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imjeralee · 5 years ago

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Wallflower: Chapter 5 - The Long Day

Raihan x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Note: This is my first Pokemon fanfic. I hope you enjoy it :) Originally posted on Archive of Our Own.

Summary: You’re an unassuming Pokemon breeder who works at the nursery in the Wild Area and he’s Raihan, the fearsome gym leader of Hammerlocke who has more than a million followers.

You don’t want anything to do with him but he’s…persistent.

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: Lemon, smut, violence, language

THE LONG DAY

...

It's been a long day.

A match has just finished. He lost, again. The gym challenger jumps up and down happily whilst he recalls his fainted Duraludon and the sandstorm subsides. There's sand in his eyes but he forces himself to blink through it. The crowd's cheers gradually die down as both challengers make their way to the middle of the pitch and shake hands.

"Congrats." Raihan says, before he goes over his rehearsed line. He's said it so many times, he's lost count. He hands out the Dragon badge, gives them a TM as a gift and sends the gym challenger along their merry little way. He'll also keep his eyes peeled whether the gym challenger makes it to the finals or not.

The audience leaves, the stadium grows quiet and Raihan retires to the changing rooms where he pulls off his hoodie, leaving himself in his dragon uniform, plops himself down on a cold, hard bench, removes his headband and checks his phone. He goes through his selfies and opens his trusted app, uses the filters and chooses which one suits his liking. When he's finished with the minor edits, he posts it up on his account and a slew of likes and comments appear within several seconds of being uploaded.

'Great match, Raihan!'

'Loser'

'Ur so hot my king <333'

'Lost again, huh? not surprised'

''I get how u like to use weather in ur battles - sandstorm, rain, hail - but that was a pure shitstorm'

'Sending u so much luv, ur ma precious bby (ง︡'-'︠)ง'

’DADDY’

'Marry me!!!'

'Maybe if u spent more time training ur pokemon rather than taking selfies, u wouldn't b a shitty trainer. Just sayin ¯\_(ツ)_/¯'

'can I suck ur cock??'

The comments are mixed, needless to say. He scrolls down the growing list until he spots one from a fan with a username that seems familiar to him. The message says 'Plz go 2 Spikemuth??? I know u lost but I’ll always b ur biggest fan'.

Huh. Interesting. He hadn't been to Spikemuth for a long time and he hadn't seen Piers for a while either. Checking his Rotom calendar, he sees that he doesn't have any matches scheduled until next week. Maybe he should go and unwind, take a quick break. Replying to the message, he says 'Great idea!'. He doesn't even need to pack anything because he'll just be there for one night; instead, he merely books a return ticket from Hammerlocke to Circhester online and grabs his hotel keycard. Being a gym leader meant he had several privileges, including a twenty four seven hotel room courtesy of Macro Cosmos in Hotel Ionia.

Once he arrives in Spikemuth, it's already nighttime and he hits the nightclub after visiting Piers. He doesn't remember the name of the club but he frequents it and before he enters, he snaps another photo of himself and uploads it.

Inside, the nightclub is bustling. He's used to this type of scene and he goes to the bar, orders a drink. The first drink is on the house because he comes here so often. Although he's alone, he's approached various times by attractive women of all shapes and sizes who take selfies with him. In almost every photo, they stick their tongue out and do the peace sign. The amount of people who recognise him and go up to him as the night goes on makes him a little exhausted, so he doesn't stay in one area of the club for long, opting to change seats often. As soon as he's changed seats for the umpteenth time, he's immediately approached by a girl in a black dress; she's very attractive and slim.

"Hi." She says coolly, looking at him through half-hooded eyes.

"Hey." He replies, taking a sip of his drink.

"What are you doing here?"

He shrugs.

She smiles widely. "I'm Louisa. Are you gonna buy me a drink or you gonna leave me hanging?"

He takes another sip of his drink and settles the glass on the counter. "Sure."

Calling the bartender over by waving his hand lazily, Louisa excitedly takes the seat beside him and he allows her to order what she wants. It's something expensive but he puts it on his tab. For a few minutes or so, they chat and flirt, and she orders more and more drinks and her words become garbled and she asks him invasive questions which he’s used to, then she tells him she wants to be as rich and famous as he is and asks him for his secret. When he tells her there is no secret, her demeanour changes - she rubs her foot against the length of his leg before she slips out of her barstool and tugs at his hand playfully, inviting him to dance. He lets her take the lead and once on the dance floor, she begins grinding against his hips and taking his hands with hers and putting them on her waist.

Louisa's pulling some pretty bold moves but he finds himself looking away and it's then Raihan spots a girl sitting amongst a group of women in one corner who are chatting loudly; he remembers that interview he did recently and this girl - he has never seen her before and she is definetely not a gym challenger either - but she fits everything he described. He can't help but stare. She's wearing a tight, black dress which she doesn't seem to be comfortable in as she sits at the very edge, looking rather lost as she holds her drink in hand. She doesn't even look like she's enjoying herself. He watches her for a few moments or so, noticing how she lifts a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and glance at her companions before she shifts her gaze to her lap. She's clearly not at home here. Raihan stares at her for a little longer than intended, drinking in the sight of her until Louisa steps on his foot with her pencil heel.

"Oh! I'm so sorry - " She says, before she immediately slams a hand over her mouth and rushes away - and promptly projectile vomits all over the floor. Looks like someone’s had too much to drink. She collapses and some concerned members of the public go help her out.

After making sure she's okay, he watches as she's carried out and returns to his seat and orders another drink. He downs it in one sip and wipes his mouth, finding his eyes glued on this other girl who’s captured his eye and piqued his interest; he sees her leaving her seat and walking towards his direction. It appears she's been asked to order drinks because she's the only one sober. Raihan watches her; she walks right past him, not even batting an eyelid.

What the Bidoof? She totally ignored him!

Doesn't she know who he is???

He observes her as she returns to her seat, balancing three drinks on a tray which her friends end up making her drink. A while later, she seems to be drunk as well because she heads to the dancefloor on her own, looking around and swaying slightly. Raihan finishes another drink and his head's throbbing too but what the hell - he wants to talk to her so he heads over and once he reaches her, he slides an arm around her waist and she looks up.

"Hi, do you wanna dance?"

She squints her eyes at him; she didn't hear him over the loud music. "...What?"

He repeats his question.

"I don't...I don't talk to strangers." She manages to slur out.

He's fairly amused; she's so cute, like a little Skitty with her pink cheeks and somewhat dazed expression. "I'm not a stranger, I'm Raihan."

"Who?"

He pauses, momentarily stunned.

Then he grins.

A girl who doesn't know him.

What are the odds, really?

...

Present.

There's a team of investigators at your house; the box has been removed and they opened it.

A pokemon's heart was inside.

You didn't see it but these men dressed in white came and took something red and fleshy out and deposited it into an icebox. The date has ended miserably; you sit on your sofa with the front door open as Looker’s team scour the rest of your house but the culprit is long gone. After taking down your testimony, you wonder what's going to happen next - Looker speaks to a man in scruffy shorts, flip flops, t-shirt, cap and sunglasses. People would've thought this man was a hobo but it was actually Chairman Rose in his civilian disguise. You can't hear what they're talking about but it can't be good. His secretary stands stiffly in silence with her hands clasped together, looking rather solemn.

Raihan sits beside you and you're stuck in his embrace. He's been hugging you the entire time but you feel he needs a hug more than you do because no-one should be facing this alone and also, you are grateful he's here so you wrap your arms around his waist and when you look up at him, he smiles at you reassuringly and pecks you on the forehead before snuggling you, and you do the same. It feels good to be in his arms, even though the date is over and there’s random men in your house, going through your things and trampling over your nice pristine carpet with their mucky boots.

Luckily, your Pokemon were fine - you flung open your door and when you saw Drifloon and Phantump in the living room, you pulled them into a hug and returned them to their pokeballs. Then you looked around for Espie and found her sleeping in your closet so you quickly returned her safely into her ball as well. Poliwag never left the bathroom and was swimming in your bathtub which he had filled with water so you quickly recalled him too. You tucked all your pokeballs into your safe box and counted them three more times just incase. Everyone's accounted for. Thank Arceus, your Pokemon are unharmed. You will call Glenn later and ask if he can pop by your house and look after your Pokemon if he’s free.

What a shit way to end the first date you have with Raihan. You'll remember this for the rest of your life. Oh boy, what a story to tell the grandkids. Jokes aside, the Chairman's presence here doesn't bode well because you know once he finishes talking to Looker, he will probably speak to the both of you. This is bigger than you, Raihan and Looker...no matter how much you wanted to keep the Dusclops in the closet. More and more people are getting involved and will find out about the one night stand. This is humiliating.

Groaning, you close your eyes and Raihan hugs you even tighter than before that your lungs might pop. "Are you okay?" He's asked you that question a few times now.

You're not okay and you don't know whether to humour him or not, so you utter, "This isn't the first time I've seen a dead pokemon. Did I tell you that too?" Sarcastic, cynical response it is. He doesn't deserve it but you can't help yourself in this situation.

"Yeah," He replies (thank goodness he's not offended), "I'm sorry I got you involved."

"It's not your fault."

You resume your cuddling but it's cut short when Chairman Rose finishes talking to Looker and begins heading towards your house and enters through the front door. His secretary follows silently. Immediately, you climb out of his lap, allowing Raihan to stand up and you follow his example, except you begin to tremble slightly until Raihan squeezes your hand. Once Rose is directly in front of you, he exchanges glances between the two of you before he smiles warmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Rose and I'm the Chairman of the Pokemon League. You must be Raihan's new belle." He says.

Belle? Like the character from the popular, classical movie, Beauty and the Buzzwole? This guy is kind of weird. There's something off about him but you can't just put your finger on it.

Before you can even speak, Rose turns to the gym leader and adds, "Raihan, it's been a while since we last saw each other; usually I have no business in your affairs but this time....well, where do I even begin?" He's smiling but you don't think this conversation is heading to a good direction.

"Chairman Rose." Raihan greets him; he's different when dealing with this man. He's more stoic and serious. "We're taking care of it. I've got Looker helping us."

"I'm taking your word for it, but I'm disappointed in you. Get this sorted out right now. This could ruin everything I've worked for and I'm not taking any chances. Why else do you think the paparazzi aren't going crazy over this? I'm paying them to keep their mouths closed."

Raihan's expression doesn't change. "I'm aware."

"I'm glad you understand the severity of the circumstances here." With that, Rose turns and leaves. The tight-lipped woman doesn't say anything and follows after him.

There's a brief silence between the two of you until Raihan sits down on the sofa again.

"Raihan?" You mutter; he keeps his eyes trained on the floor but he looks up when you sit down beside him. "What did he mean? Is...is that why...when the photo of us got posted online, it just vanished the next day? I mean, okay, I guess it's a godsend something else came up but...did Chairman Rose really pay the press off? I'm sure that man won't do things for free......Is it coming from your pay cut?" Although you're not sure exactly how Raihan's making money - either from being sponsored by various companies or individuals, or from his social media - you're not sure but now that you think about it... well, you didn't think about it until now.

He nods.

Oh, shit. Your lip trembles slightly and you rub your elbow awkwardly. "Oh, Raihan."

"It's fine. I didn't want you to worry or get hurt." Raihan says, smiling gently before he reaches for your hand, entwining your fingers with his. You gaze at him worriedly and when he drops the smile, you carefully pull your hand free from his and taking a deep breath, you attempt to calm your thundering heart as you awkwardly slide your arms around him. This is your first time taking the initiative and your cheeks feel warmer than usual. He realises this too and he looks at you in surprise before you give him a squeeze. So... here you are, showing affection and care.

"I think it's best if we lay low after this." You mutter, "Chairman Rose is right. This is getting worse...and your career might be ruined. It's not worth it."

In response, he gives you a tight squeeze.

You hear someone clearing your throat and that's when you both throw your glances over. It's Looker; he looks slightly disgruntled. "Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to check if you’re both okay.”

“Thanks, Looker,” Raihan replies, "We're fine."

”Good.”

As he begins to leave, his Rotom hovers into the air and exclaims, "Bzzzt! Confirmed visual! Suspect is at Rose Tower!"

"Thanks, Rotom. Let's go."

You turn to Raihan and your gazes meet. "...Should we go with him?"

....

Looker leaves Ballonlea and makes his way to Rose Tower; arriving at reception, he shows the receptionist his badge and proceeds to tell her he's looking for someone. He gives a name - a female's - and the receptionist checks internal employee records and informs him this particular employee is located on the fifteenth floor, belonging to the IT department. Looker thanks her and enters the awaiting lift. He's only been to Rose Tower a few occasions and discovers it's quite a sterile environment. He watches various Macro Cosmos employees walking around, all donned in the casual, cool uniform, with the hat and shades and the funky-looking triangle shaped pokeball holders stuck to their hips. They're all role model trainers - friendly, intelligent and hip.

Rotom did an excellent job - Raihan's biggest fan is a Marco Cosmos employee who lives in Spikemuth. It was typical - drunk father, dilapidated environment, hundreds of photos of Raihan in her room... This will be over soon.

Once the lift doors open, Looker finds the next reception desk and asks the lady for the girl and where she sits; the lady asks if she should call her - Looker says no, but asks for access inside - the lady kindly grants permission to enter the IT floor using her pass. Once inside, there are rows and rows of desks in open plan all filled with large computer screens - many employees are looking at two or four screens at one time, tip-tapping away rapidly into their computers. There's numerous Porygon floating around but they don't pay attention to him.

Looker goes up to a random employee and asks if he knows where the girl is. The employee tells him that she's at a booth and points down the hallway. Looker curses and makes his way as quickly as he can to the hot desk area where he sees a lone girl with her back to him, sitting at one of the terminals. Looks like she's in the middle of uploading something. Shit, it's not the video, right? A Banette stands beside her and once it senses Looker's arrival, it tugs on her elbow and hisses, a rattling noise emitting from its body.

"Stop!" Looker yells; he's just a few feet from her and the girl abruptly turns round in her swivel chair. "Don't do it."

It's a young girl; maybe even younger than Raihan's current girlfriend. Looker wasn't sure what to exactly expect but she seems perfectly normal. "Who...who are you??" She demands, clearly stunned by his arrival.

"Don't do it." Looker says sternly; he doesn't bother with any introductions. "I know who you are and what you did. Are you sure you want to do this to Raihan?" Looker points to the computer where the screen is frozen with the commands 'Confirm' or 'Cancel' and she throws her glance to the monitor. "Do you have it in your heart to do something like this to him? Is this something you really want to do? Think about it. If you press that button, you'll ruin everything he's worked for and you know he's worked hard to get to where he is now."

The girl looks annoyed at his words, "I-I don't know what you're talking about. Please leave."

"I went to your home and spoke to your father, and I found the hotel room with the slot behind the light switch where you put the camera. We know what you did to the Deerling. Do you really want to go through with this?"

He's expecting some kind of angry response, some form of retaliation to his claims. However, she merely closes her eyes, re-opens them and says, "You don't understand, nobody does. If I don't do this then he won't even bat an eyelid at me. I did everything for him. He is my everything. I've done everything for him and it's still not enough. He didn't see me at all. He doesn't see me...why doesn't he see me? I do so much for him. I comment on every video and photo, I go to as many matches as I can, I changed myself, I changed my hair, my eyes - but it didn't work, nothing did."

"And are you happy with yourself? With who and what you have become?"

She grows silent.

"You aren't, are you? You probably don't recognise yourself anymore. You probably don't even know who you are anymore. Deep inside, you know this is wrong."

"She was one step ahead. It should've been me, it was supposed to be me."

"But it wasn't. And now you're angry, you're upset and betrayed."

"Yes."

"It doesn't have to be this way."

A brief silence spawns before she casts her morose gaze to the floor. She utters, "He helped me get up every morning....helped me get through the day. If it wasn't for him, I probably would've killed myself a long time ago."

"I understand." Looker replies, "If you really love him, then you would forgive him."

Before the girl can say anything, however, there's the sound of footsteps approaching and Looker turns to see Raihan and his girlfriend standing at the hallway along with a random Macro Cosmos employee - looks like they've just arrived and everyone seems stunned to see each other.

Chaos ensues:

"What's going on here?!" The Marco Cosmos employee demands.

"Goddamnit, what the hell are you two doing here?!" Looker barks angrily; he rarely loses his cool, but this...? Motherfurret!

"What the...what is she doing here?!" The obsessed fan begins to screams; her calm demeanour vanishes at once and her expression turns murderous as she glances at Banette. "Go Banette, attack! Use Shadow Ball!" She promptly turns to the computer and Looker fumbles for a pokeball.

"Growlithe, stop her!" He throws the capsule and releases the puppy pokemon who immediately dashes over and bites on the sleeve of her uniform, pulling her arm away from the mouse but she's able to start the upload.

Banette's Shadow Ball hurtles towards the gym leader's direction; Raihan releases his Duraludon to shield his girlfriend whilst he also throws himself over her. She cannot react in time to Banette's attack but a pokeball stuck to her waist opens up and a burst of light appears, revealing another pokemon that blocks the attack along with Duraludon - it's a Garchomp - and it immediately retaliates with a Dragon Claw, knocking the Banette out in one smooth hit. Looker rushes up to the desk and grabs the mouse, cancelling the upload before it reaches one hundred per cent. Banette's attack bounces off Duraludon and the room grows silent.

”No, Banette!” The obsessed fan screams as Growlithe tugs her away from the computer and Looker quickly pulls out the USB device. With her other hand, she grabs a pokeball off her belt and tosses it forwards, “Druddigon, go!"

As a massive pokemon appears and attacks Growlithe, she is released and she quickly returns her fainted Banette into an Ultra ball before making a run for it. Looker chases after her as she disappears into the emergency exit.

...

"Beldum, use Take Down!"

From that day on, you took Beldum outside to train everyday. The mountains near your home was an ideal place and after a few days of scouring, you found a small patch of grass containing weak pokemon which you could use to train Beldum, namely Trapinch who are at a level much lower than Beldum. You direct Beldum when to attack and avoid and when the Trapinch faints, you jump and down on the spot with joy.

"Yay! You did it!"

Beldum turns to you, eye curling with happiness. You can't always tell what it's thinking but you know it enjoys training. You can also feel it's growing stronger as the days pass. Beldum is not strong enough to face other pokemon so you only have him face Trapinch and so far, you're also noticing that his attack stats are getting stronger compared to his others.

"Phew! Let's go home!" You exclaim, "It's been a long day."

Beldum nods in agreement. You've used up all your potions to keep his health up; no worries though, because Glenn will be going to the pokemart tomorrow and you can ask him to buy some for you. As you return Beldum to his pokeball, suddenly it disappears from your hand and you're shoved from behind. Landing on the ground, your knees scraping in process, you look up to see a group of boys on their bikes who are clutching Beldum's pokeball. Urgh, if it isn't Graham and his little gang.

"Hey! Give me him back!" You yell angrily as you get up wobbly. Your knees are bleeding and so are your palms, but Beldum was more of your concern.

"You want him? Then come get 'im!" Graham exclaims, before he starts pedalling away on his bike. His cronies follow and you growl under your breath, grabbing the handlebars of your bike and lifting it off the ground. You follow the boys as fast as you could go, going deeper and deeper into the forest and up a steep mountain path until you see them up ahead and looks like they've ditched their bikes to crouch in front of some bushes; once you arrive, you climb off your bike and run up to them, furious.

Before you can even yell, Graham grabs you and slaps his grubby hand over your mouth, silencing you. "Shhhh! It'll hear you!" He hisses and you blink, wide-eyed.

He drags you towards the rest of his group where they're spying on a large dragon pokemon in a cave that is hunched over a Deerling... it's a small, feeble thing - and your eyes widen as you see the large pokemon smash the Deerling's head into the ground and it lets out a weak but horrifying, pained bleat until it stops moving. Growling low, the massive dragon pokemon begins to sink its jaws into its body and tear at the flesh. Using it's massive claws, it proceeds to tear the body apart and you see nothing but blood and entrails. The boys are staring, transfixed, whilst you watch in horror. You try to escape but Graham's grip on you is too strong as he forces you to watch, much to your disgust.

"W-what is it?" One of the boys asks.

"I think it's a Druddigon."

"And it's eating that Deerling!"

In unison, they all coo in awe even though you're horrified and repulsed and you try to escape once more, your foot stepping over a twig and causing it to snap loudly. Everyone gasps as the Druddigon immediately turns its head to your direction and the boys make a run for it; Graham lets go of you and pushes you to the ground once more and your head smacks against the dirt. As you sit up, your vision is slightly blurred as you watch the boys grabbing their bikes and pedal away, leaving you behind. You don't know where Beldum is until it appears in a burst of light and hovers in front of you protectively.

"Beldum!" You exclaim with relief. Glancing around, you find Beldum's discarded pokeball and grab it, just as a massive shadow covers your form and you look up to see the huge Druddigon before you. It lets out an insanely loud roar and you scream, throwing your arms over your head to brace for impact -

- but nothing happens.

Lowering your arms, you glance over to see a small blue pokemon with a red tummy that has stopped the Druddigon in its rage; it stands alongside your Beldum, facing off against the dragon. It waves it's little arms and snaps its jaws as it attempts to kick sand at the Druddigon and you know it's using Sand Attack.

A Gible?

Standing up, you know neither of the pokemon are a match against the Druddigon so you recklessly grab your Beldum and the Gible and take off running.

....

Oh crumbs, Looker had almost calmed down the culprit but your group ruined it by waltzing into the scene. Neither of you were aware, of course; you and Raihan had merely arrived at Rose Tower and asked if anyone had seen Looker. A kind Macro Cosmos employee said yes and agreed to take you over to see him. However, the moment you saw that Druddigon and fear gripped you like ice. It's been a long time since you've been afraid and you’re brought to your senses when you hear Garchomp growling and you blink, turning to him.

"Chompy?"

Garchomp emits another growl; you know he's asking if you're okay.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that. Thanks for saving me."

He nods and then turns to the Druddigon.

Ah, that's right. A Gible came to save you that day. It just came out from nowhere and once you successfully ran away from the Druddigon, it decided to stay with you and Beldum. Ever since you added Gible to your team, you trained him until he evolved into a Garchomp and now he's one of your most reliable fighters along with Metagross. You smile fondly at Garchomp as he waddles in front of you and you quickly come to realise that Raihan's Duraludon is fighting the Druddigon; he's whittled down the Druddigon's health until it's weak and you hastily issue a command to finish it off: “Garchomp, use Dragon Claw.” You instruct, and your pokemon strikes down your opponent with speed and strength like no other.

Druddigon is quickly knocked out and Raihan turns to you and your pokemon, grinning. "We make a good team."

You're not sure what to think - Looker was handling it fine without you two. "We shouldn't have come. What were we thinking? We're not ten years old anymore. I'm too old for this." You reply, and Raihan chuckles. Turning to the Macro Cosmos employee who has escorted you to Looker, you see he's busy on the phone informing his superiors about an emergency - also, the entire IT hot desk area is in complete disarray. Your skirmish with Banette and Drudiggon has resulted in many upturned computers and chairs and a few broken desks.

"C'mon, we need to help Looker." Raihan says, reaching for your hand.

You nod and you both recall your pokemon, then head towards the direction where Looker and the girl sprinted off to.

Adrenaline pumps through your veins and your pulse is racing. This is definitely a date to remember. You're going to remember this day for a long time. You reach the emergency exit, opening the doors where you see the stairs as well as three lifts. It's eerily silent - if Looker was chasing the girl, you would hear them, right? Two of the lifts are heading up, so naturally you assume they've taken the lift - looks like it's going to the very top floor - and you and Raihan immediately jump into the third lift once it arrives and take it all the way up. This very exciting moment is temporarily put on hold as you stand side by side and listen to dingy elevator music on your way to the top; Raihan even attempts to take a selfie. He tries to include you in the photo too but you're not in the mood for photos so you politely decline.

Once the doors slide to an open, action rears it's ugly head again - you and Raihan find yourself in a huge outdoor arena; the air here is terribly chilly and you can feel strong gusts of wind blowing from the stands. Your breath comes out in short puffs and you begin to shiver but you see Looker and the obsessed fan ahead; they have finished a pokemon battle with Looker recalling his fainted pokemon. You and Raihan rush up to him but he holds his arm out.

"Don't do anything rash." He warns, and you take note of the obsessed fan who is standing a distance away. The moment she sees Raihan, and her eyes widen with fright.

"Thanks, Looker. What's her name?"

Looker tells him.

"Thanks, I'll talk to her." Raihan mutters.

"Wait, don't - " You and Looker speak in unison, but Raihan is already walking towards her. You help Looker stand on his feet and you both watch Raihan approach the girl. The atmosphere feels terse, thick with tension.

"Hi," He says, smiling, "You're my biggest fan, right?"

"Y-yes, I am." Strange, she's very timid all of a sudden.

He says her name and she nods.

"You....you know my name?"

"Of course I do."

She clamps a hand over her mouth in shock before tears begin bubbling in her eyes.

"Thanks for supporting me. If it weren't for you, for all of you, things could've turned out a lot differently for me. Thanks for being there for me. I get a lot of harsh comments, but you've always cheered me on. Thank you."

She nods vigorously. "Yes, yes, of course I will!!! You're so important to me, I-I - " She clutches her chest, "I can't believe this, you're...you-you're actually talking to me. I-I've always imagined this! And it's really happening!" She can't seem to control herself now as she splutters and stutters before she reaches for him. She wants to touch him and she begins making her way towards him. Raihan doesn't move, allowing her to approach. What the hell?! You try to interrupt but it's too late - as soon as she's in arm's length of him, you see her pulling a knife from behind her and Raihan doesn't realise -

You release Garchomp from his pokeball and he executes a Slash, causing the knife to go clattering out from her hand. She whips her head to you, furious; Raihan exchanges glances between the two of you whilst Looker hurriedly collects the knife.

"I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" You find yourself yelling out; you need to avert her attention from Raihan or else she'll try to pull a stunt like that again should she get the chance. Enraged, the obsessed fan accepts the challenge, grabs a pokeball from her belt and releases her pokemon. It's a Garchomp, too.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Tail!" She directs her pokemon to attack first.

"Outrage!" You yell, and you watch as both Garchomp lunge at each other. You will show no mercy. The moment they clash and you wince as the Dragon Tail connects with your pokemon; your Garchomp assaults the opponent at the same time and both pokemon land on the ground. Her Garchomp wobbles slightly before collapsing. Success! The enemy Garchomp is knocked out cold and your Garchomp is still standing!

Annoyed, she recalls her fainted Garchomp whilst yours stands proudly in the arena, victorious. She chooses her next pokeball and throws it high into the air. "Go, Dragonite!"

You return Garchomp, thank him for his hard work and choose your next battler. "Go, Tyranitar!"

Raihan watches you and your pokemon with his arms crossed and a smile; you know he's impressed but there's no time to waste.

"Hyper Beam!" The obsessed fan commands, and the Dragonite begins gathering energy in its mouth.

"Ice Punch!" You yell, and Tyranitar acknowledges your instruction with a roar and slams one arm towards the direction of the Dragonite's belly. A cluster of thick ice surrounds your Tyranitar's claw which proceeds to ram into the Dragonite and it stops in mid-attack, promptly knocking out the dragon pokemon with one hit. It's super effective!!!!

The Dragonite is recalled and there's only one pokeball attached to her belt; the obsessed fan is down to her last pokemon. You wonder what her final pokemon is - and she tosses the ball onto the field. A Hydreigon appears in a burst of light and you stare as she quickly returns it; a bright red light appears on her wrist and begins to gather around her - she has a Dynamax band - and she grabs the ball which has become enlarged and throws it high into the air, revealing the Dynamaxed Hydreigon. It promptly flaps its massive wings and a fierce gust of wind almost knocks you off your feet if Tyranitar didn't help by shielding you.

"Thanks, boy." You say, as Tyranitar growls affectionately at you before turning to face the gigantic Hydreigon. "It's Dynamaxed but don't be afraid."

Tyranitar throws it's glance to the ground, twiddling it's claws together timidly.

"You can do it! I believe in you!!" You pat him on the back, and Tyranitar returns to the field. "Use Stone Edge!"

Your Tyranitar nods and emits a roar; the ground shakes and just as the Hydreigon is beginning it attack, Tyranitar summons enormous pillars of rock that burst out from the ground and slams into the Hydreigon without delay. Although it's not a super effective move, the attack hits the Hydreigon square in the chest and it begins to explode in a glorious display of fire and light before it begins to return to normal size. He did it!!

Raihan and Looker watch as the dust clears away. The obsessed fan is out of pokemon. Your pokemon had completely and utterly decimated her team in minutes and her jaw drops in disbelief.

"No!" She yells, furious. Distraught, she looks around the arena shakily before she runs for the railings - you know what she's trying to do - before she can throw herself off, Raihan has grabbed her, hauling her away from the edge just in time. She lands in his chest as he drops over the floor and she attempts to wriggle free, flailing violently. Although you wonder if she's got another knife hidden somewhere, you get the feeling she's out of options and now she is truly helpless. Raihan sits up with the girl who's crying heavily and she's immediately intercepted by Looker who takes out a pair of handcuffs, slapping them on her wrists.

You recall Tyranitar, rush over to Raihan as he gets up to stand, grinning at you. Without thinking twice, you throw your arms around him; he's taken aback by your action, eyes wide, before he chuckles and quickly wraps his arms around you in return and scoops you off the ground; you find your feet leaving the floor and you quickly adjust yourself to this new position, slipping your arms around his neck whilst he keeps you hoisted up with his arms tucked under your knees, your chest pressed against his.

"You idiot, you could've gotten killed!" You can't help but scold him.

Your faces are close as he clutches you. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

"Not good enough." You retort, "Don't do that ever again!"

"Okay." He leans in and quickly pecks you on the mouth and you find your anger subsiding; you can't stay mad at him.

The two of you then turn to Looker who is escorting the obsessed fan out of the arena and towards the lifts. She's still crying uncontrollably, and Looker glances at you and Raihan. "Good job," Looker grunts out, "Thanks for your help, I appreciate it."

"What's going to happen now?"

"You both need to come with me to the police station." Looker replies, and Raihan - still carrying you - begins to trail after him.

"You can let me down." You tell him but he merely smiles at you cheerfully.

"Nope, I like carrying my princess like this ~ "

...

At the police station, there's a lot to do but Looker releases both yourself and Raihan after a few hours; you have provided another set of testimony and it does appear the case is closed. He thanks you for your efforts in stopping the obsessed fan and also your assistance with police investigation. Unused to receiving compliments, you stuttered out that you didn't do anything substantial. Meanwhile, there is some damage to Rose Tower but Macro Cosmos will deal with this themselves and Looker will ensure there are no repercussions on you and Raihan. When you ask Looker what will happen next, Looker informs you that the fan is charged with a number of crimes - recording illegally, blackmail, abuse of employee rights, invasion of privacy, attempted murder and pokemon slaughter. It will depend if charges are to be pressed - in a few days, she could stand trial and her pokemon, confiscated.

Attempted murder? It sounds serious and you scratch your head in befuddlement. It's taking a while to sink in that you were in a dangerous situation earlier...it's like something out of a crime drama or an action movie. Again, these sorts of stuff might happen to your friends, yes. Just not...you.

You can't help but wonder how Raihan feels. Is he doing well? Should he see a counsellor after this? Is he traumatised? You stand at the vending machine, slotting in coins for two fresh waters. You collect the drinks and turn round to see Raihan sitting quietly with his gaze trained on the floor. He's not on his phone, either. You sit down beside him and hand him the bottle of water; he thanks you, unscrews the lid and takes a few gulps.

You both sit in silence for a while until you say, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He breathes in and exhales gently then leans back on the seat, resting his elbows on the chair and looks up at the ceiling. You guess he isn’t in a mood to talk - which you will respect so you don't press him any further. However, he reaches for you, lifts you off your seat and eases you into his lap. He lifts you up as though you weighed nothing. You blink owlishly as he encircles his arms around your waist and buries his nose into your hair, inhaling your scent. You're unmoving for a few moments before you slowly wrap your arms around him. Your action prompts him to clutch onto you tighter, his grip on you increasing.

It becomes a full body hug with your chest pressed tightly against his and your hips knocking together, your arms wrapped tightly around his neck whilst he holds you by the waist. You’re so close to him you can feel his breath on your cheeks. You rest your chin on his shoulder and give him a little rub on his back. His muscles are tense. You hope he will loosen up but all Raihan does is hold you close to him and you can feel the warmth that radiates from his body as well as his steady heartbeat. This actually feels...nice.

There's never a dull moment with Raihan, because he begins trailing little kisses over the side of your face as you cling onto him. You can feel him grinning against your skin before he presses another kiss over your cheek and finally, your lips.

...

Once you return home, you open the door to see Glenn in your living room, playing with your Pokemon. He's wearing a Hydreigon hood with Hydreigon sock puppets on each hand. You bristle at the sight but say nothing. Meanwhile, Espeon sits at his feet, watching. Even Poliwag has left the bathroom and is now sitting in the armchair to his left. Upon your arrival, everyone looks up and Glenn removes the hood and grins widely at you, "Yo!!! How was the date?"

You exhale loudly as you trudge over, removing your bag and collapsing over the couch beside him; you drop your head on his shoulder and groan. "It was fine. I have something for you." You take out Ponyta's pokeball and hand it to him. Glenn has been looking for one for a long time and you know he really wants one, so you figured you'd gift it to him.

"Ohh, a pokemon! This is so exciting! I wonder what's inside?" Glenn takes the pokeball off you and opens it, releasing the horse pokemon and for a few seconds, he's stunned as it lets out a high-pitched whinny and clops its hooves. Glenn's jaw hits the floor. "Oh my Drowzee, whaaaaaat! No way!! Whaaaaaaat? Nooooo, it can't be - whaaaat!"

"Yep, it's a Galarian Ponyta."

He lets out a hoot of joy. "Thanks, sis!!!!" Glenn exclaims cheerfully as he reaches over and pinches at your nose with his fingers hidden behind the Hydreigon puppet before he rushes over to the Ponyta and throws his arms around it. "Ohhh, you're so beautiful, yes you are!! I'm gonna call you 'Sugarplum'."

You giggle as Glenn continues fawning and doting over the Ponyta who neighs in response as he hugs it. It appears to have taken a liking to him immediately and he returns it to the ball, grinning widely. "Thanks, sis!"

"Raihan caught it but he gave it to me.”

He blinks. "Really?! That's amazing! Can you thank him for me?"

"Of course."

You and Glenn settle on the couch again where he continues where he left off with the Hydreigon puppet, "Hydreigon used Dazzling Gleam!"

You wrinkle your nose in response; you don't remember Hydreigon being capable of using this fairy type move, but you're well aware Glenn likes to improvise a lot. "Do you have another puppet?"

"I sure do." Glenn fishes around his bag and gives you a puppet - it's an Espurr with pink beady, glassy eyes - and you promptly drape it over your right hand. Phantump and Drifloon watch, engrossed. "Hydreigon used Dark Pulse!"

"Nooooo, it's super effective!" You cry, shaking your puppet and Espeon hisses angrily at Glenn, "But Espurr clung on using it's Focus Sash! Espurr used Play Rough!"

"It's super effective!!!" Glenn roars, throwing his fists into the air, "Hydreigon regained a little of it's HP using its Leftovers! Hydreigon used Dragon Pulse!"

"Espurr fainted!" You yell, and you make the Espurr puppet squeak with pain before doubling over. Phantump trills loudly in response whilst Poliwag and Drifloon looks between the two of you. And Espeon is still hissing in dismay. When it grows silent, the two of you burst into laughter before you drop to the couch, exhausted.

"Long day, huh?" He asks, when you stop laughing.

"Yeah," You say, "...It was a long day."

...

#raihan x reader #raihan #Raihan x you #wallflower #jeralee #archiveofmyown #fanfic #fic #pokemon #pokemonshield #pokemonsword #pokemon shield and sword #kibana

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lookbackmachine · 6 years ago

Text

Disney Afternoon History Part 1

Disney Afternoon Part 1

Transcript of: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-look-back-machine/id1257301677?mt=2

[music]

0:00:06 Speaker 1: Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, The Fonz, was the pinnacle of cool for a generation. The leather jacket, the jukebox and "Ayyy". And in 1981, he hit the cultural height of fame with his own Saturday morning cartoon show. Unlike, say, Mork & Mindy in which Robin Williams was limited by the constraints of reality, there's nothing inherently animated about Happy Days, but that wasn't a deterrent for the Academy Award winning studio Hanna-Barbera, when they created this.

[music]

[video playback]

[music]

0:01:19 S1: The animated Fonz didn't just jump the shark, he time traveled so he could ride a brontosaurus. Jumping the shark seemed baked into the premise of many of the cartoons from this period, because they started as a gimmick and only kept gimmicking. Besides a big hit with The Smurfs, this period, for Hanna-Barbera, was littered with Scooby-Doo knockoffs.

[video playback]

0:01:49 S1: The studio that once produced The Flintstones, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi, Snagglepuss and The Jetsons was producing uninspired paint by numbers replicas. The parity was at its peak when the animated Fonz had a supporting role in Laverne & Shirley in the Army. The cartoons essentially amounted to barely animated fan fiction. For years, art and commerce clashed on Saturday mornings and commerce had a far better record. And yet, only four years later, a cartoon would raise the artistic bar for the medium, and strangely, it would be based on the currency of kid commerce, candy.

[music]

0:02:34 S1: Animated television started in 1949, as it should, a talking rabbit wearing a suit of armour, riding a horse toward camera. It was the spectacular opening of Crusader Rabbit, whose other animation wasn't nearly as good as the opening. It was designed, with little to no movement, by Alex Anderson, who was inspired by Baby Weems, from Disney's behind the curtain feature, The Reluctant Dragon. In the Baby Weems segment, there are story boards with a tiny bit of motion included to keep it from being entirely static. There are quick cuts, camera movements, and narration to carry the short all the way to the end. After seeing this, Anderson believed he could use this barebones style to have notoriously expensive animation make financial sense for television. He partnered with Jay Ward and the two created The Crusader Rabbit shorts for NBC. The shorts were successful and ran for several years, which sparked Anderson and Ward to create the cartoons that they were famous for, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right. Despite their massive success, their partnership didn't end well. In fact, it got worse, even though Ward was already dead. Alex Anderson, animator.

0:03:45 Speaker 2: I was surprised that... To discover that my 50% equity in the characters had disappeared and was not being honored. Yeah, I went to court, sued, got them to acknowledge that I was the creator. I learned about it at his funeral, when I was doing a eulogy and the names of several of us who were doing a eulogy were indicated, and it said Alex Anderson, creator of Bullwinkle and Rocky. And somebody had scratched it out and said, "An artist who worked for Jay Ward." And I thought, "Well, what's this? Why is this in?" Then I started checking and I found that, indeed, Jay had registered the characters in his name.

0:04:31 S1: The show's limited animation technique was taken by Hanna-Barbera and updated with better animation to produce several hits like Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, and eventually the Flintstones, a primetime hit for ABC in 1960. Hanna-Barbera went on to an unprecedented run of hits and non-hits, but when it came to television animation, Hanna-Barbera was in a class of their own. However, things fell off in the 1980s. In those years, The Smurfs were their only big hit. This left a gaping hole in the market that was filled by cartoons based on toys, like GI Joe and He-Man. But their ratings were drooping as well. And then something happened that had never happened before. During the entire history of television animation, from 1949 to 1984, the most famous animation company in the world never produced a single animated television cartoon. That was about to change with a single brunch, but the events leading up to that brunch showed an American titan in peril.

0:05:36 S1: Walt Disney was dead, to begin with, he died in 1966. But he was still running the company from his grave. After all the company's internal motto was, "What would Walt do?" But hypothesizing about what a genius would do is not the same as having the genius actually there. Because when it came to the question of "What would Walt do?" the company wasn't guessing correctly. Even though it was 1984, its last motion picture hit had been The Love Bug, in 1968. And so, because the company no longer had Walt, it figured the next best thing was Ron Miller, an ex Ram quarterback and Walt's son-in-law, who became CEO in 1978.

0:06:16 S1: The best quote to describe Miller's tenure was his own, "Because of Walt, because of his influence, I second-guess myself all the time." Miller wasn't only contending with Walt's legacy, he was also dueling with E. Cardon Walker, who was the chairman of the board. Walker had been one of Walt's right-hand men. He was in charge of advertising and public relations. And in his tenure, Walker launched the Disney Channel, opened Epcot and Disneyland Tokyo, but he also had peccadilloes that were killing the company. Walker was not in favor of a $1 parking fee. "The parking lot is the first thing the guests see. We have to keep our prices low." And despite having been in charge of advertising, Walker did not believe in advertising or marketing. The Disney parks did not run ads or commercials. For some perspective, the first American newspaper advertisement was in 1704. In 1922, Queensboro Corp buys airtime from AT&T to create the first radio commercials in advertising history. The first TV ad was aired for Bulova watches in 1941, which cost $9. Advertising was not new, and yet, E. Cardon Walker wouldn't do it.

0:07:26 S1: In fact, Walker was even stingy on advertising when it came to the motion picture division. Budgets for advertising were growing since the big blockbuster Jaws. ET had cost $10 million in ads alone, but when Disney's TRON came out, they gave it such a minuscule advertising budget that no one knew the film was even out. The film took a $17 million write-down. While all this was going on, there was another heir to the Disney throne who was dubbed the idiot nephew by Uncle Walt himself, who once said, "My nephew will never amount to anything." Thanks to Walt-think inside the studio, Roy Disney was considered the village idiot. It didn't help that he wasn't the most charismatic individual. John Sanford, director, Home On The Range.

0:08:11 Speaker 3: He had this legacy kinda handed to him, and I think he really took it seriously. But on the other hand, he was just a normal guy who happened to have a ton of money. We were in La Verne, California, I think it was, at this movie theater. Doing a preview for Home On The Range, and there was a Bed Bath & Beyond, and Patty suddenly turns to Roy and says, "Oh, Roy, they've got glasses on sale. Do you mind if I go looking?" "Eh, go ahead, Patty." And Patty runs into the Bed Bath & Beyond and he says, "You know, we need to get new glasses. You know, you've got kids and they break all the glasses. And suddenly, it's 20 years later, and you don't have one glass that matches. So Patty wants new glasses." And he's just talking very frankly like that. And I said, "Yeah, I know that. I know how that goes." And then Patty comes running up. "Oh, Roy. They've got a wonderful set of glasses that are on sale. Let's go in and get them." And Roy goes, "Well, I don't wanna carry them all over the goddamn mall." And she goes, "Okay. I guess we'll get them later." [chuckle] It was just fun to watch them, 'cause it was like... Reminded me of watching my grandparents bicker.

0:09:12 S1: Roy didn't like his role at the company, nor constantly being at odds with Miller, so Roy left in 1977, but remained on the board. From afar, he watched the animation division go to hell, which was once the company's crown jewel. On Miller's watch, the Fox and the Hound was almost torpedoed, when soon-to-be-legendary animator Don Bluth left the studio after run-ins with Miller and the executives, and Bluth didn't leave alone, he took 15 animators with him. At the time, Ed Hansen, the head of the animation department, said this, "The whole animation department could have gone under at that time. As it was, we made it, but the release of the film has been delayed, and we lost half of our creative staff." Bluth had his own thoughts. "The thing that would help Disney the most is to have a living profit, not a committee. They need somebody who knows and cares about animation. They won't roll up their sleeves and plunge in like Walt did. They wanna hire somebody to do it. It just doesn't work that way. I think they've found that out now. It was a matter of constantly bumping up against Ron Miller and the older guys, people who wouldn't relinquish authority and who wouldn't make a decision except by committee. It just doesn't work that way. They had some of the best talent in the world there. But if a production head doesn't have talent or push, you won't make it."

0:10:29 S1: In spite of everything, the company did have some good news. Miller had gone against the Disney Brain Trust and was making adult fare with his newly-created Touchstone Pictures, and he had a huge hit on his hands with Ron Howard's Splash, on March 9th, 1984. It just also happened to be the same day that Roy Disney decided to resign from the board. Roy Disney's resignation set off a chain reaction. Corporate raiders tried to take over the company. Miller was forced out. Walker retired. Roy took a vice-chairman and chairman of animation role. Michael Eisner became CEO and Chairman of the Board. Frank Wells became President, and Jeffrey Katzenberg took the role of Walt Disney Studios chairman, and the corporate raiders were turned away. Eisner and Katzenberg had blazed a trail at Paramount and became the talk of the town for their track record and by throwing their names into the press as much as humanly possible. Meanwhile, Frank Wells had been vice chairman of Warner Brothers. They set about using their industry experience to transform a company that was run like a mom-and-pop shop.

0:11:33 S1: The fourth member of their team was assets, and there were assets galore that Disney simply wasn't utilizing to their full potential, or at all. The Walt Disney Company was like the drowning man in the flood who doesn't accept help from a rowboat, motorboat, or helicopter because he believes God will save him. The man dies, and he meets God and asks, "Why didn't you come to my rescue?" God says, "I sent you a rowboat, motorboat and a helicopter. What do you want from me?" Now, Eisner, Wells and Katzenberg would take the rowboat, motorboat and helicopter to the promised land. Under their leadership, the company began advertising its parks. Attendance rose 10%. They raised the price of admission, which led to hundreds of millions of dollars into the company's coffers. Eisner releases Disney classics on home video. It was initially sacrilegious in the company, but money talks. Cinderella alone made $180 million in revenue. Animation was losing money, so they thought about shutting it down. But Eisner didn't wanna piss off Roy, so they kept it around. It was a smart choice because Roy was a little bit more cunning than he seemed. He was no Richard III but he'd just usurped his own brother-in-law. And because Eisner would later fail to keep him happy, Roy would take out Eisner decades later. Roy might have been treated like Fredo, but he was secretly Michael Corleone.

0:12:57 S1: But that was a long way off, now Eisner was simply basking in his good fortune. "Such a bounty has fallen in my lap. Every day a new asset falls out of the sky. The real estate is just gravy, there are 40 unused acres next to Disneyland planted in strawberries." To re-emphasize his life on easy street, he was drinking a milkshake when he said that. And of course, there was another blue-ocean opportunity for Eisner to slurp up, animated television. On Eisner's first day at the studio, he announced he wanted to have a Disney TV cartoon on the air in 10 months.

[music]

0:13:35 S1: Willie Ito, animator.

0:13:41 Speaker 4: We knew internally at Disney that things are gonna start happening. And so, one day, they had all of the Burbank employees meet in the backstage set, we had a big open set area and everyone from the studio was there. And Michael Eisner was introduced and the whole bit. Then he gave us the overall picture as to what to expect in the future now that the new regime is here. And one of the things he commented on was we're going to alt Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera.

0:14:20 S1: According to the New York Times, he asked someone to find them the six most creative people at Disney to figure out how to make Disney TV animation work, which leads to the aforementioned brunch that started it all. One of the creatives brought to the table was Jymn Magon. Magon had produced story records for Disney music for eight years. Why bring a record producer, with no animation experience, to the table?

0:14:41 Speaker 5: I ask myself that every morning when I wake up, [chuckle] it's a bit amazing. Well, one of the things that Michael Eisner did before he was at Paramount was... I think he was head of ABC children's programming, I think he told me that he was the guy who actually bought the Scooby-Doo franchise from Hanna-Barbera, which of course, is still running after all these years. So, that was very successful, and I think he always had a soft spot for TV animation, and so when he took over the company in '84, one of the first things he wanted to do was to start a TV animation department. So, being new to the company, I think he just looked at different departments and said, 'I wanna meet some of the bright people that are doing things here at the company.' And we had just made a lot of money off of Mickey Mouse disco and a lot of projects that were new at the time in the record business. And so Gary Krisel, who was the president of Disneyland records, and myself, were invited over to Michael Eisner's house on a Sunday morning. Michael Eisner invited a bunch of people... Not a lot, I think there were about 12, in all, that were at this meeting in his living room on a Sunday morning in Bel-Air. And I had never been to Bel-Air, never been invited to someone's house up there, [chuckle] so, it was very fancy-shmancy for me.

0:16:01 S1: And there was also Tad Stones, who began his work at Disney in 1974. He was an uncredited animator on the Fox and the Hound as late as 1981. Now, he too was at the brunch.

0:16:13 Speaker 6: I was in Features, I eventually moved into Story, went to Imagineering and help design rides for Epcot Center, and back in charge of some Epcot Center documentaries that then never happened. Eventually ended up back in Features, I'm not sure they knew what to do with me. And that's about the time management changed, with Michael Eisner coming in and Jeffrey Katzenberg and those guys. And I was... Along my trials through the company, I had done some animation development for the guys over in the merchandising side of things 'cause they felt like the only way to really sell toys is to have some cartoons on TV. You can't wait for these features that come out every four years, or so, 'cause that's what it was at the time. Anyway, those same guys were pitching TV animation to Michael Eisner. I was actually on vacation, but I got a call that said, "We know you're on vacation, we know it's gonna be Sunday, but would you mind coming to Michael Eisner's house to talk about television animation?" So I was like "Yeah [chuckle], I think I can make time." Went there with like 10 people. These were the guys who basically I had worked with before and they were impressed with what I had done. And from the beginning, Michael Eisner felt like Disney is the top in animation, and it should be in every area that animation is in, it doesn't mean that television animation is going to look like feature animation, but it should be the best TV shows in animation on TV.

0:17:39 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:17:40 Speaker 7: Michael revealed that he wanted to start this new department, he wanted us to come up with some ideas and whatnot, and he actually came up with an idea himself, which was his kids who were in the other room eating cereal in the kitchen, in their pajamas [chuckle] on Sunday morning, had just come back from camp and I guess they had told him that they were eating these really cool candies called Gummi bears. And he said, "I just like the sound of that." And he looked at me, which was really weird, 'cause he didn't know me at all, and he said, "Make me a show called Gummi Bears." And I thought, "Why'd he pick me out?" [laughter] And I said, "Oh yeah, cool, great."

0:18:20 S6: So I pitched an old project, Mickey and the Space Pirates, they liked it a lot, but then they said, "No Mickey... We wanna make sure we can pull this off. Mickey is too precious." So there was a lot of respect there going in. No one was prepared to actually pitch shows. I had that artwork left over from stuff I had pitched to the merchandising guys, who were in the room, but it was kind of more feeling what Eisner wanted.

0:18:43 S7: But Tad was at that meeting, and he didn't come over for probably a full season to TV animation, but he eventually did, and thank God he did, because we worked on so many shows over there. But yeah, he was at that initial meeting, and he had a lot of great ideas. But he didn't come join us right away. And afterwards, we all met at a coffee shop, in Brentwood, and I remember us all kind of looking at each other, like, "This guy's crazy. Who wants to do a show about characters that get eaten every week?" [chuckle]

0:19:15 S6: And I remember saying, "Well, he seemed pretty sharp and respectful of animation, except for that idea about Gummi bears, that's like doing pepperoni people, or something. I don't know how to do that".

0:19:25 S7: So I think we all kind of felt like, "He's a busy man. This will all go away". It was about two weeks later I got a call, "So where's my show?" "Well, I'm writing it now", [chuckle] and I typed up something and it was horrendous, but it was the beginnings of development. And so I ended up, at one point, doing two jobs, I was still doing my record producing, but I was also developing two shows, both Wuzzles and Gummi Bears for Disney. And we didn't even have offices for the department back then. I remember we went over to a fellow named Lenny Ripps. Lenny Ripps was responsible for creating Full House and he was under contract at Disney for the time, and Lenny said, "Come on over, let's talk about this." And so there was Gary Krisel, who was going to be the president of the new division. So he was doing double duty at the same time, with records and TV animation. And Michael Webster turned out to be our office manager, and there was me. And that was the four of us sitting there around a card table in Lenny's office kicking ideas around. And that's how that department started, very bizarre and very humble.

0:20:47 S7: I remember having to take pitches from people and we were discouraged from doing that, because Disney became a big company and had deep pockets, and of course, people would come in and pitch, and then say, "You stole my ideas." And so pretty much kept to ourselves and almost all the development was from inside, from people on staff. So we didn't... It was in the time of [0:21:10] ____ and other people pitching their ideas from outside. There was a travel office for Disney across the street from the studio in Buena Vista and it was just a crummy old office building. And I think that's where we put Art Vitello when they brought him in to run Gummi Bears. And they were just sort of makeshift offices, they put some of the artists on the back lots, above the tea room. We were just spread all over. So we all became sort of bastard children.

0:21:41 Speaker 8: This is the great book of Gummi.

0:21:45 Speaker 9: What's in it?

0:21:46 S8: Well, we really don't know.

0:21:49 S6: Well, they actually developed Gummi bears kind of on a candy basis with a villain called Licorice Whip, I think. And they were actually gonna have the Gummi bears give dental hygiene messages at the end of every show. That went nowhere, and they threw it all out and came up with what was on the air.

0:22:06 S1: Instead of candy, the show got a complicated 500-year-old plus mythos. The Gummi bears were descendants of the great gummies, tasked with protecting all things Gummi from human greed and exploitation.

0:22:18 S7: I was very fortune that I got to work with two of my childhood heroes, which were Rocky and Bullwinkle. I found myself staring at Bill Scott a lot because besides doing all the voices of George of the Jungle and Tom Slick and Bullwinkle, he was a fantastic writer, and he had written all of these commercials for Quaker Oats, Quisp and Quake and Cap'n Crunch, and stuff like that. He once said to me, "You know the old story, Jymn, about how do you make a statue of an elephant? Well, you start with a block of granite and you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant". He says, but writing a script is different. You start with nothing, and you chip away until you have a story. [chuckle] And I thought, "Oh, that's interesting. You don't even have the rock to work with." [laughter] And I just thought he was a delight. He died after the first season of Gummi Bears and that was just devastating for us.

0:23:16 Speaker 10: Welcome to the land of Wuz, where nobody is like anybody you've seen before. The people who live in Wuz are called Wuzzle, naturally. And as you've probably guessed, Wuzzles are a little bit, you know, different.

0:23:33 S7: I didn't stay on Wuzzles. Once we got the two shows sold, I stayed exclusively on Gummi Bears. But in the early days, we were trying to put together these shows to pitch to the networks. And we had a show called Jumble Isle, the idea was that there were these animals that were jumbled up, and there were two of each animal. And, lo and behold, it turns out Hasbro has... Already has a project called The Wuzzles, which they had plush animals at the time. And, again, I don't know the ins and outs of the business side, but it was decided, "Well, why create these things when they already exist and let's just do a deal with Hasbro to take our development and put it with their characters." which I'm not even sure they had much of a back story. But once the deal was made, then we'd develop them into talking, breathing, and living characters. [chuckle] And so what happened was that Wuzzles then went on to have its own production department, just like Gummi Bears had, but like I said, my involvement at that point, I had dropped out after it sold to CBS.

0:24:39 S1: Besides Wuzzles and Gummi Bears, Disney television animation had one more venture in its early years. Fluppy Dogs was the first animated Disney feature for television. The show revolved around the Fluppy Dogs going through an interdimensional portal to Earth. It got a 5.3 rating on November 27th, 1986. The numbers were so low that it killed off the idea for a television series based on the special, and with that, Fluppy Dogs was over before it even really got started.

0:25:08 S7: Fluppy Dogs was sort of the... I kinda call it the albatross around the neck. [chuckle] It was a cross to bear. And I think everybody in the department worked on it at one time or another. And so what happened was that we were gonna do this Fluppy special and it was going to be the kickoff for a series and it just never took off, it never... It just never happened, and I think we were all kind of glad it didn't go any further. I mean, they were cute, but I just remember it being like, "Oh crap, I don't wanna go on another meeting about Fluppy Dogs." [chuckle]

0:25:49 Speaker 11: We've been to so many worlds. I don't know how long it's been since I've seen my family.

0:25:55 Speaker 12: You can talk!

0:25:56 S1: I wish you wouldn't keep saying that, I've been talking since I was 3.

0:26:00 S1: I'm sorry, but I mean, talking dog? Fluppy, and doorways to other worlds? I just wanna find one world, my world.

0:26:12 S1: Disney was going in cheap in terms of the price for pristine Disney Animation. Disney knew they couldn't afford movie quality animation and expect to make a profit. But Disney still spent $285,000 on each episode of Wuzzles. That was double what Hanna-Barbera would spend. It was so much, in fact, that it was $35,000 more than it was being paid by CBS. Why spend so much? The reasoning was simple, if it looked better than everything else on TV, then the characters could become part of the parks, and because of the success rate of their recent films, Disney needed characters more than ever. Willie Ito, animator.

0:26:51 S4: When I was at Hanna-Barbera, Michael Eisner was the VP of Children Programming at ABC. So when we were doing presentations and they would fly out here to review what we were working on, Joe would ask us to come in on a Saturday, sit at our desk as if we're busy bees and then bring Michael Eisner and his people through, and says, "Hey, here, look, they're all working on the new show idea," and then see the presentation. So I knew of Michael Eisner. And so, when he says he's gonna hop Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera, I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I came back to Disney to get away from this rat race, and I hope we're not gonna be all caught up in the middle of it." Well, to make a long story short, a few months later, a fellow named Michael Webster, who I worked with in animation, was hired on to be production coordinator for the newly forming Disney TV Animation. Michael got with me and says, "How would you like to come back to animation?" I said, "Michael. No, please don't, don't do this to me. I'm perfectly happy. I'm actually in my new career back at Disney." And he says, "Well, we're gonna have a little boutique operation. All we're gonna do is be responsible for the scripts and we'll do story boards and maybe character design, but otherwise, everything is going to be farmed off to a production house. So we're just gonna have a little boutique operation and let me dangle this carrot in front of their view."

0:28:29 S4: What it was is, he says, "I know you used to make a lot of trips to Japan and Asia, and you know a lot of the production houses over there. So I wanna send you there and meet with these different companies and talk business." And he says, "Well, we'll be sending you first class. You'd stay at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo." And then all that. How could I resist? Plus, the fact that there was a handsome increase because of my position, would be like an executive thing. "Michael, I'm gonna give you three months. That's what I could promise you." So, "Okay, that's a deal." I did the pilot storyboard for a two-minute pilot. The soundtrack was recorded. They cut the exposure sheets, and the whole bit, and with those two copies under my arm, I flew to Tokyo. As I was registering, this American gentleman approaches me, "So are you Mr Ito?" I say, "Yeah." And he says, "Oh, hey. I understand you're here to make pilot films for your fledging Disney TV animation." I said, "Yeah, I am. You could talk to me initially, but the decision will be Michael Webster, who will be arriving here in about half an hour."

0:29:50 S4: So we sat in the lobby, having a cocktail, and then Michael shows up and he's at the desk and I said, "Well, there's Michael now." So, well, we flag him over and he says... The fellow talking to us says, "What we wanna do is we wanna throw our hat in the ring. I understand you're gonna be talking to people at Toei Animation in Tokyo, then you're gonna be flying to Korea, and you're gonna be meeting with Steve Hahn at the Korean studio." I said, "Well, we only have two sets of soundtrack, exposure sheets and copies of the layouts and storyboards." He said, "No problem, they can make copies of all that." "So, okay, what do you think, Michael?" And Michael said, "Yeah, sure, why not?" So we awarded them to also do a pilot. Three months later, the three studios submitted their two-minute pilot. So the three pilots came in. We all go in the sweat box, all the executives are there, I think even Roy Disney Jr was sitting in on it, and all of the newly-appointed executives of the newly-formed Disney TV Animation.

0:31:02 S4: So we sit there and, number one, okay, number two, then number three, then the lights go on, and then now we have to say which one we liked, and it was unanimous. We liked this one, say, number two. Well, it turned out that that was produced by a company named Tokyo Movie Shinsha. It had nothing to do with the other two that we submitted, but this one had the rich, full animation and all that. So they got the contracts. So TMS is the producing company. TMS, they later did the Little Nemo in Slumberland feature also, and so they had access to a lot of young Disney animators with full animation training to work on their project. As a matter of fact, even that two-minute pilot, they sort of farmed out some of the animation to Disney animators, that's why it showed such quality and it beat out the Koreans and the Japanese studio.

0:32:08 S4: They cheated, but, in essence, they... Disney kept striving to get the utmost in animation quality, which is good, because that was one of my concerns. If Disney gets into TV animation, are they gonna lose their integrity by just schlocking it on, doing limited animation, and all that, but the quality is there.

0:32:34 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:32:35 S7: I remember we did a lot of tests with other studios. We ended up with... At least for Gummi Bears, we ended up with TMS, Tokyo Movie Shinsha, and I had to remember, when I was really used to looking at hamburger sort of animation, which is you move across the proscenium left to right, the background that keeps repeating, and that's sort of what we grew up with and were used to. And I remember the first episode of Gummi Bears, I saw Sir Tuxford ride his horse into camera. The horse came to camera, he did a full turn around, which you'd never saw in TV animation, it was like, "Holy cow! Look at what just happened!" And it was a real leap in the animation quality, and I remember talking to Karl Geurs, who was working over at, I think he was at FilmNation at the time, and he eventually came over to Disney to do the Winnie the Pooh show. And he said everyone in other studios was talking about, "Did you see what Disney did on Saturday morning? Oh, my God!"

0:33:38 S7: So the quality really raised the bar. Now, true, it wasn't feature animation, but it was a big jump in quality. Finally, they put us all together over at the Cahuenga Building, which was on Cahuenga, near Universal Studios, and it just got bigger and bigger as we added more and more people. So, on the one hand, we weren't on the lot anymore. The sort of good news was, nobody was looking over our shoulders, so that department started and grew and made its success sort of off by itself. Nobody was actually sitting down reading, our scripts, and saying, "Gee, I don't think this is very Disney, or I don't think... " There just wasn't any interference because they had other and bigger fish to fry. We went off and sold our first two shows, Wuzzles and Gummi Bears, to CBS and NBC respectively. And it just took off from there.

0:34:29 S1: Willie Ito.

0:34:30 S4: We had our own growing pains within the studio, getting people together, finding a crew, a good animator, story, bit people. And before that three months was up, I could see the frenetic pace. We were moving from office to office because it was like we move in and then they say, "You know, it's not enough room because we're expanding our staff." And I'm thinking, "What happened to the boutique operation? Now we're gonna have a whole staff. And then am I gonna have to do what I did at Sanrio, is manage this crew of people and all that." So I started feeling the pressure of that position, but in the meanwhile, I went back to Carson. And Carson van Osten, who was my boss in consumer products, and I said, "Oh, Jesus, it's the same old thing. Before I get too caught up into it, can I come back?" So he said, "Oh, yeah, there's always an opening for you to come back." So I came back to consumer products, but I stayed with the Disney TV, as far as merchandise and by-products and whatever else, but I was now out of the production rat race.

0:35:55 S1: Tad Stones.

0:35:56 S6: Anyway, I went back to Features, and pitched some stuff, and actually was considering leaving the company, and maybe just freelancing and then going into more, actually, science fiction short stories and novels. I met one of the guys who was then the head of the TV department that was just starting, and mentioned, "Hey, do you have any freelance opportunities?" And he said, "Oh, I don't know if you wanna do that, why don't you come and visit?" And I came to visit their very small building and he introduced me around, he said, "Yeah, Tad may be coming over here." Actually, he said, "Tad would be coming over here." And I just was quiet. I didn't know what he was talking about, but they ultimately brought me over to be the creative manager of the department, in which I was supposed to take pitches and come up with stories, and actually, I was supposed to take pitches more than come up with stuff, but I wasn't geared that way.

0:36:50 S6: And we had a gong show coming up with Michael and Jeffrey, which is you do like a two cents description of a show and they either like it or not. And I think we pitched 22 ideas. I think 18 of them were mine. And it's not like they were fully developed, it was like, "Hey, Trojan Birds and Legionnaire Cats, the city of Troy is up in trees, like Roadrunner and Coyote," and they gong. Anyway, Gummi Bears had been through two seasons, it was run by Art Vitello and created by Art Vitello and Jymn Magon. And Jymn had had no animation experience before that, Disney just said, "Hey, if you want the show, this is the guy who's gonna do it." So there was always a contentious relationship there. And by the third season, NBC said, "We want to change," and they tapped me and Jymn went on to, I think, DuckTales development at that point. Anyway, so that's how I got to Gummi Bears, it was just kind of like, "Hey, you, over here". And that started me story editing and producing.

0:37:51 S1: Willie Ito.

0:37:52 S4: But the question always was, "Well, how come Wuzzles and Gummi Bears, when Disney has such a stable of great characters that they could work from?" But I think initially, they says, "Well, we're gonna be making cartoons for Saturday morning, and that's a lesser market quality-wise, and we don't want to ruin Disney's image by turning out the limited animation with Mickey Mouse and all that, so let's go with new characters." But then the shows were a hit and it started to see that Disney TV was getting some recognition, and so Roy Disney said, "Well, come on, let's... Let's use some of our own characters, that way the market and the kids will gravitate to it knowing it's a known Disney character." So we did DuckTales.

0:38:52 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:38:53 S7: After two seasons of Gummi Bears, I moved over to work on DuckTales, which was a big deal at the time, we were doing this as a syndicated program as opposed to a network program, and it had already been developed, Tedd Anasti and Patsy Cameron were always creating episodes.

0:39:10 S1: Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Tedd Anasti, writers.

0:39:14 Speaker 13: My career in writing really started when I met my future husband, Tedd.

0:39:19 Speaker 14: That would be me.

0:39:20 S1: I was 18 and I auditioned for Walt Disney's new Mickey Mouse Club as a performer, and Tedd was a writer for Walt Disney and chose me at an audition, and I appeared on the new Mickey Mouse Club singing and performing sign language, and then I fell madly in love with him, Tedd, and started writing him love letters...

0:39:42 S1: Didn't spell my name right, though. So, during a union break, I'm sitting on a bench back when I did smoke cigarettes and the guy from the mail room comes by and goes, "Is your name Ashy?" I went, "No, no, it's Anasti." He goes, "Well, I think somebody's been writing you a bunch of letters, we've got in the mail room, didn't know where to deliver them." I discovered that she has an interest in me.

0:40:08 S1: Yeah, and he said... When he called me, he said, "You're really funny." He thought my love letters were funny, and he said, "I think you could be a writer." And Tedd showed me Micky Mouse Club scripts and taught me how to write scripts, and then I moved up here to Los Angeles and my first job was a freelance for Hanna-Barbera on a show called Casper and the Space Angels, and I freelanced for a couple of years and then became a staff writer on The Smurfs, and I was the first woman staff writer at Hanna-Barbera, as well as their youngest at the time at age 23. And then a little bit later, Tedd started writing for The Smurfs and we became story editors together. Margaret Lush, who approved my very first cartoon episode on Casper and the Space Angels, Margaret Lush, noticed that we had fun together when we wrote, not knowing we were dating or anything. And Margaret, she teamed us up as story editors on The Smurfs and then Tedd and I wrote on The Smurfs for three years, in which it won one Emmy. And then the next show that we did was DuckTales for Walt Disney.

0:41:16 S1: DuckTales was based on the Carl Barks comic book stories about the world adventurer ducks of Duckburg, Scrooge McDuck and his nephews. The comics were a hit back in the 1940s and '50s, and their comic adventure styling seemed a perfect fit for what Disney envisioned for its television programs. Barks was never really consulted, said Tom Ruzicka, associate producer on DuckTales. He continued, "Although the show was initially based on the concept of doing Scrooge McDuck and the nephews, we discovered that a lot of stuff that made wonderful comics wouldn't translate into the '80s, or into animation. So we started evolving new characters and other things to contemporize the show. As we did that, the stories got further and further away from the comics, although a few episodes are lifted right out of them."

0:42:03 S1: We had a meeting with Gary Krisel, where he showed us two projects, DuckTales and a special called Fluppy Dogs, and we chose DuckTales. That was a good choice.

0:42:16 S1: They hired us because they knew it would be a big show with lots of episodes. We got known as people who could do 65 half hours in a season and stuff like that.

0:42:25 S1: Or 90 minutes on The Smurfs. Our first year as story editors, we'd never story-edited before, it was 90 minutes, because it was such a hit, or on DuckTales, it was 65 half hours. People would say, "How come you're not freaking out?" Well, I just knew we would get it done, but Tedd, his energy and his dedication, I credit a lot of it to him.

[video playback]

0:43:18 S1: They were definitely based on the Carl Barks books, but the main thing we had to do was, again, bring the heart, bring heart out.

0:43:26 S1: Well, one day, certain executives said, "You're not following the books very closely." And we said, "We have 65 episodes to do and Carl Barks only wrote 16, and they're not that different from one another."

0:43:41 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:43:42 S7: The idea came up, "Why don't we do a mini-series that we can cut into a movie we can then show as a pilot, a kick off to the series?" So what was really fascinating, for me, anyway, was, even though the show was already in production, was to do the episodes that set the tone for the series. So the first thing that the public was gonna see was this five-parter, and we just had so much fun putting that together, because they had to work as five separate episodes, but it had to work as an overarching big story as well, so that it could be shown as a movie. And I have a picture of Mark Zaslove and Bruce Talkington and I standing in front of this chalkboard, we have this gigantic story outline in front of it of all five episodes. It was like, "Are we gonna be able to do that?" And it turned out spectacular, I was very happy with it.

0:44:32 S1: A lot of the episode went to Japan, the earlier ones, and the animation was just exquisite. It was so exciting to have the films come back, especially the earliest episodes. Wow, dazzling animation, like A-team animation. They had a party and they showed one of the fully realized episodes, it was called Duckman of Alcatraz, it was really, really sensational. But I remember even Tedd saying, "I didn't really realize how good this was." I think that no one really understood that, I don't think I did until the episodes started to come back with all the music, fully-animated, everything, and then when it debuted, it was a really, really big smash.

0:45:16 S1: Meanwhile, the LA Times' Charles Solomon was not impressed by DuckTales. In fact, he found it rather distasteful. "Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other Disney cartoon stars owe their popularity and longevity to the fact that they were so well-animated, they ceased to exist as drawings on screen and emerged as clearly recognizable characters. By breaking with that tradition in DuckTales, the new management at Disney Studio is risking far more than the $20 million it has invested into the series. At stake is a name that has been synonymous with the best in animation for 60 years." But the risk of ruining their name in animation was well worth it, because the show was gigantic. DuckTales was big, really big. The series was in 56 countries and seen by 25 million kids each day. It went so far that it doubled the ratings of kids shows that it was in competition with. Even though each episode cost $275,000, Disney more than made its money back, and Disney television animation had finally truly arrived. Tad Stones.

0:46:20 S6: Well, DuckTales was a huge thing, because a Saturday morning show is just... Your first order is 13, and then maybe 10 the second season, and eight, and eight, and then you're lucky if you're still on. DuckTales, suddenly, it was like, "No, we're doing 65 episodes." George Lucas told us once that DuckTales was to syndication as Star Wars was to movies, I mean, it was huge.

0:46:43 S1: Patsy Cameron-Anasti and Tedd Anasti.

0:46:46 S1: We finished DuckTales and they didn't pick up our contract. The figured, find somebody cheaper, I guess, I don't know.

0:46:53 S1: Well, actually no, let me... I would like to differ with that. It was a smash and that was a wonderful thing for our career. They offered us Aladdin, actually, and we... I think we had always wanted to develop, like kind of be in developing new shows, and when Nelvana offered us vice president of development, we took that, and they were just starting out, kind of, they had done some things, but Beetlejuice really was their first big blockbuster. So I think they did offer us Aladdin after that, and then later, The Little Mermaid.

0:47:28 S1: I was sitting in a restaurant and here are the guys from Disney, the executives, end up sitting behind us, and we were with ABC at the time. When the girls from ABC went to the ladies room, the guys from Disney leaned over and said, "We need you back. We need you back on our show 'cause we can't get anybody that's doing a good job." So we went back and...

0:47:49 S1: Yeah, we spent three years on The Little Mermaid, which was, again, a very, very wonderful experience.

0:47:55 S1: They wanted us for five years, but we said, "Well, maybe just one year at a time." So we stayed there for 14 years, just one year at a time.

0:48:02 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:48:03 S7: I know that I was a big Carl Barks fan growing up, just as a kid, reading the comic book, and so we owed so much to Carl Barks, creating the Beagle Boys and Gyro Gearloose and Magica de Spell, and all these characters. And I felt bad that he never got any credit on the series. So one of the episodes I wrote was based on one of his comic book stories, I actually gave him credit as "Story by Carl Barks, script by Jymn Magon." Because I wanted his name in there somewhere on the series. There were two things that were key to DuckTales. One was Scrooge McDuck was torn between the cold, hard cash and the warmth of his heart for his family, his nephews, that's what was always driving the series, was this man caught between the cold and the heat. The second thing was, young children don't understand money, it's just like the coins, built different sizes, and paper, and they honestly don't have a concept of how money works. But Carl Barks was a genius when it came to, "Well, what do kids understand?" Well, they understand the tactile quality of coins. And so to have a money bin full of coins that you were able to dive into and just swim through like a porpoise, just that's what kids could understand and appreciate. And the fact that he gave Scrooge McDuck that childlike quality to be able to enjoy his money in a very tactile way, I think, was a real breakthrough for the character.

0:49:31 S1: Carl Barks, an except from The Duck Man, an interview with Carl Barks, 1975.

0:49:37 Speaker 15: The office, I think, wanted me to do a Christmas story and so I'm casting around for Christmas stories. I began to think of the great Dickens Christmas story, about Scrooge. It is the classic of all Christmas story. All I did was just peep enough to sort of steal some of the idea and have a rich uncle for Donald. Well, he had turned out to be kind of an interesting character in that first story, and so I began thinking of how to use him again. I guess the fact that he was rich was the thing that triggered all further developments, is just how rich, and the showing of his wealth. I found that that was quite a fascinating subject, just piles of money. It seemed to appeal to a lot of people.

0:50:33 S1: And I just gradually made him richer and richer and then I had to develop a place where he could store the money and all the time, there were the Beagle Boys trying to steal it from him. Those things just grew like building brick walls, you just lay one brick on top of another, and finally, you've got a whole thing built. You can't dive into a pile of money like you would into a snowdrift, so he had to have a trick by which he did. And I don't explain that trick because I don't understand it myself. And he can go out in the desert, and he can smell the presence of gold. Other prospectors would have to dig mountains of dirt before they could find any nuggets, but he can smell them. I think he represents something that nearly everybody wishes they could be, some time in their life, just a little bit too rich.

[music]

0:51:25 S1: Disney had another project that was budding at ABC. Disney had a long, strange history with this character, with lawsuit after lawsuit, but the character was about to become part of Saturday mornings in 1988, with an unlikely candidate to help lead it. Mark Zaslove, writer.

0:51:53 Speaker 16: What happened was I went to Cal Berkeley as a eventually theoretical astrophysics person, but I was also writing at the time, and I had a buddy, we were doing live action. So every summer, he was in UCLA, I was at Cal, we'd come back and we'd write a script or something. And then I wrote my first novel over there, and then it was like, "Well, what am I gonna do also for money?" I was doing magazine work, I worked for Larry Flynt for about seven months, meteoric rise and fall on Hustler and a couple of magazines like that, which was fun.

0:52:25 S1: I used to say, though, I was karmically balanced 'cause I did Pooh and Hustler. By the time anybody even asked about it, it was never a big deal, no one cared, I mean, it wasn't like I was posing or anything, or it was gonna come back and bite them. Not that I couldn't have. Oh, sorry. [chuckle] And I got my first gig in animation while I was there as well. But basically, I went, "I got to make some money." It's like, "Oh, yeah, animation. They need writers." My dad said, "Yeah, maybe try that." And it's like... So I went in, not thinking anything of it, really, and it was very easy to do, and so I was doing some freelance work and I had sent in something... Oh, GoBot, a GoBot script to Jymn Magon, and he went, "Oh, my God, it's the only funny GoBot script I ever read." So I went in, and he'd probably tell you better.

0:53:12 S1: I just had this sort of full of himself attitude, not in a bad way, according to him, but I just look back and it was just kind of funny, 'cause he saw it and he went, "This is really good writing." And I was kind of like, "Well, yeah, of course it is." It was like, "Well, it's animation." I never thought much about it. I learned to very much respect it. I always liked the product, but I was never like a fan of animation because I grew up around it, so it was always the discipline. But you have to understand, my dad was an animator/producer/director, so when I was growing up, animators were guys who were drunk on my living room floor. So I get to Disney and they're all teetotallers, except for a few people. I'm like, "You're not animators. I know what animators look like, and none of you are animators." I had gotten some bad raps there that I didn't do, I was always upset later when people say blah, blah, blah, and you were being blah, blah, blah, and I went, "I didn't do that. If I'd just known, I would have done that." I would have been much more obnoxious. I would have actually caused these problems.

0:54:10 S1: I think I could rub certain people the wrong way, although everybody could. But there was one day where, I don't know why, it was just one of those things where maybe we'd been working too hard, too long, and you're near the end of something, and I started taking tape and I started taping across the hallway. And then somebody threw something on it. It became like a giant spiderweb that stopped the hallway up. And then people started throwing items onto it, so it stuck. And so suddenly there's this whole blockade hallway, and people have thrown knickknacks and this and that. And suddenly, Michael Webster or Tom Ruzicka came by and they just look at me, like, "This is your doing, right?" It's like, "Ah, leave it." And then they walked off, 'cause they knew it was a way to blow off steam. But it was one of those almost MASH moments where you start off doing something silly, and the next thing, the entire place is sort of doing it. But I got nailed for things that other people did a lot. Where they were nicer, and I was more like, "Ah, whatever." I was certainly tolerant.

[music]

0:55:08 S1: And I think ABC wanted a Disney show. And then it became, "What do we give them?" And then Pooh, because they had mechanical rights, I guess, was a safe thing to do. So it was above my pay grade, but I remember that it was ABC wanting, but I think the machinations were, "What can we do that's very Disney that we have?" And then it became Pooh, and then it came down to us. It was funny. I knew it could be really good if we didn't screw it up, and they didn't think I should do it, 'cause I was young and I wore long leather jackets before Matrix. I was, theoretically, a dark character. And so they were questioning me. And I remember sitting at a table. I had to do the entire Bible premise pitch in a three-day weekend, and then go have lunch with Gary Krisel and some other people and explain why this show would be great.

0:55:53 S1: I remember going, "Look, I will bet you a year's salary," and fortunately, they didn't do it. "We will win our time slot, be number one, we'll win an Emmy, I guarantee it. I bet you my whole year's salary." And we did. We were the only show to do that at that time. But it was one of those where you just go, "If you don't screw it up, how can you miss?" The designs are good, great characters. Just don't be stupid. Write really well, and it'll be a good show. I never used anything from the books, because it wouldn't have worked for me. It was always, "How can I become Mill?" And then, "How do I expand that?" For whatever reason, they previewed it on the Disney Channel and then it went to ABC. And then ABC changed their order from 13 to 20-something for the first season. So we were all kinda cranking. That was actually a lot of fun. I loved that show.

0:56:41 Speaker 17: Why thank you, Piglet. It's perfect. What is it?

0:56:47 S1: That was the first time I was in charge of anything, and actually had to have responsibility, and scheduling everything. And Karl Geurs, he was very much pro-what I was bringing to the table. And that was a great learning experience. And it was about professionalism, and a way of looking at things that Karl had without being blighted or too jaded about it. Karl was Winnie The Pooh, just had that sort of attitude. As much as people used to say that he'd walk by and we'd be shouting at each other, I don't think we were ever ever ever angry. We were just loud. We'd circle, "What about this? No, this!" And then suddenly, I guess our voices went up. And people would go, "We walk by Karl's office," and it'd be like, "We hear you guys shouting. Is everything okay?" And I'm like, "Yeah, why? What's going on?" But you couldn't ask for a better person to take you in on your first day. We fell through the cracks at that time. They didn't know we were there, really, 'cause DuckTales was getting up to speed, and I remember, Karl telling me vividly, he goes, "You know, if we're a hit, they're gonna suddenly start caring about what we do, and give us all sorts of terrible notes".

0:57:49 S1: And he was right. Suddenly everybody wanted a finger in it the second season, and we got a ton more notes. "Well, we gotta do this. Is this good? Should we do that? We don't understand this." Anytime you try to do something, whether it's cutting edge, or just very truthful, and I thought the Pooh characters we handled extremely truthfully, they weren't just saying gag-lines. They were saying a line because that's what Pooh would say, or that's what Tigger would say, which is the essence of any kind of good writing, is, "Are you telling the truth?" And so we get people who wouldn't necessarily understand that, so we get notes, and then you'd have to explain it. And then that wouldn't necessarily work. And then it would be weird. I always had a really good relationship with standards and practices, but I remember I wanted Gopher to have a huge cask of black powder, 'cause he's a miner, and he digs, and I wanted to blow the side off of a mountain.

0:58:44 S1: And of course, ABC standards and practices says, "No, you can't do that." And I try to explain why, it's like this, and then kids'll do that. And I go, "I don't think they can get all the dynamite, or black powder." And they're like, "Well, you can do it in fire." And so I thought for a while, and just as a joke, I said, "Well, could you use a thermonuclear device?" And they thought for a while, and they go, "Yeah, that's okay." And so then I brought it to Karl, and Karl thought for a while. And he went, "You know we can't make the bomb look Pooh-ish, so we can't use it." But at least I feel like, "Okay, I got a thermonuclear device approved of for Winnie The Pooh."

0:59:15 S1: There's only one thing left to do.

0:59:18 Speaker 18: You mean?

0:59:20 S1: Yes, Rabbit. We must give Piglet a "staying inside" party. It's like a going away party, only different.

0:59:31 S1: While Pooh was doing well at ABC, DuckTales remained the number one kids show for two years. Luckily for Disney, when the show was finally toppled, it was by Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

0:59:44 S5: We didn't know this at the time, but I think in Eisner's mind, or whoever was in charge of that, felt like, "Let's see how the department goes first, before we start putting our flagship characters on the television." Because when you look at characters like Mickey, and Donald, and Pluto, and Chip and Dale, and whatnot, they were always on the big screen. So to suddenly take them and put them on the small screen, I think it's, you know, "Woah, we've got a big star. Let's not put them on TV, let's put them in movies," kind of thing. So yeah, we needed papal dispensation just to put Donald into DuckTales as a cameo to explain why he wasn't in the series, [chuckle] because he went off to join the Navy and left the nephews with his uncle. I remember we had to get permission to put him in to explain that.

1:00:29 S1: Tad Stones.

1:00:30 S6: I pitched Miami Mice 'cause Miami Vice was on the air. They liked that a lot because of the name. We called it Metro Mice and did a script for it, never went past that, although the villain of the script was a character called Fat Cat. We brought back and the idea of mice detectives came back as Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers.

1:00:49 S5: We had two characters, two little mice called Kit Colby and Colt Chedderson. They were the original rescue rangers. And every time we would meet with Eisner and Katzenberg, they'd say, "That just is not a home run yet."

1:01:01 S6: And then later on, it was like, "Okay. DuckTales is a huge success. Are there any other Disney classic characters that we should be developing for?" And Mickey was still too precious. Donald made an appearance in DuckTales, he's very hard to animate. Goofy, yes, Goofy has always been the every man, definitely develop a bunch of things for Goofy." And then when they got to Chip 'n Dale, it was Michael Eisner who said, "Put those guys in that show," and Jeffrey said, "Home run." And that was Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers.

1:01:29 S5: And that sort of broke the ice for, "Oh, now we can start to put other characters."

1:01:35 Speaker 19: I guess there's only one thing to say then. Rescue Rangers, away!

1:01:41 S6: I felt like, on Rescue Rangers, we lost a lot from script to screen because, one, we were working way too fast, throwing things together and not being able to follow up on stuff. The schedule was the same. The problem was, on the story side, there was just two of us editing. I literally was working 13, 14-hour days, except for Saturday, it was an eight-hour day, and then Sunday, my day off, was four hours. Those hours were at the studio. It wasn't like working at home.

1:02:10 S6: There was this particular point of contention that when it came time to do the multi-part pilot, we were told that we had slipped the schedule in some way, that we had less time to do the four episodes that were supposed to kick off the show than doing any given four episodes, which made no sense to me. It means we were rushing through the most important thing. So we took our shot at it, and we did what we could. And then they took me off the show and I said, "You know what? That's fine. There's only 15 episodes to go. I got to do the pilot, to set things up, so that's good." But then it turned out they were having people rework the pilot, rewrite it, and they were being given more time to rewrite the pilot than we were given to write it the first time, and that was too much for me, and I was out the door. [chuckle] Disney had certain landmarks in your career, give you a plaque or a ring or a statue. And the two statues I really wanted were Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Tinkerbell. And Mickey was at... Hold on, I have it right here... I wanna say 15 years. Yes, I was about to get that. I was two months away from it, and it was like, that was somehow stupidly enough to make me calm down, and went back to work.

1:03:29 S1: Jymn Magon.

1:03:30 S7: It was a very strange time. I was busy trying to develop TaleSpin and we got this call that Buena Vista Television wanted someone to look at the pilot show that he had done. I think it was a four or five parter, just like what we'd done on DuckTales. I think they wanted someone to come in with fresh eyes and punch it up or do whatever, and it was like, "Well, I'm in the middle of doing TaleSpin and whatnot." Okay. So I said to Mark, "Look, I'm not gonna be here to help with TaleSpin. This'll go a lot faster if you help me." So he and I both jumped in and kinda reedited the pilot movie. And then I think we edited a couple of individual episodes that had been in the works during that time. And finally, just threw our hands up and said, "Look, we gotta get back on our project." And I think it went to Ken Koonce and David Wiemers next. So our time on Rescue Rangers was very brief. But, again, I never understood why Tad didn't follow through on that. I think it was some decision high above our heads, and I'm not sure why, so it was just like, shrug, "Okay."

1:04:32 S1: By the year 1990, Disney had invested $150 million in television animation, and by 1995, had plans to invest $400 million more. At this point, the output of television animation was prolific. Katzenberg was quoted as saying, "Each year, we are now producing as much animation as was done in the years 1920-1950 when all the classic Disney cartoons were made." These television animation shows had 22,000 full-painted cels per episode. Other shows at the time, of good quality, were averaging 15,000. Once Chip 'n Dale was another bona fide hit, Disney put plans in motion for television domination. And that plan was simple. It would have a two-hour block of cartoons when kids got home from school. Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, and their newest offering, TaleSpin. The shows were expensive, and yet, Disney wasn't even charging the networks for the shows. Instead, the deal was that Disney would retain the six minutes of advertisements to sell themselves. And this worked like Gang Busters. Despite the cost of production and advertising, the Disney Afternoon earned the company $40 million a year for a period of time. But this incredible run almost didn't happen because of one pitch. Jymn Magon.

1:05:46 S7: It didn't last long, but we had a process by which Tad would be developing a show and I'd be producing the show. And then I'd be done, so I'd go into development and he would go into production, and we would sort of flip flop as to what our duties were at TV animation. I was at a point of development, and we were creating this show called B players, and B players, I thought was kind of a clever idea. Came out at the time of Roger Rabbit. So the idea of all these cartoon characters mingling with live action people was popular at the time, so we said, "Well, who's the one character who is a star in motion pictures and then never worked again?" It was Baloo, so he said, "Oh, here's a guy who should be doing more movies, and he's not, he's stuck on the back lot. And along with him, is this kid who turns out to be a nephew, I think, of Mickey Mouse, his name was Ricky Rat, and Ricky had stars in his eyes, he wanted to be as big as his cousin or his uncle, whatever it was. And so the stories were all about Baloo and Ricky trying to convince the powers to be, specifically Michael Eisner, as a character in the show. "But it's too Western. Hey, let us do a space show. Hey, let us... " And then every week, they would be... Try in some way to get into the next gig, in that part of the cast, where all of these other people that weren't working anymore, like Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow, and whatnot.

1:07:07 S7: Everytime we pitched it, it just never seemed to stick. And, at one point, Kaztenberg said to me, "If you say B players one more time, I'm gonna throw you out the window."

[chuckle]

1:07:18 S7: Well, it's like, "Well, I guess that project's dead." Everything I'd pitched there had pretty much gone. And so we were thinking, "This is gonna go", but it didn't, we'd stopped dead, and we were stuck, as we had to pitch the next series to all the department heads in Florida, and we had no show. And we had to get into production for the next 65 episodes. And on top of which, it was going to be the linchpin of the Disney Afternoon. And I remember Michael Webster, who was not a fan of mine, poked his head in my room and he said, "You better come up with a new show real quick or it's gonna be Tumbleweed City around here," meaning, we're gonna fire everyone."

[music]

1:08:01 S7: And I thought, "How did this fall on my shoulders, that everyone's future depends on me? Am I that important? And if so, let's see a bigger paycheck, [chuckle] if I'm that important." So it was like, "Oh, scratch head, scratch head, what am I gonna do?" And one of the guys that I had hired at TV animation was Mark Zaslove, and Mark had gone onto fame and fortune by story-editing the Winnie The Pooh Show. And so Mark and I did a lot of talking, a lot of collaboration on ideas and whatnot, and I said "Mark, come in here, I have an idea that I wanna chat with you, I wanna use you as a sounding board. "So what had happened was during DuckTales, one of the early ideas about Launchpad McQuack was that he had a courier service, and that he would fly anything anywhere overnight, or something like that, was his slogan, and so, Scrooge McDuck would use him to send things to crazy places like, 'I need a whale sent to Sea World', [chuckle] in Dubai, or something.

1:09:01 S7: And that never went anywhere, because, eventually, Launchpad became Scrooge's private pilot. So I said, "What if we took Baloo from B players, who's a really good character, I believe in him, and we took this air cargo service of Launchpad McQuack's and kind of glued them together so that Baloo is the pilot and he's got this company, and it's failing because he's a jungle bum bear, and he's got this kid, the typical Disney orphan, like Mowgli, who he's gotta look out for." I said "Now, we're starting to get the dynamic of what drove Jungle Book so well, which was here's a guy who is torn between being a big kid himself, and being a father figure." And I said, "I think there's something there." And so Mark and I kicked it around and we had some drawings made up. And in three days, we had TaleSpin. And we went and pitched it, and it was like home run. [chuckle] So whereas we could pull our hair out over B players for weeks and months, TaleSpin came together really very quickly. And so Mark and I ended up as the producers on that show.

[music]

1:10:12 S1: Mark Zaslove.

1:10:13 S1: He had pitched B players and that got shot down and they didn't have that fourth show to put on, which became The Disney Afternoon. I gather it was a $2 billion pitch, eventually, that's what they made off of it, off of TaleSpin. I remember walking in sort of in the middle of something, on Pooh, or on a break or something, and it was like, "Yeah, try this. What can we do with these characters?" And then, three days later, we had TaleSpin.

1:10:35 S1: Tad Stones.

1:10:36 S6: Gummi Bears, it was just... I mean, it was cool. We were a very small team, we were still trying to figure out things. It was just a lot of camaraderie in the studio, there was only... I wanna say like, two shows going, or on a special like, Fluppy Dogs and gummies and Wuzzles had just one season, and development was going on, so it was a very small group and a lot of energy. It was a lot of fun. And then when we got into the Disney Afternoon, it was even better because we didn't have to have network approval for anything, it was basically, if we could sell Michael and Jeffrey on an idea, we then did it. [chuckle] Buena Vista Distribution had to take it, they didn't have any input, and we got a lot of close scrutiny for the first three scripts from our president, who was Gary Krisel, of TV animation, and then he had stuff to do. So you were on your own. You'd come up with anything and then when first footage came back, there was kind of like a little more scrutiny, 'cause is it going the way we expected? How is it looking? What adjustments do we have to do? You went back to doing whatever you wanted, until it's about time to go on the air.

1:11:41 S6: At which time, it'd either be good times or panic, depending on what they thought of your show. I couldn't have done Darkwing Duck and had the show we ended up with under any other situation, because I was just trying all sorts of crazy, goofy things.

1:11:57 Speaker 20: I've just gone crazy!

1:11:58 Speaker 21: Come on, dad! It's not that complicated. Cabbages from outer space are duplicating everybody in the world, so they can take over the planet. And this cow, who's really an alien, has come here to recapture them. Just deal with it.

1:12:13 S6: It started as Jeffrey saying, "Hey, you did this episode of DuckTales called Double-O-Ducks. I want a show called Double-O-Duck." Again, I thought it's just a spy parody, there's no Disney heart to it, but boss said I gotta do it, and that's all I presented to him, and he said the same thing, he says, "There's no Disney heart to this. Do it over. Thank goodness. [chuckle] He should have said, "Get me somebody else, " but instead, I went into, "Okay, what about the Shadow and Doc Savage had a team of guys who worked in secret?" And ideas like that bubbled around Silver Age of comics and he really turned into more of a superhero, a non-super superhero than a spy, but you could look at that pitch and really do a normal show, [chuckle] I guess. And then, as we got into it, it was like, "No, I'm pitching, what if you take Warner Brother shorts and gave them heart in 22 minutes instead of seven minutes of just gags?" And that's what I was chasing, and some hit it better than others.

1:13:10 S6: When I was doing development, they wanted a new character, so I came up with Double-O-Duck, who, at the time, wasn't much more than... Visually, was Donald Duck, white tuxedo mask and a little hat. But, anyway, when we were developing him, Launchpad was not in it. In my head, was Doc Savage, who had a team of guys who worked with him, who were specialists, and then that shrunk 'cause it was like too many people. And for a while, he had a sidekick who was a little guy who wore derby, so it wasn't until Gosalyn entered the picture that we really had a show based on the idea that what if Batman had a little girl who refused to stay at home? Although I don't think we said it that concisely at the time. And we still felt like we needed a guy for Darkwing to talk to. And Launchpad, because he had been there in the beginning, and we knew him, just seemed like that personality is great. So we brought him on to Darkwing, but really changed his design and subtracted many an IQ point from him. [chuckle] So he's a lot dumber in our show.

1:14:10 Speaker 22: I got a whole scrapbook, a few newspaper clippings. Of course, it's not a very big scrapbook.

1:14:16 Speaker 23: Wouldn't it be easier to fly if we were facing the other way?

1:14:20 S2: Oh, yeah, sorry. [chuckle] I sometimes have trouble with that.

1:14:25 S6: The real pilot for Darkwing Duck is an episode I wrote called, "That Sinking Feeling", with Moliarty as the villain, this guy who is based on the mole man, basically, except he really was a mole, stealing objects from the surface, bringing him down to the center of the Earth where he'd reconstruct them into this giant ray that was going to pull the moon out of orbit to block the sun so it would be darker on the surface, and Moliarty and his minions could all live on the surface. That was the first one written, and the first one boarded that we went into and act three of that, for no reason at all, they're in a baseball stadium, and suddenly, everybody's in... Except for the villain, is in baseball outfits. It was that thing where Bugs Bunny would go off screen, come back with a whole new costume.

1:15:07 S6: We actually didn't get that level of breaking reality in the show a lot, although we went crazy in different ways, but that was the one that was testing out everything, it really set up Gosalyn's relationship with Darkwing Duck and how close they were and her relationship to Honker. So that was our pilot. That's the first thing through. Then what everybody considers the pilot, which is the four part, Darkly Dawns the Duck, that story, again, became a little straighter. But the main thing is, everybody always asked about the origin of Darkwing Duck, and I said, "You know, he's basically a Batman, what am I gonna do? Have him sitting in his mansion and a duck breaks through a window and he goes, 'That's it, an omen, I shall become a duck'"? Wait. There was nothing to tell there. I certainly wasn't gonna kill his parents, and have him have this life of seeking revenge. So, I said, "No. Let's address the heart, let's bring Gosalyn." This is the story of how he adopted Gosalyn, and then that story got a little darker, dealing with what happened to her parents. But that's what made you really care about her, so... And care about her predicament.

1:16:17 S2: Yeah, once again, saved by my buzzsaw cufflinks.

1:16:21 S6: Some of the things with Darkwing were very not formulaic, but I had orders for my editors, and I said, "Every show, he has to say, 'Let's get dangerous'". The secondary thing was, "Suck gas, evildoers" when he used his gas gun, and too many people didn't hear the G, and it just didn't come up as much, that one kinda fell away. Originally, he just had one thing that he said, he said, "I'm the terror that flaps in the night." And I, frankly, forget the second line, it was like the third script in, it was an episode where Launchpad had to play the part of Darkwing, and he could never get the line right. He said, "I am the road salt that rusts the underside of your car." He continually screwed up throughout the episode, and we all thought it was hilarious. And I said, "You know what? Rewrite the scripts we've already got done. Let's give that to Darkwing. That's too good to just leave on this one episode," and that became his ongoing thing.

1:17:15 S2: I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the jailer who throws away the key. I am feeling really stupid. Boy, I hate it when I'm early. You'd think criminal masterminds would be more punctual.

1:17:35 S1: Dean Stefan, writer.

1:17:37 Speaker 24: So, throughout the entire office, everyone from secretaries to producers and everything, they ran a contest. "Name this character", "Name this star" "Name this guy", and out of all the names, out of all... You know, we each put in dozens. They picked Darkwing Duck, and of course, it was Alan Burnett, who came up with the name and he got the 500 bucks. I would never conceive the name "Darkwing Duck", it just doesn't make sense. But now, how could it be anything else. Actually, Wiemers and Koonce, who were my story editors, who by now, had left Disney to seek their fortune in sitcoms, they sued Disney because they said they had written that Double-O-Duck episode of DuckTales and they thought they should be recompensed or whatever the word is.

1:18:19 S2: Of course, anything to do with Disney, they own anyway, but they did see some kind of settlement, I believe. I don't think it was huge. Then they later came back to Disney, so I guess there's no huge bad blood, or maybe that was part of the deal. Tad really had the whole thing down first, he was really into Twin Peaks at the time. I remember our first meeting, where we all go in to pitch stories and stuff, he had two bagels or donuts in front of everyone, which was like a thing from Twin Peaks. I wasn't a fan, so I didn't really know, but I knew it was sort of an iconic thing and he was very into the whole Twin Peaks thing, and very artsy stuff. And I would later make fun of him, because he would... I guess, it became such a big deal, the show, that he would start giving notes.

1:19:05 S2: Everybody would write out notes and give it to the story editors and stuff, like, he would start cassette-taping his notes like from some undisclosed location, like Howard Hughes, or something, and then the cassette would arrive at the story editors, and then they would play the cassette for you, and I would put this cover under... A lot of that may have been because of his hours, he liked to get there like five in the morning and leave at two or three in the afternoon, 'cause he had kids, and he was an early guy. Most people like me, I'm probably the worst case, but before 10:00 AM, forget it. So I never worked directly under him, where I had to report to him directly as a story editor, but he liked to run a tight ship, I think. But the cassette notes were a bit much.

1:19:49 S2: I am the thing that goes bump in the night. I'm the neuroses that requires a $500 an hour shrink!

1:19:55 S6: I know, when we started Darkwing, they wanted to do a Darkwing Duck movie, and the studio in Paris, that later went on to work on features, they did a bunch of development that was totally ignoring what the show was. I took one stab at it. Again, this is the opposite of being left to do whatever you want. I had to pitch this, and it didn't go, and I just said, "You know, I can't do both. I can't do a movie and get this show up and running. So I'm just gonna do the show". I only found this out recently, they thought that maybe that should be a musical. Jymn Magon was actually gonna have meetings with Barry Manilow, ended up having meeting with another big music guy, not a name you would know as a star, but that was just crazy. And that really showed that, man, they don't understand what Darkwing Duck is, so thank goodness that didn't happen.

1:20:41 S2: I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the weirdo who sits next to you on the bus. I am the swan prince?

1:20:52 S1: With the Disney Afternoon well on its way, it was time for the first of the fab five to get his own vehicle.

[music]

1:21:02 S5: I think they were going to originally do it as a scout troop to the show, and that's why it's called Goof Troop. I was not there for that development, but when it finally came around who... Goofy's gotta live in Spoonerville, and have a next door neighbor, Pete, that's when we developed the show in earnest. We looked at those old cartoons of Mr. Geef or Goof, or whatever his last thing was supposed to be, and he was always... Lived in the suburbs and would wave bye-bye to his wife, as she would get in a car and drive off, and he was in charge of the kid for the day. Goofy would make mistakes, and the son would just go along with it, and I remember thinking, "Well, we've gotta kinda make it more interesting than that." And you look for the key to the series. And the key to Goof Troop, for me, was, "I don't wanna grow up to be my dad," and I think we felt like, "Yeah, that's what we want. We want this guy who's a single dad trying to raise his kid right, and was next door to this bad influence, Pete and his family." That, to us, was where all the comedy gold was to mine, skateboards and school and working in town, and commuting, and stuff like that.

1:22:11 S5: My forte was always in the comedy [1:22:15] ____ is in Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin kinda thing. Goof Troop was more of a sitcom, [chuckle] more Laverne & Shirley, that kind of thing. Feels like adventure to me because Goofy found a way to mess everything up.

1:22:30 S1: Michael Spooner, artist.

1:22:32 Speaker 25: I was a principal layout designer on the project. We decided to go with the style of 101 Dalmatians, where it was line art, the painter would actually do a watercolor under a cell line, so my line art would be transferred to Xerox to cel, like traditional animation was, and then they would do a watercolor. I had done so much design on the town in which he lived. The studio decided to name it Spooner though.

1:23:00 S1: Jymn Magon, original pitch for syndicators to buy Goof Troop.

1:23:05 S7: So, I wanna introduce you to Goof Troop. And, in it, Goofy is now a man of the 90s. He's a single dad living in suburbia, with his three phones, two TVs, one cat, and a very contrary 11-year old son. Let me take you through a day in the life. An alarm fire goes off. It belongs to good old Goofy, that good-natured klutz whose motto is, "A day without sunshine is like night!" Goofy embraces the dawn like every other obstacle in his life, with boundless and fondling enthusiasm. Now I wanna show you the difference, here is his son Goofy Jr, or Max, as he likes to be called, because he hates being silent with an adjective, like his father. Anyway, as you can tell from Max's enthusiasm, this is a school day. Now, Max loves Bo Jackson, Goofy thinks he's one of the Jackson Five.

[laughter]

1:23:50 S7: Max loves Mario Brothers, Goofy's pretty sure they'd beat him off in the third grade. Max loves his VCR. Goofy can't spell VCR.

[laughter]

1:23:58 S7: Anyway, Goofy heads downstairs to make a nutritious breakfast, or more to the point, a nutritious mess. "Junior, food's on!" Well, Max heads downstairs, shaking his head, wondering, "How does such a radical kid like me end up with such a goof for a father?" And so it would appear that the fruit seldom falls far from the tree. However, this is a curse that Max is determined to break. He desperately wants to swim out of the deep end of his father's gene pool. But you know, through all these crazy escapades, the one thing that Max learns is, "Just when you're convinced your folks are totally useless, they're there for you when you're totally useless." So relax, Max, your father ain't so bad. He's just Goofy. Hell, let's face it, kid, you're a little goofy. Welcome to the Goof Troop, kid.

1:24:47 S7: Yeah, I had done an episode called 'Have Yourself A Goofy Little Christmas', which the idea of the father-son going off and father wants to do one thing that's traditional and the son wants to do something different. That, to me, felt the most like a booby, and kind of set the tone. And, at one point, we were gonna do, I think, a two-parter, that was Goofy and his son on vacation, and somehow, that two-parter turned into the idea to do another... Well, it was called "Movie Tunes" at the time, when we did the DuckTales movie, and that was driven pretty much by Mr. Katzenberg, who told us a really interesting story about how he was losing touch with his daughter, and he decided "We're just gonna take time off and she and I are gonna get the car and just go somewhere." And he says, "I don't know where it happened or how it happened, but we connected on that trip, being trapped in a car together. That became the gist of The Goofy movie, which was father wants it the one way, the son wants it another way, then they finally find each other along the way. That was very rewarding for me, to be able to move from the TV show into a feature film.

1:25:57 S7: Well, I sat by myself for a long time, and then they finally brought in Kevin Lima. Kevin just had a whole plethora of people he trusted, and they were great. The film took off from there, and I think, of all my experiences in animation, that was the most... I want to make sure I say this right, kind of the most disconcerning, because it was so different from writing for episodic television, 'cause in episodic television, the writer becomes king. I'm not sure that that's the correct position for the writer, but just because of the time limitations, you had to have something written and, basically, directed on paper, and then everybody followed it. That's whether you could get it done in time. But when it came to a movie, it was a very flexible thing, and lots of people are involved, and they're changing their sequence, and that sequence is so powerful that it changes that sequence. And suddenly, the writer's, "Huh? I think I recognize one of my lines in here." [chuckle] I think Moss Hart said that. I would come into work and I had written a sequence and then it would be storyboarded, and I look at this and say, "This is genius! I wish I had written this!" [chuckle]

1:27:05 S7: It was terrific. It was such a new way of working for me. So it was disconcerning from the standpoint that, gee, I don't have the kind of control over the project that I used to have on TV, but that's not to say that they weren't doing spectacular work and that I was such a lucky guy to be a part of it. While I feel like I brought the essence of 'I don't wanna grow up to be my dad', I really feel like so much of all the clever little things and the sort of Kelly moments, that was Kevin and his team coming in there with their stuff, and it was just such a delight to work with them, and that's why I think I was upset, because I didn't get to follow through on the movie. I was told in... Go over here and work on DuckTales. We went to lunch as I was leaving the series, we went to Sizzler, of all places, and I just said, "I feel so bad, Kevin, because I wanted to be so helpful and such an important part of this and I feel like so much of what I did didn't end up on the screen." And he said, "But Jymn, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing, if we weren't standing on your shoulders", and it was like, "Oh yeah, I guess so" [chuckle] Made me feel better. That's just a part of the creative process. The first link in the chain sometimes doesn't look like the last link in the chain [chuckle], it's painted a different color along the way.

1:28:33 S1: After the company had dabbled in its most famous IPs, the next show would be a wholly original character, well, sort of. Bonkers was loosely based on the idea of Roger Rabbit, he was a former cartoon star who had fallen on tough times after his show had been cancelled, and became a cop, teamed with a human partner. But its production was mired in reboots and dissatisfaction. Greg Weisman, creator, Gargoyles.

1:29:00 Speaker 26: Well, I mean, Bonkers is complicated. Bonkers was a show that I developed, and got Duane Capizzi, the producer, story editor, Bob Hathcock was chosen to be the director, producer on it. We had real high hopes for it, but, unlike Gargoyles, that was a show where I got it up and running and then I walked away from it, and other people were supposed to be paying attention to it, and the very first two or three episodes that came back didn't look very good, from an animation standpoint, not sure that, initially, the show's art directed very well. We had humans and quote unquote "toons", even though the whole thing was animated.

1:29:37 S2: And I think there should have been a distinct, more kind of realistic art style, not Gargoyles, necessarily, but something, even from a color palette standpoint, that felt a little less cartoony, so that the quote unquote "toons" on the show, like Roger Rabbit, and Jitters Dog really pop, because they were toons in a human world, and I don't think that art direction ever quite came off, but I think we had a really smart show which featured Bonkers partnered with Miranda Wright as a cop. Bonkers drove her crazy but he was her partner, so she'd back him no matter what, and ultimately, they were friends, and we did a lot of smart sort of clever things about what it would be like in a Roger Rabbit vein to live in a world with toons and humans.

1:30:25 S2: And then I think, honestly, that some of the executives, when the first stuff came back and didn't look very good, overreacted. There were certainly problems, maybe even some problems with the writing, but I don't think the problems were quite as problematic as some people thought, and I think, frankly, most of it could have been fixed by fine-tuning the art direction. But I wasn't in charge and I was also in the process of trying to move over to Gargoyles and all this stuff is sort of happening simultaneously. I did get dragged back into it, and at some point, it became clear that... To Gary, that he wanted some real wholesale changes here and neither Duane nor Bob were giving him that, so both of them wound up getting booted off the show, and a guy named Bob Taylor, who had done Goof Troop, was brought in, and Bob made some very drastic and, I think, unnecessary changes to the show.

1:31:19 S2: He did get the art direction better, but Bob didn't think girls were funny, so he ditched Miranda and put in a character who, in essence, was Pete from Goof Troop, and was voiced with Pete's voice by Jim Cummings, and Jim is great. Jim voiced Bonkers. I love Jim. But it was just a dynamic that we had seen before. The story lines were, I thought, way less interesting, and I was really not happy with the change in direction on the show. And then, of course, they wanted this stuff first, so it all got very rushed and they couldn't throw away the dozen or so episodes that featured Miranda, so even though that stuff was made first, it aired last, and they actually created an episode where Piquel joins the FBI and moves away, and Bonkers is partnered with Miranda for the last dozen episodes, which again, were the dozen or so that were made first. But they created a new pilot and basically played it as if the Piquel stuff was first, and the Miranda stuff was second, when it was really the other way around. And so, it became a show of...

1:32:31 S2: It makes me sad, [chuckle] but... 'Cause I think a lot of potential was squandered there, and I think a lot of the changes were unnecessary, and, to be fair, Taylor and I didn't really see eye to eye on anything, and I finally just begged off, and asked Gary to take me off the project, 'cause I didn't think I was helping Bob, 'cause we agreed on almost nothing. And so I was just in his way, and Gary had gone with Taylor, and it was his show now, so I had to let it go, and so Gary said, "Okay." And I sort of stepped away from the project, and had very little involvement with all but the first couple Piquel episodes, which I didn't care for, which doesn't mean they're bad, it just wasn't the show I had developed, and wasn't the show that I wanted to make.

1:33:30 S1: Bonkers hit the air in 1993. It had almost been a decade since the brunch that started it all. In that time, Disney television had gone from nonexistent to the standard that everyone else had to chase. The problem was, by the time Bonkers hit the air, other networks had already caught up and would even take the lead, and now Disney television animation would have to decide if they were going to chase by rebranding, or stick with the girl who brought them to the days.

1:34:00 S2: Here were all these people from different studios, there were people like me that had never worked for any studio, in animation. I was a record producer. So I think it was [1:34:09] ____ and I, we're talking, and we said, "Are we doing this right? Are we doing a Disney TV show correctly?" And then we realize, there's never been a Disney TV show, at least a Saturday morning style TV show. And therefore, because we work for Disney, and we're making these shows, we are Disney [chuckle], what we're doing is Disney. And that, whatever we were doing, whether it was right or wrong, would be a Disney show.

[music]

Subscribe: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-look-back-machine/id1257301677?mt=2

#disneyland disney disneygram disneyworld disneylife instadisney waltdisney disneyparks disneyphoto mickeymouse love waltdisneyworld disneypr #disneylandparis art disneypic spongebob disneyresort disneyaddict disneystore movies lgbt instagood disneymagic dc tvshows xboxone nintendos

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malecsecretsanta · 7 years ago

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Merry Christmas, @sallsmum!

“Magnus? You home?” Alec toed off his boots in the loft’s entrance and hung up his jacket. Magnus had told him to be home for an early dinner and that he had something special planned. He could smell a hint of cinnamon in the air and followed it to the kitchen, hoping to find his boyfriend there.

However, he was unsuccessful in his search and only found a small pot of water with cinnamon sticks on the stove’s lowest setting.

“Magnus?” Alec tried again.

“In the bedroom!” Magnus called out, slightly muffled. Alec padded his way to their bedroom, curious as to why the the only thing cooking was a few cinnamon sticks. Surely Magnus didn’t expect him to eat them, right?

“I’ll be out in a moment, just wait out there.” Alec shrugged to himself and laid down on the massive bed. Within a few seconds, Chairman Meow made his presence known and jumped up to walk over Alec’s chest. After turning in a couple of circles, he deemed Alec a good enough resting place and plopped down, immediately purring when Alec started petting him.

“Are we going somewhere? Should I change?” Alec asked, raising his voice a little so Magnus could hear him from inside the closet.

“No, I thought we’d stay in. I have plans for you tonight, my love.” So it was going to be that kind of night. That was the tone Magnus used when he wanted something from Alec, usually involving them both being naked.

“Yeah? What did you have in mind?” Alec winced at how gravelly his voice sounded. God, he should not be as turned on as he was - he’d been with Magnus for over five months, he shouldn’t still be affected by the tiniest of flirtations!

“This kind!” Magnus announced as he exited the closet wearing… something Alec had never seen before. It was a red suit, with a large black belt around Magnus’ middle. The most surprising part was that it wasn’t fitted. Usually Magnus’ pants are tight enough to show the silhouette of his legs, but the red pants were baggy, and sloppily tucked inside a pair of black boots. Of course, they were much more fashionable than Alec’s hunting boots but they looked similar enough that he raised a brow in confusion. To top it all off, sat atop Magnus’ head was a red and white stocking cap with a little puff at the end.

That was the most jarring part of the entire ensemble, Alec thought. Usually Magnus hated wearing things on his head since he took such pride in his hair.

“Magnus… what are you wearing?” He hesitantly asked. Alec knew his boyfriend had an eclectic taste in clothing, but this was completely different to anything he’d ever seen Magnus in before.

“I’m Santa!” Magnus proclaimed. “Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas? Ring any bells?” Alec shook his head. “Alexander, don’t tell me you never celebrated December 25th!”

“I mean, I know mundanes celebrate the virgin birth as a gift from the Angel, but no. It’s not a big thing for shadowhunters, or at least it wasn’t for my family. Is there something else?”

“Alexander, my love, you have been deprived of the most wholesome of all holidays! Remember how I told you about Halloween back in October?” Alec nodded. “This is another mundane holiday. Just as the Angel - or god, or whatever you believe in - gave a gift to mankind, so we give gifts to each other in celebration! Yuletide is all about coming together and giving gifts from your heart. Almost like Thanksgiving, except it doesn’t originate from the murders of indigenous people.”

Alec nodded along. “So, you’re dressed like this because…?”

“Right! Mundane children are told the tale of Santa Claus, a jolly old man who brings gifts to the good little boys and girls. Here, I’ll show you.” Magnus fishes out his phone from one of the deep pockets in the suit. Sure enough, Alec is greeted with an image of a large man with a rather magnificent white beard in an outfit similar to what Magnus has on.

“Okay, I think I get it. So what exactly are we going to do tonight then?” Alec asked. Magnus gave an excited little shimmy before sitting down next to Alec on the bed and proceeded to explain his plans.

***

A few hours later, the loft was decorated from floor to ceiling with tinsel, ornaments, and a little bit of magic in the air. If Alec wasn’t dating a warlock, he’d say it was just the spirit of yuletide but the sparkling snowflakes that dissolve a few feet above the ground prove him otherwise.

They’re curled up together in the center of a huge couch - a new one that Magnus said matched the decorations - and watching a cute movie about kids trapped in an airport, mugs of hot chocolate warming their palms. Alec leaned forward to place his on the coffee table and change his position so his head was resting in his boyfriend’s lap.

“So what do we do now?” he asked. Sure, the decorating was fun, and the music was nice. Hell, Magnus had even coaxed him into wearing a particularly terrible red sweater for the evening. He knew that Christmas was on the 25th, but that was still a good week away.

“Now,” Magnus started, running his free hand through Alec’s hair, “we can plan to celebrate together with family and friends, or just the two of us. We can exchange gifts if you wish, but it’s certainly not necessary. Just you being here is more than enough for me.” Alec blushed. “I don’t always have a big party, every few years I’d have Catarina, Ragnor, and Raphael over for some spiked eggnog and to catch up, but usually it’s just me and the Chairman.”

“I think I wanna tell Izzy and Jace about it. I’m pretty sure Izzy’d jump at the chance to buy me something new and Jace would feel left out. Of course then he’d want to bring Clary. But I suppose that’s okay because you want to invite Simon and Maia, right?” Alec pondered aloud.

“Well, Simon’s Jewish, so he probably won’t have the same Christmas spirit as the rest of us. But I’m sure we could figure something out. Hanukkah is coming to an end pretty soon, so I could talk to him and see if he’d like to join us in a few days instead of on the exact day. If that’s alright with you, of course.” Magnus sounded hesitant, as if he was worried Alec would veto his idea.

“Magnus, he’s your family. And my whole family will be there too, so it’s only fair.”

“Your… whole family?”

“Yeah. Izzy, Jace, me, and you. Mom and Max are in Idris, and Robert won’t be receiving an invitation from me anytime soon.” Alec explained.

“You consider me family?” Magnus looked away as he tried to process what Alec was implying.

“Magnus, I love you. Of course you’re my family.” Alec said, like it was the most obvious thing to him. Like Magnus’ world wasn’t turned upside down.

“God, I love you so much,” was all Magnus said in return, before pulling Alec up and maneuvering them so Magnus was straddling him. “You are my world, Alexander.”

He put every ounce of the love he felt for this wonderful man beneath him into the kisses he plastered all over his face. They were sloppy but neither cared because they were together at the end of this extremely trying year, and they were so god damn in love

#sallsmum #malecsanta17 #*fic17 #*gifts17

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happy-meo · 8 years ago

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Masquerade III: The Rules of the Game – (The Real) Part 6 (Jungkook x Reader x another BTS member)

One must know the rules of the game, in order to come and play.

!! If you haven’t, please read the first two sagas in this series: MASQUERADE & Masquerade II !! [There will be spoilers if you read this story first.]

Summary: With Club Masquerade’s original hosts “graduating” one at a time, it’s up to the newcomers to pick up the slack and keep the customers happy. And who better to take the reins than the notorious Red Mask’s prodigy, Jeon Jungkook. But things become a bit difficult when you come into the picture, with your desire to do research on the rules of love and dating through your experience with your host. Will Jungkook be able to satisfy your curiosities… or will someone else?

Jungkook x Reader x BTS member [Read on to find out who >:P] (ft. Jimin & Hoseok) CEO au, Host au, Cop!Kook au Fluff & Smut

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (Finale)

A/N: Thanks again for being so patient :) It’s been a crazy few weeks for me with BTS & with work >< but I’m glad I finally was able to finish the update woo ~ I placed another “Keep Reading” link so as usual if it isn’t opening, shoot me a message ~ Enjoy!

"Um...is it me or is Mr. Park staring at us creepily?" You hummed as you and Jungkook got settled inside your cubicle.

Jungkook glanced over to find Jimin grinning widely in front of the cubicle with his arms crossed, not saying a word.

"Um can we help you?" Jungkook blinked.

Jimin clutched his chest and fell to the side of the cubicle dramatically. "I can't believe my two favorite people didn't trust me enough to confide in me!!"

Your eyebrow rose at the sudden change of behavior and emotion. "What're you talking about Mr. Park?"

"No." Jimin exhaled and looked forlorn. "Don't mind me. I apparently am not worthy enough to be told of your love...after I went to such lengths to get you two together."

You and Jungkook eyed each other, puzzled to no end.

"And by great lengths...do you mean locking us in a closet?" You questioned dryly.

"Shouldn't you thank me?? Was that the turning point?" Jimin beamed brightly and scurried towards you and Jungkook eagerly. "When? How?!"

"Wh-what're you talking about, Mr. Park?" Jungkook was flustered by his proximity.

"I expected this from Y/N. But not you, my prodig-- new intern!" Jimin corrected before pouting towards Jungkook.

"Mr. Park, we would love to give you some clarity if you specify the situation." You explained.

"Y/N. Jungkook." Hoseok appeared on cue. "Come with me."

Jimin giggled and skipped behind Hoseok happily. You and Jungkook followed suit, sparing looks at each other in an attempt at communicating each other's shared confusion. When you entered the room, Hoseok turned his computer screen towards you all.

"I'm assuming neither of you know of this, considering you came to work together without caution." Hoseok stated, amused.

"What? Why would they have to be cautious??" Jimin gasped. "This isn't something to hide! But to CELEBRATE!"

Hoseok exhaled. "Well, we took care of it. Luckily, we keep tabs on all CEOs and potential CEOs to prevent the spreading of any dangerous or questionable videos, articles, or pictures."

"Oh? You meant what happened at my university?" You finally realized what it could be.

Jimin gasped and clung onto your arm. "So it's real? It really happened??"

"Um...well...yeah." You pried your arm out of Jimin's grasp and glanced at Jungkook who was smiling sheepishly. "I kept checking to see if anyone released it, but couldn't find anything so I thought we were safe but..."

"Yeah. Well Jimin confiscated the video real quick, and creepily obsessed over it." Hoseok hit play.

You rolled Jimin's chair over so you could watch leisurely, while Jungkook flailed his arms frantically.

"Oh my gosh! No! Don't watch!" He turned red.

"I just wanna see how it looks like from the outside." You hummed as you stared at the scene unfold before your eyes from a different perspective.

"Noo! Stop!" Jungkook covered your eyes, flustered. "It's embarrassing!"

"Oh stop." You pulled his hands away and held onto it so he wouldn't go back to shielding your sight. "You don't have to watch if you don't want to. It was just a cool moment."

Jungkook blushed. "It was cool?"

Suddenly, a squealed was heard beside you two. Jimin was clapping excitedly, engrossed in watching you two in real life.

"Look, Hoseok! They're holding hands in front of us! How boldddd!" he cooed.

"Oh pull yourself together, Park Jimin." Hoseok shook his head then turned to you. "I thought something was actually happening with you and Namjoon...so I didn't want to believe this was real."

"Namjoon who?" Jimin interjected playfully.

"Jimin! He might be the next Chairman!"

Jimin snorted. "There are only two people I'm rooting for, for the Chairperson position."

You glanced at Jimin curiously, but Hoseok nudged him strongly.

"Anyway, just be careful you two. Jungkook, you know how the wealthy are if your parents get wind of this." Hoseok commented.

"Yeah, thanks." Jungkook scratched his head.

"Not to mention your other jobs might suffer too."

"I'm all for dating openly." Jimin raised his hand. "Why don't we do a triple date one of these days?"

You smiled. "I'm down."

"What?" Jungkook's eyes widened.

"Why not?" You tilted your head.

"Well I-I-we're..." he stammered.

You smirked, knowing full well how to get Jungkook out of his shyness. "Afraid I'll show you up?"

As you expected, his face darkened and his eyes lit up with fiery determination. "Pfft. What a joke. What's there to show?"

You glared at him.

"A lover's quarrel!" Jimin clapped his hands and sighed endearingly.

"Alright, you need to stop." Hoseok scolded.

"Is this how it feels to see your children marry?" Jimin wiped a nonexistent tear, dramatically.

Hoseok groaned and shook his head. "Please, Jimin. Show some decorum as their boss."

Jimin laughed and slapped Hoseok's butt, "That's never been my style, my dear best friend. I'm all about getting what I want, how I want it." He smirked darkly.

"You think we should tell them we're not really...like that?" Jungkook mumbled once you both returned to the safety of your joined cubicle.

"Well it's not exactly true or false..." you hummed. "I don't see the harm of just going along with their assumption."

"You're okay with it?"

You nodded. "Who knows? Maybe they'll pay for us when we go out."

Jungkook snorted. "You forget that I'm also pretty rich."

"Very true. But maybe just going along with them will let it die down faster."

But going along with the rumor did just the opposite.

Every chance he got, Jimin would clap obnoxiously and show you two where the best spots to sneak away were around the office. It made you wonder why and how exactly your boss knew these spots, but when you brought it up, he stated that it was a secret.

Jimin would also cover your cubicle with flowers, even going so far as having one of those drawstring balls that erupted out confetti when pulled. And obviously, his odd behavior grabbed the attention of the entire office, so everyone had their eyes curiously on you two. It was awkward and stifling, so you finally went to your boss to confront them about it.

"What will it take to get you to stop harassing me during work?" You slammed your hand on Mr. Park's desk threateningly.

"Harassment?" he feigned innocence. "I know nothing of the sort, my dear Y/N!"

You whipped out your phone, and it was soon pulled out of your grasp.

"But I might be swayed to behave if you two agree on going on a triple date one of these days with me and Hoseok."

You exhaled. "If that's all it takes, then deal."

Jimin grinned as he outstretched his hand. "I'll discuss details with the guys then."

"I'd prefer that." You nodded as you pulled your phone from his grip, glad that Mr. Park wasn't the sole person planning this date. Who knew where he would take everyone if the choice was left to him?

You sluggishly returned to your cubicle where Jungkook was humming lightly while doing paperwork. When you entered, he perked up.

"How'd it go?"

You gave him a thumbs up. "Just give him your suggestions and it should be good."

Jungkook nodded. "Perfect. I've been wanting to go to this place with everyone."

"Oh? Where?"

"You'll see ~"

You chuckled and then glanced at your phone.

Jungkook noticed the way your grin widened as you stared at it, and he immediately knew. "Namjoon?"

You blinked and looked over. "He's just sending me the details of our weekend."

Jungkook snorted. "Don't get your hopes up. He might want to just train you in the mountains to find your inner peace or something."

You glared at him. "He will not."

"From what you told me about him, he seems like the type to go out for nature healing."

"What's so bad about that?"

"Says the one who stays home all the time?" Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

"For your information, I don't stay home all the time."

Jungkook stared at you blankly, not buying that argument. You exhaled.

"Fine. I do stay home a lot but that's because I don't know where to go in the city!"

Jungkook chuckled. "And that's why you make friends and ask them to take you to places."

"Says the one who has a hard time making friends."

"I don't have a hard time making friends!" he bickered.

"Okay, let me specify then. You have a hard time making girl friends." You stuck your tongue out.

Jungkook huffed, knowing full well he couldn't deny that fact, and returned to his work bitterly.

And soon enough, the weekend arrived.

You found yourself in the backseat of lengthy limousine, being driven by Namjoon's hired chauffer. The inside of the car was huge, but ironically you and Namjoon had squished yourself as close to each other as possible. Your bodies were entangled, and your hands were wandering wildly in the backseat-- neither of you had any intention to refrain yourselves.

Your breathing labored as Namjoon pushed you onto your back and kissed you roughly, whispering afterwards that he missed you in his deep, gravelly voice.

"I missed you too." You replied.

"I'm excited to have you all to myself this weekend." he smiled as he shifted a strand of hair away from your face.

You blushed. "Yeah, someone helped me pick out a bathing suit when you told me we were going to the beach...since I didn't have any."

Namjoon's eyes darkened and glistened at the mention. He leaned forward, ghosting over your lips with his plump ones. "Oh, you might not even need it baby girl."

Your heart stuttered at the implication and soon, your lips were connected needily once again.

When you two did decide to take a break from making out during the long car ride, you found yourself laughing hysterically while Namjoon was dramatically belting out to his favorite tunes. He flailed his arms wildly as he tried his best to reach all the notes. It was endearing to see him like this again, and it reminded you the times when you two had just met. The adorable moments when he abandoned his mature persona and became childish and cute, made your heart flutter just as much as his intellect and his ambition. When he was like that, it was hard to believe he was an avid world traveler and the CEO of many business franchises. In those moments, he was just simply Namjoon. He didn't pull down his walls often, but it warmed your heart that he was able to do so around you.

"Come on, Y/N! Sing too!" he urged as he excitedly stomped his feet playfully to the music.

You giggled and waved your hand. "It's just entertaining to watch."

He grinned and continued fooling around all the way to the hotel.

"Wow..." You gawked. "I knew it'd be nice...but this is fantastic."

Namjoon laughed as he received a card key from one of the workers. "I reserved a suite for us. Let's go?"

You smiled and nodded, eyes still taking in the breath-taking grandeur of the hotel. Your bags had been taken up to your room prior to checking in so you were holding onto Namjoon's arm in awe.

There was a grand staircase welcoming guests upon entrance, and workers were lined up on both sides, throwing flowers as you two made your way further inside.

"Welcome!" They greeted with wide smiles. "Please enjoy your stay!"

You bowed slightly, unsure of how to respond. Namjoon grinned at your hesitant reaction as he led you up the stairs.

"Stand right there." he stopped you in the middle of the staircase, running a few steps up. He stumbled forward a little which had you gasping with worry, but he got back up and continued his pace. You cocked up one of your eyebrows curiously, wondering what he was up to. Then he whipped out his phone with a wide grin.

"I need to take a picture of you here!" he called out. "Smile!"

You blushed and smiled. But you felt stiff, considering you weren't sure exactly how to pose.

"Now take one of me!" Namjoon scampered down the steps, and you nervously watched his feet, just catching the edge of each step, waiting for the moment he might miss his footing and tumble down.

Luckily though, he managed to reach you without any clumsy moments. You exhaled in relief as he handed you his phone.

"I like my outfit today so get a good aesthetic body picture." he instructed.

"Sure." You consented as you climbed up a few steps to get a good angle.

Namjoon posed knowledgeable, highlighting his height and the tall length of his legs. You smiled, admiring his physique through the lens.

"Good?" he hummed.

You nodded. "Come check them."

He perused your pictures, giving hums of approval at each one. "Perfect!"

You grinned at the compliment.

"Let's finally go see our room now." he grabbed your hand and led you to the elevators. "We're on the top floor."

Your eyes widened. "Top floor??"

"Yeah." he chuckled "It has the best view."

"It's also the most expensive!" You gasped.

Namjoon chuckled. "Don't worry about that. Experience and memories matter more than money."

You relaxed as his thumb caressed the back of your hand warmly.

The suite was bigger than your entire apartment. You hurriedly scanned the clearly expensive decor, and the pristine leather couch upon first glance. And the bathroom and bedroom were just as, if not even more, refined. The bedroom housed a king sized bed with rose petals scattered around the floor; your own mini chandelier providing dim lighting to the room. The bathroom had a large jacuzzi tub beside the clear glass shower.

Everything screamed that this was a honeymoon suite. Your face warmed at the thought of you and Namjoon being perceived as a newlywed couple. But it dawned on you that the extravagant welcome at the entrance was probably part of this honeymoon package.

You felt large arms wrap around your body as you stared at the full length mirror in the bathroom. You glanced at Namjoon's reflection grinning at you.

"You like it?" he asked.

You smiled and nodded. "This is amazing. I've never seen anything like this."

"Good. I wanted to show you something you've never seen before." his hands traveled down to rest at your hips. "And have you experience things you've never experienced before."

You licked your lips as his hands traveled underneath your shirt. You watched as they disappeared under your clothing in the mirror; it was odd to see the way your cheeks flushed and the way your lips looked swollen already.

"Wanna see more of how you look when I please you?" he whispered into your ear.

You gulped and nodded, entranced by your own reflection.

"Let's get you into that bathing suit, hm?" he stated with smooth slide of his palm against your lower abdomen. The teasing motion immediately caused heat to pool in your core. Then he wordlessly disappeared from behind you, leaving you a little breathless.

When you came back to your senses, you hurriedly to grab your bathing suit and some clothes to wear over it while Namjoon lay in bed patiently, watching you scamper around with attentive eyes. With a blush, you shut the bathroom door to change. You had never really worn a two-piece bathing suit before, considering you were always on the more conservative and logical side. But you wanted to be seen as more mature by Namjoon, and so you bought a pretty risqué black bathing suit.

It was a spaghetti strap top, needing to be tie around your neck and on your back. The bottom of your bathing suit was merely a triangle at the front and back, tied by strings at your hip bones to hold it up to cover your decency. You pulled your hair up, revealing your neck, and checked yourself out. It was a very seductive bathing suit; hopefully Namjoon would think so too. Hurriedly, you threw on short shorts and a see-through shirt to cover yourself, so the reveal would be a surprise, and the strip show, an added component to the rising tension of the night. ��

As you would have it, Namjoon was waiting with his arms crossed on the bed, already in his swimming trunks and a loose tank, exposing his fairly muscular arms. You bit your lip and stepped out, feeling odd walking around with quite minimal clothing.

"Let's go?" You murmured shyly.

"Who said we were going out, hm?" he questioned and your eyes widened. "Not before I take a good look at your bathing suit."

You blushed and clutched your shirt nervously. Namjoon spotted your hesitation and timidity so he slid off the bed to approach you. He tilted your chin up and placed a sweet kiss on your lips, but you could see his eyes were intense and blown out with lust. It thrilled you.

"Take it off for me, baby." he ordered and your heart somersaulted at the sense of authority in his voice.

You stepped back and pulled your shirt over your head, then unbuttoned your jean shorts, letting it fall to the ground. But Namjoon didn't rush to you, didn't say anything, so you stood awkwardly in the center of the room in just your bathing suit in agony at the silence.

"H-h-how does it look?" You stammered, wondering if he really thought it didn't suit you and that was why he wasn't saying anything. "I wasn't a fan of this at first but the person I was with urged me to buy--"

"Turn around and walk to that mirror." Namjoon instructed.

Your eyes widened, but you heeded him without hesitation, your heart ramming in your chest with anticipation. He came up behind you and slapped your ass, surprising you by the sudden sting, but it felt good. He squeezed your butt cheeks roughly and began placing open mouthed kisses behind your ear as he did so.

"You look so sexy." he whispered, and you felt yourself melt. "These strings are so damn tempting."

You felt his fingers curl around the strings at your hip and you felt yourself get wet as your eyes wandered to the mirror to watch. He nipped at your neck lightly, then in the next second, he pulled the neat bow holding up your bathing suit swiftly with his teeth, causing your top to fall forward. You gasped as his hand covered one of your breasts hurriedly to replace the lack of clothing. You threw your head back and moaned at the sensation.

"Namjoon." You cried.

He hummed as he used his teeth once again to completely untie your top from your body.

"Watch yourself babygirl. Look how pretty you are under my touch." he smiled, and your eyes returned to your reflection.

Your eyes were glazed and your cheeks were red, but what caught your eye was Namjoon's large hands cupping your breasts and squeezing them. You became transfixed at the vision. His fingertips rolled over your nipple, causing your knees to buckle. He could easily get you off just by this motion alone as long as you could watch his hands doing the work. But suddenly, he was in front of you, peppering your neck and collarbones with his lips, marking every inch of your body as he traveled lower. He swirled his tongue around each of your sensitive buds, then he got on his knees in front of your already throbbing core.

With his eyes glancing up at you and you watching his reflection intently, his teeth grazed the strings of your hips and he soon ripped those loose as well. Now you were bare in front of him, your new bathing suit discarded on the bathroom floor. It did its job of seduction alright.

You watched with bated breath as his reflection was covering your core. You felt his hot breath at your entrance, but willed yourself not to look down to see whether he was going to please you or tease you. The anticipation and the excitement of not knowing turned you on all the more. Then suddenly, you felt his tongue slide into your folds and you saw his head dip forward into you in the mirror.

Immediately, your hand flew to your breasts as he licked you. You watched you massage yourself, getting more and more wrecked with each passing second by Namjoon's sinful and skilled tongue. Your hair was disheveled. Your entire body glistened with sweat and warmth, and Namjoon's arms and back muscles tensed as he grabbed your thighs to keep you still.

His tongue tickled your clit in short, quick strokes, then he flattened it to please more surface area of your folds. You rubbed your nipples for added sensation and dared to look down at him ravaging your center. You moaned at the sight, causing Namjoon to look up at you, finally noticing that you were stimulating yourself too.

"Wait for a sec, baby." he smirked. "Don't you dare touch yourself until I get back."

You breathed desperately, not wanting him to stop. But he kissed you gently to quell your confusion then stepped out of the bathroom.

"On all fours, now. And wait for me to come back."

You obeyed and stared at yourself in the mirror, admiring the way your breasts hung and your legs spread naturally, ready for him.

When Namjoon returned, he had a small bucket of ice with him.

"What--?"

"No questions. Just feeling." he grinned. "You're such a good girl for me, already spreading your legs."

Heat rushed to your cheeks at the lewd compliment.

You watched curiously as Namjoon popped at ice cube into his mouth, unsure of what he was going to do. Then he lay on his back, positioning his face right in front of your dripping folds. Without warning, he grabbed your hips and tugged you down into his face. You moaned at the cold sensation on your clit. Skillfully, he guided the ice cube up and down your folds with his tongue. You began panting-- the different temperatures increasing the need tightening in your lower region. Your hips began following the steady motion of Namjoon's cold tongue as the ice began slowly melting. When it completely turned to liquid, Namjoon pursed his lips against your clit and slurped.

"Oh my god." You groaned at the feeling. "Namjoon, please."

"Please what?" his voice was rough and low.

"Please do that again." You begged.

"With pleasure." he tapped your ass and you lifted it up so he could grab another ice cube. But this time, he pushed one finger inside your entrance and used his other hand to rub the ice cube around your clit. All the while he kissed your hip and your lower abdomen as you bucked into his finger needily.

The mirror in front of you began fogging up at the warmth of your breathing fanning across it, but the image still seduced you further. The reflection of Namjoon underneath you, pleasing you-- it was visible and it was hott.

But you didn't want to be the only one being pleased. You just weren't sure how to go about it. Your eyes wandered to the bucket of ice and an idea popped into your mind.

"Namjoon, stop." You hummed and he stilled.

"You okay?" he asked as he pulled his fingers out of you.

"Yeah, I just--" You climbed off, pulled his trunks down, and placed an ice cube in your mouth.

Namjoon's eyes widened at the realization. "Y/N--"

But you were already gliding the ice against his hardened cock, and the beautiful sounds that came out of him were music to your ears.

"Ah fuck, baby girl." he groaned as you circled your mouth with the ice cube around his tip.

You pocketed the cube into your cheek and covered his length with your mouth. He raised his hips to go deeper into you and your maneuvered the ice cube back onto your tongue to stimulate him. He began panting, and once the ice melted, you began bobbing your head up and down eagerly, feeling him pulsating inside you.

"On your knees again. No more games." he exhaled breathily.

You didn't spare time to argue. You slurped his length and released him with a pop at his tip, then resumed your position on all fours in front of the mirror. You watched him pull out a condom from his trunks, and after he put it on, you saw him get on his knees to line himself up to your entrance behind you. Agonizingly slow, he pushed into your hole, the novel feeling giving both of you immense pleasure. It felt incredibly amazing.

Once you adjusted to his size, he began to rock in and out of you gently. The motion had your breasts swinging back and forth, and you noticed the way his eyes were watching them as he drilled into you. He then grabbed two ice cubes and began rubbing them against your sensitive buds.

You groaned loudly as he quickened his pace.

"Fuck this feels so good Y/N." he hissed.

"Don't stop Namjoon. Don't stop." You moaned as you sat back into his dick, helping him get deeper into you. "I'm so close."

"Cum for me, babygirl. Cum on my dick." he whispered as he discarded the ice to the side and gripped at your hips to pull out and back into you roughly.

"OH MY GOD!" You cried at the pleasure of his entire length spearing into you from behind.

In no time, he was riding you through your orgasm.

"On your back." he instructed, also close to his release.

You flipped around and he hooked his arm around one of your legs to hold it up. Then he pushed into you. The overstimulation tingled, but you wanted him to finish, so you let him buck into you wildly until his hips stuttered and slowed down.

Then, you both were heaving heavily on the bathroom floor.

Namjoon grabbed a handful of ice and place it against your cheek. "These are multi-purpose."

You chuckled. "I don't know if I'll look at ice the same ever again."

"Anything can be used as a sex toy." he smirked. "With the right kink and knowledge."

You glanced over at him, amused, as you both tried to catch your breath.

"How was it?" he asked you.

"Amazing." You hummed as you closed your eyes.

"We'll definitely go to the beach tomorrow." he exhaled. "But for today..."

He stood up and turned on the jacuzzi. "Let's just relax. How about it?"

"A very good proposition." You smiled sleepily as he cradled you in his arms until the water was ready.

The next day, you two woke up bright and early, excited for the warm weather and sunshine, and for the day of no work ahead. After having breakfast at your balcony, staring out at the spectacular view of the vast ocean and clear skies, you two made your way to the white, sandy beach.

"Did I tell you that I'm in love with this bathing suit?" Namjoon grinned as he back hugged you while you two made your way down the boardwalk.

"I might've made an educated guess that you did." You chuckled. "Though, ripping it off with your teeth was a bit misleading. Not quite sure if you liked it on me or off me."

Namjoon kissed your temple as you two waddled through the sand, since he was still embracing you from behind.

"Well it on you makes me want to take it off you...if that makes sense."

"Not really." You grinned as you slipped out from his grasp playfully. "But maybe I'll see it in action again later."

Namjoon smirked as he ran after you.

Since there was no one on the beach yet, you picked any spot that looked decent and lay down your towels and umbrella. You wiggled a bottle of sunscreen in front of Namjoon flirtatiously.

"Want to help me?"

"Gladly." he pulled your waist forward and kissed you, his fingers untying the back knot of your top.

"Namjoon." You blushed and glanced around.

"On your stomach then." he grinned cheekily and grabbed the bottle from you.

You shook your head in disbelief but did so eagerly. Soon his hands were fanning across the expanse of your back, around your waist, and down your leg. You tried to bite down your growing need, but he flipped you around easily so that he was on top of you. You stared up at him expectantly, but he simply applied sunscreen against your stomach and on the front part of your legs.

He grinned. noticing your obvious look of disappointment and leaned forward.

"We should really make sure every single part of your body is protected." he whispered and slathered lotion on your face, causing you to wince at the not-so-gentle application.

"Namjoon!" You complained and he giggled playfully.

But soon the air changed when his finger traced down your chest. You glanced around at the vacant beach nervously.

"What if someone sees?"

"Why would someone see?" he chuckled.

"Well it's a public beach..."

"But I rented this section of the beach out..." he captured your lips. "just..." he sucked at your neck. "for..." the other side of your neck. "us..."

As soon as he finished his statement, his hands slipped underneath your bathing and he began applying lotion on your breasts. You gasped and wriggled your body at the sensation. It was so open and so shameful, but it was all so exhilarating.

"You rented this section?" You replied, trying to keep your composure. Namjoon always worked you up so easily, and you were sure your feelings were a big factor in that.

"Mhm. Cause I wanted you all to myself." he locked lips with you, slowly at first then tongue and teeth were exchanged, all while his hands cupped and massaged your boobs. You would've gotten lost in his mouth and his hands again, if he didn't break the kiss.

"Let's get into the water to cool down." he grinned as you fluttered your eyes open.

"Yeah." you agreed with a blush.

He fumbled to tie your bathing suit top, much to your amusement.

"You're so good at taking things off, but not so good at putting them on, huh?" You teased.

Namjoon chuckled as he let you tie it yourself. He then extended his hand out, which you happily took.

It was surreal. Years ago, you had dreamt of going on dates and walking so openly like this with Namjoon so the reality seemed hazed and too good to be true. Now here you two were, on a private section of the beach he had bought off, and it felt so unbelievable. The isolation made it truly feel like it was just the two of you in your own little corner of the world.

You winced at the coldness of the ocean water, but Namjoon squeezed your hand reassuringly.

"Like anything in life, it's best to go all in." he grinned.

You smiled nervously and nodded. Namjoon held his nose and you took a deep breath. Holding hands, you two dipped underwater to get used to the temperature in one go. After adapting, Namjoon flailed around happily while he trudged in the waters; you watched him endearingly.

"Come here." he beckoned you over and held your waist. "Let's ride some waves."

"Wh-what do we do?"

"We chase after the peak of the wave right before it crashes, and jump. Whoever misses the timing, will probably get carried underwater and back to shore."

"Well that doesn't sound very fun." You worried.

"I got you." he grinned as he pulled you closer to him.

You smiled and nervously wrapped your arms around his neck.

"Here's one now!" he pointed. "Ready on 3--"

"Jump!" You gasped as the wave came crashing down on both of you.

You rolled around as the current took you where it pleased and you found yourself back on shore, catching your breath. You glanced around and found Namjoon nearby, also washed up on the sand.

You laughed and walked over to him.

"Sometimes life gets you down." he shrugged.

You grinned warmly and reached out to help him up. He grabbed your arm and pulled you down so that you lay on top of his bare chest. Exhaling, he placed his hands behind his head and stared at you. You blushed and averted your eyes.

"Can I ask you something?" he questioned.

You glanced at him shyly and nodded. "Of course."

"I saw the video of you and Jungkook by chance."

Your eyes widened.

"What's going on between you two?"

You worried that Namjoon would get the wrong idea so you blurted out the truth. "We're helping each other learn by pretending to date...since we're both inexperienced at dating."

"Why are you trying to learn so hard?" he wiped a droplet from your cheek.

"I want to be a match for a more experienced person faster." You admitted.

Namjoon cupped your cheek and kissed you. "But having the experience for the experience is part of the journey, Y/N."

You stared at him curiously.

"No one's sexual preferences and sexual chemistry match right away. It takes time to learn about each other and with each other. In essence, everybody is inexperienced with someone new." he stated.

"But you don't seem to be." You frowned.

He chuckled. "That's not true. I'm always nervous when it comes to you."

"Nervous?" You blinked. "I make you nervous?"

"Of course." he laughed. "You take things I do, and pick up on it right away. It surprises me and it makes me wonder who's learning from whom."

You smiled.

He kissed you. "Plus you're gorgeous, and we're just so similar that I connect with you faster. Maybe it's cause we've known each other?"

"You think we connect?" You beamed.

"You don't?"

"I'm not really sure how it feels to connect or not connect..." You hummed.

Namjoon fiddled with the strings of your bathing suit again and bit his lip seductively. "Shall I teach you?"

You grinned and bent down to kiss him fervently, not minding the small waves lightly hitting you two.

Soon enough, clothes were strewn on to the untainted white sand, and you and Namjoon found solace behind a large boulder. Once again, your bodies were tangled around each other, but this time, you two were giggling and laughing as the sand tickled and stuck to your bodies.

"Let's try something. An experiment." he hummed.

You tilted your head. "What is it?"

He grabbed a pinch of sand and rubbed it around your nipple. You groaned at the rough sensation.

"Feel good?" he asked.

"Surprisingly...yes." You exhaled with a blush.

"What does it feel like?"

"Instead of one thing stimulating it, each grain feels like 10 things stimulating it. Plus the extra friction feels fantastic." You analyzed breathlessly.

"You see? Even I'm learning something new." he grinned.

"I'm glad." You shied.

"Relax." Namjoon caressed your cheek. "You always get hesitant with me. What is it?"

You looked down. "You're just so much more experienced. I don't know if I'm doing it right or if I'm getting all the fun instead of you...and--"

Namjoon bit your bottom lip to stop you from speaking. "I never accept things half way, Y/N. You know that."

You stared at Namjoon curiously, your heart flipping in your chest.

"Teaching you is fun, Y/N." his eyes darkened. "I've never had someone so willing to learn before, and it's such a turn on. So don't ever think it's a burden."

You smiled gently as you two shared another kiss. It was a bit relieving to know that he didn't think your inexperience was a downfall, but a strength in seducing him.

You two stayed on the beach (with clothes on eventually) until night fell. Namjoon wrapped a blanket around the two of you as he started a little fire in the fire pit.

"I come here a lot to take a good look at the stars." he confessed. "I felt like you would appreciate the view too."

You glanced up at the night sky, twinkling with constellations so clearly like an open page of a freshly pressed book.

"Wow..." You gawked. "You never get to see this in the city."

"No." Namjoon chuckled. "No you don't. This is why I love travelling. You get to see so many things, meet so many people, and you get cool spots like this to share with others."

You smiled. "That's why I moved to Seoul."

Namjoon glanced at you. "Why?"

"To see what you see when you're travelling. To see things from a different perspective than the one I've always known."

"And? How do you like it?" Namjoon nudged.

You smiled to yourself. "I can't imagine my life any other way now. I've met so many people I probably would've never encountered back at home."

Namjoon grinned. "But I guess I'm thankful you didn't realize it sooner."

"Hm?" You locked eyes with him and he intertwined your fingers.

"Because then we wouldn't have met and re-met. Everything fell to place to lead us to this moment, and I'm grateful for it."

You blushed, then gasped as you spotted that the marshmallow Namjoon was melting had caught on fire.

"Joon!" You grabbed the stick and put out the flame.

Namjoon cracked up. "Woops."

"This is so like you." you smiled at him amused.

"You think so?" he questioned. "I don't think many people can say that."

"Why not?"

"I don't stay long enough for them to truly understand me."

You blinked, taking his statement in. "Do you think I understand you?"

Namjoon smiled. "I think it's more important you understand yourself before trying to understand me."

You furrowed your brow. "I don't get it..."

He laughed. "Me neither. I just spouted something random that sounded interesting."

You smiled as he attempted to make another s'more, but you mulled over his words that he had brushed aside as nothing, knowing full well it meant something.

"Please stop. You and Mr. Park are both freaking me out now." Jungkook groaned as you waltzed into work, glowing from your crush-filled weekend.

You tried to control your usually blank expression, but you couldn't help grinning. Any thought of the weekend filled you immensely with butterflies, and you were constantly thinking about it, meaning the butterflies never dissipated.

Jungkook sighed and placed a pastry and coffee on your desk. "Thought you might be tired, but I guess not."

"What's this?" You blinked.

"Oh. A bakery opened up near my place and it's actually really good."

"Oh! I've been to that bakery!" Hoseok grinned. "I go there every morning now!"

You bit into the pastry and your eyes widened. "Wow! It's fantastic! Oh my goodness!"

"Right?" Hoseok clapped. "Ah my mouth is watering looking at it right now."

You glared and turned away from Hoseok, afraid he would snatch your breakfast up.

"Like I'd steal from a little girl." Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Eat it before Mr. Park comes."

"Or else what?" Jimin appeared and bit a piece of the pastry off, much to everyone's surprise.

"Were you...under my desk???" You bellowed.

"Mmm...maybe?" Jimin grinned innocently.

You glanced at Jungkook and he shook his head; he hadn't noticed him either.

"Let me guess." You sighed. "You were going to plan another surprise confetti parade, but Jungkook and I came sooner than you thought so you couldn't."

"Bingo!" Jimin grinned as he snatched the rest of your pastry. "This shit is good. Let's get some more tomorrow morning-- for everyone!"

"MR. PARK!" You yelled as you realized he had eaten everything.

"You shouldn't be screaming my name, Y/N. Jungkook might get jealous." he patted your cheek smugly.

You curled your fingers, fighting the urge to strangle him.

"Here." Jungkook shoved another into your mouth, shutting you up. "I was going to save it for later, but you can have it."

"Or you could share!" Jimin cackled and forced Jungkook's face into the pastry hanging in your mouth too.

"JIMIN." Hoseok scolded.

Jimin immediately scurried away, singing some love song cheekily. Jungkook blushed as he took a bite anyway and stepped back. You blinked, always being taken aback by his shyness.

"Finish it, if you want." he hummed and hurried away from the cubicle, leaving you and Hoseok puzzled.

You shrugged and continued eating happily.

Namjoon: Hope you're not too tired at work! I got to sleep in today haha

You giggled as you read his message.

"Jungkook! She's cheatinggg!" Jimin pried your phone away from you and lunged at your partner across the cubicle.

"Chi--Mr. Park!" Jungkook groaned. "I'm trying to do some work for once."

"But she's texting Namjoon." he pouted. "That's cheating."

Jungkook exhaled and turned around. You glanced at him worriedly. You had been in your own little world all morning that you hadn't taken a good look at Jungkook all day. He appeared absolutely exhausted.

"Mr. Park. We're only dating; we're not exclusive." Jungkook finally put his foot down. "So she can text whoever the hell she wants."

You frowned at his tone of voice. For some reason it upset and irked you; the entire statement and the sheer nonchalance behind it. But why would you want Jungkook to care about you messaging Namjoon? He had known your feelings from the beginning, so it was natural of him to react without care.

Jimin returned your phone sadly. "Jungkook yelled at me."

Suddenly, someone snorted and retorted, "It's about damn time he did. He's been taking too much of your shit."

Jimin and Jungkook perked up immediately.

"Noona!"

"Babe!" Jimin grinned.

"Hi love." the Receptionist appeared, still as gorgeous as ever. "You forgot your lunch so I decided to drop it off and check on my lovely, hard working interns, who have to be tortured by you every day."

Jimin huffed. "You don't have to put it like that."

She smiled and ruffled Jungkook's hair. "Take it easy, buddy. If you need a break from later, let me know. You worked lots of shifts this weekend at the station."

Jungkook yawned and nodded. "Will do, Noona."

Then she turned to you and grinned. "Oh and I have something for you, Y/N."

"Me?"

"Special delivery." she winked and pulled out a tiny mason jar from inside her purse. You marveled at it, and immediately knew that it was a present from Namjoon. It contained the white sand from the beach you two were in and a few seashells you had watched him collect during your stroll together.

The little card attached read, "To remember our first trip together :) -Joon"

Jimin grabbed his girlfriend's wrist dangerously, his aura noticeably changing. "We need to talk."

The Receptionist smirked knowingly. "I'm afraid it's classified even from you, babe."

"Oh come on!" Jimin whined. "I think I know but I can't know until you confirm it!"

"No way ~" she sang playfully.

"Babe, come on! I'll go down on you for a week!"

"Oh please. You'll go down on me if I tell you to anyway." she stuck her tongue out.

Yours and Jungkook's eyes widened in shock at their openly candid conversation.

"Oi lovebirds." Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Please stop talking about your sex life in my building."

"It's my building too." Jimin retorted.

"It was his longer though." the Receptionist jeered.

Jimin huffed.

"I'll see you at home." she kissed Jimin on the cheek, which instantly quelled his annoyance.

"See ya." he smiled softly.

Jungkook coughed, "Whipped."

Jimin glared at him while you and Hoseok cracked up.

You panicked as your car began sputtering wildly in the middle of a dark, unknown road, and all of a sudden, it broke down.

It was the end of the week, and you had decided to go out and eat with some of your classmates to wind down. You had no idea how to get there, not having explored the city enough since you were busy with work and school all the other times before. You were on your way back in the cover of the night, already nervous and anxious, and as if to make matters worse, it began to torrentially downpour. You clutched the wheel as you shook with fear.

As stoic as your face usually was and as mature and collected as you appeared to be, thunder and lightning were two things that could break down your iron defense. Even as a young girl, you had been terribly frightened of storms because of the impending possibility of thunder and lightning.

Now, you were living your worst fear. You weren't in the safety of your home, curled up in your bed, drowning out the sounds with loud music, and willing yourself to sleep. You were in the middle of the storm; your car broken down along with your sanity. You shook fervently, taking great pains to steady your hands to grab your phone. Hurriedly, you called a few people, praying the calls would go through to someone. You frantically called Namjoon multiple times, but the storm was so bad that the reception was hazy for all the numbers you tried.

You gripped the steering wheel and wept, immobile and frightened.

"This is what happens when I try to go out." you whined.

Suddenly, light tapping was heard on your window and you gasped as a shadow stood beside you. You covered your ears, wondering if this was how it was all going to end for you.

"Y/N." Another series of knocks was heard. "You okay? It's me."

Your heart fluttered at the familiar voice, and you immediately lunged out of your car and into his arms.

"Y/N?" Jungkook called again worriedly as you buried your head into his chest.

His confusion dissipated and his body relaxed when he realized that you were shaking and sobbing against him.

"What happened?" he frowned as he pulled his umbrella fully over you and rubbed your back comfortingly.

"How'd you know I was here?" You sniffled, your voice muffled into his chest.

"Well, I was on patrol and I recognized your car and license plate. I know you don't live anywhere near here and you weren't moving so I thought I'd come check on you."

You tightened your embrace around him as you heard the thunder erupt angrily through the Earth.

"My car broke down..." You admitted softly. "And I'm afraid of thunder and lightning."

"What? I didn't catch the last part?" Jungkook asked.

"I'M AFRAID OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING!" You pulled your head out of his chest to scream.

His eyes widened as he witnessed your tear-stricken face for the first time. He frowned and wiped your tears away.

"You can go laugh at me." You averted your eyes.

He exhaled. "Why would I laugh at you? As far as fears go, yours is more logical than mine."

You smiled warmly, knowing he was making fun of his own fear of girls just to calm you down. Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit up the sky and you once again took refuge in his chest. He chuckled and patted your head.

"You know, you're really cute like this."

You gently punched his arm. "Shut up."

"What do you want to do? Want me to take you home?" he softened.

You shook your head. "I don't want to be alone."

"I'll take you to my apartment then." he hummed. "Okay?"

"Okay." You agreed. "Oh and Jungkook..."

"Hm?"

You stepped back and looked at the ground. "Don't tell Namjoon about this fear of mine..."

"Why not?"

"It's a little uncool. I want him to see me as mature and having a good handle on life."

Jungkook sighed and nodded. "I don't feel like I'll ever speak to him so chummily, so don't worry about that."

You smiled.

"Take everything you need from your car and we can go."

You grabbed your purse, sunglasses, and all the documents you kept in your car. Jungkook cocked an eyebrow at you judgingly.

"I like working from home?" You grinned weakly.

He rolled his eyes, and wrapped his arm around you to keep you close. Your lips curled up at his warmth as he guided you to his car. You always found yourself indebted to Jungkook, for his kindness and for his knack of appearing when you needed him most.

You watched him scurry to the driver's seat frantically after dropping you into the car.

"Oh shit, this rain is insane. Why did you go out today of all days?" he cursed.

You snorted. "You know I asked myself the same thing just before you arrived."

Jungkook chuckled. "We'll get you dry and toasty in no time. I have some fantastic hot chocolate at my place."

"You make it from scratch?" You teased.

"Oh please. Keurig cups is where it's at now."

"Wow, you don't even do the water and powder anymore, huh? Where have all the good men gone?" You bantered.

"Diss my hot chocolate anymore and I'll kick you out of this car." he bantered. "You have gone too far."

You clapped your hands together in apology. "I apologize for my rudeness."

Jungkook chuckled. "Open that compartment in front of you. You'll find my headphones and Ipod. You can drown out the thunder that way and just close your eyes to block out the lightning."

You smiled as you did as he suggested. "Thank you Jungkook."

"Hey, what're fake boyfriends for?" he grinned.

You covered his hand on his gearshift warmly. He intertwined your fingers reassuringly, and you fell into a trance listening to his ballad playlist.

A few minutes later, you two rushed into his apartment hurriedly to get out of the storm before it became even more violent. With sigh, you collapsed onto Jungkook's floor, praising the Heavens that you had been saved and were now in shelter with good company.

"You okay?" Jungkook chuckled as he knelt down to pat your head.

"Yeah. That was rough."

"That's the most emotional I've seen you..." he smirked. "Other than when you're screaming my name in bed of course."

You glared up at him, but he cheekily padded to one of his rooms.

"I mean, what would you have done without me?" he teased.

"Well, I was trying to reach a few people." You mumbled, annoyed.

"Oh? Who?"

"Just...some people..." You averted your eyes.

Jungkook stepped out and gave you a suspicious look. "Was I...one of them?"

"Uh well...you were next...maybe..." you muttered under your breath, hoping he wouldn't really hear you.

Suddenly, Jungkook snatched your phone from your grip and checked your call history.

"Hey!" You argued. "Invasion of privacy!"

"There's no privacy between us after you gave me your phone password." he hummed as he scrolled.

You pouted, embarrassed. The next few seconds of unnerving silence made you sweat nervously.

"You called Namjoon three times?! And none of these numbers are mine!" Jungkook huffed angrily as he handed your phone back to you. "Why didn't you call me?"

You frowned. "You're always coming to my rescue...Namjoon told me not to lean on you too much cause it might look bad for you as a police officer...and I don't want to be a burden...."

"When did I ever say you were a burden?" Jungkook snapped. "Why do I have to come to your rescue as a cop and not as a friend?"

Your eyes widened. He really did have a point. You felt a wave of guilt wash over you. It was unlike Jungkook to be open about his feelings or be upset at all for that matter. The look of hurt on him squeezed your heart. You didn't like that face on him.

"Jungkook, I'm so--"

Jungkook handed you a towel and a pair of his sweats, averting his eyes from you. "The bath should be ready. Go wash up so you don't get sick. Just chuck your clothes out of the bathroom so I can throw it in the wash."

You looked down and nodded. Even when he was mad at you he was taking care of you. Jungkook was such a great guy.

You grabbed the items from him.

"Thank you..." You smiled sadly.

Jungkook nodded curtly and disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later, you jumped into the shower and as he instructed, you threw your dirty clothes out of the bathroom. You listened intently, waiting for him to take them, and praying he would initiate conversation, that he wasn't truly mad at you.

"Um...you threw out your bra and underwear too..." Jungkook's panicked voice echoed from behind the door.

"Um yeah...I need them cleaned too?" You grinned, figuring that would catch his attention and horror enough to speak to you.

"But..."

"Jungkook...are you freaking out about my undergarments? After you've touched them and what they're covering countless of times?" You chuckled.

"It's not the same context!" he hollered. "I can't believe--"

"You don't have to if --"

"Ugh. I'll just cover it with your other clothes so I don't have to touch it." he muttered.

"Stop treating it like it's contaminated!"

"Who knows, Y/N? Who knows..." he hummed.

"I KNOW! IT'S MINE!" You bellowed.

"Yeah, yeah." Jungkook huffed and you heard his feet padding away from the bathroom.

After you changed and dried your hair, you shuffled to the living room where you heard the TV. Jungkook was in his oversized sweats already too, ready for bed. You sat beside him quietly, trying to feel out the situation.

"How was your school friend hangout?" he questioned softly.

You smiled. "Fun. But nothing beats sitting on the couch in my pajamas."

"You need to get out more."

"Seriously?" You snorted. "From the person who goes to the grocery store at an odd hour so he wouldn't have to run into females?"

He shoved a pillow into your face. "Shut up."

You grabbed the pillow and placed it neatly on his lap. His eyes widened as you laid down and rested on your head on it.

"I'm exhausted, and I had a few drinks."

"You were drinking and driving?" he asked sullenly. "I could fine you for that."

"I was already sober by the time I was driving, please." You rolled your eyes and threw the pillow away, preferring his legs instead.

Jungkook became flustered and you grinned, snuggling up into his stomach. His clothes always smell fantastic-- a mix of soap and laundry detergent. A combination of the simple pleasures in life.

"Thanks again Jungkook...and sorry." You hummed before letting your exhaustion take over.

Jungkook relaxed and stroked your hair gently.

About an hour later, after his show ended, he grabbed your phone from your pocket. Sifting through the numbers, he exhaled and swiped on a name.

"Y/N?"

"Hey, Namjoon...it's Jungkook." Jungkook bit his lip hesitantly.

"Oh. Hey -- is Y/N okay?"

"Yeah, her car broke down and luckily I was on patrol at the time, so I took her to my apartment to wash up. But I know she tried to call you multiple times, but signal was shoddy so yeah...I figured I'd just reach out to you since she probably wanted to but fell asleep instea."

Namjoon was silent for a few seconds and Jungkook looked around his living room, wondering if he had said something weird.

"You want me to pick her up?" Namjoon finally spoke, mild confusion laced in his tone.

"Um well, it's more so she probably wants you to pick her up. She didn't even call me for help, but called you three times." Jungkook chuckled. "I figured she might be more comfortable with you in that case."

Namjoon chuckled. "I don't know about that, but I really appreciate your call, Jungkook. Text me your address and I'll pick her up soon."

"Sure thing."

He quickly messaged Namjoon his apartment address and mumbled to your sleeping figure. "Aren't I the best wingman, hm? You're going to owe me big time for this."

And surely enough, a few minutes later, his doorbell rang. Jungkook grabbed his phone and remotely unlocked his door.

"Go Cloud, go! Attack!" he whispered playfully, but the dog remained in his little bed without a care.

"Jungkook?" Namjoon poked his head in.

"Yeah, come on in! She's sleeping on my legs so I can't come greet you!" he called out half-heartedly.

Namjoon came into view, in matching sweats and a bright red bucket hat. Jungkook fought back the urge to chuckle at his fashion.

"Sorry for the intrusion." Namjoon bowed and put on slippers respectfully.

"No worries. I was the one that called you over." Jungkook nudged you roughly.

"What?" You snapped and shoved his face away, annoyed at being stirred so rudely.

Namjoon was a bit surprised at your behavior.

Jungkook snorted. "Yah. Namjoon's here to take you home or wherever."

"Stop pulling my leg, stupid Jungkook." You swatted at him sleepily and gripped at his sweater. "You just want me to get off you."

Jungkook sang. "You're going to regret doing these when you wake up ~"

"I'll just pick her up." Namjoon offered.

"You sure? She's a bit heavy..." Jungkook questioned.

"Yeah, I got it." He scooped you up in his arms, wobbling a little as he tried to adjust to the new weight.

Jungkook felt a peculiar knot in his stomach at the sight of you curling into the side of Namjoon's neck.

"Thanks for taking care of her, Jungkook." Namjoon glanced at him deeply. "I'll take care of her from here."

Jungkook's stomach dropped at the statement initially, but he soon chuckled to himself and matched the intensity of Namjoon's gaze to show that he was serious as well.

"Please take excellent care of her then... she's all yours."

PART 7: FINALE

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