#but wow I am not ready to open that can of worms

[secretly-insane]

Do you ever say stuff that you mean in a completely unconcerning way but people take as extremely worrisome?

[cookies4evry1]

Woo Woo Movie Night

Daniela has a movie night with the villains.

It was another stormy day it seems, it has been raining for three days now and everyone was mixed about the weather. Some didn't mind the rain but others did as it could cause them to end up sick if not careful and it made everything wet.

You couldn't hang your clothes to dry out at all...

The eight year old girl looked down at the kingdom from her balcony, besides her was Jafar who was busy studying the old relics that both had found weeks ago. Daniela hummed as she walked over to the older man. " Have you decoded anything yet?"

"Not yet, I'm getting there." Jafar flipped through the papers.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to ask Merlin for some help then..." Daniela sat by him looking at the ancient language in concentration. Jafar chuckled to himself. "Well I guess we should've been able to if it wasn't for the pesky weather."

"Yup, it's been pretty bad..." Daniela looked back at the window. "Hopefully the others are okay... There were some strong winds the other day."

"Yes, how dreadful... Now Daniela I presume your are thinking about something yes?" Jafar got up from his seat getting ready to head off.

"...you know me so well, yes I am thinking of something. Something to do together, to pass the time." Daniela then went to follow him as they walked across the long halls of the castle. " Like what?"

"We can watch a movie together with some friends!"

"Wow how pleasant."

"Don't be sarcastic Jafar."

"I try not to be."

"Well, I think it's a fun idea, I'll invite villains if you want."

"Hmm..." He smiled at the young girl, he couldn't admit to caring about her to others but... She wasn't annoying.

"So should we watch something funny or..?" She babbled on about what movie to pick as she sped walked.

"What about one of those horror movies." Jafar was interested in watching one of those scary movies that Ursula was talking about. She seemed pretty entertained by some of them it peeked his interest. Daniela flinched a bit, she wasn't scared of most things but horror movies...

"Uhh, horror? Are you sure?" Daniela turned to Jafar who was standing there. "Yes I'm sure."

"Ah well fine then... Um, I guess so why not! I guess that'll make a fun movie night." Daniela then found herself more pumped up to make invitations. Jafar followed behind Daniela who went looking for her pens and paper.

"Okay I'll go write some invitations!" Daniela sat down at her desk and began to write.

Dear friends,

I invite you to the Dream Castle for a movie night, we'll have some food and beverages ready at the table. Please arrive at the requested time written below, and I hope to see you soon.

From yours truly Daniela.

Daniela then chanted a spell that she's been practicing for a while. After finishing the spell the letters were sent to their respective owners. "And done, I got them written down... Well all we have to do is to deliver them and prepare the food."

"I'll accompany you to the kitchen, I don't want you to cut your finger again."

"I won't."

"I won't take those chances." They then had a little playful banter together during the preparations.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

    After finishing up everything, and setting the things down both went to the entrance of the castle waiting for the guests. Opening the gates Maleficent came in first she was very serious about the invitation as she came exactly on time. She was a bit excited though she didn't want to say it. Ursula and Scar came in second they were busy having a little banter about sharks. Hades and the Queen of Hearts came in as well, not only that they brought their minions as well. Daniela greeted them with glee. Daniela then led them to the room where she had prepared the settings and food.

"Okay so! I told Jafar to choose what type of movie to watch and he said horror so!" Daniela brought out some movies and placed them on the counter. Hades was busy snacking on some worms. "I think we should watch the this movie kiddo, seems interesting."

"The one with the robots?"

"No! We should watch this one, this was a good movie I do recommend Angelfish!" Ursula excitedly grabbed the one with spiders on the cover. Daniela hummed before looking at both. "Well... We are doing this in order, so I guess we'll watch this one first then?"

"Cub you seem to be tense? Are you scared?"

"WHAT NO!" Daniela denied, looking away before getting the movie in the t.v. "Why would I be scared I got you guys here!"

The adults stared at her, they weren't convinced at all. But they didn't care at all, they were here for a good time.

"Anyways I'm gonna cover myself okay, it's cold." Daniela huddled in some blankets. Jafar and Ursula were seated nearby Daniela as she held the bowl of snacks between both of them. The movie began to play as the girl tried not to focus on the scary bits of the movie. Besides it's just a movie... None of it is real...

...

...

Then all of a sudden just twenty minutes in the movie the first jumpscare happened and the girl freaked out.

"AH!" Holding Jafar's arm tightly she flinched. Maleficent looked at the child with some confusion. "You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

"Kiddo it was just a jumpscare don't worry." Hades was busy making fun of the bad animation quality from the movie. While Scar was busy not even watching just eating, looking up to the screen he then wonders what even scared the girl anyways.

But either way he tried to comfort her somehow. "Cub calm down it's just a weird looking monkey."

"No it's fine, it's fine I got it." Daniela's face was red with embarrassment. She was the ruler here and she got scared at a flimsy movie. How can she be scared like that unlike Pain and Panic who were busy huddled up behind Hades they were busy eating!

After that they went back to watch the screen. The Queen of Hearts was having fun though, she thought it was interesting.

They continued to watch the movie together and Maleficent declared to take in Daniela with her to watch the rest of the film. Daniela did feel better being held by the fairy, she was very strong so it made her feel safe. Daniela didn't like the disfigured people in the T.v there were spiders crawling out of the person's eyes and mouth which terrified her. Maleficent decided to pet her head to calm her, Daniela shared some caramel popcorn with her.

They watched the rest of the movies until it was late. The adults were surprised at how quiet Daniela was during the rest of the movies, but when they checked her, she was asleep in Maleficent's arms. 

It seemed like the petting and warm hold made her sleepy.

The next morning the sun was finally out and Daniela was able to go outside and play with the animals again.

"I do love the rain but I sure missed the sun." The young girl smiled at the clouds which were dispersing. It was a beautiful day after all.

Jafar who was behind her then asked, "Daniela are you feeling better."

"Ah, yes don't worry I don't really remember that much of the movies." Daniela only recalled the creepy spider things and the ugly melting lady though she only remembered talking to Maleficent about something.

"You fell asleep." Jafar recalled how tightly she was holding on to the fairy.

"WHAT! Oh no I wasn't supposed to sleep, I didn't get to say goodbye or anything! I'm a bad host!" Daniela then went to quickly make plans to apologize for her behavior last night.

[fearsome-series]

BOOK ONE | BOOK TWO | [BOOK THREE]

Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | [Five] | Six | Seven | Eight

FIVE PEACE ON EARTH

“Surprise!” Katie announced.

“Go to hell,” Melissa replied, looking down at the cake sitting on the table in the rec room. “Happy Retirement? You stole me a welcoming cake?”

“No, we didn’t steal it,” Katie said.

“It was made for someone else though,” Javy answered.

“How thoughtful.” Melissa put her hands on either edge of the table. “Want me to knock your stupid cake on the floor?”

“No. If you don’t want it we’ll have it.”

Melissa took her hands off. “Then have it. I already ate.” As she returned to her room, one of the metal flaps shook; she shot a glance at it. Besa’s face peaked back from the crack. “If you do anything to celebrate my arrival, I’ll turn you to stone.”

“You turn people to stone…?” She said, clearly afraid. Heh.

“Want to find out?” Melissa smiled a big, stupid, fake grin, and went back to her room undisturbed. She lifted the flap, sat down on the rough mattress they placed on the concrete. She had a lamp on the floor next to her and nothing else. She started to unlatch her goggles, and -

Knock knock. June. Only a couple days and Melissa already knew her pattern: knock knock KNOCK, knock knock, KNOCK KNOCK. Melissa reluctantly re-latched her goggles and threw open the flap. “What do you want?”

“I only wanted to check in on what went down the other day in group.”

“Nothing went down.”

“That’s my point! I wanna check in that you’re making friends and influencing people. That’s an old book, y’know. Not saying you need to -”

“Is there a book called ‘shutting up and leaving people alone’? You could really use that one.”

“Aw, gee, I don’t think so, but if that’s what you really want, I’m all about respecting your boundaries. But sometimes, when your boundaries are being broken, that’s the best time to process what’s troublin’ ya.”

“Here’s a thought: go process your brain worms.”

“You’re gonna be here a while, ya know. Might as well get to know everyone. Get to know the vibe of the place.”

“Okay, teacher, can I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“How many suicides has this place seen? How many people got too bored of steam pipes and bricks and - “ She mimicked hanging herself.

“That’s not a very funny thing to say.”

“An answer like that implies the answer’s not zero. Now, did you wash up the blood yourself? Did you paint a little yellow flower over it? Did you give a eulogy about the power of positive thinking and just keeping up your goshforsaken spirits? Well, Gosh is dead, sweetheart. Live with -”

BRRNG BRRNG BRRNG of an alarm, flashing lights down the corridors, the raising of metal…

***

They walked across a small beach, to a wooden pier that creaked in the waves, a pier that looked out over the city.

“Biggest pier on Earth. So long there’s a train out to the end.”

“Wow.”

“There’s this little theme park by it. Adventure Island. I went in a couple times.”

“1 AM. It’s so quiet. Just us and the waves.”

“Aye. Sometimes, the night’s beautiful.”

“What’s the most beautiful part?”

Clive paused. “I’ll be honest. I really can’t see a bloody thing. ‘Sides you.”

“I forget you have eyes meant for...daytime...awakeness.”

“I’ve only been nocturnal for a year. I’m not ready to count my eyes out yet.”

Frantic flapping, and Malphas flew in low.

“Someone’s coming! Two men!”

“Are they Agency?” Clive asked.

“I don’t know!”

Eliza pulled herself to her feet. “We should go.”

“No.” Clive sat where he was. “We have as much of a right to be here as they do.”

“I know we do, but-”

Clive crossed his arms. “We always run and hide. Hear a person outside the docks, we cower and hide away for twenty minutes. Creeping around downtown so that a hipster doesn’t see us. We can’t keep doing that.”

Eliza debated what to do. And she decided to stand her ground. Clive rose up, and joined her at her side. Two men ambled down the path. They were white, middle-aged, and one seemed familiar to Eliza, though she couldn’t place how. Both were overdressed for walking the lake at 1 AM, and Eliza suspected their motive wasn’t simple jogging or fishing.

She prayed that they would go by, willing them to leave. But they made a beeline for the pier. She took Clive’s hand. He held it tightly.

“What do we have here?” He was graying and stocky, and when he spoke his voice was gravelly, like a smoker’s.

“Jeeeeesus,” the other man - the familiar one - was brown-haired and serious, his face like a disappointed teacher’s. “What tree did you fall out of?”

“If I looked like you, I’d -” The gravelly-voiced man mocked holding a gun to his head. “BLAM!”

“I hope you’re aware this is our spot.” The other man said.

“You don’t own it.” Clive replied.

Clive held firm, but Eliza was glancing around. Trying to find an exit if things went south.

“I don’t know where you got the idea we were asking you.” The gravelly voiced man said.

“You never asked me to leave.”

“That part was implied.”

Eliza watched helplessly as the familiar looking man punched Clive in the gut. Her boyfriend doubled over in pain. Adrenaline surged through her body. She let out an involuntary hiss. Her fangs glistened. Her claws trembled, anticipating a strike. But could she do it?

“Get out!” The man spat in Clive’s face.

No. She couldn’t. She took Clive’s hand, yanking him to his feet. They ran. Clive shook with rage. Eliza kept looking back, afraid they would follow. They ran past the Union and up the hill, using the surface entrance they were never supposed to use, Eliza seeing danger within every shadow. 

They scurried through the tunnels and collapsed onto the well-worn couch.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t…” Eliza said.

“There was nothing you could do. I shouldn’t have made you stay.”

“No. We had to try it.”

“We’ll go back in our rooms. See the world through a little window in the zoo. And he’ll go back to his job, his family, his house…”

“We could still go out.”

Clive hung his head low. “Not anymore. It...it’s not safe anymore.”

“It’s not fair.”

“I know.”

***

Malphas flew over State, and Laura, Manuel, Eliza followed on foot. It was evening, but the traffic was heavy. They were passing a theater, where a show was about to start; through the windows, Laura could see many people buzzing about beforehand.

“Are you, uh, okay?” Laura asked.

“Yeah, I am now,” Eliza answered. “You?”

“Yeah…no. But. Yeah. No.”

“How about you?” Eliza looked at Manuel.

NO :).

“I saw things. When it was singing to me. I saw my family and where I grew up, and…did you hear it?”

I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING.

“Yeah.”

“What did you see, Wolfgirl?”

“Uh…my family, I guess…hey!”

Laura watched as Eliza and Manuel were caught among a crowd of people - and before she could follow, Laura found herself pushed back and forth by groups rushing to get in. People were all around her, a crowd, packing her in, breathless.

When the crowd dissipated, she found herself half a block down. She looked back. No Malphas. No Eliza or Manuel or…

She reached in her pocket. No Gef.

But something else caught her eye. Caught something even deeper. Captured all of her attention, all of her thoughts and worries and hopes.

***

A glittering marquee for another theater, across the street. She found herself drawn to it, as if sleepwalking. 

No one was in the ticket booth. No shows tonight, a sign said.

A ticket popped up anyway.

***

“Did the ghost do something to your voice?” Eliza asked, feeling very stupid as the words left her mouth, but unable to stop them from emerging.

Manuel shook his head. SOMETIMES WHEN I GET OVERWHELMED IT HURTS TO TALK.

“Overwhelmed by…the ghost?”

NO :( THE COP

“I’m…sorry for running out on you…” Eliza scratched the back of her head; the pinprick of pain surprised her, and she drew back her flat, human fingers with dots of blood.

YOU DIDN’T RUN OUT ON US, YOU WERE FOLLOWING MALPHAS AND WEREN’T STOPPED.

“It wasn’t my fault?”

NO :) 

“Why does it hurt to talk? Did the smoke hurt your throat?” The words felt very stupid again, but they wouldn’t stop emerging.

I DON’T KNOW, IT HURTS. IT’S BECAUSE… Manuel trailed off his writing. I’M AUTISTIC.

“Oh. Um, that’s okay, I’m the chupacabra.” Why, throat? Why?

Manuel looked up from the ground, and stared right in her eyes, and raised his eyebrows; then he looked back at Laura for a reaction, and…

“Did she run off too?” Eliza said, with a weird hint of very, very stupid pride.

***

Inside the theater, Laura found herself in a lobby: expansive, but empty. The darkness was only broken by a faint, flickering light from a half-open theater door.

She walked over. Her mind was beginning to wake up. Beginning to scream, beginning to thrash against its current daze. She couldn’t feel something controlling her; in fact, she could barely feel anything at all.

Laura pushed open the doors and entered a theater, its stage lit by a droning projector. It chugged along, projecting images Laura couldn’t understand. A montage: a gray sky, a pair of eyes unattached to a body, a mountain. A few images kept repeating: a man with long hair, wearing rags. A strange, black shape that hurt to look at.

But then the images changed.

It wasn’t images from another being’s life. It was her own.

Laura, in the house. Laura, in the woods. Laura, 9th grade, before the bite.

But then the projector groaned, and the images changed again.

The cop, the one in the hospital and the one on the Square. The hospital, the slice of claws, the spray of red. Laura’s face transforming.

A werewolf crouched over a body in a police uniform, its maw stained red with blood, chunks of spleen stuck between its - her fangs. Laura’s eyes, wide.

“Don’t you want it?” “Don’t you want revenge?” “Don’t you want to be strong?” Voices, she couldn’t see from where. “You could have it.” “You can have it!” “Don’t you want it?”

“I…” She did want it. She did, in a great deep secret place, wish she could stand up to the people who hurt her, who dismissed her, and therapeutically rend their flash with her fangs and claws. Only if they make the first move, of course.

But…

Distantly, the projector chugged, a hiss pierced by pops. But Laura was walking down the aisle, down between the chairs, down towards the screen, set up at the end.

She reached out to it, and a hand reached out from the screen and reached out for her…

She was pulled back, spun around to face Eliza, who let her go, and Manuel, standing by the projector. “Let’s get…” Eliza grabbed Laura’s hand, missed, found it, grabbed more forcefully. “Let’s get out of here.”

She tugged her up the aisle, leading her, carrying her; she heard a grinding of metal and an explosion of dust. The same strange dust Malphas kicked up; it flew around her, a storm that gave her painful, hacking coughs. She doubled over, but couldn’t stop, let Eliza carry her. As they reached the top of the theater, they saw a man, a thin man, dark, who rose a bow…

Something within the dusk shrieked; something unseen, as Laura didn’t turn back…dust flew around her, and…

Something cold brushed her leg, and she yelped; Manuel took her other hand, and the three of them charged out the door, charged down the street, not heeding the stares of the people around them. Pounding, breathless, taste of iron in her throat; they didn’t stop until they reached a small park, with a white post. On it was etched the letters

M

A

Y

P

E

A

C

E

P

R

E

V

A

I

L

O

N

E

A

R

T

H

in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Hmong.

They collapsed onto a bench; Manuel stroked her hand, before stopping to pull out his notebook and write WHAT DID IT SHOW YOU?

“You don’t want to know.”

“You should really tell us,” Eliza said.

“It showed me…a lot of blood.”

A street musician strummed an off-key guitar on the corner, warbling out something about his mother.

“Your blood?”

“No,” Laura said simply, and Eliza seemed to understand.

I WONDER WHAT IT WOULD SHOW ME… Manuel wrote. WHY IS IT TAKING PEOPLE?

“Did you hear voices?” Laura asked.

“Yeah,” Eliza answered.

“Maybe that’s why it wants us. It has some messed up chorus stuck in there and it needs a few members.”

DO YOU THINK IT WOULDN’T TAKE ME BECAUSE I’M NOT TALKING?

Laura shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Manuel’s eyes glanced around a bit, then he pointed his pen at where he wrote WHAT DID IT SHOW YOU?

Laura leaned in. “It showed me…it showed me being able to defend you two. It showed me me all transformed, and…” Manuel nodded, and Laura stopped talking.

“We should call the Doc,” Eliza suggested, pulling out her phone.

“She has a number? Aren’t you not allowed to use phones?”

“It’s some encrypted app.” Eliza stepped out to wrestle with her phone.

Malphas swept down and perched by Manuel. “Ah, not-a-wolf, you found your dear compatriot?”

WE DID.

Gef suddenly appeared on the post, and lunged off it, tackling Laura right in the face.

“Gef!”

“Hardly trying to maintain the facade, eh?” Gef hissed at Malphas and reared up. “Abandoning us again, you -!”

HE WAS LOOKING FOR LAURA. WHERE WERE YOU?

“I? Why, knocked out of Laura’s pocket I was, by the ravenous hordes of -” He groaned in horror. “Theater people. Nearly crushed me on my way back! They’ll never know what evil they abetted tonight, but the Devil will, I’ll tell you that much.”

YOU DON’T LIKE THEATER PEOPLE?

“Why should I?”

YOU’RE SO… Manuel paused his writing. DRAMATIC

“HOW DARE YOU! Betrayer! To think I rode on your shoulders!”

Laura knocked Gef off her face. “I’m feeling kinda shaky still, Geffrey, so…”

Gef scrambled up Manuel’s side and jumped into his bag. “Onward?”

Manuel sighed. ONWARD…:(

***

Eliza’s phone finally connected. “Doctor Sjöberg, we -”

“We’re on high alert,” Sjöberg said. “Nothing to be afraid of for you on the surface, but an alarm in the tunnel triggered and we have yet to clear it, and cannot come or go until that time.”

“Doc, the ghost hunt isn’t going well. The ghost is dangerous. It’s already taken people.”

“That’s…quite concerning. Miss Keita is on the surface, you should ask for her assistance while we clear this lockdown.”

“Jainaba? Doc…it already has her.”

“What?”

“It has her and one other person, we don’t know who that is. But…”

“Hang on. Do you have her number?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Let me contact her, then. See if we can still reach her…”

***

Singing and wind and emptiness, total, desolate emptiness, a quiet of the kind Jainaba had never experienced before, that you could never experience in the world outside the…outside the ghost.

All broken by the ringing of her phone.

She drew it from her pocket. Dr. Sjöberg. She picked up. “Doc?”

Static, and…

Beep beep.

***

“The Tunnels can’t help us,” Eliza said, putting down her phone. “They’re on lockdown. Sjöberg tried calling Jainaba, but…she says all she heard was this grinding noise, and over it some chanting. Not her, though.”

“She’s still in there,” Laura said. “I saw her.” Laura remembered Jainaba’s hoodie: the only touch of color in that horrible, gray realm.

“It’s on us, Wolfgirl. Unless you know anyone else who could help us.”

JESSIE? Manuel scribbled down quickly.

“I don’t…I don’t want to call Jessie,” Laura said.

WHY NOT?

“She’s. She’s still mad at us going off on our own with the whole black dog thing, and I don’t, like, want to bother her again…”

LAURA.

“I’ll call Jessie.” Laura pulled out her phone; Jessie picked up quickly. “Jess, uh, it’s Laura. We’ve got ourselves into some trouble and we were wondering if you could help us out.”

“What kinda trouble?”

GHOST TROUBLE! Manuel pointed at what he wrote.

“It’s, uh, there’s a uh, supernatural thing that’s…that’s really supernatural. Really supernatural and, uh, paranormal also. But not…we didn’t run off into it this time, you know? Sjöberg wanted us to go.”

“The ghost?”

“She…she told you about it? Uh, great, well, we’re downtown and the ghost is…the ghost is, uh…”

“Can ya put Manuel on the line?”

“No…why, though?”

“No reason.”

“Yeah. Well, we may be eaten by a ghost, and we were wondering if you could do anything to help us, uh, not be eaten by a ghost. Which, yeah, ghosts do that. Or…they don’t eat eat people, but, uh…”

“Where are you?”

“Downtown. Uh, State at Gilman.”

“I’ll be right there. Hold tight.”

“We may have to move to follow the ghost.”

“I’ll find you all. My nose is strong enough. Stay safe ‘til I get there, though?”

“‘kay.” Jessie hung up. “Jessie should be on their way.”

Manuel patted the bench beside himself, and Laura took that seat; Eliza continued to pace, Malphas perched on the nearby building. “Sorry if this gives you a bad impression of the Tunnels. I’d understand if you don’t want to come down here anymore…”

“Uh, unless you’re fighting ghosts every single night, I’m not gonna hold up tonight as representative of the whole.”

“I’d understand it, Wolfgirl. That’s all I’m saying.”

“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

“I’m not getting rid -”

“It’s a joke.”

Eliza paused, and laughed nervously. “If you have too much going on up here to join us down there, I’d…”

Manuel quickly scrawled something down. I’M VISITING YOU AS OFTEN AS I CAN :) 

“Good…” Eliza blinked.

The street musician on the corner strummed his instrument. “This is my ghost song, this is my ghost song, the song of the ghost that lives under a bank and the ghost is America…”

Laura, Eliza, Manuel, and Malphas all exchanged confused looks.

“The ghost is white, and the ghost is cold, and the ghost is -”

“Are you hearing what I’m hearing?” Laura asked.

“Extremely bad poetry?” Malphas cawed, and they went over to check on him.

***

7:45.

“My name’s Bezoar I.L.M. Zop-Zo.”

He had the same beard as two-thirds the men Laura saw downtown, and a striped shirt and plaid jacket. He slung the guitar over his shoulder as he walked.

“Wow,” Laura said dryly.

“It’s not even a stage name. My mom had a way with names. The kind of way that involves a wrong turn. You know what a Bezoar is?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“It’s a lump that forms in somebody’s stomach from all kinds of gunk. They used to think it cured poisons. I’ve got a song about my mom naming me that…”

“Oh...nice…so you saw the ghost, right?”

Laura thought Bezoar was telling the truth, but she still doesn’t trust him - and wouldn’t have gone after him alone, only feeling safe due to Manuel and Eliza’s presence - and while she thought Bezoar had seen the ghost, she wasn’t sure he hadn’t been too strung out to see anything useful about the ghost.

They passed back up towards the capitol.

“Last night, I was out presenting a heart-poem…”

“A what?” Laura asked.

“Oh, yes, I must illuminate. During the day, I do songs everyone knows, for money. At night, I perform for only myself. I let my heart’s verses sing free!”

“...oh.” 

“And then I saw it there!”

He pointed to the top floor of the State Historical Museum.

“Through the glass, shimmering bright! It assumed the form of cosmic dust, and I knew I had to follow it!”

“Why?” Eliza asked.

“We’re all stardust, are we not? I couldn’t deny a herald of the cosmic unconscious.”

“It went up there!” Bezoar raced around the Square, retracing his steps. “There! There!”

Laura wished he’d just tell them where it went instead of roleplaying every step. She followed him to the all-glass building, which was half a bank, and half fancy restaurants.

“The bank?” Laura asked.

“Yes. That’s when I knew this was no cosmic herald. For a herald of the divine to step into such a temple to avar-”

“But what did it do?”

“It went through the glass. It passed right through, and then it sank into the realms of Mother Gaia.”

“It sunk in? What does that mean?”

“It means it went right through the floor and into the Earth. I could almost see this light. Not the ghost’s, but these little wisps. More manifestations of false consciousness.”

“...yeah...so the bank is haunted?” Eliza asked.

“Aren’t they all?”

“Like, man, I agree with you, but-” Laura said.

“Unkkk!” Tendrils of light hung down from nowhere, and looped around his armpits. They lurched him upwards. Up, towards a storm cloud of dust in the sky above; up, with force and speed.

“No!” Eliza jumped up and grabbed onto one of his feet.

Laura tried the same. She couldn’t reach. She fell back onto the sidewalk, where Manuel caught her…unintentionally.

“Help me! Help!”

The dust swirled and came together and became the full ghost. Eliza held on tight, but it only drew Bezoar higher. She found herself lifting off the ground with him.

“Eliza!”

Laura ran over and jumped for her. Still. Too. Short.

Eliza let go. She tumbled to the ground, landing by Laura. Helpless, they watched as Bezoar was swiftly pulled to the ghost, kicking and screaming.

“What are you doing?” It was the cop from the park.

“Help! Help!” The sickening crack of ribs, and Laura and Eliza looked away as the void consumed him.

“Answer me.” The cop said. “Do you know these two?” She pointed towards Eliza.

“I...I…” How could Eliza explain?

The cop crossed her arms. “Can I see some ID from you?”

As Bezoar was pulled in above them, as he screamed and kicked against glass, Eliza dug around in her hoodie pockets for her ID. An ID she never, ever had. She realized that the ghost had moved in: it was all around them. Its hands high. It tilted its head. Studied the two of them as the strange farce continued.

“If you could do this quickly-” Laura said.

The cop glared. “If you won’t present your ID, I’ll have to take you in. Turn around and put your hands behind your back…”

They looked up. The ghost was moving in. They knew they couldn’t run. Not with the cop on one side and the ghost up above. They waited. Let the cop step closer, let her start her work…

She screamed. They didn’t look up. They knew she was kicking in the air up above, kicking as she was dragged into the void…

Laura remembered what she saw in there. Imagined Bezoar in that lifeless plain. Imagined Jainaba.

Imagined…the cop too, she guessed.

Imagined Eliza. Imagined Manuel. Imagined Gef. Imagined herself, fading to nothing over an eternity. No. No…

“Four.” A male voice growled. “Four!” A girl cried. “Four!” A boy joined in.

The ghost dived them: floating down from the sky, tendrils whirling. Laura recoiled; knew she couldn’t be suspicious. Tried to hold still. Tried, tried, really tried. Others passed by.

To them, there was nothing.

Down the street walked the archer, at a deliberate pace, walking around a girl who giggled to whatever she was listening to on her airpods; she had no idea there was a man next to her, a man raising a bow.

“Not yet!” the girl yelled. “Not yet!” “Give me time!”

The archer notched an arrow, but a pair of men passed in front of him; he lowered his arrow, but held his head high, aiming at the ghost.

The ghost crumbled into dust. The archer walked off, past Laura, Manuel, and Eliza. The archer was gone. Bezoar was nowhere. Neither was the cop. Laura, Eliza, and Manuel were alone, and nobody around them knew why.

[pssbtch]

1 of 2

(a bit of writing from a few months ago, didn't know where else to put it. too formatted and picked through to just be a diary entry)

There’s only ever been two guys i’ve wanted to suck off. The first one was the one who made me realize that i could want that to begin with. The second, i’m not ready to unpack yet. The way i wanted him was more complicated. I didn’t just want to blow him, or touch him, or fuck him —- I wanted a lot more from him. A lot, lot more that i should’ve known i’d never get. Anyway, that other guy, the first guy - let’s call him Oz - woke something up inside my gut that i didn’t really know existed, and it was the perfect moment for that to happen.

It was the summer before freshman year of college, which as of writing this is almost a year ago. Pretty recent, but my emotional ebbs and flows feel like millennia because of my current age. Just go with it, okay? Anyway, by this point i had a firm little friend group and i had sort of cemented myself as a man to everybody that mattered in my hometown. I had just gotten out of a weird, uncomfortable, awkward little 5 month (felt like 6) relationship with another guy (a whole different can of worms), and i was ready to just enjoy myself and not worry about legitimate loving. he had been my first boyfriend, my first real relationship, and he was a fucking dick. i was keeping my expectations low, also knowing i’d be in the big city in just a few months. “playing around” and “hooking up” aren’t really my thing, but i was open to that for just this summer, despite knowing nothing sexual was probably going to happen to this nerdy tranny. spoiler alert, i was right and nothing sexy happened to me, but it was the best summer of my life because i had my friends and that was really all i needed. speeding down a highway with two crazy girls beats any sort of awkward sexual fumbling.

but still, there was this guy, Oz, who i only saw a few times, but who sort of transfixed me a little bit. there was something in the way he’d look at me. when i was saying something, anything, he offered up a face that said he was actually paying attention (crazy, right?). when i said dumb silly shit, he would laugh, genuinely. there was a life behind those two piercing little daggers for eyes that felt like he was trying to see me for how i really, really truly was. he was analyzing me, and he was seeing things he liked, and i could read it on his face.

god bless that sweet, boyish face.

perfect perfect perfect, a real burgeoning man thinly veiled under a sheepish teenager. just like me. even if i still had (have) a ways to go with my own burgeoning.

i am reading way too far into my interactions with this guy. trust me, i know all of this shit was just my perception. it’s what happens to me when i have a crush. i don’t know, i’m a writer, a poet, an artist (a faggot) - i have to concoct some stupid complicated word vomit with my feelings somehow. i always make them bigger than they really are, because that’s how they feel. i’m a sensitive freak and goddamnit, i can’t help it! fuck!

i don’t entirely know why he was the first guy i’ve ever wanted to give a blowjob to. the best i can get to is that he just seemed like the type of guy who deserved one. that might sound patronizing, like “oh wow, good job, buddy, you deserve a dick sucking!” but you don’t really get it; he was just THAT diabolically sweet and respectful. he was always the most reasonable one in the room, which felt odd when that was usually my role. he was never fucked up on anything, always just nice, and calm, and offering up his ear to anyone who wanted to yell. he clocked things about me that other people didn’t. it was weird, to feel looked at, when i spent so much time being the observant people watcher in the room. he was looking at me, now. we were looking at each other. that’s what it felt like. 

i got the feeling he wouldn’t try to choke me on his dick, either. he was too nice to pull some shit like that.

i could just imagine that sweet face looking down at me while i set his junk ablaze with my mouth. it was exhilirating to think about, getting this nice southern nerd all hot and bothered from my hands, my mouth, all my own doing (or undoing, i guess). imagining him shakily taking his glasses off, wiping sweat from his brow, laughing and smiling and grimacing from pleasure. jesus christ.

i would drive around town for hours, blasting that mariah carey song and screaming along, just thinking about him. i’ve said it before, but that song is just blowjob music to me. it’s funky and a bit funny cuz of that damn sample, but also so buttery sweet because of mariah’s vocals. you feel that summery, dreamy fuckin’ FANTASY feeling when you listen to it. and all i could see was Oz, smiling down at me so endearingly while i went to town on his bits.

that summer made me realize that i actually kinda was capable of desire, without any pretense or romance. i just needed a bit of sweetness to egg on a sexual throb at the base of my throat. Oz wasn’t the first guy to get me heated, but he was the first that i just felt a yearning for without any expectation of something deeper. it was a real teenagery feeling, and part of me being able to figure that out was the fact that i had my gender basically figured out. once i was able to nail the “man” part down, and i had a small lil community of people that respected me, i could fantasize more freely. i could have these sexual daydreams, and i could feasably place myself in them. i figured out what i liked, what i wanted.

what i wanted was to give Oz the blowjob of his dreams, the blowjob he deserved. too bad he was a straight boy. but that’s okay. if anything, it kept the fantasy as a fantasy, kept it at arm’s length. he couldn’t break my heart, because i had learned already to never expect anything from a fucking straighty. plus, i only saw him like 3 times. you can judge me for that, but what can i say? i think i was built to fixate, i think i was built to fantasize. ill always be dreamily looking at eyes that see right through me.

[captainimprobable]

part two of that thing I posted last week! This is also an unedited first draft, so take it with a grain of salt

~ ~

She arrives in the dead of night, clothes singed and skin burned.

The knock wakes them all, but Hooty is the loudest.  He bursts through Luz’s window, a worm shaped interloper, and announces “HEY LUZ, YOUR GF IS HERE!!!!! SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE WAS DIPPED IN A POT OF ACID, BUT I’M SURE IT’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.”

Before Luz can even open her eyes fully to focus, he slides back out of her window with a loud “HOOT HOOT”.

Blinking sleep out of her eyes, Luz thinks she might be dreaming, until she hears the knock at the door.  It’s insistent, quick, and somehow a little desperate.

Something is wrong.

She is instantly awake and on her feet, flying down the hallway just in time to collide with Eda, whose hair is sticking up at all angles.  Before she can fall, Eda steadies her, and says “Did I hear Hooty say that Boots is in trouble?”

“I’m not sure,” Luz says frantically, “but we need to get to the door.  Now.”  She’s already running as she’s talking, and finally, finally, she makes it to the front of the house.  She wrenches open the door and standing there is Amity, eyes red rimmed and body shaking.  

Behind her is a sheet of boiling rain.

“Oh my gosh, did you run here in the rain???” Luz asks, grabbing Amity’s hand and tugging her inside.  Amity nods wordlessly, staring at a spot on the floor.  Now that she’s closer, Luz can see the damage; the rain has singed the sleeves of Amity’s dress, and dark, angry burns march up and down her arms.  “Dang, kid, are you okay?” Eda asks, sounding genuinely concerned.  

Something inside Luz tugs insistently, and though she wants to panic, she knows Amity needs her more right now.  So she takes a deep breath and says “Let’s get you patched up, okay?”

Amity doesn’t move.  She’s still staring at the floor with a blank expression, and Luz suddenly has no idea what to do.  She wants to wrap Amity in her arms, protect her from whatever’s going on, but she knows that might not be appreciated, so she decides to ask.  

“Do you want a hug?”

Amity nods so imperceptibly that Luz thinks she might have imagined it, but she nonetheless takes it as a yes.  Careful to loop her arms around Amity’s waist and not her neck so as to avoid touching the burns, she wraps Amity in a loose hug.  For a second, Amity does nothing.  She stands there shaking with her arms hanging at her sides, until all at once, like a dam exploding, she grabs at Luz almost desperately, pulling her tighter as she bursts into tears.   

Luz has never been in a situation like this before.  Eda is sitting on the couch a respectful distance away, watching but not getting involved.  Luz doesn’t know what to do, so she decides to follow her instincts.  She reaches up to stroke Amity’s hair and whispers “It’s okay, you’re okay”.  Amity cries herself out a few minutes later, Luz talking to her in a soothing voice the whole time.  When only sniffles remain, Luz asks “Can we go to the couch? Eda wants to treat your burns.”

“Y-yeah,” Amity hiccups.  It’s the first thing she’s said all night, and something in Luz loosens at the sound of it.  She keeps an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders as she guides her to the couch.  She doesn’t want to let go, so when they sit down, she instantly grabs Amity’s hand.  

“Is this okay?” she asks Amity.  Amity nods, gently brushing her thumb along Luz’s knuckles in silent consent.  

“Wow,” Eda whistles.  “The rain got you good.  Why were you out in that anyway, are you crazy?”

“Eda-” Luz starts, but Amity holds a hand up.  “It’s okay,” she says.  As Eda begins pulling potions out of the cabinet, Amity says “It’s- it’s my parents”.

Luz goes cold.  She remembers them well.  It’s hard to forget people who tried to kill you.  

She hasn’t had much contact with Alador, but Odalia...Odalia gives her a feeling she can’t describe.  Just the sight of her makes Luz unspeakably angry.  Looking at Amity now, though, she realizes that Alador is just as bad.  Complacency in the face of abuse is just as bad as the abuse itself.

“We had a fight,” Amity continues.  “And you ran away? In the boiling rain? That takes guts, kid,” Eda says, a mixture of impressed and concerned.  

“Not exactly.  They, um...they kicked me out.” 

“WHAT?”

“It’s not forever,” Amity hastens to say.  “Just for the night.  My mom said she...she said she can’t even look at me right now, and my Dad just agreed with her.  Like he always does.”

Luz’s grip on Amity’s hand is tight as steel now.  She’s ready to get up and give the Blights a piece of her mind.  She wants to take them down, and make them pay for what they’ve done.  

“So,” Luz says in a low voice.  “Your parents left you alone in the middle of the night in rain that can literally kill you?”

“Yeah,” Amity says bitterly.  “They’re not the best parents.”

“I’m going to make them pay for this. I’m- I’m going to go over there, and I’m going to-”

“Luz,” Amity puts a hand on Luz’s shoulder.  “No.  You can’t- I don’t want you in the same room as them ever again, okay?” Amity sounds scared.

Luz remembers the abomiton that tried to kill her, and the disappointed look on Odalia’s face when it didn’t succeed.  She also remembers Amity’s righteous anger, and the steely eyed glare she gave her mother.  

“I can’t have you hurt again,” Amity says, sounding almost frantic.  “I just can’t, okay?”

“Okay, okay, shh it’s okay,” Luz assures her, cupping a hand to her face.  Neither of them have the energy to be embarrassed about it right now, but it’s probably the most romantic gesture they’ve shared.  Amity leans into Luz’s hand, breathing deeply.

“This might sting,” Eda says from the other side of the couch.  Both Luz and Amity jump, having forgotten that she was there.  Sheepishly, they part, still holding hands.  Eda smirks at Luz and gives her a wink that Luz hopes Amity didn’t see.  She gets the feeling Eda is going to be talking to her about this later.

Eda dabs a bit of blue potion onto Amity’s arm, and Amity hisses, breath whistling through her teeth, but she doesn’t flinch.  “Is it- ow- is it okay that I came here?”  She asks Eda, looking at her shyly.  

Eda snorts, like it’s the stupidest question in the world.  “I practically take kids in for a living, now,” she says.  “What’s one more?”

“It’s just for the night,” Amity hastens to assure her.  “I’m going home tomorrow morning.”

Luz shakes her head.  “I hate the idea of you living with them.  I can’t believe they treat you like this and just get away with it!”

“I’ll get out of there eventually.  When I join a coven…” Amity trails off, and an awkward silence ensues.  They haven’t talked about the whole “Amity’s biggest dream being potentially crushed by the Emperor being evil” thing.  

“Well, the point is, it’s not forever,” Amity finally finishes.  

“Aaaand done,” Eda says, wrapping the last bandage around Amity’s wrist.  She stands up, knees creaking in an entirely unnatural way.  “And now it’s bedtime,” she yawns.  “You two get some rest, too.”

“Thank you, Eda,” Amity calls, and Eda gives her a lazy wave over her shoulder as she leaves.  

The adrenaline is wearing off, now, and Luz suddenly realizes she has no idea what she’s doing.  She glances at Amity out of the corner of her eye, and the image of her cupping Amity’s face floats into her brain.  She flushes a deep scarlet, and suddenly, she needs to be doing something, anything else.

“Well, okay,” she says loudly, standing up abruptly and walking towards the closet.  “Let me get you some pillows and a blanket, the couch is old and creaky, but it’s comfortable.”

As she’s rummaging through the closet, she hears Amity say “Luz”.

“Yeah?”

“Would you- I mean, if you wanted to, could you- could you stay with me for a little while?” She sounds so scared, and so sad, and it’s so unlike Amity that Luz melts immediately.

“Of course,” she says.  “Here, scoot over.”

Amity moves a few inches, wincing at the pain in her arms.  Luz sits down next to her and drapes a blanket over the both of them.  They sit there awkwardly for a few minutes, and Luz is absolutely freaking out.  She has no idea what to do now.  Before she can agonize over it any further, Amity’s head lands on Luz’s shoulder.

This is unprecedented.  

Nobody ever told Luz how scary the beginning of a relationship is.  Nobody warned her that every little thing Amity does could change her mood instantly, or that every time she touches her she can swear to god she feels electricity.

Nobody told her how bittersweet it could be to have Amity Blight resting her head on her shoulder, exhausted from a horrific night of what can only be called abuse.  

Her internal alarms are going off, she’s losing her mind, and she hopes Amity doesn’t notice.  In the midst of this emergency, Amity calls her name sleepily.

“Hey, Luz?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re my favorite person.”

Oh.  Oh wow.  Oh. Wow.

This is a whole new level of scary.  She feels a mixture of nerves and elation swirl through her, and she can’t help but smile, and she feels a little bit like crying but she doesn’t know why.  She doesn’t know what to say, so instead, she does something even scarier: she kisses the top of Amity’s head.  

She freezes, hoping that was okay, hoping that Amity doesn’t feel weird about it, but before she can ask, Amity starts quietly snoring.

She’s fallen asleep.  Luz breathes a sigh of relief, marveling at the fact that Amity felt comfortable enough, after an awful night, to come to her house and fall asleep on her shoulder.  How did she ever get so lucky?

After awhile, Luz yawns and checks her watch.  Four forty two am.  It’s definitely time for bed, but she doesn’t want to wake Amity up by leaving, so she decides that she’s going to stay up all night, watching over her girlfriend and making sure she’s okay.

Two minutes later, she falls asleep, resting her head on Amity’s.  

When they wake up in the morning, it’s all apologies and blushing and everything Luz has started to get used to.  But Amity has a small smile on her face despite her blush, and Luz has to admit: it’s the best nap she’s ever had.  

[artificialcaretaker]

Holy-Holy FUXK?!?!?!

Just found out about this gaybian thing nd like.

I’m very comfortable in my identity as bisexual. It’s what I feel the most connected to and it makes me personally feel all warm and fuzzy when I think of myself as such.

BUT.

As a genderfluid person who in the past has identified under both the gay and lesbian identity and also is sometimes mentally just like “Wow I am so gay/lesbian” but not necessarily wanting to identify as them but the fact that I used to brings me comfort and to be completely honest I’m gonna stop rambling because my whole identity deal is actually really confusing and it’s a whole can of worms that I’m not even ready to open even though I love worms-

I’m glad that people like me who don’t feel they fit under the label that I am most comforted by have something that they are comfortable with.

[I don’t dabble in exclus/inclus stuff because my stance on most discourse things is that at the end of the day it’s to each of their own and if it’s really about keeping people safe you really wouldn’t need a label for it and thus it’s kinda stupid and I don’t call myself either sides, so imma turn off comments for this just to avoid discourse. If these kinds of identities don’t work for you that’s completely fine!! They’re not for you!! If they make you feel bad then you have complete control of yourself to avoid them!! There’s no reason to actively participate in something that is making you feel bad!!

[egcdeath]

Since you said we can send in request😄 how about a bachelor party for Steve and reader. Full of fun and romance.

bottoms up

summary: steve tells you all about his wild bachelor party. 

word count: 1.2k 

warnings: excessive drinking, terrible decisions, fluff, basically a crack fic, i barely use dialogue tags in this so you’re just gonna have to guess who’s talking

author’s note: this was supposed to be a drabble. 

you can find my drabble masterlist here and my regular masterlist here <3

It had been a long, exhausting weekend of celebration. Of course, it was exhausting in the best way possible, but between the extensive spa days, bar hopping, and seeing more male strippers in one night than you'd seen in the entirety of your life, you were really looking forward to curling up in bed with your fiancée.

It seemed Steve was feeling similarly to you, as he was already pajama clad and sprawled across your bed by the time you arrived home.

You quickly freshened up and joined him on the mattress, slipping under your duvet and cuddling up to Steve.

“How was your weekend?” Steve asked, rubbing circles on your back.

“Exhausting. I could probably sleep for years.”

He chuckled softly at your statement, “well, don’t do that. Wanna talk about it?”

“I’ll tell you over breakfast tomorrow. I don’t think I have the energy to come up with the words right now,” you aimlessly played with the hem of his shirt. “What about you guys? Why don’t you tell me a bachelor party bedtime story?”

“It was… a lot. I almost called you several times. Let’s just say that Sam... stopped me.”

“That bad, eh? Tell me everything,” you gushed.

“Well we were supposed to go camping. I don’t know who decided that was a good idea. Actually I do, it was Thor. It took about half an hour before Tony was starting arguments with everyone. I think he was getting moody about having to be in the outdoors away from all his tech, and something about how bachelor parties aren’t supposed to be like this. We didn’t even get to dinner before he insisted that we find a nice hotel to stay at for the night, and go to a club.”

“You guys don’t really seem like campers anyway. What happened after that?”

“I was getting there before you interrupted me.”

“There was a natural lull in your story.”

“Whatever. So we pack everything up and go back out to town. There was some boujee ass hotel Tony knew about and took us there, but there were no rooms. So he was like ‘make room’ and the staff told him that they would try but they just needed a minute. So Buck suggested that we go to the hotel bar, and we did. The only problem is that alcohol doesn’t have the same effect on some of us that it does with others, so Thor had to break out the Asgardian mead. And he had a lot of it.”

“Oh no, I feel like this is not going in a good direction.”

“You’re absolutely right, because one second I’m sitting in a hotel bar, and the next I was half conscious on a private jet.”

“Steve! You did not black out. That’s not very responsible of you.”

“I was peer pressured! Besides, I don’t think I did anything too bad. Did you not get super drunk for at least one night?”

You pondered the question for a moment, “hmm. Go on.”

“So I wake up on a private jet, not like a Quinjet, but like, a real plane. No idea where I am or where we’re going. Sam is the most sober among us by the time I’m awake, but still pretty drunk. Keep in mind I’m also a little out of it. I ask him where we’re going, and he told me Las Vegas. At this point I’m not surprised, but I want to call you to let you know that I’m no longer in New York, and I start to take my phone out of my pocket to call you, and he flips his shit. He grabs my phone and dunks it in a glass of water, and starts saying that if I use the phone on the flight, our flight will crash.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. Now I’m phoneless, but I’m not really mad. Honestly, I thought it was funny in the moment. My memory’s a little blurry, but I feel like we laughed ‘till we landed.”

“Please tell me that the crazy events end here.”

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Steve chuckled.

“Christ, Steve.”

“So we get off the plane and at this point, I realize that Bruce must’ve left before we boarded. I don’t even blame him. This trip probably would’ve made me Hulk-out too. Anyway, we take an Uber to our hotel. Our poor Uber driver, he was so starstruck and excited to have Avengers in his car, but like, everyone was completely out of it. And to make things worse, Bucky threw up in the back.”

“No,” you gasped.

“Yeah. It’s only a matter of time before tabloids get ahold of that. Remind me to call our PR person in the morning.”

“Got it.”

“We finally get to this hotel, and I guess at some point while I was blacked out, Tony had booked us some penthouse suite at one of those really nice hotels. I can’t really remember how we got up there, but I know it was a struggle. I was just glad to be able to go to sleep in a real bed. By the time I wake up, I desperately need an Advil and a call home. Unfortunately, I can’t have either, since everyone starts insisting that the best way to beat a hangover is to drink more. To be fair, I slept in pretty late. So it’s kind of a reasonable time to drink now. If you consider time zone differences. That aside, I’m sipping on a beer when there’s a knock on the door-“

“I feel like I’ve heard enough of this story.”

“That’s fair.”

“But I’d also like to hear more. But this is stressing me out.”

“I made it back in one piece, what more do you want from me?”

“I want you to get a new friend group,” you whined.

“Is it bad that I want the same for myself?”

“I think that’s perfectly reasonable.”

“Okay, so back to the knock on the door. I’m getting a little nervous, because I specifically told the guys no strippers. That was just a can of worms I didn’t want to open. And I think there’s gonna be a stripper at the door, but nope. Who opens the door? Fucking Loki. I don’t know why they came, or how they found us, but they were ready to party. Suffice it to say I do not remember the majority of that day. All I can say is that there was way too much gambling happening, and if I found out that Tony is filing for bankruptcy, I would not be surprised.”

“That is… wow.”

“I’ll give you one more thing before you go to sleep. Someone got married to a stranger. They’re gonna get it annulled but.. I did attend a wedding ceremony where an Elvis impersonator was the officiant,” Steve leaned over to his bedside table and turned off the lamp that was dimly illuminating the room. “Goodnight.”

“You are such an asshole! You don’t get to leave me on a cliffhanger like that.”

“I need you to be excited and engaged for when I finish my story tomorrow!”

“Fair,” you huffed and snuggled closer to your fiancée.

“Was it Sam?” you asked after a moment of silence.

Steve quietly laughed at you instead of responding.

“Nope. It was definitely Bucky. I’m right, right?” you pressed.

More silence from Steve.

“No way. Thor?”

His snickers became louder at this, and you gasped.

“I said I’ll tell you in the morning.”

“I don’t like when you keep secrets from me,” you prompted, trying to guilt trip your partner.

“Fine. It was Thor. But that’s all you’re getting from me for now.”

“Oh my god. Why wasn’t my bachelorette party as exciting as yours?”

[anotheranimestan]

Kiss Drought

Jealous Aizawa smut + possessiveness

NSFW!! Please note y/n is of age here!!

wc: 3.9k

Since my last Aizawa post is my most successful one (I am happily surprised) it only made sense to make my first smutty post for him 🤤

Perched on a barstool playing with the straw in your drink, you were waiting for your date to show. Being late wasn’t completely out of the ordinary for Shouta Aizawa but you were missing him badly tonight. Impatient since you hadn’t been able to see him for a few days. Somehow you’d convinced him to join you for a night out at this bar. You’d spent hours getting ready out of pure excitement. Putting on your sluttiest dress and lingerie to make it worth his while.

You settled yourself at the end of the bar, secluded where the lights didn’t reach and few people were. Aizawa hated being in the spotlights. Excited to see if you all done up for him had the intended effect, your eyes were glued to the door. Your hopes getting crushed every time another person walked in that wasn’t him.

“Hey.” A voice projecting over the music tore through your concentration. You jumped to find a tall burly guy with spiked hair and an over-confident smile leaning against the bar next to you.

You didn’t respond. Just stared at him in pure confusion. Surely you didn’t look like you wanted anyone to talk to you.

“How’s your night going?” He persisted.

“Fine.” You said curtly.

“That’s good. I saw you hiding back here from across the way there and I told my bud ‘I just have to go say hi to that smoking chick.’”

You grimaced. A master at flattery.

“So what’s your name?” He continued, not picking up on any of your social cues.

You gave him the stupidest fake name you could think of on the spot.

“Ah. Of course a hot girl has a hot name.”

You nodded in agreement. Listening to him was killing your brain cells.

“You look familiar you know....wait. You’re one of those pros from the next town over aren’t you.”

You nodded. Surprised he had the mental capacity to recognize smaller heroes like yourself.

He scoffed, proud of himself. “I knew it. Lady heroes are always hot.” Dear god someone get him away. “You know I could have gone pro myself.”

“Oh yea?” You replied doubtfully.

“Yeaaaa. But you know, I figured better not. Villains would have a hard time against me.” He joked. He raised his bicep and winked at you. Clearly about to show off whatever pitiful power-up quirk he was so proud of.

But his confident smile fell as you stared at him waiting to get his little show over with. His face contorted into horror. Realizing he couldn’t power-up.

“Ah. That’s weird.” He said unable to comprehend what was happening. But you were pretty sure you knew what was up.

“Aw honey it’s okay.” You cooed. “Sometimes alcohol makes it hard for guys to...you know...get things working.” You gave him your best fake smile. Highly amused by his ego shattering.

“Excuse me.” He sputtered and ran to the restrooms in humiliation.

You chuckled to yourself as you watched him nearly crying when he disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Suddenly you sensed a presence looming behind you.

“I figured you were somewhere nearby.”

You turned in your seat to find sleepy midnight eyes focused on you under a few loose strands of silky black hair. He had his hair tied back just the way you liked it and he hadn’t shaved in a few days so the stubble on his chin completed his signature look. He was so fucking handsome. You’d missed him so much.

“Sorry I’m late...” His gravely voice sounded like he just woke up. “but you look amazing.” He said sweetly soaking you in.

Forgiveness wasn’t even necessary. You immediately melted any time he was in the room. It was effortless the way he could snatch you up.

“That wasn’t very nice of you, Eraserhead.” You teased with a raised eyebrow. Already succumbing to his gravity that always seemed to pull you in.

He immediately knew you weren’t referring to his tardiness. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He lied with a little smile playing on his lips. Looking down as he felt your finger which was tracing the line down the center of his chest that was deliciously exposed by his partially unbuttoned button-down shirt. It wasn’t fair how he always looked so effortlessly sexy.

“I think he just wanted to be friends. No need to be jealous.” You cooed, knowing it was going to swirl up emotions in him that he was definitely going to deny. A little payback for being late.

He leaned down to your level. You held your lips dangerously close to his. Waiting for him to kiss the honeyed words off your tongue, despite the impatient desire growing in your chest. He always liked to make you wait. It gives him satisfaction knowing you’re stubborn enough to hold out for him to make the first move. Few people are more stubborn than himself. He always found that impressive about you. That and the way you were so good at baiting him.

“I don’t think I need to be jealous about that...situation.” He was willing to bite tonight.

“And why not?” You pretended to pout, tugging on his shirt with your ring finger for him to come closer and close the gap.

He considered his next move. Well aware that you were ready to pounce on any weak response.

“I can tell by the way you’re looking at me right now.” The edge of his lips tilted up. Knowing he had you cornered.

You growled, biting your lip. He came ready tonight. You hated when he smirked like that. Like he’d won. Even if it did make him look incredibly sexy.

“That’s very bold of you.”

“Am I wrong?”

He finally ended his touch drought and caressed your delicate jaw. So distracted by him quenching your thirst you’d forgotten to respond. You just sat there hanging on to his every movement. Entranced by the way he was admiring the color of your mouth.

His thumb grazed the center of your plump bottom lip. Dragging it down to watch the way it cushioned under his pressure.

He chuckled when you stuck your tongue out as he traced. Licking the pad of his thumb and then wrapping your pretty lips around it.

“I’ll take that as a no.” He said with a smug grin.

Somehow you went from being the cat to being his mouse.

“You are cruel.” You pouted. Begging him with your eyes to end this torture and kiss you.

It made him smile, with strange satisfaction knowing you’re too hard-headed to just ask for what you wanted. A sadist at heart. But you were so adorable when you were like this.

He answered your unspoken plea. “How about I buy you a drink first.” Deciding to hold out on you. Not ready to end this game you started quite yet.

You huffed.

“Someone beat you to it. Early bird gets the worm I guess.” You gestured to the glass of dark liquor sitting on a coaster next to you, knowing damn well you’d bought it for yourself. But you weren’t going to let him get away with this treatment.

He gave you a skeptical look.

“What? Does that bother you baby?” You pressed. You’d get him to admit it one day.

He paused. “Again, not that concerned considering you didn’t drink any of it.” You realized you hadn’t even taken your first sip yet.

Fuck. It’s like he was running on a full nights rest or something.

He slid the glass out of your hand. Disposing it just in case someone actually had tried to buy his girl a drink. Waving the bartender down he ordered your favorite, which he’d memorized a long time ago. A move no other man in this bar could attempt to pull.

“Wow. My favorite drink. Are you trying to impress me or something?” You asked with a cocked brow.

He smirked as he handed over his card to open a tab. You knew exactly the kind of power move he was pulling.

This flicker of his competitive side sent a surge of tingles between your legs which were currently spread on either side of Aizawa’s jeans. After a few days without him you were already longing for him. This was making it worse. You found yourself pressing your thighs together, which didn’t go unnoticed.

His voice was so deep and his tongue lazy when he spoke. You could practically feel the vibrations of his vocal chords right now, just like when they moaned into your mouth. The yearning for him was growing deeper in the pit of your stomach. But he was set on stringing you along. Punishment for teasing him about another guy.

“Here.” He placed the lightly a dewed drink in your hands, ice clinking against the glass. His fingers grazing yours sent another wave of frustration through you as you pictured them caressing your skin.

You’d run out of quips and were feeling tongue-tied. Focusing on the growing swirls of sensations that were beginning to dampen your black lace thong, Aizawa’s favorite.

Aizawa took some long draws of his drink while watching you sip in yours. Eyes intent on your lips wrapped around that straw. The tensing of your delicate throat as you swallowed. Picturing your pink tongue lapping the pad of his thumb again.

He finally sat down on the other bar stool. His knees parting to give himself room for the pressure you were stirring between his legs.

You prodded him with some questions about work. But he was being awfully quiet. He only half-heartedly answered your questions.

Getting a fuller view of you now he was too distracted. His body temperature rose at the tightness of your dress against your body. Your exposed neckline hinting at the fullness of your breasts underneath. Your legs looking smooth and long in that dress that stopped only a few inches below your ass.

Irritation flashed through Aizawa’s skin as, over your shoulder, he saw the guy emerge from the bathroom and look directly at him. He had started walking in your direction, like he was coming back for seconds, before he noticed you were with another man. He hadn’t been that bothered when he first arrived but now he felt his rarely-seen temper flaring up at the thought of this guy trying to make a move on you.

You were mid-sentence when you saw Aizawa’s jaw clench. His irritation fueled the fire that was blazing in your lower stomach. He only got that possessive look in his eye over one thing. You.

You had to shift in your chair to try and ease the throbbing under your dress. Desperately trying to distract yourself if you were going to be able to hold out against Aizawa’s punishment drought.

You were going to need a few shots to pull it off. Pulling your dress down, unsuccessfully trying covering your butt, you stood up to wave the bartender down.

Aizawa flinched, the tightness in his pants growing after seeing the curve of your ass peeking out under your dress. His body went up in flames however when he caught muscle man catching a look as well. Temper properly stoked, he was hellbent at letting this guy know he could go fuck himself.

You felt Aizawa snatch your wrist and pull you between his legs. Yelping at the abrupt movement, you stabled yourself from tripping over your heels on his crotch, accidentally, and felt the lump that had formed there.

“What are you doing?” He growled in your ear.

“I’m...ordering another drink?” You said confused.

“I’m the only person who’ll be ordering your drinks for the rest of the night.” He informed you warmly, giving your ass a squeeze before resting his hand over the exposed part. “What do you want babe?” He cooed when the bartender arrived.

He ordered four shots of your favorite tequila.

Your arms draped around his shoulders as he held you in his domain. One arm relaxed on the bar, the other territorially holding you against him.

As you both downed the shots you noticed him glaring at something every few seconds under hooded eyes.

“What are you looking at?” You said leaning forward.

“Nothing important.” He growled through a clenched jaw.

But you’d followed his eye-line to find the man from earlier at the other end. You grinned in satisfaction.

A devious streak surged through you. Excited to see how your man would react to you now.

“I thought you weren’t jealous.”

His dick twitched at your hand brushing over his jeans.

“I’m not.”

“Well it seems like he’s bothering you. Want me to go over there and have a few words with him for you babe?”

He chuckled. “I don’t think you want to try something like that.”

“I think I might.”

He downed his last shot, the alcohol starting to buzz in his head. He was struggling to keep his temper under control. You were really testing him, on purpose too which made it worse. But he knew how you worked and how to press your buttons.

“Then go do it.” He urged. Releasing his hold on you. Holding his arms up in the air.

You huffed. Wrapping your arms around him even tighter. You hated when he did that. He knew you wouldn’t go. And you hated even more when he took his hands off you.

“You’re so mean.” You whined.

He chuckled. “I’m sorry baby. But you really think I’d let you win this little teasing game of yours so easily?” You yelped when his hand came down heavy on your ass again. Jutting your hips onto his hardened boner. “Unless you’re trying to tell me I have an actual reason to be jealous.” He dared you, looking you directly in the eyes.

He had you cornered again. His little mouse. You couldn’t even pretend to admit that another man caught your eye. And the throbbing in your panties was unbearable now. You were dying to smash your mouth on his.

You whimpered as he swept your hair from your neck. His lips only grazing your skin as he whispered into your ear. “You can tell me the truth baby.” He cooed.

You were barely holding out against him. Your stubbornness was seconds from giving out. His deep voice in your ear had you dripping. You crossed your legs trying to hold yourself together but Aizawa wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Come here.” He instructed as he lifted your leg over his knee so that you straddled his thigh. The pressure against your throbbing sex eliciting a soft moan.

He gave one more glance at the pathetic guy from earlier who was visibly tense. Having to watch you perched on his lap. Wilting over him in submission.

Suddenly you were very thankful you were tucked away where few people could possibly notice you melting over him, a mess.

“So? Should I be jealous?” He placed his final chess piece.

You whimpered more as his hand guided your hips to grind against him. Your stubbornness snapped.

You shook your head no into the crook of his neck. Your pussy started convulsing, desperately wanting him to touch you.

“Say it.”

“No baby. There’s no one to be jealous about. Nothing.”

You whined into his ear pressing your lips against him.

He groaned in satisfaction at hearing you admit it.

He shifted his leg to stretch out your stance. Your knee hooked over his thigh, exposing you so he had full access. The cold air hitting your drenched underwear made your breath hitch.

His thumb massaged the inside of your thigh, causing your hips to buck in anticipation. It was killing you.

“Please Shouta. Stop teasing me.” You whined.

You licked your lips which were painfully dry from lack of kisses.

The gloss of your saliva on your lips made his mouth water.

“You look so pretty.” He said grazing the outside of your drenched panties with one finger.

You bit back a moan that was surely going to be so loud everyone at the bar was going to hear.

“Fuck. You’re so wet...all this for me?” He said hanging his head back as he fought the urge to throw you onto the bar and ram his dick into you. Right where muscle man could see.

Another soft moan from you brought him back though. You nodded, cheeks flushed with embarrassment that he had you this unraveled in front of everyone. Although surprisingly nobody had noticed yet.

He slipped two fingers past your lips. Your tongue swirling around them. His dick throbbed at the sight of your mouth wrapped around him. Sadly wrapped around the wrong body part.

He removed them slowly. Mouth gaping at the saliva that strung off your tongue as he moved them back under your dress, moving your panties to the side and tracing tracing a wide circle around your clit. Just slow enough to hold you on the edge of pleasure.

“I want to hear you say whose pussy this is.” You cried softly. “Tell me baby.” He said watching your face contort at his touch.

You dipped your lips to his ear. Too abashed to look him directly in the eyes right now as he had you helplessly wrapped around his finger.

“It’s yours.” You squeaked out.

“Say my name.”

You were squirming uncontrollably now. But he was careful not to give you what you were dying for until he heard the words spill off your tongue. “It’s yours Shouta...all yours. Please just fuck me already.” You gushed.

“I love how my name sounds in your mouth.” He cooed as he plunged two fingers into you. Feeling the juices swirl around his fingers as he pumped them slowly in and out.

Your hand latched onto his shoulder, digging in at his touch. Your hips couldn’t stop grinding against his hand as you used his thumb as a rubbing board for your clit.

“Look at me.” The sight of your face flushed with pleasure was turning him on even more. Abusing your clit even faster as he felt your walls pulsing around his fingers. The tightness in his pants growing painful at how much it wanted you sat on top of him.

“Kiss me.” You pleaded one last time.

Finally ending his kiss drought, he attached onto that pouty bottom lip of yours. Sucking it hungrily. It had been just as hard for him to keep himself off you. He’d been dying to taste every inch of your body.

You latched onto his lip hoping you’d never have to let go. Biting hard to release all the frustration he’d built up in you. He flinched in pain. Having to slip his hands out of you to pry you off him.

“Fuck.” He said feeling his lip. You’d bit him so hard a little blood had been drawn.

“I’m sorry.” You said biting your nail.

“I suppose that was my own fault wasn’t it.” He smiled before sucking your juices off his fingers.

The sight was enough to send you over the edge. Your pussy was clenching around nothing. Grasping for his dick. You needed him. Right now.

You broke out of his hold and dragged his weight behind you to the ladies restroom. Thanking the heavens there was no line because you would easily have punched your way through it.

Slamming the door shut and locking it he immediately threw your weight against the wall. Picking you up and wrapping your legs around him. You clung to him like he was life itself and started aggressively sucking hickeys onto his neck.

“I missed you so fucking much.” You whined into his ear.

“I missed you too baby. A lot.” He said kissing your neck as he ripped his jeans and briefs down. He couldn’t wait another second to get inside of you.

His dick was rock hard as he swirled the head around your wet opening. Coating it with your warm juices. He groaned loudly in your ear as he sunk into you for the first time.

“Fuck you feel so good.”

Chills went through you as you felt him stretching out your walls. Wanting him to stuff you with every inch he had.

He pumped into you quickly. You relished at the pain and pleasure of his forceful thrusts. He wanted you so desperately he couldn’t control his power even if he wanted to.

He crashed his mouth against yours to muffle the loud moans that they definitely could hear on the other side of the door.

His mouth started sucking on that pink tongue of yours, mixing with the intense pleasure of him rutting into you. Your hold around his shoulders was going limp. He was fucking the strength right out of you.

“Turn around.” He ordered as he placed you back on the ground. Hiking your dress up to completely expose your ass.

He pressed your chest up against the wall. The cold bricks chilling your skin as he pushed your panties to the side again and inserted his entire shaft from behind. Bottoming out with one forceful thrust and holding it there as he hit your g-spot. Pleasure surged through your body, causing you to moan his name.

The sound of his name pouring off your lips was causing rumbling in his head. He felt himself nearing as he rammed into you faster. Dick throbbing at the way your ass jiggled every time he thrust into you.

The knot in your stomach grew tighter as you started rubbing circles around your clit. He was hitting your g-spot with every stroke. You were seconds away from overflowing with euphoria.

“I’m gonna cum Shouta.” You whined as he kept at you relentlessly. Hands clamped on your hips.

“Cum on me baby.” He encouraged as he felt your legs starting to shake.

Just then the knot snapped. And electricity flooded your body. Your hand clamped around his, pulling him against your back in pure gratitude.

Your walls tightening around him sent him over the edge. His rhythm growing sloppy just as he burst, filling you with warm cum. Groaning as he threw his last few weak pumps in pleasure. Coming down from his intense high.

“Shit y/n. Come here.” He said wrapping around your neck and pulling you up to place a sloppy wet kiss on the mouth that had been calling his name.

You both were breathing heavy as he pulled you into his arms. You nuzzled your face into him. Silently worshiping him for the satisfied humming in your body left over from your chilling orgasm.

“I think I missed you more than I realized.” He cooed into your ear. Gently rubbing your pussy from behind. Reminiscing on how amazing the juices felt around him.

You giggled. Yanking him into one last lingering kiss before pulling your dress back down.

He buckled himself up and patted your hair down that he’d disheveled.

When you opened the door, several stunned faces were staring at you.

Giggling nervously, Aizawa pulled you through the crowd to go close his tab out.

He was holding your hand tight as you clung to his arm. Staring at his side profile with hearts in your eyes as he tipped the bartender.

On your way out you bumped into someone’s back. The muscle man turned around in shock.

Not batting an eye you said “excuse me” and kept walking.

You looked up nervously to see Aizawa’s response to the poorly timed interaction but he was just peering at you out of the corner of his eyes with a satisfied little grin.

He grabbed your jaw and pressed a deep kiss on you. Not breaking his stride once as he led you to the door.

“Let’s hurry up and go home. I’m not finished with you yet.”

~~

First smut post so hopefully it didn’t suck ����

General tags from masterlist: @edgyb1tch @waywardcowboyllamavoid @ladybeautiful18 @halietigges @frosted-flakes @r0zyp0zy0zy @myherosilhouette @wackichris @chargeandinlarge @dumbbird89 @fullsundear @blisssfoooll @tee2cute @dxddydrea @themajesticunicorn

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[worldsover]

Fermata ft. Chuu

length ✦ 5651

genres ✧ Dal Segno sequel; dirty talk; oral; makeup fetish; more subby!Chuu

✦✧✦✧✦✧

You write to keep your concentration and disconnect you from your ever-changing concerns. For all your ideas, the true crux of putting a piece together is actually making something concrete. The self-control you require to be consistent, and consistently creative, is what makes music so hard to stay focused on. This album must be finished. This year. No written promises but you have to do right by her after all you've invested. You fucked Jiwoo in the mouth yesterday. Real right of you to do.

“Coming!” Jiwoo must be far from the front door with how her holler resounds the apartment. Where do you put your hands? Pockets are natural though they don't feel like it. Many but not enough footsteps grow in loudness but you expect a stampede anyway when the door opens. Instead, only Yerim and Sooyoung manifest in the opening hallway.

“Hello, oppa! Jiwoo unnie is just… Umm. Taking care of business.” Yerim playfully elbows you when she pulls you in but you stop her to take your shoes off. Sooyoung sends a brusque wave your way and not much else as she collects assorted effects and clothing around the living room. There isn’t nearly as much noise as you expect.

Look around in confusion. “Did I miss something? Is today a holiday?”

“Jiwoo isn’t the only one who’s got schedules, PD-nim,” Sooyoung says.

Yerim turns around. She also has some nicer pants on, and a loose-fitting red top. “Unnie, you’re just visiting your family.”

“And that’s a schedule.”

“Well oppa, I have a CF to film so, ha!” Yerim raises a hand, victorious she just won the conversation. High five. She’s satisfied but Sooyoung gives no regard, clearly looking for something.

“What about the other girls?” you ask.

“I’m not a manager. Just count yourself lucky the dorm is so empty.” Yerim says.

“Damn, we can even record some demos too. Good thing I brought the mic. Hold on, before you guys go, wanna listen to some of our songs?” you say.

“Finally!” Yerim says.

“Just play it out loud, I can hear it,” Sooyoung says. You offer your help with whatever she’s searching for though she brushes you off and insists she can do it herself.

Yerim brings out a bluetooth speaker from underneath the living room couch and coughs because of whatever dust she just procured.

Pull out your Macbook from your backpack and connect it to the speaker. You think about which track to play and pick the one that shows off Jiwoo’s voice the best so far, Jiwoo - Deeper.

Yerim immediately gets into the beat, bobbing her head and dancing. However, when the chorus hits, her ears perk up and she starts cheering at the notes that Jiwoo belts. Sooyoung also turns an ear towards the speaker in curiosity.

A vacuum interrupts the music. Jiwoo swoops in with the machine, scurrying her shapely legs with no heed to their bareness. She pushes up her fake circle glasses and says over the commotion, “I knew you needed this! Oppa, hello!”

“I’m trying to listen to the music here!” Yerim covers her ears.

Sooyoung looks down and pauses at the edge of the couch. “Oh hey, there’s my bracelet! Really nice music by the way!”

“Wow, you guys are so kind.” Jiwoo says, her voice piercing the screaming vacuum without effort. She turns it off realizing she's the only one can really do so. “You still like the music now?”

“No unnie, I mean it,” Yerim says.

“Why are you wearing just that big tracksuit sweater? Do you even have shorts on?” you interrupt the gushing. Jiwoo turns around and hugs herself as if she dropped a towel, even though her immodesty comes from her lower body. Good thing no one notices her sweater ride up for a moment to reveal white panties. Sooyoung looks at you confused while Yerim smirks to match yours. She wasn't even looking at Jiwoo but she could probably tell from your face. Damn, she’s too perceptive.

“Well, it looks like that’s my cue to go,” Yerim says.

“I’m so confused,” Sooyoung looks back and forth at you and the other two girls in the room. You shrug your shoulders, pretending to take solace in her ignorance of the situation.

“Come on unnie, we’ll go together. I’ll go out to get money and you go out to get your kisses from mommy and daddy.” Somehow that didn’t sound too offensive but Sooyoung punches Yerim anyway.

“Oppa, can you finish vacuuming for me?” You’re about to make a retort about labor laws but Jiwoo runs to the bathroom and immediately you hear Jiwoo practicing melodic runs. They’re definitely not the ones you taught her, unless moaning was part of the routine.

“So she has to get her vocal cords ready too huh? I’m suuure that’s all she’s doing in there.” Yerim keeps poking at your bicep with two fingers. You turn on the vacuum to try and hide her overt naughtiness but Yerim’s devilish look tells enough. For full measure, she winks at you as she drags Sooyoung out of the dorm. Mental note to deal with that can of worms for later.

Head to the big bedroom where Jiwoo’s still doing vocal exercises. Three bunk beds line the walls while pillows, blankets and bean bags litter the floor. As the centrepiece of the room sits a simple wooden table, short enough to rest on the polystyrene filled chairs while adequately comfortable to get work done. She stands proud on top of the table as she practices the actual runs you tell her to do.

“Oh, oh, ohhhhh, oh, ohhhhppa!” She jumps down from the table and nearly tackles you when she locks her legs around you in a hug. Take a second to balance yourself while holding her as tightly as possible.

“Jiwoo, you’re eager today.”

“Of course I am, oppa. I’m soooo excited to. Record. Of course.”

“Well if you are, please get off of me.”

“Oppa! You don’t like my hugs?” she says nearly falsetto. Her aegyo throws you off, so you throw her off. Onto a bean bag. “I guess that’s a no.”

“No, not no. I mean. We have to be focused, Jiwoo. Is there any rope or anything?”

“You just said we have to be focused, oppa.”

You wave your hands in denial. “What’d I say about acoustics?”

“Ohhh, like the foam at the studio?”

“Exactly. Especially with how big this room is, we’re going to have to need all the insulation we can get. Ahhh!” Your random shout rumbles throughout the room and startles the relaxing Jiwoo. 

She stands up. “I get it! Geez.”

“Oh yeah, I need a pop filter too.”

“A thin fabric right? For all the p-p-plosives.”

“Mhm.”

Inevitable. Jiwoo takes off her panties and you shake your head laughing in disapproval.

“Come on now, that’s just not sanitary,” you say.

“So you’re saying you don’t want them?”

“No, I’ll just confiscate them for your stupidity. Tsk. Find some pantyhose.“ She gets up. “Ahem. Not used.”

The panties have a tiny wet spot, and your nose takes a quick bask in its musk but Jiwoo immediately catches you.

“And I’m too horny,” Jiwoo says with characteristic sass. You put it in your pocket as she gets pantyhose from her drawer. After fashioning a stand for the pantyhose for her to sing into, you both get to work hanging up blankets from the bunk beds while clotheslines become pillow-lines. A makeshift room within a room, still centered by the table but now surrounding you with cushioning cloth instead of acoustically reflective drywall.

Barely enough space for jumping jacks but you start doing them anyway and it flummoxes Jiwoo for a moment. You don’t need to tell her to join in. Sit down to play an instrumental from the laptop and she pauses the exercise before you motion for her to continue. 

“I need you with the right energy for the beat.”

“Yeah, I figured. Synthwave is really popular now, huh?” Her bouncing to the rhythm rides her hoodie up again but now her cute slit and bare legs are plain to see. Your tongue dries your lips. She catches her breath before stretching one last time. Keep it together. “So are we recording?” 

You nod. Take out the microphone and two pairs of in ear monitors for listening, and connect all the devices to the computer. After setting everything up, Jiwoo gets up and you hold the microphone and filter for her.

Click. “Aaand, recording.”

Click. “One more.”

But that’s it. Two takes. You could not get a better sounding Jiwoo than that. Not a quick demo but the actual release vocal track, since even in such an imperfect recording environment, it sounds perfect to your ears. A little frustration since where was this Jiwoo in all the previous sessions? Maybe you’ll have to consider more visits for recording though you’re not sure if you could make another miracle happen to have everyone else out of the dorm at the same time.

“Jiwoo, that was a- Dammit, that was perfect,” you say.

“Of course, it was!” Not that there’s much room in the improvised recording studio but she ensures you feel even less of it when she gets closer. “Sooo. Wanna fuck my face?”

“That’s not the arrangement! You didn’t mess up.” 

“You definitely sound disappointed I did a good job,” Jiwoo says.

”Of course I’m not disappointed.” You sigh. Are we doing this again? A single flitter of her brows. “I’m not going to fuck your face this time, okay? You have to be able to take that dick all the way down yourself.”

No protests. She lowers her head once in gratitude. 

"Thank you for the meal!" Jiwoo says as she shows off her pearly whites in a big smile. She turns her head up to look at you lovingly as she cups your balls with her hands before she lowers her head again for a precursory smooch onto your cock. This time, she gives the same slow care to your shaft with her lips as she is to your balls with her hands. As if she wasn't going to ruin her makeup.

Restraining your panting and cries of ecstasy is arduous enough with Jiwoo engulfing you when-

“Kim Jiwoo!” Sooyoung’s voice reverberates from maybe the living room or the foyer.

Jiwoo side-eyes the study door. Her head does not stop its seesaw. Is this girl so entranced by your cock that she feels not an ounce of dread?

Sooyoung yells, “I forgot something! Just wanted to let you know I’ll be back later with dinner!”

“Okay! Thanks! We’re busy,” you choke on your words as Jiwoo does the same on your dick, “Uh, listening to the mix!”

Sooyoung, still shouting, but attempting to say lower, “Sorry! I’ll go now. Bye.”

Wait a few minutes before getting up, and of course Jiwoo’s lips are still wrapped around your cock as you walk towards the door. Dorm is empty. She must have performed magic taking off her shirt and underwear to play with herself because you can't remember if she's ever stopped sucking you off. The kinematics don't add up. More likely, you’re slightly faint from her perilous suction, making left and right difficult directions to parse from each other.

"Fuck you're already so good, Jiwoo." 

Pull her up and carry her to deposit onto the bottom bunk of the bed by the window.  She ends up belly diving onto the mattress’ surface and her buttcheeks recoil just the slightest bit.  Jiwoo notices and starts giggling when she plays around with her perky cheeks.

"You like my ass, oppa?" Nod.

“I said I wasn’t going to fuck your face today. Fuck. Maybe I’ll fuck you there instead,” you say in a low bass.

Her eyes turn into full moons at your suggestion. You laugh. 

”Naughty fucking girl. Next time, when you’re a good girl. Such a fun ass though.” Follow through with the compliment as you line up your cock to the prone girl’s mouth, arcing down to fondle her round buns. It's a miracle and also a bit embarrassing that your erection is soft after all that. Best guess is that it's had so much stimulation, but all of the masturbation after recalling your previous facefuck probably didn't help. Jiwoo takes her index and middle digits and raps them on your cock to a freeform beat.

“Aww oppa, your cock. I need to make it big and meaty again,” Jiwoo whines and her pout confesses that she's a little disheartened, however her eyes are more determined.

“Tell me all the ways you want me to use you." She raises her vivid eyebrows and lists her head a little forward. “Okay, miss ‘I won’t let go of this cock even when there’s others in the house’. Don’t worry, we have plenty of time. Just relax and go on.”

“Hmph. Fine. Well, your dick is right here, sooo after I lick it up,” which she begins doing by inspecting your shaft with intent, before finding a spot she deems scrumptious enough to lap up. “You fuck this dirty mouth pussy clean while I play myself on my tummy just like this.”

Jiwoo sounds ridiculous talking with her tongue out but at the same time, her cheeky lisp fortifies your cock. Her hands wander underneath herself and she reels back, titillated by her own words. You watch the small woman fondling herself with both hands while your erection at half-mast presses against her face in suspense.

“I could flip myself over and I’d never let go of oppa’s cock, I promise, then you could see your bulge in my fuck hole.”

How could this girl talk so filthy? Her face doesn’t even look like it should utter the word darn, yet here she is giving a study of her throat’s distension from your dick.

Jiwoo continues, one hand rubbing her clit fervently, “Then, maybe. Maybe oppa could get on top of me and pretty please eat my little pussy out while he shoves his cock into me?”

You couldn’t just stand idly by, though it wouldn’t be the worst with how her mouth vibrates your cock harder as her tone gets more gravelly and hungry. When you reach down, you see her wet slit preoccupied with two fingers from her other hand. It doesn’t stop you from slipping one in the increasingly creamy hole.

“Then oppa, if you still wanna at least?” her voice shrinks, but then returns in volume as she crescendos, “You keep your mouth on my slit as you lift up my legs and your silly slut is upside down and she’s choking on your cock and Jiwoo can’t breath and all the blood rushing to her head and you cum and Jiwoo doesn’t let any of spill out cuz Jiwoo is a good slut for oppa, and oppa, oppa, please!”

You join in stroking and rubbing her squishy soaking pussy lips and she looks up from her haze.

“Kim Jiwoo.” Your voice is stern and it seems more than any physical stimulation that your deep beckon is what sends her past the edge. Her pussy swallows whole your finger still inside her, wetness replacing all sensation that the digit once had. She accompanies her whole body’s spasms with loud visceral moans. It takes more than a mere moment to close her eyes and restore her breathing. The bedroom smells a little salty from all the fluids leaking her mouth and slit.

“How much porn have you been watching?” you say.

“As much as you oppa.”

Swallow down a bit of spit. “Huh?”

“Remember our very first recording session, you forgot your laptop and I returned it to you?”

“Fuck,” you say. Jiwoo stretches and lay spread-eagle on the bed, a gooey strand connecting between her two thighs. She licks her fingers.

“You're lucky I found it. Oppa, it’s all your fault I’m like this. Plus all those fancams of me in the same folder. I wanted to confess sooner but I needed more opportunities to be with you.” She sucks her hand more earnestly.

“I didn’t think sucking dick counted as confessing.”

“Hey, I did say I like you. Did you already forget? Tsk. Typical boy.”

“Look at this dick.” You didn’t have to say that because she’s already drilling holes into it with her eyes. “Remember how I said I was basically recording for free? Make your own inferences.” The round shape of her mouth in understanding is perfect.  "Now, open wide."

"Yes! Mm..."

 It’s hard to say which position is your favorite.

Fucking her face is straightforward but you pay closer attention. You’re certainly not down that deep, as you can still feel her uvula recoil on your tip and react with thick gagged out spit. Nothing like your cum but she sucks and spits the liquid in and out anyway. She definitely enjoys playing around with fluids in her mouth.

Jiwoo pulls away when she upturns herself, as she coughs with whatever throat muscles you hit. Her head hanging upside down off the mattress would be the perfect perspective to see your cock’s imprint on her neck but she still can’t manage the depth. The angle certainly makes your pistoning easier as your balls slap against your nose in more forceful pushes, playing vulgar slapping noises that mix with her gagging.

Afterwards, you lean over and move her head to get the mattress’s support instead of dangling. Hunch down to her wetness and the taste of her nectar more than makes up for the difficulty of thrusting while on top of her. Already having difficulty breathing with a cock in her airways, you don’t want to crush her under your weight. Still, you spend the most time between her thighs, taking in the muskiness of her pussy and all that it releases. It explains Jiwoo’s long drawn breath through her nose if you have a similarly alluring scent. There’s also the possibility your length steals too much air from her wet, gagging mouth but in this position, it’s her choice to hold your shaft in her throat for that much time.

Pick her up by the ass and cup the top of Jiwoo’s cheeks. Well, now they’re the bottom as she’s upside down in this piledriver sixty-nine position, both of you sucking and licking as closely as possible. She’s definitely enjoying the scents and tastes. You could drop her on her head and she'd thank you if you kept your cock in her mouth. Maybe you heard her mumble something like “yummy”, but anything resembling consonants are far past the point of physiology and linguistics. If anything, holding Jiwoo upside down makes her look more like a used sex doll than the cute girl that she is. 

A whole lot of mess to clean up later. Cans of Febreeze, maybe some rags and a mop. New sheets, soaked with nearly every bodily fluid mouthfucking can provide. However, all that work pales to the pure torture you’ve put upon yourself to not cum.  It helps with how often you pull out of her mouth as for all her prodigal gagging, she also looks thankful when you give her moments to rest her jaw and lips. Somehow you're in control the entire time yet you have not an ounce of it, avoiding your inevitable fate. Finally, you can rest. Now you’re thankful you jerked off many times before this to last as long as you have. 

Of course, resting did mean you were on an office chair and she was on her knees, but still. It’s a break from all the exercise.

“You know oppa,” she says with a smile on her face.

“I was waiting for you to ask,” mumbling as she often does on your erection.

“Jiwoo-ah! Wear lip gloss.” How she manages to get that out so adorably with a cock in her mouth, you will never know.

“But I figured,” bobbing down, “I was sucking you off so sloppily,” and up, “It’d be such a waste of makeup.”

The girl made a point though you say, “I’d still like to see it one time. Alright? I don’t wanna have to ask either.”

“Okayyyy.” She says as she purrs on your dick. The little devil knows how weak you are when she talks with a full mouth. You still aren’t going to succumb this time. Pulling out of her mouth is as difficult as last time but you snap your head back and you snap your head away. 

"Nooo." A familiar cry. What if she didn't even like the taste of cum? No time for questions as your body falls apart in the clashing brass and woodwinds. The obnoxious dissonance making you pulse and pulse. You aim below her neck to allow the cum to drip down her collarbones and petite tits. Rub her nipples, sticky with your load and she lets out a little squeal when you tweak them.

"Pwetty pwease oppa. Your cumdump Chuu-ah really wants your cum." She puts her pointer on her swollen cheek. God, she's too much for one man but that’s the situation you put yourself in. 

Plop. 

Plop.

"Jiwoo, please. It's so sensitive," you whimper as she keeps sucking the tip.

"You get to do whatever you want oppa."

"Fuck.” Pull Jiwoo off of you. “Maybe I will."

You collect your load from her tits as an impressive volume drips down.

"Ahh," Jiwoo says but you push her down one last time with your unstained hand and your other uses a finger to penetrate her little pussy, providing it with the semen that she desperately wants.

"I hope this is good enough for now." Her squeaks in time with each finger on your sticky hand exploring her insides confirm that it is indeed.

A step closer and your rehardening cock finds her labia, small but inviting. She gasps and shudders as you tease her pussy lips in a familiar way. It’s just as sensitive for her as it is for you with how much she sweats and writhes from the shaft The friction of the pussyjob is unbearable and instead of juices dripping from within her, a heavy volume of watery liquid squirts out. 

“I’m so, I’m so sorry oppa.”

“It’s okay, Jiwoo.” You put the tip in. “Doesn’t that feel so good.”

“Yes! Thank you. Awwww,” She says when you pop it out. In another world, that tip pushes past and you ravage her. But at this point, you have standards to uphold.

“Be a good girl for me and you can have more, okay?” Give her a rainbow dildo to practice with.

"Oh I already have one, oppa. This looks like it fits better though. Well I guess worse considering how much bigger it is. Just like. Yours. Fuck."

Despite all her orgasms, she looks ready to masturbate yet another time.

"We can't just cum all day Jiwoo," you say. She sighs and nods in understanding.

“Where am I gonna hide this? It really stands out.”

“Just keep it inside you.” Her eyes light up. “No wait.”

Jiwoo giggles. “C’mon oppa, they should be back any time soon.”

You finish up some final touches in your recording. There’s definitely more hitches when it comes to dealing with vocal recordings in such an improvised setting but it’s certainly not as much of a problem as looking at any of the other members in the eyes as you stay for dinner.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

tYou tend to get in a rush when you procrastinate as much as you do. It’s her first album, there’s no reason to rush her first album. Besides, the strength of any artist’s work is in their sophomore album, since they’ve had forever to work on that first one and now people are expecting the second. In either case, you really have time, but you don’t let yourself feel that. Instead, mixing and recording, once a job you enjoyed doing, has turned into a series of stressors in your life.

Jiwoo’s in a rush too. Why is she in such a rush?

“Hello. Oppa. I. Uh. Heard you got into a fender bender.” Every word sounds laborious as she opens the door to the studio. You step out into the hallway then look left and right. Nothing out of place.

“Yeah, just some scratches. You okay, Jiwoo?”

Her lips tuck in when she walks forward even a step. “Yep, doing juust fine. We gonna get to recording or what?”

“I mean if you say so.”

Each step towards the booth has her hitch her breath just a little, but she looks focused as ever so you waste no time and hit record. Should you text another member and ask if anything's off about Jiwoo today? Her singing is fine, maybe a little more vocal fry in her voice than usual, but it fits the sultry ballad.

You text Chaewon as Jiwoo keeps trying out different intonations for the pre-chorus.

Chaewon: "she was all flirty and weird today"

You: "lmao aight, tell something idk"

"yeah yeah, but this is different" 

"different how? she's always like that"

Jiwoo sees you typing and stops her singing to ask if anything's wrong. You shake your head and wave your free hand, gesturing for her to continue.

"i guess less wordy and more touchy today? good luck, lmk if you figure it out"

"i will. see ya later" 

Curious. You set your phone down and inspect Jiwoo's eyes and her crinkled nose. Hmm. 

A few hours later, you’re still recording. For how well the session at the dorm went, it feels like you’re back to square one with all of her mistakes today. She had such a good first takes too but her vocal quality is definitely receding, and in a different way than usual.

“I need to go to the restroom. I’ll be back,” you say into the microphone.

You go quickly to relieve yourself. A lot of water today. Needed it looking at Jiwoo in whatever weird state she's in. For some godforsaken reason you have an urge to take her mouth right now and completely ruin her. This album is never coming out.

Slowly creak the door to the studio open. No need for surprise anymore. Jiwoo pulls out a dildo from her sobbing vagina in the vocal booth and drags it up her body. Her eyes are closed, her focus clearly on the sensation of the dildo finally removed for her. She really went through with your suggestion. Must've been in there for a while considering Chaewon noticed something off earlier today. The dildo meets Jiwoo's lips, both wet from her desire and she shoves it in as deep as she can in the first try. 

Walk towards the Macbook and notice that it's recording. Shit, how much space did you have left on it? Hopefully, not going to have to clean it up later.

Finally, her eyes open and she smiles looking at you while she touches herself with one hand and deepthroats herself with the other using the toy you gave her.  She pauses her masturbation for a moment, tapping her ear. A new audio clip in Ableton, so put on your headphones.

“Come here oppa. I did a bad job today, didn’t I?”

The only words she needs for you to drop everything and walk into the booth. 

“You did,” you say as you unbuckle.

In a single stroke, she swallows your cock, matching the reinsertion of the dildo into her pussy. Jiwoo makes a tight vacuum seal with her luscious lips and shows off how well she manages her breath. Air squeezes through in her nose as you rarely unfastened yourself from her suction, and as she rarely allowed you to. Her lips are a good cock ring, her mouth a fleshlight. At the very least, this gave you much patience with her recording, knowing you were allowed to use your frustrations to turn the talented young lady into an object to use.

It’s incredible how little she has to touch herself to achieve orgasm when your cock is in her mouth. To be fair, keeping the dildo as long as she has inside of her must be a feat of its own.

“Jiwoo. Did you have this in you all day? I bet you’d prefer it were the real thing, huh?”

“Mmmhm. Mmmm!" She convulses at once. The toy squeezes in and out of her while she moans and spills saliva all over your cock. “Fuck, I wanted to cum all day but I had to wait. It’s your turn now, right?”

Jiwoo pulls out the soaked dildo and with her little fingers teases the skin of your dick before maintaining a tight grip. Her hand’s perfect rhythm and all the sucking she’s done so far today gets you right there and over the edge as quickly as she did. You unload all over the colorful sex toy and Jiwoo doesn’t let you have time to think as she puts the cum-covered toy back inside her.

You suck in some air. ”Who said you could have that cum? Lie down on the couch.” No pretense. Is there love between you two? Pull down her spotted top before mounting her modest but perky tits. It’s been barely a minute yet you’re already ready and solid once again. She tries to lean her head forward to retrieve her oral punishment-

“Thank you!”

Reward. Now that you think about it, maybe this isn’t working. The supine girl beneath you flitters her lashes, curious as to why you haven’t yet thrust into her mouth.

“You know much I love to see you work for it. Go on.”

As your cock is standing upwards at attention, she struggles raising her head to match yours, gently poking her tongue out to lick the frenulum.

“Ahh. No fair! I can’t reach. Ppfh.” She spits on it in frustration. “Ppptt. Let me have it.”

Her tongue wiggles around fruitlessly. Spit on her face in retort and you both laugh looking at the mess you’ve made. Yet at last, after playing with her food for what feels like an eternity, Jiwoo manages to wrangle your head with her tongue, guiding it to her eager lips.

“Now I better not feel that barrier, okay? Track 1.” And slowly force your way into her throat. You feigned frustration with her inability to fully take you down, but this was heaven. Regardless, stopped by her cursed reflex, you say: 

“Not good enough.” You’d almost feel bad about this.

“Again.” If it didn’t feel so good.

“One more.” Another submersion into her sopping mouth, the friction of her soft lips and tongue opposes all the lubricating slop from her throat. 

Unsheathe. “Oppa, oppa wait. Let me get something. You’ll like it.” You concede, getting off of her, and she pulls from her purse bright red lip gloss. “Watch me stain your cock!”

In a rush, Jiwoo vandalizes her lips red. Her makeup artist would be embarrassed. Of course, that makeup artist would be outright scandalized if they could see the precious idol with her back hunched over the arm of the couch, her upside down face inviting you.

You walk up and give her a good view of your balls. Tickle her neck and she leans forward to plant a pure kiss. On your cock head. “You know we haven’t kissed once yet? You haven’t even said anything about how you feel about me!”

“Neither did you.” Move your hands from Jiwoo’s neck to her bare chest and play with her stiffening nipples.

“Well, let me show you.” She plants another smooch on your shaft. And another. Yet another, until it’s turned into a full-on makeout session with your penis. The upended Jiwoo has to twist herself to leave the entirety of your flesh marked with lipstick stains. However, her best work is her french kiss where takes your dick in and plays around with her tongue, as if the mindless beast could kiss back. She leans her head back out one more time to receive you.

A sharp push and her tiny tits respond with the subtlest jiggle. 

All but an inch of your shaft covered red. “I’m so close,” she pouts.

“Well, so am I.” You keep thrusting and feel your orgasm get closer. You’re on the edge.

“Mwah.” Her lips’ release leaves your blank head even emptier.  “Mwah mwah, mwah.” She fixes her top back and wipes around her lips.

She takes wet wipes then a mask from her purse while you stand dumbfounded. There are four walls in the room. Wires spill from your laptop. One, two, three, four. You are one beat away from orgasm.

Her voice snaps your focus back. “Oppa, that was a good recording session, but you know. Ha Rin unnie has to pick me up. Bye!” Jiwoo scampers away, wiping at her face.

You might actually explode next time, in more ways than one. Guess you deserve this one though.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

AFF, AO3

Just wanted to get one more thing done before the new year so I chose this since like I said, this was originally written as one part. In fact, this is actually the very first smut I wrote. However, I kept getting stuck and adding more, so a trilogy it is then. That’s right, one last one coming up!

[hockeyisit]

What was it like when they left the hospital with Kai and Noah? What was their first night like with their two babies?

A.N: So I had a lot of different request for Auston and Amelia’s first night with the twins and what it was like when Felix met the twins. This piece is specifically focused on Felix meeting the twins and what it was like when they left the hospital. I am planning to write another piece about their first night alone with the twins which will hopefully be done soon!

Word Count: 1,841

Masterlist

“It’s safe to bring the twin’s home whenever you guys are ready,” the nurse told us as she held the clipboard out to the two of us. I glanced away to look at Auston. I had given birth to the twins two days ago and we were finally getting the all clear. We had to stay an extra day because they wanted to make sure that the twins were fine since they had been a little underweight. I reached out for the clipboard so I could start signing the papers.

“We don’t have the carseats,” I panicked, turning back to Auston who was looking down as the boys. He glanced up and sent me a reassuring look.

“My mom grabbed them,” Auston told me softly, reaching out to take my hand. I relaxed once our hands were locked together. As I went in to respond Ema walked in.

“Everything is all set to go,” Ema said clapping her hands and then making her way over to where the boys are sleeping. I winced slightly as I let out a light laugh. I let go of Auston’s hand so I could push myself up into a sitting position. Auston glanced over to me with a small frown.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out for me.

“I’m fine babe.”

Another nurse then walked in with a wheelchair. Auston made his way around the bed to help me stand up. Once I was situated he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I smiled to myself as I held my hands out in front of me.

“Someone give me my babies now,” I whined only slightly joking, everyone in the room laughed before Auston made his way over and picked up the baby with the blue socks, Noah. He squirmed once he was in Auston’s hands before relaxing.

“Mom can you get Kai?” Auston asked as he made his way back to me. As he leaned down to hand Noah to me Ema stopped him.

“Wait, I want to take a picture,” she walked over and handed Kai to me instead and then asked for our phones. Auston bent down a little so he was closer to me and then we took a few different photos.

“Alright, we're good to go,” Ema said, locking my phone she slipped it into the bag on the table.

“I should probably run ahead and pull up the car,” Auston thought aloud as he handed me Noah. He then ran ahead to grab the car while the Nurse helped push me down the hall. Thankfully when we reached the main lobby Auston had pulled the car around and was waiting for us. Ema immediately walked to the trunk to put our bags away, while Auston walked over to help me with Kai and Noah. He grabbed Kai who had green socks and set him in the car seat before repeating the action with Noah.

“I’ll sit in the back with them,” I told him as I slowly pushed myself up from the wheelchair. Auston reached out for my hand and helped me into the car. I was still extremely sore so I took my time as I pulled myself into the car. Once I was settled Auston shut the door gently before making his way over to the driver's seat. Ema hopped in the passenger seat.

“Ready to go?” Auston asked as he put the car into drive. During the drive the boys didn’t fuss to much and we didn’t have to deal with the normal Toronto traffic which I was thankful for. Twenty minutes later we were pulling up to our house.

“Where’s Felix?” I asked the two of them once he put the car in park. Auston glanced away from the windshield to turn to me.

“Fred has him right now I have to go get him,” he mumbled lightly trying to keep the babies from waking up. I sent him a small nod as I pushed my door open. Auston and Ema both hopped out of the car. Ema reached out to help me out while Auston reached in to grab the closest twin out which happened to be Noah. I leaned over and grabbed Kai before straightening myself out.

The three of us made our way to the front door and inside. Thankfully we had already completed the nursery so there isn't much that we needed to do now. It was weirdly quiet when we walked inside because Felix wasn't there to greet us at the door. I turned around to face Auston once we were both in the door.

“Can you go get Felix?” I asked him. Before he had a chance to answer, Ema cut him off.

“I can go get him.”

I sent a quick look to Auston to which he shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright he still lives in the apartment above my old one,” he told her as he handed her his car keys. She gave him a soft nod as she reached out for the keys. Once she was gone and the door was shut behind her Auston turned to face me with a grin. We both set the kids down in their carrier as we took our shoes off.  

“Welcome home beautiful,” Auston grinned wider as he made his way over to me. I let out a soft laugh as I leaned into him. We shared a soft kiss before I pulled away.

“I can't believe this is real,'' I whispered to him. I leaned down and pulled Kai out of his carrier. Auston leaned down and grabbed NOah before sending me a soft smile as he looked between the twin’s. Who would have ever thought we would get this lucky. Auston walked over to the couch and took a seat. I made my way over and sat next to him, I leaned my head on his shoulder as I looked down at our boys.

“I can’t believe we had two boys,” Auston said jokingly. He had been convinced it was going to be a girl and a boy. I had told him that I was feeling it would be boys, mothers intuition and all.

“Mitch is going to be so upset he lost,” I laughed lightly as I reached out to rub Noah’s cheek. He squirmed lightly in Auston’s arms before relaxing. Auston laughed loudly at what I said before quickly correcting himself and lowering his laugh. He sent me a wide eye look as both of the boys squirmed before settling. I let out a soft chuckle as I rocked Kai gently.

“Guess we are going to have to learn to be a little quieter,” I teased Auston lightly. He blushed light pink as he looked between the boys.

“I’d do anything for them,” he mumbled looking at them with a fond look in his eyes, causing my face to form a soft grin. I pulled my phone out and opened the camera before holding it out for a selfie.

“We should send a text to our friends,” I said looking over to him. He nodded as he leaned in to press his head against mine. He sent a soft smile to the camera as he held Noah up further so he would make the photo. I grinned brightly as I snapped the photo before pulling it closer to take a look.

“Aww were so cute,” I grinned showing him the photo. His smile grew as he looked it over.

“Send that to me. And the photo’s my mom took at the hospital,” he mumbled as he looked back down at Noah. I looked between the twins.

“Aus can we switch?” I asked gently. He looked up at me as he nodded eagerly. He handed Noah over to me and I handed him Kai. We both took a moment as we tried to memorize the boys.

“Wow. I can’t believe they are so perfect,” I said in awe as Noah opened his mouth slightly.

“We did so good,” Auston reached over and pressed a kiss to my forehead before turning his attention back to Kai. As I was about to respond I heard the sound of the garage door opening. I stood up and grabbed the carrier bringing it to the table. Auston followed behind me doing the same. WE set the twins down before turning to face the garage door. Just as Auston finished setting Kai down Felix was running inside making his way over to us excitedly, Ema following behind slowly. . I let out a soft laugh as I gently kneeled down.

“Hi bud,” I grinned as I rubbed his fluffy fur. “Did you miss mama and papi?” I asked as I glanced over to Auston with a smirk. He let out a soft laugh as he reached down to pet Felix. He grabbed a hold of his face.

“I’m going to go up and talk to your dad,” Ema told us as she made her way over to the stairs. We sent her a nod as we focused our attention on the excited puppy.

“I need you to calm down buddy. You're going to meet some really important dudes and me and mama would prefer you didn't eat them,” Auston told him as he leaned his forehead against Felix’s. My heart wormed at the sight as I pushed myself up to grab Noah who was right in front of me. Auston grabbed a hold of Felix's collar as I turned around with Noah. I leaned down slightly.

“This is baby Noah,” I whispered. Felix reached forward immediately causing Auston to yank on his collar lightly and me to stand up fully. “Felix calm down,” Auston said sternly, causing the puppy to pull back right away. I leaned down again slowly. Felix made his way over timidly and started sniffing at Noah’s head before pulling away and looking up at Auston waiting for his next command. I turned around and placed Noah in his carrier. Then I reached over for Kai.

“This is baby Kai,” I grinned down at Felix. He was much more careful now as he reached forward to sniff at Kai’s head. Felix then licked at Kai’s arm causing the little baby to let out a loud shriek. Noah immediately disbrought at his brother's cry let out a similar shriek causing Felix to let out a sharp bark and become alert. I let out a light laugh as I ran a soothing hand up and down Kai’s back.

“Shh baby it’s okay it’s just Felix,” I reassured as I rocked us back and forth. Auston had reached a hand out to Noah’s leg and was rubbing it in a comforting motion as we stood there.

I shared a quick happy smile with Auston as he let go of Felix and made his way over to pick up Noah once again. We both made our way to the couch and spent the rest of the night in a cuddle pile. I really had the best family.

[luna-rainbow]

tfatws 1.04 character commentary

Wow, this episode was painful to watch. It was a group of fundamentally decent people being roundly unpleasant in the name of their own idea of justice.

What was nice about this particular episode was that it culminated in a clash between multiple different viewpoints that manage to stay consistent with their character.

If you stan any of the characters, now is the time stop reading. Almost everyone did something less than stellar in the last 2 episodes, although I feel like a lot of it is a script issue.

PS: I'm so glad Sam explained what TT was. Is this in common use in certain parts of America, or amongst certain ethnic groups? I've seen people so offended by Bucky not knowing it, but I've never heard this.

Bucky: as much as I love him, I'm glad to see his crappy decision to break Zemo out come back to bite him. Yes, his history gives valid explanation for why he does stupid things, but he needs someone to put their foot down and give him repercussions when he's crossed the line. As beautiful as that scene in the beginning with Ayo was, it was also a vivid explanation of exactly how awful his betrayal of their kindness was. T'Challa was willing to pit Wakanda against the world to give Bucky peace (a reminder of T'Challa's incredible compassion at the end of Civil War), and Bucky tramples over their peace by going on a world trip with their king's murderer. Not cool. It's also incredibly bold of him to assume he and Sam will have full control of the situation (against a dozen super soldiers) and ensure Zemo doesn't slip away.

Ayo: the thing about teaching repercussions, particularly to someone whose mental health may make it difficult for them to unpick the nuances, is to make it specific to the insult. She was completely right to call Bucky out for his betrayal, but to punish him at a time when he is pleading for her to have a dialogue, when he is defending Walker on Sam's bidding and not Zemo, complicates the message. Of course, she's not obliged to cater for his feelings, but the way she has done this may not get her the lesson she wants him to learn. Not informing Bucky about their ability to instantly disable him is a can of worms I'm not sure the MCU was ready to open...but also fairly characteristic for a nation that spent most of its history hidden from the outside world. The rapid way the conversation with Walker escalated into a fight, particularly when both parties wanted Zemo locked up, was another failure to engage in communication. Was it in character? Yes. Was it cool to see them fight? Hell yeah. Was it great judgement? ...Nope, if they just talked, they'd have Zemo in chains by now.

Sam: Sam handled the negotiation with Karli beautifully, but I want to see how the script pans out over the next 2 episodes. So far, my primary concern with his character is that he is too soft with people he sympathises with. Him allowing Bucky to drag him into Zemo's mess aside, I am also not seeing any hint of him addressing the fact that Karli needs to face consequences for her violent actions. Young and idealistic is not a free pass to crime and murder, although to be fair, their conversation had only just begun. The other issue with the Sam and Karli dynamic is that the story provides nothing concrete about her beliefs, her values or her goals. It's not clear what she actually envisages as the perfect world, so it makes it hard for us to believe that her vision is better. There is a lot of resentment, and people motivated by resentment often isn't much different to people motivated by vengeance, so it was almost disappointing to see Sam say that she is different to villains like Zemo.

Karli: Sam connected with her for a moment, but she then uses his goodwill to separate him from Walker so that she can murder Walker for symbolism's sake. She also uses Sam's civilian family as barter, which is a dick move towards someone who genuinely makes an effort to understand you. Running away like kids who accidentally broke a window when they killed Lemar highlights she doesn't have the nerves to carry through with her vision. It must be much easier to blow up a bunch of people chained inside a building, than to watch someone die in front of you at your hands. Her approach and plan is immature with a tinge of adolescent overconfidence, and I can only see things going downhill from here as authorities escalate their efforts against her.

John: A perfect demonstration of how minor character flaws can become magnified under stress and have major ramifications. In several conversations with Lemar, we see that he does consciously try to align himself for good, but he is highly strung, impatient, and arrogant. He overcompensates for his anxiety with dismissiveness and aggression. These flaws were what brought him down. Remember though that arrogance, impatience and aggression aren't exactly exclusion criteria for MCU superheroes (Tony? Thor? Strange?). This would have been made for a great superhero origin, but the narrative framing made him a deranged antagonist.

Zemo: Can we give this guy a gold star for being the only one on the team who was focused and efficient enough to get their original mission accomplished? And unlike may other villains, he did this with minimal collateral damage. Truly deserving of an award.

[what-the-witch-stuff]

Landings Through the Grapevine

Chapter 1: Introduction

Masterpost: here

Go to:  Ch.1   |   Ch.2   |

Pairing: Elliott x OC

_________________________

It was a quiet morning in Stardew Valley. Birds were singing faintly in the distance and a hazy mist hung in the air, transforming everything not directly close into blue-ish hues and indistinct shapes. The sun had just risen over the horizon, chasing after the last traces of pink in the otherwise clear, blue sky. Not one cloud was in sight.

This was indeed a pleasant surprise. The villagers had feared for the constant downpour, that has persisted for the last couple of days, to delay the annual spring festivities. But now, only the wet squelching sound under the farmer's boots disrupted the idyllic scenery, as she made her way around the forest clearing, where the annual Flower Dance would be taking place. Undeterred by the early hour, the preparations were going just as planned, though they were far from finished. Riley herself had only a few decorations left to hang up, but they were still waiting on a cart to bring a few chairs and parts of the sound equipment.

A loud continuous thumping echoed over the meadow as Robin was still busy with setting up Pierre's booth. The noise was shortly interrupted, as Robin readjusted the planks she was working on, before spotting the farmer.

“Good morning Riley! Oh, you cleaned up nicely.”, Robin greeted her cheerfully and looked her over. Though Robin had apologized for ever doubting Riley's ability to take over her grandfather's farm, it were comments like these that made conversing with the carpenter a bit difficult. As Riley still didn't know Robin too well, the double meaning of the statement was not lost on her. But today, the farmer wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, hoping that Robin was just a little aloof sometimes.

'Don't rock the boat now. Think about the barn upgrade' .

So, she forced herself to just smile and wave before turning back around and the noise of the hammer picked up again. For the occasion, Riley had indeed ditched her usual overall and stained-shirt combo, in favour of one of her nicer outfits she used to wear back in Zuzu City. The only thing left from her usual farming attire was her sword which, clearly visible on her left hip, marked her as a member of the Adventurer's Guild.

While she had been quite pleased with her decision at first, something about the outfit had triggered a weird feeling. It had taken some time for her to remember, that she had not worn these clothes since the fatal day, that she had quit her job at Joja Corporation. However, by the time Riley had come to that realization, it had been far too late to change into something else. The whole morning, she had tried to push the thought away, as today was supposed to be a good day, after all. The farmer was usually not the person to care much about traditions. Nevertheless, after walking around in clammy work clothes for the past week, even Riley was looking forward to the Flower Dance. It had been a little awkward during her first year, as she had been completely new to the community. And while most villagers had been rather welcoming towards her, it were customs such as the dance that still made her feel like an outsider.

'Well, what do I expect?' , Riley asked herself, while carefully climbing a ladder, to hang a couple of pastel-coloured, flower garlands into the lower branches of a tree. “This is my second year after all. Shane came to live with Marnie and Jas three years ago. Leah and Elliott moved here, roughly around the same time. They might be part of the town now, but otherwise, all of them are kind of outsiders too.” Even so, and the thought made her pause mid task with a snort, that was probably also due to their very  individual  personalities.

“Well, at least someone is having a good morning.”, remarked a deep voice from below. Speaking of the devil. Shane was looking up to her, an unreadable expression on his face and dressed in the traditional sky-blue uniform, all attending Bachelors would be wearing to the dance. In his hands was a bowl of pepper-poppers from which he ate one ever so often, while watching her work.

“Oh wow Shane, I would say you cleaned up nicely too but I might be lying”, Riley replied with a grin, to which Shane just rolled his eyes and kept chewing completely unfazed .

“Fuck you. I know I look just fine, so you can suck it!”, he grouchily mumbled, though it sounded more like he tried to convince himself rather than her. “You sure do, buddy”. Finally happy with her work, Riley descended the ladder to greet her friend properly. “And you would look even better, if you stopped stuffing your face like a pig!”.

“They're my favorite”, he protested childishly and provocatively grabbed another pepper.

“And I spend a lot of time making them all by myself.”

“I helped too”

“No, you flaked to play soccer with Jas and Vincent!”

Shane's expression bore a cheeky grin, probably anticipating to say something rude. But the pair was interrupted by Pierre, calling out for their help to unload the cart that had finally arrived….

Since Marnie was still in a not-so-secret- relationship with Mayor Lewis, she insisted on taking part in the preparations of any official festivity. Many of the dishes, decked onto a couple of large folding tables, had been prepared the previous day at Marnie's farm, with Riley chipping in her labour and even part of her harvest.

“What happened to breakfast, you greedy gremlin?”, asked Riley, saving the half empty bowl from Shane's grasp, to return it to the buffet. The gremlin in question trailed behind, pretending like he was not sulking over the loss of the food:

“As you like to remind me, microwaved pizza is no proper breakfast”. At that Riley raised both eyebrows in mock-astonishment:

“Oh, so now the good sir suddenly cares about what  I have to say ?”

“So Riley, you're not dancing?”, Marlon asked in between sips of punch.

The sun had risen higher in the sky, and the cool morning had turned into a bright midday. Everything was set up and ready. Soft music played over lively conversation, as bit by bit all villagers arrived. Riley didn't really know what to do with herself, when she could no longer hide behind tasks and actually had to socialize. Seeing Marlon standing in a far corner of the meadow, one hand calmly resting on the hilt of his sword while overseeing the scenery, presented a great excuse to escape dreadful smalltalk. They were well acquainted by now and she had not seen him in a while, other than when she visited the Guild directly. It wasn't too weird, if she made use of that affiliation, right?

If Marlon felt disturbed through her presence he didn't let it show. He just nodded in acknowledgement and together they watched the Spring Maidens enter the clearing, garbed in white from head to toe, with lacy floral decorations sewn onto their dresses and flowers in their hair.

“I think, such ' spirits ' might have other things to worry about right now”.

Unfortunately for her, even Marlon seemed talkative today and Riley answered him reluctantly: “No. As far as I am concerned, the couples dancing stay mostly the same. Wouldn't want to disrupt that order, y'a know”, That was not entirely true, though. The other reason was that a certain someone would most likely turn her down if she'd ever asked him. And Riley was not willing to open THAT can of worms anytime soon. Marlon hummed in understanding: “I see. I just thought, since you're a farmer, you might want to participate.”

“What does being a farmer have to do with that?”

Marlon looked at her, the brow above his remaining eye slightly raised in surprise: ”The flower dance is an ancient fertility ceremony. Back when the village still believed in the spirits of this land, the dance was held to gain their favour for the upcoming harvest. Surely you wouldn't want the spirits that make things grow on your bad side, ey?”.

Riley was not sure what to make of this new piece of information, so the farmer and the monster hunter fell back into silence. Looking around, the meadow didn't really look like an old or magical place to her. It most definitely didn't feel like one either. Compared to the eerie solitude of the Community Center and the claustrophobic depths of the mines, the clearing seemed so very ordinary. On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time that the Valley proved to be full of surprises. One year ago, Riley was some disillusioned worker's bee in a corporate nightmare. Now, she belonged to a world where magic was real, wizards lived in secluded towers, monsters hid in the depths of the wild and animals could talk. Or rather, Riley could suddenly talk to them (?). Overall, the land was full of entities and forces, Riley didn't plan to meddle with, let alone offend. For a moment she got worried enough, that she almost asked Marlon directly, if he thought the Junimos would truly be cross with her, for not attending the dance. But she decided against it, as someone might end up overhearing their conversation. Surely, Marlon was one of the few people in Pelican Town, who knew about the otherworldliness of the valley. He had probably seen more than Riley would ever experience in her lifetime. But this wasn't the time and place to talk about such things openly.

“And they better have their priorities straight. If they ever dare giving me shit, for not doing that stupid dance, I'm out. Have fun rebuilding the Community Center without me !”,  

was what she did not say. “Besides, wouldn't it look silly to be wearing a sword with such a dress?”, she jokingly gestured in the direction of the Bachelorettes, but to no one in particular. Marlon, again, shortly averted his eyes from the crowd to look at her, in what one might consider to be amusement: “Silly? Kid, that sword is a badge of honour. Of course we wear it to any occasion, men and women alike. Back in the days, Old Linda wouldn't be caught dead not wearing her sword. Also made the lads keep their hands to themselves, if you know what I mean.”, at this he cackled quietly to himself and took another sip.

“What happened to them? Linda and the other women in the guild?”, Riley asked curiously since Marlon rarely was so chatty. “What do you think? This was way before your time. They're probably dead or very old. Some got married, moved to the city and forgot all about their old lives here. ….Your grandma was one of the last”.

Marlon's eyes were back on the gathering, but there was something harsh crossing his features. Riley didn't know what to say. So she just kept watching him in hopes he would elaborate on that. But he remained shrouded in silence. She knew that their conversation was over for good. And knowing Marlon, he wouldn't want to talk about it anytime soon either. So, she tried pushing her questions into the back of her mind and rather focused on the gathering at hand, where the female villagers were now the centre of attention.

The first Bachelorette she saw was the blue haired bar-maid who was hard not to overlook, thanks to her outgoing personality. Emily's dress was full of ruffles and detailed embroidery and made her look even more whimsical. Like a fairy, she was all smiles and joy, half-dancing half skipping over the grass barefoot, as her skirts flowed and billowed along her every movement. If Clint was trying not to stare at her directly, he unfortunately wasn't very good at it. And with concern, Riley noticed the disdain in his eyes when she hugged Shane and started chatting excitedly. Abigail was the polar opposite, in the way she acted all nonchalantly and kept her posture extremely casual. She smirked and rolled her eyes at anyone complimenting her dress, but soon settled into her usual group of friends and as far away from her parents, as physically possible. Haley posed a little to better show off her new dress and happily chatted with Jody and Caroline about the cut and some issues she had with shipping.

It was then that Riley caught a glimpse of auburn in the crowd and her heart skipped a beat, when she saw Elliott and Leah chatting with Marnie and Harvey. He looked handsome (but then Riley always thought he was) with his blue overcoat complimenting his fair skin tone, while contrasting his coppery hair. Leah, who didn't seem too interested in the conversation at hand, ended up catching her gaze and gave a small wave. Riley felt like she missed a step on a staircase and could hardly control the nervous flutter in her chest, when Elliott turned his head in her direction too. His noble features turned from confused to an amused smile as he spotted her. And just like the gentleman he was, he gave her a courteous nod. Riley could not help, but smile back warmly with butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

It was silly.

But a crush was a crush.

Ever since Elliott had invited her for drinks during a chance meeting at the saloon, Riley had been head over heels for the cocky and slightly eccentric writer. He was charming in his good old fashioned way. Not only did he look like the figurative embodiment of a Jane Austen character. He also played the part: always most polite and private in an outside setting and so very concerned about the impression he made on others. But once rather tipsy, Elliott had been much more forthcoming in what was actually going on in his mind. Riley fondly remembered how she couldn't stop laughing after unexpectedly hearing Elliott say ' shit ' for the first time.

It was nice. …

Just a shame, that his interest in her had not survived the night. While they had parted in good spirits, the next day, their interaction was back to pleasant conversation and occasional discussions on his drafts. Riley respected that. Of course she did. But that didn't stop her from developing quite a passion for fishing, in hopes to see him standing at the docks when battling his usual writer's block. For a moment Elliott looked as if he tried to excuse himself from his current company. He kept looking back at her with, what almost seemed like, impatience as he waited for Harvey to finish talking. But then, Mayor Lewis announced for the dance to begin and Elliot took Leah's hand, to gracefully lead her to the middle of the clearing, along with the other couples.

[workofthediesel]

Rusted brakes ?

my boys

fic requests are open! send me an ask!

Rusty woke up to the feeling of the mattress dipping behind him.

Having just been pulled from a deep sleep, Rusty’s brain was working slowly. It took him a few moments to realize that this was the feeling of someone climbing into bed with him. It took him another few moments to remember that he lived alone.

His heart stopped for a second before his brain caught up with the situation. It’s probably just CB, he thought, relaxing once more.

That thought was proven correct when a familiar voice quietly called out, “Rusty.”

Rusty took a deep breath in and let it out heavily. “CB,” he said back, not even opening his eyes.

“Are you awake?”

Rusty took another deep breath. “Yes,” he said. He couldn’t stop himself from adding, “You woke me up.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Surprisingly, he did actually sound a little sorry. But not sorry enough, Rusty knew, to stop him from doing this again in the future.

At last, Rusty rolled over. He opened his eyes, squinting into the dark to try to get a glimpse at CB. He couldn’t see much, but CB’s distinctive silhouette was easy to make out, even in the near pitch-black room. A million questions were buzzing through his mind, but Rusty decided to focus on the most important one first. “How did you get in here?” He was certain he’d locked his door before he went to bed.

CB took a breath in to respond, but before he could get a word out, Rusty cut him off. “Don’t say, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”

The grumbling that started up told Rusty that that was exactly what CB had been about to say. Rusty waited patiently, and after a minute, CB admitted, “I climbed in through the window.”

“First floor?”

“Second. I didn’t break any locks.”

Part of Rusty wanted to tell CB off for being so reckless and to tell him to stop climbing up the sides of buildings, but his appreciation for the lack of property damage stayed his tongue. He took another measured breath, trying to keep his calm. “And why did you come over?”

“Am I not allowed to?” His voice was one half playful innocence, one half genuine confusion, like he really couldn’t see what was wrong with the situation.

“CB, it’s the middle of the night,” Rusty told him tiredly. It wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. Rusty had told him when they’d started dating that CB was welcome over any time, so he supposed he should have expected at least a few of these late night visits.

“Yeah,” CB said, “but I wanted to see you.” Rusty could hear the pout in his voice.

“And you couldn’t have waited until morning?”

“I didn’t want to.”

Rusty fought back a yawn. “Okay, that’s sweet, but I’m tired. I want to sleep.”

“You can sleep,” CB told him. However, he made no move to get out the bed and go back to his own home.

Rusty closed his eyes again, but sleep was not coming back to him. There was a stiffness in the way CB was laying next to him. Rusty could feel the caboose’s eyes on him, and it was all he could do to not start shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. He never really liked being stared at, and there was something particularly unsettling about being watched while he slept, no matter how much he trusted CB.

After a few minutes of silence, Rusty couldn’t take it anymore. “Come here,” he said, lifting up a corner of the blankets to invite CB under them.

CB didn’t waste a second. Before Rusty had even finished speaking, CB was plastered against his side. He wrapped his arms around him, cuddling Rusty like he was a giant teddy bear. He tucked his head under Rusty’s chin and nuzzled against his neck, all the while worming closer and closer, seeking every ounce of contact he could get.

Rusty chuckled softly. He dropped his arm down to wrap around CB’s shoulders. A small smile made its way to his face, and as CB melted even further into his side, Rusty relaxed into the mattress. The silence in the room was no longer tense, but comforting and welcoming.

Sleep was fuzzing the edges of Rusty’s mind once more. He was ready to drift off, but unfortunately for him, CB had a different idea. “Rusty?”

Rusty sighed. “Yes, CB?”

“Dustin said you’ve talked to the Starlight Express.”

Rusty was surprised for a moment. He couldn’t quite figure out where that line of thought had come from. He also wasn’t quite sure what to think about Dustin telling people he had talked to the Starlight Express. It wasn’t like it was a secret, per se, but it wasn’t something he really wanted to talk about. He thought it made him sound special, and perhaps he was, but he didn’t feel that way. He just felt like a regular steamer, the same as he ever was; he didn’t know why the Starlight Express had singled him out.

He was too tired to start up that conversation, so instead he simply said, “Yes. I have.”

“Really?” CB’s voice was filled with the same awe that Rusty had been hoping to avoid.

But there was no point in lying. “Yes, really. Right before the last race in the championship.”

CB went quiet for a few moments. Rusty would have been tempted to call it a reverent silence, but he knew better than that--CB didn’t do reverent. Still, he seemed impressed. “Wow,” he said quietly.

Rusty hummed in agreement.

“So, do you know all the secrets of the universe now?”

Rusty laughed softly. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Aww, c’mon,” CB protested. “You talked to the Starlight Express. You’ve got to know something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” CB said. “Like, is there an afterlife? Or a reason why we’re all here? Or is there an actual thing like destiny, or are we all just kind of doing our own thing while the Starlight Express just watches?”

The questions were coming a mile a minute, but Rusty couldn’t put any real thought into them. “CB,” he said as firmly as he could manage. “I’m too tired to get existential right now. Can’t this wait?”

“Does it have to?” CB whined petulantly.

Rusty reached a hand up to start stroking CB’s hair, hoping to placate him a bit. “Just let me sleep. Who knows? Maybe the Starlight Express will visit me in a dream or something.”

CB huffed, but after a second he said, “Fine.” He didn’t sound happy about it, but at least he was agreeing. Rusty would take that.

With nothing better to do—and quite enjoying it as well—Rusty kept stroking CB’s hair. He could tell that it was having a calming effect; CB was starting to settle down a bit.

It was nice, Rusty mused, having CB in bed with him like this. Holding CB against his chest as he fell asleep felt almost natural. Even the strange late-night conversation felt right somehow.

And as Rusty finally drifted back to sleep, he couldn’t help but wonder what CB would say if he asked him to move in with him. He was almost certain he’d say yes.

[missramu]

Fishing lesson

Hello there! Enjoy another one of the kiss prompts!

Kiss number 22: in a rush of adrenaline

Matenro, the division from Shinjuku, had an entertaining tradition. Every once in a while, whenever their days off coincided with each other’s, they would go fishing. It was a hobby Jakurai had in common with Hifumi, and Doppo ended up tagging along with them. This weekend would be no different, and the doctor even made a reservation to have a guaranteed spot...

If it wasn’t for Doppo’s boss.

“I am truly sorry, sensei… I am just garbage, the worst kind you can find, and I ruined our day out…-“

The salaryman apologised, showing once again his low self-esteem, and sounding pitiful even during a phone call. Jakurai felt he wasn’t helping Doppo enough during their appointments.

“Do not worry, Doppo-kun. Don’t say such things, as it is not your fault after all. We will go fishing the next time, alright? There’s no need to be so hard on yourself…”

Jakurai cut him during his speech, not wanting Doppo to deprecate himself. He knew well his teammate was sorry, so everything the doctor needed to do for him was to reassure and calm him down. After all, Doppo didn’t ruin a single thing nor was his fault. If it was someone’s fault, it would be his boss for not respecting his leisure time. As he had predicted, Hifumi would make him company in order to finish Doppo’s tasks as soon as possible, so it would be just him at the fishing centre this time.

After –once again– reassuring the couple at the other line of the call that it was going to be all right, he hanged up the phone, making a half smile as he put it back on his pocket. He found lovely how Hifumi could be so devoted to his partner, sacrificing his own day off to help him and keep him company. With his teammates still on his mind, he started gathering his supplies: fishing rod, a replacement reel, lures and everything else he could need.

Just when he was going to leave his house, his phone buzzed again, this time receiving a call from someone completely different.

“Hey hey old coot! Whatcha doing on this loooovely Saturday morning?”

Ramuda’s voice announced him as cheerful as usual. Of course, who else would call him during his free day?

“Why, good morning to you too, Ramuda-kun. I was about to go fishing-“

He announced, holding his phone with his shoulder as he fetched his car keys, opening the vehicle’s trunk to start packing his gear.

“Ohh, one of your booring hobbies? Lemme guess, you’re going with your teammates, right?”

The fashion designer laughed at the other side, rummaging through his desk to pick a lollipop to unwrap and enjoy.

“That was our initial plan, yes”

Jakurai left out a heavy sigh, deciding that his gear could wait for a little, as he found himself incapable of holding the phone with his shoulder as Doppo could do.

“What do you mean with initial?”

Curious, the younger man popped the candy out of his mouth, paying real attention to Jakurai.

“I mean that they cannot come this time, so I am going alone”

“Boo-hoo, then Jakurai must be feeling soooo lonely!”

His curiosity changed to a tone that could be considered a mock or real concern. The doctor, knowing his partner, interpreted his words like what they were: something in between; real concern disguised with jokes, because that’s just how Ramuda was. Jakurai laughed softly, shaking his head a little.

“Why don’t you come with me, if you are so concerned about me being lonely?”

A small gasp was heard at the other end of the call, audible enough for Jakurai to notice the fashion designer’s surprise.

“Uh-mhhhh, fishing sounds a bit too boring for someone like me, but I guess I could go and make you some company! Don’t want my old man to be all gloomy!”

That was Ramuda’s way to announce that he was free and willing to go with him, if only he was honest enough to recognize he wanted to spend the day together with his lover.

“Alright then. I’ll be at your place in 30 minutes, so get ready. I guess you do not have a rod, do you?”

“Nuh-uh! As I told ya, I’ve never went fishing. You see, I don’t have grandpa’s hobbies!”

“Very funny, Ramuda. I’ll lend you one of mine, then”

“Wow, so cool! Thank you babe! See you real soon!”

Before Jakurai could reply, Ramuda ended the call, leaving the older man wondering whether he liked or not to be called “babe”. Letting that aside, he finally got everything in the car and, before heading to Shibuya, he came back home and fetched another rod for his new companion.

As scheduled, the doctor was in front of Ramuda’s shop just in time, only to see Ramuda was waiting for him. Jakurai chuckled, not expecting him to take fishing so seriously. He was dressed with a knee-length jean overall full of patches, a plain and short-sleeved blue crop top, matching sneakers and bucket hat.

“I didn’t imagine you would take this so seriously”

The doctor announced jokingly, rolling down the window and inviting the designer in.

“I must follow the aesthetic, you know!”

Replied the designer, opening the door and hopping in the passenger’s seat, grabbing the seatbelt and securing it. He then kissed his partner on the cheek as a greeting, giving him a paper bag.

“And I got you something too! You gotta be fashionable if I’m coming with you. I can’t let you ruin my reputation as a top designer”

Sceptically, Jakurai took the bag before starting up his van, checking what was inside. The contents surprised him, as he was expecting a present like the one he received last time –when Ramuda gifted him that one hat with the “women want me, fish fear me” phrase–. This time it was also a hat, but a decent one. One Jakurai could wear without having everyone’s eyes on him. The doctor smiled, putting it on and kissing his partner’s cheek.

“Thank you for gifting me this. I shall cherish it”

Ramuda giggled, opening a lollipop and lifting it cheerfully.

“You’re soo cheesy! I just wanna see you dressing fashionable for once, and not like a grandpa!”

Soon enough, the couple headed to the fishing centre, Jakurai driving back to Shinjuku. The ride was short and full of bickering from Ramuda to Jakurai and vice versa, since the doctor couldn’t help but fall right into the other man’s shenanigans.

After parking the car, they both got out of the car –Ramuda previously put on a pair of sunglasses–, got the fishing gear, and proceeded to go in. The staff welcomed the older man, as he was a regular there; and was asked about where did his teammates were as well as who his new companion was. It didn’t take them longer to realize he was the leader of Shibuya division, because Ramuda soon started to behave like, well, like him. The room was soon filled with cheers echoing how cute he was, as the designer was laughing and taking pictures with everyone that wanted one.

“I’m glad you’re already having fun, Amemura-kun. I can’t wait to see how will you react to fishing itself”

Jakurai waited for the crowd to calm down, heading right to his partner and gently reminding him what were they going to do. The smaller man put his phone back on his pocket, grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and going with him to the ponds.

“Since it’s your first time, I should tell you about this place”

The older man led the way, waltzing around fellow fishermen and families that went to enjoy their day.

“This is the Ichigaya Fish Center. People from both Shinjuku and other places frequent it, and, as you can see, it is family friendly. That’s because they don’t have a focus on professional fishing, having a small pond with goldfish that’s very popular among children”

Seeing his usual spot free, Jakurai went there, placing everything –starting by opening their chairs– down. Ramuda launched himself to the chair, enjoying the remains of his lollipop while the doctor continued his explanations.

“Since it’s your first time fishing, I’ll guess you don’t know how a rod works, am I right?”

“Yup! I mean, I know that you have to use a bait and things like that…”

Ramuda stopped mid-sentence, appearing paler and frowning.

“Wait wait waaaait a minute there. I’m totally NOT touching a worm, for your information!”

Jakurai laughed, sitting by Ramuda’s and starting to assemble both rods.

“Rest assured, it is not allowed to use live baits. They only permit mashed baits, so you will not be touching any worms”

The young man let out a relieved sigh, now intrigued by the doctor’s assembling task. He would ask him whenever he got a question, no matter how silly it could be; and Jakurai replied with pleasure, thanking Ramuda’s interest. It didn’t take them long to be completely ready, Jakurai handing Ramuda a rod and making sure he was holding it right.

“Always make sure to tie the knot tightly. A bad knot may make you lose a good catch. Understood?”

“Right and clear, mister!!”

And, like that, Jakurai taught his partner how to throw the rod, what led to a couple of failed attempts –where a fisherman’s hat was related, as well as an apology for “fishing” his hat– and a final success that made Ramuda enthusiastic enough to keep going.

“It’s important to know that fishing takes patience. Do you think yourself capable of such thing?”

Jakurai joked, receiving a pout as a reply from the pink haired man.

“I can be pretty patient if I want, humph!”

“Alright then. Keep an eye on your bobber, and if you see it shaking, then a fish is nibbling on the bait. If you see it going completely under the surface, quickly set the hook before losing the fish”

“Aand… How do I do that?”

His question was answered with actions: a fish happened to nibble on Jakurai’s bait, and he took that as an opportunity to teach Ramuda.

“It’s simple. You just have to do this–“

As soon as the bobber submerged completely, the doctor quickly rose the pole, pointing it straight in the air.

“By doing this, the fish will swing to you. Like that, you will have successfully catched a fish”

The designer looked at him in awe, amazed by the scene –and by how hot the doctor when he rose the pole–. He set down his rod and rushed to Jakurai, who was now holding his catch gently.

“Remember to hold it carefully. Pond fishes don’t usually have sharp teeth, but you may find fishes with spiny fins and, overall, they are very slippery. You have to hold them behind the head, without fear and gently”

Ramuda looked at the carp full of curiosity, admiring how his partner was holding it. He estimated that it was about 60 centimetres long, and laughed at the sight of its moustache.

“Before releasing it back, we remove the hook with these–”

Jakurai motioned to his other hand, showing a pair of needle-nose pliers. He took out the hook with ease, showing his skills and how accustomed he was to the activity, leaving Ramuda to wonder for how long he has been fishing.

The younger man took out his phone, making the doctor pose for a picture. Jakurai agreed happily, letting him take a picture.

“This is bringing back some memories! I used to be your teacher, but you’re the one teaching me now!”

They both smiled bitter-sweetly, remembering the old TDD days. The bitterness didn’t last long, because now everything was in the place it should be. No more misunderstandings that could make everything tangle up the way it was tangled before.

“Now it’s your turn, Ramuda-kun. Show me what you can do”

As soon as the picture was taken, Jakurai put the fish back on the pond, watching it swim away before sitting back and launching again his rod.

“Alright! Well then, here we go!”

Ramuda launched his pole, looking to Jakurai occasionally in order to check if he was doing it right. After he reassured him, he gazed again to the bobber, frowning as he focused on the task.

“UGH! This is taking forever! Why don’t they come faster?! Silly fishes!”

As the older man had anticipated, after 10 minutes motionless, his partner lost what little patience he had.

“What was the first thing I told you before starting, Ramuda-kun?”

“That it takes patience…”

He replied, somewhat irritated and frustrated.

“And what did you answer?”

Jakurai kept the conversation going, taking his chance to bicker the designer.

“Geez, I know, I know! I gotta wait! Now shut up, old coot!”

The lilac haired man laughed, launching his rod back in the water and providing Ramuda with small talk to help him overcome dullness. As someone who had lots of energy, he needed to be in constant movement; and activities such as fishing could be frustrating due to long waiting times and needing to be calm and quiet. For that, they kept talking about whatever topic they could find, keeping the designer entertained and focused –not losing his patience was the main goal–.

Their counting, after a while, was still negative for Ramuda. Jakurai managed to catch three medium sized carps and a big one, whereas the younger man only had a couple of failed attempts.

“I swear if I don’t get one the next time, I’m launching this stupid rod to the pond and never coming back!”

The doctor could notice how this was more frustrating than entertaining for his partner, and started to feel sorry for bringing him here. But the feeling didn’t last long, because soon enough Ramuda’s bobber went underwater again.

“Now, Ramuda-kun! Do it as I taught you, quickly!”

The designer reacted swiftly and, thanks to his efforts, he finally succeeded and raised the pole straight, catching his first fish. He grabbed it just like Jakurai told him to, and right after taking out the hook, he started to jump enthusiastically, laughing with pride and showing off his “prize”.

“Look!! I got it, I got it!!”

He couldn’t help but laugh, smiling widely for his picture. The doctor felt relieved, letting his recent thoughts go away, washed by his lover’s laugh.

“Yes, you did it very well. Congratulations on your first catch, my love”

Moved by the adrenaline, Ramuda jumped to kiss him after releasing the carp, clutching to the doctor’s neck and trusting him to hold him. The kiss was eagerly replied, Jakurai caressing his hair after putting him down again. The designer’s broad and sincere smile was something he would never get tired of watching.

“See? You just needed to be patient”

[statticscribbles]

Pining

Summary: Sweet Pea/Reader- Sweet Pea wants an actual relationship, his friends see fit to interfere.

You turn back to Toni ignoring the sigh you can hear from Sweet Pea; you hate how much his wistfulness bothers you. When he sighs again you snap, turning to him, but Toni beats you to it. “Would it kill you to be discreet about it?” Toni laughs at Sweet Pea’s shocked face. “About what?” “How much you pine after Jones and Cooper, I get they’re like the perfect couple, but they’re a couple neither of them want anyone else. Drop it; your heartbroken pinning isn’t going to sway them.” She speaks and you laugh with her nodding as Sweet Pea tries to defend himself. “Well if you don’t love at least one of them, why do you sigh every time they do anything couple-y.” Fangs counters and Sweet Pea shrugs. “I want that. What they have, that closeness, what Toni and Cheryl have.” “You want a relationship? What happened to Vivian then?”

“No, I want a soulmate; and Vivian wasn’t into me; just the whole-“ “Scary Serpent vibe right? Was she disappointed when she found out you’re practically a teddy bear.” You smirk and Sweet Pea rolls his eyes. “Shut it Y/N I’m nothing of the sort. I am a serpent, therefore I’m terrifying and a bad boy.” “Mhm, but you’re also the guy who spend half of fifth grade saving the worms on the sidewalk.”

“You asked me to, so I had no choice.” He crosses his arms. “And you spend three days outside Fang’s house when he broke his arm.” Toni laughs. “Also you spent all last summer tutoring me in chemistry.” You add and he waves his hands, thumping them onto the table. “Enough! I have a neck tattoo, I’m a scary Serpent!” You smirk nodding, biting down another peal of laughter before you pitch your voice up and wiggle your fingers at him.

“I’m a scaryyyy serpennntttttt” you mock and he blanks his face. “When I kill you they won’t find the body.” “Like you could ever kill me.” You smile standing as the bell rings returning to class from lunch.

————————————————————————————–

You watch him more after that noting how the sighing, the longing looks are not directed at Betty, or Jughead, but their clasped hands, the moments they lean on each other. Whenever Jughead runs his hands over hers, or they stay a moment too long in a hug. You stay silent, content to watch him watching; to let him suffer in his own bubble; no sense in dragging an unrequited crush into the mix. No need to make him feel guilty on top of lonely. You soften after he confesses his want for a relationship, you feel no need to be jealous; not of something that has yet to exist. “So then, what do you want in a soulmate?”

“You trying to set me up then?” Sweet Pea narrows his eyes at Fangs and Toni. “Of course; we’re your best friends, we know you inside and out, plus we’re both in relationships; so Y/N doesn’t count cause she’s single.” Fang’s eyes light up and you can see Toni nod a fraction. You sigh nodding to them. “Alright, what am I doing to help then?” Toni smirks. “Cheryl’s going to ask you a few questions. After Sweet Pea answers them.” “Cheryl? You’re getting Cheryl involved?” Sweet Pea glares. “We were going to get Jones and Cooper in on it; but it seems better to not.” “Plus Cheryl doesn’t know you as well as us which could prove to be interesting when selecting potential soulmates.” Fangs smirks as Cheryl nods. “Alright then, let’s start with the basic’s; favourite colour?”

“Do you really think I’m shallow enough not to date someone based on their favourite colour?” Sweet pea scoffs. “It’s green.” “What shade?” Cheryl pulls a pen and notebook out. “Mint Green.” “You know you can’t lie; this won’t work if you don’t tell the truth.” Cheryl looks unimpressed and Sweet Pea groans. “I like pastel’s okay, they’re soothing.” He states as he flips her off. She laughs. “Just a few more then-“ You leave once Toni lets you know they’re not even halfway through with Sweet Pea’s questions and that she’ll call you later when they need your help.

—————————————————————————————– It takes two more days; in between classes for Sweet Pea to finish whatever soulmate questionnaire Cheryl and Toni had created. You laugh when he cheers as Cheryl folds the paper and puts it away. “Now we’ll just go around to everyone who’s single and then set you up on dates on the weekend.” “You’ll what now?” Sweet Pea stares at them and Toni laughs. “Don’t worry we’re funding the Pop’s meals and access into La Bonne Nuit.” Cheryl pats him on the shoulder. “So who’s up first?” “Well it wouldn’t be a blind date unless you didn’t know. Besides we have to actually ask everyone first.” “You’re wasting your time.”

“Really? You complain about being single every other day and it’s not like you have your eyes on anyone, otherwise you would have asked them out already.” Cheryl comments and both you and Fangs gasp. “Oh my god you do like someone!!! You have to tell us! We can set you up.” “It’s not like that; we can’t be together.” “Anything else cliché you wanna say?  No, good, you’ll meet your first date at pop’s eight pm this Friday.”

“So why wouldn’t you tell us who you’re crushing on?” You ask as you and Sweet Pea walk home to Sunnyside. “Well we can’t be together, she’s way outta my league and besides that she’d never want me.” He shrugs and gestures to himself. “Come on Pea you’re a catch to anyone; any of those Northsider’s would be lucky to have you.”

“We’re all Northsider’s now.” He laughs and you nod. “I mean the like ‘original Northsiders.’ You know they fawn over you cause you’re a ‘bad boy’ or whatever.” You roll your eyes; as he nods. “The most badass.” “You’ll scare them all off acting like that.” Cheryl appears and smirks handing him an envelope.

“The time, and location, also what you should wear. I’ve taken the liberty to match your clothes to her favourite colour, so hopefully it’s a positive association.” Sweet Pea opens the envelope scanning it. “I thought you were the only one allowed to wear red.” “I am, the red is just an accent colour.” “If you make me wear a tie to Pop’s..” “Relax Toni said you had a red plaid monstrosity of a shirt.” “You wear plaid..” Sweet pea fires back and Cheryl nods. “Yes, tastefully. Now go get ready.” “You said it was at eight pm!” “There was a change of plans!” She shouts after him as he shoves the letter into your hands.

“So who is it?” Cheryl smirks at your question. “Ginger; you know the Vixen who stares at him anytime he gets sent to find Toni for meetings.” You nod, you know Ginger, she’s nice; still you can’t help the jealousy that bubbles in the back of your throat. You crush it down as Toni and Fangs ask about them. “Ginger, apparently.” You silently cheer when Fangs scowls. “Didn’t he and Ginger break up cause she wanted to sleep with Jones?” Toni questions and you nod.

“Well she tried to sleep with him, when he and Betty had that fight remember?” They both nod and cringe. “Well tonight should be fun then. Cheryl booked us front row seats to watch what’s going to be a disaster.”

——————————————————————————- Sweet Pea glowers at the table as you sit with Toni and Fangs drinking the shake Fangs ordered for you. “Y/N how’s he holding up.”

“He’s been glaring for six whole minutes. I’m pretty sure he’d melting my shake with the heat from his anger. How much you wanna bet he scares Ginger off.” “You’re just saying that cause you want him to scare her off.” “Of course.” You know they know about your crush; even if you’ve never voiced it; Toni still had Cheryl question you. You remind yourself to ask how much you and Sweet Pea hand in common once he finds whoever he wants to be his soulmate.

He waves Ginger over and she smiles at him leaning over the table to give him a half hug. You’re too far away to hear anything, but when Toni casually decides to walk to the bathroom she returns laughs patting your back. “Nothing to worry about Ginger brought up him being higher in the Serpent’s now.” “That’s a lot to worry about;” Fangs slumps slightly and you look confused at him. “It means he’s going to whine to me about it now; I’ll have to listen to him complain over and over. I hate this plan.” You laugh looking up to Sweet Pea continuing to glare at your table. ��————————————————————————

It takes five more disastrous dates before Sweet Pea vows to give up if the next one doesn’t work out. “Sweet Pea, no you can’t give up, we still have at least seven more after this and-“ “No, if this one doesn’t work out I’m done. I’ll just try to date on my own. I appreciate the help; I really do, but its obviously not working.” He slumps in his chair and Cheryl and Toni share some sort of coded look. “So what’s the plan this time? Maybe something where he doesn’t whine so much, Fangs complains to me about him complaining about your plans.” You eye Cheryl’s smile wearily.

“This was meant to be our sort of last ditch effort. A surefire match, both of them put down almost identical answers” You arch an eyebrow. “Wow, well why not put them first then?” “Had to give him something to look forward too. We have it set for six pm a Pop’s.” “Okay, so Toni, Fangs and I will be on lookout duty then?” You turn when they stay silent. “Fangs and I will.”

“No, there’s no way I’m going on a pity date.” “Did you miss the part where- “ Fangs hisses but Toni shouts over him “Hey Sweet Pea, just this one date, we swear! Everything is taken care of, all you have to do is show up.” Toni clasps her hands together as he walks back up. “Please Sweet Pea, just this last one.” He sighs shaking his head. “No I’m done.” “I’ll tell the girl you have a crush on you like her.” Fangs threatens. “Wait you know who he has a crush on?” Cheryl turns from Fangs to Sweet Pea.

“Yeah he told me ages ago. I’m not about to rat him out, but you already made reservations and everything so I would be a huge waste to not go.” He guilts Sweet Pea into a frustrated agreement as he walks away smirking. “Wait, Pop’s doesn’t do reservations!” Sweet Pea shouts after him. “No backing out, I already let her know the date’s on.” Toni laughs as Sweet Pea scowls. You keep your phone hidden knowing the text chime is from Toni most likely.

—————————————————————————————- You understand Sweet Pea’s annoyance when he went on the other dates that you and the others were watching; you’re pretty sure Fangs won’t make eye contact with you anymore with the amount you’ve been glaring. “Hey Y/N you hear to spy on me one last time? I’m sure you’ve been loving the free meals though.” He laughs and you nod. “Yeah it’s pretty nice, I’m surprised you don’t just play along more for the free meals.”

“Well having decent company helps, I’m praying this date isn’t as shit as the last ones. I get we’re supposed to have matched like all the questions or whatever but that could just be guessing and luck.” He shrugs and you nod. “It’s a good attempt, plus you were so whiny about finding a soulmate.” He laughs again nodding.

“Yeah but I’d much rather be spending the night with you or Fangs.” “Well Fangs is busy.” You laugh as you both look to see Fangs glaring back. “And you are I’d assume, stuck on babysitting duty to make sure I don’t screw up my last chance at pre-destined love.” He dramatically shakes your shoulders.

“Actually I have a date.” You look confused when his face falls for a second. “Oh, maybe you’d double with me, for moral support?” His laugh sounds almost sad but you brush it off. “Can’t really double date with just the two of us yeah?” You stand nervously as Sweet Pea moves towards Fangs. “You said you wouldn’t rat me out.” He hisses under his breath and Toni smirks. “I didn’t she just matched most of the questions.” He holds his hands up and Sweet Pea nods returning to your side.

“Well, shall we sit then, you can tell me things I already know about you, and I can tell you the same.” He smiles and you follow him to the booth. “Now since Cheryl is paying I vote we order he most expensive shit we can and bring it back to mine to eat for the next few days.”

“I don’ think burgers will keep in your trailer for days Pea. Besides we can just come back.” “We haven’t even finished out first date and you’re already gunning for a second one?” You beam at him as you both pretend not to notice the flush on each other’s faces when your hands brush at the menus.

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[chaseatinydream]

pirate king (61) || atz

"I just want to talk." Mingi grumbles under his breath as the three of you approach the starboard side of the ship, clearly not the least bit convinced by what Captain Kang has just said. "That's what they all say. 'Oh, I just want to talk! I totally don't want to put a bullet through your head… or poison you… or feed you worms…' Only an idiot would let him come up on board after all that he's done to us-"

"Would you call me an idiot, then?" Hongjoong smiles mildly from behind him and Mingi nearly jumps off the ship in shock, whirling around surprised only to see the three of you standing there, eyes flickering nervously between Wooyoung and his captain before his gaze settles on the head gunner. "Uhhh-"

Wooyoung cracks a tiny grin, not fully there but it's something, scuffs the toe of his boot on the deck. "I know, I know. I'm sorry for being an idiot." At Wooyoung's easy demeanor, Mingi's shoulders sag before he reaches over to punch his friend in the arm, hard.

"Ow!" Wooyoung yelps, cradling his arm to his chest dramatically, nursing the sore spot where Mingi hit him. You can see a bruise forming there already. "What was that for?" His voice rises into a whine high pitched from pain.

Mingi's eyes narrow sharply. "That's for beating up Captain." At his words, Hongjoong moves to hide his laughter behind his hand, but the only sound that escapes his mouth is a yelp as Mingi punches his captain hard in the shoulder too.

"Ow!" He complains, mimicking Wooyoung as he rubs his shoulder ruefully. "What did I do? I try to be a good captain and end up getting beat up three times in one day? I don't deserve this. Chin Hae, it hurts-" You stifle a polite snort.

"And that's for being beat up by Wooyoung, you dummy." Mingi talks over his captain, rolling his eyes before they find yours, and then he's raising his hand and you find yourself flinching back, because oh my god is he going to punch you as well-

"Thank you for looking after these two idiots for me." Mingi says softly, one large hand resting gently on your head and you stare up at him with wide eyes, there's a small curve at the side of his mouth and wow, because he's smiling at you.

"You're welcome." You reply brightly, ignoring Hongjoong's dismayed 'I am the captain, you can't just call me an idiot!' and Wooyoung's indignant cry of 'captain is the only idiot on this ship!'. Then suddenly, Mingi frowns and backpedals to an earlier part of the conversation as his hand falls back to his side. "Wait, wait, wait, Captain, did I hear you right earlier? Did you really just say you want to allow Captain Kang onto the ship again? After all he's done to us?"

There’s a pregnant pause for a moment.

"Oh, right." Hongjoong pauses, scratches at his chin. Mingi shoots him an incredulous stare at him. "Maybe I am an idiot after all."

"You idiot!" Mingi exclaims, grabbing his captain by the ear and you wince sympathetically as Mingi raps his knuckles across Hongjoong's forehead like he's trying to crack a very large egg. "Did Wooyoung beat the very last dregs of your sanity out of you along with your common sense?"

"Just a second here, it's not my fault if Captain's nuts, he's always been and it's not my doing-" Wooyoung hurriedly holds up both hands and Hongjoong hollers at the unintended bashing to both his pride and forehead before wriggling out of his quartermaster's grasp. Sucking in a deep breath, he stares indignantly at the three of you, one hand adjusting his eyepatch and the other desperately flattening his ruffled hair.

"I am the captain!" Is all he manages.

The three of you burst into a fit of laughter, he looks absolutely frazzled. But your laughter is soon stifled when Seonghwa moves over to the starboard to speak to Hongjoong.

"Captain Kang says he insists on speaking to you, Captain… and that he'll hand over the antidote to Yunho's poison if you allow him to bring Gunho's body back with him, and to speak to Yeosang for a few minutes." He jerks his thumb at the gangplank waiting to be lowered at the port side of the ship, where you know Captain Kang and the remainder of his men are gathered. "We're waiting on your orders."

You swallow the saliva that seems to have built up in your throat, nerves weighting heavily on you. After all these years, why would Kang Yongsun want to see the child that he left behind and abandoned for dead so long ago? Some sort of sadistic satisfaction of seeing how much his son has suffered over the years at the hands of the bloodthirsty pirates? Or something else?

At that, Hongjoong chews his lower lip thoughtfully, brow knitted as he weighs the pros and cons with care. On one hand, he doesn't ever want to see that filthy man's face ever again, let alone have to let Yeosang lay eyes on the father that gave him up so many years ago, and yet… and yet… the cure to Yunho's illness is right there, nearly in their grasp. After so much fighting and battling, they can finally save Yunho… but why does this seem too easy? Throat dry, he licks his lips, opens his mouth to speak without really knowing his answer.

"I-"

But before he can say anything, someone else interrupts him.

"Let him come aboard." You spin around, eyes widening with surprise to see Yeosang standing at the foot of the stairs of the quarterdeck, gazing quietly, even serenely at the gangplank, where the father who abandoned him awaits. "Let him come aboard." He repeats, a little louder this time, turning to face the five of you with a brave smile, fingers twisting around the hem of his shirt. "So that we can save Yunho and finally end all of this once and for all."

Your heart breaks. “Oh, Yeosang...”

Wooyoung's mouth pulls downwards into a frown, reaching out to tug on Yeosang's sleeve gently. "Hey. I don't want you to feel obliged to have to meet that bastard just so we can save Yunho, alright? I could always just shoot his head from here, and we could-" You smack his arm for talking about Yeosang's father like that in front of his own child. Yeosang might have been abandoned by his father, but the soft hearted navigator is far too gentle for his own good.

Yeosang shakes his head, letting out a soft breath. "It's alright. It's time for me to face my own demons too, after all, like what Seonghwa has done. I have questions of my own that I'd like to ask him too, things that I wasn't brave enough to ask back then. Why did you hate me so, father? What did I do to deserve your ire?" He trails off, lost in thought.

Hongjoong looks conflicted for a moment, before he sighs and nods. "In the end, it's your choice, Yeosang." Hongjoong says quietly, resting a hand on Yeosang's shoulder. The navigator looks up at him with troubled eyes. "But remember, no matter what you choose," his captain squeezes him lightly, before moving off to give the orders to lower the gangplank, "that you will always have a family in us."

Yeosang stands there silent for a second, stock still, you stare at him with eyes wide with concern, but then just as you’re about to approach him, ask him if he’s alright, he simply smiles lightly and shakes his head, following behind his captain's retreating back to meet his father. "I know that already, idiot captain."

"I heard that!"

"Chin Hae, do you want to hear what happens or go to the sickbay with San-" Seonghwa begins, but the second you hear your master's name, you wave your hand and its accompanying stump with a smile. You're really not ready to face your master again, especially after the awful things you'd said to him. "I'll go see what's going on. Got to find some way to satisfy this curiosity, after all."

The cook gives you a kind nod and guides you to the port side, where they're already lowering the gangplank, Wooyoung loading and priming his musket behind the two of you. Mingi and Jongho are already standing there, flanking the gangplank, the former brandishing his fearsome battle axe and the latter his club.

"Gangplank lowered!" One of the crewmen call and Jongho's fingers tighten on the handle tersely. You feel something cold run down your spine as the creaking of wood reaches your ears, and the footsteps draw ever closer… And finally, Captain Kang steps on board the Treasure.

"The antidote." Mingi demands instantly, and Captain Kang eyes him coldly.

"And lose the only bargaining chip keeping me and my men alive? Perish the thought. I shall not hand it over till I have seen and spoken to my son." He says stonily and Wooyoung bristles with anger, "why, you-"

"Shh." You say, laying your hand gently on Wooyoung's arm, he calms a little, but his lips are still tightly pressed together and his fingers play with the trigger of his gun. Hongjoong steps forward, expression neutral.

"I understand your point, but my battlemaster is dying, I would have you hand over the antidote immediately. I promise upon my honor that no harm will come to you or your crew."

"And what worth is the honor of a pirate?" One of Royal Navy officers spits, his hand brandishing his saber. Mingi growls, a noise deep in his throat as he squares up the shorter man, but the officer is broad shoulders and the deadly glint in his eyes show that he would be no pushover in battle either.

The two men are trapped in a battle of wills for a long second before another officer puts a hand on his comrades' shoulder, pulling him back with a forced grin on his face. "Now, now, Joohoney, this isn't really how you speak to someone you're trying to negotiate with! What would Lieutenant Shownu say?"

"Shut up, Minhyuk." 'Joohoney' snarls, fist clenching so tightly around the handle of his sabre that his knuckles go white. He's trembling with emotion, rage, not fear, you realise. "These damn pirates are the scourge of the seas, they're the reason why so many of our comrades are dead, and-"

"Enough!" Commander Kang snaps and 'Joohoney' reluctantly falls silent. "If you cannot keep your tongue still, I will carve it out for you. Understood?" His voice allows no room for argument in the least.

"Yes, commander." He submits grudgingly, but that doesn't stop him from glaring at every single one of you as if he wishes he could slit your throats this very second. But his words leave you reeling on the inside… how can these terrible, corrupted, bloodthirsty Royal Navy officers possibly think that your crewmates are the scum after all they've done?

But before you can retort, your captain is already speaking.

"I swear upon the sea goddess," Hongjoong says, and you hear a sharp intake of breath from both Royal Navy officers and your crewmates alike, "that under no circumstance will any member of my crew harm any member of your crew unless first blood is drawn."

"Captain! Swearing on the sea goddess, are you crazy?" Mingi hisses out of the corner of his mouth, but his captain does not reply, merely holding gazes with the Royal Navy commander. Eventually, Commander Kang lets his shoulders relax slightly, and pulls out a small vial filled with clear liquid, placing it in your captain's outstretched palm. Without breaking eye contact, Hongjoong passes it to Seonghwa, who dashes off the sickbay with it. Mingi scowls, hefting his battle axe threateningly. "Any tricks, Commander…"

"Bring me Gunho's body." Commander Kang demands and Hongjoong nods to another two crew members, who carry out a body wrapped with a clean linen sheet, setting it before the commander. Quietly, Commander Kang kneels before the corpse, tugging the sheet down with such gentle hands one would scarcely believe him to have ever held a sword, until Gunho's face is revealed to them once more, eyes still wide open staring at the sun he had died gazing upon.

For a second, such intense emotion flickers across Commander Kang's face you briefly wonder if you had imagined it, but then he composes himself and slides Gunho's eyes closed gently, pressing a soft kiss to his bloodied forehead.

"Rest in peace, my son."

Chaos erupts on deck.

"What?" Wooyoung gapes, too stunned to be angry and you find yourself mirroring his expression, mouth falling open in shock. My son? Does Yeosang have two illegitimate brothers who were gladiators in Vena Cruz that he didn't know of? But wait, Yunho once mentioned that his parents had sold him and his brother off, so how could Commander Kang possibly be Gunho's father?

Amidst the chaos, Commander Kang rises and gestures for his crew to take the body away, but Jongho stops him by standing stubbornly between the body and the commander. "You dare call a man of another's blood your son in front of the flesh and blood you abandoned?" He asks, deadly quiet.

Commander Kang meets his eyes coolly, though there is a small hint of guilt that flickers in his eyes when he glances over at Yeosang, wiping tears quietly at the side. Then he sighs, exhales a long breath, and looks directly at his son. "I suppose this is time to explain everything, Yeosang."

Yeosang's red rimmed eyes snap up in shock as his father addresses him by name, hands falling limp to the sides while his lips part slightly to say, "Father…?" Kang Yongsun manages a small, resigned curve of the lips that is barely there at all, but nods, gesturing at the dead body of Jeong Gunho.

"Gunho isn't your brother… I just… adopted him, in a way." Commander Kang says very softly. Then he pauses, shakes his head. "Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself. All of my life, I've never listened to you, Yeosang. What do you want to know?"

"Eh?" Yeosang fumbles, clearly unused to being treated this way by his father in all his memories.

"I… I…" "He wants to know why you hate him." Wooyoung says loudly, glaring at the Commander before you smack his arm with a roll of the eyes. "What?"

"Well… where do I start?" Kang Yongsun murmurs to himself, although all of you hear him. You feel your breath catching in your throat as your anticipation only grows, waiting for his next words to come...

"The easiest explanation would be that… you killed your mother."