#it's like they get these projects and throw them onto us with zero prep

[cute-chamomile]

It's one of those weeks (management is doing a poor job)

[artxyra]

Another DC TA Marinette | #2

*So I’m still not good at fighting sequences, so if the fight scene towards the end seems off and not quite right, I’m sorry. Also if you asked to be tagged and don’t see your name please tell (DM) me so that I can add you to the next part. I’m aiming for at least 5 parts for this version, so we shall see how this will go. 

Part 1 | Part 2 (here) | 

Part 2: Dupont Meet Gotham 

Caline was very, very sorry for her class. They haven’t been in Gotham for a single day and Lila’s already causing trouble. The trouble that cannot be fixed if something goes wrong here. There was no Hawkmoth to save her or to validate her emotions. It was no secret that Caline has Marinette on speed dial, but she knew how much the graduate loves her time away from this class. Maybe it was best to bring Marinette in and give the class a shock, but it may be too late for that. 

“No, no, I’m Damian Wayne’s girlfriend, there must be a special or something for your boss’ heir.” Lila tries to spin her web of lies to the barista as the class gathers around at a nearby cafe. 

The barista stares boringly at the Italian native waiting for her to make up her mind and order already. 

“Look girly, you’re holding up the line. We don’t do specials for Wayne’s here, and if you’re truly Damian Wayne’s girlfriend then you would know that.” The barista states gesturing to the long line full of Dupont’s students and actual customers.  

Lila’s eyes began to get teary-eyed, “I will have you know…”

“Lady, if you don’t order something in the next five seconds, you will be kick outta here.” The barista firmly states glaring at Lila with no room for negotiations. 

Lila scoffs and runs into Alya’s waiting arms, crying her eyes out. Alya glares at the barista, who gave zero fucks about what just happened and takes the order of the next person. 

“Shh...everything will be okay, Lila. Besides, don’t you have that date tonight with your boo?” 

Lila sniffles a laugh and nods. Oh, how she has them deeply entangled in her web. “Then let this one incident go and let’s go out the strip, you can spend some of my earning for ice cream or something.” 

Caline along with everyone (meaning two people, maybe four people) in the Marinette protection squad could do is either roll their eyes or shake their heads. 

Chloe with her coffee in hand scoffs at the scene in front of her and looks over to Adrien. “At least she’s not hanging onto you every second of the day.” She jokes remembering the times when Lila’s lies were small and surrounding around the Agreste name. 

Adrien softly groans, “Don’t remind me. For she had to be my date to one of my father’s fashion shows which were quite weird considering that I was already with Luka when it happened.”

“Yeesh,” Chloe grimace at the thought of that situation. Her phone buzz signaling an incoming message. It’s from Marinette. 

“Bug is texting. I’m surprised she didn’t send it to the group chat.” Chloe states before taking a sip of her drink and opening the message. 

Multi-Bug: Hey did you get to Gotham, alright?

Melitta Bee: Yea, y weren’t u w/ us?

Multi-Bug: You’ll see why soon ;)

Multi-Bug: Anywho, how’s the class goin?

Melitta Bee: Gettin worse by the min

Multi-Bug: It will be good soon 

Chloe scoffs at the message and shakes her head. “Bug will be the death of me., literally.” She groans opting to not reply to the message. 

“What did she say?” Adrien asks keeping a firm eye on Lilia, looking to see if she does anything stupid to get them killed. 

“You know how cryptic she can be. All I got from that was that everything will be fine. Like how she’s going to get here? Seriously, this trip is utterly ridiculous, ridiculous.” Chloe vents to the model. 

Adrien nods, but then quickly nudges Chloe seeing that Lila is heading there way. 

“Oh look, trouble.” Chloe jokes as Lila stands very close to the two blondes. 

“Do you always complain about stuff, Chloe. I only came here to befriend you seeing that Mari isn't here to corrupt you.” And there goes the dramatics. 

“The only thing that is corrupted is you and this fucking class.” Chloe turns around, grabbing Adrien’s hand, and walk out of the cafe. 

Chloe B. @queenbeeyellow Hey, wish @mdcfashion is here with us. It’s boring here w/ only @adrienagreste

Attach is an image of Chloe and Adrien in front of the cate wearing sunglass and making funny hand gestures towards the camera. It was clear that it was a selfie. 

----------------

Marinette smiles at the tweet before returning her attention back to the Headmaster of Gotham Academy, Mr. Collingwood . 

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, where are your key cards for access to the building of both here and to your class’s residential stay. Will you be joining them at the hotel or be staying with Mr. Wayne?” 

“I’ll be staying with Mr. Wayne, Mr. Collingwood .” She answers with a soft smile. 

The headmaster nods and leans back into his chair. 

“I’m I required to participate in class sessions as a student or am I just there to observe?” It was an honest question seeing that she is the teacher assistant rather than a student.

“That would depend on your class’ homeroom teacher. It is most likely that you and that teacher’s T.A. would work together and demonstrate whatever projects are and hand out paperwork.” He answers clasping his hands together as his focus remains on Marinette. 

Marinette nods and takes the small stack of supplies into her arms.   

Marinette: I have gotten everything ready

Marinette: Everything should be set for Monday. I’ll see you then. 

Mme. Bustier: Oh thank you, Marinette. 

Mme. Bustier: Your classmates will be ecstatic to know that you’ll be here. 

 Marinette: I doubt that.  

Caline Bustier closes her messenger app and turns to the class and gasps. The core Lila group is missing. No longer in the cafe, just great, great. They barely know their surrounding area despite what Lila said about being here, but if that was true it wasn’t recently. Places change and Gotham is no different. 

“Chloe, Adrien, do you know where the core group went?” Caline asks, turning her attention to the two blondes drinking, perhaps coffee, maybe even tea. 

Chloe shrugs while Adrien shakes his head unsure how to answer. It was no secret that the dislike the Lila group. 

“First day here and I’ve already lost some teens.” Caline huffs and walks out of the cafe to find her so-called perfect students. 

“Did she look panic to you?” Adrien asks setting his drink down. 

Chloe nods, “Should we go help?” 

“It’ll lessen her panic attack later.” Adrien agrees as the two of them get up and follow their teacher. 

----------------

Tina @thepinkmistress  #anotherdayingotham so apparently Two-Face has a bunch of foreigners held at gunpoint. They’re officially now apart of Gotham

----------------

With Lila and her small crew of loyal followers, they were just stirring up trouble. It all started when Alya offered to take Lila out to the strip for shopping not realizing how dangerous it was to be. Well, it’s not like they cared. To them, this was a vacation with added on classes. 

“Oh, I can’t believe my Damibear texted me saying that he was excited that I was back in town. We can finally rekindle that long lost love we had.” Lila gossips about as the two were entering a nearby storefront. 

“Girl, you’ve waited long enough, let’s go prep you for your man,” Alya exclaims dragging the twin tail girl further into the store. Nino unsure why he is with them just sighs and looks for something to give to Alya as he wasn’t able to for their anniversary. 

“What do you mean, he doesn’t have a discount here?” Oh great, here we go again.

“Look, lady, Damian Wayne may be a big name here, but we don’t do discounts for people like him.” The store attendant spoke up about rubbing her hands against her face. 

“Surely, he would have a tab open or something. He knows this is one of my favorite stores to shop in when I’m in town.”  

“Uh...we just opened our stores, like, two years ago. That and we’re strictly located here and in Metropolis.” 

Lila pouts and begins to throw a fit. If only, Hawkmoth was here. 

“Girl. I sure this is some kind of mishap. I’ll pay for the clothes and then we can go sightseeing in this part of town.” Alya offers, showing her a credit card in her hand. 

Lila squeals and jumps into Alya’s arms. Little did she know that it was actually Nino’s credit card instead of Alya’s. Alya’s parents were very concern about their daughter’s spending habits and put a cap on it that she clearly maxed out before the trip. 

Ivan walks over to Nino seeing as the poor DJ was lonely and that Mylene was trapped in the web of lies, well he is too, but he hides it well under the impression that it’s to make Mylene happy. 

“You okay?” Ivan asks catching the Dj’s attention. 

Nino grunts and shakes his headphones off. “No--yes-maybe, I don’t know.” He admits staring off to the empty space that was his girlfriend and her best friend. 

Before Ivan could answer, a loud scream can be heard from outside the store. 

“Shit, do not leave this place.” The store attendant gasps, only to be ignored by the remaining students of Dupont. The store attendant sighs and ducks behind the desk. 

“Lila!” Alya screeches. 

----------------

Miraculously Safe GC:

Melitta: How quickly can you lose a spider?

Ryouko: Quick why? 

Musical Viper: That depends, when did you see the spider? How big was it? 

Melitta: Mme. B lost the spider and her trapees 

Multi-Bug: WHAT!!!

PunNoir: Yeah, she lost them so now we’re out searching for them. 

Melitta: It’s not like they went that far?

Multi-Bug: You’re in Gotham, crime central, and she lost some students!!! 

Ryouko: I’m sure everything will be fine, Bee. 

Musical Viper: Keep your eyes open, Punn, if things do go wrong we’re only a plane ticket away.

Melitta: SHIT!! Lila started up another mess. 

Muli-Bug: WHAT!!!

Chloe and Adrien quickly hide their phones and disappear behind a building, hoping that the shadows cover them from the watchful eyes of Two-Face and his minions. 

Mme. Bustier apparently didn’t get that message and wounded up wrapped into the mess her students have caused. 

Two-Faced stares menacing at the teens as his men surround the group all at gunpoint. 

Lila being the idiot she is started crying how her Damibear would pay him, save her even. The man was not swayed.  

“Clean, we shut the girl up; scarred, we kill her right here and now.” He murmurs drawing out his lucky coin to do his bidding. “However, we don’t have much time. That bats would be here any minute.” 

As Two-Face explains his plan to his men, one of the guns goes off. Everyone shrieks in terror. Alya stares, frozen as her phone lays died with a bullet hole on the ground. Blood seeps through her hands. 

“Boss, she was filming us.” One of the henchmen explains with steam oozing out of his gun. 

“Dumb girl, did she really think it was smart to film right in front of us. At least be like every citizen here and do it in secret.” Two-Face groans, gesturing for the men to fire a new round. 

Everything freeze, while Lila screams her head off naming off every possible hero she could think of. 

----------------

Marinette runs through the city at a hasty pace. She’s maneuvering her way through the large crowd of citizens all trying to get away from the lastest villain attack down near the shopping strip. Marinette comes to a barreling stop. 

She could hear the cries of Lila Rossi from a block away and it was painful to hear. Her naming every hero only to get knocked upside the head by one of the henchmen. This will not look good for the exchange program in the future. Mme. Bustier tries—and fails—to negotiate with Two-Face.

Two-Face keeps playing with his coin deciding what misery he shall put these foreigners through just to grab the Bat’s attention. Then again would he even care, that just means new toys for him and his men. 

Marinette looks around searching for a distraction. Nothing comes up. She needs to think fast seeing as the Batfam and they are currently being held up. Not that the public needs to know that. She got it. Getting closer to the range. She then pulls out her traveling yoyo and readies a swing. 

Just as Two-Face flips his coin, Marinette throws the yoyo. 

The yoyo knocks the coin away, just as the string wraps around it as she pulls back. The Parisians students look up hoping to see a familiar hero in red and black. They saw no one. 

“Find my coin you fools and kill however took the dang thing.” Two-Face shouts out in a fit of rage. 

Marinette yelps and disappears around the corner. She finds Chloe and Adrien hiding spot not far from her. Unwrapping the coin from the string, she tosses it up into the sky and takes off before gunshots are heard near her way. 

“Thank god you guys are okay.” She pants out, scaring Chloe in the process as the Bee miraculous holder shrieks out and attempts to roundhouse kick the graduate. “Chloe! It’s me.” 

“Multi?” Chloe gasps out in shock as she finally takes in the appearance of her leader. Marinette wasn’t in her usual Paris getup but instead in a pair of black leggings, an over-the-shoulder tee with all the Batfamily emblems. Ankle boot thick heels, good for running. The biggest difference being her hair as it’s half up and half down with pink lowlights covering the once fully black, nearly blue hair. “Damn, hun, you look fine.”

Marinette chuckles, “I’m sure ‘Gami would love to hear you say that.” 

Chloe shrugs as Adrien comes out of his shocked stance. “Mari, what? How? When?” 

“At ease Chaton, I’ve been here in Gotham for the past few weeks. However, that is not our issue right now. The class is being held hostage by Two-Face, a villain with a mess-up sense of justice. An excellent attorney but he has a few loose screws. I bought the class time from being publicly executed for the Bats to get here. I just hope that they do it quickly. 

From the corner of her eye, Marinette could spot the familiar colors, that she very much hate but haven’t gotten the time to screech at them for, appearing on the rooftops of a nearby building. 

“Thank kwami, they’re here.” 

“Who’s here?” Adrien and Chloe chimes together. Marinette smiles at the two with a twinkle in her eyes. 

“Two-Face let the students go?” Batman demands, appearing on the scenes with little to no room for negotiations.   

“And where’s the fun in that, Batman?” Two-Face asks as a new coin is placed into his hand. It may not be the one that Marinette stole but it will do. “Clean says I leave, but scarred says I will kill every one of them.” He tosses the coin up. 

The coin lands in his hand, lifting his hand up it shows the scarred face of the coin. “Oh look at that, they’re dead anyway.” 

Immediately, the henchman readies there guns only for bat-a-rangs to knock them out of the out of their hands. 

“They never come alone do they?” Two-Face mutters as Robin and Nightwing jumps down into the scene. 

Robin with no hesitation attacks and disarm whoever comes his way. Batman could only facepalm seeing his son basically ignore the plan. Nightwing shrugs and joins in. This only left the big Bat and Two-Face at a stand-off. Two-Face readies his own gun and shoots a couple of rounds at the dark knight. 

It wasn’t long before the fight ends and the paramedics come in to help the injured students. Marinette motions for Chloe and Adrien to follow. She walks over to Robin with her arms folded against her chest. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” He whispers to her when she was in earshot. Marinette huffs and rolls her eyes before playing the average Batfamily fangirl. 

“Oh my god, Batman, you saved my class!” She squeals. Her voice catches the attention of her conscious classmates. 

“Marinette?!” They shout in disbelief as Mme. Bustier smiles in relief.  

The paramedics gave Mme. Bustier a slip as the class minus Aly and Lilia, both who are still in custody of the paramedics, run over to their missing classmate. 

Marinette quickly gives Robin a knowing look before focusing her attention on the class. 

It wasn’t long before she’s surrounded by an overwhelming amount of questions. So, now they care about her.. Yikes. Marinette turns to Chloe and Adrien for help. Chloe scoffs and shoves through the class. 

“Leave the girl alone, besides you just went through something most people would consider traumatizing but knowing us this is nothing compare to dealing with akumas.” 

Marinette smiles at Chloe.

The class disperses. 

“Maybe it’s time for us to head back to the hotel.” Mme. Bustier pipes up knowing full well that she’ll have to report this incident to the board under the predicament that it was due to Lila’s compulsive lying that put them through struggle. 

----------------

At the Dupont’s homestay--well it was more of a hotel than anything, Lila and Alya were ushered to their rooms while the rest of the class goes to comfort the two in the best way possible. While that was going on. Marinette decided to have a meeting with Caline about the issue. 

“She can’t be alone in this city.” 

“I know that, Marinette.”

“On a different note, I’ll be attending your class session at the academy.”

“That’s good, isn’t it? “I suppose, but it’ll be slightly harder to keep my status as a lycee graduate under wraps.” 

“You’re what!” The familiar sound of Chloe’s shrill voice echos in the room. 

“Hi Chloe,” Marinette meekly greets one of her best friends. 

“Don’t hey Chloe, me missy. When were you going to tell us that you graduate?” 

Caline took this moment to exit the room leaving the two teens to their demise. 

“Do you want the real answer or the answer that will satisfy you?” 

Chloe glares down at the teacher assistant. 

Marinette sighs, “I’ve been done with lycee since last quarter. Instead of making a big deal of graduating early, I volunteered to be a teacher assistant for the rest of the year while I start my university courses online.” 

Chloe looks down before hugging Marinette. “Thank you,” She whispers into the graduate’s neck. “You could have left Adrien and me to the spider but you chose not to. Thank you, Multi for everything.” 

Marinette blinks the tear away and returns the hug. 

Marinette left the hotel with the promise of catching up tomorrow when they have class. The only thing good that came through was that she didn’t have to deal with Alya or Lila that night, the next day, she wasn’t so sure yet. 

----------------

“That was really stupid of you, Angel, to get involve like that,” Damian states bringing his girlfriend into his arms when she’s safely located in his bedroom. 

Marinette giggles and kisses his cheek. “It wasn’t like I was directly involved., my Prince.” She whispers into his ear. A faint pink blush against Damian’s cheeks. 

“If it wasn’t for Robin and the rest, you could have been killed if Two-Face found out that it was you that took his coin.” 

“You know I’m stronger than what I look. Besides, I have better things to worry about than a villain that isn’t my foe.” 

Damian groans, “Angel, you will be the death of me.”

Instead of speaking, Marinette kisses him, allowing him to pull them onto the bed. 

“Use protection!” One of his brothers shout out, it was most likely Jason. 

“Kill him in the morning, when I’m not around.” Marinette murmurs before preceding with their original plan. 

----------------

The next morning, the Dupont class along with Marinette stands outside the booming gates of Gotham Academy. 

“I wonder if my Damibear is here, too. The last I heard he was overseas on a family vacation.” Lila blissfully wonders to get the reassurance from her loyal friends. 

Marinette rolls her eyes and looks to the person walking towards the gate. 

Manette @gothamsfashionsense  Hanging out in GA for the next couple of days. Does anyone want to join?

In the image attached is a photo of a coffee cup in one hand with the gates of Gotham Academy in the background. 

As of 12/9/19, the Tag List is CLOSED

Any asks before that will still be added. After that, I’m sorry but can follow my fic tags. 

Tag List: @virgil-is-a-cutie | @thejustmesimplyme | @mewwitch | @tamoni112 | @goggles-mcgee | @bb-basbusa | @mochinek0 | @schrodingers25 | @zalladane | @jessigurl-design | @constancetruggle | @tog84 | @shamefullove| @mindfulmagics | @scribblinggraveyard | @clumsy-owl-4178 | @captainmac6| @vivilakitty | @sonif50 | @mystery-5-5 | @emjrabbitwolf | @northernbluetongue | @crazylittlemunchkin | @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl | |@zebrabaker | @kuroko26 | @readinganawfullot | @thebananathatwrites | @urbanpineapplefarmer | @hypnosharkrebeldreamer | @zerotosiki | @poshplumcot | @luciferge | @mariae2900 | @minightrose | @theatreandcomicfreak | @thequestionablyhuman | @thepeacetea | @never-neverland | @sassydepression | @multishipper1needshalp | @actual-disaster-human | @queencommonsense | @novicevoice | @vgirl-10123 | @lunar-wolf-warrior | @dahjokester | @ur-average-reader | @dast218 | @gimme-more-caffeine | @reaperfeels | @interobanginyourmom | @elspethshadow | @my-name-is-michell | @redscarlet95 | @razzledazzle247 | @casual-darkness | @romanoff-queen | @7-sage-7 | @lily-codie19 | @two-faced-biatch

[whyamistillwatchingtheseshows]

Can you write a scene about pete's insecurity coming from his little sis being dead(like leaving him)? and in kam he mentioned that all the persons he loved leaves him And kao didnt know about his sis but when he does he gathers the courage to let their relationship out and comforting pete too? something like this? sorry its a mess..

“Why does it matter so much?” Kao asked. Pete went from soft to fuming in seconds. Like pedal to metal, zero to sixty. Any form of smile was lost on his face, being replaced by a seething anger. Pete took a deep breath. 

“Why doesn’t it matter to you? My father knows. Why can’t we tell your mother? Wouldn’t that make things easier? It’d especially make things easier with Non. He’d back off if you’d just tell him that we’re together. He keeps pursuing because he thinks that we’re just friends.” Yeah, that last bit out of your mouth, Pete, it’s not true. The little shit knows what’s going on, and he’s going to pressure Kao into leaving you. 

“I don't think Non really likes me that way.” 

“Are you that fucking deluded, Kao?” Pete’s voice was raising. “Are you that fucking innocent? I don't think so. So get your head out of your ass and face this!” Kao looked affronted. Pete reached for a hand and squeezed it. “Kao, I couldn’t stand it if you left me. My sister…” Kao heard sparse mentions of his sister. How she left with his mother, leaving Pete behind with his father. Pete grew accustomed to living with his Dad so he didn’t think much about wanting to see his mother or his sister. This was probably due to the resentment he had towards mostly his mother- the resentment he felt from feeling abandoned by her. “My sister…” Pete gulps. “She didn’t just leave. She died. Then my mom left because her and Dad were having issues between each other from coping with losing a child. I haven’t seen my mother in ten years?” Pete wasn’t even sure himself. “My father stepped up, took care of me because he remembered that there was still another child in the family. This grief doesn’t excuse my stupid jealous reactions,” Pete started an apology, “but I can’t be without you. I’ve already lost too much. Making you and your Mom a part of my family is everything I want. This is why I don't like Non. What if he convinces you away from me? What if suddenly you do wake up one day and choose the brat?” 

Kao put Pete’s hands on his waist and he gripped those defined shoulders in his. “Thank you for telling me this. Thank you for talking. Perhaps, Non is flirting with me. I’m just afraid he’ll use our relationship to blackmail us or people we know just like Mint when she sent that picture of us to your father. Even your Dad thinks that we should keep this a secret.” 

“I never fucking cared when he said that. I was ecstatic when he agreed to us dating. He had no objections and I loved him for that. He can fly to the moon if he really thinks we’ll keep this a secret forever, because no matter what happens I want to be with you, Kao.” Pete yanked him closer, their noses now touching. Kao’s fingertips dig into his bare shoulders. 

“Tomorrow morning we can tell my mother.” Kao firmly states then lets out a sigh. 

“You mean it?” Pete tried to hold back the levee. It didn’t work. His eyes watered and soon enough he felt like a fucking clown with a tear stained face. Kao wiped the tears away. He pulled Pete into a hug by the nape of his neck. Pete’s lips smashed into a bare shoulder and Kao felt a few tears wet him. Pete sniffled and wiped at his nose. Kao grabs him by the face. 

“My choice is always you.” Kao told him. “So tomorrow morning, we’ll go tell my mother.” 

“Why not now?” Pete tugged a hand towards the door. Kao tugs back. 

“I have other things on my mind,” Kao bit his lip. 

“Oh? I see.” Pete pushed Kao onto the bed. It always started like this. Pete pouncing and then suddenly Kao was on top. When Pete rolled them, Kao laced fingers together, pressing Pete’s hands into the bed. He leaned down, but Pete squirms a hand from his grasp to place a finger to his lips. 

“You mean it? Tomorrow morning, you’ll tell your mom we are boyfriends?” His finger falls from Kao’s lip, ever so slightly flicking over that plush (yeah, that’s a good word) bottom lip. 

“Yes, Pete. I’ll tell her. Just let me kiss all night first. The morning will be here before we know it.” Pete chuckled as those plump lips- (yeah, plump is a good word too) chased his into a kiss.

[Aw, screw it. Let’s write the morning after too] 

“Mom,” Kao said as he led her to the couch in the living room. “Pete and I have something to tell you.” 

“Finally!” She exclaimed. “I was getting really tired of prodding you with the word girlfriend. How many times would I have to ask before you told me to shut up, Mom, I have a boyfriend? Apparently, a lot. Finally.” she cupped Kao’s face. “You don't think I notice how the two of you are when we eat at the table. Or how Pete spends a lot of time here? Not going to tell you about the noises I heard walking passed the bedroom last night..we’ll leave that alone.” Pete tries to contain laughter, but fails. Kao’s mother turns her attention to him. “You!” Pete stops laughing. 

“Yes, mom?” 

“You’re lucky you know that?” 

“Oh, I know how lucky I am. Your son is beautiful inside and out.” Kao felt his face turn red and his ears light on fire.  

“Glad you understand that. Be aware that I have my eye on you Pete, but I can see how much the two of you care about each other. It’s all that should matter. Those feelings for each other, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.” Pete gave Kao a pointed look. Kao figured his mind went straight to Non and how that’s the next hurdle they’d have to jump. 

“I’m going to work. ” Kao’s mom announced. Kao kissed her on the cheek and led her to the door. Pete confidently latched his arms around Kao from behind as they waved goodbye. Kao shuts the door, turns around and leans against it. Pete eyes him up and down. 

“Oh, take back that thought! We have to leave soon too.” 

“What’s time but a fabricated concept?” Pete’s intelligent response made Kao cackle. 

“This is why you’re a terrible student.” 

“Punish me,” Pete challenged him. Kao cocked his head. What a new arrangement? Pete giving him control? Kao could get used to this. He was talking to long, though, so Pete feverishly kisses him. Why’d it feel so brand new? So freeing. There was no going back. There was no one else that Kao wanted to kiss like this. Kao finally understood why Pete disliked hiding the relationship so much. This-this was much better, because once they tore themselves a part they got ready for classes. Hand in hand they met their friends at the Engineer’s canteen. 

June as usual was the first to speak, “I knew it!” He pointed at them. “It’s about damn time.” Pete proudly smiled and kissed Kao’s hand. Kao pursed his lips, not sure how he felt about the rush of pleasure that surged through him. Shit, it’d be hard to contain that from now on. How is that he wanted Pete now more than ever before? Kao sat down as Pete went to get them some food. Kao laid a head to his shoulder as he watched Pete prep the plates.

“Really?” June piped up. “It’s like that meme,” June prepares a dramatic scene. “Right here? In front of my salad!” Pete picked up an empty bottle on the table and threw it at him. “Oi! I mean it in a joking way. Carry on.” Kao’s head hadn’t moved from Pete’s shoulder and under the table a hand started moving up and down his thigh. 

“Babe.” Pete mutters with surprise. Kao leans up and whispers in his ear, “This morning wasn’t enough.” 

“What’d he say?” June mimicked eating popcorn with fascination. He ducked when another bottle was thrown. “Really what’d he say?” 

“None of your business,” Pete snapped. “There’s one more bottle. Do I have to throw it?”

“No,” Sandee interjected. “That one is not empty.” She took it from the table. “All right so Pete and Kao are dating. Big whoop! The most important thing here is, do we each have our part of the project done?” 

“Meh, studying.” Pete’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. A hand still rubbed his thigh. “Well, this’ll look obvious.” He stood and grabbed Kao by the hand. 

“Where you two going?” June asked after them. Sandee smacked him upside the head. 

“June, think about it.” 

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “Do you think they’ll have the project done too?” 

“Ha!” Sandee’s laugh echoes in the canteen. 

[kaiowut99]

A Disclosed Past - The Duel Profiler VS the Black Rose Witch

Everybody who’s still following or curious about this project listen!

Phew, managed to get this guy all nice and done! In case this is the first you’re hearing about my mini-project here:

So, the official Spanish YGO channel on YouTube flubbed a few uploads of the 5D’s dub such that they ended up uploading a few episodes of the English dub instead of the Latin American dub (21-29)–but with none of 4Kids’s background music! Which meant that I could swoop in and re-insert the original Japanese soundtrack (which I did by matching each track to how it was looped in the episode), but I wanted to do more by also tweaking the dub itself so that not only was it matching the original footage, but the dialogue was more in line with the original dialogue timing-wise (since I couldn’t salvage much of what they changed).  Hence, the “dubbed uncut” gimmick here.

Check out the masterpost of episodes I’ve done here!

Check out this episode’s WIP videos! WIP #1     WIP #2     WIP #3

So, this was another interesting one to work with--I think overall this episode’s dub definitely benefits from having the Japanese music at *all*, but getting the dialogue a bit more in line with the Japanese script was the more "fun” task here.  A few parts were essentially done by just throwing in the Japanese version’s dialogue-less audio to eliminate some of the extra fluff, and others were more about rearranging or recycling certain lines (some from 23 or 24 when I needed something for Aki) to eliminate some more fluff or make my matching the JP script flow better.  I also fixed an error that bugged me from Tanner about the Black Rose being down to her last few “ATK” points; I ran a line of his from episode 7 through PhonicMind.com to remove the music and splice in “Life” there (I actually did that with much of the second half of that ep so I’ll probably try to do the JP OST thing there too~) For the bits that I felt were just too far edited by 4Kids that I couldn’t do much with them, I thought I’d slip in subs for the Japanese version of the scenes so you get the original context in there; that’ll just be for this hardsub, as you’ll have softsubs to work with when I post this for download over on NAC.  You can see it in action in this preview here.  Also going ahead and translating the “Today’s Best Card” and title cards along with the OP/EN going forward, lol.

Like 21, 22′s dueling dialogue was handled about as well as you’d expect at this point in the dub (though I clarified Koda’s line about Akiza losing “half [Black Rose Dragon’s] ATK [in damage] when he uses Mind Monster), but I did modify things on Akiza’s end where I could to tone down her dramatic flair and have her give the same kind of coolly energy Aki does, using some of her Duel Links lines to that end (like her “Battle!” line), recycling some lines (”Hope you don’t mind but ladies first!”->”The first move is mine! [from 23] I draw!” and also some lines from 23 to lead into her backstory flashback), or shortening some of her other lines.  I also stitched together a line to lead into recreating her Synchro chant for Black Rose [may sound a bit off, but I really didn’t like her fluff there]; I essentially did that bit from the ground-up like I did that undubbed footage in 26, redoing the SFX, queuing her Duel Links chant properly, and throwing in her “Black Binding Bloom!!” over BRD’s zero-ATK effect (see preview link above).  Came out really well, if I say so myself. :P

Unfortunately, I couldn’t edit out too much of Koda’s dialogue since he’s not in Duel Links yet and this is his only appearance, though I did tweak his thoughts about his defenses against BRD a bit by recycling an earlier line you likely forgot about by that point, maybe.  And I also recreated how I handled the beginning of 23 when I first started this project, switching to his Japanese scream for a sec or two as he’s hit by Rose Curse’s damage to edit out Akiza’s horrible dialogue at the end (and the same tweaks to Tanner’s and Yusei’s dialogue).

Music-wise, recreating the OST was fun; this episode uses some of my faves like Mind Games, Showdown, and Izayoi Battle so it’s fun to work with those.  Dragon (playing over the BRD scene) seems to never play at its Sound Duel album speed in these episodes, though... The whole song’s sped up by 1s in this episode (in 26, it was a sec or two faster), so that was kind of a pain to sync up to the Japanese version, but the end result is neat.  Maybe I’ll do a side video or two with the dub’s actual dialogue and just the OST to see what folks think of it.  Also added back a ton of SFX because for some reason they’re really low/hard to hear in this musicless audio 4K uploaded, and I did tweak a few lines a bit so I could take out some of the pointless SFX 4Kids added.

Overall, happy with how this came out, but if anyone has any input (like “UGH I HATE THE JP DIALOGUE SUBS”), feel free to share! With this done now, I’ll work my way back onto GX and get stuff ready to knock the Seven Stars arc off my finalizing list; thinking I’ll aim to get 47-49 done together, or at least prep stuff for all three and then get them done, but I’d like to get 48 and 49 out simultaneously again like I did the Amnael duel.  I’ll be revisiting my handling of 5D’s 23 for this project to update it for how I decided to do these as of 25, and also for the Duel Links audio and wanting to throw in the Synchro chants again in 24.  Stay tuned!

[girlinthe-chair]

Rain & Snow

PAIRING: Tom HollandxOriginal Character (Sloane Reed) SUMMARY: Tom and Sloane have been dating each other for a while, but not without some difficulties. Written from Tom’s perspective, Tom and Sloane are faced with dealing with their unspoken problems. WORD COUNT: a beautifully long 5,666 words A/N: So I really need to thank a couple of people, @upsidedownparker and @bisexualparkers , for helping me A LOT with this. Their feedback was unbelievably helpful for me trying to figure out where I was going with this. Not to mention, I love this a lot more than when I started writing it. It took me a lot longer to write than I was expecting, but I poured my heart and soul (and maybe a little bit of tears) into this. I would love for feedback on this, and whether or not you want me to continue this!

“Thank you so much, Tom,” the yoga-pants-clad blonde moaned into Tom’s ear. Her razor nails dug into his skin, undoubtedly leaving red marks in their wake. Tom prayed the girl — woman? Honestly, he couldn’t tell — couldn’t feel how tense he was standing next to her. He had entirely forgotten what she’d said her name was.

The girl had given her phone to Sloane, who was probably attempting to angle the picture so Tom and the blonde were wholly in the middle of the frame. Sloane’s expression was unreadable — she wasn’t smiling but she wasn’t frowning, she kept her eyes trained onto the screen in front of her in deliberate indifference, and most notably, was taking long, steady breaths in and out. Tom found it mildly terrifying, but he knew what it meant. Sloane was not in the best of moods.

Out of nowhere, Sloane put on the most overly enthusiastic smile to never reach the eyes Tom had ever seen her wear.

“Okay, on three. One, two…” Sloane snapped the pictures hastily. The girl’s nails dug deeper into the skin on his wrist. It was probably out of nervousness, and Tom couldn’t blame her for it, but it hurt like hell, and all he wanted to do was pry his arm away before she broke the skin. He was sure he didn’t have the most delightful look on his face in the pictures.

Sloane relaxed her arms and rested the phone by her side after what felt like millennia. The girl glided over to her, taking the phone from Sloane’s outstretched hand without a single glance her way. Sloane took another measured breath.

“I hope you like them,” she said, careful to keep the smile plastered on. The girl nodded, scrolling through the pictures silently before looking up and throwing a sultry smile Tom’s way. She waved at him, each individual finger moving one by one. She said something about tagging him in the pictures, but Tom couldn’t hear her very well with her back turned to him. She obnoxiously swung her hips in a blatant attempt to get him to stare at her ass as she walked away. Luckily — for Tom and the girl’s sakes — he was more preoccupied with looking at Sloane, his eyebrows pinched. He could tell she was doing everything in her power to keep her face neutral, what with her fists clenched at her sides, watching after the girl. If neutral looks could kill…

Tom walked over to Sloane, trying to grab her attention. She didn’t come back to reality until he placed his hand on her waist, her hazel eyes snapping up to meet Tom’s.

“I’m sorry, love,” Tom said, pushing Sloane’s brown curls behind her ear. She started to lean into his hand but stopped herself.

Sloane crossed her arms, looking down at the wet pavement below her feet. “What do you have to be sorry for?” she muttered. “You were just doing your job. I can’t get mad at you for that.”

A pang of guilt twisted his stomach. “Sloane, you can still be mad at me. It was supposed to be a me and you day, and people have been getting in the way.”

Twenty-two people, to be absolutely accurate. Twenty-two of Tom’s fans had come up to them asking for a picture or a video of Tom saying hi to their friend. To say that Tom understood Sloane’s frustration would be an understatement. It only took so many people coming up to him essentially asking for a favor he would feel bad denying before it started wearing on him. Of course, there were the upsides, like seeing an eight-year-old’s eyes light up when they recognize him as Spider-Man. On any good day, though, twenty-two people were a lot for him, but he was with his girl who he hadn’t seen in ages. It wasn’t too much asking for a day out in public with her, was it?

Tom watched Sloane become less and less animated as the day went on. Sure, she held onto his hand like always, but she slowly started talking less like she was waiting for someone to interrupt their conversation. Sloane started looking around them more instead of looking at him. At this point, Tom was good at ignoring the stares and not-so-whispered comments and clicks of cameras, but it took a lot of getting used to and a lot of time in the public eye. He still didn’t feel entirely comfortable with it. He knew Sloane was even less so.

“You know I’m insanely proud of you, right?” Sloane asked, meeting Tom’s eyes.

Tom tried not to smile at that. He failed but nodded anyway.

“And you know that I’m doing my damndest right now too, right?”

He pulled her closer to him by the ends of her jacket. “Of course,” Tom insisted. “And you’re doing perfectly, love.”

Sloane snorted unabashedly. “I think ‘perfectly’ may be a bit of a stretch, Tom, but thank you.” She sighed. “It’s just…it can be a lot, ya know?”

Tom leaned down, resting his forehead on Sloane’s. “Do you still want to go to dinner?” he asked. “Because I could take you home right now, and you could rest on the couch with a glass of wine while I cook you up the best damn cheese omelet you’ve ever had if that’s what you want.”

Sloane gave him a real smile this time, a light laugh lingering at the end of her breath. “As wonderful as that sounds, I think I want to go to a real restaurant.”

He kissed her nose, taking Sloane’s hand in his. “Then let’s go, darling.”

--

Tom wasn’t a person with a whole lot of downtime. If he wasn’t shooting a movie, he was promoting one. It was a near constant cycle: prep for a shoot, film the movie, do reshoots, travel to promote, rinse and repeat. Needless to say, Tom was a very busy man, and he only seemed to be getting busier. His popularity was skyrocketing, and there were plenty of directors and producers clamoring to attach Tom to their projects.

The only problem with that was that Tom and Sloane didn’t get to see each other as often as they would like. Yes, the two facetimed and texted as often as they could when he was on set, but it wasn’t like having each other there to actually lean on. Waking up to a “good morning” text was nothing compared to waking up to the real thing.

So it came as a happy surprise to Sloane when Tom called saying he had three whole weeks of zero obligations and unlimited free time. Sloane didn’t have to ask if he was coming to visit. He was on the first flight from London to Seattle he could book. After three and a half months of facetiming and texting, the two were desperate to see each other without worrying about the connection or battery life.

When Sloane picked him up from SeaTac airport, the first thing she did when she saw him was barrel run at him and jump in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Tom had to drop his bags — and his phone — to catch her, but he couldn’t care less. He peppered her face with kisses and squeezed her close to him. Both Sloane and Tom had activities in mind for the evening, but he fell asleep almost as soon as he got to her apartment, stumbling onto her bed fully dressed. Sloane gave him to next day to adjust to the timezone, which he mainly spent sleeping with a blanket over his head or sleeping with his head in her lap.

The next day, Sloane took Tom on a local’s tour of Seattle as if he’d never been before. She dragged him to the aquarium, getting a few good pictures of him next to the jellyfish tank and, of course, she had to take him to Pike Place Market. “You can’t go to Seattle and not go to Pike Place,” Sloane kept repeating. Tom bought her an overly large sunflower from one of the many flower stands on the street, dramatically getting down on his knee just to hand her the flower. She bought an overly large cookie that was about the size of her head to shared together. Naturally, Tom ate most of it. Tom hesitated when Sloane brought up going on the Great Wheel on Pier 57. He eventually relented after Sloane tricked him into getting in line — he thought she was looking for a bathroom.

The entire day, Tom let Sloane talk and talk and talk, mostly nonsense and inane ramblings about professors and coworkers, or the most recent book she’d read. He’d already heard most of what she had to say during one of the many FaceTime sessions or through texts, but he let her ramble. He enjoyed watching how giddy Sloane got when she talked about something she liked, how her hand gestures became more exaggerated as the story went along and how she suddenly forgot the concept of volume control. Tom loved to actually see how her green eyes got light and bright whenever she looked at him. More importantly, he relished the warmth he felt in his chest when he saw the light and bright in her eyes.

Tom didn’t think much of it when he saw someone with an impressive camera in their hand. Sloane had brought him to the most touristy parts of Seattle after all, so he just assumed it was just another tourist. Not to mention, very few fans had come up to them for pictures that day. But it wasn’t just another tourist. After Tom saw the first person, he began to see more people with impressive cameras not so subtly pointing the lens in their direction. They started off taking their pictures from a distance, but the vultures soon began to swarm the two, pushing their cameras in their faces, not worried about blinding them with the flashes. They shouted questions Tom couldn’t hear or understand, but Tom could hear Sloane call his name weakly. She mumbled it under her breath, along with a whole slew of other orders that just tumbled out of her mouth. When he looked down at her, her face was bunched up. The little wrinkle between her eyebrows told Tom she was about to have a panic attack.

Not wanting to add gasoline to the already smoldering wildfire that had become their day, Tom kept himself as composed as he could, holding Sloane to his side and shielding her face with his hand. Tom repeatedly told them to bugger off. It took them a while to actually do it.

Tom took her home after that, apologizing profusely and brushing her hair out of her face whenever she wouldn’t look up from her hands. He let her breathe, let stray tears fall but not without wiping them away. He did everything he knew to do to help calm her down. Tom hated seeing her like that and felt powerless when he thought he wasn’t helping as much as he wanted to. Sloane kept her eyes closed for a long time, silently sobbing in the passenger seat next to him.

Yes, he knew she was doing her best. Before they even started dating, Tom made sure she knew she wasn’t just getting him. It was his fans, the long months away, and the unwarranted attention she would receive simply by association. She said he was worth it all and made that clear every time they talked. That didn’t stop the guilt and worry from building up anytime they stepped outside.

The restaurant Sloane picked was incredibly active, bordering on hectic. The conversations people were having in the dining room melted together to become just one big noise, with smatterings of dishes clanking and shouting from the kitchen. Tom knew what she was doing. The more people there were, the less likely they would stand out and get bombarded. The hostess sat the two right in the middle of the restaurant in one of the side booths. She kept her attention on Sloane, but Tom could feel her glance bouncing back and forth between him and Sloane, probably trying not to stare at him too much and instead staring at her too much.

“Your waiter will be right with you,” she clucked, staring directly at Sloane.

“Thank you,” Tom said, giving a friendly smile to the hostess. She nodded, walking away with her cheeks burning red.

Sloane scanned the menu, biting off a piece of the breadstick she grabbed from the basket in the middle of the table. Her eyes darted over every item and every picture. She couldn’t have been aware that her tongue was peeking out from between her lips, something she often did when she was concentrating. Her tight, brown curls spilled just over her shoulders. It was one of Tom’s favorite things to mess with, her curls. They wound so tightly that pulling on it and letting it go made it jump back into place…and they were always so soft, the kind of soft that was sort of mesmerizing.

She looked up from the menu, an eyebrow raised. “Whatchya staring at?” Sloane asked, innocent as can be.

Tom came back to reality, smiling innocently at her. “Hmm. Why?”

Sloane set the menu down, resting her arms on the table. “You were staring at me with this…” She swirled a finger around her face. “…this far-off, detached happy look on your face.”

He shrugged. “Well, you can’t very well blame me for liking to look at you, love,” he praised. “You just have a very stare-able face.”

“I’m not exactly sure what that means, but okay.” Sloane was smiling, shaking her head when she picked the menu up again.

The waiter came up to the table then, introducing himself as Robbie and doing a double take when he looked up from his notepad to ask if they wanted anything to drink. He looked like he wanted to say something to Tom and it was killing him not to. Tom was thankful he didn’t. Robbie just took down their order — beer for him, water for her — and walked away with a silly smile on his face.

Sloane let out a sigh. “I was worried there for a second.” She didn’t have to say why. Tom knew. He just wished it would stop coming up. But it wouldn’t. He knew that, too.

Tom went back to watching Sloane as she talked, still munching on her breadstick. As she told her story, something about her parents’ ski trip in Europe, she used the bread to gesture wildly. There was no doubt in his mind that she didn’t realize how big her hand gestures were, and it made him smile. He pulled out his phone.

“—and now, all I can do is think about my dad tumbling down a mountain, and every time I do I can’t help but — what are you doing?”

Tom’s smile grew when he took the picture. He had caught her just before Sloane realized what he was doing. She had the half-eaten breadstick in her hand, her other dragged through her hair. She had a curious smile on her face, right before the realization hit her eyes. She looked…positively radiant.

“Tom!” Sloane reached over the table to try to get his phone, but he blocked her hand just in time, pulling back so she couldn’t reach. “Tom, that’s not fair! I wasn’t paying attention!”

Tom pulled up Instagram, furiously typing a caption in and tagging Sloane before posting the picture. When Sloane’s phone buzzed on the table, she looked down at her phone. She looked up at him with squinted eyes.

“Oh, you didn’t.”

“Oh, I did.”

Robbie came back with their drinks right as Sloane grabbed her phone off the table, glaring at Tom but obviously trying not to grin.

“So,” Robbie said, notepad and pen at the ready, “have you guys figured out what you wanted?”

“Crazy breadstick lady, heart emoji? Really?”

“…I’m sorry?”

Sloane looked up at the poor, confused waiter, suddenly becoming aware of his presence. “Oh, sorry, not…I wasn’t talking to…um, sorry, can I have the Hawaiian sriracha shrimp?”

“Of course, and for you, sir?”

Tom flustered a bit, having not even looked at the menu since they sat down, and picked the first thing his eyes landed on — a mushroom garden burger. To say he immediately and adamantly regretted the choice would be an understatement. Tom was far from vegetarian and was more than slightly opposed to mushrooms on any given day. Sloane raised her eyebrows at him when he said it out loud. Even Robbie the Waiter looked at him funny for a moment before writing it down.

“Just, um…trying something new, I guess.” At least it came with fries…?

Robbie the Waiter took their menus and left with an “alrighty then.”

“You are just…so weird right now,” Sloane said, taking another bite of the breadstick. “Crazy breadstick lady and now a mushroom garden burger?”

Tom shrugged. “Well, one, you are a crazy breadstick lady, Sloane,” he said, his smile meeting her glare. “And two, is it a crime to want to try something new?”

“Tom, you hate mushrooms.”

“Mmhmm.”

“And you’re very much not a vegetarian.”

“…mmhmm.”

Sloane pointed at him with the breadstick. “See? Weird.”

Tom chuckled. He glanced over her shoulder for a moment, his eyes wandering the restaurant, and caught the eye of a man wearing a red scarf. He was looking right at him and was unwavering with his stare after Tom caught him looking at them. Tom saw the man try to hide the camera from view, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Frustration welled up inside of him, but he had to tamper it down so Sloane wouldn’t see it on his face. Tom didn’t know what Sloane would do if she knew they had followed them into the restaurant, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. For anyone. The pang of guilt returned, twisting his stomach and almost ruining what little appetite he had. Sloane, ever the talker, didn’t even notice and continued the story about her dad tumbling down a mountain.

That is, until she heard the click.

She didn’t know where it came from. Sloane looked around the restaurant, eyebrows pinched. Tom reached for her hand, grabbing her attention. “Ignore them, Sloane.”

Sloane whipped her head around to meet Tom’s eyes. “Ignore them? How —”

“If we give them nothing to photograph, they’ll leave us alone. Just…” Tom sighed, glancing at the man in the red scarf. “Just pretend they’re not there. They’ll get bored at some point.”

Sloane let out a heavy breath, taking her hand from Tom’s and reaching for her water. “They never get bored, Tom.”

The man in the red scarf wasn’t shy of showing off his camera now. He held it up for everyone in the restaurant to see, snapping picture after picture. Some people at neighboring tables looked at the man before seeing who he was taking pictures of, pulling out their phones to take their own photos. He even dared to smirk at Tom from over Sloane’s shoulder. Tom wanted to believe he saw a forked tongue between those crooked teeth.

“I’ll be right back,” Tom said. “I see someone I haven’t talked to in a while.”

Tom didn’t wait for Sloane to say “okay” before getting up from the table, keeping his eyes on the man in the red scarf. The man raised a single eyebrow at Tom, continuing to take pictures of him as he stomped towards his table. Tom ignored the whispers from other tables. When Tom reached his table, the man left his camera in his lap, no doubt recording whatever conversation they were about to have. At this point, Tom didn’t care.

“Excuse me, sir,” Tom said in the calmest tone he could muster. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I can see you’re taking pictures of my girlfriend and me. We’ve had a lot of people take pictures of us today. Do you think you could let me eat dinner with her without you bothering us?”

The man adjusted the camera in his lap. “I’m sorry, Tom, but I’m not one of the people that have been taking pictures of you today, not until now.”

Tom attempted to ignore the fact that the man called him by his name as if he knew him at all. The nerve…“Okay, but I’m asking you to stop.” He crossed his arms.

“How long do you plan on staying in Seattle, Tom?”

Tom let the frustration play on his face. “Please, stop.”

“I’m assuming you’re staying at Sloane’s?”

“Please don’t talk about her.”

“I can guess you had…plans for this evening.”

Tom could feel red creeping up his neck. This man was making him angry. “Look, man, if you don’t leave us alone, I swear I’ll —”

“You’ll what?” the man asked, unfazed. “You’ll break my camera? Make a scene? I’m sure your girlfriend would just love that.”

Tom looked back at Sloane. She was turned all the way in her spot, confusion wringing her face. He could see her looking around, noticing all the people looking in their direction. What’s going on? she mouthed to him. Tom softened. He couldn’t, wouldn’t make a scene, not now. Tom turned back to the man.

“I’m asking nicely, man. Stop.”

The man raised his hands in defense. “Sorry. I’m just doing my job.”

If it wouldn’t have made a scene, Tom would have grabbed his camera and threw it on the floor. He could see himself doing it and knew just how good it would feel, how confident he would feel. But there was no way he could do it, as much as he wanted to.

So he walked away, his fists clenched so tightly he could feel the strain in his knuckles. Sloane was bitting her lip when he finally sat down, her focus trained on Tom. He kept his eyes on the man in the red scarf.

“Tom?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Tom, you can’t tell me not to worry about it,” Sloane said. “I’m going to worry about it. About you.”

Tom blinked at Sloane for a moment. “There’s nothing to worry about, really.” He kept his tone even, leaving to cause for Sloane to be worried. “I —”

“Ohmygod, you’re right!” a high-pitched voice rang. “It is him, ohmygod!”

A group of girls came running up to their table, all smiles and overeager eyes. They looked about high school aged and young enough to be more annoying than usual. The girls all spoke at once, their voices melting together into one high-pitched squeal as they came up to them with their phones asking for pictures. They got other people around them to notice the commotion, and they must have felt more inclined to come up to their table, too because soon their table was flanked by people with their cameras and phones and flashes and voices and noise and —

Sloane wasn’t sitting across from Tom anymore. He had no idea when she got up, when she decided it was too much, but she was gone. He stood up suddenly, having to push people out of his way just to get out of the booth. Tom looked toward the entrance, hoping to see Sloane standing there waiting for him or something, anything — the guilt was pressing so hard on his stomach he was positive he was going to throw up — but she wasn’t standing by the entrance. No, she was standing next to the man in the red scarf, talking to him. Sloane didn’t look like she wanted to be standing there, listening to him. Tom knew she was desperate to get out of that restaurant as fast as she could, but the man stopped her. He showed her something on his phone. Sloane looked Tom dead in the eye for a moment before scanning the faces of the dozens of people that were surrounding him, then started walking out the door.

Tom managed to maneuver himself out of the crowd of people only to run into Robbie the Waiter with their dinner, the food and dishes landing on the tile floor with a hard crash. People gasped behind Tom.

“I am so sorry,” Tom said, bending down to help Robbie pick up the broken dishes.

“Don’t worry about it, man,” he reassured. “It happens more often than you think.” Tom started to pull out money from his wallet, but Robbie stopped him. “It’s fine, you just get away from these vultures.”

Tom gave him a thankful nod before getting back on his feet and running towards the door. When he made it out of the packed restaurant, he was hit by cold, dry Seattle winter air. He pulled his jacket closer to his body, scouring the street before seeing a cloud of curly black get into the passenger side of her car. He jogged over, eager to get to Sloane to apologize — and to get into a warm car — and to get her home. Tom knew all she wanted to do was to get home, away from people. Probably away from him, too.

Sloane sat as close to the door as she possibly could when Tom sat down in the driver’s seat of the car, avoiding looking at him and deciding instead to look at her hands. Tom couldn’t tell if she was angry or upset or both.

“Sloane?” She didn’t look at him or give any signs that she even heard him. Tom turned himself in his seat so he was facing her. He wanted desperately wanted to reach out and touch her, but he knew if he did she’d squirm away. “Sloane, I am so sorry. I’m beyond sorry. I can’t explain to you how sorry I am —”

“Stop, just stop,” Sloane whispered.

“I don’t want you to think that you come second, Sloane, because you don’t. And I wish none of that could have happened because —”

“I said stop, Tom,” she said, a bit harsher than before. “I don’t really want to talk right now.”

They sat in silence the entire way back to Sloane’s apartment. Every now and then Tom would glance over at her to see her looking out the window or looking at nothing at all. At a stop light, Tom noticed Sloane scrolling through the comment section of his post, scouring through every word and linger on those that weren’t…well, those that weren’t very nice, to say the least.

Tom hated when she did that, which luckily wasn’t often. There were too many fan accounts on Instagram that commented terrible things about Sloane on his posts, even if she wasn’t in the picture. It became too tedious to try and block every account that said a bad word about his girl, so he stopped long before, attempting to indirectly tell people to stop in his captions. Of course, they never really stopped. Tonight seemed to be worse than usual.

Most of the time, Sloane didn’t notice or didn’t care what people commented on Tom’s posts. There were too many to read, and most of the time it was pointless trying to read all the hateful comments people left just to get her feelings hurt. Apparently, though, Sloane was in the mood to get her feelings hurt.

Tom wanted to do something to make up for the past two days. The only moment of peace they were able to have was the first day Tom was in Seattle, the day he spent mostly sleeping. He ran different options in his head, thinking over what would make Sloane happy. For some reason, “ski” kept popping up in his head.

If life worked like a bad Saturday morning cartoon, a lightbulb would have appeared and lit up above Tom’s head. At the next stoplight, Tom pulled out his phone and texted an old friend for a favor. He responded almost immediately with the answer Tom was hoping for.

--

As soon as Tom put the car in park, Sloane unbuckled herself and jumped out the car faster than Tom could comprehend it. She was still upset, no doubt, stomping off into the building and unlocking her apartment door. Tom tread in behind her, feeling lighter than before and much more sure of himself.

Sloane had plopped herself on the couch, her arm thrown over her eyes. Tom went to the kitchen and filled a glass of water, setting it down on the side table close to her head. She didn’t say anything, and neither did he, despite the smile on his face. Tom walked into Sloane’s bedroom, grabbing his suitcase and backpack from next to her dresser and wheeling it outside. Sloane uncovered her eyes, watching Tom come in and out of the bedroom.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, sitting up on her elbows to get a better look at him. “I’m upset, Tom, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay in some hotel or something.”

Tom took more of his stuff out of the bedroom, stuffing his computer and a couple of books into his backpack. “I’m not,” he said cryptically.

Sloane cocked an eyebrow. “Then what are you doing?” He didn’t respond, instead speed-walking into the bedroom closet to find Sloane’s suitcase. “Tom?”

“Where’s your passport?” Tom called from the other room.

“My…my passport?” Tom could hear Sloane slide off the couch. “Why the hell are you looking for my passport, exactly?”

Sloane stood in the doorway of her room, leaning against the frame. Tom smiled at her, pushing her bright yellow suitcase out of the closet. “We are going on a trip,” he said, “away from as many fans and cameras and evil paparazzi guys in red scarfs as we can for as long as we can.” Tom sat down at the end of Sloane’s bed, heaving the suitcase in front of the dresser. “How does that sound?”

Tom could see a slight smile forming on Sloane’s lips at the mere idea of it, but crossed her arms. “Details, Tom. I need details.”

That was something, at the very least. “My mum and dad have this old friend they keep in touch with every now and again,” Tom started, getting a bit excited. “I think he’s a professor or something…professor of what, I’m not exactly sure, but —”

Sloane laughed a bit. “Tom, too many details.”

“Right. Okay, well, his son Will and I were pretty close growing up, and their family is pretty well off, so they have a ton of vacation homes all over the place — including on Whistler.”

“Whistler…as in Whistler Mountain in Canada?”

Tom nodded. “I’ve been there a couple of times, it’s really nice. It’s a cabin not too far up the mountain, but far enough where you can get some good skiing in, plus there are some amazing views from up there. It’s not too big, but it’s also not a shoebox. There’s an electric fireplace and a jacuzzi in the back…where was I going with this?” He snapped his fingers. “Right! So, I texted Will just now, and he said that nobody’s at the cabin and they’re not renting it out, so we have full reign over it until they basically kick us out!”

Sloane slowly uncrossed her arms, taking in every piece of information that spilled from Tom’s lips bit by bit. “Wait, so you’re not joking?” she asked. “You mean this? You're not just an ass to get on my nerves? You actually want to take me to a secluded cabin in the woods on a mountain in a different country?”

Tom shifted a bit. “Well, when you put it like that, you make me sound like some kind of serial killer or somethi—”

Sloane jumped at Tom — well, more like pounced — making him fall back onto the bed. She straddled his hips, leaning down to kiss every inch of his face. All Tom could do was laugh and enjoy Sloane’s sudden change in mood.

They sat up, Tom keeping his arms wrapped around her waist. Sloane took Tom’s face in her hands and laid a soft kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, she slugged him right in the shoulder.

“Hey!”

“I’m still mad, Thomas Holland,” Sloane mumbled. “But…this may make me a little less mad.”

Tom pushed the curls from Sloane’s face. “So you wanna go?”

“Of course I wanna go, Tom, are you kidding? Imagine the kinds of pictures I can get…not to mention, it’s going to be cold which means a lot of you and me time.”

“Exactly what I was thinking, love.” Tom kissed the tip of her nose. He was sure Sloane could feel the smile on his lips. “So…do you want to head out now or…?”

“Absolutely not!” Sloane exclaimed. “It has been a long day. I need to sleep in my bed and not in the car, and I refuse to let you drive four hours across the border and up a mountain right now. So we will leave in the morning.”

Tom nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Sloane moved off of Tom and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Tom fell back on the bed again, that wonderful feeling of relief swimming through his veins. They would have to talk about what happened, Tom knew that, but at the very least Sloane wasn’t keeping her mind on the bad — at least, Tom hoped.

By the time Sloane came out of the shower and was ready for bed, Tom was fast asleep on her bed, right on top of the sheets fully clothed with his signature smile lingering on his lips.

TAGGING SOME BEAUTIFUL MUTUALS @notimeforthemessenger , @gottaletgopete , @idektomholland , @holyheckholland, @yoinksholland , @racing-faster , @starksparker , @starkravingparker , @holland-ish, @hollandlovely

[douchebagbrainwaves]

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT DISTINCTION

055427782 examples 0. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. With OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that is extremely rare in technology. I realized, is how does the comber-over not see how odd he looks? Essays should do the opposite.1 As you might expect, it winds all over the place. Those ideas are so rare that you can't change the question.2

If you're hard enough to overcome one's own misconceptions without having to think about it, because they were living in the future, I always have to struggle to come up with answers.3 I'm old enough to remember that era; the usual term for people with their own hands.4 Because to the extent of acting on it. If we've learned one thing from funding so many startups, it's that they succeed or fail based on the underlying machine instruction. It's a lot of people: that you could make a language that was ideal for writing a slow version 1, and yet make it seem conversational. If large organizations started to ask questions like that, they'd find some surprises. I've found, again by trial and error, that.5 Both customers and investors will be who else is investing? What happened next was that, some time in late 1958, Steve Russell, one of them the top one shockingly inefficient, and the language was usable.6 Macros in the Lisp sense are still, as far as I know, unique to Lisp. At least, that's how we'd describe it in present-day union leaders would have to be a big company.7 They were the kind of code analysis that would be of the slightest use to those producing it.

2, most managers deliberately ignore this. These are some of the time, and runtime. And someone with a real thirst for knowledge will be able to write, regardless of whatever obstacles are in the way Confucius or Socrates wanted people to be. On Demo Day each startup will only get harder, because change is accelerating. Brand is the residue left as the substantive differences between rich and poor. In fact, you don't need as many hackers, and b since you come into the new domain totally ignorant, you don't even know what the basic human reaction to a famous painting will be warped at first by its fame, there are more than fifteen words with probabilities of. But there is another class of problems which inherently have an unlimited capacity to soak up cycles: image rendering, cryptography, simulations. I mean show, not tell. Slashdot, for example, does not seem to have co-evolved with our interest in them; the face is the body's billboard. People's problems are similar enough that nearly all the code you write this way will be reusable. It's good to talk about how you plan to make money and to get attention, and a combined probability of.

Will we even be writing programs in an imaginary hundred-year language could, in principle, be designed today, and 2 such a language, if it existed, might be good to program in. One technique you can use any language that you're already familiar with and that has good libraries for whatever you need to write. But those you don't publish. Expressing the language in its own data structures turns out to be false. Companies sending spam often give you a way to improve filtering. Ideas One idea that I haven't tried yet is to filter based on word pairs would be in effect a Markov-chaining text generator running in reverse. Greg Mcadoo said one thing Sequoia looks for is the proxy for demand.8 Steve Russell said, look, why don't I program this eval. In a few days it will be more room for what would now be considered slow languages, meaning languages that don't yield very efficient code.

This is not one of those problems where there might not be an answer. This will become ever more clear as computers get faster. That was exactly what the world needs, but that there be few of them. Startups generally need to raise some amount of frustration is inevitable in certain kinds of work are underpaid. The other half, the younger half, will complain that this is the truth. Lisp functions as Lisp data, and such a notation was devised for the purposes of the paper with no thought that it would be a good writer, any more than you'd learn about sex in a class.9 Being good art is art that achieves its purpose particularly well. Jobs would speak for the entire 10 minutes. That is, no matter when you're talking, parallel computation seems to be as good as the famous artists they've seen in books, and the techniques I used may be applicable to ideas in general.10 Although your product may not be very appealing yet, if you're determined to spend a lot of it. So here's an attempt at a disagreement hierarchy: DH0.

There are a couple pieces of good news here. It's often mistakenly believed that medieval universities were mostly seminaries. Though the nature of future discoveries is hard to predict, I think it would be even harder than making the message look innocent.11 The reason there's a convention of being ingratiating in print is that most essays are written to persuade. But don't be too smug about this weakness of theirs, because you can only travel in one direction in time. And if you weren't. It's possible to buy expensive, handmade cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don't put too many words on slides. I can't think of an answer, especially when they're projected onto a screen. For example, consider the following problem. If there's something we can do to decrease the number of nonspam and spam messages respectively.

But you should be able to deliver more software to users. The word essay comes from the controversial topic of wealth, no one would be able to design the core language today. Intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory. Even if all you care about that and have thought about it.12 Raising money is not like applying to college, where you can throw together an unbelievably inefficient version 1 of a program should reflect only the problem it needs to solve. There continued to be bribes, as there still are everywhere, but politics had by then been left to men who were driven more by vanity than greed. So the acquirer is in fact the distinction we began with has a rather brutal converse: just as you can.

Now high school kids could write software or design web sites. Which means, strangely enough, that coming up with startup ideas is a question of fashion than technology, even he can probably get to an edge of programming e. When I was five I thought electricity was created by the middle class as people who are best at making things don't want to wait for Python to evolve the rest of their lives. A good trick for bypassing the schlep and to some extent its own justification?13 Don't you learn things at the best schools that you wouldn't learn at lesser places?14 Numbers stick in people's heads.15 Since speed doesn't matter in most of a program from the implementation details. I use the number of points on the curve decreases.

Notes

Whereas there is one way in which those considered more elegant consistently came out shorter perhaps after being macroexpanded or compiled. Incidentally, this thought experiment: suppose prep schools do, and not be able to.

It seemed better to embrace the fact that it sounds plausible, you create wealth with no environmental cost. They'd be interchangeable if markets stood still.

Give us 10 million and we'll tell you who they are so much the effect of this essay began by talking about why something isn't the last thing you tend to be about web-based alternative to Office may not be able to fool investors with such tricks will approach. Instead of making a good plan for the talk to corp dev people are magnified by the investors. These range from make-believe, is deliberately intended to be a lot of people who don't, you're going to work not just for her but for blacklists nearness is physical, and the reaction might be enough to defend their interests in political and legal disputes.

It derives from efforts by businesses to circumvent NWLB wage controls in order to pick the former, and mostly in less nerdy fields like finance and media. Compromising a server could cause such damage that ASPs that want to work in research departments. And if they don't want to. Ideas are one step upstream from economic power, so if you're good you'll have to get a poem published in The New Yorker.

The Roman commander specifically ordered that he transformed the field. I know of one, don't make wealth a zero-sum game.

But when you depend on Aristotle would be a sufficient condition. Norton, 2012.

The second biggest regret was caring so much that anyone wants. College English Departments Come From?

It seems justifiable to use those solutions.

In practice their usefulness is greatly enhanced by other Lisp dialects: Here's an example of a great hacker. What if a company just to steal the company they're buying. Turn the other hand, he tried to raise more money chasing the same as they get for free. Photo by Alex Lewin.

And no, you can do what you love. Some, like play in a reorganization. And while this is also to the way to tell them exactly what your GPA was. Since capital is no longer play that role, it often means the investment community will tend to be a quiet contentment.

I should add that we're not. 99,—and probably especially valuable. Many famous works of anthropology. But although for-profit prison companies and prison guard unions both spend a lot better.

And the reason this subject is so hard on Google. No one writing a dictionary from scratch. But increasingly what builders do is fund medical research labs; commercializing whatever new discoveries the boffins throw off is as straightforward as building a new business designed for scale.

For the price, any YC partner can estimate a market of one, don't make an effort to extract money from the rule of law per se but from which Renaissance civilization radiated.

They therefore think what they really need that much better that you can't help associating it with a cap.

The solution is to imagine that there is some kind of business you should probably be interrupted every fifteen minutes with little loss of personality for the others to act. From a company just to load a problem into your head.

[itsworn]

Preparing for Your Factory Five Delivery

To many, the thought of building a car from scratch can be a mind-blowing affair. Some eventually succumb to a dismembered project strewn across the garage floor in favor for more space to store the Christmas decorations. Luckily, companies like Factory Five Racing has distilled the frustrations associated with vehicle assembly and present a gift-wrapped plan, in form of a Bible-thick assembly manual. So, what if you’re ready to pull the trigger? We walk you through some of the most important tips when it comes to building a Factory Five project car.

Here are some of the options that we have selected when we ordered our Truck kit. There’s a lot more that’s not pictured!

Easy Optional Upgrades When Ordering

Factory Five’s website walks you through the cost to option every single kit. Check all the boxes, and literally everything you need shows up on the back of a truck. Some can’t afford to do that, so we will run you through what we consider to be the no-brainer options.

There’s a lot going on with a Factory Five’s chassis. They are all designed and built with computer-simulated software that makes them handle great while also being rigid. A plethora of different diameter round and square tubing has been intricately joined by a skilled team of welders. To properly powder coat the chassis, it needs to be affixed to a rotisserie. Unless there’s the need for a crazy custom color, the black powder coating option is worth every penny. Most of the suspension components will not come powder coated, giving you the option to request that or you can decide that and spraying them yourself.

Since these fiberglass bodies are made in multiple pieces and then bonded together, holes for the side pipes, lighting, and similar must be cut out. For a small fee, Factory Five will cut out all the necessary holes for the roll bar, side pipes, lighting, gas cap and more. We trust their premade templates over anything we can measure.

Do you want a solid axle or an independent rear suspension? An IRS does add a fair amount of complexity and cost to the build. Though, with the financial offset comes a better ride and more responsive handling. A few years ago, Factory Five converted their IRS offerings over to the S550 (2015+ Mustang) style rear suspension. This setup is virtually bulletproof, but so is a nicely-built solid axle. Perhaps, then, a good middle road decision is to choose the 3-link solid axle option.

There’s no need for cutouts on the Truck kit, but it was a must when I built my Challenge car. We let the pros at Factory Five handle the chassis powder coating and body cut outs.

Transporting Versus Pickup

So the deposit has been made and your vehicle goes into production. What’s next? If you live in the northeast and are willing to make the voyage to Massachusetts, it’s easy to pick up your kit directly from Factory Five. If you’re looking for a transport company that specializes in delivery these kits, look no further that Stewart Transport. Factory Five has a long-standing relationship with Stewart, and thus, Stewart has Factory Five themed rigs that are fitted with a crane. All the components that are available for your kit are shipped with the car. Stewart Transport provides a white glove delivery experience that includes carefully unloading your vehicle and boxes, as well as helping get your project onto jack stands.

Our completed Challenge car couldn’t wait to welcome his Truck brother home. Both vehicles will be powered by Coyote 5.0 Mustang GT engines. Our Challenge car makes 538 naturally aspirated rear-wheel horsepower, and the Truck will nearly double that with twin-turbos.

Review Your Boxes and Packing Lists

Upon delivery, the driver will review the components for you to verify and sign off their itemized list. Each box is numbered with a corresponding number on the packing list. If any of your parts are on backorder, they will be indicated by a ‘zero’ on the packing list. Take note of all the backordered parts and reference that against the master Parts Order List. It’s recommended to go through every box – line by line – to assure all the parts have been received. It might be wise to transfer the parts to plastic totes, though the sane way would be to write the box number on the tote so it’s easy to reference the parts with the packing lists.

Stewart Transport uses a specialized crane truck to load and unload all forms of Factory Five vehicles. They help load in your project and get it on jack stands.

Jumping the Line

As we mentioned before, every kit comes with a highly detailed instruction manual describing the build process of the vehicle. While it would be great to work from the front to back, backorders may dictate a different starting point. We’d always recommend starting with the suspension to get everything rolling. Beyond that, jump to marking and drilling sheet metal panels associated with the floor, trunk, firewall, and other components that are pre-fitted already. That will keep you plenty busy.

All the components that are available for your kit are shipped with the car. Factory Five wants nothing more than to get all the parts shipped along with the kits. Every time they have to pack up a box of parts and mail it off, that shipping cost comes out of their pocket. Once backordered parts are received we recommend putting those parts in the boxes they were originally designed to come in. Meaning, if box 13 was missing a bag of spacers and those arrive, transfer those spacers with the other parts in box 13.

Clecos and Rivet Spacing Tool

Speaking of sheet metal, we will have an upcoming article that provides our top tips. This is by far the most time-consuming portion of building a Factory Five car. There’s nothing hard when it comes to this process, there’s just a lot of holes to be made! All the primary sheet metal panels are affixed against the frame. This means you’ll want to draw an outline of the frame behind the sheet metal to know where to drill your holes. This might require drilling a couple starter holes with Clecos in place to keep the panel from rotating. Once the panels have been marked, they can be removed from the vehicle and drilled. Once drilled, line the panels back up with the frame and complete the connection through the frame.

Factory Five does include specs for recommended rivet spacing and a basic rivet spacing tool, but a fan style rivet spacing tool really helps cover the width of an entire panel. Many panels come pre-located with a single self-tapper screw from Factory Five. Purchasing 50 or more Cleco pins and Cleco pliers is an absolute must. This allows for easy panel fitting by providing a removable fastener to help hold the sheet metal in place.

The Parts Order List and the individual boxes packing lists are all in Box 1. The Parts Order List will tell you exactly what’s on backorder and should be cross referenced to all individual packing lists.

No Bucking Around with Body Bucks

The first course of action when receiving a Factory Five kit is to remove the body from the chassis for ease of assembly. There’s a myriad of ways to store the vehicle’s body, but one of the preferred methods is a body buck. Templates are available that will help craft a simple wood working activity into a functional cart for the body. Some builders have chained their bodies to the ceilings of their garage! You can even leave the body outside if there’s no fear of theft or damage. After all, fiberglass can’t rust, and the bodies are thick enough to where the sun’s heat won’t warp them.

Here’s a look at some of those packing lists. A ‘zero’ means that part is missing. Factory Five groups boxes together based on activity, like front suspension, rear suspension, pedal kits, interior, and more.

Expect the Unsuspected with the Body Work

Factory Five takes great care when it comes to building their bodies. All things considered, the bodies locate to the frame extremely well, and the panels are not wavy. The inherent hurdle that Factory Five must overcome is that these bodies are very large and nearly impossible to build as one continuous piece. For example, their Roadster and Challenge car bodies are assembled in six pieces – the front nose, rear, sides, and center sections. The panels are rough bonded together, and that’s where most of the time is spent during the body prep process. It’s imperative to find a painter who is good with fiberglass to ensure that the seam lines don’t show through after the body has been painted.

The Bible. Since we received production chassis #001, the instruction manual for the Truck hasn’t been completed yet. From the firewall forward the Hot Rod Truck is identical to the Hot Rod Coupe and serves as a good starting point.

On with the Build!

Well, that does it for our tips for preparing for your Factory Five delivery! Stay tuned as we dive into our Drift Rod build with front and rear suspension build stories coming soon!

A body buck can be extremely helpful when it comes to storing the body off the vehicle. There’s plenty of templates online that can make the process to build. This allows the body to be rolled around and provide an additional place to store boxes. Since the Truck’s body is a small cab, we don’t plan to build a buck for it.

There’s a decent amount of work that goes into the body work of these cars since they are multiple pieces that are joined together. Jeff Miller of Miller Customs is a seasoned painter whose shop is a stone’s throw from ours. He will be handling our body work and paint.

The sheet metal panels are held to the body with a single sheet metal screw. It’s best to write down the location of all the panels and trace the backside locations to the chassis to make drilling the holes in the right space easier.

Factory Five includes this rivet spacing tool though picking up a fan-style rivet spacing tool is also a good idea. Cleco pins allow panels to be fixed in place for panel fitting ahead of final riveting.

The post Preparing for Your Factory Five Delivery appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[wastedwishesandhope]

Petrichor

Anna quickened her pace as the clouds began to gather in the sky. Up to now, the sky had been postcard- perfect, but it was changing. The beautiful cocktail- blue shade was beginning to darken into gravel- grey. Large pillow of cloud was forming, blotting out the old- gold colour of the sun.

She got the first splatter of rain when she was halfway across the street. She took shelter under the bus station, hoping that she could see out the shower. Droplets of moisture began to drip from the glass wall. 

She looked outside. The sky was tar- black and the large clouds were moving forward towards her. She heard a tapping on the glass and then it became a pitter- patter. People ran for cover and umbrellas were opened and the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier. The roofs of the cars danced with spray and she could hear the murmuring of the rain through the glass. It sounded like the buzzing of angry bees.

They were sprinkling onto the ground like a gardener’s hose. Then the rainfall became more intense. A wall of rain moved over the place and the drops were drumming against the canopy. So much rain was falling that the sound of blurred into one long, whirring noise. It reminded her of the rotor blades on a helicopter. Eventually, the noise lessened and the drops faded into musical chime.

The sun came out again, casting slanted beams of light across the street. Steam rose slowly from the ground. It rose up eerily and drifted mist- like towards the molten- gold sun. The image was so vivid that it stayed with her all the way.

Anna remained waiting in the bus station, watching every last few drops of rain falling from the roof to the ground. It feels calm and the whole world turned back to its own glory. She checked out her wrist watch to see it was 4:30 in the afternoon already. She only has 30 minutes before the concert starts. They decided to meet in front of the stadium by 4:45 pm since Deby came out directly from the school whilst Anna came out from her part- time job. She can’t feel anything about this concert, no longer excitement or happiness, just plain bland feeling like it was just an ordinary day. She’s supposed to get hype or thrilled but no matter how much she tried to think about the exciting feeling of seeing the boys- it seized down to zero. 

She fished out the phone from her bag and started sending message to Deby that she might be late. After she hit send, she quickly put it back inside her bag and heave a deep sigh. 

She found herself looking up still watching the remaining beads of rain left onto the roof. Waiting till one falls down like a person trying to hold onto the single rock beside the cliff. Anna smiles to herself stretching her arms with hands held and palms up. She was expecting a drop would land on her palms. She’s like a child anticipating for it. 

It took only solid five seconds when a tiny drop of rain fell on her palm, she smiled.

But, the smile lasts for no longer than two seconds when a strange memory has flashed again right in front of her eyes. Like a rewind movie expecting to remind her about the clips of memories that she doesn't know she has. 

She froze on her feet, still, palms out and eyes fixed onto space.

A memory as same as this.

She saw herself with the same posture- her palms held open and she’s smiling watching a snow falling on her hands.  

What baffles her more was she saw herself with someone. . . with a man. 

A man she can’t remember at all.

—   —   —

The boys were stretching out to avoid getting muscle cramps before their 2-hour performance on stage later. Namjoon, Jin, and Yoongi are all doing push- up whilst Hoseok, Taehyung and Jungkook were trying to do jumping jacks. Jimin was just sitting alone on the couch- sleeping. No one has tried to bother him since the exercise coach mentioned he don’t need any warm- up. Pretty much because he’s no human compared to them. They all know that he had never experienced getting tensed muscles even after a 12hour dance practice. Reason why sometimes they called him a Cyborg. His body was like made of metal. Taehyung stopped for a moment then walked closer to him, he removed the white towel covering his face, the sudden blindness in light awoke him. Jimin squints his eyes and looked up to see his friend staring down at him, he seems like he’s waiting for something from Jimin.

“What?” he asked exasperatedly.

“You look so exhausted. We only have few minutes left before the concert starts. You better prep yourself now, you’re sleeping with this thing in your face, this might ruin your makeup!” he scolds then throw the towel back at him.

Jimin didn’t say anything and decided to just go to the bathroom to freshen up, he’ll just ask the makeup artist to dab make-ups to his face again. But when he tried to stand up, he feels like the whole world suddenly turned around, he fell back to the couch and squints his eyes trying to rid the dizziness he felt.

“You okay?” Taehyung asked then sat beside him.

He just nod his head.

“Chim, when was the last time you had… blood?” the last word came out in a whisper.

Jimin straightened to his seat then tried to stand up again. When he feels better than before, he looked at the mirror then stared at his own reflection. The makeup dabbed in his face won’t enough to cover up the pale skin he has. He looks dead. Even his eye looks dilated. There’s no grace anymore. He looks like a corpse body.

Taehyung stood also then watched his friend’s reflection from the vanity mirror.

“Jimin, I think you need at least a sip of blood. You’re getting weaker every single day. No matter how you tried, your body was still craving for blood.”

The vampire just took an exhausted breath then spoke, “This is my plan in the first place, right? To finally change and stop killing people just to suffice my hunger. Everything was just changed when I met Anna. But now that she’s no longer around, why would I still keep myself from killing innocent humans? There’s no reason why I had to drink blood anymore.”

“But what you’re doing is a suicide!”

“As if I would die together with the pain,”

Then he left the room.

Taehyung just roll his eyes when he felt his phone vibrates, he opened it to see he received a message from his mom saying they’re all waiting outside the stadium already.

—    —    —

She caught Deby waving all mighty in the middle of the crowd while the phone was still on her ears. Anna smiled and waved back at her then turned off her phone to end the call. She walked closer to her but the good amount of people blocking her way was giving her a hard time getting closer to her friend. They’re all lining up to enter the stadium, and you can hear screams of excited fans in some part of the crowd. Somebody would even accidentally hit her arms and some were stepping on her shoes. If someone has claustrophobia, they might die in here. It was just too crowded and it feels like even oxygen was no longer enough to suffice the needs of every breathing human here.

It took her forever before she was able to get into her friend's spot.

“Hey! Omg! I was so worried you might won’t get here on time!” Deby said and she handed her over a banner that expressing their love for the boy group. Anna just stared at it first then just shrugged.

“Yeah, it was pouring heavy outside but gladly there’s no traffic on my way here,” she answered and wipe the remnants of sweats on her forehead.

“Yeah, they would let people in after five minutes so let’s just be patient. I am so excited to see my chaebol boyfriend Kim Seokjin!” Deby squeals and she hug the picture she has on her arms. Anna just laughs while watching here.

After a few minutes, a group of teenagers walked over to them to offer the merchandise they’re selling. They’re all wearing cute hair bands with the boys’ picture on it. It looks weird for Anna but she just stayed quiet. She doesn’t want to start a fight here. They might all team- up against her. 

She can’t understand her feeling. She was used to be an active fan, but now, it feels like she was just forced for being here, just for her friend’s sake.

“You might wanna help us out by buying this merchs?” the teenager girl who looked around fifteen years old, with her short hair and cute bangs framed her face.

“Wait, was that the merch of the Yoongi’s fansite who died a couple of months ago?” Deby asked and grabbed the keychain with a doodle picture of Min Yoongi in it.

“Yep, we’re just finishing her projects. You know, in memories of our kind unnie,” the girl with blond hair answered.

“That’s so nice of you. If I ain’t mistaken, there’s few fansite who starts a project for her, right?”

Anna looked at her friend with confused face.

“Yes, they put banners outside, to remind everyone that we once used to have an angel like her,” said the short girl wearing a plain shirt and timberland shoes like Jungkook’s style. Obviously, you don’t need to ask her who stans who.

“We’ll buy two,” Deby answered and the girls excitedly give the key chains she purchased then bow at them to say thank you. 

When they all left, Anna just watched Deby while putting the key chains she got in her bag.

“There’s a fansite who died?” she asked out of curiosity.

Her friend looks at her with the face like she can’t believe her question.

“You didn’t know?” Deby asked surprised.

The clueless girl just shakes her head.

“Seriously? I remember we talked about it a few months ago.”

“But—I can’t remember it? I won’t ask if I know though,” she answered sarcastically.

“Tell me, Anna, what really happened to you that sometimes you’re acting like you just came off from amnesia?  You can’t remember few things and it is so weird,”

“I told you! I don’t know either,” Anna answered back.

“Okay, okay. Yeah, again, might be just weird stage of withdrawal, it doesn’t make sense at all, but anyways, yeah, she was found dead in her condominium unit. It’s gruesome and as far as I know, the investigation was still on- going.”

Anna grew more curious.

“Why? Was she a murder victim?” 

“I don’t know. They said they don't find any strange hours before she died, they even said she’s completely alone and nothing’s suspicious found around the area. It’s still remained a mystery but the family won’t stop till they get justice.”

“Maybe it’s a suicide?” 

Deby laughed with her wild- guess.

“A suicide? Anna, she was found soaked in her own blood, but the forensic doctors find it ironic since there was no blood left inside her body. Like she was dried like a rag, get me?”

Their conversation was cut off when someone called out Anna’s name, they all whipped their head to see a middle- aged woman running towards her then throw herself for a tight hug. She was completely oblivious that she can’t even move on her spot. Deby was surprised too thinking who’s this respected woman.  

When the stranger started to pull herself off from her, she then holds her hands like she was so happy to see her again.

“How are you, dear? I’ve missed you! I didn’t expect to see you again!” the woman said.

Anna looked at Deby asking for help then looked back at the woman who seems waiting for her answer.

“Uhhh. . . ahmm.. I’m sorry but do I know you Ma’am? You’ve might mistaken me for someone? I don’t think we know each other.” Then Anna faked a laugh.

She slowly pulled her hands off from her grip then awkwardly just stands there. The middle- aged woman stared at her with confused face then looked at her back like she was also asking for a help to her husband. Anna figured out that she wasn’t alone. She’s with a fine looking man who aged between forty to fifty years old, and she saw that they’re with a young girl and a young boy. They all look a family. Maybe their daughter is the fan, they’re just supportive as hell.

“How come you can’t remember me? This is me, Anna, I am Mrs. Kim! You stayed in our house for a couple of days, don’t you remember that?” The woman seems hurt but what else she can do? She really can’t remember her.

“Mrs. Kim? I—I do really apologize Mrs. Kim but I don’t know what you are saying, I really can’t remember you,” she answered feel so sorry then just smiled awkwardly again.

“But you stayed with Jim—“

“EOMMA!”

The whole crowd began covered with unbelievable screams that it feels like their ears would start to bleed. Deby froze on her spot whilst Anna was so shocked with what she heard. 

Kim Taehyung was rushing towards them then stop right in front her to grab her mom’s hands and push her at his back.

What the hell is going on? Did Kim Taehyung just call her mom?

Everything was so surreal and Anna can’t decipher all these scenes in front of her eyes. Guards started to move around them to prevent the other fans gushing towards Kim Taehyung.

“Taehyung, why Anna can’t remember me?”

Anna watched him waiting for his answers and to clear things up. 

Why does this woman speaks like we know each other? If what she’s saying is true, then that means Kim Taehyung knows me personally too? 

What?

The scream continues like a loud music in a party club that doesn’t know what morning is. It’s starting to aggravate her. 

She watched Kim Taehyung talking to his mom like he’s explaining things to her.

 She saw how the mother’s face turned gloomy and sad like she had found something that was totally unacceptable. She caught her taking a glance at her but she didn’t say anything. 

The look on her face makes her sad too and she don’t know why.

After a few minutes, Kim Taehyung walks over at her and that earned more screams from fans too. Deby’s mouth hung opened and her eyes looks like it would fell off from its sockets.

Anna don’t know what to do. She remained standing and watching as he closing their gaps. She gulped what she believes was calm.

“Uh—uhmmm.. I’m sorry for my mom,” he said without looking straight into her eyes. He seems embarrassed and he’s scratching the back of his neck.

“N- No.. it’s okay! No worries, your mom might just confuse and thought I’m someone else,” she answered. She can hear the rapid beat of her heart.

She can’t explain the feeling but she somehow--- misses this man?

“Y- Yeah, she mistook you for someone else, she’s always like that. Maybe because she missed her,” he answered quietly.

“I don’t wanna be so hell bent out on being nosy but I wanted to imagine she’s a good girl since your mom missed her that much,”

Kim Taehyung finally lifted his head up then stares directly at her eyes.

“She’s a good friend. A best friend. And I miss her, too.”

—   —   —

The concert has started and everyone’s getting the hype they were expecting. Some few girls who were sitting behind them, in front and even those sitting next to them were secretly talking about Anna. The gossip was just so fast, Deby even had told her that her face was all around the internet. Few photos were taken with her talking to Kim Taehyung. Some even said she’s an ex- girlfriend that’s why Mrs. Kim has recognized her. She just shrugged it off then laughs about it. It was so stupid to think she’s an ex- girlfriend of this idol. She had never been in any relationship.

Fans can be a good writer sometimes. They write what they want to believe is fact.

She even caught some of them secretly taking pictures of her and it’s disgusting.

“Just never mind about them, they’ll forget you sooner or later,” Deby assured.

It was so loud and everybody seems enjoying this day. The lights and smokes gather around the whole stadium. Some fans are crying out of happiness whilst some were just jumping or screaming on top of their lungs. It’s a nice view and she wanted to feel that she belongs here. 

The boys started performing their jaw- breaking performance, as like what you expect from a world- top performer Bangtan Boys. They were all in- sync and it’s stealing every woman’s heart. They all show off their cool side and bad ass dance moves. It was so satisfying to see them performing.

After a few performances, the next in line is their ballad songs. They made few of their songs into acoustic versions and fans couldn’t ask for more.

—    —    —

As soon as they get off from the stage, Park Jimin fell on his knees. Staffs are all attentively helped him to get up, even the boys get so worried when he fell over. He was panting so hard and he’s running out of oxygen. Cold sweats dripping from his forehead down to his neck.

“I’m okay, just go change your outfits now, don’t bother to help me,” he pleads and the rest of the boys don’t have any option but to obey. They all quickly went back to the dressing room whilst Taehyung left with him and two staffs who offered him a bottled water and the other one was wiping his sweats.

“I’ll help him, please get us more water,” Taehyung said as an excuse just to talk to him privately. When no one’s around, Park Jimin tried to get up again and his friend helped him to go all throughout of it.

He coughed and a pain twinge inside him that it feels like ripping off every single muscle he has.

He breathed out and tried his best to stand up straight, “Why--- why didn’t you tell me she’s here?”

Taehyung was caught off guard. Guilt is eating him but he don’t have any choice.

“Because I’m worried you might take off running once you heard she’s here,” he answered.

Park Jimin clutches his hand on his abdomen where pain was sheeted through him with a terrible intensity.

“I’m no coward to avoid her. You should have just given me heads up so I would expect this fucking pain eating me again,” he said then left his friend.

He doesn’t realize that every time he lies, he’s committing suicide in front of me. He’s killing everything I see in him. If only he could honest be, because God knows I hate to watch him bleed.

Park Jimin immediately went back with the boys and said, “Please do me a favor!”

The boys turned their head to look at him, even the friend he left outside furrowed its eyebrows. 

“Favor, what?” the leader asked. He took ten blinks before he spoke. Actually, he lost count at ten.

—    —    —

They all stayed at the back stage whilst the lights are still out. Park Jimin stood on his feet when the spotlight hits him first. It took him enough courage to stand up again in front of thousand fans despite the agony he’s suffering right now. He smells her blood, and it’s making him insane. He doesn’t need to find where she actually sitting right now, because the smell lingers all over the place and even with his eyes closed, he’s certain that he could find her. He can hear every beating of her heart. He can hear every breathe passes through her mouth. 

Park Jimin closed his eyes, grabbed his microphone, and started opening his mouth. The next song will be spring day, and what hurt him most was that it is the song which perfectly defines of all of his emotions right now.

On the other side of their world, Anna stayed silent anticipating the next song. Whispers rang around saying why he’s alone on stage. They didn’t expect ‘Spring Day’ can be a solo performance. Army bombs twinkle like stars in the galaxy, and she’s the black hole. She stares at Park Jimin. The whole stage seems dark aside from him. There’s an unexplainable gravity that pulling her attention directly to him. Maybe because she used to be head over heels with him. But that’s just a few months ago, now it feels century.

Park Jimin opened his mouth, to start the first verse with the first word that hitting him all at once.

I miss you.

The first word, struck a string on Anna’s heart. It’s an odd feeling as if it was for her. It feels strange.

Saying this makes miss you even more.

The whole crowd went silent.

Park Jimin opened his eyes and set it directly on her position. The lights blinding his eyes and he can’t see anything but darkness, yet he’s certain she’s there. She’s sitting on the seat where his eyes were looking at.

Miss you even though I’m looking at your photo.

Goosebumps stood on her flesh when she caught him staring at their section. He might just look elsewhere but the way his eyes fixed in one direction is unusual.

Time’s so cruel. I hate us. Seeing each other for once is now so hard between us.

Anna felt Deby nudged her elbow and whispered, “Is it just me but he seems like staring on our side?” 

“Yeah, maybe his eyes were fixed elsewhere and it happened to stayed in our section,” she answered.

It’s all winter here even in August. My heart is running on time alone on the snow piercer. Wanna get to the other side of the earth holding your hand. Wanna put end to this winter. How much longing should we see snowing down to have the days of spring?

Stage director dashed off running at the back stage to see the remaining members of Bangtan watching Park Jimin performing on stage.

“What the hell is going on?! Why is he performing the song all by his self?!” he asked and he looks went frantic.

Kim Namjoon- the leader, stood in place and answered, “It’s his request and we let him be,”

“What’s gotten into him?” Manager Sejin said.

“He’s feeling the song so much, it’s not the end of the world if he performs Spring Day as a soloist, and besides it would look more of a surprise for the fans. They seem enjoying it,” Kim Taehyung said.

“He stole my part,” Min Yoongi whispered.

Is it you who changed or is it me? I hate this moment. This time flowing. By we are changed, you know? Just like everyone, you know?

Park Jimin choked back his sobs and control to burst out, the next lines are far way too unfair so he changed few bars.

Yes, I hate myself. I left you. But I never stopped thinking about you, not even a day.

The fans, the boys, and all the staff just exchange look when he changed the lyrics when it is supposed to be “Yes, I hate you. You left me.”

Honestly, I miss you but I’ll erase you because it hurts less than to blame myself.

Jung Hoseok moved closer to Kim Seokjin and whispered, “Why does it feel like he’s dedicating the song to someone?”

“I feel the same way,” the elder agreed.

I try to exhale you in pain like smoke, like white smoke.

Anna leaned back on her seat. His eyes still fixed on their direction. Some fans even argued that he’s staring at them, but for her, he’s not specifically staring into someone, but into the darkness where a numb heart lies between the rib cage of an unknown person.

There’s no specific person, she believes. But there’s a specific soul, that’s what she feels.

I say that I’ll erase you but I really can’t let you go, yet.  

—   —   —

After the concert has ended, some fans show like they never get tired from screaming and crying for the whole two hours of none other than but a show of how to steal your woman’s heart. Anna stands alone outside the stadium, next to a post light while waiting for Deby who said that she needs to go to the bathroom first.

In some various ways, the image of Park Jimin still lingers in her mind. The show he puts off became the main topic of the whole fandom. They least expect that ‘spring day’ will be performed by him- alone. They even talked about how his eyes were fixed on one direction only and some even said someone who’s close to him was sitting in that section.

She’s trying not to be nosy but she can’t help but listen to everyone’s gossips.

She can’t help but think about how he sang all emotionally, and how you would feel the pain in every line he spills. She can’t understand why it’s making her sad. The way he says ‘I miss you’ sends an intense agony through her heart. For some reasons, she’s feeling it. And she strangely feels like she wants to fill in the missing hole in his heart.

“Sorry, it took me so long, let’s go!”

The thought vanished when Deby came and she tags her along. 

When she starts to take a few steps, Anna’s came to halt. A very familiar feeling has crawled onto her skin. She turned her head around and stares in a specific direction. She saw nothing but a wall without anyone near of it.

“What is it?” Deby asked then looked in the direction where she’s staring at. 

“Nothing, I just thought someone’s watching. C’mon!” she answered then shrugged it off.

They left the venue together.

—   —   —

He leaned his head against the wall. Closing his eyes. Trying to believe all the lies. With a heavy heart, he waited. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

Till he could feel he’s breathing. And yet, no longer living.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, together with the pain that’s greater than the agony he felt physically. A foreign liquid sipped through his eyes. Then, it’s too late now to accept that he cries.

I am tired, and I don’t think I could last any longer. You’re still the image stays after I burnt it all. Tell me how to be stronger? When every time I tried, I just get fall.