#it did this the other day but when i reloaded the page it went to 620 BUT ITS NOT GOING BACK WHEN I RELOAD

[unformula1]

i’ll never forget you (LS2 x OP81)

the voices get stronger. w/c: 787 day 22 of LOSCAR POSTS until we get a LOSCAR PODIUM (series masterlist) masterlist part 2 of "changed"

It all came crashing down, falling apart at the seams. Thunder came rumbling and the dark days settled in.

Logan can’t believe it, everything doesn’t make sense. He wants to convince himself he’s in a nightmare and he’d wake up for everything to be okay again. He wants to go back to where everything was alright and it all made sense for him.

How did him and Oscar go from deep late night talks to one-sided stolen glances? Logan can’t believe how much things have changed and he doesn’t want to believe things have changed this much.

He wants it all to go back to normal and for Oscar to smile at him again.

-----

Logan sits down in his driver’s room, leaning against the hard walls. It’s just him and his thoughts. They’re haunting, to say the least.

He racks his brain trying to figure out where it all went wrong and what he did wrong for Oscar to not even acknowledge him.

“Hi.” Logan says, raising his hand slightly to wave.

“Hello Logan.” Oscar says as he pats Logan on the shoulder, “How have you been?”

“Alright. I saw your lap time, was pretty good, huh.” Logan says, trying to sound less awkward.

“Yea,” Oscar says as he chuckles slightly, “I saw your driving style today, I see you tried something different yea?”

“Mhm…” 

Logan is about to continue before Lando slots himself into their conversation.

“Hi fellas!” Lando says energetically.

“Hey Lando.” Oscar says as Lando sets himself in between Logan and Oscar.

Oscar eventually turns his focus to Lando which effectively cuts Logan off from the conversation.

Logan subtly excuses himself and slides back to Alex’s side since it’s pretty much the only way he won’t be excluded at this point.

Right…

He hates remembering that moment. The crystal clear, shiny, diamond-like memory that resurfaces every single time he feels left out. 

Because he isn’t the first choice when it comes to Oscar, he isn’t anymore. Sure he used to be the first choice but not anymore, he got replaced quickly with someone even better, with someone Logan couldn’t even be half of.

Lando Norris.

He doesn’t hate Lando, he can’t but it stings hard every single time he remembers Oscar choosing Lando over him.

Logan: are you free tomorrow night or something? for our monthly meetup :) Oscar: mate i’m sorry lando and i have something up Logan: oh it’s okay Oscar: we can schedule something next month alright Logan: okay

It strikes like a dagger to the chest, twisting with every second moving forward.

Logan sits on the bench in his drivers room, fiddling with his shirt before picking up his phone and opening Instagram. 

And as if he couldn’t have any good moments, the first video that pops up is a McLaren video. Specifically the McLaren video he saw Oscar and Lando filming.

He reloads the page instantly and closes the app.

His hands clutch tightly onto his phone as he feels his stomach tie itself into a knot. 

He doesn’t know what consumes him but something makes him open his messages and scroll down to Oscar’s contact. He glances at it for a few seconds before clicking onto it.

The last message was aeons ago. He doesn’t know what he intends to do with this but he stares at it blankly.

His fingers hover over the keyboard, but he doesn’t type anything. 

He scrolls up, all the way up to their old messages. Their happier days.

His phone lags slightly from loading all the messages but he eventually gets to those days where they messages hourly, updating each other on the most irrelevant things that happened to them.

He never thought it would end.

But here he was, crying in his driver’s room reminiscing about those days.

A tear drops onto his phone screen and he wipes it off quickly but it leaves a stain. A stain on the phone screen, a stain over the words “never” in the text message “I’ll never forget you”

I’ll forget you.

It’s like the universe’s largest sign thrown onto Logan’s face.

He can’t do this any longer. He breaks out into sobs. He hates his life right now.

He sends a punch into the bench’s cushions and cries even more.

The voices in his head repeat how he’s a failure, an outcast, a disappointment. They replay flashbacks of Logan and Oscar’s relationship falling apart, like a sick horror film on repeat. They shout endlessly into Logan’s ears about how he messed up and it’s his fault.

There’s a reason Oscar doesn’t talk to you anymore.

Everyone hates you to their guts, everyone.

You are a disappointment.

People don’t like you.

You’re an outcast.

Failure.

[apileofmoss]

??? ok idk how many followers i have. anywhere between 600 and 701 I GUESS

why does tumblr say i have 700 followers

[loveftylost]

Kotatsu

First part

warning: just suggestive and Nendou touching yours boobs (spoiler)

afab!reader

“You just asked me to come to your house to be together at the kotatsu?” you asked Riki as he was sitting on the floor with his legs inside the kotatsu.

“Yup” he replied with a goofy smile. It was the middle of winter, hellish cold reigned every day for those who did not have heating in their homes and that was your case, there were days when you slept at the Nendou family's house just because your cute boyfriend was a walking heater. It was nothing new that every time you saw each other you were hugging.

Curving your lips into a faint smile, for Nendou's reasons “I like the idea” you walked towards him and kissed his cheek “I brought you instant ramen, do you want me to boil water so we can eat together?” You took one of the many ramens you got out of the plastic bag to shake it in his face, drawing his attention.

Before he opened his mouth to respond, the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard in the room where you were both “Riki, I'm going out for a while… Oh, kid, you're here.” Nendou's mother noticed your presence, you greeted his mother with A kind smile, she returned the gesture. “I will be outside the house” she warned again, now to both “don't do anything, I still don't want a grandchild” she spoke covering a smile with her hand, leaving the house leaving you alone.

With a red face you went to the kitchen to boil water, denying and reflecting on Midori's last words. Leaning your elbows on the table and hiding your face, rambling in thought, a sudden hug from your boyfriend's giant body brought your reasoning to the present.

“Come with me until that boils” his arms clung around your hips, reloading a little of his weight. As soon as you nodded he took you to the kotatsu, sitting back down in his place “sit down” he patted the ground with his hand so that you would sit down next to him. Ignoring his request, you crawled over to Nendou, cynically settling yourself between him and the kotatsu. “There was more place” he pouted for not putting his legs in completely.

“I'm sorry, I wanted to be closer to you” you leaned your head against his chest, snuggled between both heats, Nendou ended up resigning himself to the sweet words.

Reading manga together, Nendou would slide the page to read the next, sometimes asking if he could change it. For being a fool he read too fast, maybe it was just that he avoided the important parts and moved on to the action, he was never interested in delving into topics that he didn't care about them. You stopped his hand once more before he turned the page. “You read too slowly.” You gave an annoyed whine in response.

The hands that held the manga offered it to you to finish reading, those hands went down the floor before they slipped under your sweater, cold fingers played and squeezed the fat on your stomach that formed when you sat down in a deplorable way. A graceful breath made Nendou's chest bounce, it continued to bother your belly as you continued the patient reading of the dialogues. “You're already gaining weight” that comment was the apex of the fall of the peace that you refused to let go. Nendou speaks without thinking more times than you can count but sometimes he unintentionally offends.

“Stop” you ordered him, maintaining an ounce of patience.

“Nuh-uh” although you couldn't see his face it was obvious that he was a silly pouting “you won't let me into the kotatsu, I won't leave your soft stomach” he complained

Leaving the manga on the table with attempts to get Nendou to remove his hands from above you were simply not fruitful actions. “Don't complain, you're a walking radiator, you almost produced heat like Hairo.” Some people say that those who fight with fools are more stupid, you were an example of that-

Refusing to pay attention to you, he only raised his right hand higher than your stomach, feeling a boob, his entire palm covered your chest, now he had something else to play with. “You're not wearing a bra,” he squeezed, making you squirm, from the touch and his words. without shame. It was true, you weren't wearing anything, you thought the thick sweater was more than enough. His fingers slid to a hard nipple as he closed his palm, it was hard to tell if it was hard because you were horny at the moment or cold from the environment that was becoming a little hot.

He caressed and twisted that button, light sighs hiding the emotion that the slightest touch provoked. “Your nipple is hard, is it because of the cold?” The mocking words behind your ear were murmured “Mine are the same” he extinguished the flame he had created effortlessly.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I will upload the next part in a year lol

Also, I need someone who speaks Spanish/English to help me correctly translate the next part into English, please 😭😭 it will be intense

[simquoya]

it's time for a fresh start

heyyyy,

long time no see. so. you may be familiar with my story, degrees of separation (DoS). this story exists because of my strangerville-story gameplay, sage's shot, which exists because of my lp, rosie in the city.

well, it's safe to say DoS has run it's course. i probably have over a hundred pages in notion dedicated to this story. i even have scenes shot and written (just not edited, bc, overwhelm). but i came to the conclusion very recently that i can't do my characters justice in this story...

RITC and SS were heavily gameplay led. of course, i took care of backgrounds and goals, but, i actually played and learned my characters as i told their stories.

in DoS i got away from that and it became way more scripted. this is fine. i like what i've written. i enjoy the story and still may share the final scenes when i figure out the format. BUT, i kept finding myself taking long breaks bc a scene just seemed... i don't even know the words, but it didn't feel right.

after some weeks i'd push through and do the scene anyway. but i didn't like this feeling.

finally, i was moved to start a new save for DoS as if sage's shot never happened. this means a ton of changes, but when i tell you it's beautiful, omg.

this feels right.

the characters feel authentic. i almost feel bad for giving them the lives i did before bc this feels so good.

what are the changes?

sami and sage are no more. i'm sorry. if you're familiar with sage's shot early days, then you know that sami and lotus are ex's. there was intense love and passion between them which resulted in a toxic relationship and ultimately their despise.

this gave sami and sage an opportunity. fast forward to DoS... sami and sage almost broke up. if you follow/remember the story, you maybe remember when this was happening. i was deadset on giving sage a single year bc she's a serial relationshipper. she stays in long term relationships and loves love so so much.

i ultimately decided not to break them up and do a time jump instead, which brought me to lotus' rotation which i was having so much fun with.

i wanted to integrate gameplay back into my storytelling more, and i was able to a bit. but i still got the idea for the new save and i went for it.

and y'all...

i've always known this but had no need to share it.

sami and lotus are OBSESSED with each other. it's like they knew the backstory i made for them and committed to that shit with force. no matter the save, no matter the WW update, whatever -t hey were always extremely attracted to each other, although their attraction to others would change. sami has never been extremely attracted to sage, according to WW attractiveness feature - even when i set it to relationships, lotus is number one and they barely have a romance bar anymore. this is part of the reason i keep tension in the story around him and lotus bc there's something there and it's undeniable.

in this new save, it is quite sickening how in sync these two are. sami is always looking at lotus like she's harvestfest dinner, and lotus loves sharing everything with sami.

this also means that, DLL aka lawrence aka sami daddy, was never captured, had a successful boxing career, and two more daughters with lisa, sami's mother.

in DoS and my previous stories, ashley was sami's half-sister. she's now his full sister, in addition to a youngest sister, eniko.

seeing this full-house family dynamic and DLL with no scars is so heartwarming. when i tell you i feel BAD for not starting DoS sans sages shot, i mean it.

i thought about continuing DoS as is and keeping this AU to myself, but once playing made me realize i wasn't doing my characters justice, i had to scratch that idea.

so i present my new gameplay/story to you:

DoS: Reloaded

we'll see a few familiar faces, and some new ones too. it's been fun for me exploring their world in this new way, and beginning sami and lotus' story with the same joy and intention as i did with RITC and SS.

i hope you enjoy it too!

[ggfj84]

Fourteen years. Fourteen. That even beat out Bruce, who attended the Gotham City Tree Lighting, Presented by the Wayne Foundation, frequently as a child. But Bruce attended them only when there wasn’t a colorful villain on the loose or an alien army waiting just outside the solar system. Those unfortunate circumstances left Dick to light the Christmas tree as the Wayne Family representative many times during his youth.

The first year, he’d been all enamored by the spectacle of it all – the lights, the stage, the Christmas sung by Gotham’s latest pop sensation. Bruce even called him over to press the large candy cane and set the giant tree ablaze.

Dick skipped a few years while in college or off world with the Titans, but ever since coming back to Gotham, Bruce somehow wrangled him to attend the ceremony.

“The city loves seeing you,” Bruce said that first year back as they stood on the side of the stage and the mayor introduced the celebrity musical act. “They missed you when you skipped these.”

“The city missed me or someone else?”

“Alfred,” Bruce said, tightening his scarf over his long, black coat. “And Jason, of course.”

Dick’s breath formed in front of his face as he laughed. “Ah, of course.”

Dick invited Tim to the ceremony even before Bruce took custody of the kid, and then Cass, Damian, and Duke joined them. Stephanie even attended the festivities last year, but this year, Thanksgiving came and went. With the Haven up and running and Heartless out there, Dick forgot all about the Gotham City Tree Lighting, Presented by the Wayne Foundation.

By the time he saw the notification on social media, followed by texts from every one of his siblings, Dick wouldn’t have made it to Gotham Plaza in time.

“Sarah’s fired,” Bruce said with too much “Batman” in his voice, especially since Dick could still hear the crowd in the background. “She should have sent you the invite weeks ago.”

Dick pinched his phone between his cheek and shoulder as he readied his equipment for patrol. “It’s not that big of a deal, B. Really. I’m sorry I missed it, but you don’t need me there like you did years ago. And I’ll be up at the manor next week to help decorate our own tree.”

“Still, Sarah shouldn’t have –”

“ – to deal with you as a boss, and she does well on every other day. We’re all allowed to make a mistake every now and then.”

“Hn. The city’s not going to like this.”

“The city?” Dick stopped in mid-reload of his gloves and laughed. “Really? I doubt anyone is going to notice but you and the family.”

Even before he rolled over the next morning, Jason had deposited a screenshot of the Gotham Gazette’s front page in their Batfamily chat.

Fir Real! RGW Missing from Annual Tree Lighting

Is he up to snow good, or was it a mistletoe mix-up?

Find out on Page 6

Bruce’s response was directly underneath it.

Told you.

[survivor-north-sea]

Episode One: "I'm gay. I'm smol. And I'm afraid." - Raffy

Jinx

preseason jinxcast 🫡 https://voca.ro/1uwnTpvAwwND

AJ

After religiously reloading the wiki page until the official but unofficial starting time, I have now seen the cast on the wiki and my only words are oh no. The fact that three names on my tribe already have filled out wiki pages means that they’re returnees which is dangerous to begin with. Two seem to be only from 15 which is a slight relief, though judging from his wiki bio and what I’ve seen of his games thus far, I’m very worried about Raffy.

Multiple games on Stings alone, has hosted multiple times (again stings alone) and is “seen consistently as a big threat in the merge.” So I either align myself so tight with him that I’m dependent or I find a way to remove him from the game early. We’ll see how that goes, fingers crossed we aren’t the first to go to tribal council. Also worrying me is this gem from his wiki page.

“Typically, he is seen as a villain in the ORGs he plays and is not afraid to admit it. He is best-known for being a chaotic rat.”

???

Wait no thoughts, official cast reveal just went up. NO EVERYONE IS EARLY US TIMEZONES OMG WHAT. Well my sleep cycle is about to be absolutely fucking destroyed. Just demolished. Like completely gone.

Ayyy Esteban said I, quote, “look stunning,” end quote. An early ally perhaps? OMG AM I IN AN ALLIANCE CHAT RIGHT NOW? IS THAT WHAT COOL PEOPLE IS??? I’M OVERJOYED HOLY SHIT.

Trinica

Oh my gosh this is all so exciting and also overwhelming!!! I feel like I'm second guessing every decision I make already, and the game literally just started.

I think our tribe is going to rock this first challenge, though. I didn't want to be the one to suggest making a spreadsheet (because...second guessing everything) so I'm glad AJ did to keep everything organized!

-

So it's the end of Day 1, and I'm so curious how things will shake out. I reached out to Jinx pretty quickly and hopefully they don't think I'm moving too fast right out the gate, but I had to tell them their introduction literally made me snort. We didn't get to talk a lot but I'm hoping to develop that relationship a bit.

Clefford reached out to me pretty quickly as well. I'm a little hesitant about him-- he's wearing a buff in his photo and he was quick to tell me he's played before and that we should team up. On the one hand, it's nice to have someone be so up front about game play...but on the other hand, it feels really fast and I have to wonder if he's saying the same thing to all the girlies. He also immediately asked me who I was vibing with, and the game just started so I just told him I've only chatted a bit with Jinx. He mentioned he likes AJ, so I suggested a group chat. But then immediately second-guessed making it because the game JUST started and I don't want them to think I'm forcing them into an alliance immediately. Hopefully this doesn't screw me over. And numbers wise, there's only 4 of us in it so we need more to have the numbers advantage.

Esteban reached out to me as well, which I was so happy about. He's one of the 3 (including Toni, who I haven't had a chance to chat with, and Jinx) that I was most excited to chat with and potentially ally with. I was moments away from asking him if he'd like to join our chat as a 5th member, but then he said he was glad we were having such a genuine chat and not talking game play, so... we'll pause on that one. But I'm ending today feeling like I'm in an okay place!

I am worried that I'm the only one who's really going for the individual scavenger hunt challenge, but maybe people won't notice?

AJ

Jinx called me smart and organized. I know we just met everyone but I’m feeling confident? Which is terrifying. I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight. Just gotta be online when everyone gets up. Be the first friendly, young face they see and give out info. I think perhaps that’s best for my game rn. Fingers crossed.

Can I. See the bridge from my kitchen window? Maybe. I’m about to fucking find out babey. Can’t see the good bridge from here. Will have to wait till morning. Gotta find out where to find a candle and an instrument as I own neither. Also have to work on my people skills. I think I’m going a bit overboard. Maybe talking too much. Too much directing?

God I can’t do most of these individual reward items. LIVE BUG?? There’s no way I get all of this by tomorrow. Yk what no I can do this. I am determined to be able to idle hunt early.

FUCKING UPDATE CLEFF JUST ASKED ME TO BE HIS CORE ALLIANCE.

Raffy

I'm gay. I'm smol. And I'm afraid.

Arvin Bentonon

First of all, I felt really excited about the challenge but I was so nervous after seeing the list. I can only find few items in the list. I had a lot of fun in collecting my items and for that's the most important thing.

Toni

Toni here!

Theme: It's day one and i'm already feeling anxious. =/

My game plan was to coast but i'm not sure if that's going to work haha. These challenges require quite a bit of communication and because it's all online its hard to just coast. Right Now, I'm really connecting with Jinx and Trinica as we're a similar age and have similar life experiences. Esteban has also been chatting with me in the DMs but i'm not sure about him yet as I'm yet to find something genuine that we connect on... i'm sure we'll find it - i'm sure he's lovely too! AJ is a very type A personality which I like because i'm also an undercover type A personality which means I can leave the overt leadership to her and "lead from the back". I'm not sure I can necessarily "work with" a strong type A though because you quickly realise your decisions are not your own and it makes it harder to balance between being completely unseen or just being barely noticeable which is the plan for this first portion of the game.

Conclusions on my read of people's personality is yet to be confirmed. It's only day one. Open to anything right now but also trying to be vigilant.

My plan right now: Continue connecting with J and T while also contributing to leadership from behind. There are 10 people in our tribe so if I can work with at least 3 other people consistently we'll have good numbers. I'll wait it out this week but next week I plan on creating a DM for Me, Jinx and Trinica + (one more person).

I'll sign off here as anxiously excited!

Hairie

Cast reveal and everyone looks fab! Personally felt that Fifi from my tribe was someone I'd get along well. She's giving me good vibes just by the photos. Excited to meet everyone else still too.

-

I was surprised to see that there were many international cast - Quite a few representatives from South East Asia region too

-

Some of the items of the list really made me think like A LOT. I was beginning to question what falls into the bug category - "Is a snail a bug?" takes photo just in case. "Are ants a bug?" takes photo just in case hahah. In my head was just circling around the movie "A bug's life" and just seeing what I could find. I did try to stand still for a photo of a butterfly but that was a tough one to grab a photo of.

-

For sure thinking outside the box and all around it for some of the items - Curious to know who has a real metal shield hahaHairieI am not ready to see anyone from my tribe go just yet so hoping we win the first challenge!

Trinica

I did my first idol hunt and hit a dead end...immediately. Imagine my surprise when AJ reached out and said she wants me to idol hunt with her 😳 I was shocked because Clefford was the one who brought AJ into our Cool People group, and when I've tried to chat with her privately I felt like she was holding her cards very close to her chest. But she asked me to go to the merge with her, and though she wasn't someone I was planning on allying with initially because I'm worried she's making herself a target with how active she is in the main chat, it's always good to have a secret alliance in your pocket. Hopefully it's one I can trust!

Esteban

A FORMAL INTRODUCTION OF ESTEBAN

So, CHEETOS! Here we are again. I AM Esteban of Survivor Stings: Patagonia! If you remember me or maybe not. Lmao. From the Philippines but recently here in Devils Lake, North Dakota!

I am excited to be back! Some reasons why I am here playing again are the following:

1. To redeem myself on writing a better confessionals! Lmao. Like, i need to! I wrote one of the most boring confessional on my first game. So, redemption is a must. (I had a one-on-one confessional making session with Pedro so I guess i will be better this time) 2. I just miss HOME. My first ORG family. It is always good to be back!!!!! 3. I wanna win! Or at least be on the merge again and screw the FTC over. Lmao 4. I would love to try to be the villain this time (i know it is hard but not IMPOSSIBLE) 5. Representing PATAGONIA here 6. I WANNA TAKE RAFFY OUT before me ( a goal just added after I saw the iconic RAFFY playing)

So, let the B**ch*n begin in 321! Lol. Kidding. So excited how this season will work on me or against me. But, as always, I will enjoy this ride.

WELCOME ME BACK CHEETOS!

Jayjay Salais

Super friendly team :) Raffy seems to be more of a leader with experience which is nice. Didn’t know there was going to be so much diversity which I love! It’s gonna be fun and cool to get to know everyone and how this all plays out!

Esteban

Let’s talk about HIDRA TRIBE. So last night after all casts was added to the group, Jay dropped the first challenge and it’s a SCAVENGER HUNT. Most are really so hyped to do the tasks (especially the newbies) they went thrust it right away. Duly noted AJ, TRINICA, BETHANY, TYLER and CLEFFORD right away picked some tasks that they can do. Which is good. Unfortunately, your boy, me is kinda busy partying last night. So i tolled them SORRY I couldn’t do much tonight. And just like that MISS JINX called me saying STOP APOLOGIZING. Lol. THEY are starting!!!! They are starting! But I am gonna keep it cool and be nice to them until it’s time to bid goodbye.

Tribemates

CLEFFORD - my homeboy, BUNSO (younger brother), as he called KUYA (older brother), right away we talked a bit and assuring our relationship to work together. I pushed him to create an alliance of POC (Asian boys) with azri. He created one and called it LANGIT (means heaven). I trust him for now, but base on his last game i know that he is a dangerous player. A strategic one. And loyal to none but himself.

AJ - seems to be the likable one. He take the the lead and hype to be on the game. I can sense an ADELINE vibe with her. We talked most of the time. When i asked her who she is closely connected to she is kinda skeptical and secretive to answer.

Here’s her miss universe answer:

“Comfortably? No one yet. I don't think you can really say you know where you stand in a tribe until a vote.”

With that, she is playing. I am watching. :) this is a Meghan vibe. I am scared. LMAO

Trinica - you can not not like TRINICA. They are lovely and fun to talk to. We talked about life and all. They and their wife wanting to go back to their homeland for honeymoon is so sweet. I am feeling good with her tbh. I am thinking AJ and Trinica would probably work together (like a Meghan and Melissa vibe I am getting) so i wanna be the 3rd of them again. Lol

JINX - i have an on / off feeling with her. I wanna work closely with her coz i don’t wanna be against here. She is fierce. I like it and i don’t like it at the same time. CLEFFORD and Jinx are kinda have an old relationship but idk if they figured that out and start afresh. With that i wanna be with them too. Just the 3rd again.

Bethany - my Patagonia majesty. I would really love to work with her now!. After a failed (not much actually) relationship on our previous game i wish we can work together this time. Though i am kinda skeptical if he might throw my name and be against me. IDK. This time will try to keep them feel a good vibe. She might be also working with Trinica and AJ. Just the vibe. They seems fit to each other.

Toni - i love my majesty from England. We talked a bit later like morning after the first night but i love her vibe right away. She is kind and upfront on asking who am i vibing as of now. I am sensing that she is a smart lad and should watch for

Azri - i talk less with him but i am making sure that we have a genuine connecting. I learned some bahasa Indonesia before that is kinda same with Malaysian language so that is where i start my connection with him.

Tyler - I played with him once. That is in a mini game survivor (a live one) we started working together (thanks to king Brayden) we made it to top 3 and unfortunately RAFFY screw as up. But, hey this is the best way to continue the short-lived relationship we had before. So fingers cross!

And Liefa —— uhmmmm 👀

And while writing this Toni told me that CLEFFORD is playing hard already. Someone told Toni that he created a group chat an hour after the reveal and no one is talking there. Creeeew creeeeew. Crewwww crewww the sound of crickets. Toni you are my designated whisperer. Love it!

Brandi

I feel like I’m letting my group down because I can’t find very many group items but the individual items are easier for me lol HairieThis scavenger hunt got me thinking - What is a bug? I took photos of a snail, ants and millipede based on my memory of the movie "A bug's life" but Google told me otherwise. I'm going bananas.

Hairie

Had a chat with Julie wondering if we should get the idol for ourselves but I failed this time around and got a 10% disadvantage. From worrying and now anxious to tell the tribe about the disadvantage *slaps forehead*

AJ

Guess who is an idiot and didn’t realize Cleff was a returnee until too late. It’s me I did that. Alright I’m going to lay in bed for fifteen minutes and call that a good night’s sleep. NEVERMIND SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK. WAFFLES ARE MY TRUE CALLING.

Timeskip time Alright it’s afternoonish the next day and I actually did all the reward items. I’m so proud of myself for the reward items and for the tribe with how we’ve come together through this! I really hope we don’t lose, and I can only hope our organization and proofing will be what’s saved us in the end.

Omg I really hope we can pull this off. We’re getting so close to at least 50. That’s 90% of this done. I’m really hoping the other tribe had miserable luck with the painting and weren’t as organized as us.

Allegedly it's a really close game and I'm worried. I think we need like four things left. Praying we get them. Also slept through a timer I set for myself but others in my family did not so. It's down to the wire, and there's four items separating us??

Please survivor Tumblr gods, let it be them who go to tribal first.

-

WE WON OMG IM SO RELIEVED. I CAN SLEEP KNOWING I WON'T HAVE TO VOTE SOMEONE OFF/WORRY ABOUT BEING VOTED OFF

Jinx

https://voca.ro/1lI2mswCXvZs first impressions

Tyler Frazier

So I kinda flopped in the challenge! But that’s okay we work so I can always get ‘em next time. My tribes been super nice though so they’re awesome for that and hopefully my performance just brushes over

Esteban

We’ve won! As we should! The tribe’s morale is soooo good. Tyler just felt bad that he fell asleep and forgot to upload some photos but we are fine.

Leifa???? MIA still. Tony part 2 for me I guess. She ghosted us

Manifesting a vote out for RAFFY! Please. Lmao.

Raffy

Right now, my tribal thoughts are focused on voting Fifi out. She did not know when the deadline was nor did she submit anything for the challenge. Initially, it was going to be JayJay since they were inactive on the first day, but they really came through in the challenge. I am going to try to push for Fifi on that basis. Hopefully, it doesn't make me a target early on. I have been very transparent that I am a returnee because lying is just not going to be a part of my game this time around. I am really, really, really going to try to be nice and hero-like. Let's see how long that lasts.

Chelsea

whew! that was a crazy first challenge! i was busy in the morning with parent duties so i didn't get to much of the scavenger hunt (S.H.) until early afternoon. i was so excited to see how much everyone was getting into it. however, when i saw Fifi said she wasn't going to be able to submit pictures until tomorrow, my jaw almost hit the floor. she essentially admitted to everyone that she had no idea what was going on. i am having really good conversations with Arvin, Hairie, Raffy, Brandi, and Julia, and from what i can tell, we all think Fifi is the one that needs to go. we just don't have much else to judge people on. and because of that, plus the fact that i got one of the higher scores, i feel really safe for the first tribal.

regarding nascent alliances--i feel like Brandi and i have a good thing going, and then with the other four, it seems like the five of us are having good talks with each other, but not all as a group yet. i do know that Hairie and Julia and both talking to me, Raffy and Arvin, so that feels good.

additional thought: Raffy kinda took over the uploading duties for the S.H. I am very grateful, because I didn't want to use my own accounts, but it feels like it could catch up with him later. I know of at least one picture that ended up not counting bc it was a vest and not a jacket, and he uploaded it too fast without double checking. I had said I would get that picture, and I had one that if he had waited or checked before uploading, he could have used mine. while it won't hurt him this time (Fifi looks obvious at this point), if he takes too much responsibility, then it's too easy for the consequences to blow back onto him.

as long as others continue to use him for that, i will too. i won't be the last person though who is relying on him. i am happy for someone else to take the heat at this point in the game. i will be monitoring this though and make sure it doesn't look like i can't pull my own weight if it comes to that.

additional additional though: Arvin called me his survivor mom! i don't feel that old! and in an online environment, as long as you are technically savvy, age doesn't really matter at all so i'm a little miffed at being pigeon-holed that way, but i am also very caring and nurturing in general so maybe it's that? well, that, and the age. ugh lol.

Jayjay

So far this whole experience has been really cool and different. Being able to connect with all the team members from around the world is pretty awesome! I think so far we are all pretty involved and committed except maybe 1. Which I’m hoping for this first tribal council will be an obvious vote for those who did try their best and contributed to winning this first challenge. Raffys my favorite person so far. He’s helped me really get the hang of things since he has a bit experience and quit a bit of patience it seems like which is appreciated. I don’t really know what to expect as this game goes on but I’m excited to learn and find out! Cant wait for our next challenge if I’m still here! 🤞🏻

Chelsea

also! i just had to say i'm low-key super proud of myself for already having good rapport with multiple people. i have ADHD and i'm always worried i'm being completely oblivious to someone or something because let's be honest, it's not like it's never happened! so yeah, very sensitive to that and so pretty happy with myself after 24hrs of playing Survivor :)

Trinica

So after the challenge clefford came to me and started talking shit about Jinx. Kind of out of nowhere. He said that he asked her if she would start a clean slate with him and that she said no…. which I was suspicious of because Jinx had previously told me that they had no problem with clefford. So obviously I immediately told Jinx. I also told them I was drunk (which I am) cuz I want her to feel like she can trust everything I'm saying because I'm saying it through the filter of being very drunk. (I may have regrets about this strategy tomorrow morning.)

So clefford tells me that he trusts Toni and Esteban and he wants to start a new group chat that Jinx is not in. He also told me that he's basically a newbie because he's only played once; obviously he's trying to appeal to me being a newbie but mamma didn't raise no fool.

So now Jinx wants to do an all women's alliance to kick out clefford. Which I'm all for at least for one vote. I do want to keep Esteban around even though I know he's been talking to clefford as well. But I think if I can pull this off clefford will have no idea what's coming. Time to put my high school theater experience to use.

Clefford

I'm happy that I will not be the first person leaving this game.

Being a returnee is hard. You have to prove yourself coning back into this game.

I've had a separate conversation with AJ and Trinica and they both aware that there are returnees this season. I asked AJ to be in a alliance with me and I hope that she's genuinely down knowing how I played my previous game. I honestly think that the rookies already formed an alliance against the returnees.

Seeing Jinx here again made me scared at first. We had a not so good relationship on our first game together and I hope that we are good now. I genuinely want to work with her, because she looks cool and kind.

If I go early, it's fine. I already had my chance.

Hairie

DANG IT!! Lost by 4 points shucks ... did they have a live sheep? Hairieugh we lost and now we have to go to tribal and vote someone out. Everyone seems like wanting to keep the tribe strong and only 1 name has been floating around. Well, as long as it ain't me :)

Esteban

well i was looking on the casts again just awhile ago and realized that uhmmmmmm i did Raffy wrong without him. Knowing. And i realized i need him to maneuver in this game. So i hope he will survive.

It is so quite here (or just in my end?) jinx talked to me via voice calls and its funny and i like it. She said she wanted to work with me and clefford (okay???) but i thought these 2 are against each other. Should i wanted to be in the middle of this war or run barbir run away from the drama? Idk!

And leifa…. 👀👀

Tyler’s mistake might get some targets on his back good thing we are safe.

LANGIT is an alliance with clefford, azri and I. I really dont know how will it benefit me yet as Clefford might be a little too much to bear by others. Like on his own mouth he said he wanted to create more alliance rightaway. Like dude calm down (or not) it’s up to you but don’t stain my game :) lol.

There might be a brewing alliance with the girls AJ TRINICA AND JINX AND MAYBE WITH Bethany. If thats right then i might be bff with these girls and be there +1 :)

I am still trying to work out with bethany. I cant tell if she really wanna work with me or not? 🥺

Toni is one heck of a smart player. I need to keep my eye on her. As of now she told me that Clefford is in his radar.

Cheetos this is a new game indeed. Gotta wake up!

Julia

Raffy being here is the most disgusting thing ever. He’s going to take me out preswap most definitely. I just know it. The newbies are adorable I like them a lot. Jayjay being married to Ryan from 43 is such a slay. Trust wise I really like Hairie and probs trust him the most

Bethany

hiiiii first confessional of the season wooo! i'm doing this now so in case i don't make a video confessional in time i still get a confessional in for the episode but hopefully i'll have a video confessional too.

i'm feeling good about our tribe!! we worked really well together to divide and conquer the scavenger hunt, even though some of us were more helpful than others lmao. AJ is giving needs to be in control vibes which i'm totally fine with. i also already LOVE jinx, we have the same sun/moon sign and our rising signs are sister signs so purrr love that sm i feel like we are really going to get along. i'm happy to see esteban here, he did vote me out last time we played together but this is a clean slate and i'm not going to have that affect this game. Toni and Trinica also seem very nice and I am vibing with them. I have not yet talked one on one to Tyler, Azri, or Leifa so I want to talk to them today! also i didn't do the individual scavenger hunt because i just didn't have the time but honestly i don't think it's a big deal, an idol would be nice but i would also like to not need one anyways lol but yeah i plan to share more in my video later!! ttylxox

Tyler Frazier

Okay so AJ is giving me a good amount of information right now which makes me think that she is open to working with me. AJ is like the exact type of player that I would wanna work with considering my play style is a little more low key and go with the flow so by pairing myself with someone who right off the bat is gonna be an aggressive player could really help. I also feel good about Esteban and Bethany and I have mutual friends so I’m hoping that I can start to build a relationship there

Trinica

https://youtu.be/sHZeXyi602w

Raffy

Hairie offered an alliance with me, Julia, Chelsea, and Arvin. I don't really know how I feel about this. I can tell that Hairie is definitely a strategist. He is going to want to do anything to make it to the end which I can respect. He'll be a fun person to play with in the game. I'm just unsure of Chelsea and Julia. I can't get a good read on Chelsea and how she wants to play the game. She seems like the type to have social connections everyone. And Julia is unpredictable. I feel like she would have my back, but not in a "I will tell you everything" way. More like "I will do things without telling you" way which I don't know if I can trust. However, I need to just say yes and move on. Its better to be in an early majority alliance than not. Other than that, I should be pretty safe for this tribal unless the newbies don't like returnees.

Zach

👀Hello! Today has not been a slay. I woke up late and then was blind for my show because I forgot to grab my contacts. Not to self: don’t play a game during the run of a show again. I think we’re going with the easy vote of Fifi due to inactivity and not participating in the challenge.

Champ!

:)Love my tribe but I’m super upset we lose! We only lost by a couple points but if everyone contributed we could have won😭 I want to keep our tribe strong so can win moving forward :)

Arvin Bentonon

Out tribe did well in the challenge but the other did better than is. I am very nervous about the tribal council, because I after we lost I just slept the whole day. And didn't even talk strategy with anyone. I hope I would still be in an alliance.

Hairie

I don’t really fancy the idea of “keeping the tribe strong”. We don’t know what the next challenge is, someone could be terrible for this challenge but slaying it in the next. In an ORG setting, keeping the tribe strong (in terms of participation) is important because I don’t wanna keep coming back to tribal.

Azri

I'm so excited for this game. Although it's quite overwhelmed and because I'm still in the other game at the same time. Day 1, I managed to talk with some people and bond together And guess what? I managed to get into an alliance early in the game with my fellow Asian bro. I'm stick with it. Then, there's AJ, Trinicia and Jinx who also quite friendly. That's my gang over there.

[tonberry-yoda]

You Don't Have to Miss Me

Pairing - Reaper x reader

Warnings - none! angsty, but fluffy, but angsty lol (i also didnt proofread this at all lol, so if there are some funky bits, i really dont care lmaooooo)

Word Count - 1,954

Notes - i have been loving overwatch and then this hottie appeared and i was like... dangit. now i have to write for him smh. this is 7 pages on google docs lmaooo. im not the biggest fan of this one, but i thought i would just put it here for funsies lol. enjoy and have a good day and stay hydrated!! <333

Gabriel woke up, completely exhausted. Nothing new. At least he had those few moments of sleep that made him forget about the pain. Even if it was only a couple of hours, it was bliss. But it still didn't make up for the times he would wake up with nothing but pain surging through his body.

He quickly got out of bed, trying to make himself busy before he thought too much about the pain. That was difficult though, especially considering just how bad it hurt. He was in agony. It's like he was going insane. He just wanted it to stop.

Gabriel jumped feeling his cat rub on his leg, hoping to get some attention. Gabriel leaned down with a small smile, petting it on the head. “I'll feed you soon, Grimm.”

Grimm mewed with curiosity as Gabriel walked to the bathroom immediately greeted by his tired face. The icing on the cake. On top of feeling like shit, he looked like shit too. Just great.

He was quickly pulled from his mind as he felt Grimm’s soft fur back on his legs. “Grimm, no kitties in the bathroom.” He held Grimm from under his arms, the fat thing going ragdoll mode just to annoy Gabriel. “Shoo, out.” Gabriel pushed Grimm’s chubby butt away from the bathroom and slammed the door, sad and lonely meows quickly following.

Gabriel just stared at himself in the mirror for a moment before taking a deep breath. He needed to take a goddamn shower. He already looked and felt like shit, he didn't want to smell like it on top of that.

Ignoring the sad meows from the other side of the door, Gabriel let the water from the shower cover his whole body. Nice and warm. Today was going to be a long day, best to start it off good.

His nice shower was quickly interrupted, however, when he heard his phone ring. Usually, he would ignore that sort of thing, but when he peeked his head out of the shower, he saw your name plastered on his screen.

He cursed under his breath and jumped out of his shower, wiping his hands dry enough to at least answer the call.

“Reaper! That you?!” He put you on speaker and could hear that you were in the middle of battle, gunshots and explosions going off in the background.

“Y-Yeah. What’s up?” He jumped back in the shower, washing the soap out of his hair.

“Are you in the shower right now? OH SHIT!” He heard a couple of gunshots in the background and then silence.

“Are you oka-”

“You still there, Reaper?”

“Yeah, I'm still here.” He quickly ended his shower and wrapped a towel around his lower half.

“Are you nearby at all?” You sounded out of breath.

“Nearby as in…”

“We’re in Spain right now. I was wondering if you-”

Gabriel laughed, drying off his hair. “Sorry, sweetheart. I'm at home in America right now. There is no way in hell I'm rushing my ass over to Spain in the next five minutes. Call someone else.”

“Ugh! You’re no help, you know that?!” You took cover and reloaded your gun. “EAT MY BULLETS YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! I'll call you later, Reaper. I should be back tomorrow morning. Oh… and about the other night-”

“I don't want to talk about it.” Gabriel put his finger over the hang up button, tempted to press it.

“Don't hang up, Reaper. I just wanted to-”

Gabriel hung up quickly. He didn't want to talk about the other night, nor did he want to hear about it.

— — —

“What an asshole!” You reloaded your gun and went haywire on the other team.

“Is everything alright?” Widowmaker ran up to you and quickly grabbed your hand helping you off of the ground.

“I'm fine. Just a little pissed, that’s all.” You couldn't help but talk through gritted teeth. You were on edge right now.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Widowmaker watched your back and you watched hers. Thank god you had her on your side.

“I mean… I do… but he asked if we could keep it on the downlow, so I don't think I can.”

“He? You didn't tell me this was about a guy!” Widowmaker’s eyes went shiny, ready for you to spill everything.

“Oh, shut up, Widow, it's not like that.” You rolled your eyes, giggling a bit.

“Sure it's not.” Her tone was mocking, but it didn't stop you from laughing a bit. “So, who is he? Is he handsome? Does he have muscles?”

“Not telling. Yes. Yes.” You quickly ran through her questions, keeping your eyes on the other team.

“Do I know him?”

“I'm not telling you that.”

Widow rolled her eyes and you both heard a loud, “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!”, which meant it was time for you both to get out of there.

“Come on, y/n! Just tell me!”

“He would kill me if I did that!” You both hurdled over a bus and held the back of your heads for cover.

“I got it!” You heard loud music and looked up to find Lucio, who threw you a thumbs up. Quickly after his attack, there was cheering from the rest of your team.

You won. Thank god.

Maybe that would finally get Widowmaker to stop asking questions.

— — —

“Sooooo,” DVA walked over to you, taking a long sip from some fruit punch. “I heard you were uh… you know… with a guy?”

You nearly choked on your food that you got from the little celebration table for winning. Of course Widowmaker had to blab about this. You knew you should’ve kept your mouth shut.

“Look, DVA, it doesn't really matter, okay? Where’d you get the punch?” You tried to change the subject, but of course that wouldn't work for DVA.

“So, who is he? Is he a dirtbag? I hope he’s treating you well!” She put her hands on her hips dramatically and you shook your head, standing up to leave.

“It doesn't matter, DVA. And yes! He’s treating me fine, thank you!”

“But Widowmaker said you were pretty pissed at him.” DVA checked her nails and you froze. How much did Widowmaker say?

“What are you two talking about?” Widowmaker appeared, grabbing herself something sweet off of the table full of food.

“Oh nothing,” you walked over, nonchalantly taking some food for yourself. “Just that you're spilling the news to everyone about a guy that I'm friendly with.”

Widowmaker’s face turned a dark shade of red. “I-I'm sorry. I just thought-”

You giggled and patted her on the shoulder. “I'm joking Widow. But seriously,” your tone got low, getting close to her ear. “Tell one more person and you’re gonna get it.”

Widowmaker laughed nervously, but you gave her another reassuring pat. “You can't blame me for wanting to know about the mystery man, y/n.”

“I know, I know it's just-” You were quickly interrupted by your ringtone. “Sorry, Widow, I gotta-” You looked down at the name and your face went bright red. “I-I gotta go! Eat an extra cake for me, okay?!”

Why did Reaper have to call you now?

“Hello?” You found a small closet to hide in for the time being, far enough from the celebration. “Reaper?”

“Hey… uh…” Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you busy?”

“No… I mean… we just won, so we’re kinda celebrating,” you scooted an old mop to the side, sitting on the ground. “But I'm not busy. I can talk.”

“Oh, congrats.”

“O-Oh! Thanks, Reaper! So… uh… what did you want to talk about?” Your voice was soft, trying not to attract any attention if anyone walked by.

“Uhm… you know what… nevermind. It doesn't really matter. Celebrate your accomplishment. You deserve it. See you tomorrow, alright?” Gabriel went to press the hang up button, but you stopped him.

“Wait… Reaper… what’s up?”

“I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

“Just,” Reaper sighed. “About the other night. I know we haven't seen each other in a while. I shouldn't have-”

“Gabe… I mean, Reaper. You don't have to apologize. Really. I just-” You were quickly interrupted by a knock on the door. “I have to go. We can talk tomorrow. Promise.”

“Wait, I-” You hung up the phone, leaving Reaper’s house in complete silence.

— — —

Gabriel woke up to the feeling of Grimm’s cold paws on his face. “Dude,” he sat up, his voice tired. “Who the heck let you in here? Did I leave my door open last night?”

Grimm mewed at him sweetly and ran his tail under Gabriel’s chin. He looked around the room, subconsciously petting Grimm. Something was off. Different. His door was open and so was his closet. Did he just forget to close everything the night before? Was he that tired?

Grimm jumped off the bed with a loud meow and quickly ran down the stairs. He was acting weird too. Was Gabriel just that tired?

He just remembers getting off of the phone with you and then…

Wait.

Gabriel quickly jumped out of bed, slipping on some sweatpants, and ran downstairs, immediately greeted by the smell of eggs and bacon. He slid to the kitchen, pulling out his guns pointing them at… you?

“Woah! Put those down, Reaper!” You ran up and moved his guns down with a giggle. “Sorry! I didn't want to wake you up!”

Gabriel sighed with relief and leaned against a nearby counter. “I knew something was off in the house.”

You smiled and handed him a plate of breakfast. “I'm just glad you didn't shoot me.”

“Me too.” Gabriel chuckled softly and took his breakfast with a soft thank you.

“I'm not mad by the way, Gabe.” Your voice was low, your eyes glued to the window in his kitchen.

“You're not?”

You shook your head and turned your gaze to Gabriel. “We just… needed to talk. Maybe not that loudly,” you chuckled and took a long sip from your coffee. “But we talked, didn't we?”

“I guess… I just… I didn't want to yell at you like that.” Gabriel got flashbacks of a couple nights ago. You were just coming to visit. It had been years. You ended up talking… and then yelling… and then screaming. Some of it felt good, and some of it didn't. Some of it he meant to say, and most of it, he didn't. He knew you cared about him… he just didn't want to get attached. He didn't want to be a burden to you. He just… wanted you to be happy. And he didn't think that being around him would make that happen.

“And I didn't want to yell at you like that either, Reaper. I just… I care about you.”

“But you shouldn't.” Reaper could feel tears in his eyes that he quickly tried to cover. He couldn't cry. He wouldn't.

You walked up and cupped his cheek, smiling into his eyes. Something about seeing him without the mask made you feel special. Hell, maybe you were.

“Gabe, I-”

He couldn't help it. Those cute eyes. That sweet smile. Your soft touch. He cupped both sides of your face and leaned down to your level, pressing his lips to yours. You quickly sank in, throwing your arms around the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

He couldn't help but still love you. Even after you and Soldier left him. Even after he left you. He couldn't help but want you back in his life. He loved you. He loved you so much.

You pulled away, running your fingers through his soft, but messy hair. “Gabe. I miss you.”

“You don't have to miss me anymore.”

[peonyneko]

Better Connection - Shouto x Reader

Prompt: Reader trying to mooch off of Shouto's wifi and jokingly putting their own name in as the password, then being shocked that it actually works and they're now connected to Shouto's wifi…

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 1,543?

(Fluff) [Slight crack?] (NOT BETA READ)

Prompts from: https://atsuzaki-playground.neocities.org/

------

I groan at the sudden loading screen of my laptop. I thought I paid the bill? I shake my leg in nervousness. This assignment is due tomorrow, but I knew I’d be too busy to complete it then. Should I wait until I get free WiFi at a cafe? No… I want to get this submitted now.

I groan out of frustration and slight confusion. I then attempted to submit the assignment from my phone. To my rotten luck, my phone also did not have WiFi. Not only that, the file was not compatible. Okay. Breathe in. Breathe out. It’s okay. You have one more day.

Closing my eyes, I lie back back onto my bed. I’ll just wait 5 minutes. In the meantime, I unintentionally eavesdropped onto the neighboring room upon hearing running down the hallway and into the room next door. Shouto and I moved in around the same time. He arrived at this apartment half a year before I did. At first, our conversations were dry and awkward. However, as time went on, they became smooth and comfortable. Our silent stares became frequent waves when seeing each other around the area.

There was a little bit of loud shuffling of bags and footsteps. My eyes widen at the sudden thump that rumbles my floor.

“Goodness,” I mumble. I wonder what that was?

My curiosity got the best of me so this time I got out of my room and into my living room. I slowly open the door and peek out. Ah!

“I accidentally bumped into him! Didn’t look where I was going,” Eijirou seems to be defending someone inside of the room. Hm…

“My apologies, Shouto! I’ll pay you back! I feel really bad,” I heard a strong voice. My eyebrow furrows at the familiar voice. What was his name again? Tensei? Wait. No! That’s his brother… Ten…Ten?

“You’re alright, Tenya. Thanks for the help with the new table.” Shouto responds. Right! Tenya.

“No! You must let me!” Tenya seemed firm about his decision.

“I’ll pitch in too. Partially my fault,” Eijirou raises his fist in strange determinations.

“Denied. No,” Shouto’s bluntness almost makes me laugh.

“The wooden sculpture was already pretty roughed up. Even a child’s punch would’ve toppled it over,” he adds.

I go back inside, once again, minding my own business. It’s good that no one was hurt. I rush back to my room and reload my page.

No connection…

I roll my eyes at the device. It’s been 5 minutes already. I huff in annoyance. Normally, I would be okay with going to a nearby cafe. However, today was not a day I wanted to step outside. My back ached from yesterday’s busy schedule. Tomorrow was another busy day and I needed to conserve as much energy as I could. I flop back onto my bed, rolling around. Suddenly, a thought swipes into my brain.

Shouto… has WiFi. More importantly, Shouto has the fastest WiFi in the apartment complex, especially because he is rich.

I bite my inner cheek, debating myself. Should I ask? Before I can get up, I think to myself again. What if he questions me? How do I respond if he says no?

Please, sire. Allow this peasant to use your golden WiFi.

I press my hand on my temple. I groan before I swipe my phone off of my pillow.

“Let's use the high IQ skills,” I joke to myself as I open my phone.

He wouldn’t mind, right? That is, if I can access it. He won’t. How will he know?

I click on the name ‘Shouto.T’ and think to myself.

Shouto111? Incorrect.

MidoyiraIzuku? Izukuno1? Both incorrect. I chuckle to myself. Good ones. He was great friends with Izuku and would mention that Izuku got him to accept himself and his life.

Hm… I shake my head. Foolish. It can’t be my name.

After giving it a few more playful and hilarious tries, I realized that I was giggling to myself… about Shouto’s WiFi password. I cleared my throat and straightened my back.

Come on. All you have to do is ask, I told myself. Yet again, I look back down on my phone. I smile to myself. Whatever. For giggles.

I insert my firstname into the empty space and hit connect. I laughed a bit too hard, until I realized the once empty space held a checkmark.

Connected.

My laughter comes to a stop and I choke up. I’m connected. Wait! I’m connected?!

My body was frozen in place. What? How- Wait. Huh?!

I quickly snap out of it and fling my phone onto my pillow, which makes a louder than expected thump. Then, I grab my laptop. I insert the same password into his WiFi. Once again… Connected.

I was stunned. Too stunned to even be excited that I can submit my assignment. What do I do with this information? Do I ask him about it? No. He’ll ask how I know. Then, he’ll ask why I put my name. Then- Ugh!

Shaking my thoughts off, I solve the problem that had been gnawing at me for the past 30 minutes. I successfully submit my assignment and close my laptop. Suddenly, I hear my doorbell ring.

I quietly make my way and open the door. There stood the boy that managed to alway make my heart flutter.

“Hi, Shouto! Is everything alright?”

“Hi. Yeah, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I heard a loud noise,” I tilt my head in confusion. Then, I remembered the force I threw my phone at.

“Oh! Sorry. I uh… Got shocked and threw my phone,” I chuckled. He shakes his head in understanding.

Suddenly, he grabs his phone, “By the way… Do you mind me asking something?” He shows me the screen of his phone. No. Don’t tell me this rich boy… I shake my head ‘no’ and look at the screen. Don’t tell me he knows who is connected to his router…

“How did you know my WiFi password? Am I that obvious about it?” His index finger points to my phone and laptop, which clearly are titled with my name. I look at him with a warm face and wide eyes.

“Well��� No, but… Well… I didn’t expect it to work. Okay, so, I needed to submit an assignment and my WiFi wasn’t working. I swear I pay my bills, by the way. I was going to ask you but-” my stop myself from giving out more information.

He lightly laughs and looks at me.

“This wasn't how I expected you to find out,” he says. To confirm my thoughts, I press into his vagueness.

“Find out what?” I asked.

“Oh. That I like you. That’s why I put you as my WiFi password,” he said it loud and clear from the doorstep.

Both of us stood in silence for a few seconds before he clears his throat.

“I understand if this is awkward and weird. I can go if you’re feeling uncomfortable,” he scratches the back of his neck.

“No!” I blurt.

“A little confusing, but I was shocked. That’s all,” I told him.

“If I asked you out today, would you agree?” He looks at me with calm eyes that almost cover up his anticipation.

“Well…” I felt nervous. I definitely wasn’t opposed to it.

“Would you like to come inside?” I asked, which brings up a shine in his eyes.

“Yes! If that’s alright with you,” I nod and let him come inside.

-

“Poor WiFi service? Must be rough,” he unintentionally lays out the drastic difference in WiFi performance.

“To be fair, you’re the one with the fastest WiFi in the building. I thought it wouldn’t slow down with one extra- two extra devices,” I replied

“You have a point. How did you even know your name was the password?”

“Well… I did try your name, Izuku’s name, your full birthday, and-”

“Izuku’s name?!” he looked so worriedly confused, which made it hard to continue since I laughed too hard at his expression.

“Yes…” I composed myself and continued, “I played around and tried my name. It somehow connects. You know the rest,” he nods.

“So that’s why you threw your phone with such force. That’s… impressive. I heard it from my living room,” Shouto says.

He then looks at me with the same eyes from earlier.

“Will you go out on a date with me?” His smooth voice matches the calmness emitting from his body language. If I were to say no, he would accept it without taking it as an insult.

I smile, “Yes, Shouto.”

He sighs in relief, “I thought the password would’ve scared you away.”

I shake my head, “If anything, I’m glad we were able to confess.”

He reaches out for my hand, but stops and looks up at me. I nodded my head indicating my permission. He then intertwined our hands. Warmth makes its way around my face.

“I like this… We should hold hands a lot,” my heart flutters at his comment. His gentle smile and bright eyes toward our hands warm me up even more.

“We should.” I confirm.

At this moment, I was glad my poor internet connection led to the connection of our feelings.

----

Thank you for reading!

[rebelwrites]

Games Night

Chibs Telford x Reader

Requested by @little-diable

Prompt: “You beat my high score? You...beat my high score?!”

You could not remember whose idea it was to get an old school pac man arcade machine but it was the best decision the club made, even if you were all very competitive, trying to beat each other's high score. The amount of nights you would find one of the sons still up at 3am trying to beat your high score made you laugh. You prided yourself as the queen of pac man.

Everyone was hanging around the club like they always did on a friday night, the smell of sex, alcohol and weed lingered in the air. Loading up the machine you planned on trying to beat your own high score making it hard for everyone else to catch you, the crown was yours and you didn’t plan on losing it any time soon.

Placing your beer bottle on the table next to the machine you smiled as you loaded the high score page up.

Instantly your heart dropped, you couldn’t believe it, no this couldn’t be right your eyes were playing tricks on you, there was no way someone had beat you and had taken your crown. Reloading the page you had to be sure of what you were seeing. There as clear as day your name was in second place right underneath your boyfriend's name. Looking around the room you saw Chibs prancing around wearing a plastic crown, as soon as your eyes landed on him you knew he went out and purposely brought the crown to piss you off.

“FILIP TELFORD” You screamed “I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH”

The music instantly got turned down, the club was silent.

“Brother I suggest you run before your old lady castrates you” Jax howled with laughter.

“Lass what's wrong” Chibs smirked knowing full well what caused your outburst.

Sliding off the stool, you stormed over to him. Hitting in the chest and knocking the crown of his head. Yes you were being petty.

“You know whats fucking wrong” You hiss makinig him smirk “And if you don’t wipe that smug look of your face I am punching you”

“Doll come on you know that is his normal face” Tig laughed making you glare at him, instantly his hands went up in air in surrender “I’m sorry please don’t kill me”

“YOU beat my highscore?” You shouted as a question “YOU BEAT MY HIGH SCORE YOU BELLEND”

“Yeah a did” he smirked proudly picking the crown up off the floor placing it on his head.

“No one beats me at pac man” You pouted.

“Well darling” he smirked draping his arm over your shoulder guiding you to the machine, pointing at his name “ye see this here, this proves that someone has beat you and that someone is me”

“Like I said I will kill you” You sulked. “And you went out and brought a fucking crown”

“Course I did because I am the king of pac man” He grinned making you growl.

“You better sleep with one eye open tonight Chibsy” You growled pushing him out of the way and sitting back down.

“What you doing lass?” He asked, smirk still on his face.

“Taking my fucking crown back” You said with no emotion in your voice.

“Good luck” he winked.

“If you want to sleep on the sofa tonight then carry on, if you don’t I suggest you bugger off” You huffed loading the game up.

Hours passed, your eyes hadn’t left the screen, Jax kept bringing you beers. He glanced at the screen and couldn’t help but grin as he saw you were very close to beating your boyfriend.

That's when it happened, you beat Chibs’ highscore, not by much only by 30 points but the crown was yours again.

Once the game was saved and your name was back where it belonged, you slid off the stool, strolling over to your boyfriend. Reaching up you took the crown off his head, putting it on yourself smirking at him.

“Hey that’s my crown” He pouted.

“Not any more baby” You winked “Told you no one can beat me at pac man”

“You couldn’t just let me stay king for just one night could you” He laughed pulling up into his arms.

“Nope” You giggled “but you know that you are always king in my eyes”

From behind you, you heard a couple of the sons fake gag.

“Someone pass me a bucket. I think I am gonna be sick” Tig said, screwing his face up.

SOA TAGLIST

@chibsytelford @talicat713 @corebore123 @nothingeverdies @teapartydreams @mrspeacem1nusone @khyharah @itmejado @beth-winchester21 @rocketqueen @auroraariza @trulysuccubus @haynsey @witching-hour @destynelseclipsa @edonaspanca @abbiesthings @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat @jadesamhart @lady-pswrld @ly--canthrope @hennessyauntie @gemini0410 @i-love-scott-mccall @est11 @mystic-shadows42 @sugary-x-sweet @starrynite7114 @skyofficialxx @terminallygenius @lauraashley93 @leaalfred @angelreyesgirl89 @sheeshgivemeabreak @marquelapage @meteora-fc @penny4yourthot @justahopelessssromantic @ilikechocolatemilkh @mayans-sauce @xbreezymeadowsx @ben-c-group-therapy @-im-fantastic- @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @milaxmariex @cubblycie @little-diable @hotdamnhunnam @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead

[parkersbliss]

i saw your hc about the avengers and one direction was mentioned so i had an idea where the reader stayed up on july 23rd and she was crying because of one direction and then the avengers come in and ask what is wrong but when they say what happened they can’t stop laughing or something like that. hopefully that made sense :)

this may or may not be how my day went??

If y’all want more directioner reader stuff I am so down

Manifesting | Avengers

—

So obviously, like any other directioner fan, you were not ready

Here’s the picture: it’s July 22nd, 9 P.M New York time

You’re in your room, listening to one direction and crying your eyes out

It’s like Christmas Eve, except you don’t really know if tomorrows Christmas

Something could happen

Nothing could happen

It’s a very stressful situation

You had opted for staying up all night, after all, they were 5 hours ahead of you

But instead you decided to just wake up early

So 5 A.M You’re out of bed, first thing you do

Grab your phone and check it

AND WHAT DO YOU SEE

NOTHING

Nothing??

BUT YOUR HOPE WASNT GONE

There was an interview scheduled with Liam in two hours, that had too mean something

Right

RIGHT

WRONG

Seven minutes of nOTHING

I mean, seriously

By now all the avengers were up

You were still in your room, blasting one direction as one does

“kid?” Tony asked knocking on your door

He opened it all the way and… he’s not sure what he saw

“Are you meditating?”

“SHHH”

“What the hell is going on?”

“be quiet!” You hissed

“kid, what the he-“

“she’s manifesting,” Peter anserwed, standing behind tony.

“what now?”

“manifesting, she’s manifesting that something happens. now, if you’ll excuse me, I must join.”

So now Tony is just kind of staring as the two of you ‘manifest’

He mumbled something about it being too early for this and walking out

You had your phone’s ringer on, notifications turned on for instagram, twitter, youtube, you name it, you had it

You hourly checked your phone, just in case

But at some point, you decided to take a shower

So it’s like 9 am

You just got out of your shower and you’re in a towel

And then you hear it - a small ding from your room

You waste no time in throwing the door opening, hitting Bucky in the face who stumbles onto the floor

“(Y/N) what the-“

But you’re gone

You race into your room grabbing your phone

And there it is

Twitter

A TWEET BY ONE DIRECTION

You screamed

Very loudly

And so Peter raced in, laptop in hand

“DID YOU SEE”

“OPEN IT OPEN IT”

The two of you quickly get to work opening the website and

It crashed

OF COURSE IT CRASHED

“WHAT DO WE DO” Peter asked frantically reloading the page

You turn to him, mouth set in a straight line “We hack it”

“genius.”

So you hack the system

You break in and-

“OH MY GOSH”

“ITS REAL”

Cue the tears

But as you go deeper, and you enter the 2010 stage you LOST IT

The website it blasting what makes you beautiful and you’re just in tEARS

Because literally what the fuck one direction come back

Peter is sat beside you, praying frantically

“bring them back . They can save 2020. Please I’m praying on harry’s rings, louis’ accent, Liam’s fear of spoons, Niall’s bitchy tweets and Zayn’s non existence, PLEASE”

So you’re going through liking everything bc uh yes?? You love it all

Your visions also kind of blurry from tears so you can’t really see anything

But then you get to louis’ highlight

It says he’s 5’7

You and Peter both look at each other

“LIES ITS ALL LIES ITS FAKE”

And then harry’s and

“he’s not 5’11” you said

“he’s six feet”

“they’re lying to us”

And don’t even get me started on the ending page

THE END

HELL NO

“time to manifest again”

So you and Peter are once against praying, your mixtape in the back

When your phone goes off again

And again

And again

And there it was

The boys posts, each one of them thanking the fans, TAGGING ZAYN

You’ve never cried so Hard in your life

And louis’ tweets

And then your door burst down

And in walk tony, bucky, cap, nat, bruce, Thor, Clint and well the whole squad

“WHO IS IT”

“What it going on?”

Peter shakes his head sadly, holding onto you as you hiccup

“It’s - it’s them - ONE DIRECTION THEY’RE ALIVE”

Tony rolls his eyes

Cap bursts out laughing, grabbing onto sam

Nat and Clint are howling as they clap

And Thor is still holding his hammer as bruce tries to explain that one direction was a boy band and not a group of evil space aliens

“you slammed a door in my face fOR A BOY BAND”

“IT WAS NECESSARY”

“NO IT WASNT”

“if you’re done now, we must manifest for Zayn’s reply” peter spoke up

“we can only hope” you said sadly

“you guys are crazy” cap said

“no” Peter corrects “We’re a Bunch of clowns with depression”

“i’m concerned” Nat whispered

“me too” peter said

Needless to say

It was a very emotional time

And the avengers did not shut up about it

“so did he ever reply?”

*cue crying breakdown*

“NO”

“so now what?”

You look Tony dead in the eye, “we’re staring the kitten direction”

“(Y/N)”

“it must be done” Peter said, bowing his head

“kid”

“Tony we NEED THEM BACK”

“They could save us all”

“with what?”

“you don’t understand their power”

“they’re adults mEN”

Instead of replying, you grab your phone and blast one direction so you can’t hear them

And this was how you and Peter stayed up all night theorizing about it

Louis’ wouldn’t egg Liam’s house over this

He’s not 5’7

Harry’s 6’0

All lies

And it’s up to you and Peter to figure out the truth

They could save 2020

You just have to save them

[beauregardlionett]

we could be...

AO3 Link

When Yasha left Xhorhaus, she had no mementos to remember Zuala. No pictures or portraits, no scrap of cloth or locks of hair. All she possessed were memories - the curve of her wife’s lips when she laughed, the press of her fingers against Yasha’s skin, the way the light caught and shone in Zuala’s eye.

The flowers pressed between the pages of her book were the closest thing Yasha had to physical reminders. Even those now sat dried and dead, browned and fragile.

Sometimes she saw bits of her late wife in her new friends. Zuala was there in the way Veth’s eyes lit up when she found something intriguing, rung through Jester’s delighted laughter, and stood tall in the way Fjord brandished his sword. It didn’t hurt to find her in these flashes and glimpses like it used to. Not because Yasha didn’t miss Zuala, but because she had come to terms with what happened.

And her heart felt drawn to another in a way that she no longer worried was traitorous.

The first time she had looked at Beau and felt that desire spark to life in her gut, Yasha hated herself for a solid week. Marriage in her tribe was for life, a bond that even death couldn’t break. Although her tribe had deemed her marriage to Zuala illegal, Yasha held that custom close to her chest.

But Beau.

Beau, who was unlike Zuala in so many ways, but caught hold of Yasha’s heart and handled it like the most precious item in the world.

No matter how hard Yasha tried to convince herself that she didn’t deserve Beau, couldn’t look at Beau, she fell anyway. She caught herself imagining Beau in ways she once shared with Zuala. Pictured Beau waking up beside her in the morning, walking through towns and markets with her fingers intertwined with Beau’s in a subtle gesture. She wondered how her hands would fit against the curve of Beau’s waist, how the monk might feel against her side and under her arm.

The one thing Yasha never had to imagine was how Beau would stand beside her in battle.

Where Zuala had been domineering with her breadth and bulk, looking like it would take an army to move her, Beau was nimble. Beau flit between the bodies on the battlefield like she had wings on her heels and the wind in her veins. Her fists moved with the speed of the lightning her gauntlets created, and Yasha found herself consistently in awe of her prowess.

Even now, as they stood scattered among their enemies, Yasha caught flashes of Beau’s blue clothing in her peripheral. The monk moved like a blur as she ducked and wove between allies and foes, striking blows as she went.

It was incredible that she still moved with such speed and precision with how long the fight had been going on. They usually dispatched and handled enemies in under a minute. This time, however, the battle had been running at the same intensity for near ten minutes. They were accustomed to short bursts of intense combat, and the prolonged skirmish was taking a toll.

Their spell casters seemed to be running on fumes, and Yasha caught Veth scooping up used bolts to reload her crossbow more than once. Yasha’s sword felt four times heavier than it usually did, and she had no idea how Beau had the stamina to keep moving.

It was then that everything seemed to happen at once.

Yasha cut the enemy in front of her to the ground with a definitive strike, heaving as she did. Across the field, Beau ducked in close to land a well-aimed jab at another enemy’s ribs, putting herself in a vulnerable position. The monk fell to the ground with a cut off cry of pain seconds later.

Yasha’s rage intensified.

Caleb and Jester both pulled intense looking spells from seemingly nowhere. Flames and radiant pink energy exploded and their remaining foes dropped at once.

The tension snapped like taffy stretched too thin.

Fjord was closest to Beau’s prone form, his hand grasping her shoulder and flashing with a pale green burst as Yasha limped quickly over. Whatever the half-Orc did was enough to have Beau gasping weakly back to consciousness. Some of Yasha’s lingering rage subsided as she knelt beside Beau, placing a careful hand between the monk’s shoulder blades. Between Fjord and Yasha, they got her sitting upright.

Exchanging a knowing look with Yasha, Fjord clapped his hand to Beau’s shoulder before he shoved unsteadily to his feet. Yasha watched him stumble toward the others, his hand reaching to grasp Jester’s elbow.

“Fuck,” Beau groaned, regaining Yasha’s attention. The monk was streaked in blood and covered in bruises. “That last one really hurt.”

Yasha’s hands moved on instinct, cupping Beau’s cheeks as her hands glowed with a gentle, pale light. The monk all but melted in her hold, eyes fluttering shut with a content sigh. Beau sank into Yasha’s hold as a tiny grin curled at her lips.

“Oh, yeah,” Beau slurred. “That’s the stuff. Thanks, Yash.”

“You’re welcome,” Yasha murmured with a deep set fondness, leaving her hands against Beau’s cheeks.

She settled beside the monk, tucking the other woman between her sprawled legs. Thumb stroking across Beau’s cheekbone in a soothing, continuous rhythm, something tugged at the underside of her heart. Deep in her memories, Yasha remembered.

Exhausted after seemingly endless battles, or after trying days of continuous drills and training, Zuala. Her late wife would hold Yasha’s face with gentle intent, pretending to examine Yasha for injuries. She would lean in close, act as if she were whispering or leaning to reach for something. Either way, Zuala would get close enough to leave a fluttering mock of a kiss to Yasha’s skin.

A public gesture of affection that wouldn’t get them killed.

Yasha knew that she didn’t have to pretend or hide away her affection for Beau. They were free here, and everything she wanted to do to share her adoration with the little monk before her, she could.

But they were drained and filthy, and the simple gesture was another piece of Zuala that Yasha had clung to for a long time. It was an easy, familiar act of affection - one that she wanted to share with Beau.

Leaning down, Yasha used her hands on Beau’s cheeks to tilt her face to the side. Beau looked confused, but went willingly.

It was a mock of a kiss, a whisper of fluttering eyelashes against Beau’s cheekbone that began and ended with little fanfare. Yasha turned her face enough to press her forehead against Beau’s sweaty, dirty temple and lingered. After watching the monk hit the ground, this easy proximity was more than enough.

“Yasha?” Beau murmured, her hands curled around Yasha’s wrists. The Aasimar hummed in response, prompting Beau to continue. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Yasha answered, lips dragging against the skin of Beau’s sweaty cheek as she formed the word. Pulling back enough to look the monk in the eye, Yasha pushed out a quiet sigh and shifted her weight. Settling them both more comfortably on the dry ground, Yasha gathered the words to explain. Beau hadn’t asked, but Yasha could recognize that spark of curiosity in her eye.

“Zuala and I used to do that, that thing I just did. She never named it, but we did it all the time to show each other our affection when we were in public. It was easy to hide it sometimes, and it was like a...reminder. I know...we don’t have to hide. It just felt...right?”

Yasha watched as Beau’s face softened and her fingers squeezed gently against Yasha’s wrists.

“Thank you,” Beau said, tucking herself comfortably against Yasha’s shoulder. “For sharing that with me.”

Winding her arms around Beau’s frame, watching their friends nearby from over the monk’s head against her shoulder, Yasha felt entirely content. She had said to Veth once that they were a tribe, that she had to look out for them and protect them. Yasha wasn’t sure if they had all understood the weight behind her claim. But watching over them all now, Beau a warm presence in her lap, Yasha found herself settled. Even if they didn’t understand her quiet gestures in the way Beau did, they called her family.

It was more than enough.

[sleepdeprivedghoul]

What’s Left of Me [BTS AU]

Words: 3.6 K

Summary: Jungkook was a typical college student. Nothing interesting there, his only friend, Kim Seokjin, or as he calls him, Jin, is terribly ill with an unknown illness that not even the doctors can prescribe. One night Jin asks Jungkook if he wants to play a game. Only the game isn’t what Jungkook thought. But it’s just a game right? What’s the worst that could happen?

Genre: Angst, Mature Content, Horror/Thriller. 

~ ~ ~

It was nearing midnight as Jungkook had arrived back to his flat after a long drive across town just to deliver some notes and cards to Jin, who was currently running a fever with a mysterious illness. The doctors weren't even a hundred percent sure what was wrong with Jin, maybe it was a strain of pneumonia?   

Yeah that has to be it, thought Jungkook as he slid off his shoes and went straight to his computer, he logged on and started to type up his essay on emotions and how they play into day to day life, but the emotion his professor gave him was quite difficult. It was sadness.

Sure the assignment was simple and all but never really experiencing true sadness he didn't know how to start it off. Besides a cheesy quote about feeling broken and alone. 

He felt like he was about to go insane, he never felt true sadness and he was sure his professor would want it to be about something really depressing over just, ‘I lost my pet cat named Pete,’ but something more.

WIth a loud beep his phone went off alerting him of a text from Jin:

 "Kookie thank you for the study materials!" 

Jungkook smiled and was about to send him a response when Jin replied again:

 "Have you played What's Left of Me? Or heard of it?"

“Honestly no... What is it?” 

Before Jin responded Jungkook reread the name of the game and typed it in on his search bar for What’s Left of Me, all that popped up was a book. Frowning he knew this is not what his hyung meant so he went back to the search bar and tweaked his search adding Game. What popped up was Google claiming an error that Google was not responding. 

“Odd...” He muttered before he tried to open a new tab only for the new same message to reappear. “You have to be kidding me,” he groaned and continually refreshed only to keep getting the same message and that Google had crashed. 

“Why?!” He exclaimed, brows furrowing as he looked over at his phone only to see a video link from Jin. Clicking it he heard a soft female voice, practically whispering all while there was a black screen. 

“Hi... I’m not gonna introduce myself because what’s the point.... Well obviously you’re here for my game What’s Left of Me. The game’s a bit different than your average game, there’s no shooting of others but decisions and story based themes, you the Player decides what happens. Nothing is reversible so play how you feel but do it carefully. I am giving you the extent of five players to choose from and that is all. Thank you for your consideration and I hope you enjoy.” 

The video ended causing a frown to play on the young males features as he texted his hyung. 

“That gave me the chills. Her voice was so sad, yet so familiar. WHY WAS SHE WHISPERING???” 

Sent from Jin at 12:03

“I like how her video was, her voice was soft and peaceful as it captures your attention immediately. I’m ready to play it!” 

Sent from Jungkook at 12:03

“Ok... Did you download it?”

Sent from Jin

“Yea are you going to Kookie?”

Sent from Jungkook

“It won’t even let me view the game.”

Sent From Jin

“Restart your computer.” 

Why, thought the younger male but did as told, he waited for the system to reload and as it did their was a new file on his computer. WHAT’S LEFT OF ME in all caps. “How did this get here?” Scared Jungkook looked around his dark room but nothing was out of place, he even scanned his computer for a virus. Nada.

“Did it work?” Texted Jin, Jungkook could barely breathe yet alone focus on the situation at hand. How did this happen?

“Yeah the game was already on my computer somehow...” 

“Huh strange, maybe you clicked download.” Responded Jin and as he read the message he shook his head, Jin didn't seem to get it. The game just appeared. He hadn’t even had the option to download it as it never popped up when he searched it. 

“No because I couldn't even find the game when I originally searched it.” 

Sent from Jin

“Computer was probs lagging but at least you have the game now. I think I want to play Namjoon. He seems interesting. What about you?”

Sent from Jungkook

“Erm hang on let me load the game, I haven’t open it yet.”

“K.” Was all Jin said as the younger male moved his cursor over the game and clicked open. As the game was loading an eerie song was playing in the background, Hell it wasn’t even a song, more so screeching and loud crashes.  Every now and then the screen would glitch out and he’d get a brief glance at a girls face. He was only at 10% as the game completely froze except for the song which was on an endless loop and began repeating the word why over and over as the depressed girls face froze on screen before him, a single tear running down her smooth skin.

“You left us...” She whispered before the game automatically shut down and sent Jungkook staring at his home screen, eyes wide and breathing rapid. “What the literal fuck,” he cursed as the game restarted and took him back to the loading screen yet it was all different. Instead of a sad song on loop and the sad girl, the game played a soft happy tune as the background was all black and the title appeared in a bloody font. What’s Left of Me the words practically dripping down the screen as a candle flickered beneath the text casting long shadows revealing a room. 

He had to admit this game had some freaky cool artwork. He clicked the title, not really sure what else to do as there was no options for the game. His options appeared before him carved into the desk that the candle was sitting on. The game title was on the gray wall behind the candle. 

Jungkook read his options slowly and wondered if Jin saw the same things as him. 

Continue Game

New Game

Leave?

Curious as to what Continue Game would do for him, since he’s never played it before and was sure no one has played it on his computer he clicked the option. The game file loaded and he was quickly inserted into a dark bathroom, a young man with copper hair, almost golden, was crying in the middle of the room. The only sounds besides the poor males soft spoken sobs was the sound of the bath running and pouring out onto the tiled floor all around the sobbing man. The game glitched and instead of water surrounding the copper haired male it was now a dark red substance which Jungkook could only assume was blood. He was no longer crying but screaming at the top of his lungs, “WHY WHY WHY!” His dark gaze looking dead at the screen, his eyes finding Jungkook’s, it was if he was was aware of Jungkook watching him. It was like the male wasn’t in the game.

Jungkook’s throat constricted with fear. The game crashed and he was back to the main menu. He most certainly wasn't going to try to continue that again unless it was his own saved progress, but even then he still didn't want to do this. 

Why is he even considering this game? For Jin, he softly reminded himself. But why did Jin even want to play this game, it was so freaky and weird. Did Jin not get the same intro as him? Maybe Jin was smarter than him and decided not to try and continue the game, speaking of the Continue Game option that was no longer present instead it said, Can’t Continue Something You Never Started or Cared For. 

Chills ran down his spine as he took a picture and went to send it to Jin who had been blowing up his cell. Jungkook didn't even read his messages from his hyung as he instantly went to send Jin the freaky message from the game. Only the test wouldn't go through, he was shot with an error. “What the Hell?” He grumbled and tried once more only for it to not send. 

“Why’s this happening? I paid my bill!” Biting his lower lip in confusion he looked at Jin’s messages and hoped his hyung would understand his technical difficulties. 

 From Jin sent at 12:10

Jungkook you there?

Hey did you start the game?

Kookie, kookie, kookie?????

Ok spam time 

Hello

What does a janitor yell at a party?

SUPPLIES! hahaha get it? Supplies 

I’m worried you alive? 

Wait are you asleep? 

If so sorry. Send a bunny emoji if you’ve been kidnapped.

I’m gonna start the game, Namjoon is pretty cool and looks good. What about you? Who will you play as, you have five options, all of them epic.

From Jin sent at 12:12 

I get it, you hate the game and you haven’t even started.

Jungkook shook his head and chuckled, Jin is so childish and impatient, he thought to himself and sent a quick apology text. Sent, he managed to send a text! His eyes widened as he tried to send the picture only the picture wouldn’t go through. 

Why was that?

Why was it that he could send an apology to Jin but not a picture? Did he not have enough storage? Was their text history too long? 

It just didn't add up. Whatever, he thought, It doesn’t even matter. It’s just a game. 

Clicking on the New Game option he was sent to a  character page. Five characters like Jin said, but there was an outline of a missing character, two actually. He hovered his cursor over both of them but all he got for their stats was:

Name: ???

Age: ???

Height: ???

Gender: ???

Description: ???

He looked at the outline and noticed the lock in the middle of their chests, he had to unlock them. How come he didn't see that when he was first looking at them? 

Whatever, just find a character and start the game so Jin won’t be upset. With a sigh he moved his over a young male with a blonde mullet, a boxy smile on his perfectly proportioned face. 

Name: Kim Taehyung. 

Age: 23

Height: 5′10 

Gender: Male

Description: Taehyung is a happy go lucky, one of a kind guy, unlike any others that you will ever encounter in life. 

Already interested and a tad bit jealous of how happy and lucky Taehyung gets to be while he, himself, is worried for Jin’s health and stressing over stupid projects that are all nearing there due date. Shoving some his hair out of his face he moved on to the next character, the one from the Continue Game option. Curious as to see what was wrong with him and who he was he began to read the stats.

Name: Worthless

Age: Does it matter? I’m just gonna fade away...

Height: Too short just like life....

Gender: Dead

Description: You let me die, it’s your fault. Why didn't you care about me? How could you let me go through with it? WHY’D YOU LEAVE ME?

Shaking his head with a low sigh escaping his lips, he wondered who was this character and why was he so depressed? But also curious of his stats, he asked Jin. 

Sent from Jungkook at 12:13

Jin who is the copper haired male after Taehyung?

Sent from Jin at 12:13

Who Jimin? Y? 

“Jimin,” whispered Jungkook softly almost as if he was testing out the name. His name was so nice compared to his description. The characters blank stare held his gaze, honestly Jungkook felt a bit guilty for this made up character. 

Sent from Jungkook at 12:15

I couldn't see his stats 4 sum reason. :/ 

Sent from Jin at 12:15

The pausing of this game is janky... Lemme go back to the lobby. Pray that my game saves

Sent from Jungkook at 12:16

I pray it saves

Sent from Jin at 12:17

Okay Name: Park Jimin Age: 22 Height: 4′8 Gender: Male duh Description he’s a chill dude with a beautiful smile.

*Height 5′8 lol he’s not that short. That’s about it.

Sent from Jungkook at 12:17

Is this some sort of dating sim?

Sent from Jin at 12:17

No most certainly not. I don;t really know what it is, but I know it’s not a dating sim. Each character has a different story, that’s all I know. 

Sent from Jungkook at 12:18

This is some srs bull.

Sent from Jin at 12:18

Please don't use acronyms Kookie. 

Jungkook laughed and shook his head at his hyungs requests when, he too, use abbreviations such as why to y.

Sent from Jungkook at 12:18

Yes boss

Sent from Jin at 12:19

😈 Lol picked your character yet?

Sent from Jungkook at 12:19

No not yet, my game’s acting up. 

Sent from Jin at 12:19

Well hurry up so you can play!!!!!

Sent from Jungkook at 12:20

Ok gimme a minute.

Placing his phone down in his lap he moved on to the next character, a tall male with silverish purple hair with deep brown eyes that seemed to be able to read your soul and a soft dimpled smile. 

Name: Kim Namjoon

Age: 23

Height: 5′11

Gender: Male

Description: A bookworm, a really hard worker with excellent grades, who’s also a natural leader. Pretty cool guy once you meet him. 

Jungkook chuckled at the last part, “once you meet him.” Like he’s gonna meet Kim Namjoon in person, he’s just a character in a video game, closest thing he’d get to meeting Namjoon is playing as him. Which he won’t because this is Jin’s character. 

The next character’s picture was sweaty, his tongue out, black hair in his eyes, as a black hat rested on his head. 

Name: Jung Hoseok

Age: 24 

Height: 5′10

Gender: Male

Description: Hoseok, Hobi, is an all around ray of sunshine, with constant happy vibes. Always there for you when you need it, remember?

He frowned, why is it like the game is talking to him directly, “Fine if I play as Hoseok or Hobi, whatever his name is I’ll remember that he’s a ray of sunshine to help others.” He grumbled but a small smile played on his features as a warm aura seemed to enclose around him. 

Moving away from the friendly happier male he moved onto the one dressed in all black, a mask covering his mouth and nose as his dark brown eyes stared at him judgingly. He was more ominous looking than scary.

Name: Min Yoongi

Age: 25

Height: 5′9 

Gender: Male 

Description: Always quiet but observant, known to stand up for those in need, tired but always working. 

Nodding his head, understanding each character he finally decided that he’s play as Taehyung. He would’ve played as Jimin if he was able to, but the game simply would not help let him. 

Starting up as Taehyung he was given the option:

Play as Kim Taehyung?

Yes?     No?

“Obviously,” he said with a chuckle as he selected, yes, the game loaded with ease, compared to when he first started the game. A small transition of a butterfly landing onto a window sill was played in the background, then he heard the sounds of a camera snapping a photo. 

“Babe,” came a male voice in the background, the loading symbol stopped as the clip began to play. The light filtered into the room showing a few dust particles floating around as the butterfly stayed on the sill slowly moving it’s beautiful blue and black wings. 

“In here,” came the females voice, the door opened and the floor groaned with the males footsteps. “Are you coming, we’re about to leave?”

“Sorry was taking a picture.”

“You’re obsessed with that thing.”

“Photos keep memories.”

“Yeah but can also steal a part of your soul.” Spoke the deep voiced male jokingly as the girl laughed. What a sound to be heard, it was like music, so carefree and soft. Jungkook wished he could listen to her laugh all day, she seemed so happy, unlike any other girl he’s ever met and tried to talk to.

“Well this camera can’t have my soul,” she stated promptly. The camera angles changed revealing a small girl, her hair covering her face, until the man, who Jungkook recognized as his player Kim Taehyung, moved his hand to her face brushing her short dark brown hair away from her eyes. “You look so much better showing your face.” She shook her head, the hair falling back into her brown eyes as her dimpled grin moved to crinkle her eyes. 

“Whatever oppa,” she teased softly punching his arm. “I’m serious,” he muttered pulling her closer to him, her hands rested upon his chest and the camera still in her left hand. The butterfly flew past the camera showing the two lovers. 

The room changed, it was no longer the happy loving environment that Jungkook was originally thrusted into. Instead his character was sitting on his bed, his head in his hands, shoulders shaking with sobs. Every now and then he would repeat a name, it was obviously the girl that he was with name.

“Elli,” he whimpered, even his dog was sniffling and whimpering. His puppy rested his head on Taehyung’s thigh. Both of them were honestly too sad to watch causing Jungkook to push away from his desk and move to his bed. 

���What the fuck is this game? It said Taehyung was a happy go lucky guy, what the fuck happened to that?” Raking his fingers through his hair he took a deep breath and texted Jin:

I can’t play, I have class tomorrow 8 am. 

He lied flatly and went to send only it wouldn’t. “Again with this bullshit?” He questioned aloud pissed, throwing his phone across the room and onto his bed. “Fuck this,” he grumbled as he moved to his couch, falling heavily onto the cushions and looking up at his ceiling in annoyance. 

Through the corner of his eye he noticed the television had turned on. Must’ve sat on the remote, he thought to himself as he sat up and looked under the cushions only to find nothing but a quarter, three pennies, a dime, and a moldy cheeto. Scrunching his nose up in disgust and grabbing the 38 cents that he had found he placed the cushions back in their place. 

He turned on his lamp and continued his search only for the lamps light bulb to explode, shards of glasses flying through the paper lamp shade and nearly cutting him. Startled by the destruction he looked all around the room, his eyes landing on the Tv and to the message displayed through the static. 

juSt go bAck to the VidEo gaME ! 

The message was pretty clear of what it wanted him to do. The younger male didn’t understand why only a few letters were capitalized, and not even in a specific order or why there was two words underlined. Looking back and reading the all capitalized letters he wrote them down:

S - A - V - E    M - E 

A shiver ran down his spine at the startling code, maybe it was unintentional but something in his gut told him, it was there for a reason. He did the same with the two underlined words: 

SAVE THE GAME 

Is what the message came down to. Who was he even supposed to be saving? And why was his television telling him to save the stupid game? It didn't make sense, all of this was just making him frustrated. He shook his head and unplugged the television having enough of this shit. 

“I’m done!” He exclaimed as he moved onto his bedroom, all the lights in the house began to flicker on and off. “Oh great my life now is becoming Paranormal Activity, fun.”

With a groan he went back down the hall and to his computer, the screen glowing at him. “Now how do I even save?” He grumbled trying to find a way to save the game without losing what little progress, technically none, that he’s made so far. 

With a roll of his tired eyes, he pulled up the options and found nothing useful on saving the game. “How the fuck? What is this even? This game,” he groaned out annoyed, ready to just log off his computer and restart Taehyung’s intro scene. Exiting the options he was brought face to face to Taehyung's sad, blood-tear stained cheeks, thanks to the new camera angle. What made it even more creepy was the twisted boxy smile on the male’s face as he stared right into the camera. 

Jumping back startled, and nearly falling out of the chair, Jungkook released a slight yelp as the character began to speak to him, almost directly. 

“Aren’t you gonna save me? Or are you, too, just gonna abandon me like all the others?” 

Two options appeared before him in a dark red, dripping font:

Save ME 

OR

Abandon ME

Hesitant of what the two options meant he hovered his cursor trying to decipher what he should do, when he realized that this was the way of saving, or so he hoped. 

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

Locked and Reloaded [Ch. 5]

Marvel AU

TW: Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Blood, Gun Violence, Implied Abusive Household

Genre: Action, Light Comedy, Angst

Pairing: NCT Dream x Reader

YN Pronouns: Female (She/Her)

(5/?) [First] | [Previous] | [Next]

[Main Masterlist] | [Locked and Reloaded Masterlist]

Word Count: 6.5K

Notes: It’s about time these members entered the story. I’m dropping this now instead of a Saturday upload because I’m getting my second dose of vaccine in about nine hours, and from how both of my parents reacted something tells me that I’m going to be incapacitated for the next two days, so I decided to finish this bad boy up now! Currently next on my list to work on is Infatuation, so I’ll see you in that update!

Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in or condone these actions. I would never wish any of these actions to occur to the Idol(s) mentioned in the writings of these stories, nor do I wish any harm on them.

“That’s stupid,” you told your older brother. Baekhyun just laughed. You had just finished ranting to him how a majority of the premise of chemistry was ridiculous, being founded on one key theory that could be amended at any moment, something now set in stone or put to law. It was a theoretical science that clashed with the lawfulness of physics and the puzzle of biology. “Chemistry is literally the weakest link.”

“I don’t quite think so, songbird,” the nickname was sweet in his voice, it was one you had had for as long as you could remember. He leans against your desk and he points at the picture. “It’s just atomic theory.”

“Yeah, and it’s stupid. Imagine, all of this work, all seven hundred of these pages and countless other books could get proved incorrect if someone disproves it.”

“You read this entire textbook and that’s all you have to say about it?” Baekhyun raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Wah, you’re so amazing and you don’t even know it,” he hugged your head to his stomach and you pushed him away.

“Ew, you’re so gross,” you wiped the sweat from your face. “At least shower before coming into my room! You’re disgusting when you use the gym.”

“And miss my darling sister? No way, that and I came to congratulate you!” He points at the certificate on your desk just under your coffee mug. “Not every day you win the science fair… again.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks,” you put a textbook over it. He was right, but it was hardly an achievement for you at this point, it was an expectation.

“What did you do this year?” None of them even showed up, the only person there to help you with your project was Jeno, but he was always there whether you liked it or not.

“You don’t know?”

“I was at the conference, remember?”

“Oh, right,” you sighed. “It was just an observation on bees.”

“Whoa! Bees are great! They’re so helpful for pollination, for honey, and so much more!” Baekhyun smiles. “Hey, your birthday’s coming up, right? Fourteen? Oh god, oh no, my songbird? A teen? I don’t think I can handle this.”

“You’re overreacting! It’s not like I’m going to be any different. Plus, I’m already a teen.”

“Oh, (Y/N), you have no idea. Thirteen is the one year free trial before you start having to pay to be a teen. Once you turn fourteen, ugh, I don’t even know how to say this,” Baekhyun fake cries and wipes away the invisible tears. “It’ll be like you’re a whole different person.”

“Stop that! Why are you acting so weird?” You laughed and turned to him. Baekhyun crossed his arms over his chest and your smile dropped. You knew that look on his face better than anyone. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I leave tonight,” he says.

“How long?”

“Maybe a week this time, dad wants to show me the properties over in Zone 8.”

“Seriously? What for?” The factories that far out from the city were nearly ghost factories, they just handled building the smaller removable parts of the weapons your father developed. You couldn’t think of a possible reason why Baekhyun would have to go out that far.

“I have no clue, maybe he just wants me to see the Byun system at a smaller scale,” Baekhyun sighs. “Will you be okay here?”

“Will I be okay here? Don’t make me laugh,” you slammed your textbook shut and stared at him. “She hates me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“She does! You’ve seen the way she talks to me when you’re not around, Baek, I genuinely think that woman wants to get rid of me.”

“She’s your mother.”

“No, she’s your mother.” You didn’t mean for it to come out as accusing as it did. But you could genuinely say that you never felt anything from her aside from the obvious disdain she must have held for you. But what could you do? You’d hate you too. If one day your husband showed up at your doorstep with a kid you didn’t recognize telling you to treat her as if she was your own, you’d despise that child’s existence. All you were was proof of infidelity, and your stepmother made that very clear. You were her daughter on paper alone, but in reality, you were nothing more than a freeloader. “I’m just the bastard kid from dad’s mistress.”

“Do not,” Baekhyun held a finger up and stared at you with an intensity you’ve never seen on his face before. Seriousness wasn’t something that Baekhyun often used, especially around you. “Do not ever reduce yourself to that. Do you understand? You are so much more than that and you can’t let anyone who says that to you bring you down, you cannot let that weigh on you. Who even told you that?”

“She did. Who else?”

“God…” Baekhyun looked away and huffed. He held his hand to his forehead and sighed. “Keep in touch with me, okay? Just one more year and I can take it to court.”

“Forget it, Baek,” you waved your hand. “It would never work. We have no proof.”

“Well,” Baekhyun pressed his lips together and placed a tape in front of you.

“A tape? Seriously?”

“Don’t hate on old tech, they’re still around for a reason. I have a walkman in my room, second drawer on my desk. Listen to it later, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” you placed the tape in your own drawer, out of sight and out of mind.

“Just wait for me, alright?”

“Yeah.”

“(Y/N), I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“I’ll be back, okay?”

“Okay, just go, dad’s probably waiting for you,” you opened your textbook again and stared at the passages on it. You had a really bad feeling about tonight, but you couldn’t quite place your finger on it.

“Love you, songbird.”

“I know.”

~

“Sungchan! Four o’clock!” You shouted towards the agent. Sungchan, moving a second too late was met with the spine of a book to his face, promptly knocking him out. “Aw, geez,” you shoved your bag under a table, hoping that it would be somewhat okay after the fight, and threw a metal tray, the circular object blocking one of the flying weapons from hitting Shotaro on his way to Sungchan.

“Thank you!” He shouts. He leans next to his best friend and tries to wake him up while the fight continued.

“I’ll try to keep you guys covered, but you might need to fill in for me eventually, Reaper’s not doing too good over there,” you stumbled over to the two and handed Shotaro one of the pillows from the couch. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, just knocked out, but I have to watch him just in case… you know.”

“I do, just make sure he’s fine.”

With Jeno’s sudden appearance the Sanctum became a new battleground. Ancient artifacts were being used left and right for battle, whether they were used correctly or not, and with incoherent shouts filling the previously calm room. Strange was doing his best to prevent anything potentially world-threatening from happening, the Sorcerer Supreme understanding the laws of the universe, as well as any of you did, while the Maverick worked to bring down Vulture. The surprise attack rendered them at an unfortunate disadvantage. Strange was more concerned with keeping the battle within the Sanctum than he was helping any of you out, which was entirely understandable.

“I got it!” Peter shoved back the bookcase that was about to fall on you.

“Thanks, Peter.”

“Just so you know I am so sorry I did not mean for any of this to happen I didn’t know.”

“Oh goodness, no hard feelings, Peter, it happens to the best of us,” you said to him. “There’s no way you could’ve known.”

“Thanks, (Y/N), that means a— Watch out!” He pushed you out of the way just as a shield lodged itself between you, you turned towards the source and saw Vulture, and you had to stop yourself from getting any more frustrated than you already are.

“Fucking hell,” you clapped your hands together and jogged in place. “Stretching before fights is good for you, Peter, don’t forget that,” you said to him. Then you saw Cap waving his hand. You pulled the shield from its spot and threw it back to him.

“Nice arm!”

“Don’t lose your shit!” You moved your head to the side just as a bullet whizzed past you. “And watch where you’re aiming!” You dodged another bullet as it ricocheted off of one of the metal artifacts of the Sanctum.

“I am,” Jaemin’s voice was steady despite the chaos. “Reaper!” Jaemin tossed one o the artifacts towards the other, particularly a sharp one, and Jeno drove it into the wall next to Vulture, just barely grazing the Follower. Vulture grabbed onto the back of Jeno’s neck, the razor claws on his hands emerging and sinking into the half-demon before Vulture slammed Jeno’s head through the wall.

“Urgh, I felt that,” you rubbed the back of your neck as the phantom pain shot through it. You quickly stepped back just as an eldritch whip snapped in front of you.

“Mr. Wong?!” Peter gasps.

“That one isn’t in our database,” Jaemin grabbed onto the whip as it went towards you again, ‘Wong’ staring at him with a slight confusion, to which Jaemin just tugged it away from the other’s hands, watching the concentrated energy dissipate.

“Well then add him later, dammit,” you charged towards Vulture but soon felt something wrap around your ankle. You looked at the portal next to your foot and the hand around it. “Ew! Oh my god!” You yanked it out of ‘Wong’s’ grasp and shot towards him, the bullets disappearing before they could get anywhere close. No wonder it was so fucking convenient, you hoped whoever the real Wong was and where he was currently wasn’t too horrible.

“We should name this guy,” Jaemin dodged the eldritch disk that nearly sliced his throat. “I’m thinking Frisbee.”

“Oh come on, let’s stay true to tradition and wait for Hyuck,” you pulled a sword from the suit of armor next to you and blocked the whip again. You turned the hilt in your hand and smiled. “Ooh, I like this. You know my ex used to be an expert fencer.”

“I almost forgot about that one,” Jaemin hums. “What’s with sleeping beauty over there?”

“Got hit in a face with a book.”

“Oh that’s good, one less bomb we have to worry about.”

“That’s rude,” you scolded him.

“Can someone help me over here?!” Jeno’s pissed off voice came from the office. He pushed himself up from the rubble and cracked his neck before his knuckles. “I’m going to kill this guy, fuck the Agreement.”

“Does the Agreement even apply this far out?” You asked. Jaemin pulled out his phone briefly. The Agreement was offered by the D98 Avengers, basically promising not to do any dimension altering things, but it was just a promise, nothing was set in stone and thus was lacking in any legality. It was a gentleman’s promise, so to say.

“Technically it doesn’t, D62 is far out of D98 bounds. And since none of the Avengers are here…” Jaemin let Jeno fill in the blanks himself.

“Good,” Jeno tapped his wrists together, a blood-red magic circle appearing between them.

“Wait, do you guys hear that?” You looked around while skillfully parrying evil Wong’s attacks.

“Hear what?” Shotaro was nursing the passed out Sungchan while blocking any projectiles that made their way towards him.

“It kind of sounds like screaming,” Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows.

“No, it sounds like… no, of all the members to send,” you groaned. Then the sound of doors crashing open accompanied the chaos that was the Sanctum while a familiar face ran in head first, literally, screaming his head off, and rams into Dr. Strange.

“I got this one, V! Don’t worry!” Chenle shouts.

“You idiot he’s on our side!” Jeno grabs a polearm from a nearby suit of armor and whacks it over Vulture’s head, the polearm breaking in half right after and really just pissing off the Follower more.

“Oh is he? Sorry!” Chenle detached himself from the sorcerer.

“Looks like we’ll be having a change in plans,” Strange murmured and disappeared from the room.

“Did the wizard just dip?!” You yelled.

“I think so!” Chenle yelled back, despite being right next to you.

“Why are you even here?!”

“We were talking to Fury when Jeno just fell into a sudden pool of blood! I followed your tracker here because I figured you’re in trouble. Be grateful!”

“I never said I wasn’t?!” You heard a pang next to you and turned to your side, a circular shield blocking your vision for only a brief moment before connecting with Other Wong’s abdomen.

“Thanks,” you nodded towards Steve.

“No problem,” he says. “But where’d that bullet come from?” Cap looks around the room. Jaemin rushes next to you and grabs something, pointing it upwards. Within a few moments, someone materializes next to him. A classic cloaking spell, of course, right when you needed it most.

“Monsieur,” her voice was hoarse.

“Lynx,” you saw him grimace while the woman drove a knife into Jaemin’s side and twisted it harshly. A loud groan left the man’s throat while you darted next to him and tackled the woman to the ground.

“I like your D62 version better!” You pressed your gun to her head and she threw you off before you could pull the trigger.

“Nat!?” Steve blocked another gunshot from her with his shield.

“Not Nat,” Bucky answers.

“Where have you been?”

“This thing’s still glowing,” Bucky held up the crystal.

“Give that to me!” Chenle appears next to them and grabs it. “You meaty idiots don’t know what to do with this.”

“Was that an insult?”

“Apperio!” Chenle ignored the Captain and chanted the charm, a magic circle appeared around the crystal. Following the ripple of two blue circles that expanded throughout the room, two more people appeared.

“There’s more of them?!” You shot Vulture in the leg. Before you were two other notorious members of the Elite. Arachnid, who you fought before, and Dead Shot, someone you were hoping not to run into in this dimension. “Someone get Parker out of here as soon as he touches Arachnid it’s over!” You shout.

“Oh please, I wouldn’t even try that. What good is this mission if any of us blow up the dimension while we’re at it,” Arachnid catches the flying dagger and flings it back towards Jaemin, who easily dodged it.

“We have orders to keep you alive, Vendetta, comply and the others will live,” Dead Shot spoke in his trademarked mechanical voice.

“Fuck that,” you pointed your gun at Arachnid and click. Click, click. “Well, this is awkward,” you chucked the magnum at Arachnid, the handle of the gun hitting the area between the mutant’s eyes and stunning him briefly, while Dead Shot released a flurry of bullets. You ran along the wall to dodge them, looking for something to shield yourself with now that Cap and Bucky were busy with Lynx, Jeno had Vulture busy, and Jaemin moved over to Arachnid so that Peter could handle Evil-Wong instead.

“Surrender or be forced to, Vendetta.”

“Well, shit,” you held a book in front of you while Dead Shot went through consecutive rounds.

“How could you not know a Follower was here?!” Jeno was pushed back next to you while deflecting Vulture’s attacks.

“How the hell was I supposed to know?! I didn’t even know that those three were here until a couple of minutes ago!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

“No, I’m not kidding you because if I was we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“It has been thirty minutes! I let you and Jaemin go for thirty minutes and this happens!”

“In our defense,” Jaemin gets pushed back to the other side of you and clears his throat. “Peter brought us here.”

“I said I’m sorry!” Peter brushes off the embers on his suit. “Aw man, how am I going to explain this to Mr. Stark?”

“Explain? Have you been reporting us to him?!” You asked.

“Uh… no,” Peter’s phone goes off and he answers it. “Hi, Mr. Stark, there’s kind of a situation going on right now—”

“Tell them not to come here! If any of the other Followers show up it could tear the fabric of reality apart!” Chenle shouts. A magic circle appears under Peter’s phone and it short circuits. Chenle adjusts the watch around his wrist, a much larger magic circle appearing from it.

“Vocavi te ab umbris,” at the utterance of the words the shadows in the room gathered together to a much larger amalgamate. “Go, Vendetta, I’ll keep them handled.”

“Fuck,” you spotted your backpack, which was pushed up against the wall on the other side of the room.

“What now?” Jeno asks.

“Backpack.”

“What about it?”

“There’s something really important in there,” Jaemin sounded disappointed. “We could hole-in-one it, V.”

“We could,” you said. “But that risks shaking it up too much.

“Hot potato then?” Jeno offers.

“Who would start it?”

“The closest person is Shotaro, if he throws it far enough I could probably catch it,” Jeno says. “Pass it over to Jaemin.”

“Then I’ll pass it to you. But by then you need to be in that hallway,” Jaemin says.

“Got it, I can do that.”

“And if anything goes wrong?”

“Wing it.”

“We’re going to die in this dimension, aren’t we?” Jeno frowns.

“On the count of three, break,” Jaemin says, ignoring his best friend’s words. You hand Jeno the old sword, which he took without question. “One.”

“What do I need this for?”

“Well, I certainly don’t need it.”

“Two.”

“Wait, are we even on the same page?”

“I don’t know, are we?”

“Three!” Jaemin shoved you forward and you took off, dodging literally everything on your way to get out and probably get some more help.

“Shotaro! Pass me that backpack!” Jeno shouts over the gunshots. Shotaro perked up and grabbed the black bag, chucking it towards Jeno, who caught it easily. “Monsieur— Fuck, too far, Apollo! Pass this over to him!” Jeno tossed the backpack towards Chenle, the heavy bag slamming into the magician mid-spell.

“What the hell?!”

“Pass it here!” Jaemin knocked over Lynx and used her head the propel himself up and grab the backpack after Chenle threw it. He ran over towards you and threw it. Right as your hand grabbed the strap, it was yanked away from you.

“Fuck!” You looked back at who had it now, seeing your backpack in the hands of the last person who should have it. You were about the run over to him, but the bullet that landed too close for comfort reminded you that you had to leave now. “Arachnid has it!” You’d just have to put your trust into the three that were already here.

“Got it,” Jeno bashed his knee into Vulture’s head, finally incapacitating the Follower and switched targets. You turned around and ran into the hallway. You just had to call one of the other members to run over here with some extra materials. You hit the side of your phone, which only frizzed at the motion. Chenle must have jammed the signals to prevent more reinforcements from coming, great. You couldn’t run around forever, Dead Shot always hit his targets in the end, you continued down the hallway, not bothering to look back, but when you found yourself cornered against a hallway, you forced to figure out a solution. With the smell of smoke and the sounds of bullets hitting the ground— Wait a second. You looked down the hallway, bullets hitting metal and ricocheting towards you but never hitting any intended destination, there wasn’t even a bullet hole in sight, instead there were just empty shells on the ground. But in your analysis you failed to notice the stray bullet that was right in front of you. Then you saw someone’s closed fist in front of you.

“Did I get all of them?” He panted. He opened his hand and twelve bullets fell out of it.

“Oh my god, Mark, you’re just in time, I don’t remember you being this fast either,” you caught your breath and hugged the speedster, separating quickly. Mark pat down the smoke on his boots.

“I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast…” He stretches his back and kicks the bullet shells aside.

“How’d you even get here?”

“The sorcerer guy called Baekhyun and asked us to come right away. I had a feeling it wasn’t anything good so I came first, told them I’d scout the area. It’s a good thing I came, otherwise you’d look like Sponge-Bob…” He laughs awkwardly. “You’re at your quota, aren’t you?” He looks down at your feet. You followed his gaze and saw the rusted knife sticking out from it, then you noticed the bloody trail you left behind. You sighed and pulled the old thing out.

“Remind me to get a Tetanus shot.”

“You are at your quota,” he gasped.

“Can’t afford to possibly die right now,” you shook your head. “I thought since the dimension was far enough it’d get me some leeway, but I guess not,” you grimaced.

“Shit, it really is a good thing that I came just in time,” Mark looks over his shoulder. “Dead Shot should be on his way, you didn’t make it hard to find you.”

“Don’t smart-mouth me right now, Mark.”

“Right, yeah, sorry about that,” the speedster ruffled his blue hair and unzipped his jacket, pulling out a book from it. It was heavy, no doubt, leather-bound with metal embellishments around it. The book had lived through as many eons as it did dimensions. You had asked Mark to try to get it for you if he could, but nothing more than that. Better to leave him in blissful ignorance. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time to say this,” he says while he hands it to you.

“Just spit it out.”

“I was looking into that thing you asked me about and here, this is all I got,” he says. “Whatever you need it for it’d better be important, I almost got turned into a frog for it. The guy I got it from warned me not to read it though.”

“Why?”

“I dunno, something about corrupting the person who reads it.”

“Oh shit, I should have Jeno read it then.”

“True, you can’t corrupt a demon.”

“But then again he is only half.”

“Look, (Y/N), I only got you the book because you were so insistent on it. Just reassure me and tell me that you won’t do anything stupid with it.”

“I won’t, I won’t, I may be stupid but I’m not that stupid, Mark. When are the others coming?”

“I just gave them the signal to enter, they’ll be taking care of the Follower problem here in a bit. But you’re going to have to explain why you’re here to them, and I’m afraid that it might involve you revealing your identities this time.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Why else would you be in D62 being housed and paid by this dimension’s Avengers?”

“Fair enough—” you were cut off by the bullet grazing your ear and landing in the wall behind you. Another one rang out and Mark grimaced, holding his hand to his shoulder

“Argh! Come on!” He grunts. He puts a hand on your back and one behind your neck.

“Why?”

“Whiplash,” you blinked and suddenly found yourself back in the Avenger’s Compound.

“Mark, don’t you dare!”

“Sorry! Jeno’s orders! I’d rather a pissed off you than Jeno!”

“Mark, I swear if you zoom out of here—” but the speedster was already gone by the time you turned around. “Dammit!” You kicked the wall and winced immediately, you completely forgot that it was the same foot that had a knife driven through it earlier.

He was right, you’d reached your quota. There was a certain amount of times you were allowed to “die” until it would be too much, and you knew you’d be at this quota when your body would stop healing itself, it was getting ready for its original host to return. You just didn't think you’d reach it soon, and who knows until the number resets? It was always a varying number, and until it did you had to lay low. It was such a hassle that you always tried to avoid it, but coming to this dimension seemed to have expedited the whole thing. You heard a bag of chips drop behind you.

“(Y/N)? When did you get here?” Jisung stared at you while he picked up the bag.

“Mark.”

“Mark’s here? Where?” Jisung looks around.

“There was a complication at Dr. Strange’s place,” you limped towards him, he rushed over to you and reached for your hand to help you, but you tugged it away. “I’m fine.”

“Oh, okay,” Jisung gave you a little more space, but still walked next to you, sporting that easy-to-read concern. “Do they need help?”

“No. The Avengers are coming.”

“Oh… oh no,” Jisung caught onto why you were being short now. “Oh no, oh no, we won’t have a choice then.”

“No, we won’t,” you heaved the large book under your arm. Jisung looked at it but chose not to question you. “I’ll be in my room, I have a lot of thinking to do before we explain ourselves to the lapdogs so, if you need me, I’ll be in there,” Jisung says.

“Oi, (Y/N)!” Haechan held his hand up and Jisung furiously shook his head. Hyuck pressed on regardless. “Think you need this,” he waved the small box in his hand and you did a doubletake.

“Where did you get that?!” You rushed forward and snatched it out of his hands. “Be a bit more gentle with it!”

“Whoa! What’s got you pissed? Jeno drowned and dropped this. Changmin said to give it to you so I figured it’s important, damn.”

“The Avengers are coming.”

“Like… these Avengers?” He points around the room. “Or our Avengers.”

“The second one,” Jisung nods. “Right, (Y/N)?” You didn’t answer, you were already halfway to your room. You tossed the book on your bed and you opened the small box, pulling the vial of iridescent liquid from it. You twisted it open and downed its limited contents in one gulp. You felt all of your muscles relax at once and you sat on the bed. The wound on your foot closed quickly.

“Postponed, at least for now,” you stretched your arms. “But not permanently,” you placed the vial back in the box and you grabbed the book. As you held the two sides in your hands, ready to open it, you recalled Mark’s warning. Then you remembered the words of the Demon King himself.

“If you know what’s good for you, and what’s good for the world you reside in. Do not seek more than you already know about yourself.”

The times you spoke to Jeno’s father were limited, and your best friend liked it that way, preferred it actually, but the times you did talk they were always pleasant. Save for that warning. He knew something you didn’t, the both of them. You acquired this book without any of their knowledge. For years you just went with it, there’s a quota for death, there’s a reason why you can’t die, there’s a reason why you should avoid stepping near the Seraph, but now in this new universe, you had to know. There was something calling out to you in this dimension, it was very faint, and you didn’t truly notice it until you walked into the Sanctum.

You put the book away, sliding it under the bed.

Trust is mutual, if two very powerful beings are telling you to stay in your lane you probably should. You knew the bare minimum of your condition, so to say, you knew what you had to. Die too many times too close together and something else will come and reclaim its host, and all you knew about that entity was that it was some eldritch creature that took a millennia to finally contain, and for some reason, it had some affinity for you. That is where your knowledge stopped and your curiosity began. What could be so powerful that even the all-powerful Demon King wanted to keep it contained, and what did it have to do with you? Your answers were under your bed. But you risked too much by simply opening the book on its own. You hit your head lightly on the wall behind you. The liquid in the vial would extend your quota by at most three, you had to use them carefully. If you were going to attract a horrific monster, it would probably be best to not do it in a world that you didn’t belong to.

There was a knock at your door.

“What do you want, Renjun?”

The door opened slowly, and someone else stood at it.

“Is now a bad time?” Stark asks. You shook your head.

“It’s your building, come in,” you sighed. He walked in at your invitation, sitting at the table to the side.

“So this is what S.H.I.E.L.D. meant by living accommodations,” he laughs.

“What did you need, Mr. Stark?”

“Tony’s fine, thanks,” he says. “Sorry, it was eating away at me, I had to ask.”

“You wanna know about what you’re like in my dimension, right?”

“I’d appreciate it, but, something tells me I should come back later.”

“Oh, no, no, it’s fine.”

“Where are your friends?”

“Probably getting their asses kicked, but I’m here instead,” you shrugged. “Honestly, you’re not that different. Maybe a little less depressed, but that’s about it. For what it counts, to our knowledge, you aren’t a Follower. You work closely with the Seraph, if they found out then you would’ve been executed on spot, at the very least.”

“Oh yeah? Crazy leader or rational one?”

“Bit of both,” you leaned forward on your bed, kicking the book further under your bed. “Want to know anything else?”

“I was wondering if you could walk me through your Traveler of yours, is it anything like Time Travel?”

“Let’s call it two sides of the same coin.”

“How so? What do you use? Cosmic strings? Möbius strip?”

“Have you heard of the infinite cylinder theory?”

“Also known as Tipler?

“Yes!”

“Then yes, I’m aware.”

“How about Schrödinger’s Equation?”

“We’re talking hamiltonian operators?”

“Bingo. If you can manipulate those two concepts, you can get time travel, but it’s not perfect. So manipulate them differently, add a few more concepts because you have to take relativity into account, and bam. Dimensional Travel.”

“That easy?”

“Yeah, well, no, but in theory sure.”

“And you never went to high school?”

“What’s that got to do with it? If you need a degree to prove you’re right then you’re probably not the sharpest tool in the shed,” you shrug. Tony opened his mouth to retaliate, but couldn’t think of a good comeback to that. “Something tells me you want to ask me something more specific though, Peter let slip that he’s been sending you updates, so I’m sure you’re here for a different reason.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why help us?”

“Don’t really know how to answer that one, Tony,” you placed your ankle on your opposite knee and rolled out your ankle. “Usually we just take whichever job pays the most, but Changmin asked us personally to take this one, so how could we say no? The guy rarely ever asks us favors, and it was the least we could do.”

“That simple?”

“What? Did you want me to say that we wanted to meet you guys? I mean, it’s certainly a plus. Most of your team happen to be carbon copies of the same one who wants to kill us, so there’s that, we’re observing the ways you act, maybe it’ll help us in the future, maybe not. It’s like a two-way deal, you get your Traveler, and we get data.”

“Data,” Tony scoffs. “I can see why you’d come to that conclusion.”

“What can I say? It’s helpful. But, I can definitely say that we might be relieved of our duties soon, we’re technically here illegally, I’ll have you know,” you said to him. “We’re supposed to get official approval from the Secretary of Travel before jumping dimensions, but we’re not exactly law followers so we never did. But now that an official government team is on their way, hoo boy, my greatest rival is yet to come. Paperwork,” you made light of what would otherwise be a very very bad situation.

“I heard, so we get to meet the other Avengers.”

“Yup. And, let me tell you right now, they’re not the nicest people.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, just you wait until I tell you about them.”

~

The shadow amalgamate shattered into what it once was, scurrying back to their original positions, once Chenle had the wind knocked out of him by Lynx. He landed harshly on Jaemin, who then lost his balance and sent the two tumbling down to the first floor of the Sanctum.

“Sorry,” Chenle rolled off the top of Jaemin.

“It’s fine, call it even for the incident with the banshee.”

“Agreed, ugh, my head’s doing cartwheels…”

“Cartwheels? I feel like mine is being churned,” Jaemin holds his head. Chenle and Jaemin lay next to each other for a moment, trying to stop their spinning heads when someone stood over them.

“Are we bothering you, gentlemen?”

“Ugh, these fuckers are here,” Jaemin covered his eyes with his arms. “Tell me when they’re gone, Apollo.”

“That’s kind of mean,” Mark frowns. Jaemin moves his hand.

“Mark’s not a bad person, actually, Tony. I feel bad because I encouraged him to join the Avengers when they asked, but the other guys saw it as a complete betrayal. But he’s loyal, he doesn’t hate us and we don’t hate him, or at least I don’t.”

“Oh look! The traitor!” He lazily points at him. “Do you know how much shit we’ve been through since you left?”

“All the dishes we’ve had to wash?”

“V won’t even let us take your room because she thinks you’re coming back! You dumb traitor, what happened to our friendship bracelets, Mark?! Huh?!”

“You guys, don’t call me that, come on! Look I’m still wearing it!” Mark whines.

“Go away! You left us for your cooler friends who can legally blow things up, go! Go have fun with them!” Chenle points an accusing finger towards the speedster.

“Just leave them there,” Mark whispers.

“We’re looking for Strange,” a deeper voice says.

“Oh my god, is that Wong Yukhei?” Jaemin asks, his blurred vision not helping him at all. “You know, Vendetta has a cardboard cutout of you, I think she talks to it sometimes,” he laughs, his words slightly slurred as a result of the head damage received when he fell on the hard floors in the first place.

“Flattered,” Yukhei responds.

“Wong Yukhei, decorated soldier from the order of war and the first in the super-soldier experiments. Actually not a bad guy, but feels the need to flex his bravado every now and then because of the team he’s on, and honestly, I kind of relate to that.”

“The hatless wizard is somewhere upstairs,” Chenle points up and lets his arm drop to his side. “We’d help, but you guys look like one big ugly walrus right now.” Jaemin starts cracking up and the two high five.

“Do we have to work with them?” Another voice snapped.

“Li Yongqin, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, Lee Youngheum, he has too many names to remember so people usually just call him Ten. He was a perfect student in the military academies, which I’m guessing where his nickname comes from. But he’s pretty impatient, rather ill-tempered from my experience."

“We don’t have a choice,” a more suave on this time.

“Ooh, Lee Taemin. He's an interesting one, Tony. We’re actually pretty close, or used to be at least. He’s very good at what he does, he has years of experience under his belt, but it’s pretty scary. He’s probably done his research by now, be careful, he knows you better than you know yourself. Don’t argue.”

“Gentlemen, let’s end this, we have clearance from the Seraph to exterminate the Followers,” a more powerful one.

“Oh, oh, Lee Taeyong! He’s great. I’ve seen him work a couple of times, I think he’s shot me in the head before. Don’t ask. I have a great deal of respect for him, but he’s kind of anti-social, not easy to get along with him, but I think it’s all miscommunication in the end. I think if we really got to know each other we’d hit it off, but otherwise, I think I’m just a person with a bounty on her head in his eyes.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jaemin pushed himself up, his eyes finally focusing. “Exterminate? Yeah, you guys do that, but let the Maverick leave first, we don’t want to get caught up in your deathmatch again,” Jaemin hits the side of his head a few times.

“Where’s the Vendetta?”

“Not here! She left because Reaper was being a little bitch!” Jaemin laughs again and Chenle joins him.

“We’re wasting our time here with these idiots,” another person says. Chenle squints his eyes to make out the figure.

“Now there’s Kim Jongin, he’s one of the people who started the Avengers project and got them all together. He’s an indispensable member, in my opinion. But when you’re in a team with that many star-studded members who are constantly in the public eye, it’s easy to get lost in the lights. But he knows how to keep things according to itinerary.”

“Who are you again?” He asks. “I thought the Avengers only had six members,” he stifles back a laugh.

“Dude that’s low!” Jaemin cackles. Mark swallows down a laugh when Taemin looks over at him, both of them trying to be respectful to their teammate.

“I know that’s why I said it!” Chenle hits his teammate’s arm and Jaemin winces, but the two continue in their little circus.

“Forget them, let’s just go,” Jongin. The team ascends the steps.

“Enter, the Avengers,” Baekhyun smiles.

“And finally there’s their leader. Byun Baekhyun— yes, he’s my older brother, no we don’t talk, and I don’t think he even knows I’m alive. He’s similar to you in some aspects, he pays for all of their shit. But he’s manipulative. He knows how to get into your head. Be careful with him.”

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[ace-in-a-shopping-cart]

The Second-Hand Bookstore

Credit for idea goes to @starry-knight-skies. I also got a bit carried away with it, oops.

Summary: Logan owns a  bookstore in a small town. Virgil is a vampire. Nuff said.

Word Count:  2,219

Main Taglist: (Send an ask to be added or removed!) @starlocked01​​​ @spoopy-turtle​​​ @lizluvscupcakes​​ @more-fandon-than-friends​, @i-cant-find-a-good-username, @vindicatedvirgil, @star-crossed-shipper, @justaqueercactus

Logan walked down the stairs and did a once over of the store. He checked the shelves for dust, made sure any misplaced books were put back, and that everything was generally where it should be. He did this routine every time he closed up as well but never knew if his exhaustion clouded his judgement or if he missed anything. Being ready for business, he went and unlocked the front door.

The shop was a little out of the way second-hand bookstore so he didn’t expect many visitors so early in the morning. Only, there was a customer that came in almost as soon as Logan sat down behind the cash register.

The man was dressed in black jeans, a black hoodie with purple patches and white stitching, and a ripped purple shirt. His hood was up when he walked in and he didn’t even seem to pause to adjust his eyes, he just went straight to browsing. Having nothing better to do, Logan watched the customer. 

The man ran his hand along the spines in a way that both suggested he was looking for something but also that he was greeting old friends. Logan wondered if the man had read any of them before. The man walked deeper, a smile flitting across his face as he saw some of the titles. He chuckled at one point, pulling a book off the shelf with a muttered, “I didn’t know this still existed.”

Logan smiled, loathe to break the silence. The book was put back on the shelf as the man continued wandering down the aisle. He got to the back section where Logan kept the older books and his posture changed. He seemed to gain more energy and Logan could imagine his eyes lighting up. His fingers ran along the spines in a gentle and loving way that made Logan think of greeting long lost friends or family unseen for a while.

The door rang and Logan turned, ready to help the next customer. Thoughts of the other customer were pushed to the back of his mind as he was told of a specific book this one was looking for. Logan had to order it but told them it would be there soon. 

When his attention returned to the back aisles, the stranger wasn’t there. Logan’s eyes scanned the tiny store for him, sure he hadn’t gone out the door. He found him curled up in the corner chair, a content smile on his face as he read the book in his hands. Logan wasn’t close enough to read the title.

The day went on and Logan kept up with the now steady trickle of customers coming in. He paid no mind to the customer at the back who was steadily working his way through Logan’s whole astronomy section. That is, until he went on his lunch break and approached the man. 

Logan smiled. “Hi, I couldn’t help but see that you’re going through the whole section on stars.”

The man looked up, a sheepish expression on his pale face. He had dark bags under his eyes that suggested he got little sleep the night before. “Sorry, is that not allowed?”

Logan shook his head. “No, it’s perfectly fine. I was just wondering if you wanted to come talk about constellations while I grab lunch.”

His eyes widened as he put the book down, not even bothering to mark his place. “Really?”

Logan nodded. “Only if you want to.”

He nodded, standing to dwarf Logan by a few inches. Logan led the way out the door, turning the sign to lunch break and locking the door on the way out. “Do you have a preference for a place to eat?”

The man paused, a brief expression of panic crossing his face before it smoothed out. “No, I don’t.”

Logan nodded, humming thoughtfully as they walked down the street. “How about Subway?”

Thus, they sat in a booth and talked about the stars, bonding over the stories they knew of them and laughing when they came up with ones for the constellations they forgot. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil had entered that bookstore that day to get out of the morning sun that stung his eyes. He hadn’t expected to find a spectacled man sitting at a counter, following him with his eyes. He hadn’t expected to run across books written by friends, written by him under a different name. Books that felt like friends simply because of the part of his life he was going through when he’d read it. His mind wandered back to his father’s words, spoken so long ago now: “If you keep your memories in books, you will never forget.” 

Out of all the books, he hadn’t expected to run into ones he’d owned at one point in his life, hadn’t expected to be able to pull it off the shelf and read the notes he’d scribbled into the margins, to see the tear stains on some of the pages, hadn’t expected to be hit with the smell of books that never changes, no matter what century he was in. 

He hadn’t expected to take the trip down memory lane right into his old profession, to be met with almost a wall of books written about stars. He smiled, eyes lighting with a life he hadn’t felt in a long time, and browsed. He saw books written by long dead colleagues, himself, teachers, mentors, students of his, students of his students, and so on. 

He hadn’t expected to be coming face to face with the charming man at the counter, who had been watching him the whole time, asking if he wanted to go eat lunch with him. He didn’t have the heart to tell him he couldn’t eat anymore, just went along with it for the sake of seeing him smile again the way he saw out of the corner of his eye. 

When asked for his preference for a place to eat his eyes grew wide at the thought of ‘the park’ that sprang to his mind. 

He surely didn’t expect to come back, this time in a leather jacket covering a shirt of a band that had long since broken up, purple fishnet gloves and sunglasses perched on his head, all paired with the same jeans as before. He didn’t expect to be spending most of the day talking with Logan, didn’t expect to be purchasing a bunch of the astronomy books he’d written a hundred years ago. 

When he had walked down those stairs and through the door into that store that day to get out of the heat, he had expected very few things. In return, he managed to gain so much more. He had shut himself off from people after the last person he’d thought was his friend had tried to sell him for his fangs. 

He found himself growing closer to Logan, smiling in his presence, almost showing his fangs multiple times. He enjoyed talking with him to the point that he almost let his guard down. He didn’t notice how close they’d gotten until he found himself sitting on a couch, an old show running in the background as Logan was curled up against his side, fast asleep. There were times when Virgil missed the need for sleep, the slipping into oblivion for a few precious hours, but right now he wouldn’t give up his vampiric nature for the world.

He felt Logan shift against him, settling deeper against his side. Virgil stretched his arm out, being careful to not move the rest of his body. He picked up the remote to turn the television off, grabbing the book sitting beside it before settling back into his seat. One arm was slung over Logan’s back and he unconsciously started rubbing his back, fingers threading through Logan’s hair as he read by the dim light of the lamp next to him. 

A few more weeks passed and Virgil knew he should start to get moving again. He normally didn’t like staying in the same place for long, the centuries he’d lived having instilled a wanderlust in him. His only regret at this point was having to leave Logan. He’d grown fond of the human in their time together, to the point that his heart stuttered sometimes when he saw him.

He was all packed and ready to go, his motorcycle waiting on the curb. Yet, here he was, standing in front of the door to Logan’s second-hand bookstore. He took a deep breath and pushed it open, listening to the jingle of the bell for maybe the last time. “Logan?” He called when he didn’t see him at the front desk.

“Back here!” His voice answered from the back room. 

Virgil followed and found himself in the back room. He walked over and took the box Logan was struggling to lift. “Where do you need it?”

Logan huffed, hands resting on the small of his back. “In the front, I need to reload some of the shelves.” Virgil just nodded and did as he was told.

He put it off, spending more and more time with Logan until the sun had set, the perfect time to be on the open road, and Logan was inviting him up for a dinner he couldn’t eat. He sat at the table, hands reaching to twist the tablecloth between his fingers, trying to get out the anxious energy he could feel building up in his gut. Finally, he took a steadying breath and spoke. “I’m leaving tonight.”

Logan turned to look at him, playfulness dancing in his eyes behind his glasses. “I didn’t intend for you to stay the night.”

Virgil shook his head, feeling bravery mix with the anxiety. “I mean, I’m leaving town tonight.”

Logan paused, turning the burner off before coming to stand beside Virgil. “Why?”

Virgil shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Logan nodded, resting a hand on the table. “Is it something I did?”

Virgil was quick to shake his head, even as he felt his walls try to rebuild to brace against the heartbreak he knew was coming. “No, of course not. It’s nothing either of us did. It’s just something that happens every once in a while.”

Logan hesitated. He swallowed and Virgil tried not to show that his eyes were drawn to the vein in his neck. After a long pause, Logan spoke. “If this is about you being a vampire, I already know.”

Virgil startled, his head jerking back just a bit. “How?”

Logan chuckled, eyes rising to lock with Virgil’s own. “How many spoons do I have?”

Virgil didn’t even have to think about it. “Twenty five.”

Logan nodded. “The compulsion to count arbitrary things, the lack of actual eating, you always being awake no matter when I wake up if you stay over.” He sighed, exasperated. “Virgil, you came in with blood still on your chin one time, for goodness sake!”

Virgil swiped at his chin, checking for blood there. Eventually, he nodded, moving to stand. “Alright. I guess I should be going then.”

Logan put a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him down into the chair. “Why are you trying to leave me? I just told you I don’t care that you’re a vampire.”

Virgil huffed, leaning forward to put his forearms on the table. “I don’t age as fast as you do, Logan. By the time you’re old, I’ll only look a few years older than I do now. Besides, people will be suspicious that I don’t age.” He held up a hand, pausing whatever thought Logan was going to share. “Before you say it, I can’t just turn you. You’d be able to be with me, yes, but you’d also have to move every few decades as well. You’d never see this bookstore again. Is that what you really want? To move like you’re on the run, having to watch your every step?” Virgil shook his head, letting his bangs fall into his face. “I don’t want that for you.”

Logan put a hand over Virgil’s. “What if I could give you a reason to stay?”

Virgil looked up at him, hope bubbling below the surface, desperate to breach. “What do you mean?”

Logan smiled. “You do realize that half this town is full of vampires, right?”

Virgil leaned toward him, hand gripping his gentle but forceful at once. “Explain.”

“Half of the town is vampires, the other half is humans that know of them. Heck, my own great uncle is still here and he doesn’t look older than I do. Why do you think my store has such old books? People still read them, still enjoy them. None of them treasure them the way you do, nor do they greet them like old friends like you do, but they still remember the books from their times as humans. I want to be with you, Virgil. You don’t have to leave, you don’t have to run anymore.”

Virgil felt tears gather at the corners of his eyes as the realization that this could be home set in. Logan's arms came around his shoulders, offering comfort. Virgil smiled through his tears. “You’d really have me?”

A kiss was pressed to his temple. “Fangs and all.”

Virgil chuckled. “Fangs and all.” He echoed softly.

[human-enthusiast]

Absurd Person #1 - Monkey D. Luffy (kid)

 Let’s start with not only the main protagonist of One Piece but also the first character to give Luffy any sort of injury...

...his dumb, seven-year-old self...

*Disclaimer: I don’t own this image - screenshot from Episode of East Blue

The last time I wrote this, I forgot to hit save and my browser just reloaded the page and lost everything. After that I just went “I’m done” and rage quit Tumblr for the night (which I normally don’t do). That’s how my Sundays usually go😒🥴

Now Onward!

Basic Classifications

Real World Ethnicity/Nationality: Brazilian

Class: farm / country / lower class

Culture (the one he grew up around): Dawn Island - Sea-side village

Fishing community

Farming / Ranching community

Hard work ethic

Small and close community members; relatively friendly; little to non-existent conflict

Selective mix of being open towards strangers (especially with merchant vessels for better trading opportunities) and weariness towards those they expect to be harmful (likes Pirates; I’d imagine the people of Windmill Village were understandably unnerved with the Red-Haired Pirates first showing up).

Core values (personal to Luffy): pride, physical strength, adventures on and outside his home village,

Relation to authority: neutral - shifting slightly towards negative (no clear basis of opinion; can only go off on Luffy’s fascination with pirates as the main viewpoint)

(The added information feels a little scatter-shot but figured I give it a try based on little information from the manga panels and how it lines up with real-world similarities. Most information is based on logical speculation and could change with new information in later chapters.)

I know that the Romance Dawn arc consists of the chapters up until he meets Coby and Alvida (I think...), but the depiction of Luffy’s character in the first chapter seems different from when he is seventeen and setting out to sea. So, I’ll treat kid Luffy as a separate character for the first analysis.

First Impressions and Introduction

Now, I am an anime watcher, first and foremost, so my first impression of this character stems from the Anime. My introduction towards this ball of chaos was when he popped out of a barrel, that he put himself into after realizing that a whirlpool suddenly appeared (how he missed it? - It’s Luffy), and then inexplicably took a nap in. That was the absurd reason I was able to stick with One Piece in the first few arcs (until Baratie became one of the major reasons I stuck with it - I’ll explain why when we get there).

And since the first chapter was used for episode four in the anime, I was already somewhat familiar with how the story started and who Luffy was as a kid. However, reading the first chapter felt....different than what I would’ve expected. And because the anime cut out a few details from the chapter, there definitely are some things to take from kid Luffy at that point.

So my first impression was, as follows:

The kid is unhinged...That explains some things...

Complete wild child of a backwater village from Day 1. 

LIKE-- The anime episode DID NOT explain how he got that scar and the guy didn’t bring it up ever. To be fair, that wasn’t a big focus because the anime didn’t make it a focus. Reading that part though did more for his character and a little of his upbringing, through speculation, making it a rather slow-building but also fascinating introduction into this series.

Just a bit of an add-on, but if the manga introduced Luffy in the same level of neutrality as what the Anime did, It may not have fully made it clear if Luffy was going to be the main protagonist. Then again, it’s a shounen manga, maybe it was rather obvious to everyone else. Regardless, his introduction served to 

(1) Make his entrance memorable

(2) Establish his character that could either compare or set him apart from his teen self.

(3) Act as a sort of precursor towards the introduction of Luffy’s world and upbringing (which isn’t completely established until the last few arcs of Pre-Time Skip)

Personality

The best way I could describe Luffy at this point is a stereotypical kid...

Energetic, short-tempered, adventure-seeking, easily impressed, and ignorant...

That last description is actually something I brought up in a separate post about the “Fluid themes” of One Piece. Because I found that a small but overarching part in many (almost all) themes and world issues that One Piece reflects has some level of unawareness or apathy. Jimbe put it best during the Fishman Island Flashback when they found Koala (paraphrasing)

“They are afraid of us because they don’t know us.”

Know us referring to acknowledging them as people on the same level as humans.

Because of that and plenty of other instances from the East Blue, it can be a potential center for many characters who go up against or wish to explore the world and find that they are a frog in a well.

And that’s what kid Luffy represents. A rather aggressive frog in a well that wants out.

Granted, he is a seven-year-old, whose schooling has a closer equivalent to the 16th and 17th centuries of our world, living in what appears to be a farming community, so I’d imagine his education only focuses on at least the basic levels of reading/writing, mathematics, etc. A small, unexciting farming village probably has more concerns over their melon crops rather than what the world has going on. Adding in Luffy, you get a kid who dreams about being a pirate and adventuring outside the isolated village, making him avidly interested in a world he has no experience with. Or in a world he thinks is all fun and games.

That’s pretty standard for any child that has a mild and peaceful life. No doubt Shanks and his crew would tell him stories about their adventures. Not as a sort of attempt to make him a pirate, but because he was easily entertained by it, building up this expectation with stereotypical pirate personas. And whether he has his “destructive” tendencies before they became a fixture in Windmill Village, they definitely seemed to amp it up enough for Luffy to try and prove he was “man enough” to be a pirate at seven years old.

Then when you add in this idealistic expectation with the selfishness of a young child, it creates an opportunity to learn. Because, as any kid may go through, will find that their fantasy of the world won’t be what they expected, and will often react negatively. Luffy’s expectation of Shanks is that he is the strongest man worthy enough to be a pirate.

Now, Luffy’s view of a “real man” stems a lot from this stereotype of men solving their problems through fighting only. Which also embodies this rather damaging philosophy of never running away or backing down from a fight (which I refer to as stupid bravery - something that comes up in a certain other character).

The amazing thing about all the combined aspects of this kid is the ability to create a learning lesson for Luffy. Which can become a motivational factor in his pursuit as a pirate.

His easily impressed nature makes it known both when the Red-Haired Pirates talk positively about piracy adventures and when Shanks leaves the village. The difference between the moments can be showcased by the difference in determination and will to make an effort to achieve his dream. As he declared he wants to be King of The Pirates, he sets himself to work at it, rather than try and go with others.

How He Shapes the Story / World Around Them

I don’t know if anybody else made a similar connection (I wanna say someone DID but I can’t remember where) but in combination with Luffy’s general enthusiasm growing up hearing wild stories, his narrative reminds me so much of Don Quixote De La Mancha.

It’s been a while since I last read that story-- and by read I mean translate some paragraphs from Spanish to English during my Spanish I class in freshman year of high school. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Part I entails an old man who, after indulging himself with various stories of knights and valor, decides he wants to partake in his own adventures. Under various delusions and misadventures, his story becomes a rather well-known one.

Don Quixote was called the first “modern book”. That was something my Spanish teacher mentioned regarding its acknowledgment by the world and always stuck with me. It was one of the first stories of the early medieval period to focus on a regular man. Other stories before this tended to be about legends, gods, demigods-- individuals who often were referred to as legends because they were born into high status (often above humans). Either through original texts (often for religious purposes) and then through varying interpretations (such as the Arthurian Legends), these tales were a part of the status quo.

Kid Luffy is a person that reflects so much of the Don Quixote story (And not just because his village has windmills-- the most iconic scene about the knight’s story). He is that simple, normal boy that longs for his own adventures when there seemingly is already a well-talked-about story about someone who achieved infamy. In place of that is a man named Gold Roger whose execution we see in the manga’s opening. At this point, we don’t have much understanding about how it impacts the world as of yet, we just know it is setting up for something significant to the story.

Luffy becomes that “regular” person from a small-town with big expectations for a grand adventure.

That perspective can slowly build into the story by starting in a simple setting with a character going through one of the first dynamic changes in his life. Luffy’s experience with Shanks’s sacrifice sets a course in his own adventure. A story that trails into a rather bonkers adventure at the end of chapter 1.

His development is what shaped his world. It’s the way he learns when as it stems from the consequences of his actions. Especially ones where the smaller ones turn out to be very costly, making it a hard lesson that ingrains into the young kid. His actions created by his old ideologies sparked an intense reaction in the people around him. Especially Shanks, who felt he was worth losing an arm towards.

How The WORLD Shapes HIM

So, for the sake of the fact that kid Luffy’s “World” in Chapter 1 mostly consists of Windmill Village, I’m adding in Shank’s and his crew’s influence to extend and further give credence to his influence. Because, as of this point, Shanks represents a glimpse into the life of a pirate that Luffy strives for.

With Luffy being in a quiet environment all seven years of life, there is growth through basic schooling and healthy child development (theoretically since Makino seems to be the most likely one acting as his guardian), instead of doing things outside that norm. Now Shanks is the odd factor that creates new development into Luffy’s dreams and future ambitions. 

The crew’s stories, charisma, and connection towards the kid actively (and probably unintentionally) created a positive expectation if he chose to pursue his dream. While that sounds inspiring, there were also negative aspects. Such as driving his ignorance and impatient nature to seek it out too early in his life.

Shanks then became a mediator. Luffy often has mixed feelings with Shanks as the man begets a level of encouragement while verbally making fun of Luffy for being a kid constantly. Despite that, it doesn’t completely deter Luffy’s ambitions. All it does is slowly drop his high expectations in Shanks after the first bar incident. This is again done by his childish outlook of physical strength and bravery equating to his ideal of a real man.

With Higama, Luffy learns about real-world dangers, and how bravery won’t always be enough to win battles. The same can be said for physical strength but at that moment it doesn’t apply to Luffy. 

Shanks’ and the crew’s involvement helped Luffy’s views change. His expectations are fulfilled, which in turn reveal that he was wrong about them.

Finally, seeing Shanks’ sacrifice unfold drove Luffy into a pang of newfound guilt. By then, he was able to change one part of his world views from a childish fantasy into the beginnings of a mature way of thinking. 

He gains some level of patience. Along with a set goal to work with. Attributes which are identifiable with Luffy in the chapters last few panels.

Patience = Luffy took time to train and learn to set sail at age seventeen.

Set goal = Be King of the Pirates

Add-Ons

When I say that kid Luffy, after Shanks’ sacrifice, gained a level of patience, it is meant as a deduction during that chapter. By no means am I insinuating that it became a permanent trait for his character. Because as of chapter 1, all of Luffy’s personality has yet to be revealed.

And this will apply to other posts for various characters. They may behave in ways during or in response to a particular event but it doesn’t necessarily equate to that becoming a whole personality trait. Calling Luffy patient, with having full acknowledgment of his personality during the bulk of One Piece, is completely off. But, there can and will be moments where Luffy will act patient when he deems it necessary.

This is a little hard to articulate but I hope it makes enough sense.

🏴‍☠️🐒

After-Notes

Here’s my first attempt at this analysis. It felt scattered even after editing everything. Breaking down characters sounds easy (and most times it is) but articulating and connecting things takes a lot of work.

Here's to hoping it gets easier with the next character. And maybe shorter paragraphs.

Up Next: Shanks (East Blue)

[iggy-of-fans]

Of being a Ladybug

So this one will Hopefully be a little less angst and a little less salt buy still a good read. Hope you enjoy!

Cons of being a Ladybug

There are a lot of things about being Ladybug that made Marinette's life difficult. The fact she always got sleepy in winter, the fact that the cold affected her more strongly than before. The way she never got enough sleep because she had to patrol. Having to deal with Chat Noir and his tantrums and flirting. The way she sometimes had to ditch her other responsibilities in favour of fighting Akumas. Hawkmoth. But right now, the thing that got to Marinette the most was that she couldn't call Lila out. Being Ladybug, a hero, meant she couldn't use being Ladybug for selfish reasons. She'd learned her lesson the last time, and in the end it hadn't even been worth it. But as Marinette, she could at the very least gather some evidence, just in case she made good on her threat. Adrien may think taking the high road was best, but Marinette could see the damage she was subtly dealing to Alya, and also to the others, a toxic kind of take and never give mentality growing in the class in the week since her return. Little things, like Kim asking to copy Max's homework instead of simply getting help with his dyslexia, Alix getting annoyed at Nathaniel for paying more attention to the art than to her when they'd hung out last, Mylene getting frustrated and feeling neglected when Ivan took her to practices instead of dates. Things that had never bothered any of her classmates before were starting to cause rifts and fights. Lila wasn't the best liar, anyone could figure her out with half a brain cell and a smartphone. Her power really came in manipulating situations in her favour, her ability to cry on command and have people feel sorry for her. But her ability to read people was her only real genius. She always knew just which buttons to push to make people feel guilty, insecure or "righteous" fury. So it was subtle, but the classroom was becoming toxic to be in. Marinette, being so giving and kind, was the most taken advantage of.

But as it turned out, Marinette didn't really have to do anything at all. Alya did the work of outing Lila by posting an interview on "The Amazing Lila Rossi, the New Every Day Ladybug and Ladybug's best friend!"

Marinette felt bad for Alya, but also a bit vindicated, since maybe this might finally teach her to fact check. Marinette crossed her fingers in hope of Alya getting off with a slapped wrist and sent the video to Penny Rolling and the Italian embassy general e-mail. It was Sunday night, at least she wouldn't have to wait long to see the results.

Monday morning burned bright with hope, as Marinette saw a special interview announced from Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Prince Ali and several other names Marinette didn't recognize. Nadja Chamak was not going to be hosting though, as several people being interviewed had complained about "unprofessionalism" of the Parisian News anchor. Marinette shrugged, at least she wouldn't have to babysit. She went to school, hearing whispers of LadyBlog being shut down by Officials due to inaccurate information. Marinette sagged slightly, 'that sucks', she thought. She'd hoped Alya wouldn't be too badly affected. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up to the frowning face of Adrien Agreste.

"Adrien! Morning good! Good Morning! Hi!" Marinette stuttered.

"Did you have anything to do with the LadyBlog being shut down?" Adrien asked, his eyes spelling disappointment.

"What? It's being shut down? Why? And what do you mean me? What power do I have over anyone, let alone Alya to shut that down?" Marinette asked, a negative feeling travelling down her spine. What the hell was Adrien on about?

He smiled reassuringly suddenly," You're right. What was I thinking. You may be our everyday Ladybug, but it's not like you have the influence to get a free blog shut down."

Adrien smiled, patted her shoulder, and walked past her towards the classroom. Marinette stood frozen. Did… Did Adrien think… Did he think she was… Worth less? Because she wasn't rich? She stood there past the final ring of the bell, until Tikki popped her head out.

"Marinette, are you okay?" she asked quietly. She was highly dissatisfied with Adrien at the moment, but needed to focus on her own charge.

"Am I… Did Adrien… I thought he was better than that…. But… He actually thinks because… That because I'm not rich, that I have no power…?" sheshe frazed it like a question, but Tikki and Marinette both knew the truth.

"You should get to class, Marinette" Tikki said instead. Shaking herself, Marinette started walking, only for the alarms to start.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette shouted, and took off towards the sounds of crashes.

Alya woke up Monday morning excited to see the result of her post the night before. She'd worked with Lila all weekend to get it perfect and now the fruits of her labour would be sewn. She opened the blog and stopped. Yesterday, before posting the video, she'd had 675 followers. This morning, only 231 people were left. She scrolled to the comments.

"Oh yes, I saved Jagged's non-existent cat, from his non-existent private jet, on a tarmac which civilians aren't allowed onto. And I came to Paris months after Ladybug started saving Paris, but I was supposed to be the original and I just recommended my friend instead!... Yeah right! Who the hell believes this crap? "

" my favorite line in this video is where she claims to have grown up as jagged stones favorite person, but doesn't even get his home city right!"

" oh ladybug totally loves chat, she just wants to keep it on the dl. {attachment} this video taken a couple weeks ago while chat threw a tantrum cause she refused to go on a date with him"

"Clara Nightingale and I were ACTUALLY in the same dance class, and I don't remember a sausage with a mouth being in that class"

"if ladybug can heal her supposed tinnitus, why isn't she curing cancer?"

The comments continued along that line when suddenly a loading error came up. Alya scowled and reloaded the page, only for a [401: error. The page you are trying to load no longer exists]. Alya paled.

"No! No no no no no no no no!" she chanted as she tried to reload it, and then tried to go in to check the coding. Everything was shut down. Alya started to tear up. This couldn't be happening! She was sure Lila wasn't a liar. Marinette just didn't like not being the center of attention, just as Lila said. Marinette just, just this once, couldn't find the good in a person, but Laya could. Alya opened Google and looked up 'Jagged Stone pets', 'Jagged Stone cat', 'Clara Nightingale dance school', 'Prince Ali charity foundation', and finally 'Lila Rossi'. The only thing that came from the search was that Alya felt like a total idiot for not believing Marinette. And an Italian school site. She clicked it and had Google translate the page.

"STUDENT COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER SEVERE CASE OF BULLYING"

The name of the victim was never released, but schools in Italy were all warned about Lila Rossi. According to the article, this should be in her school files… Why did Mlle. Bustier not warn them? A knocking on the front door distracted Alya from her screen.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Alya's mother screamed, and Alya bolted to the door. Her mother rounded on her the second she opened the door.

"Alya! What is the meaning of this? You're being sued for misinformation and defamation and slander!" her mother continued, holding papers in the air and waving them about. Even still in her housecoat with messy hair, her mother struck a terrifying picture. Alya shrunk in on herself. There would be no sneaking out of this one.

Rose looked at her phone again, her eyes dim and her head bowed. Phrases like "I have never heard of this girl before", and "if this is the type of persons you surround yourself with", "Perhaps I was mistaken in trusting you", and most hurtful of all "This is the last time you will hear from me" jumped out of the email at her from Prince Ali. She had been so excited in her last message to him, telling him how Lila had told her of their adventure together, and Lila was giving her such good advice on her singing, dancing, songwriting and more. Her email had burst with praise from and for Lila, and wanting to hear Ali's version of events as well. Usually he emailed back within a few hours, but this time it had taken over a week to hear back from him. In the email he had sent, was an attachment to Alya's interview of Lila and a short message, saying only that he had never met Lila Rossi, and he'd thought Rose was smarter than to believe everything she heard, and if she kept that kind of company and believed such outrageous lies then perhaps he shouldn't have contact with her anymore, since she was seemingly too gullible and too naïve to take his friendship seriously. Tears dripped down her cheeks onto her phone. Why was Marinette always right about these things.

Jagged Stone watched the video that Marinette had sent to Penny on his big screen in his suite in Paris. He was not at all impressed with her obvious name dropping, made up stories of her greatness, and claiming he'd written a song about her. Marinette's short message of "HI Penny, I understand you and Jagged are crazy busy, but this interview ended up on my friend's website, and I just couldn't ever remember Jagged mentioning a pet other than Fang. I've even looked at some older interviews where he said he'd hatched and raised Fang when Jagged was only 15! I have no idea where this girl is getting her information, but I didn't want you to think that all of Paris had completely lost their minds and thought this heads up might put you in a better space to deal with weird questions if they ever come up. - Love, Marinette"

Jagged listened to the little chit on the screen claiming shevd received tinnitus from saving his cat. Geez! Did this girl have any idea the kind of implications this could have on his musical career?! The hell is wrong with kids today? And the girl interviewing her never even checked her sources? Poor Marinette, stuck with such complete idiots and liars. He really should try to talk Sabine into letting him take Marinette on tour with him again. This was getting ridiculous. He frowned even harder when Clara Nightingale was accused of "being jealous and stealing" sausage girls dance moves. He started feeling his blood boil slightly as he distantly heard Penny shouting into a phone for lawyers and interviews and "gosh darn it, anyone but some idiotic French Anchor". He honestly wasn't sure which of them was more pissed. Himself or his fiancée.

Clara Nightingale broke her phone on the far wall of her apartment. Two decades of dance and singing lessons, of poetry and practice and some little chit half her age thinks she can tell people that she stole it? Tears at the corners of her eyes, she was grateful Jagged had sent it to her with the assurance that Penny was already setting up interviews and lawyers. Thank Ladybug and all that is good for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If she hadn't had the foresight to send this video to them, then there would have been absolute hell at their next public appearance. She glared at her broken phone on the floor. Steal her moves, did she?

At 4am in Metropolis city, Lois rolled over and sleepily answered her phone.

"Yes?"

"I know it's early, Lois, but I have a job for you in Paris…" came from the other end. Louis bolted up in bed.

"I'm listening"...

To be Continued