#him:*gestures to astronaut land*

[pickle-de-packle]

Prompts Fluff 1 + Smut 8 - Elon Musk

Fluff Prompt 1: “I’m glad you decided to meet up with me.”

Smut Prompt 8: “Don’t be so rough. There can’t be any marks.”

A/N: First-ever prompt!!! Yay!

Word Count: 750

Tonight Elon is unveiling the second Boring Company tunnel, which stretches 75 miles from San Francisco to Sacramento and cut the travel time from 90 minutes to 25 minutes.

Your driver pulled through security and next to the staircase descended to the tunnel entrance. You thank the driver and slide over to the door but before you can open it, someone opens it and reaches out a hand to help you. You grab the hand, slip out of the car, and straighten out your dress.

Looking up to thank the person who helped you, “Kimbal!” you say hugging the man.

“Hey, how’s your evenin’ going?” he says pulling back after returning the hug.

“Good so far, your?” you ask, walking to the stairs.

“Good too. Here let me help you,” Kimbal says, giving you his hand as you both reach the stairs.

As the two of you reach the landing, you note Elon is at the tail end of an interview with Tim from Everyday Astronaut. Kimbal and you plan to stay to the side until it’s done but Tim waves you over. Elon wraps an arm around your waist as he shakes your hand.

“It’s nice to finally meet the infamous girlfriend of Elon Musk,” Tim says, “I got to ask what do you think of the tunnel?”

“I’m excited to ride in it and I think it’s a good solution to all the traffic we have,” you give a little laugh at the end.

“Oh! you’ve never been in it? Well, let me know how it is and try to convince him to let me have a ride,” Tim gestures at Elon as the three of you laugh.

“I’ll try Tim,” you chuckle out. You let them wrap up the interview. As the two walk over to the waiting Tesla, Elon kisses you.

“You look beautiful,” he whispers before kissing you again. You smile against his lips at the compliment.

“I’m glad you decided to meet up with me,” his arms wrap around your waist, pulling you against him.

After a few more kisses he finally says, “We should get going,” and he opens the door, helping you into the backseat. He slips in after you and starts the car with his phone.

The car rolls forward into the dark tunnel, the only light in the car coming from the headlights dimly reflecting from the walls. Only once you can’t see the light of the entrance from behind, do you act

You swing yourself into his lap and roughly kiss him. He lets out a sound of surprise before his hands find your hips and squeeze. Your fingers slip through his hair and roll your hips against him, already feeling some resistance.

Elon moans at the friction before lightly biting your lip in retaliation. You pull back with a giggle, before attaching your lips to his neck and grinding on him harder

“Don’t be so rough. There can’t be any marks,” he groans, hands pulling your hips flush to his so you stop moving. Your lips disconnect from his neck with a whine at the feeling of his hard cock completely pressed along your cunt.

“Fine,” you breathe onto his neck with a pout, the heat of his cock slowly making your brain fuzzy.

He kisses your hair before mumbling, “Good, and since you agreed…” trailing off he rolls your hips harder into himself. A pathetic whine comes out of your lips at the unexpected stimulation. Your arms come to wrap around his neck as you keep breathing on his neck.

Elon increases the roll of your hips, occasionally groaning along with you. As you get close he stops. You whimper as the edge of your climax fades. He captures your lips in a searing kiss as you come down.

After a minute or two of kissing, he slowly moves your hips on him building you back up to the edge. Right as you're about to go over, he stops again. You mewl his name in frustration.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight,” he promises with a kiss, “we’ll be there in a few,” pushing you back enough to see your face. You grumble as he cups your face and uses his thumb to clean up your smudged lipstick.

Defeated, you slip back to your seat and lean against his shoulder. He runs a hand through your hair before readjusting his pants. Just in time too, as the light in front of you brightens as the end of the tunnel comes into view.

“Tonight,” you whisper in his ear as the car slows to a stop.

[biblioflyer]

Power as Privilege

Magneto’s power gives him options that are unavailable to most Mutants. It would also make him a kingmaker if not the king, whether he wants it or not. Who could defy him in a separatist enclave aboard Asteroid M except another Omega? Since no one could, then who would dare?

Previously I discussed why X-Men as a setting is fundamentally pessimistic as a necessity according to the creative choices made. It is an essay in 5 parts:

1,2,3,4,5

This is a new series analyzing how experience and social status influences Mutant outlooks on the assimilation vs separatism/supremacy question.

A mile wide asteroid is not a very big place. Doing a bit of back of the envelope math, that works out to a volume of about 2.2 million cubic meters. Which is an impressive number to be sure.

For comparison the ISS has a pressurized volume of about 1,000 cubic meters and an inhabitable volume of 388 cubic meters. That supports 7 people usually. That works out to about 1 person per 143 cubic meters.

Following the same ratio, Asteroid M could probably support a population of 15,384. Where things get fuzzy is that the amount of personal space Asteroid M residents seem to enjoy, such as lavish reception halls complete with Sentinel scrap thrones, is much higher than your average astronaut. Asteroid M is also theoretically fully self-sustaining whereas the ISS needs periodic resupply and provision of spare parts. On the other hand, Asteroid M also was built with salvaged alien tech from the Savage Lands so that might even things out quite a bit.

Just over 15,000 people is the population of a large town trapped inside a machine that provides them with the essentials of life in an environment that would otherwise kill them within 30 seconds, absent special powers or survival gear.

We don’t have to work very hard to imagine the damage that could be wrought by just a handful of Omega tier Mutants deciding to cut loose inside Asteroid M’s walls. The boss fight with Bastion is a pretty excellent example. The damage to structural integrity and essential systems can add up very fast. I forget the specifics, but Asteroid M also had to be abandoned previously due to damage that made it at risk of becoming uninhabitable in the wake of Cortez’s coup against Magneto.

Accountability for Omegas and Protections for the Mutants Who Don’t Have Cool or Awesome Powers

This leads into a question of how an insular Mutant state could govern itself. Realistically the only answer to a Bad Omega tier Mutant is a Good Omega tier Mutant. Yeah, I don’t really like the implications of that analogy either.

The alternative is large numbers of lowertier Mutants or Humans with sufficient firepower or technological doodads but we’ve seen time and again that this winds up being a Zapp Brannigan strategy. It can work, but it costs a lot of lives and material. I wouldn’t personally be overly eager to sign up to be part of a special task force whose objective is to try to slip a power suppression collar on Magneto.

TAS/’97 never really elaborate on what sort of society Magneto was planning to create and how it would be organized, constitutionally speaking. Notably Genosha was setting up a constitutional monarchy prior to the Wild Sentinel attack. It was also notable that of the known members of the executive council, the majority were Mutants with extremely formidable powers. The presence of Moira MacTaggert in some capacity and Callisto represent at least gestures towards the idea of egalitarianism and informed decision making, but the presence of Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, both known Mutant Supremacists and unapologetically hierarchical, does not instill confidence.

The groups directly influenced by Xavier’s teachings seem to be the only organizations that don’t have an implicit power based hierarchy. In this way Mutants seem not to have surpassed Human organization and Human concepts of justice. This is something I’d like to think Xavier recognized, especially the further down his path of separatism and domination Magneto went, which is why in theory, if not in practice, Xavier was willing to work inside of Human institutions.

Flawed as they are and unreceptive to Mutants, well designed Human institutions are designed to disaggregate power and regulate how authority is used when it is necessary for an individual to have wide latitude and vast resources at their disposal. This often does not work as well as might be desired, but history is full of examples where being unable to alter the course of an absolute ruler once they’d set their mind to something proves disastrous.

As such, the X-Men working to contain and disrupt the activities of Mutants who are too powerful for traditional Sapiens authorities to deal with practically is probably the most potent statement pro-coexistence Mutants can make about their ability to be folded into existing society and institutions and their willingness to be held to the same standards as baseline Humans. 

It's a statement that Mutants who use their powers destructively can be confronted and brought to justice by a force of Mutants willing to be bound by and enforce rules and norms of Human society. In doing so, they declare themselves to be Humans who have mutant powers, rather than something else entirely.

Next: No matter how many times we save the world, it just seems to get in jeopardy again. Also when we save it, you hate us more for some reason.

[lacontroller1991]

Dream a Little Dream of Me (Gordo Stevens x GN!Reader)

Main Master List || For All Mankind Master List

Anon Request: Could you do the dream soulmate prompt w/ Gordo? Thank you sm if you do!

Author's Note: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REQUESTING GORDO I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WRITING FOR HIM AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYYYYY

Warnings: Nightmares, Isolation, Ant infestation (body), PTSD, language

Word Count: 1.5k

It’s cold as you wake up. The room is dark aside from the small lights from the machines that beep through the night. Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, your legs swing out of the bunk and land on the floor with a soft thump, but something is out of place. In confusion, you walk around the finite space, looking at the various equipment before spotting a window. You hastily move to the window and let out a gasp when you see nothing but empty space. You back up and bump against a computer in disbelief. Why are you on the moon?

Despite being lost in your thoughts, you feel something crawling on and around you. Looking down you see swarms of ants crawling up your body in hoards as if you stepped in 10 ant mounds at the same time. You’re stuck in place in fear, your heart pounding as the ants get closer and closer to your face. You can feel their legs all over your body. You can feel their mandibles biting into your skin and you’re stuck. You can’t move anything as the ants begin taking over your face, swarming into your mouth until you can’t breathe.

You wake up with a gasp, shooting out of the bed with sweat dripping down your forehead. You suck in air as much as possible before calming down and looking around you. Good, you’re in bed, on Earth, with no ants in your immediate vicinity. You place your hand against your forehead and groan. You have been having similar nightmares for the past few weeks and they don’t seem to be progressing at all.

Tossing back your blanket, your mind tries to track who could be having these dreams. It’s obviously someone you’ve worked with due to the fact that not alot of people know what the inside of Jamestown looks like. You’ve never been there yourself, but being in the NASA program, you get pretty good floor layouts.

Looking over at the clock you groan when you see the time. “Guess I’ll get ready for work.”

----------

“You look like you slept like crap.” The comment startles you, causing you to spill your coffee as you snap back to reality, looking to your side and seeing Gordo standing there, empty cup of coffee in his hands. “Mind if I-?” He gestures to the coffee pot as you scoot out of the way, downing the remnants of your coffee as he eyes you in concern. “You good?”

“No.” It’s a short reply and you can tell he is trying his best not to ask for details. On the other hand though, you could use someone to talk to. Sighing, you set down your coffee mug and turn to properly face him. “My soulmate has been having the same recurring nightmare for weeks now. They’re always on the moon, alone in the base and then swarms of ants crawling up their body. My body. Swarming on and in me and then I wake up gasping for air.” During your rant, you don’t notice the way Gordo’s face falls and pales as if he’s seen a ghost. His grip on the coffee cup loosens and it slips out of his hands, crashing to the floor in pieces, causing you to zone back in and notice Gordo. “Gordo? Why did you do that?” You immediately bend over to pick up some pieces but he just stands there, a zoned out look in his eyes. 

“I- I need to go.” He rushes out of the room, aware of the way other astronauts stare at him in confusion. You internally cuss out the eccentric astronaut for leaving you to deal with his mess. Dani walks over with a frown on her face before lowering her body down to help pick up some pieces, despite her arm being in a cast.

“Dani, you don’t have to help.”

“No, no. What did you say to him?”

“He asked why I didn’t sleep and I told him that my soulmate has been having recurrent nightmares about ants on the moon,” your comment has Dani’s face falling before she’s standing back up to her height and grabbing your arm, dragging you out of the room and down several halls. “Dani, stop it. Let me go.” You try to fight back but she’s stronger than she looks. She pushes you against the wall and peeks around the corners, making sure there’s no one in the area. “Dani, what the hell is your problem?”

“How long have you been having these nightmares?”

“What?”

“I asked, how long have you been having these nightmares?” The question is urgent and hushed. 

“I don’t know, a few weeks?”

“Around the time Gordo and I got back from Jamestown?” You try to think back to when the nightmares first started and realize that they did start when they got back from the moon. 

“Yeah, now that I think about it.”

“Shit.”

“Mind telling me what’s going on?” You look over at her as she bites her lip, the gears turning in her head. 

“Ok. You need to talk to Gordo.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me.”

-----------

After much convincing, Dani had managed to slip you Gordo’s apartment address and told you to visit him much to your confusion. Smoothing out your clothes you let out a shaky breath. You really don’t know what to expect. Why on earth would Dani insinuate that you have to talk to Gordo about your dreams. Surely they can’t be his. Right? He has a wife. He has Tracy. There’s no way he can be your soulmate.

Raising your hand, you knock against the door, waiting for a brief second before it’s being swung open, revealing a semi drunk Gordo.

“What are you doing here?”

“Dani told me we need to talk.” He moves to the side and allows you to step in. Looking around, you note that the apartment is relatively bare save for the exception of two picture frames of his kids and furniture. “Do you have those dreams?”

“Straight to the point I see,” he tries to jest, offering you a drink but you remove the bottle out of his hand and set it to the side. 

“Gordo. Have you been having those dreams? You and Dani are the only ones who have actually lived on the moon except for Ed but he’s still on there and you’re the only one who’s come back… different.” He hangs his head, plopping down on the couch while you stand awkwardly, not really sure what to say or do. Sure you’ve always found him attractive, and you guess he’s probably seen his fair share of your rather dirty dreams with him as the main star, but what is that going to do to the dynamic of your work relationship and his relationship? 

“Promise you won’t say anything to anybody?” He looks up at you, tears threatening to spill and it breaks your heart. You know the dreams have been bad, but it’s clearly just the outskirts of his breaking mental health. Sinking down to his side, you place a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles against his shirt.

“I won’t say anything.” Your confirmation seems to alleviate a little tension as he sniffles.

“Something happened up there, I don’t know what, but ever since then I’ve been having these nightmares and I’m so sorry that you’ve been suffering because of them.” 

“It’s okay. You’re okay. If anything, I’m glad I got them because now I can help you in anyway you need. Plus, if I’m having your dreams, then you’ve probably had mine?”

“You seem to be really fond of hair pulling,” he smirks, leaning back against the couch and stares up at the ceiling as if he was banishing away any tears while heat blooms underneath your cheeks. 

“Yeah. Among other things.” Silence falls over the two of you as you bite your lip. The conversation solved one thing, but what about his wife? “What about Tracy?”

“We’re filing for a divorce. I’ve told her about my dreams and she doesn’t have them and she tells me about hers and I don’t have them so we’ve put two and two together.”

“I’m sorry.” He shakes his head in denial, trying to smile but you can see through it.

“Don’t be. It’s better that way.” Nodding your head, you look around the apartment a little more in depth. It’s dirty. Beer cans everywhere and random wrappers for stuff. It looks more like a child lives here than a grown man and that hurts your heart.

“Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” “I’m afraid to go to sleep. I don’t want the same nightmare again.” Sighing, you sit back down, thinking of a solution.

“I have heard that sleeping next to your soulmate might help alleviate any nightmares. Would you be willing to try that?” 

“You would be willing to do that?” His eyes are big and blue, bluer than you remember and they draw you in. Without thinking, you nod your head.

“Yeah. I mean I don’t want nightmares either, so maybe it’ll help the both of us. Why don’t you come with me to my place?” For the first time in a while he smiles, a hint of his former playfulness returning. 

“Sex off the table?”

“Sleep Stevens. Sleep.”

==========

[tammulberry]

Polaris: Izuocha Reincarnation AU by T.A.M. Mulberry

This took longer than I intended for it to take but I finally finished Chapter 2!

READ CHAPTER 1 HERE

SYNOPSIS: Ochako Uraraka had a dream. To see the smiles of her parents and let them live an easy life. If it meant going to a far off university to become an engineer, she would do it. But when she fell asleep, all she had were nightmares of a different reality that continued on after the summer it started. Soon, she met Izuku Midoriya, an awkward but ambitious boy that lived just across her apartment. While most would only look his way when he did something outrageous, there was a warmth to his eyes that drew her in. In time, she developed feelings for him. It terrified her. The idea that a boy might get in the way of her goals. However, as her friendship with him deepens, she realizes that there’s an underlying reason to her hesitance. 

Years of the Yapping™ started in 2024 finished in ?

RATING: PG-13 WORD COUNT: 3.9k+

Copyright © 2024 by T.A.M. Mulberry

CHAPTER 2. Homesick

Ochako opened her eyes to find herself in her bed from back home. She rubbed her face and noticed that her ceiling full of glow-in-the-dark stars spread throughout the entire room. Except, it looked a little different. It felt different, actually. It’s like her bed was floating on water. Ochako got up with ease. She too felt like she was floating off from her bed.

“Where … am I?” 

She looked all around her and all she could see was a vast space full of stars, planets and other things that she couldn’t quite make out. The auburn haired girl crouched down and leaped into the distance. As Ochako zipped around, she noticed all the tiny celestial bodies. All of them housed different objects that she loved throughout the years. Old childhood toys that were brought to life on tiny planets formed from her imagination as a kid. 

“Ocha-ocha!” one of the stuffed animals waved from a small planet that looked and felt like cotton candy. It was a fluffy pink bunny with floppy ears and button eyes. 

Ochako stopped momentarily and gasped when she saw the stuffed animal. “Mochi!” 

The bunny leaped from the bouncy planet and Ochako welcomed her with open arms. 

“I missed you so much…” Ochako held Mochi tight in her arms and looked at her bunny. It looked like an astronaut. “Hey! Do you wanna explore this place together?” 

Mochi nodded earnestly, its ears flopped as it let go from her grasp and gestured to a much bigger planet. The pink bunny was a lot faster than Ochako as it hopped from asteroid to asteroid. 

“Wait a minute, Mochi!” Ochako reached out and followed. 

The planet really was bigger than the rest of the celestial bodies floating in space. Ochako landed on it and she felt the entire world expand like a vacuum as she gradually shrinked. 

“I wonder what’s in this place…” Ochako gazed in awe. Trees and animals much larger than she was. She noticed that Mochi was gesturing for her to follow and she laughed as the bunny stuffed toy hopped around the place, its ears flopping. 

“What are you trying to show me, Mochi?” 

The auburn haired girl wandered around the place. There was a cobblestone road that guided her down a path with a bright light. Ochako’s eyes squinted, as her legs seemed to carry her to the place on their own. 

Pillars started to rise from the sides of the road, which startled her but as she looked closer, Ochako noticed that each of the platforms had a distinct object carved from wood.

“Hmm, these are very pretty.” She said to herself as she pranced around the place, admiring the different wood carvings on display. 

It was a huge collection, to say the least. She looked at rows and rows of different houses, each with their own individual charms. There were even temples and castles too. Things that Ochako had yet to see up close. 

Maybe it’s a sign that I’ll be seeing them soon. She smiled to herself giddily and she continued to get distracted by the other wood carvings. This time, there were rows of statues. Samurai, chefs, shrine ladies … pop stars? Now that she thought about it, none of the wood carvings had any correlation with each other. Ochako snickered to herself at the ridiculousness of it all. 

Ochako finally reached the animal section, which she then dubbed the “cute section.” Tigers, bears, frogs, cats, lions. Animals you would often see at Shinto shrines. 

She then came across a rabbit statue that caught her eye. Rabbits have always been her favorite animal. It had long, alert ears and an impressively carved cotton tail. Unlike the other statues though, it was imperfect. A little rough around the edges, some parts of the legs unfinished, but nevertheless, it was still beautiful and she can imagine that whoever carved it must have loved the statue very much. Enough to put glistening gems to represent its eyes. 

Ochako then remembered that Mochi was accompanying her on the planet. 

“Mochi! I found a rabbit friend for you!” Ochako said as she turned around to see that Mochi was nowhere to be found. 

“Mochi…?” 

SHRIEK! Ochako gasped and turned around to see that Mochi was being swallowed up by the light at the end of the road. The pink bunny tried to escape but there were black tendrils that prevented it. In a rush of adrenaline, Ochako sprinted towards her friend. 

As scary as it was, she didn’t hesitate to save Mochi but even though her legs moved as fast as they could, they weren’t bringing her any nearer to the light. 

“Why can’t I move?! Mochi, hang in there!” She called out, the distance widening and closing rapidly.

The dark tendrils soon started to engulf the bunny. One of her button eyes fell to the ground and the bunny’s ears were being pulled so tightly by the tendrils that the fluff started to show. 

All Ochako could do was watch in horror. 

“Mochi! You have to take my hand! Take my hand! Please!” Ochako urged Mochi as she tried to reach for her friend. 

But it was too late… 

SNAP! 

Then she woke up alone in her empty apartment. 

Right…

It’s only been three days. Three days since she moved in. Three days after she left her parents. Three days of not being her usual cheerful self. Three days after the nightmare. 

She looked at the clock in front of her bed, and it read 8:30 am. It was a Saturday and in just a couple of days, UA University’s 1st semester will open. She sighed to herself. She has had a harder time falling asleep lately. Ever since the recurring dreams, she actually feared what would happen if she did. 

Just then, Ochako remembered that she had to stock up on supplies and go to the laundromat. She sharply got up from her bed and winced, her body still in dream mode. 

And well … another nightmare. 

Ochako reassured herself that maybe it was just the stress that caused her to have them. Maybe all those sleepless nights from her last year as a high school student finally caught up to her. Maybe the trauma from her encounter with that old lady didn't fully go away. The idea of having to live in fear of sleeping or going out alone at night unnerved her. 

Still, a few nightmares won’t be enough to break her spirit. That much, she knew. She worked hard her entire life for a reason. To see others smile and live happy lives. In order to do that, Ochako made a promise to herself to never tell anyone about the nightmares. 

Maybe then they'll go away for good. 

As she carried three grocery bags and the laundry, she tried to hold everything without them falling from her grip as she prepared to climb up the steep staircase that led to the fourth floor. It wasn’t heavy but boy, was it a struggle to keep everything stable. She didn’t know if she was still disoriented from sleep or not.

“Hello, miss?” A warm voice with a lilt to it called her attention. Ochako turned around to see a boy about her age looking down bashfully. He waved. “Hey! What floor are you heading up to if you don’t mind me asking?” 

“Oh, hello!” She greeted back. “I’m heading up to the fourth one, the highest floor.” 

The boy chuckled and that was when she had a better look at him. He had dark green eyes and dark green hair with four freckles that dotted his two cheeks. He had an oversized hoodie on and a T-shirt with a print that read “polo.” Cheeky. Ochako thought he was quite plain looking compared to the other flatmates she saw around though. 

“Okay, great! I’m heading up there too. So, I…” 

An awkward silence ensued and Ochako contemplated on moving forward or to urge him to continue what he trailed off from. 

“Well, I don’t wanna intrude or anything but I also noticed that you might be struggling to balance all the things you're carrying over there.” 

“Eh?” Ochako tilted her head. 

“...Eh?” 

The two of them stood there by the first floor’s corridor for who knew how long, really before the boy cleared his throat again. 

“And uh… you look like you’re pretty tired too… which is why I thought that maybe I could help you?” 

Ochako was caught off guard at first. She didn’t want to admit it but she did need some help or something was bound to fall on the ground. It didn’t help that she was sleep deprived, homesick and disoriented from the nightmares at the same time. Still, she only met the guy today and the last time she engaged with someone she met, she got trapped in a store far from home. 

Stop thinking about that moment already, Ochako. Stop it. You’re just tired. 

When she didn’t reply immediately, the boy started speaking at the speed of a machine gun as he flapped his hands in a panic. 

“Ah! I didn’t mean it in a creepy way! It’s just that girls usually ignore me and push me aside so you talking to me made me feel like I can finally have another friend! I’m really sorry if I came off as super awkward and weird and—!” 

“Whoa, hey! It’s okay! You’re cool, dude!” Ochako set down the groceries and the laundry to approach him. He bowed low to the ground and she could still hear him muttering profuse apologies.  

“Hey, can you please get up?” Ochako offered her hand to him awkwardly and he slowly looked up to meet her eyes. They were big and round which was further emphasized by his nervousness. Somehow, it reminded Ochako of the rabbit in—Stop thinking about that dream too. 

She thought he was kinda weird but something told her that he meant well. Ochako crouched down to be closer to him. 

“I’ll tell you what—maybe we can start over…” She exclaimed. “So please get up, sir!”  

The boy didn’t take her hand as he slowly dusted himself off, which didn’t make the situation any better. However, she continued to extend her hand in an attempt to handshake him.

“Hello! I’m Ochako Uraraka.” 

The boy finally took her hand in his which flustered Ochako slightly. They’re so warm and comforting. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, nice meeting you! … Again.” 

Izuku Midoriya. That explains the hair and the eyes, her mind drifted. Ochako noticed that his hand was calloused and full of scars. She was sure that the handshake was less than a second but it felt like an eternity had passed. As he let go, she actually felt disappointed—she almost wanted to grab his hand again.

You can’t think those things about a guy you just met and called weird! I can’t believe I’m even arguing with my own head right now? Why are you being so dramatic? 

Different, sleep deprived thoughts circled around the head of Ochako until Midoriya put a hand on her shoulder. The auburn haired girl felt a shiver down her spine. 

“Uraraka? Are you sure you're okay?” He asked, his voice lowered as she didn’t realize how spaced out she was. “Don’t worry, I’ll carry some of your things right now.” 

Midoriya rolled the sleeves of his oversized hoodie up and side-stepped her to carry her groceries with one hand as she picked up the laundry. He motioned for her to follow him. 

Ochako blinked. She questioned whether this was the same guy or not. A minute ago he was stuttering all over the place and bowing so close to the ground. Now, as he carried her groceries, he seemed like a completely different person. The auburn haired girl caught up with him and walked beside Midoriya as they climbed the stairs. 

It was the third silence they had together but this time, it felt a little more comfortable. She looked down momentarily and noticed that his backpack had a keychain of a famous superhero she recognized as All Might from Horikoshi Comics. As confident as he seemed at first, his lips had a wobbly smile to them and his face was flushed. 

Ochako couldn’t help but smile to herself. While things may have been awkward at first, she instantly took a liking to Midoriya. Maybe she didn't have to face UA all alone after all. 

In time, they made it up to the fourth floor and Ochako was pleasantly surprised that Midoriya didn't even break a sweat. They stopped at a corridor that led to different buildings connected by bridges. 

“Uraraka, what room are you staying in?” Midoriya asked. 

“I'm in A–401. You're standing right in front of it actually!” 

Midoriya smiled warmly at her and set the grocery bags down. 

“By the way, sorry for that thing I pulled downstairs. I guess I was a little out of it too,” he chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed his nape. “Rest assured, it won't happen again!” 

Ochako couldn't contain the jittery laughter that came out of her as Midoriya stared at her perplexed. “I'm sorry! It's fine, Midoriya. I think it's cute how expressive you are!” 

“Eh?” Midoriya tilted his head. His cheeks reddened. 

“...Eh?” Ochako froze. Her perpetually pink cheeks reddened as well. 

The fourth awkward silence between two people that just met. Ochako was normally laid-back and easy going. Making friends wasn't hard! Why now?! 

Duh, he’s a boy and you were never that good around boys. 

“Well, would ya look at that! I forgot to do something that my roommate told me to do!” 

Snapped out of her thoughts, Midoriya looked at an imaginary watch on his hand. Things seemed to keep repeating for the two of them as Ochako tried to stifle a laugh at Midoriya being himself. Again. 

“So, Uraraka, if ever you need me, I'm just around the corner! There, at the very edge,” said Midoriya as he gestured to the other side. 

Ochako rocked back and forth, still flustered from what she said earlier. “Guess we’ll always be seeing each other from now on.” 

Midoriya nodded at her with a calm yet wobbly smile. “Yeah… I will be seeing you around, Uraraka. And also, uh—please get some sleep.”

As he walked away, Ochako immediately unlocked the door to her room. She set aside the groceries and the laundry under her work desk. A relieved feeling overtook her. A feeling that she hadn't felt in months since she found out she passed UA’s entrance exam. 

Ochako plopped down on her dorm bed and let out a deep exhale. For the past few days, she dreaded the idea of being all alone without her parents to come home to. Without her friends to hang out with after class. 

She knew it was the price to pay if she wanted to accomplish her dream but to live through it was a different story. 

Ochako smiled again when she thought of the Izuku Midoriya. He was a dork and a geek. A really strong and gentle one. There was a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest—one that gently let her drift off to sleep. 

When she woke up, she checked the time. 1:30 in the afternoon. Past lunchtime. What she just had was the best sleep in a very long time. She wished she could stay in her bed forever. 

Ochako tried to grab her flip phone from her bedside but ended up grabbing something else. She perked up and looked over to see that she grabbed a strange trinket. 

It was a rabbit keychain made out of wood. She examined it and thought that it looked really cute with its long ears, impressively carved cotton tail and green eyes…

The color on her face drained and any feeling of relief. 

No. 

No, it can't be…

How would that even be possible? 

Ochako got up from her bed, the adrenaline pumping in her veins as she raced to the balcony in her own dorm and threw away the trinket as far as she could. 

She tried to distract herself by folding the clothes, cleaning her room—anything to keep her mind off of the nightmares. She even tried to make a new diorama but she hasn't been able to go outside nor did she have the materials. 

And Midoriya came to mind like a eureka moment. 

“So, Uraraka, if ever you need me, I'm just around the corner!”

Now that she thought about it, she never really asked Midoriya about what school he was going to or what major he was going to take. Yeah. Yeah, that sounded like a good way to start a conversation without it being awkward. 

When she was about to twist the knob to her door, she hesitated. Then, she stopped herself from opening it altogether. 

Ochako thought about it logically. She only met Midoriya that day. Maybe they were friends but she can't just barge into his life immediately. From what she had picked up on, Midoriya looked to be the type to keep to himself and Ochako didn't want to scare him away. Not only that, she made a vow to never bring up the nightmares to anyone, not even her own parents. 

Ochako inhaled and exhaled. She didn't like it. She didn't like this new development. She didn't like how she had to put effort into being the way she used to be just to feel a sense of normalcy. 

Because nothing has ever been normal since that day. 

She missed the days when all she had were dreams and not nightmares. She missed the days when she'd work day and night fueled by a burning passion to make her parents happy. She missed the days when she was so sure that UA was the place to turn those dreams into a reality. 

But after everything that has been happening, she's no longer sure if she can stay the same Ochako Uraraka.

***

The apartment halls were hectic and crowded as the first semester of university had begun for many different schools. Ochako didn't want to be late on her fast day so she practically raced down the staircase and into the main lobby. 

She nearly bumped into a guy near the exit and she apologized frantically. Then, Ochako froze when she realized who it was. That messy mop of green hair and dorky All Might keychain was unmistakable. 

“Midoriya! You’re a UA student?!” Ochako exclaimed as she jumped up and down. 

“So are you?!” Deku returned the energy. Perhaps double the energy to the point that he covered his mouth flustered. “Are you one of the scholars?” 

“Yes! Are you one of them too?” Midoriya nodded and Ochako felt that familiar elation she felt a few days ago.

“No way! What are you taking? Wait, let’s try saying it at the same time—one, two, three—!” 

“Civil Engineering!” 

“Mechanical Engineering!” 

Oh. Well, she didn’t know what she was expecting. Maybe it had to do with the coincidences so to find out that they had different majors was slightly disappointing. 

Ochako tried to ignore whatever preconceived notions she felt like she had and laughed sheepishly. 

“Wow, I can’t believe we’re flatmates and in the same field! It’s like we were destined to meet!” 

“Huh?” Ochako tilted her head, confused.

Midoriya caught himself and laughed nervously as he twiddled his fingers together. “N-nothing! Gah, I’m really sorry for being so awkward all the time. I don’t really get to talk to girls, or anyone all that often.” 

Ochako nodded in understanding and put a hand on his shoulder. “You can always talk to me then. I’m probably way more nervous than you, y’know? It’s fine, Midoriya.” 

The green haired boy’s lips curled into that same wobbly smile that was strangely endearing. 

“Anyways! We should probably get going too,” said Ochako. 

The walk to the university was silent once again, the two of them not wanting a repeat of the events from a few days ago. 

A buzz was felt in her pocket and she opened her flip phone to see a message from her dad. 

Daddy: Do your best, sweetheart. Your mom and I will always be rooting for you.

Ochako's eyes began to water but she sucked it in and continued marching on, now feeling a little more ready to conquer the day.

That’s right, Ochako. The reason you’re doing all of this is for their happiness, not yours, the auburn haired girl reminded herself as many times as she needed. 

The streets of Tokyo were crowded and people were fighting for the buses and trains. It was a clear disparity from her small suburban town back in Mie. She figured it was a nice change of pace but to say she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss home. 

Mutter… Mutter…. Mutter….

Ochako’s ears perked up and she heard someone muttering from her side. She looked over to notice that Midoriya was talking to himself as he swiped his fingers on the palm of his other hand. Intensely. Intensely concentrated. Enough to spook Ochako into letting him do whatever he was doing. 

The university wasn’t exactly far from the apartment. From her balcony, she could see it on top of the hill. What she wasn’t prepared for was what it looked like up close. 

The auburn haired girl and green haired boy stopped at the entrance of the school and admired its architecture. It felt like the future and the past at the same time. Two tall buildings adorned by blue windows on every side. A pathway decorated by the heads of the former principals and founders of the university. 

Ochako pinched her arm to convince herself that all of this was real. She felt like she could faint any second now. She has never seen something as extravagant and prestigious as this. 

“You ready, Midoriya?” Ochako asked him. Truth be told, she was probably just as nervous as the boy sweating buckets next to her. 

“Yeah.” 

And so her new journey in UA University officially began.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[kissdatbam]

[TRANS] Entertainment News Room with Tukky

translated by kissdatbam

How Adorable! Exclusive interview with “BamBam Kunpimook”

MC: Hello everyone, this is “Hong-Kao-Bun-Therng” (meaning Entertainment News Room). Our news today is super exclusive – I’m excited, along with a goosebump and super completed! I believe that IGOT7s must really look forward to this! Please welcome this guy, an artist who have so many talents be it singing, dancing - all so amazing! “BAMBAM”!! BB: Sawasdee krub MC: Many thanks for giving us a chance to meet with you BB: Thank you too krub MC: We are so happy! With your return this time, where have you been visiting (in Thailand) [Q1]? BB: I did not have a chance to go anywhere krub. I just arrived yesterday and stayed in my hotel. I also had my dinner and a drink at the hotel. MC: With so much happiness… BB: and then went to bed krub. (laughing) [NOTE: “555” shown in the video means “laughing”. In Thai language “5” is pronounced as “Ha” so 555 is just like HaHaHa (laughing)]

MC: Next question – your concert! Your concert “Area 52” – is this your first world tour [Q2]? BB: As a soloist – yes krub. MC: What’s the concept? BB: Let’s be an alien krub – not me krub, but everyone! MC: Wowwwwwww BB: LOL…Area 52 is about the universe, UFO krub. So I will be like an astronaut bringing everyone to visit the new land.

MC: So, this is your 1st world tour as a soloist, are you ready for this? At what scale will you rate your readiness [Q3]? BB: Am I ready? I am krub. So far, the preparation process is almost finished, not many things are left to do. Once I go back to Korea, there might be some little things to do, and we will be ready krub. We can go full throttle!

MC: For this upcoming space traveling tour you gonna take IGOT7s to, will there be an interval break? Or this is non-stop [Q4]? [NOTE: the pop-up question on screen read “how do you prepare for fun/entertaining performance for this concert?] BB: To give you some spoilers about my concert, there will be nothing like this (hand gesturing up and down), it will be like this (hand gesturing speedily forward) until the end krub. MC: Ooh! If it’s like this – IGOT7s, you’d better sleep early and tight, and be prepared ka, right? BB: Of course. MC: Can you give us some more hints about this (hand gesturing speedily forward) – at what level this will be? BB: Ummmm, there will be no emotional/sentimental moment krub – I don’t want that krub. So, it will be [dancing] till the end krub. MC: Guys, you’d better prepare your legs and feet – it will be dancing only! BB: Yes krub.

MC: BamBam is one of the celebrities, who if visit a mall – the mall will be blasted [since fans will be gathered to wait and cheer for him], if go to an airport – the airport will be blasted, do you have anything to tell those [fans] who gather to welcome and cheer for you [Q5]? BB: I would like to thank you all of them krub. I felt a warmth whenever I visit Thailand, it’s almost like one of the things that made we always feel really good. Even though I felt exhausted from a long flight, that exhaustiveness just gone immediately when I see them. MC: It’s a healing power to your heart… BB: Yes krub MC: though you have to dance extremely hard, you won’t get tired? BB: Yes MC: though you have to dance like this! This! This! (hand gesturing the ultimate level up for dancing) – you won’t get tired? BB: I won’t get tired.

MC: Another important question – there’s another show of WORKPOINT [NOTE: WORKPOINT is a media channel in Thailand which this show also aired on] which one of the mountaineer / hill tribe people appeared on… BB: I saw that one too krub MC: [seems so shocked] !!! and you also shared that! BB: Yes krub – I saw he painted my portrait MC: do you have anything to tell him? BB: Like what I said in my IG story, I would like to thank him to see me as his inspiration. When I heard what he said…that’s also inspired me too krub. MC: This is so adorable! Hope you [the mountaineer] listened to this ka. Our talk today is so natural. I don’t feel tense at all. BB: Yes krub – just chilling and relaxing. MC: Can I be even more relaxing BB: LOL…yes krub!

MC: I have a game for us to play! BB: Oh! Is there? This is a result of not reading the script krub! (LOL) MC: You can do everything we tell you? BB: Yes krub. MC: Let’s start our game! I have 5 picture of the delicious dishes which people usually order whenever they came [to Thailand]. The 1st is “Somtam” (spicy Thai style papaya salad), the 2nd is “Kor-Moo-Yang” (grilled pork neck), the 3rd is “Rod-Duan” (fried bamboo worms), the 4th is “Kao-Kra-Prao-Kai-Dao” (stir fried spicy minced-pork with basils on rice, with fried egg) and the 5th is “Kao-Mun-Gai” (steamed chicken with rice – pretty similar to “Hainanese chicken rice”) – do you like these foods?

BB: I do krub. Actually, this morning I just had #4 (Kao-Kra-Prao) MC: I also heard that you had “Yum-Som-O” x 2 (doubled plates)? BB: OH! How did you know krub!? MC: the cook and I are from the same province/region ka. BB: Oh really! MC: [speaking in North-Eastern dialect imitating the cook’s story] “Khun Tukky (the MC’s name), Khun BamBam ate that twice” LOL – see, exclusive right? LOL BB: LOL – very exclusive krub (smiling) MC: Ok! Please guess, among these five dishes, which one do you think I like the best? If you guess correctly, I will buy a lotto at your age! BB: #3 krub MC: OK! [Revealing the real game] Actually, behind the picture there’re questions and missions for you to do. It will be either three questions, or two missions. BamBam will need to choose 3 of your favorite dishes and do what it told behind those pictures. BB: Ok krub – then I will choose from what I want to eat now – I choose #3 krub. MC: It’s mission “BamBam, please speak “I love you” in 3 different languages”, and then doing 3 sexy poses. BB: Oooooh….Ok, let’s start with Thai language krub. “Hey, “Rak Na”” [Hey, Love you]…MC, can I retake this krub? ((LOL)) MC: LOL BB: I’m not good at things like this krub…ok, then…let’s imagine that the girl is sweetly requested this, I may not want to say it out loud, so I’ll be like (BB in acting mode) “Rak Na”. MC: Ok, then next language. BB: I’ll say it in Korean language krub. Oh…there’s a lot of Korean here (referred to Abyss team that were with him during the shooting)…”[KOREAN language]” – is this ok? MC: Ok ok! I’m really excited!! Ok ka – what about the last one? BB: Spanish then. “Te Amo” – I’m really not good at this. MC: It’s ok, no worry. Then, next one. BB: I chose #5 krub – I didn’t have it for so long. MC: BamBam, please ask IGOT7s to come to your concert in BamBam’s style BB: “Please krub, please come to see me” (and BB also “Wai”) MC: Oh! This one is easy – BamBam just one should be fine ka. Next one…you may choose the one that you did not like ka. BB: Then, I choose #2 krub MC: If there will have an activity arranged by fans in this concert, what activity would you like the fans to do? Please also provide the reason. BB: I think…1:1 photo session is the best one! If I can do, I want to have a lucky draw on stage to choose the lucky fans, regardless of their seat prices – I will choose 5 lucky fans to meet at the back stage for photo session. MC: will this be possible? BB: It’s possible – I almost acting like a president now (LOL) MC: Oh! like a president now? LOL ok – please do ka BB: I’ll try to make it happens krub MC: Then, I’d like to thank you on behalf of the fans – since every one of them purchases the ticket with their hearts and you recognized that and give an importance to everyone equally BB: Thank you krub MC: The most adorable! Would you like to hear the rest? [picking #1] oh! This one is nice too! For this concert, what is a dress code/ how would you like the fans to be dressed? BB: I want to see them painted in green like the alien krub. MC: OMG! Some will look like the alien, while some might look like a fly (a pest bug) BB: LOL MC: #5 – if BamBam must cook for the fans, what would you like to make? Please list 3 dishes BB: Somtam krub – I will also add the msg (laughing) like 2 bags – after eat it – you will get bald immediately LOL MC: LOL BB: the second dish will be “Su-Yuk”, and the last one………..I just want to have a coffee with them krub.

MC: ok! The game is completed, and you also answered every question. Lastly, please talk about your current activity and this upcoming concert/world tour. BB: For Area 52 – it will be something new krub. I have never seen any concert in Thailand in this style before. It will be something special to you and for me as well. I hope that you will join me in creating a history – it will be one day only krub. MC: Thank you BamBam from our heart to join us today. BB: Thank you krub. MC: He is so natural, he can be everything and doing it his own way. Hopefully, we will have a chance to see each other again. Thank you ka. BB: Thank you krub. MC: We’ll go now – see you, bye bye. BB: Bye Bye.

PDF version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WiPlKuSk4JcQXJpL8JdqTMcJl6ZSZYuK/view Original source: Youtube WorkpointNews23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXBmbUGRCU Photo source: instagram @tukky66 Translated by kissdatbam may contain slight inaccuracies

[shestoodintears]

So I wrote this, because why not at this stage? (It's a short, dare I say funny, Space Exploration Terror!AU, meant to be read as a Fitzjier one-shot, very tame)

“What in the fresh hell is this?” were not the first words Francis Crozier thought he would utter as he woke from his 86 year-slumber. 

He had expected to face the unknown: the strange vistas of new galaxies, the spread of undiscovered stars in the cold vastness of space, the wonder of the black hole they used to get there looming on the horizon… Not this. 

He felt like he had gone to sleep in one dimension and woke up in another. James Fitzjames, the Command Module Pilot, his tall insufferable second that had been so foolish and so brilliant at lift-off, finally connected the words to the man and walked over to check up on him. Feeling his knees still too weak to support his full weight, Francis did not try to step out of his sleep pod but let the cryogenic liquid empty out around him. He could hear the other astronauts wake up all around him, enjoying the process about as much as he did. 

James looked like he was holding on better than the 129 crew members being woken up. He was up and walking, eyes alert, and not throwing up on the floor like Edward Little right next to Francis. Still, that did not explain… this. 

“What in the devil is that?” Francis repeated, gesturing to whatever was on the man’s head. 

James looked dumbfounded, like Francis had just landed from another planet which was, in a way, true. “That… is a very tired astronaut who could kill for a cup of coffee?” He replied, hesitant as to what his Command Pilot was even asking. 

Could he not see..? thought Francis, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. He was starting to feel his entire body again, after decades of sleep, and yet the only thing he could focus on was…

“On your head, Fitzjames, what is that?” 

James frowned again, but this time his hand flew to his hair, gingerly touching it. Recognition and relief shone on his features. 

“Oh, that? It’s just a heatless curling set. Have you never seen it before?” James answered nonchalantly. 

Francis’ treacherous blood came up to his cheeks. He worked one leg up over the sleep pod to get out of this death machine. He put his leg down and, as he put his weight on it, felt his knee wobble a little. Immediately, James’ surprisingly strong hands were on his arm to steady him. Francis looked at him and grumbled to hide his embarrassment:

“Never seen anything like it. Did you sleep in it?”

“Not for 86 years, no, but I did use it yesterday after the computer woke me up to have a human being welcome you to the new world. Must have forgotten it…” James replied, and it was his turn to look a little embarrassed. For a second. 

Later, when the entire crew was awake and enjoying rehydrated coffee in the mess, James reappeared to talk and pat the crewmembers’ backs with his usual dazzling smile. Francis pretended not to notice how perfectly defined his curls looked in the sea of greasy, tousled hair. 

In a Terror Space Exploration!AU, I feel like James Fitzjames would bring a heatless curls thing to space

[rugessnome]

...

[tachvintlogic]

You know how in Girls Night Out Jack takes Danny fishing, aka the most stereotypical father-son bonding activity ever? One neither of them is probably into given their actual interests? You know what Jack should've done?

He should've taken Danny flying.

Get a buddy in the air force or the navy, get to a runway, and put Danny in the copilot seat of a Cessna 172 so this boy can learn how to fly a plane.

Danny wants to be an astronaut, and one of the job requirements is a certain amount of piloting experience. Taking him flying would show that Jack actually pays attention to what his son is interested in and wants to help him reach his own goals instead of getting sucked into the family business. He's fine with his kids taking different paths, which given how obsessive he and Maddie are about ghosts, would mean a lot.

This very sweet gesture on his dad's part would also force Danny to confront what he actually wants to do after high school, and if his dreams of being an astronaut are even still obtainable. Jack is of course oblivious to Danny's internal monologue of angst as is the pilot, who is very impressed that Danny is flying so well despite this being his first time copiloting a plane.

But then oh no! Skulker attacks! Jack wants to help, but he can't if he doesn't want to blow a hole in the plane. The pilot takes charge evading Skulker in a plane not designed for evasive maneuvers. But then Danny insists on taking control because while he's not used to flying planes, he is experienced in avoiding Skulker in the air.

Pilot: We need to land now!

Danny: No bank left! His rockets are only one side so we need to get in a position he can't easily shoot us!

(Idk if that's true I just needed to come up with example dialogue.)

In the moment, Jack couldn't be prouder, but now it's basically confirmed his son has been ghost hunting behind his back. That's a whole new thing to unpack on the drive back home, which makes it much harder for Danny to avoid the question: are you still aiming for NASA or are you going to be a ghost hunter for the rest of your life?

[tooktheladdedgbtq]

....and the Oscar goes to.. | Tom Holland X Male!actor reader. 

A/N: this was just something I wrote because I got inspired I guess. Happy Pride everyone!

——————————————

You couldn’t decide whether time was slipping through your fingers too quickly or if this had been the longest night you’d ever experienced.

seconds slowed to a crawl while you tried to gather yourself before it was your turn to take the stage. You were nervous. Not about being at the oscars or presenting for the first time. Not even about being nominated for your leading role in the second installment of a critically acclaimed trilogy. No, you’d been used to these sorts of things, you’d been an actor since you were a very young kid. Starting on television before film, and you even got to hold the Emmy the show had won when you had just turned a teenager.

No, you were nervous about who exactly you’d be presenting to. Of the five nominees and potential winners, only one could cause such an intensive feeling in your chest. Only one could awaken a sense of dread that battled with a feeling of intensive happiness mixed with anticipation, and it was Tom.

You’d known each other for years and had come to fall in love. You’d met as young co-stars on set and eventually grew into an inseparable friendship that progressed into something far more. Neither of you were sure when the feelings started but it felt like they’d always been there and you weren’t exactly complaining.

Your blissfulness with Tom was beautiful but short lived. After almost a year of being official you both agreed to take a break from the relationship. Unbeknownst to Tom you were just agreeing to save face and hadn’t pried for an answer out of fear of being hurt. You just accepted that this was how things were now, and took a step back.

You’d still kept in contact with him. It was hard not to. He was still your best friend. But whether it was the business of work or something a little more awkward, distance grew between you both as the multi-hour long facetime calls and text threads became once-a-week check-ins to just make sure you were alive and okay.

Time had passed, and you didn’t have a clue what you could possibly say to him now. You certainly didn’t want to ruin his special night. But you’d missed him so much and felt like you would implode at the first sign that he’d be interested in getting back together with you. But you also didn’t want to seem desperate or needy if he’d moved on. You didn’t want to slip and say those three words again in the moment.

Father time showed you no mercy as the sand in his hourglass suddenly shifted from a slow-motion drip to a flood. The seconds you’d spent daydreaming of your past with Tom and pondering about the your potential future had passed and left you with little time to gather yourself before presenting. still you shook your hands, arms, and lastly shoulders, putting all your worries aside and waited for introduction from the host.

Before long you’d been counted in to walking on stage, and heard the host over the microphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to present the award and introduce the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, please welcome one of this year’s nominees and one of our generation’s greatest talents: Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

The applause erupts from the audience like a revved up engine as you took center but it was nothing compared to the standing ovation you’d receive later on that night when receiving your own award for Best Actor.

You were stood promptly center staged with the towering Oscar statue reflecting onto the black stage floor beneath your feet. Your outfit was alluring and would surely be the next hot topic which is rare for male stars. You looked like a million bucks. Everyone knew it, most of all, Tom.

You smile and wave as you approach the microphone, your teeth shining a blinding white, and wait for a hush from the crowd.

You chuckle lightly as a few hoots and hollers sound out as the cheers subside.

You eye the monitor across the room and start to read, your nerves dying down as your jokes land and laughter echoes around the room.

As you finish the introduction, clips start to show behind you to accompany the names of the nominees as the cameras catch a glimpse of each of their reactions.

You couldn’t help but notice how tough the competition was as each actor was called. Steven Yuen playing a detective in a thrilling murder mystery. John David Washington in a fictional film playing the world’s first black astronaut aiding in the discovery of lovecraftian horrors. Andrew Garfield for his role as a psychotic narcissist and genius businessman. Oscar Issac acting in a sci fi space opera asking questions of existentialism.

Finally, you had to withhold your smile as you called out the last name. He had returned to his Billy Elliot roots being nominated for his role in a astonishing musical romance film. “Tom Holland.” You’d been ecstatic when he’d told you about it as you’d always recommend he tried it again since it made him so happy in his younger years.

You spot him a few rows from the stage, making eye contact with him and wondering if he was thinking about you the way you had done with him earlier. You couldn’t help but notice him squirming in his chair and fidgeting with his hands. Selfishly asking yourself if this wasn’t just about the award but about having you present it to him.

Seeing you here after what felt like an eternity apart and your reunion potentially being the greatest achievement of both your careers. Making it the greatest night of your lives, that is, if you were still together. But you were still best friends. That’s what mattered. So you push your self centered thoughts aside and shoot him a small wave that he returns with a smile and thumbs up. letting you know he was okay and that you could continue as the camera pans back to you capturing your not so hidden giddiness.

This awarded some small oos and aahs from the crowd as your relationship with him had been a wholly celebrated one. especially among your marvel peers.

You’re handed an envelope and statue as the music ends and the applause dies down and you take one final glare into the camera before beginning to open the envelope.

“....and the Oscar goes to,” you take a peek at the crowd and see some of the nominees holding hands with loved ones. others plainly

awaiting your next words with bated breath. The anticipation shone on everyone’s faces. Even those that weren’t nominated. Your not-so-hidden grin giving away the answer mere milliseconds before his name escaped your lips. “Tom Holland!”

Tom shot up with a shared expression of shock and happiness on his face. Pecking his mother on the cheek as she wipes the tears of pride from her eyes. His best mate Harrison gives him a quick embrace and a pat on the back before he moves on to shake hands with the director and smile at everyone cheering him on as he gradually moves toward the stage still completely baffled at the victory.

As he walks towards you in his pink pastel colored suit and brown leather dress shoes you can’t help but swell with an overwhelming feeling of joy having been here to share this career defining moment with him. You thought about how far you’d both come to get here and almost started tearing up remembering all you’d been through together.

He skipped up the miniature steps and blanketed you with both arms. You didn’t want it to end as you hadn’t felt it in a while. You threw your arms around his neck and he tightens his hold around your torso. Before you could even process them, your blunt thoughts spill out as whispers.

“I’m so incredibly proud of you. you deserve this and so much more.” you hear a small chuckle escape him as he responds. “I am trying not to cry y’know mate?” a wolf whistle comes from the crowd as you apologize for being so sappy and before he can tell you off for it you hand him his award and shove him off toward the microphone.

As he takes center stage you stand off to the side to watch him give his acceptance speech. He pauses and takes a second to gather himself before he starts talking straight from his heart with nothing prepared.

“Um, Wow. I really can’t believe this is really happening and I probably still won’t believe it happened tomorrow. Just.. wow.” his words were filled with that charmingly British accent you’d come to love so much.

“First I would like to thank my mother, without whom of course, I would not be here. I would like to thank the academy and everyone who worked on this movie from the producers and camera men, make-up and costumes, to our wonderful writers, composer, back up dancers and vocalists, and of course my friends, my co-star and the director Damien Chazelle.” whom he gestures to sitting in the second row. “I share this with all of you and I can’t thank you enough for awarding me with the opportunity to create something I love so much.”

He thanks the other nominees before turns towards you to end his speech. you felt your heart in your hands when you saw his big brown puppy eyes dart in your direction with an intensive glare of admiration.

“last but most importantly, I want to thank the inspiration for all of the love songs I sung in the film and the reason I decided to take the role. The person standing here on my right.”

Your jaw drops and your eyes widen when his words hit you like a speeding semi. you realize that he’d just called you his muse in so many words. the inspiration behind the love songs in the film no less. Meaning that with every lovestruck note his character sung he was reminded of you. All that time spent worrying if the distance between you two would cause him to forget about you, or if he’d maybe moved on and found somebody else. But no such thing had happened. He was relating his character’s longing in the film to his longing for you this entire time and that made your heart do a backflip.

You blush and cover your still ajar mouth with your fist whilst trying not to pay attention to the crowd who’s attention was fully focused on you.

He takes a deep sigh before continuing. “Y/N you’re not only the reason I took this role, but you’re the reason I was able to play it with such sincerity. You’ve been a unwavering beacon of support throughout my career in general but here you really gave me the inspiration for something special. He faces the audience again as the all follow his words with whispers of how adorable you both were. “from reading lines together in the middle of the night, to keeping me company when i’m on the brink of a meltdown.” It was all true and it only made you miss you relationship more and you found it difficult to hold back your tears.

“Y/N is the kind of best friend everybody needs, the kind of partner everybody deserves, and the person I’m so incredibly lucky to have known for so long. ..and I still can’t believe he never figured out the lyrics were all about him, It was kind of obvious-” the audience laughed you’re so close to swooning as he turns toward you again. “But, with all my heart, I love you, Y/N. Always will.” you feel as if you’re floating.

He shifts to the crowd one last time to say a final thank you before you both walk off stage one arm around one another’s shoulders. You have a short but sweet conversation backstage with him where reassures you that everything he said on stage was true and completely unscripted. He wants to talk more but knows your category is coming soon so he asks for a later opportunity and you agree before returning to your seat in the crowd.

The rest of the night flew by with you winning the award for best actor and receiving the biggest applause of the night. Tom joined in the standing ovation. You thanked everybody involved in making the film, the academy, and squeezed a little joke directed towards Tom that garnered a shared laugh from both him and the audience. You were the last award of the night and after the celebrations it was time to return to your place, where Tom was waiting for you. Wanting to talk about everything that had happened not just tonight but everything leading up to it. He also hoped you’d kept a spot open in your heart for him to return to.

[callmeyuu]

A golden opportunity, or is it?

Genre: Sci-Fi

Au(s): Modern!Au, Future!Au, Astronaut!Au.

Summary: In which you're currently on a mission to explore space. An asteroid rain leads to a golden opportunity, or not?

Ships: None(?)

Characters included: Kazuha, Jean, Venti

Warnings: Mentions of wounds

Word count: 675 words

A/n: This takes place in the year 2135. GN!Reader. Hope you enjoy<3

Work under the cut （。＾▽＾）

"I can't bear the thought that everyone is at home, playing and doing whatever they want, and WE just had to be HERE! On a spaceship, without any clue about where we are!" Venti whines while clinging to you, pouting. "Now, Venti, I believe we talked about this before, now let poor Y/N take care of our injuries in peace. Honestly, how did you get picked again?" Jean spoke up, you can clearly see that she is trying her best to come up with a reason for Venti to be selected for the mission. "I'm injured too! Why isn't Y/N treating my wounds?" Venti then points at a scar on his hand, but only earns a chuckle from you. "Venti, that's only a scar, while Jean and Kazuha here have open wounds. We wouldn't want them to be infected, would we?" Without any further words, you turn back to treating Jean. "Fine! I'll be up in the front then, it's not like anyone needs me!"

It's been several minutes since Venti was gone, you were enjoying the comforting silence with Kazuha and Jean, until the alarm goes off. And then there's Venti, running straight towards your direction, panting "G-Guys! There's an asteroid rain!" "Was the Autopilot mode on then?" Kazuha raised an eyebrow, concerned about the state of the ship "That's a good question, was it?" Jean continues. "I-I think it wasn't-" Venti stuttered. You yelped in shock while Kazuha went straight to the captain's room, Jean following him. You stayed in the medical room along with Venti, while waiting for the good news, if there are any, you swore that you felt the ship was hit several times. "What are they doing?" you thought to yourself "Shouldn't they have turned Autopilot mode on already?"

An hour passed, still no sign of Kazuha or Jean, worried, you decided to leave Venti in the medical room to look for them. "Kazuha? Jean? Where are you guys?" Gliding around the ship, you keep calling for them, but there were no responses. That was until you reach the commander compartment. There, you saw Kazuha and Jean manually piloting the ship into the asteroid rain. "Kazuha! What do you think you're doing?! And Jean!?" You yelled in shock "Why are you guys heading straight into the asteroid rain? Have you lost your minds?" "Woah Y/N, keep your voice down, I need to focus," Kazuha said without even looking at you. "Well then explain why you're doing this first!" Jean looks up from her computer, then gives you a reassuring smile "Come, I'll tell you" Jean then gestured you to sit next to her, which you did. "So, you see, those asteroids are part of a planet's ring" You hummed, implying that you understood "And this planet, has shown signs that there is life here! Isn't that great?!" Jean has never been this excited before, so it must be really good. "I guess it's nice?" "It's not just nice, Y/N. It's a golden opportunity! Now I would really appreciate it if you go inform Venti for us. We'll be landing on this planet soon, and of course, an expedition would take place." Kazuha said that while glancing at you. "Alright then, Kazu."

While going back to the medical room, you can't help but think to yourself about what Kazuha just stated "A golden opportunity? Is it really one...? Maybe I'm just thinking too much? I hope so.." You muttered.

The ship is always silent, but why do you keep hearing odd noises? Before you can develop any theories, Venti was already running towards you "Y/N! R-Run! Inform Kazuha and Jean! Now!" Your mind wasn't processing anything Venti just said "W-What do you mean?!" You spoke. "SOMETHING BROKE INTO OUR SHIP!" This time, Venti shouted, not minding the look you gave him. Suddenly, Venti turned his head "Y/N RUN!" When you shifted your head to look at the direction Venti's been looking at, your jaw dropped in terror.

[gumnut-logic]

I know I’ve posted this one before, but what the hell. It’s Johnny and one of my favs :D

-o-o-o-

John Tracy was sick.

Which meant John Tracy wasn’t allowed to go home.

Sure, he could say that he was home, but it didn’t really feel like home. It was full of brothers and people he loved, but it didn’t feel like home.

Home was among the stars.

But apparently astronauts with the flu weren’t allowed to go home.

“It won’t be for long, John. It will be over before you know it.” Virgil was kind and reassuring, but it didn’t really help.

He wanted to go home.

He was determined to work, of course. Until Scott caught him and cut him off.

There were some loud words over that, but the medical department of IR (aka Virgil) sided with the command department (aka Scott) and yeah, he was grounded, cut off from his ‘bird, holed up in his room and miserable.

Of course, his brothers attempted to cheer him up. Alan dumped himself on his bed chattering away with his latest game, all eager enthusiasm. Gordon brought him a pet crab. Even cared for it for him. John was left wondering if it was a snarky metaphor as the crab sat under a rock all day and had a distinct grumpy appearance.

Virgil and Scott were more subtle, but no less caring. Scott ran ideas past him for communications improvements. Piano music and the occasional piece of art found its way into his rooms uninvited.

He appreciated it. Truly, he did.

He just wanted to go home.

The morning he woke up with a cat sleeping on his chest was the last straw.

“C’mon, guys. You know I’m allergic to cats. Are your trying to kill me?” He held the cat out at arm’s length just waiting for his nasal passages to swell up. Though at this point considering his condition, he wasn’t really sure he would notice.

The cat meowed pitifully at him.

Virgil frowned.

Scott arched an eyebrow.

Gordon looked guilty....but then he always looked guilty. John was sure it was an inbuilt survival strategy.

Alan was cooing at the cat and reaching out to scratch it under the chin.

It was an orange stripy thing with big whiskers and that ragdoll floppiness all cats sported.

“Gordon?” Scott’s arched eyebrow was now pointed at the aquanaut.

“What are you looking at me for? I got him the crab, why would I get him a cat? The cat will eat the crab.” Gordon frowned at John. “Don’t let the cat eat the crab.”

Not a sentence John had ever predicted hearing in his lifetime.

“Can someone please take this thing?” He held out the cat even further.

Virgil, still frowning, gently collected the cat from John’s hands and automatically curled it up in his arms. A finger scratched under its chin.

“Thank you. I’m going back to bed.”

And he did.

The next time he woke, a pair of green feline eyes were staring at him, the cat, once again, curled up on his chest.

What?

It meowed at him and poked his nose with a paw.

“Virgil!”

He must have yelled a little too much because next minute his big brother barrelled into the room, panic on his face. “John, what the-?!”

His eyes landed on the cat and his shoulders literally sagged. “Goddamnit, that’s where you are. I’ve been looking for you for hours.” Virgil reached to pick up the cat.

The cat turned from mild mannered bed companion to spitting and screeching demon within a blink. Virgil yelped and fell backwards, his feet slipping on the mat and his butt hitting the floor with a crash.

One of John’s telescopes teetered before tipping ever so slowly. Virgil saw it and struggled to catch it. “Shiiit!” He threw himself in its path and the four-foot metal cylinder landed in his lap.

There was an oomph and Virgil was flat on his back on the floor.

Demon cat kneaded John’s chest a little before settling once more.

It began to purr.

“Virgil? You okay?”

His brother grunted and John struggled out of bed, shoving the cat out of the way. “Virgil?”

“I’m good.” It was up an octave higher than normal. “Sorry about your telescope.”

John grabbed the telescope off his brother and righted it. It was his own fault for leaving it there in the first place. Stargazing from bed was a habit much more easily exercised on TB5.

Virgil waved off his offered hand and rolled over, pushing himself to his feet with another grunt. He eyed the cat with suspicion. “I thought we had an understanding, Bagel.”

The cat eyed Virgil with equal suspicion.

“Bagel?”

“Gordon claims it is your cat so needs a John name.”

“A John name?”

“Yeah, Bagel it is.”

“It’s not my cat! And where did it come from anyway?” John frowned at Virgil. “Another stowaway on Two.”

“No! You know we have sensors for that now. And besides, that was only once.”

“Twice.”

“Once. The polar bear doesn’t count.”

“The polar bear most assuredly does count. Alan still hasn’t forgiven you.”

“Really?”

“It was a polar bear, Virgil.”

“Yeah, well, that is your cat.”

“That is not my cat.”

“Apparently she has decided she is yours.” Virgil held up his hands. Several scratches decorated his skin. “I have enough of these already. She’s yours.”

“I’m allergic.”

Virgil peered up at him, brown eyes assessing. “You don’t appear to be suffering a reaction. She’s been gone for hours. If she has been here, on your chest all that time, you should be showing the affects. All I can see is the remains of your flu.” A frown. “Are you feeling any better?”

It was John’s turn to frown. He had almost forgotten he was ill, but now his attention returned to his body, the signs were clear.

But he was feeling a little better.

“A little.”

Virgil reached up and squeezed his arm. “Good. You hungry?”

A brief consultation with his stomach and he realised that yes, he was. “Yes, I think so.”

A smile spread over his brother’s face. “Great. You’re on the mend.” Another squeeze of his arm and Virgil turned towards the door. “Meet you in the kitchen. Scott went all out this morning and made pancakes. I stashed you some. Gotta grab them before Gordon discovers them.”

“FAB.” John couldn’t help but return his brother’s smile.

Virgil grinned and with a half-hearted groan rubbed his butt and staggered with some exaggeration out the door. “Don’t forget your cat.”

John turned back to stare at the ginger monstrosity still sitting on his bed, calmly grooming.

“Bagel, is it?”

The cat blinked and kept licking its fur.

John sighed and grabbed his clothes.

-o-o-o-

The cat followed him downstairs for the meal, which turned out to be dinner. He had managed to sleep the day away. Apparently, this was a good thing, because for the first time in days, he could move without creaking.

Virgil had indeed stashed pancakes and within minutes there was a short stack piled up in front of him complete with ice cream and maple syrup. Before he even bothered to acknowledge the envy emanating from Gordon across the other side of the table, the stack began to disappear.

Scott knew how to make pancakes. John considered his big brother’s purpose in life and came to the immediate conclusion that it should be IR, family and pancakes.

Of course, pancakes could be a subset of family if considered that way, but there was always the possibility of him opening a business as a pancake chef.

Blink.

Yes, the flu had obviously taken part of his brain with it.

A pair of blue eyes and two pairs of brown were staring at him.

“What?”

“Did you bother to breathe between bites, bro?” Gordon gestured with his head at the table.

John looked down and found his plate empty. “Guess I was hungry. Scott makes great pancakes.”

“Yes, he does.” Virgil plonked a glass of orange juice in front of him and took away his sticky plate. “Now drink your juice and we’ll set up for family movie.”

“Aren’t you guys going to eat?”

“Already eaten.” Scott was poking at his phone, holograms bouncing around above it. “Grandma made meatloaf surprise again.”

John choked on his juice. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Scott did look a little green around the gills.

Well, that explained the envy on Gordon’s face and why Alan was very absent.

“Anyone feed the youngest?”

“All under control.” Virgil chucked Gordon a celery crunch bar and the aquanaut grabbed it from the air.

It was devoured faster than John’s pancakes.

Virgil wandered back into the kitchen proper and soon there was the delicious smell of hot popcorn wafting through the room. The engineer walked past the table again and dumped a chocolate bar in front of Scott. Another one landed in front of John.

“Consider it a survivor’s reward.” Virgil grabbed Scott’s phone out of his hand.

“Hey!”

“Stop working, this is family time. Everything can wait a couple of hours.”

Scott glared at his brother, but grabbed the chocolate bar and capitulated anyway.

Probably because he knew Virgil was right. It was so easy to get absorbed with International Rescue business. John knew he was a fantastic example case of such a syndrome.

A sigh.

Scott glanced up at him. “How are you doing, John?” A smirk. “How’s Bagel?”

As if beckoned, the cat in question suddenly leapt up on to the table and stalked the length of it towards Scott. John’s eyes widened as his eldest brother was targeted by a feline glare of epic proportions.

Scott’s expression was quite an amusing mixture and defiance and terror. Bagel sat down in front of him and after a moment of intense eyeballing decided Scott was boring and started washing herself.

“That is one weird cat, John.”

Everyone jumped as Bagel shot to her feet and dashed across the table at Gordon. “Holy crap!” The aquanaut scrambled backwards as Bagel ran at him. He tangled his feet in the stool he was sitting on and with a crash, ended up on the floor.

“Ow.”

Reaching the edge of the table, Bagel stopped and peered down at the fallen Thunderbird and, apparently deciding Gordon was no more interesting than Scott, sat down and returned to grooming.

The remaining three vertical brothers stared at each other and the cat.

No one said a thing.

“Uh, can someone give me a hand up, here?” Gordon vaguely waved an arm about and Virgil edged around the table to help his brother up.

His eyes barely left Bagel.

“Has anyone fed the cat?” John threw the question in there as a bit of an icebreaker since said cat had frozen the room almost solid.

Bagel looked up and stared at John for a moment before jumping to her feet and ambling over. A simple step off the table and she was in his lap, circling for moment to find a comfortable spot, then curling up and purring.

Again, everyone was staring at the orange fluff ball, John included.

“You have a very strange cat.” Apparently, Gordon hadn’t learnt from his earlier experience, but fortunately, Bagel ignored him this time.

John stared down at the purring ball of fur.

Yes, it seems he did.

-o-o-o-

Despite the possessed cat, the rest of the night went very well. All five brothers plus Kayo threw down some pillows, curled up in front of the holoprojector and waded through a trashy b-grade movie that looked like they were using mannequins for actors and plastic models for set pieces. There was popcorn, laughter and loving family. John felt warm and relaxed and better than he had in days. Somewhere between action scenes, he drifted off to the tinny soundtrack and the sound of his brothers criticising the special effects.

“Johnny?” It was whispered “Johnny, you’ve got to move or you’ll end up with one hell of a neckache.”

A blink and he found himself looking at Virgil upside down. Wha-?

“C’mon, bro. Up you get.” And his brother was lifting him up. Another blink and he realised he was lying on one of the couches...almost upside down, his feet at an angle above his head with his head hanging off the seat cushion. He was far too long for the piece of furniture and, apparently, he had stretched in his sleep.

Virgil was shifting his shoulders into a more horizontal position. Beyond him, the holoprojector was listing all the languages the movie was available in, complete with appropriate copyright warnings. Idly he noted that the Hungarian translation had an error in the third line.

John let his feet drop to the end of the couch before folding up enough to force himself upright. Ugh, Virgil was right. His neck cricked and creaked along with his spine. God, gravity was a nasty piece of work. It had also apparently dribbled all the mucus in his body into his head. His skull protested at the pressure as he sat up and he groaned.

“John?”

Why did everyone think Scott was the worry wart of the family? Virgil with his medical radar was just as bad, if not worse. “I’m fine. Just a head full of snot.” Ugh. Right between his eyeballs, throbbing to the beat of his heart. “Just kill me now.”

Suddenly there was an orange cat in his face, staring.

“What? Bagel, not now.” He gently picked up the cat and put her on the couch beside him. Where the hell had she come from anyway?

A pitiful meow was her response and she edged nearer brushing her cheek against his arm.

Despite himself, he turned to her. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him with a combination of adoration and haughtiness. He had no idea what to make of that expression.

Of course, she was a cat. Who understood cats?

“Are you two having a moment?” His brother’s smiling baritone broke the silence and to John’s surprise, Bagel turned to Virgil and hissed angrily.

His big brother took a hurried step back.

“Bagel! Leave him alone! He will never hurt you. For goodness sake, Virgil wouldn’t hurt a fly. Give him some respect.”

To his complete surprise, Bagel stopped hissing immediately. She turned to him almost a question on her face before once again looking at Virgil. Her head dropped and stared at the floor.

“What the hell?” It was little more than breath and all his big brother. Virgil was staring at Bagel, his brow crumpling into a deep frown.

Bagel’s head shot up and once again she was staring at Virgil.

Virgil’s frown got even deeper.

“John where did you get this cat from?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before in my life.”

Virgil continued his staring contest with the cat.

“What is it?” His brother’s expression was becoming unnerving, so suddenly determined, it was almost fierce.

“I don’t know.” A pause. “Keep her out of sensitive areas for me, will you?”

“Sure.”

Bagel continued to stare at Virgil.

Virgil continued to stare at Bagel.

A solid moment passed and then his brother was shaking his head, looking at his feet, looking at John. “You good to make it up to your rooms?”

“Yeah.”

“I need to go hunt down Scott. One of the TI directors in the States forgot the time zones. He’s been on the phone for half an hour already.” Virgil sighed.

“Need backup?”

“No.” A hand dropped to John’s shoulder. “You go to bed, you need it. I’ve got this.” The hand disappeared and Virgil climbed out of the lounge, heading towards the balcony.

Bagel was licking her paw.

John sighed. Perhaps some paracetamol would help. “C’mon, Bagel, apparently, you’re with me.” He picked her up and held her against his chest as he staggered to his feet. Cursed gravity. How he missed being able to make the smallest movements and coast across a room.

Bagel reached her head up and snuggled under his chin, her purr vibrating his sternum.

“Why me?” It was little more than an exhaled breath and he wasn’t sure it was a complaint or an actual question.

In either case, Bagel didn’t answer. She just purred into his chest.

So, it remained a mystery for another night.

-o-o-o-

“It just appeared. No trace on sensors, nothing. It’s as if it didn’t exist before the day before yesterday.”

Virgil’s puzzled voice echoed up the stairs as John approached the kitchen the next morning. He glanced at his watch. This was early for his brother; he usually wasn’t up for another hour at least.

“I’m telling you, Scott, there is something very strange about that cat.”

John paused at the top of the stairs, his hands curled around Bagel, gently scratching her under the chin. He had awoken again with her on his chest, but unlike the previous two incidents, he had found himself surprisingly comforted with her presence.

Her purring was strangely calming.

“I will admit she is quite volatile.” Scott’s voice was surprisingly reluctant. “She didn’t even take to Gordon. Every living creature takes to Gordon. Except lizards, I guess. Hell, she doesn’t even like you.”

“That’s just it. She doesn’t act like a cat.”

“What, just because she doesn’t like you?”

“I’m sorry, Scott. Something just doesn’t feel right. Why is she so attached to John? What if she is a plant after our technology?”

“A tech seeking cat? Really?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time an animal has been used for espionage.”

Scott sighed and John shifted, attempting to loosen the tense muscles in his shoulders.

“It’s just that John appears to have latched onto Bagel as much as the cat has to him. How often does John attach to anybody?”

“And that’s what scares me the most. What happens when he returns to TB5? He can’t take a cat with him. It wouldn’t be safe for either of them.”

“Then we look after Bagel for him.”

It was Virgil’s turn to sigh and it was a worried one.

John chose that moment to make his entrance. He stepped lightly down the stairs. “You two really do worry far too much.”

Both brothers started as he entered. The guilty expressions on their faces were quite amusing.

“Virgil, if you are worried about Bagel, scan her.” John held the cat out to his brother. “Take her up to the infirmary and run her through a thorough physical. In fact, I would prefer if you did since as you said, I have become somewhat attached to her. As to what we are going to do when I return to Five...” He shrugged. “I hope we can work something out.”

Virgil managed to look both apologetic and sad.

To John’s astonishment, Bagel wriggled out of his grip and jumped down to the floor. She ambled over to Virgil. His brother froze, obviously wary, but the cat gently brushed up against his leg and rubbed the length of her body across his boots.

The whole room stared.

“Good morning, Bagel.” Virgil’s voice was a little breathless.

“Good morning, Virgil.” The whole room jumped as Brains jogged down the stairs and passing them, bee-lined for the fridge.

“‘Morning, Brains, John.” Gordon wandered in from the pool rubbing a towel through his hair. “Yaargh! What the hell, Virgil. You gone to the cat side?” He took several steps back as he caught sight of Bagel.

Bagel, still wrapped around Virgil’s ankles, turned towards Gordon and spat at him.

“That damn cat is possessed.” The aquanaut made sure the table was between him and the feline.

Bagel glared at him, following with her eyes.

“Eos, I know G-Gordon can b-be a challenge, b-but really, h-he is a good man.” Brains was pouring milk into his cereal on the bench.

“Yes, but he is so annoying.” The AI’s voice bounced across the house’s comm system.

“He st-still deserves r-respect.”

The comm system grunted.

Every eye in the room stared at the engineer.

Gordon found his voice first. “Wow, Brains, thanks.”

John was staring at Bagel. “Eos what do you know about Bagel?”

“Oh, John, everything.” The little imp was so smug.

Two strides and John was beside Virgil. Reaching down, he snagged Bagel off the floor and held her up, his eyes raking over the cat. A moment of intense examination. Bagel stared back at him calmly.

“Okay, how did you do it?”

“Do what, John?”

“Do not mess with me, Eos. I want answers and I want them now.”

“Hiram helped me.”

“Helped you do what?” Scott’s voice was sharp. “Brains?”

“It was a v-very interesting challenge.”

“What did you do, Brains?” Commander Tracy stood up from the table, his height saying everything it needed to.

Brains didn’t notice.

“Oh, Eos had an e-excellent idea to equip Thunderbird F-Five with an internal m-mobile probe mechanism.

“Yes, something that could get into the spaces John cannot.” Still smug. Oh, there would be some serious talking at a later time.

“So, you built a cat.” Virgil’s eyes were wide.

Brains sipped his orange juice, still seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. “She didn’t think I could. So, I did.” He was definitely pleased with himself.

“You built a cat?” Gordon was an echo of his brother. “That cat?” He stabbed a finger in Bagel’s direction.

“Yes?” Finally, the man appeared to realise that something was amiss. “I’m v-very happy with the r-results. It performs v-very well.”

It certainly did. John had her under his arm and found himself scratching her under her chin despite everything.

He forced himself to stop.

“John?”

“Yes, Eos?”

“Do you like her?” Suddenly he was a parent faced with his child’s school science project and the need for approval.

Some science project.

“I like her, Eos.”

“Can we keep her?”

“That is yet to be decided.” It came out firm. It needed to be firm...even though he already knew the answer.

“But-“

“Eos, why didn’t you tell us Bagel wasn’t really a cat?”

“But she is...”

“Eos.”

“John...”

“Eos!”

“I missed you.”

He froze. “I’m right here.”

“But it’s not the same.” That was a definite whine. “You’re not with me. It gets lonely up here without you. So, I built a way to be down there with you.” Bagel rubbed her cheek against his hand.

“Eos is in the cat?” Gordon’s jaw may as well have been on the floor. “She hates me that much?!”

“I don’t hate you, Gordon. You are quite funny. Somewhat clumsy, but funny.”

“Eos.”

“Yes, John?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

No answer.

“Brains, why didn’t you tell us?” Commander Tracy was glaring at the engineer.

“T-Tell you what?”

“About Eos and the cat.”

“That would have r-ruined the experiment.”

“What?”

“Eos w-wanted to see if the f-feline programming was sufficient. The b-best way to do that was test it.”

“On us?” Gordon spouted outrage.

“Surprisingly only V-Virgil appears to have b-been concerned. I w-would be interested to hear your evaluation.”

“Sure.” Virgil appeared to still be processing. Probably attempting to work out exactly how Brains had pulled it off.

“Brains, you, Eos, John and I are going to have a serious conversation.” Scott’s voice was stern. “This is not happening again. This family is not an experimental lab.”

“It was not his fault, Commander.”

Scott arched an eyebrow up at the ceiling. “Really, Eos? I have no doubt that John has a few choice words to be said on this matter.” Oh, yes, choice and many. “In the meantime, please cease the experiment.”

“But-“

“Eos.”

“Very well.”

The cat in John’s arms went completely limp.

He couldn’t help it; a gasp passed his lips and he caught the sudden dead weight with both hands. “Eos!”

All life had left Bagel. She became nothing more than a lifeless corpse. Something inside him lurched horribly.

Every eye in the room was staring at him.

“John?” Virgil’s eyes flashed concern.

He gathered up the cat in his arms and gently placed her on the seat of one of the kitchen chairs.

So real. He shivered.

“You okay?” His big brother was suddenly beside him.

“That was unnerving.” Both of them stared at the immobile TB5 internal remote probe mechanism.

“Eos, can you please reactivate Bagel.”

“Virgil-“

“No, Scott. Too creepy, too real. Please, just...leave her be.”

To John’s surprise, Scott didn’t protest.

But Bagel didn’t move.

“Eos?” His own voice sounded hollow in his ears.

“Yes, John?”

“Please reactivate Bagel.”

“Why?”

“Eos, just please.”

“Very well.”

And Bagel uncurled herself, sat up and glared at Scott. Before Eos could exact any form of petulant revenge, he grabbed Bagel off the chair and held her in his arms.

“Thank you, Eos.”

“You are very welcome.” Impertinent little brat.

“Now, I’m going to have breakfast, then we are going to have that conversation.”

“Yes, John.”

Something in the room snapped and suddenly everyone went back to their morning routine with only the occasional stare at the cat in his arms.

“Would you like some cereal, John?” Virgil was heading towards the fridge.

“You don’t have to get me breakfast, Virgil.”

“You have your hands full and I’ve already had mine.”

“How early were you up this morning?”

“Early enough. Your cat weirded me out.”

Bagel was rubbing her cheek against his fingers again. He grabbed a chair and sat himself down, placing Bagel on the chair beside him. She started grooming herself quite content.

A bowl was placed in front of him, followed by a cereal box, milk and another glass of orange juice.

Bagel stared up at him

He shook his head slowly. “What am I going to do with you?”

The cat tilted her head and licked her whiskers.

And he knew that somewhere far above the planet his daughter was laughing.

-o-o-o-

[snackleggg]

City of splintering hopes: Chapter 2 "Cave of stars"

~~~

Ao3

~~~

Danny woke up Saturday morning feeling well rested and refreshed, so he was immediately suspicious about what the day would bring. The last time he had woken up feeling so well was before The accident so roughly 2 years of either nightmares, insomnia, or a ghost waking him had him jumpy at the prospect of a good night's sleep.

He did all his usual checks to make sure nothing was wrong but as he headed down for breakfast it seemed that everything was perfectly fine. Suspicious.

Danny just shrugged though as he ate his almost certainly ecto-contaminated cereal before leaving the house as quickly as possible to avoid helping his parents test any new inventions. Of course he always kept an eye on whatever they were creating, in case it was anything actually dangerous he would need to destroy but the day had started suspiciously well and he wanted to keep that good times streak going for as long as possible. Not getting hit in the head with the boo-merang was something he was eager to do.

He quickly met up with Tucker and Sam at the Nasty burger but as they talked about school and which ghosts they were betting on appearing today Danny felt weighed down as the events of yesterday found their way back to the forefront of his thoughts.

"Hey, earth to Danny" Sam said, snapping her fingers infront of his face. Oh, he must have spaced out.

"We know you wanna be an astronaut dude but don't you think it's a little early?" Tucker joked between stuffing his face full of fries.

Danny chuckled at his friends attempt at humor but it came out more forced than anything "Sorry, just thinking about some stuff. Can I get your guys opinion on something?" Danny asked and both Sam and Tucker gave him their full attention as he started explaining what had happened yesterday.

At the end of the recounting Tucker exclaimed "Yes! You should totally go!" Loud enough to get a few heads turned but he quieted himself down and soon everyone at the fast food joint was once again minding their own business.

"It does sound like a good opportunity. Plus it's not like anything bad is guaranteed to happen. My prediction is worst case scenario you come back with nothing new" Sam said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess your right. I mean it's just some old abandoned buildings and stuff they might've left behind, nothing that can hurt right?" Danny reasoned, finally he was starting to get over his slight paranoia.

"Exactly! But if you do find anything cool be sure to tell us about it" Tucker added and Danny nodded along. Of course he would tell his friends, they knew pretty much everything about eachother and would always come to eachother when they needed to talk to someone.

"Well if you want to go today then you should get going, the Far Frozen is a 2 hour flight and you don't know how long you'll need to travel from there to get to these ruins" Sam said. Danny had also explained to them his feelings on not wanting to wait too long if he did decide to go and she could tell that Danny's curiosity that he inherited from his parents wouldn't let him just walk away from this one.

"Oh, yeah you're right!" Danny shot up but before he could move he looked at his two friends with concern "You guys gonna be okay protecting Amity on your own?" Danny asked.

"It's all good. We have our thermos' and some Fenton anti-ghost weapons that actually work so we should be fine!" Tucker waved off Danny's concerns.

"But, if anything does happen that we can't handle well call you. That ease your worries?" Sam asked with a smirk and Danny rolled his eyes fondly before waving goodbye and heading home.

It was the same as what he did yesterday. Go through the portal invisibly, make the long fly to the Far Frozen and go see Frostbite. Of course now it was for different reasons than a check up or just the usual friendly visit.

Danny's thoughts had nearly spiralled three times on the flight over to the Far Frozen but he had been getting better at grounding himself so he managed to catch any worries or doubts that may have caused him to turn around.

Finally he landed in the freezing tundra and almost immediately was engulfed in a hug from the large Yeti. His white fur made him blend into the surroundings so well Danny hadn't spotted him initially.

"Great One!" Frostbite yelled happily as he put Danny back down. It didn't matter how many times or how often Danny visited Frostbite was always ecstatic to see him.

"Hey Frosty" Danny gave his old mentor a smile before awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had for as long as he could remember.

"Have you... thought about what I suggested?" Frostbite asked, immediately understanding why Danny was here. It was always easy to forget that Frostbite was alot smarter than he seemed, he had given Danny wise words of advice on more than one occasion and it was obvious when he was around his tribe how great his leadership skills were.

"Yeah I have and... do you think you could? Take me to the ruins? I want to know more about people like me and this might be the only way..." Danny rambled a little. He didn't know why he felt like he needed to justify himself to Frostbite. Frostbite knew why he was here already, he had suggested it, so why did Danny feel like this was something he needed an excuse for?

"Of course. I can't show you to the ruins themselves unfortunately but I can show you how to get to them" Frostbite said as he turned around and started walking away from Danny, making a 'follow me' gesture.

Danny was as stiff as a board as he followed Frostbite. Hypervigilant and examining all his surroundings closely like he expected something to jump out and attack him.

They walked down a path Danny hadn't seen before, it lead away from where Danny knew the Yeti tribe to be living, leading further and further into the tundra and up the ice mountains.

After maybe around an hour of walking in silence, only the wind and crunch of snow under their feet filling it, they came to a stop on the mountain side. Infront of them stood a large entrance to a very dark cave.

"Through here, on the other side are the ruins" Frostbite gestured and seemed to wait for Danny to go in but Danny hesitated.

"Why can't you lead me the rest of the way?" He asked.

"This cave leads to the hidden lands, as some call them, it is where the Halfas once lived. Only a Halfa or those given special permission to pass can make it through the labyrinth of the cave, I have tried but I always end up coming back out this side despite never remembering turning around" Frostbite explained and Danny just gulped nervously.

"If only a Halfa could get through then how did Pariah Dark attack the Halfas, shouldn't they have been safe in these 'Hidden lands'?" Danny asked nervously.

"I... do not know. Many of the allies of the Halfas thought the same thing. There was a legend- no, a rumour that a ghost that had the ability to track Halfas helped Pariah Dark but that's all that was, a rumour" Frostbite shrugged, a thoughtful look on his face.

Danny nerves weren't calming down but something in his core urged him to go through the cave. He didn't know what it was but ever since The accident Danny's instincts had always been trustworthy so he took a steadying breath before walking forward into the cave.

He heard Frostbite wish him good luck as he entered.

The cave was alot warmer than he was expecting. Of course thanks to his ice core he couldn't get cold necessarily but the change in temperature didn't go unnoticed by him. The light from the snow white tundra quickly disappeared the further in he went until he was engulfed in complete darkness, apart from the soft glow he himself was giving off. The sounds of the howling winds had faded until they could barely be heard anymore and Danny was really considering turning around and leaving because the idea of stumbling around in a dark labyrinth cave wasn't exactly the most appealing.

Then he blinked as he noticed something, a light.

Not really it was more like a dot, a small dot of light in the dark.

He decided to continue walking and the longer he walked the more of these small dots of the light appeared until there were so many it lit up the icy cave in a pale glow, the lights all reflecting off of the ice.

Danny stopped as he stared in wonder at the sight.

The first thing that came to Danny's mind were the stars, the night sky. It was beautiful how the small points of light work together to illuminate the dark cave.

Then Danny noticed something as he continued walking. The dots were disappearing behind him but appearing infront of him as he walked. Then he took a turn and the dots stopped appearing.

"Huh..." Danny backtracked and took the other turn. The dots started appearing again, lighting the way for the young Halfa.

"Cool" Danny whispered into the silence of the cave was he followed the direction of the dots of light. Finally Danny turned a corner and he saw the end of the cave, an end that even from the distance Danny could tell didn't lead out into the cold tundra of the Far Frozen. As he closed the distance he could see the green swirling clouds of ectoplasm only they were lighter? A much lighter green than that of the normal sky of the Ghost Zone.

Finally Danny exited the cave and found his core humming nicely at the sight before him.

A city.

A large and grand one, made of a pale sandy coloured stone that reminded Danny of the housing they had in Egypt. The city was still a distance away so Danny couldn't see the architecture too closely but he could see a path leading down the no longer snowy mountain side to a bridge between the city and the cliff drop of the mountain.

A strange thing Danny noticed was the fact that the city didn't rest on an island that was floating, suspended in mid air. Instead the island stretched downwards into the dark abyss of the Ghost Zone, as if connected to solid ground all the way down in it's depths.

Danny was ecstatic.

He quickly flew down to the bridge, and walked it's length up to the gates of the city.

Standing at the city's ground level made it all the more grand and imposing.

But it also made Danny now notice the ruins part of it. The gate, that Danny had no doubt was once grand and tall standing, was nothing but rubble and fallen stone.

Danny took a fortifying breath.

Up until then Danny hadn't really thought about what he was truly walking into. This wasn't just a museum or some natural history tour. These were ruins, this was the home of a slaughter people. This place wasn't just their home, it was probably their grave as well.

He needed to be careful.

He couldn't go walking into this like a naive child, he came here to understand and to understand he needed to treat this place with the respect it deserved.

So he flew into the city, hopefully he could learn something from what was left behind.

~~~

First | Previous | Next

~~~

I'll be tagging all content do to with this story with the tag City of splintering hopes so if guys want to you can follow the story easier. You can also use that tag for any questions or content you guys make of the story!

[riversofmars]

That last one-shot prompt made me realize I really love the interaction of outsiders to River and the Doctor's relationship. I'd really love more of that type of thing. I've no idea if this even counts as a prompt or not but just saying.

Hi! I promise, I've not forgotten about the prompts i have yet to do, though I might be getting a bit distracted with World Enough, And Time :D Yeah I guess this wasn’t exactly a prompt but here are more reactions to their relationship as Yaz learns more about River in the next instalment of Big, Vast, Complicated and Ridiculous! :D

Chapter 7: Lake Silencio

“Blimey, you do have a mind of your own today, haven’t you.“ The Doctor huffed as the TARDIS came to a halt.

“Where are we?“ Yaz asked sounding a little worried.

“Could be anywhere.“ The Doctor sighed. “She’s been all over the place. Surprised she managed to take me to you on time when you texted…“ She skipped to the door and Yaz followed, curious to see where they had ended up. The Doctor stuck her head out the door, then pulled back and glared at the console. “Oh you silly machine, you could break time…“

“That’s your TARDIS over there?“ Yaz asked taking a step outside the door while her friend hung back. She found they had landed on a cliff face in the middle of the dessert. The sun was blazing down on them, reflecting off the azure blue lake that stretched below. The could overlook the entire valley from their vantage point and Yaz had immediately spotted the other blue box.

“Earlier model, this was some time ago.“ The Doctor answered slowly, eying the younger version of her TARDS across the ridge. There was probably a reason for why the TARDIS had taken them here.

“Well, this is nice.“ Yaz put her hands on her hips enjoying the sunshine on her face. It made a change from dreary Britain.

“Great time for a picnic…“ The Doctor mused as she looked down into the valley, to the beach by the side of the lake. There she was, so much younger, drinking wine with Amy, Rory and River. The Doctor smile a little to herself, she missed her family so much.

“Are you down there?“ Yaz asked curiously, following her gaze.

“Yeah…“ The Doctor nodded with a melancholy expression.

“And River?“ Yaz recognised her head of hair, even from a distance. It was distinctive to say the least.

“And her parents, Amy and Rory.“ The Doctor smiled wistfully pointing them out to her. She hadn’t seen them in such a long time. She missed them dearly.

“But they’re… younger than her?“ Yaz stated, bewildered. They were relatively far away but she could make out enough to pose the question.

“First thing you should know about River, I guess… she’s a time traveller.“ The Doctor chuckled. The TARDIS seemed to want her to fill Yaz in so she obliged.

“Right, that makes sense.“ Yaz sighed, shaking her head bemused. This was just like the Doctor. Of course her wife was no ordinary woman. She was intrigued to find out more.

“This was the day…“ The Doctor hummed with a bittersweet smile.

“What day?“ Yaz prompted and the Doctor chuckled:

“My wedding day.“

“Really?“ Yaz’s eyes widened in shock. She looked back down to the Doctor’s younger self.

“You did ask, didn’t you, about my history with River? Think the TARDIS is trying to fill you in.“ The Doctor smiled. She shrugged off her coat and put it down on the ground before sitting down. She always kept her cards so close to her chest, not allowing anyone, not even her friends, to really get to know or understand her. Maybe she was going about it the wrong way. Perhaps it was time to let people in again. She didn’t need to carry all these burdens by herself. And maybe, just maybe, if she let other people see, shared her past with them, maybe she would feel a little closer to being the Doctor again.

“So that’s you?“ Yaz pointed at the young Doctor again as she sat down, surprised at the inviting gesture.

“Look at how thin I was, ugh. How did River fancy me so much back then?“ The Doctor mused, looking her old self up and down.

“Look at the lake.“ Something in the distance caught Yaz’s attention and she pointed towards the shore line.

“I know, I was there, remember?“ The Doctor chuckled, amused.

“What’s happening?“ Yaz asked. It looked as thought something was emerging from the water, a figure. The others had noticed it too. The young Doctor on the picnic blanket got to his feet, as did his friends.

“Well, it’s not just the day we got married, it’s also the day she killed me.“ The Doctor answered matter-of-factly.

“What?“ Yaz’s head flung around as she looked back to her friend and the Doctor laughed a little.

“It’s complicated.“ She admitted and pointed to the figure that was walking out of the lake. It appeared to be wearing an astronaut suit. “That’s also River, in the suit, a younger version of her. The Silence, an order that was trying to kill me, are controlling her. I knew that already at the time, that’s why I asked her older self here. All of them actually, Amy and Rory too.“ She explained as they watched the Doctor below make his way towards the astronaut. “I knew I had to die - or so I thought at the time - and I didn’t want to do it by myself. And I wanted River to know that she would always be forgiven.“

“That’s so sad.“ Yaz took in her words, mulling them over.

“You wondered why she’s a wanted criminal? This is why. She got sentenced for my murder.“ The Doctor tried to create context for her.

“So she’s innocent?“ Yaz confirmed, feeling a little bad for her previous snap judgement of the Doctor’s wife.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. She did try to kill me, several times. And she’s knows her way around a weapon, I’ll tell you… and she’s not afraid to use them. So innocent? Of this particular crime, but in general?“ The Doctor shrugged, amused. She couldn’t deny, she liked a bad girl.

Far below, the astronaut shot the Doctor. The Pond family rushed towards him. River shot and missed the astronaut as it walked back into the lake…

“So how did you escape?“ Despite knowing that she would survive, Yaz felt her chest tighten as they watched.

“I was wearing a suit that saved me.“ The Doctor answered.

“Soooo…. when did the marriage happen? Did I miss it?“ Yaz asked after they sat and watched in silence for a while.

“Oh you won’t see it.“ The Doctor laughed, realising only then that she was waiting for it. “It happened in an aborted timeline. The first time around, River couldn’t bring herself to kill me and therefore create a paradox. This is a fixed point in time.“

“So you’re not actually married? If it happened in another timeline?“ Yaz exclaimed. This was getting more complicated at every turn.

“All of time was happening at once for all eternity. Every moment that ever was or ever would be. That’s how I see it, from the beginning to the end of the universe. That means we’re always married, wherever and whenever we are.“ The Doctor gave a soft smile.

“That’s very sweet.“ Yaz smiled, realising it was all a matter of perspective.

“And incredibly stupid.“ The Doctor sighed. “It hurts, Yaz…“ Yaz looked at her surprised at the uncharacteristic confession. It didn’t seem like the Doctor at all to speak so openly about her feelings so she remained quiet, allowed her time to phrase her thoughts. “It hurts when… no matter how much you love each other, no matter how much you’ve done and overcome together, you still can’t be together.“ She got to her feet. She had seen enough. She didn’t want to be a witness to the Pond family’s grief any longer. Even though she knew it would all come right in the end, it didn’t change the fact that they truly believed her former self to be dead. Their pain was real, as was her own.

“Where is she now? I mean, I get that we can travel and see her wherever but where is she really? At the end of her timeline?“ Yaz asked, getting up as well so the Doctor could shake out her coat and put it back on.

“She died…“ The Doctor answered quietly. “The first day I met her…“ She turned back towards the TARDIS.

“Doctor I… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…“ Yaz felt like she’d been punched in the gut. That was not the answer she had expected and she regretted the question. She hurried after her back to the TARDIS.

“It’s fine.“ The Doctor managed a thin smile as they stepped back inside the blue box. “I always knew it would happen, that was the deal…“ Slowly she made her way to the console while Yaz closed the door.

“If you always knew it would happened… couldn’t you do something to change it?“ Yaz asked, feeling terrible for her friend. There had to be something they could do.

“I already did everything I could, spent lifetimes thinking about it…“ The Doctor answered. “She’s not completely gone… I managed to save her mind, her consciousness to a super computer.“ She explained. “Best I could do.“

“I guess that’s something.“ Yaz felt a little better and the Doctor managed a smile:

“Better than the alternative.“

“So does that mean I could meet her?“ Yaz asked after brief consideration. “The version of her that had had all her adventures with you? I bet she knows you like no-one in this universe.“

“I guess that’s true…“ The Doctor hummed, thinking back to her visit at the Library. “Maybe some day.“

“Do you not go and see her?“ Yaz frowned, surprised by her reluctance.

“I did when I needed that bit of space to think… like you said, she knows me like no-one else.“ The Doctor revealed.

“And not before then?“ Yaz asked and the Doctor shook her head.

“It’s hard when there is so much… guilt and regret. And when you’re so close and you still can’t touch them… sometimes it’s better to just keep yourself busy and try not to think about it.“ She admitted and Yaz understood.

[t455a-rambles]

A Little Insight of StarCatcher Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

Since I've got nothing better to do, I might as well write what and how's the relationship between Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

Oh yeah! Don't forget to support the creators of the mod, Kip and Startdust Tunes.

Now, from my first post for Boyfriend's backstory, I briefly mentioned how he and Girlfriend are mostly fascinated in one another and they took the opportunity to hang out more as they are collecting the Star Gems. [I know I keep on switching from "stars" to "specific gem" to "Star Gems". But this time, this time it's called Star Gems, okay?]

But I want more in depth with it. And this is where it begins

...

Okay, now let's backtrack to when Boyfriend and Girlfriend first met. Now I mentioned Boyfriend was terrified yet curious with Girlfriend and vice versa. Boyfriend was the first who started the conversation. Of course he said "Hello" to Girlfriend.

And as you would guess it, Girlfriend did not pick up the language immediately and just responded with, "Bloop doo beep?" Boyfriend tried to slow down his speak and uses hand gesture. "Hello. My name is Boyfriend. What is your name?" To Boyfriend's surprise, Girlfriend understood what he was saying and responded with fluent English. "Oh. Nice to meet you! My name is [ [REDACTED] Because I dunno what an alien name suited for her lol]."

Boyfriend tried to pronounce Girlfriend's real name, but it ended up sounding so bad, to which he apologized for it. Girlfriend reassured Boyfriend and it was okay for him to not get it right. Girlfriend tried to come up with a name that is easy for Boyfriend to remember. Then an idea popped out. "How about you call me, Girlfriend."

Boyfriend looked up to Girlfriend with a red blush on his face. "Y- You can't call yourself "Girlfriend". We're not even dating!" Girlfriend rolled her eyes and let out a sarcastic tone, but it's a playful one. "You're name is literally "Boyfriend" for crying out loud."

Girlfriend did have a point and never did Boyfriend felt speechless by that fact. He then agreed to call the alien "Girlfriend", but he still wanted to pronounce her name correctly. This made Girlfriend flattered by his determination.

Girlfriend then asked where did Boyfriend come from and his response was gotten suck by a powerful energy while he was out to take a planet's sample. He figured it was a wormhole which brought him here.

"You're lucky that the wormhole brought you here. Who knows where you might land. Maybe near the blackhole." Boyfriend was terrified by the possibility and Girlfriend said it in a calm manner did not help the situation at all.

Girlfriend asked about the planet Boyfriend previously visited, brushing what she said earlier. Boyfriend shook off the dread feeling and explained it excitedly.

Then a question came in Boyfriend's mind. "Uh... Girlfriend. Does this planet have a supply of oxygen? I'm worried my tank is running out of air." Girlfriend wasn't familiar with the word, "oxygen" and what's the use for it.

Boyfriend explained that it's a gas molecule which helps humans stay alive. He tried to find something to draw as a example on what it looked like. Sadly, there wasn't anything to draw.

Meanwhile, Girlfriend slowly understood why the oxygen was important. "Uh... Hate to break it to you, but I don't think there's a particular gas around here." Oh how Boyfriend was panicking because he would die quiet early. And if he died, he wouldn't be able to explore and study this different universe.

Seeing Boyfriend in distressed, made Girlfriend feel bad for him. She tried to come up with something that could help Boyfriend stay alive. Then, an idea struck. She took off her ring bracelet and transformed it into a star shape. And later slapped it onto Boyfriend's glass helmet. "There you go!"

Boyfriend was stunned on what happened and touched the area where Girlfriend "gently" pressed the item. "Uh... Girlfriend. What did you put on my helmet?"

"That's a Star Shield, it used to be my bracelet. What it does is for you to survive the harsh space out there. In this case, you are able to breath without even worrying about your low oxygen." Girlfriend explained it proudly.

Boyfriend slowly taken in the new information, which to him was another puzzle he needed to solve. "Okay. But why put it on my helmet?" He asked as he pointed the said object. "Oh! I just thought it looks cute there!" Girlfriend smiled happily.

Boyfriend smiled as well. "Thanks, Girlfriend. But, are you sure you're okay without your bracelet as your shield?" Girlfriend waved her hands dismissively. "It's okay. Besides, why do you think I have two more on my upper arms?" She showed her own Ring Shields.

"Huh. I thought they were just accessories." Girlfriend just scoffed playfully. "You'd be surprised what other things I can do with these bracelets." Boyfriend was all excited again. "Really?! Can you show me?"

"Hmm... Nah. That's top secret." She giggled as Boyfriend begged for her to tell.

.

Both Boyfriend and Girlfriend just wandered together through the crowded area. Even if it's a terrible idea to Boyfriend, but Girlfriend reassured him that her people have seen different species from different planets visited and left their planet occasionally. So Boyfriend wasn't that strange to them.

But even with Girlfriend's calm words, it didn't shake the crowd staring at Boyfriend curiously before moving on. Such an awkward and intense feeling there. But that didn't stop Boyfriend from examining some weird objects. Did I said some? I meant a lot of weird object and Girlfriend had to explain them all, which was tiring.

"Boyfriend, can we rest up? My feet are starting to sore." Boyfriend was so distracted that he didn't noticed how long they were walking. Sheepishly, he agreed and now Girlfriend was the one dragging Boyfriend to a quiet spot.

As the two sat beside each other, Boyfriend huffed out his breath, which caused a fog appeared on his helmet. He chuckled and watched the fog slowly evaporated. "Thank you, Girlfriend, for teaching me the wonders of your planet."

Girlfriend smiled and said "Your welcome" to Boyfriend. There was another request from Boyfriend himself. "Hey, Girlfriend. If you don't mind, can you teach me your language you've said the first time we met?"

"You mean the [REDACTED] or to put it simply, the Beep Language? Are you sure? It's kinda complicated for someone new to it." Boyfriend looked at Girlfriend with determination. "Yeah, I do! How else am I suppose to communicate with your native language? I uh... kinda feel bad for you to speak English all day." Boyfriend bashfully scratched his lower helmet.

Girlfriend found herself admiring Boyfriend's determination even more. "Alright. I'll tell you the basics and work up from there." Boyfriend nodded excitedly and their lesson began.

.

From this point, I mentioned one of the Royal Guard found Girlfriend and reported to Daddy Dearest, or should we say [REDACTED]. [Lol I'll never get tired of using that word. I promised I'll come up with the alternative names for the Dearest family. Or maybe not. Who knows lol].

Anyway, you know what happens after that. So let's just skip to the aftermath of the first battle.

.

So, the Star Gems are scattered, right? So, how would Boyfriend travelled without a vehicle? Simple, he rides on Girlfriend's speakers. At least, that's what I think. Besides, what's a flying object use for if it's not for transportation, right?

But you know what the coolest part when taking a cruise on a flying speaker with Girlfriend? They can watch a lot of beautiful stars and dust clouds up-close. Man, I wished I can do that too.

From there, Boyfriend's continued to asked more questions to Girlfriend. And even though it's annoying sometimes, Girlfriend didn't mind. So long as she could travel longer with someone other than her parents and relearning everything about the universe.

After all, Boyfriend gave some insights on what he knew during his astronaut training and from his reading. And with a little friendly conversation about themselves even more. Oh, and Boyfriend is getting fluent with the Beep Language.

I do think they slowly develop an attraction from one another before they meet the last two battles. Boyfriend and Girlfriend told each other how their respected species act and do when they are in love.

I will explain Girlfriend's side on my upcoming fanon world-building for Girlfriend's universe. So keep an eye for that ;]

...

And that's it for today's fanon story! Wooh! I had a lot of fun creating these interaction with two people and semi their personalities as I am impromptu writing this lol.

Anyway, thank you for those who had read this far!

Have a nice day!

[jaybear1701]

The Outpost is, without a shred of doubt, a shithole.

And Ellen Waverly secretly loves it, even though her fellow ASCANs frown at the tavern’s dilapidated exterior. Anybody who’s anybody knows about the dive bar frequented by astronauts, engineers, and other NASA staffers. Spoken about with hushed reverence, the Outpost is hallowed ground, a right of passage, and a frisson of excitement courses through Ellen as they pause just outside its entrance.  

“This is it?” Dani Poole eyes the peeling red paint of the watering hole’s sign, uncertainty lacing her voice as she clutches the strap of her purse.

“Yep.” Molly Cobb lights a cigarette dangling from the corner of her lips. She pulls the door open, hinges squeaking, and the odor of cheap beer and stale smoke wafts out. “You gonna stand out here gaping all night?” Molly strides in without waiting for a response. Patty Doyle’s right on her heels, as usual. 

Neither bothers to check if the others are following, but Tracy Stevens manages to catch the door before it swings shut again. “Let’s go, ladies.” She ushers the others inside. “Can’t let Cobb and Doyle have all the fun.”

The stench, now mingled with sweat and other odors barely concealed by fading cologne,  intensifies the second Ellen sets foot inside the dimly lit bar. She wrinkles her nose and, as her eyes adjust, they walk past a beat up cigarette machine into a tightly packed space where all eyes immediately fall on them. Ellen thinks she recognizes some of the men from around the halls of JSC, but in all honesty they blended together in a uniform mass of white oxfords, skinny black ties, and thinly veiled disapproval. They were all just waiting for them to fail.

“Same shit, different toilet,” Molly mutters under her breath. Still, she throws her head back high, cocksure, and swaggers toward a pool table with Patty. Her heavy boot steps draw even more attention, not that Molly pays it any mind, acting as if she’s frequented The Outpost all her life. Like she belongs there.

Ellen does her best to follow Molly’s cue, straightening her spine and making her way around a jukebox that’s seen better days to the last empty table. “First round’s on me,” she announces, surprising even herself. 

“That’s mighty generous,” Dani says as she and the others take their seats. The legs of their chairs scrape across the slightly sticky wood floor. They all pretend they don’t see the little brown insects that scatter from beneath the table.

“What would you like?” Ellen asks before any of them decide to hightail it outta there. 

“Round of JD,” Tracy responds. “Least that’s what Gordo has when he’s here. If that’s all right with y’all, of course,” she adds to murmurs of assent.

“Coming right up.” Ellen beelines for the bar, continuing to ignore the stares from around the room that make the tips of her ears burn despite her carefully curated air of indifference.

She manages to find a small opening between the occupied, but is disappointed when no one’s there to serve drinks. The bartender probably took a quick break, she thinks, focusing her attention on the black-and-white astronaut photos that line the wood-paneled walls. Idly drumming her fingers against distressed mahogany, she wonders if her picture would ever be prominently displayed alongside the likes of Armstrong, Glenn, and Aldrin. Of if she’ll wash out, as her mother seems to be expecting.

An unsubtle cough interrupts Ellen’s musings, and a man leans an elbow on the bar to her left, a little too close for comfort. 

“What’s a pretty thing like you doin’ in a place like this?” He slurs out the oh-so-creative pickup line, alcohol sharp on his breath.

It takes all of her willpower not to roll her eyes in disgust. Instead, she pretends not to hear him, but he persists. “Never seen ya before. Y’all tourists or somethin’? Sightseein’?”

Irritation spikes in Ellen, who has half a mind to correct him, nondisclosure agreements be damned, when another voice cuts in. “Jimbo, what’d I tell you about scaring new customers?”

Ellen turns her head to the right and… Oh.

She’s not quite sure what she expected when it came to The Outpost’s barkeep. Based on the decor, she wouldn’t have been surprised by someone schlubby and indifferent and borderline antisocial. But Ellen most certainly isn’t expecting one of the prettiest women she’s ever seen, with strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a careless ponytail, bangs hanging just above eyes as blue as a cloudless sky. And just like that, Ellen’s starting to understand the appeal of the place. 

“C’mon now, Pam,” Jimbo drawls, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Jus’ tryin’ to be friendly.”

“Uh huh.” Pam cants her head to the side, unconvinced. “Get outta here before I call your wife.” After he slinks away, Pam gives Ellen an easy smile, bracing her hands on the bar. “Sorry ‘bout that. What can I get for you?”

It’s not until Pam’s closer that Ellen remembers to breathe, the influx of oxygen allowing her to regain control of her faculties and notice the pin fastened to Pam’s maroon t-shirt. It reads in bold white letters against a black background bespeckled by stars: A Woman’s Place Is In Space. 

Ellen’s stomach swoops in delight. 

“You okay?” Pam asks when Ellen doesn’t answer right away.

“Oh, er,” Ellen intelligently answers in a manner befitting a future astronaut. “Yes, sorry.” Heat rises in her cheeks. “Drinks?” She vaguely gestures toward the other candidates, and the pool table where Molly’s lining up a shot that sends a striped ball straight into a corner pocket. “For me. And my…” Her what? They aren’t exactly friends. Rivals would be closer to the truth, but that would sound weird. And she’s already being weird. She eventually settles on, “Colleagues.” 

“Drinks,” Pam repeats, eyebrows disappearing beneath her fringe.

“Yes, um, please.” 

“Sure thing.” Pam nods, thoughtfully observing the other women for a moment before fixing her gaze back on Ellen. “Got something particular in mind? Or should I surprise you?”

Ellen somehow manages not to smack the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Sorry. Jack Daniels for, uh, seven.”

“You got it, space cadet.” With a wink, Pam pushes off the bar to fetch a set of lowball glasses and arranges them in a neat row.

It takes a few seconds before Pam’s words catch up with Ellen. Was Pam referring to Ellen’s embarrassingly delayed response or… “Space cadet?”

“You all are the female astronaut candidates, aren’t you?” Pam reaches past several rows of bottles to fetch the whiskey. 

“What, uh, what makes you think that?” Ellen nervously brushes her hair behind her ear. No one’s supposed to know who they are until they graduate. If they graduate.

Pam shrugs, the tip of the bottle’s spout poised above the glasses. “Groups of women don’t really wander in here. Plus, some of you match the scuttlebutt I’ve heard here and there.”

“Scuttlebutt?”

“NASA types like to talk, especially after they’ve had a few.” 

“That’s…  not unsettling in the slightest.” Ellen tries and fails to tamp down a swell of unease, wondering if they’d all be bounced from the program if word got out.

“Relax.” Pam chuckles, as if reading her mind. She tips the bottle forward, expertly eyeballing  two fingers of brown liquor per glass. “What’s said here stays here. Unless you’re a reporter, then I’m sworn under our unofficial Baldwin rule to kick you out.” 

“Definitely not a reporter,” Ellen says, recalling Ed Baldwin’s very public misstep in calling out NASA after the Soviets landed on the moon last summer. Relief eases some of the tension between Ellen’s shoulders. She shifts from one foot to the other, curiosity getting the better of her. “So, what have they been saying? All good things, I’m guessing,” she jokes weakly, all too aware of the rampant sexism among many, if not most, of her male counterparts.

“They wouldn’t dare say anything negative within earshot of me.” Pam taps her equality button. “Would never get a drink otherwise.” 

Ellen can’t stop herself from smiling as Pam finishes pouring, sets the bottle down, and crosses her arms.

“Let’s see, I’ve heard that two of them were in Mercury 13. Have chips on their shoulders.” Pam nods toward Molly and Patty playing pool. “I’m guessing they’re the ones over there acting like they own the place.” There’s an underlying current of respect in her voice as her line of sight drifts toward the lone table surrounded by women. “The blonde? I’d bet all my tips that she’s Tracy Stevens. Got those Hollywood looks that’d be Gordo’s type.”

Ellen has to admit she’s impressed. “And me?” She asks before she can stop herself.

Blue eyes darting across Ellen’s face, Pam appraises her in a way that sparks flutters against her ribs. “I’m afraid I haven’t heard about you, Ms...?”   

“Waverly.” Ellen sticks her hand out. “Ellen Waverly.”

Pam grasps her hand, grip firm yet gentle, palm warm and smooth. “Nice to meet you, Ellen Waverly.”

“And you’re Pam.”

“That’s right.” Neither of them moves to let go. “Pam Horton.”

Another patron accidentally jostles Ellen’s shoulder and she immediately drops Pam’s hand. “Can I get a couple of beers, Pam?” He asks.

“Just a sec.” She says, transferring the whiskey glasses to a round serving tray.

“So, uh,” Ellen clears her throat as she reaches for her purse. “What do I owe you?” Pam waves her away. “First round’s on the house.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“It’d be my pleasure.” Her smile is genuine, radiant. “It’s the least I can do for the first American women heading to space.”

Ellen ducks her head, pleased yet embarrassed. “We haven’t passed yet.”

Pam looks her straight in the eye, and says without hesitation, “You will.”

Warmth blooms inside Ellen’s chest from Pam’s sincerity. “I… thank you." She hopes her face isn't as red as it feels. "We’ll make it up to you.”

“Prove all the assholes out there wrong, and we’ll be square.” Pam pulls out two beer bottles, swiftly pops off their caps, and hands them to the man. She inclines her head toward the tray of Jack Daniels. “I’ll have these out to you in a jiffy.”

With one last nod, Ellen makes her way back to the table, heart pounding and already vowing to return to the shithole that wasn’t so shitty after all. 

[skzsauce01]

Cold, White

Synopsis: While competing in a QR code treasure hunt event at your friend’s Halloween party, an unexpected companion gives you a little company. 

A districtninewriters event.

Warning: slight sexual harassment, mentions of creepy-ish props

Word Count: 2.5k

Pairing: gn!reader x exbf!Seo Changbin

Genre: fluff, college party au

Read intro here. Return with the “pink Among Us astronaut” link

But which one?

After a few moments, you spotted two vampires talking softly to each other. It shouldn’t be too hard to strike up a conversation with them, you decided and began walking over. Halfway there though, you turned around, feeling someone or something staring at you back. However, you didn’t spot anything, and turned back around to head towards your destination, all the while still feeling like you had eyes glued to your back.

“Hi,” you greeted, walking up to the vampires. “I’m Y/N. How are you two doing tonight?”

They turned to you, and you immediately regretted choosing them to walk up to.

“Oh, a little skeleton,” one of them smirked, looking you up and down. You crossed your arms over your chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

The other one slung his arm around your waist and leaned in far too close. “Can I get you something to drink, Lil Boo?”

Oh, you did not skip studying for this. “Actually, I’m going to--”

Out of nowhere, the lights turned off. There were a few screams, but none as loud as the one in your heart when the vampire used the darkness as a chance to slide his hand down to other areas. You tried stepping away, but his grip was strong, so you just squeezed your eyes shut and hoped the moment would pass quickly. 

Before he got all the way down, however, you heard a loud crack and felt his hand flying off of you as he tumbled a few feet backwards.

“What on earth, man?” he cursed, and you were suddenly aware of a new presence beside you.

The newcomer made a weird noise as if he was breathing through a machine and turned towards you. He offered you a hand, and when you tentatively put yours into it, he dragged you away, leaving behind the vampires.

“Thanks,” you gasped once he finally stopped at a faraway corner.

He placed one hand on his hip and used the other to rub the back of his… head? It was much too big to be a human head, you decided. Was he wearing some sort of mask? It was hard to see in the dark, but he sensed your curiosity and leaned forward for you to take a better look. You reached for it slowly, and when he didn’t resist, you placed your hands onto his costume. The majority of it was warm and fabric-y except for where your thumbs landed. There, it was cold and possibly white like a one-way glass. A visor of some sort, you decided, and tried to push it up to see his face.

As soon as you do, however, he jerked back and quickly shut the glass back down.

“S-sorry,” you stuttered out.

He seemed too distracted to respond to your apology. You turned to see what he was looking at and saw smoke rising from BamBam’s mezzanine. Was there a fire? No, the kitchen is to your right. Before you could question any further, the lights came back on, but only on the second floor, casting a spotlight over your best friend who stepped grandly out of the smoke.

“Good evening, ghouls and fools, snitches and witches!” his voice boomed. “Are you ready for tonight’s main event?”

Ah, that’s right. The reason why BamBam’s parties were so popular was because there was always a special kick to them, be it a go cart race or a game of Running Man. This must be why the lights are off, you realized.

“Around the house, I have hidden a QR code on each floor of the house. Each one will give you a couple of words which when unscrambled will give you the name of the item. The person who makes it to the backyard gazebo first with their item first wins,” he explained. “Each code is locked by their own minigame which you have to complete to access, but of course, your efforts will not be without reward.” There were a few ooh’s at that announcement. “Whoever brings me their time first wins… two tickets to the Caribbeans!” 

Your ears perked up at that; maybe you were glad to have skipped studying after all. The Caribbeans! You’d heard many good things about that vacation spot and had always wanted to go with someone special. Someone special. You looked sadly down at your hand that felt oddly empty without a familiar warmth around it.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” prompted BamBam.

Around you, footsteps of partygoers dispersed in a frenzy and excited squeals filled the air. You looked around, surprised to see the masked man still standing beside you.

“Are you going to participate?” you asked.

Instead of answering, he pointed at you.

“Me? Yeah, I guess I am.”

He seemed to perk up at your answer and shyly tugged on your sleeve.

“Do you want to come with me?” you guessed. 

He nods.

“Alright, but if you win, you’ve gotta give me one of those tickets,” you joked, but to your surprise, he agreed to your condition readily.

The first minigame was not hard to find since there was a crowd around it. It was a simple ring toss game where you had to throw pumpkin shaped hoops onto brooms labeled with different point values until you reached 100.

The task proved to be more difficult than anticipated, but you were making considerable progress compared to others because your pink friend ran back and forths, picking up your rings for you.

At last, you got to a hundred, and the gamemaster revealed the code to you. You scanned it with your phone and read the clue.

친. (Chin)

Satisfied, you looked up, expecting to see the astronaut throwing his rings. Instead, you found him waiting for you just around the corner.

“You aren’t participating?” you asked, walking up to him.

Again, instead of answering, he pulled you by the sleeve to the next floor. By the pep in his step, you could imagine him smiling behind that cold white mask, and you couldn’t help but wonder if he knew something you didn’t.

You nearly laughed when you saw what challenge awaited you on the next floor. The room was decorated to the top with zombies and blood, but at the center of it all was a wizard stirring a pot labeled “love potion.”

“Who dares step foot into my lair?” hissed the sorcerer with an accent that was too over the top even for his character. 

“Just tell us what the mission is, Felix.” You shook your head with a smile. You knew Felix through your ex-boyfriend, and you stayed in touch even after whom you thought was your soulmate left you for college. 

Felix faltered for a moment from you calling him out, but quickly recomposed himself. “Very well, brave one. Your next mission is to prove that my potion works.”

You raised a brow. “How?”

“By drinking it, of course. And then--” he smirked in a way that set off alarms in your system-- “kiss me.”

“Oh, come on. What are we, twelve?” you scoffed at the reverse kissing booth challenge. Still, you crossed your arms and stepped over plastic bones and foam eyeballs to make your way over to him.

When you were about halfway, you noticed Felix’s smirk suddenly growing wider and questioned why. Your curiosity was soon satisfied, however, when the pink astronaut suddenly overtook you with large strides and beat you to the cauldron.

“Hey!” you complained, but your words fell on deaf ears.

The pink man kept his face turned away from you as he flipped up his cold white visor and downed the potion. It must have tasted horrible since this was a challenge after all, but he didn’t miss a beat slamming the now-empty vial on an adjacent table and planting a smooch squarely on Felix’s green face. He then flipped his visor back down and gestured at your phone.

“Me? Scan?” you frowned. “But you--”

Growing impatient, he took the phone from you and scanned Felix’s code. He then stuffed the device back into your hands and dragged you up the next flight of stairs.

You questioned his sudden change in demeanor but kept it to yourself. Instead, you looked at the next clue.

자. (Ja)

As soon as you arrived on the third floor, you immediately decided that its minigame was the hardest. Your eye twitched, not that anyone could see it doing so since the floor was completely blacked out. The only thing you could see was some glow-in-the-dark thread, and you were supposed to thread it through a normal, matte needle.

“This can’t be possible,” you deadpanned.

The gamemaster, someone you couldn’t see but very much wanted to give a piece of your mind, “wooooo’ed” unhelpfully at your misery. 

Your eyes struggled to switch between the different light levels, making your whole body tense up and your hand to shake. You let out a frustrated grunt after your nth attempt. By then, other competitors also entered the room, making you nervous and even more shaky.

As you were about to hang your head in surrender, you saw a pink glove clasping over your hand and steadying it. The touch sent a familiar sense of electricity up your spine, but you ignored it in favor of the task at hand. Together, you finally got the thread through after five tries.

“Yes!” you celebrated, startling a few other competitors around you.

The gamemaster handed you a slip of paper with the code on it, and your new friend led you to the exit by hand. When you realized that his hand hadn’t let go of yours since the game, a blush crept over your cheeks. You cleared your throat twice to push down the heat, but it seemed the astronaut took it the wrong way and immediately dropped it and looked at you with worry.

“It’s fine,” you shook your head when he started bowing. “I, uh, I just had something in my throat. I should thank you, actually, for helping me back there… and for all the times before that too.”

He stared at you for a few moments, looking down as he was a few steps above you on the staircase, and you couldn’t help but wonder again what he was hiding behind that cold white mask. Just as you were about to reach forward again, however, he turned back around and resumed climbing the stairs.

The last minigame was on the roof. There, a sign greeted you, telling you that multiple QR codes are hidden around the place, and that you had to find one of the many to complete your word hunt.

You looked at the code you received from the thread game. 구 (gu), it read. What could the last hint be?

You and your pink friend looked and looked, but struggled to find anything. BamBam sure didn’t make things easy for you, did he, you scoffed dryly, looking at all the pools of slime and hollowed out pumpkins where the code could be hiding.

It didn’t help that it was particularly cold that night and that you were on the roof of a three story house. As you shuffled around some prop mummy’s linen for the code, you felt a chill run up your body.

The astronaut must have been at least ten broomsticks away, but as soon you shivered, you heard him walking right up to you.

“Hey. Did you find it?” you asked, not grasping why he was here.

He shook his head and rubbed his hands up and down his upper arms before pointing at you.

“Me? Yeah, I guess it’s a little cold, but I’m okay. Let’s just find this thing quickly and head back down.”

You turned back to your mummy, but your new friend didn’t move. Despite wanting to keep you warm, he realized he wasn’t equipped with a jacket to give you.

Finding nothing in the mummy, you moved on to the next coffin, oblivious to the man’s distress behind you, and patted down a plastic vampire for any goods. As you were distracted, you didn’t realize a figure looming over you from behind. By the time you noticed the shadow being casted over you, it was too late to avoid--

“Wha--”

-- the hug.

The pink astronaut, unable to come up with any other solutions, decided to share his body heat with you. It warmed you up alright, but you weren’t sure if it was because of him or the fire that ignited on your cheeks.

“H-how are we supposed to search like this?” you stuttered.

He thought for a minute before waddling side to side to show you how you could walk.

You chuckled at his antics. “This isn’t going to--” 

And then you saw it. Right there. Stuck on his arm. The last QR code.

“You found it!” you exclaimed, surprising him with how quickly you whipped out your phone and took a picture of the code. “You must have brushed up against it when you were looking around.

This time, you grabbed his hand and made your way downstairs to the backyard as the scanning process loaded on your phone. Once there, you looked at your last clue.

“남(nam),” you read aloud now that no competitors were around you. “친. 자. 구 . 남.” The words were scrambled, so you read them out a few more times until the realization hit you. 

Your eyes widened. “남자 친구(namja chingu). Boyfriend. But I don’t--”

And then you looked up at the pink astronaut. He stared back at you, unmovingly, and your hands gravitated to his visor again. This time, he didn’t stop you, so you pushed the cold, white glass up to reveal the warmest smile you’ve ever seen.

“Changbin…” you breathed, recognizing him right away.

“Y/N, I know no amount of apologies can ever atone for me leaving you, but I’d do anything for you to take me baaaaaaa-aack!”

Without even hearing the rest of it, you dragged him to the balcony where BamBam was waiting.

“I got it!” you shout at your friend. “The item! I’ve got it right here!”

BamBam looked amused. “This is your boyfriend, Y/N?”

“Yes,” you said without missing a beat. Both the boys jumped a little in surprise at your eagerness.

“Alright then,” chuckled your best friend into a microphone. “We have a winner!”

You could hear groans coming from the house as gold confetti rained down from the gazebo. BamBam handed you the tickets and shot you a wink before making himself scarce. You gleamed at the prize until you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“Y/N-- oof!”

You attacked Changbin with a hug and wrapped your arms around him, frowning when you noticed he lost weight. “You’re back…”

After overcoming his shock, he returned the hug and patted you on the head. “I’m sorry I left you.”

You shook your head against him. “No, don’t be. You were chasing your dreams. What kind of person would I be if I held you back just because of our relationship?”

“But I hurt you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you did, so--” You pulled your face away from his body to look him in the eyes-- “make it up to me at the Caribbeans?” 

Another loving smile spread across his face as he cupped yours with his hand. “I will, but be warned: I’m never letting you go again after that.”

You laughed together. “Ooh, spooky.”

~ ad.gold