#but when i’m not worried about making sure we have money for rent and food

[clanoffelidae]

ugh i need food first I haven’t eaten yet today and just got another scammer, looks like they’ve already gotten over $200 too and have been going for a few days, gonna switch to desktop for this cleanup instead of mobile cause that’s too many people for me to do via mobile and not lose my mind lol

(I message every single person in the notes of scammer begging posts when I get them to notify them 1. For awareness and 2. So that if they were someone who reblogged it they can help disseminate the word to their followers who would’ve seen it)

[itsmarsss]

Scandalous (Blitzø x Fem!Succubus!Reader x Stolas) [Helluva Boss] pt. 4 - Immediate Murder Professionals

How the mighty do fall. (Getting into a weird three-way situation with an imp and a succubus isn't exactly considered classy, Stolas)

Blitzø just might be stupid.

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 5 | 1st bonus | pt. 6 | pt. 7 | pt. 8 | pt. 9

Word Count: 2,340

Warnings: eh, mentions of sex only i think. also stolas is newly separated so he's trying this new thing called flirting. yes i'm a firm believer that stolas is naturally so weirdly flirty he could make a succubus flustered no questions asked.

“...and then I yelled ‘sorry I fucked your husband’ and just kinda… left.” 

Everyone was gathered around the big table in the meeting room at I.M.P., per Blitzø’s request. Well, he didn’t request it, per se- it was something more along the lines of yelling “Anyone who’s not a whiny bitch follow me, I got something to show you” and everyone just sort of complying. 

He had been on and on in excruciating detail about how he’d up and stolen whatever it was he wanted to show you. He had yet to show you a thing.

“Oh wow. You are an idiot,” you state.

“And why is that, witch bitch?”

“You stole from a Goetia prince?”

“Yeah I did. And I looked sexy doing it.”

“What did you even wanna steal so bad?” Millie asks.

“Oh-ho-ho. You’re not even fuckin’ ready. None of you are even fucking ready.” He slams a big, heavy book on the desk. You inspect it, trying to figure out why he would go out of his way, in a borderline suicidal quest, to steal a book. Your eyes widen when you realize you know exactly what it is. 

“You stole from STOLAS?” He had to be fucking- wait. “Wait, you fucked Stolas?” 

“What how’d you know it was him?”

“It’s- it’s his Grimoire. That’s what this is isn’t it?”

“Yup. And with this,” he explains to the others, since apparently you already knew of it, “we’ll be able to go up to the living world and kill any human we’re paid to kill.”

“That- that’s- Blitzø this is insane. And I don’t mean good insane. I mean batshit crazy insane.”

“How do you even know what this is?”

“I- I used to see him a lot. You know. Ozzie stuff. They’re always in meetings. I didn’t- I’m really having trouble believing he acted like that-”

“What, like a needy bitch in heat?” Blitzø cuts you off.

You feel yourself get flustered at the implication, not managing to finish whatever you had been about to say. 

“Oh my fucking Satan, Blitz,” Loona lets out a groan, frustrated at what she was hearing, which is fair. It’s enough to prompt her to leave the room entirely, assumingly to her seat at the front desk. 

“Sir, you need to give this back.” Moxxie pushes the book across the table back to him.

“What? After everything I had to go through to get it? No way!”

“No, Mox is right. Stolas is nice, but he’s still, like, one of the most powerful demons down here, dude. And this is- this is next level doing him wrong. You didn’t just steal from him, you played with his feelings too. That’s so much worse.”

“Feelings? Come on! So we’re all ganging up on Blitzo now, are we?” You all cringed a bit whenever he used his own given name. It felt weird and just totally… wrong, considering how adamant he always was about correcting everyone else when it came to it, but, to be fair, he didn’t really seem to notice when he did it. He just happened to absentmindedly call himself that sometimes when he was feeling criticized, which… well, you weren’t sure if you wanted to unpack whatever that meant. He keeps on. “I’m sorry I worry about us having jobs and money to pay rent and food to feed ourselves!”

“Blitz that’s not-” Millie starts, but gets cut off by Loona, who walks back into the room. “Guys, there’s an… owl… guy… thing… looking for Blitz out there.”

Oh, shit.

“We’re gonna die,” Moxxie mutters under his breath, starting to chant it over and over again, eyes almost popping out of his head. Millie puts her arms around his shoulders and brings his head to her lap to try and calm him down, sending a death glare- much like yourself- towards Blitzø, who now looked like a deer in headlights, caught red-handed, apparently not expecting to be found that soon. 

“Uuuhhh, tell him I’m not here!”

“Already did, he said some weird shit about being able to smell you or whatever the fuck that was about. That guy’s a fucking freak.” Huh. Maybe Blitzø wasn’t lying.

“Uhhh fuck fuck fuck fuck, gotta think, gotta think,” Blitzø begins pacing in circles around the room.

“Well? What the fuck did you expect?”

“I didn’t think that far ahead, alright? Sue me.”

“Oh really? I could have sworn you had everything figured out!” 

His head shoots up and he points at you, completely ignoring your sarcasm. “You go talk to him!” 

“Me? This is your problem!”

“Our problem! You work here don’t you?”

“Blitz I swear to Satan.”

“Pleeeaaaase?” He tries making puppy eyes at you. It’s kind of bizarre, but not entirely useless. “You said you know him, he’ll probably be nicer to you. Maybe you can soften the blow. Ha. Blow.”

“If it doesn’t work I’m ratting you out and I’m not gonna feel bad about it.”

“Thank you thank you thank you, I’ll owe you one, now go!”

You let out a groan, making sure he hears it. You could not believe you were about to do this. Sure, let’s confront pissed-off demon royalty about something of theirs that you definitely have in your possession just in the next room. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that. “Can you tell him to go to your dad’s office, Loons?”

“Yeah whatever.”

You make your way out of the meeting room and into Blitzø’s office, which is… a sight to behold. There were horse drawings scattered everywhere around the room, figurines of Millie, Moxxie, and yourself on top of his desk (you didn’t even want to know), guns you knew definitely didn’t have their safety locks on just laying on various different surfaces. Yeah, it was all very on-brand. 

You sit down on his chair, getting barely a few seconds to prepare yourself for your talk with Stolas before he walks into the room.

Well, no, he doesn’t exactly walk in. He leans against the door frame, pulling a leg up and running a hand up it as he starts speaking, yet to take a look into the room. “For someone so remarkably sexy you are so hard to find, Bli- oh my!” He’s visibly startled when he finally makew eye contact with you, evidently having expected Blitzø to be the one in your place. Almost tripping over himself, he tries to pull himself together, fixing his posture and wiping non-existent dust off of his clothes as if to pretend he hadn’t just made a fool of himself. Stolas had always kept his composure around you whenever he went over to meet with Ozzie, so this behavior… it was definitely new. 

He clears his throat. “I’m sorry. I thought you were-”

You decide to save him the embarrassment. Or, well,  further embarrassment. “Your Highness! Hi.”

“Y/n.” He remembers your name. What, of course he remembers your name, dumbass! That’s completely normal. “You… Do you not work for Asmodeus anymore?”

“Not really. I’d been working there a long time. Wanted to try something new.”

“So you chose to work… here?” He motions around, and you couldn’t blame him. It didn’t look like the best place in Hell. And you supposed it did seem like an odd change in occupation. 

“We’re a work in progress.”

“Well, do you and Asmodeus still keep in touch? I recall you were quite good friends.”

“Yes! We still are. We still are. How have you been, uh, doing, your highness?” You ask, carefully. 

“Please, there is still no need to call me that.” Your interactions always went like this- you called him by his title, he insisted you call him by his name, and you always refused to. Strangely enough, you called him by his name when referring to him in conversation with Ozzie. 

But you don’t feel the need for all of that now. “Right, I’m sorry. Stolas.” 

“Well, I haven’t been doing quite so great, actually. I’m sure you’re aware why.”

You shut your eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them up again and forcing yourself to make eye contact with him, trying to stay collected. Play it cool. “I… might have an idea, yes.”

“You see, you have worked with Asmodeus for a long time. You’ve been around myself plenty, haven’t you, darling?”

Had he ever called you darling before? You’re positive he’s never, ever done that. 

Chill, dumbass! It’s just a fancy people thing. No big deal. “Yes.”

“Yes, so you know how crucial my Grimoire is for my purpose in the Ars Goetia, don’t you?” He speaks to you in an almost condescending manner. You almost feel insulted. Did his voice always sound like that?

“Yes.”

“Perfect. So I suppose you understand why I would be very upset when I came to find out your friend, Blitzy, stole such a sacred artifact from me.”

“I understand.”

“My Grimoire contains spells that are meant for mine and, in the future, my daughter’s use only, and it would simply be a scandal if it fell into the hands of itty bitty imps such as yourselves.” Okay, he was definitely being condescending now. Why was it kind of hot? It was definitely hot. 

What the fuck.

“Uhhhhh-”

“It makes things so much worse that he simply hurt my feelings! After a night of such passionate fornication, you could only imagine my surprise when I came to find out the book had been missing! Had I not known better I would have sworn it had been deceiving work of someone like yourself.”

“Like myself?”

“You are a succubus, aren’t you, dear?” He tilts his head to the side as if what he meant had been obvious. And it probably had- you’d just read too much into it. Was what Blitzø had told you about what happened getting to your head or something?

“Ooookay. Uh. I’m really- I’m really sorry about… all of that. Uh. Wow. Uh that really is a lot huh? I’m just gonna… I’m just gonna go call Blitz now and you guys can talk it out maybe. That fine for you? Fantastic. Good talk, Stolas!”

You slip past him and out of the office, catching your breath before going back into the meeting room to call Blitzø and let him handle the situation. What the actual fuck was that?

[. . .]

“So?” Millie questions Blitzø as he enters the meeting room again after a good half hour. Everyone follows, looking at him expectantly. 

He pauses, for dramatic effect. “Guess who just founded the first human-killing business in Hell?”

“What?” You ask, incredulous.

“I’m sorry sir are you saying the Prince is letting us use his spell book?”

“You heard it, Mox.”

“H-how?”

“Well I’m gonna have to dick him down every full moon but I guess that’s a good trade.”

The room goes silent. 

Moxie breaks the silence first. “Uhh, what?”

“What?”

“What’s that about the full moon?”

“Oh well. Well, apparently I’m a fantastic fucking lay, just unforgettable. So all I gotta do to have the book is give it back to him every full moon and then fuck him into oblivion and we’re good to go.”

“And you’re sure you’re fine with that?” You ask him, carefully. 

“Well yeah? It’s fucking great! We get the book AND I get to fuck a Prince into submission every once in a while? Couldn’t be better.”

You’re not that sure about it, but what was the point in arguing with him? You shrug. “If you say so.”

“And he’s just… fine with that?” Moxxie questions, not buying it.

“What, you think I’d lie?”

“Yeah,” everyone replies, without hesitation.

“Well I’m not!”

“Well shit. Your dick must be good.” Well, that wasn’t supposed to come out.

He grins. “Ya wanna find out?”

You stare at him, unamused, for a second, locking eyes with Moxxie soon after. 

“You deserved that,” Moxxie points out.

“Yeah I regretted it as soon I said it.”

“You really should have seen it coming,” Blitzø himself adds.He grabs the Grimoire, bringing everyone’s attention to it. “So. Aren’t y’all curious? I know I wanna know what the human realm is like.”

“It’s really not that different from here,” you tell him.

“Oh yeah, I forget you’ve been there before. What do you guys even do there?”

“Uuuhhh.”

“They fuck people to death, Mills, ain’t that cool?”

“Oh shut up you know that hardly ever happens anymore.”

“But’cha could.”

You sigh, knowing he just wanted to hear that he was right. You give him a little smile. “But I could.” 

“Hell yeah!” It was always weirdly nice that he thought that part of what you were was cool rather than being disgusted by it.  “Should we go take a look?”

“How’d ya even work this thing?” Millie asks, examining the book in Blitzø’s hands.

“Fuck if I know.”

“You didn’t ask him?” Loona asks.

“Not really.”

“I’m not even-” she rolls her eyes. “Gimme that” Snatching the book from him and going through the pages for a bit, she stops in a particular one, attempting a few times to read some words from it. Fair enough, a portal leading… somewhere… appears. You’d have to put a pin on that for later and ask her how she knew what to do, but right now everyone was too excited.

“Let’s go fuck some humans to death!” Blitzø exclaims.

“No.” You say sternly.

“Let’s go fuck some humans?” He tries again.

“Sir! No!” Moxxie yells, disgusted.

“Let’s go kill some humans!”

“Hell yeah!” Millie finally agrees,

“Yeah! Wait why am I even listening to you guys, I’m the boss here!” 

“Sure thing Blitz.” You assure him, getting your foot through the portal. “You coming?”

Blitzø turns around. “Looney? You’re not killing anyone there. Got it? It’s too dangerous.”

“But that’s no fun!”

“Looney.”

“Fine.”

“Let’s go kill some humans then!” He shoves you into the portal, jumping through right after you. Jackass.

A/N: i did a lot of things different than i said id do lmao and i toned down the flirting from stolas to leave it for a different chapter hope this is fun it aint gonna be fun for v long luv yall

[leviathans-watching]

Hello! Could you possibly do a scenario of the obey me boys x a main character who is financially struggling? They don’t have a lot of money ever, and always feel insecure about money and gifts, or spending any! It would be really comforting!!

concerns about money

includes: mammon, asmo &/x gn!reader (no pronouns mentioned)

wc: .6k | rated g | m.list

a/n: hopefully you enjoy! i grew up in a household where we had to worry about these things so this is pretty reflective of my own experience lol. anyway, my inbox is open to chat, request, or leave feedback, so come say hi!!

warnings: money insecurity and other financial struggles, accidental pushy behavior

please reblog!!

“mc, let’s go out,” asmo calls, beckoning you towards the lunch table. with a sigh, you set your tray down, giving him a smile.

“nah, not today.”

“but why?” he whines, peering at you. “are you not feeling well?”

if only that were the reason. “we went out earlier this week,” you say, “so there’s no reason to go out again.”

“lame,” mammon jeers playfully. “c’mon, we were thinking karaoke.”

“the two of you can go and have fun without me,” you attempt good-naturedly.

“but it’s no fun without you,” asmo whines. “no offense, mammon.”

as they continue to squabble over your head, you begin to eat your lunch, thinking you’re in the clear. but before you know it, they’ve made up and are once again trying to convince you.

“why not?” mammon asks after you say no yet again, and you sigh.

“look, after shopping the other day, my poor wallet’s feeling kind of light. so i need to hold off until my next paycheck.” which won’t be very much, unfortunately. between your new student council duties and other extracurriculars, you’d had very little time to work.

“aw, don’t mind,” mammon dismisses. “i’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“i’ll pay for you,” asmo offers, and you stiffen.

“no, really, it’s fine. i’ll just sit this one out.”

“don’t be like that.” asmo waves a hand. “you know i’m good for it.”

“look,” you say thinly, “i don’t feel like you guys get it.”

“get what?” mammon asks.

“what it feels like to not have money always at your fingertips.” a long silence follows your words, and you soldier on. “look, mammon, even when you’re ‘poor’, you always have the security of food on the table and a roof over your head. i wasn’t that lucky, and even now i still have to think about saving up, about my next paycheck, about spending responsibly.”

“you grew up economically disadvantaged?” asmo asks. “i never knew that.”

“i never mentioned it. and you can say poor. in poverty. whatever. but yes. my family wasn’t lucky enough to come from money, or be around for centuries to establish ourselves as money-making celebrities like you guys. we lived off of food stamps and shitty houses with cheap rent and even though i’m not living like that anymore i can’t just forget it all. i can’t just do whatever i wish with my money and be carefree.”

“but we’ll always support you,” mammon says, and you give him a sad smile.

“and that’s very kind, but it’s something i can’t accept. i can’t just live off of you guys for free and leech off of you. even if it’s not and issue to you guys,” you continue, heading off asmo, who looks like he’s going to open his mouth, “it’s an issue to me. and i ask that you guys understand that and be more mindful. i’m not saying i can’t ever go out, or we can’t talk about money, i just ask that you’re a bit less pushy when i say no to stuff and understand where i’m coming from.”

“we can do that!” mammon exclaims, passion surprising you.

“yeah,” asmo agrees, nodding vigorously. “we’re sorry. let’s just stay in tonight and watch a movie.”

“you can still go out-”

asmo cuts you off, expression softening. “we already told you, mc, it’s more fun with you. we’re willing to stay in if it means staying with you. you’re much better than karaoke anyway.”

you laugh, relieved. relieved that they aren’t looking at you pityingly, are understanding, and aren’t making it a big deal. “thanks guys. but only if i get to pick the movie.”

leviathans-watching's work - please do not copy, repost, or claim as your own

[lurkingshan]

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Knock Knock Boys when it started, but I feel like I have a better sense of what it’s doing now. I’m sorting through my reads on each of these characters, so here’s where I am with them right now:

Peak: Definitely having a queer awakening, and definitely running from a problem he doesn’t want to deal with. He is genuinely into Thanwa and doesn’t know what to do with that yet. Jane is not his girlfriend, my guess is she’s a family member. It could be the case that he wants the free rent because the problem is debt related, but he hasn’t been giving money desperation so not sure about that yet.

Thanwa: Has liked Peak from the start and has been working up to making a move and flirting via food, which makes sense since they made out on Peak’s first night in the house. Does desperately want the money from the competition because he’s unemployed and struggling. Don’t think I forgot he seems to have left a partner who was likely financially supporting him, and we still don’t know why.

Latte: Already starting to like Almond, though I’m not sure how aware he is of that yet. He’s pulling an awful lot of faces when Almond shows interest in Jumper. I initially wondered if he would be hooking up with the other housemates—and whether his teasing with Peak is meant to be anything more than messing with the “straight” guy— but the show is clearly on a mission to refute the stereotype that pansexual people are sluts and he’s made a point of being choosy, so I think not. His friendship with Lukpeach is endearing and he’s very protective of Almond, maybe without entirely knowing why at this juncture.

Almond: Still focused on Jumper romantically, but also wants to be around Latte all the time and constantly seeking him out for support and affirmation. Him being worried about being a third wheel was cute and he is always looking for confirmation that Latte wants him around. He’s also pretty comfortable with Latte while Jumper just makes him nervous, and that’s always a dead giveaway in a romance. And I think after this episode his fantasies about Jumper will be… a bit damaged lmao.

Jumper: Bless his heart.

I’m most intrigued by how quickly the show has separated the characters into two parallel narratives with the romances already developing—I thought it might stay messy and be more mixed up for awhile. But they’ve kept Peak/Thanwa and Latte/Almond in separate threads that sometimes converge and we’re already on a path to both couples. I’m really curious to see where the plot is going. Every episode has been so fun, I’m having a great time with this one.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for pointing out to my brother when his girlfriend treats him poorly?

I’m the older sibling to my younger brother, 24M, and his gf (I’ll be real I THINK she’s 23 but I don’t remember her birthday ) they’ve been dating for a few years and throughout it me and my mom whom I live with because I’m disabled have done our best to try to welcome her, even though she has done some hurtful things [she got angry at my mom while she was living here the first time and threatened to never let her see her grandkids, and the second time mom welcomed her into the home she ended up screaming at us both out of basically nowhere. She yelled at my mom because one of her fish was dying and took the opportunity to yell loud enough that I could hear her in my room with the door closed complain about my puppy whom I was still training. She yelled at me because she was in the room while I was trying to talk to my brother about something serious and mentioned her without trying to include her in the conversation, because it wasn’t meant as a dig and also because it was a passing mention of her name, not a full topic.]

Anyways. At this point they’ve moved out and my brother comes here to chat with us and check in every couple weeks. She forced them to move out before he’d been able to get a job and then asked him to immediately pay back his half of the lot rent and mortgage payment for their trailer the moment he got a job, which has him scrambling and exhausted trying to keep up because he’d been unemployed mostly at her request for months. She makes her living on OF, and he leaves the house when she’s working. We also suspect that she forced him to dump his dog back on us.

In addition to making him drive everywhere on his dime for gas, she also doesn’t want to chip in for repairs to the trailer, and when she has him take her to get groceries we know she doesn’t buy anything with his food preferences in mind. We know this because he comes scrounging for food he actually wants to eat from our fridge [which we’re happy to give him, but.. yeah. It feels shitty to know that he can’t get his own gf to buy him diced pear fruit cups or frozen chicken nuggets.]

So, I started calling out gently when something she does is mean to him. I don’t call him out directly or anything, but I do ask him why. Like, if he asked for grocery money, I’ve said “sure, I’ve only got a little extra rn is 30$ okay? Do you and [gf] not grocery shop together?”

To put it lightly, he doesn’t like this. But I’m afraid that if I pretend it’s normal he’ll get seriously hurt. I don’t know what else to do, besides try to gently make it clear that it’s just not okay to treat a partner the way she treats him.

Not to mention that through all this he has needed to beg money off me and my mom for gas and groceries and other necessities, and has at times used her credit card for non-emergencies and taken money from her accounts without asking. He doesn’t seem to see a problem with this, which also makes me worried. I love him to death and I don’t want to think that he’s become someone that cold.

Am I the asshole for trying to remind him that people who love you don’t do the things his gf does? Or am I wrong about this?

What are these acronyms?

[streetlight11]

Stranger's Hearts

Summary: Working at a restaurant as a waitress, you are bound to have cute customers every now and then, right? But so far, none has properly caught your eye before. Until recently...

Theme: waitress au, strangers to lovers

Genre: pure fluff

Warnings: mentions of alcohol

WC: 3.1k

Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

a/n: Hello! I haven't been active due to many reasons but I'm back to share a new writing with you! Enjoy 🩵

It was a Saturday afternoon, you are working a full shift today to earn money for a lot of commitments. Like your rent, power bills, phone bills, water bills, groceries, school fees, etc. Being a university student isn’t easy but you aren't gonna give up just yet. Which is why you work a full shift on weekends to earn extra than what you get every other day due to working short hours after school. After serving the food orders to a table with a family of four, they thanked you for your good service before you left to continue with your work.

You went to the back room to take a short breath from running around for the past few hours. A fellow colleague of yours who is the senior waiter and team lead, Hyungwon, was just informing the chefs the new orders before clipping the paper to the string for the chefs to refer.

“Tired already?” Hyungwon teased you as he walked up to you with a smile on his face. Yes he’s your senior, but somehow, he’s very close to you and treats you with so much care as though you were his little sister. He is in fact 4 years older than you so that explains a lot.

“One of the tables is occupied by a group of girls who seem like they’re the kind to complain about the pasta being fusilli and not linguine…” You said with a huff, only for him to laugh.

“Still… They’re customers so all we can do is give them what they want.” Hyungwon said, giving you a soft pat to your shoulder before he left the kitchen. You didn’t wanna get caught slacking by your boss so you got up and left the kitchen to continue doing your job. You went over to a table near the window where a couple was sitting, so you could take their orders.

“Is there anything else?” You asked.

“No, thank you.” The woman said with a kind smile in which you happily returned.

“Alright then. Your order will be served soon.” You said as you turned to head back to the kitchen. Unfortunately, you turned a little too soon because it caused you to accidentally crash into someone who was walking past your back.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry!” You said as the handsome guy simply smiled and shook his head.

“No worries. Are you okay?” He asked so you nodded. He then held out his hand, gesturing you to walk so you did. That’s when you heard a voice calling for the person standing behind you.

“Chan hyung!” The male with full cheeks waved in your direction as you glanced past your shoulder to find the guy you bumped into, giving a thumbs up. This slipped your mind as you went into the kitchen and delivered the order to the chefs. A few minutes ticked by and you were currently serving drinks to a table near the front entrance. When you turned back to head to the kitchen, you saw the guy from earlier raising his hand up in hopes that one of your friends would see him.

Lucky for him, you saw his hand raised. Hence, why you were now making your way to their table. As you got closer, you felt a little nervous seeing that their table is filled with 8 very good looking guys who look to be around your age. You tried to keep your professionalism in and smiled when you arrived at their table.

“Hello, are you ready to order?” You asked and the same guy from earlier smiled at you politely.

“Yes we are. Can I have one beef bolognese pasta with linguine and one coke please? What about you guys?” He then points to his friends as they go around the table giving you their orders. When you noticed there were just 7 food and drinks in total, you spoke up to make sure everyone had their orders in.

“There’s only 7 orders. Am I missing out on one?” You asked as their heads soon turned to the male sitting with his arms crossed on the table, head hanging low to burn a hole into the menu, looking as though he’s hiding under his cap.

“Hwang Hyunjin. Aren’t you the one who complained about being hungry just 10 minutes ago?” The one with a black fitting shirt said with a teasing smirk.

“Uh… I’ll um… I’ll get the um…” Hyunjin clears his throat as the one sitting opposite him with fairly long dark brown hair and feline eyes smirked at him to tease afterwards.

“Come on, Jinie… Don’t be shy in front of the waitress… She’s waiting.” The male said, making some of them squeak along with teasing noises. You couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle as Hyunjin finally looks up after glaring at his friend and meeting your gaze.

“I’ll get the sirloin steak with mac ‘n’ cheese and salad please.” He said, keeping eye contact with you.

“Great! How well would you like your steak to be cooked?”

“Medium well, please.”

“Awesome. Any drinks to go with that?”

“Uh… Just iced americano, please.” Hyunjin said and you smiled while writing it down.

“Got it.” You said and soon repeated their orders before taking the menus with you and left. Minutes tick by and you were too busy to steal glances at their table but maybe it’s good because if not, you probably wouldn’t be focusing on work. When their food was ready, you carried the plates on your arms, balancing them expertly. With your help of calling out the name of each dish, they raised their hands to their individual orders and you gave them out accordingly.

You came back again with the remaining dishes, handing Hyunjin’s food last since his was in fact steak. After you’ve given him his order, you flash them a smile politely.

“Enjoy your meals. Call us if you need anything else.” You said and they thanked you in unison.

For the next hour, the crowd had died down a little, giving you room to relax. You were just by the cashier counter, changing the empty paper roll to a new one in the bill printer machine when your eyes naturally flew over to the table in the back of the room. This accidentally caught the attention of the male with feline eyes. He visibly smirked at you as you saw his lips move. Just in time for Hyunjin to glance past his shoulder and lock eyes with you.

This made you look down naturally, hoping you didn’t look too panicky. You busied yourself with checking the bill history to make sure they tally. Suddenly, your co-worker Ellie came to you and was grinning at you from ear to ear.

“What now, El?”

“Those guys seated at the back… I heard them talking about you when I came to clean the table next to them.” She giggled, making you huff at her.

“You probably misheard them.”

“No! I’m serious! Would I be mistaken when they clearly said ‘the girl at the cashier’?” Your breath hitched as you tried to brush it off.

“If they really are talking about me, it’s probably to comment on my rushing ass.”

“Uh… No they weren’t? The one wearing a grey sweater clearly said ‘Ask for her number. She’s at the cashier, maybe you should pay for our meals too while you’re at it’ and he was pointing to the guy sitting in front of him.” Ellie said, making you blush. There’s no way she could make this up. So to see if she was telling the truth, you glanced up and looked at their table. You almost choked on your own saliva when you saw Hyunjin and some of them were already staring at you and Ellie.

“Shit El, they’re looking at us.”

“Correction, they’re looking at you.” She giggled as you saw Hyunjin stand up from his seat while everyone else remained seated.

“Uh… El? Why is he coming here?” You whispered while stacking the receipts in a pile.

“Oh, Hyungwon Is calling me. Bye!” She said whilst rushing into the kitchen, completely walking past Hyunjin but he couldn’t care less about her since she wasn’t the one he’s focused on. Before you could speak up to call for her, your words got stuck in your throat upon seeing Hyunjin approach you at the cashier.

“Hey… Um, can I pay for our table first?” He asked, making you smile.

“Of course. Can I have your bill?” You asked and he passed you the small clipboard with their bill attached to it. You keyed in their table number into the computer and their orders came up on the back screen for him to see.

“Help me do a quick check to see if everything is correct.” You said as his eyes soon fell on the screen behind your computer.

“Yeap. Everything’s in.” He said before meeting your eyes shyly from under the brim of his cap. You then asked how he wanted to pay for the meal and he said by card. While you were keying the amount into the machine, Hyunjin stole a quick glance past his shoulders, just in time to catch his friends gesturing for him to get your number. When he turned back around, you had just placed the machine on the top of the counter for him to insert his card.

He entered his pin number and proceeded to wait for the approval. The receipt finally prints out to indicate that the payment was successful. However, Hyunjin was debating on asking you for your number simply because he was nervous and shy. So when you handed him the receipt and his card, he quickly thanked you before going back to the table. You were a little sad that he didn’t ask for your number or even your social media but maybe it’s not meant to be. With that thought, you went into the kitchen to distract yourself. Little did you know, Hyunjin was literally smashed by his own friends when he came back empty handed.

A few minutes later, they were preparing to leave but Hyunjin thought that maybe he should just ask you for your number before he leaves. He slowed down his pace in hopes that you’ll come out from the back room. Even after he was a few feet away from the main door, you were still nowhere to be seen so he couldn’t help but sigh and left the restaurant for good.

Regret slowly seeping through his skin for not manning up and just ask you when he had the chance right in front of him. Looks like it’s too late now.

A few days had passed now and you still couldn’t get Hyunjin out of your mind. Ellie asked you to try and find his social media since you knew his full name thanks to his friend. However, you didn’t wanna be a creep and stalk him so you opted to just forget about it. Today is a nice cooling Friday evening. You took a few days off from work for the next few weeks to focus on your upcoming tests and exams. Tonight however, your friends from university, Lisa and Jennie wanted to go to the bar and take a little break from studying.

With that being said, you decided to tag along to relieve your stress. You changed into a pretty dark grey side drawstring sleeveless top and a pair of denim jeans. The girls met up with you outside the bar as you went in with them. Once you made it inside, there were a lot of people all around. Some at the bar, some at the stray tables and some at the sofa booths.

You were just walking behind Lisa and Jennie to find an empty table when you caught sight of a group of familiar looking faces at one of the sofa booths. The one that really triggered your memory was Hyunjin. He was seated there with his left arm resting on top of the sofa, wearing a satin white button down shirt with denim skinny jeans and sneakers. His hair is currently blonde, long enough for him to tie it in a half ponytail with his bangs framing his face.

He didn’t notice you at first until his friend whom you remember is the one with feline eyes nudged Hyunjin’s side and nodded his head towards you. Before you could look away in panic, Hyunjin locked eyes with you and it made you instantly smile. He did the same as he watched you walk past their booth and sat in the booth a few tables down where there were four guys greeting you and your friends.

They were Lisa and Jennie’s friends from college and you have met them a few times before. You just weren’t really close to them. Minutes went by as you slowly took your time to finish your drink while they were all on their umpteenth shot of whiskey already.

“Hey waiter! We need another bottle!” Yunhyeong slurred drunkenly to an imaginary waiter and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ll go order a bottle for you guys.” You said rather calmly considering you weren’t anywhere near drunk at all. You got up to go get them a bottle of whiskey, making your way to the bar. When you made it there, you smiled at the bartender who in return, gave you a cheeky grin. Thank god he’s handsome, if not, you would’ve just cringed.

“Can I get one bottle of whiskey, please? My friends seem like they’re going through tough times.” You said, only for him to laugh. He grabs a bottle from his shelf and hands it to you.

“Just don’t let them sleep in the bar all night.” He said, making you laugh.

You took the bottle and thanked him, handing him cash before leaving the bar. While you were making your way back to your table, you caught a glimpse of Hyunjin’s table and as if they were already waiting for you to look, some of them were already waving to you. The one with feline eyes smirked at you and gestured with his fingers to call you over.

With a mind of its own, your legs brought you to their table and soon, Chan speaks up on behalf of everyone.

“Hey, you’re the one who worked at that restaurant right?” He asked, making you nod.

“Yes. And apparently, I have a name in case you’re wondering.” You said, only for the one with feline eyes to smirk.

“Hyunjin already has a name for you but go ahead. Tell us your name.” He urged you gently so you did.

“It’s Y/N.” You smiled, glancing over to Hyunjin. He had a shy smile on his face, only for you to hear Lisa’s voice calling for you from their table. A soft sigh left your lips as you bid them goodbye.

“Well, there’s my cue. Bye guys.” You laughed and walked away a little sadly. Another half an hour or so went by, you were just starting to get borderline tipsy when a soft tap on your shoulder made you turn to find Hyunjin standing there. You were surprised to see him there since you never thought he wanted to talk to you.

“Hey, can I buy you another drink?” He asked so you nod. You followed him to the bar as he sat next to you and told you to order whatever you want. You ended up with just a glass of bourbon as he settled for a glass of whiskey.

“I don’t wanna sound like a creep or anything, but I’ve been thinking about you lately. I guess I regretted not talking to you more the other day at the restaurant.” Hyunjin said, making you laugh.

“It’s okay. That makes two of us I guess.” He couldn’t help but laugh as you chatted more with him, getting to know him a little better. You found out that he’s two years younger than you, is a Hankuk U student unlike you who is a Yonsei U student, he is taking up dance major and he likes art, more specifically painting, drawing, sketching and fine art. You were so engrossed in your conversation with him that you didn’t notice your friends were leaving until you felt a tap on your shoulder.

Jennie was holding onto Lisa who seemed completely out of it and was a giggling mess, “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re heading home. Wanna come with us?” Jennie asked. You glanced back at Hyunjin who gave you a soft smile and nodded at you to go with your friends. You hesitated for a bit but then an idea came into your mind. That’s when you took out your phone from your back pocket and unlocked it, clicking on the contact list and holding your phone to him.

Hyunjin didn’t waste any time in entering his information before passing your phone back to you. With that being done, you bid him goodbye and you left, helping to hold Lisa’s other side.

That night, Hyunjin patiently waited for you to text back. He wasn’t sure if you’d actually text him since you’re the one with his number. He was just lying in bed, ready to go to bed when his phone chimed with a new text message. He took his phone from his nightstand and saw a few texts from an unknown number. He clicked on it and there were 3 unread messages.

You [sent at 1:54am]: Hey! It’s me, Y/N

You [sent at 1:54am]: I actually wanted to text you when I reached home but I got so busy helping my friend that I forgot to text you…

You [sent at 1:55am]: Sorry if I’m disturbing your sleep. We can text tomorrow! Haha :)

Hyunjin wasted no time in replying to you since he’s been waiting all week to do this ever since he laid eyes on you.

Hyunjin [sent at 1:56am]: Hey! No, you weren’t disturbing. I just got back a while ago anyway :)

The conversation continued until late, not realising that it was just a few hours before sunrise. You excused yourself to go to sleep, making sure to tell him that you loved talking to him and that you’d wanna continue the conversation later in the day again and he agreed. Hyunjin felt like his heart would explode at any given moment now that he finally gets to talk to you.

Fate does work in mysterious ways…

[mlwritersguild]

Adrinette roommates AU with "there was only one bed" please (ily mia)

Fervor Lullaby, by @chy-tea93

AO3 link; Just One Bed, Roommates AU, Aged-Up Characters, Post-Reveal Pre-Relationship, Mutual Pining, Reverse Love Square AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Summary:

It really should have come as no surprise. They’d gotten a small place to keep rent costs down after all. But the listing had said two bedrooms. What it really should have said was one-bedroom and extra closet.

“So… looks like we’re sharing a room then.”

Marinette nodded in agreement. “And a bed.”

---

It really should have come as no surprise. They’d gotten a small place to keep rent costs down after all. But the listing had said two bedrooms. What it really should have said was one-bedroom and extra closet. If it could even be considered a closet, there was hardly room for one twin bed and a small dresser and that was if you didn’t like seeing the floor.

Gabriel’s accounts had all been frozen post-defeat and Adrien had only the funds made when modeling – before he decided to quit. Marinette had a little in savings as well from working at the bakery. They both had just enough to pitch in on the security deposit. Whoever had taken the photos of this place did an impressive job, the ‘second’ bedroom looked at the very least, useable online. It was the only available apartment on a top floor in their price range, so they had taken it sight-unseen.

“So… looks like we’re sharing a room then.”

Marinette nodded in agreement. “And a bed.”

Not like they could back out now anyways, money had been paid and they needed this – to be independent. Even if it was going to be more awkward than ever before.

“Don’t worry, I don’t wiggle too much and at least the bed is larger than either of us are used to.”

“It’s quite large, yeah.” She was worried, but not because of him.

Her nights usually ended with the blanket somewhere down on the bottom of her room back at the bakery, head hanging off the side and more often than not, there was drool. And that was when she didn’t have nightmares, she was ten-times worse after one. How on earth was she going to make it through one night without embarrassing herself?

“Honestly, I’m kind of excited. It will be like having a sleepover every night.”

“Heh. Yeah. A sleepover! I sleep love-overs!”

Adrien gave her a quizzical look and dang-it if that signature chat-like glint in his eyes didn’t make her weak in the knees.

“Ookay then. Um… I’m going to go unload my suitcase and then take a shower. We can figure out dinner afterwards?”

“Sure. Yeah. Okay. I’ll unpack the food my parents sent.”

Marinette felt his arms wrap around from behind and pull her into him, his breath tickling as he nuzzled her neck. “Thank you for moving in with me, Mari.”

She stiffened, willing the goosebumps to back down. They didn’t. Adrien hummed behind her before pulling away and heading into the bedroom. Their bedroom. She was doomed. Completely doomed.

---

“It was so nice of your parents to send cookies!”

“And cheese croissants!”

“You two are insatiable.”

Tikki and Plagg had quickly made themselves at home in the middle of the kitchen table, both munching on the aforementioned treats. Marinette could tell how much they absolutely loved being able to be around each other out in the open. Despite the strange atmosphere that had hung around her and Adrien ever since finding everything out, seeing the two Kwamis happy had been worth it.

“So, Pigtails, Tikki here says you are in love with a certain cat boy I know.”

“Shhh Plagg! I told you that in confidence!” Tikki all but yelled.

“I thought there were no more secrets! I’m going to need an extensive amount of camembert if this is how it’s gonna be.”

“Would both of you quiet down? This apartment is small!”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Kitten gets really into his shower routine.”

“I… didn’t need to know that. And yes. To answer your question, I am and kind of always have been… but it won’t be an issue! He made it clear that in love with someone else and I want him to be happy. Once we both get better jobs, we can find a bigger place with our own rooms.”

The two Kwami stared at each other with knowing looks.

“Right. Like I said. Camembert, stat!”

“Plagg! Be nice!” Tikki tossed a crumb towards the tiny cat that he easily dodged.

Marinette opened the fridge and grabbed a wheel, popping the container open and placing it on the table, much to Plagg’s delight.

She decided she might as well start unpacking her suitcase (they would slowly move the rest of their things over the weekend) and made her way into the bedroom. The one thing this place had going for it at least was the sheer number of pillows stocked in the closet. Those would make a nice barrier to prevent Adrien from being kicked off of the bed. Maybe.

Foregoing her bag for the moment, Marinette collected every last pillow she could find, including a couple from the tiny not-a-bedroom bedroom across the hall, and began creating a wall down the middle of the bed. Getting it right took some wrangling as some of the pillows were just too soft to really create much of a barrier, but after a few tries it looked – decent.

Surveying her work, Marinette leaned against the dresser opposite the foot of the bed. She could do this. Sharing a bed with her best friend who turned out to be her other best friend that she was most definitely not in love with (she totally was) would be easy, especially with the pillows to prevent any sort of contact.

“Wow Mari, your work rivals the great wall of China.”

Adrien’s voice caused her to squeak and look towards him. Her arms flailed as she felt herself tip backwards from the momentum of her turn only to be caught by her partner’s arms.

“Sorry, Mar. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Psh. Me? Scared? Nah. Just felt like flying!”

He raised a brow. She was truly on a roll tonight.

“Well maybe save the flying for the suit, no?”

“Good idea.”

“So, what’s with the pillow wall?”

She felt her cheeks flush, which was just absolutely lovely. “I, uh, kick a lot so I thought it might be safer for you this way.”

“Oh.”

Why did he look so disappointed? She needed a distraction, or the kicked kitten look he suddenly had was going to break her.

“Dinner! We need to have dinner! Otherwise, we won’t sleep well!”

He looked surprised at her sudden change of subject but thankfully didn’t comment on it, instead following her train of thought. “Want to order some takeout? I’m not really good at cooking at the moment and it’s been a long day with signing paperwork and everything.”

“Takeout would be great.”

🗝️🗝️🗝️

Adrien was used to Marinette’s usual quirkiness, but tonight she seemed more on edge. He figured it had to do with the fact that they were unexpectedly sharing a room and a bed. In all honesty, he was excited at the notion. With everything that had gone down after his father had been defeated there hadn’t been much time for them to just be together and he missed the way they used to just hang out and relax.

They had put on a movie to watch during dinner and though things had mostly been comfortable, tonight was more strained, both eating in silence rather than engaging in their usual banter. Hopefully the jitters of moving into their first apartment away from their parents for the first time would wear off quickly.

He was incredibly grateful to Marinette. Before they’d officially revealed themselves, she had supported him after Gabriel was publicly outed. She never once made him feel like he was less of a person for being related to the tyrant. That’s why, when he accidentally saw her detransform on her balcony one night shortly after a now non-eventful patrol, he didn’t hesitate to leap down and reveal himself. This amazing woman who had remained by his side, no matter how bad it could possibly look for her future career or what other people said, turned out to be the savoir of Paris. It made him love her all the more.

“I love this movie.”

“Can we get three kittens? Please? Marie can be yours!”

“Don’t let Plagg hear you say that he might be offended.”

“I’ll just get him more cheese.”

Her laugh rang out and oh how he loved that sound. It was more addictive than any drug in his mind and he quickly decided he needed more of it. Leaning across the couch he reached for her sides and began tickling. It worked like the luckiest of charms. Lured in by the melody of her laughter, Adrien scooted closer to her, reaching up to get her underarms and neck. She squirmed and giggled as he drew closer, until he had her completely pinned underneath him.

Marinette looked stunning with rosy cheeks, eyes alight and a smile on her face. This was how he always loved to see her, something that he hadn’t experienced in months. So caught up in the moment, he let his guard down long enough to allow her to tickle him in return and make him go tumbling to the floor, laughing all the way.

“Crap! I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m good!”

“Stinker. You play dirty.”

“Nah. All’s fair.”

He chuckled as she rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to go get ready for bed, you okay cleaning up?”

“Absolutely.”

She didn’t move from her spot, both of them sharing a look that felt more intimate than most. He should just pull her to him and kiss her. Really, what was stopping him from doing just that? It had been a few years, but she’d once said she loved him as Chat. He had told her he was in love with someone else, having fallen for Marinette all those years ago on his very first day of public school. There was a chance she still felt the same way, right? She hadn’t dated anyone in all their years as friends, of this he was certain.

Right as he gathered up the courage and began to sit up, she rose. Try as he might, the disappointment was sure to show.

“I’ll be in soon, just let me know when you’re decent.”

“Will do.”

He watched somberly as she softly closed the bedroom door behind her.

🗝️🗝️🗝️

Heart racing, Marinette sat on the bed for a moment attempting to collect her thoughts. Every point of contact he’d made on her had left lingering flames. She needed to dial it back because there was no way in hell she was losing her best friend over her stupid feelings. No way at all.

Her mind wandered back to that night on her balcony, mere months ago. She had landed after an outing with Chat, something she was worried would become less and less now that their main enemy had been defeated, and quickly detransformed. The thud of his boots on the deck behind her had made her jump, but as his detransformation fell she could only smile in pure adoration. Her two favorite people in all the world had turned out to be the same person and she had never loved him more.

Unfortunately for her, she knew Adrien was in love with someone, and that someone was not her. They’d managed to make it through, even if things were more awkward and, with her parents’ blessing, had decided on renting the apartment together.

Adrien could hardly afford to rent even a studio by himself and without hesitation she had suggested they be roommates. Would it absolutely destroy her when he finally brought that special girl home? Yes. Was she going to go through with it anyways? Yes. The whole ‘just one bed’ thing really was a curveball she hadn’t seen coming.

Sighing, mostly to herself, but partially in hopes that Tikki would hear (she didn’t), Marinette changed into her pj’s and did the rest of her nightly routine in the small two-piece bathroom attached to the bedroom. Time for the strangest sleepover she’d ever had.

---

“You’re really sticking with the pillow wall, then?”

“It’s for your safety, trust me.”

“You can’t be that bad.”

“I assure you; she is!” Of course, Tikki made an appearance now.

“Oh?”

“I have a habit of kicking and ending up in odd places on the bed.”

“I mean… I could just hold you so you can’t go anywhere.” He winked. She blushed.

“Ha! Funny one.” She climbed into her side of the bed, forgetting the comforter that was still on the floor from her earlier construction.

“You, uh, gonna be warm enough, Mari?”

“Mmhmm!”

An involuntary shiver gave her away and Adrien laughed softly as he brought the blanket up and over her, tucking it in around her shoulders.

“There. Snug as a bug in a rug.”

A snort escaped her.

“You know you love me.”

He had no idea.

Adrien turned off the light, though the city lights illuminated the room enough that she could still see everything clearly. They would definitely need to invest in some black-out curtains. The bed dipped as he climbed into the bed, causing her to tense as she kept herself from rolling towards the center and into the makeshift barrier.

“Huh. The pillows are quite supportive when I’m on my side.”

“Mmhmm.”

She felt one push into her back a little.

“Squishy too.”

“Goofball.”

“But I’m your goofball.”

“Goodnight, Adrien.”

“Goodnight, Mari.”

---

That morning she woke up by some miracle in relatively the same spot as she had fallen asleep in. It would seem that the pillow wall had remained largely intact as well… except for the arm that had made its way through it and was currently wrapped around her waist. That would explain why she hadn’t moved.

Gently, she lifted said arm and slid out of bed placing her personal pillow underneath, so she didn’t wake him. After gathering some clothes for the day, she stole a glance at him before heading to the main bathroom to shower. Adrien was smooshed up against the barrier, golden locks hanging in his face, mouth partly open as he slept. He looked so incredibly peaceful, something he had long deserved.

She could get used to waking up to this every day.

---

And she did.

A week had gone by with her waking before Adrien, his arm breaking the barrier to snuggle her. Somehow, she had managed not to completely karate kick him off the bed yet, though there had been a few mornings where the blankets were a complete mess.

Today had been long, the bakery busier than usual due to an influx of tourists for the season. Marinette was a walking zombie at this point, wanting nothing more than to curl up and sleep.

“Welcome home!” Adrien stood over the stove, cooking what looked to be a box of pasta and something else, with a large grin on his face. He wore the light pink ‘life is what you bake it’ apron that he had gotten her on their friendiversary last year.

“Hey. Thanks.”

“I watched a video on how to make pasta. Tikki helped me with the marinara so it’s a little bit on the sweet side. But I haven’t burned the place down yet!”

She walked over and dipped her finger in the sauce to taste. It was on the sweeter side for sure, but in a good way.

“Thanks, Adri.”

“You’ve been working hard lately, and I wanted to try and do something nice.”

“Well, I am certainly not complaining. And lucky for us, my parents sent home some bread!”

“I might have called and asked them to set some aside…”

“You’re too sweet. I’m going to go get cleaned up and then I’ll join you.”

His smile did nothing but melt her heart. If only he realized what it was he was truly doing to her.

🗝️🗝️🗝️

Adrien had been super excited to make dinner but watching Marinette actually enjoy what he had prepared made him giddy. She’d been putting in extra hours at the bakery, trying to save up money for when they were in school next year and couldn’t work as much. He’d been trying to find somewhere to work but didn’t have many qualifications at the moment, aside from modeling. His dream was to teach le primaire music. Not to mention, it was hard to find someone who would hire him, being the son of a former magical terrorist and all.

Much to his delight, the one bed thing hadn’t turned out to be much of an issue. The first night he had tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable spot until he’d finally decided to snuggle the makeshift wall. He’d awoken that first morning with his arm shoved through and holding Marinette’s Pillow. He could only conclude that he had snuggled her throughout the night and that she hadn’t wanted to wake him or make him feel bad. After that he had tried his hardest to fall asleep facing the edge of the bed but always woke up in the same position.

He was surprised at the fact that she hadn’t been as violent in her sleep as she and Tikki had tried to get him to believe. There had been a couple of mornings that she had yoinked the covers right off of him and wiggled around but nothing near as crazy as he had imagined. Tonight, however, she seemed to be thrashing more than she had been the last week.

“N-no. Cht. Pllse dnt do ths.”

Her mumble startled him, more-so because she had mentioned him than her voice itself.

“Mari?”

“Please, no!” Her voice came out as a strangled yell.

Facing away from him, she lunged backwards, nearly knocking him off the bed as she began to kick and knock both the covers and bottom half of the pillow-wall off the bed. Righting himself, he leaned up to look over the leftover pillow. Her arms were wound around her chest as her feet continued to kick, almost as if she was running from something.

Out of the corner of his eye, watched Tikki as she flew over and rested atop Marinette’s head, gently stroking her chosen’s hair.

“Nightmare?”

“She has them about once a week. It only gets worse from here.”

“Oh Jeeze.” His heart was racing. “Is there anything I can do?”

“She’s going to hate me for this, but I think it would help if you held her. She’ll begin to call out for you soon and sometimes will sleepwalk in search of you.”

His heart sank at that. He’d had no idea.

Tossing the rest of the pillows to the floor, Adrien sat up slightly before moving closer to her, cautiously reaching out and rubbing up and down her exposed arm. Marinette stiffened before quickly turning to face him and wrapping her arms around his torso. Thankfully her kicking seemed to have slowed down.

“Kitty. You came back.”

“Always, love. Always.”

He held her tight as her dream seemingly played out, listening as she mumbled incoherently. After what felt like hours, she finally stilled and began breathing evenly once again.

“That was amazing Adrien. She has never calmed down that fast.”

“No?”

The little red kwami shook her head. “No. You remember when she told you about you being akumitized as Chat Blanc?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s what her nightmares are usually about. First you destroy the world, then, sparing her, you destroy yourself. She always tries to stop you but never makes it in time.”

“Oh wow. I never knew it had affected her so much.” He lightly brushed the hairs that had collected around her face away, tucking them behind her ear.

“I think having you here is going to be a really good thing. You both need each other, she’s just too scared to do anything about it.”

Scared? Marinette? He had never known her to be too terribly scared of anything. Nervous, sure, but never scared. Even when she had told him the story of his akumatization, she’d been calm and levelheaded. Marinette began to stir in his arms, pushing against him slightly, her brows arched in confusion, seemingly unsure of where she was.

“Mari?”

Her eyes slowly blinked open.

“Adrien?”

“Yeah, its me. You had a nightmare.”

“Oh. OH.”

“You alright?”

“I… I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Not at all, love.”

She looked up at him, confusion written in her eyes.

“Tikki filled me in. She thought that my holding you might help, and she was right.”

“Love?”

“A new nickname I thought I’d try… if you like?”

She frowned and looked away for a moment before locking her gaze back on his.

“Love. But… what about…”

“Mari, there’s no one else. It’s always been you. From the moment we met.”

Her eyes widened as the information sank in.

“M-me?”

“You. I love you Marinette.”

Though he didn’t expect what came next, he would forever be grateful it had. Marinette’s arms wrapped around his neck as her lips crashed into his, desire and longing coursing through her. His hands reached up to cup her face, pulling her closer as he deepened their kiss. It was everything he had ever dreamed of and more, the woman of his dreams here in his arms holding him like she never wanted to let go. Deep down he knew she never would.

🗝️🗝️🗝️

Life so far had been a whirlwind of emotions and crazy clichés, but lying in Adrien’s arms, knowing he loved her just as much as she loved him, Marinette had never been more thankful for this little home they’d quickly made, complete with ‘just one bed’.

[lockes-woods]

Stuck Chapter 21

Himiko sighed to herself as she sorted through her notes for the semester from her economics course. The papers formed a semi-circle around her on the floor where she sat back resting against the bottom of the couch. She had pushed the coffee table a few feet forward once realizing that it was too small to accommodate all of her notes, textbook, and laptop. While she didn’t have this exam until next Thursday she was already stressed. She was always better at studying more abstract ideas like ethics, and philosophy or things that were memorization based. She wasn’t worried about her ethics or abnormal psych finals; they were both essay exams. Economics had been kicking her ass the whole semester. She was barely maintaining a B; this exam was going to be the deciding factor on whether or not she would maintain her grade or get a C. Her focus was pulled from her computer screen as her phone buzzed against her side.

 She smiled absentmindedly when she realized she had a new message in DILF’s group chat.

Shanks: How’s studying going?

She snapped a selfie that captured her and Anko who was lying above her on the couch.

Himiko: Fine. Anko’s been supervising me for the last hour.

Himiko: [IMAGE]

Mihawk: Cute. Don’t forget to take breaks every so often.

Shanks: Do you want anything in particular for dinner?

Himiko: Maybe something quick. I’m starting work at 8 tonight.

Shanks: I could grab a pizza on the way home.

Himiko: K sounds good

Mihawk: Good luck with study love. See you at 6

Himiko smiled down at the text. A push notification came in from her money transfer app right before she went to set it down. She paused, trying to remember if any of her friends owed her money. Her confusion only lasted a moment before she realized it was her payment from the DILFs. While she knew factually that she had been working for them for two weeks it didn’t feel like it had been that long. She dropped her phone in shock as she took in the amount of berries and comas on her screen. It was the most money that had ever been in her bank account. This payment easily covered her rent, not her share but the whole rent and her average cost of food and other necessities for a whole month. She couldn’t wrap her head around how this payment was only for two weeks of service. After sitting in silence for a while she slowly eased out of her initial shock and took a screenshot of her banking app. She swiped over to her messaging app.

Himiko: Please tell me you’re sitting down

NomNom: I am. Is everything okay?

Himiko: Brace yourself

Himiko: [IMAGE]

NomNom: …

Himiko sat and waited for a response as she saw Nami’s ellipses appear and disappear half a dozen times. She was about to text her to see if she was okay before her caller ID alerted her that Nami was calling.

“Is this real?” Nami asked, with an air of calmness that Himiko was not expecting.

“I think? I just got the notification.” Himiko responded, “I’m not sure if they meant to send me this amount. It sorta feels like it was a mistake.”

“How much did you agree on before setting up this arrangement?” Nami asked.

“I don’t know if we ever nailed down an exact number,” Himiko said racking her brain, “They said that they’d cover my cost of living and asked me how many hours I average a week,”

“Okay and how many hours did you tell them,” She asked.

“I think I was honest and said 50-60 depending on the hours I could get,” Himiko responded.

“Okay, I could see them getting in the ballpark of that number if they paid you a living wage.” Nami tried to reason, “I’d talk to them before spending any of it.”

“That makes sense,” Himiko agreed glancing at the clock, “They’ll be home in about an hour.”

“It’d be insane if it is really that much money,” Himiko said after a moment.

“My only other thought is that maybe they’re paying by month?” Nami responded.

“I thought that too, but I’ve only been employed by them for two weeks,” Himiko replied.

“Damn, okay I gotta get back to studying; Vivi’s been gesturing to the clock for the last minute. Keep me posted.”

“’Kay I will, bye,” Himiko replied.

“Bye,” Nami said.

For the next hour, Himiko tried her best to focus on studying but found herself glancing at her phone every few minutes. No matter how hard she tried to distract herself her attention would immediately go back there. She had finally started to dissect a graph when she heard Anko spring up behind her and zoom to the kitchen, seconds later she heard the door open. She immediately knew Shanks was home; Anko only ever greeted him like that. The only time she’d give Mihawk or her any attention was in his absence. She remained seated as she heard him puttering around in the kitchen before coming over to her.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said leaning down to steal a quick peck from her before pulling back. “How’s studying going?”

“Okay,” She responded as she started to collect and organize her papers, “I only got through about 20% of the course so far,”

“When is this exam?” he asked sitting down on the couch to her left.

“It’s not ‘til next Thursday afternoon,” she responded, sliding her things back into her school bag.

“That’s pretty good, you still have six more days to study,” Shanks said.

“I guess,” Himiko conceded, “I just hate cumulative tests like this and anything involving numbers.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, aren’t your other two exams take home?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, standing up from the floor and stretching. Her and Shanks’s attention snapped to the door as Mihawk entered the apartment. A smile tugged at her lips as she wandered over to greet him, Shanks hot on her tail. She was again greeted with a quick peck.

“Hey,” he said, pulling away from the kiss.

“Hi,” she responded with a smile, before stepping to the side so Shanks could get in.

“Do you want a salad?” Mihawk asked after pulling back from Shanks and hanging his bag and coat up.

“Sure,” Himiko answers as the three of them make their way into the kitchen. She hopped up on a stool while Mihawk got things for salad out of the fridge and Shanks turned on the oven and placed a few slices of pizza in to warm.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I want a salad?” Shanks asked as Mihawk lined up three bowls.

“You’re eating a salad,” Mihawk dismissed.

“What, why does Himiko get a choice,” Shanks said exasperated.

“Because she’s a responsible adult who is able to get her daily vegetable and fruit intake- and don’t you dare say that coffee counts as fruit,” Mihawk said, giving Shanks a pointed look.

“If coffee doesn’t count as a fruit, then where does it go on the food pyramid,” Shanks argued.

“I’m not having this argument again.” Mihawk sighed sliding a salad in front of Himiko and Shanks.

“It comes from a cherry plant.” Shanks continued to argue.

“What kind of dressing would you like?” Mihawk asked, ignoring Shanks.

“What kind do you have?” She asked.

“Ceasar, poppy seed, sesame ginger,” Mihawk listed looking through their condiments.

“Sesame please,” Himiko said, as Shanks all but pouted down at his salad.

“My sandwich at lunch had lettuce and tomato.” He muttered.

“You do realize you need five servings of fruit and vegetables per day,” Mihawk responded, unimpressed as he passed Himiko the dressing. Shanks sighed, before adding some dressing to his salad and taking a reluctant bite.

“How was work?” Himiko asked.

“Fine, I only had planned surgeries and was able to catch up on some paperwork,” Mihawk answered between bites.

“I was prepping for a court case that is scheduled for the week after we get back from the trip.” Shanks answered, finishing off his salad, “Oh we also finally got a court date for your assault case It’s set for late next month.”

“That’s good to hear, it kinda felt like they forgot about me,” Himiko said after taking a bite of her salad.

“Yeah, these things can be slow going. Two months is on the longer side, but I’ve seen cases put off even longer.” Shanks started, “Oh also because of the nature of our relationship I won’t be representing you, one of the other partners Benn Beckman will be.”

“That makes sense,” Himiko nodded in response, as Mihawk collected the bowls and served the pizza, “Speaking of the nature of our relationship; I had a question about the payment.”

“Was it not enough?” Shanks asked, genuinely.

“What, no,” Himiko said in shock, “I was wondering if you accidentally sent too much.” Both men paused and pulled out their phones.

“No, that’s definitely the right number,” Shanks confirmed as he took a bite of pizza.

“For two weeks?” She asked.

“Yes,” Mihawk confirmed.

“Where did you get that number from?” She asked.

“When we asked you your maximum amount of hours for a week you said 60. So that number is 40 hours of you being paid a living wage and then 20 hours of time and a half for overtime for two weeks.” Mihawk explained casually.

“But I don’t make a living wage at work I’m paid the city’s minimum wage. Also, I’ve never qualified for overtime at either job because I only ever work 30 hours max.” Himiko said confused.

“Noted, but we never said we’d be paying you minimum wage before this arrangement started,” Shanks said, in between bites.

“So, you can afford to pay me that rate every two weeks indefinitely?” She asked, still perplexed. The couple shared a look before Mihawk responded.

“Yes, if we couldn’t afford to pay you that much, we wouldn’t have pursued you in the first place. That’d be like going out to eat at an expensive restaurant and not being able to afford to tip.”

“Sorry, but I still don’t get how can you afford to drop that much money twice a month.” She responded.

“Sweetheart, not to list the exact number of how much our combined salaries are, but we make enough that that amount of money isn’t going to make us sweat,” Shanks explained.

“There’s nowhere else where you could better spend that money at that frequency?” she asked, still not fully convinced.

“No,” Mihawk answered glancing at Shanks for confirmation, “We’ve already maxed out our 401k’s, own two properties, and have other investments in a diversified portfolio.”

“So, this is basically just residual money that you could have spent on any nonessential thing?” she asked, finally starting to see the whole picture.

“Yeah, basically,” Shanks agreed, “I guess you could call it ‘fun’ money if that makes it easier to understand. Your payments are like us getting a new luxury car.”

“Except instead of buying something with little to no longevity we’re investing in a relationship with you,” Mihawk added on.

“Okay,” Himiko nodded, she took a bite of her forgotten pizza as she took in all this new information. While she knew they were far from struggling she couldn’t even imagine them being this well off. She knew if they did tell her exactly how much they made she wouldn’t even be able to picture it or maybe even comprehend it.

“Have you taken any thought on what you’d like to do while we’re at the cabin?” Mihawk asked, snapping Himiko out of her head.

“Only a little bit, I mostly focused on studying today. I’m definitely interested in ice skating, hiking, and the spa.” She answered, going for another slice of pizza.

“Do you want to go skiing or snowboarding at all?” Shanks asked.

“Hmm, not really. I’m not very coordinated and I have a really bad fear of heights, so I doubt I’d be able to handle the ski lift.” Himiko started, “But the lodge inside the ski resort looks really nice. I could always read in there while you’re on the mountain.”

“That’s true,” Mihawk nodded, “Do you have any hiking boots or skates?” Himiko paused for a second before shaking her head.

“I don’t think so, if I ever owned skates I most likely would have had to donate them when we moved to the next location. We always had to pack light and they would have taken up too much room.” Himiko answered.

“Okay, we should probably set aside some time to buy them this week, so we don’t have to rush before we leave,” Mihawk suggested.

“I can take her shopping for the skates on Monday. You should probably be the one to get hiking boots since that’s more in your expertise.” Shanks said looking at Mihawk.

“Okay, we should be able to go on Tuesday, I know you don’t want to do anything other than study on Wednesday,” Mihawk responded.

“’Kay, that works for me,” Himiko agreed, glancing at the clock.

“I should probably go change if I want to get in on time,” she said pushing herself away from the counter.

“You aren’t taking the subway, are you?” Shanks asked.

“I mean yeah, it’s only 7:20.” She replied.

“But it is dark out,” Shanks said.

“It’s winter it gets dark out at 5,” Himiko argued, “Plus it’s only a ten-minute subway ride from here.”

“Shanks does have a point; crime rises after sunset.” Mihawk pointed out.

“It’s only a 20-minute commute, don’t you trust that I can handle myself for that long,” Himiko asked.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, we just don’t trust the rest of the city,” Shanks said, Mihawk nodded in agreement.

“Fine I’ll take a car,” Himiko sighed as she retreated to the guest bedroom to get dressed. While she didn’t agree with them, she did know that she’d be late if the conversation turned into a full-fledged argument. She pulled up the ride-share app and scheduled a ride before changing and heading back to the kitchen.

“You’re also getting a car home right?” Shanks asked.

“Yes,” she confirmed reluctantly as she pecked him on the cheek. Before she could fully pull away, he caught her waist and pulled her in for a real kiss. She let out a whine at the sensation of his stubble rubbing against her face. She placed a firm hand on his chest and forced herself to pull back before he could deepen the kiss.

“I have to go to work.” She said.

“Do you though? You could always call out.” Shanks argued as he rubbed gentle circles into her hip.

“Yes, I have to go in. I’m not going to make Zoro work a shift with a man down because I didn’t feel like going.” She replied firmly.

“Fine,” Shanks said reluctantly letting go of her. She turned and kissed Mihawk before her phone buzzed and alerted her that her driver was only a few minutes away.

“’Kay I’m heading out,” she said pulling on her jacket and shoes, “I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom tonight, so I don’t wake you up when I get home.”

“You don’t have to do that, it’s not like we work tomorrow,” Mihawk said.

“You’re saying that now, but let’s see how you feel at 4:30 in the morning,” Himiko said, giving herself a final once-over before heading out.

“Night,” she waved,

“Good night,”

“Be safe,” Shanks and Mihawk answered in sync as she let herself out. She pulled out her phone and immediately texted Nami as the elevator descended.  

Himiko: The number was right.

She kept a tight grip on her phone as she exited the apartment complex and climbed into her ride’s car. Himiko was thankful that the driver wasn’t chatty as she sat in silence after they confirmed she was in the right place. Himiko’s attention was jerked down at her phone’s vibration. She immediately picked up after seeing the caller ID.

“Oh my god,” Nami greeted.

“Oh My God,” Himiko replied.

“OH MY GOD” Nami shouted, causing Himiko to jerk the phone away from her ear.

“Is that like for the month?” Nami said excitement clear in her voice.

“No, only two weeks,” Himiko responded, glee clear in her voice.

“That’s fucking insane,” Nami shouts, matching Himiko’s energy.

“I don’t even know what to do with this kind of berries,” Himiko said, overwhelmed, “I think I can actually start using my savings account.”

“Okay, okay,” Nami said clearly trying to reel in her excitement, “I think you should put away all the money for bills aside, put half the remaining berries in savings, and then-

“That still leaves a stupid amount of berries.” Himiko said, unintentionally cutting her off, “Should we go out?”

“I think we should go out,” Nami agreed after a beat. Immediately losing her pragmatism.

“Fuck, okay, okay,” Himiko said, trying to reel in her excitement, “After we go to the diner on Thursday we should go out.”

“I’m down and so is Vivi,” Nami replied, a smile clear in her voice.

“’Kay, I’ll be seeing Zoro in less than five minutes, so I’ll ask him then,” Himiko replied.

“Okay, I’ll double-check with the rest of the crew and see if they can make it,” Nami said.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” Himiko responded as she pulled up to the bar and climbed out of the car.

“’Kay, be safe. Talk to you later.” Nami said before hanging up.

Himiko couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she circled the building and entered through the employee entrance. She was greeted by the back of Zoro’s head as he hung up his jacket.

“Hey,” Himiko greeted hanging up her jacket and purse.

“Hey, someone’s in a good mood,” Zoro commented. Himiko peeked around the corner outside the nook they were standing in to make sure they were alone before responding.

“I just got my first payment,” she whispered screamed at him.

“From the DILFs?” he asked in a low voice; she nodded in response.

“We’re going out to celebrate Thursday night, I’m paying. You in?” she asked.

“Sure,” he replied, “That actually reminds me, are you free next Saturday?”

“I think so, why?” she asked.

“I got invited to the winter gala that the hospital’s hosting for being the top of my class this semester; do you want to come?” he asked.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask Sanji?” she asked back.

“Yeah, it was actually his idea that I ask you.” He responded, “He does want to pick out your outfit though if you do come.”

“Sure,” Himiko agreed, “I’ll have to double-check that Mihawk’s okay with me being there, but other than that I think I can make it.”

“Sounds good,” Zoro nodded.

“HIMIKO, ROANOA you got 60 seconds to get your asses up to the front of house,” They heard their manager, Marcus, yell from his office down the hall. They shared a smile before clocking in and rushing to the front.

MASTER LIST

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

A/N: Hey, I hope you enjoyed this bonus chapter. Even if it was mostly a filler chapter to set up for the next few chapters. I promise I didn't forget about the assault case, I've been putting off mentioning it to highlight how slow the US judicial system is especially in big cities. I'm so excited to write the clubbing chapter for chapter 22. Not to give too much away but it may involve someone coming on to Himiko and the DILFs' reaction to that. I wasn't planning on writing an update for another couple of weeks, but I had to be tech support for my uncle as he did his taxes and literally had nothing else to do while I waited for him to finish filing. He didn't even end up finishing tonight so depending on how long it takes him tomorrow there might be an update sooner than planned. Thanks as always for taking the time to read this, ^-^

-Locke

[blackroseguzzi]

Woosah Baby part 5

Summery: You don’t agree with Warren’s plans, so you ask for your brothers help - only to find out your brother wants to join in on the heist too.

Warning: language, mentions of illegal activities

“Spencer and I are going to pull of an Art Heist.”

The smile that had been plastered on my face since the moment I had seen our little nugget on the ultrasound screen immediately dropped. An Art Heist? Warren and Spencer?

“What did you just say?” I watched my boyfriend drum on the steering wheel to the music on the radio as if what he had just confessed to me was like explaining what he had eaten for breakfast that morning. He was so un-phased…so happy?

“There are these book at Spencer’s school library. Worth 12 Million Dollars- just think about how set we would be, y/n.” Warren’s eyes burned into me as his car stopped at a red light. I swallowed hard, wondering if I was imagining him telling me all this idiotic nonsense.

“You have to be joking, Warren.” I hoped he would break out into laughter and tell me he was just messing around, but he just rambled on about how he was going to pull off the supposed art heist and how great of an idea it was.

“No, it’s going to make our lives so much easier. You and me, we won’t ever have to worry about money again.” He spoke quietly, as if trying to get me to hold onto this ridiculous idea.

I couldn’t form a sentence, my blood just boiled as Warren’s car drove through town, and as fast as we were going, I just felt like everything was moving in slow motion.

“How did you even come up with such a dumb idea? You’ll get caught- go to Jail!” I felt my anger rise as Warren laughed at my concern. He was always so confident and cocky when it came to his little grand schemes. Sure, you could get behind stealing from local restaurant freezers because the food always went bad otherwise- but stealing artwork worth millions was another ballgame you were no where near ready to understand.

“We have a plan, it’s going to work and it’s going to be fine- Whoosahhhh, okay?” My jaw clenched as he used that phrase he always used when I would get worked up. It wasn’t helping me relax in the slightest, especially because the more Warren spoke the more I realized he was anything but joking with me.

“Stop the fucking car Warren!” I yelled, having enough of his childish behavior and once again ruining any adult moments we had together that day.

“What? No!” Warren shot me a concerned look as he kept driving, “I don’t understand how you can’t see that this is a good thing- no money worries means we can just enjoy this baby and have the life we want, okay?” Warren’s voice softened and for a split second I could picture our lives stress free without a worry on how to make rent, buy food, and everything else a baby needs but the thought vanished as fast as it flashed into my mind.

“You’re insane if you think you can pull off a fucking HEIST. You either were too high watching Oceans 11 or you were dropped as a child. You didn’t just think HEY LET ME GET A JOB TO MAKE MONEY?!” I ran my hands through my hair and felt my heart rate increase. I didn’t think Warren would ever stoop this low, and actually want to go through with something like this.

“If you don’t stop the car, I’ll open the door and just jump out.” I said harshly, my hand on the door handle. Warren looked over at me with confusion, his eyes wide. He finally huffed and pulled over in the 7/11 parking lot. “Don’t get out of this car, y/n,” Warren banged his fists on the steering wheel as a look of panic washed over him.

“I don’t want to be in a car with someone planning an art heist at a college. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” I spat out, quickly jumped from the vehicle.

“Y’n, how will you get home? Your fucking pregnant. I don’t want you walking all the way to the apartment!” Warren begs me, I can see his face crumpled in worry but I couldn’t stand to be around him no matter how worried he was.

“I’m much safer walking than stuck in a car with your idiotic ass!” I shouted and slammed the door. I could hear him yelling my name as I continued to walk. I slid behind the 7/11 away from his view and pulled out my phone. I knew the perfect person to call, my brother Eric.

“What the fuck is going on?” Eric’s voice filled his truck as I jumped inside. I sighed and banged my head against the headrest of the seat.

“If I tell you what’s going on promise to just breath and not freak out?” I asked. My brother could sometimes be a hot head-especially when it came to me. Eric and I were only 12 months apart and he wasn’t always the best brother to me but he was there when I really needed him the most.

“I’m guessing it’s something to do with Warren if he’s not the one rescuing you right now,” Eric gripped the steering wheel tightly and I could see him flinch. He was buddy buddy with Warren to an extent. He tried to be the protective big brother, but most of the time he was right alongside Warren laughing at the dumb shit he’d do. They used to be closer in high school when Warren and I had first started going out, but the fights Warren and I would have or the fact Warren chose to hangout with me rather than Eric pushed them apart until they were just friendly enough.

“Well, yeah…” I took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”

Eric just continued to drive, and he didn’t even dare look at me. I could just sense the disappointment in the way his shoulders slumped down once I had spoken those words.

“Fuck, Y/n,” He whispered, pulling up in front of my apartment. He stopped the car, biting his lip, trying to figure out what he was going to say next.

“Warren is being an idiot. I guess him and Spencer are going to try and steal some rare books worth millions of dollars. He’s calling it an ‘art heist’ and he’s certain they’re going to make it happen and that they won’t get caught.” I watched Eric’s face wrinkle with confusion before he told me to slow down.

“So you’re telling me he’s planning an art theft with Spencer? If he gets caught he could go to jail for like 10 years. That’s an art and cultural property crime.”

“Eric, He’s convinced they can do it. I’m not even sure how he is so certain but you know Warren- once he’s made up his mind about something we need to just consider it done.” I looked down in my purse, remembering the two little ultrasound photos in my bag. I pulled them out and handed them to Eric who took them carefully and scanned them with his eyes.

“Holy shit.”

“I’m 7 weeks, and honestly I’m freaking out. I thought Warren might man, up but I’m starting to worry that is a dream that’s slowing turning to a nightmare.”

“Does mom know?” Eric asked, his eyes not leaving the little picture of my ultrasound.

“No, and I’m not about to tell her any time soon. Especially when she’s been doing better.”

“I’ll talk to Warren, okay? You have enough to worry about right now.” Eric slowly handed me back the ultrasound photos and I shoved them back into my purse. I felt my phone vibrate again for the 5th time, it was Warren calling.

“Are you going to answer that?” Eric motioned towards my phone. I shook my head, turning the phone off.

“I love him Eric, but something needs to change.”

Eric looked at me with sympathy and he grabbed my shoulder lightly. “I’ll talk to him, I promise. You go relax and I’ll call you later okay? Everything is going to be okay.” Eric gave me a grand smile before I hopped out of the truck and into my building-completely emotionally drained.

Eric watched as his sister walked into her apartment before digging into his pants pocket for his phone. He scrolled down to Warren’s number before taking in a deep breath and calling him.

“Are you with y/n, is she okay?” Warren’s voice sounded panicked when he picked up on the first ring.

“Yeah, I just dropped her off and she’s fine but dude we need to talk.”

“Meet me at the Chinese restaurant on Mullen Drive in 10?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Eric hung up the phone and started the truck, preparing himself for whatever Warren had to say for himself and to get any information about this Art Heist out of him.

Warren slid into the booth quickly and Eric could tell he was fidgety and anxious. “Hey.”

“Hey man, I guess a congratulations is in order?” Eric spoke out, sarcasm dripping in his tone.

“She told you?” Warren leaned forward in the booth, eyes searching Eric’s.

“Yeah man, she told me about the baby and she told me about your idiotic plan with Spencer too.”

Warren let out a breath “I know what you’re thinking man, but..”

“You’re fucking crazy Warren. You just found out y/n is pregnant so you decide to orchestrate a god damn art heist?” Eric whispered the last part as his eyes shifted around the restaurant so nobody could hear his words.

“Look, I know it sounds insane but I’m telling you this is going to work, and It’ll go even smoother if I had your help.” Warren was always good at this game, the one where he made everyone feel important or that they had a roll in whatever plan he was cooking up.

“You’re joking me, right? You knock up my fucking sister and now you want my help with your illegal bullshit because you’re too scared to get yourself a job and support the family YOU created?” Eric shook his head in disbelief, slamming his body against the booth. Warren sighed, hanging his head.

“I’m doing this because I love your sister. I wouldn’t ever think to do this if I didn’t know for a fact we could pull it off! You know me Eric, I wouldn’t do anything unless I was sure it’ll go my way,” Warrens was getting hyped just talking about all of this. Eric mulled it over in his mind, knowing there was a little bit of truth in Warren’s words.

“You show me your plans Warren, and I’ll think about helping. But I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for my sister and the kid.”

I sat at my kitchen table, staring into the chicken noodle soup I had made for myself. I knew I had to eat, but nothing sounded good enough and my stomach was in knots from both the anxiety about Warren and slight nausea from the pregnancy.

I hadn’t heard from him since Eric had dropped me off, but he had been staying at the apartment so I knew that he would be here at some point unless he stayed with Spencer at his dorm.

I pushed the soup away from me and placed my forehead on the table top. I was so exhausted, yet sleep seemed like a distant thought that would never come into existence.

“Y/N?” The sound of Eric’s voice rang out and made me jump up from the table.

“What the actual fuck?” I screamed, turning to see my brother, Warren, and Spencer standing in my apartment.

“Look we all need to talk,” Eric dug his hands in his pockets and looked to Warren, who was watching me with worried eyes. I swiftly walked over to Warren and dug my pointer finger into his chest.

“Why the fuck are you here?” I continued to stare at my boyfriend with anger.

“Woah woah, he’s here with me.” Eric grabbed your shoulder and pulled me away from Warren.

“Oh, what did he rope you into his little plan too, Eric?” I laughed, shoving my brothers hand off of me. I crossed my arms and looked around at the three boys who were speechless standing in the kitchen.

“Wait….” I felt anxiety creep into my gut at the way Eric was looking at me. “WAIT, ARE YOU IN ON THIS PLAN NOW TOO?”

“Look, y/n, I can’t make you understand but this shit is going to work. I need you to at least hear Warren out here.” Warren held up what looked to be his master plans, and he walked over to the kitchen table, throwing them down and opening them up.

“Fuck all of you,” I started to walk towards the bedroom but Warren stopped me.

“GET OFF OF ME,” I hissed, but Warren held me tighter. “FUCKING LISTEN!” His voice was loud and his face angry, something I’ve never seen out of Warren before. You stood there stunned and a little scared.

“I’m a fucking idiot, I know.. I KNOW. I just need you to understand that I’m not doing this for me. I don’t love much in this world, but I do know I love YOU and I love this baby and I want to give you both everything in this fucked up life and more. I can’t fucking give that to you with my GED and a scholarship I already pissed away!” His face softened and his eyes pleaded with me to understand. “Your brother wouldn’t be helping me if he knew it wasn’t going to work. If you trust me and love me at all y/n just look at the plans. I’m not saying what we’re doing is right, but I’m saying it’s what we have to do if we’re going to have this baby and give it the life they deserve.” Warren placed a hand on my abdomen and I sighed, closing my eyes and playing back all the heartaches I had as a child while my mom and dad struggled to pay bills, how they fought and drank and eventually divorced from the burdens of life and unsatisfying ways they had to make ends meet. I looked between Warren, Spencer and my brother.

“FUCK!” I hissed, I you placed my hand on top of Warrens that was still sheltering our baby and I locked eyes with his. “Let me see the plans.”

[juhaknyeonies]

choi seungcheol x reader smau: cute

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a/n: feel free to skip this if u dont wanna read theres a summary on the next post

music major!seungcheol x cinematography major!reader

summary: you left home early and don’t have anyone to dorm with at the dorms so you take up rent with a friend, you need to find a job but it’s been a struggle for you and you can’t just let your friend pay rent by yourself so when you find a joh you immediately take it but what you didn’t realise was this job had you moving around a lot more than you wanted too. atleast he’s rich, right?

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writing under the cut | wc: 1.9k

You had gotten to the restaurant early so you stood outside it for a while waiting for Seungcheol. While you were waiting you were on your phone texting Chaehyun.

y/n: I feel like im overdressing

chaehyun: naw you always dress like this so its normal

y/n: really?? so i have nthing to worry about???

chaehyun: yea have a nice time eating ttyl

Texting her had made you feel slightly better waiting for him. “Excuse are you Y/N?” The guy you had bumped into on your way to the job interview at NCity’s Liqours.

“Yes, you’re the person I saw sulking at Vernon when I went to NCity Liqours!” you accidentally blurted out. “You saw that?” He said embarrassed. “I didn’t expect that person to be you honestly.” you admitted.

“Come let’s go inside and eat.” you said. “A table for two,” You asked the server at the entrance of the restaurant and he led you two to a table. You noticed how nice he dressed up.

When you sat down you felt a little awkward. You didn’t know what to say so you picked up the menu and looked through the food. “What would you like the eat?” you asked. He picked up the menu too after hearing the question. “I’ll take the pork cutlet,”

You were happily looking through the menu, you would eat it up if your stomach could take it. “They have garlic prawns and soft tofu stew and they even have fried chicken!” you said excitedly, “You’ve never been here before?” He asked. “Nope! That’s why I asked to go to this place,” you explained. “Let me order for you, theres a dish here I really like. Also its on the secret menu, I think you’ll like it.”

He asked for the waiter and order our food. “Well, I wanted to talk to you about making the music video.” He began, “I’ll plan it and you can help record and edit the video.” He explained, “I have to record you?” you confirmed with him. “Yeah, we’ll go to different places and we can even go to the studio in the music department.” He said. “So I’m making a music video and recording it and helping you produce it.” you repeated. “Yes,” He confirmed.

“Well, i’ll think about it. It is a lot to do,” You said. “Take all the time you need to think about it, i’ll even raise the pay to 450,” He reassured. “Are you sure 400 is enough already.” you said flustered at the increase of money. “Don’t worry I have more than enough money to spend.” He reassured me again. “You know you have to spend a lot of money into making a music video.” you told him. “It’s only for a university assignment that goes for a whole year.” He said. “Jesus I didn’t know you could get assignments that long,” you were shocked to hear that.

“So would you like to work for me?” He asked as the server had just arrived with our food, “Hi Seungcheol, is this your girlfriend?” The server asked. “Hi, Jun, no no she’s not its just business.” He blurted out a bit red and I just laughed at it.

“Are you sure because you’re both dressed up really nicely, infact I haven’t seen you get all fancy in a while.” The server asked again. “Awww you got all dressed up for me.” you said feeling flattered. “Yeah, I guess,” He shyed his face away from the embarrassment he was feeling right now.

The server had given us our food and left. “You’re friend is funny,” you said. “Don’t worry I think it’s nice you dressed up nicely to eat out.” I took a bite of my food.

“Oh my, this is really good!” you started stuffing your face with the meal. “What’s it called?”you asked, “That’s a secret,” He explained. “Gatekeeper!” you called him out.

“Well for starters its a pork dish, its really good right?” He said. “Yea,”

We started eating and talking about the food and our life right now, we had been going to same university but because we were in different departments we had never really met.

“You’re friend group had 13 people in it and Vernon and that other guy we saw earlier is it in?” you asked. “Yeah, it’s alot and I take care of all of them,” He said. “Wow, you have so many friends! That’s amazing!!” you said in awe.

When we were done eating we started discussing who should pay the bill, “I wanna pay I suggested the place,” you said, “Yea but I offered to take you out to dinner to let me,” He said. “Please I wanna pay,” you begged. “No, I’m paying for it,” He insisted.

“Actually you can pay I remember I only have enough money for an uber,” You let him pay. “You don’t have a ride home?” He asked. “Nope,” The waitress came to our table and Seungcheol paid for our meal.

We walked outside of the restaurant and you were about to pay for an uber when he stopped you. “I actually don’t have a ride home because I walked here.” He admitted. “You wanna come home with me,” you offered.

“No, I have a better idea, you should come to my dorm. My roomate is out tonight and I think you should come see something pretty.” He explained, you said yes and you walked with him to his dorm.

He led you towards a shortcut you never knew existed and it was so gorgeous. There was lights hung up and it was lovely to look at. Shortly after you arrived at his dorm.

He lived in the Kwangya dorms so Jiheon and Wony’s dorm was that far away and Juyeon’s dorm and Jisung’s was close by.

The dorms were separated by gender but the other gender could still come over and visit dorms from the other gender. He unlocked the door and he led you inside.

“When do you have lectures?” He asked. “9am? Why?” You told him. “I assumed you had afternoon classes I shouldn’t have asked you to come over if you needed to get ready early in the morning,” He panicked.

“No, don’t worry. I’m not going. I need to go to the doctors tomorrow to get my bones checked.” You reassured him that you were fine staying at his dorm then reality hit. You were at a boy’s dorm and you don’t have any clothes to change into.

“Actually I didn’t think this through and I don’t have any clothes to change into.” you confessed. “I’ll sleep on the couch and i’ll find you some clothes you can change into and if you want you can take a shower.” He suggested.

“Oh thank you,” He immediately went over to his closet and grabbed out some clothes and a towel and you went over to his bathroom and took a shower there.

After you showered you went over to find him and ask which was his room but he was already fast asleep on the couch. He didn’t really look very comfy so you looked for a pillow and blanket and put it around him. You were also exhausted so you ended up sleeping on the floor like a weirdo, god knows why you chose the floor…

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Four

“How long are you going to make me stand like this?” 

“Claire, the life drawing models do this for an hour at a time, I think you can handle ten minutes.”

“At least they get paid for it, all I get is criticism.”

“Please, try to keep your feet in the same spot, the legs are really important.” 

She sighs and readjusts, planting her feet back onto the two X’s I’ve marked on the floor with masking tape, then stands still for a good five seconds before reaching up to touch her hair. 

I sigh with frustration. “Claire…”

“Sorry, I just feel like my hair looks weird.”

“It’s fine, please can you just…”

“I’m worried you aren’t going to make me look good.”

“It’s not about making you look good, it’s about capturing an accurate portrayal of human anatomy.” 

“Ugh.” She moves her arms back to roughly the correct position, but now her torso has kind of twisted out of position, so I take my gummy eraser and start rubbing out what I’ve already drawn. 

‘Why is this so hard?” I mutter under my breath as I bring the charcoal to the page again, drawing a fresh line for the curve of her spine. It seems like no matter what I do, I can never recreate the focus I have in Ida’s studio. I’ve tried drawing in my sketchbook on the bus, in cafes, while sitting on benches at the park, but my drawings always look off, I don’t feel sure about my talent like I used to. I’m not carrying an inspirational spark with me when I’m outside of the walls of my college and yet, tomorrow is Friday. The day that we all have to lay our sketchbooks out on the floor and critique each other for the work we’ve done during the week, so really I have to come up with something halfway good. I want Ida to be proud. I don’t want the cursed Dean Cullen to be mean, although he inevitably will. His default mode is nasty, but still, I can’t help but want to prove myself. To be good enough. To be the best.

“I’m not going to move, don’t worry…” Claire says. “But I just want to say that I’m getting very cold.”

“It won’t be long, I promise.” I plead.

“Don’t life drawing models also have heaters?”

“It’s not like you’re naked. Leggings and a vest are like, roughly the same thing as a heater.”

“Not at all. And it’s almost winter. Why don’t we at least have the radiators on?”

I shudder at the thought of the last electricity bill, the memory of opening up that little white envelope and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack and collapse onto the wooden floor. It was revealed then that Claire was leaving the heating on pretty much all day from the moment the temperature dipped below fourteen degrees, for the sake of being cosy. Her parents pay for everything, including her half of the utility bills, so really, nothing matters at all to her, and I know she doesn’t really understand why we have to suffer in the cold, or why I kept telling her to buy a hot water bottle instead of cranking on the radiators every time she goes to bed. If I didn’t keep remembering to switch it off our bills would be astronomical every month. I wish I could be the passive-aggressive housemate sometimes and put a padlock on the timer. 

I’m on the student support grant, which just about covers my rent and food. I don’t think she understands that some people have to think about money, that it doesn’t just endlessly flow into all of our accounts, or materialise from thin air whenever we want a new skirt from American Apparel. 

It frustrates me sometimes, the disparity between our finances. I’d never really thought about class, or where I stood in society before I moved away from home, but now it’s all around me all the time and utterly impossible to ignore, woven into my identity. I’ve never associated with the notion of being a working class person from a working class household but when I’m here it feels as though it’s the number one thing that defines me. It saturates everything, everyone’s accents and postcodes under scrutiny. Who’s dad can afford this and that, who has to work evenings and weekends to pay their way, who gets the grant, who doesn’t. I’d never before considered the fact that Claire got a thousand euro for her Confirmation and at my house, the year of the financial crash, we had plain pasta for dinner every day for three weeks, but now it seems as though this was something I should have always been aware of. 

Shane comes into the apartment without knocking, as usual at that very moment, and Claire immediately drops her pose to skip over and embrace him, as if they haven’t seen eachother in a month, instead of every single day. He has his own apartment in Clonskeagh, but is seemingly never there. He’s become our third housemate – the one who never pays rent. I groan and drop my willow charcoal back into my plastic pencil holder. Whatever is on the page now will just have to do. 

“You alright there, Evie?” Shane says over her shoulder, never letting me just have a tantrum in peace. 

“Yeah I’m fine. Just finishing up an assignment.”

“Seems to be going well, sure you look delighted.”

I stick my tongue out at him, and he ignores me. “Bit cold in here, isn’t it?” He comments, and Claire throws her hands up in agreement. “Thank you!” She says. “I’ve been trying to tell her that all evening.”

“She’s cold because she’s in a vest in leggings.”

“That you made me wear for your drawing.”

Shane smirks. “I’m not complaining about the vest and leggings anyway. Come on, just flick the heat on for a while.” He goes over to the thermostat and flips it on expertly, like a man who lives here. Which he doesn’t. He just sleeps here three to four nights a week. Then he comes over and sits beside me on the couch. I try to close my sketchbook before he can catch a glimpse, but it’s too late. He puts his big hand in the way to block me. 

“That’s good.” He says, pointing at the drawing I’ve just done. 

“Is that the one of me?” Claire says, coming over to perch on the arm of the sofa next to him. “Oh, it is good. You made me look very pretty.”

“Not hard to do.” Shane tells her with this dreadful, flirtatious look on his face and I have to suppress a disgusted shudder. 

“It’s fine.” I say begrudgingly. “But it’s not going to be good enough.”

“I think it’s great.” Claire reassures me. “What more could they be looking for?” 

“Perfection.”

Shane lifts the sketchbook out of my hands without asking and starts flipping through it. “So what, is your tutor like some kind of dragon, or?”

I sigh. “Ida is fine, she’s honest but she’s fair. There’s just this one guy.” I take the sketchbook back off him and try to close it in my lap, but he easily slips it away from me again and resumes his snooping. 

“A student, like?”

“Yeah. Dean Cullen. He’s always horrible about my work.”

“I wouldn’t care if some random man was making comments about my work. Sure he’s hardly going to give you grades, is he?”

“No.” I say. “But I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of criticising me.”

“I doubt he sees it like that.”

“Yeah, and do you know him, do you?”

“Obviously not but he probably just thinks he’s being constructive, like.”

“He said the legs on my piece were lazy last week.”

“‘Lazy’ isn’t very constructive.” Claire agrees. 

Shane turns another page thoughtfully. “Some lads just say what they think and they don’t care about how it comes out, though. He’s probably like that.” 

“He’s not.” I insist. 

“Sounds like he’s got under your skin.”

“He hasn’t.”

“Alright so.” A pause. “Is this me?” He holds up the sketchbook on a page of drawings of a man’s head in profile. They’re done in brown pencil. He’s got a short-back-and-sides haircut and a bump on the bridge of his nose where it was once smashed with the butt of a hurl and never quite set back the right way again. 

“Yes. That’s you.” 

He looks at it again, saying nothing for a few moments. Then: “Can I have it?”

“No, I need the sketchbook intact for my grade.”

“Well, can you put it online or something then?”

“Why would I do that?”

“So I can show it to people. Sure it looks exactly the same as me. I’d make it my profile picture and all.”

“Nobody wants to see my work online.” I say, going red.

“Oh they would!” Claire says. “Everyone is doing it now.”

“On Facebook?”

“No, Instagram.”

I pause. “What is that?”

She and Shane exchange a look as though I’m some old age pensioner who just had a ‘moment’, and I sigh with frustration. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is, apparently I’m technologically illiterate.”

Claire whips out her brand new iphone to show me the cute little app that looks like a polaroid camera, and then scrolls through her feed, which is just pictures and more pictures, no text posts, no statuses, just photos. “Everyone with an iphone has it now.” She explains. “You just take pictures and upload them. You can edit them in the app and everything, and you follow your friends so you can see what they post too.”

“And everyone is doing this?”

“Yeah, it’s the new Thing. And look.” She opens up a search bar and types in the word “Art”, and immediately the screen floods with images of paintings and drawings. “You can look at what other artists are doing too. I think you’d really like it.”

“Hm.” I say. “Maybe.”

“Hand me your phone.” 

I obey her, and she starts tapping away at it. I watch as she downloads the app, signs me up for it, and then she follows both her account and Shane’s, who I can see has exclusively posted photographs of himself on the football field. Not content I’d be especially interested in, but I can always unfollow him later. She lifts the sketchbook off the couch and carefully turns to the page with Shane’s head drawings, and snaps a picture. She applies some brightening filter to it and then uploads it, and there it is. My first post on Instagram. 

“Thank you.” I say. 

“Go through my follow list and see if there’s anyone else there you want on your feed.” She instructs me. “And like, find out who else in your drawing class has it. You can all compare your drawings and leave nice comments or whatever.”

“That kind of sounds like a good idea.” I admit. 

“Listen to the good feedback, not just what stinky Dean Cullen says.” She strokes my hair affectionately. “You’re so good at drawing, I’d hate it if someone made you think that you aren’t.”

“Thank you Claire. And Shane.” I say as I get up from the couch and start heading towards my room. 

“We’re going to watch a film, if you want in.” Claire offers, but I shake my head. 

“I think I’m going to keep drawing. I can do more studies of my own feet or something.”

“Okay, whatever you want.”

Prev // Next

[stardewremixed]

In defense of Sam... pt. 4

SAM’S QUOTES

Some of these may be a stretch, but I am basing my thoughts on my theories around Jodi. SPOILER ALERTS. See Pt. 1, Pt. 2, and Pt. 3 of this “In Defense of Sam” series.

1. Sam might say he wonders if he could grow a cactus in his room. Totally stretching here... but maybe it's because his mom berates him and says he can't do anything right. It could also be that he feels he has to ask her permission.

2. At one point, he says he will miss his mom's fish casserole if he moves out. I think it's genuine. Jodi is probably a good cook. His dependency on mom for meals may not be so charming for the newlyweds, but I think he can't help it. I think it is related to Jodi's overbearing nature. He always has to be home for dinner... or else... she's really disappointed in him and she had hoped he would be more responsible.  

Also indecisiveness and ADHD do make meal times challenging. I know from personal experience. Overthinking what to do and how to make food and all the steps involved is a literal problem, and can be paralyzing.

Also after marriage, he claims the fish casserole is the only thing he misses from home. That seems telling. Not that he misses his family.

3. He shares he hates working at JojaMart, and complains about how else he will make money. While I think it's great he has a job, if encouraged, he could focus on his music and playing gigs. Or maybe Sam could even teach music lessons (especially since the town doesn't seem to, oddly enough, have a school. Overall, though he lacks confidence and Jodi might berate him or think his music is stupid.

Also Jodi doesn't seem to work so he's bringing home money to pay rent and make ends meet. Since Kent is MIA, I'm not sure if the family is getting military payments (or at least not as much as they did previously).

4. On the Feast of Winter Star, he mentions he is grateful for his skateboard and guitar and his family is an afterthought. Trouble at home, perhaps? This reinforces point 3 above.

5. After marriage, he states he never learned to cook because "mom did all the cooking." Cooking is a fairly common and necessary life skill. Jodi didn't think Sam could do anything right and so never let him cook.

6. He also says he'll help out someday on the farm and worries that you are mad. That seems to fit/confirm his fears that he isn't good at things, reinforced most of his life by his mom. While Sam doesn’t help with much around the farm, he isn’t incapable and later demonstrates what a great father he is.

7. When reminiscing about the eight heart event, Sam says he was worried he would mess up and you would think he was a loser. His lack of self confidence could stem from Jodi's lack of support. And of course, the guy wants to impress his love interest. He probably hasn’t witnessed a healthy marriage/relationship (I mean, I’m looking at you Marnie + Mayor). While it is normal/natural to want to please and receive affirmation from a loved one/partner, it feels like Sam is pushing for this a little too much.

Jodi will also confess to you...

“How's Sam doing? I have to admit, there's less cooking and cleaning to do since he moved out...”

Maybe this is her weird way of missing Sam?!? But I would think you could come up with something better to say to your son/daughter-in-law about your son.

8. He admits he still feels responsible for Vincent. Even if both of his parents are home. I wonder if he's worried Jodi might eventually treat Vincent the same. Sam says "life's all about change," but he doesn't sound too confident.

Change, especially sudden change, is hard for someone with ADHD. Sam continues to say kids need to learn that change is part of life "or else adulthood will destroy them." Destroy is such a harsh word. I almost feel like he's quoting something he once heard from his mom.

Full disclosure: This just makes me want to hug Sam and remind his precious heart that it's OK to struggle with change and that I'm here for him no matter what and we will get through changes and adjustments together. ❤️❤️❤️

9. Visiting his family after marriage is a weird experience.  

"Seeing family is nice, but it’s also kind of depressing in a weird way. Like… our lives are totally separate now, and everything feels more formal than it used to.”

Like Jodi no longer has control over Sam and it’s uncomfortable for everyone. Perhaps she even continues to berate him for not making something of his life (lounging around the farm as a house husband when her own husband went and fought a war). ADHD can be crippling and abuse on top of that can be paralyzing and make it hard to recover. Or maybe she has something against stay-at-home dads later on.

Perhaps Sam and the Farmer agreed he should have some downtime while trying to figure out his life and to focus on therapy after years of abuse. Also... in relation to the change comment above, change, even positive change, is hard for someone with ADHD.

10. Sam takes to parenthood well, and surprisingly is very helpful and likes being a family man. I think it's because he wasn't sure he would ever amount to much. He also stresses how much they need to give attention to the first child after the second child is born so that there isn't jealousy between them. This harkens back to his own experiences.

[diazevan]

I think the Buckley siblings are definitely upper class and they never really had to worry about money. Not because of the down payment on the house, because of everything. We know Buck had college money and he spent them on his bike and going around the world to find yourself is not really something people who struggle with money do. Also I think both SEAL training and FIRE academy aren’t free and that’s not really something you can pay with bartending tips. Buck entire lifestyle is very rich kid coded: moving out of a house you don’t pay to an apartment you rent for sentimental reasons, planning hot balloon dates, suing the LAFD (lawyers are very expensive) and his whole vibe.

Sorry, this answer is long! 9-1-1 isn't particularly known for its accuracy regarding the earnings of first responders. We forgive that because it's fictional.

Update: According to their website, All LAFD programs are free aside from the $73 signup fee and also states, 'The Department does not charge for any of our recruitment and mentoring services.'

The Buckley siblings are not trustfund babies. I’m not saying their parents aren't well-off, I don’t doubt that, but it doesn't mean they shared their wealth with their adult children (until helping Madney with the deposit.) I’m saying ‘adult’ because I believe while they were growing up, the parents funded everything parents are expected to: clothes, food, etc.

Let’s work with what we know. In Buck Begins, Maddie says ‘I'm gonna go nights so I can work during the day, pay for it myself. That way, I won't need to ask Mom and Dad for anything ever again.” I’m guessing that despite their parents doing their bare minimum of what is expected, they weren’t too kind about it, highlighted by how Maddie says this line. She knows she’ll either not get the financial support from her parents, in becoming a nurse, or they’ll complain about it if they do.  So, she goes it alone, deciding to almost work twenty-four days so she doesn’t have to ask them for money!

In 4x04, while arguing with his parents, he says this, “She married Doug, and you cut her off.” Maddie was married to Doug for eleven years, that’s eleven years no contact with her parents, after they cut her off. Cut off contact, and likely cut any kind of financial support. They wanted nothing to do with her, as Buck repeatedly points out in this scene.

What about Boston? I’ve seen that so many times on twitter. How did Maddie afford to live in Boston for six months and get expensive medical treatment? Doug’s life insurance. She received $400, 000. She says in 5x13, “I used most of my savings when I left,” which matches the belief that she used this money to fund her care in Boston.

Now, you’re right about Buck’s college tuition money. “Maybe you use your tuition money to make some cool modifications on your bike.” We don’t know for sure if this was entirely funded by his parents or if he had student loans. Since I am British, all I know about college is from movies, apparently some parents will keep college funds aside from their children as standard. So perhaps, yes, he did have a tuition fee paid by his parents, which maybe is why he rebelled.  Remember this is young, angry and restless Buck, he was likely to burn through that money like it meant nothing, because being reckless or getting hurt, was his way of gaining his parents attention.

But more importantly, is what happened next. When Buck leaves Hershey, Maddie gives him her Jeep and some of her own money. “Look, I can give you a little bit of money to get started, and then you can go anywhere you want.” It is Maddie who funds Buck’s ticket out of that house, giving up her two means of escape. Savings she had, from working her arse off in Boston and as a nurse! Now, Buck’s dynamic with his sister, is so different to his parents. He likely kept that money very safe and was incredibly frugal because Maddie gave it to him. So, it was more special.

Quite explicitly, we see that Buck never settles down when he’s on the road. He goes, from one place, to the next, to the next. Picking up many jobs. Likely couch surfing, sleeping in the jeep, or cheap motels, Buck didn’t have hefty bills to pay! He could save up, on the road.  All those years of traveling around, and saving would fund NAVY Seals and Firefighter training. What also helped, is he lived in a Frat House, not making him financially liable for all the bills, which were split evenly across all the guys. Then he lived in Abby’s apartment, where once again, he wasn’t paying any bills. With a fireman’s salary, while living in a frat house, and sharing the bills, he likely found it easier to save. Making it easier to fund a hot air balloon ride, a nice studio apartment, and then a lawyer!

They do call Buck's place a "frat house," but I'm not sure how true that was, but if it was an actual frat house and he didn't make any payments, that's more savings. But I don't think he wanted to stay in the frat house.

Buck also couch-surfed in LA! He lived with Chimney and then Maddie, for a considerable amount of time before ever moving into his apartment. Time he likely spent saving.

Anyway, that’s what we know. I still can’t ever believe the Buckley parents ever set up trustfunds. Neither Maddie nor Buck saw a dime after they left or were cut off. Not until more recently now that the Buckley Parents are attempting to make an effort. Still, Buck and Maddie grew up self-efficient, relying on each other, not their parents.

On an unrelated note, I would be interested to see a storyline of when one of their parents passes away though. If they do get left with money, I wonder if it would strike up the argument that money doesn't fix all the problems and neglect they experienced during their childhood and beyond.

[ashboy-3]

I'm Not Scared

Written for Dannymay 2023 Day 17 Prompt: Temper Fandom: Danny Phantom Characters: Danny, OC, Clockwork, Ghost friends Words: 1998 Summary: Parker goes home with Danny for Thanksgiving. They should have expected something crazy to happen, being the first time to visit Danny's hometown since they meet two years ago

Danny doesn’t have a temper. It’s a fact, not even a fact it’s just known. Danny gets annoyed, he might get a little angry but he doesn’t have a temper.

Parker has been Danny’s roommate living off campus with the guy in their small apartment since the summer after their freshman year. Parker knows a lot about his roommate, not as much as they wished, but enough. They know that he calls his friends from back home every week, and his parents every other week. They know that Danny doesn’t have a job but is able to pay his rent every month along with any bills Parker asks of him. This makes Parker assume that Danny has money but doesn’t want to flaunt it and Parker is honestly okay with that. They know that Danny loves the cold and loathes the heat and They know that Danny doesn't have a temper.

“You’re sure you want to come home with me for Thanksgiving?” Danny asked his roommate, the two packing their bags in Parker’s small car.

“Yeah, dude. It’s better than going home or being by myself for a week here,” Parker shrugged as the two drove to the airport.

With ease they boarded the plane, Danny stepping aside for a moment to send a quick text to his parents that they were boarding and will be there soon.

“You should get some sleep,” Danny said yawning, as he looked towards Parker, they did leave early in the morning.

“Like your one to talk,” Parker rolled his eyes, knowing his roommate's tendency to go days without sleep.

“It’s different I’m used to it. Don’t actually need much sleep,” Danny mumbled as he fell asleep, right as the plane lifted in the air.

“Now arriving at Amity Park Illinois,” the pa system said.

 It was after the two were off the plane and exiting they started to make their way.

“Aren’t we going to get a car or something?” Parker asked.

“Nah. No taxis or anything in Amity, my dad is a horrible drive, my mom I feel is better watching over my dad, I don’t even know if Jazz is here, and I’m not much for driving. Amity is one of those places where everything is everywhere. It’s not that long of a walk, especially for you Mr. Walk two miles every other day,” Danny teased.

“Well yeah I don’t have a problem walking but you however I’ve never seen you exercise. Excuse me for being worried about my friend's health,” Parker glared as Danny laughed.

“I promise you Par. I’m a lot stronger than I look. I miss being home,” Danny smiled as he breathed in the air. It was a feeling a ghost can have of only being in their lair after being so long. It was the feeling of all the raw ectoplasm in the air that only he can taste.

“So what do you normally do when you go home?” Parker asked as the two walked.

“Well, I try to meet up with my friends. Not sure if Sam and Tucker are here, but I have others that I hang out with. I get something to eat over at the Nasty Burger, it tastes better than it sounds,” Danny laughed at Parker’s reaction. True to Danny’s words it wasn't long before they were in the city center of Amtiy.

“So which house is yours?” Parker asked as Danny gave a laugh.

“We’re almost there. I promise you that you won’t miss it.”

They continued to walk until they came upon a house, but that couldn’t be it, because it had a giant. . .U.F.O.? on top of it with a giant sign that said Fenton Works.

“This can not be your house,” Parker pointed.

“Yeah, it’s home. Didn’t do me too many favors in high school, but I guess my high school career is not something that one can call normal. So pre-warning if any of the food is glowing don’t eat it and if there is fudge don’t eat too much. My mom makes it for my dad,” Danny said as he opened the door.

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” Danny yelled, letting Parker in as he shut the door behind him.

After he got no answer he decided to set his bag down in the living room, Parker following his lead as he walked to the basement door. “Mom Dad! You in there?”

“Danny!” an older female voice yelled through the door, sounds of footsteps coming closer.

“We didn’t know you were going to be home so soon. We would’ve picked you up at the airport sweety,” his mom smiled down at him.

“And risk dad’s driving? No way I’m dead enough as it is,” Danny said as it causing his mom to glare at him.

“Danny. You know I don’t like those types of jokes,” she said sternly.

“I told you, dude. Death jokes aren’t cool,” Parker shrugged.

“Shut up. I have a right to make as many death jokes as I want. I’ve kind of earned that right,” Danny gave a proud smirk.

“One close call to death that lands you in the hospital does not make you able to make death jokes. You’re tempting it,” his mom said.

“We have tea on Thursdays,” Danny was quick to bite back as he finally focused on Parker. “Anyway, Mom this is Parker. Their my roommate. Roommate this is my mom. If you see a big guy in an orange jumpsuit it’s my dad,” Danny introduced.

“Hi! It’s good to meet you,” Maddie smiled at him as she walked to the kitchen. “I’m sure you’re both hungry after a long day. I’ll make you some lunch.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Danny smiled as they followed her to the kitchen.

“Are you going to visit them while you’re here?” she asked, making Parker raise an eyebrow,

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Danny shrugged as he played with the ring on his finger. A ring that he has had for as long as Parker has known the guy. A ring that he’s never seen Danny take off and he doesn't think he ever will.

“You always have a choice. Everyone in your corner has made sure of it,” Maddie smiled down at him. Parker has never felt more like an outsider than in this moment.

“If it’s not me it could be someone worse. I’m okay with it. I legally get to live my life until I reach of age,” Danny told her as Parker looked at his best friend in confusion before he turned to Parker “Want to go on a trip tomorrow?”

“Uh sure,” Parker shrugged, not sure if she should really keep trusting his friend, but no matter how weird Danny has been he’s always proven to be a good guy.

The rest of the night went smoothly, no more confusing talks and Parker was actually able to meet Danny’s dad and his older sister. She seemed to be able to read Danny like an open book which was a pleasant change from being around people who could never tell what the guy was thinking.

The next day Danny woke Parker up early in the morning.

“Really? We’re on break and I have no classes. Let me sleep in just this once,” Parker begged.

“Sorry. Tomorrow we can sleep in, but I promised a field trip today so we got to go. Get dressed and I’ll get us some breakfast,” Danny walked out of the room.

“So where are we going?” Parker asked, taking a bite of the breakfast Danny was able to get the two.

“A mirror dimension,” Danny shrugged as if it was nothing, walking down the stairs to the basement.

“I’m sorry! Wait what?”Parker asked confused as they finished eating their food and followed after his strange roommate.

“Yeah so kinda blowing a big secret of mine here, but I’m like halfdead and we’re going to the ghost zone,” Danny smiled as right before Parker’s eyes two rings split down the middle changing Danny’s blue jeans and red and white hoodie to black jeans with a black and white hoodie. His hair went from black to white. His shoes are from normal tennis shoes to black combat boots. The thing that drew Parker’s eyes was the ring Danny wore everywhere was now glowing with a fire that wasn’t burning Danny.

“Yeah so surprised. It’s not dangerous, just grab whatever you’re comfortable with and it’ll work in the GZ,” Danny promised as he pointed to the wall that had skateboards, skates, scooters, and even bikes. Grabbing the board seemed to be the safest option Danny grabbed them and the board and pushed them into the green swirling wall. How did Parker not notice that?

Parker will admit that at first, they were scared and terrified but seeing Danny wave happily to the others that lived there and to see them wave back made him happy. They ended up at a castle where they were met with a few others who looked like they stood out, who Parker could point out in a crowd and say that they are the important ones.

“So I see you have chosen to reveal yourself,” the one whose body kept changing pointed out.

“I felt it was time,” Danny shrugged.

“Not like it will do the child much. He still has his studies to focus on and I for one am tired of the distractions. At this rate he will never be ready,” one ghost ranted.

“I’m not a child ghostwriter,” Danny rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms.

“Forgive us Great One, but while you may be of age in the human world-”

“I am still a child by ghost standards. I’m aware Frostbite,” Danny patted the giant yeti’s arm comforting.

“So Parker this is my council and trustee’s I guess you could call them and guys this is my roommate, Parker,” Danny said excitedly.

“Council? Of course, you have a council. Why do you have a council?” Parker asked.

“Young Daniel here is next in line for the throne of King of infinite realms,” Clockwork spoke, changing forms again.

“Yep! This is clockwork, Ghost Writer, Dora, Frostbite, Pandora, and- wait where’s Walker?” Danny glared.

“I am sorry Danny, but he refused to show up,” Pandora said an angry look on her face.

“Vlad never shows up either, but we never make a big deal about him,” Dora defended the ghost.

“I deal with Vlad personally. Walker and I have a business deal going on, one that I hope he decided not to break,” Danny glared in that direction. “Guess I’ll have to go deal with him. Sorry, Parker. I’ll be back,” Danny flew away.

“Wait Danny don’t leave me here!” Parker yelled, using the skateboard to follow.

The scene he showed up to was of a destroyed prison with Danny in the center of it. He had a small ghost held close to his chest and the other with his hand through his chest as he spoke.

“I told you to never put your hands on her! You broke my word and my word will be law! I can not punish you to the fullest yet, but Walker soon I will be king and you better have my forgiveness by then,” Danny yelled, tossing the ghost to the side as he held the ghost closer, his hair no longer glowing with blue fire.

Yeah, Parker had no idea that Danny had a temper, but if he can hold it in till something truly bad like this, even if he doesn’t have all the details, maybe their nothing for Parker to be worried about. He’ll just have to get the full story from Danny another day.

Passing the ghost over to the Yeti, Danny smiled and brought him back to his house, saying he’ll be back in a few hours. Yeah, Danny’s a good guy he thinks, if only a little scary.

will be making a master post for this au eventually.

[catb-fics]

Sorry this is long and kind of personal, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. How did it go when you and your boyfriend moved in together?

I've been with my boyfriend a while now and we've started talking about moving in together. I'm renting at the minute and he owns his house so it makes the most sense for me to move into his. Idk why but I feel a little nervous about moving into someone else's space when they've been living there a while and have their own way of doing things. It won't be for a few months yet when my lease is up but I'm definitely overthinking it. I've stayed over loads and everything's been fine and he's a typical man, he's not fussed over his stuff or how things are done. He's so nice so I don't think he'd see it this way at all but I'm just worried about going in and feeling like I'm taking over or changing things or getting in the way.

Hello lovely I don’t mind answering at all and I was in a similar situation to you when I moved in with my bf as he had his own house. I was nervous too! I’d been living with a housemate for a while and I really value my own personal space but it’s worked out so well. Me and my bf are very chilled people and we don’t tend to argue, he gets annoyed with my clutter sometimes though! I love to cook so I’ve kinda taken over there but that’s a great thing as far as he’s concerned and we split household chores like he cleans the bathroom/washes up/hoovers and I do the laundry/cook/do the food shopping etc. we are both crap at DIY and honestly that’s one of the only things we tend to argue about! I also worried I wouldn’t have space and we’d clash as I like staying up late and he’s early to bed and early to rise but we just kind of fit and it works. I think just being upfront and honest with each other is key, having your own time/space still, compromise at times as you’re not going to agree on everything.

It sounds like you stay a lot anyway so I’m guessing you’ve probably got stuff there already I felt like I was moving in way before I officially did as I was taking over my bf’s wardrobe and had way more of my toiletries in the bathroom than his 😆 I’m sure you won’t get in the way at all, it’s so nice just having someone you love there all the time, like if I’ve had a shit day I know I have a hug waiting for me always! You’ll probably both save loads of money, it’s a big step but if you’re both in it for the long term it’s like the next logical step. Good luck lovely I’m sure it’s gonna be fine ❤️ xxx

[peronasghosts]

my nevermoor big bang fic!! @nevermoorcentral i partnered with @head-of-clouds fic is under the read more, or at the ao3 link (i hope) it's a vampire/roommate alternate universe

so let’s raise a cup (cause i found someone to carry me home)

Cadence scowls. “We are not putting up a flier on the local coffeeshop’s bulletin board for a new roommate. We’d get so many weirdos.” She’s sitting in her spinny office chair, which makes it harder for her to be properly grumpy, but she manages it regardless. They’re in their makeshift office corner of the living room trying to budget for December, but due to inflation rent’s risen to horrible heights. 

Cadence and Hawthorne work at the vampire minimum wage jobs. Cadence and Hawthorne don’t get paid enough at Stabbucks and VampireWorld respectively for this. 

Hawthorne spins around in his office chair, knocking a stack of paper off the desk. “Cadence, we’re weirdos. Besides, we need the money for rent.”

“Who looks for roommates on a neighborhood coffee shop bulletin board? Besides, I’m pretty sure we both have some money saved up,” Cadence says. 

“Someone cool might. Someone with money for rent so we don’t end up on the streets.” Hawthorne’s stopped spinning and now is staring at her intensely. He does that when he’s serious and is trying to look smart. Cadence rolls her eyes.

“We’re vampires. We can’t exactly hide that if a human’s living with us. I have enough trouble with Dearborn next door.” They’d only survived living here for two decades because of their stash of costumes and their friend Arch’s makeup skills. 

A terrifying glint appears in Hawthorne’s eye. “What if we get another vampire to live with us? That’d be wonderful, right?”

“And we’re going to find one at Proudfoot Coffeehouse?” Cadence asks skeptically. The regulars of Proudfoot Coffee are thoroughly normal college students desperate for anything to get them through the day, not vampires.

“And we’re going to find one at Proudfoot Coffeehouse! Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Hawthorne says. It’s the scariest thing Cadence has heard him say, and she’s seen Hawthorne kill people.

“If you don’t, you’re pet sitting the entire week for Dearborn.” Cadence hopes that this is significant enough punishment for Hawthorne to put real effort into this. Hawthorne with a half-baked plan does things like getting stuck trying to give blood because he didn’t want to be suspicious. 

“I would’ve given blood if I were human,” he’d said. 

“Deal.” They would’ve made it a blood pact, but vampires don’t have enough of the stuff laying around, so they just shake on it.

-

Cadence almost forgets about the deal. She definitely would’ve written it off as one of Hawthorne’s harebrained schemes that she would make sure bites him in the ass, if not for the fact that Hawthorne goes to Proudfoot Coffee every day for the next week.

On Friday, after six days of this, she finally asks him why he’s going to a human coffeeshop every morning before dawn when a) vampires need no extra energy to get through the day, as vampires are nocturnal, b) vampires can’t eat human food, so even if Hawthorne needed the caffeine, he couldn’t drink the coffee.

“I’m getting inspiration! How better to learn what will appeal to any potential vampires but absolutely no humans than to immerse myself!” is what he says. Cadence responds with a single raised eyebrow. “OK, that was why I went the first day, but…” he trails off, rubbing his neck.

“What happened?” Cadence asks.

“There might’ve been a cute boy with the opening shift.” Hawthorne even blushes at this. This is the twelfth time since Cadence’s known him that Hawthorne has gotten a crush on a human, and it never ends well.

“Hawthorne.”

“I know, I know! But I did take notes, and I think I’ll be able to get us a vampire roommate!” Hawthorne pulls his notebook out of his bag. He’d just returned from Proudfoot Coffee. The pages are covered in Hawthorne’s characteristic scrawls and half finished doodles of the same boy.

“Sure. Just, I know Dearborn’s going on a work trip soon, and I’d really hate for her to have to ask everyone in the building if they can pet sit for her again.” Last time Dearborn had to go on a trip for her job that she swore dealt with classified government missions, she’d pestered all of the apartment residents until poor Rook stepped in. Dearborn’s cats were menaces, and no one wanted to talk about the rabbits. Or the fish, which were notoriously easy to kill.

“You’re going to eat your words!”

-

Hawthorne creates a flier. It reads: Hello!! Are you looking for a roommate right now? There’s an opening with us!! Looking for someone willing to pay $500 a month in rent!! Have a love of the nocturnal lifestyle and the gothic!! Do you like bats? We love them!! Also, we’re close to the main line!! Apartment is within a few blocks of Proudfoot Coffee!! Call 869-243-6721 for more info Cadence takes one look at it and says, “I would never call you.”

“Well, it’s not like we need another Cadence,” Hawthorne says. 

“We don’t need someone who will drive stakes through our hearts either. Besides, I think all we’re going to get are desperate college students.” 

“Some of those desperate college students might be vampires! And, they’ll come to us because we are obviously vampires!” Hawthorne argues. 

Cadence considers this. Judging by the college students she’s talked to, that’s not too improbable. “I suppose it’s worth a try, despite this flier also attracting vampire hunters.”

Hawthorne pumps his fist. “I knew you’d say that!” 

“I am only saying that to humor you. You’re like an annoying little brother,” Cadence says, fighting a smile. Hawthorne could be unfortunately endearing. 

“Yeah, but I’m your annoying brother. Also, I’m about thirty years older than you, jerk.” 

“Semantics.”

-

When Hawthorne gets a text from someone saying they’re interested, he races into the kitchen and sweeps Cadence off her feet without warning. Cadence, who was watering their rather wretched houseplant, slips on the spilled water when she lands. She gets back up with a scowl.

“Don’t look so glum, we're going to meet our new roommate in two days!” Hawthorne says. He seems to think that this is a reason for celebration. 

“I was holding a watering can,” Cadence says, venomous. “What’s their name?”

“Morrigan Crow,” Hawthorne says, after checking his phone. The case was sparkly and blue, with a pop socket that had Toothless on it. It was their only phone, because they’d disconnected the landlines in a fit of paranoia a decade ago and Cadence refused to get one. 

Cadence snorts. “Are you sure this isn’t some weirdo pretending to be a vampire?” The name Morrigan Crow is almost trying too hard. 

“It’s worth a try!” 

“Fine. But if I don’t like her, she’s out of the running.” 

Hawthorne looks slightly constipated, but he nods. “We’re meeting her at Proudfoot Coffee at seven pm the day after next.”

“You’re paying,” Cadence says. This doesn’t really mean anything, since functionally their money is shared and neither of them will drink the coffee, but it’s the principle of the matter. -

-

Morrigan Crow turns out to be a short goth girl with wavy black hair and skin so pale she looks dead. Cadence’s first thought is that she’s insecure about something. She’s trying to hide it, trying not to fidget too much or be too tense in her shoulders and eyes, but Cadence catalogs the quick tapping of her foot, the darting of her eyes interspersed with periods of intense staring, and comes to the conclusion fast enough.

Hawthorne makes a beeline for her table and sits down before ordering anything. He waits for a moment; sees if Morrigan wants to talk first.

He starts rambling before the silence stretches on too long. “I’m so glad you texted me! My friend Cadence and I have a bit of a money problem right now, and getting a roommate that pays a third of the rent would be really helpful. You’ll have your own bedroom, but there’s only one bathroom. Neither of us take too long, so you’ll probably be fine unless you take hours to get ready. Anyway, this is just for if you have any questions and to get to know you to see if you’ll be a good fit,” Hawthorne finishes, taking in a deep breath.

Morrigan leans back, looking like a deer in headlights. “Uh. Alright. I’m Morrigan Crow, and I’m looking for a place to stay. I had to move out of my family’s house on a bit of a short notice.” 

Morrigan stares at them, searchingly, when she says that. It puzzles Cadence, before she registers what Morrigan’s last name means. Crow. Morrigan’s a Crow, probably related to the mayor of a nearby city. Cadence knows him only from his homophobic policies. Did Morrigan just ‘have to move out’, or was she kicked out?

“That must’ve sucked,” Hawthorne says. He turns to Cadence, cocking his head towards Morrigan. Cadence nods. “Cadence here moved out because her parents didn’t like that she was gay.”

Morrigan startles at that. “So, you two aren’t…”

Cadence snorts. “I would never date Hawthorne.”

“Also, I’m gay too,” Hawthorne says brightly, shooting Cadence a glare. Cadence rolls her eyes. “Anyway! What’s your schedule? Cadence and I are both pretty nocturnal.”

Morrigan shifts around in her seat. “I think I am too.”

“Great! That’s our main potential dealbreaker, since I’m a light sleeper.” Hawthorne leans back in his chair, tipping it back. “What else should Morrigan know?” he asks Cadence.

“We don’t eat together, there’s a chore list, and common areas are kept clean and tidy. Also, give us a warning for visitors,” Cadence says. “Someone buys groceries at the beginning of each week. Do you have any dietary restrictions?” Cadence and Hawthorne take turns gathering blood from unsuspecting frat boys because both of them hate going to frat parties but would rather get blood from them than anyone else.

“I can’t eat garlic.”

“Good to know!” Hawthorne says, looking at Cadence as if to say I knew she was a vampire. Cadence ignores him. “So, do you want to see the place?”

“Can I see pictures? I have to go somewhere soon.”

“Yeah, let me pull some up.” Hawthorne had taken pictures of their apartment before they left that specifically showed the more vampire-like aesthetics, such as the many bottles of a red liquid that were on display in the kitchen because Hawthorne forgot to drink enough blood otherwise. “What do you think?” Hawthorne says, grinning like a dork.

“It looks…good.”

“Nice! So, Cadence and I will get back to you within a day or two about if you can live with us, if you still want to,” Hawthorne says.

“I do,” Morrigan says quietly. Cadence smiles, slightly, at that.

-

The moment she and Hawthorne get back to their apartment, Hawthorne barrages her with questions. “Did you like her? I thought she was great. I mean, she’s clearly a vampire you can’t argue with me on that, and I thought she seemed pretty nice! Not like some of the vampires out there.”

“Can you ever shut up?” Cadence says. Hawthorne puts a hand to his chest dramatically. “I did like her, though.”

“Enough to give her a shot? She probably really needs a place to stay; maybe she wouldn’t care that we’re vampires if she’s human.”

“I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Cadence can’t stop going back to how Morrigan described her situation. It reminded her too much of what things were like for her when she first was on her own, before she met Hawthorne. Living on the streets as any black lesbian in the 1950s, let alone a black vampire lesbian. From Hawthorne’s knowing look, the connection she made was probably obvious to him.

“You guess. Would it kill you to be optimistic?”

Cadence rolls her eyes, and lightly punches him. Not much could kill her anymore, but that doesn't mean she doesn't worry. 

-

Morrigan moves in on a Tuesday night. It’s raining outside, and the fall weather is getting colder. She knocks on the door once. It’s a sharp, loud knock. Cadence is reading in the main room, near the door, but doesn’t get up to answer the door. Hawthorne slides from their now-shared room in his mismatched Spongebob socks to open it instead, rolling his eyes at Cadence. Cadence shrugs.

Morrigan stands in the hallway outside their apartment with one black suitcase and a black umbrella still open over her head like she’s never heard of the bad luck it brings. Or maybe she simply doesn’t care.

“You’re here!” Hawthorne exclaims. He spreads his arms out wide, like he’s expecting to be able to hug Morrigan. Stiffly, Morrigan accepts the hug. “Here, let me take this.” He wheels the suitcase inside, and Morrigan follows.

Hawthorne gives Morrigan a tour around the apartment, despite it being only four tiny rooms. Cadence can hear everything that he says, and shoots in a comment when she thinks it’s necessary. Morrigan laughs at some of them, quietly, like she’s not sure she can, and Cadence counts it as a victory.

She and Hawthorne aren’t exactly sure how to make sure Morrigan knows that they’re vampires too, so Hawthorne just leads her pointedly by the coffins in the bedroom and the jars of blood in the kitchen. Morrigan flinches at the sight of the coffins, and looks curiously at the blood jars.

It’s around 7:30 pm, so it’s not surprising when Morrigan asks if they’ve eaten yet. Cadence just woke up, so she’s not had her breakfast, and neither of them eat dinner at this time. Hawthorne glances at Cadence awkwardly, and says, “Well, I’ve eaten, but Cadence had a late lunch so she’s going to eat later. I think we have some food around here if you want it?”

Morrigan bites her lip. “Not really. I got some food earlier.”

“Well, this is your apartment now too, so don’t be shy if you want food,” Hawthorne says lightly.

Morrigan nods, and says, “I think I’m going to go and unpack.”

“See you later!” Hawthorne says, brightly. Morrigan leaves the main room with a wave.

Hawthorne slumps onto the couch beside Cadence. “D’you think she knows we’re vampires? I made it as obvious as I could!”

“Maybe we were wrong, and she’s just really goth,” Cadence says. “Most people wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that their new roommates are vampires.”

“I hope not. I like her.”

“So do I.”

-

Over the next couple of days, Hawthorne and Cadence do all they can to tell Morrigan that they’re vampires without explicitly saying that they’re vampires. They watch Dracula every early morning. They sleep in coffins during the day. Hawthorne shows off his fangs.

Morrigan still seems to think that they’re both working night shifts and are just really, really weird. She says that Hawthorne’s teeth are cool, and asks him how he got them done. Hawthorne looks into the middle distance like he’s on the Office and says that Nan Dawson gave them to him. Morrigan nods politely.

Cadence once says that she can’t go out in the sunlight and Morrigan laughs and says she thought vampires sparkled like Edward Cullen. “No, they don’t,” Cadence responds.

“How do you know that?” Morrigan asks, smiling.

“Personal experience.”

Morrigan loses it laughing, but glances at the door like she’s calculating possible escapes. Cadence scowls as she catches Hawthorne’s eye. He’s laughing too, but it’s more because if they don’t find this funny they will both have existential crises.

How the hell does Morrigan not know that they’re vampires, and know that she’s one too?

-

When Cadence relays this crisis to her friend Lambeth, Lam stares into space for thirty seconds then says, quietly, “Have you considered that she isn’t actually a vampire? Some people are allergic to garlic and have nocturnal schedules and are normal humans.”

Cadence puts her head in her hands and groans. “Trust me, she’s a vampire.”

The evidence isn’t exactly hard to find. Morrigan sleeps in a coffin that she brought to their apartment when both Cadence and Hawthorne were out. She drinks “cherry juice” that looks suspiciously identical to the liquid in Cadence and Hawthorne’s blood jars. She gets burned one day on her face and says it was a cooking accident. Hawthorne buys groceries to keep up appearances and they all go untouched. She has two scars on her neck that look like bite marks, and remarks one day that she’s an ex-Catholic, but can’t go to church anymore.

Lam nods, once Cadence is done reciting her laundry list of evidence. “It does seem like she is a creature of the night as well. However, I do not think she knows that you two are like her.”

“How? The only way we could be more obvious would be if we outright told her!”

Lam gives Cadence a considering look. “Maybe she’s scared of what will happen if she believes you’re vampires and is wrong.”

-

After talking to Lam, Cadence starts noticing more of Morrigan’s peculiar behavior. Not the stuff that’s common with vampires, but other things. Subtler things, like the way Morrigan flinches when a door shuts too loudly, or how Morrigan hasn’t told them a single thing about her life before meeting them other than what she told them at Proudfoot Coffeeshop. Cadence notices, and she and Hawthorne start adjusting.

It doesn’t matter if they know what happened to Morrigan. They both just want her to stay, and be comfortable.

Then one day, Hawthorne brings home the latest copy of Vampire Monthly, a newsletter exclusive to vampires that only those that have passed four tests can receive. Cadence and Hawthorne both subscribe to it, but Elder Quinn won’t let them contribute yet. “You’re too young. How long has it been since you were turned? A century?”

When Hawthorne said that he’d been turned in 1922 by Nan Dawson so that they could both fly prototypes of planes without any danger and that Cadence had been turned in 1960 by Baz Charlton to be part of his vampiric secret society, she’d kicked them out of her office.

Hawthorne waves the winter issue in front of Cadence’s face. “Look it! Jupiter North wrote an article and it’s on the front page!”

Cadence shoves his arm back. “I can’t see it when it’s so close to my face!”

Morrigan slips out of her room as they begin to fight. “What happened?”

Hawthorne straightens, and Cadence takes a step back. “Vampire Monthly! You’ll like it for sure. Look, Jupiter North has an article. He’s great, been a vampire for five hundred years or so.”

But instead of showing the excitement both Hawthorne and Cadence had expected (she’s got to know we’re vampires now, Cadence thinks), Morrigan’s face goes even more pale when she sees the front page.

The headline reads, “Ezra Squall Promoted to Regent Elder Amid Iron Crisis.” Hawthorne looks down at it, puzzled, while Morrigan is trying to hide that she’s barely holding herself back from crying.

Cadence studies the two of them before saying, “Well. At least you know we’re vampires now.” It’s a halfhearted quip, one that they all know is simply to lighten the mood, but Cadence tries regardless.

She doesn’t know what else to say.

“I didn’t know there were so many of us,” Morrigan says, her voice quiet and fragile. “I thought I was the only one besides-the one who turned me.”

“Nope!” Hawthorne says, popping the p. His wide grin is forced, but Cadence appreciates him trying. “There’s thousands of us, all over the world! Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah. It’s-wonderful. Great,” Morrigan says distantly. She gulps. Opens her mouth, and closes it. Hawthorne and Cadence look at each other, Hawthorne tilting his head as if to say, what do you think we should do? Cadence shrugs. Hawthorne’s her first close friend, and she’s not made many since. “Ezra Squall turned me.”

Cadence blinks. Once, then twice. She rubs her eyes. “What the fuck?” she says, without thinking. Hawthorne isn’t faring much better. His jaw drops, and he’s staring at Morrigan with wide eyes.

“Sorry?” Morrigan says, hunching her back like she’s trying to hide herself.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Just-Ezra Squall’s been a vampire for millennia, and as far as I know he’s only turned about nine people. So, uh, this kind of a huge deal,” Cadence says. She holds her hands up in front of her. “Not anything bad, but-unexpected.”

She’d thought Morrigan had been turned by another young vampire, for company or as someone to mold in their image or as a protege like most vampires Cadence knew. Ezra Squall was more of a legend than a real vampire. Some new vampires even believed he didn’t really exist at all.

Cadence wasn’t that dumb, but there was something hard to believe about Ezra Squall. Most vampires his age were recluses, insane, or in an unending sleep. Ezra Squall was a Regent Elder.

“Thanks?” Morrigan says. Her fingers fidget with the hem of her black sweater. She looks like she wants to disappear into the floor. Cadence looks at Hawthorne, as if to say can you help me out here, and thankfully he finally speaks again.

“So, when you say you didn’t know there were vampires besides you and Squall, does that mean you didn’t notice us these past weeks?” Hawthorne asks.

Morrigan rolls her eyes. “Goth people exist, dumbass!”

Cadence likes her a lot. She’d like Morrigan ever more if she were a tiny bit more observant.

“So you didn’t realize that we were creatures of the night when you saw our jars of blood? Or from the coffins in our room? Or when-” Hawthorne says. Morrigan puts her hand over his mouth.

“Some people are really committed to the aesthetic.” She’s scowling, but Cadence thinks she’s recovered from whatever came over her before.

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Cadence says. She flicks her gaze up and down Morrigan, who’s wearing a black sweater, black skirt with skulls on it, black leggings, and black Doc Martens.

“Shut up.”

-

Cadence jerks awake in the middle of the day. When she opens her coffin from the inside, he sees a bit of light peek through her curtains, and cringes away from where it shines on her bedroom floor. She gets up and carefully steps around it to the curtains, which she pulls shut. As Smokey the Bear would say, only you can prevent wildfires. She’s doing her part.

Cadence makes her way to the kitchen. Chugging blood always makes her sleepy. Cadence had trouble sleeping as a human, so she’s forever grateful for the benefits of drinking blood. The lights are all turned off, which isn’t a problem because of Cadence’s night vision, but it makes her jump in surprise when she spots Morrigan opening the door to the hallway.

Morrigan’s carrying her suitcase.

Cadence races to the door, sliding in her socks. “Morrigan?”

Morrigan turns to face her. Backlit by the flickering hallway ways, she looks terribly small. Cadence isn’t used to feeling old, not with the company she keeps, but she does now. “I’m sorry,” Morrigan says. It sounds like she means it, but she’s inching towards the door.

“Why are you leaving?” Cadence asks. Morrigan’s face twists. Her features look sharper than ever.

“I’m sorry. Really,” Morrigan says, and she shuts the door behind her. Cadence stares at the door for a moment, then she goes to the kitchen.

She’s going to drink a lot of blood.

-

Cadence wakes Hawthorne up at sunset. There was no point before, Cadence had convinced herself, because they couldn’t exactly go outside and look for Morrigan during the day. It definitely wasn’t because Cadence needed a couple of hours to get herself together.

Hawthorne seemed to know this. He didn’t press about what happened, just got dressed and started brainstorming where Morrigan could’ve gone. She didn’t tell them much about her past, so they had trouble guessing. Cadence hadn’t realized how much Morrigan didn’t tell them.

“This is hopeless. We’re never going to find her, if she’s even more than ashes,” Cadence says. Hawthorne’s pulled out a map of the city, and they’re trying to mark places Morrigan could be. They’ve nailed down three possibilities in an hour, but Morrigan’s probably not going to go somewhere they could find her.

“This is hopeless. We’re never going to find her, if she’s even more than ashes,” Cadence says. Hawthorne’s pulled out a map of the city, and they’re trying to mark places Morrigan could be. They’ve nailed down three possibilities in an hour, but Morrigan’s probably not going to go somewhere they could find her.

She didn’t seem like she wanted to be found.

“No! She’s our friend, and we’re going to talk to her about this,” Hawthorne says, angrier than Cadence is used to. It’s in moments like these when Cadence remembers that her friend can be a badass if he wants to be. In her opinion, it doesn’t happen often, but Cadence is always begrudgingly impressed.

“Hopefully,” Cadence says. She tries to think of another place Morrigan would go. “She’d probably stay in this city, so we can cross off outward bound trains. She really liked it here. Also, it’s not like it’s easy for us to find her.” Her bitterness leaks into her voice.

“Hey,” Hawthorne says, taking her hand in his. “I know this is hard. I know we might not find her, because Morrigan’s smart and plenty elusive. But as long as we have each other, we’ll get through it.”

Cadence blinks back tears. She is not going to cry over someone she only knew for a couple of weeks. “If you say so.”

“I promise.” Hawthorne holds out his pinky because despite being over a century old, he’s a child. Cadence links her finger with his, giving him a watery smile. They turn back to the maps, bouncing ideas off each other.

Eventually, they collect enough ideas to feel prepared to go out and search for their missing friend. They pull on their coats, and head outside. It’s snowing, and Hawthorne pauses to try to catch snowflakes on his tongue. With a roll of her eyes, Cadence does the same.

They fly around the city in their bat forms, searching for Morrigan. It’s getting lighter by the time Cadence spots Morrigan’s suitcase and bumps into Hawthorne on her descent. He follows her, and they land nearby where Morrigan is eating takeout Indian food. Cadence pulls Hawthorne behind a corner so Morrigan can’t see them.

“What do we say?” she hisses in his ear.

“Ask her if she’s ok. Tell her that we’d miss her if she left,” Hawthorne suggests. Upon seeing Cadence’s face, he reassures her, “We’re doing this together, remember?”

“As if I need you,” Cadence says, but lets Hawthorne lead the way to Morrigan. Once the two of them are a few feet from Morrigan, Morrigan notices them with a startle.

“What are you doing here?” she grumbles. “How’d you find me?”

“We’re your friends. Also, we searched the city,” Hawthorne says, bluntly.

“I left,” Morrigan says, like that was enough to end their friendship. Like either of them would let her go this easily, with this little explanation.

“Why?” Cadence says, more sadly than she’d like.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Morrigan says, standing up and dusting herself off. She throws the rest of her food in the trash. Speaking of her food, what was up with that? First going out in sunlight, then eating human food. What weird kind of vampire was she?

“Let us try,” Hawthorne responds, stepping closer to Morrigan. He holds his hands out like Cadence remembers him doing to her during their first fight. Maybe this will turn out as well as that fight did. Cadence trusts Hawthorne more in this than she does herself.

Morrigan lets out a mocking little laugh. “I don’t think you really want to know.” Under her breath, she says, “I don’t really want you to know.”

“Please?” Cadence asks. The snow keeps falling all around them. The world is a beautiful snow globe, and Cadence’s stomach feels sick.

Morrigan doesn’t say another word. She simply grabs her suitcase and goes down the escalator to the subway. Hawthorne and Cadence run after her, but she disappears into the early morning crowd.

To Cadence’s dismay, the sun has already risen.

-

Cadence and Hawthorne get on a train that stops near their apartment on its loop, and Hawthorne passes out after a few stops. Cadence envies him. He’s always been able to sleep easier. Cadence watches passengers come and go, and thinks about Morrigan.

Morrigan, she’s realized, is weird as hell.

She eats human food and goes out in the sunlight, yet tells them she’s a vampire. Cadence has lived with her long enough to know that Morrigan can’t tell a lie to save her life. Literally. She can’t lie to Dearborn.

So Morrigan’s definitely a vampire.

In the decades Cadence has been a vampire, she’s only heard of one creature like Morrigan. It’s a horrid possibility, but Cadence needs to figure it out. She’s always survived by taking the upper hand in every situation she can, and she needs to know more about this one to do that. And if anyone knew more about what Morrigan might be, it would be Jupiter North.

Looks like they’re paying a visit to the Hotel Deucalion.

Cadence wakes Hawthorne up once she’s made up her mind. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes before saying, “To ask them about how to convince her to come back?”

“No, idiot, to figure out what Morrigan is. But that’s not actually a bad idea,” Cadence says. Hawthorne has a knack for finding the emotional side of everything.

“Thanks, Cadence,” Hawthorne says, sarcastically. “It’ll be nice to see them all again.”

“Maybe.”

Hawthorne laughs, but Cadence feels a wave of nausea at the thought of talking to the inhabitants of the Hotel Deucalion. There’s Jupiter North, who is overly friendly in a way that Cadence has no idea how to deal with. Dame Chanda and Frank are both intimidating in their flair and social know-how, whereas Fenestra is simply terrifying. Out of all of them, Cadence likes Kedgeree the most.

“I wonder if Jack will be there,” Hawthorne muses.

“Let’s hope not,” Cadence says. She and Jack Korrapati have a love-hate friendship in which they’ll brutally insult each other but then get tea after and make fun of people they both know. Cadence doesn’t particularly care to deal with it today.

Hawthorne and Cadence get off the train, and Cadence leads them to the next train they’ll have to take. A steady stream of evening commuters are arriving, and Cadence and Hawthorne weave through the crowd. They hop on their train, and Hawthorne passes the time by trying to come up with backstories for different passengers, which he whispers to Cadence. Cadence contributes a snide comment or two when she feels like it.

She appreciates the distraction.

Hotel Deucalion is a huge hotel in downtown, known for its upscale clientele and mysterious proprietor. Despite most of the staff being vampires or other paranormal entities, the hotel still caters to rich, regular humans. Cadence will never not be on her guard at the Hotel Deucalion.

As she and Hawthorne make their way through the lobby, Cadence relaxes her posture and keeps her head down. Despite some changes happening since Cadence was human, there haven’t been enough for her to discard her defense mechanisms. Hawthorne is much more welcome in this space than she is, and so she has him pave their way.

Hawthorne flings open the door to the basement of the Hotel Deucalion, and he and Cadence descend into the supernatural side of the hotel. The basement is lit by neon purple lights today, and it’s bustling. Some werewolves are playing pool, other witches are starting a game of poker. Two chimera children run in front of Cadence, almost tripping her up.

Cadence scans the crowd for Jupiter North. She spots him in the back, laughing with the vampire dwarf Frank. Cadence takes Hawthorne by the arm and heads towards him. Hawthorne resists, until he notices where they’re going.

Jupiter sees they’re approaching him, and sends Frank off with a blinding grin. It disappears when he turns towards them. “Where’s Morrigan?” he asks.

Cadence’s brow furrows. “You know her?”

“I know of her. Let’s go to my office.” Jupiter leads them to an unassuming door in the corner. He opens it, and gestures for them to go inside. Cadence and Hawthorne sit on the couch near the door, while Jupiter paces the room.

“What do you know about Morrigan?” Hawthorne asks, suspiciously.

“Nothing you two probably don’t suspect. Look, I’d hate to tell anyone this, but Morrigan is,” Jupiter takes a deep breath, “a daywalker.”

“I knew it,” Cadence mutters harshly.

“This doesn’t change anything, right? It can’t,” Hawthorne pleads.

Jupiter sighs. “It doesn’t have to. After their creation, daywalkers don’t do any harm to their environment inherently. Some choose to, but that’s all it is: a choice.”

Daywalkers are vampires that kill other vampires, and with their life energy become able to walk in the sunlight, and eat human food. The only downside is that a daywalker can’t transform into a bat.

Cadence doesn’t know how many vampires were killed to change Morrigan into a daywalker. She doesn’t want to. Sure, she and Hawthorne kill humans all the time, but it’s not the same. They could’ve known the vampires Morrigan killed.

But, it seemed like Morrigan regretted her murders. Cadence hopes so.

“Thanks, Jupiter,” Hawthorne says, sounding like he’s about to cry. Cadence rests her hand on his knee, trying not to think about how she feels the same.

“Always,” Jupiter says. “Now, do either of you know where Morrigan is?”

Cadence purses her lips. Hawthorne says, “We found her. It didn’t go well. She ran away.”

“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” Jupiter responds sarcastically. “Well, do you two want to help me find her?”

“Why do you want to find her?” Cadence asks. Daywalkers are highly reviled in the vampiric community, and Cadence doesn’t want any harm to come to Morrigan before they can talk again.

“Don’t worry. I want the best for her,” Jupiter says. Cadence feels a weight disappear from her shoulders. “So. How about this? You two search the West Side, while I organize my staff to search the other neighborhoods. If she’s out of the city, I’ll find her.”

“How?” Hawthorne asks, incredulous.

Jupiter winks. “I have my ways.” In a lower voice, he says, “I have super good eyesight. Came after a millennium.” Often, vampires get senses sharpened as they age. Cadence doesn’t know why, but she’s looking forward to it.

-

Hawthorne and Cadence split up to search the West Side, and Cadence flies for what feels like hours alone. It’s not snowing anymore, but the winds keep slapping her back and forth. It takes all she has to will herself to keep flying, keep looking.

Cadence ends up being the one to find Morrigan. Morrigan’s in a city park, a small one that consists of a strip of land around a lake the size of a city block. She’s sitting on a bench feeding the ducks.

Cadence lands beside her, and once she changes back into her ‘human’ form she says, “Most park rangers would tell you not to feed the ducks, you know.”

Morrigan jumps a foot into the air. She narrows her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to find me again.”

“So what? We need to talk.” Cadence sits on the bench next to Morrigan.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m moving out. That’s all there is,” Morrigan says, a trace of sadness infusing her voice.

“If you really do want to move out, that’s fine. Hawthorne and I aren’t going to kidnap you or anything. But you don’t have to. Whoever you are, whatever you are, you don’t need to. We just want you back,” Cadence says. She’s been flying for almost the entire day. She is exhausted in both body and mind, and she’s surprised that she means exactly what she’s saying. “Come back, Morrigan. Please.”

Minutes pass before Morrigan speaks. “I’m a daywalker,” she begins. “I’m part of the Crow family-I’m assuming you knew that already, though. They kicked me out for being gay,” and here Morrigan’s voice cracks, “and Ezra Squall found me. He turned me, then made me a daywalker. He’s one too, you know, even more powerful than me. I stayed with him for a while. Longer than I should have. I did his bidding.”

Cadence tucks away the discovery of Ezra Squall’s villainy away for the moment. “But you left.”

“That doesn’t change what I did. What I am.”

“It’s what matters,” Cadence says. “You’re not that person anymore. You left, and you found us. That’s what matters. Come back.”

“You both are so…” Morrigan trails off. She doesn’t look at Cadence.

“When I first met Hawthorne, I punched him in the nuts. I didn’t admit we were friends for decades. I have been insufferable, and frustrating, and awful. I’ve made him cry countless times. I’ve hurt a lot of people, and I’ve murdered loads. You aren’t any worse than me.”

Morrigan turns to face Cadence. Now, Cadence can see the silent tears streaming down Morrigan’s face. “Don’t lie to me,” Morrigan says.

“Ask Hawthorne. I’m not lying. I would never lie about something like this,” Cadence promises.

Morrigan lets out an audible sob. She crumples into Cadence’s arms. Morrigan cries, and cries, and cries. She soaks Cadence’s shirt, and Cadence strokes her hair. They stay like that, fit together like puzzle pieces, until Morrigan lifts up her head.

“Thank you,” Morrigan says.

“Anytime,” Cadence says, and means it.

-