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tilbageidanmark · 2 months ago

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MOVIES I WATCHED THIS WEEK #207:

In a week full of many wonderful movies, India Donaldson's minimalist debut feature GOOD ONE was my most precious experience. I've seen all her previous shorts before, and I sensed this will be a 'good one'. And indeed it was. I hope she'll continue to tell super-realistic character studies like this for the rest of her career.

A middle-aged father, his perceptive 17-yo daughter, and another mess of a divorced buddy of his are going on a camping trip in the Catskills. That's the whole simple plot, but it's told with the maturity and eye-for-details of somebody who had intimately known all three. Not much is said, everything is subtle, quiet, and understated. The girl, Sam, got it all together, and the actress who plays her with such raw intelligence is a revelation. One of my best films of the year. 10/10. [*Female Director*]

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2 INDIAN CLASSICS:

🍿 "Forgive me, my son"...

In HOTEL SALVATION (2016), a 77 year old man dreams that his time on earth came to an end, and he's about to die. He decides to go to the holy city of Varnasi, and his son is forced to set aside his office job, in order to accompany him on his last trip. It's a serene, spiritual story, with none of the big events shown on screen - they are all subtle, because they are peacefully inevitable. The director was 25 when he made his debut with this. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes.

🍿 DEVDAS (2002) is pure hokum. A classic big-budget Bollywood song-and-dance excess, larger than life soap opera, with 3 mega-stars at their peak: SRK, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. A silly romance defeated by society prejudices, but played in the foreground of elaborate and opulent sets. The music numbers (for example Dola Re Dola, Maar Dala, Silsila Ye Chahat Ka, Sheeshe Sa Sheesha Takraye) were spectacular, the budget for glycerine tears must have been huge, but the super-melodramatic plot was ridiculous.

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For a while now I had planned to re-visit the work of 94-year-old documentarian Frederick Wiseman, but his usual grim subjects deterred me. His latest 4-hour (!) saga MENUS PLAISIRS - LES TROISGROS is a good refresher why this is my type of story telling: Captured footage that observes and don't propagate, and most importantly, no voice-over, no narration, no interviews, and NO FUCKING MUSIC in the background to drown everything you see.

The fact that it's a happy topic, light as a bird song, is a huge help. Like Ken Burns' recent documentary about Leonardo, this is Wiseman’s first outside of the USA. Both of them must have felt they ought to look elsewhere to Europe for shreds of sanity and coherence today.

It's an inside look into the French Troisgros restaurant "empire" in the Loire valley and "how it works". From their spacious kitchens, tomato and cheese suppliers, smokehouse, philosophy, beekeepers, vine cellars, taste making, goats, desserts and the three Michelin stars that they’ve earned for over 50 years. it's an absolute delight from start to finish - the anti-Netflix food-porn destination.

(When I was a chef, I collected about 400 cookbooks, and my two most valuable tomes were (Salvador Dalí: Les Diners De Gala, and) the big book by The Troisgrois Brothers...)

Another one with 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes.

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3 BY CZECH ANIMATOR MICHAELA PAVLÁTOVÁ:

🍿 Her ŘEČI, ŘEČI, ŘEČI ("Words, words, words") was nominated for an Oscar in 1991. A terrific wordless film about communication, very much in 'Yellow Submarine' style. In a busy cafe, speech bubbles float from people's mouths into others ears in a humorous musical patterns. 9/10.

🍿 Apparently, much of her work focuses on sex. REPETE (1995) open with the act, and then musically returns to it in many different repetitive forms. Uniquely erotic.

🍿 TRAM (2012) is perfect. A full bodied conductress drive her all-male passengers, and with every rhythmic vibration of the trolley, her fantasies gets hornier and she lets herself go. 10/10. (Full Film Above). [*Female Director*]

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Another gen from ol' Czechoslovakia, THE DEATH OF STALINISM IN BOHEMIA, my 4th by mad surrealist Jan Švankmajer. A piece of modernistic agitprop about his country's history from 1948 to 1989. His most political satire, and as usual, full of bloody cut organs made out of exploding clay played to nonstop disgusting slurping, guttural sounds.

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5 BY CROATIAN DAINA ONIUNAS-PUSIĆ:

🍿 In anticipation of her new, heralded A24 debut feature, 'Tuesday', I watched all her earlier shorts:

THE BEAST (2016), is a very odd look at familial abuse. A 75yo woman is angrily taking care of her invalid 100yo mother. Their relationship is uniquely cruel and unpredictable. That is before a mystical bat flies in and settles under the old woman's bed. Super weird!

🍿 WE FIGHT, BUT YOU'RE FABULOUS (2020) was made entirely of stock footage. A terrific pandemic story told only in voice over: A mother and her gay son keep bitching and complaining to each other.

🍿 RHONNA AND DONNA (2015) had an outrageous premise: One teenage sister plays Juliet in their Shakespeare school play, and her conjoined-twin doesn't want to... The mother, in this one, was just drinking wine while doing her yoga.

🍿 PRESS YOUR LIPS TOGETHER, (2011), her early film school work was also about a mother. This mother got bad news about her 13yo daughter. Slight and juvenile.

🍿 So finally, TUESDAY, another tortured saga of unusual mother and daughter relationship. First of all, it's chilly and ambitious, probably like the nightmare baby of Lynch's 'Eraserhead' [which I haven't seen yet] and 'Everything everywhere all at once'. For a young filmmaker making her debut, it's a bold 'Must see'. Mother Julia Louis-Dreyfus can't cope with the upcoming demise of Tuesday, her terminally-ill teenage daughter. A metaphorical Angel of Death, in the shape of mystical black macaw, visits her to help with her pain before he takes her away - and that in the middle of a zombie outbreak. Like 'Alice in Wonderland', their sizes changes, so they all grow and shrink all the time. Etc.

But it was too horror-like for me, and I couldn't connect. 3/10. [*Female Director*]

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"Judicial errors don't exist."

'Somebody is killing the supreme court judges of Palermo, Sicily' in the 1976 ILLUSTRIOUS CORPSES. Tough guy police inspector Lino Ventura is sent from Rome to solve a series of high-profile assassinations, and uncovers collusions, political conspiracies, and corruption at the highest order of society. For me, it mostly evoked one of my favorite kinks, the leisurely sights and sounds of mid-70's Italy, as depicted on film: Dark piazzas, the half-empty alleyways, the paranoia of the communist movement...

(On a recommendation by my friend HootsMaguire.)

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A WOMAN INTERVIEWED IN ONE CONTINUED SHOT X 2:

🍿 I never heard of the 1993 French masterpiece EMILIE MULLER, but as soon as I finished watching it, I had to watch it again, and then a third time! A young woman arrives for her first ever audition where she's asked to show the contents of her handbag. 10/10. It reminded me very much of another of my French favorites On S'Embrasse?

🍿 In BETTY TELLS A STORY (1972) a woman remembers how she once bought an expensive dress that she couldn't effort and never got to wear, and then tells the same story again, but this time focusing on her feelings about the events she described. 8/10. A seminal feminist work. It was later selected for the National Film Registry. [*Female Director*]

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2 ABOUT PAINFUL MUSLIM TRAUMAS:

🍿 BROTHERHOOD is a very powerful Tunisian short that was nominated for the 2020 Oscars. A simple goatherd family in some remote area experiences painful upheavals when the older son return from Syria with a Burka-clad young wife. 9/10.

The young director, Meryam Joobeur, expanded this story into her latest 'Who do I belong to'. [*Female Director*]

🍿 LISTEN (2014) is a terrifying story of spousal abuse. In a small interrogation room at a Copenhagen police station, a burka-covered woman is begging for help . Her husband had beaten her severely and is now threatens to kill her. Her desperate appeal is repeated again and again but is completely misunderstood, since she only speaks Arabic. 9/10, if you can manage to watch it.

It was made in Danish and Arabic by two directors; One Zambian-Welsh, and the other Finnish-Iranian...

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For the biggest Beatles fan that I was 60 years ago, and the Beatles completist that I've became since, the new Disney documentary BEATLES ‘64 doesn't offer much new. A few unseen clips on-stage and off, David Lynch goes off about the power of music, an editing decision to connect JFK idealism and death to the joy that The Beatles "brought back" on their first US tour. One thing that is painfully obvious from all that old footage: The media blitz that fueled their rise at that time was "SO" shallow, the interviews so inane, the TV and radios just unintelligent.

I hope that they improved since. /s

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DIRECTED BY DANNY DEVITO X2:

🍿 Danny DeVito produced a bunch of movies (Erin Brockovich, Get Shorty, Gattaca), but he also directed 15 movies (including Hoffa, The war of the roses, Matilda, Throw momma from the train). The last one he finished, CURMUDGEONS, became the first ever Vimeo Stuff Pick in 2016. A wonderful surprise about a grumpy 80yo man in an assisted living facility. I had to see it twice in a row! Highly recommended! 8/10.

🍿 NEST OF VIPERS (2011) is another comedic gem with a twist, about old rich Tracey Walters on his death bed.

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HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (the original 1966 television special). My first watch, and because this photo of Boris Karloff made me curious. Directed by Chuck Jones, and very close to Dr. Seuss original book. A radiant, unironically-gorgeous canvas. Another with 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes.

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MY FIRST 2 WITH FRENCH CLAUDE MILLER:

🍿 JULIET IN PARIS (1967) - A young student engages with a series of inexplicable and bizarre acts, including a mutilation of a kitten and drinking its blood. Godard-lite. 2/10.

🍿 In connection with the 100th anniversary of the Lumiere Brothers' first motion picture, 40 directors were each given the opportunity to shoot a 52 second film using the original hand-cranked Cinématographe camera. LUMIÈRE ET COMPAGNIE (1995) was the resulting gimmicky anthology, a curios, self-referential homage. The best usages of the limited format were 1. The recreation of the original 'Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station'. 2. A couple with Down Syndrome kiss. 3. Zhang Yimou's scene at the Great Wall of China. 4. A couple embrace to music, by Claude Lelouch. 5. An egg being fried by Abbas Kiarostami. 6. Spike Lee trying to get his baby daughter to say 'Daddy'. YMMV.

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THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) is HUNTING HUMANS! Sadistic count 'Zaroff' explains his perverted lust for killing humans as a prelude to having sex with their women. Very unusual and very much pre-code! With the same set-up and crew of the people who made King Kong a year later. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. But only 2/10 from me.

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AGAIN?!?!? - "Again!!"- IAIN RANNOCH X 2:

🍿 "Does that cover cakes?"...

Everything I repeated 8-10 times already about my favorite 'Black Mirror' episode, HATED IN THE NATION, (last time in January), still stands. It's one of the best dystopian police procedural I know about people being held responsible for their actions. And the only sequel I ever want is the one where DSI Karin Parke and her sidekick Blue Coulson team up again to solve futuristic high-tech mysteries. And that ominous soundtrack note, man! 10/10.

(I re-watched it mostly for the details of the "Hashtag Seeding" twist, which I want to use myself in my next move...)

🍿 'Black Mirror' was built as a loosely-connected universe, where details from one episode are often referred to in another. F.ex. Blue Coulson is the one who cracked Iain Rannoch's 'Souvenir file', which was the reason for her resigning from forensic. And Iain Rannoch was the child murderer in S2E2 WHITE BEAR episode. This one I saw only once before, for a good reason, and I regret seeing again. It's a sadistic torture-porn, a nasty horror story about a woman who's being punished for an unspeakable act. Mean, distressful nightmare of the very type I don't care for. 1/10. Re-watch for both ♻️.

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A BUNCH OF SHORTS:

🍿 THEN COMES THE BODY tells of a Nigerian young man who taught himself how to dance ballet from watching YouTube tutorials and of the ballet school he started in the open-sewer slums of Lagos. It's the Instagram opposite of the Frederick Wiseman's Troisgros pure documentary style from above, but the subject matter is too powerful, so that the manipulation in this one is soon forgotten. You "will" cry! 7/10.

🍿 MILTON (1992) was the original sketch, part of Mike Judge's early, crude drawings which 7 years later he transformed into 'Office Space'. Every line in this short was used in the live-action version. 8/10.

🍿 COLOUR BOX (1935), a lovely abstract British experimental film, which the Nazi labeled 'degenerate'. Excellent Cuban music score.

🍿 WHO ARE YOU? (2019) by Chilean Julio Pot is a great little animation about a novelist with a writer block. Made in a delightful 'New Yorker' Cartoon style in black with red accents, but unfortunately it was dubbed into English, by voice actors that didn't match the story.

🍿 LIFT (2001) was a semi-pointless British documentary. The director installed himself in a narrow elevator of a typical tower block, and for a long period of time tried to engage in conversation with the ordinary folks who use it. A good concept, but it never got beyond random small talk.

🍿 HI-FI (2000), an early, wordless Sean Baker mood piece. 4 teens ride a sedan through New York at night, looking to score some hard drugs. M'eh.

🍿 MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI (2007), a weird Canadian Oscar-nominated stop motion puppetry nightmare. A creepy-looking 1920's flapper girl on a metaphysical night train is running away from something into unexplainable dreams.

🍿 Jack Stauber's 2020 OPAL, an even weirder, more unsettling mishmash of horrifying trops, done in an ugly, off-putting aesthetics. Low-rent Eraserhead.

🍿 FOUR WOMEN (1975), my first by Julie Dash. A choreographed modern dance interpenetrating the Nina Simon song. [*Female Director*]

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THROW-BACK TO THE ADORA ART PROJECT:

Adora loves to cook.

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(ALL MY FILM REVIEWS - HERE).

#movies #czech cinema #czech animation

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thehydromancer · 11 months ago

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Lordship at Last; A Scrub's Tale

After 268 hours (I know) and 173 levels (I KNOW), I finally cleared my first Elden Ring run. I... love it. It took me a long time to realize exactly why, but when it hit me it made perfect sense. The whole game is the Water Temple. I don't think I need to explain that to anyone. A simple statement, but the more you think about it, the implications are layered and sublime. I vaguely recall an ancient game mag interview with some dev or another who, when asked what his dream project would be, described a grittier Zelda with more subtle storytelling and more interesting uses in combat for traditional equipment such as the hookshot. I remember loving the concept, and later Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom. Elden Ring though feels like the logical conclusion to exploring the freedom and flexibility of modern fantasy adventure games, the masterpiece bookend to the world of possibilities that the OG NES Zelda began to reveal to us.

And what a journey its been. My first Souls-like game, starting out as a bandit named Torrent (IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN THE GAME {I THOUGHT} ADDRESSED MY CHARACTER BY NAME IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES!!!), not understanding how shields worked, and grossly under leveling vigor (hell finished with only 40 before hearing after the fact that 60 is typically the goal). Dying to the lake side ruins bats again. And again. And again. Standing in the Church of Elleh thinking I was safe, studying the Limgrave Tree Sentinel with my shiny new telescope, only for it to drop the walls on me. Not understanding how elemental damages work till the last 3rd of the game. Breezing through some bosses only to be kneecapped physically and spiritually again and again by a pair of mangy mutts, cocaine bear, biblically accurate angel bubbles, or simply a zombie holding a torch causally away from their body. Spending the first half of the game dying in numbers that would make Rosus himself say 'hey slow down there partner, thanks for putting my kids through Raya Lucaria with all those runes you lost, but I really need a break.' Forgetting I'd picked up the crystal tear for cleansing during the Mohg fight, instead trying everything up to and including Law of Regression to clear the triple ring status effect during the fight.

Ever so slowly, painfully, learning the ins and outs of the game. Slowly morphing from a dex curved sword user with throwing knives and a bow to a mage knight desperately cheesing his way through the last 60 hours of the game. SO. MUCH. BACKTRACKING. I must have revisited Stormveil over the course of 100 hours, finding something new every time. Exploring every nook and cranny in the world, scrapping runes together as hard as I could in the early game, only to be shocked at how easy leveling became in the second half of the game. Hosting tryouts for every Spirit Ashes like I was assembling the outer-gods-damned Avengers to fight Thanos wielding the Elden Gauntlet. ACCIDENTALLY STUMBLING UPON DRAGON ELDEN LORD, WHOOPS SORRY SIR(S?) DIDN'T MEAN TO DISTURB YOUR ETERNAL TIMELESS SLUMBER! In the end, somehow, managing to defeat all demigods and I'd guess 95% of the bosses in the game. I know I missed a few, and there was 3 or 4 I purposefully decided to ignore for my own sanity (if Blaidd had been half red wolf he'd of been the next Elden Lord I swear).

Bosses that gave me the greatest trouble at the time;

Margit (pretty sure we killed each other at the same time, so I never got his runes)

Godrick (I'd like to think it'd be a different story now that I've developed some skill and muscle memory but boy was this a grind)

Dragon Tree Sentinel guarding Lyndell (probably over 50 deaths, just the worst, only read about the additional summons later!)

The Elden Beast (how do pure melee builds beat this guy!? I had trouble keeping up with it using various ranged spells, the opportunities to stab it felt few and far inbetween)

Bosses that I was shocked at how easy they were based on memes/carbot/the community;

Radahn (only demigod I beat my first time, still an awesome battle)

Placidusax (one of the most enjoyable fights in hindsight, really felt like I was hitting my stride with the ebb and flow of battle finally)

Malenia, Blade of Miquella (in fairness was probably grossly over leveled by this point, downed in 3 or 4 attempts)

Radagon (the cheese was real but I was also serving it)

Special shout out to the meteorite staff and rock sling spell, the true MVPs of my run and the breakers of bosses, especially dragons. The carian knight sword and grandeur skill had an incredible run until I was able to nab the Sword of Night and Flame, and eventually the Dark Moon Greatsword itself, fulfilling my transformation into Fierce Deity Tarnished. Loretta's War Sickle was surprisingly fun as well for non boss fights.

As I look ahead to the DLC and meander/experiment through a NG+ or 3 while I wait, I can't help but wonder, probably a true dark horse theory... are we, the Tarnished, in some way, shape, or form... Miquella? Why would Malenia, instead of seeking him out to rescue her beloved brother, wait for him in the one place she knows he isn't... convinced he'd return... when it was I, Tarnished, all along who returned? Silly I know. But Torrent (I hate that I have to specify this, the horse) also reacted to Torrent (the Tarnished) in a way that felt more meaningful the second time around after having experienced most of the story. Why would Melina choose us (assuming we were her only attempt) over all others? Did she even truly know?

Alright that was a lot. I wish I'd kept a running journal of my play through, there was just so much wonder and discovery. I look forward to picking up Bloodborne and Lies of P to continue feeding my new addiction!

#Elden Ring #Water Temple #LoZ #Torrent #Tarnished #legend of zelda

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plethoraworldatlas · 1 year ago

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‘El Loco’ wins landslide victory in Argentina that experts say shows scale of frustration with Peronist status quo

Luminaries of the global far right are in raptures over Javier Milei’s thumping election victory in Argentina which experts predict will turn Buenos Aires into a new stomping ground for the populist radical right.

Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro led the merrymaking after their Argentinian ally trounced his rival, the Peronist finance minister Sergio Massa, by nearly 3 million votes in Sunday’s presidential election. The former US president predicted Milei would “truly make Argentina great again” while Brazil’s ex-president applauded a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”.

Bolsonarista and Mileísta activists predicted Milei’s win would be the first in a trio of rightwing conquests that would see Trump and Bolsonaro reclaim power in 2024 and 2026.

In his first post-victory interview on Monday, Milei announced he would travel to the US and Israel – where he has promised to move Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – before being sworn in on 10 December, alongside his ultra-conservative vice-president elect Victoria Villarruel.

Bolsonaro announced he would attend Milei’s inauguration in Buenos Aires and posted footage of a pally video call with Argentina’s president-elect. “I’m really happy,” Bolsonaro told the radical libertarian economist. “You have a big job ahead of you … and it’s a job that goes beyond Argentina,” Brazil’s former leader added. “Gracias!” Milei replied.

Unlike Bolsonaro, a professional politician who posed as an anti-establishment outsider to win power in 2018, Milei is a genuine newcomer to the world of politics. Born in Buenos Aires in 1970, he played in a Rolling Stones cover band and found fame as a foul-mouthed economic pundit on Argentinian television before being elected to congress in 2021 for his libertarian party Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances). Milei’s mercurial personality, expletive-ridden onscreen outbursts and Britpop-style hairdo have cemented his reputation as ‘El Loco’ (The Madman).

From Bogotá and Santiago to Lisbon and Madrid, other ultra-conservative figures voiced delight at Milei’s landslide victory over the centrist Massa, by 14.47m to 11.51m votes.

André Ventura, the leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega! (Enough!), celebrated Milei’s “struggle to defend society” and Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League, sent his congratulations. Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s far-right party Vox, said Milei had opened “a path of future and hope … for Argentines and all of Latin America”.

Hungary’s president Katalin Novák congratulated Milei on a “great victory”.In South America, the Chilean ultra-conservative politician José Antonio Kast congratulated Milei for his “resounding triumph”, writing: “The reconstruction of Argentina starts now”.

The Colombian senator María Fernanda Cabal called Milei’s victory a victory for “sanity, common sense [and] the hope of a rebirth for Argentina”. “Once again Latin America’s depredating left has been defeated.”

#archaeology #far right #javier milei #donald trump #bolsonaro #portugal #matteo salvini #italy #hungary #katalin novak #santiago abascal #spain #chile #maria fernanda #colombia

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home-of-renn · 3 years ago

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Adrien Gets Swole

Adrien knew it wasn't going to be easy. It took months. A stolen ipad, a broken door, multiple power points, and the very last shred of Nathalie's sanity, but finally he had won.

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Adrien was a good son.

He never asked or even expected very much, especially when it came to his father. He did as he was told and always tried to exceed his father’s expectations of him. He was never late for photoshoots or interviews or fittings. He always brought home the highest scores for his subjects and glowing reports from all his teachers. Everyone knew that Adrien was well behaved and quiet, and an absolute ray of sunshine. He always tried his best.

Adrien had come to accept that his father wasn’t the most affectionate man or the best father, but surely his request wasn’t unreasonable. All he wanted to do was gain a bit of muscle. He was sick of eating the flimsy low-calorie meals his personal chefs always cooked up for him. He wanted sustenance. He wanted energy. He wanted to stop being thrown around so much by akumas and having to be saved by Ladybug.

Honestly, he was fine with being saved by his Lady every now and then, but the last akuma attack had really struck a nerve with him. It was by far one of the most inconspicuous akumas they’d had. It had been dressed in a casual knitted sweater and denim jeans and had been barely noticed by the bustling crowds of one of Paris’ more touristy areas. The only give way had been the glowing red eyes and the venomous green hair. It hadn’t even caused a scene right away, instead, it had roamed around Paris until finding a suitably populated area before wreaking havoc in broad daylight. Of course, Ladybug and Chat Noir were quick to the scene, instantly jumping into battle with the akuma that was capable of pulling storybook characters from the pages of a children’s book. The storybook characters had been easy enough to beat, they were flat and paper-like, and were easy to tear apart. And Chat was quick to shred as many of the storybook minions to create a clear path for Ladybug to reach the akuma and its storybook. And everything had been going fine, until Chat had somehow managed to end up in a poorly constructed trap which left him tied up and unable to free himself. What had followed was a slightly humiliating game of keep-away that had Chat Noir being tossed around and kept away from a very irate Ladybug. In the end, he had ended up in the arms of the akuma itself and held hostage, unable to break free from his flimsy bindings. But the worst part of all was that once the akuma was purified and dealt with and Chat still lay tied up on the ground, his Lady had simply crouched down next to him and torn off the bindings with nothing but a swift tug. Not only was he too weak to break through bindings that were basically made of paper, but his Ladybug had to save him in front of the entirety of Paris from an angry librarian. It was certain to say that less than a few hours later videos of him being defeated by paper and being saved by his partner were going viral across the internet.

He just really, really wished that for once it would be him saving Ladybug, not the other way around. After the attack Ladybug had comforted him on a rooftop, insisting that he hadn’t gotten in the way of her attacks and had instead served as a very helpful distraction. But as she talked he couldn’t help but notice the way the muscles in her arms flexed and as she moved, or the way that even her legs had gained more definition. While all Chat Noir had to show was a physique better fitting a runway model than a protector of Paris.

Adrien knew that while his request wasn’t unreasonable, his father wouldn’t give in easily. He knew it would take time, and that he would have to wear his father down, so, he started with Nathalie.

Every morning Nathalie would escort him to school, sitting beside him in the back seat while she informed him of the day’s schedule. He started by dropping some poorly concealed hints about getting some workout equipment.

“Wow Gorilla, you’re looking bigger than usual, have you started working out more? What kind of weights do you use?”

“Nathalie, did you see Liam Hemsworth’s new photoshoot? He was on the front cover, the girls in my class were talking about how good he looks shirtless. I wonder if he works out”

“Nathalie, did you see the new gym that opened up on the other street? Nino’s been thinking about joining, he could really use someone to support him”

“Hey Nathalie, how was your day? A kid in my class called Kim bought a new set of dumbbells. One of them was bigger than my head. Must be nice being that strong”

“So… Nathalie, do you think father would let me get an in-home gym?”

“Nathalie, would you mind if I bought a punching bag?”

Before school, after school, and sometimes even during school, Adrien made sure to pester Nathalie in some way or another in his relation to his quest to gain some muscle. Three weeks later he was sure Nathalie was beginning to splinter. Now was the time to begin work on his father.

He began by scheduling an appointment with him to make the simple request of upping his daily calorie intake. Of course, his father had refused and dismissed him quickly and sent him back to his room. So, he scheduled another appointment, this time making the request to begin some weight training exercises. Citing that a fellow model with whom he frequently took part in photoshoots with, had recently begun building a more muscular physique, resulting in the rapid growth of his fan base. Once again, his father had haughtily dismissed him. However, Adrien would not be deterred by his father’s constant refusals. He’d known from the start that this wasn’t going to be easy.

It took roughly three, almost four months to finally wear down his father. Adrien had been utterly ruthless. Adrien pestered Nathalie into scheduling appointments with his father for every day of the week, repeating the same arguments with his father again and again. When Gabriel had finally snapped and loudly berated Nathalie, forbidding her from scheduling another appointment with his son for the next year and a half, Adrien had simply taken the next logical step in his great master plan. He stole Nathalie’s iPad and scheduled the appointments himself. Of course, he had been thoroughly scolded and grounded for a month when the iPad had finally been recovered. However, Gabriel soon found out that grounding his son, and taking away the already little time he had to spend with his friends away from the house and forcing him to spend that time at home, was something he soon came to deeply regret.

With all the spare time he now had at home, Adrien took it upon himself to barge into his father’s office whenever he thought of a new argument to present to him, whether the argument was as simple as ‘because I want too’, or more complex, such as, ‘I rarely ever do runway modelling so there’s really no need for me to be maintaining this figure all the time since I mostly do magazine shoots and perfume ads. Even for your brand father, I’m sure people would love how healthy and buff I’d look if I didn’t look like a malnourished child’. It seemed as though every hour Adrien would come barrelling into his office, bulldozing his way through Nathalie, slamming his door open and disrupting whatever call or important work he would be doing. Gabriel was so close to shoving his own foot into his own mouth he could almost taste the Italian made leather.

Two and a half weeks into Adrien’s grounding Gabriel put a lock on his office door in hopes of keeping his usually docile son from getting to him. Gabriel was a smart man, a self-made man. He was both a villain and a fashion mogul, and he was used to making calculated decisions that always worked in his favour. This decision however, was not working out in his favour. How he ended up having to hide from his own son in his own house �� he just didn’t know how it had happened. Even with the locks on his door, he could hear Adrien on the other side, rattling the doorknob and bickering with Nathalie. But even he couldn’t live in the safety of his home office forever. But every time he left the locked room Adrien would be waiting for him. Like a predator in the night, stalking its prey, waiting for the exact moment when it was most vulnerable, ready to pounce. Gabriel shivered. How had it come to this? Honestly, he was a little surprised that his usually complacent son could be so loud, and persistent, badgering him every chance he could get. But to be honest, he could believe it, he already look so much like her. Turns out Adrien had inherited more than just his looks from his mother, he had apparently also inherited her relentless, stubborn persistence. Emilie's tenaciousness had been one of the reasons he had fallen in love with her, something that he had always adored about her, and it seems his son had inherited it as well. However, Emilie had been a woman who could wear him out in mere days. And now, sitting in his locked office, staring at the growing pile of paper on the floor, watching as more and more pieces of folded paper were being slid from beneath the door to his office, no doubt by his son who was kneeling on the other side of the locked door sliding across handwritten arguments on the needs of a growing boy – Gabriel placed his head in his hands and sighed, praying that he would be able to get through the next week and a half.

Gabriel did not make it through the next week and a half. God knows he had tried, but the last straw had finally been when Adrien had managed to rattle the doorknob so hard it had fallen off and the boy had put all his weight into slamming the door open, breaking the lock and almost splintering the door in the process. Gabriel couldn’t do it anymore, he couldn’t miss any more phone calls, couldn’t have any more meetings interrupted, couldn’t take having to hide in his own home. Not after falling asleep at his desk because he couldn’t go back to his bedroom. And even he couldn’t stand to see the way his assistant – who was highly skilled in keeping an air of disinterest – almost break her iPad after being spammed by so many emails from Adrien sending online links for purchasing gym equipment and requesting meetings to talk to his father.

Turns out that Gabriel Agreste was not as strong of a man as he thought he was.

#my writing #adrien deserves better #adrien agreste #adrien sugar #fic #ao3 #ml #mlb #chat noir #home of renn #Renn has written #my fic #miraculous ladybug #crosspost #miraculous fanfic #cross posted on ao3

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medalloway-blog · 4 years ago

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Sirius x OC fanfics

This is a list with my fav fanfics with Sirius and Original female characters - all multichapters fanfictions.

Why So Sirius? by gryffindorcutie | Complete (18 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Ariel Prewitt | Sirius Black is five years into his life sentence at Azkaban Asylum when the Wizengamot decides to revisit his case with a hearing.Ariel Prewitt is a jaded reporter for the Daily Prophet who is dying for something exciting to shake up her boring routine. The universe answers her drunken prayers when she is given the interview opportunity of a lifetime. | A very, very favourite one! Very smutty, yes, but with a sweet and loving plot. It’s alternate universe and Sirius has a happy ending in this one.

War Of Attrition by siriusblackfoot | Incomplete (6 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Devin (Muggle) | London, 1980. Sirius Black is on the front lines of the First Wizarding War as Voldemort's army threatens everything he holds dear. The Order is struggling to stay afloat. Friends are starting to look like enemies, and enemies are starting to look like friends.What a horribly inconvenient time to fall in love. | This fanfiction has so much potential, I really hope @siriusblackfoot will finish it one day. The few released chapters are thrilling!

Stray by Molly Raesly | Complete (16 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Eliza Boyd (Muggle) | Sirius Black's motorbike fails in the middle of a torrential downpour, and he seeks shelter in a rundown diner. While at first he just returns to fix his bike, the young muggle waitress might be another reason to stay for some pie. | This is a cute, comforting fanfic, I quite like it. In my mind, I always had the belief Sirius would fall in love with a Muggle.

Snuffles by Mish123 | Complete (18 Chapters) | Older Sirius Black x Dove Alby | Dove works at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Little did she know, feeding the town’s stray dog would put her down a dangerous path. | Really like this one, funny, fluff and smutty. Enjoy!

Pureblood by @twoidiotwriters1 | Ongoing (Book Two) - Book One finished (41 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Persephone Singh | The Singh family has lived in the British wizarding world for several decades. Their policy of purebloods has prevailed along with their hatred for muggles.This ideology is shared by many families, but especially with the Malfoys and the Blacks. All the wizarding world knew who these families were, and they were respected and admired, even feared.The last Singh generation was conformed by Ares Singh II, his wife Amelia, and their five children: Apollo, Isis, Juno, Balder, and Persephone. As expected, this family attended Hogwarts and they all have been part of either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Their pride is lasting, and the adults make sure to inculcate all traditions to their children.But their story will soon be threatened by the changes that the youngest Singh is trying to accomplish. And it all starts when she and her best friend Sirius Black begin their first year at Hogwarts in 1971. | I am still in the first chapters of Book One, but so far, so good, I am totally hooked.

The Rosier Runaway: A Sirius Black Love Story by kittythebutterfly | Ongoing (8 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Florence Rosier | A Marauders Era Hogwarts story, that explores the darker side of the wizarding world, and follows two young people that reject their family's involvement in the increasingly popular dark magic group, the Death Eaters. Instead, they join their friends to protect the wizarding world, and turn to each other for support in finding the courage needed, and help with rejecting their family's expectations.

1976 by ASomewhatCuriousInvitation | Ongoing (13 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Lara Love | Life had been somewhat simple for Sirius Black and Lara Love. Hogwarts in the 1970's had been their arena, and they were the champions. Separate champions, of course. Content to ignore each other as worthy opponents often do in the face of certain defeat. That is, until a chance encounter in the summer of 1976 opened their worlds to the poignant possibility of each other. It was from then, along with the changing seasons, that something began brewing between their stolen glances and stifled thoughts that risked everything: their bodies, their sanities, their hearts. OR, in which two stubborn and secretly broken teens try to deny their feelings but fall in love anyway. It would have been easier to single-handedly take on the giant squid.

How to tame a Marauder by melian225 | Complete (60 Chapters) | Sirius Black x Laura Cauldwell | This fanfic is structured as a coming-of-age story rather than a traditional romance, and covers the last three years of the Marauders' schooling. | Suggested by a reader and I’ll soon start reading it (added to the list 12th April 2021)

For the Greater Good by thesearethebadlands | Incomplete (7 chapters) | Sirius Black x Nora Selwyn | Even though it’s incomplete the written plot is totally worth it. Nora Selwyn disappeared from the Wizarding world fifteen years ago with a heavy heart and a warrant out for her arrest. She hid in the Muggle world to avoid facing the consequences of being a Death Eater and betraying those closest to her, including one Sirius Black. But when the Dark Lord rises again, she must choose between her shadowy past and a new start with the Order.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions to add to this list.

#older sirius black #sirius black #sirius black fanfiction #fanfiction #masterlists #sirius black smut #sirius black fluff #sirius black x oc #marauders era #second wizarding war #sirius black x fem!reader #first wizarding war #order of the phoenix

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bxdbxdboy · 3 years ago

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Character Development

BASICS

Full Name: Luz Noceda

Alias: Apprentice

Nicknames: Bad Boy, (Luz Squad) B.Boy, (herself) Soft Boy, (Cottage) Baby Boy, (Eda) Nice Boy, (Sunny) Sweetheart (Bee)

Sex / Gender: Female, Nonbinary (she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs ) .

Right or Left: Left

Age: 16.

Height: 5'6″.

Eye Color: dark brown

Hair Color: Dark brown

Distinguishing Marks: She has a raven tattoo over her scar she received trying to stop her villain in her timeline. She’s shaved her left eyebrow in the middle to match her friend’s scar.

Paragraph Of Physical Traits: She’s got a rather strong build which means she has no weak nerd arms and a significant amount of muscle to her arm. Her hair is slicked back like a wave and it’s always been like that it just has always naturally curled and folded over in that direction. When she sleeps it gets wavy or spikey sticking up like a parrot.

FAMILY / RELIGION

Parents / Guardians: Camilla Noceda

Siblings: n/a adopted Brother King.

Marital Status: Not married.

Significant Other(s): Bee (Amity-Bee), Blushy (Amity in her timeline)

Children: N/A.

Other Relatives: Many Many cousins, aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides of the family.

Pets: Bunga, (familiar, honey badger) Saturn, (familiar magical Owl) Calypso. (palisman Sable)

Friends: Cottage, Sunny, Iris, Bee, Lucky, Otter, Puppy, Gus, Willow.

Enemies: Emperor Belos.

Ethnicity: Latina

Religion: None.

Beliefs: N/A

Superstitions: black cats, broken mirrors. KARMA!

Languages: English. Spanish.

Diction / Accent: Spanish

SCHOOL / WORK / HOME

Education: Public School / High scool leverl/ Hexside

Degree(s): Not yet.

Occupation: Local Power washer for her boiling isles, Food delivery, Potion distributor.

Own or Rent: Neither.

Living Space: Eda’s home in the owl house, Her home in the human realm, and Magic Treehouse bedroom.

Work Space: N/A.

Main Mode of Transport: Skateboarding, Walking, running, or flying. Can drive, will learn, will drive without license.

PSYCHOLOGY

Fears: Being replaced / abandoned, her anger issues, her home getting concurred, loosing her friends, venomous snakes, possessed creatures, dark mimics. spiders, The deepest depths of the Ocean, Slender Man, Siren Head.

Secrets: A big softie just doesn’t want many who meet her to realize it.

IQ: Was never formally tested, but she may not be as intellectually gifted as the other Luz’s There’s a big jock mentally mindset to her as a whole.

Eating Habits: Ravenous Appetite, no matter how much she eats she’s always asking for more. She can put some food away if someone has something they’re saving it’s too late she’s already gotten to it.

Food Preferences: She enjoys Hot Wings they are her most favorite food besides Pizza coming around at a close second She likes a lot of junk food candy, cookies, chips of all kinds. On occasion she will eat something green though like some lettuce with taco meat or a green pepper. She’ll eat it all everything under the sun and even be adventurous eating a wide margin of other foods. She almost always has hot sauce on her there isn’t a single kind of meal she doesn’t love covered in the hot stuff.

Sleeping Habits: She sleeps well, for the most part, when she isn’t attempting to be a night owl she falls asleep relatively quick, even rivaling some of the younger Luz’s with how early she can fall asleep. It’s likely she has sleep apnea as she has tendency to snore so very loud and wakes up during the night in cold sweat, when she stops breathing from night terrors. She will oversleep until almost 2:00 in the afternoon if not monitored.

Book Preferences: She’s not a big egg-head book reader like the rest of the squad is the most Bad Boy read in school was “Animal Farm”, and The “Lord of the Flies”, in high school two books that peaked her interest a little bit. She also enjoys listening to Cottage read some horror books it’s the most she’ll really listen rather than use her eyes to read, in fact, one would say she struggles to read efficiently.

Music Preferences: Hip Hop, Rap, Dubstep, 80′s music, The Weekend, Various artists.

Leader or Follower: She likes to be the boss, but will occasionally follow if she doesn’t have to do much.

Planner or Spontaneous: Spontaneous! All of her ideas are never planned out she definitely does not look before she leaps. Her leaps are full of optimism and happy stupidity. The only time she tends to plan is when Bee holds her hand and forces her to take a step back.

Journal: Nope

Hobbies: Dancing, listening to music, training, watching videos / shows, exercising, roasting members of the Luz squad, doing dangerous stunts, skateboarding, basketball, baseball, (more so the batting range) Surfing (Prior), Deep woods exploring, practicing her magic, teaching her familiars, (Saturn and Bunga) Listening to music, Swooning Bee, Video games, Baking Pizza, Breakdancing, Beat Boxing, Collecting Hats, Serenading, Dancing, Snuggling King.

How Do They Relax: By listening to some calming beats privately, counting to 10, or at any point stroked by Bee she curls and becomes softer.

What Excites Them: Competitions, Wild magic, Magical Creatures, Parkour, Plane Crash videos, Unus Annus, Dogs! Kitties, Being in charge, Buffalo sauce, Food!, Flirting,

What Stresses Them: Bossy individuals, Strict Parents, Rude people, Being inside the Emperor Castle, Being the butt of the joke, Tests, Explosives. Needles.

Pet Peeves: Vegan food, Whining, losing games, Being accused of being a perv, mocking, people stealing her hat, Lucky sending her cursed images.

Prejudices: high horse, pretends not to be a trouble maker to stay in good graces, struggling to not be hostile towards her doppelgängers,

Attitudes: Closed off, Laid back, Aggressive, or chill and cool depending on who you are. Bad Boy appears to be the “scary” anger issues Luz that is liable to explode at any moment and when she does her face and ears can get as red as Bee’s. You’re either in good graces with her or your not, she’s not always easy to approach unless you have a good sense of humor than she cracks up with you about stupid jokes.

Obsessions: Her shoes and hats, her favorite music, lids, BEE

Addictions: Does addiction to sugary cereal count? because oh my god-!!

Ambitions: Defeat Belos in her timeline, find a way to get adopted as a sibling by Cottage Core, Have her own identity outside of Cottage and the Luz squad. Become a powerful witch, Make her mom proud.

ASTROLOGY / PHISIOLOGY

Birth Date: November 26, 2005.

Sign: Sagittarius

Traits Associated with Western Sign: loyal, smart, assertive, and compassionate personality

Chinese Zodiac Sign: The rooster

Traits Associated with Chinese Sign: active, amusing, and popular within a crowd. Roosters are talkative, outspoken, frank, open, honest, and loyal individuals. They like to be the center of attention and always appear attractive and beautiful.

Handwriting: It’s okay…; fairly sloppy.

Sexual History: N/A.

General Health: She takes pretty good care of herself as far as hygiene and having a good confident attitude. experiencing some struggles with her adhd, bad posture leaves her with some back pain.

Mental Disabilities: PTSD, ADHD, depression,

Allergies: Seasonal.

OBJECTS KEPT IN

Purse / Bag: Wallet, towel, water bottle, Treehouse keys key chain,

Wallet: Photo ID, Gold, Cash, rings, Brass knuckle,

Fridge: Chalked full of between meal and frozen pizza.

Medicine Cabinet: Bandages, Healing Potions, Icey-hot muscle rub,

Glove Compartment: Parking tickets, Trespassing tickets, concert tickets.

Junk Drawer: fidget spinners, gum, pens, sharpies, stress balls.

Backpack: Hats, Snacks, Mints, hair gel, Extra clothes, socks, pepper spray, hand sanitizer, suntan lotion, hair brush

Desk: Doodles, Paper Airplanes, Crumpled up Paper.

Clothes Pockets: Phone, Hot Sauce packets, hand warmers, stress ball.

OTHER

Halloween Costumes: A zombie, the cementary is hiring.

Talents: break dancing, beat boxing, fighting in close quarters, self defense, making Luz squad question their sanity, making jokes, flipping her hat. being annoying.

Politics: Nah.

Flaws: stand offish, moody, blunt and direct, vain, doesn’t like to be on the losing side indecisive, selfish,

Strengths: Her optimism, strong sense of personal integrity, avoiding the status quo, free spirited, confidence level, good sense of humor.

Drugs / Alcohol: N/A. No who invited?

Passwords: The most random shit.

Prized Possessions: Her hat passed down by her oldest cousin, her unus annus sweatshirt, a small wolf plushy named Akela

Time and Place: Currently, at the Treehouse interviewing new members of the Luz squad. She just got back from a trip and she has jet lag.

Special Places: The treehouse, her original house, The owl house, the forest where she goes to meet Blushy, The cliff by the Grom tree, the beach.

Special Memories: Meeting Eda and King then running into Cottage and Bee, Becoming friends with Cottage Core learning magic from them, Teasing Belos and Hunter with Cottage Core, Dancing with Bee at her Grom, becoming a polyamorous couple with Bee and Cottage. Being accepted into the Luz Squad.

Tagged by: Stole it from @witchesborn

Tagging: You, if you want to do it.

#hcs #the bad boy #;Bad Boy #long post #info dump #about b.boy

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angelkurenai · 5 years ago

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Qualified cuddler - Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Title: Qualified cuddler

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: oh my god could you write a tom hiddleston one where y/n is part of the crew cast while filming ragnarrok and they get on very well and everybody loves her, she’s got great style. she’s been sleeping bad a few days and ends up falling a sleep on tom’s lap “be my extra pillow please” and tom’s like “fuck i love this girl (slightly altered)

A/N: Love to get to write the requests, but until I’m done with the current ones I won’t be accepting any more new ones. Thank you!

“Another cup of coffee? I see you've found a whole new appreciation for the beverage, love. Is this the third one today? That's more times than we've talked to each other today.”

You would be lying majorly if you said that you didn't smile the second you heard the soft accented voice, more than you had smiled in the past eight hours. A smile that was only accompanied by a weight lifting off your shoulders. It seemed like whenever you looked at the man your day got ten times better and it definitely had nothing to do with your feelings for him. Not at all... or maybe a little bit. On the other hand your costar and great friend was probably one of the kindest and most considerate people you'd met, so it would be impossible for such a sweet person as Tom to not brighten your day just by giving you a smile.

However, these days had been a lot more than just hard on you, that really even Tom's bright smile and comforting gaze couldn't do enough to make it better. And even more, to give you the sleep you so desperately needed but couldn't find.

“Why, yes. I have never appreciated it as much as now. It seems almost like I've just fallen in love.” you closed your eyes for a small peaceful seconds when he kissed your temple, finding such comfort and relaxation that it surprised you very much pleasantly.

“Ah so you've replaced me? Oh the pain!” he placed a hand over his chest a little bit too dramatically that you couldn't help but chuckle. It came out a little more nervous than you'd like mostly because of how his words made your heart skip a beat or two. Despite your worn-out body and tired, sleep-deprived brain, the effect this man could have on you was unparalleled.

“So it seems. Unfortunately you've been dethroned. The first place in my heart belongs to coffee now.” you raised your cup, smiling before you took a large sip and folding the papers with script for the scene you were supposed to be filming in three hours, you placed them neatly away. It wasn't as if you had been able to read past the same first sentence anyway.

Still with a smile on your lips, much softer, you said “Careful though, if Mark or Scarlett hear us right now there will be nosaving this, I'm telling you.”

“Odin help us.” his eyes widened and he looked around frantically “I sure hope they're not anywhere near. There would be no hearing the end of it. For all I know, they will bring it up on some interview. They even have gotten matching T-shirts which I hope I don't see, either. Something about shipping us and-” but his words came to a halt when he noticed the frown that had set upon your own face. It was so subtle – or maybe present 24/7 the past couple days to the point people and stopped ignoring it or maybe, you believed, they didn't get to notice it in the first place. Being an actress and spending so much time filming not one but two of the biggest and most demanding movies in the past ten years in the MCU meant that not many had the chance to notice let alone consider the reasons why you were so exhausted these days. Not many... but certainly one.

“Feeling tired again, darling?” he asked softly, voice even more soothing and calm than before, as he pressed his palm to your cheek.

“Wha- Uh.” you shook your head, trying to give him a reassuring smile “No. I only zoned out for a second, sorry. I'm fine, I'm really fine. See, I've got my two loves right here with me. What else can a girl need?”

“While I am flattered or maybe a lot more than that, I'd much rather ignore my skipping heartbeat for the moment and... hear you say the truth this time.” you almost couldn't comprehend what he was asking from you because his own words managed to make your heart skip beats and you blessed this man for making you feel more alive than you had in the past three days “You look terrible, darling. Don't get me wrong, you're always ravishing but- Have you been getting any sleep lately? I feel scared sometimes that you're going to pass out a-and at first I thought you were only stressed – which got me just as worried – but then you stopped being as focused, you're constantly silent a-nd look like you might pass out any given moment. You look... exhausted. And it just... breaks my heart to see you like this.”

“You're far too good for me, you know that?” you looked at him through your lashes, biting your lower lip but he only shook his head.

He sighed softly “I'd rather say it's the other way round. But we're not talking about that, are we?”

“No, I think we're rather talking about how jealous you are of this coffee replacing you in my heart.” you said with a smile that felt too light and not just as tired as every other one these days.

“And as I previously said, I'm terribly hurt and I will definitely fight to gain my place back on the first spot by all means necessary.But you still are avoiding the topic, dear.” his smile fluttered a bit “So I am only going to ask you. Is everything alright? Are you alright? Is something troubling you o-or is there a problem you'd... like to talk about? You know I'm always here for you and if I could help in any way, I'd very much love to. I- I know it's possibly not my place to ask because I'm really no more than a colleague-”

“Tom” you couldn't help the gasp that left your lips, your eyes all-but-widening “Do you really believe that?”

It seemed like he did have his doubts, yes, and seeing you feel so shocked over his words managed to earn a smile from him as he nodded his head and corrected “I apologize. No. I do think after two years we're more than just that. And even if I don't really know my place-” he let out a small shaky breath “I still do want to know what's troubling you so much and if, in any way, I can help.”

“It's not anything too bad, Tom. Really, not something you should worry yourself with. I-” you scoffed a small laugh “I doubted anyone would notice to be honest. Nobody else had so far.”

“Well, I sure hope I'm not somebody else, for one. And for another-” he slowly took the cup of coffee from your hand “I do really care. Care for you. And care to know. That's why I pay attention.”

It wasn't as if you really had much strength in you to fight, given how tired you were all the time, but when it came to Tom things got even harder. One look at those blue eyes and you found that every part of your will slipped away. You secretly thought he knew it and used it to his advantage every time he could.

“It's not someth-” you shook your head, stopping yourself “I really shouldn't bother you with this. It's not that important. There's nothing to-”

“It is to me if it concerns you. And there clearly is something. Love-” he took your hand in yours, locking fingers with yours and brining it to his lips to kiss the back of it “Tell me.”

“You know-” you felt your throat close, tears welling up in your eyes from all the stress that had piled up the past couple days “You're making it really hard for me to say no to you lately. And that's not good. Not good at all.”

“Well, although I'm not really a fan of it, I think it best sums up things: Eye for an eye hm?”

Biting your lip, you looked down at your hands before letting a small sigh of defeat “I'm only incredibly nervous about my upcoming scenes. There. I said it. And it sounds as stupid out loud as it did in my head.”

“Oh darling.” you took notice of the smile forming on his lips, sympathetic and certainly very relieved but at the same time caring as always. You, however, couldn't stand to think that he'd laugh at you so you tore your eyes away from him and biting your lip you finally managed to mumble a soft sentence.

“Don't laugh at me. What with my character having a bigger part in the story and what with Kevin saying he wants me to lead the new phase- which, I never even asked for by the way, it's not really easy on my sanity and therefore sleep a-and now it's been- Gosh, I've lost count of the nights I haven't slept and it's all piling up because I- I can't sleep at night but I also have to stay awake at ay because of filming and therefore drink so much coffee that it's not healthy but I know I have to in order to-”

“Whow whow. No. No, no no. (Y/n)-” before you could even comprehend it, you felt a pair of hands cup your face only to force you to look into Tom's impossibly blue eyes “Love, I would never laugh for something like this. Especially something like this. It's just that- You never cease to amaze me, dear. Gosh, you are truly incredible, do you know that?”

“Tom... it's not nice to make fun of your friends, you know.” you mumbled, even more weakly than before as your eyes casted down for a few seconds.

“I'm not! I could never be, dear, you know me. It's just that-” he shook his head softly, letting only a moment of silence pass – a moment that really peaked your interest if you were entirely honest – before you felt a pair of lips press on your forehead and you couldn't fight the small sigh of content that escaped your own lips “You are so wonderful. The love you have for what you do, the passion and energy you put into it that, while I don't approve of you exhausting yourself, is something so beautiful to watch because in the end you create real art with your very own being. All of the acting, every scene, is also a part of you that you are about to give to the world and it amazes me.”

“Alright-” you were biting your lip to keep yourself from smiling like an idiot but you were failing miserably both at that and at not blushing bright red at his words “That sounds a lot better than what I said.”

Your words earned a soft chuckle from him but they didn't manage to wipe out all of his worry. Taking a better look at him you noticed his eyebrows had pulled into a frown once more, although less obvious this time. “It's not really any better, though. You're going to fall down if you keep going like this.”

“I'm doing well so far, aren't I? There's no need to make such an issue out of this, Tommy.” despite how touching it was to see him care so deeply for you, you didn't want to burden him with your problems so instead you tried to put on a small smile and make it as believable as possible before adding “But if you want to make this fun, we can bet on how long it will take me to fall down. I'm sure I could last-”

“I'm not going to make fun of it because it is not something to be taken lightly. Not to me. As a matter of fact, I-” you would have gotten completely distracted – especially in your light-headed sleep-deprived state – by the way his fingers slipped so casually and easily between yours and lingered, just a few long seconds that had your heart leaping to your throat, but you were more than alert when you felt your cup of coffee slip from your grasp as he took it away. Your eyes widened and a small gasp left your lips at the same time. He completed with “Am gonna do much more.” but you didn't have a mind for that.

“No, Tom!” you reached for it but he he held the cup further away from you “Tommy, please.”

“Starting with this. You don't need any more coffee than you've already had. It's bad for your health, especially if we consider the fact that you haven't eaten more than half a sandwich all day. And yes, I've noticed. As I told you, I pay attention to the things that matter to me.” you would have melted at the caring tone in his voice and probably just kissed the living heaven out of him right then and there but he was still mercilessly holding your coffee away from you and it didn't make things easy for you.

“Tommy, give me my coffee back. Please, I need it!” you pleaded with him, trying to give him the most adorable puppy eyes you could master “I won't be able to go for the rest of the day without it.”

“I'm pretty sure that everyone would say that you will in fact make it if you don't have this coffee. And to make sure of it-” before you even had the chance to protest you watched the man drop the cup into the closest bin, earning a squeak of surprise barely even a yelp before you watched him turn back to you with a satisfied smile “There. No more coffee for today.”

“But Tom, I-” you let a small whine “I'm gonna fall down without that. I need the caffeine to keep me awake!”

“Oh no, the exact opposite. The caffeine is what's going to make you fall down. You're not looking out for your health and diet and with the lack of sleep I don't even want to think of what could come.” this time he used a more stern voice that made you look down like a kid being scolded “And I'm going to do anything I can to make sure that it doesn't. Starting now. You have some time before your next scene, am I right?” he asked and you gave him a hesitant nod “Good, then we're going to make most of it. Come here.”

“Wha-” you didn't really try hard to protest against him taking hold of your hand, but still frowned when he led you towards one of the small armchairs that was part of the set that you were going to have a scene in next. However, a gasp escaped your lips when he sat down and, still holding your hand, he dragged you with him and before you could understand it you were falling on his lap.

“Tom!” you squeaked out, eyes all wide and you prayed that at least your face wasn't bright red despite how hot it felt “What are you-”

“I said I'm looking out for you. At least more than I usually am. I've taken it upon myself to make you feel better, get over your problems and have a good night's sleep again. And we're getting started right now. Don't think this will be the end of it because I'm very stubborn as you may know, so be prepared for more time with yours truly. Like, a lot more. In and out of set. You won't get rid of me easily.” you couldn't say that sounded like the best thing in the world out loud, not when you were holding your own breath.

“While I'm not protesting to that... What does that have to do with, well, this?”

“Simple.” he smiled, wrapping his arms around your middle, letting you lean on his side “You have time, just about right enough for a quick nap and more often than not, having another source of heat like another body of someone you're comfortable with, helps a lot. So that's what you're going to do until it's time for filming. Or at least try to. Even if you get thirty minutes, it's worth it.”

“I don't doubt your magic, but Tommy, seriously? Anybody could walk in! How are you going to explain this to them? It's not really the most professional thing to-”

“Alright let me stop you right there because you're rambling without a single breath and that's not a way to relax. Deep breath first. Deep breath, (Y/n).” he gave you a stern look and you did as told, despite the small roll of your eyes “Good. And if anyone has any questions I'll be the one to answer, not you. Not that anybody will hold it against you, you know everyone loves you. Unless you have a problem them thinking something else of this perhaps...?” he raised a small eyebrow but you shook your head.

“No, no of course not Tommy... Unless it's Mark or Scarlett that runs into us we're safe.”

“Then let's hope they don't. I value your sleep more than anything else though, so I don't know if I'm going to engage in any conversations though. Much less try to avoid what they'll have coming.”

“Sleep, yeah.” you scoffed with a fond smile, resting your head on his shoulder “As if that's even a possibility, Tommy. We both know it, you're wasting your time here.”

“No I'm not. Even if you don't get to sleep we both know it's worth the effort and far from a waste of time to be with you. And stop calling me Tommy, it's distracting the way you say it and I don't plan on sidetracking. You are going to besleeping here, no matter what.” he kissed the top of your head and this time you let your smile show.

“While I don't mean to doubt you, and you're exceptional soft and comfy, it's nearly impossible for me to relax.” you whispered although you had slowly but surely started losing track of yours words. His thumb had started rubbing soothing circles on your back, making your heart rate slow down to such a degree that you couldn't believe how calm you were already feeling. It seemed that with the combination of his soothing voice, soft cologne and warm body you really had no way of escaping it.

“Dare you say I'm not qualified enough for cuddles?”

“Oh no, by all means.” you giggled and it took a couple seconds for your brain to register how sleepy that giggle was and that you had et a pause way longer than expected to follow, as if zoning out or as if – surprisingly so – fading in and out of sleep “You're the perfect pillow. Soon... they'll be looking around for you because... because I'll steal you away for... personal use. You'll... be my extra pillow... from now on. If... I ever manage... to fall asleep... again.”

You hadn't realized it that each pause lasted longer and that your eyes lingered closed even more with each blink. Your breathing was slowly becoming more even too.

“Then I'll gladly be your pillow... for the rest of your life.” he only whispered as he kissed the top of your head, no other thought in his head but how much he loved you.

One day he'd get to tell you too.

#tom #tom hiddleston #tom imagine #tom hiddleston imagine #tom x reader #tom hiddleston x reader #tom fanfiction #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom one shot #tom hiddleston one shot #avengers #avengers imagine #loki #x reader #imagine #fanfiction

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gfpt-comic · 4 years ago

Text

So. Here goes nothing... (1/?)

(Major spoilers for the comic, but since it won’t update anymore (besides PERHAPS some random comic strips/excerpts without context every now and then, but don’t count on it), I guess it doesn’t matter.)

If you read my answer to the ask posted earlier, you probably know what this post is about. I’ll make a list of every important point I wanted to tackle in the comic, in multiple sections. Be prepared for the long post that awaits you below the cut.

Summary of what was left of Chapter 2

Following their first appearance at the beginning of the chapter, Lolph and Dundgren try to question Blendin, who is staying at a hospital and is still under intense care. They discuss what exactly happened to Blendin in the first place: he was assigned what was supposed to be a routine mission to solve a minor time anomaly in the 21st century, but his time machine exploded when he tried to operate it and he was gravely injured. Dundgren mentions that any normal time device should hardly cause this much damage when malfunctioning, suggesting that Blendin’s level of incompetence is so incredibly high, it somehow managed to make something that shouldn’t be able to explode blow up in his face. On the other hand, Lolph starts to wonder if, exactly because it should be impossible, the accident may have had a reason other than just Blendin’s incompetence. Unfortunately, the accident had consequences so grave on Blendin’s physical health, it seemingly also took a toll on his sanity and questioning him only leaves them with esoteric sentences of dubious credibility.

Blendin: “This is very nice of you… to visit me. There isn’t much time left. I was starting to feel alone, before everything disappears.” Blendin: “Time Baby will succeed… He will free us from this time.”

July 13, 2012 again: back in the gift shop of the Mystery Shack, Wendy and Soos have captured Bill and tied him up to a chair. Wendy starts interrogating him, asking him who or what he is-- throwing in her multiple guesses: the Shapeshifter she defeated with Dipper in the bunker, a paper clone... She doesn’t suspect demon possession or a switch-because-of-the-carpet scenario, however. Bill just keeps trying to break free with little success, without answering; and soon, Stan interrupts them when he enters the gift shop as well, followed by the dozen of tourists he took during his latest tour. Wendy and Soos manage to evade Stan’s obvious questions by pretending they were making a new attraction.

Back in Mabel’s Dreamscape, Mabel encourages Dipper to have some fun with Bill’s powers, but he is scared of messing up because of just how powerful he is; having seen Bill’s powers both in the Mindscape/Dreamscape and in Weirdmageddon when he witnessed the alternate timelines, Dipper knows just how far those powers can go and he isn’t sure he can control them. Still, after some teasing Mabel starts a snowball fight with the surrounding ice cream, and gradually the twins have more and more fun starting with the ice cream, then with the tricks Dipper starts to use. When they take a break, Mabel points out that nothing bad happened, and Dipper grows a bit more confident that he can use Bill’s powers in a way that isn’t dangerous.

Dipper: “I guess it’s easy to do exactly what you want when it literally happens in your mind... Huh.”

Dipper notices it’s almost noon, and Mabel remembers that she was supposed to meet William at Greasy’s Diner for lunch. Mabel is unseasy upon thinking of talking to him again after what happened the day before, and Dipper confirms by showing William’s current whereabouts through a peephole that William seems about as worried as she is. Mabel takes a deep breath, makes sure that she will be able to see Dipper whenever she needs (during the night for sure, perhaps earlier if she asks for it). Still, just before Dipper wakes her up... She has a favor to ask him.

Mabel: “Now that you can do lots of magic stuff and all... Could you do something for me?”

Back in the gift shop, the tourists have left and Bill was untied due to Stan’s confusion over the situation. However, he is forced to stay inside and is stuck sitting by Wendy’s side behind the cashier desk. When Mabel goes through the gift shop to go to the Diner, everyone notices that she made a new sweater -- one with a pine tree symbol on it, no less. Bill is enraged but can’t stop her from leaving.

William has his first face reveal. He is a blonde 13-year-old, and is already waiting worriedly at Greasy’s Diner when Mabel arrives. He immediately apologizes for what happened on the day before.

William: “About yesterday, I... I’m sorry I said your brother was a bad influence. That was uncalled for.”

Mabel: “Yes. Yes it was.”

William is genuinely apologetic, but soon it is revealed that the reason why he thought Dipper and the Mystery Shack were a bad influence was because he doesn’t believe at all in the supernatural. Even if Mabel told him about her adventures, he assumed they were just stories she made up while playing in the Mystery Shack’s museum and never believed them to be true. Mabel tries to convince him by showing him some episodes of Dipper’s “Guide to the Unexplained” -- a series of videos he used to make and post online at the beginning of their summer break upon arriving in Gravity Falls, but stopped making altogether after Summerween. Sadly, the episodes made up until then did not revolve around exceptionally weird anomalies, and aren’t enough to convince William. The only thing William admits to being strange is the fact that every inhabitant of Gravity Falls is “out of their minds.”

Exasperated by William’s absurdly high levels of skepticism, Mabel eventually dares him to go on a forest expedition with her, Candy and Grenda on the next day, just so they can show him pretty much anything in the forest that is out of the ordinary. William strongly refuses and tries to dissuade her to go into the forest at all; he has been personally forbidden by his mother from going anywhere near the forest, and he has also read on the local news that there is currently a predator of unknown origin or species on the loose, which has been notably attacking sheep from the nearby farm. Mabel teases him about the fact that he believes that this creature is real, and suggests that it might be a werewolf for example; but William doesn’t take her seriously, especially because the creature is supposed to fly.

And... This is the part where my script starts getting wonky. I’ve been trying to fill the holes, but sadly it’s proven to be quite difficult, especially now that I know I won’t be drawing it in comic form anyway. Still, the main plot should be precise enough! The holes are mainly just “there should be some filler and/or foreshadowing to what’s coming here”, with little more than just prompts for what could be happening.

Back in the Mystery Shack’s gift shop, Wendy tries to sneakily question Bill, but when Stan asks them where Mabel went and Bill tells him she skipped her restocking duty so she could spend time with William at the Diner, Stan asks him to get her back. Bill happily takes this opportunity to slip out of the Mystery Shack, and have an excuse to bother Mabel at the same time.

Eventually, William is obligated to accept Mabel’s terms and intends on coming so he can at least make sure that the girls won’t put themselves in danger upon visiting the forest on their own.

Bill arrives at the Diner. William, thinking he is meeting Dipper again, tries to make amends for the things he said the previous day and says that he earnestly thinks they can start again on the right foot; Bill sadistically mocks him instead, all the while pretending to be Dipper, just so he can ruin Mabel’s hopes of reconciling William and Dipper. Bill finishes Mabel by forcing her to leave, saying that Stan expects her to work at the gift shop like she was supposed to since the beginning.

Mabel gone, William and Bill start to have a tense conversation; well, tense on William’s part, while Bill is mostly just having a blast driving William mad. The old fanfic that was the first “draft” version of the story has this chapter, which gathers most of the jokes I intended to keep, and at least some of the plot points. I’ll put a warning for awkward English, though. Oh and also, apparently in the old version it was July 3rd and not July 13th, so in the comic the “tomorrow is July 4th so the forest trip can’t happen anyway” excuse wouldn’t work.

About the Quetzalcoatlus thing: here, have some fun dinosaur size comparisons & history following my latest research on what the pterodactyl from S1E18: Land Before Swine.

William: “And how would you even know all that?”

Bill: “Because I ate Leonardo da Vinci.”

William: “. . .”

William: “… It must have been some VERY cryptic way for you to say that it was one of those conspiracy things mentioned in the old book supposedly written by a genius that you keep reading passionately every day. Right?”

Bill: “Oh, so your brain CAN work sometimes!”

Bill gets bit by a soothquito. His bite marks spell “FHOASE CORECULLY“

Upon leaving the Diner, they both see someone being kidnapped by a member of the Blindeye Society. William insists they immediately go warn the police, but Blubs and Durland prove to be ineffective as ever. Bill slips in one or two facts about the secret society, but William dismisses them completely as other random insane things Bill just happens to say all the time for trolling purposes.

Mabel is back in the Mystery Shack and starts her restocking duty, but her mind is clearly elsewhere. She starts mumbling to herself, but is interrupted by the decapitated head of Larry King who just happened to be in the vents nearby. Mabel isn’t surprised at all to see he survived, and when Larry King starts "interviewing” her about the issues she was mumbling about, she complies. Some time later, while Soos is cleaning up the floor, he overhears Mabel complaining about Bill being a jerk on purpose and making Dipper seem like a terrible person, and ends up hearing pretty much the whole story that way, without Mabel knowing. Soos proceeds to tell Wendy what he heard, helping them putting two and two together-- all the while understanding why Mabel didn’t warn them, and why they should stay silent as well. They decide not to tell Mabel they know her secret; but when Bill comes back later, just as Wendy’s shift was about to end, she has just one thing to tell him:

Wendy: “Tomorrow 6PM. My place.”

Night time; Bill is annoyed, but not very surprised by the fact that Soos is sleeping with him for the night, in the room on the ground floor where Dipper had relocated. Bill is at least glad he no longer has to pretend to be Dipper around Wendy and him.

Soos proceeds to ask Bill what his intentions were; not just in the present times now that the switch occurred, but also before it.

Soos: “So you really are that triangle guy from two weeks ago?”

Soos: “Now that I'm thinking about it… A lot of things happened two weeks ago. That's when it began to get all wrong. Well, it was already wrong before that, but… That's really when you came that everything started to get all weird and… bad.“

Soos: “It all started because of that Summerween night. What did you want with us?”

Soos: “Why did you tell Dipper that Gideon summoned you?”

Bill: “It was just a job. Jobs are boring. There’s no fun in it if nobody’s trying to stop you.”

Bill: “Oh, and you wanna know the best part? If you’d taken Shooting Star along with you instead of going just the two of you, perhaps you would’ve had an opportunity to beat me.”

Soos: What did you do with Gideon two weeks ago? Dipper and I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that those government guys showed up just the next day.

Bill: “Something that neither Pine Tree nor I want anybody to find out, I bet. Also if I were to tell you, you'd either faint or spend the next fourteen hours trying to explain it all to Red. Funny, but not worth it.”

Soos is disturbed by Bill’s attitude, because of course he tries to both troll and traumatize at once, and given how Soos was already terrified of Bill because of the Summerween night (”I’ve had nightmares for weeks!” from an earlier comic page), it doesn’t help. Soos tries to ask Bill about the deal he made with Gideon -- more specifically, he asks what Bill wanted in return for stealing the code from Stan’s mind. However, Bill doesn’t answer and instead opens the bedroom door to reveal that Mabel was trying to eavesdrop.

Mabel was mostly there to make sure that everything was alright, and deduces that Bill hadn't slept at all during the first night and that he intends to never sleep at all, even after she tells him that humans need sleep to survive. Thankfully she came prepared with a “surprise gift from Candy and Grenda”, and sprays Bill with Fairy Dust.

Mabel: “There’s probably enough in that bag to knock out a gremloblin in an instant, so I think he’s good for the night. :p”

Once Bill is asleep, Dipper takes this chance to come to his Dreamscape and talk to him one-on-one; and, he is not happy at how Bill treated Mabel so far. Still, after a certain point the conversation gets to a more pressing topic.

Bill: “You saw it happen, didn’t you?”

Bill: “Weirdmageddon. You saw it, right?”

Dipper: “. . .”

Bill: “Oh-ho, even better! There’s a timeline in which YOU make it happen, isn’t there?”

Dipper: “That’s not gonna happen.”

Bill: “Look kid, take it from me. The more you try to actively prevent a specific outcome, the more likely you usually make it happen.”

Dipper: “You can’t make something happen if you specifically stop everything that can lead to it from happening first.”

Dipper: “Even if it includes lying to Mabel… I saw it. If she learns there’s a way to get me a physical form, she’ll try anything to make it happen and disregard the consequences. I bet she trusts me to keep things under control, but everything else? There’s just... There’s too many variables. We can’t let her know anything about the portal. Or Weirdmageddon.”

Bill: “Well, that doesn’t change anything from my original plan anyway.”

Bill: “So you’re just gonna stay in the Nightmare Realm forever, is that it?”

Dipper: “That’s not much of a plan so far, but that’s still an effective way to save the world.”

Bill: “Don’t mess with me. You DO know that if you don’t make your way to another dimension eventually, you’re just going to die, right?”

Dipper: “... W-what are you talking about?”

Bill: “Wait. You REALLY didn’t figure that out yet?”

Bill: “The Nightmare Realm is unstable. It’s just gonna collapse one of these days, destroy everything in it. Could be in a billion years. Could be tomorrow.”

After leaving Bill’s Dreamscape, Dipper decides to visit Wendy’s and tell her everything. He confirms her doubts, tells her the whole story with the carpet... And he tells her about Weirdmageddon and what Bill just told him about the Nightmare Realm.

Dipper: “I mean, it’s better this way for everyone, and of course I’m not gonna go with Bill’s original plan to destroy the laws of physics or whatever, but… I-I just don’t wanna die, you know?”

Wendy: “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way.”

> Summary of chapters 3 and 4

#pt comic #pt compilation #pythagorean thoughts

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writerpeach · 5 years ago

Text

High Tension

IZ*ONE Miyawaki Sakura x Male Reader

5686 words

categories: smut, oral, semi-public sex, detective! kkura

18+

Note: This is a prequel to Detective Eunbi’s interrogation chapter

Read on AFF

Read on AO3

There wasn’t coffee strong enough to get you through this investigation.

Over a week had passed since this case started. The body of a man in his mid-forties was found washed up on shore, all signs pointed to the mafia being behind it. It made things both more suddenly complicated and dangerous.

The long workday felt like a complete waste, interrogation after interrogation going nowhere. An important suspect lost after the good cop/bad cop routine went sour with no choice but to let him go without a reason to keep him contained.

Another witness interview was canceled after they got spooked, either threatened or bought off, or both. Calling it a bad day would be an understatement.

Frustration was at an all-time high. Evidence was insultingly lacking at this point, whoever put this hit out knew what they were doing and knew how to cover up their tracks.

You rubbed your temple, trying to erase the pounding headache and doing anything for a sanity check.

A soft voice spoke up and broke up your irritation.

“Let’s look over the evidence again.”

The voice of your partner, a young Japanese woman, Miyawaki Sakura. She graduated a year early and top of her class, quickly climbing the career ladder and earning the rank of detective in half the time.

“We don’t have any evidence, that’s the problem,” you said with clear defeat in your voice.

“Then we’ll look at what we have and go from there,” she said, always keeping a calm mind.

You were lucky to have her as a partner. She filled any cracks of your armor, relying more on logic when you relied more on raw emotions.

The small room that served as your base of operations grew stuffy. Papers were thrown messily all over the table, while the whiteboard was a fractured mess of potential suspects, forming a poorly told story of events that had no rhyme or reason.

“We have to find out who did this. For respect for the victim and his family," you said as you looked again and again through scarce files and dossiers. Sakura smiled reassuringly across the table.

“It’s okay, we’ll figure this out. We’ll find new leads if we have to, somebody has to know who did this.”

Sakura always knew what to say when things looked bleak.

“I wish I shared your confidence. I’ve seen too many unanswered murders lately.”

“I know it’s tough to be positive right now with what little we have, but we have to persevere. People are counting on us. We can't give up that easily.”

Sakura’s soothing voice helped put you at ease, as did the radiating smile that always seemed to be on her lips even during the toughest of times.

“Let's start at the top. Hirai Hitoshi, age 46. Found washed up on shore at approximately 4:30 am. Cause of death was a bullet point-blank to the head. No witnesses so far.” Sakura said, reading over the notes.

“Yakuza members don’t kill randomly, he was sticking his nose in places they didn’t want it in,” Sakura continued.

“Hitoshi-san was a prosecutor that remained undefeated for almost a decade until his untimely death.”

“Very convenient. There’s a trial coming up in a week, three men from the Godo clan are being charged,” you said.

“So we have the why, now we just need the who," Sakura said, gears turning in her head.

“Which brings us back to where we started. The Godo clan runs several families deep. It could be any clan who orchestrated the hit,” you said, sighing loudly.

You stood up out of your chair and paced around the room, stopping at the whiteboard and the measly evidence that was pinned there.

“We have nothing. “ you said, hanging your head in defeat.

Sakura joined you at the whiteboard. “We’ll find something. Tomorrow is a new day, maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Let’s hope so.”

“Criminals always slip up, they can’t cover up everything. There has to be a clue somewhere, maybe a witness who isn’t scared to speak up,” she said as her determination grew.

“Sounds too good to be true.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Detective Kwon is coming from the big city to interrogate one of our potential suspects. Word is nobody ever comes away from her without talking. I’ve heard her methods are very unconventional,” Sakura said.

“Unconventional? How so?”

“Don’t know the details. I just know she’s very good at her job.”

“I wish I could be,” you said as you took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. Sakura caressed your shoulder gently.

“You don’t need to wish, you are good. You’re just overworked. We both are.”

“That’s an understatement. Paid vacation seems so far away.”

Sakura squeezed your arm.

“You’re so tense,” she said, feeling how tight your muscles were.

“Yeah, well this case is driving me insane, “ you said as you stared at the whiteboard, wanting to flip the whole thing upside down.

“When’s the last time you had a massage?”

“A massage? Never,” you replied, cocking an eyebrow.

“You should try it out. I get one every few weeks, it really helps put me at ease. Plus, work covers all the expenses.”

“Strangers touching me was never my thing.”

“I felt the same way at first, but I got used to it. You’ll feel wonderful after.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to pass.”

“So stubborn still I see,” she laughed.

“It’s who I am.”

You rubbed your eyes and took a peek at the clock above the whiteboard. It was well past midnight.

“You need a clear head. You can’t be a good detective if you can’t see straight.”

“I’ll make sure to pick up a six-pack on the way home then.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she frowned. “You need to find a way to relieve all this tension in a healthy way,” she said, putting herself in between yourself and the whiteboard, lips grinning widely.

“Are you going to give me a massage, Miss Miyawaki?” you teased.

“No, I’m not trained for that,” she shyly said. “But I do know how to make you relax."

Her gaze turned deadly as she tilted her head to the side.

“We’re at work-” Sakura interrupted you by placing a finger on your lips.

“You can’t use that as an excuse. There’s not a single person still here except forensics, and they’re on the next floor up.”

“Sakura…”

“You have a girlfriend? A wife?”

“Negative. I don’t have time for that.”

“That’s perfect then,” she said. Eyes forward, you met hers, seeing every perfect feature of her pretty face lit up.

You were very, very, attracted to Sakura. With a body like hers and an equally gorgeous face, how could you not be? But you chose not to act on your desires, instead banking on your professionalism to keep you above water. But when faced with the proposal that you think Sakura was about to give you...

“How long have we known each other?” Sakura asked, her small hands fiddling and playing with your tie, loosening it up.

“Two years, three months.”

“Then don’t you think it’s about time we go to know each other, a little... better?”

Her gaze didn’t weaken as she stepped even closer, growing more confident by the second. It’d be a lie to say you weren’t a bit intimidated at this point.

“There’s that late-night burger shop that’s open late, I’m sure that’d be a fine place to-”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Then feel free to tell me what you are then,” you said with a smug expression.

“You should know I’ve been a detective long enough to know when someone is playing dumb.”

“I would never do such a thing,” you playfully said.

“I just think it’s in our best interest if we got to know each other a lot more intimately.”

“I’d have to agree with that,” you said, a mischievous look now draped on your features.

Two years of built-up sexual tension came to a close as Sakura’s lips crashed against your own, her hands cupping your face as you wrapped your arms around her small waist. Her taste was delectable, her cherry lips soft and warm.

Your heart raced as you finished your first kiss, followed by another as her small frame leaned against your body.

“I’ve never had the chance to tell you how good you always smell,” Sakura said as you pulled her in closer, fully wrapping your arms around her petite body.

Your lips never left the warmth of each other, not ready to disengage as your lips merged together, bodies pressing together even tighter. Your attention was on the taste of Sakura, her lips doing their job in distracting you as you felt her hand slip down your pants, your body twitching in response.

With the kiss momentarily broken, Sakura whispered in your ear. “I said I was going to help you relax...and I meant it.” She softly pumped you up and down until you were fully erect, feeling satisfied as she began undressing you. Your tie was gone in no time as she unbuttoned every button with ease, exposing your bare chest as she stripped it off your body.

Sakura eyed your half-naked body like a delicious meal before giving your chest a quick peck, tossing her heels underneath the table and dropping to her knees, a sinful smile plastered on her lips.

She stared at the bulge in your pants now the center of attention for several seconds as her hands quickly yanked your pants and boxers off, gasping quietly at your freed cock. There was an obvious hunger in her eyes as she wrapped her slim fingers around it, stroking it up and down slowly as you leaked over her fingers.

“Guess you needed this badly?” she asked with a grin, licking up and down your length and swirling around your swollen head, causing more pre-cum to dribble out of your dripping slit and catching it all with her tongue as you let out a light groan.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so I hope my oral skills will be up to par,” Sakura nervously said.

“Nonsense, there’s nothing you aren’t good at.”

Sakura’s expression became determined, and she wanted to prove herself. Her pretty mouth planted a kiss on your shaft before she swallowed up your tip, silky-soft lips making contact and wrapping around the first couple inches and sucking gently, hollowing her cheeks as you instinctively moan.

The pleasure sent shivers up and down your spine even as she barely took you into her mouth. Her lips felt incredible, so soft and warm and tightly pressed around your shaft. Sakura looked so pretty on her knees as she pleased you and began bobbing her head up and down, applying more pressure and using her tongue alongside her lips, flicking against the underside of your shaft to give even more pleasure.

“You’re definitely still good at that,” you said, interrupting your groans and moans. Sakura looked into your eyes and increased her pace in response, her warm mouth moving forward and giving a loud slurp of your shaft that would drive any recipient of such an intense blowjob absolutely wild.

The lust in Sakura’s beautiful round eyes was obvious as she sucked you off, enjoying it almost as much as you were. She didn’t keep either of her hands idle, one caressing your thigh while the other kept pumping your hard shaft.

Sakura kept her sultry gaze on you as she kept you inside her wet mouth, her lips sealed tight as they did the majority of the work. Little by little, she swallowed even more of you up, leaving a wet trail of warm saliva glazing your shaft as she took you halfway inside without any trouble.

With each bob of her head, she edged closer towards the end of your shaft before she withdrew to your tip, her gifted mouth sliding back and forth with ease as if she had done it hundreds of times before.

You took several deep breaths while Sakura worked her magic between your legs, still awestruck by what was happening to you. Her lips went deeper, much deeper, almost to the base of your cock. She gagged a bit with every attempt but didn’t stop, not wanting to disappoint both herself and you, she wasn’t a quitter.

Once Sakura had mostly relaxed her throat and tamed her gag reflex she went wild, using her ability to deepthroat your shaft effortlessly and giving you the full amount of pleasure.

“Oh fuck, that feels so fucking good.”

Sakura used her deadly eyes to acknowledge you as she used long strokes from tip to base, slurping on your cock loudly and bobbing her head at a faster pace, using a free hand to fondle and massage your full balls as her own arousal levels spiking at your moans.

You helped her out - not that she needed it, but you needed an outlet for the sharp pleasure running every fiber of your body and ran a hand through the soft strands of her dark blue hair, guiding her movements. When your tip struck the back of her throat she tightened around your shaft, causing an involuntary series of loud, throaty moans escaping in response.

She gave it her all, going wild and sucking your cock with a fierceness and speed you had never felt before, resting herself at your base and staring up until she couldn’t take it anymore. Her lips left your shaft and pulled herself off as she furiously stroked your cock, and you were thankful to have a much-needed break.

“Not bad, huh?” she said, with a strong sense of confidence.

“Gonna be still feeling that in the morning, it was that good,” you said, feeling a bit lightheaded. “Let me return the favor.”

Sakura didn’t give any protest and smiled as she stood upright, finding yourself still reeling from the pleasure she had given. She did her part, pulling her white top over her head and showing off her breasts encased in a blue lace bra. They weren’t the biggest, but they matched her body type, nice and perky and plentiful enough to grab a handful of.

You let aggression take over for a moment and lifted Sakura on the table, laying her down on top of piles of papers and files everywhere. She welcomed the change in mood as you pulled her bra down, exposing her perky pale tits and feasting on them with your eyes.

Like a fire had been lit inside, your lips embraced again, this time with additional tongue, forgoing passionate kisses for sloppy wet kisses which were immediately returned. You kissed down her neck, planting several kisses on her sensitive skin before moving down to her collarbone, and finally reaching her chest.

Not wasting a second you dove into her breasts and sucked on Sakura’s pretty pink nipples, earning several soft moans, and keeping your hands full as much as possible, sucking harshly and loudly, wet noises matching the volume of her cute whiny moans.

“That feels really good,” she said, her eyes even more filled with lust and desire.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you?” you asked, and continued to lather up her sensitive nipples, suckling on them without any restraint as if you were intoxicated by the sounds Sakura let out.

She shook her head.

“Since we started working together. I never forget those tight short skirts you always wear. But I kept all my thoughts drowned in my head.”

“Such a professional,” she teased. “But now you have me, so do with me what you want.”

What a perfect invitation. As if to demonstrate, you placed a hand on her back and picked her up, spinning her body around as her palms went flat on the table. Planting a few kisses on her lower back, you squeezed her ass through her skirt before harshly yanking it down, exposing her delicious backside. Sakura’s ass was perfect, plump and round and the matching blue thong that nestled in between her cheeks was the only thing standing in your way.

You squeezed her warm flesh again wantonly, thoroughly enjoying her body and kneading it for several seconds, the softness of her cheeks brought nothing but joy to your senses. Keeping things going, you brought your mouth to her cheeks and planted your lips on each one, scraping your teeth gently against her skin and nibbling on them just a bit as Sakura gasped.

“You must like my ass,” she said.

“I love all of you, but especially your ass.”

“I’ll make a mental note to wear less underwear around you then,” she said, giving a cute smirk.

Just the thought aroused you even more, and you gave her core a few licks through the delicate thin fabric of her thong, feeling a dampness there already.

“So wet.”

“I have you to blame for that.”

A few more licks up and down her pussy through her underwear made Sakura tremble as she moved her hips back towards your mouth. Before you could give her any more momentum you pulled away and flipped her body back over, her thighs planted firmly on the edge of the table as you took in the sight of such a delightful tight body.

“I never got to tell you what a sexy fucking body you have.”

“Well now you did,” Sakura smiled. You peppered her tight tummy in several places with kisses before kneeling to the ground and grabbed the waistband of her thong. She lifted her legs up to help and you peeled it off her body, spreading her legs wide and enjoying the view.

“Beautiful.”

Sakura blushed. The same word could describe both her delicious looking pussy, and everything about Sakura. Her pink pussy lips glistened already, and you couldn’t wait to have a taste.

You weren’t going to dive right in though, preferring to warm her up even though she was plenty wet. Lips firmly making contact on her soft creamy thighs, you kissed and licked them numerous times, hearing needy moans escaping as you ate them up, debating whether to leave marks on her pristine pale skin.

Sakura whined. “You won’t tease me will you?” You responded with more kisses on her thighs before looking up.

“Only if you want me to.”

“I-I don’t. Not now.”

“Then I won’t,” you replied, giving a long lick up and down her wet slit and tasting her for the first time, proudly earning a cute whimper.

“So delicious.”

Running your tongue through Sakura's wet folds, you licked them clean as you explored her pussy. Keeping her legs spread wide open, you watched the contorted pleasure on her face as you dove in and devoured her pussy, sweet juices coating your tongue as every lick made Sakura melt.

"Y-you're so good at that," she moaned, hips squirming and writhing, trying to grind herself against your tongue.

You kept one hand on her tight stomach as you ate her out, her encouraging moans being music to your ears. Dragging your tongue up and down her folds you found her sensitive clit and flicked against it, earning even louder moans, this time more high-pitched.

With your lips sealed against her clit, you turned her into a squirming mess, endlessly turned on by seeing a side of Sakura you never had before. Loud erotic moans continued by the second as she let herself go, juices leaking more and more into your mouth and you lapped up all of her nectar.

Her taste was unforgettable and you could have eaten her pussy out for hours given the chance. Slow flicks against her clit turned into a merciless speed, feeling her body trembling as she was unable to keep herself stationary as her splayed out limbs moved on their own, chasing that desirable bliss as her hands formed tight fists.

“Fuck, I'm so close, don’t stop, please don’t fucking stop."

You gave her the extra pleasure she needed, slurping away on her clit and adding extra pressure, honing in and helping her climax. Her moaning went frantic as you kept your lips surrounding her swollen nub, watching the bliss on her face as her movements became uncontrollable.

"I-I'm gonna cum!" she moaned, and not long after you felt her juices gushing into your mouth. Her back arched violently, hips bucking wildly and toes curling as you kept your face in between her thighs. She desperately grabbed your hair and kept you buried against her center as she rode out her explosive orgasm, drenching your lips and chin and feeling absolutely breathless.

Sakura came beautifully for what felt like several minutes, slowly coming down from her high, chest heaving and gasping for air. Once her senses recovered her glazed over eyes looked into yours, showing approval and deep satisfaction.

"It's been a while since I came that hard," she said, still struggling to catch her breath and her eyes looking delirious.

“You’re just saying that.”

Sakura shook her head. “I’m not. I swear I saw stars for a sec, that’s how good you were.”

You didn’t know how to respond, but Sakura did. “Let’s not waste time. Fuck me now?” she said, half asking, half commanding.

You rose quickly and obeyed, lining yourself up and finding the right angle as you nudged your shaft against her wet opening. You didn’t enter yet, running your tip between her silky pink lips, feeling the slick collecting against your hard flesh.

“You said you wouldn’t tease,” she whined, a hint of desperation in her voice.

“I did...but I still need to have a little fun with you.”

She pouted as you felt more heat around your shaft, running yourself through her wetness. You aimed your cock carefully pushed forward against her hole, parting her wet pussy lips enough to penetrate her tight walls. You both gasped.

Sakura was insanely tight. Most girls you’d been in were tight, but not like this, she had a vice-like grip on your cock. Her wetness was equal to how tight she was, and before even moving you just rested inside her and savored the sensations around your shaft.

You watched for any discomfort as you pushed deeper inside Sakura, feeling even more tightness as she was filled halfway before withdrawing and earning another whine.

Not giving her a chance to complain again you entered her again, slowly moving inch by inch until you had filled her to the hilt, resting every bit of your cock inside Sakura and keeping an eye on how she reacted to you.

Her expression showed she was more than ready, and with the wetness you felt surrounding your cock she certainly felt ready, you cursed yourself for taking this long to do this.

“You okay?” you asked.

“I’m fine. Fuck me,” she demanded. You were quick to give in to her whims, using your hips as you moved in and out slowly, feeling your shaft being smothered with how wet and tight she felt, not to mention the incredible warmth that flooded everywhere and overwhelmed your senses.

With your hands grabbing her slim her waist you pumped inside her at a gentle pace, wanting to feel every bit of her tight pussy and every sensation that smothered your cock.

“Fuck, you’re so big. We never should have waited this long.”

“We shouldn’t have. You’re so fucking tight, Sakura.”

“I am, right? Fuck me, you feel so good inside already.”

Her words and moans were the best encouragement, keeping steady hands on her waist as you upped the pace, thrusting more of you inside as your shaft became wetter.

“That’s it, fuck me harder,” she demanded. Her hot flesh wrapped so tightly around your shaft as you moved in and out of Sakura, you felt like you were in another world. Her body was so tight and perfect, slim in all the right places with beautiful pale skin everywhere.

With every single thrust, you filled her tight hole up, your cock fitting so perfectly inside her as you stretched her out wide, feeling those slick walls forming around your cock and keeping you inside her where you belonged.

It wasn’t enough to just fuck Sakura, you needed to experience all of her as you lifted her legs straight up into the air and let her ankles rest on your shoulder, never stopping the motion of your thrusts for a second.

As you hugged her perfect legs Sakura felt much tighter, letting her satisfaction be known as you gave deeper and harder thrusts, her warm wet flesh feeling so damn good to plunge all of your cock into. It helped that she had gotten even wetter, her slick juices helping out with lubrication to allow smooth penetration as you slid in and out of her.

“You’re so deep. I love it. Keep stretching me out.”

You quickened the pace even more to Sakura’s delight, her eyes filled with pleasure and lust as you fucked her hard enough to make the table shake. Thankfully, her frame was small enough that you didn’t think it was a problem, but you decided to move the action elsewhere just in case.

With a few more deep thrusts you scooped her off the table, withdrawing and carefully pulling her body off and licking her several times before rotating her body so her back was towards you. Nearly ripping her bra open, you yanked it off her body, leaving the two of you fully nude as piles of clothes strayed everywhere both on the floor and the table in front.

“I rarely see you this aggressive. I like this side of you,” Sakura said, showing a smirk that didn’t last long as you bent her tight petite body over, her palms resting on the grey table. She looked back silently, eyes giving off what she needed.

“I’m warmed up enough, go all in,” she demanded.

Such an undeniable request would not go unanswered as you pushed her down even flatter, her back arching as you ran your hands all over her warm smooth skin. You didn’t let her stay empty for long, sliding back inside her with one long stroke to the hilt, allowing her tight walls to squeeze around you as began another rhythm as you began fucking her from behind.

“Fuck...right there,” she said as you hit her spot with ease, spending little time with build up as you worked back up to your steady pace. With both hands grabbing her hips, she kept her back arched as you began to slam your hips against her ass, flesh jiggling every time you plunged in deep. The room became hotter as your bodies warmed up, sweat misting over the skin of both parties.

“That’s so good, you fuck me so well.”

Sakura looked back ever often as you thrusted harshly inside her pussy, letting you know she was enjoying everything you were doing to her. She reached behind her and found one of your wrists, guiding it to her breasts, and you got the message as you cupped and squeezed them both, hips moving wildly and uncontrollably.

The harder you fucked Sakura the wetter she felt, keeping your hands full of her perky tits as you played with her nipples, teasing and bringing out all the sensitivity in them as you kept yourself moving in and out as deep as possible in her.

You wanted to up the ante, not satisfied with such a simple position and grabbed both of Sakura’s slender arms and brought them behind her, pulling her body back up until she was mostly upright. Still keeping the motion going during the change of position, you hooked her arms and brought her body up against your chest as you took away her control.

With her ability to grab anything taken away you went wild, pounding into her tight hole as fast and hard as you could, pistoning into her hot pussy with every bit of energy and force as she screamed in delight.

Sakura’s cries of pleasure went on and on as you hit all the right spots, your sweaty bodies smacking against each other, as harsh sounds of flesh slapping against flesh filled the room. You were taking all of your stress and tension out on fucking Sakura, and she was more than happy to absorb it all, every thrust powerful and strong and without warning, she came again.

She drowned your cock in her slick juices, messily leaking everywhere and you tried to keep her upright as her legs turned to jelly as you fucked her through her powerful orgasm, only slowing down your pace when she had ridden it all out.

Sakura could barely stand, her legs still shaking rendered useless as you helped her over to the table and she braced herself against it.

“You okay?”

She hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Never been better,” she said in between tired breaths and laid down on the table in a familiar position, flat on her back.

“As much as I want to ride you I don’t think this table will hold us both.”

“There’s always the floor,” you teased.

“Nothing’s sexier than a girl with rug burn,” she said mockingly.

“Table it is then.”

And just like before she spread herself out, this time her completely nude body ripe for the taking, legs spread wide and arms over her head.

“Besides, I like seeing your face when you fuck me.”

With smiles exchanged you didn’t waste time, sliding back inside her, her wetness being even more abundant now.

“You’re drenched. You always get this wet?”

She nodded her head. “When somebody makes me cum as hard as you did, yes. I get even messier when there’s a bed involved,” she said with a devilish smile. “Now come on, it’s your turn.”

Trying to process her words, you resumed thrusting full speed, knowing that the finish line was just in reach. Gripping her soft warm thighs, you kept the rhythm up, every thrust deep as possible as Sakura grabbed both sides of the desk, desperate for anything to hold on to.

Words didn’t mean much for either of you at this point in time, communication only existed in moans and obscenities. You made every thrust count as her perky breasts bounced as best as they could, driving your cock deep inside her pretty pussy and never wanted to leave her wet warmth.

Sakura let her eyes close temporarily as the pleasure took hold over both of you, letting you savor the use of her body as your hips pistoned like a machine. The wet sound of her tight hole being drilled was the only thing you could focus on, you couldn’t hold on much longer.

“Sakura…” you gasped out, unable to say much more than her name on your lips. Her eyes opened, sparkling wide.

“Just cum inside me.”

She didn’t need to say anything else. Her thighs still in your hands, you pumped yourself inside her for as long as you could without slowing down, both of you eagerly awaiting your climax.

The air in the room became lighter, everything else was a blur as you buried your cock inside Sakura’s pussy. Her gaze striking and anticipating your release, you hit your limits and let go of everything before erupting. Groaning loudly and throbbing inside her, you shot your thick cum deep inside Sakura, filling her up deep with your warmth to the brim, emptying everything you had saved up until her walls were a sticky mess.

You kept moving inside her until you couldn’t as Sakura milked every drop out of your shaft, resting inside her as your orgasm ran wild over your body. Sakura had watched every second of your explosive climax and loved every moment.

“It feels so good. Fuck, it’s so thick and warm,” Sakura said with an enthusiastic grin.

You kept yourself inside her a while longer, not wanting to escape her warmth but also wanted to see the mess you had left inside her. You slowly withdrew your cock an inch at a time, and immediately your creamy load began leaking out of her splayed lips and dripping down her flushed thighs.

“I should clean that off,” she volunteered. Too tired to respond, you watched as she gingerly moved off the table and knelt, gathering what was left on your depleted shaft, licking clean the combination of both of your fluids and satisfied with it all.

“How’s that for some tension relief?” Sakura asked, giving an exhausted smile.

“I...really needed that. Thanks.”

“You did, but no need to thank me. What good of a partner would I be if I didn’t help you out?”

“Couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Sakura scrambled around the room retrieving her clothes and took a seat back on the table. She looked beautiful in the light, her hair out of place, sweat glistening all over her body, you didn’t want the sensual image to be broken.

“Not yet. I like seeing you naked.”

She smiled shyly in response. “Do you now? It was your first time seeing me like this. With any luck, it won’t be the last.”

“You have more plans for me, Miss Miyawaki?”

“Of course. Not done with you just yet. Might turn this into a weekly thing.”

“Let’s make it twice a week.”

“Don’t get greedy on me,” she laughed. “But I could live with that.”

“Sounds perfect. They have showers upstairs you know.”

“Wanting to go again so soon?”

“I’m just getting started.”

“In that case, let’s skip the shower and you can spend the night at my place.”

“Think you can handle me all night?” you asked teasingly.

“Oh, I think it’s me you’ll have trouble with. You always did run out of stamina before I did,” she fired back playfully. “You can pick up a spare shirt in the morning, there’s a convenience store two blocks from here.”

“What are we waiting for then?”

#izone smut #kpop smut #sakura smut #male reader #izone #sakura #miyawaki sakura #kpop fanfic #kpopfanfiction #reader insert

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industrial-horror · 4 years ago

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TRILOGY OF TERROR

On March 4, 1975, a strange announcement appeared on television sets across America. Some ABC affiliate stations had decided not to air a made-for-TV film called “Trilogy of Terror” in its scheduled timeslot. The reason? It was simply too upsetting to be shown when it was supposed to air – they were moving it to a slot three hours later that night.

Other stations aired the movie but made sure to offer a disclaimer that it might be upsetting for young viewers, something that was just not done in those days. It seemed hard to believe that a modestly-budgeted network “Movie of the Week” could upset station managers so much that they would become concerned for their viewer’s welfare, especially since two-thirds of the 90-minute movie was basically forgettable. The anthology film starred Karen Black – who’d recently earned an Oscar nomination for “Five Easy Pieces” – in multiple roles. In the first two parts, she played a seductive teacher and a vengeful twin sister but made little impression on viewers.

The third part, “Amelia,” was different, though. Black played a character hoping to impress her anthropologist boyfriend by giving him a gift of an African “Zuni fetish doll,” a frightening looking wooden warrior with a spear. Alone in her apartment, Black’s character finds that the doll is not what it appears to be. He literally comes to life and tries to kill her. As he stabs and slashes her feet, chases her, and hides behind furniture, the audience is unsure whether Black will defeat her terrifying attacker, lose her sanity – or both.

In the decades since the television movie’s first airing, “Amelia” had become an eerie part of the public consciousness. Viewers who saw it in 1975 – or have watched it since – are unable to forget Black’s battle with the little terror. Before she passed away in 2013, Black said that more fans approached her to talk about her fight with the killer doll than all her other roles combined.

Author Richard Matheson was one of the writers of “Trilogy of Terror.” He had come up with the idea for “Amelia” over a decade earlier when he was working on the “The Twilight Zone.” He had pitched a script called “Devil Doll” to series creator Rod Serling, but the story turned out to be too grim for 1960s broadcast standards. Matheson ended up tweaking the idea slightly and using it for “The Invaders,” which starred Agnes Moorehead, as a woman who is terrorized by a group of tiny sinister aliens.

Years later, Matheson often collaborated with director Dan Curtis – who did the original “The Night Stalker” with Darren McGavin – and they came up with the idea for “Trilogy of Terror” and pitched it to ABC. Writer William F. Nolan scripted the first two segments, based on Matheson stories, and Matheson himself scripted “Amelia,” which was basically the story from the abandoned “Twilight Zone” idea.

Matheson figured that “Amelia” would be the standout segment – and he was right. Over the years, when he went in for meetings at studios, he was often approached by executives who confessed to wetting themselves while watching the film as a child.

The studio and Dan Curtis thought otherwise, though. They felt the stunt casting of Karen Black in all three stories – a total of four roles with the twin’s in the second episode – would be the real hook. Initially, Black was not interested in the part. She only agreed to star when her manager was able to secure a role for her then-husband, Robert Burton.

The filming was not without its problems. The production required the use of three puppets, which were not easy to operate. In interviews, Black said that the crew sometimes had to simply throw the doll at her so that it looked like it was moving. Many times, its head of arms fell off when it was supposed to be running. Working with the little terror was often hilarious, not horrifying, she admitted.

But the viewers didn’t see any of the funny stuff. There was nothing to laugh about in “Amelia.” The final part of the trilogy is mostly silent, with Black’s character being browbeaten by her overbearing mother over the telephone and then trying to calm herself with a shower. Once that doll comes to life, she uses everything she can – an ice pick, a suitcase, even an oven – to fight whatever evil has caused it to attack her. In the closing moments, it’s clear that the doll is not yet finished claiming victims.

Oops, spoiler alert.

“Trilogy of Terror” eventually made it to the home video market in the early 1980s, but before that, kids like me had to wait for it to be repeated on ABC. Luckily, they often brought it back so that we could experience the horror over and over again. It would be the fleeting recollections of how we all had to watch it in the late 1970s that caused the movie to develop a cult following. Even though the Zuni doll came back in 1996 for a sequel, it’s the original film that we all know and love.

But not everyone was so fond of it. Karen Black often complained about the fact that people remembered “Trilogy of Terror” at the expense of the rest of her career. “I wish they said, ‘That wonderful movie you did for Robert Altman,’ but they don’t,” she told an interviewer, “They say, ‘That little doll.’”

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langdxn · 4 years ago

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sanctum part ii | outpost!michael x reader

SUMMARY: Michael Langdon lost everything on the journey to Outpost 3, including his own sanity.

WARNINGS: Angst. Just a load of angst.

WORDS: 1.8k

A/N: Sanctum was the very first thing I wrote here, all the way back in October last year. Back by popular demand, here’s my oldest form of Outpost!Michael going through it pretty badly. I apologise for how crap this is, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things so it’s definitely not perfect!

read part i here

“Good evening, Mr Langdon,” Venable spat through trembling lips, hurrying out of his office without a backward glance, the glow of the fireside glittering against the tear tracks from her eyes. Venable skirted past a stiffened Ms Mead, frozen in the doorway staring at the blonde practically buzzing with confidence.

“Sir,” Mead scowled, curtly sliding the door closed.

The sudden silence allowed Langdon a moment to bask in his victory; reducing the once stern Venable to a quivering wreck beneath his palms, outlining her spine as if tracing the outline of her very soul.

Michael’s eyes draped closed, his chin tilted to the ceiling, a deep sigh swelled and eased through his lungs.

His senses greeted a tranquility he had lost the moment he entered Outpost 3. A stillness that he had last embraced when he held his wife.

For all the joyful psychological torture of Venable’s conscience, he had neglected to think of his family, lost to the toxic fog above ground. A stone sank in his chest which he could’ve sworn moments earlier was his heart.

Suddenly, a child’s playful giggles shattered the stillness. Michael’s eyes burst open, scouring the room for the source of the sound. Spinning on his heels, his coat tails swooped recklessly behind him as he turned, but he found nothing. Nothing but the peacefully ebbing fire in the far corner.

Defeated, he rinsed his face with his hands, dipping his fingertips into his eye sockets as if to cleanse his stupor.

—

Andre Stevens came for interview the next morning, brimming with insults and digs at his mother Dinah, hoping his degradation of her character would earn himself a place in the Sanctuary. Andre’s evidence rambled on so long, Michael’s attention had waned.

As he leaned back in his rigid desk chair, pressing his temples fervently, Michael felt a sudden tug on his coat tail, as if small fingers had pulled it for attention.

“Not now Asta, daddy’s working,” Michael cooed gently, his gaze firing down to his side but again, finding nothing but a length of deep burgundy fabric draped over the edge.

“Mr—Mr Langdon,” Andre stuttered through shallow, mocking breaths. “I know I’m pleading for my life here, but there’s no way in hell I’m calling you daddy.”

Michael gasped suddenly, shaking his head and focusing on the visibly nervous man in the chair opposite.

“Forgive me, Mr…”

“S... Stevens,” he muttered under his breath as his eyes narrowed, keen to gauge Langdon’s response.

“Mr Stevens, could you please excuse me?” Michael jolted to his feet, outstretching a dismissive hand toward the door. “I have some urgent business to attend.”

“More... more urgent than my interview?” Andre faltered as he rose, taking tentative steps to exit while fixing his gaze on the stern blonde.

“I’m afraid so,” Michael swallowed hard, pacing hurriedly to the door and sliding it in Andre’s concern-stricken face.

Still grasping the wooden portal between his trembling fingers, he turned and slammed his back to the door. Frantically scanning the room, Michael’s eyes darted from corner to corner, lingering on the shadows beneath his desk.

“Asta?” Michael queried into the dark under the table, half-crouching as he paced forward tentatively. Clearing his throat, he adopted a soft, childish tone. “Astaroth, is that you?”

Taking one wide lunge toward the desk, his eyes adjusted to the pitch black crevice and discovered only the legs of his chair lay in the darkness.

Pursing his lips tightly, fusing them together with rage as he straightened up, Michael calmly grasped a file from the desk. Swiping the manila between his fingers, the slick but cool surface slipping through them, he tightened his grip and swiped to one side, casting the file into the fire.

“Fuck!” He roared viciously, a feral scowl skewing his lips as he clasped his face with both hands. Digging his nails into his cheeks, he clawed aimlessly at himself to dispel the thoughts that had so vehemently clouded his common sense.

Outpost 3 held memories more painful than Michael Langdon had first credited, but how could it manipulate the closer sentimental values? The events after his time at Hawthorne, the events leading up to his return to the hallowed halls of his school? The family he began before the end of the world, the family he left behind in Outpost 2. The family he saw suffering on his journey to California, covered in cancerous tumours, facing deaths he could not control. Not this time.

—

“Mr Langdon,” Emily nervously filled the silence as she walked beside Michael through the bronzed Outpost corridors. “What’s it like out there? What happened to the other Outposts?”

“That’s classified information as well you know, Ms Campbell,” Michael hummed, hands clasped studiously behind his back as he made his way to the library. “It’s best you stay uninformed of the reality above ground. Ignorance is bliss, after all.”

“That’s nonsense as you well know, Mr Langdon,” she spat back, each syllable laced with pent-up anger growing impatient with Langdon’s unreasonably calm demeanour as they turned into another identical corridor. “We need to know, don’t we? If some of us are staying here to face certain death, don’t we deserve to know what to expect in our final moments?”

“Ms Campbell, I don’t see—“

Michael cut off as his eyes fell on a small figure at the far end of the hallway. His idle pacing halted abruptly, gaze fixed on the child ahead of him. A smiling toddler braced to run away, curly blonde locks tumbling from his head like a waterfall. Upon seeing Michael, the little boy skirted around the next corner and out of sight.

“Langdon?” Emily stalled and stared intently at the man frozen with fear. Suddenly, Michael broke into a run, chasing after the boy as he heard a child’s jolly chuckles echo down the next hallway.

“Asta, wait!” Michael cried out, hands lunging for the walls as he swung around the corner. As his eyes adjusted to the new wooden pathway, he saw no trace of the boy.

“Langdon, what’s wrong?” Emily called out, her satin dress loudly crinkling as she tried to keep pace behind him. Turning the corner, she found Michael sliding down the wall, his face desperately plunged between his knees as he collided with the floor. Quivering fingers combed through his blonde waves, balling into fists and tugging furiously at his lengths. Weak wails slipped through his quaking lips in futile response.

Desperate. Losing his mind. Losing himself.

—

“He’s been acting so strange today,” Andre called around the dinner table. Michael eavesdropped silently from the hallway, lingering in the shadows. “He’s calling out for someone, some Astor?”

“Did he arrive with somebody else?” Emily enquired, aiming her query at the authorities at the table. “Did someone else come in with him, Ms Venable?”

“Our security is impregnable, there was no companion with Langdon upon arrival.”

Frustrated grunts flooded the dining hall from all angles.

“That’s bullshit!” Cried one voice.

“Stop lying to us!” Yelled another.

“Just quit it, all of you,” exclaimed Gallant in the brief gap in conversation. “This guy’s here to save our asses, one way or another, so if he’s being weird then all we have to do is,” he sighed, taking a sip of his drink and swallowing harshly. “Bend over and take it.”

—

Michael stumbled recklessly through his office door and raised a furious hand behind him, an invisible force slamming the heavy wooden screens shut with an almighty bang. Using the crash to conceal his despair, he dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. If he had any energy left in his shell of a body, he would have wept aloud, cried his office down, wailed so loud the entire Outpost would bear witness to his insanity.

Between sombre, silent sobs and his pulse thundering in his ears, Michael heard the familiar child’s laughter again.

Closer this time, as if right above his crumpled form pooled on the floorboards.

Too broken, Michael could not bear to lift his head. Too weak, he could not bring himself to face disappointment again. Too far gone, he chose to appeal to the only sense he knew remaining.

“Father,” he called out into the void between his fingers, his once forceful voice breaking jaggedly. “I think I’m going crazy.”

The playful giggles intensified, as if slipping through lips smiling from ear to ear. Michael dug his fingers deeper into his forehead, clawing helplessly at his own skin desperate to reach the source of his hallucinations.

“Father, he’s everywhere I turn. How can he be? He died, he perished up there,” a hand raised to the ceiling. “No doubt followed by his brother and their beautiful, brilliant mother. They took my heart with them.”

The laughter became louder, Michael screwed his eyes closed until his vision blurred to rainbows, erratic and unfinished, never leading anywhere.

“Father, why can I still see him?” Michael cried, both exasperated and exhausted. “Why is it like he’s still ali—“

A hand fell atop Michael’s head, tiny fingers delving into his tussled hair. He flinched away instinctively, tumbling onto his back and forcing his eyes open. His gaze fell upon a blonde boy towering above him, a beaming smile spread across his face exposing tiny, brilliant white teeth. Michael blinked hard to wish away the apparition, only to open his eyes and see the boy still there, giggling wildly.

“Ast... Astaroth?!” He cried in disbelief, extending a hand to touch the angelic yellow curls on his head, sifting through them to feel the sensation between his fingertips. They felt real, they moved with his digits and tumbled back down as he pulled away. “Is it really you?”

The boy grinned, another blissfully innocent chuckle bursting free from him.

Michael lunged forward and scooped up the child, squeezing him in his embrace and staggering to his feet.

“Astaroth Mephistopheles Langdon,” Michael wept joyfully into the child’s hair as he stood with the boy in his arms. “You’re really here!”

“He’s getting too good at this,” a female voice joined from a dark corner of his office, followed by gentle clicking of heels crossing the room to join them. Michael’s heart soared, his cries melting into laughter as he turned to see the woman standing before him.

“Salire per spatium, jumping through space,” she continued, a wide smile stretching out her every syllable. “Our boy is already more advanced than a teenage warlock. He’s going to be a real handful in middle school.”

“My darling,” Michael cooed, extending an arm toward her and drawing her into his embrace. “He’s the son of the Antichrist, what did you expect?”

Bumping his forehead against hers, Michael inhaled as deep as his lungs could handle.

“How did you—,” Michael stuttered frantically, shaking his head against hers. “I saw you, our boy was dead and you asked me to...”

“I saw that lady too, on the way here,” she sighed solemnly, a hand protectively brushing through her son’s blonde locks. “She asked me the same thing.”

“And... did you?”

A tear rolled softly down her cheek.

“No.”

#outpost!michael x reader #outpost!michael #outpost!michael angst #michael langdon #cody fern fanfiction

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bokutosworld · 5 years ago

Text

enchanted | oikawa tooru

note: this was a very self-indulgent fic haha i wanted to relax yesterday and wrote something off the top of my mind. i’ve had taylor swift’s enchanted on repeat the past week and i just wanted to write something about it. i debated whether i should have a haikyuu boy featured and somewhere along writing it became an oikawa x reader piece with 2.9k words. hehe.

act 1: "your eyes whispered, 'have we met?'

the sudden downpour surprised commuters and passersby on the street. some are already taking out their umbrellas, while some are hurriedly finding refuge in convenience stores and coffee shops.

today's weather report said it was going to be sunny and no chance of rainfall. so why? she silently curses the gods. of all the days it could have rained, it had to be today when she had a job interview in an hour. and by her luck (or lack of it), she forgot to bring an umbrella with her. she wasn't always as careless as today. she was just nervous, having stayed up all night because she was excited to finally have a chance to join her dream company.

she was tossing and turning all night. her mind going 200 miles per hour, not letting her get any sleep and thinking about all the possibilities that could happen today. but of all the scenarios her thoughts wandered off to, she did not consider the rain ruining her plans. she sighed, maybe it wasn't the right time yet. defeated, she decided to enter her local cafe just a block away from the subway. it was too early to give up, she knew, but she figured the rain might have suspended the train operations. traffic was already building up, so taking a taxi was out of the question. any effort would be futile. she takes out her phone, maybe she'll try again next time.

the comforting aroma of the coffee beans and the calming lofi music welcomed her. there was a line at the counter, but not that long. she stepped in and scanned the menu board. should i get the usual latte, she mused. but the weather is perfect for a hot chocolate with marshmallows. she was so lost in her thoughts, still undecided, that she failed to notice the barista already looking at her. ah, she opts for the hot chocolate. before she leaves to take a seat, she takes a second look at the man who took her order.

she couldn't quite put a finger on it, but the man had a certain air of familiarity. he's cute, she thought. waiting for her drink, she found herself admiring the man working on her drink. he had bright and kind eyes that put her at ease and a smile that could put the sun to shame. when he greeted her, she was surprised at how loud his voice was that she almost flinched. the man noticed and he apologized followed by a laugh that she thought was music to her ears.

sitting on a table next to the window, she saw how he carried himself with such grace and moved around the bar as if he owned the shop. maybe he does own the shop. he expertly sets the cup down and fills it with her drink. he was finishing up and she took it as a sign to go to the counter, placing her bag on her seat, when the man approached her with the drink. he sets it on the table, i figured you had a rough morning. enjoy your drink, he says with his boyish smile.

and she couldn't help herself anymore. maybe it was the frustration that she felt, not being able to proceed with her plan for the day. maybe she was looking for that one good thing to happen to make up for her dream being rained upon by the storm. maybe there was a .00001 chance (one that she wouldn't dare to admit) that she's taken a liking to him. 'do i know you,' she finally asked.

he leans down, bringing his face close to her, and smiles.' no, but would you allow me to get to know you?'

act 2: two a.m., who do you love?

since that day, she's been frequenting the cafe. in the mornings, in her afternoon breaks (she finally got a job as an editor for the publishing company just across the street. 'a work of fate,' he said), and even in the evenings when she would wait for him to close the cafe.

it's been three months since they decided to start a friendship. oikawa tooru was his name. she learned that he indeed owned that cafe. it was not something that he had planned but he loved drinking coffee and when he learned the basics of brewing during that one workshop in his senior year in college, he knew he wanted to open a cafe. right after university, he got his parents' support to start his business but it was only last year that he became hands-on with the shop. knowing that the corporate world was not for him, he settled for a comfortable life surrounded by drinks, pastries, and good music.

she learned that he liked his coffee black, with the exception of iced white chocolate mocha on days when he felt like relaxing and taking things slow. just like today. the pair was strolling around the mall, a cup of coffee (iced for him, hot for her) in each of their hands. he was gift hunting for his nephew who was turning six the following weekend. 'you have to help me find something. it's like he hates whatever i give him,' he said as he pleaded for her to go shopping with him. it wasn't like she was going to say no. she's come to love his company. besides, how could she refuse when he was literally putting on the cutest puppy dog eyes and a little pout in front of her?

so here they are now, going inside their fifth store for the day. she wondered how could he still be full of energy after walking around for hours. 'how about that robot figurine,' she tiredly asked, hoping it could be what he was looking for. he looked over and thought about it, and it's as if a light bulb appeared in his head. he excitedly turned and hooked an arm around her shoulders, dragging her close to the toy. 'you are a genius! how could i forget that he was in love with these robots,' he exclaimed as he ruffled her hair. he was going to call a saleslady to help him with his purchase but before he let go, he peppered both her cheeks with kisses, 'stay here. i'll go get someone to wrap this up.' she froze, processed what just happened, and before she could react, he was already running down the aisles looking for assistance. her heart beat faster and she felt hot where his lips made contact on her face. she put both hands on her cheeks, ah, what is this?

after that incident, it's like she saw him in a different light. call it cliche, she thought, but is this love? oikawa was very grateful for her help in finding a gift that he brought her as his plus one to his nephew's party. 'why me,' she asked when he invited her for the weekend. his laughter filled his room where they were currently hanging out and he replied, 'well, you were the one that picked this. plus, i think my nephew will like you. i want to introduce two of my favorite people to each other.'

and there it was again. the beating of her heart getting faster and the surprising urge to hug him. she shook her head, she refused to believe that a tiny part of her likes him. yet here she was, holding his hand in front of his family home where the birthday party was happening. to say she was scared was an understatement but oikawa assured her that his family would love her.

like the night before her job interview months ago, she couldn't sleep well and her thoughts kept her up. why is he doing this? why is he bringing me to a family event? perhaps, no, he couldn't like me. we're just friends. yes, we're friends, she repeated that over and over in her mind so she could keep her sanity.

'oikawa, is that your girlfriend,' his cheeky nephew asked. she was taken aback and did not know how to reply. but he was quick to respond, chuckling, he crouched down to his nephew's height and whispered (so quietly that she missed what he said), 'not yet but i like her.' and he put his finger behind his lips, shushing and his nephew imitated him. the little boy mischievously looked at her then went on to play with his cousins. she was about to ask what he said, but they were suddenly called by his other relatives.

the party went by too fast. as she expected, they were bombarded with questions about their relationship, seeing that it was the first time oikawa brought anyone over at their residence. whenever that topic popped up, he was quick to answer, as vaguely as possible that it left her with so many questions, 'she's a very dear friend who you'll probably see more of in the future.' his family teased them endlessly and she couldn't do anything but play along with it. it wasn't good for her heart and she knew she had to ask him soon.

she didn't expect that soon would happen immediately that night. like the gentleman he was, he dropped her off at her apartment. it was two a.m. and it was 'dangerous for a girl to go home alone,' he reasoned. if they didn't stop by a fast food to get their burgers and milkshakes fix, she would have been home much earlier. but both of them didn't want to part yet. just as she was about to open her door, he cleared his throat, a habit he always did when he wanted to say something.

she turned around, curiosity in her eyes, when he said, 'i'm in love with you.' it was a calculated risk. throughout their trip home, oikawa ran over the possible scenarios of what could happen if he confessed tonight. there was a slim chance that she would accept him, he thought. that's why he kept her past her 11 p.m. curfew (not that she really had a curfew, she just really wanted to catch the friends rerun before she slept). and he knew how much that little routine of hers was important that he was surprised when she didn't say no to his offer of burger and milkshake. that's when he knew he had to tell her tonight.

and it was worth it, because as he saw the sweet smile he had come to love, he also finally heard the words he's been waiting for, 'i'm in love with you too.'

act 3: my thoughts will echo your name

she was currently sitting at the spot where they first talked to each other. she looked over her lover, working the counter and busying himself with the coffee orders. it was christmas, and like any other establishment, his place was packed with customers who wanted to stay away from the cold winter.

they made plans to spend the holiday night together at his home. while they both liked going outside, trying out new restaurants for dates, they also loved the domesticity in their relationship. on most weekends, she would be spending an entire day in his apartment. sitting together on his bed and bundled in blankets, they could bingewatch movies and series for hours while eating instant noodles or convenient store meals. they didn't need expensive things or gourmet food, all they needed was the company of one another.

that's why, hours before settling in her spot in his coffee shop, she was shopping for groceries. they wanted to cook something together, or at least he wanted her to cook. oikawa couldn't be left alone in the kitchen without him messing something up. last time he tried to surprise her with breakfast in bed, she woke up to the smell of something burning. lucky for him, she came to his rescue and saved the omurice he was attempting to make. she laughed at that memory.

'what are you smiling about,' he asked as he was now sitting in the chair in front of her. he has changed to his casual clothes, his beige winter coat hugging his tall frame. handsome, she thought. they stood up, oikawa taking the bags of groceries in his one hand and her palm in another. they said goodbye to his employees, reminding them to close early for the night. it was a holiday after all.

it was a simple setup. he brought out his kotatsu as she did the finishing touches on their feast. together, they placed their home-cooked meals on their table. garden salad, steak, pasta, and cream of mushroom soup. there were fruits on the side and of course, wine.

sitting side-by-side, they clinked their glasses together. 'merry christmas, love,' oikawa greeted. she beamed at him, never did she think that she would be spending her christmas with someone. for years, she's been used to being alone. but now, she had him by her side and she felt she would do anything to keep this happiness forever and to keep the smile on his face.

she closed the gap between them and kissed him, 'merry christmas, tooru.'

act 4: i was enchanted to meet you

pacing around the room, her mind was in overdrive. she went over her to-do list in her mind, reviewing if everything was ready and in place. flowers, check. catering, check. gift registry, check. wedding dress, check. rings, oh my god, the rings, she panicked.

sensing her distress, her best friend stood up from her seat and calmed her down. she sat her down at the available vanity chair and called on a makeup artist. only three hours left but she wasn't ready yet. she insisted on being the last one to prepare as she wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong today. 'are you ready,' inquired the makeup lady. she looked up in the mirror and nodded.

in the room next to hers, oikawa was lounging and scrolling at his phone. unlike her, he has been ready since morning. to say that he was excited was an understatement. he has been looking forward to this day. he glanced at his buddies fixing their tuxedos and their hair. it’s happening, he thought. unable to control himself, he opened his messages and sent her a text, i can't wait to see you.

the guests were finally arriving. the church, decorated with a red carpet and strewn with red and white flowers, was finally filling up. greetings, conversations, and laughter could be heard in the venue, many expressing their excitement for the wedding to start. then the bells rang. the pianist took his seat and started playing.

the groom and his best man stood waiting at the altar. each member of the entourage walked slowly down the aisle. then it was her turn. she was nervous. she thought she might trip over her own feet and fall on her face. now that would be a sight, she thought. but as she saw him waiting in front with the biggest grin adorning his face, her nerves calmed down and she found herself being pulled by his presence.

she took her spot, at the side, and smiled as they made eye contact, their glances filled with love. then the guests stood up, oohs and aahs filled the venue, and a different melody echoed in the room.

her best friend, the bride, started walking down the aisle. she looked at her, they knew each other since childhood and made a promise that they would be each other's maid of honor. she was finally fulfilling her promise and she couldn't be prouder of her best friend who was about to start a new chapter in her life.

the groom, someone who she and oikawa also knew, held the bride's hands. together, they faced the priest and the program began.

as the couple were exchanging their vows, she was tearing up a bit and oikawa couldn't help but look at her adoringly. she's always been beautiful, he thought, but today she has a different glow. he wondered what she would look like in her own wedding dress in their own wedding.

lost in his thought, he didn't notice when she turned his way and caught him staring. her breath was taken away and it was as if the surroundings blurred and they were in their own world.

if someone told her before that she would one day find her greatest love, she would have laughed. heartbreak after heartbreak in her younger years built a strong protective wall around her heart that she thought she would rather spend her days alone (with a cat or dog, maybe).

looking back on that fateful day, it seems that the rain was a blessing in disguise. if it wasn't for the damned weather, she wouldn't have met oikawa tooru, the best thing to happen in her life. he taught her genuine happiness, gave her the greatest love, left her with the most beautiful memories, and even brewed her the best coffee in the world.

thunder suddenly roared and raindrops fell on the church's roof. they were both pulled from their reverie and caught each other's eyes. déjà vu, they both thought. it was as if they were back in the very first moment they met.

they had a knowing and loving look as they gazed at each other. smiles on their lips, no words were needed, their eyes communicated all they wanted to say, i was enchanted to meet you.

#oikawa tooru #oikawa x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa imagines #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu fics #haikyuu!!#haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu fluff #also this is probably the first and last fic i will write 🤣 unless i get bored or sad again #OK BYE #haikyuu!! imagines #haikyuu!! scenarios #haikyuu!! fics #haikyū #haikyuu!! x reader

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calypsoff · 4 years ago

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Twenty One

Staring at the like from badgalriri, she liked my post. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but she liked it about my clothing line, that is the most I have got from her. She hasn’t really reached out to me and I don’t expect it, it’s been about a week I would say. I haven’t removed her pictures from my page because she hasn’t either, but I think I will learn to live, I will eventually get over it. I will, Barry wants me to go out and stuff, but I am ok with that. Locking my phone sighing out, Tina stayed here for a full three days, I wasn’t ready for that at all, but she was dope. She never mentioned Robyn and I never asked, we just kept shit mutual, but TJ seems to like her a lot, a hell of a lot actually. Reminds me of Robyn and I when we actually liked each other, I will get over this I need too for my own sanity. My phone started to ring, I don’t know this number at all. Answering the call and deepening my voice “yo” I said, “uh it’s me” furrowing my eyebrows “me who?” she kissed her teeth “how many bajan people you know nigga?” I chuckled, it’s Mel “I know, yeah why you calling me?” that is random “I got your number from Tina, she got it from TJ. Now I am calling you, I have been contemplating on whether to actually call you, I was on and off about it all but staying with Robyn and being her best friend, I know what she needs to do but I think she doesn’t know how to start it so here I am, helping her because that is my baby. Also I don’t think she will, she has been pretty shit about things, look I am talking too much but I want you to come to California and just hear her out, without you being angry at her. I am not going to tell you but I wouldn’t call if I didn’t think you would help, she needs you and I need you to help my friend out. Just come here, come here as her friend. Don’t think of her as your girlfriend, just please. I am worried for my friend, I am. I am asking you for the love you have for her, come here and just be here. You will see why when you come” pulling a face, Mel didn’t once take a breather, she just said lots of words.

Clearing my throat “I know you’re thinking what the fuck, but as a friend of hers Chris. You have got to care for her, look Robyn is really depressed and I can’t get her out of it. I need your presence; I am not telling you anything else” I swallowed hard “why me? She has such a supportive family Mel, you all love her so much so I don’t get it” it’s confusing “we can’t help her Chris, she has kicked everyone out, I am here because I forcefully remain here because I know. You know understand I wasn’t plotting; I was being here for my friend. I ain’t the type of bitch to beg but please, I want my friend back” this is crazy, how bad is Robyn that she is asking me “what if she kicks me out? What can I do?” I am confused “more then you know, I promise you this. I am going to go now; I need to check on her and tell her everything will be ok. It’s not a game, I promise. But let me know, text me if you do” nodding my head like she could see “right” she disconnected the call, this is a lot. I am confused because all of them were playing in my face, they were keeping shit away from me too so like why now. She seems so sincere about it; Tina did say Robyn doesn’t want anyone there so this piece of information could be right.

I am between two minds in going, picking my phone up from my bed. I had a long thoughtful shower, I had to think about a lot and think on what to do and I am not sure at all. Mel has text me, taping on the message as it opened. It’s a video, it’s black though. Playing the video “Robbie you got to eat, I gave you the minimum” Mel said on the video “I am fine with water” the phone was moved up and then seeing the back of Robyn walking off “another day of this behaviour, I am not lying” Mel said showing the plate with food, exiting out of the video and read Mel’ message “please” I read out the message. I don’t understand Robyn’ issue, she let me go and now she is depressed. I mean as a friend I can be there for her but what the fuck is her problem, texting Mel back ‘I don’t get it, you mean more to her then I do?’ pressing send on the message, I mean Robyn looks pretty fed up and she isn’t eating but what can I exactly do for her, can I make her better or would I make it worse for her, I am so confused. She let me go, she could have kept me if she just stopped me from leaving, my phone pinged, reading Mel’ text ‘I tried, trust me’ she seems defeated, but I need to think, I am literally having to go out of my way to see her.

Dapping TJ sitting next to him on the couch “where is Barry?” I have not seen him all morning “he went to post some orders out and then he text the group chat saying he is going to see some friends, see. Like a good husband he tells us” I chuckled “yeah, so uhm. Mel called me, Robyn’ best friend. She is begging me to come to California as a friend to help Robyn, apparently Robyn is depressed. I am like what do I got to do with that? What can I exactly do, how is she depressed, and I will make it better, she said come there and hear her out. And then she sent me a video showing that Robyn is not really eating, and I don’t know, why me? What can I do for her” I shrugged “damn, actually. Tina was saying that she hasn’t seen Robyn since they got to California, Mel told her she is not needed for now, last she heard was that Robyn told everyone to leave her alone. She has interviews planned, all cancelled so it’s weird. She isn’t doing promotion for the album at all, record label is losing their mind about it, maybe she is right. Maybe ole girl loves you that much. Maybe she was just stressed then, I don’t know. My nosey ass would be on the plane there, that is just me. I mean her friend did say come there as her friend and be there for her. I think maybe do it, you are both friends before anything. Maybe there is something you could do for her, she is messing up her promotion for this album” that is interesting to know “did Tina say anything else but just that?” maybe I should have asked Tina while she was here “erm, just that really. She’s not doing any type of promo and it’s looking bad. She cancelled a lot of it, she did that performance for MTV and even then she had a small team and just left, but Tina didn’t go. Robyn didn’t ask for her, that is what her job is. Whenever Robyn needs her” California is a whole plane ride, this seems so risky to me because then what if she rejects me when I get there.

Picking at my arm, I am here in person, but my mind is elsewhere. I am just thinking about Robyn, she is deep on my mind now. I just think she did let me go at that moment, she could have stopped me, but she didn’t. Now she is feeling this way, I am not sure what to say about it. I could possibly make it worse because she won’t know I am coming, that will piss me off even more if Robyn just asks why I am there, then I am like what if she does need me. I did say I would always be there for her as a friend, that I would always support her that way. This is why I left, I didn’t want the friendship we have ruined but now I feel confused, my heart is heavy, and it is throwing me off “still not decided yet?” TJ asked “what?” Barry questioned “Mel called Chris saying that Robyn needs him, she is in a bad way, something like that. Chris is not sure about this at all, like what if it is a game or something. Mel sent him a video and Robyn seemed to be sad, so I asked if he has decided on it” Barry came into my eye view “looks like California is calling you then, you going to go?” Barry said with a mouthful of cereal at this time of the day “why you stood there deciding for me?” frowning at him “because you are her friend first, remember?” he has a point “if Rihanna is in a bad way, then go. No point being here, go and see what is up” Barry has a point “also my suitcase is there, so I will go there” getting up from the chair “good” look at him trying to support this but my suitcase is still there, I never picked it up.

Putting my backpack on “how come you’re being so supportive of this? Sorry, I am just thinking. I was stood there thinking. I am just going there to support her you know. So like we won’t be getting back together?” if they are thinking that “because I would hate for someone to be struggling, if her friend called you then you know it’s no good so that is why. It’s like me calling Robyn and saying I can’t help with Chris anymore, but I would only do that if I exhausted all outlets, so I think you need to go. And also your suitcase is there” he added, I chuckled “true, I am just going to be angry if Robyn acts up, I am just thinking I am going there as a friend, so it doesn’t make me feel a type of way. But I will see you niggas soon, I have a flight soon” dapping them both “give Tina a booty rub for me” pushing TJ’ head “nigga fuck you, I don’t think she will be there anyways. But let me know if anything, I will call with an update. If she hasn’t kicked me out” making my way out of the door “y’all will be fucking so I don’t think that” Barry assumes that, but we won’t be. I really hate to think she is struggling, maybe she has taken the break up bad. But so have I, I feel like shit but she let me go when she didn’t need too.

Back in California, didn’t think I would be. I mean not for this kind of reason anyways, am I being too giving, like she did let me go but I will let it go. I will see what is up, I did message Mel to say I am outside in the Uber waiting to be able to enter the drive, she is taking her sweet time “you know what, drop me off out here I will walk down. Saves you just waiting out here” grabbing my backpack but the gate finally opened “it’s opened” he pointed “fine” I guess he wants to drive “I know this home, this is Rihanna’ home” I guess they all know “oh is it? How do you know” bit weird “I dropped off her stylist here once, he mentioned it” letting out an oh “ok, I was about to call you a stalker. Thank you for dropping me off at the door. Have a good one” opening the car door “and you” I hope I do; I can’t even believe I am here. I left and I kind of just said to myself I will never be back here, putting my backpack on. Mel is smiling, I couldn’t help but smile back “hey” I said “hey you, nice to be back huh” I shrugged stuffing my hands in my pockets “I am not sure what to expect you know? I came here really not knowing shit, I was in two minds” Mel moved to the side “come in then, we can talk” this is going to be long.

Dragging my eyes away from the picture frame of Robyn and her family she has up in this room “sorry, here I am now. What made you come then?” this is a good question “man, I don’t know. I don’t know what I am getting myself into either, I am hoping you’re going to help me there. I suppose I felt heavy in my heart, and I said to her that I didn’t want to ruin the friendship, you said that and you right. I would be here for her as a friend” I sighed out, I feel nervous being here “I wouldn’t have called you at all, if I didn’t think you would probably make a difference in her. She is in a state, pretty bad one too. Like I can’t go into detail as much but it’s something that I can help with, it is you. And she may be shocked that you are here, but I feel that I am taking that step into helping her. She is just unbearable; she just beats herself up about it. She has interviews cancelled, so much of them and Jay is going crazy, she doesn’t leave her room. It’s a mess, she hasn’t cried and it’s scaring me in a way. I just want you to push that out of her” now I am even more confused “how? By seeing my face?” I questioned “kind of, but I want you to be there for her as a friend. This is the best I can do for her, just don’t think on it too much just think of it being there for a friend” Mel is scaring me, what kind of Robyn am I going to see.

I have been watching Mel cook, I mean nothing else I can do but Robyn hasn’t come down or anything, it’s like she is not here “watch this, well hear it” Mel put her phone on speaker as it rang out, and then rang out. Then she answered “what?” Robyn said “I made us dinner, come down. I will be waiting in the kitchen; I am not bringing it up. Just come down from the room, please” the line went silent “fine” the line went silent “shock she didn’t tell me fuck off, so I guess she will be down. I am doing this for her own good, something she needs to release. She can’t keep it in, and it will do her good to see you” I have no words, I am not even sure what to say or even do “what if she tells me to fuck off?” she could do “she won’t, I promise” Mel is very confident in that, we shall see. I feel nervous myself, like I am seeing her all over again but I am just going to relax “ayo, what you think to TJ and Tina” Mel pointed at me and screamed “I am still screaming, like what the fuck” so Mel knows “same, I am still thinking how they even got time to have sex on the plane, like there was so many people on there” Mel froze all wide eyed “nigga you lying?” oh shit, that was a secret “I thought you knew?” Mel yelped out “they had sex on tour on the plane? That bitch never mentioned, chile. That bitch!” Mel spat, she is shook which is making me laugh “that bitch got dick on the plane, I am fucking jealous. Robyn, are you going to join us on this conversation” looking behind me, a gaunt Robyn just stood there in silence, I guess this is awkward “he is here for you” Mel said breaking the silence as we just stared at each other.

#Chrianna FF #Chrianna #Chrianna Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction

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fishball-and-sweet-potato · 5 years ago

Text

Zero O'Clock - BirdCop Celebration + GIF Challenge (MLQC AU)

I just wanna join. I actually want to post this fic at ARMY day (9th of July), but here it is anyway!

Pairing : Leah Hong (MC) x Gavin Bai

Warning : triggering events (containing insecurity and anxiety)

Disclaimer : Leah is MC in this AU. In this AU, there is no Evol.

Genre : fluff

Words : 1,542

NB : this fic is also inspired from this song

“Leah, you should go home now. You just left the hospital yesterday, your body still needs time to be fully recovered,” Anna slowly shaked my body, waking me up.

Leah corrected her posture, “yeah, I know I should. But I don’t want to become a burden for all of you, and especially that’s because I’m in charge of this company now. I just feel like I’m the one that should be my fellow workers’ strength, and I failed you all, even my father…” unbeknownst to her, her eyes felt hot. Leah wanted to continue but her brain couldn’t process her emotions right now.

“No, you’re not. And believe me, we all have made mistakes when that talk show was supposed to be aired live. But still, we managed to do it well at last thanks to the content and technical errors,” Willow tried to assure her. Three days ago, Leah had a chance to interview Mrs. Peng, the owner of a well-known bak kut teh* shop named Seventh Heaven. The topic was about business’ survival strategies for small and medium enterprises amidst the economic crisis. Suddenly, her stomach felt painful and she couldn’t suppress it despite all her efforts, until she fainted. The first thing she thought when she gained my consciousness was, she was such an unprofessional disgrace for this show.

“I want to see the editing process for a while,” Leah replied, still refusing to do nothing.

“Boss, we can also lend you a shoulder. I’ll send it straight to you when it’s finished. Okay?” Kiki patted her shoulder.

Before Leah nodded in defeat, Minor continued, “Boss, I’m sorry for the shift of topic, but Gavin said to me that he will come to your house around 10 pm.”

She yawned, “why didn’t he tell me directly?”

Minor rolled his eyes, but suddenly he had a flustered look on his face, “eh, sorry, he already contacted you several times, but no answer from you.”

Leah checked my phone, it had no power. “Oh God, why am I so stupid? Gavin is definitely angry with me now,” she said resenting herself. The fact that she had done this earlier consumed all her sanity. She immediately turned on her phone, and her eyes almost popped out from their sockets seeing the amount of missed calls. The fact that this day was July 28th made her more shocked. “Okay, I gotta go now,” she said after her friends kept telling me the editing was almost finished.

Leah went to Seventh Heaven. Amidst the crowd, she could still hear the voice she knew really well greeted her first, “Leah, are you feeling better?”

“Mrs. Peng!” Leah slightly raised her voice and fastened her pace towards the middle-aged woman. “Yeah, I’m healthy now! I’m… I’m sorry…” suddenly the scene flashed her mind, her body felt heavy.

“You don’t need to. Let’s go inside,” Mrs. Peng replied, dragging her into the shop.

“I think the technical errors are made up…” Leah couldn’t help but loathed everything around her.

Mrs. Peng patted her, “we can’t prevent unexpected things from happening. Instead, the only thing we could do is to find ways so it would be meaningful.”

While Leah was digesting her words, Gavin’s smile entered her thought and erased her anxiety, “I want to buy two portions of pork tenderloin soup, one portion of fish soup, and one braised pork belly. All takeaways, please.”

“For who?” Mrs. Peng giggled. “Let me guess, your policeman friend…”

Leah blushed and tried to hide her embarrassment with all her might, “uh, Gavin, tomorrow is his birthday.”

Not long after, a waitress handed her orders. Leah waved goodbye at Mrs. Peng. Her home was quite far from her company and the shop, so she had to take a bus ride. She was listening to her favourite song, not realizing that she dozed off.

You know those days

Those days where you're sad for no reason

And it looks like everyone else except you is busy and fierce

Those days where your body is heavy

My feet won't set off, though it seems like I'm already too late

I'm hateful of the whole world

Yeah, here and there are click-clacking speed bumps

My heart grows crumpled and my words lessen

Why the hell? I ran so hard

Oh why to me

A bell sound gave her consciousness back. Finance Street Halt, Leah could read the sign clearly and hear the sound of the broadcaster telling the passengers to pay when they intended to leave the bus repeatedly. She hurriedly ran to my home, opened her phone. She just realized that she hadn’t replied to Gavin's messages. Without a second thought, she spammed him her apology. Not seeing any signs of his reply, she attempted to sleep because she was really beaten up. The only thing that kept her awake was the clock, reminding her of her faults and it was already 10.30 pm. She continued listening to the song, so she could relieve her stomach pain and irregular, fast-paced heartbeat.

Come home and lie in bed

Dizzy night, looking at the clock

Thinking if it was my fault?

Soon it will be midnight

When her mind was about to drift off, the bell rang. “Coming,” Leah said, running to the door. The first thing she saw after opening the door made her heart want to leap, but getting crumpled instead. Gavin was in his casual clothes, but with a solemn look on his face. “Gavin, you’re late. Come in,” she said, inviting him to enter her home. He only followed her without uttering any single word.

After both of them sat, he started speaking, “I’m sorry for not telling you, I just finished my work. Leah, have you eaten?”

Leah shook her head, “actually, I bought food from Seventh Heaven. Mrs. Peng is really generous despite all my mistakes.”

Seeing her held back her tears, Gavin approached her, then she felt a pair of warm arms encircled her. “You have done your best, Leah.”

“I’m just a nuisance,” she said coldly. “And yeah, the audience wasn’t really impressed because the airing time was rescheduled. That makes me think that I should get lost forever. And I even forget to return your calls...”

A pair of amber eyes pierced through her soul’s window, his hand patted her head gently, “I’m hateful of the world too. But, about the last thing, that makes me dead worried. Have I done something wrong? Because all I got is my own echo.”

Somehow, she finally managed to let out a laugh, “Minor told me that too. No, actually I’m just dumb. I forgot to charge my phone.”

Gavin sighed, a small but sincere smile curved from his mouth. “I’m here to accompany you tonight.”

Thanks to him, Leah felt much better. “Let’s eat now. I’ve been waiting for you so we can start making our tummy happy!” She was beyond glad because he loved the bak kut teh.

After the dinner was finished, she held his hand while guiding him to her bedroom. Gavin always gave her warmth despite his cold exterior. “Listen to this song with me, it really helps me cope with the present situation.”

Gavin was confused when he put one side of my earphones, “what song?”

God, how Leah wished she could cuddle him. She showed him the English translation in order to make him understand the meaning better. He was a bit sulky that she liked the boy group that sang it a bit too much, but he tried hard to hide it by cuddling her tight.

It won't be something like that

Will something be different?

But this day will be over

When the minute and second hands overlap

The world holds its breath for a little while

Zero o’clock

Her reminder popped up. It was already July 29th, zero o’clock. They kept listening to the song.

(Ooh-ooh) And you're gonna be happy

Like that snow that just settled down

Let's breathe, like the first time

(Ooh-ooh) And you're gonna be happy

Turn this all around

When everything is new, zero o'clock

Leah paused the song, pulled herself from his cuddle, “happy birthday, Potato. I hope at this new year of your life, you’ll be happier and healthier.”

Gavin cuddled her again, “thank you so much, my Pumpkin. My wish is the same for you. I hope I’ll be the one who makes you get the happiness you deserve.”

She blushed, how could he be so smooth at times. He laughed at my reddened face. “Why are you laughing? Let us pray,” she said to divert her embarrassment.

They were holding hands, silently pouring all their wishes.

Put my hands together to pray

It'll be better, for me

Hoping that tomorrow I'll laugh more, for me

When this song ends

May a new song begin

Hoping that I'll be a little happier, yeah

Gavin caressed her hair after he saw her yawned. “Sleepy?”

“Yeah, finally. But I’m joyful because it’s the tranquility that makes me sleepy, not the usual tiredness,” Leah snuggled closer to him.

“Sweet dreams for us, then,” he closed his eyes, hugging her in their sleep.

*bak kut teh : a pork ribs / meat soup dish with salted vegetables (this is how it looks like)

This is the GIF :))

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moonlightwinterdxxix · 5 years ago

Note

Your first Bits of my Brothers (acronym BomB?) anon here again! Could I request a pretending to be each other Zaimoku at Sutabaa or something? There's just not enough canon Zaimoku and sextuplets identity thief shenanigans in the anime! Maybe Totty is trying to get work there again but gotten sick or something and Karamatsu decided his beloved brother can't miss out on his chance to return~✨. Whether or not it'll end in brotherly fluff or Totty & Karamatsu butt monkey angst is your choice! xD

Hello again! I hope you like this one! It’s at 7K words and I didn’t want it to be longer than it already was 😅😅. Zaimoku is one of my favorite combinations (as I’ve kinda made clear in TVV), and I hope you enjoy this little drabble I’ve made of them. 💙💖😎😘

~~~

Whenever Todomatsu Matsuno was sick, he was more than just manipulative. He was manipulative enough to be entitled as the king of manipulation, besting Ichimatsu’s cruel authority might he be the only one in a safe spot outside feverish sensations and phlegm wanting release. No, Todomatsu treated all of them like butlers and castle servants, taking advantage of his vulnerable position to get them to do his bidding and bless him with their feeble-but-ultimately-needed-to-succeed attempts.

The common instance always left the rest of his brothers with a single prayer in mind: that Todomatsu never got sick. They vowed, each and every one of them, to move mountains for hell if it meant they were to be released from the shackles of Todomatsu’s superiority. But no matter the prayers sometimes getting sick was inevitable, and each time at least one of them would be willing to gamble his life off in the Pachinko parlor if it meant escaping Todomatsu’s ruthless jurisdiction.

And Todomatsu was always proud of it.

But today, he wasn’t. He was far from happy, very distant from it in fact. For when Karamatsu had returned from the shop with a can of warm soup, he had opened their shared bedroom door to find Todomatsu curled up and bawling on the futon. The call of ‘I am back with refreshments for your unwell soul, my star of hope!’ was transformed differently in a mighty scale as Karamatsu dropped the soup bag and raced to his brother’s side with a skipping, worrisome heart.

“Totty! What’s wrong, my brother?” Karamatsu asked, placing his hands on Todomatsu’s shoulder with all the gentleness his muscles could allow. “Are you feeling cold? Or warm? Oh, please speak with me through your unfortunate misery, my dear littlest brother!”

“Shut up! I...Cod, why does it have to be you? Cod, why does it have to be you?!” Todomatsu crumbled entirely, giving in to the cries that racked his body as he tucked his face off in the crook of his arms. “Where are the others?” he asked hopefully, his sore voice muffled with the fortress of cloth acting as transparent muteness.

“Ah, yes, about that.” The thing was, the rest of their brothers had surrendered. They’ve yielded into irresponsibility, wanting no relevance whatsoever with Todomatsu’s cruel behavior for this specific occasion.

Osomatsu had decided to spend his entire day at the races, regardless of a win or a lose. Choromatsu had resorted to paying a visit to the all-week international book fair at the end of the city, hoping to find something new out of his pathetic excuse in being alive. Jyushimatsu chose to spend all of his allowance on the zoo, specifically on dolphin shows to satisfy his mammal cravings. And Ichimatsu...Er...Well...

“I’m gonna jump off a cliff,” Ichimatsu deadpanned.

“Nooo~ Please contain your dark tendencies, my dear Ichimatsu!” Karamatsu wailed.

Then Ichimatsu had strangled him for a bit before leaving the house.

“Forget I asked. It’s hopeless anyway.” Todomatsu smacked his face into his pillow and sobbed openly, gripping his pillow with the force of a hundred rakes on the dirt.

Karamatsu let an apologetic breath leave his lungs, before blinking in confusion at the phone propped face-first next to his brother’s space. As Todomatsu resumed his dramatic storm, Karamatsu picked it up and swiped the screen with his two fingers, the password an easy input, before his pupils scanned through the message and his eyes went spherical.

“Todomatsu! You were supposed to have a Sutabaa job interview this afternoon?!”

“Don’t rub it in! Shut up!” Todomatsu yelled, carrying his body’s weight with his elbows and sending Karamatsu a glare that would’ve been knife-sharp piercing might it not be for his scarily flushed face and red-rimmed, teary eyes. “And yes, I was, if you really wanted to know. It was supposed to be a short one, maybe five minutes at most, but as if I can do that with this stupid fever crap, obviously.” His face crumpled, and he toppled back onto the futon. “Just leave me alone in my own problems, niisan. You’re gonna make it a thousand times worse.”

Karamatsu continued to stare at the text on the screen, scrolling upwards and back-reading. “Oh, my Todomatsu,” he sympathized. “I should’ve known that there was more information you had refused to share. And this has been...two months in the ready?”

“Karamatsu-niisan! Quit it!” Todomatsu pleaded. “I didn’t ask to get sick today, okay?! But how am I supposed to tell Aida that I wouldn’t be able to attend?! Cod, I can’t just say it to her face like that! It’s a huge blow to my pride and I...!” He whimpered, dropping to the futon with watery defeat. “Please, just...I can’t tell her. It’s too embarrassing. Can you call her up for me and tell her that I...? Bullhooey! No, I can’t have you of all people talk to her either!”

Todomatsu continued to break down on the futon, and Karamatsu tried his best to shush his brother to the best of his extent. But it made itself clear to him that there was no way to calm him down at this point, or at least calm him down enough that he was going to stop feeling so sad.

After all, the status of Todomatsu wasn’t difficult for Karamatsu to understand, along with the personality and character that came with it. He had made actual friends at Sutabaa, both being of the opposite gender—two pretty girls with kind personalities and proper standards—a miracle remaining unaccomplished by the five other roaches of their household. And for that alone, Todomatsu was in a position in life maybe more heavenly than heaven itself.

Yet of course, naturally...

Nothing lasts forever, is what Todomatsu had to learn next. Well, it would’ve, but when you had five older brothers who were careless, unreliable pieces of crap, then any ounce of happiness might as well be a disregarded atom of dust from a distant dream. For a few months, even lasting until effing Christmas, Todomatsu had lost communication with the girls because of his brothers’ lack of sensitivity. They had publicly made him strip naked in the mixer, dressed him with a pair of banana earrings and stained underwear, and made him strike a pose at the head of the table in front of a set of pretty girls who deserved better after a dance.

So Todomatsu’s hatred towards them was justifiable.

On the other hand, he shouldn’t have lied as well. To be a person once acquainted in one of Japan’s best schools wasn’t something that would up his ratings with females if it were far from the truth. Heck, he was a literal baby during their third year of high school, crying over spilt milk and reporting himself to the police as a lost child when Choromatsu had to take a trip to throw something in the closest garbage bin.

Truth hurt, yes. But it was unstoppable.

But...Todomatsu was right about one thing. Lying did make himself gain more respect, and saved him from a closed spot that would’ve dropped his person into oblivion. It didn’t last long, but...

Sometimes it didn’t have to.

“Aha! Todomatsu, an idea has been brought forth!” Karamatsu announced, straightening his posture with a finger raised theatrically towards their ceiling.

Todomatsu squinted at him. “Nope. I don’t wanna hear it,” he decided.

Karamatsu’s broad facade faltered. “Eh?”

“That’s a recipe for disaster,” Todomatsu explained, a normal tone bringing forward how awful his voice was. It was scratchy and wiped-out, more huffs in it than actual syllables forming his words. “Every time one of my brothers says something, all that happens after that is me wishing I crashed and burned on the spot. It never changes. And with you specifically trying to subside my torture, I think I’d rather let myself die on the spot than let my ear-drums break at your first sentence.”

Ouch. Karamatsu said, “Oh, you are too early to judge, my Todomatsu!” He laughed, emphasizing his breaths in order to mask his apparent hurt. “Please. Allow access first to the plan concocted in my mind. I assure you, you might eat your words once it is laid out for you. Your misery would at once be hurled into the distance, to become nothing more than a star that glinted before joining with its fallen brethren. Heh.” He tapped a finger-gun to his chin smugly.

Expression contorted in absolute disgust, Todomatsu recoiled. “If you tell me what it is, would you please stop talking in that stupid as hell fanfaronade?”

“It would be my pleasure.” He fluttered his dazzling, anime eyes.

Todomatsu made a hurling noise, slamming his fist against his chest before he deadpanned, “Just say it.”

“Hm. Todomatsu.” Karamatsu began twirling around in swooshing motions, swaying his arms in a slow, whipping circle before posing in a fabulous, dazzling stance. “I shall impersonate you and attend the job interview in your shoes!” he declared.

Todomatsu’s sanity dropped. “EEEHHH??!!”

Without warning, Todomatsu snapped up and grabbed Karamatsu by the neckline of his hoodie, shaking him without a pixel of mercy. “Are you effing kidding me, you piece of crap?! There’s no way in heaven nor hell I’m letting you do that! Are you literally waiting for me to die?! Heck, you’re even stupider than I’ve ever imagined—I’ve been too kind to misjudge you, Karamatsu-niisan! Because you’re so much worse and that idea is absolute garbage!”

“A-Ah! Totty, don’t yell too much with your sore throat!” Karamatsu stuttered out, smiling nervously. “Totty, it’s gonna work. I’m sure of it.”

“As if!” Todomatsu retorted, ignoring Karamatsu’s previous suggestion completely. “You’re gonna go out there making me look like an idiot! I’ve lost friends because of you and the others, and when I might be bouncing back you have to idle up to me all, ‘I’m gonna impersonate you and ruin your life more’—BULL!” He shoved Karamatsu down onto the futon. “What do you think of me—a fool?! You may be an actor during elementary but you’re out of your gosh-darn mind if you think you’re going to do good playing me!”

“How hard could it be?” Karamatsu asked, crawling a few spaces backwards with slight terror. “You have a simple personality, my brother! You have a phone, you can converse rather easily, and you have a light voice that makes you all nice and cute!”

Changing the rules of flavoring, Todomatsu’s grin was incredibly bitter. “You really have the guts to compliment me like that, don’t you? Forget it. Not gonna happen.”

“C’mon, Totty, give me a shot!” Karamatsu argued. “You said it yourself! I’m an actor, and with the hundreds of times we’ve spent together since childhood it won’t be hard to capture your essence! Give me a chance.”

“I don’t believe it,” Todomatsu said, rolling his eyes. “The childhood thing is a good excuse, but it won’t make the cut. Literally everyone in Sutabaa knows who I am, and like hell I’m letting someone like you of all people try to use some gosh-darn trickery on them. I’m not going to let you go out there pretending to be me, niisan. And that’s final.”

“But if you don’t get the job then you won’t be happy!” Karamatsu shouted, placing his hands on his hips. “Todomatsu, I want to be able to assist you as well. It’s what we do when we’re sick, isn’t it? We take care of each other? This is part of the treatment—it’s even better because we’re all identical brothers! Give me a chance. I promise I won’t humiliate you, or do something stupid. I’ll imitate you to the best of my abilities, change nothing from your usual self and keep your relationships as stagnant as you want them.”

“That doesn’t sound reassuring,” Todomatsu said, but he was contemplating.

“It doesn’t sound it, okay,” Karamatsu stated, “but I mean it. I really do want to lessen your stress over the matter. I’ll work to my skeleton if it means doing well in that job interview, Todomatsu. I swear, and Akatsuka-Sensei knows I do. Just...trust me, brother.”

Todomatsu narrowed his eyes, but his eyebrows didn’t follow. They shaped his expression over to consideration other than irritation, his body relaxing from its sitting position on their shared bed.

Finally, he said, “How about we make a deal? Since you’re the only one who stayed to help me with my fever—and I have to say that I appreciate that—how about if you do a good job getting me my old job back, I could be your servant the next time you get sick? I’ll suck up to all those painful demeanors of yours and stand it until you get better.”

“I...It’s fair, I suppose,” Karamatsu assessed.

Todomatsu’s grin was not reassuring. “Yeah? Think so? Sure, it could work out, won’t it? But if you make an absolute fool of me...!”

He stood up from the futon and marched over to their closet, pulling out his huge flamethrower and aiming its front at Karamatsu’s terrified face. “I’ll incinerate all your sequined pants and personalized tank tops until they’re nothing but ashes,” he completed viciously, grin worth jealousy from a sadist.

Karamatsu gulped, feeling uneasy with the top he was currently wearing underneath his hoodie. But he supposed it was a fair trade, with both of them receiving equal shares at each side of the bargain. And both their downs...It wasn’t worth a complain. Losing friends was just as bad as losing all of his wonderful, designed Karamatsu fashion.

Tilting his head down, Karamatsu decided. And it wasn’t even a minute before he reached out a hand and gave Todomatsu a worried smile. “I digress. I accept the terms of our deal, my dear brother Todomatsu. Turn all my clothes into smithereens might I annihilate your persona, Todomatsu. I accept thy conditions.”

“Good.” Todomatsu grabbed his hand and shook it, the resolution of their bargain firm. “This is my lifeline in your hands, Shittymatsu. Your clothes, and my lifeline. Don’t mess this up, or else.”

He wouldn’t. He hoped not.

~~~

With Sutabaa towering over him, it looked like the gateway to judgement. It was a taunting, expectant thing, half a thumbs up as it was a middle finger, and Karamatsu’s nervousness and anxiety sloshed in his stomach and burned his skin. His complexion was moist with his sweat, his hair that he had combed to perfection beginning to paste himself on his forehead, and Karamatsu rubbed it with the back of his shaky hand.

For his clothes, but more for Todomatsu’s reputation.

Shoving Todomatsu’s phone into his pocket and arranging his tie, Karamatsu let himself sigh unsteadily as he let his feet take him towards the doorway. He felt like he was dragging ten-thousand anvils behind him. But it was worth it, he decided, as long as he could finish the interview with a proper attitude and a selfless intention. This was for Todomatsu’s job, Todomatsu’s friendships, and Todomatsu’s reputation.

And his clothes.

But Cod, he hoped he would do well. He wished to say exactly what Todomatsu would say in his position, move with the accuracy of his little brother, and speak with a timbre close enough to the original that the term ‘identical’ made more sense than it had the past few years. But perhaps, he thought, as long as nobody who knew Todomatsu approached him, he would be absolutely, absolutely, without a feather of a doubt, fine.

“Totty? Is that you?”

Ah, shoot.

Karamatsu pulled up a kitty-shaped Todomatsu smile. He brightened his eyes and raised his brows from their thick, constant furrow. And as he spun his heel to face the source of the familiar voice, he tried to recap every single piece of information he knew about Aida as she came to him in her recognizable Sutabaa work uniform, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders.

Aside from seeing Aida then while humiliating Todomatsu at work, and seeing Aida and Sachiko participate unsuccessfully at the baseball space tournament, the last thing Karamatsu remembered about her was she and Sachiko giving him dark, murderous death-stares on the bridge. That..didn’t seem like it was a good thing. Not then, and certainly not now.

He was so dead.

“Totty, there you are!” Aida said, stopping next to him. Cod, she was so pretty, no wonder Todomatsu was so upset to lose someone like her. “Are you ready for your interview? I hope you can get the job again—it was a shame you had to lose it last time. I have a hunch you’ll be able to do it now.”

“Ah-ha! Hopefully, yes! Thank you so much!” Karamatsu said, forcing his voice up from the low baritone that came with his genes. “Hello, Aida! I didn’t think you’d come from that direction!” He pointed. “I could’ve sworn you were in there.” He jabbed his thumb towards the Sutabaa entrance.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.” She giggled apologetically, and Karamatsu felt his cheeks grow warm. “I wasn’t skipping work, I promise. I just got distracted a little, but it was only for a few seconds before I saw you. I was worried! I thought you weren’t gonna come anymore! It would’ve been so embarrassing to cancel last-minute on the manager.”

His gut plummeting, Karamatsu’s laugh came out less of a laugh and more of the sound of a dying hyena. “Well, I’m here! So you don’t have to worry about that anymore! I made it, so no humiliation whatsoever!” He was tempted to pose, but held back at the right second before he could crack.

Aida eyed him dubiously. “Are you alright? Your voice sounds very...breathy.”

“It does?” It did, and it was because Karamatsu’s voice wasn’t at its quality to accommodate a pitch and speaking pattern similar to Todomatsu’s. When he tried, the result came out very breathy, or if not, very screechy and...wrong. It would’ve given away his true identity so quickly might she be an expert in discerning him and Todomatsu from their brothers. So speaking with his normal, light pitch with added cheerfulness was the only way to match closely to the original source. He thought that perhaps it would be enough.

But apparently, it wasn’t enough.

“Ah, it does!” he corrected, rubbing the back of his head with a laugh. “Sorry about that! My throat really hurt this morning and I guess this is the aftermath of that!”

Except Todomatsu’s throat really did hurt that morning, and it continued so until this point. Hence, Karamatsu being here, in his shoes.

He was almost starting to regret doing this. But keeping his brother’s sad, weeping face in mind was plentiful to glue back Karamatsu’s determination. This was for Todomatsu. He had to remember: this was for Todomatsu.

And his clothes.

“It did? Oh, I feel so bad for you,” Aida said, sounding like she meant it, but Karamatsu’s anxiety told him otherwise. Drawing the line between reality and fiction was difficult when he was living in fiction, that fiction meaning, a world where he wasn’t himself. And he wasn’t, because he was Todomatsu. And ‘Todomatsu’ was talking to Aida...

He had to gather up his Todomatsu-ness.

“Would you be able to complete your job interview with that?” Aida asked.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Karamatsu reassured, flipping a palm. “As long as my brain works fine, I could accomplish what needs to be accomplished. And since I have experience, I don’t think I’ll do so bad, right?” He pulled up two peace signs and waved them energetically. “It’ll all be a matter of time though before we truly see. Heh-heh! So for the time being—” he put the peace signs towards his eyes “—all it takes is a little more determination! Yeah!” He posed, but it was overly cutesy.

Her smile was somewhere between amused and petrified. “Are you sure you’re okay, Todomatsu?” she asked.

“Never been better! Why would you question it?”

“I, well...” She reached to one of her elbows, rubbing it. Dang, she was so cute. “If you had a sore throat this morning, then I wouldn’t think you’d be okay so fast. And your...Oh, I hope I’m not offending you or anything, and I hope I could say this more politely, but have your eyebrows always been that thick?”

I knew I should’ve taken Totty’s word and shaved them a little. Karamatsu laughed again, but inside, he was screaming about his soul and how it could get ripped out of his body. “I suppose—I never really mind them! I hope it doesn’t bother you or anything!”

“It’s fine, I swear.” She tilted her head, her hair hopping a little. “Are you really Totty? He’s got five lookalike brothers, and I honestly won’t be surprised if you’re one of them. Not saying you are, but your behavior is a little strange. Or is that just nervousness for the interview talking?”

“I’m just nervous! That’s all it is!” Karamatsu lied, clasping his hands not out of the hopes to make himself mimic one of his brother’s cute gestures, but so that he could grab something before he combusted from her accuracy. Shoot, how did she find out?! Keep calm, Karamatsu. You’ve got this! This is for Todomatsu’s reputation!

And his clothes.

“But I’m so touched to know you’re so concerned,” he continued lightly, waving his peace sign again. Was he overdoing it with the peace signs? The last time he impersonated someone, he had made paw gestures and moved them with a tenderness like he were an actual feline, and that wasn’t something Ichimatsu would normally do. Or, maybe it wasn’t something he would to at all. “I really wish to get the job again, so we can hang out more often! I miss the regular days before me and my brothers messed things up.”

Because, duh. Todomatsu did have to take a little blame for the incident none of them asked for.

“Uh, yeah...I miss those days too.” Aida gave him a toothy grin laced with the same uncertainty. “Anyway, we’d better get going. You have that interview and I have my work, so we’ll see each other again later after, alright?”

“Yes, sure! That would be spectacular!” He’d actually hope he didn’t see her again later, not if it meant pretending to be Todomatsu for another round of cringe-worthy torture. But if that made Aida happy, he might. As long as he got a better hang of his little masquerade, then maybe he might offer her the opportunity.

It just needed to be at the extent that he would receive no beating once the day was over.

“Great. See you later...Todomatsu.”

Crap, what was with that hesitation? No, it couldn’t be. But the way she was so casually leaving, preparing to get inside...

He had to make up for it now, or else he was to expect an entire army against him and his feeble-sighted efforts! He shouldn’t let her leave with whatever impression crept beneath that hesitant farewell! No, he wouldn’t allow that! If anyone was ever to question any person involved in this mess, then it would be Karamatsu! So no, Aida-chan! You would not walk away with a remark hanging on your lips that left judgement over Karamatsu’s hapless impersonation of their darling star of hope!

“Aida-chan!” Karamatsu called out, grabbing her wrist before she could enter completely, and bringing Todomatsu’s phone out of his pocket. “Sorry for startling you, but, would it be alright if I got a picture with you? You know, before perquisite or calamity?”

Aida shot him a look, and Karamatsu winced internally, wanting to slap himself with the force of a Titan to a mosquito. Shoot, watch your choice of words, you stupid, second eldest! Todomatsu would never speak like that—he calls it out for how painful it was! You will ruin everything if you try that again, you crap!

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Aida said, settling herself by Karamatsu’s chest, her spinal cord parallel to where his heart reverberated in his chest in a wild, twister of patterns. He had a girl leaning against his body. A girl. Was this what it felt whenever Todomatsu hung out with them? This closeness, this wonderful emotion that made him want to laugh and cry at once? It had to be. It just had to be.

Suffering from his unbridled, unexplainable joy, Karamatsu lifted the phone above their heads, his thumb sliding against the selfie option of their camera. And when the camera flipped, he saw Aida and himself on the screen, the girl raising her peace sign with a smile, waiting for Karamatsu to do the same. But he stared at himself in his reflection, reading through the curves of his features and where he was going wrong. And it saddened him, when he looked at himself with the acumen of exposure.

He looked nothing like Todomatsu.

Because unlike Todomatsu, who wore a smile because it was part of him, Karamatsu wore his so he could be him.

But he had to remember: this smile wasn’t for nothing. It was for Todomatsu too. It wasn’t a selfish desire that had brought him into this spot, this tight corner, this unpredicted catastrophe of self-humiliation. He was doing this so that Todomatsu had a better life, one he deserved, after he and the other four cowards elsewhere had ruined it.

So he smiled at the camera, and as that smile illuminated his features, a small sense of the Totty he loved as his little brother and once best friend filled his face. His spirits left their corpse-like slump on the ground. “Say cheese, Aida,” he coaxed, his voice not leaving its lightness.

“Cheese!” Aida said, getting her peace sign into a good position, and as Karamatsu did the same, he snapped their picture.

The output was cute, he had to admit. Though the way his hands were positioned had added exaggeration than what Todomatsu would normally have in a casual photo with one of Sutabaa’s infamous baristas, this was still an image convincing enough to fool an outsider who knew nothing about their miracle of six same faces. Or Iyami.

“Alright! See you later, Todomatsu. Good luck with your interview. Just take a turn to that door at the left, and I believe the manager will be waiting for you.”

“Okay, thanks, Aida! I’ll see you as well!”

With that, Aida and Karamatsu exchanged a few waves, and Aida was out of his view as she let herself in before him, vanishing with her grace behind the employees door of the shop, her figure still leaving an imprint in his retinas.

But he shook it off. Entering himself, Karamatsu followed her direction and went towards the meeting door she indicated, stopping in front of it and taking a deep breath. This was for his brother, for Todomatsu who was sick in bed and unable to come. He needed to make this right, and beyond everything else, natural. So without further stalling he was knocking twice before pushing it open hesitantly.

When it was open, he let himself in, and bowing down, he announced, “Good afternoon! My name is Todomatsu Matsuno, and I am applying for a job here!”

Who must’ve been the manager sat up, eyebrows shooting upwards under his glasses. “Ah, Matsuno-kun! You’re here! Welcome! Please, take a seat.”

He indicated to the one in front of him, and Karamatsu followed his order and sat. Inhaling, the scent of coffee saturated his lungs, and the hunger he had that didn’t even know existed let itself be known as a tremor sounded under his blue suit. But praise the gods, it was silent enough for a pass. He had to do this. Todomatsu, his lifeline depended on what Karamatsu said in this one-one-one speech. He had to approach this correctly without error. He had this. Or didn’t he?

“So, I guess we already know each other, since you’ve been here before,” the manager said, arranging a set of papers by clicking their edges against the wooden surface of the table. “But it has been long enough, so how have you been? What have you been up to?”

Okay, so he wasn’t pissed. That was good. Luckily being absent from the mixer’s horrific presentation was enough to keep his perception on the youngest Matsuno well enough that anger wasn’t a visible option for him. Case in point: visible. Any anger or rage was easy to hide behind a mask of a smile, a knife easy to assume as close by and prepared for its session of stabbing. When it came to Akatsuka Ward, knives weren’t for chopping tasty or delicious portions for any lovely course. It was for chopping distasteful NEETs like them.

Thanks, Ichimatsu.

“Ah, I’ve been very well, thank you,” Karamatsu replied, stretching the muscles that wanted to pull up a whimper into a broad, toothy smile. “It has been quite some time. How have you been?”

“Great, really. Thanks for asking.” Interlocking his fingers, the manager rested his chin on them as he straightened his gaze collateral to Karamatsu’s. “I remember that article you once mentioned about the firefighter and the maiden. Thought I forgot about that? Nah, it was too iconic for the mind to sweep away so easily, Matsuno-kun. That was how funny it was! You do still laugh about that experience, don’t you?”

Karamatsu laughed out loud, and the manager flinched at the unpredicted. “Of course! I’m laughing right now! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!”

You’re messing this up, Karamatsu, you idiot! Don’t laugh like the lunatic you are! You will massacre all of the chances granted for your brother’s probable forthcoming! Quit breaking Todomatsu’s person and show the decency he would when faced with the challenge of real-time communication!

Crap, Todomatsu! You stupid lovable little pice of garbage, why oh why do you need to be the type to camouflage so many secrets from your dear older brothers?! You bring tears to this gullible fool, wanting out of your social status but resumes the struggle just for you! You are loved, little star of hope! And in love comes the infamous, one-lettered word called trust! And by hiding your soul away, you—

“Heh, a bit excessive there, Matsuno-kun,” the manager observed, the waver in his grin a strong symptom to Karamatsu’s fiasco.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m just very thrilled to be here again!” Karamatsu amended. “Please go on. I won’t interrupt you if it means the interview gets postponed.”

The manager dipped his chin, not commenting any further.

Nice. Do more of that and do less of you, Shittymatsu.

“Alright then.” The manager cleared his throat, picking up a pen from the table and clinking it against the papers. “So, I just want to tell you that there are things I would no longer ask, since information regarding your background and education was already accounted for during your first interview under the Sutabaa name. This won’t be a long interview, Matsuno-kun. Just enough for us to decide over your return or permanent departure.”

Karamatsu sweat-dropped. “Oh, sure. That’ll be fine.”

It was now or never.

“Okay then. We’ll begin now.” The manager pressed the pen’s black tip to the paper, marking it with an inky dot. “I bet you recall crystal clear how you lost your job in the first place, Matsuno-kun. How about you remind me of the situation, and follow it with what you might be able to do to repent for the trouble.”

“Eh-heh, of course, sir.” Karamatsu cleared his own throat, summoning up the memory of the situation and picturing it with Todomatsu’s young, victimized eyes.

(But with his undeniable lack of backbone to keep all senses straight and alert, he had lost control over his own, painful words. And he was so naive, so stupid, to have missed it. Darn Shittymatsu, that’s what he was)

“It all began because of the mixer. I made the mistake of abandoning my brothers because of it when Sutabaa’s special glowing girls had gifted me with their invitation. Therefore I made myself look my best in front of them, that was until your doors were opened and my kin of older brothers summoned themselves in our divine territory. They were rather disgruntled with my behavior, and all my efforts to rid them from your wonderful establishment resulted in the turning of tables. Almost literally, as I might say so myself, since we were all so caught up in Matsuno shenanigans that resulted in spilt drinks and traumatized patrons. Sad to say, the mixer was almost as unfortunate, as humiliation had produced scowls and dusted trust. Aida-san and Sachiko-san were quick to strip me of my job the day following.”

The manager nodded, a cringe in his posture at Karamatsu’s theatrical choice of words. “I see you recall the experience as if you had taken it to heart. You sounded like you were out of a stage play, Matsuno-kun.”

Karamatsu blanched, his own blunder dawning on him. “Ah, yeah! It’s an experience that makes a mark on my person!” he alibied gaily.

“And for the repenting?” the manager asked, clicking the end of his pen as he prepared a paper. “What are your plans specifically, and how could you say that those contributions of yours would better the ratings of our business?”

Karamatsu gave himself a few seconds to think. Digging deep in the vault of his memories, Karamatsu pressed on imagining anything that Todomatsu might’ve done that related closely with coffee or anything that could better the antes of the Sutabaa chain. But each option that sprouted to mind gave Karamatsu difficulty, because why won’t it, really. How was tapping on a phone screen nor running some lame puns with Osomatsu going to help in any way?

Shoot, when was the last time Todomatsu even made them coffee? The only person who had come close to trying that had been Jyushimatsu, and Ichimatsu had been confined for three days straight out of food poisoning. So really, what contribution whatsoever would Todomatsu have? Basically nothing, as Karamatsu recalled. But for this interview to work, he had to use what he knew and warp around it.

“I’m skilled in promoting, if that’s what you need,” Karamatsu improvised, Todomatsu’s smartphone in mind. “Since I was gone I had a lot of friends on social media, and I’ve discovered a lot of new ways that could help with marketing. Promotional posters, digital editing, and brochures! I can make the products of Sutabaa stand out more than they normally would!”

“Hmm, I see.” The manager wrote down, and Karamatsu’s anxieties tingled. “Are you describing this as a part-time thing to working as a cashier? Because last time, that was your main job, wasn’t it? And to be a cashier was what Aida had mentioned when she stated that you wanted to reclaim your job here. Am I right?”

“Yes, sir. One-hundred percent.” Heh, if he was wrong about that, then Todomatsu’s career was over. He wished he was right.

“But what of your cashier skills, Matsuno-kun? How much in terms of skills would you say your improvement is? When you still had the job, you were a solid employee with proper manners and the right choice of speech, making our customers feel welcome. Would you say that you graduated into someone better than then? Or are you the same, and want to focus more on marketing than counting money and taking orders this time? Because it would contradict the information on my papers.”

“Uhh...” Karamatsu tugged lightly on his collar, gulping. Save Todomatsu. Save Todomatsu. “Naturally, I’d wish to continue my status working as a cashier. But your question revolved around what more my contributions would offer when it came to the establishment. That’s why I mentioned the marketing. It was merely a suggestion around my part. But if I was to resume as a cashier entirely, then I won’t fight against it. I would be happy with whatever job you offered me.”

The manager eyed him for a bit, the tension killing Karamatsu that it made his nape sweat. The manager then nodded, sold, writing the information down. “Alright. That’s good confirmation.”

Bingo. Nice save.

“So correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like over time you have turned more adaptable than before. Would you think that’s the case for you?”

Was Todomatsu flexible? No, he was far from it. Todomatsu would never bother waiting for the shampoo at the bathhouse and snag a bottle none of them knew he ever brought with him. He was impatient when it came to his brothers, and very short-tempered when things didn’t flow like the rivers he dwelled in. So no, Todomatsu wasn’t adaptable. He was obdurate, and it was annoying.

But he was making Todomatsu look good here.

“Yes, I am,” Karamatsu lied, smile saccharine. “So if I needed my job here doubled in terms of stress or hard work, then I would be happy to oblige. Being an employee in Sutabaa really was something that I loved dearly, and to be able to comply with any requirement would make me very much grateful. That is, if you brought me back. Then I would go straight to business and work myself to my very core. That’s how much I love it here!”

Which was in fact, the truth. Todomatsu’s love for being in the Sutabaa was stronger, and could surpass any of Karamatsu’s lies by millions and billions of kilometers.

“Hmm, alright. I’ll keep that in mind.” The manager jotted down. “How about your pay? Are there any expectations for you when it comes to the income you will receive from working here?”

Karamatsu went rigid. “Pardon?”

“How much do you aspire to earn?” the manager clarified. “From your salary last time, do you expect to earn twice as much if you did multiple jobs, or are you going to be satisfied with the same amount as before? Or less? And no matter what answer, how much would it be, and what would justify it?”

Oh Cod, why. Why, why, why. Todomatsu never mentioned how much he ever earned working in this dumb establishment ever! And without experience whatsoever with this kind of stuff, how on earth was Karamatsu supposed to know?! He’d be making numbers that didn’t even exist at all on the number line! What was supposed to be the answer to this gosh-darn question if he had never even heard of these kinds of questions since the day his baby form came into reality?!

This was it. He was dead. Deader than a decayed corpse or an animal rolled over on desert roads. He was so, so dead.

“Since I was here before, I was surely satisfied enough with the pay I earned,” Karamatsu replied cautiously, “so I wouldn’t be surprised if you decided to give me the same amount. Most especially since I would—without a doubt—be receiving extra monitoring due to the impression I last left, even if the job was doubled. With that, it shouldn’t be a startle if a few of the workers were weary of me, and I’d accept that. So the money would easily follow the flow of that behavior.”

“Hm. Continue.” He was writing again.

“Not that I would get two jobs when it came to Sutabaa at all, it’s not a priority to extend the marketing. For me now, it’s just to get to work at the cashier again, to reclaim my old position. But when it comes to money—because of the establishment and name that Sutabaa has made for itself, one of the most important things I’d hope from it is honesty and a fair game when it comes to distributing my salary. No bias, but judgement based on my efforts and the way I had attracted patrons into the department. Plenty of agencies in the present are culprits of fraudulent funding, and I believe that Sutabaa follows none of that outlandish conduct. Therefore when it comes to my pay, I wish it to be the amount equivalent to what I have produced for you.”

“Which is?”

“Ah-Ah...” Dang, he was doing so well, he thought. He had no specifics in mind—what was he to say? He blubbered out, “T-The one...before...?”

The manager stared at him. Karamatsu stared back. The terrifying staring contest was getting unbearable, with a smile and the connection of eyes making Karamatsu want to just break away and crumble from insanity. He couldn’t take it anymore. He just couldn’t, he wanted to go home, to crash onto the roof and sing a soliloquy of his own pain and sorrow for the world to hear! He could bear no more of the coffee drifting in the air like a stab to the gut, a spear to the heart, a sword through the spi—

“Have you had any other jobs following the first one here, Matsuno-kun?” the manager asked, already glanced down over his papers again.

“Oh, I haven’t, sir.” There was under the Flag Corporation that one time, and that other thing when he switched with his brothers. But would those really be called jobs? Karamatsu didn’t think so.

“Okay. One more question, Matsuno-kun. What are your opinions on simplicity? Simplicity in a sense that you start small before evolving? Like, a chrysalis before it becomes a butterfly? That kind of evolution on simplicity.”

He couldn’t help it this time.

(Now, here’s the deal: Karamatsu was just plain dumb. Because any smart person would ask why a question like that was necessary at all, especially when it came to working at a cashier for a coffee shop, but this lunatic of a man went straight to standing and posing his arms like he were Romeo might he have broken his back while hunting for Juliet in a poor man’s excuse of a garage)

“The butterfly effect! Oh, how a concept like that just warms my heart!” Karamatsu extolled. “I do believe that simplicity goes in many ways! Plenty of opportunities might blossom like a rose, the sun strike it at the right moment, sending the rose into a mainstream for attention as a result of its beauty! But woe is the past, dreadful and sorrowful for what it contains, when it tears the heart and ruins the soul of its hopes and dreams! The rose, that poor rose, so bundled in its misery, to sit until its last few seconds, ready to fall into despair!

“Then the sun, that glorious sun! Oh, it was the rose’s guardian angel, sending it a spirit for life and the will to fight forward! Oh, and it would now attract all the butterflies that followed a path so similar to it’s! Yes, the simplicity of life’s evolution is a concept to be shared to all ages for the will to fight when life’s chains wish to drag you down! Yes, simplicity is a concept that as it mentions, is simple. And yes, simplicity is a perfect, perfect thing that—!”

“Alright, thank you for your time, Matsuno-kun.” The manager stood up and walked to the other side of the table, standing next to Karamatsu. His smile was anything but sweet, but an amalgamation of horrified, baffled, surprised, and furious. “We’ll send you a call if you get the job or not. Let me lead you out.”

He did, and when Karamatsu was at the other side of the door, he said, “See you then, Matsuno-kun! Have a nice day!” And he slammed the door shut.

Karamatsu stood there.

“Totty?”

Oops, that was Aida from somewhere in the shop he didn’t want to turn towards as his anxiety flopped and flipped and cartwheeled inside him. Nope, he didn’t hear her. And because he didn’t, he dashed out of the shop with speed faster than lightning and ran until the coffee establishment was nothing but a diorama behind him.

Todomatsu was going to kill him.

~~~

One week later...

“Okay, thank you.” Todomatsu lowered the receiver and returned to the main living room, expressionless, mouth a tiny line of nothing on his face.

“Hm? Who might that be, my brother?” Karamatsu asked, glancing up from his mirror.

“Sutabaa.”

Karamatsu immediately sat up with tension freezing his body to its very core. “Y-Yes? What did they say?”

“I have a job.”

Karamatsu’s heart fluttered, and he broke into a wide smile as his eyes shined with starlight. “Oh, my brother! I am so glad you managed to score a position in Sutabaa once more! Thank goodness of your good fortune, your luck be blessed by Akatsuka-Sensei himself! To return as the cashier was what you have wan—!”

“I have a job as a janitor.”

Karamatsu’s smile melted. “Ah, you...Eh?”

Todomatsu’s blank gaze swept over to him. “You turned me into a janitor.”

“I, uh...” Clearing his throat, Karamatsu put down his mirror. A thousand words wanted out for the sake of explanation, but none left him as he tried deciding if he should be apologetic or terrified. Maybe the right answer to this was that he be both. He had been the one to decide the fate of his brother after all, so if it meant feeling both of those things at once, then so be it.

Karamatsu laughed nervously. “You...You still have a job though?” he pointed out hesitantly.

Todomatsu stared down at him without anything in his eyes. “I’ll burn one of your clothes combinations,” he decided.

“A-Ah...! Oh...But would you still care for me if I was sick?” Karamatsu asked.

At first, Todomatsu didn’t say anything at all. Then putting his fingers to his mouth, Todomatsu made a dog whistle.

At first Karamatsu had no idea what that was for, when suddenly Ichimatsu leapt out of nowhere with a feral cat screech, grabbed Karamatsu’s mirror, and slammed it across Karamatsu’s face. Luckily it wasn’t strong enough for the glass to break, but it was enough to leave a burned mark on Karamatsu’s face as he reeled back onto the floor from the force of Ichimatsu’s slam.

Crashing onto the floor and clutching his cheek, Karamatsu doubled over with a yelp and a whimper, a sound of suffocation faintly stuck in his throat. Putting a hand to his cheek, there might’ve been a small wound that bled, now that he touched his face, and it hurt like...It hurt. It really, really hurt.

Karamatsu whimpered.

“I’ll fix that wound up for you, I’ll burn one of your clothes combinations. Can we be even then?” Todomatsu deadpanned, grabbing the mirror from the ‘claw’ of Ichimatsu’s hissing form, and tossed the mirror back onto the table.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” Karamatsu rasped.

So Todomatsu’s reputation was secured. As were his clothes.

Partly. Only partly.

#osomatsu-san #osomatsu san #bits of my brothers #karamatsu matsuno #todomatsu matsuno #karamatsu #todomatsu #zaimoku #aida (osomatsu)#aida and sachiko #aida #i hope you like it #anonymous #fanic #fan-fic

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