#i have a video about nope i actually finished the script for today

[powerfulkicks]

still gonna probably not be on tumblr very much bc it's awful for my mental health but i might pop in from time to time

also i'm gonna start making youtube videos! i haven't posted anything yet but watch this space https://youtube.com/@zincthemetal?si=oryZ689ZPh1w5M-J

[daveinediting]

So this is about yesteday’s project... but the part where I realized to whom I owe a particular thanks. Here’s what happened:

I spent most of yesterday organizing footage into categories and identifying the most likely sound ups from each of the team members as well as a number of choice group interactions. And I created the few graphics called for in the script. The idea being to have a mental image of all these pieces as if they were on labeled shelves, waiting for me to pull them into a finished work.

It's a great way to operate, by the way. I don't always choose this option. But this project, based on the client’s desires for it, required that kind of prep. Including not thinking one bit about the music.

It's a choice, of course. Maybe an offbeat one given the client was looking for something kinetic. But because I knew all that motion would come from the actions and activity and interactions of the team members, I blew off the music. Didn't give it any thought.

No kidding. I knew this was the way to do it. So that's what I went about doing. And when I finally put it all together, when I got a good sound mix for everything but music...

That's when I started thinking about what the music should be.

Now, for these projects I use a music library. So right off the bat you've gotta be thinking search terms. Interestingly, I had guitars on the brain for some reason so I started there. It quickly became obvious that the song I was looking for would have a kind of vamped introduction that would open up wide. A reflection of what I’d done so far. 

Within a short bit of time, I had four cuts of music that fit the description. Each one a different sound from the others. So I tried one...

Nope.

I tried the next...

Nope.

And the third one. Well... the third one is actually the point of this story. 

The lesson occurred at the beginning of my editing career. At the time, and because I was a musician, I always cut videos to music. I always chose the music first and cut to the beat. With one producer, though, the moment I started looking for music, she waved me off of that endeavor. She told me to cut the piece — a thirty second promo featuring the UW mascot, Dubs, and the then UW president, Richard McCormick — she told me to cut the piece without music.

Wait. Without music???

Trust me, she said.

So I cut the promo according to my own sense of timing, my own internal beat, if you will, and when we were done, the producer had some ideas for the kind of music she wanted.

Now, from this distance I don't remember how many cuts of music we tried. I'm thinking... five?

However many it was, we tried the first one...

Nope.

We tried the second one...

Nope.

And so on until we tried the last one and BAM.

It worked.

What do I mean it worked?

The piece looked like I'd cut it to the music. It fit. It was perfect.

And that's the way it was today. I had four different pieces of music with the same underlying structure and, while the first two weren't right, the third one was BAM.

Perfect.

It conjured just the right vibe across all the right places. Which is exactly the moment it hit me where I'd learned to work this way. From whom I picked up this way to cut something.

Ann Coppel.

Back at the start of my editing career. Long enough ago that it's just something I know how to do and when to do it when, in fact, it was a fantastic lesson I learned one day. From someone who knew there was more than just the one path to great work.

Thank you, Ann.

🙂

[laladellakang]

[Vlog] 델라의멀티로그🐟🎓🖤😉❕ - ENHYPEN (엔하이픈)

masterlist | wattpad | requests / ask enhypen

italics dialogue = english | bold + [] = video captions

della's vlog where she tries to do what all they boys did in theirs

! this isn't really requested but i needed to make this 'cause i have writer's block and need to find my groove again !

[ 🐻 Good morning, ENGENE~~~ Hello, it's me, DELLA!! ] [ I'm greeting you barefaced today. I'm going to film a vlog!!!! ]

Della started her vlog off by waking up. Unlike last time, however, she's actually in her bed.

The camera was all up on her face and there was lofi music playing.

[ Oh no, Jjeongjeong saw me... ]

She pretended to act all shy before showing the camera that it was her stuffed cat.

[ Ily SUNOO-ya ㅋㅋ❤️ ]

✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄

"Today! I will be doing all the things the members did in their vlog!" Della was sat criss-cross on her bed. "I'm the only one who doesn't have a vlog since they are too 'cool' to ask me to be in any of theirs," she bent her two fingers at the 'cool.'

"Well to be fair, I don't enjoy fishing, I'm just graduating, I'm not a Hanlim student, I'm not a part of Jungwon's family and I'm not a Music Bank MC- but that's not the point!" her inner rapper came out. "I will be doing what they did within one video!"

"First!" Della suddenly went quiet, racking her brain for what to say and do. "I am... Not going fishing.."

[ Uhhh ]

"Oh but they bought groceries! I'm gonna buy groceries!"

[ Hooray! ⭐️ ]

"So the members gave me a list on what they wanted," the camera was facing the supermarket's ceiling with Della whispering directly into the microphone. "I'm whispering because I don't wanna catch attention," we could then see Della's face again when she placed the device on the cart.

[ Members come first! ]

"Jay-oppa asked for quite a lot, I think he wants to cook something," she leaned down to speak quietly. "Maybe it's roast chicken since he asked for a whole chicken."

[ It was roasted chicken! It was soooooo yummy ]

"I usually go shopping with some of the members but I'm alone this time, so- and I don't think I've ever gone grocery shopping alone too, sooo," she bit her lip and paused a little.

[ Are you watching this, HEESEUNG-oppa? Baby DELLA is doing well, huh? 😌 ]

"It's gonna be a new- ooh! Tanghulu! Strawberries! I frickin' love strawberries!" she whispered aggressively.

[ Got distracted... ]

"Maybe I should buy fish and cook it sometime.. Yeah, let's buy fish."

[ Fishing! 🐟 ]

The next clips just showed Della picking up stuff and placing it in her cart.

"Okay- in retrospect, this is pretty boring to watch. I'm really sorry," she spoke quietly again.

[ Sorry, guys 😞 ]

"Maybe I should've gone fishing- actually, nope, it's all good. We still have three more things to do!"

[ Great vlog idea, DELLA �� ]

"Where are you going on Sunday? Inkigayo!" Della pointed a finger gun to the camera. "Hello, I'm Inkigayo's MC, Della," she shook a peace sign beside her face.

"We are now in the SBS green room," she spun the camera to show the area. "I'm lucky to have my own since I'm the only girl..." she thought about what she said for a few seconds. "Wait a second! I'm the only girl in the group too, why don't I get-" the next clip was added before she could finish her sentence.

"So this is the look for today," she was now standing up and showing her outfit. "A sailor-type of concept."

[ Let's go fishing!!!!! ]

"We just did a table read and should go live soon," she peeped outside of the door. "Unlike Sunghoon-oppa, our script is on a cue card right belo-"

"Della-ya!" she jumped before quickly turning around to reply with a 'yes?' "Is that a vlog?!"

[ -Right below the camera 👍 ] [ Cameo from a fellow MC and bandmate ✨ ]

"No no no, I'm not letting you show on camera," she looked like she was restraining someone back.

"Why not?!" anyone could tell that it was Choi Yeonjun.

"I wasn't in your vlog so why should you be in mine," she scrunched her face with a light glare.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry- but to be fair! It was our first day-"

"You were in my first day vlo-" it then cut to a blank screen.

"Hello, I'm Tomorrow x Together and TYD's Yeonjun," he finally appeared by her side and gave a wave to the camera.

[ Our 4th Gen It Boy 🥴 ]

"It's almost time for us to go live so we will see you again soon, byee!"

Della was then seen MCing on set. The camera was completely focused on her and covered Yeonjun and Bumjune.

[ Hope you liked the broadcast! ]

"Now I can eat!" she placed the camera down on the table in front of her. "Everytime we do a broadcast or a music show or well- basically anything in front of the camera, I always eat half of my food before and the other half after."

[ Unless we eat in a restaurant 😁 ]

"I don't wanna be too full, y'know?" she paused to take a big mouthful. The editors censored it with her picture though. "Mmm! So good!" she said with a small dance once some of the food has gone.

[ Wiggle wiggle ]

She covered her mouth with a giggle when she realised something.

"I wanna ask you guys. Listen- I don't know one girl who doesn't do a little dance or clap or make a small sound when they eat something yummy, what about you guys?"

[ Do you also do it or do you know someone who does? ]

"If the members eat something yummy, they go like 'wah!'" she said with an exaggerated deep voice. "Sometimes my baby also does the little dance like 'mmm,'" she repeated the wiggle.

[ My baby SUNOO ❤️ ]

"Why am I talking about this? We have to get to the next part of the vlog!"

"Guys, I'm actually graduating today!" Della exclaimed. She was still in her room.

[ I am God's favourite ]

"It is one o'clock at the moment. The ceremony is at three and the graduates have to be there at two-thirty or so," she showed the clock on her phone (additionally showcasing her OT8 lockscreen).

"The graduation in my school starts quite late in the afternoon. The other members'- except Jake's, of course, have them in the morning," she placed the camera down on her desk.

[ So we have lots of time to get ready! ]

"And we don't wear our uniforms to the ceremony! We wear formal outfits," she stepped back to show her dress. "We'll also be wearing the gowns later."

[ Of course mine has to be a black dress ]

"Jake-oppa wore a suit in his graduation but none of y'alls saw it," she shaded. "That guy acts like he's soo secretive when basically the whole world knows that he used to go to Dwight."

[ Sim Jaeyun slander time 🤭 ]

"He only posted that ONE picture of us in our uniforms and that's the only time he openly admitted to being a Dwight student," she sighed dramatically. "Is he ashamed to be in the same school as me?"

[ No, I'm not -JAKE (not DELLA at all) ]

"Okay, that's enough. Let's take a look at what the boys are wearing, shall we?" she took the camera with a mischievous look. "Guys! Can I see your outfits?!"

(the top furthest left is della's and it's up to you guys which boy gets which outfit)

"Ooh nicee, whose members are these?" she had a large grin on her face. "Hot damn!" she turned the camera towards the boys.

"Hello," "Engenes!" they all waved to the camera.

[ Don't they look dashing? 😍 ]

"Oh wow, maybe I shouldn't have shown you guys here 'cause our living room's a mess," Della muttered, making the boys laugh. "Maybe I'll post a picture on Weverse or Twitter once this vlog gets out."

[ Posted! ]

✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄

"Hello!" Sunghoon appeared in an outdoor-looking place with a mask on. "We have arrived at the school and we are waiting for the ceremony to begin," Jungwon came by his side and into the frame.

[ I'm not allowed to hold onto anything so the members will take over! ]

"The ceremony is indoors but the weather is amazing today," Jungwon squinted his eyes a little upon looking at the sun. "It's sunny but not too hot."

"Have you guys ever seen Della's school up close?" Sunghoon turned the camera to show the campus with the rest of the boys standing near some shrubs. "It's like the schools in dramas, really."

"Oh you're right!" the camera started zooming in on the five boys slowly. "F5," then the Sungwon started singing to the Boys Over Flowers OST.

[ ... ]

✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄

"Guys, we got Della a massive bouquet of her favourite flower," Sunoo said excitedly while hugging a (truly) large bouquet of roses.

"This is from Enhypen, Della's family and the staff. It's from all from us," Jay came to stand beside him. "Della's parents brought it here- thank you, 부모님," he gestured to the side. [bumonim : parents]

[ Thank you, my loves ❤️ ]

"Hello!" Della's dad's hand made a small cameo. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie. We love you!" he made a finger heart while her mom joined him with a 'we love you!'

[ They're so cute 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 I love you! ]

"We're going to head inside since the ceremony is about to start, let's go!"

The boys sat in the audience, waiting for Della to go up to the stage. Their faces were the only ones who weren't censored.

"Della Kang," a roar of cheers from her very extra supporters erupted, causing the headmaster (who is the one to firstly congratulate the graduates) jump in surprise.

[ 😅😅 ]

The clips showed her walking on stage, receiving her diploma and having the string of her cap placed to the right side from the left.

It immediately cut to her standing on stage with her friends for pictures and finally throwing her cap in the air.

[ 🎓🎓🎓]

✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄

"No way" Della made her way to her parents after everyone was back outside. "This is so cute, oh my God! It's massive!" her eyes widened as she took the bouquet from her mom. "Thank you!" she held it with one arm and used the other to give them all a hug.

The camera captured their excessive photo-taking session as well as Della's parents' teases when Enha decided to take individual pictures with their daughter.

"Eh? Ehh?" "Aww!" "Eyy, what is that?! Closer!" "That's the way!" "EHEM!" "Woo!" "Kang Della! What are you doing?! Hug him back!"

[ Mom and dad... ]

"Hello! So we are now- oppa!" Della slapped Heeseung's arm. "Pay attention!"

"Ah! Yes yes," he stopped looking at his phone to pay attention to the camera. "We are here to eat jjajangmyeon in the restaurant that Jay likes."

[ Here again! ]

"We have wine this time for the adults," Della picked up her glass. "I actually really dislike alcohol but I have Heeseung-oppa's glass just for pictures."

[ Do not believe social media 🙃 ]

"My parents and sister are also here with us," Della directed the camera to them.

"Eh-" Niki and Jungwon looked at her with wide eyes.

"You guys have seen them, right?! On the internet? If you haven't then I'm sure they'll censor it," they have but the (additional) editors decided to still censor them.

"Hello," Della's mom waved and leaned her head on her husband's shoulder.

[ Eomma's so pretty 😍 ]

"You know my sister wants to be an idol?" a series of 'what?!'s and 'really?!'s were heard from the boys.

"No!" she hid behind Niki's arm. "Either an idol or badminton athlete."

"Just like your sister then?" "Just like Della," Niki and Jake said at the same time.

"But I think she wants to do badminton more because, unlike Della, she hasn't quit her training," Della whined at her dad's comment. "What?! It's not a bad thing. I'm just stating my observation."

"Ah, if you go the idol route, we might do a collab in the future," Niki told Jaein.

[ ENHYPEN x KANG JAEIN collab?? ]

"Really?!" she stopped hiding behind him. "We'll just see in the future."

[ Jaein's bias is NI-KI. Can you tell? ]

"Just keep training for badminton and if you realise that you like singing more then you know what to do," Della turned the camera back to her and Heeseung before resting her head on his shoulder.

Jay cleared his throat from her other side, making her giggle and switch to him but still lock arms with Heeseung.

[ JAY-oppa ㅋㅋ❤️ ]

✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄

"So the food's here and let's observe what everyone does when they eat good food," Della whispered to the camera. She looked up and waited patiently.

"Wah!" most of the boys said in unison while Jay and Niki let out a roar-like groan.

[ wAHHHHH ]

"Wait for it.." Della grinned and showed Sunoo, her mom and Jaein.

"Mmm!" cue the little wiggle.

[ See! ]

"See! What did I tell you," she laughed lowly.

"What are you on about?" Heeseung asked.

"Oh nothing," she giggled, placing the camera back and diving in.

[ I'm not gonna do it this time 😋 ]

Afterwards, Della placed the camera at a further angle, where everyone was visible. The audio was muted with an instrumental playing in the background.

[ Music by HEESEUNG-oppa and JAKE-oppa 😉 ]

The video went on just like that. Eleven of them having a pleasant conversation that was best left muted.

There was a time where the audience could see most of Enha laughing so hard that their faces were red and tears came out of Della and Jay's eyes.

[ My home ❤️ ]

The video ended with Della and Niki sat in the backseat of the car, her head reaching to rest on Niki's shoulder as they waved goodbye.

[ This is the end of my vlog ] [I hope you enjoyed it! I love you ❤️ ]

requests: —the boys with della's family —kang jaein might have a teeenie crush on our maknae

taglist! @afiaaaa19 @riikiblr @one16core @4sahii @toriluvsfics @i90snoo @danyxthirstae01 @seulgifted @clar-iii @hiqhkey​ @nichmeddar @jiwlys @duolingofanaccount [@studioreader @sarang-wonie @fairydosii @hoonstrology @jaetint]

[duuhrayliegh]

my hero - request

request: anon: hi could you write a sebastian x female reader fic where she suffers from anxiety and feels bad because of it but he comforts her and tells her there’s nothing wrong with her and how strong she is even though she has this disorder

pairing: sebastian stan x female!reader

warnings: self-esteem issues, anxiety, toxicity in the fandom, language?

a/n: hey nona! you weren’t super specific on what type of anxiety that you wanted to reader to have, so if this isn’t what you had in mind, lmk and i’ll write you another fic! other than that i hope you like it!

p.s.: my requests and tag lists are open!!

xoxo ray

check out my m.list

You and Seb met at a coffee shop in New York. It was totally cliche and seemed straight out of a storybook. You had somehow managed to spill coffee on that specimen of a man, and he was kind enough to let you pay for his dry cleaning. Your relationship didn’t grow until you ran into him again while you were at a bar with your friends. If he had any say in telling the story of how you met, he spotted you from across the smoky bar and he knew then and there that he had to get to know you. Truthfully, you liked his version, but the real one was just indescribable. It seemed, to you at least, that you were destined to be with this man. Seeing him twice in one week? Come on, that’s possible if you were in the small town you grew up in, but not New York.

You obviously had recognized him as an actor, but really you didn’t care. That’s what drew Sebastian to you in the first place. You treated him as if he was any other guy on the street, he was able to be a normal person around you. Now, two years later, you lounge on the couch of your apartment in LA that you shared with the man you love. He’s still auditioning for any role that catches his eye and you’re supporting him no matter what.

His fans for the most part adored you and your relationship with Sebastian. The fans who didn’t like you were your only issue with this whole affair, but they had nothing to do with Sebastian other than flood his socials with nasty messages about you. You weren’t perfect, that you knew all too well, and you tried to let the comments roll off your shoulders. Most of the time you were successful in your efforts, but other times they clung to your skin like an unwanted disease.

Sebastian was currently promoting his new project Endings, Beginnings. You were so unbelievably proud of Seb, he was doing something that made him happy. In this particular film, he was acting alongside Shailene Woodley, who was just amazing. Seb always came home gushing about the new inside jokes that they had come up with. One of your favorite things that Seb did with you was run lines. You liked having the inside scoop on his new works, but this one was harder for you. It had quite a few sex scenes between Seb’s character Frank and Shailene’s Daphne.

Not that it bothered you. Nope. Didn’t bother you. At all.

...mmm, okay maybe it bugged you a little. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Sebastian, it was… well you couldn’t really describe what it was. Whatever the case may be, it was putting you deeper and deeper into a funk, one that you were having a hard time coming out of. And Seb’s fans who weren’t in your corner, weren’t really helping you any.

A few nights ago, Seb surprised you with a casual night out in LA. He texted you before he got home and told you that he was going to be taking you out. Did he give you a dress code for the evening? No, he did not (wonderful, thanks so much Seb). You decided to dress in a half business casual, half rail me when we get home outfit. You ended up wearing an adorable bustier top that was embroidered with pretty blue and pink flowers, a pair of destroyed jeans covered your legs. You finished it off with a pair of nude heels, when you looked in the mirror, you thought you looked hot as fuck. It was around seven when Seb picked you up, mouth hanging open, in awe of your outfit.

“Oh my god. You look so beautiful, Y/N.” He opened the passenger door of his car after he hugged you, giving you a small peck on the lips. Sebastian drove you to a restaurant a block off of Thai Town called Home Restaurant.

“Babe, this place is so cute!” You squeezed Sebastian’s upper arm, jumping up and down beside him. “How’d you find this place?” Sebastian shook his head, smiling at you.

“I asked Shai, actually.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, and your heart sank a little. Why did it do that? “She said that the paps hardly ever come around here.” He leaned down pressing a kiss to your temple. “I thought that draga mea deserved a quiet night out on the town.” His voice rasped as he spoke in his native tongue, making a shiver race down your spine.

“Well, tell her I said thank you.” You offered him a small smile. He wrapped his arm around your waist, drawing circles on the exposed skin above your jeans. He spoke with the hostess as your mind drifted away. You were pulled out of your thoughts when he guided you to your table. Sebastian sat across from you, staring deeply into your eyes. You brought your hand up to rest your chin on it, staring back at him. “How’s everything been going?” You were genuinely interested in the answer and it made your heart warm watching his face light up.

“It’s been going really well. Everyone we worked with was real nice, it made all the scenes more comfortable.” Seb’s eyebrows rose at the mention of the scenes and you knew which ones he was referring to.

“Oh, right.” You tried not to let your emotions show.

“Yeah, we’re about to start teasing some of them to promote the show.” Seb sighed at the thought of having to use social media, you shook your head at him.

“I’ll help you with it, you dork.” You laughed to hide your discomfort. “Which scene did they approve for the posts?” Sebastian began to speak when he was interrupted by your waitress. After the two of you ordered your food, the waitress returned with your drinks. Sebastian took a large gulp of his before answering your previous question.

“They want me to post the trailer and then the scene between Frank and Daphne at the bar.” You tried to think back to the script, remembering the context. Frank and Daphne were meeting after Daphne had gone out on a date with Jack. Daphne was claiming that she didn’t want to be a wedge in their friendship, then proceeded to make out with Frank. If you were recalling correctly, Frank and Daphne’s first sex scene followed soon after.

“Okay, we can do that. Do you have any behind the scene pictures you wanna post too?” Seb got out his phone, scrolling through his camera roll to see. He had several different photos of him with Jamie and then him with Shailene. He showed you his phone on a picture of Shailene leaned against him on a couch, her arm over his waist. A red filter colored the photo, you had to hand it to him, it was a good one to use. “We can post it whenever we get home, love.” Sebastian locked his phone and shoved it in his pocket, to focus solely on you.

“How has your day been, draga mea?” You bit your lip as you thought about what you’ve been doing. You’ve been working towards your Master’s, so your days have been filled with preparing for your dissertation. On top of that, you’ve become a bit of an influencer on different social media platforms. Really, you believe your popularity came from your relationship with Sebastian. You’ve been giving his fans the content that they’ve always wanted. Not only that, but you’re active with them.

“My day was good today. I had to edit a few papers from my other classmates but other than that I didn’t do much. I did make a few TikTok videos, but really today was a bit of a lounge day for me.” Seb smiled at you, proud of how hard you’ve been working.

“I should be getting a few days off soon, so we can relax together in the apartment, if you aren’t too busy with your classes.” He stretched his arm across the table, palm up waiting for your hand. Seb pulled your hand up to his mouth, placing a sloppy kiss onto the back of it. His eyes settled on you lovingly. To Sebastian, you were the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.

The two of you managed to finish your meal in peace. No fans came up to Sebastian asking for photos, no paparazzi swarms when you left, just a quiet meal for a normal couple in love. After you got home and you were snuggled in your pajamas alongside Sebastian in your comfortable bed, he handed you his phone to read over his post for his Instagram. The paragraph was sappy, about his time working with Drake, the director, and working with the rest of the cast. Seb always was a softy, never was able to hide it, especially in promo posts.

“It looks good to me. Are you going to post it now? Or wait until tomorrow morning?” Seb debated, he probably should wait and do it tomorrow, but he was most likely going to forget to do it. He clicked post, putting his phone on charge and snuggling into you.

“Thank you for always being there for me, Y/N.” He kissed your jawline, nuzzling his face into your neck. “It really means a lot to me, baby. I love you so much.” He wrapped both hands around your waist, pulling you to his front. You smiled wide, momentarily forgetting all of your troubles.

“I love you too, Seb.” You turned your head slightly, pressing a kiss against the corner of his mouth. “Now let’s get some sleep, love.” Little did you know that a single post could ruin all of the progress that you thought you had made.

*********************

You woke the next morning, alone in bed. You could hear pots clanging in the kitchen of your home, bringing a smile to your face. Before you left the safety of your bed, you checked your socials out of habit. You opened Instagram first, seeing an absurd amount of notifications this early in the morning. Your smile dropped as soon as you opened the first post. Comments on Sebastian’s post about Endings, Beginnings and his chemistry with Shailene weren’t entirely out of the ordinary. They were to be expected, they were playing parts in a love triangle. People were ‘shipping’ Shailene with Seb and Jamie, so that wasn’t too crazy.

What hurt you were the comments saying, “living for shailene and sebastian! she’s a much better match for him than y/n.”

“never thought that y/n girl was going to last, glad he’s going w shailene”

“shailene and seb supremacy”

“yes! i’ve always supported seb in everything he’s done, but i rlly questioned him when he got w that y/n girl. what was he thinking?!”

Tears gathered in your eyes as you continued scrolling. You never thought you and Sebastian never fit. You knew that people had issues with your relationship, but you never let it get in your head this bad. You checked your explore page, pictures of you and Sebastian from last night were riddling the page.

Your heart dropped.

There were pictures of the two of you from last night with parts of your body circled. The exposed skin above your waistband, the excess skin on your neck and arms. You don’t know where they got these pictures, but your stomach was steadily sinking with each picture you saw. The door of your room opened, revealing a smiley Sebastian with a plate full of eggs in one hand and a cup of orange juice in the other.

“Good morning, baby.” You quickly shoved your phone away from you, wiping your tears away from your eyes to meet his. His brows furrowed immediately. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” You snuffled quietly, before answering.

“Uh, nothing. I’m just so proud of you.” You smiled at him, not wanting to bring down his already happy mood with your problems. Was that entirely healthy? Probably not, but you were doing it anyway, consequences be damned.

“Oh, well you don’t have to cry for me, Y/N. Even if you’re proud.” He walked up to your side of the bed, placing the cup and plate on your nightstand. He brought his hand up to your cheeks, wiping away your tear streaks. “You know that I only like to see tears whenever it’s me causing you so much pleasure you beg me to stop.” He winked at you, smirking at your rising blush. To say that didn’t lift your spirits for about half a second would be a lie. Sebastian brought the plate to your lap, waiting for you to start eating. At this particular moment, after seeing all those horrible pictures of your body, your appetite had gone out the window, but he was so smiley.

“After you eat, I want ya to shower.” Sebastian’s hand came up to your jaw, cupping it as you used it to chew the eggs. “We’ve got a long day of lounging and enjoying each other's company ahead of us.” Sebastian stood from the bed, throwing a wink at you as he left the room dramatically. You stopped eating soon after he left, the food tasting like ash on your tongue. At some point, you got into the bathroom, staring at the reflection in the mirror.

Your phone was in your hand again. The pictures flooding your Twitter feed. Shaky breaths left your mouth as you watched your reflection tilt its head. Tears began gathering in your eyes as it felt like you weren’t in your own skin anymore. You had worked so hard to be comfortable in your own body.

It’s amazing how just one picture can ruin everything.

You leaned forward on the countertop, hands holding up your weight. You shifted towards the mirror, examining every miniscule detail that your eyes could see. Your lids came down quickly, tears dragging down your cheeks. You squeezed your eyes closed, shaking your head back and forth.

“You are not going to let this get to you.” You took a few deep breaths as you turned on the shower. Not wanting to be around the mirror anymore, you kept your bath short, talking to yourself the whole time. By the time you left the bathroom, it was steamed completely, you couldn’t see your reflection even if you wanted to.

“He loves you.” You had a mantra and you continued to repeat it as you walked into your shared closet. “He loves all of you.” You pulled one of his old t-shirts off a hanger. “Sebastian loves you.” A pair of your underwear and his loose boxers covered your lower half. “Sebastian loves all of you.” You shoved your feet into a pair of fuzzy pink socks, leaving the closet still muttering to yourself. You tucked your phone into your waistband after checking your socials again. You know you shouldn’t have, but there was some part of you that just wouldn’t let you not.

The same shit covered your For You page on TikTok. Videos from the trailer of Seb and Shailene and then videos of you and Seb, comparing the two relationships. “They do fit well together.” You thought to yourself. A part of you wondering why Seb was with you in the first place.

“Did you say something, love?” Sebastian looked at you from the couch. A blanket was strewn over his lower half, his upper body inviting, waiting for you to join him. His smile dropped when he took in your glassy eyes instead of your usual happy expression.

“Oh baby, what’s wrong?” He started towards you, eyes running over your body for any outward injuries. An understanding look crossed his face when he saw your phone clutched in your hand. “Y/N, talk to me, baby.” Sebastian’s hands rested on your shoulders, lightly caressing your biceps. You recoiled from his touch, feeling uncomfortable in your own body.

“Just some stuff that some fans posted.” Seb’s thumb traced just under your eye, wiping away the tears. He held his right hand out for your phone, to understand what you were talking about. His brows furrowed deeply as he scrolled, not fully processing how destructive his fans could be. Sebastian always believed that they were the best fucking people in the world. He knew that they could be mean, but this was something else.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about, Y/N.” Sebastian’s voice was firm. It was almost strong enough to cut through the fog invading your brain, but not quite. You had officially zoned out. Dead to the world. Lost in your own thoughts. No matter how destructive those thoughts may be.

Sebastian noticed that you were already too deep, having experienced this with you many times before. He was aware that you were self-conscious, insecure, however you want to describe it. Your anxiety always got worse when you were stressed. Prepping for your dissertation was definitely a stressful time. Add on top of that, Sebastian was constantly pulling you from your work for various reasons. Had he contributed to this? Scratch that thought, he didn’t have time for that. He needed to bring you back down to Earth, back to him.

“Y/N.” His hands hovered over your hips. “I’m going to touch you for a second.” He directed you to the couch, settling on the coffee table in front of you. His fingers lightly traced circles onto your knees, as he assessed how he should approach this.

“Y/N. Baby?” Sebastian hesitated before bringing his fingers up to your chin, not wanting you to react badly. “I’m right here, Y/N, it’s Sebastian.” His left hand hadn’t left your knee, continuing to trace small patterns into your skin, giving you something to ground yourself with. He watched you blink and swallow harshly, inhaling sharply before opening your mouth.

“Why are you with me?” Your chin trembled with unvoiced sobs. “You deserve the world, Seb. I’m not even--” Your sentence was cut off by a loud whimper causing tears to start streak down. Sebastian wasn’t sure if this was a situation where you wanted him to be involved, so he waited for a sign.

“I’m not even worth a glance from you.” Your hand came up to wipe at your runny nose. “They’re so right. You need to be with someone like Shailene.” A bitter sob racked your body, making your body fold in half. Sebastian caught you before you hurt yourself.

“Y/N. I love you.” He always heard you say that to yourself when you thought he wasn’t listening. He knew that you suffered from anxiety, so he was always watching. Always paying attention to your little cues. The little things that he could use to help you as much as he could. “I love all of you.” He held one of your hands, running his thumb over the back of it.

“I don’t care what they say, baby.” He lifted your face to his, steel blue eyes locking with your cloudy pair. “I picked you.” He pecked your right cheek. “I want you.” A peck to your left. “I want only you.” One to your forehead. “It’s always been you, Y/N.” Another on your chin. “I love all of you, Y/N.” Sebastian landed a final short kiss to your lips, lingering for only a second.

“I want you to understand something, Y/N.” His gaze never left you. “I’m not going anywhere.” His brows raised as he hardened his voice. “I’m especially not going anywhere at the behest of my fans. I love them to death, but they don’t get to decide who I love.” Sebastian shifted to sit next to you on the couch. “Is it okay if I put my arms around you?” All he got was a brief nod in return, which was expected.

“I’m yours, Y/N. As much as you’re mine.” His arms descended around you, wrapping you in a loving embrace. You turned to face him fully, bringing your own arms around his waist, shoving your head into his neck.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with all my shit, Seb.” Sebastian almost missed your comment because you spoke into his shoulder and through loud snuffles. He backed away to look you in the face.

“I signed up for this, Y/N. I’m here for whatever we go through.” He tucked a stray hair behind your ear. “We go through ‘your shit’ together, Y/N. This is a partnership, a two-way street.” He looked at the weak smile on your face, heart warming slightly at the sight. His face turned serious, casting a glance at your phone on the coffee table.

“How long have you been sitting on this?” He knew how quickly your mind could twist things, so he wasn’t sure what to expect. You bit your lip, not meeting his eyes anymore.

“Just since this morning.” He held you away from his body, watching your expression.

“Is this why you were crying earlier?” You gave him a meek nod in response. “Baby, I thought we talked about this. We have to talk to each other when we think we’re going to go into a funk.” The two of you had talked about it before, but you didn’t think this was going to be a funk.

“I should’ve been able to just shake this off because I know you love me and you won’t leave me because of something that some people on the Internet say.” The words left your mouth before you could process everything, your mind quick to defend itself.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You don’t always have to be able to shake something off. We just have to keep each other in the loop.” Sebastian looked over your tear-stained face, pressing a kiss to your forehead again. “Let’s ditch the phones today. Just spend the day in each other’s arms, how’s that sound?” You smiled softly, nodding at the man in front of you. He got up quickly hiding both of your phones in the kitchen somewhere.

This definitely wasn’t a solution to dealing with your anxiety, Sebastian knew that. It also wasn’t dealing with the toxic people on the Internet, but you didn’t need that right now. You needed to be immersed in an environment that accepted what you were going through without judgement, Sebastian could provide that. Seb hummed happily when you snuggled into his side under the covers on your couch while he searched for a movie. He kissed the top of your head and he felt you smile against his stomach.

“I’m proud of you, draga mea.” You turned to face him, a confused expression lacing your features.

“For what, Seb?” He stroked your face with a single finger, mapping out your features.

“I’m proud of how you handle yourself. I’m amazed at how strong you are, even when you think you’re not.” He leaned closer to you, whispering his next words. “You’re my hero.” One corner of your mouth twitched upwards, not wanting to accept it. You rolled your eyes playfully, settling back onto his stomach before speaking.

“I love you, Sebastian.”

“And I love you, Y/N.”

[rosiehunterwolf]

There's Sand Everywhere!

(quick shoutout to @fires-of-ninjago for the title idea and inspiration for this- you remember that ask game where people suggested titles for fics and you had to come up with a story to go along with it? Well, he sent in this title, and I came up with this, and liked it so much that I screenshotted it and- here we are!)

Prompts: Summer and Heist

Word Count: 7,922

Characters: The whole gang (including Pixal) :)

Timeline: Between seasons 12 and 13

Trigger Warnings: none (holy shit that's never happened before-)

Summary: It was just supposed to be a day off. A simple beach day. But when your family consists of six ninja and a samurai, including a nindroid convinced he’s a detective, his reluctant sidekick, an aquaphobe, a girl who can command the sea, an unassuming teen who seems to attract every animal he crosses paths with, and a bunch of argumentative idiots, nothing is ever that easy.

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

“We,” Kai proclaimed, surveying the room, “Need a day off.”

Lloyd shrieked at the fire ninja’s sudden outburst, falling out of his chair. Jay broke into snickers, and Lloyd shot him a glare.

“Kai,” Zane sighed, “get off the table.���

Kai stuck his tongue out at the nindroid, but hopped down, anyway. “Look at you guys!” Kai waved his hands at the group for emphasis. Papers fluttered to the ground where Lloyd had knocked them in his fall, Jay and Nya were sitting on the ground, surrounded by stacks of books tall enough to be mistaken for some kind of fort, Pixal was gathering some of the papers that had gone everywhere, while Cole and Zane had only just paused in their task of boxing up and carrying crates to the far side of the room. “Filing documents and organizing? Boooring.”

“Tasks which you’ve been a big help with, by the way,” Lloyd grumbled, as Cole offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. He turned back to the desk, shuffling papers off of the keyboard of his laptop, the screen filled with lines of script and dozens of files that made Kai's brain hurt just to look at.

Nya pushed her reading glasses up her nose. “Jay and I technically aren’t working. We chose to do this of our own free will.”

Kai rolled his eyes at her. “What kind of psychopaths read for fun?”

Jay kicked his leg out, aiming for Kai’s ankle, but Cole quickly stepped between them, stopping the conflict before it could escalate into anything worse.

“We’re not reading them, we’re sorting them in order from most potentially useful to least so. They’re mechanics and engineering books. You never know when they might come in handy in a pinch.”

“Oh, because that’s so much more interesting. If you guys wanna spend all your free time geeking out, fine, what do I care. But what about the rest of you? C’mon, Lloydster. You don’t really wanna spend your entire day doing this,” he gestured at the laptop and paper-strewn desk- “do you?”

“It’s not about whether or not I want to. This stuff is important, Kai.”

“Lloyd’s right,” Zane agreed. “With all the crazy missions we’ve been on lately, we’ve neglected all our paperwork, and taking care of the Monastery.”

“It’s because we’ve been gone so long that we need a break!” Kai argued. “We just got done saving the entire city from an evil video game AI! If that’s not worth celebrating, I don’t know what is.”

“Technically,” Nya remarked, not even glancing up from the book she was skimming, “That was Jay who did that.”

Kai spluttered, ignoring the smug look on Jay’s face. “Okay, yeah, but we helped! And what about Aspheera? Or the Never Realm? That was all of us. And we didn’t have time to properly recuperate from that before we got launched right into Prime Empire!”

Pixal’s brow furrowed. “Y’know, he has a point…”

A frown flitted across Zane’s face. “I suppose we have been working for a long time…”

“That’s what I’ve been saying! Come on, let’s do something fun.”

“Not video games,” Cole groaned. “Jay and I spent the last three days playing a Lava Zombies tournament, and I’m all gamed-out.”

“No, let’s actually go somewhere. Like the-”

“The library!” Jay pitched.

“Or the museum!” Zane suggested.

“No!” Kai snapped. “Man, you guys are so lame. I meant somewhere fun. We should go to-”

“The beach!” Nya cried suddenly, standing up so quickly that she sent a pile of books toppling over. “Brilliant idea, Kai!”

“Wait, no,” he yelped. “That’s not what I was going to-”

But no one heard him. They were already scrambling to their feet, murmuring excitedly to one another.

“Guys, wait!” he cried. “Why would you want to go to the beach? It’s all sandy, and wet, and-”

“Don’t worry, Kai,” Nya giggled, “we won’t let the ocean hurt you.”

“That’s not-” he felt himself turning red as the others laughed. “That’s not what I meant! I just thought… wouldn’t laser tag or something be a lot more fun?”

The others glanced at each other, uncertain. Zane stepped forward. “Let’s take a vote. All in favor of laser tag, raise your hands.”

Kai lifted his hand, but no one else did. He scowled at them.

“And all in favor of the beach?”

Six hands went up.

“Seems like we have a clear winner. Let’s get going, shall we?”

---

“Do you have the towels?”

“All here!”

“What about the sunscreen?”

“Hold on- Jay, did you grab the sunscreen?”

“What?”

Lloyd cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling louder. “Did you grab the sunscreen?”

“Oh yeah, it’s here! Wait, do you have my-”

“Your what?” Lloyd called, walking over to him, passing Pixal and Zane as they came out of the kitchen. The female nindroid sighed.

“Can’t anything get done around here without everyone making such a racket?”

“Nope,” Nya elbowed her playfully. “When you’ve been with these idiots as long as I have, you get used to it.”

Pixal’s eyes widened. “I can’t imagine ever being used to all this.”

Nya smiled. “Did I mention I’m slightly deaf?”

“We finished making the picnic,” Zane told her, holding out the basket he was carrying. “Is everyone ready to go?”

Nya eyed the guys, who were running around the Monastery, barely avoiding tripping over one another. “‘Ready’ is an overstatement.”

“Hold your horses, we’re almost done,” Cole grunted, heaving the large beach bag over to them. “Have a little faith in us, Nya.”

Nya put her hand on her hip, waiting- and a second later, there was a crashing sound followed by an angry chorus of yells from Kai, Lloyd, and Jay.

Cole grimaced, rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, maybe you’re right to not have any faith in us.”

---

After an intense, fifteen-minute argument about what mode of transportation they would take, they ended up deciding on the city bus, and finally, finally got out the door. The bus ride went off without a hitch, for once, (except for a brief panic about not having the proper change for the bus fare, but luckily Zane had a few extra dollars on him), and before Nya knew it, they were staking out an area on Ninjago City beach. She was beginning to think this could actually work out.

Maybe.

“Check out my abs, dude.”

“They’re the same as last time.”

“Are not! I’m way more shredded than last time we went swimming.”

“Okay, that’s just a straight-up lie. I saw you sneak that extra piece of pie last night.”

“You better not be disrespecting my muscles, Flat Stanley.”

“Hey! I’m way more muscly than I used to be.”

“Are you kidding? We call you ‘green bean’ for a reason, and it’s not just because you’re the green ninja. You’re a twig!”

“I’m a twig? Have you seen Jay?”

“Hey, don’t rope me into this, green machine, and, for your information, I weigh a whole fifteen pounds more than you!”

“Yeah, well, you’re also two years older than me!”

“I think the lesson we need to learn here is that neither of you have abs anywhere near as pronounced as mine-”

Zane sighed, rolling his eyes. “Here, guys,” he held out a pouch to the group, “this is a waterproof pouch, you can store all your valuables in here.”

They quickly filled the pouch with phones, watches, and wallets. However, as Lloyd pulled back, he tripped over Jay’s foot, and half the guys collapsed into a pile, groaning.

“Jay! Get your foot out of my face!”

“Right after you get your elbow out of my ribs!”

Nya turned away from them, shaking her head. Glancing at Pixal, she asked, “Wanna help me get set up?”

The nindroid nodded, and they pulled the large picnic blanket out of the bag, unfolding it to lay it across the sand.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon,” Kai cried, “You get back here right this instant!”

Nya looked up from the blanket to see Kai running through the sand after Lloyd, his feet sinking into the sand with each step, making it difficult for him to retain his balance. He waved a bottle of sunscreen at the green ninja. “It’s sunny out today! And you know how easily you burn!”

“No way!” Lloyd whined. “You always make me stay out of the water for at least twenty minutes to let it set, and it’s way too hot for me to wait that long! I wanna go swimming now.”

Kai lunged for him, and Lloyd yelped, barely dodging out of the way.

“Over here, Lloyd!” Jay cried, already wading into the shallows of the ocean. “He won’t follow you into the water!”

Lloyd hurried after him, splashing up water as he went, accidentally splattering Kai and causing the red ninja to flinch back with a yelp. Sure enough, he froze at the water’s edge, glaring at Jay and Lloyd, where they stood, only about ten feet away, laughing at him.

Zane rubbed a hand over his face, sighing. “They’re both going to get skin cancer, aren’t they?”

“At the very least, they’re going to be bright red tomatoes,” Cole laughed. “Oh, it’s going to be a blast when they take showers.”

Zane stared at him, horrified. “Please don’t let Jay do that again. He had the worst blisters, last time-”

Cole held up his hands. “It was a joke, Zane! A joke!”

Zane narrowed his eyes and didn’t reply.

Nya laughed, grabbing Pixal’s hand. “Come on. Wanna go bodyboarding with me?”

Pixal glanced at her. “I don’t know how.”

“That’s fine.” Nya stepped on the board, flipping it up into her hand and handing it to Pixal, before grabbing a second one for herself. “I can teach you!”

“Thanks, Nya.”

As they walked down towards the shore, they passed Kai and Cole, who had finally managed to get Jay and Lloyd out of the water. Cole had his arms locked around Jay, preventing him from running away as Kai slathered sunscreen across his face. Lloyd was sitting in the sand beside him, pouting, his face already smeared in white.

Nya grinned at him. “Can you guys handle yourselves for twenty minutes if Pix and I go out bodyboarding?”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at her, and Kai rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine, Nya. I think you’re forgetting we save the city on a regular basis? We’re perfectly capable.”

Nya put a hand near Pixal’s ear, whispering loudly into it. “Betcha anything the beach will be on fire by the time we get back.”

The two ran off, giggling at the sight of Kai’s smoldering glare, before he could set them on fire.

---

To Kai’s credit, he did not set the beach on fire, or anything, for that matter, but when Nya and Pixal returned, they found him and Cole shoveling sand onto Zane, who was chest-deep by this point.

“Zane!” Pixal exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“When Kai told me he had something fun to show me, this wasn’t quite what I had imagined.”

“Aww, come on Zane!” Kai grinned. “I’m having a great time.”

Pixal shook her head, and stepped forward, grabbing Zane’s hand and pulling him up, sending sand cascading down everywhere. Cole and Kai groaned.

“Aww, come on, Pix, that took forever!” Cole muttered.

“Yeah, we were gonna shape it into a mermaid tail. Don’t you know how funny that would’ve been?”

“Humor is subjective.” Zane rubbed at his wrists. “Augh, now I’m going to have sand in my gears for weeks.” Shooting a glare at Kai, he added, “I’ll remember this the next time you ditch your swimming lessons.”

“Hey!” Kai yelped. “That’s totally different! Sand is warm, and solid, and most importantly, not dangerous!”

“You could suffocate,” Zane pointed out.

Kai scowled. “You’re a nindroid, you wouldn’t have suffocated.”

“You’re related to an elemental master of water. You won’t drown.”

“Being related to a master of water and being a master of water are two very different things! I control fire, not water, I can’t do anything to protect myself.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “You’re so lame. Remind me again why we brought our friend with aquaphobia to the beach?”

“Technically,” Zane said, raising a finger, “the word you’re looking for is thalassophobia. Kai doesn’t fear water in general, only large bodies, such as-”

“It was his idea,” Nya interrupted. “If it weren’t for him, we’d still be at the Monastery, filing papers.”

“I never suggested the beach!” Kai snapped. “That was your idea!”

“Yeah, well, your suggestions were lame. The beach was the obvious choice.”

“Hey,” Pixal interjected, suddenly realizing they were missing a couple of people. “Where are Jay and Lloyd?”

Cole sighed, pointing up towards their stuff, where Jay and Lloyd were struggling with a large, yellow duck inflatable that was very much not inflated at the moment. Jay had his lips around the mouthpiece, his face red.

“Blow harder, Jay,” Lloyd insisted, hovering by his side. “You’re hardly doing anything!”

Jay pulled his head back, breathing out heavily as the redness faded from his cheeks. “I’d like to see you do better! You’d probably pass out after a minute.”

“Would not!” Lloyd snatched the floaty away from him, blowing hard into the mouthpiece, putting even less air into the floaty than Jay had. His face reddened as he huffed desperately, although he still wasn’t making much progress. After a few moments, Jay pulled it away from him.

“Okay, that’s enough. I don’t want you to actually pass out.”

Lloyd glared at him, panting. “I wasn’t… going to… pass out.”

Jay sighed, grabbing the inflatable and staring at what looked to be the eyes and a very flat, crumpled-looking beak. “At this rate, we’re never going to get Mr. Quackington blown up.”

Lloyd’s nose wrinkled. “Mr. Quackington?”

Jay blinked at him. “Yeah, that’s his name.”

“No, it’s not! His name is Mr. Waddles!”

“Mr. Waddles? What kind of juvenile name is that?”

“Oh, like Mr. Quackington is any better!”

“It is! It’s loads better!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Is so!”

“It’s not!” Lloyd snapped, green energy sparking between his fingers. Jay glanced down at them thoughtfully. “Hey, what if…”

Lloyd was evidently catching on to Jay’s train of thought, his eyes lighting up. “We can use my powers to inflate Mr. Waddles!”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “Quackington.”

Lloyd bared his teeth, the small fangs glinting. “Waddles.”

Jay sighed. “Okay, whatever. We can use your powers to inflate Mr. Waddles.”

Lloyd grinned widely, whether about the promise of getting his inflated duck or having won the name debate with Jay, Pixal couldn’t tell. He held up a hand and formed a basketball-sized sphere of green energy. Jay’s eyes widened, and he held the mouthpiece up to the energy. Lloyd channeled it inside, watching with glee as the duck puffed up, the yellow plastic slowly tinging green, making the duck look like he was about to be sick.

Zane took a step forward, holding his hand out. “Lloyd, wait-”

There was a sharp snapping noise as the floaty popped, and Lloyd and Jay cried out in horror as the yellow pieces of plastic fluttered to the ground. Lloyd fell to his knees, gripping the busted plastic and wailing, and Jay landed next to him, crying, “No! Mr. Waddles, you were so young!”

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” Lloyd sniffed. “He was my best friend in the whole world.”

Kai threw up his hands. “Great. You spend the last several years of your life looking out for him only to get replaced by his inflatable plastic duck.”

“Oookay,” Nya said, walking over to Jay and Lloyd and ushering them towards the picnic blanket. “Someone’s obviously been out in the sun too long. Go sit under the umbrella and let’s have something to eat.”

“Good idea,” Zane agreed. “I’m sure we’re all getting hungry. Jay, could you grab the picnic basket? It’s right behind you.”

The lightning ninja grabbed the basket, peering inside briefly as he carried it towards them. “I hope you brought the Pringles. I could really go for some of those right now- augh!”

Before anyone could stop him, Jay was falling to the ground, the basket flying out of his hands and landing sideways in the sand.

“Jay!” Kai cried. “Look what you’ve done to our picnic!”

“Hey! That was totally your fault! Why did you leave your shoes right in the middle of the sand, perfectly positioned for someone to trip over?”

“Why were you clumsy enough to get in the way of my shoes?”

“Guys, guys, it’s okay,” Zane assured. Walking over, he carefully lifted the basket out of the sand. “I’m sure it’s still salvageable.”

“Yeah, but now all our food is going to taste like sand,” Lloyd moaned.

“Lloyd, the food barely touched the sand,” Nya pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter. Every time you go to the beach, if the food gets even remotely close to the sand, it always gets sand in it. Every time. It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe.”

“Well, I think you’ll survive,” she said, passing Lloyd a sandwich and a bag of pretzels. Lloyd took them, but narrowed his eyes.

“Brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘sandwich.’”

“Just eat your food, mister.”

Lloyd shot her a glare, but grudgingly obliged. As Pixal bit into her own sandwich, she realized Lloyd was right, she could feel granules of sand between her teeth as she chewed.

“Hey… at least it adds a little crunch, right?” Cole grinned.

Kai grimaced. “Next time, I elect we don’t let Jay anywhere near the picnic basket.”

Jay chucked a grape at him, but Kai turned at the last second, catching it in his mouth. “Ha!” His gleeful expression faded as he caught sight of something behind Jay. “Um, Lloyd, you have someone you wanna introduce us to?”

The group turned to see a seagull had approached them, tilting its head where it stood only a couple feet away from Lloyd. The green ninja was staring at the bird with wide eyes, an awed expression on his face.

“Lloyd,” Nya sighed, “please don’t tell me you fed it.”

“He’s not an it,” Lloyd snapped. “His name is Scully.”

“Great.” Nya rubbed her hands over her face. “We’re already into name territory.”

“Scully?” Kai’s nose wrinkled. “Isn’t that the name of the seagull from The Little Mermaid?”

“No, that’s Scuttle,” Lloyd sniffed. “They’re completely different.”

“Lloyd,” Pixal scolded, reaching for Lloyd’s wrist just as he tossed another chunk of his sandwich at the seagull, “Feeding wildlife is not a good idea, it can be dangerous-”

Lloyd shrieked suddenly as the bird launched itself at Lloyd’s face. He scrambled to his feet, screaming, and Kai lunged forward, pushing the others out of the way. “Move, move!”

“Get it off me, get it off me!” Lloyd shrieked as the bird’s wings flapped in his face, sending feathers everywhere.

“Blast it with your powers!” Kai called, looking worried but keeping a respectable distance.

“I can’t! He’s on my face!”

“Well, I can’t do it, I’ll set you on fire! Nya, you do it!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” the water ninja spat through gritted teeth, globes of water already forming in her hands. “I just need to get a clear shot! For the love of… Lloyd, stop moving so much!”

Lloyd hardly seemed to hear her. “He’s going to claw my eyes out,” he wailed, batting weakly at the creature.

“Nya!”

Nya quickly thrust her hands forward, sending a large ball of water at Lloyd’s head, drenching him and the seagull. The bird squawked angrily, falling to the ground.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Nya and Kai darted over to him, Nya taking his face in her hands as Kai peered over her shoulder. A small red scratch stretched across his left cheek, but apart from that, he appeared unharmed, just frazzled.

“Dude!” Kai cried. “You just got attacked. By a seagull!”

“It owned you!”

Lloyd shot Jay a glare. “Did not.”

“You should have seen your face!” Jay laughed. “Oh wait, you couldn’t- there was a bird in the way!”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “I’d like to remind you how you reacted that time when my uncle set that berserk chicken on us.”

“The chicken had lightning powers. Hardly comparable to a simple seafowl, bud.”

“Ugh, I hope this doesn’t get infected,” Nya muttered, running her finger along the scratch. “We should probably get you checked for rabies when we get home.”

“Nya, I’m fine,” Lloyd groaned, pushing her off. “A seagull isn’t going to give me rabies.”

Nya shrugged. “With your luck, I can never be sure.”

“This is why you don’t give food to wild animals, Lloyd, it makes them bolder-”

“Watch out, Lloyd!” Jay shrieked suddenly, and they whipped around to see the seagull had caught its second wind, squawking as it charged at Lloyd.

Lloyd shrieked, taking off down the beach with the seagull in pursuit. Nya sighed, putting a hand on her head. Kai grinned, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Do you think he’ll learn his lesson?”

“No,” Nya said without hesitation. “Absolutely not. That’s the sad part.”

“Hey,” Cole said, pointing a finger down the beach. “The volleyball court’s just opened up. You guys wanna play?”

“Sure. Tell Lloyd he can join us when he gets that seagull taken care of.”

Nya glanced towards the green ninja, who was currently lobbing balls of energy at the bird and missing by an embarrassingly wide berth. “Looks like it could be a while.”

---

“Great job, team!” Nya cheered, high-fiving Pixal and shooting a grin at Cole. “Although, if I’m being honest, the rest of you didn’t put up much of a competition.”

“Hey, don’t look at me!” Kai snapped. “I was carrying the team! Jay, Lloyd, were you planning on helping me anytime soon?”

“I was trying!” Jay insisted. “But you kept getting in my way!”

“Because every time I let you get the ball, you dropped it!”

“Hey! I never said I was good at volleyball, okay? Why are you attacking me, Lloyd sucked too!”

“It’s not like I ever had time to fit in volleyball practice between all my green ninja training! It wasn’t exactly a top priority!” “Are you telling me you’ve never played before?” Kai spluttered.

“I’ve played!” Lloyd insisted. “Uh… once or twice.”

Kai facepalmed. “Why did I let you come on my team?”

Lloyd grinned widely. “‘Cause you love me.”

Cole elbowed him. “It’s because he lost the coin toss and Nya got to pick first.”

“Hey!” Jay yelped. “Are you telling me you would have picked me last?”

“After I saw you play, yeah,” Cole snorted.

“I’m still not convinced on some of those calls, Zane,” Kai said, walking over to the nindriod. “I don’t think that one play near the third point was a foul.”

“Hey, the ref’s call is law,” Nya smirked. “Stop trying to cheat your way to victory, Kai.”

“I’m not cheating! Zane’s girlfriend is on your team! He’s obviously biased!”

“I’m a nindriod, Kai. I cannot be biased.”

“Stop being a sore loser, Kai.” Behind her, a wave swelled up. She raised her hand- then pointed it forward at Kai.

Her brother shrieked as the seawater drenched him.

“Nya! What’d you do that for?”

“You deserved it, with all the whining you were doing. Besides, you looked hot. I was just doing you a favor.”

“It’s alright,” Lloyd laughed. “You can share my towel, don’t worry.” As he handed Kai the towel, the fire ninja eyed it shrewdly.

“It’s got ducks on it. Of course it does.”

“Hey, you want the towel or not?”

“No, I’m taking the towel.” Kai wrapped the towel around himself, shivering, unfurling the ducks for all to see. Cole snickered, and Kai shot him a glare.

“Should we pack up, then?”

Zane nodded. “If we want to be back in time for dinner, probably.”

The team trudged back to their blanket, wet and sandy, but chatting amiably. They had nearly packed up all their things when Lloyd cried out suddenly.

“Where’s my wallet?”

Zane frowned. “Didn’t you put it in the valuables pouch?”

“I thought I did, but…” he paused. “Oh, wait. I tripped over Jay. I must’ve forgotten to put it in after that.”

“Well, then, it’s gotta be around here somewhere. What color is it, Lloyd?”

“What do you think? Green.”

They spent a good ten minutes searching through their entire bag and the surrounding sand, to no avail. It quickly became clear that if Lloyd’s wallet had ever fallen around here in the first place, it wasn’t here now.

Kai shrugged. “Oh well. It’s not that big of a deal. You don’t have any cards, and I don’t think you were carrying any of the cash. We can get you a new one.”

“No, but I had the things in there!”

Cole frowned. “The things?”

“You know.” Lloyd lowered his voice. “The things. That the mayor gave us?”

“What?!” Jay yelped. “Those were in there?” “You lost them?” Kai cried. “Lloyd, how could you?”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose!” Kai groaned, rubbing his face. “We should’ve never trusted you with them. Or at least split them up, so they weren’t all together.”

“I still do not understand.” Pixal frowned. “What are these things that are so important?”

“They’re a top-secret gift from the mayor,” Jay whispered. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone we have them. Not that telling anyone now would matter anyway, because we don’t have them anymore.”

“It’s not my fault!” Lloyd insisted. “It’s that stupid seagull’s, he’s the one who distracted me-” Lloyd paused, his eyes widening. “That’s it! The seagull must’ve swiped my wallet when it was chasing me!”

“Looks like we have a lead,” Kai growled.

“Wait a minute, does anyone else hear that mysterious music-”

“Oh no,” Pixal muttered, putting a hand on her forehead. “Zane, please don’t tell me you’re going to do this again.”

“It seemed that, after only a few weeks, it was time for me to crack yet another case.” The odd, deep voice rang out, and they turned to see Zane slipping on a fedora.

“Where did that even come from,” Pixal despaired. “I’m positive you didn’t bring that with you. Positive.”

“Again, I was to be accompanied by my trusty assistant, but this time, my highly trained ninja associates would also be coming along, all determined to reclaim what someone had stolen in the heist.”

Jay glanced between Pixal and Zane. “What is happening right now? Am I supposed to know what’s happening?”

Pixal shook her head. “It’s a long story. Just go with it.”

Zane tipped his hat down. “Already, we were off with a very promising lead. I suspected the culprit to be the feathered fiend that had been spotted lurking around at the scene of the crime only an hour prior.”

Kai snorted, placing a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Oh, this is gold! Did you mess with his voice again, Jay?”

“No, I didn’t touch him! Pixal, you didn’t…”

She shook her head. “Believe me, I wouldn’t do this if you paid me. It was all him.”

Jay grinned. “What do we do next… detective Zane?” He and Kai simultaneously burst into laughter, leaning against each other for support.

Zane side-eyed them. “The primary suspect was as clear as a black bear in a snowstorm, yet the whereabouts of the creature were still unknown. It had vanished into thin air, without leaving so much as a trace in its stead.”

“Hey,” Lloyd said suddenly, leaning down to pick something up off of the sand, “What about this?”

“It appeared to be part of the plumage of a species of avian native to these shores. Could it belong to the specimen we were looking for?”

Kai plucked the feather from Lloyd’s fingers, examining it. “The feather was white with a dark tip, definitely having originated from a seagull- although the spiked, disturbed edges implied that this was from no ordinary gull- it was from one who had recently been in a fight.”

Jay grinned. “It seemed like we had hit the jackpot. Already, we were one step closer to tracking down this culprit.”

Pixal groaned. “Don’t you two start, too. It was bad enough with just Zane.”

Nya grimaced. “Yeah, this is already getting annoying.”

“How is a feather going to tell us where the seagull is now?” Cole asked.

“I could sense the wind was blowing in from the northwest,” Zane narrated. “If we wanted to find the culprit of the caper, we would have to walk upwind, hopefully leading us to the source of the feather.”

“Alright,” Pixal sighed, “let’s get this over with.”

“And so,” Zane grinned, “The Great Gull Caper began.”

The team trudged up the beach for about twenty minutes, to no avail. They passed many other beachgoers, pointing and staring as the ninja passed, but no seagulls were in sight.

“Are you sure about this, Zane?” Pixal asked.

“The feathered suspect had gained an hour’s head start in its escape from the scene, meaning we would have to hasten our pace if we ever hoped to catch up.”

“Oh, I am not walking an hour just to find this thing. Are we sure it’s that important?”

“Yes!” the guys yelped in unison.

“It’s a very important gift from the mayor! It would be rude to lose it,” Jay said. “We have to get it back!”

“Couldn’t you just ask for another… whatever they are?”

“No! They’re one of a kind!” “Well, can we at least hurry this up? Frankly, I’m getting quite tired of Zane’s shenanigans.”

Zane grinned at her. “Although she voiced her disapproval, my assistant knew the efficiency of my methods, as they had gotten us out of a pinch the last time things had been amok.”

“First of all, I was the one who successfully found Dyer last time. You just ended up getting caught.”

“Perhaps, but you used my techniques.”

Pixal huffed. “Second, I don’t appreciate that you keep calling me your assistant. If anything, we’re partners!”

Zane adjusted his fedora. “So it was a promotion she was after, eh? Well, if my assistant could prove her worth by properly complying with my techniques in this case, she may find herself with a loftier position in the future.”

Pixal sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just find the stupid bird, and go.”

The group trekked after Zane again, and Pixal wondered how long they would be here, when Zane suddenly stopped, causing half of the gang to crash into him.

“What?” Jay yelped. “What’s wrong? Why’d we stop?”

Zane pointed near his feet. “It seemed like the culprit had been careless enough to leave behind tracks in the sand.”

Pixal peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, the tracks of some avian species left a trail in the sand- and after consulting her database, it appeared to match the foot of a seagull.

“We’re getting closer!” Cole said. “It has to be around here somewhere.”

Nya’s eyes went wide, and she pointed towards something in the distance. “Look!”

Down the beach, a large group of seagulls was flocking around a half-eaten pretzel, flapping their wings and squawking as they tried to push past each other.

“It could be any of them,” Lloyd despaired. “How are we going to know which one was the one who stole my wallet?”

Jay smirked. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Lloyd eyed him nervously. “How?”

“One seagull, in particular, has come to associate you with food. One seagull has been known to chase you down.”

“Oh,” Lloyd paled, taking a step back and waving his hands. “Oh, no, I do not like where this is heading…”

“Come on, Lloyd, do it for the team,” Cole pleaded.

“You are the one who lost them in the first place,” Kai agreed. “It’s only fair.”

Lloyd groaned. “Why do I let you bully me into these things?”

“Go on,” Nya gave him a gentle shove. “We don’t have all day!”

Sticking his tongue out at her, Lloyd stepped forward, towards the seagulls. Several of them looked his way, a few flapping their wings anxiously and squawking in warning. Lloyd stopped, swallowing.

“Um. Hey. I don’t suppose any of you have seen a green wallet around here?”

Jay rolled his eyes. “They can’t understand you. Get closer!”

“Okay! I’m going, jeez-” he broke off with a yelp as a seagull darted in front of him, nearly tripping him as he stepped on its tail.

The seagull shrieked, and, in a flurry of feathers, the flock broke into a frenzied panic. Lloyd’s eyes widened, and he cried out, running away and frantically ducking swooping seagulls.

He darted behind Kai as a last nervy seagull hopped after him. Kai held up a fist, which burst into flame, scaring the bird off. Kai glanced back at Lloyd, amusement sparkling in his dark eyes. “You okay, bud?”

Lloyd glared. “Don’t look at me like that. These birds are vicious!”

“Look!” Pixal pointed at a gull that had remained behind. With the others out of the way, she could see the small, green wallet between its beak.

“That’s the one!” Cole cried. “After it!”

For ninja, the group was embarrassingly unstealthy as they clamored after the bird, shooting elemental powers at it and screaming as they narrowly avoided each other’s blasts, so that by the time the seagull reached the water, the beach was a mess of crystalized sand, crevices in the ground, and various burn marks from fire, lightning, and energy.

“It’s a seagull!” Nya cried. “We’ve faced giant snakes, lords of darkness, elemental masters, Oni, more criminals and gangsters than I can count, and an evil video game AI, yet we can’t catch one measly seagull? It shouldn’t be this hard, you guys!”

“It’s getting away,” Jay cried, pointing at the bird, who had finally taken flight and was heading out over the ocean.

“No!” Lloyd moaned. “Now we’re never going to get it back!”

“Not on my watch,” Nya growled, racing past them towards the docks. “Come on!” “Oh no,” Kai groaned. “Nya Smith, whatever you are thinking, stop it right now, because I’m not doing it.” “Come on, Kai,” Lloyd insisted, grabbing his wrist and yanking him along. “We have to hurry!”

They raced after Nya, who was running down the dock towards a man who was examining the boats. Kai followed them more slowly, taking careful steps.

“Sir, we need to use a boat, right away! We’ll pay for it, we promise!”

The man shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but these are all private boats. The only one we have is that one,” he pointed to a small, worn-looking fishing boat, “and the motor’s broken, so it’s of no use to anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter, I can take care of that. Everyone, get in!”

“W-wait,” the man stuttered, looking flustered.

“We’ll bring it right back, I promise! Now, come on, we don’t have much time!”

“No!” Kai insisted, as everyone else piled in. “Nuh-uh. No way. Not in a million years. You are not bringing me out into the middle of the ocean in a tiny, crowded boat with a busted engine!”

“You don’t need an engine when you’ve got me!” Nya raised her hand, and the water swirled under the boat, rocking it slightly. “Now, come on, we don’t have time for this!” “Y’know what.” Kai took a couple of steps back from the boat. “I’m good. I’ll stay here. You guys have fun finding the wallet. I’ll cheer you on from the beach. The dry, dry beach.”

“Nope.” Cole reached forward, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him in. “This is your gift we’re saving, too. If you want to get part of it, you’re coming with.”

“Finally!” Nya huffed. The water rippled beneath them, and suddenly, it was propelling their boat, and they were off.

“Where’s the bird?” Nya asked. “Does anyone see it?” “Over there!” Cole pointed slightly towards their left, where the seagull was gliding away with surprising speed. Getting into the boat had slowed them down, and it had gotten a large head start.

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on.”

“Don’t go faster!” Kai yelped from where he huddled near the middle of the boat, protectively sandwiched between Lloyd and Cole. “If you tip this boat, I will never forgive you.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Nya growled, although the boat slowed slightly as they continued.

“Our team continued to chase the thief, determined to put an end to the Great Gull Caper and put the culprit to justice. Even when our path took us across the raging waters of the ocean, with nothing but a rusty, broken old boat, and deep, swirling waters around us, filled with the dark abyss and the creatures that lurked there…”

“You mean like sharks?” Lloyd perked, peering over the edge. “Did you see any? I wanna see one!”

“Nope,” Kai yelped, pulling himself into a ball as he sat down on the floor of the boat. “Nopety nope nope nope. I’m done. I’m outta here.”

“The prospect of sharks was a dire one, but one we were willing to take. We would get that wallet back, no matter the cost- even if it meant competition from this fierce predator of the sea.”

Kai screamed into his hands. “Just end me now!”

“What Zane means to say,” Pixal said, elbowing Zane sharply, “is that sharks are actually very off-put by the taste of human flesh, and do not go after humans on purpose.”

Kai stared at her. “Oh joy, now a shark can devour my flesh by accident, what a relief.”

“Do not worry, Kai,” she told him. “There is only one estimated death by shark per year in the greater Ninjago City area.”

“Knowing my luck,” Kai grumbled, “I’ll be that one.”

“Did anyone bring their phone with?” Lloyd asked. “I wanna get a good picture when the sharks come for Kai.”

“I call dibs on his katana,” Jay exclaimed. “Y’know, the super flashy one with the flaming dragon carved into the handle?”

Lloyd wrinkled his nose at him. “Why would you want a fire dragon on your katana? You’re the lightning ninja!”

“Hey, just because my element is lightning, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a super dope fire design when I see one-”

“Guys,” Cole sighed, pushing his way between the two arguing boys. “No one is getting eaten. We’re perfectly safe here, on this boat.”

“Cole’s right,” Pixal agreed. “The sharks around this area are smaller, reef dwellers, and won’t come after us. They may, however, come after our seagull friend if he gets too close to the water.”

Kai made a noise in the back of his throat, and Cole scowled at her. “Thanks for the help, Pix.”

“Nya,” Jay whined, “the seagull’s getting further away! We have to go faster!”

“Don’t!” Pixal cried. “This boat has not been manufactured to withstand a lot of weight. With seven people, especially when two of them are titanium, going too fast would be sure to capsize us.”

“I told you I should’ve stayed behind on the shore,” Kai wailed.

Lloyd leaned further over the edge, raising a hand to his forehead to keep the glare off of his face as he peered intently into the water. “Is… is that a shark?”

Kai stared at him. “Shut up. You’re just baiting.”

Lloyd shook his head, his eyes lighting up in a way that was not reassuring in the slightest. “I’m not! It’s a shark! It’s a real, live shark! I’ve never seen one this close before! Except at like, an aquarium!”

Kai closed his eyes, rocking himself gently. “You’re lying. You stupid liar, I hate you.”

Cole peered over, following Lloyd’s gaze, and promptly bit his lip. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“This is a dumb prank, you guys!” Kai was half-yelling by this point.

“Stop being so loud,” Lloyd hissed. “You’ll scare it!”

Kai blinked at him. “I’ll scare it?”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “A scared shark is an aggressive shark.”

Kai’s mouth snapped shut.

“I can’t believe this,” Cole muttered. “Did we really not bring any weapons?”

“No!” Lloyd yelped. “Cole, you wouldn’t!”

“I would if it kept us from being eaten.”

“For the last time, sharks don’t eat humans!”

Cole ignored him. “Well? Did we?”

Nya snorted. “Why would we bring weapons to the beach?”

“Hey, with how often this city gets attacked, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Nya rolled her eyes. “It was supposed to be our day off.”

“It’s fine,” Pixal reported, keeping a careful eye on the shark. “It’s swimming away now. As long as we leave it alone, we’re safe.”

Kai frowned. “Looks like the gull isn’t so convinced, though.”

Pixal glanced up. Sure enough, the seagull was eyeing the shark nervously, pumping its wings as it flew higher and higher above the surface of the water.

“Do something!” Jay shrieked. “If we don’t stop it now, it’s going to get away for good!”

“Lloyd!” Nya cried. “Is your wallet waterproof?”

“What?”

“Just answer the question!” “Yes! Yes, it is!”

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on, everyone!”

Suddenly, a vast wave rose out of the water, looming over the seagull.

Kai’s eyes widened. “Nya, be careful, you’ll hit us too-”

But it was already too late, the wave crashing down, downing the seagull, and soaking them in saltwater. The team cried out, and Kai screamed, throwing his arms over his head in a futile attempt to protect himself. As they all tried to lurch away from the spray, the boat rocked precariously, and, for a horrifying moment, they were suspended there, on the point between balance and capsize.

And then that moment was over, and they were all falling into the ocean.

Pixal’s world immediately dimmed as she plunged into the water, quietness enveloping her like a blanket. For a moment, she was too shocked to do anything, until a foot thrashed past her face, snapping her out of her trance as she swam towards the surface.

A couple of feet before she reached it, a metal hand snatched her wrist and pulled her the rest of the way up.

“Pixal!” Zane cried, his detective voice dropped. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What about everyone else? Are we all here?”

Zane nodded his head behind her, and she turned to see the others all within a couple of feet. Cole had his hands on the now upside-down boat, trying to use his strength to push it over, but it was hard for him to get a good grip and stay afloat at the same time. Just behind him, Jay was spitting out a mouthful of seawater, sending ripples across the surface of the ocean as he treaded water. Lloyd was doing the same a couple of feet away, only the green ninja was struggling a lot more because of the arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Don’t let me go, Lloyd!” Kai yelped, although the feat would’ve been impossible even if Lloyd had wanted to- the fire ninja was clinging to him like a barnacle. “I can’t swim!”

Lloyd sighed. “I know that, Kai. It’s the only reason I’m letting you hold on to me like this.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Kai cried. “We’re going to die out here. This is the worst day off ever.”

“Hey!” Lloyd snapped. “It’s not my fault this happened!”

Nya shot them all a sharp glare from where she was drifting alongside the boat. She didn’t even bother to tread water like the rest of them, instead using her powers to keep herself afloat. “It was going to work until you guys made such a big fuss about getting a little wet and tipped the boat.”

Cole sighed. “We’re not going to die. As soon as I get this right side up again, we’ll climb up and get out of here. Can you give me a hand, Zane?”

As the nindriod moved to help him, Kai suddenly went rigid.

“Lloyd,” he whispered.

“What, Kai?”

“Something just bumped my foot.”

“It’s probably just seaweed, Kai,” Lloyd sighed, looking down- and promptly froze.

“No one. Move.”

Jay squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh no, oh gosh, don’t tell me that’s what I think it is, this is not happening-”

“Jay, shut up,” Nya whispered, her face pale as she watched the dark shape lurking below them in the water.

“Everyone, stay calm,” Pixal murmured. “Don’t make any sudden movements and try to look it in the eyes.”

“Please, the last thing I’m gonna do is look at it,” Kai breathed, burying his face in Lloyd’s hair.

After a moment, the shark slowly swam past, losing interest.

“It doesn’t care about us,” Zane realized. “It wants the seagull.”

Several yards away, the gull was floating on the water, still trying to shake off the moisture from Nya’s wave. Suddenly realizing the danger it was in, the bird raised its wings- and launched itself into the air, just as fierce jaws snapped against empty air where the seagull had been less than a second ago.

Kai’s fingers dug tighter into Lloyd’s shoulders, and Pixal caught Jay biting his lip as he swallowed back a scream, but, its prey lost, the shark was already swimming away.

“Gotcha,” Nya murmured, reaching a hand out and snatching up the wallet, which the seagull had dropped in all the commotion, before it could sink to the bottom of the ocean.

“Okay. That’s great. We got it. Now can we get out of here?” Kai pleaded.

After a minute, they finally got the boat flipped over, and Cole hauled himself aboard before helping to lift the others. Ten minutes later, they were all safely out of the water and on their way back to the dock, and Pixal had never felt more relieved by the fact.

“So,” Jay asked, as the boat glided through the water, leaning closer to Nya. “Did they survive all that?”

“Let’s see,” Nya murmured, opening up Lloyd’s wallet. Pixal leaned forward, anxious to see what all the fuss had been about.

“Yes!” Jay cried, pulling out seven slips of paper. “They’re all here!”

“Wait.” Pixal snatched one from his hand, quickly scanning it. “A summer pass for free all-you-can-eat ice cream from the Dairy Dragon?”

“Yup,” Jay smiled, passing them out to the others. “The mayor gave them to us as a gift after we saved the city from Prime Empire. That’s what we were going to do today, after the beach, actually.”

“You’re telling me,” Pixal deadpanned. “That we just risked our lives. For free ice cream.”

“Free ice cream is free ice cream, Pix.”

“You’ll understand once you’ve tried their butter pecan,” Nya told her. “It’s to die for.”

“Butter pecan?” Jay spluttered. “No way, the Ninjapolitan is best.”

“You heathen, chocolate fudge is obviously the best flavor-”

“What are you guys talking about, mint chocolate chip is superior!”

“You just like it because it’s green.”

“Do not!”

“Do so!” Nya sighed, putting her head in her hands. “Here we go again.”

“Calm down, all of you,” Pixal said. “You can get whatever flavor of ice cream you want. Just do me a favor and try not to end up capsizing us in the middle of the ocean this time.”

Jay hummed. “No promises.”

[the-duke-of-nuts]

The Battle Over Wine

 After 3 months I’ve finally gotten around to finish writing one of the Loceit headcanons/prompts as a oneshot! This is the first fanfic I’ve ever written that’s in actual sentences and not in script form so forgive the MANY grammar mistakes and shitty plot for I am terrible at writing and don’t know how spacing works on Tumblr (*cough* Betas hit me up *cough*) ANYWAYS literally nothing in this makes sense but it’s fanfiction so roll with it. Hope you enjoy I guess!

Prompt/Headcanon by the amazing royalty of Sanders Sides headcanons/prompts @imma-potatoo: Janus and Logan constantly battle over which wine is better (they are both wine moms) Janus says red wine, Logan says white. They can and will get into hour long debates over this

Pairing(s): Loceit, Background Dukexiety

Word Count: 2,400

Warnings: Alcohol, Arguing, Blood mention (Nothing major just comparing the color to wine), Remus being Remus (Let me know if there's anything else)

It was a typical day at the mindscape for the Braincell Gays. They had just finished filming a video with Thomas about helping him with his mental health and his overworking issues. Janus thought both of their inputs and solutions were a success and decided to have some celebratory wine with Logan.

"Today was a success, wouldn't you say darling?" Janus said wrapping his arms around Logan's waist. "I must admit, today was pretty satisfactory, especially since we both helped Thomas with his dilemma and we were both actually listened to for once." Logan replied wrapping his arms around Janus' neck. Janus smiled and pressed a quick soft kiss against Logan's lips to which Logan of course reciprocated. "I say this calls for a celebration." Janus said. "What did you have in mind?" Logan asked, curiously. Janus smirked and summoned two empty wine glasses "I think you know~" "Ah yes, how can I forget your traditional celebratory wine." Logan playfully rolled his eyes. 

"Oh you know you love it".

 "You're correct about that." Logan chuckled.

 Despite both of them having "serious" and "professional" demeanors around the other sides they enjoyed the little moments where they can actually goof off and make each other laugh and smile during their alone time.

 "So, what will it be for the menu for today my love? Will it be the best and most savory of flavors of Roscato red wine, or are we feeling a little fancy and want to celebrate with champagne instead?" Janus asked. "Oh, well I was thinking we should have something far much more adequate like white wine." 

The sound of glass shattering immediately followed after Logan’s response,

 "I beg your pardon?" Janus stared in disbelief trying to process what his lover had just said. Logan, his darling, the light of his life, his beloved, had just disrespectfully claimed that WHITE wine was better than red in his own home! Well, their home and the other sides' home but that's besides the point! This is wine they're talking about here! "Well, I thought I made myself clear but I shall repeat myself, I said that I was thinking we should have something much more adequate than red wine which I suggested white instead." 

Janus took a deep breath in trying to keep his composure

 "Starling?"

"Yes Janus?"

 "You know I love you right?"

 "Of course I do, you show and tell me everyday."

 "Well you're making it reeeeeal hard for me to want to show and tell you right now." 

"Why? Is it because I was simply stating facts that white wine is much more superior than red?" Logan crossed his arms raising an eyebrow. "Those are NOT facts those are lies! Red wine is much more tastier than white wine!" Janus argued. "Yeah, if you have a figurative bitter tooth! Red wine is way too bitter and the sweetness isn't as flavorful as white wine!" Logan argued back. 

"Y'know considering the fact that we have to deal with 4 other nincompoops in this damn house you'd be glad that red wine is stronger than white!"

"Janus, just because red wine contains more ABV than white wine doesn't make it the better beverage!" 

"Oh says who!?"

 "The literal personification of LOGIC and literally anyone who isn't you!"

 "Okay you know what? That's it!" 

Janus has had enough of the ridiculous bickering and decided to take matters into his own hands by summoning himself, his darling nerd, and all of the other sides back in the same exact courtroom him and Patton were in trying to convince Thomas to go to the wedding or callback. 

"We're going to settle this debate once and for all!" Janus dramatically pointed at Logan. "Janus, this is ridiculous! Who exactly are we defending for this to be a courtroom scenario!?" Logan glared at his lover. "Ourselves and the law of wine!" Janus declared. "What the hell does that even mean!?" An annoyed, confused Virgil yelled from the jury box sitting next to Remus and Patton. "Hush Virgil the adults are talking." Janus said not taking his eyes off of Logan.

"We're the same age!" 

"ENOUGH chit chat and questions." Janus made Virgil cover his own mouth growing tired of his complaining and faced Roman "Now, your honor would you kindly read off the charges please?" "Oh, we're doing this again, well alright let's see here uh, The state of Logan Sanders yadda yadda yadda, Janus, prosecuting for the state of Logan Sanders, under oath, information makes that Logan Sanders... Count one: Unlawfully and disrespectfully claimed that one alcoholic beverage was better than the other. Count two: Has terrible taste in drinks but better taste in men. Count three: Being too damn attractive for this world. Count four: Making Janus break two perfectly good wine glasses. Count five: Unlawfully not participate in self care by leaving his books all over the floor whenever he falls asleep while doing heavy research when he's supposed to be taking a break causing Janus to place a bunch of bookmarks in said books and put them away for him." Roman read off the charges Janus summoned him. 

"And how exactly were those last four charges relevent?" Logan asked. "Because they are and you know it! Your honor, continue." Janus said. "Being so charged, Logan Logic Sanders, how do you plead?" "Not guilty." Logan said deadpan. "Count six for being too confident in that answer." Janus coughed out. 

Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head, he didn't know who was more dramatic, Roman or his lovable self care wine loving snake.

"To make this quick and effective we're going to skip the other nonsense and get straight to the point by giving our UNBIASED views to each person and have them decide to see if Logan is truly a horrible wine 'expert'." Janus said as he arrived at the front of the courtroom 

"Alright, fair enough. Prosecution, your first witness." 

"I would like to call Remus to the stand!"

Remus appeared in the witness stand and immediately stood up and was about to jump over it and run "I can't go back to jail!" "Sit down Remus you're not going to- Wait what do you mean back?" Janus looked at him after doing a double take. "Nothing! So uh what's the question?" Remus immediately sat back down trying to change the subject. 

"Alright Remus, red or white wine?" 

"That's it?" 

 "That's it." 

"Alright, uhh hmm..." 

Remus thought about it thinking of the possible outcomes that could happen if he chose a certain answer. Janus noticed him struggling to make a choice and had an idea and smirked 

"You know Remus, if you're having a hard time deciding, just putting this out there, red wine looks like you're drinking blood and I think you enjoy that thought VERY much~" Remus gasped and instantly became excited by the thought "OOH! You're right! I could even add bone shaped ice to give it that realistic crunching sound!" "Objection persuading the witness with a biased opinion." Logan said. "Overruled. It's not really persuading since we ALL know my brother actually enjoys anything gruesome like that regardless." "I sure do!" Remus cackled at Roman's statement. 

Logan sighed a little frustrated, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"I think I rest my case your honor." Janus smirked and blew Logan a kiss as he walked back to his table to sit down. Logan blushed and shook his head to quickly snap out of it and walked to the front and cleared his throat as he adjusted his glasses and tie 

“Remus."

 "Nerd."

 "You enjoy pranking and getting on Janus' nerves is that correct?"

 "Yes that is VERY correct." Remus snickered. 

"And you despise when he forces you to partake in proper hygene as well as making you eat actual ingestible foods unlike deodorant and other non edible items?”

"Yeah."

 Remus crossed his arms hating remembering the times Janus would force him to take a bath and purposely safety locking the cleaning supplies cabinets just so he had no other choice BUT to eat regular food. 

"You also are not how they call a 'lightweight'?"

 "Nope!" 

That was a lie. Remus could drink three cups and he'd already become a drunk chaotic mess.

"Okay, so hear me out here." Logan started and Remus leaned forward becoming interested in what he was about to say. "Remus, white wine is clear therefore you can always "pretend" that you're drinking water so Janus doesn't question it for self care reasons nor harass you about it." 

Remus went wide eyed at the realization and wagged his finger at Logan. "You... I like you... Keep talking."

 Logan smirked, he got Remus right where he wanted him and continued. 

"Also if you were to spill it there would be no noticeable stain therefore making it impossible for Janus to become upset."

"Wow, you make some VERY compelling points Four Eyes."

 "Objection! I don't appreciate you persuading my son with your biased statements by using me as examples." Janus interjected. 

"Janus, Remus is not your son!" 

"You're right, my apologies. I don't appreciate you persuading OUR son with your biased statements by using me as examples."

 Logan rolled his eyes and shook his head not wanting to bother arguing with Janus about his logic. 

"I believe I've made my points your honor." Logan walked back to his table. "Alright, can I go now?" Remus asked. "Almost Remus. We just need to know your final answer, then you may leave and sit back down with the other two." Janus answered. "Okay umm on one hand I very much LOVED Jan's point about how red wine looks like you're drinking blood buuuut I would have to go with Nerdy Wolverine on this one and choose white wine because I enjoy pissing Janus off." 

"Yes!" Logan whispered victoriously to himself. 

"Oh you rat son of a bitch of course you would-"

 "Language!" Patton interrupted. 

"English."

 "Spanish! Now you!"

 "German. No! We're not doing a word association game!" Janus yelled frustrated. "Aw, what's the matter my charming smooth scaled serpent? Realizing you're losing against Logic?" Logan smirked. "NO and don't you dare flatter me using snake related petnames when you're looking like that in a suit!"

 Logan smirked at Janus' flustered expression, "Alright, then bring out your next witness then." "I will! Remus, you can leave now." Finally!" A relieved Remus announced as he summoned himself back at the jury box. Janus summoned Roman to the witness stand wanting to get straight to the point. 

"Roman?"

 "Yes Janaconda?"

 "You're the romantic one out of all of us correct?" 

"Oh my god you already know he is just get to the point!" Virgil yelled from the jury box slowly losing his patience even more. "Since you are an expert on the matter, would you mind sharing with the court which wine do you think is more romantic on a date?" "Oh that's easy, obviously red wine." "Interesting, care to elaborate?" Janus smirked and glanced at Logan. "Of course! Imagine having a romantic candle lit dinner under the stars or a picnic date watching the sunset, red wine gives those beautiful moments of being with your beloved partner a general relaxing and romantic atmosphere and it also tastes marvelous with various different foods. I'm actually quite surprised Specs didn't side with red wine considering it's good for digestion." Roman stated. "Wow, you really ARE a romantic expert! I don't think I have any further questions." Janus smirked and walked back to his table. 

Logan went wide eyed there's no way he can convince Roman, his answer was obviously clear but it's worth a shot. 

"Roman, have you ever considered white wine being just as “romantic” as red?" 

"Not really no."

 "Okay, well uh it can because-"

"Logan, I know you're trying here but trust me I know what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, white wine is just as delectable as red but I'm gonna have to side with Janus on this one." Roman interrupted and summoned himself back on the judge chair. Logan sighed and walked back to his table, he knew by the amount of confidence in Roman's answer there was no convincing him. "Fair enough..."

"Alright, Prosecution next witness?" Janus decided to summon Patton in the witness stand next and smiled innocently clasping his own hands together "Patton~" "Uh I know this is probably a really bad time to bring this up now but um I don't really drink wine so I don't really have an opinion..." Patton blushed a little embarrassed. Janus sighed frustrated and put his head down on the podium and summoned Patton back in the jury box "Of course you don't." 

There was only one person left and that person was Virgil, it was 2 out of 2 and his choice would be the one to officially break the tie and put an end to this illogical ridiculous debate trial. 

Janus summoned Virgil in the witness stand " Alright Virgil, what do you think cause I'm sure we all know you don't have an important input." 

"You wanna know what I think!?" 

Virgil was fed up and snapped his fingers causing him and the other sides to appear back at the house and summoned two glasses of wine, one red and the other white. He shoved the glass of red wine in Janus' hand and the white wine in Logan's

 "I think the two of you dorks-" 

"Dorks. Whale penises am I right guys?" Remus interupted snorting. 

"-Should actually ACT like you both have a braincell and never debate about something as stupid as this ever again!" Virgil continued angrily. "Maybe the reason why they both don't have a braincell anymore is because they both fu-" Virgil interrupted his boyfriend from finishing his inappropriate sentence by covering his mouth and dragged him out of the room. Roman and Patton followed them not knowing what else to do. 

The Braincell Gays stood in awkward silence holding their wine glasses realizing their silly little arguement was stupid after all. 

"Truce?" Janus asked raising his wine glass. 

"Truce." Logan smiled and raised his glass as well. 

They both clinked their wine glasses together and drank their wine happily enjoying each other's company and soon made it up to each other by agreeing to have a self care day together the next day.

[kerikaaria]

If I Never Met You: Chapter 28

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Fluff

WC: 2.7k

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29

“Are you excited to see your boyfriend again, noona?” Jungkook cheekily asked.

“For the last time, he’s not my boyfriend,” I responded as I pulled into the parking lot.

“But you want him to be, don’t you?” Jimin chimed in.

“I’ve met him once, why would I want to date him already?” I really hoped their teasing would stop by the time we reached the filming set.

“Oh come on,” Namjoon decided to add his two cents. “You can’t tell me you don’t find him attractive. I saw those hearts in your eyes last week.”

“Yeah, he’s an attractive man,” I easily admitted. “But so are all of you. It doesn’t mean I want to date any of you.” I opened the car door, hoping they’d end the conversation there. The last thing I wanted was for them to continue this into the building, only for him or any of the staff to hear. But I also couldn’t make them late for their schedule.

Jimin and Jungkook found something else to laugh about while the four of us walked to the set, leaving me feeling relieved. But as we approached the door to our destination, Namjoon turned to me and flashed a mischievous smile.

“Well, your not-boyfriend is waiting by the door for you,” he said.

I looked a bit to the right of the door to see the person they were talking about leaning against the wall, looking at his phone.

“Hyung!” Joonie called out when we were close.

He looked up to see us approaching. “Hey guys!” he greeted, waving. “Nice to see you again.”

“We’re glad to come back again!” Jimin replied. “We had a lot of fun last week.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” their hyung who hosted the show said. “I have fun with you guys on set, too.” He then turned to me. “Nice to see you again as well, Y/n. I was hoping you’d be coming with them again.”

I shyly smiled. “Hi, oppa. And yeah, they finally decided it was better to have me here for it since most of the program is in English.”

“Oh, well I guess that means we’ll get to see each other more often, assuming BTS will be coming again next comeback,” he said.

“Oh, noona definitely wants to see more of you, Eric hyung,” Jimin said.

Eric raised his eyebrows at that and I turned to Jimin, an appalled look on my face. “You can’t go around saying things like that!” I smacked his shoulder. I looked back to Eric, chuckling nervously. “I meet you once and suddenly they’re teasing me and calling you my boyfriend. They won’t leave it alone.”

Eric’s expression relaxed and he laughed. “Well, we’d better get inside.” He held the door open for us, following us in.

This wasn’t the first, nor the second time any of the boys were coming to be on an episode of After School Club. They came here last year after N.O, shortly after their recent comeback with Skool Luv Affair, and Namjoon came on a couple times after that on his own as a guest host. Last week and today these three were guests again for the “After Show” episodes. I had secretly been hoping since we got them scheduled the first time to be able to come with them, but luck hadn’t been on my side.

Why did I want to come here so much? Definitely not because I am a fan of Eric Nam. Nope, that’s totally not it.

Okay, I wasn’t exactly subtle. And the boys all new it. I fell in love with his angelic voice when he released his first mini album, and I’ve been caught more than once jamming to his most recent song, Ooh Ooh. I was more than ecstatic that I was going to get to meet him last week. I would have been even more so if Kevin was here as well (I was also a fan of U-KISS of course), but unfortunately I’d have to hope to see him another time.

The boys chatted with Eric (luckily not about my non-existent crush on him) while we walked to the room where they’d read over their scripts before doing the rehearsal. When we entered the room, they all gathered their scripts to look over together while I sat on a nearby couch.

For a while, I sat on my phone to pass the time since there wasn’t really anything I could do at the moment. It didn’t take all too long for them to look over their scripts together – they were going to be doing a full rehearsal where they’d polish things out anyway. The whole entire show isn’t scripted, probably about half was so it was easier to piece everything together in a rehearsal.

There was still some time before the staff were ready for a rehearsal though, so once they all felt comfortable with their lines for now they turned to just chatting. Eric came over to sit next to me on the couch.

“So they’ve been giving you trouble?” He spoke to me in English.

I chuckled. “I mean, they just like to tease.” I continued the conversation in English as well. “They knew I was your fan, so they’ve been teasing me since even before we got here last week.”

Eric shook his head, laughing a bit. “I’m sure I said this last week, but I really do appreciate that, by the way. Not many people know who I am before I tell them myself. I was surprised to hear you knew about me from my debut album.”

“I tend to keep tabs on what’s going on in K-pop,” I said. “You have a wonderful voice, so it was easy to become a fan.”

“Thanks again,” Eric said, smiling sweetly. “Oh by the way, I was meaning to ask last week but forgot. Is it okay if we exchange phone numbers?”

“What?” I asked, not believing what I just heard. “You want my phone number?”

He nodded. “Yeah, if you want. You seem like a nice and fun person to talk to, so I was kind of hoping we could chat more. I think I have some friends you’d get along with, too. I’ve told Kevin about you and he wants to meet you as well.”

“You talked about me to your friends?” I absentmindedly handed him my phone when he reached his hand out for it.

“Yeah,” he responded as he entered his number in my phone. “Like I said, I think you’d get along with them, too. That’s why I’m glad that you came back this week, otherwise I would have had to ask one of them if they could give you my number.”

He called himself from my phone before handing it back to me with a smile. “Thanks, Y/n.”

“My pleasure,” I shyly smiled back. I looked over at the others who still sat at the circular table, and noticed Jungkook had his phone not so subtly pointed at me. “Jungkook, are you taking pictures of me?” I asked.

He slowly lowered his phone. “No, I was just looking at something.”

“Uh huh,” I made sure it was obvious I didn’t believe his lie. “What are you planning on doing with that?”

He flashed me that smile that was way too adorable and helped him get away with more than he should. “Nothing.”

Just a few moments later, there was the telltale notification coming from the group chat, and I could have guessed what it was without even looking. But I still did.

Kookie: Noona is happy to see her boyfriend again <3

That was the caption accompanying a picture of me and Eric smiling. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Jungkook, I swear I am going to take all your schedules away from you.”

He looked a little confused for a moment, before looking at his phone and then he had a look of realization. “Oh crap. I meant to send that to the chat without you.”

“Mhmm, I’m sure you did,” I replied. I quickly responded to the message, yet again insisting Eric is not my boyfriend and they needed to shut up.

Eric looked over my shoulder at the chat and laughed. “You got quite the handful to deal with there, huh?” He asked me in English.

“Yeah, you could say that again,” I responded. “Sometimes I regret taking this job.”

“Oh come on,” Namjoon said. “You know you love us.” He made a finger heart.

“And I have no idea why,” I said.

A staff entered the room to let us know that they were ready to start the rehearsal, thankfully giving an excuse to end the conversation.

The show filming wrapped up, finishing with a music video for VIXX’s Eternity (which I may or may not have been internally jamming to). We weren’t able to hang around after everything was done, so we didn’t really get any time to stay and chat with Eric. But I reminded myself that we exchanged phone numbers so I didn’t feel bad about that for very long.

“It’s a shame we can’t spend more of our schedules being on ASC,” Namjoon said when we were driving home. “I really enjoy being there. Eric is really cool.”

“Yeah, I think they are a lot nicer there compared to some other programs you’ve been on,” I responded.

I saw Jungkook nodding through the rearview mirror. “Well, at least we know we’ll get to go back after our next comeback right?”

“Hopefully,” I said. “It’s in the plans, but we can’t get anything scheduled until the comeback is all set to go. We still have to go to LA and finish up the next album first.”

“I’m so excited to go,” Jimin said. “Have you ever been there, noona?”

“No,” I responded. “I never really went on vacations, and had pretty much intentionally avoided big cities for the most part.”

“Seoul is a big city though,” Jungkook pointed out.

“Except for Seoul,” I laughed. “It actually helped me feel a little more comfortable with being in bigger cities. Before, they made me really anxious and I didn’t like it at all. But I’m a lot better now. Although, I’m still unsure how I’ll feel about Los Angeles…”

“I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Namjoon said.

When we got back to the dorm, I was unsurprisingly practically dragged into the boys’ home before I can set foot in my own. I resigned myself to my fate, this having become a common occurrence.

I quietly sat in their living room, next to Hobi. He turned and smiled brightly at me. “Welcome back,” he said. “Jin hyung is almost done making us dinner, so you came back at the perfect time.”

As if he was summoned, Jin called from the kitchen. “Y/n! I need to have a chat with you, young lady!”

“Who are you calling young lady?” I asked as I reluctantly stood up. “Not only are you only three days older than me, but I’m your manager as well. So don’t you ‘young lady’ me.”

“You’re a ‘young lady’ when you’ve got yourself a boyfriend,” Seokjin retaliated.

“Oh my gosh, how many times do I need to explain that he is not my boyfriend?” I asked.

“They exchanged phone numbers today,” Jimin teased.

“Friends can have each other’s phone numbers,” I defended. “You guys act like you’re the only boys I’m allowed to have platonic friendships with.”

“We are,” Jin said.

“Yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense,” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “What if I like girls?”

Jin turned around to eye me suspiciously, and a few of the others that were nearby gave me disbelieving looks.

“Yeah,” Namjoon said. “Because we totally haven’t noticed you drooling over male singers all the time. Like Eric hyung.”

I cleared my throat. “Well, either way. I can be friends with guys without there being romance. Like, I just met the guy. I’m pretty sure it’d be more likely for me to feel something for one of you rather than him.”

I realized way too late that my mouth ran away when I wasn’t paying attention. And everyone who was in the room gave me confused and teasing looks at that statement. Crap. “I’m not saying I do!” I quickly defended, waving my hands frantically in the air. “I’m just saying, it’s silly to think I’d be romantically interested in someone I literally just met…” The statement started strong, but got weaker as it went on until it was almost a whisper.

If the heat in my cheeks was any indicator, I knew I must have looked like a tomato. I wasn’t technically lying because I never said I did feel something for any of them, but I still felt like I did lie for some reason, which definitely made me feel nervous on top of being embarrassed. And I was doing my absolute best to not make eye contact with any of them, especially not him.

I stared at the ground as I walked back into the living room, hearing playful laughter behind me as I made my escape.

“You know we’re just teasing, noona,” Jungkook said, wrapping his arms around me from behind and still laughing. When I didn’t really respond, he let go and turned me around to face him. “You do know that, right?”

I offered him a smile. “Yeah, of course I know.”

My smile must not have been super convincing though, because he frowned in return. “If it’s too much, we’ll stop. I’m sorry, we’re overwhelming you aren’t we?”

I hummed, thinking for a moment. “Maybe just a tad?” I admitted.

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop,” Kookie said. “I know there’s nothing going on with you and Eric hyung, don’t worry.” He pulled me into a proper hug.

“Everything okay, noona?” Jimin asked, placing a hand on my back.

I smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry about that.”

“Time to eat, guys!” Jin called from the kitchen.

After eating together, he pulled out his phone and looked at the picture Jungkook had sent in the chat one more time. It was obvious that everything they all had been teasing her about the last week with Eric was just that – teasing. But he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy. She looked so happy with him in the picture.

He knew it was silly to feel jealous of someone who she obviously wasn’t interested in, especially when he’s had the pleasure of seeing that same happy smile on her face as well. But until now, he only saw her happy like that around him or the other members who were like his family. Eric was a great guy, so he had nothing against him. But maybe there was a tiny part of him that felt insecure and worried that even though there’s nothing there right now, maybe something could be later?

He watched as she laughed with the others, glad to see that her moment of vulnerability from earlier was far gone. He decided to put his silly thoughts aside and include himself in the conversation, making a ridiculous joke. When his joke was what put that beautiful, bright smile on her face as she laughed, all of his concerns washed away.

“Hyung,” Jungkook called from next to him.

He turned to see it was him who he was referring to – seriously, the boy had six hyungs, he should be a little more specific. “Hm? What’s up, Kook?”

“You were jealous weren’t you?” the maknae whispered, smiling.

“Jealous?” he replied. “Jealous of what?”

“Come on,” Jungkook said, almost whining. “I know you like noona. You’re not exactly subtle at hiding it.”

He looked at Jungkook as though he just said that he killed his dog. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jungkook quietly laughed. “You’re cute, trying to hide it.” When he gave the younger a look that silently said, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ he stopped laughing. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything. Just know that I’m rooting for you.” He smiled again before turning away and talking to one of the others.

Great, the maknae knows. Good thing he already knew he was good at keeping secrets, because he would honestly probably kill the kid if he said anything. Well, let’s be real. Once he flashes that bunny smile no one could possibly kill him. But still.

Looking at her one more time calmed him down again, even if it did set the butterflies in his stomach to flight. Just as long as she kept smiling like that, he felt like everything would always be okay.

A/N - Finally, 28 chapters in, I narrowed the candidates down by one lol. It will sometimes be very subtle, but if you pay attention from here on out, you should notice the candidates for who the love interest is slowly dwindling :)

Also, sorry for the random change from using (Y/n) to Y/n. I decided I didn’t like the parentheses lol.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29

Tags: @calling-dips-on-j-hope​ @misohime​ @netflix-batman-sleep​ @smallbaby-cat​ @leitholdwithlove​ @ramyagovindraj​ @leesalts​ @rjsmochii​

Send me a message or ask if you want tagged! And also feel free to leave comments or send asks to just talk to me!

[technoturian]

So after dipping my toe in the Pedro Pascal stan side of tumblr I decided to give his Netflix movies a try. Yesterday was Prospect which I *loved* and today was Triple Frontier which was... possibly the worst movie I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

Spoilers under the tag but honestly... Just don’t watch this movie. If you’re a fan of one of the cute men in it then just search the internet for gifs, I promise you you will get more out of that than you will out of this movie. Ranting below, you’ve been warned.

I have to commend the Pedro fans for their fanon version of his character in this film, as they pretty much were forced to invent him from whole cloth because basically none of that is in the text. And that’s because he doesn’t have a character. None of them have characters! None of them have arcs! The plot doesn’t even have an arc! The movie ended in the biggest shrug I’ve ever seen. They didn’t fail, they didn’t succeed, it was just kind of... well that happened.

Every time I thought, “Okay, I see where this narrative is going...” It just... didn’t. It didn’t go anywhere. The main thrust of the movie was done 30 minutes in and then the rest of the movie was them walking around killing people. Now, it could have been about that, about that they were killing civilians and growing increasingly more cruel and emotionless in their actions, but that was not reflected in the resolution. Nothing that happened in the movie was concluded in a way that made sense. It just was a collection of bad things that happened that then stopped eventually. What about the characters and their families who at the start of the film were stated would be hunted to the ends of the earth by ALL THE CARTELS!! (and other unspecified Bad Criminal People) and at the end just kind of shrug off the fact that they have no money to disappear with? Are Santiago’s fake passports supposed to fix that? Or maybe they deserve that because of the ~horrible things they did~ but then why such a light-hearted, optimistic-ish ending note where they all cheerfully say goodbye? What is the message here?

It was like two producers came together, one said he wanted to make an indie film that was a blunt drama on the horrors of war and dehumanization of the American soldier and a scathing, unflinching indictment of the military industrial complex, and the other one said he wanted to make a shoot-em-up heist movie with big budget actors and lots of explosive action and they were like...

...and mushed them together without any attempt to make a cohesive and narratively satisfying story. It fails at both of these aspects by committing to neither. I saw only the briefest hints of any kind of thematic thread that was so incompetently conveyed that it might as well have never existed. I can’t understand how this movie has such high approval from critics??? What did you like here, was it all of the monologues about how war takes and takes and doesn’t pay well enough? Because if you like that, there was a lot of that. It doesn’t actually go anywhere but it’s there and gee, it’s a thinker, huh, war is bad actually. Groundbreaking.

And this is not an indictment on the actors at all (except for Ben Affl*ck, he can choke). They were honestly working so hard, I could see that, and it made me angrier than if they’d phoned it in. I honestly cannot imagine how they got all of these big actors in this movie and gave them absolutely nothing to work with!

Every one of these characters save Santiago had the same ~arc~, “I don’t like what being a soldier did to me except I’m super loyal so I’m just going to do this one last job oh crap everything is terrible better turn on my murder training...” Which is like... Yeah that happens when you join the military, it’s awful, sure. “War is hell” and all that. But just pointing that out doesn’t make these successful, rounded characters or make this a good movie. I again applaud fans that found any value in these characters, it honestly feels like a case of “I like this actor so much that he deserves a lot better than this, let me invent an alternate reality where he actually had substance”. I can’t feel bad for them too much because I guess, I hope they had fun filming it on location and made a lot of that Netflix money?

As an exercise I tried to think of a single line in this movie that, if shifted from one character to another, would have changed... anything. If it would’ve effected their character at all. If it would’ve felt like it didn’t fit, like, “well HE wouldn’t say THAT”. I couldn’t think of one. They were all completely interchangeable. They all switch from being guilty about killing people to not really caring to straight up going murder-happy depending on the scene, excusing their actions and condemning them. ~Oho, but don’t you see, that’s the duality of the soldier, the hero and the villain~ shut up, it’s bad narrative if you can’t even figure out what a character’s motivations and baseline personality are.

Literally the only person I saw any slight arc from was Santiago, who basically got all of his plot threads neatly tied up by the halfway point and then was just a shell of regret like the other characters. From then on the only person with any sort of arc potential was Tom, because he was the first to get greedy and he was the one to shoot first and I thought “Okay cool, so he’s going to turn on them or something as the money dwindles because he’s going to put his family first and they’re really going to show how far they’ve fallen” and nope he’s dead, of course he’s dead, that’s the end of the only character that seemed like he MIGHT be going anywhere (not that I cared because Ben Affl*ck can choke). Even the romance arc didn’t go anywhere! It literally stops halfway through the movie just like everything else???? This movie feels like they lost the second half of the script days before filming and they were like, “Um, and, um, lots of... climbing the Andes, and, um, this Andes thing is going to be very long and so that’ll pad it out and, um??? War is bad, look what they make you do, look what they make you give etcetera etcetera? Then, uh, action driving scene, uh, yeah. There we go, finished.”

I honestly just can’t believe I sat through a movie with Ben Affl*ck, Charlie Hunn*m’s absolute travesty of an American accent, and 70s-80s dad rock music just because two hot Star Wars boys were in it. Maybe the real message of the movie is the hot boys we looked at along the way.

* And because it didn’t fit anywhere else, just a shoutout to this particular part: William’s character introduction being a recruitment speech that starts with “My PTSD is so bad I have violent blackouts” and somehow with a scene cut manages to circle back around to “So anyway kids stay in the Army it’s the best and you’re all patriots” is the most heinous thing that completely undermines A, his place as the moral center/voice of reason of the film and B, any anti-military message the movie might be vaguely attempting. I just keep remembering that compilation video of young, desperately sad military recruits saying “f*ck you” and “you lied” to their recruiter and thinking, “This guy has given this speech HUNDREDS of times??”

[inimitable-muse]

meeting robin for the first time

[robin buckley x reader]

request: kinda. this is sort of a prelude to the other robin x reader headcanon requests i’ve received. all of them combined would be too long of a post, so i decided to instead split them apart. i’ll be finishing off and posting the other headcanons real soon, so stay tuned for that !

warning: none.

author’s note: um so i’m crazy and just went loose with this one. i wrote like a complete script unintentionally lmaooo, hope you guys like it though :) taglist is at the bottom of the post.

you guys first met each other in the middle of october

this was around the time that robin was adjusting to her new job at family video

you were a frequent customer there, swinging by every friday night to pick out some films for your own movie marathons

while at the same time trying to avoid the nuisance that was keith the sales clerk

"i will let you take out six tapes at a time if you can land me a date with nancy wheeler!"

"no keith"

robin was already familiar with your face and vice versa

she would often see you lurking between the isles from time to time, taking ages to find the perfect film

but you both never really interacted fully

until now

as soon as you entered the doors of family video on a typical friday night, it felt different

more calm and peaceful

probably because keith’s shift wasn’t on today and that made you sigh in relief

however, it was robin’s one instead

ohohohoho

from her own observations, robin seen you as the type of person who wasn’t adventurous when it came to your selection of films to rent out

for instance, there would be times where you would pick the most pedestrian choices like the breakfast club and teen wolf

but today was different

you would end up going left field and surprise her when you turned up to the front counter with the awful dr. orlof in hand

an interesting choice to say to least

robin stares at the VHS box for a brief moment

the dark and strange illustrations of the cover contrasted with your... normal-ness?

it was the perfect time to finally strike up a proper conversation with you

or so she thought

it turns out sometimes her witty comments and deadpan humour doesn't translate well with some people

and by some people meaning you

“hm, i couldn’t really see you as being a macabre fan”

you got caught off guard by her remark. “uh sorry but, what did you say?”

“well, judging by your previous purchases on the system you seem to go more for the john hughes-y type of direction, y’know, movies with rose tinted glass endings and whatever”

you were a relatively nice person, but at the same time not afraid to get feisty when you felt like someone was trying to take a personal jab at you taking risks

“right, well frankly i’m not here to be psycho-analysed through my taste in film, so just tell me how much it costs and-“

“oh god no, that’s not what i was intending at all!”

both of you go quiet

it’s almost 10:00 pm and you’re the only customer here

the clock is ticking

“look... er”

“[y/n]” you give robin your name

“okay, [y/n], it’s just that i noticed that every time you come in here you would always rent these teeny bopper films and now...”

“now...?”

“now you’re getting something completely out of your usual range”

“usual range?” you scoff, “i guess it’s a crime to get something else out of the ordinary then”

robin pinches her nose and exhales

“i'll let you on a little secret, that’s not even a good film”

you glance back at the VHS box, feeling annoyed when suddenly

“at least check out eyes without a face. firstly, it’s in the same vein as the awful dr. orlof but way less shittier. the plot is easy to understand and the characters are actually complex and well written”

as robin stops her rambling, you take a second to gather your thoughts

“do you have it in store?”

“not currently, no... but it’s gonna be returned hopefully by next week”

you ponder for a bit, “i can wait, but i’m still getting this one anyway”

you slide the VHS towards robin with two fingers

“suit yourself, that will be five dollars for three nights”

you pay, yadda yadda and then you finally apologise

“hey... i’m sorry for the hostility, it was totally unlike me”

robin simmers down, “i should be the one saying sorry, i made this whole big misunderstanding all because i was being nosy about what you were gonna watch”

you laugh to ease the tension

“you clearly know your stuff, robin, you're like a movie aficionado”

“wait a seco- how do you know my name again?

“look down at your shirt,” you laugh even harder

ffs robin your name tag

she's feeling delirious and it has been a long day

and now robin is all flustered and doesn't know what to say back aw

it wasn't really love at first sight that occurred that night per se, but for her it was more along the lines of there's something about [y/n] that makes me wanna find out more about them

so a few days later and the heated, yet oddly passionate exchange with robin stirred something inside of you

it basically compelled you to come by to family video two times a week

which soon changed to three

then four

and subsequently five

at one point keith noticed your oddly periodic visits to the store

"didn't you already rent that movie out for the second time this week?" he questions, eyebrows furrowed as he focuses on opening a bag of doritos

"nope! this one is the sequel"

robin would laugh quietly to herself as she scans the barcode

you didn't really care how some people were catching on the fact that you would come in the store nearly everyday

you just wanted an excuse to chat to robin

everyday

even if that meant that you would be wasting tons of money on renting obscure foreign films that you would never pay attention to half the time

clearly robin didn’t mind it at all

she was perhaps a little bit more excited to see you than you anticipated

"tell me how that one goes [y/n], give a review or something next time you drop by"

"well i can finish it by tonight and give it back first thing in the morning?"

"yeah, that sounds good." robin presses her lips together to suppress a giddy smile as she watches you head straight towards the front door

"b-but i wouldn't want you to rush that film though, it's almost three hours long!" she shouts from the counter

you exclaim back, "i'll manage!" as you face towards robin, starting to walk backwards

but dammit [y/n]

you accidentally stumble and bump into that blimin phoebe cates cardboard cutout

oh how the tables have turned between you both

robin tries her best to contain her amused expression in such a professional work environment

whereas you just wanted to shrink inside your sweater and die right there and then

but at that moment, she found you too cute and endearing to resist

now it was a saturday afternoon and business was slow

robin was sorting out all the tapes in the return box

but one film caught her eye in particular

eyes without a face

before you left the store, you managed to write a little message on a piece of paper and carefully slip it inside its VHS box

robin is able to get a hold of it

"you were right, this is way better” - [y/n]

she was full on beaming

robin unconsciously flips to the other side not expecting anything

but !

to her delight she sees your phone number written all prim and proper

:))))

"heya steve, can i borrow the phone for a sec? i need to make a quick order"

taglist: @ronnie-loves-bees

[kasdeyathebitterwoman]

A Ninja Warrior Love Story - Part 16

Eeek! How are we already on part 16?! I dunno, but here we are! I hope y’all enjoy this installment! Based on how I’m feeling about this story, I think we may be nearing the end 😳 but I’m not sure yet. We’ll see how things play out...

Word Count: 3,619

CW: none

taglist:

@maeleeme @andyrazzledazzle @henrycavillluv32 @fanfictionaddiction99 @blossom-a @jhenno2002

While Lily was getting dressed in sneakers and shorts the next morning, she smiled to herself thinking about the night before. After talking with Henry, they made love multiple times throughout the afternoon and evening. Lily couldn’t believe how easy it was to give herself to him so easily, but she did and found herself loving it. She felt safe when he held her, even sensually, and she hoped she was able to do the same for him. Now while it was still pitch black outside, they were up to take Kal out for a walk. Henry had bedhead galore and Lily couldn’t stop glancing at him, smiling the entire time. They walked around the city hand in hand for a while before Henry remembered that he needed to create an update for his Instagram account.

“My manager says I need to be more consistent, but I honestly forget about it half the time,” he says, rummaging to find his phone. Lily bobs her head as if she understands, but she hasn’t been on Instagram in three years, so she really doesn’t. When Henry did finally get his phone out, Lily stepped to the side to let him film a selfie. He took a picture of Kal practically burying himself in a bush he had found with a fascinating scent. “Taking the bear out for a walk on my day off,” he narrated as he typed a caption to go with the photo. He smiled as Kal snuffled loudly at a scent. “Kal,” Henry said quietly trying to get his attention. Kal ignored him and continued to stuff his face in a bush he found, snuffling loudly. Lily giggled and Henry glanced at her. “He sounds like a pig, doesn’t he?” he asked her. Lily nodded.

“A pig with a deviated septum,” she replied and Henry laughed out loud at that. He posted his photo, pocketed his phone, and grabbed Lily’s hand as they continued to walk along. They walked for a while then returned to her hotel while it was still dark outside. Henry dropped Kal off in the room then informed Lily he needed to get his fasted cardio in for the day. “Do you need to get into the gym downstairs?” she asked, but Henry shook his head no.

“Nah, I think I’m just going to run around town,” he said. Lily bobbed her head then told him about a park nearby that had a decent running trail.

“You should go there if you want,” she said. Henry smirked at her.

“Okay, I’ll go if you come with me,” he replied. Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

“You want to go up against a triple champ high school track star?” she asked incredulously. Henry stood up and continued to smirk at her.

“How long have you been out of high school? Exactly. I think I can take you,” he said sure of himself. Lily scoffed and smirked up at him.

“Oh, you’re on Hercules,” she replied. Ten minutes later, they were getting into Henry’s SUV and heading over to the park. When they arrived, it was still fairly dark out, though sunlight was beginning to lighten the sky. Lily stretched by the car, flexing and warming up her muscles. Henry did the same and after another ten minutes, they were ready to go. They started off with a slow jog, something that Lily wasn’t used to, but Henry needed. His large frame took a minute to get up to speed. He began huffing a little when an incline came and Lily began to find her rhythm. Running had long been her escape, but she was trying desperately to stay in the moment with Henry. But Henry was slow - well, slower than she was used to. Being smaller than Henry, Lily had a faster pace than he did, but he was keeping up fairly well. After about fifteen minutes of running, Henry pulled out his phone yet again. Lily supposed it was more filming for his Instagram account. She remembered Mar showing her something about him filming his fasted cardio sessions. Either way, she decided to pull ahead to give him space to film. Then she heard him say between labored breaths,

“Never agree to go running with a former track star,” Henry grunted a little and Lily giggled.

“You invited me along,” she said, quickly glancing over her shoulder at him. As she turned to face around again to avoid tripping, Henry turned his phone around to film her as she ran. Unaware, Lily kept her usual pace. After a minute or two longer, Henry called out to her.

“Lily,” he huffed. Lily glanced over her shoulder and slowed down so they were side by side again. “Is it alright if I post that?” he asked, huffing between each word. “I won’t if you say no,” he continued, his breath still labored. Lily smirked as she exhaled through her nose.

“That’s fine,” she replied. Henry bobbed his head in agreement. “Come on,” Lily said, picking up her pace. They ran the rest of the park and Lily pushed Henry to really pick up his pace towards the end. After running for 45 minutes, they were back at the SUV. The sun was halfway past the horizon, giving the scenery a golden/gray appearance. Henry pulled open the hatch of the car and grabbed giant waters for himself and Lily. Graciously, Lily took her bottle and began downing some.

“I think that’s the best run I’ve ever had,” Henry said, his voice and breath still labored. “I also think you almost killed me during the last leg just now,” he finished. He took a big swig of his water and sucked in a deep breath. Lily smiled to herself as she watched him.

“Sounds like you just need to get better at running,” she replied, taking a swing of her own water. Henry turned to her, his eyes just slits.

“I’m over 200 pounds!” he whined. “It’s not easy for me to do that!” he complained, gesturing to the park where they just ran.

“Excuses, excuses,” Lily sing-songed, laughing at the expression on his face. Henry reached out and grabbed Lily’s wrist, yanking her towards him. She shrieked as she collided with his firm frame. He wrapped his arms around her and began tickling her while she laughed and shrieked at the same time. When he finally stopped tickling her, he pulled her in for a deep kiss. Their sweaty bodies pressed together in a tight embrace. Lily snaked her fingers through Henry’s curls and moaned into his kiss. After a few moments, Lily broke away, sucking in breath after breath that she’d lost. Henry was doing the same thing. He sat down on the edge of the trunk and Lily ended up placing herself between his legs with her back to his chest. They both tossed back water before Henry cleared his throat.

While sitting there, Henry pulled out his phone and opened Instagram. He pulled up the video he shot while the ran and got it ready to post.

“You sure it’s okay that I share this?” he asked, his lips so close to her ear she could feel the warmth of his breath and it sent a shiver down her spine. She tilted her head up to look at him and smiled sweetly.

“Yes, it’s okay,” she said. Henry pressed his lips into her temple. Lily turned her head back to the watch the video and chuckled. “Honestly, all I can hear when I see this is my track coach yelling at me to pick my knees up,” she said. Henry laughed at that, then hit send. The video was to be shared with millions of people on his Instagram story and Lily genuinely didn’t care. Wrapped in Henry’s arm like this, nothing else mattered.

“You know,” he started suddenly. “Every year I run a race called The Durrell Challenge. It benefits this really great organization on my home island,” he paused, his arm resting simply around Lily’s waist. “You should consider joining me next year.” He leaned down to nuzzle her neck gently. Lily smiled and tilted her head to give him better access.

“I’ll think about it,” she murmured. They stayed like that for a while before finally getting up and heading back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, they showered again and got dressed in sweat pants and shirts. Henry admitted he was glad they agreed to stay indoors today because he actually did have several pages of lines he needed to review. After eating breakfast, they situated themselves on the couch so Lily’s legs were resting on Henry’s lap and his were on hers. She was just beginning into the second book in a series when she heard Henry’s words from the park. Occasionally, she glanced up to see him studying his script with a serious expression. She could hear him sometimes mumble the words out loud.

“Is that bothering you?” he asked at one point.

“Nope,” Lily said simply, not even looking up from her book. Henry smirked and went back to his studies.

And so, they sat on the couch for hours. Lily reading her book while Henry studied his lines. After a while, he grew tired of focusing on work and needed a break. Plucking the book from her hands, Henry climbed off the couch and pulled Lily up with him. On his phone, he pulled up the song “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton and turned the volume up. Then he pulled Lily close to him as they swayed to the music. Lily placed her head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat.

“I love you,” she murmured into his chest. Henry squeezed her gently, pushing her body closer to his. He bent down and whispered in her ear.

“I love you, too,” his breath was hot on her skin, but she didn’t mind. Then the song stopped suddenly and Henry’s ring tone began to play. Curious, he picked up the phone and answered whoever was calling. When he hung up, he sighed and looked over at Lily.

“My day off has been cut short,” he explained. “Tom wants to redo a few of the shots and they need me back on set.” his blue eyes found Lily’s brown eyes. She gave him a gentle smile.

“Okay, no worries,” she said simply because it really wasn’t a problem. She loved Henry and she loved being with him, but work came first. That much was clear and she was okay with it. Henry came back to her and embraced her, kissing her passionately. She accepted everything before pulling back and out of his arms. “Shoo, shoo,” she said, waving her hands at him dismissively. He laughed and collected his things from around the room. Before leaving for good with Kal, he stopped to kiss her again.

“I think you might be the best thing that’s happened to me,” he said, kissing her forehead before darting out the door. Lily stood there for a moment until she was finally able to say out loud to the closed door,

“You are actually the best thing that’s happened to me,” she sighed as she shuffled back to the couch and picked up her book.

—

After a month and a half in Oklahoma, the movie moved to New Mexico where the majority of the movie was to be filmed. A huge chunk of pre-production was done in Oklahoma, so now the real ‘meat’ of the project was beginning. Lily was working closely more and more with the lead stunt coordinator. She was enjoying learning new moves and techniques. Thanks to Tom’s recommendation, she was a part of major background work in the beginning, but some of the more experienced team was on set and Lily was happy to let them take over more often. While she greatly enjoyed and appreciated everything she was learning, this experience was helping her to realize just how much she missed the Ninja Warrior community. Stunt work was incredible and taxing work, but she was slowly beginning to realize that this wasn’t the direction she wanted to go in. But, being a woman of her word, she refused to let it stop her from learning as much as she could. Still, every night in her room, she was on the Ninja Warrior site, her mouse hovering over the application button. She still had several months to send in her application, but her fear was getting the better of her.

In New Mexico, Henry had even less time than he did before. This left Lily to her own devices for the majority of her time, which was fine. She was used to it and even found herself enjoying exploring on her own. Where they filmed was near a national park, so when Lily wasn’t filming or training, she was hiking. She took her time walking the trails throughout the forests. She would pause for half an hour at times sitting on ledges, staring out at the beauty and scenery that was completely new to her.

When Henry did have a few moments to spare, their interactions were short and clipped. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother Lily. She understood that he was working and while more time would be nice, he had a job to do. As she got to know him, Lily came to understand that Henry wasn’t the type to half-ass anything. He worked as hard as he possibly could and then some. It was a character trait that she found she truly loved about him. It reminded her of Ray. A few mornings when Lily remembered, she got up in the wee hours of the morning with Henry to run with him during his fasted cardio. She forgot most mornings and slept until she was needed on set.

On the days that she was filming, the work was hard but rewarding. She had become good friends with the lead stunt coordinator and he enjoyed her work. They chatted often between takes or when they were needed on set, but not in a shot. Again, Lily truly enjoyed this work, but she was slowly beginning to realize this wasn’t what she wanted. Not truly. She talked about it with Mar one night on the phone.

“So how is it working on a movie set?” Mar asked, excited. Lily sighed.

“It’s different. The curtain has been completely pulled back, so I know pretty much what’s happening in most action movies now,” Lily replied. Mar noticed her tone.

“What’s going on with you?” she asked and Lily explained.

“I really enjoy doing this. The stunt work is fun and challenging, but I think this will be my one and only movie credit,” she paused, listening to Mar chew on some food. “As much as I enjoy this, stunt work just isn’t where I see myself heading.” There was a pause as Mar swallowed her food.

“Where do you see yourself heading?” she prompted. Lily sighed.

“I’m not sure yet,” she replied. Mar clicked her tongue.

“Well, whatever you decide to do, you know that I’ll support you completely,” Mar said. Lily smiled and thanked her. When they hung up, Lily opened her laptop again and found herself back on the official Ninja Warrior website. She took in a deep breath before scrolling over, clicking the application button, and beginning and submission form for the next season of American Ninja Warrior.

—

Three months later, Lily and Henry finally had some time to themselves. He had filmed the majority of his work, so all that was left were a few scenes with Tom and other cast members. Henry had a rare, albeit tumultuous, night off. Lily had to meet him at his trailer because he could get called back to set at any time, but that was fine with her. When she arrived, she knocked on the trailer door and immediately heard Kal bark. She smiled as the door opened. Henry stood in the doorway, dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt while Kal peered defiantly from behind him.

“Hey beautiful,” Henry said when he saw that it was Lily. She walked up the three steps and into his trailer. Though it was small, it was still somehow spacious.

“How is your trailer still bigger than my actual apartment?” she asked sardonically, looking around. Kal was at her feet, sniffing every square inch of her legs. She giggled because his nose and whiskers tickled. Henry laughed at what was happening, then shooed Kal away. He pulled Lily in for an embrace and kissed her passionately. She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him and felt his arms tighten around her waist. He moaned as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.

“God, I miss you,” he murmured when he finally stopped kissing her. She smiled, her hand moving to cup the side of his face. Her thumb gently stroked his cheek.

“Mm, I miss you, too,” she whispered. They stood holding each other for a moment before moving over to the little kitchenette. At the table, Henry had laid out a dinner he ordered for them. She sat down opposite him and observed him. He looked exhausted, more so than usual. He was in good spirits, but she could tell he was feeling the last five months of work. “How has filming been going?” she asked. She hadn’t been on set in a few days. The work that was being done didn’t require her, so she’d been hiking and walking around the nearby town. Henry told her about the work that he was doing and she understood further why he appeared so exhausted. He was putting in 18 hour days while only getting about four hours of sleep a night. Plus he was working hard in the gym and on a majority of the training they had gone over back in Texas. He was working himself to the bone and that concerned Lily, but she also had to remember that it was his choice.

“What about you? How has it been going with Sam?” Henry asked, taking a big bite of his food. Sam was the lead stunt coordinator and now a good friend of hers.

“It’s been going good,” she replied. Henry immediately noticed how clipped her answer was. He looked up from his plate at her.

“What’s going on?” he asked, concern furrowing his brow. Lily sighed as her shoulders slumped.

“Oh man, I don’t want to sound ungrateful for what I’m about to say. Because I am beyond grateful for this opportunity that I’ve been given,” she said, glancing at Henry.

“Okay,” he said, extending the word, prompting her to continue.

“I do love stunt work. It’s challenging and fun and different, but,” she paused. Henry’s eyebrows raised as he watched her. “I just don’t think this is for me. Not permanently.” she stopped, unsure of how Henry was going to respond.

He didn’t say anything and his silence prompted her to continue. Lily sucked in a breath.

“What I’m trying to say is that, as much as I find stunt work interesting and challenging, I don’t enjoy it. Not in the same way that I enjoy Ninja Warrior work. I’m taking in everything that I can with this opportunity, but at the end of the day, I want to be training in a Ninja Warrior gym; getting ready for the next season of American Ninja Warrior,” she said, a little breathless. Henry watched her for a moment before getting a quizzical look on his face.

“What do you mean, getting ready for the next season of Ninja Warrior?” he asked, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. Lily took in another deep breath a smiled a little herself.

“Well, that’s the thing,” she started. “A few weeks ago I started my application for the next season of the show,” she said. A wide smile grew across Henry’s face.

“Lily, that’s amazing!” Henry exclaimed. Lily blushed and smiled.

“Nothing is set in stone yet,” she said trying to bring everything back down. “I haven’t even finished the application. I have to film an entry video and I have no idea how I’m going to get that done. I don’t have a camera or a gym or a way to edit the video,” she trailed off as she realized how long that list was. She looked off to the side suddenly feeling rather discouraged. Henry noticed the shift and he reached out his hand to take hers. She looked back at him and realized there were tears forming in her eyes.

“Hey,” Henry cooed. He stood up from his side of the table and pulled Lily up, pulling her into an embrace. “Hey, you’re going to get that application in,” he started. Lily pulled her head off of his chest and looked up at him.

“I know, I just got scared,” she said quietly. Henry reached up a hand to caress her face.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out, together,” he said. Lily gently turned her face into his hand and felt a small weight fall off her shoulders. Rarely had she had anyone to help her with things, now here was a man - a man that she truly loved - admitting that he was going to help her.

“Yes, we will,” Lily replied, turning her head back to look at him. He smiled sweetly at her before groaning when a knock on the door interrupted them. He sighed deeply.

“Back to work,” he muttered, giving her a quick, hard kiss then darting out the door.

[melonbreadallthetime]

Ken-chan’s Fan Event 2019

I was lucky enough to score tickets for all 3 sessions on the 24th and although the general format is the same for every session, the things said in each session are actually pretty different because of how Ken-chan decided to do things.  Each session had me in stitches, I was laughing so hard my face hurt, and overall, I had a super wonderful time.  

Check out the Read More for a full write-up and more pictures!

Ken-chan's guests for the 24th were co-stars from his current show GEKIIKE Masquerade, and they were Isaka Tatsuya and Washio Shuuto.  Shuuto has been a guest for Ken-chan before (not when I went), and I’ve actually been a fan of Isaka Tatsuya for over 10 years (from when he was Ichigo in Burimyu) so there was a hilarious war inside me between my 18-year-old-self who loved Tatsuya best to my current self that loves Ken-chan (equally?  More?  A LOT even if it’s not as long).  Shouma was also there because Shouma’s ALWAYS there; I’m pretty sure Ken-chan has never had a fan event without Shouma.  Although he’s usually there in a helping capacity, maybe emceeing, this time he was more like one of the guests and was on-stage for the Q&A and Etudes (improv skits).  Kainuma Yutaka, an actor Ken-chan met working on Nintama was the emcee.  

So the format was: Ken-chan, Tatsuya, and Shuuto would appear as a debuting idol group, perform their 2 debut singles (not original), and then there was a Q&A session with questions from the audience (we had to email questions beforehand), and then there were the Etudes (they always did three), and then Ken-chan did a present raffle for the audience, giving away solo cheki (polaroids) and one of his handmade uchiwa, and then the show would end with him taking photos with any fans who paid for a cheki with him.  Surprisingly, they also offered cheki for Ken-chan's guests, Tatsuya and Shuuto and Shouma, which is rare.  I’ve never seen an actor event where that was an option.  

1) Debut Idol Group

This portion is a gag, since these three are pretending to form an idol group together, but they basically styled themselves like one of those... color-coded, young-boys-breaking-into-the-industry, put-together-by-an-agency type idol group.  So they all had color-coded headbands (Ken-chan had red, Tatsuya had blue, and Shuuto had yellow), and they all had white T-shirts with their idol names SHARPIED on (Ken-chan's shirt read Akkun, Tatsuya’s shirt read Takkun, and Shuuto’s read Shukkun).  They also all wore these REALLY TIGHT skinny jeans with color-coded belts, and their makeup was A LOT OF BLUSH to make themselves look boyish.  Shuuto even had freckles drawn over his blush.  Ken-chan was also pitching his voice to sound much higher.  Tatsuya’s Takkun personality wasn’t all that different from himself, he was pretty silly and hammy.  Ken-chan as Akkun would stutter a lot, would not stop wiggling his hips across the stage and striking poses, and very excitable, very... manufactured idol.  Shuuto as Shukkun was SUPER SHY AND QUIET and wouldn’t really talk or move at all, he just stood on the far right towards the back of the stage with his shoulders all stiff and a terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look.  

Then they performed their two “singles” which were actually songs from like the 70’s or 80’s (I’d heard them before but couldn’t place them).  They’d play the original music video behind them and then sing (so really it was more like a karaoke session), and they actually didn’t know all the words to both songs, so they had uchiwa themselves on-stage.  One one side they had Sharpied their names (Akkun, Takkun, Shukkun), and on the other side, they’d printed THE LYRICS to the songs.  Ken-chan would sing and also DANCE by flailing like a maniac most of the time around the stage, shaking his hips constantly and striking dramatic Jojo poses, like someone drunk at karaoke who’s getting WAY too into the music but it’s great for spectators.  Tatsuya was honestly putting in a decent amount of effort too, singing nice and clearly and trying to dance along even though there was really no following Ken-chan.  Shuuto, because of his character, would stay stiff and still in the back right of the stage, quietly singing along and holding his uchiwa up to his face, very obviously reading the lyrics and not really ‘performing’ like the other two.  

Usually during the instrumental breaks in both songs, Ken-chan would try and get Tatsuya to do something ridiculous with him.  In the first session, he’d make Tatsuya bend forward so that he cold leapfrog over him sideways, and then he made Tatsuya leapfrog over him, and then they pulled Shuuto in for a 3-man pyramid and then they’d RUN back to grab their uchiwa off the table so they could start singing again in time lolololol.  Second session, they did lifts for Ken-chan; so Tatsuya and Shuuto would take either of Ken-chan's arms and lift him in an angel pose and carry him across the stage, In the third session, they kept trying to do these lifts that they didn’t really know how to do, so Tatsuya would lift Ken-chan onto his shoulders, but then he kept trying to get Ken-chan to sort of... stand? By bracing his feet on his thighs and it was not working because Ken-chan didn’t know what to do and then Tatsuya accidentally decked Ken-chan in the crotch with his head and Ken-chan dramatically rolled around the floor on-stage, clutching his crotch and the others sort of checked on him before hurrying to grab their lyrics because they were missing their cues lololololol.  

And then after the performance, Yutaka-san and Shouma would join them on stage.  They’d joke around about how Shukkun was new and that’s why he’s so nervous and not doing as well as the other two.  Yutaka-san would point out that they only formed their group recently, as in, TODAY, and Akkun said in one session, “Well he arrived last in the morning.  So he’s the new guy.  I’m his senpai by two minutes.”  

Oh and I forgot to mention that their idol group name was “Atashi,” which is (1) the most feminine way to say “I,” and (2) a reference to Arashi, the most famous Japanese boy band that’s existed since 1999.  

Then they would “transform” into themselves with an “illusion” which just meant Ken-chan would twirl around on-stage shouting, “ILLUSION!!!” and they’d flash the lights on the stage, and then the three would start acting like themselves to start the Q&A session.

2) Q&A Session

They always did about three pre-selected audience questions that had to be e-mailed in before the day, and it was fun because they would ask the question to all four of them in most cases, and usually they’d get a little de-railed and end up talking about one question for several minutes.  Most of the questions were summer-themed and resulted in a lot of really random information from all of them like how Tatsuya really likes to go riding on his motorcycle out into nature and go solo-camping, Shuuto refuses to turn on the air conditioning even in summer (to get stronger, whatever that means), and Ken-chan was actually scouted at age 15, but didn’t decide to seriously pursue work in the entertainment industry until he turned 18.  There was even some conversation about choosing to stay in entertainment, and Shuuto brought up the great point that most actors quit around the time that they’re 29 and move on to other things and/or start a family, “so the ones who stick around past thirty are the weirdos.”  And Ken-chan was like HEY and Tatsuya was like ‘yeah maybe...’  But Shuuto fixed it to say that the over-thirty actors are then some of the most wonderful senpai to learn from as a younger actor.  

One of the questions that I found really cute was one that asked how they did their summer homework back when they were in school.  Do it at the start of summer type, work on it gradually throughout the summer type, or the procrastinator.  Tatsuya said he always had a lot of anxiety about it so he was the type to do his homework little by little every day throughout the summer, and that he’s the same way now as actor.  He has nightmares about getting the script and then the tour of a play starting the next day when he hadn’t learned any of his lines yet, so he’s very diligent about memorization.  Ken-chan and Shouma were both procrastinators who put off their homework to the end, although Ken-chan also mentioned a friend he had in high school who would dedicate the first two weeks of summer entirely to vacation, and the last two weeks entirely to vacation, but would do his absolute best for three days right in the middle to finishing all of his homework then.  Shuuto said he was the type to never do his homework and run away from the teachers.  In the first session when this question was asked, there was actually a child in the audience (she looked maybe about 8?) and he noticed her and kind of immediately backtracked and said to her directly, “But that’s not good, okay?  I did a bad thing, you have to do your summer homework.”  

Tatsuya apparently really likes camping by himself, winter camping, and recently has started buying more and more camping gear.  He invited Ken-chan to go camping with him, and Ken-chan said he’d go, and Shuuto just flat out immediately refused, going, “Nope, it’s summer, there are too many bugs.”  And they were like, “Didn’t you want to be stronger?  Don’t you not turn on your air conditioning for that?” And he was just like, “This is different.”  Tatsuya mentioned recently buying an axe for camping purposes, and very casually said, “Between a knife and an axe, I prefer an axe, you know?” And everyone else was just like, “I have literally never thought about that.  Nobody thinks about that.”  

There was a question about favorite places they’ve visited when traveling, maybe for work, and it got sidetracked because they started talking about weird experiences in different places.  So Ken-chan went to this kind of foresty and mountainy area for a shoot and they were filming at night and in the distance they could see a weird red light.  They thought maybe it’s the SDF (Japanese Self Defense Force) or maybe a matsuri, except it was like 1am, so Ken-chan and several others went to go check it out.  And as they were getting closer, the light moved up, grew into a bright orb, and then suddenly vanished.  So they all thought they saw a UFO.  He also says half the people he tells this story to don’t believe him, but Tatsuya believed him because he then talked about a ghost encounter inside a theater he was performing in.  He was crawling in the space under the stage to get to the other side of the stage and there was someone in front of him that wasn’t supposed to be there because he was supposed to be first in line getting out, so he tried crawling faster to catch up, but when he turned this one corner, nobody was there.  And then they all agreed that there are definitely haunted theaters everywhere.  

When asked if there was anything recent that they started getting into, all of their answers were for super old franchises.  Ken-chan talked about getting into Pokemon cards for the first time, meeting up and playing games with Shouhei (1st Nishinoya from Engeki Haikyuu), and Tatsuya talked about how it was hard to collect Pokemon cards as a kid because you don’t have money, but as an adult you can go all in and really build the decks you want so it’s more satisfying as an adult to play the card game.  Shuuto for some reason listed Dragonball, and when asked what his favorite season or version he liked, he said, “All of it.”  And they were like, oh come on pick a favorite, and he was like, “It’s not about that.  It’s about the world.”  

There was another question that asked them to compliment the person on their right, but they were sitting in a line on stage and there was nobody to Shouma’s right, so then they all stood up in a 4-person circle, arms around each other other and touching foreheads and the emcee was like THE AUDIENCE CAN’T SEE YOU IF YOU DO THAT, SIT BACK DOWN.

So Ken-chan complimented Shuuto saying that he’s really kind and this is because he pays a lot of attention to the people around him and knows how to read people’s moods.  When Shuuto was complimenting Tatsuya, he started listing things going, “Well he’s an idiot...” And everyone else was like, “...in a good way, right?” And he was like yes yes, in a good way.  And then “He’s loud...” The emcee added, “In a good way.”  Followed by “He’s clumsy,” and the emcee went, “In a good way—I shouldn’t have to be adding these!!”  But since Tatsuya didn’t really know Shouma because they were meeting for the first time, Shouma said it was okay, they could skip him, but the others insisted that Tatsuya could pull it off.  So Tatsuya looked at Shouma very carefully and went, “His hair looks like Trunks.  A small, good-looking face... great smile!” And it was super cute and adorable honestly.   Then the emcee told Tatsuya and Shuuto to compliment Ken-chan, since it’s his event and all, so they both talked about how warm and inviting he is as a person, and they thought it was wonderful how much thought and effort he put into planning his events, even if he asks them to do ridiculous things, it’s with such genuine enthusiasm they’re happy to go along with his whims.  

3) Etude improv skits

And now for my favorite, the improv skits that Ken-chan always does at his events.  They did three every session, and these were probably some of the best I’ve ever seen because Tatsuya and Shuuto were so great and the dynamic between the three of them was so fun.  I’m not going to remember all of these and not in exact order, but the first one they did was in a bathhouse.  There was always one that was idol themed because of the whole Atashi thing lol.  

Bathhouse This one was a bit of a mess because the others took these little buckets and put them over their crotches like men do in public baths, Shouma was pretending to be a cleaner/staff going around mopping and cleaning, but then Ken-chan out of nowhere decided he was going to be an old woman so he was covering his chest and pinching his thighs together and shrieking any time any of the others got near him, “Iyaaahh!!  A man!! What are you doing here?!”  So then Tatsuya and Shuuto sort of... semi-switched to being women too, and Ken-chan walked through the audience to the back of the room, complaining like comical old ladies do, but there were staff members in the back of the room working the projector and the music, so he got annoyed that there were men even in the back lololol.  And then Tatsuya clutched his chest on-stage and fell over like he was in pain, so Shuuto shoved Shouma at him going, “HELP, do something!”  And Shouma bent down next to Tatsuya, checked his condition, and then screamed, “SHE’S GIVING BIRTH!!!!” Which then had all of them pulling open Tatsuya’s legs and getting up into his crotch while screaming the entire time and I just... I could not breathe.  But then it turned out Tatsuya was fine, but then Ken-chan fell over so they started spreading his legs to help deliver a baby and it was just... so much.  I don’t even remember how it ended, just that it was a mess lol.

They actually do the bathhouse prompt twice, in the first session and then the third session because they wanted to try and see if they could do it better the second time around.  They couldn’t lolololol.  But that one had Shuuto, Shouma, and Ken-chan just constantly avoiding Tatsuya and leaving him behind while he kept trying to be part of the group and was whining that they kept leaving him.  At one point they get ready to leave without him, and this involved Shuuto going and grabbing Tatsuya’s actual backpack from off-stage and bringing back an earlier joke about Tatsuya’s solo camping.  Ken-chan commented on how cool the backpack was, and Shuuto went, “It’s great for camping!  And you know, between a knife and an axe, I much prefer an axe!”  

Mermaid princess This one started with Shouma on the chairs rowing like he was on a boat, and Tatsuya wiggled (swam) over and said hi to him, which resulted in Shouma just shrieking like a maniac and passing out.  Because that’s what anyone would do when confronted with a mermaid I guess.  So then Tatsuya got all grumpy and pouty because she just wants to become a human, but, “All these human men are useless!” which, I mean, mood.  Shuuto grabbed 4 of the uchiwa off the table and made makeshift crab claws out of them to hold in his hands and walked sideways across the stage singing “Under the Sea” and then Ken-chan showed up as some other unspecified undersea presence and tries to convince Tatsuya to stay in the sea.  And then Shouma revived himself and went, “I’m not a man, I’M A WITCH!!!”  And offered Tatsuya the chance to become human, but Ken-chan grabbed Tatsuya’s arm and dramatically spun him around and HELD him REAL CLOSE and was just like, “Don’t go, stay.”  And suddenly it got WEIRDLY romantic and the witch came around going, “Don’t be fooled by his--” and Tatsuya just went, “Shut up for a sec!” And just stared longingly into Ken-chan's eyes!??!?!  He put his hand on Ken-chan's arm to start, and then it moved to his chest, and he kept inching closer, and Ken-chan kept inching closer and it was kind of like gay chicken except that NEITHER WAS BACKING DOWN and eventually they got to touching foreheads and Tatsuya whispering throatily, “I’ll stay with you,” and it was just A LOT.  OKAY.  A LOT.  I basically watched my teenage-actor-crush and my adult-actor-crush nearly kiss and it was TOO. MUCH.   Shuuto and the emcee were just off to one side of the stage laughing and generally staying out of the way by that point and even Shouma just left them be once they got to touching foreheads because it was like ooookaaayyyy you two are clearly having a moment.  

Idol auditions For some reason, they decided that the idol auditions for this one would be done like a variety show and Shouma was the host of the program with Shuuto, Ken-chan, and Tatsuya auditioning.  Shuuto was nervous and shy and could barely talk or do anything and mostly all he could say was his random generated number 3289 or something and Ken-chan was then number 56 (because what’s consistency worth) and was enthusiastic but BAD.  So he kept stuttering and flailing around and shaking his hips nonstop but none of it was meant to look good.  Tatsuya admitted he was only doing this because he wants to break out as an actor, which the host frowned upon, but then Tatsuya was actually the most impressive one lololol.  Well, comparatively anyway.  Certainly he was the coolest.  But it ended with the host announcing that the three of them could be idols together and they were like yaaaaaay!

Pokemon In the second session, the first prompt was Pokemon and Ken-chan actually prepared a lot of things for it, so then they were like IT’S NOT IMPROV IF YOU PLANNED IT ALL OUT BEFOREHAND!!! But basically the 4 of them drew cards to see who would be trainers and who would be Pokemon, and then the ones that got to be Pokemon would draw cards to see which Pokemon they’d be.  But Tatsuya admitted he didn’t know any of the pokemon past the first 150, so they told him to do his best with the first one and then gave him a second card so he could play two.   Shouma and Ken-chan were trainers, and Shuuto and Tatsuya were Pokemon, with Shuuto being Pikachu.  Shouma introduced himself as “I’m Festival Boy!!” because he was wearing a happi and obviously you never fight any named trainers in the game outside of gym leaders.  But then Ken-chan went, “I’m RedYellowGreen!.”  By the way, I was seated in the first row for this session which was RIGHT UP against the little stage and that meant being absurdly close to all of this nonsense.  Shouma told Shuuto-Pikachu to tackle and he literally went and tackled Tatsuya, knocking both Tatsuya AND Ken-chan over lololololol.  Shuuto and Tatsuya were low on the ground on all fours or crouching to be the Pokemon, and making dumb little pokemon cries the entire time, and when Tatsuya got beat on a couple more times, Ken-chan switched him out.  I missed what Pokemon Tatsuya was supposed to be first because I was too busy wheezing but the second time, he was Venusaur.  It didn’t matter though because Shuuto-Pikachu went over and shocked them both so Shouma won the battle.   The emcee had no idea what was going on because he doesn’t know anything about Pokemon, but he figured it was good because everyone was laughing so much.  But at the end, Shuuto again said, “This seriously wasn’t a proper etude!  Don’t call it that if you—just tell us what you want to do and we’ll do it!  Don’t lie!”   I couldn’t help but remember one of the third-year videos Ken-chan did with Hiroki and Justin were Ken-chan was again a trainer and Hiroki and Justin were Pokemon and Hiroki had that really great Squirtle cry and then Hiroki and Justin attacked Ken-chan, RIP.  (x)

Idol Dressing Room Shouma played the manager in this skit, who’s trying to sell them on this idea of being in this play with this one director.  Mind you, their parts are things like “long-horned beetle,” and “rhino beetle.”  Tatsuya and Ken-chan are arguing about whether or not they should, with Tatsuya being interested because of who the director is, Ken-chan thinks it’s a pain, and when they ask Shuuto’s opinion, he just quietly and shyly replies, “Let’s do it,” and they were like, “Well if Shukkun says we should, then I guess we should.”  But as soon as Shouma leaves, Shuuto drops his shy act and comes over to the other two all casual going, “Man, I hate our manager, he’s so useless!” and they all start bitching about their manager which had the emcee CRACKING UP because that’s realism right there lol.  But then Shouma came back with his happi wrapped around his shoulders because he was the director now and with a deeper voice was like, “You guys are going to be my new actors, right?  Show me a demonstration!” and then he sits down and dramatically crosses his legs and Tatsuya starts off.  Since he’s a type of flying beetle he just kind of throws his arms behind him and runs in a wiggle to mimic flying, and Shouma went, “No no no, that’s not what I’m imagining.  I need you to be more... sexy.”  So Tatsuya does it again but sexily and then Ken-chan as a rhino beetle stomps in but Shouma tells him to be more manly so Ken-chan does it again but this time with his chest SUPER PUFFED OUT (like how Shouhei was doing it when mimicking Daichi in Winners and Losers).  And he just marches up to Tatsuya and goes, ”You’re a beautiful beetle.  Let’s mate.”  And Tatsuya just goes, “Okayy~” and turns around and Ken-chan hugs him from behind and they start swaying together and I just DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY KEEP— And then Shuuto came in as the long-horned beetle and just started pulling and plucking at their hair and that ended the scene which... you know.  Okay.  I don’t really know how the idol dressing room prompt ended this way but it sure did.

Evil Organization This one was so campy I was dying real bad.  Shouma put a chair on himself and called himself the chair monster and I think he was like, trying to hire Shuuto and Tatsuya from their ‘evil organization’ to help wreak havoc so he was telling them to demonstrate acts of eeeeevillll.  So Shuuto went first, pulled up one of the chairs, and put his foot on it.  And they were like, OH MY GOD THAT’S SO EEEVILLLLL.  PUTTING YOUR SHOES ON A CHAIR???!?  I can’t even remember what Tatsuay did anymore but it was just as campy basically, and then Ken-chan made this dramatic entrance from the back and the others on-stage went into defense mode because they thought that he was making a hero’s entrance, but then Ken-chan was like, “I’ll show you evil!  I’m going to use a chair not as intended!” and laid a chair on its back on the floor and awkwardly lay across it going, “How easy it is to sleep in this chair!!”   After the skit they were all asking him, “Were you one of the evil guys?”  Ken-chan replied that he was being their leader and they all went, “THEN WHY DID YOU DO A HERO’S ENTRANCE?  COMING UP FROM THE BACK LIKE THAT?!”  

Idol group break-up This one starts with Atashi at their final performance before breaking up basically, but also starts with Tatsuya bragging about his solo debut, which is super upsetting for Ken-chan, and Shuuto continues to just be quiet and off the corner, unbothered because he just cares SO LITTLE about being an idol lolololol.  Ken-chan kept going, “Shukkun!  Aren’t you upset?  Doesn’t this bother you?  We’re supposed to be a team!”  And he just kept going “...not really.”  By the end though, they look out at the venue from where they are on-stage, the magnificent Tokyo Dome, with all its bright lights... all the sponsor ads in the distance (cue raucous laughter from the emcee)... and they get overwhelmed with emotion and decide that they’ll do their best together for their final concert.  Shuuto just stands quietly next to them and they’re like, “Are you overwhelmed, Shukkun?  Are you moved?!”  And he just goes, “...not really.”  

High School girls I’m just gonna say that Shuuto and Ken-chan make the WORST high school girls.  They were getting the speech patterns down, deciding to go the Mean Girls route instead of just normal high school girls, and they kept teasing and sexually harassing the teacher, Shouma.  Shuuto just sat spread eagle in his chair, pretended to lift up his skirt and was just fanning his crotch, and Ken-chan commenting on the cute pattern of his underwear before just LIFTING BOTH LEGS UP INTO THE AIR WIDE APART like, “Look at mine!!” and then were like, “oh my gawwwdd, put your legs down, we can see everything!” and Shouma as the teacher was just like GIRLS PAY ATTENTION TO THE LESSION.  Ken-chan kept... lifting his legs up in a split... I just... SIR YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR CROTCH AWAY PLEASE.  But then the girls start gossiping about how it’s the teacher’s last day, and Shouma then does turn and says that because it’s his last day, he does have a confession he wants to make.  Tatsuya stands and shyly puts his hands together because he was playing the girl that had a crush on the teacher, but Shouma goes to Shuuto instead who was like, “Ehhh??? Gross!!!” and then Shouma went, “...then... Ken-chan!” and Ken-chan was like, “Why am I a second choice?!”   They eventually pull the emcee into the skit too, making him the principal who starts yelling at Shouma and the girls then start adding stories like, “And he touched us!  He’s a pervert, a pervert!”  When Tatsuya joins in, Shouma goes, ”Okay hang on, I definitely never touched Takkun!” and outs himself for the others.  Sadly the principal is a creep too because he’s mad, but he eventually yells, “You lucky bastard!” and the girls are like, “EHH!! EVEN THE PRINCIPAL!!!” and that’s how that one ended.  

4) Prizes For the raffle prizes, Ken-chan took solo polaroids there on the spot and also gave away one of his handmade uchiwa per session.  My friend actually won one of the polaroids in the first session!  The uchiwa went with the idol theme obviously, but he’d also asked us to make our own to bring to the event, because he would sign ours!  I didn’t know that when I made mine because the autograph announcement was like, only a couple days before the event, but yeah that’s really atypical of actor events too.  

Below is the one I made; the first uchiwa I’ve ever made actually!  It was a lot of fun.

5) Polaroids and autographs I actually got two cheki with Ken-chan and one with Tatsuya during the first two sessions because I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass.  When I showed Ken-chan my uchiwa, he was very happy and impressed and signed both sides of it “just in case” it would rub off on the plastic side.  Since he always allows a little more time for each person, I told him how happy I was to be able to make the trip from America to see him again, and he smiled wonderfully and thanked me for making the trip.  When I went back for another cheki in the second session, I asked him for a “fun pose” so he offered to do the big heart with both our arms and then told me to pull out my uchiwa again so he could sign it again “since you came back a second time all the way from Seattle.”  He’s soooo sweet!!!  

When I got my polaroid with Tatsuya, I told him that I’d been a fan of him since his Burimyu days and his eyes popped open like, “Oh wow!  That’s a really long time!”  And then he put his arm around me for a HUG basically, which is also SUPER RARE for fan events so I was very shook, but also my heart was soaring.  And then as I was leaving, he said, “Thank you for supporting me for so long, I hope I can keep meeting your expectations!”  

For all my younger followers who don’t yet have the income and means to travel and are afraid of missing out, don’t be!  It might take 10+ years before you can meet your favorite Japanese stage actor, and maybe it’s in entirely different circumstances than you could ever expect, but never say never!!!  It can still happen!

Overall, this is what I love about Ken-chan's events.  They’re never very big, which is on purpose, in small venues with close quarters, so that he can make them feel more intimate and personal and so that he can take more time for each person for cheki or for handing us the merch himself as we buy it beforehand.  He does so much that’s so atypical of other actor events, and a large part of that is because he’s independent and doesn’t belong to a major agency, hence fewer rules, and the other part is because that’s what Ken-chan loves to do.  He really wants to be really close to his fans, and other actors he has as guests comment on it all the time.  He’s not afraid to be embarrassing or ridiculous in front of us, and it’s always great in some ways to see the guests he brings and who will go along with his shenanigans.  With this group, Tatsuya and Shuuto are both over 30, in fact, they’re both older than Ken-chan (who’ll be turning 31 in September), and I think that also made for a much more off-the-cuff show because they’re all veterans and they’re so comfortable with themselves.  I don’t really know Tatsuya to do events, but he kept saying he had a great time and was real sad during the third session that they were now done.  Maybe he’ll be inspired to have his own fan events soon!  I’m sure Ken-chan can help him brainstorm.  

I feel like this day had about a dozen dreams come true, even dreams I never had prior to this day, so I had a wonderful, amazing time, and I really hope I get another opportunity in the future!

[myprincecandy]

[ENG] 20190123 SinaEnt/Yuqing Lab interview with ZTAO

[ENG] 20190123 SinaEnt/Yuqing Lab interview with #ZTAO 

Link to original: https://goo.gl/Fy2GGN

Huang Zitao:  Don’t be too cocky in front of me, newbies! You’re “dead” if I catch you!

Today, I went to have a chat with Huang Zitao

Friends, have you ever accidentally unliked or unfriended your idol because he changed his social media account id?

That has happened to Huang Zitao’s fans.

Recently, Huang Zitao, in conjunction with his upcoming new drama, changed his weibo ID to “Chong Liming is coming”, something that would definitely confused people who don’t follow him (Chong Liming is the character he’s playing)

Paired with that anime avatar, if you’re not a fan, who could tell that this is a star??? 

Since Huang Zitao changed his id to “Chong Liming is coming” before the drama Yan Shi Fan is due to air.. does that mean that, after it airs, it will change to ““Chong Liming is now here”, “Chong Liming is leaving”, ““Chong Liming goodbye”…. Does he know that even for paying members, you can only change your weibo ID 5 times in a year? 

“Why don’t you ask him directly” says my boss, showing up behind me, with a glass of tea in hand. 

“eh? My hand shook, and then as destiny would have it, I got the assignment to go to the press conference for Yan Shi Fan.1 minute before it struck one on 22nd Jan 2019, I made my way through loads of floral displays from fans to go meet Taotao. I’ll remember this minute because of the strange mixture of smells from the roses and the packed lunches by the side. 

We’ve only just finished setting up the machines when Huang Zitao arrived in a hurry, saying “ah I’m so sorry”, while commenting to me about lunch being too spicy. Then he went asking for water from his staff. Your Tao is still so very interesting and cute.  

After sitting down, Tao suddenly stood up again, saying that he wishes to see how his new hairstyle looks. He says that since it’s new, he doesn’t know whether it looks good on camera. 

After checking the photograph, he said he’s pretty satisfied with it, and would give his hairstyle, “6-7 points I guess~” 

“Didn’t you say you’re pretty satisfied? That’s only a passing score?”

“well it’s for the camera,  so it’ll be perfect if I was thinner.” As he said that, he kneaded/pinched his chin. 

Sparring verbally with me and then with himself

The new hairstyle is to refresh himself, give himself a new start in the new year. Taotao says that it doesn’t matter if it looks good or not. Him checking the camera is also because he had “rested for slightly more than half a month, and didn’t do much except eat every day.” So he feared that he would look fat in front of the cameras, after all, he still has to be scrutinized by the rest of the world.

“If I were thinner, and my chin was sharper, it would be perfect.” .

Speaking of sharp chins, that reminds me of the much treasured bout of happiness brought about the many videos of Huang Zitao’s Little Elf. 

I told him that many folks are waiting for updates to that Little Elf series, so when is he intending to do an update to satisfy the fans? 

Adorable as he is, Taotao refused, saying, “if you all feel that that is good, that watch the old stuff. I won’t do it again simply because it got popular after you all watched it. I won’t! He says he is not willing to just simply following what is trending/popular, not even if he is the one who started it! 

Fine, Boss Huang is really very strict. 

I quietly rebutted, “You previously said that Little Elf is ugly, but yet your actions say otherwise!” 

Taotao explained that he was really letting go of himself when talking that way, “you have to know that when I’m recording that, the sound and my expressions are all especially…tsk.. ah! You won’t want to see how I actually look like when recording Little Elf. “

We all know that this year, all the male idol audition variety shows will be highly competitive against each other. I asked him if he had any suggestions for the boys. 

Taotao feel that he definitely is supportive if the candidate is grounded with his dream/goal in mind. However, many youngsters these days are very cocky/overconfident. They don’t even greet their seniors when they see them, he feels that that is very rude. 

He gave an example. Previously when filming an advert, he overheard a staff member saying that a newbie basically just refused to film on set, and even threw the script at others. 

“Why be an idol/artiste in that case? In any way, don’t let me catch them in action. They’re dead if so, really.”   

Cried for 8 months, nearly sunk into depression

I didn’t’ forget the purpose of my trip, and so I asked him if he was going to change his weibo id again after the drama “Yan Shi Fan” airs. “ 

Taotao replied firmly, “Nope! I know that you can only change your weibo id 5 times a year.” So he’ll keep Chong Liming in the “he’s coming” condition, until he finishes watching the drama with everyone. 

“So have you thought about what your next ID is going to be yet?”

 “Yes!”

“What is it?” 

Huang Zitao (so so innocent) , “It’s XXXXX” (am not revealing it for now for Taotao’s sake) 

“You do know that by revealing it, everyone will go fight for that ID first?” 

Huang Zitao “??? Then why did you trick me???”   

After have tricked Taotao, I felt really good, and so I continued to tell him that fans tried to hold on to his previous id “@CPOPKING-黄子韬”, in case he wanted it back. 

Taotao said it was alright, “It’s ok, hold on it. That id’s a bit much anyway, there are many news ids out there~”

Looks like Taotao’s really quite satisfied with the character Chong Liming. He’s not even going to look back on that weibo id change. 

When asked about how he understands Chong Liming’s character, he says, “He’s someone who’s so much more tired/exhausted living than dead, and cries 3 times a day.” 

So he had crying scenes every day, and a major crying scene every 3 days. “I basically cried for 8 months, and nearly got depression.” Huang Zitao said, Jackie Chan even sent him a very long message, telling him how to deal with all the negative emotions that result from acting. 

Making his own real person variety show 

Before coming for the interview, I have asked fans for questions on weibo, so Taotao answered some here. Such as the concert that everyone’s so concerned about. 

Taotao says that there’ll only be one concert this year and it’ll be in June in Shanghai. You all can start planning your schedule~ He says he wishes to rest for the first half of the year, so he won’t be filming dramas. He’s just going to write songs, prep for his concert and he also intends to release an album this year. 

That’s called resting?? Ok… 

So what does he like to do when “resting”? 

Taotao looked at me, perplexed. “Go out! Play! What else? Eat & drink and basically have fun. “

And then he started counting for me, saying that he likes driving, watching movies (having watched Bumblebee and Aquaman recently, he recommends it to fans) and getting friends to go over to his place for a chit chat. But they can only chat now, because he’s gotten the rabies vaccine shot, so he can’t drink. 

After “resting”, in May, his company will be cooperating with another platform to present a travel related real person/life variety show, and he has two dramas coming in the latter half of the year. 

Even though he doesn’t want to exhaust himself through variety shows, he feels that he should still do at least one per year. Because he likes travelling, so he wishes to do the sort of programme where one really focuses on the travel, with no  missions. “It’s the sort of variety show that shows you who’s generous and who’s petty, the kind of loads of details.”

“So are you a generous or petty traveller?” I thought he would say the former, but he’s very clear about the situation. “It depends on who I’m with. If I don’t like that person, I won’t spare a single cent. But if it’s someone I like, then it doesn’t matter. “ 

So now I have gotten all the key information for you all. I said good bye to Tao and walked out of the interview room, as I heard him say (cutely) to staff, “ahhh haven’t done an interview in ages, I feel I don’t know how to talk much anymore~~” 

Now there are plenty of fans outside the interview room waiting to enter the hall. I revealed to the fans as I left, “Huang Zitao’s hairstyle today is very handsome”. Everyone went ahhhhhh!! 

So I left amidst all those envious looks.. 

A video of an interview is coming but here’s an extract of it:

Q: Your first impression of Chong Liming when reading the script?

Tao: In the beginning I had not read the script, it was the producer Liang Zhenhua who told me the story. I took on the project because he absolutely moved me. Chong Liming is the sort who cries three times a day, no joke. I basically have crying scenes every day and a big one every 3 days. He’s actually a very pitiful person. He looks as if nothing matters on the surface, but he’s just holding it all inside. Basically he’s so much more exhausted living than dying.

Q: Do you think you share similarities with Chong Liming

Tao: I don’t think so. I live a happy life (laughs heartily)

Q: You’ve set up a new company in 2018, so what are the plans for the company?

Tao: My dad’s managing it. I’m just in charge of completing my acting projects. The plan is to well, achieve something. Hope the things produced by our company will be well liked and well received, doesn’t disappoint the market and audience. And if I’m in it, then all the more I’ll have ensure it doesn’t disappoint. 

Q: Chinese New Year is near, so can you reveal your year end prize with us, Boss Huang?

Tao: My dad’s in charge of that.. I.. I want year end prize too!! Money will do!!! Hahahaha! If it’s a lucky draw, I hope others in the company will get more. If I get something big, I’ll just split it on the spot, but I’m not the lucky kind. 

Q: Evaluate/comment on your two variety shows last year.

Tao: Actually, the street dance and produce 101 programs… I don’t think I’m particularly suited to those. They required more outstanding candidates. There’s not much meaning to me being a mentor. I prefer Takes A Real Man, with everyone living and experiencing life together. That sort of show I liked, so I want to make something like that. 

Q: Actually everyone likes the sequence of videos which showed you getting startled/a fright. They feel it’s funny. What’s your view on that?

Tao: Pretty good. That’s my natural reaction. I feel that as an artiste, no matter what I do, be it when I’m on a variety show or the gifs produced after, it’s good that it brings laughter to all. At least everyone’s smiling because of me, that’s the energy I bring to everyone I guess. 

Q: You’re not scared of being labelled a comedian?

Tao: nope. I have my works. 

Q: There will be 2-300 new male idols from all those male audition shows this year. As an experienced senior, what suggestions do you have for them?

Tao: if they have their dreams in mind, then I would support. But a lot of youngsters these days are very cocky. Some don’t even manage basic courtesy, not even greeting seniors when they see them. Very arrogant and rude. For example, I overheard a staff member saying that a newbie basically just refused to film on set, and even threw the script at others. Why be an idol/artiste in that case? In any way, don’t let me catch them in action. They’re dead if so, really. 

Q: So promote yourself to all those who will fall in love/like you after watching Yan Shi Fan

Tao: If you all got to know me or like me through Yan Shi Fan, I hope you all can better understand just what kind of artiste I am. When a show is airing, I’ll be super active. But when I’m working, I’ll be totally silent. That’s because of the process of me learning, accumulating experiences while trying to present a better piece of work. I believe my following works will be better and better and won’t disappoint everyone. And I hope everyone can really treat me as an actor, and not a singer who happens to be act. I really want to break that label… so If I don’t manage to with these 3 dramas, then I’ll keep trying.. next year I’ll continue to work hard at filming.. if I don’t break it by 30.. then I guess not then.. (laughs) 

Q: So what happens then?

Tao: I tell you, that won’t happen. It will definitely be better and better. Can’t become an actor after Yan Shi Fan finish airing. I cried for those 8 months, almost getting depression. I messaged Jackie Chan who sent me such a long message, saying how I can deal with it. Even though you see that I’m all smiles and laugher when chasing “The Negotiator”.. well, in part that was to promote the show, but secondly, I forget that I’m the character when I’m watching it. When filming Yan Shi Fan, the happiest thing was for me to back and watch a new episode every night. So I was really exhausted filming this, I feel that all that effort will definitely be rewarded!

[sodoyouknowbts]

Yoongi x Reader - Guardian (One)

Part of the ‘Souls’ Series.

Summary: Min Yoongi is a cynical guardian angel assigned to look after you.

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader (ft Hoseok)

Genre: Romance, fantasy, soul mates

Author: Pilot

Chapter One

Yoongi is standing in the kitchen drinking coffee when it happens. A shiny silver envelope materialises in front of him. It hovers, wrapped in a bubble. A deep blue seal hinges the folded edges together. Two letters in victorian script are embossed, A.A - Angel Academy.

Yoongi sips his coffee and stares at it over the edge of the cup. Angel Academy. Who came up with such an obvious name? Yoongi scoffs.

He finishes his coffee, washes the cup up in the sink and goes to sit down on the couch, ignoring the floating envelope. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through it, reading the latest news headlines.

Yoongi hears the front door shut and the sound of shoes clonking on the floor.

Hoseok walks into the kitchen holding flowers and spots the envelope.

“Ooh what is this?!” He asks, peering at the envelope. “Yoongi, this is for you. What are you doing leaving it unanswered?”

Hoseok moves past the envelope and pulls out a vase from the cupboard. He gives it a rinse and places it on the counter, arranging his assortment of sunflowers.

“It’s not mine.” Yoongi denies, paying zero attention to Hoseok’s movements.

Done with the arrangement, Hoseok moves over to the bubble and pokes it, his finger pressing into it. His finger is met with resistance. The bubble bounces back and doesn’t pop.

“Hey, it is yours. I can’t access it.” 

Yoongi glances over his shoulder.

“Who are the flowers from today?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Oh those?” Hoseok turns toward the sunflowers and smiles brightly. “One of my assignments sent me these as a thanks, she’s just been accepted into university!” 

Yoongi raises his brows and responds, disinterested. “Good for her.”

“You know, for a guardian angel you’re really not that nice sometimes.” Hoseok says, pulling a face. Yoongi throws his phone down on the table, closes his eyes and lays down to take a nap. Hoseok walks off to his room.

Yoongi sleeps for about ten minutes when he senses something hovering over his face. He opens one eye slowly. It’s the envelope. He waves it away and it’s pushed to the middle of the room by the breeze Yoongi had generated from the motion. 

He rolls over, turning his back on the envelope. He can still feel it behind him. Frustrated, he rolls back onto his back and picks up the pillow from beneath his head and puts it over his face. He sleeps for another fifteen minutes before Hoseok pokes him awake. Yoongi slaps away his hand and sits up, disgruntled. The pillow tumbles into his lap.

“Your phone is ringing.”

Yoongi sits up, hair messy. He gets up and leans across to reach the phone. He scratches his chest and goes to the front door to collect his shoes.

“I’ll be back later.” Yoongi shuts the door behind him.

***

You stretch your arms above your head and let out a yawn, your eyes watering.  You blink. You had been in the university library for a solid six hours. You bundle your hand into a fist and hit your left leg. It had fallen asleep.

You look across at your friend who is watching Youtube videos on her phone.

“I don't know how you managed to study. I kept getting distracted.” She says, pointing at her phone. “I’m dead tired.” She had only joined you half an hour ago. Her books remained untouched and strewn across the table. She had been lost in a loop of kpop videos for 30 minutes. She locks her phone.

“How do you do it?” She asks, leaning forward onto her arms, speaking into the table.

“By swapping my social life for permanent eye-bags and zero sleep.” You retort. “Ah, the life of a budding law student.” 

You were in your final semester of law and journalism. You had one more exam to go. Your university debt had piled up and you had taken up odd jobs throughout the course of your degree to get a head start on it. ‘Adulting’ hadn’t come easy for you.

“Life of a budding law student or death of a budding law student?” she asks.

You raise your arm up, plotting up headlines in the air. 

“Young woman found dead in library. Cause of death: case study boredom and paper cuts.” You burst out into laughter with your friend and receive a few glares from neighbouring students. You bow your head slightly in an apology.

“Please study gods, bless us in our upcoming exams. We want to be out of here!” Your friend exclaims, futilely grasping her hands together. She looks at you. “Imagine if we actually had that - or similar.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like angels. Guardian angels that opened the doors and carried our books and made everything easy and told us the answers to the exam questions!” She exclaims.

“If guardian angels are real mine is probably off somewhere drinking alcohol straight from the bottle and pretending I don’t exist.” You laugh. 

You probably had needed a guardian angel when you were younger, when things were tougher and you had no one to go to. You had gotten through all of it, each trouble and difficulty becoming a new badge on your chest that became a part of what had built you and your character. You learned how to deal with things on your own. Nowadays, your problems revolved around your career, stability and money, or lack thereof.

You look out the window. It’s getting dark. You throw your eraser at your friend and it hits her squarely in the forehead and bounces off. 

“Let’s go.”

***

“What’s up?” Yoongi is holding a basketball in his hands. God, he missed playing basketball. He throws it up and catches it.

He cocks a brow at the young boy who is standing in the middle of the basketball court.

“Why’d you drag me out here?” the boy asks.

“I find playing basketball a good way to clear the mind, Won Young.” Yoongi responds. “Something about the endorphins, science. Whatever.”

He looks at him. He’d been assigned Won Young two months ago. Won Young was a bright fourteen year old boy, but like most other young adolescents he was struggling to cope with the transition from childhood to adulthood. Puberty, school, home life, hormones and social pressures had been hitting him hard. It was only going to get harder.

The boy heaves a sigh and mumbles under his breath. Yoongi scowls.

“I shouldn’t have called you.” 

Yoongi walks over to him, casting a shadow on the ground. Although Yoongi wouldn’t admit it, he had a soft spot for Won Young. His thoughts, feelings and mixed emotions were all things Yoongi resonated with. After all, he had felt them too, when he was the same age. Heck, he was still feeling them.

“Catch.” He throws the ball at the boy and Won Young catches it.

“Let’s play.”

Won Young begrudgingly participates. About an hour later, he’s laughing, smiling and sweaty. Yoongi had taken the opportunity to show off his ‘mad spinning’ techniques, dribbling skills and ability to shoot three pointers. 

“Feeling better?” He asks him, passing him the ball.

“Yeah.”

Yoongi looks up at the sky. The sun was setting, almost hidden along the horizon.

Won Young bounces it back to Yoongi. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Why is that envelope following you around?”

Yoongi looks over his shoulder. 

“Oh, so you see it too?”

“Yeah, what is it? Is it another assignment?”

Yoongi shrugs. “Probably.”

Yoongi throws the ball at the envelope and the envelope hits the floor and rises back up.

"Are you going to keep ignoring it?”

“Haven't decided yet.” Yoongi goes to pick up the ball that’s rolled off the court and onto the grass.

“Come on. I’ll walk home with you.”

***

Yoongi pushes the door of the convenience store open. It squeaks. He stuffs his hands in the front pockets of his hoodie and heads to the back of the store.

His grip tightens around a bottle of soju. He grabs a packet of chips for good measure. He makes a sidewards glance. 

The envelope is still hovering, floating behind him. 

He narrows his eyes. It was going to be a troublesome one, he could feel it.

The girl in front of him is taking way too much time to pay. He looks her up and down. He clicks his tongue impatiently.

"Uh, do you need help?” He asks.

You turn around. He’s looking at you with an unimpressed expression on his face. You grow embarrassed, noting a small queue has formed behind you.

“If you’d just kindly wait a moment, I’m just trying to find my card. Thanks for your understanding.” You huff.

You rummage through your wallet trying to search for your card. Too many pockets and you had a bad habit of not putting your card back in the same little spot in your wallet. Damnit, when will I learn?

Yoongi moves past you and throws his chips down on the counter. He waves the bottle of soju up, signalling to the shop attendant. “I’ll just pay for it all.” 

The boy nods, relieved and scans the chips on top of your items. You frown and round on him. Who does he think he is?!

“Um, excuse me, thank you but you don’t have to -”

Yoongi ignores you and you stop mid sentence, watching as he nonchalantly scans his card against the card reader. It’s approved instantly.

“Too late. It’s done.” he says. He nods goodbye to the attendant, leans forward and grabs his chips. He tucks the soju bottle under his arm and opens the chips, leaving the store without a second thought.

You stand there in awe and watch as he turns the corner.

***

Hoseok is sitting on the couch, cuddling a cushion. He’s watching variety shows.

“Oh, you’re back?” Hoseok calls from the lounge. Yoongi kicks off his sneakers and heads to the kitchen.

“You still haven’t opened it?!” Hoseok exclaims, eyeing the envelope.

“Nope.”

Yoongi pulls two small glasses out from the dish rack. He hands Hoseok his packet of half eaten chips and sits himself on the carpet in the lounge. He cracks open his bottle of soju and pours Hoseok a glass. Hoseok accepts it and takes a small sip, his facial expression souring. He continues to drink it anyway.

“Don't forget you need to submit your report tomorrow.” Hoseok reminds him.

Yoongi nods, eyes transfixed on the television, one leg propped up and his arm stretched out on his knee.

“The system is down so you’ll have to submit it in person.”

This catches Yoongi’s attention. “What do you mean the system is down?”

“It’s not working.”

Yoongi groans. Did this really mean he had to physically go in? He hated that place. He’d spent years there and as soon as he could, he made every effort to avoid it.

“Are you going into work tomorrow?” he asks.

“I always go to work. Unlike you. Working from home 24/7.”

“Let’s get lunch tomorrow.”

Hoseok claps excitedly. “Really?! Deal.”

The envelope starts to move from behind Yoongi and floats in front of his face, blocking the tv. Yoongi moves his head and it moves in unison. He sighs, frustrated. He tilts his head the other way again. The same thing happens. Hoseok watches on, amused.

Finally, Yoongi reaches for the envelope and snatches it from the bubble and rips open the seal.

He pulls out a piece of paper. Printed in the same victorian script as the seal, is your name.

To be continued.

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

What A Feeling - #1 Heart Rates & House Parties

*July 2017

“Good morning, good morning,” Nick Grimshaw said over the radio airwaves. “We have a full house in the studio this morning because Y/Band’s/Name is joining us. Why don’t you all introduce yourselves so our listeners know that you all are in fact here with us.”

“What’s up, London,” your brother, Mitch, said into the microphone. “Mitch is here.”

You laughed shaking your head. “Hiya, it’s Y/N, thanks for having us Grimmy,”

“Even though its a bit early, I’m here too,” Jeremy yawned.

“Can we get this lad some coffee?” Taylor laughed.

“He’s already had like four cups on the way over,” you laughed.

“It was a long night,” Jeremy laughed.

“Oh, was it now?” Grimmy smirked. “Anyway, since you lot are our guests, why don’t you pick the first song of the hour?”

“Uh, okay, lads what should we pick?” You asked. “This is a lot of pressure.”

“What’s your favorite song right now?” Nick asked.

“I can answer that!” Taylor smirked. “She’s obsessed with Harry Styles’ solo album.”

“No, I’m not!” You blushed. “But it is a great record, you have to admit that.”

“I don’t think anyone was denying that,” Nick laughed. “What’s your favorite song from his album?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” you laughed. “Uh, why don’t we go with Only Angel? That’s like a good morning song, right? It starts off all nice and slow and then bam it turns into a jam.”

“Good god, never say that again,” Mitch laughed.

“Alright everyone, here is Only Angel by The Harry Styles requested by none other than the beautiful and talented Y/N,” Nick said before starting the song.

After the song finished up, you went into the actual interview.

“Okay, so you all are family, right? Mitch and Y/N, you two are brother and sister and then you Jeremy and Taylor are brothers, but you all are cousins?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, it’s just a big family gathering,” you laughed.

“So, how did that work? Did you all just decide to form a band one day or what?” Nick asked.

“Um, well, we grew up in a very musical family. Our Dad was a professional drummer and songwriter for many well known artists, so we just grew up surrounded by music. But as far as us becoming a band it literally all started in our garage,” Mitch laughed.

“Yeah, anytime we’d all get together, we would just go to the garage and start messing around with our guitars and other instruments. I’d say by the time we were about fourteen or fifteen is when we started taking it more seriously and writing our own songs and performing them outside of the garage and our families,” you said.

“And here are, almost ten years later with seven number one record breaking albums and countless awards,” Nick laughed.

“It’s crazy to think about really,” Taylor said. “That we’ve been doing this for so long and our fans are still wanting to hear new music from us and coming out to our shows.”

“We’re really thankful and grateful for our fans because if it weren’t for them, we  wouldn’t be here after all these years in the business, but honestly I think that it helped that our fans are sort of growing up with us. When we came out with our first record, I was almost sixteen at the time and now I’m almost twenty six, you know? So, as we were growing up and experiencing life, we wrote that into our music and our fans were experiencing similar situations,” you said.

“Well, it’s really a great record and we love it, we play your songs all the time. Thank you all  for stopping by today with your busy schedules, we loved having you,” Nick smiled.

“No problem, thanks for having us,” Taylor smiled.

Once you all were off the air, you took off your headphones and shook everyone’s hand.

“How long are you going to be in London?” Nick asked you.

“Um, we’re here all week,” you smiled.

“Great. I’m having a bit of a house party with close friends tomorrow night, would you want to come?” He asked. “All of you are invited.”

“Sure, sounds fun,” you smiled. “Need us to bring anything?”

“Just yourselves!” He smiled giving you a hug. “This is gonna be so fun!”

You laughed shaking your head at him before grabbing your things and leaving the BBC Studio.

**

“Hello everyone, we’re here with none other than movie  star Harry Styles, here to talk to us about his new film Dunkirk,” Nick said into the microphone.

“Hi,” Harry laughed putting his headphones on.

“So, how you doing? Last night was a huge night for you,” Nick said.

“Yeah, it was a great, I’m a little exhausted, but I’m good,” Harry said.

“Good, good,” Nick said. “Now, I saw Dunkirk yesterday at eight in the morning and it was rough. I was so emotional and it was just a fantastic film,” Nick said.

“Thanks, yeah I get a bit emotional watching it myself, which I’m not sure if that’s okay, you know crying during a movie that I’m in,” he laughed.

“Only if it’s in a cool way,” Nick joked.

“Always,” Harry laughed.

“Now, we know when you’re performing for shows, you have rehearsals and what not, but when it came to memorizing your lines, how did you go about it?” Nick asked.

“Uh, I mean I just had the script with me and ran my lines with some friends or as it got closer with some of my cast mates like Fionn or Tom, but yeah it’s a lot harder to remember lines than rehearsing music,” he laughed. “Although, I’m really glad there was very little dialogue as a whole.”

“Okay, so now we’re gonna play a little game,” Nick said. “I’m sure you’re wondering why there’s a heart monitor behind you.”

“Yeah, I’m a little worried right now,” Harry laughed.

“Too bad,” Nick laughed. “So, what we’re gonna do is the Doctor is going to hook you up to the heart monitor and we’re going to show you a series of images and some other things and see how you really react to them.”

“Oh god,” Harry laughed shaking his head.

The doctor hooks Harry up to the machine and they wait for his normal heart rate before beginning.

“It’s like you’re at a steady 65, so let’s begin,” he said. “The first picture we have here is of you and your Mum from last night’s premiere.”

“She looked beautiful,” he nodded.

“Okay, heart rate is still steady,” Nick said. “What about this one? Former One Direction bandmate Zayn Malik in a leather jacket and no shirt ensemble.”

“That’s a great look,” Harry said. “But personally for me a little too sweaty.”

“I agree and Harry’s still staying at a steady rate of 65,” Nick said. “Now, what about this one? This a photo of a Y/N from Y/Band’s/Name. What do you think of her?”

Harry started blushing and tried to hide back a smirk. “I’m sure she’s a wonderful person,” he said quickly.

“Have you ever met her before?” Nick asked.

“No, I haven’t,” he responded.

“Your heart rate has increased to almost 80,” Nick smirked. “Now, Y/N was actually on our show just yesterday morning and she’s quite the fan of you, why don’t you listen to this.”

“What’s your favorite song right now?” Nick asked.

“I can answer that!” Taylor smirked. “She’s obsessed with Harry Styles’ solo album.”

“No, I’m not!” You blushed. “But it is a great record, you have to admit that.”

“I don’t think anyone was denying that,” Nick laughed. “What’s your favorite song from his album?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” you laughed. “Uh, why don’t we go with Only Angel? That’s like a good morning song, right? It starts off all nice and slow and then bam it turns into a jam.”

“How do you feel about that?” Nick smirked.

“I I-uh, I’m glad she’s a fan,” he said nervously. “I’m a fan of hers as well.”

“Uh oh,” Nick laughed. “Your heart rate’s rising. We’re almost to a 100 folks.”

“No, it’s not!” Harry blushed shaking his head.

“Yes, it is,” Nick laughed. “I think it’s save to say that you might have a bit of a crush on Y/N?”

“I just like her music is all,” Harry said.

“I don’t think so, your heart rate is officially over 100. I think this is a new record,” Nick joked.

“I hate you. I hate all of you,” Harry laughed. “You two are idiots.”

“Oi, who are you talking about?” Nick asked.

“Lou and Harry,” he said pointing to them behind the glass of studio.

“Well, we’ll let you take this one home,” Nick smirked handing Harry the picture of you.

Harry shook his head and Nick went off the air. The doctor unhooked Harry from the monitor and he got from his chair.

“Sorry about that mate,” Nick smirked.

“I hate all of you,” Harry repeated

“Yeah, yeah,” Nick laughed. “You’re still coming round to my party tonight, right?”

“Maybe,” Harry said. “I don’t think I should after that,” he smirked.

“Oh, come on,” Nick laughed. “You know you’re still coming and you can’t hate us forever.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll be there,” Harry laughed. “But I still hate you.”

“After tonight, I don’t think you’re gonna hate me at all,” Nick smirked.

“And why is that?” He asked.

“Oh, just wait and see,” Nick said.

**

It was the night of Nick Grimshaw’s house party. You decided on a simple outfit of tight black jeans, a nice blouse, and some heels. You met everyone down in the lobby of the hotel before getting into a car to drive to Nick’s house.

“Hey Y/N, did you check Grimmy’s show this morning?” Jeremy smirked.

“Nope, I was sleeping,” you laughed. “Why what happened?”

“Oh, you mean you don’t know?” Taylor asked.

“Obviously not,” you said rolling your eyes.

“Harry Styles was on there today and he played some game with Grimmy involving a heart monitor and Grimmy brought you up, Harry’s heart rate rose to over a 100, supposedly,” Mitch said.

“Are you serious?” You laughed with a bit of blush on covering your cheeks.

“Yeah, I saw the video,” Jeremy said. “He was blushing so hard over you complimenting his album.”

“I bet he’s so embarrassed,” you said.

“I say he thinks you’re hot,” Taylor said.

“I highly doubt that,” you said. “He probably was just getting embarrassed or something, I mean that causes a rise in your heart rate too.”

“Even if that’s the case, it’s obvious that he’s not the only one embarrassed,” Taylor smirked.

“Fuck off,” You laughed pushing him back to his side of the car.

Truth be told, you did have a little bit of a crush on Harry Styles. You’ve never met him before, but there was obviously a physical attraction towards him and you were a huge fan of his music, even when during his One Direction days. Your crush though, was simply a crush and you were sure there would be no way he had a crush on you.

You all arrived to the party and walked inside. Since a few people from the radio and the music industry were there, you knew some people in attendance. You went straight over to grab yourself a drink and went through the crowd of people to mingle.

**

Harry arrived at Nick’s house with some of his close friends. When he walked inside, he got himself a drink and went in search of the host. He found Nick over by where the music was playing, of course, he thought to himself.

“Harry!” Nick said hugging him.

“I see you’ve had a few too many already,” Harry laughed.

“Eh,” he said. “I’m just a bit tipsy.”

“I can tell,” Harry said.

“I’m so glad you came! There’s someone I want you to meet here,” Nick said.

“Oh, really? Who?” Harry said.

“Y/N,” Nick smirked.

Harry almost spit out of his drink. “W-What? Y/N’s here?”

“Yep. I invited her yesterday when she was on the show,” Nick said.

“Wait? You knew she was going to be here tonight?” Harry said. “And you still went along with the heart rate shit?”

“Look, Lou told me about your little crush on her and she’s obviously a huge fan of you, so why don’t you just go and introduce yourself to her?” Nick said. “You never know, sparks may fly, music might be played…”

Harry shook his head. “I can’t. Not after what happened today. If she’s seen that, she’ll probably think I’m like obsessed with her.”

“You kinda are though,” Nick joked.

“No, I’m not,” Harry groaned.

“Anyway, just go talk to her mate. It’s a party, it’s what people do,” Nick said.

“I can’t just fucking walk up to her,” Harry said.

“You do it all the fucking time to people,” Nick said.

“I know, but I don’t think I could with her,” Harry said looking around the room.

He blushed when he saw you talking with your bandmates and some other people he couldn’t really see. You were laughing at something and he couldn’t help, but admire your smile. You looked really beautiful and he wanted to talk to you, he did, but his nerves were taking over. He hadn’t ever felt like that in his whole life and he doesn’t even know you.

“Fine, if you won’t go and talk to her, I’ll introduce you two myself,” Nick said grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him towards where you were standing.

**

“Oh, Nick, hi,” you smiled when you saw Nick making his way to you.

“Glad you were able to come Y/N,” he smiled hugging you. “All of you, really. So, I thought I’d introduce you all to my best mate, Harry. Y/N, Jeremy, Taylor, and Mitch this Harry Styles, Harry Styles this Y/N, Jeremy, Taylor, and Mitch,”

“I got that, thanks,” Harry mumbled.

“Hi,” You smiled holding your hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

Harry blushed as he took your hand into his as he shook it. “Thanks, it’s great to met you too. I’ve been a fan for a really long time.”

“Oh, thank you,” you smiled. “We’re all big fans of you as well.”

“Especially, Y/N,” Taylor smirked wrapping his arm around your shoulder.

“Thanks,” Harry smiled as you blushed. “Um, can I get you another drink or anything?” He asked nervously.

“Uh, actually, yeah, I could use another,” you smiled.

“What are you drinking?” He asked.

“I could just come with you to the bar, if that’s okay,” you said.

“Sure, why not,” he smiled. “Does anyone else need anything?”

“We could use a few beers,” the boys said.

You rolled your eyes. “We’ll bring them back. Try not to move around too much, I’m not hunting your asses down just to give you your beers.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mitch joked.

You and Harry pushed your way through the crowd and over to the bar.

“So, what brings you to London?” Harry asked.

“Promo for newest album mostly,” you said. “But we also planned a small show this week too.”

Harry nodded. “How long are you here for?”

“Just the week,” you said. “Then we head off to Paris, a few different cities in Italy, and then we’re going to Australia for a bit.”

“Wow,” he said. “The joys of promo season.”

“Yep,” you laughed. “But I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of promo recently with Dunkirk right?”

“Yeah, I’ll actually be headed to NYC soon for the premiere there,” he said.

“That’s exciting,” you smiled. “I love New York, although usually when we’re there it’s for work.”

“Yeah, I just recently bought an apartment there, so I find myself going there more for leisure time,” he laughed.

You both got beers for everyone along with drinks for you and Harry before making your way back over to the group. You handed everyone their beers and they ended up walking away and going to talk to other people, leaving you and Harry alone.

“So, I know your brother is the band, right?” He asked. “Which one is he?”

“Mitch,” you said.

“I can see that now,” he nodded. “You two look alike.”

You laughed. “Unfortunately, yeah,” you joked. “But everyone knows I’m the prettier one of us.”

“I’d have to agree on that,” Harry laughed taking a sip of his drink.

You blushed a little and smiled at him. “So, what about you? You have a sister right?”

“I do,” he nodded. “Gemma she’s older than I am and she never lets me fucking forget it,” he laughed.

“Oh, I know! Mitch is the same way,” you giggled.

“Does he pretend like he’s your parent or something?” He asked.

“Always,” you said. “When we first started out, our parents were on tour with us, but once we got older, our parents stayed home while we went off on our own and that was when his Dad mode stepped in. Whenever I was around a guy or we were out drinking or just doing whatever, he’d be hovering around all the time.”

“He doesn’t seem to be hovering around right now,” Harry said.

“Oh, he is, trust me, he’s just learned to keep his distance,” you laughed.

“Should I be scared?” He asked.

“No, I think you’re okay,” you giggled.

As the party went on into the late hours of the night, you and Harry spent those hours talking and doing a little bit of dancing. By the time, you realized how late it was, you started gathering your bandmates to head back to the hotel. You said your goodbye to Harry and Nick before walking out to get your car.

Right as you were about to climb into the backseat, you heard your name being called.

You turned around and saw Harry practically running down the driveway to you.

“I uh, I wanted to uh, g-give, uh give you my number,” he said holding out a napkin with writing on it.

“Oh, thanks,” you said. “Um, I’d give you mine, but I don’t have anything to write it on.”

“That’s okay, you can just text me it, if you want,” he said nervously.

“Okay,” you smiled. “I had a good time tonight. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah, can’t wait,” he smiled.

You gave him a wave before getting into the car and shutting the door. The entire ride back to the hotel, the boys were teasing you about Harry and getting his number, but you just let them because nothing was going to take the smile off of your face.

[sharigone]

Summary:  “ Her endless pools reflected the moon in the most wonderful way.  In some weird way, I felt connected to Hinata and almost protective over her.  I wanted things to go her way and I’d do my hardest to help.” College AU. Rated T, might be changed to M later.

Pairing: NaruHina

Bleachers Chapter Two: O, Romeo

“A romance play! You didn’t tell me it would be a romance!” I groaned when he handed me the scripts.

It would be super hard to convince Hinata to join me on this one.  I can already see her running off the stage when our characters have to profess their love to each other.  It couldn’t hurt to try though, maybe she’ll agree to it just for the scholarship. Although I wish Sai would’ve warned me ahead of time.

Today there would be an orientation in the theatre about auditions and call backs and the auditions would start the following day.  Basically all we had to do is show up and sign up.  Hinata and I decided to meet up in my dorm room with Sasuke after she is done with her Calculus course since the dorms were close by.  Worked perfectly.  We would have at least an hour to go over the lines and hopefully go to the orientation if she still wanted to go through with it.

Until then, I decided I’d play games with the guys before they had to go to class.  Shikamaru and Sasuke always tried to find the smart way to the goal in our multiplayer mission but I liked doing things head first, so usually when we play our video games together, we ended up arguing about which route is the best route before we just end up blowing stuff up on the game.  

“Damn it, Naruto! I told you to take cover by the car, not throw grenades!” Shikamaru slammed his controller.

“Now you alerted the enemy.” Sasuke squinted his eyes at me.

“Why walk on eggshells when a grenade can take out about half of them?”

“You never think these things through and it drags the mission.”

“Whatever. You’re just mad because I like to actually utilize the weapons we have.” I waved them off, getting up to grab some soda.

“Hey, what’s that over there?” Sasuke nudged his head towards the script.

“Nothing.” I shielded it from his view.

This only irritated him and he snatched it from behind me.

“A play?” Shikamaru raised his eyebrow, “Not just any play, but a romance. Just wait until Chouji and Kiba hear about this.”

“No! Whatever you do, don’t tell Kiba!” I waved my arms frantically.

If Kiba got any word of this, I would have no end to all of the theatre jokes and pokes.

“I can already hear the dog-faced idiot.” Sasuke snickered to himself, “O, Romeo where art thou?”

“Shut up, will ya!” I punched his arm, “Don’t you guys have a class to go to?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. See ya… Romeo.” Shikamaru got his bag and left with Sasuke.

I cursed to myself and kicked my door shut.  They were definitely telling Kiba; they couldn’t possibly resist such a golden moment.  It was only a few minutes before I heard a light tapping on the door which could only come from Hinata. I happily greeted her and let her inside.  She fidgeted with her hair and her scarf as she sat down on my bed so I decided to try to make her a little more comfortable.

“How was class?” I started.

“It was fine. Just graphing and unknown variables, the usual.” she turned her head to the side.

I got the scripts and handed on to her, “I’ll let you read through it before we get started.”

“Penelope.” she read the title, “The play is Greek?”

“Uh, yeah.” I nodded, sitting across from her in my swivel chair.

We silently read the entire script together.  The drama team decided to do a more modern take on the old Greek play to attract a broader audience which I thought was pretty cool. I finished reading the script but I knew she finished when her usual light pink tint spread across her cheeks.

“A romance.” she stuttered between her words.

“Yeah, I had no clue. Sai didn’t care to let me know about that.” I scratched behind my head nervously, “If this is too much for you, it’s okay to back out.”

She thought about if for a second, her gaze glancing all around the room before she stuck out her pinky towards me.

“We made a promise remember?”

“Yeah. Are you sure though?” I wrapped my bigger pinky around her’s.

She nodded, “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

I let out a hearty laugh and leaned back in my chair, “I’ve always known you were funny, Hinata.”

She brought her hands up to her lips and let out a small chuckle at her own joke.

“I’m really gonna have to break out of my shell if I’m going to play Penelope.” she noted.

“You can do it, keep your eyes on the prize.”

“Right. Shall we go over the lines?”

I gave a quick nod as we started to rehearse the lines and before we knew it, it was time to head out to the theatre.  The director of the play was Miss Fuyu, she apparently did Broadway once and was an expert in everything related to plays and musicals. I saw Sai painting in the background with a few other people while Miss Fuyu gave everyone a run down of how auditions and callbacks work, the story behind the play, and the schedules. Hinata took all the notes and listened attentively to everything she was saying.  At the end of the orientation we had to sign the sheet and put down which role we were trying for. I, of course but Odysseus and Hinata put down Penelope. Tomorrow we’d have to meet at the theatre at the same time which would a bit of a rush since both Hinata and I had class before then.  We’d make it work though.

“Do you think Miss Fuyu will want us to do the entire play for the audition or just a certain scene?” Hinata asked as we walked out of the theatre.

“Gee, I dunno.” I thought a little, “Guess we find out tomorrow.”

“I was just wondering because..” she fumbled between her words, “Y’know because… of that scene at the end.”

“Oh, yeah.” I chuckled nervously.

There was a kiss scene at the end of the play. I knew exactly what she was worried about.

“I’ve never actually kissed...anyone.” she admitted, turning her head away from me.

“Wait what?” I stopped our walk and turned her to look at me, “Not once! Not even a peck?”

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

“C’mon, Hinata! That’s crazy, I mean you’re really pretty how could it not have happened?”

She let out a small gasp before raised her hands up to cover her cheeks, shaking her head furiously.

“My nose is always in a book.  Besides, I wasn’t ever really interested.”

I guess I can see where she’s coming from.  My first kiss was accidental with Sasuke of all people, but we buried that deep in the grave and it is never supposed to be brought up again.  And then there was that time in my first year in university when I had seven minutes in heaven with this girl named, Saya.  That was less than pleasant, I had no experience and she insisted on shoving her tongue down my throat.  I could gag at the very thought. Yikes.  

“You don’t want your first kiss being with me?” I smirked mischievously.

“No, no it’s not that!” she shrieked.

“Oh, so you do want to kiss me.” I had to admit I liked seeing her get all worked up.

Her face was beet red and she did her best to hide herself in her hair, “Naruto!”

“I’m just messing with you.” I bursted out laughing and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, continuing our walk.

She gently poked my side and pouted, her face still red. Oh, this was pure gold.

“That was not nice, Naruto!”

“Oh, c’mon it was funny. At least a little!”

She shook her head defiantly.

“C’mon!”

“Nope!”

“Admit it! It was a good one.”

“Slightly.” she bubbled up in laughter.

“That's more I like it.” I laughed with her, “I’ve got class right now but we’re all going out for drinks later, wanna join?”

“Um, it sounds like fun.” she glanced my way before looking back down at her feet.

“Cool! See ya there!” I gave her a thumbs up before running off to the Communications building.

I turned my back once and saw her back where we stood, smiling and waving at me. Her hair contrasting the sun in the most mesmerizing way.  I had a small feeling I’d have a hard time keeping her out of my head.

Last Chapter | Next Chapter

[maskydoo-old]

Nightmare Neighbors 2

(I’m writing out scripts for upcoming storytime style youtube videos, and posting what I have here. Note that this is a true story. Feedback is welcome.)

When my boyfriend and I first bought our house, we thought did pretty well for ourselves.

It was everything we wanted at the time. Plenty of space for us, our pets, and our guests. It had a large yard, a two-car garage, and was in pretty nice area. It even came with a hot top. A leaky hot tub that the house’s wiring couldn’t properly handle, but still a hot tub.

So it needed a little work in some places. What new home doesn’t?

We assumed minor disrepair of the house was why we paid relatively little for it compared to other nearby houses.

For a first house for a young couple, yeah, not so bad. Things were going well.

Ours was the corner house, leaving us with just one neighboring family, a middle-aged-ish couple, and school-age boy.

At first I worried that the kid might be a problem. See my previous video for why I wasn’t thrilled to live near children.

But to my surprise, the neighbor boy turned out to actually be no trouble.

In fact, it was a little weird. I never heard him at all. Heck, I rarely even saw him. He was hardly ever in his yard and didn’t play with the other neighborhood kids. I’m not sure he even had any friends.

Looking back now, I wonder what home life was like for him, and I just hope he is OK. He deserves better than the parents he’s stuck with.

No, the ones who caused the problems were his parents.

It started with small things. Almost justifiable things. Things that even made me question my own perceptions of events, wondering if I was making things a bigger deal than they were, and if I was really the one at fault.

I was basically trying to rationalize their escalating hostility. Because people just do not act they do without cause – right?

That’s what I thought…

But eventually the madness got to a pitch that my patient chill level and willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt was strained to the breaking point.

Since these two will be the focus of this story, I should give them names. I won’t be using their real names, despite how satisfying it might be to absolutely DRAG them, and it’s not like they could do anything about it legally as I have plenty of evidence including court records to prove everything.

But no, I’m just using fake names here, if to avoid giving internet detectives any help finding out where I live. Not that I think anyone would bother.

(tumbleweed)

So. Loony and Toony Feckwad it is.

I tried to make nice with the neighbors.

I happened to go to get the mail one day at the same time as Loony. We had a shared mailbox post, one 4X4 sticking out of the ground with both of our mailboxes on it. It would have been awkward to not at least greet her.

I introduced myself, as you do with new neighbors. She didn’t say anything… particularly impolite at this first meeting. She really didn’t really say much at all. Just seemed a bit… standoffish.

I took it as disinterest and put it out of my mind.

I was actually happy to slink away from that particular social situation. There was something about that look in her eyes…

Ugh- those eyes! She had those eyes were always wide and intense, yet glassy and unfocused. The Amy Bouzaglo eyes. The Michelle Bachman eyes. Crazy eyes. Cliché as it seems, she really had them. Toony did too.

If she stared at me any harder it might break the skin.

I don’t expect neighbors to be built-in friends or to have any kind of obligations to each other. Some people like to keep to themselves and that’s fine. I was happy to keep to myself as well.

If only these people really did just keep to themselves.

I went on my business without much thought of my neighbors after that. I almost forgot these people even existed at all by the time the trouble started.

One day, I found a handwritten note in my mailbox.

As far as I know, it’s actually illegal to go putting things in people’s mailboxes when you’re not an authorized mail carrier, but whatever

Oh, it’s from the neighbor lady… I already forgot her name. Weird, she never speaks to me. What does she want?

I wish I kept this note so I could relay what this it said accurately, or even just post it, and certainly would have been useful as evidence when I eventually took these people to court (spoiler) buuut I didn’t. I didn’t realize then it would get so out of hand as that.

So. Here it is, from my flawed human memory:

First, she wrote “To Molly’s Mom.”

Yeah, she addressed me as “Molly’s mom.” Molly is my dog.

Maybe she forgot my name? Fair enough, I already forgot hers.

Or, maybe it was some light hearted thing and the note would be friendly. Maybe an invitation to a dog party!

I am the optimist.

Ah… Nope. Nope. It was definitely a nastygram.

Basically, Loony thinks my dog is pooping in her front yard.

Well, she wasn’t. Molly stays in the fenced back yard. Loony’s front yard has no fence, just like mine doesn’t, and we both get visitors from various animals: loose dogs, cats, coyotes, deer, all more likely culprits.

But hey, honest mistake, right? No big deal. We’ll laugh about this later.

A normal note would have ended there. But not hers. There was more. Lots more.

… Then I… noticed something. Loony was standing in her driveway, stock still, just… staring at me, watching me read her note. I guess she wanted confirmation that I read her note. Well, fine, now she has it.

Me: ‘You can stop staring at me like that now…’

I kept reading, mostly so I could pretend I didn’t see her staring. The note grew increasingly accusatory and now openly insulting.

Among other unkind things I won’t repeat, she called me “entitled” and seemed to believe I was somehow instructing dogs to poop in her yard. Like. I didn’t just let my dog poop on her yard, I was having the dog do it on purpose… for… reasons.

Then her note went on a tangent about how awful dogs and how much she hates them and how I shouldn’t assume everyone likes them.

Me: ‘Uh, Ok.’

The more I read, the more unhinged Loony got, both in the note and out.  I watched her in my peripheral vision. She got into her SUV and backed out of her driveway. I thought she was leaving and the staring was finally over, but nope she just drove over and stopped on the curb directly behind me.

Why? Did she want to talk? Maybe she had second thoughts about her letter. She probably wrote it when she wasn’t thinking clearly and it came out all wrong. Maybe she regretted it and was going out to my mailbox to take it back before I could see it, Only to see me opening it just then. How awkward! She must be so embarrassed, so she came over to explain herself. Yeah. That must be it.

Well, I didn’t hear any apology coming. She just idled there not saying anything.

I learned to stop being an optimist about these people after this.

I could feel her staring.

I pretended not to notice her, which left me nothing to do but keep reading the note. I wish I’d just got the mail and took it all inside before reading anything.

At this point, the note went on a nonsense tirade about the previous people to live in my home and how much Loony hated them, as if that has anything to do with me. Loony’s note called me “another Deb,” which I guess referred to the lady who used to live here. I could see why they sold their home in such a hurry.  

Then the note concluded in odd insults and what read to me like implied threats about her ‘giving me what’s coming to me.’ I think the note only ended at all because she ran out of space on the page to rant any more.

Me ‘As out of line as this note is, think this is the most this woman has had to say to me in the whole time I’ve lived here. And why is it was addressed specifically to me, “Molly’s Mom,” and not my boyfriend “Molly’s Dad?” Come to think of it, how did she even know I’d be the one home today to get the mail?’

Loony was still idling behind me. I wasn’t interested in speaking to her after reading all that. And idling behind me like that was just creepy. Why do that? It definitely didn’t seem like waiting for a chance to apologize.

What more could Loony want, anyway. She saw me read the note, which said all there was to say and then some. Shouldn’t that satisfy her enough?

I decided to just take the high road and ignore her. I’d go back to my house without acknowledging her weird behavior. Seemed polite to let her save face a little. I’d let her off the hook without further embarrassment.

At least, that’s what I wanted to do. But she wouldn’t have that.

Loony “ARE YOU PLAYING A GAME?!”

She actually yelled out her SUV window.

I was out of patience.

“Are you nuts?!”

Me: ‘What does that even mean? What in the world does she think I’ve done that’s playing a game?’

She acted indignant, as if I was the one out of line. Maybe she took me as someone who could be pushed around and like any Karen was shocked anyone had the nerve to not let her.  

She threw a number of insults, called me this and that. It wasn’t PG. Whatever.

I ordered her to move her vehicle, which was now blocking my driveway, or I’d call the cops. She yelled some more, but finally sped off when I pulled out my phone.

Looking back, I know I shouldn’t engage in back-and-fourths with crazy, aggressive people, I know I should use that phone to record, and I know I should just get into my house. It’s not about being a doormat and letting them get away with things, it’s about getting a record when one person is undeniably in the wrong. Give them enough rope to hang themselves.

But I didn’t know that at the time. And I was so taken off guard. I’d never seen a problem like this before in my life, and didn’t know how to handle it except to refuse to put up with it.  

I started to write a note in reply, basically refuting the claims and telling her how inappropriate acted… but in the end, I abandoned it. I never delivered it. Never even finished it. She wasn’t worth my time or emotional energy to be so concerned about.

When my boyfriend got home, he had a chat with Loony and Toony next door. He said they seemed agreeable enough to him.

Uh, yeah, my boyfriend is a 6’3 musclebound obvious veteran who could snap either of them like a twig, whereas I’m just 4’11 and still got offered kids’ menus when we went out on dates. Of course Loony would mind her manners around him more than around me.

And it’s not like Loony was going to be honest about her actions when telling her side anyway. I’m sure she told a very different story from, you know, reality.  

My boyfriend was always a friendly guy, and I’m sure treated them politely, probably gave them the benefit of the doubt, although he did see the note, but I’m betting him just showing up to speak to them at all was enough of a warning not to mess with me… at least as long as he’s around to have my back.

For a while, Loony didn’t cause any more trouble. So I figured her little episode that day would be a one-time event, not worth dwelling on. I would just ignore the neighbors and forget about it. I had my own life to live, after all.

Loony would glare at me from her front yard, like she wanted to say something, but kept her mouth shut. I just acted like I didn’t even see her. She didn’t exist, as far as I was concerned.

So this doesn’t seem so bad, right? Just a rude note and an absurd argument. Not a huge deal. If this had been the end of it, it would barely be a blip in my memory and wouldn’t have been worth retelling here. I would have never needed to call the cops, get a restraining order, or keep a pistol on me just to mow the lawn.

And it might have been the end of it if it weren’t for one thing: after a few years or so of living in that house, my boyfriend took a job that had him away overseas for months at a time. It didn’t take long for the neighbors to notice that I was home alone.

It was not the end. Loony and Toony were just getting started.