#hands them a pack of arcade tokens to play with instead-

[monty-glasses-roxy]

What if the cut Hive Arcade that was in the Fazcade was an 18+ arcade? Like you go in there and it's all slots and one armed bandits and stuff

DJ's bouncer mode including just sorta sitting there in the doorway so little kids can't get past him into the Gambling Zone

[jjunberry]

HE LOVES ME NOT ˚* ❀ part 3 ✎

you groaned as you swung the front door open successfully stopping riki ringing the bell. they all stood there with huge smiles. however a frown was still etched into your face. “y/nie!” sunoo squealed before pulling you into his arms. jungwon and riki quickly joining in.

“okay, okay.” you wiggled out of their hold. with a raised eyebrow you questioned them. “where are we going anyway?” sunoo placed his hand around your shoulders. “i’m glad you asked, and to answer you were going to the mall then probably out to eat.”

with a sigh you followed your friends. the mall was packed as normal. you guys went to the normal stores you visited and for fun the random stores no one usually goes to.

riki ran his hand down a shelf. “how do these placed even receive business?” you giggled. “riki there are older people who shop at these places.” “i do not believe it.” everyone laughed before moving onto the next store.

“guys i want a pretzel.” they slowed down and turned. “fine but that like is so long, meet us at the arcade?” jungwon asked. you nodded watching them head off before you got in line.

the familiar sent filled your nose. a cologne you knew all to well. you decided to glance behind you and thats when you noticed heeseung. he stood behind you with his eyes forward. did he not notice you?

you opened your mouth to speak but before you could his friends came up behind him. “yo dude what’s taking so long?” one asked. your back was to the group. you listened. “the line obviously.” he mumbled. “see if someone will let us in front.” the other friend said.

a tap on your shoulder had you turning around, hoping to see heeseung but instead it was his friend. “hey can we get in front of you?” he asked with a smile. your eyes shifted to heeseung he looked everywhere but at you. you swallowed before stepping to the side and let them pass.

instead of getting back in line you headed off towards the arcade. you couldn’t bare to stand behind him while he pretended you didn’t exist.

sunoo and riki were in an intense battle of dance dance revolution when you found them. jungwon stood next to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulders. “hey where’s your pretzel?” he asked noticing your empty hands.

“they didn’t have the flavor i wanted.” he nodded but could tell you were lying. he always could. you played a few games before you seen him again.

heeseung and his friends entered the arcade. they walked towards the counter getting tokens. your eyes never left heeseung but he never spared you a glance. you wanted to cry.

“y/nie come play mortal kombat with me!” riki yelled. you made your way over and joined him. the two of you played for awhile. after a few games you stopped paying attention to heeseung.

when you moved onto a game his friends weren’t to far behind on a game. he was always in your peripheral. you we’re playing a coins for tickets game when you heard him and his friends.

“dude why are we even here? i’m getting bored.” heeseung sighed. “look if you wanna leave we can i’m just gonna hang back for a little bit.” his other friend scoffed. “you’ve been acting weird since the pretzels.”

“i haven’t, fine let’s just go.” he sounded angry. his friends walked past me happy to be leaving. when heeseung walked past his shoulder brushed past yours, his hand ghosting over your lower back. so he did notice you?

anger bubbled up in your stomach. you needed to confront him. “guys i’m ready to go home.” you said. they nodded. jungwon couldn’t let you go home without eating so he stopped and got you some take out.

you paced your living room back and forth. if it was possible there would be burn marks in the carpet. the brightness of the screen stared back at you. with heeseung’s contact open you poured your heart out.

masterlist

tag list ˚* ❀ @jjunieworld @304files @mrchweeee @sionshiii @kayleeshinee ( if your name is bold i couldn’t tag you)

author’s note ˚* ❀ tried second person pov not liking it i’m probably going back to 3rd anyways y/n crawling back to hee she’s so me

love, Echo🖤

© jjunberry

[bowlofsoob]

LOVER BOY™

yeonjun x gender neutral reader

for extra money an ai company pays yeonjun to roleplay as a boyfriend on one of their fake dating apps since they can’t afford to have a proper ai. it’s easy money but you drive him over the edge when you keep begging for esex.

nsfw is skippable!! content warnings — semi public sex, hickeys, biting, blowjobs, untouched cumming, degrading, leashes, grinding, oral sex, top yeonjun

notes; my attempt at gender neutral smut, when he’s fucking you it can be…yk either 🐱 or 🍑…wtv u want! 🤞

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You try to busy yourself with packing away your things as you feel Yeonjun approach your seat, but it was to no avail because your palms were far too sweaty to do anything. Before you knew it his knuckles were knocking the table before you and causing you to look up into his eyes.

“Hey,” he greets, a sly smirk on his lips as he leans down to get to your level, “You free?”

You could only manage a nod as he grins at your reply. Without a warning he grabs ahold of your backpack and swings it on his shoulder, his own bag on his other one.

“Let’s go,” he hums as he starts walking ahead of you.

“You don’t have to carry my shit,” you insist, catching up to him as you both walk out the building together. A few people stare, which reminds you of how well-known Yeonjun is around campus.

“I want too,” he hums, leading you down a walkway and towards the parking lot, “Did you drive to class?”

“No,” you frown, “I walked, I don’t have a car.”

“I’ll give you a ride from now on, yeah?” he hums, unlocking a nearby car and tossing your bags into the back seat of it. He pulls open the passenger door for you with a bow and gestures you inside.

“Y/n,” he says, locking the doors once he tucks himself inside, “Sounds good on my tongue.”

You didn’t quite know how to respond to that.

“Where are we heading?” you ask instead, nervously putting on your seatbelt. You were so close to him and your texts from the last few nights circled around your mind.

“Arcade?” Yeonjun asks, tapping his fingers on the wheel, “I haven’t been in a while,” he smiles, looking over at you.

“Sounds fun,” you agree, settling into your seat as Yeonjun pulled out of the parking spot.

The arcade he took you to was one of the bigger ones, but the lot was completely empty apart from a few stranded cars that presumably belonged to the workers.

You both made your way inside, Yeonjun holding the door open for you as you marveled at the interior. The carpeted floor held abstract designs and the sounds of the whirring machines filled your ears. You felt nostalgic as Yeonjun put some money into one of the machines and pulled out two loaded cards for you.

“Where should we start?” he asked you, holding up the token cards you guys would use to play the games between his fingers, a smile tilting his lips.

You pointed to the racing games, already bounding over and tucking yourself into a chair.

Yeonjun swiped the cards for you and the game lit up as the seats you were sitting on came to life. You gripped the steering wheel as the animations started and you and Yeonjun laughed at one another whenever he drove off the digital road.

The day was spent trying to win every colorful game Yeonjun’s greedy eyes landed upon and pouting when he inevitably lost. He had lost his skill after not playing for years, or at least that’s what he told you.

You, on the other hand, were hitting the jackpot with every game and were on a winning streak when you guys emptied out your cards' digital tokens.

“Do you wanna recharge them?” Yeonjun asked, gesturing to the cards.

“It’s alright, your ego can’t take any more losses,” you laughed as you guys wandered over to the prize counter. You didn’t have an interest in any of the candy but Yeonjun did reach out to pet the plush fox sitting atop one of the shelves tagged with a price of 5,000 tickets.

“I wanna take it home,” he smiled, pinching the fox’s ears before kneeling down to look in the glass cases and its prizes. You didn’t have a big desire to use your tickets on anything so while he was admiring a giant chocolate bar you gestured to the worker to take the plush down for you. You tapped on Yeonjun’s shoulder and handed it to him.

He looked down and made a rounded o shape with his lips at the fox staring back at him. Yeonjun had a flushed look on his face as he stared down at it.

“Thank you,” he smiled, and you laughed, finding amusement in Yeonjun’s embarrassment.

“We’re even now,” you assured as you both exited the arcade building. The staff bid them farewell as they did so. You made a mental note to post about it later but the only pictures you had were ones of you and Yeonjun in the photobooth.

The two of you made your way back to Yeonjun’s car in the empty parking lot, tucking yourselves into the seats. Yeonjun sat the fox plush in the backseat, which garnered a smile out of you as you started up the heater.

The sky was a dull grey and the air was humid as they waited for the heater to kick in. The R&B streaming out of the car’s speakers almost lulled you to sleep until you noticed the pitter-patter of water against the car’s windows.

“Seems like we’ll be stuck here for a while,” you observed, watching as the rain droplets dripped down the window’s exterior.

“Are you okay with waiting it out?” Yeonjun asked, pulling up the weather forecast on his phone, “I can ask someone to pick us up if you want.”

“It’s alright,” you assured, waving him off, “I’d rather wait it out with you.”

“Alright,” Yeonjun replied, putting his phone away.

You watched as Yeonjun undid his seatbelt, unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt as the car had started to grow humid from the rain. You swallowed at the flash of a collarbone that was now exposed.

“Eyes are up here,” Yeonjun chuckled, his breathing slow and reverent. You felt his chest tighten.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, your teeth digging into your lips as you felt yourself grow hot. The sweater vest you wore was not helping.

“If we’re going to be here for a while, you should get more comfortable,” Yeonjun suggested, reaching over to undo your seatbelt, his hands lingering on your chest.

You reached out to grab Yeonjun’s palm, enclosing it in your right hand. You didn’t say anything as you caressed the other’s hands, feeling your anxiety wash away with the rain. Spending the day with the male your harbored feelings for had lessened the nerves prickling around your body.

You stare, watching Yeonjun’s face like it was the prettiest art piece in a gallery. The gentle dip of his nose and his angular chin, along with the dark hair that adorned his head that fell in strands from its original style due to their long day at the arcade. He was breathtaking.

Yeonjun was snarky and playful when they both grew overly competitive while playing children’s arcade games, but now he sat still, waiting for your next move.

You move your head down and bring Yeonjun’s hand to your lips. You both make brief eye contact before your lips meet Yeonjun’s palm, trailing kisses alongside it before bringing the index and middle finger into your mouth.

Yeonjun’s gaze hardened as you swirl your tongue around them and pulled your lips back, a trail of saliva in its wake.

Yeonjun moves his hand from your grasp to grab the back of your neck, tugging you close. Both of your eyes met for a second before your lips met. His kisses weren’t gentle but they weren’t rough, it was possessive to an extent and it had you tugging on Yeonjun’s hair.

The position was awkward with their bodies angled towards one another, but that didn’t matter since all you could focus on was the pair of lips moving against your own.

“Fuck, hold on,” Yeonjun muttered as he pulled back, moving his hand beside your seat and pushing the lever to recline it back before he climbed atop you.

You snaked your hands around Yeonjun and brought him onto your lap as your lips met once again, your hands sneaking under Yeonjun’s shirt and caressing his lower back.

Yeonjun’s hand moved to his hair and pulled off the hair tie holding his hair together and let you run your hands through it, tugging on it as his lips moved to your neck.

You bucked your hips up in response, a gasp leaving your lips as Yeonjun raked his teeth along your neck and used his free hand to grip your waist.

Yeonjun bit down and that was all it took for your to tilt your head back, eyes practically at the back of your head as the pleasure surged through you. The pain felt blissful.

Yeonjun hummed, licking his lips across the bite mark before bringing his head back up.

“Seems I’ve found out just exactly what you like,” he drawled, bringing his free hand to your’s neck and hardening his grip, “You like to feel a little pain, don’t you?”

You answered with a moan escaping your lips, your eyes falling shut as the hand on your waist kneaded its knuckles into your skin.

“How bad do you want this?” Yeonjun mused, his voice a shadow of his usual condescending tone.

“I want you,” you breathe, a heat pooling in your stomach as Yeonjun unbuttoned your jeans with expertise. It had you a bit envious to see him do it so quickly but that feeling quickly dispersed when you felt Yeonjun’s warm hand palm your sex over your boxers. Your cheeks were now felt flushed as he looked down at you.

Impatience grew between the both of you and Yeonjun pressed his lips against yours once again while simultaneously palming you. The ring hanging on Yeonjun’s lips felt cold against your own as Yeonjun tilted his head. you opened your mouth as you felt the air hit your nether region, Yeonjun had pulled your boxers down.

Yeonjun pulled away and shoved his fingers roughly into your mouth without warning, the tips of his fingers just reaching the back of your throat.

“Spit,” he ordered, Yeonjun’s hand still getting you off.

It felt odd to be the one being given orders, but you didn’t push it away as you did as you were told. Once again, a string of saliva left your lips as Yeonjun pulled his fingers away. Instead of bringing it down to your hole immediately, he brought it to his lips, Yeonjun’s tongue licking around his own fingers and the remnants of your saliva while maintaining eye contact.

Within a blink, the fingers were inside you and your body surged with pain as two fingers went in and out of you. Your hands gripped the seat’s armrests as Yeonjun didn’t show you any mercy and quickened his pace, head coming down to suck the skin on your neck.

You bucked your hips up as Yeonjun’s fingers went in and out, matching your rhythm. Your right hand found Yeonjun’s back as you attempted to steady yourself.

Your neck was littered with Yeonjun’s marks as the other male lifted his head once more, inserting a third finger with a gleam in his eyes.

Your jeans and boxers were pooled by your feet and you felt on display as you were surrounded by windows, but you didn’t care at all as the pain seamlessly transformed to pleasure.

You reached down to use your free hand to help yourself release, body jerking this way and that as Yeonjun had to keep you pinned down which only made you go faster.

“I didn’t say you could do that,” Yeonjun teased, lifting his lips from your’s neck and removing your hands from yourself. Yeonjun removed his fingers from your hole, much to your dismay, and dragged them along your cheek, your juices staining your face.

“Let’s try this,” Yeonjun hummed, “Arms above your head,” he instructed you who followed suit. Yeonjun pulled at your top and yanked it over your shoulders so your bare chest was exposed. He marveled at the sight of your erected nipples for a second before he pulled the seatbelt from the top of the car down and wrapped it around the headrest and consecutively your arms. He tied it in a knot before nodding to himself.

“Stay still like the good whore you are,” Yeonjun smiled, inserting his fingers once more, you could only buck his hips up in desperation for any friction. You felt your hole tighten around Yeonjun’s fingers and a feeling rise from his lower region.

“I’m gonna cum, Yeonjun,” you groaned, the material of the seat belt digging into your skin. Your eyes fell shut as you felt Yeonjun slow down his pace.

“I can't have you do that so quickly,” Yeonjun murmured, removing his fingers slick with your insides and moving his hands to his own pants. He removed his belt with ease, the leather gripped in his hands as Yeonjun only pushed his pants down far enough for his cock to come out.

Yeonjun got down on his knees, the seat being pushed far enough back for him to comfortably sit, and spread your’s legs open.

“Have to prepare your tight hole,” he murmured, his head in between your legs. You felt his tongue slide up your thigh, leaving a trail of kisses until Yeonjun reached your hole. His tongue swirled the edge, slowly and knowingly, as your let out a cry of pleasure. The feeling only increased when Yeonjun traced a wet circle around the rim just before he dipped his tongue in.

Before your could release right then and there Yeonjun removed his mouth from your sex and sat back up, crawling atop you and lining his cock with your hole.

“Fuck,” Yeonjun groaned as he slid in, his cock inside you. The tip of his hard cock made contact with your entrance, unprotected.

Your wrists were burned from the seatbelt due to how much you were tugging, but you couldn’t control yourself. Yeonjun let himself simply sit inside you as you grew used to the feeling, not thrusting just to edge you even more.

“Are you gonna be good for me and be loud?” Yeonjun asked, taking his belt from the floor of the car and snaking it around your neck.

“Yes,” you whimpered as Yeonjun clasped the belt around your neck. He grabbed the loose end and used it as a leash to tug on it and bring your head closer to him.

“Good,” Yeonjun praised, one hand on the belt and the other on your waist, “Nice and loud.”

You didn’t get a chance to respond before Yeonjun was pulling out only to slam right back in again. He rocks back and forth as he does so, his nails digging into your bare waist. It was difficult to control yourself when Yeonjun was buried so deeply inside of you.

You moaned in arpeggios as Yeonjun lifted himself out of you once again, his tip trailing the inside of your thigh only to thrust back into him again. It was rough and harsh, just like you preferred it to be.

“I’m gonna fill you up at this rate,” Yeonjun muttered, bucking your hips up to meet Yeonjun’s with every thrust, “You’re ruining me.”

Your head was tugged from the belt Yeonjun held in his hands, your guys’ faces a mere inch away from each other when Yeonjun locked your lips together. You felt the taste of metal as Yeonjun’s tongue explored your mouth, the knowledge of the male above you having a hidden piercing only fueled you more.

You could feel your orgasm nearing since your hole was tightening around Yeonjun’s dick. You were just a hole at that moment and would let Yeonjun do whatever he wanted to you at that point. The sounds of skin on skin filled the car as the windows steamed up from the heat inside.

He pulled back, a string of saliva connecting your guys’ lips, as Yeonjun’s head tilted back.

“I’m gonna fill you up to the brim,” was the last thing you heard as Yeonjun rode out his orgasm. Your hole clenched as you felt warmth ooze inside of you, causing your eyes to fall shut and legs to tremble.

Yeonjun slowly pulled his cock out of your hole, cum spilling out as Yeonjun wrapped his palm around his own cock to get the excess cum off. Once his fingers were covered in white he reached up to shove his fingers into your swollen lips.

You were in a daze as you tasted Yeonjun upon his tongue, swallowing every last bit as Yeonjun tucked his cock back into his pants before looking down at your lower region.

“I can’t allow your filthy cum to get on my seats,” Yeonjun slurred as he leaned towards you while inserting two of his fingers into your hole, “It costs far too much, how would I explain that to the cleaners?”

Yeonjun snickered as he pushed in the cum threatening to spill out of you with his fingers, “Would I tell them my little slut creamed all over my car?”

You cried out at the overstimulation instead of responding, not like you would be able to since your mind was clouded. Yeonjun’s words only sent trembles up your spine and down to your privates which were wetter than before if that was even possible.

“Excited…again? Already?” Yeonjun asked, looming over you, “I didn’t know you were this easy.”

“Please,” you whined, wanting to use your own hands to finish yourself off. The stimulation was too much for you.

“You didn’t get to cum yet, think of this as your reward,” Yeonjun said, removing his fingers and grinding against your sex.

Yeonjun’s hips moved fast and it didn’t take much for you to release right into his lap. You were ashamed at how quickly it had taken you but your crush just had that effect on you.

“A little pathetic how quickly you came,” Yeonjun scoffed, dragging his palms sullied with your cum across your chest, “Are you that much of a whore?”

You could only nod as the sticky substance dripped along your skin, your sex drained as Yeonjun cleaned off his fingers, each one leaving a resounding pop. He dragged his fingers across your chest and swirled them around your nipples, moistening them before pulling back.

“I think you should sit in your mess until you get home,” Yeonjun smiled, reaching down to grab your boxers and pants that were pooled around your legs and hoisting them up.

You swallowed as Yeonjun pulled your jeans up and buttoned them for you and you could feel your wet sex against the fabric of your boxers. You were still full of Yeonjun’s cum and it felt warm as you squirmed around in your seat.

Unlike the sex they just had, Yeonjun was gentle with the way he untied the seatbelt adorning your wrists and rubbed at the red ring now encircling his hands from them. The belt around your neck left red marks along with the love bites littering your skin, it felt sore but you wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Sorry,” Yeonjun apologized as he buckled his belt around his waist, proceeding to lift your top from the ground, “Looks like it’ll take a while to heal.”

“Don’t be, I quite liked it,” you assured as you pulled the shirt over yourself as Yeonjun maneuvered himself over back to the driver’s seat, fixing up his disheveled hair in the mirror.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Yeonjun drawled as he turned the radio down, the window finally clearing up as he rolled them down.

“Looks like the rain has stopped,” you observed while you fixed your collar, the marks on your neck would need to be hidden for the next few days.

“I guess I should take you home,” Yeonjun nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“Yeah,” was all you said before you felt a hand caress his thigh.

Yeonjun held a small smile on his face as he proceeded to pull out of the parking lot with one hand on the wheel, a flustered you beside him. You could only bite your tongue as a multitude of dirty thoughts once again raced through your mind. But getting into a car crash because you wanted to get fucked again was not one of your kinks.

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__________________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐་༘

[youllallriseintheink]

An Obedient Son, Chapter 3: Crime and Consequence

The following is the story of Michael Afton, his relationship with his father, and how it affected him. It will have five chapters in total.

This is going to be a pretty action-oriented chapter.

---

It was a few days later that Michael finally persuaded William to let him see Circus Baby and take her picture. The very same evening, he brought it to Elizabeth. With any luck, this would help patch things up.

Michael gently knocked on Liz’s bedroom door. “Hey. I got your photo,” he said gently. “Can I come in?”

Elizabeth had been putting on make-up at the time- Circus Baby makeup. Her little phase had been coming back with a vengeance. She ran over to the door and flung it open. “Yeah, lemme see her!” she squealed.

Michael revealed the picture. Circus Baby looked... well... finished. William had given her a more cohesive colour scheme than Liz had way back when- red and white instead of having all kinds of gaudy oranges and pinks- but otherwise, it looked just like Liz’s design.

“Wow. She’s perfect! And she looks almost done! Did Dad say when she’d be ready?”

“‘Fraid not. After Fazbear’s Family Diner shut down, Dad really needed to focus on getting his other restaurants up and running, so the line of rental robots Baby is a part of kinda fell to the wayside. But Dad didn’t abandon her. She’s just on the back burner right now. Speaking of which, can I, uh, say something here?”

Liz looked up to her brother. “Of course.”

“So, Dad actually told me why he’s paying so much attention to me. Basically, he thinks I need the guidance to learn how to handle aggression and whatnot. It probably is about the Bite, to be honest. But it’s not that you’re not important to him. He just wants to make sure that I turn out like him instead of, like, a murderer or something.”

That made Elizabeth laugh. “Well, if that’s what it takes. Okay. You can have Dad since you need him so badly.”

Nailed it, Michael thought. Dad’s charm was rubbing off on him. And judging by Elizabeth’s smile, he’d just made her okay with this.

---

The only thing William loved more than a murder was an well-planned pack of them, and that was what he was about to commit.

First, he needed victims, and his victims of choice were lower-class older children. They had to be lower-class and older, because the plan hinged on a lack of helicopter parenting. Having any parents decide to dwell at the event because supervision was scarce would ruin his chances entirely. Plus, if he accidentally killed the kid of someone influential, the police would be doing a much more vigorous search. It was better this way.

Five tickets in his pockets, William took a walk into a lower-class neighbourhood. He wasn’t exactly in disguise, but he’d ditched his usual purple suit in favour of more casual clothes and had mussed up his hair a bit so not to be instantly recognized. It wasn’t long before he spotted a group of four kids- three boys and a girl, all roughly eight or nine- playing king of the hill on an empty, overgrown lot. The girl was winning until one of the boys pulled her down by her braids.

Perfect. But how to get their attention without scaring them away?

“Hey, kids!” he called, trying to sound friendly. The kids stopped. The girl whispered something to the smallest boy, and they started to run off.

“Woah, wait! Little girl, you’ve won a draw. I just came to deliver the prizes.”

The girl stopped running away and approached William. “What’s the prize, mister?” she asked. The boys watched intently, as though they were her back up.

William whipped out the tickets. “You’ve won a free party at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. There will be cake, pizza, free arcade tokens, and an animatronic band. Just show up on Sunday at 10:30 pm with four of your friends.”

The little girl smiled and snatched the tickets out of William’s hands, not bothering to thank him. The other boys were on her quickly, begging for a ticket. William’s work was done.

The next person he’d have to work over was his hapless employee. His name was Bailey, and he was 17, naive, and eager to please, so when William asked him to cover a party with five kids all on his own, he was fairly quick to agree.

“Sorry to make you do it on your own, but we’re usually closed on Sunday mornings and I couldn’t get anyone else to come in on short notice. You know the drill: get the animatronics onto the stage, put on the SpringBonnie suit, give the kids forty tokens each, make sure they don’t kill each other for two hours, then serve the food. Oh, and if something goes wrong- an unfamiliar alarm goes off or something- I’ll be at the theatre right across the street, seeing a movie with my son. Got it?”

“Got it.”

And just like that, William’s plan was in motion. What the employee didn’t know was that an unfamiliar alarm was going to go off. And a minute afterwards, the security cameras were going to shut off, making it look as though Bailey had tampered with them. William’s background in programming had its uses for getting away with things like this.

Sunday rolled around, and pretty soon William was watching the opening scenes of some movie and resisting the urge to look at his watch. It would happen any minute now.

Bailey rushed in and ran to William. “An alarm is going off. It’s not the fire alarm, it’s a different one. I don’t know what to do.”

“It could be the natural gas alarm. Go home- you’ve probably inhaled too much of it already. I’ll get the kids out and call their parents.”

William went over, coming in the back way and slashing the line to the security camera as he went. And with that, William was alone in the pizzeria. Ignoring the worried chatter of the children, he ducked into his office and checked the security tape to make sure that Bailey had left quickly enough to look like he’d been the one to cut the cord. Everything was according to plan.

William slipped on a hairnet and gloves that he’d planted in his office before slipping into the SpringBonnie costume- there was no need to leave any hair or fingerprints in it, especially when they might already have some of Bailey’s.

Stepping into the party room, William noted that the children looked scared- why shouldn’t they be? An alarm was going off and no one was around to tell them what to do. He also noted that in addition to the four kids from before, there was a very put-together little girl wearing a very new-looking dress. Hopefully she wasn’t the child of anyone important. One tries to pick and choose, but sometimes life has other plans...

“Follow me,” William ordered, as though he were about to bring the kids to safety. They did follow- nothing made children obey like the illusion that they were in danger. They followed him right into the back room- a place they would not leave with their lives.

When William was done, he shed the bloody SpringBonnie costume and left it at the site of the crime. His street clothes were still spotless.

Stepping back into the public eye had to be William’s least favourite part of a murder. At least he’d had time and privacy this time around, to laugh, and smile, and really savour the act. Last time he’d had no time at all. But now, with his heart still racing and his spirit still ablaze, he had to suppress a mad grin as he rejoined Michael at the movies.

The movie was most of the way through when William joined back up with Michael.

“Sorry about that,” William said, keeping his voice calm.

“S’kay,”

“Keep the ticket stubs. I’ll tell you why later.”

It probably wouldn’t be necessary. William knew that the police would look at everything and think that Bailey had shut off the security cameras. They might find his hair in the SpringBonnie suit that he’d been recorded wearing and that was now covered in children’s blood. But Bailey might try to incriminate him, so it couldn’t hurt to have an alibi. Plus, it could be a good test for Michael

---

“Daddy, can I go see Circus Baby?”

“No, honey. Her safety features aren’t done yet. It could be dangerous.”

“What if I stay really far away from her the entire time?” Her voice was getting higher and more girlish- a trick that had worked for manipulating William back before the Bite.

“No. She and the other rentals will be in commercial use in a year or so. You’ll see her then.”

“But she’s so beautiful already!”

“Elizabeth, shut up.” William turned to Michael. “Hey. After supper, we need to talk about the ticket stubs. Alright?”

“Got it,” Michael replied. The two of them met in the basement right afterwards, William locking the door behind them.

“Alright. So. When I went over to the pizzeria today, the kids that were at a party there were missing. If the police find out that I was in the building, I’m going to be one of the prime suspects for their disappearance. So. If the police show up at our door, and they most likely will, here’s what you need to tell the police: I was never at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. No one came to get me. I was in the theatre the entire time with you, and then we went home. Got it?”

Michael looked bewildered. “You want me to lie to the police?”

“You’re just making their jobs easier. The less time they waste on me, the sooner they’ll catch the real culprit. It’s just speeding things along, guaranteeing the proper outcome, like me with your mother. It’s the right thing to do.”

At the mention of his mother, Michael’s face hardened into determination. William was presenting him with an opportunity to repay that favour and prove himself strong. “Got it.”

“Good boy. I promise that they won’t catch you lying. And if they do, I’ll pay your bail.”

The two of them practised an interrogation a couple times. A few days later, the police did come, and Michael did lie to them. It had been easy. They had no reason not to believe every word he said.

---

Liz had been watching The Immortal and Restless when Michael came in the next day.

“Hey. Dad’s not going to be home tonight,” Michael said, hoping she wouldn’t ask about it. It wasn’t terribly uncommon for William to work late, or to stay out late at various bars.

Liz turned off the television and turned to him. “Why?” she demanded, accusation in her eyes.

“Hey, chill out. I don’t know.” Michael did know. He was supposed to meet his dad at the warehouse that night, but when he got there, there was no sign of William and his coworkers told Michael that the police had come in and arrested him earlier that day. Truthfully, it was freaking Michael out, but he couldn’t show that. Hopefully he was just there for questioning and would be out by the following night.

“I heard the two of you talking about lying to the police.”

“You eavesdropped on us?!”

“That’s not the point! Something is going on, and I want to know what it is. Tell me.”

“No. And it’s not why dad is coming home late anyhow. He’s going to a football game with some friends.”

“Really? Because a minute ago you said you didn’t know.”

“Okay, fine. It is about that. But I can’t tell you much about it. I’m sorry.”

“You were talking about Mom, too. What did Dad do to her?”

Michael took a deep breath. “He made sure that Mom wouldn’t be able to hurt us anymore. That’s all you need to know.”

“Will Dad tell me when I’m older?”

“Yes,” Michael lied.

“I know when you’re lying, Mike!”

“Alright. Truth is that he probably won’t. He just doesn’t want to worry you with things you can’t handle. Do you want to stay up together? I bet he’ll be back sometime tonight.”

“Sure,” Elizabeth said, looking defeated.

Distraction was quick to perk Liz up. They made popcorn and played games together until it was the early morning hours and Liz was struggling to keep her eyes open. There was still no sign of William.

The next day was Friday. William still wasn’t home by the time Elizabeth and Michael were home from school.

“I have plans with friends tonight,” Michael explained. “If Dad’s not home by the time I’m back tomorrow, let’s go to the police about this. Hopefully they’ll solve this one way or another.”

“Sounds good. I plans tonight, too. Can you give me a ride?”

“I’m heading out at nine. I’ll drop you off on the way.”

And so he did, letting Elizabeth guide him to her friend Luanne’s house. With both of them worried and preoccupied, it was a quiet ride. “This the place?” Michael asked.

“Yeah,” Liz said, gathering up her overnight bag to head out.

“Hey,” Michael said, catching her attention for long enough to give her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

“Thanks,” Liz replied. And then she was off.

It wasn’t until the early morning hours that Michael, tipsy and sleep-deprived, finally got home and dragged himself to bed. It wasn’t much later- maybe a couple hours- when he felt himself being gently shaken awake. Michael slowly gained awareness of a large man sitting on the edge of his bed. Half-asleep, he pulled himself up.

“Dad?”

“Hey, Mike. I hope I didn’t worry you too much. The police brought me in for questioning. It was brutal, but it’s over now. They figured out the real culprit. Plus, they gave me a sense about what you told them. Thank you. Next time we’re at work together, there’s a whole lot that I have to show you now that you’ve proven yourself ready.”

Michael’s mind was working rather slowly, but he understood one thing. “God, I’m glad you’re okay.”

William smiled. “Me, too.”

“Can you call Liz? she was worried sick. She’s sleeping over at Luanne’s.”

“Will do,” William said, leaving Michael to sleep.

[binniedeactivated]

𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐟!𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐧. || 🌪💦 (1.4)

[ m.list ]

➦ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐟!𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐧 𝐱 𝐏𝐎𝐂 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

➦ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄 | 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐮

➦ 𝐖/𝐂 | 3k

➦ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒  | 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫,  𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭'𝐬  𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

➦ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 | 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 + 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭

POC = person of color

adriana did it often. whenever she had some time for herself in the midst of her hectic school days she would make it her duty to get to the bathroom just so she can fix her makeup. she didn’t wear makeup because she thought it made her beautiful but it covered up the scars her ex made on her skin. she refused for anyone else to see them or even get a slight glimpse of them. she wanted to leave all that in the past. she didn’t want to have to explain her bruises to anyone.

often times he would try to come back. trying to love her the ‘right’ way this time, or trying to swoon her into thinking that he was finally going to be the man she always wanted. only to be the man she always hated yet again. she didn’t want to be in this situation. she was twenty six she wanted a life, she wanted love and she wanted a family. she loved the kids she taught like they were her own of course but she couldn’t wait for the day she would finally be called mommy.

she was starting to like yeonjun. not just for the sex--although that was pretty good too. but she saw him every morning and every afternoon dropping off and picking up his children, hugging them, kissing them, holding them near him at all times. even if he forgot something he would drop it off in the middle of his day or even if the slightest inconvenience happened to them he would drop everything at the drop of a dime. he had even been invested in their school work, their grades and progress, more than adriana has ever seen any dad concerned about their child. she found that she wasn’t just attracted to the sex, but she was attracted to love he had for his kids.

“ms. A! ms.A!”. myla called frantically from her chair while sipping on her juice box. it happened to be lunch time and the children were sitting at their tables happily chatting away while making messes of their faces. adriana touches her back softly,

“yes myla?”.

she points to the bright pink sticky note inside her lunch box. “what does that say?”.

adriana crouches down to her level to get a better look. she clutches the sticky note and reads it loud enough for myla to hear.

“enjoy your lunch myla. have a great day! daddy loves you ♡ “

adriana smiles a bit, “your dad left you a note today. do you want to maybe keep it and put it in your pocket?”.

myla nods excitedly, opening in her pocket for adriana to just shove it in there. she folds it neatly though and places it that way instead. she stands to her feet shortly after.

“ten more minutes left of lunch time guys, make sure you’re eating”. she announces prior to returning to her desk to finish organizing worksheets.

“your dad packs you lunch?”. andrew, one of the children at the table had asked. myla nods while happily biting into an apple slice.

“that’s so weird. packing lunch is for mommies. My mommy packs my lunch”.

“me too!”.

“ou me three!”.

“‘me four!”.

the other children decided to chime in. their small voices were drowned out by the indistinct chatter around the room. myla slouched her shoulders in shame. she hadn’t thought it was weird for her dad to pack her lunch all this time.

“well my daddy likes to pack my lunch”. she decided to say, although not knowing if she was trying convince them or herself.

“your daddy is weird”. Paige says, chewing into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“he’s not weird don’t talk about my daddy”.

“yes he is. packing lunch is for mommies”. Andrew adds again, licking the oreo icing off the cookie.

myla clenches her small fists growing a little angry at the obnoxious boy. “shut up. daddies can do it too”.

“no they can’t! unless your daddy is a girl. is your daddy a girl?”. he teases, leaving the rest of her lunch table flooding in laughter. myla felt ashamed at each and every kid who laughed at her and made fun of her father. she could feel her cheeks heat and salty tears well in her eyes. she clutched her juice box angrily and threw it at andrew’s face.

“Ow!!”.

“don’t talk about him ever!”.

he rubs his face and sticks out his tongue. “that’s why he’s still a girl!”

“myla! andrew? what is going on?”. adriana rises from her chair behind her desk, only for myla to run straight out of the classroom in full fledge tears.

“you know, you’re really pretty”. daniel complimented his girlfriend Luna. and that she was. she had this pretty black hair that spiraled down her back with bangs along her forehead. she wore these vibrant pastel colored dresses everyday. most importantly though she was sweet to Daniel. and that was something he came to love.

she smiles behind her book at him. It was reading time. yet the duo decided to use the time to whisper to one another instead of reading those boring books that their teacher handed them. “thank you. I showed my mom a picture of you yesterday. she said you’re a cute boy”. daniel chuckles a little. “well tell her I said thank you. It’s been a while since someone has called me that. other than you”.

she strings a piece of hair behind her ear in wonder. “really? my mom always calls me cute. doesn’t yours?”. daniel bites the inside of his cheek in thought. he couldn’t remember the last time his mother even saw him long enough to compliment him. but he wasn’t going to admit that to Luna. he moves his head in uncertainty. “sometimes I guess,”. He lied. “not as much as yours probably though”.

she lays a hand on his shoulder. “well you’re a cute boy daniel”. and that kind of made his heart warm. when Luna reminded daniel of his mother’s shortcomings it was all he could really think about throughout the day. there were a lot of things that he could say his mother hadn’t done for him. for example, most of his friends often bring leftover dinner that their mom cooked to eat at school the next day. or they would talk about the complications of their mom doing their laundry, being too overprotective, nursing them to health when they were sick.

Leah hadn’t done these things since daniel was younger. he only held a faint memory of her making this extravagant dinner one day for his dad’s birthday one year, but that was about it. it never necessarily bothered him because his dad was always there. his dad did his laundry, his dad cooked dinner, his dad was overprotective and his dad took care of him when he sick.

and this was the way it always have been in daniel’s mind. Luna kisses him on the cheek at dismissal before grabbing her jacket and running to her mother’s side. daniel drums his fingers on the table while glimpsing at the both of them. the way she hugged Luna and kissed her forehead, helping her get her jacket on. he could tell she did everything in love, too. daniel wondered if that was why luna was so sweet and kind. he wondered if maybe that’s why he liked her so much.

she had the aura of a mom.

yeonjun approaches the classroom door and myla immediately ran to his legs with a sour expression, to which he he picked her up and allows her head to fall into the crook of his neck. “whats the matter my?”. he whispers, signing his name on the sign out sheet. Adriana advances her way over to them both.

“hey yeonjun. a situation happened with myla and another student today, he was teasing her and she threw her juice box at him. I let myla off with a warning since I don’t tolerate throwing things in my classroom, however since the student was teasing her about personal issues he’s receiving a greater punishment”.

yeonjun nods. “make sure you call me about these types of things alright?”.

adriana’s heart sank. he looked kind of angry but she couldn’t really tell. “will do”. she breathed. damn it. calling him was the one thing she forgot to do.

daniel was glad to leave his classroom when his father arrived. he was already at the door in fact. yeonjun ruffles his hair and pulls him close. After he signed him out though, it was unusual having two silent kids walking with him to the car.

he adjusts the rearview mirror. “myla? what happened at school today?”. she shook her head with a pout at her lips. he knew he was probably going to have to try again when she felt better. it still didn’t stop him from feeling bad though. he nudged daniel next, who was currently staring out the window in the passenger seat.

“what happened with you today?”.

he too gave him a stand-offish response and shrugs his shoulders. he wished he hadn’t let his thoughts get the best of him. he wished it didn’t bother him as much as it did. if only him or myla knew how much their silence and emotions really broke their father’s heart. he’d much rather have them arguing. he decided to reroute himself, choosing to go to one of their favorite destinations.

arriving at pizza planet was one of the best things yeonjun could’ve done. upon arrival myla and daniel could already feel today’s weight lift off their shoulders a little especially with the loud music and obnoxious arcade games blaring at them when they stepped in.

“order whatever you want”. yeonjun says, approaching the food counter with both of them on either side of him. myla clutches his hand, “really? anything?”. yeonjun nods. “yeah anything”. and once the answer was confirmed it took no time for the duo to put in their freakishly odd orders. myla mainly ordered a bunch of desserts that yeonjun knew she didn’t need and Daniel ordered a shitload of pizza. Combined with yeonjun’s order it totaled to quite a dime, but yeonjun didn’t mind at all.

“daddy can we play the games please please please?”.

“yeah can we play the games?”.

“yeah hold on”, yeonjun pauses before pooling out two five dollar bills from his wallet for the both of them. to which they took the money and immediately ran off excitedly to the token exchange machine. Yeonjun laughs in their trail, “wow! no thank you?”.

“thank you daddy!”. they said in unison, rushing to stuff the coins in their pockets.

yeonjun sat at the booth seat and awaited the food although it took a while. the waitress placed everything down neatly around the table.

“so? do you have a girlfriend?”. she asks completely catching yeonjun off guard. she couldn’t look more than seventeen years old.

“married. plus I think you’re a little too young sweetheart”.

she tilts her head a little and smiles with her eyes still focused on getting the drinks on the table. “I’m legal though”.

“no thank you sweetheart”.

in a way it kind of scared him. she was legal sure, but a young adult willing to date a married man with children? it made yeonjun question her morals. especially when she gifted him a small wink before telling him to enjoy his meal.

yeonjun shakes his head in disbelief before calling his kids over to the table. there wasn’t a better feeling to him than seeing them happily munching on their food with attitudes that starkly contrasted the ones they had in the car. he took and napkin and curled it around his finger before wiping the smudged off of myla’s cheeks.

“dad! I finally beat myla in Mario kart”.

“no you didn’t daniel! you’re a cheater”.

“no I won. you just don’t want to admit you lost”.

“I didn’t!”.

“yes you did”.

“don’t worry myla. I’ll teach you how to beat him next time”. yeonjun adds.

“really? do you know how to play?”.

“pft. I’ve been playing Mario kart before you both were even born”.

“that would be cheating! you can’t help her dad that’s not fair”.

myla rolls her eyes choosing to change the subject. “what was I like daddy? when I was born?”.

“very quiet. and sleepy”.

“I didn’t smile or anything?”.

“well when you were a newborn you were kind of mean. you didn’t want anyone to hold you except me”.

myla laughs. “really?”.

“yeah. you were so mean to your mom oh my gosh. you didn’t want to drink milk from the bottle even if she was holding it”.

“was I ever nice?”.

“hm. you were nice when you were just a few months old but only a little bit. you were really calm and relaxed though. you just wanted to play and sleep”.

“what about me?”. daniel asks next.

“oh god, daniel. you were a crybaby”.

myla laughs pointing her finger in his face. “Ha!”.

daniel ignores her though and continues. “what did I cry about?”.

“everything. when you were happy, when you were sad, when you were mad, when you had to sit, when we tried to get you to play, while you were eating. you just cried all the time. we were starting to think you just hated us”.

daniel laughs to himself a bit. “was I good looking?”.

“of course. you and myla were really chubby so it made you even more adorable. you guys always got lots of compliments”.

“more than logan?”.

“No one gets more compliments than logan. not even me”.

daniel decided to playfully tease. “whatever dad we know Logan is your favorite”,

yeonjun laughs. “no he’s not don’t say that. I have no favorites”.

myla sneaks her arms around him. “I’m your favorite right daddy?”.

“why would you be the favorite? you’re annoying”. daniel teases again.

“guys. I have no favorites. you all are my favorites. alright?”.

the both of them scoff wanting him to admit who his favorite was. but they decided they wouldn’t pressure him today since the arcade games were still waiting on them.

***

and being home was like it was every night. yeonjun took care of the household and made sure things were getting done at a reasonable time. but there was always one chore that yeonjun never failed to nag his children about.

“daniel clean your room. what’s that pile of clothes on the floor?”. he points with logan wide awake and clinging to his chest. he stuffs a hand in his mouth and gurgles.

with the gaming headset on daniel didn’t realize how loud his voice actually was. but he was playing over-watch and he failed to lose this mission.

“one more minute dad”.

“do it now. I’m starting laundry soon and I need to know what’s dirty”.

the boy huffs and assures his teammates his return. although his father was being a nag he didn’t hesitate to think the same thoughts he had gotten in school. he was afraid to talk to yeonjun about them. he didn’t want to stress him out more than usual. above all else daniel noticed his mother’s absence during moments such as this and that made him even more grateful for his father.

“thank you. I’m coming back to check”.

daniel wondered if it would be odd to tell him that he loved him at that moment. so he just kept his mouth shut.

you’re annoying but I love you dad, he wanted to say.

thank you for loving me the way that mom doesn’t, he wanted to say.

“myla put your toys in your toy chest. is your laundry basket full?”.

she replies with her eyes still focused on playing with her dolls in her dollhouse. “okay. yes I think”.

yeonjun lugs the basket with him to the door. but myla had a question in mind.

“daddy?”.

“yes?”.

“is packing lunch for mommies?”.

“hm? what do you mean?”.

“the boy at school today said that his mommy packs his lunch. and all the other kids said that their mommies pack their lunch too. what’s wrong if you pack mine?”.

yeonjun’s heart sank. this was the one thing he didn’t want for them.

“there’s nothing wrong me packing it myla. don’t let those kids tell you any different”.

“how come mommy doesn’t do it?”.

“she’s just— she’s just busy. but daddies pack lunch all the time”.

“they do?”.

“yeah. don’t feel bad alright? I do it because I love you and I want to make sure you eat well even while you’re in school. It’s just another form of me showing you how much I love you”.

myla rushes over to hug his legs. it relieved her that he said that. she was starting to think she was just an outcast.

“I love you too”. she whispers.

yeonjun smiles a little and kisses her on her forehead. “I love you more. now go play so I can make sure your brother cleaned his room”.

doing loads of laundry were that bad considering yeonjun always made sure he stayed on top of it all. his kids never had too much dirty clothes so it never took long. “are you ready to do laundry with me logan?”. yeonjun coos to the small baby before opening the washing machine. he turns it on, allowing the water to flood the bottom but something black caught his eye. It happened to be floating in the water.

he reaches his hand down and pulls it out trying to figure out what it was. but once he brought it up for his eyes to see in the light he wasn’t too pleased. it was an opened condom wrapper.

and yeonjun knew it wasn’t his.

[kinsie]

Game Impressions from PAX Aus 2019

Wake the fuck up, samurai. We've got a city to burn.

Every year I go to PAX Aus with some close friends to check out the Incredible Future of Games that everyone else already checked out six months ago, along with some cool weird indie shit and some awesome retro stuff. And every year, I write a little diary of what I saw to share my impressions with my friends. This is that diary.

Doom Eternal

Okay, let's get this out of the way. I played Doom Eternal pretty much as soon as I got on the show floor. It may shock you to know that it is, in fact, good.

No pictures of the demo units, sorry, so have this big logo.

The demo started with a little grey-box tutorial map just to teach you what you need to know for the demo level, since it was taken from the middle of the game. It looked very Snapmap-y and had some Doom 2 MIDI music playing. After that we were given about 25 minutes to acquaint ourselves with the lengthy "Mars Core" mission they've been showing since E3. I was at the start of the first arena of the hell bit when I ran out of time. :(

Here are some scattered thoughts from playing:

Your standard running around and double jumping feels much the same as in Doom 2016. The dashing feels great, although I think it might reduce your air control a little afterwards as I had some trouble overshooting a platform in the floating debris bit.

Climbing walls felt a bit weird to me. You have to press E on the wall manually to grab onto it, which feels a bit unintuitive when you're plummeting past it. Also feels a bit odd considering mantling up walls is automatic. You can auto-grab onto walls if you dash into it, but I think it's only for the first bit of the dash? Maybe I'm just bad at videogames.

I think the Combat and Super Shotguns now use different ammo types? I could have swore there were situations where I could select the Combat Shotgun but not the SSG.

The Chainsaw now no longer has even the slightest pretence of being a "real" weapon. It's now just a swing animation when you press the button, like a melee attack, before bringing your weapon back up.

When you have the SSG's Meat Hook attachment, a little meathook icon appears below the crosshair. When you're close enough to an enemy to grapple onto them, the icon floats over them, indicating that it has some kind of auto-aim mechanic to reduce frustration.

There was a monster with swords on its arms that acted an awful lot like the Baron of Hell (might have been the Hell Knight, looking at the Quakecon footage of the same fight) but it looked quite different. Looked fuckin' cool, whatever it was.

The platforming but in the debris section with the giant floating red barrels was actually kind of frustrating. It wasn't always clear where you needed to go, and the climbable bits tended to blend in with the rest of the world. Then again, keep in mind I have a frankly abysmal sense of direction. Thankfully falling into the void just whacks you for a paltry five health and teleports you back onto safe ground.

The locational damage stuff is really fun. Breaking a monster's guns has a satisfying metal "PING" sound to it to inform you that the dude got fucked up and is weaker now, and that you should keep doing it.

When I picked up one of those "?" secrets, the pop-up box told me that they unlocked "collectable dolls" and "cheat codes". The former is vague, but I suspect they'll be like the mini-Doomguys but of more characters. I'd imagine the latter will be like in Rage 2.

Oh, and it looks a million bucks, too. Though you probably didn't need me to tell you that.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I saw and it's even more of a pity it's not coming out next month.

Not Indie Games, But Also Not Doom Eternal

The Vive Cosmos felt really comfy - the lack of cabling and the decent display resolution made it feel a lot more natural than the Gen 1 Vives I've previously used. The game they were using to demo (Audica), however, was pretty lame. A rhythm-target shooter that didn't really take advantage of the medium at all.

Bleeding Edge was not inspiring. It was basically the control point mode from TF2 or Overwatch, except every character was a third-person brawler with little emphasis on projectile weapons beyond the occasional special. It felt like someone making a claim at TF2 or Overwatch's throne several years late while bolting a weak character action game on, which is fairly odd considering how innovative and critically acclaimed Ninja Theory's previous game was.

Dreams is fairly fascinating in its potential. The creation tools weren't available in the demo build so I can’t really judge them, instead there was a choice of eight developer-made experiences ranging from Mario-inspired obstacle courses to videogames as art.

I didn't get the chance to actually play MediEvil, but I watched some folks play it and it basically just looks like the PS1 game with more triangles, with all the slightly wonky 32-bit gameplay that entails.

The demo unit for Monkey King: Hero Is Back had some utterly bizarre graphics settings for some reason that made it look like I was playing a JPEG file, with big whopping compression artifacts surrounding each character. Weird!

Not happenin’.

Indie Games

Grabimals is a brilliant local co-op puzzler where players roll around as shapes and link together to solve puzzles like catching a falling water droplet, crossing a gap or casting a shadow that matches an example image. Supposedly it's still a ways off from release, but it's already impressively polished (disregarding one hilarious crash bug we found by accident!)

Hamster Scramble is a really fun take on Puzzle Bobble, with platforming elements, team play and the ability to jump over to your opponent's screen and fuck their plans up directly. It's an absolute blast and didn't feel like it was almost a year away from release.

Fork Knights is a platform fighter with an emphasis on one-hit kills. The character designs are cute, but I can't really say the gameplay itself struck me, to be honest.

Baron is an eight-player single-screen local multiplayer dogfighter. Fairly simple mechanically, but pretty fun all things considered.

Broken Roads had some lovely hand-painted art assets and some interesting ideas like a literal moral compass, but the demo build showcased was waaaaay too early to be shown off to the public. Of the eight or so areas present in the demo, only two had any characters, interactivity or really anything other than wandering around set up, and the combat side of things was extremely rough and sequestered off to a side area as a "well, if you insist..." kind of deal.

Misadventure In Little Lon is a true-crime adventure game for mobile with a unique mechanic - each "scene" is integrated into the real world via AR, with characters (that resemble Poser models more than a little bit) speaking to you directly. Not sure if it holds up over an entire game, but it's attention-garnering at least.

Speaking of true crime, The Black Window tasks players with using an Oujia board to question Australia's first female serial killer, with responses taken from court records and letters from the time. The well-acted performances of the actual individual in question's words lends it an impressive atmosphere, which the booth added to with a big wooden oujia board type thing you could "type" on. Sort of.

ACID KNIFE is real, real early, but the aesthetic is awesome and the pixel art is great. Hopefully it grows and expands into something special.

The Vigilante Proclivities of the Longspur is an oldschool Lucasarts-inspired point-and-click adventure with a custom demo scene set at an oddly-familiar videogame convention. Pretty promising so far, but could do with a good bit of polish - I'm pretty sure there was only one sound effect in the entire demo, and dialogue was often lacking in punctuation.

I didn't get to play Hot Brass but I watched over shoulders and talked with the developers, and it looked pretty cool. It's basically a take on SWAT 4's rarely-imitated brand of tactical copwork, but with a Hotline Miami-style top-down perspective, but with all the characters abstracted down to simple board game like tokens - a circle with a coloured outline denoting attitude towards the player, with a weapon icon if armed.

Blood Metal... Blood Metal is not good. It is extensively not good. Development seems to have only started in July, so one can still hope that the bad AI, unsatisfying gunplay, buggy collision detection and complete lack of damage feedback (outside of some ridiculous, sight-obscuring gouts of blood) get fixed over time. The 80s action movie aesthetic and low-poly artstyle forces it to be compared to Maximum Action, which is at least a fun kind of jank...

This Starry Void is a real-time, tile-based 3D dungeon crawler set in an abandoned spacecraft. It seems pretty cool so far, but it could probably use some UI/UX tweaks. The attempts at a "graphic novel inspired" visual style for the environments could probably benefit from looking at how Void Bastards did things, as well.

Lethal Lawns and Beam Team are fucking arcade games with massive cabinets. In 2019. Granted, they're also on computers and coming to consoles and stuff as well, but still! They're both pretty simple games, and therefore best played in cabinet form.

Unpacking is a "zen puzzle game" by the developers of Assault Android Cactus about the second-worst part of moving house, unloading an unseen character's packing and getting a glimpse into their lives as a result. I wasn’t able to play it due to an unexpectedly-crowded booth, but the pixel art is quite lovely.

Feather is a chill game about being a bird and flying around an island trying to find its secrets. I tried the Switch port, which played alright but obviously (and understandably) toted a lower framerate than the demo PC.

Topple Pop is a cute puzzle game that blends together elements of Tetris, Puyo Puyo and that one joke game that was Tetris but with a proper physics engine. Looks cute, with a fun gimmick!

Shooty Skies Overdrive is an VR spinoff of the popular mobile shmup, and basically similar to that one shmup minigame in Valve's The Lab. Weave your plane, which is attached to one of your hands, through incoming bullets and enemies like a toy! The 3D effect on the incoming projectiles looks great, but they can tend to get in the way of the action sometimes.

Dead Static Drive has been at like the last three PAXes and it looks better every time I see it. I hope it comes out this decade.

Snow Mercy is a third-person shooter/strategy thing where you hunt down icecubes to spend on an army of snowmen to crush your opponent's base before they crush yours. Not a common genre combo, reminds me of C&C Renegade a bit.

The Adventure Pals has graphics straight out of mid-2000s Newgrounds and level design out of pretty much any european platformer, but it didn't seem too bad from my brief prodding at it. The player character is perhaps a bit too small for my elderly eyes in Switch portable mode, but that's about as far as my gripes go.

[kimjongdahhwae]

Crush Culture

Pairing: Jaemin x Reader Genre: Fluff, High School!AU

a/n: When you listen to a particular song and a scenario just popped out of your mind HAHAHAHA. In this case, the song is Crush Culture by Conan Gray. Listen to his EP entitled “Sunset Season” , 11/10 would recommend!!! 

This is not proofread so I’m sorry for the mistakes. HSKHSKHSK 

Anyway, enjoy reading. ________________________________________________________________

"Jesus Christ Yeri, stop looking at your phone and finish this project!" you retorted at your groupmate who is also your best friend.

"I literally stopped for like 2 seconds to check the time y/n, don't overreact!" she said and continued to type your paper in History.  

"And you're literally using your laptop, why can't you just look at the time on your laptop, it's right there!" you grinned

"Shut up!"

"Obviously you're waiting for him to text you, well he won't," you said and continued to read other references on your laptop.

"This is why nobody likes you."

"Sometimes I ask myself why did we become best friends? Oh yeah right, because you love me," you said and made Yeri rolled her eyes and laughed.

High school is one of the shittiest moments in your life, with all the boys and girls trying to get noticed by their crushes or worse, being in a relationship. In high school, it seems like "who are you with" is more important above everything.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I was up all night finding some more references," your other groupmate said while placing his bag on the table.

"Jaemin, we know you stayed up all night because you're playing video games with Jeno," you said, still focused on your laptop.

"I didn't say that," Jaemin said, opening his laptop while rubbing his eyes.

"You don't have to, because it's pretty obvious," you pointed at his laptop screen and his eyes widened when he saw the icon of the video game, still opened.

"See, this is why no one has a crush on you," Yeri said sarcastically.

"I'm too smart for them anyways," you joked.

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

It's a lunch break and you're currently eating in the cafeteria with Yeri.

"Why do they show their clinginess and affection here, IT'S A FREAKING SCHOOL!" you remarked, annoyed at the couple sitting on the table across you.

"Why are you so mad about couples doing their stuff, being sweet to each other or whatever. That's how they show their love for each other," Yeri replied and took a bite of her sandwich.

"I don't hate them, I despise them."

Minutes later, Jaemin arrived and took a seat in front of you while placing his backpack on the table.

"Did you print our paper?" you asked, he just nodded and yawned.

"You played video games all night again, why am I not surprised," Jaemin didn't answer and placed his face flat on his backpack.

You were surprised when Yeri slammed her left palm on the table while holding her phone on her other hand.

"Got to go guys! I just need to meet someone!" Yeri excitedly said and exited the cafeteria.

"Geez, what's up with people and their so-called crushes," you rolled your eyes and finished your lunch.

"What's up with you and your irritation towards crushes," Jaemin said, face still on his bag.

"They make me want to spill my guts out. People pursue their crushes but in the end, it will not work out." 

Jaemin lifted his face and looked at you.

"What if you met someone and I don't know, you fell for that person?"

"I doubt it," you laughed.  

Jaemin stared at your eyes.

"Just, what if?" he asked, and he seems serious.

"I don't know really, whatever happens, happens I guess?" you shrugged because the thought of you having a crush? Not gonna happen.

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

"Jaemin, where are we going again?" you lazily asked and letting yourself get dragged by Jaemin.

"There's this new arcade that opened yesterday, Jeno told me about it," Jaemin stopped at his tracks.

"And why are you dragging me there instead of Jeno?" you crossed your arms. You just want to go home and sleep, or watch Netflix.

"We already went there yesterday! So I thought, why not I asked you to go with me?"

"Okay first, you didn't 'asked' me, you just told me to come with you somewhere."

"But--" Jaemin was cut-off by you, shushing him.

"Second, I'm tired. PE drained me physically and mentally. Third, I left my wallet at home. I don't have any extra money."

"Fear not! I'll treat you so let's go!"

Seems like this boy will never give up, you let yourself get dragged by Jaemin once again.

When you both arrived at the arcade, it was packed with high school students around your age and some kids with their brothers or sisters.

You and Jaemin bought tokens, courtesy of him of course because you forgot your wallet. He dragged you to the basketball game first.

"Let's battle!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah why n--"

"--you're ready to lose?" you said while grinning.

"Oh, it's on!"

"The loser will buy pizza!"

You and Jaemin went to every multiplayer game and tallied your scores who won on that particular game.

"Guess I'm buying you pizza before going home?" Jaemin asked when the two of you went out of the arcade.

"Of course, told you-you're gonna lose," you smirked.

"Well, lead the way miss y/n," he said and made a gesture with his hand. 

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

You and Jaemin became close months after.

When you want to do something, go out or go to the library to study and Yeri is not available or busy, you text Jaemin. You two are always hanging out with each other's houses.

You're now waiting for Jaemin outside of the movie theater. It’ s Saturday so he asked you to hangout with him.

You [4:00 PM]: Wer r u? >:( Jaemin [1:03 PM]: omw, sorry :<

You sighed because you knew this would happen. Jaemin always wakes up late because of video games.

You smiled because you realized how you have gotten closer with Jaemin. Before, you two are just acquaintances. Now, he's like your second best friend. You thought of his mannerisms, his smile that makes your day, his deep laugh, his eyes that stared at your own pair whenever you two make a bet or debate about something.

Your phone buzzed again. You opened it expecting it was Jaemin, no it's Yeri. You're going to read Yeri's message, but Jaemin is calling you.

"Where are you?"

"I'm sorry! I'm walk--no running to get there on time, I'm buying fries to make it up to you."

"You better!" 

You suddenly had the urge to pee, so you went to the restroom. When you got out, you heard someone---a boy said Yeri's name.

"She's not even that pretty, She's the one who's pursuing me HAHAHAHA!"

"Dude, that girl is head over heels for you."

"Yes, she even tried to kiss me, who am I to refuse?"

"Then you dumped her the next day because you said she's boring. You're kinda cruel, man." 

The group of boys continued laughing, you couldn't resist yourself and punched the guy in the face.

"You boys are disgusting!"

"Who the hell are you?" he asked while holding his jaw.

"Dude, I think she's a friend of Yeri's," his friend whispered.

"Oh, that boring girl who likes me?" you punched him again at his comment.

"Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'm not going to hurt you," he smirked and raised his arm but someone punched him first, and it's not you or his friends, it was Jaemin.

"Sorry I'm late, let's ditch this movie," he smiled and dragged you out of the scene. 

You went to the playground with Jaemin, you're both currently sitting on the swing set. It's already 5:30 PM and neither of you are speaking about what happened earlier. Jaemin doesn't like this, he doesn't like it when you're quiet and thinking about things that are making you sad.

"Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?" he tried to broke the silence.

"Can I say something....for like a second? Do you know the real reason why I don't want to have feelings with anybody?" you blurted out, having the urge to vent out suddenly.

"Yes, you said they make you want to spill your guts out."

"That's not just it, I hate the feeling of getting hurt. They will feed you beautiful lies, kiss you and then they will forget you because they found someone new," you said, and then looked down. 

"I really want to experience these things but, I can't bear the thought of someone leaving me for another. I don't want to experience this pain again. Just like what my father did," you said and looked at Jaemin, who is already looking at you.

You remembered the day your father left you and your mom for another family. You're 10 years old and just got home from school when you heard your mom and dad fighting in the kitchen, you faced them. When they saw you, they stopped but told you to go to your room.

Later that night, you were woken up by the banging of the door. You went outside to your room and saw your mother standing while crying in the living room, you saw your father already on the front door leaving. You called him and turned to you.

"Don't leave us, please. You and mom can fix this," you cried while hugging him.

"I'm sorry y/n, we can't," he broke the hug to take a look at you.

"Remember this, I love you both okay? I love you and your mom."

"If you love us then, why are you leaving?"

"I don't want to hurt your mother anymore. Give her the love I didn't give, take care of her," you father whispered while rubbing your tears away.

Then he stood up, went out and closed the door.

You told Jaemin about what happened, and how a year later you found your dad in a mall with another woman, holding a child.

"This is why I don't want to catch feelings for a person because, in the end, they'll fall out and will not catch you."

"Hey, not all men are the same," Jaemin said looking into your eyes, you didn't respond and just looked at your feet again.

"I will never do that to you. I will never hurt you," Jaemin whispered.

"What did you say?" you looked at Jaemin, shocked because of what he said.

You clearly heard him. You just don't know what or how to respond.

"Nothing," he shrugged. Once again, silence consumed the both of you.

Until both of you spoked at the same time but being the gentleman he was, he let you speak first.

"I want to go home, I'm worried about Yeri."

"I'll walk you home," Jaemin stood up and held out his hand for you. You took it even though you still feel the awkwardness earlier.

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

It's Sunday night, you and Yeri are having a sleepover.

"Are you sure your fine?" you asked her.

"For the nth time, I'm fine, he's not worth my tears anyway," he said and popped a chip in her mouth.

You're watching some horror film in your living room. You thought this sleepover because of Yeri, because of what that guy did to her but instead, you're the one who needs some advice.

"What's the deal between you and Jaemin?" she blurted out, making you jump because of his name.

"Uhh, we're fine? I guess?" you said and scrolled tweets on your phone.

"Y/n you're not telling me something. What did I miss between the two of you?"

"Nothing! We're just friends!" you said defensively.

"I know your lying," she smirked.

You gave up and told her the events that happened yesterday.

"Well, do you like him?" she raised her eyebrow.

"No? As I said, we're just friends."

"Well, in that case, you don't mind if he will have a crush on other people at school? or if I will have a crush on him?"

"N-no!"

"Think of a thing you've always wanted to do."

"Then?" this time, you're the one who raised an eyebrow.

"Then think of a person who you wanted to accompany you in doing that thing," Yeri said and smirked at your reaction.

"You smiled, I know you thought of Jaemin first before me," she pointed at your face.

"No I DID NOT!" yes, yes you did.

"I'm going to sleep. Sort out your feelings. I know you're still scared of experiencing these things and thinking that men are the same but Jaemin is different and I can feel it. He likes you so much and It's very obvious. You're the only one who can't see it," Yeri patted your head and went to your room. 

You contemplated what Yeri said.

Yes, you thought of Jaemin first because he's the easy going type of person, unlike Yeri. You always want to hang out with him because his sense of humor is different. He's always making you laugh and sometimes it's the other way around. Seeing Jaemin's smile or laugh, and knowing it's because of you makes your heart flutter. He doesn't judge you at whatever you do and listens to your rants about life 24/7. He always walks you home even though his street is on the other side. He takes care of you.

Oh mY gOd DO I REALLY LIKE HI--

Your phone buzzed, it's a text from Jaemin saying he's outside your house.

You still don't want to see or talk to him because you're scared to face him. But it seems like your feet has a mind of its own and immediately walked towards the front door. You opened it and saw Jaemin, wearing a white hoodie, sweatpants, and his favorite sneakers.

"What are you doing here this late?"

"I can't sleep."

"And?"

"I've been thinking about what happened yesterday."

"Oh, Yeri's fine. She's sleeping in my ro--"

"No, the one when we're on the playground. About what I said. I really REALLY like you y/n. You're smart, and beautif--"

"I am smart but I AM NOT BEAUTIFUL" you really can't take compliments.

"Please let me finish first," Jaemin sighs.

"Riiiight, sorry."

"I know you're scared of these crushes and catching feelings stuff but I can't control mine. I really like you and I tried to change your point of view about it so I am trying to pursue you that is why I asked you what if there's a person and you fall for that person, and I tried to be that person so I'm always asking you to hang out with me or spend time with me but you still won't budge. I know you don't like me and you will never like me bu--" Jaemin is now fumbling with his words so you cut him.

"I hate to say this but,,,, I like you too? I guess?" there you finally said it.

"What?" Jaemin's eyes widened, slowly he's smiling.

"Uhhhh, what do people call it? Uhm,,, I have a crush on you gOSH this is so embarrassing!" you said and covered your face with your hands. Jaemin removed your hands and squished your cheeks.

"You're cute when you get embarrassed," Jaemin laughed you punched him playfully.  

"Shut up! I hate you!"

"No, you said it yourself, you like me," Jaemin smiled widely. That soft smile that made you fell for him.

________________________________________________________________

[worksinprogress1]

It was a few days later that Michael finally persuaded William to let him see Circus Baby and take her picture. The very same evening, he brought it to Elizabeth. With any luck, this would help patch things up.

Michael gently knocked on Liz’s bedroom door. “Hey. I got your photo,” he said gently. “Can I come in?”

Elizabeth had been putting on make-up at the time- Circus Baby makeup. Her little phase had been coming back with a vengeance. She ran over to the door and flung it open. “Yeah, lemme see her!” she squealed. 

Michael revealed the picture. Circus Baby looked... well... finished. William had given her a more cohesive colour scheme than Liz had way back when- red and white instead of having all kinds of gaudy oranges and pinks- but otherwise, it looked just like Liz’s design.

“Wow. She’s perfect! And she looks almost done! Did Dad say when she’d be ready?”

“‘Fraid not. After Fazbear’s Family Diner shut down, Dad really needed to focus on getting his other restaurants up and running, so the line of rental robots Baby is a part of kinda fell to the wayside. But Dad didn’t abandon her. She’s just on the back burner right now. Speaking of which, can I, uh, say something here?”

Liz looked up to her brother. “Of course.”

“So, Dad actually told me why he’s paying so much attention to me. Basically, he thinks I need the guidance to learn how to handle aggression and whatnot. It probably is about the Bite, to be honest. But it’s not that you’re not important to him. He just wants to make sure that I turn out like him instead of, like, a murderer or something.”

That made Elizabeth laugh. “Well, if that’s what it takes. Okay. You can have Dad since you need him so badly.”

Nailed it, Michael thought. Dad’s charm was rubbing off on him. And judging by Elizabeth’s smile, he’d just made her okay with this.

---

The only thing William loved more than a murder was an well-planned pack of them, and that was what he was about to commit.

First, he needed victims, and his victims of choice were lower-class older children. They had to be lower-class and older, because the plan hinged on a lack of helicopter parenting. Having any parents decide to dwell at the event because supervision was scarce would ruin his chances entirely. Plus, if he accidentally killed the kid of someone important, the police would be doing a much more vigorous search. It was better this way.

Five tickets in his pockets, William took a walk into a lower-class neighbourhood. He wasn’t exactly in disguise, but he’d ditched his usual purple suit in favour of more casual clothes and had mussed up his hair a bit so not to be instantly recognized. It wasn’t long before he spotted a group of four kids- three boys and a girl, all roughly eight or nine- playing king of the hill on an empty, overgrown lot. The girl was winning until one of the boys pulled her down by her braids.

Perfect. But how to get their attention without scaring them away?

“Hey, kids!” he called, trying to sound friendly. The kids stopped. The girl whispered something to the smallest boy, and they started to run off.

“Woah, wait! Little girl, you’ve won a draw. I just came to deliver the prizes.”

The girl stopped running away and approached William. “What’s the prize, mister?” she asked. The boys watched intently, as though they were her back up.

William whipped out the tickets. “You’ve won a free party at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. There will be cake, pizza, free arcade tokens, and an animatronic band. Just show up on Sunday at 10:30 pm with four of your friends.”

The little girl smiled and snatched the tickets out of William’s hands, not bothering to thank him. The other boys were on her quickly, begging for a ticket. William’s work was done.

The next person he’d have to work over was his hapless employee. His name was Bailey, and he was 17, naive and eager to please, so when William asked him to cover a party with five kids all on his own, he was fairly quick to agree.

“Sorry to make you do it on your own, but we’re usually closed on Sunday mornings and I couldn’t get anyone else to come in on short notice. You know the drill: get the animatronics onto the stage, put on the SpringBonnie suit, give the kids forty tokens each, make sure they don’t kill each other for two hours, then serve the food. Oh, and if something goes wrong- an unfamiliar alarm goes off or something- I’ll be at the theatre right across the street, seeing a movie with my son. Got it?”

“Got it.”

And just like that, William’s plan was in motion. What the employee didn’t know was that an unfamiliar alarm was going to go off. And a minute afterwards, the security cameras were going to shut off, making it look as though Bailey had tampered with them.

Sunday rolled around, and pretty soon William was watching the opening scenes of some movie and resisting the urge to look at his watch. It would happen any minute now.

Bailey rushed in and ran to William. “An alarm is going off. It’s not the fire alarm, it’s a different one. I don’t know what to do.”

“It could be the natural gas alarm. Go home- you’ve probably inhaled too much of it already. I’ll get the kids out and call their parents.”

William went over, coming in the back way and slashing the line to the security camera as he went. And with that, William was alone in the pizzeria. Ignoring the worried chatter of the children, he ducked into his office and checked the security tape to make sure that Bailey had left quickly enough to look like he’d been the one to cut the cord. Everything was according to plan.

William slipped on a hairnet and gloves that he’d planted in his office before slipping into the SpringBonnie costume- there was no need to leave any hair or fingerprints in it, especially when they might already have some of Bailey’s.

Stepping into the party room, William noted that the children looked scared- why shouldn’t they be? An alarm was going off and no one had told them what to do. He also noted that in addition to the four kids from before, there was a very put-together little girl wearing a very new-looking dress. Hopefully she wasn’t the child of anyone important. One tries to pick and choose, but sometimes, life has other ideas...

“Follow me,” William ordered, as though he were about to bring the kids to safety. They did follow- nothing made children obey like the illusion that they were in danger. They followed him right into the back room- a place they would not leave with their lives. 

When William was done, he shed the bloody SpringBonnie costume and left it at the site of the crime. His street clothes were still spotless.

Stepping back into the public eye had to be William’s least favourite part of a murder. At least he’d had time and privacy this time around, to laugh, and smile, and really savour the act. Last time he’d had no time at all. But now, with his heart still racing and his spirit still ablaze, he had to suppress a mad grin as he rejoined Michael at the movies. 

The movie was most of the way through when William joined back up with Michael.

“Sorry about that,” William said, keeping his voice calm.

“S’kay,”

“Keep the ticket stubs. I’ll tell you why later.”

It probably wouldn’t be necessary. William knew that the police would look at everything and think that Bailey had shut off the security cameras. They might find his hair in the Springbonnie suit that he’d been recorded wearing and that was now covered in children’s blood. But Bailey might try to incriminate him, so it couldn’t hurt to have an alibi. Plus, it could be a good test for Michael

---

“Daddy, can I go see Circus Baby?”

“No, honey. Her safety features aren’t done yet. It could be dangerous.”

“What if I stay really far away from her the entire time?” Her voice was getting higher and more girlish- a trick that had worked for manipulating William back before the Bite.

“No. She and the other rentals will be in commercial use in a year or so. You’ll see her then.”

“But she’s so beautiful already!”

“Elizabeth, shut up.” William turned to Michael. “Hey. After supper, we need to talk about the ticket stubs. Alright?”

“Got it,” Michael replied. The two of them met in the basement right afterwards, William locking the door behind them.

“Alright. So. When I went over to the pizzeria today, the kids that were at a party there were missing. If the police find out that I was in the building, I’m going to be one of the prime suspects for their disappearance. So. If the police show up at our door, and they most likely will, here’s what you need to tell the police: I was never at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. No one came to get me. I was in the theatre the entire time with you, and then we went home. Got it?”

Michael looked bewildered. “You want me to lie to the police?”

“You’re just making their jobs easier. The less time they waste on me, the sooner they’ll catch the real culprit. It’s just speeding things along, guaranteeing the proper outcome, like me with your mother. It’s the right thing to do.”

At the mention of his mother, Michael’s face hardened into determination. William was presenting him with an opportunity to repay that favour and prove himself strong. “Got it.”

“Good boy. I promise that they won’t catch you lying. And if they do, I’ll pay your bail.”

The two of them practised an interrogation a couple times. A few days later, the police did come, and Michael did lie to them. It had been easy. They had no reason not to believe every word he said.

---

Liz had been watching The Immortal and Restless when Michael came in the next day.

“Hey. Dad’s not going to be home tonight,” Michael said, hoping she wouldn’t ask about it. It wasn’t terribly uncommon for William to work late, or to stay out late at various bars.

Liz turned off the television and turned to him. “Why?” she demanded, accusation in her eyes.

“Hey, chill out. I don’t know.” Michael did know. He was supposed to meet his dad at the warehouse that night, but when he got there, there was no sign of William and his coworkers told Michael that the police had come in and arrested him earlier that day. Truthfully, it was freaking Michael out, but he couldn’t show that. Hopefully, he was just there for questioning and would be out by the following night.

“I heard what Dad was telling you about lying to the police.”

“You eavesdropped on us?!”

“That’s not the point! Something is going on, and I want to know what it is. Tell me.”

“No. And it’s not why dad is coming home late anyhow. He’s going to a football game with some friends.”

“Really? Because a minute ago you didn’t know when he was coming home.”

“Okay, it is about that. But I can’t tell you much about it. I’m sorry.”

“You were talking about Mom, too. What did Dad do to her?”

Michael took a deep breath. “He made sure that Mom wouldn’t be able to hurt us anymore. That’s all you need to know.”

“Will Dad tell me what’s going on when I’m older?”

“Yes,” Michael lied.

“I know when you’re lying, Mike!”

“Alright. Truth is that he probably won’t. He just doesn’t want to worry you with things you can’t handle. Do you want to stay up together? I bet he’ll be back sometime tonight.”

“Sure,” Elizabeth said.

They made popcorn and played games together until it was the early morning hours and Elizabeth had nodded off. There was still no sign of William.

The next day was Friday. William still wasn’t home by the time Elizabeth and Michael were home from school.

“I have plans with friends tonight,” Michael explained. “If he’s not home by the time I’m back tomorrow, let’s go to the police about this. Hopefully they’ll have answers, one way or another.”

“Sounds good. I plans tonight, too. Can you give me a ride?”

“I’m heading out at nine. I’ll drop you off on my way.”

And so he did, letting Elizabeth guide him to her friend Luanne’s house. With both of them worried and preoccupied, it was a silent ride. “This the place?” Michael asked.

“Yeah,” Liz said, gathering up her overnight bag to head out.

“Hey,” Michael said, catching her attention for long enough to give her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

“Thanks,” Liz replied. And then she was off.

It wasn’t until the early morning hours that Michael, tipsy and sleep-deprived, finally got home and dragged himself to bed. It wasn’t much later- maybe a couple hours- when he felt himself being gently shaken awake. Michael slowly gained awareness of a large man sitting on the edge of his bed. Slowly, he pulled himself up.

“Dad?”

“Hey, Mike. I hope I didn’t worry you too much. The police brought me in for questioning. It was brutal, but it’s over now. They figured out who did it. Plus, they told me all about what you told them. Thank you. Next time we’re at work together, there’s a whole lot that I have to show you now that you’ve proven yourself ready.”

Michael’s mind was working rather slowly, but he understood one thing. “God, I’m glad you’re okay.”

William smiled. “Me, too.”

“You should call Liz- she was really worried. She’s sleeping over at Luanne’s.”

“Got it,” William said, leaving Michael to sleep.

[banamine-blog]

Invention

Expressions are funny.  Obviously.  Demetri Martin has proved as much.  I wonder about the phrase “Reinvent the wheel”.  FIrstly, I formally object to the term “reinvent”.  I believe that this word is nonsensical.  You cannot invent something again.  Once it is invented, it has been invented.  Same with rediscover.  You just can’t do that twice.  These subtle inaccuracies are important to those of us that choose to focus on irrelevant things.  I guess decide if this applies to you.  Also, I question the convention of using the wheel in this phrase.  Why is the wheel considered mankind’s best invention?  Clearly it was important, but clearly not the most important.  

Just a quick though, how about snacks?  They are a universally beloved invention.  Do you realize what people did before snacks were invented?  They would sit around between meals waiting for the next meal.  Lots of them apparently would sit at their dining table, usually the unemployed or people dishonestly taking a sick day, as research suggests that this is the demographic most affected by the invention of snacks, anyway they would sit at the table, usually waring an adult bib with a slogan like “where’s the beef?” or “my other bib is my bare chest”, with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, held vertically and resting on the table, watching the clock until it was time to eat again.  They did not want to miss it, for if they did, they would have to wait until the next one, because there was no such thing as snacks.

While some people took it upon themselves to take all the measures necessary to ensure they never missed a meal, others would get caught up in their work and forget to eat or pack only a small lunch for work or forget their lunch altogether.  They would sit at their desk, stomach rumbling, palms sweating, trying to steady their jittery body until it was time to eat again.  Inevitably a coworker would happen by, witness their current predicament, and slap them clear across the cheek.  “Get a hold of yourself, man!  You know we don’t have snacks!  Just focus on your work and get home safely before it’s time for dinner.  You’ll eat again soon.  I promise.”  People talk about withdrawal these days but few knew what it’s like to suffer withdrawal from basic nutrition.  People would think, “Man, I only ate a salad for lunch an hour ago and I’m hungry again.  But it won’t be time for dinner for hours.  I wish there as something I could do.”  Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do.  

Can you imagine when snacks were invented?  What a life-changing event for everyone alive at that particular time period (per various sources, around 400 B.C.).  People could eat when they wanted.  They could eat what they wanted.  No longer was life lived in the meticulously managed time periods in between meals.  This was a renaissance.  Then came vending machines, which to this day remain a revolutionary concept, as well as mixed nuts, blow pops, and soda cans.  We really gained our freedom when we invented snacks.  We could make drives longer than 4 hours without fear that we would go hungry.  We could filibuster.  We could sleep in.  We could watch long foreign films in their entirety.  

I really don’t know of any modern day invention that even comes close.  People bring up the smart phone, but really nothing you receive through text message or by pedometer is actually relevant.  Someone once said that if smart phones had been invented earlier, 95% of the plot lines in Seinfeld would not have occurred.  I think it’s true, and it’s a little sad too.  In a similar occurrence from my own life, I remember one time I went over Joe Macci’s house for his birthday party.  I didn’t like him that much, he was generally a grump and not fun to be around, but when you’re a kid and a classmate invites you over for a party, at the very least you’re looking at cake, activities, and a looty bag.  I remember I went to Joey Bartozzi’s birthday party once and there were no looty bags!  I think it was a sign that we were growing up.  But at the time it just seemed ludicrous.  I remember we had cake, played touch football outside, and ended the day watching a movie.  Then, one by one our parents showed up to pick us up.  The first kid to go didn’t receive any party favors, I know because we were all watching to see what they would be.  That’s when we got worried, but I thought, “Maybe that kid had to leave early and they hadn’t gotten the looty bags ready yet.”  But then other kids were picked up and also received nothing.  I was one of the last to leave, and because I was one of Joey’s closer friends I thought that maybe they were only giving the bags to his close friends.  I got up, said goodbye and thank you, wished Joey a happy birthday one last time, and ran to the car trying to hide my tears.  It was awful.  

Later that year, Kiran, my best friend, had a party at Milford Amusement.  We played arcade games, ate cake and fries.  Again, no looty bags!  Kiran and his mom did address this growing controversy, at the very least.  They said that we received extra tokens in place of looty bags.   Af course there was absolutely no way to verify this proclamation.  Kiran said something like, “It’s better than a goody bag, you get to play more games instead of going home with stupid toys you won’t even use.  Would you rather get a pencil in a little bag?”  Yes, I want the fucking pencil!  Geez, these people were crazy.  And so self-righteous.  

 Anyway, I went to Joe Macci’s party and I skipped a little league game to go, I remember that was a dilemma a bunch of us discussed earlier that week, but I decided to go to the party.  My mom dropped me off and I walked up the walkway to his house, dressed in my party shirt and holding a neatly wrapped gift.  I didn’t see anyone else getting dropped off, but whatever, maybe they were all running late.  I rang the doorbell and no one answered.  I thought this was weird, because Joe’s mom worked at our school and she always wore pantsuits and looked professional, so I assumed she would be running a tight ship at home and enforcing prompt doorbell door answer.  Joe finally opened the door himself, dressed in a matching maroon sweat suit.   This was my first clue that something was askew, as it seemed like a strange birthday outfit.  I wished him happy birthday and he looked at me odd.  We both stood there for a second, me, wondering why he wasn’t inviting me in to the party, and Joe, just staring at me for some reason.  He told me to hang on and went inside for a minute and I continued to stand there in my party outfit, starting to get worried.  Then he came back and said that his party was cancelled, I guess he had gone in to double check with his mom, as if he wasn’t sure now that I had shown up.  I asked him why he hadn’t told me earlier, and he said that he thought I told him on the phone that I couldn’t come.  I said no, I told him that I could come.  We stood there for another few seconds, then I turned around and went back to the car.  No, I didn’t give him the present anyway.  My mom asked if I wanted her to drop me off at the baseball game after all.  “I can’t go in my party shirt,” I told her.  We went straight home.

[kenbinru]

I Can’t Believe I Have the Girlfriend of My Dreams (An Unromantic Love Comedy LN) Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

           I let out a big yawn as I hear my old Masked Avenger clock ring.

Just five more minutes…as I decide to go back to sleep.

My eyes are still heavy and the sunlight coming in from the windows are hitting my face.

Where did that pillow go?

I try to find a pillow to cover my head but no avail. Strangely, I hear the alarm clock, but also some shallow snoring noises. But my dad isn’t home right now.

It’s not me right?

Weirdly, I smell something pretty too. Almost like strawberries or something, but I don’t remember eating any strawberry candy and leaving the wrappers around. Must be a side effect of the accident or something, but the smell and breathing seems like it coming from something right next to me. I turn to my left side and I oddly recognize that long black hair. It looks like a person but I can’t make out too well with my eyes half open.

Huh, looks like Yuki-san is in my bed.

Wait.

“EHHHHHHHHHH?” I screamed in disbelief.

         I jumped out of the bed immediately.

Oh thank goodness I have my pajama pants on.

I rub my eyes once more to make sure what I’m seeing is real, but there’s a girl in my tiny bed.

“Hey…I’m still trying to sleep after last night…” let out the mysterious being.

“Ge..get out of my bed you…you strange person!”

I hoped my words would get a reaction from this mysterious being but it did nothing. The silhouette of the person rose up and the sunlight revealed its identity. There she was. The school’s Ice Witch. It was no one other than Akane Yuki, in the flesh, in my bed, wearing my school’s uniform white dress shirt. Her long black hair flowing down her shoulders, her fair skin, all wrapped in a bow with her doll-like hazel eyes. My white dress shirt fit her perfectly showing all the curves of her body almost like an extension of herself, with the sunlight behind her looking like an angel that just fell from heaven.

“Why are you being so mean to your girlfriend after all we did last night?” as she pouted.

What.

Did.

We.

Do.

Last.

Night?

“WHATTTTTTT???”

Did I do something lewd with her last night? Not that I don’t mind!

I honestly don’t remember much besides it being my first day back, but I definitely would remember if Yuki-san came to my house even if I had a brain injury!

“Why are you being so loud Kazuki-kun? All we did was study all night.” she said confused.

Study? What does she mean by study?

I know couples around my school that say they’re “studying” but I see them going to love hotels on the bike way home.

“STUDY? You mean that we uh…” I can’t even finish the sentence from shock and embarrassment.

The blood is rushing from downstairs to the rest of my body.

“You mean what?” as this imposter Yuki-san rubbed her eyes some more.

Until it hit her like a brick.

Her pale skin really contrasts when the blush comes in.

“You..you pervert!” and she threw a pillow at my face.

Headshot.

“All... all we did was go over some math and English you pervert! There’s no way I would do “that” with you . At least…” she mumbled off.

“Put… put some pants on first!” as I throw my spare sweats at this very convincing imposter.

Alright. I need to know what’s going on.

Obviously this must be some elaborate prank. Maybe Daisuke is blackmailing Yuki-san and ordered her to play a trick on me.

That punk! He’s gone too far this time!

Or maybe it was Dr. Mori, after all, she’s the most logical choice with all the power she has! There’s no way there is Akane Yuki sitting across from me right now, in my room, on my floor, wearing my clothes. My train of thought was cut off when she started talking.

“Uh… are you ok Kazuki? I’m starting to get worried about you idiot.”

“What?” as I try to snap out of my dazed and confused state.

“IDIOT! Listen for once!” as she started pouting some more.

I got to admit, it’s pretty adorable when this Yuki-san imposter does that. It was a different side from the usual cold stare. I snap from my malaise and start to ask questions.

“Who are you and why do you look like Akane Yuki from my class?”

The imposter looked at me confused, like I was the one that was being weird.

“What? I’m your girlfriend dummy. Of course I look like Akane Yuki because I AM her idiot.”

I extended my hand towards her slowly intended to touch her to see if she’s real, but she leans back and stretches. I feel something soft and warm.

“Hey…HEY!” as she slaps my hand away.

“KAZUKI!” as she pouts even more while trying to stop blushing.

“I don’t know what’s your deal right now Kazuki, but we need to stop fooling around! Today’s the date you promised me.”

I look at my calendar. It’s our day off. I have a date with this Yuki-san imposter.

What is happening?!?!

I head to our living room, and there was my alleged girlfriend the imposter Yuki-san making breakfast along with my mother. Imposter Yuki-san is wearing my apron, and even though it’s old and hero-themed, she could wear anything and make it look amazing.

I’m thinking too much.

Observing from the dining table, it seems my mother is fond of this fake. The imposter Yuki-san is holding her own, with her skills impressing my mother.

“Dig in!” as the imposter Yuki-san handed me a plate of omelet rice with ketchup in the shape of a heart and our initials.

There’s no way I’ll eat this, it might be poisoned!

“Kazuki!” my mother says to me while brandishing a butter knife. I’ll reluctantly take a bite; if it is poisoned I’ll spit it out. My mother will protect me. My spoon is shaking as I take a spoonful of the omelet. I see imposter Yuki-san patiently awaiting my reaction.

“Did…did you like it?”

As the food hits my taste buds, it becomes the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. Sorry mother’s secret ramen recipe, but this has become my new favorite dish.

“It’s…it’s delicious!”

I eat more and more, with each bite more flavorful than the last. I hear a sigh of relief from imposter Yuki-san. There’s still an elephant in the room though.

How could mother be ok with a maiden like Yuki-san staying over, and especially sleeping in my room?!?

“Uh…can someone tell me why though is Yuki-san staying here with us?” I nonchalantly say.

Both of the women in this household looked at me like they weren’t sure if they heard me correctly.

“Kazuki, Akane is living with us. Don’t you remember? She lives alone and it’s not safe for a fair maiden like her to live by herself!” Yuki-san started blushing.

“Oh mother, I can take care of myself, and as long as I’m with Kazuki-kun I’ll be alright!” The two seem like they were already best friends.

We start to head off to our date at the amusement park. I tried my best to get out of it, but mother smiles as she tells us to have fun today. She whispered something to imposter Yuki-san, but I couldn’t make out what those two were planning. Imposter Yuki-san was dragging me the whole way, and I would’ve gotten lost easily. When we finally arrive at the amusement park, it was packed with kids and other couples.

I still can’t believe I’m with Yuki-san at an amusement park.

“C’mon, I want to ride the rollercoasters!”

I never would have thought she was the type to ride scary rides like that. I stay cautious of this fake’s intentions!

Suddenly Yuki-san grabs my hand.

“What are you a baby Kazuki?” as she sticks her pink tongue out.

She’s nothing like the Yuki-san I know…

We approach our first ride, fittingly called The Perilous Plunge.

Just my luck…

Yuki-san eyes lit up like a kid seeing candy.

“Let’s go!”

I nearly throw up from the ride, and it was one of the rides that had cameras to see people’s reactions. Looking at mine, I was screaming for dear life. I’m shaken from all the thrill rides and nearly pass out, but we go from ride to ride, riding almost every single ride in the park.

We head to the arcade as a break from the thrill rides. I wasn’t sure if I could hold down the breakfast any longer. Walking through the arcade I could see the newest and latest games occupied by kids and other couples. I tried looking for a light gun game but there weren’t any available machines. Instead I notice Yuki-san disappeared from my sight.

Where did she go?!?

I look into the corner of my eye and notice that she was standing in front of one of the crane games. If you want to know a secret from a pro, those games were all rigged. It would either be a money sink or sheer luck. Based on what’s happening right now, I’m not sure if I’m the luckiest person alive, or living a cruel joke. But Yuki-san was looking at the cute stuffed cat doll. She put in a token and had a look of determination to get it. Of course, she lined it up perfectly to one of the cat dolls, but the claw barely picked up the doll. Yuki-san looked at me with her puppy dog eyes, the kind that tugged at your heart strings.

Ah fine alright I’ll do it.

She wanted me to win her that stuffed animal from the claw machine.

“It’s impossible though Kazuki!”

It was an opportunity to redeem myself from all the screaming from the rollercoasters. Although I was cautious of this fake Yuki-san, a part of me couldn’t resist trying to be the hero, even if it was getting a cat doll.

“Watch this.”

I line up the claw perfectly on the cat doll that was the easiest to get. The trick is you want to get for ones that are close to the edge, and preferably for big round objects, you want to go for something the claw could hook onto, such as the body. Yuki-san was holding my arm beside me, locked in anticipation that I might actually achieve what she thought was impossible. The timer was slowly counted down to zero, and the claw slowly descended on the cat doll.

C’mon! Please get it!

The claw descended on the cat doll, and then it swung leftwards, missing the whole cat doll.

Damn it! I’m sorry Yuki-san.

But as the claw slowly ascended to the top, it managed to snag the tag. I couldn’t believe it, and neither did Yuki-san. We both realized how much of a small miracle we had just witnessed. Our astonishment is broken when Yuki-san surprises me with a hug from behind. I feel her chest pressing on my back.

“I knew you could do it!”  

I try to compose myself and reach down to the small door to retrieve the prize. If anything, it was all those hours at the arcade with Daisuke is paying off. There’s nothing like a feeling you get from seeing a smile from a girl you’ve had a crush on for the past year. This is the best thing that’s happened after the accident and the incident.

Maybe this isn’t a dream, and this is the real Akane Yuki.

It was getting late towards the afternoon, and we had one ride left to go according to the park map. It was the Ferris Wheel.

“Let’s go Yuki-san, we have time for one last ride.”

However, Yuki-san wasn’t as adamant as she was with the thrill rides.

“Uh…it’s getting late, let’s skip this one and head on home.” says Yuki-san nervously.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The cool, calm, and collected Akane Yuki was afraid of the most peaceful ride in the whole park.

I just have to tease her once.

“C’mon, what are you scared? How can you go on those thrill rides but feel afraid of this?” I tease Yuki-san.

“I’m not afraid! Fine! We’ll finish the date with this ride.”

It was nearly closing time for the park, and we were the last two people on the ride. The ride operator made a last call for us, and he gave me a thumbs up when Yuki-san was mumbling words of encouragement to herself and hugging the cat doll tightly behind me.

         The Ferris Wheel ride lets you see the entire park from the view. We spent the entire day here, and I’m not sure what to think of it. Nothing but questions started going through my head.

Is this real?

Is Akane Yuki really my girlfriend?

This can’t be a dream.

All the questions were put aside when Yuki-san sitting across from me asked a question.

“Did you have fun today?” she meekly says.

Inside I think yes but I didn’t have the courage to say it out loud. I muster up my guts and say:

“Yes. It was the most fun day of my life so far!”

I let out a sign of relief. Yuki-san is still sitting across from me with a big smile, with her fear of the Ferris Wheel overpowered by my reply.

“Uh…since we’re a couple, why are you sitting across from me dummy!”

That’s true, if we were a couple we should be sitting together.  

Yuki-san stands up to try to move over to my side, but she stumbles and falls into me, with her arms holding the handlebars behind me. Her face is close enough to me that I can feel her warm breath.

This is the scene where the couple kisses just like in the movies. The day has finally come Kazuki! Alright don’t mess this up, but I’ve never kissed a girl before!

Immediately I feel the warm lips of Yuki-san pressed upon mine. Her initiative took me by surprise. If time could freeze at this exact moment, I wouldn’t mind. I feel our hearts racing together, and for a second, I feel at ease, with all the worries of my life gone in an instant.

So this is what it feels like.

Our moment ends, when Yuki-san lets go and falls next to me with my arm rested behind her. We didn’t talk for the rest of the ride; we didn’t need to. We saw the sunset from the view, just the two of us.    

          We came home pretty late, but we managed to make one of the last trains. I’m really tired and exhausted from amusement park today. The first thing Yuki-san did when we arrived at my place was help my mother start preparing dinner. It was hamburger steak, one of my favorite dishes. Usually I would be the one beside my mother making the hamburger patties, but the two women forbade me from helping out.

I can at least set the table.

Like the omelet earlier this morning, this was the best hamburger steak I’ve ever had. Yuki-san patted herself on her back for the effort. I can’t wait to call it a day.

“Kazuki?”

“What is it Yuki-san?”

I can sense that something was troubling Yuki-san. Even spending an entire day at the amusement park didn’t really tire us out. We were still both lying in bed together, and for some reason both of us couldn’t sleep yet. This is the same ceiling I’ve known forever as I notice the small dent I made in the panel when I was kid.

“Why did you call me Yuki-san the whole day? We’re a couple now so there’s no need to be formal right?”

She had a point.

Couples and close friends are on a first name basis aren’t they?

“It’s because this seems so strange to me.” I tell her truthfully.

Yuki-san was confused and turned her head to look at me. Yuki-san’s eyes make contact with mine, and my heart flutters when I see that her eyes are showing one feeling – concern.

“It’s because yesterday you and I barely talked like ever. After the incident I never thought this would be possible.”

Yuki-san paused for a moment to compose her thoughts. She rolls over to be on top of me.

Calm down Kazuki!

“Face it Kazuki, you and I are together. This has been one of the happiest times of my life, and I lov…” until she stopped herself turning her face bright red in this dark room. She rolls back to her previous position.

“I mean, I’ll like it if you would call me by my first name… please?”

She turns her head and we lock eyes. With that smile, she could have had anyone in the palm of her hand, but yet here she was. She was with me, and I with her.

“I’m sorry Akane, maybe I’m just feeling tired from today. Good night Akane.” As I tried to get back to sleep.

“Good night Kazuki…” as I feel her soft lips against my left cheek.

“Sweet dreams.”

[pen-masta]

Peace and Coffee Part 3

Part 3 so close to completion one more left!

Briefly PG-13

1 2 3 4(Complete)

His plan to distract himself was not as easy as he had thought. His mind would wander during the day, reveries of their embrace playing through his thoughts. The inappropriate desires of his early adolescent years coming back with a vengeance. His mind was no longer a safe place to be. He focused every fiber of his being on work, on his family, his brothers, his nieces and nephews, his girlfriend anything he possible could to leave no time for ideal fantasies.

It was working. His brain buzzed with all kinds of topics and people that did not involve Joy. The only time he ever even thought about her now was Wednesday mornings. Of course he did have times when he wondered how she was doing on the other side of the world…but he didn’t let his untrustworthy mind stay there for too long.

Days were a struggle but he managed. Nights proved to be worse. At night he could monitor his thought patterns, but it was harder than it was during the day. Everyone he spoke to or spent time with during the day was asleep at night. He didn’t have that distraction. And if he dared to sleep he was doomed! His subconscious was a true Benedict Arnold!

He had finally laid to down to sleep one night and had a dream that made him never want to sleep again. It was so intense, so real, so heated. He was naked, in his bed, and was entangled with her. He was kissing her deeply. Her hands running over his heated skin, pulling at his hair. Her moans filling his ears. In his mind he imagined it was Martha, but when he had opened his eyes—he was staring at Joy.

He had shot awake instantly. Panting. Sweating. His boxers uncomfortable wet. He moaned and curled up in a ball. Not only were his own thoughts a battle zone, but now he couldn’t find any release in slumber. Gosh he has so many issues! He doubled the coffee and tripled the energy drinks to stay awake for as long as he physically could. And when he crashed he was out for about two or three hours, no more. Overwhelming incongruous dreams waking him from his rest. When he woke he left no time to reflect on his sick dreams. He immediately drowned himself in work churning out five new products within seventy-two hours. He managed to save face for the video chats and never talked about himself, always kept the conversation steered in the direction of her life in the Philippines. She had tried to that to him as well not trusting her words and emotions, but Castel was a headstrong, forceful, stubborn guy. He refused to answer any questions that he couldn’t answer in five words or less. The tension was back, it was underlying and neither wanted to address it—a limited video phone call not really the best form of communication to discuss such an intense matter.  

Not wanting to face the taunting occurrence, they both suffered with their inner turmoil in their own ways. Castel repressing it and not sleeping, Joy spending as much time as she could with the people of the village and her Peace Corp groupies. Eventually it all passed. The feelings, the dreams, the longing—distance will do that they each guessed. They had fallen back into familiar comfort by the time Joy had come home on break for Christmas.

She had hugged him and he held her, happy to have her home again even if it was for a short time. As he had promised he took out to dinner in exchange for her setting him up with Martha. He had taken her to a restaurant they hadn’t been to in years—Dave & Busters. The only one near them was about a two-hour drive north, but neither of them cared. The drive was spent filled with laughter and singing along with the tunes she blasts from her playlist—from rap to country to hip-hop to Disney they sang it all.

When they got to the restaurant they weren’t that hungry just yet so Castel buys a bunch of tokens for them and they play in the arcade. Joy dominates the ski ball game and does her signature victory dance as Castel glares at her in mock anger that he lost, but he truthfully doesn’t care. He’s just happy to have his best friend back. They both dance and jump around as ‘Alone’ by Marshmello plays. Some people look at them funny, but neither of them care. They play the crane game; Joy’s skilled hand directs the crane over the prize she wants. Castel leans against the machine holding it still so the crane doesn’t shake around—a trick they had learned about the crane game years ago—as Joy grabs a mad scientist looking teddy bear. They watch the crane swing around and it wobbles a little just as it reaches the prize slot.

“Wait,” Joy says watching the crane with such intensity Castel is certain the metal will spontaneously combust under her gaze. “Waaaaaait.” She says and waits until the crane shifts to the right threatening to drop her bear just before the prize slot, “Now Cassie!”

Castel pushes hard against the machine lifting it up off the ground just enough to rock the crane to the left. The crane releases and drops the bear into the prize slot. Joy squeals and takes the bear out of the slot as Castel rights the machine again.

“I can’t believe after all these years they never caught on,” Joy giggles and hugs the bear.

“Well it’s just supposed to suck your wallet dry,” Castel smiles and puts his hands in his pockets. “It always drops your prize just before the slot. It’s a scam.”

“Unless your smart like us,” she grins and winks at him.

“Very true Jo-Jo,” he smiles and nods. “Are you ready to go eat?”

“Food sounds great right about now,” she bounces on her toes. “Lead on Casanova!”

The sit down at a booth and look over the menu for a few minutes. The waiter takes their drink orders and leaves.

“What looks good?” Castel asks Joy, looking at her over his menu.

“Hhhmmm,” she hums chewing her bottom lip. “How about we get the sampler?”

“For an appetizer?” He asks and she laughs.

“No for our meal,” she smiles sweetly at him. “Don’t you remember we used to love having appetizer dinners?”

He blinks as the memories flood his brain. He remembers always having mozzarella balls, jelly meatballs, mini corn dogs, pizza rolls, and mini quiches for dinner some nights as kids. He smiles as the memories cause a warmth of happiness to pool in his chest.

“I do,” he nods and smiles at her. “I’m sorry Martha has gotten me into the habit of always ordering you know, an actual meal.” He closes his menu, “I forgot how much I loved having just finger foods for dinner! It sounds great!” He laughs.

She smiles brightly and closes her menu as well, “Sweetness!”

In truth he hadn’t forgotten at all, but he hadn’t had just finger foods for dinner since he started dating Martha. He had ordered the sampler for his meal on their second date and she kind of made fun of him—called him a big kid. Since then he’s always ordered a burger, or steak, or something a little more…“grown up” as Martha had put it. Joy was never like that though, she always loved doing crazy and fun things. She didn’t care if it made her look like a kid she just enjoyed herself.

Martha was actually the complete opposite of Joy. She wasn’t loud and crazy, she didn’t tell dirty jokes to make him snort and turn red. She really didn’t like the whole greased up skater boy look he had going on. “You’re a celebrity now you need to dress like it” she told him as she tossed his Optimus Prime shirt into the ‘get rid of’ pile a few weeks ago.

Joy never cared how he looked. In fact, she had bought about half of the t-shirts he owns…owned. Now his room is cleaned and organized, no trash, no crumpled pieces of paper lying everywhere. His closet is jam packed with suits, cardigans, dress shirts, sweaters, all kinds off ‘dressy clothes’ that he can’t really say he liked…but Martha was happy so he was happy.

Joy smiles and looks Castel over as he places their order for two samplers. He looks very…different. His beard has been cut into a thin, trim goatee and his sideburns are very prominent now that his hair is cut. She was really thrown when she first saw him; his curls are gone. His hair is now cut sleek and even; his bangs are spiked up a little so his forehead is bare.

No t-shirt. No flannel. No sneakers. No wrinkled jeans. Instead he sits across from her in a navy blue shiny shirt, which is tucked into black dress pants complete with a black belt. Navy blue desert boots dawn his feet and…his cologne! It’s changed! He no longer has a sweet woodsy musky scent about him. No now he smells like…well she can’t quite place it, but it’s like a bitter citrus scent—she doesn’t like it.

This is not the Cassie I left, she thinks to herself. He turns from the waiter to smile at her. His eyes. They are the only thing that connects him to the Cassie of the past. Even though he looks so unlike himself, his eyes are still as bright as she remembers. Their deep chocolate color sparkles a little in the light of the lamp above the booth. No, no this is still Cassie. It’s still him.

“So,” she smiles and rests her chin on her hands. “What’s up with the whole extreme makeover look you got going on?”

He smiles, “Hah, just figured it was time for a change.”

“Really?” She quirks a brow.

He shrugs, “Well now that the business is growing so rapidly I’m going to more interviews, press conferences, I even have a photo-shoot coming up for Time.” He smiles, “And Martha said because of that I need to look more like a business man than a scruffy adolescent.”

Ah so this her doing!

“Oh,” she says feeling something curling in the pit of her stomach.

“Yeah,” he nods and sips his unsweetened iced tea—Martha’s orders no more, sugary drinks. “Gotta look good for the press darling” her voice rings his head. He clears his throat, “Yeah new wardrobe, cleanliness, new look, new—”

“Hair cut?” She asks cutting off his rambling.

He blinks and notes the slight hostility in her voice. But he doesn’t address it, “Yeah. She ah said I needed a cleaner look. My curls made me look like a seven-yea-old!” He chuckles and shakes his head, “My curls were an unruly mess anyway,” he says and shrugs. Although he kind of says that last part more for himself than her.

She made him cut his curls!? He did not look like a seven-year-old he looked cute! So what if they were a little unruly? The bed head looked for him! Wow…what’s Martha’s deal? I didn’t peg her for a control freak…why is she trying to change him? Shouldn’t she be dating him for who he is? Isn’t that why you date someone, cause you like them? What does she see him as her project? Wow…maybe I’m not that great of a match maker…but Cassie seems alright. Maybe I’m just overthinking this.

She nods and sips her soda before clearing her throat, “So Cubs Industry is soaring high in the sky, hm?” She smiles.

He chuckles, “Yeah! I’ve got about fifteen different items on the market. I’ve got so many buyers!”

“Sounds like that big brain of yours is racking in the dough,” she teases.

“Yeah,” he chuckles. “I’m actually moving out of my parents’ house.”

“What?” She asks and her voice cracks a little, but she manages to hold her smile. “You’re moving?”

“Yeah,” he sighs a little remember the discussion he had with Martha last week.

“It’s time to grow up,” she had said to him. “No celebrity lives with their parents. And now that you’re rich you can buy your own place.”

He shakes his head and smiles, “Not far though. Just a few streets over.” He says and stirs his tea. “There’s this huge house on James’ Street. It’s really nice.” He chuckles, “It’s got like twenty rooms! I have no idea what I’m gonna do with all that space!”

Her heart tightens. “Why do you want to move Cassie? I mean nothing for nothing but you are only nineteen. It’s not bad to be living with your parents still.”

He looks down into his tea, mesmerized by the slowly melting ice cubes. “Well…Martha suggested I get my own place now that I’m a big name.” He slowly stirs his tea again with his straw, “She had gone house hunting with me. She really liked this one and I don’t mind. It’s not that far from home I can walk over for a visit if I really want to.” He shrugs, “She really likes the house.”

“So is that why you bought it?” She asks careful to not snap.

“Well no, no I liked it too.” He looks up at her and smiles, “Lots of space that I can…do something with…” He trails off.

Oh my gosh…what have I done to him! I’ve hooked him up with this controlling, man changing chick! And Cassie just wants to please her, so he’s doing everything she tells him to do. My poor sweet Cassie! What have I done?!

She chews her bottom lip. This isn’t good. This is bad. This isn’t what I wanted to happen. He’s just coming out of his shell…only to get bossed around by this chick!

“Is everything alright Cas?” She hears herself ask.

He looks a little startled by the question. His eyes are wide and almost scared, and the way he looks at her makes her heart crumble.

No everything is not ok! He yells in his head, Yeah I really like Martha. She’s funny and smart and pretty but she’s really bossy and demanding…nothing like I thought she was when I started pining for her in high school. But it’s okay, everyone has flaws…but I don’t like all the changes…and I don’t know how to tell her that! I like making her happy…no. No you don’t. You’re only focusing on Martha to smother your darker feelings for the other female in your life. You have to love Martha. She’s the safer route…and change is good. Change is alright. You’re okay. You’re okay.

Words catch in his throat as he wants to tell her everything that’s been happening. How he feels, how unhappy he is, how he’s forcing himself to be happy with Martha. But if he did that she’d ask why is he staying with her? And that’d be a flaming ball of disaster because he’d have to reveal the reason he’s trying to learn to love Martha. Because isn’t that what good boyfriends do? Learn to accept you for who you are flaws and all? Even if those flaws happen to be overwhelming controlling over his life.

No he can’t say any of that. And honestly he could just break up with Martha…but then he’d be alone again. And it took him so long to finally ask Martha out! Who knows how long it’d take to ask another girl! Not that there are any other girls that like him. Most of the women he’s had in his life thought he was too nerdy, over the top, dramatic, insane, too intense, and an overall joke. And he is really liking the fact he can say he has a girlfriend…he doesn’t want to go back to being alone.

He grins and nods, “Yeah everything’s all good Joy.”

He’s lying. She knows he is. His eyes always shift everywhere else but the person he’s speaking to whenever he lies. Maybe he thinks she hasn’t noticed it, but she has. She always does. She looks down not sure what to do. Should she pry and get him to tell her the truth? That could end in a fight if he’s stubborn. Nope scratch that. Should she leave it be and wait for him to open up? Cassie is good at ignoring issues and masking his true feelings. Waiting for him to open could take months before he’d actually break down.

She looks up at him again, she opens her mouth not sure what’s about to come out but she’s cut short when the waiter walks up with their food. They thank him and smile at each other before digging in.

He pops a mozzarella ball into his mouth and smiles at the warmth of the dough, and the gooey creamy cheese that oozes out as he chews the little ball. Wow he really missed this—more than he thought. He looks up at Joy who nibbles on a mini quesadilla, her eyes are trained on her plate. She’s in deep thought, he knows because her one hand is twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.

He smirks a little and clears his throat. She jumps slightly and looks up at him and…gosh that look. She looks really surprised, her caramel brown eyes stare up at him, her finger has stopped mid-twirl letting her hair drop against her shoulder. She holds the quesadilla in between her teeth and it hangs down covering her bottom lip. Her eyes are so wide, her cheeks are tinted pink, and she just looks so…cute.

His heart starts pounding in his chest as he stares at her. Thoughts spin through his mind rapidly. Thoughts of his fantasies, daydreams during his alone time, his R-rated dreams, their kiss…Dang it! Stop! No! Why is that still there!? It was months and months ago!

He swallows on reflects and ended up gulping down his half chewed glob of cheese and dough—he gags a little having swallowed it way too soon. He sips his tea and clear his throat as his thoughts relentlessly replay their kiss, his sex dreams, every inappropriate thought he’s ever had about Joy. He runs his hands up and down his legs trying to stop it all, but it wont. It wont stop!

She feels his tension…although she’s not sure what’s got him suddenly so worked up, but she can feel his stressing. She decides to stay quiet thinking about everything Martha has changed about her best friend in the short time she was gone. She doesn’t like it, not at all.

Martha shouldn’t want to change him. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s the sweetest kindest person she knows. He’s such a loveable dork, why would she want to form him into someone else? I would never do that. Not to anyone. Not any boyfriends. Not Cassie…wait. She pauses her thoughts and looks back at Castel—who is avoiding eye contact, still looking like he’s fighting himself.

Cassie isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my best friend, the other b word. He’s Martha’s boyfriend not yours. She practically shoves the entire mini quesadilla into her mouth as she mulls that thought over. He’s not yours. He’s Martha’s no need to get possessive…but what if he wasn’t Martha’s? Would I want him to be? Would it make things awkward? Why would it? Isn’t it better to date someone your friends with? Someone you already know; someone you already love? …do I want his relationship with Martha to not work out?? Wowie Joy when did you start getting selfish.

Her mind starts to wander as she remembers their kiss. Even after all these months it still plays in the back of mind. It haunts her dreams. Her heart starts to flutter as she remembers all to well what it all felt like. She bites her lip. Should she bring it up? Maybe not. But could he still be thinking about it? She should bring it up. They need to talk about it. She doesn’t even care what his response is but she needs to talk about it.

“Cassie,” she says and he jumps her voice startling him out his now nearly X-rated thoughts. She smiles a little, “I know it was a while ago but…can we please talk about it?” She plays with the hem of her shirt, “We’ve been drifting in and out of these awkward moments since it happened and…I don’t want it to be awkward.”

His eyes are wide and the look in his eyes—he looks like a wounded and scared animal. She chews her bottom lip. Sugar! She shouldn’t have said anything…no! No they need to talk about this no matter what happens they’ll still be friends, that much she can count on. But he looks so nervous and scared. She looks down and sighs a little.

She wants to tell him how their kiss affected her. She wants to tell him how she’s been thinking about it nonstop. She wants to tell him how much she loves him…maybe a little more than friends. She wants to tell him that it’s okay if he doesn’t feel the same, because after all he has Martha. She wants to tell him that no matter what she’ll always love him, that she will always be his friend. She wants to break through this awkwardness and tell him everything…but the scared look in his eyes is just too much for her.

If she were to open up to him anything could happen! He could say he felt the same, that he’s been thinking about it to. He could say he loves her more than just friends. There are so many happy endings to this! But there are more bad endings to this as well. He could get mad that she’s bringing it up now. He could get upset because why wouldn’t she tell him before. He could not want to break up with Martha. Would he really leave Martha for her? Does she want him to? He always gets himself so worked up over little things and it is possible if she reveals how she feels that he could panic because he just got with Martha…no, no she can’t do that him.

I’ll just let him off the hook, she thinks to herself and smiles sweetly at him. She decides to tell him what she has been practicing for months to say.

“Cassie it’s ok,” she says and he blinks a little stunned. “I just wanted to say that we can let it go alright? It’s causing so much tension between us even after all this time and…I don’t want it to be like this.” She looks down at her soda, “It was the heat of it all. We were both really emotional and we got a little caught up in it.” She smiles at him again, “It happened but it didn’t mean anything. We can let it go. You’re still my best friend and I’m still yours, I don’t want that to ever change.”

He stares at her really taken back. She has just said everything he’s been repeating in his mind. And even though he agrees with her it doesn’t change the fact that it really kind of hurts when she says ‘it didn’t mean anything’. He looks down at his tea then back at her. He smiles a little and nods.

“Alright,” he says. “I agree. It was just a mistake fueled by wild emotions.” Ouch, ok that still hurt, she thinks to herself. He pauses a moment, “I never want us to not be friends either.”

She smiles a little and nods, “So we just forget it?”

“Consider it forgotten Jo-Jo,” he smiles as he feels the tension in his chest release.

She smiles and breaths out, Good. It’s alright, as long as he’s still my friend that’s all I need. I can be happy with that. As long as he’s still here.