#i kinda wanna make him more top heavy cuz i feel like it hits the hulking creature vibe he gives off

[churchydraws]

Tracing over official renders to figure out how I wanna draw each Ultra starting with Reiblood Belial because apparently I hate myself.

[cali-is-my-canvas]

MHA RAVE AU HEADCANONS

Part 1

Ok so I had started artworks for this idea because being a weeb and a raver, it only made sense to me.

So here’s a list of the MHA characters (all 18+) and what I think they’d be like as ravers including the genre, style and uh….. “party favors” they’d indulge in if they do indulge.

Izuku Midoriya

You can’t convince me that Deku isn’t a baby raver. He’s one of those that starts off wide eyed and so excited to start raving.

Definitely a budding Kandi Kid. He loves making kandi and trading with other people and he definitely takes videos or pics of his trades to add to his scrapbook.

Is the kind of baby raver that scrapbooks for his memories of each show/festival he goes to. He saves the admission bands and takes tons of pics.

Is fairly mainstream with his taste is DJs but will go to check out other sub genres if he goes with other groups. Mostly along the lines of Zedd, The Chainsmokers, David Guetta. Very house/pop vibes.

He’s very comfy style. Is big on merch shirts. Has a Fanny pack and a camel pack with essentials like gum, water, hair ties, a mini first aid kit, power banks, a couple fans and Vick’s.

Is the kind of guy that is very sweet so girls flock to him to either treat him like baby or flirt with him cuz he’s good boi. Will lift people on his shoulders, guy or girl.

Light show caretaker. He’s the one who holds your hand, fans you, will probably sit you in his lap whether you’re a guy gal or non binary pal.

His rave name is either Deku or Broccoli.

Izuku isn’t one to take any kind of “party favors”. If anything, he’s the one making sure everybody else is staying hydrated and safe. Usually the designated driver.

OFA gives him great strength which proves very useful when going to 3 day festivals as he ends up as the pack mule. Along with the multitude of other quirks attached ro OFA, he uses them as needed.

Shoto Todoroki

Wasn’t really ecstatic about raving but also didn’t hate the idea. He kinda just tagged along because Izuku wanted to go.

Also very big on house/pop/mainstream stuff. Will listen to trance on occasion but he has to really be in the mood.

Only really takes pics if he remembers or if Izuku tells him to. He likes to enjoy the shows in the moment.

Because he’s from a rich family, he usually gets to have VIP passes and will either sneak his friends in or just flat out walk them in. No fucks given.

Also very comfy. Will take his shirt off only if it gets too hot. Very little kandi but faithfully wears the one Izuku gave him.

Gets hit on a lot. Gives the strong silent type vibes so he lures in the girls but he’s kinda clueless. Will help put people on his shoulders if they ask but he’s not one to offer.

Not a big “party favor” person so he’ll just drink every now and again.

I feel like his rave name will be IcyHot, Peppermint, or something along those lines.

His dual-quirks of ice and fire help tremendously in warming people up or cooling them down.

Katsuki Bakugou

Katsuki took a bit of convincing but when he heard the boom of the bass, he was hooked. He loves the heavy beats and drops and loves to mosh pit.

Is a kandi kid but focuses more on head banging and rail breaking. The ones he trades kandi with are usually the ones he liked head banging with or got good vibes from. Will infamously wear his kandi gauntlets to festivals.

He is HEAVY on the bass. Very into hard style, dubstep, deathstep, drum and bass and moombatah. Sullivan King, Excision, Dion Timmer, etc.

Loves doing that headbanger thing with Kirishima where they lock hands and headbang at each other. Will also break his neck with Kirishima.

Absolutely is the type of guy to be shirtless the entire time. Will vary between bandanas, face masks, kandi masks or gas masks. Camel pack is a necessity and so is gum and vicks.

Does get hit on but his aggressive nature is off putting to most. Takes pics with a lot of people because of his Kandi gauntlets. If he does click with somebody he’s very possessive and the “party favors” make him very flirtatious and grabby but he’s v respectful.

Gives amazing back/shoulder rubs. Will usually put a girl in his lap when she gets a light show so she’s not uncomfy on the floor. For guys, he’s very selective but good vibes unless you give off Chad energy.

If he didn’t click with anybody at the show/festival and is feeling touchy feely, Kiri is his go to. Even if Kiri makes a connection, you’ll often see Katsuki close by and being the “tag team top” to Kiri.

Definitely uses “party favors”. Prefers E and acid. Big on Kandi Flipping. Will try Jedi Flipping but doesn’t wanna overdo it.

His rave name is either Dynamite or Grenade. Was almost gonna be Kacchan when he went with Izuku but he shut that down real fast.

His explosion quirk comes in handy with hyping up the crowd with mini explosion. They also double for giving light shows. Likes watching faces melt.

Kyoka Jirou

I definitely think she’s one of the ones that introduced everyone to raving to open up their music taste.

She listens to a little of everything but prefers house, trance, techno and probably a little psy-trance.

She’s definitely a budding DJ/Producer. Has her own EPs out on SoundCloud and shit. Definitely invites everyone she knows to her shows.

Not so big on kandi but she loves spreading the PLUR vibes. Will give hugs, braid hair, have spare hair ties, etc.

Super into hearing different types of music so will definitely wander around different stages.

Style is very lax but also very rocker. Ripped tank tops, fishnets, leg wraps face masks, boots.

Sometimes partakes in “party favors” but very low doses. Mostly E or molly water

She’s the kind that will give amazing massages when someone is getting a light show. Does get hit on but usually ends up befriending everybody.

Her raver name is tricky. I feel like she’d get something Joane Jet or something very rocker.

Her quirk is tricky for this environment. It can be a hit or miss. Because of the volume she obviously can’t amplify the sound. Because her ear jacks can move on their own, she usually is the one catching people’s stuff, getting a better grip on them etc.

Ochako Uraraka

Very bubbly and upbeat. Definitely pop-ish/mainstream vibes. Will randomly be on a bass kick and it’s frightening.

She was super excited to go to a rave and was very baby raver but she loves it now.

She’s definitely the type to wear the cutesy outfits with tutus and bright colors and patterns and the body glitter everywhere and jewels. Probably leg warmer floofs.

Loves Kandi and trading kandi. Super friendly and bubbly. Makes friends with everybody.

Carries a fanny pack with the basics. Usually relies on Izuku for water and stuffs.

She’s a molly water chick. No debating. She can’t take a whole dosage. She’s gotta take it in Gatorade or water. Has to be watched cuz her bubbly nature makes her wander off so she’ll usually be tethered to somebody.

Usually hyping up the light show artist while they melt your face off. Will fan you off, hold your hand, give you shoulder and scalp massages.

I feel like her nickname would be something like Pinkie Pie or Bubbles. Very fitting for her personality.

Her quirk is definitely a god send for the other vertically challenged ravers. She’ll use her quirk to help float up to get a better view. Izuku is usually nearby keeping Ochaco and whoever she floats in his hands so they don’t float away.

Eijirou Kirishima

Is good boi himbo who wanted to be included. Listened to dubstep and loved it.

Very much into dubstep, hard style, deathstep and moombatah. Drum and bass too because of Katsuki.

Is a headbanger and rail breaker. Loves doing the hand holding, head banging thingy with Bakugou and is always ready to dive into the moshpits. Is totally that guy that’s crazy in mosh pits but then profusely apologizes after.

Trades kandi like it’s water. He’s so cute and always down to make trades.

Is absolutely big good himbo boi who drank his respecc womens juice. He will happily give them a lift on his shoulders and will fight everybody who disrespects any girl at the raves. Douchebag Chads beware.

Relies on Katsuki for stuff like water and gum and shit.

Will partake in some “party favors” and makes sure he doesn’t dose too high so he can keep an eye out for the females in his group. E, Molly and Acid are a yes. Shrooms scare him

His rave name is totally Daddy Shark or Jaws or something shark related.

Unbreakable gives Kiri great strength which, much like Izuku, makes him one of the packmules for festivals. Also keeps him unscathed by moshpits and makes him a terror to Chads that are quick to throw hands.

Tsuyu Asui

Was invited to a show by Jirou at first but always tags along with Izuku and Ochaco and Shoto. The bigger the crowd the better.

I feel like while she’s very cute and bubbly, her outfits are more on the conservative side. Still cute and slightly sexy but she’s heavy on the frog aesthetic. Lots of greens and Froggies. Braid to keep her hair out of the way.

Also very mainstream. House heavy. Pop main.

Comfy shoes are a must. Has a camel back that is always filled with water. Carries a giant fan and always has Kandi. During the day, she likes to carry an umbrella so the sun isn’t such a pain.

Has tried “party favors” and every now and again she’ll partake. Prefers super light drinking around her group tho.

Is hit on but is always very nice to turn people down. She’s more focused on the fun and her friends rather than hooking up or anything.

Her froggy quirk isn’t of too much in the rave environment other than using that long tongue to reign in her wander friends.

Denki Kaminari

Was introduced to raving by Jirou and loves it. He’s definitely her hype machine, promoting her shows, pushing merch and even volunteering to use his quirk for lighting during her sets.

Will definitely join the Bakusquad at the hard style and dubstep stages. Also loves techno and moombatah. Loves the high energy stuff.

Neons and glow in the darks are big in his rave wardrobe. Can and will rock fishnets with pride. Tank tops are more common but will go shirtless if it gets too hot or he gets too touchy feely. Kind of a cyberpunk feel sometimes.

Is a die hard kandi kid. Usually has them in the theme of video games or anime. Basically his arms are covered in kandi but the ones from his friends stay safe in a Fanny pack.

As an avid raver, he knows what you need and has it when you need it. Chapstick? Check. Gum? Tons. Lighters? Honey it’s a sin that you’re even asking.

Absolutely partakes in “party favors” and gets very handsy and flirtatious. Is respectful but can be a handful. Usually ends up being babysat by Jirou. E, Molly, acid and shrooms.

Is a huge flirt. I personally feel like he’s Pan so the whole crowd is fair game for his flirting. Hella good kisser with guys girls and non binaries. Uses his quirk for minimal stimulation.

His quirk is definitely a raver’s delight. He’s usually the one helping power people’s phones, helping keep machines running in the off chance the power surge is too much. Uses it for stimulation during make out sessions or light shows. Will also give light shows. Can’t do it for too long though because the light shows require a lot of focus on maintaining the output to smaller levels.

His rave name is Pikachu and I’m not taking any arguments/complaints/criticisms.

Tenya Iida

Was invited a rave and didn’t mind it but too chaotic for his taste.

He’s usually the guy working the rave at the water stands, merch stands or medical tent.

Rave dad vibes. Yells to not run, drink water and highly discourages use of “party favors”.

Has been hit on a couple times but is a dork and it usually goes over his head.

T-shirts and cargo shorts are his staple outfit. Always with a camel pack

His engine quirk helps him get from one end of the festival grounds to the other in no time flat so he has a specific path for him to run through cuz those speeds will knock a bitch out.

Even though he doesn’t really rave he was given a rave name and it’s Sonic.

Mina Ashido

The epitome of a fucking rave queen. She’s one of the other reasons that everybody else got into raving.

Is everywhere. She listens to a bit of everything. Loves the energy of dubstep, loves shuffling to techno, can and will throws elbows in a mosh pit at a hard style stage and will sing with you at the mainstream stages.

She’s definitely a brand ambassador and wears all the cutest outfits with the coolest patterns and most awesome styles. Tastefully sexy outfits that show off just enough.

Absolutely a kandi kid. Very alien friendly themed kandi. Full arms of traded kandi and kandi that is yet to be traded.

She’s a super bright personality that draws people in. She gets equal attention from guys and girls and non binaries and will gladly make out with anybody that gives her a good vibe.

Definitely partakes in “party favors”. Loves Kandi Flipping and Jedi flipping. Is the kind to chew her cheek raw so she needs either a pacifier or lots of gum.

For obvious reasons, her quirk is a no no. Shooting acid everywhere? Yea let’s not.

Her rave name is Alien Queen or ET Babe

Hanta Sero

Absolutely loves raving and I’m gonna stick with the Latino HC. He is a moombatah and trap king. Also loves artists like Deorro that have a lot of Latin fusion in their stuff. When “Bailar” came out, he played it for hours on end.

Very lax clothes. Very much stoner style. But on rare occasions he goes with the Chad aesthetic. Has that undercut but with longer hair up top style and will often swing it it up in a man bun.

He’s a promoter for sure. Usually has access to backstage because he gets in good with DJs.

Does use “party favors” but is mainly 4/20 friendly. Loves shotgunning. Is usually the guy that carries extra “party favors”. Will def go on an acid or shroom trip with first timers.

Very sexually fluid so good vibes are pretty much all that are required. Hella god dancer and uses that to his advantage.

Has all the essentials. Especially lighters. Is the one that remembers the eye drops.

His rave name is definitely Papi or Rey (Spanish for King).

His quirk is another one that doesn’t have much use other than to wrangle in his wandering friends.

Momo Yaoyorozu

Wasn’t keen on going at first but when she saw that even Shoto was going, she thought she’d give it a try. Is another rich kid so does have the VIP access for the sake of having a good/comfy place to sit and rest.

Mainstream for sure. Very pop heavy vibes. Some house and trance

Very much the rave mom. Keeping everybody hydrated and safe.

Given that her quirk relies heavily on her energy and all that, she doesn’t partake in party favors

Tries to keep it cute but usually ends up looking more on the sexy side.

She’s been convinced to be a brand ambassador for the sake of modeling the clothes. But she always asks for the more covered up options.

Is too busy taking care of everybody to worry about meeting people.

Her quirk is perfect for raving. Being able to create anything certainly has come in handy. Makes her a god send to those who forgot something like lighter, chapstick, hair tie etc.

Her rave name would probably be Mama Momo.

Hitoshi Shinsou

Now this guy is heavy into psy-trance. Think more along the lines of artists like Infected Mushroom.

He’s the connect that everybody goes to. Meaning yes, he partakes in party favors. Particularly the psychedelics like shrooms and acid.

Very cyber punk/street wear vibes. Comfy but still fits that aesthetic. Absolutely uses either his voice mask or a gas mask.

He gives the mysterious vibe so he has a lot of people drawn to him. I feel like he gives major Pansexual vibes. He’ll mainly go make out with Denki if he’s solo.

Just a basic Fanny pack with a few things in it like gum, chapstick, lighter.

Definitely a glover. Loves giving light shows because it almost feels like he’s using his quirk.

Can use his quirk in this type of environment but the loudness makes it tricky. Will mainly use it for the purpose of making sure people take care of themselves.

Fumikage Tokoyami

I feel like Tokoyami would definitely be into more dubstep and psytrance.

He was very open minded about raving and definitely wanted to try it at least once.

Occasionally partakes in party favors but likes to be lucid.

Is also a glover like Shinsou. But with Dark Shadow, he can go all out with the tricks and visuals.

Very casual and comfortable. Baggy t shirts and sweats. Will sometimes dress with a cyber punk aesthetic if he feels like adding a little extra oomf.

Trades some kandi but not always.

Dark shadow is a conversation starter and the darkness proves to be particularly tricked but because there are constant sources of light (glow sticks, laser light shows, etc) it’s easily tamable.

Won’t put anybody on his shoulders but Dark Shadow will definitely help hoist somebody up for a better view.

Rave name would probably be things along the lines of ominous authors. So probably Edgar Allan Crow, F.T. Lovecraft, or just Lovecraft.

Keigo “Hawks” Takami

Oh this man? This man eats, sleeps, raves, repeats. He breathes PLUR.

He does partake in party favors but is responsible. He’s the one making sure you keep dosage to a minimal. E and Molly water. Acid sometimes. Shrooms make him feel funny

Can definitely afford the VIP tickets but would rather be in the crowd. Especially because he loves big groups. He’s definitely the kind of guy that gives Chad vibes when you first see him but he’s the complete opposite. Will definitely be the kind of guy to start shit with a Chad that won’t leave girls alone.

Totally shirt off the entire time. Will purposely do some subtle flexing just cuz he can.

Is totally hit on by guys gals and non binary alike. He is a looker so that’s to be expected. Usually cargo shorts are a go-to and he rocks bandanas.

Is a kandi kid for sure and loves to trade. He’s even made a few with his feathers attached but those are especially for people he REALLY vibes with.

He’s got a good mix of music taste. Will totally throw down with the hard stylers but definitely get lost and philosophical with the trancies.

Is a HELLA good kisser and uses his wings when he wants a little privacy.

Speaking of wings, those definitely come in handy at raves. I mean for one thing, they work like an umbrella when it’s hot out. Secondly they’re basically built in fans. Thirdly, they work for privacy. And he’ll totally fly you up and get you a better view of the show.

His charisma is definitely at 100 and I can totally see him getting you backstage to meet your fave artists.

The rave name is tricky but maybe Hawks will be the basic one. His friends use KFC or Red. No wait. Fuck it. Maverick or Top Gun. Something like that.

Alrighty my thirsty gremlins. I’m gonna stop this here. I’m getting a tad lazy so if there are other characters you wanna see from MHA as ravers, blow up my asks and I’ll make a part 2.

[suzukiblu]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by my dear @dancinbutterfly, and like, obviously I will take any excuse to talk about writing.

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1) how many works do you have on ao3?

168, although a few of those are podfics that the podficcer credited me as a co-author on. Actually less than I would’ve expected, tbh.

2) what is your total ao3 word count?

1,431,989. Honestly also kinda less than I would’ve expected at this point. I will blame all those old fics I never brought over from LJ and ff.net for this expectation.

3) how many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

I literally cannot tell you, the ancient ways have been lost to me. I can give you my Ao3 fandoms, though!

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Overwatch

The Witcher (Netflix)

Young Justice (Cartoon)

Animorphs

Star Wars

Good Omens

Venom

Fantastic Four

Leverage

League of Legends

Daredevil

Supernatural

Care Bears

World of Warcraft

Spider-Man

X-Men

Slender Man Mythos

Additionally, long ago: Naruto, Gundam Wing, Digimon, Ranma ½, Bleach, Inu-Yasha, and many scattered other fandoms of my youth. So, so many others. So I’ve written for 25+ fandoms, at least.

4) what are your top 5 fics by Kudos.

a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar (13004)

I once started out to walk around the world but ended up in Brooklyn (8450)

it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) (6965)

oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me (6818)

if the bad times are coming let ‘em come (5362)

5) do you respond to comments?

Not really these days, though I hoard and treasure them like a freaking DRAGON. I used to respond to all of them but sometimes I’m just not around and then it becomes awkwardly late to reply and also they kinda . . . pile up a bit. I do try to answer all the comments with questions in them, at least, as long as the questions aren’t literally spoilers or anything like that.

6) what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t usually write super-angsty endings, I think? I don’t FEEL like I usually write super-angsty endings, anyway, at least not these days. I think I did it more often when I was more into, like, drabbles and shortfic. Now I just spend way too long on stuff to give it a downer ending.

The most recent angsty ending I can think of is wanna hold him, maybe I’ll just sing about it, though eventually I did write a sequel to that to soften the blow a bit. And also torment people a bit. Both, technically. Technically both.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

blondes really do have more fun, definitely. It’s very . . . giddy, I guess? What with the gender euphoria and all. There’s angst and heavy emotions in the actual plot but the highs of the happy parts/ending are probably the highest/happiest ones I’ve written, and Supergirl gets everything she wants without having to compromise or give up anything else.

8) do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I write fusion fic more than crossovers, really, but I have written a LOT of fusion fic. Some of it has been weirder than others, tbh, but probably the Avatar: The Last Airbender/Animorphs fusion that I have been lovingly slaving over deserves to be this answer if only for how much extremely sincere effort I have put into it over the years.

9) have you ever received hate on a fic?

Mild hate, but occasionally. I don’t really tend to remember negative comments, tbh, though it does sometimes make me not want to reread the comment section I know they’re in. But a lot of the hate I’ve gotten in the end just seemed like socially-awkward people being unnecessarily blunt instead of just hitting the back button, so I try not to take it personally. Can’t please everyone. Don’t WANT to please everyone, frankly.

10) Do you write smut? What kind?

Yes, and the kind is “a lot”. Sometimes I don’t really feel like it but definitely I have done a lot of it. I try for Feelings and also to be safe, sane, and consensual as much as I can.

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

I . . . am not sure? Though probably, after being at this for all this time. Someone once told me that someone picked up a fic I’d (at the time) abandoned and just started writing/posting more of it without asking or telling me about it, but I never actually found said fic and I don’t know if that technically counts as “stealing” anyway.

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

A few times, yup, it’s pretty gratifying! I also like to run them back through Google Translate and see what they say, haha.

13) have you ever co-written a fic before?

yoooo @dancinbutterfly, @rainnecassidy! Also done it with a few other people long, LONG ago, but that was back in the LJ era. Don’t think I’ve technically collabed with anyone else lately, although sometimes people will give me ideas for stuff I’m writing or offer suggestions when I’m stuck on a thing, which is very helpful.

14) what’s your favourite ship?

Like . . . per fandom? ‘Cuz we could be here a while. Most recently it’s Jaskier/Geralt, for a while it was Aziraphale/Crowley, DEFINITELY for a while it was Steve/Bucky . . .

You know, I guess technically my all-time favorite ship is actually Naruto/Sasuke, because I made a LOT of friends in Naruto fandom and it actually hugely influenced the end of my teenage years and beginning of my adult life and so, SO much of my writing. So like, if nothing else it wins on influentialness.

15) what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Let ‘Em Come. @rainnecassidy and I wrote that AU a long-ass time ago now and I never did my half of the sequel fic because I got too distracted with another longfic I was working on at the time and then took a real long fandom break. I always felt kind of bad about it because people seemed to bother her for said sequel more than they bothered ME for it, since her fic was the last posted part. Unfortunately I just don’t have the spoons or the MCU-focus for the research and effort it’d take anymore. Also, like . . . it’d probably be pretty long, so unless I was REAL obsessive about it it’d take a good long while.

Basically I think its time has just passed at this point, alas.

16) what are your writing strengths?

Sex, action, snark, and weird fusion fics. Also making people love things they usually hate, that’s one I get told a lot.

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

Fitting physical descriptions of . . . literally ANYTHING into the story. Just, anything. Physical descriptions are hard.

18) what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I try not to do it, personally, because I know soooooo very little about other languages. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle in a little bit of it, but usually I feel like it’s better to avoid it, personally.

19) what was the first fandom you wrote for?

I literally could not even tell you. The first fandom I REMEMBER writing proper “fic” for was . . . Ranma ½, I think. I thiiiiink. But that was a long-ass time ago and I never even posted it anywhere because those were the days when I despised typing things up beyond all measure, hah. And before that I remember writing Animorphs . . . comics? Storyboards? Something like that. Kind of a cross between the two.

20) what’s your favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I do not know! There’s really just too many, tbh. Some top options are you found me when no one else was looking, best friends means you get what you deserve, clay kids, Avamorphs, handmaiden!Anakin, oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, and . . . and I could go on for a dang MINUTE, honestly, haha, I’m just gonna stop myself here before I get too carried away.

.

I tag whoever happens to be reading this that wants to be tagged; have fun with it!

[b1ksh88p]

Be Mine ⛏

Plot Plot: You’ve been in a few relationships, unfortunately all ending in tragedy. You had a reputation for being a bad omen. Truly you were a sweet girl but it seemed like every single one of your lovers ended up dead or horrendously disfigured in the long run. This Valentine’s Day your boyfriend decides to jump ship for some blonde crushing the little hope you had left for your love life. In a slightly drunken haze you sneak into the mines for a rant about the cursed corporate holiday and to drown your sorrows in the solitude of the mines. But it seems like you’ve got a listener.

Tags/Warnings: Lots of cursing | Sprinkle of angst | Fluff

The cold air of the abandoned labyrinth did nothing to cool you down as you ventured further into its clutches. To put it lightly you were on fire. Every part of you wanted to tear someone apart. The auburn liquid sloshed around as you clumsily stomped past heaps of forgotten debris. If not for your drunken stupor you would’ve turned back. Everyone knew the horrific tale of the pickaxe cannibal murder. Although you were sure the story was somewhat embellished you’ve heard worse. Poor fuck did what he had to do to survive. Anyone else would’ve done the same, it’s human nature to do anything no matter how gruesome to survive.

“Give a girl a box of cheap chocolates and a fucking bouquet of withering roses and she’s supposed to repay ya by sucking your fucking dick and acting like yer the best thing since sliced bread.” You grumble.

The deeper you go the darker it gets. Stone walls become suffocating and everything looks like the enemy. A fight or flight response may have kicked in but you were in no place to think rationally. When your heel broke you fucking snapped.

“Stupid Roses, fuck ass chocolates, fake relationships for fake people who wouldn’t know love if it fucking stabbed them in the face!” You yell throwing the broken heel piece deep into the darkness. “A corporate holiday with no fucking insignificance! Just a money plot and a excuse to fuck and act like you like that worthless pathetic fuck you’re dating that you like them. When all 364 days you’ve been with em ya fucking loathe them!” You continue on tearing up the damned holiday in partially incoherent babbling until you hear glass break.

Despite your conditions you aren’t stupid. “Fuck is that?” You call out whilst backing up. At first you’re sure it’s a group of horny teenagers but through the gritty lights you see a single foreboding silhouette. This was where you run. Or at least you should’ve. Instead you squint your eyes like some tourist taking in the sights and step forward. “Bud y’know the mines are abandoned cuz of the poor guy who had to eat his friends right?” You call out. “I mean do you if this is your thing I support it but it’s kinda weird since you look exactly like the serial killer guy. Spot on cosplay.” You compliment. The figure doesn’t move. It doesn’t even look like he’s breathing. You feel your hairs start to stand up and goosebumps pepper you skin. It seems your liquid courage was fading.

“Welp I’ll leave you be, don’t wanna bore you with the details of this fucked up holiday.” You let out a wry laugh before turning your back on the figure. You get about 12 good steps in before the stride of death crescendos behind you. Now you were running. Your broken heels doing wonders at making this chase the easiest for your attacker. In the midst of running you take them off and throw them off behind you. Now look you weren’t aiming for the guy but when you heard the hit connect and a surprised grunt you got the feeling you were fucked. Instead of running in a straight line you dip into a little crawl space. Maybe he’d give up and fuck off you. To your horror the man crouches down and starts to crawl his way inside.

Without thinking you take the whiskey bottle and crash it on his head. “Leave me alone I don’t even like this fuckass holiday you fucking weirdo!” You cry. He looks up at you and stops trying to fit.

“Why not.” His voice was eerily calm. As if he weren’t some insane pickaxe murderer but a man.

“Well because it’s stupid and to lovy dovy. And because it feels wrong to celebrate it when such a tragedy had occurred.” You explain. “And...and I got dumped today so there’s that.” You huff.

“...You pity me?”

You shake your head. Words weren’t really your strong point and you didn’t need him thinking you were coddling him or anything. Instead you just stare into the glossy eyeholes with your own praying he’d just fuck off. You practically shit yourself when he continued to scramble through and stand up. You grab a rock and stand ready to knock him upside the head with it only have your wrist harshly grabbed mid throw.

“I don’t want your pity.”

This was it. You were gonna die. And it was gonna be painful and super fucking lame. On your headstone it would say:

“Loser girl no one cares about got dumped on Valentine’s Day...also got murdered lol”

Even though you wanted to sob and cry your eyes out you were way to stubborn to go out pleading and begging. “I was being empathetic you weirdo! We do what we gotta do to survive, and you did just that. You aren’t some crazy murderer. You’re just angry and traumatized and that’s ok!” The grip on your wrist only tightened. “Gah! Th-the system failed you dude. The whole fucking city failed you and still is failing you! You ha-have a right to be mad! I’m not excusing what you’ve done b-but shit I would’ve done the same!” You squeal feeling the blood flow completely cease as he tightened his grip.

Suddenly the pain stopped. You open your eyes and rub your poor wrist hoping the feeling would return. He seemed more docile. It was as if his entire aura had changed. The man sat down on a hunk of rubble, his weapon clenched in his grip. If you didn’t know better you could’ve sworn he was crying. It was a silent sob. Nothing overtly dramatic, kind of how like you’d expect a man who’s rarely cried to cry. It was unnerving. The only man you’ve ever seen cry was your dad and that was when he laughed to hard. This...this was gut wrenching.

This monster that was hellbent on killing you seconds ago was now a sad man huddled up in a corner like a child. You could never feel the pain he’s felt, relive the days of utter darkness and skewed rations. Never could you imagine the gritty taste of human flesh. The depravity one must have for themselves. The survivors guilt. The nightmares he must relive. He kept muttering something about the dark and the how he wasn’t a monster. How he just wanted to see the light again.

“It’s ok.”

You weren’t sure you could touch him so you just sat in front of him. He was still shaken up but the sound of your voice seemed to get through to him. “It’s ok and you’re safe. I’m here. I won’t go anywhere I’d you don’t want me to...” You could bare the cold for a night. You’d rather be frozen to death then brutally murdered.

Both of you sat there for what seemed like ages until he moved. You were on the edge of slumber before seeing a gloved hand slither towards yours. You wanted to move it. Make haste and dip but your body had become heavy. Your eyes seemingly weighed down by stones. Before you knew it he was oddly holding your hand. You saw him looking at you intently. Probably waiting for you to scream or pull away but you stayed put. One hand held up your head whilst the other was his to experience. It had probably been awhile since he’s been so vulnerable so you let him have this. It wasn’t like you had anything else to do tonight but sleep and pray that the hang over didn’t beat your ass in the morning. Before you could fall asleep he pulls you into a really awkward half ass embrace against the cold stained suit. It was far more comfortable than the back straining position you were in a second ago but man this guy was bad at ‘snuggling’. You felt like he was gonna smother you! When he found a comfortable position he rested that stupid ass mask on top of your head with a satisfied grunt before you gave up on protesting and fell asleep. How the hell were you gonna get home

When you wake there’s no cold embraces or odd masked men. Instead you find yourself wrapped in some dusty old quilt at the entrance of the mine. For a moment you think everything that occurred was a mere fever dream. A whiskey fueled hallucination. You scramble to your feet and notice a little note that had fallen from the tattered cloth. The paper, or what you hoped was paper and not dried human skin, had fairly neat handwriting. It was short and morbidly sweet.

Thank you.

There was a part of you that was absolutely mortified. The note solidified your suspicions of what had taken place last night. But the other part of you was strangely elated. You turn to the mine and put your hands to your mouth to amplify your words. “THANKS FOR NOT KILLING ME ILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU!!!!!!” You yell happily before heading back into town. You were pretty sure he didn’t hear you but it calmed you to know that he not only spared you but someone actually appreciated your presence.

This was definitely not your final encounter ⛏

#⛏

[taptroupe]

EVERGRACE NOVEL CHAPTER 10 PART 2/3 LIKE SOME YOUTUBE ANIME

“No matter how many times you tried to stop her, Sharline cannot be stopped, even by a moving train.”

Medina raised her head, jolted back to reality with Darius’ words. The silver-haired youth looked at her with a gentle gaze.

“She literally repels trains.”

“...Thank... you?” Medina’s face contorted ever so slightly.

^^^ THE ABOVE NEVER HAPPENED JUST WANTED A FUNNY THING TO START THIS POST

now it is time for the second part of chapter 10. let’s go no breaks no stops here

after the nice touching moment of DARIUS IS ABLE TO KINDLY TALK TO WOMEN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ARC he asks so hey do you know where sharline and the sienna and trandin are

“They should be at the highest point of the tower, where my grandfather is. There’s many paths up this tower, and many have never seen a human life travel through - [basically the top of the tower is the best place to watch anything happen]”

“okayyy cool, can you tell us how to get up?”

“yes but could you wait a moment? i wanna get all healed up” medina says. there’s a reference to “light of life” here and i forget if that’s a thing in evergrace. i’m guessing it’s just a HP restoring ilght idk and medina needs to be there

“? is it a really difficult path?”

“No, no that... After letting Sharline go like that, I just can’t stop regretting it... I’d like to go along with you two.”

MEDINA JOINS THE PARTY! 

feel free to click more for intense lore library moments this took me 3 months to finish this part lol.

Silence from the dudes lol. Until Oldsfjlsdfjlkdsjf pipes up:

“Aren’t you afraid of Morpheus?” (uses kimi here again. why)

“True, but.. I’ll be fine as long as we reach the laboratory. I need to go up, there’s things that I have always wanted to say [aka tell my grandfather]...” Medina looked at them with serious eyes.

---

As they left the warmth of Medina’s living spaces, the cold passages of the tower pervaded their bodies. The rocks that shaped the pathways and rooms were all made of a certain blue-greenish stone. hmmm.... sounds like tower upper, but it can’t be because of a scene later. here goes

“This is a one-way path, isn’t it...”

“This path? Was there anyone else supposed to be here?”

“The Legendary Mercenary, after we were defeated by him, there was a man that saved us.” < orladin says this

“Ah right, about that... What happened to Red Breeze? After his axe sunk into me... What happened?” < darius is saying this. a worrying thought suddenly spreads throughout his body

“I saw waves of golden light... I think. Someone... someone cried out to stop, and then... I.... i... What happened after that...?”

“After you suffered that near-death blow by Red Breeze, some unknown man swooped in and saved all of us after we finished him off. That’s all there is to it.”

a tense feeling fills the air.... darius tries hard to recall that, but is cut off by um, i think orladin again

“Don’t think about it any further. That’s over now.”

FORESHADOWING TO PART 3 OF THIS CHAPTER!?

“ya know, this guy you’re talking about kinda reminds me of .... a “Demon,” yeah!”

:O says darius. “You know what a “Demon” is?”

“Demon... I’ve heard of it before, yes. There are books regarding the Crest research in the library up ahead, I read them before [more or less].,  Would you like to go there? I didn’t tell Sharline about it, but it might be of interest to you.”

the path there has traces of people’s belongings but everything is overgrown by trees and grass. medina explains that a long time ago, morpheus’ researcher peoples lived here, this is where she was fused with the alcrest and palmira etc etc uhhhhhhhhh THIS STUFF WILL BE ADDED WHEN I HAVE TIME IT’S JUST MORE TOWER LORE ABOUT HER LIFE AND SUCH

they descend a stairway and medina mentions a lot of monsters. but if they stay by her it’s fine! scary!

“for some reason monsters just appear out of nowhere here, and it’s not my grandfather’s doing. people have been hurt in the past due to this, but i’m not particularly scared because these clothes seem to repel them with magic.”

"even with that reason, I don’t really get it. these monsters must be morpheus’s doing, somehow...”

this bit was pretty hard to understand but suddenly medina gets a bit sad and he’s like 

“ah, shit, i didn’t mean to say that it was just a guess” LOL ODLFJKSDFJD NOW IT’S YOUR CURSE TO NOT TALK TO WOMEN PROPERLY

“No, no... The royal family, my grandfather and I never saw with them eye to eye. Like we were enemies. But for what we’ve done, I wonder if we can ever be forgiven by your family...”

they keep walking. they come across that monster that darius fought so long ago trying to save the old king. he and olfdksdf ready their swords, but medina is like NO WORRIES. AND SHE’S RIGHT. IT”S FINE IT DOESN’T FIGHT THEM. WILD!

they reach a switch that medina mentions has to be hit with tree palmira. just like the game! she hits it and bam they make it to the library

now i have to be honest. this part is really good if you wanna analyze evergrace lore. i’m gonna be heavy on machine translation though and be pretty thorough. that will come tomorrow though i’m sleepy

..........

THREE MONTHS LATER I’M BACK LOL

they entered the library, door closes behind them, medina walks towards a certain bookshelf. i’m not sure what book she picks out, but it’s about the green moon and half days? that’s one bit of evergrace lore i haven’t written down the moon stuff. they open it up, it’s full of notes, and gestures for darius to read or something. but he shakes his head cuz,

“for me, the language of rieubane is ancient now. I can’t read this.”

so orladin reads it instead. it’s a letter between royalty or something, and he notices something.

“what’s this? ‘our empire is in a state of survival. because of our research of the crest and creation of the demon, we’ve become trapped here. furthermore, the monsters spawned from the demon has killed many of our empire’s people.’ ahh, this is a writing from the previous king, when the demon was just thought of as some joke.”

“wait, there’s a footnote.

‘Demon - what us nobles have been calling the demon, is a sort of incarnation born from someone with the crest [that’s what we think]. when the destruction of toledo occured, it was a women with the crest who transformed, her body glowing yellow, and it was reported that she’d taken a shape resembling a bird.

running experiments on other crest holders, they gained physical strength and a transformation of their body as well.’

man this footnote’s long there’s still more [orladin says this lmao]

‘a footnote on the day of the purple moon -  as penned by morpheus, this transformation will be called Forrimification.”

you know...... forrim is krisalis’s name in japanese.... so.............. krisalization might be a nice way to translate it. krisalisication? demonification is something like what agetec used. 

sooooooooooooooooooooo..... the name...................... should be enough to make anyone jump at the lore right? so here’s darius now

“krisalis?! did you say that the process of becoming a demon is called krisalisication?!”

medina raised her head at darius’s sudden outburst. it was as if darius was looking out into space, eyes shadowed, but somehow he is looking at orladin too okay

“um... what do you mean?”

“krisalis is the name of the golden bird that’s been accompanying us this whole time.”

orladin replies. oh maybe they’re just looking at each other with shock. darius does this with his fist as he continues on

“krisalis... she told me she wanted to defeat the demon, did she mean she wanted to kill herself? no... she must’ve meant something else...”

orladin pipes in with something i don’t understand. something like “you know there’s other demons born from other crest bearers maybe”

“then, maybe the legendary mercenary was the demon? but krisalis said i’d be able to return to my own world if i defeated the demon... we defeated him, yet... was that a lie?”

“why’d you have to trust that monster?”

“she’s saved us so many times before.” [yeah i guess i can’t remember an instance of her really saving their ass but she’s provided lots of help hasn’t she?]

“i think she’s just been using you, zo”

darius glared seriously at orladin.

“orladin. what’s wrong with you? what’s so hard to understand about that?”

orladin was still giving a funny, probably untrusting expression here because darius could see right through his shit. in the words of twewy. TRUST YOUR PARTNER

“If you can’t believe in me, then you can just stay here with Medina.”

“What?!”

“Leading an army, you would probably know how dangerous it can be if there’s conflict within the soldiers. If we defeat Morpheus, there might be a way to change the princess back to normal. And if you don’t want to believe in me, well...”

you know when i first read this i remember darius being more serious sounding than how i just translated it. i’m not sure if he’s faltering here, trying to lead orladin to his own conclusions, or something... but i do like how he’s learning to trust. you see, this chapter is all about darius levelling up in his human relationships and i’m very proud of him. anyways here’s orladin getting pissed off

but as he gets pissed at what darius says, he takes it in and swallows his anger. speaking slowly, he starts:

“me, stay here by myself? staying back is reserved for cowards like the king and that one solider. [don’t forget the dude who stayed behind at the shrine lol] I can’t use palmira armaments. if monsters attack, i’m done for...

you... you’re my last trump card. i don’t have anything else.”

“so you trust me?”

“guess i have to.”

darius should’ve hooked up with novel orladin. solves everything about orladin with one swoop - game orladin is a pedo, and novel orladin is probably incestuous. if they got together.... everything would be at peace. sadly masanori takeuchi saved gay men for enchanted arms

darius’s expression softened with an understanding nod.

“i’d rather be a mercenary than some bickering friend.”

medina is just standing there confused. to add to that they ask her more stuff lol

“so, uh, do you know anything about krisalis?”

“nah, but lemme see...”

medina goes to a different bookshelf and picks out a book, flips through it to a certain page and stops. looking through it she closes it again

“it just says the same as the others. the transformation of crest bearers.... the destructive power of the crest...”

“but, what is the crest?”

medina looks through the book again, then another book, and finds the answer.

“Cycle - the way in which all things flow towards. the secretive source of the billiana fruit’s power is something we do not yet know. the fruit has no seeds, nor have there been reports of young or old growth trees, yet the trees increase in amount. they exist even in places where it should be impossible for trees to grow. Thus, the billiana trees exist outside the cycle. However, there is an opinion that even billiana must have some sort of laws of creation and destruction.”

“Is anything written about Billiana, then? Anything in regarding people?”

“No, that’s all about Billiana. What do you mean?”

“Morpheus, he once called Sharline the cycle for some reason.”

“Sharline...? No, in regarding the Cycle’s information, there’s nothing about referring to particular people...”

“Is that so...”

“Anything else you’d like to know?

Darius shook his head, and as did Orladin. and soooooooooooooooooo

THEY LEFT

FINALLY THEY GOT OUT OF THE LIBRARY AFTER THREE MONTHS

I’M FREE

[calpalirwin]

The Best Years

Summary: Luke and Caroline adjust to life with Charlie.

A/N: This might be my new obsession. Feel free to come chat about any ideas you have about this family so I can continue to drag this out from here until forever.

Content: *wonders why I still bother with this when we all know the content I create* Soft. It’s soft.

Word Count: 3.4k

And away, and away we go!

__

Luke rolled over in his sleep, Caroline’s side of the bed warm, but empty. His eyelids were heavy as he struggled to open them. He was about to call out for her when the green blinking of the baby monitor caught his attention. With a yawn, he pushed himself out of bed, shuffling across the hall. There, in the soft glow of a nightlight, Caroline sat up with Charlie, gently swaying back and forth in the rocking chair. “I know,” she was murmuring softly. “I know you want to be held. I know it’s scary. And I want to hold you and make you not scared. But, Charlie, Momma needs sleep.”

Luke leaned in the doorframe, the wood creaking. Caroline’s head snapped up to see him smiling at her, curls wild from sleep. “I’ll take him,” he whispered, crossing the room to her. “Go get some sleep, Care.”

“Lu, I’m fine,” she protested as he lifted the baby from her, tucking Charlie against his shoulder.

“Shh, little man. I gotcha,” he soothed when the infant let out a noise of dissatisfaction from being moved. “When did he last eat?”

“Couple minutes ago.” She stretched back into the rocking chair, her mouth dropping open as she yawned. “There’s more in the fridge if he gets hungry again. Just warm it up a little. Not too much. Just to ro-.” Her sentence got cut off as she fell asleep.

“Shit, Momma’s asleep, little man. No, I know, it’s a good thing. But I can’t leave her in the chair all night. And I can’t put her to bed while holding you. So I gotta put you down for a second, okay? Yeah, I know you’re not gonna like it, but I’ll be quick.” Luke placed Charlie in the swing, clicking it onto the first setting so it gently swayed side to side. “Right back,” he promised before turning back to Caroline. “Okay, up we go.” He placed one arm under her knees, the other just under her shoulder blades, cradling her to him.

“Charlie,” she mumbled in her sleep as her fingers bunched around Luke’s tank top.

“Shh, I got it. Just rest, Momma,” he told her as he placed her in bed and covered her with the blanket.

Caroline woke up to find both her boys asleep in the guest room, Charlie tucked safely between Luke’s chest and his boppy.

~~~

“Happy Father’s Day, Lu,” Caroline grinned as she passed him the gift after a lazy morning of breakfast in bed and plenty of baby cuddles.

Luke sat up to rest his back against the headboard of their bed, Charlie sitting on one of his legs. “Oh, what do we got, little man?” he asked, his tone high with excitement as he reached in the gift bag and pulled out a picture frame with a picture of him asleep on the couch with Charlie asleep on his shoulder already behind the glass.

“I know it’s not much, but,” Caroline started, but Luke cut her off.

“No. I love it. Thank you, baby.”

“Well, it’s your day. Whaddya wanna do?”

“Kinda liking just laying here with you guys.”

“Really?” she frowned. “Lu, it’s your first Father’s Day. I know he’s little, but if you want to go out, we can.”

“Nah,” Luke waved her off. “I got you guys. That’s all I need.”

~~~

Caroline’s pout didn’t leave her face the whole drive over to Ashton and Britt’s. “Care, he’s gonna be fine,” Luke told her, his hand giving her thigh a squeeze. “It’s just one night.”

“I’m still gonna miss him, Lu,” she sighed, looking over her shoulder into the backseat. She waved at Charlie through the little mirror, who stared back at her those grey eyes. It was a much softer grey than when he had first been born, and she reveled in the fact that he would have Luke’s eyes to go with that little pixie nose. And Luke’s curls, even if they were the same dark brown color as her own hair.

“I’m gonna miss him too, Care. But,”

“But he loves being with Britt and Ash. And we deserve a night out,” she deadpanned the reasons they’d been telling themselves for the last month.

“Hey, look at me,” he coaxed, putting the car in park in Ashton’s driveway.

Caroline peeled her eyes away from her son to look at Luke. Her bottom lip quivered. “Lu…”

His thumb caught the tear halfway down her cheek. “Do you wanna take our boy back home?”

“What?” She wasn’t sure she heard him correctly, having not expected the question at all.

“Look, I can tell Ash that something came up. I can cancel the room. And we can go back home and have a night in.”

“Lu, I- no. No, we’re doing this. The plans are already made. We’re already here. Plus, the longer we put this off, the harder it’ll be later. We deserve this. We all do.”

“That’s my girl.”

~~~

“Oh, fuck,” Caroline marveled as they walked across the lobby. “When’s the last time we stayed in a hotel this fancy?”

“Mmm, Korea. When you surprised me for my birthday that one year.”

“No… has it really been that long?”

“Nah, probably not. There were probably others. But that one sticks out.”

“Is that so?” she teased, knowingly.

“Oh, yeah,” he grinned. “Korea was awesome.”

“You call Britt damn near killing me the first day ‘awesome’?”

“Yeah, cuz that’s what made it awesome. Plus, Britt never woulda actually killed ya.” He shot her a wink before turning his attention to the receptionist behind the desk. “Hi, room for Bennett,” he said, giving forth her last name that they always booked their room under.

The receptionist tapped away at the keyboard before getting their keys. “Room 3405. Elevators are to your left. Enjoy your stay.”

“Room service or hot tub?” Caroline asked, practically skipping her way to the elevator.

“What if I told you I got us the room with the fancy tub so we don’t have to choose?”

“I’d said I love you Luke Bennett!” she laughed.

“Oh, we’re taking your name are we? See, here’s the problem with that,” he said, wrapping her close as they waited for the elevator. “Our son already has my name. And I quite like my name, too.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “You’re supposed to say ‘And I love you too, Caroline Hemmings!’”

“How about I ask you to be Caroline Hemmings, instead?” he asked. One hand dropped from around her to reach into his pants pocket, producing the small ring box.

She whirled around in his arms to look up at him. “Lu…”

“Say yes, Care. Say yes, so I can spend all night showing you how I’ll make this the best choice of your life.”

“Yes!”

~~~

“So, how was your night, Mrs. Merch Girl?” Ashton teased when they dropped by to pick up Charlie early the next afternoon.”

“You knew?!” Caroline asked in surprise, taking Charlie from his arms.

“Course I knew,” he smirked.

“Then maybe you could have coached him better on his proposal.”

Luke crossed his arms over his chest, fake glaring at his fiancee and friend. “Hey! I did what felt right in the moment. And you said yes, didn’t you?”

“Aw, mate… ya butchered the delivery? Well, I guess not everyone has your girl’s expertise.” Ashton clapped Luke on the shoulder, his cocky smirk wide as ever.

“Don’t tease him,” Caroline defended Luke, swatting at Ashton’s arm. “At least it doesn’t take Luke forever to ask a question he knows the answer to.”

Ashton’s eyes flashed at the laughed insult and Caroline danced away from him. “Nuh-uh. Can’t hit me, I have the baby.”

“Fine,” Ashton muttered before punching Luke’s arm instead.

~~~

“Can you say ‘rawr!’?” Caroline asked, as she drew up the hood of Charlie’s dinosaur jacket. “Ready? Rawr!”

Charlie blew bubbles at her. 

“Eh, close enough.”

“Care, are you sure we can’t squeeze in just a little bit of trick or treating in before the party? Like around the block?” Luke’s voice asked as he came into the baby’s room.

“Lu, he’s only five months.”

“So? We can eat his candy.”

“We have candy here,” she pointed out. 

The man pouted. “Please, Care? We can take him over to the guys’ places and just pretend.”

“Fine. Take dino-boy.”

“Yes! You hear that, little man? You’re going trick or treating!” Luke swooped Charlie up and sat back carefully in the rocking chair while fake screaming “Aaahhhh! Dino-boy’s gonna get me! Oh no!”

Charlie Hemmings was the cutest trick-or-treater his aunties and uncles had ever seen. 

~~~

Charlie’s eyes were wide as he watched the lights twinkle on the Christmas tree at Luke’s parents house. “Yeah, they’re pretty, aren’t they Charlie?” Liz asked him as she held him on her hip. “You know I was worried you guys wouldn’t want to come this year.”

“What? Mum, I always spend Christmas with you,” Luke laughed.

“I know, but I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about flying with Charlie. It’s a long flight for anyone, much less a baby.”

“Oh I bet it was nothing,” Ben started to tease.

“Yeah, Mum. Luke’s a big shot with a private jet, remember? Had the whole flight to themselves,” Jack joined in.

Luke rolled his eyes while everyone else laughed. “Honestly, Mum, it was fine,” Caroline told Liz.

“Your parents weren’t upset?”

“Mum, we’ve been over this,” Luke cut back in. “Care’s parents get Thanksgiving. You guys get Christmas.”

“Thanksgiving...” the Hemmings shuddered collectively.

“It’s not all bad,” Luke shrugged. He had personally come to like the American holiday because of all the food.

~~~

Caroline could hear the happy babble as she walked downstairs. “Can you say ‘Dada’? Try it! Dada. Dada, dada, dada. Ow, no, that’s my nose.”

She giggled watching Charlie grab at Luke’s nose, bubbles around his lips as he tried to make sounds beyond his high-pitched coos.

“No, not ‘eeeeAH!’,” Luke mimicked the coo. “Dada. Dada. Dada. Dada. Oh! Look, there’s Momma. Can you say ‘Momma’? Momma. Dada.”

Caroline sat next to them on the couch, hand ruffling at Luke’s hair before smiling at Charlie. “C’mon, little man,” she encouraged, tickling his ribs to make him laugh. “C’mon. Momma. Mom-ma.”

“Mmmuhhh mmmomm,” Charlie babbled.

“Yes!” she cheered, snatching him close to her. “That’s right! I’m Momma. Now who’s that?” She shifted so that the eight month old boy could see Luke. “Who’s that?” she asked again, poking at Luke. “Is that Dada?”

“Ppppaaa papapapa,” Charlie shrieked happily, grabbing for Luke.

“Works for me!” Luke grinned at his son. “Yes. That’s Momma,” he pointed at Caroline. “And I’m Dada or Papa, I guess. We’ll work on that d sound. And you’re Charlie!”

Charlie responded with a babbled shriek that followed Luke’s own pitch change.

~~~

“Can you believe that we met four years ago?” Caroline asked, her eyes soft with amazement.

“And now you’re my wife,” Luke answered her, his voice thick with emotion.

She leaned her head back in the pillows, giggling. “I’m your wife! Fuck! That’s so fun to say!”

“I’m sorry it didn’t happen the way it should’ve.”

She turned on her side to face him, his hands crossed underneath his head, peering up at the ceiling. “Hey, don’t do that.”

“You deserved better than a wedding thrown together in six months. You deserve a honeymoon traveling through Europe for a month, not a weekend out of town. You deserve so much more than I’ve given you.” He kept his gaze on the ceiling, finishing his train of thought with a sniff.

“I just said not to do that,” she said as she rolled on top of him, grabbing at his chin to tilt his head so he would look at her. “It’s not about the wedding or the honeymoon. It’s just a day. It’s just a trip. You want to know what does matter?”

He looked at her expectantly.

“It matters that you’re a good dad to Charlie, and a good partner to me. And you are. You do so much for me and that little boy. And we love you so much for it. And,” she would have gone on to express that she meant every word of her vows about loving him until the end of time, but both of their phones started ringing. She checked the caller IDs, frowning. “It’s Britt, hold on.”

“Yeah, Ash is calling me, too. Take it,” he said, showing her his own phone lit up with Ashton’s contact.

“Hello?” they both answered their phones.

“Hhhheeeey, sorry to bother you on your honeymoon and all,” Britt started, much too slowly for Caroline’s liking.

She cut her friend off with a tense, “What’s wrong with Charlie, Britt?” 

“Long story short, we think he has an ear infection so we’re taking him to the doctor.”

“I'll meet you there as soon as I can.”

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s not anyone’s fault, Britt. We’re leaving now.”

“Nah, man, don’t worry about it. Shit happens. We’re on our way,” Luke was saying as Caroline hung up with Britt and started gathering their stuff. “Okay, I will definitely make this up to you,” he told her as he stepped into his jeans that were pooled up by the side of the bed.

“Did Ash tell you what happened?” She threw their belongings back in their suitcase, not caring enough to fold them properly.

“Had a fever last night. Gave him some medicine. He went down for the night. Woke up crying, rubbing at his ear, and the fever’s back.” His voice got muffled as his head went through his shirt. “You ready to go?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and shoes.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she nodded, eyes darting around the room. She was missing something.

“Care?”

“Yeah?”

“I know my shirt falls practically to your knees, but you wanna put some real clothes on?”

Her eyes went wide with realization before throwing the suitcase open and digging through it. “Yep. Great idea.”

After another frenzied dash about the room, her teeth worried her bottom lip as she kept her eyes glued to the numbers signally the floor level in the elevator. “C’mon, c’mon,” she hurried under her breath.

“He’ll be alright, Care.” Luke’s fingers slowly worked to unclench her fist, crescent shapes dug into her palm.

“I know. I just-”

“I know.”

Caroline wasn’t sure what was worse. The look in Luke’s eyes that went so much deeper than just concern for their son; like somehow he personally had failed his family. The slow elevator ride- did elevators move this slow all the time? Or the somehow even slower Uber ride to the airport, flight back to Los Angeles, and then the last Uber ride to the hospital. They didn’t say a word, instead communicating via worried glances, troubled sighs, and holding each other tight.

“Hemmings, Charlie,” Caroline’s voice was hurried and breathless as she gripped the receptionist desk.

A sharp whistle cut off whatever the nurse was going to tell her. “Luke, Care, we’re in here,” Ashton said.

Caroline sprinted over to Ashton while Luke muttered a fast, “Thank you,” to the nurse before following his wife who already had a- very happy- Charlie cradled to her. 

“Just a little ear infection,” the doctor was saying. “Nothing to fret over. I told your friends they were free to take him home, but they insisted you were on your way and would want to talk.”

“Dadadada,” Charlie babbled, writhing in his mother’s arms when he saw Luke. 

“Hey, little man,” Luke smiled, taking him from Caroline. “You think it’s funny scaring everyone?”

“Care, we’re so sorry,” Britt started. 

The other woman held up her hand. “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“But your honeymoon…”

“Not important.”

“I’m gonna run over to the pharmacy to get this filled. Then Britt and I will take Charlie back to our place if you guys wanna head on back to your trip, or...” Ashton let the end of his proposition hang in the air, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“It’s up to you, Care,” Luke told her.

Caroline looked between her friends and son. Charlie was fine. Happy even. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with another flight back up to San Francisco just to fly back home again tomorrow. But they could still enjoy an empty home, knowing that if anything did happen, they’d just be a short drive away. “If you guys don’t mind taking him, that’d be great. But I just want to go home, if that’s okay, Lu.”

“Whatever you want, baby,” Luke nodded.

She smiled, reaching forward to rub at Charlie’s back. “Whaddya think, little man? Want to go back to Uncle Ash and Auntie Britt’s house?”

“Sshhhh, bbbbb!” Charlie responded, clapping his hands.

“Okay, but stop scaring people, mister!” She made a fake stern face and wagged her finger in front of him.

“Mmmuhh mmmmomm.”

Ashton took that as his cue to run over to the pharmacy while the rest of them moved to the waiting room. “Okay, seriously, can you two stop with the whipped puppy dog look?” Caroline scolded her husband and friend in a hushed whisper as Charlie started to nod off on Luke’s shoulder. “Nothing is ruined.”

“But-”

“Lu, what did you tell Ash on the phone?”

“Not to worry about because shit happens.”

“Exactly. Shit happens. Our son got sick, and we did what we do when our son gets sick. That’s all that happened. So just… stop. Whatever guilt trip you’re taking yourselves on, stop.”

~~~

Charlie’s signature high-pitched screech had Caroline’s eyes snapping open. “Ow! Geez, little man,” Luke winced, holding Charlie out at arm’s length. “I thought we agreed to go on three.”

“What are my boys upto?” her voice rasped, still heavy with sleep.

“Ha-ppy Mother’s Day!” Luke cheered as he fell backwards on the bed, still holding Charlie away from him, arms fully extended. “Oh, no! Flying baby! Incoming! Aaaahhhh!” Luke moved his arms, Charlie moving with him, as he made airplane whooshing noises, the bedroom coming to life with laughter.

“Are you ready for your present?” Luke asked, breathless, as they laid amongst the pillows and blankets after the laughter died down.

“Aw, you got me a present?”

Luke’s eyes twinkled as he reached down beside the bed, grabbing blindly for the bag he’d been hiding. “Don’t gimme that fake innocent surprise. Of course I got you a present.”

Caroline gasped happily as he dropped the bag in her lap. “Oh, Lu!” she marveled, running her index finger across the soundwaves and the translation of “Happy Mother’s Day, Momma. We love you,” underneath it engraved in the wooden plaque. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

“Happy Mother’s Day, baby.”

~~~

“Okay, but what do people even do at a one year old’s birthday party?” Luke wondered as he tacked up the decorations around the house. 

“I- you know what, I have no fuckin clue.”

“Then why are we doing this again?”

“Because our baby is one, Lu! And it’s just family, so it’ll just be like any other family get together.”

“But with cake, and presents, and shitty decorations.”

“Exactly.”

“Hey, Care?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. And I think you’re doing an awesome job as a mom.” With each word he took a step closer to her. “And you’re one hot ass wife,” he finished with a wink, his hands grazing along her hips before resting firmly on her ass. 

Caroline’s cheeks flushed as she swatted at him. “Stop! You’re gonna make me blush. And cry.”

“Hey, I mean it. I don’t say it as often as I should, but I do mean it. You’ve made my life better, and complete than I thought possible. And I know I technically have Ash to thank for that, it’s because of you that we made it this far. You and Charlie are the best parts of my world.”

“I told you you were gonna make me cry!” she whined into his chest, sniffing back the tears. She felt his chest rumble with his throaty chuckle as his hands ran up and down her back. “And if we’re being sentimental, then I hope you know that you are the greatest love of my life, and the best dad to our son. And, no, I don’t tell you as often as I should, either. But I mean it, Luke. And I promise I’ll try to tell you more that you’re an amazing father and husband you are, and how I’m going to love you until the world stops turning, because you, Luke Hemmings, are my best years.”

__

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[jungkookiebus]

Lmao I got his idea when I was taking out the trash. How about a fluff smut regular jungkook request where he and Jin are the only ones at home. It was supposed to be a double date but Jim's girlfriend had some work. So it's you and JK. Jin is sleeping and you get in food fight with Jungkook. Everything is cool, he's kinda pissed but still fine with the noise until he become the victim. You both know you're dead when there's literally egg yolk dripping down his forehead. He screams and asks (1/2

(2/2) asks you two to go shower but he did ask you both was to shower together -___- he can literally hear the moans till the hall. While you two are in there enjoying your time together, someone is waiting for in the hall with a fly swatter in his hand. Lmao sorry if it’s too long but trust me, I’ve kinda wanted just you to write this cuz you’re my favourite writer, I feel someone else would ruin the plot. But it’s okay if you decide not to. I’d understand. Thank you my love ❤❤❤❤

Oh my god, I hope I did this justice for you 😰😰😰 Let me know!

Warnings: smut, fluff, crack? Word Count: 1.2k

“She’s not coming,” Jin said dejectedly as he sat his phoneon the counter.

“What do you mean?” you asked pulling the spoon from yourmouth. You were supposed to go on a double date with Jin, his girlfriend, andJungkook and you were so hungry that you dug through their refrigerator for a snackand settled on yogurt.

“She swore up and down she was going to be free tonight,”Jungkook said as he scrolled through his phone.

“She had to go into work.”

“You sure she’s not a stripper?”

Jungkook barely missed the orange that flew across thecounter as he ducked out of the way.

“She’s not a stripper,Jungkook.” Jin’s eyes were narrowed as he stared him down from across thecounter. “I’m going to bed.”

“Wait, you’re not hungry? We were going to dinner.” You satyour phone down as you spoke to Jin’s retreating form.

“I ate earlier,” he called back. “I hate the restaurant shewanted to go to anyway.”

You looked at Jungkook who shrugged. “We can always cook?”

“And do you, Jeon Jungkook, know how to cook?”

You had been dating Jungkook for the better part of threeyears and not once had he made a successful meal.

“No,” he said approaching you and touching your nose, “butyou do.”

You rolled your eyes as you leaned against the counter andlooked at him. “I did see some decent ingredients in your fridge. Thank god Jinlikes to cook.”

You pushed off the counter and moved over to the fridge todig through it. A few minutes later and you were set up to make hamburgers.

“Hand me the bread crumbs will you?” you asked with yourhand outstretched but not looking. Unbeknownst to you, Jungkook was also notlooking as he reached out with the open can towards you and leaned it in yourdirection assuming you were going to grabit. He overshot and the entire can dumped on top of your head. He didn’tregister at first what had happened when he heard your surprised gasp until heturned around, his eyes growing wide as he clutched the can in his hands.

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

The bread crumbs sifted down through your hair and off yourshoulders as you stood with your eyes screwed shut and your arms in front ofyou. You shook your head and rubbed your eyes before looking over at him.

“What. The. Fuck.”

You swore you saw spit fly out of his mouth as he laughed,no longer able to suppress it.

“You should see yourself right now!” He was in tears as he setthe can down and clutched his chest.

You didn’t think twice as you grabbed a handful of raw meatand hit him directly in the cheek. He immediately quit laughing and looked atyou in shock as you gave him a ‘not so funny now, huh?’ look.

“Wow, cold, ______, cold.”

It was two seconds later that he was holding the ketchupbottle over your head squeezing as hard as he could.

“You ASSHOLE!”

That’s when various food items and condiments flew acrossthe kitchen all at once. Pots hit the floor, something wet hit the wall, andJungkook was yelling in gibberish.

Down the hallway, a very sleepy Jin was trying to ignore theyells, but soon realized that his quiet evening was going to be ruined until hestepped in. He trudged out of his room and towards the noise but didn’t knowhow much he was going to regret doing so until he rounded the corner into thekitchen only to be met with an egg in the middle of his forehead.

Both of you froze mid-throw as you looked at Jin, now veryangry, standing in the doorway. He was staring the both of you down until hiseyes slid to the now extremely messystate of the kitchen. Egg yolk dripped past his eyebrows and onto his cheek ashe took in the raw meat on the wall, bread crumbs all over the floor and…mustardon the ceiling?

“For the love all of that his holy before I kill you goshower now!”

Jungkook dropped the knife full of mayo he was wielding andgrabbed your hand, pushing past Jin as fast as possible and down the hall tothe bathroom. You were both in a fit of giggles before you made it to thebathroom and slammed the door.

“Did you see his face?” Jungkook was beet red underneath thelayers of egg, bread crumbs, and whatever else on his face. He pulled you infor a messy kiss as his hands tangled into your hair. “I love you.”

You laughed as he playfully kissed your cheeks. “I love you,too. Now, let’s get this shit off us. I feel disgusting.”

You both stripped yourselves of your clothing before steppinginto the shower. You sighed appreciatively as the hot water ran over your head,washing away the filth. Jungkook grabbed you by the shoulders and switched positionsas soon as most of the food made its way down the drain. You watched as thewater ran down his chest, running into the lines of his abs, and down past hiships. Your gaze trailed back up to see him smirking down at you.

“Caught you.”

“So? I’m appreciating the view.”

Jungkook reached out and drew you in as his lips came downto yours. He backed up against the wall, taking you with him; his arms camearound you as his hands intertwined behind your back. He gasped in your mouthas his back met the cold tile and you took that opportunity to slip your tongueinside. He moaned as your hands glided over his wet skin to caress his ballsbefore sliding your hand over his already hardening cock. He moaned into yourmouth as the warm water made an easy slide for your hand, his hips buckingforward into you. You pulled off his lips with a wet pop before you kissed theside of his neck as his head fell back. You rested your forehead against hischest as you twisted your wrist, jacking him off just how he liked it.

“Oh my god,” he moaned as you squeezed from the base to thetip of his cock while your other hand reached for his balls once more. His moansreverberated off the tile walls as you sucked marks into his skin, your handmoving faster and faster as your mind focused on his heavy breaths and moansabove you.

“You wanna come like this?” You looked above you to see Jungkookin pure bliss, his mouth slightly ajar.

He looked down, eyes half opening as he smacked his lips acouple of times before speaking.

“No,” he rasped out as he grabbed your wrist. “Wanna fuckyou.”

He pushed off the wall and turned the water off, pulling thetowel he had thrown over the shower rod and tossed it to you before grabbingone for himself. Once dry, he wrapped his towel around his waist and opened thedoor only to be met with an angry Jin once more, fly swatter in hand.

“Jeon. Jungkook. In. Our.Bathroom?!” He punctuated each word with a slap of the fly swatter to hisshoulders and back as Jungkook yelled and tried to dodge the blows. “I told youto go take a shower, not get in here to fuckfor the whole apartment to hear!!”

“Okay okay!” Jungkook yelled as he reached into the bathroomfor your hand and pulled you down the hallway. “We’ll just fuck in my room then!”

Drabble Masterlist

[itsallabigmess]

Asking for Trouble

This scenario was based on an anonymous request.

A/N: I had a few days off - thanks to a holiday in my country - and I spent most of my free time on the couch rewatching “old” romcoms that I love. I miss that kind of movies (am I the only one?). They are not released very often these days - and the ones that are being released now don’t have the same charm the 90′s and early 2000′s romcoms had (in my opinion.).

So, since I was feeling kinda stuck (still am honestly and it clearly shows in this scenario), I got one of the requests I received for a “Friends with Benefits to Lovers AU” and mixed with a lot of the cliches of those movies And from that came this silly scenario. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Also, I’m super weak for blonde Mark so imagine him with the “Eyes On You/THE New Era” look in this scenario -- I need to write more stories with this dork as the main character (just as much as I need some time away from Jinyoung). And oh! JB is also included in this one.

Please let me know your thoughts! 

A.

The screens showed his flight had just landed. Finally. You arrived just an hour before and decided to wait for your friend at the airport. He didn’t know though. So, you had to rush to his gate, afraid he would just leave without you. And after a few minutes there he was.

It’s not that it was hard to recognize him. You were sure you could recognize your best friend anywhere, no matter how long you haven’t seen each other. But he certainly looked different.

“Mark!” you screamed and waved enthusiastically until he finally noticed you, the biggest of smiles opening in his face when his eyes met yours.

He walked to you, dropping one of his bags on the floor and hugging you, your feet getting off the ground with the action.

It’s been only six months since you last have seen each other. Still seemed too long. You always found yourself missing everything about him.

“I can’t believe you agreed with this,” you said once he put you back on your feet. “Thank you.”

It was a surprise when you received a call from one of your cousins telling you she was engaged. And not a minute after you started being bombarded with messages from other relatives. Everybody is so willing to remind you that you were still single. Sure that drinking wouldn’t be enough to deal with your family during the wedding, you called your best friend asking for help.

And now there you were. Mark was your plus one.

“Oh, come on, you’re doing me a favor. I needed some time off.” Mark picked his bag on the floor, passing the strap over his shoulder. “Besides, I missed you.”

Your lips curved up, you somewhat feeling shy. Mark always had that effect on you. “What’s up with the hair?” you asked, ruffling the sides of his new blond locks.

“It was a bet. But I kinda like it.”

“You should! It looks great,” you stated what seemed obvious. You always found Mark annoyingly handsome. Somehow the blond hair – and eyebrows - made him even more charming. It would be hard not to stare at him while he seemed distracted. As if your weekend wasn’t destined to be hard enough. But hopefully, you would have some fun.

After checking in a hotel and leaving your bags in the room you were sharing you went for lunch and shopping. Mark didn’t have a suit for the big day. And you still needed to find a dress. Happily, your cousin spared you from the burden of being one of her bridesmaids. You wondered how she would feel if you went to the ceremony wearing black from head to toe.

You helped Mark choose the right suit, and made him wait for you until you finally decided to buy more than one dress for yourself. It would be a long weekend after all. And you wanted to look great while trying to survive it.

Even apart, living in different cities since you both finished college, you and Mark always found time to text each other. It couldn’t be compared though, to being close to him, hearing him laugh. It made the hours you had before rehearsal dinner fly and, sooner than later, much for your displeasure, you found yourself mentally preparing to deal with your family.

It turned out the rehearsal dinner was in a somewhat luxurious cottage, not a restaurant as you expected. It should be no surprise, your cousin had told you before how loaded his fiancé family was. And seeing how some guests were dressed, you started to question your own wardrobe choices.

Chuckling at the faces you were making, but being the best companion you could ever have, Mark tried to reassure you, remembering you were not alone and you didn’t need to stay for the entire thing.

“Let’s have some fun,” he said, taking your jacket from you and winking before walking towards the coat check.

You looked around, trying to see if you could recognize any familiar faces, eyes opening wide when you hear your cousin screaming your name and rushing towards you, her slim arms hugging as tightly as she could.

“I’m so happy you are here! When haven’t seen in ages! You look so great!” she said in a breath. “But where is him? Where is your boyfriend?”

“My boyfriend?” you asked with a frown.

“Oh, come on, I saw you two earlier at the mall, being all cutesy together.”

“You saw me? Why you didn’t talk to me?”

“I was busy, buying some last things for the honeymoon. But don’t change the subject!” she grabbed your arm, leaning closer to whisper in your ear. “He’s much more handsome than I remember.”

“Lana, Mark is just my friend.”

“Yeah, right,” your cousin rolled her eyes. “Where is he, the family is dying to meet him! Oh hi!”

You looked over your shoulder to see Mark approaching, his eyes moving from you to your cousin’s excited gaze. The girl practically jumping to hug him.

Oh, you were in trouble.

“Mark, do you remember Lana?” you asked, giving a step back. You and Mark first met each other in college and since you didn’t study in your hometown, he never got the chance to meet your family. Except for Lana, who occasionally visited you. And since you were always hanging out with him, she got the chance to spend more than a few days with you in the past. And even if she didn’t, you had talked about him between your texts and phone calls enough for her to know exactly who he was.

“I’m so glad you joined us, Mark,” Lana started babbling again, not giving any time for Mark to respond “You have to meet the boys, you’re gonna join them on whatever they are planning for tomorrow night while I and the girls will do some nasty things. Don’t worry! No strippers allowed,” she winked, and you weren’t sure if it was for you or for Mark. “We are gonna have so much fun, cuz. And you two are such a cute couple! Ok, I gotta go.”

And then, Lana was already rushing towards another guest.

“Couple?” Mark asked, arms crossing in front of his chest.

You turned to him, covering your face with both your hands, “She saw us at the mall and assumed we were… dating.” You looked up at Mark, his expression was hard to read. “And I think she told everyone we are dating.”

“Okay,” Mark smiled after a minute of silence “Let’s do this.”

“What?! No, Mark. I can tell everyone we are just friends.”

“Didn’t you spent months telling me how much shit your family was giving you for still being single? You just found yourself a way out.”

“So, you wanna pretend you are my boyfriend?” you asked astonished.

“Why not?” Mark shrugged, holding you by the shoulders “Do you prefer to explain to everyone we are just friends and go back to the unnecessary judgment?”

“God, no,” you grumbled, throwing your head back. “But you’re sure you wanna do this?”

“As long as you promise we’re doing this because of your family, not because of him.”

“Who?”

Following Mark’s annoyed stare to the lounge area, you saw him, talking to some other guys. Your ex-boyfriend.

He was invited of course. More than that, he was also one of the groomsmen. You knew Jaebeom was friends with your cousin’s fiancé, but you never knew they were this close. Or at least they weren’t a year ago when you were still together. You haven’t spoken to him since you broke up. Since he broke up with you. And you were most definitely not expecting to see him tonight. Or ever again for that matter.

Holding hands, with fingers intertwined, you and Mark started to walk between guests, your parents soon finding you. It started fine, the introductions. Mark made sure to be the one to talk, which was a first. He always was one to keep it to himself. But then your uncles came, and some of your cousins, and family friends. And all the talk about you being the last single girl in the family flipped into a ‘thank God she found someone, she was never good at keeping a relationship.’

Miserable. That’s how you would feel the entire weekend. It didn’t matter if you had Mark with you or not.

You went out to catch a breath when comments start to get unbearable, Mark offering to get you a drink in the meantime. It was better, the quietness in the garden. You need to hug your bare arms as the cold breeze hits you.

“You look very nice,” Jaebeom’s voice sounded behind you.

You let out a heavy sigh, turning your body in his direction. He looked nice, which only made you annoyed. Jaebeom was always attractive. You thought so even before you started dating. And that wouldn’t change, no matter how much you asked for some divine justice from the universe.

He moved to give you a hug and you gave a step back, looking at him as if you could murder him right there.

“You don’t seem very happy to see me.”

“What gave you that idea?” you asked sharply.

“Honey?” Mark, your savior for the weekend appeared, his arm pulling you close by your middle, dropping a kiss on the top of your head. Mark sure was taking the role of fake boyfriend seriously. Not that you were complaining. “Aren’t you cold?”

“So, you two are a thing now?” Jaebeom asked.

“We sure are,” Mark squeezed you even closer.

Jaebeom crooked his neck, smiling huffily at you both. “You guys have a great night,” he said, going back inside.

“I hate that guy,” Mark released his grip on you but kept his touch on your lower back.

“You and I both,” you exhaled, looking as Jaebeom walked away.

“You sure? No remaining feelings for him?”

“Really?” you turned to face him “You do remember how I was after he broke up with me, right?”

“I remember it very well,” he smirked without looking at you, and you felt your cheeks burn, the image of you two laying in Mark’s bed making its way to your thoughts. “Do you wanna go inside?”

“Do we have to?” you pouted.

Mark chuckled. “I don’t really think anyone would notice us leaving.”

“There’s a barbecue place near the hotel…” you tilted your head to the side.

“I’ll get our coats.”

Maybe it was the fact you had woken up too early or maybe it was because your family always found a way to drain your energy, but as soon as you laid in bed after showering you felt exhausted.

You dozed off for a few minutes, waking up again when Mark turned the lights off, laying in his own bed, wishing a good night. You were wrong, you thought. It did matter that Mark was there with you. It was better with him.

The last time you two shared a room was right after Jaebeom had broken up. You called him, Mark being the only person you wanted to talk with. Even if you were certain that he would make you feel shitty about the whole thing. Mark never liked Jaebeom. He made that very clear, more than once. And maybe you should have listened to him. But people tend to get blind when falling in love and you were no exception.

When you got to his place, Mark didn’t say a thing. He listened and hugged you and made you company, allowing you to cry and curse as much as you wanted to. Then he bought you food and you two spend some hours in his bed, watching horror movies. And then you were kissing. Somehow you could not remember how or who started it. But Mark's lips were touching yours softly. And his hands were on your body, over and under the clothes your wearing. And not long after you were moaning uncontrollably.

Things got a bit weird after that day, you two not speaking for a few weeks. Until he reached out and made sure everything was okay between you two. You never told him how puzzled you felt with the whole thing.

It came to mind how since then Mark never touched you much. Until today. Hugging you at the airport, letting you hold his arm while you did your shopping, his hand always on you during the hours spent with your family. You liked it. As if he was somehow compensating you for all the months you spent apart.

You sneaked into his bed, Mark looking confused at you for a second but making space so you could lay with him the next second. You rested your head on his shoulder, he holding your hand over his chest.

“You okay?” he asked, voice already sounding sleepy.

“Yeah. Just didn’t want to sleep alone.”

“We are in the same room,” he said with a chortle, the caress of one of his hands on your arm letting you know that it was more than fine you were in his embrace.

“Thank you again for coming with me,” you lifted your head, the dim light coming from the bathroom letting you see the soft lines of his face.

“I’m glad I came. Your family really is something else,” he exhaled “But maybe things will be better at the wedding. They really bought our relationship.”

“Well, you are a great fake boyfriend.”

Mark chuckled, adjusting his body to be closer to you, giving a kiss on your forehead letting his chin rest on the top of your head as he fell asleep.

The truth was, you were certain Mark would also be a great real boyfriend.

Lana was already half drunk when you got to the bar where her bachelorette party was happening. You soon joined in the heavy drinking and dancing in the middle of the area were reserved just for that gathering.

You and your other cousin sat down after a while, shots of tequila being pilled up in front of you, the bride to be hugging you by the neck. “You were always my favorite cousin,” she would coo, dropping a kiss on your cheek before resting her head on your shoulder for a second or two. “I’m so happy you and Mark are together.”

“Lana…” You sighed feeling a bit guilty for lying, even though it was her own fault Mark and you were in that position.

“So, who confessed? It was him, wasn’t it? I never thought he would have the balls. He’s too shy. But I knew he liked you as soon as I saw you two together.”

“What?” you asked confused, the alcohol already making its work on your body.

“He always looked at you so lovingly, even I got a bit jealous. I love my boyfriend… Fiancé? Anyway, I love him but he’s too stiff sometimes. But really, cuz, I’m just happy you two decided to love each other… it’s been a long time coming.”

And then, Lana being Lana even drunk, she left you mid-sentence to found someone else to pay attention to her.

Feeling dizzy by all the drinking and confused about your cousin’s words, you let your head fall on the bar counter. Did she really think Mark had feelings for you? Or it was just the booze controlling her tongue. She was probably talking too much, thinking you and Mark were a real couple. Even you felt like you were after waking up with him hugging you and asking what you wanted for breakfast. But you and Mark were always incredibly close and sweet towards each other. And that was it. Just friends. Nothing else.

Mark was there to pick you up when the night came. You didn’t notice at first, still sitting at the same spot, drinking some coke. Lana, who was completely drunk was the one to let you know he was at the other side of the bar.

He was talking to someone else. A girl. One there was not at the party. Mark didn’t look interested in her.

Lana started giggling on your side, saying how someone was trying to get your guy. So maybe that’s why you did what you did next. Or maybe you were still drunk. But you walked to Mark and kissed him.

He could taste the alcohol on your lips. Which should be more than enough to push you away. But instead, he kissed you back, his fingers digging into the skin of your waist, pulling your body close to him.

“Hello,” he said when you finally broke apart, his face red.

“I don’t like girls hitting on you,” you said, tilting your head back, your eyes half-closed.

“I didn’t know you could be jealous of a fake boyfriend,” you could hear the tease in his voice, Mark brushing his nose on yours, his hands still on your waist.

“I don’t like it either,” you almost whispered, feeling heat grow inside your body. “Fake relationships.”

Mark smiled and you didn’t know what it meant until his lips found yours again, wet and sweat and so much better than the first time.

“I think it’s time to leave,” he said, resting his forehead on yours for a second, needing to catch his breath.

You rested against him on the way back to the hotel, the taxi not going fast enough for your liking. Mark was still touching you, his hand discreetly going up and down on your thigh. It was there again, the feeling you could not remember until a few minutes ago. Wanting Mark. Wanting to feel all of him in all of you. You felt it after breaking up with Jaebeom when you slept together. And you were feeling it now.

It was stronger though. Better. You weren’t hurting. You didn’t need consolation. You just needed him.

Entering the hotel, you had to look twice to make sure it was in fact Jaebeom sitting in the lobby. 

“What the fuck you’re doing here?” Mark snorted.

“Can we talk?” Jaebeom asked after getting close, looking straight to you.

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“It’s just a minute. Please.” Jaebeom pleaded.

Mark didn’t want to leave your side but agreed after you reassured him it wouldn’t take long, your ex-boyfriend waiting until there was no sight of him to be seen.

“Were you hooking up when we were dating?” Jaebeom asked, stepping in front of you a bit too close for comfort. “You were, weren’t you?”

“Seriously? That’s what you wanted to say?”

“I was hoping to talk to you yesterday. I wanted to apologize for everything. But then you showed up with him?! I always thought that something was going on with you two. Now I know. You were fucking behind my back!” Jaebeom growled.

“No Jaebeom, you were the one fucking someone else when we were together.” You tried to keep your voice down, anger taking over your body. “I never cheated you. That was your mistake. Not mine.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Then why you are here? Why do you care?”

“Because… I felt really bad after we broke up. I never wanted to hurt you.”

You crossed your arms in front of you “And you realized that before or after the girl you were fucking dumped you?”

You waited for an answer, but Jaebeom was mute, opening his mouth a while after only to say your name.

“Save it, Jaebeom. I don’t wanna hear it,” you waved your hand, giving your back to him “Please don’t ever talk to me again.”

Mark was sitting on his bed when you entered the room, hands rubbing against each other. You let your body slowly fall on his side, you two in silence for a moment.

“He wanted to know if something was going on between us when he was still with me?” you finally said, your eyes on Mark’s hands.

“That’s ironic. What did you say?”

“The truth,” you shrugged “That I never cheated on him. Don’t think he’s gonna bother me anymore.”

You removed your shoes when you two became silent again, pulling your legs over the bed, occupying the space free behind him. You wish you were still drunk, to give you the boldness you knew you needed right now. But the altercation you had minutes before showed you were in total control of your thoughts.

“I need you to tell me something,” you said, Mark turning his face to look at you over his shoulder. “I need you to tell me that you didn’t kiss me just for the hell of it.”

“Do you think I would kiss you if I didn’t really want to?” he stared at his hands again. You could see there was some internal debate going on within Mark, which only made you nervous. You didn’t want to push him. But you knew this was a conversation that you needed to have. The same way you knew that waiting to talk in another moment would feel hellish for both of you.

“I was jealous of him,” Mark finally let out, his eyes still low. “Of Jaebeom. That’s why I didn’t like him. Well, one of the reasons,” He turned his body to face you, touching one of your legs lightly. “I already liked you before you started dating. I was trying to find a way to tell you. Guess I waited too long and lost my shot,” he smiled at you weakly, embarrassed.

“I wish you had told me. I always felt something for you” you confessed, something that you just noticed. Mark was always the first person on your mind every day. Always the one you wanted to spend time with, tell everything about your life. “I never thought you saw me as something other than your friend,” you touched his hand, he turning his palm up to hold yours.

“I almost did. After that night. But I knew you needed some time.”

You nodded quickly, biting your lower lip. “So, when I invited for the wedding…”

“I was just excited to spend so time with you again. I really missed you. But then you told me about Lana thinking we were together,” he gave a silly smile this time, and you couldn’t help to follow him. “I thought I could try again, tell you how I felt, show you how nice I could be to you.”

“I feel like I should be the one doing that,” you admitted, thinking how shitty it must have felt during the entirety of your relationship with Jaebeom, you now regretting all the times you talked about it with Mark, all the times you got mad at him for stating his hate for your now ex.

“You did when you came to my bed last night.”

“Mark, that shouldn’t be enough,” you laughed.

“You can let me take you out on a date after the wedding,” Mark said, moving to sit by your side, a hand moving to cup your face.

“Until then,” you got on your knees, arms wrapping around his neck, dropping a quick kiss on his lips. “Maybe I can try to compensate a little for the time we lost?”

“What do you have in mind?”

You leaned towards Mark again, pretending to move to another kiss only to get out of bed, walking towards the bathroom, removing your shirt and letting it fall on the ground.

“I should have confessed a long time ago,” Mark ruffled his hair, following your steps to the shower.

[ladyshandioftheendless]

Royal Pains

HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS this is one of @ashestoashesvvi ‘s crowning achievements!! Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Steel Panther invaded the KISSteriaverse? No? WELL TOO BAD HERE IT IS ANYWAY!! So in this Michael Starr is Vince’s cousin and a constant thorn in his side. This time the Panther boiz assume to role of party crashers! Placed under a cut for length and dirtiness~

“W- We’re gonna what now?”

“We’re gonna bring some heavy ass metal to my favorite blond richy bitchy cuz! It’s gonna so fuckin’ rock, man!” Michael declared, jumping on top of their pool table in the middle of the room. He downed his open beer in one go and tossed it down on the floor when he was done with a pumped grin. “Woo!! Alright, bitches, c'mon, who’s game to party hard tonight?”

Lexxi blinked, and blinked. Then blinked again. Then he looked back at his mirror, shaking his head and fluffing up his hair. “Ahh, ahhhhh, you can go, but… but…” he paused, rolling the words around in his head. Beside him, Satchel just rolled his eyes as his bandmate’s mind was as lost as ever. “But I- I don’t think I’m for it after we jus- just snorted aaaaall, and I- I mean aaaall, the fuckin’ coke we had, dude. Kinda just wanna stay here and pet my turtle– you guys kno- know my turtle, yeah?”

“Lex, no damn turtle talk.”

“No one wants to hear where you shoved him up.”

“Guys!!” Michael groaned, “Duuuuudes, focus! Party time! Yeah or fuck yeah?”

Stix sighed, flopping down next to Satchel and Lexxi on their demolished, once lavish, black leather couch. “Eh, why the fuck not? It’s been a while since we had some fun, man.”

“Yeah, a whole fuckin’ six hours.” Michael nodded, grinning ear to ear. “C'mon, Lex, don’t you want to have some fun this weekend?”

“I- If by fun, you mean work on my highlights and fu- fuckin’ update our fashion style, then yeah. Ahhh….. What was I– Oh, yeah, just fuckin’, other than that, I- I don’t feel like going to some big party.” he said. He winced when Michael pouted then came running up to him, putting his head on his shoulder, whining and hugging onto his arm.

“Come on, please?”

“Bitch, you’re getting between m- me and the mirror- the mirror, man!” Lexxi pouted, pursing his lips out even more. He swung his mirror around in his hand to keep it out of Michael’s way and more focused on his own beautiful face.

Satchel laughed, “You’re gonna drop that, and that’s gonna break, and you’re gonna cry like a little girl in front of all of us, dude.”

“Then I’ll be careful- duh!” Lexxi sighed, wriggling out of Michael’s strong hold.

“Lexxi, you’re coming with us. It’s not a bitchin’ party until the whole band shows up!” Michael laughed.

“Mmmh…..”

“Lex, c'mon, c'here.” Stix sighed, shifting and standing to grab his taller bandmate. He forced him to lean down so that he could put his head on top of his, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Come and have fun, okay?”

“Wh- Wha- What’d you say?” Lexxi blinked. He tried to consecrate and think about what he was just asked, but all he could manage was a confused, cute squint.

“Come and have fun, okay?”

“Ca- Can you say the last work- word different?”

“…okie?”

“Ooh, see that’s what I th- thought you said.”

“Lexxi, stop being a dumb fuckin’ blonde– no offence Michael– for like two seconds and focus, man. Think of it, think of the tiddies! The booze! The drugs! I heard they’re importing these new blue lines straight outta Jendell! Jendell, man! I heard that shit makes electricity shoot right up your spine!” Satchel smirked, rubbing his hands together.

“Better yet,” Stix laughed, catching Lexxi’s short focus again. “Think about it, man… Prince Vince has an entire hall of mirrors in his crib~”

Lexxi’s eyes widened. He’d forgotten about that. He hummed, thinking about it now, debating on the pros and cons before giving in. “Alright, okay. I- I’ll go.”

Michael squealed and hugged him. “Fuck yes! For a second, I thought we had to bring your mother in this.”

“Y- You fuckers leav- leave my mom outta this shit–”

“Heh, she wasn’t out of this,” Satchel motioned to his crotch. “last night, dude.”

“Shuddap!!”

“Oh fuckin’ grow a pair and get over it, Lex. Can’t give her AIDS twice.”

“Or thrice.” Satchel added with a nod of his head.

“Or frice?” Stix said, smiling. “Or whatever the fuck it is.”

“Can y- you guys not gangbang my m- mom?”

“Too late!” Michael said, reaching for his microphone. “I gotta summon us a bitchin’ ride…. Hmmm… what’ll it be tonight, boys? One big limo or…?”

“Flaming limo with flames painted on the sides, and nachos when we get in. I want some fuckin’ nachos right about now, dude.”

“Annnnnnd hookers.” Stix said, letting Lexxi go finally.

Michael nodded, “Oh man, this is so tits. Vince is gonna be soooo fuckin’ happy to see us.”

“Or he’ll banish us from the kingdom again.” Stix shrugged, cracking open a beer.

“Eh, fuck that. We always come back, just like a bad STD.”

“Lexxi would know all about that, wouldn’t you, Lex?” Satchel laughed, poking him in the side.

“Stooooooop, I- I was cleared ages a- ago, man!” he pouted, sitting back on the destroyed couch as they chuckled and relaxed against each other.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Prince Vince watched his party’s performance in the palace’s throne room. Mick and Tommy sat to his left and Nikki sat to his right. Their eyes all watched as the ceremonial warriors and dancers of the Order of the Golden Pyramid from the realm of Sphynxia performed for them. They watched the sharp blades twirl in their hands and the air with ease in their finest silks and robes.

The normally rowdy court was calmed and entertained by them, and they even cleared the way for the belly dancers to take the main floor of the throne room. All the dancers in the troupe were women, and each one was catching the Prince’s and his friends eyes. Except for Mick, but he had been around enough to not fall so easily and forget that they were still warriors under those black halter tops adorned with gold jewels and beads, long black skirts with high cut slits, gold anklets and gold bangles.

As a final motion, the dancing warriors twirled and all did a ‘death drop’, leaping up into the air, doing a full turn which almost fully exposed their lower bodies, falling to land on one of their bent legs, and spinning around a few times before slowly rising and posing. The kingdom and all the entire court attending burst into applause for their performance. The members of the Order of the Golden Pyramid all gave a short bow of appreciation at the applause.

The leader of the group, Asim, stepped forward to Vince and knelt down in front of him, offering up a sword. “Prince Vince, this is a gift from the Order in honor of our alliance with Anarkia. May it be fruitful and prosperous for both of us.”

“Holy fuck, that’s a big ass sword!”

“Duuude, look how Vince is holding it like it’s his penis.”

“Nah, that blade is waaaay bigger than his tiny dick, man.”

“I- I’m confused… aaaahh, which way was the bathroom? Oh fuck it. Forget it, Imma just go over here.”

“Oh no,” Mick groaned, making a face. “They’re back.”

“Hell yeah! Can’t fuckin’ go and invite the whole kingdom to a huge ass mother fuckin’ party and not invite us! Just cause we’re on the Steel Pantherian moon doesn’t mean you get to skip out on our invite, cuz!” Michael shouted, bounding straight up to the throne. He seemed unaware of Vince’s reddening face of anger and embarrassment. Or he just didn’t care. “Oooh! Sweet! We’re cool with the Sphynx people? Awesome! Cause I need to go there to tan. See, I’m getting a bit pale and–”

“What are you doin’ here, you fucker!?” Vince growled, trying to keep his cool during his important alliance set up. “I banished you fifteen times!”

“….And?” Michael giggled, then caught sight of the lovely warrior beside them. “Oooooh~ Hello, baby~ Hey, hey, don’t get with this bratty prince, c'mon and hang out with a duke and his boys, honey. I got a real swollen member, and I really need to cum in an ass tonight~”

The olive skinned warrior scoffed, then snatched the sword straight from the prince’s hands. “Master Radames will hear of this behavior and this- this vulgar offering. He had thought you Anarkians had matured after assisting the KISSterians in battle so many times.”

“N- No! Th- This fool is not affiliated with us!”

Nikki growled, nodding in agreement with Vince. “These bastards are just a buncha crossbred, inbred fucks! C'mon! You can’t just–”

“There is a certain level of respect that we expect during such ceremonial events, and this,” Asim motioned to the long hair blonde taking a piss behind a potted plant. “This is not something I can allow to happen on my first mission of alliance.” She shook her head, signaling to the rest of her troupe to pack up and head out.

“Hey, hey,” Michael said, grabbed the warrior’s wrist. “Listen, please. I’m sorry… I guess I messed up… Lemme restart, c'mon, how about I make it up to you and my cousin by offering to let you both blow me. You don’t even gotta worry about the rest of the band. Trust me, compared to the rest of the guys, I’m less likely to cheat, too, if you wanna meet up a second time and make it a thing.”

Rolling her eyes, she pushed him away harshly. “My master will certainly hear about all of this.”

“Michael, I’m gonna fuckin’ strangle you and banish you to a damn realm without pussy!!” Vince screeched, putting a hand on his cousin’s shoulder.

“Hey, dude, fuck off!” he snapped, “I’m trying to help things!”

“You’re making it worse!” Vince growled, his grip on Michael’s shoulder growing tight.

“Hey, let go of our Michael, you royal fuckwad!” Satchel shouted, darting in from the side, swinging a fist back and punching Vince square in the nose.

The crowd gasped, and the members of the Order of the Golden Pyramid quickly fled before an infamous Anarkian battle broke out right in their palace.

Vince growled at the punch, coming at Satchel angrily. With one quick motion, he slammed the guitarist’s head toward the floor, then felt the hardest hit he’d ever had in the ribs. Stix smirked at him as he gasped, standing there frozen and a little shaken from what had just happened.

Tommy came up from behind and kicked the bulkier drummer to the wall across the throne room. “You fuckin’ assholes!! You ruined everything– again!!”

“Ugh… Fuck you! We just came for fun and a good time!”

“BAD FUCKING TIMING, FUCKERS!” Vince shrieked, recovering, then leaping to try and claw his cousin’s eyes out. Michael laughed, holding his wrists an inch from his pretty face.

“Awww, hey, I missed this!!” he giggled, staring into the blazing pits of hatred of the prince’s gaze. “Jeez, I’m just sorry we didn’t show up sooner!”

“IMMA KILL YOU ASSHOLES!!!”

“Nah! You’re just gonna banish us again!” Michael smiled at him, “Make it a tiddie beach this time, though, would ya? I get bored just jerking it off to Lexxi’s girly face.”

“D- DID YOU JUST NOT HEAR ME—!?!” Vince shouted, then cut himself off in an angry roar. “AAAAAAAARGHHHH!!!!!”

“I’m too old for this shit…” Mick growled, sinking down in his chair, glaring at Lexxi off to his side. Blue electricity protectively crackled around him as the tall blonde just stared at him like he let a hamster borrow his last brain-cell. “I’m not gonna do a fist fight, you lil’ shit.”

“Nah, I- I’m just… ahh, well… fuck, someone said something about a mirror hall…. yeah, mirrors.”

Mick squinted at him, then jerked his thumb back behind the throne. “Down the hall.”

“Thanks, old dude.”

“Ugh…” Mick rolled his eyes, watching the court explode, then actually explode into fire and flames. “There goes another perfectly good alliance.”

[solaneceae]

MFKZ OS 10: Flowing

Climate change was no joke it seemed.

Vinz awoke drenched with sweat, his blanket -the one with little tigers leaping around, his favourite-  pooling at the foot of the couch. He groaned in faint disgust as he hurriedly sat up, hating the sensation of moist fabric against his back. Gross. He rubbed the crust out of his eyes and looked towards the window; the sun had barely began to peek out over the horizon.

Uuuuugh. Only in DMC one could wake up to suffocating heat at 8am in the middle of november. The world truly was going to shit. Good thing the flames atop his skull were only hot if he wanted them to be, however that worked.

He sighted. Even with their new president doing her best to undo a decade’s worth of damage on environmental laws, it would be a long time until things started to change for the better.

“Wow, you look like death!”

The hothead turned around to huff at the other couch, or rather the half-alien laying upside-down on the back. His socks don’t match, Vinz noted distractedly. Heh. What an airhead.

Angelino flashed him a shit-eating grin, seemingly unbothered with the humid heat taking over the neighbourhood. Vinz glared back; his roommate’s freaky genetics must’ve granted him some kind of resistance to high temperatures. Lucky bastard. “Dude, shut up. S’too early for your sass.”

“What? I’m just being a concerned friend. You don’t look so hot after all.”

“Oh my fucking god.”

The skeleton jumped to his feet and hurried out of the room, eager to get out of earshot of his best friend’s terrible puns -the dumbass radius as he called it- and cool down in a cold shower. Which one he wished for the most right now was up for debate.

***

He didn’t step from under the delightfully freezing water until his fingertips turned blue and his body seized up in uncontrollable shivers. He should be set for a couple of hours.

The young adult entered the kitchen in a much better mood, finding Lino munching on cereals right out of the box, not-so-sneakily dropping some on the floor for his roaches to feast on. “Took you long enough, thought you drowned or something.” the hybrid stated, passing the half-empty box to Vinz’ awaiting hands. He smirked, a teasing glint in his inky black eyes. “Did you have fun in there?”

The hothead half-groand half-snickered. Christ, the hothead could almost hear the italics. What was he, fifteen? “Well I didn’t die. Glad you still care.”

“I always care!”

“I know. Remember that storm back at the orphanage? I went outside to see and you got so scared my flames would go out and I’d die. You cried for like an hour.”

Angelino tensed up in protest. “What? Bullshit, I didn’t cry!”

“You so did. You didn’t want to go outside cuz you’re scared of thunder -don’t give me that look, I know it still makes you flinch-, and when I came back you were screaming about Charmander. Ring any bells?”

His best friend looked like he just bit into a particularly sour lemon. He was fidgeting with the edge of his sleeve and was definitely avoiding his gaze now, his cheeks a darker shade than the rest of his pitch black face. Vinz wished he could take a pic to immortalize one of the rare moments he managed to shut his roomate up.

The image of a much smaller, younger Lino sobbing into his shirt, his tiny fists clutching the fabric came to the forefront of his mind. S’okay Lino, don’t cry! he remembered laughing. My flames are magic, see? Stupid water can’t hurt me!

He felt himself smile. Granted, he couldn't actually smile with his lack of skin (and facial muscles. And lower jaw.), but the way his eyes squinted and his flames turned to a vivid green were good enough indicators. He teasingly grabbed his pouting roommate and trapped him into a ruthless noogie. “Don’t worry you lil’ shit, I’m not kicking the bucket anytime soon. Someone gotta watch out for your scrawny ass.”

The hybrid hissed in discomfort and wrestled out of Vinz’ grip, rubbing this head. “‘Scrawny’?! Fuck you, yours is bony!”. He then proceeded to trip the other with a swift little kick. The hothead yelped as he hit the ground -thank god for the shitty carpet-, his rival cackling evilly. Angelino used the other’s stunned state to sit cross legged onto his back -earning a strangled oof in the process-, grab his right arm and, with a triumphant smile, twist it against his clavicle.

“- Ack! Lino, the fuck?!

- That’s what you get for screwing with me! Now yield!

- Hell no, you motherfucker!”

Vinz didn’t quite know how it had come to this, him face planted into the faded orange carpet with his best friend sitting on top of him and basically asphyxiating him. It was all in good fun though, he could feel the tremors of uncontrollable giggles rattling his chest.

“- You gonna say ‘uncle’ yet? No rush, you make a good seat.

-  Ngh… thought I was bony?

- A bony seat is still a seat.

- So deep. Ten outta ten, truly inspiring. You gonna write a book on that?”

The half-alien just smiled wider, pulling on his arm a little harder.

“Ow, ow, okay ow, fine, you win!” the hothead wheezed from under him. “You win! Now lemme go before I burn your ass!”

Lino let go of his arm, chuckling. “You wouldn’t dare. My ass is a national treasure.”

Vinz repressed a certain thought immediately after it came to existence, letting out a deep sigh and glaring over his shoulder. “Right, keep thinking that. You gonna get off or what?”

His roommate didn’t respond, still sitting crossed legged in the small of his back. He was staring right ahead, head tilted to the side and brow furrowed, like he was trying really hard to figure something out. The skeleton squinted. “Lino, not that I don’t appreciate you, but it’s a little hard to breathe here and I’m getting sweaty again so-”

“You think that place is still there?”

The hothead’s voice trailed to a stop at the interruption. The young hybrid had turned to look at him, something fuzzy and familiar in his bug eyes. He blinked. “...Well, it’s not like a place can actually go anywhere… else... than where it’s at. You talking about the orphanage? Cuz I’m pretty sure it’s still where it’s always been.”

“Not that, dumbass. I mean the stream.”

Vinz’ eye sockets widened, a glint of recollection in his yellow pupils. “Wait, that stream? The one with the little waterfall overhead?”

“Yeah.”

“The one where we ran off to when it was too hot and we wanted to piss off the old broad?”

“Yup.”

“The one where you hit your head while trying to do a flip and you almost died of hypothermia?”

“Uh, I don’t-”

Now Vinz was just fucking with him. The skeleton’s tone took a teasing edge. “The one where I went to get some water and came back to find you-”

“YES. Yes Vinz, that one.” Angelino quickly cut him off and jumped off him, voice going up an octave. His victim dramatically rolled onto his back and took a much-needed gulp of air, as the other sneered from above him. “Fucker.”

“Bitch.” Vinz responded, flipping him off. He sat up against the bottom of the couch and cracked his joints. “So, our old secret place. What about it?”

His friend grimaced. “Don’t call it that, what are you, five ?”

Yeah, five inches deep in your MOM. Oh how Vinz wanted to quote that iconic vine. But he refrained from doing so, given who stood in front of him.

“I was thinking…” the hybrid began, plopping down next to him. “It’s early, it’s warm as all hell and we got fuckall to do today. Maybe we can go back. To see if it’s still there. And not, y’know, bulldozered and shit.”

The skeleton stared at him. “...What, ten years later? Why?”

“Why not? It’s a bit far, but I remember how to get there. And with how we originally found it by complete accident and all, pretty sure no one but us knows it exists. Could be worth it.”

Huh.

Vinz hummed. Maybe it would, as the alternative would be to spend the day either under cold water or complaining about global warming. Why the fuck not. He turned to an expectant roommate, determination steeled in his features. “Okay. Let’s go.”

***

Angelino finally stopped at the edge of a huge grey rock, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. He didn’t remember the way up being so steep. Vinz wasn’t far behind him, his heavy breathing and cursing catching up to him. Given the colorful words leaving his mouth about the “fucking piece of shit trees that don’t have anything better to do than fuck up my day”, he guessed his companion must’ve had tripped on a root at some point. In any case, the hothead finally hauled his way up the rock and bend forward, panting in exertion as his best friend sat down, legs dangling over the edge.

“Shit.” Vinz wheezed out, wiping the sweat off his skull. “I think we need to work out more, I feel like passing out.”. The hybrid snorted, not tearing his eyes away from the scenery below. “Yeah, fuck that noise. I’m doing fine, you’re the one who needs to go out more.”

The skeleton made a noncommittal grunt and popped his back into place, sighing in relief. He opened his eye sockets and took in the sight below them.

It felt… weird. It was the same old place he remembered, but not? Kinda? The thin waterfall dropping down the red stone cliff was the same. The deformed bean-shaped basin at the bottom was the same. The clear water (hallelujah, it was still clear after all those years) overflowing from said basin was the same. But everything else seemed to have shifted slightly, and the whole place felt scaled down. Smaller.

Eh. After more than ten years it was probably normal.

They stood still for another minute, silently letting fleeting memories and faint nostalgia wash over them. Then Angelino looked up at his best friend and smiled softly. “Wanna go down?”

***

“- I remember it being a lot bigger, don’t you?

- Nah dude, you were just short.

- Shut up, you were even shorter than I was, and that’s saying something.”

The hybrid ignored the jab at his petite frame, staring at the sky peeking out from between the foliage. He was floating on his back, half immersed into the basin. Cold water lapped at his ears now and again, drowning the world the low hum of moving water.

The basin wasn’t that deep, two meters at most, and only wide enough for about two grown adults to do the starfish without bumping into each other. So, wide enough for two of each of them.

Thanks to that and the sun heating up the stones all day, it wasn’t too cold, juste pleasantly chilly. Vinz had insisted on preparing some heating runes and sigils for some reason, and Lino had indulged him with a shrug. And even though, deep down, the hothead had been intrigued by the strange (worried?) look Angelino kept giving him while he worked his magic (heh), he decided not to ask.

The half-alien closed his eyes and filled his lungs with relatively pure air, at least compared to DMC’s usual smog.

In. Out. In and out, again.

His lead felt clear, quiet, a welcome reprieve from the constant outside noises and the numbing buzz of his own thoughts. It was nice.

Had it been worth the two-hour long bus trip full of rude and sweaty people? The forty-minute trek through the wilderness that left them breathless, dusty and bloody in some places?

Heck. Yes.

“Vinz?” he called out, eyes still closed. His voice was quiet, most of his energy having been sapped by the heat and the climbing.

His friend only acknowledged him with a hoarse, inquisitive hum. Sounded like the hothead wasn’t faring much better. Angelino took a deep breath.

“Why did we stop coming here?”

A few seconds of silence. Thinking Vinz needed him to elaborate, he kept talking. “I mean, this place is amazing. S’always been this way, our own little thing, you know? It was hard to get there, I remember that much, but it was always worth it in the end. Sure, we got older and life kinda kept kicking us into the ground, but it was still here, just a few hours away. So why-”

“You mean you don’t remember?”

Angelino cracked his eyes open; Vinz was staring at him with a tired but sharp look, slowly drifting onto the surface of the water. He blinked in confusion. “Remember what?”

His roomate let out an airy laugh, running a now chilly hand against his face. “Figures. Don’t worry it’s fine, s’not a life-or-death kind of info. Uh, do you remember earlier when I told you you almost died here once?”

The hybrid lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, when you were fucking with me this morning.”

“I wasn’t. It happened, for real.”

“...Oh.”

His best friend was staring at the sky now, hands folded casually in his lap. He continued. “I think we were like, ten? Yeah, sounds about right. We knew this place like the back of our hands by then, so we stopped paying attention to everything so much. We got uh, reckless.”

Hid hands fidgeted with the hem of his soaked shirt. “It was kinda cold and rainy that day, so not the ideal weather to go for a swim, but we didn’t give a shit. It was still better than being with the other stupid brats.” He lifted his arm and pointed to the top of the thin waterfall, about four meters above them. “Happened riiiight there, on that ledge. Take a guess at what happened.”

Angelino rubbed the back of his head, an uncomfortable ache pooling under his palm. “Knowing us, we probably did something stupid and someone fell down.”

“Close enough. Some dumb bets were made, doesn’t matter what they were about, I slipped off the ledge and we both fell. Cuz you tried to catch me.”

The hybrid’s eyes widened. He truly didn’t remember these events at all. And the ache wasn’t going away, even if it wasn’t getting worse either.

“So yeah, we both got knocked the fuck out. Think I busted my ankle too, it hurt like a bitch for days afterwards. Anyway, I think I woke up about ten minutes later? It wasn’t too bad really, just a concussion.” Vinz distractedly ruffled a tree branch hanging low over the basin. “Still, I was pretty damn cold, and the wind had picked up so it wasn’t making anything better. But uh, I realized pretty quickly that I was just peachy compared to you.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Dude. You slid into the basin when you fell and just, soaked there in freezing water for ten minutes. Good thing you were on your back.” He shook his head. “But the thing is, spending that amount of time in the cold is bad for everyone, okay? If you’re really unlucky you get a pneumonia or some shit. You looked like you were dead. Blue skin and everything.” The hothead slid a knowing glance at his friend. “Yeah, that shade of blue. Even without the uh, context we know about now, this was pretty fucking terrifying. Also your nose was bleeding, so there was a nice big head trauma on top of everything else.”

Lino stayed silent.

“I’m not sure how I managed to get us back to the main road, because I was so numb and cold and my leg hurt and i felt like puking my guts out. And bro, no offence but you weren’t exactly a lightweight for me at the time. But we made it somehow, so that was good! But then I uh, passed out again.”

Vinz linked his eyes with Lino’s again, his tone lighter. “But hey, someone found us and got us back to the orphanage, so no one died! …Obviously, I know, shut up. I was really sick for a few days after that -heck we both were, you were out for like a week- but I got over it. The whole incident thing.”

He looked up again. “You uh, didn’t. Not completely. After that, everytime I mentioned this place, or what happened, you got really weird. Like, all distant and jumpy and not all there, you know? Some serious PTSD shit, but I was ten and dumb so I didn’t know shit about that. So I stopped mentioning it, and then you just uh, came back to normal at some point.”

The young man hummed, squinting. “...Aaaand that’s it. We never brought it up again, life kinda happened, freaky shit happened, and now we’re back here. So yeah, I was a bit worried when you told me you wanted to come back. But it went well in the end, right?”

Vinz reached out, lightly touching his best friend’s shoulder with his fingertips. His flames were a cold blue, anxiety radiating from every inch of him. “You aren’t gonna freak out on me, right....?”

Angelino hadn’t stopped looking right at him. Something warm settled onto his features. “Nah. I’m good.”

“Oh thank fuck.”

Vinz let out a nervous chuckle, covering his eye sockets with his arm. “That’s, that’s great. Because I missed this place so fucking much and I’m really glad we came back.”

The half-alien bumped their shoulder together with a small smile. “Yeah, me too. Sorry I got you in trouble.”

“No you’re not.” his childhood friend replied without malice before turning back to the sky, eye sockets slowly closing.

Angelino did the same, darkness filling his vision. The headache was gone. Not in a “I just had an epiphany and remembered everything” kind of way. He still didn’t remember. But that was fine. He was fine. He had to be.

And he sure as shit intended to stay that way, because he knew that that moron would get himself killed trying to help him if he didn’t. He understood the reasoning behind the heat sigils now (watching your friend almost die of cold twice would make anyone paranoid he guessed), but that didn’t mean he had to accept it.

He wasn’t stupid. Coming home one day to find Vinz drained and barely conscious on the couch, the very same day one of his little voodoo -wicca or whatever- thingies stopped a truck from hitting him? It didn’t take him long to put two and two together. That shit could kill him, he knew that.

He wouldn’t let Vinz put his bony ass in danger for him, not if he could help it. By not ending up at death’s door every few days like the dumbass he was.

“Hey Vinz.”

A quiet hum. Quieter than before.

“...Thanks.”

“...Dun mention it. Didja ‘member?”

Vinz was slurring. Count on this weirdo to fall asleep anywhere.

“Nope. Sorry.”

A short silence. Their hands almost touched.

“...S’okay...”

Almost.

“...can ‘member for th’both of us.”

The water was cold, but the sun kept his core warm. Vinz’ slow, even breathing, not far, never far.

He was fine.

*slaps hands on table* 28 STAB WOUNDS-

jk, nothing that extreme. but it did take me eight hours to write this, cuz those two keep escaping me how the fuck do they keep doing that.

also DON’T do what those jackasses did and fall asleep in the sun. you’ll just end up with a monster headache and sunburns.

imma go eat now bye

[alex-guerin]

So, the company I work for supplies all the local convenience stores and Speedway gas stations East of the Mississippi River with all their stuff inside the store (you go in and buy a phone charger from a Speedway station? Boom. Came from us. That Snickers ice cream bar you chowed down on? Picked from our freezer...well...not MY freezer -- unless you live within 100 miles of my particular warehouse, but one of our company’s warehouses). Our two major stores use to be Circle K (”Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...”) and Speedway. 

Second week of January, our contract with Circle K was up and they switched to a different distribution company. All of the sudden, our work days went from 10 to 12 hrs a day..............to 4.5. I’m not even kidding you. Today the freezer half of my department was done at 4am, my crew in the cooler was done at 4:30am. We started at midnight.  For months, and I do mean MONTHS, management was begging anyone and everyone who was willing to work as many hours as possible, to work as many hours as possible. The paychecks were decent, so those of us who decided to work extra hours never really complained, too much. 

Now that we’ve hit slow travel season, and we’ve lost Circle K, management doesn’t really want anyone putting in any over time. In fact, if it were up to them, they probably would have preferred that my entire department left once we were finished today...after only 4 or 4.5 hours of work. While 2nd shift no doubt got their full 8 or more hours in today. My shift (3rd shift) is the only one NOT promised a full 8 hour shift. We’d still be called full-timers, still get all the benefits, but there was a good chance we’d be lucky most days to make 36hrs a week during the winter (at least, that’s how it was last winter once we finally hit our winter hours). Now it’s even less likely unless our manager can find something for us to do until 8:30 when we hit our full 8 hr mark. 

Well, I like to stay and help Jason on Wednesdays. It’s a heavy day for him, and I like getting to help break down the skids that come in full of product, arrange them on the pallets, and slap the labels on so he can get them confirmed into the system and put away in the freezer. It’s a fun little way for me to be able to spend more time with him, and more often than not, we joke around and tease each other and play and be goofy and everything’s cool. So, when my guys finished at 4:30, and I finished stacking at 5:30/6am, I just wandered my way out to the dock, looked to see what Jason was working on breaking down and dove right in. 

My manager found me a few minutes later and was like, “Hey, you’re cool to stay until 8:30. But that’s it. Anything more than that, and we gotta go talk to the warehouse manager. They don’t want anyone to get any overtime right now.” Because of fucking course they don’t want anyone to get any overtime right now. Guuuuuuuuuh!! So, I said that was fine (*cue Morgan Freeman’s narration: “It was in fact not fine,”*) and I set about working to get as much done as I could in what little time I actually had. 

Now, Jason has not been feeling well this week. He called off Friday cuz he wasn’t feeling well, and he still isn’t up to par yet. I dropped cold and flu meds off for him Monday after I finished work (which his dad decided to steal most of, thanks dad...) and yesterday he basically went home straight after work and went straight to bed. Today, he still wasn’t feeling well. And on top of that, his “helper” Oscar was being an utter dumbass again and pissing him off right from the start of his shift. So, he was not in a good mood. At all. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get him to laugh or play or anything with me. He went on his first break at 6:30, I went with, and finally got him to talk and tell me what was wrong (Oscar, of course, was the reason. As he usually is). It seemed to help him a little to vent, but not enough to get him to play with me. 

Now, last week, he and I were being goofy and playful and...yeah alright, inappropriate but in a fairly innocent way (if that’s possible? All talk, I guess you could say?) and then on Wednesday, I was gonna be brave and do something for him at work (*coughs-lethimcopafeel-coughs*) where the cameras couldn’t see. It was Wednesday, I had hit my 8 hr mark, I was gonna head home. Went into the freezer where I knew he was and kinda nudged his side and told him to meet me in the ice cream room...where there’s no cameras whatsoever. He didn’t question it, he just went. I met him in there, he hopped off his forklift, pulled his skimask down, took half a step forward, his hands were reaching for my waist and while my brain was screaming to abort, my mouth was already telling him to close his eyes so I could take his hand and shove it against my chest. I literally missed a chance (and it was confirmed that I missed it) to make out with a sober Jason in the ice cream room at work. So, I decided today I was gonna ask for a redo! I wanted a second chance dammit! It got to be a little after 8, Corie (the coworker who cornered him and told him to go talk to me waaaaaaaaay back in September for the first time) was heckling me and telling me to go do it, I only had 20 minutes left before I was suppose to leave, he was alone in the freezer, there’s no cameras in the 95 aisle either, go fucking make out with him. So, I went wandering in and up to his forklift. We talked a bit, he thought I was leaving so he gave me my hug and I still just kinda hung around trying to get him to talk a little more and finally when he was like, “I should get back to work.” I was like, “Yeah?” “Yeah.” “Damn. I kinda was hoping I could get a redo of last week.” He gave a surprised laugh and was all, “What?” “I was hoping I could get a redo of last week. I blew it last week! I want a redo!” He tried to play like he didn’t know what I was talking about, I nudged at him and told him he totally knew what I was talking about. He finally was like, “Eh...well...maybe...” I just smirked at him and raised an eyebrow and tried to nudge a bit more and he went, “C’mon, really, lemme get back to work. I wanna get out of here at a decent time.” 

I was totally rejected. Turned down. I felt utterly stupid and kind of ashamed of myself for even suggesting it. I nodded and let go of his forklift and was like, “Okay, gimme another hug, I’ll go.” So, got another hug (a nice hug, both arms, sides of our heads tilted against each others), turned, shoved my hands in my pockets and shuffled off out of the freezer. 

Corie was still out on the dock, on her own forklift, talking to their manager, John. She saw me come out, I made a grumbling face, which got her to laughing and then when John looked from me to her and said something, she started laughing more. I went up and tried to play like I didn’t know why she was laughing, and both her and John just waved me off. I went and got my shit together, locked up my locker, felt like a total dumbass, and went to try and leave. Went up to Corie’s forklift and she finally was like, “Alright, so, 1: I was laughing cuz I saw your face. 2: Because John saw you walk out ahead of Jason and went, ‘Oh, they took a trip to the ice cream room, huh?’ Oh, by the way, John totally knows about you guys, totally by my own fault.” 

..........I don’t know whether to kill Corie, or just never show my face around their manager ever again. Either way, Corie got me to stick around a little while longer, until it was basically 8:30 on the nose, and during that time she was all, “Dude. I can’t believe he turned you down!” then look over her shoulder to see where he was and scream, “DUMBASS!” Pretty sure he had no idea she was talking about him. Then, right before I was gonna leave for real, she was like, “I’m totally gonna go up to Jason and be like, ‘Bro, you should give Lyssa a li’l somethin’-somethin’ in the freezer before she leaves.’” I begged her not to! She was just doing it to try and embarrass me and him! She grabbed up a stack of labels, went over to him and I ducked behind a pallet to hide cuz JFC how is this my life?!?! And yeah, she totally did it. Thankfully, he didn’t know she was serious. He just laughed about it. So, I left and felt stupid (though, did feel better once I found out that Purple Haired Bitch had left a while ago and never came onto the dock looking for him, he never left the dock to go with her, I was sooooo happy!) and texted him at like, 11am to apologize and say that I just thought if I could get him to play, it might help make his day a little more bearable. I figured the only response from him I’d get, if I got one at all, would be “It’s all good.” 

I grabbed my pajamas, and a towel, went and took a long, hot shower and when I came back down there was a text from him. As expected, it was, “It’s all good.” But there was more! “Just not feeling well and I don’t want to get you sick.” *Dopey grin and cuddles phone close* It wasn’t cuz he didn’t want to, or because last Thursday he sent me a text saying “I think we should start behaving”. It was cuz he doesn’t wanna get me sick. Which is what I told Corie I figured it was when he turned me down. And the meds I gave him? He’s actually taking. He literally just sent me another text, basically letting me know he was off of work, saying “Time to go take more meds lol”. I just...I know why he’s not ready for a serious relationship, and I know he’s been burned so many times before that he’s scared of it happening again, but I just...I’m gonna keep hoping. And trying, and working at him. I feel like I am chipping away his resolve, tiny bits at a time, but still doing so. And I know his life is an utter wreck right now thanks to his bitch of an ex, but there’s times when it feels like he’s almost willing to give it a shot. I’ve been praying, A LOT, and I’m not one for praying or very religious, but I have been praying a lot, every day...and amazingly enough, in small ways it feels like they’re being answered. 

His mom told me Friday when she and I were talking, if I thought he was worth it, to be patient with him and get him to talk. I’m as ridiculously patient with him as he is with me. I’m gonna keep working at him, keep trying to chip away at the shield he’s got around his heart. At this moment, right now, I have no intentions of giving up. He’s stuck with me. For however long it takes. 

[randoreviews]

LEE INTERVIEW 2

Ben: So yeah, again, these are like really simple questions. No real brain busters. Should I just start? Lee: Yeah, just dive right in, man. Ben: Okay, cool. So what was the last thing you had to eat? Lee: Ahh, this morning I had some breakfast, I made some... potatoes, some scrambled eggs, with a little bit of creme fraiche in em and some cilantro and some sausage. Ben: Oooo! Lee: And then I hit it with a little green Tabasco. Ben: I was gonna ask you any ketchup but green Tabasco, okay. Lee: Yeah, green Tabasco. It's the only way to fly. Ben: Nice. And I was gonna ask you what was the last thing you had to drink, but I can join it up with this question: did you have coffee this morning and how was that? Lee: Yeah, I have coffee every morning. Ben: Does it make you, like, wanna listen to heavy metal or? Lee: No, just a pleasant way to ease into the day, I find. Come down and throw on a pot. Feed the dog. Let the dog out. By the time all that's done there's a fresh hot pot a coffee waiting for me. And just sip on that for a while. Ben: Nice. So in general it usually relaxes you? Cuz I know sometimes for me it can give you that gentle boost you need or like for me it'll make me wanna do like twenty different things at once and plan a trip around the world. Lee: Yeah, I think the jitters is what they call that. But ah, I'll just avoid drinking it late at night, other than that it keeps me rollin through the day. Ben: Yessir. Cool. So when was the last time you had a Pop-Tart? Really random question. Lee: Pop-Tart? God I feel like it was actually more recent than you would think, but I can't put my finger on when it woulda been. I feel like Pop-Tarts were in my life fairly recent... Oh yeah, cuz my fiance's brother is big into Pop-Tarts, so I think when he was out here earlier this fall he had a little stash and then when he left I think there were a Pop-Tart or two leftover. So I'm gonna say it was probly sometime possibly after Thanksgiving but before Christmas. If you can believe that. Before that it was prolly... ten years? Ben: I can, yeah. Cool, so pretty recently, I knew there was a reason I asked you that. Lee: Oh, yeah. Very timely question. On point as always. Ben: Haha. Those things will last twenty years in the cupboard. May as well not let em go to waste anyway. Lee: No. In fact I'll probly go back inside and check and make sure I didn't miss any on my last round. Ben: Haha. Okay. I have just so many random questions just scribbled down. What one makes sense next. Lee: That's cool. Ben: Arrre youuu watching any shows right now with your fiance, since you just mentioned her. Any Columbo. Lee: No, we haven't... well, I'll take that back, sooo... we both enjoy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on... Netflix, I believe? No, it's not Netflix, it's Amazon. Ben: Yup. Lee: Yeah, that's a really good show and I think they only have like two or three episodes left in the, I guess it's the series. It's definitely season 3 maybe but I don't think they're makin another one after that. Ben: I've heard it has great costumes. Lee: Yeah, great costumes, great set design. The dialogue's just... razor sharp. (starts laughing to himself) Ben: Haha, yup. Lee: And it's a pretty unique concept or storyline or however you wanna put it, it's not something I've seen anything like before so... Ben: And that's about the housewife who becomes a standup comedian? Lee: Yeah, pretty much. Yup. Ben: Okay, okay. Is she your favorite character in the show? Lee: She's great. She's also got this lady who plays her manager who's (starts laughing to himself again) pretty hilarious at times. And then, oh, maybe you can help me with this one -- her dad is played by the guy who was in that show, you would know his name. He was in, I wanna say he was in The Man Who Wasn't There but I can't put my finger on where he woulda been. But he played that like neurotic detective on some TBS show I can't remember. Ben: Huh. Okay. I don't think I can remember? But I'm just gonna look it up and I'll include it in the transcript of the interview.   https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001724/ Lee: Yeah, but his character is probably my favorite of the bunch. Ben: Nice. So Mrs. Maisel and no other shows right now? Lee: No. No, we try to avoid the TV as much as possible which we do a really good job at but every once in a while we’ll watch... we watched Clue? The movie Clue last night from 1985? Ben: Oh I love that one. Lee: Yeah, it's the first time I'd seen it. Ben: Oh, it's great. Great ensemble cast. Lee: Yeah, Christopher Lloyd and the guy whose name I don't remember but I think he was in like Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ben: Tim Curry. Lee: Tim Curry, yeah. He was really good. I didn't recognize anyone else, I think. Ben: Yeah. And then the maid. I've seen it a couple times but when you're really young that maid with the great cleavage, it's like, I like this movie. Lee: Lotta great cleavage in that movie, to be honest. I pointed that out as we were watchin it, I was like, yeah... pretty decent amount of cleavage. They knew what they were doin back in the 80s. Wouldn't get away with that now, I'll tell you that much! Ben: Yup, yup. Lee: So yeah, that's about it. Ben: That's a good one, man. So keeping on this same line of questions: last movie you saw in the theater?? Lee: I do actually know the last movie I saw in the theater is I went to see Joker. Ben: Nice. Lee: And I was thoroughly disappointed in that movie, I didn't like that at all. Ben: Really? You thought it was overdone? Lee: Uh, yeah, it's just, I didn't find it at all... interesting, or compelling or... I dunno. Like I just didn't understand why I was sittin there watchin it. And I love Joaquin Phoenix, I think he does a great job in everything I've seen him in but I didn't find his performance all that interesting, or I didn't find the character of the Joker the way they wrote it all that interesting either. I've heard it compared to like Taxi Driver before but it was basically the same story, this kind of loner, isolated, gets a little obsessed with the wrong things and all of a sudden he's crazy. Ben: Right. Yeah. And that was the last movie you saw in the theater? Lee: Yeah... I think so. And then before that Christopher Robin. Ben: Cool, haha. How was that? Lee: That was a great movie. I'll take Christopher Robin over Joker any day of the week. Ben: Hahaha. Lee: What are you laughin at? Ben: Did you see that with your nephew or with your fiance? Lee: Well she was not my fiance at the time but uh, we had just started dating and we went and saw that and, both enjoyed it. Ben: Nice. Have you been listening to any music? Lee: Mmm, gash. I meaaan... a little bit. We'll throw on some tunes around the house every now and then. Ben: Do you have a speaker system or like a bluetooth speaker err? Lee: Yeah, like a little bluetooth speaker, which is fairly decent, it just kinda fills up the room. And then if I'm workin out I'll put on somethin in the headphones just to supplement the coffee, so I feel like I can take on the world. But it's been a long time since I've consistently listened to music, I'm more into podcasts and stuff these days. Ben: Yea, I think that's like a lot of people. What are your favorite podcasts? Lee: Uumm... geez louise... aahh... my favorite podcast is called Part of the Problem by a guy named Dave Smith. And it's sort of a equal parts I guess political and current events. Ahh... what would you call it. I dunno... discussion, or whatever. Ben: Discourse. Lee: Huh? Ben: Discourse? Lee: Yeah, well it's him, Dave Smith, who actually got his start in and still is a standup comedian, so he's got a really good talent of bein able to sort of dissect political news, current events news and then put a usually pretty funny take on it. And if not he's just an incredibly interesting guy and has a take that I sort of identify with more often than not, so... Ben: Is he our age or older err? Lee: Actually, yeah, he's exactly our age, I believe, he's 36, 37. Your birthday's comin up, what, next week, right? Ben: Uh, yeah, I guess it's kinda been in my mind but, I'll be celebrating by myself. Lee: Are you ready? Ben: Yeah, 37! Seems like a fine age, ya know? Lee: It is a fine age, to be sure. Ben: Yeah, yeah. Just keep on learning little things, little improvements. Lee: Yup, every day. Ben: Soo... podcasts, so yeah, any others besides the Dave Smith one? Lee: Umm... I mean, yeah, I mean I've sort of got my little Rolodex that I'll roll through from time to time, this guy Tom Woods I like listenin to a lot. I've actually been pretty good at eliminating podcasts from my diet, not addin em, just kinda cuttin out the riffraff. Ben: Some podcast pruning? Lee: Yeah, exactly. The Joe Rogans of the world have no place in my heart anymore. Ben: Shh, I was just thinking the other day about isn't it crazy Joe Rogan is like the Walter Cronkite of our generation? Lee: Haha, yeah, I know, but he's such a fucking douche too. Not that Cronkite wasn't a douche but... Ben: It's like, can you picture Walter Cronkite being into jiu-jitsu, I mean, tha'd be pretty great, but... Lee: That would be pretty great. And like slammin DMT and smoking like insane amounts of weed and basically just agreeing with everybody on his podcast, everything they say all the time. Ben: Haha, ahh, him saying JFK was assassinated and then immediately smoking a joint right on TV, that would have been great. Lee: Yup, and then comin up with some conspiracy theories and then backtracking completely within the next 24 hours.  Ben: Haha. Well another little random question at the top here is, how do you get your news? Is a lot of it through podcasts or? Lee: Umm, yeah, well what I consider news is not what used to be considered news, like I don't really get day-to-day news because it's all so preposterous and I mean it doesn't affect anybody's life really in any way other than some major stuff, ya know, issues of war and peace and issues like global pandemics, those are gonna affect you much more than, ya know, if you just sort of think back on the last ten to twenty years of what the news cycle consisted of it's just largely preposterous and irrelevant and usually not even true and when it is true it's so quickly spun into a cause or some, you know, political stance, it's like, I'm kind of pruning podcasts and I'm also pruning unnecessary information or opinion out of my life as much as possible and really been enjoying that so, I just gotta find really people I trust and usually not even from a news perspective but if they are discussing something it might pique my interest to look into it a little bit. I'm still stickin with things like theory over day-to-day, you know, I'll prefer to read economics or history or something rather than turnin to the news because I feel like you can learn so much more about patterns and humanity and what not by doin it that way. Ben: Right, right. Your degree is in philosophy, right? Lee: Yes. Ben: Yes, cool. So yeah, the day-to-day politics is pretty much just like watching Real World/Road Rules Challenge, it's just like all drama, people talking shit about each other behind their backs, people tweeting nasty things... Lee: Yeah, but I don't want the takeaway of this to be that the Real World/Road Rules Challenge isn't a fantastic show because it is. Ben: Haha. Lee: Honestly, I think that was a terrible comparison that you just made? I THINK I get where you're comin from but...? Yeah, it's just so dumb, it's not only that it does not seem true or accurate or important at the time but, what?, less than, what, 72 hours usually it's just like, nobody's talking about it anymore, nobody cares, nothing has changed. I just feel like it's a really great way to fill your life with a whole bunch of unnecessary anxiety and anger and animosity towards other people or other groups or whatever it is, it's just like a really awesome way for you to distract yourself from what actually should be at the front of your mind which is what you're doing on a day-to-day basis and the health and well-being of your family and close friends and, sorta how you can contribute to makin the world a little bit better and makin yourself a little healthier and happier and the people you love happier as well. Just don't have any time for it. Ben: Right. You don't have any time for, “Nancy Pelosi ate Mitch McConnell's ice cream out of the fridge” and uh... Lee: Haha, “She drank his milkshake!” No, I don't, I mean every once in a while I'll kinda click somethin, tune back in, just to remind myself how... how... just the word I keep using is how preposterous it all is and how much weight some people put on it and like I said it just becomes such an unnecessary energy suck and soul suck and just, yeah... No need! Ben: Yeah, yup... So what are your go-to apps? What apps on your phone do you find yourself using the most? Lee: That's actually interesting, I sort of am gonna contradict myself but there’s an app I use called Newsvoice which, I liked it a lot better when I started using it, now I feel it's not quite as cool, but it used to just be an app that would compile headlines, you know, local, international, national, whatever, and it would offer, say, for every story it would give you five or six different headlines from different, um, organizations with different political leanings, so you'd get like a HuffPo article and then you'd get a, you know, Wall Street Journal and you'd get the same story covered four or five, six different ways, which is kind of a cool way to avoid unnecessary bias. So that's one I've kinda been hittin up a little. I've really been enjoying everyone's hot takes on the Facebook app with this Coronavirus, just really gettin a sense of (starts laughing) how everybody's reacting. That's really enjoyable. Ben: Yup, yup. So Newsvoice and Facebook? Lee: Yup, I like those. And then you know, I do all my mobile banking and bill paying through apps, so I got apps for those. Ben: Useful... useful. Lee: Yup. What else? Oh, Golf Clash. That's a great one. I play a little Golf Clash when the time is right. Ben: Golf Clash, niiice. If you hit a good ball on that is it like do you feel it in your body still? Lee: Oh, it'll let you know. They'll yell great shot at you or perfect shot and it's like, my entire day has been validated. Ben: Haha, nice. All right, soo... going back to the music question, I know you said you're not listenin to too much music but what was the last concert you saw? Lee: Ooo. Wow... Ahh... Honestlyyy... unless I can remember something else, I think it was the Rancid and Mighty Mighty Bosstones New Year's Eve bash in Los Angeles. Ben: Nice. Where was that? What was the venue? Lee: That was aaat... oh god, if you rattle off a couple of the big ones around there I'll remember it. Ben: Ehhh, I'm blanking on those, there's the Hollywood Bowl of course but it was probably at a smaller club. Lee: No, it wasn't that, it was an indoor venue. Ben: The El Raaayy. Lee: No, it's recongizable but I can't remember what it was.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_Auditorium  But that can't be right though because that would have been like... four years ago at least?    Ben: Yeah, and when did we go to that Weezer/Panic at the Dis... maybe I shouldn't even mention Panic at the Disco but when did we go to that Weezer show, was that four or five years ago? Lee: You mean when Weezer opened up for Panic at the Disco? Ben: Ohh god, no, no, Panic at the Disco opened up for Weezer. Lee: “STOP SMOKING!” Ben: Hahahah... oh gosh. We didn't really fit in with the Panic at the Disco fans. Lee: No, but was that after? Cuz honestly, man, my timeline is so blurry and like out of sorts that you could literally pick an event within ten years and another one within ten years and I couldn't tell you which came first, with like a four-year margin of error. It's pathetic. Yeah, I don't remember. I honestly don't remember. Ben: Yup, but that Rancid/Bosstones New Year's show was pretty good? Lee: Oh, it was awesome, man. I was like thirty rows or, it wasn't rows cuz everyone was standing up but I was probly about thirty heads deep, so great view of the stage and what I considered close but I was like, well this will be certainly out of the way of any aggressive moshpit that might break out. So I was just kinda sittin there waitin for the show to start, sippin my beer, Rancid comes out, and like the FIRST note they play, which is from “Maxwell Murder” cuz they played ... And Out Come the Wolves from start to finish, first bass note I just get a fucking forearm to the back of my head and my beer goes flying like six rows up. I was like, well this is on! Ben: Haha. Lee: I kind of fought my way out of it but basically just retreated another thirty rows and, enjoyed the rest of the show. Ben: Nice. Got another beer, I hope. Lee: Got another beer or two, although I did have to be, that was when I was doing the PI work so I had to be like downtown at like six in the morning for some surveillance thing, and the show basically didn't start until almost midnight, so I didn't get insanely intoxicated or anything cuz I was trying to be responsible cuz I had to be at work the next day. But it was a blast. Ben: I think the Rancid lead singer... Tim Armstrong? Lee: Yup. Ben: I think he lived in our neck of the woods. I think he lived in Highland Park. Lee: Yeah, he did, I think he lived in Highland Park and that bar that Heather used to work at, she said he used to go there quite a bit and just hang out. Ben: Yup, I love that place. Lee: Eedendale or Ed-endale? Ben: Edendale, yup. Tom Mix, Casey Mix's grandfather's old stopping grounds. Lee: Isn't it crazy how you can remember like these minute little details like that but you ask me like what year something took place and I'm like, I have no idea, I think it was some time in the 90s but I could be wrong about that. Ben: Haha. I think Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine also lived in Highland Park/Eagle Rock area. Lee: Yep... yep. Although I think he's about to move up because from what I hear, the crazy anarchist/socialists of Rage Against the Machine are reuniting to go on like a CitiBank tour or something (starts laughing). Ahh, that's so fucking depressing. Ben: Haha. They're finally taking the corporate money. Lee: Well everyone's gotta make a living, ya know? Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Ben: Haha. So are you reading any books? Lee: Umm... actually no, I'm not. I've been sort of lookin around for a book around here that I haven't read but I feel like every book I have I've read at least once or twice. I kinda want something new but of course the libraries are shut down. Ben: Right. You want something fiction or nonfiction or? Lee: Yeah, I don't read fiction. I haven't read any fiction since I think R.L. Stine back in the day. Ben: Haha, gotcha. Lee: I just find nonfiction a lot more interesting. So yeah, I’m not reading anything and I'm ashamed to say it, because it's a great time to read.  Ben: Yes... indeed... uuumm... so what was the last alcoholic beverage you had? Do you like to have a drink some nights err? Lee: Oh yeah, oh yeah. Typically my go-to has always been whiskey. But I was talkin to a colleague at work and he was sayin that he just really enjoys drinking tequila and I was like well I’ve never really had a taste for tequila and he just started talking about how great it was and then I was like well shit, maybe I should give tequila another try, so last couple nights I’ve had a little bit a tequila, which is... somewhat enjoyable. Still not my thing but... Ben: Yeah. It gives you energy, I think it’s the only... upper? Lee: Yeah, the only upper, stimulant, whatever. That’s what he told me and I was like, well that doesn’t make sense cuz it’s alcohol and alcohol is a depressant all the time, it just depresses your nervous system. So then I looked it up, er, googled it, and it was like a super non-clear, vague answer and it was like, well while it technically is a stimulant it’s also ethanol which is also a depressant. And I’m like, well what the fuck does that mean? But I did notice that when I was drinkin it, we were sittin there playin Yahtzee and I was like fired up.  Ben: Right? Lee: I dunno. I dunno if it’s just fired up just cuz of the Yahtzee and I thought it was gonna be lame and I fuckin loved it. But I was super into it and I was kinda shakin my leg a little bit like, yeah, let’s do this, let’s play some more Yahtzee and I was like, is this the Tequila that’s doing that or is this the Yahtzee or am I just like in a really good mood. Ben: I think that’s what tequila does cuz I HATED tequila, never drank it, I remember sitting next to a girl at a party at Saint Mike’s and her breath, she was drinking out of a big bottle of tequila and her whole being just wreaked of cheap tequila. And I think I was like nineteen or twenty at the time so I was like, that is the worst smell I’ve ever smelled, I’m not going anywhere near that. Flash forward to Clapp’s 30th birthday, we went to the Clippers game at Staples Center and then afterwards we were at a bar downtown and someone ordered Patron shots for everyone and I was like, I dunno if I can do this. And then we do the shot and then like twenty minutes later, two or three more shots and people are like dancing on the tables. A little bit different than sippin on scotch, so... Lee: Yeah, well the other pointer that this guy gave me was, you know, most booze you can usually get away with drinking cheaper stuff out of a plastic bottle or somethin, if you wanted to buy some cheaper whiskey out of a plastic bottle you should be fine but he was like, just don’t ever do that with tequila. If you’re gonna do it just make sure it’s somewhat decent stuff and it’s in a glass bottle. I have no way to confirm whether what this guy’s saying is accurate or not. But tequila does seem to be...a bit of an enigma for me, so I might try to get to the bottom of it a little more. Ben: Nice. Let’s seee.... How’s the dog doing? Lee: Dog’s great, man! Dog is absolutely great. He’s settled in beautifully. For the first few months we had him he was a little bit, um... I dunno if neurotic’s the right word but he definitely was a little bit more on the nervous side and it takes a while to build up trust obviously, and we couldn’t take him off the leash, we live backed up against a pretty wide open area of land where we would love to walk him but we really couldn’t take him off the leash and it would suck because it’s such a great place for the dog to run around and we just never knew when he would come back and blah blah blah. Ben: Yep.  Lee: And he would not let you like sorta touch his collar, he wouldn’t bite but he would let you know, like a little fake snap or whatever if you touched his collar. He drooled a lot. But right around month 3? He just like totally settled in. And now every day twice a day we just kinda walk around, whether it’s backwoods or on the street, off leash, and he kinda just like trots up ahead, looks back at us, waits for us to catch up. And then if we yell, if we say “Here” he kinda turns around and comes runnin back towards us. If we say “Stay” or “Wait” he just sits there. He sleeps, he’s like the most cuddley dog of all time, you can’t be anywhere near him without him coming up and putting his face on your lap. I think he’s gotten better looking too, to be honest with you. When we first got him I didn’t think he was very cute, but I think he was just carrying a lot of stress in his face.  Ben: Right. Lee: And his face sorta always seemed a little bit tight or contorted as if he was unsure. But now he just kinda melts into everything he does. And he’s super cool. And he’s gained fifteen pounds since we got him, which is awesome, because he was really underweight. Ben: Nice. Yeah, was he a rescue? What’s his name, by the way? I’m forgetting his name. Lee: He is a rescue. His name when we got was Chance and we were like, well that name sucks and so we changed it to Bojo. B-O-J-O. Yeah, he was a rescue who apparently spent like the first year or two at some shelter down south in Colorado, this place had like no money, they kept him outside in like a coat year-round, which is rough here in Colorado, it gets cold in the winters. And then he was transferred up to another shelter up here and like no one would adopt him. We dunno why now cuz we look at him and we’re like, we have the perfect dog, we’ve got the best dog of all time. And I know everyone thinks that about their dog but... he really is cool... Ben: He’s a mix? Lee: Yeah, we were actually thinkin about doing one of those dog DNA tests because he’s soo like, he looks... we think he’s a boxer/lab mix, he kinda looks like that. But he also looks like he might have some Mastiff in him, and he’s got some tendencies of some other breeds, so I dunno, it would just be kind of a cool thing to know exactly what he is but... We just tell people boxer/lab.  Ben: Yeah. That sounds like a handsome dog. Lee: Yeah, he’s a real handsome fella. Ben: You’ve earned his trust and... nice. Lee: Yeah. And we trust him too now which is super cool, we can just kinda walk around the woods together and just have a good old time.  Ben: Nice. Yeah, you’ve always been a dog person. Lee: Yeah, I think they’re great. I just think they’re great. Ben: Haha. So what’s the weather like in Colorado? Lee: Uh, it’s pretty much beautiful. It’s kind of annoying because the winters are SUPER long and like by the end of it you’re just ready for it to be over and you think spring’s comin because it gets like sunny and mid-forties for a couple days. And then you’ll get like three days of snow and everything that melted’ll just come right back. Ben: Yeah. Lee: So that’s kinda where we’re at right now, where you can hear snow melting off roofs but there’s still basically snow covering, you know, ninety percent of the surfaces. But it’s like sunny and 45 or something today, so... yeah. Just kinda hopin it stays that way. I’m ready for spring now, I’m a summertime guy. Ben: Yup. Have you seen any signs of spring, any flowers er...? Lee: No flowers but there’s definitely some wild grasses showing, and the sagebrush you can actually see the tops of it now. It’s not like blooming or anything but it was just buried in snow for the last seven months so it’s kinda cool to see some open patches of grass and some sagebrush and... more birds. Stuff like that, so... definitely some signs. Ben: Nice. Will Bojo munch on any sagebrush or any grass? Lee: He does enjoy a... I mean this is our first real spring with him so we’ve never know him to react to how the snow is melting. He loves snow, he loves jumpin around in it but he does seem to be chewin on more grass now that it’s melting. And he did show up yesterday for the first time with a dead squirrel in his mouth. Ben: Mhm. I’m sure he was probably pretty proud of that. Lee: Oh yeah. And then we were like telling him to drop it and put it away and he was just like lookin at us like, what are you guys doing? Ben: Haha. Yeah, right. I brought you guys dinner! Lee: Yeah. And we were like ah, we’ll just put it in the trash bag that’s full of dog shit and then throw it in the dumpster, and he’s like, whatever.  Ben: Haha. Ah, that’s great. Are the people in Colorado much different than they are in MA? Lee: Umm... It’s been a while since I’ve lived in Massachusetts to be honest with you so, like, the sort of the quirks of everybody... I dunno, Colorado’s a very active outdoor community. But up here, like IN the mountains where it’s like ski resort country... there’s just a lot of um... the term “shitbag”’s probly not nice to use but like just a lot of people you can tell their reeeal concern in life is like bein able to shred some fresh gnar. Ben: Haha. Yes. Lee: And other than that you can like pretty much go fuck yourself. And they’ll be nice people and they won’t, you know, go out of their way to hurt anyone but like, you can’t like RELY on them for anything.  Ben: Right. They just wanna shred gnar. Lee: Yeah, they just wanna shred some fresh fresh buttercream and like I don’t blame them for that? But at the same time it’s like you need to be able to pull your weight a little bit.  Ben: Haha, yup. Lee: So that's one group of people, but then there's another group of people up here that's just like active, engaged, friendly, um, usually a little bit older, maybe people who are early retirees or just retired or whatever who seem like really topnotch people. Ben: Which proves our point that the older you get, maybe the cooler. Maybe the cooler. Lee: Yeah, the cooler, the wiser, I mean that's the way I feel about myself, for sure. Ben: Have you gotten on the mountain at all this year? Lee: Yeah. I mean it sucks now because they had to close... this whole county, I mean just like everywhere else really but this whole county, they had to shut down about a month before the official end of ski season so, we didn't realize the time of our last ski day was gonna be our last ski day, but... We try to get out, like, in my line of work obviously, bein a chef, the holiday season and that winter season up here I'm just getting slammed like nonstop for a couple months while everyone's up here on vacation and doing all their skiing. BUT once all those people go home and February and March rolls around and it really starts to slow down then that's my time where I'm like, cool, I'm gonna ski like at least once, maybe twice a week and just enjoy everything around here and not have to fight crowds cuz, you know, I'm obviously not off on weekends or anything. So late winter/early spring these last two years has been my time to get up there. That got cut short a little bit this season but, got to get out on the mountain on the skis. We do a lot of hiking and we've been snowshoing every day since we've been quarantined, like we just go out on either some hike or some snowshoe, we went sledding with the dog the other day and that was just insanely fun even though it was kinda dangerous. But yeah, there's no shortage of outdoor activities for me right now. Ben: Yeah. That all sounds great. Lee: It is great. Ben: And these are all things you can also do in New Hampshire, are you guys still thinking of moving to New Hampshire? Lee: Yeah, it's definitely, um, we've got a shortlist workin right now in terms of options or where we wanna go from here or what we wanna do and they're all sort of... what's the term?... I dunno... co-related, codependent, whatever, like one factor's obviously dependent on several others. But New Hampshire's definitely up towards the top of the list. So I was excited, she was excited. And then we had a couple other options sort of present themselves to us so we're kinda weighin those out now and, uh, we'll figure it out. Ben: Yup... Options like... out west or.. back east? Lee: Um... Just options, Ben, you know what I mean? I don't feel like I need to get into any more than that. Ben: Haha, all right, I don't wanna get into your business too much, okay. Lee: Haha, no, you'll be the first to know once we decide though. Ben: Good, good. And also I didn't want to get into politics too much because it can just be a drag like we both agree but... Lee: Sure. Ben: ... and this is kind of a tricky question in the post-#MeToo movement and now that you're engaged but, carrying it over from our last interview, do you still want to boink Hillary Clinton. Lee: (trying to suppress laughing) Ahh god, I have no recollection... Ben: Haha, just purely hypothetically! Purely hypothetically! Lee: I have no recollection of that conversation ever happening. Ben: Hahah. I mean it's on my Tumblr but... Lee: Oh yeah, well... I don't even know how to get on a Tumblr so... Ben: Haha. Lee: No, I don't actively want to, uumm... If the situation presented itself, like if I was a single man... yeah, it's obviously something you'd have to consider but... yeah, maybe the desire has lessened as compared to what it was the last time we did this. Ben: Still a lot of power in play there. Lee: Yeah, for sure, I mean that's... Ben: Part of the appeal? Lee: I could be theoretically a couple heartbeats away from the White House like if things worked out between Hill Dawg and I, which I would make sure everything was kosher on my end but... Yeah, that's funny that you mentioned politics and I thought about our last conversation and all that was goin on and all that we talked about and the question you had is do you still wanna blank Hillary Clinton. Topnotch journalism. Ben: Haha. I mean I spent hours honing these questions. Uumm, yeah, again I don't wanna ask annyy.... we're pretty much at the end here because I do have to transcribe all of this which will take me like thirty hours... but I enjoy it, just savoring, retyping every word that you've spoken but ahh... obviously having in mind what's going on in the world right now -- where do we go from here? Lee: Ahhh, gosh. That's a big question. Ben: Just... more tequila and Yahtzee err? Lee: I mean, you say that I think tongue in cheek but... Ben: Not really!... not really. Lee: Yeah, no, I mean my whole mentality from the day it sort of became clear that this was gonna be a serious thing was, um, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to put my energy anywhere I want and to focus it anywhere I want, and the way I've chosen to do that is like I've said focus on my family and the people around me who I care about and care about meee... you know, get out in nature every day, get exercise every day, try and learn something, we've been doin a ton of cooking at home, pickling pretty much every vegetable in sight... Ben: Nice, that's exciting. Lee: ... Yeah, and just gettin back to the good life and I feel like there's a lot of people who are embracing similar approaches. And then there are also the people whooo, ya know, take ahh... one of the first headlines I saw was like, “Pornhub offers free premium membership for everybody,” and it's like okay, you can spend the next two months just furiously whackin it with your pants around your ankles. You're not gonna come out of that in a good place and you are gonna be terrified the whole time and you're gonna come out in some fucking self-induced stupor and like you're not gonna know what to do or where to turn. So I feel like there's already sort of two mentalities developing and there's two approaches we can take and, I dunno what we're gonna do as a nation, because that's just insane, that many people all tryna choose a path, but at the same time when I said like I'm tryna cut off useless information and stupid politics, what it boils down to is people's individual decisions they make and paths they choose to take. I dunno where we go, but I know where I'm goin so... that's what I'm focused on. Ben: So... Pornhub in moderation? Lee: I would say no Pornhub, if you want my advice, I would say stop whacking yourself silly altogether and choose somethin else to do, find another focus. Ben: Haha. Okay, cool. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about or...? Lee: Uh, I want to let you know that I love you. Ben: Thanks! Lee: And I hope you're doin well. And I hope everyone else back home is doin well. And I've been meaning to send you something, and I finally figured out how I'm gonna do it. The vessel was sort of always the issue, I think I've got that solved. So keep an eye out for something in the mail. Ben: Ooo, a package from Lee. No offense to you but I will be sure to fully sanitize it upon receiving it. Lee: Haha, yeah, for sure. Sanitize everything. Ben: I talked to Shaun right before doing this and I asked him if he had any questions to ask you and he said, "Ask him where the fuck he has been and why we never hear from him." Lee: Haha. Ben: I assume it's cuz, you know you were saying, well, usually you're working and now you're able to enjoy yourself but life for a chef is just like, you're not even able to think, it's just like french fries, french fries, french fries! Right? Lee: Yeah, it's pretty much all about french fries all the time. Ben: Haha. Sometimes sweet potato fries. Lee: But I dunno, I could put that back at Shaun, like when was the last time... I mean... I dunno... look, man... I'm not tryna... Ben: Haha. Lee: Ohh, I miss you guys, I miss Shaun especially. I'll do my part to make sure that we reconnect sometime soon. Ben: Cool. I think that's the perfect... perfect way to end it.

[themcuthirst]

“Tell me what you see”

Sebastian Stan

A/N: because it’s 3am and I want sebastian stan to pin me to a wall and tell me how beautiful I look in romanian. I don’t know romanian so i used google translate😔 I apologise for any mistakes

Warning: kinda angsty, fluff, SMUT & unprotected sex

—

You looked at yourself in the mirror and couldn’t help but let your low self esteem overcome you.. You grabbed at the parts you didn’t like, making a face. “What even-“ You were currently only in your underwear since you had just showered, standing in front of the big mirror in your room. It wasn’t only your room though, it was the room you shared with your lover along with this amazing apartment. Lucky for you Sebastian was out of town, so you didn’t have to worry about him seeing you like this. Or so you had thought..

As you were wrapping your body in your thin lace rope, a honey like voice rang through the room and made your head snap to the bedroom door instantly, not letting you close the rope

“Y/N..”

“S-seb? what are you doing here?”

“Got back early” He replied quickly as he walked towards you, his arms went to wrap around your waist and yet you pulled back slightly. “Did you, did you see?” You ask as his arms wrap around you once again, his grip slightly stronger this time. “How long have you been feeling that way” Worry filled his voice and eyes, you felt bad for making him worry. “I’ve been like this for a while now” You said with a sigh..

Suddenly Sebastian grabs your wrist and you feel the wall against your back. He’d pinned you to the wall, his grip tight around your wrist as you try to wriggle out. “Y/N ești așa de frumoasă” He suddenly whispered, you could tell it was Romanian because he’d taught you some. ‘y/n you’re so beautiful’ He had said, you couldn’t help but blush and smile. You’d previously told him how much you loved it when he spoke Romanian, so he had offered to help you learn some as well. Most of what you had learned was his praising, he knew it made you feel good in every kind of way.

“Sebastian...” You whispered and moaned his name, as he kissed down your neck and let go of your wrist to move down your stomach. His lips would linger at the parts you had previously shamed, from your stomach to your thighs. And all he’d say and whisper was “ești atât de frumos”(you’re so beautiful) “Iubesc fiecare parte a ta”(I love every part of you) “A mea”(mine). You loved it, it instantly made you feel better and you let your hands tangle in his hair. Suddenly you felt his mouth whispering those sweet words against your clothed soaking core, a loud yet soft moan escaping your lips. God you could just feel him smirk..

You bit down hard on your lip right after, as you felt him move your panties to the side and giving himself more access. He licked a stripe up your core and you couldn’t help but shiver when his tongue came in contact with your core. “Seb please” He then stopped and looked up at you, as a small whimper left your lips. “I love it when you beg, doll” oh how you loved that nickname, you gave in easily and continued begging. “Please I need you” and with that a big grin displayed on his handsome face, before it once again disappeared between your legs. A loud moan slipped trough your lips, as his tongue worked wonders on your throbbing core and his finger came in contact with your already sensitive clit. He stood up to kiss you before a finger entered you, as you gasped and gave him permission letting you taste yourself on his tongue. Another finger entered you and you couldn’t help but pull his hair, the kiss becoming more messy. “Seb please go faster” You began. “I love feeling your pretty pussy clench around my fingers, I wanna feel that around my cock baby” He was really one to dirty talk and he was really good too, your walls clenched even more as you were close. “Fuck.. I’m gon-gonna cu” You could barely get the words out. “Oh such a good girl, cum for me princess” and with those sweet dirty words your orgasm hit, soaking Sebastian’s fingers. He pulled out and you whimper at the loss of contact, but moan as he licks some of your juices off his fingers. You grab his wrist bringing his fingers to your mouth and suck the rest off, with an innocent look in your eyes. “Let me return the favour” You said and bite your lip, your hands unbuckling his belt. “No sweetheart, it’s all about you today” He said and finally pulled off his shirt. “hm, well I was feeling a little underdressed” You said with a giggle as your hands come in contact with his chest, your fingers lining his abs.

He moved away from the wall and roughly, yet romantically grabbed your thighs and whispered. “Jump” Once again you didn’t hesitate and obeyed with a smirk. He moved to the bed letting you fall and standing up to remove the rest of his clothes. “Now I’m the one who’s underdressed” You both couldn’t help but smile as he removed your panties and you removed your bra as well. “God Y/N you-“ He started but cut himself off. “ești atât de frumos”(You’re so beautiful) Romanian again, it made you feel even better. It made you want him even more. “Just fuck me already Seb, please” He wanted to tease you for a bit, but decided on giving you what you wanted. Today was about you after all? He ran his hard cock along your slick folds, before entering you with a soft groan. You moan and quickly bit your lip trying not to be loud. “Come on baby I don’t care who hears, just let it all out okay?” You just nodded, adjusting to his throbbing size. “Use your words princess” He said in a sexy rough tone. “Ye-yes yea okay, c-can you please move Seb-sebby?” It came out like a groan, as you bucked your hips wanting him to move. “Good girl” He said grabbing your hips to keep you from moving, as he started moving. His thrust were hard and steady, but you needed him to go faster and he could tell. “Seb f-faster” He went faster and slightly harder and god how you loved it, how you loved him. “Frumoasă”(beautiful) you didn’t know how it was possible, it was like his voice got deeper when he spoke Romanian. It made you moan so loudly, mostly because of the thrust that hit your g-spot which he noticed and tried to do again, and again. Fuck it felt so good. “Babe im gon-gonna cu-“ You loudly whimpered again you were cut off as he turned you both around, having you on top and before you could complain he thrusted. You started riding him, he knew how much you loved it and the rhythm of his thrusts and yours. Your hands laid flat on his chest, as his hand was grabbing your waist and the other massaging your bouncing boobs. “You look so good on top of me sweetheart” He said with a groan and that smirk on his face. “F-feels so go-good” You moaned. As you were about to cum for the second time your pace was slowly halting, so Sebastian immediately grabbed your hips and thrusted upwards harder and faster. “Come on princess, be a good girl and cum for me” He said trough heavy breaths and with that you came all over his cock, your walls clenching around him. “That was” You started. “Amazing” He added. Sebastian pulled out of you and you couldn’t help but pout. “I love you” He said with a big dorky smile plastered across his face. “I love you too” You said with the same smile, before you both went in for a kiss. The kiss was different and not as rough and full of lust as before, this kiss was just as passionate, but it was also soft, sweet and loving.

It was crazy how much you loved this man and how much he loved you..

—

(Anyone wanna be on here?) Very sad taglist: @shado-raven

well I can only think of one person, cuz they inspired me to start writing again. I was really not inspired to continue my fanfic or write something new and then I got inspired to write about Sebastian/Bucky💘✨🌙

[roommateofmyimagination-blog]

Chapter 13: Death by giggles

✗ Adrian  ✗ I decided to walk to the rec center on campus. Aj would probably be mad if i decided to drive and not get the benefits of the fresh air or some bullshit reason. The walk wasn’t that long either, the campus wasn't that big anyways. When i reached the center I saw Aj sitting outside with his bag on the ground at his feet.

“Yo.” I shouted out to him and held my hand up.

Aj turned around and stuffed his phone into his pocket. “You actually came, surprising.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Im an asshole, not a promise breaker.” I walked up to him and slugged him in the arm.

“And you hit like a child.” He laughed and hooked an arm around my shoulders. “Lets go and get changed and start on making you bulkier.” he bent down a bit, taking me with him to pick up his bag.

“I dont wanna look like you. I like my size.” I mumbled beside him.

“Oh, i’m not going to make you huge like i am, just….bigger...stronger i mean.” He smiled at me with a huge grin.

“Yeeeaah okay big guy.” i laughed and shook my head. We went up to the front desk and showed our student IDs and were let in for free.

Aj took me to the locker room, “Are you squirmish on changing in front of people?” He looked back at me with a grin.

“No, I went to public school and had gym classes thank you.” I walked up to a locker and set my bag down, pulling my shirt off over my head.

“Aight.” he laughed and went to a locker close me and dropped his bag. He pulled out his clothing before taking anything off. Aj took his shoes off first then pulled his shirt off. I had my tank top on under my shirt and stared at aj as he undressed. Aj wasn’t a freakishly huge guy, but he was built like a brick shit house. He had a very broad chest and shoulders, with very large biceps. And i shit you not you could probably wash clothing on his abs , I wasn’t able to count but i feel like he’s more than a twelve pack of abs….he could very well have more and his hips had like the most perfect v-line cut to them. I looked up to see Aj staring down at me with a brow raised. “Having fun?”

“Aaaauuuuuuh…” I looked down at my feet then back up at him, “yeah.” I said bluntly.

“At least you’re honest.” he laughed. “But when i take my pants off can you not stare? I feel like Karim would know even if he isnt here and kill me when i get home.”

“I can try not to.’ I looked at the clothing on his bag. “Do you just bring a extra pair of pants?” i asked looking back up at him.

“Yeah? Shirts are pointless if im going to get sweaty.” He put a hand on my shoulder and slowly but gently pushed me and made me turn around and have my back to him. I heard a belt buckle and pants hit the ground.

Grabbing my basketball shorts from my bag, i quickly took my shoes off and wiggled my skinny jeans down to my ankles and step out to put my shorts on. Sitting on the bench to put my shoes back on, i looked over at Aj. He had on like a wear pair of tight sweat pants but it wasn’t tight around his waist, it was actually quiet baggy and the cloth around his legs was tighter. Aj sat on the bench beside me and put his shoes back on.

“Do you have anything specific you wanna try or do?” He leaned back and waited for me to finish tying my shoes.

“Uuh, not really i dont work out that much.” I turned to face him as i grabbed my hair and tired it up in a high ponytail.

Aj grabbed the bottom of my tank top and lifted it up to my chest. “Dude, you dont work out? Bullshit.” he dropped my shirt.

“I said not much, i did before school, i usually get lazy during the semesters.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Hm, we’ll we’re going to get that changed.”  He got up and slapped my back, “cmon.”

“Chill muscle head.” I flipped my head over and grabbed my hair that way because the first ponytail didnt go right. “Some of us have hair we need to fix.”

“Woah holy shit dude you’re huge.” A familiar voice came from behind me. “Come here often?”

“Yeah, and you are? I think i’ve seen you before.” Aj spoke to the voice behind me.

“Kane.” he said and i saw Aj make a motion like he was extending his hand.

Flipping my head back up, i had tied my hair in a messy as fuck bun, “whats up Kane.” I turned to look at Kane who had Aj’s hand in his.

“Sup.” he smiled down at me. He had on a white tank top and gray sweatpants and his hair pushed back by a bandana. “You started working out?”

“Not started, just bonding time with Aj.” I got up off the bench and gave Kane a high five.

“Wanna join us for a work out?” Aj put his hands on his hips. “Im use to working out alone, but it is fun to have others, especially if you two fail horribly.”

Kane started laughing loudly while i smacked Aj on his arm. “We might be tiny but we aren’t weak.”

“HA, i dunno about you, but im pretty sure I’m stronger than you.” Kane started chuckling evily to himself.

“Oh you’re on blondie.” I grabbed his bag from him and tossed it in my locker and closed it. “Cmon lets go, start walking.” i got behind  Kane and started pushing him out of the locker room.

Aj had the great idea to see how much both of us could pick up in weights or how much we could press.

“Actually, is there a tire in here?” Kane looked up at Aj. “Like, a fairly big heavy one?”

“Uh, yeah? Why?” Aj raised a brow at kane and then pointed over to a huge tire on the ground.

“Cmon skrillex hair cut.” Kane laughed and grabbed my wrist. “We’re gonna see if you can pick up this tire.”

“The fuck? I doubt you can do it either.” I huffed and let Kane drag me.

“Hahaha, try it, you go first.” Kane motioned his head to the tire.

“No you first.” I crossed my arms over my chest, “this was your idea.”

“Oh god, flip a coin for it.” Aj walked up and stood between us. “Or pick a number between one and ten. Whos ever closest goes last.”

“Five!” Kane shouted and looked to me.

“Eight.” I glared at Kane.

“It was three. You go first Adrian.” Aj put a hand on my shoulder and shoved me a bit.

“Ffffffuck FINE!” I sighed heavily and stepped closer to the tire. “Do i need to do this a certain way?”

“Hands under, lift with you legs.” Aj had his hands out in front of him and squatted down to demonstrate. “Just dont hurt yourself.”

“Aight will try not to.” I sighed and spread my feet a bit apart and lowered down at the knees and got my hands as best as i could. trying to lift the tire i held my breath and tried to pick it up at least a little. I was failing horribly at this too, it was not moving an inch at all with how much i was trying.

“You can see his arm muscles, it not like he doesnt have any.” I heard Kane mumbling to Aj.

“Yeah but this is hard.” Aj mumbled back.

Grunting really loudly, i fell backwards on my ass. “Fuck you both!” I turned to look at them and gave both of them the middle finger. “You come and try this shit Kane, cuz i know Aj can do it.”

Kane came over and helped me off the ground. “Aight pretty boy, stand back.” He patted my shoulder. Kane lowered himself at his knees like i did and got his hands under the tire. He shrugged his shoulders a bit and took in a deep breath or two. Pursing his lips he let out a light grunt and worked the tire up. It wasnt the quickest lift ever by he was able to pick it up. Once he got it on its side, he put his hip against it so itd stay up and hooked his arm around it. “So?”

Aj started clapping lightly for him. “Nice i didnt think you could lift it.”

“What the fuck man?!” I glared at him, “you’re like fairly the same size as me and i couldnt lift it!?” i groaned and threw my head back.

“I think he just has more-” Aj was going to speak until Kane laughed.

“Nah what ever you were going to say might be true, but thats probably not the case.” he had a huge smile on his face, “im actually a mechanic, lifting and moving tires is fairly easy for me even if i dont look massive.”

“You cheated then!” I yelled and went to grab Kane by the shirt and shake him.

Kane started laughing hard and grabbed onto my wrists, “its not cheating if i dont tell you!”

“FALSE ADVERTISEMENT YOU SHIT!!” I started shaking him more violently. He grabbed onto my forearms trying to stop my shaking.

“Alright children.” aj grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me away from kane, and put his palm on Kane’s chest. “We’ve established that Kane here can kick your ass Adrian.”

“I demand a retry!” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Nah i can still kick your ass half-shave.” Kane had a cocky smirk on his face.

“Imma kill you!” I extended my hands out towards Kane again this time trying to go for his neck. Aj still had his hand on my shirt and was holding me back, Kane all the while was laughing his ass off at it all.

“Im sorry come here you delicate angry child.” Kane walked up and hugged me putting his arms around my neck, “im sorry.” he spoke softly and nuzzled his cheek against mine.

“Imma kick your ass later for this.” I put my arms around his waist to return the hug.

“You guys look cute together.” Aj laughed before turning around, “cmon follow me you tiny kittens.”

“I prefer the term mighty cub thank you.” Kane stuck his tongue out at Aj who had his back to us.

“Alright, mighty cub, get stalkin.” I pushed on Kane to let me go and pressed my hands on his shoulders forcing him to walk in front of me.

The three of us had fun together at the gym. Aj slowly regretted having me and Kane together because of the fact we’d start goofing off with each other as Aj tried to teach us or we’d get distracted by watching Aj do something and neither of us really followed after him. We both just kinda zoned out and stared at Aj’s ass when he started doing squats. Kane was losing his shit with randomly giggling at seeing Aj flex or something and would grab onto me and shake my arm trying to hide his giggling. When Kane and i were actually able to function and participate in what Aj was trying to get us to do, it was enjoyable. Minus the fact that i did not have the stamina, willpower, or strength to do anything that Aj was making us do. Kane was a lot more well off than i was, He was just a bit shorter than me and not as fit looking like i was either and the kid was still kicking my ass in everything. Eventually at the end we all sat down on the floor catching our breath.

“So Aj whats your major or minor.” Kane asked as he wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt

Aj looked at him with a raised brow. “What do you think im at college for?”

“Uuuuuuh.” Kane stared at Aj with wide eyes and looked him up and down, “football?”

“Pfft. no.” Aj started to chuckle, “gave up football in high school. Im going to school to be a physical therapist, personal trainer, chiropractor, and massage therapist.”

“Oh fuck what do you not do?!” Kane leaned away from Aj a bit, “HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO SCHOOL FOR DUDE?!” Both Aj and i fell over with laughter at Kane’s reaction. Kane grumbled “its not that funny! Dude you’ll be like eighty when you graduate!”

“Its all good man, i actually get that a lot.” Aj sat back up again. “Dunno if i’ll pursue all of it yet, but its what i wanna do. What are you here for?”

“I have a degree or certificate whatever you wanna call it in Mechanical engineering, minoring in theater.”

“You do theater?” I asked and popped up again off the floor, “you didnt tell me that?”

“I think i did but thats beside the point, heres the real question. Aj, what the fuck is your real name?” Kane leaned forward towards Aj, leaning down on his legs. “I just wanna know where Aj comes from.”

Aj leaned closer to him and waved for me to lean in too, “okay so, if any of you call me by my real name, i get to kick you okay?” we both looked at each other and nodded, turning back to Aj. “okay, not really but i dont like being called it. My name is Austin and my middle name is Joseph. Now you have to share yours.” He leaned back away from us.

I put my hand up a bit, “Russell.”

“Lucius Riley!” Kane smiled happily and rocked side to side slowly.

“Story time? Why’d your parents give you two middle names?” I asked and put my elbow on my knee and my cheek in my hand, “you have an odd combo of names too.”

“Well my dad named me Kane.” His smile softened a bit as he spoke, “mom didnt know if she wanted to name me Lucius or Riley, so she just convinced dad that im having those as my middle name. My middle names mean a lot to me.”

“Can i ask why?” I spoke softer this time, seeing that Kane had a not so happy look on his face but he was still smiling.

“My parents split up and i lived in two homes, eventually i lost my mom.” He spoke in a very soft whisper, “so thats why its important to me, i also was with her a lot anyways after my dad got remarried and they were raising my half sister.”

“Hey, i’m really sorry about your mom.” Aj spoke softly to and put a hand on Kane’s shoulder.

“Thanks.” He smiled up at Aj and smiled at me, “it sucks to have lost my mom, but i know she’s watching over me.”

“Thats a good outlook on it.” I said and leaned over to pat Kane as well.

“Yeah.” he said softly and pulled out his phone from his pocket. “AH, guys, i need to bounce, I promised id take my roommate and his bro to something tonight and i need to shower and do some things before we leave.” Kane started getting up and fixing his clothing.

“Uuuuh, is it possibly a show at the Lethal Apple?” I asked looking up at him.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuh….” he paused, “yeah i think so.”

“YOU BITCH! Thats my show with my band!!” I scrambled to get up and shake him by his shirt once again.

“AAaaaah! Dude!” Kane grabbed onto my wrists again, “Im sorry please dont hit me! I’ll be there aight!”

“You better be!” I looked down at Aj, “you coming too?”

“I can ask Karim if he wants to go, is Val going?” Aj got up and patted his ass off from any dirt.

“I think he will yeah.” i looked up at Aj who had a smirk on his face.

“Then yeah, ill see if Karim can go and we’ll see you there.” he put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me away from Kane. “you need a ride home man?”

“Nah, i got my truck, thanks tho.” Kane smiled up at Aj, taking a quick look down at his chest then back up.

“Aight, you want a lift back to the dorms Adrian?” Aj looked over at me.

“You drove?” I asked.

“Yeah?” He answered.

“YOU BITCH, I WALKED HERE.” I brought my hands up to Aj to shake him and he stared at me with a raised brow. I stopped my reach and put my hands back down when i realized he hasnt been wearing a shirt and i’d feel bad for touching his chest. I think Karim would actually kill me if i touched Aj’s fucking pecs “Fuck you.” I mumbled, causing both Aj and Kane to laugh.

We walked back to the locker room to grab our belongings. Kane left us early on because he parked elsewhere in the lot. Aj didnt tell me he only had his motorcycle and didnt have a second helmet. He got the engine going and had his helmet on and waved me to hop on the back. I got on pretty easily given this wasnt my first experience riding bitch seat, but i was nervous about putting my hands around Aj’s waist.

“I wont go anywhere if you dont put your hands around me.” He looked back and raised the visor off his face and up onto his helmet.

“Will Karim know? I feel like he’ll kill me if he knows.” I kept my hands between my legs.

Aj stared at me with a confused look before laughing loudly. “I think Karim wont mind because it means keeping you safe. He’d kill me knowing i didnt have a second helmet for you instead of you hugging me to stay safe.”

“I still feel wrong if i touch you….” I mumbled.

“Just shut up and put your hands on my hips, you’ll be fine.” He laughed once more.

Grumbling loudly, i put my arms around Aj and leaned into him, holding on tightly. I patted his chest to let him know i was good and he was ready to take off when he put his visor back down. The trip to the apartments was an even shorter trip by vehicle but Aj kept at a slow pace for me since i didnt have a helmet on. He pulled up as close to our building as he could and let me get off.

“Hey.” Aj raised the visor up.

“Hm?” I turned around to look at him and shift my bag onto my back.

“You wanna come over for dinner soon at our place?” he shifted his weight on the bike, “Karim would want to get to know you more and hang out with Val some, those two are close anyways.”

“Yeah, i can ask cupcake what his plans are. I just gotta tell my parents im not coming home this weekend.” I twirled my hair on my finger.

“Cool, i’ll ask Karim what his weekend looks like and i’ll text you or val what we decide on then.” He flipped his visor back down and held a peace sign up. “Peace man, i’ll see if i can make it to your show.”

“Alright, see ya if you can.” I waved him off and watched until he was out of the lot to climb the stairs to the apartment.

The lights were off and the door was locked, so i assumed Val wasn’t home yet and still off doing some things. I walked in and turned the lights on, going to the bedroom and tossing my bag down before going over to the dresser and pulling out the draw Demyan sleeps in. I looked down to see him all bundled up on my clothes.

“Hey, you good?” i poked his little head.

He looked up at me and yawned a bit, “Oh welcome back pup.”

“Thanks. You need anything? Food, water….condoms?” I asked and petted him gently.

“Uhm...no thank you, I think i do not need any of that.” he curled back up and closed his eyes.

“Alright, i’ll be in the shower.” I closed the drawer a bit before i pulled off my shirt and stepped out of my shorts. Going to the bathroom, i took my boxer briefs off and turned the water on. Having the hot water hit my skin felt so nice after that work out with Aj and kane. I was still freaked out by how i didn’t have the bruises from my fight with Aj anymore, and i was too freaked to ask how the fuck Aero had to deal with it. I quickly washed my hair and body, so i could soak in the hot water for awhile before i had to get ready. I heard the door click shut outside the bathroom. Turning the water off and grabbing a towel, i wrapped it around my waist and walked out of the bathroom.

I took just a few steps out before i had Val run right into my chest. He stumbled backwards after he ran into me. I put both my hands around his waist and pulled him closer to me so he didnt land on his ass. “Well, welcome home to you too. Though I would prefer if you were just as naked as I am.” i looked him up and down and smiled.

Val stared up at me with wide eyes and his face bright red. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even hear you, so I assumed you were listening to music or something and I wasn’t paying attention and I’m so sorry.” he backed up away from me and held his hands up waving me off.  

I stared at him before hunching over and laughing a bit at his reaction.“Oh god cupcake, you’re too much.” I patted my knee before getting up straight again and putting a hand on my hip. His reactions were usually just so cute and it was fun to tease him a bit. “What did you do today?”

“I went and hung out with Karim and then we also met Gabe and his little brother Yori, They were going on a walk like we were so they ended up joining us.” he started to calm down and answered me.

“Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun, compared to the torture I went through with AJ and the gym. God, damn I don’t have the stamina to keep up with that man,” I groaned painfully at the thought of doing a real work out with Aj at some point, thank god i had Kane today.

Val giggled just a bit before speaking, “I’m sure he had a good reason for making you work so hard.” he smiled as he played with his bright red hair.

“You kept your hair down.” I pointed out. Watching him play with it. His hair was such a nice color and it was a shame he wore it up so much. It looked so nice down.

“I-I did yes. I didn’t feel like putting it back up,” he sounded a bit nervous with his response as he looked up at me with those blue eyes that looked so nice with the red hair framing them.

I hummed a bit and smirked down at him, looking him up and down. He really did look nice with his hair down, looked a bit girlish more but he was still really cute looking. “So, what do you wanna do for food?”

“I think we have fish and potatoes. We can make fish and chips for dinner,” he pondered on the thought for a bit.

“Isn’t that a Friday thing?” I asked, i thought people only ate fish on fridays. Its why tuesdays are Taco tuesday and fridays are Fish friday.

“It doesn’t have to be just a Friday thing,” he sounded cocky with that remark and had a smirk on his lips.

“Go take a shower, I’ll work on the potatoes.” i chuckled a bit and ruffled his hair.

“After you get dressed. You’re not using anything in the kitchen with just a towel around your waist,” he pointed his finger at my hips and had a pink blush on his cheeks.

“Ugh, you’re not fun, live a little cupcake.” I turned around and went to the bedroom, Val following after me

“I’ll be out shortly.” fiddled around behind me and then went to the bathroom to shower.

Waiting for the door to close, i looked down and saw Aero sitting at my feet staring up at me.  “Hey princess.” I bent down and petted her head a bit, “mind giving me a second to put underwear on, i dont wanna taint your sweet princess eyes.” She meowed at me softly before walking over to Val’s bed and sat down, curling up and cleaning her foot and whipping it on her head. Watching her i grabbed a fresh pair of boxer briefs and putt them on under the towel and dropped the towel on my bed. Grabbing a pair of my black torn skinny jeans, putting on a shirt that had the top half made out of fishnet and the bottom half that covered my stomach as solid black and pulled on some socks.

I left the bedroom and went to the kitchen to pull out the potatoes and start working on them. I got at least two potatoes clean and shaved before Val bounced up beside me in a tank top and shorty shorts. He helped with the potatoes before working on the fish. Cooking went by fairly quickly and we sat at the small table together.

“You going out somewhere?” Val asked as he chewed on a potato chip.

“I have a show to do tonight, so i’ll probably be heading out after we clean up. Wanna come?” i asked before putting food in my mouth.

“Mmm!” val hummed and swallowed his food, “sure i’d love to!”

I held a thumb up to him because i had too much food in my mouth, and my phone started buzzing. Pulling it out of my pocket i put it on the table.

‘Karim and i will be coming, where is it?’ Aj had sent the text and i spun my phone around so Val could read and pointed down at it.

“Oh cool, do you know all whos going?” He looked down and up at me.

Swallowing my food. “You, Aj with Karim, I think Joce might have invited that kid she was with, and Kane will be coming with him and his brother.”

“Gabe and yori?” Val asked.

“Yeah i think so.” I took another bite.

“Oh fun! It’ll be nice to get to meet Kane a bit.” he smiled happily and took another bite.

Swallowing hard and taking a drink, “he’s a little weird just so you know.”

“Arent we all?” Val smiled up at me.

“Only the best of us.” i grinned and stuffed my mouth with the rest of my food and got up to put the dishes away. “Mmm.” I hummed, and walked back to the table to grab a drink. “You dont have to come with me, unless you wanna meet the band early before.”

“I’d like to meet them at least.” He looked up at me and smiled with his fork in his mouth. Getting up soon after and putting the dishes up.

“Hmm.” Val walked behind me as i hummed, i put my hand around me and grabbed his exposed thigh, my arm going across val’s body. “Might wanna put something a bit more appropriate on. I like the booty shorts but at the same time i dont want you to get molested or something.”

“I was going to change anyways. It’s very rare that I leave the house in short shorts. Only when I’m asked to will I leave with them on. Let me just go throw on some jeans quick.” his face was a bit red and he mumbled softly.

Sliding my fingers up just under his shorts by a bit, i let go his leg. “Alright, ill be outside then, i need a smoke.” I walked over to door and slipped on my brown boots and opened the door and walked out. I waited at the bottom of the stairs and leaned on the railing while taking a quick smoke break.

Val jogged down the stairs, “smoking isnt good for a singer.” He commented as he walked around me.

“Eh, we’ll be fine, i dont do it often.” I picked my foot up and put the cigarette out against the bottom of my boot and tossed the bud into a trash can. “Your ass looks good in those jeans.” I brushed my hand along the bottom part of his ass but mostly on the back of his thigh.

He shivered a bit, “thanks?” he mumbled.

“Your welcome, now ass in the passenger seat of my car.” I pulled out my keys and walked towards the lot. I hopped into the drivers side and turned the car on, waiting for Val to hop in as well and buckle up. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” He smiled and slumped down in the seat a bit to get comfy.

“Good good.” I put the car in reverse and backed out, going into drive and leaving campus. The Lethal apple wasn’t far from the college but it was enough so that we had to drive and couldn't walk. When we got there i saw Kane standing outside of his truck and leaning on the bed. Pulling up next to him, i waved and he waved back.

Val hopped out first before i turned the car off. Following after him i walked up to kane. “Hey man.” i held a hand out.

“Sup.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a bro hug. “Didnt know where to go so we just waited out here.”

“Hi Val!” Yori leaned over into the drivers side of Kane’s car.

“Hi Yori! hi gabe!” Val leaned to the side to say hi to yori then back over to say it to gabe as well.

Yori and gabe both got out of Kane’s truck and walked around to stand by us. “Sup gabe, you have fun with Jocey?” I smiled at Gabe and he kinda tensed up and started blushing.

“Uh, yeah i did.” He mumbled and rubbed the back of his head. “She’s a nice girl.”

“Oh yeah?” I started to chuckle low to myself and smirking. Val slapped my arm and glared up at me. “Oow, what?” I laughed and looked down at him.

“I dont know what you’re thinking, but be nice.” He frowned at me.

“Yeah, im sorry man.” I put a hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “Treat her right tho, if you fuck up, im kicking your ass….and so will Harv and Desi.”

“Uuuuuh.” gabe stared at me with a confused look.

Val hit me again, causing Kane and Yori to laugh. “Be nice!”

“Damn! Ow, fine fuck sorry.” I rubbed my arm and looked down at Val who was puffing his cheeks at me.

The sound of a loud engine and pipes grew closer to us before pulling up beside all of us standing outside. I assumed it was Aj because he held up a peace sign to us, and the person hugging him around the waist had to be Karim because he waved as well. Aj backed the bike up a bit and turned to park it backwards in the spot on the other side of my car. He put his feet down and turned it off before patting Karim’s thigh and letting him get off.

Karim pulled the full helmet off his head and fixed his hair. “Hi everyone.” he smiled sweetly.

“Karim! Im glad you came!” Val bounced over to Karim and hugged him.

“Of course!” Karim hugged him back, “id love to see Adrian perform.”

“Thanks.” i smiled. Aj got off the bike soon after and took his helmet off.  “Wanna put your shit in the back of my car so you dont have to lug it around?” I pointed at my car.

Aj took Karim’s helmet, “uh, sure thanks.”  I opened the back of my cars diver door and let Aj put the helmets in there and their jackets as well, before locking it up.

“I thought you didnt like riding the bike.” Val asked Karim.

“Its not my favorite thing but i feel bad making Aj fit into my car.” He laughed lightly and played with his hair.

“Yeah, he had to get the smallest car available knowing i cant fit in most cars cuz im tall as hell.” aj wrapped an arm around Karim and pulled him in closer.

“Sell the bike and get a bigger car.” Karim said flat with a smirk on his face.

Aj looked down at Karim with a raised brow, “no.” he said flatly as well.

Val laughed happily beside them before putting a hand on my back, “should we head inside?”

“Yeah,” I paused and looked around the lot, “i see everyone’s car but Harvey’s so you can meet Asher, desi and Joce.” i lead the way into the Lethal apple and was allowed to take everyone back with me.

“Gabe!!” Joce shouted and bounced up to gabe and instantly wrapped her arms around him. “Im so glad you made it!” she hugged him tightly. Joce was wearing high waisted short shorts with thigh high socks with a distressed very cut up hoodie that only covered her shoulders and short cropped tight tank top under it.

Gabe started blushing and hugged her back “Of course, I told you I was coming and I always keep my promises.”

“Good!” She smiled up at him and let him go, “Hi kane, yori and val!” she smiled at them and they all said hi back. Then turned to see Karim and Aj. “hi, who are you two and why the fuck are you so big?” she held her hands out to Karim and Aj and looked up at Aj.

“Im Karim.” he grabbed her hands, “val’s friend, and this is Aj my boyfriend.”

“Sup midget.” Aj held her hand too. “Its not my fault you’re tiny as hell.”

She blinked slowly at Aj and turned to me. “I like this one, you find him?”

“He found me cuz of Val and threatens to kick my ass a lot.” i crossed my arms.

“I LIKE HIM WE’RE KEEPING HIM!” Joce laughed loudly and let go of their hands. “Aside from that, Im Jocelyne you can call me Joce.”

“Its nice to meet you too.” Karim smiled at her.

Desi walked up in her combat boots, tight leather pants and bustier top. She had uneven blue and purple hair with blue eyes. She usually wore her bright green anti-brow piercing and her lip ring that sat in the middle of her bottom lip. “Hi boys, nice to see Adrian is making more friends. Im Desirae you can call me Desi.” she walked around and shook all of their hands. “Please be gentle with our singer, we’d like to keep him around more.”

“Shut up.” I lightly smacked her back. “Im not a child.”

“I know, but you are a heathen so thats why.” She smiled wickedly at me. “Asher come say hi.” she turned around to look behind her.

“Sup.” Asher walked up to us and waved at everyone, “im asher.” he was the more normal side of our group minus his orange as fuck natural hair that had a bluish under color that Joce did. He wore black capris and a cropped asian like jacket over a tank top.

“We’re missing our drummer too, He running late?” I asked Desi and she pulled out her phone.

“He should be here now actually, he said he was running a bit late but shot a text to me.” She answered and put her phone back in pocket.

The back door opened and in came a panting Harvey. “Hey guys sorry ‘bout that.” He looked up and shook his head. “Woah you guys brought friends.” he smiled sweetly at everyone. “Hi, im Harvey, nice to meet you all.” He bowed his head a little. “Nice to see another tall as fuck guy too.” He extended a fist out to Aj. Harvey was the tallest out of all of us, and he had long hair that was split down the middle red and black tied up in a messy bun and had a nose bridge piercing. He wore nice fitting brown jeans and a deep maroon vest jacket that he had mostly zipped up.

“Yeah totally.” he fist bumped Harvey, “you go to our school, ive seen you at the rec center.”

“Yeah i do.” he laughed lightly. Harvey then looked over at Gabe. “you gabe?” He asked.

“Yeah?” gabe stood kinda stiff with his answer.

“Aight, treat our little tiny princess well okay?” he smiled at gabe.

Joce came up and punched Harvey right in the stomach. “I’d worry more about you than him!” she huffed and put her hands on her hips.

Harvey hunched over a bit from the impact, “sorry Joe, didnt mean it like that.”

“Good!” she huffed proudly. “We’re all happy you guys came though, we hope you enjoy the show.”

“Of course, we’re all excited to see you preform.” Val smiled and came up to me, “we need to go find a seat let you guys set up?”

“Yeah might be a good idea.” I looked at my phone and back down at Val.

“Alright.” he got up on his toes and hugged me tightly, “good luck!” and he let me go and left with the others.

Joce, Des, Harvey and Asher all stood there and stared at me with wide looks trying not to smile. “What!? Go get set up you dorks!” We got everything prepped on stage and ready to go.

We don’t talk much as a band before, during or after our shows. Hell we dont even have a band name yet since we haven’t really thought about it. We just kinda roll with it and all have fun together. The Lethal apple was fairly busy tonight too which was good for us. Not a lot of people paid much mind to us when we got on stage minus Val and the group, they looked up when they heard us come on.

“Some legends are told, some turn to dust or gold. But you will remember me, remember me for centuries.” we opened up with Centuries and the chitter chattering came to a stop when we started playing and i started singing.

I dont know why but tonight's performance felt way more fun and special to me, and i think it was because of everyone coming to support us. We weren’t all close at all, but the fact that Val had friends who’d come to support us, that Joce meet Gabe and that made Kane yori and him come along, really meant a lot, even if i wasnt close to anyone of them. I kept looking over at Val who looked so amazed by it all and he’d lean into Karim and whisper something to him. Yori and Gabe looked pretty amazed by it all too, i could tell that Gabe was mostly watching Jocelyne as she stood on the other side of Desirae, with me in the middle, Asher to my right and Harvey behind us. Aj and Kane were the only two who kinda rocked to the music, both of them had their hands up briefly with their thumb, index and pinkie fingers up in the rock symbol.

We performed until closing time for the Lethal Apple.  The others waited outside for us to finish moving shit around or into our cars. When we finished moving things around we met up with the others huddled around the cars.

“Sup dudes.” I raised a hand and walked closer to them. “Enjoy the show?”

“It was great!” Val beamed happily and bounced on his toes a bit.

“Thanks cupcake.” I ruffled his hair up a bit. “Ready to head home guys?” I looked back at the group of my heathens.

“Yeah, i gotta get back to my dorm, my roommates are probably waiting for me.” Asher pulled out his phone, “yeah i lied, they are waiting and are spamming my phone. So i’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye Asher!” we waved him off and watched him leave. Harvey and Desirae left soon after Asher did.

“Do i need to take you home again Gabe?” Joce poked Gabe’s side playfully.

“Uuuh.” He blushed red and looked at Kane.

Kane started doing that same giggling from the gym earlier today. “Yori get in the truck, we’re leaving gabe with the lady.” Kane started pushing on Yori who held his place and leaned back into Kane.

“We aren’t leaving him a second time!” Yori laughed, “unless he wants us too.” he had a wicked looking smirk on his face. Kane’s giggling stopped for a moment before he started giggling uncontrollably loud.

Everyone minus gabe, started to laugh because of Kane’s giggling. “Dude why do you giggle so much?” I asked and put my hands on Kane’s shoulders.

“I dun-hehehe-fuck if i know!” he started laughing harder now and put his face against Yori’s back and turned away so none of us could see his face.

“It was fun guys, but Karim and i need to head home.” Aj spoke and pointed at my car and waited for it to unlock before grabing his things. “I need to make sure my cat didnt eat Karim’s bird or he isnt loud cat crying waiting for us to come home.” He put his jacket on and gloves, then his helmet and got on the bike, turning it on and walking it out of the spot and waiting for Karim.

“It was, thanks for inviting us.” Karim smiled at me then gave Val a hug and whispered something to him before putting his gear on and getting on the back of the bike. “Bye everyone!” He waved and Aj held up a hand before taking off with Karim.

“Gabe, decide if you’re riding with us or the lady friend.” Kane yelled at Gabe as he got into his truck and turning the engine on.

“Ummm, a, I’ll go with Joce, I wanna hang out a bit.” he mumbled softly and smiled at Joce.

“PARTY TIME!” Joce bounced in her spot and threw her arms up.

“Alright man, Joce, i dont care when you bring him home, just bring him back to us at some point.” Kane laughed and waved a hand before getting tackled over by Yori.

“In one piece please!” then he leaned off of Kane and back into the passenger side.

“Will do i promise!” Joce wrapped her arms around Gabe’s arm.

I motioned for Val to hope in the car before getting in the driver’s side. “Joce, have fun with Gabe, but use a condom okay?” i laughed and slammed the door closed before she could pull me out of it.

“Fuck you adrian! I hope you choke on a dick!” she yelled before dragging gabe off to her car.

I laughed to myself and turned to look at Val who was hunched over trying not to laugh and having his head on his lap. “Cmon cupcake, seatbelt on we’re going to find me a dick to choke on.” I patted his back.

Val instantly made a loud spit like noise and started laughing into his hands still hunched over onto his lap.

“You okay man?! Are you choking on your dick?!” i started laughing harder and put my head down on the steering wheel and turned away so i wasnt looking at Val’s trembling shoulders with laughter.

“NOOO!” his voice squeaked out through his giggling fit.

“No you aren’t choking on your dick or no you arent okay?!” I looked back over at him and he was turned away from me.

He wheezed a bit before looking at me, “I’m not choking on my dick, but I could also not be okay.” he ran his hand under his eyes to wipe away the bit of tears he had forming.

“Are you okay man? Do you need CPR? I know cpr or do you want me to leave you alone?” I asked as i tried to calm down from laughing, “also are you flexible enough to suck yourself off cuz thats hot.” i smiled at him, trying not to laugh again.

He giggled lightly before speaking, “I am flexible enough to do that yes, if you didn’t see me bending over from laughing so hard.” his face turned a light shade of pink and he looked away from me for a second then back to me.

I stared at him with wide eyes, my mouth dropping from the smile. I blinked slowly at him for a bit. My mouth started to twitch up into a wide smile but i was trying my hardest not to smile at that comment. Eventually my mouth won and i had a stupid smile on my face before scrunching my nose and making a snorting noise.I stared at val like he had made the noise first and he stared at me with wide eyes. I ended up snorting again before covering my mouth and nose and looking away to start laughing. “You didnt hear that!”

Val smacked the dashboard before leaning back over on himself and giggling uncontrollably as well. “That was adorable.”

“Shut up!” I yelled and let out a loud whine trying to calm myself down, “I have a headache from laughing so hard now, ohmygod.” I sighed and pulled on my face.

“Im sorry.” Val giggled and fanned himself, “are we homebound or finding you a dick to suck on.” He started to giggle louder midway through his sentence.

“NOPE, we’re going home!” I turned the car on and backed out of the lot, heading back to the dorms. The ride was mainly silent with the occasional giggle from Val or me, and the the sound of us smacking each other a bit to make the laughing stop.

When we got to our building, Val hopped out first and waited for me. I put my body against him and pushed him toward the stairs, bumping my knees into the back of his to make him go. We made it up the stairs in one piece thankfully. When we got into the apartment, Aero was sitting on the floor with Demyan pinned under here and was cleaning him yet again.

“Oh god aero, do you like demmy that much?” Val asked Aero who looked up at him and meowed softly.

“Let him go princess, you dont know where he’s been and what he’s been in.” I bent down and tried to get aero off of Demyan. She whined sadly and demyan scuttled away from her and got under a table. “Cmere buddy, i wont let the portable body heater get you.” i stuck my hand under the table and demyan crawled into my palm. Holding him gently i got off the floor. “Do we need to discipline your cat?” I turned to look at Val who picked up Aero.

He looked down at her and scratched her fluffy white face.“There’s always a reason why she does something. Maybe she didn’t like the smell on him?”

I put demyan’s little body up to my nose and sniffed him, “yeah you need a bath little man I’ll be out in like two minutes.” Demyan squawked loudly at me and i put both my hands around him and walked to the bathroom. I got demyan clean pretty fast and he smelled so much better now. Grabbing a soft hand towel, i walked back to the living area where Val was sitting with aero.

I plopped down beside him while i dried off Demyan. We talked about the performance and he told me what he thought about hearing me sing and how the others had fun too. We both eventually passed out on the sofa from today’s show and all of the laughing that we did before we got home.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping really fucking loud by one of the windows. My head was tilted back and when i picked my head up it cracked loudly.rolling my head around i looked to my right to see if val was still on the sofa. He was but the first thing i saw was his ass.Looking down at my lap, Val had his head on my thighs and was curled up on the sofa beside me. I put my hand on his thigh and slowly dragged my fingers down the length of his thigh before gently patting on his ass, “Cupcake, time to wake up.”

[cranberrybogmummy]

Excerpt of Drifting part II, Chapter II

In a little while Stan had dressed and down in the kitchen, it was neat like nothing of the debauchery of last night happened. Mrs. Patterson smiled when she saw him. She was washing dishes in the sink.

“Hi there how do you like your eggs and toast?” She said, stepping away from the sink and wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“Uhhh over easy and almost burnt,” Stan said.

“Gotcha.” she replied with a wink.

She moseyed over to the other counter and started making him breakfast. She really was a pretty good cook Stan mused as he ate. Also he was bored.

“Where’s Rick, I mean Rich?” He asked

“Oh he’s in the cellar working his project. He said no one can else can go down there not even to clean,” Mrs. Patterson said.

“Anything I can do around the house?” Stan asked. He normally hated chores, but it beat sitting around watching fuzzy tv.

“Well, I guess the lawn needs mowing, and maybe set out some poison for the mice in the attic.” Ms Patterson said putting her chin in her hand.

“Sure.” Stan nodded.

Stan decided the lawn could wait until it cooled down that evening. For now he’d go to attic with the rat poison, Mrs. Patterson gave him and deal with the vermin and a flash light.  He found the trap door to the attic  on the second floor near the back of the hallway, he pulled a string attached to it and it opened up, a small wooden ladder slid out. He climbed up into the attic,  The air up here was stuffy under the eaves among the pink insulation. He casually sprinkled the poison in  the nooks and  crannies. He wasn’t here to poison vermin, he needed to find out about Rick and his family. He opened the first cardboard box he found, which turned out to be christmas decorations, the second box was winter clothes and mothballs and so on. Was there nothing? Had Rick already been up here and destroyed everything? Then he stumbled on an old accordion file folder in it was a certificate of marriage, in spanish between Viola Ernestine Van der arrt and Hernando Christopher Sanchez. From what Stan could make out it was from San Juan, in Puerto Rico. There was an old black and white photograph of that young woman, heavily pregnant of the dark messy hair, scowling in a wedding dressing next to a  older Tall, thin faced, balding bespectacled man with smiling wearily in a suit. He could see the resemblance to Rick in both of them. There were other photos: Viola holding a dark haired infant. Viola, Hernando, a toddler shirtless Rick and an older woman on a tropical beach. Then nothing, more papers something in legalese Stan and no patience for and photographs of Rick a little older maybe four  heavily tanned, glaring into the camera as he twisted in his mother’s arms, she was paler. They were in heavy winter clothes. A Christmas picture all the Van der aarrts gathered near a decorated tree, Viola looking haggard, Rick  still four  the same age, paler, hair slicked back,  and still  seething with anger. Stan looked back at papers, what he could make out is that Viola Van Der Arrt was getting custody of her four year old son. An old  photo album of Rick’s boyhood followed. There were a few  older images of him his Father, Mother and an old lady labeled as ‘Abuela Sanchez’ in Puerto Rico. In these toddler Rick was shirtless, messy haired and very tan he looked happy. The images of Rick from four and up didn’t look happy,  (expect in one album labeled summer memories. Which showed Rick or ‘Rich’ in this house.  out on the lawn or splashing in a creek). Most the of the pictures Rick was surround by grown ups in suits and his mother who was grinning in a forced way. Rick always looked angry, or exhausted or resigned in these pictures, a few of them had  that psycho Doug Blevins in them. Stan shoved them aside, he explored another box, that was mostly full of spiral ring binders with scribbled mathematical formula, diagrams, and loads of paperwork. And a framed diploma from MIT, saying that Richard Van der arrt was graduating Suma Cum laude. Stan looked at the date, Rick must have been about seven or eight when he received this. Stan found a few other diplomas, same deal. And loads old paperwork, he couldn’t understand it, so he pushed it aside. Maybe it was time to scatter more rat poison. It was hot and stuffy in here after all, maybe going out on the mow might be better, get some fresh air. That’s when he tripped over a box labeled in a scrawling hand: ‘Vi’s diaries (1956 -1970).’ Maybe this would shed some light on whoever Rick was. So Stan carried the heavy box down from the attic and hid it under his bed.

` It was still mid-afternoon, well better mow that lawn. The lawn was huge, wished he had a tractor or something kind of riding mower as the sun beat down, he sweat and reddened under it. Sometime in the middle he took off his shirt.Around three Mrs. Patterson came out with a  ham sandwich and tall cold beer. Yeah it was old Canoe, the worst, cheapest beer, but on a day like this the very fact it was cold, light and beer made it perfect for the sweltering heat.The lawn was done at four. The sun still high in the sky, Stan slunk off to the shower cuz he stunk worse then a goat. Stan knew this because he’d met some goats out on that Peace Ascendant Family commune when he was out in Texas with Carla… under the cold water of the shower, it was okay to cry no one could tell. He’d blocked out the memory after he got out the shower, about an hour later  later. The hi-fi speakers down stairs boomed with rock music, which meant one thing, Mrs. P was gone and Rick was out from the basement.  Stan toweled off and put on a clean pair of shorts and a tank top.  Rick was scarfing down dinner, hardly looking up, a protective arm looped around his dinner. Stan could see the remains of potato salad, baked beans and baked chicken thighs with some kinda herbs on them. The potato salad, wasn’t cold, the beans and chicken weren’t hot but it was food and Stan wasn’t about to complain about a free meal.   He sat down and began to eat

“Find anything good?” Rick said.

Stan choked on his food sputtering, he drank some water and finally swallowed, coming up with a gasp. “What do you mean, Rick?”

“Mrs. P said you were putting down poison for the mice in the attic. So I f-f-figured you dug up a bunch of shit about me.” Rick said, He lent back in his chair, pulled out a zippo and lit a joint.

“Nothing…” Stan Lied. “Just a bunch of junk up there.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Yeah sure.” Rick oozed sarcasm.

“Fine.. fine  I found out you were some kind of boy genius who graduated all these fancy-ass schools before your balls even dropped.” Stan said. “Can I have a toke?”

Rick passed him the joint. “Look, it wasn’t my idea, my Mom always thought she was soooo smart, despite the fact she was only slightly above average, when she found out about me, she saw her ticket for academic glory.”

Stan took a hit, he was feeling better. “So that’s why she got custody from your Dad.”

“Heh, Naw… that her way of shitting on him. She didn’t even really want me. “ Rick sighed. “Ya know, when your a kid and your really happy? Yeah, that was Puerto Rico for me with my Dad and  my Abuela. I’d just ya know run around, half naked and do kid shit, build my own toys… radios…and blow up stuff, you know I did kid shit, maybe play a game. But she and to come and take it away, cuz she was shitting on my Dad. It was downhill from there…Pines.”

He passed the joint, Stan took a hit. “So you were only really happy when you like four?”

“Yep.” Rick sighed and giggled. He took a hit, passed it

Stan took a hit, passed it back.  “Yeesh.” Stan sighed. “It all ended for me, at 17, I thought me and my brother we’d be together forever, but he decided he wanted nothing to do with a dum-dum like me.”

“I only have two degrees, in case your wondering. I decided if they were gonna try me act like trained monkey, I might as w-w-well fling shit.” Rick said. “School sucks, it;’s a place for smart people Stan.”

They finished the joint. Minutes ticked by of them sitting there stoned, not talking.

“Yeah…. Whadda you wanna do now?”

[melkm0323-blog]

01-04-18

I saw him today. Not in a vision...not in a dream...not in some trance.

I saw him today.

He was talking to some girl. Not knowing who she was my initial instincts automatically made me jealous. When I noticed she was a salesperson I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

He continued walking so i ceased the opportunity to grab his hand. Immediately giving him a hug, I overwhelmed him.

He looked at me as if he's seen a ghost.

Being his goofy self, he tried to crack jokes and break the ice. Something about they way he spoke had me believing he felt oddly uncomfortable. So did I. I said my bag was heavy but he didnt help with it. May be I'm expecting too much but thats what a guy usually does.

There was no where to go, so we just drove and found a place to eat.

During the car ride I was quiet most of the way not truly myself. he noticed and try to see what was wrong but I wouldn't budge. Tbh if he had asked me I wouldn't have known what to say.. I didnt even know what I was feeling.

During the ride, he jammed to rap...not country. I was lost, almost trapped. Kinda like if I was kept from being myself. May be country was our thing and he just doesnt wanna relive it, but country is what makes me sing and dance and enjoy myself. He didnt catch that either but he remained a goofball, cracked jokes, and showed me his rap.

At one point my hand grazed his, it fluttered my stomach. Caught me off gaurd. His skin was soft and unexpected.

We went to Bahama Breeze. I sat aside him as he looked off blinded from the light. We spoke and conversation got better. His eyes and his black hair.. his long eyelashes and geometric face. His curly frizzy hair, his gestures. I was staring...I felt so amazed.

The fact that we went to Bahama Breeze -a place where we once wanted to go just to order desert- was pleasantly unexpected. The only thing was that instead of ordering just desert we just ordered food. Being with him in the table was awkward, he kept using his phone or trying to show me jokes I didn't understand. He was right next to me but I felt alone...a million miles away...like if he was part of some other world I wasn't apart of.

That left me...well sad. I didn't make much eye contact after that. I feel he tried to make me feel better as he cupped my leg attemption to make me smile but i just grabbed it. I grabbed it and I held it. I held it and thought of letting it go every second after. I wanted to be with him, but I knew I had to let him go. So I did. On the verge of tears, I let his hand go...He saw my expression and asked me if I was okay. I just didn't know what to say. He lowered the music and kept looking at me, with worry in his eyes...I just blamed it on my mom. But truth is, although I want to be normal, it wasn't the real reason why I was sad. I was sad because I loved him. I was sad because he loved me. I was sad because that is supposed to last forever. Love is. But it didn't for us, because although we care for one another, we constantly have to change ourselves in order to be "happy." That's not what love is. Love is compramise but it isn't change. You don't change who you are or who the person is to please you, because in reality. That won't last. At some point you'll find yourself lost and empty because you are not the person you are or need to be and you know it. You need someone who loves every piece of you and wants you exactly for you. You work together which is why it works.

I just played it cool, and asked him where we were going. He said somewhere. That somewhere ended up being a small hidden parking space.

There he freaked out a lil. He realized that he was with me. Realized that 3 1/2 years ago he had met me and I was sitting right there in the passengers seat.

His heart was racing so I told him to hit his juul. Well, he did it till he nicced out, dummy. He was still worried but I knew I had to be the one to do something. I felt my heart racing as it is now...I wanted to kiss him. I said do i do something. Nervously he replied, "do what you please, work your magic-" and thats where I did it.

I had kissed him.

The feeling was unreal. So I had to do it again. Unreal. I did it more and I felt it. His presence. His feelings. His aroma. His lips. His stubble.

I felt him.

It was not like any other kiss from any other guy. It was filled and fueled by feelings...by well, love.

I opened my eyes from time to time. Just to look at him. His eyes were closed. He kept waiting for my kiss. Waiting to feel it. As I stopped and as he open his eyes. I knew I wanted to keep going.

I asked him to go to the back where i can lay on top of him. I just wanted to kiss him but he had figured other wise. That was okay because that was probably where it was going to lead.

I kissed him over and over. But I always did it. I always do.

When undressing, he felt impeccably nervous. Like if he was getting naked in front of a crowd. I didn't expect that since well, Ive seen everything all before and just last night he showed me a pictureee. But it was okay I just looked at him and told him we don't have to if doesn't want to or feels uncomfortable doing it.

He told me to ease him into it. To take it slow. I was going down on him and damn it is always the biggest mouthful.

It was then time for me to undress. At that point I sprawled my legs open and asked him to go down on me.

There was that face again. The face of a man who just saw a ghost. He mumbled it was scary. He played with it for a lil. He saw it thrilled me. And sure enough, went down on me. There were moments...I couldn't comprehend the feeling. Him touching my pussy again. Oh my shit...he turned me on so much.

After that I got him hard again and well.. it was time. I gasped at the plentiful cock that was sliding right into me. His girth made a non virgins pussy tight. His length reached all the way back. I was in utter disbelief.

Fucking him was glorious. Even in a tight space, in the back seat of a car...it was glorious.

Kissing him with my hand on his penis and his fingers in my holes had me delusional.

There was a moment where I couldn't control my body, myself, my mind...

I stupidly whispered, "i love you..."

He didnt hear it... but i wanted to keep it that way.

I grabbed the strings from his hoody, then his hoody, then him. I wanted him on top of me. It was such a strong force.

This following information is my favorite of it all.

We fucked missionary with my left leg up high on his shoulder. He felt so good. He sounded so good. He was breathing heavy and he was kissing me while fucking me. He was so close to me. I knew this where I was going home.

I rubbed my pussy while his cock went in and out and in and out. I couldnt breathe. "Im gonna cum..." and in an airy whisper he said "cum baby." And i did. I moaned and I held him with me. I had never felt this feeling. It was powerful. So close. He grunted cuz he liked it. He liked it, so he came.

Cleaning up was cute. I got one end while he got the other and himself.

After that I was so happy.

I was dancing, I was myself, or a delusional self. I began to think... that really just f-ing happened. Im here with an hot ass 18 yr old that I met when he was a puny 15 yr old. He had a beard, he looked so old. He was here still. With me, still. Why are we still here if everything doesn't work and we know it. My defense mechanism kicked in and I started laughing. He kept looking at me like if i was some weirdo but we enjoyed it.

Going back and helping him with directions felt normal. I felt normal. I felt happy. But sadly, it was time to leave.

I kept looking at him. I just didnt wanna leave and i murmered that. I opened the door, made a gesture to get out but held myself back and turned to him for a kiss...

For a last kiss...

For a kiss that marked the ending. For a kiss that held hope of seeing each other again. For a kiss that held uncertainty.

It wasnt the kiss that I'll remember forever...but the smile he gave me after...

He was happy

So I was too...

He drove away slowly, I looked back, and I already missed him ❤️.