#hey guys guess who’s back after 9000 years | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mydarllinglover · 1 year ago

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Alone || Haunted

They had left the top of the hill, walking away back the field Natalia and Daisy patched up in.

"Why are there always so many people bothering us?" Daisy asked. "Why are there so many wars?"

"'Cause, honey, before all this, men could argue over sports, and before sports, they fought in wars. No more sports, they had to resort back to war." Natalia explained.

"Hey, this was a woman." Negan reminded. "This time."

"Yeah and it was you and the jolly green giant backing her up." She raised a brow.

Daryl had sent Daisy over to the patch of flowers, after showing her how to make a daisy chain, giving her something to do.

The two men sat on opposites sides of the log, whilst Natalia laid on the grass, staring at the sky.

It was silent between the three of them, before she started to chuckle, then that turned into a giggle, until eventually she was hysterically laughing.

"Dude, she's lost it." Negan muttered to Daryl, leaning over the log, watching Natalia.

"Shut up, man." He nudged him back over.

"Oh, god, it hurts so bad so laugh, but it's so funny." Natalia continued to giggle, holding her sides.

"Nat, what's going on?" Daryl asked her, shuffling off the log to sit beside her, holding her gently. "What's so funny?"

"My life, Daryl, my whole existence is a joke." She covered her mouth, trying to stop the laughs. "It's, the whole thing is just disaster after disaster!" She cracked.

"And that's funny because?" Negan continued to be nosy.

"Well, for starters I was born in 1985, y'know, the year of the 9000 victim earthquake in Mexico, and the spread of aids, and don't forget the Japan airline crash. Then, at the age of four, my father dies from a peanut, Hello, a peanut, one! Singular peanut! I mean, how the hell does someone just die from that, something so small!" She cracked up. "Oh, and spoiler alert, I found out I was also allergic, cause my mom's drug addict boyfriend, who was supposed to be babysitting me, fed them to me! Cause he was too doped up to tell the difference between them and pretzels! And then my Mom married my step-dad, who was a really great guy, I mean, he got me out of going to Juvie, he was kind, he never grassed me up, he's the one who supported me when my Mother found out I was pregnant in college and cut me off, then drove me to the hospital, when I went into labour during graduation! Which I finished top of my class, by the way, because my boyfriend at the time was too hungover to even bother to show up! But because I was a twenty-two year old mother, no one would take me on! Because they didn't trust it, and they called me unreliable, and a free monthly check ready to happen. At the age of twenty-five, guess what happened?" She didn't let them answer. "Dead people started walking and eating the alive people! Then my boyfriend kills himself, eats my daughter, I have to put down the both of them, which were my first ever walker kills, by the way, and then, I had a miscarriage, with no one around but my dog, who was also murdered!" She cackled at this. "Then I begin a feud with a man who had taunted me with rats! I hate rats! And then more people come along, and these are bad, bad people, they did terrible things, and I was left with no over choice but to kill them, because If I didn't, those bad things would either continue to happen, or they would just slaughter me. But then, then I met you." She smiled at Daryl. "And Rick, and Glenn, and Carl, and Maggie, and Beth and they are all gone! They're dead, the first good people, who made me feel like a person, are all dead or gone, and you're always too busy with other stuff then being around me, you might as well be gone! Anyway, and then, we spend months on the road, I had to spend months on the road with people who hated me, who didn't trust me because of the way I was forced to survive, all with a pregnant woman, who acted as though sleeping with her husbands best friend was such an heinous thing to happen to her, because nothing bad happens to angels like her, and she's just soo innocent, and this baby is such a curse! But she dies, too, because everyone dies, and I get shot! I got shot whilst I was playing ball with my dog, and you weren't there, because you left us! You left us for your brother who kidnapped Glenn and Maggie and beat them, did terrible, terrible things to them, but oh no, that's not the worst thing to ever happen to them, was it! I've been through three wars, I've been shot, I've been held at gunpoint, I survived by myself, and with a group of men who looked at me like I was the freshest cattle at the market, then I had to survive a herd, from inside a car, Oh, my twenty-seventh birthday? We met Evie, and thank god we met Evie, cause she's just amazing, but then a few days later, red poncho guy had to show up then disappear, and then Evie's dad dies, rip, Rick made us move that herd, and then I accidentally kissed you, and get this, if it wasn't for Michonne, I woulda never made a move on you, cause I thought I'd be cheating on my dead boyfriend." She wheezed.

"And then two months after that, our friends are brutally killed in front of us, and we get kidnapped, and some guy touched me, and I didn't even get justice, because that was taken from me, from the guy who kidnapped me! And then we escape, I get married, yay! We fight the war, and we win, once again, go us! But then I find out I'm pregnant, whilst hanging above walkers, literally hanging above them! Rick goes missing, my daughter gets kidnapped, I go into labour in the woods, whilst fighting a group of walkers, that I could barely do, because I was so large! We had a couple of good years, really, really good years, and then we move into the woods, and I get pregnant again, but that's fine, because I delivered him by myself, and then Carol shows up, she wants us to take care of her son, you said no, but god damn it, I'm so weak, I just had to cave, we go to Hilltop, and instantly get sent on a mission, Jesus dies, so sad. The kids escape from under our nose. We have to sneak into unknown territory to lure them back, and then we have to fight whisperers in an abandoned building, but then Henry gets hurt, because of course he does, and then the fair, oh, the fair. I spoke to Alpha, I was going to put Archie down for a nap, and she came and spoke to us, and I replied, I had a conversation with her, then walked away, I knew something was off, and I chose to ignore it, because Archie needed a nap, and then she brutally murdered my friends... my daughter had to see her best friend's head on a spike, and I wasn't even there to comfort her. I was in a freaking mine explosion, I was dead-"

"Nat, you didn't die." Daryl held her face, trying to make her stop talking, stop reliving all these memories, but she was on a train that had no other stations. "You didn't die."

"No, no, I did, for a little bit, I was dead, there's no over way to explain it, I died." She grinned at him, like a crazy person. "And I was stuck in this house, it was my old house, with Harry, and Winnie, and everything I did, or wherever I went, he would kill her, and I would wake up in the shower, and he would do it again, over and over, and over again, and I didn't know how to make it stop, I killed him, or I would kill her, or I'd avoid them, no matter what I did, she died, because I can't protect her, I'm not a good mother, and she died because I'm not, and the only reason I am here right now, is because my other daughter had to bring me back and help me get her out of there, and then she- she killed people, Daryl she killed those two whisperers on the hill, I don't think she knew they were alive, and not walkers, because I called them walkers, because I couldn't do it myself, so I turned killing real life, human people, into a game... a game! And she cut her arm. My baby cut her arm, and my other kids, I don't even know where they are!"

"They're okay, Nat, they're fine, they're with everyone, and they're okay." Daryl told her.

"Oh my god, I forgot about the cannibals!" She wiped tears from her eyes, because she was laughing so much.

"Natty, I really think you need to stop laughing, and sleep, instead."

"I've been asleep!" She snapped, looking up at him. "I was asleep for a whole day."

"No, you were unconscious for a whole day, and you lost so much blood, that I had ta donate mine." Daryl turned harsh. "That ain't resting. Daisy, get over here!" He called the girl over, who instantly came running at her fathers instructions.

"Yes, Daddy?" She asked, her Daisy necklace looped in her hands.

"You and yer Mama need some sleep, you ain't slept in over twenty four hours, so yer gonna both lay down, under this blanket." He pulled the blanket out from Daisy's backpack. "And yer gonna count sheep, till I wake you up, got it."

"Daryl..."

"Lay down, till you stop with the crazy talk." He demanded, gently pushing her back down, and instructing Daisy to come lay beside her, but of course Natalia opened up her arms for Daisy to snuggle in. "Ain't nothin' gonna get ya, no one's gonna hurt ya, sleep."

Natalia let out a grumble, but she got comfortable, snuggling with her daughter, whilst Daryl "tucked them in" before sliding back up the log.

"Shit, man, I- I knew she had issues, but... she never told me all that." Negan sighed, looking at the pair on the grass, when sometime had passed, that they both had to have fallen asleep.

"'Cause she ain't want no one to know, 'Specially not you, of all people, you only know what you forced out of her. An' she missed out a buncha shit, too..." He rubbed his hands together nervously.

They were quiet for a bit, listening to the silence around them, until Negan took a sip from his canteen, before offering it to Daryl, who took it.

"Not to spin a broken record, but I don't think she's comin' back." Negan started. "You know, I'm... I'm not bullshitting you."

"I know." Daryl replied, sounding defeated.

"When I said that I liked it.... that wasn't part of the act."

"Yeah, I know."

"You know, when your people locked me up, I lost everything. You know, seven years spent staring out that little window... man, it sucked. It got so bad, that even my memories had bars painted on 'em. So when Alpha took me in... I admit it, I... I liked it. It was... it was nice feeling like I mattered again, like I was respected. But she took it too far. You don't kill people that don't deserve it. And you never kill kids."

"Is that supposed to make me like you?" Daryl asked him.

"No."

"Good."

"But what about my winning personality?" Negan tried.

"You tried to steal my wife, and ruin my marriage, shit load of times." Daryl answered, getting off the log, and stirring Natalia awake. "Let's go." He muttered to her, grabbing the blanket, throwing it into Daisy's bag and swinging it over his shoulder, picking up his crossbow, then his still sleeping daughter.

"What about Carol?" Negan asked, at his retreating back, but no one answered him, and so he followed instead.

They had returned home, back to Alexandria, where Natalia was reunited with her two other children, Archie, who was still a baby, didn't understand anything else but to be happy that his mother was awake to hold him, whilst Bambi caught her up on everything she had missed, even the parts that Daisy had already filled her in, on.

Judith, Gracie and RJ, were also just ecstatic to see the woman, and so was the rest of her friends and family.

But of course the nicicites hadn't lasted forever, because as soon as Carol had returned home, all four communities set off to an safehouse, of sorts, an abandoned hospital.

Lydia and Evie had also joined them, and Natalia hugged the two girls when they had sobbed their apologies to her, for failing her, which she had to push that they did not, they were children, children who should never have such burdens to carry.

"You should sit down." Negan told Natalia, when she wobbled around the halls, staring out of every visible window.

"I'm fine, and I don't need to be taking advice from you." She told him, leaning on the window sill of the one she had been currently watching out of.

"Hey, it's what everyone's thinking, they're just too scared to tell you." He gently grabbed her elbow, but slightly tightened his grip when she flinched away. "Natalia, you've gone through a shit load, physically, you need to let your body heal."

"I am healed, okay, look at me, cast's and stitches, what else do I need?" She raised the arm he was holding.

"That don't explain why you can barely walk, now."

"I've been walking all day." She furrowed her brows at him. "And my ribs, I was hidden up in rubble."

"No, no, it's-" He reached for her shirt, going to lift it but she whacked him away.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She accused.

"Your stomach-"

"Daryl!" She called.

"Does he know?" Negan asked her.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, flying around the corner.

"He tried to touch me!" She pointed at the man.

"Yeah, that's cause your wife is hobbling around until she eventually kills herself, Daisy weren't the only one who was cut up, was she?"

"You back the hell down, man." Daryl stared him down, joining Natalia's side.

"Whatever, I'm tired of helping you people." He threw his hands in the air, walking away, in defeat.

"Nat-"

"It's not a big deal, but he grabbed me-

"Show me." Daryl told her.

"What?"

"Show me what happened."

"I- but- nothing happened."

"Nat, I could see it all over, I can tell the difference between walker blood and your blood, this..." He gestured to the blood at the bottom of her clean shirt, clearly it had bled through, without her realising. "Is yours. I noticed it from the start, but you didn't tell me about it, so I didn't mention it, but now you're lying and hiding it? Show me."

"It's not that bad, that's why I didn't-"

"Natalia, show me." He pushed, standing opposite to her, seriousness all over his face.

Natalia sighed deeply, admitting defeat, before lifting her shirt, showing him her bruised, bloody and battered torso.

"I patched it up, its why I didn't say anything, and I didn't need stitches, so it's not even bad." She tried to soften the blow.

"Nat..." Daryl sighed, ghosting his fingers along her side, then checked that no one was around. "Baby, you shoulda told me."

"But I'm okay." She nodded, holding his cheek. "I'm okay, Daryl, so it's okay."

"It's not." He shook his head, looking down.

"It is, our children are all alive, you're alive and I'm alive, Dog is even alive." She chuckled. "That seems pretty okay to me."

"No... no, no it's not." He continued to shake his head, not meeting her eyes.

"It is, baby, it is, it's okay." She lifted his face, kissing him gently. "It's okay, Daryl, it's okay." She kissed him again.

He dropped his head onto her shoulder, his arms went around her, but he refused to properly hug her.

"Why don't we lay down, for a bit, find a quiet room-"

"I ain't gonna have sex with yer." He interrupted, through a sniff.

"That wasn't what I was implying." She laughed. "We can just lay down, for a bit, you need the rest, Luke's still working on his part, there's so many people here, and you need rest. You haven't stopped in days."

"M'fine." He lifted his head from her shoulder, looking down at her, his eyes were red and puffy, he looked so sad, it was breaking her heart just looking at him.

"You can't lie to me, I'm your wife and I'm injured, also, you're a bad liar, too. C'mon." She grabbed his hand, heading down the hallway, to find that empty room she spotted earlier, it had a bed in there, it would do.

"Alright, baby, you lay down, I'm just gonna go talk to Diane, okay? You stay here." Natalia pushed Daryl on the bed.

"But you shouldn't-"

"Stay, I'll be a minute." She narrowed her brows, glaring at him with a pointed finger, backing out the room.

Natalia used the wall as support to help her get to the crowded reception area of the hospital.

"Hey, uhm, Nat." Carol approached Natalia's side.

"Nat!" Rosita swooped by, easing Natalia away.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Hey, I'm pissed at her too, she tried to kill my best friend, Daryl might have forgiven her, but I sure as hell haven't."

"Speaking of which. We need some time to ourselves, he's, he's been through a lot, too, he needs a lil break, we're just gonna lay down for a lil bit, you'll come let us know when it's time?"

"Yeah, sure, just make sure you're not moaning too loud-"

"Ro! Good intentions only! He'll barely touch me cause he's too scared he'll break something." She scoffed.

"Go cuddle, you deserve it." Rosita nudged her. "Kid's are preoccupied, we're working on shit, I'll come get you."

"Love you."

"Love you, too." She smiled, and Natalia walked away, passing a book shelf, picking up one of the books on her way back to the room.

"Yer back." Daryl greeted her, laying on his back, his head supported by his arm.

"Told you, I would be. So you forgave Carol, after she put me in a coma?" She asked, closing the door and slipping her shoes off, sliding on the bed, next to him.

"Naw, just tryna make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, again. she said sorry." Daryl replied, sliding further down, resting his head on her shoulder, throwing an arm just under her ribs, above the cut on her abdomen, his left leg covered both of hers.

"I don't wanna hear it, don't care. I was being nice to her, and she almost got me blown up." She grumbled, running her fingers through his hair.

"I know, you tried hard, proud of yer." He mumbled, rubbing his head along her chest as he eased into sleep.

She continued to run her fingers through his hair, as he slept, it didn't matter that she was in an unbearable amount of pain, they're gonna make him risk his life in a few hours, and he was too caught up about her, she needed him to believe she was okay, so she'd do what she could to make him believe that.

She didn't realise she'd started humming that song, the song she used to sing to the twins when they were in the womb, Eyes Without A Face, fuck, she loved Billy Idol.

Rosita burst through the door, eventually, looking alarmed.

"You guys gotta get up, they found us, we're surrounded." She told them, when Daryl jumped awake.

People were running around like crazy, when they left the room, throwing things, grabbing things, fixing things, and then some breaking things, it was hectic and chaos.

"Girls, get away from the window- oh... shit..." Natalia muttered, when she pulled the twins from the sills, but then spotted the mass amount of walkers just outside. "Alright, duck and quietly walk back to your area." She told them. "Go play with the cat."

"Archies playing with the cat, with Evie and Lydia." Bambi told her.

"Then go play with Archie, Evie and Lydia, playing with the cat." Daryl told them, resting his hands on both their heads, steering them in that direction.

"I'm scared." RJ grabbed Natalia's hand, his other was holding Gracie.

"But we're safe up here, y'know that." She told the both of them, crouching down.

"You've seen how many are coming." Gracie pushed. "Lot's more than we have."

"That? Pfft, I've seen more, this is lightwork." She kept her cool. "Come on, let's go play with this cat, huh? We don't have to worry about this."

"But you always fight, Aunt Nat, you're the best at it, my daddy said." Gracie said.

"Aunt Nat's on rest, she ain't fighting nothing." Daryl pressed, not only speaking to the kids.

"Yeah, Aunt Nat's gonna sit this one out." She scrunched up her nose at them.

"Our plan is the same." Gabriel started, when everyone stood in the reception area, as he went over the logistics of what would happen.

Natalia stood beside Daryl, even though she wasn't allowed to participate, she wanted to know what her husband was going to be doing. She held his hand, resting her head against his shoulder as they listened.

"We lead the horde away, just not from oceanside as we had planned. Once the walkers are clear, we evacuate to Rendezvous Point B. Luke. We ready?" Gabriel asked the man.

"Yeah, yeah. Uh, technically." He stuttered, standing up.

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of hope." Natalia commented.

"Shut up, he's nervous." Daryl muttered, lowly, kissing her head as he spoke, with out people hearing.

"So, these are the final pieces that we need to connect to the wagon. But in order for it to do the pied piper thing that we need it to do over the cliff, we gotta get from A to B, and I gotta plug and plug, and then we should be good to go." He explained.

"That wagon is on the other side of the horde." Magna, who had returned from the inside of the cave, traumatised, stated.

"So... someone's gotta go through it?" Jerry questioned. "With skins in there?"

"Four groups. Two in each. One carries the cargo, one protects. It's crucial that all the equipment makes it to the wagon." Gabriel continued.

"We can make it through. I'll help." Lydia offered.

"We're willing." Bea, from Oceanside, spoke up. "But not if she goes."

"And why's that?" Natalia asked.

"Stand down." Daryl told her.

"Well, we know she's earned trust with you, but... Oceanside isn't ready. Not with this."

"Says the girl who was shooting to kill at the age of ten."

"Stop." Daryl pushed.

"That's fine." Gabriel said loudly, trying to drown out the commotion of the other two. "As it happens, Lydia's role is in here."

"Look, we're not all gonna make it through." Daryl spoke to the group now. "But this is the only way."

"If Daryl's going, then so am I." Kelly declared.

Natalia made Daryl say goodbye to the kids, before he was required to gut up, she thought it would be best if they didn't see their father dressed up in walker shit, and smelling of it, too."

"You're not gonna die, are you, Daddy?" Bambi asked, hugging him tightly.

"Naw, sweetheart, I ain't." He promised. "I don't die, remember."

"That's cause you can beat anything, Daddy."

"Hell yeah." He grinned at Daisy, hugging her too. "Alright, lemme say goodbye, to my lil man." He took Archie out of Natalia's arms, giving him a dramatic kiss on the cheek, making the baby giggle. "He's getting heavy." Daryl bounced Archie in his arms, weighing the boy.

"He's getting old, soon, we're gonna have no babies left." Natalia pouted.

"That's not an excuse to have another one." Evie piped up.

"We ain't having another baby." Daryl told her. "Five is definitely enough."

"Five, but Daddy, you only have four kids, me, Daisy, Evie, and Archie." Bambi pointed at herself and her siblings.

"Yeah, but Lydia's also under our care, which technically makes her our kid, in a way." Natalia reminded the girl.

"Oh."

"Daryl, time's ticking." Gabriel walked past them.

"That man, he offs one person and thinks he's God, himself." Natalia grumbled.

"Hey, help me gut up." Daryl spoke quietly to her, passing Archie to Evie, kissing both their heads, then giving the twins another goodbye hug, kissing them, too, before reminding them all to stay safe and be good, and that he loves them.

"Alright, stay still for five minutes, Mommy'll be back." Natalia told the kids, following Daryl to the gutting station.

Daryl put the hoodie and the jeans over his clothes, and Natalia put on the large gloves, digging her hands in the matter and spreading it over him.

"I hate that I can't go with you, I hate feeling useless." Natalia told him, as she applied it on thickly, making sure no walker will sense him.

"Better to be useless in here, then dying out there." He told her, "You've done enough, already, you deserve to sit this one out."

"I know, but I still hate it." She pouted.

"Get your back for you, dear?" Luke asked Jules, as he helped her gut up, across from them. "You know I got your back out there, too, right?"

"Oh, and the rest of me?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm good to get that, too."

"Hey, you okay?" Jerry asked Magna, who was also going. "I mean, going back into the herd after everything..."

"I'm fine, you?" Magna smiled, meekly.

"Not at all." He replied truthfully.

"She gets to go..." Natalia rolled her eyes, as she finished up.

"She ain't end up in a coma." Daryl patted down her hair. "Hey!" He turned to Negan, who was stepping from foot to foot, looking rather uncomfortable. "Why you clean?"

"I ain't going." Negan admitted.

"You've done this more'n any of us."

"I am on the tip-top of every skins' kill list. Especially fee fi fo asshole. So if the idea is to get through without drawing a shitload of attention, then I am the last person these people want standing next to them."

"Please, Negan." Natalia stepped towards them, acting all innocent like. "Please, y'know, I'd feel a lot better if you went with them. I mean, no offense to these guys, but, no one will do a better job then you will, I mean, you're skilled, you know what's up, and... you got a winning personality." She played his own words against him. "You'd do it for me, wouldn't you? I'd go out there, but, I'm pretty weak, at the moment. But-- I'd feel so much better if you went with them." She went as far to stand on her tip toes, gently kissing his cheek, sealing the deal. "At least think about it." Then she led Daryl away.

"You're sick." He grumbled to her.

"Need to help somehow, don't worry, I'll bleach my lips, if it makes you feel better."

And it had worked, because Negan had gutted up.

"I love you, don't die on me." Natalia told Daryl, when Gabriel had called time.

"I ain't never gonna." He promised, he kissed Natalia, with tongue, and she knew exactly why, when he pulled away, staring down the tall, gutted up, man, wearing his whisperer mask.

"Daryl, you finished?" Gabriel asked him.

"Yup." He squeezed Natalia's hip, walking with the others, out of the door.

Natalia stood next to Judith, when they closed it again.

"He's gonna be alright." She told the girl.

"I know." She sighed. "Doesn't mean I'm not any less scared."

"That's a good thing, reminds yourself that you care, you're still alive and human."

He waved goodbye to the pair, smiling at them through the window, and they waved bye, back, and then Natalia took her and Lydia back upstairs, they didn't need to see the downstairs part fill up with walkers.

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heywritersblock · 5 years ago

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gym bunny: JJK

a forgotten gym pass, first meetings, a flirty JK and a side of embarrassing tae.

(or the gym!au where a forgetful jungkook meets the girl of his dreams in the helpful receptionist)

contains all the fluff!

~9000 words

“Shit.”

The first thing you see when you look up from your desk to see where the voice has come from is a tall, toned man wearing black basketball shorts and a black hoodie. His backpack - black, of course - is hanging off one shoulder and the man is scrabbling in the front pocket, then wrenching open the main compartment. He’s jostled from the side by a man who pushes past him, scans his pass and pushes through the glass door to enter the gym. A defeated sigh pulls your attention back to the guy dressed in head to toe black. He’s glaring up at the ceiling, mumbling to himself and a small smile slips onto your face as you can practically see him cursing himself.

Taking pity on him, you call over, “Hey! You good?”

Your presence seems to make him jump and he turns his head to look in your direction. His wild, black hair is peeking out of a black beanie that he messes with on his head, pulling it further down towards his eyes.

“Uh - yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” he replies, voice deep but uncertain. You nod politely at him, offering a warm smile before returning your gaze to the paperwork you’re currently trying to complete for your boss. Rule number 6 from your training - don’t push the customer. Let them come to you. You fill in a few more of the details on the paper in front of you before you hear a whispered, fuck it.

“Excuse me? Sorry. I’m so sorry to bother you.”

You look up with a soft smile on your face. “Hey! Not so good after all?”

“Ha. You could say that. I uh- I appear to have left my gym card at home. I was kind of really hoping to work out some stress tonight and I really don’t wanna have to go all the way back home so I was wondering if maybe, well if you-”

“I can get you a temporary pass?” You offer, cutting off his rant and smiling when you see a look of grateful relief flood his face.

“Yes - yes. Is that possible?” He’s wincing like he hates asking for things even though it’s literally your job to help.

“I’ll see what I can do for you,” you say. He makes a little fist pump and he bounces on his feet like you’ve given him the best news he’s heard in a long time. You spin on your desk chair towards the computer and tap in your log in before finding the gym membership records.

“Name?”

“Uh, Jeon Jeongguk.”

“Okay. And date of birth?”

“September 1st ‘97.”

“Cool, I’ve got you. Wait, I think.” You pause and quickly raise your hand to your mouth to cover the burst of laughter that’s threatening to spill out. He looks confused, brow crinkled under his beanie, so you ask, “Um - is this you?” You laugh and move the computer screen to face him as much as possible. He braces his hands on your desk and leans over to see what’s made you question his identity.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he laughs, dropping his head into his arm. “My friends are the literal worst. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this,” he says when he’s finally lifted his head off where his arms are crossed on your desk. His cheeks are tinged with pink but he’s taking it in good spirits.

The picture of Jeongguk should be similar to that of a passport - neutral background, serious face with no expression, hair a natural colour so it’s easier to identify you - basically as boring as it should be to be kept on your record for the gym’s policies. This one, however. The background is white and seems to be a wall in a house or an apartment judging by the door frame, but that’s about as close to the guidelines this photo gets. Jeongguk stands off center in the picture, pinkish-red hair shining bright in the natural lighting. It’s pulled back off his forehead by his hand and his face is schooled into the most obscene expression you’ll ever see. In the corner of the photo is the head of another person - a friend, you’d hazard a guess - who’s bent over in laughter and gripping a beanie that looks very much like the one Jeongguk’s wearing today to his face, presumably to dry up his tears of joy.

“I feel like I need to explain,” he laughs. “So um, when I first joined, the guy who takes your picture for your records was off when I came in - I guess he was ill or something. The owner told me like, ‘It’s cool, just send us in a picture when you get a chance and we’ll just use that.’ I got my friends to take one of me like a passport, you know? He took it on his phone and it took a long time to get one that we could use and I guess must have sent this in instead, that bastard!” He explains and joins in with your laughter.

“Jeez, who needs enemies when you’ve got friends like that?” You joke.

“I know, right? God, I can’t believe I’ve been coming to this gym for like, half a year and that’s the photo people see every time I swipe in,” he fake cries, refolding the turn up on his beanie.

“Dude, me neither. If I’d seen this before, I’d have had it printed out and on the staff notice board within minutes. This is too good not to be seen!”

He lets out a loud laugh at the thought of this and watches as you push your chair over to the printer. He’s trying to get a hold on himself when you return back to him, handing him a printed piece of paper with a bar code on.

“Here - this is your temporary pass. It’ll let you in today and register that it’s you. It only lasts for a day so get rid of it when you’re done. I should’ve just sent you back home for it - we shouldn’t be encouraging laziness!” you joke.

He swipes the paper from your hand, giggling again at his picture in the top right hand corner below the gym’s logo and then bowing forward to you in thanks. “Well yeah, but then my roommate definitely would’ve distracted me and you’d never have got a laugh out of this,” he says, flicking his face on the picture. “How dull would your day have been then?”

“You have no idea,” you say with a pointed look. “Well, I guess I should thank you for brightening my day, Mr Jeon.”

You see his eyes flickering down to your nametag fastened onto your white t-shirt before he says, “The pleasure was mine. Thanks again for this!”

He walks backwards from your table to the entrance of the members only area, only turning around to scan the piece of paper you gave him. When the tell-tale beep sounds and the door clicks open, he turns to you offering another silent fist pump before disappearing through the door with a grateful nod of his head.

You send him a grin and an enthusiastic thumbs up and return your eyes to your computer screen, ready to exit the page and return to the paperwork calling your name when temptation strikes. Quickly pressing print, you grab the page fresh from the printer and fold it neatly so only the hilarious picture of Jeongguk is showing. Trying your best to hold in your laughter, you unlock the desk drawer to your right and pop it neatly down the side. You’re sure you’ll find a good use for it.

It’s two days later when you’re dealing with an angry customer on the phone who’s ranting about a rowing machine being out of order when they were there last night. They’ve been shouting at you down the phone for the past twenty minutes and you haven’t got the chance to tell them that there’s another seven rowers adjacent to them, all of which were working. You’re currently resting your head on your hand, trying your very best not to roll your eyes and throwing in the occasional, “Of course, sir. I completely understand how frustrating that must have been,” to show you’re listening. Which you’re not.

The automatic doors into the gym reception open and your eyes slide across to send a practised smile to whoever has just walked in the door when you see it’s Jeongguk from the other day. He’s wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt this time with his hair uncovered. It’s styled in a tousled curl that frames his face perfectly. He grins in greeting and waves his right hand at you, causing you to look closely at what he’s holding. His gym pass.

“Good job!” you mouth across the room at him as he strolls to the members only door.

He bows jokingly, pretending he’s soaking in applause before throwing you a wink and disappearing through the door.

The voice on the phone screeches in your ear, “Miss, are you even listening to me?!”

You jilt out of the reverie you didn’t realise you’d been lost in and sit up quickly on your chair, snapping your mind back to the customer on the phone.

“I’m so sorry, sir. Of course I’m listening, I just wanted to make sure you’d had chance to air your concerns. I’ve listened very intently and I agree with you that it was completely unacceptable that rowing machine 7 was out of order.” You can’t resist the eye roll this time. “Let’s have a chat and see what we can do to put this right for you, okay?”

An hour later and you’re finally off the phone having agreed to extend the customer’s gym membership for another week before he’ll need to renew it. Part of you was pleased that the customer seemed appeased, but the other part of you hated that this was the trivial bullshit that you had to deal with everyday.

Replying again to another monotonous email that springs to life on your screen, you take a sip of your caramel iced coffee and sigh at the sweetness that improves your day just a little bit.

“You know that’s not good for you, right?”

A voice interrupts your partial sulking and you look up to find a pink cheeked and wet haired Jeongguk leaning forward on your desk.

“Which one - the repetitive hum-drum of my shitty job or the only ounce of joy I get in a day?” You reply sarcastically, shaking the remainder of your drink at him when you say the latter.

“Woah, okay. I’m going to go with neither of those. And then I’m going to take my foot out of my mouth.”

“Good choice,” you smile, slurping the last part of your drink off. “How was the workout?”

“Great. Had kind of a stressful day at work and working out makes my head feel a little clearer,” he explains.

“Another?”

“Huh?” he asks, looking away from where he was running his finger along the grain of wood on your desk.

“Another stressful day? You uh- you mentioned you were feeling stressed when you forgot your pass and I just-”

“Oh, right. Well, yeah. Another stressful day. It’s always stressful at this time of year. You know, new tax year and everything.”

“Ah, I see. What is it you do exactly?”

“Accountant.” He watches you nod your head in understanding. “Yeah - what was it you said? Something about your job being repetitive and boring? Think I’ve got you beat there,” he laughs.

“Call it even. I’ve just had a guy yelling at me for a machine being out of order when there was another seven of the same machine right alongside it that he could use,” you shake your head in despair.

“Are you serious? Is that what you were dealing with when I walked in?”

“Yeah, he was ranting for a good thirty, forty minutes I’d say. Sucks but I guess it’s part of the job for now,” you shrug.

“Ah, that’s why you looked royally pissed off. Makes sense. What are your plans then?” He takes in the confused look on your face and smiles at you before explaining, “You said part of the job for now. What’s after now, then?” You pause for a moment in thought and when he ducks his head to regain your eye contact, you realise that your gaze has drifted to the scattered pens and pencils in front of you.

“I uh- well. I dunno, to be honest,” you mumble.

“Okay, that’s cool. Is there anything you’d love to do but you just haven’t got around to it yet? Or are you more of a I’ll try it and see if it’s for me kind of girl?”

“Kids,” you blurt out almost as soon as he’s asked the first question.

He looks a little taken aback, but he nods and then continues. “Okay - okay! Right. Kids! Of your own or-?”

“Oh god, no. No, no, no. Not for a long time. But kids. I love kids. I’d love to work with them but-”

“No! Stop there. We don’t need to hear that ‘but’. So you want to work with kids. That’s awesome. I think you’d be great at that.”

“Oh really?” you laugh. “From the twice that you’ve met me, you think I’d be good with kids.”

“Great with kids, not just good. And yeah!” He can’t help but join in with your laugh and he watches you warmly as you lean back in your chair, resting your hand on your stomach from where you’re laughing.

“Hear me out! I have my reasons prepared,” he laughs. “Listen, the first time I spoke to you, you noticed I was pissed without me having to say anything to you. Reason 1 why you’d be great with kids.” He starts holding out his hand in front of your face and checking off the numbers on his fingers. “Number 2, you helped me out when I finally asked for it. Kids forget things all the time, right? You’re well practised at helping with that. Reason 3 - kids have temper tantrums like, hourly. You deal with grown men throwing hissy fits about fucking rowing machines. A kid would be easy for you to deal with. Do you need me to continue? I reckon I have at least three more reasons including you not judging me about my picture-”

“Who says I didn’t judge you?”

“I’m ignoring that. As I was saying, you didn’t judge me for my horrendous photo, you have a super organised desk,” he peers over the ridge that’s higher than where you’re sat to check he’s correct, standing back up when he’s convinced he’s right. “You fill paperwork out all day long which - I don’t know much about this - but like, I’m sure you’ll have to do that if you work with kids, right? And you work in a gym. Think of how active kids are and you’ll no doubt be able to keep up.”

“Finished?” you ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Let me check. Um-” he taps his chin as if he’s deep in thought. “Yeah, I think that’s all I’ve got for now. But if you need more reasons, I’ll be sure to come in tomorrow with a fully prepared Powerpoint presentation to really make sure you’re convinced.”

“That won’t be necessary. I mean, I’d kind of like to see what you’d come up with for your presentation but, no. Thank you. I- Well. That was quite the speech. Thank you.”

“You’re totally welcome. I meant it. You’d be great at it. The kids would be lucky to have you.” You’re aware of the full feeling of warmth in your chest. “What have you got to lose anyway?”

“Right. You’re right. Just easier said than done, you know?”

“Totally. Just keep what I said in mind, yeah? If being here is really as mind numbing as you say, it might be worth a change,” he says. He’s smiling at you supportively. It doesn’t feel like he’s telling you what you should do, like when your mom tells you you’ve got too much potential to be wasting it here.

“Not every moment is mind numbing,” you say, partly trying to get the attention off you.

“Oh really? Tell me about the moments that are slightly less boring, then,” he flirts, leaning forward and wiggling his eyebrows.

“You know, some days, I just really look forward to this guy stepping through the door,” you start.

“I bet he’s super handsome.”

“Oh yeah. Arms of steel, too.” You can’t help you snort of laughter as Jeongguk comically lifts up his arm and flexes. You pull yourself together and continue, “Yeah, god. It’s my favourite part of the day. My mouth literally starts salivating as I see him step through those automatic doors and-”

His face looks shocked, like his mind has frozen and he’s trying desperately to keep up with the turn of the conversation. His eyebrows are pulled together in confusion and then he guffaws out a laugh that echoes through the reception area, earning him several shhh’s from other customers. He slaps a hand over his mouth and you can see his crinkled eyes as he leans further forward on your desk.

“You’re talking about the fucking Starbucks delivery man, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. Who did you think I was talking about?” you ask innocently, unable to stop yourself from joining in his infectious laugh.

The phone rings loudly at the side of you on the desk and you glance at it with a sigh.

“I should leave you to it,” he says, pushing himself up and standing tall, almost towering over you. “Think about what I said, yeah? Have confidence in yourself.”

Your heart feels like it’s two sizes too big for your chest at how much confidence he has in you, and you nod at him. “I will. Definitely. Thanks, Jeongguk. Honestly, I- just. Thank you. For the pep talk.”

“Nah, don’t thank me. Think of it as a repayment for saving my ass from trekking home the other day. In fact - wait. Do you think you could thank me by changing my picture on the system?”

“Ha! No way. That’s staying for as long as I’m here,” you retort as you finally reach for the phone. He makes an oh, shucks movement with his arm, before turning around and heading towards the automatic door.

He smiles when he hears you greet the person on the other side of the phone, and he notes that your professional voice is different than when he’s spoken to you the last few times. He sends you a small wave goodbye which you return with a smile and a shooing motion that makes him laugh. The smile remains on your face throughout your phone call, and through the rest of your shift.

It’s just turned 10pm a couple of weeks after Jeongguk’s little pep talk. Your shift ended a little while ago and you’re on the final ten minutes of your work out, currently jogging on the treadmill and wincing at the ache in your calves as the machine tilts you up hill. Your playlist blasting in your headphones and you listen intently to the lyrics of the remix thumping through your ears in the hopes that it will make this torturous time fly by.

You’ve managed to concentrate on what must be two verses and a chorus when it’s suddenly time to sprint.

“For fuck’s sake,” you mumble what you think is under your breath. You fucking hate running. You fucking hate this gym. It could be the tiredness talking, but you fucking hate it.

Movement on the treadmill right in front of yours makes you open your eyes from where you’d clamped them shut to make it through the last four minutes of your workout. You’re about to start cursing whoever decided to take the treadmill facing yours when there’s rows of other available when you look up.

A devastating bunny smile is blinding you. Jeongguk. You huff out a laugh and shake your head as if to say I literally can’t speak right now before gasping in another deep breath, trying to remind yourself to keep your breathing steady.

He sends you an OK sign with his hands, smirk flooding his face as you roll your eyes at him. You can feel his eyes on you as you squeeze your eyes closed at the sudden incline of the treadmill. Two minutes to go, two more minutes. This is your least favourite part.

You open your eyes to find your water bottle, gulping down whatever is left as you drive into the final, thankfully flat sprint. Jeongguk’s effortlessly running on his machine, not seeming to break a sweat when you can literally feel the sweat dripping on the back of your neck.

He catches your eye as he sees you wince again and crosses his eyes, sticking his tongue out and trying his best to distract you. Your laughter blurts out of you and he mirrors you. He watches you as you check the remaining time and raises his eyebrows when you look back up.

“30 seconds,” you mouth across at him, shaking your head as if you can’t go on any longer.

“Keep going!” he mouths back, bunny grin in full force and two thumbs up in front of him. Part of you wants to tell him to put his hands back on the safety bars but that part is quickly distracted when he ducks to meet your eye line. Before you can question what he’s doing, he quickly pulls the face that’s on his horrifying membership picture and you guffaw in laughter. Your machine slows to a stop and you plant your feet on the strips either side of the conveyor belt, laying forward to rest your head on the screen of the machine until you can get a handle on your laughter.

When you finally look back up, Jeongguk has slowed to a walk on his machine and he’s smiling that bashful, devilish smile at you. You rip your headphones off your ears and rest them around your sweaty neck. He throws his hands up and mimes a mini cheer at you for completing your workout.

“You’re such a dork,” you laugh.

“It’s one of my many talents.”

“Thanks for that,” you say sincerely, gathering your belongings up from the treadmill as he hits the stop button on his machine.

“For being a dork?”

“For getting me through those last few minutes. Was it that obvious I was struggling?”

“Nah, I just fucking hate these things too. Avoid them like the plague normally. Couldn’t imagine being on one as long as you were.”

“You were watching me?”

“You’re kind of hard to not watch,” he confesses honestly, pink tinging his cheeks for the first time that night. Your heart thumps at the thought that an intense workout doesn’t affect him, but you do.

“Oh. So why were you on the treadmill tonight?”

“Because you looked fucking miserable. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve kind of made it my mission to get rid of some of the things that make you all gloomy,” he shrugs, coming around to meet you at your machine, shoving lightly at your back with the bottom of his water bottle to get you moving towards the changing rooms.

“Why?” you say, surprise having frozen your thoughts, and apparently your body too.

He shoves again with his water bottle, guiding his hand around to push at the small of your back when you still don’t move. “Come on, changing rooms are this way. And because, I dunno. You helped me out that day. You were kind to me and yeah, okay, maybe you didn’t know it, but you distracted me from what I was stressed about. It’s the least I can do to do the same for you. Okay?”

You’re pulled to a stop just outside the changing rooms where your locker is and you can’t help but stare at the man in front of you. He stands there openly for a moment, letting you, before he smiles at you as if he knows what you’re thinking. It’d be a miracle, sure, because you’re not even sure you know, but he looks at you like he can see right into your thoughts and watch them play out on a screen.

“I’m going to take this silence as an I’m trying to work out why I deserve this type of silence rather than an oh my god this fucking weird kid has attached himself to me and thinks I need a saviour which now that I think about it, it could seem pretty weird so please take comfort in the fact that this is not that-”

“Jeongguk. Stop. I- I appreciate how kind hearted you are, especially to an almost stranger. Let’s take my silence as a you’re kind of rare and I feel very lucky that you’re doing that for me and stop freaking out, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah!” He’s grinning now, shaking himself out of the moment of insecurity he’d just talked himself into. “Okay. Yeah. Also, anyone who has seen that fucking awful picture of me automatically gains friendship rights. I won’t have you calling yourself a stranger in this household anymore.”

“You’re not in a household.” “Then in this - gymhold? Either way, we’re buds now. You’re stuck with me being your cheerleader and I’m not sorry about it.”

You laugh softly, warmth flowing through your body at this boy in front of you. “Sounds awful,” you joke.

“See! You’re a sarcastic little shit. We’re going to be best buds in no time.”

You roll your eyes jokingly at his endless optimistic spin on everything and shove at his shoulder. “Go and get changed.”

“Back at you. Meet me out here? I’ll walk you out?”

You try and hold back the smile that threatens to overtake your face by biting at your bottom lip. “See you in a few.”

A loud slam on your desk makes you whizz around on your chair from where you’re filing random bits of paperwork in the correct drawers.

“What the-”

“I’ve brought you a gift,” Jeongguk states, then points with both hands at the tall Starbucks cup he’s just banged onto the desk.

“Uh- Did you take that off the delivery man outside?” you ask, turning to see your usual delivery guy stood at the floor to ceiling windows with a very confused look on his face. You send him a wave and he shrugs, walking back to his car without a backwards glance.

“Okay, maybe I did. I’m going to be honest with you, the other day when you said he was the best part of your day? Not good for my ego. So yes, I did take it off him outside. And yes, I did have to pay him a very large tip that I’m not proud of. But. Here.” He slides the cup across the desk to you with the most adorable look of focus on his face.

You reach across for it, taking a sip and groaning quietly at the sweet kick it gives you. “I thought you didn’t believe in sugary drinks? Some bullshit about them being bad for you?”

“They are bad for you and in 40 years time when you’re suffering with countless health complaints and I am a picture of youth, that will be my time to shine. I will preach and preach about how you shouldn’t have had those drinks when you were younger and you will say ‘Oh, Jeongguk. I should have listened to you. About that and everything else you ever said. You are so wise and so brilliant and no other man can ever compete with you.” He’s putting on a high voice now and your giggling only further encourages him.

“Oh so, we’re going to be friends in 40 years time?”

“Obviously. Or married. Whatever.”

You inhale a sip of your drink too fast at that, coughing and spluttering as you try to get your racing heart in check. When you finally stop, the smug look on his face makes your cheeks heat up.

“Oh? Right. So in that case, I will turn to you and say, “Jeongguk, baby. Honey. Sweetcheeks. Remember that day you stole my sweet, sweet, sugary drink from the poor delivery man? You encouraged my habits and for that I can never forgive you. I want a divorce!” You play along, mimicking the high voice he was putting on.

“Oh shit. Will you let me keep the dog?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then no deal. You can’t divorce me. Give me back the drink,” he says, reaching over to take the cup from your hands.

You’re too quick for him, sliding back on your chair so you’re just out of reach. “Nuh-uh, you said it was a gift. No take backs on gifts. That’s the first rule in the friendship rule book.”

“Fuck, I forgot we were friends now. Wow, that was a bad decision,” he jokes, winking at you as you let out a disgruntled, hey! “Okay, whatever. I’ll let you keep the drink and when you’re old and infirm I will look after you because I will be the picture of health with a god like body and I will never mention the sugary drink addiction ever again. Deal?”

You huff out a laugh at the god-like body idea, but then agree, “Deal.” He waves you forward, holding his hand out to shake in promise. “Awesome,” he says as he holds your hand firm in his. The fit is perfect and tingles run up your arm as he squeezes lightly at your hand. “I can’t wait ‘til we’re old and married,” he teases.

You shove him off playfully, cheeks aching from the grin you never seem to be able to dampen when he’s around. “Go workout,” you instruct.

“Yes, dear. See, great husband material already, no?”

“Is this her? Oh my god it totally is. Your face is all-“

“Shut the fuck up, you foghorn!”

You might not have recognised the first voice but you definitely recognise the fierce whisper that followed it. You keep your head down, pretending to concentrate on the paperwork you’re completing when the two whispering voices appear in front of your desk.

“Tae, please-” you hear Jeongguk plead but he’s quickly interrupted by a firm hand to his chest.

“Excuse me, miss. I would like to join this gym on a trial basis. As in, just for today probably. I have been informed that this gym is the best around and that the customer service is unbeatable.”

You hear Jeongguk mutter from where he’s hidden behind the man, “Oh for fuck’s sake, Tae,” but you decidedly ignore him.

“Of course, sir! That’s not a problem at all. It’s great to hear that we’re being talked about.” You glance quickly at Jeongguk with a smirk on your face. “I’m so pleased that your friends are happy with the service,” you say as you start to load up the documentation you’ll need to complete on your computer.

“Oh believe me, they’re very happy. Very, very-“

A swift knock to the man’s ribs quietens him and Jeongguk stands at his side, glaring determinedly at the man’s face.

“Oh, hey, Jeongguk! Didn’t see you there. What a nice surprise!” you tease, faking innocence. His cheeks flush but he meets your gaze.

“Hey yourself. You don’t normally work on Tuesdays,” he notes.

“Were you trying to avoid me?” you ask at the same time the man gasps, turns to him and accuses, “You only let me come because you thought she wouldn’t be here!”

Another glare is sent in the man’s direction and the friend at least has the decency to look a little sheepish this time.

“Thanks for that, man. Uh- well, I just. Uh- I have no answer to that. Please let’s move along.”

Feeling a little sorry for the way his friend has just dropped him in it, you lend him a hand and say, “We had to do a little swap around next week so I was landed with today’s shift to cover.”

You turn to his friend once you’ve seen Jeongguk nod in understanding and ask, “So, are you ready to set up your trial membership or are you really just here to mess with him?”

“Ha! No, I will set it up, please. With the amount of ramen I eat, it would be a good idea for me to join at some point. Also, a little birdie tells me there’s a kick ass sauna here so sign me up!”

“Sure thing. I just need a couple of details from you, then you’re free to try out our facilities. I can grab a PT for you if you’re wanting a tour around or-“

“I’m good, thanks. I’ve got my own personal PT here,” he says, nudging an annoyed looking Jeongguk’s side.

“I know from personal experience he’s a great cheerleader. I’m sure you’ll be in good hands there,” you state, ignoring the wide eyed look Jeongguk’s friend is sending at him, the unspoken words of we are talking about this later you little shit clear for all to see, and diving straight into the form.

A few minutes later, Taehyung as you now know he’s called, is signing the last pieces of paper that you’ve printed out for him.

“Awesome! When you’ve signed that, you’re all done! So, if you do decide to join us, our photographer will grab you before your session one day and snap a picture of you to go on file. If you stick with us on a purely trial basis, then there’ll be no need for-.”

You’re stopped in your tracks by a devilish glint in Jeongguk’s eye, hands frantically gesticulating to you. He’s pointing at Taehyung, eyes wide, miming taking a picture. You’re desperately trying to follow what Jeongguk’s telling you, eyes flitting back to where Taehyung has almost completed his last signature when Jeongguk’s sigh grabs your attention again. He gesticulates one more time; he points at Taehyung, then makes the camera movement, points at himself, and then makes that obscene face that’s on his member profile picture.

Realisation dawns just as Taehyung slides the papers and pen he used back across your desk, quickly turning back around to face Jeongguk with a look of suspicion on his face when he realises that you are clearly trying your best to hold in a bout of extreme laughter.

Jeongguk - bless him - looks innocently at his friend and shrugs, then claps him on the shoulder, chatting to him about how proud he is that he’s made the move to maybe join a gym after his protests all of these years. You know deep down he’s trying to keep his friends attention off you before you get your shit together.

Taking a deep breath and holding in your remaining guffaws of laughter, you click around aimlessly on the computer to make it look like you’re busy before saying, “Oh, sorry, Mr Kim. I’ve just checked our updated policy and it states that all members must have a photo on file. It’s just for security reasons. Obviously, if you don’t decide to join us, we will destroy your file. Would this be a problem?”

“No, no. That’s fine. Where’s the photographer then? Do I need to pose?” he asks.

“Just a headshot will be fine, Mr Kim. Our photographer is currently unavailable so you can provide your own photograph. The guidelines are all in your member pack,” you state as you slide the folder to him. “If you’re unsure, just call into ask. Or I’m sure Jeongguk would be happy to help you. Right, Jeongguk?”

“Of course, Taetae. I’ll help you out. No worries at all. I just email it in, right?”

“That’s right! As soon as possible would be much appreciated. Okay, here’s your pass. Got yours today, Jeongguk?”

He pats his hoodie pocket for a second before pulling out the pass with a grin.

“Awesome. I hope you enjoy your workouts, and it was great meeting you, Taehyung. I’ll look forward to receiving your photo!”

It’s five thirty seven pm and you’ve been watching the clock for the last sixteen minutes. Your shift finished at six and you feel as though you’ve been sitting at your desk for at least ten hours, never mind the six that it’s actually been. Your eyes blink slowly as the clock ticks over to five thirty eight and you sigh, lips pouting in boredom.

“Wow, what’s that face for?”

“I can’t help my face. Rude,” you retort, silently hiding the smile threatening to let slip how pleased you are that Jeongguk is stood in front of you.

“Didn’t say you could. Must be hell walking around with a beautiful face like yours. I bet you never get anything done without people bothering you,” he jokes but his eyes are serious.

“Ha! If only!”

“Are you telling me someone like you doesn’t have an equally as gorgeous boyfriend worshipping the ground you walk on?”

“Are you asking me if I’m single?” “What if I was?”

“Then I’d tell you yes, I’m very, very single.”

“And then I’d tell you it’s a crime and I don’t believe you! But that I’ve also never been as happy to hear someone is very, very single before,” he grins cheekily at you and you can feel your cheeks heating up under his gaze.

“Well go on, then. If I’m sharing, so are you! Is there a potential Mrs Jeon whose devastatingly gorgeous and effortlessly stunning that I should know about?”

“Funny you should ask - there’s one sat right in front of me right now,” he flirts, all toothy grin and cheeky glint, making you roll your eyes at his cheesiness.

“Oh my god. You really are a dork!”

“I told you!”

“So, uh, no girlfriend then?” you prompt, your need to clarify this more prominent than you’d realised.

“If you really have to ask me this then I haven’t been as obvious as I thought. I’m proud of myself! And no, I am also very, very single,” he confesses.

“What a coincidence.”

“It’s a funny old world, right?”

“It is,” you reply, just for want of saying something, having the final word. You sit in your desk chair, moving restlessly from left to right on it as he stares down at you, soft smile on his face that you know is mirrored on yours. Another gym member walks past and calls out a greeting, making you snap back to reality with a small wave. You cough quietly and sit up in your chair, breaking Jeongguk’s eye contact and trying to ignore the loaded atmosphere that’s covering you both.

He wears a knowing smile on his face when he changes the subject. “So, uh, it was weird coming to the gym yesterday.”

“Was it?”

“Yeah. I walked in and imagine my surprise when a short, old man was sitting in your seat. Let me tell you, he was not as much fun to talk to.”

“Or to flirt with,” you tease. “That’d be my boss. He was covering for me - remember when you brought your friend in last week and I’d swapped shifts?”

“Yeah, he didn’t respond too well to my charm. I’m taking Tae’s photo tomorrow by the way. He’s booked in at the hair salon ready for his ‘photo shoot’ as he keeps calling it. I reminded him that he doesn’t even want to join the fucking gym, but he’s just that extra.”

“I’m so looking forward to receiving that picture, let me tell you. Revenge will be sweet, hey?”

“So sweet. Deliciously, sickly sweet. As sweet as your Starbucks order, I’d go as far to say.” He watches as your eyes roll into the back of your head as you play along with him. He definitely does not have any inappropriate thoughts about that. None at all, thank you for asking.

“Anyway,” he prompts, getting your conversation back on track. “Were you up to anything exciting?”

“More exciting than this place? That could be literally anything. But yes, I’d say that it was.”

“But you’re not telling me.”

“But I’m not telling you.”

“Ouch. Consider my feelings hurt. No, no. It’s fine. I’ll just go and stew in self pity that my bud won’t tell me where she was yesterday even though it was - gasp - more exciting than this place.” He pretends to dab at streaming tears, letting out the occasional sob that attracts attention from other gym members in the reception area.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, you’re such a drama queen!” You laugh. “I’m not telling you.”

“I know.”

“Yet.”

“Oh. Oh. I can live with that,” he smiles. “Well, I’ll look forward to that day then.”

“Me too,” you grin.

It’s late - the end of your shift and you’re throwing your jacket on as you step out into the chilly air outside. You pull your phone out of your pocket to check on where your roommate is, checking her text when she said she was on her way to pick you up. You know her well enough to know that she’s not even left the house yet. You’re just about to text her to say you’ll get a taxi home when a body bumps into the back of you.

“Oh shit- I’m so sorry. Are you- Oh! Hi, you,” Jeongguk says as he finally catches a glimpse of your face. He’s holding onto your forearms to keep you steady from where he nearly knocked you off your feet, and he was frantically scanning your body to check for any serious injuries that could have been caused. Such a drama queen, springs back into your mind.

“Hi yourself. Nearly swept me off my feet there, Guk,” you joke.

“I mean, I’ve only been trying for the last month or so,” he retorts. “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m just waiting for my roommate to pick me up. We’re um, we’re heading out for drinks tonight, so.”

“Oh, sweet! For anything special?”

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” you say quietly, shoving your phone back into your pocket purely for something to do.

“I’m all ears,” he says. And the thing is, you can tell he’s not lying. He looks at you with openness, eyes wide and truly a window into him, mouth positioned in an encouraging smile and your whole body feels warm. It’s bubbling in your stomach and rushing through your blood stream until you’re pretty sure if he looked hard enough, he’d see a glow appearing straight out of your thumping chest.

“Remember when I was away the other day?”

“And you wouldn’t tell me why. I remember. In fact, it’s burned onto my consciousness and it’s destroyed my self confidence,” he teases. “But yes, go on.”

“Well, I also remember saying that I couldn’t tell you, but there was a yet in there,” you hint.

“Is this ‘yet’? Are we at ‘yet’?” He asks excitedly, almost bouncing on the spot. God, this boy is so special.

You nod eagerly. “It’s yet.” He shuffles closer to you in anticipation. “I had an interview.”

“Oh my god. Yes! That’s awesome! Good for you,” he blurts out, brimming with honesty. “I’m so proud of you that you went for something!” You can feel the enthusiasm vibrating from him and you fight back the urge to place a hand on his solid chest to calm him.

“It gets better,” you smile.

“Oh my fucking god, don’t tell me-”

You don’t reply, simply nodding your head with a wide grin swallowing your face.

He lets out a loud whoop and grabs onto you, flinging his arms around your shoulders and tugs you into him. He’s bouncing now and you have no choice but to clasp your hands around his lower back and jump with him.

“This is incredible! I’m so excited for you! Fuck this place!” he shouts louder than he should, making you pull back slightly to slap a hand around his mouth to quieten him. His eyes widen and then turn apologetic as he realises what he’s just shouted with your boss and regular gym members still inside. “Sorry. Sorry I got over excited. But still,” he says, voice lower this time now you’re a breath away from him. “Still, this is such awesome news. How do you feel?”

“I feel free. Amazing. Nervous. Fulfilled. I don’t know. I can’t quite believe it still. You know you’ve not even asked what the job is?” you say, punching his bicep lightly, not quite able to stop touching him now you’ve started.

“Fuck you’re right! What is it? What is it?” he chants.

“You’re looking at the new teacher’s assistant at the pre-school downtown,” you say, heart thudding in your chest as you break the news.

“Holy shit, are you- Oh my god! Oh my god!” He grabs onto your forearms again and the grip even through your jacket feels addictive. He’s bouncing again, excited energy radiating off him. “You wanted to work with kids and holy shit, you’ve done it! Yes!”

“I mean, it’s only a teacher’s assistant to start with but there’s plenty of oppor-”

“Hey! No! Only a teacher’s assistant? No fucking way! You’re going to be working with fucking kids. I asked you what your dream would be and you said working with the little shits. Oh my god! I’m so pumped for you!”

You laugh loudly as he pulls you in for another tight squeeze. He’s swaying you both left and right in his restlessness and you inhale his scent as you gasp for air.

He only pulls away from you to shout to the patrons in the parking lot, “Hey! Excuse me?” You’re batting at his chest to tell him to stop whatever he’s about to do, but he only pulls you into his side, fitting you against him snugly as he carries on. “Hey! Hi! You see this girl right here? She’s just scored her fucking dream job! She’s amazing! She’s going to be the best fucking teacher’s assistant there’s ever been and-”

Your head feels dizzy with joy and giddiness as this wonderful man celebrates your news as if it’s the best thing he’s ever heard, as if it’s his news to be excited over. You look up at him as he screams across the parking lot, free of shame and exhilarated to share your news and the world around you suddenly drains away. He’s all you can see and you’re slotted so perfectly into his side and you’re so happy he forgot his pass that day all those months ago so you react how you’ve wanted to for months.

Your hand slides up to his sharp jawline and tugs him to face you. You laugh as he still continues his tirade of praise about you but his eyes are locked on yours. They widen a little as your eyes slip down to his gorgeous, delicate lips and you raise on your tip toes, pulling him to you until your lips finally meet. He quickly slides his hand to cup the back of your head, shocked by your sudden decision to kiss him but so, so contented as he can feel you exhale a shaky breath. You know that really, you should pull away from him - he’s already made a scene by shouting his excitement at total strangers in front of your place of work but fuck that - you’re leaving soon, anyway. You push back upwards to be closer to him and he gathers you in, arms resting at your lower back as you circle your arms around his neck, entangling your fingers into his fluffy hair. He nips lightly at your lower lip and you’re unable to hide the soft moan that slips out of your mouth but he quickly swallows it, sliding one of his hands up to the back of your head again where he can position your head where he wants you. It feels like reality and dreams and connection and desire and you can’t get enough. Neither it seems can he.

You’re vaguely aware of the automatic doors opening and closing behind the both of you but you don’t register any other presence, mind only on Jeongguk, Jeongguk, Jeongguk.

A burst of noise from a group of teenagers exiting the gym breaks you both apart breathlessly, reluctant to move any further away from each other than truly necessary. You can feel his uneven breathing on your cheek and he’s staring intently at you, eyes flitting around your face like he can’t quite believe what just happened.

“I uh- I’m sorry?” you mumble, making no move to separate yourself from him.

He huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “What part of that are you apologising for? Because believe me, no apologies are necessary.” He’s brushing his nose against your cheek and down to your jaw now and it’s making your legs feel unsteady. You’re even more grateful he’s got you solidly wrapped up in his arms.

“I- I’m sorry for - shit, stop that I’m can’t concentrate-” he grins at that, smacking his lips to your cheek once before returning himself to look at you. “I was apologising for grabbing you. And not asking. You just make me feel all-” you pause.

“All? All what?”

“Warm.”

“Warm?” he laughs. He steps backwards to let a group of women enter the automatic doors and he tugs you with him.

You nod shyly, laughing self deprecatingly. “Like, fuzzy and warm. And I just couldn’t not kiss you anymore. So. Sorry.”

“Apology accepted. And then returned with a note of thanks.” He’s so weird and you like him so much. “What?”

“A note of thanks. And maybe a bouquet of flowers. And one of those fucking Starbucks drinks you’re obsessed with. You know, just to say thanks for having the balls to kiss me because I was wrestling with myself to find mine.”

You giggle, resting your head in the crook of his neck for a moment to compose yourself. “Well then. You’re welcome. I hope you’ve found your balls,” you joke, shoulders wracking with laughter as he lets out a loud cackle.

“Don’t you worry. My balls are back in full force and ready to go. Wait- no- that sounded-. Okay, never mind. You see? You make me say stupid shit like this!”

“Now that I won’t apologise for. You’re literally the only thing that have made this past month bearable.”

“Me and the delivery guy.”

“Of course. I wonder how I should thank him?”

“Not in the same way as me,” he pouts and you can’t resist pressing your lips to his jaw before continuing.

“And you’re the one that pushed me to apply for something else. Without you, I might have been stuck here for who knows how many more months before I - to steal your words - found my balls and applied elsewhere.”

He’s smiling radiantly at you and the rest of the world blurs out again. He’s looking at you like you’re the sun and the moon and the stars and you feel dizzy with the weight of that.

He’s about to speak when a car screeches to a halt at the side of you, headlines illuminating the two of you so brightly you have to squint.

“That’s uh- that’s my roommate,” you explain, pulling your arms from his neck and smoothing them down the arms of his hoodie. He grips at your hands, intertwining your fingers with his own as he nods in understanding. Jeongguk’s like an open book and you can see his reluctance to let you go so you squeeze his hands in yours.

“Okay,” he says.

“Alright,” you say back.

He huffs out a laugh, pulling you into him one more time with an arm around your shoulder, one hand still entangled with yours. You feel him peck the top of your head once, twice before he releases you with a light shove towards the car idling next to you.

“Congrats again, superstar. Now go get drunk!”

“So,” Jeongguk starts, leaning against your desk in a way that is oh so familiar now. It’s Monday evening, two days since you’d finally given into temptation right outside of here. You hadn’t spoken to him since, only realising that night when you’d only wanted to talk to Jeongguk that you didn’t actually have his number.

“So,” you parrot back to him, not bothered to bite down on the grin that automatically blooms in his presence.

“How are you?” he asks.

“Pretty good, thanks. You?”

“Shit.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, see. Friday night was incredible. You see, this incredible - and I mean incredible - girl rocks my world. She tells me that she’s applied for this job and - get this - she only fucking got it. Not only that, it’s her fucking dream job.” You’re smiling at him, playing along with his dramatics, dropping in plenty of oh really’s and no ways. “She’s going to work with kids, you know? Naturally, I was on top of the fucking world for her. And then guess what?”

“What?” He leans closer to you, goofily pretending to check no-one’s listening, then whispers, “Then she fucking kisses me. I’m talking, grabs me by the neck and plants one on me. I felt like I was floating on air. Like, this could be the best thing that ever happened to me. In fact, no. It was the best thing that had ever happened. And then-”

“And then-”

“I get home. First of all, I’m teased by my roommates because I can’t wipe the grin off my face. They kept telling me I was glowing. And then? I go to text this dream girl, just to say have a great night, congrats, thanks for blowing my mind and so on. And then I realise.”

You gasp playfully, trying to control your giggling. “What did you realise?”

“I realised that I don’t even have her fucking number.”

“Wow. She kissed you like that and didn’t leave her number? She sounds like a dick,” you joke.

“How dare you, take that back! She’s the girl of my dreams!” he jokes.

“Well that sounds like an awful experience. I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” you say, patting his hand where it’s laid on top of your desk.

He’s quick though, and when you move to pull away he flips his hand and grasps yours, intertwining your fingers as best he can.

“Nah, I’d like to go through it again and again. But not the number part. That bit really was shit,” he laughs.

You hold out the hand he’s not holding and look expectantly at him. “Phone?”

He reluctantly lets go of you to pat at his pockets - first his shorts, then his hoodie before his eyes meet yours. “Um, let me check my backpack.” He roots in there, pointedly ignoring your peels of laughter echoing around him before he drops his bag on the floor and drops his head to your desk with a thump.

“You forgot your phone, didn’t you?”

He whines loudly and nods his head as best he can while he’s still resting it on the desk. You’re so enchanted by him and the natural way he makes the laughter race out of you. He’s mumbling to himself about what the fuck did I ever do to deserve this and how sending a picture of Tae passed out, shirtless and drunk for his member photo was only payback and I shouldn’t be punished for it when you reach for your top desk drawer and swiftly unlock it.

You reach inside, searching for the piece of paper you’re after and withdrawing it quietly so as to not attract Jeongguk’s attention. You quickly scribble your number and a small love heart across the middle of the paper and slide it next to where Jeongguk’s head is resting. You give the top of the desk three small taps to get his attention.

He obediently looks up at you and follows your eye line to where you’ve placed the piece of paper beside him. He takes one look at where you’ve scrawled your number and his head is thrown back in laughter, hands clapping loudly in the reception area.

“Oh my fucking god, you’re amazing,” he says quickly before bursting out into another round of loud laughs.

He picks up the piece of paper you’d slid to him and holds it firmly in both hands, staring at that fateful photograph from his member’s profile that you’d printed off on the first day you’d met him. You’d scribbled your number directly across the part of his forehead that was on show and he felt as if his heart was bursting with fondness for you.

“Please let me take you on a date,” he says breathlessly, leaning over you desk again.

“It’s in the employee’s guidelines that we can’t date gym members. Sorry, JK, you’re shit out of luck,” you shrug, throwing your hands up in an I don’t make the rules gesture.

“Ah, shit. That really is a shame. Hey, when’s your last day again?”

“Friday.”

“Ha! Looks like you’re shit out of luck then. There’s no getting rid of me now. I’ll pick you up at 9 on Friday then? Text me your address when you’ve got my number.”

He bumps the top of your desk with his fist once and then backs away towards the gym area doors. He slides his pass out of his shorts pocket - at least he’s remembered that - and sends you a devilish wink across the room as he scans his pass and disappears through the door.

Well shit. Friday can’t come soon enough.

Hi hi hi! I hope you enjoyed this :) I’m rather new to this fandom so please let me know your thoughts!

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woshuaaa · 5 years ago

Text

spoilers for BL3

i made some fixes for what i thought were weak points in-game. they personally made sense to me, feel free to tell me what yall think??

Maya, Ava and Krieg.

You meet maya on Athenas, and at some point along the way, she sidetracks a bit.

“I have to go find my… friend. Yeah, lets call him that. He should be near the cemetery.”

You get to the cemetery where you’re greeted by the mountain of a psycho known as Krieg. He’s screaming about poop trains or ribcages or something along those lines.

“This is Krieg, he and I were crimson raiders a few years back.” “RIDING DEATH BOMBS TOGETHER!” “Speaking of which, Krieg, where’s Ava? You were supposed to keep an eye on her. In the library.” “RRRRGHGHH CONSTRAINTS OF A SKULL SPLITTER!” “I warned you Krieg. If she gets hurt it’s your fault. Come on vault hunter, this way.”

You continue through the rest of the mission as normal, but now there’s an extra occupant in maya and ava’s room.

Upon killing the rampager, Ava shows up again, with Krieg trailing behind. Krieg could be less than interested and is just tossing rocks around.

You exit the vault and catch Maya scolding Krieg for not keeping Ava on the ship like she asked. Tyreen and Troy show up, and assume Krieg is just another psycho. “Hey there follower! You did good, capturing the Vault Thief and an extra siren! Should make you Eridium tier for that. You’ll be rewarded when we open the great vault.” Kreig cocks his head to one side in confusion, but for once is silent.

Tyreen gets Ava by the throat and Maya has Troy in a chokehold, and Krieg is clearly confused on what to do as he looks back and forth between the two rapidly. Troy reaches up and grabs maya, and Krieg goes into a bloodlust, screaming and charging at Troy full speed. “Troy!” Tyreen shouts, dropping ava to rush to her brothers aid. When Krieg tackles Troy, maya drops, tattoos gone, and makes her way over to Ava. Troy and Tyreen get a grip on Krieg, with Troys robot arm wrapped around Kriegs neck. “Rule number one, follower: never betray the family.” Tyreen sneers through gritted teeth as she begins to drain krieg. “Krieg!” Maya screams, and she tries to run toward them, when Tyreen uses an energy pulse to send them flying back further.

“Maya…. I.. love… you…” Krieg says as his eyes glaze over, and he turns into a husk, which quickly falls into a pile of dust. “No! Krieg!” Maya cries, tears streaming down her face. “Well, that takes care of that. Oh, eugh, ew, i think I got some psycho dust in my mouth, eugh, ew!” tyreen says, gagging. “Atlas! Ty, we gotta go!” Troy says, grabbing his sisters arm. They phase away as a squad of Atlas troops storm the vault, seeing nothing more than the three.

“Krieg…” Maya says sadly.

“There’s nothing we could do, Maya. Lets get back to Santcuary.” Moze says.

“I know he meant a lot to you Maya, but we have to get out of here.” Amara says.

“He was a good hunter, but his time has come. We will mourn on Sanctuary.” Fl4k says.

“It’s sad lass, but there’s nothing we can do for him now. Let’s get you back to the ship.” Zane says.

>Upon rejoining Lilith on the bridge.

“Oh no, Maya, Tyreen got you too?” “Not Tyreen, it was that Troy douchebag.” Ava says. Maya can’t bring herself to speak. “Krieg… They killed him.” Ava says, staring down at her shoes.

“Damn. I’m sorry Maya. I knew how close you two were. He was a psycho, but a good one at that. I can tell you for sure that he’s riding the shiniest of meat bicycles up in the stars, eh?” Lilith says, trying to comfort maya.

>After the mission is complete, maya has a side mission available.

“Krieg was one of the best of us, vault hunter, and I want to honor him as best I can. Can you head down to Pandora and see if he left any echo logs?”

Here you can find a few logs mentioning how he feels about maya semi-sanely. Maya seems to be oblivious to the clues that Krieg liked her, until you get to the end of the cave where there’s an echo next to a small box.

“Maya. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Your the tink to my turret, the bullet in my mag, the sister to.. My brother? Agh no that..that came out wrong. What I’m trying to say is… will you ride this meat bicycle with me, and be my wife?” The box opens, revealing a poorly made ring made of scrap steel. “Well, what did you find?” Maya asks.

“Ill show you up on the ship.” the vault hunter responds. Upon returning to sanctuary, you meet up with maya in her quarters. “What is it you needed to show me vault hunter?” The vault hunter places the ring box on the table and the echo plays for maya, and the box opens on cue.

“Oh Krieg, you crazy, beautiful bastard you.” Maya says, on the brink of tears. “Thank you for doing this, vault hunter. It means… it means a lot to me.” She pays you and you get a legendary grenade mod called Kriegs buzz axe, that turns your grenades into a buzz axe that gets hurled at enemies. It has red text that says “IM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!”

The next time you see Maya on Sanctuary, she’s wearing the ring Krieg made on a chain around her neck.

Gaige the Siren

“Hey killer. I’ve gotten word that another former raider is in trouble. I need you to go down and check on her, will ya?”

>Player goes down to pandora and meets Gaige and Deathtrap, who are in the middle of an assault. Pain and Terror get ahold of her during the assault, and she’s to be sacrificed to the twins as an offering. During the last third of the fight against the Agonizer 9000, she ~somehow~ (Hint: siren powers) manages to free herself and summon Deathtrap, and helps you finish off the fight.

“Thanks for helping me out there, VH. Man, I must be getting rusty on my badassery. I’ll meet you up on Sanctuary, hey?”

>Continue through the game as normal, along with some additional bits with Gaige catching up with Zero and Maya, and mourning the loss of Krieg.

“Hey, you didn’t think I’d let you fight those assholes alone, didja?” Gaige says she’s coming down to help you fight Troy. “Gaige, you cant-” “Lilith, Imma be real with ya for a sec, and uh, no. Im going, and you can’t fuckin stop me. Kay? Kay.” “If you’re going, I’m coming down too. That douchebag killed Krieg, and I can’t… I can’t risk losing you too.” Maya says, and she clearly isn’t backing down. “I’m the leader of the raiders, and I’m not letting you two kill yourselves down there.” Lilith says, frustrated.

You go down to the cathedral of the twin gods, and Maya and Lilith say theyll meet you there. Gaige helps you fight through the bandit hoards.

“You’re too late vault thief! Tyreen and I are opening the great vault, you cant stop us now!” Gaige taps on Troys shoulder, and he turns around. “Guess again, jackass.” Gaige slugs him in the face with her metal arm, and there it is revealed that she has blue tattoo’s travelling up her arm and shoulder on the left side, same as her metal arm. As she punches him, her white siren wings appear behind her, and a title card pops up introducing her as “Gaige: the Siren: (whaaaaaat?)”

Gaige helps you out throughout the fight, occasionally summoning deathtrap and using phase shift (“Excuting Phaseshift, BITCHES!”) to allow small turrets to pop up along with ammo boxes.

At the end of the fight, Lilith and Maya appear, and as Troy dies, Maya regains her powers back.

“Gaige, when were you gonna tell us about this?” Lilith demands. “Well ya see, when… Y’know with the whole laying-low thing, I… okay look I know this seems bad, but I couldn’t figure out a good time. I didn’t even know what was happening, and it didn’t happen right away! A few years later, when I was off planet and trying to figure out my next move one day and bam! There they were.” “But the question is, how?” “Angel and I… talked. We liked to talk. Its not like anything personal, but it was nice. She was my first friend, and… I-I didn’t want anything to happen to that.” “So angel chose you?” Maya asks. “No, I-I don’t think so anyways.” “Maya what are you talking about?” Lilith asks. “Before a siren passes, it’s said that she must choose an apprentice, someone to pass her powers onto, and if she doesnt, her powers will just play the genetic lottery. The bond you two had must’ve meant something to Angel too, and she chose you to carry her powers.” Gaige looks at the tattoo’s on her arm and shoulder with newfound meaning.

Gaige is significantly more impacted by the Childhoods End quest, for obvious reasons.

Gaige continues to play the role that Tannis did.

Liliths death.

(to clarify, i really think it’s time for lilith to give up her role. she’s been the main focus in 2/3 games now, and i personally think that its time for her to step down and go out in a truly badass way.)

“It feels nice to have these powers back. Like greeting an old friend.” Lilith says. “Hey uh guys? I don’t think we’re in the clear yet! Elpis is still tearing pandora apart!” Gaige yells.

“Run towards the fire.” Lilith looks over at Ava and Maya. “Be ready Ava.”

“Lilith, what are you doing?” “Lilith, no!” Maya and Gaige plead with lilith, but she ignores them and takes off soaring towards Elpis.

“What the hell is she doing?!” Maya yells.

“She’s closing the great vault.” Ava responds.

“Is she insane? That’ll kill her!” Gaige cries.

“That’s the idea.” Ava looks up at lilith as she reaches elpis.

Lilith phases Elpis away, leaving behind her insignia.

“She’s dead… She’s really dead.” Maya says sadly. “Not quite. She’s still lighting the way.” Ava says.

Ava suddenly doubles over and begins to float. “Ava? Ava what the hell is going on?!” Gaige shouts. A sudden burst of energy comes from Ava, revealing the bright orange wings of the Firehawk, paired with the tattoo’s now running down Ava’s arm.

“Those tattoo’s suit you, Ava.” Maya says, resting a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “She chose right, I can say that much.” Gaige says with a gentle smile. “C’mon Guys, let’s get back to the ship.” Gaige says, making her way out of the vault. Maya follows, and as Ava goes to leave, she turns back around, looking up at the Blazing Phoenix above her head. “Thanks, Lilith.” Ava says softly. “Ava, cmon!” Maya shouts. “Coming!” Ava quickly runs back to catch up to the others.

#borderlands 3 #borderlands 3 spoilers #bl3 #bl3 spoilers #bl2 #bl:tps #borderlands #borderlands 2 #borderlands tps #borderlands the pre sequel #borderlands fic #fix-it au #fix-it fic

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mxnark · 5 years ago

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CONVEX - ADORE U - COVER

5000 mina

Recommended for you!

it's been a rough couple of days since she had gotten the notification.

since then, there have been other updates from other colleges about her applications to them. some were yes, few were no's, but she only cared about the one waitlisted since she knew her parents would be the one to care about it the most about that school. after all, it was the best in the country. even if she didn't have much opinion on it, she wanted to at least get accepted from the school as a way to let her parents know she's good on her own. if she lets them know of her acceptance, maybe her mother would stop being so overbearing. whether or not that was possible, she wants to convince herself that she'll at least get less pressure if she showed that she was good enough somehow.

as she reads articles for an answer on what to do in this situation, she sees the common psa that every article says. being waitlisted does not mean no. do not give up all hope yet. it was easier said than done, not to mention it didn't exactly mean a yes either and that's what they care about in the end. she doesn't even bother trying to stare at the status after she got it. she's afraid to be reminded of her own failure, nor does she want to reflect on her own faults that led to this decision.

she didn't think she was bad at hiding emotions because her parents had never pointed it out. however, she was clearly not doing as well as she would since chohee, one of her friends, pulls her out of their literature class when she was busy thinking about the whole situation again. the both of them arrive at the bathroom, making sure no one was in there but the both of them.

"what's up with you?" chohee asks her. "you don't look seem like yourself."

mina frowns at the accusation. "what do you mean?"

"you're usually more excited during this class," she explains herself. "you didn't even say your response to the prompt allowed. you always do that."

"i'm just," she sighs, "tired. i'm tired."

she tilts her head. "what do you mean by tired? did you get enough sleep or-"

"i don't know!" she answers abruptly. "i didn't get much sleep, but there's also a lot going on in my head, okay? i'm just tired of everything happening to me."

there's a short silence that follows after she speaks. "do you want to talk about it?" she asks.

no point in hiding it from her since they were practically taking some minutes away from class because of it. "snu waitlisted me."

"that's not a big deal," chohee replies immediately, making mina frustrated. "being waitlisted doesn't mean that they don't want you."

"but it doesn't mean i'm guaranteed to be there, either!" she argues. "being waitlisted means that i'm not guaranteed a spot unless someone ends up falling out of it. it means that i'm not a priority." she looks down at the ground, the frustration of the situation making her more upset than it should. she didn't want to look up at her friend while she was crying. it would make her feel immature. "that i'm not good enough." she whispers.

"well, kang mina's not the best at everything, is she?" she asks. "you don't have to the picture-perfect student in order to get a spot there."

"then why do i have to wait to get it?" she asks, still looking away from the girl in front of her.

"because shit like this takes time, mina and you need to remind yourself that." she has a point, but it's not something that makes mina feel better. "all you can do now is wait for them to say what will happen next."

mina decides not to respond to that, afraid that if she says one more word, she'll probably bawl her eyes out. she didn't want to show a moment of vulnerability to a friend who has only seen her as the tough girl she comes off to be. she wants to say 'my parents will make me feel like shit for this.' 'how long will i have to wait until i get an answer that i want?' 'what will i do with my life knowing that my mom will never leave me alone because i'm not the bare minimum of who she wants me to be?'

chohee must have noticed this because she continues to talk. "if it makes you feel any better, i don't know exactly where i'm going either."

it doesn't do anything big, but it does catch mina's attention.

"i've only sent a few applications and more of them were rejections than they were at least waitlisted," she continues. "not to mention, i only applied to those schools because my dad told me i should. i was actually thinking of taking a gap year in order to make more money for even just community college."

it takes away the urge to cry, but she still doesn't feel like looking up at her. not yet.

"but i also want to take that one year to learn more about myself, you know?" she says with optimism, something mina thought was admirable. "i don't exactly know what i want to do with my life yet and i want to be able to get some time to actually think about what i want to do rather than write papers about some random thing at the top of my head, you know? and i know two guys from the theatre department that are taking a gap year to focus more on theatre. probably to add experience or more service hours. but either way, it's more added time to help you figure everything out."

mina looks up finally, feeling a bit calmer to talk to the other now. "are you telling me i should think about taking a gap year?"

she shakes her head. "it's a suggestion," she corrects her. "i know your mom is super strict since you basically talk about her as if she was a witch." that earns a snort from mina. "but, even so, you'll legally be an adult by the time it's decision day and it's ultimately your life in the end, not hers."

she shrugs. "i mean, i guess." she's already aware of the fact, as shown through her arguments with her mother about how the latter always bothers her about her future. it's the fact that it won't be easy to convince her about that decision since she'll be lucky if she's left with just an argument and a "go to your room!" and after not so recent events, she's not even sure if she wants to unleash her mother's full wrath. she's already experienced 100%, but she doesn't want to face her mother's rage being over 9000.

"i'll think about it," mina decides finally. "but thank you for talking to me."

chohee smiles and pulls her friend into a hug. "anytime. it's all up to you, though. remember that."

there's an obvious fake smile on her face when they pull back. "don't remind me."

the both of them laugh and mutually agree to head back to class. when they arrive back at the classroom, they see that the majority of them are just on their phones if not talking to the teacher about something. they both walk back to their seats and chohee's the one to ask what's going on.

the one person in their table group but not friend group answers that question. "one of us complained that she was teaching us too much for the day, so she decided to chill out and give us all a break."

mina couldn't believe what she was hearing. "no offense, but that sounds really stupid."

"hey, if it's free time, i'm not complaining," gaon, one of the girls in her friend group, responds to that, earning a nod of agreement from chohee.

there was no use in complaining about it because it does sound like a luxury. mina quickly takes out her phone and earbuds to distract herself with her favorite hobby: watching multiple videos on youtube. she would go to twitter, but she doesn't really have that much to talk about that will be entertaining to her mutuals. she'd go on instagram, but she didn't want to be bombarded with reminders about how everyone else in the school has gotten accepted into a university when she has not (regardless if it's on her rinsta or finsta, she knows she'll see at least one post about it if not on someone's story). plus, if it's youtube, who knows where she'll find herself?

she looks through her subscriptions to see a few new videos. however, one that definitely caught her eye was a new video from one of her favorite dancers. however, what interested her more was that it was a dance cover. when she clicks on it to watch the video, she had a lot of thoughts on her mind. 1. this dance is super basic and she didn't understand the multitude of comments saying "OMG QUEEN YOU'RE SO FAST 😱😱😱😱" , "YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE A MEMBER OF THIS GROUP SINCE YOU POST VIDEOS AT SONIC SPEED OMGGGGGGG!!!!!!!", and other ridiculous comments coming from an audience of middle schoolers or younger; 2. it reminded her of the fact that it's been a while since she actually got around to learning a new dance and actually performing it for a group of people and that fact alone made mina think more than she should. she thought a lot about how back in the day, she always made attempts of making cover videos, only to feel discouraged because she had a hunch that no one was going to notice it in the end anyway. but, to be fair, that was during a time where she had no friends and a lower self-esteem and she likes to think that she's somewhat improved a little more since then, thanks to the support of her friends.

all of a sudden, she gets an idea and she quickly taps on gaon's desk to get her attention from her game. gaon pauses the game and looks up at mina curiously. "you have a gym membership, right?"

"...yes," she answers with slightly squinted eyes, her voice sounding as if she was getting suspicious of her friend. "why?"

"i have a plan and i need to tell you and the rest of the group during lunchtime, but it involves going to the gym afterwards."

"are you finally thinking of working out as a hobby?"

that catches her off track. "wh- no. i'll tell you more about it later."

gaon shrugs. "alright. since it's friday."

mina smiles. "thank you, queen."

"no problem, weirdo," she answers before she gets back to playing her game.

mina expected her friends to think it was a good idea to start posting content on her own youtube channel. she's lucky that she has yet to post anything on there yet, as she mainly uses the website to watch her favorites.

"i need a distraction to get my mind off of the stress in my life," was her reason. though she was sure they would be up for the idea even if she didn't have a valid one.

"i think we all need a distraction to get our mind off of the stress in our lives," daeun says, gaining everyone's laughter as a response.

truth be told, this idea has been in the back of her head for a while now. she's thought about it since she moved back to korea. but due to the lack of friends at the time, she only thought of it as a thing to think about often. but the older she gets, the more she considers the option. but it was during lunchtime where she was making a channel layout with her friends that she decided she was going to do it.

so she stands in an empty gym studio that her rich friend gaon asked to borrow for the occasion, the rest of her friends either behind the dslr camera or to the sides where they were not seen on the monitor.

"i'm shocked you're learned this choreo despite all the workload we've had," daeun comments. "not that i'm complaining though since it's convex."

"why this song anyway?" gaon asks.

"the more recent the song, the more attention it gets," mina answers. "plus it's cute. it sounds really fun."

"fair," gaon nods.

mina looks over at chohee who stands at the side with a phone and portable speaker in her hands. she shows fives fingers before an okay symbol to check if the other was ready. when she gets a thumbs up, she goes into position by walking to the little bit of tape on the ground that she freshly placed, crosses her arms, and looks down from the camera.

"one, two, three," gaon clicks on the record button. she looks over at chohee, continuing the countdown by mouthing the next three numbers. "four, five, six." at six, the music plays.

one of the best things about living in a strict house is how when she's home alone, she's able to lipsync to her favorite songs to herself because if she goes any louder, she knows her mother will basically lecture her until mina's ears fall off. having had this song play constantly on repeat thanks to gaon, she was able to get some of the words in her head since she was not shy to singing at the top of her lungs in her car. so she lipsyncs them to the best of her ability. even if she messed up, it wasn't like the people were going to point it out. she's going to be a dance channel, not a lipsync one.

the dance comes to her naturally. though she uses the little reminders in her brain for certain parts of the song, she's able to do the rest with muscle memory thanks to her practicing whenever her parents were out. when she was learning it before she got the notification, she only thought about showing it to her friends. but with this? it was like gracefully patting two birds on the head with one stone (she does not condone animal violence at all). there's a smile on her face when she does the moves and it's not only for show since the song is about love and the group members had smiles on their faces when doing this dance. it's been a few months since she's had an audience to perform for, even if this one was a bit smaller than it was in the past (half the school to be exact since she'd only perform for school performances). but no matter the people, it just felt relieving to be able to dance again after weeks of stress breakdowns over upcoming assignments she procrastinated on, tests she barely studied for, or recommendation letters that have yet to be sent by her teachers. she was able to relax, even if she wanted this dance to be perfect.

the chorus finally hits and that's perhaps her favorite part of the song and choreography overall. when she jumps off the ground, she imagines herself like mario hitting a question block with the top of his head while simultaneously pushing away a paragoomba, even if that's never happened in the classic games before and she isn't throwing her hat at one. nonethless, her imagination is key when it comes to this dance. she taps her chest to match the consonants of "내 말-" before bringing her arms above her head to hit each other at "-은", kicking out her left leg as she does so. and when she goes down on both feet for a second before standing straight to continue the dance? she'd be lying if she said she didn't find that absolutely satisfyingly cool. whoever choreographed this deserves her highest praises.

she ignores the little giggles from her friends when there comes parts where simply just stands, such as at the beginning of the rap bit in the bridge. there's no reason to why she does it besides the fact that she didn't really choose one member to focus on for the choreo. it was just a bunch of them really. if they were in the center, she was most likely going to follow along with their moves.

when the song reaches its end and she bends down on one knee to mark it, she pants as she waits for gaon to click on the record button. when she does, she falls to the ground in relief and her friends begin to cheer for her before they all collectively each take off one of their shoes and throw it at her, making her squeal in response. as she covers her head and laughs along with them, she quickly stands up and walks to the camera, clicking on the gallery button to see the footage. however, the longer she looks at it, the more she cringes.

"can we do that again?" she asks, disappointment and exhaustion in her voice. everyone collectively groans, but they comply because they understand that she wants to make a good first impression on the internet.

she's never really understood the struggle with video editors until now. before this, she would only use imovie for group projects with her friends and even then, she was doing the bare minimum with what was given to her. but considering that this was going to be a normal thing for her, she'll have to learn to do it more often.

inserting the sd card onto her macbook, she looks at all the six takes of her doing the dance, half of them being less than the whole song due to her making small mistakes halfway during the choreography that frustrated her to the point she groaned about it before giving up and wanting to restart the whole thing. it was an exhausting process, but she knows that she'll have to get used to it in the end. unlike school performances, she doesn't have time to perfect the dance until she finally records it. and while her impatience makes it difficult for her to accept it, she'll have to take it as an opportunity to learn how to be more tolerant of this.

the sixth take is probably her favorite though since it was the latest and best version, as it was the result of her sharpening her moves and preventing herself from forgetting what to do at certain parts of the choreography. when she imports the clip onto the project, she takes the audio of "adore u" next and she actually bought it with her own money instead of using a youtube mp3 converter site. that's a mina point for being a decent human being!

now was the harder part: syncing the song with clip. truth be told, she's never actually done this part before, but she was told by a senior last year that if she were to ever consider making cover videos on instagram (ha!), she'd probably have difficulty syncing the video with the audio on a phone editor. she supposes she's lucky in this case since this is on desktop, but she doesn't know if that will make this process any easier for her.

with a pair of headphones and a lot of determination, she gets to work, shortening the take a little at the beginning to make sure that it would make the job of syncing it easier, she drags the audio file below the video and clicks play to hear how it sounds, only to be greeted with the sound of echoing. when she hears it for the first time, she frowns and clicks stop after hearing a good three seconds of it. she quickly zooms into the project to try and see if she can spot the same waveforms and match them up together. it doesn't take long until she plays the audio again and hears a slight little echo. this was beginning to get a little frustrating so she tries to move it up one more time and thankfully, she managed to do it.

however, despite the good (not great, but it's not too bad) lighting of the gym studio, she still feels like the video looked a little bland. it didn't help with the fact that she was working with probably one of the most basic video editors. she should be at least a little grateful that she even has a video editor and that it's not as bad as movie maker, otherwise she'd have to suffer from cringy nostalgia from the fonts. but when she goes through the filters and sees how they look with the video, she realizes that she doesn't... really have anything but what she's already put down already.

it's nothing to worry about though since being upset about it wasn't really going to lead her anywhere. all she can do is take a good screenshot of her first position and make it the cover photo with photoshop and hope that it'll at least get someone's attention on the website. after taking the screenshot, she mutes the video to only get the music as the audio for the whole thing.

it's done! and it didn't take that long either! relieved with how simple it was (for now), she clicks on the button on the export button and clicks on the export button immediately, not even bothering to give a creative name for the file because it's the least of her worries for now. as she waits for it to export, she goes on twitter to look at what's going on with her mutuals and favorite celebrities. liking reality show clips and quoting some with a keyboard smash because she apparently thinks they are so funny despite the straight face she keeps while watching it.

when the imovie notification appears in the corner, she quickly looks at it excitedly only to see an upsetting message.

exporting "my movie" has failed.

"bullshit!" she whispers to herself, going back on the editor and attempting to export it again to see if it will show anything else. she goes back on the internet shortly after, continuing to go through her timeline when the message pops up again!

at this point, she's going to pull out her hair! she goes to the finder app and selects a bunch of random pictures she saved from twitter and puts them in the trash, majority of them being images of her biases so she won't deny that it hurts her a little. after she empties the "apple trashcan", she goes back to export it for the third time and rather than going back on twitter, she stays on the app so she can watch the progress circle load and finally get her video exported.

it takes a little longer to export this time, which gives her a little bit of hope as she sees the circle slowly filling up. but right before it could even fill the whole thing, it disappears and she is about to lose her mind when she sees the popup once again. all of my efforts. all of my pictures that i could've kept forever. all of them are gone because this stupid editor thinks i'm a clown! beginning to be even more frustrated, she goes back to her finder to delete the barely finished drafts of the video, even more downloaded pictures, and one game that she barely touched after finishing it to throw it all in the empty digital bin. when she clears the trash once again, hearing the sound of crumpling paper in both of her ears, she exports the video, this time taking the opportunity to title it with something: if this video does not export, i WILL eat you.

it's one more segment of staring at the circle as it slowly fills up and when she sees it being completed, she lets out a sigh of relief. finally! four times! it took four times! if she ends up having to do any more times than that in the future, she'll probably get more gray hairs than both her mom and her dad combined.

not wanting to waste any more of her time by having to deal with her stupid laptop, she opens up photoshop, takes the screenshot, and chooses a random font before writing "adore u" in a bigger size than "convex" in a smaller one. it doesn't look like it could blend in with the lighting, so she calls it a day as she saves the image and goes on youtube to upload it.

she could be a bit more descriptive with the description, but she wants to be professional (for now) since it is her first video. so in the description, she simply leaves her instagram username and her twitter username because she wants the minimal clout for the one random person who wasn't her friend to follow her on both. before she could press the publish video, she remembers to drop a few hashtags on the bottom. #CONVEX #ADOREU #ADOREUCOVER #KPOP

when she clicks the publish video, she closes her laptop and stretches her arms, letting out a big sigh from all the "work" she did. she'll plug the video on her local twitter and her ig story later but for now? she was going to chill out and bingewatch fruits basket (the new one).

#( * YT )#( the wc is 4.2k OOF SORRY! )#( but look at babie's first yt video :') )#( ignore how the gif / video is mirrored and how it's also pledis girls audio FWJIEOFEJWIO )#( * SOLO )#rkvlog #( brief my ass... sowwy #rkconvex

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paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 · 6 years ago

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RobStar Week Day 2

After heeding to the suggestion of my good pen pal @lightdusk96, I’ve decided to get a head start with this other prompt before my work week begins. Enjoy!

The little Tamaranean girl had let loose a very prideful roar as her starbolts had charged and created an aura around her. Mar’i, dressed in an orange and blue martial arts gi with a white-black symbol of the family on her back, had officially charged up her power level. Her brother, wearing a blue and white space warrior like armor with goofy shoulder pads and a red plastic apparatus on his left eye, had a ‘panicked’ looked on his face, with his good friend Lian asking next to him, “Jake, what’s Mar’i’s power level?”

“IT”S OVER 9000!!!!!” Jake yells as he takes the plastic device, the ‘Scouter’ he calls it, off his eye and almost crushes it. He would have had it not been for hearing a distinct chuckle coming from the kitchen.

“Alright you guys, you might wanna save your energy for the Con. Your Uncle Gar isn’t going to get that ice cream from if your too exhausted you know.” A twenty seven year old Dick Grayson says as he walks in with red denim overalls, brown worker boots, a blue long shirt underneath said overalls and a red cap with a D surrounded with a white circle.

“Okay Daddy!” Both Mar’i and Jake chirp happily in native Romani while their friend Lian gives a stern salute she had learned courtesy of Roy in order to match the little SPARTAN II armor she was wearing (who knew ZCube 720 games had appeal to 10 year old girl as much as college fratboys).

“Ah, ah. English you two” Dick quickly corrected his two kids.

“Oh husband,” a distinct female voice emerging from the bathroom called out in a sing song tone “My preparations are complete now”

Kori had walked out of the bathroom with a old school hot pink ball dress with a jewel studded crown and two blue earings,

“Mama, when we get to the Con thingy, can Aunt Tara and Uncle Gar get us on the front stage for the Dragon Ball show, pwease?” little Jake asked, tugging his mother’s dress with puppy dog eyes he learned from his big sis.

Kori gave a small chuckle before picking him up “Perhaps we shall son, but not before we make sure our friend Lian here is safe with her own daddy yes?”

“Yep! Daddy said he’ll be there after he gets Granpa Ollie's chili ready!” Lian chirps as well, bubbling with so much energy she can’t keep it by herself....like right now

“Hey Mar’i! Wanna race to the Boom Tubes?” Lian asks excitedly

Both Mar’i and Jake pick that challenge up and ask “Can we please?”

Honestly the only other way you could’ve said no to their faces is as if you were asking for a Starbolt in the booty and Kori and Dick certainly couldn’t let their kids, their Starshines, down.

“Okay then, just make sure you watch your steps. You don’t wanna ruin your Siyen (SIA-YEN) costumes...”

The two kids bursted out laughing, “it’s SAIYANS silly!”

With that all three began their little derby to the Boom Tubes of the Tower, leaving both Kori and Dick by themselves to walk to said Tubes.

“Well now, I suppose this Convention shall our destination from here yes?”

Dicks nods in reply “Yeah Chakano, I guess.”

Kori wonders about her current costume she wears at the moment, “Richard I am most curious”

“What is it Star?”

“Well from what I have read within the description of the character who wears their dress, this Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, she is constantly within a state of peril via kidnapping at the hands of the monster you’re character constantly defeats. Has this, Peach, ever had done the reverse within the games of video she and the other characters originate from?”

Dick takes a brief minute to search through his Nintendo memories before finding an example and formulating an appropriate answer, “Actually, yeah Peach had saved Mario in a few occasions and she ends up the hero. I guess the main reason why she’s the one usually getting kidnapped in the games is because...the gamers have just gotten used to it.”

“Oh I see. It is of a grand tradition then. Now such I can respect given on the fact back home at Tamaran we have stories of brave heroes rescuing a member of the royal family from evil doers.” Princess Kori of Toadstool can conclude. Though she does add, “still I believe it would be of a greater story potential if the plumber who rescues this Princess was indeed the one more often than not in need of rescuing. Especially given of his rather...humorous appearance. “ Kori chuckles at the end.

“Hey now Star, not all Italian plumbers from Brooklyn are that fat. Although I do know that Peach can float in the air easier than Mario or even Luigi can. I wonder what Beast Boy thinks about this...”

“MAMA, DADDY, WE’RE READY!!!” Dick stops his sentence as that yell from Mar’i echoes from the Boom Tube station they had just reached.

Kori reaches her hand into one of her pockets as she and her husband know that more or less, the time had come to load into the Tubes that'll transport everyone to the Bludhaven Comic Convention. “Shall we head to our destination my plumber of a husband?”

Dick grins happily as he kindly takes the one prop Kori takes out with her hand, his black/brown mustache, puts said mustache on his face right underneath his nose and, in his best Italian accent says with joy,

“Let’s a-go!”

Dedicated to @lightdusk96 @fireflyxrebel @wisegirlandseaweedbrainforever @nightglider124 @tarisilmarwen @robxstar

#dick grayson #koriand'r #mario #nintendo #xbox #cosplay #mari grayson #jake grayson #lian harper #robstar week 2018 #my posts #dragon ball

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recklesslyconscious · 3 years ago

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(not changing names)

First thing... sorry for the spelling and grammatical errors im not perfct and dont have the paitience or following to proof read.

As im sure many of us deal with but never express the bridesmaid syndrome, i do so much work so hard towards an end goal yet will always be second in line. 2021 i was a doormat, a door knob, hell the door that closes for the other one to open. I consumed myself with different love interest, disguised myself to be whoever i thought would please them, i did what in my chaotic mind thought was right, granted all wrong, and yet still came up short. Faked an orgasm or 50 just so he’d think i was satisfied, lied about love just to keep one around, hell i lowered myself to a woman id never even speak to all for some preconceived idea that hes the one.

So i started the year off dating ronnie (if thats even his real name if you can even call it dating) but the story behnd him deserves a lifetime move and we dont have that kinda time but after ten months of waiting for me, a three day cash app arguement, and some iight sex, i realized i deserved more. i started to look like a joke and fast but dont you worry i was cheating THE WHOLE TIME. Honestly i might give this lil pomerainian (Panamanian) his own post. 3/10

On my birthday i met my husband Phil yall i dont know if its my daddy issues the henny or the fact hes missing like 7 teeth but i love phil. Hes maybe one of the most genuine men of the year i so bad at realizing who really likes me i let him slip away but hes never to far, and from time to time the occasional bang. 710

Yallllll i had a pimp on my trail, for the sake of my safety we will refer to him as the pimp. Ofcourse i met him at the strip club but i toke his number we went on a few dates, and then he introduced me to people and it was cool i guess. I already knew hewanted this fne bbw amazon for something more then companionship and i found out he knw people i thought were my people so i ghosted him for my safety. EHHHHH 5/10

THE SERAL TRANNY RAPIST,AKA MILS,AKA RAMILES,AKA the worst fucking choice i ever made in my life he was the sum beneath my shoes. This guy hits on me at a bar ofcourse i go for it bring him home, keep him here the next day, go to eat with him, bring him to my job, just the fucking most.Im head ver heals for this guy see him every weekend for like a month. Cat comes out the bag he has a pregnant girfriend who he lives with in her grandmothers motel two cities away he like to do obscure things and it was definely an eye opener i needed to chill out lets say that. -9000/10.

Yo honestly i dont know what i did with christian but he ghosted me. damn near had the best dick in the world on him but that was his only good quality to me.

CHJ is and will forever just be my lil baby i dont care how many times we fall out how long we dont talk its on sight and thats on gang

Blame it on the henny...... javi, you i dont know but 260 crew just do something to me besides get me faded

I went in for the three pointer with this guy at the gas station one day litto and hey its twerking here and there and hes pretty cool... lets see how i fuck this one up

THE MOST HONORABLE this man here getting his own post im not even going into it the love of my life the alpha the don he aint shit and its amazing T mother fucking J

My neighbor who love cheating on his girl friend and he ate my box (next time dont come for my dog) i can careless bout this one his brother a jugg and he just weird. but i wont say your name outta respect or whatttevvverrrrrr

welp thats it folks these them lets make 2022 more memorable. honestly writing it out help me realize i was giving to much of my self to all these men. I let all these men take a piece of me and none of them filled the void. its crazy to look back at the mistakes and how they really changed my outlook on men. it wasnt all bad have some good memories just hope i finally learn from my mistakes

#men #men depression selfhelp relationships

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dreadnought-despair · 7 years ago

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[CHAPTER 1 - Library - 016]

[PREVIOUS] [NEXT]

As expected from going to bed so soon, I woke up at butt'o'clock in the morning. At least the first thing I heard today didn't have to be MONO-9000’s annoying cackle… I could take a shower in peace!

The blaring alert went off a few minutes after I stepped back out into the bedroom– just in time to drown it out with my hair dryer. It was highly unlikely that MONO would have paid any attention to my petty act of defiance, if he was watching at all, but sometimes it’s the little things that keep you going.

By the time I’d finished drying my hair (why did it have to be so thick) it was time to head over to the library. Things seemed weirdly quiet as I made my way through the hallways and the cafeteria… it wasn’t that early in the morning, was it? Surely people would be eating breakfast by now, under ordinary circumstances. I opened the door to the library to find…

…well, not a whole lot. Honoka was there of course, and Riko and Yusra, Kapono, Aoi… Sal, too, despite his earlier protesting. Even Tiffani had managed to drag herself out of bed before noon. But… that was it. I could see why some of the others would be hesitant to come, but where was Vash? Or Jurou? Or Nik?

They all sat around the small round table in the corner, and I dragged one of the empty chairs over there for myself.

“Well… that’s half of us!” Honoka piped up, her voice sounding a little hollow amidst the smaller-than-expected crowd.

“Figures.”

“I-I’m sure some of them just overslept…”

“…”

I was reasonably sure that’s what Ishi was doing, at least, but the others didn’t seem terribly convinced. Salvatore seemed to deliberately avoid eye contact as he twirled his pen.

“… I don’t want to have to repeat myself. Should we wait for the stragglers?

"Hmph! I got 2 hours of sleep last night and I still dragged my ass out here! If they aren’t coming, they aren’t coming. Get on with it, I’m here for some drama.”

We looked around at each other nervously as Tiffani munched on some popcorn.

“…I suppose we should get started.” Yusra folded her hands neatly in her lap.

“Just… around the circle, then? Like it’s show and tell?”

“Why don’t you go first, Tiffani, if you’re so excited about it?”

“No.”

“Oh c'mon darling, it’s only fair! If you want in on the gossip, you gotta be ready to spill some beans of your own.”

After some badgering from the rest of us, Tiffani finally relented with a snarl.

“Fine! Fuck you guys. Fine.”

“…I was cheer captain in middle school.”

“Y-you were what?”

“You fucking heard me! I’m not saying it again.”

I, unfortunately, was the first to break the stifling silence. I had sworn before I even stepped in the room that I wouldn’t laugh at anybody’s secret, but I just– a cheerleader? I couldn’t help but let out an undignified snort.

“Pfft– oh my god? I-I’m sorry I– I’m sure you were great at it I’m just–”

“Hey Tim. Guess what? Guess what I got right here?” With a vengeful grin, she waved her letter in my face and began to read loudly. “‘Timaeus Woodworth stole a book from his school’s library–’”

“Hey! I was in the third grade! A-and I paid the replacement fee!”

“Third grade...? What book was it?”

“…Magic Tree House #7...”

Maybe I should’ve been a little more miffed as the huddled crowd erupted into laughter, but I found myself laughing with them. There was an unspoken relief that maybe all our worrying had been over such childish secrets– I could feel the tension in the room start to dissipate. I didn’t mind being the laughingstock if it put the others at ease in a dreadful time like this.

“Okay, seriously though, we should probably just tell our own secrets.”

“Yes, it would be unfair to the absentees to not allow them a chance to explain themselves.”

“…I s-suppose that’s fair.” Honoka’s brow furrowed a little, but she nodded in agreement. I wondered briefly whose secret she knew.

“Whatever.” Tiffani crumpled up her paper and tossed it to the garbage bin. She missed by a few feet.

“…Yeah… Who’s next?” Kapono peeped up from his scarf at the crowd.

If we went in the current order around the circle, then Sal would be next… But surprisingly, Riko spoke up instead. She glanced around the room, her face flushing a little.

“I, uh… I... cosplay sometimes. I won second place at a cosplay contest last year. At San Diego Comic Con…”

“At SDCC? Wait– holy crap!” Aoi gasped and clapped a hand to their cheek. “I thought you looked familiar! I watched that contest! W-were you the Voyager-era Romulan commander with the scalemail sash–”

Riko’s face lit up like a flashlight.

“Oh my god you recognized it? That’s my favorite uniform design but no one ever knows what it is–”

“The craftsmanship was amazing! I’m so jealous! All I’ve got is a crappy storebought Next Generation science officer uniform–”

“Thank you! Scalemail is such a pain in the ass to work with but it was totally worth it–”

She froze as if she just now remembered there were 7 other people in the room with her. We were all too stunned by her sudden shift in demeanor to say anything.

“…Of course, if you people breathe a word of this to anyone I will murder you in your sleep. Understand?”

“Y-yes ma’am!”

“My lips are sealed, dear. But there’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, y’know!~”

“It’s, um… Y-you don’t get it.” Riko sounded unusually subdued as she leaned back in her chair. Yusra piped up quickly, as if to spare her further embarrassment.

“…I’m afraid my secret is not quite so interesting! Papa’s corporation is a regular donor to Hope’s Peak Academy. I prefer not to tell people that, for fear they might think I bought my way into the school… but your trust is far more important than my pride.”

“Hmm… you think that’s why you were kidnapped with us?”

“It could be? I fear I don’t remember enough of my time at Hope’s Peak to say for certain.“

Sal was silent for a moment, then started writing in his notebook again. He’d been taking notes almost nonstop through this whole meeting, even when no one spoke, as if his pen had a mind of its own. It was a little strange, I thought… was he even taking notes?

Ah well, none of my business. Next in line was Aoi, who seemed to hesitate a little more than usual before they spoke.

”…Uh, well, my given name was Akiko. I was designated female at birth. Suprise?“

"Akiko…? Huh.”

“Yeah. It’s a nice name, just… too feminine for my liking. I’ve been Aoi for a few years now.” They shrugged. “I’m more annoyed that MONO was petty enough to dig that up than anything else, really.”

“He does like the petty bullshit, doesn’t he? This isn’t even, like, fun gossip. You guys are so boring.”

Sal laughed humorlessly, more like a scoff. "In a situation like this, I’d say boring is a good thing.”

Honoka was next in line, though I already had a pretty good idea what her secret might involve. She wrung her hands nervously as she spoke.

“I’ve… never actually performed a full show on stage.”

“Huh? But what are you all dressed up for then?”

“B-because I like to dress up... And it’s important to look professional for my students!” She brightened up again-- she must care about them a lot.

“Students? Well no wonder you’re a SHSL! It takes twice the talent to teach others than it does to perform.~”

“Ah...! That’s--” she stammered over Yusra’s kind words-- “y-you’re really giving me too much credit...”

Honoka nodded quickly to Kapono, trying to divert attention from herself as her cheeks turned red.

“A-pha-si-a… from…” Kapono rapped his knuckles on his forehead a few times. “Injury… at a dig...” He paused for a few moments, and his gaze sank to the floor.

“I… don’t like, um… talking about it.”

“That’s okay, I understand.”

“Yeah, we don’t need the details. Just making sure you aren’t a serial killer or something.”

"Did you have to put it like that...?" Why did everyone just assume there was a serial killer? It wasn’t funny...

And finally, we found ourselves staring at Salvatore, the last one in the circle. He looked back at us with an uncharacteristic silence, then pouted comically.

“Ah, I was hoping I wouldn’t be the only one with a big showy confession to make… I’m not used to being in the spotlight! But here we are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean–”

“My name and talent are fake.”

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed, if it weren't for Tiffani crunching away at her popcorn.

“Er… pardon?”

“Aha! I was wondering about that.”

“…Wh-what?! You can’t be serious!”

“It’s true. As far as you all are concerned, I don’t have a name. Sal is fine. But to the corrupt and despot rulers of this world, I am known by my penname… Janus. SHSL Investigative Journalist.”

Wait wait wait. Hold the phone. That Janus? Not the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and endings, but the-- the one in the news--

Tiffani’s grating cackle snapped me back to reality.

“Holy shit! Oh my god! What kinda shitty B-movie am I watching right now?”

“Laugh all you want, darling, I can prove it! Who wants to see notes on my latest international child trafficking ring takedown? You won’t believe which high-profile politicians were involved this time!~”

His laugh had a strange, bitter edge to it. He might have been ribbing Tiffani, but there was no question he was deadly serious about his confession.

And the contents of his notebook left no room for doubt– each page he flipped through was chock full of intricate notes and diagrams that would put a conspiracy theorist to shame. I caught a glimpse of the map of the Dreadnought from the Electro ID, covered in words… how much had he learned about this place?

“Or you can just ask Riko– you’ve got my secret, right?” He snapped the notebook shut and leveled his gaze coolly at the tall girl.

“…How did you…”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet, darling? The distribution isn’t random at all! If you anglicize our given names and put them in alphabetical order…”

Our new resident detective cracked his notebook open again, to show us a list he’d already written on a fresh page:

...He was right, wasn’t he? Riko had Sal’s secret, Tiffani had my secret, I had Vash’s secret... Was that really all it was?

“That seems… unusually straightforward.”

“I’m sure MONO wanted us to figure it out fairly quickly. Makes it easier to pick a target if you know who knows your secret, doesn’t it? And it gives you an advantage over the ones who haven’t picked up on the pattern yet…”

“He must not have expected us to work together as much as we have--”

“Th-that’s all well and good but… why should we trust you?” Honoka’s voice was shaky as she spoke up, but she stood her ground. “Why can you just– tell us all this? Won’t you get in trouble?”

"More trouble than getting kidnapped and forced into a murder game?” he snapped.

“…Fair.” After a few moments’ deliberation, she backed down, but some of the others still seemed pretty wary.

“It is a bit, um, far-fetched, you know…”

“You can fucking say that again.”

“Of course I can’t make you trust me, dear. But I simply have no reason to hide anymore! If our kidnapper knows this much about me already, then lying to you doesn’t do anything but make me look more suspicious. I’d rather lay all my cards on the table.”

Another hesitant silence, finally interrupted by Riko.

”…I believe you.“

”…Me too...“

“So what?” she growled, cutting Kapono off. “Are we supposed to just stand around gawping at your superior intellect, Mr. Holmes? Or are you going to do something about all of this?”

“Now now, is that any way to treat your new informant? You can’t rush this kind of relationship!~” He giggled coyly-- apparently that flamboyant personality wasn't all just acting-- but quickly grew serious again.

“I’m just as eager to escape this place as you are, but I won’t divulge any theories until I have more information. Panic over mere conjecture won’t help us. And when the time comes, I’d rather speak to a full audience... Everyone has the right to know what’s going on.”

“...Can’t argue with that.” Aoi nodded and tucked their hands in their sleeves. I didn’t blame them-- what on earth could we say, in the face of such a bizarre claim? Tiffani, however, was not so easily swayed.

“I’m still not buying any of this bullshit. We’re not in a fucking spy movie.”

“I-I’m not sure either... We barely even know each other, and you just told us all your secret identity?”

“I mean, our kidnapper already knew who I was. My cover’s apparently been compromised from the start. But once we get back to terra firma, all I need is a new name and a new face and I’m back in action.”

“...N-new face?”

“Tim, honey.” Sal-- Janus? laughed and drew a circle around his face with his finger. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you think any of this is real.”

Now that he mentioned it, I could see tinges of plastic in his hawk-like nose, the roots of his bleach blond hair... I didn’t have much reason to doubt him anymore. My problem was more conceptual than anything else-- if this was really Janus standing before me, the vigilante whistleblower who’d evaded capture or even recognition for years, then how the hell did our kidnapper get ahold of him in the first place?

That wasn’t something any of us could answer right now, though. Instead we sat in awkward silence, mulling over all this new information, till Yusra finally spoke up.

“So... that’s all of us, huh?”

“All of us that showed up.”

“What do we do now...?”

"Well, I don’t know about you, but I think I’m gonna go check on Ishi... just to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“A-alright.” Honoka looked like she was about to say something else, but stopped herself. Instead she stood up and looked around the table. “Everyone... stay safe, okay?”

“...”

“...Yeah.”

We didn’t have to say anything to know exactly what she was worried about.

I dismissed myself from the room and headed back to the dorms, still pondering the events of the meeting. Aside from Sal's dramatic revelation, the others didn't seem to have much to hide-- that was comforting to know, at least. But it only made me more worried for the students who didn't show... Some of them might have overslept, but we couldn't know for sure.

Not unless I asked them myself, anyway. Maybe after I found Ishi, I could go check on the others, too?

[PREVIOUS] [NEXT]

#fangan ronpa #dreadnoughtplot #chapter 1 #LONG POST

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jlawrence10 · 5 years ago

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My Favorite Place on Earth

My favorite place on earth... It would be easy to say Portland, and I guess in a way it would be the place to which I would like to always return. There is so much here, and I find here much of what I appreciate and deem significant. And I just fucking love it here, because even when it's rainy and cold and the sun sets at 4:42 PM, you can always find some friends at a bar. You can always find some music in a tiny cafe on Interstate Avenue, that you never would have gone to except some guy you heard once or twice is the first opener for two artists you've never heard of, and actually you and your friends are the only people who leave when he gets done playing because nobody is there to see him (and some people are just there for the coffee) but everyone gets quiet, listens intently, and gives at least respectful applause when he gets done with a song. And they tolerate the fact that the coffee and tea bar is closed while he plays, and the musician REALLY appreciates it, because, "Once there's a little clinking going on, then there's more clinking and then everyone thinks that clinking is ok and just starts to clink away - and this silence is a really nice sign of respect."

But I'm not going with Portland. Too narrow, even though it's not narrow at all.

My favorite place on earth is huge. But it's very specific. And I wish I could draw a picture of it, but I can't draw anything much less a picture of this. So you're going to have to picture it, and you're going to have to deal with the fact that it's huge, and accept the fact that it IS one place but that I can only pass through it, and can only visit certain tiny little parts of it, and even those not so often.

My favorite place on earth is the area just above 10,000 feet, anywhere. And this is all encompassing. It's not really a sphere, geometrically speaking, or maybe it is, but it's a relatively thin layer, maybe only about 100 vertical feet thick, and it runs all around the earth, so I guess I only get to pass through it occasionally. But I guess it's my favorite place on earth because of what is there, in some rare places, and because of what it means at the other times when there is nothing there.

When climbing a mountain 10,000 feet is a milestone. You've watched your altimeter tick up from maybe 4000 feet, through 8000 and then through the 9000s as you approach 10,000. And then the satisfying rollover, the added digit, that really means nothing because what is a foot, really, except maybe the arbitrary length of some piece of some king's throne one time, or the length of someone's actual foot back when they were trying to establish some units of measurement? But at that point it's a milestone, because the added digit means you've come so far, and because the math is so much easier now, at least briefly. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to subtract 10,000 from the height of the summit you're headed for, so now you know just about exactly how much you have left (if you can remember the height of the summit in feet, which for some of us ain't easy).

But when you're climbing in the Pacific Northwest, you're often passing that 10,000 foot mark right around sunrise, or rather just as the sky is beginning to lighten in the east. And that little bit of light is all that you need. There's a saying, "It's always darkest before the dawn," and I would guess that that saying was coined by a mountaineer. Because there are times during each climb when it's just not fun. It's freezing. You're exhausted. You can't see past the circle of your headlamp and honestly for about an hour now all the snow and ice within that circle has looked just about the same. Since maybe 2 AM it has been turn-off-the-brain-and-just-keep-putting-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other.

But right around 10,000 feet you start to see some light in the east, and that keeps you going. It's an emotional and physical response, rooted perhaps in our primitive brains, where sunrise meant light and heat and safety and another day. But you feel it, and it keeps you moving. Or maybe it makes you stop for a second, have a drink of water and a frozen Snickers bar and appreciate that moment, up here where that invisible 10,000 foot sphere overlaps land in one of only a few places in the Pacific Northwest.

On Mt. Hood, my first mountain, 10,000 feet is right around a feature called Hogsback, where you drop your packs for a bit, tie into the ropes, and start the real, steep climbing in earnest. At 10,000 feet on Mt. Hood you get a shocking realization that you are on (in!) a volcano, because you can smell the sulfur from the fumaroles, and you are actually surrounded by crater walls that rise 1000 feet above you on three sides; that in fact block out that sunrise, exposing only an increasingly blue sky above, until you crest the crater rim and get hit by that sun which by now has risen a few degrees above the horizon and provides you with very welcome warmth.

But there is more to 10,000 feet than climbing in the Pacific Northwest. One day I hope to visit regions where 10,000 feet is nothing, because the mountains around rise above 20,000 feet. Will that diminish the significance of 10,000 feet for me? Well, I'm sure there are a lot of siginificances that are diminished when you're surrounded by mountains that rise 20,000 feet, but it's a chance I hope to take. (Mt. Everest itself is over 29,000 feet, and the mere BASE CAMP for climbing Everest is at 17,500.)

The only other time I visit 10,000 feet I probably don't even know I'm there, since I'm in a pressurized cabin sipping on a free soda and being told I can now safely use my electronics. The airplane is going to cruise at around 30,000 feet and I'll only briefly pass back through 10,000 on the way down. I've just left Portland and maybe I'm headed to see my family at the beach in North Carolina. Maybe it's my trip to Hong Kong or New Zealand. Maybe it's just a day or two in California for work. But passing through 10,000 feet; well, it means I'm going somewhere. And while the novelty of airports has worn off, the novelty and feeling of travel never will (at least, god, I hope not). Even looking down on things from 10,000 feet in the warmth of the cabin with a cold Diet Coke gives you a fresh perspective on things, if only because you can only be up there so often, and for so long. Or maybe I'm passing through 10,000 feet on the way back down, back into Portland, realizing we're still up around 15,000 feet for now because I can still see the top of Mt. Hood out the left side of the aircraft.

Well OK by me, because I'm coming home. I'm going to land soon, and switch on my phone to a text from Liz that says, "Welcome home!" because she knows when my flight lands and can't wait to see me. I'm going to walk out of the airport in Portland after one of my many 'experiences of a lifetime' (say, seven weeks in Hong Kong), with a renewed appreciation for how clean and fresh and alive the air smells in Portland in February, and with a renewed appreciation for how goddamn cold it feels here since it's been rainy and 40 degrees for a week and a half and we won't see the sun again for another two. But somewhere in this city I've got friends. Maybe they're watching an unknown singer/songwriter in a little coffee shop on Interstate Ave. More likely they're laughing or maybe throwing darts over some drinks in a dive bar in Southeast.

Shit, these days maybe it's Liz and Caitlin holed up a little bit, taking care of their 3 week old son Ren at home. And maybe I didn't get the text from Liz because she couldn't come get me at the airport and maybe doesn't know exactly when I arrive because she now has a family to worry about. And I might not even see her for a few days, but dammit good for her and Caitlin. But I'll see them soon enough, and when I do it won't have been too much time that has passed, because I've known Liz now for almost 20 years, so what's a few days or even a couple weeks between good friends?

Or maybe, as happened one night, I will arrive to a freak Portland snowstorm, sit on the plane at the gate for an hour and a half, have to dig my car out of a snowdrift, pass a burning car on Burnside and 39th (everyone was fine, I checked) and still find my friends Nick and xTonyx waiting up for me at 1 AM with some beers cooling outside in the snow. And I'll do a huge snow angel in front of xTonyx's picture window when I arrive, and those guys will give me a hug when I come in even though I'm all wet from the digging out the car and the snow angel. And at maybe 2:30 AM, driving through the snowbanked streets back to my house, I'll pass a half naked woman outside a local strip bar, having pictures taken of her as she twirls 4 little flaming pots of fuel around her body on the end of some yard long ropes because, hey, welcome back to Portland, Josh.

Ok, I just changed my mind. Portland is my favorite place on earth.

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scottmcclumsy · 8 years ago

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avengers chat

Please don't hate me for this awfulness I'm about to put on ya dash! I tried my best, my first avengers imagine and avengers chat. -Thai💜(I gottah ting 4 Purple Hearts now) Prompt: You and Peter are secretly dating, and the team finds out. Lolz good luck with mama Steve n papa tony. Spoiler: Civil War part 2??? ---------------------------------------- Tony👴🏻: THERE IS SOMEONE HERE WHO HAS COMMITTED AN AWFUL CRIME Sammy✈️: What did Metal arm do?🙄 Bucky❄️: I WAS WITH STEVE ALL DAY Sammy✈️: Sureeee Cap🇺🇸: He was... Clint🏹😜: Doing what exactly ;););););) Bucky❄️: NOTHING Cap🇺🇸: NOTHING Clint🏹😜: O.o Tony👴🏻: LISTEN I DONT CARE ABOUT BUCKY AND STEVES HOOK UPS!! SOME HERE COMMITTED AN AWFUL CRIME!!! Nat🕷��: Lemme guess? Someone step on your suede shoes😂😂😂 Y/N👑: Get to the point Mr.Stank, some of us aren't old and have lives too live Sammy✈️: Yeah I think Steve and Bucky have to take their daily naps at 4:30 after they get back from the early bird special. Clint🏹😜: They defiantly won't be sleeping ;);););););) Spidey🕸: Gross, Mr.Stark what seems to be the issue Cap🇺🇸: We do not hook up... Y/N👑: mhmmm Tony👴🏻: EVERYONE SHUT! THERE IS PINK LIP GLOSS ON MY $9000 WHITE COUCH!!! WANDA IS ON A MISSION AND PEPPER ONLY WEARS RED LIPSTICK!! NOW WHO WAS IT!!?! Clint🏹😜: You can count me out. I don't prefer pink lip gloss Clint🏹😜: Not that I prefer lip gloss at all... Clint🏹😜: I gotta go...shoot something.....yeah... Clint🏹😜 had left the chat Tony👴🏻: WELL?!?!?!?! NAT?!?!? Nat🕷👄: Lip Gloss ain't my thing...you sure it isn't Buckys? His lips are really pink👀👀 Sammy✈️: As much as I hate Barnes, He do got some cotton candy pink lips👀👀👀 Y/N👑:........ Spidey🕸: I mean....let's go with that. Bucky❄️: HEY! I DO NOT USE LIP GLOSS! MAYBE THE BRAND BABY LIPS BUT NOT LIP GLOSS Bucky❄️: I MEAN Nat🕷👄: hold up...did he just say Cap🇺🇸: Bucky...? You use...baby lips?? Sammy✈️: THIS HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN MY FAVORITE THING EVER! Sammy✈️: A GROWN MAN WITH A METAL ARM USES BABY LIPS😭😭😭 Y/N👑: WAIT A DAMN MINUTE...Is that where my baby lips went?😑 Bucky❄️: well uh...BACK TO THE COUCH! Tony👴🏻: For once..I agree with the human terminator...MY COUCH Cap🇺🇸: Well who else could it be Tony? My innocent Y/N isn't allowed to wear lip gloss...maybe it was you?? Tony👴🏻:😑really old man? Really? Nat🕷👄: I mean...maybeee it's Y/N Sammy✈️: Speaking of Y/N where is she? And Spidey?? Tony👴🏻: OH MY GOD Y/N AND MY SWEET POOR CHILD PETER ARE KISSING Cap🇺🇸: GET YOUR VEMON HAVING SON AWAY FROM MY SWEET Y/N Tony👴🏻: EXCUSE ME?!? Y/N👑: you guys... Cap🇺🇸: YOU HEARD ME MR.STANKY BREATH Nat🕷👄: WHAT DO YOU MEAN VENOM HAVING?!? YOU HUMAN KEN DOLL!!! Spidey🕸: Guys... Bucky❄️: LEAVE HIM ALONE, WENDY Spidey🕸GUYS!! Tony👴🏻: AWE LOOK AT BUCKY DEFENDING HIS BOYFRIEND👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Sammy✈️:😂😂😂 Y/N👑: Hey Petey...since everyone is fighting wanna go on our date now? Cap🇺🇸: HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND YOU HUNK OF METAL Spidey🕸: sure, baby😘 Y/N👑 and Spidey🕸 has left the chat. Nat🕷👄: But doesn't Bucky have a hunk of metal too? Sammy✈️: Wait...Peter and Y/N got out? Tony👴🏻: THAT WAS HER LIP GLOSS ON MY COUCH Cap🇺🇸: SHES DATING?!? HIM!?!? ---------------------------------------- THIS IS A DRAFT TO SEE IF IM GOING IN THE RIGHT WAY SINCE I HAVENT BEEN ON IN YEARS, will be taken down Monday?? Sorry if you don't like it

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jacewilliams1 · 5 years ago

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Hot chicken, icy wings

“What do you mean you’ve never heard of Nashville hot chicken?!”

I couldn’t believe that this guy—the guy who says “ten” when the server at the Thai restaurant asks how hot, on a scale of one to five, he wants his entrée—had never heard of Nashville hot chicken. He’s lived in North Carolina for most of his life, where at least two things are readily available: fried chicken and hot sauce.

Gary (left) and Elliott (right), ready for adventure.

Gary is one of three pilots in the corporate flight department for which I’m the director of maintenance and has been a huge influence during my flight training. I’ve been involved in aviation maintenance since I was 18 years old, and in my late 30s I started flying with the goal of becoming a pilot in our Falcon 900LX, as well as the DOM. I know how to fix ‘em, I guess I just wanted to see what it was like to break ‘em, too. That, and you just can’t beat the office view.

As I worked my way from student pilot to private pilot, then on through my instrument rating, Gary and I decided that once I got checked out in an airplane that would make it from Monroe, NC (EQY), to Nashville (BNA) without multiple stops, we’d make the trip to get ourselves some Nashville hot chicken for the first time, because I’d never had it, either. I got my A&P and IA in Nashville some years ago (thanks again, Bakers!) but was fully entrenched in the course work, so I didn’t have a lot of time to explore the local cuisine.

I got checked out in my flight school’s PA-28R Arrow, and off we went on a chilly February IMC day with thousand-ish foot ceilings and smooth air. We landed at BNA, got the crew car from Atlantic, and headed downtown to pick up Gary’s friend Ted.

“Hey Ted, where’s the best hot chicken around?”

“Well, Prince’s is probably the best, but somebody just drove a car into it last night, so let’s check out Party Fowl instead.”

The hot chicken was as good as I was hoping it was going to be. Hot chicken really is nothing more than spicy fried chicken but, man, it’s some REALLY good spicy fried chicken.

Once we had bellies full of cayenne-stained, crispy-skinned greasy goodness, we dropped Ted off at his office building and headed back to the airport.

Ready to get greasy at Party Fowl.

The weather was drizzly, chilly, and generally not what I was used to flying in. Part of my preflight planning was taking a look at the icing forecasts, freezing levels, etc. The freezing level and icing forecast over the Appalachians that day all came together at about 9000 ft. I filed direct, KBNA—KEQY at 7000 ft. Piece of cake. This is where my inexperience started to show. Or, another way to say it is, this is where my inexperience continued to compound.

Most of the airways showed an MEA of 7000 but some, which I obviously missed, were 8000 and we were heading east, which meant a minimum altitude of 9000. I paid no attention to sector altitudes and didn’t give a thought to the fact that ATC might need to take me higher to satisfy their terrain avoidance minimums.

I paid for our fuel, preflighted the airplane (quickly) in the cold drizzle, and we climbed in. Gary was adamant about letting me make all the calls without getting too deeply, or at all, involved in the decision making. He wanted me to have the experience of analyzing the data and making the calls. I still don’t know if I love him or hate him for that! Depends on the day, I guess.

We took off from runway 2C and got into the clouds at around 2300 feet. The leg to Nashville did quite a lot to make me more comfortable flying in IMC, so as we went into clouds, I told Gary that I was far less nervous now than I was when we started out. The words coming out of my mouth should have given me a clue that I needed to get back down to earth but I was feeling confident at the moment, which tells me now that I should have not felt very confident at that moment.

We were happily, and smoothly, cruising along in the clouds at 7000 ft. when ATC issued me a climb to 9000. I remember reading the instruction back and initiating the climb while thinking to myself this is a bad idea. I had it in my head that I’d filed for 7, so we were going to stay at 7, but I climbed anyway. The good thing about flying with a GoPro rolling is that I can go back and try to match up my inner monologue with my outer voice. I didn’t say much, but I asked Gary a few general questions about icing and what the indications were. I’m sure he knew exactly what I was thinking, but again, he was letting me make the calls.

Life is good in between the layers…

He explained some of the indications and different types of icing, accumulation rates, most prone areas, etc. I nodded and said, “Uh huh, okay,” while looking back and forth between the wings as nonchalantly as a nervous, newly-minted, low-time, bug-smashing pilot could look while sitting beside a 13,000+ hour jet jockey.

We leveled at 9000 ft. and flew in smooth silence for several minutes. Gary was drumming on his knee while I was trying not to look like I was way out of my comfort zone, which I was.

I tapped on the airspeed indicator and said, “Airspeed looks like it’s dropping.” I expertly paused for about six seconds, because I didn’t know what to do. Then I asked authoritatively, “Pitot heat?”

Gary said, “Yeah. Give it a shot and see if it changes.”

The airspeed indictor was bouncing between 80 and 110 knots. I said, pointing at the GPS, “Yeah, our ground speed is staying up.”

I turned on the pitot heat and watched the airspeed indicator continue to bounce for a few seconds, then slowly move up to about 130 knots and stay rock solid.

“Yep,” I said.

“Uh huh,” Gary said. We were in agreement.

More silence. I was wondering about how my kids were going to remember me, and Gary was probably wondering why we don’t have countdown timers on toasters yet, or something like that.

I said, “I wonder if they’ll give us seven again?”

Gary, knowing full-well the answer, said, “I don’t know, you could certainly ask.”

I asked. They said no.

“We’ll keep an eye on it,” the jet jockey said.

A few seconds later, Knoxville approach asked me how badly we needed to get down. He may be able to get us a little lower.

In my best non-terrified voice, I said, “Yeah, we’re just picking up a little bit of ice here and we’d like to get down a little lower.”

Gary confirmed that we did have a little trace of ice on the wings and that, sure, the pitot probe had iced up, but there was no cause for panic just now.

It was similar to a big brother telling his little brother that he really isn’t bleeding too badly; we can probably just rub some leaves and dirt on that gash and it’ll heal right up. Although he wants to believe his big brother, little brother still isn’t convinced that he isn’t going to die in an icy fireball.

Gary said that, worst case scenario, we could land in Knoxville since they had long runways, plenty of approaches, and we were catching glimpses of the airport through the holes in the clouds. Yeah, um, I was thinking the same thing.

Breaking out—finally.

About the time that I was ready to divert to Knoxville, approach called us and said they could get us down to 8300. I quickly accepted and started us down. I leveled off and watched the ice almost immediately melt off the wings, along with the many pounds of worry from my shoulders. Apparently, we were just on the edge of the icing and 700 feet was enough to get us into warmer air.

The ice melting away, larger and larger holes in the clouds, and the terrain slowly gaining altitude below us gave me confidence that there wouldn’t be an NTSB report filed on our behalf. At least not today. Not long after the ice started melting, the clouds started breaking up and around Asheville we broke out completely under a high overcast with a smooth ride. We flew about another hour or so back to Monroe, and it was beautifully uneventful.

After watching the GoPro footage of the “icing incident” played back on my computer in the comfort of my own home with an adult beverage in hand, I saw that it wasn’t much of an incident after all. As we were picking up that tiny bit of ice, Gary was in the right seat looking like he was on a Caribbean cruise while I was in the left seat acting as if I was about to initiate reentry into Earth’s atmosphere in a space capsule sold to me by a used-rocket salesman wearing plaid pants and white shoes. She’s a real peach!

It’s not that my CFII didn’t teach me icing avoidance or how to plan my route over lower terrain in order to stay well below the icing level. He taught me all of that, and a lot more. I think the problem is that I never really made the connection between training and reality. It was tough for me to visualize picking up ice on the wings while I was wiping the sweat from my brow under the foggles. I’m a tactile learner, so sometimes a concept doesn’t completely sink in until I experience it firsthand. Of course, that’s not to say that I’m not wary of base-to-final stall/spins because I’ve never experienced one, it’s more like I didn’t have an appreciation for how fast a spin can happen until that same instructor intentionally put us into a spin during a power-off stall. PARE was just an acronym until I had to use it.

I would like to say that picking up a little bit of ice taught me a lesson and I never again made any sort of plan that didn’t match real-world expectations, but I can’t. After a few laps in the pattern in a Seneca II, my instructor pulled one of the mixtures on me early in the takeoff roll and I swerved, filled the cockpit with expletives, and skidded a bit (a lot) before finally pulling the “good” throttle to idle and bringing us to a stop. When I told Gary about the slalom session in the Seneca, I told him that I should’ve been better prepared because, “I even briefed an engine loss prior to rotation!”

He asked me, “When you did your takeoff briefing… did you mean it?”

Hmm. Well, now I mean it.

Editor’s Note: This article is from our series called “I Can’t Believe I Did That,” where pilots ‘fess up about mistakes they’ve made but lived to tell about. If you have a story to tell, email us at: [email protected]

The post Hot chicken, icy wings appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/02/hot-chicken-icy-wings/

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