. He wanted to avoid a scene, but Casey was already sputtering, trying to put together a sentence involving the words Splinter, Master, aliens. “My dad’s,” Mikey muttered, peering up from under his hood.

The man started, almost dropped the card, as he took in the greenness of Mikey’s face, the curve of his jaw, the shape of his eyes. Mikey saw the exact moment when he connected the green mutant in an orange hoodie standing in front of him with the green mutant in an orange mask flying through the air above Metro Tower from the photos.

He nodded once and carefully slid the card through the machine. It beeped angrily at him again and he turned to the main computer and pressed a few buttons.

“Have a nice day,” he said, with genuine care, as he handed Mikey the receipt.

“Thanks,” Mikey said, and guided Casey away. When he glanced down at the short piece of paper in his hands, he was shocked to see that the man had only charged one dollar to the card. “Whoa…”

Casey didn’t hear. Instead, he pushed the cart toward the doors, and Mikey had to rush to catch up. “How are we getting all this back?” Casey looked at him. “Can we take this cart?”

Mikey shook his head and directed Casey to the side. Together, they gathered the bags, slinging them on their arms up to their elbows, and they staggered out the doors. “Normally, we’d have to carry it,” Mikey said, listing to the right because he had two gallons of milk on that side, “but Donnie gave me something to help.”

They found a secluded alley, and Mikey let the bags hit the ground so he could fish around in the front pocket of his hoodie. The compact, cell phone-sized gadget that Donnie had slid into his hands while they waited for Casey to change into something a little less conspicuous was still there, and Mikey pressed firmly on the small, turtle shell-shaped symbol that was embossed on the front.

It had been a short, technobabble infused conversation, but Donnie had explained that he had a new prototype of the escape pods ready for testing and requested that Mikey take it with him and give it a whirl. He’d even said please. It was a new version that could be activated and then would wait for input from the user before it took off to the lair, a small modification that would ensure that Leo’s situation never happened again.

The one that he’d passed Mikey was red, and, when it formed, there in front of Mikey and Casey, it was Raph-sized. Big enough for the two of them, but Mikey wasn’t very keen on getting back into one of these just yet, so instead he began stowing the groceries inside. Donnie had promised him that the ride would be smooth and even eggs would survive the trip, but Mikey wasn’t taking any chances. He kept the bags of eggs, all seven dozen of them, and let Casey help him organize the rest in the foot of the pod. When it was loaded, he reached inside, located the red button that Donnie had promised would be there, clicked it, and jerked free as the pod snapped shut with a solid hiss. Then, it was gone.

They watched it speed away, shading their eyes against the sun, before Mikey sighed, grabbed the eggs, and pointed himself back toward the subway. Next to him, Casey watched with a faraway look on his face, and Mikey forged ahead of him, trying to avoid the conversation that was brewing between them for as long as possible.

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #ashe writes #ashe talks #ask #anon #rise movie spoilers #aftershocks #quite honestly this is the perfect example of my style at its core just. a shitton of lists #i have a problem and it's just making a long-ass inventory of things

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celepeace · 1 year ago

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Idk if I'm living in an alternate universe or what but I swear the refrain of "buying processed foods is more expensive for less work but buying ingredients is cheaper for a whole lot more food" has literally never been true. Like idk what the deal is at your guys' grocery stores but buying ingredients has always been pretty much the same price as buying pre-made foods, even before the massive price hikes and inflation in the past few years. When I make homecooked meals, the price at the register for all my ingredients is always like $20-30 (sometimes more depending on if I'm buying stuff like a filet or expensive fish but those are special occasions so they don't rly count). Buying an equivalent amount of premade food would cost roughly the same.

Like maybe it is true if you're specifically calculating the cheapest ingredients for the most nutritional value and total volume, but just cooking normal recipes like soup and beef stroganoff and tacos and fried rice for me, the price is by no means low. I'm lucky in that I don't have to worry about how much my food costs but if I did I don't think cooking at home would really save me any money unless all I ate was like, beans and pasta.

#literally i have found the most cost-effective way to eat healthy has been relying heavily on trader joe's frozen aisle #their food cheaper than kroger brand groceries and generally have way more vegetables and less sugar #i can get a nutritionally wholesome meal there for like $6 #cooking my own meals has never been that cheap??#i still cook food bc i want to but. if i was pinching pennies idk if i would very often #also trader joe's is literally constantly busy and i truly think it's because they haven't followed other grocers in jacking up prices #so they sell their stuff for less but they sell so much of it so consistently that they end up making the same or even more money

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awritingcaitlin · 2 years ago

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Caitlin's Writing Snippet Roundup 2022

Caitlin, what did you spend Christmas Eve doing? Surely it wasn't several hours creating a bunch of snippet canva slides and then putting them into one master image for the purposes of doing a 2022 "art" roundup but make it writing?

(Yes, audience, that is exactly what she did.)

So basically, I tracked down a scene I wrote each month in 2022 and pulled a short snippet from each. Since I know that's not easy to read, I'll be posting individual images in the thread! I've written a lot this year and am really proud.

This is from CureWIP back in January.

This is from CureWIP in February! Finally these two admit it.

CureWIP in March. Let me tell you, finding a snippet from this late in the WIP got difficult. So once again, I am using these lines because I am *completely normal* about them.

From ViolinHeist in April!

ViolinHeist in May. A little nod to my own allergy to adhesive.

ViolinHeist in June! (Writing the heist!) (Okay, heist 1)

Also not Lelia multitasking like a bamf.

ViolinHeist in July! This one was rough to not get a spoilery section, so have this wonderful exchange about KnifeWife Riela.

Spoilers, she has more than three.

From SiegeWIP in August! Siege was a rewrite so I was hunting for either a new scene, or a massively overhauled one, which is what this one is.

From SiegeWIP in September! All of my new scenes written in September are also massively spoilery, so I grabbed this one instead.

From SiegeWIP in October. This was an old scene that got cut, then reworked and put back in!

From ViolinHeist Draft 2 in November. This was a reworked scene, with more details added!

And lastly, ViolinHeist Draft 2 in December. This is a new scene!

Unfortunately, I do not have a template or anything. This was me bullying Canva, taking screenshots, throwing it into PowerPoint because of the grid-system (I'm on my tablet with no art programs), and then taking more screenshots. But if you'd like to do this too, go for it!

Longer snippets under the cut:

JANUARY

“So let me get this straight,” Private First-Class Tim O’Brian, the assistant, asked Riela. “You come immediately to the kitchen after coming out of the safe room, clear up the dead bodies, and throw on three pots of food.”

“Yep,” Riela replied.

Rinnie opened one eye. Riela was currently hovering over some pan that smelled like garlic. Rinnie might have some of that too if it finished fast enough.

“And you have no military training?” Tim pressed.

“Look,” Riela said, brandishing a wooden stirring spoon in his general direction. “Where I come from, there’s not a lot of mages, especially not theramancers. But it didn’t take me very long to put together that something as simple as a bowl of rice was the difference between a man bleeding out and walking five minutes later.”

“Theramancers aren’t that good,” Tim argued.

“She is,” Riela said, pointing the spoon in Rinnie’s direction.

Rinnie felt her face flush. She put another bite of pasta in her mouth and pretended, with absolute futility, that she hadn’t heard.

FEBRUARY

“Oh fuck you bitch,” Taryn said.

Rinnie paused, actually taken aback.

“I’m covering your ass,” Taryn continued. “My orders had no expiration date and so far, I haven’t gotten new ones. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m still your bodyguard. I have just as much right to be there as Kanjo does.”

Rinnie swallowed. She had no grounds to tell Taryn not to do something stupid when she was literally in the same position.

“As afraid as I am that something is going to backfire on us spectacularly on this one,” Rinnie said. “I’m glad you’re going to have my back.”

Taryn smirked. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

Rinnie felt blood rise to her cheeks and she was glad the relative darkness of the courtyard with only the truck’s headlamps providing light. “You know, no one’s ever told me ‘fuck you’ in such an affectionately derogatory way before.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting feelings over that?” Taryn teased.

“Taryn, I think it’s time we both admitted that there’s feelings involved.”

MARCH

Kanjo knew that Killian could not have known exactly what he was doing when he told Rin to go after the Queen. Killian could not have known that this was the kind of shit you had to do to keep an oracle out of trouble. Self-inflicted or otherwise.

Maybe he did know.

Maybe he had known that Rin would follow those orders to a fault.

Kanjo didn’t know jack shit about what was afflicting the Schmiedish monarch, but he did know how to handle a tired and weak mage with a migraine. He looked to one side to ensure Taryn had Rin, since she’d frozen for half a second. Telepathic migraine backlash most likely.

“Keep an eye out for the battlemage,” he told them.

Rin looked like she’d collected herself again. Good.

They got to the table and hunkered down underneath. Rin grabbed the Queen’s hands and was probably doing something with theramancy. She’d done that with Ilani when she was a child.

Suddenly, a roaring wind whipped through the room. Kanjo looked out to see the battlemage in the center of the spell. He forced the wind through one of the windows, breaking it. The smoke began to thin. Reflexively, Kanjo put a shield around the five of them.

APRIL

Em couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

“Wait, so you’re suggesting he steals a violin out of a museum?” she flat-out asked, her words leaving her mouth a surprised hiss.

It seemed the absolute irony that she’d spent the better part of the afternoon convincing herself not to just go steal another violin and here were two guys talking about it like it was a standard trade agreement.

Which, technically, many heists were just that.

The gentleman turned to her, seemingly unsurprised at her interruption. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about thieving, would you?” he asked.

“And if I do?” Em asked, choosing her words very carefully.

“Perhaps you could help.”

MAY

“It will need pressure right here,” Lelia said, pointing to the separation. “If there’s not enough for it to affix properly, it will start pulling apart.”

“I can make that happen,” Verity said confidently.

“Well, it’ll save me from getting epoxy all over my fingertips,” Lelia said. “And I probably shouldn’t do that because I’m allergic to it.”

At this, there was a rustle of papers and Lelia looked up at Em, who was, in turn, looking at Lelia over a set of schematics.

“You’re allergic to the epoxy that you’re using to jury-rig my violin back together?”

“Only if it touches my skin,” Lelia said casually. “Not that big of a deal.”

“Oh my gods just let Verity do the thing with the telekinesis,” Em said.

“That’s what we’re doing,” Lelia assured her.

JUNE

Ronan stood guard, but Em could tell much of his attention was on the Fiddle in the case.

“Focus on keeping an eye out,” she hissed.

“I’ve got a ward over all exits,” Lelia said. “I’ll know if anyone crosses them before any of us can see anything.”

“Why wasn’t that mentioned as part of the plan?” Vinny asked.

“I just thought of it,” Lelia said.

“How many spells are you running?” Ronan asked.

“A few.”

Em frowned.

JULY

“Riela, how many knives do you have?”

“Three,” Riela said, nonchalantly.

She was wearing one of her usual skirts, which Em supposed she had at least two hidden in. Her sleeves were loose which could conceal another. Or perhaps she had one tucked into her bodice. She almost wondered if she should suggest that Riela change into pants. All the other girls were wearing pants. But Em had also not seen Riela wear anything else and it was clear she could move around in them easily enough.

Mama Cass gave Riela an approving nod.

AUGUST

“I am ordering you to stand down, Colour Sergeant,” Risingblock said. “You are to report back to medical and remain there until you are fit for duty.”

Risingblock was trying desperately to control a situation. Kanjo wasn’t playing by the rules.

“With no due respect, sir, kiss my ass.” Kanjo replied. “I’m going to find Rin.”

“Pardon?”

“You heard me. Respectfully, your excellency, Sir, fuck off. I’m going to find Rin.”

Before Risingblock could argue again, Kanjo left the room. He needed to find that Sergeant.

“That sounded like it went swimmingly,” Kiyo said, standing as he walked back into the lobby.

He rolled his eyes.

SEPTEMBER

Rinnie nodded then yawned loudly.

“When was the last time you slept?” he asked, knowing the answer.

“When was the last time you slept?” she countered. “I’ve had some of Mica’s awake serum.”

“That I think you’re coming down from,” Adler pointed out. “And you’ve been casting left and right since we started this whole escapade. You’re gonna burn yourself out.”

“What do you know about mages?” Rinnie pouted.

“I’ve seen battlemages and theramancers and loads in between,” Adler said. “They are generally the most well-protected people in an entire company.”

Rinnie nodded, slowly.

“You need sleep,” Adler repeated. “You’re crashing.”

“But there’s still…”

Adler wasn’t arguing with her any longer. He looked up, trying to find Skythorn, but the man must’ve gone to relieve himself. Lodgepool stood against the wall, looking more alert than he probably was. Adler went over to Killian.

“Sir, the mage is tired and belligerent.” Adler jerked a thumb at Rinnie.

OCTOBER

Rinnie saw herself in this girl and she was already running to join the fray.

“She’s a theramancer!” Rinnie interjected. “Don’t give her a sedative, a non-narcotic painkiller will do.”

“And who are you?” asked the older of the two doctors.

“The theramancer from South Town,” Rinnie said dismissively. She turned her attention to the girl. “Have you fixed things before?”

The girl nodded and her face scrunched up in pain.

Rinnie took a second to see exactly how much power the girl had. The answer was a lot. She was still young enough for her power to feel raw and largely uncontrolled. However, if she’d practiced healing before, her body would start healing itself before the bone was set.

“We’re going to help you set your bone, okay?” Rinnie told her. “We’ll get you some painkillers and if you want, I’ll let you help.” The other two doctors spluttered. Rinnie ignored them.

NOVEMBER

Something had gotten fucked up. One of her spells must have failed. She’d pulled a loop too early. Or her redirection of the wards on the case hadn’t been good enough.

Knowing full well she was not going to be able to move down the stairs at any acceptable speed, she slid back out of the violin case.

“Go,” she said, handing it to Em. “Get back to the car and don’t wait for me. I’ll find my own way back.”

“Are you sure?” Em said. “What about the crystals?”

Lelia grimaced. She should have left the ones by the stairs until they’d been sure. “We don’t have another option,” she said. She’d fucked that one up at the very least. “I’ll try to get suspicion off of you if I need to.”

Her mind raced, still trying to figure out where she’d messed up in the exhibit. She was better than this!

Em didn’t argue further. She took the violin case from Lelia and slid into it.

DECEMBER

“So what is it you do?” Em asked.

Izzy’s eyes brightened.

“Oh no, you don’t want to get her started on that,” Lelia said.

“I’m sure it’s interesting!” Em insisted. “Like listening to you talk about emergency procedures for power generators.”

Lelia glared at her, but that was all the ammunition Izzy needed to launch into what she was studying in school.

Somewhere in between genetics and mage birth rates, Lelia realized that getting Izzy to talk about herself meant she wasn’t asking questions to Lelia and Em. Which had been Em’s plan all along.

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