#but sounds like johnny was talking about GPs

[sunskate]

On the NBC broadcast Johnny seemed to say that if you’re not a Worlds medalist it’s up to host countries who to invite to their event. I thought countries’ associations (like the USFSA) assigned their skaters to events?

GPs are technically invitationals, but the top 6 teams from Worlds are the "seeded" teams for GP season that fall. the medalists are spread out among the 6 GP events so you won't see #1 C/B going against #2 G/F for example in any event til the Final. you'll have one medalist and one team who ranked #4-6 at each event

top teams state their preference for which GPs they want. they're not guaranteed to get them, but Chock/Bates as World Champions probably got the events they wanted, where Green/Parsons as #6 might have taken what was left after higher teams got their picks

then #7-12 at Worlds are also guaranteed 2 events, and #13-24 are guaranteed at least one. below the seeded skaters, GPs are invitational, as in the host country has some say in who they would like, so other factors come in - skaters with a big fan base who'll show up to see them might be more desirable to have at your event. but a team who's beaten your top team is undesirable lol

like T/V were 9th at Worlds. R/A was 7th, the Taschlers were 8th. GP Espoo didn't have R/A or the Taschlers- the only teams ranked higher than T/V there were the seeded teams they couldn't avoid having

there are other rules - like no more than 3 teams from a single country can be at an event, the host country can invite a "host pick" team who doesn't rank as high as the rest of the field. stuff like that. and if someone drops out, there's a pool of lower ranked teams who don't yet have 2 assignments that the host can choose from. that being said, probably the feds (especially the bigger ones who have more teams in play) have some input or are making their wishes known bts about which of their teams go where. but with all the rules, it's probably a huge logistical puzzle to put together the assignments

[mar3ggiata]

professional help, c19. Splendid

simon riley x original character.

trigger warnings: violence, sexual assault, mentions of rape, trauma, sexual themes, swearing, use of alcohol and drugs.

song to listen to when reading this: Carmen: Habanera, Georges Bizet.

abstract: this is what I usually do when I work, which is killing people and getting annoyed at my subordinates. in case you're dumb enough not to have noticed, this is Simon. anyway, technical boring chapter, but a few important informations you should keep in mind…. it's gonna get messy, try to keep up.

'ETA is ten minutes.'

Jude had her arms crossed on her chest, her eyes were scanning the screens. There was a lot to take in. She could see the body cams footage, along with which soldier the camera belonged to. They were sitting in two separate cars, guns below their feet. Some were talking to each other. At some point, one of them turned and the Lieutenant appeared on video. He was looking ahead of him, arms crossed on his chest, silent and stoic. She looked away. She could see the weather radars, and the GPS on the remote control cars that were about to be sent ahead.

'India 0-1, this is Alpha 0-1, whether status check, over'. Alpha was the captain, she had gathered. 'Alpha 0-1, this is India 0-1…' she paused for a second 'weather is stable, nothing to report, over.' She knew by now everyone was listening to what she was saying. She kept a serious tone of voice. 'India 0-1, roger that, out.' Simon thought she was pretty good at this. She sounded like she had been doing it forever. How was she good at everything all the time? The car he was sitting in came to a halt, they prepared the two remote control vehicles to send in before them. Securing the two drones on top, one of his teammates spoke into his radio. 'India 0-1, it's Charlie 0-2, RC cars moving in, out.' Alba adjusted the screen to see it better, even thought it was still blank. There was silence for a few seconds, they were waiting for the vehicles to get in position. 'India, check status with Eagle 0-3 before we sent out the drones, out.' She heard Price speak again out of nowhere, which made her jump in her seat. 'Alpha, I'm checking now, out.' She quickly switched channels to communicate with the airplane. 'Eagle 0-3, this is India 0-1 last check before the drones are sent out, over.' The reply was instant. 'Nothing to report, all clear' that was what they said and what she repeated to the captain. 'Roger that, you should have vision in a few minutes.' She waited patiently, until on her smaller monitor appeared the live video from the drones, which got to the middle of the crater. One was gonna stay at a good altitude, giving her visual of the whole base, the other would slightly come down to try and identify Khorram. She wondered for a second if Arash was there with them… He had vanished, he never came back to the base and everyone assumed he was in the Middle East right now…

'India, you got visual?' She snapped back to reality. Focus. 'Positive.' Simon proceeded to start his climb with Soap and Rabbit. He was on the North side. The crater started getting steep once they approached the top, the air was hot and it had gotten more windy. Sand was in his eyes. He already felt sweat prickle down his back, his mask didn't help with ventilation. 'India 0-1, this is Bravo 0-2. We're in position. How copy?' He waited for Johnny to approach him, they would take down two of Khorram's men at the same time, the ones guarding the perimeter. On the East side, the Alpha team would do the same with the third one. 'Bravo 0-2, copy loud and clear' he heard her sweet voice ring in his ear though the headphones. 'Wait for Alpha team, I'll update you.' He felt a knot in his stomach form for a second. 'They're not in position yet?' he asked. 'They're still climbing, it's much steeper on their side'. He rolled his eyes, positioning himself between two rocks and adjusting his sniper in place with the silencer. 'You still have good visual?' he spoke again. He was just making sure everything was going well, no harm in that. Without the captain, he was the one in charge after all. 'I do', she simply replied, clearly not wanting to be questioned. 'Let me know when they're close…' she didn't respond. 'India 0.1, how copy?' Why do you have to be annoying even when I'm working on the other side of the world? 'Loud and clear, Bravo 0-2'.

He heard a chuckle. She heard it too. In sync, him in the middle of the desert, her in an office in America, they both turned their heads to the source of the laughter. Squatting behind the Lieutenant was Rabbit. She looked at Simon's body cam, which was partly turned towards him. He had a grin on his face. I can get you killed from over here, the fuck you laughing for? 'Sorry, India 0-1… you can say other words apart from loud and clear, you know?' She felt her cheeks go red. She cleared her throat before replying 'I'll say splendid if I'm in trouble.' She switched off, letting out a sigh. I don't even know you, shut the fuck up. She almost didn't pay attention enough to ear Simon tell off Rabbit, telling him to be quiet. Fortunately, Alpha team had reached position. The execution of the three snipers was relatively easy for Ghost and the others. The real deal was getting down without getting caught. 'Alpha 0-1 to all stations, start to climb down. Don't make a sound.' Her palms started sweating hearing Price pronounce those words. She focused on the screens that showed the images of the drones. 'India, tell us what you see', instructed the captain. 'There are three tents on the East side, I count four South side, in semicircle. There is a bonfire in the middle, I count… four men around. Armed.' She tried to be as clear as possible. 'One of the tents on the southern side is bigger than the others. There are two pick up trucks that could give cover to the Bravo team.' She added. 'Our man?' asked an unknown voice, 'I don't see him', she replied. She squinter her eyes to see better, the four men were standing around the fire, which was the only source of light, a part form the headlights of the two vehicles. 'India, status?', asked the captain again. 'They're not moving, they're talking…' she replied 'I see one person inside the pick-up on your right, Bravo team, on the drivers side.' 'Copy that', it was Simon who spoke. He nearly tripped on a branch he din't see. He didn't see it because it was fucking pitch black outside. Now that they were closer to the crater's centre, he could see the fire and the trucks, their engines were on. Staying low, ready to fire his gun, he kept moving. 'India, status?' 'They haven't noticed anything. No one else has left the tents… I think they have two bikes…'

'You think?!' Shit.

'No sir, I'm sure', get your shit together Alba, 'they're covered by a blanket, they're definitely motorbikes. Behind the tent with the snake print, west side.'

It all went to shit extremely fast. He would later learn it went to shit because some dickhead from Alpha team slipped on wet grass and made noise and one of the soldiers heard him. Un-fucking-believable. They approached the truck and hid behind it, ready to take down the driver. It would take Simon a bit of knife work to do it silently. What they heard next sent chills down their spines. 'Alpha team, you got one coming towards you, he heard something.' Jude's words were sharp. They had been compromised. Shots were fired before he could give any orders to his men. Jude started seeing the body cams images getting confused and erratic, they were running and covering the camera with their rifles. Simon realised he had to move when he heard screams in a different language. He quickly took down the driver, preparing to attack. The Alpha team didn't have any coverage, they were far and exposed, still at the side of the crater. 'Use the tents as coverage, Khorram's inside they're not gonna shoot!' He heard Jude's voice over the noise. Preoccupied and scared. Told you this wasn't the place for you sweet angel… He was able to shoot one of the four men around the fire, but things were moving at a faster pace then they'd imagined. 'Bravo team, the tent to your right, something's going on inside', Jude alerted them. 'Ghost cover me!' He turned around to see Johnny peek around his corner, he wanted to go check the tent. Simon quickly did what he asked. He could see the Alpha team peeking out from the side of the tents, they wouldn't last long for sure, they were extremely close to the bonfire.

'Jude do you see him?'

'Alpha 0-3 is down!'

'I see him!' Simon got out of his precious hiding spot right the second Jude spoke. He disarmed one of the remaining men, using his knife to finish the job. Glancing to his left he spotted his teammate on the ground, saw Gaz running towards them. 'Go, I'll take him!' He turned away, 'Jude where to?' he asked. He could see his surroundings better now that the bonfire was close. He didn't wait for the girl to answer him, cause Johnny appeared from inside the tent. He heard an engine start. No… 'The bikes, three of them heading south-west.' They wasted no time, but the bikes were already climbing up the mountain.

You see, they did get him in the end. Rabbit took one of the trucks and provided coverage to the others, he basically run over half the camp. Price was the one who shot Khorram in the shoulder. Two other men died, one was captured. Alpha 0-3, his name was Thomas, he made it alive. They got out of the crater and back to the cars. Jude's voice was in their ears. 'All stations, I see a sandstorm approaching your position, you should hurry up' and 'Positive ID on the target' or 'You got troops approaching from north-east'. They weren't the only ones listening to her. When Thomas was shot in the crater his headphones basically flew away when his head hit the ground. Gaz didn't even bother taking them, he just got his friend on his shoulders to carry him away… Two men were in the crater not even ten minutes after they had left. They saw the fire, the blood. They saw the devastation the truck left and the motorbikes scattered on the ground. Most importantly, they saw the headphones. One of them put them close to his ear, to see if he could hear a conversation. And he could. 'Bravo 0-1, this is Alpha 0-2, we're right behind you, out.'

'Alpha 0-2, status on Alpha 0-3, over.'

'Bravo 0-1, stable condition. India 0-1, word from the aircraft?'

'This is India 0-1 to all stations, you're clear to go.'

The man with the headset turned his head to look at the other. That voice. He recognised her. She spoke again, he couldn't believe his ears. She spoke one last time, he felt rage. Then someone, Bravo 0-1, called her by her name. Four damned letters, a death sentence. You shouldn't have said that, brother…

I know who Jude is.

notes: shit.

taglist:

@ghostlythots @sweetfemmefatal @natxpat @chavarriakeren647 @ravenmoore14 @farther-than-pleiades @internallyscreamings @hwromi @atoxicrat @cuti3maddi3 @deafeningkittenblaze @its-celeste @serene-hills @lexidoll12 @poohkie90 @lunatiquess

@warmedbythebody @katzykat @iristhemuse @azkza @keiraslayz @abbyandermine @jennyjencakes @dest-nai @corset-briefs @nutze-kekse @ilytsukiw @b3anspr0ut

@pondsblog @missyouzoe @fallenkitten @bigauthorrascalturkey @bethtay @angelynn-nicole @starluv @stargirlisworld @giyuuslittleslut @impossiblecupcakelight

@rkrivees-blog @ghosts-hoe @kam1snotverysmart @gauky76 @freyjaaasstuff @spicyspicyliving @scottpilgrimvsmyfists @courtney0-0 @shinchanboi @darling006 @my-therapist-hates-me

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 152/310

2015 Bahrain GP

It’s round 4, let’s go ~

First off some Wikipedia context. After the last race and Nico's claims that Lewis slowed him down deliberately and Lewis' answer that he could have tried to overtake him but didn't, Nico said he did attack. The team warned them both that if they couldn't do what was best for the team during the weekends, they would start managing them more. Then Lewis said the talks for his contract extensions were going slow so the media started speculating he was asking for a clear n°1 driver status, which the whole team denied. 

As during the previous years, there were protests before the GP. The protesters were trying to draw attention to the situation of the Shiite majority in the Sunni-ruled country and were asking for the liberation of political prisoners. A week prior to the race, Amnesty International published a report on "unabated" human rights violations in Bahrain. In years prior, Bernie always said the very stupid "no politics in the sport" shit. However this time F1 released a statement that said it had "committed itself to respecting human rights in Bahrain and other countries in which it concludes business" which is fucking hilarious because what happened since then? Fuck all. 

Lewis is on pole, and Seb has splitted the Mercedes again so I guess things aren't getting better for Nico. 

On the drivers’ truck, Lewis is wearing heavy gold chains around his neck. Very bling. Very tasteless imo lmao.

He just says he loves the track and people should come here because it's great and bla bla bla. Johnny says he has a big challenge in his hands though. He says he's always up for the challenge. He says it's gonna be tough, the Ferraris are really quick, it's going to be close. So it's gonna be important to get a good start and then they want a 1-2 so it's gonna be a real challenge. But he's excited about it and it's good to have a race with the Ferraris. 

We have interesting content ahead. 

The journalists note that in the pen after quali Lewis seemed to "relish" the fight with Seb. Bruno Senna thinks he does but he also wants to get the attention off of his rivalry with Nico onto something else. Change the narrative. I have to say I think he is right. 

We have a Nico interview. Let's see what he has to say after the tense press conference in China. He says they discussed it and it was constructive and they moved on. Of course if he's in the lead he wants to win so of course he'll back people up but it's a fine line to walk between doing that and going too far. He says that's what the discussion was about. Brundle asks him how he's gonna come back at Lewis. He says he doesn't think about it like this, it's all down to him doing a good job. He needs to qualify better, he says, and work on the details that allow Lewis to be ahead. Brundle asks who was the best of them back in karting days. He says he doesn't know. In the championship Lewis won and Nico was second but "other than that it was a great battle even back then in go-karts". Brundle asks if they can stay friends, Nico cuts him off and says they can keep the respect for each other, "friends, um… not at the moment." He says there's too much involved. Brundle says that since Spa last year (when Nico hit Lewis) it's been difficult for him : Lewis won 8/10 races and Nico 1. "Was that a turning point?" (We've already established that it was as far as our rewatch goes 😌) Nico is silent for a couple of seconds and he says in terms of the facts sure. (What else is there other than the facts, boy?) Brundle asks if getting booed that day on the podium was traumatic and he answers that of course and he thinks it would be the same for all human beings. He says booing is quite a strong thing. (I don't remember what he said about it when it was Lewis last year? I should check. I did. I couldn’t find anything.) Brundle says he sometimes sounds grumpy over the radio. Nico asks when he last was grumpy. Brundle says Malaysia. Nico asks what he said. "Give me more information tell me more about Vettel." Nico cuts him off "oh yeah yeah yeah oh well that was annoying yeah". He says he thinks sometimes the team forgets that they're in race cars and they have nothing. They have all their lines, the computers making all the calculations, showing them all the times and numbers and they don't see any of that in the cars "and sometimes I'm properly clueless in the car". Brundle asks if he's confident that if he can get in front he can stay in front of Lewis. He says for sure. Brundle talks about last year in Bahrain (remember? The best race I've seen) and the so-called hug at the end. Nico corrects him : it was a rugby tackle. Brundle asks if their dynamic has changed, "if you have another great race this weekend will it still be hugs and kisses?" (It's a stupid question because it wasn't hugs and kisses to begin with but anyway.) Nico says he's sure it'll be hugs and kisses if he wins and Lewis finishes second. 

McLaren are having issues getting Jenson's car ready for the race. He didn't set a time in quali so I guess it's a lasting issue this weekend. A bit later we get the confirmation Jenson won't start the race.

Formation lap

Massa can't start, he's pushed into the pitlane. We see him able to start now. 

For some reason the lights take a really long time to light up but here we go… 

They're racing! 

Oh ho. Lewis gets a good start and Seb and Nico line up behind him but as we near the first corner they're both on the inside but Lewis cuts across Seb and stays ahead while Nico loses a place to Raikkonen. There's loads of close, close cars behind, loads of lock ups but thankfully no crash or significant contact so far. Ah wait, there's actually been some contact between Verstappen and Maldonado. At the end of the first lap, the gap to Lewis is 0.8. These Ferraris aren't giving up. Lewis sets the fastest lap and at the end of the next lap he's out of the DRS zone. Maldonado is under investigation for being out of position on the grid. Nico attacks Raikkonen! He's ahead! But Raikkonen comes back at him, but he still stays ahead although they're really close to making contact. Verstappen gets a long pit to check the damage after the contact with Maldonado. Lewis is trying to extend the gap to Seb to minimise the threat of an undercut. He's currently 2.1 ahead. But then that gap suddenly doubles and Nico is closing on Seb very seriously. Ah yes. I was so confused about that but Seb went wide. That's how he lost time. And Nico attacks and HE'S AHEAD. 

It's lap 10. Lewis is 5.3 in the lead. Raikkonen is now getting very close to Seb. P5 is Valtteri and then we have Daniel, Grosjean, Ericsson, Perez and Sainz in the top 10. Pit stops under way. Seb pits. It's an attempt at undercutting Nico. Seb is told to push but I guess he knows. Nico pits, because if they had started with Lewis Nico would have lost to Seb. But lmao Seb is ahead anyway. Welp. Lewis pits. It's slightly long, 3.7. OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK ahhh that was scary Lewis is just ahead of them both and Nico is attacking Seb as they're both catching up to him and there's so many sparks and it was messy and Nico almost ran into Seb, but he's ahead and Lewis is in the DRS zone now so careful… and Nico sets the fastest lap… Raikkonen pits, which puts Lewis back in the lead. Thankfully he's now out of Nico's DRS range. 

And that puts us on lap 20. Lewis is 1.680 ahead of Nico, himself 1.3 ahead of Seb. Raikkonen has lost out by staying out and he's 10 seconds behind already. Now Raikkonen is catching up really quickly and Seb is losing time very quickly. The Ferrari doesn't last in the long run it seems. 

Lap 30. Lewis is 4.1 ahead of Nico, 4.3 ahead of Seb, 4.7 ahead of Raikkonen. Then it's now Valtteri, Daniel, Grosjean, Perez, Kvyat, and Maldonado for the top 10. Sainz has an issue and stops in a run-off area. Possibly a wheel poorly bolted in. Seb pits from P3. Lewis is called in immediately after. It's a good stop. Then Nico pits and he's behind Seb again. But Seb goes wide again! And they're wheel to wheel down the pit straight and it's Nico ahead again. Seb, Seb, Seb… mistakes. And the second Toro Rosso retires as well. Seb says he thinks he has front wing damage, "don't know why", asks his team to keep an eye on the sensors. Brundle says : "you went off the track, my friend" which is about on point. Seb is into the pits again and they're changing the nose?! He lost so much time. How did he get so much damage from that? Lewis is catching up with Raikkonen who is still in the lead because he hasn't pitted yet. 

And he overtakes him for the lead while avoiding a lapped Force India at the same time. It's lap 40. Raikkonen finally pits. Out in P3. Let's take a look at the times. So Nico is 4.8 seconds behind Lewis, and Raikkonen is 20 seconds behind him. Valtteri up in P4 with Seb in P5 after his emergency pit stop. Daniel in P6, Maldonado and Grosjean, then it's Massa in P9 (remember he started from the pitlane, good job!) and Perez in P10. Lewis says his rear got damaged because of the traffic. Brundle says he was "alarmed" which. Where? When? He said it in an informative way Jesus fucking Christ. Huge problem for Maldonado in his pit stop. They kinda rolled him in and then someone was making his left front turn and smoke is coming out his wheels and he's not leaving the box. He's out of the race. No, he's leaving the box! Meanwhile, Raikkonen sets the fastest lap. Nico is told that Raikkonen is indeed a threat. He is gaining really, really fast. 

10 laps to go. Nico's engineer informs him that Raikkonen is 8.5 behind. Nico answers "please don't tell me the gap anymore." Ted says "oh but he told him in such a jolly way!" Behind them, Seb is closing on Valtteri for P4.

It's lap 50. Nico is 5.7 behind Lewis, and Raikkonen is 11 seconds behind him. 8 laps to go. 

5 laps to go. Seb is still stuck 0.5 seconds behind Valtteri, while at the front, Nico's gap to Lewis is down to 5 seconds while Raikkonen's gap to him is down to 7.9. Finally, Rosberg goes very wide, and Raikkonen is ahead in P2. But Nico fights back. He has 2 laps to make up for that mistake. And it's the final lap. "BBW fault, BBW fault," says Lewis. It's the brake by wire. Fuck fuck fuck. Crofty wonders if that's what caused Nico to go wide. Raikkonen is gaining fast on him as well! But Bono is calm as always, thank god. "So just caution on the brakes," he says, "you've got one lap remaining, you've got plenty of gap." Raikkonen is 4 seconds behind, Nico has rapidly dropped back. 

It's the end of the race! 

Lewis wins! Raikkonen P2, Nico P3. 

Oh and Daniel makes it through the line in a big cloud of smoke… wow. On the replay we see it's a huge blow up.. 

On radio, Nico's engineer apologises for the brake issue. And Toto confirms to Ted they lost the brakes on both cars.

Ted says to Niki that before the brake issue we saw a real fight from Nico today. Niki says he did a perfect job but was unfortunately handicapped. Kimi did a good job but he's very pleased with what Nico did. And then he says let's not forget Lewis won again. Ted says of course but the main entertainment came from Nico this time, "it's like he took a leaf out of Lewis' book". Niki says Nico is back and that's what's most important. Lewis is on top as always. 

The whole interview, we see Nico struggling to put his steering wheel back on the car. He's been at it for like over 5 minutes. We go through the whole race result and he's still sitting in his car trying to solve this thing. In the end a Merc engineer comes to his help while Nico heads for the cool down room. Where is Lewis? He's nowhere to be seen in that room. Strange.

Jackie Stewart is conducting the interviews. He says Lewis has won 3 races this year, 3 potential championships at the end of the season? (It's the 4th race, calm yourselves down) (I mean we know he did win but like.) (At the time it's crazy to ask that) Lewis says he's gunning for it. Bla bla bla thank you to the team etc. "The Ferraris gave us a real good run for our money" and they need to keep pushing as a team, thank you to the fans, the usual. About the brakes he says they got hot when he was behind backmarkers. But he says it wasn't really a problem. I mean you were practically yelling over the radio but sure. 

During Raikkonen's interview Lewis chats with Nico a bit.

While Ted is doing Ted's notebook, he's interrupted.

Simon says they wouldn't interrupt him for a lot of people but Lewis is one of them. He says it was a good weekend, a good day in the office, a good Sunday drive today. He chuckles to himself.

Then he says it was actually pretty hard. He says he wasn't able to pull gaps as easily as he'd hoped, but it was generally under control. Then there's a silence and no one asks a question. Johnny stutters as Simon says "... That's your cue, Johnny." He asks if he's happy with the development given the challenge Ferrari is creating. He says he is, it's easier to chase in general and Ferrari is making good steps obviously. He says he's just happy he had pace, he could answer to whoever, even Kimi. Johnny suggests he had control and Lewis says yeah and it's not often you have that (that should catch your attention if you’ve been reading me for a lil while lol) so it was a good feeling. He says it's good that he can pull extra out of this car when he needs to. "I remember coming through like turn 13, second to last corner, and I was just thinking 'I love this car.'"

Bruno Senna says he's been driving flawlessly so far this season to which he says thank you and then Senna asks how he keeps himself in a comfort zone and doesn't let what's happening rattle him, like the Ferraris coming up and also his team-mate. He says he guesses age has something to do with it. "You know… you… you know…" he smiles, "you grow and you get older and wiser."

Then he says what really feeds him is music? Okay. He says he listens to a lot of it before the races and he makes a lot of stuff as well and it's a place he can centre himself "and then I never have no problems on the weekends." Simon says except perhaps the brake by wire towards the end. Is it a concern? He says they weren't expecting to have problems with brake wear, he explains some stuff about the pedal going from hard to long and stuff I don't understand. But he was able to reset it and it worked fine but he didn't push after that because he didn't need to anyway. The next race is in 3 weeks so they ask him what he's gonna do during that little break. He says he has work, some cool exciting things, but otherwise he's just excited to go back to Monaco and see Roscoe and see his nephew. But also training.

After the race, Ricciardo's engine failure once again highlighted the poor reliability of the Renault engine and renewed the conflict between them and RBR. It indeed put Daniel on his last engine for the season, and it was only round 4. Horner then said the teams would agree on a plan decided earlier in the year to increase the engine limit from 4 to 5. We'll see if that's truly the case. 

[timextoxhajima]

RESONANCE BEACH: Fly Away With Me

RESONANCE BEACH masterlist [to be linked]

member: best friend! jaehyun x reader

genre: fluff and angst

wc: 1.3k

warnings: swearing

synopsis: our hearts are trapped in the same dream

"do you feel better?"

"mm, i think it depends on what we're talking about."

jaehyun chuckles, not bothering to look up from his feet sinking into the sand as he walks. his eyes are slightly squinted from the sun, but only because he's blocking you and using his shadow to keep you out of the sunlight.

"regardless, i hope this isn't a wasted trip. didn't drag you across the country for a road trip only for you to not feel any better."

"uh huh," you snicker and hold your palm over your eyes to look up at him. "i mean, i do. it's just... it's gonna take a while."

he nods, looking up on the other side when he hears a dog bark.

it feels like a million years since you first met jaehyun. he grew up well, as attested by the number of girls on his tail in school. yeah, you know it's cliche. the boy best friend who glowed the hell up and suddenly became the famous, popular jock friend.

but it's not like you hung out with him in school that much - or at least enough for the girls to pick on you.

they know you are friends and a good number of them have done enough homework to know that jaehyun's been your best friend for more than a decade but he hangs out with his big ol' boy gang in school.

leaves you out of the spotlight.

that is - until jaehyun self-elected himself as your personal therapist, bodyguard and chauffeur when your boyfriend decides to dump you on graduation night.

whilst it was fun watching jaehyun being held back by johnny and taeyong from bashing the boy's face in, it really wasn't funny having his words play over and over and over again in your head like a broken record.

"i didn't want to break up with you before graduation because i didn't want to be the reason why you failed your exams."

"i didn't wanna wake you up but we're almost there," jaehyun mumbles under his breath, obviously tired from the driving as well. the car slows to a stop at a red light, and he taps on his phone mounted to the dashboard to stop the GPS tracking.

you shuffle and sniffle lightly, pushing yourself up on the passenger's seat and looking out the window. it's a pretty row of shophouses, and the cafes and restaurants along the road were probably more aesthetic than their menus were.

the restaurant - chosen by jaehyun simply hitting a digital bottle on his phone and picking the one the mouth landed on - was something more like a jazz bar with classy ribs and al funghi linguines.

he didn't really care that you weren't hungry, not when he was.

the strawberry milkshake slurps loudly as he inhales, his hands tightly gripping onto the glass as the both of you watch haechan and mark bicker in the group chat.

you wouldn't describe your friendship with jaehyun as stellar; role model-like. it's not.

you've had your fair share of fights with him- yelling at each other, physical fighting (and by physical fighting, you truly do mean pulling his hair and sometimes he shoves you too).

of course, you'd only allow it because you've given him so many 'gender-equality' speeches, and on top of that, the 15-year friendship? not going to stop him from picking a physical fight with you.

but jaehyun knows when to stop. he knows if he's gone too far or how many more words he can hurl at you before you crack under pressure.

he knows how far he can go before you need to be held in his arms, crying into his shirt and letting you hit him and shove him away - yeah, i know what you're thinking.

sounds like a boyfriend. sounds like that universally known best friends-who-are-probably-in-love-with-each-other trope. it does.

and it is.

the thing is - we already knew.

kind of.

it's in the sweets and snacks he used to give you before and after school if you weren't dating anybody. he was careful not to when you had a boyfriend, but otherwise... you'd lost count of how many people would ask if you two were dating.

you were pretty sure jaehyun had lied and told people you were dating, but it never got out far enough for word to spread. especially not when you were the uglier, quieter best friend of the duo.

"you should ask them to pack the truffle fries, we're not gonna be able to finish it."

jaehyun looks up from his phone and squints at you. "try me."

"you're gonna puke later when you realise you've eaten more than you can digest."

"when have i ever had so much that i can't digest it?"

gently rolling your eyes, you sigh and sink back into the sofa seat. the fries crunch as he jabs the pieces with his fork, shoving them into his mouth like he hadn't had a plate of pasta and some chicken nuggets.

it does get boring with jaehyun sometimes because he's so mellow with his friends he doesn't get into as much shit as the younger ones do; he's never the source of drama.

but he's comforting when you're back at the beach (only because the holiday house was a 5-minute walk from it), and he's holding your shoes because you're too busy screaming about your skirt getting wet.

it's not uncommon for people to question your friendship with him, because you were either too similar or too much of an opposite from each other. most people think he's sweet and caring - which he is - but not with you.

he's brutal and has a strange sense of tough love - because he knows that's the kind you need.

"scream any more and you'll just about wake the rest of the neighbourhood up," he groans, knowing when to step back when the waves crash into your calves.

"why are they so fucking irregular-" you stumble and step clumsily all over the sand, the water and grains getting stuck to your legs and all over your skirt. finally, you give in and strut away from shore, leaving footprints in the sand as you walk towards him.

"think you just lack a sense of rhythm and pacing," he sniggers, yawning as he turns to face the holiday house.

you snort, used to his mockery. reaching out to get your shoes, jaehyun simply turns and walks off with them in his hands.

you'll never deny loving jaehyun - in whatever ways anybody else can imagine or experience, you probably have that with him.

platonic. romantic. hate.

what do people really mean when they say soulmates?

is it the way they complete each other or the way they complement one another?

is it the way they bicker but make up in hot kisses or lovingly press their foreheads together and wish till death does them apart?

god, actually - anything but those.

the thought tickles a funny bone in you, and jaehyun hears your giggle when he comes out of the bathroom with damp hair and his water-spotted shirt.

"what is it? thought of a new insult for me?"

"maybe," you rub your eyes and turn to look at him, giving him a tiny smile before turning back to the ocean stretched out beyond the balcony.

"guess I'm never gonna find that out then," he groans as he sits, pulling his feet in and hugging the arches. "i do hope this trip was a-"

"yeah, it was," you whisper, just loud enough for him to hear. "thanks."

"you're welcome."

you look down through the corners of your eyes and catch him staring at you, eyes glimmering like the stars you could see in the night sky.

"you're lucky we've known each other for like half our lives now, else i wouldn't hesitate to punch a tooth out from your mouth."

he chuckles, reaching over to press his knuckle into your thigh. "but you won't. you love me too much to do that."

a snort runs through your throat.

probably.

[iraacundus]

Butterfly Lies - Five

chapter five ✭ masterlist ✭ previous ✭ next ✭

mafialeader kun x reader

words: 4.2k

genre: smut, angst, fluff

warnings: violence, offensive language

money makes people do strange things, is what people would say, it can even motivate them to murder. kun didn’t have people killed for the money, he had them killed for the power, he was a monster among men, is what people would say. in reality kun had only ever been motivated by one thing, his love for you

✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

You were confused for a second when you woke up, Kun’s arm draped over your body, pulling you towards him in his sleep.

Memories of the night before flashed through your mind. You expected to feel angry at yourself for taking such a step but the sight of Kun’s face when he slept prevented any such anger.

You moved your hand up to trace his face lightly, following the line of his eyebrow, down his check, before your finger finally reached his lips.

Your cheeks blushed red as you leaned forward slightly, placing a kiss on his lips, just for a second. It was enough for his eyes to flutter open.

“This is the best wake up call, I’ve ever had,” Kun said, his eyes opening slowly as he smiled. The pure look on his face made your heart ache, thinking about how every morning could have been like this if it wasn’t for your situation.

You wanted this to be a one-night thing, to go back to your policy of staying away, but his smile made that impossible. As he pulled you in closer, your head against his bare chest, the sound of his heartbeat in your ear.

You knew you couldn’t cause pain to Kun’s heart again; you couldn’t mess him around like that, you didn’t want to. You wanted to stay in his arms forever.

“Do you have work now?” you asked him, ignoring his statement about the kiss out of slight embarrassment.

Kun shook his head.

“I don’t have to go in until later, I figured we definitely need to talk now.” He was smiling, but at the mention of a ‘talk’ you could see the worry behind his eyes.

“What we need to do is have breakfast, do you have food?” you asked, rolling away from Kun and standing up. You walked out into his kitchen and started looking through the drawers, careful not to open the one with the gun this time.

Kun’s cupboard was shamefully bare for a man who was such a good cook.

“Why do you have like four things in your fridge, how do you survive?” you questioned.

Kun shrugged,

“I eat out a lot of the time now, my cooking skills are starting to go to waste.”

Despite that he managed to find flour, milk and eggs in the cupboard to make pancakes. You offered to help but you both knew Kun would be three thousand times more successful alone. So, you decided to take on a role that focused more on just sitting and watching.

“You really are talented at everything,” you praised him, it was Kun’s turn to go red.

“Stirring mixture isn’t really that hard, I promise to buy some ingredients and make you something really nice when we have time,” he replied. He looked so cute with the small bit of flour that had ended up on his nose.

You jumped off the counter and stood close to him, gently brushing the flour off his nose before placing a light kiss on the same spot.

“I refuse to believe that there are people out there who are scared of you when I see you like this,” you told him. Kun shrugged as he poured some mixture into the frying pan.

“I’m only this nice to you sweetheart,” he said in earnest but shortly followed up with a cheeky wink. He turned back to focus on flipping the pancakes, getting it perfectly in one try.

You didn’t have quite the same luck with the pancake flying through the air and landing on one of the kitchen cupboards… you let Kun flip the rest.

You sprayed cream on them and got maple syrup all over your hands making them sticky.

“I feel like a little kid,” you laughed, trying to lick the syrup off your hands after finishing your pancakes. Kun chuckled in response but you could see the concern rising in his face again. You couldn’t ignore it forever.

You cleaned your dishes away and sat down with Kun on the sofa, before he could speak you interrupted him.

“Can we have just five more minutes before we…?” you asked, not waiting for an answer before you brought your lips to his. Trying to assure him in a way that words couldn’t the way you felt about him.

Kun drew away quicker than you would have liked, ending by returning the kiss on the nose.

“We can’t avoid this y/n,” he said. You had been avoiding it for years and you almost wanted to keep avoiding now you had experienced this side of Kun. Yet you needed answers more, you needed to understand why your best friend was doing this. How did a teenage petty criminal become a killer?

“I need you to start being totally honest with me Kun,” you said, at exactly the same moment he had said,

“Do you still love me?”

You were a little thrown off, clearly the conversations you both thought you needed were not the same conversation. Silence was the result.

“I need answers Kun,” is all you managed to reply. Kun stared off at the wall unable to look you in the eye as his finger traced the top of your hand.

“I don’t tell you things to keep you safe, y/n… you know this.” “Do you not trust me?” you asked him. He shook his head rapidly, swallowing the arguments he was about to make and giving in.

“Ask what you want, I can’t promise I will answer, but I will try to, and I certainly won’t lie anymore.”

That was a compromise you could live with.

“I need you to explain what your gang really does and how you suddenly became a gang leader, when I met you that wasn’t what you were doing, I’m sure of it.”

���Correct. I became a gang leader over time. This will sound crazy and I really cannot explain why but would you believe me if I said I created my gang to keep you safe?”

“That doesn’t make any sense Kun,” you said, yet you knew he wasn’t lying, Kun didn’t break his promises to you, if he said he wasn’t lying he was.

“We run as a rival gang to some really bad people… not that we are good, I would never try and say I’m a good person. My intentions are simply to be better than him,”

“Who?”

“I can’t say his name, you would know who it was though, he’s someone I really hate.” This statement brought you no closer to the truth, you couldn’t think of anyone Kun hated.

“We do all the same evil things, run drugs, white collar crime, killer for hire, we just put a lot of money back into the community to try and make it better. We also don’t kill innocent people if we can help it, they have to have done something bad. I doesn’t make it better; I sound like I’m trying to justify myself. I know there is no justification.”

You want him to explain it properly, but you know he won’t. The fact he told you anything was an improvement and you didn’t want to fight him anymore.

“Everything I do, I do because I love you,” he said. It was a truth that was as clear as day, you could see it in his eyes.

“And you trust me completely?” you questioned, he gave a firm nod in response, “then let me go with Ten to Korea without you coming to. I do my job and you do yours. If I work hard to become as competent in this life as you, then you can tell me the whole truth.”

“Why do you need to know so badly, isn’t it enough to know I did it because I love you?”

“That’s exactly why I need to know. I need to know what you had to do for me, or I can never be happy accepting your love. You did it because you love me, fine. I need to know so I can love you without the weight of a secret so big.

“Meet Ten at the airport tonight at six, I will send a car.”

“Thank you,” you said, the hint of a smile on your lips as you rested your head on his shoulder. “When I take a look at my life and all of my crimes, you’re the only thing I think I got right,” Kun whispered, his lips against your hair.

“Thank you for doing it for me… whatever the reason, even if I don’t think you should have, I’m still grateful.”

“I love you,” he said, bringing his lips down, gentle kissing your exposed shoulder. You couldn’t help but wrap your arms around him and hold him tight. You knew the second you slept with him there was no turning back.

Even before then this had been inevitable. You would never truly have been able to give up Kun.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

It was that mentality that had you on a plane at eight the next morning, reading a magazine next to Ten who was still disturbed from the free fruit the flight attendant had handed out.

All you knew about the trip is that you were meeting Johnny from NCT to work out where to start up a joint office in Seoul.

You were currently more focused on how comfy your first-class seat was, it wasn’t something you had ever experienced before.

You played with a ring around your pinkie finger. Kun had given it you. It was a GPS, not all the time, you were not accepting a boyfriend who was that much of a stalker, it only turned on when you twisted it, in case you were in trouble. Kun had a similar one that matched.

You thought it was slight overkill when truly all you were doing was scouting out office buildings, Kun had been insistent though.

The plane landed an hour later at Incheon airport where a private car was waiting for you and Ten – the life of luxury continued.

The distance to Johnny’s office wasn’t far but the traffic was shocking, so it took a while. As Ten napped you started googling possible options and noting them down on your phone.

It was dark by the time you had reached the NCT Corporation building. It was much larger than Kun’s building but then that was because it was a much larger organisation. That was the whole reason Kun wanted to strengthen ties between the two. Kun’s company was technically a subsidiary of NCT corporation anyway.

You placed your sunglasses on even though it was dark and checked your lipstick. You wanted to create the impression that you were here for business, even if that business was friendly.

They thought Kun was impressive, intelligent? Wait until they met you. You had no idea where you had found this confidence, but it was something you were running with.

“After you,” Ten said, motioning into the building. You smiled and thanked him graciously, walking past, through the doors and up to the front desk.

“Miss Y/L/N and Mr Leechaiyapornkul from Qian Industries here to see Johnny Suh,” you said, looking down over your sunglasses to speak to the receptionist. Before they could make the phone call, a man’s voice greeted you.

“Y/n, Ten, lovely to meet you both.”

You looked over to see a tall, smiling man that you assumed was Johnny.

“The pleasure is all ours,” you replied as Ten shook his hand.

“I hope your flight was good?” Johnny enquired. You grinned,

“Flying first class is certainly the high life.”

Johnny seemed to laugh genuinely at your joke, you could tell why Kun wanted to work with this organisation if its workers were like Johnny.

You didn’t waste much time after that, Johnny led you to where he had picked out his top three choices and cross referenced them with yours.

“Your number 2 is the same as mine y/n, I think it could work. If you want, we can stop by there now and see?” Johnny proposed.

You nodded, glancing over at Ten who was texting someone absentmindedly. You had sort of taken over the main role of the mission.

“Yeah for sure, that would be great.”

Johnny’s car was sleek black and brand new. You climbed into the passenger seat, Ten grumbling about having to sit in the back. Apparently, it undermined him as a senior gang member.

You reminded him you knew Kun first, that you were his first ever supporter which caused Ten to at least grumble slightly more quietly.

“You and Kun go way back then huh?” Johnny asked.

You smiled.

“He’s an old friend,” you confirmed.

“Whose hopelessly in love with her,” Ten added causing you to blush.

“I don’t think it’s quite like that,”

“You didn’t have to live with him when he was ignoring you, ‘oh I really don’t want to hurt her, oh I’m so sad, I’m Kun and I’m sad because I’m avoiding my girlfriend.”

You flipped Ten off.

“Do they call you Ten because that’s the age you act?” you asked him, “this is work Ten get it together.”

Johnny started laughing,

“No worries, I find it kind of funny anyway, a lot of our guys are like this too, especially some of the younger ones.”

Something about the tone of his voice made you think you really needed to meet these ‘younger ones’ someday.

Your thoughts were brought to a sudden end as the horn sounded, and a large SUV drove straight into the back of Johnny’s car.

“Fuck!” Johnny exhaled as the car stopped, “are you both okay?”

You nodded slightly, undoing your seatbelt and stepping out of the car. You had a small scratch on your forehead nothing major. You were more annoyed as you knew Kun would make a fuss.

“What the hell man?” Johnny called out to the driver of the other car, “watch where your… oh its you.” His voice faded out.

You looked round the side of the car to see men holding flick knives walking slowly towards Johnny. Ten ran over to stand beside Johnny, pulling a gun out of his jacket.

You started to panic slightly. Your idea of what being part of a gang was, was slowly changing to a much more dangerous idea. The reality of which you weren’t sure you were prepared for.

Ten shot two of the guys in the leg as Johnny tried to punch a few. There was six of them and only three of you. Two of you really, you were hiding behind the car.

“Ah look they have a pretty girl,” one of the men called out. Clearly you had not been hiding well enough.

Ten looked over to you, suddenly remembering you were there, it was only for a second but one of the guys managed to lean over and stab him in the arm, causing him to drop his gun, before Johnny could knock him out.

There was three of them left standing and only Johnny to face them. You saw one of them reach for Ten’s dropped gun and you panicked. You don’t know what happened, but you pulled your shoes off and ran towards where the gun was on the ground.

You picked it up and threw it away as hard as you could before grabbing the side of your heel.

You stabbed the man coming towards you in the side of the neck with your heel. One of the men deserted leaving only one, who Johnny managed to incapacitate.

You leaned over and pulled your jacket off, placing it on Ten’s wound tightly.

“Do you have a doctor or something?” you asked Johnny.

“I’ve already sent out an alert,” he said.

Moments later another black SUV pulled up but this time friendly faces jumped out.

You had been studying NCT’s key players and you recognised them as Doyoung and Jeno.

They helped you lift Ten into the car and shut the door. Jeno started to drive as Doyoung tried to deal with Ten’s injury.

“You’re lucky it’s not as bad as it looks,” he told him.

You realised you should probably call Kun, but for some reason it scared you. You knew Kun wouldn’t be angry at you, even if it had been your fault, but you knew he would be worried, and you really didn’t want to cause him anxiety.

He picked up on the second ring,

“Yes love?” he asked, in any other situation your heart would have been fluttering.

“Ten got stabbed,” you said simply. Kun’s voice didn’t panic like you thought it would, he stayed calm.

“Is he alright? Do you have a doctor?”

“We have Doyoung, I think that’s similar,”

“Yeh Doyoung’s great, are you okay? What happened?”

You explained the whole affair to him, he didn’t interrupt once.

“I’m getting the next flight out, stay inside their building, call me if anything happens with Ten, if I’m on the plane call Sicheng.”

“I love you,” you told him.

“I love you too, stay safe.”

The van stopped suddenly outside the NCT main building. Someone opened the door and helped you out before shutting it again.

“They need to take your friend round back… for obvious reasons,” he explained. “I’m Taeyong by the way.”

He looked slightly scary, he had a large scar across his right cheek, but his voice sounded almost cute. There was no way you could actually be scared of him.

He didn’t offer up any more conversation, nor did you, still in a slight state of shock.

He pressed on the elevator button and waited. When the doors opened with a ding, he motioned for you to enter first.

You nodded your head and smiled at him in thanks.

You both remained in silence until Taeyong led you into what must have been his office. It was both bigger and furnished more expensively than Kun’s, something you thought wouldn’t have been possible. Then NCT was a much larger organisation – WayV was only a subsidy.

“As the leader of NCT I would like to apologise for what happened today, I know you have only recently joined Kun’s organisation… this was meant to be a very safe enterprise.”

You were both surprised and unsurprised that Taeyong was the leader. You had a vision of someone scarier despite the fact Kun wasn’t scary. But when you looked at Taeyong, his concern and calming energy seemed perfect to make him a leader.

“It’s not your fault, occupational hazard I guess.”

Taeyong had the whisper of a smile on his face as he turned around and poured to drinks, sitting down at his desk and pushing one across to you.

“I had hoped to meet you in better circumstances, he doesn’t talk much about it, but everyone can tell Kun’s obsessed with you.”

You blushed red. You couldn’t believe everyone knew who you were and that Kun had liked you for years.

Taeyong smiled at your cute reaction.

“He doesn’t gossip about you or anything, he just used to get sad about it when he was very drunk. He seems happier now, he even texted me a smiley face emoji the other day.”

It was your turn to smile at the relationship between Kun and Taeyong. You were glad you were a part of his world, only if it meant you could finally see friends of his like Taeyong, you could finally see the whole picture.

“Do you know if Ten is okay?” you asked. Taeyong nodded.

“I would have let you stay with him but Kun instructed me not to before he got on the plane. He didn’t want you to see how gruesome it was.”

You internally rolled your eyes, Kun was slightly ridiculous, you had already watched him be stabbed how much worse could it get.

“I have to go do some work to sort this out, you are welcome to stay here and watch TV on my iPad or something,” Taeyong offered somewhat sheepishly.

“Kun told you to make me stay, here didn’t he?” Taeyong nodded.

“And while Kun doesn’t tell me what do to I feel like it’s easier just to go with him on this one, sorry y/n.”

Taeyong left and you settled for playing a crossword app he had. You got so engrossed in it you didn’t notice how long had passed.

You realised Kun’s flight would have landed about ten minutes ago.

You were excited to see him because you missed him even over such a short time. Equally you were slightly worried of how he was going to act, what he was going to do, seeing as he already had you on office arrest.

You take another sip of your rather strong drink. You were determined not to be persuaded my Kun to step down or back out again. He may have been your boyfriend, but you knew you could handle yourself. At least you were learning how to.

Moments later Kun burst through the office door and walked over towards you. You stood up instinctively, noticing immediately how pale his face was.

He wrapped his arms around you without saying anything. You let out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding in. It wasn’t that you had felt unsafe before in Taeyong’s office, but you felt much safer with Kun right by you.

“Thank goodness you are both alive… I should never have let you come y/n,” Kun said, resting his forehead on your shoulder, “at least not by yourself.”

“I wasn’t by myself,” you protested, “I was with Ten… who would be much less alive had I not been there.” You wanted to have this conversation and sort things out but equally you knew it wasn’t the right time.

“You don’t have to tell me how amazing you are love; doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you… when I got a phone call from Taeyong…I”

You pulled Kun’s chin up,

“But we are both alive and fine, I’m totally fine Kun its okay,” you said, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around. I’m sorry,” Kun apologised.

“I am fine though, worried about Ten of course, but I’m strangely fine about the whole situation. Finding your gun in the kitchen was much more perturbing to me.”

“That’s because you are in a form of shock, you’re not processing the situation properly,” Kun said. It could have been true; you really didn’t think that was the case though.

“Ten has to stay here for a few weeks,” Kun explained, “we can go visit him now, but then we are getting the next flight back to China.”

Kun held your hand as you walked out the office door, his grip firm, unwilling to let you go.

Ten was fine when you saw him.

“It’s not exactly my first rodeo, also that stab with the heel? You’re a stone-cold bitch that was epic.”

“Don’t call her a bitch Ten,” Kun reprimanded but you smiled and gave him a high-five.

“At least someone knows skill when they see it,” you laughed back to him.

It wasn’t long before someone who worked for Taeyong was driving you and Kun to the airport.

“Is the airport not that way?” you asked Kun when you turned in a different to the one you remembered.

Airports are easy places to make you a target, we are going to the private airfield.” Kun explained.

That also explained how he had got a flight so quickly here.

The car stopped right outside the steps to a private jet.

“This is insane Kun,” you remarked, “we would have been perfectly fine on the normal plane.”

“I’m not longer taking that chance,” he said, “plus why not take private jet when you can afford it?”

“The environment?” you protested.

“Just get on the plane,” Kun told you, unable to argue you with your last point. You walked up the stairs, with more objections but invariably excited to be on a private jet.

It was dark as the plane took off, heading back to China.

“I missed you, you know?” you told Kun. He smiled squeezing your hand.

“I love you, y/n, I’m not putting you in that kind of situation without me again.”

“What would you being there change?”

“It would change everything, because if anyone ever tried to stab you when I was there, I would stand in front of the knife.”

It pained you to know that was true. You would never want Kun to sacrifice himself for you. But you knew he would in a heartbeat, he never had to say it. Hopefully it just never came to that.

“You are the one thing in my life that’s truly good. I need you to know that.” Kun told you.

When the seatbelt sign turned off, you stood up and moved to sit on Kun’s lap, wrapping your arms around him.

“I love you too,” you told him, holding him tight. There were worse things in life than Kun not leaving you alone. You didn’t like being apart from him anyway. You had done that for a few years and had hated it enough to join a gang. Kun’s gang.

“There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you either,” you said, stroking his hair softly. Head in the clouds, high above the clouds.

[dojae-huh]

Funny how we talked about NCT Hollywood yesterday and suddenly got a bit more info today lol The part about a new NCT U formation is interesting too. Sounds like a permanent unit, even if it's called NCT U? I don't really expect a whole album or EP from them because WayV, 127 and 2021 promotions will prob occupy fall-winter. Maybe a single, then they release more unit songs or join other temporary U combinations as part of the NCT 2021 album.

I wonder if the new NCT U will be a unit for Sungchan and/or Taro. It could be a vocal unit or a mix of existing members too. All is vague atm. Ofc, I do agree SM must have fixed unit(s) planned for Sungchan and Taro. It's just that, when can they actually find enough members (if not adding members from Dream or other units) and form the unit. I remember how Kun and Ten had no fixed unit for a long time. SM has plans, but the time they need to execute the plans is another thing.

I'm guessing, Taro will likely get to join a JP-based unit after the pandemic. I'm not too sure because they already have 127, but with NCT-H announced, SM might want to have local units in JP and US and let 127 perform there too since they have quite big fanbases in both countries. Yuta and Johnny can still be representative members.

I honestly think Sungchan will be for another SK unit. Sungchan might be able to join the JP one, but I doubt it because he's being pushed a lot in SK. To the point I think he might be a leader, considering all the years he trained. I don't keep track of full details on Sungchan's solo activities and don't know how popular he really is in SK, but even if he's not so popular yet, I'm sure he'll still get important role in his new unit. Center or face of the group at least. Or leader. Or even all of the said positions at most.

On the other hand, Taro barely gets SK activities and might be saved for the JP unit (or it could be, Taro's Korean is still a challenge for more Korean content).

Personally, I'm not 100% sure of fan speculations that Taro and Sungchan will be in the same unit. They debuted at the same time, are living in the same dorm with the Dreamies, but it might be like Woo, Kun and Lucas all over again.

NCT U new formation releasing a single and it being included in NCT2021 album (an EP is pretty doable) sounds plausible. If NCT2020 was designed to bring all the units together, make WayV officially part of NCT, NCT2021 is about SMCU. It was said that NCT's concept/universe will get more explanation (new nctmentary videos, hopefully?).

Just to remind you, that in 2018 127 had Empathy, Chain, Regular-Irregular and Regulate. And in 2019 Awaken and Superhuman in addition to the Neocity tour in the first half a year. (Plus Tae, Hyuk and Mark were involved with Dream and SuperM). Making albums is A&R and producers' problem, neos need to sing a couple of lines, and most B-tracks don't require choreos.

Fans having enough money is the bigger problem, lol. But with the lack of concerts and a few months of break between units' comebacks and NCT2021?

I doubt the new U formation will be permanent. This info just raises interest and makes people talk. Ten seems to be in it.

I've checked RV history yesterday. Some of their singles sold in millions. Maybe this new U will get to try to win over gp with a catchy songs as well to sell the song as a single before NCT2021?

WayV will be in Autumn, probably late Autumn. 127 is going to be before them. I still think it's July-August for them. We will know once Dream's repack promotion is over.

I still doubt there will be a Japanese unit soon. I'd bet if there is one formed in the near future, it will be through a trainee-selection programme on Japanese TV. Shota actively learns Korean and is very popular in SK.

Kun, WW and Ten had a designated unit from the beginning - Chinese unit. Not SM's fault the Chinese ban happened.

[tysondabs]

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)

trigger warnings and contents: death/parental death, a cemetery visit, L.A. traffic, expensive whiskey. 

************

If he was a smart person, Tyson would have known he could just google his father’s details and find out where he was interred from there. One simple google would have done it, but not being an internet-first person, he resorted to texting Angela instead. She was more than happy to give him the details, and mention in so many follow-up texts how happy she was he had decided to go see him. The knots in his stomach started then, something inside twisting at the way she said she was happy, proud, and that Johnny would be happy to have him visit, he was sure. There was a succession of emojis, hearts, flowers. The sailor knots twisted themselves tighter.

He set off the next day, somewhere between 2 and 3 on the drive. Had taken another day off at work, more sour faces from Lisa and threatening that he’d all but used up all his vacation days this year, but fuck her; he let any thought of her pass not to ruin the day, started his beat up, paint-chipped Honda civic and hit the road. Stone cold sober, nothing in his system but the black coffee he’d slammed back minutes earlier.

Cruising down Silverlake Boulevard, some familiar scenes until he left the familiar scenes for unfamiliar road, then merged onto the freeway. It was fine until he hit bumper to bumper traffic. Now? Midday? Fucking hell.

He hated driving in L.A. on the best of days, but now, without music, and the heat, and stopping every two minutes as the cars crawled up the drive, he was starting to get stir crazy minutes into the journey. At the next stop he pulled out his phone, checking notifications; a thought occurred to him, or rather, a desire. Maybe he could text Sasha. But he couldn’t picture a way to word ‘going to see my dad’ to her without it sounding fucking weird or stupid, so he tossed his phone to the passenger seat and continued driving (only to pull it back up again a moment later because he forgot he had the GPS going).

At some point, he got too engrossed in his thoughts, and missed the turn into Cahuenga Boulevard. Fucking hell, part two. Maps rerouted though, and after a very long roundabout, he was finally at a stoplight, opposite some weird building-slash-cottage. ‘Valhalla Entertainment’, the banner said, and that rang a bell (wasn’t that Jude’s kid’s name?). 14 years in this city, and he had absolutely no clue which part this was. Somewhere between the Hills, before or past the Hollywood Bowl, he rarely came here unless it was a party. The distractions had him nearly missing his turn into Barham, but he pulled it just as the light turned green, the odyssey getting longer by the minute and it would be a miracle, he felt, if he made it at all. At this point, there was an itch to just Fucking Get There, wherever ‘there’ was. He drove past a flower shop, contemplated stopping but decided against it. What good were flowers anyway, he had something better with him — a bottle of Four Roses bourbon, sitting passenger seat beside him. Johnny liked that one. Or so he thought. At any rate, there was a photo of him holding a bottle of it somewhere on the internet, one he looked psychotically happy in, that was burned into Tyson’s retinas. 

He drove past a sign for Universal City, and then a building loomed large, the New York Film Academy building (that made no sense to Tyson, why would the New York film academy be here? In L.A.? It made no damn sense). This entire city was Hollywood, it ate the city up and swallowed it whole, chewed and then spit it back out. That’s what it did to people, at least the ones who came seeking something in the realm of fame, anyway. Everyone else in the city was stuck under its heel, suffering and poor. The rich elite and the hoods; night and day contrasts. He knew which part he belonged to, and would prefer it over anything fancy that this town had to offer because it was all a farce, all an illusion. Though he wouldn’t begrudge any of his friends chasing fame money and success. He had plenty of those, and he hoped they could navigate the labyrinths in this concrete maze better than many did. Better than his dad sure had.  

Forest Lawn Drive creeped up on him as buildings thinned out and disappeared, he was close now, he could feel it. Before long, there was a large white building beside a brick church, and he was here. He stopped at Information, gave the coordinates he was looking for and they directed him. Straight up that road and it was somewhere in the middle, coordinates marked. The knots got tighter now as the boom barrier lifted and he drove into the cemetery. Thoughts narrow, throat dry. He pulled up to the right space, or what he thought was the right space. A piece of trivia fell into his head, remembering that Lemmy was buried here too. Maybe he’d snap a photo for Emma, if he could find it, if he could even remember. He followed the numbers as he slowed his car, looking out at names, gravestones marked in the ground in even rows. He stopped the car at the assumed right spot, parked it by the curb and killed the engine.

Now the hard part. In his stomach sat a lead pretzel. His breaths dug deeper and he thought of a girl with fair hair to try and bring himself out of it. It sure would’ve been nice if she was here, maybe he’d even be cracking jokes right now. He tended to do that in her presence, even when he was peak anxious and scared; like when they were boarding that plane. But there’s no one here, just him and his multiple personalities, the angry ones and the sad ones this time mostly. It was quiet up here, and he saw someone walking amongst the graves, and a caretaker not too far from that person. The church stood behind him down the slight incline of the hill, and everything else fell flat, in neat green rows. He thought of another girl, one from many years ago. She knew his deal, knew how he would get on this day, he’d told her as much. And when that day came around one time, she surprised him with a trip. They drove out of town to some peak overlooking the city, she’d packed a picnic, and made sure they had a day of it. That had been real nice of her to do.

He couldn’t sit here and rehash memories endlessly to avoid what he came for though, and Tyson got out the car, grabbing his trusty tin and the bottle of whiskey he’d brought with. The lead pretzel undid itself and became a slithering snake. Walking amongst the rows, he looked at names, family lots. Looking out for the right one. None of them were the right one. Angela had sent directions, but they were haphazard and not exact. Some five minutes passed this way, Tyson beginning to wonder whether he was in the right section at all, passing name after name, some sounding famous, some not. Some with fancy words the grave, or markings, and flowers left by them. He passed one with a shitton of flowers; either a recent or old Hollywood star. He came down one side and down the next row, starting to wonder if he should give up here and move on to the section directly below this one, maybe it was there she’d meant — when it caught his eye, the gravestone in the corner of an enclave, sitting flush with the earth.

John Robert ‘Johnny’ Dobbs. Beloved husband and father.   8/15/1964 - 4/27/2001 And when the winds carry you home, Remember who it was that sang your song.

There were bunches of flowers shrivelled up beside the grave, two sets of them. His throat felt heavy, scratchy as he stopped and kneeled before it, wondering who’d left them. It was hard to swallow now, impossible.

There was nobody around, but even had there been, Tyson didn’t think he’d let that stop him from doing what he did. He tried talking quiet at first, but maybe Johnny couldn’t hear him that way. Who knows how this thing worked. He took a tentative seat on the ground and crossed his legs, sighing. Looking up and squinting to the sky that still had a sun up high in it, still far from sunset, nowhere near it. A sheen of sweat showed on his brow between the parts obscured by his backwards cap. He frowned, and spoke to some space between the grass and the corner of the memorial stone.

“Well… I made it. I’m here.” Now that he thought about it, he probably should have come on his birthday instead. Because this…this was fucking depressing. The 20th anniversary. Twenty years it had been since he died in that hotel room all alone, and not since the actual funeral had he ever thought to come here. “I know I don’t…come here at all…ever…but I just wanted you to know I think about you…think of how you are…don’t even know if I believe in that heaven or hell shit, who knows…”

He tore out strips of grass that were beside him, and arranged them in a little, methodical pile. “Maybe this reincarnation shit is real and you’re out there somewhere…maybe on another planet. That would be cool. You were too good for this one anyway.” Rip, rip, more pieces of green to join the little pile he was making. “I wanted to…wanted to, uh, say something, actually.” He sniffled, not sure when his nose had started running, but it had now.

“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t finish the rest out loud but he thought it. I’m sorry for ever being mad at you, for throwing tantrums, for being a shit son. I’m sorry for pushing you away when you would come back because I thought you had left us. I know it wasn’t like that now. It wasn’t like that at all.

The tears rolled freely now, another unexpected surprise from the day. “Wish I could…I wish I could find the…” he shook his head, over and over, anger mixing into the rest of the feelings churning inside him, so much frustration, rage. That things even turned out this way. Had it not been for that, his dad could have been here, alive. Disappointing Tyson in the flesh and Tyson in turn disappointing him, but alive at least. “Fuckin’... kill them all…every last one…” He’d do it, too, no one could stop him. Not even the thought of a life in prison. “I know why you were the way you were, is all I wanted to say. Shit, I’m like that too. Maybe it runs in our genes.” He looked up like he was talking to someone, like there was a physical body here receiving his words, looking back at him. “Wish I could listen to your stuff too, because it’s good stuff. But I can’t…sorry.” There were people out there though, who listened, and still loved him, and had not forgotten him. He remembered the messages from fans he would get. That counted for something, at least. Maybe they could all listen in his place, since he could not. He knew Angela didn’t listen to his stuff either, and there was something to be said about that. At least he wasn’t alone feeling like this. 

He picked up the bottle of bourbon he’d brought with him and twisted open the cap. Tipping it back, he took a big drink, quenching his thirst, feeling the burn as the liquor travelled down his system. Gasping for breath as he pulled back, he poured the rest over all the grass. Here, all for you, he thought, some dark amusement to that. Probably haven’t had a drink in a long ass time, huh? He stopped when he’d all but created a puddle of whiskey before him that was getting too large. One more sip stolen of his own, and he placed the bottle right side up next to his gravestone. “That’s for you.” Surprisingly, the knot was easing up, or maybe it was put on hold. Maybe this wasn’t too bad. Maybe he could do it again next year, or in the summer when it came time for Johnny’s birthday. Twice a year.

Tyson let out a long breath he had been seemingly holding in, cheeks puffing out, chest heaving. He started to feel sickish now, queasy. Maybe he needed a smoke. Yeah. His tin came out, the usual stash of two prerolls in it. He hesitated, then pulled the spare one out, placing it next to the whiskey bottle. “I know you never liked this shit dad, but give it a try yeah?” he said, like he was persuading Johnny to change his mind on Tyson’s drug of choice. At the same time, lighting the other one he’d brought with him.  “Don’t know what kinda shit you had back in the eighties, but this is good stuff. Promise.” God, he was going crazy, fully lost it out here, smoking a joint and talking to a gravestone. A fucking joke. But nah, it wasn’t him, it was the world that was a joke, and he was just fine.

He stayed some time longer, until he’d smoke down the joint to the end, the buzz it offered providing some sort of calm to his frayed nerves, definitely making everything better. In a weird twist of events he felt hesitant to leave now, but eventually he did, getting up, dusting himself off. Crossing eyes with a woman across the lot as he did, somewhere in a not-so-far off distance. He wondered if she was visiting someone, but her husband joined her, photo camera in hand and it became quickly apparent they were tourists. He felt some kind of bile about that, the temptation to cuss them out as he walked past high, but he resisted. 

Fucking tourists.

Back in his now-overheated sat-in-the-sun-too-long car, he rolled the window down all the way, and breathed a long, relieved exhale again. His head went to the steering wheel as he tried to collect himself, pick himself up from what just happened. He was in a state but coming out of it, slowly, gradually. That hadn’t been too bad. He forgot half the things he’d wanted to say, but maybe he would think of them again on the drive back, write them down somewhere and then say them when he was back here again. If there was anything he wished for after all, it would be more time with Johnny. And Angela. He’d make a point to go back to Texas if it meant driving for two days. Alone. It was the tradeoff for spending time with his family, what he had left of it anyway, because in the end, that’s all you had, wasn’t it? 

Talking himself through and down some weird freakout episode wasn’t easy, but gradually, in this hot ass car that wasn’t getting any cooler, he somehow cooled down himself. Then he pulled out his phone and dialled a number. 

[leenaevilin]

[Personal] Happy Birthday♡

it’s this time of the year again^^ 

Happy, Happy B-Day Yuuichi-kun♡

off to one of my favourite posts: tell me about your №1

I really ♡ Nakamura Yuuichi (中村優一; ← actor, not seiyuu!!!! )

He is and will ever be the person I will LOVE the most of all those j-actors^^

He is such a lovely dork and I really like his smile.

Some facts first:

① born October 8, 1987 [he is 2½ weeks older than me笑] ② nickname ~Channaka~「ちゃんなか」(Naka-chan backwards) ③ best known for his role ‘Sakurai Yuuto’ (Kamen Rider Zeronos) in Kamen Rider Den-O (2007)… but did you know that he actually played ‘Kiriya Kyousuke’ in ‘Kamen Rider Hibiki’ (the first actor to portray 2 Kamen Rider)

④ assigned to G-Star.Pro ( ジースター・プロ ) ⑤ has 2 Chihuahua ~Zero~ (Kamen Rider Zeronos) & ~Spica~ ↓ ↓ ↓ (Futatsu no Spica)

⑥ was part of Johnny’s Jr. (~2003)

⑦ had poor health as a child (asthma) [same here!!! in and out of the hospital] ⑧ loves reading shoujo-manga (ex: Good Morning Call グッドモーニング・コール / he had a cameo in the drama adaptation epi.15/16) and listening to jpop (Shounan no Kaze, Kis-My-Ft2, EXILE, CHEMISTRY, AAA ← friends with Nishijima Takahiro & Atae Shinjirou since ‘Delicious Gakuin’) ⑨ former member of a group of actors called D-Boys

as I talked about in one of my earlier posts… I really feel connected to Channaka and he kinda ‘helped’ me during the hardest time of my life. [check out my post about ‘Doukyuusei’ if you want to know why^^]

… when I heard he would be in the special unit called D☆DATE (together with Araki Hirofumi, Igarashi Shunji, Seto Koji & the new member Horii Arata) in 2010, I was so happy for him… because he deserved some more attention! He is one of the few boys who didn’t act in Tenimyu and that was really hard for him, because most of the D-Boys acted in it and became kind of “famous” for it.

In interviews he often talked about that he couldn’t get over the fact the he didn’t have a chance to be in Tenimyu and he couldn’t understand why, especially because he came out first at the 1st D-Boys audition.

And finally he got the attention he deserves, the most unthinkable thing ever happened. Right before his new stageplay (D-BOYS STAGE 2010 trial-2 ラストゲーム ) it was announced that he will take a break from work to cure his ‘chronicle back pain’. It was a huge shock for me because they announced it right before I moved to Japan. I still remember that I was sitting on my packed boxes in the livingroom when my friend called and told me the news…

almost a 1 year later we still had no real information about his condition… it was really depressing. I went to almost all D☆DATE events wearing orange things/stars (his member colour) and was even on TV (はなまるマーケット hanamaru market) with these ↓ ↓ ↓  uchiwas ↓ ↓ ↓  just to show that we were still waiting for him T^T

At the 1st Concert Tour of D☆DATE we finally got some ‘news’. They talked about him, said that it’s sad he couldn’t make it in time for the concert, but he would be trying his best to show up on stage again as soon as possible. I was crying while they showed pictures of him during the con because I felt so helpless.

After all the terrible things that happend in the first half of 2011 (the Fukushima-incident, the sudden death of my aunt, trouble with my former workplace…) I was kinda happy to hear that Channaka was still part of the group and the members where all waiting for his comeback!!! I thought that it would be only a matter of time until I could finally see him safe and sound on stage again… I was soooo motivated that I created a photo album with many pictures from fans all around the world to cheer him up and show him that soooooooooooo many people are waiting for him!!! I wrote the first fanletter (~8pages) of my life and told him that his fans would always support him and would wait for him as long as it would take for him to recover… and I wrote something that some fans would never understand… ‘If you wanna quit, don’t worry about us… we will respect your decision!!’ actually there is a reason why I wrote something like that…  

I heard from a friend who worked as a model for Watanabe Enertainment, that he had no ‘back-pain-problems’ at all!!! He was suffering from depression… [he had a hard time in August 2010 and realised that he couldn’t perform with this unstable condition, so he stopped coming to rehearsal 2 weeks before the actual stage… I can understand that the other D-Boys member were not amused about it… but what I heard from my friend made me really sad: they started to bully Channaka and told him to quit… especially the D☆DATE members didn’t want him to come back!!!… from my experience with the industry in Japan, this is quite common (especially Johnny’s Enertainment) but I still find it hard to understand]  ← I got this information from a friend, no official statement!!! + I don’t hate any D-Boys members… I’m just sad about the fact at all!!!

And than,on November 8th, 2011 (4 weeks after I handed out my letter & 2 weeks after my B-day) it was announced that he would retire from D☆DATE/D-Boys ＿|￣|○ (I had never expected that this would happen… I cried a lot!! who would think that this little sentences in a little fanletter from a little foreign girl would come reality. I don’t believe that it was the trigger for his decision… but still… the timing… I was shocked) The ‘official’ statement was ‘in order to recover he needs to conentrate on rehabilation more’… but I couldn’t believe this anymore!!!

The following year Watanabe announced that he would completely retire from the entertainment world and I was crashed… I met soooo many people from the industry (not only because I went to a lot of events… my job gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of people in private) but the only person I ever wished to meet in Japan ‘disappeared’ and my chances to ever see him in person were almost 0…

And than in the beginning of 2013, he all of a sudden started his new blog where he posted pictures of him posing with friends (O_O) Rumors started to spread that he opened up a café/bakery with a friend (but I have no detailed information about that). I was so relieved that he was doing fine^^

AAAAAAAND 1½ years later the best thing ever happened!!!! August 30th, 2014: Nakamura Yuuichi returned to the entertainment industry. I was jumping up and down in my room, called my best friend (who isn’t even a fan at all笑) and poured my whole soul out^^

It took a while for him to come back on screen, but it was worth waiting for!!! The first role he represented after his comeback was ‘Sakurai Yuuto’ in  ‘Superhero Taisen GP Kamen Rider 3 Gou’ (スーパーヒーロー大戦GP 仮面ライダー3号)

I think you get it by now… Kamen Rider Den-O (Sakurai Yuuto/Ootsuka Houchuu aka Denebe) means a lot to him!!! and if you are still not convinced… try to listen to the recording from ‘Kamen-Raji-Ranger 仮面ラジレンジャー’ I was at the venue when they recorded the show T^T aaaaaand just for the records…

this was the first time seeing him in person right in front of me!!!!!!!!!!!!! (August 18th, 2015 will go down in history^^) can you believe it… it took me almost 5 years to meet him (O_O)

(the pic I posted on twitter after I saw his post^^)

since then he acted in soooo many great productions and had a few leading roles (薄桜鬼SSL ~sweet school life~ / 舞台 裁判長!ここは懲役4年でどうすか 2016 / スレイブメン / 舞台 警視庁抜刀課 / 舞台 BRAVE10/ 舞台版 ヘルプマン! ~監査編~ / 最後の晩ごはん)

Seeing him working this hard after all that happend in the past, I decided that I will follow and support him as a fan for the rest of my life笑 He will always be my №1 ♡

If you feel like supporting him or just got interested in him… here are some things I recommend:

① check out his: twitter official blog wikipedia

② (re-)watch Kamen Rider Den-O

③ take a look at his photobooks^^

1st shashinshuu (2008)

2nd photobook (2010)

aaaand his newest photobook (was released October 8th, 2017 to celebrate his 30th B-day)

④ if you want to get emotional… watch:

Doukyuusei [同級生] Futatsu no Spica [ふたつのスピカ]   D-Boys Stage Vol.3: Karasu [10 D-BOYS STAGE vol.3「鴉~KARASU~」-10]

⑤ or consider buying any kind of media you might be interested in^^

if you made it to this point… thx for sticking along!!!! ♡ I would love to hear/read from you about your  №1 and maybe some thoughts about Nakamura Yuuichi^^ (maybe you want to make your own post and add @leenaevilin to it so I get notified)

[soybeantree]

when we must 

pairing: johnny x (reader) genre/warning: fluff count:  +1.9k description: there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned road trip to kick off the summer. even when johnny’s and your opinion of fun are two vastly different things. 

Laying on the motel bed with maps sprawled out before you, you groan and run your hand through your hair. When Johnny had suggested an old fashioned road trip, you had jumped at the idea. Anything sounded better than a week at work. However, you failed to understand what Johnny meant by "old fashioned" road trip. While you're not traveling around in a horse drawn cart, you are traveling without the aid of phone or GPS. A knock on your door draws you away from your futile planning attempt. Johnny greets you with a smile and food. His smile nearly earns him a slap, but the food saves him. You snatch the bag from his hand and flop back on the bed. "This is impossible. We are going to get lost and die in the middle of nowhere, and no one will be able to find us because we have no phone for them to track." "We have a phone." Johnny corrects as he settles on the bed next to you and reaches into the bag for his food. You narrow your eyes. "That piece of plastic does not qualify as a phone." You glare at the flip phone sitting on the bedside table. "It can call people that qualifies it as a phone." He says around a mouthful of food.

"Whatever. My point still stands that this is impossible. I'm not a navigator. I don't know how maps work. It's a miracle we actually found a motel today." Johnny shakes his head and pulls the maps closer to him. "We just need to pick a destination, see how many miles are between here and there, determine how long it will take to get there, and then highlight the route." "That all sounds complicated. You know what doesn't sound complicated. Typing an address into a GPS." Your argument falls on deaf ears. The maps hold Johnny's attention. He can spend all the time he wants on them. You dig through the bag, pulling out food. He bought all your favorite snacks. With a sigh, you bite into the food and huddle next to him as you two plan out the next day’s trip. An hour later, you've eaten all the food and planned the route for the next day. "See that wasn't so hard." You smack him with a pillow at him as you roll your eyes. He laughs as he swats the pillow away. "Make sure you get plenty of sleep.” He says as he stands and heads for the door. “We have a full day of travel ahead of us." "I still don't understand why we have separate rooms." You comment as you climb off the bed and head for your suitcase. "Because this is an old fashioned road trip." He explains to your back. "That's not actually a thing. You're just making all of this up." He chuckles. "Goodnight, Y/N." You wave a hand in response. _________________________________________

The next day starts early, but at least, it starts with donuts. Johnny shows up with a box and coffee. You sip on the blessed liquid as you sit in the passenger seat. The sun has yet to rise. When you point that out to Johnny, he smiles and says that's the point. Exhaustion dampens your fighting spirit, so you curl up in your seat and continue to sip. Johnny drives, gaze on the horizon. As you watch him, the sun rises in his eyes. The light sets them on fire and his whole face glows in the warm light. "Suns up." He beams. "Doesn't this make getting up worth it." He turns to you, and you glance to the sunrise, blinking to clear his image. You mumble a reply and refuse to look back at him. You drain your coffee, hoping to wake up and bring yourself back to sanity.

You met Johnny during college and nearly killed him when you first met. You had been studying in the library, fully prepared to pull an all-nighter. Everyone else had returned to their dorms, and true silence had settled over the library. Or so you thought. Shortly after two, the loudest, most annoying singing had filled the stacks. You snapped your pencil in shock. The singing continued. You stood, chair flying back. Storming down the rows, you found Johnny in an alcove at the back of the library. He sat hunched over his own stack of books, headphones in his ears, mouth acting as a speaker. "If you're going to sing, then why wear headphones!" Your screech had pierced through the music. What followed was twenty minutes of you berating him and threatening him with your broken pencil. Johnny sat patiently through your tirade, and when you finished, suggested food. You two found the closest 24-hour convenience store and spent the rest of the night eating and talking. You've been best friends since then. You've also been in love with him since then.

"We should stop here." Johnny pulls your attention back to him. The here, he refers to, is a wide expanse of rocks which rise into cliffs. He pulls the car off the road, shifting into park. "You want to climb them?" He nods. "If you break anything, I'm leaving you here to die." "I'd expect nothing else." He grins before diving into the back seat. As he rummages through your bags, you climb out of the car. The sun sits overhead, bathing you in warmth. You stretch like a cat waking from a nap and survey your surroundings. The rocks do lend themselves to climbing. After a glance back at Johnny, whose behind is the only thing visible as he continues his rummaging, you start off towards the formations. "If you break anything, I'm leaving you here to die too." You hear him call as you reach the foothills of the cliffs. You shake your head and ignore him as you reach for the first hand hold. Your foot finds a crevice, and you push yourself up. “Look at that form. Good lines. Lean muscles. Fashion evaluation however not good. Those shoes, stylish but not good for climbing.” Glancing back over your shoulder, you find Johnny bellow you a video camera in his hand. He swivels around you, getting every unflattering angle. "Why do you have a video camera? This is supposed to be an old fashioned road trip." You growl as you hurriedly pull yourself on top of the rock. "They had video cameras on old fashion road trips." He says as he continues to film. "You really are just making up shit now." "My trip. My rules." He shrugs. You chunk a pebble at him, and he jumps back laughing. "Remember what happens if you break anything." "That includes the camera?" You chunk another pebble, but his long legs keep the camera safe. "I said anything." He grins up at you, his eyes squinting in the sunlight. You roll your eyes and stick your tongue out at him. “Are you going to spend the entire day filming from down there or are you actually going to climb?” Closing the camera, he stows it in his backpack and follows the trail you blazed. He pulls himself up onto the ledge with you and stands. “Are you going to sit there all day or are you actually going to climb?” “I’m going to kick your ass. That’s what I’m going to do.” He darts off as you push yourself up. The afternoon is spent crawling around the rocks and filming your adventures. Johnny insists on finding every cinematic shot and forcing you to video him. He attempts to return the favor, but with the life of his camera hanging in the balance, he decides against it. As the sun sinks in the east, you and Johnny sit at the top of the rocks watching the sky blossom with shades of pink and purple. The night air fills with the sounds of clicks and croaks, the melodies blending together to create an evening song. “You know we didn’t even make it halfway to where we were going.” “I think we made it the whole way.” You glance over at him and find his gaze on you. Returning your attention to the sunset, you clear your throat. “We should head back before it gets too dark. After all we don’t have-” Flashlights was what you were going to say, but you trail off when Johnny pulls one from his backpack. “You were just prepared for everything weren’t you?” “Of course. I’m not going to half-ass a date.” That one word stills you, and you wait for him to laugh and take it back, but he doesn’t. He sets the flashlight on the ground next to him and zips up his pack. When he finally faces you again, he blinks at your expression. “What?” “This isn’t a date.” “Why not?” “Because we’re not dating.” “We're not?” “No!” "Oh,” he pauses his perfect lips puffing out in a pout. “This is awkward then, because I was going to propose to you at the end of this trip." "What?” Your heart races, but you force it to calm. Johnny’s joking, this is just the friendly banter you two always have. “You were not. We have to date before you propose." "How long?" "What?" "How long do we have to date before I can propose?"

Your heart kicks into high gear. "Why are you saying these things?" You refuse to look at him, focusing all of your attentions on the way the stones glisten in the fading sunlight. "Because I plan on marrying you." You dart up, mouth flapping but no sound comes out. "What if I don't plan on marrying you?" You stutter out. "Is it because I'm ugly?" "What? No." "So you find me attractive?" "Yes, no. Johnny, I am going to hit you. Stop talking." Fists clenched at your side, you fight back tears. Now is not the time to cry, but he’s so aggravating and stupid and you need him to shut up before he says something neither of you can come back from. Standing, he steps towards you and takes your hands in his. He waits until you meet his gaze. "You're my best friend. We've seen each other at our best and our worst. We survived an old fashioned road trip together. I think you're the most beautiful person in the world, and you said you think I'm attractive. So can we date for as long as you want to date and then get married?" "You can't spring stuff like this on people." You choke out, as those damn tears start to leak out. "You're right. I'm sorry. Should I give you time to think about this?" "I don't need time to think. The answer is 'yes'. I just need you to know there was a better way to do this." "We're dating then?" "Yes." "And I can kiss you." Your cheeks flame. "Ye-" A kiss swallows your answer. Johnny pulls back, a sheepish grin tugging at his lips. "You probably didn't mean right now, did you?" "I didn't mean not right now. I just - you're annoying, you know that Johnny Suh." You pull your hands from his and cross you arms. However, the blush still burning your cheeks foils your attempt at nonchalance. Stepping forward, you bury your face in his neck. His arms wrap around you, pulling you closer. "Six months." "What?" He mumbles into your hair. "Let's date for six months. After that, I'll decide if I want to date longer or get married." He squeezes you tighter and places a kiss on your cheek.

[go--ask--alice]

Ephemeris

Four

14 Days.

336 Hours.

20,160 Minutes.

That is how long it's been since I've spoken to my Joker. I don't know what happened.. I still don't know what the fuck is going on. We were suppose to temporarily move into this god forsaken townhouse together yet here I sit alone. It has taken me that long just to gather my thoughts enough to even write them down.

That morning two weeks ago started so normal. I woke up to find myself alone in bed which honestly isn't that abnormal in itself, J sometimes doesn't sleep and gets his best work done in the middle of the night. I did my usual morning routine hoping he would make an appearance as I stood in the shower under the scalding hot water. He loves to surprise me and join in for some early morning shower sex after a long night of insomnia. I had it set in my mind to give him a bit of a show since he hadn't appeared yet. I put on a modest yet cheeky outfit and set off to his office hoping to interrupt a phone call and tease him as he tried not to acknowledge me. It's a game I love to play with him and gets the most amazing reactions from him. But as I reached the wing his office resided in there was nothing. No Frost at the door, no yelling at incompetent goons over the phone, not even the soft sound of classical music that sometimes floats through the halls when he's deep in his plans.

All of a sudden this massive mansion felt empty, I knew in my gut that he wasn't here. There had been a handful of red flags recently that something bad was brewing but honestly I just expected him to ask me to cut him again. It's something we started doing last year to release some of his darker demons and as far as I knew it had been working. I try to let him come to me with the request rather than pushing. His madness is part of what I love about him and such a key ingredient in what makes him The Joker and I never want to change that.

After I took a few moments to collect myself I called J, maybe there was a perfectly normal reason for his absence? Maybe I had forgotten about a meeting and he left without me? We are rarely apart, even for a few hours, but it does happen.

9:32am no answer

9:39am no answer

9:56am no answer, not even voicemail

This wasn't like J. He may be a psychotic crime boss but he is still always available for me. Worse case scenario my missed called are answered by a text from Frost letting me know what's going on and oh boy was he next on my call list!

......Five missed calls later and I still didn't have any answers. I was ready to burn this place to the ground if someone didn't give me some information.

Finally at around 11am I got a text from Frost.

[Ms Alice, please be ready to leave for the townhouse at 2:30 this afternoon. Boss will explain later.]

My blood boiled as I read the text. It was so generic, so cold. I knew he was only following orders but I felt so betrayed by Johnny. He has become my one confidant in this crazy world I now reside in. He is the only other person who knows what it's like to be in the presence of The Joker's madness and not be a target of it.

I had no choice but to follow along and continue with the plan. My bags were already packed and in the trunk of my new and still barely driven Lambo Aventador. Apparently I would be driving myself seeing as both J and Frost were MIA.

I didn't even want to leave at this point. I felt like a child who has lost their parent in the department store. "If I just stay put they'll have to come back and find me right??" I didn't want to leave just incase J showed back up and I could get an explanation straight from him.

I spent the remaining time going over every red flag I've seen since before our wedding, anything to clue me in to what might be going on. It had almost seemed like J was apprehensive to come back from England, we both knew he needed to return and take care of business in Gotham but England had become a kind of safe house where all the everyday problems could be put on hold and his stress levels really did begin to mellow out in the last few weeks of our stay. From the moment we hit the tarmac here at home there was a noticable shift, the tension in his jaw was back and the twitch under his eye reappeared more quickly than I had anticipated.

I have learned that he lives his life as a series of distractions. Some good some bad but all carefully crafted to distract from the demons in his mind. He immediately began planning our wedding, looking into new properties to acquire, and most amusingly he began building and collecting model cars. If I ever need a good laugh I just like to stop and picture Johnny Frost, lethal weapon, standing in line at the hobby store with a basket full of paints and parts to replace the ones J had broken the night before!

I also thought back to his increased drug use. The coke has always been more of a last resort than recreational to help calm him but recently I know he's started using alot more often. It's a big part of the reason he hasn't been sleeping. I honestly attributed his more erratic behavior to the drugs and insomnia but maybe they were just side effects of a bigger problem? No matter what is going on he is always kind and gentle to me, a courtesy he does not extend to any other living soul. I have seen a level of violence I never thought possible in his presence, it's something I have started to become almost jaded by, but I will never doubt the evil that resides inside that beautiful damaged man. He has also recently taken to personally dealing with some of the lower level thugs in his employ, a task that has always been delegated to Frost or one of the other higher ranking bodyguards. I assume mainly so he has a constant supply of fresh meat for his experiments or even just target practice. I tend to not ask a lot of questions when it comes to the more violent aspects of his empire. If he does not explicitly involve me then I simply do not ask questions.

When the time was right I went down to the garage doors, my last bag in hand and expected to see my car in it's customary spot next to the Benz but it wasn't there. At this point I wasn't sure I could take much more of this bullshit and just began to cry. All the worry and frustration from the day just hit me like a ton of bricks and I didn't want to think anymore. I wanted my husband, I wanted to be clued into whatever the fuck was happening, and goddamn it if I had to leave I just wanted to get in my own car and drive away. After a few moments I wiped my eyes and grabbed my things before heading out the side door towards the front of the building. As I turned the corner a laugh bubbled up from me that sounded foreign and cold. There she was, my beautiful Ghost, J had teased me for naming my car but it's something I have done with every other junk car I ever drove so something as exceptional as this car deserved it too! She was running, her engine humming a low purr and the driver side door was open. This was starting to get even stranger.. I felt like I was in a movie and people were watching from behind the camera lens. That's when I spotted the blacked sedan, it's engine was also running and as I approached Ghost they flashed the high beams at me. It didn't feel like a trap or anything nefarious so I climbed in and slammed the door. My frustrating hitting record levels. On the screen the GPS was already programed for the townhouse. Just as I was about to put her into drive a text popped up on my screen, it was Frost.

[At the rear, head to the destination. -F]

My anger bubbled to the surface and in one swift move I rolled the window down and raised my middle finger as I hit the gas. My sharp black nails and wedding rings glittered in the winter sun, my rear wheels kicking up gravel as I pulled out onto the public road, the blacked out car following closely behind. I knew it was Frost behind the wheel but I had a terrible feeling in my stomach that J was in the backseat. Why was he doing this to me? All morning I had been trying to think of what may be wrong with him, now my thoughts turned to myself. Had I done something to cause this? Did I make a mistake or cross some line I wasn't aware of? From the moment we met it seemed I could do no wrong in J's eyes. Had he finally gotten tired of me? Did he think getting married was a mistake? Was this his way of getting rid of me? All these questions continued to race through my head the entire drive.

The townhouse is approximately 30 minutes outside of downtown Gotham, close enough to still feel metropolitan but far enough out to give the illusion of privacy. J had showed me the floor plan weeks ago as we planned for our extended stay. The building is a four story brownstone with an enclosed garden accessible only from our unit's kitchen. There are three other units on the block, all of which are owned by J, most are empty except for the far end that was occupied but I have no idea who actually lives there or if it's just a front for something else.

As I turned onto the block I hesitated, realizing I had no idea where to park. I never planned on driving here alone so the thought never crossed my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Frost's black sedan take the corner alittle too fast and barrel past me. The back passenger window was rolled down a few inches just furthering my suspicion that J is in there too. I said fuck it and park right infront of the unit and storm out of the car. I stalked up the brick stairs and planted my heels at the front door. I had no key so someone needed to get out the fucking car and talk to me.

[Stay there, I have the keys. -F]

My phone buzzes with another useless text message. I stifle a sigh of annoyance as I see the door open and a visibly uncomfortable Frost make his way towards me. I've never seen him look so unsure of himself? My nerves flaired up again and he hands me a set of keys and a sealed envelope. My name is written in J's messy script and my heart thunders in my chest. I implored Frost for any information he can give and all I got was a nervous chuckle and a sidewards glance towards his car which was still idling halfway down the block. Before turning away he tapped the envelope clutched in my hands. "This is bullshit Ms Alice. Give it time." I didn't even have a chance to ask before he turned and quickly returned to the car. No use waiting for him to pull away, I unlocked the large wooden door and shuffled inside. As soon and the door clicked shut behind me I sunk to my knees and began to cry. All the tears I'd been saving up since this morning came pouring out, I let my emotions flow for several minutes until I saw J's letter discarded on the floor infront me. I took a moment to trace my name written in my loves scratchy script, almost as bad a doctor's, before tearing it open. Inside I found a short note. It was written in deep purple ink so I know it came from the stationary in his office at home.

"Darling, I need to be away for a while to deal with {multiple words scratched out} some sticky fingers at The Smile and Grin. {scribbles} I gave Frost the week off and now I need to handle some of the staff myself because someone’s dipping into my bourbon stash and I need to figure out who."

The whole thing was sloppy and disjointed, it looked rushed and made literally no sense at all. This was all so ridiculous.. The Joker is not a coward yet he couldn't come to me, his wife, and explain what ever the fuck was going on. I crumpled the letter and threw it across the room.

So here I am. It has been two weeks and still nothing. Thank God we had already hired a small staff for this place or I would be screwed.

This is all fucking worthless. When that clown finally shows his face back up here I'll give him a reason for that goddamn metal grill he's got.

-Alice

[gulfportofficial]

And now for a horse of a different color.  I’m trying to sort my files lately which means reading a lot of old unfinished stuff, and I have... all of this stuff from which this is excerpted and nothing to do with it cuz I’m never gonna finish it. This is not a GP excerpt, nor even an excerpt of political robot erotica. It’s another character from another piece for another fandom under another identity but specifically it’s a a number of conversations between a gay man who had to publicly come out at 40 and his ex-workmate and his mom who kinda-knew-but-didn’t and his older boyfriend. Anyway, I thought some of y’all might like it. 

It was late, but he was hungry. And bored. He got Johnson to meet him for pool and a sandwich. That turned out to be easy to do because he didn’t even make the call himself. Instead, he shamelessly organized it through his detail. He didn’t know these guys yet, but he knew the system, and he knew what protectees could and couldn’t ask for. One of the things that protectees could ask for was social arrangements made late at night, and it probably helped that the contact in this case was on the secret service books. He got them to arrange a meeting in a bar he could get roast beef.

Ed was, he thought, just about used to being in a situation like this with his own detail. It made him antsy, sure, like he was at work but not doing any work, but if he thought about it like an investigation or a stakeout, he could kind of roleplay it. Johnson didn’t seem to be bothered being escorted into the place either, which was notable in someone that anxious. Maybe he was adopting the same approach Ed was? Or already drunk, given the time. It seemed likely.

If anything, actually, he seemed to think it was funny. Get you, Eddie, Ed could hear him thinking when he sat down on his barstool. Ed bought him a beer out of silent acknowledgement and handed him a menu. “It’s midnight, I don’t know if I need a sandwich,” Johnson said. But he took the menu anyway.

“Don’t have to,” Ed said. “That’s just what I’m doing.”

“Right.”

“How’s work?”

“Pretty much the same.”

“You on PD still?”

“Yeah, still West Wing. Might get promoted.”

Ed nodded. He put two fingers up and they ordered sandwiches. Johnson had a new haircut and Ed wondered if he should say something. He wasn’t sure if they knew each other well enough to comment on things like appearances.

“You look good,” Johnson said, resolving that issue. Ed nodded at that too.

“Just went to dinner at the White House,” he said. He waved his hand over his suit. “That’s what this is about.”    

“Did they not feed you?”

“They did, just wanted a sandwich.”

“Down for the depositions?”

“It’s the last one,” Ed said. “Tomorrow I’m done. That’s it. Are you looking for an apartment? I’m not going to need mine anymore.”

“I’ve got an apartment, thanks Eddie.”

“Okay then.”

Johnson’s brows were knotted in the middle of his face. That was the kind of nervy expression Ed recognized on him. It was weirdly reassuring. “Are you…” Johnson said. “I don’t want to be rude but are you okay?”

“Just hungry,” Ed said.

“Wanted a midnight sandwich?”

“Sure did.”

“Well, okay. Glad it’s not some kind of crisis.”

“Nope.”

“Or some kind of late night… you know, mission or something. That’s what I thought, when they called me. Like maybe you wanted information or something. But if you’ve just been to the White House I guess you don’t.”

“I don’t,” Ed said. “This is just a friendly visit.”

“Question,” Johnson said. “Do you ever… I find, sometimes, when I’m socializing, you know, normal socializing, having a sandwich, that sometimes I say regular things but because of the way I say them, I don’t sound social.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I kind of sound like a cop.”

Ed laughed. It took him by so much surprise that beer came out of his nose. Johnson smiled back at him. It was a hopeful, sweet grin, like he was really proud to have made Ed laugh. Then sandwiches were put in front of them and Ed said thank you but it came out choked because of the beer. He coughed.  

“How’s married life?” Johnson asked him.

“Not actually married life, but it’s fine,” Ed said.

Johnson was still smiling. He really did seem like he was happy to be seeing Ed and Ed didn’t know how to feel about that. He pulled his sandwich apart to check on the tomato. One thing he could say about not-actually-married life was that now he was fussy about tomatoes. Southern tomatoes, apparently, were better, and should only ever be eaten in season.

“You could now though,” Johnson said. “I mean, legally. Right?”

“You don’t think that would be kind of politically stupid?”

“How do you mean?”

“Look, I appreciate your liberal attitude,” Ed said. “It’s refreshing. But as far as the rest of the country goes, I’ve stopped asking to review my own mail because after a while the death threats just get depressing.”

Johnson nodded. His new haircut made him look like a short, fleshy Matt Damon, especially making this serious face. It suited him. “Content or volume?”

“Definitely both.”

“That’s really rough, man.”

“It’s not so bad,” Ed said. “The press stuff is worse.”

“I liked your interview.”

“Thanks.”

“Liked your mom’s too. Nice to put a face to the voice.”

“Oh Jesus I forgot about that. What did you get?”

“It’s tuna.”

“I was gonna say,” Ed said, “that I just wish they’d leave my mom alone. And I do. But you’re right, it was a good surprise interview at least.”

“She gave them a good stern shaming. They probably came out worse off.”

“Yeah.”

“That where you get it from?”

Ed snorted. “Probably.”

“You’re lucky having a mom like that.”

Ed didn’t know how to answer that. Because the truth was that he was. He was extremely lucky to have a mom like that. The fact that every conversation they’d had since Ed’s grand revelation had been hard and strained and weird didn’t change that. He was extremely lucky in his mother and he didn’t get to be ungrateful.

The interview with his dad was bullshit. It wasn’t damaging-to-the-President bullshit, or even bullshit that could do anything to him, but it was absolutely bullshit that would do something to his mom. And just bullshit in general, but that was nothing new from his dad. But he was lucky in his mom.

He remembered calling his dad from the hotel in DC. It was funny how coming out to his dad didn’t mean anything. With his mother it had been borderline traumatic, but with his dad he didn’t care. It meant less than doing it at work. He’d tried to assess what kind of protections his dad and his new family would need and to present it in a simple enough way they wouldn’t have to nitpick about it, but the “dad, I’m a homosexual and I’m fucking the disgraced former President of these united states” part of it was a whole lot of nothing. He guessed this time he at least didn’t feel five years old again, at least. Sometimes that happened, that he’d start the call feeling secure and adult and then somehow end up wandering into feeling like a little kid nobody wanted to pay attention to.

So this time he’d talked quickly. Sure, he’d asked himself why he didn’t care, but the answer was never satisfying. He didn’t care because his father wasn’t anybody. He was just some guy. The President had looked at him strangely, and Ed had wondered if there was something wrong with his face. Or if he was holding his body wrong. He thought he might be scowling. Probably like he was scowling now.

“He was so involved while you were under,” the President had said.

“That’s what he’s like.”

“How so?”

“He’s just not really interested in anything unless it’s easy or he’s getting something out of it. And there was press around, I guess, and he saw his moment.”

“I see.”

“Look, you can’t repeat any of this to my mother,” Ed said. “I mean, assuming you ever meet her. But there are some things about my dad she’s determined to protect me from so I just pretend that I don’t know them. You watch, she’ll never say a bad word about him when I’m around. But he’s that sort of guy.”

“The sort of guy who’s concerned about his son?”

“The sort of guy who was gone by the time I woke up.”

“Oh yes,” the President said. “Yes, I see what you mean.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“No, but Claire did.” He could still say her name back then.

“Well, he’s an asshole.”

The President gave him a very solemn look. When he spoke, it sounded angry but like he was trying not to give into it. That was odd. Difficult to parse. “Did he…?” he said.

It was unusual for him to start talking without knowing what he was going to say, Ed thought. But he had this time. Or maybe he knew what to say but not how to moderate it, and that was what was tripping him up? Ed wanted to intercede before the President could actually get himself distressed, but he couldn’t figure it out. “Did he…?” the President said again, and there was a flinch in his shoulders and Ed got it.

“No,” he said. “It’s nothing like that. They’re just divorced and I don’t talk to him that much.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because he’s an asshole,” Ed said. “Not in a way that needs me to talk about it to you. He’s just a regular, ordinary dirtbag. Couple of times a year on the phone is sufficient.”

“What do you mean dirtbag?”

“What does anybody mean? Cheated a lot, I guess, but it’s more kind of the general attitude.”

“What’s ‘a lot’?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ed said. “Don’t worry about him. I don’t.”

“Here’s the thing about the Catholic Church,” Ed said, in the bar, to Johnson, while Johnson was chalking his cue. They’d wanted to play pool, and so they were.

“Here’s the thing,” Ed repeated. “They’re pretty anti us getting married, as a stance. But if the option is getting married or us living in sin, I think they prefer it if we do.”

“You can’t like, have kids though,” blowing the chalk. He leaned over the table.

“Yeah no shit. I’m not saying it’s logical. I’m just telling you the facts. We shouldn’t be fucking at all but if we do we shouldn’t use birth control.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I said it didn’t.”

“Yeah, but like, no sense.”

“Shut up, Johnny. Don’t make me defend Catholicism.”

Calling Johnson ‘Johnny’ was the sort of thing that should’ve felt weird, but it didn’t. Was he flirting with him? It wasn’t the way he’d usually flirt. It wasn’t the way he’d usually get someone to look him in the eye so he could flick it back at them. He thought he was, a little though. Not for any outcome, but because he could. Flexing a new power, flirting as part of a whole cosmopolitan persona. If he was roleplaying, maybe it was at this.

“Would you want to get married?” Johnson asked him.

“Dunno,” Ed said. “Don’t usually gamble on the future.”

“Not a gamble, is it.”

“Dunno.”

“I know this song,” Johnson said. He swayed ever so slightly on his feet, but he corrected himself to line his cue up. One of those people who got good at pool when he got drunk, Ed figured.

“I know it,” he said, again. “It’s really pissing me off, I can’t place it.”

“It’s Britney, bitch,” Ed said.

Johnson looked up at him with wide, shocked eyes, and then he laughed. “What the fuck?”

“It’s Britney Spears,” Ed said. He knew why Johnson was laughing, but he also knew he’d keep laughing if he didn’t let on that he knew why, so he didn’t. “It’s Piece of Me from the album Blackout, 2007,” he said, completely deadpan.

“How do you even know that?”

“Because, Johnny, I’m a homosexual whose sluttiest period was the late naughties.”

He made a show of chalking his own cue while he enjoyed the reaction to that. Johnson pushed his cue into the table with laughter and Ed worried he might break it.

“Wait, weren’t you still in the corps then,” Johnson said.

“Sure was.”

“But didn’t they… sorry, is this rude? What about DADT?”

“What about it?” Ed said.

“I just don’t think I’d be that brave.”

“It’s not brave, it’s just animal.”

“I mean, I wasn’t that brave.”

“Excuse me?” Ed said, but Johnson was already shooting and the moment was gone.

He reflexively scrolled through Grindr for hookups in the car back to the apartment, but he didn’t arrange any. It wasn’t just because it would have been complicated, with his new celebrity status, it was that, he didn’t want to. He texted the President instead. He was still up somehow, which probably wasn’t a good thing, but Ed was glad of it anyway. Maybe the best thing about all these trips was the President’s texts. He flirted with aplomb in text.

Ed liked it. He fell asleep in his empty apartment with his hand down his pants and woke up in just enough time to get ready for the last part of the hearing.

The final hearing was, much like being on the phone with his dad, a whole lot of nothing.

***

Ed didn’t know if he’d ever get used to how cold it could get in Maine. Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for this kind of whole environment arctic cold, cold where nothing even seemed to be causing it. It wasn’t cold because it was high up, or windy off the sea, it wasn’t cold because there was snow. It was just cold.

He wondered why the President hadn’t wanted to move in summer, though he guessed it was less that he’d decided on winter and more that he’d decided at all. So it happened to be winter, so what? The President wasn’t intimidated by weather. It was time to move now.

Ed blew into his hands waiting for the car to warm up. In addition to everything else, he wondered why he hadn’t started to drive home yet. He was perched in the parking lot of the Shaw’s, two bags of groceries in the back, running the heater, and not driving. He probably wasn’t supposed to smoke in the car but he did anyway. Just one.

Part of him assumed that what he was doing was letting the moment land. He hadn’t been Between Jobs in a long time, but it wasn’t that he was worried about unemployment. He wasn’t worried about money, and he wasn’t really worried anyway, just conscious. Conscious of the absolute closure of an entire career. Conscious of leaping into the unknown. It gave him pause in a way a lot of scarier things hadn’t, and he felt that it warranted one quiet cigarette in the parking lot of the Shaw’s.

Halfway through, he called his mom. “Eddie?” his mother said. “Are you smoking?”

“Yeah,” Ed said. “Just one though. So listen, dad…”

“It’s a slippery slope. It’s just one today, but it’s ten tomorrow.”

“I know, Ma.”

“If you knew, you wouldn’t do it, so I don’t think you do know. Your great uncle died of lung cancer, Eddie. And Joey has heart disease now, some kind of fatty blockage.”

“Ma…”

“They’re putting a stent in and…”

“Ma…”

“… they wouldn’t have to if he didn’t smoke, the doctor said that specifically. He said it was smoking.”

“Ma,” Ed said, “can we just… not do this? I’m having one cigarette in the parking lot of a fucking Shaw’s and I don’t want to talk about how I’m going to die of lung cancer.”

He heard his mother moving the phone around. Probably she was doing something else with her hands. She didn’t react to his snapping, or to his swearing, so he guessed that whatever it was, it was calming. “So you’re in a great big mood, as usual,” she said.

“I guess.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just… never mind. I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t smoke.”

“Well, you’re right, you’re a grown man.”

“Yeah, but you’re still my mom.”

“Glad to hear that still holds water,” she said. “Did you just get back from Washington?”

“Yeah, I did. How’d you know that?”

“Eddie, two of my brothers are cops and so was my son and I haven’t even counted how many nephews. I know how to crack a case.”

Ed laughed. “Okay, but tell me how.”

“I knew you were down there because of the papers.”

“Oh right, yeah.”

“And I knew you were back in New England because of the Shaw’s.”

“That’s pretty good, Ma.”

“Not bad, huh?”

“So how are you?”

His mother made an annoyed little sigh. “Oh, you know. I changed my number like you said to… well, you know, you’re calling me on it, so far so good. Sometimes they still come up to me, but that’s getting less. I’m still same old me, after all.”

“I’m really sorry,” Ed said. “I wish there was a way to make them leave you alone. I’ve really been trying. I thought maybe after that one interview they would.”

“It’s not your fault, Eddie. They’re just vultures. Do you know what it reminds me of? Princess Diana. Remember how the paparazzi kept chasing her and chasing her, and then she died! I’m extra careful when I’m driving, just in case.”

“So you’re Princess Di in this scenario?”

“Alright, watch that tone, smartass. Your mother can still turn it out.”

“Gross, Ma.”

“Your boyfriend is the same age as I am, Eddie.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“Nobody you need to know about.”

Ed chose not to point out that in this at least he was his mother’s son.

Whether or not his mother changed the subject on purpose he didn’t know. “The other thing it makes me think of is Edward VIII,” she said. “Or, he does, he makes me think of that. Abdicating the throne for love.”

“Well, that’s not why…”

“It all just seems very English to me somehow, I don’t know. Don’t you think? Like it’s a throne, just being inherited.”

“Are you maybe just watching The Crown?”

“I did watch that, but I would have thought of it anyway, and besides, they’re not up to Diana. I don’t know if they’ll get up to Diana. It’s a pretty slow moving show, if you want my opinion.”

“Sure.”

“I’m watching Veep now.”

“You don’t usually watch stuff like that,” Ed said.

“I have a sudden interest,” his mother said, dryly. “I get some of the jokes. I’m meant to get the jokes, I think. Here, let me read this out to you, it’s in the Register.”

“I mean, sure…”

“Listen. It’s a review: ‘the secret service agent’s relationship with her look-alike’s daughter, while widely assumed to be about as close to parodying the former President’s scandalous affair with the head of his protection detail as Legal allowed, is barely able to get to the real heart of the corrupt Underwood administration…’ it goes on, something about, oh you know, it’s political. Do you want to hear the rest?”

“I really don’t.”

“Alright, but is that true?”

“Is what true?”

“Are they based on you and… the President?”

“I mean, yeah,” Ed said. “I think so. I guess.”

“They’re having a baby this season.”

“That’s nice.”

“Is that based on the two of you as well?”

“No, Ma,” Ed said. “I’d tell you if we were having a baby.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” his mother said, sarcastically.

“Ma…”

“Given how much you love to tell me things.”

“Ma…”

“I’m guessing you’re not… cold food vegans either.”

“No Ma, that’s lesbians. We’re guys, we eat meat.”

“Clea DuVall was in another gay movie, did you know that, Eddie?”

“Yes, Ma. It’s called But I’m a Cheerleader. I’m a 90s Gay. I know about it.”

“Well, excuse me, but I’m trying to relate here. I didn’t know you were any kind of gay until about two months ago.”

“Well, now you do,” Ed said, much too harshly.

He regretted that. He regretted how reflexive being defensive about all of this was to him. He knew he was snapping at her because he felt guilty, though exactly which part of things he was most guilty about was hard to put his finger on, much less articulate. There was a silence and Ed wasn’t sure what it stood for. Apologies, maybe, but he didn’t know whose. A moment of silence for silences past.

“It’s just that you had this whole life you never told me about,” she said, at last.

“I’m sorry, Ma.”

“I’m not riding you about it. You would have had your reasons.”

“Yeah, but they were dumb.”

“Young men are allowed to be dumb. It goes along with the territory of being men.”

And you could have asked me, Ed thought, but he didn't say it. What he said was “great," and then he thought, then he knew, he’d heard the click of a lighter and a slight inhale from his mother's end of the phone.

“Are you shitting me, Ma?" he said "You’re smoking now? What about lung cancer?”

“Well, if you’re allowed one then so am I.”

“I thought I wasn’t allowed one!”

“Was it like that, though?”

“Whatd’ya mean?” Ed said.

“Don’t be stupid. I know you’re not a girl, and you didn’t fall for the President’s daughter. But you’re not going to quit your job and move states for someone you’re not in love with.”

“Well, yeah.”

“You love him.”

“Yeah. I do.”

“So, was it like that?”

“I don’t know, Ma,” Ed said. “What are you asking me? If I... I don't understand the question.”

“You feel so far away,” his mother said. “Do you want to come down for a little while? You can bring… him with you if you like.”

“We’re just settling in up here.”

“What does that mean?”

“I guess I don’t know. We have a place. I don’t have a job.”

“One good thing to come out of all of this,” his mother said, “is that you’re finally changing jobs.”

“Oh great. You too, huh?”

“What do you mean, you too?”

“You know he wouldn’t let me go back on the force?”

“Who?”

“Frank. The President.”

“Well, at least we have one thing in common.”

“That, and Downton Abbey.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, he likes it. I still hate it.”

“Oh, you just don’t like anything good.”

“But you can come up, when we do,” Ed said. “I mean. If you want to.”

That seemed to take his mother by surprise. “Of course I do.”

“I didn’t know if you wanted to meet him.”

“Eddie,” his mother said, “of course.”

“I just wasn’t sure.”

“Oh, Eddie,” his mother said.

She sounded so bereft. Ed had to work to keep hold of his composure and he wasn’t even sure he succeeded. “I’m so sorry, Ma,” he said.

“One of these days, Eddie bear,” his mother said, “you and I will have a talk about regrets. I understand more about it than you think. Your father…”

She didn’t speak for a little while. Ed’s cigarette had burned down and he dropped it into his coffee cup. He thought about lighting another. “Ma? His interview…”

“No, never mind,” she said. “Another time. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

“Ma, I kind of called to talk about it.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I just think some of what he said is bullshit.”

“Your father will say what he’s going to say, Eddie.”

“Yeah, and it’s shit.”

“He’s your father,” his mother said. “You’ve only got one."

Sometimes Ed noticed that whenever he felt bad about his mother, whenever he worried about worrying her, he pinched the bridge of his nose. From other people and from movies it seemed like that was a pretty common gesture in response to stress, but whenever Ed did it, he thought about something specific. Specifically, he thought about when he broke his nose by sliding into home on his face.

It had been accidental (the face part, not the sliding in), but initially he had felt good about it anyway. He bled everywhere, but it didn’t seem to hurt while they were winning. It hurt like fuck when he got home though. His mother had shrieked, and then the pain had hit him.

She couldn’t set it. He knew she worried about it later, because he heard her say it a couple of times, that his nose was crooked and that was her fault, but she couldn’t set it. He’d sat with a cold washcloth on his face while she readied herself, but then when she’d gripped it he cried so hard she could only give it the smallest adjustment. Then he threw up on her. She had taken that with grace, forcing herself (he guessed) to look nothing but sympathetic while she cleaned them both off and then bundled him up onto the sofa in front of the television. She let him lie there for the rest of the night.

Ed remembered eating mashed potatoes and then sleeping. He remembered his mother lifting his much shorter but still gangly legs up so she could sit herself under them. He’d watched TV with his legs on her lap after his surgeries too.

It was stupid, maybe, but Madame President Actual kissing his cheek had reminded him of that. Actually, it was more than stupid, it was fucked up. He had no interest in kissing his mother like that. But he guessed they just felt in some ways the same kind of safe.

Bilson, or it was probably Bilson - in Ed’s head they were all just called ‘New Guy’ -  knocked on the window and Ed rolled it down. He held up a finger. “I gotta go, Ma.”

“I love you,” his mother said.

Her voice hurt him to hear and his own voice hurt him to use but he didn’t know what else to do. “Love you too,” he said.  

His phone rang again as soon as he hung up. “Ed?” the President barked, “where the hell are you?”

“Grocery store,” Ed said.

“What on earth for?”

Ed hesitated. “For… uh, groceries?”

“You got in an hour and a half ago, what are you doing there?”

“I called my mom about my dad’s article, okay? Relax.”

There was a pause. “What article?” the President said.

“It’s in the LA Times,” Ed said. “No idea why. Guess they approached him.”

“What article specifically please, Edward? Give me details.”

Ed heard him shuffling, moving stuff around. He was getting a pen, probably. He’d be writing this down. He’d probably call someone. He might be slipping on his reading glasses. Ed knew what that looked like, that officious, scowling face he made on the phone.

“It’s my dad,” Ed said. “He’s done some kind of exclusive. About our relationship.”

“Ours?”

“Mine and his. His and my mom’s. Yours and mine by association.”

The President grunted. “It’s bad?”

“It’s not great,” Ed said.

“In what sense?”

“In the sense that he has strongly implied that he and I didn’t have a closer relationship due to my mom conspiring to keep us apart.”

“That’s not true, is it?”

“It’s not remotely true,” Ed said. “If anything, the opposite is, so I don’t know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing except trying to get in on the story.”

There was a pause at the President’s end. The kind of pause that sounded like it was happening in reaction to Ed losing his cool. Which Ed didn’t think he had, but then the President cleared his throat in a way that turned Ed’s speculation into a certainty. Ed started to get mad about it. If the President thought he’d lost his cool before, he was about to learn something.

“Are you alright?” the President said. Cautiously. Ed tried to wind it down.

“I’m fine,” Ed said. “I’m just… I’m… you know, my mom…”

“You say you called her?”

“Yeah. She’s okay.”

“And you?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Are you fine?”

“I’m fine,” Ed said, again. He snaked another cigarette out of the pack. He tapped it on the dashboard a couple of times but then he lit it.

“Are you smoking, Edward?”

“Yes I’m smoking,” Ed said. He heard the President grunt again, though he wisely (in Ed’s opinion) chose not to say anything else about it. “Are you coming home?” he said, instead.

“I’m just at the Shaw’s,” Ed said.

“Yes, but after that.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m in Maine, what else am I going to do?”

“I don’t know, look up Stephen King on Grindr?”

Ed snorted. And at that point he realized Bilson was still waiting for him. Which made him basically the biggest dick in the world. He couldn’t even imagine what his mom would say about treating his employees like The Help. It probably made him one of the worst characters on Downton Abbey, but he didn’t care enough to know which one.

He wound his window down. “I’m gonna drive,” he told Bilson.

“Sure thing, sir. Just let me get my…”

“I don’t want anyone else in the car.”

“Sir, someone else has to be in the car with you at all…”

“I don’t want anyone else in the car,” Ed said. “If anyone gives you shit, tell ‘em I said so, but no-one’s getting in the car.”

He didn’t know what he’d have to do if Bilson insisted again. He felt himself squaring his shoulders into a defensive posture and he tried to chill out, but Bilson nodded. “Okay, sir. We’ll follow.”

Ed nodded back. “Respectful distance, okay?” he said. “I’ve already got someone riding my ass.”

He didn’t wait to look at how that went over. He didn’t care. He was, after all, a 90s gay. He didn’t want anyone listening to him blow off steam singing along to Britney Spears. If nothing else, Piece of Me was probably a little on the nose.

[marshmallow-phd]

Lies Untold

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Supernatural, Wolf Au

Pairing: Luhan x Reader

Summary: For generations, your family has been the protectors of mankind. You were considered one of the best and due to that reputation, you were sent on what could be the most important mission for the organization. Going under cover in a college to sniff out a particularly large and threatening wolf pack seemed easy enough. But when you meet one of the members, everything you’ve known since birth will be overturned and your loyalty to your family and heritage will be tested.

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I Final

**

Ice ran through your veins. You could feel his hot breath against your neck. His very proximity was enough to churn your stomach. Your skin was crawling to get away from him. He’d had this effect on you since you were children. There was always something unnerving and unsettling about him.

Out all the people… no. You couldn’t lose your cool. You could still control the situation. You’d conquered your fear of him long ago.

“I don’t know what you’re blabbering about,” you hissed as you stood up from your chair abruptly, causing him to jump back. “I was fixing the files after finding there was a mistake in the information. We can’t exactly operate at an efficient level if we’re strategizing off of inaccurate information.”

Johnny raised an eyebrow, something sparking in his gray eyes. “Inaccurate information, you say?” Out of his pocket, he procured a folded up piece of paper. He held it up between his index and middle finger like it was the winning card of a poker game; his ace in the hole. “If the town was incorrectly named in the files, then why do your GPS coordinates have you going only to the town previously mentioned in the files?”

You always knew that Johnny was twisted. He crossed lines and went around orders. His disciplinary file had an above average amount of papers that had found a home there, but he was never really punished for any of his transgressions. Most of the council actually preferred his methods, even if they went against tradition and honor. And he had mastered hiding the more insatiable parts of himself from the elders. His greatest trick.

This, though… it was like he knew you weren’t going to go through with your mission. Or… he’d been planning something from the beginning….

“What are you getting at, Johnny?” Challenging him in this moment probably wasn’t the best idea, but you needed to keep him talking. Johnny was like the villain in a spy movie. Once he started on his speeches, he gave away everything.

“Entrusting you with this mission was a mistake from the start,” he sneered. “You’re too soft. You’ve never even slain your own wolf.”

“This mission wasn’t about killing,” you snarled back. Whether you were choosing to leave this life or not, being called soft or weak was still an insult. You’d been taught since you were little that being either one of those things would get you killed. “It was getting the book. That’s why you weren’t sent. You’re too reckless. All you think about is the kill. You never look at other perspectives.”

Johnny scoffed. “Other perspectives? You sound a little peace-loving, don’t you?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Slowly, a smirk grew across his lips. “Do I?”

Turning into the predator he really was, Johnny began to circle you, his eyes trained on your face. You tried hard to remain collected, to act bored or uninterested in his little game while in reality, panic was beginning to shake the very fibers of your muscles. Fight or flight was kicking in and either one would give you away.

“I don’t think I do know what you mean actually,” he hissed in a very snake-like fashion in your ear. He was directly behind you now and enjoying the game he was masterminding. “You forget, (y/n), I’ve seen you hesitate before..”

You elbowed him hard in the stomach, receiving a satisfying groan in return. “That was years ago, in a simulation. If that’s the best you’ve got, then maybe you should pick a new career.”

Before you could walk away, Johnny grabbed your arm and spun you around. His wide, round face was red from the strain it took to hold himself back. Controlling his temper was always a struggle for him and you might have just pressed the wrong button.

“I was born and bred to someday lead this section of the organization,” he growled, the grip on your arm tightening, forcing a wince out of you. ���I am the only one strong enough to lead the next generation. You are weak and sympathetic. It makes me sick.”

“I am not,” you argued back desperately.

“Yes, you are. You don’t have the willpower to do what is necessary. But don’t worry. Because I have the will and the vision it takes to eradicate the world of those creatures. I will make sure that every single mongrel is wiped from the face of this earth and I’ll start with your precious monsters.”

“They’re not monsters!” The words were out from your lips before you could bite them back. By the sickening grin spreading across Johnny’s face, you knew you’d given yourself away.

Slowly, the real monster turned his head and glanced over his shoulder. “Is that proof enough for you?”

Suddenly the monitors on the walls flickered on, revealing the council sitting back at the conference table after you’d been told the meeting was dismissed. You were surrounded on all sides by the people you used to admire and look up to. Every member wore a cold expression, save your father. Disappointment and heartbreak were written all over his face.

“No judgement will be passed as of yet,” your father declared. His voice was much more powerful and indifferent than what his features showed. “We’ll investigate further. Until then, she’ll be held in the cells with the possible charge of treason.”

The monitors went black again, cutting off any possible argument you might have given. Pressed against the delicate skin of your neck was the sharp edge of Johnny’s favorite knife.

“Don’t try to fight,” he laughed. “There are more of us outside this room.”

You didn’t plan on fighting. Not right now. But of course he brought backup. He knew if it was simply one-on-one, you’d win. Johnny couldn’t hold his own in a long running match.

Knowing that you didn’t have any other choice, you let him lead you out of the main hall and across the grounds towards the holding cells while his loyal goons followed closely behind with Tasers crackling in their hands.

“(y/n)?”

Shit.

You kept your face forward, ignoring the cries of your baby sister as she ran towards you.

“What are you doing with her!” Alli shouted.

Johnny snarled at her. “Mind your own business, child!”

“I’m not a child!” she bit back. Turning to you, her fierce façade melted away to a desperation for answers. “(y/n), what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry about it, Alli. Everything’s going to be fine.” An empty promise. And she knew it. She maybe not have been an adult, but you couldn’t get away with simple generalizations with her like you could a child.

“Don’t lie to me!”

“Your sister is a traitor, how about that?” Johnny shoved Alli away, making you fight against his grip, but the knife was back at your throat and his slid the metal just enough to break skin. “Get out of here. If you want answers, find your father.”

Alli shot you one last pleading look. At your silence, she took off for the main hall. You weren’t sure if your father would actually explain anything to her, but you hoped he would keep her in the dark just a little while longer. For her own sake.

The only light that was given in the small, stable-like prison came from the high windows that would be just out of your reach. Concrete slabs made up the walls, impossible to climb with their smooth surfaces, and old iron bars speckled with red-orange rust created the doors to the five-by-eight rooms. Old, musky straw covered the dirt floors and several of the cells had worn wrist cuffs hanging from a heavy nail hammered into the walls. Thankfully, Johnny didn’t see a need to chain you up as he shoved you into one of the cells near the middle of the single-hallway building after patting you down for weapons. You hadn’t strapped any on you this morning, deeming it unnecessary. That decision still seemed right. If you were able to get out of here, you knew exactly where your weapons were stored, rather than being in the possession of Johnny. Again, that was if you got out of here.

“This is a truly enjoyable sight,” he snickered as he slammed the cell door shut. With a motion of his head, he led his posse outside, leaving you alone.

You slid down to the ground, not caring about the dirt and grime that was getting all over your pants. It wasn’t a surprise that you landed here. As soon as you’d gotten into Innie’s car, you knew there was a high chance that you’d be caught. You’d come to terms with the end and so now all there was left to do was sit and wait for your fate.

**

Luhan crouched down low in the shrubbery that outlined the compound. Buildings that ranged from large training facilities to personal homes were scattered among the grounds in no specific order. Hunters were wandering around in groups of three or four, the older ones walking stoically with their hands hand their backs while the more youthful hunters were loudly joking and shoving each other.

The sun was still too high in the sky for his liking, so Luhan waited - rather impatiently - for the better cover of night. He had no idea where you were or which house belonged to your family, but that was easily handled. He just needed to find a small hint of your scent. Surely you’d been gone long enough that he wouldn’t pick up old, confusing traces.

As soon as he had the cover of darkness and the compound seemed to have settled for the night, Luhan emerged from the forest and slowly walked along the cemented trails. He stuck to the shadows, but at the same time tried to look like he belonged so no one would question him from a distance. Taking several deep breaths, he tried to concentrate on finding your scent among dozens scattered around the area.

Finally locating it, he followed your trail to the largest building in the center of this place. He knew walking into what was obviously the headquarters for this branch of the organization, but he needed to find you.

And the front door was unlocked.

So, he opened it slowly, stepping inside and carefully, quietly closing it back up again. He scanned the long hallway, careful to look for any signs of movement. After a hundred feet or so, your scent came to a stop at a pair of double doors. There was no light shining out from underneath onto the carpet, indicating that the room wasn’t in use. Was it possible you were still in there?

Luhan decided to take the risk. He placed his palm on the shiny golden handle and pushed.

The room was empty. Great. Now he had to find the trail again.

“Well, isn’t this a lovely surprise?”

Luhan whirled around. Leaning against the opposite wall was a cocky-looking hunter about his size twirling a knife between his hands. Luhan knew his eyes were giving off an amber glow, catching the smallest bit of light to give him better sight. This hunter knew what he was, anyway.

“It’s interesting that you came after her. Very revealing,” the hunter mused, not looking up at Luhan. He instead kept watching the knife as if it held the world’s secrets in its structure. “I thought (y/n) had just gone soft, unable to hurt the poor, unsuspecting wolves. But now that you’re here,” he pointed at Luhan with the knife, finally making eye contact with him, “I suspect that it’s much more than that. Is she, perhaps, your precious, fated mate? That would certainly explain a lot.”

Luhan let out a low, threatening growl. “Where is she?”

“In the same place all traitors go,” he shrugged. “But she won’t be there very long. Especially now that you’re here. Maybe we’ll be nice and kill you both together. Wouldn’t that be sweet? Just like Shakespeare’s stupid play.”

Luhan wanted to pounce. He wanted nothing more than to jump on this sick, sadistic hunter and rip his throat out for even thinking about hurting you. But before his muscles could twitch, the doors at the end of the hallway flew open, revealing a new group of hunters.

Shlink.

The knife the first hunter had been holding was now embedded into the wall near Luhan’s ear.

Well, shit.

Taking off in the opposite direction, Luhan burst through the doors, making it to the outside before the other hunters made it to their leader. Thankful for his supernatural speed, Luhan bobbed and weaved through the buildings. He couldn’t head back to the woods. Even though it was his territory, the place he was most familiar with, it would make getting back here nearly impossible.

From what he heard with his acute ears, the hunters were still a ways behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, but he couldn’t see where they might be looking for him. Up ahead, there looked like what might have been an unused building. The grass around the edge of overgrown and a few of the higher up windows were cracked or missing corner pieces. He ran towards the possible hiding spot.

He didn’t make it.

Strong hands stopped him in his tracks and yanked him off his course. He landed hard on his back against the wall of one of the steel buildings. The jolt sent a shockwave through his system, unnerving him for a few seconds as he shook the stars away.

“If we live through this, I’m going to kill you.”

Luhan blinked, his eyes widening as he made out the silhouettes of some of his pack members. Kris still had a good grip on Luhan’s shirt and his eyes were flickering red as he towered over him.

“Why the hell did you take off on your own?” Tao whispered harshly. Concern was evident all over his face, even in the low light of a crescent moon.

Luhan shoved Kris’ hand away. Guilt bubbled up in his stomach, growing worse when he saw that Minseok was among the tiny rescue party. “You shouldn’t have come for me. The more of us there are, the more easily we could be caught.”

“Well, we’re not going to be caught because we’re getting out of here,” Kris argued.

“No.” Luhan glared up at the alpha. “They have (y/n) locked up and they’re going to kill her. I have to get her out.”

Tao looked back and forth between Kris and Luhan, his uncertainty of who to follow apparent. Minseok, however, had no trouble on deciding.

“I’ll help you get her out.”

Kris’ looked down at the eldest wolf in shock. “You realize she’s the one who shot you, right?”

“Yes, I do,” Minseok nodded. “But at the end of the day, she’s Luhan’s mate. If getting her out means Luhan comes home, too, then I’m going to help.”

Kris tried to hold his ground. They all knew if he really wanted to, he could order them all back home. The only one who wouldn’t be able to obey would be Luhan. Only the mate pull was stronger than a true alpha’s orders. But Kris had always refused to be the person who forced his authority.

He sighed heavily, looking up at the twinkling stars before bringing his face back down. “Fine. We’ll get the hunter out.”

Luhan smiled, but the flickering, hope-filled joy only lasted a second as an ear-splitting scream cut through the air.

[shockapella-sweet]

Get to Know the Blogger ^3^

Because an autobiography would be an absolute slog to get through. Also, I was tagged by @evieisstruck to do this. ^-^ Let’s get into this:

Name: Shockapella Dash Sweet (“Dash” is that embarrassing middle name we don’t talk about).

Height: 1.61 metres when I got myself measured at the pharmacy recently, 1.64 metres at the GP soon after. So at this rate, I’ll be over four metres next year.

Wearing: A light burgundy top (AKA my fancy going-out top) and charcoal-grey pants. To complete the look, my dusty, navy-blue slippers with the words “NAP QUEEN” written in silver on them. Which, I suppose, is a lie because I can’t nap to save my life.

Introvert or Extrovert: I’m an extroverted introvert, leaning towards introvert. Like, it really depends who I’m with or where I am; I’ve had people telling me that they would not believe I’m not an extrovert. But honestly, I’m a homebody who prefers solitude. The more cynical side of me would say that I love people, but I hate people as well. ^-^;;

Siblings: One. Four, if you count my dogs.

Following: 87.

Followers: Enough for a duck sanctuary.

Instruments: Learned to play the recorder in junior school. Also play a bit of the piano and drums.

Fandoms: Oh hell, LOTS. The ones I can think of right now are Mortal Kombat, The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Sims. 

Favourite Author(s): A lot times two. I do love me some Jeffery Deaver and Agatha Christie, and I adore Alexander McCall Smith for his humour and gorgeous descriptions. And of course, Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl are among my childhood favourites.

Favourite Star Wars: Oh feck, Evie, did you put this question here? XD Um ... anything with General Grievous in it?

Favourite Genre Of Music: Anything that has a good sound and catches my fancy. Pop, Rock, Old School jams, 90s/80s tunes, instrumentals and film/cartoon/video game soundtracks are my go-to genres.

Favourite Musical Artist: LOADS. I can’t pinpoint one, but obviously Cascada has to be one of them. XP

Favourite Song: Kiss from a Rose by Seal. There are more, but this song gets me all the time.

Last Google Search: "montego dog food sale.” The siblings dogs gotta eat.

Recommend A Video Game: The Sims 2. Probably the best sequel in The Sims series. Great expansion packs, intriguing story plots, fantabulous soundtrack(s), addictive gameplay and N O T S I M S 4. Also messing with your Sims is entertaining.

Recommend A Music Album: Timbaland’s Shock Value. The sound will hook you in and take you through a rollercoaster of emotions. By the end of it, you’ll have it on replay.

Recommend A Book: Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie. Just because I finished re-reading it for the hundred thousandth time, and I’m still surprised every time.

Recommend A Recipe: Phwoar, apricot chicken and potatoes, guys. Get you a oven-proof dish, and put a few pieces of chicken and potatoes in it. Mix together apricot juice and brown onion soup, then pour it over the chicken and potatoes. Place in the oven on 200 degrees Celsius (hell knows what the US equivalent is) for 30 minutes. Take it out, douse them with more of the juice/soup mix already in the dish, turn them over, douse again, and pop back into the oven for another 30 minutes. Serve, enjoy, and feel fulfilled forever until you get hungry again. (Feel free to season the chicken and potatoes with salt and pepper before dousing ‘em.)

Share A Creative Thought You Had Today: It’s less of a creative thought and more of a philosophical one: “In all of Kronika’s infinite, pointless timelines/New Eras to the nth degree, are the souls in Ermac’s body still the same, or are they different ones each time?” Also thought about some MK intros, specifically a list with intros just from Johnny Cage. X3

I tag @fml-its-ashley, @sopa17362, @the-cryomancer-grandmaster, @whatamidoingwithmylifeman and @daku15, as well as anyone else who wants to do this. ^3^

[mamabearlarusso]

Lunch Run

I still want you by my side

Just to help me dry the tears that I've cried

Just my luck...the damn song is on in the car--on a totally different station. (Whatever happened to your playlists, anyway...all of the sudden you're back to the radio?) Turning off the music and putting the windows down, the walls are easing up and I can breathe again.

They have me looking for a certain sandwich shop. We'd gotten lunch from there before, but I've never actually been there--always just called in for delivery. (Great thinking, Einstein!) The only sound--in between the GPS guy's directions--was the buzzing and honking of the traffic. And, of course, that was slowly drowned out by the thoughts in my head. Trying to think of the lunch place--and only the lunch place--had me flashing back to searching for Johnny again...but the big pot at the end of this rainbow, isn't all that rewarding. Lunch...over seeing him again...bringing him home...where he belongs? Not really a competition...I don't care how good the sandwiches are.

Remembering being in his arms on that warm day...wearing a leather jacket...not really thinking too clearly about anything but him. I came close to telling him, one of the major reasons why I actually went through all the trouble of tracking him down. Sure, he was leaving the hospital without a doctor's okay--after a major accident. Sure, I was pissed that he ran out on us all--especially the boys--without so much as a fare thee well. But knowing that he was willing to do what he…that he almost…I had to know that he was okay. I had to bring him back. (For what...just so he could play you some more? No, I saw it it in his eyes...when he told me-- Told you what...I would if I could, but I can't? No, I know it was real. Ever heard of the Oscars, Lady? No, he took care of me after I fainted, made sure I wouldn't leave that room until I was able. Of course, he had to send you back in good health...how would it look to his adoring fans back home, if word got out that he just left you like that. No, stop that, he would never have done that...he made me feel safe and protected and-- --And what...loved...really?!...I think they have a name for that...Stockholm something. Would you quit it...he wasn't holding me captive and he wasn't torturing me. Oh really, what do you call this...sure seems like torture to me...don't you think you've had enough...after all these years and all the assholes that have crapped all over you...don't you think you deserve real happiness...nothing fake?) 

I practically growled in frustration...if only to stop the wet curtain falling over my eyes. I was so deep in thought, that I missed a few turns and the navigation system was going crazy, trying to get me back on track. I put the radio back on to clear my head.

I know I've been mistaken

But just give me a break

And see the changes that I've made

I've got some imperfections

But how can you collect them all

And throw them in my face

(No... Don't you dare. But I did...I did thrown it in his face...did you see the look he gave me? I hurt him...I know I did. He was playing the part...Oscars, remember?)

I hope you're not intending

To be so condescending

It's as much as I can take

And you're so independent

You just refuse to bend

So I keep bending till I break

(Don't pay attention to that damn song...turn it off and go get lunch damn it!)

I needed fulfillment

I found what I need in you

Can't you just forgive me

I don't want to relive all the mistakes

I've made along the way

(No, no, no...don't go down that street...turn around, go back...what are you doing?)

So, here I am...again...in the light of day--but parked across the street this time. It's quiet, the trees are flowing with the light wind...a mother is pushing her children in a stroller passed his building...just some ordinary day...like nothing happened...like we didn't tear each other apart. (It was only three days ago, you'd think there would have been some...sign...that it happened...but nothing. He called. Oh yeah, he called two maybe three times that night, which you promptly ignored. I couldn't...not yet, it was...I was too. Yeah well, nothing since...and no heads up when he got back into town...guess that whole strike first, strike hard bull shit only applies to anyone and anything but you, huh?)

*phone rings*

"Hey, Mamasita--"

*half smiles at the friendly distraction* "oh, hey, Jojo...when, uh, when are you bringing Vicki over to the house? Don't make me come over there and ambush you and the family."

"Well, that depends...are you gonna keep your appointment? You know, if you've changed your mind, it's not too late to do a little tweaking."

(We went over this...this is about you shedding your fancy, fake Encino skin...this is about you remembering who you are--no matter how it happened...and if you want, it'll be like remembering the 'good times'...because you know those never last anyway.) *sighs with determination* "No. I'll be there. Everything goes as planned. *hears a pause on his end* I'm serious, I'm good to go, Joseph."

"Okay...Friday then. Well, I just called to check in, before I talk to Pops tomorrow. Want me to add anything to the weekly dispatch?"

I can hear in his voice...he knows something is up...he's trying to get it off my mind by bringing up old news...old news I've not talked about in years. "No, that's something I've got to do myself."

"Okay, that's fair enough. Take care, Sis."

"Thanks, Joey. You too." *hangs up*

With one last look at the apartment complex...and a deep steadying breath...I drive away...getting back to my original quest for lunch.

[hope-for-olicity]

Airplanes, Coffee and Deadlines 3/?

Felicity begins working at a national newspaper where she has always dreamed of working. On her first day, she meets a very interesting photojournalist. The two will eventually work together but sparks fly immediately. This and all previous chapters are also available on AO3.

Oliver turned off his SUV as they arrived at the address Felicity programmed into the GPS. Felicity jumped out of the car immediately.

“Hey, wait for me!” Oliver rushed to get out of the car, following her toward the house.

Felicity stopped on the steps. “Sorry, I’m just really excited.”

Oliver chuckled. “I can tell.”

Felicity knocked on the door as Oliver made his way up the step. The door was opened by a young girl who took one look at Felicity before turning back to yell into the house, “Mom, Felicity’s here!” She left the door opened and ran off.

Oliver looked at Felicity nodding toward the open door, “should we go in?”

Felicity stepped inside with Oliver right behind her. She could smell freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Her stomach grumbled loud enough for Oliver to hear.

“Maybe we should get some food after?” Oliver looked at Felicity with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s just the smell of the cookies.” Felicity thought that explained everything.

Oliver smirked, they both turned to see a young woman around Felicity’s age make her way toward them carrying a plate of cookies. “Felicity! It’s so nice to see you again. Would you and your guest like a cookie?”

“Thanks so much!” Felicity grabbed a cookie from the plate. “Annie this Oliver Queen, my colleague, friend.” Felicity blushed not sure what to say.

Oliver jumped in. “Nice to meet you, Annie. Felicity is very excited to get her dog.”

Oliver gave Annie a smile, Felicity wondered why the other woman didn’t swoon. Damn, she’d missed him.

“Felicity, if you’ll follow me, the puppies are down in the back room.” Annie led the way down the hallway. As they got closer the sound of yipping puppies became louder.

Felicity grabbed Oliver’s arm tightly. “This is really happening!! Squee!”

Oliver had never seen someone so happy, it was as though it radiated from her. He followed them into the room. Felicity immediately crouched down and all the puppies rushed toward her. He loved watching her laugh with joy. “So which one are you bringing home?”

Felicity leaned down, scooping up the puppy she had chosen last week. “Oliver, meet  Baby.”

“Baby?” Oliver looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, Baby!” Felicity squeed with delight. She turned to Annie, “I bought all the supplies you suggested. I just hope she likes her new home.”

“Well, she clearly loves you.” Annie smiled as Baby licked Felicity’s hand.

~~~~~

Oliver hadn’t seen Felicity since she brought Baby home, she took the next day off to make sure Baby was comfortable. So he was looking forward to seeing her today. He walked in the newsroom carrying two coffees.

He was more than a little surprised when he got to his desk and saw a coffee waiting for him. Not that he couldn’t drink two coffees but where had it come from? Oliver walked to Felicity’s desk.

As he rounded the corner of her cubicle he saw Baby in her bed at Felicity’s feet.  Felicity was typing on her laptop. “Good morning! I brought you a…”

Felicity turned to face him, coffee in hand.

“Another coffee. Oops!” Oliver placed the coffee cup on Felicity’s desk.

“Thank you!!! No worries! It’s a MANY coffee kind of day. This one,” she pointed a Baby sleeping soundly in her bed. “Would not sleep last night, no problems now.” Felicity yawned.

Oliver chuckled. “I’m sorry. I guess there is an adjustment period.”

“Yes.” Felicity smiled. “I hope you can also handle two cups of coffee. I picked one up for you too.”

“Thank you, Felicity. You didn’t have to do that.” Oliver was so happy to be back.

“Neither did you.” Felicity nodded at him. “We will both be well caffeinated.”

~~~~~

Felicity left Baby with the librarians who adored the puppy when went for the assignment meeting. She was assigned her first crime story. There was a stabbing in broad daylight, she needed to head to the scene right away.

She walked out of the meeting trying to decide if she could bring Baby home first when she felt a hand on her elbow.

“Hey, you can leave Baby at my desk. I’m editing and proofing photos today, staying office-bound.” Oliver noticed the excitement on her face when she was given her story but then the look of concern. He realized it was probably about Baby.

“Are you sure? I mean, she’s not your responsibility.” Felicity was so grateful but she didn’t want to take advantage of Oliver’s kindness. He had work to do too.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I couldn’t do it.” Oliver reassured. “Where is Baby now?”

“I left her in bed sleeping in the library with Maggie. She doesn’t know the place and the rules here yet, so I didn’t want to leave her alone.” Felicity began trying to explain herself.

“I totally understand. Maggie loves dogs has a couple of her own. Good choice.”  Oliver saw the relief on Felicity’s face. “Now, go get your story. Baby will be well taken care of.”

Felicity beamed. “Thanks a million. I totally owe you.” She rushed back to her desk to grab her coat and keys.

~~~~~

While Felicity was out in the field she was checking in via text. Oliver sent her back pics of Baby. Which he hoped made her smile.

“You know Baby,” Oliver crouched down next to the dog now wide awake in her bed. “I’m a famous photographer you are very lucky to be photographed by me.”

“Baby? Oliver, what has become of you?” John chuckled looking down at his friend who sat at the floor next to the dog.

Oliver looked up from the floor. “John, this is Baby, Felicity’s new puppy.”

“Oh man, you got it bad. You are taking care of her pet?” John couldn’t help but tease his friend.

“Haha. I offered. Felicity was assigned to the downtown stabbing and since I’m hanging here all day….” Oliver trailed off.

“Well, that’s why I’m here. You aren’t hanging here all day. Lyla wants to see us both. Video conference in the big boardroom.” John nodded toward the room across the way.

“Okay, I’ll just drop Baby off with Maggie in the library. I’ll meet you there.” Oliver began getting up from the floor with the puppy in his arms cuddled into him and her bed in his other hand.

“Nope, you are walking into the conference room just like that. Lyla would kill me if she missed this. Plus, she considers that puppy half her’s. Felicity and Lyla Facetimed numerous times yesterday. All the “Baby” talk - super confusing.” John turned leading Oliver toward the conference room.

John entered the room first, going over to his laptop on the table, clicking a button to reconnect with his wife. “Lyla, I’m back with Oliver and a special visitor.”

Lyla’s face appeared on the large screen in the room. Her face softened the moment she saw who Oliver was holding. “Baby! Oh, what a delight!”

Baby gave a quick bark of recognition. “Hi Lyla. Glad you don’t mind me bringing Baby along, Felicity is in the field so I volunteered to look after her.”

“No problem at all. I just wanted to update you and Johnny on the status of our visa applications for you and a reporter to enter Syria. As you know, the Syrian hasn’t exactly been handing them out to journalists. We considered getting you in through other means, but that would make it difficult to get you out if necessary. The good news is that it looks like President Assad is considering allowing western journalists in. He wants to improve his image in the west,” Lyla scrunched up her nose in disgust.  “Oliver, I know your last trip inside really impacted you. I can assign someone else but I wanted to offer the job to you first.”

“Yes, it was rough. But it’s a story that needs to be told. Please, let me know the moment you get the visas.” Oliver’s voice sounded more confident than he actually was. He’d worked with Dr. Caitlin Snow upon his return from Syria the first time. But one never really gets over the horrors of war, you just learn techniques to deal. He’d been meeting with Caitlin again since his return from Afghanistan. She said he was making progress, truthfully, he’d had fewer nightmares since returning home, however, he wasn’t sure what she would think about him returning to the field so quickly. He decided Caitlin’s office would be his next stop. But first, he had to deal with the squirmy puppy in his hand, best make a trip outside before an accident occurred.

~~~~~

Barry, Caitlin’s assistant, smiled as Oliver approached with Baby walking along beside him. “Oh my!!! Who is this?”

Oliver smiled. Everyone seemed to love Baby. “Barry, this is Baby, my colleague Felicity’s dog.”

“Well, aren’t you just adorable?!” Barry looked down at Baby. Baby responded with a quick yip of agreement.

“Just wondering if I can book Caitlin’s next possible appointment. I might have to go on assignment soon so the sooner the better.” Oliver looked at Caitlin’s closed door.

“Hold on one second, let me talk with Caitlin.” Barry made a quick knock on Caitlin’s door before letting himself inside.

Oliver waited outside with Baby. He looked down at the dog, who looked a little sad now that no one was praising her up.

Barry came back out. “You can go in now, Oliver. Best leave Baby with me. Caitlin has allergies.”

“Of course!” Oliver put down Baby’s bed, he’d been carrying and Baby quickly settled down inside. “Let me know if there are any problems.”

Oliver opened the door and headed in.

“Oliver, so nice to see you. How are you feeling?” Caitlin looked up from a file on her desk.

“I’m well. Fewer nightmares. More meditation and journaling.” Oliver took a seat across from Caitlin’s desk.

“Well, that is wonderful to hear. I was a little worried when Barry said you needed to see me unexpectedly. But you know, I will always make time for you.” Caitlin smiled.

“I appreciate that. I actually wanted to talk to you about the action plan you mentioned the last time we spoke. I have the tools that you have taught me and they do help but you suggested the next time I go into the field that I have an action plan to help me when you aren’t there.” Oliver looked at her hopefully.

“Yes, I think an action plan would work best for you. It would be a combination of things like journaling and meditation also some Skype meetings with IF that’s possible. Are you going away so soon?” Caitlin opened her computer to begin taking notes.

“Soon, I’m not sure exactly when,” Oliver nodded. “Lyla may have been able to secure some visas for us to get into Syria. You know this is an important story for me to document. There are so few pictures coming out of there. So many people suffering in silence.”

Caitlin's lips grew tight. “I do understand, Oliver. I honestly, don’t think you should go so soon but I will help you to come up with a plan. I doubt Skype counselling will be possible in Syria but the rest will. If you need to get out while you are there - if it becomes too much for you - I will back you up with your bosses.”

“Thanks, Caitlin. Lucky for me I have great bosses and you on my side. I promise I will do all you advise.”

Oliver and Caitlin began to hash out his plan of action.

~~~~~

Felicity returned to the office as soon as she could. She never expected it to take so long but she had to follow the lead. Now she just had to type the story up. She swung by Oliver’s desk excited to retrieve Baby. She was sad to find the desk empty.

She sent Oliver a text.

Felicity: I’m back

Felicity: Sorry, it took so long

Felicity: Baby?

Oliver: I have Baby

Oliver: No worries, we will be back soon.

Felicity smiled. She couldn’t wait to see them both. Her fingers hit the keyboard as she began to type up her story.

~~~~~

Oliver could hear Felicity typing as he approached, he held Baby in his arms, he could tell the dog sensed Felicity, she began looking around.

He walked over to Felicity’s desk. “We’re back.”

Felicity turned around in her seat, thrilled to see Baby and Oliver. “Baby!”

The dog yipped, angling to get out of Oliver’s arms and back with Felicity. “Woah, I think she missed you.”

Felicity took Baby in her arms. “Well, I missed her. Which is crazy as we just met but sometimes you just have this instant connection, you know?”

Oliver nodded. Oh yes, he knew. “How did your story go?”

“Well, it was certainly more than a simple stabbing. Hence, why I was gone all day. I can tell you about it over dinner if you like?” Felicity gave him a hopeful smile.

“That would be great.” More than great, Oliver thought, that would be perfect. “I have some news to share as well.”

“Well, once I submit my story, I’ll bring Baby home and get changed. Can I meet you somewhere? What are you in the mood for?” Pizza, Felicity began to try to tell him telepathically.

Oliver chuckled. “I’ll come to pick you up. I sense you have a craving from your face - we will have that.”

Felicity laughed. “Betrayal by my own face! I want pizza! I’ve been smelling it all day.”

“Pizza it is. I’ll swing by to get you around 730.” As Oliver backed away he noticed Baby looked a little sad before she snuggled back into Felicity’s arms. Seems Felicity was her happy place too. Oliver couldn’t fault that.

Thanks so much for reading!

@mindramblingsfics @memcjo @mel-loves-all @wherethereissmoak @green-arrows-of-karamel @spaztronautwriter @wrldtravler @tdgal1 @vaelisamaza @oliverfel4 @lucyyh @swordandarrow  @smoaking-greenarrow @it-was-a-red-heeler @miriam1779 @coal000 @blondeeoneexox @laurabelle2930 @allimariexf @onceuponarrow @swordandarrow @msbeccieboo @tangled23works @icannotbelieveiamhere @1-crazy-dreamer @stephswims

[wearebadcode]

Chapter V: II.II. 2015. The move (part II).

“Chapter summary: second part. This one follows Beca and Amy road-trip across the country, from Atlanta (GA) to Washington, DC -where they have to stay the night before hitting the road again to NY. Amy has a lot to say about Beca and Chloe's relationship during this trip...

Also on AO3.

(II). June 12th, 2015. The road-trip. Atlanta-Greensboro-DC

Atlanta.

6am, ET (Atlanta) - 3am, PT (Portland).

"Why is it 6am already? So sooooon" came Amy's sleepy voice when she heard the alarm went off.

"Ugh, I know, dude. It's too soon" came Beca's response in between yawns. "Okay, I'm gonna go take a quick shower since I'm the one who'll drive for the first 5 hours. Get ready, Ames".

"Ye... yeah. Let me know when you're ready so I could jump in the shower myself".

"Okay...".

The clock struck 6.30 am when the two women were finally ready. They left their attic room they've been sharing for the last three years and went straight downstairs towards the Bellas' kitchen.

"Coffee right away, Amy please. I need multiple shots of coffee right now" Beca demanded.

"Would you like me to fill a thermo for us to take away?".

"Pretty please".

"I happen to have a few syringes, too. In case you know..." Amy imitated the gesture as if she was injecting something into her veins trough some syringe.

"Wh... I don't wanna know why or how you managed to get those syringes, actually... Anyway. I say we grab some pastries, some bread or toast, two bottles of water and definitely coffee to take away and we hit the road. We're late already...".

"Start the car, then. I'll bring the cavalry" Amy proposed, so Beca exit the Bellas' house one last time to get to her car. Her gaze found the house she lived in for almost the entire time of her uni period and a sad smile appeared on her face. She, then, took her phone out of her pocket jeans and took a photo of what it will be her happiest and last memory of Barden.

"Look at this place... So sad already 😟 I'm gonna miss it here" Beca texted Chloe as she sent the picture she just took of the Bellas' house. "Anyway, it's 6.35 am here in Atlanta. We're about to hit the road. I'm gonna drive for 5 hours, aprox. We'll be stopping at some point in North Carolina to switch places with Amy, don't know where or when would that be. I'll let you know as soon as we decide something. Morning, btw 😊”.

"Start the car! Beca, start the caaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!! C'mooooon" Amy began shouting and running with several bags on her hands once she'd exit the Bellas' house.

"Dude, Amy. Why are you screaming? And why are you running? If Aubrey could see you right now..." Beca asked through the car's open copilot door.

"Nothing in particular... I've always wanted to say that as if we were on a movie, you know. Like we could've just robbed a bank and you'd be the getaway driver, so I figured why not" said Amy, looking directly at Beca, who was sat down in the pilot's car seat.

"What?" Beca furrowed her brown -she was always so confused by the Australian... "Why are you carrying so many bags? Have you left something in there?"

"Water, milk, some veggie food and... I think that's all. Look, Beca, no one's here at the moment and we're not ever getting back here, so..." Amy said, as she took the copilot seat.

"Fair enough, Ames..." Beca answered, as she closed her car side's door. "Safety first. Seat belt?"

"Check" Amy affirmed.

"Okay, then we're reaaadyyy. NY, we're coming for you!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Let's gooooo"

And the two women began their road-trip journey to NY. First stop: somewhere in North Carolina to continue to DC.

Atlanta-Greensboro.

Around 11am, ET (somewhere in North Carolina) - Around 8am, PT (Portland).

"Okay, Ames. I think we've almost completed half of the road-trip to DC. This little 'fella' here says we're about to arrive in Salis...bury?" Beca said, pointing at the car's GPS.

"Where is that?" asked Amy.

"North Carolina, apparently?"

"I don't even know where that is! Anyway, when do you wanna switch places?"

"I'm good for another hour, that would make my 5 hour-drive mark. You good to switch places in an hour? That way we both drive for 5 hours or so".

"Yeah, no problem. That means I'll get to change the music playlist? 'Cause I gotta say, this man right here has no rhythm at all" Amy agreed.

"What are you talking about? Johnny Cash is a country legend, dude! He's the fucking 'Man in black'! Perfect playlist to listen to while driving through the country roads! And he actually had a song titled 'Get rhythm', just so you know".

"Whateveeeeer".

"You literally have no idea! Anyway, grab the GPS and look where we can stop in less than an hour or so, wherever might that be" Beca asked, who was still driving and focused on the road ahead.

"On it. Let's see... Oh, god".

"Amy, what the fuck? I can't pay attention to you right now! I'm driving!"

"Sssshhhh, the GPS just slipped off my hands, but I'll find it".

"Dude, you're such a terrible road-trip buddy".

"Okay, I got the little bastard. Um... So we're around... which was the city we just left behind? Sals... something?"

"Salisbury, yeah".

"Riiiiight. Okay, so apparently we have a bunch of cities ahead before we get to the next state" Amy checked.

"Okay, then pick one of them before arriving there. Whichever you like the most".

"What about Greensboro? Sounds cool".

"Is that an hour or so apart from wherever we are now?"

"45 minutes according to this".

"That'll do. Greensboro it is".

Greensboro.

Around 12am, ET (Greensboro) - Around 9am, PT (Portland).

Beca and Amy just arrived in Greensboro. They looked for a right spot to stop the car at, took the coffee thermo Amy filled before leaving Atlanta with them, and the two women stepped out of the car to stretch their legs a little.

Beca took her phone and took a picture of the street she and Amy were at. 'I mean, it's not exactly NG quality material but it's something...' -Beca started typing on her phone. 'This is the looovely Greensboro we're at right now, North Carolina apparently. We stopped here to stretch our legs a little -we've been on the road for like 5 hours now and we still have another 4-5 hours ahead before we arrive in DC. Amy's gonna drive from now on. We leave in 10 minutes -12am o'clock. It's 9am in Portland... Shouldn't you get up of bed already? 🙄'

"Okay, so right now we're just 4 hours and a half away from DC, right? And we've been on the road for another 5 hours or so. So we're pretty okay on time" Beca pointed out after putting the phone back on her jeans back pocket. She, then, took a sip of coffee and handed the thermo back to Amy.

"So Chloe's habits finally rubbed off on you... You got this pretty under control".

"Yeah, since you're a disaster... Even I have to got things under control when you're around...".

"That's also right. I would've get lost before leaving Atlanta...".

"And that's why I have to take care of delicate things like this one, in case you're wondering".

"That's also so very Chloe of you..."

"Whatever, Amy..." Beca rolled her eyes. "Are you good to go?" the woman asked as she began walking rapidly towards where they parked the car, desperately looking for a way out of the conversation while giving her back to Amy -Beca wanting to avoid eye contact with the Australian, who the brunette felt she was about to come out with some sort of  'Bhloe' undeniable fact.

"Hey, send a letter when you get to the car. I have no intention to walk faster. You know my deal with cardio" Amy shouted.

"Yeah, you're pretty much allergic to it..." Beca whispered once she got to the car.

Amy get to the car a couple of minutes later, she sat down, closed the door, put the seat beat on and started the car.

"Let's burn this roaaads!" Amy encouraged.

"Eeeeeasy, Ames" Beca grinned. "Okay, let's go to DC".

Greensboro-DC.

Around 1pm, ET (Greensboro) - Around 10am, PT (Portland).

'Wake uuuuuuup, dude. Amy's playlist is literally a physical torture my ears wished they're deaf 😟' Beca typed on her phone and put the device down right beside the car's gear shift.

Beca slowly began to open her eyes, waking up after a while, just to found Amy grabbing and shaking her by her left shoulder. "Dude, what's up? Why do you do this stuff? Why are you like this?" Beca asked in a sleepy tone.

"Beca! Wake up!"

"Don't you see that I'm trying that already?! Jeez..." Beca said

"Your phone's getting crazy! It won't stop vibrating!"

"Oh... I hope it's not job related or I'm screwed..." Beca said as she unlocked the device screen.

"Are you fired?" Amy asked.

"... It's just Chloe".

"Since when do you guys text each other so feverishly?".

"What?" Beca asked, looking confused. "Amy, it's Chloe. We're always texting".

"Why did you skip the 'so feverishly' part?".

"Not relevant? I mean, I told her I will be texting her during the road-trip. No big deal".

"Ahaaaaa!".

"Aha what?" Beca rose her eyebrows.

"Don't you see where am I going with this?".

"Not a clue, honestly".

But Beca knew the moment Amy joked about Chloe's habits rubbing off on her when they were in Greensboro earlier, she was just trying to avoid the 'Bhloe' topic conversation.

"You and Chloe are always texting and you just made no big deal about it...".

"Yeah... 'cause it's not a big deal, Amy?".

"But you're always texting each other, you guys!".

"Only because we've always been texting each other! It's just how it is, I don't know dude".

"Doesn't that tell you something? You don't usually text me..."

"Amy, Chloe's my best friend! Of course I usually text her...".

"What? Am I not your best friend?!".

"Uh... I mean, you are one of my best friends. But with Chloe... I don't know, it's just different..."

"Ahaaaa! I caught you with your guard down..."

"Wh... I said nothing!" Beca protested.

"Oh, but you said enough... Now answer her, she seemed very anxious...".

That left Beca thinking about what just happened. Yeah, she and Chloe were always texting each other, 'cause they've always been. It was more than an habit, more than a thought -it'd always came as a natural thing for them to do, to act like this when they were around each other even if that was miles apart. They've always had this unspoken thing floating between them. And Beca started placing that 'thing' some weeks ago...

Since the Bellas spend that weekend at Aubrey's retreat as a preparation for Worlds. The look she shared with Chloe that final night by the campfire left her wondering if those feelings had always been there -only it was right there, in that very intimate moment, when she started identifying them as what they were: a crush, maybe? And yeah, she was pretty excited about the fact she will be sharing an actual home with Chloe, her best friend after all, in New York. That's why she was letting Chloe know all the details of this road-trip: she loved to share things with her, making the redhead part of her 'journey'. Whatever that 'journey' was.

"Bhloe will riiiiiiiseeeee" Amy sang softly.

"Amy! Enough of that!".

"Yeah, okay. But you do realize you haven't mention Jesse not one single time, right? You pretty much text Chloe as if she was your girlfriend instead..." Amy pushed.

'Shit' thought Beca.

"Do you always have to push things to the limit?" Beca sighed.

Amy shrugged and Beca chose the silence, only her brain was working a thousand revolutions per second. The brunette, then, rested her head by her car's side window and closed her eyes. She knew Amy had a point, and she knew her friend was right: she completely forgot about Jesse -being the man Beca's actual boyfriend. He lived miles apart, on the other side of the country now she'll be living in New York. With Chloe. Not with him, but with Chloe. Not with her boyfriend, but with her best friend -the person Beca happen to have a crush on. 'I'm so screwed' Beca thought to herself.

The brunette opened her eyes, at properly on the car's seat and unlocked her phone to read the messages Chloe had sent her a while ago.

'Oh my god, Bec, I'm so sorryyyy! I thought I left my phone plugged during the night, but I actually forgot to do that and the thing ran out of battery! 😭 So obviously the alarm didn't go off and I overslept 😴 sooo late...'.

'Anyway, I see the road-trip is going pretty good? Except for the wanting to be deaf part... That is complicated given you're stuck with Amy... what? 4 more hours or so? Don't woooorry, you'll liiiiive. Where are you guys now?' said the texts Chloe sent to Beca.

So Beca decided to reply. 'Yeah, you're definitely not helping by counting the time left... Maybe I'll live, but my ears? Listening to the Spice Girls in a loop for two hours? Yeah, good luck with that...'.

'Couldn't reply earlier. Felt asleep for an entire hour 😴 Don't know where we are exactly, but pretty sure it's already Virginia' Beca typed, recoiling a little.

"You really made my day, Amy... Congrats" Beca said sharply -sarcasm was Beca's ultimate weapon- and left the phone somewhere in the car.

"Shhhhh... You'll thank me one day" Amy reassured.

"Whatever. Any idea where we are?".

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who knows this country!".

"You're the one driving, Amy! You should know where we are any moment! 'Cause you know, the signs and all that... And this? Not happening anymore. I'm putting a stop to this" Beca said irritably, pointing to the CD entrance.

"What? No!"

"Amy, c'mon. The Spice Girls? On loop? Seriously, I can't take more crap today! I'm ejecting this right now" Beca said as she pressed the eject button. "Radio will do just fine".

"Hey, Beca, look! Road sign coming! What does it say, can you see it?".

"5 miles to Richmond, which means less than 2 hours to arrive in DC. Yay!".

"Yeeeeeessss!".

Meanwhile, a familiar melody came out of the radio. And as a few chords began to play...

"Oh yeeeeahhh! The boss came here to rooock!" screamed Amy.

"You know 'Thunder road'?" Beca asked, surprised.

"Of course! Who do you think I am?".

"Wait. Do you know Springsteen's music?".

"I mean who doesn't?!" Amy answered, Beca shook her head in approval as in 'fair enough'. Seconds later, the two women began singing at the top of their lungs.

"... as the radio plays / Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely" then the two women look each other and pointed their index fingers to one another, while they kept singing "Hey, that's me and I want you only / Don't turn me home again / I just can't face myself alone again / Don't run back inside / Darling you know just what I'm here for [...]".

By the time the song came near to its end, Beca and Amy lost themselves on the song's lyrics and melody. Beca turned the volume up and threw her arms trough the air while kept singing, Amy joined her. "Oh, oh take my hand / We're riding out tonight to case the promised land / Oh, oh thunder road. Oh thunder road, oh thunder road / Lying out there like a killing in the sun / Hey, I know it's late we can make it if we run / Oh, thunder road sit tight / Take hold, thunder road [...]".

"That was pretty awesome, huh. Cooling off the tension..." Amy said while chuckling as the song finished.

"I gotta admit it was, yeah" Beca was also chuckling. "Told you the radio would do just fine. Shame on you for listening The Spice Girls...".

"Whaaat? They're coool!".

"Yeah, cool as in '90's cool'. You're a bit late for that, Ames" Beca grinned, as she grabbed her phone once she found it.

She noticed she had a new message notification. It was Chloe's.

'Everything okay?' said the text. 'Shit. She noticed. How the hell she can always tell?' thought Beca. 'Cause yeah, Chloe noticed something went wrong with Beca the moment she stopped using personal pronouns, especially the ones who Beca was related to. And Chloe knew Beca would use this technique of hers whenever she felt emotionally troubled, 'cause if anything the redhead knew that was her best friend's ways of express herself. Chloe could easily identify whenever Beca was feeling okay, cloudy, moody, happy, sad, angry -any mood at all, really- through the brunette's way of typing. She knew her so well, after all.

That's why Chloe would never push Beca -she knew she needed time and space sometimes, to readjust, to found herself. And Beca knew that, she'd always felt so safe around Chloe. It was one of the qualities she appreciate it the most about Chloe. And the redhead also seemed to know Beca had always known that, too. That was also one of the reasons they understand each other so well: they were grateful to one another's sympathy. Fitting really well together.

'Yeah, just tired 😩 bonus: Amy was giving me such a headache. Sorry if I sounded so... me. You know how I can get sometimes' Beca texted Chloe back.

And Chloe, who seemed to be desperately waiting for Beca to answer, texted her immediately back.

Chloe: I know. You know you'll never have to worry about that 😊 everything okay now?

Beca did the same

Beca: I know, dude 😊 I'm always safe with you. Yeah, yeah, all good now. We did a sing-along 🎙️ haha

Chloe: haha 'Wannabe'?

Beca: dude, no way! Turns out Amy has a decent musical culture after all... We sang 'Thunder road'

Chloe: ooh! The boss is awes, isn't he?

Beca: definitely. Oh and by the way, we passed Richmond about ten minutes ago. We're a little closer to DC 🎉

Chloe: that's greeaat! 🎉

Beca: yeah. Maybe we'll get there in an hour or so... 🤞🏻

Chloe: at least you're not listening to The Spice Girls anymore?

Beca: thank god. This radio station saved my life, honestly. The music they're playing is like a perfect classic rock playlist 🖤

Chloe: sound very Beca... Hey, I'm gonna go packing now. Gotta travel tomorrow... 🙄 I'll text you later? x

Beca: I'm gonna have to sue you for excessive use of my buddy here 🙄 okay, go pack haha talk later!

Beca and Amy kept passing road signs and county roads. Cars kept passing by and the radio kept giving them memorable and classic rock songs such as 'Come as you are', 'Dream on', 'Stop crying your heart out', 'Reptilia', 'Don't stop me now', 'Supermassive black hole', 'Hurts so good', 'More than a feeling', 'Lyin' eyes', 'No one like you', 'Black hole sun', 'Fix you', 'Stairway to heaven', 'Hush', 'Back in black'', 'Light my fire' or 'The passenger'.

DC was now 20 miles away when...

"Dude, no way!" Beca screamed while smiling broadly and immediately reaching for her phone.

"What's up?" Amy asked, confused.

"Do you remember the concert Chloe and I attended back when we were still at Barden? In 2013?".

"The one I accidentally kept your ticket?".

"The very same, yeah...".

"How could I forget?" Amy joked, proudly.

"This guy's singing is that guy!".

'Hey, Chlo. You won't believe what just happened. Have I mentioned how much I love this radio station we tuned in yet? Anyway, the music they play was beyond awesome, but then they played 'Get better'! 🖤 🖤 🖤

Chloe's response came a minutes later. 'What?! 'Get better' as in Frank's newest single? ❤️'.

So Beca replied. 'Yeahyeahyeah!'.

And they started texting each other once again.

Chloe: aweeeeeees!!! I miss him 😭

Beca: me toooooo 😭 and listening to Frank without you... Not cool, dude.

Chloe: agreed. Shouldn't he have said anything about the new album by now?

Beca: that's riiight 😯 maybe soon?

Chloe: pleeeeease 😭 I'm done packing, by the way 🤛🏻

Beca: and we're like 15 miles away from DC 🤜🏻 I swear god I'll jump on the bed as soon as we get some motel room to crush on for the night

Chloe: and you'll fall asleep as soon as your head touch the pillow bed 😴

Beca: positive 😴 oh, shit! My phone's the one dying now. 15% of battery and going down... I don't think it'll make it to DC, but I'll plug it in once we've settled. Don't miss me too much until then 😛

Chloe: I'll try to live... 😛 x

DC.

Beca and Amy arrive in DC around 5pm, being settled half an hour later.

"KO" sighed Amy as soon she and Beca entered the motel room they will be staying the night at.

"Ugh, completely trashed" followed Beca, who began walking towards one of the single individual beds the motel room had. "I think I'm sleepwalking" she sighed.

"I'm gonna go to sleep like now" Amy said.

"Yeah, I'm following you".

"Night, road-tripping buddy".

"Night, Ames".

They both switched off the bulb lamps and lay down in their respective beds. Amy began snoring, Beca grabbed her phone while laying.

'We finally made it! Laying in bed already, I'm completely trashed 😴 I'm gonna go to sleep now. See you tomorrow at JFK, Chlo! Night! 😊' texted Chloe.

'We'll meet there at 2pm! See you tomorrow, Bec! 😊 x' Chloe’s text would say back.