#i had a suspicion that since she's not a good person then others who ride for her will likely brush this aside

[emblemxeno]

Okay then

Horrible update: A BLM group decided to post in support of Palestine. Which is their right. If they feel strongly about something, they should speak up

Tara Strong went ahead and made an Instagram story saying, "What a slap in the face to the Jews who marched beside you"

That's a word for word quote

The story is gone now, but "throwawayuntilfurthernotice" has a screenshot on their tumblr

Oh, not this. :/

I used to follow her on twitter but stopped because she kept tweeting animal gore meant to shame people since she's one of those vegetarians/vegans who are a little... touchy, for lack of better words.

So I haven't been hearing of what she's doing. Needless to say, it's a crying shame that she does this, but many zionists hold activism above a group's/individual's head like it's some kind of favor to be repayed, even though it's just basic human decency.

[billskeis]

Heyy I thought of this and its kinda weirdly specific so sorry if its weird

a fluff where reader (fem) had an 'almond mom' growing up and bill finds out she never tried any fast food and fizzy drinks so he takes her to a Mcdonalds drive through and she tries everything and really likes it and idk what else but something along these lines?

ily btw💗

ᡣ𐭩 macky’s feast endeavours

you’ve never been one to indulge into the many delicacies of food. it was always kept pretty simple, pretty plain, and most importantly; pretty small. your mom was an extreme one who’d instil the emphasis of portion control and nutritional value, none of that fast food junk. oh god no.

now it wasn’t like you totally had the worst relationship with food. you just ate it to, eat it. simply curve the natural instincts of hunger and then go on with your day.

bill had no knowledge of it, but he did have some suspicions. whenever you guys were to go out to eat and grab food with either the band or just the two of you, you never ordered anything too exquisite, too loaded. small portions, barely any flavours, and it mostly consisted of greens. at this point, he was convinced that you were some rabbit.

so to his obvious surprise, when he asked you, “have you ever had a mcdouble, like, ever in your life?” and you shook your head no, his chin for real dropped to the ground. you had to explain to him that because of your upbringings, you were never really privileged with the so-called delicacies of sugary sweets and treats of fizzy sodas and a simple cheeseburger.

“oh no.. oh nonono i gotta take you right now—it’s the best thing ever!!” he exclaims while dragging you on your feet, beelining for the car. by the way, it’s 2am

you’ve never seen him so excited before, the whole car ride and i swear i mean the WHOLE car ride, bill was nonstop ranting about the menu and the millions of things that you two can try together. you can’t help but smile, he’s so cute. the pitch of his voice gets all high and squeaky. and he speaks fast, almost too fast that you as him to slow down, to which he finds himself becoming bashful over how passionate he is about mcdonalds.

pulling into the drive-thru, you stare at the enlarged kiosk of the mcdonalds menu, “do you know what you want to order? did i explain everything? oh, that’s what you want? wait—no, that one? fuck it i’ll just get everything!!”

you were indecisive, overwhelmed with the many varieties of what could be a burger, what drink to get, a soda or a milkshake? ooooh what about a side? chicken nuggets or fries?

bill on the other hand, knew exactly what to order. for him, a mcdonalds connoisseur, he gets a big mac, specifically six chicken nuggets, and a vanilla milkshake. classic, you thought to yourself. while passing through the first window to pay, you take out cash to give to bill for your portion of the food, he immediately holds his hand over yours, squeezing it.

“y/n, my treat. i want your first time to be memorable. ‘m the one who took you out, so let me pay, please? also, so you’re definitely the only person i’d do this for, don’t tell tom, okay?” you couldn’t fight back since he asked so politely. and knowing bill, he’d never make you pay. later, you’ll think of a way to repay him the favour.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

sitting on the curb of the parking lot, the two of you sat beside one another as bill began to pull out the food items one-by-one from their signature paper bag. the scent of the food wafts as he passes you a cheeseburger, you’re already salivating at the mouth, impatient to try it.

“smells good right? enjoy!” you open the carton to reveal a small burger, the bun almost perfect. bill places a beverage to the side of you, “cola! a classic, thought you’d like it for sure,” “thank you billy.. i really appreciate you doin’ this f’me.”

he shakes his head but smiles, “how could i not?? my best friend deserves this! no hate to your mom, but she was definitely punishing you by hiding this.. y’kno, i get sooo much mcdonalds, like, everyday, even more than that fatty tom! my grandma calls me macky ☺️,” he nods his head in approval to that nickname, how adorable. you think it fits him quite well.

awaiting, bill watches as you begin to take a bite of the burger. flavour runs over your tongue as you’ve felt like you just consumed ambrosia. your tastebuds are dancing, very joyous indeed. your eyes widen and you physically gasp with food in your mouth as you look at bill. there’s a glint in your eyes but his shines brighter to see such a positive reaction out of you.

it makes him happy to know that he could be there to see you enjoy what he loves. you end up taking more consecutive bites out of the burger until it was completely gone. scarfing it down, you chew, no words shared between the two of you as you both muck on what’s now become one of your favourite foods.

who knows? maybe this could become a daily thing, pray for your wallets, “oh my god.. this is so fucking good!?” “i know right??—oh wait, there’s a little sumn’ on your face..”

bill reaches out his hand to swipe away at the sauce that’s stuck on the corner of your mouth. seems as though you lost control of how messily you were eating that there was food on your face.

his touch was soft, gentle. as he uses his thumb to clean you off, he brings it into his mouth to lick off the remains as if it were nothing. you stare at him in shock, mouth, again, full of food as you were stunned and in no way capable of speaking. that was so, action forward. a heat transforms on your face as bill stares at you, innocently confused.

“what?” he asks, eyebrows a little furrowed as you lack a response. then, the realization hit him. what he did, was in fact, veryyyy intimate. hiding his face in his hands, he feels like he wants to scream. you notice his ears burning a vibrant pink, as he taps his feet in embarrassment.

he peeks at you through his fingers, “sorry! it was just instinct, i-i didn’t mean to, uh, do that..” he struggles to hold eye contact with you, putting a chicken nugget in his mouth.

giggling at him, you take a sip from your large coca cola, smiling with the straw between your teeth. putting the cup down on the ground, you lean in to place a small kiss on bill’s cheek “it’s okay, thank you billy, really, the food was amazing,” waiting for his reaction, he sits there still as a statue, until immediately slapping a hand onto the cheek you kissed him.

“you’re blushing, bill,”

“shut up before i eat all your food.”

nomnomnom , good eats .. ily 2 anon

keis makes an appearance once more !! how many more until she quits :p jk i’m just overly consumed by work

[cashmere-caveman]

i love nina beinghuman so much and i wish she was in a better show w a love interest that is less of a clown bc hello. imagine u are a nurse and theres these two weirdos at ur job who everyone low key suspects are banging bc they live together and they applied to their positions together and theres a rumour that they both used to squat in the abandoned hospital wing thats down for renovations together

and one of them is like a grade a sleazy fuckboy whos v pretty and knows it but also his job is literally mopping up puke so ur pretty immune to any and all coolness he exudes bc u have seen this man scrubbing human excrement from the floors but sometimes u both go take a smoke break at the same time and he can be kind of funny when he wants so like even though hes not ur type u Get It u guess

and the other one is well. at first u think he is the one riding the coattails of his hot friend bc he is absolutely hopeless and has negative charisma somehow despite looking kind of cute and being a bumbling hopeless fool but he constantly puts his foot in his mouth and seems like kind of an ass, actually? but then u get to know him better and turns out that no the hot friend is riding His cottails bc clearly this man is employed wayyy under his skill level bc that man is absolutely sharp and intelligent and yet he is a fucking hospital porter for reasons ur not sure u want to really know, actually, but also like? that man's ass? 👀 awooga

so when the hot guy hits on u on ur next shared smokebreak on the awkward guy's behalf and sets u up for a date ur like okay. maybe i will give that man a chance maybe i was hasty in my judgements and he IS cute so like what have i got to lose here

and then u and the awkward guy get together but also the Vibes u get from him and his bestie never really stop but he says its not like that and he loves u and he knows u and he still! he still wants u after having seen u, all the parts of u that u are scared to share so this is good! this could be something really good for once in ur life u get to have this one good thing and its this man and you are happy

and then all of that somehow leads to ur sweet and clumsy boyfriend transforming into a fucking monster right in front of ur eyes and killing a man by Ripping Him To Shreds like thats a thing people do that he could do the whole time and then he infects u and ur life is over it is fucking over and except maybe its not? but yeah no these new people dont want to help u they just want to kill you and the secret third flatmate ur ex boyfriend and hot guy who apparently is a reformed mass murderer had is even deader than before and stuck in hell and its ur fault

and u try to fix it and then theres more people dead and everything sucks and ur hiding and you have to leave everything and everyone u knew behind to start a new life in wales but at least u get the roommate back and u and ur boyfriend are back together and ur pregnant! and maybe now finally u get to be a happy family for real!

but u still live w the roommates who are now also in love ? you think? she is in love in any case but ur not entirely sure abt the guy bc he has been off ever since the move and theres awful stuff on the news about this massacre and it starts to feel Not Good and he is getting erratic and also the guy ur boyfriend killed a while ago somehow got resurrected but lost his mind in the process so as a good person u decided to keep him in ur attic and treat him like ur weird uncle bc u feel responsible for this, somehow and then things start adding up and ur suspicions become more and more firm until u are sure that ur boyfriends pet ex mass murderer is in fact a pet CURRENT mass murderer and your boyfriend KNEW and he did absolutely NOTHING but at least that man is gone now. so many people are dead but at least hes gone

and then one evening it knocks on the door and hes back. hot guy is back and he is here bc he regrets everything and wants to die and u agree he Should die he is a horrible person he broke ur flamate/friends heart and made ur boyfriend complicit in one of the most horrendous crimes in recent history and also he just fucking sucks bc without him none of this would have ever happened and then he asks ur boyfriend to stab him bc he doesnt want to commit suicide by himself like the spineless creature he is and ur boyfriend agrees and u start to wonder if maybe those coworkers at the hospital years ago who spread the rumour that these two were in love were right all along and that ur boyfriend was never just ur boyfriend alone

[neteyamyawne]

🪷 — Forever : Persistent

୭ ˚. Pairing : widow!JakeSully x fem!na'vi!reader

୭ ˚. summary : Request

୭ ˚. Parts : pt1 pt2 pt3

୭ ˚. Song : Becoming one of "the people"

୭ ˚. Warning : angst , fighting, cursing, mutual pinning, stubbornness , kinda rude y/n, fluffy ending, confession during argument, implied smutt, rude!Jake, kissing, war scene, insecurities, age gap, yelling, let me know if there are more 💚

୭ ˚. Word count : 4.3k , not proof read

୭ ˚. Note : oh my fucking god, this story has been a ride and I'm dead!

"word" - dialogue, word - thoughts

୭ ˚. Glossary : [syaksyuk] - monkey like creatures from Avatar, [kehe] - no, [ma'yawnetu] - my little loved/beloved one.

It's been 5 years seen we have been "mated", 5 years since i accepted my fate for the good, the day i stepped out of that healing tent i made a vow to never be the naïve girl that got me into this in the first place, to never depend on anyone for my protection, even if Jake gave me his word to protect and respect me but that is now in the past, the past where i locked out my old self in the darkest depth of my mind, creating walls over walls of hard exterior to prevent that once soft hearted y/n to never escape.

One day, that's all it took to change the entirety of my life, one word and everything crashed, my whole world flipped upside down I may have become cold and cruel to unsuspecting eyes but the moment i get home and see the faces of our children, their smiles makes every moment of my decision worth it, our children ,yes , even if not by blood, i made my promise to their mother that I'll treat them as my own and they were mine the moment they all were born, i had every single right to even call them mine as i was the only one parenting while Jake was too engrossed in his war plans, sometimes i don't even know if I'm wrong when i think he is forgetting his own kids, his behavior still hasn't changed a bit , his demeanor almost always a bit cold towards everyone, concealing emotions to an extent where his own kids became wary of him, even if we rarely talked i knew he was hiding everything he can until he can't, as he promised he gave me his respect and in return i acted like his perfect "mate", to the world we were a sweet overly in love joyous couple, always helping eachother out, wearing things that matched in the communal festivals all sunshine and sparkles, but the moment we entered our tent the act was over, only keeping it up when the kids are around so it doesn't cause any suspicion between them, as i said me and Jake talked occasionally this silence became a big part of our routine, some of the topics being gatherings, family dinners, raid strategies, kids health etc. Other than that there was nothing to talk about between us.

Even after years of neglect, years of protecting myself from him, that stupid and selfish side of mine fell for him, pathetic i know and i did my damn best to ignore whatever this attraction i felt towards him labeling it as a stupid crush and nothing else but look where i am now years later still pinning for the man who sees me nothing more than an acquaintance, a person who looks after his kids that's all i was to him, i closed my eyes, opening them to reread the war plan for the 10th time now, groaning i got up for a walk to silence the stream of thoughts that fixated on the man i lived with, walking out as clearly was in no state to work right now, reaching our tent i sat near the extinguished fire, staring at the blackened wood i was interrupted by tuk throwing herself on my back wrapping her arms around my neck as she exclaimed "Mommy, you're back!" I stopped , turning to her as i brought her in front of me as i spoke " tuk tuk, how many times have i told you not to call me that" as i caressed her cheek , she looked down sighing " but you are my mom now" shaking my head i knew there was no debating with her, she always got what she wanted but i still stopped her from calling me that whenever i can, even kiri called "mom" sometimes, even if that brings me joy to no extent i couldn't help but feel the guilt weigh down on my heart, i knew i could never take ney's place and i didn't even want to but i couldn't help but think that it was supposed to her who should be sitting here and the one who tuk should be calling "mom", i just gave her a smile and giving her another small indication to not call me that even if i knew she'd call mom again i let her go, turning to make today's dinner….

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I knew we had angered eywa by going behind her back, tricking the people into believing that we have mated but in reality we both just sat down near the tree of souls in complete silence not even daring to utter a single word, i cringed inwardly at the memory as i made my way towards the weavers tents where i kept the surprise necklaces i was making for tuk and kiri, as i made my way over , i knew eywa could get angry but i didn't know she was petty as well, couples and mates were littered throughout the whole route, it's been like this everywhere i went as if eywa herself was taunting me for the decisions i have taken, ignoring everyone i got inside the tent just nodding at the people who acknowledged me not saying anything i went to my spot sitting down and working on the unfinished necklaces, i knew there were whispers and gossips about me floating through the clan but hearing them first hand was different " she has changed so much now" - " 5 years together and still no child of their own tsk tsk" - "that's what I thought maybe the Olo'eyktan isn't satisfied enough by her-" - "how can he be? He was mated to neytiri, she is nothing compared to her" every word uttered from their mouths digged deep into my skin, temper shoots through my mind all those pent up emotion resurfacing but i dampened as i got up walking over to those women and gritted out "if you want to talk bad about me please do it right in front of my face not behind my back, I'll come to you as I'm all ears for your criticism when I'm done with my work because i have a life to live unlike yourselfs" their faces were palling rapidly as they weren't aware of my presence before i made it known to them, i stormed off to angry at myself for letting my temper take the best of me, i speed walked to my spot at the lake, as i sat down , the necklaces still in my fist while i stared at the water that ripped with the breeze, Eywa i shouldn't have done that, scolding myself mentally i let myself calm down, this is gonna end up rough ,i thought sighing…..

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I got back home just wanting to eat something and go to sleep, as i walked inn to give tuk and kiri their necklaces but to my surprise the whole tent was empty, worry gripped me as i turned around to go look was them, it's been 2 hours past eclipse by now everyone should be home, but i was stopped in my track as the last person i wanted to see on the entirety of Pandora stood in front of me , Jake walked towards me as i started "Jake where are th-" but me cut me " they are with mo'at for tonight, they wanted to spend the night there" i let out the breath i was holding

Turning around once again I went towards the fireplace but Jake's voice rang out stopping me " why did you do that?" I know what he's talking about but how did it spread so quickly? " I lost my temper and I don't want to talk about it," I said curtly, continuing my way to the fireplace as I sat down. " You yell at a clan member and you don't wanna talk about it? How's that gonna work?, Huh!" I just ignored him not having the energy to talk any longer but he didn't stop as he yelled " Talk to me!" And for the second time today I lost my battle to contain my anger down " You wanna talk? Then let's fucking talk Jake, tell me what the fuck do you want me to do? Huh! What in the name of eywa should i have done? I had to protect my honor because I don't have that person to do it for me! Okay? I lost my temper because I don't have anyone to just LISTEN TO mE!" He was taken aback a little by my outburst, i have never in my life yelled at someone, in raids yes but not like this, he recovered quickly a dark look replacing it " you knew what you're getting into all those years ago, i made myself cl-" , " i fucking know that Jake, i know why i took that decision because i made a promise to neytiri and it was her last wish to me to not break it, i won't let her down like that" my voice got smaller with each word " just stop okay? I don't have to energy to fight right now please just leave me alone Jake " with that i walked out , not wanting him to see the pathetic sight of me crying, i didn't know where i was going i just walked and walked till my legs got tired and i couldn't think straight as i sat down on a branch as i let everything out, once again all alone deep inside the forest so no one has to give me that unwanted sympathy…

It's been a few days after my fight with Jake and to be honest it's been a lot awkward sleeping in one hammock as the kids still didn't know about the fight, at first we slept differently but the kids got suspicious so we opted for one hammock with our backs turned to each other as tuk laid beside me because 'she can't sleep when I'm not with her', they have also picked up on the tension between us but no one said anything, today we had another raid, neteyam and lo'ak were meant to be spotters but lo'ak got on the war ground where i was covering for other warriors when i saw them, before i could even get to them the blast happen, neteyam was hit badly, lo'ak was dazed but i picked him up as i saw Jake picking up neteyam as we ran to our ikrans, ushering lo'ak on his, i got onto mine…..

I stood a little behind neteyam as Jake scolded both of them " I let you two geniuses fly and you disobey direct orders!? You two were supposed to be spotters not down there on the ground!" He yells and i knew i had to step in as blood dripped down neteyam's wound " enough Jake" he looked at me with a pointed glare but i didn't waver as i said " your son is bleeding" just as pointedly to get my message across, " ma, I'm fine, I'm okay" but i didn't hear any further, sparing one last glance at Jake i took neteyam to the healing tent, quietly giving him a piece of my mind as well while we walked, dropping him at the tent, i just watched from outside, i knew it wasn't his fault, lo'ak have always wanted his father's approval more than anything but his ways to approach it drove Jake even more insane, i sat down besides Jake while he cleaned his gun, as i said " you need to be more gentle on them, they are your kids not your soldiers'' he glared at me once again but this time it was a bit different, something softer in his eyes " you don't have to tell me how to raise my kids" i exhaled through me nose, hissing at him " you're hurting them Jake, can't you see? He looks up to you, he looks for your approval and all you do is shove him away!" This was the most civil conversation we had in a while, his eyes glassed over, a shadow coming over his face as he finally looked at me, my heart sunk at his next words " i thought i lost them y/n" i pressed my lips into a thin line as i dared to put a hand on his giving him a knowing nod, sighing i stood to, walking to our tent to clean up and make something for us to eat.

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~ Jake POV ~

All i could think about was her outburst, the way she screamed at me, god i wanted to hug and never leave her side but things were way easier said than done, i knew i liked her and i also knew that she didn't reciprocate it, she couldn't! So i kept my act up of being a total asshole to her, but i knew i fucked up good when i forced her to talk, pushing the buttons a little to far and then being stupid enough to be shocked as she snapped, i regret yelling at her but i didn't know what got into me in that moment, now this fiasco with neteyam and lo'ak, her confronting me with how they really felt about me, it just hung in silence inside my mind, i knew i was being hard on them but i had too, there is a war going on out there if don't teach them now then it would be too late to teach later…

I really try to talk to her but i chicken out everytime, i know even after being a clan's leader , their toruk makto I'm still afraid to confess to the women who literally lives with me and has been living with me for 5 years, we sleep in same hammock for god's sake and i still back out at the last moment, it's always the same story, i build up my courage picking up the newest creation i made for her almost walking up to her then letting my thoughts take over , what if she doesn't like this? What if she doesn't feel the same way? She's younger than me, definitely wouldn't want someone as old as me at all, and i would back out, now i have dozens of necklaces, armbands , earing, beads, tops and what not piled in a corner of our tent were no one is allowed to go, i can lead hundreds of warriors in one command but this? This was definitely not my cup of tea, even winning neytiri was not this hard. I have to make a move soon because I can see my time is running out but I don't know how….

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~ Y/n POV ~

Flying besides Jake as neteyam was right behind us as we petroled our borders, it was nice to finally fly for a while without so much stress, it was still there but a lot less, syaksyuk clung around chirping and hooting now and then, all in all it was peaceful….until i heard lo'ak voice calling out through the coms, his voice was hushed and i knew right away something was wrong i glanced at Jake as he was already looking at me when lo'ak spoke "devil dog, this is eagle eye, we are near the abandoned shack and there are 6-7 Navi but they are not one of us, dreamwalkers maybe, they are armed with ARs'' before Jake could respond i said " who are "we"?" There was a moment of silence before he spoke "me, kiri, spider…and tuk" and my heart dropped to my stomach as Jake instantly ordered him to fall back and to move out without a sound, neteyam hearing all of it as he said "sir, here i have short cut" and we both turned to follow him.

It was getting dark as we got their, they were captured, my heart was beating a mile per second, my mind only coming up with different ways to get them all out, it had started to rain as well so we had to fast, taking a deep breath i let out a chirping sound to notify them of our arrival, i situated myself on top of a branch as knocking in my arrow as i trained it on the soldier holding kiri, i looked down seeing Jake as he nodded and i let of my arrow, that's when all hell broke loose, jumping down i took down the two demons in front of me, taking hold of kiri and tuk i pulled them ahead of me, pushing them towards our ikrans, i stood back to a tree when i heard his voice " ahh, mrs. Sully, long time no see, looks like you were very busy looking at that litter of yours, why don't you come down here huh? Have a little chat, it's been a while after you killed me" i let out a hiss, he thinks he's talking to neytiri but i couldn't help myself as i said " I'll kill you a hundred times if i have to , demon" right as i said it i heard a crunch behind me as i whipped my head to look but a spray of blood hit my face as i saw Jake with his axe in the shooter's neck him long dead, as i twisted knocking my arrows one last time as i shot the two soldiers beneath me and i ran with Jake towards our mounts, i pulled kiri into me, as she sobbed in my neck, Jake's checked on lo'ak as i pulled in tuk as well, kiri sobbed for spider as he was taken, i silently sent a prayer to eywa to keep the boy safe, as we all mounted the ikrans, lo'ak with neteyam, kiri with Jake and tuk with me, tuk was shocked by all this as she clung to me , wrapping her arms around my neck as i kept her close to me, no one said a word all throughout the journey home…..

" We have to leave, there is no other way" Jake said as I stared at him, I knew he was back but this? Leaving the only home I've ever had? Leaving EVERYTHING I ever had behind? He had to be joking, "kehe, no, do you even understand what you're saying?" He just lets out an exaggerated sigh " i know what I'm talking about y/n, he is BACK, but now not only for me but my family as well, he will come here and destroy everything we have made all over again" and i just stood there " you can't ask me for this Jake, this is going too far now, i can't-" "Don't you understand? He will not stop till he gets to me, listen to me , we have to get out of here as soon as possible" and what i said next left him flabbergasted "NO! i will not leave my home in fear of him , we'll fight like we did last time, i will not leave, if you want to go you can, we have no bond stopping you, we had nothing to even begin with…..this is my home and I'll stand with it." He stared at me shocked, like he never expected me to say no but here I was doing just that! A new kind of determination came over his looks, i thought he was gonna turn around and storm out but what he did next left me speechless as he propelled forward connect his lips with mine, my eyes widen but i didn't break it, he slowly pulled back and said " i need you y/n, I've always needed you, you grounded me , you are my support, if it weren't for you i would have gone insane years ago, i need you by my side, i should have said this way earlier but now i can't lose you, please , you're all I've got, i can't do this without you, I've- I've loved you for years y/n but i was too afraid to say anything, please just think about this, we have to get out of here before he has a chance to get to us" i didn't have any words as he still held me in his arms, my heart beating so fast that i think it'll burst out of my chest, my fingers were shaking at their spot on his forearms as i stared at him, he tilted his head , his tail wrapping around my thigh, everything felt unreal, like time froze, tears lined my eyes while i fell to my knees…

He engulfed me in a hug as tears and sobs wrecked my body, years of pent up emotions coming out, he held me rubbing my back, supporting me,as i stopped pulling out and started hitting his chest and arms with whatever strength i had left in me, he took it all in as he just smiled, hugging me again he spoke " I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry for letting you go through all this alone, i see you, i really do, i know i should have been there through every step but i let my thoughts get in between, it's okay if you don't lik-" i shut him up as i kissed this time but pulled back just as quickly, getting up and away as a confused Jake Sully still sat on the floor, he frowned his eyebrows joining together but i simply pick up my bow and i said " a simple apology won't fix everything sully, you have to earn it" my back was to him so i didn't see him come up behind me as he puts his big hands on my hips turning me around looking at me with love sick eyes, keeping my bow down i put my hands on his chest , he gave the smirk i haven't seen in years, and pushed him back , letting out a sigh i said " I see you too Jake, and just like you i kept silent for years but you can't expect me to do this, this my home, my life! everything I've ever known, we haven't even made tsaheylu yet, and i respect your choice but i can't do this" he silently put his forehead against mine and i closed my eyes as he began " i know i said i won't make tsaheylu with you but all these years together, i have changed, really, you changed me and that too for good, i wasn't in a good state of mind back then but now i know" i opened my eyes to the silence but gasped as i saw Jake his queue in front of me, pulling my forehead back from his as i looked at him in the eyes " Jake are you really sure about this? I don't want to do it if it's only for the sake of all this!" But he just shook his head " No, ma' yawnetu, i mean it, i see you and i want to prove it, that is if you give me a chance too" i knew the water works were coming as i brought my queue in front of me, i looked at him seriously and he just nodded connecting our queues, it was a feeling I've never felt before, closing my eyes as it washed over me in waves, it was everything but nothing at once, i felt him and his love for me, his heart beat, his breath, his thoughts everything, fluttering my eyes open i looked at him again as he smiled down at me, i felt complete, he hugged me once again and i melted in it, pulling him as close as i can , sighing i let go, " c'mon we don't have all day, we have to move fast, I don't want that demon anywhere near my children" i walked away giving him a smile over my shoulder as i picked up my bow and went outside to tell the kids about the plans but found them huddled up against the side of our tent, ears pressed attentively, my guess is they were secretly listening instead of being with mo'at and they haven't heard me come out and i was right as i heard tuk say " why aren't they talking? Is mom crying again?" I came up behind them and coughed , all of them tensed up as they slowly turned their heads as i glared at them head tilted and neteyam started " I'm sorry ma, it's my fault-" "enough, everybody inside right now as i assume you've heard everything, we need to discuss and pack up". I know this is gonna be hard for them as it's for me but we have to, it's for everyone's safety, sighing i lead them all inn…..

༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

I was lying besides Jake, as the kids were with mo'at spending their last night with their grandmother and giving an excuse for our privacy too, my head on his chest as we both stayed silent enjoying for once together, i chuckled as i thought about just yesterday when we slept with our backs against each other absolutely refusing to look and now i am lying almost on top of him, he looked at me confused as of why i was laughing, i just looked up and did the first that came to my mind, kissing him right on the lips as he reciprocated and deepening it, his hands moving to hips and waist, roaming up my chest as my own tangled in his hair, he licked my bottom lip and every wall i ever made tore down one by one, letting him inn as his tongue immediately dominated mine and i gladly caved in , breaking the kiss as he smirked at me, the question evident in his eyes and i nodded and that's all the confirmation he needed as he took over, as for tonight? I'll be busy but a different kind of busy……..

A/n : i fucking had so muchhh fun writing this fr 😭 some parts made me sad even tho i was the one writing it 😂 i hope i did good, i hope y'all like it ☺️🫶🏼 and 4.3k?!!! Wtf i didn't know when i even crossed 2k lmao

Yawne : @fanboyluvr, @callmeoncette, @lu-the-ghost-reader, @brisbriskett, @saltedcoffeescotch, @jackiehollanderr, @zoetrope1997, @yeosxxx, @persefolli.

©Neteyamyawne2023 | All Rights Reserved. Do not repost on other platforms, copy, steal, or translate any of my works!

[shunin-gumis]

Nagi Hachinoya Novel

Essence of a Bouquet

Track 02 - Assignment to reveal your Akashic Records

The assignment from Master Hideko goes like this:

"Write about your experiences up until this point in your life on your exclusive form and submit it before the next meeting."

However, I'm not good at using computers, an error is guaranteed to happen when I do. I could type, but it's slow and awkward, like raindrops hitting the keys one drop at a time. That's why I asked Buchi-san to write it for me instead.

Daniel "Eehh, I don't wanna. Sounds like a pain."

Nagi "I'm begging you… I'll massage your shoulders for every letter you type."

Daniel "Let's do this."

… I'm glad he accepted it so readily.

And that's how Buchi-san ended up right in the middle of my room, lying down on his stomach while he types away on the laptop.

Daniel "So, you need to write about your life? What's this even for anyways."

He side-eyes me with suspicion as he says this.

Nagi "For the sake of increasing my happiness."

Daniel "….Well, alright. Just make sure you don't join a cult or something."

He didn't seem all that convinced, but at least he went back to typing on the laptop. I close my eyes so I can focus on the assignment.

Daniel "Wait, isn't this giving away too much personal information…?"

While Buchi-san kept muttering about something or the other, I think back on my life.

At the age of 16, I started working at a flower shop.

Not the 'Flower Laundry' that I'm currently managing, but a different one. At the same time as I started working there, I got a license for two-wheelers as well, since I had to go on deliveries.

For someone like me, who's never even needed to ride the train before, my world expanded just a little. If I just tilted the handlebars in a different direction, I felt like I could reach the very edge of the world.

The possibility was right there… but I didn't do it in the end. I have a job to do after all.

Still, I couldn't stop my heart from pounding. I wanted one of my own, but it was too expensive for me.

I wasn't sure how he caught wind of it, but it was around then that a senior from my part-time job told me-

Senior "If you're alright with a hand-me-down, I can give you my old bike."

Nagi "Really?….. Thank you very much."

It was a second-hand bike. He called it a hand-me-down, but it was in a really good condition for a secondhand bike. I could tell he treasured it deeply.

I was so happy and grateful that I'd asked him what I could do for him in return, but he said he didn't need anything. Because of this overflowing happiness, a lion from the nearby zoo broke out of it's enclosure and came after me directly, but that's besides the point.

Nagi "Let's go."

I'd already decided on the first place I wanted to visit after I got my own bike.

Nagi "To the laundromat where I was abandoned."

Having written on the form up till that point, Buchi-san folds his arms and nods his head in agreement.

Daniel "I get how you feel, I would've done the same thing too. I'd try to see if I could find my mother, or at least find some clues…"

Nagi "Yes, exactly."

The first time I went, nothing magical had happened. Or rather, I simply hadn't done anything.

All I did was watch the laundromat that was empty at that time of the day, and went back without doing anything.

The second time, I decided to get off my bike and get closer. The smell of fresh laundry that hit my nose made my heart squeeze painfully tight, so I'd quickly left it behind.

Even though I never found my mother, nor did I get any leads, I couldn't help but visit that laundromat over and over again. On one such day-

Old woman "Oh my, you've dropped by again?"

Nagi "Eh? Ah, um…."

The old lady who'd been cleaning inside the laundromat called out to me. And from the sounds of it, it seemed like she already knew about my existence. Well, I guess that's obvious when I'd visited this place so often now. I'd never even gone in to do my laundry, I wouldn't be surprised if she found me suspicious and yet-

Old woman "You must have really taken a liking to this place, hm? I'm happy if that's the case."

Nagi "Ah, yes…"

The old lady, whom I assume was the owner of the shop, didn't try to blame me or find me suspicious. Instead, she smiled cheerfully.

Nagi "Um, I don't have any laundry with me right now…"

Old woman "That's alright. I guess you must love the smell of laundry too, hm?"

Nagi "Huh?"

Old woman "I understand the feeling. Whenever I caught the scent of detergent within town, I couldn't help but stop to bask in it and sigh at how wonderful it smells.

I couldn't give her an honest response at the time, so all I could do was vaguely nod.

Old woman "Feel free to drop by again!"

By taking advantage of that invitation, I started visiting the laundromat regularly. Of course, this time I actually brought clothes to wash with me.

Mrs.Minemori "Hello Hachinoya-kun, it's quite hot out today isn't it? Make sure you hydrate well. Here's 2 litres of barley tea for you, make sure you take it home."

Nagi "Oh, um, thank you…"

Her name was Minemori-san. She was getting on in the years, but she still held a certain sharpness to her.

Mr.Minemori "Hey Hachinoya-kun, play some shogi with me while you wait for your laundry!"

Nagi "Eh? Um, ok…"

Once in a while, her husband would drop by the store as well, though it was very rare. He would speak in an Edoitte manner, that is, he was straightforward and just a bit forceful.

Nagi "If you could keep in mind that I'm less effective than an AI-bot then ok…"

Mr.Minemori "You got it!"

The couple lived on the 2nd floor of the laundromat, and they had a bluebird that they kept in their living room… I've gone up there many times because I couldn't help but want to see the bird.

Mrs.Minemori "Isn't it cute?"

Nagi "Yes."

Mr.Minemori "Is that chickweed you've brought with you?"

Nagi "Yes. I heard they were good for birds, so I foraged them from the nearby riverbank. But if you'd rather toss it out I'd understand."

I got a little ahead of myself, because I couldn't help but think that if I had people like them in my life, it would be a lot more fun.

Little by little, I couldn't help but be more greedy towards them, as though I were like their own grandson.

Not that I'd know what it was really like.

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4 /Part 5

[writingforfishes]

Hicvember: Embarrassment

This story features Mark, Otto, and Margie. This is lore and before Atticus enters the pictures.

It's a little melancholy and a lot longer than I intended it to be.

CW:

embarrassment

mistaken sexuality

self-deprecation

addiction mention (to both alcohol and drugs)

slightly painful hiccups

Mark being a good bro

Otto being a sad boy (briefly)

Hiccups from (non-alcoholic) beverage and anxiety

let's just be friends but make it sweet

Otto being starved from maternal caring

asking someone out failure

possible contact embarrassment trigger

they're both embarrassed and hiccups are the least of it

“I can’t believe you wanted to go to this place again,” Mark said as he sipped from his beer at the very same bar he’d ended up when the final nail had been set in the metaphorical coffin of Jana and his relationship.

Since then, Mark had been in and out of this bar. It ended up being his go-to lamenting location for anything going awry on the job or in his personal life. And Otto, in his unfortunate role as Mark’s current roommate, was, more frequently than he cared to admit, the one to give him a ride back to their place.

To be fair, Ralph, his partner, put in his fair share of hours as Mark’s emotional support buddy. But Ralph also drank and also had bad nights so once or twice Otto was called to transport both of them. The clock maker had a surprising amount of patience in coming to the seedy bar and scooping up a couple of drunk detectives every once and a while. Otto was sober on top of that.

But Mark had a sneaking suspicion that Otto wasn’t just returning to the bar out of altruism.

“Hey, Margie!” Otto said as the auburn bartender walked toward the two.

“Uh...huh,” Mark confirmed slowly. He laughed as Otto elbowed him in the ribs. Otto shot him a look.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Odd Couple again!” Margie snarked as she walked down toward her favorite patrons.

They both chuckled. Otto rapped his fingers on the bar. Mark shoved him with his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. Otto widened his eyes and looked back at the bar as Mark chuckled again.

“Mark’s cheating on me with another bartender! Where’d you get that beer?” Margie exclaimed dramatically.

Mark held his hands up.

“I swear I came by it honestly! Some kid took my order. Was tempted to card him, honestly,” Mark said.

Otto had been worried when he’d seen the other bartender that Margie wasn’t going to be here tonight. But luck had it he was just covering for her as she was a little late for her shift.

“Just messin’ with ya,” Margie said with a smile. She turned to Otto meaningfully. “Meeting ran late today.”

“How’d it go?” Otto asked.

Margie and Otto had already discussed their mutual addictions. Otto’s poison had been alcohol while Margie was in recovery for drug addiction.

Margie’s already large brown eyes widened as she hissed through her teeth.

“Mmm...next question? What’ll it be for you, today, Otto? Orange soda, root beer...I think I got some ginger ale in as well,” Margie asked, skirting the answer.

Otto smiled and nodded in understanding. Some days were harder than others. That was always going to be the case.

“Hmmm, feeling adventurous today. Let’s try the ginger ale,” Otto said. “Oh! And who would I be? Felix or Oscar?”

“Huh?” Mark asked, not following.

“The Odd Couple!” Otto said, perking up. “Felix was the hypochondriac neat freak, and Oscar was the grumpy slob!”

Mark shook his head with a befuddled expression.

“Man, it’s like you don’t even know me!” Otto groused.

“Felix!” Margie blurted. “I was going to go with Oscar first, cause of the hair, but definitely Felix.”

“Thanks!” Otto said, and then thought about it a little. “...I think.”

Margie chuckled and shook her head, “I’m gonna get you that ginger ale. Don’t go crazy with it, though. Don’t want to have to cut you off.”

She waggled her finger at him and Otto laughed, perhaps a little too loudly.

Mark glanced at suspiciously.

“Wh-what?” he replied nervously, wiping his hands on his pants.

“You gonna actually ask her tonight?”

“I said I would eventually. And...this is eventually. So. Yes,” Otto said.

He liked Margie. From the moment they had their first conversation he knew there was some sort of connection. Whether it was their shared experiences in addiction or their equally dry humor or their knowledge of obscure music composers, they clicked in a way Otto was excited to explore deeper.

He hadn’t allowed himself to feel anything since he became clean. Margie was the first person who he clicked with since then. Ironically, they met in a bar. Maybe it was one of those metaphorical full circle things, Otto thought.

He rapped his fingers on the bar again.

Mark chuckled.

Otto gave him a half-hearted glare.

“Here ya go!” Margie said as she twisted off the top of the ginger ale and poured it in a glass with ice. Normally she’d just give the bottle to Otto like a beer, but she felt like some ceremony was necessary sometimes, especially after the day she’d had.

“Ooh. Fancy!” Otto exclaimed as he took it with his fingertips. He smiled up at Margie before he took a sip.

The clock maker had never had the ginger ale. He’d usually gone for the root beer when offered. Hindsight, he probably should’ve stayed with the old standard.

The ginger was spicier than he was anticipating. The carbonation seemed greater as well. The ice falling toward him as he tipped the glass made him gulp it too quickly.

“Wait, if Otto is Felix does that make me the grumpy slob?” Mark suddenly asked.

It was the straw and camel situation when it came to his diaphragm’s reserve. Otto’s snort at Mark’s comment was the straw.

“Hmp! Yes! Hk’m! Himp! Mmp! Dammit…” Otto responded and covered his mouth as the hiccups hit him as fast as they always started. “Sorry! Hmmp! Mmk! Hmph! Mph!”

Otto could feel his neck flushing and felt Mark’s hand on his back.

“Oh noo!” Margie said. “Damn, that ginger ale was good strong for you after all! Lemme get you a water, sweetie.”

Mark patted his shoulder a couple of times.

“This is going...well?” he teased.

Otto stared daggers at him as he tried to suppress the hiccups even further.

“There’s always next time,” Mark said as he took another gulp of his beer.

Otto paused for a moment, thinking. He let the hiccups hit him and took as deep of a breath as he could.

“N—no,” he said, stubbornly. “It’s hup! now or herp!-or never. Hmk! Ugh!”

“I respect the determination,” Mark replied after a beat.

“And you-huck’m!-you hav—have to go hulp! to the bath-erp!-room, right?” Otto suggested.

“Uh...oh yeah! Yes! I do! Just...good luck, okay? Don’t let this...hiccup...get in your way. Eh??” Mark said with an exaggerated wink.

Otto gave him a low hiccuping growl but nodded.

Margie had been waylaid by a couple of patrons, so Otto took the opportunity to try and pull in some slow breaths to calm his diaphragm. It helped a little. He knew better than to hold his breath like he had with Mark that one day his hiccups had lasted nearly 5 hours.

Breathing in they seemed to hit faster, breathing out they came slower. He knew these had to have been caused by both the drink and his own nerves. He couldn’t remember the last time he got them outside of his morning coffee. (Then again, at this point in his life his smaller cases fell out of his memory pretty easily without someone there to notice and be aroused by them.)

He was, unfortunately, still hiccuping by the time Margie finally made it back to him.

“Still got them, huh?” she said giving him a glass of room temperature water with no ice.

Otto laughed in what he hoped was an easy way.

“Ye-hup!-yeah. Once I g—get them they hulmp! they kind of sti-hic! around,” he said casually.

He held in another hiccup as he took the water. It eased the tension in his throat a little, at least. Though it did very little for the hiccups.

“Hmm, but you’re okay?” Margie said with a kind of concern that pulled at Otto’s heartstrings a little. It was as if Margie’s care was something he craved. He probably just needed to get out more, honestly.

“Yeah hmp! just hiccups HMP!-uh,” Otto said and rubbed his chest as that one shook him a little more than the rest.

Margie nodded, face still sympathetic.

“Where’d Mark go?” she asked.

“Ba-hup!-bathroom,” Otto said. He took another drink of the water. Was he really going to do this? Was he really ready to be this vulnerable? He gulped and almost choked on another hiccup.

“He was drinking that beer pretty fast. Jeez, you sure you’re okay?” Margie asked with a little laugh.

It made her eyes crinkle, and her nose scrunch up and Otto was in deep, wasn’t he?

“Mmhmm,” he said with a nod. “HIK’M! Scuse me.” The hiccups were sympathetic to his growing anxiety. He tapped his chest again.

“Um-MMK!-mm, can I a—ask you h’muck! something?”

“Mmm, you already did,” Margie said with a grin.

Otto chuckled, putting a fist over his mouth as a cluster of mk!mk!mk! hit him.

“Aw,” Margie cooed and gave his shoulder a little pat. “Sure, go ahead.”

“Would y-uck!-you like t-himp!hk!-to go ou—out sometime? Hulmpk!” he said as his hiccups rushed his words.

“With you and Mark? Sure! That sounds like fun! Well...I guess as much fun as a cop and a clock maker can get up to. What do you...all do a board game night, or…” Margie said in a response which was completely oblivious to Otto’s meaning.

Otto was knocked off guard and shook his head before continuing, trying to regain his footing.

“No ju-UCK!-st you an—d I,” he clarified. He covered his mouth again to try and keep the loud hiccups from exploding.

“Oh. Well. Yeah, as long as he wouldn’t feel left out. But I guess he’s a detective, so he probably keeps long hours at the office anyway. Honestly, not sure what detectives do! Oh, maybe we could listen to those records, the zither ones? Ooh, maybe we could start a board game night? That might be fun. Long time since I’ve had safe friends, honestly,” Margie said with a nervous laugh.

Otto stared at her for a moment, hiccups forgotten even though they still wracked his body. His brain processed her comment and reprocessed it. Finally, he side-eyed her suspiciously.

“Wh-hulmmp!-t do you think M-herp!-Mark and my hmk!HMK!-my relationsh-HIP!-ship is?” he asked.

“Adorable?” she said after a while with a smile. Her smile dropped as he continued to look at her. “You guys...you’re together...right?”

Otto’s eyes widened and he covered his face. He wasn’t embarrassed about being assumed gay. He definitely wasn’t embarrassed to be assumed in a relationship with Mark. The man was extremely attractive and way out of his league, as far as he was concerned. He was embarrassed because all of this time Margie and his relationship had been seen as one thing by Margie and a completely different thing by himself.

“Ohmygod. You’re not together!” Margie said. It seemed she had her own internal crisis in processing the same realization in a completely different way.

Otto confirmed Margie’s statement with a shake to his head. Oh, Mark would love this, though.

“Are you...are you at least gay?” Margie said with a wince. She couldn’t have been that wrong, could she?

“Bi-hilk’um!-bisexual,” he confirmed flatly. His body bounced a little more forcefully now with the power of his hiccups.

“Oh. You. Were you asking me on a date?” Margie asked, her voice squeaking a little. A flush had appeared on her lightly freckled face.

Otto nodded sheepishly as his body gave another two jolts with silent hiccups.

“I...oh. Um. So. Yeah, I am gay. I’m very very gay. I am really into women. And that’s-Otto-that’s not just a line. I promise. I...really did want to get to know you and be your friend which was why I was so excited when you asked to hang out but if I had known...I am a terrible person. I am...I feel like I’m kicking a puppy! Oh my gosh! That sounded bad, too! That’s not what I meant! Shit. Here. Lemme come around. Don’t move. I’m probably making this worse. I’m manic though so you’re just gonna have to deal with it,” she said.

Margie was speaking all the while she was walking around to the door in the bar, raising her voice so she could be heard as she got further away. And then she was next to him. She smelt of herbs. She always did. Lemongrass. Chamomile. He could pick them out as she hugged him.

But Otto was also endeared as she fussed over him. She offered the hug, and he didn’t deny it.

“I’ll be right with you, sir!” Margie yelled at a patron who was calling on her. “I’m just trying not to fuck up a friendship, thaaaanks!”

“Hey-hi’ilp!-hey, it’s okay. Hnk’m! Kind of flattered mmk! that you’d think M—Mark and I would huck’up!hulp!-be tog-hilmp!-gether!” Otto said. He smiled encouragingly up at her.

“Well why wouldn’t you, sweetie? You’re both so adorable and cute! Dammit. Is Mark…?” she asked.

“Ve-himp!-very ve—ry straight,” he said with a smirk.

“Wow, I was sooo off! I’m sorry, Otto. Are you okay? Are we...are we okay? Cause I’m not kidding about being your friend. I think you’re so interesting and we have so much in common and...Ohmygod, I get it now. Yep. There it is,” she said with a nod. “If you identified as a girl I’d jump your bones in a heartbeat.”

Otto laughed suddenly, doing nothing for the stubborn hiccups. But it felt good to laugh.

“Well ther-HU’UCK!-there’s that! Oh,” he said holding his chest. “Sorr—y, these th-HIMP!-things are HUCK’M!HMP!-ugh, not going aw—way. I b—better text Mark HICK’M!-to come back.”

Margie rubbed Otto’s back as the hiccups charged on. Then she whimpered at the realization of why Mark was ‘in the bathroom’.

“You gonna be okay?” she asked. She was still rubbing his back and Otto gave her a soft smile.

“I thi-HINK! so. They c-ULP!-can’t last for m—much longer,” he said.

“Not what I meant,” Margie said as her large brown eyes searched his when he looked up again.

He sighed. He hiccuped. Then he smiled a little more before nodding.

“Just fe-HILNK!-eeling embarr—barrassed is all. HULMPK!-uh,” he said. His hand was back to patting his chest. It was starting to hurt a little.

“Me too,” Margie admitted. She smiled sadly. “But I hope this doesn’t mean we can’t be friends?”

“Anyone HUMPK! who wants to l—listen to zith-himpk!mk!-zither music with me HULPK! willingly has ear-ER-ned the right for fr—iendship,” he said with a laugh.

“Aw, good!” Margie said as she gave him another hug. “Good.”

She mussed his hair a little and Otto felt whatever it was he felt when Margie paid him this attention. He couldn’t pinpoint it. But it was nice. He smiled again and looked down.

~~~

To his surprise Mark didn’t laugh at all when Otto told him Margie thought they were a couple as they were going home, Otto driving. Instead, he nodded.

“I guess that makes sense. I mean, we’re always together. I am kind of handsy, come to think of it. Especially when I’m buzzed,” he said.

“Yeah,” Otto said as he downshifted into the back roads of his neighborhood, “but who’d think a guy like me could be with someone like you! Ha!”

Mark blinked.

“Why’s that weird?” he asked genuinely.

“C’mon, man. Look at me. And look at you. You’re like a damn supermodel. Me? Not so much,” Otto said as he gestured back and forth between them. His hiccups had finally relented at the end of the night. He was thankful to be having this conversation without them.

Mark scoffed.

“Dude. You really don’t think you’re a catch?” Mark said incredulously. “I’d be happy to be your partner if, you know, I liked dudes.”

“Mark. You profiled me as a rapist serial killer when we first met. And you arrested me,” Otto reminded him with a scoff of his own.

“You fit the description! Do I really have to apologize to you again? I paid for your window when your neighbors threw a brick through it! I...I went to every house in your neighborhood to say you were innocent. What more do you want? But, no, you’re not ugly Otto. You need to get over that shit. You’re a hot man with crazy curly hair and cute fucking freckles, okay?” he sputtered.

“So. You’re still a little buzzed, huh?” Otto asked.

“...yes. But it’s all true,” he said.

Otto shook his head in amusement as he pulled the car into the driveway.

“Seriously. Otto. Don’t let this Margie thing get to you. You’re worth having someone to be with. Even if you do yell at me for putting the dishes in the dishwasher wrong,” Mark said with a smirk.

“It’s because you do do it wrong,” Otto said. “And...you’re worth having someone too. Or something. Gawd, you’re turning me soft.”

“Margie thought I was turning you haaaaard,” Mark said with a lopsided grin.

“BED! BED NOW!” Otto yelled as he pulled opened the car door.

Mark laughed all the while he was dragged into the house and up to his room.

“Can’t believe you’re not giving me a kiss goodnight!” Mark’s voice carried beyond the distance Otto had created between them as he headed to his own room.

Otto smiled when he closed his door though. He shook his head and sighed. Margie was right. He didn’t have many safe friends in his life. Maybe this would end up a blessing more than a disappointment. He had to believe it would.

[elizabethrobertajones]

A Dragoon's Work Is Never Done part... three? four? I did not caption the first in this series with that and so I can't even find it now.

Anyway the important thing is this seemingly completely normal diplomatic mission from Radz-at-Han where the Satrap has brought his sister for Fete Day over to visit the dragons in the other city state perched on a rock with a long history of dragon relations for good or ill. Estinien is refusing to dress up as a diplomat, which he is now when it comes to dragon things, whether he likes it or not. He claims he's just here for the Fete food. G'raha is here because he's glued to Frog and likes witnessing history happening in nice ways.

Day 6: Celebrations | Holidays

Oh, wait the above images were a spot the difference

#I'm so interested in Estinien's and Frog's relationship (platonic) and how he fits into the puzzle now that she and Aymeric are A Thing @lilbittymonster

OKAY this will be unnecessary long to explain why Aymeric is getting so smirky.

So way way way back I did actually ship Estinien and Frog a bit, because I'd done dragoon 50 before HW and was therefore Completely Normal about the Estinien/WoL relationship. But I couldn't quite make it stick in my heart, and for whatever reason despite Estinien actually being, I personally think, the character with the closest bond to the WoL on the deepest levels bar the characters who are literally part of the WoL (you know, like, the 3-5 of them we cram in there), it ended up feeling more like just an unbreakable platonic friend bond. *shrugs* sometimes your heart just decrees stuff.

In Frog Canon this translates to the Stormblood 70 Dragoon quest being a moment where after sharing the dragoon eyeball tether for the first time, Frog and Estinien are riding an absolute high of connection and feeling really good about accomplishing Good Dragoon Things (and the reason I keep captioning Estinien and Frog doing dragon stuff as "work never being done" is them chasing that high again by tying up loose ends like taking Vrtra to visit Hraesvelgr or Middy, or taking Azdaja and Middy out for curry together).

That night on the steppe, they camped out together and shared a drink and the spoils of a hunt, Orn Khai was asleep by the fire. And completely unprompted Frog and Estinien both decided at the same moment to swoop in for a kiss, which lasted roughly 3 seconds and they broke apart like "woah, no, that was weird. We don't need to do that again. Nope. Sorry." and they instead solemnly vowed their friendship, and then laughed about it and decided to take that incident to their graves.

(At this point Frog had no idea Estinien had literally ever had a relationship in his life, never mind having been with Haurchefant as well and technically at the same time as her since Haurche had only nebulously mentioned "other partners"; Estinien did know she had been madly in love with Haurchefant, and Aymeric, who in turn Estinien had his suspicions was madly in love with Frog since like, seeing them interact once even in early HW. So it was a bit of a shock to her but he'd been idly contemplating her place in all this now for a while. But since he, Frog and Aymeric were all technically single or on a break or whatever Estinien thought he was doing while ghosting Aymeric for his own mental health SB > ShB patches, there weren't any of those connections to actually like. Build anything on.)

Fast forward to Endwalker, and I'm fully on the "Ysayle needs to know she won and Estinien has gone full dragonfucker" train, because he and Vrtra are an incredible power couple and it really represents to me a sort of final stop on Estinien needing to come to terms with everything that happened to him ever in his life and having accepted all sides of both the grand scope of history and also his own relationship to dragons, Nidhogg, and relations with dragons. He returns to R-a-H post-EW very very intrigued by what Vrtra wants with him, and they pretty much immediately get together.

I think by this point he's also encountered Aymeric enough times to have started to realise they never really broke up so much as stopped seeing each other, and Aymeric is exactly as devoted to him as he was last time they met, and Estinien only actually feels guilty about avoiding him so long, and mostly because Ishgard itself gives him the heebie jeebies immediately after HW and nothing to do with what Aymeric has done or not. So he's completely ready to resume that and just needs an excuse.

Which of course is Vrtra suggesting gently that there's a valuable connection there for Estinien and for the future of the two cities. AND Frog is on his case about seeing if Vrtra wants to meet the Dravanian dragons. Which he does. And then it only belatedly occurs to him when standing in Ishgard with Aymeric that maybe Frog also was manoeuvring. (I actually credit more G'raha machinations that Frog enacted, if you dig deeper :P)

Aymeric sort of ends up the orbiting twin star to the centre of the Frogicule, since he's the connection to all that and brings this whole side in, and considering all the pining on Frog's side to others, he's really got the more stable side of it all somehow...

She's glad of it because most of why she broke Aymeric's heart in the first place post-HW is because she thought it was cruelly unfair how little time she could spare for him and that he would only be mistreated by her coming in and out of his life at random.

The solution? A SECOND partner who comes in and out of his life at random and has very little tolerance for being in Ishgard! \o/ Between the two of them, maybe they add up to one full time partner?

(cue both of them getting on ships to Tural without consulting each other)

I don't think she goes out of her way to avoid seeing Estinien and Aymeric at the same time or finds it at all uncomfortable (low boundaries between them after all), but also she and Estinien are mutually uninterested in each other romantically and only passingly physically so aren't really interested in anything more than perhaps sharing a bed for platonic sleeping with a nice comfy buffer of Aymeric. It's easier just to enjoy spending time with them doing fun things like hanging out in the Firmament chatting to dragons and eating fair food, then take her catboy and leave. To the catboy's eternal disappointment. (Sorry G'raha, now this post isn't about you and we're talking Estinien today!)

Aymeric is here at this party realising he'd bed literally anyone there including Big!Varshahn (jury out on how he'd take to actual dragonfucking but it's like. A Catholic guilt loophole meeting a dragon who looks like a guy.) I don't think Vrtra and Aymeric are quite ready for anything but the simple fact of his existence is like an accessory that's making Estinien 1000x hotter in Aymeric's eyes I guess. Ser, that's a fellow head of state, please stop objectifying him.

Aymeric can not believe his luck that in a matter of months he's gone from staring forlornly out of a window alone to glancing between his hot girlfriend and his hot boyfriend, and is suddenly thrilled to go down in history as Ishgard's most eligible bachelor (never married, so many close friendships, all his letters and diaries spontaneously combusted on his death, how sad).

... as stated before, I am such a fan of Aymeric being a messy bitch who lives for drama and also is full of Secret Yearning and Weird Thoughts and would do wildly unstable things while projecting an aura of control and calm. Literally who knows if five to ten actual years down the line he and Vrtra end up publically married to unite their countries forever or something, but for now, this is where we're at.

Frog is just happy everyone is happy, and lacking the Ishgardian upbringing had given zero thought to Vrtra as a sex object and actively restricts herself from patting big!Varshahn on the head like he is still tiny. Little-brother-gender dragon snares another big sister. Estinien's love life remains a blissful mystery to her except for occasionally comparing calendars with Aymeric and swerving around the weekends he's blocked off for Estinien.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Ikemen Sengoku (JP)

Kicho's Main Story Chapter 1 Part 2

Kicho's subordinate: "Lord Kicho, excuse me."

Kicho: "Yeah?"

The man who called him straightened his back as Kicho looked up from the document in his hand.

Kicho: "What do you want?"

Kicho's subordinate: "A new servant is coming to work at the trading post."

Kicho's subordinate: "She's from the countryside. I have all the information here."

Kicho: "I see. Put it there."

Kicho's subordinate: "Yes, sir."

The man bowed and placed the papers on the table in front of Kicho.

Kicho's subordinate: "Lord Kicho. The other day, the two spies seemed to have disappeared."

Kicho: "Yeah. I already received the report."

Kicho's subordinate: "Is this woman all right?"

Kicho: "Even if she's a spy, she won't pose much of a threat."

Kicho: "Those two guys couldn't even prevent the attack on Azuchi Castle the other day."

Kicho: "No matter how hard they try, they can't screw up my plans."

Kicho's subordinate: "Yes, sir."

The man bowed deeply and left the room.

Alone in the room again, Kicho looked at the papers in front of him.

Kicho: "Mai, huh?"

Kicho: "There won't be any problems. If you get in my way, I'll just have to dispose of you."

Mai: "The water is clear and beautiful, and there are lots of fish."

(If we catch some, maybe we can have it for dinner tonight and maybe do some camping.)

Mitsuhide: "Mai."

(But how can I start a fire? There's no such thing as lighters in this era.)

(I used to take it for granted, but that thing was really useful.)

Mitsuhide: "Oh? Are these ears of yours just for decoration?"

Mai: "Waaah!"

Suddenly, someone lightly tugged my ears, making my heart jump.

Mai: "Mitsuhide! What the heck are you doing all of a sudden!?"

Mitsuhide: "You were looking at the river and didn't seem to hear what I was saying."

Mitsuhide: "I just wanted to make sure these ears weren't fake."

Mai: "They're real, you know!"

Mitsuhide: "Good. Come on, let's continue our morning study."

Mai: "What? I thought we were taking a break at the river?"

Mitsuhide: "We're taking a break from the horseback riding lesson. You need to use your head while your body rests."

Mai: "Ugh!"

It was only a few days ago that I told them that I was going to visit Kicho as a spy.

Reactions were mixed: some were concerned, while others burst out laughing.

They also raised some concerns about whether I would really be of any use, but surprisingly, Mitsuhide said in front of everyone that he would accompany me and teach me along the way.

(I was also worried because I said I would go on a spur-of-the-moment decision, that's why I was relieved to hear Mitsuhide's words.)

Mitsuhide: "Maybe I should check if that head of yours is fake, too."

Mai: "S-Sorry! Please continue!"

(I didn't expect this kind of Spartan lesson.)

Mitsuhide gave me lectures in the morning, horseback riding while traveling, and self-defense in the evening and at night.

And what we are about to start was a continuation of the morning's lecture.

(That's how little time I have.)

(I can't be weak since I'm the one who brought this up.)

As I straightened my posture, Mitsuhide began to arrange the colored stones he had found on the riverbank on a large rock nearby.

(Let's see, this is Kenshin Uesugi, Shingen Takeda, and Kennyo.)

As I watched his hand move swiftly, I recalled the names of the people mentioned in the lecture.

Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda, rumored to be dead, were said to be alive and working together.

(I think Sasuke is working with those guys.)

(He told me on the night of the Honnoji Incident that they were alive, but I didn't tell anyone because it would look suspicious that a woman who suddenly appeared out of nowhere had all kinds of information.)

It was also discovered that the culprit behind the Honnoji incident was a man named Kennyo.

(I think that guy is a monk. We met in the forest that night, so I talked to Mitsuhide about him.)

(I had my suspicions that he looked like the person who attacked Nobunaga, but I had no idea he was the mastermind.)

It looked like they were not making any major moves at this point. However, if they clashed with each other, it would turn into a big war.

Mitsuhide also told me a lot about the situation here, saying I should remember a few things.

Mitsuhide: "And this is where you're headed."

Finally, he put down the stone with a thump.

Mitsuhide: "Sakai. It's a port town facing the sea where foreign merchant ships come."

Mitsuhide: "He's in a foreign trading post in Sakai."

Mai: "So, Kicho is there."

The sound of the stream faded away as I stared at the shiny white stone.

Mai: "Um, is there anything else?"

Mitsuhide: "Anything else?"

Mai: "About Kicho. Something that could tell me about his personality."

Mai: "You guys were originally friends, right?"

Mitsuhide: "Let's see."

Mitsuhide ran his fingertips over his lips thoughtfully.

Mitsuhide: "That man is my cousin."

Mai: "What!? So you knew him before he came to the Oda army?"

Mitsuhide: "Well, I wonder about that."

Mitsuhide: "Seeing is believing, as they say. Why don't you see it for yourself?"

Mai: "But一!"

Mitsuhide: "Let's move on now. Break's over."

He left a gentle smile and quickly walked away.

(Yeah, I'm curious, but it can't be helped. I'll put that aside for now.)

(If I think about anything else, I'll get knocked off that horse again.)

And after a few days of building a trusting relationship with the horse while undergoing his Spartan training一

(I'm finally here!)

As I felt every muscle in my body tremble, I hugged my bag and wandered through the town of Sakai.

We didn't know where Kicho's men were, so Mitsuhide and I decided to part ways shortly before entering the town.

(Now that I'm here, it means I'm already in hostile territory.)

(Anyway, I need to get to the trading post. Let's see. I think this is the way to get there.)

Mai: "Hmm?"

Suddenly, I noticed there was a commotion around me. The next thing I knew, lively music was playing, making me turn my head in the sound's direction.

(Are those people in flashy outfits dancers? It looks like a parade.)

Mai: "Whoa!"

Perhaps trying to clear a path for the group, everyone suddenly moved backward.

My legs, still screaming from exhaustion, wobbled, causing me to fall like a domino straight into someone else.

???: "............."

Mai: "Crap. S-Sorry!"

I quickly moved away and bowed my head, but he didn't respond, making me anxious, so I quietly peeked at his expression.

(-----!)

His face was emotionless, like a Noh mask.

Only his hazel-green eyes, framed by dark circles, shone brightly.

(He's so pretty.)

(Wait, this is not the time to gawk!)

Realizing that it was rude to stare at him, I decided to speak up.

Mai: “Are you hurt!?”

???: “I’m fine. Are you all right?”

Mai: “Yes, I just tripped a little.”

Mai: “You actually saved me.”

(If it weren’t for this guy, I would’ve faceplanted on the ground.)

???: “I see. That group always passed by in the afternoon. You should remember that.”

(So, around 12 o’clock in the afternoon.)

Mai: “Got it. Thank you very much.”

Mai: “Um, are you familiar with this town?”

???: “Yeah. I do business here.”

(Good to know!)

Mai: “Actually, I’m looking for a trading post around here.”

Mai: “Do you know anything about it? Any rumors spreading around town?”

???: “Oh? What exactly do you want to know?”

Mai: “Well, let’s see...”

Mai: “What kind of guy is the head of that trading post?”

???: “What kind of guy? Are you interested in his personality? Do you have a business meeting scheduled later?”

???: “You don’t look like a merchant. Or do you have some other purpose?”

(Damn it, am I being suspicious already?)

I felt his gaze sharpen slightly, and I hurriedly shook my head.

Mai: "No, I'm not a merchant. I'm just a simple country girl!"

Mai: "I'm supposed to start my apprenticeship there today, but I'm a little nervous because I don't know what to expect."

???: "I see."

He listened to me and squinted his beautiful eyes.

???: "What's your name?"

Mai: "My name is Mai."

???: "I see. Then Mai, let's go."

Mai: "Excuse me?"

???: "I couldn't give you information, but I can guide you to the trading post."

Mai: "Are you sure?"

???: "Yes. I was just on my way there."

(Maybe he's a business partner or something.)

(At any rate, I'm glad I met this guy.)

My heart was still beating fast from nervousness, but I thought I got off to a pretty good start.

Feeling a little positive, I followed his back as his white cloak fluttered through the crowd.

He showed me around the Japanese-Western-style trading post and led me to the entrance lined with equally maintained shrubs.

Opening the wooden door, he beckoned me inside.

???: "This way."

Mai: "Okay, thanks."

(Ugh, I'm so nervous.)

I sat down on the sofa, feeling restless.

(Is this a guest room?)

The luxurious interior of the room, just like the outside, was in Japanese-Western style, with unique-looking furniture.

(This guy is amazing. He's totally at home in this room.)

(He didn't get lost at all. He looks like he's used to this place.)

The way he leaned back on the sofa with his legs lightly crossed was very graceful and elegant.

It was not surprising that he had connections with this trading post.

Mai: "Thank you for showing me the way here."

Mai: "I think I'll stay outside since I don't think it's a good idea for a servant to wait in here."

???: "No problem. You're here for the manager, right?"

Mai: "Yes, but don't you have a business meeting with him first?"

???: "I don't remember ever saying that. And I don't recall ever telling you my name."

(Oh.my.god.)

Kicho: "My name is Kicho. I'm the head of this trading post."

Mai: "-----!"

My whole body tensed up.

(This is the guy.)

(The mastermind behind the attack and our enemy!)

I was unable to say anything as Kicho quietly observed me with his purplish black hair slightly swaying.

He was looking at me with eyes that were trying to uncover everything.

(I have to say something. If he gets suspicious, I'm done for.)

(In the first place, I didn't reveal anything.)

With my head still in a mess, I desperately breathed in and一

Mai: "I'm so sorry!"

I bowed my head as best I could while I stood up from the sofa.

Mai: "I didn't know you were the boss."

Mai: "I'm really sorry if I said something that might have offended you and for treating you so casually."

Mai: "Please don't fire me!"

Kicho: "Raise your head. I will do no such thing."

Kicho: "You told me yourself you were a servant here, but I was the one who didn't give you my name."

I was relieved to hear Kicho's words back.

(He's very discreet with people he's never met before.)

(It's probably a good thing I didn't know him. Otherwise, I might have unintentionally said something stupid.)

Kicho: "Is all your stuff in that one bundle you're carrying?"

Mai: "Yes."

Kicho: "Then wait here for a moment. I'll call someone else to guide you."

Kicho: "You don't have to do anything today, just go to your room and rest."

As he said this, he stood up.

Kicho's subordinate: "Excuse me."

A man entered the guest room.

Kicho: "Have they arrived?"

Kicho's subordinate: "Yes. Should I escort them here?"

Kicho: "No, I'll go there myself. To thank them for their hospitality the other day, I've prepared some souvenirs for them."

Kicho's subordinate: "Yes, I'll bring it now."

His subordinate thanked him and quickly left the room.

Mai: "Um, where are you going?"

Kicho: "The port. There's a merchant ship coming from England."

Mai: "That's pretty far."

(I'm pretty sure it's the UK.)

Kicho: "You know about it? It's a small country, but I didn't realize the name had made its way to a village in the countryside."

Mai: "Um, that's not where I heard it. I studied a bit after I decided to work here since I'm not that smart."

(I didn't learn about England from Mitsuhide, but I need to lie.)

Mai: "You said I don't have to do anything today, so can I go with you? I promise I won't get in your way."

Mai: "I've never seen a big ship before."

Kicho: ".............."

I tried smiling a little sadly to emphasize my interest in the ship as Kicho stared at me blankly.

Kicho: “All right, you have my permission. The ‘big ship’ you’re referring to is called a galleon.”

Kicho: “If you come with me, stay by my side the whole time.”

Kicho: “If you make any suspicious move around the ships, I'll shoot you.”

Mai: “That’s a bit dangerous.”

Kicho: “I don’t want it to fall into other people’s hands. It’s a pretty rare flintlock gun, after all.”

(Flintlock gun!?)

I stopped thinking for a moment after hearing the weapon’s name.

The next moment, unable to stand still, I stood in front of him.

Mai: “Wait a minute. Are you going to pick some weapons now!?”

Kicho: “Yes. Is there a problem?”

Mai: “Yes! Because those weapons will end up in someone else’s hands again.”

Mai: “If you do that, it’ll make Japan even crazier.”

(Talking back might make me look suspicious, but I can’t just keep my mouth shut.)

Mai: “Right before I came here, I saw a place that was dear to someone get cruelly destroyed.”

Mai: “I think conflicts will happen if more people get their hands on weapons.”

Kicho: “That is my goal.”

Kicho: “I’ll incite the forces of various regions and disturb Japan. This trading post is for that purpose.”

(He said those things without a hint of hesitation.)

Mai: “A lot of people are going to die.”

Kicho: “…………..”

Kicho: “It’s a necessary sacrifice.”

He said it quietly and clearly.

He looked at me as if he was searching for something, making it impossible for me to say anything.

Kicho: "Move. Don't get in my way."

(No. If I push back here, he'll kick me out of the trading post.)

(My goal is not to stop him right now.)

Mai: "Okay."

Making excuses in my head as if they were valid reasons, I gently put my arm down.

He didn't say anything more, either. He just glanced at me coldly and walked out of the room.

Anyway, this was how my life as a spy began.

It started so poorly that I even resented the sunny sky.

Previous╏Next (Mai's POV)╏(Kicho's POV)

[survivor-trinidad-and-tobago]

Episode 11: "Jack holds all the power in this vote. Jack. God help us all."—eman

In this round: Kaleigh wins Wordle; Zee immediately re-finds her idol; Tony and Michael are left at tribal council without votes; Kaleigh steals Eman's 1/2 of the Guac is Extra vote they shared with Alex; Michael is Public Enemy #1 for destroying the seven alliance; Zee is somehow playing from the bottom in an alliance of 5 people out of the remaining 9; and the Core 4 alliance loses a member when Colin is sent home

Champ

Phone on 3% so this is short and sweet, um yeah Michael you went from goat to actually making a move! Congrats!!!!! Just upset it was at Kolby’s expense… #justiceforkolby #IWillComeForYouMichael

Jack

Michael

Oooooh boyyyyyy we pulled it off, it's fun to actually do a survivor thing. This vote isn't going to be as simple as we think, I'm sure that the other side is organize a vote against me. If I go out now I'm happy that I made a successful move instead of riding to the end of the game on someone else's ingenuity and success.

Colin

i've been on such a HIGH since last tribal. holy shit I can't believe that worked.

god bless Michael. he really made that move and it's HIS to claim, I don't wanna take it away from him. but I feel like Kaleigh, Alex, Michael, and I collaborated so well and everything went PERFECTLY.

we FLUSHED ZEE'S IDOL and then GOT RID OF KOLBY. I had a suspicion that Zee did have an idol so I'm glad I was right and we got rid of it. I just hope she doens't have any more.

the current plan is to pull in Jack and vote out Eman. it's gonna be a lil difficult because Jack did approach us last round to work with us, but we didn't know how much we could trust him. he ended up actually being honest, but then showing his whole ass by being the ONLY vote for Eman. it's nice to know that he was being honest, but now I hope he's willing to continue to work with us now.

the plan is to vote Eman and use an extra vote just as a safeguard in case Jack doesn't trust us now. the scary part is that I have no idea who the other side is voting, so if Eman gets idoled, or if they have any extra votes, we have no idea who they're targeting. we now have TWO IDOLS to spare but I don't wanna waste them and potentially still be wrong. it's a toughie!

Alex

What a fucking wild 48 hours. Jack flipping??? WHAT? That wasn't the move I necessarily wanted to make but it's the move I trusted could successfully happen. I wanted to trust Jack so badly but I just wasn't sure. Going from not talking game at all to hey here's the entire plan they had?? It felt too good to be true! And I told him that when we talked post-tribal so hopefully he'll still trust me/us going forward. But also again maybe that's what you can get when you talk real world with someome and not just game. I do genuinely really like Jack! He's fun and has a fully different energy he's bringing to the game. Plus he's the only person from the other half who even attempted to talk to me today so I kind of hate we did that to him. But if Astyn hadn't stolen Michael's vote I feel like we could have actually taken out Eman. But now we've got the Core 4 + Jack MAYBE? Jack's gonna get to be a swing vote now and he still knows Champ IRL (something neither of them know Kaleigh and I know) and I could see Kolby sending me a disadvantage, so we'll see what happens next. That vote genuinely was not personal. But if Kolby was refusing to talk to me because either Eman, Zee, or Champ made him think I flipped and he didn't feel like even trying to verify, I'm not complaining we got him out. Was my voting message a little villainous? Yeah. But also he thought I was a villain so hey why not lean into it?

I FEEL LIKE I STILL HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT. We got Zee to burn her idol when they were trying to do that to us which is amaaaazing. I don't remember who pointed out that if we stole Zee's vote she'd probably play her idol (Michael?) but fucking GENIUS. I still wonder if Eman has the Maracas idol (which is also why I was nervous about Jack's plan) but at least now Zee maybe doesn't? Unless she immediately found the merge idol. IDK! I should have gone to the water well tonight! ALSO, I got votes! And Champ straight up lied to me about "having me". Giiirl. AND I still have to choose who I think will win next challenge AND could still maybe do the beware advantage that Kaleigh got. Idk. I actually feel like I have options in this game again after last tribal but again I don't want to be too optimistic. No one from the other 4 have reached out and I don't expect them to other than maybe Eman so our majority feels tenuous at best rn. But hey, made it another day, and I'll take that. I'm just glad I got to not game tonight and actually feel fully present with my friends I'm out camping with.

--

I should have pushed for splitting the votes on Eman and Kolby and said it was worth the risk of going home to have Jack fully trust us. I should have used my Gamble Advantage on Kaleigh like I initially planned to. I think I'm gonna transfer it to Kaleigh because hindsight is feeling Not Great tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Eman

I'm not complaining. I'm not. This is great. I just have one question.

HOW THE HELL AM I STILL ALIVE?

I mean, I would've voted me out by this point.

That said, I'm also more determined than ever to win, so there's that.

I am also trying to figure out whomst I can really trust. And it might boil down to Champ and Zee--in that order.

Unless I can figure out what the hell happened b/t Michael & Tony. I mean . . . did Michael make the move independent of Tony or is there more going on there. Cuz I'm not gonna get played for a fool.

I'm loyal to those I'm loyal to, but if you fuck me, I'm gonna fuck you harder.

--

After whinging about the *hard* parts of the game for the past few days, I have to drop a bit of a paean, and why I keep coming back, and it's the friendships

A breathless Skype call with Champ last night that moved from the game to a multitude of other topics, a chat with Zee this morning where we talked again about the game and then about anything but.

Jack DMing me last night to apologize and say we'd still be friends IRL (and the funny thing is I *do* take his betrayal less personally than I have so many others in past games.

I'm sad about Kolby--wish I coulda been on the call to say goodbye.

So, yeah, that's what keeps me coming back; it's the friendships.

After all, it's not like we're playing for real money - but as I learned in Girl Scouts, friendship is more precious than gold.

--

Just realized Jack holds all the power in this vote.

Jack.

God help us all.

Tony

The final 9! Didn’t think I was gonna make it this far tbh. I’m learning now that people don’t perceive me as a threat and perhaps see me at the bottom of the tribe. I have been working pretty closely with Champ and Eman, but I also want to work with Michael to the end. I’m obviously conflicted on the situation! I’m gonna keep my votes neutral for now, but I’m obviously gonna have to make a flip sooner or later

Kaleigh

WELL I HAVE IMMUNITYYYY thanks to alex tossing his extra 10% gamble advantage thing on me. i also found an idol with alex’s help and told him about it - the notification of getting the idol said “this cannot be stolen from you” which … makes it sound like it can’t be stolen from me…. but trinica clarified after i told alex and colin that it CAN be stolen from me j not randomly - like.. knowledge is power would work but someone couldn’t just grab it outta my… virtual pockets LMFAOOO OKAAAYY. so. anyway. i told colin and alex so they know about the idol. i think i’m playing knowledge is power to steal eman’s half of their shared extra vote w alex tonight just as insurance for in case jack decides to vote with champ/zee/tony/eman.

alex transferred his challenge gamble whatever adv to me cuz he’s scared he’s going home and i’m like bro if ur going home take my money so u can send me advantages in purgatory LMFAOOO so i sent him my $60 but also we have an idol? TWO idols cuz colin has one. but would they target alex AGAIN? god fuck idk. i think michael must be the decoy vote cuz jack said zee said she wants michael out. i don’t like how there’s no like community activity to potentially repair awkward betrayals or w/e. like group challenges before were chill we all hopped on a call and got to chat a lil. now it’s like… there’s literally several ppl who havent spoken to me in DAAAAYSSS. and it’s just a bummer! oh well.

i still havent told anyone about my steal a vote. but michael/colin/alex know about knowledge is power and colin/alex know about idol. i’m also thinking more about like when it’s down to SEVEN and SIX and FIVE… if i’m even still here lol but like… i feel good w colin and alex right now and colin said he wants us as final 3 which makes me nervous but like.. I WOULD BE FUCKING GOOD WITH THAT IF I COULD RLY TRUST IT. like i would legit love to stay loyal to the two of them and get us all 3 to the end of the game. but maybe i feel that way bc i’d potentially win if we all 3 were at the end? altho probably not cuz i think colin and alex’s social games are actually sm better than mine LOLLL IDEK god. i bought a survivor pack of cigarettes and it’s gone now and i miss it. i might go buy more cigarettes LOL it’s my only vice!!!!! this game is driving me mad!

anyway the vote tonight is we’re putting all our shit on eman and hoping they dont have an idol or w/e. cuz i think eman being gone will maybeeeee free up tony and potentially even champ to work with us. altho i rly dont think tony likes me LMAO gotta be careful!!! god. i know i’m not going home tonight cuz i won immunity but i’m not any less nervous than i was last tribal. i have to get my work done before this shit pops off i only have two hours!

Zee

Ok so last tribal was absolutely wild. I got asked a question about Jury Management and tbh I don’t exactly know how to Jury manage so I answered honestly about it. Colin however, decided that he wanted to chime in on this subject during his answer to HIS tribal council question. He said something along the lines of “when Zee was talking about how she didn’t know how to Jury manage, I think that’s the most honest thing she’s said this entire game.” Which is quite honestly rude, and kinda BS at the same time. Have I told a couple small lies, yes, this is true. But in general I’ve been honest about it all, when I say that things have been massively dead or that nobody is talking to me, it’s because that’s what’s been happening. If I don’t want someone to know something, I’m not going to lie about it, I’m just not going to say it. Which I guess I can hear the argument “oh lying by omission is still lying” but at the same time, my tribemates are not the confessional box, and they’re not a diary to whom I’m supposed to tell everything to. You can’t make everyone on the Jury happy, it’s nearly impossible. Sometimes, people are left out of the vote. For the Raffy vote, the people I didn’t tell were the people who appeared closest to him from an outside perspective. Not even about friendships outside the game, within the game the people who appeared closest to Raffy were Astyn, Colin, Alex, Steven, and Kaleigh. Colin and Astyn had been in an alliance with Raffy pre-merge according to Colin, and so it seemed like, at least after the saving people challenge, like they were still close. Steven and Colin also kept saving each other, and Alex was mostly speculation, but it just appeared that he could be working with Raffy. Sometimes you just get vibes from people. I genuinely was going to apologize to Kaleigh after, however from nearly all of them I was only met with passive aggressive messages, and votes. I seem to be target number one, especially with Michael stealing my vote. I’m playing from the bottom currently, but I guess that’s just another notch to my crazy game.

If we’re going to talk about jury management, let’s talk about the treatment of the three left out, after those tribals. First off, I never got a straight apology from most of them. Colin gave a pretty decent apology but it still wasn’t great. I apologized and gave my reasoning for the Raffy vote MULTIPLE TIMES. I did get a shit ton of passive aggressive comments though, so how would that make me, as a jury member, feel? Additionally, ignoring me all day the day of the wordle challenge(which i didn’t do great at but then again I’m also not good at regular wordle, so) and most of the day today before tribal, it’s just kind of lame. To be fair, Colin spoke to me a little, but it honestly seems like an attempt at jury management after lashing out. Alex and Kaleigh have said a total of z-z-z-zerooooo. But look, Colin isn’t afraid to poison the jury, and neither am I. However, I have a dilemma. This stems from the fact that I FUCKING FOUND ANOTHER IDOL. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I literally went down path 6 on the idol hunt, and since the merge I’ve only really gotten disadvantages, so I was like “oh this bitch about to be a -20% disadvantage, for sure.” But then Trinica was like “you found an immunity idol” and I was like ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. Out loud, I said that out loud. Had a couple minutes of disbelief but when I wrote to the hosts I was composed, of course. Oh and I did send that reaction meme lol, that shit was pretty funny.

Eman messaged me and said that they want to get Colin or Michael. Haven’t heard from Champ, Jack, or Tony, but they all seem to be voting w/Eman, and Jack and Champ and I have our little alliance which, allegedly Jack will be loyal to it, but idk. It kind of seems like he’s the extra vote right now to either side, he’s honestly in a very good position. But here’s my thing. I have the dilemma of either using my idol and not getting any votes or not needing to again. OR, I run the risk of going to purgatory with my idol. Do I think I could win my way back from Purgatory? Yes, most likely I do. Champ and Jack allegedly are going to transfer me some of their money before tribal so if I go I can buy advantages or disadvantages and send them back into the game, so we’ll see what happens. Anyway, I’ll probably write more after tribal. I’m nervous and probably going home, so at least it’s not a blindside.

Tribal Council

Votes:

Lost Votes: Tony, Michael

Alex: Eman (I’m sorry. This vote isn’t personal. I just think you’re playing a damn good game.)

Colin: Eman (I’m shaking in my boots)

Kaleigh: eman (<3 hope you slay purgatory & eat lots of ramen)

Champ: Colin (I know I’m gonna be on the bottom of this vote)

Zee: Colin (This is what people said to do, so it’s what I’m doing)

Eman: Colin (I dig you, boo, but I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you. Nothing personal.)

Jack: Colin (you’re a great player! Don’t be too bitter on jury)

Kaleigh’s Extra Vote: eman

Zee (Michael’s Stolen Vote): Colin

[visionofhope04]

Hii I was lowkey wondering if you would do something maybe like a one shot of neglected where reader is older (18-20) and dipped out of the house and became a singer and one of her songs basically exposed them for how they treated reader and in like an interview she full on tells them how she doesn’t even talk to them and like only Jason

This is literally perfect. I love this idea! I was planning on making a singer batsis reader anyway so here you go! I'll be making this part 4 of the series instead of a one shot. There’s a bit of angst. Btw, thanks so much for your support everyone! I'm glad you enjoy this series! Feel free to request anything you'd like besides smut as well!

This is the longest thing I have ever written so there will be a part 5. I planned on this being the last part but it's just so much. It’s not proofread and neither are all of the other parts because I post at 1 am most of the time lol. Hope you like it!

f/n = friend name

Y/G/N = your group name

N/S = news station

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (Current) Part 5

---

You were sick of it. Sick of how even after confronting them about how you felt and almost dying because of it, they still neglected you. You couldn't wait to move out at the age of 18, even if it proved to be a struggle. You had taken mini jobs since you turned 15 and saved up since then. You just couldn't see them anymore as it would remind you of how they treated you that day at that hospital. None of them apologized either. They just pretended it never happened and continued to ignore you. The media had a field day with speculation of what had happened but eventually stopped because Bruce had claimed it was “just a bad case of the flu” which they believed.

Jason was always the only one that would talk to you. He was the only one that actually cared enough to make sure you were taking proper care of yourself and that you wouldn't have a repeat of what happened. He took you places, spent time with you and gave you advice. You even had a tradition where you'd always meet up at the manor's library every week at the same time that same day every week and just have a mini book club together. He always made time for you and never bailed on you.

So on your 18th birthday, he helped you move out. You managed to rent a small apartment in Star City with the money you had saved up. It wasn’t that close to the manor which was a good thing. The neighborhood wasn’t good but it wasn’t as bad as Gotham’s neighborhoods so you would be fine. You could handle yourself with your assassin training if needed. You also managed to get hired at a cafe which was about a five minutes walking distance from your apartment.

It had taken a while but eventually, you had packed all of your belongings into color coded containers and moved them into Jason’s car with his help. You didn’t say goodbye to anyone as you had no friends to say bye to and you knew that your so called “family” couldn’t care less about what you did with your life. ‘This is it, hopefully the last time I’ll ever be near this place.’ You thought. You didn’t plan on stepping foot in Gotham ever again after you left. It would bring back too many memories you prefer to keep buried away deep inside your mind.

The car ride to Star City was entertaining. You and Jason conversed the whole time, telling jokes and listening to his funny tales with the radio playing softly in the background. Eventually, a song you both loved came on and you both started yell-singing along to the lyrics. You wished those moments could be permanent. You were both so carefree and nothing else mattered besides having fun and enjoying yourselves.

You now stood in the doorway of your new apartment, admiring your new home. Jason and yourself had just finished unpacking all of your belongings. You really liked how it looked and thought you both did an amazing job at designing the place perfectly according to your style. Jason, unfortunately, had to leave in order to avoid raising suspicions. Once you both said your byes, he left you to your apartment.

Jason drove back home in silence. He hated to admit it but he would miss you dearly. You were always there for him and helped him with anything. You tried your best to always comfort him and make him feel better on his darkest days and it would always work. Somehow you seemed to always have the right words to say or knew exactly what to do to help him. Out of everyone he was closest to you. He assumed it was because he could relate to you the most. More so how you felt. He’d felt like the black sheep of the family before you came, and he was. When you came, you took that role from him. It pained him to see how much their insults would affect you, even if you were good at hiding it. He could just tell.

Jason made it back to the manor after a while and went straight to the library. He didn't want to deal with the others. After the whole hospital situation, he'd never really bother interacting with them. He hated how they treated you as if you didn’t exist and hated how much pain they had caused you and that they didn’t even care. He guessed that they'd probably be doing something for Damian's birthday and forgot that you were his twin. They probably couldn’t even remember that Damian had a twin.

He made it to the library and pulled out one of his favorite books. He’d read it so many times you’d often joke that he could probably recite the whole book by heart at this point. Sitting down in a chair, he started to read. However, he couldn’t bring himself to stop thinking about what it would’ve been like if they treated you how they did Damian. The both of you were Bruce’s real children. You both even looked like clones of him! At first, Jason thought you would’ve been the favorite twin due to your personality. Even though you were twins, your personalities were polar opposites. You even refused to kill! You were trained by the League so why didn’t you kill as Damian did?

Jason knew you would benefit them greatly if you joined. You had self control, didn’t kill, could act perfectly, lie perfectly, do well under pressure, and not to mention your skills. Being raised by the League may have been torture, but you managed to gain incredible skills out of it. You could take on at least ten guys who doubled you in size and beat them within five minutes. You even bested Damian in spars and he was supposedly dubbed the “better twin” by Talia, so why hadn’t they let you join their nightly crusades like they had let Damian when the both of you first arrived?

Damian passed by your room but noticed something was off. He decided to take a look. He twisted the doorknob and pushed. The room which was once occupied by you now looked extremely plain and bare, stripped of all of its accessories. The only things left were the bed itself, multiple dressers, and a vanity. It looked as if it had been vacant the whole time. It might as well have been. Damian couldn’t really remember what it had looked like since he’s never paid much mind to it but he could tell there was a drastic difference. He knew that you disliked just leaving your room plain unlike himself and wanted at least something to make it look less boring.

He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. Had you finally been kicked out by Bruce? Did you get shipped off to a boarding school like he had been suggesting to your father for years? He decided to go ask. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, taking off for Bruce’s office. Walking down the hall, he suddenly remembered that he had seen you leave with Jason. This meant that you were not at a boarding school like he had originally thought. But then why was your room vacant?

Instead of going to see Bruce, he decided to go see Jason and bring up the matter with him instead. He changed directions and headed to the library where he knew he’d find Jason. It was no secret that Jason was a book worm so Damian had a fifty percent chance of finding him there.

He entered the library and was immediately greeted with the sight of Jason sitting comfortably on a chair, legs crossed with a book opened in his hands. Jason didn’t bother to look up from his book as he spoke.

“What do you want Demon Spawn?”

“I’ve come to obtain the whereabouts of my sister.”

“You mean my sister?”

“She’s not your sister!” Damian exclaimed.

“Well I act more like a brother than you do.”

“Where is Y/N? Her whole room is bare.”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“Just tell me, you imbecile!” Damian said, growing increasingly frustrated by Jason’s blunt answers.

“She’s not here.”

“Then where is she?”

“Not here.”

“Just tell me already Todd, I have no time for your foolish games!”

“She moved out.” Jason said, giving in.

“What?! Where.” Damian demanded.

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because I demand to know!”

“Okay and?”

“Tell me!”

“No.”

“Why not!”

“Because you don’t even care.”

“And you do?”

“Yes, I actually do Damian! I’m there for her when she needs me the most. I’m there for her while she’s watching you live the perfect life that she’s just a background character in! While you and the others ignore that she even exists! I’m there for her when she breaks down and has panic attacks! And what were you all doing to try and help her? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” Jason snapped.

“Y/N’s fine, I know my twin!” Damian screamed.

“Do you even know what her favorite color is?” Jason questioned in a harsh tone.

“...” Was Damian’s reply.

“Exactly! You don’t! You and the others have never cared about her, so why all of a sudden do you care now? You don’t know anything about her so don’t act like you do!” Jason then stood up and walked out of the room in a fit of rage.

Damian stood there, shocked. Had Jason just refused to answer his question? He was about to follow him but decided against it. Why was Damian going to chase Jason down just for her? She was just an annoyance, a mistake, imperfect. He had been wanting to get rid of her for so long, so why doesn’t he feel relieved? Why does he feel guilty? He decided to stop dwelling on it and get on with life. He figured it would happen eventually if it hadn’t happened then.

---

It had been a year since that day. The day you left your old life behind and started a new life, a better one. One where you weren’t constantly ignored. One where you actually had more than one person care about you. Instead of seeing yourself as a failure and disappointment, you now saw yourself as an amazing person (which you always were). You had been going to a community college in Star City. You made many friends there and started up a music career with three of them.

Their names were f/n, f/n and f/n. You all started off by taking random gigs anywhere you could. You performed covers of songs and would receive standing ovations all the time. Seeing as your group was well liked, you decided to write and produce your own songs. At the age of 19, Y/G/N released their first album. It went viral within a day and everyone was talking about it. After a week, several articles were posted, praising your work. News Stations talked about all the records Y/G/N managed to break. People started to stream it like crazy, and you couldn’t be happier with all the positive feedback you were receiving.

You had been a Wayne once, meaning you had experience in dealing with the media. Since you had already been used to it, you knew you’d all eventually be invited to interviews. So, when you had received an email stating how N/S wanted a one on one interview with you, you weren’t sure how to feel. You weren’t looking forward to interviews with your whole group, let alone one where you would be alone. You knew how unfiltered interviewers could be and didn’t feel comfortable with it.

However, you decided it would be best to go. So here you were, sitting in front of the interviewer in an uncomfortable chair preparing for the interview to start. You had somehow managed to keep a smile plastered on your face the entire time while you were a nervous wreck on the inside. You hoped none of the questions would be sexist as they usually were towards women. However, you had no more time to think about that. You heard clicking, signaling that you were about to go live. Once you heard the last click, you knew you were live and the interview had begun.

“Hello everyone, welcome back to N/S. My name is Jerald Tangleberry and I’m here today with songwriter, singer, and celebrity, Y/N Wayne! How are you?”

You waved to the camera and then answered, “Hello everyone! I’m doing good, how about you?”

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking! So by now I’d assume everyone knows that you’ve released an album with your group. How does it feel to gain more fame?”

“It doesn’t feel any different. Fame wasn’t our goal when we released the album. It was to express ourselves.”

“Mhm, well Ms. Wayne, what inspired you to write songs?”

“Well we know people may be in a tough spot in their life right now and want them to know they aren’t alone.”

“That’s so true. Some fans have been speculating that every member has three songs that specifically relate to them since there are twelve songs in total and three of the songs have the same group member as the introduction part of the song. Is this true?”

“Yes, it is true.”

“So all three of your songs relate to family issues of some sort. Is that hinting that you have family issues?”

“Yes, actually. My family isn’t the best. They ignored me all the time, even when they weren't busy. The only person who didn’t was Jason.”

“You’re saying it in the past tense.”

“I moved out about a year ago. When I was around 14, I suffered from anorexia. My family would always ignore me since they were either busy doing work or hanging out with each other. The only family member that acknowledged me was Jason. I assumed it was because there was something wrong with me. I started to hate myself so much to the point of starvation. One day, I passed out right before a gala and my oldest brother Dick found me passed out on the floor. They took me to the hospital and when I woke up, Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Damian started fussing about how I’d ruin their image if the media knew what actually happened. They started to yell at me and told me how I was a useless burden. I started to have a panic attack so I kicked them out. Jason stayed behind with me and comforted me. Ever since then I made a planed to save enough money so I could move out when I turned 18, which I did.”

“Oh, wow. So Jason was the only one who interacted with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like the Wayne family isn’t as perfect as they seem.”

“No family is actually perfect.”

“Did your family try contacting you at all after they found out about Y/G/N?”

“Not yet. They’re probably too busy or don’t care.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright, I got over it. What’s the next question.”

“Oh-” He cleared his throat and continued the interview. (So basically I don’t wanna bore you all lol)

---

Jason had woken up late into the afternoon that day. Patrol that morning had exhausted him. There was a huge breakout at Arkham they had assisted with. They successfully locked up every escapee, so today, Jason just wanted to relax until it would be time for patrol again. Even though he was exhausted, he knew he couldn’t take a break. The others wouldn’t and it would be unfair to them if he did.

He headed over to his couch with his phone and a bowl of popcorn in hand, ready to watch random movies the entirety of the day. He set down his phone on the coffee tables and grabbed the TV remote. When he turned on the TV, he almost dropped the popcorn and remote. You were sitting on a chair, giving an award winning smile while you politely answered the man’s questions. He was baffled. He didn’t know why you were being interviewed, let alone on TV at all! You made it clear you didn’t want to have any relations with your family any longer and you couldn’t stand publicity, so what were you doing?

He placed the bowl down and snatched his phone off the table. Unlocking his phone, he quickly dialed your phone number. However, he realized that the interview was live and that he would be interrupting it if he called you then. Deciding to wait, he placed his phone back down, picked up the bowl, and then got comfortable.

---

Tag list: @fake-id-69 @pepelachanel @loxbbg @what-0-life @yoongi-holland @omnivorousfangirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @sexysamsungl @iceddonuts @buginetye @portrait-ninja @azazel-nyx @alculai

[raggaraddy]

Can you Taehyungs version of reader being shot cause of them?

I really like your Jimin and Namjoon Version that you’ve written🥰

Request from @dramaclub-thin: Mafia BTS where the reader is shot for/because of them.

A/N: It is so much longer than I meant for it to be. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading.

If anyone else wants to request, you can here.

Mafia Bangtan other parts:

Namjoon

Yoongi

Jimin

Jungkook

---------

Deception.

Summary: When you agreed to help Bangtan take down one of their enemies, you never imagined it could go so wrong.

Trigger warning: Smut, violence, blood, murder.

Taehyung

Mafia! Taehyung

"Are you ready?" Namjoon asks, shutting off the car's engine and turning around in his seat.

"Yeah," you nod back, hoping the rocking pit of nerves in your stomach isn't visible on your face. Scanning back and forth between him in the front and Jin sat beside you, you're checking to see if they are showing any signs of worry either. Finding a bit of solace in their surety.

"We're gonna lag behind about 20 minutes to be cautious and stay out of sight. But we'll be close. Just do everything like we said, and you'll be fine." Namjoon summarizes once again. Jin offering you a kind, reassuring smile to accompany the leader's words.

You nod again, sucking your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Running your fingers through your hair to fluff it for the 30th time. Hyperfixated on the time, you see the dashboard clock tick over. 20:21.

"Okay, let's go." You exhale deeply.

It was three weeks ago that Namjoon came to you with a problem that Bangtan was facing. Their weapons dealer was forcefully put out of business, which was Namjoons gentle way of saying he was killed, cutting off their supply to automatics and other bigger guns. Leaving them vulnerable. The man who took over their previous partners supply was known to be working with some of the other, smaller local crews. It was also known that he was a rival of Namjoon's and due to this tension refused to work with Bangtan. Normally, a problem like this would be something that they could handle. However, as Namjoon explained it, this guy was backed and protected by foreign money and was too hot to touch without starting a bloody war.

So the plan was simple. Risky, but simple. The supplier had to die. And it needed to appear to be from natural causes, so it could never fall back on Bangtan. No one directly affiliated could be involved. That meant none of the members could risk doing it. It also meant that it was too high a priority to trust an associate or hired gun with this information. Not with the reach and money the opposition had. No, it had to be someone within the family that could handle this, but someone the supplier would never know.

Opportunely, the supplier was known to have a weakness for women, hence the logical conclusion for Namjoon was one of the member's girls. Trustworthy enough not to turn or rat, not likely to be noticed among the myriad of other women, and except a few of them, all had no record linking them to Bangtan, so they would be complete unknowns.

Jin said it, but you already knew it. Out of all of the girls, you were the one who was the most capable. Your difficult past left you with many emotional scars but made you the best person to handle the responsibility. You're not susceptible to intimidation. Have very few moral hangups. And most importantly Namjoon knows how much you love Taehyung. How you would do anything for him. To keep him safe and happy. He knows he can trust you, and that when the time comes, you wouldn't hesitate to do what they needed you to.

As for you, you knew that Taehyung trusted Namjoon irrefutably and you had seen countless times that he was a good leader. Furthermore, you could appreciate the gravity of the situation. Because you're sure that if Bangtan's brain had any other choice, he would not have asked for your help. But since he had, you were going to do what was necessary to keep your family and Taehyung safe.

The problem was that Namjoon had insisted on secrecy. The only ones to know about his plan were you, him, and Jin. A few years ago, sure, lying would not have been a problem for you, you hardly ever told the truth to anyone. But this changed when you met Taehyung. He was the first person you could be honest with, the first person you ever let love you. And lying to him was something you were genuinely struggling with.

However, you knew Namjoon and Jin were right. There was no way Tae would have been okay with you being put in harm's way and he wouldn't be able to separate his feelings from the urgency of the task.

Although, that justification doesn't make you feel less guilty for deceiving him. And to make matters worse, you expected this to be over with last week already. But on your first date with the supplier, he had left the club early to deal with work suddenly. Giving you no time to spike his drink.

So here you were, attempt number two.

While you were meant to meet the supplier at a fancy restaurant first, Namjoon's plan was to skip that and get to his house as quickly as possible. Before the valet could open the supplier's car door, you leant through the open window, teasingly licking your lips. "I just realized," you purr, noting his eyes drop to your mouth and back. "I'm actually not that hungry. So how about we skip to the end of the night, and then you can take me out for breakfast tomorrow morning."

Your blatant offer works like a charm. 20 minutes and a car ride later, he's pulling you down onto his couch. Hardly able to keep his hands or lips off of you.

Tearing at your blouse he rips the buttons apart, his mouth sucking and licking at your neck. One of his hands roaming and grabbing at anything he can, while the other starts to hike up your pencil skirt. He removes his vest and buttoned shirt, not once parting his lips from yours. His large, hard chest muscles pressing against you as he pins you in between his arms and the couch. Spreading your legs apart, he grinds his crotch into your core and you can feel what effect this is having on him. And you have to admit, despite your mind being focused elsewhere, physically it's having the same kind of arousing results on you.

But this isn't what's supposed to happen. He's moving too fast and it's quickly getting away from you. You only want to get him comfortable and distracted enough that he completely lets his guard down. You're trying to poison him, not fuck him.

Pushing his chest lightly, you spring upright. Slightly out of breath you pull your hair over your shoulder covering up a little and running your fingers through it, trying to regain some composure.

"I could use a drink." You pant, batting your eyes up at him.

"Sounds good." He nods, his gaze dark and ravenous. Suddenly haulting he leans back down to kiss you. His hands gripping your hips as he kisses you back into the sofa. Abruptly leaving you flat on the couch with flushed cheeks.

This is better. One or two drinks from now, you should be able to slip him the ricin. He drinks it, you fake a headache, and skip home.  24 hours from now he has a heart attack and dies from natural causes. Nothing tied to you. Nothing connected to Bangtan.

"I hope you like-"  The supplier calls out, only to be interrupted by a grating smack at the front of the house. You startle upright, sitting alert watching the hall entrance. He comes from the other side, coming back from the kitchen, a curious look on his face. Both of you staring at the same doorway as Taehyung suddenly comes in.

Fuck.

Your eyes go wide, half not able to believe he is actually here. He wasn't supposed to be!  Namjoon had arranged for Jimin to take him out tonight. And you had told him you were going to meet some of the other girls.

The thing you didn't know; a week ago when you met the supplier at the club, you had also said you were out with a few girls, including Jimin's girlfriend. But she was with Jimin at that time. And Jimin was with Taehyung. And she knew nothing about any plans to go out.

So when you said there was a movie night tonight, he asked around and found out that was also a lie. He wanted to trust you. To trust that it wouldn't be as bad as his worst fear. Still, the more he thought over how you lied to him, the more he worked himself up, getting himself into a paranoid and anxious state. Until he found himself tracking your phone, following you to an unknown house.

Seeing you half undressed and with someone he considers an enemy, his anger and jealously turns to pure rage. It only taking a second for the scene in front of him to confirm his worst suspicions.

Unleashing his gun he shoots wildly at the supplier. Reason slipping from him completely.

Barley able to avoid being hit, the supplier dives behind one of the sofa chairs. Nearly being riddled with the showering of bullets.

Wrapping your hands over your head, you cover your ears from the explosive sounds. Still firing, and keeping the supplier pinned, Taehyung storms at you.

"Tae-" you start. The gun empties, but Taehyung couldn't care less, tossing it aside. All of his attention focused on you.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He growls through gritted teeth. His hand flying down smacking your cheek, slapping you back into the sofa. "How could you do this to me?!" He screams, his voice wavering from the emotion in his question.

"I can explain," You ignore the burn on your cheek, running your hands along your body, trying your best to cover and redress yourself.  You never wanted him to see you like this, and the look of betrayal in his eyes is stinging your heart more than any slap could.  "I-," you begin with no next word coming. There's nothing you can tell him. Not while the supplier is right here.

Taehyung's anger aside, you're terrified to think what him being here means. Namjoon's plan is completely derailed. And Taehyung attacked the supplier, creating an entirely new problem. You're not the smart one. You have no idea what to do or how to fix this.

Where the hell are Jin and Namjoon?

Taehyung is so fixated on you that he doesn't see the other man charging from the side.

"Look out!" You scream. Only it's a second too slow. Taehyung doesn't have time to react and the supplier swings a ceramic table ornament at his head. The shattered fragments raining over you, as your boyfriend is knocked to the ground. The shoe of the imposing man booting into Taehyung's torso.

You dive towards them, driving your body weight into the supplier to separate the two men. Pushing him away as his heel scarcely misses Taehyung's face.

He stumbles back a few steps and straightens up, nodding and pursing his lips with a look of revelation. Seeing you spring to Taehyungs defence revealed much more than you had intended.

While you're attempting to help Tae upright, he quickly shirks you off and lunges at the other man diving through him and dragging him to the floor. Fighting for dominance and survival, the two men break into a brutal fight trading blow after blow as they struggle to overpower the other.

While you're relieved to see that Taehyung is the more skilled of the two, and mostly has the upper hand, you're mainly sick with worry. The ramifications of this will play out beyond this simple fistfight.

All you can do is get Tae out of here for now, and hope that the supplier hasn't realised that this was an attempt to kill him. Maybe if you're really lucky he will only think of it at face value. A cheating girlfriend and her jealous boyfriend.

"Tae," you grab his arm, dragging him back with resistance. "We have to get out of here. Please,"

He drops the supplier's collar, who falls back limply. Turning to you he has blood pouring down his face from a cut on his cheek. Intensifying the cold look in his eye.

"We? What we? Don't you wanna stay here with this piece of shit." He snarls, standing up.

"I can explain after." You tug him again. He can hate you all he likes later. But first, you have to get out of here. "Please," you beg for his agreement.

Staring harshly, he retreats from you. A pained look in his eye that cuts you more than any blade could. Anger, hate, rage. You could handle all of it. But there's so much hurt and sadness on his face. It's nothing you ever wanted to be responsible for. It's more than you can bear.

"Tae," you hold your hand outreached, gingerly approaching him.  He doesn't withdraw further, allowing you to rest your hand on his cheek. Your heart breaking further as he leans into your touch. Resting in your palm for comfort like an injured puppy. "I promise, baby, this isn't what it looks like." you coo, "I love you so much,"

His eyes close, his face scrunching in anguish. He wants to believe you so badly. To forget everything he has seen. To take you home and never let you go. He may be the first person you let love you, but for him, you are the only person he ever let himself love.

Turning, you use his softening demeanour to lead him towards the door. But the supplier pulls your attention. Neither of you were paying him any mind and standing in the corner of the room he's pulled his own gun from hiding.

Reacting without a thought you shove your back into Taehyung, covering him. Guarding him.

At the same time, a shot rings out and the bullet hits you. A painful, sharp sensation piercing through your torso that makes you stumble back. Losing your footing you fall into Taehyung, your body never hitting the ground. Taehyung catching your weight, lowering with you. Resting you on his legs.

Taehyung grimaces in pain, his hand wrapping his own side momentarily. The bullet went clean through you and cut his side before flying into the wall behind the both of you. Dismissing his own injury, he leans over your body, ripping off his shirt and pressing it and his palms into your entrance wound. Trying to slow the bleeding.

Looking up at Taehyung with tear-filled eyes, you're in shock. Every breath you take is sore but other than that, your body is numb. Your hands clinging to his, all you can think is that you wished you knew what to say or do to lessen his panic. The sweat on his forehead rolls into the cut on his cheek causing the blood to drip further down his neck and chest. The fear and worry in his eyes exposing what you can't see or feel. That you're losing a lot of blood.

The supplier comes over the top of you both. He presses the barrel of the gun into the back of Taehyungs head, forcing him to crouch lower over you.

"I was searching for a reason to annihilate Namjoon and his pathetic crew. Thank you for giving me one." He digs the gun down harder. Taehyung growls, baring his teeth in frustration. "Too bad we didn't get to finish what we started though, Y/n. Oh well." He smirks, cocking the gun for additional effect.

"I love you," Taehyung whispers, the finality in his voice breaking your restraint, tears gushing down your face.

"I-," you can only begin.

Another blast rings out that makes both you and Taehyung jump. The supplier's body goes heavy and plummets to the ground, smashing through the glass coffee table beside you. Glass shatters everywhere as he falls down dead, blood pouring out of his head, collecting into a pool.

"Fuck sakes." Namjoon sighs from the living room entrance. Standing with Jin, both looking over the destruction with disbelief.

"Hyung," Taehyung calls out, his voice raspy and on the verge of tears. "Help." He looks down at you, your face pale, your limps drooping as the blood loss is starting to make you dizzy.

Namjoon opens his mouth readying to scold his brother, but he quickly stops himself. His own faults glaringly obvious at this moment. Jin removes his belt, wrapping it around your waist he fixes it tightly, making you whine in pain, keeping Taehyungs shirt pressed to both sides of your wound.

"Can you carry her?" Jin asks his younger brother.

Namjoon passes all of you, walking toward the lifeless body of his enemy, shooting another round into the back of his head with a frustrated look in his eye.

Taehyung nods at Jin with wide, panicked eyes.

"Then bring her." Namjoon turns with a flick of his head gesturing to follow him.

Jin supports Taehyung as he struggles to get himself and you to a standing position. Finding more strength once he is upright, lifting you into his arms as you whimper and moan weakly.

"Taehyung-" you start, your words sounding breathless and weak. "I'm sorry," you whisper.

"Shh baby." He hushes you. "Don't worry about that now."

He gets you into Namjoons truck, laying you down the length of the seat. As Namjoon speeds to the hospital, Taehyung sits in the back, his legs under your head. Holding firm against your bullet wound while petting your head.

Jin takes Tae's keys and follows you in his car. Already calling a cleanup crew to get rid of the supplier's body. Trying to salvage what he can of the bad situation.

"Namjoon," you call out. Even as your mind is starting to slip into unconsciousness your worry over the family is consuming your focus. "the plan. Can you fix the-" you breathe heavily running out of air.

He looks over his shoulder, guilt overtaking his expression. Nodding with an affirming grunt.

"Plan? What plan?" Taehyung muses, the shock steadily drifting away. "What is she talking about, Hyung?" One look at the blame on Namjoon's face and it clicks into place. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this." Namjoon reasons.

"Are you kidding me? You organized this?!" He snaps, "How the fuck could you risk her like that?!"

"It was supposed to be easy. She wasn't meant to get hurt-"

"Well, clearly she did!" Taehyung roars, his hands bunching into fists.

"I'm sorry, Tae. I wanted to help." You whine, lifting your arm up to touch his chest, trying to soothe him in any way.

"It's okay, baby. I know you did." He coos kissing your forehead, Taehyung's rage immediately subsiding towards you. He takes your blood-drenched hands in his and kisses them lovingly. Kissing down your forearms, pressing your hands to his head in agony and want to have you closer. Wishing he could absorb your pain and suffering.

Returning his wrath to the leader his voice lowers, coming out like ice. "We're gonna talk about this once she's okay." He snarls, "And know, I hold you personally responsible for every second she's in pain."

Looking in the rearview mirror, Namjoon nods solemnly. "Yeah, I do too."

Luckily for you, you recover quickly, and no permanent physical damage was done. But the damage that was done to Namjoon and Taehyungs relationship, the repercussions caused for Bangtan, and the fall out from the supplier's death... well that's another story entirely.

[soulmate-game]

Harley's Plea for Help ch. 6

Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6-- you are here

Yet another night of barely any sleep, but this time Marinette didn’t have the coffee-angel Red Robin at her rescue. No, instead she had to go completely uncaffeinated until she and her class got to Wayne Enterprises. Madame Mendelieve could only sigh as she watched Marinette scamper off to the café as soon as they made it past the initial security of the building. A couple of her classmates chuckled or snorted at her familiar behavior.

It was the same barista at the register as before, but this time Marinette felt too tired to properly order or be adventurous in looking for new flavors.

“I feel like death. I don’t care if it tastes like pure bean oil today. Flavors will take away from the amount of coffee you can shove in one cup, right?”

The poor barista blinked, eyeing the deep bags forming under the poor girl’s eyes. She sighed. “I had hope yesterday that you were just a normal caffeine addict. Now I see we actually have a second Mister Drake,” she said it as if she was mourning at Marinette’s grave before poking a few buttons on her touchscreen order station and turning her head. “One Insomniac CEO, but not for the boss!” She called out. The barista making the drinks paused for a second with wide eyes.

“We have another one?!” He asked, shocked. “Piece of advice?” He turned to Marinette. “Get some sleep.”

“Sleep is for the dead,” Marinette deadpanned back. “I got stuff I need to do today.”

The guy just shook his head and sighed, making the drink as Marinette paid and left a good tip. The drink came out fairly quickly, and everyone behind the counter stopped for a moment to stare as she gulped down the hot drink with no concern for her tongue or throat. A satisfied sound left her as she finally pulled away from the cup.

“This is really good!” She complimented, turning to the Baristas with a still-tired smile. It would take a minute or two for the coffee to have full effect, but she already felt better. “A little too bitter for my usual tastes, but perfect for days like today. Thanks!” She waved at them before turning around and seeing that her class was already gone again. Before she could fully process that though, a hand slapped down onto her head and ruffled her hair.

Surprised (really, not a lot of people could sneak up on her anymore. Just how tired was she?) she let out a high pitched squeal.

“You’re a good kid,” the soft, slightly scratchy voice that said that made Marinette’s shoulders drop and eyes widen. Tilting her head back she was greeted with the widely-grinning face of Jason Todd. He was once again in the uniform of a security guard.

“Wha— Uh,” Marinette couldn’t quite find the right words right away. She was too stunned. Jason just chuckled, jerking his head to indicate the same door her class had gone through the day before and leading the way over there. Marinette scrambled to catch up.

Once they were far away enough from prying eyes and ears, Marinette cleared her throat.

“Um,” she started. “Did… I mean, do you..?”

“Yeah, our mutual friends had a chat with me last night,” he confirmed casually. He sent her a meaningful look even though his grin never left his face. “Like I said; you’re a good kid. And I’m not goin’ anywhere. You’re not responsible for the things your parents have done, you know.”

The girl at his side hummed noncommittally, not fully convinced but also not wanting to argue.

“You’re not,” he repeated firmly, stopping in the middle of the side-hallway. They could see her class at the other end getting checked in, but didn’t make a move to join them yet. “I mean it. The stuff that happened to me, none of that was you. Hell, you were a little kid back then. And there’s nothing you could have done to stop it, either. I’m not gonna hold anything against you just because you’re his child. You didn’t ask to be,” he shrugged. “Besides, I get it. Biological relation doesn’t equal family. Trust me,” his grin was gone and a tired one replaced it. “I know that better than most people.”

The pigtailed girl could only gulp, taking a deep breath as she forced down the tears that wanted to bubble up. She had had this conversation with Adrien a few times, but even then she had been convinced that he just didn’t understand. He was just being nice. But this— Jason’s words were more valuable than gold to her. He had no reason to be nice, so it had to be at least partially sincere.

“Thanks,” she whispered once she was positive she wasn’t going to break. She lifted her cup up and took a long sip of her coffee. The slight burn against her tongue helped ground her. “That means more than you know.”

Jason chuckled. “Nah. The fact that you stood up for me to the Bat,” his grin returned to his face full blast, making dimples appear on his cheeks. “Now that, you have no idea how much that means to me. You must have some serious guts to lecture that guy, too. Is it too late to adopt you for myself?”

That tore a quick laugh out of her, making her classmate’s head whip over to the opposite end of the hallway where she and Jason were. She quickly quieted herself, but her eyes danced with amusement as she looked up at Jason. “You’re too young to be my parent anyway, but I wouldn’t say no to a brother,” she joked. Jason’s eyes sparkled.

“Good, exactly what I was aiming for!” He slipped a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. “That’s my number. Call me if you ever need anything, got it?” He turned to resume leading her back to her class and she quickly slipped the paper into her pocket before anyone saw and got the wrong idea. “And I mean anything.”

Marinette just smiled and nodded. By then, they were close enough for Alya to smirk and ask; “What took ya so long, girl?”

“Oh,” Marinette shuffled a little on her feet before an observation gave her a last minute idea and she straightened up with a wide smile. “We just got distracted talking about motorcycles!”

Jason’s eyebrows raised for a quick second before he settled his expression again and played along. He had figured that not many people knew about her biological family. That part made sense. But she had been a total mess just the day before when she had tried to lie about Paris’ little villain problem in front of Bruce. How was she able to actually come up with a good lie this time around, when she had been just as much put on the spot? He wondered to himself about what was different about this situation to allow her to lie more easily. Maybe Bruce not being there was part of it— she seemed easily flustered by famous people.

Think of the devil, because no sooner had that thought finished developing in Jason’s mind before Bruce Wayne walked into the hallway with a paparazzi-ready smile. Jason rolled his eyes and sunk to the back of the group silently, sinking back into his job and keeping an eye on their surroundings. He listened as Alya laughed softly and elbowed Marinette even as the group turned their attention to Bruce.

“You and your bikes,” Alya teased. “If someone knew enough about motorcycles, I bet you’d marry them on the spot.”

“Nah,” Marinette whispered back. “If they gave me a really nice one though? That’s marriage potential for sure.”

The two girls laughed for a second before focusing back on the tour. Adrien wasted no time making his way to Marinette’s side, silent questions in his eyes. Jason watched with interest as the two seemed to silently communicate with one another. It was obvious that Adrien was calling her lie, and Marinette was essentially silently telling him that she would explain later. It was so seamless and subtle that if Jason hadn’t been extremely familiar with that kind of communication already, he wouldn’t have noticed it. Once again his eyebrows rose a tick on his forehead, and he made a mental note of the interaction. That kind of silent conversation wasn’t an easy thing to do with people. It was most commonly seen in married or otherwise long-term couples, childhood friends, family, or hero partners. The childhood friends and family sections were already ruled out from their background check on her and Harley herself had mentioned that even though Marinette had once crushed on Adrien, she had unofficially adopted the boy as her brother since then. Though, their time as close friends was only documented as having lasted about a year. That wasn’t quite enough time for that sort of effortless silent communication to be possible.

Of course, Jason had his suspicions already. But there was no rush, either. The Clown was on the move and more important to focus on for now. He could focus on the puzzle that was Marinette and Adrien later.

Bruce took over the tour as he had the day before, and the class was instantly riveted once again. If the fact that they were being led through the building by the very man who owned it wasn’t awesome enough to get everyone’s full attention, the man’s personality was. He came off a little carefree and very kind, but there was an obvious undercurrent of just how much he loved his company that showed that he did take it and his job seriously. Just, not too seriously either. And he interjected everywhere he could with personal stories and anecdotes and little bits of his family history that the normal tour guides might not have known. It was not long after he announced that he was going to take them to a lower lab set aside specifically for their class’ tour, so that they could do their first interactive activity, that jason found the opportunity to sidle up next to Marinette on the opposite side from where Adrien walked alongside her.

“So,” he said casually. “How’d you know I ride a motorcycle?” he smirked to show he wasn’t upset as he looked down at her curiously. Marinette blinked, taking her attention away from Bruce to look over at Jason. Once his words registered, she smiled widely and pointed to one of his pockets. The corners of his bike gloves flopped over the edge.

“I noticed those. I figured you’d have a negative reaction that might give us away if my lie was too off the mark, and I do have a habit of saying stupid things if I don’t have a clue or something to play off of. I also had to make it believable for the class, and they all know that my Nonna has played a huge part in my love for motorcycles. I plan on getting a license to drive one when I turn sixteen later this year,” she told him softly. “I tend to gush whenever I see a cool bike, so I knew they wouldn’t question it.”

Jason huffed a little bit of laughter under his breath. It was like the trope of a character looking at random items in the room to come up with a fake name, but somehow it had actually worked for her. She was quick-witted and clever, he had to admit. And observant.

“I was running late, so I must have left them in my pocket when I was changing,” he admitted, unbothered. “Ah, here we are,” he nodded to return the two teen’s (he had noticed Adrien paying close attention as he and Marinette had their conversation) attention back to the tour. Bruce opened the door for the class with a flourish, gesturing for everyone to go in.

“Since these first few days are going to be tours and lessons about working in general, your first activity of your trip is to solve various problems we’ve given you based on real situations that WE employees have been in before. Split up into groups, and choose a table. Each table has a different problem covering a different industry. Reporting, Science— specifically research and development, business management, and entertainment…”

—*—*—*—*—*

“It’s straight,” Adrien assured her, trying to keep himself from laughing as Marinette straightened his tie for the millionth time. “I promise. And you look fantastic.”

Marinette stepped back, nodding at Adrien’s appearance in approval. “I know. We both look great, but…” she fidgeted and then stepped forward to go right back to over-straightening his tie. Adrien snorted, grabbing her hands before she could touch the poor thing again and lowering her arms to her sides.

“Calm down. Like you said, we both look great. You don’t have a single hair out of place, the outfits you made us look amazing, and my tie is at a perfect ninety degree angle to my collar. Take the model’s word for it,” he teased with a lopsided grin. “We look ready for the front cover of a magazine. So just take a deep breath, because we should get down to the lobby soon to wait for the ride he’s sending for us.”

“Right,” Marinette nodded. She followed his advice and took a deep breath. Once she was suitably calmed, she opened her eyes and nodded at him. Adrien smiled and held out his arm, making Marinette snort as she took hold of it gently and let him lead her to the elevator.

Bruce had not specified whether the dinner was going to be casual or formal, but with the fact that his kids were going to be present and it was at his own house, Marinette had a feeling it was going to be more of a casual thing than if they had went out to a fancy restaurant with a black tie dress code. At the same time, this was the Wayne manor they were talking about. She didn’t want to be underdressed, either. Not to mention that it was her design skills that had played a huge part in her winning the contest in the first place, so she felt like she had to show her work again to prove that they had chosen the right person.

A playful wolf whistle greeted the two of them when they got down to the lobby. Alya was, to no one’s surprise, the perpetrator. She stood in the lobby with Alix, Nino, and Max, who all had known about the dinner and agreed to be there to see the two of them off and put Marinette’s worries to rest. The four of them jogged over, Alix smiling and adding her own soft whistle of appreciation.

“You guys look great,” the short skater assured them, taking the time to skate slow circles around them to make sure that nothing was wrong with their outfits. “I think you’ve outdone yourself, Mari! Very cool.”

Alya nodded eagerly, bouncing in place with a wide, beaming smile on her face. “Ah! The both of you look ready to kick ass and woo rich people!” she added. Max pushed his glasses up on his nose with a small grin.

“There is a ninety-five percent chance of your work impressing all of the Waynes,” he said in his own version of encouragement.

“You guys got this!” Nino shot them a thumbs up. “They beat me to all the stuff I wanted to say.”

Marinette beamed, laughing along with her friends as she allowed herself to relax a little. Adrien’s outfit was of her own making, a subtle way for him to rebel since his father had sent him with his own Gabriel brand suit should an appropriate opportunity to wear it come up. Adrien had no plans of ever putting his father’s suit on his body. In an effort to spice up formal men’s wear a bit without making the whole thing white and silver like Gabriel wanted, Marinette had made him a classic silk shirt in black, with short sleeves that fell at that perfect halfway point between his elbow and shoulder. The sleeves had thick cuffs in a dark forest green, with decorative straight stitches on the seams in a bright magenta pink thread. On top of that was a corset-style sleeveless vest with a deep V. The majority of the vest was the same black as the shirt, but with dark green hand-stitched swirls that were just barely bright enough to be contrasted against the black. It created a very subtle pattern that would be hard to see in the wrong lighting, but would make it look that much more expensive and elaborate in the right lighting. The lapel of the vest was in the same dark forest green as the cuffs of his shirt, with a few decorative swirls embroidered on the very corners. The piping of the corset-vest made three curved lines on either side of his waist, curling from mid-rib cage to his waist. It gave him a slightly more feminine twist to his outfit, making his waist look smaller even though it wasn’t actually pulled very tight on him— it was mostly the illusion made by the piping rather than the actual tightness of the garment. The two outside piping lines were done in a magenta pink, while the middle piping line was once again in dark forest green. Unlike most corset-style vests, this one had no buttons or zipper on the front at all. Instead, it was closed only by corset lacing in the back, the laces done in such a dark shade of green that it was almost black, while the eyelets that the laces were threaded through were that same magenta pink as the piping and decorative stitches elsewhere on the outfit. The tie that Marinette had spent so long making sure was straight was almost entirely soft lace, but it was layered in such a way with layers of sheer green and pink lace that it looked like it was a constant swirl of the two colors. If someone got close enough to see the pattern of the lace tie, they would notice that it was a pattern of cats chasing a butterfly.

Underneath the artistic top of the outfit were black dress pants, once again with thick forest-green cuffs on the bottoms. But instead of the decorative stitching, the pant legs flared a bit at the ankles for just a little extra drama. Magenta-pink Oxfords peeked out of the wide cuffs. The green detailing made Adrien’s eyes pop, while the pink accents gave his boyish charm a little more of a feminine touch that almost seemed to highlight his naturally sensitive and charming nature.

In contrast, Marinette wore a sleeveless pink pantsuit. It was the same shade as the pink accents in Adrien’s outfit, and had a built-in corset as well that went only around her natural waist. The corset boning on Marinette was a solid black, while the rest was just the same base pink as the majority of the suit. The black of the boning seemed to flow downwards, changing from boning into thick hand-embroidery in thread of the exact same black. The embroidery flowed down the sides of both legs, in the shape of tree branches and apple blossoms. Pale green accents in the form of swirls at her high neckline and a pale green lace capelet that was the only thing covering her shoulders helped tie her outfit in with Adrien’s. She also wore pale green low kitten heels and her black hair up in a braided bun. With how her pant legs were form-hugging until they flared out slightly at the heel, and the lack of sleeves exposed her toned arms and shoulders and emphasized her strength there without making her look unbalanced or too masculine for the rest of the outfit’s style, she looked ready to rock the business world. Her bright blue eyes clashed with the green details of the outfit just enough to bring attention to them, assuring that people who met her eyes would not be able to easily look away.

The quick snap of a phone’s flash went off, drawing everyone’s attention to Madame Bustier. She was beaming at all of them, and had just taken a picture of her two students all dressed up. She waved her phone happily. “I’m sending this picture to the both of you. I’m so proud of you guys!” she gushed.

Marinette and Adrien both blushed deep red, shifting in their spots. They were confident in their looks, and Adrien was just as proud of his pseudo-sister, but neither of them was very good at handling so much positive attention aimed only at them. Especially not from their extremely sincere friends and teacher.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng?” An older gentleman with a British accent turned everyone’s attention to him. The first thing Marinette thought was that he had kind eyes. He also had soft wisps of white hair on his head, carefully trimmed and slicked back. Of course, Marinette and Adrien also couldn’t miss the high quality and perfect press of his carefully maintained suit. Once he had shown all the proper credentials to Madame Bustier, he introduced himself to the two well-dressed teens with a shallow bow. “I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler for Wayne Manor. I am to escort the both of you there for supper tonight.”

“Oh! Thank you so much, Monsieur Pennyworth,” Marinette said, walking up and shaking his hand. Adrien was right by her side the whole time, matching her smile watt for watt and shaking Alfred’s hand with just as much enthusiasm.

“Yeah, thank you for having us over. I know it was technically Bruce who invited Marinette, but you’re probably the one that has to do all the work. So, thank you. We really appreciate it,” he told the man sincerely. Alfred’s answering smile was soft, almost fond.

“Yes, I admit I am in charge of most of the work for tonight. But you shouldn’t worry, it’s no different from any other day at the manor,” he said lightheartedly, a little bit of good natured snark shining through his otherwise proper behavior— “Every last one of the Waynes would die in less than a week without me to keep everything in order,” he joked. “Allow me to lead you to the car.”

Marinette and Adrien followed behind Alfred. She didn’t know if it was the calming aura he put off, or if it was the gentle way his eyes sparkled that made her want to look after him. But whatever it was, she found herself wanting to protect this kind old man already. Which is why her eyebrows slightly pinched together. Before climbing inside the luxurious town car he had brought for them, she couldn’t help but turn to Alfred and ask;

“I hope you aren’t overworked. I don’t want to overstep, Monsieur, but isn’t the Wayne family rather large for one person to look after on their own?”

Alfred laughed gently at that, his eyes once again softening. “Do not worry about me, Miss Dupain-Cheng. They are family to me. And though, yes, you are correct in assuming they are a handful, they are also wonderful people. They help me where they can, but taking care of themselves is not their forte. Being able to do that for them is my greatest joy.”

The wrinkles in Marinette’s brow smoothed out and she smiled. “That’s so sweet. You’re making me want to meet them all even more.”

Something about that twinkle in Alfred’s eye made her feel like he was laughing at some joke she didn’t hear. “I’m sure all of you will get along swimmingly.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“I FOUND HER FIRST!”

Alfred had barely opened the manor’s doors to let Marinette and Adrien inside before the chaos started. Or rather, before they were let in on it— it seemed as if the chaos had already been going on for a while.

Jason skidded across the floor in a mad dash, having to grasp the doorframe he was running out of so that he could turn the corner sharply and veer towards them.

“Tell them, Marinette! I found you first, you’re my sister now, don’t fall for any of their Jedi mind tricks!”

Marinette just blinked, a little caught off guard. It hadn’t exactly sunk into her head until right that moment that ‘Wayne Family dinner’ would include Jason. Her mind was still catching up to the fact that she was seeing him out of his security guard uniform for the first time. He wasn’t dressed up at all, in a well-loved brown leather jacket over a white shirt and dark wash jeans. He still had his motorcycle gloves on. Marinette looked down at first herself, then Adrien.

“Are we overdressed?” She asked with a grimace. Jason huffed.

“Of course not, you guys look amazing! But seriously, tell them that I claimed you as my sister first and none of them are half as cool as me.”

Marinette and Adrien traded glances before laughing together.

“If we’re being technical here,” Adrien drawled mischievously as he straightened out his vest. “I met Marinette first, and she adopted me as her brother long before we met any of you,” he pointed out with a sharp grin.

“Ha!” a younger man laughed pointedly, following after Jason. The newcomer was dressed more formally, in a dress shirt under a very luxurious looking burgundy designer sweater. Under that, he wore black perfectly-pressed slacks and nondescript oxfords. His collar showed signs of housing a tie earlier, but he had clearly taken it off sometime earlier. His hair hung slightly long, framing his face with two long locks while the back of his hair slightly stuck up in all directions in natural tufted curls. Like Jason, his hair was jet black and he had bright blue eyes. He was also about half Jason’s size, much shorter and leaner than his adoptive brother. “He’s got you there, idiot,” he snarked smugly at Jason before turning to the two guests. “Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mister Agreste. I’m Tim Drake-Wayne, it’s nice to finally meet both of you,” he introduced himself as he walked over to shake their hands. “And your outfits are amazing! Did you make them, Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

“Marinette,” she corrected with a lopsided grin. “My last name is a mouthful, and I prefer to just go by Marinette anyway. And yes, I made both of these outfits before we left Paris,” she admitted, trying her best to seem professional. She had already ruined her chances of that with Bruce and Jason, but this time she was prepared!

“They are just as impressive as the rest of your work that I’ve seen. And call me Tim, it’s only fair,” and then he smiled.

Damn his boyish grin. He wasn’t someone Marinette had a crush on— he wasn’t her type— but damn he was unfairly charismatic and charming. His smile temporarily short circuited her brain. That was exactly the kind of boyish smile that had started her crush on Adrien, and that she was unfairly weak for. Now she felt a deep-seated urge to protect this boy and his smile or so help her, someone would be sent to the ER if he was hurt and it wasn’t gonna be her. And she didn’t try to dissuade herself from that strong protective urge, her mother had already assured her that all the Waynes were trustworthy and that Tim in particular shared a lot of her bad habits. She could allow this little bit of vulnerability. Hopefully.

“... I’ve only known you for two minutes, but if anything happened to you I would kill everyone in this room and then myself,” she breathed. Adrien elbowed her hard, making her yelp.

“You said that out loud Mari,” he deadpanned. A deep flush immediately came over her face, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“Oh shit. I’m so sorry— but you— just forget I said anything. Please!”

Tim was visibly shocked, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Jason snorted, overcoming his own brief moment of shock pretty easily.

“Careful there,” Jason chided good-heartedly. His gaze met Marinette’s with a slight weight in it though. “You barely know the guy. He’ll annoy you out of your mind soon enough.”

Marinette caught the hint, wincing and changing the subject. Jason could see that she had done exactly as her mother had warned— she had gotten attached to Tim almost immediately. And while he wanted to believe Marinette when she said that the same wouldn’t happen with Joker, that she was not going to repeat her mother’s mistakes…

He couldn’t help but worry. Joker was a slippery bastard, and good at getting past people’s defenses.

Tim eventually led them all to the dining room, where several people were already sat waiting for them.

“We decided it would be best if we didn’t all swarm you at the door,” Tim explained, grinning at her kindly. “Take a seat wherever you want, Alfred is probably going to be done with dinner soon.”

Marinette and Adrien both nodded, going to sit by each other’s side. Adrien put his hand on her knee when they sat down, and traded a meaningful look with her.

“Calm down,” he whispered. “We’re not in Paris. And if you slip, I’ll catch you. Promise.”

Marinette’s shoulders relaxed a little. Yeah, she could trust Adrien to make sure she didn’t slip up too much. Get too careless. He’d watch her back like she did for him. She’d be okay. They’d both be okay.

“Thanks, Adrien. I needed that.”

—*—*—*—*—*

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[fruitydemogorgon]

ST ‘Welcome to California’ teaser analysis

here is a link to the trailer:

*I discuss content from s1,s2, and s3, so this does contain spoilers*

this is pretty much a summary of everything i’ve seen on tumblr/notcied myself about the teaser

*buckle in cause this is pretty long*

It starts with El reading out (what we can definitely assume) is a letter she has written to Mike. I’ve heard a statement theorizing that this letter is filled with lies, however I don’t completely agree with this. 

The first line is “Today is day 185,”, which I have seen people speculate whether or not was a mistake due to the timing of the seasons (I don’t remember exactly, but they also had reasoning to believe the timing fitted perfectly). 

We cut to a shot of what we can only assume is the Byer’s residence (a fairly large, suburban, two-story home- which from previous seasons we know Joyce would not be able to afford on her own). This leads to speculations that maybe the government wanted to suppress suspicions about Eleven’s connection to the Starcourt Mall debacle by moving her away (and every other suspicious thing that’s happened in Hawkins), or something along the lines of that.

“I think I have finally adapted,” she proceeds to say as she places a (handmade?) figurine of Hopper into a diorama of his cabin. This could represent that she has come to accept that he is gone, and is seeing the good in his “death”. Hopper was her true father figure, and someone who really loved her. She learnt so much from him, and she is adapting to the fact that he is now “gone”. There’s truth in this, but we can also ponder on what else she could be adapting to. Although it hints at being Hopper’s “death”, it could certainly also be that she is adapting to living in California, since that is the ‘main’ premise of this teaser. 

After this, we see a shot of Will working on (a painting? or possibly a poster/project?) in his new room. In the background, on his wall, we can see a Boys Don’t Cry/The Cure poster. I’ve heard that this song was sort of a gay anthem in the 80s, so this could possibly be subtext of Will’s homosexuality.

In the next shot is Jonathan, smoking weed and watching something out the window. This could be anything, if not just a quick shot to show his face (unlikely, but still plausible). He may be waiting to see Will and El’s ride arrive.

We then see a series of shots of Argyle picking up Will and El in his Surfer Boy Pizza truck. The phone number on the truck reads 805-45-PIZZA. Upon calling, the happy birthday theme plays, which fans speculate could link to Will’s birthday being in Spring, and possibly included (at the least mentioned) in an episode.

We then cut to a ‘Countdown to Spring Break’ banner, identifying there are only 2 days left of school. During this Eleven says, “I even like school now.” I am uncertain about the meaning of her saying ‘now’, as if she had experienced schooling before (which we know she has not). UNLESS, she is considering her time at the lab an educational period of her life. Maybe enlightening, in the way that she learnt more about her powers. 

Before this next part, I will mention the “heroes” project that was supposedly leaked. El did a diorama of Hopper, her ‘hero’, and Will did one of Alan Turing, his ‘hero’. Obviously Will did not choose Alan Turing randomly, so let’s look into him a little more. He was, an article states, an “English mathematician, logician, and cryptographer, credited with breaking the Nazi Enigma code during World War II”. This is not a person widely out-there for a “nerd” to be interested in, but let’s look even further. “In 1952, he was arrested and charged with “indecency” after a brief relationship with another man”, and took his own life in 1954 by poisoning an apple with cyanide and eating it. The rainbow apple logo also is said to link to him, which we have seen before on this show.

This does not necessarily confirm things, however, but it could mean that Will is becoming more open about his homosexuality/feelings, and beginning to accept  it (adapting, as said in El’s letter).

In her next line, El says, “I have made lots of friends,” This is clearly wrong (or, a lie), as students are shown to be blatantly bullying her and laughing at her.

“Even though, I am ready for spring break.” This is proof that she is not enjoying school as much as she had said earlier, meaning it was, in a way, a lie.

“Mostly because I get to see you,” she then states. In all honesty, this made me slightly uncomfortable for a number of reasons. 

-the way she said it was VERY flirtatious for a 14/15 year old, and it sounded as if it lacked real emotion, rather than just teenage desire.

-her and mike are not even confirmed to being back together romantically

But, I may be looking into it too much since my head is literally clouded with byler atm lol

Anyways, we now get our first glance of Mike. Something undeniably obvious in this scene is the THIS WAY sign pointing right into his open closet. I hate to say it, but it’s still fairly possible that this was just a coincidence, and something the set designers didn’t look into that much (not discrediting them, because I do have strong belief it could be a hint at Mike’s homosexuality). 

The first few times I watched this scene, I assumed the obvious; that the paper in his hand was El’s letter. 

HOWEVER, her letter is very short. Definitely not long enough to fill the stack of paper in Mike’s hand. Maybe half a page, at the most. So this brings me to believe that this was a lead-on, a teaser within the teaser. In fact, it is not uncommon for trailers to be misleading about dialogue and where they correlate with certain scenes, especially in Stranger Things.

The expression on his face is also a fairly new one (possibly just due to Mike’s actor, Finn Wolfhard, being three years older), but it’s definitely there. In the past three seasons, he has managed to replicate facial expressions almost exactly, which have all been important. E.g. the smile he makes when he sees Will has remained practically the same throughout EVERY season. So I’m sure this was a purposeful detail included by the Duffer brothers. 

The expression, in my opinion, has a faint smirk to it. Like he’s seeing/reading something he likes and wants to hear. He seems comfortable with whatever is on the paper. But, it’s also mixed with a sort of disbelief, or shock. 

Overall, I get the vibe that he’s kind of realising something he wanted all along, but he hadn’t expected it to be so.

(i feel like ron reading harry’s tea leaves lmao)

Which makes me very curious about what exactly he is looking at. 

“We will have the best spring break ever”

LOL

as if.

This is the biggest lie, more from the directors/writers than from El’s character herself, but literally everything about the rest of the trailer points to this statement being wrong. 

The music crescendos, intensifying, and we IMMEDIATELY cut to a scene of Eleven looking unhappy in the back of a car. 

Anyways, the next bit is just a bucketload of notes/observations about all of these quick cuts (in order of appearance). If I missed anything, or you have a better explanation than me, FEEL FREE TO SAY SO, because I don’t know any more than you do. With these, I’m also hoping to bring light to things u may not have noticed (since I missed a lot originally).

The cut right after us seeing Eleven’s disappointed face is of a roller-skating rink, which I absolutely cannot think of anything to link it to. The setting is very vibrant and positive, with fluorescent colours and happy skaters dancing along to some music.

Next we see Joyce, confused, opening a large box (package?) and pulling out a Russian doll. There are speculations that this is a message from Hopper about his whereabouts, or something similar to that.

The next few scenes pose many possible outcomes/things happening. We see Jonathan running up a flight of stairs (identifiable by his blue shirt-shown again in the next scene) towards gunfire (or some kind of flamethrower thing?). I’ve watched it over in 0.25x speed and still can’t identify the person shooting, however these are the things I can see:

-They look like a male

-Their slightly wrinkling skin leads me to believe they’re somewhat middle-aged

-They have a fairly heavy head of thick black hair (similar to Mike’s but neater, straighter, and shorter)

-They are also wearing a white shirt

(It could be Murray)

After this we cut to a scene of Jonathan and Mike in WILL’S BEDROOM, with possibly someone standing to Mike’s left (maybe Will, but it’s impossible to tell). It is quite clear that even before the (gunfire) begins, these two are shouting at each other, arguing over something (passionately- we seem to be seeing a less level-headed side of Jonathan this season. As well as Mike just being the stubborn, sassy dude he is). First, it looks like something is being thrown through the window by the way it gets an obvious hole, but I’m not an expert on how bullets affect windows (i believe that gunfire would shatter the whole window, rather than just smashing a whole into it as if something was thrown directly at a specific part of the window). However, as more bullets fire (shown by the specks of light) the hole grows, which makes sense. But, I don’t think it would be too far-fetched to wonder if something was thrown through the window first.

In between these two shots is a scene of Murray taking off his headphones, looking shocked.

We then see three cars speeding out of frame on a highway. Two are the same, which leads me to believe they are government or cop cars (could also be cars belonging to people who belong to an organisation, e.g. hawkins lab). What is interesting, though, is that the one on the right reads “prison transport, keep back”. I assume this one contains El, since later shots hint at her being kidnapped, and the first shot looks as if she’s in a car.

The two cars at the front have their brake lights on, and the cars are depicted to be swerving to the side, which could mean something (probably Jonathan, Will, and Mike, and Argyle in the Pizza van) is blocking their way.

We then see the feet of a lady stepping out of a car (we cannot tell what car this is). She is wearing black heels and long, navy pants that reach just above her ankles. We could assume she is stepping out to ‘have a word’ with the cali gang for getting in her way. I also particularly like how after this they cut to the feet of a roller skater spinning in circles, which in my opinion felt very smooth.

This leads to El being circled by laughing girls. The expression on her face is honestly kinda heartbreaking, and makes me wonder if she feels helpless against them without her powers, or if there will be a similar dynamic to that during this season.

There’s also quite a juxtaposition of her compared to the colourful background.

We then see a doorway in the middle of the desert being opened, which could mean multiple things but I’ll leave for you to indulge in.

The next shot, though, is of a birds-eye-view of this “doorway” place. There are about 10 people standing in a line in front of the door, with four cargo cars parked (hastily, it seems) in front of it. There’s also a helicopter, either landing or taking off I can’t really tell (I did try to do a bit of research on this- but to no avail- I may have not looked hard enough lol). I would assume it’s landing, and they’re bringing El to this pretty heavily guarded doorway (which I assume is the entrance to some underground lab). 

The next shot is of the Surfer Boys Pizza van dramatically kicking into gear. Meaning this is probably some kind of chase scene. I am assuming these people have taken El, and now Jonathan, Argyle, Mike and Will are trying to stop them and get her back. This could also explain the look of distraught on Mike’s face in this next shot, as the ‘baddies’ are possibly escaping with Eleven. Will also looks very concerned in this scene, but I feel that since he never got a chance to really know Eleven he is less ‘traumatised’ / affected by her being taken away, hence the softer expression (or maybe im looking into it too much again)

People have also mentioned how close they are in this scene, speaking of it being a ‘byler’ scene or that they are possibly holding hands. i feel like at this part of the season (probably early-middle), this wouldn’t have happened yet, also this feels like a really weird moment/scene to be holding hands in. I feel like it would be much more emotional than this intense, dramatic scene. Honestly, I hope byler will be canon in season 4 but we just gotta wait and see.

I feel like I should also mention how this is the same colour shirt that Mike “put on and could not stop looking at Will in”. I will link @beepboop358​ ‘s analysis of Mike’s clothing here and here (slides 132-138ish).

sorry that was just a quick byler dump lol

This is also followed by a shot of Will swinging his head back to look at something (Mike is out of frame-and it’s actually possible he’s gone/injured). His face is similar to the one above, but resembles Mike’s expression more. In fact, it makes me realise that nothing extremely dangerous (other than the cliff-jump scene) has actually happened to Mike yet, so I wonder if this season will change that.

Next, we see a shot of the County Line Cafe. I don’t really know much about American geography, but I’ve gathered that ‘County lines’ are sort of similar to cities within states (counties?). And I assume that the ‘lines’ are the borders between these cities? I’m not sure, but if so that could mean they’re travelling in this one (which we already could expect because of Hopper’s whereabouts). There’s also 4 people in suits standing near the cafe.

Next, we see (what I believe) is El being dragged into the prisoner transport vehicle by two men in black suits. She doesn’t look as ‘angry’ as I would think she’d be, so it makes me wonder if she’s somewhat okay about being taken by these men, or understands why she’s being taken (just a theory).

I’ve done a really bad job using time connectives in this lol, anways...

The shot after this is

I am not fixing it.

The shot after this is of what looks like a tunnel in a secret Russian base, but it could be aNyWheRe. There is tons of gunfire and people ducking out from behind block-things-that-i-can’t-think-of-the-terminology-for.

Immediately following this,

hey that’s a little better

Immediately following this, we see five men coming out of the smoke (presumably followed by more). It would make sense that they are in the tunnel, and we are seeing it from another angle. I cannot tell if they are holding fire or not, because it’s such a short clip. If this is a Russian base, it would make sense that this is the American army infiltrating it.  

The shot after this is 

sorry, i got lazy

The shot after this is of our cali gang practically dodging gunfire. I’ll put in an image so you don’t have to listen to me describe it.

If you didn’t notice already, the characters in this shot are (from right to left), Will, Mike, and Jonathan. The man to Jonathan’s right is, again, unidentifiable. It is definitely possible he is the man from earlier, but I wonder why he would now be defending them (after literally flamethrowing them earlier). Each of them seem to be pulling the other out of the way. It also looks like someone is in the doorway, and there is definitely gunfire happening.

It then cuts to someone turning the volume to 7, which people have analysed has many connections to Will and Byler. I don’t think this would be a coincidence, or random number, and if not for its connection to Will then probably still something just as interesting.

We then see a shot of the doorway setting (except looking out from the perspective of the doorway). In this shot we can tell in the distance it’s quite hilly, but otherwise very sandy (from memory, I think people have speculated that this is def California). In this shot we can see the helicopter is kind of hovering (maybe moving forwards), but definitely not moving vertically. The cars are moving forwards, though.

The shot after this is very interesting (i feel like ive said that a hundred times). 

It looks like the same setting/place as the doorway, which leads me to theorise someone has blown up the doorway. I can’t tell what those white things are on the ground, but they kind of look like sacks. There’s also the person standing before the fire. It’s hard to tell what their reaction is to seeing this, since we don’t see their face and it’s so far away, but we can probably cancel out them being any kind of government-related person due to the clothes they’re wearing looking very casual. White pants, a blue flannel shirt, with a white shirt underneath, and dark (could just be the silhouette) hair. This persons’ build also looks quite masculine.

After this is cuts to black, and the music returns to its originally joyful tone.

***

Thank you for listening to my analysis, it’s actually the first I’ve posted on tumblr (or anywhere, for that matter). I don’t know how I’m meant to end this, but if you want me to do more, contact me ig?

happy stranger things watching

[sigyn-obsessed]

Loki/Sigyn with Frigga Liv 

credit to @speciallittle-snowflake for these prompts

tw: for miscarriage, stillbirth

1. Accident or well-planned?

She was an accident, but a very wanted accident. They had tried for years to have a baby, but had basically given up years prior. This isn’t Sigyn’s first pregnancy though, she was pregnant with twin boys but she ended up having a stillbirth at 5 1/2 months. That really breaks Sigyn to pieces, and that makes her very nervous with this pregnancy. She’s waiting for something to go wrong but it never does. 

2. How do they find out, when? Do they regularly do tests, or one day the pregnant suddenly remembers that they should have some cycle (i didn't have period for three months in a row. Hm. Suspicious)

Sigyn begins experiencing symptoms and doesn’t really put it together until Loki mentions that she hasn't been this sick since Narvi and Vali, their twins they lost. That widens her mind and the next day she goes to Eir, expecting her to tell her she’s fine, she’s just got a cold. Eir does not say that, and instead confirms her suspicions. After a series of questions, Eir basically says, “Yep, you’re pregnant.” 

3. How do they tell the other one? How does the not-pregnant one react?

Sigyn doesn’t know how to tell Loki. Originally she kept it a secret. She doesn’t want to get his hopes up. She eventually tells Nanna, her sister who has Forseti, her nephew and begins asking how to tell him. Loki walks in on their talk and feels like Sigyn is keeping something from him, she spills and tells him, and while he’s hurt she didn’t immediately tell him, he understands the hurt he would feel if something went wrong. But he knows he needs to be there for her, no matter what. 

4. Who is more nervous (terrified)?

Both are equally nervous, Sigyn is worried that something is going to happen and worries every time she’s going to a doctor's appointment. Loki is more worried about being a father and how he had such a bad father, how is he going to be a good one? He has no one to look up to. However, both regularly talk each other down, with Loki saying nothings going to happen, and Sigyn telling him he’ll be the best because he knows what not to do. 

5. Do they want to know the gender of the child before the birth?

They don’t know due to the technology, but both have this feeling it’s a girl. They’re right, but both can’t imagine having a boy, since they lost their only boys. They’d love having a boy, but just can’t imagine it. 

6. How does the preparations go?

Loki takes control of this, he doesn’t want Sigyn to worry. He puts everything together, with the help of Thor. They settle in New Asgard, with the best healer possible, Eir, and Loki’s family, Thor. Sigyn wants Thor to be a part of this child’s life, since he understands how surprising it is that they’re having a baby. 

7. Baby shower?

Thor throws them one, much to both’s apprehension, but the citizens of New Asgard are actually quite sweet, and understand that Loki has changed. They basically realize that if their King (Thor) likes him, they should too. Also, Sigyn is so lovable, many can’t really find anything wrong with her, she’s a hard worker and they realize how much this baby is wanted. 

8. Is the not-pregnant one not caring (just... nothing changes, cause pReGnAnCy Is nOt An iLlNeSs), caring (I won't let u hold this heavy groceries, dear) or got super wild and is acting like a complete moron (Don't u dare wash this glass, u r pregnant, u can't move because it's unhealthy for the baby, i will do eVeRyThInG)?

Loki is so caring that people are quite shocked. Many know him for the horrible things he’s done, but he’s good to Sigyn, and he’s good in general. Sigyn really reels him in and makes him realize he’s not the same person he was years prior. He’s free and he’s going to be a father, he needs to be his best self for their child. 

9. Rides to the shop in the middle of the night, cause pregnant Person A suddenly feels like they'd eat pumpkin-flavored ice cream?

Both walk around late at night to the small shop that’s open all night to pick up Sigyn’s snacks. The owner of the store loves seeing them, and loves seeing the two together, being kind and caring. He has children of his own and he understands those cravings. He also loves seeing her bump change, one day it’s barely there, the next day it’s large. 

10. Do they have a name? Or they argue over how to name their child?

Sigyn wants to name the baby Frigga, which not only warms Loki’s heart thinking of his mother, but Frigg means “beloved.” This child is so loved before and after it’s born that they realize they are “beloved.” Liv, their middle name, means “life.” Overall, their child’s name means “beloved life.” If it’s a boy, they have no clue, both are so set that it’ll be a girl they really don’t even think about it. 

11. Is going into labor unexpected (Hey, don't panic or anything, but might be that my waters just broke or something?) or it happened on the day they did expect it?

Sigyn has pain that is usual, she feels pain all the time, but this pain feels different. It feels like when she lost the twins, so she panics. She immediately goes to Eir, who calms her down. She tells her it’s completely fine. About 6 hours later though, she thinks she peed herself so she laughs with Loki until she looks at it and says, “That’s too light to be pee.” They both panic this time. SHe runs to Eir who basically tells her to prepare for the wildest ride of her life. 

12. Is the not-pregnant-one in the room while their spouse is giving birth? Who is more terrified?

Yes, of course he is. He will fight anyone who tells him he can’t be. Both are terrified, Loki more because he hates seeing his wife in so much pain. Sigyn is scared something will happen and the baby will be a stillborn. Hours later though, Frigga is born completely healthy, though she is a bit small, but overall, she’s fine. 

[gubler-me-up]

Dream’s in Motion

Request: Hi!! I was wondering if you could do something where the reader and spencer have been friends for a realllly long time & one night on the plane she ends up falling asleep on him or something and all the sudden it makes him realize his feelings & he’s like oh fuck i really like her and he ends up telling her and idk just something really cute??

A/N: Thanks for the request, anon! Sorry this took AWHILE to write omg idek what’s wrong with me. I guess doing marketing work is taking all my creative juices away from me because by the end of the day ya girl be exhausted. That being said I’m glad I finally got to publish this cute fluff! Hope you enjoy!

Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!reader

Category: ~fluff~

Content warning: Like one swear word

Word count: 1.7

————-

Spencer walked up to Y/N’s hotel room door to see if she was ready to meet the team downstairs to leave for the jet back to Quantico. He knocked on her door and waited patiently for her to open up. Ever since they became friends five years ago when Y/N joined the team, they’ve made it a tradition to make sure they were both set to leave for the jet to go home.

Y/N opened the door with a huge smile already plastered on her face. She had her to-go back ready in her hand. Spencer smiled and held out his hand to her. She obliged and gave him her to-go bag. From the very beginning he would offer to carry her to-go bag out of courtesy. Before Y/N would refuse to let him carry it because she felt bad but he always insisted he would do anything to make her day easier.

“You’re such a gentleman, Spence. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how sweet you are,” she said as she closed the hotel room door.

He smiled. “You act as if I’m carrying you on my back.”

She giggled. “You might as well be.”

“I would if you wanted me to.”

“I’ll remember that next time I’m too tired to walk to the jet.”

They both laughed as they walked towards the elevator. The rest of the team was probably downstairs in the lobby waiting for them. They were always the last two to arrive which raised eyebrows and raised higher suspicions as to if they were just really good friends.

When they stepped into the elevator, Y/N was telling him something about what she was going to do when she got home but he found himself lost in her eyes. He found himself doing it often lately and felt bad whenever he did because he loved hearing her talk. He loved watching her smile once she remembered the little details in her story she forgot. He loved the excitement in her eyes whenever he had anything to add to her story.

Having Y/N in his life felt like an upgrade to him. They were always there for each other and understood each other deeper than anyone else. He probably spent more hours with her on his days off than he spent alone. The more they saw each other, the happier he was. It was unreal to him because no one person had ever made him feel a sense of euphoria before.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, they both could see the team waiting in the lobby. As they walked up towards them the looks already started to float around. Morgan’s eyebrow squiggled up as he gave Spencer a fascinated look. JJ tried to conceal her smile. Hotch looked at them unimpressed by their tardiness. Spencer and Y/N played every look off as cool as possible instead of trying to defend themselves.

“Nice for you two to finally join us,” JJ said.

“Better late than never,” Y/N said.

“Ten minutes late though?” Morgan asked.

“It’s been 10 minutes?” Spencer asked.

“We’ll discuss your time management skills on the jet. Let’s go,” Hotch said.

“Yes, sir,” they both said.

Spencer sat on the couch reading a book as everyone else on the jet was sleeping. It was the middle of the night by now as they were flying back to the east coast. He didn’t fall asleep like everyone else because someone was keeping him up. Y/N was still fighting sleep as she tried to finish her crossword puzzle next to him. He would quietly chime in here and there to help her out but she wanted to complete one on her own. She was still extremely grateful for his input as her brain slowly shut down.

She yawned for the fifteenth time within the hour. Spencer looked over at her to see her looking blankly at the crossword in front of her. He smiled as he placed his hand on the page. It took her a while to notice which told him she was even more tired than he originally thought.

“Y/N, I think you should get some rest. You’re really tired,” he softly said.

“But I want to keep you company,” she said through another yawn.

He blushed. “You just being by my side is company enough. You don’t have to be awake.”

She looked at him to give him a faint smile as her eyes could barely stay open. Without another word exchanged between both of them, she laid down with her head on his lap. Before she drifted off, she looked up at him with sleepy eyes as he looked at her surprised.

“You’re okay with me sleeping on you right?” She asked.

He nodded his head. “O-of course.”

She smiled one last time before making herself comfortable on his lap again. He picked up the blanket and draped it over her. He looked at her to see she had already drifted away. He felt the flutter in his chest again. He usually felt those flutters when they were alone. Even in a plane full of his team members and friends, she was the only one he focused on.

He put his book down and let out a deep sigh as he thought about this feeling inside of him. He looked at her peacefully sleeping on his lap. He liked how she was comfortable with him and he liked he could be the one to bring her comfort.

He sighed again as he took a moment to think about every time he and Y/N were together. The way she would look at him made him feel like the luckiest man out there. Every time they touched gave him a burst of energy. Her whole presence made him feel as if he was on another planet every time.

‘Oh fuck, I really like her,’ he thought to himself.

When he finally came to terms with it in his mind, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it the whole jet ride. He didn’t even attempt to continue reading. No amount of words in his favourite book could distract him from the feelings he had finally come to terms with.

He looked down at her again. He brushed a piece of hair away from her face ever so gently so she wouldn’t wake up. Even in her sleep she smiled at his touch. He felt his face radiate as he saw her small smile appear and fade as she drifted back off to dreamland.

He stared out into space as he thought about her. He thought about how he would properly express himself to her without embarrassing himself. He didn’t even know if she felt the same fluttering feelings towards him. He pondered the whole way back to Quantico. Was telling her worth risking their friendship? Would she even reciprocate her feelings back to him? He understood if she didn’t but he secretly wished she would.

After a two hour flight, they were finally back in Quantico. It was the middle of the night so everyone was in a hurry to get in their cars and make their way home to get a decent night’s sleep. Spencer and Y/N walked to her car together as they hadn’t parked so far away from each other. Even though she was still tired, her profiler senses were still on point as she saw Spencer gripping the strap of his satchel tightly.

“Is everything okay, Spence?” She asked.

“Yeah, of course,” he said.

“I didn’t sleep on you too hard, did I?” She joked.

“No, not at all,” he chuckled.

“So, what’s up? You think I don’t notice you gripping onto your satchel for dear life or your nervous expression?” She asked.

Spencer immediately stopped gripping his satchel strap so tight and fixed his nervous expression. Well, he tried to. Y/N raised an eyebrow as she wasn’t buying his attempt to avoid her questions.

“Are you trying to avoid answering me?” She asked.

“No, I would never,” he said.

“Seems like you would since you’re doing just that right now,” she said.

“It’s just…it’s hard to express,” he said.

Y/N looked at him in shock. “Dr. Spencer Reid finding it hard to express himself? Unheard of. It must be something really complex.”

“You can say that,” he said.

As they reached Y/N’s car, she grabbed his hand which had found itself back on his satchel strap. She held his hand close to her and he could feel his palms getting sweaty. He felt his face getting hot again as well as she looked deep into his eyes with that smile he loved so much plastered on her face.

“Well, you can attempt to express it to me,” she said.

At the moment she said those words, Spencer found his hands grip the side of her face and pulled her into a kiss. Y/N didn’t even pull away to question it and wrapped her arms around his neck to let him know the kiss was well received. As they parted lips, Spencer looked at her with a face coloured deep red. Y/N giggled at how flustered he looked.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t even know-”

“That was really hot. Like really, really hot.”

Spencer looked at her in shock. “Really? It wasn’t weird or awkward?”

Y/N shook her head. “Not at all. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long while but I’ve been too chicken to do it.”

“Really? You like me too?”

“Like? I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, good doctor.”

He chuckled. “Maybe we can discuss us over dinner sometime?”

“Only if we can do more of this.”

Y/N embraced Spencer in another quick kiss to seal the deal. When they parted Spencer couldn’t help smiling widely as he looked at her. He stroked her cheek as he got lost in her eyes.

“We can definitely do more of this,” he said.

“Finally,” they heard JJ and Morgan shout.

They turned to see they were both walking by on the other side. They gave them two thumbs up each with overjoyed looks on their face. Spencer and Y/N giggled as they watched how excited they were for them. They both knew they weren’t the only people who were waiting for a move to be made.

—–

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MASTERLIST

[mrsgiovanna]

The Escape Route (Yan! Don Giorno x Fem!Reader)

A request from a lovely nonnie mouse asking how the Don would handle his darling attempting to escape from his home. A bit of a drawn out scenario... I really hope you enjoy the read.

TW: Manipulative relationship dynamics, possessive behaviour, yandere behaviour

Word Count: 2.7k

Your brisk walk was slowly turning into a run as you worked your way through the busy streets of Naples. With your breathing ragged and eyes darting around to make sure nobody was on your tail, you tried to think about how best to put your escape plan back on track.

You knew that Giorno’s influence extended further than most, but you hadn’t expected him to have the power to derail every single option you had thought of to escape from his overpowering grip. You had been running around for hours now, from station to station, none would book you a ticket to anywhere, every cab ride was hastily halted after a dubious phone call… resulting in you being unwillingly ejected from the vehicle each time. So there you were, running into the more dangerous parts of Naples, frantically looking for some kind of shelter to house you while you thought of what you would do next.

Thankfully, you found a tiny inn, sparse amenities, small and far removed enough you thought, to not be on Giorno’s radar. The kindly old lady didn’t ask many questions, and you paid with the cash you had been slowly hiding away for such an event.

You couldn’t pinpoint when your relationship with Giorno had descended to this but you knew that if you stayed any longer his charming brand of captivity would best your common sense and you would be trapped forever. With Giorno, you had access to anything, no request was too demanding… in exchange though he required you to be within his confines at all times, listen to and obey his honeyed instructions with minimal fuss, and to not run off in the occasions when he did take you out of the mansion. I’m just keeping you safe he said… little did you know that the most dangerous one of all was the Don himself with his hypnotic gaze.

To give him the benefit of the doubt, it could have been much worse, he never harmed you physically, never pushed the intimacy boundaries further than you allowed… in your moments of weakness, it was you who had sought out his embrace. The absurdity of it all- vacillating between love and hate for this man, and so to protect the fraying thread that held your sanity together, you decided to make a run for it. It was not an impulsive idea, you had spent the better part of the year planning your grand escape, trying to imagine every way in which your plan could go awry and possible solutions to the problems. Ironically, this was a habit that you had picked up from Giorno himself, and should your plan actually work, it would be quiet poetic- escaping using the traits of your captor against him. You had gathered small amounts of cash here and there, not enough to rouse anyone’s suspicion, and made sure that any and all evidence of you memorizing the layout of the surrounding areas was completely erased. Perhaps the most difficult task of them all, was to lure Giorno into false sense of security regarding your disposition towards your situation. In the weeks leading up to your escape, you had flawlessly played the part of the dutiful ‘wife’, listening attentively, spoiling him with gentle touches and loving gazes, making sure to build up your affections gradually, as if they had been blooming naturally so as not to trigger any suspicion.

Finally, you saw your opportunity to make your move that morning. Giorno had to leave early to meet with a few associates from Japan, so you rose with him, and watched as he got ready, helping him with his hair and doing up his tie. Looking up to meet his crystalline eyes, you noticed he considered you with an expression you haven’t seen on him before.

“What is it tesoro? Why are you looking at me like that?” you asked in a gentle tone.

“You’re… just so beautiful… would you like to come with me today? I’m sure they would love to meet you… I call them associates but in actual fact one of them is a relative of mine. You’ll only be bored for a little while; after that we can do whatever you would like to,” he asked with a gentle smile. You thought about how you were going to answer, ultimately you knew you didn’t want to go, favoring your grand escape instead, but denying him that quickly would definitely set off alarm bells in his mind.

“Ah! Perhaps next time my love, I’m not going to be good company today, I woke up with a bit of a headache… I’ll probably go back to bed and sleep it off after you leave,”

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to make you feel any better bella, I hate the fact that you’re hurting,” Giorno cupped your face in his hands and gently stroked your cheeks with his thumbs, “get some rest bella mio, I’ll be back to check on you as soon as I can,” kissing you on the forehead he left without another word. Waiting for him to be completely out of the villa, you watched as his car exited the driveway before quietly packing what you could, mentally going over your checklist more times than you cared to count. Since your change in attitude, the staff at the villa were more accepting of your whims, partly to do with the fact that Giorno had instructed them to do so - within reason, but also, because you had won over their trust and if you had to be honest with yourself, there was nothing you could fault them for. The dynamic Giorno had with them was not ruled by fear, but rather by admiration… all of them being drawn in by his charisma. Managing to maneuver your way through the mansion and out an exit that saw you climbing over a hidden portion of the eastern wall surrounding the villa, you had finally been outside the confines of the villa on your own for the first time in well over a year.

In the car on the way to meet with his guests Giorno was preoccupied. He had noticed the gradual change in your behavior and as much as he would have loved to give you the benefit of the doubt, a nagging inclination that you might be lying always clouded his thoughts. He loved you- entirely- even though there were days in which you rejected his affections, he was patient with you… eventually you’d understand, the dangers that lurked in every corner made your captivity, as you so unceremoniously called it, a necessity. He had grown so accustomed to making decisions with little to no advice, he had adopted that stance in his personal life as well. He rationalized that once you had accepted the fact that his actions were all borne from his desire to protect you, your lives would be peaceful, until then, he would be patient, enduring your tantrums and snide remarks with the grace of an aristocrat… which only upset you further. To Giorno, you were to be looked after, protected- treasured, and so no matter how much you had tested his patience in the beginning, not once were you ever hurt or taken advantage of. Violence and shackles were much too unrefined for a gem like you, so to correct your behavior, the young don resorted to other, less threatening means of discipline.

“Don Giovanna? We have arrived,” shaken out of his musings by his consigliere, his attention was drawn to the fact that they had arrived at their destination ready to discuss the matters at hand.

“Thank you Lorenzo, would you check if the staff has everything ready while I greet our guests?”

“Of course, excuse me,” with that, Lorenzo had left, hastily attending to a call as he walked.

“Ah, welcome to Italy, I take it you and your associates have settled in well?” said Giorno with a polite bow, being mindful of the cultural conventions of his esteemed guests. Drinks were ordered and everyone present had settled down in the private lounge, except for Lorenzo who had been animatedly conversing on the phone for enough time to make his absence felt. Frustrated by what he was tasked to do, he abruptly ended his conversation and sought out Giorno to give him the news, finally, the staff at villa Giovanna had realized you were gone.

“Don…”

“The expression on your face can only mean one thing… when did they notice?”

“A few minutes ago, she couldn’t have gotten too gar given the timeframe… what would you like me to do?”

“You stay here and keep our guests company, I’ll handle this…” not even bothering to alert the driver, Giorno collected the keys from the valet and zoomed off. Making a short drive even shorter, he arrived home in foul mood, although he did assign some of the blame to himself, recognizing his fatal error when he ignored his gut feeling, he was disappointed at how easily you had managed to slip from his grasp and wondered if his staff had been plotting with you all along. He would have to address that later on though, his primary concern now was to locate you and bring you back home.

“Mista, I have a special request to make, please come to the villa, bring Fugo with you,” said Giorno in a quick call, there were few who he trusted more than his underbosses, and this task was something that required only the most competent people. After a short explanation of the situation at hand, both men had already started making calls to the relevant people in an attempt to thwart your plans.

You would think the most frightening thing about Giorno would be his god-like requiem ability. But over and above the raw power he possessed was his reach, the world seemed so small, as if it had rested comfortably in his elegant hands- and you had been getting reminders of this inescapable fate over and over again. By the time you had given up on the idea of escaping through any traditional means of transportation, you must have tried fifty different avenues, each attempt failing more spectacularly than the last. Having had enough, you resigned yourself to the fact that you would not be leaving Naples immediately, and found refuge in the outskirts of the city. You climbed the rickety staircase behind the lady as she prattled on about her day.

“Shall I get you something to eat dolcezza? You look like you could use something warm and comforting in your system. In fact, let me do just that, you get settled in so long,” said the innkeeper before you had a chance to interject. Deciding to take a shower to wash off the day, you took comfort in the fact that this place was so remote, you were almost certain you were safe for the meantime. The tiny bathroom was a far cry from the palatial one you had grown accustomed to while being in Giorno’s villa, but it served the same purpose, only this time, you had your freedom. The place was peaceful though aside from the sound of what must have been a car backfiring and the small creaks from the natural expansion and contraction of the dwelling, it was quiet enough for you to calm down and organize your thoughts. Now that you were comparatively more at ease than before, you felt the strain of the day in your body, aching muscles, sore feet and cuts and scrapes that began to smart affixed a slight grimace to your face as you rummaged through your belongings to find some sort of pain relief.

A sharp knock on the door disrupted your search. You stayed silent for a moment, contemplating if you should ignore it or answer.

“Dolcezza, I’ve brought you a small snack, you’re going to enjoy it,” you just wanted to crawl into bed and forget the day you had, but you also didn’t want to snub her kindness, you reached out to unlock and open the door.

“Buongiorno tesoro… enjoying your little excursion? Marina here was kind enough to show me to your room so I could surprise you… seems like it worked, look at this charming expression,” turning to the smiling woman, Giorno nodded for her to leave. Your heartbeat thundered in your ears, you wanted to cry, to run, to jump right out through the hazy window but your feet were rooted to the ground.

“Well (y/n) … you’ve been running around Naples for the entire day, have you found what you’re looking for?” his usual honeyed tone was laced with derision as he critically eyed your surroundings. “is this what you were so desperate to escape to? Look at this place… look at the condition you’re in… how is any of this better than everything I’ve given you?”

“I have my freedom here…” was all you could muster as your mind raced thinking of how he had still managed to find you despite all the precautions you had taken. “Giorno, how…”

“How did I find you? I always have my ways…” he said, sauntering over to the window, opening it just enough to make eye contact with whoever was outside, dismissing them with a nonchalant wave of his gloved hand. Pulling out his cellphone, he showed you the opened application, explaining that he had been using it to track your location, following the signal from the diamond earrings he gifted you on your birthday, carelessly left on when you had made your hasty escape. In all fairness, you hadn’t considered that the dainty gems were anything more than that. Feeling your legs starting to give out under you at the revelation that you were the cause of your own undoing, you sat on the bed hanging your head in defeat.

“Freedom, you say? Tell me how has that worked for you?”

“That’s not fair! You’ve basically controlled every single encounter I’ve had, and even when I thought I had escaped you by coming here, you still somehow managed to manipulate the situation…” you shouted, tears of frustration running feely down your face.

“Stop being dramatic, the world is full of horrible people, everyone is looking out for themselves, I wish you would realize that… tell me tesoro, how many people turned you away? Threw you out of their cars, made up excuses to deny your requests? Not one of those people looked into those pleading eyes and thought you were worth helping. Why? Because people are selfish…”

“You… you threatened them all, you…”

“You give me too much credit, it’s not like I was going to kill them, I hate violence, despite your disappointingly low opinion of me, even you have to admit that I’ve never done anything to physically harm you… all I want is to protect you, you don’t understand how things work out there,”

“It’s not like you’ve ever given me the opportunity to find out how things are… I”

“Some people are just meant to be loved and protected tesoro, isn’t that enough? Why would you want to risk being hurt to get a taste of something that’s actually not even worth it… you’re not cut out for this life… I’ve been here so I know this isn’t what you deserve. You’re coming back home with me,”

“But, I- “ you attempted to interject but his intense glare halted you.

“(y/n), I’m very patient under most circumstances, but please don’t test me now, I won’t say it twice…” said Giorno with a slight bite to his voice, it was clear he was growing tired of this conversation, and you were losing your will to fight back. With a quivering lip and misty eyes, you moved to gather your belongings but was stopped by the young don, arguing that he can replace whatever is there, wanting no other reminders of this transgression to follow you both back. Resigning yourself to this fate, realizing there was nowhere beyond his reach, you grasped his outstretched arm and followed him to the car to return to your life of opulent captivity. Months and months of planning all resulting in nothing, it became glaringly obvious to you that escaping was futile…