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sugamoonv · 6 years ago

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I’ll Still Stay

Hello! Can I please request a Poly!Mate Hybrid!BTS OT7 x Mate human!female reader imagine where she goes to the shelter, planning on adopting one hybrid, but then when she sees how badly the poor hybrids are treating, she ends up bringing home 7 hybrids (BTS). BTS are all each other’s mate and see that she’s there mate too. She takes care of them and they take care of her, lots of love to go around! All 8 fall in love! They are all very protective of her + hugs + kisses + cuddles and love.💜🤟

Pairings: Hybrid!BTS x Reader/ OT7 x Reader

Word Count: 4k

Preface: Wolf Hybrid!Namjoon / Rottweiler Hybrid!Jimin / Siamese Hybrid!Yoongi / Golden Retriever Hybrid!Taehyung / Bear Hybrid!Jin / Bunny Hybrid!Jungkook / Red Fox Hybrid!Hoseok

A.N: I know this took a while, so I hope it’s good. I may have turned this request into a gateway for a series/multipart because I love poly hybrid fics. So yeah- here’s the first installment.

Masterlist > Next

“I’m going to adopt a hybrid.”

Your friend's eyes widen and they scramble as they get out of their chair to follow you.

“Wait, what? Now?!”

“Yeah. Why Not?” you look at Hoshi with innocent eyes as you grab your jacket from the hanger rack in the entrance of the office you work in. Small conversations and the clicking of keyboards play over yours’ and Hoshi’s conversation.

“Because we’re still at work? And you literally just decided you wanted a hybrid. Are you even ready for one?”

The company you worked for paid its employees well, especially those that specialized in specific sectors. You and Hoshi worked in public relations and as younger employees, you were in charge of helping create ads that appealed to your age group. It was a difficult company to get hired into and was still competitive while working, but was one of the most lucrative jobs available where you lived, and because of this, that meant that most of the people here had lots of disposable money. A majority of them eventually decided their extra money would be best going to getting a hybrid and now you were joining the ranks.

“Chill. I haven’t used any sick days in months, so I doubt they’re really going to get mad if I leave early today,” you negate as you shrug on your jacket. “Vernon told me about this really nice adoption center he got Dino at and he said that lately, they’ve been getting a lot of hybrids. So I figured I might as well go now.”

Hoshi sucks in air between his teeth. “Fine, but if you get in trouble with Mark, that’s on you-”

“Obviously.”

Hoshi’s eyebrows straighten as he tilts his head and gives you a deadpan look. “IF you really are serious about this, there’s a couple of non-profit shelters that you can go to too. And I’ve been hearing that a lot of people are putting their hybrids up for adoption to get new ones. Go to one of the shelters and save money by adopting a hybrid. It’s going to be better considering you’ve never had a hybrid before and the hybrids at the shelters won’t need as much adjusting to having an owner.”

It was true. The adoption centers that typically ran for profit offered hybrids that were fresh out of training school and had never had an owner before. There were even a few places that had hybrids under 18 for adoption for those that weren’t able to conceive and wanted to raise a child.

You nod, “Gotcha,’”.

You beam at Hoshi, “Next time you see me, I’m going to be a hybrid owner.”

“I’m already praying for the hybrid.”

You slightly glance at the GPS mounted to the dashboard of your car as it gives you the next direction. You still had put in the address from the place Vernon recommended but as you pulled up to the red light, Hoshi’s advice mulled about in your head. You tapped your fingers on the steering wheel before curling them around the wheel and squeezing. You stared at the GPS screen, gnawing on your bottom lip.

You jump as the person behind you lays on their horn, tearing you away from your inner thoughts. The light has turned green and the lane beside you has already cleared so you press on the gas. There’s a small gas station that you pull into. You ignore your GPS repeatedly telling you to make a U-turn as you search for the nearest adoption center and upon finding one, you input the new address into the GPS and begin driving again.

From first glance you can tell this place doesn’t have much funding. The parking lot is all gravel and the grass away from the actual building is overgrown and has been left to its own devices. In the lot, the large adoption building stands alone with its dull paint, broken concrete sidewalk, and faded wooden pillars, making it look lonely. There are only a few other cars parked alongside you, most likely the employees.

The receptionist looks as though this is the last place when you walk into the building. There’s a man in a stained, muscle shirt waiting in the seated area. His stomach slightly pouches and the skin visible shows the sun and age has not been favorable to him.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist has noticed your presence and addresses you.

You give a polite smile and step up to the desk. “Hi. I’m looking to adopt.”

The receptionist clicks on their computer, “Do you have an appointment?”

“Oh! Uh- No, I don’t.” You try to sound positive though you’re sure the dismay sneaks into your voice.

“Okay, that’s fine. Go have a seat and someone will be out shortly,” they say all without taking their eyes off of the computer screen.

You twist your upper body to look at the seats where the man is. The building itself is huge, but most of the space must be dedicated to housing the hybrids because there are only at most ten chairs bunched together.

The sound from your heels on the linoleum floor draws the man’s attention to you and you ignore the way his eyes scan over you. You nearly bolt out of the door to go to upscale hybrid adoption center like you originally planned, but the corkboard on the wall with pictures of hybrids smiling with their owners as they’re freshly adopted catches your eye and you hesitantly sit.

The man sighs and shifts in his seat. “How much longer are they going to be?” he loudly calls out to the receptionist.

“It shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Bastards took my damn hybrid and I’m trying to get him back.”

You peek up from your phone to see that the man is talking to you. Your cheeks blush and you shuffle back in the chair and cross your right leg over the left. “I’m sorry.”

He rubs his hand over his face, “Yeah, been waiting for a little over an hour and they still have yet to bring him out.”

It’s twenty minutes before anyone comes into the waiting room. At the door opening, both you and the man looked over to see two guards escorting a hybrid out. The man stands and speedily walks over to them. The hybrid flinches in the guards' hold but says nothing as the man throws his arms over his shoulders and pulls him into a hug.

You’re too distracted to see the woman standing by your chair at first. When you finally so take notice of her, she gives you a kind smile and holds out a hand for you to shake.

“Hello. You’re here to adopt?”

You nod.

“Fantastic! If you just follow me to the back, I’m going to ask you a few questions and have you fill out some paperwork and then I can show you some hybrids.”

You gather your jacket and bag from the chair next to the one you were sitting in and follow behind her.

Nervous energy bubbles in your chest as you hear the chatter from the hybrids growing louder as the woman leads you into the housing section of the center. The rooms are set up in rows, similar to a prison where you can look into the rooms through the glass windows in the door. As you glance in the rooms, you mainly see the hybrids laying in their bed, finding ways to busy themselves. You stop when you reach a portion that opens up to accommodate lunchroom style tables and two food serving stations and sit at one of the tables, the metal cool beneath your legs.

“So, most of the hybrids we have here are older but we do have a few in your age range.” The woman shuffles through a pile of paper shes brought with her. “Is gender something important to you?”

“Um, no.”

“Oh that's good!” the woman seems relieved. “I will go get the first hybrid for you.”

You watch her walk off, left alone at the table with the papers. Part of you is curious to see what is written on them but you know it’s not your place to creep. Instead, you get up from the bench and walk to one side of the room to glance into the bunks. There are a few that are empty and as you walk down the line, the hybrids in the room, at most, glance at you passively before returning to their book or falling back asleep. All but one.

His hair is pitch black and it weren’t for his tail, you would be questioning if he was even a hybrid because his ears blend in with the rest of his hair. You can tell his hair is knotted and the plain clothes on him are baggy and loose. As you look in, he turns in his bed from having his knees to hugged into his chest to having one hanging off and the other tucked under him. The breath is knocked from you when you see how beautiful he is; a button nose paired with plush lips, round cheeks, and almond eyes.

His head tilts as he observes you back and he carefully steps from the bed and walks to the window. Your heart starts racing when his face comes directly in front of the window so the only thing separating you is the smudged glass. His eyes widen and he brings a hand up to the window, pressing his palm into it and you see his ears perk up.

“Y/N?”

You’re head snaps in the direction from which you’re called and you lower your hand. The woman’s returned and standing next to her is a hybrid. The hybrid’s hair is as dark as the hybrid’s you were just looking at, though this one’s ears stand straight from his head and have a slight point rather than drooping flat. You can also see the hybrid’s long tail behind him as he keeps his head down. You look back when there’s a whimper from the hybrid in the room you’re walking away from and when you look back at the hybrid being presented to you, he’s looking directly at you.

“This is Min Yoongi. He is a Siamese, twenty-six, and he’s had three previous owners. He IS older than you but I believe he should be a good fit for your particular lifestyle.”

You watched Yoongi the entire time the woman was speaking and couldn’t help but notice the way his jaw clenched at the mention of his previous owners. His tail was also rapidly swishing back and forth, slow enough for you to catch a glimpse of a bald patch on the underside.

“Hi, I’m Y/N,” you politely smile at Yoongi. His eyes are transfixed on yours and despite his wide pupils showing his excitement, he keeps a scowl on his face.

“His name is Jimin.” Yoongi carefully watches as your brows furrow in confusion. “The hybrid you were talking to, his name is Park Jimin.”

“Min Yoongi, that’s enough,” the woman interjects through gritted teeth.

“If you’re going to adopt a hybrid, adopt him, or Jungkook or Taehyung. Not me,” Yoongi says with complete conviction and at the mention of Jimin, you look over your shoulder at the door to said hybrid’s bunk. Now that you listen closely, you can hear a quiet whimpering coming from his direction.

“Min Yoongi!” The woman explosively reaches out and yanks on Yoongi’s ear. He loudly yelps and scurries on the bench away from her and the whimpering from the door becomes louder as Jimin begins kicking the door.

“Hey!” You’re half standing in the bench now, leaning your body over the table as you try to put your arm in front of Yoongi as protection.

Footsteps indicate that a few guards are approaching and one has taken to banging on Jimin’s door with a baton as a warning. Yoongi’s eyes are focused behind you on Jimin’s door but as two guards grow closer to you, his lips pull up in a snarl, ears completely flat against his head and the hair on his tail standing straight up.

“Stay away from them,” Yoongi hisses.

And they do. The guards instead walk around the table and roughly grab each of Yoongi’s arms and hoist him up before beginning to drag him off. You lock eyes with Yoongi as he looks back at you, getting further away but you’re too in shock to interject and a few moments after he’s gone from sight, you hear the slamming of a door.

The woman clears her throat, “I apologize for him. I thought he had learned that he should never try to sway potential owners but it seems I was wrong. He’s usually not aggressive and we will make sure he never behaves in that manner again.”

You just now look at her.

She smooths her clothes as though she was the one dragged off. “Now, I have another hybrid I can show you and I can assure you that he will be far more pleasant-”

“I want to see Jungkook and Taehyung,” you cut her off with a steely gaze.

Her lips thin and her nostrils flare. “Jungkook and Taehyung are both unavailable due to some misconduct, but we do have some other lovely hybrids. If you are interested in adopting in pairs, I can show you our predator hybrids, Seokjin, and Namjoon who are both mature and would also be a good fit for your home.”

You chew on the inside of your cheek as you contemplate your next move. Yoongi seemed so concerned about the two hybrids but the woman is most likely not going to give in and allow you to see them, and she’s the only one here that can ensure you don’t walk out of here alone. One last glance at Jimin’s door to see him shyly looking through the window quells any doubts you have that make you want to leave. If you were able to help one hybrid leave this place, then you felt that was worth it, and so you nod.

There are far more guards in the section that the predator hybrids are housed in. There are also bars on the windows of their doors and instead of the conversations you overheard in the last place, it’s deadly silent.

The woman gestures to the guards standing by the door and the one by the handle pounds on the door twice with his fist before opening it. One hybrid is sitting at a small desk with a book in his hands and the other is standing behind him and turns from the window looking outside to you as you walk in. Both of the hybrids ears perk up as their eyes scan over you.

As soon as you fully step into the room, there’s a series of clicks and grunts coming from the older looking hybrid with the round ears and stubbed tail. He lowers his head and steps away from you before completely lowering himself to the ground. Your eyes are on him so you don’t see the other hybrid until he bumps his body into yours, sending you stumbling and he follows to nuzzle his nose into your neck. A bright red colors your cheeks and your heart leaps into your throat.

“It seems they’ve both taken a liking to you.” The woman’s tone somehow sounds sarcastic. “The wolf hybrid is Namjoon,” she flicks her hand at the hybrid now whining into your neck, “and the bear is Seokjin.”

Namjoon becomes lost in his own ministrations and grabs your waist to pull you closer causing you to gasp in shock and the for the guards to come into the room. At the sight of them, Jin begins huffing and stands, puffing out his chest to seem bigger.

“Why don’t we go look at some other hybrids?”

Jin makes a deep noise in the back of his throat that sounds similar to a growl when the guards step forward and pry Namjoon from you. Namjoon bares his teeth at them and his ears lower back but he remains compliant. Both of their eyes are pleading as you follow the woman back out of the room and you find yourself feeling guilty for walking away from another hybrid.

The next room is right next door to Namjoon’s and Jin’s, though there’s only one person occupying the space.

The orange haired hybrid doesn’t look up when you enter the room, focusing on folding the white clothes perfectly. His room is the cleanest you’ve seen so far, both of the beds are made and the sheets are straightened so there are no wrinkles and the pillows are fluffed, his tennis sneakers are tucked neatly next to his desk which has a neat stack of papers on top, pencils lying to the side.

“This is our red fox hybrid, Hoseok. He would normally have a roommate, but we had to let the other hybrid go, unfortunately.”

Hoseok lifts his head at the woman talking and his whole body stiffens. His hands pause folding mid-air as he assesses the situation with a cautious demeanor. He’s intimidating, even when his face breaks out into a grin and he bounces over to you.

His large hands cup yours and bring them up between your bodies. “Are you here to adopt?!” Hoseok’s eyes light up as he excitedly asks you the question. His personality is infectious so you find that despite the way your heart pounds in your chest, you’re smiling along with him.

“I am.”

If it’s even possible, Hoseok’s smile grows larger. The glow of his skin and the whiteness of his teeth are almost blinding.

Hoseok brings your hand up to his face and leaves a few gentle nips on the inside of your wrist. “You’ve already met Yoongi, Jin, and Namjoon.” You feel his lips curl upwards on the delicate skin of your wrist. “If you don’t adopt me, I hope you adopt one of them,” he stares into your eyes with a soft intensity.

You swallow heavily and you pray that he doesn’t feel your hands becoming clammy. You faintly hear the woman call out Hoseok’s name in warning but both of you ignore her as you keep your eyes locked. And at long last, you exhale a shaky breath and gently remove your wrist from Hoseok’s hand and look away. Your cheeks feel warm so you’re sure he can tell the effect he has on you.

“Hoseok has had three previous owners. The last was actually an instructor at a well-known dance academy, so he is technically trained if you’re looking for a hybrid that’s able to provide entertainment for yourself or any guests you may have.”

The woman gives you the rundown of Hoseok’s past like she’s done with every hybrid you’ve seen. Namjoon and Jin have both only had one owner and were put up for adoption because they were getting too old. You’ve spent nearly four hours listening to her speak about different hybrids and following her from room to room, and though your heart goes to all of the hybrids you’ve seen, only Yoongi, Hoseok, Namjoon, Jin, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook stay on your mind, even though you haven’t met the former two.

You stare at the single adoption form in front of you pinned to the clipboard in your lap, pen in your hand. The main lobby is empty and there’s a different receptionist than the one from when you arrived. The setting sun casts the chairs in a golden hue. Most of the form is filled out though your pen hovers above the line asking for the name of the hybrid.

You rest the pen in your fingers and look up from the paper, eyebrows upturned and you continuously glance over at the receptionist working before you make your decision and walk over to them.

“Hi! All set?” the receptionist pleasantly asks.

“Uh-” you place your elbow onto the tall desk and gingerly scratch the bridge of your nose, “No actually. Is there a way I can get six more adoption forms?”

A single person is legally allowed to own up to twelve hybrids at a time.

The receptionist's eyes widen. “Umm, I’m...not...sure,” they answer uncertain, “Let me go talk to my boss and I’ll get back to you, okay?”

“There’s no need to do that,” you muster up a smile to seem convincing, “We already talked about it and said it would be alright.”

The receptionist hesitantly sits back down, looking warily at you and for a second, you think that they’re able to see through your bluff but luck is on your side because they spin to the filing cabinet and pull out extra adoption papers to your request. You quietly thank them and rush back to your chair to fill them out.

The sun had completely set by the time the receptionist puts all of the paperwork you filled out through the system and now you wait impatiently for your hybrids to be escorted to you. Your leg bounces nervously and your eyes never once leave the door. You hold your breath when the door clicks as it’s opened.

Jimin is the first to walk through the door, his tail wagging fast behind him and he slips from the guards escorting him and jogs over to you. His cheeks swell with the smile he has on his face. He hugs your entire arm to his chest and rests his cheek on your shoulder.

The others were in single file behind him, starting with Yoongi and then a hybrid with pure blonde hair, Jin, Namjoon, Hoseok, and finally a bunny hybrid with large ears and hazelnut brown hair. What baffles you is the handcuffs around the wrists of the bunny hybrid. You curiously watch as one of the guards removes the cuffs and the hybrid rubs his wrist and rolls them to crack them. There’s a faint brush of pink upon his cheekbones and his ears twitch when he looks at you and he shuffles so he’s half hiding behind Hoseok.

Yoongi’s looking at you in shock and you find him completely adorable with the way his eyes are big and vulnerable and how his lips form a pout. Namjoon’s tail is wagging behind him yet his face is neutral and Jin steps beside him, lips pressed together to contain his smile. The blonde hybrid that you’re not sure is Taehyung or Jungkook, has a scowl on his face but one ear is raised in interest.

“Ready to go to your new home?” You try to not let your nerves seep through your voice. Jimin’s tail thumps on the back of your leg.

“Did you really adopt all of us?” Yoongi is scared and hopeful all at once. You’re standing in front of him, one of his loves latched to your side and your sweet scent faintly mixes with Jimin’s and Namjoon’s before meeting his nose. He can tell the others are just as affected as him because he’s only ever seen them react the same when they met each other upon first arriving in the shelter.

“If that’s alright with you?”

You’re terrified. You have no idea if they will get along; if they even know each other. As your heart starts racing and your throat closes up, Taehyung bounds over to you at Jimin whining, a similar noise being vocalized.

Taehyung has his ears lowered and tail tucked in submission in front of you, peeking up at you with big eyes. You want to feel the locks on his head despite the tangles and flecks of dirt, the wavier hair that covers his ears. You’re not given a choice because Taehyung nudges his head into your stomach and your hand reflexively comes up to Taehyung’s head as one foot goes back to catch you.

“Please take me home.”

Tags: @detectivebourbon @omgsuperstarg

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fairydust-stuff · 4 years ago

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Banana Fish Buffy the vampire Slayer crossover Special! Instead of Fox ,Dino hires a different predator to bring him Ash a decision him and everyone involved quickly come to regret.

Angelus walks into Lee Manor whistling still covered in blood he’s wearing a green neck scarf. the hushed voices of the two teenage boys seated on the sofa fade to silence.

“ Now you boys wouldn’t happen to be plotting would you, I wouldn't want to wake up tied to the bed with someone holding lighter fluid over me. Though it was a good effort, Yue. Even you did just exceed at pissing me off” Angelus added cheerfully.

“ You know what they say, third times the charm” Yut Lung’s tone is deceptively pleasant. “ I’m guessing by your new accessory Papa Dino is no more”

“ The old man was so annoying, Capture Ash Lynx blah blah blah I understand being obsessed with a blond superhero but if your not good at breaking people hand the whip to someone who knows how to use it,” Angelus said with annoyance. “ Don’t get me wrong some of his ideas were good but the execution D minus for effort.”

They’ve been holding each other he can smell it on them how adorable he’s glad he decided to keep Sing around after all. The two of them are much more fun as a set.

“ Shit you‘re in a good mood that’s never good” Sing looks uneasy.

Angelus plants himself between the two of them and stretches himself out one hand by each of their shoulders. “ Go to channel eight” this is directed at Sing The fourteen-year-old picks up the remote and flips the tv on.

Yut Lung has already started on the wine like a good little sixteen-year-old alcoholic. Angelus has contemplated getting rid of every bottle in the mansion just to see him go through withdrawal symptoms but has decided it’s not worth the risk of the kid possibly dying. Besides he’s got a million other ways to make him suffer. “ The Christen killer seems to have struck again the body of a blond eighteen-year-old boy crucified and turned upside down as a clear mockery of the Christen Faith”

Yut Lung scoffs “ What does this have to do with anything?”

“ Keep watching Yuey,” Angelus says in a cheerful voice.

“ the boy has been identified as Ash Lynx former gang leader”

Angelus looks over Sing’s face pales and Yut Lung’s face is clouded disbelief. The vampire shuts the tv off. “ Guess who finally bagged a Lynx” he gloats.

“ No, he’s not really dead…..he’s just playing a trick” Yut Lung mumbles standing up “ That’s just some random boy you picked up off the streets”

Angelus fixes a look of false sympathy on his face “ No I’m afraid it’s not” He grabs Yut Lung’s elbow and turns him so he’s forced to meet his eyes. “ Cinderella is never going to the ball again” then he pulls out one green eye from his pocket.

The head of the Lee family crumples to the floor a high-pitched anguished sound emerges from his throat. Angelus drinks the sight in deeply its hard to get a satisfying reaction from the kid. So when he hits that sweet spot it is euphoric.

“ Kill me” it’s not even screamed just a weak plea for mercy from a severely depressed teenage boy.

“ Nah! you don’t get to die” Angelus tilts his chin up so he’s looking up at him like some sort of God. Its fitting Angelus does control his fate. “ I don’t get why your so eager to go, you’d just burn in Hell for an eternity” truthfully Angelus isn’t sure of that considering the Chinese have a different belief system someone up there might decide reincarnation is more fitting for this wreck of a boy which would undo all his hard work. Now to deliver the finishing blow “ Like, Ash is”

Yut Lung runs out of the room chocking back sobs with anyone else Angelus would think he broke them but the boy had surprised him before. Even posing Blanca’s dead body in a reenactment of Judas’s suicide and offering his actual bloody heart to Yut Lung hadn’t been the devastating blow he thought it would be. Sure the kid was upset judging by his attempted seduce and burn him alive attempt but Angelus had aimed for curl up and whimper, not revenge.

“Just leave him alone you shit!” Sing lost his temper

“I normally don’t finish other’s art projects but his face is poetry and that body is an unfinished canvas. I’m going to craft the sloppy mess they left behind into something agonizingly beautiful” Angelus gloats “ A little side project while I wait to start working on my passion project”

“ Who’s your passion project” Sing asks

Ah, Sing hitting on what truly matters, Angelus thinks with some fondness. “Let’s have some fun, you're going to introduce me to Ash’s group,” the vampire says instead.

“ What the hell makes you think I’d do that?” Sing demands

Angelus just turns and walks up the stairs and up to the bedroom.” Oh Yuey come out and play!” he says in a sing-song voice Sing shot out dragon fang honestly what a ridiculously childish name, Angelus dodged his weapon with a laugh. He can hear Yut lung’s sharp breaths on the other side of the door before he opens it the kids hugging his knees in the middle of that big bed. Hair half out of his braid. Angelus stalks over and runs a hand over the boy’s leg feeling a slight tremble. Angelus contemplates Does he want to feel him up just to show he can or leave burns on the tender skin of those legs?

“ Haven’t you tormented me enough?” it's almost a whisper

“ Hey blame Sing, for choosing Eiji over you again”

“ You bastard! That’s not what’s happening!” Sing protested he’s caught up and he lands a punch on Angelus the vampire blocks and tosses him to the floor. Angulus slides a hand into his pocket. “ I’ll do it, I’ll do it just leave him alone!” the younger boy pleads.

“Really, Sing I had the lighter ready and everything. He’s so fickle” Angelus complained to Yut Lung “ Ah well we’ll play another day” he promises. The vampire blows the boy on the bed a kiss as he leaves with Sing he turns to Yut Lung’s bodyguards “ Watch him make sure he doesn’t die” they nod their human faces vamping out…

“I kinda miss how he was before, trying not to be clingy while wanting to grab onto me, so desperate” Angelus smirks. The two of them are standing on the New York subway.

“ You love the sound of your own voice” Sing observes.

“I was trapped by that nauseating soul, for years. It had me rescuing puppies, puppies! I used to nail those to people’s doors. Think Yut Lung would be upset if I nailed a dog to his door?” Angelus asked “ You are asking me for ways to torment my leader?” Sing demanded incredulously “ Oh right you have a crush don’t you” Angelus laughed. “ I keep forgetting that cause of the whole betrayal thing” “ He was the one working with Dino my cousin’s murderer” Sing argued

“ You think Yue wasn’t plotting against him?” Angelus chuckled “ Maybe that’s why I like you two. Years of do-gooder pep rallies and the constant we help the helpless rah rah rah. And your all hell with it! Your still both gooey in the middle but I’m going to fix that” he promises, vamping out and advancing on one of the homeless people near the back. He had after all missed breakfast.

Sing was looking rather pale by the time he got off the subway Angelus fixed his leather jacket “ I look good right, no blood on the mouth?” he asked “ Now remember only good things or I’ll be paying your pretty cousin Nadia a visit. Maybe I’ll grab of a few your guys as a midday snack” ...

“ We don’t talk to the police” they’ve been incredibly unhelpful,” says the handsome blond man before him who must be Max Lobo. He looks haggard and worn Angelus is pleased with how big an effect his actions have had on the group.

“ I’m a private detective” Angelus pulls out one of the Angel Investigations business cards he’d stolen. “ Sing told me you might need some help catching this mad artist”

“ You mean sicko with a god complex” Ibe retorts.

Sing laughs, he'll pay for that later Angelus thinks. He’s about to draw on some of his Angel speeches the soul makes him act like such a….His thoughts are frozen at the sight of a baby faced nineteen years old with an athletic build and big eyes. This must be Ash’s, Eiji the one he was sorry for not being able to protect. “ I’m sorry, I’m not usually up this late” his voice is hoarse and his eyes are red-rimmed.

“ This is detective Angel he’s a friend of Sing’s,” Ibe says. “ Oh, I’ll make you some tea,” The boy says quickly hurrying to the kitchen and starting up the pot. “ Its the least, I can do for a friend of Sings”

“ Some tea would be nice” Angelus comments. Eiji prepares tea for all three of them.

“ My condolences about your lover” the vampire lies.

“ Thank you, Ash had his flaws but...he didn’t deserve” Eiji pauses

“ I want to bring this man to justice but I need your help. Can you describe everything you saw that night every detail?” Angelus says in a smooth professional voice.

Eiji recites in a dull tone how he found Ash’s body its secretly quite fun for Angelus pretending he was unclear and asking for him to repeat himself, demanding more gory details.

“ that’s enough Ibe,” says harshly noting Eiji’s face.

“ Its necessary for the investigation” Angelus replies “ Its best to pry while every detail is fresh in his mind” he wants to laugh at how easily Eiji defends him as he continues tugging at the fraying threads of the boy’s grief. After the questioning Angelus leaves them the card and promises to keep in touch.

Eiji is sickeningly good, putting his feels on the backburner for the sake of others. He reeks of insecurity and doubt and despite his grief, there’s still a sparkle of naive hope in him. Also, something tells him the boys never been touched, considering Ash’s hang-ups about sex. Angelus normally finds these things not so appealing in boys but there’s such a girlish feel to this boy despite his athleticism that Angelus finds himself wanting to ruin and consume him. The way he would Drucilla or Buffy and the way the gangs in New York latch onto him like lost puppies. Angelus likes the idea of snuffing out the little light they’ve found in the dark world they live in. “ Wait here, Sing I’ve got to get something from the store”...

“ You shouldn’t get too attached to that” Sing comments as Yut Lung snuggles the kitten on his lap. the boy’s laughing at the little licks from the sandpaper tongue Angelus scoops up the kitten which cries out in terror and snaps its little neck. “ Why did you?” the boy yells

“ Present for your enemy Eiji” Angelus commented. “ But it didn’t have anything to do with it!” Yut Lung argues “ Neither did your brother’s children” Angelus returned. “It’s fun to kill defenseless things that can’t fight back right Yue?” he taunts stroking the dead kitten…

Angelus shoves Yut Lung down and receives a dark look “ Your not still mad about the little furball” he taunts. The boy remains silent

“ I’m sure you’ll add it to your list of things to avenge. Angelus runs his tongue along the boy’s wrist contemplatively. “ That’s the problem with you Eastern type everything has to be avenged or its dishonor” the vampire mocks brushing the boy’s neck lightly with his mouth.

“ If your smart you’ll kill me now” Yut Lung warns.

“ But your so cute and helpless” Angelus lifts the quipo slowly and runs his tongue along Yut Lung’s thigh he vamps out and bites down a cry escapes the boy under him. He licks the blood savoring the taste god its been too long. Yut Lung’s silent hatred makes it sweeter. Then the phone rings “ Yes!” he snaps “ Angel I….m... sorry….for…” the shaky voice on the other end is music to his ears. “ Eji what’s wrong?” he fakes concern “ Someone nailed a...a kitten to my door” the Japanese boy managed to get out.

“ Where are you” Angelus clamps a hand on Yut Lung’s ankle just missing as the boy rolls off the bed and makes a break for it. “ I’m staying with a friend,” Eiji says. “ Alright, I’ll be there first thing tomorrow night at eight” Angelus slams down the phone. “ So you're in the mood to play tonight are you Yuey?” the vampire walks into the hall scenting the air “ Alright, let's play hide and seek” he starts walking the halls “ 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9” he stops in front of the bathroom door the scent of blood and fear so strong he can almost taste it “ 10” he whisks the door open only to get shoved backward by a long-haired boy into a bathtub of holy water!...

It took Angelous a whole day to heal with the damage a whole day. He had to reschedule with his masterpiece and by that time Yut Lung was long gone. How the hell he managed to slip by his former vampiric bodyguards the former Scourge of Europe had no clue. Sing seemed to have not come back as well which meant those two had planned this. Angelus bet his little boyfriend smuggled him the holy water. When he got his hands on them both ...

“ So you think it’s the same guy who killed your boyfriend?” Angelus asked

“ What other fucker could it be!” Eiji snapped “ Sorry”

“It’s ok you’ve had a bad night. Eiji, I get the impression you're not telling me everything. Do you others to get hurt because you failed to cooperate?” Angelus asked

“ Papa Dino, he didn’t like Ash. We think he may have hired someone to get rid of all of us” Eiji interjects.

Yes me, Angelus thinks to himself not that it went well for the Godfather wannabe or his cohorts. “ Is there anyone else who may wish you harm?” Angelus asked “ Yut Lung Lee,” Eiji says.

“ Isn’t Hau Lee the current head of the Lee clan?” Angelus asked with phony surprise

“ They have a secret seventh brother” Eiji makes a face.

“ I take it your not fond of him” So the feud goes both ways.

“ Even so he’s been silent for weeks” Eiji comments “ And what happened last night. He’s cruel but even he wouldn’t do something like that” Angelus asks a few more questions “ Dam is it nine already” he commented.

“ How about I make you some dinner? It's the least I can do” Eiji offers.

“ You are not looking to break any stereotypes ” Angelus teased.

“ I can still spit in your meal” Eiji jokes. While dining on fish and vegetables the two converse.

“ So what you do besides catch scary serial killers?” Eiji asked “ I like ballet, I draw, I read, love the classics” Angelus admits. “ You” though he already knows photography and pole vaulting. He’s done his research or rather Yut Lung did and was always ready to complain about Eiji Okumura.

Eiji’s face crumples and he starts crying right there on the table. Angelus pulls him into a hug “ Thank….you…..I’m sorry...i” Eiji breaks off. “ Ash, he also loved the classics ”

“ its, fine let it all out’ The vampire soothing I can't believe I’m saying this cheesy crap, you better be worth it Angelus thought. “ I understand what you’re going through…..I lost my whole family to a killer” Yes, me I ripped their throats out.

Eiji’s horrified expression makes Angelus struggle to control himself. “ I’m so sorry, is that why you became a detective?” Eiji asked

“ I’m not a good person Eiji, I’ve done terrible things to deal with my grief” Angelus channels the soul and broods.

“ You're not a bad person,” Eiji tells him softly but with conviction. “ You should stay away from me” Angelus gets up and leaves the house smirking when he’s out of view…

The vampire sits across from the round-faced Japanese boy. The boy has circles under his eyes and the expression on his face resembles that of a lost puppy rather than that of a human. After weeks of ghosting him, dodging his calls Angelus has pulled I don’t want to but now I’m going to tell you the absolute truth ruse. He agreed to meet with Eiji to clear things up and damn he should win an Oscar.

In the meantime, he’s been trying to find his slippery teenage duo. He knows Yut Lung has safe houses all over New York due to his family’s activities well-stocked with weapons, medical and most likely staff furthermore absolutely no invitation inside. Last time he had the advantage of being invited in while attending a meeting with Golzine. Yut Lung had been low key furious when he found out about the vampire thing and how Dino had knowingly let one into his home. He can’t even use Sings guys because they appear to have disappeared as well.

“ First mafia and trafficking now demons! The worlds turning darker every time I turn around” there’s bitterness in his young voice. “ And without Ash….” he gulps and tears start to pour from his eyes. “ I’m so….r...r..y i” “ He meant a lot to you it's understandable you miss him” Angelus takes his hand “ And I’m going to help find whoever killed Ash” he vowed. “ For now I hear the gooseberry pie is to die for”

Eiji opens his mouth but the two of them are interrupted by two Asian men wheeling in a dinner cart. They were young clean-cut and wearing waiter uniforms. “ Order of flaymonyong?” one of them asked “ I’m sorry you have the wrong table, we haven’t even ordered yet,” Eiji says. One of the men reaches for the silver dish lid the vampire feels annoyed “ Look he said you had the wrong table so why…….”

The guys whisked the lid off to reveal a flamethrower. Eiji knocks the vampire out of the way the blast just misses them. The other waiters rush forward also Chinese he notices. Two of them tackle Eiji pinning him to the ground he trashes and bucks. The guy with the flamethrower fires it up again but this time the vampire is ready throwing his shoulder against the fragile human as hard as possible. The sound of something snapping makes him grin. The other Chinese men advance the vampire beckons them forward. “ So how much were you Bruce Lee wannabees paid to die?” he taunts

Two of them pull out their super soaker guns and aim holy water! Angelus snarls with rage and pain his shoulder sizzling. “ Angel, Eiji’s managed to get free and takes the other blasts for him getting utterly soaked. The vampire reaches past him for the hand which he crashes then grabbing the pained man uses him to smack into the other guy knocking them both down. Then he swipes a knife from the table and does three quick slices and two neck snaps. “ Why doesn’t that bastard leave me alone? Ash is gone! What does he want?” Eiji yells “ Go in the kitchen and call Ibe and Max to come and get you” The vampire orders. “ I’m going to make sure that’s all of them” he added. Eiji opens his mouth “ Go!” Angelus snarls. Once Eiji is gone the vampire pulls one of the dead men’s cell phones out of his pocket. He calms and puts Eijji in a taxi promising to continue this tomorrow...

The phone starts ringing, just as he arrives outside his fancy new apartment.

“ Gao?” a soft-spoken young voice comes through.

“ Hello, Angel investigations home of the no fun do-gooders” The vampire smirks.

The sharp exhale on the other end was worth it “ You survived” the boy says calmly. Angelus hears Sings outraged cry in the background.

“ Yut Lung Lee, I’m not gay but that voice of yours does things to me,” the vampire said obnoxiously. “ The rest of you isn’t too far from my fantasies either”

“ Funny, you appear in my fantasies most often as a charred corpse or a stain on the street” Yut Lung said with false sweetness. “ That bastard better keep you out of his fantasies!” Sing again. “ Yue, I’m glad you called” the vampire exclaims “ I need some of your venom spewing cynicism” he pauses “ Three hours with the Japanese boy scout. I swear, I saved Ash from picket fence purgatory!” he complained “You don’t get to say his name, Angelus!” Yut Lung spat

“ Go back to LA to Sunny whatever or even go pillage in the Caribbean Islands. Leave Ash’s Japanese boy alone and leave New York, this is your last warning” Yut Lung’s voice is cold.

Angelus laughs “ Your so obsessed with him you’d try to protect someone you can't stand because he’s the last piece of Ash you have left. God you're delightfully pathetic” “ Maybe but I will average Ash Lynx” Yut Lungs tone is ice “ Yuey you got damseled by the New York underworld's favorite hostage.” the vampire said with contempt. “ By all means take your best shot, I love a good Comedy.” “ How are your burns?” Yut Lung taunts

“ I’ll let you know as I’m slowly taking my revenge,” Angelus says smoothly.

“ You think you can do anything to me that hasn’t already been done,” Yut Lung says sardonically.

“It’s not the act, its all in the performance.” He pauses “I could trail burns down those wanton thighs of yours or maybe I’ll be nice enough to respect the ancient Chinese tradition of footbinding. I like the idea of mutilating those pretty feet of yours.”

Then he hung up and reaches for a pile of rough sketches he’d been working on. “ Your leading man is dead so your mine for the taking, the both of you” he pauses “ First which one of your friends do I kill next” he closes his eyes and selects one of his pictures. Then he hears footsteps turning around he sees a dark-haired woman. “ Hello, Dru” Angelus grinned. “ Do it, Daddy! Make the envious Moon weep until he no longer glows. He’ll taste of fresh lemons and pomegranates” Drucilla says excitedly.

“ Oh i’ll get to our succulent femmefatale eventually now I’m focused on another. Now let’s see who I can nab for dinner” his face vamps out...

“ Another dead end,” Eiji says looking exhausted The two of them combing through the crime photos. It’s not his finest work Angelus admits but he’s still proud of it. Then there’s a knock on the door Angel opens to reveal a man with red hair. “ Charlie?” Eiji says then the color drains from his face at the man’s expression “ No no not anymore I can’t take it!” he insists. “ I’m sorry Eiji,” Charlie says...

“ He always believed in me he used to say I could be a little more selfish,” Eiji says in a dry whisper. “ I was never the type to go for things but Ibe always…..how many more”

The boy doesn’t talk much after that during their outing which suits Angelus fine he’s not after the boy for his stimulating conversation skills. The excuse was he wanted to cheer Eiji up but honestly, its because Drucilla told him “the Moon was angry and stick and straw houses would fall” So Angelus is not surprised to see his house blown to rubble in a fiery explosion nor is he surprised to see three of Yut Lung’s men armed with stakes in case his vampire healing spared him said fiery death. They were here to finish the job. They took one look at healthy alive smiling Angelus and ran for it, unfortunately, he’s with Eiji so he can't rip off their limbs and mail them back to their leaders.

Eiji looks at him after a long thoughtful moment of silence“ I’m sorry you got dragged into this, I’m dropping the case” “ What?” Angelus demanded “It’s too dangerous for you to be around me, here’s some money for a hotel I’m sorry!” Eiji leaves. Dam it that brat ruined his plans Angelus is furious. He’s interrupted by humming he turns to see Drucilla “ Shhhh Miss Edith Daddy is very cross” the vampire chides her doll. “ Come on Dru let's grab a bite in Chinatown ” Angelus vamps out…

Angelus gets a call from Eiji two days later “ Angel, Yut Lung contacted me he says he’s got evidence on who killed Ash. He wants to meet in Central Park”

Angelus grins “ You think it's a trap?” Well, it is but not for Eiji. The little whore is using himself as bait, but if Angelus plays his cards right then he should be able to grab Yut Lung and use him as a hostage to get an invite from Sing. Of course, there’s still Eiji to worry about. Then Angelus comes up with a solution.

“ I need you to come with me just in case, please” Eiji pleads.

“ Of course” Angelus hangs up the phone and turns to Drucilla “ What do you say Dru ready to go to the park?”...

“ You made it,” Yut Lung says standing there.

If Eiji is soft cuddles in the morning Yut Lung is the dirty polaroid stashed secretly in a man’s drawer Angelus muses. Ash may not have been drawn to him like Eiji but the vampire bets he still a small hold on the boy. Yut Lung is all dressed up when they meet him makeup applied, hair done up its like he wants to be taken. It's like he’s living breathing art even his movements are fluid, every step a light tease.

Still, Angelus is going to bind those feet, the air of challenge in those delicate movements gets under his skin.

“ I was worried I’d have to draw you a map” a taunt on those red lips.

“ No tricks Yut Lung where’s the evidence?” Eiji asks

“ Right here” Yut Lung takes out a gun and puts bullet after bullet into Angelus. The vampire crazed with pain doesn’t realize he’s backing up into a tree until he hits it a familiar sharp object sails towards him and the vampire finds himself wrapped up in strings a familiar sharp object penetrating his stomach. Sing swings down from the branches.

“ You think you got me, oh Dru!” he calls the vampiress bursts from her four hours ago hiding spot and grabs Yut Lung pressing her nails to his throat. “ Aaand he doesn’t make it to first base” Angelus taunts. " Though he has been around the field a few times"

“Another one!” Sing exclaims

“ Sing kill him!” Yut Lung ordered.

Drucilla smiled “ Shhhh you used to be a dolly made of sugar to hide the taste of arsenic when you kissed the lizards. You burned the wicked Dragons. Even though you were too late to save the princess before they made her all red.”

Yut Lung gapes at her “ How do you know?”

Drucilla strokes his hair softly and for a moment she seems almost lucid“ My mummy is dead too, daddy name with his teeth like needles. The wolf came to the door but he dressed in the skin of a priest.” she laughs “ We’ll make you all red too. You don’t have to smile when Daddy makes you part you’re legs. We’ll be brides together, I'll carry you under the stars” She promises.

“ Like hell, you will!” Sing exclaimed

Drucilla looks at him and laughs “ Hades and Persephone will ride off with the Moon. The mountain Lion crushed beneath their feet.” she taunts.

“ Isn’t she wonderful? this is Drucilla my masterpiece” Angelus brags.

“ You mean she used to be human” Sing said in horror.

“ And sane and pure and oh so good. She was going to be a nun and declare her vows to God” Angelus said mockingly.

“ You hurt her, you broke her, you took her dam sanity” Yut Lung looks like he wants to rip the vampires’ eyes out with his bare nails.

“ I was going to do the same to you both” Angelus croons.

“ I won’t let that happen,” says Eiji pointing a gun at Drucilla.

“ Daddy who is this?” Drucilla asked in confusion

“ Just Eiji he was the other one I was focused on” Angelus wants to get on with things. “ I can’t see you ” Then Drucilla had a look of realization and lunges for Eiji. the boy fires a gun straight through her head which doesn’t kill her but causes her to scream. Sing moves and shoves a stake through her heart.

“ Not supposed to be here …..” then she turns to dust.

Angelus feels her loss not the loss of a man for his lover but an artist for his greatest work. Angelus breaks through Sing’s flimsy strings furiously. Yut Lung attacks Angelus pins his wrists “ Tonight doesn’t seem to be working out for you Yuey maybe if I give you a rousing cheer!” then he groans as a bullet pieces his chest. Yut Lung slips a needle under his skin and Angelus feels his body flop to the ground.

Then he sees the smoking gun. “ Eiji how could you, I thought we were friends” Eiji flashes him, his middle finger.

“ Congratulations you finally caught on after what a month” Angelus sneered.

“ Why couldn’t you have paralyzed his mouth too Yue?” Sing groans

“ He needed to have some awareness, for personal satisfaction,” Yut Lung says. “ I’ve contacted the Council we have a few minutes”

“ Even when taking out someone for the safety of the community you can’t stop being a sadistic bastard” Eiji complained.

“ He was going to give me locus feet” Yut Lung argued.

“ You fucking bastard!” Sing raged.

“ I’m going to do even more until those feet are completely useless” Angelus vows.

Both Sing and Yut Lung shiver. “ I’ll teach Sing all the wonderful things I learned in Tibet”

“ How could I have thought you were here to help me?” Eiji says with disgust

“Because Eiji if there was a first place for the biggest idiot you’d win the grand prize. I’d rather be back in Hell then continue to hang out with you” Angelus informs him.

“ Why did you?” Eiji asked

“ Because I wanted to taint, and corrupt you in every way,” the vampire says. “ I wanted you spread out on my sheets but you were so hung up on Ash, you friend-zoned me, me!” “ Clearly a bad choice on his part,” said Yut Lung sarcastically

“ You killed Ibe and Ash as a part of some sick game to hurt me” Eiji spat.

“ You were going to be my comeback piece,” Angelus said.

“ This pretentious fuck thinks he’s an artist,” said Sing with an eye roll.

“ So what did finally light a red dot in your empty noggin?” Angelus taunted

“ Yut Lung I realized he wasn’t trying to kill me but you. He wouldn’t do that unless. I went to Max and we did some investigating of our own. Three people saw you the night of Ibe’s murder with red hands. They were just too scared. I contacted Sing and Yut Lung and the three of us made this plan” Eiji said.

“ Enough talk” Yut Lung says with a nod

Sing goes up the tree to retrieve something.

“ You think the Watchers council can hold me?” Angelus laughs

“ They won’t have a chance to try” Yut Lung pulls out a stake and Sing comes back with a Jar. “ You want to do the honors Eiji chan, he wronged you the most” Angelus doesn’t register until seconds before Eiji holds the stake over his heart “ This is for Ash and everyone you ever raped, tortured or killed” Yut Lung holds the jar under him and Eiji drives the stake deep...

Angelus looks at the familiar fiery cubicle “ You know you guys could have redecorated since last I was here” the door opens and a familiar blond boy with green eyes walks through the door.

“ Are you a demonic projection or the real thing?” Angelus asked

Bastard!” a punch sails directly into his gut.

“ Hi, Ash got the guys upstairs really give you a reprieve to torment me.?” Angelus asked curiously “ I’m flattered”

“ This is my torment every sick thing I did for Dino I have to do for them. He’s a fan of my dam work!” Ash sounds beyond self-loathing

“ Yep definitely in Hell! I work my undead ass off sticking it God and humanity in general only to get passed over for some seventeen-year-old hack!” Angelus complained, “ So what Whips, chains, crabs ?”

“ Time to explain why you fucked up” Ash smirked. “ Drucilla never saw Eiji”

“ Come on your telling me your damsel was the difference between me winning or dying him?” Angelus exclaimed incredulously

“ Yut Lung was a mixed bag among the powers that be. Half the people upstairs wanted to put him on Hell’s legislator and be done with it especially after the Lee family slaughter. The other half debated he deserved a chance. In the end, it was love that saved him, Lang Lui his mom caught word and advocated on her little boy's behalf. She’s quite the pistole over on the other side and was smart enough to drum up enough favors for this day” Ash laughed.

“ We got it wrong Angelus, Eiji wasn’t meant to be saved he was meant to guide and protect others.”

Angelus processes this “ Those goodie two shoes used me!” he raged

“ Yut Lung and Eiji hated each other. Worse Sing was left torn between them. You were the nudge all three of them needed to become a united front. It was what the powers hoped for.” Ash grins “ There going to save so many people and its all because of you”

Angelus feels utterly horrified.

“ And it gets better you see Angelus just because you choose evil doesn’t mean good was done with you. You had more chances than any of us and you blew them!” Ash spits

“ I have no soul,” Angelus said in a well duh voice.

“ Neither did Darla or Spike heck Drucilla could've gotten redemption maybe if you hadn’t used her one last time. You robbed that girl of so much! Even with a soul, You were never serious about helping anyone; it was always about Buffy or the Shanshu prophecy or appeasing your own guilt. That’s why when you lost that guilt it was fucking party time” Ash hissed.

“ Are you torturing me or yourself?” Angelus mocks

“ I’m just getting to the good part,” the blond says sweetly “ See every act of evil you did brought out some good”

“How?” Angelus demands

“It’s funny you did so much good as a murderous psychopath because the face of your inhumanity brought out the compassion, kindness, strength of those who didn’t even know they had it” Ash finished.

“ Oh god no please no more just no more!” Angelus’s mind is reeling all that work, all that planning.

“ And guess what? we have an eternity to go over all of the ripples you created in the lives of others while souled and not. I’m talking about every sinner and saint and all of the good they did throughout their lives and how they influenced others. Welcome back to Hell you piece of shit. I’m the new management. I'm here to make sure your stay is as unpleasant as possible. So today lets start with all the nice laws that got passed because of you and Darla’s rampages!” Ash says in a cutesy voice.

Angelus lets out a wail of anguished despair that echoes throughout all of hell. The end

#banana fish #buffy the vampire slayer #Eiji Okumura #ash lynx #sing soo ling #yut lung lee #asheiji #yuesing #angelus #drucillia #Angelus/Eiji one sided #Angelus/Yut Lung implications #yut lung/sing #Yut/Sing/Eiji team up #angelus needs to kill instead of tormenting

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ashlynxlives · 4 years ago

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Safety in Numbers Part 1

A boy who thought he had ran out of second chances, is given another chance.

Ash lynx doesn’t die here. He is saved but he hasn’t realised it yet.

Authors note: Dino is still alive, but Banana fish the drug has been destroyed

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of past abuse

The last thing Ash remembered was going to the library. He had read Elji's letter about two times over, when the feeling of pain had vanished and was replaced by a disconcertingly calming numbness. At least he couldn’t cause any trouble when he was dead. A small smile came across his face.

"Looks like someone is waking up," A gentle voice came from seemingly nowhere. The motherly voice almost comforted him, until he remembered he was supposed to be dead. And unless he was in heaven, which he highly doubted, there shouldn’t be anyone else here.

A wave of panic overcame him as he started opening his eyes slowly. He used one hand to try and search for his stab wound, but his hands seemed to tied back. He tugged against the metal cuffs which pinned both of his arms at each side, drawing blood. So definitely not in heaven.

"Don't panic, you are safe here" The voice spoke again, but all Ash did was scoff quietly in return. Ash had heard that sentence a thousand times, and every time it was a lie. The women at his side looked unthreatening, but that did not mean that she actually was. Looks don’t always give you the best idea of someone. Ash was the best example, if anyone looked at him they just saw a normal teenager, not the leader of a crime syndicate.

"Where am I?" His voice sounded hoarse. He tried again "Where am I? And let me go" It came out in a dangerously low hiss.

"Well, I can't let you go just yet" The woman next to him looked somewhere between 20 and 30. Her curly hair was put in a tight ponytail, and she wore casual clothes, a t-shirt and black joggers. But somehow she managed to look more put together than anyone he had ever seen . "You are in London, Ash. When Max found you in that library, he made the decision to make you come here. For protection of course" She spoke in what he thought was a British accent, but there was a slight lilt that he didn’t recognise.

She knew Max. She could be lying as well though. She could be someone Dino hired to trick him and manipulate him and get him back in his clutches.

"Hey calm down. If you want, I can call him right now? Would you like that”?

Ash just nodded; his hands had formed tight fists without him realising. He would do anything to talk to someone familiar.

But if he was here where was Elji. Was he safe? What about his gang? Did they know that he was alive and where he was?

"ASH! how are you doing buddy" Max's voice boomed from her phone, "I see you have met Amira already. Don’t worry about her she’s a right old softie" The woman in question just narrowed her eyes a bit and gave a soft smile and shrugged of Max’s comment. Max rambled on about New york,

Would that old man every shut up.

"That's nice and all but can you tell me why I am here."

"Well, it was too dangerous to keep you herein New York, so Ibe and I chose it was best to. You know. Put you somewhere safe”.

Ash wanted to interject. He wanted to shout. He wanted to go home. He had lived his whole life without the need of someone’s protection. He didn’t need it now. There was no point in showing his anger now. It would only make Max worried, and that would not help him.

They spent a few more hours talking. Apparently, all his gang and Elji knew he was alive and safe, but just not where he was for security reason.

And it did not matter at the end of the day. He was going to get back to Elji.

With that being his last thought, Ash dozed off. The pain medication and exhaustion taking over.

His sleep was disturbed by someone knocking on his door and a creak as it opened. He tried to bring up his arms to protect himself, even a little bit. But he was only greeted with the painful bite of metal against his wrists. Stupid handcuffs. He felt so weak it reminded him of the days were Dino would keep him shut up in his room, only letting people come in when they felt like having ‘fun’ with him.

"Hi there Ash. You're awake, so we can talk finally" The lady from before, her brown curly hair was now tied up in bun. He couldn’t even remember her name.

"My name is Amira" she can closer and he could see she was holding a plate of food. She moved towards his arms, a soft smile playing on her lips. "You’re not going to attack me if I take these off right? Max told you were the unpredictable type”.

"Well, if do I wouldn't be unpredictable would I?"

"Touché" She removes his handcuffs. He rubs his wrists noticing a silver bracelet around his left hand, almost skin tight. That definitely was not there before.

"We run a home here of sorts. Caring for children with similar pasts like yours. Dangerous pasts, hiding from dangerous people...you get the idea" Ash was too busy inspecting his new piece of jewellery, which did not seem to want to come of.

“What is this?”

“It’s a tracker. Don’t bother trying to take it of. It will blow at least half of you in sperate direction” Amira explained with a smile. But her voice was ice cold.

“Nice to know I’m trusted” He was angry , but he pushed it down and took the plate from her. Do not show her you are angry, keep it under control.

“You're smart. You know we couldn’t let you leave here. ”

“I thought I was here for protection. Not to be a prisoner”

“Oh, you are. But keeping you alive is my job. And you are the type to try and leave. and I can’t promise your safety if you leave” She raises an eyebrow, making direct eye contact with him.

“I can take care of myself”

“Yes I can see that” She nodded her head to his stab wound and raised an eyebrow.

That’s when Ash decided that he hated this women

"There is only one more kid that we care for. so altogether there are only three people in this house" Low security. "You will go to a local school and will try to have a normal life. There are some house rules, and you will be expected to follow them”.

Yes. He did not like her. He gave her a nod and handed back the empty plate. At least the food was good.

“If that knife makes you feel better about your situation you can keep it. but if you were counting on the element of surprise you might as well give it to me” she turned to face him from the door. His eyes met hers and didn’t leave. “Fine,keep it”

She left the room, and he was faced with a pin drop silence. At least he could think now

#banana fish #ashlynx #eliji #ash lynx #oc #mafia #bananafish #elji #aslan jade callenreese #dino #anime #fanfic #angst #schoo

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buzzdixonwriter · 5 years ago

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Cowboys And Cavemen

This one’s gonna meander, but it’s about cavemen and cowboys and dinosaurs, so some of you may wanna stick around…

. . .

Recently watched the colorized version of One Million B.C. with Victor mature, Carole Landis, and Lon Chaney Jr.

I remember frequently watching the original black & white version of this as a kid; it popped up on local Early Shows a lot primarily because it could be chopped down to fit an hour’s running time without losing too much of the story (Early Shows were afternoon movies with a local host that typically ran only 90 minutes from 4:30-6pm; with commercials and host segments there wasn’t much room for uncut films and as a result they featured a lot of B-movies with 65 minute running times, or else cut out sequences from longer films not germane to the plot).

The colorized version surprised me in a couple of ways.

First, I’d forgotten just how well done One Million B.C. is in basic film making terms: Once past the opening scene, in which an archeologist explains some cave drawings to a group of mountaineers who then imagine themselves in prehistoric times, there’s no recognizable dialog; the film is told in purely visual terms.

Second, the colorization was incredibly sloppy: There’s a lot of weird blue artifacting going on that lays a strange mist-like quality over several scenes, and in several places the colorists inexplicably either colored the actors’ bare legs blue or else overlooked the mistake in the final color correction.

Third, the sloppy colorization doesn’t matter: If anything, it adds to the weird dream-like quality of the film. As an attempt to realistically recreate the prehistoric past, it’s gawdawful; taken as the imaginings of an average contemporary 1940s person with no real knowledge of prehistoric times (viz the prolog), and it’s pretty entertaining.

Technically the movie is a mixed bag. The special effects are pretty seamless (yeah, you can tell when something is a rear screen shot, but then again rear screen shots in every film of that era were obvious)). A travelling matte shot of a hapless cavewoman buried under a flood of lava is particularly well done and as amazing today as it was then (though the colorists dropped the ball and didn’t tint it a vivid red or orange in the colorized version).

There’s a lot of monsters, but they range from well done to just plaine…well…

The best are a woolly mammoth (i.e., an elephant in shaggy fur costume) and a baby triceratops (a large pig in costume) that really seem to capture the essence pf those creatures.

The worst is a guy in an allosaurus suit who kinda just shuffles along like a grandparent going to the bathroom, and in the middle are various lizards dressed up with fins and horns.

The lizards bother me more and more over the years. At first it was because they were disappointing -- they don’t look like dinosaurs, dammit, but like lizards with fins and horns glued on -- but now it’s because I realize they were goaded by their handlers into fights and reactions shots.

That’s plain ol’ animal cruelty, even if they are reptiles and not mammals.

There’s an armadillo and a koala-like animal that appear thousands of times their normal size. The koala-like critter (sorry, but I don’t know what it actually is) is passable as a giant cave bear or sloth, but the armadillo is just an armadillo (there was something about armadillos that 1930s audience found creepy; they’re waddling all over the Count’s hiding place in the original Dracula).

One Million B.C. was produced by Hal Roach and Hal Roach Jr. The senior Roach goes all the way back to the silent era, so this was not a huge stretch for him.

Originally D.W. Griffith was to direct the film, but while he did a lot of pre-production work including screen and wardrobe tests, he either dropped out or was replaced on the eve of production. (Reportedly he wanted the cave tribes to speak recognizable English and left when Roach refused.)

The special effects wound up in a ton of movies and TV shows over the ensuing decades; modern audiences are more familiar with the film through 1950s sci-fi than its original version.

All else aside, the picture is carried by stars Victor Mature and Carole Landis. Ms Landis in particular is a spunky, charming cave gal with a blonde-fro and while Mature would never be an Oscar contender, he at least has the physicality and screen presence to get his character across.

The scene where he thinks Landis has died in a volcanic eruption may be corny, but you can feel his character’s grief.

. . .

A quarter of a century later it was remade as One Million Years B.C. with John Richardson in the Victor mature role and Raquel Welch in the Landis role.

No disrespect to Welch, who by all accounts is a nice person, but she never showed one iota the acting chops of Carole Landis. Welch is beautiful, and as a generic pin-up model cast as a film’s “sexy lamp” (look it up), she presented appealing eye-candy. She appeared in one good sci-fi film (Fantastic Voyage), one campy monster movie (i.e., One Million Years B.C.), two incredibly campy WTF-were-they-thinking movies (The Magic Christian and Myra Breckenridge), and a host of instantly forgettable spy films and Westerns. The best movies she appeared in were Fuzz, based on the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain (a.k.a. Evan Hunter nee Salvatore Lombino), where she did an acceptable supporting turn as a police detective, and Kansas City Bomber, a roller derby movie that many consider her best role.

Landis never enjoyed the same level of fame (or notoriety, depending on your POV) that Welch did, but holy cow, could the gal act. It’s a pity Hollywood is crowded with talented, beautiful people because she certainly deserved a bigger career capstone than One Million B.C..

Welch’s personal life certainly proved less traumatic than Landis’, however. When actor Rex Harrison broken off his affair with her rather than divorce his wife, Landis committed suicide.

The scandal exiled Harrison temporarily back to England. A few years later One Million B.C. and Landis’ other films started playing on television.

Who knows what opportunities may have opened for her in that medium?

. . .

The original One Million B.C. is vastly superior in all areas but one (well, two -- mustn’t leave out the catfight between Welch and Martine Beswick): Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion dinosaurs

Mind you, most of the dino scenes in One Million Years B.C. are underwhelming. To stretch the budget the producers used close ups of spiders and an iguana to simulate giant monsters, a brontosaurus does a walk through in one scene and never appears again, and the first big dino moment has cave gals poking sharp sticks at a big sea turtle.

On the other hand, the remaining trio of dino scenes are the aces and vastly superior to their corresponding scenes in One Million B.C.. The latter film’s allosaur attack is one of the best dino scenes ever animated, and the ceratosaurus vs triceratops battle followed by the pteranodon grabbing Welch are almost as good.

Both versions of the film had an interesting influence on films that followed. One Million Years B.C. was followed by a host of prehistoric films, most of which existed only to cast voluptuous actresses in fur bikinis although When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, a direct follow-up, offered more monsters and a better story.

While One Million B.C. wasn’t the first film to sub real life lizards for dinos, it certainly told budget conscious producers that such substitutions were okay.

The 1959 version of Journey To The Center Of The Earth cast iguanas with glued on fins as dimetrodons, and for once the impersonation proved successful as the two species do bear certain similarities.

Producer Irwin Allen (he of Lost In Space and Towering Inferno fame) hired Willis O;Brien (the animator behind the original King Kong) and his then assistant Ray Harryhausen to do accurate-for-the-era stop motion dinosaurs for The Animal World documentary but apparently frustrated by the time it took to get results opted for lizards in his version of The Lost World (which, ironically, O’Brien worked on in a non-animation capacity despite having done the original silent version of the film with stop motion dinosaurs).

I saw Allen’s Lost World as a little boy and felt grossly disappointed by the obvious lizards, especially since the script identified them as belong to specific dinosaur species when they quite clearly didn’t (had the script said they evolved from such creatures, the way the most recent version of King Kong did, it would have been less egregious).

Allen’s lizards popped up in several TV shows he did, most notably the TV version of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. That show’s co-star David Hedison played a supporting role in The Lost World so once a season they found some excuse to get him out of his Navy uniform and into a safari jacket in order to match footage with stock shots from the movie.

The Animal World wasn’t the first time O’Brien and Harryhausen worked together, and Harryhausen followed up One Million Years B.C. with The Valley Of Gwangi, an O’Brien project that the older effects artist never got off the ground.

. . .

Let’s back up a bit to discuss “O’Bie” (as his fans refer to him).

O’Brien was a former cowboy-turned-cartoonist around the early 20th century who became interested in animation.

Movies were in their infancy then, and O’Bie shot a short test reel of two clay boxers duking it out.

This got him financing to do a series of short films ala The Flintstones with titles like Rural Delivery, One Million B.C. (the titles were often longer than the films).

These shorts featured cartoony puppets, no actual actors. O’Bie followed it up with The Ghost Of Slumber Mountain which was the first time dinosaurs were animated in an attempt to make them look real, and that was followed by The Lost World in which O’Bie combined live action with special effects, climaxing the film with a brontosaurus running amok in London.

O’Bie wanted to follow it up with a film called Creation but that got deep sixed. However, producer Merian C. Cooper saw O’Bie’s test footage for Creation and hired him to do the effects for the legendary King Kong.

While O’Bie followed that success with the quickie Son Of Kong he never got to work on a dinosaur film of such scope again.

War Eagles (a lost-civilization-with-dinos story) was supposed to have been a big follow up epic, but the Depression and the growing threat of WWII caused it to be cancelled in pre-production.

During the 1940s O’Bie pitched a number of stories to studios involving dinosaurs or other monsters encountering cowboys, one of which was Gwangi (he also pitched King Kong vs Frankenstein which eventually got made as King Kong vs Godzilla using two guys in rubber suits, not his beloved stop motion effects).

Gwangi had cowboys discovering a lost canyon inhabited by dinosaurs, chief of which being Gwangi, an allosaurus. O’Bie never got Gwangi off the ground but decades later Harryhausen did with Valley Of Gwangi.

. . .

I never cared for Valley Of Gwangi and much preferred One Million Years B.C. over it (and, no, not because of Ms Welch).

Growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, I enjoyed cowboys as much as dinosaurs.

I’ve posted elsewhere how my interest in dinosaurs led me to dinosaur movies which led to monster movies which led to science fiction movies which led to literary science fiction which led to science fiction fandom which led to my writing career, but my genre of choice before age 10 was Westerns.

As others point out, most Westerns are actually crime stories, what with bandits robbing stagecoaches and banks, rustlers making off with cattle, etc. The climax usually involves a lawman (or a vigilante who carries the weight of the law) confronting the evil doers and bringing them to justice.

Sometimes these vigilantes wore masks (Zorro and the Lone Ranger). Sometimes those they pursued wore masks, and sometimes those masked villains pretended to be ghosts or phantoms.

They weren’t, and were invariably exposed as frauds.

Westerns based themselves in a rational world.

Other times a criminal in a Western would be after some invention that could bring either a great boon (say an energy source) or great harm (a death ray) to the world, and wanted it for their own selfish ends.

The story would invariably use the invention as a mcguffin device, maybe letting it figure into the villain’s eventual comeuppance, but never really influencing the outcome of the plot.

Westerns and fantasy genres (including science fiction) don’t mix well, The Wild Wild West not withstanding (and The Wild Wild West was not a Western per se but rather what we would now call a steampunk commentary on James Bond filtered through the lens of traditional American Westerns).

(And don’t bring up Gene Autry And The Phantom Empire, just…don’t…)

Dinosaurs and cowboys don’t really go together.

That didn’t stop O’Bie from trying.

In addition to Gwangi, O’Bie had two other projects that he did get off the ground: The Brave One and The Beast From Hollow Mountain.

The Beast From Hollow Mountain is a standard Western about mysterious cattle disappearances and quarrels over who might be responsible, only to discover in the end it’s really -- surprise! surprise! -- a solitary tyrannosaurus that somehow survived since prehistoric times.

The movie is constructed in such a way that had the dinosaur element not panned out, they could have removed it and substituted a more conventional ending.

While O’Bie didn’t work directly on the film after he sold the story, it did feature a variant of stop motion animation known as replacement animation. Instead of building a realistic looking puppet with rubber skin and posable limbs, the dino in Beast was more solid and featured interchangeable limbs that could stretch and squash in a more realistic manner (rather, the movement looked more realistic, the dino sculpture no so much…).

The Brave One started life as a story about a young Mexican boy who raises a prize bull for the ring, only to have the bull face an allosaurus in the ring instead of a matador.

The producers who bought that idea hired blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to turn it into something filmable, and Trumbo sensibly jettisoned the dino to focus the story on the boy and his bull, much to the film’s advantage (it won an Oscar for best story when released, but Trumbo’s heirs had to wait decades before the award could be recognized as due their father).

The Valley Of Gwangi was yet another variant on the same basic idea, more expansive than the other two in terms of dinosaurs, and with at least a nod in the direction of trying to explain them (a “lost canyon” giving them shelter instead of a mountain plateau or remote island).

It never connected with me, despite having more extensive dino sequences than One Million Years B.C..

O’Bie animated stop motion cowboys fighting a giant ape in the original version of Mighty Joe Young but the context proved different. The cowboys’ presence in Africa is acknowledge in the film itself as a publicity gimmick, and therefore not a true blend of the American West with a fantastic element.

Mr. Joseph Young of Africa himself, a 12-foot tall gorilla, was also presented as an exceptionally large but otherwise natural gorilla, not a throwback to a prehistoric era.

. . .

Before there were action figures, but long after there were tin soldiers, we had plastic play sets.

They came in all eras and varieties, but among the most popular were Wild West sets, Civil War, World War Two, and dinosaurs.

My father took a business trip to Chicago when I was four, and when he came back I remember eagerly crowding around the suitcase with my mother, grandmother, and aunt as he opened it and brought out souvenirs for us.

I forget what they got, but I remember feeling disappointed and forgotten since their stuff was on top.

But, underneath everything else, sat a large cardboard box, and in that box was a Marx Prehistoric Times playset.

It’s hard to adequately describe the joy that filled my heart when I opened it; it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received.

And while I later acquired a Civil War set and a World War Two set and a bag of what we then called cowboy and Indian figures, the dinosaurs remained my most favorite.

I bring this up because I think the Marx playsets explain the origins of two comics books, Turok, Son Of Stone (an on-again / off-again series from 1954 to 1982 from Dell / Gold Key) and The War That Time Forgot (1960-68 from DC).

In both cases, I’m sure somebody from each company saw some kid combing their Wild West or their World War Two playsets with their dinos and realized there was story gold to be found there.

The War That Time Forgot felt much more my speed, a lost island inhabited by dinosaurs and visited by American and Japanese forces during World War Two.

World War Two effectively ended any hope of their being a lost island with prehistoric monsters; pretty much the entire planet was scouted either on foot or by air.

Turok, Son Of Stone didn’t connect with me. For one thing, it was too much like a Western in concept; for another, Turok and his brother Andar, being pre-Columbian Native Americans, were already from a neolithic culture, and the various cavemen and Neanderthals they encountered in their lost valley seemed more drab and colorless than their tribal background.

The dinosaurs they encountered always came across as large, dangerous, but wholly natural animals, different only from bears and wolves and bison by size and appearance.

Despite my indifference to Turok, I can absolutely understand why others love it and disdain The War That Time Forgot.

Different strokes for different folks.

. . .

We can’t close this without taking a look at The Flintstones, and we can’t consider The Flintstones without first examining Tex Avery’s The First Bad Man in order to bring this post full circle.

There’s a long history (har!) of contemporary satire using a prehistoric lens. The Flintstones started life as a knockoff of Jackie Gleason’s The Honeymooners told in a prehistoric setting; the series made no attempt to present itself as realistic in any shape, fashion, or form.

Among the many cartoons and short subjects that preceded it (including Chuck Jones’ Daffy Duck And The Dinosaur) is The First Bad Man by Tex Avery, an MGM theatrical cartoon.

Tex told the story of Dinosaur Dan, the world’s first outlaw, using Western tropes told through a prehistoric lens.

It works, because it’s a parody of the Western form, not a sincere effort to blend it with the caveman genre. It works because it’s a jarring clash of genres, not despite it.

The caveman genre itself has fallen on fallow times. Despite films like The Quest For Fire and Clan Of The Cave Bear attempting to do realistic takes on the topic, most people seem to prefer more fanciful approaches, best exemplified by the movie Caveman which sent up the entire genre while not skimping on the stop motion dinos.

With sword & sorcery / Tolkienesque fantasies finally acceptable to mass audiences and thus providing a venue for humans to directly fight giant monsters, there doesn’t seem to be a huge demand for a return to the glories of One Million B.C.

#Compare And Contrast #One Million BC #One Million Years BC #Ray Harryhausen #Willis OBrien #Victor Mature #Carole Landis #Raquel Welch #Hal Roach #DW Griffith #cavemen #cowboys #dinosaurs #sci-fi

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find-the-eyes · 6 years ago

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I’ll Try Anything Once: Chapter 9

Written by: ss Edited by: Allegra

Alex absentmindedly fiddled with his drawing pen while he waited for Bob to arrive to their life drawing class. After a few moments passed he felt someone’s presence beside him. It was Bob and, to his surprise, Paul.

“Alex, meet our model for the day,” Bob said as he gestured at the man beside him. Paul playfully bowed down.

“No way,” Alex said, chuckling.

“I hope you don’t mind seeing your friend naked,” Paul teased, at which Alex only laughed harder. They both missed the way Bob forced his laugh.

As they entered the classroom, they noticed that a tall blonde girl was already standing near the seat where the models were supposed to be. Bob approached their lecturer.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said quickly, slightly panicking, “do we already have a model?”

“Yes,” the older woman said, not even looking at her student. Bob gulped. While he hadn’t exactly promised Paul he would definitely get the job, he felt like he had let the man down. Alex had approached Bob at that moment and overheard the conversation. He then walked over to the blonde girl.

“Excuse me, are you our model for the day?”

“Yes,” she replied shortly.

“I’m not sure you’d want to do that.”

“Pardon?” The woman looked taken aback.

“See, I heard there are some grade A perverts in this class. Very nasty people,” Alex said in a hushed tone. “I don’t know who you are, but you seem to be a really nice girl. I’d hate to see those creeps hounding on you.”

The girl was now looking back at Alex in horror. His fabricated story had worked.

“But you don’t have to worry!” Alex said cheerfully. “My friend over there would be happy to take your place.” He pointed to Paul. The girl was silent for a moment, calculating her choices, before finally picking up her bag from the floor.

“Well, I could use some more coffee anyway. Thank you for your warning.”

As the girl made her way out of the classroom, Alex explained the situation to their lecturer. She looked annoyed for a moment, then replied with a resigned sigh, “Ok. Send him over.”

Alex motioned to Paul, who quickly jogged over to the chair and sat down. Alex noticed the sigh of relief from Bob when he joined him in their seats. As their lecturer started the class, Bob mouthed a thank you at Alex for his efforts in getting Paul to stay with him.

The class began to busy themselves taking out their drawing equipment. Between the shuffling of drawing papers, another type of shuffling was taking place right behind them. Bob, slightly annoyed at the racket, turned his head to see the source. A man he’d never seen before had fancied himself a seat behind them, positioned between him and Alex. Bob didn’t mean to stare for too long, but the messy curly locks, faint trace of eyeliner, and the pair of shocking magenta pants enveloping long legs was a combination he couldn’t ignore. Even Alex started glancing at where his friend was staring. The man noticed he was being stared at and offered them a grin.

“Hi,” the man said, looking up from his easel.

“Hey,” Alex answered, trying to be friendly.

The man then leaned in to them, which caused Bob to cautiously back away in the most subtle manner. His wide eyes stared between both of them before he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.

“You guys want some weed?” he offered, though his hand was still tucked in the insides of his jacket. Bob’s eyes widened in panic and Alex only frowned in response.

“Er, no,” Alex rejected his offer, to which the man only shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

“Do you guys want to see my rat though?” he offered once more, his hand now hovering over a different pocket. Bob swore he saw something move inside the pocket.

“No, please, keep it.” Alex answered for both him and Bob. Alex was starting to wonder if his bluff from earlier today was true, suddenly concerned for Paul.

As the lecturer started to call the student’s names for absences, Bob and Alex found out that this bizarre character’s name was Dino. A strange name for strange man, Alex thought to himself. As much as he wanted to forget about Dino, and hoped that this was just a brief encounter with one of the quirkier students that an art school has to offer, it appeared that he was very wrong. After Dino raised his hand, confirming his presence in today’s class, the lecturer paused her task.

“Ah, Mister Bardot, so glad to have you here with us,” she stared at Dino, a deadly look in her eyes. “Again,” she added in a grim tone.

“Lovely to see you too, Professor Donovan,” Dino grinned back at the lecturer, visibly making her more annoyed.

“Mister Bardot, may I remind you that this is your second semester in this class? You have wasted your absence quota in the past week. If you do not come to next week’s class-”

“I will.”

“-then you’re done.” she finished, ignoring Dino’s interjection. She huffed in annoyance and continued calling out names, but not before giving everyone a warning about missing too many classes and pointing at Dino as a prime example.

Alex felt even more uneasy at the new information he’d just found out. Just then, he noticed Paul taking his clothes off in the corner of the classroom. He gasped softly and glanced over at Bob, whose eyes seemed to indicate that he was feeling the same way. Paul didn’t hesitate at all, quickly tearing off his jeans and slipping his t-shirt over his head, mussing his hair. Alex tried to look anywhere but at Paul as the man slipped off his pants and took his seat in the middle.

Professor Donovan walked over to Paul and directed him to sit down with his legs crossed and an elbow on his knee for him to rest his head on.

“Alright,” Professor Donovan said, turning to the class, “you may begin.”

Paul's position, from Alex and Bob's angle, fortunately covered most of his private parts. It still didn’t help both Bob and Alex feel more at ease, especially when Dino decided to pipe up again.

“I didn’t know they were hiring cute models now,” he whispered loudly, leaning in between Bob and Alex. They both tried to ignore him, especially Bob, who suddenly felt his heart race. Dino, however, was completely oblivious to their silence.

“I mean, he’s definitely easy on the eyes, isn't he?” Dino offered more of his unwanted comments. Bob gulped, doing his best to keep his expression blank as he focused on his drawing. He absolutely knew what Dino meant as he raked his own gaze over his flatmate. He could see how pale and slender his friend was, and as he looked more closely, he spotted a tattoo or two in an area that was usually covered by his clothes. Bob felt heat rising on his cheeks. He was definitely not into Paul, or types of people that were like Paul, but he couldn’t deny how the contrast of the inks on his pale skin made him look attractive. He felt like his pencil was going to slip away from his now sweating fingers.

“Do you reckon he’s single?” Dino let on as Bob gripped his pencil tighter, trying not to snap. It was Alex that finally spoke up.

“Would you mind not saying those things about our friend?!” Alex hissed, turning around aggressively. Even Bob flinched at the harsh tone, but also at how Alex had replied rather loudly. But Dino being Dino, he wasn’t affected at all. If anything he was now amused.

“That cute guy is your friend? Mate, you better introduce me to him!” At the last note he made sure to look at Paul, an impish grin plastered on his face. Alex regretted telling him off.

Paul turned his head slightly to where his friends were sitting, careful not to change his position too much, curious at what all the commotion was about. Paul stared at both Alex and Bob, who were now flustered for two different reasons. Dino straightened his back, seeing that Paul had looked their way. That man really has no shame, Bob thought, as he stared in horror when Dino mouthed a ‘hey’ at Paul. Paul didn’t have much freedom in communicating in his statue-like state, but he raised his eyebrows subtly. Dino, encouraged by Paul’s response, gave Paul a playful wink. Alex nearly cringed, feeling bad for Paul, but that feeling was immediately snubbed when he saw the corners of Paul’s mouth twitching into a smile.

Bob tried to keep his cool. Not only had Dino’s antics made him uncomfortable, but he felt ashamed at the pang of jealousy he felt when Paul had responded in a positive way.

The rest of the class was awful for both Alex and Bob. As happy as they were for Paul, they couldn't deny that they were both feeling more than a bit uncomfortable - Alex because Dino wouldn’t quit his comments, which were getting more and more obscene by the minute, and Bob because he had started to notice how nice Paul actually looked. When the class finally ended, they hurriedly started to pack up their things. Paul stood up to stretch his limbs and Bob didn’t even try to hide how quickly he averted his eyes. However, Dino had eagerly stood up, his art supplies be damned. His charcoal case made a loud metallic sound as it hit the floor, catching Alex and Bob's attention. They looked at each other in horror as Dino quickly made his way to Paul.

“Oh no,” Alex muttered. Bob was glued to his seat, both from embarrassment and terror. Alex tried to pack his supplies as fast as possible, still traumatized about leaving his belongings unattended during class.

“What’s up?” Paul heard someone say. He looked up to see the man who had sat with his friends during class. Paul pulled up his briefs before properly responding to the question.

“Not much,” Paul answered. He was reaching for his jeans when Dino barged in with another question.

“You from around here?”

“If by here you mean art school, nah, I’m just here with my mates,” Paul said as he waved a hand to Alex and Bob. Alex only stared back while Bob was still looking down at his sketch pad.

“Nice, nice,” Dino answered feigning interest, his eyes never leaving Paul. Paul was glad that he had put his pants on - being stared at while half naked by a man he found attractive was embarrassing.

“So, what are you up to tonight?” Dino went in for the kill, his hands casually resting in his pockets. Paul raised his eyebrows and tried not to giggle. It had been a long time since someone had asked a question of that sort, if anything he was flattered that someone was interested in him. Being jobless and homeless didn’t leave him much room for friends, let alone dates. The taller guy looked like he was on the wilder side of life too, with his unruly hair, bold clothes, and eccentric demeanor. Paul liked that.

Paul tried to play it cool and told Dino his plans for the night, or rather the lack of plans for the rest of the day. Dino’s grin only grew more wicked. Paul felt blood rushing to his cheeks.

“Wanna see my rat?” Dino wiggled his eyebrows. This time his hands did not reach for the insides of his jacket.

Back at their seats, Paul’s friends could only stare. Both Alex and Bob had finished packing up their things, but were still watching the scene unfolding before them. Bob studied the way Paul looked at Dino. He was smiling sheepishly, his hands idly fumbling with the hem of his shirt, his eyes never leaving the taller man. He liked Paul as a friend, but after the recent development of his feelings for the man he couldn’t help but ask himself if he fancied him in that way. Perhaps not as strongly as he felt for the man currently sitting beside him, but he couldn’t ignore the jealousy that had sneaked its way into his heart. Why was it that the first time he could freely live and be himself, he just kept falling for men left and right? Bob chewed on his lips, his thoughts making him more anxious each second. Bob was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that Paul had made his way to their seats.

“Hey, Dino here wants to give me a tour around campus,” Paul announced with Dino tailing behind him. Bob tried his best to mask his distaste, but Alex didn’t try at all.

“Are you sure?” Alex squinted at Dino, who was now peering into the inside pockets of his jacket. Alex swore he heard a squeak.

“Yeah, you guys have class anyway, right?” Paul tilted his head in question. It was nice that his friends looked out for him but he was perfectly capable of looking after himself.

“Yeah,” Dino added, echoing Paul. Bob frowned.

“Don’t you have class too?” he jabbed at Dino, recalling how their lecturer had called him out earlier. Who knew what other classes had he been missing?

“It’s not a big deal. Besides Paul needs someone to take him home anyway, right Paul?” Dino shrugged, glancing at Paul.

Bob did not like this one bit. As much as he tried to remind himself that Paul had every right to hang out with anyone, his own feelings and judgement got in the way.

“No funny business,” Bob stared straight at Paul. Paul, confused at Bob’s sudden bitterness, could only nod in agreement.

They all left class not long after. Bob noticed that Alex had pursed his own lips, most likely in annoyance. It was almost comforting to know that Alex hadn’t given his full blessing to Dino either. Before he left the room Bob cast a glance to where Dino and Paul were walking, just a few steps behind them. Before Bob looked away he heard Dino murmur to Paul, “So, want to head to my place, then?”

#illtryanythingonce #allfanfic #franz ferdinand #ehehehe

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contact--light · 6 years ago

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a promptis fic catalogue post

note: I made this as like my own personal directory type thing when if I suddenly have the urge to reread a particular fic I already read, I would look at this and be like oh yeah that’s the bitch

all these fics are completed and are as promptis-centric as possible, so I put down other pairs that also feature in the stories (sadly, I don’t do ot3/ot4). please note I still have a ton of other promptis to read too so if u don’t see a fic that’s like THE ONE ppl have read, that’s bcos I’m still finding the time to read it in one go (can’t read fics on and off or else I’ll get side-tracked and forget the plot completely)

ALSO each and every story absolutely bangs so I put a little comment about them so if the authors ever see this, know I am incredibly sorry if I have offended you with how I worded my praises, but know that they are praises of the highest calibre that I can write this is why I’m not a writer lmao

ALSO possible spoiler alert for the main game and the fics I rec. it’s a ‘fic directory’, not a well written one but it’s good enough for me and if other people enjoy it, very cool, I like u, let’s be pals

Links to the story and links to the author’s other promptis works are provided (if available)

ANYWAY, on to the nitty gritty! There is no god in the order I rec these fics, absolutely no order, except the end of the list are the mega angsty fics but aside from that, again, there is no god in this list.

lucidus by scylaire

12,270 words | Rated T

this au is so feel good like minimal angst (but bcos resident emo prince just can’t be himself w/out some angst), mad fluff bcos of cuddle buddy prompto, and they in college. all in all, a very nice fic

runaway by tenzoh

70,828 words | Rated M

other pairs: minor lunyx

I can’t believe this fic broke into my house and straight up murdered me. I love this one and will reread this again when the other fics aren’t trying to barge through my door like I’m dodging tax. this canon divergence goodness is based on if no one fucking died, which is a godsend of a fic already, and oho u might think ‘oh that’s good!’ that no one dies, well tru but the dRAMA and the SCANDAL and noct’s priorities man oh man

the loveless prince by niuniu

196,869 words | Rated T

this absolute unit took me 4 days to read despite having work and uni bcos it had one of my fave tropes: soulmate au, so I was instantly hooked, it’s also somewhat canon divergence bcos noct is still a prince and the astrals are around but bruv, every chapter I finish got me thinkin like “what happens next will shock u”; absolutely gripping stuff ‘eva is a story that repeats’

cactus in the valley by liziscribbles

112,330 words Rated M

other pairs: gladnis, iris/aranea

another absolute unit of an college au that has all the ingredients of a wonderful soap opera (as is promised on the fic’s tags): DRAMA ✅ DISASTER ✅ LOVE ✅ RESOLUTION ✅ ARDYN ✅ liziscribbles writes a TON of promptis, I swear I’ve read most of them and I rate them so check their other stuff out too

in another time by dragongem777 & kiacoral

85,687 words | Rated ehh I’ll guess about M

other pairs: mad gladnis happenin outchea

I’m hesitant to call this a canon divergence bcos it’s based on the main storyline but it’s essentially a reincarnation au and BOY DOES IT DELIVER. the lads one by one recall their past lives and we follow their journey on how they find each other and how prom and noct fall in love all over again #the gladnis is pretty heavy in this one

the royal wedding of noctis and prompto by latias_likes_pizza

6975 words | Rated G

other pairs: gladnis, lunyx and cindy/aranea

I read this when I feel down bcos it’s my pick-me-up fic, this is the promptis royal wedding ending we all deserve and more, you can really feel the love in this fic and I can’t emphasise enough how much I adore this work

emperor who? by andromedas_void

3,817 words | Rated G

I really rate this fic bcos I like emperor prompto aus and I really beg for more of this goodness, this has tons of potential but it’s terrific as a standalone piece

the last prince of tenebrae by oh my fae

21,694 words | Rated M

Oh my fae? More like Oh my DAY...S. I haven’t read this for the second time in ages but I remember feeling really good about reading this and I saved it on my phone’s bookmarks so that must deffo mean it bangs. this is another prince prompto au but if he was the 3rd nox fleuret sibling wHICH at the time I found this was (lady gaga) SPECTACULAR, NEVER THE SAME, TOTALLY UNIQUE, COMPLETELY NOT EVER BEEN DONE BEFORE

affogato by moonside

55,442 words | Rated E for hEhEhEhEhE noice

other pairs: bare gladnis

most works by moonside are actually so good so go check their whole ffxv works out too if u like this one. I’m gonna be completely honest, based on emotional memory, this fic made me feel good but the actual plot of this fic? A-FFO-GA-TO (get it? I forgot tho, whatevs man I think that’s funny) but from what I can probs remember is this is a coffee shop au with gladnis drama AND if u like gladnis there’s a second instalment that is gladnis drama heavy

to build a home by just_peachy

61,642 words | Rated M

other pairs: gladnis, lunyx, cindy/aranea

hello, this is another case of “I swear I read this bcos I have a good feeling about this fic but I can’t recall the plot to save my life but my heart says I likes the fic so I’m gonna go with that” plus its by just_peachy who has done TREMENDOUS amount of work and you can really see them progress in their skills as a writer, reading from their past to current stories so I always look forward to any future fics they complete bcos they deliver with quantity and increasing quality as well but I’m digressing, this one is a soulmate au which is an au I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ and it’s a modern au (business instead of royalty) AND prom finally gets to be the photographer he’s always wanted to be

secrets by trirocksalt

4785 words Rated G for GOD THIS IS SO FUCKING CUTE

while I was undergoing my second playthrough of ffxv, and (finally) went to altissia-- although it IS beautiful, I miss the chocobos and the fucking car and just not being able to be restrained to travel by city walls and social pressures by not sprinting in public and dON’T GET ME STARTED WITH THE GONDOLA SYSTEM— due to my frustrations, I remembered this feel good fic, where it’s like noctis is taking over as CEO for regis’ massive business and prompto as a gondolier, and it took me SO LONG to find this fic again, and being in altissia made my heart so heavy so this was the perfect fic to get me through the shitstorm that is chapter 9

croquis by peonysoda

43,113 word | Rated T

PEONYSODA TAKE MY HEART all their promptis stuff ARE ABSOLUTE GEMS! this is a college au where noct has to model for a figure drawing class aND CAN U GUESS WHO’S IN THAT CLASS?!??!

something just like this by yuneyn

42,712 words | Rated M for Mecessary smut

this fic is literally like as if it cleared the dark rainclouds from a bad storm and descended from the heavens with open arms, rays of light shining behind it, to offer you salvation; in other words, this fluff-a-mania of a fic is all feel good no bad shit happening here and it DELIVERS, bcos I’m so used to expecting bad stuff happening when the couple gets together very early, but this fic doesn’t do that, nah mate, but it does make dino look like the bad(abing badaboom) guy but eh, u get over it. this ‘stuck-in-the-airport’ au will have u grinning from ear to ear throughout the whole thing

to love by emziewrites

other pairs: lunyx, some cheeky gladnis

37,020 words Rated E for EYYYYYYYY

this one’s an age difference royalty au, where king noct finds the one thing he’s missing and prompto is much more than just the hoe he thinks he’s hired as. literally DIS FIC IS 2 HOT 4 U and most of their promptis fics are top quality too check their works out too

like & subscribe by just_peachy

36,590 words | Rated M for MIGOS

I read this one quite recently and I very much enjoyed this youtuber au but with a twist bcos prom became a youtuber thanks to his princely pal, who has been giving him lovey dovey eyes in each upload that sunshine boy is completely oblivious to it, but viewers needn’t not be eagle eyed to see noct’s infatuation

marry your best friend, but like literally by brosura

8,300 words | Rated T for TERRIFIC

other pairs: cheeky gladnis

exactly what it says on the fucking tin and it DELIVERS (I need a new phrase). all feel good times about MARRIED BOYS AND HOW THEIR LIVES ARE BEAUTIFUL TOGETHER. this GOOD TIME OF AN AU is one of some that brosura wrote, but all in all, the mother of feel good fics and I'm gonna rec another, just watch me

‘the Good Time Train™’ series by brosura

25,090 words | Rated T for y’all TOTALLY saw me rec another brosura work

other pairs: hints of lunoct

features stories such as: ‘friends with benefits’ au and an extra piece. Now, friends with benefits IS another good time train bUT IT’S DIFFERENT THIS TIME: the 4th chapter, after being so used to the journey of the good time train, feels like that part when the train splits to two and you’re on the wrong compartment, and the destination really isn’t going where u think it’s going bcos this end of the train takes a different detour and destination and u see this as the fic starts getting deep and u should have really paid more attention to the train conductor’s announcements so it’s completely ur fault that u didn’t BUT there IS a complimentary fic about blanket forts if that’s any consolation AND this is a good read

king of catfishing by trashmccree

10,567 words | Rated I’ll guess about a T

Other pairs: minor cindy/aranea

this tinder/catfish AU got all up on my FEELS and the fishing puns! I love a good pun, especially if it hurts other people.

golden catfish, king catfish by unsungillumination

9541 words | Rated T

hOLY SHIT ANOTHER CATFISH AU! BLESSED BE THE STARS FOR THIS BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. I can never have enough of aus. so the boys find each other via online gaming and silly prompto put himself as a girl on his online profile! and noctis is asking to meet with him?! What will prompto do??? No I’m serious, what did he do, I forgot, so NOW I have to reread this

FFXV Promptis SFW Week by treya_barton

23,871 words | Rated if I recall correctly there may have been some implied stuff so I’ll put M to be safe

This smorgasbord has 8 chapters, approaching each prompt given from, you guessed it, Promptis Fanweek 2k18; each story I believe (IIRC AGAIN) are standalones, but all in all a very good read, I truly enjoy reading treya_barton’s works

A Thing with Feathers by farseersfool

22,713 words | Rated T

I. LOVE. THIS. FUCKING. FIC. it’s a domestic AU where prompto and noct live together, and they’re adults, like obvs there’s still a bit of drama here but not as overly dramatic as it would be if they were younger, ANYWAY prompto adopts a cockatoo called HER RADIANCE QUEEN SQUISHUMS, THE FIRST OF HER NAME and I LOVE HER. There’s also a lot of emotional constipation from both sides but with a large, very clever bird involved and eavesdropping—and oh, have I mentioned that I love Her Radiance?

Guide to Fake Dating: Best Friend Edition by cup_of_comfort

22,607 words | Rated T

WHO LOVES FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP AU? /I/ FUCKING LOVE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP AU. This fic is literally, prom and noct being part of the cosmic joke and not getting the punchline.

Ghost of the Sun by Phosphorite

22,371 words | Rated M

INSOMNIA BOYS ON TOUR M.E. 7XX doesn’t go as well as they hoped as noct slowly realises that his migraines are trying to tell him something. in this canon divergent like au, noct and everyone he loves finally gets the happiness they deserve.......kinda. this fic was an absolute trip, I mean I didn’t think it would take me where I thought it would, but where I ended up was still plenty good, despite the destination being flooded. by my own tears.

Prince Noctis' Hot New Date? Read More on Page 7! by SharkbaitSekki

3719 words | Rated T to be safe

Prom ends up in the hospital and ignis is ‘mom’ on his phone au. I live for fics where ignis is ‘mom’ on the chocobro’s phones.

sunshine blues by dirtmemer

9124 words | Rated G for GOD IGNIS LET THE BOYS BE HAPPY

In a surprising twist of canon, ignis, for once, makes a super horrible, very bad decision and is not the voice of reason in this story. What happened here DID shock me, this is borderline whump so fair warning to those with prompto biases

perhaps you noticed something strange yesterday by ObscureReference

1681 words | Rated T

This isn’t really like bait promptis but it’s a good fic that makes me think a bit. Those kinds that leaves u going like ‘huh’ and u have to take a pause before you continue on with your day

birth of a wish by whimsofffate

15,729 words | Rated T

A groundhog day AU that will make you want to scream at the skies warning the astrals to catch your hands bcos ur gonna fight them, kick them, you’ll punch a cloud u don’t give a fuck! So they reluctantly listened and gave u that happy ending…. for now

feathers and fleece by ienablu

12,774 words | Rated T for Texting

King Regis starts texting Prompto bcos Noct doesn’t. The man is just concerned for his only son, pls noct ur angsty teenager phase is showing. you also slowly find out that King Regis is like any other dad… meaning he is a massive troll.

Sunflowers by moonside

18,955 words | Rated E

PROFESSOR/STUDENT AU IS A FUCKING JAAAAAAAAM. In here, we have sexy economics professor Noctis, and uni student prompto who have mutual hots for each other but it’s not all sexy fun times ladies and gentlepeople, for I bear warnings of a tragedy occurring in this fic, but aside from that, it’s a very good read, great plot and again, DIS FIC IS 2 HOT 4 U.

Life Imitates by Riona

3293 words | Rated T for TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR, GLADIO! but u gotta admit, it’s effective

Everyone gives Noctis and Prompto the shovel talk, which would have been very useful if they were actually together. This fic is an absolute classic.

convince lucis that you're dating (and get an existential crisis while you're at it), a guide by prompto by crosspolination

13,841 words | Rated G

THE RUMOUR COME OUT: does noctis lucis caelum is gay? This great fake/pretend relationship au (with proms family consisting of dad cor and big sis aranea) this fic will have you wanting to join in on teasing prom about the situation he’s in, thanks to a prince who has yet to learn how to think before he speaks

The Pursuit of Happiness by mahbecks

15,568 words | Rated E for ahh… it’s Explicit

I forgot this fic was explicit lmao but there’s a quote at the end of chapter two that absolutely grips me by the heart, it’s those kinds of quotes that got u thinking that it could be written in like a profound book or said in a deep film but no, surprise bitch it’s in this incredible soulmate au fic.

Horizon Linked by cup_of_comfort

18,470 words | Rated E for EVERY CHAPTER (ish) IS LOTS OF SMUT MY GOD

a/b/o fics may not be for everyone, but I liked this, it’s also angsty but what’s different about this is that it definitely has a happy ending and a great resolution, so the angst train is present but the happy ending J U S T about outweighs it. It still has tons of heavy, and dark themes so read with caution if ur not into that, but I liked the fuck out of this

Suggested Forms of Intimacy by Akumeoi

21,091 words | Rated T

A fake/pretend relationship, university au all in the name of science?! Well, more like, u get to live in a flat during the research and who would say no to that, I’d do it too mate. SO prom and noct sign up for a study that’s for like close relationships and they see how they fair in a shared flat. Mad fluff happens

In Defence of by eblisbaculum

1700-ish words | Rated I’d say about a T for the swearing

This fic isn’t on AO3 but it deserves a shoutout bcos of BAMF Prompto defending his best friend, and there really isn’t any glaringly obvious promptis in here but the end implies something but hoo boy this fic is a trip

‘Fucking Finally’ and it’s sequel ‘Word Theory’ by repmet

around 2000 words altogether | Rated T for the word ‘fuck’

Again, I found these on tumblr but it’s a short and sweet soulmate au, so this one is a massive shout if u want a quick read

Waking the Gods by Asidian

778 words | Rated G

This isn’t really promptis but I LOVE ORACLE PROM AUS AND I WISH THERE WAS MORE OF THIS AU but in this one it’s like canon divergence and prom is the oracle instead. Spectacular read (AND HAS ACCOMPANYING ART BY KACI!) THANK YOU FOR THIS BOUNTY

Black is the Colour by withoutdrawbacks

1371 words | Rated T

Noct lends prom his clothes and he totally isn’t staring too long. A lovely short and sweet fic about pining noct

somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond by bellpickle

10,188 words |Rated T

The canon did luna so fucking dirty, she didn’t deserve that fam, so here’s Luna writing letters, not only to Noctis, but to Prompto as well. Ever like the all-knowing big sister, she knows these boys ain’t slick

Tight fit by Dandy

26,982 words | Rated T

Prompto gets shoved in a locker by a bunch of jealous, little bitches and Noct wants blood when he finds out that Prom is ignoring him bcos he was in a locker for DAYS, fam that’s mad

Tolerable Toxicity Levels by saltslimes

3796 words | Rated T

Another glorious ‘Ignis is ‘mom’ on our phone’ au, where prompto is sick at work, noctis and his retinue arrive to the rescue and manager aranea hates prompto’s parents.

strange obsession (for my automatic weapon) by dustofwarfare

8530 words | Rated E

Who doesn’t like a bit of BAMF Prompto? Apparently, Noctis likes it… maybe TOO much, but that’s not a problem at all, it’s more like admitting it to Prompto that he likes that shit. This is some cute gunplay smut, no wounds or nothing like that at all, just the gun, and some sexy times bcos of it

Ten Years Is a Long Time by Tenzoh

9443 words | Rated T

other pairs: prompto/cindy

MY HEART HEAVES FOR THIS STORY. in this au borderline canon divergence fic is based on the 10-year time skip, world of ruin etc when noct returns and he confronts everything that has CHANGED. The happy twist is that noct doesn’t die, but the catch? Prom and cindy are together, and noct has to cope with his feels. The journey of reading this was close enough to make me cry; tenzoh, stay right where u are, I’m calling the police

raining knives, like, all the time by zinthos

13,132 words | Rated

other pairs: lunyx

this is literally the second fic I’ve rec’d featuring big birds with big names (FLAPPERDIGINOUS FLORATIO FONDA THE THIRD aka FLAPPY BIRD) hence why I named my chocobo in FFXV (the first playthrough) Flappy Bird as tribute to this amazing fic. But u have big sis luna in here and I love that so much, but u also have stupid af noct with an equally stupid af prompto so what’s not to love in this fic

Watching the Rain become the Sea by Ieroses

12,604 words | Rated T

The scenery in this au, my god, ieroses paints an absolute beautiful picture of this fic using words as her brush and canvas, like I remember reading this and I picture the scenes, and for some reason it reminds me of a CSI episode or smth like that, which makes sense bcos it’s like a crime au but the angst is evened out by a good ending

Epiphany by moonside

10,552 words | Rated E

Don’t 👏 stop 👏 me 👏 recommending 👏 moonside 👏 for 👏 smut 👏 bcos 👏 I 👏 won’t 👏 stop 👏 Another terrific age difference au and it DELIVERS. AGAIN. Moonside u done it again u crazy son of a gun. This one is literally pure smut, as it’s a one-night stand au with the promise of more in the end? Not like a sequel (I CAN DREAM THOUGH) but u can see inklings of noct liking prom more than just a one-time ting

To be Happy, To be Loved by thatoldeblackmagic

10,079 words | Rated T

Regis wearing the typical Jimmy Buffet ‘dad-on-holiday’ ensemble? outstanding. noctis being made fun of as a discount Sasuke Uchiha? ground-breaking. matchmaker regis? oh yeah, I’m game. also great shout out to that meme where cups were stacked on ppl who are asleep, I swear someone redrew that but with noct instead, pls @ me on that if it is out there

The Trouble with Rumours by candiedillusions

9630 words | Rated T

I JUST. CAN’T HOLD ALL THESE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP AUS. In this instalment, Prompto and Noctis become BFs instead of BFFs thanks to a typo on social media.

noctis gets a toy stuck up his ass and calls prompto for help by demnocts

1500-ish words I guess | Rated E

I couldn’t breathe typing up the ‘title’ of this piece bcos it’s literally, what it fucking says on the tin and I can’t stop crying. what else do u want me to say about this? It’s hot af, full stop. this smut is no plot set-up, all punchline, get-on-your-fucking-knees, proper full-on dirty

Where the Blue of the Sea Meets the Sky by canary

16,265 words | Rated M for MEAT BEATING

don’t let the smut fool u into thinkin this got a happy ending nah fam I got bittersweet at bEST (but that good smut is there, teetering between the M to E rating) this fic got all up on my feels in the last bit; that the friendly banter between prom and noct (top-notch characterisation), is all smoke and show behind the impending doom that is altissia. And don’t get me started how the scenery in this fic gives you that full immersion u need to feel like ur in Caem

The Experience by MakikoIgami

7735 words | Rated E

aND BOY WAS THIS FIC AN EXPERIENCE. Basically, the boys think of all the loopholes they can use to reach maximum satisfaction AND the experience is an experience bcos u get all this good, filthy smut and in the end the feels train hits you out of nowhere so u don’t know what to do with urself

Letters for Nobody by Ashino

13,939 words | Rated I’ll gauge it about M

other pairs: gladnis

wherein umbra becomes postman pat for the crownsguard and their late king. This fic, although set in the tragedy that is the canon end, has a lot of feel good letters in there that makes u wanna get out ur best stationery and write one urself.

Nothing to Lose by AJDiamond

4986 words | Rated T

HHHIIII I like age difference promptis so here’s a classic coffee shop au, with gladio being a broken record in terms of his love advice

here is the root of the root (and the bud of the bud) by stardusting

11025 words | Rated T

U kno ur fandom made it when it’s got a hanahaki au, so ur sorted for that angst, plus their other works are also very cute!

designation by yeaka

1327 words | Rated E

this a/b/o fic never fails to get me hot under the collar no matter how many times i read it #mkinyk #dont@me but DO check out the promptis yeaka writes fam fucking W O W read them

galleria by omegas

2180 words | Rated G for GOOD SHIT

in the famous words of utada hikaru: simple and clean is the way that this fic makes me feel tonight. in this au, prom opens a photo gallery, noct is smooth af and the art industry in insomnia is just like the one in real life: difficult

silver linings by countingpaperstars

7625 words | Rated E

I bet if they were an indie band, they’d be called prompto and the niffs but I digress. IN THIS BAND AU we get massive fanboy prince noctis and iggy the square doing his typical: no u cant do blah bcos u r the prince and responsibility and reputation etc; can never get enough of these, plus smut in the end 👌🏼 absolute cherry on top of this sundae

‘holidays with promptis’ series by fmpsimon

10,389 words | Rated M

Get urself in the spirit of Christmas by reading these beauties; plus their other work s are also worth the read

ANGST AHOY:

‘the body’ series by ipacialiera

79,199 words | Rated E for MASSIVELY EXPLICIT

other pairs: highspecs, lunoct, ravus/gentiana, promptio, prompto/iris, promdyn, promptHOE, verstael/iedolas, soz if I missed some but go read their tags

lemme say this first and foremost: I tend to avoid angst and heavy, dark themed stories like the plague, but bcos I’m an absolute little shit I obviously read the first chapter of this and I was instantly hooked; I don’t recommend this to anyone who wants to have a good time bcos as much as this story was engaging, my soul cries for the boys in this film noire/detective/crime au so read if you like the sound of it. I give massive, massive props to the writer bcos this 2-part series was a rollercoaster, and at least you get some closure in this fic, but that’s like trying to douse a kitchen fire with a cup of water; however, it’s literally better than no closure. I implore those who consider this fic to look at each tag the author puts down and if you really, really can’t read something like them, don’t bloody read it, like I can’t say I enjoy reading these kinds of stories bcos I don’t but I just wanna give credit where it’s due because this is incredibly written

a long december by promptoschocohoe

32,934 words | Rated M for My God, I still haven’t stopped crying bcos of this one

other pairs: gladnis

so this and ‘the body’ will probably be the only angst heavy fics I will rec in this whole list unless I get back on my bullshit again and this one absolutely hurt me, incredibly bittersweet with 17% sweet and 83% bitter from the heavy themes you will face on here, and the reason why this fic hits me more is because it feels very ‘real world, real life’ believable like I can imagine this being something someone will actually go through. again, I rec this one to give credit where it’s due bcos, man, I’m still reeling from this. I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. read their story’s tags and if u don’t like don’t read and the song choices are just. a good choice. can someone pls make a spotify playlist of it and @ me on that so I can follow it and cry my heart out again? thanks x

#promptis #ffxv #final fantasy xv #prompto argentum #noctis lucis caelum #ffxv prompto #ffxv noctis #noctis x prompto #prompto x noctis #final fantasy 15 #ff15 #this isn't even it's final form #if any authors don't want me to link their works please tell me and i'll remove it from this list #promptis fic rec #promptis fanfiction #ff

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attract-mode-collective · 7 years ago

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Nothing Sez “Student Game” More Than The Dinosaur Evening News (that’s a good thing, btw)

The above is Mediazoic, which takes place in an alternate reality in which dinosaurs have come back to rule the earth and they've hired you, puny human, to make sure their televised broadcasts are dino family safe.

You moderate comments left on message boards, censor full frontal dino nudity, and so on. It's a student game alright, and one of my top picks from the NYU Game Center Student Showcase2018!

I was also fond of Dreams For Your Computer because CRTs, magnets, and cats...

... Here's what it looks like in action, btw.

Though the one game that I liked the most, and which would actually fare well on the marketplace, would have to be Static...

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And honorable mention goes to an updated take on Flight Simulator, which recreates a 6 hour long commercial flight as a passenger...

... The best part was the look on Stephen Totilo's face, who kinda didn't get it.

When was the NYU thing btw? Over two weeks ago, and it’s been even longer since the last update. Sorry about that. You know the deal: a million, billion things going on. As usual.

Hence why it’ll take not just one, but two bursting at the seams posts, to cover the second half of May! So onto part one…

Please, please, PLEASE let these Game Center CX Blu-rays have an English language option (via miki800.com)...

Not a day goes by in which I don’t wonder how that guy who appears in the instruction manual for Bomberman B-Daman is doing these days (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

I really love the “are you for real?” vibe that Samus gives off in the instructions for the original Famicom Disk System release of Metroid (via nintendometro)...

If you’ve ever wondered what a pair of bosses from Mega Man 9 & 10 would look like with 8’s 32-bit sheen, well here ya go (via mendelpalace)...

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A print ad for the Famicom adaptation of Akira that wasn't all that hot (via videogameads)...

Though whenever anyone hears the words “Akira video game”, this is basically what immediately comes to mind. Anything else is a disappointment, no matter what (via aaronkraten)...

Welcome to the rabbit hole that is the Memorex VIS (via @ColinWilliamson)...

Is the soundtrack to some ultra-obscure home banking software for the Mega Drive worth a listen? You goddamn right it is (via mendelpalace)...

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… The accompanying article is also totally worth a read.

It’s the Battletoads X Blue Swede mashup that you can’t believe hasn’t been done yet (via SiIvaGunner)...

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Replace Link with myself & Navi with my iPhone, which I use as an alarm clock, and you have earlier this morning in a nutshell (via nintendometro)...

“So where you going?”

“Down a road. A low poly road…”

“Where you headed towards?”

“Whatever’s at the end of this street. This low poly street...”

“If you look up, what do you see?”

“Low poly buildings, under a low poly sky. Who knows, maybe there’s some low poly birds up there, behind those low poly clouds…” (via pmpkn)

From looking at low poly skies to soaring high above them, but what a difference an arcade board makes huh (via kazucrash)...

This is what Metal Max 2: ReLoaded on the DS looks like, at its normal resolution...

And this is what it looks with the resolution bumped up (via gaucheartist)...

Is this sprite of a BMX biker animated unusually well or am I just out of touch when it comes to 2600 software? Granted, it does come from a game made in 1989 (via segagenesisevangelion)…

According to the law: “NO JUMPING” (via vgadvisor)

“Hi guys.” (via beowulf-ultra)

Such a heartwarming scene (via @PicturesFoIder)...

This is what VR looked like many years ago, which is basically how it still looks today as well (via peazy86)...

It’s Yuji Horii, from way back in the day, presumably before he had created Dragon Quest (via videogamesdensetsu)...

Why yes, I have heard of the Ocelot Arcade System, by virtue of it being Quality Simon Carless content...

... BTW, “Quality content” is in reference to this. Moving on: yes, I've also heard of VecFever. It plays games that you might be familiar with, since it emulates old vector MAME titles...

youtube

Meanwhile, am only just learning that Tiger released their handhelds in Japan under the Game Vision label (via segacity)...

The Sega Dreamcast: it's thinking... about you, cuz it cares about you (via posthumanwanderings)...

"Wait… was he always there?" asks the official Sonic the Hedgehog Tumblr (via sonicthehedgehog)...

And the final nail in the coffin for this gag came courtesy of the official Sonic Tumblr as well (via sonicthehedgehog)...

"Good news everyone skyrim has been ported to the Bethesda offices carpet"

"Who the fuck designed support pillars to obstruct a quarter of the hallway?"

"Bethesda" (via mysteriouslypeculiar)

Yet another "it's funny cuz it's true" (via highlandvalley)...

So annoyed that I only find out about this Games Glorious shirt on the very last day of kylefewell‘s Japanese extrusion (via miki800.com)...

Not a fan of the game (don’t hate, I just don’t find it very enthralling), yet for whatever reason, I REALLY want this vintage Mappy sweatshirt (via namcomuseum)...

When video game attire looks plausible IRL (via @cvxfreak)...

Much like with regular attire, with cosplay, sometimes it’s all about the accessories (via frankiebalboa)...

Don’t think I’ve ever seen this piece of Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter art before (via segacity)...

For those who dig POC, as well those who dig VF, and also those who dig FV... that last one's Fighting Vipers, BTW (via fightersmegamix)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighting Vipers is such an unknown commodity these days (via kazucrash)...

Virtua Fighter vs Virtua Fighter… Kid (via segacity)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighters Megamix is such an unknown commodity these days (via segacity)...

So hyped for RPG Time, based solely upon the headline image used for this 10 ten list of BitSummit games (via @indiegameweb)...

Please enjoy yet another thing that I originally posted on a Saturday late at night, whatever time it might on your end right this second (via contac)...

Been a while since I’ve seen the handiwork of Joe Bleeps, largely since it’s been a while since I’ve been collecting Game Culture Snapshots; the man has certainly stepped up his game (boy mods) since way back when (via kotaku.com)...

Am also very much impressed by the Game Boy Macro, though once again, am super irritated that GBA games do not rest flush with the DS Lite’s body...

An example of function over form I guess (@gamesyouloved)...

Familiar with Line Wobbler? Ever wished you could play it on the go? Are you into demakes? For the Game Boy Advance? (via @diskmem)

Today’s corrupted GBA boot up sequence is (via corruptionasart)...

Can anyone tell what Famicom game we’re seeing that’s all glitched out? (via mendelpalace)...

My fave part of this NES 2 print ad is how, in order to truly drive the message of “EVOLVE OR BECOME EXTINCT” home, whomever felt it necessary to include a little picture of a dinosaur (via nintendometro)...

Was this an ad for the SNES? I ask because it’s considerably more sophisticated when compared to what you usually encountered in gaming rags at the time (via nintendometro)...

This ad for the GoldStar version of the 3DO, hailing from Korea, makes me so proud to be (half) Korean, you have no idea (via notablegamebox)...

This Space Invaders tribute piece is like the cover art to some 80s heavy metal record (via shmups)...

Meanwhile, the album art for the Metal Black soundtrack feels more Pink Floyd-ish than anything else (via reportal)...

As amazing as it would have been to attend a ZUNTATA concert 20 years ago, I desperately wanted to see them perform various Darius cuts live just the other week (via miki800.com)...

This cover art for a tribute album celebrating 25 years of Mega Man is still quite good, 31 years after the fact (via rnn-draws)...

My recommended reading this time is a comparison of all the various Mega Man sprites that have been, including a few that you may not be familiar with (via retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com)...

Apparently there was a Mega Man boss that was part arcade machine, but he only appeared in some mobile game, for f's sake Capcom (via mendelpalace)...

Guess now’s a good time to share another random game canter pic (via gogopri)...

Pathos at the game center, even among Sailor Scouts (via funnysailorm00n)...

A pride & joy of my personal collection is both the original retail Japanese release of Jet Set Radio & the available via Sega Direct only edition: De La Jet Set Radio (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

Here's an alternate take on it’s alternate cover star (via @Drooling_Demon)…

Putting together the necessary gear to properly grind the streets of Tokyo-to (via kiroziki-cosplay)...

JSR tales place in a fictionalized, idealized interpretation of Japan, whereas this gif is a very realistic take, yup (via dehtyar)...

Meanwhile and elsewhere, somewhere in the United States of America it would seem (via behexagusthegreat)...

There's still dinner time in the future (via kirokazepixel)...

My contribution to #WorldGothDay (via it8bit)…

From dark & dreary, to warm & fuzzy, yet still black & white (via this old post from a few years back)...

Old photos of a Japanese school kid obsessing over the Famicom are somewhat dime a dozen, but the PC Engine? A very rare treat (via gamingremembrance)...

From black & white photographs of Japanese 80s kids playing consoles, to a full color animated gif of US 80s kids at the arcade (via tvneon)...

Time to wrap things up by touching upon something that kept me awfully busy over the past few: Death By Audio Arcade X Dreamhouse II. Here's a rather mysterious image that appeared on the FB event page, and which was utilized in my promotional push...

... Did it work? You’ll have to find out in my part 2 of my Attract Mode X Tumblr: May 2018 recap! Due tomorrow. Maybe.

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i-w-p-chan · 7 years ago

Text

Unholy Payback

Summary: In which Nono's funeral is turned into a spectacle. ("Xanxus, you bastard." "Heh.")

Note: I am sorry for this shit piece of trash fic. Enjoy.

Alt. titles: 'The Drama Queen Gene', 'How to Bury Your Father and His Good Name with Him', 'Professional Mourner', 'Allusions to Illicit Affairs', 'Why to Not Piss off Your Kids'.

Warnings: Crack (To The Extreme), OOC (Played By Xanxus), Don't Try This At Home, Xanxus And Tsuna Are Horrible And Irresponsible And They Do Not Need Any Further Enabling, Someone Help Enma Please (He Needs It), Self-Indulgent, Trash Fic (Sorrynotsorry), Allusions To Illicit Affairs (And All That It Entails), Tsuna's And Xanxus' Dramatic Shit Show, Goddamnit.

Disclaimer: Don't own KHR.

"I did not expect to see you here." Enma said under his breath to Xanxus from where the two stood off to the side during the procession of Vongola Nono's funeral.

Xanxus smirked, "I have plans to send my dear old man off. Properly."

Images of Xanxus setting the casket aflame and dancing on the ashes flashed through Enma's mind.

"Oh?" Enma wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

"I brought a professional mourner to the funeral."

"A-" Enma opened his mouth, snapped it shut then spoke up again, "A… a professional mourner?"

Enma was sure he hit his head on the way to the funeral and was hallucinating at the moment.

The funeral passed by in a haze, not that Enma cared. Xanxus was the only reason he was present anyway.

By the time the funeral was about to draw to a close, and the only ones still around where upper echelons of the Vongola and bosses of allied famiglia and their right-hand men, Enma was squinting suspiciously at Xanxus; was he serious when he said that he hired a professional mourner or was he just messing with Enma (even though it seemed unlikely)?

That was when a sound cried out, "Oh, Timoteo! No!"

Enma blinked as a cute guy in a disheveled shirt, messy brown hair and distraught amber eyes, ran to the casket's side before flinging himself at it.

The newcomer wailed. Enma was sure that he was saying something, but he couldn't focus enough through his haze of shock. When Xanxus said professional mourner, he hadn't expected… this.

Enma could only make out words that sounded suspiciously like: 'what about the children?', 'you said you loved me' and 'I can't believe you're leaving me like this'.

As the mourner proceeded to throw allusions to having an illicit affair with the former don that resulted in kids, plus allusions about Nono's sex life that Enma really, really, could have lived his life without knowing, the other dons looked stricken (not that Enma was doing any better, he was sure his mouth was hanging open), in the front row, Sawada Iemitsu looked ready to raise Vongola Nono from the dead to kill him again, Dino was determinedly staring blankly at the ground, Byakuran looked as amused as he always was and Yuni occasionally gave a scandalized gasp from behind a hand (actually, Enma knew for a fact she was trying to smother her laughter).

Suddenly, the mourner rose to his feet, sniffing delicately and dabbing at his eyes with the handkerchief given to him by Iemitsu; the movement attracting the attention of the stunned crowd to the ring the mourner was wearing- the Vongola Sky Ring.

There was a collective gasp as the audience crash landed on the realization that Vongola Nono apparently had an illicit affair with his heir.

(Or did he declare his lover his heir? Some of the people in the audience murmured.)

"I'm so sorry, Timo. I know you wanted me take over the Vongola after you but I cannot, simply cannot, wear the ring you once wore, sit on the chair you always sat on, work on the desk you always worked on and rule over your family. I don't think I'm strong enough for such an inheritance. Your memory shall haunt my waking hours and my dreams.

"For that, I must give over the leadership to your beloved son, Xanxus!"

"Xanxus, you bastard." Enma cursed quietly.

"Heh." Xanxus seemed to find the situation amusing.

(Enma did not blame him. Enma would probably find it highly hilarious after the shock wore off.)

Xanxus strode forward, gracefully accepting the ring from the mourner and escorting his shivering form away from prying eyes.

Enma considered slamming his face repeatedly against a hard surface in hopes of waking up from this extremely weird nightmare- by all things holly, Enma wanted the image of Xanxus valiantly escorting a shivering cute guy away from people while offering a consoling shoulder for the aforementioned cute guy, forcibly removed from his brain and all traces scrubbed away.

Xanxus and the mourner walked towards where Enma was situated before Xanxus let the mourner go into Enma's arms.

Enma had a complete mental shutdown at the contact.

"Hi. I'm Tsuna!" The mourner, Tsuna, smiled up at him.

Enma looked at Xanxus who shrugged at him and sauntered away to his own boyfriend, Dino.

Enma looked back at Tsuna who was staring at him pensively.

That was it; Tsuna was clearly some sort of Black Widow who just had Enma sacrificed to him by Xanxus.

Enma tried to telepathically convey distress signals to Xanxus, but to no avail.

There was a snort, "Relax, I'm not going to eat you."

Enma looked at Tsuna just in time to catch his eye roll.

"I am not going to eat you." Tsuna repeated in a huff, half-amused, as he raked a hand through his hair, "Xanxus just wanted to introduce you to his future Outside Advisor."

"You're going to be the Outside Advisor?" Enma asked, tone neutral.

"Oh, yes." Tsuna put his hands on his hips, "I gave the ungrateful bastard the Decimo position, and he landed me with the position of Outside Advisor. The asshole."

(And that was the start of Enma's acquaintance with the former Vongola heir. Enma still wished he could murder Xanxus for it later.)

Extra- deleted scene:

"Oh yeah, I'm Iemitsu's son. And Primo's descendant. I have the Drama Queen in my blood."

End.

Once again, I'm so, so sorry for this shit piece of trash fic. But what type of primarily self-indulgent author would I be if I didn't have at least one trash fic?

#khr #unholy payback #xanxus #sawada tsunayoshi #kozato enma #Dino Cavallone #yuni #byakuran #timoteo di vongola #sawada iemitsu #I.W.P-chan wrote something

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xxprincessjewelsxx · 7 years ago

Text

The War (Suho Mafia!au Fic Sequel) Chapter 5 - Why Are You Asking Me?

Warnings: Hints towards murder

Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8(M), Ch. 9, Ch. 10, Ch. 11, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 14, Ch. 15(Finale)

It was almost surreal to me that I had actually confessed to Junmyeon. How I had actually let the walls down that I was trying so hard to keep up. But I knew that this time he had been sincere about everything he said and he made no actions that would prove otherwise.

“I was worried when I couldn’t find you,” he said walking into his room to find me curled up on his bed, book in hand.

“I started to get lonely after two days of not seeing you...”

He would text and tell me that he wouldn’t be coming home. Before it would never even cross his mind to send a text to let me know that. But he wanted to let me know that he was fine, wanted me to tell Jinwoo he would make up for not being there to play with him, telling the both of us that he loved us.

Minseok: This is more disgusting than when he whatever brain trauma he had...

Me:....I’m going to assume this is your weird way of supporting us now that you know that he really cares about me...and that he cares about Jinwoo...

Minseok:.......

Minseok: Maybe...

Me: Thanks...I guess

Minseok: You’re welcome...I guess...

As much as he hated to admit it, even Minseok could see the sincerity behind his actions. I think it also worried him too. Minseok and I had stopped fighting (probably because we both didn’t want to fight in front of Jinwoo...none of us did) but I think also he finally got the big picture.

Which made him worried for his friend...not so much me...but Junmyeon.

“You have to be careful who sees your emotions,” I heard Minseok say. It was late and this was probably a conversation that I was not meant to hear but I stayed anyway. “If someone realizing how close you have really become to her...”

“I know...” Junmyeon said, “Why do you think I told her she couldn’t go to the park.”

“It’s still a few months away, but she’s still been talking about schools for Jinwoo...what are you going to do about that? We don’t know how long this feud us going to last...”

“I don’t know yet...”

That’s the only thing that did bother me, but other than that there was nothing that was causing me any discomfort between us....

“We need to talk,” I said handing Junmyeon his morning coffee.

He stopped and looked at me. “What did I do?”

“Nothing that I know of...are you feeling guilty of something?” I questioned.

“No...”

“Okay...” I said, “I need to go out and-”

“No,” he said flatly.

“Before you say no can you hear me out?” I questioned. He said back in his chair and signaled me to continue. “Thank you...Jinwoo’s birthday is coming up and I would like to order a cake and I would like to get a birthday present for him. If you have any ideas of a gift that you would like to get him I can pick one up or I can just get one from the both of us....”

“I already have his present planned...” he replied.

“Oh really?” I questioned, “Do tell...”

“He wanted a Dino room so I have hired someone who is going to come in and do wallpaper and paint and I talked to a room furnishing consultant so he will have all new furniture just for him...including some that he can grow into even when he doesn’t want a Dino theme anymore.”

By the time he was done talking my eye was twitching. “And when did you have time for this?”

“I made time,” he replied, “I didn’t forget about his birthday, it’s on my phone calendar.”

“And you didn’t tell me any of this because...”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I just forgot to let you know with all the running around I’ve been doing...what are you thinking of getting him?”

“Well it seems kinda inadequate now...” I said.

He chuckled. “You do know he’s a momma’s boy...so I could buy him a Dino museum but the only thing he would care about is the thing you bought him.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “He saw the Hot Wheels track on TV and he keeps talking about it...so I was going to get him that.”

After a moment of thought Junmyeon gave a smile. “Alright...but Chanyeol goes with you...no arguing with me on that.”

“At this point...with some of the things you’ve told me, you won’t get any argument from me,” I said.

He reached around the island and pulled me towards him. “Your birthday is coming up to, right?”

“Yeah...” I replied, “But mine isn’t as important as Jinwoo’s.”

I tried to pull away from him but he kept me close to him. “We don’t have to have a party for you...it could just be you and me...dinner.”

“That would draw attention,” I said, “We don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to us.”

“I’m guessing you happened to hear a conversation that was supposed to be private,” he said eyeing me, “However...don’t mind that. I already have a place in mind.”

‘Don’t mind that...’ I thought memories of him getting shot flashing into my head, ‘Unwanted attention could cause things to happen that...’ My thoughts were cut off by his thumb gliding across my cheek.

“I know what you’re thinking about,” he said, “I know you know that things like that are risks that happen in this business. But the place that we would be going to is secure.”

“Some promises I ask you not to make...because between here and that restaurant and back...anything can happen.”

I agreed to dinner with Junmyeon, but the “what ifs” still lingered on my mind even as I stood in the bakery ordering Jinwoo’s cake.

“I’m sure your son will be very excited for this cake,” the older lady behind the counter said, looking from me to Chanyeol.

We looked at each other and let out a laugh causing the woman to look very confused. “He’s my brother,” I lied. Though it wasn’t necessarily a lie...the guys had all become kinda like brothers to me over the last few months.

“Oh...I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s alright, he’s just going shopping with me since my...fiance is busy,” I said.

“Fiance?” she questioned, he demeanor now changing, “Not husband?”

‘Oh right...I mentioned this was for my son,’ I thought, trying really hard not to roll my eyes. I gave a forced smile. “Yes...fiance,” I said, “Will the cake be done today or tomorrow, cause if tomorrow my brother will have to pick it up.”

“I will be done by tomorrow afternoon,” she replied curtly, “Have a nice rest of your day.”

“You as well...” I replied, before walking out of the bakery, Chanyeol trailing behind.

“What was that about?” she questioned.

I stopped and looked at him. “She assuming that I had raised a child out of wedlock or that Junmyeon and I had a child before marriage. However she is just assuming since no one but EXO will ever really know the full circumstances except that we...adopted him.”

“So she was judging you...” he said, looking back at the bakery.

“Mmhmm...also doesn’t help that she probably also made another assumption that because of my clothing that I come from money...which is true...so I should know better...” I said, “She’s a traditionalist, that’s all. But I know the truth...we know the truth...and that’s what matters. Now come on, we have some shopping to do.”

I think Chanyeol was more bothered by the fact that someone would judge me or even Junmyeon (without even meeting him) like that. But that was just how some people could be.

“Would you be okay if I went around the corner and looked around?” Chanyeol questioned as we entered the Hot Wheels section of the toy store.

“I thought you were supposed to stay next to me,” I said, looking at him oddly.

“Within earshot,” he replied, “Scream and kick things and use the techniques I taught you and I’ll be here before anything can happen. I just want to see if I can find a present while I’m here.”

“Okay,” I said.

He nodded and headed around to the other isle as I proceeded to look for the toy that Jinwoo wanted so badly. As I did I began to get a strange feeling that I was being watched, and not the comforting feeling that I got knowing that Chanyeol or possibly one of the other guys was keeping an eye on me.

I looked at each end of the isle and on my left side was a man, possibly in his late thirties, trying really hard to act like he was a regular dad out looking for a toy.

I’m not stupid; if you try and mix accessories and shoes that cost $500 or more with a set of clothes you quickly put together and that probably cost less than $50 all put together...you’re either living about your need, trying way to hard to impress people, or you had a last minute idea on how you might be able to get close to someone.

Being around EXO has taught me to choose the latter...

“If you’re not looking for anything in particular, I can make a suggestion if you would like,” I said to the man, making it seem like I hadn’t caught on to what he was trying to do.

“That would be so helpful,” he said taking a few steps towards me, “I want to surprise my son, but I’m having a hard time deciding what to get him.”

I could see Chanyeol slowly walk around the corner, most likely having heard me talk to the man. “Hmmm...well...maybe you could have him get you a present...like a better disguise.”

Before the man could say anything he found himself in a head lock. I walked over to the toy I wanted to get Jinwoo and grabbed it before walking back towards the man that was struggling against Chanyeol’s grip. “I don’t know what your goal was today, whether is was kidnapping me or wanting to get information...but whatever it was, you are one stupid individual.”

“What do you want me to do with him?” Chanyeol questioned, “There’s a back door to the store, or I could let him go.”

“Why are you asking me?” I questioned, “Don’t you make that decision?”

“Why do you think I’m asking you,” he questioned raising an eyebrow.

‘Damn you, Junmyeon,’ I thought. I thought for a moment before sighing. “Do what Junmyeon would have you do....”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, “Call Baek and have him wipe the security cams.”

I watched as Chan dragged the man towards the store room before picking up the phone to call Baek.

‘When I get home, I am going to kill Junmyeon...’

To be continued

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