#ch23 Come Here

[ms-kaie-lurks]

Ch23 is pretty intense. Kotaro's drugged and in a rage, and Shinpei's full on yandere mode. Wow! This chapter is 🔥

Satoko, my girl, I don't want to be you right now.

[cinamun]

Continue this update here <-

28 years | Next

[audriel]

Ye Xiu's Smoking Habits

Ye Xiu is definitely an interesting character and protagonist. However, compared to most protagonists I found him the hardest to read, and at times I am unsure of his characterization, especially when I write him in my stories. One of the most notable trait he has is that he smokes, a lot. Even if the character design changes (which you cannot believe how often it happens, TKA has the most variety, and not limited to one media too, i kid you not). This is one trait that makes him easily recognizable, packed together with his sleazy look and side-parted bangs (im laughing as i write this down). Since smoking is part of his personality, it can be used a way to understand him better. Here's what I found after going through all the mentions of smoke and cigarette in the webnovel (please note that i might miss or not include some).

Ye Xiu cannot smoke on less cigarette, otherwise his head will hurt (Ch9)

Ye Xiu smokes when he wants to maintain his focus, particularly when pulling an all-nighter or using multiple accounts (Ch10, Ch55, Ch87, Ch290, Ch431, Ch530)

Ye Xiu always smokes right after he wakes up (Ch22, Ch30)

Ye Xiu smokes when he's thinking (Ch34, Ch71) or working (Ch55) or relaxing/calming down (Ch57, Ch529, Ch637), or winding down after winning the championship (Ch1726)

Ye Xiu prioritises smoking over eating (only two meals a day), saving money for cigarettes (Ch47)

Ye Xiu's smoke addiction is quite heavy that it's instinctive for him to reach for cigarettes in any kind of situation (Ch55, Ch57, Ch94)

Ye Xiu was also struggling in the crowd. With great effort, he was able to free one hand. And inside his hand was shockingly a cigarette!!! “You’re going to smoke at this time!!!” Chen Guo saw Ye Xiu deliver the cigarette into his mouth and turned furious! What was this guy. -Ch94

Ye Xiu's smoke addiction is still better/less worse than Wei Chen (Ch617). He can consciously kills the urge if it's not allowed (Ch101, Ch1084)

Their seats were already fixed. Ye Xiu and Wei Chen were placed right underneath the strong ventilation fan. Chen Guo already regarded them as smoke machines. -Ch618

Ye Xiu can blow smoke rings (Ch179)

Ye Xiu smokes in front of Su Mucheng (Ch331), besides fellow smokers: Wei Chen and Chu Yunxiu

Ye Xiu and Wei Chen give each other cigarettes when one thinks the other needs it (Ch640, Ch693, Ch769, Ch967) He does the same with Chu Yunxiu (Ch1347)

Ye Xiu smokes so often that it's become part of his image even for common people (Ch1011)

The mysterious God Ye Qiu, who never appeared in public, wasn't as arrogant as most people thought he was. Everyday, with a cigarette in his mouth and smoke circling around him, he chatted with everyone at Club Excellent Era. -Ch1011

Ye Xiu smokes when he doesn't know what else to do in social settings, either to break the ice (Ch926) or to keep people away (Ch933)

He wasn’t shy with strangers at all. It even seemed like he was the host: "Have a seat, everyone. Why are you all standing!" Everyone sat down. Ye Xiu impatiently fished out a cigarette. He didn’t forget to ask if anyone else wanted one, but the five Heavenly Swords people waved their hands and refused. Ye Xiu didn’t ask if they didn’t want to smoke or if they didn’t know how. In any case, he grabbed a cigarette and tossed the cigarette pack onto the table: "If you guys want one, feel free to take one!" Then, he quickly started lighting up his cigarette. -Ch926 As for Ye Xiu and Tang Rou, the two stayed curled in a corner. Tang Rou had casually taken a glass of wine to sip at while Ye Xiu held a very deep ashtray, going through cigarette after cigarette and filling the air around them with smoke. Tang Rou was a radiant-looking lady, yet no one had come up to talk to her, all thanks to Ye Xiu. -Ch933

Ye Xiu smokes when he wants to suppress/hide his emotions (Ch23, Ch91, Ch96, Ch1361), particularly when he feels sad and/or helpless (Ch500, Ch620)

His back against the wall, he fished out a cigarette and lit it. “What are you doing? Are you going to cry too? Do you need some paper?” Behind him, Chen Guo seemed to sense it. “How could it be? How could I cry?” Ye Xiu turned his body and conveniently puffed out a mouthful of smoke towards Chen Guo’s face -Ch23 In the third round of the individual competition, Team Excellent Era lost again. The spectators in the Internet Cafe began to look sinister. Everyone felt extremely terrible in their hearts. Some cursed at 301, some sighed in disappointment at Team Excellent Era. Chen Guo wasn’t feeling good either. She didn’t know when, but looking to the side she saw that Ye Xiu had already left her side and stood outside the door to smoke. The cigarette butt glowed brightly in the dusky night, but the person’s expression was indistinct. -Ch91 Liu Hao was about to argue when Ye Xiu dully said: “Don’t be so noisy. You guys are also public figures. If you keep on being noisy, then you guys won’t look good.” After saying this, Ye Xiu quietly took out a cigarette from his pocked, lit it, and put it in his mouth. -Ch96

You….” Chen Guo noticed that Ye Xiu’s expression was odd even after achieving victory. Happiness? None at all. He even seemed a little sad….. Sad? Chen Guo shook her head. She must be seeing things, how could he be sad? As she was about to say something, Ye Xiu stood up abruptly, “I’m going out for a smoke.” -Ch500 "Excellent Era getting relegated is my fault.” Ye Xiu expressed with sorrow. He didn’t wait for Chen Guo to refute and immediately continued: “But how would I have known that wiping them out in game would turn out like this? No one would have imagined that such actions would have so severe a consequence? But you can’t deny their current record either. They’re still young. They still have chances. They shouldn’t give up so easily. I don’t know what they plan on doing in the future. Too much has been happening recently. I want to be by myself for a bit. If you don’t need me for anything, I’ll be leaving.” Ye Xiu took out a cigarette after speaking. -Ch620 “Who cares about that,” Chen Guo huffed. “I’m asking you about your feelings on Excellent Era’s return.” Ye Xiu felt out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep breath and nodded. “Pretty good.” -Ch1361

Also, for those with sharp eyes will notice that there's a significant decrease in the mention of smoking after chapter 1000+, matching the start of Professional League/GPA. This rather supports how serious (i remember using the word uncompromising, unyielding) Ye Xiu is when it comes to aiming for the championship (victory in general). Ye Xiu maintains his condition meticulously, going so far as reducing his cigarette intake, when he's a heavy smoker.

However, the most interesting discovery is that smoking is more than a habit for Ye Xiu, in some ways, it's a tool or a method(?) for him to keep him unreadable, to deal with his emotions, to hide his weakness. It's oft mentioned throughout the webnovel how difficult is to read Ye Xiu's expression, he rarely shows strong emotion. I don't think it's his natural disposition, but an ingrained habit either from his family upbringing or him raising himself and the Su siblings together while also leading a team. And when he goes out to smoke to deal with his feelings (as per the examples above), he tends to smoke alone. There's no mention of him having company when he does so. It leads me to conclude that for whatever reasons Ye Xiu believes emotions are not to be shown openly and to be dealt with alone.

This explains a lot really, why such conflict arises in Excellent Era. Ye Xiu remains unchanged throughout the years in his pursuit of victory and love and passion for Glory. However, people around him change, either they leave or their values differ. Ye Xiu with his skills and achievements, combined with his uncompromising attitude and unreadable expression, he becomes a distant, incomprehensible figure. It becomes easy to project their own feelings to him.

This is particularly highlighted when Excellent Era has an emergency meeting due to Ye Xiu for coming forward/no longer shying away from media attention. They all are afraid of what Ye Xiu will do, because they're putting themselves in Ye Xiu's shoes, and knowing what they've done, he has no reason to be kind. When in reality, Ye Xiu doesn't really care. He accepts the failure on his part. In the end, he treats his former club just like any other opponent, by letting action speak for itself. And they completely fail to understand this, their own God, their own captain for many years, which makes it so sad and tragic, because they never sees him as the person that he is.

[jekkiefan]

Vampire!Lanyon au fic ch23

Title: Come here, listen, and be careful

Rating: Teen

Ship: Jekyll x Lanyon

Chapter word count: 1593

Sneak peek:

The two were not so much as a few steps inside when Hyde fell on the hardwood. Lanyon resumed locking the front door and bent over the shivering body. Horrid green dripped from Hyde’s face and onto the freshly polished floor. Lanyon wrinkled his nose.

“Not here,” he groaned. Quickly he strode off into another room. “Let me get you something so you don’t get sick all over the hardwood.”

With incredible speed he found a bucket in the kitchen. It was nearly empty, save for some spare potato skins. It would do for now.

Ao3 Link Here

[gnashingwailing]

@fireflywritesgt ok i read your tag on ch21 and i took that as a personal challenge (and then while I was writing this you dropped ch22 and THEN 23 and murdered me. but i'm back now. so)

HELLO Ok fuck yeah hold on everybody take my hand. We’re theorizing about this chapter 🙏 spoilers thru ch23 below

Re: the tag: dare I hope the next story will be set in a similar time/place… i MUST ADMIT despite the significant broader cultural stigma of such a thing. I have often contemplated. Harry and Joe helping with providing socialized miniature healthcare 😭 (maybe to wherever Lorraine lives[?] or knows of?) and when I heard mention of a Tiny Town Hospital… one must wonder how this compares to a Giant Hospital, or to the barber surgeon dens that Joe has presumably had some frostbitten toes cut off at.

OTHER THINGS I’M SPECULATING ABOUT: “certainly, bandits were a problem a borrower occasionally had to face” 🤔 damn that's rough. I do love the sense that there are few overarching cultural norms, whether it's around marriage or language or so on. Everybody is kinda doing their own thing (including robbing each other oof).

I am also VEEEERRY curious about the implications of WHATEVER the tinies that are working in Tiny Town are doing. What kind of mechanized thing could be profitable from a lot of little guys pressing buttons? Or is it maybe not something physical they’re producing? Is it instead a research project? Some attempt at “civilizing” the tiny society for giant colonialism reasons? There’s got to be some kind of output here that is valuable to some kind of giant, but I’m still mystified at what it will be. “Joe wanted to ask him about the four armed giants who stood outside of Tiny Town” YEAH MAN ME TOO‼️ <- secretly delighted this is still coming up because I want to know what it means QUITE BADLY

Joe lamenting that there don't seem to be any libraries, or restaurants, or speakeasies, or any mark of ... art or entertainment? In Tiny Town? I REALLY HOPE Joe and Harry get over themselves and kiss soon so they can TALK ABOUT HOW FUCKING WEIRD THIS PLACE IS???? It made me INSAAANE THAT JOE JUST BRUSHED OFF TALKING ABOUT IT AT ALL 😭 JOE TO HAVE THOSE THINGS. PEOPLE HAVE TO WORK AT THEM. ARE ALL THE PEOPLE IN TINY TOWN JUST WORKING ON PUSHING BUTTONS??? JOE PLS

“Expecting handouts from the bloody giants…” sooo fascinating to hear him voice this, since this whole project is a handout in the absolute best case scenario (given that scraps are worthless to giants), although likely closer to a prison, as Professor Hill called it. Still patiently waiting for his smart and cool wife to explain things to me <3

I hope Joe will deign to really talk about what happened to him… GURL go process it with ur beautiful best friend!! Let him hold you and comfort you and tell you you’re literally so smart and correct and everything you’re saying about ditching the buttons part entirely is literally so beautiful and true!!! Go rock his world with your insights king!!!

Also lmfao Joe is definitely not Irish bcuz his Irish Goodbyes need some SERIOUS work. King of just literally running off when he’s not feeling a conversation anymore.

Me 🤝Joe <- autistically just leaving

He does this so often and it makes me cackle every time. Wait hold on those great meme posts make me want to make a JUST WALK OUT! One.

Absolutely loving the tension of it all… the reveal that Joe was doing watchmaking when he was TWELVE, meaning (if I'm keeping track of time correctly) he got snatched right after he was ABANDONED BY HIS ONLY FAMILY IN THE WORLD, was so artfully done. I had to stop in my tracks and think at the “he’d known O’Grady longer in his life than he hadn’t” and do math and be like “oh fuck.” Maybe this was teased prior and I didn’t pick up on it, but it hit HARD. For some reason I hadn’t assumed he was a kid — but why wouldn’t he be? If little kids are already doing things like crawling into discarded beer bottles. Fuck, Warren, heartbreaking stuff. Bravo. Of course Joe would be as dedicated to going and seeing him as he was Harry in the hospital. He cares so deeply about everyone, but especially his friends. It’s too bad O’Grady is no longer in a place to reciprocate the love Joe gives !!! But of course Joe still would not be ready to throw away the boot knife O’Grady made for him… “a decision that would forever change Joe’s life” btw I can hear ur evil hehe from here. :)

Also btw THIS little detail is one of those things that makes rereading your story so delightful: “They invade our end of the city, take our jobs, show up at our bar… did we invite them? No.” O’Grady was practically ranting. “And when we politely tell them to leave, what do they do?” O’Grady pointed to his bandaged head. “Watch out for them once you get here. They’re not good Irishmen like you and me, Joe.” juxtaposed with the actual breaking news we heard from the radio ? "“AN IRISHMAN AND AN ITALIAN ARE IN THE HOSPITAL AFTER A MASS BRAWL OUTSIDE A BAR ENDED IN A CRACKED SKULL AND A STABBING. NEITHER OF ‘EM HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED YET.”" a fucking STABBING = "politely tell them to leave"? What kinds of things has Joe's friend gotten used to excusing?

And of course I love the moments of solidarity within the tragedy of the newly realized (or at least newly stoked) xenophobia between borrowers. Joe being reminded of how his parents spoke, and how his brother shooed him off, in the gestures of a stranger… you really do a great job of evoking the ways we are all connected to each other. His family is gone, but he still sees them everywhere he looks. [pacing my enclosure and being sooo normal about how Joe has purposefully isolated for a decade and yet cannot help but see the beauty and humanity of his fellow man whether tiny or giant bcuz despite thinking he’s wired wrong, he’s actually wired like all of us who have felt that way for our unusual proclivities. He’s wired for connection with his fellow man. And he’s so wired for it u can feel how much it hurts his heart. Haha I’m sooooo .] The older guy was trying to warn him off crossing a white line into the “Irish ward”, too, right? The gesture was a kindness. And speaking of, does that mean the little tunnel somebody dug is to the Irish district? Or was I turned around and it was the Italian one? Either way — who would be trying to get in here, and why? Maybe it’s just a desperate person, but O’Grady talking about how bad it’d be if they saw Joe, and the need for an ID, makes me think it’s not someplace you can sneak into and integrate with. Just makes me curious as to whether it’ll come up again!!

THIS is also something I'm wondering about -- could the 'output' of Tiny Town maybe be researching, like... ethnonationalism? In the wake of WWI? Those drawn lines separating different 'wards'... do we think Tinies came up with this shit on their own? I doubt it, if someone like Dawson who is immediately assigning people nationalities that we know from Calloway's nobody "normal" in borrower society knows/cares about. HMMMmmmmMMMMM. I'm still reaaaaally curious how much Hill knows about this place and what hand, if any, he had in it. ONCE AGAIN, boys get kissing so you can also get TALKING. I think Harry would have much to say about how pointless it is to hate individuals from other nationalities after everything he saw during the war. Or so I assume, given he had no bad reaction to Joe being Italian.

AND WELL THIS IS LESS THEORYCRAFTING AND MORE “ME WANTING TO WRITE MORE FANFIC ABOUT THEM” BUT I WAS SOOO DELIGHTED THE CHAPTER DIDN’T END WITH HIM LEAVING TINY TOWN AND WE INSTEAD GOT DRESS REHEARSAL 2 OF HARRY AND JOE GETTING SO FUCKING DOWN BAD FOR EACH OTHER AT THE WINDOW & IN THE BEDROOM. YIPPEEEEE <- this was written before ch22 lol pictures taken moments before disaster

“Joe fidgeted for a moment as he fought with himself over whether or not to say what he really wanted to say.” … did you say what you really wanted to, there, pal? 🤨

I'm sooooo glad Joe's books are making more and more appearances... much like Harry I'm endlessly delighted by his culture. I wanna know what shaped his romantic fantasies!!

""Yeah, the ending on this one isn't great. They're cowards. Could've at least said they loved each other." Joe said.

He closed the book and snuggled into the crook of Harry's neck." <- Lmao @ these two guys so allergic to talking about their feelings shit-talking the romance book protagonists while they're literally cuddling in bed and not acknowledging it

Did he own these books when he was a kid? I imagine so, but on the other hand? HEY HOLY SHIT I REALIZED AFTER CH23 SOMETHING I SUSPECTED BUT COULDN'T CONFIRM: if homophobia isn't something borrowers have. Is one of these romance novels Joe owns going to be between two men? Harry is going to get his fuckin world rocked. Him and Georgie stole books from the library before, but I doubt they found any gay romance stuff (still impossible for baby-gay-Gnash to find that almost 100 years later in their rural libraries, lol.) Would this be Harry's first exposure to something like that? Wahhh... hurry up and open up to each other again you need to talk culture ASAP...

I'm also very curious if borrowers would have more taboo novels of their own, particularly giant/tiny stuff. And would Joe have come across any of it? I imagine it'd be extremely difficult to sell things like that without a beating, but maybe in bigger night markets -- and Joe said he's been in lots of very big cities... if his third novel is some really salacious g/t writing that would do numbers here on tumblr dot com I'm going to lose my god damn mind.

[kayssweetdreams]

The Perfect Finale Ch23

All of Wonderworld seemed to fly into a panic. Yin. The Banished Maestro. The Maestro who had nearly DESTROYED WONDERWORLD ITSELF had somehow come BACK. The Tims started chirping in fear as All Negati had retreated into the shadows, including the Negabosses. The Costumes had initiated to initiate an "Emergency Evacuation of Wonderworld" as BOTH Maestros were frozen in fear.

"It's Yin! What do we do?!" Emma shouted "Emma dear. You and the others must flee. Leave taking care of Yin to Lance and Me." Balan said, though his voice also was laced with fear. "But we still didn't find Kaylo! And if Yin is here, then his first target is going to be her!" Mei said. "Mei. This is not up for debate. Follow the Costumes so that you don't suffer a grisly fate." Lance said, his voice cold and serious, but also sounding scared.

Lora narrows her eyes "Lance. We are NOT leaving without her." She said. Unfortunately, the maestros weren't going to argue. Lance snapped his fingers and called upon the Negabosses. In a second, they dragged the humans into the deepest and darkest part of Wonderworld...the realm of the Negati. The humans resisted as much as they could...but when you pit a costume-less human against a Negaboss...it was a losing battle.

"Grim! Let go!" Iben said, hoping her own Negaboss would listen to reason. "Iben. No. You have no idea what Yin is like! If he is coming back to Wonderworld, then the power he will have will be overwhelming! He could kill you! Destroy ALL of you!" Grim shouts, trying to get Iben to stop struggling. "We can't just LEAVE Wonderworld! What will happen to everyone?! To Balan and Lance! They barely survived the last encounter with Yin!" Attilio yells.

"But Clown Bro! Yin isn't Lance! He won't take pity on humans! If he sees you he will most likely reduce you to a smoking crater!" Princess Marey said, holding the clown like a toy and shivering in fear. "Well we have to do something! He'll kill Balan and Lance!" Cass shouts. "There's nothing we can do...Yin is a maestro, and maestros are the highest power in Wonderworld...nobody can oppose a Maestro's power." Purrla pointed out

The humans felt more helpless than when Lance had trapped them all in Wonderworld the first time. If there was no higher power than Maestro, and Balan and Lance were the only two maestros that could BARELY fight Yin...what could they do Unbeknownst to them, Kaylo had been seeing what was going on, and she was trembling in fear. She was WITH what Yin wanted...and he was HERE. And nobody else knew where she was. "What am I going to do?! That crazy psycho is here!!" She panicked.

That's when she heard the coaxing Wonderworld sound again "Dear Child...You and your friends must defend the future of Wonderworld..." it whispered "But how?! How do you fight against something as strong as a maestro? Let alone one as crazy and bloodthirsty as Yin?!" She asked out. "You will know...Yin will not get what he is after..." the sounds said.

The pink haired girl didn't know what it was talking about, but that's when the crystalline heart began to float in front of her "Take me now...Descendant of Mirabella. Protect the heart of Wonderworld..." it said.

That was the thing she heard before everything faded to white...

Mei belongs to @sundove88

Rebecca belongs to @thehyperrequiem

Trisha Jane belongs to @lovelyteng

Lora belongs to @alex-frostwalker

Aria belongs to @shadowqueen402

[writeonwhiskey]

So I'm new here, but came here after finding ch23, I had no idea what it was about so I was like I think I need to check this out. HOLY SHIIIIIT. I binged read ALL THE CHAPTERS. DAMN. I ate this all uuuup. It was so good. At first in ch1 I was still kind of laughing, because I had no idea where this was going, but I was so intrigued I just kept reading. Ch21, idk why but it made me kind of emotional. Just reading the thoughts of the last few years (and then you have Hyunjin with his unserious answer). I can tell you, I'm very excited for the next chapter and will be subscribing to the mailing list rn!!

WELCOME 🩵 Glad to have you here.

Thank you for pushing through--I know the premise is WILDLY unrealistic and certainly illegal in the real world hahaha. I'm happy the emotions I'm trying to convey are coming through, it makes me so so happy to hear that.

Since you're on the mailing list you'll get an email with the chapter release date and snippet tomorrow night, so make sure to keep an eye on your spam/junk folder just in case.

[echantedtoon]

Demon Bride Ch23 Problems Solved Problems Made

Warning: Enmu gets slammed to the ground again and Akaza attempts to hit him.

(I ask everyone to be and thank you already for patience. Please remember it akes time to write and many things irl takes up time. Thank you for reading.)

"YOU TOUCHED A WOMAN WITH YOUR FILTHY HANDS!?" 

"YOU FILTHY FUCKING COCKROACH!!"

Usually when one of the Twelve Kizuki is yelling at someone it was a scary sight to see, two would've been very scary to anyone. And they would've most likely attacked Enmu if you hadn't thrown yourself between not just one but four demons that was baring fangs at one another- Or more accurately Akaza, Kyogai, and little Rui was glaring at Enmu with the hare of a thousand hellfires. However like you expected Enmu didn't give two dams about possibly being beaten up. Instead he was behind you with his head leaned against the top of your head and his hands grabbing your shoulders. An amused smile on his face. HOW DID YOU GET YOURSELF INTO THESE THINGS?! You just didn't feel like having four demons brawl in the mansion even if you disliked the one you currently had clinging to you.

''GET. YOUR. HANDS. OFF. MY. MOTHER!!" 

Enmu let out a coo before leaning harder on your head. "I'm afraid Y/n-chan is the only one who may put her hands on me.~"

You blatantly saw veins appear on Akaza's body, Kyogai's hand hovered over the drum on his right thigh, and Rui looked...oddly calm but with a frightening expression he had just before he wrapped up Enmu in spider's web and tossed him out the door. You obviously didn't want to get in trouble for Rui physically attacking a demon lord so you went out to make sure he was alright but when you opened the door, you were stunned to find none other than Akaza there pulling the threads apart with his fists to see what was going on while Kyogai was yelling at Enmu for the damage to his wall where Enmu made impact when Rui tossed him out. Akaza had just finished untying the struggling demon when Rui walked up behind you and demanded that you would come back inside away from the pervert that that laid his hands on you. 

ALL. HELL. BROKE. LOOSE.

You practically had to dive at Enmu and tackle him away from Akaza's fist hitting the floor and leaving a giant hole in the floor. Kyogai had started yelling at Akaza about the damage to his floor but then it sunk in what Rui said and then he directed his anger at Enmu and now you and Enmu were backed into a wall (literally) with three demons wanting to start a fight. However they wouldn't. Not while you stood close enough to be hit if they tried anything.

"NOBODY is doing ANYTHING!!," YOUR voice sternly said calmly faced with these demons. Staring Akaza in the eyes you didn't back down. "Akaza, stand down!"

"He touched you." He didn't even look at you. Instead his eyes stayed right on the smiling lower Moon.

"Yes. And it was for medical practice. The only time it wasn't was when he attempted to kiss me."

Maybe you shouldn't have said that because a GIANT vein popped on his forehead and his eyes nearly broke out bloodshot. " Y/n. Move."

"No. You'll try to kill him."

"I won't kill him. I'm not allowed to." Bones popped as his fists tightened. "But I can sure make him hurt."

''If you hurt him. I'll never forgive ANY of you." Finally his eyes turned to yours which glared right back. "If I want you to attack someone on my behalf then I'll say it, but clearly since Im putting myself in danger right now, I don't want you too. Now. All of you. STAND. DOWN."

Akaza despite your words took a step forward.

"I SAID I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!! CAN YOU LIVE WITH THAT?!"

Silence. Stone Cold. Dead silence. 

...Akaza stepped aside a bit and you saw himself forcibly relax. "..I will. But not for his sake-" 

"And you're not going to attack him once he leaves. I won't allow more fighting involving me while I'm here. And I'm going to be taking responsibility for my stupid mistakes. That being said...Akaza. I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression when we first met." He flinched but you kept talking. You HAD to take the chance to fix this. No more misunderstandings! "I didn't know something like me offering a friendship could be taken out of context to you, but I still messed up. Akaza I didn't make any marriage offers to you. I'm sorry."

There. He could hear his whole world shattering into pieces that moment. However a coo also made you growl and look up to the demon that started this mess. 

"And that goes double for you! Don't think I would find you fond now that I've cleared one problem out of the way!" Enmu fell silent for a long moment but if it was possible pulled you gently closer to his beating chest. 

"I-...I w-was already informed about your misunderstandings for us." You were pulled back to Akaza who had reached a shaking hand out to grab your hand and you froze. His hand was shaking so badly that yours was also shivering. "I know you didn't mean to-...And that's alright but I want..too..." You blinked at him in shock. "...I promised to think about it and I did while I was gone. I still want you. And if you'll have me-" His other hand reached out to brush against your cheek." Soft. Warm. She was so pretty...So beautiful.  "I wish to start courting you. Because I love you. I can't explain it...But I do love you."

You were shocked into silence, mouth agape and when nothing came out his hand on your cheek slid along your face to gently close your mouth with a smile. His eyes briefly glancing at your lips. They looked as soft as rose petals.

"You know..." You finally spoke still stunned. "You're the third person who's confessed their love to me since I've been here. And I don't know how to take it right now."

"Who has confessed?"

Well one was the clingy person hugging you, and the other...Your eyes briefly glanced to Kyogai as he just stared at you..before sadly looking away. It would be better to keep that info to yourself. Actually Akaza would be the fourth to confess if you counted Kaigaku giving you his necklace but you'd deal with that headache when he got back. You were just glad you were able to get one problem cleared! Now there was only three others. Hantengu, Kaigaku, and Rui. While you still tried to talk sense into Rui, you could wait for Kaigaku to return and then clear the air from there. Then that would be another problem off your chest.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that I fix the mistakes I caused starting here on out. And like I said, I don't know how I feel towards any of this."

Akaza nodded and slowly released your hands. "I understand but maybe I could help some how."

You weren't sure what Akaza could do but before you could say anything Kyogai spoke up. "Actually you can!" You both looked at him. He looked at Akaza. "Do you happen to know where Hantengu's sons are located?"

Akaza seemed confused by that part but nodded. "They're all very far from here searching through many children's homes and known orphan populations for a runaway child the Master wants. Why?"

"Hantengu seems to have gotten into his head that Y/n has accepted an arranged marriage between her and one of his sons."

"WHAT?!"

"It's a long story but don't worry. If they've all been on the other side of the Master's provinces then they wouldn't know yet. But could you perhaps locate Hantengu and explain it to him that Y/n didn't agree BEFORE his sons find out? You do know where he lives right?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll do it?"

"Absolutely." If it means less competition for Y/n's heart then he would gladly take on that responsibility. "He lives three days to the south from here. I have nothing important needing my attention so I can spare the time to make sure they're aware of the situation before it gets out of hand. Thank you for making me aware of this. I assure you that he'll understand the situation once I'm finished with him."

You sighed in relief. This was perfect! With Akaza helping you, you wouldn't have to worry about actually trying to track down this Hantengu and explaining everything to him. That was two problems solved, now that only left two others. But you'd worry about that later when Kaigaku eventually came back. 

"Ah. If you also need someone to take the boy off your hands, I can speak to the Master himself.~'' 

All of you paused before looking at Enmu, and you had to really wriggle yourself out of his grasp in order to look at him. And he still smiled through all of this. "What?"

"I don't have the equipment to examine blood myself so the Master was gracious enough to let me use his!~ And your blood is so beautiful might I add.~" You frowned. "The Master would know the perfect person to care for the child! After all he's the one who assigns all the tutors for his daughter.~"

"... Actually...That might actually work," Kyogai mused with a hum before nodding. "Alright." A claw pointed right at Enmu's face. "You ask the Master what he wishes to do with the boy and we'll do that. In the meantime I'll try to get him to un-imprint on Y/n." 

"Can you actually do that?"

"It's not unheard of but it'll take a while. Right Akaza?"... Kyogai turned. "Akaza, what are you doing?"

Akaza had magically disappeared from sight while the three of you were talking and had gone about calming Rui. By the time you three looked over, Akaza was already holding the small boy I'm his arms, cradling him and Rui was munching on something he pulled from a small bag. 

"Mother look!" He held up the small bag now calmer. "Mr. Akaza gave me candy!" He innocently fumbled with the bag. "I like him now."

"He's running a small fever," Akaza spoke a hand pressing to Rui's forehead. "Kyogai, have your healer look over him once I leave." Rui blinked as he was handed over to Kyogai.

"Oh are you leaving now?"

Akaza nodded. "If this needs to be resolved then I better get to Hantengu before his sons do, which means I'll need the head start." He paused before looking at you. "Y/n...I k-know it's selfish of me t-to ask this but.. could you at least think about what I said?"

...you nodded. "I will but I don't promise anything to o anyone."

"That is fair enough.'

You smiled at them all beautifully, lovely. "Thank you."

Hearts skipped a full beat for the three watching. Faces full of red. A thick floral scent making them woozy. However it was only one that spoke.

"Ah! There's that smell again!" Enmu smiled. "Begonias! Such a pretty scent for a pretty human.~"

"... Begonias? Are you dense?" Kyogai frowned at Enmu. "The only flower I smell is rose."

"Then you both need to have your  noses checked." Akaza rose a brow. "I smell neither begonia or rose. Amaryllis blooms is what's here."

You looked between them all confused. "What are you three talking about? I don't smell anything."

The three demons stared silently....before Enmu reached into his overcoat collar and pulled out a notepad and paper before opening it and proceeded to write in it.

"What are you doing you lunatic?"

"Taking notes on the human's strange condition. It seems the strange effect her blood has on us doesn't affect her at all, and even if it does it doesn't seem to be harmful to her and she can't detect whenever it's happening." He explained with a confused hum. "Although the effects are ... strange. It doesn't seem to be harmful to us either but it effects our sense of smell. Perhaps some kind of camouflage tactic? Maybe a calming tool?... Whatever it is, it seems to affect everyone differently. For example I smell nothing but begonias. Kyogai has roses and Akaza had amaryllis blooms. How strange?' He looked up at you. "Has anyone else experienced any strange floral scents from you?"

You blinked. "Uh... Kaigaku mentioned once that he thought my blood smelt like peach blossoms."

Enmu's brows shot up. "Really? He mentioned your blood specifically?" You nodded and he proceeded to write that down. "So it's not just me who connected the smells to your blood. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this."

"I have!" Rui's little hand went up gripping some more candy gaining everyone's attention. "But you're all wrong. Roses and peaches are dumb guesses. Mother smells like beautiful carnations." He then shoved the fistful of candy into his mouth chewing noisily.

"Carnations? That's an interesting take actually as carnations are widely accepted to symbolize motherhood." More scribbling as you stared stunned at Rui. "Before I leave Id like to ask a few of your servants of they also smelt anything strange like us. It might just be the key to what is going on in her body."

"Huh? Oh. Yes. You may ask Eri. She used to be the human's personal aid and I must summon her anyways to look over the boy." As if on cue he hit the drum on his stomach twice each letting out a BUM sound each time. "You can also ask Nagi who's currently serving her. But be sure that's the only thing you do!"

"You called me, my Lord." Immediately a servant appeared and bowed to him. 

"Yes. Tell Eri I want her to come here immediately."...He then eyed the cracks in the wall from Rui throwing Enmu and the hole Akaza had punched in the floor and sighed. "And tell Mayla to get some builders over here to repair all the damage. My home is not a fighting ring!" He shot Akaza a look.

"Oh...I apologize for the damage."

The servant bowed. "Of course. Will there be anything else?"

"Mother, I'm hungry. I want lunch."

"*Sigh* And bring food for the child and human from the kitchen."

The servant bowed and left leaving you all there. Akaza again apologized to Kyogai for the hole in the floor before also leaving, but not before coming back to give your hands one last squeeze before leaving. The next to leave was Enmu after you saw him speak to Eri and a few other servants writing all of it down into that notepad of his before he returned to you smiling.

"Well it seems like quite a mystery. Besides myself and four other specific demons, everyone else doesn't smell a specific flower."

"So ..they don't smell anything?"

"Oh no. They do. But it's totally different. You see everyone I spoke to agreed that you smell like flowers..But they can't tell me one specific TYPE of flower. To them it's just an indescribable floral scent that doesn't have any one specific flower where as myself and four others ONLY smell one kind of flower and for each of us it's different."

"So...I smell like flowers to all demons, but it's more of a field of flowers that they can't make out? Except for a few like you and Akaza that smells just one specific flower?"

"Now you're getting it! And for each of us it's different, but I haven't figured out how or why yet." 

You watched as he slipped the notepad back in his coat and lean over to grab his suitcase. "Then what will you do now?"

"Well..First I'm going to contact the families of the demon that Kyogai killed when they chased you in here. Perhaps something in their bodies are affecting you, but since their corpses were burnt, I can't take any direct samples from them. So I'll need the next best thing." He smiled wider. "I'll need to take blood samples from their closest family members and compare it to yours to see if there's any similarities. If there's nothing connecting you to them then we can rule out blood contamination by demon DNA. But first I need Kyogai to pull up their records to locate any family. "

"That sounds like a lot of work and just for me of all people. I'm not that important."

"Oh how wrong you are.~," he cooed and tilted his head, "And.." Teal eyes became half lidded with knowing. "I do want to genuinely help you, Y/n.~" He slightly bowed to you. "I shall do my very..."

He paused mouth open in a smile as two arms wrapped around his middle and pulled him against a warm body. Her body leaned against him in an embrace- THUD!! The suitcase dropped from his hand as his body froze. 

"I know this is asking a lot of work from you, and you can be... difficult, but I do appreciate the help you're giving me and I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you and everyone else. I promise to fix everything as soon as I can. Please don't stress yourself out on my part." You slowly let him go and stepped back watching his shocked face. And smiled. "But maybe just tone down the perverted nature a bit from now on."

"....No one had ever t-t-thanked me genuinely before." The shock melted away as he shivered and smiled genuinely. You blinked as a hand tucked under your chin to raise you head just a bit higher. Huh...when did his teal eyes suddenly get closer? "Do you know I also have a strange medical condition?~" He mumbled closer. "You make my heart beat faster.~" purple eyes widened as his face was five inches awa-

SLAM!!

.....You blinked......And looked at your feet.

The touch was gone. And so was Enmu- No. Enmu was still there but now he was laying at your feet laying face down on the floor as flat as a pancake. Behind him, one of his legs was slightly suspended in thin air, and wrapped around his ankle was a spider thread. You slowly followed the thread to where Rui was standing next to Kyogai and firmly held the thread in his hands.

"Do your business with the drum man and leave." Rui then held up the thread to Kyogai. "Here you go. I get extra food now right?"

Kyogai chuckled before gladly accepting the string just as Enmu looked over his shoulder. "I think I'll miss having this child around. Come along, Enmu. I'll get you the documents." He then turned and walked away dragging the other demon behind him

Enmu was quick to grab the suitcase as he was dragged away before smiling and waving at you. "Good bye, Y/n-chan.~ Parting is such sweet sorrow.~"

You stood there for a long moment before blinking and reaching a hand to slowly rub your face. Yep. You had too much to think about right now. Small footsteps ran up to you before someone small threw their arms around your legs. 

"I don't like him! Mother you best stay away! Come read me more stories instead."

You sighed and reached out to pat the top of his head. Whelp...At least most of your problems would be fixed now. Hopefully Akaza would be able to talk sense into Hantengu. Only time could tell.

-THREE DAYS LATER-

Loud footsteps approached a familiar but annoying door and a large fist knocked loudly on the wooden surface demanding an answer. A moment later footsteps approached and the door opened to a sniffling face.

"Akaza. What do you want here?"

A firm push was enough to get inside and walk his way inside without a fight. Of course a whimpering mess was there to greet him by the fireplace. 

"Hantengu."

"AAAAAAHHH HAHAAAAA!! NO NO!! NO MORE THINGS BEING BLAMED ON ME!!"

"Oh calm down. I didn't come here to drag you back to work. I came to just talk." A few more sobs and whimpers. Sigh. Ok. He'll be nice for her sake. "First of all, I want to congratulate you on your retirement and your sons for getting such a high positions."

"*Sniffle* Thank you."

"Secondly, I apologize for dropping I'm unannounced like this. But we need to talk."

"*Sob* It's alright."

A stern look. "Lastly, I need to let you know something serious. A few weeks ago, you had a girl agree to marry one of your four older sons. But you should know that the human woman didn't really agree to that. She didn't agree to any engagement and she didn't understand what you meant. So any engagement you thought about presenting to your sons is off limits. There will be none. Am I being clear enough to you?"

Silence.

.....A sniffle. "Too late, too late. There's no going b-back now."

"What are you talking about?"

"*Sob* They a-already want to be married. *Sniff* It's not M-My fault young men yearn for a married life."

"Well when they get here tell them it's off!"

"N-No. You don't u-u-understand. *Hic* Th-They are on their way to get her now."

"WHAT?! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!! T-THREE DAYS AGO!! N-NOT MUCH TIME LEFT TO SAVE!!"

[youkaigakkou-tl]

Chapter 97 Extended Translation Notes

first off here's the spread without the text at the top. the stuff at the bottom, well..... see if i feel like it

this is mostly just unorganized thoughts nothing like my analysis posts

(future op after writing the whole post: this got kinda long lol)

ok now that im hidden in the readmore i can act insane. RAHHHHH AMAAKI ON THE COLOR PAGE RAHHHH WAHOOOOOO WOOHOOOOO BIG WIN FOR AME NATION ok got that out of my system im normal now

Rain or shine

In case you forgot, ame = rain, haru = sunny. I lose my mind every time this is relevant, like the ending of renren arc.

Whose mom is this

the other 3 are pretty obvious, but the 2nd one isn't immediately recognizable.

(also, 2 checks for "the couple's parents are meeting" for fujiogo and momo and gida)

just for fun, i process-of-eliminationed this

(cover page of chapter 57 my old friend)

everyone greyed out's parents statuses are confirmed, (other than akibe and koizumi, but given the physical features...)

though, i say i did this "just for fun", because i already kinda knew who's mom it was

(from this tweet)

it's mujina's mom. she's beside tamao's mom, the appearance matches, it makes sense.

Haha Sano what the fuck does this mean

the japanese says he "分からん" (wakaran), meaning "i dunno", and the chinese translation outright says "i don't have parents" which SEEMS to be what the jp is implying anyway

sano get back here you're not dunnoing your way out of this one

Also renren realised they don't share a surname. ebisu explain that you're not :>ing your way out of this one either

Shrines, huh

the plate over the torii just says "abe shrine" back in chapter 9, but given my google street view sleuthing and like, story details, even if its not the big fancy one in kyoto it is still an abe no seimei shrine. so on some level, haruaki, you're the god! what a coincidence, the "gods" are exactly as shocked as you are!

Tale of the bamboo cutter

This page was a damn nightmare to translate. (Mame's mistakes, not the actual story in grey. it's a well known classic that's been translated, no need to reinvent the wheel)

I tried to get the "hamuhane" part exactly like the jp, but mame's mistake on the 3 "sun" big child in the first 2 panels is a little different

He interprets "なる人" (naruhito) as "成人" (also naruhito); "hito" means person, the first "naru" means grow (like a plant) or contain (i think), the second one means "adult person".

I suppose I could have also went for "grown" person vs "grown person", but in any case, haruaki's explanation for what a "sun" is on the bottom 2 panels is almost exact, and i thought the "soon" comparison was a good way to get across that's how "sun" is pronounced

(also here's my "hamuhane" tl note)

anyway. nightmare page. looking forward to how the official tl does it when it comes out in (checks watch) like 2 years?

Ame and Ebisu interaction real

dunno if it gets across, but I think he has a height complex...

pretty weird thing to say, huh, Ebisu? to someone you just met? how do you know that anyway?

the only times Ame appeared has been ch8 when the gang went to Haru's house, ch23 when he pretended to be Haru (the rest of the class should be none the wiser) ch39 in the hospital (none of the class was there to see)

and then Ebisu gets introduced in ch 53, after that he hears firsthand that Haru has a twin in ch58, and then Ame is there in renren arc and outright says he's scared of youkai in ch76

Notice how Ebisu wasn't present for any of Ame's appearances prior. he wasn't involved in renren arc, and the person i think is his spy was turned to stone on the ground floor while the reveal on the roof happened.

of course, this could just be a combination of him projecting on Ame, and seeing him visibly scared of youkai a few pages prior. but "hate" is a fairly specific and strong word to use, and i also think he's too smart to not know Ame hates youkai, just a matter of where he got the info from.

The person I think is his spy

after doing some thinking (furigana reads: seeing this post), I think there's someone who's fairly likely to be the spy.

observe, the chart for "people who we've seen the parents of" and "people ranmaru might have seen in ch62"

we've narrowed it down to one man. (ok well there's a few in common here, but satsuki doesnt get screentime ever and ogata twins are too obvious for how much emphasis the ranmaru scene was given)

the kudan, Kurahashi.

but wait, you say, we know he's a youkai. he's got horns. we've seen him use his abilities.

but consider everything else. how often he interacts with Ebisu. how often he sticks his neck out for Ebisu

(i also have a lot of Thoughts abt the part timing incident, specifically his prediction

in his first appearance, he mentioned he couldn't see Haru's future well (because of his exorcism power, which, mind you, still don't know how that works exactly)

wouldn't be a stretch to think that his prediction wouldn't/can't take a god's interference into account. the thug was going to say "the customer is god" either way, but there's also the possibility that the moment kurahashi stepped in, his prediction of "toubyou get punched" couldn't play out exactly so the totally different thing of Ebisu stepping in happened. anyway)

it's not like any individual event incriminates him, rather how frequently it happens. in fact, kurahashi has been involved almost every time Ebisu appears. (put it another way, Ebisu's only major appearances where Kurahashi wasn't involved in some way was this chapter, and the youkai train)

adding on to that, we don't have any info on what his personal life is like, odd considering the amount of screentime he gets. (all of this is relevant to this chapter bc this would have been the perfect opportunity to show his parents, IF HE HAS ANY) the only things we know about his personal life is he's in the basketball club??? and that he was "raised to help people in trouble" whatever "raised" or "help" or "trouble" means

and now, the final nail in the coffin: this alternate cover that came with the 2021 december gfantasy issue

(oh yeah its also my blog header)

none of the official images of it included the flap with ranmaru, and previously i was willing to believe it's just a coincidence for 4 characters related to gods and kurahashi to be on the back cover together, but now that i've seen the whole thing, i feel like ranmaru being there seals the deal that it's intentional

count em, 5 whole characters, basically every major character that is/was a god, and one kurahashi yuuta, who we know nothing about despite his frequent appearances? kinda sus

and now, to return to the first question, isn't he a youkai? horns and youkai powers and all?

and to that i say: he could be another creature. we've just seen an example of this, suzaku, divine fire bird, becoming a tengu, which is also a bird

looking up kudan, it has been theorized that it's based off another mythical creature: the Bai Ze (or Hakutaku), a divine cow-like beast from china, who shares many characteristics with the kudan, only difference being it's associated with good luck instead of misfortune

ok this is kind of a nonsense theory but can you imagine. at the very least, theres a lot of very sus things about kurahashi specifically regarding ebisu. on the off chance he is a bai ze, it would make this image very funny

beniko the zashiki warashi, an auspicious youkai; sano the god of pestilence, but as a person brings haruaki good luck; and then kurahashi, whats his deal man?

thats all i have to say! lemme paste this into google docs for a word count-

oh. oh no. what the fuck how did this happen wasnt this a tl note

anyway hope u enjoyed this tl-note-turned-ebisu-kurahashi-analysis post! there's still way more i could analyse of ebisu and i'll probably do that someday. i could pick apart every word he says and still not know what his deal is

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 38

Chapter 38: “Forest of Vows”

Letting y’all know right now, if these become rather short, you can blame TotK. I purposefully had a good week of chapters written out in advance this whole time because I knew I’d become too attached to the game (& I’m loving it so far of course, though I don’t feel like I’ve gotten very far atm). So it’s been a few days for me personally to write more, but here we are and oh boy, what a way to start by saying farewell to this absolute queen. Don’t worry, honey, I’ll fangirl about you more once September hits.

That’s because all the books the house had were transported over from the human side of the world, sweetie. I was gonna question whether or not demons even use books, but then I remember Ayshe’s father taught her how to read, so yeah, they do. Anyways, I know demons are generally larger than any human but I wonder if these huge trees make them feel small at all? Or it’s probably all so normal to them they don’t even think twice about it.

This little fantasy of Emma’s is too cute. I love that she thought of the other kids like Phil who were left behind at the house, but it hurts not seeing Norman there. Is it safe to assume Ray made all that food? Funny how Emma sorta predicted him becoming our team chef later on.

My boy, for once in your life, can you please pat her head nicely? Especially when she’s injured! Pfftt I don’t mind it really, but I liked how the anime switched it up and just had him scare her with the jar instead. Her yell was equally as good. & I know for sure I was reading an unofficial translation the first time I picked up this series because I distinctly remember Ray going “Heyoooo” instead. I dunno why it stuck with me but to this day I greet people with that a lot.

Him watching out for her once again and more importantly, HIS APOLOGY!!! Anime made his voice SO SOFT it brings me close to tears. And she just smiles and accept it all! 

He is so darn grateful, look at this smile!! I know the second season messed up a whole lot, but I gotta thank them for nailing this whole scene. All voice actresses did a splendid job with these two.

HIS PROMISE!!! One of my favorite moments of whole series and no doubt one of his best, probably the pivotal moment of his character development actually.

“Ray once believed his life was cursed and that he deserved to die after spending years thinking his family were nothing but a huge burden. So for him to come around after his attempted suicide and vow to live and protect the siblings he was so close to abandoning is the perfect example of character development. Needless to say he does stay true to this promise by being completely loyal to Emma and supportive of their family throughout the entire rest of the series and I’m so proud.” - a lazy chidoroki

Ray spent most of his life sorta isolated from the others because he knew the house’s secret and didn’t want to drag anyone else down with him, so for him to come around and tell Emma that it’s better to work together with everyone to reach their goal.. it just hits so hard.

My random pen question from ch23 about whether the WM pen actually had ink or not has been answered (though Snickers pointed this out too in the tags that day so thank you for not letting my mind wonder endlessly about it).

Could you imagine just walking around with your best buddy, having the time of your lives admiring this grand forest, when suddenly they fall through the ground with no explanation. Talk about scary.

It hasn’t even been five minutes and Ray’s already proving how serious he’s keeping his promise. I love this boy and all that rage on his face. Also, Chris being totally lost about what’s happening and just having Emma drag him everywhere.

Favorite panel/moment:

Yet another head pat with Chris and his adorable trotting.

[berenwrites]

Whole New Us Ch13 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Whole New Us: Trauma Bonded and Beyond

A/N: Please be aware that this chapter has bad things happening to Steve - I wouldn't say any worse than what the actual show likes to put him through (s3 I'm looking at you), but darker than the rest of the fic so far. My beta reader (my sister) also called me a cow for where the chapter stops, so you have been warned ;)).

Also on AO3 | Or here CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16 | CH17 | CH18 | CH19 | CH20 | CH21 | CH22 | CH23 | CH24 | CH25 (Mature) | CH25 (Fade to black) COMPLETE

Summary: Steve has been ignoring his own problems, he’s been busy. They’ve all been busy, preoccupied with fixing everything that was broken. Vecna has been defeated, but the Upside Down is still there, and the gates are not completely closed even though Hawkins has almost returned to normal. It’s been a couple of months and the aftereffects of Steve’s encounter with the demobats is about to come back to bite him. However, it also brings some unexpected hope.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Rating: Teen (with mature content in later chapters)

Chapter 13.    Secret Places

Robin had nipped out during her break to pick up a few things she had promised to get for her mom, so Steve was left manning Family Video by himself. Luckily for him it was completely dead. Clearly it was too early on a Saturday for anyone in Hawkins to care about renting movies. He was working on the rewind pile, but mostly he was daydreaming.

After their rather serious conversation a couple of nights previously, he and Eddie had mutually decided to take their relationship to the next level. Not what he would have described as full-on sex, but skin on skin and hands everywhere. It had given him plenty to daydream about, and Robin had complained loudly that he wasn’t paying enough attention to her after he had accidentally confessed he was thinking about his hot boyfriend, so he was taking the opportunity for what it was.

Eddie was currently at his place having a band rehearsal in his garage, since Eddie didn’t yet feel comfortable going to Gareth’s after what had happened with Jason. Steve was really hoping to hear some of Eddie’s music live soon, but today was not that day. He could imagine how sexy Eddie would be in full metal mode, however.

When the door sounded, he looked up wondering if it was his best friend back already.

The pretty blond woman and her tall hulking companion immediately put him on edge. Steve had never seen them before. But then the man smiled, whispering something, the woman rolled her eyes and they headed into the racks like perfectly normal customers. Steve watched them out of the corner of his eye for a little while, but then told himself he was being paranoid and got back on with his work, although he did glance up every now and then.

“Hi,” a distinctly sexy voice said, just after he bent down to pick up a wayward tape.

He stood up quickly to find the woman leaning on the counter. Once upon a time the way she was leaning to give an ample view of her cleavage would have had Steve flirting in a heartbeat, but there was something off that he just couldn’t shake. Instead, he simply slapped his customer service smile in place and tried to figure out what was setting him off.

“Hello,” he said, “how can I help?”

“Well,” she said, smiling at him in a very unsubtle way, “my boyfriend and I were looking for something a little naughty for the weekend. Do you have any recommendations?”

“We have a good selection of R rated movies,” Steve told her in full customer service mode, “so it would depend what you’re interested in, or we have some adult rated titles behind the curtain at the back.”

“Do you think you could show me?” she asked, leaning over the counter even more.

It was so blatant it made him uncomfortable. And that was the moment he realised he had completely lost sight of her boyfriend. As he lifted his head to look around there was a hissing sound and a sharp pain in his neck. Grabbing at it he ripped out something cylindrical, looking down stupidly at what was clearly a dart in his hand.

“Now you are ours,” the woman said, American accent completely gone.

Steve’s brain screamed Russian, but there was nothing he could do as everything started going dark. Warn Eddie was the only rational thought in his brain before someone stuck something that crackled in his back and all his muscled seized as he fell into darkness.

~*~

Steve came to with his fight or flight mode very much still active and he surged forward, only to find he couldn’t move. Metal dug into his skin, bringing him up short as he flexed from head to foot.

“Interesting,” said a heavily accented voice, “Subject A is conscious three hours before calculated estimate.”

Blinking, Steve did his best to gather his scattered thoughts to figure out what was going on. As his eyes finally focused, he discovered himself looking at the same face he had seen as he passed out, only now the woman had her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and she was wearing a lab coat. Panic made him struggle, but he couldn’t even turn his head.

He was strapped, crucifix style to some sort of gurney, almost upright, but not quite, by thick metal bands. The metal of what he was lying on was unforgiving against his back and he realised his shirt and vest had been removed. There was even a strap tight across his forehead keeping him completely immobile. It was difficult to see anything, but he could see wires coming from his chest, and a tube running to his left arm.

He was strong, but even his new strength wasn’t a match for the amount of metal pinning him down.

“What’s happening?” he asked, eyes frantically darting around at the flashing lights and computer equipment all around what he realised was a lab.

The woman ignored him, turning and saying something in Russian while she ticked something else off on her clipboard.

“Level 1,” she said in English, giving him a look he remembered all too well from his last interaction with Russians.

The woman wanted him to understand, wanted him to be afraid. He was so busy trying to figure out why, his still confused brain ignored the man moving to his left. His error became obvious when something cold jabbed him in the side. He had just enough time to flick his eyes downwards to see a long metal pole when the man holding it pulled a trigger on the end.

A cry ripped from his throat as electricity scorched through his body. Metal dug into his arms, legs and torso as his muscles cramped, spasming as the cattle prod like device delivered its painful load. For long seconds he couldn’t breathe. Something close was beeping wildly. It took everything he had to keep the otherness inside.

“What are you doing?” he gasped out when the weapon was withdrawn.

Everyone ignored him.

“No response,” the woman said, writing on her clipboard. “Level 2.”

Steve tensed, but it did no good. The pain was worse, his body convulsed just as it had before, and he was left dazed and gasping when the torment was withdrawn. He had no defence.

They got to level four before he could no longer repress the changes to his body. Claws ripped from his fingers, fangs descended in his upper jaw, and the room around him brightened considerably in his vision.

The female scientist observed him like some kind of animal, noting down things as she did, showing no hint of surprise at what she was seeing. Only then did he fully understand. They knew, the Russians already knew what he was, they just wanted to know how he ticked. The fear twisting through his body morphed into complete dread.

“Level 5,” she said.

“No please,” he begged, but they weren’t listening.

He couldn’t control the pain, he couldn’t control his reactions to it. Then the Russian’s reached level nine. Pure survival exploded through his brain. Everything vanished in a haze of pure instinct as his system screamed danger. Something popped as he surged against his restraints and he could move his wrist.

Someone was shouting in Russian as he struggled. He was fighting with every fibre of his being, and he could hear the incessant beeping of an alarm. With his heart beating wildly in his ears, he gave in to pure need until it felt like someone smothered him in fog. Between one breath and the next, the fight burned out of him. He could barely move.

The skin on his wrists and over his chest prickled and he had just about enough wherewithal to realise he had scales. He’d never done that outside the Upside Down before. It felt wrong, alien to the real world. Something inside him wanted to scream, but all he could manage was a weak moan. Even as the extreme changes faded, they left him reeling. He wished he could just let go, pass out, but his system kept on fighting.

“Inhibitor 1 successful,” his tormentor said, ticking it off on her clipboard.

She looked into his eyes and smiled.

“Level 1, stage 2,” she said, before turning to her subordinates and snapping something in Russian.

The strap he had managed to pull from its fastening was reattached and it started all over again.

He lost count as they tortured him, noting his responses at each stage of their experiment without so much as a tiny sign or remorse. They took him past the first limit, then the second before pumping something else into his system and doing it again. He was pretty sure he was in hell.

When they finally stopped, moving away to talk in their incomprehensible language, he could have cried. Maybe he did, he couldn’t be sure. Half laying, half supported by his bonds he let himself drift for a while. The drugs swimming in his system made everything hazy. He couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything, but at least they dulled the pain a little.

“Remarkable specimen,” were the words that dragged him back to a vague sense of reality.

The woman was standing right in front of him again, something he had completely missed happening, and she was looking at him like a hunter viewed prey. When the brute with the cattle prod approached again, all Steve could manage was a whine of distress, before the sadist touched it to his skin. The otherness burst to the surface as he screamed, and someone shoved something into his mouth.

Words were spoken in Russian, the pain went away, but the drugs and the aftershocks left his dazed and confused. He didn’t even try and resist as hands touched his face, too out of it to do more than register that something was happening. Moaning he tried to close his mouth, but the obstruction was keeping it open.

At first all he felt was pressure, a pull on his jaw even as his head was held immobile. He didn’t understand, not until the agony lanced through his head and he tasted blood on his tongue. The bastards were extracting one of his fangs and there was nothing he could do about it. At last, his overtaxed system had finally had enough, and darkness reached up to take him.

End of Chapter 13

Chapter 14

[pearblossommina]

ToG Read-A-Long, Kingdom of Ash, day 3

Ch 16

I find all this war strategy talk so boring and eye glazy

Who’s this guy trying to attack Aelin! Fuck him up, Lysandra

Ch17

Oh no! He communicated down a daemati bond and told Erawan… So he knows… but he only knows that Aelin is not at this time where she ought to be; and Lysandra is a known ally.

He might come to attack them knowing there is a lack of firepower. I think it’s no use getting too worried about it, there’s not really anything they can do right now, anyway, except carry on as planned.

Ah oh yeah! Nox Owens. Nice to see a familiar face, all this time later. He’s smart, too.

Ch18

"Of course, in my plans to get you out of harm's way, it seems it only led you closer to it.”

Are we finding out just now that Chaol’s dad loved him all along?

Interesting way to show love, demanding that your son be your heir, and downtalking all of his accomplishments and dreams. He didn’t show any concern for the fact that he was injured, or any excitement for the fact that he has been healed. No warmth for his new daughter-in-law. Just an all around mean, unpleasant father.

I can’t believe he was smart enough to stand up to Erawan and the valg. He seems the sort to fall in line and not care about anything. He doesn’t even seem to care that much about his own citizens, despite being their lord, and wanting Chaol to be after he falls.

Ch19

I feel bad that Yrene has to be lady of this place. It’s so bleak and grim and unhappy. She might be more of a lady than Chaol has ever met, but she deserves better than this.

It’s hard to expect her to rule over Westfall with him when he hates this place, and wanted to get away from the duty himself.

Ch20

This was spooky!

Maeve doing all she can to convince Aelin she’s not a villain while psychologically torturing her with visions of being a sweet, loving aunt. She probably could have gotten away with it if she didn’t insist on murdering her mate - like girl - are you for real? How is anyone supposed to believe you’re not an actual villain when you do shit like that.

Ch21

Oh Rowan!!!! He’s here to trick Maeve! I’m so excited! So ready for shit to go down.

Elide, I love you so much. The actual rescue team: Elide, on her own, who no one expects, because she’s so… small!

You are my favorite. Go save your queen.

Ch22

Valg fighting the forces at Terrasen. It’s not good - it’s real bad actually. They’re not gonna make it, they need firepower to fight back

(Rowan can you hurry)

Ch23

Elide just admiring this beautiful fae woman and talking about her husky voice like. Girl. You’re so gay. Just admit it. (Love you Elide)

“Elide hadn't seen anything that came close to pining in Essar's face, but gods, she was beautiful. And smart. And kind. And Lorcan had let her go, somehow.”

I’m expected to believe Elide isn’t a girl-kisser? I rest my case your honor.

Ch24

I’m having kind of a hard time with this book and how often the perspective changes from one character to the next. It’s got quite the ensamble cast, and quite a lot to pay attention to. I’m just having a hard time harnessing my attention span to focus on what’s going on in the present moment.

Anyway it’s good to see Dorian and Manon again

Abraxos has a mate, that’s cute, Wyverns are people too!

I like soft moments, like saying out loud that you care about someone

Brown eyes. Nice.

[dirtyoldmanhole]

ch23 opens with one of the funniest moments in a video game ever despite the morbid conversation.

ryoma opens with something he's been pondering over.

extremely reasonable, and he's already pretty sharp for a FE protagonist for noticing this, and not glossing it over like corrin just did. (when ryoma x alphonse 'we notice shit no other FE lead does?' forging bonds in FEH?)

(worth noting that leo and takumi have probably been thinking about this too, but left the floor to ryoma to broach it with corrin, considering his closeness with scarlet.)

...........

..........................................

Corrin: That can't be! Ryoma: Think about it. We were the only ones who jumped off that bridge. Gunter: And you said yourself that you and Scarlet were attacked as you were falling, milady. Corrin: Ah, I see now what you mean... Ryoma: For you to be ambushed as you fell... The killer must have jumped with our group. You've wanted us all to trust each other, so I didn't want to say anything... At least, not until I was certain. Corrin: I appreciate that, Ryoma. Ryoma: However, it's possible that we'll encounter even stronger resistance from here on in. We may even reach Anankos soon.

...................................................................................................

i can't. I cAN'T

you know the funniest thing about gunter

the man has the dryest, sickest sense of humor i have ever seen. HE SAYS THAT WHEN HE NOT ONLY KNOWS buT IS PLANNING ON BETRAYING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU FUCKER

....

honestly this screenshot's pretty priceless too

YOU

ARE

STARING AT HIM,

GIRL

GOD! GOD!!!!!! I CAN'T!

the man frikkin full on trolls the absolute shit out of every royal in that little scene. and he doesn't just go 'gee i wonder :D' all nodding thoughtfully along. NO THIS FUCKER HAS FUN WITH IT. 'it would be tragiiiiiiic' MY ASS

[tearfully muffled between my hands] god i am in so deep in this brain rot

....

ANYWAY

ch23 ends and

hoooooooly shit

there's crazy symbolisim with these camera angles i completely missed the first time around. the scene is arete's real death, right (azura's mother, since possessed by anankos. we're gonna see a lot of possessions coming up.)

guess who was blatantly right behind arete's sprite in the opening, in a total blink-and-you-missed-it-moment .5 seconds right before she popped up?

... wha-ba-ba-bam!

now, could me frantically pointing at the shot symbolism here be coincidence/me reaching?

I'd probably agree if this shot was in a vacuum, but given the parallel of azura>possesed mom, and corrin>possessed(psuedo)dad, and the chronological order that this + the possessions are going in, plus some more angles below, I genuinely think this is intentional. "layers" of possession, if you will, and anankos steadily working his way closer to corrin's inner circle.

ryoma calls out- "it might be a trap!"

(WHICH IS ANOTHER ECHO.... OF GUESS WHICH UPCOMING SCENE.....)

(second screenshot's of CORRIN DOING THE EXACT SAME THING WITH HIS POSSESSION YEAH.....)

holyshitholyshitholyshit

and then if the action / script echos wasn't foreshadowing enough you get THIS freaking angle right after arete's death with gunter unsubtly, and "weirdly" enough (to most players) very much front-frame focused all the sudden.

...........................

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book I: Forging His Own Bath: Ch23: Welcome

Jack rode on Arcee up to the garage. As they approached it looked so different. The dingy painted metal had been clad with concrete panels that were becoming common. It made it look quaint, and oddly inviting. Arcee stopped as soon as they turned off, and the two simply stared at it.

"This is almost looking like Cybertron." Arcee stated. "I think I actually like it better."

"It's kind of new." Jack stated. "It's easy to build, easy to install, is great in most weather, and has great insulation."

"We should use it in Cybertron." Arcee stated.

"You know what?" Jack asked, "Probably." He then looked up, and they could see the new south facing windows with sun shades.

"More windows?" Arcee asked.

Jack turned to scowl at her, "You were literally there when we told the contractor."

"Yeah, but the difference is that I wasn't really paying attention." Arcee replied. Jack scowled again. In reply, Arcee knelt down and pulled him into a kiss. The kiss lingered until they slowly pulled away, "What I care about is living with you. We could live in a cardboard box, for all I cared. Well, assuming I could fit in it."

"So, you don't care about our home?" Jack asked.

"Quite the opposite." she said, and he glared at her, "I listened to everything when you decided it."

"And?" Jack asked.

"I agreed with everything." she said, and momentarily paused, "You are so diligent, that you had already solved all of the problems before you brought them up to me."

Jack stared into her eyes for a moment, "I guess I did." The two turned back to the garage. Jack made to take a step towards the garage, and stopped as he found Arcee's hand on his shoulder.

"Your suit should be linked to the garage." she stated.

"Oh, right?" Jack asked, He raised his right arm. He pinched his left-hand on the top of his right wrist, and pulled it apart. It revealed a display. He scrolled the display a couple times until he saw the garage doors, with a regular door to it's right. He clicked on the right one and it audibly clicked and started to open. He turned to look up at it. He found Sirenia and June standing there. June was wearing an aquamarine midi dress with cyan bateau collar and angel sleeves. On her feet she wore sensible heels. "Mom?" he asked, and she excitedly wave at him. He walked up to the garage door and paused at the threshold. "What's the occasion?"

"Sirenia wanted to do something nice for you, and the day you move in seemed like a good idea."

"I... guess..." Jack said, and looked back at his mother, "You do look good. Which is suspicious."

"I can't look good?" June shyly asked.

"Well, obviously you can, but I haven't..."

"I looked through my closet, and realized I haven't worn most of it for decade. So, I terfed all of the old stuff, and refreshed my wardrobe. What do you think?" she asked, and did a twirl.

"You look beautiful." Jack said to her.

"I'll say." Arcee said as she loomed beside him.

"Thank you." June said. "Why don't I show you around your new home?"

"Our new home?" Arcee asked.

"But I asked the contractor to lie about the day it would be finished, so I could set it up." Arcee glared at Sirenia. "I told her not to tell you."

"And why not?" Arcee forcefully asked.

"Because are completely incapable of lying to Jack." June said with a smile. Arcee glared at her for a moment before nodding. "Here we have the bike stable, or whatever you want to call it?" She gestured to where the office had been. It was largely empty, with a cantelevered room above it. The room had a window looking out. She then turned to Arcee, "I'm afraid you can't come with me for this part." she said. "You coming Jack?" she asked him.

"Uh, yeah, sure." he replied.

She waved him over the stairs flush against the wall. He followed her up the stairs. She paused at the top, moving enough to let him join her there. "So, we have the mother-in-law suite."

"I know?" Jack asked.

"But have you seen it?" she asked, and he shook his head. She stepped into the first room, and it as setup like a living room. "Here's my living room." she said, and stepped through. "And here's my bedroom."

"Uh, huh?" Jack asked.

June turned against the back wall, opening the door, "And here's my full bathroom. Which, thank you, by the way." she said with a brilliant smile.

"You deserve it." he said. She quickly moved in to hug him, before quickly moving away. She then stepped into the living room and up the window. She flipped a latch, and the window opened outwards. She stuck her head out and waved at Arcee and Sirenia. Arcee gave a simple wave in reply, Sirenia a bit more enthusiastic. "I absolutely love this part." She stepped back, waved him on, and walked back to the stairs and down. "And now for the whole reason Arcee did this."

"So Jack could spend his life with you." June said with a bright smile. She walked over to the much taller entryway to what was the warehouse. Inside was a kitchen with walls that went all the way to the ceiling. "And here's the kitchen!" she excitedly said, and turned towards the femmes. "So, I can teach you to cook!" Arcee smiled, while Sirenia looked positively giddy. She then turned to a door that went almost to the ceiling. It had technology on the side that looked Cybertronian, like the other doors. June pressed it and it split and opened backwards. Inside was a large space, with couches, and a colossal bed, large enough for two Cybertronians femmes. Across from the bed and couch was a colossal screen that looked Cybertronian as well.

Jack saw another colossal door on the rearward wall, and looked at it curiously. "That garden you wanted." he heard his mother say.

"Water catch you wanted." Sirenia said with glee, and June glared at her. "Sorry for spoiling it."

"You think he would have expected it." Arcee said sarcastically.

Jack looked at his mother. "What about you?"

"I have my own, ordinary Human-sized door under the stairs, which you apparently didn't notice." She walked over to the door, pressed a on it, and it opened out. The walked out back and saw what looked like an acre with a 10ft fence. Looking right you could see a Human-sized door that from near the edge of the building. The whole back of the building as covered by a large awning, and considering it was on the north side, in the summer it would provide shade. He stepped out and looked about. Pretty desolate, but that was to be expected from Nevada. He stepped around back and saw the basins for the raincatch.

"It's grey water." Sirenia stated, "The internet says you have to filter it if you want to drink it."

"It's not like it rained." Arcee stated.

"It basically takes a year to build up." Jack stated.

* * *

June stood in the kitchen with Sirenia. Sirenia had kneeled down as Arcee had been shooed off, as there was only room for one fembot in the kitchen. Arcee tried peeking around the corner for a while, but quickly gave up and went to join Jack outside. He was under the shade, and she moved to join him. She slumped down next to him.

"She promised to let you join her next time." Jack said.

"Tsk." Arcee stated.

"She is a servant." Jack said with a smile.

"What am I, the lady of the house?" Arcee asked.

"Yes?" Jack chided. The two relaxed for a few moments longer, "So, do Cybetronians not eat anything?"

"Hm?" Arcee asked, "Mostly the heavy labourers and warrior caste." Jack gave her a questioning, knowing look. "I mean like Bulkhead. I think Humans work the same way, when you break down your muscles, you need food to rebuild them. We need metals."

"And you don't?" Jack asked.

"Well, I do have my sleek, femme fatale body to be thinking of." Arcee said, running her right arm down her entire body.

"Well, it is just the way I love it." Jack said with a smile. Arcee reached her right arm out and gently pulled him towards her.

* * *

Jack could smell the food almost one and slipped out of Arcee's arm. He stood up and walked around Arcee into the house. He paused as he looked over at the bathroom. He wandered over to it. There was a couple of hand-held shower heads. One at his level, and one, much larger much higher up on the wall.

"You'll have to show me how to use that." Arcee stated. "And you know what, I'm going to miss the swimsuit and bucket of water."

"I guess we can still do that every once in a while." Jack said, "But dinner is almost ready, so you should come inside."

Arcee stood up and slowly stepped inside. She paused, looking at the kitchen. "Can I even get through?" she asked.

Jack stepped around and looked at the kitchen, "I guess not."

* * *

The four sat around the table in the main hall. Sirenia and Arcee leaned off to their sides as June and Jack gleefully ate.

* * *

Jack stood nude in the shower, with Arcee and Sirenia looming over him. "Alright, there's two handles, one for hot water and one for cold."

"Why do you need the hot one?" Sirenia asked.

"Because Human's can't be cold." Arcee simply stated.

"It also helps to remove grease." Jack said, "Which, I guess you don't have on Cybertron?" Jack turned both of the nobs, and paused, feeling the stream. Both of the femmes looked at him closely. He readjusted the nobs until he got the right temperature. They could visibly see steam coming off the shower. Arcee reached forward and pulled his hand away. He looked her in the eyes and smiled. She looked away nervously. He then pulled her hand into the stream. "This is the perfect temperature, at least for me." Sirenia reached her arm into the shower to feel the temperature. Jack then looked at the upper shower, "Just remember, the farther is travels the more it cools off." He then reached for the shower head and pulled it from it's cradle. "You can grab the shower head and wet your body." he said, as he moved it around. He then put it back and just let the water wash over him. He grabbed a bar of soap, wet it in the shower, and rubbed it between his hands to lather up. He then proceeded to lather his face and shoulders before rinsing it off.

"So that's how soap works." Sirenia said with great interest. She looked at Arcee, who momentarily looked away.

"She has a bit of experience with soap." Jack simply stated, and Sirenia looked on curiously.

"It's a product of..." Jack said, and trailed off.

"It's what happens when the man finishes." Arcee said. "It's something you will see first hand."

"Wait, what?" Jack asked.

"I have been firm that she is available to you." Arcee replied.

"Doesn't she get a say in the matter." Jack replied. Arcee moved her head towards Sirenia. Jack looked over to her. The smile on her face harrowed him.

"Did you think there is anything I would not do for you?" Sirenia asked. Jack tried to reply, but could not say anything. "Besides, the undeniable joy Arcee describes it with makes me want to try it."

"No pressure." Arcee said, "Other than the one in your balls. She should probably watch for the first time, however."

* * *

Bulkhead drove Miko down the Hydrax Plateau, "Shouldn't we, I don't know, tell them?" Miko asked, "Stay for the party?"

Bulkhead grumbled in reply, "I've never liked the spotlight. If this makes Jack like us even more, it wouldn't be worth it."

"And the party?" Miko asked.

"When's the last time you saw Jack partying?" Bulkhead asked.

"Well, he was there, for the party." Miko stated.

"And what was he doing?" Bulkhead asked, and Miko flashed back to images of Jack simply standing around in different places.

"So, you're saying Jack's too lame to party?" Miko asked.

"Pretty much." Bulkhead replied. "If I wanted fame I could have joined the Elite Guard."

"True." Miko stated.

"Some guys just want to go home and relax."

[zaenight]

Crazy but she's mine ch23

"Ezekiel you need to take a shower and come to bed , your pacing's giving me a headache." Jackie said as Ez stopped , She placed her hands on the sides of his face , his eyes shut , and breathing uneven.

Jackie gets it , imagine finding out one of you biggest enemies was your oldest brother , and then having to burn and bury him.

The men helped Emily to the other side of the border were she was placed with trusted family members of the club.

"Lo siento." Ez said opening his eyes , and kissing her wrist , before kissing her lips .

"Don't apologize , just take a shower- Or we can take a shower together that works too." Jackie said as Ez pulled her hand to the restroom , with a chuckle , the two ended up bathing instead , with Ez having Wandering hands.

Miguel Galindo was no more , along with luis , the two were burned and buried.

And Ezekiel Reyes couldn't care less , because that man was no brother of his , and threatened his Girls and his club , so did he care ? , Fuck no.

------------

one month later

------------

Ez reyes was in bed , his pregnant girl in his arms , he was snoring softly , untill a wet tongue licked his face , a wet snout , poking him.

"Sally." He groaned swatting at the dog.

A gruff bark echoed the room , followed by a laugh , Jackie's laugh.

A flash made him groan , as he opened his eyes , he raised his brow.

Illiana gave a cheeky smile as she held the camera , Ez glanced at Jackie , who was petting sally.

"Sally just wanted to wake you up , I let you sleep in a bit , Angel called saying there was a party at the clubhouse." Jackie said rubbing her stomach , any day now baby reyes would be here.

"You three are enjoying this arn't you?" Ez groaned.

"Yes , yes we are ." Illiana said letting out a laugh , lets just say a pillow fight happened.

#LetEzsleep

----------

The club laughed and drank , some so drunk they danced with brooms.

"I don't want this to end Ezekiel." Jackie whispered .

"And it won't , Mi amor." Ez said kissing her.

"Ezekiel , I want to get ma-Oh fuck!" Jackie said looking down.

Her exclamation , made the club freeze , Bottles turning of the music.

"I think the fucking baby's coming." Jackie said as the boys rushed and stumbled drunkly to her.

"THE BABY SHALL BE BORN!" A very drunk creeper yelled , as Jackie yelled out in pain.

[cherryisagamer]

Yves' route ch23 AND IM FULL OF EMOTIONS

my man is dramatic, I love it lol GET THEM BABY

HE'S TALKING ABOUT MEEEEEE ("me" as in "us" as in "the MC" but oh c'mon yall got it)

and other thing: YES YVES WE ALL BELIEVE AND LOVE YOU!! so believe and love yourself too!

we're here to rescue out of this mess, right, Luke? I have to control my simping on Luke bc it's still Yves' route, I need to focus only in one guy at a time

and we got the others coming but I forgot to take screenshots as per usual lol too much enchanted by Yves in all his glory

Also, I didn't had enough coins for the Normal Avatar Challenge so I had to spend my gems... then I leveled up Yves bond to lv7 and he gave me more 50 gems 🥹 babe i love youuuu