#included a little explanation because I figured he would have no idea what the hell was going on otherwise

[shadowsandstarlight]

Today I discovered that my social studies teacher listens to Welcome to Night Vale, and I am still in a bit of shock.

[morganbritton132]

Eddie starts a live stream by sticking his head into the living room where Steve is looking for something to watch on Netflix like, “Do you want to go on an adventure with me?”

Steve is reluctant to go because Eddie won’t give him any details about it but ultimately gives in because well, it’s Eddie. His reservations return when he gets in the car and Robin is sitting in the backseat, and when he asks about it Eddie just says that she’s there for ‘damage control.’

Like, “What the hell does that mean? She’s not calming and have you seen her walk? She is the damage.”

“Hey!”

“Rob, I love you but that’s true. She’s here for emotional support.”

“What does that mean?!”

Eddie tells Steve to trust him and Steve gives in because well, again. It’s Eddie.

Steve would accompany Eddie to Mount Sauron, or whatever, any day of the week. So he puts his seatbelt on and gears up the playlist they made for when it’s the three of them in the car, and they drive.

Eddie explains to Steve and to his live-stream that he’s doing an impromptu meet-and-greet at a mystery location. He’ll drop some hints over to the course of the drive and if it’s your area and you can figure it out, come out and meet him.

Steve thinks that’s actually a pretty cool idea and thinks it’s great that Eddie is interacting with his fans again after all the death-threat drama. He pokes Eddie in the arm and tells him, “That’s really cool, babe.”

Eddie flashes him a grin that doesn’t quite gel with the nervous tapping of his fingers, but that thought slips from Steve’s mind when Robin punches him in the arm and points, “Look, cows.”

Steve smiles, “I’m naming that one Kirby.”

“It looks more like a Janine.”

Other highlights of the road trip live stream include the three of them absentmindedly singing along to Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls, the three of them singing passionately to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, rest-stop stopping so Ozzy can get out and run around for a bit, and Steve outlawing Punch Buggy after Robin and Eddie punched him in the arm three times in a row.

The whole time Eddie keeps dropping vague little hints like ‘taking it back to where it all begins’ and ‘we’re treading old territory’ and Steve initially thinks that they’re heading to the bar in Indianapolis where Corroded Coffin was discovered. So maybe he didn’t really pay attention to the rest of Eddie’s clues or maybe he’s really bad at connecting the dots because he feels winded when they come upon the Welcome to Hawkins sign.

He feels increasingly more winded when they turn down streets that have changed a lot but feel the same. He doesn’t notice how the car went quite or how Eddie keeps sneaking glances at him, just the streets they’re taking. Every turn they take that he’d taken a hundred times before.

“Eddie,” Steve breaths out like he’s just taped the pieces to a treasure map together and discovered ‘X’ was home all along. He inhales in time with the click of the blinker as they turn onto Loch Nora, “What’s going on?”

Eddie doesn’t actually answer that question until after they’re parked outside of Steve’s childhood home. He doesn’t answer until after he gets out of the car and circles the other side, and he holds Steve in his arms.

He says, “You told me that you will never work through this thing with your mom until you understand why she’s like this. If she won’t come to you, babe, then you gotta go to her. You gotta do this to get peace.”

Steve is always shaking his head no because he can’t. He can’t just walk up to her door after twenty years and asks her for an explanation. He doesn’t even know how he’d – he doesn’t –

Eddie tilts Steve’s head up until they’re eye to eye and he tells him like he can hear all those half-formed questions in his head, “You are Steve fucking Harrington, baby. You fight monsters and you save the world, and you are brave beyond words. There are worst things out there than this, so you got this. You can do this.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Eddie continues. “But it has never been easy, and… This is it, babe. This is the last battle you got to fight and then we leave it all behind. I’m sorry I tricked you, but you wouldn’t have come if I told you.”

Steve takes a deep breath and then another, and maybe a third. He shakes the nerves out of his fingers and he hugs Eddie as tight as he can without hurting him, and he says because he knows he’ll mean it later, “Thank you.”

“Take Oz with you,” Eddie tells him and kisses him in broad daylight like he was never able to do on this street. He tells Steve that his meet-and-greet is at high school, and that Robin’s going to stay here with the car, that they’re going to Hopper and Joyce’s after, “If you need anything, call me immediately.”

Eddie stays with Robin to watch Steve walk up to the door and knock. He doesn’t move an inch until the door is answered, and then he smiles at Robin, “That went better than expected, right?”

Robin asks, “Did you end your live stream?”

“Shit.” 

[binsito]

red handed

pairing: oh seungmin (o.de) x fem reader

word count: 1.5k

rating: mature, includes: unprotected sex, panty swiping, dry humping, swearing, seungmin is just a lil perv

note - this is my first official post!! hope whoever reads this enjoys it! it was mostly self indulgent hah

seungmin couldn’t help it.

it was a mistake but he had gone way too far. 

what started off as innocent panty swiping soon turned into a full blown problem.

poor seungmin couldn’t help it.

the first time it happened, you had invited him over to study at your apartment. you were having such a hard time understanding what your professor was teaching so you begged him to help.

seungmin being the sweetest friend ever, cleared his day just to sleep over and help with your homework.

two hours in and you were already exhausted from all the big numbers and formulas. you had fallen asleep and he decided to get ready for bed. 

seems work and school was taking up most of your time because he noticed you hadn’t done laundry. the load was almost toppling over.

but seungmin is such a nice guy.. 

he figured he’d help you out and throw some of your clothes in the washer. he picked up some clothes and tossed them in, he wasn’t particularly looking at what he was throwing in which caused him to accidentally drop something.

oh god, he thinks. breath hitching as he stares wide eyed at the pretty pink panties that happened to fall right in front of his feet.

the obvious thing would be to just pick it up and move on but seungmin was feeling a bit sneaky and a lot needy.

so this is what you liked to wear? so lacy and cute.. he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. imagining how it would hug your hips, how the string would bury itself deep between your round asscheeks.

and seungmin had good intentions! he wasn’t a bad guy! but he questioned himself as he pocketed the panties deep in his pants.

you wouldn’t miss one measly pair, right?

he swore this would be the only time he ever did this. cross his heart and hope to die. but it happened again.

and again.

he just couldn’t stop his pathetic little sticky fingers from nabbing your prettiest pairs! (and he was stupid to think you didn’t realize what was going on) the next time you were sure he was going to strike, you pretended to fall asleep. you were patiently waiting for him to build the courage to go into your laundry room again.

and he did, but not to steal another pair. he was going to kindly put them back before you missed them too much.

just as he was about to drop them into the hamper, you walked up behind him, arms crossed and trying to hold back your laughter. you found the situation quite amusing.

seungmin, on the other hand, wanted to absolutely perish. he wanted the ground beneath him to open and swallow him whole. he knew he was going to the depths of hell for sure.

“i-i can explain-“ he starts, but you wave him off. what explanation could he possibly give?

“did you use them?” “what? n-no- i-i just-“

you reach over him to grab a pair and inspected them. their scent was so strong, the crotch area had dried up stains.

oh, you absolutely caught him red handed.

“you used these to jerk didn’t you, minnie? you stole my panties to cum on them? i didn’t know you were such a pervert.. these are my favorite pair and i had no idea you stole them..” you sigh

“i-i am so fucking sorry.. if you don’t want to be friends anym-“ 

he was shaking, face completely red but you waved him off.

“i appreciate you putting them back.. just come to bed with me please? it’s late..”

you weren’t mad? seungmin couldn’t believe it.. he was certain you had a target on his head. you were probably going to strangle him in your room or throw him out of your window or-

you found yourself back in your room with seungmin. you sat him down on the edge of your bed as you shook your head at him

“minnie..what you did was so disrespectful.. you left me wondering where my panties were disappearing to.. i thought i was going crazy." you scolded him with your arms crossed

 "i had to go to bed all these nights with nothing underneath.. you are so cruel..” 

seungmin swallowed thickly. the sound of your voice buzzing in his ears. “you- are you.. wearing anything right now?”

poor perverted seungmin.

“is that all that’s on your horny little brain right now?..” you chuckle and playfully grab the tips of you nightgown, pulling it up your thighs and letting it linger just beneath your core.

he didn’t know to react. was this his punishment? oh may god have mercy on him. before he could speak, you had lifted your gown over your tummy. your cute little cunt on display for him. he was salivating at the sight, eyes going wild at your bare skin.

you walked over and straddled him, he didn’t know if he was allowed to touch so he just looked up at you with wide eyes, hands at his side.

“isn’t this what you wanted, seungmin?” you whispered as you finally pulled the gown off completely and tossed it.

he thought you were absolutely gorgeous. he wanted to sink his teeth into your soft skin and bury his head between your legs.

“yes.” he answers curtly 

“this is exactly what i wanted.”

and you smiled at him because this is exactly what you wanted too. it played out perfectly and now you couldn't wait to make a mess of him.

the dragging your cunt on his clothed crotch was enough for him to ascend. your hands on his shoulders as you whined in his ear. his erection screaming for release but he deserved the teasing for what he had done.

he could feel the front of his jeans soaking, your cunt making a mess all over him but he couldn’t complain. the friction hurt but the pleasure was too good for him to ask you to stop. he was so scared he was going to cum in his jeans but he just couldn’t hold back. a groan erupts from him as he shuts his eyes tightly. a proud smile plastered on your face as you let him soil his jeans.

“look at you, minnie.. so needy.. you couldn’t even last long enough to get to the fun part?” you mocked him

“i-i can go again.. i promise.. i can..” his brain so scattered, completely pussy drunk just from a little humping.

you got up from his lap and laid besides him, gesturing him to get rid of his pants urgently. just as much as he needed you, you needed him.

he was quick to strip. he didn’t care if he was messy, didn’t care how his cock continually dribbled precum. all he care about was diving head first into your cunt, spreading your legs as he spat on it.

rubbing his cockhead against your folds and smacking your cute little clit with it a few times. 

“fuck.. gonna fuck you so good.. gonna ruin your pussy.. you want that? tell me you want it.. please..” he was trying so hard to sound strong but he was a weak, weak man for you.

you bit your lip as you nodded eagerly.

and he crumbles when he feels your cunt suck him in. just the tip at first, slowly, he was scared he'd cum prematurely again. pressing in and restraining every fiber of his being from fucking you through the mattress of your bed

"s-shit.. so pretty.. pretty girl.. p-pretty pussy.. g-god.." his eyebrows furrowed as he kicked his head back at the feeling.

he sunk himself deeper, feeling how your cunt stretched out on him. you gripped his biceps tightly as he began to pump himself inside of you. it felt even better than you anticipated. his cock slender yet long, pulsing inside of you as he ruined your pussy.

"minnie.. so deep.. can feel you s-so deep" you purred out. he was hitting your gummy spot consistently, making you see stars

he pressed your thighs against your body as he quickened his pace. his forehead had a slight sheen to it and his muscles flexed with every snap of his hips

a ring of your cream formed around his cock as he slipped in and out rhythmically.  he needed you to milk him, he was dying for you to come undone around his cock.

he began to rub tight figure eights on your clit to help push you the the edge, your back arching at the newfound pressure. curses sputtering from your lips as he fucked you so thoroughly. your vision going white as your cunt clenched tightly and spasmed, having reached your orgasm. he continues to thrust, burying himself deep in your pussy to pour his load in you.

he wanted to make sure he left you nice and full of him, even after he pulled out.

he watched as his cum seeped out of you, squirting a few more drops on your cunt and sighing out. the sight was better than he could ever imagine. 

this was so much better than stealing your panties and fisting his cock to them. 

please refrain from reposting, modifying, translating, copying or stealing my work. - © binsito

thank you for reading my first fic on here!! i was dying for more o.de smut and took matters into my own hands ahsh

[bitchin-beskar]

hi 👋

may I request a reader that is a pack rat but with useful things? like they’re always ready with something in their bag to help tf141 with their needs. wether its a snack, an extra shirt, or whatever. they’re just dora with their backpack lol

and the men are always in awe bc ‘how are they always ready for any situation’?? it can be platonic or romantic but would surely love some fluff with it. please and thank you! 🥰

hello love!!! you can indeed request that!!! this is such a cute idea!!!

you suggested dora with the backpack, which is very valid, but my brain also jumps to daphne blake from scooby doo bc that girl carries a tiny ass purse and has everything under the sun and can make shit on the fly like nothing (there was one episode where she made a hydroelectric battery to power the mystery machine like it was nothing lol)

so taking both of those vibes and jumping headfirst in!!! here's a tidbit from how I think a fic with that might go!! (also I kept reader gender neutral in this one, bc you didn't specify any pronouns!)

It's finally happened, Soap is sure of it. The 141 has finally run into a situation that BP isn't gonna have the supplies for.

BP is the callsign of the team medic, which is why you could be forgiven for thinking their name is short for 'blood pressure.'

It's not.

It's short for 'backpack.'

Soap had chuckled when he first heard it, but those little chuckles quickly died when he realised his superiors were serious. All they'd say was that you were uniquely skilled at anticipating the needs of your teammates on any given mission, as well as a well-qualified and well-trained field medic and surgeon.

That first mission, everything had gone FUBAR, including the exfil being shot down, leaving the team stranded in enemy territory with their only possible transport being new black-market Humvees with remote locking systems that were thus far unbreakable. Price and Ghost had been conversing over a plan of attack when you'd simply opened up your ever present backpack and pulled out a small handheld remote. Flipping a switch, you pointed it at the nearest Humvee, and an audible click! indicated it was now unlocked.

They'd all stared for a solid minute before you coughed and said "Uh, about that exfil?" and the team jerked into action and dove for the doors of their new escape vehicle. When asked what the fuck kind of wizard tech you had, you simply shrugged and said it was a universal remote.

Soap had figured it for a one-off. He'd never been more wrong.

Ghost's balaclava gets irreparably damaged and covered in gross bodily fluids? You've got a brand new one in the exact size he needs, made from water resistant fabric.

Price's cigars get lost in (yet another) heli crash? You've got a brand new box of Maduro cigars in that backpack, the only explanation being that you'd "found them while out shopping."

Gaz loses his ball cap, and you whip out a spare without even a second glance, shoving it onto his head without a care in the world, even as he's sputtering because "how the hell do you have the same damn cap? I bought that old one years ago!"

Alejandro's iPod gets destroyed after the team has to flee through a river and all their gear gets waterlogged, and out of a Ziploc, you pull a brand new one with the headphones he likes, and he's shocked to see it's downloaded with all his favorite songs, and the default setting is currently on Spanish.

Rudy's a diabetic, and his insulin pump gets damaged in a knife fight, and not only do you have insulin for him, you have a brand new pump as well, and specific snacks that will help him hold out till he can replace the pump. It's originally brushed off that you have this because of being the team's doctor, until Rudy points out that you don't actually have access to his medical records, with him being Mexican Special Forces and you being SAS.

And Soap? Soap ran out of room in his journal one day, in the middle of trying to sketch and he hadn't realized how close he was to the end, so he hadn't brought a spare. Before he even has the chance to feel disappointed, you're slipping a brand new journal with the exact right type of paper he prefers into his hands.

It's not just personal stuff either. Any tool, gadget, gizmo, whirlygig, or thingamabob they could think of, you just... had it. Wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, lockpicks, extra mags, oil, cleaning rags, padlocks, bolt cutters, bandaids, needles, suture thread, ice packs, heat packs, gauze, hair ties, bobby pins, the list goes on and on and on.

Never, not once had there been a situation where the team had needed something that you couldn't pull from the dark, yawning pit that you called a backpack.

Except, Soap is confident that this time, you don't have what they need. You couldn't possibly have predicted this outcome.

The mission had been a comedy of errors, the team racing across the globe, bouncing between countries, hopping from continent to continent tracking the HVT Laswell had sent the lot of you after. Through a completely random turn of events, you'd ended up in the United States of all places, in the wooded areas of Washington state. It wasn't a state park, per se, but close enough. Supposedly, there was a cache here that the HVT frequented, and might have valuable intel.

Unfortunately, your way had been blocked by some State Park Rangers, who demanded that you either provide proof of registration that allowed you to be there, or the team had to leave.

Of course, being members of the SAS and Fuerzas Especiales, who operated out of Europe and Mexico respectively, the likelihood of any of them having the right paperwork was infinitesimal.

"Hold on!"

Soap whirled around at the sound of your voice. There you were, rummaging through your backpack.

"No fuckin' way," Gaz whispered, the rest of the team going deathly still.

There was absolutely, positively, no possible way on God's green Earth that you were gonna–

"Found it!"

You let out a whoop of excitement, pulling a small rectangular piece of plastic from your bag, a hole through the top indicating that it might go in a car, hanging from the rearview mirror.

"Here's our permit for the Washington State Parks and Forestry. Just renewed it, too."

The Rangers took it sceptically, but their faces cleared as they looked it over.

"Everything seems to be in order then, ma'am. Sorry for the delay and confusion."

"No problem!" You chirped, ignorant of the dumbfounded stares at your back. "Have a good day, gentlemen!"

Soap felt dizzy. He felt weak. He might actually collapse here on the spot from pure confusion alone. He could faintly hear Gaz muttering behind him, and in his peripheral vision, Alejandro was shaking with silent laughter, and Rudy looked like he'd just been handed the answers to the universe's greatest mysteries.

This had to be a dream. Soap refused to accept reality otherwise.

The Rangers left, and there was a heavy, oppressive silence that settled over the team. BP turned to look at everyone with a smile on their face, only for it to fall when they saw the stunned, blank looks their teammates wore.

"What's wrong?"

Bless 'em, they sounded so confused, but Soap really had no way to express just what he or any of the others were feeling in this moment.

As BP's face fell further, Price surged forward and scooped their medic and resident pack rat into a hug. They let out a small eep! at the sudden constricting pressure around their ribs. It was difficult to hug with tac vests on, but Price was determined.

"C-Captain? Are you alright?"

"Never change, soldier," Price said gruffly, and Soap could hear the disbelieving grin in his CO's voice. "Never fuckin' change."

[jumpscaregoose]

leans casually on the wall. hi. if possibly could i know about the theories you have rn for the rtl groups trap reactions….👁️👁️

I can give you like.... 75% of one??? I guess???

I've been staring at kenta's character page for the past 40+ minutes trying to figure out what his deal is and I thinkkkkkkk I might be on to something? I've got nothing for anyone else this little shit is my area of expertise

mostly I've been staring at these bad boys

the meanings of the first and last ones is pretty easy to figure out, "a dangerous mind" is probably referring to his programming skills/being a little bitch and "what kind of a joke is trust" obviously means his cynical attitude towards interpersonal relationships

such as this line from the opening show look at me point proof explanationing

"hands that pulled away" is interesting though

I'll include that the google-translated version of the official website lists these for the tags in english

and while the dog pun in "unleashed hands" does not escape me, I feel like "hands that pulled away" is probably more accurate (and is more interesting)

to me, the easiest way to interpret these tags together is as a chain of causality, with "a dangerous brain" causing "hands that pulled away" causing "what kind of a joke is trust"

translating that out of nonsense talk, I'm imagining that kenta's trust and interpersonal issues were caused by someone, either a caregiver or circle of peers, "pulling away" from him in response to his "dangerous brain"

we can actually verify this, or a similar event, through the timeline:

specifically, this entry:

it's clear that this event was what led him to take up programming, and that his opinions on other people were mostly solidified by age 8 (although the exact nature of the virus he created is vague, it's easy to assume it wasn't one you'd make while worrying about other people. we've all recently seen what massive international tech issues can do)

this is the most concrete theory I can think of based on the information available but while I have your captive attention I'd like to pose a similar question-

-when the HELL did he get his phantometal?

this was where my train of thought went after staring at that webpage for so long

certainly, there's no way he received it before entering the prison system. it does make sense that phantometal would be circling within prisons, especially considering how... weird the one we see is.

again this is where MORE DETAILS would be appreciated, GCREST/AVEX

mostly, I propose a chicken-and-egg problem: do you obtain phantometal from succeeding in prison rap, or do you succeed in prison rap because you have phantometal?

also, the exact timeline of prison rap rankings is. nonexistent. HOWEVER, we can again use the timeline to make inferences. it's mentioned that he begins posting tracks online at age 13. given how the prison operates (and the tidbits I know about real life) it's highly unlikely he would have access to a computer for long enough periods to produce and upload music without the preferential treatment given to those at the top of prison rap. therefore, I posit that this prison rap success occurred around age 13.

we also know that possessing phantometal was a qualifying requirement for participation in rtl, so this narrows down our timeline ever so slightly

in my mind, the most likely circumstances for kenta to acquire his phantometal are the chicken-and-egg solutions from above, which places the final date near the one we established for prison rap, around age 13

I have a few ideas as to how he got it, but I'm gonna keep those under wraps for future evil purposes

but that's just a theory

a-

no I'm not doing it it's too easy

and cut

[munsonsreputation]

Ty for tagging me in your recent post <3 ofc I’m gonna request an angsty fic for either Stevie or Eddie whichever you feel like! Kinda cliche ik but reader gives an angsty confession after being hurt and pushed aside by them which leaves Eddie/Steve confused and in the end they realise they do like reader and they get together. This is just a general outline so by all means include whatever other detail you want. <3

hey xio!! thank you so much for your request!!!

I piggybacked off your idea and I hope you like the spin I put on it. Kinda idiot!eddie, but when is he ever not? LOL jk (kinda) anyways, I hope you like this and thank you again for this sweet request 💌💫

Two weeks. 

It had been two whole long and lonely weeks since you and Eddie had gotten to properly hangout with each other like you’d usually do. 

He’d say he was busy with all sorts of things…things that would be understandable then some, not quite. 

Hellfire? Yes. 

Corroded Coffin. Sure. 

Helping Wanye fix his truck? Maybe…but he hated getting oil all over him. 

Dropping the kids off after Hellfire? He hated giving rides to the kids after 11pm because they got antsy. 

Going to Lucas’ basketball game? Hell no. That’s when you knew something was up. 

Eddie loved his friends, would do anything to support them the best he could, but you knew Eddie and how much he hated the whole balls and laundry basket game. Not to mention his moral nemesis, Jason Carver, who was on the team. He’d rather die than to show up to one of those preppy events. 

Now you knew Eddie was avoiding you, pushing you aside, but you just didn’t know why. You retraced your steps, trying to remember if you said something or did anything wrong that would make him completely shut you out like this, but you really didn’t do anything. 

Anything except have a big fat crush on him throughout your entire friendship, which led you to believe he must have found out or worse, not wanting to have anything to do with you anymore because he had found out.

You had to get down to the bottom of this. 

“Give me a second!” Wayne’s voice hollered from the other side of the door where you practically banged, totally forgetting that his truck was in the driveway since his shift at the plant wasn’t for a few more hours. 

Your foot tapped anxiously on the creaky wood, waiting and waiting until finally the door opened up. 

“Oh hey, kid, looking for Eddie? He’s in his room.” Wayne greeted warmly, pushing the screen door open to let you through as you tried not to tense up from the anxiety, offering him a half-hearted smile as you walked in. 

“Thanks, Wayne.” 

He grunted, shutting the door and turning to you once more, “Haven’t seen you come around in a while. Did something happen between you two?” 

You took a deep breath, looking down the hall where you could hear Eddie’s faint guitar playing, “That’s what I’m hoping to figure out.” 

Wayne’s face fell, obvious shock and confusing plastering over his features, before nodding slowly, granting you to walk away from him and towards Eddie’s room. 

Part of you wanted to burst through his door and demand an explanation, but just because you were hurt didn’t mean you would lose your manners. So you knocked, then knocked a little harder after that since he couldn’t hear the first rounds of sounds. 

“Come in!” He shouted, not letting up on the strumming until you finally cleared your throat, letting him know it was you. 

He scrambled, quickly putting his guitar aside and standing up, “H-hey, what’re you doing here?” His palm rubbed the back of his neck nervously, then quickly came to wrap around his torso as he realized he was shirtless. 

“You told me you were going to Lucas’ game.” You cut the small talk, diving right into the lie he had told you hours ago when you asked him if he wanted to pick up a movie for tonight. 

“I—I totally forgot! I must be late, then. What do you think I should wear to the—“ 

He was panicking, trying to cover his ass as he rushed around his room, sorting through the piles of clothes on the floor, acting as if he was really going to the game, because by now the game would be in the third quarter, a total waste of going now. 

“Bullshit, Eddie. Why’re you doing this?” You crossed your arms across your chest in what was supposed to be a demanding stance, but that couldn’t cover the hurt all over your face. 

Your cheeks were red and your eyes filled with betrayal, something Eddie hated to see. 

“I just…I’ve been busy and I don’t really feel like hanging out with anyone so…yeah.” 

Oh god, Eddie had finally gotten sick of you. How could he sit here and lie to your face again, when you had seen him hanging out with the boys after school, laughing and having fun, just like how he used to with you? 

Your arms fell to your sides, throat bobbing as you swallowed thickly, slowly backing out of the room as he just watched you blankly.

“Jesus, Eddie, why do you have to keep lying to me?” You shook your head disappointingly. 

“If you don’t want to be my friend anymore, just tell me, alright. You don’t have to keep making these dumb excuses as to why you don’t want to spend time with me. It hurt’s y’know….being lied to by the one person who I care about and the one person who I thought cared about me. B-but I guess I was wrong and stupid to ever think that you and I could work out the way that I thought we would.” 

Your voice was breaking, backing away quicker as he tried to reach out for you, getting closer to try to hug you and make it seem like everything was ok. 

Attempting to get away before you could make the situation worse, you turned around, smack right into Wayne, who was listening at the end of the hallway. He steadied you swiftly, as you quietly said “thanks” before rushing out the front door and into your car. 

Wayne didn’t let Eddie chase after you, instead he held his arm out, pushing Eddie back before he had the chance to get out of the front door and stop you from driving away. 

“You’re an idiot, son.” 

The teen huffed defeatedly, brushing past his uncle, as it was too late to catch up to you by now. So he settled on the couch, elbows on his knees as he buried his face in his hands, cursing to himself. 

His uncle watched on, crossing his arms against his chest, before clapping his hands together to gain the boys’ attention.��

“What’s the matter with you? She’s a sweet girl, and she’s always around and you just go pushing her aside like she doesn’t mean anything.”

Wayne should’ve noticed your absence from their residence to be quite odd, considering the fact that you were always here when Eddie was. But after asking his nephew the first time you didn’t show up with him after school, and his excuse was that you were sick, he just thought you were slowly getting better. 

A lie, obviously. 

“I don’t know, alright! I don’t want her to feel like she has to be here with me all the time.” Eddie explained, rubbing his temples with his eyes sealed shut. 

“God, this boy is stupid.” Wayne thought to himself, briskly approaching the teen and settling right in front of him with his arm reaching out to rest on his shoulder. 

Eddie opened his eyes, looking up at his only father figure, waiting for anything. 

“Did you ever stop and think that she wants to be here?”

You were always more than happy to tag along wherever Eddie went, and that didn’t change when it came to the trailer he called his home. In fact, you strolled right in and made yourself at home every time, yet Eddie always felt weird. Not about you. Never about you. Just the fact that you were so….willing. No one was ever willing with him and so he thought you were doing out of pity…that’s why he pushed you away. 

“Fuck,” Eddie muttered, finally realizing what he did wrong.

Wayne hummed, nodding his head and giving his nephew’s shoulder a squeeze. 

“You think some girl is just going to hang here for no reason? I think you know where I’m getting at?” 

Eddie furrowed his brows, “Wait, what?” 

“Oh, Jesus!” Wayne groaned, waving Eddie away, “Go put something on and go apologize to her. Hopefully, you two figure this out.” 

And so Eddie did just that, throwing on a random band tee and hopping into his van as he sped through the street of Hawkins until his beat up thing pulled up in front of your house. 

You had gotten home only fifteen minutes ago, ignoring the calls from your family telling you dinner was ready and instead heading straight to your room where you began to cry. You couldn’t even bear to sit up and look at the polaroids of you and Eddie hanging on your bulletin board, so you laid down. Staring at your ceiling as the tears sailed passed the precipice of your eyes and down your cheeks into your sheets. 

Three knocks sounded on your door as you sniffled, turning towards it, “Mom! I said I’m not hungry…go away!”

The doorknob began to turn and you were almost ready to start another string of irritated words until the tall mop of hair revealed himself before you. 

“W-what are you doing here?” 

You sat up, wiping the tears quickly as you attempted to not look like he left you like this. 

He shut the door quietly, “Your mom let me in…I hope that’s fine.” 

Your shoulders shrug, not offering him anymore words because you didn’t know if you could. 

That’s when he sat right beside you, turning so he was facing you, “I’m really sorry for lying to you for the past couple of days…I care about you so much and I never wanted to make you feel like I didn’t.” 

His knee shock violently as he fiddled with his fingers, “I just….I’m not used to this. Used to people having fun with me or making an effort to hang out with me, y’know? It’s weird. Not you. But just, the fact that you do it for me.” 

“Eddie,” you whispered, shaking your head. You reached to squeeze his jean covered knee, stopping his movement, “I want to spend time with you. Why do you think I’m always around?” 

He smiled tightly at you, shrugging his shoulders lightly, “I dunno…maybe because you feel bad for me?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Eds. I hang out with you because I like—“ Your eyes widened, catching yourself and stuttering over your words, “I like how cool you are! Yeah! You’re so cool!” 

Your hand retracted from his knee, slapping down into your lap as you smiled wildly at him, trying to convince him of your lie. 

“W-wait…you like? Were you just about to say you like me?” 

You were blushing, biting the inside of your cheek as you wanted to dig a hole in the floor and bury yourself in there just so you didn’t have to face the embarrassment of going through this right in front of Eddie. 

“T-totally, n-not.” You tripped over your words, another horrible way of lying on your part. 

Eddie just smiled, his fingers reaching for your hands and tangling them together. An action that wasn’t entirely new to you as you two would hold hands on scary roller coasters or when a thriller movie was on. But not like this. 

“That’s a shame because I like you. I…I’m bad at feelings, so at first I thought you were just around because you pitied me, but now I know.” He spoke smoothly, running his thumb across your knuckles. 

He could feel your pulse in your fingertips beating fast. “I like when you’re around. I like being near you and the last couple of days have been boring without you. I should’ve known the second I started missing you that I messed up, but like Wayne said, I’m an idiot and I suck at feelings. I suck at everything.” 

Eddie sighed heavily, the self realization hitting him like a bunch of bricks. The only thing pulling him away from his thoughts was your hand squeezing his. “That isn’t true. You’re great at guitar. And DnD. Plus you’re a really good driver…most times, but sometime you speed and forget to put on your seat belt.” 

“That was one time!” He argued back with an open mouth as you giggled, raising your brow at him, “More like three times.” 

The two of you just laughed, forgetting the stupid fight for a split second. 

You pushed at his shoulder with your free hand, smiling down at the hand still intertwined. “I like you, you idiot.” 

“And apology accepted…just don’t push me away like that again, please?” Your eyes trialed up to meet his where he nodded. 

His face came closer to yours, and you mirrored his actions. Just centimeters apart before he whispered, “I promise,” 

Fireworks started as your lips finally met each other for the first time. Moving in sync effortlessly like you didn’t even have to try to impress him because it was perfect, just like this. 

“Yeah,” you mumbled softly once you pulled away, causing Eddie to hum, until you opened your eyes again. 

“I’m so going to kill you if you ever deprive me of this again.” 

He smirked, kissing you again, and this time, making sure to remind himself to thank Uncle Wayne tomorrow…though he wasn’t looking forward to the “I told you so,” 

But you made it worth it. 

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

Saw the first three episodes of S2 of MAW recently! My thoughts:

-Positives-

While it’s early days so far? The world building is a hell of a lot stronger so far compared to season one.

Season one was kind of a mess in this department and yet also somehow too simplistic.

Season one had Tyler get over what would have been a culturally ingrained view of human kids being toxic WAY too fast and just weird aspects like the fact CEOs can just banish and unbanish who they want. There was then no further explanation or look into this frankly weird aspect.

We were also continually trapped at Monsters Inc: beyond I believe a single send up of a baseball game. It felt weak and small. It’s fine to stay in one place for a movie but for a tv series… ehhh.

Season two does a lot better in this area. We have monster society as a whole see comedy as… well a joke and not an exactly dignified practice compared to traditional scaring. We see Tyler’s home and his family together: including his grandma instead of them going one at a time to the factory to see Tyler.

We have them go to MU and they go to a fancy restaurant and a convention in these three episodes.

Even just having Val drive around Tyler on her scooter makes it feel like they’re in a real city. It feels wider. It’s a good choice: having those scenes where she drives him around.

Tyler just isn’t that funny and I’m glad his act is getting old.

I think in retrospect it was… a little off to me that season one seemed like it was going to have this wake up call for Tyler. For him realise he just wasn’t a good comedian. That the mifters would all be better at it than him at it and then it… just seemed to side step it with a doughnut joke that isn’t even that funny.

And it gets old for the kids here! Which I like!

Honestly a potential downside to the comedy idea is that it’s also just plain harder I think to be consistently funny as opposed to being scary. Jokes get old faster than heart palpitations do. If it didn’t have the ten times the energy advantage it probably wouldn’t be viable. And I like we got to see that Tyler is a good scarer at the convention. He has options. He doesn’t have to be a comedian honestly.

Also maybe they’re picking up that plot point again with regards certain Mift characters because Val seems to know the kids better. Are they setting her up to be a comedian? I could see it working out better for her. She can connect with kids better. Either Tyler becomes a scarer or a comedy assistant. Either works.

Query for myself: Hell one could argue maybe another issue is like. Monsters are talking to kids. When do they stop? Like at what age? Will this expose the monster world? Like Tyler’s heart to heart with a six year old was kind of funny because I wasn’t expecting it but like… bro. I have to wonder about the ramifications here. I’m wondering what the heck the CDA are doing. Like I think when a kid hits double figures it gets a bit dangerous.

Also will other monsters still scaring mean sometimes comedy doesn’t work as well on kids and vice versa? Or what? Maybe comedy means it’s actually scarier when a Fear Co employee has a turn because they don’t know what to expect. Who knows. I mean even if they don’t share kids. Kids have friends. They talk.

Val is well written here and feels like a real person. I didn’t dislike Val in season one but she does feel more of a real person here. She’s still wild and zany but she seems more… cohesive. It’s a little difficult to explain as this is more of a vague feeling I have about her than anything concrete. But I did think Val was fine in s1: I just like her much more here.

Negatives Less Duncan :( I miss that green asshole.

I mean I get why. Tyler is the main character and he isn’t at MIFT anymore. But he is still the best of the new characters. I have to be real here. Just.. have him go to the floor more to deliberately antagonise his bf Tyler? Come on.

Random:

Johnny was wearing what looked like a Hugh Hefner suit in that restaurant and I have no idea how to feel about that. Also I suspect he left that card on purpose.

From what I gather Rodger Rodgers is a popular character: but honestly haven’t really seen anything yet as to why that is. I don’t hate him but he’s just kind of… there with a random line about how his name sounds fake. Maybe he’ll shine later ?

I have been spoiled on the s2 finale in some regards: and I have to be real what I heard leaves me apprehensive because it sounds really off to me. But I’ll try to keep an open mind for now.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

The Truth About The Hybrid (Doctor Who)

In the episode Hell Bent the question of the Hybrid's true nature was never quite resolved, and it hasn't been touched on since. With The Moffat Era now long over, it's doubtful that we'll ever revisit this question, which leaves the whole storyline unfinished. That being said, there are enough clues present to figure it out, with a little help from Chris Chibnall and The Timeless Children. (Oh yes, I really am going there. I tend to give Chibnall more credit than most people.) The truth is staring us in the face.

The Master is The Hybrid.

Let's consider what we know. The Hybrid was a prophecy on Gallifrey that existed well before the Time War. It spoke of a hybrid creature, cross bred between two warrior races, who would stand in the ruins of Gallifrey and break a billion hearts, just to heal their own. That is the description that is offered in the ninth season. We know that the Timelords were obsessed with this idea, even after The Time War ended. Gallifrey had been saved, and The Hybrid was still out there somewhere, the catastrophe yet to come. First and foremost, I doubt the Timelords knew that The Master would be The Hybrid. It's more likely that they expected the Hybrid to emerge during the Time War. We know they restored The Master and gave them a whole new set of regenerations. They probably wanted to use The Master to fight the Hybrid.

As for what the Timelords were thinking, the most popular theory was that the creature was cross bred between Timelords and Daleks, and even Davros seemed to think that this was true. That he was fulfilling the prophecy by stealing The Doctor's regeneration energy during The Witch's Familiar. However, Hell Bent makes it specifically clear that any warrior race can technically qualify, including humans and even The Mire from The Girl Who Died.

Season 9 concludes with no real definitive answer about The Hybrid.

Davros suggests that it is a Dalek/Timelord crossbreed. The Doctor later dismisses this idea, suggesting that the Daleks would never allow this. Disregarding the fact that their creator himself posed this theory, a Dalek crossing its DNA with another creature has already happened in the series. Like, more than once. So that idea is nonsense. The Doctor goes on to say that he himself is the Hybrid. Which would tie in with The Eighth Doctor's claim that he's half-human, and Ashildr even proposes this as a theory. However, like Twelve said, it wouldn't make much sense for him to flee Gallifrey to escape himself. Really, whether or not The Doctor knows anything about The Hybrid, and what he knows, if anything, is exceedingly vague until the very end. Especially since he goes around dropping random references to the Hybrid during the season, like he's trying to figure out what it is. Hell Bent settles on the explanation that The Doctor and Clara together, form the Hybrid. Because they've become too dangerous to keep traveling together, pushing each other to such extremes. But there's kind of a big problem with that idea. 

A Hybrid can't be two people. 

That's not what a Hybrid is, or how it works. You would have to call it something different. Still, while The Doctor's knowledge on this subject is very unclear, I think we can point to one definitive moment as iron-cast proof that The Doctor knows the truth about the Hybrid, and that the truth frightens him. He says as much to The Veil in Heaven Sent. He says that he lied about the real reason why he left Gallifrey. That truthfully, it was because he feared the Hybrid. And this is the key detail - The Veil then freezes in place. It stops chasing him. Earlier in the episode, it was directly established that The Veil can be compelled to temporarily pause it's pursuit if The Doctor makes confessions. Tells secrets, truths, that he's never told before. Considering that he's inside his own Confession Dial, I don't doubt the the abilities of The Veil. It was never shown to be fooled in any other instance, so if The Doctor was lying about this...why wouldn't it know?

Meaning that whatever he said in Hell Bent about being the Hybrid himself, or that he actually has no idea who or what it is...The Doctor is lying. He does know. He must. He knows exactly who The Hybrid is, and for whatever reason, he's refusing to admit as much. He spends over four billion years in his own personal hell, all because he refuses to give up the secret of The Hybrid. Clara even asks him "Why would you do that to yourself?" and The Doctor doesn't really have an answer to give.

Let's fast forward to Season 12 for a moment. The Master has discovered the truth about The Timelords, The Doctor, and their history as The Timeless Child. This knowledge breaks The Master, it hurts them to their very core. If we assume that this incarnation is post-Missy, then this also means that The Master is in so much pain, that it set back all their growth during Season 10. What do they do to cope with it? Why, genocide of course. They slaughter everyone in The Capitol, and presumably on the rest of the planet. Hell, I wonder if they used The Moment. Not a part of this theory, just...an interesting question to think about. At the end of it all, The Master stood in the ruins of Gallifrey, responsible for it's demise. "Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair." And why did he do this? Because he was hurting, and he wanted revenge. "I had to make them pay for what I discovered." He broke a billion hearts just to heal his own. Now, this setup is almost perfect, but it's missing one key component. The Master isn't a hybrid, is he? No, he's a full blood Timelord, as far as we know.

Or at least he was, until he bonded with the Cyberium.

"All Cyber knowledge...all Timelord knowledge...put it together, and what do you get?" You get a Hybrid creature is what you get. The Cyberium is shown to be a living creature as well as a computer, and The Cybermen certainly qualify as a warrior race. The Master practically announces his status as the Hybrid by taking the remains of The Timelords and converting them into the "Cyber Masters" which are also arguably an entire race of hybrids. Now, I'm not the first person to propose this idea, that the Hybrid Prophecy referred to The Master during the events of The Timeless Children. But I'm going to take this one step further, and talk about The Doctor. About what was going through their mind during Hell Bent, and throughout the entire series. Because The Master is The Hybrid, but here's an even bigger mind-screw for you.

The Doctor knew all along.

They may not have known the details, or how exactly things would play out. But they have known ever since they ran away from Gallifrey that The Master would one day become the Hybrid. This is the only reason, the only truth I can see, that would explain everything. Not just why The Doctor fled, but also explain their inconsistency about this subject. They ran...because they saw their best friend's future. Saw him turned into a monster that would massacre The Timelords. Perhaps The Master was already taking their first steps down a path of darkness, and The Doctor's worst fears were confirmed by learning this secret.

Twelve recounts the story of a boy who got lost in the Cloisters, who was told a terrible secret by the Wraiths, and that he was never right in the head again, which led him to "steal the moon and the president's wife." We also know that this story was about The Doctor, and that it was in fact the president's daughter. Susan Foreman perhaps? Eh, it's a theory for another time. The scene then transitions into the discussion of the Confession Dial, and the secret that The Doctor guarded so closely that he spent billions of years punching through a diamond wall rather than give it up. Considering that, in the very next season, he vows to spend a thousand years guarding Missy in the vault and dedicates himself to the task of trying to redeem her? Yeah, I can believe that he would still be protecting his oldest friend after all this time.

The Doctor has a real blind spot when it comes to The Master, always trying to turn them back to the light, and refusing to let any other characters kill them even in situations where it's really not The Doctor's call to make (The Year That Never Was comes to mind) Noticeably, the one time that The Doctor "allows" someone else to kill The Master is Ko Shamus in The Timeless Children. Which occurs after the prophecy would have been fulfilled.

So there you have it. The Master is The Hybrid, they always have been. And The Doctor knew, they knew from the beginning. They just hoped against hope that they could get through to their old friend before this happened. And they very nearly did, too. Judging by The Doctor Falls, The Master came this close to turning over a new leaf. But The Timelords had to ruin that as well.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So when I first saw Batman Ninja, of all the crazy-ass shit that they show us in this film, I was very confused by Two-Face's castle mech. Because like... Unlike the other castles, it looks more like a Buddhist temple/statue than a palace...? So like... What the heck is going on here!??? I'm all for the crazy shit going on in this film, but just... Why have this be Two-Face's palace...?

I figured that maybe at least part of the answer would lie with the name. Because all of the castles have names that they didn't really translate back into English (With the exception of Arkham Castle which is... You know... They took Arkham Asylum and turned it into a castle... Somehow... >.>), including Two-Face's castle!

So Two-Face's castle in the Batman Ninja movie is called, "Fudo Omote Two-Face Castle". Now obviously, the last two bits are just saying who owns it and the fact that it's a castle. And since I don't speak any Japanese, I needed to look up what "Fudo Omote" could possibly mean.

So from the looks of it, "Fudo" means "inmovable" and seems to be a Buddhist principle of sorts. Like... It seems to represent a kind of mental state that is unflinching and unwavering- inmovable, while also being fully aware of and focusing on everything. [Longer explanation and definition here.] I really think that this must be an idea that doesn't translate into English very easily. In this context, Fudo is likely also being used in reference to Fudo Myo-o who is a Japanese Buddhist god (primarily in Esoteric Buddhism) and a protector of Buddhism itself. Fudo Myo-o seems to be a kind of wrathful deity who is very unflinching in his faith, which is interesting when you try to relate that to Two-Face and what it might imply about his character in this particular situation. [There are a few things about this Buddhist deity that I really think would appeal to Two-Face as a character specifically, but I don't want to get into it. Regardless, you can read more about it here.] So with this in mind, Two-Face's palace likely is a Buddhist temple, and the influence shows. Personally it makes me think that Two-Face REALLY got into Buddhism while in feudal Japan, and that idea just tickles me and I think it's neat! :D

Meanwhile "Omote" means "outer", "surface", or "front" but is more likely referencing the idea of having an "outer face" or a "pubic face". In Japan, the idea of having a face that you show to the public that is wholly different from who you are privately is a common idea. It is expected that your "outer face" (omote) and your "inner face" (ura) are separate. And just... Oh yes... HELL YES! I can ABSOLUTELY see why Two-Face would have latched onto this idea! This concept is just... So... HIM! I absolutely love what this says and implies about this iteration of Two-Face! Omote and ura are the ideas of being two-faced, but divorced from the negative connotation that the phrase has in English! The idea that the person that you are in public and the person you are in private being different is seen as being deceitful in western cultures. But in Japan, this is seen as just how people are! It also implies that Harvey Dent isn't gone. He just went from being the "outer face" to becoming the "inner face." He and Two-Face just switched, and so now Two-Face is who you see out there in the public, and Harvey Dent is who you only see once he's comfortable with you, he lets down his guard, and drops the pretext. I just LOVE how this one little word being here implies so much about this iteration of Two-Face! It's a whole reading on his character that is deeply Japanese and just wouldn't happen in an English-speaking mindset! To be honest, it's kinda brilliant and I love it! [You can read more about the concept of "Omote" and how it relates to "Ura" here.]

So together I guess that the name of Two-Face's castle is something like, "Inmovable Outside (Face) Two-Face Castle"... Sounds pretty clunky to me, but hey! That's anime for you! I guess that "Inmovable Outside Face" kinda describes bravery...? You know, the idea of being inmovable on the outside in the face of danger, even if you're scared on the inside...? I don't know if that was what they were going for with this, but it sure is interesting at the very least! And I certainly understand what they were going for with this castle design a lot better now at the very least! :D

[jmagnabo92]

Jay’s Board of Ghosts

Freddie has more proof when he confronts Sam and Jay about the ghosts, and the ghosts trap situation goes a little differently.

AO3

***

Trevor can't help his curiosity when Freddie announces that he has something he needs to share with Sam and Jay.  Hence, hanging out in the kitchen with Alberta and Flower watching the tense meeting.

           "Okay, so, what did you want to talk to us about?" Sam asks.

           Freddie braces himself before saying, "Sam, Jay, since I have started working here, I've noticed some disturbing things."

           "Disturbing things?"

           "It started with these strange, almost ethereal humming sounds I would hear every now and then..."

           "I think he's talking about you, Alberta," Flower states as if it wasn't obvious that it was her, while Trevor gives her an excited look.  He loves when they mess with livings, why wasn’t he there for that?

           "It was like a singer warming up, but kind of off-key."

           "The hell it was!" Alberta yells, causing Sam to jump and Trevor and Flower to laugh.

           "Well, it's an old house, so you might have just been hearing the wind," Jay offers.

           "That's what I thought, especially with the electricity issue that often accompanies it, but then there was that time that Mrs. Goldsmith suddenly got high out of nowhere, and the time that it suddenly stunk out of nowhere."

           Trevor tries not to laugh.  One thing that always accompanies Alberta’s singing is Thor’s frustration, and the more people in the mansion, the more likely it is for them to get walked through.

           "Things happen, maybe Mrs. Goldsmith forgot that she decided to get high or took some medications that simulate that type of situation," Sam tries.

           "Yeah, and someone was just a little gassy," Jay states.  "Happens."

           "That was far more than gas."

           "Still, I'm sure it's just ... house things."

           "Yeah, but then there's this one time my pen was sitting on the counter, and it almost seemed like something pushed it into the trash can."

           Sam throws him a look.  

           Trevor shrugs with a laugh.  "Sass dared me, what was I, not gonna?"

           "Sometimes, things fall," Sam offers.

           Freddie's not paying attention because he turns the computer around as he says, "But this is the weirdest thing by far."  Oh no, was he caught?  "This is security footage from the front desk from the other night."  He zooms in on the keys where Trevor can see them moving due to his efforts.  "See that.  No one is there, but the keys are moving.  Interesting, huh?"  He pauses for effect, before saying, "Now, I know that this is crazy, but there's only one plausible explanation for all of this... you guys have.... ghosts."

           Sam and Jay don't react right away.  Instead, trying to figure out a way out of this.

           "Did you guys hear me?  I said I think you have ghosts."

           "I think that's a little far-fetched," Sam says.  

           "Yeah, I mean, you don't really believe in ghosts, do you?"

           "Oh, they're going to try to make him thing he's crazy," Alberta says.

           "It's really the only play here," Trevor states.  "What's the alternative?  Tell him he's right and there are ghosts that Sam can see but Jay can't?"

           "She can always tell him that we're friendly ghosts like Casper," Flower says.

           "Yeah, and risk him freaking out and telling everyone - no.  That's a horrible idea if they can get away with pretending that he's wrong."

           He and Alberta continue to argue the merits of admitting the truth, including that Sam wouldn't have to ignore them in Freddie's presence, and that it would be fun to mess with Freddie if he knew who they were.  Meanwhile, Sam and Jay try unsuccessfully to convince him that the keys aren't moving by themselves.

           "Fine, you won’t admit to seeing the keys – no problem,” Freddie states.  “What about this?”

           He brings out Jay’s Board of Ghosts, which had each of the ghosts he knew about labeled with what they look like, what he knows about them, and what powers they had (if any).  It also labeled where they liked to spend time and their bedrooms, as well as any other ghosts’ notes.  Alberta, Flower, and Sam all look extremely surprised, while Jay looks caught.  

           Trevor’s known about this project of Jay’s for a while.  He’d been bored when he saw Jay typing ghost notes into his phone and head into the secret room inside the pantry.  He had followed him and had seen that he’d been cataloguing the things he’d learned about the ghosts so he could get a better idea of everything that he couldn’t see going on around him.  In an effort to get Jay to stop calling him ‘no pants’, he offered to help him with the details Sam often leaves out.  Sadly, that effort seems to be in vain since Jay continues to call him that.

           Looks like it was a secret project for both of them.

           Sam looks at Jay, who doesn’t look like he has a response for it.  So, Trevor jumps in, “Tell him that Jay wanted to surprise you by trying to write a creative writing story for you.  For your anniversary in a couple of weeks.  Ghosts at the Mansion.”

           Sam quickly relays the message, trying to make it seem like she already knew about it even though it’s a ‘surprise’, but Freddie asks, “If it’s a surprise, how do you know about it?”

           “Make up some story about accidently finding it in the pantry secret room – that’s what Freddie would’ve found it as it’s where I found it.”

           Flower and Alberta are both giving him confused looks, but Sam follows through with the explanation, even adding, “I’m sorry, babe, I didn’t want to ruin your surprise.”

           “I – I just didn’t know if it would be any good, so I didn’t want to admit it, but I’m glad you know,” Jay states.  “And yes, Freddie, sometimes weird things happen, and – and I came up with this idea to explain the weird things, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

           “This is really detailed,” Freddie says, placing the board on the table as the women in the room take a look at the board.  “You’ve got many ghosts, what they look like, what they like to do, how they died, when they died, what they like to smell for food… I mean, all of this for a story?”

           “Well, yeah – when you write, you want to know your characters,” Jay says, side-eyeing Sam, who’s nodding while Freddie busy looking down.  “I – uh – I wanted to make sure that the story felt real.”

           “Exactly.  Especially, since he is writing it for me – a writer.  He probably wanted the background all sorted, right, Jay?”

           Freddie frowns, “I guess it just seems like a lot of work for an anniversary present.”

           “Well, it’s just – with the business and everything, we’ve been kind of strapped for cash and I thought it was something that well –”

           “I love it,” Sam says.  “It’s a great idea for a present, especially since I’m a writer.”

           “See, sometimes I have good ideas,” Trevor states, to an eyeroll from Alberta.

           “See,” Jay smiles.

           Freddie sighs.  “You don’t believe me – that’s okay, I’ll find a way to prove it to you.”

           With that, he gets up and walks out of the kitchen.  

           “What is this?” Sam questions Trevor as soon as Freddie leaves.

           “Why are you looking at me?  It’s Jay’s board!” Trevor retorts.  “You think I could’ve set it up by myself?”

           “It’s my ghost board,” Jay states.  “I’ve been keeping track of my ghosts notes and the ghosts with this board.”

           “It looks like a murder board.”

           “Well, at least Alberta was murdered…” Jay states.  “But that’s not the point.  I just wanted to keep it all in one place and to myself so that I wouldn’t be teased.”

           “And yet, Trevor knew?” Sam asks.  “Instead of me.”

           “Well, he saw me writing my ghost notes and followed me in there and offered to help and – and he’s the only I can actually talk to, so…”

           “Well, he should’ve told you to tell me,” Sam says, throwing him a look.

           “How are you making this my fault?” Trevor scoffs.

           “Because everything’s your fault,” Sam retorts.  

           “Is not!”

           “Yes, it is – the rule of thumb is that it’s always the baby ghost’s fault,” Flower cheers.  “And that’s not me!”  

           Before anyone can respond, Flower skips out of the room.

           “Baby ghost?” Sam questions.

           “It’s what we call the newest ghost.  Flower was technically the first baby ghost – I gave her that name,” Alberta smiles.

           “Yeah, and then she decided that was what she was going to call each new ghost, but it didn’t bother Pete, so she didn’t bother to use it, Stephanie is only awake one day a year, so that’s no fun and then, I died…”

           “And it bugs him, so I have to do it,” Alberta states.  “But I just do it at just the right moment because I was calling him only that for ages and he got immune to it.”

           “Was it just you?”

           “Sadly, no,” Trevor states.  “And I hate it.”

           “I could call you no pants.”

           “Please don’t.  I hate that more, considering no one takes me seriously because I decided to be nice to Pinkus.”

           Trevor’s a lot more bitter about not being taken seriously due to the pants issue since everyone knows that it wasn’t because he was waiting to have sex, again, but because he was trying to help his friend.  Before, he could accept it, that was his fault for trying to play up his playboy persona, but now…

           He glances up just in time to see Sam realize that Jay’s been rather insistent on refusing to call him by his name, and she grimaces.  

           She clears her throat.  “Well, we’ll just have to be more careful.  No ghost powers while Freddie’s around and we can’t talk either as he’ll probably be more suspicious.  Got it?”

           “Yes,” Trevor and Alberta say together.  

           “Good, go spread the word to everyone else.”

***

           Trevor can’t help laughing at the fact that Freddie apparently decided that he would trap the ghosts in what looks like a children’s toy to prove the ghosts’ existence to Sam and Jay.  It’s ridiculous.  Even more ridiculous is the cookie that he placed on the trap to lure them.  As if they couldn’t resist a simple cookie.

           Although he may not be wrong about the temptation since six of the eight ghosts are currently being tempted by the trap.  Sam doesn’t leave out food just for the ghosts, and especially not cookies (usually hiding them from Jay, too).  

           “Why is there a cookie on top of it?” Flower asks.

“I think that was Freddie's attempt to bait the trap,” Pete offers, standing beside Flower.

“But ghosts can't even eat.  Freddie so dumb,” Thor states from Trevor’s left as he checks out the box.

All of the ghosts in the room laugh.

“It does look rather scrumptious, though.  I wouldn't mind taking a little whiff,” Isaac says, waving his free arm (since Hetty is holding onto him to stop her from holding onto Trevor since they’re pretending that they don’t get down and dirty together) in a get the whiff manner.

“Mm-hmm, yes, a whiff would be divine, but one would need to get very close to properly smell the cookie, and in doing so one might accidently touch the device,” Hetty states, evidently a bit more concerned than he is about the device.

“Indeed,” Isaac agrees.

“So what?  It's not dangerous,” Trevor states, teasingly touching Thor.

“As we've already established, it's most certainly a children's toy,” Isaac states as everyone agrees.  “But, on the off chance it is a functioning ghost trap, it wouldn't be safe with all of us crowded around, jostling and shoving, trying to get our sniffs in.”

“Well, maybe one of us should just touch it and make sure it's okay,” Flower offers.  

Flower makes a good point, and Isaac clearly agrees.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but great minds think alike.  One of us should touch the trap.  And as the commanding officer, that responsibility should fall to me...”  

Trevor’s surprised that Isaac’s going to risk himself, as Hetty lets go of Isaac to allow him to do it, until he finishes with, “to pick the person.  Pete, do it.”

“What?!  Why me?” Pete asks, as everyone turns to him.  “Why don't we draw straws?”

“Because that would require the handling and cutting of straws, which is beyond our abilities,” Hetty states, plainly, tilting her head a little that makes him wonder if she wants a more concrete way to decide it fairly.

“Look, Jay left his nerd dice out on the table,” Trevor states, and then points at each of them as he counts them out.  “One, two, three, four, five, six.”  He gets nods from everyone, and says, “I knock a dice off, whosever number comes up, that's who touches the trap.  Capisce?”

Everyone nods.

Hetty says, “All right.”

Flower says, “Yeah!”

Thor says, “Not a bad idea.”

Isaac says, “Yeah, yeah.”

And Pete’s the last to agree with, “Okay.  Capi... capisce.”

Knowing that Hetty’s standing next to him and loves his magic fingers, he exhales sharply and strains for a few seconds to put on a show before it falls off the table and finally lands on six.  

Trevor can’t help the relief that floods through him that it’s not his or Hetty’s numbers as everyone turns as one to Pete.

“So what are we thinking, two out of three, or... ?”

He feels bad for Pete, but they all agreed on the number thing, so…

Isaac steps in.  “Pete, I say this with love, but we're wasting valuable, valuable sniffing time.  Now get in there.”

“Okay.  Uh...” Pete takes his time to as he approaches the trap, and everyone leans away.  “Yeah, I can't do it.  I'm sorry,” Pete says backing away.

“Oh, big surprise,” Thor bursts out.  “Coward man being coward.”

Since no one enjoys being called a coward, Pete says, “Well, if you're so brave, why don't you touch it?”

Everyone gasps.  

“You challenging Thor's manhood?”

Since Flower is literally between them, Pete says, “From over here I am, yeah.”

“Fine, I'll touch it. Thor not afraid.”

He reaches forward without a thought and touches the trap.  

Relieved, Trevor says, “See? Nothing to wor –”

He’s cut off by a whooshing sound and suddenly, Thor’s sucked into the trap.

They all go from relieved to freaking out.  The trap works?

It wasn’t supposed to work, and he can’t help backing up as far away as he can, and he’s only vaguely surprised that Hetty seeks him out to hold onto as everyone screams.  At least it wasn’t one of them.

He couldn’t help wondering what was happening to Thor – was he okay?  They’d all scoffed at the idea that it could be real, and yet, it was.  

And now, they possibly lost Thor.

***

Isaac brings Sam in kitchen as they’re all yelling about Thor being sucked in and Jay just sitting there eating a sandwich.  She calms them all down, and asks, "Okay, so what happened?"

Jay assumes she's talking to him, and responds, "Well, there was an Oreo on top of this weird toaster thingy, and I ate it, which made me realize I was still peckish, so I made a sandy."

Naturally, Sam ignores him, to focus on the ghosts.

"Thor touched the device and is now trapped inside."

"Why was he touching it?"

"Wait, what happened?" Jay questions, confused.

"That is a ghost trap, and apparently Thor touched it, and now he's trapped inside," Sam states in her rather annoyed voice at having to explain.

"A ghost trap?  And you knew about this?"

"Well, none of us actually thought it worked," Sam scoffs.

"I'm still in shock that it actually worked," Trevor states.  "It's a kid's toy, it shouldn't work."

"Why didn't you consult me?  You got a weird sci-fi thing in the kitchen, and you didn't think to ask the guy wearing the Atari shirt?" Jay questions, which is fair since he actually wants to know more about the ghosts and doesn't just try to tune them out.

"You were busy with other things and the ghosts are sort of my thing," Sam admits.  Since she can talk to and help them, that's also fair.

"Oh, 'cause you can see and hear them. Yeah, yeah, way to rub that in my face again."

Trevor would almost feel bad for him if it wasn't for the fact that Thor is currently trapped in the ghost trap and Jay cares more about his own feelings at being left out.

"Uh, hello?"  Thor yells, jarring their attention to the trap. "Perhaps there's more urgent matters to discuss!"

"Yeah, the big guy's got a point.  Or is it little guy?"  Trevor questions, lightly trying to ease tensions.  "What do we call him now?"

Hetty scolds him a little with her hands for asking and making a joke, but at least he tried.

"Hey-hey, Thor, it's Pete. Uh, sorry about this whole turn of events.  I can't help but feel, I don't know, a little bit responsible."

Trevor's not really sure why Pete would feel responsible when technically they all wanted someone to risk it for a stupid cookie, and Thor had decided to do it on his own.  Now, if Pete were in there, it would be someone's fault - as he didn't volunteer, Isaac volunteered him and the number system was Trevor's idea, but he supposes he blames himself for questioning Thor's manhood.

 "Now, before you say that's crazy..."

"Not crazy," Thor cuts him off.  "This is very much your fault, Pete."

"Okay, cool.  So, we're on the same page."

"So, how do we get Thor out of the trap?" Sam asks.  

"Why don't we just ask Freddie?  He's the one who ordered it," Jay offers, logically.

"But we made such a big deal about not believing in ghosts."

Hetty is having none of the hesitation.  "Just go speak with him.  Yes, you'll look foolish, but that's nothing new.  Bite the bullet."

Isaac grins.  "Oh, you know that expression came from my era.  We had to literally bite bullets during surgery because we lacked anesthesia."

"And how did that work out?" Sam questions.

"Mm, sort of depended on how good your barber was."

Sam shakes her head.

"I just can't justify doing that after we made him like stupid and crazy, even after he found Jay's board of ghosts," Sam states.  "We can figure this out without him."

“What if we can’t?  We could lose Thor,” Pete states.  

“Well, it’s just –” Sam starts, but Trevor doesn’t care to listen.

Trevor wasn't taking chances with Thor's life or afterlife.  He would tell Freddie himself; it had been one thing earlier, but now, they needed him to know so that he could help.  He takes off to find him vaguely hearing Hetty and Pete questioning where he was going and not giving an answer.

Just as he spots Freddie by the iPad, he hears Jay suggesting that Trevor (or No Pants – oy vey, sometimes he hates Jay a bit) might be telling Freddie about the ghosts to save Thor.

Luckily, his power has gotten a lot stronger because he's able to write: Hey Freddie, it's Trevor the ghost. Ghosts are real, your trap works and it kind of kidnapped my buddy, so could you tell us how to get him out? All before Sam could track them down.

Freddie's staring at the message as Sam comes into view.  He opens his mouth to say something about ghosts being real, when Sam, obviously angry, says, "What the hell, Trevor?"

"Thor is my buddy, I'm not going to throw the chance to the wind that we might get the answer right when we can just ask Freddie instead," Trevor states.  Unlike his own bros, he could and would do anything for his friends.  "I'm not the type to just do nothing when I can save my friend."

Sam apparently picks up on what his real issue is.

"This is not the same thing as what happened to you."

"It could be - you're going to risk Thor's life playing around when you could just ask Freddie for the answer."

Sam groans.  "Fine, Freddie.  I screwed up earlier.  We do have ghosts, but we like to keep it a secret, they're friendly if a little annoying because some of them don't know how to listen."

Trevor sticks his tongue out at Sam, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Ghosts are real."

"Yeah."

"And you can see them?"

"Unfortunately."

"Mean," Trevor states.  "We make your life more interesting."

"And difficult, besides, you all get a better afterlife thanks to me."

"If you want to get technical –”  it was really because of him.

"I technically died for three minutes, don't you dare."

"Fine."

"Anyway, Freddie.  Thor decided to touch the damn thing and he sucked in.  We need to get him out."

Freddie looks quite freaked out, but nods.

"Alright, let's do this."

They all walk to the kitchen, where everyone is trying to reassure Thor.

"We're here with Freddie, Thor.  Everything's gonna be okay," Trevor says, as he resumes his spot but Hetty and Flower.

"What did you do?"

"Trevor told Freddie about the ghosts," Sam says, to explain the confused Jay.

"Told you that was No Pants was doing."

Trevor sighs deeply as Hetty pats his back, she knows how much he hates that now.

"Please stop calling him that."

Jay gives her a confused look as Flower speaks.

"What's going on?  What happened to Thor?"

Hetty gives her a sympathetic look, "Oh, my dear, he's being held captive inside that machine.   You were standing right here when it happened."

"Wow.  This machine?" Flower asks, leaning far too close to the machine for comfort.  

Apparently, everyone senses trouble because they all yell, "Flower, no!" Right before she joins Thor in the trap.

Everyone's yelling, and Hetty is clutching at Trevor's hand as Jay asks, "Wait, why'd it turn red?  Did Thor get out?"

Sam grimaces, "Not exactly."

She quickly explains what happened as Alberta joins them, and Freddie offers to call the company.  Once Freddie goes off to call, they all calm down.

"Thor, Flower, Freddie's on the phone with the company in Latvia.  He's gonna find a way to get you out of there," Pete offers, obviously still feeling guilty.

"Are we sure we want to give them that hope?" Alberts asks.

Isaac lowers his voices, "I mean, it's very possible they're just stuck in there forever now."

"Just giving heads up.  Can still hear, even when you lower voice!"

They all look a bit chastised.

"Oh my god, you guys!  Thor's stuck in a ghost trap!"

Trevor can't help, but chuckle.  He's pretty sure that she's just messing around to lighten the mood.

"Wait for it."

"Oh my God.  I'm in here with him!"

Pete grimaces.  "It should've been me.  It was my number that came up."

"Oh, Peter, don't beat yourself up.  There'll be plenty of time to ruminate on your cowardice later," Hetty says, unhelpfully.

Trevor tries not to laugh.  "That's the least helpful thing you can say right now."

Hetty gives him a look, but before she can retort, Freddie comes back in.

"Okay, I spoke to the customer service rep.  There's a button on the side, and all we have to do is hold it for three seconds."

Everyone chuckles, relieved.

"Okay, perfect," Sam says.  "Let's do that."

"Whoa, you don't want to ask me?  Atari shirt,” Jay says, annoyed that he’s being ignored, again.

Trevor can't help rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, Jay.  What do you think?"

"I think we should do it.  I just wanted to be asked."

"Okay.  One, two, three."

Sam presses the button, but Thor and Flower don't pop out of the ghost trap.  Instead, it beeps loudly and turns red.

"Light turn red.  Why do light turn red?" Thor shouts.

No one answers him, as Pete notes, "There's a countdown, that can't be good."

"Freddie, what does that say?" Sam demands.

"Uh, I don't know Latvian."

"It's counting down to something!"

"What is it counting down to?" Jay questions.

"Let me check," Freddie says, as he opens the Latvian directions.  "Oh, this is interesting.  It says 'Evisceration...'," Freddie says, far to calmly.

"What?!" Everyone yells.

"Countdown to evisceration."

"Oh, that is not good."

"Unless, maybe this is a chance to have the mansion be less haunted and less ghosts to annoy you," Freddie suggests, earning looks from all of the ghosts in the room to Sam.

"Freddie, just fix this," Jay says, as the clock continues down from five minutes.

"All right, I'll give them a call back," Freddie says leaving the room with Jay behind him to make sure they get their answers.

"Why would you hang up in the first place before making sure it worked," Trevor states, annoyed.  He doesn't like the sound of Thor and Flower possibly being eviscerated.

He can tell the other ghosts are feeling much the same.

It only takes a minute for Jay to come back in, "Very bad news.  Freddie's on hold and says it's a forty-five-minute wait to talk to someone."

"B-But we only have four minutes left on the evisceration clock!"

"I led with "This is very bad news"," Jay states.

The ghosts all agree.  "He did say that."

"That's fair."

"We still have to do something," Trevor states.  "We can't let them die again."

Isaac nods, "What if you just smash the device, Samantha?  Perhaps that'll set them free."

"Isaac's saying maybe we could smash the trap."

"That's a horrible idea.  They're inside!  They could be squished," Trevor argues at the same time as Jay responding.

"But it could hurt them.  And even if it didn't, what if when they get out, they're permanently small?"

"I don't see you having any other ideas," Isaac says, as Thor begins yelling, again.

"Thor not want to be permanently small!  Base much of identity on being large."

Jay frowns.  "Wait a minute, wait a minute.  What if "Two and under" isn't about age?  Maybe it's the number of ghosts the trap was designed to hold.  Maybe it's only able to hold a certain amount of ghost energy."

Trevor nods.  "Not that I endorse his lifestyle, but this is where having a nerd can be useful."

"Look at this gauge.  It went up when Thorfinn got trapped.  It's gone higher since Flower went in there.  A third ghost could push it into the red zone."

"What happens if it goes into the red zone?"

"Well, hopefully it overloads the system and causes the device to fail, which should free all the ghosts."

"That's a huge risk," Trevor states.

"Unless he's wrong, and then we've eviscerated three ghosts," Isaac states.

"Unless you're wrong, and now we've lost three ghosts," Sam repeats.

"Look, I know I can't see the ghosts or hear them, but I care about them, and I would never do anything to risk harm to them if I didn’t think with all of my heart that this could work," Jay states.

Trevor's sure that he does care, but he also knows that his life might be a bit better with a few less ghosts, so he's not sure this is the best course of action.

Sam, however, agrees with Jay as she says, "You know what, I think you're right.  Okay, you all heard the man in the Atari shirt.  I think we got to give this a shot."

"And now one more of us is going to die so that Jay feels heard," Hetty states, obviously thinking the same thing as Trevor with regards to this risk.

Before anything else could be said, Sass walks in.

"Hey, Sam, I thought Pete told you about the whole selling my girlfriend thing - are you working on getting the car back?"

"Uh, no, been kind of busy here, Sass," Sam retorts.  

"With what?"

"Thor and flower are caught in the ghost trap," Trevor states.

"And then Samantha activated an evisceration clock, and now Jay wants another one of us to go in there and save them or, just as likely, die along with them," Hetty finishes, as he gives her a look.

"What?!"

"Yeah, you miss a lot when you're caught up sulking," Trevor states, to looks from Sass and Pete.

"Fellow ghosts, the time has come for one of us to step up.  And as your commanding officer..."

Trevor's sure he'll pick himself this time since the last time of picking Pete went oh so well and being a leader means sacrifice at times.

"I believe it is only right that that responsibility falls to, this time, let's say Trevor."

Trevor's shocked and can't help glancing at Hetty, who looks shocked, too, as he asks, "What? Why me?"

Before Isaac can respond, Pete says, "I'll do it."

"Pete, are you sure about this?" Alberta asks, evidently wanting Trevor to risk it over Pete.

Pete nods, "I always played it safe in life, always worried that something bad would happen.  And you know what, something bad happened anyway.  And now my friends’ afterlives hang in the balance, and it's my fault that they're in there.  So, am I scared?  You betcha.  But am I going in?  You're darn tootin'.  And I know, when I look back on all of this..."

A big speech now, Pete? Trevor can't help thinking.  Maybe he's wasting time because he is afraid, like earlier.

"The clock is sort of ticking here, Pete.  Ten seconds to evisceration."

The alarm starts blaring and Pete jumps back in horror.  Figuring that Pete's not going to do it, Trevor says, "Here’s to nothing," and touches the trap.

He gets sucked into the trap and yells of "Trevor!" Before landing inside.

He can't help laughing at Thor and Flower making out, nothing like 'we're about to die sex' to get those two together.  Good for them.

"Good for you guys."

Flower reaches behind her at him to grab his tie.  "No, I'm good, just enjoy yourselves."

Of course, there's only about five seconds left, so he braces for whatever's about to happen.  

There's a loud noise, and suddenly they're being sucked out again and appear just outside the kitchen to cheers from everyone.  

It's a bit overwhelming to get all of the hugs that he doesn't usually get, but he's honestly enjoying each and every one of them as he loves touch and hugs.  The last person to reach him through the crowd of ghosts around the three of them is Hetty, but she doesn't just hug him.  She throws her arms around his neck and kisses him as passionately as she'd done the day after Christmas.

At first, he's too shocked to respond, and by the time that he does, there's some renewed confused shouting, and he supposes that the cats out of the bag, now.

They break apart and look at the fellow ghosts, who all look surprised except Isaac and Thor.  

"I knew it!"

"It's only been a few weeks, how...?"

"You're not very quiet when you leave our room despite your attempts at being sneaky."

Thor agrees, despite Trevor being sure that he was being quiet when he leaves and returns in the middle of the night.

"Guess we were not as good at keeping it a secret as we thought,” Hetty states.

Trevor chuckles, “Guess not.”

“So, did it work?  Are the ghosts safe?” Jay questions.

“Yes, yes, they are,” Sam states.

“Great!  Now, I can add the information about the ghost trap to my board of ghosts,” Jay says, excitedly.  

“Yeah, but we’re getting that thing out of here,” Sam says.  “Last thing we need is any more of you being dumb enough to go in the trap for sole purpose of smelling a cookie.”

“Thor not dumb,” Thor states.  “Thor brave unlike cowardly Pete.”

“You tested the trap for a cookie and not even a good cookie,” Sam retorts.  “It doesn’t even smell that much – and if you wanted cookies, all you had to do was ask.”

“Speaking of asking for things – can you get Freddie’s old car back?” Sass asks.

“Oh, right.  Uh, Freddie, could you call the guy that you sold your old car to?”

“Why?”

“Well, your car was haunted, and Sass wants his girlfriend back…”

Trevor tunes out the conversation as he focuses on Hetty.  “Want to go for a walk?”

“I’d be delighted.”

***

They don’t walk very far, largely due to the snow, but it’s still nice to be out in the open, holding onto one another.  They’d spent most of the walk discussing how relieved they were that they survived the trap and Hetty berating him for risking his afterlife.

He argued that despite questioning Jay in many ways, he and Sam felt confident in their plan, and that he couldn’t risk letting Thor and Flower get eviscerated if there was something that he could do to save them.  It’s not just because they’re his friends, and fellow ghosts, but because he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about how he’d be alive right now (possibly) if his friends had done everything in their power to help him.

Hetty conceded that it didn’t matter anymore, although learning that they could’ve just turned it off and on made it all seem majorly unnecessary and risky for no good reason.

“So, now I get to negotiate for some hunk of junk car just so Sass can have a girlfriend?” Jay complains, as they walk up.  He and Sam are sitting on the bench in the gazebo, bundled up from the cold.

“Well, I mean – how do you say no?”

“Easy.  Tell him that we don’t have $1500 to waste on a car that sucks just so he can get laid,” Jay states.  “I know he was – or maybe still is – a virgin, the hi tree definitely gives that vibe, but it’s too much money to waste for a relationship that has been going on for like two or three weeks.”

“Jay!” Sam scolds.  

Trevor laughs, drawing Sam’s attention.  

“Why are you laughing?” Sam asks, before explaining to Jay that he and Hetty had just walked up.

“It’s just funny to think that I was actually thinking the same thing – a lot of money to waste on a new relationship and that bit about Sass –”

“Well, I don’t want to know or think about the s – love lives of my ghosts, so we’re going to ignore that bit, and just say – he’s been here 500 years and he’s finally been happy and –”

“And his hi tree is the reason we struggled our first summer as a B&B,” Jay states.  “I have to put my foot down, Sam.  We can pretend that we’ll buy the car so the guy brings it back here and he could say goodbye, but we can’t afford to buy the car.”

“Jay…”

“I’m sorry.  I’m not doing it.”

“Maybe there’s another solution,” Trevor says, thinking of ghost trap.  They were so worried about imminent redeath that they hadn’t considered any other options, but knowing off and on would have worked, there could be other uses to the ghost trap.

“Like what?”

“Like using the ghost trap.”

“What exactly are you proposing?” Hetty questions.  

“That we invite the guy over, get Jessica in the trap, and then see if we can break her ghost boundary.  Maybe we can change her ghost boundary,” Trevor suggests.  “Sass would be happy, and you don’t have to waste money.”

Sam relays his idea to Jay, who lights up.  “That’s a great idea.  Imagine if it works?  We could get Bjorn here for Thor and – and maybe if we ever go to Paris, Hetty could actually get to see it.  I mean, the implications if we could actually break a boundary are endless.”

“Exactly.  It could be a whole new world if we could travel with you – Sass could even see Shiki in person.  Although I suppose he might not want to – given Jessica,” Trevor states.

Maybe he could even go and find out about his family or visit the city one last time.  Not that he suggests that.  He’s always preferred to not mention things he wants just in case they blow up in his face – like Ari’s visit.

Sam and Hetty are both giving him looks.

“Alright, I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.”

***

Trevor is thrilled as he stands with everyone – including Jessica and Freddie – around Jay’s board of ghosts. Jay’s happily adding notes to the board, while everyone chats about where they’d want to go now that they could visit other places, of course, it was all agreed that they would return home with Sam and Jay and not just stay wherever they wanted to visit.  

It had been an assurance among all of them that they wouldn’t just disappear and never return, and it actually felt good to have that assurance.  Trevor had been a little uncertain that anyone would want to return – after all, most of them had been stuck for a long time, maybe they’d like to be stuck somewhere else?  But they all did.  This place was home now, and none of them wanted to let go of it.

Before the B&B, he knows he would want to be stuck elsewhere, then again, at least they had each other and wasn’t dealing with something like Jessica had been dealing with.  That had to be lonely and frustrating.  

“So, where would you like to go, Trevor?” Hetty questions, getting his attention as he joins him again after making sure that Jay had put her visit locations right.

“I – I don’t know.”

Hetty gives him a look.  “You have been here wishing you could be elsewhere for twenty years, certainly there must be somewhere or someone you’d like to see?”

Trevor sighs.  “My parents.  They should still be alive, so should my brother, and I want to visit the city one more time.  I miss the city.”

“Perhaps, you should reach out.”

“After Ari, I’m kind of afraid,” Trevor admits.  Then he shakes his head.  “I – I just don’t want to be disappointed again.”

Hetty kisses his cheek.  “We have all been disappointed by those we left behind, but you will always wonder if you do not take the opportunity that you may have now.”

Trevor smiles at her.  “Yeah, you’re right.  Maybe I should, but you know what I want right now?”

Hetty grins at him before using her free hand to grab his tie to kiss him passionately.  

“Get a room you two!”

Someone yells, causing them to break apart and realize that it’s Pete talking to Thor and Flower, also kissing in the corner.  Or was it Sass and Jessica celebrating her freedom from the car?  Or was it Isaac and Nigel happy that that they could travel together?  Trevor doesn’t know or care, but he does sympathize with Sam, who says, “It’s like you’ve all been hit with the hormone fairy.  Go to your rooms.”

Before Isaac can register what Sam said, Trevor says, “We call Hetty’s!”

He and Hetty run off up the stairs, giggling as Isaac yells after them, “Not fair!”  But he doesn’t care.  

He’s got the whole world open to him now and the best girl he could dream of, finally being a ghost isn’t so bad anymore.  

Thank God for that ghost trap.  

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I'm sorry but WHAT is happening in Duel Links??

*CRACKS KNUCKLES* ALRIGHT im certain other people could explain this better than I could (bark at me if any of this is wrong,) but, an attempt at a quick rough tl;dr of it:

so like. an important thing to note with DL is that like..... the in-universe explanation for Duel Links is that it's one of Seto Kaiba's new VR Next Evolution of Dueling Ego Projects, which like, ok sure, he Makes Those, but what's a little alarming with this one is that technically (almost) none of the characters In The Game are actually Those Characters Specifically, they're AI recreations of them with their original self's memories (that's already a lot, right out the gate.) (I say "almost" everyone because I think it's implied DSOD Kaiba and maybe Mokuba actually Are them because it's Their Game and they're always product testing it, there might be others though)

anyway another thing with this situation is that, uh, Most Characters in Duel Links Do Not Know They're AI. They just assume they're the original guy, that's just them! Hanging out in this cool new Duel VR! But then sometimes you DO get characters who actively are aware that they're just code in a video game (Yami Bakura and Bruno 5D's both comment on it), so you have this really interesting ecosystem of duelists who Are aware they don't really exist, and duelists who are None the Wiser. absolutely batshit.

and sure this is all well and fine with like, DM and maybe GX characters, ok sure it makes sense Kaiba would be recreating notable duelists of that era, but i cannot stress enough He Is Also Making AI Recreations of Dead People. DL very much takes place post-manga, post-DSOD. But Yami Yugi is There. Yami Bakura and Yami Marik are Very There. Manga Pegasus is there. Seto "I Will Never Learn to Come to Terms With Grief" Kaiba is actively raising the dead in his little VR card game simulator so they can live forever and there's a 50/50 chance they'll be FULLY AWARE that they died. JESUS.

There's also the hulking elephant in the room of Duel Links Has Been Including Characters From Series Kaiba Has Nothing to Do With For Quite Some Time Now--and a lot of those characters are like HEY. WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE. like I SWEAR someone from either Zexal or Arv-V was actively like "hi what the hell is KaibaCorp" so like...Kaiba's branding is ALL OVER THE VR WORLD EVEN IN THE WORLDS HE DIDNT EXIST IN. It's painting this absolute off the rails picture of Seto Kaiba trying to create this virtual multiverse of The Best Duelists From Every Timeline Living or Dead, and half the guys he's pulling in at this point are like *spawns into a perfect recreation of their hometown with no real idea of who did this* "what in the goddamn."

like guys from zexal/arc-v are actively IN GAME like trying to figure out why this VR world exists and who created it. It's absolutely wild and fascinating to watch. excited to see what happens when they add VRAINS world next month?!?!? idk anything about VRAINS really but it's probably going to make the DL lore even more bananas.

ANYWAY. ALL OF THAT SAID. NOW WE HAVE MAXIMILLION PEGASUS DROPPING IN-GAME OMINOUS SENTIMENTS it's kind of a culmination of all of the aforementioned shit. Duel Links Pegasus (an AI recreation of manga!Pegasus, who is fully aware A.) that's he's dead and B.) that there's multiple worlds and timelines crammed into this Virtual Reality) has a conversation with Paradox (an AI recreation of Paradox the Bonds Beyond Time Yugioh Movie Bad Guy, who, for all intents and purposes, fully believes he's the real dude and he wants to kill-die-explode-murder Pegasus SO BAD) breaking down that "hey, this place unites different histories, and if you kill me duel monsters won't cease to exist. Anyway, I'm not real! Ohoho! This world holds threads of tragedy, Paradox-boy!" <-- (not verbatim. but i wish it was.) Meanwhile Paradox is having a sputtering breakdown right next to him. This is a video game to play yugioh the trading card game.

like. it's just absolutely wild. konami could have just said "hey heres yugioh characters from every series. whatever" but no instead they threw in a bunch of mild psychological horror and inter-series friction and existentialism and it's a freemium video game that i have 600+ hours on on steam. yugioh duel links !

[studiojeon]

troubled outsiders | intro - jjk

| summary | -  how you two end up pining for each other.

warnings: none :) 

content: idol!jungkook x student!oc, friends to lovers (because it’s THE superior trope okurrrt), jungkook is quiet and shy but a social butterfly when needed (and when it comes to oc but you’re not supposed to know that yet), oc is both a badass and a socially akward queen, she has TWO friends and only because one is dating the other (like... same), the Lee Charyeong is her bestie, oc works at bighit and feels like everyone either fears her or hates her, author nim is a crackhead and has no plot planned for this series whatsoever (doesn’t know if she’ll keep this up, we’ll see).

words: 1.93 k

His presence was overwhelming, to say the least. Even if he were surrounded by six hundred other equally handsome men, somehow, to you (and the majority of the female population, at that point) he was as captivating and magnetic as they come. Jeon Jungkook didn't pay no mind to no one, but sure as hell everyone became hyper aware of his existence and essence in time. And that didn’t exclude you.

Yet, as nonchalant and indifferent as the man could be perceived, in reality he was more considerate and friendly than the aura he exuded. You knew this because working in the same company had to teach a thing or two about the people who literally carried said company and the whole industry at some point, still you barely knew four or three people, including your assistant and Jungkook, whom you had met once.

The opportunity of working at the company had come to you out of the blue, quite literally, you were attempting to send one of your assignments in when an email appeared in your notifications during your sailor moon study break. 

HYBE Entertainment

We’re glad to inform you that you’re being recruited for the position of Logistics Manager in one of our sub companies, BIGHIT Entertainment. We’ve thoroughly looked through the CV you’ve submitted and are very interested in your capabilities and what you can contribute to our organization. One of our other managers will gladly meet you on a day you can both agree on. Make sure to answer this email to get more details about your interview.

“Nani!? THE FUCK?” sure as hell that your eyes and cognitive functions were deceiving you (ADHD) you went over the text a little over three times in a row before the message settled in your mind. This was sus. 

Before even considering a reply you made a quick call. “Fucking Lee Chaeryeong” you spat on your end of the line. “You did this, didn’t you?”.

Her silence was more than enough to have you cursing her under your breath. “I don’t know what exactly you’re talking about but it most likely was me. Does it have to do with a sex toy in particular?”

“No” you denied almost monotonously, guessing the pile of boxes in the corner of your room with her names on them was what she referred to. “Does anything come to mind if i mention BIGHIT FUCKING ENTERTAINMENT?”

It was her. All those conversations during the summer about how badly you wanted to work in the entertainment business as marketing staff of some sort had their effect on your friend, who, despite all your excuses and denials, knew you better than you and your mom combined did, and because of this, was sure as hell you were not making a move towards that goal whatsoever. So, being the boss bitch she was, she took matters into her own hands, was what she explained.

You concluded that was the reason you had reached a point in your life where you had more experience than most recently graduated kids in your field, because Chaeryeong had you moving every summer break. You had been the manager of a coffee franchise and convenience store during you junior and senior years, and also figured a way to improve the marketing management strategy of a fucking restaurant while at it. Not to toot your own horn, but you were kind of cool.

Or not. “I hope this job satisfies your workaholic ass for once, I’m running out of ideas”. Chaeryeong spat before hanging up.

Sure as hell it would. 

On friday afternoon, you made your way to the HYBE INSIGHT building and introduced yourself to your recruiters who promised to give you a call at some point. “It went fine” you told Chaeryeong once you were in your car. And it was the truth, however you weren’t so sure if they would actually hire you at some point since well, you were a girl in a male dominated industry and, in your opinion, there were always better people than you. “Wanna go grab coffee?”

“I want to. But, I have practice today. I’m actually on my way there. Please avoid driving through Hongdae today, this shit’s packed.” You sighed and thanked her for the heads up. You missed your friend, badly. You hadn’t seen each other in three weeks, and you didn’t even live so far away from each other (you did, but it had been worse before). You two had very agitated lives to say the least. Chaeryeong was a kpop group member, and well, you were jumping from job to job and getting your phD in Business Management at the same time. It was hard to find moments to spare together during some periods of the year, but you guess the anticipation made your encounters better.

“Talk about anticipation” you slammed your forehead against your desk, taking a breather after such an anxiety packed situation. Short story: you got the job (for some fucking reason). And you had gone through a whole week of expectancy and anguish. Not getting that job would have broken your heart, and ego at the same time. 

You guessed the law of attraction tactics Chaeryeong had taught you had sorted their effect and were what led you to your current position in life.

“Miss _____, your presentation’s ready” your work assistant gave you a comforting pat in the back as she took a seat somewhere next to you. You were nervous, shitless. It was your fifth week at the job, and being the proactive woman you were, you had collected lots of data in order to come up with a resources management plan.

It was a Thursday afternoon, and more than a hundred people sat in front of you, waiting for your speech. Including him, who you’d once bumped into accidentally during one of your data recollections runs inside the building. 

You hated having the need to impress others yet, hence your anxious behaviour. But this was a decisive moment in regards to your validation in your new job and how you’d continue to be perceived during your work stance (no reason to panic at all)… you needed to get it together.

“I think I just pissed off a bunch of old men right now,” you told your assistant right after you got off stage. “I need a bathroom break”. Linh gave you a reassuring smile, one she always had plastered on her face.

“Take as long as you need to. I’ll give you a call once the rest are done”.

The commute to the bathroom was unnecessarily complicated in your opinion. You had spent a little over a month rushing through the hallways of the building and you swore every single day your spatial orientation got a bit more fucked up. There was no way there wasn’t a single bathroom on the floor you were in, that would just be atrocious. “It’s not completed yet” someone said beside you as you stared at the half empty map the company had projected on a wall next to the elevators. “Where do you need to go?” 

Kim Taehyung of all people in the world was talking to your ugly and unworthy ass. Your breath caught in your throat and after staring for at least five seconds your body finally reacted to your orders. “Oh, um… the bathroom. I’ve been looking for it for a good ten minutes” you explained with a nervous laugh.

“Trust me, I get it. I still get lost over here” he smiled gently. “It’s in the hallway in the middle of the next hallway” 

You laughed at his very ambiguous explanation. “Thank you” you bowed your head and made your way to said destination.

It was in the hallway to your left, not your right, and it took you a while to figure out that new piece of information. Once you were staring at yourself in the mirror, you realized that you looked considerably tired and exhausted from all the social interaction you had undergone throughout the day. You were used to the side stares and whispering you’d get whenever you entered a room at that point, but some days you just wished you could get a break from them. After all, it wasn’t your fault you didn’t look Korean at all, and that you also didn’t fit the stereotype of a foreigner.

You got that from your mom, both the non Korean features and social fatigue. But that wasn’t even the problem most of the time, it was your friendly and smart nature which she had also passed onto you. Some would consider it a blessing, but to you it was a burden, like a clear glass that shielded you from introducing yourself into other people’s realities. You had few friends and people to trust, but in your everyday life you had to deal with the pressure of standing out too much and that came with a lot of negative energy from others. You sigh as you spray your favorite fragrance on yourself. You could be feeling like shit, but no one will ever catch you slipping.

But that excluded him apparently. You hadn’t noticed that on the other side of the hallway was the men’s bathroom and the realization hit you as you were calmly getting some tea from the vending machine. “Good afternoon” the man greeted you as he made his way out the hallway, but stopped in his tracks right after he noticed you. “_____! Hi” he smiled at you and you wanted to die, suddenly forgetting what you were ordering in the first place.

“H-hi Jungkook” You smiled back, poorly attempting to put your wallet back into your backpack. 

“Need help there?” he noticed your agitated state and held your bag for you. He smelled just as heavenly as you had expected, somewhat between big dick energy and flowers. Oh, and he also remained as kind and polite as you remembered him.

Seeming as if he wasn’t planning on continuing his path to wherever he was heading to in the first place, he stood quietly by your side, waiting for you to be done with your deal. “How have you been?” you break the ice for him.

Quickly, you grab your tea and start walking back to the auditorium together, unaware of your surroundings or the suspicions that could arise. “Busy, but very good. How have you been? I saw your presentation earlier… I wish I understood half of what you said but you still sounded amazing”.

And you would never admit it out loud, but you were positive you were blushing (and falling in love too - platonically, of course). “Oh god, you think so? I basically told them they’ve been doing things wrong all along so maybe you’re the only one who’s appreciative of my work” you handed him the second can of iced tea you bought without him noticing. You swear his eyes lit up like stars in the night sky. “Payback for the other day” you smile at him.

The first time you two had crossed paths you didn’t look nearly as glamorous as you did now. In fact, you looked incredibly disturbed and in pain, carrying a huge pile of paperwork in your hands. But as soon as sweet Jungkook noticed your state, he offered you a hand and somehow ended up helping through your multiple data collecting trips that afternoon. It was a nice day.

“Anytime” he took the can in his hands with a shy look on his face. “Unless I’m practicing, you know…” you look down at his feet, with huge black boots engulfing them, and you smile due to their contrast with his personality. “Here, i’ll give you my number so you can call me whenever you need to put all those papers back. Hopefully I’ll be around” he added as he pulled his phone from his back pocket.

Way to get a girl’s number, my god.

[maddiwrites]

Secret Lives

Pairing: JJ Maybank x reader

Summary: You and JJ never got along so your friends trap the two of you on a boat in the middle of the marsh to work it out. Only it doesn’t go as planned.

Note: Hi guys! This is my first writing piece. I tried not to do a two parter for my first one but it ended up being so long. Sorry! I would love to hear your feedback so feel free to leave me a message! Part two will be posted soon. Also I have completed a rewrite of the show with a JJ x Routledge sister pairing so keep an eye out for that! Also wanna shout out @skiesofthesketchy​ @malfoyfarms​ @collecting-stories​ because they were some of the first masterlists I read and I loved them and it inspired me to write my own. So thank you!

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: Language, angst, very slight mentions of abuse

Part 2

Y/N Y/L/N. That’s you. Or as some like to call you, Hannah Montana. You live the best of both worlds, living it up on Figure Eight and wearing hundred dollar dresses to fancy dinners and parties, sneaking expensive mimosas to brunches with your friends, and getting biweekly mani pedi’s with your sister. Meanwhile, when you’re not rolling around in the luxuries of Kook Life, you’re rolling around in the dirt with your Pogue friends, baking in the sun on a dirty small boat while drinking the cheapest beer one of the boys’ could get their hands on. Most Kooks hated you even when they wanted to be you. And most Pogues didn’t trust you even as they tried getting in your pants.

One of them being JJ Maybank.

Kiara introduced you to her group of friends right after freshman year. The two of you were the black sheep of Kook Academy. Both your families have money, sure. But you weren’t jerks about it. You enjoy a little pampering here and there, but you’re not tone deaf and superficial like the rest of your peers. You were so grateful that your science teacher paired you two together for that year’s science fair. You instantly clicked with the curly brunette and spent most of the class talking about whatever came to mind instead of actually brainstorming project ideas. After working together for months on a science fair project with a shared passion of wanting to help save the environment, Kie finally introduced you to her best friends.

John B and Pope immediately made you feel like one of the group. Sure, they were curious about your life but you never felt like you were being interrogated with questions. They included you on inside jokes and even gave you the nickname ‘Sassy’ after proving to them that you can hold your own in a verbal fight.

Thanks to JJ.

From the start he claimed to never like you. He hated where you were from, who your parents were, and that you never had a job. He hated that you didn’t even have to try to get people to like you. In his eyes, everything was handed to you on silver platter. You had a picture perfect life and all you had to do was bat your eyelashes and show off your pearly white teeth. He couldn’t stand you.

Yet, he was dangerously attracted to you.

He loved the way your hair shined against the setting sun, he loved that you didn’t wear makeup every single day like every other Kook on the island, he loved how your white jean shorts perfectly shaped your curves, and he loved how your temper was as equally as short as his because it made you fighting with him that much hotter.

Last night was no different than every other night with you and your friends. It was quiet, spent around a bonfire in John B’s back yard. You sipped on cheap beer from the can while the smell of JJ’s marijuana smoke wafted through the air. Kie lightly strummed the strings of her ukulele while Pope and JJ bickered about the pros and cons of smoking weed.

This was your family. You had friends on the other side of the island too but you weren’t as close as you were with the Pogues. You would do anything for the people surrounding you. Even JJ. You tried to tell yourself you hated him just as much as he hated you, but you couldn’t help but feel like every other girl on this island, falling for his ocean blue eyes and golden locks. His wit and his charm. His loyalty and protectiveness of his friends. How he looked with his shirt off. How he would wink at you when he caught you staring. You wished you didn’t, but you loved him.

“Hellooo, Y/N?” John B waved his hand in front of your face. You hadn’t even realized you’d been staring.

“I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

John B smirked but didn’t say what he was thinking. He always thought you and JJ were acting dumb when it was clear as day that the two of you were attracted to each other. He always caught you two staring at one another when the other wasn’t looking. You two would always ask about the other person when they weren’t there even if it was just to throw a sharp jab behind their back.

“I asked you what you were up to this weekend.”

“Oh,” You shrugged. “Probably run some errands, babysit my neighbor’s kids...”

Just like Hannah Montana, you also lived a secret life. Your life wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought it was, but you’d never admit to it. Your mother would be crushed, your friends would find you stupid and pathetic, and you would hate yourself even more than you already did.

“Good. Sunday we’re going to check out the surfing competition on Seasill Beach. JJ’s trying to qualify for it next year.”

Your smile immediately dropped. “Sunday. Oh.”

“Already got a spa day planned, Princess?” JJ smirked from across the way.

“I, uh,” You tried your best to fake a grin. “I’m sorry. I can’t go. I already have plans.”

You held you breath as you waited for someone to respond. This was the third time this month you flaked on your friends without a good explanation. You never knew what to tell them, only that you had plans. You were afraid if you said anything else, they’d find out you were lying.

“Again?” Kie stopped playing her ukulele to look at you. “Seriously. Is there some secret boy we should know about or something?”

You scoffed. “No.”

You felt the most guilty lying to Kie. After all she was your best friend. The one you were supposed to be able to share everything with, even the stuff you couldn’t tell your parents.

“Kie’s right. You bailed on us last week last minute too,” Pope said.

You opened your mouth to say something, but your head wasn’t working fast enough to come up with a lie.

“We all knew this day would come.” JJ’s smirk was gone. He flicked the butt of his joint into the fire and claps off the ash from his hands. “Hannah Montana dips her toes into the wild life. She feels free and independent long enough to decide she’d rather go back to her cookie cutter life and live with all the privilege that daddy has to offer.”

The word ‘daddy’ physically made you flinch. Your eyes narrowed in a tight glare as you dug your fingernails into the palm of your hand, hating that this was the way JJ thought of you.

“J...” John B tried to warn him but JJ didn’t listen.

“No, seriously.” JJ stood up. “I bet the reason she’s not telling us what all her ‘plans’ are is because she knows you’ll all be disappointed. Me? Well, I couldn’t care less whether you hung out with us or not. In fact, I’ve been praying for it. So tell us, Y/N, what are you doing that you won’t tell us? If it’s not some dude, then maybe you decided you’d rather be a Kook. Are you going to fancy lunches and riding yachts across the ocean? Maybe you’re spitting in the faces of the people who work to make your life easier. Maybe -”

“JJ!” Kie yelled.

You stood up, your vision turning red and your skin going hot. Usually you could take JJ’s insults. You were use to JJ throwing your family’s money in your face, trying to make you feel bad for something you can’t control, but this was too much. Because now he was calling you out on your loyalty to your friends. And he was so far from the truth.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” You said. The other three stood up when you took a step in JJ’s direction. John B stood close to you. He didn’t know what you were going to do, but he’s never heard your voice so low and threatening in a long time. The other time was with a Kook who was giving JJ shit. Ironically. “For me to just leave.”

“I didn’t stutter, did I?”

“Well I hate to break it to you, but I’m not going anywhere. In fact, because I’m such a nice friends, I’m going to give you some free advice. First, the last thing you want to question me about is my loyalty to the people who’s lives I would put before my own. Second, I would suggest removing that stick up your ass because it seems like your way too uptight to handle it.”

JJ glared at you and didn’t move to respond. A part of you was surprised he didn’t have anything to come back with and the other part of you was relieved.

The thick tension between you and your friends was suffocating. Your night had been effectively ruined by a simple question. But the sad part is, you didn’t even know who to blame. JJ, or the other man causing most of your guilt and grief.

“Y/N/N...” Kie tried stopping you as you gathered your stuff to leave.

“I’m out of here.”

You stormed out of the backyard and into your car. There was only so much you could take until you broke. And you were not going to give JJ Maybank the satisfaction of seeing you break.

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

You couldn’t fall asleep last night. JJ’s words kept replaying in your head like a bad song stuck on replay. You wanted to hate him. You wanted to blame him for not trusting you. But instead, you hated yourself. Because you’re the reason he can’t trust you. Cause you have secrets you don’t want shared.

Your thumb hovered over his contact. Not JJ’s. The man who’s made your life a living hell for the last sixteen years. You wanted to scream and cry and slap him in his face. But instead, you stayed frozen in fear. Like the little pathetic girl he says you are. And you hated yourself more for proving him right.

Your attention was taken away when someone busted through your bedroom door out of breath. Kie immediately went to your drawers and pulled out the first bathing suit she could find and threw it at you.

“Kie -”

“We need to go,” She said. “Get dressed.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Pope and John B ran out of gas doing grocery runs for Heyward. We need to get them with the HMS Pogue.”

“Where’s JJ? Why can’t he help you?”

“He’s working,” Kie said quickly. “Come on.”

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

You and Kie found Heyward’s boat stranded in the middle of the marsh like Kie said it would be. John B and Pope were waiting for you on the back and thanking you both for coming to help. You hold the gas as they helped you onto the boat. They directed you to the tank while they helped Kie.

As soon as you made your way to the front of the boat, you heard the engine of the Pogue rev and take off. You dropped the gasoline gallon and sprinted to the back of the boat where they left you. John B and Pope waved back to you as Kie drove them back to the Chataeu.

“What the hell?” You yelled at them to come back.

“You and JJ need to work your shit out!” John B yelled back to you.

“What...” You mumbled to yourself before you heard the sound of heavy footsteps running towards you. You gasp in surprise when a sweaty JJ passed you to glare at the boat that’s getting smaller and smaller by the second.

“What the fuck?” He screamed.

“There’s food and blankets in the cabin!” Pope yelled back.

“We’ll come get you in the morning,” Kie said.

You clenched your teeth together with frustration. JJ looked just as pissed off and small part of you was disappointed with that. He turned around, cursing to himself and hitting random shit in his way.

This was going to be a long day.

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

After four hours, you and JJ still hadn’t spoken to each other. He took over the cabin while you laid out on the back of the boat. Your head was running with different thoughts. Should you try to make up with JJ? Should you just continue to ignore him? Should you tell him why you can’t go to the surfing competition tomorrow?

You didn’t know what to do but you knew you couldn’t sit here in silence anymore.

You reluctantly stood in front of him with crossed arms. He was smoking a blunt and looking out into the setting sun. If you were friends, you would take a picture of him right now. The pink sky painted his skin perfectly.

“What?” He said without looking at you.

“Seriously?” You raised one brow. “We’re asked to do one thing on this boat and that’s all you have to say?”

“I’m not sorry for what I said last night.”

“Neither am I.”

“Fine.”

You rolled your eyes. The problem with both of you was that you’re both stubborn. But if the problem with JJ couldn’t be fixed today, you didn’t know how much longer you would be able to put up with his rude remarks and assumptions about you.

“What the hell is your problem?” You said.

“My problem?”

“Yeah. Your problem. You’ve been treating me like shit ever since Kie introduced me to you. What could I have possibly done to make you hate me so goddamn much?”

JJ shook his head in annoyance. “I’m not doing this.”

He got up and walked to the back of the boat where you were sulking not even five minutes ago. You followed him like the stubborn person you were and you continued to grill him.

“I’ve tried so hard to be your friend. I’ve bought you drugs, I’ve even done yours and JB’s laundry. I put in a good word to the tourons who ask about you at boneyard parties. I laugh at your jokes, even when they’re about my friends. I try so hard to be on your good side and you still want nothing to do with me!”

“Because you’re a Kook!”

“So?”

“You have everything. Money, family, friends, a future. I don’t trust you because I don’t know what the hell you want with us. What do we possibly have that you can’t get on Figure Eight? Hm? Are you trying to prove a point to your mom that you don’t need her? You trying to prove to your dad that you’re a tough girl and don’t need his money or protection to keep you safe? Huh?”

“You know what your problem is? You don’t listen! I’ve told you time and time again that I don’t care about any of those things. I hang out with you guys because you are my friends. I have a good time when I’m with you. Why is that so hard for you to get?”

JJ scoffed. “Please. You don’t think I see you constantly checking your cell phone? Making sure no one can see who you’re texting? If we’re such good friends, why won’t you tell us what you’re doing tomorrow? You always have ‘other plans’ and then you never tell us what they are.”

“Because that’s none of your business!”

“If my friends are going to get hurt because of some lying bitch then it is my business!”

You were breathing so heavily, you were basically panting. Your blood felt like it was boiling under your skin and your head felt fuzzy with lack of thoughts. You didn’t know what to say, truly lost for words.

JJ took another step closer to you. You’re so close to him, you can feel his breath on your face and see every mark on his skin. You never knew he had a scar right above his brow or a freckle under his ear. He smelled like weed and sun sunscreen and his breath like mint. Had you not been fired up with rage, you would have thought he looked hot and maybe even made a move.

But now it was the last thing you wanted to do.

“I’m sick and tired of you spoiled brats getting everything you want. You’re nothing but a spoiled rich kid who doesn’t even know the kind of privilege she has if it hit her in the face. You can’t relate to anything we have to go through. You don’t have to get dirt underneath your fingernails to make a buck. You don’t have to wonder where your next meal is coming from. You wouldn’t last a week on the Cut because you’ve never known what it’s been like to live the life we do!”

“You don’t know anything about me!” You snapped. The heart in your chest felt like it was being shredded to pieces by a rapid wolf. You felt like you were being torn apart one by one with each insult he threw in your face. Little did he know, he was wrong.

“I know enough to never want to see you again. I will never accept you into our group of friends. Don’t you get that? So you can stop playing the nice girl act around me and go back to Sarah Cameron and the other Kooks that you still hang out with despite knowing everything they’ve done to us. To Kie!”

Bringing up the fight between Kie and Sarah was a low blow and JJ knew it. It was something you always struggled with because you continued to be friends with both of them separately. At first, they were both mad at you but then accepted your friendship when they came around to loving the idea that you would fight for both of them. You tried getting them to talk and make up, but both of them refused. Maybe you should just stick them on a boat in the middle of nowhere and force them to work it out.

Although, clearly your experience with it wasn’t going so well.

“That’s not fair.”

“Yeah, well life’s not fair sweet heart. But you wouldn’t know about that.”

You thought the fight last night was bad. But this one took the icing off the cake. You wished so desperately that Kie had just trapped you both in a locked room, so at least you had the chance to break out and run away from the darkness that was clouding around you.

You were most upset that this was how JJ thought of you. You didn’t know if you would have the same devastating reaction if someone else had said these things to you. You wanted so badly to be friends with the blonde Pogue. You saw the way he interacted with his friends and you wanted to be a part of that small circle so badly, you would almost do anything to be in it.

But you didn’t think you could last another second of being belittled and tormented with JJ’s outspoken feelings towards you. You wished there was a rewind button so you could go back to bed and hopefully never wake up and you’d lock your door so Kie couldn’t break in.

You swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall and admit your defeat. You wanted to find the nearest corner and crawl into it and escape the murderous glare of JJ Maybank. JJ was wrong. You didn’t have everything. Because in this moment, you still wanted him. And you were just realizing that you never will.

“You judge me by the surface. You’ve never once tried to get to know me. You don’t ask. You just assume that I’m like every other kid on Figure Eight. You don’t know where I’ve came from. What I’ve been through. What I live with. You don’t know my plans for the future or my hobbies or even my favorite color because you didn’t ask!” Adrenaline pushes through your veins like a wave of energy. You’ve never felt so powerful but so small in your life.

“All right. So tell me,” JJ said. “Tell me whatever story you can think of that will change my mind about you.”

You paused, standing there face to face with someone who will never accept you. You were suddenly overcome with so many emotions you didn’t know which one to choose from. Anger, sorrow, fear, confusion, shame.

You couldn’t believe you even thought about telling JJ your story. A story that you haven’t even told Kie. The story about how you were actually born and raised on the far end of the south side. How your dad use to abuse your mother right in front of you before she managed to escape when you were eight. For six months you lived in her car before she got a job as a housekeeper at a cheap motel used mostly for hookers and their cliental. Her employer let you live rent free if your mom accepted a cheaper pay check. During one of her shifts, your mother ran right into Andrew Y/L/N. No, he wasn’t one of the hooker’s clients. He was actually on the property looking to buy out the place. Even though he was a Kook, he looked through the housekeeper’s uniform into my mom’s heart and loved everything about her. He took her on a couple dates, then less than a year later, married her. You changed your last name to his because you didn’t want any relation to your father anymore. You thought the man was scum and deserved to rot in hell for everything he put your mom through. You hated him and even wished for him to die. Sometimes you even thought about doing it yourself. But then you saw him again. At a gas station in the middle of The Cut. You couldn’t believe he recognized you and you were even more shocked he had the audacity to talk to you. And you listened. He told you how sorry he was. How he never meant to hurt your mom. How he missed his baby girl and wanted to be in her life again. You fell for every word because a part of you you didn’t know existed missed having a biological dad.

That was your biggest mistake.

He didn’t change. He was still the same bastard he was eight years ago, using violence and threats with people much weaker than him to get what he wanted. He loved guilting you with your new luxuries. How you now had everything right under your fingertips after you left him to wither away with nothing. He said you owed him. Because you were his daughter and you were supposed to love him unconditionally. And you fell for it every time. He never hurt you like he hurt your mom. A few slaps here and there but nothing to leave a mark to get your mother questioning.

So now you were trapped - trapped in his world and in his life. Using your own money that you actually worked for, little did JJ know, to pay for his bills, his drugs, and sometimes, even his bail.

You didn’t tell anyone about this secret life because you didn’t want anyone to make you feel any more pathetic and weak than you already felt. And most importantly, you didn’t want to hurt your mother by telling her you’ve been supporting the one person she’s been trying to protect you from.

And you were about to risk that by telling someone who probably still wouldn’t care about you even after hearing what you had to say. You are who you are. If JJ didn’t like you now, he shouldn’t like you after telling him your story, anyway.

“No.” You shook your head.

“No?” JJ scoffed. “I’m finally asking you tell me something and you’re saying no?”

“Because you don’t care, JJ! Not really. You think knowing my sob story is going to get you to like me? I don’t need a pity friendship. I am who I am because of shit I’ve had to overcome. And this is me now. So if you don’t like it, then fine. We’ll do it your way and call it quits.” JJ didn’t say anything as you turned around to find somewhere to pass out in hopes of getting morning to come faster.

You found a blanket deep into the cabin and pulled it over your body, shielding yourself away from the world. You hoped the darkness would sweep through your head so you wouldn’t be plagued with torturous thoughts about your past or what’s going to happen to tomorrow. You cried - you cried because even after JJ ripped into your like a zoo animal, he still hated you.

JJ was wrong. You didn’t have everything. Because you didn’t have him.

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

Surprisingly, the sun rose sooner than you expected it to. Sleeping on the swaying boat wasn’t as awful as you thought it was going to be. In fact, it was kind of peaceful with the stars above you and the sound of moving water right under you.

The morning wasn’t so calming. You were slapped in the face with memories of the night before. Your stomach twisted at the thought of being face to face with JJ again. You knew what you had to do and thinking about it made you sick and depressed.

You pushed yourself up and checked the time on the radio. 8:03. Anxiety instantly flooded through you. You only had two hours to get home to be ready in time to run ‘errands’ with your dad.

You looked out to the back of the boat where JJ was looking into the horizon, probably waiting for your friends to come.

Fresh set of tears pricked your eyes at what’s to come. You loved your friends and you even loved JJ. But you couldn’t stay with the Pogues. You didn’t want to make JJ any more uncomfortable than he already was and you were afraid the constant fighting would push your friends further apart. You didn’t want to be the reason for that.

You pulled the blanket tighter around your shoulders and walked next to JJ. Without a word, you looked out in the same direction he was looking and admired the morning sun.

Surprisingly, JJ was the first one to speak. He looked at you and instantly felt guilty all over again. He tossed and turned all night contemplating on whether he should wake you up to apologize or just wait until morning. He knew he wasn’t being fair. You’ve done nothing but tried to earn his trust since day one. You accepted him for all his flaws and he couldn’t do the same for you. Yeah there was the phone thing and not telling the others what you’re up to, but it wasn’t like you were constantly in his business. If you see him with unexplained bruises, you don’t pester him about it. If he comes back to the Chateau in a pissy mood and blames it on a fight with his dad, you try to make him forget about it with a distraction instead of making him tell you what the fight was about. Why couldn’t he give you the same respect?

Truth was he wasn’t so much worried about his friends getting hurt as he was getting hurt. He liked you more than a friend should which would make your departure from your friends that much more heartbreaking for him. He never felt this way over a girl, let a lone a Kook and he tried so desperately to hate you. But it didn’t work. Instead, it made him feel like the biggest asshole in the world. He wanted to fix what he broke. He told himself he still had time left. His friends weren’t back yet to get him.

“Listen, Y/N -”

“It’s fine, J,” You sniffled. This time you couldn’t stop the tears from running down your cheeks. You tried blinking them away which only made them fall faster. You hated crying in front of people. Your dad always said it was a sign of weakness and you believed him. You wouldn’t be surprised if JJ laughed in your face right now and called you a loser. “It’s done.”

“What are you talking about?”

JJ’s heart physically broke when he saw your tears. He had never seen you cry. Not even out of joy. He couldn’t believe he was the cause of this. That he had made someone as beautiful and as kind as you actually feel bad about herself. He wished he could take back time and start over. He wished he gave her a chance from the beginning. He wished it wasn’t too late.

You both looked up when you heard the engine of the HMS Pogue. In the distance, you could hear your friends laughing and calling out to you, not yet realizing their plan went to shit. You had to make this quick.

“The last thing I want is to get between you and your friends. You don’t have to worry about me hurting anyone, especially Kie. I’ll back off.” You said, making JJ’s brows furrowed in confusion and his heart raced with worry. “I’m giving you what you want. I’ll stay out of your life.”

JJ couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe he drove you to do the one thing he actually never wanted you to do. “Wait. You’re leaving?”

You looked JJ in the eyes and he wished you didn’t. Because for the first time, he didn’t see the light behind your eyes or the little crinkle in the corner when you smiled. They were dull and lifeless, making him sick to his stomach.

“I didn’t stutter. Did I?” You used his words from the other night and it felt like a stab in the heart to JJ.

JJ was left speechless which almost never happens. He wished he could say something, anything, to make you feel differently, to tell you he was wrong and sorry. But nothing came out. He could barely breathe.

“Hey you crazy kids,” Kie’s voice pierces the air, jokingly and airy. If only she knew that wasn’t how you were feeling.

“Missing a key or something?” John B joked alongside her.

“You should have called us sooner!” Pope added.

When the boat came closer to yours, they finally got a look at the two of you. They were shocked to see you silently crying and looking like all the life had been sucked out of you. JJ looked mad but they couldn’t tell whether he was mad at you or them or himself.

The three of them went sick with anxiety, suddenly wondering if this was a bad idea. Kie tried to get you make eye contact, but you wouldn’t look at her. You couldn’t look at any of them - afraid you might actually break completely if you did.

“Y/N/N...” Kie said softly.

“You guys okay?” John B asked wearily.

JJ helped Pope tie The Pogue to Heyward’s boat and hopped on right after. Pope traded spots with JJ and came up beside you and stood there awkwardly. He didn’t know what to do either.

You looked up at him before he could come up something probably stupid to ask. “Can you drop me off please?”

Pope glanced back at his friends and nodded. “Uh, sure. John B will probably get you there faster though if you -”

“No, it’s okay,” You said. You didn’t think you’d be able to handle being in an enclosed space with JJ for another minute. You just wanted to go home and forget the past two years ever happened. “I’ll stay here.”

Pope shrugged at his friends when you trudged back into the cabin and curled yourself into the corner. You didn’t know what the next few weeks would be like, but you hoped they go better than the last twenty four hours did.

[xmalfoyweasleyx]

He flirts with everyone - F.W

Summary: Y/n gets drunk at the opening party of the joke shop when she sees her best friend Fred flirting again. She accidentally tells him about her feelings when she thinks it's George...

A/N: Normally I write smut but I LOVE this idea and I had so much fun writing it! I'm a little insecure about it because it's not smut, so please give feedback. I hope you'll like it! x

Warnings/Includes: Drinking, alcohol, insecure reader, 1 mention of sex, really passionate kiss, angst to fluff :)

Today was THE day, the opening of Fred and George their joke shoppe. It all started in the evening, with a big opening party.

Y/n was outside watching the doors of the shop, preparing herself to walk through. Dimmed music and lights could already been noticed where she was standing. She was a little nervous. The twins are her best friends, they knew each other since they were little, but it's been a month now since she's seen them. That was long for them, it was the longest they haven't seen each other, ever.

When she opened the door she was overwhelmed with the loud music and all the people in the room. How is she supposed to find those twins? But before she started searching properly, she already saw George standing there. You really couldn't miss him, with his tall figure and bright smile he stood out of the crowd.

"George!" you screamed. George turned his head immediately and smiled bright.

"Y/n! Finally!" he grinned and he gave you a big hug.

"It's so pretty in here, congratulations Georgie" y/n smiled. George seemed proud, she was thrilled to see him back but she couldn't stop herself from wondering where Fred is.

As if George could read her mind: "I think Fred is.. er.." he said while looking around.

And that's when they saw him standing next to the stairs. "There" George added. But both of their smiling expressions changed when they really saw him. Like we all know him, Fred was flirting again. Y/n knew she really had no single right to care about that, but the jealousy hit her like a truck. And George knew that.

A pretty tall lady was standing next to him. They were both laughing and giggling. Fred looked so damn handsome, she thought. His suit, the hair,... It was beautiful. Y/n watched how Fred gently laid his hand on the woman her shoulder and she seductively moved her fingers against her glass of alcohol. ALCOHOL that's it.

"Where's the alcohol" y/n asked George. He had a worried look on his face. "Y/n I don't think... I... Fred is just-" he stuttered but y/n cut him off. "I don't care, you don't owe me an explanation and certainly not in your brother's place, now give me some firewhisky or something" y/n stated.

"I know you're in love with him y/n" he explained full of pity. Of course George knew, you were his best friend and it was obvious to him but not to Fred. George always had to watch how you were hurt when you saw Fred with another girl, it happened back at Hogwarts too.

"Oh. Well. If you know then give me the drink" she kept asking. George nodded. They walked to the table with the drinks and George poured something in for her.

"You're not going to say hi to him?" he guessed. "Nope" y/n answered and she threw the whole drink down her throat. George felt sorry for her but also laughed a little, he liked drunk y/n after all, it was always fun.

-

An hour later there was already a dance floor full of people dancing their soul out. Including y/n. The alcohol was exploding in her body and she poured another shot down her throat when she saw Fred dancing with the girl from before or was it another girl already? One thing y/n knew for sure was that the girl was hot.

Her favourite song came on so she danced and danced... When suddenly, she didn’t know if it was an half hour later or maybe only 2 minutes, she felt someone pressing her shoulder.

Y/n turned around and saw Fred. “When did you get here?” he asks confused. Y/n decided not to answer and she kept dancing, swaying her hips to the music. “Weren’t you planning on saying hi to me?” he tries again.

“Nope” y/n responded trying to ignore the boy. She wasn’t even able to look into his eyes because she knew she would just melt.

“I’m going for another drink bye” she muttered, trying to get away from there as fast as possible. When she turned around Fred grabbed her arm to stop her.

“I think you’ve had enough, love” he whispered.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do Fred Weasley and you certainly don’t have to call me love” y/n said angrily, leaving Fred confused.

Why didn’t she say hello to him? Didn’t she miss him? He missed her and this is what he gets? Fred didn’t understand a thing.

“Wow, calm down, what the hell is wrong with you?” he scoffed now getting angry too. "With me? Why don't you just go back dancing with that girl you stupid git" y/n insulted, immediately regretting what she just said. Fred was hurt. Angry. He didn't understand this at all.

"You're mental" he snapped. Tears started to form in y/n's eyes and Fred walked away. Leaving y/n there guilty, sad and drunk...

Y/n ran outside, finding an empty doorstep on a random house next to the shop, where she could sit on. Tears fell down when she buried her face in her hands. She didn't want to be so mean to Fred, but maybe shutting him out was the best way to get over him?

What y/n didn't know is that Fred regretted what he said too. He saw how hurt she was and he hated seeing his best friend like that. So he decided to go look for her.

His heart broke when he saw y/n sitting there, her hands in her hair and tears falling down. Fred sat next to her without saying a word. Y/n looked up and smiled, not knowing it was Fred.

No, she thought it was George, he knew how she felt after all. Normally, y/n was the best in telling them apart, but after all that alcohol, she made a big mistake.

Fred on the other hand, thought y/n knew it was him. He had no idea y/n thought she was sitting next to George.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked. "I messed up" y/n cried.

"You didn't mess up" he ensured her, trying to calm her down, but it became worse. "I did! Oh why am I in love with your stupid brother" she sighed, leaning down to lay her head on Fred's shoulder (or what she thought was George his shoulder).

Fred was shocked. In love with my brother, he thought, so she is in love with George? Did that stupid twin of him make her cry like this?

"Are you in love with my brother?" Fred gasped, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. He would never be able to watch how y/n dates his brother, the thought of it made him sick. He didn't want y/n to be in love with someone else and especially not his own brother.

"I thought you knew" y/n asked confused. "No, I didn't" Fred whispered, almost inaudible.

Y/n was confused, she talked about this with George just hours ago? But she forgot it already when she remembered how mean she was to the boy she loves with her whole hard.

"I love him, George, but he'll never love me the way I love him" y/n sobbed.

Fred gulped. Did she just say George as in: she loves George. Or did she just say George to him?

"You don't understand, I wanna have his babies!! I want to come home and see his smile, I want him to fuck me into oblivion!!! Please help me George" y/n suddenly screamed dramatically, still very drunk.

Now Fred was sure, she thought she was talking to George. Which meant all she said was about him. He wasn't able to move. Fred was shocked. How? When? Why? He had so many questions.

"But he flirts with everyone, every piece of woman he can find, he flirts with it. I'll never be enough" y/n sniffled.

That's when Fred finally put all the pieces together and realized why she acted like that. She must have seen him talking to that girl. All those girls. Has he really been so blind? And did she really think she's not enough for him? His heart broke and glowed at the same time.

He wanted to tell her so many things, he wanted to explain everything, to apologize. He wanted to tell her so so so much.

But he couldn't, he was speechless. It was like he was glued to the floor and turned into a puppet with empty strings.

"George?" y/n stammered when she saw the look on his face.

Fred only responded with eyes full of pity.

They looked in each others eyes for a moment, when suddenly, she realized.

The scar, the pattern of freckles and the chubbier cheeks.

It was Fred.

Y/n gasped loudly. "I-I-... Fuck." was the only thing coming out of her mouth.

She panicked, embarrassed and afraid of what will come next. So she grabbed her wand. The only idea that came up was to apparate away from him.

She waved her wand but before she even did something she felt Fred grab her arm and in a second she was in a room with him. He was first.

"Where are we" she asked. "In my apartment" Fred answered.

Y/n nodded and an awkward silence filled the room.

“Do you really think you’re not enough for me?” Fred whispered.

“What does it even matter” she huffs.

Fred took a step closer and he grabbed her hand. Y/n her eyes widened. “Do you really think that?” Fred repeats.

“Yes” y/n answered weakly.

“Why?” he questioned interested.

“Fred, look at you, you’re a handsome owner of a shop who played quidditch for years, I mean, look at that chest, you are funny, you are sweet, all the ladies drool over you and you flirt with all of them. They’re so pretty and I’m... I’m, me.” y/n rambled.

Fred’s heart was beating hard inside his chest, her honest words made his knees go weak. If she only knew how he saw her. How pretty he thinks she is. He was stupid for flirting with those girls right in front of her. It was his fault, her insecurities.

“I don’t want to ruin our friendship, I know you don’t feel the same way, well that’s obvious, but I can’t see you that much any more, because when I see you I just want to rip off that shirt and kiss-“ she rambled and rambled like she was already doing the whole night, as if there was a ramblingpotion in her drinks.

But Fred cut her off by grabbing her shoulders and pushing her chest close to his.

“For Gods sakes, shut up woman” he whispered with a smile and he kissed you.

It was not just a kiss, it was something you both wanted to do for so long now. You both had never felt this way before. The passion was unexplainable. Fred grabbed y/n her ass very gently making her gasp a little, now he could enter his tongue. They fought for dominance. Y/n pulled on his red locks and pressed her body impossibly closer to his. She wanted to feel close to Fred, she wanted to show him how much she loved him.

Fred felt the same way, he left a very gentle bite on her lip, making her moan a little. His heart was swollen in his chest and he finally understood what they meant with those belly butterflies.

He was going to marry that girl one day, and like she said: give her his babies. The thought of her (actually) funny confessions made him grin on her lips.

“What are you smiling about” y/n chuckled when she left his lips.

“Nothing, nothing” he grinned.

After recovering from their passionate kiss, y/n and Fred were sitting on his couch. They talked and talked like they always could keep talking about random stuff. But now the topic was a whole different one.

Fred made sure y/n realized how bloody sexy he thought she was. He promised he would try his best to only flirt with her and he talked about how he liked her too back at hogwarts. Y/n couldn’t believe it at first but after talking for a while she was convinced.

She laid in Fred’s arms while he drew little patterns on her back. She enjoyed his smell and how warm he felt. It felt safe, it felt like home.

“Thank god, finally!” they heard a voice coming from across the room. It was George.

You all laughed.

“Without you we wouldn’t lay here like this Georgie” Fred joked.

“But I didn’t do anything?” George furrowed his eyebrows.

“I know” Fred laughed placing a soft kiss on your head.

-

join my taglist :)

general taglist: @rudypankowisdaddy

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( I hope you’re not disappointed because this has no smut )

[extasiswings]

"Tell Me" for Buddie? Doesn't have to be a love confession, whatever strikes your inspiration!

So, this is a follow-up to this fill for @from-nova because I promised I would fix it! See, just trust me. 

Buck might be a bit of a masochist. That seems like the only explanation for how he gets himself into these situations—the entirely avoidable and predictable ones that are virtually guaranteed to end in tears.

The thing is...Buck’s pretty sure he should have figured out that he’s in love with Eddie a long time ago. Because when he looks back, there’s been something from the beginning. Only, at first he was still—desperately, pathetically—pretending that Abby was coming back, and then he found out that Eddie was married and promptly buried any non-platonic thoughts about his best friend so deep that he really did forget for awhile that they were there at all.

He should have started putting it together after the ladder truck, after the tsunami, after the lawsuit—there was a space that Shannon left behind and he slipped into it easily, without even thinking, just because he wanted it. He wanted to matter, wanted to be wanted, to be needed, to make himself useful, and he never deluded himself into thinking he could act like a parent to Christopher, but...he was family. Eddie was his best friend and Buck felt like he was part of their family, folded seamlessly into the unit. They wanted him, Eddie trusted him. He fit. So...he stayed. He stopped looking for anything else.  

He hadn’t needed anything else.

So...yeah. Maybe he should have gotten a clue a lot sooner. But instead, Eddie started dating Ana and Buck felt sick about it without knowing why. And then one day, Eddie told him he was going to bring Carla over to have dinner with Ana and Christopher and Buck—

It hit him like a brick.

He’s been working a lot on his abandonment issues in therapy. So it caught him by surprise a bit—the panic, the jealousy, the thread of possessiveness. At least, until he sat with his feelings and realized—

He wasn’t afraid of being replaced in Christopher’s life, or even of being replaced fully in the family unit the three of them have—he’s gotten to a place where he’s secure enough that he doesn’t think he would just be pushed out. But in Eddie’s life—

They’re best friends, sure, but they’re more than that. They’re partners.

And he realized in an instant that was what the jealousy was about. Being replaced in that role. The idea that someone else would be there for Eddie in the late nights and early mornings, that someone else would be the recipient of Eddie’s soft looks and hushed confessions and casual touches, that someone else would be in his home, in his bed—

You want him, his mind whispered. You love him. And everything he’d been forcing himself not to think about or feel for years made his heart race.

“Buck?”

An instant. To turn his whole world upside down. And Buck hadn’t been sure whether he was going to laugh or throw up when he opened his mouth to give Eddie a response, but blessedly it was neither.

“Great,” he forced out. “That’s great.”

Eddie and Ana broke up after that dinner. 

But Buck hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it. About being in love with his best friend and the fact that sooner or later Eddie will find someone who will stick and there’s nothing Buck can do about it.

Well. He could tell Eddie how he feels. But that’s—

Stuck, that’s what he is. Between a rock and a hard place.

Tell him, and risk losing everything, including his friendship. Or don’t tell him, and keep the friendship but lose the rest of him down the line.

What Buck needs is space. Away from Eddie, away from—not Christopher necessarily, but the collective that is the Diaz boys. Mental space at least. Emotional space, if not physical. Just enough to get his head on straight and figure out what the hell he’s doing.

Except...Eddie is suddenly everywhere. With his soft glances and touches that Buck wants to mean more than they do. Eddie’s there bringing Buck his favorite coffee for no apparent reason and trying to make him laugh and asking him to the beach and the zoo and the planetarium—

Buck feels slightly hysterical when he realizes it’s because Eddie is worried about him. And then abruptly horrified when Eddie asks if the reason Buck’s been off is because he did something wrong.

Fuck. He’s fucked everything up, hasn’t he?

So.

They go to the planetarium. And then they go back to Eddie’s house and have dinner and play board games and put Christopher to bed and Buck knows it’s too much, that he shouldn’t stay, shouldn’t fall back into the routine like nothing has changed, but—

But he’s a little bit of a masochist.

He’s debating whether to leave yet again when Eddie drops down next to him on the couch, pressing close against his side. It’s too much, too quickly—want flares in his blood and he can’t breathe, so he shifts a little to create some distance—

“See, it’s that,” Eddie says as he withdraws as well, brow furrowing. “You’ve been doing things like that for weeks—why don’t you want me to touch you?”

Buck freezes. Swallows hard. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

He can’t come up with a believable lie.

He’s not sure he wants to tell one anyway.

The silence stretches between them.

“I know you said that whatever’s going on is something you need to figure out yourself, and I respect that,” Eddie says quietly. “But you also said it wasn’t about me. Only, I’m pretty damn sure it’s at least a little bit about me, so—”

He sighs and scrubs his hands over his face.

“Would you just talk to me?  Please, Buck. Whatever it is, you can tell me, I—”

“I love you.” Buck blames the fact that Eddie looks agonized at the idea that he’s hurt him in some way for the fact that it slips out.

Eddie goes very still, his eyes widening. The words hang in the air.

Panic threatens to overwhelm him, but Buck pushes himself up off the sofa and clears his throat.

“I love you,” he repeats, because, well, he can’t make it worse at this point. “And I didn’t know whether I should tell you because historically I don’t have the greatest track record with getting the things I want and I didn’t want to lose you, but—”

He blows out a breath. “I said you didn’t do anything wrong because you didn’t. Because this is all just me and my feelings and it’s not your fault that I’m—”

“Buck,” Eddie interrupts, and Buck stops.

“Sorry,” he replies. “I’ll go, I just—”

Eddie reaches out and gently wraps his fingers around Buck’s wrist.

“Would you sit back down and give me a minute?” He says. “Because it seems like you’re making an awful lot of assumptions and I would really like a minute to process here.”

Buck nearly chokes. “I—okay. Yeah, sure, I can...do that.”

He settles back down on the couch and Eddie stares down at the coffee table, although the look in his eyes is distant.

He doesn’t let go of Buck’s wrist.

After what seems like an eternity, Eddie looks up again.

“Right,” he says quietly, and Buck isn’t sure whether that’s to him or to himself. But Eddie’s gaze turns thoughtful and then he’s leaning in and—

Buck shivers when Eddie kisses him, Eddie’s free hand coming up to curve around the back of his neck. It’s gentle and soft and sweet and Buck’s pretty sure he makes a noise that is downright embarrassing when he twists his fingers into Eddie’s shirt and reciprocates.

“Okay,” Eddie breathes when he pulls back.  

“O—okay?” Buck asks.

Eddie smiles. “Yeah. Okay.”

And he kisses Buck again.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Lila Rossi: I’d Say She’s a Good Villain, but Then I’d Be Lying (300 Follower Special)

Deception and cunning are easily two of the most important traits an antagonist could have. It shows that even if they don't have the strength to overcome obstacles, their wit is more than enough. This kind of trait is why characters like Lex Luthor, David Xanatos, and Princess Azula are so beloved, simply because of how intelligent they can be as villains and pose a real threat to the heroes.

It's clear that the Miraculous Ladybug writers want Lila to be seen as this, but the writing seriously fails to back that claim up.

Easily one of the most controversial characters in Miraculous Ladybug is Lila, mainly for the writing surrounding her. But there was a time where she was actually more of an ambiguous character, mainly for the lack of screentime she had until Season 3. But unfortunately, the more appearances she's had have painted a very poor portrait of an antagonist.

Lila's Tragic and Sympathetic Motivation for Hating Ladybug

Lila's first appearance was at the tail end of Season 1, “Volpina”. She was a new transfer student from Italy, and quickly made friends with a lot of her classmates for the lies she told, including being friends with Ladybug (which Alya blindly believed without doing any research like any excellent journalist). But because of how close she was getting to Adrien, Marinette, in a rare act of selfishness, transforms into Ladybug just to chew out Lila for lying about knowing her, humiliating her in front of Adrien. And this is the only motivation we get for what Lila does afterwards.

I'm not saying that it's wrong for Lila to get upset at Ladybug for doing this, and I like the moment of weakness Marinette has, but this is literally the only explanation we get for Lila deciding to side with Hawkmoth, a literal terrorist. As much as I hated the way the arc turned out, I could still understand Chloe siding with Hawkmoth, as it was clear that Hawkmoth was manipulating her and taking advantage of her ego. Lila? Ladybug's mean to her one time, and that inspires her to conspire with a complete stranger who brainwashes people to attack the city, which endangers innocent people and causes God knows how much in collateral damage if not for Miraculous Ladybug fixing everything.

I just don't get how a single negative interaction with someone is enough to conspire with a literal supervillain. Even in Season 3, when Marinette and Lila truly became enemies, it was because she risked exposing all the lies she told, which could damage her reputation. Sure, it's petty, but it makes sense for Lila to want to keep up the illusion. If she was simply an antagonist to Marinette in her civilian life like Chloe was before “Miracle Queen” , I'd be fine with that, but the writers clearly want her to be seen as on the same level of evil as Hawkmoth. I'll get into why that doesn't work later on.

Why Lila is an Excellent Liar

In my Master Fu analysis, I had pointed out that despite all the flaws he had, the narrative insisted on portraying him as an incredibly wise mentor. The same problem applies for Lila as well. We're supposed to see Lila as an expert manipulator and liar, but her lies are insultingly obvious. She always claims to be friends with celebrities and does all these awesome things, and in an age where we can have almost any question answered thanks to the internet, nobody ever stops to question her.

It's even more frustrating when you hear Lila talk about saving Jagged Stone's cat, when Jagged Stone is established to be very fond of Marinette (evidentially more than his own daughter), and nobody ever points that out. I think if Lila's lies were more stories about her travels around the world than outright lies about real people, it could have worked. It'd still be hard to believe, but it's something.

But this is a problem with writing shows aimed at children. As much as we hate writers who need to spell out things to kids, sometimes, they just don't understand some of the media they consume. Seriously, I never got this joke in SpongeBob as a kid, and I can't believe Nickelodeon actually approved this.

So the dilemma when writing a show with children in mind is finding that sweet spot between assuming your audience can figure it out, but not being too vague in your details. It's even harder when you need to find a way to convey the fact that someone is lying without being too obvious. Unfortunately, the show clearly fails to do that

Okay, this is going to sound like an incredibly weird thing to cite, and I only know about it because I used to know someone who was a huge fan of the franchise, but the movie Monster High: Friday Night Frights does a better job of subtly explaining to the audience that a character is lying. Please, just hear me out.

The movie follows the main characters competing in their high school's roller derby for the season after everyone on the usual team gets injured, and the championship match is against another school whose team tends to cheat to win matches. How they manage to do this without getting caught is anyone's guess. While the main characters are practicing, their coach, Clawd, notices a spy for the enemy team taking video of them to study their moves. In response, he calls over one of the athletes, Operetta, to chew her out for her showboating attitude. In reality, he's alerting her to the spy. Only using facial expressions, he clues her, and by extension, the audience, in on the fact that they know what the opposing team is trying to do.

This soon leads to Operetta pretending to tell the enemy team about their secret plan for the championship match, which was really an attempt to outsmart them to gain the advantage in the final stretch. The brilliance of this is how the audience is informed of this with no dialogue, and there's no scene afterwards spelling it out for those who don't get it. It manages to convey deception without being too obvious that Clawd and Operetta are being deceitful.

I think if there were more subtle hints to show the audience Lila was lying, she would be seen in a better light. As it is, Lila's lies are just pathetic, and it's ridiculous that everyone believes her. Which leads me to...

Lila, the Master Manipulator

I once read a Star Trek: Voyager fanfic that poked fun at the series by claiming that the reason a lot of the dumber episodes like “Threshold” and “Twisted” happened was because one of the crew members was an alien who unintentionally produced mood altering pheromones, with Captain Janeway actually realizing they were all high because of said pheromones, while two of the unaffected crew members were wondering what the hell they were doing before they found out the cause. Why do I bring this up? Sometimes, it feels like Lila is an unintentional parallel to the alien in that story.

Like so many characters, it's clear the show desperately wants the audience to view Lila in a certain way, but her actions do very little to actually back up that claim. When she's not using lies to tell stories about so many famous people she knows like her uncle who works for Nintendo, Lila is using strategies to manipulate everyone that are so obviously deceptive, the Thermians could pick up on them. Everyone and their mother knows how ridiculous a lot of what Lila does in episodes like “Chameleon” and “Ladybug” are, and I've talked about them before, so I'll try to be quick.

First off, as someone who had access to accommodations through high school and has had assistance in college so far, there is no way in hell that Ms. Bustier should take Lila's tinnitus at face value in “Chameleon”. If a student has a disability that could interfere with the education process, physical or developmental, not only does the school have to evaluate their performance, and determine if they're eligible for an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, but her teachers would have to be notified in the first place. As her primary educator, Ms. Bustier would be part of the team to oversee Lila's IEP and determine what accommodations she needs to help her learn better with her tinnitus and arthritis. But because the writers don't know what Google is, they just ignore it,  assume that Lila can just say she has a disability, and have everyone believe it. Even when Eric Cartman pretended to be disabled to compete in the Special Olympics, he put in more effort to look the part, even if he looked like a caricature.

Then there's the fact that that in “Chameleon”, everyone just believes Lila when she says Marinette stole her grandmother's necklace when not only is said necklace from the Agreste line of jewelry, but Alya, who is Rena Rouge, can't pick up on the fact that it's a fake. All she does to justify these lies is come up with a sob story about how nobody believes her, yet nobody ever tries to defend Marinette except Alya one time, and it was after she got expelled.

Or what about in “Oni-Chan”, where Lila thinks having Kagami kill Ladybug while claiming she'll back away from Adrien is a good idea? Let's say Oni-Chan does kill Ladybug or at least take away her Miraculous, what then? We know Lila wouldn't go through with this promise, and as soon as Kagami sees her harassing Adrien, she'll be ripe for akumatization again. Overall, not a great plan.

And yet somehow, this last example is what made her worthy enough to become one of Hawkmoth's most trusted agents. I'm just going to say it: Lila is not a good fit for the power of illusion. Whenever she's Volpina or Chameleon, she always goes out of her way to make a big show instead of being subtle with her deceptions. “Chameleon” is the worst offender, as even though Lila gets the power to shapeshift into someone else, instead of being discreet and cornering people into kissing them and gaining their appearance, she just runs around to get Ladybug's attention instead of being subtle. Even Felix had the bright idea to pretend to be Adrien to catch Ladybug off guard. How do you lose to something that happened in “Felix”?

Despite all of these screw-ups, we're still supposed to see her as this master of deception worthy of allying with Hawkmoth in both his supervillain and civilian form, when really, she's a terrible liar on the schoolyard and on the battlefield.

Why Lila is an Important Character

In the grand scheme of things, Lila just isn't as important of a character that the show loves to parade her around as. She's nothing more than a plot device used to raise the stakes in an episode, given how much reality seems to bend over just to accommodate for her lies. Even when the show alludes to her being part of bigger things, like her deal with Adrien, or her rivalry with Marinette, they don't even go anywhere.

She just feels pointless when you remember Astruc's brilliant idea to force Chloe into being the final Akuma for the season while Lila isn't even mentioned once. She only really makes appearances whenever the writers feel like it, which is why it’s hard to take her seriously. Why should I take this character seriously as a threat if the writers refuse to take her seriously as a threat? Why build Lila up as a big threat and not give her a major role in the finale? Why even include her in the show in the first place when you could show Chloe being more manipulative to fill in the plots Lila plays a big part in?

As of the time I am writing this analysis, four episodes of Season 4 have aired, three of them have been about lies or deception, and Lila hasn't been mentioned at all. It honestly seems like she won't appear unless the writers need a easy way to drive up the conflict, so they can justify it by saying that Lila's “superpower” of lying is more powerful than the common sense of everyone else.

I'm sorry this post was shorter than the last one, but compared to Master Fu, there's not that much to say about Lila that I haven't already said. Even the show barely gives her any attention, so it's hard for me to really find a lot to talk about.