#i redid the way i colored like. 6 or 7 times
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kosalus · 1 year ago
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everybody knows that teeth are where your heart was, love
you can get the prints in red or gray
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gamebunny-advance · 4 years ago
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Grab-Bag Doodle Dump
Just some stuff~
Notes under the cut as per usual.
1) The Heart Melter Boys (Dear Daniel + Cinnamoroll): I just saw an image that melted my heart, so I wanted to draw some of the Sanrio Boys. Maybe I’ll get around to drawing all of em from that pic.
2) Ice Cream, Original Sketch. I didn’t originally imagine that pic with them as chibis, but that’s how it turned out. I really wanted Tatiana at the end of the row so the joke would have landed better, but when I redid this with the chibis, it looked really weird if Zuke was behind anyone else, so I had to rearrange them in a way where Zuke would be on the right end, so Tatiana ended up sandwiched inbetween Kliff and Mayday. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just add her to the opposite end, it’s because by the time I’d realized the Zuke thing, I had already completely drawn/colored everyone. Since this was just a stress-relief doodle, I didn’t want to waste time redrawing Kliff’s eyes to look the other way. It’s still cute, but not having to move across the line for the joke does kill the impact just a smidge.
3) Childhood Friends relationship chart. Dunno. Just felt compelled to make this one day. It’s not comprehensive. And I don’t know why i made them into mochi. Since I couldn’t make NJ mochi, I gave him lil’legs.
Anyway some stuff I wanted to explain: I like Ne/onNo/va aesthetically, but I personally have a hard time writing for it because frankly, I think DJSS would have a hard time having healthy relationships with anyone. I think it could work out if he works on himself a bit more, but that’s not a story I’m interested in writing. Everything else I think speaks for itself, but do feel free to ask about it if you feel so inclined.
4) “Disco Balloon” - I really wanna finish this, so I’m not going to say much else about it. I just really need to get off my ass and learn how to draw hands so this can be what I want it to be.
5-6) Just something I was thinking about a few days ago. I don’t think it’s ever been said on record that Kliff’s design is inspired by Dio, but I’m pretty sure that’s true. There are a bunch of other Jojo references in the game, so I don’t think another one is that far-fetched. Not that I know anything about Jojo anyway.
7) Beginning of a redraw of that “soft” R.O.B. & Watch doodle I did forever ago. It’s somehow less cute than the original (GW isn’t small enough), but I’ll probs redo it again.
8) Human!Flats. From left to right: Juggler, Mr. Game & Watch, Tabuu.
9) A Tabuu doodle. I’ve been experimenting with giving Tabuu locs, but in doing so he kinda loses that butterfly motif I had. But I don’t think it read that clear in the first place, so it’s not a huge loss if I ditch it. Hm... he might look good with a fade now that I think about it more...
10) A humanized!Smash gender chart that I never finished. I ummed and ahhed a lot about posting this. I’m not very explicit about my gender/sexuality headcanons, because I feel a little weird being a (probably) cis/hetero woman talking about those kinds of things in depth, but I think it’d be more honest if I’m a little more up front about it. From left to right, top to bottom:
Pac-Man: Transmale
Mr. G&W: Genderfluid
R.O.B.: Nonbinary
Ms. Pac-Man: Transfemale
Tabuu: Genderfluid
Pinky: Transfemale
Inky: Nonbinary
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Michael in the Mainstream: Crash Bandicoot
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Reviewing video games is not my forte. Like, sure, I can review the Metal Gear franchise because it’s near and dear to my heart and it’s incredibly story driven to a cinematic degree, but I’m not super good at touching on game design or any of that. I stick with movies. But then there are a lot of games I love and want to talk about, such as this game, Crash Bandicoot, and it’s like, how do I talk about this? This is a platformer that is very light on plot and is more about precision platforming than anything, and I’m just not really good at talking about gameplay.
But I’ve come up with a solution! One that I plan to use going forward for a few other games, too! I’ll start with a few paragraphs with my basic overview of the game, and then I will do a ranking of my favorite levels, and then how I’d rank the bosses. I’m much better at talking why I enjoy the challenge of specific elements of games like these then I am talking about the game as a whole, so let’s see how this turns out.
Crash Bandicoot was the first video game I ever played, and so is extremely near and dear to my heart. It’s a rather simple game, a “save the girl” platforming adventure in the vein of something like Mario, where an intrepid hero travels through platforming challenges to save the love of his life from an evil mastermind, though as the main character is a furry animal with a bit of 90s ‘tude, and his archenemy is a mad scientist who utilizes cyborgs to stop you, there’s a dash of Sonic in here too. Being a simple platforming game like this, you’d think there wouldn’t be all that much to the story… but surprisingly, that’s not totally the case (although the story is still relatively simple to later entries).
Crash was meant to be the ultimate soldier in Dr. Neo Cortex’s army of evil marsupials and other assorted critters, an army he presumably was going to use for world domination. After rigorous training, Crash was set to be brainwashed and turned into a mindless slave, but something got screwed up and Crash remained a good, heroic guy. He ended up chased out a window and washed up on the beach of a nearby island, and set out to save his buxom, big booty bandicoot babe Tawna from the creepy clutches of the cantankerous Cortex, causing chaos and crushing crates as he went along. The manual included with the original version of the game actually outlined sort of a little story for the first island, showing how the levels involved Crash infiltrating a native village, defeating its leader, and then riding a hog to escape on his way to the next island. It’s kind of fun and imaginative, and the next island keeps it up, with Crash having to brave ancient ruins to make it to the volcano on the other side of the island, before finally going through Cortex’s toxic power plant, causing a reactor meltdown, and climbing Cortex’s castle to confront him as his island burns to the ground. It’s a fun, simple story that’s not too challenging on the mind while still being engaging.
Perhaps the best thing about the game is the music, which was done by Josh Mancell with the assistance of Mark Mothersbaugh’s Mutato Muzika production company. Let’s not beat around the bush here: Every single track in this game slaps. Basically every track in the original trilogy slaps, but I feel pound for pound this game just hits all the right notes with its music. It perfectly sets the tone for each level, with eerie levels like Slippery Climb getting foreboding music and unsettling yet somewhat whimsical levels like Road to Nowhere getting music that perfectly suits it. This is the biggest downgrade of the remake; they redid the score, with no option to go back to the old tracks, and while some of the updated tunes are great, they don’t really hold a candle to the original (especially the creepier levels, which got dumbed down a fair bit to the point of narm).
The one thing this game is being known for these days is its pretty brutal difficulty, at least with the original release. A lot of the staple elements of the series like checkpoints saving the boxes you had previously broken and an actual save room were not present, so every level (including the brutal ones where the margin of error was incredibly slim) needed to be completed perfectly in one go. The challenging road to 100% completion was absolutely brutal, but thankfully the remake polished things and brought it more in line with its sequels to the point you only need a flawless run on colored gem levels. It can still be pretty tough since the colored gems are located in the hardest levels of the game, but it’s a lot easier than it once was.
The original game is a great, fun game, but only play the original release if you really want to test your skills; the remake is the way to go. The game holds up amazingly well even today, so no matter which version you end up playing you’re in for a fun platforming challenge.
Anyway, let’s get on to the levels!
TOP 10 LEVELS
10. Generator Room
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There’s something to be said about the various one-shot themed levels of the third island. Toxic Waste is an interesting one we’ll talk about later, The Lab is a fun penultimate level, and Cortex Power is a frustrating slog of confusing backtracking. The Generator Room, though? This is unnerving atmosphere and dark ambience at its peak, with the eerie, minimalist music and the looming Cortex faces lending a chilling sense that you’re being watched as you make your way through this dark platforming challenge. It’s not the most exciting level, but among the one-shot themes it stands out for being a heaping helping of nightmare fuel… Though moreso in the original game. The remake sadly toned things down a bit too much, though it’s hard to blame them, really.
9. Native Fortress
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The level that caps off the first island is a more challenging remake of The Great Gate, and closes out the story of the first island by showing how Crash escapes the territory of Papu Papu’s tribe. It’s a pretty fun and reasonable challenge for the point in the game, but my favorite aspect of the level has always been that, when you get the red gem, you get to fly up in the clouds and experience the painted background of the other two islands with less clutter. It’s just a simple background image, sure, but I have always found it very pretty and breathtaking.
8. Road to Nowhere
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Everyone’s favorite! This is one of the more challenging levels if you don’t know what you’re doing because of the tricky and precise jumps you need, but it just has so much atmosphere and pleasant music it’s hard to get mad even if I screw up and plummet to my doom a few dozen times. Bouncing off of hibernating turtles to make long jumps and inexplicable evil hogs help make this memorable. Frankly, if you want to direct your ire to a stage, direct it to The High Road, the third island’s more challenging take on this level’s theme and which is a joyless, frustrating experience.
7. Castle Machinery
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This level is honestly a bit of a breather for being so late in the game; sure, it has a lot of tricky jumps and an annoying crate bridge you need to really think about to conquer, but overall it’s just an improved take on Heavy Machinery without an obtuse branching path to figure out. Still, this level really makes the list because, if you have the right colored gem, you can just immediately skip the entire level and gain thirty free lives in the process in one of the single funniest moments in the game.
6. Toxic Waste
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This level is simple, straightforward, and to the point. It’s one long-ass hallway where Crash is on a narrow walkway and has to avoid incoming barrels being tossed at him by the Mafia. It has no branching paths, no crazy elements, just Crash, some barrels, some boxes, and some bad guys. It’s almost too basic, but what saves it is the atmosphere of it all and the sheer awesomeness of the music, no matter which version you’re playing. It’s a level that has stuck in my mind since I was a kid. In a way, it also set the basis for colored gem unlocks in the games to follow, as avoiding the barrels is more of a puzzle than anything, much like the tricky puzzles you had to solve to unlock the colored gems in Cortex Strikes Back and It’s About Time. It’s a neat little first step even if it’s not quite there yet.
5. Boulder Dash
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I almost didn’t include one of these levels, but God, these levels were trendsetters! The whole “Crash gets chased by dangerous thing” trend began in this game, and this second take on the boulder chase from the second island is a lot more fun and challenging than the earlier version of the level. And if you get the colored gem, you’re taken to a pretty underground alternate exit with tons of crates, which is pretty dope.
4. Fumbling in the Dark
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The only one of the secret levels that requires a Cortex key to make the list, Fumbling in the Dark is a remix of Lights Out, the level it branches off of. That level is a bit of a cakewalk if you have the right gem, with an alternate exit being available to you before the level’s challenge ramps up. Not so with this level! You’ve gotta do some tricky timed jumps as quick as possible so you can get to the next Aku Aku mask before the light runs out. It’s a pretty fun and fair challenge, and it pushes my platforming skills to the limit. I also just really enjoy the creepy, Gothic aesthetic of the levels inside Cortex’s castle.
3. Hog Wild
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This is, hands down, the funniest level in the game. From Crash’s really suggestive eyebrow waggle which leads to him tackling a pig to the extremely goofy music, this level is just an absolute blast. It does have an equally fun yet more challenging remix as an optional secret level, Whole Hog, but I have to give props to the original level for being the most hilarious thing I ever saw when I was little.
2. Slippery Climb
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Where Stormy Ascent is a brutal, unrelenting challenge, Slippery Climb is more of a tough, but fair challenge. It’s definitely up there with Sunset Vista and The High Road in terms of difficulty, and the fact you’ve gotta do a flawless run of it if you want the red gem is daunting, but this is the most thoroughly rewarding mandatory level to conquer. You’re gonna feel really cool when you take this one down, guaranteed. Maybe not as much as when you take down Stormy Ascent, but still, this may be the toughest level in the game.
1. THE GREAT HALL
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WOO YEAH BABY! LOOK AT THIS CHALLENGE!
Ok, ok, here’s the real number one:
1. N. Sanity Beach
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This is the first level in the game and, thus, one of the easiest. And yet I placed it above all the levels I find to be more fun and challenging. Why? Well, for one, the pure nostalgia of it all. This was my first level in a video game, and I have fond memories of traversing the beach and jungle. For the other, this is one of the most perfect tutorial levels I have ever seen. Basically everything the game has to offer is laid out to you and slowly dished out to you: you start with a couple crates and a free life, move on to experience some enemies and pits, you can get total invincibility if you’re smart, you’re introduced to branching paths and backtracking… Everything is dished out to you at a solid pace so that any new player will be able to figure out what they’re doing with relative ease. Plus, the music slaps, and interestingly enough halfway through the level changes to a different song (the only level to do this). It really does encapsulate the game as a whole in one tiny package, and for that, I think it’s my favorite level of all.
Boss Ranking
The best way to describe the bosses in the original Crash is that they are incredibly basic. Most of them have simple patterns, easy tells, and don’t take much effort to take down. There’s not really anything here that will put your skills to the test, but none of them are really bad per se; in fact, considering how hard the levels can get, it’s sort of a breath of fresh air when you get to a boss that can be taken down without thinking hard.
6. Papu Papu
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Coming in last place is our first boss, the big chief of the first island himself. He’s a pretty simple and straightforward boss battle: just jump on his head a few times and he’ll be out cold. It’s pretty nice to ease in new players, but it’s seriously not much of a challenge (though none of these bosses are particularly hard, mind you).
5. Koala Kong
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So far, this has been Koala Kong’s sole major outing, as he was pretty quickly replaced with the more engaging Tiny Tiger in terms of dumb muscle.Tiny at least has some semblance of combat prowess and strategy, while this guy is just tossing boulders at you to spin back while he’s flexing and posing like he wants a part in the next volume of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. He’s certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed. Still, he’s not bad or anything, just a bit of a generic battle compared to the last three or the one before him.
4. Ripper Roo
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Ripper Roo is a bit of a frustrating puzzle boss, requiring just the right timing to get in any damage on the guy. Still, the fun and bouncy music coupled with the amazing stock laugh does help make him a bit more memorable than the previous two bosses. I will say he’s probably worse in terms of an actual boss battle, because he ends up being more an exercise in precision than the typical dodging and waiting for the right moment to strike, but he’s also a funny kangaroo in a straitjacket, and I think that counts for something.
3. N. Brio
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The longest boss in the game, Brio comes with a massive health bar that you’ll shave off pretty quickly for his first phase if you’re careful, and whose second phase features him hulking out into an incredible monstrosity. He’s simple and straightforward, much like all the bosses to be honest, but I think the bosses on the final island all have solid presentation to make up for that. Brio just comes out at the lower end, which is honestly a running theme for him in Crash games, as his battles are rarely the best out there and few can match his debut.
2. Pinstripe
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Pinstripe may not be the most challenging boss in the world, but damn is he cool. A tommy gun-toting potoroo gangster who goes full-on Scarface and starts blasting up his office when you walk in while cackling like a madman? Awesome. Defeating him is also heavily implied to be the reason Cortex’s castle eventually starts burning down, as he accidentally shoots the generator upon defeat, which is a neat little touch. If nothing else, Pinstripe is just fun, and he has killer theme music to boot.
1. Cortex
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Cortex begins his reign as the big bad of the franchise with a final boss battle that, while lacking in serious challenge, has such good music and presentation that it’s hard to really care. The fight is simple and straightforward: you dodge his blasts, and hit back the ones of a certain color so they blast his health off. All of this is done from atop his dirigible, as his island burns down in the background. The bosses just don’t get any cooler than this.
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goldenwaves · 4 years ago
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Time to see how I do my story! thank you for the tag @herpixels​ !
1: YOUR WRITING PROCESS
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my writing process is set up in 2 parts, the first one is a general summary of my story, there I write out the storyline, I have act one completely mapped out. the interlude and act two aren’t written out in detail yet, but I know the big events and how they start and end. the second part is i write a list of all my upcoming scenes, with a sentence to describe a direction the scene. The scenes are then expanded on when I get near to working on them, written out screenplay style with numbers indicating what photo they correlate to.
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2: SCENE BUILDING
i love scene building! i build most of my own sets, since my story is set in new york city i have several city street builds! my biggest one is where tons of scenes are set, my notably it’s where judah’s apartment is
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it’s unfinished as i only try to do what will show up in scenes to save me time. building my own sets definitely helps set the vibes, and with specific locations like the train stations, but it’s the most time consuming step on here for sure.
3: CC/POSE MAKING
i’ve made a couple poses! only if I really need to, i am a beginner pose makers, i’m hoping to get better. i’ve made poses in these posts! 
4: GETTING IN THE ZONE
music is without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of my story. i was really inspired by how daniparadise’s des vu had a soundtrack and decided to do the same thing. while not necessary to read my story, you can follow along with the songs linked here! on spotify though I have the story soundtrack fully mapped out.
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5: SCREENSHOT FOLDER
taking photos is probably my least favorite part of the process, since I know ahead of time how many photos i need to take, i don’t do more than i need to. for my last post which needed 11 photos, i took 53
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6: CAPTIONS
i am a firm lover of captions on the photos! i think it’s an easier/best way to read sims stories. i also really like the opportunties it presents, some of my favorite posts have been judah’s monologues and fantasies, which is brought out best in the captions
7: EDITING
editing is my favorite part of the process! i love trying new things and switching up editing and colors in scenes, my last post had the most drastic editing ive ever done, simply cause the original photos were taken at 8pm in game with no outdoor lighting or sunlight.. it was a real struggle getting them visible. i mostly do adjustment layers of brightness, curves, and gradient maps. followed by sharpening/blurring, then shadows, blobs of light and the liquify tool on sharp edges on the sims.
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8: THROWBACK
my story started completely different! when I came back in july i completely redid the first few posts cause I didn’t think they set up the story well. initially it started with a phone call between judah and his sister amalie, i really just wanted to get the ball rolling at the time so it didn’t have much significance, and it didn’t set up judah’s character accurately. my story still doesn’t have the punchiest beginning but it’s wayyyy better now,
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9: FREE SPACE
creating a story has definitely been a big learning experience, the thing ive struggled with the most is not being able to get exactly what i want through sims based on whats in my head. ’m trying to resist all urges to rush even though i have so much ahead of me! there’s also been lots of things i’d want to write/add in but probably won’t for the sake of keeping the story not a downer/potentially triggering. i will say, sims storytelling is not the easiest way to present a story, but i really love how it combines visual and written storytelling.
I tag any storyteller who wants to do this!!! but also @solunasimmer​ @zombietrait​ if you two want to!!!
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quickspinner · 5 years ago
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Beautiful Dreams - Ch 3 Dreams Worth Chasing
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | AO3
Marinette was on her way to pick up her missing folder, and Luka had a plan. Sort of. He caught himself chewing his freshly painted thumbnail and made a face (both at himself and the taste). He was going to be a wreck by the time she got here if he didn’t do something. 
Luka picked up his electric guitar and cranked his amp. Rocking out was always the best way to deal with nerves. He was breathing a little hard by the time he finished his own version of Jagged Stone’s Rock Giant but he was comparatively relaxed when a slightly timid knock sounded on his door. 
Okay. He could do this. He was smooth, no matter how much Juleka liked to pick on him. 
Luka opened the door and there she was, stylish and put together as always, and as always his heart stuttered in his chest. Her hair was looking a little windblown and a strand stuck to her lips. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him, and he didn’t miss the way her gaze flicked over his white t-shirt and black jeans, nor the faint color that tinted her cheeks. He tended to keep his arms covered when he was with his students, as the type of parents who could afford his rates were often the type who didn’t really appreciate tattoos, but he’d left his arms bare today just to see if he’d been imagining things at the market. He concluded a little smugly that he hadn’t and Marinette wasn’t put off by his ink at all. That gave him the boost he needed to stop staring like an idiot himself.
“Come on in,” he offered, stepping back. “I put it in the back so I wouldn’t lose it or spill anything on it, I’ll go grab it. Make yourself at home.”
“Last time I did that I fell asleep,” Marinette said wryly, and he laughed, wincing slightly at how it echoed in the hallway.
“I hope you’re better rested today,” he called as he reached for the folder where he’d left it on top of his dresser. 
“I wish. Was that you playing just now?” she asked when he returned with the folder in hand, and then answered herself before he could. “Sorry, that was a stupid question, of course it was you. It was good—I mean of course, you’d be good, you’re a teacher. I just—I’m a big fan of Jagged Stone and…” She seemed to run out of steam, blushing.
He’d thought he was too old to get butterflies in his stomach but the idea that her slip-up at the market hadn’t been just a fluke, that she was nervous because maybe she was just a little bit affected by him too was enough to make him feel sixteen again for the second time in as many weeks. 
“I’m a teacher,” Luka said, leaning one shoulder against the wall as casually as possible. “But I’m a musician first and the electric guitar’s always been my first love. I play every chance I get. I’m glad you liked it, I’m a big fan of Jagged Stone myself.” He held the folder out to her.
Marinette took it, her gaze on the floor. “He’s actually one of my oldest clients.”
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s impressive. Louis told me you worked for him, but I didn’t realize you’d been working with him that long.”
“It was luck that started it, really, but we’ve had a good working relationship. Not so much lately since he’s sort of semi-retired but…” She trailed off, blushing harder, and Luka gestured to a poster on his wall. 
“Louis told me you designed that one. He’s very proud of you. As he should be, I’m really impressed,” he said. “It’s one of my favorites.” He grinned back at her. “You’re really talented, Marinette.” 
She lit up red as a tomato and stammered something about needing to go.
“Of course,” he said, stepping back and motioning her ahead of him. “I don’t want to keep you if you’re busy.” That’s such a lie. I want to keep you forever.
He walked her to the door. Now or never, Couffaine.
“Marinette.” Luka took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and offered it to her. “If you’d like to hear more, my band is playing this weekend. I’d love for you to come.” 
“Oh,” Marinette said, taking the paper and unfolding it slowly to look at the flier. “I’m...not sure? I’ll have to see if I’m free.”
“I understand. Well, I hope you can make it.” He took a breath. “Maybe after our set is over, I can buy you a drink.” 
Her gaze snapped to his face and Luka did all he could to keep his expression relaxed and friendly, though his eyes were locked on hers. He shrugged slightly. “No pressure, just...if you feel like getting out.”
Marinette bit her lip and lowered her eyes, and then looked back up and smiled. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”
“Great.” Luka smiled and opened the door for her. “Have a good week.”
She smiled back at him, blushing faintly. “Thanks. You too.”
He watched her get into her car, and then stepped back inside, shut the door, and leaned against it, all his breath rushing out with a whoosh. “Your move, dreamer,” he muttered. “Hope I see you Saturday. If you come, it’s on.” 
***
Luka went through his usual pre-show routine, and his body and mind readied themselves to sink into the music in response. If he had something different than usual dwelling at the corners of his mind, no one noticed, and no one spoke to him, his bandmates having long ago learned to respect his space before a show.
If there was any place at all that Luka could feel at home outside of his family, it was at the club. He’d practically grown up in the back rooms of clubs and bars and anywhere else they could find that had a stage and somewhere to plug in an amp, trailing behind his mother with Juleka’s hand held tightly in his. Anarka Couffaine was fiery and bombastic where Luka was quiet and calm, but once he began to take the stage, first by her side and later on his own with Juleka at his, it became obvious he was his mother’s son. The stage contained and tempered Anarka’s fire, taming it into something other people could share. It fanned Luka’s flame, giving him the energy to reach out, to connect, to give others a glimpse of the inner world he guarded so carefully.
If Marinette was out there, beyond the stage light and the wall of crowd noise, she would see him tonight. 
She’s here, he thought to himself as he picked up his guitar and stripped the strap over his head. She has to be. 
No way he was going to fumble it this time. He was in his element here, he’d made his choice, made his peace with it, and now there was nothing left to do but act.
Behind him, the count tapped out, and Luka played.
***
For once, the pounding of his heart didn’t stop when he stepped off the stage. Luka accepted and returned the fistbumps and backslaps and congratulations of his bandmates on an excellent show. He stowed his gear as quickly as he could, and grabbed the extra bag he’d packed.
There was only so much he could do in the small, cramped bathroom, but he got his stage makeup washed off, freshened up as much as he could, and changed his shirt. He redid his eyeliner and ruffled up his hair, before taking a deep breath. He tossed his bag in the back with the rest of his stuff, and went to look for Marinette.  
He found her faster than he expected, wearing a slinky red dress and her hair pinned up, standing at a table with a couple of other people. Luka lingered just a moment to prepare himself and then slipped through the crowd and touched her elbow. “Hey, Marinette. Glad you could make it.”
“Luka!” The smile she turned on him was blinding. “Luka that was amazing!” 
He grinned back, instantly captivated. “Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I loved it! Oh!” She jumped as the brunette next to her elbowed her. “Um, Luka, this is my best friend Alya, and I’m pretty sure you and Nino have met.”
“We have. Good to see you again, Nino.” He exchanged a handshake and a shoulder bump with the other man, trying not to sigh at this slight complication. He hasn’t counted on having to hit on Marinette in front of her ex-husband’s best friend. 
Not that it was going to stop him.
Nino gave him a neutral nod as he pulled back. “Hey Luka, long time no see. The band was sick.” 
“Thanks,” Luka grinned, and offered his hand to Alya. “Nice to meet you, Alya.” She took his hand and looked him up and down, but not like she was checking him out—more like she was sizing him up. Luka had been on the receiving end of the BFF stare too many times to be bothered. He gave her his blandest smile and turned to Marinette. “So, can I buy you that drink?”
Marinette’s cheeks pinked. “Sure.” 
He walked Marinette to the bar and let her order what she liked, and got a beer for himself. “So you liked the set?”
“I loved it,” Marinette smiled up at him. “The covers were cool but there were some original songs in there too, right? I really liked the one you did…” She gestured vaguely, forehead creasing in thought. “Umm, I think it went ‘not the right hand, not the right touch, but she always said I needed too much’? And it had that amazing guitar solo in the middle? That was my favorite.”
“Yeah?” Luka grinned, leaning against the bar. “I wrote that one, I’m glad you liked it.”
Marinette’s eyes went huge. “You wrote it? Like out of nothing?”
“More or less,” Luka chuckled. “I roughed it out and wrote the instrumentals, and our vocalist Jenner, he helped me work out the lyrics and the vocals. Only fair, really, since he had to sing it. I can usually put the melodies together on my own, but I always have to have some help with the words.”
“The melodies were so evocative and emotional though,” Marinette said, picking up her drink as the bartender delivered it. “The words are just the icing on the cake.” 
“That’s nice of you to say,” Luka picked up his beer and motioned Marinette to precede him back to the table. 
Marinette didn’t move right away, giving him an adorably pouty look that came with such sad eyes that it made him want to cringe. “You make it sound like you think I’m insincere.”
“That was absolutely not my intention, I’m sorry.” Luka sighed and drummed his fingers on the bar, trying to find a better way to explain. “People tend to...notice words more, I guess. When people talk to us about a song they usually talk about how the words affected them, or that they thought this or that thing we did with the instrumentals is cool or catchy. I don’t get a lot of people who talk about how the music itself made them feel. So, what I meant was, thank you. That’s nice to hear.”
“Oh.” Marinette tucked a strand of hair back, clearly processing. “Then...you’re welcome. I really do feel that way, especially…” she hesitated, tilting her head slightly as she looked up at him. “Especially when you were taking the lead. I mean, I’m no expert, but, um...wow. That was incredible, what you can do with that guitar.” 
It might be a shy, hesitant flirt, but he’d take it. He leaned into her space just a little, one hand resting on the bar next to her elbow. “Well, considering you’ve spent a lot of time around Jagged Stone—and don’t think I don’t know he’s not the only musician you’ve worked with—I think I’m very flattered, expert or no.” 
He couldn’t quite see if she was blushing in the blue light coming off the bar, but he was pretty sure she was as she stammered something about getting back to the table and turned quickly, nearly tripping in her haste to put some space between them. Luka caught her arm to steady her, and rested just his fingertips on her back as he tried to shield her from some of the jostling of the crowd as they wound their way back to the table. Once over her initial fluster, she leaned back into his protection almost automatically, tucking her petite figure against his side when things got a bit tight. 
When they got back to her friends, Marinette excitedly recounted their conversation. It wasn’t quite enough to make Luka blush, he knew what his strengths were, but it did make it easy to keep a smile on his face. 
As Marinette talked on, Alya fixed Luka with a stare. When there was a lull in the conversation, she said, “Marinette, why don’t you go grab us another round.”
Marinette frowned. “Alya, nobody’s even finished—”
“Food,” Alya declared. “Get us some food. Please.” She reached over and slid Marinette’s glass in front of her. “I’ll watch your drink. Shoo.” 
Marinette rolled her eyes and stood up. “Rude,” she sniffed. “You better not ditch Luka all by himself while I’m gone.”
“Of course not!” Alya promised.
Luka frowned, wanting to offer to go in Marinette’s place, or at least to go with her, but it was obvious that Alya just wanted Marinette out of the way. If that was the case he might as well sit here and get it over with. The crowd was clearing a bit as the DJ got rolling, people pressing toward either the bar or the dance floor, so she’d probably be okay.
Sure enough, as soon as Marinette was out of earshot, Alya rounded on him. “So what’s the deal? Are you into my girl or what?”
Direct. He could appreciate that. “Yes.” He lifted his bottle to his lips, watching Marinette over Alya’s shoulder trying to make her way through the crowd. 
“Like a house and picket fence interested or like take her home and fuck her brains out interested?”
“Alya!” Nino hissed, looking horrified.
Luka barely managed to swallow before he laughed, putting his drink back down. “Both.”
“Oh my God,” Nino groaned, putting his hands over his face.
Alya grinned. “Good answer, Blue.”
“It’s Luka,” he said, amused. 
“Make it past the second date and I’ll consider remembering that. So you teach music for a living?”
“I do all kinds of music for a living, but my steadiest income comes from my students, yes.”
“And you’re okay with being a stepdad?”
“You really don’t have to answer any of this,” Nino broke in. “Alya, come on.”
Luka ignored him. “Totally. Louis is a great kid and I like him. Honestly I didn’t have the greatest example in the dad department myself, so it’s a little scary, but I can deal.”
“Would you want more kids than just Louis?”
“Sure, I’d be open to that someday. Though I’d want us all to get settled with each other first before we brought a baby into the mix.” Luka sat back and let Alya continue giving him the third degree, refusing to answer only a few very personal questions. Finally she folded her arms and regarded him thoughtfully.
Luka smiled. “So, do I pass?”
Alya snorted. “If you can live up to half of what you just said I’ll gift wrap her for you myself.” She leaned forward. “Take advantage of my girl and I’ll kill you. Push her into anything before she’s ready and there are no words for the kind of hell I will put you through.”
“Noted,” Luka replied without any change of expression. Alya gave a nod and stood up.
“Listen, be blunt with her. She’s terrible at flirting. You have no idea how many men hit on her and she never even noticed. If you just hint around like you did with this, even if you think you’re being obvious at the time, she’ll convince herself it doesn’t really mean what you’re trying to mean. Now I better go help Marinette or we’ll be waiting here all night.”
“I can’t believe you let her grill you like that,” Nino said as Alya walked away, his eyes glued to her...back. 
“It’s not the first best friend interrogation I’ve been through, although that was one of the more entertaining,” Luka grinned, propping his thick boots up on the currently empty chair next to him. “It’s usually easier to just go with it. What’s the harm if it gets her on board?”
There was no answer, and Luka looked over to find Nino regarding him soberly. “What?”
“Nothing, just...I thought you and Adrien were friends, dude.”
“We are.”
“You won’t be any more if he finds out you’re dating Marinette behind his back.”
“I’m not doing anything behind his back. If she actually agrees to go out with me, I’ll call and tell him myself.”
“He still loves her.”
Luka shrugged. “She still loves him too. You can see it every time she talks about him. But they’re done, and he doesn’t get a say anymore. And honestly man? If it was you and Alya was Adrien’s ex-wife, would it stop you?”
“You think you feel about Marinette like I feel about Alya?”
Luka looked across to where the girls were working their way back across the crowd. “Hell yeah,” he breathed. 
Nino blew out a long sigh, and lifted his glass. Luka clinked it with his bottle and they both took a long drink. “Then I guess, good luck, bro.” 
“Just do me a favor and don’t say anything to Adrien yet, okay?” Luka said. “I’m not asking you to lie to him if it comes up, but just leave it alone for now. She could still turn me down and I don’t want to cause a big shitstorm over nothing.”
Nino eyed him. “You’ll tell him before you two go out?”
“Absolutely.”
Nino sighed. “Okay.” 
The girls finally returned, setting an assortment of bar food on the table. “Dance with me, Nino,” Alya ordered.
“Yes ma’am,” Nino sighed, standing up with a put-upon air but a smile on his face. 
Luka watched them go and then turned back to Marinette as she settled back in her chair. 
“So,” Marinette sighed. “How bad was she?”
“Pretty bad,” Luka chuckled, and Marinette giggled nervously. “I didn’t mind though, she’s just looking out for you.”
“Sorry, I told her it wasn’t like that, but—“ she gestured vaguely, not meeting his eyes. 
Score one for the BFF. Blunt it is then. “What if it was like that?” Luka leaned his elbows on the table and tilted his head so that he was looking up at her. “What if I was hoping you’d come out tonight so that I could ask you out without being totally unprofessional?”
Marinette went red as a cherry and her mouth opened and closed and nothing came out. 
“I know we don’t know each other all that well, but I’d really like to change that.” He put his hand out, palm up, on the table. “So if you want, we can talk some and maybe dance a little and then, if you’re feeling it, I could take you out for coffee tomorrow?”
He could see her swallow. She looked like a deer in the headlights and he wondered if he’d been a little too direct. Luka withdrew, sitting back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I won’t bring it up again.”
“No, I, it’s j-just, I mean I’m divorced and I have a k-kid and—and—“
“I know all that already,” Luka said gently, leaning forward again. 
“But—But I’m boring and you’re all dyed hair and tattoos and you can play guitar like that and—why would you want to go out with me?”
Luka’s smile spread slowly across his face. “Well that sounds like something we can talk about over coffee. If you’d like.” 
Marinette bit her lip and blushed, looking away, but he could see the smile tugging at her lips. "Coffee sounds nice," she finally managed, giving up on containing her smile. 
"Do you maybe want to join Nino and Alya on the dance floor?" he suggested. They both looked automatically towards the couple on the dance floor, only for Luka's eyebrows to raise and Marinette to bring a hand up to cover her jaw drop. 
"On second thought," Luka amended. "Maybe we'd better leave them to themselves." He coughed, trying to keep back his laughter. "Damn, I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for Nino or high-five him." He and Marinette exchanged a look, and they both broke down in a fit of laughter that lasted several minutes. 
***
When Marinette walked into the little coffee shop the next day, Luka had to slide his gaze away for a moment, trying not to remember how she looked under the club lights, her red dress swirling around her thighs when Alya had finally convinced her to dance while Luka and a still-flushed Nino watched from their table.
She was lovely in a different way today, soft and sweet in a peasant style top over jeans, her hair flowing loose around her shoulders. Luka was just as glad to be spared the distraction of her bare neck, though God did that loose hair make him want to tangle his fingers in it. 
He swallowed and managed to greet her in a mostly normal voice. “Can I get you something?” he asked her, but Marinette set her purse down and shook her head. 
“I’ll get it,” she smiled, and went to the counter to order. She didn’t ask for it to go, which he thought was a good sign. 
“How are you feeling this morning?” Luka asked when she came back and sat down at the table. “I hope we didn’t keep you out too late last night.”
“No, I’m fine,” Marinette said, waving her hands. “I’m kind of a night owl anyway, at least when Louis is with Adrien. Usually I’m designing and not dancing, but I had fun last night. A lot of fun. And the band, that was really great, I‘m really glad you invited me. ”
“That’s great to hear,” Luka smiled. “Have you thought about what we talked about?”
“I…” Marinette blushed, but went on bravely. “I like you, Luka. I think I’d like to go out with you. I just…” She chewed her lip.
“Go on,” Luka said gently. 
“I’m worried about Louis. And…” Marinette tapped a finger on her cup thoughtfully, staring at the table. “I’ve been with Adrien since we were kids. I’m not sure I even know what grownup dating looks like.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Her eyes shot to his, like that was the last thing she’d expected him to say. Luka smiled at her. “I think it’s sweet. You were in love, you took a chance, and you gave it your best.” He took her hand carefully and squeezed it. “Listen, my sister and I were raised by a single mother, so I know at least a little bit about where you’re coming from—more than a little bit about where Louis is coming from, and I promise you I’ll be as sensitive with him as I can, and if we need to work with his therapist to figure out how to approach this with him then I’m absolutely willing to do that. But let me make something perfectly clear, Marinette. There is nothing wrong with you. You’re not leftovers or damaged goods or whatever other awful words that roll around in your mind when you hear the word divorce. You’re not a failure, you’re not a mistake, you’re not stupid for taking a chance on young love, and you are so far from being unloveable. Okay? And even if you decide that you don’t want to be with me, I don’t want you going into any other relationship thinking any of those things. So what if you don’t know what so-called ‘normal’ dating is? It’s not that big of a deal to ask a guy what that looks like to him and expect him to be honest back. There is nothing wrong with you. You are successful and smart and pretty and a great mom and there are a million guys out there who would fall all over themselves to date you. I’m just lucky enough to be the first in line.”
She stared at him, and he thought he saw a shimmer in the dim café lighting. Luka squeezed her hand and let go, standing up. “Tell you what, I’m gonna give you a minute. I’ll bring us back some pastries or something.”
When he got back to the table, Marinette looked a little more composed. “You’re very upfront with your feelings,” she observed quietly as he sat down.
“I try to be,” he agreed. “Partly because I’m not really that great with words and when I beat around the bush I end up creating a lot of misunderstandings. I’m not scaring you off, am I?”
“No, it’s just...I don’t think I’m as brave as you are.” Her gaze slanted away.
Luka touched the back of her hand. “May I?” She blushed and nodded, and he took her hand. “That’s all there is to it, Marinette. Just one decision at a time.” He held out his other hand. “It’s up to you.” She put her other hand slowly in his. “And if it’s too much and you change your mind, that’s okay too.” He opened his fingers so that he was just cradling each of her hands in his loosely. “You have a creator’s hands.” 
Marinette huffed. “Rough and scarred up?”
He grinned. “Just like mine. Although I would have said strong and capable.” 
She smiled self-deprecatingly. “I don’t think we compare. You’re a teacher and a musician. I just make clothes.”
“Art is art, Marinette, and don’t sell yourself short, I may not know much about fashion but I know that you don’t get a position like yours just because you can sew. And I doubt making clothes is all you do. You must have other interests. Can I ask about this?” He turned her hand slightly so that the ladybug tattoo was facing upwards.
“Oh,” Marinette said, blushing. “That was just—it was stupid.”
“I don’t think I believe that,” he said lightly. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I know tattoos can get really personal.”
Marinette’s eyes slid away. “Maybe sometime, just...not now.” 
“Sure,” Luka said easily, letting her turn her hand in his so the ladybug was out of sight. “So tell me something else I don’t know about you.”
“Oh. Um,” Marinette frowned for a moment, thinking, and Luka’s mouth twitched as he tried not to smile at how seriously she took the question. “My father’s a baker. He and my mother own the bakery on Rue Gotlib, and that’s where I grew up. Sometimes I still design cakes for my parents, just for fun.” 
He listened to her talk about her family, and volunteered information about his. “My father’s never really been in the picture,” he told her. “Oddly enough we’ve gotten closer since my mom passed, but he travels a lot, so I only really see him every once in a while when he’s in town. My sister lives here, though, and we’re really close. I think I told you she and her wife just had a baby about a month ago, so that’s been a bit of an adventure for all of us.” 
“I remember those days,” Marinette said sympathetically. “It’s a huge adjustment for everybody.” 
“They’re doing great with it,” Luka said, smiling fondly, pulling out his phone, and pulling up a picture. He and Juleka leaned over Rose where she lay in a hospital bed holding up a little pink bundle for the camera. “That’s my sister, and that’s her wife Rose, and that’s Angelique.”
“Oh, how sweet,” Marinette cooed, leaning closer, and Luka swiped through a couple more pictures—he and Juleka hugging, him holding the baby, Rose and Juleka asleep on each other side-by-side in the narrow hospital bed—until he found a close up of Angie. “She’s precious.” 
“She’s been a light in our world this past year, just getting ready for her and watching her grow in the sonogram pictures,” Luka said, putting away the phone a little reluctantly. “I painted the nursery three times because Rose couldn’t pick a color and I don’t regret a second of it.” Marinette giggled, a hand over her mouth, and Luka smiled at her. “I try to get over and see them as often as I can without being in the way. She’s just learning how to smile now.” 
“Ooooh,” Marinette swooned, putting her hands to her chest. “When Louis was that age, Adrien used to—” She broke off and bit her lip. 
Luka’s expression didn’t change. “Go on,” he encouraged. 
She did, haltingly, and it took a few minutes to find their rhythm again, but then it began to flow. Marinette seemed to find it easier to talk about other people rather than herself, a fact Luka filed away for reference. It was funny, the way she talked about her friends and Louis and even her assistant at work while only just touching on her own thoughts. Luka didn’t press, content for the moment to learn about whatever part of her life she felt comfortable sharing.
“I have to go soon,” Luka said regretfully, checking the time. “I do actually have some students today. So, how are you feeling about a date?” He leaned his elbows on the table, trying to keep his tone casual. “I’m thinking maybe we could check out a museum and a café?”  
“That—“ Marinette took a deep breath, and then smiled. “That sounds really nice. I’d love to go.”
Luka grinned and they both pulled out their phones and hashed out a time and place. 
“It’s a date then,” Luka said, once everything was settled. “I have to go now, but...I’m really looking forward to it.” He reached over and tucked a lock of hair gently behind her ear, letting his fingers brush her suddenly blushing cheek lightly as he drew back. “See you soon, Marinette.”
“See you soon, Luka,” she said shyly as he got up from the table. He glanced back with a smile as he opened the door, and the little ladybug danced as she waved.
***
“Hi Luka. I got your message. What did you need? I thought the lessons were going well.”
”Hey, Adrien. Sorry to bother you but I...kind of need to talk to you about something. You’re probably not going to like it.”
“...You’re not calling to talk to me about Louis, are you?”
“No. I’m calling to tell you I’m taking Marinette out this weekend. On a date.”
“...”
“Adrien?”
“If I say I’m not okay with it?” 
“Then things are going to be rough for a while, because I’m not disrespecting her by asking for your permission. It’s not up to you, man. But I didn’t want you to find out from somebody else and think I was hiding it.”
“I might appreciate that eventually. I’m having a bit of trouble mustering any appreciation at the moment.”
“I understand. I know this sucks, man. I’m sorry for that.”
“Not sorry enough to back off.”
“Would you?”
“God, I really hate you right now, Couffaine.”
“Understood. Let me know when you’re ready to talk.”
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | AO3
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dual1pa · 5 years ago
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the fair.
*(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3)*
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Warnings: TOO MUCH FLUFF 
Your parents were both out of the house before you woke up. They left for a business trip and they would be gone for the next couple days. It was a nice feeling to have the house to yourself for a while. It would be quiet and you could have your friends over. You could also have your new boyfriend, Steve over as well. It was going to be a crazy next few days but you were excited. 
Once you woke up, you went downstairs and threw some bread in the toaster. While your food was warming up, you were debating whether or not to call Steve to see if he was off work or not today. You decided against it when you realized that he worked at Scoops everyday. You splattered peanut butter on your bread and took it back upstairs to your room. You turned on your tiny TV to some random sitcom. You didn’t have to go into work until 11am, when the store opened. You glanced at your clock resting on your bedside table and it read 9:37am. After you finished eating breakfast, you quickly jumped into the shower. 
---
After drying yourself, putting on some makeup and put your hair in a half up/half down look and walked out the door for work, locking the door behind you. Lucky for you, work wasn’t that far from where you lived, so you didn’t need a car. Would you like a car? Sure, but it’s not something you needed. You hopped on your bike and you were on your way. You told Mel, the owner of the bookstore, that you couldn’t work late because of the date you had planned with Steve. Mel was very understanding since him and your family go way back. He said it was alright if you close up shop at 5 instead of 7. 
You grab the key to open the store from your backpack and take a seat at the cashiers desk, patiently waiting for your first customer. You weren’t expecting a lot of people today cause of how business decreased because of the mall but you had hope. 
Since you had nothing else to do, you rearranged some books on the shelves, dusted off old books and grabbed some to keep at the desk to keep you occupied for the next 6 hours. 
-- 
Nothing newsworthy happened at work, there never really is but you did get some familiar customers. You double checked to make sure that everything was locked and loaded before you left for the night. Now the night really began. Once you got back to your house, you grabbed some high waisted blue jean shorts and tucked in a striped t-shirt into your shirt. You redid your makeup and put some lip gloss that really made your lips sparkle. You tied up your white chucks and waited downstairs until you saw Steve’s car pulling up. You locked the door and ran up to the car before Steve got out. 
“Wow, someone is excited to see me.” he said. 
Even though going to the fair was only your second date, it was like you’ve been together forever. 
Without saying a word, you pushed him up against the back door and brought him in for a kiss. So much for the lip gloss staying on. You broke the kiss and saw his lips sparkle just like yours. 
“I missed you.” you said, breaking out of his grip and walking over to the passenger side of the car to get in. 
“I missed you too, babe.” 
“So we’re starting with the pet names, now? We’re at that stage of our relationship?” 
“Do you not want me to call you babe?” he cocked his eyebrow.
“I’m just teasing, call me whatever you want Stevie.” you rested your hand on his leg as he drove off.
“So, how was work?” Steve broke the silence.
“It was good, pretty boring actually. Many of the customers were normal ones I see almost everyday.” you stared out the window. 
“That’s good, work was so busy for us. Lucas’s sister kept asking Robin for sample after sample. It drives her insane.” he shakes his head. 
“Honestly, that would drive me up a wall. Like, you can have like 2 and then you’re done. Just pick a flavor, you know?” you lean closer to Steve, allowing him to wrap his arm around you. 
“Hey, I agree. It really abuses are sample policy.” 
“Oh my God, I almost forgot to tell you, I have the house to myself for the next couple of days. So, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” 
“Wait, really? I would love to stay with you tonight. But we would have to stop back at my house before we go to yours cause I have to get my work outfit.”
“Okay.” 
-- 
Steve pulled into the crowded parking lot that overlooked the entire fun fair. It was filled with Hawkins citizens having fun at all the games and rides. There was a giant ferris wheel and a spaceship. Everything was so bright and inviting and you couldn’t wait to get on some of the rides. You loved thrill rides, you could say you have a strong stomach and you hoped Steve did too. 
You got out of the car and reached for Steve’s hand. You watched as he admired everything that was going on. This was the first carnival to hit Hawkins, Mayor Kline decided it would be a good idea to raise a little money for the town and boy he really went hard. 
Steve bought you a wristband so you could go on unlimited rides for the rest of the evening, plus the spectacular fireworks show happening later in the night. 
“What do you want to do first? I know I want to win you a stuffed animal later.” 
“Aww, you don’t have to do that.” 
“I want to, babe. Isn’t that what the boyfriends do in relationships? They win their girlfriend a giant teddy bear?” 
“Only if you want to be a cliche.” you joke.
You thought the best idea was to ride rides first, eat, then play carnival games. 
You looked over to your right to see Mayor Kline giving a speech and to your right was a bunch of kids surrounding someone playing a game where you shoot balloons. The first ride you decide to go on was the giant spaceship. One by one, the ticket person checked your wristband, giving you a nod to go in. Steve and you found a spot together. 
“I’m kind of nervous for this one.” you said.
“Why, I’ve never been on it, what’s it do?” 
“It spins and you can’t move your body. You can’t lift your head you can’t do anything.” 
“Oh, God.” 
You look over to watch the door of the ride shut tight. 
“Just lay back and relax.” you grabbed Steve’s hand. 
The ride started spinning and everyone was laughing and screaming, trying to lift their bodies. 
“I can’t move my entire body!” Steve yells, laughing out loud. 
“I told you! Just relax!” 
As the ride came to an end, you found it easier to move your body closer to Steve. You looked up as he kissed your forehead then your lips. Once you got your own gravity back, you carefully walked off the ride. 
“Well, what did you think?” 
“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a ride I will go on again, ever.” 
“Aw, no! I’m sorry.” 
“I hated having little to no control over my own body.” 
“I guess that’s what it’s like in space.”
-- 
You saved the ferris wheel for last. It was a nice ride to end the rides part of your night. Steve was the first to sit in the small seat and he put his arm around you. Once you were ready to lift off into the sky, the worker pressed a button and soon you could see the entire town of Hawkins. 
“Wow, the view is beautiful.” you leaned forward as much as you can to look down. 
“You know what else is beautiful?” Steve asked.
“You?” 
“Well, yeah, but I was referring to you.” 
You smiled and puckered your lips, hinting at Steve to kiss you. When your lips touch, it was like you were meant for each other. It was like time stopped and everything around you froze. You couldn’t hear the commotion down below, it was just you, Steve and the stars. 
Once the ride started moving again, you only had one more go around before you were kicked off the ride. 
“I’m starving. What do you say we get some food before we play some games.” 
“Sounds good to me.” 
While walking around, playing games and finding something good to eat, the fireworks began going off. It lit the sky all different colors. Steve held you close as he admired how you watched each firework as they went off. 
“My God.” he said. 
“What?” 
“Oh nothing, it’s just that you’re beautiful.” 
You blush, “Steve! Stop!” 
“What?” 
“Stop giving me compliments.” you giggle. 
“No. I will shower you with compliments 24/7. You’re my girlfriend, it’s kind of my job.” 
“You’re crazy, Steve Harrington.” you continue to glare up at the fireworks in awe. 
“Not crazy, just in love.”
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prorevenge · 6 years ago
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Shitty neighbor bullies struggling immigrants for 15 years. Their kid gets revenge, and the shitty neighbor loses custody of her kid & is forced to move out of their house.
I'm sorry it's long, but I think it's worth it!
Spoiler alert: I'm the kid.
A bit of context first:
I'm an only child, born in the USA to older parents (they were both 45 when I was born) who immigrated from Venezuela in the 90's. When I was 2, my Dad was shot in the head. He lived for another 13 years, but the incident permanently damaged certain parts of his brain, and he was a completely different person for those last 13 years. He went from being the most loving, incredible, caring, compassionate person around, to an aggressive, violent, asshole who blew up over the smallest things, but only ever at his inner circle (me, my mother, or other close family). He always managed to keep his composure around strangers for fear of someone calling the police and him getting arrested, but he would later let it all out on my Mom and myself (admittedly mostly me). After the shooting, he could never work again, and my Mom was forced into the position of being the family's sole breadwinner. We lived in poverty for many, many years, because the USA wouldn't recognize her college degree and she couldn't afford to go to college again, so she couldn't work in her field and had to start "at the bottom of the ladder." Dad eventually died when I was 15, of issues related to his shooting.
Now, when I was 7, my parents decided to move into a town with a better reputation for their schools than the one we were currently living in, so that I could attend a better school. They bought a house literally on the edge of town. Most of this town is incredibly expensive, but because on the other side of our street (and across the town line) there's a big complex of government-subsidized housing, our area is much cheaper. This is the house with the asshole neighbor. The house is a three-family. For the last 16 years, we have owned and occupied the first floor, while the terrible neighbor lived on the second floor (until recently). The third floor has been occupied by over 10 owners and tenants over these years; None have stayed more than 3 or 4 years and some have stayed as little as a handful of months.
Now, the second floor bitch, let's call her "Karen." Because, obviously. She has a husband, who we'll call Bill, and they have a young son, Henry.
Here's the story:
When we moved in, Karen and Bill had already been here for a few short months. The three of us (us on the first floor, Karen and Bill on the second, and the original third floor's owners) bought the house from the same crew, who had bought it and turned it into a three-family, "fixing it up" in the process.
Karen quickly showed her true colors as a bully. Over the years, there's been countless examples of nasty shit she's pulled. Her husband, Bill, is an immigrant himself, and doesn't speak very good English. He's very submissive to her and does whatever she wants, but in front of other people makes himself out to be physically dominant. In our first years here, they used to fight a lot, which we regularly heard from downstairs. They would yell, sometimes for hours, and occasionally it seemed like things got violent. Henry was born maybe 10 years ago. He doesn't factor into the story until much later. But anyways, the point is: Whatever Karen's done, she's always gotten away with it. Here are some highlights:
My Mom always took pride in how well she took care of our trash bin & recycling bin. Every month she'd give them a quick rinse after that week's trash day, just to make sure that they wouldn't develop a smell or a colony of bacteria wouldn't move in. Karen, apparently, wasn't so diligent, and one time, her recycling been got really nasty. And I mean really nasty. So, she just left it out back (context: Behind the house isn't a backyard, it's just pavement with a parking spot designated for each unit), and began using ours. Lo and behold, ours started to get nasty, and Mom quickly went from spending a quick 3 minutes rinsing it out every month to about 45 minutes scrubbing with soap and water to clean it out. Eventually, we decided we'd had enough, and she and Dad sent Karen and the third-floor-tenants of the time a polite, but firm, e-mail, that basically said, "Whoever started using our recycling bin, please stop and use your own. You never asked our permission, and we take good care of it, and ever since you began using it it's become disgusting." We knew it was Karen and Bill, but Mom & Dad figured it was more polite without a call-out and they "didn't want to start anything." Within a week, 2 things happened: Karen & Bill got a brand-spanking new recycling bin, and one week we found ours had been mysteriously destroyed. Someone took a knife to it and cut it to pieces. We had no way of knowing who it was, but we had a pretty good feeling we knew exactly who it was. (Yes, we had to get a new one.) Because we had no evidence of who did it though, my parents didn't say anything about it.
Back when we could afford a car (we haven't had one since our first few years here), we used our parking space out back. Every time that Karen & Bill hosted a party (which back then was surprisingly frequently), they would toss their trash over their balcony "into the general vicinity of the trash & recycling bins out back," which is literally right next to our designated parking space. Most of the dents we had on our old '88 Toyota were from bottles thrown from the second floor balcony. We had windows break a couple times; Same deal. Each time it happened, my parents would politely go upstairs, knock on Karen & Bill's door, and respectfully ask them to stop throwing stuff over the balcony because "sometimes it accidentally hits our car." Each time they went and did that, Karen & Bill stopped, but they would do it again until they got caught during their next party. Again though, my parents never wanted to escalate the situation, so they never justified taking it further than knocking on her door and politely asking them to stop.
This is another example of Karen's utter shit behavior, but it's also relevant for the revenge part of the story, so I'm putting it after the bullet point section. Our basement is shared between all 3 units. Each unit has its designated space boxed out (kind of like office cubicles), and there's some designated "common area" in between. Years ago (maybe like 8 or 9), Karen and Bill completely filled their designated basement cubicle, so they just started piling shit all over the common area. Eventually, they developed this enormous pile of junk in front of Unit 1's (our unit) oil tank (for heating). My Mom & Dad never said anything because it happened over a long period of time and they didn't want to start a fight, and as far as I know none of the third floor folks ever said anything either, but it got to the point where she and her husband were taking up common area space that was easily twice the size of their designated cubicle.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that for many years my parents and I weren't great neighbors, either. We didn't bully anyone, but due to my Dad's condition, he could be triggered (ayyyyyyy) by seemingly anything, and suddenly he'd be in a rage and we'd all be yelling. I grew up in that generally chaotic environment, and, yeah, there were several times when the police were called to our house for noise disturbances. But we kept our shit to ourselves, and we were nothing but polite and respectful to all our neighbors, always.
That said, you can imagine that our first priority was always my Dad and his stability, and we had enough on our hands with that, so he & Mom always swallowed their pride and avoided doing anything to antagonize Karen, no matter how shitty her behavior got.
After my Dad died, I developed my own issues for a while, with mental health. Growing up in a constantly chaotic, violent, aggressive environment took its toll on me, and for a time I had deeply depressive tendencies. I struggled with suicidality for years, and eventually wound up graduating high school after 8 years of attending classes in some form or another. Similar to when my Dad was sick, I became my mother's top priority at that point, so again, Karen and Bill kept getting away with all her bullshit.
I got better though. Nowadays, I'm even off my psychiatric medication. I got my shit together and graduated high school, and even college. I have my Bachelor's, and I'm doing some postgrad stuff for a Master's. Most of the way has been paid for by scholarships. But, I recently decided that, as an adult now and therefore as someone with a little more say in things around the house than when I was a kid, I had had enough of watching Karen bully my parents, particularly my mother, for so many years. I want revenge.
Phase One of my plan was to ease my way into the adult, condo-administration dialogue. I began helping out more around the house -- as in, around the common area parts:
I single-handedly redid the back porch's flooring (it sounds like more than it is -- I just pulled out all the floorboards and nailed new ones in).
I replaced both storm doors (about 6 months apart) when each one began having problems (different kinds of problems, it doesn't matter what they were).
I also took care of some comparatively smaller things -- I weedwhacked out back for a couple hours, cut the grass out front a few times, and got up early so that I could beat everyone else to the shoveling every time it snowed one winter (not '18-'19, but '17-'18). I also began wheeling back everyone's recycling & trash bins after trash week every week, not just our own.
After the first 2 bullet point stuff, each time I sent out an e-mail to everyone in the condo to let them know that I had taken care of it, and that all I asked of the other 2 units was for them to reimburse me 1/3rd of the cost of materials, on their timetable, because of course I hadn't given them a heads-up so it was only fair that I allow them to pay me when they can. The smaller stuff from the last bullet point I obviously didn't need to announce, the idea was just that over time, the neighbors would see me taking more initiative in things and being more active, which would go on to justify me participating more in inter-condo politics. I also made a point to keep conversations to e-mails, so that there would be a written record of every interaction.
Phase Two of my plan ran pretty much concurrently to Phase One, but had an entirely different purpose and was overall entirely different: I began gathering evidence of everything I could.
I asked my Mom to track down all the old e-mails she & Dad had exchanged with the neighbors, documenting many instances that Karen & Bill had pulled shit
I went downstairs and took a video of Karen and Bill's shit all over the common area, particularly emphasizing all the highly flammable wooden and cardboard shit they had piled up in front of our oil tank.
I dug up and pored over the deed to our apartment, specifically the sections that detailed the rules around common areas and the limitations of our unit as compared to the others and vice versa.
To my utter joy, Mom & Dad never threw out that old recycling bin that Karen and/or Bill had knifed up, apparently because they just never knew what to do with it and never wanted anyone to ask questions. Naturally, I dug it up and took plenty of photos.
I did one other evidence-gathering thing that needs a bit more explanation: Karen & Bill are awful parents. Mom & I regularly hear the shit they do to Henry through the very thin ceiling we have here. I'm decidedly not going to go into detail because, even though I changed his name, he's still underage and I feel it would be disrespectful to him to do that, but let's say it crosses far into the realm of child abuse. This is a topic I'm particularly sensitive about because I grew up in a shitty situation myself, so believe me when I say this part is the most satisfying part of my revenge. Let's just say that every time I could hear shit through the ceiling, I took out my phone and started a recording until it stopped.
Finally, Phase Three of my plan was basically to bait Karen and/or Bill into a trap I set, that, as it turns out, would have humongous consequences (for them).
Mom & I have this old treadmill that we got for free. It's in the kitchen, and lately we've come to the conclusion that it just takes up a little too much space. We both use it a little, but not enough to justify keeping it. She wanted to toss it out, but I argued hard to keep it around, because I knew I could use it for this plan. It would be my only shot.
Remember how I mentioned we haven't had a car for years? Well, eventually, I convinced Mom to let me put the treadmill outside, in our parking space out back. I bought a large tarp to cover it with, so it would be protected from the rain, and I told her I'd start using it more if it was outside because it's nicer to do exercise in the fresh air.
I also sent out an e-mail to Karen, cc'd to Bill and the current third-floor-folks, asking her to move all the things in front of our oil tank in the basement "somewhere else." Despite the fact that those things had been there for many years, I justified addressing it now because I'm the one addressing it, and that's different from before because before I was a child and now I'm an adult who actively participates in the inter-condo dialogue. I asked her to because the way she currently had it set up is a safety hazard, and "I'm just following the rules." I further let her know that if she and Bill didn't take care of it within a handful of weeks, that I would have no choice but to take care of it myself. In the same e-mail, I let everyone know that I was putting our treadmill in our parking space out back, so that if anyone had any trouble with getting into their spot to please let me know. The same day I sent out the e-mail, I put the treadmill out back.
Now, I figured nothing was going to change from all the other e-mails I had sent about matters regarding the condo's administration, and nothing did: She and Bill never acknowledged anything. The current third-floor guy didn't want anything to do with going up against Karen, so he just thanked me for the heads-up about the treadmill and said nothing else.
It's also important to note here that my real reason for mentioning the treadmill in that e-mail wasn't "in case anyone has trouble getting into their parking spot." Needless to say, sure, a treadmill in a kitchen is pretty fucking big and obnoxious, but a treadmill off to the side of an automobile parking space isn't really big at all. Plus, I placed it in such a way that it wasn't in anyone's way, giving everyone ample room to maneuver around. It was just there, off to the side. The reason I mentioned the treadmill in that e-mail was to alert her to its presence, and perhaps associate it in her mind with my request for her to move all her shit in the basement.
I also began using it, at least three mornings a week. I timed it so that sometimes, Karen and Bill would run into me as they left to drive Henry to school. Every time I saw them, I waved and greeted, to ensure they'd notice me on the treadmill. Mom also used it a few times, but she wasn't part of my plan so I've no idea if she ever ran into them while on it.
Here's the other thing I did: I set up a video camera in our laundry basket. See, we have it permanently in the pantry, next to the pantry window that faces the back area. I buried it beneath clothing so that from outside you can't even see it, but I bought a few massive (memory storage wise, not physically) SD cards and kept the thing recording 24/7, with a timestamp.
For 2 weeks, nothing happened. The camera recorded nothing suspicious, and Karen & Bill didn't move their shit in the basement.
Their time was up, so one night, I got up at around 1AM when everyone else was asleep so nobody would hear me, and went downstairs to move their shit.
Reddit, I can't express to you how much I enjoyed this. I bought a GoPro, put it on my noggin, and carefully recorded the entire hour and a half of moving shit around. I took the enormous pile of junk in front of Mom & I's oil tank, and found a way to fit all of it into their designated storage cubicle. In the end, it was packed. I have mild OCD and I nearly had an orgasm at the end from how well organized (physically) everything was, so that everything was neatly packed together and all the space was used at maximum efficiency. It was glorious. Packed from floor to ceiling, and almost wall-to-wall all around. If you can just imagine one massive, near-perfect rectangular prism of junk, that's what I had created. It was a masterpiece. I was so proud. On the side the door was on, there was enough space to walk to either wall, but you couldn't move "into" it anywhere.
I got back upstairs to our apartment and couldn't sleep the rest of the night. I was beyond excited. I wound up watching Infinity War to prepare for Ant-Man and the Wasp's then-upcoming release. Ayyy.
Sure enough, Karen & Bill took the bait. I must've been at school or work when they first discovered the basement, because I never heard a thing about it. In hindsight, it's probably best I was out, even though I would've savored those angry shrieks like nothing ever before. In any case, within a few days, we discovered our treadmill destroyed. Similarly to the recycling bin of years past, it had been knifed up. I can imagine they probably wanted to straight-up take a hammer to it, but they didn't want to make much noise, so they wound up just tearing the thing apart with a really big and really sharp knife. They had seen that we were using it, and aside from our trash & recycling bins it was our only property that they had access to at that point (several years back I filled up the rest of the wall of our basement cubicle and installed a door with a lock, so our cubicle is now sealed off to everyone else but the others are open and anyone can enter), plus I can imagine destroying a $1000 treadmill is infinitely more tempting than a trash or recycling bin, so they went for it in retaliation for my stunt in the basement.
After moving their shit in the basement, I started timing my treadmill use differently so that I wouldn't run into them. As soon as I saw it after they destroyed it, I went straight to the camera I had set up in the pantry. It caught the whole thing. In true fashion of their relationship, Bill brandished an enormous knife and single-handedly destroyed the whole thing himself, while she stood next to him and seemingly ordered him to do it.
With that in hand, I called the police, reported the incident, told them that my mother and I felt threatened by their presence and we filed a restraining order against both Karen and Bill with the police that same day. I turned over all the evidence I had gathered of all their shit over the years, and I also turned over all the audio clips I had of Karen & Bill terrorizing Henry. I figured since it was all audio and no video, it wouldn't be enough to get him out of their care, but maybe it'd at least get the Department of Children & Families involved.
Karen & Bill immediately claimed that I had broke a bunch of their shit while moving it around in the basement (shit that they no doubt had broken themselves), so I offered my GoPro recordings as proof that I had not, in fact, broken any of their shit while moving it at all.
The restraining order a person is allowed to file with a police report is always temporary, but you can always petition the court to extend it. Once Mom & I did that, it was granted. At that point, Karen & Bill hadn't been legally allowed to go back home for about a week, and since it became a longer-term restraining order, they were basically not going to be allowed to live in their own home for several years, so they made the obvious choice to sell the house and move elsewhere. Needless to say, selling a house you're not allowed to be near is a difficult task, and moving all your stuff out of said house is even more difficult -- particularly when you have so much of it. They wound up coordinating the entire house's sale from afar, with their realtor being the only person who came around to show the house. Once it was time for them to move, some relatives of theirs came around and packed everything up and loaded it into a truck.
Also, I was right, based on my recordings alone Henry wasn't taken from their custody, but DCF did get involved. I heard from their family that came around to pack up their shit though that Karen & Bill did wind up losing custody of him. They didn't say much as to why, but they basically implied that the abuse ramped up a lot after everything went down between me and Karen & Bill (which is the only part I feel guilty about, but in the end I hope this is a situation where the end justifies the means), at which point DCF was already sniffing around, so they wound up losing custody of him anyways. I've no idea where Henry wound up, but wherever he is I obviously have nothing against him and I hope he winds up in a much better situation than he was.
Finally, I will say, for two such inordinately obtuse and disgusting human beings, they had surprisingly decent family members. The few times I ran into them and made small talk when they were around they were pretty apologetic about the whole thing. I got the impression that this isn't the first time they're apologizing on Karen & Bill's behalf. I hope Henry is taken in by one of them, and not chucked into the foster system. Here's hoping, kid.
(source) story by (/u/dorkofthesnorkelkind)
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stanskzseungmin · 5 years ago
Text
Operation Miroh | Stray Kids Mafia! AU ~ Chapter 8
Sorry this one took a while. I was trying a different more disjointed writing style to try and create the imagery for this chapter. Took a while because I trashed and redid this chapter like 4 times lmao. Hope you enjoy it <3
~Masterlist~
Chapters:  0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9
1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7
The atmosphere was tense.
The heavy stench of death lingered.
There were so little activity yet it felt as if the dead were back with a vengeance.
~
Heavy panting can be heard as a pair of hands grab at the screen before them.
~
The pristine beach is now a mass grave.
The beautiful clean sand that almost seemed to glow and glisten breathtakingly under the hot sun on a clear yet cloudy day.
~
Somewhere else in the meantime.
It was dark and silent. There were barely any lights. The only lights presents were blinking and on the verge of dying.
The air that once permeated with mutual content and comfort that a family shared, was now tense as a chill traveled up all of the building’s inhabitants' spines. There was no loud yelling. No laughter. No pitter pattering of feet. Just a dark and silent home where ten lived in harmony. 
But of the ten, two were not present: one on the verge of death.
~
The sea sparkled a brilliant blue hue, The dark color perfectly complemented the clear blue sky.
~
The silence was distrubed by a loud metal clattering. There were loud exhales and gasps of disbelief. The medic/engineer collided with the metal cart of supplies behind him as his hands frantically grabbed at the cool metal to maintain balance. His eyes were blown out in shock as panic and fear wracked through his system as it got harder and harder to breathe.
~
The clean beachside front is now polluted and littered with rubble and residue, The tan grains of sand now dyed and stained a brilliant red. The pristine clean and clear water is now filled with lifeless corpses, the bodies floating and swaying with the waves as their faces remained frozen in a silent scream and dead eyes. 
An explosion can be heard in the distance. A demolitionist was in full sprint towards the so called “Paradise.” As he ran, he was pursued, but the pursuers were quickly disposed of by the demolitionist dropping homemade pocket C4 like breadcrumbs.
~
The medic/engineers stared at the third screen down on the left column in horror. The once vibrant green screen signifying excellent health now glowed a menacing red. A sharp contrast to the eight greens surrounding and a singular almost as worrisome orange. 
The red screen.
리노
The heartbeat monitor displayed with a brilliant flashing red orange light has a singular word displaying on the lower left corner of the screen. 
DANGER
With haste, the medic/engineer barrelled out the room and down the hallway. The name of his leader erupted from his throat repeatedly as the inhabitants of the rooms past sprung out of the rooms appearing in the doorways ready, alert and worried. 
~
The demolitionist stood before two unconscious bodies. A pool of blood surrounded the pair as his shoes stepped into the darkening pool staining the dirt beneath him. 
He delicately pried the smaller body off the toxin specialist and very carefully slung both bodies over either shoulders.
||
“Seungmin! Put me down!” You exclaimed lightly hitting his back lightly with your balled fists. 
The chemistry student merely smirked at your immature antics.
The two of you weren’t friends per se, but you wouldn’t go as far as to call the both of you enemies. You were a bit of a goody two shoes and always go out of your way to report all suspicious activity on the campus. You had caught Seungmin picking on Jisung again and went up to the chemist to write him up. As per usual, Seungmin wasn’t having it. He never would.
And here you are now, pathetically slung over his shoulder as he carried you away. You knew where he was taking you. He took you there every time.
Seungmin pulled open the door of one of the more deserted janitor’s closet. It was so out of the way that it’s hardly any janitor’s first choice and it most definitely have a lack of nearby students. Hardly any students passed by here due to the shady and creepy atmosphere.
Even though the walled in city was safe, the paranoia of the dangers outside still lingered. The deserted hallways felt as if it had a distorted reality. There was no present danger but any who walked by without the proper constitution would get so wracked by paranoia where the imagined dangers seemed real. 
In the dark dusty room with a singular hanging bulb, Seungmin would toss you onto the ground. Your bottom met the floor ungracefully as Seungmin closed the door behind him quite harshly. The impact sent vibrations through the walls that would unsettle the dust as vision would slightly get hindered by the particles. You let out a small whine from the stinging pain radiating from the impact. Before you can protest or chide him, Seungmin would kneel before you and pull you into a bone crushing embrace and nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck.
Your arms protest, grabbing and pushing at him and sometimes digging your nails into his shoulders in a dire attempt to make him let you go. Seungmin would let out a small puppy whine and pouted. You felt your defenses weaken at the sound and wanted nothing more but to let him in. Before you even had a chance to raise your arms to return the embrace, Seungmin would pull away with a shit-eating smirk as he brought his index finger to his lips ordering your silence. 
Seungmin was already out and gone with the door shut as he left before you could properly register what just happened, your mind still puddy from your lowered defenses. 
A soft click echoed through the silence.
Every time.
Seungmin got you every time.
And everytime you still lowered your defenses to let him in.
Only for him to leave you alone like a deer in headlights.
~
You swore Seungmin only existed to make your life a living hell. You always thought it was a waste of talent for a practically math genius Seungmin to pick on people. You knew blackmail when you see it.
Doesn’t mean you had immunity towards it. Not towards Seungmin at least.
You noticed how Seungmin and two others hanging around one of the campus’ empty buildings. You recognized the two being top students in their respective subjects.
They were definitely doing shady stuff.
Today however, looks as if it was only Seungmin that’s present. You never saw the other two from your not so discreet hiding spot under the shade of a tree with your nose pressed into a book. 
You rushed to follow Seungmin into the building once you see him disappear behind the closing door. 
You didn’t take that long to enter after the boy. You made it in before the door closed completely, but it seemed as if Seungmin vanished into midair.
Sighing to yourself, you began walking down the dimly lit hallway and peeked into every passing door’s window pane. You noticed how the hallways cameras were all facing down, the led next to the lens were off.
Why were the cameras off?
You also noticed the smoke detectors were also disabled. 
Your thoughts were cut off when you heard a loud explosion ripped through the silence. Your ears rang lightly as it seemed as if the world was moving.
“Seungmin?” You breathed out. Panic bubbled deep within your chest. “Seungmin? SEUNGMIN!”
“Wow, you can’t leave me alone, huh?”
You whipped around to see Seungmin himself in the flesh perfectly fine and uninjured just his attire and visage covered in dark soot. You let out a loud sigh of relief as you ran up to him wrapping your arms around his frame in a bone crushing embrace.
“Alright, dummy,” Seungmin chuckled patting your back lightly. “Did you really have that little faith in me that you genuinely thought I was hurt?”
Seungmin rubbed your back in circles as his other hand rested gently on your waist. You mumbled softly into his shoulders. “Absolutely not. Not at all. You’re totally bonkers, insane. You’re going to scale this building and I’m going to have to write you up. Or worse, writing an autopsy report.”
“Thank you,” Seungmin whispered into your ear resting his chin on your shoulder.
“I wasn’t serious.”
“I was.”
You pulled back slightly in confusion to see a genuine smile on his face with his eyes show a loving and touched emotion. You felt your lips twitch upwards upon sight of him looking so vulnera-
“Now stop stalking me, dummy creeper.”
You would most definitely hear a pin drop from the silence that followed.
You fell for it again.
~
“Wow [by 3RACHA], you actually came,” you perked up from the bench you were sitting on.
“Of course I did, dummy,” Seungmin smiled, putting his hands into his black hoodie pocket.
“No fucking with Felix?” you jested with a smirk playing on your lips.
“Do you not realize who I am?” Seungmin scoffed. “Let’s just say Felix won’t be leaving detention without being griefed.”
“You customized an exit denial device didn’t you?”
“Ooooh yea,” Seungmin chuckled. 
“It’s not an ice bucket above the door is it?”
“Lame.”
“Oh dear,” you hand went up to your cheek in worry for the freckled Australian.
“So how am I going to get up there?” Seungmin pointed to the roof, his eyes never leaving yours wearing a face of disbelief.
“Uhh… parkour?”
Seungmin quirked an eyebrow.
“Sorry, I didn’t think that far ahead...” you looked off to the side rubbing the back of your neck nervously.
“You give me a boost and launched me up there?”
“Bad idea.”
“I stand on your shoulder and you stand up?” Seungmin suggested slinging his arm around your shoulders while pointing upwards with his index finger.
“Even worse,” you shrugged off his arm.
“So what do you suggest?” 
“Just get on my back, I’ll carry you up.”
“Your noodle arms can carry me?”
. . .
~
“I hate this place,” Seungmin mumbled. His arms were loosely wrapped around your shoulders with his legs finding purchase hooked onto your waist, his chest flush against your back. 
You let out a loud exhale as you gripped on the window sill. You looked back to see Seungmin gazing longingly at the wall. That damned wall.
“What do you want to do?” You whispered as you continued your climb.
“I want to destroy the wall.”
Your hand reached over the edge of the roof one after another as you pulled the both of you up.
“You do know what is out there, right?” you settled down on the cold roof, bringing your knees to your chest,
“Yea,” Seungmin sat next to you pulling you into his lap as you both gaze at the wall. At your vantage point, you can see beyond the tall concrete walls lined with barbed wire at the top. 
“The walls protect us from dangers outside. So many mafias and gangs. So much corruption. That doesn't include all the murders and kidnappings.”
“But what if the true dangers aren’t what is out there? But in here? Those mafias exist for a reason. What if they’re rebelling against something from inside? The people here are hardly people anymore. They’re sheeple that can be herded by the shepherd called the government.”
“I don’t want to become like them,” you whispered. “What if the schools existed only to turn us all into sheeple, brainwashing us into the same system. Schools only exist to condition people to work 8 hours a day. I don’t  want to be like them. I don’t want to lose my humanity.”
“You won’t. I promise,” Seungmin whispered into your hair. “You see past the wall, right?”
“It’s dark and empty.”
“I know. Dark, so we won’t be attracted to the government’s light like moths only to discover it’s a flame and empty, so we could be free without any restrictions.”
“Wait, we?” you whispered, shock evident in your voice and you broke free from his embrace to face him.
“Of course, dummy,” Seungmin smiled genuinely. “I promise.”
Seungmin thought to himself right then and there, ‘I’ll get you out of here, I promise.’
“This better not be one of your stupid blackmails again, Shit-min.”
. . .
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zallano · 5 years ago
Text
The HereAfter, Chapter 15
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 16, read on AO3!
The entire chapter under the cut
-
Mumbo finally understood his dreams, his lost memories. Though, he didn’t understand why he lost his memories in the first place.
Experiencing his dreams was like reading a book. He read the first few chapters and then stopped reading it for a few months. Over those months he began doing other things, reading different books, having other dreams. Events that happened in the book slipped from his mind. When he came back to read the book, he had forgotten all that happened before, so he read back slightly and then remembered it all.
Though, he still didn’t know what was going to happen in the next chapters because he hadn’t read those yet.
It made no difference though. He arrived at the shopping district island and he didn’t have much time to stay and contemplate his dreams. He stepped out of his boat and dragged it up the beach, far enough away from the tide.
The shopping district was a lot more active this day. He saw hermits walking around, talking, laughing, and shopping. Mumbo walked along the beach and toward where Grian’s cart was.
“What are you wearing?” Mumbo heard a voice laugh loudly. It sounded like Iskall. He turned the corner and saw Grian and Iskall in a fit of laughter. Grian was wearing a rather odd yellow and blue outfit and holding what appeared to be another copy of the same outfit. ‘Oh no,’ Mumbo thought. ‘Do I have to wear that too?’ 
“I’m wearing what I wore last time- it changed color! You’re still wearing your shorts. Unbelievable. Not golf at all,” Grian said. Iskall shook his head. “How do you know what you’re supposed to wear to golf? You’ve only golfed once! - Oh hi, Mumbo!”
Mumbo chuckled and walked toward the duo. “Okay, what’s going on here?” He asked. “Iskall is making fun of my outfit. Though, it’s okay, because you get to wear it too and I won’t be alone,” Grian smiled devilishly and dropped the clothes into Mumbo’s arms. “Oh brilliant, thanks Grian,” Mumbo said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.
“You can change into that shorts shop. It’s where I got my amazing shorts.” Iskall smiled cunningly and pointed to a shop right next to Grian’s.
Mumbo nodded briefly and walked into the empty shop. Inside he got a better look at his outfit. He got a little green hat, a white shirt, red vest, and a green kilt. He quickly changed and watched how his outfit turned colors. “What in the world-?” He muttered. The once green and red clothes turned to blue and yellow. He assumed this was exactly what happened to his clothes before. Possibly the clocks caused whatever he wore to change.
There was no doubt the clocks had affected him. Both him and Grian changed under the influence of the blue clock. Suddenly the blue clock disappeared that day. Though, Mumbo wasn’t exactly sure if the blue clock actually disappeared. Possibly it divided and took over the two of them.
Mumbo shook his head and walked out of the shop toward his giggling friends. “Aha! My hypothesis was correct!” Grian pointed to Mumbo. “Your clothes changed as well,” he gestured to his own outfit. “Mine used to be blue and red.”
“That’s so weird,” Iskall chuckled. “Yeah we are weird, being all clock-consumed-like,” Grian joked. “Clock consumed? What does that mean?” Mumbo asked. Grian shrugged. “Y’know, the blue clock, it consumed us.” He explained. Mumbo knitted his eyebrows in confusion. “But-? Wouldn’t that make it that we consumed the clocks? Wait-” He was cut off by Iskall. “You guys eat clocks?!?” Iskall laughed. “No!” Grian and Mumbo shouted in unison.
“Okay, okay, let's just get to the golf course. At least we know the way through the nether this time,” Iskall headed toward the nearest portal. “Nether?” Mumbo muttered quietly. “Wait you haven’t even been to the nether yet?”
Mumbo shook his head. He stared at the portal. There was no way this was ‘safe’. “Well, there’s a first time for everything!” Iskall jumped into the purple portal. Mumbo watched as Iskall disappeared a few moments later. “Wh- what happened? Where did he go?” Mumbo circled around the portal. It wasn’t like a door. Iskall didn’t walk through it. He completely vanished.
“This is the nether portal. You go through it to the nether dimension.” Grian explained and stepped inside the purplish divider. “Woaghh,” he gurgled, his voice shaking. “Are you okay?” Mumbo asked. “Just follow me!” Grian said, his voice still having some sort of strange echo and shaky effect. He vanished seconds later.
Mumbo stared at the portal. He didn’t like it. He didn’t trust it. He had no knowledge if his friends were actually okay. Though, they seemed to have done it many times before. He took a deep breath and slowly extended his hand out to touch the portal. His hand went straight through and he immediately felt the energy of the portal. He felt a sort of ticklish feeling slowly reach up his forearm. It didn’t feel threatening at all.
He stepped into the portal. He felt his entire body shake, similar to what he felt when he had touched the blue clock. His vision had a purple tint and he couldn’t focus on anything. The portal affected his vision so much that he was beginning to feel nauseous. There was no way he could do this. Though, right before he was able to jump out, he was no longer in the overworld.
“You did it!” He heard Grian shout. “Congratulations!” Iskall clapped. Mumbo stumbled out of the portal onto the white ground. He slowly looked around. Everything was built out of white blocks. Though, he could see that there was a faint red hue to everything unlike in the overworld. He also felt a lot heavier. This place seemed to have a much more intense gravitational pull. “This is the nether?” Mumbo asked and stood up.
The two nodded. “Well, yeah. Not in its organic form though. We changed the nether a whole lot. It’s a firey, dangerous, evil mob infested dimension.” Iskall explained. Mumbo’s face cringed slightly. “I don’t want to be here,” he backed up toward the portal. “It’s okay! The nether hub is safe -for the most part- plus the country club portal isn’t that far away,” Grian told him and gestured to follow.
Mumbo followed hesitantly.
Another portal trip later, the trio was in an entirely different place of the world. Possibly nether travel wasn’t that bad. He knew it would take a lot to get used to, as would everything else in this world.
The golf course was very fancy. Cub and Scar were talking a little ways away. Cub turned around and waved at the three. “Ah, finally they’re here.” He said.
“Three players? Okay Grian, I see your tricks.” Scar walked over. He spun his trident in his hands. “Although, unfortunately for you, I brought Jellie along with me and Cub.” Scar smiled smugly and a small grey four-legged animal walked over from behind him. “Cats can’t play golf, can they?” Iskall asked. Scar shrugged. “Jellie sure can,”
Mumbo had never seen such an odd-looking animal. It had fur and pointy ears, a long tail and paws. It was weird, though Mumbo could see that it was kind of cute.
“That’s- a cat-?” Mumbo watched Jellie from a distance. Jellie rubbed her head against Scar’s leg and purred. “Is it attacking you-?” Mumbo asked. Scar laughed.
“Oh no, she just wants to be pet.” He crouched down and scratched Jellie behind her ears.
Mumbo slowly nodded. “Ah, Okay. Well- I still don’t know how to play golf and I’m going up against a cat that apparently can. This isn’t fair,” he shook his head. “Jellie doesn’t have thumbs, so it’s fair.” Scar pointed. “Plus we can all teach you,” Cub chimed in and opened a chest. He took out a few tridents, banners, ice, and ender pearls. He tossed each set to everyone.
“Okay, let's start playing!” Scar exclaimed.
“Wai-“ Mumbo began. “I still don’t know how to play guys,” he told them. “You want to read forty or more pages of useless instructions?” Grian asked. Mumbo shrugged. “I guess not,”
“Scar and I can explain. We’re running a bit late though, we only have so many hours before it’s night,” Cub said.
-
“I DO NOT LIKE THIS!” Mumbo exclaimed as his trident shot him into the air. “Use the ender pearls!” Grian told him. Mumbo struggled to throw the weird greenish blue orb. It flew out of his render distance. “I’m going to DIE!” Mumbo yelled, he was falling, falling quite fast.
Seconds before he hit the ground he felt electricity travel through his veins. His arms were covered in purple sparks. He had no time to ask what was happening to his body before he teleported out of the air and landed safely where the ender pearl had landed.
“Wh-“ he rubbed his head. He landed on the green, somewhere near Scar, though he was behind. “Aha! ConCorp is still ahead!” Scar exclaimed and high fived Cub. The cat, Jellie, immediately began to attack Mumbo’s shoelaces. Mumbo found out once they all began playing that Jellie did not know how to play golf and was only here to cause mayhem. “Thanks, Jellie..” he muttered and redid his shoelaces.
A moment or two later, an ender pearl landed right next to Scar and then Iskall appeared. “Concorp, no longer in the lead,” Cub stated, tutting. Iskall fist-bumped the air. “Aha! Take that, the people who own this place and can probably legally kick me out!” He laughed.
“Where’s Grian?” Mumbo asked. “Oh you know,” Grian’s voice appeared to come out of nowhere.  Mumbo looked up to see Grian stuck in a tree branch. “You guys are really observant, huh? I fired my ender pearl right after Mumbo did.” He said and tossed an ender pearl into the hole of the green.
“Hey! We have an order we play in! Cub was supposed to go next,” Scar called Grian out. Grian shrugged and jumped out of the tree. “Better luck next time but we won the first hole!” He grinned. “Are we scoring by which team makes it to the hole first or are we actually playing properly?” Iskall asked. The group shrugged.
“Okay, onto the next hole, I guess,” Cub shook his head, chuckling.
-
The group of hermits went onto playing a lot more holes. ConCorp, of course, was in the lead with points. Jellie somehow managed to get in the way of the hole each time any non-ConCorp member would try to golf. Grian was convinced she was sabotaging the game but Scar disagreed. Though, they all mostly stopped paying attention to the points and were just having fun so it didn’t matter all that much. Grian kept getting stuck in trees, Iskall actually did somewhat good, and Mumbo struggled to not freak out each time he used the ender pearls. He wished he could say that he was used to it but he really wasn’t. Although, he was having a lot of fun playing golf.
They were now on the last hole. This was supposed to be the most difficult hole, according to Cub, though Mumbo wasn’t sure how true that was. He could see the green from where he stood. Scar hopped into the small pool of water and took out one of his tridents. “I’ll go first this time,” He smiled. Grian and Mumbo exchanged glances before shrugging. “Fine, we’ll be left in the dust anyway.”
Scar chuckled and launched himself into the air using the trident and then threw an ender pearl. He landed in hay bales below and waited there for a second before teleporting away. Jellie also teleported away a few moments later. “Okay, who goes now?” Iskall asked. The other three shrugged. “Fine, I will,” Mumbo spun his trident and stepped into the pool.
He raised his trident up and aimed it toward where the green was. He saw Scar and Jellie down there already, though, they seemed distracted. Mumbo sighed and used his trident to launch himself into the air, then he threw another ender pearl. He clenched his eyes shut before he hit the ground. Thankfully, he was teleported away.
Immediately when he landed, he heard ticking again. Mumbo reacted quickly and covered his ears. Where was it coming from this time? He glanced around, and no longer caring about his position in the golf tournament, he stood up and went looking for the source. Scar and his cat was nowhere to be found.
Mumbo stumbled slightly as he wandered into a nearby forest. He glanced around. His clock was freaking out. There must be another clock somewhere.
“Uhhh, Jellie, this is weird but it looks so cool on me! Matched my belt.” He heard Scar’s voice over the ticking. “Scar?” Mumbo called out. He pushed his way through some birch trees and found Scar and Jellie standing in a crater. Scar turned around when he noticed Mumbo.
He had a clock around his neck.
“Scar!” Mumbo called. “Yeah?” Scar looked back at him concerned. “Are you okay?” He asked. “Take that clock off!” Mumbo jumped down into the crater. “Why? I just put it on. Jellie likes it!” He smiled. Mumbo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “-What?” The ticking was getting louder, far more intense. Soon, Grian and the others arrived.
“No!” Grian yelled once he saw the clock around Scar’s neck. “Take it off! Quick!”
Scar looked between the two hermits. “I don’t understand-?” He paused. “Why?” He asked again. Mumbo realized that Scar was not going to take it off. He reached for the necklace. Scar tried to swat his hands away but Mumbo grabbed onto his necklace. His hands began to shake. He felt the clock’s power. He felt powerful. He felt as if he could do anything. He didn’t notice, however, that his clock was going back in time. He was going back in time.
Then he was back at the top of the crater. Lag. Specifically, rubberbanding. ‘Oh no, why now-’ Mumbo jumped back into the hole. He tried getting closer to Scar, he tried telling Scar to take off the clock, he tried warning him of the dangers and what had happened to the other hermits with clocks. Though, he was too late. Right as he touched Scar’s necklace, another lag spike hit. Then, to add insult to injury, the all too familiar yellow text appeared on everyone’s communicator.
Goodtimewithscar has left the world
Mumbo watched as Scar disappeared in front of him. He was confused- shocked- scared even. What caused the lag- twice? Why was this one different? If glitches in the world normally caused hermits to leave, why did it take two lag spikes in order for Scar to disappear? Mumbo stepped back, horrified.
Was this his fault?
Did he cause this?
Grian, Iskall, and Cub arrived back soon after. Cub stared into the crater. “No..” He said and glanced at his T-chat. “He.. no,” He shook his head slowly. He couldn’t believe it. Iskall stared at his T-chat. Grian wouldn’t look at the hole. He stepped back away from the crater.
Jellie meowed, alarmed. A broke, sad, fearful meow. She looked heartbroken. She pawed at the dirt where Scar had been standing previously. She glanced back a Mumbo and then back at the empty space. She mewed and curled up in the dirt. She laid her head on her paws and mewed sadly. She waited...
Though, it seemed as if she knew that he wasn’t coming back.
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writeanapocalae · 5 years ago
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Breaking Down Hell Part 22
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
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“That!” Ralucad whined. “Please. I need that.”
Maxia looked at it. It was a bit misshapen from being on him when he transformed but it still worked. He didn’t ask. It didn’t matter. He pressed against the latch on the cuff and it swung open.
If he weren’t already kneeling his knees would have buckled underneath him. He thought that this place was hot before, but now it was scorching. He opened his mouth to pant but that didn’t do much of anything. His skin was drenched once more in sweat and there was a pins and needles sensation in his ear. It was like a thousand microscopic ants had burrowed into his brain and were whispering to him. Just trying to listen hurt. Everything hurt. The skin under his fingernails hurt. There was a pressure bearing down on him, forcing him closer to the ground.
He was just going to toss the amortiguador over to Ralucad but the way that Ralucad’s arm was outstretched, the other digging into his thigh, nails puncturing the leather of his pants, was more of a plead than a request. His hands didn’t work the way they were supposed to, not when he was like this.
Maxia whapped the band of the cuff around Ralucad’s wrist and quickly pressed one side into the other. Even the motion of doing that felt far harder than it should have.
The effect, much like removing it had been on Maxia, was immediate. The mist vanished as if blown away on a blessed wind that didn’t exist and Ralucad’s eyes returned almost to normal, still red but not glowing. He shuddered as he finally relaxed, the sound gone from his ears, the pressure lifted. He still didn’t look human but he did look, better.
“Thank you,” he rasped, his voice still hoarse but much less gravelly, “Thank you.”
“What the hell was that all about?” Maxia asked, needing some noise, something at all to keep him distracted. He felt like he was quickly going to lose his mind. He rubbed his wrist, where the amortiguador had bruised the skin, the pain grounding him somewhat. “What are you?”
“I lost myself,” Ralucad admitted, pulling himself to his feet. He was still too hot, his skin was still flaking off, but his personality had returned to his form and he walked with a grace that betrayed how torn up he was. “For a moment, a long terrible moment, I was the monster I always feared. And, more than that, I am sure I will become that again.”
At his waist there was a leather clasp, where he usually kept the yataghan, but beneath it there was a leather satchel, which wasn’t much larger than the flask that it held. He pulled it free, uncapped it, and drained it in one long series of gulps.
“I was hoping that would last me a bit longer,” Ralucad grit his teeth, recapping the flask and putting it away. His skin started to mend, the red bleeding from his eyes. The thinnest of cracks sealed themselves, a bit of color returned to his skin, and he plumped out a bit, hands filling back up to their usual weight. “I can’t stay down here for very long.”
His teeth were stained off red.
Maxia stared at him, at the change that had happened so quickly. He wasn’t perfect, he was nowhere near where he had been, but he was a lot better than he had been before. He was avoiding Maxia’s question.
“Ralucad,” he repeated, quieter this time, more pressing, he took a step over to him, noted how he was looking around at their surroundings instead of at him. The surroundings were important, Maxia hadn’t given them much heed yet, but he was still too focused on what Ralucad was hiding. “Why won’t you tell me what you are?”
Ralucad sighed and shook his head, reaching back to undo the clip in his hair and retwist it into position. “I have not received a good response to it in the past,” he finally explained, “and I believe that the truth now would only slow us down, or separate us. We cannot afford to be divided.”
Maxia crossed his arms, staring at him as he redid his hair and the wounds in his body stitched themselves closed. “You not telling me is dividing us as well. We’re in Hell, looking for Timely. They said we were both necessary. We cannot keep going if we don’t trust each other.”
Ralucad waved him off. “You don’t trust me?”
“Of course not.” That made him stiffen, made him look over at Maxia with a hurt expression. “You just said you were going to, what, drain me? You were acting all weird. And that’s probably going to happen again, I doubt the amortiguador will keep you yourself this entire time.”
Ralucad hid his face with one hand. The nails were still long and curved but he was mostly himself. “The last person I told lined up three rows of sugar in front of me and promised me freedom once I counted every granule. Every time I got through two lines he would turn on a fan and I’d have to start all over again. I was trapped in that room for three years.”
@writinginslowmotion​ @mirror-of-too-many-books
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rawberry101 · 5 years ago
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Tag Game
@clio-is-amused tagged me
1. who are your idols?
I don’t know if I’ve ever idolized anybody. Growing up I considered my grandad to be the person I wanted to emulate most, but I don’t think that’s not idolizing him. Anyway now I can’t say that I idolize him even if I did back when I was young. Maybe I’m taking this too seriously.
2. If you could travel anywhere where would you go?
I never really traveled much as a kid, especially not out of California. I’m so starved for travel I’d be happy going anywhere. I’d feel more comfortable around English speakers because I don’t know other languages very well, but there are so many possibilities. I’ve had an itch in the back of my head to visit very remote places if I could as long as I can remember, like Ellesmere Island or Svalbard. But I’d settle for New York. Never been.
3. What decorates the walls of your room?
I have a ton of bookcases now. They don’t all contain books but there are a ton of them including my grandparents old Encyclopedia Britannica set from the 60s. Some shelves have albums and sports memorabilia and a bit of landscape photography. I have a large old timey map of college football teams hanging on a wall.
4. favorite color combination?
I’m not a style person. Yellow has always been my favorite color, but I don’t wear it much. I wear a lot of black which is the easy way to pair colors because it contrasts with everything. Red and black look great I think, not just because I went to San Diego State.
5. What’s on the top of your bucket list?
I definitely want to publish a book before I die.
6. height?
6′4″ when I decide to have good posture
7. favorite animals?
Cats but I’m not a big animal person
8. last song you listened to?
Probably something by the Velvet Underground. I’ve been going through a kick lately. Could be any number of songs, perhaps Oh Sweet Nuthin.
9. pets you have?
None currently. We had pets when I was a kid but they were never replaced after they died so we haven’t had any in about 15 years when the last goldfish went belly up. I might get a cat if I felt more independent with my living situation but I honestly doubt I’d do it if I was just living by myself.
10. last film you saw in theaters?
I saw Parasite with a friend right before shit hit the fan. Great movie!
11. favorite food?
Anything Indian or Mexican. I’d love to have some chicken masala right now.
12. why did the chicken cross the road?
Only a chicken would know the real answer.
13. do you wear socks to bed?
In the winter when it’s cold. I can’t do it in the summer at all. The place I live in right now is always cold, so I’ve been wearing them more.
14. favorite piece of clothing you have?
I’ve got a nice zip up sweater from the 2016 Rose Bowl. I’d be paranoid that a girlfriend would steal it but I’d need a girlfriend first lmao. I have been coming around to work slacks, the pair I have is surprisingly comfy.
15. what piece of media do you wish you had written?
Naruto so I could fix the ending lol
16. name five artists you want to see in concert?
I’d like to see Robert Plant, Radiohead, Coldplay, Bob Dylan (again) or Roger Waters (again)
I was gonna see Roger Water and maybe Radiohead this year but the dates are pushed back now ;_;
I’d kill to see Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix live but that’s impossible without a time machine.
17. last film that made you cry?
Probably Lord of the Rings. I get worked up every time.
18. top 3 ships?
Uhhhh I don’t really do that. I’m not trying to say it’s cool to not like it or anything. Idk I get a weird feeling when seeing stuff like that on tumblr. I know, I chose the worst site ever to avoid ships, but here I am.
But if I redid the Naruto ending he’d obviously have to end up with Sakura and not Hinata of course
19. last movie you watched?
I think still Parasite lol. One of my new years resolutions was to see more movies but I’ve fallen into a ditch since the quarantine. I even have a better reason to watch and I just haven’t.
I’m almost done with Breaking Bad finally, but that’s not a movie of course.
20. currently reading?
I’m currently on Moby Dick! I never read it in high school so I’m doing it now. I like it so far. I finished Mansfield Park about a month ago because I’m trying to bone up on the classics.
-
Thank you for the tag! I love doing these things even though my answers are always boring.
I tag @dweemeister @nflstreet @cloudberried @buckeyenative01 @welcometothegreenparade @thegingerstagemanager if you want but no pressure
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chaldeaslunchbox · 6 years ago
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Thank You for 400 Followers!
Hi!! Thank you all so much for 400 freaking followers!!!! DAMN time passes by quickly! I look forward to your continued support! 
This time as a thank you present, I’d like to go in a similar direction as I did last time w doing a seiyuu comparison w the Fate series and another anime! Don’t worry it won’t always be like this, I’ll definitely change it up next time!
Today’s comparison is between Fate and Fairy Tail!! FT was one of my og mainstream/long-term series. I watched some of the newest season but dropped it bc I already knew what was going to happen bc I’ve read the manga, but THANK GOD they redid the art and coloration w Clover-works bc the second part looked so bad in so many ways. I noticed these two series also had a lot of characters w same v/as so this time I’ll do a comparison w them!
Note, I’m not going to do repeats like Suwab(a)e, Toriumi, Ishida, etc but there’s still a lot to go around.
So without further delay,
Fate Series’s Characters’ Voice Actors as Fairy Tail Characters!
1. Yuuichi Nakamura as:
Fate Series: Gilgamesh (prototype), King David
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Fairy Tail: Gray Fullbuster
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Proto!Gil when @ DW?????? Also Fate/Prototype when @ UFOTable????
2. Sayaka Ohara as:
Fate Series: Irisviel von Einzbern
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Fairy Tail: Erza Scarlet
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Lol these gifs are so cute.
3. Mamiko Noto as:
Fate Series: Scathach (lancer, assassin & caster), Attila (saber & archer), Brynhildr, Asagami Fujino
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Fairy Tail: Mavis Vermillion
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Low-key though, we all kinda knew Zervis was coming, like Mashima dropped so many hints it was actually almost too obvious.
4. Rie Kugimiya as:
Fate Series: Nobunaga Oda (archer & berserker), Cleopatra
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Fairy Tail: Happy
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The og tsudere. Change my mind.
5. Daisuke Namikawa as:
Fate Series: Waver Velvet/Lord El-Melloi II/Zhuge Liang
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Fairy Tail: Jellal Fernandez, Mystogan
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Extra fun fact: Him and Yoshino Hiroyuki (Okada Izou’s v/a) are a musical duo called Uncle Bomb lmao.
6. Shou Hayami as:
Fate Series: Tokiomi Tohsaka
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Fairy Tail: Ichiya Kotobuki
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Hayami’s fucking baritone voice is beautiful but literally so many of his roles are bitchy daddies (ex: F/Z, Food Wars) so honestly my favorite role of his is Ichiya lmao.
7. Miyuki Sawashiro as:
Fate Series: Mordred (saber & rider), Artemis, Rama, Florence Nightingale
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Fairy Tail: Ur, Ultear, Virgo
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Ultear was a cool chick, but the plot armor was just too strong.
8. Kenichi Suzumura as:
Fate Series: Solomon, Romani Archaman, Tawara Touta
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Fairy Tail: Rogue Cheney
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Bring back Romani. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
9. Takahiro Sakurai as:
Fate Series: Arthur Pendragon (prototype), Merlin
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Fairy Tail: Sting Eucliffe
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Bby didn’t come home :( but it’s okay, I might try for him w the paid summon.
10. Kouki Uchiyama as:
Fate Series: Tristan, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada
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Fairy Tail: Midnight/Macbeth
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Idk about you guys but I loved the Oración Seis from their first appearance. Fun fact of my own: my favorite role of Uchiyama’s is Meruem from Hunter x Hunter.
Okay I think I’ll stop there. There’s actually quite a few more, but I didn’t want to make this stretch forever, so I chose characters who either had a significant impact on plot or of who I could find a gif for both roles lol.
Honorable mentions though:
Queen of Sheba/Wendy Marvell - Satomi Sato
Thomas Edison, Angra Mainyu - Takuma Terashima
Murasaki Shikibu/Kyouka - Ai Kayano
Kirei Kotomine/Keyes - Jouji Nakata
Achilles/King Animus - Makoto Furukawa
Oryou/Carla - Yui Horie
Julius Belkisk Harwey/Gajeel Redfox - Wataru Hatano
Yu Miaoyi/Levy McGarden - Mariya Ise
Fergus Mach Roich, Ivan the Terrible/Capricorn - Takaya Kuroda
Seiji Jinga/Cobra (Erik) - Atsushi Imaruoka
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tobesoeros · 5 years ago
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part 1 - 5 & 17!
17. Are you more of a sunrise or sunset watcher?
sunrise. i go on camping trips with my frat and i get up really early to always see the sunrise on the lake :) 
you can’t make read mores in asks rip
PART 1. Ask me about myself…
1. Do you like the way you look?
yeah most of the time. i know i could look better if i put in more effort into working out and stuff, but overall yeah. im not completely mad. 
2. Have you ever cut your hair yourself?
yeah when i was little my bangs were a shit show lkjdads
3. What’s your Instagram @?
mutuals can follow at @xsabrinalynn :)
4. Favorite console to play video games on?
i don’t play a lot of video games now, but i really loved my nintendo ds when i had one.
5. Do you collect anything?
all my tickets from flights, concerts, movies, etc.!! 
6. Have you ever smoked a cigarette?
nope!
7. Are you a fan of bread and butter?
yes!!!!! outback bread is my fave 
8. Does everything happen for a reason?
yeah. 
9. What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you?
oh god. i accidentally texted my dad that i wanted to f*ck harry styles. 
10. Have you ever almost died?
yeah. i fell off some stairs and went backwards, falling half way down the long staircase, but i grabbed onto the railing somehow. i know if i didn’t try to grab onto something i probably would’ve broken my neck. 
11. Go-to ice cream order?
anything strawberry!! or taro! 
12. Do you like your room?
yes!! i like my college and home now, we just redid my home room :’)
13. What do you like to do when you’re feeling stressed?
do nothing. sleep. 
14. Who’s your best friend?
idk honestly. 
15. Favorite animal?
cats! 
16. Do you like to read?
yes!! 
17. Are you an extrovert or introvert?
ambivert!
18. Biggest regret?
not confronting people in my past sooner. would’ve saved me my mental health. 
19. Are you a fan of theme parks?
yes!! california adventure was the best! 
20. Have you crossed anything off your bucket list in the past 2 months?
i don’t have a list???? but im doing everything i wanted to do this summer. 
PART 2. Ask me if I’m a believer…
1. Do you believe in aliens?
yeah! 
2. Do you believe the butterfly effect is real?
uhhh idk 
3. Do you think love at first sight is legit?
yeah i think so. 
4. Do you think we go to heaven or hell when we die?
idk im not religious so idk 
5. Do you believe in karma?
yeah to some extent
6. Do you believe in witches and/or magic?
no
7. Do you think ghosts are real?
yeah! 
8. Do you believe in anything mythical/supernatural? (Bigfoot, Mermaids, Vampires, etc.)
yes and no, like i want them to be real but i don’t think they are. 
9. Do you believe in a God?
no
PART 3. Ask me about relationships & love…
1. Are you in love with anyone at the moment?
no
2. Do you want to eventually get married?
idk if it’s really the right person
3. Have you ever broke a friend’s trust?
yeah
4. What was your first kiss like?
haven’t had it
5. If a friend called you to help hide a body, would you help or turn them in?
god idk i don’t think i would do anything?
6. Have you ever had a crush on someone that, now as you look back, is completely embarrassing?
oh god yes 
7. Explain your dream date.
a theme park. 
8. How would you react if you had a secret admirer?
try to figure out who they are (ive had one and knew who it was lol)
9. You’re having dinner with your s/o, are you guys eating at a restaurant or having a home cooked meal?
restaurant unless they know how to cook
10. Talk about one of your favorite memories you share with a friend.
i got close with one my friends at a party and it was really nice cause we clicked immediately we’re really great friends now! 
11. Have you ever secretly taken something from a friend and not given it back?
i don’t think so?
12. How would you react if a friend started dating your ex?
haven’t had ex’s so
13. Do you think any of your friends talk about you behind your back?
yeah
14. Where would you want to have your honeymoon?
santorini
15. Do you believe in sex before marriage?
yeah why no 
16. Are you currently single?
yeah
17. Have you ever broken up with someone?
no 
18. Have you ever cried over a break-up with a friend?
no 
19. If you were in an emergency, which friend would you call first?
my dad 
PART 4. Ask me about my favorite things!
1. Favorite feel-good movie?
to all the boys ive loved before
2. Favorite song from before 2005?
hey ya! - outkast
3. ALL-TIME favorite album?
god. probably i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - the 1975 
4. Favorite actress?
brie larson
5. Top 3 favorite colors?
pink, blue, purple
6. Favorite book genre?
young adult
7. Favorite poem?
ithaka by c.p. cavafy
8. Favorite actor?
tom holland dakjsdk obvs
9. Favorite type of food?
italian!
10. Favorite pair of shoes you own?
my white leather converse 
11. Favorite song right now?
senorita - shawn mendes, camila cabello
12. Favorite show you’ve ever watched?
bates motel 
13. Favorite show as of right now?
good trouble! 
14. Favorite quote?
“we are the choices we make. and have to make. we aren't anything else.” - chaos walking  
15. Favorite thing to do when you’re bored?
tumblr, watch a movie or sleep
16. Favorite food?
baked ziti or arroz imperial 
17. Favorite sea animal?
dolphins! 
18. Favorite perfume/cologne/body spray?
elizabeth james nirvana white 
19. Favorite drink to order at a coffee shop?
chai tea latte 
20. Favorite person you know?
my dad 
21. Favorite blog(s) here on Tumblr?
you!! @tomhollandcouk @parkerpete @parkerleeds @zendhaya @officialtessaholland @tmholland​ @akapeterparker​
22. Favorite Youtuber?
mikey murphy 
23. Favorite place to shop?
f21
24. Favorite book?
chaos walking series 
25. Favorite musician?
the 1975!
26. Favorite city you’ve been to?
chicago!
27. Favorite sport?
american football
28. Favorite outfit you own?
my overalls with a simple t-shirt and my converse
29. Favorite app to use?
instagram
30. Favorite flower?
sunflower
PART 5. Ask me Would You Rather…
1. Eat a slug OR Eat a cockroach?
cockroach
2. Not take a shower for a week OR Not brush your teeth for a week?
teeth? gum right??
3. Cuss out your boss OR Tell your mom she looks fat?
tell my mom she looks fat cause she asks me this anyways 
4. Fart in front of your crush (and they know it’s you) OR Accidentally sneeze in your celebrity crush’s face?
sneeze dkaskd
5. Jump off a cliff into the ocean OR Go skydiving and jump out of a plane?
skydiving
6. Be the girl who was known for eating her tampon OR Have everyone in your life legitimately hate you?
the tampon i think rip 
7. Not be able to own anything that costs more than $20 OR Only be able to own things that cost $100 or more?
$100 more 
8. Shit your pants on nation television OR Shit your pants at a job interview?
job interview shit happens lmao 
9. Be famous while you’re alive but forgotten when you die OR Be unknown while you’re alive but famous after you die?
famous after i die
10. Go to jail for 5 years for something you didn’t do OR Get away with a horrible crime and live with guilt & fear?
jail for 5 years 
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redheadgleek · 6 years ago
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1-100 - Go! ;)
Did you just... do that?? LOL. I’m breaking it up by 20. 
1. What is you middle name? Since this is often a security question, I’m going to decline answering it. But it starts with C (my other fandom penname, jcd1013, is my initials and Fox Mulder’s birthday). 
2. How old are you? *sighs* 40. If one believes the calendar. 
3. When is your birthday? In November. The anniversary of President Kennedy’s assignation. 
4. What is your zodiac sign? I was a Scorpius, until they redid the calendar when I was a teenager, so now I’m a Sagittarius, which I don’t even know how to spell. Not a believer in astrology so it doesn’t really matter. 
5. What is your favorite color? Purple. Every shade, but especially the jewel color and the bluer tones. 
6. What’s your lucky number? 6. 22. 
7. Do you have any pets? Nope. I had a few cats growing up and a dog that I hated (he was mean). But I enjoy not having fur on my clothes and not dealing with litter and barf.
8. Where are you from? Arizona and Utah mostly, although I moved away years ago now 
9. How tall are you? Answered! Not quite 5′4
10. What shoe size are you? 8.5 W (US)
11. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 4? I have my Merrell loafers that I wear pretty much all the time, a pair of walking shoes, a couple of pairs of sandals.
12. What was your last dream about? Can’t remember. I had some uneasy dreams last night. 
13. What talents do you have? I have a talent for wasting time. LOL. I think I have a talent for photography, but I don’t have the time to develop it. I like to write. I used to play the guitar. 
14. Are you psychic in any way? My one and only “psychic” behavior is that street lamps turn off when I drive up to them, on a frequent enough basis that people have remarked on it. 
15. Favorite song? Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins (shut up). 
16. Favorite movie? Lord of the Rings trilogy
17. Who would be your ideal partner? No clue. 
18. Do you want children? No. I have a genetic disease that could be passed down (plus would make pregnancy painful and possibly dangerous), so I made peace about not having children a long time ago. Plus, I really like being childfree. 
19. Do you want a church wedding? Answered! The likelihood of me ever getting married is pretty slim (I certainly wouldn’t take that bet). And I broke up with my church about 3 years ago and have no desire to find a new one, so no. (Church weddings meant something different in the Mormon faith too, which also makes this complicated to answer).
20. Are you religious? Not anymore. I broke up with my church a few years ago over several issues and now I don’t got to any church, and I’m not really spiritual anymore either (I’m much more agnostic and comfortable in the unknown). I have issues with a god of miracles, which seems to be a common belief in most religions.  
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ladymatrecreates · 3 years ago
Text
SELECTED SHOTS FROM FINAL SHOOTING DAY 2/10
OH LORD SEND HELP
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SO Zeri recorded the audio on my iPhone 11 and we were playing it through my bluetooth speaker which us newbs decided to sit ON TOP OF THE CAMERA JESUS CHRIST (it is very, very small and lightweight, so no risk of damage) but just huge risk of doing exactly what it did to the audio of this--making it sound mangled and like... garbage as the kids say
but basically the process of the video would go like this
1) Zeri starts off in place (we later added in my blue thermos for his prop)
2) i press record on the camera
3) i press start on my voice memos of Zeri's recording, which plays through my bluetooth speaker
4) i QUIETLY run to my place and enter as if I'm not out of breath
5) then i QUIETLY leave--we literally had to sweep leaves away so I wouldn't be too loud
6) i do my quick change (take off sweater to reveal diff sweater underneath--I ended up changing to the more colorful sweater in later takes so I wasn't wearing blue twice)
7) I come back and dance or whatever in new outfit!
8) We finish the scene, and then we go turn it off!
i mean i'm STILL walking out of frame here, so we really had to solidify where I could and couldn't walk
but with honestly basically like NO rehearsal? I think this was a very good first take?
I CANNOT WITH THIS BLOOPER
Another blooper: this time of me exiting the wrong way (fast-forward to the end). GET IT TOGETHER GIRL.
This is our second-to-last shot and probably my favorite! I just didn't like the way my sweater was out in the back so we redid again!
I'll post the final take on it's on separate post!
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samingtonwilson · 7 years ago
Text
Marriage Material - Part 20 - Jim Kirk
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18 / Part 19
Summary: in this chapter, well, things.
Warnings: language, lil angsty (?)
A/N: sorry it’s taken so long. this story’s too fuckin long though. sorry about this chapter, too. whoops.
You sat cross-legged atop the biobed in Leonard’s favorite exam room, thankful to see the white walls, the flashing monitors, the many, many bottles of the CMO’s famous salves and balms after so long. Your gratefulness would’ve increased twofold had your sick leave ended but this was the next best thing— at least you were able to leave your damn quarters.
Leonard stepped in front of you, frowning deeply. There was that crease right above his eyebrows— the one that was shallow and barely noticeable when his face was relaxed but much more pronounced when his frowns and scowls twisted his features. From the look of the darkness underlining his eyes to the borderline translucence of his skin, you weren’t sure if you were the one recovering from a nasty flu virus or he was.
“What?” you finally barked, your voice now less stuffy, less nasally and more hoarse, more raspy— you secretly liked it.  
An audible exhale from his nose, he pursed his lips and raised a single eyebrow. “You look good.”
You waved your hand as if flipping your hair over your shoulder, pursing your own lips. “Well, I mean, I won’t say I know— but I do own a mirror.”
He snorted. “Normal color’s back, energy’s up, you’re gettin’ a good amount of sleep.”
You nodded with a grin, raising your eyebrows and reaching forward to poke at his chest with your fingertip. “Tell me I look good again.”
“Take the rest of the day,” he continued, stepping away to pick up his PADD from the counter. “Rest your voice, you can come back and work alpha tomorrow.”  
“What shift are you working?”
“Gamma.”
You frowned. “Are you kidding? You look like you were hit by a bus! Several buses, actually. Maybe a plane, too.”
“I told you to rest your damn voice, kid.” He looked up from his PADD to meet your gaze with a suddenly incredulous expression. “I say you look good and you tell me I look like I was hit by several buses and an airplane? What kind of friendship is this?”
“I was just being honest,” you shrugged. “Although, it could be the manifestation of internalized negative feelings because you, you know, kept me confined to my fucking quarters.”
“For health reasons, not my own amusement.”
“Really? With the way I was reciting lines from The Yellow Wallpaper in my delirium, I would hope someone was amused.”
He smiled before staring at the tablet in his hands once more. “From the sound of it, Jim was.”
You pouted. “Poor guy. I called him John for two days, made him sleep on the couch until I could breathe through my nose again, we haven’t had sex in a week—”
“A week?” he repeated, faux shock and concern in his voice. “Why, sweetheart— you’re practically a virgin again.”
“I know you’re being sarcastic but it really feels like I’ve revirginized.” You sat back against the wall behind you. “I told him I stopped being contagious ages ago but something about my congested ass suffocating on my own mucus really lowered his sex drive.”
“You’re lowerin’ mine just talking about it.”
You shook your head with a laugh, pulling the dark grey sleeves of the thin cotton henley you wore over your hands. “I was being serious about the way you look. Exhausted, run-down.”
“Been working extra to make up for you not bein’ here.” He glanced at you. “S’all made me appreciate how fast you are. Krishna’s—”
“Got a leg and a half in the grave, I know,” you nodded, frowning a little. “I’ll be back tomorrow and you should take a few days, yeah? I’ll handle alpha, beta’s already covered, and I’ll be on-call during gamma. I’ll deal with Krishna, and Sirleaf, and that one with the short curly blonde hair.”
Scoffing as he set his PADD down, he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at you skeptically. “You can’t just dive right into the deep end on your first day back.”
“More than half of their patients switched to me anyway so it’s not like they’ll be crazy busy— just some crewmates with the flu. The gamma red shirts are behaving again, too! I’ll barely be needed beyond my own shift, being on-call is just precautionary.”
Leonard smiled to himself each time your raspy voice cracked, wiping the upward curve clean before he shook his head. “You’ll overwork yourself into a fuckin’ coma before you listen to me.”
“I should be saying that to you,” you continued to argue, gesturing towards him. “Your skin’s basically transparent, you’ve got bags under your eyes that are practically suitcases, your hair doesn’t even have that usual intentional messiness. Rest, recuperate, another synonym that starts with an ‘r’ for the sake of alliteration. This virus is going around and I can’t lose my CMO to the flu that made me nineteenth century crazy.”
“Relax.”
You gaped at him in outrage. “Don’t tell me to relax! That’s insulting as fu—”
“S’another synonym that starts with ‘r.’”
“Right,” you replied with an apologetic smile. “Rest, recuperate, relax, ruh-ssist me in getting off this biobed,” you laughed, holding your hand out to Leonard as you unfolded your legs.
He took your hand and helped you off the bed. “Ruh-ssist. S’like talkin’ to Scooby Doo himself.”
You redid the drawstring on your wide legged cotton pants, the color matching your henley exactly— getting to waltz around the Enterprise in loungewear was a definite plus of having the flu. “I’m too young to understand what you’re referring to.”
“Ain’t too young to be annoyin’ the shit outta me,” he called out after you as you left the exam room and started down the corridor. “Take your fuckin’ medicine on time and rest your voice!”
“Rest your whole body!” you shouted with cringe at the loud break in your voice.
You didn’t bother smiling disingenuously at the nurses that passed— they knew you too well to fall for your charade anyway. You pulled your sleeves over your hands again and exited the medbay with your eyes on your slipper-adorned feet.
You somehow managed to make it to the turbolift without bumping into anyone, calling for the lift doors to shut before anyone else could slip through.
You almost growled in frustration when someone managed to enter, baring your teeth at the new occupant until you counted the ranking stripes on his command gold sleeve and met his gaze.
He raised a thick eyebrow at you. “Were you going to roar at me for entering the turbolift?”
“I would’ve roared at absolutely anyone else.”
He hummed, peering at you from the corner of his eye as you shifted your weight from one foot to the other. “How was your appointment? You healthy yet?”
“I’ll be off leave tomorrow,” he could practically hear the excitement in your voice. “Len just told me to rest my voice and I’m back on alpha, on-call during gamma.”
He half-turned to face you. “Just your voice? What about the… remaining parts of you?”
You shrugged, walking out of the lift backwards once the doors slid open on your deck. You smiled at him a little. “Why do you ask?”
He kept himself a few steps behind you when you spun back around, his eyes tracing your every curve. “Because I care about your health.”
You frowned in consideration, your hand lifted to enter your code on the panel beside the door to your shared quarters. You sighed and your eyes almost fluttered shut completely when his strong arms wrapped tightly around your waist, his chest against your back. Your fingers remained still. “Yeah? Not because you want anything in particular?”
He took one of his arms from you to enter the code, using his other arm to turn you around. He tightened his grip on you and lifted you as if you weighed nothing to him, carrying you into the room as your toes lightly brushed the ground. “Take a breath through your nose.”
“Listen, I don’t know when you went to medical school, Doctor Kirk, but—”
“Breathe through your nose,” he pressed, setting you down and watching as you successfully complied with a roll of your eyes. He frowned in consideration and nodded before reaching behind him to pull down the his uniform’s quarter zip, pulling his uniform and undershirt over his head in one swift movement. “Don’t divorce me.”
“I can’t exactly do that right now anyway,” you answered, tilting your head as he held onto you once more, his hands on your hips. You tried not to sigh at the feeling of his thumbs under the hem of your shirt.
“You said sex more than once a week,” he reminded you, his hands inching your shirt up more and more until you lifted your arms and he practically tore it off of you. He tossed it to the side. “We’re one argument about money away from you serving me with papers.”
“No,” you shook your head. “I wouldn’t serve you with process myself. There are people that do that, I’d hire someone.”
He laughed dryly, narrowing his bright blue eyes. “S’not funny.”
You smiled. “S’a little funny.”
“It’s not.”
“Yes, it is. I’d make ‘em dress up like a pizza delivery person. They’d ring your doorbell and you’d be so excited because ‘Wow, where did this pizza come from? Did someone send me a free pizza?’” you said in a deep, dramatic imitative voice, the rasp only making it deeper. “And they’d say, ‘Captain James Tiberius Kirk, you’ve been served.’ And they’d open the box, and the papers would be there.”
He looked over your features silently for a moment, taking in your playful smile, your scrunched nose, your illuminated eyes. “It’s really not funny.”
You sighed, draping your arms over his shoulders. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t laugh if you opened your door to a bulky forty-eight year old man in a pizzeria uniform, fake mustache glued crookedly? Because that’s definitely the only way I would serve you with process.”
His smile was small. “You know, I love you.”
“I do know that.”
He nodded, placing his fingers under your chin and lifting so you’d crane your neck. He pressed his lips to your skin and breathed in the scent of his body wash on you, his shampoo in your hair. “I love you so much.”
Your eyes shut when he pressed his lips to that special spot under your jaw only he knew about. “I know.”
His hand, large and warm, slid to the back of your neck to hold you in place. “Don’t divorce me.”
“I’m not—”
“I don’t mean right now,” he continued, biting down lightly so you had to hold in a gasp.
Your eyes opened a bit when his words registered. “Jim, —”
“I mean in the future.” His fingers undid the drawstring of your pants. “I want to stay married.”
Your eyes shut again, his sigh against your neck signifying his knowledge of your body’s tensing.
He stood up straight and met your eyes with a frown. “You could look less terrified.”
“Jim, we’ve been dating for a few months. What you’re doing is the equivalent of proposing,” you told him, your fingers fiddling with the hair on the nape of his neck. “It’s too soon for that.”
“There’s no set timeline.”
“I know there isn’t— least of all when you start with marriage but—” You suppressed a sigh when his hand left the back of your neck. “But, Jim, it’s too soon. I only just convinced myself it was okay to tell you I’m in love with you. It just— It doesn’t feel too soon to you?”
He shook his head. There was no uncertainty in his eyes. “S’not too soon, not at all. I’ve been in love with you for a while— this isn’t too soon for me.”
You tilted your head, taking your arms from his shoulders. No part of you was touching any part of him. “How long?”
“What?”
“How long have you been in love with me?”
He shrugged. “Maybe since the day we met—”
You blinked, pausing for a long minute. “Since the day we met? When I transferred onto this ship?”
He nodded. “Maybe—”
“You were in love with me when we got married that night?” you asked, looking from one of his eyes to the other. You felt something in your chest sink in that same contradictory way— full but totally empty— it was different this time, though. It hurt this time. “Were you in love with me when you asked me to stay married to you?”
He just stared at you silently for moments that seemed to stretch on forever until he finally nodded.  
“You didn’t think to mention that?” you asked, wetting your lips repeatedly. There was a soft shaking everywhere. “You didn’t think to tell me any bit of it instead of all that ‘platonic’ stuff you kept throwing back at me?”
“Starli—”
“You didn’t think to tell me there were more considerations than just your career?” you blinked and wiped what fell to your cheeks. Your voice, combined with the rasp already cracking each sentence, broke even more with the unfamiliar feeling spreading from your chest to your fingertips. “You didn’t think to tell me it wasn’t just me doing you a friendly favor? That your intentions were a little different?”
“(Y/N), —”
“You had ample opportunities afterwards. We’ve been married for months,” you almost laughed, shaking your head. You glanced down at the ring wrapped around your finger. “How could you not tell me?”
“We’re not— Communication’s not exactly our strong suit.”
You brought your eyes back to his, glaring through the blurriness. “That’s your excuse? That I don’t communicate enough? That I don’t tell you every time I have a feeling about something?”
He opened his mouth to speak but you shook your head with a scoff. “That’s not equal. None of— This isn’t on me.”
“It’s not,” he conceded, watching as you wiped your cheeks. There was an empty feeling in his chest as well, but it was muted by the fear shaking his every limb. “Please don’t cry, let me explain—”
On stubborn impulse, you gritted your teeth and stated, “I’m not crying. I have the flu, I’m just sick.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’m talking about. Just admit to feeling something.”
You wanted to stare at him with an incredulous expression but could only find anger in you. You shook your head. “I need to leave.”
“Wh— Starlight, —”
You shook your head again. “I don’t want to talk about this— not with you. Not when you don’t have the courtesy to tell me why the fuck we’re actually married.”
You turned around to hit your hand against the control panel with more force than necessary, working harder than you’d hoped to erase the crestfallen expression on Jim’s face from your every memory. “You know, if I could somehow file for divorce right now, I definitely would.”
PART 21
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