#let really guy and his wife do the office romance stuff

[fazcinatingblog]

How to spice up (down) your office romance, a book by me:

Talk in accents* and roleplay in front of other co-workers, become the centre of the office gossip but deny everything

Wear your least sexy pants that went through the dryer too many times and make you feel an icy breeze on your ankles

Wear your least sexy jumper, like knitted jumper with stripes usually does it

If he works on another level, avoid that level until he's gone home for the day

Say out loud "oh I can't do that, the files are upstairs" (make a big deal of not wanting to go upstairs) and then when he goes home, go up there twenty times and see who notices

If he gives you files to work on, say out loud "well this isn't enough to win me over!" (Oh man, I wish I was brave enough to try this)

Give them a folded up piece of paper with your hotel name and room number on it. In front of everyone. But no one sees the paper

Give them a note, say it's from the boss, and then they open it to read "i'mma fuck you hard" or something idk haven't workshopped this properly

Write fanfiction about it in your lunch break because that's the most that will ever happen

Play pranks on them (see: new girl)

Make up nicknames/code names for each other like "baby bear" and "Goldilocks" (see: back in very small business)

*I can't do accents and I'd be too scared to do this one but god it'd be fun

[superectojazzmage]

Commented this on another post, but felt like making it it’s own thing because since the season finale for WWDITS I’ve been thinking about it. The end of season four made me kinda realize that, beneath all the wackiness and jokes and vampire stuff, this show’s central theme is really the cost of being evil. Cut through the metaphors and it’s a story about bad people and how they trap themselves in Hells of their own making.

The Vampires and Guillermo are wastrels. They’re assholes. They’re social parasites in both a literal sense (killing and feeding on people to sustain themselves) and a metaphorical sense (exploiting everyone around them for their own gain while giving nothing in return).

Nandor is hopelessly trapped in the past, pining for the glory days when he was a king and treating everyone around him like shit to try either to recapture the feeling or simply because he can’t get out of the “ancient conqueror” mindset. Nobody can stand him, and when he finally met somebody who could actually bear to be around him for more then five minutes — Guillermo — his response was to functionally make that person a slave. And he’d rather run off on walkabouts or chase after women he barely knows but imagined whimsical romances with then confront the uncomfortable feelings he has. The one time he works up the nerve to be genuinely nice to Guillermo, he chickens out and wipes it from the guy’s memory and goes right back to being miserly.

Nadja is flighty and lazy and greedy and insecure in equal measure. Always chasing some new scheme or business or project but never caring to put in the work necessary to actually achieve anything and dumping the consequences on others when she can. She wants everything but paradoxically can’t be bothered to do what she needs to do to get it, and can’t handle any sort of setback. She makes new vampires then just forgets about them, she wants to run councils but quits at the first sign of paperwork, she wants to start nightclubs but puts the bare minimum effort in and when it fails instantly resorts to burning it down. And of course she never gets what she wants as a result, and bemoans her fate and wonders why it ended that way.

Laszlo is a complete ass. Pompous, self-absorbed, rude, stubborn, and completely uncaring of the consequences of his actions. And he’s lonely and bored. He has no real friends or family other then Nadja and despite living a life of what should be blissful hedonism, none of it is as fun and fulfilling as it would be for anyone else because he can’t connect meaningfully with anybody. His assholery drives away anyone that isn’t either his equally disastrous wife or his brain-dead neighbor that he has nothing in common with. He gets the son he thought he’d never have, then blows it in such a way that once Colin is restored to normal, he doesn’t know or care about Laszlo raising him. And he can never get better because he’s so pigheaded that he’d rather suffer in silence then admit to being in the wrong, symbolized by how he obsessively clings to a cursed hat that constantly hurts him just to avoid admitting he was tricked.

Colin Robinson is a gluttonous, opportunistic little leech beneath his “boring office dude” persona. He treats everybody else as if they’re walking batteries for him to drain whenever and however he wishes. He crafted his entire life around being the most boring, unhappy person possible to feed and can never have an interesting or fun hobby because he feels need to bore people constantly. And resultantly when he needs emotional support or wants to genuinely let people know how he feels about them, they just instantly tune out. Real connections with other people are rare and usually just end with him even more alone.

Guillermo tries so hard to act the part of “lovable dork with his head on straight” but is really a selfish prick when he’s not too busy being a pathetic loser. He desperately pursues a goal — becoming a vampire — that’s a horrendous downgrade from his current life in every way imaginable and throws countless innocent people into the vampiric meat-grinder or debases himself in embarrassing ways to get it. He lets himself be used at every turn by the vampires despite being stronger then all of them combined and fully capable of physically forcing them to give him what he wants or just straight up killing them at anytime. He could be doing a million better things with his life but instead squanders himself on a pipe-dream despite seeing endless proof he will never get it and that it would suck if he did, and God help you if you point it out.

And the one thing they all have in common is being miserable, lonely, and trapped in ruts that just make them even more miserable and lonely. Nothing ever changes, and it certainly never improves. It doesn’t matter what they do to try and break the loop, they always end up back at square one because they don’t care to resolve the flaws keeping them trapped to begin with. They take over the local Vampiric Council but their lives barely change. Laszlo can leave for months to pretend to be a bartender in Pennsylvania and then he just goes back home and it’s like he never left. Nandor falls in love every other week but always ends up single and back in the manor in the same room. Colin arranges it so he’ll literally just reset back to normal everytime he reincarnates instead of becoming different. Guillermo finally comes out as gay to his family and it does little to improve his life — he’s still just a pitiful toady to a bunch of dipshits and they won’t let him have anything of his own. Nadja’s new jobs never work out and always fail to make anybody take her seriously. Even now in the latest finale with Guillermo saying he’s going to for things to change, they almost certainly won’t in any meaningful way; he’s still doing the same “trying to be a vampire” crap he’s been doing since he met Nandor, he’s just sucking up to a different vampire in a different way and even if works and he becomes one, what next? Most his life will probably change is swapping his bed in the manor for a coffin and switch to drinking blood instead of eating.

The only happiness any of them can find is outside that godforsaken mansion, but they’ll never leave and if they do they’ll always come back and get right back to normal. No healing, no upheavals, no improvements, no hugging, no learning.

Cut through the metaphor, and it’s just a show about five stupid assholes being walking trainwrecks in their decaying shithole of a house on Staten Island, only staying alive by taking advantage of anyone unlucky enough to enter the hazard zone. And they bring it all on themselves. Because that’s what it means to be a bad person; to never have any real joy in life, just misery as you chase after one hollow pursuit after another. And that’s what the show is about.

[earnestly-endlessly]

I was wondering if you know any Cherik fics where they're dating but it's w different people's pov? Or where people don't believe that they are together. They're not rude but they're just sceptical yk. Where they don't believe that one of them has a partner.

Thanks for the ask anon. I have to say that outsider POV is such a guilty pleasure of mine. There are some great fics out there that match your description. There are also a few fics that kind of match your description but deviate a bit from your request. I still think they fit the theme. I hope you enjoy!

Outsider POV - Don’t know that they are in a relationship

Work/Life Balance - pocky_slash

Summary: As teens, Charles was the star of a super popular tween/teen television show and Erik was his best friend. As adults, they're a frighteningly domestic married couple and Alex, Darwin, and Sean are Erik's nosy co-workers.

Rumor Mill - ikeracity

Summary:  Erik is the grumpiest, most foul tempered worker at Stark industries. His grumpiness is the stuff of legends.

So it's obviously the talk of the office when Erik is being made to go to the company party and he's bringing his husband. There's rumors flying round about how much of a masochist or equally antisocial bastard Erik's husband must be to put up with him. Others think he must be a meek mouse perhaps bullied by Erik.

What they weren't expecting was the confident, charming, adorable and unbelievably nice Charles that turns up on Erik's arm. What they certainly weren't expecting was how much Erik obviously adores his husband and how happy he is to let others see this.

Twice as Blind - Darksknight

Summary: Erik is probably the biggest asshole on the face of the earth, and because of this, he'll probably die alone. Charles is a complete flirt and playboy and, probably, will never commit to anyone ever.

(The lesson here is that when you have two friends who are BOTH secretly seeing someone, well, it's probable that they're seeing each other.)

For Argument’s Sake - Darksknight

Summary: The 'Science Wing Fights' are infamous, mostly because it's exciting to see two teachers really have it out, partially because Charles and Erik have the most intense and interesting fights any college student can dream of. So maybe a rumor or two get spread around to start the fights off, maybe someone mentions a hicky or the possibility of Charles seeing someone, but it's not like anyone's trying to instigate anything. Expect Raven. Raven will always instigate things.

Bang! A boomerang is love! – magichistorian

Summary: Everyone knew Mr. Xavier and Mr. Lehnsherr hated each other's guts.

Right?

Sugar Honey – IreneADonovan

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr is the new Senior VP in Stark Industries Engineering Division. He's a bastard to everybody, and everyone pities the pool fool who's married to him, whoever he/she may be. Until they meet him. Then they all jump to erroneous conclusions as to why he took the position at SI. Tony Stark eventually sets them straight. After he busts a gut laughing, that is.

I Heard a Rumor (the Miss Jones Syndrome Remix) – iberiandoctor

Summary: A ring appears on Professor Charles Xavier's finger. The student body at the University of Utopia embarks on a mission to find its source, and makes an unexpected discovery.

X-Men Apocalypse's 1980s-era powered universe in which the name of the school is more than wishful thinking, at least on mutant-friendly Genosha. Charles Xavier is a genetics professor at the University of Utopia; Emma Frost and Tony Stark are his best friends; Charles’s students are extremely nosy and think they know it all. Erik Lehnsherr is… not what you'd expect.

Erik’s Fake Boyfriend - KatSquared

Summary: Emma Frost had her sights set on Erik Lehnsherr, and so did half the campus. However, he made it a point to reject everyone who’s asked him out, and it seemed the man had a “boyfriend” that no one’s ever seen.

Gossip makes the workplace go’round - ximeria

Summary: Apparently if Erik is in a good mood, his employees have to ponder how that may have come to be. Their ideas are, however, wildly off the mark.

Prom Kings - Project896

Summary: "now that you've mentioned it, Im actually curious." Angel whispers so that Mr. Xavier won't have to give them his sad puppy eyes to get them back to reading their books.

"Yeah, he's been wearing that ring since he moved here last year, who do you think his wife is?" Raven glances up to make sure Mr. Xavier is still busy helping Sean understand the story, while doing so, she eyed the golden ring on his ring finger.

Bang! A boomerang is love! - magichistorian

Summary: Everyone knew Mr. Xavier and Mr. Lehnsherr hated each other's guts.

Right?

JJ´s Round-the-Clock Breakfast Bounty Platter - pocky_slash

Summary: Ron makes a friend. As if that's not weird enough on its own, Leslie's pretty sure he's in the mob. (Also, Charles is charming and Erik is the opposite of that.)

In Plain Sight - archipelago (arcanewinter)

Summary: A story where Charles and Erik have basically been together from the first time they met. The whole fate, wow we found each other thing. Now I would like the others not to know and try to bring the two 'oblivious' guys together. They of course enjoy this quite a lot.

Nevermore - amarriageoftrueminds

Summary: [Missing scene] This is what should have happened after Raven and Charles' contretemps in the kitchen.

I Did Not Just See You Kissing Magneto - swoopswoop

Summary: Alex spots Charles and Erik sharing a kiss while a building is collapsed around them before the latter runs off with the Professor.

Or Erik gets bored and so kidnaps Charles.

The Bitter Consequences - swoopswoop

Summary: It was all an accident, they never meant for the other's to find out. Of course, when they did, there was nothing left but to face the music.

Santa’s Helper (The Santa’s Secret Remix) - traumaschwinge

Summary: Raven loves her idiot brother dearly. She wants him to be happy, honest. It's just really hard sometimes when he acts like a teenager instead of a full grown adult.

Or: Raven watches Erik and Charles dance around their crush on each other until she snaps.

A Job Well Done – grim_lupine

Summary: Raven can safely say that when she met Erik in junior year, she didn’t expect she’d ever be having this conversation.

Who’d have thunk? - ximeria

Summary: While everyone knows that Charles and Erik can be a bad influence on each other, there are other sides to their, at times, insane relationship.

Everything Hits at Once - afrocurl

Summary: David's relationship with Charles is tenuous at best, but coming to watch the launch of Cerebro can't be a good idea. Can it?

For the Record - endingthemes

Summary: As prominent figures in the mutant rights movement, activists Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are pretty much household names. When a romance scandal between them breaks, their celebrity reaches new heights, and though the increased exposure is great, there’s a big problem -- the two of them are just friends.

Too bad no one believes them.

Note: Technically not an outsider’s POV but everyone is wondering about their relationship and it’s just one of my faves.

[k-odyssey]

Thoughts on tvn's Happiness (ep 9 & 10)

There's something very biblical about pouring your (pure) blood so that the sinners infected will show themselves? Or did the christian symbols get to me? It's a shame the sacrificial lamb got scratched and everything is a mess.

10 episodes and I still get surprised and scared when people turn. It's hard to consistently keep creating tension but they do it. It's also hard to make a show that requires tension that I won't find unwatchable, but they're also doing it.

Often the soundtrack really helps building up that tension, but here while he was walking around the room with his bloody hand extended, the silence was very effective. You could taste anticipation in the air.

I've said it already, but I love the foreshadowing in Happiness. There's some solid writing in there, and not just spur-of-the-moment plot twists. Like, did I find it very strange that the pastor was repelling zombies at the time? Yup. Did I consider the fact that he might be infected? Yes, briefly. Did I put that aside and kinda forget it because the writer redirected my attention elsewhere? 100%.

The fact that this one moment made the cop friend find god but had a scientific explanation??? I love that so much. I'd love more of that on tv pls.

There were also hints about the supermarket girl and I had not at all made the connection.

I looked up the writer and for once, it's a man. He did write WATCHER which I started and did not finish, because it had a definite lack of women and no romance. I don't know what he's been doing since 2019—well I kinda do, he's been living through a pandemic like the rest of us—but I like the direction in which he's taking his work.

The science feels a little shaky, but it's vague and in the background enough that I don't care too much. They don't do the thing where they keep shoving their "high tech" equipment in your face while speaking nonsense about DNA or whatever.

To get back to the important stuff: I wish Yi Hyun would tell the truth!!! He was bound to get infected, what with always jumping in to save the day. But even if it makes sense, I hate it. I also hate it because, and I hadn't noticed it at first but only after I finished episode 10 and thought about it, he's been more distant from Sae Bom since he got scratched. And I thrive on their intimacy so this hurts.

They're a team, and he promised he would say if it happened!! I know that it's his well-documented protective instincts acting out and he's doing this out of love but ARGH! You can't just sacrifice yourself without discussing it. Well, if you discuss it, it's true that you won't be able to sacrifice yourself cause she won't let you.

It's killing me that she noticed all the signs, but he knows her well enough to fool her.

I said last week that Han Tae Seok and Yi Hyun are similar and it's confirmed this week. HTS knew immediately that Hyun was infected, cause he probably would've done the exact same thing if it were him. I still think Hyun wouldn't go as far as manipulating others the way HTS does though.

I haven't said anything about Sae Bom yet, but it's not because I don't love her. She keeps being an awesome character, and I do particularly enjoy watching her when she's angry. If they didn't show her tender side, I'd feel differently I think. But she's both warm AND scary. She's magnetic, I see why Hyun made her his god.

Not sure what to say about the residents. I'm not feeling as indulgent as Hyun, thinking about them. It's amazing how quickly the apartment complex has become a lawless place. Also the ratio of murderers is way too high, even though the ratio of police officers in presence is also very high. We have a serial killer in the building??? What are the chances???

The actor playing creepy/evil upstairs neighbour is doing such a good job, my god I hate his guts. Shout out to the guy playing the lawyer as well, would you believe I keep yelling at his wife through the screen to strangle leave him?

Actually, they're all doing a good job. I also have unmentionable thoughts about the representative lady, although she looked genuinely devastated by her husband's death and for a moment there, I believed she was human. Maybe they're all too human.

The ending this week though?? You're gonna stand outside while someone is being killed so you can take their assets?? While a child is in there with a murderer?? This is reminiscent of the worst kinds of wartime stories.

PS: I think it's genius to have a countdown followed by a counter (?). Really drives the point home that there's nothing to look forward to now, we're just marking the passing of time and hoping there's an end to this.

[quirklessidiot]

title : cigarettes and parfaits [2] pairing : older!nanami kento x younger!reader [13 year age gap, ft toji fushiguro] Genre: romance, fluff, josei, mild angst, comedy, strangers to lovers au

Summary: you’re pretty sure you’d remember marrying a man 13 years older than you, right?

Warnings: alcohol, smoking, mild smut, y/n making stupid decisions, everyones a human-au so yeh non-canon stuff and everyone’s happy (periODT) Notes: tbh idk how marriage works in japan, all i know is that once you have both your signatures in the marriage registration certificate with one witness then you guys r married skdjssks anyways onto the story- also might i add this is happy story?? i promise yall, all youll see is cute stuff in this story bcos fuck angst (ok maybe lil angst since you know plot development) but i stand by that nanami kento deserves that trip to malaysia under the sun with his lover! before i forget to add, the age dynamics is that y/n is around 25 and nanami is 38. no power play and all that, just two healthy consenting adults! sorry for the early delete had some minor corrections :( 

Izakaya-informal japanese bar

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*13 hours earlier; a night before at some random Izakaya in Tokyo*

You sat in front of your phone and three bottles of saki, despite your friends advising you countless of times to lay off drinking too much, all sense and warnings are thrown off the window tonight.

You’re clearly far from sobriety as you recall the video chat with your otosan not looking too good and bright, “Why don’t you move back home? It’s not like the teaching job at tokyo is all that great! You’re alone there and your obachan and I don’t like that a lot…” your father’s words haunt you again and again.

Just what was wrong with living alone? And excuse your otosan but you definitely had a very good job at Tokyo High (It was a prestigious academy that paid well, best job out there that you still didn’t know how you landed). You mumbled a few curses underneath your breath, Oh, how much you love that oaf of a father and worrywart of a grandmother but could they lay off the idea of settling down? You were a responsible and good child who never had stepped a toe out of line. Wasn’t that enough already? You immediately downed the drink and let the saki burn your throat down.

“Oh ho, slow down there.” You hear someone say, “You’re all alone and it seems like you have no one to help you back home.”

It seemed like the men on the opposite side of the bar had noticed you.

“I can take myself home, thank you very much.” You mumbled, loud enough for them to hear. Unlike older men who liked to prey on you for your innocent stature. The men who sat across you in the Izakaya didn’t really exude that sort of energy (what can you say, you had a knack of experiencing that, unfortunately).

“Are you sure? We can ask the owner to call a cab for you. She’s a woman and she’s a friend of ours.” the other one in robes pipes in, wait, was that a Buddhist monk?

“No, I’m good. It’s just…” You paused before letting out a long sigh, “A bad time so I need to stick around for a bit.”

The white-haired stranger tilts his head just a bit, “Seems like you and a friend of mine are both going through some rough patches.” he replied, pointing towards his blonde company who you didn’t notice until now.

You wordlessly shifted your gaze towards the office worker next to the Buddhist monk, you hadn’t noticed the blonde man until now. It seemed like he was going through a rough time too since the pair was loud and boisterous enough to conceal his silent presence.

You notice how out of place he looks with his crisp and clean suit, hard gaze, and silence. It made you wonder what sort of man hangs out with two contrasting personalities, “You’re wondering if he’s our friend or our boss, aren’t ya?” the white-haired man asks.

You immediately turn red in embarrassment, were you that easy to read? You try to stutter out an apology but the monk waves it off, “It’s alright, we get it all the time. Contrary to popular belief, Kento is two years younger than us and is our junior from high school.” He smiles.

“Ah,” you nodded mutely, “Sorry. It definitely wouldn’t make sense to see a boss and his subordinates at an Izakaya.”

“Oh, Kento-chan doesn’t usually go out drinking but he couldn’t resist. After all, he’s a father with two very emotional teenage boys.” The white-haired man teased in a sing-song voice. It seemed like the three were close, with the way they were carelessly lounging around the stoic and kind-of scary man.

“I’m starting to wonder if he gets that teasing attitude from you.” The blonde man, seemingly out of his trance, called out his friend. Contrasting to his aloof features, he didn’t mask the annoyance in his tone.

“Oh, uh, do you need help?” you quietly asked, tilting your head to the side in wonder. The blonde man’s head snapped to your direction and quirked a brow.

“And you are?” he seemed to be calculating and observing you from head to toe. It suddenly made you a bit self-conscious because this older gentleman had no business being this good looking and scary at the same time.

“Oh, I’m Y/N by the way. I’m actually a high school teacher.” You introduced yourself sheepishly, “I’m always surrounded by angsty teenagers.”

His gaze narrowed just a bit, it seemed like he’ll be giving you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was a bit desperate since he was getting advice from a drunk stranger in an Izakaya out of all places, “So what seems to be the problem, Ojisan?”

He’s still quite hesitant so it’s his white haired friend who speaks out for him, “You see, Kento-chan here just moved last week because of a promotion from Kyoto.” he grins, telling the story for his friend, “His kids aren’t very keen with the moving, well one of them is outright showing it and the other one is well keeping it in since he’s just the sweeter one.”

The white-haired stranger keeps babbling on about how his friend had regretted taking the work promotion because it feels like he shouldn’t have done that. You peerlessly observe the older man’s reaction while his friend talks about his problems to you. He remains stoic.

It didn’t look like it but it seemed like this man had such a soft spot for his kids.

How nice, his wife must be proud of him.

“... and before I forget to add, Kento-chan is very much single.”

You almost choke on your saliva, this friend of his sure knew how to run his mouth. It suddenly dawns upon you why this man had been very worried, he was a single parent who only wanted what was best for his boys but he didn’t even know how he should proceed now.

“Um, ojisan?” You quietly call out, “I think you’re doing great.”

Silence lingered in the air for a bit, you cringed at your rather awkward and forward approach, “Excuse me?” the older blonde man asked, clearly dismayed by your response.

“It’s just…” you ears turn red, not from the alcohol but from embarrassment, “You wouldn’t have moved in the first place if the pay wasn’t better than your old job, right? Plus you’re alone and raising two kids. It definitely isn’t easy to provide for everything alone but I can see that you did some careful reevaluation on the whole thing. Obviously you can’t avoid the fact that they feel bad but you can sit them down and talk to them about how the whole thing was beneficial not just for you but for them too.”

You spoke way too quickly that you wondered if the man could understand you.

The blonde man holds his breath for a moment, “I know…” he mumbles, “I just don’t really know how to talk to them.”

“Well, maybe you could take them out?” You advised, “Spend a whole day with them for a while and just move around with them. Help them get acquainted around their new school or something!”

You watch him silently look at his glass and think it over. Man, if this guy wasn’t older, your obaasan would outright agree and tell you to go out with him since she was never fond of how men weren’t as calm or laid back as he was.

“That sounds plausible. Thank you, Y/N-san.” his voice turned a bit softer and you feel your stomach turn just a little queasy by his tone. God, was the alcohol this bad?

“Well, would ya look at that.” the white-haired man grins, placing his drink up as if he was signaling everyone to cheers with him, “I told you drinking at an Izakaya would solve all your problems. For that, we should drink here again next week!”

The man glared at him yet again, “No. I should be heading home now. I can’t be anymore away from S-”

“Ah, ah. You promised that you’d stay until 2 am.” The white-haired man hushed, “Or I’ll be pestering you for a whole month.”

You could definitely tell that a vein popped on his forehead and his blood pressure was shooting up. Man, you were really starting to doubt that white-haired man was older than everyone in this room. He sure had the mental age of an elementary student.

“You also said I could leave after five drinks.”

“That’s only your second.”

“Satoru…” the Buddhist monk dangerously hovers over his white-haired friend. Wow, middle-age men sure were amusing, “You don’t even drink that well and he has to drive home…”

“Tit for tat, I’ll hire one of my personnel to drive you home after five drinks and I’ll leave you alone for a wee-”

“Please just leave me alone for my whole life.” the blonde man deadpanned.

Unlike you, he wasn't such a bad drinker. Four bottles for him and one more drink for you later, you're both kind of woozy and you had gotten on even friendlier terms with the three men who you now know as Geto-ojisan, Gojo-ojisan, and finally, Nanami-ojisan. Nanami was well into his late thirties while Geto and Gojo were in their forties.

If you were sober, you wouldn’t be making friends with older men. With stories of how easily young people are taken advantage of in the big city, you’d swerve away from them. Luckily, it seemed like they were a good trio and not once did they invite you to sit on their table so you had some good distance between you four and so far, they hadn’t tried anything funny or uncomfortable.

Geto is currently a lawyer, Gojo’s apparently some swanky businessman of god knows what        you heard jewelry or something      and Nanami was an accountant. A job that he described was ‘dead-end’ and ‘fucking boring’.

“...What happened to your wife, Nanami-ojisan?” you ask, the alcohol slowly shedding your shyness away.

“I told ya, Y/N-chan. He never was married. The way he got the kids was just complicated!” Gojo Satoru frowns, splaying his long limbs in the air, for a man so enthusiastic with drinking, he sure got drunk pretty quickly.

“Really? Didn’t you have a hard time? Wow…” you whistled, “I have such high…” you raised your hand as high as you could, “...respects for like, single parents!”

“See? See? But he can’t get a partner because of that Y/N-chan.” Gojo pouts, “...We’ve been setting him up on dates and such but he keeps bailing on them!”

“I have kids.” Nanami deadpans, narrowing his eyes.

“What my friends are trying to say, Kento has a number of opportunities to bring a partner into his life but he likes to use the boys and his work as an excuse.” Geto surmised, it seemed like the lawyer was also starting to feel the effects of the alcohol since he had become more talkative.

“He’s good-looking, right Y/N-chan? If he probably didn’t act like some fossil from the Triassic period, he wouldn’t have a problem sometimes about the boys having a mother figure!” Gojo rants, making Nanami flick his forehead.

“Idiot, must you tell this stranger all my problems?” Nanami harshly interjected.

“Well, you do know that to actually get a partner, you must get out there, right ojisan?” you try to calm him down, you didn’t want a bar fight to erupt.

“I know.” he rolls his eyes, “But the kids-”

“I know.” You try to smile, “You aren’t very interested in bringing just anyone in your life, right? The boys need a permanent figure and you think dating around is going to help.”

“Holy shit, Y/N-chan.” Gojo exclaims, “I thought you were a teacher? How come you know all this shit?”

“It’s basic, Gojo-san.” you smile, ready to take another swig of your saki, “You should take into consideration that Nanami-san isn’t just anyone who’d settle for less. He needs stability since he’s technically a parent.”

“That makes you a perfect pair, don’t you think?” Geto nonchalantly replies, “I mean, you need a stable man in your life who has all of it figured out and wouldn’t hold you back at all while Kento here needs a person who could not only be a good parent but also be as understanding.”

“That’s…” you chuckle, he technically was right, “That’s definitely odd how all our problems will be solved if we both just went out together.”

“... looks young enough to be my child.” Nanami rejoined, “why would Y/N-san like-”

“I mean, you’re good looking.” you shrug, rather shamelessly, “I wouldn’t mind going out with you. Heck, I wouldn’t mind if I married you.”

Gojo spits out the saki he was drinking all over the table and that makes you cringe in disgust, “As long as he doesn’t get invited to the wedding. I’d marry you. If you’d like we could even get married right here, right now.” you proudly proclaim.

The blonde man is thrown off by your statement yet he’s too drunk to even sip in the seriousness of your words, “Well as much as I agree on not inviting Gojo to my wedding, I don’t know-” he tries to explain.

“You know what, isn’t Geto-san a lawyer? He could have it notarized and all that right now then we could get married. I’ll be a great mom and help you out then you could help me get my family off my back. You scratch my back, I scratch yours!”

Geto is definitely in shock, how odd was it that he even had a marriage registration certificate in his briefcase back in the car too?

You both could just sign it and Satoru could sign it as your witness and he could have it officially notarized since he had his seal back there too.

Solved.

“So, Nanami-san, what do you say? Wanna marry me?”

Oh god, were you shameless.

Who in the right mind would marry a stranger, one who was thirteen years older and a father?

One thing was for sure, your friends were right. You definitely needed to stay away from alcohol.

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[hearts-hunger]

in the darkness with the radio playing low || frankie morales x reader

Read on AO3 | Masterlist

Summary: When your move into your first house as Mr. and Mrs. Morales is interrupted by a thunderstorm and power outage, you and Frankie remind each other that even an empty house can be home if you’re together.

Pairings: Frankie “Catfish” Morales x Wife!Reader

Genre: Hurt/comfort, fluff, angst

Word Count: 5.5k

Warnings: a scene and significant discussion of PTSD

A/N: I’m pretty proud of this one. It’s the pièce de résistance of my collected works in terms of hurt/comfort. Please be aware that PTSD plays a major part in the plot; take care of yourselves and stay safe. That said, I think the fluff and tenderness and romance more than makes up for it. Let me know what you think! ♡

“Well, that’s just great.”

You stood with your hands on your hips as your husband came in with an armful of boxes, soaking wet from the downpour that had started without any warning. He looked a little apologetic, as if he disliked being the bearer of bad news, but he couldn’t have done any more to predict it than you could.

“The forecast said cloudy,” you said, frustrated enough that you weren’t paying attention to where he was headed with the boxes and had to quickly move out of his way. “Sorry.”

“‘S ok.” He set the boxes on the kitchen counter with a huff and took his ball cap off to shake some of the water from it. “Is there anything else you want me to try and get?”

You looked out the front door that was still wide open, feeling a wave of discouragement at the torrential downpour that made the distance from the door to the covered bed of Frankie’s truck seem insurmountable.

“I guess not,” you said tiredly. Anything you tried to get would be soaked through by the time it got inside.

Frankie came over to you, and you fell into his comforting bear hug despite how damp his overshirt was. You put your arms around his neck and sighed.

“Not how I envisioned this night going,” you said. You had spent countless hours planning your move into your first house as Mr. and Mrs. Morales, and this had definitely not been on the agenda. Santi, Will, and Ben had helped you pack up into the moving truck earlier in the day, and they were coming bright and early tomorrow to help you move everything in. Your first night was supposed to be you and Frankie and everything you could move in without the boys’ help - not just the three boxes of kitchen things, two lamps, and one set of bedding you’d brought in before it started raining.

Frankie hugged you tighter. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said. “I know how it gets your feathers in a ruffle when things don’t go to plan.”

He wasn’t being unkind; he really did hate it when things didn’t go to plan for you. Though he was very nearly unflappable in any situation, your anxiety tended to get the better of you in overwhelming situations like this one. You tried to make yourself relax, and being held by your husband made it much easier to do than it would have been otherwise.

“It’ll be fine,” you said, as much to yourself as to him. “We’ll just... camp out. It’ll be an adventure.”

Frankie gave you a sweet smile and kissed your forehead. “Proud of you, baby.” He let you go to fish out a dry overshirt from the duffle bag of clothes you’d grabbed, and you basked in the glow of his compliment.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” you said, trying to have a positive outlook. “Instead of trying to move in furniture tomorrow when we don’t really have a feel for the space, we can - ”

A huge clap of thunder made both of you jump, and a second later you were plunged into darkness as your power went out. You couldn’t decide if panic or frustration was a more appropriate reaction.

“Frankie?” you called. An unfamiliar, pitch-black house wasn’t doing much for your anxiety.

“Right here, honey,” he soothed, his hand meeting yours in the darkness. As your eyes adjusted, you kept a tight hold on him, and almost felt a little hurt at the amused look on his face.

“What did you do to make the universe so mad at you?” he asked.

You gave him a shove, but your heart wasn’t in it. “It’s not funny.”

He chuckled. “It’s a little bit funny, baby.” He ran his thumb over your knuckles. “You just can’t catch a break, can you?”

“Apparently not,” you grumbled. All your positivity had faded with this most recent development. “Now we can’t even look at the places we can’t put things.”

He nosed at your jaw, giving you gentle kisses all over your face. “My poor baby,” he said, but he wasn’t making fun. “How can I help?”

You were quite enjoying his attention at the moment. “You’re doing a pretty good job right now.”

He breathed a laugh against your skin. “I thought I might be.”

You let him comfort you, and for a little bit, with his big hands holding you close to him and his scruff against your cheek with every kiss, you didn’t even mind the rain or the loss of power. 

Then, something occurred to you. You gave his shoulder an excited slap.

“Hey!” he protested, though you knew you hadn’t hurt him. Frankie Morales was built of sterner stuff than that.

“I bet you didn’t know your wife was the smartest woman in the whole world,” you said, disentangling yourself from him even though you would have liked to stay right where you were.

Frankie watched as you went rummaging through the boxes marked for the kitchen, using your phone as a light. 

“Sure I did,” he said. “But remind me why you’re the smartest woman in the whole world, and why I suddenly can’t kiss you because of it.”

You grinned as you held your prize aloft for him to see. “Because I put the emergency candles back where they’re supposed to go before we packed everything up.”

His smile was amused as he watched you open the pack of six white candles that would burn for nine hours apiece, plenty of time for the storm to wind down and the power to come back on. You put a few on the counter, along with one in your bedroom and the en suite, and he lit them with the lighter he always kept in his pocket. Before long, the house that had seemed bare and frightening took on a warm and cosy glow.

“Kinda romantic,” Frankie said, pulling you close again. The whole “moving into your first home” thing had him feeling very tender and sentimental recently, and you didn’t mind how keen to cuddle it seemed to make him.

You were happy with your candles, though, and in a much better mood about how the night was going; you had a whole house to explore, and you had your husband to enjoy it with.

“I’ll make you a deal,” you said, running your fingers through his hair.

“What’s that?”

You smiled against his mouth. “You can romance me all you want, but - ” You pulled away and gave him a mischievous grin. “You have to catch me first!”

His smile was fondly exasperated as you went around to the other side of the counter, but he soon got into the game and chased you around the living room. The kitchen counter was your only means of defense, and once you were clear of it, you were no match for his size and speed. You broke into helpless giggles as he caught you by the waist and tickled you until you begged him to stop.

“Ok, ok, you win,” you laughed, breathless between kisses. “I didn’t think that one through, what with all your secret Delta force skills.”

He hummed in agreement. “That’s why I spent all those years training,” he said. “Just so I could catch you.”

You thought of another game. “Ok, how about this?”

He laughed. “What else do I have to do before I can kiss you, woman?”

You gave him an impish smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” You gave him one last kiss to tide him over before you pulled back from him. 

“I’m gonna go hide, and if you can find me, I’m all yours.”

He grinned. “It’s not a big house, cariño. Does this plan of yours involve me finding you in less than a minute?”

“Wouldn’t you be the lucky guy, getting me into bed that quickly?”

He gave you a cocky smile. “Lucky? Oh no, honey. You should know better than anyone that I don’t need luck.”

You grinned. “Shut up.” You directed him to the far corner of the living room, where he obliged you and closed his eyes while he counted to fifty.

“Now, where to hide?” you said to yourself, using your phone as a light as you went through the rest of the house. You’d toured it a handful of times before you’d decided on it, but you didn’t know all the ins and outs. Down the hall from the living room and kitchen were a guest bedroom and bathroom, the master bedroom with an en suite, and an office space that Frankie had confidently said would be perfect for a nursery. You wanted to have kids too, but you figured it would be best to settle in a little before you started painting the walls a cheery baby color.

You decided on the walk-in shower in the en suite - a little predictable, but you’d put three doors between you and Frankie’s undoubtedly quick search of the house, and maybe he’d like to stay put and have shower sex by candlelight. You listened as he counted, his warm voice filling the house despite the sound of rain pouring outside.

“Ready or not, here I come,” he said, and you could hear the smile in his voice.

You thought you heard him go into the guest bedroom first, then maybe to the closet in there. You felt a strange sort of anticipation - it was only Frankie, after all, and the consequences of being found were something you were looking forward to. You heard the door to the guest bedroom close and waited for him to cross the hall into the master.

“Where are you?” His voice was closer, so he must have been in your bedroom.

You rolled your eyes, smiling a little. You wouldn’t make it that easy on him. You heard the closet door open and shut.

“No, really,” he said, and his voice was so startlingly different that a thrill of panic shot through you. You could count on one hand the times you’d heard his voice like that, and none of them were happy memories.

“Please come out,” he almost begged, his voice tight and strained and trying so hard not to be. You almost took the sliding shower door off the track in your haste to get out.

“Frankie, hold on,” you said, trying to make your voice carry. You practically ran through to the bedroom, dreading what you might find; as soon as you saw him, you felt a wash of guilt so profound it nearly took your breath away.

In the dim light of the candle flickering on the window sill, you saw he had one hand on the wall, leaning heavily against it; his other hand was tucked under the collar of his t-shirt, running his fingers over his collarbone to self-soothe. He looked frustrated and panicked, and his gaze was unfocused as he looked at you.

“Oh, Frankie,” you said, feeling like your heart had been torn right out of your chest. You started to move towards him and hesitated; you didn’t know if it would make it better or worse for you to be near.

He took his hand from his chest and reached out to you; you took his hand immediately and put your other arm around his neck. He buried his face in your shoulder and put his free hand on your back, crumpling the fabric of your shirt in his grip.

“You’re ok,” he breathed, and the relief in his voice was almost worse than the fear.

“Of course I’m ok,” you said, pulling him closer, trying to get a hold of your own unease. “You’re ok too, Frankie. You’re safe. I’m here.”

His shoulders hitched unevenly as he drew a shaky breath. “Sorry,” he managed, and even with that one word, you could hear how upset and guilty he felt. You held him tighter.

“No, baby,” you said. You ran your fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck. “Frankie, it’s ok. You don’t have to apologize.”

Looking for you, hunting for you through a dark house - it had been enough to make you feel a little on edge, and you couldn’t imagine what it had triggered in him. You felt how unsteady he was as he held onto you like you were the only thing tethering him; you felt your eyes sting with tears.

“It’s my fault,” you said. “I can’t believe I was that stupid. I’m so sorry, Frankie.”

You felt him stiffen; he pulled back from you, still keeping you close but meeting your eyes with a clarity you couldn’t mistake.

“No,” he said firmly. “This isn’t your fault. You didn’t know any better, and I - ” His breath caught a little. “Christ. You shouldn’t have to.”

He released you, stepping back as bitterness and anger flashed across his face. You didn’t know how to help; you gave him space, wishing you could think of some way to comfort him. 

“I don’t want you always worried about something like this,” he said, his voice taut with frustration. “I don’t want you thinking you have to plan everything so that I don’t lose my mind and start freaking out for no fucking reason.”

You knew he wasn’t angry at you, but Frankie was an imposing figure even when he wasn’t agitated. Even though you knew without a doubt he would never hurt you, you still felt yourself unconsciously try to make yourself smaller.

“I'm so fucking messed up that I can’t even - ” He tugged on the brim of his ball cap. “I knew as soon as I started down the goddamn hall that I couldn't handle it. Reminded me of every single fucking hallway I’ve gone down trying to - ”

He cut himself off before he said it, but both of you knew when he meant. 

He rubbed the back of his neck, his anger seeming to give way to something more like grief and guilt and resentment. 

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. He didn’t meet your eyes. 

He tried again. “I wish I wasn’t - ” He shook his head. “Sorry.”

You took a step towards him, but he didn’t let you get close; you tamped down the sting of embarrassment and heartache and wished you knew what to do with your hands. You crossed your arms over your chest and worried the hem of your shirt sleeve.

“I’m gonna go smoke,” he said. Without waiting for a response, he left you in the bedroom; the rain sounded louder as the door opened, briefly filling the house that seemed empty and unforgiving once again.

God, what had you done? Despite what he said, you should have known better - it was cruel and unkind of you not to. You were his wife, for god’s sake - you knew him, inside and out, and it had been foolish and careless of you to not think before you acted. Now, it seemed as clear as day that it had been ill-advised from the beginning, but you had been so caught up in what you wanted and how you felt; you couldn't believe you’d hurt him like that, intentionally or not.

You needed to talk to someone, to ask how to help your husband, to ask if you even could. Your hands shook a little as you pulled up Santi’s number on your phone and prayed he would answer.

He picked up after a few rings. “Hey there, sunshine,” he said, like he always did.

“Santi,” you said, a little hopelessly. He sounded happy to hear from you; you felt like you would start crying any second.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked. Santi had always been able to read his friends like a book, and you were no exception. “Everything ok with the move?”

You gave a helpless shrug. “Yeah, I mean - no, because it’s pouring down rain and we lost power, but that’s not what’s wrong.”

“Okay,” he said. He kept his tone calm, and you couldn’t have been more grateful to him. “Talk to me.”

You took a shaky breath; you glanced towards the front door, that seemingly insurmountable barrier between you and your husband.

“It’s Frankie,” you said, and your eyes filled with tears despite your best efforts. “I think I triggered him - I wasn’t even thinking, it was so stupid, I was just trying to do something fun but he got so upset and I didn’t know what to - ”

“Hold on, hold on,” Santi said, trying to parse your feverish babbling. “Slow down, honey.”

“Sorry,” you said miserably. You swiped at the tears that wouldn’t stop now that they’d started.

“That’s ok,” he said kindly. “Just take a deep breath.” You did as he said. 

“Alright. Now tell me what happened, from the beginning.”

You hid behind your free hand, embarrassed and upset with yourself. Santi was one of your closest friends, but you didn’t even want to admit to him how careless you’d been.

“Hey,” he said, seeming to understand your brief silence. “You can talk to me, you know that. Whatever happened - it’s not unfixable. I promise.”

You nodded, trying to gather your courage and composure.

“The power went out,” you said. “I found some candles for the kitchen, but the rest of the house is dark. I thought it would be fun if - god, it’s so stupid - I thought it would be fun to play hide and seek, you know - I left him to go hide, and he started to look for me, but then he - ”

Your voice caught. “He didn’t say anything, and I thought he was having fun too, but when he couldn’t find me, he - ” You felt sick just thinking about it. “He was so upset, Santi. He said it reminded him of - ”

Like Frankie, you couldn’t make yourself say it, but you knew Santi had figured it out. 

“He was angry,” you said. “I didn’t know how to help him, and I just felt like I made it worse.”

You heard him sigh over the phone, and you tried to make yourself wait for him to speak instead of insisting he answer right away.

“He’s not angry at you,” Santi said. “I know it feels like he is, but he’s angry at - I don’t know, everything else. Himself. He’s not angry at you.”

“He should be,” you insisted. “I should have known better. I mean, I call myself his wife but I can’t even - ” 

You huffed. “It’s my fault, Santi.”

“It’s not,” he said evenly, like he was more convinced of that than anything else. “It’s too many things to be your fault. The shit he’s been through - that’s not on you, and I know he feels that way too.”

You didn’t know if that was true.

“Where is he now?” Santi asked.

“On the front porch. Smoking.”

“Okay. I want to talk to him in a minute, but... I know this scared you as bad as it scared him.”

“It shouldn’t have,” you said, furious with your own incompetence. “I didn’t - I didn’t go through anything like what he went through, and I can’t imagine having to worry about - ”

You ran your hand over your cheek. “I can’t stop fucking crying, even though nothing happened to me, and I can’t even try and help him without botching it.”

“That’s not fair,” he said. “It happened to both of you, and just because you don’t know how to help doesn’t mean you didn’t.”

“Why didn’t he say anything earlier?” you demanded. Your guilt needed something to latch on to, and Frankie was the easiest target for your anger.

“It probably didn’t even occur to him,” Santi said, unperturbed by your outburst. “He probably didn’t even realize until he couldn’t find you that it would trigger him at all. It’s not his fault, and it’s not yours either.”

You felt the fight go out of you; you were left with a heavy, numbing remorse and a worse headache than you’d had in ages. You lifted the collar of your shirt to scrub your face, hiding from everything for a moment behind the fabric.

“Don’t beat yourself up about this,” he said gently. “I know how you get, sunshine.”

You breathed a tired, wobbly laugh. “Yeah.”

“It’s gonna be ok,” he said. “Frankie loves you, and I can tell you without a doubt that the way you love him does help, more than you know. You hear me?”

You took a deep breath. “I hear you.”

“Alright. Can you take the phone to Frankie?”

You almost dreaded the thought - you wanted Frankie to talk to Santi, but you were wary of even putting yourself close to Frankie for fear that you’d do something wrong, make him more upset.

“Sure,” you said. You went out to the front door; your hand hesitated on the knob.

“Hey,” Santi said. “Before you go - I love you, sunshine.”

You smiled. “I love you too, Santi. You’re coming tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there first thing, don’t you worry.”

“Okay,” you said, more to yourself. If things weren’t better by then, Santi and Will and Ben would be here. You and Frankie weren’t in this alone.

“Okay,” you said again. “Here’s Frankie.”

You opened the door and pressed the phone to your chest, muting the sound of the rain on your end for a moment. Frankie was sitting on the railing, a nearly-finished cigarette between the fingers of his right hand; he was rubbing at his collarbone with his free hand, looking out at the rain.

“Frankie,” you said cautiously, trying not to startle him.

He looked over at you like he hadn’t noticed you’d come out. “What?”

You bit your lip and tried to remember what Santi said - Frankie wasn’t angry with you.

You held out the phone to him. “It’s Santi.”

He grimaced, like talking to his best friend was the last thing on earth he wanted to do, and he didn’t much appreciate you making him do it. He put the cigarette out on the heel of his boot and took the phone from you.

“Hello?” he said, tired and exasperated. He ran a hand over his face.

You went back inside to give them a chance to talk privately. Through the window, you could hear the muted tones of Frankie’s voice; they were speaking in Spanish, and you didn’t know enough to try and parse it even if you’d wanted to.

You looked around your small, dismal house; even the warm glow of the candles didn’t seem to make it any more comforting. You stood in the living room for a minute, trying to figure out what to do with yourself. Any other night you would have just gone to bed, wondering if Frankie would climb in next to you or decide to sleep on the couch, but you didn’t have a bed here yet - or a couch, for that matter. You crossed your arms over your chest at the sudden chill you felt and wished things had gone much differently.

You apparently hadn’t had the foresight to pack a sweater in the grab-bag of clothes, and the only thing long-sleeved was one of Frankie’s soft flannel overshirts. Any other time, you wouldn’t have hesitated to wear it, and might have given your husband some ribbing about how it looked better on you than it did on him. You left it in the bag and paced aimlessly, wondering if Santi was having better luck than you at easing some of Frankie’s pain.

Mostly to occupy yourself, you fished a pot out of the box of kitchen things and set water to boil for the stray pack of ramen you’d found with the emergency candles, of all things. If moving had proven anything, it was that your kitchen was in dire need of some organization. You had thought you and Frankie would start on getting your new kitchen set up tonight, but that didn’t seem likely.

The front door opened just as the water began to boil, and you couldn’t help a shiver as the cold, rainy air gusted in before Frankie closed the door behind him. The candles guttered and sent shadows dancing over the walls. Neither of you said anything for a moment, and Frankie put your phone on the counter.

“Are you cold?” he finally asked. His voice was much gentler than it had been earlier, perhaps even a little sheepish. You didn’t know why, but you blushed. 

“A little, I guess,” you said. “The rain is...”

You trailed off, not sure what you had been meaning to say in the first place. You bit your lip and tried to figure out the timer on your new stove.

You heard him rummaging through something, and you almost jumped when you felt him behind you. He put the overshirt you’d wanted earlier over your shoulders, leaving one hand on your arm while the other brushed over your hair very gently.

You suddenly felt like crying again; your throat ached and you had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep the tears at bay.

He brushed your hair to the side and kissed the back of your neck, feather-light.

“I’m sorry.”

You held your breath, willing yourself not to cry. He kissed your shoulder, and your breath caught like the beginning of a sob.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he said, and his voice was so sincere and heartsick that it almost hurt you to hear it. “I know I scared you. I was scared too, and I took it out on you and I shouldn’t have. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He slowly wound his arms around your waist, giving you time to pull away from him; you leaned back against him and felt him relax, like whatever had been pulled tight in him had finally been allowed to loosen. He nuzzled against your neck and breathed you in deeply.

“I love you,” he said. “More than anything. I can’t believe you put up with somebody like me.”

You turned in his arms to face him; he kept his hands on the small of your back and kept you close to him. 

You reached your hand up and touched his face, felt his scruff under your fingers, felt the way his pulse beat right under his jaw. Steady and warm, like he always was.

“I love you,” you said. Your voice was dull with crying and washed in relief. “I love you, Frankie Morales. Every bit of you, no matter what. I wish I knew how to love you better, how to - ”

He kissed you before you could say any more, tender and apologetic and full of love.

“No, sweetheart,” he said. He kissed your nose, your cheeks, your temple. “You’re the only reason I’m not broken in a million pieces, you know? You’re the only thing that keeps me together.”

He leaned his forehead against yours. “I love you. I’m sorry I’m such a screwup.”

“Don’t say that,” you said firmly. You held his face in your hands. “I love you. You are not a screwup. None of this is your fault.”

You kissed him, tenderly, and felt how much he needed it.

“I’m with you no matter what, Frankie,” you promised him, like you had on your wedding day and like you would every time he needed reminding. You smiled a little. “You’re stuck with me now.”

He gave a watery laugh, and the sound was like music. 

“Thank god,” he said, and meant it.

He kissed you, gently, cautiously; you kissed him back and held him close. A few tears fell down your cheeks; you were relieved and happy and so in love with him that you didn’t know what to do with it.

“Hey,” he said softly. “No more crying, pretty girl.”

You reached up to wipe away your tears but he got there first, his big hand cradling your face, his thumb running over your cheek to catch them.

“You alright?” he asked. Wanting to know if you needed more time, if you were still hurt. You put your hand over his and leaned into his touch.

“I missed you,” you said. You weren’t sure it made any sense - after all, you’d been apart only for a little while, and even then, he’d only been outside. But the emotional distance, the worry you felt for him, the hopelessness you’d felt trying to help him - you missed him, and you were glad he was with you again.

He kissed your forehead. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. I missed you too.”

You rested in that for a moment, letting it shore up the cracks in your heart; all was forgiven between you, and nothing else needed to be said. You were his, and he was yours, and sometimes it took a little heartache to remind you who held your heart together in the first place.

After a moment, you circled a hand around his wrist. 

“Let’s just... give into the fact that we have no power and we’re in a brand new house that’s kind of creepy in the dark,” you said.

He chuckled. “Okay.”

You sighed. “I know I started it, but we have plenty of time to be a rambunctious, fun-loving couple when we’re not going through a very stressful night. Right?”

“Right,” he agreed. “And later, when we actually have furniture and lamps and everything, I’ll play any kind of game you come up with. As long as it’s not hide and seek.”

You gave a dry laugh. “Yeah. No hide and seek.”

He gave you a chaste kiss. “But for right now, it’s just you and me and a house with no power.”

You nodded, tipping your face up towards his. “Sounds perfect to me.”

He kissed you deeply then, taking his time; when you needed something to brace against, he kept you from leaning back right onto the hot stove and picked you up by the waist to put you on the counter. Your ramen bubbled away as Frankie stood between your knees, his hands on your thighs; you held his face in your hands and kissed him as though you would never get enough of him.

“Your ramen’s about to boil right through our nice sauce pan,” he said after a few minutes. You hadn’t even heard the timer go off.

“Whatever,” you said, breathless. He let you kiss him a few more times. 

“Can I turn it off before we burn the house down, honey?”

You gave an exaggerated sigh. “I guess.”

He let you keep a hold of his hand while he quickly turned off the stove and moved the pot to another burner, and then he was standing in front of you again, looking at you like you’d hung the moon.

“I love you, Mrs. Morales,” he said. “I’m the luckiest guy on earth to be your husband. Even if you do overcook your ramen.”

You breathed a laugh and put your arms around his neck as you leaned close to kiss him again. You tipped his hat back so you could kiss all over his face while his hands roamed over your thighs and waist, tenderly kneading into your skin. 

“Frankie,” you said, breathless from his kisses. 

He hummed against your neck. “What is it, querida?”

You felt your whole body warm as he kissed down your neck, sweet and messy and patient. It was your first night in your first home, and you loved your husband and wanted him deeply.

“Take me to bed,” you said, brushing your fingers through the soft curls that stuck out from under his cap. “Take me to bed or lose me forever.”

You could feel his smile against your skin. “I would, honey, gladly - but you might have noticed we don’t have a bed.”

“Let’s make one,” you said. “I brought in the bedding and blankets and everything - we’ll just be like a couple of pioneers making love on an old bearskin rug.”

He scrunched up his nose and laughed at the thought. “Mm. Musty.”

“Come on,” you said with a laugh. He helped you off the counter and awaited your direction on the bed-making, accepting the pillows and blankets you gave him to hold as you unpacked them. Like you did most mornings when he didn’t leave very early for work, you made your bed together: this time, a warm and comfy pallet on your living room floor.

Like the romantic he was, Frankie put some soft classic rock on his phone; he took you in his arms to slow-dance with you as Bob Seger started to play.

“She was lovely, she was the queen of my nights,” Frankie sang, pulling you close, “there in the darkness with the radio playing low.”

You rested your head against his chest, listening to the warm sound of his voice and the steady beat of his heart. The rain still poured outside and the candles still cast shadows on the wall, but the storm and the darkness and the emptiness of the house all seemed to fade when you were with him. There in your husband’s arms, warm and safe and loved, you knew this new house you shared with Frankie was already home.

taglist: @punkgeekchic​​, @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl​​

let me know if you want to be added to my pedro pascal characters taglist!

[the-record]

The City of Romance

Summary: On Spencer’s mandatory leave, he plans a trip to Paris, France where he meets an unforgettable face.

A/N: I got this idea during my language class. Please excuse my terrible French, I am still learning. This might be 2 parts? Maybe 3? I’ll figure it out. Anyways if you have any ideas for this or other requests let me know! 

Italics: Translation French to English.

This is more of an introduction <3

Part 2, Part 3

Check out my masterlist here!

For as long as you remembered, you had stayed with your mom in France during summers and worked at her café. Specifically her café in Paris. It was a dream. She made lots of business and your family was already pretty well off. You met lots of people working this job, however one seemed to stick out to you.

“Bienvenue! Que puis-ie vous offrir aujourd’hui?”  “Welcome! What can I offer you today?”

“Sorry, I don’t speak French.” You smiled at the tall man in front of you. He was handsome and seemed kind but nervous.

“No worries. Welcome, what can I get you today?” He seemed relived at the fact you spoke English. You would’ve too. 

“Can I get a coffee, 2 boxes of macarons, and 3 chocolate croissants?” You smiled and typed in the order on the computer on the counter.

“Of course. Will that be all?” He smiled and nodded. “Great. Your total is 24.50.” He handed you the foreign currency and you started to make his coffee and box his treats. “Here you are. Have a great day...”

“Spencer. You too,” He looked at your name tag, “Y/N. I should be on my way, I have a flight. Bye!” You smiled and waved. 

The rest of the day you couldn’t get that boy out of your head. You were a little disappointed that he would have already left France but the thought of visiting your uncle made it better. You stayed with your mom in the summer and your dad the rest of the year. After he passed, your uncle had promised to take care of you while you were in America. You were a grown adult but that didn’t stop him. Even 3 weeks later, as you boarded the flight, you couldn’t stop thinking about Spencer. What did he need 3 chocolate croissants for? You need the delectable treats you brought for your uncle. He was going to meet you at his work and asked you to bring something for him. You couldn’t bring something just for him though, so you brought something for all of his team. You had never met his team but that didn’t stop you. They were his family, so they would be yours too. 

He met you downstairs on the ground floor after you got through security.

“Bella!” You smiled and basically ran to hug him.

“Uncle David!” He squeezed you tight. 

“How was Paris? And your flight?” You giggled a little.

“It was beautiful as always. You have to come visit me and mom some time. My flight was weird. Not in a bad way, I just met someone I guess and, never mind. How are you?”

“I’m good. I think coming out of retirement was definitely a good idea.” You both talked all the way up and all the way to his office. 

“Oh, I totally forgot. I brought you guys some stuff from the café. Mom started working with a local bakery and their macarons are just perfect. And don’t even get me started on the croissants.” You pulled out the boxes from your bag and placed them on his desk.

“I know just the person who would love some of these. Come on, I will introduce you to her first.” You smiled and followed him to a dark room with a wall covered with monitors. 

“Wow.” In such a dark space sat a bright colored blonde. Her outfit had lots of fun colors and her hair was curled. Her makeup and earrings were fun and exciting. Everything about her radiated good energy.

“Rossi what’s- And who is this beauty next to you? Hoping she’s not wife number 4.” You laughed.

“This is my niece Y/N. Y/N this is Penelope Garcia our technical analyst.” You held out your hand.

“It’s great to meet you Penelope. I heard you like pastries?” You held out a box and her face lit up.

“I love them! Ok wow, these look amazing, where are they from?” Her smile was huge as she looked at the croissants.

“Actually they’re from Paris.” Her jaw dropped. “My mom owns a café and bakery in Paris France. I’m just here during the year for school.” She is still stunned.

“Well wow. I don’t know what else to say. Wait yes I do. Thank for these!” You smiled.

“Of course. If you ever need some just tell David and they will be sent to your front door.” She held her arms out for a hug which you gave her.

“Alright, well I am going to take Y/N to meet the rest of the team. Bye Garcia!” She waved as you two walked out.

“I like her. She’s very fun. Not boring like you.” You joked. You saw a group of people standing over by a counter and that’s when you saw him. The man from the café. “Long time no see.” He was a little confused when he heard you, but when he saw you he understood.

“Oh hey Y/N. What are you doing here?” 

“I’m just visiting my uncle. So this is where you were rushing off to then?”

“Yeah.” You saw a small smile creep on his face. It wasn’t a lot but you noticed it.

“Woah let’s slow down here pretty boy. Rossi, who is this?” You stared over at the man next to him. He was tall with a strong build and holding a cup of coffee.

“This is my niece Y/N. Y/N this is Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and I guess you already know Spencer.” You nodded.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” They all stared at you both positively bewildered. “Oh, uh he came by the café I work at. He got a bunch of macarons.” 

“Wait, you work where those came from?” The lady who was apparently known as Emily.

“Yeah, my mom owns it and I work there during the summer. Speaking of.” You pulled out a smaller box filled with cookies and macarons. “These are for you guys.

“Thank you gorgeous. I guess we may have to thank Spencer then for introducing us to these.” You giggled softly.

“I guess you will.” Your phone rang and you noticed the caller ID to be your mom. “Sorry. I have to answer this real quick.” You walked a few feet away before answering. “Salut maman!” “Hey mom!”

“Salut bebe! Avez-vous atterri?” “Hi baby! Have you landed?”

“Quais. Je parle en fait aux collegues de David. Puis-ie vous appeler un peu?” “Yeah. I’m actually talking to David’s colleagues. Can I call you in a bit?”

“Bien sûr. Je t'aime.” “Of course. I love you.”

“Je t'aime aussi. Au revoir.“ “I love you too. Bye.” You hung up the phone and headed back over to them.

“Well genius what did she say?” You laughed as you walked back.

“He wouldn’t know.” They all gave you an odd and ashamed look for asking him. 

“She’s right. I don’t know French.” 

“Spencer Reid. You have an eidetic memory and went to a new country and didn’t learn French?”

“Well I learned a little but I didn’t really need to learn any. A lot of the natives knew English.” You nodded.

“He’s right. And it was my mom, she was asking if I landed.” Suddenly another blonde woman popped over. JJ. You had met her before by accident. Last time you came to visit you had a late flight in and so when you came by David’s house he was having a dinner party but everyone had left except her. She wanted to get to know you and you got coffee. “JJ!” 

“Oh my goodness Y/N! What’re you doing here?” She pulled you into a quick hug.

“I’m staying with David now for school because of what happened.” She gave a sympathetic smile.

Your father had passed away from a house fire. He was a bit older and already had health issues so the smoke inhalation was too much and he sadly passed.

“That’s great. How’s school been going?”

“Pretty well. I take some extra courses during the summer so I am looking for a job currently because I have everything I need done.”

“What career are you going into?” Derek questioned.

“Teaching. Specifically elementary because I can’t stand teenagers. They do not hold back, and as great as some of them are, I want my kids to be able and come see there first or kindergarten teacher years from now. I think I may have found a school around here but they haven’t gotten back to me yet.” They all nodded. “Well I was going to get some coffee if anyone wants to come along.”

“Reid why don’t you go?” Derek was patting him on the break to try and convince him to.

“Uh sure. If that’s okay with you of course.” You smiled.

“Of course. Let’s go I guess.” You walked with Spencer out to your uncles car that he so kindly lent you for the time being. He kept your car at his mansion so you wouldn’t have to worry about it. “Where should we go? I don’t normally come down here with David so I don’t really know a ton.” You asked as you got into the drivers side.

“There’s a little coffee shop not to far from here.” He gave you the directions as you drove. When you got there you ordered a coffee and a sandwich. Truth be told you were starved.

“So what degrees do you have?” He sipped his coffee before answering.

“I have a PhD in math, physics, and engineering as well as 3 BAs.” You jaw was 6 feet under. You assumed he was smart but damn.

“Wow. That’s... Impressive.” You laughed softly.

“Yeah. What about you? You said you wanted to be a teacher.”

“I have a bachelors in elementary education and one in special education. That is more so I can be more inclusive in the classroom. Honestly it’s pretty smart to get one because all children learn in very different ways. Like me, I loved reading when I was a child but I learned better by listening and looking at pictures. Some children think noise is distracting or that bright fun colored pictures are so we have to think about all of them and not just the majority. So far I have found a lot of different teaching methods to cater to all students. It’s really interesting. Sorry I’m rambling aren’t I? I do that when I get excited.” He chuckles and shakes his head.

“Don’t worry about it. One time I told a detective that it’s safer to kiss instead of shake hands.”

“Ooh. Yikes. Don’t tell that to kids though, they will run around kissing each other and get some kind of disease I swear.” Conversation flowed easily between you both. You both took turns rambling while the other listened. It was comforting to have someone who actually listened and could understand you when you spoke a mile a minute. 

He couldn’t help but think the same. Most of his friends had teased him over his facts. You listened and asked questions. You didn’t cut him off or laugh. You were actually interested as was he when you spoke. You talked pretty fast but he managed to keep up. Before you realized it was no longer 1:30. It was 4:15. You had talked with him for hours and it only felt like minutes. You texted your uncle that you would just wait in the car for him but when Spencer got out you felt like you had to do it.

“Wait! Spencer!” He stopped and spun to see you running towards him. “Would you like to go out for dinner sometime? Maybe this weekend if you’re not on a case?” His smile was blinding.

“I love that.” You exchanged phone numbers.

“Perfect. Hopefully see you this weekend.” You placed a quick kiss on his cheek before running back to the car. He felt weak in the knees and thought he might collapse right then and there. Luckily he kept himself up until he got to the office. He was so excited and while he may not be religious, he prayed there wouldn’t be a case.

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom season 2, eps 1-5 thoughts! opening the new season with episodes like these kinda blew me away. we had multiple serious episodes INCLUDING a two parter!! also, valerie :)

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-I don't know what I expected s2 to open with. but danny portal incident in more detail was not it. (also, I hate to break it to you, sam, but danny's parent's bigass ghost hunting rv def chugs more gas than those vehicles, lmao. unless it runs on ectoplasm or something...)

-WHY WAS DESIREE IN THE SEWER? HAVING TEA WITH IT DOWN THERE?? Her making the giant cow come alive is a boss move, we've almost had all of my fav animals as ghosts now <3 I also don't like how sam was expecting danny to just, haunt the place so the cars wouldn't get sold? I KNOWWW I know she's 14 (and I had a very annoying phase like this, I think I mentioned in a previous post, I GET IT) but they're HIS powers, and messing with (1) dealership will not really put a dent in sales overall because they can just move the cars to another sales lot, and it certainly wont change the industry anyway, it's more of a minor annoyance for (1) location. Also, usually people who work at car sales places work on commission, so if they dont make a sale, they don't have money to pay bills, or eat. sam baby if u wanna be an activist you need to like, actually look into these things. with as much money as her parents have, she could be doing a lot..more useful things for causes she cares about? it's frustrating to see someone with resources who doesn't know how to use them. but shes 14 so again. cannot be really upset :/

-IS THIS A PREDATOR VS TERMINATOR VS FREDDY KRUEGER MOVIE BUT THEYRE ALL WOMEN?? you know, sam is so right to be excited about this. /I/ want to see this movie. that rules

-paulina inviting danny and friends to her quinceañera, aw! even if it is just to get phantom to show up :') and there'll be a meteor shower, and we KNOW danny wants to be an astronaut!! there's not a meteor shower every night!! the tickets are non-refundable, but..she's rich? like. gotta agree with danny, they never get invited!! I KNOW it's the principle of keeping promises, but if she was that upset, she should've said something. directly. I hated how she was like, passive aggressive about it through the episode, like you SAID IT WAS FINE, THAT YOU'D GO TO THE PARTY TOO. MOVIES SHOW FOR A FEW WEEKS IN THEATERS. IF YOU HAD A REAL PROBLEM YOU NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. WE'VE HAD THIS PROBLEM BEFORE, SAM. YOUR FRIENDS. ARE NOT. MIND READERS.

-MR. LANCER GOING AFTER THE GHOST WITH THE FIRE EXTINGISHER LMAO

-this outfit is everything . anytime the show does an over the top cutesty pink outfit i WANT IT. it looks like shit I wear JKASDHF I HAVE a bow like that and a pink sweater. I need leg warmers </3

-SAMS GOTTA RE-HALF-KILL HIM??? thats fucked up. but also, he finally got his logo!! it took until s2!!! this episode was lowkey very fucked and I felt like it glossed over a lot. does sam have guilt about like. kinda KILLING HIM?? I know, he also agreed and walked into the portal. but. she made the choice to redo it SO quickly (even if it was because someone had to beat desiree) and danny, during their fight, brought up a lot of stuff sam's done in the past, meaning he was holding onto those memories and resentment was building. (I KEEP SAYING HE LOWKEY NEEDS THERAPY, BUT I THINK MOST EVERYONE IN THIS SHOW KINDA DOES) which...is a red flag? and then they didnt even GO to the party URGH I know she tried to make up for it, but it really felt like Sam fucked up and barely faced any consequences and got everything she wanted in the end. I KNOW it's a kids show obv they aren't going to go too in depth, and she undid the damage, kinda, but...I DUNNO how to articulate it but it rubbed me the wrong way.

-but on a note about desiree, her powers of wishes were STRONG ENOUGH TO ERASE NOT JUST THEIR MEMORIES, BUT DANNY'S POWERS?! fuck, if I was danny I'd be like, trying to make friends with her. I know they always have horrible side effects as most genie-granted wishes do, but...c'mon, I'd at least TRY to be like 'I wish no ghosts would hurt anyone in my town' or 'I wish vlad would lose his ghost powers forever no matter What and also forget about my mom' LIKE. SHIT DESIREE IS SO POWERFUL. rewriting reality powerful, basically!! appreciate her. respect her.

-aww, sam helping tucker pass the nurse's office so he wouldn't see because he's afraid of medical stuff? very sweet. I also don't like medical stuff, I've gotten a lot better at handling it tho. but seeing blood and needles still makes me feel lightheaded x_x

-FOLEY, BY TUCKER FOLEY. I want to make my own perfume, that's so cool. even if his first attempt isn't good, he's pretty consistently shown to have an inventor/entrepreneur streak in the show, so like. I can see him inventing or making something (or several somethings) that make him $$$ when he grows up :) proud of my creative son

-I know the 'creepy abandoned hospital on the edge of town' is a joke and the creepy hospital trope is so Worn Out, but in my town we actually DO have a hospital like that! my dad was born in it, but its not in use and hasn't been for, like, 20 years! it needs to be torn down but I think the city doesn't wanna pay the money. the inside is horrible, spray painted and broken glass and shit everywhere. but there's still like, rusty equipment and fucking DOLLS all over the place. the cops drive by it pretty frequently to make sure no one is like, breaking in. (because of water damage, some of the areas really aren't safe. also, asbestos, but people still go in anyway) but also, some of my town was used in a filming for a stephen king show. So it's lowkey spooky all over. just a fun personal tidbit :) to lead into saying, any hospital abandoned for any period of time is NOT safe to quarantine these kids in JKSAHDKF like I KNOW it's a ghost trying to do this, but NONE of these parents are even like, 'well, why dont we keep them in the regular, working hospital'....YIKES. this hospital looks pretty accurate to the one in town. grungy and spooky.

-fentons are tax evaders confirmed by jack's fear of being audited, lol no one is surprised

-ghost sickness via ghost bugs. horrifying concept. I actually expected it to be a new villain, not dr. spectra again! this is a very elaborate scheme. her new form rules, love the new costume. the way none of the bg kids seem to recognize her as their old school councilor. did we just forget about that completely?

-dash watching romance movies in the fucked up ghost hospital. same.

-'oh please, you're ghosts, do you have any idea what YOU smell like?' no, tucker, what DO ghosts smell like? I genuinely didn't know they would even have a smell, I actually want to know now.

-it feels like a while since we've seen jazz!! i was happy to see her again, even if she was a head in a jar for most the episode. I want another jazz-focused ep!!

-we finally see danny doing space-related stuff!! him and his friends stargazing to open ep 3 of s2. cute :) until, GHOST PIRATES!!!!! ...ghost pirate captain is a small child?? VOICED BY TAYLOR LAUTNER???

-oh, the easy listening is ember's song instrumental slowed. 'vapor drone' THEY VAPORWAVED HER!!! ember in a pirate outfit tho >>>>. and the cruise being called m.bersback JKASDHJK. ember adopting a little pirate brother is also pretty cute. concerning this teen and little kid have such bad opinions of adults, like, who hurt you?? (how did you DIE ALSO?? im always lowkey curious about that. we know desiree died at an old age, but her ghost form is young, probably mid-20s, so I wonder how that sort of thing works...its a more mental thing, isn't it?) but ghost team-ups are always cool to see, even if ember bailed after danny took her guitar. I guess she probably thinks youngblood can handle it (which, he's been owning danny this far in the ep, so...fair)

-tucker got that sponsorship from nasty burger for their radio!!! again, opportunistic money maker king, love to see it!!!

-danny taking control of the kids SO FAST. he makes a pretty great leader. no one is surprised, im pretty sure I said I think he's the most mature of the trio, once again, correct, because he's taken on so much responsibility already. all the teens suiting up in the jumpsuits to go save the adults and taking the ship over with a BLIMP. OKAY LETS GO. this feels like it should be a mid finale or straight up finale.

-...speaking of finales. why is ep 4-5 of s2 combined into a 50 minute episode? I havent even clicked play and im concerned. weird placement, like, this season JUST started and we're getting a two parter? okay...why are the episodes placed like this? why not put this at episode 10 or something, for a mid-season thing?

-this is also a cute dress. possibly my fav dress so far. can her parents give ME cute dresses, I'LL wear them.

-it turns out the castle fright knight was in is called pariah's keep and there's something worse than fright knight in there! lovely! fuck off vlad wtf are you doing <3 your hubris <3 is going to literally get you killed <3 'ring of rage' and 'crown of fire' are great names tho. ...vlad turning into a super polite guy when he was scared of mr. pariah was hilarious. and fright knight doing the same...I mean, it makes sense, he's a knight, he serves a king? happy to see fright knight again either way :) vlad telling him to call him tho, lmfao. you WISH HE WOULD. (I wish hed call me, too. 😔)

-so...jack being genuinely concerned about vlad...maddie really didn't tell him what happened at the cabin, did she. damn. if I was her id immediately come home and be like 'YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS SHITTTT THIS CREEPY GUY--' like, I feel like that stuff you need to tell your partner!!! I know she didnt want Jack to think she was an irresponsible parent putting danny in danger at that time, but STILLLL. maddie spilling boiling tea on him. get his ass. how is jack this oblivious to his wife's discomfort with vlad!! ughhh

-fenton wipe (tm). trademarked toilet paper.

-DANNY AND VALERIE BEING FRIENDS??? :D that was a cute moment. 'hey val <3' and 'if you like him like him, make a move, or someone else will ;)' at sam...damn!! I love her. valerie go for it girl!!! I hate how sam and tucker treat val also, like I GET IT YOURE PROTECTIVE AND DONT TRUST but if anything him befriending valerie will help when she finds out or he tells her like I feel like she'll be more understanding that they think! ALSO I feel like her reason for not liking ghosts is valid, like you haven't really explained the full story to her anyway! she doesn't seem to have any other friends after being booted from the a-listers so im like :( but seeing them kick butt together again was nice <3

-the ghosts all RUNNING FROM PARIAH DARK IS NOT GOOD, I thought he sent them to attack or something, but no. why doesn't someone just tell desiree 'hey i wish pariah dark would die' lol. once again I think she can solve every problem <3 but seeing all the enemies in one place, being civil and hiding together? love it.

-you just know danny's gonna have to clean up vlad's stupid mess. also, jack being willing to put on the ectoskeleton pants to help maddie, as soon as vlad heard it could kill him, he suggested jack do it instead of helping maddie himself? this is why jack got the girl, my man.

-ghost skeletons. how do you end up as a skeleton ghost in your afterlife instead of a humanoid like most the ones we've seen? lmao

-the ghosts just making new homes in various stores. I'd totally be setting up in an expensive clothing store if I was a ghost.

-valerie's dad is possibly the most useful adult so far, with that ghost shield expansion!!! and valerie saving vlad and danny, even tho shes been thru it already, shes still so good!!! this family rules.

-danny: *gently caresses valerie* :)

-*then he immediately TELLS HER DAD ON HER. and his first response is 'are you okay?' :'( such a good dad...

-*me every time fright knight breathes* youre doing SO great sweetie :)

-the fenton suit thing is so silly looking. does anyone take this thing seriously

-ALL THE GHOSTS FIGHTING WITH DANNY <3 AAAAA. and the fact that pariah isn't perma-defeated, but just locked away again. yikes. he'll probably get out again, won't he? it wasn't too clear, but if vlad DID make a pact with fright knight, I am rabid. I will beat vlad to death with the fenton bat (tm). YOU DONT DESERVE A COOL KNIGHT.

-valerie being direct with sam and challenging her? kinda love that, even tho I normally don't like 'catfight' type situations. because sam has been very passive aggressive about it which is annoying. valerie knows wtf she wants and wasn't even embarrassed to tell sam, but she did tell her, giving sam time to make her own move! and sam denied it and got embarrassed/mad! and sam did have a chance when danny was about to go off and fight, and she hesitated and didn't tell him. I feel like she's hesitating because they're friends and it might make it weird between the trio (poor tucker would be third-wheeling) but if u snooze u lose, u gotta GO after what u WANT girl. smh this is a No Tsundere Zone. 😤

[introvertguide]

Pulp Fiction (1994); AFI #94

The most recent movie for review was the Quentin Tarantino crime thriller comedy (probably more things) Pulp Fiction (1994). It is a very complicated story that is told out of chronological order and focuses on scenes of meaningful character interaction. This confusion meant it lost out to movies with a more straight forward time line at the Oscars, since the move was nominated for seven awards but only took home one. The single win for best screenplay was well deserved and I still believe it is one of the most creatively written films of all time. I want to go over the plot to show what I mean, but let me do my standard due diligence:

SPOILER WARNING!!! I AM ABOUT TO GIVE THE BASIC DETAILS OF ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX STORY LINES IN MOVIE HISTORY!!! IT WILL NOT LIKELY SPOIL MUCH OF ANYTHING, BUT I AM STICKING THIS WARNING ON JUST IN CASE SOMEBODY FINDS SOMETHING!!!

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

The film begins with what is pretty much a prologue but what turns out to be about the middle of the film chronologically. A couple is at a diner and they are talking about robbing banks. They only refer to each other as Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer). They discuss the best kind of places to rob and they decide that a diner would be a good change of pace. Impulsively, they pull out guns and hold up the diner and...title card with awesome spaghetti western music!

Two hitmen are talking about Europe as they go to do a job. Vincent Vega (Jon Travolta) talks about his adventures with Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) as they pull up at an Los Angeles apartment complex. The two discuss their boss Marsellus Wallace and how touchy he is about his wife. The boss has apparently sent them to get something from a bunch of guys. Jules and Vincent call on an apartment with 3 college age men and intimidate them into giving over a briefcase with something glowing inside. The case is what they came for, so the hitmen take it and kill two of the men at the apartment...

Flash to a new scene in which Vincent is going to get some drugs from his dealer (Eric Stoltz). Vincent is a heroine user despite cocaine being the popular drug. It turns out Vincent was asked by his boss to take out his wife...the one he is very protective of. He just needs to hang out with her so she is not bored and not get into trouble. To accomplish this, he shoots up some heroine and goes to meet the wife named Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman). They seem to get along and he drives her to a restaurant called Jack Rabbit Slims. The place is fantastic, all the waiters are dressed up like American movie icons and the booths are repurposed cars from the 50s (if this place actually existed, you can be sure I would search it out and go there at least once). The two bond over dinner and then volunteer for a twist dance contest.

Mia and Vincent go back to her house and Vincent goes to the restroom to talk himself out of trying to score with Mia. She is pretty cool, but not worth dying for. While he is away, Mia finds some heroine in the pocket of Vincent’s jacket and thinks it is cocaine. She snorts it and immediately starts to overdose. Vincent panics and decides to drive her to the dealer’s house. The dealer has a nurse kit that comes with a giant needle full of adrenaline which Vincent stabs her with. She wakes up and Vincent takes her back home and is glad that he will live another day...

We jump to a flashback of a young boy who is has lost his father in Vietnam. An officer is visiting that has a gift. Apparently, there is a family watch that belonged to the boys great grandfather and had been passed down through the generations. His father had it when he was captured and gave it to the officer before the father died in the POW camp. The officer escaped and found the boy to give him the watch...

A boxer named Butch (Bruce Willis) wakes up from a dream. He is the boy all grown up. He is about to throw a fight for Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), the same boss that everyone is afraid of. Butch does not throw the fight and accidently kills the other boxer. It turns out that he bet on himself and now he needs to get out of town before Marsellus Wallace catches him. He goes to a hotel where his rather dumb girlfriend is waiting for him. They go to bed and then are about to leave the next morning when it turns out that she forgot his watch. Butch freaks out and goes back to their old apartment to get the watch (note the very long take following Bruce Willis as he takes a back way to get to the apartment). Vincent is there waiting for him, but Vincent is in the bathroom and Butch is able to get a gun and kill Vincent as he is coming out of the bathroom. Things seem good so Butch drives off...

As Butch drives home, he sees Marsellus crossing the street in front of him so Butch hits the gas and runs down the boss but also hits an oncoming car. Both men are injured but Marsellus gains his senses and chases Butch into a shop where both are captured by a weird redneck with a shotgun. Butch and Marsellus are tied up in the basement of the shop and a man named Zed shows up. The shop owner has a gimp in a box (all leathered up and everything) and other fetish things downstairs. After a quick game to pick who goes first, they take Marcellus into another room to rape him. Butch manages to escape and is running away...but he decides can’t leave somebody to be assaulted like that. He grabs a weapon from the shop and kills the shop owner and frees Marsellus from Zed. Marsellus is not happy and says he will go “medieval” on Zed and allows Butch to leave town. Butch collects his girlfriend and leaves immediately...

Flash back in time (we know this because Vincent is alive) to right after Vincent and Jules shoot the guys with the case. Another guy in the other room jumps out and unloads six rounds at the two and misses every shot. The hitman kill that man, but Jules is shaken and decides to give up the business. They take a fourth gut with them in the car to go back to see Marsellus. On the drive over, Vincent accidently shoots the passenger while going over a pothole. The inside of the car is absolutely covered in blood and brains, so the two have to find a safe house. They go to the home of Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino) who will help them but says they have to get out in a couple of hours before his wife gets home. They call Marsellus, who sends over a cleaner named Wolf (Harvey Keitel). They are able to get everything cleaned up in time and leave with the car and the body. Jules and Vincent have to change out of their bloody clothes and decide to take a cab out to a diner for some food before seeing Wallace.

The two are at a familiar looking diner discussing whether their survival was a miracle and whether Jules should quit. Vincent goes off to the bathroom and, while he is gone, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny from the beginning declare it a robbery and it is evident that we have circled in time back around to the beginning. The couple hold up the diner, but, when they get to Jules, he takes Pumpkin hostage and devises a plan for everybody to leave. Jules allows the couple to leave alive with all the wallets, then the two hitmen follow quickly behind them before any police can show up.

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

I put a spoiler warning at the top, but there is so much to this film that there is no way you could spoil everything. I find new things to enjoy about this movie each time that I watch it and the watch count has to be at least two dozen times at this point. This film is so rich with allusion and homage to movies of the past that you might never see everything. Tarantino is truly a lover of old films and he worked every reference he could into this film. This is truly like candy for a cinephile. 

I have, however, had a love hate relationship with this movie: I love this movie and I hate it when people tell me it is too violent. There was a lot of negative response to the films toxic masculinity, romancing crime culture, incredible amount of swearing, drug use, extreme gun violence, and very adult themes. There is a very famous interview between Quentin Tarantino and Jan Wahl in which she accuses him of using excessive violence and he tells her it is because it is a lot of fun to watch. His stylistically gory violence stems from exploitation films of the past and there is an established audience that enjoys it. He makes his movies for himself and this group of people.

Kind of like the comedy of Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin, you have to wade through a sea of swearing to find the comedic banter. The things that Jules and Vincent say to each other are some of the funniest stuff I have ever heard, but you really have to pay attention. Their attempts to express their feelings while maintaining their hard exterior persona is ridiculous. This is probably why many people enjoy the scenes with Vincent and Mia: there is a lot more courtesy which reduces the tirade of cursing.

The violence is very very over the top, but it is no where near the level of gore that Tarantino has become known for over the years. I must admit that he likes his torture scenes and this film is no exception. I would like to note how clever the torture scene with Butch and Marsellus is because they are both tied up and facing camera so only the audience can see the mischief that is being prepared behind them. 

The soundtrack for the film is well worth mentioning as it also pays homage to 50s, 60s, and 70s exploitations films. There is a lot of silence in the film with sudden bursts of fast paced music that help with transitions. Most famous is the intro music after diner prologue, a surf rock classic by Dick Dale and The Del Tones called Misirlou. It is pure speed guitar riff along the lines of Wipeout and transitions the scene perfectly. Take a listen for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8

Maybe the biggest thing about this film and Tarantino in general is the inspiration of the slick gangster dialogue. There had been a push for more melodramatic dialogue or the complete absence of much talking. Tarantino added in this slick, fast moving comedic dialogue that is said over extreme violence and adult situations. Marsellus Wallace talks about having some crack heads torture a man to death immediately after being raped in a basement. The hitmen talk about appropriate manners while cleaning out brains from the back of a car. Jules talks about the meaning of the bible during a robbery. Everything seems out of place in the real world but perfectly acceptable in Tarantino’s world. This is probably why I have no problem with the violence in the film.

So should this film be on the AFI top 100? Absolutely. It is an homage to film history while simultaneously introducing a sub genre that mixes current dialogue and exploitation touches to grindhouse action. It is fascinating and fun. Would I recommend this movie? If you are old enough. I can’t emphasize enough how fun I find this film, but I cannot deny that it is filled with adult situations like drug usage followed by driving, secret dungeon rape, and cold blooded murder with no consequences. If you can differentiate between Tarantino’s world and the real world, then this is great. If you can’t, then maybe try something else with slick dialogue like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

[jk9bangtan]

“Come Be My Wife” 2

Genre: ♕ /♤ / ♘ ( Fluff/ Romance/ Angst)

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: Jealousy, jealous Jungkook, mention of COVID-19, mentions of sterile (not being able to have a baby 😭💔), y/n being her stubborn self, A lot of fluff!

Teaser: "You wanna be my wife?!" Jungkook asked pushing you on the bed. "Come be my wife, come on strip. Let's do what you want." He harshly spat his words as he untied his bow tie.

Part 1 - Part 2

11: 30 pm

"Did he really say that?! That bastard!! How dare he?!" The guy sitting beside you spoke after hearing the whole story of what Jungkook did to you.

"Ikr?! I didn't even believe my own ears?" You answered with a weak voice. You has been crying since you left Jungkook and came to you best friend's house. After what Jungkook said to you, you couldn't stay a minute with him. You grabbed your stuff and left the house. He tried to stop you, but you were determined on leaving him. He hurt you and he has to face the consequences.

"And what did you do to him girl? Don't tell me you didn't teach him a lesson!"

"I s-slapped him Justin! I told him that I h-hated him." You answered looking towards your friend.

"That's my girl. You did great, don't worry. He deserves it." Justin assured you that you did well.  Justin sighed after taking a look at your miserable condition. He took a deep breath after wards preparing himself to say some nice words to you to make you feel better. Clearing his throat, he shouted, making you flinch in your seat. "I have Ramen. Come on, let's eat ramen."

"Yah!! Don't yell!" You said smacking him on his shoulder.

"fine, fine!! Just let's eat. Your story made me feel hungry. And don't ask how because I don't know." Justin stated as he walked into the kitchen. Just as you were about to get up from the couch you heard the door bell ring. "Are you waiting for someone?" you asked getting up from the couch

"No! Just open the door and see who is it." justin's voice came muffled due to his mouth being full. You just shook your head as you walked towards the front door. " What! I am just eating a banana." Justin announced from the kitchen. The door bell kept ringing and ringing which pissed you off. "fine fine! I am coming" you yelled opening the door.

"Hey babe!" Jungkook greeted a big smile on his face. Your expression changed from an angry one to a shook one, and than again to an angry one.

"You! What the heck you are doing here!" You yelled glaring at him.

"Is this how you greet your husband?" Jungkook replied a smirk on his face. You were about to say something back when suddenly you heard Justin's voice behind you.

"Y/n who is it?" he asked grabbing you from your waist. Jungkook's gaze quickly moved to where Justin's hand landed. He poked the inside of his mouth trying to hold his anger.

"Oh hey boss!! Come in!!" Justin said pulling you to the side allowing Jungkook to enter.

Jungkook entered inside grabbing your hand on his way dragging you behind him. He took a seat on the couch pulling you to sit beside him. You pushed his hand, standing up and walking straight to the other couch placed opposite to the one Jungkook sitting on. You took a seat beside Justin, your gaze never leaving Jungkook's facial expressions. He did look angry.

Justin looked at both of you and sensed the murderous atmosphere between both of you.

"Why are here boss?" Justin asked trying to ease the atmosphere a little. "What do you think? I came to waste some of my precious time with my secretary."

"Oh my god! Thank you! I really appreciate it. I didn't think that you care about me lik-" Justin's words were cut off by Jungkook's harsh voice. "I came to take my wife to where she belongs. NEAR HER HUSBAND!" Jungkook emphasizes his last sentence. His eyes felt as if they are shooting fire balls towards Justin. " I am sorry but your Wife is not here." Justin stupidity answered back, his gaze moving around as if they are searching for Jungkook's "wife"

"Y/n! Y/n is my wife! Y/n let's go!!" Jungkook harshly affirmed, getting up from the couch. "As long as I know. Y/n is not your wife." Justin stated making Jungkook turn towards him with his eyes wide open.

"Did you tell what happened between us to this bastard!" Jungkook asked his gaze moving towards you. "Yes" you finally spoke nonchalantly.

"I can't believe you!" Jungkook said his expression turning sad. "Same here!" Y/n said remarking what happened few hours ago.

"That's my girl!" He said hugging you from the side as he placed a kiss on your left cheek.

Jungkook balled his hands into fists upon seeing you blushing due to what Justin did to you. He gulped trying to calm the burning sensation that rose in his chest. But he failed.

"Take.Your.hands.off.of.her.before I break them for you." Jungkook barked as he grabbed you from your arm and pulled you towards himself.

"Calm down man! Look I took them off of her and listen I will leave you with her for few minutes to try to solve what you did. If you do anything to her I am gonna kill you even if you are my boss." Justin threatened Jungkook as his face expression suddenly turned into a serious one. "She is my wife. I will never hurt her." Jungkook said back looking directly into his eyes. " But you did. And I am giving you a chance to fix what you did." Justin said walking his way upstairs.

"Justin! No, don-" you quickly said but was cut off by Justin saying, "Give him one more chance Y/n. He should explain what has been going on with him." And with that Justin left the living room.

Nothing was heard in the room other than Jungkook's heavy breathing. He took a place beside you on the couch, grabbing your right hand between his owns. " I feel like I am getting sick." Jungkook said placing his head on your shoulders. You dodged hi face off your shoulders and scooted away from him. Jungkook quickly pulled you back placing your hand on his forehead. " Look! I am burning" Jungkook said looking at you with his doe eyes.

" You are!" You said, your eyes softening open touching his burning forehead. "But I don't care," you further stated moving your hand away from his forehead.

"You will regret this if I die from the coronavirus." Jungkook stated a small smile on his face. " What heck! No, don't say that!" You answered looking at him in the eyes.

A small chuckle escaped Jungkook's mouth as he saw how you still cared about his health. "I missed you" Jungkook suddenly confessed grabbing one strand of your hair between his fingers. "I didn't!" You stated turning your face to the side. "Don't be harsh. You are breaking my heart." He said turning your head to his side again."Good! Just like what you did to me." You answered smacking his hand away from your chin.

" I am sorry. I really didn't mean it." Jungkook said dropping his head on your shoulder once again. "Just give me a chance to explain to you what have been going on with me. Just once, please!" Jungkook begged as his arms went behind your back pulling you in a tight hug.

"I am listening" you said after thinking for few minutes.

" That night. Our wedding night. I-I told that I got and important call. Right?!" Jungkook started his explanation his head still on your shoulder. "It was from our family doctor. At first I thought he is going to tell me about my father's condition. As you know he was sick at that time. I actually didn't want to leave you at that time, but I had to. The whole ride to the clinic my mind was with you and I has planing the whole night in my head for the tenth time." Jungkook giggled as he lifted his head. He looked into your eyes as he continued, "as soon as I arrived to the clinic I run to the doctors office. He told to take a seat and to calm down. I quickly thought that there is something wrong with my dad but the doctor assured that he was fine and that what he is about to tell is about me not my dad." Jungkook paused a little bit taking a deep breath. "He...He told me that.... that I am s-sterile.... I-I can't have a b-baby." Your eyes widened upon hearing what Jungkook said. You felt your heart pounding against your chest as if it wants to break free from your chest.

"I left the clinic all broken. I didn't want to go back home to you. The fact of not being able to have my own child was killing me. I went to the park and stayed there for hours and hours. I was thinking of how am I supposed to tell you. And then an idea came to my mind. Not coming near you, ignoring you, not touching you. I thought of divorcing but I knew that I can't leave without you. I was so in love with you and still I am to the point that I wanted you to stay with me. I didn't tell you that I can't have a baby because I know how much you love children and I didn't want you to leave me. I am sorry!! I know I am selfish. And believe me I will try to leave you if you want a divorce. I understand." Jungkook was sobbing the whole time and you too. Your hands went towards Jungkook's cheek wiping his tears away.

"You should of told me" you said pulling Jungkook into a tight hug. " You would of left me." Jungkook answered hugging you back.

"I would never leave you. I do love children but not as much as I love you." You stated, kissing Jungkook on the forehead. "You told me you hated me few hours ago." Jungkook said giggling. "Shut up. We are being serious over here." You said pushing Jungkook away.

"Does this mean you forgave me? I swear I am gonna take medicine every single day." Jungkook asked as his hand caressed your cheek and his eyes looked lovingly at you.

"Hmmm" you hummed in response a burning sensation spreading up into her cheeks. Why are you even blushing? Maybe because of the overwhelming feelings of Jungkook finally opening up to you and him being all lovey dovey like he used to.

"I hate it!!" Jungkook suddenly declared as the tone of his voice become serious. "What?!" You asked dumbfounded. "That Justin guy made you blush. And I hated it. I have been trying to keep you away from him but you keep sticking to him. I told you to not come to company just to not see you with and you still find you own ways to meet him." Jungkook said crossing his arms on his chest as he pouted.

"Are you serious?! He is my best friend ."

"Best friends don't touch each other like that. He keeps looking at you as if he loves you. You can't see what I see in his eyes. He is-"

"Gay!! He is gay. And I really don't know what the heck you mean by he looks at me as if he loves me."

"W-what?!" A shocked expression took over Jungkook's face.

"Hahahaha!!!!" Justin suddenly came to the living room laughing hard to the point that tears were visible in his eyes. "I can't believe you! I have been you secretary for years and you still don't know that I am gay?!" Justin asked still laughing

"Shut up! I better waste my time on work other than knowing stuff about you." Jungkook yelled getting frustrated.

"Calm down boss don't get mad or angry. When you were angry few moments ago you looked sexy as fuck man! I barely hold myself because of y/n"

" You are fired!"

"W-what!! Why?!"

"The way you talk scares me!"

"Jungkook!! Don't!!" You said looking at Jungkook with puppy eyes.

"Are you serious?! He is flirting with your husband." Jungkook pointed towards Justin as you laughed at what Jungkook said.

"No boss!! I swear I won't say anything like that anymore." Justin spoke still a smile on his face.

"I don't understand why I haven't noticed that he was gay before. I look stupid, like come on it is so obvious."

"Because you are stupid!!" You replied a huge smile on your face.

"Oh yes!! That's right. I need to fix this problem." Jungkook answered, returning the same smile to you.

"Boss you first have to think about how to make children and then think about how to stop being stupid." Justin and you laughed looking towards Jungkook.

"Shut up!!! I swear I am gonna kill you!! You are really fired now!"

Hope you enjoyed this two-shot and please feel free to request whatever kind of ff or Oneshot you want me write.

Also, I just hope my writing gets better 😭 cause it sucks to be honest. I am sorry it’s just the English is my third language.

[jeongyunhoed]

8 Stories, 8 Movies from the Golden Age (1930s to 1960s).

It’s the golden age and 8 men are the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Ateez, but make them Old Hollywood, basically. Lights, camera, action!

Member: Jongho

Genre: Murder mystery, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of romance

Warnings: Murder (as it is a murder mystery), mentions of it including suicide, death, blackmail

Things to note: Divorce then getting back together, infidelity (don’t cheat, it’s bad), horse racing, set in the 1930s.

Will have OCs

As with the rest of the stories in the AU, there will be other idols mentioned.

Masterlist

Prominent surgeon Choi Jongho is forced to team up with his murder mystery author ex-wife to investigate a murder at a racetrack.

The Ex-Mrs. Choi

tag list: @minervaaaaaaaa , @closer-stars

Part 2

Jongho was pacing back and forth in his office the next day. The rumbling and rummaging he could hear from Miyoung’s bedroom kept him awake half the night. She kept him and Yeosang awake the whole night trying to make herself comfortable in his apartment, which used to be theirs before she moved out after their divorce. On top of trying to get comfortable with the idea of living with his ex-wife again, he also had a mystery in his hands, one of which was the test tube with the sample of the substance he took from the jockey’s body at the morgue and where it was. He was supposed to analyze the substance when he saw it was gone. 

“There was a scalpel in a test tube,” He explained to Yeosang, who was busy looking through the chairs and under the tables. “It had a gummy substance on it and I left it on my desk here last night and now it’s gone.” 

“Yes sir, so far I’ve seen none,” The butler replied. “It must have disappeared.” 

“Alright, never mind, Yeosang I’ll need you to do something else,” Jongho said, and Yeosang stood back up. “Did Hongjoong call yet?” 

“No sir.” 

“Have you tried reaching Hongjoong?” 

“Yes sir, but no one’s been answering.” 

“Try again, maybe he’ll pick up today.” 

“Did you try all the numbers I gave you?” Jongho asked, remembering that Hongjoong had a few phone numbers where he answered. 

“Yes sir. No one’s seen Mr. Kim since early last evening, when he came here,” Yeosang replied, walking up to the phone to dial the list of numbers again. He paused when he heard one pick up. “Mr. Kim Hongjoong? One moment please,” He gestured for Jongho to pick up the receiver. 

“Hello, is this Kim Hongjoong?” 

“Yes, this is Kim Hongjoong,” said a low voice from the other line until it changed. “Who’s this?” 

Jongho exhaled sharply and closed his eyes. If his blood pressure didn’t shoot up before, it probably felt like it was now. “Oh, Kim Miyoung. What are you doing over there? Where’s Hongjoong?” 

“It’s Choi Miyoung to you, Jongho, I took your last name, get used to it,” Miyoung replied. “But I don’t know where he is. I do have clues though that might lead to him, it might take me the whole day but I’ll find him.” 

“Alright fine, when I see him I’ll tell him you’re looking for him too.” 

~ 

Evening had set in and Jongho returned from the hospital, still thinking of the day’s events and of the progress he, or well, Miyoung, somehow made in figuring out who killed the jockey. As he entered the front hall of his apartment, taking his hat and coat off to hang it on the side, Miyoung appeared. “Honey, you’re home,” She said. “Any luck today?” 

“Consider yourself bust,” Jongho followed her into the living room and sat down on the couch. Miyoung stood behind him, gently massaging his shoulders. 

“You look tired.” 

“I am, I had six operations in one day,” He closed his eyes, trying to relax as Miyoung’s hands were on his temples. Jongho opened his eyes when he felt her pull away. 

“You need to relax, put this on,” She handed him a familiar looking scarlet jacket.  

“Hey, that’s my smoking jacket, I was looking everywhere for that!” Jongho looked astounded as he took the piece of clothing from her, smoothing over the fabric. 

Miyoung leaned on the armrest of the couch next to him, helping him put the jacket on. “You’re going to dig into my girlish heart,” She chuckled. “That’s been to Honolulu, Bali, China, Japan, it went with me,” She admitted. “I missed you.” 

Jongho sighed. “Well, full disclosure between us, I missed you too,” He said. “Hey, we’re on the verge of getting sentimental here.” 

She chuckled, gently feeling the material of the jacket on his arm. “I thought so too,” She stood back up. “Well, how about some dinner?” 

“Dinner? It’s Yeosang’s day off,” Jongho replied. “If you were the right kind of ex-wife, you’d probably get dinner ready at home, as it is-” 

“As it is I am the right kind of ex-wife and I have dinner ready at home,” Miyoung grinned. 

“Really?” A smile formed on his lips. 

“Anytime I fix dinner at home, you know it’s serious,” She pointed out. “Don’t start acting like you don’t know me, silly.” 

A sigh of relief escaped him. “Miyoung, you’re terrific. It’s things like these that make a guy appreciate having a woman around the house. Coming home tired but to a warm meal at the end of the day?” He stood up. 

Miyoung took his hand and led him to the dining room, the table already laden with several platters of food, with champagne cooling in the ice bucket. As she brought Jongho closer to the table, he stepped back. “What?” She noticed his confused expression. 

“Everything looks like jelly,” He said. 

“No, it’s gelatin!” Miyoung pointed out. “Jellied consomme, aspic salad, chicken and jelly-” 

“Okay, okay, I get the idea,” Jongho sat down at one end of the table, and she sat at the other end. “It’s all gelatin.” 

“Stop complaining and try some of the jellied consomme,” Miyoung pointed to the bowl by Jongho’s plate. 

“Did you find Hongjoong?” He stuck his spoon into the soup, watching it wobble before eating it. 

“No, but let’s not talk about that for now, let’s have a nice quiet evening for once, the ex-Chois at home,” She said, watching him try more of the soup and cutting into her own. “How do you feel?” 

Jongho raised a brow. “I feel fine?” 

“That’s funny, I feel fine too,” She said. “Try the chicken in aspic and tell me what you think.” 

He obliged, cutting into the savory jelly that had pieces of chicken suspended inside. “It’s not bad, it’s...gelatinous.” 

“Feeling sleepy, darling?” She asked. 

“No, not particularly.”

“Me neither, I’m not even dizzy.” 

“Well that’s something,” Jongho was about to take another bite of the aspic when he noticed Miyoung stand up and take a handful of the jellied consomme to place on her arm. “Kim Miyoung! What on earth are you doing?” 

“I always rub gelatin on my arm,” She said, pushing the sleeve of her blouse back some more to rub the rest of the jelly on her skin. “Put some on your face, it feels good,” She broke off one part of the aspic and he ducked away before she could smother some on his cheek. “Do I look okay?” 

“You look silly, Miyoungie.” 

“Hold out your hand.” 

“What for?” 

“Just hold it out,” She insisted and he put his spoon down. Miyoung placed the aspic in his hand. “There, some gelatin on the hand does wonders for you.” 

Jongho watched her smother more jelly on her arm. “Thanks, thanks a lot.” 

“Hang on to it,” She glanced at him. 

“I can’t, it slips through my fingers, Miyoungie,” He exhaled sharply, staring at the bits of jelly falling on the table. Jongho knew Yeosang would have his hands full trying to get all of these washed. 

“How do you feel now?” Miyoung paused to look at him. 

“Kim Miyoung I feel fine, except I’m beginning to get pissed off. What’s the big idea?” Frustration was evident in his tone. 

Miyoung frowned and sat back down. “Well, we should be dead by now.” 

Now Jongho really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What? What’s in this stuff?” He said, shaking the jelly out of his hand and onto the plate in front of him. 

“Just jelly, but it should’ve killed us!” 

“Miyoung, are you crazy? Babies eat this,” Jongho’s brows furrowed at her explanation as he wiped his hands with the table napkin.

“It might have been okay for babies, but it killed Lee Taeyong. That’s what was on the scalpel,” Miyoung explained. 

“The scalpel-” Jongho paused at the realization of why the test tube with the scalpel he took from the morgue was missing. “...What do you know about the scalpel?” 

“I took it, didn’t you know?” Miyoung said. 

“Heaven give me strength,” Jongho closed his eyes. If his hand wasn’t so sticky, it would’ve been at the back of his neck. “Oh, you took the scalpel? I was looking everywhere for that scalpel-” He muttered, trying to stay calm. 

“I took the scalpel to the laboratory last night and I had it analyzed already, it was just gelatin,” Miyoung explained, her voice turning into a whisper as she sensed how he was feeling. 

“Oh Miyoung, you’re sensational, just sensational,” Jongho was resisting the urge to curl his hands into fists. “For a moment I was already interested in this detecting business, if someone else had stolen the scalpel and oh-” He slowly got up from his chair. “You took the scalpel- Then it proves that there was no poison and it also ruins any help I could give Kim Hongjoong, except finding him,” He padded towards the telephone. “The police will do a better job with that.” 

Miyoung quickly followed him. “You’re being a party pooper trying to call the cops,” She pouted, watching him dial the number. 

“There’s something strange about Hongjoong though, I want to know what happened to him, he said he’d meet us last night and he never showed,” Jongho waited for the other line to pick up until they heard the doorbell ring. “Who could that be? Wait here,” He said, putting the phone down to approach the door. 

“No, no, I want to see-” 

“Get out of the way, Miyoung,” Jongho insisted, as the doorbell kept ringing. 

“Wait, Jongho, you notice the bell?” She said, following him. 

“Yes I did. Just a minute!” He called out the more he walked towards the door, only for Miyoung to hold him back. 

“Jongho, don’t open the door, just look in the peephole,” She said, her hold on his arm tightening. “You don’t know who’s behind the door, just look out the peephole.” 

“Alright I will. Move out of the way,” Jongho broke free from her grip. “Who is it?” He called out, looking through the peephole. 

“What do you see?” She whispered. 

Jongho leaned back. The bell kept ringing. “There’s someone against the door. Move, move away, Miyoung,” He said, gently pushing her back. 

“What are you going to do?” 

“I’m going to open the door,” Jongho said, turning the knob. 

Miyoung squealed in surprise as a suited man fell inside and at their feet, motionless. Jongho glanced down the hall before looking back at the body that fell inside. “Who is it? Why is he lying there like that?” She said, almost hiding her face. 

Jongho bent down and turned the body over. His eyes widened as he realized who it was. “It’s Hongjoong.” 

“Kim Hongjoong?” Miyoung gaped, watching him gently frisk the body, trying to feel for a pulse. 

“Yeah, he’s been shot,” Jongho lifted the jacket open to reveal a bullet wound in Hongjoong’s chest. 

“Jongho, there’s a note on his sleeve,” Miyoung pointed to the piece of paper pinned to the cuff. “What does it say?” 

Jongho gently removed the paper to look at what was scribbled onto it. “This guy wouldn’t turn over the money either,” He read out.

~ 

The police had arrived a little while later at Jongho’s call, sealing off the front hall as a crime scene as some officers took photos of the body. Other officers were dusting the outside of his door for fingerprints, some of them even analyzing the note that was found on Hongjoong’s sleeve. Jongho sat on the couch, trying to wrap his head around what he had just seen while Miyoung was in the kitchen, pouring herself a martini. He glanced over at the door upon hearing the chatter amongst the officers grow louder, realizing that the detective in charge had arrived, Lieutenant Jeong Yunho. 

“Alright, Dr. Choi, why did you kill him?” Yunho suddenly spoke. 

Jongho stopped to stare at him. “Why-” He paused. “That’s ridiculous. What would I kill him for?” He asked. 

“Well, if you didn’t, how did his body get here? Outside your door?” Yunho asked this time. 

“I don’t know. I just saw someone leaning against the door, I opened the door and his body fell in.” 

“Really? That’s pretty good for a man to walk up to the door and ring the doorbell after he’s dead?” Yunho narrowed his gaze at the surgeon. 

“Lieutenant, why would I kill Kim Hongjoong?” 

“I don’t know, but you’ve become a suspicious character in the last 24 hours, incredibly suspicious,” Yunho explained. “We got a report that you visited the morgue last night, and you found something on Lee Taeyong’s body and took it home with you. What was it?” 

“Well, it turned out to be gelatin.” 

“Gelatin-” Yunho paused and frowned. “Yeah, that makes as much sense as the coroner’s report. He did an autopsy on the body and said the left ventricle was completely collapsed.” 

“Left ventricle collapsed?” Jongho was even more confused. “That’s a symptom of drowning, or strangulation.” 

“Drowning, strangulation, gelatin,” Yunho recounted. “That’s a little absurd, don’t you think? Why did you go down there, Dr. Choi?”

“Because of Kim Hongjoong, he came to me-”

“Yeah, and that brings me to another point that, well, points to you being suspicious,” Yunho said. “We sent someone to Mr. Kim’s hotel and we found this,” He held up a bedazzled blue purse. “Do you recognize this?” 

Jongho shook his head. “No.” 

“That’s interesting, because it’s your wife’s,” Yunho showed him the detail on the bag. “Dr. Choi, there’s no sense for me to beat around the bush, but you’re in quite a spot.” 

Jongho was still staring at the bag. “I’m starting to think you’re right.” 

~ 

“Yeah, I’d have to agree that you’re in a tough spot, Jongho, you’re now public suspect number one,” Miyoung was sitting next to him on the couch later that night after everyone had gone, patting his hand. “You have to find the murderer to clear your name, darling.” 

“Which is exactly what I’m going to do,” Jongho nodded, suddenly realizing that he was holding her hand. 

“You won’t find him sitting here and staring at the fire, though.” 

Jongho let go of her hand. “Miyoung, I don’t want to tell you your business, but in most murders, the motive is money,” He pointed out. “Who stood to make the most out of yesterday’s race?” 

“The owner of the winning horse.” 

“Exactly,” He picked up the day’s newspaper and turned over to the sports section. Jongho pointed out the results of the horse races. “See here? Sixth race, winner Wave, the owner is Mr. Song Mingi, odds four to one,” He read. 

“Song Mingi? That’s the guy who called Hongjoong last night,” Miyoung sat up, taking a closer look at the paper. 

“What?” Jongho stared at her. 

“Yeah, I found slips of calls made to Hongjoong at his room last night. Song Mingi, Park Seonghwa, and Choi San,” Miyoung said. 

It was moments like these where Jongho felt like he could kiss her. “In case of fire, run, do not walk to the nearest exit,” He got up from the couch and rushed to the nearest closet to put his hat and coat on. 

“Where are you going?” Miyoung got up as well. 

“I am going to find who killed Lee Taeyong,” He said with a renewed enthusiasm.

“Jongho, you’re working on the wrong murder, it’s Kim Hongjoong they think you killed,” She called out, watching him. 

He stopped. “Miyoung, it should be obvious even to you that if Hongjoong was killed, it was because he confirmed his suspicions about yesterday’s race and was close to figuring out who killed the jockey,” He pointed out. “If I can follow Hongjoong’s trail last night-” 

“No, no, Jongho, wait a minute,” Miyoung went up to him. “If you find out what he did, you might get killed too!” 

“Maybe,” Jongho put on his hat and opened the door. “Tell Lt. Jeong I’ll be back soon!” He said and stepped out of his apartment. 

“Jongho!” Miyoung called out, hurriedly putting on her coat as well. “Jongho, come back! If you’re going to get killed, I want to be there!” 

~ 

With Miyoung’s insistence, Jongho waited for her to catch up as they arrived at Song Mingi’s home, also a penthouse unit in one of the buildings in the city. “You want to marry me now?” She glanced at him, looking playful. 

“You’re still on that?” 

Before she could answer the door opened, standing by was Song Mingi himself, wearing a maroon velvet suit and a robe. “Hello, who are you?” 

“I’m Dr. Choi Jongho, and this is-” 

“I’m Mrs. Choi,” Miyoung smiled. 

“Oh, Dr. Choi, yes, I’ve heard about you. You got involved in that inquest a few years ago regarding the death of a socialite, right? Come in, come in,” Mingi stepped aside to let them in. 

Jongho and Miyoung stepped inside, Mingi’s butler immediately approaching them to take their coats off. “Mr. Song, I’m investigating yesterday’s race,” He figured he had better be direct at this time. 

“Investigating for the track officials?” 

“Sorry, I can’t really say,” He shook his head. “Tell me, Mr. Song, what kind of a trainer was Kim Hongjoong?” 

“Well, one of the reasons why I wanted to buy Park Seonghwa’s stables was because I knew Hongjoong was included,” Mingi replied. 

“Oh, then the deal didn’t go through?” He asked this time. 

Mingi shook his head. “No. Park Seonghwa wanted an extra twenty million for Illusion and I couldn’t pay. Oh, and this is my wife, Jihye,” He gestured to the woman entering the room with a tray of what looked like cookies. “Jihye, this Dr. Choi Jongho, and Mrs. Choi.” 

“Have some cake, they’re very good,” Jihye set down the platter on the table. 

Jongho and Miyoung helped themselves to the small slices already cut out for them. “Thank you,” He ate a forkful and turned back to Mingi. “So, uh, is that what you called Hongjoong about last night?” 

“Oh, no, Dr. Choi. I saw him at Seonghwa’s house,” Mingi replied. 

The two of them nodded. “I see. These cakes are really good, Mrs. Song, what are they?” Jongho asked. 

“Just a little idea of my husband’s,” Jihye smiled. “A gelatin filling.” 

Jongho and Miyoung coughed in their seats in surprise. 

~ 

The journey to Park Seonghwa’s mansion took a little longer than Jongho expected, having fully convinced Miyoung to go back home after visiting Song Mingi took even longer. Agreeing to marry her again was the last thing on his mind, not that he had already said yes to her offer. As he arrived, he noticed the stables nearby, with the horses being tended to by the owner himself, his wife next to him. 

“That’s a very handsome horse there, Mr. Park,” Jongho said, after greetings and introductions were exchanged. “I can buy him from you right now.” 

“Sorry, I’ve never sold any horses, sick or well,” He waved a hand dismissively. 

“Oh, I thought you were considering selling your stables.” 

“I? Of course not,” Seonghwa stared at him. “I told my trainer Kim Hongjoong not to bother with any offers.” 

“Really?” 

“Won’t you come in, Dr. Choi?” Seonghwa’s wife suddenly suggested. 

“No thank you, I’m perfectly fine out here,” Jongho replied. “You see Mr. Park, I’m investigating yesterday’s race.” 

“You mean, Taeyong’s death?” Mrs. Park asked, her expression falling. Jongho nodded. “Oh, I’m sorry. Seonghwa, you explain, excuse me,” She looked crestfallen as she returned to the house. 

“We were both very fond of Taeyong, Dr. Choi,” Seonghwa said. “His death came as a great shock to us. To her most especially.” 

“I understand. I imagine Hongjoong was upset too.” 

“Very.” 

“Is that why he came here last night?” Jongho asked. 

“Last night? Oh yes, and to pay me some money he owed me.” 

“So, he made a lot of money at the track yesterday?” 

“Hongjoong couldn’t have done that if Illusion lost,” Seonghwa shook his head. 

“He might have placed a bet on Wave,” Jongho pointed out. 

Seonghwa’s expression stiffened. “Dr. Choi, I resent that implication. My trainer is an honest man.” 

“Sorry, but thank you for your help, Mr. Park.” 

~ 

“About time you came back,” Miyoung stood up when she saw Jongho appear in the hall looking defeated. “What did you find out from Mr. Park?” 

Jongho sighed, allowing her to put his hat and coat away for him. “That I’m not a detective. There are a lot of promising suspects from whom I’ve gathered a lot of misinformation. Which is true, which isn’t, I don’t know.” 

“Then, let’s turn that frown upside down because I have an idea,” Miyoung held his hands. 

“Which only means that I get into more trouble.” 

“Don’t start, but we’ve overlooked our most important clue so far, the note,” She said. 

He stared at her. “Miyoungie, you’re right, the note. The threatening note that was sent to Lee Taeyong.” 

“All we need to do is figure out who wrote it and we’ve got the murderer,” She said. They heard the doorbell ring again, making them stop and listen. “Who do you think that is?” She murmured. 

“There’s only one way to find out,” Jongho said just as softly. 

“How?” 

“I’ll open the door,” Jongho gave her a look before carefully opening the door. Standing behind was Seonghwa’s wife. 

“Oh, Dr. Choi, I’m so sorry to come here at a time like this-” She said, looking worried. 

“Hello! Hello again Mrs. Park, come in, come in,” Jongho stepped aside to let her enter, Miyoung standing by. 

“I hate to bother you at this hour but-” She stopped when she saw Miyoung. “Oh, excuse me.” 

“Not at all, Mrs. Park, this is Mrs. Choi,” Jongho introduced them and they exchanged nods in response. 

“Dr. Choi could you- I mean if I could speak to you alone for a moment?” Mrs. Park asked. 

“Of course,” Jongho nodded. “In my office?” 

“No! No, don’t bother, I’ll leave you two alone,” Miyoung offered, glancing at him as she walked off to the nearest room. 

Jongho led her to the living room. “Thank you Miyoungie. So Mrs. Park-” 

“Dr. Choi, where is Kim Hongjoong?” She suddenly asked. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” 

“I’ve got to find him, Dr. Choi.” 

“Mrs. Park, you clearly want me to help you, but how about you help me first?” 

“How?” 

“Did you talk to Kim Hongjoong last night?” 

“Yes,” She nodded. “At my home.” 

“What did you talk to him about?” 

“A threatening note Taeyong received before the races began,” Mrs. Park replied. “Hongjoong told me he gave it to you and if you think that if Taeyong was killed you probably think that the person who wrote that note-” 

“Is the murderer?” Jongho asked. 

Mrs. Park nodded. “Yes. You see, Dr. Choi, I wrote that note.” 

He stared at her. “Mrs. Park, is this a confession of murder?” 

“No, no,” She shook her head. “I promise you that note had nothing to do with the murder.” 

“What did the note mean anyway, Mrs. Park?” 

Mrs. Park looked down, unable to look him in the eye. “This isn’t very easy for me to say Dr. Choi, but I’ve been a very stupid woman. Seonghwa was suspicious. Taeyong knew that there was someone else,” She sighed. “Taeyong thought of Seonghwa as a brother and out of loyalty to him threatened to tell him. I wrote Taeyong that note and then he died,” She looked up at him again. “So you see the note has to be destroyed, please give it to me, I promise you-” 

“Don’t be a sap, Jongho,” Miyoung appeared before he could answer, having overheard them. 

“Miyoungie, will you please-” 

“Give me the note,” She said. Jongho took out the piece of paper from the coat pocket and handed it over. 

“What do you want it for?” 

“Shush, darling,” She turned back to the other woman. “Mrs. Park, will you please write on this notepad, ‘you do as I tell you, keep your mouth shut’” Miyoung handed her a pen. Mrs. Park did as she was told and gave the notepad back. She held up both notes. “Mhmm, yes the handwriting’s the same. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t covering for someone else.” 

“Good girl,” He said, looking impressed. 

“Here’s your note,” She said, handing Mrs. Park the slip of paper. 

“Bless you both,” Mrs. Park looked relieved. “Thank you very much.” 

“Don’t mention it, Jongho was glad to do it” Miyoung glanced at him with a small smile. 

“Good night Dr. Choi, Mrs. Choi,” Mrs. Park said before closing the door behind her. 

Jongho and Miyoung turned to each other. “That got us a long way,” An exasperated sigh escaped him. “I can feel the noose around my neck already.”

Miyoung shook her head. “Jongho, what’s the name of that bookkeeper you used to know? His name was San, right?” 

“Choi San?” 

“That’s it, Choi San,” She said. 

“What does he have to do with this?” 

“Oh, nothing, it’s just that Mrs. Park mentioned something about her husband being suspicious,” Miyoung recalled. “Because this afternoon, I saw her and Choi San together at the Inception bar.” 

Jongho stared at her. “...You did?” He said. “Mrs. Park and Choi San?” 

“Mhmm,” Miyoung nodded. “They sat next to me, and San was yelling about losing a lot of money when Wave won.” 

“Which means someone placed a bet with him,” Jongho felt the wheels in his head turning. He turned to take his hat and coat off the rack to put it back on. “Bye, Miyoungie,” He said. 

“What? Wait, where are you going now?” Miyoung gaped at him. 

“I’m going to pay Mr. Choi San a visit and I hope he’s not around when I do,” He slipped on his coat. “I’d like to take a look at his records in his safe.” 

~ 

Just as he had hoped, Choi San wasn’t in his office. Jongho crept inside, keeping his steps as quiet as possible as he tried to look into his cabinets. Mrs. Park was cheating on Seonghwa with Choi San, he realized, making him just as suspicious. 

“Get away from that safe.” 

Jongho froze and slowly turned around, his hands immediately up. San was standing by the door, holding a gun. “Oh, hello, San. I didn’t expect to see you at this time.” 

“Yeah, I hardly thought you would,” San kept the gun pointed at him. “I didn’t think you were one for opening safes, Dr. Choi.” 

“Well, we surgeons open anything.” 

“Very funny,” San stared at him. “Keep your hands up. You really thought you’d find Kim Hongjoong in there, did you?” 

“I found him, San,” Jongho replied. “Not here. Hongjoong’s dead.” 

“Well, that figures. You start double crossing and you know what you’re going to get-” San threatened. “Did they find out who did it?” 

“The police think I killed him, San.” 

A chuckle escaped his lips, followed by a satisfied grin. “No kidding, you’ve found yourself between a rock and a hard place.” 

“Look, San, you know full well what happens to people charged with murder, and I have no intention of suffering that if I can avoid it,” Jongho said. “The only way out for me is if I can prove that someone else killed Hongjoong and I plan on doing just that.” 

“You can’t be faulted for trying.” 

“I can do better than try, San. I have an appointment with Lt. Jeong Yunho in the morning, and I can tell him a lot of interesting things.” 

“Funny, what makes you sure you’re going to see Lt. Jeong in the morning? Or anyone else?”

“Well yes, there’s that to consider,” Jongho replied. The phone on the desk suddenly rang, making the two men look. “Well, San? Should I answer the phone?” 

“Go over there,” San gestured to the other side of the room, keeping him at gunpoint while he picked up the receiver. “Hello? Oh yeah,” He glanced at Jongho. “Yeah, wait a minute,” San looked over at him, handing over the receiver. “It’s Lt. Jeong, for you.” 

“Lt. Jeong?” Jongho tried not to look surprised. 

“Yeah, and you tell him everything is fine, Dr. Choi,” San warned, stepping back to let him talk. 

“Is it?” 

“Yeah, tell Lt. Jeong that everything is alright.” 

Jongho calmly put the receiver to his ear. “Hello lieutenant?” 

“Hello Dr. Choi, I’ve got everything under control here,” He heard a cough on the other line until he realized who was really speaking. “How are you doing, darling?” 

“Damn-” Jongho cleared his throat. “Thanks, Lt. Jeong, everything is fine. Yes, I’ll be there,” and he hung up. 

“Alright Dr. Choi, you win, for the time being,” San put his gun down. “You can thank your friend Lt. Jeong over there, and now that you’ve seen my books you understand how I felt about Kim Hongjoong, rest in peace.” 

“Sure, sure, but I’m still a little puzzled about that.” 

“Can’t you read?” San flipped over one of the record books towards him. “Look, Kim Hongjoong, he bet twenty five million on Wave to win and paid off four to one. And I’m stuck for one hundred million, every single cent.” 

“That’s what I’m confused about, San,” Jongho looked over the record again. “You knew Hongjooong was betting on Wave, you must have known that Illusion would lose.” 

“Hongjoong didn’t make the bet himself, he was too smart for that. He had someone else place the bet instead.” 

“Who was he?” 

“Beats me, some guy with a mole under his eye,” San replied. “He was going to call me after the race to tell me where to send the winnings.” 

“And did he?” 

“Yeah, he said to send it to Kim Hongjoong. Apartment A, 1024 Powell street,” San recalled. 

Jongho raised a brow. “Hongjoong lived at the Treasure Hotel.” 

“Of course I knew that, he was using the other address as a decoy, and I wanted to give Hongjoong a piece of my mind, tell him what I thought of him, so I called him at his hotel and he came over here,” San explained. 

“What did Hongjoong say?” 

“What do you think? He said he never made the bet,” San frowned. 

“Why would he do that?” 

“Beats me, but when I told him about the guy with the mole under his eye, he came through. Took the money and left.” 

Jongho nodded. He picked up the phone again to dial a number. “Hello? Yes, I’d like to send a telegram,” He covered the receiver, turning back to San again. “Where were you supposed to send the money again?” 

“Apartment A, 1024 Powell street,” San answered. 

“Hello? Yes, to Dr. Choi Jongho, 1117 Arthur street,” Jongho said to the operator. “The message is, meet me at my apartment,” and he repeated the address San gave him. “Signed, Kim Hongjoong. Yes, charge it to Dr. Choi, thank you,” and he hung up. 

San looked confused. “What’s the deal?” 

“Oh, just in case I won’t be around in the morning. I want Lt. Jeong to know where I am.” 

[asexual-hugger]

Lady Eleanor McQueen leads the group to a brilliantly-decorated table in the dining room. Tall candles surround a large silver plate, and chairs are set all around. Harry and Dominic get the two chairs next to each other along the long side of the table, on the right, while Kade gets the third chair next to Dominic. This placement is directly across from where Allison will be sitting right next to Detective Ernest Sinclaire. To her surprise, however, there appears to be an extra chair on her other side.

“Mum, did you mis-count the seating?” she asks. “Why is there an extra chair on the other side of me?”

Lady Eleanor is about to answer when the doorbell rings.

“That must be him,” she says. “I forgot to mention... Excuse me. You can all sit down. Dinner will be served momentarily.”

She disappears down the hall to answer the door. Muffled voices. One is clearly Lady Eleanor, but the other is an unrecognizable male.

“We were just sitting down to eat,” Lady Eleanor says. “Please come in. Allison is already here. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”

She re-enters the dining room, and Allison gets a good look at the mystery guest behind her. A strapping young man wearing a felt hat with a patterned scarf and a long jacket grins widely at the assembled family.

“Evening, everyone,” he greets them in a smooth kind voice. “Brothers. And Allison McQueen. My, my, my. You get more beautiful with each passing day.”

“Oh, my god. Walter Enos. Is that you???” Allison gets up from her chair and embraces the stranger tightly, and he returns the gesture a bit too eagerly.

“The one and only,” Walter answers proudly. “How have you been? You sort of lost touch after high school.”

Walter was Allison’s high school sweetheart. After graduation, they had gone their separate ways but managed to stay in touch here and there. When Allison decided to move to London, Walter had stayed closer to home, wanting to be near his family.

“Yeah. I’m afraid that’s on me,” Allison answers. “As you know, I moved to London in hopes to find a job in my field of study. I’m still working through my criminal justice program, but I think now I’ve settled on something I really want to do.” She nods towards Detective Sinclaire. “Detective, I want you to meet Walter John Enos. He was my boyfriend in high school. Walter, meet Detective Ernest Sinclaire.”

Detective Sinclaire stands up and offers his hand. “It is my pleasure to meet you, Mr. Enos. I’m a private investigator with the Ledford Park Detective Agency, and Allison is currently my assistant.”

“Assistant?” Walter looks between Allison and Sinclaire. “So he’s your boss?”

“He is,” Allison replies. “I invited him to spend Christmas with us, and no one told me YOU were coming.” She eyes Lady Eleanor skeptically, and Lady Eleanor takes a small sip of wine as she looks away.

“Sorry.” Walter looks guilty. “I thought maybe your mum told you. She thought it would be a good gesture for us to catch up and spend the holidays together. It’s been a long time since we saw each other.”

Allison can sense her family’s and Detective Sinclaire’s eyes on her, and her cheeks burn. “Let’s eat dinner first,” she says quickly. “I guess you’re on my other side, Walter. That explains the extra chair. I’m starving. I don’t know about the rest of you.”

“Yeah! Let’s eat!” Dominic shouts. “We can catch up and all that good stuff after dinner. Walt, how’s it going, man?”

“It’s been great, Dom. How are you?” Walter asks, reaching over to shake the eldest McQueen child’s hand. “Are you still flying?”

“I am always flying,” Dominic answers. “Nothing’s changed. You still working at your dad’s accounting firm?”

“Nah. I decided to go my own way a couple years ago,” Walter replies. “Allison inspired me. I thought that if she could travel to London to be her own person, I could do the same. I’m actually working in an office for a small local company running their numbers. They were looking for a bookkeeper.” He winks at Allison and gives her a tender kiss on the cheek. On her other side, Detective Sinclaire tenses up.

“A bookkeeper! How wonderful!” Lady Eleanor comments.

Lord Sebastian, Allison’s father, speaks up. “Is it by any chance that Winslow’s place a couple blocks down from here?” he asks.

“It is,” Walter answers. “They’ve been in need of a bookkeeper for months. When I spoke to the guy at the desk, he explained that all their skilled people had left. They hired me on the spot.”

Dinner is served, Lady Eleanor placing a giant roast turkey on the silver plate in the center of the table. Sautéed vegetables surround it: carrots, onions, mushrooms, potatoes and peppers. There is a smorgasbord of side dishes and a variety of breads.

“This looks delicious, Mum,” Harry comments.

“Thank you, Harry dear,” Lady Eleanor responds, grinning at her son. “I made something for everyone, since there are different preferences at this table. You know that variety is the spice of life.”

“I think we should serve our guests first,” Lord Sebastian says. “Walter, Detective Sinclaire...would either of you like some turkey? I’ll let you in on a secret. My wife cooks the best dang turkey on this side of the village.”

“Oh, stop.” Lady Eleanor giggles like a schoolgirl, cheeks flushing.

“Yes, please!” Walter answers eagerly, at the same time Detective Sinclaire says, “I would love some, Lady McQueen. Thank you.”

Walter holds up his plate for Lady Eleanor to serve him, while Detective Sinclaire waits patiently before receiving his serving. Again Walter gives Allison that flirtatious wink and a sidelong glance. Detective Sinclaire stiffens, his jaw tightening, but for Allison’s sake, he keeps his professionalism.

“So Mr. Enos,” he starts, addressing Walter before clearing his throat. “You said that you and Allison used to date in high school.”

Walter gazes at Allison fondly. “We sure did,” he gushes, remembering every moment like it was yesterday. Memories start bubbling to the surface as he speaks. “Those were great times. Movies, bowling, dinner and dancing at the local cafes. Pretty much every date that teenagers experienced. And of course you couldn’t forget prom.” His hand finds Allison’s knee and gives it an affectionate squeeze. The way he’s recalling every detail of their time together in such a romantic fashion only causes Sinclaire to tense up even more. He grips his dinner fork with such strength that his knuckles turn white. 

Allison doesn’t say much during the story. She looks over at her boss and notices his expression. Was that jealousy in his blue eyes? His face is dark, and he seems to be clenching his teeth. Walter’s hand begins to rub gently across her leg. She manages a small interested smile at him and places her right hand on Sinclaire’s shoulder, silently attempting for him to relax. He seems to acknowledge her touch for a moment, easing up only slightly, but his eyes move down to where Walter’s hand is resting on his assistant’s knee. Anger crosses his features and he stabs his fork aggressively into a slice of turkey, bringing it to his mouth and chewing it quickly.

“Yes, Walter, we know how romantic you were in high school,” Allison tells her former flame gently, trying to halt the topic. “It was fun while it lasted, but we both know that everyone moves on at some point.” Her eyes keep diverting to Sinclaire.

“Not me,” Walter says truthfully. “A day in my life has not gone by without me thinking about you and what you’ve been doing. You were everything to me, Allison McQueen. I always believed that you would be the girl of my dreams even beyond high school. Are you going to the tree-lighting ceremony tomorrow night?”

“Of course we are,” Allison answers. “Our family goes to it every year. We’re going to stand around the fence and sing carols. Same as last year.”

“I didn’t see you last year,” Walter says. “I had to work, sadly, but at least this year will be better. If I get picked to be Christmas Maestro this year, I’m choosing you as my duet partner.”

He grins the grin that always melted Allison’s heart through high school. He hadn’t changed. He was still the charming boy she had fallen in love with back in the day.

“And you believe you’re going to be Christmas Maestro,” Allison observes. “You seem very confident about that. Not to mention you’re hoping that I’ll sing with you.”

“Why not?” Walter challenges. “We both have the best singing voices of a lot of people in this small town. It only makes sense that I would pick you. We were the top singers in our high school chorus. It’ll be just like old times. I still love you, Allison McQueen. I’ve never stopped loving you. I want us to catch up. There is so much I haven’t heard about your life in London. I wish I could see you more often. I only hope that you still have a place in your heart for me.”

He turns back to his dinner and starts conversing with the rest of the family, and Allison takes advantage of her new out. She looks back over at Detective Sinclaire, his face still hard but saying nothing. He looks as if he is really struggling to hold back some very powerful emotions.

“Are you all right, Detective?” She speaks in a low voice so that Walter won’t hear.

“To be honest, no, I’m not,” Sinclaire replies, his voice sounding strained. “Just listening to your former boyfriend rave about your high school romance and then have the nerve to put his hands all over your body is enough to make me hurl. It’s like he was craving attention, and the way he was gloating about you being the love of his life...ugh. I’m vomiting in my mouth just thinking about it! You’re not really still into him, are you?” His expression turns questioning, and slightly hopeful that she will say no.

“Honestly, I haven’t really thought of him at all,” she replies, and she can hear the huge relieved sigh that escapes him. “I was not expecting him to show up tonight. Mum didn’t tell me she had invited him, and I had distinctly told her that I had already invited you. You seem really tense. Did Walter’s story get to you that much?”

“His story, his attitude, everything,” Sinclaire admits. “He was speaking extra loud, too, like his relationship with you was the highlight of his entire life. He just confessed his love to you, and he hasn’t even seen you since high school.”

“Well, we WERE in love, once,” Allison replies. “I did love him. He was the most charming boy I ever met. He treated me like a queen when other boys brought me down. We lost touch after high school, though. I moved away for college and job hunting. I never knew I would meet another equally charming and handsome guy after Walter John Enos, but then you showed up that night several years ago with your white knight in police armor demeanor and saved me from what would’ve been a toxic date. I don’t recall Walter doing that.”

“I saved you because I saw a vulnerable woman in danger,” Sinclaire explains. “That despicable individual that attacked you in his car was way out of line. Even if I wasn’t a private investigator, I still would’ve rescued you. My instincts were telling me that you needed help.” He pauses, looking over at Walter laughing with the boys. “You mentioned that you loved Mr. Enos, like past tense. How do you feel now?”

“Now...I think I might be falling for someone else,” Allison answers.

[vampirewalterskinner]

The fact that no one talks about Monk makes me so, SO sad because this show is amazing and genius for so many reasons.

A long list of reasons why I adore this show so damn much.

The show is centered around a man (guy with the super curly hair) with OCD who also has a shit ton of phobias (heights, germs, death, naked people, milk—and those aren’t in order btw he has a list) and the writers treat it with so much respect. Yes, his condition is sometimes used for jokes, but it’s not used to make people with OCD or phobias a joke. Like, they’ll put Monk in a dangerous situation where he’s about to be killed (for instance, held up at gunpoint in a car dealership), but he can’t help himself and has to fix a flaw that’s bothering him (literally takes his time to fix a peeling sticker on a car and uses the butt of the villain’s gun to push out air bubbles). That shit is funny, but it in no way makes fun of people with OCD. Plus, this boy is a genius and I love him.

OTHER MAIN CHARACTERS DONT MAKE FUN OF HIM FOR HIS CONDITION. Yes, they get irritated, but they never berate him for his condition and usually let him fix what’s bothering him unless they’re in a serious situation. (One time, Monk accidentally stepped on an unraveled roll of bubble wrap and popped a few bubbles and he had to pop the rest. His friend Leland [blonde w/ a mustache] started to help him pop them and ordered two other officers to help—and they were at a crime scene lmao) They actually usually help him??? Monk has a phobia of people being naked and in one episode someone was killed on a nude beach. They tried so hard to keep him distracted and focused on the dead body so he wouldn’t notice 😂

There’s multiple instances where he’s shown to overcome or brave his phobias to save his friends when they’re in trouble.

They also normalize seeing a therapist who often encourages Monk to try new things and advises him on what’s healthy for him and what isn’t and NEVER berates him for his issues or for relapses. (I can really relate to when they speak of Monk’s depression. They handle that stuff really well.)

Contains the best romance story I have ever seen????? Which is a big deal for me to say because I HATE romance. Monk used to be on the police force but was kicked out on psychological discharge after his wife passed and his condition worsened. So, this is a bittersweet romance, obviously, because his wife has passed, but holy shit is he in love. The way he speaks of her is so beautiful. She was his life. Years keep passing and he still wears his wedding ring and he stills thinks of himself as being married. Like, oh my god you guys don’t understand how much I love his love for Trudy. This show makes me bawl my eyes out when Trudy is involved. He’s dedicated the rest of his life to find out who killed Trudy. Believe me, when Monk is angry and it’s about his wife, he’s not to be messed with.

The dynamic Monk has with his assistants (Sharona was season 1-half of 3. Natalie was half of 3-8) is so great. They get annoyed with him and put up with his cheap, stubborn ass but love the shit out of him. These two women by themselves are amazing, too. Sharona was a divorced, single mother raising her son Benjamin (who Monk stated many times he was proud of and loved him like he was his own son), and was nursing—which is how she met Monk, being hired by Leland to take care of him after Trudy died. Her past is a bit dicey, bringing up how she used to pose for dirty pictures among other things—and it’s all treated with respect. Not once is she mocked for doing what she had to so she could take care of her son. Natalie is also a single mother to Julie, and unlike Sharona she isn’t devorced, but the widow of a Navy pilot. Despite having the same essential role in the show they made their personalities and characteristics very different from one another, except they both complain about Monk being cheap and not paying them enough lmao.

Monk and his assistant(s) have a normal ass relationship without any romantic possibility and zero awareness of their sexes. Natalie hugs, cuddles, and kisses Monk (as often as she’s able to catched him off his guard) and it’s shown simply as a wonderful friendship. Monk protects her (and Sharona), buys her flowers, and fed her cake, but they’re still shown as friends. I adore this for so many reasons. Monk is still deathly in love with his wife. Of course he can get a crush or two (which he does) but lasting any longer than an episode would be odd and uncomfortable for Monk’s character. Not to mention they don’t fit each other’s tastes at all. And how often are male and female relationships presented in media without it being romantic or turning romantic? Chicks and dudes can be friends, guys, it’s not a big deal.

LELAND 👏🏻 AND 👏🏻 MONK’S 👏🏻 RELATIONSHIP 👏🏻 IS 👏🏻 MY 👏🏻 LIFE 👏🏻 Those two have a super long history. They’ve known each other since Monk graduated college and fuck their relationship just gets better and better. Leland knows more about Monk than anyone else, except for Trudy, naturally. He was Monk’s partner while on the force. He was there when Monk got the call about Trudy. Leland hired Sharona to help Monk get back on his feet. Leland has ON MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS threaten to resign (he’s the captain of the homicide division btw) if the higher ups tried to get rid of Monk or installed a highering freeze which would keep Monk from getting back on the force. Monk is always willing to help Leland. Monk was his best man and was PROUD AF. Monk also freaked tf out and rushed to help Leland when he was shot. Like, I could go on and on about their relationship. Leland is the ONLY person that gets away with touching Monk. Usually Monk flinches or eveades or wipes his hands when people touch him or shake his hand, but he doesn’t really do that with Leland. He’s really comfortable with him. Their friendship means so much to me.

They never pulled the “no homo” shit. Leland has told others and told Monk to his face many times that he loves him. No “as a friend” or making a joke out of him saying those words. They let his character be a normal fucking person who can tell his best friend he loves him. Randy (the other guy in the picture) tells both Monk and Leland that he loves them and still no jokes are made about it, even while Randy is usually comic relief.

This show is honestly just so damn good. I seriously cannot remember a single, bad episode. I highly recommend taking a look into Monk because it’s such a great story, and the finale will butcher you and you’ll end up saying “thank you” I promise.

[quicksilversquared]

The Felix Fiasco:Chapter 2/2

AU of the episode Felix

Instead of cutting off what his father was going to say, Adrien inadvertently let Mr. Agreste out himself as Hawkmoth. With some help from a friend- and some surprise visiting family members- and a bit of luck, Paris might just find itself one supervillain down by the end of the day.

links in the reblog

Felix had had his story all ready when he stepped in the house. He had been taken off guard by the news, of course, and had run on impulse. Ever since the first akuma had showed up all he had heard was about how much of a villain Hawkmoth was, so of course his first reaction wasn't to be all-in. But he had had time to sit alone and think about it, and- well, he wanted his mom back, of course, just like his father did. And magic could do that, so- well, he wanted to know more, and to see his mom, if possible. After all, it had been ages, and he missed her.

And Adrien's father and Nathalie ate it up. There was no suspicion at all.

Seriously, how were these people supervillains? Sure, Felix was confident in his acting abilities- that was why he had agreed to this whole thing in the first place, because he was positive that he would be able to weasel his way through the situation- but he had figured that there would be more persuasion involved, them drilling him to make sure that he wasn't about to run off again and immediately report them to someone once he knew more. There had been some questions, sure- they had wanted to know if he had told anyone, to which they got a very quick "no!"- but nothing like what he had expected. Apparently the desire to see his mom again made "Adrien" turning to the dark side completely believable.

And then his mom and Adrien- or, sorry, "Felix"- arrived, and they had to interact normally, but as each other.

(At least Adrien had thought to have them practice that part in Marinette's room after they switched clothes. If they hadn't...well, Felix had far less confidence in Adrien's acting abilities, even if Adrien was the one between the two of them to do voice acting and shoot commercials.)

"This is nice and all, but Adrien and I were in the middle of something before you arrived," Mr. Agreste said after a few minutes of- well, admittedly awkward conversation. Felix's mom had apparently decided to continue on with the main reason for their visit- getting back the rings- and that was making Mr. Agreste less than thrilled. It probably was keeping him from getting suspicious, though, considering that Amèlie could have a one-track mind when she wanted to and her not bringing the topic up would be strange. It was a trait that ran in the family, really, so Felix refused to consider it a bad thing. "If you could, ah, wait-"

"They could hang out in my room!" Felix blurted, mimicking what he could remember of his cousin's eagerness as best he could. He gestured widely up the stairs. "There's a foosball table, and, uh..." He wracked his brain. What else had Adrien told him was in his room? Hopefully things hadn't changed too much since his last visit. "A climbing wall, and- well, you'll see."

"Thank you, Adrien!" Amèlie told Felix, beaming. She placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder, clearly ready to guide him up to the room, and then cast a disparaging look at Mr. Agreste. "Hopefully we'll get to hang out with you soon enough. Don't keep my nephew from me for too long, Gabriel."

Mr. Agreste only gave a short jerk of his head that might be interpreted as a nod, landing a heavy hand on Felix's shoulder and steering him forcefully towards what- if Felix was remembering correctly- was his office. Nathalie shut the door behind them, flipping the lock.

For the first time, Felix was nervous. This wasn't going to end in, like, human sacrifice or something, was it? It was all fine before, when they were around other people, but now Felix was on his own. If something went sideways...

No. His uncle wouldn't hurt the boy who he believed was his own son, right? Right-

-no. In a flash, Felix remembered what Adrien had said that had gotten his mom so enraged. Adrien had been attacked by akumas before- targeted by akumas, even, and Mr. Agreste had akumatized himself and attacked Adrien. Maybe it was just because stuff would likely be put back at the end of the attacks and so a little danger was considered acceptable, but that didn't exactly make Felix any less nervous.

"Your mother is down below the house," Mr. Agreste told Felix, guiding him to a specific section of floor in front of a painting of his aunt. It was weird. "We'll have to take the elevator. It's really only designed for one person, but we can make it work for two."

"An elevator? Where?" Felix asked at once, glancing around. He wasn't seeing any doors around in the too-open, too-clinical room. "In here?"

"In the floor, obviously." Mr. Agreste leaned forward, pressing several spots on the painting- buttons! Before Felix had a chance to memorize the pattern, they were going down, down, down. They passed another track that headed to the side and then- if Felix's eyes weren't deceiving him in the dark- upwards, and just kept going down.

Felix had decided: he Did Not Like This.

"It was quite difficult to get all of this installed without anyone noticing," Mr. Agreste commented idly as the elevator went down. "I had to call in a foreign company, make some payments to keep them quiet- not that they ever saw your mother or her condition. I had to keep her in one of the back rooms for a bit- it was quite dicey, making sure that neither you nor the household staff went back there. But the cavern already existed, and some of the scaffolding, so it wasn't quite as expensive as I had worried."

Felix had to struggle not to comment at that. How much of the money he had spent had actually belonged to Mr. Agreste, and how much had come from the Graham de Vanily family fortune? Surely he wasn't making that much money off of the fashion business, considering that everything Gabriel sold was either regular clothes with a brand stamped on them and sold at a huge markup, or absolutely hideous "fashion" that Mr. Agreste dreamed up, at least as far as Felix knew. The quality of the designs had definitely taken a turn for the worse after his aunt vanished, which suggested that either she had been doing a fair bit of designing herself or had simply been in charge of the editing.

"It was quite hard to keep you from noticing, of course, but I had hoped to pull off this whole thing without you knowing at all." Mr. Agreste paused as the elevator slowed and they descended into a huge cavern. Felix was not particularly comfortable knowing that this existed under his cousin's family's mansion- like, who had decided to build a house over this? It should have just been a park, and that way when the ground inevitably decided to collapse, there at least wouldn't be a building over it. "But it has dragged on for long enough now that I- well, Nathalie, at least- thought it might be a good idea to let you in on the secret, and you can be our eyes and ears on the outside."

"What do you mean, Father?" Felix asked, cringing on the inside. Having to call someone else- and someone as awful as Gabriel Agreste- father, so soon after his own dad had died...well, he would rather pass. But if he wanted to act convincing, he needed to address Mr. Agreste just like Adrien would. At least Adrien normally called Mr. Agreste father instead of dad, because Felix really wouldn't have been able to stomach that. Perhaps the two words were technically very similar, but it was just different. "How could I possibly be any more helpful than any news coverage? The Ladyblog has quite a bit of content."

"It has dropped in both quality and quantity recently. Both because your friend Alya has decided to trust Ms. Rossi and her stories, and because she's become so distracted by that DJ boyfriend of hers that she's not following the attacks as often." Mr. Agreste sniffed, leading the way off of the elevator even before it fully came to a stop "Typical teenaged romance single-mindedness. Foolish, and something that they will no doubt regret later on. They have become blind to everything except for each other."

Felix glanced away as though he was uncomfortable with how his- well, Adrien's- friends were being discussed, but inside he was trying not to roll his eyes. Adrien's friends were obsessed with each other? That was rich coming from the guy who had turned into a supervillain in an attempt to save his wife and had rather deliberately put his son in danger multiple times for the same reason.

(Also, this cavern was insane. There were rusting metal walkways over moving water below, and an opening somewhere up above that was shining light down at the cluster of plants at the far end, and- well, it was weird.)

"But you, Nathalie, and I can discuss specifics later," Mr. Agreste told him. "I know Nathalie had some ideas. It will require working in tandem with Ms. Rossi- she's one of my allies, though I don't know how much she suspects."

Felix blinked. "How- how much she suspects? What have you told her?"

"Very little. She is acting on my requests as Mr. Agreste- requests to deliberately get people upset enough to akumatize. Oh, don't look like that, you know that it causes no lasting harm," Mr. Agreste snapped when surprise and disgust slipped onto Felix's face. "And she is slippery enough to smooth things over again afterwards. But she's also been very cooperative with Hawkmoth, agreeing to become akumatized even without emotions clouding her judgment." He sent Felix a considering look. "You could do the same, actually. I'm sure it's something that Nathalie has thought of. With cooperative akumas, I can plan a design and powers in advance, instead of having to come up with them on the fly."

...Felix did not like this Ms. Rossi character already. He also wasn't sure who she was- she wasn't one of the people that Adrien had mentioned- and he didn't want to say anything that would give that away.

"But enough about that. You wanted to see your mother." Mr. Agreste headed up the walkway, shoes clicking with every step. "This way, stop dithering about. We don't have any time to waste- your aunt will start nosing around if we take too long, no doubt, and I shudder to think of what her reaction might be if she gets wind of this." Even from behind, his scowl was evident. "She's too nosy for her own good. The sooner she and your cousin leave, the better."

Felix had to force back the absolute rage at that. How dare his uncle call his mom nosy. Granted, maybe she sometimes was- he got irritated with her prying at times, he was a teenager and wanted his secrets, darn it- but for Mr. Agreste to say that, as though what he was doing wasn't a hundred times worse?

It was absolutely hypocritical.

"And here we are," Mr. Agreste announced, stopping in front of a tube... thing. He pressed a button, and the sides retracted to leave a glass case, with Emilie Agreste laying inside on a padded surface, deathly still.

It brought back memories in a rush, memories that Felix would have rather stayed deep inside. Memories of his father laying in a coffin- narrower than this one, to be sure, and wood instead of metal and glass- but with that same cream-colored silk padding and arranged in that same position, down to the flower bouquet held in his hands. Those waxy, too-pale cheeks, everything a little too neat and perfectly done up to truly look alive.

He wanted to be sick. Why couldn't Mr. Agreste have his wife on a bed, or at least in something far less coffin-like?

"She is alive," Mr. Agreste was saying, stepping closer to the foot of the- he was going to call it a chamber, Felix decided- and resting a hand there. "And the machines- they're to keep her stable. She was using the Peacock Miraculous even though it was broken. She was trying to be helpful, and this is where she ended up." He gazed up at his wife, clear longing on his face before he shook it off, his expression shuttering as he turned back to Felix. "Once I get the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculous- well, I want to use the ultimate power to change history, so that she wouldn't end up here."

"Won't there be a price, though?" Felix asked. He and Adrien had talked about it while they were swapping outfits and hairstyles and buffing out the few differences in their facial features with makeup, and Adrien had assumed that any wish made with the two main Miraculous had to result in kickback somewhere. Frankly, Felix had to agree with his cousin's assumption. That made a lot of sense. "A consequence for changing things?"

Mr. Agreste shrugged. "Perhaps. But I'm not going to concern myself about that right now. My kwami, Nooroo, had been most unhelpful about giving me information about that!" His voice rose with every word and Felix cringed back automatically.

He wasn't ever going to be jealous of his cousin ever again. Maybe they had both lost a parent- and maybe there was a possibility that Adrien's mom wasn't completely lost- but at least Felix's remaining parent cared about him. She wouldn't raise her voice, and she wouldn't look at him like Mr. Agreste had looked at "Adrien", all closed off and uncaring.

If Felix hadn't already felt bad for his initial plan to screw up his cousin's reputation as payback for Adrien not coming to Felix's father's funeral before, he definitely would now. It couldn't have been more obvious that his cousin already had enough to deal with.

"Master, I'm not allowed to say more!" a high-pitched voice protested, and Felix startled as a small purple creature appeared over Mr. Agreste's shoulder. "And it's unpredictable, and-"

"That's enough." Mr. Agreste swatted away the small fairy, focusing back on Felix. "I will interrogate Ladybug and Chat Noir's kwamis once I get my hands on them, and I will find out the best way to go forward. You don't need to worry about that."

Felix would beg to disagree, but he thought that it was probably not the best time to knock heads with Mr. Agreste. So he decided to turn to a different topic.

"What was Mom trying to do with the Peacock?" Felix asked, glancing back up at his aunt. "Who was she trying to help?"

Mr. Agreste frowned deeply, letting out a loud sigh. "She was trying to come up with a magic solution to cure your uncle's illness, to help him and possibly you and your cousin as well." He glanced up at Emilie again. "She fell into a coma before the test results came back telling us that neither of the two of you had inherited the genes for his disease."

Felix blinked. He knew that he had gotten tested to see if he had the genetic disposition to get the same illness that had killed his dad, but why- why would Adrien? They were related on his mom's side, not his dad's. "Inherited his disease? How- how would h- I inherit Uncle's..."

Mr. Agreste spared him a short look. "There were fertility issues, I thought we told you this before, Adrien. I mean, perhaps we didn't mention that your uncle helped out, but I thought that would be obvious enough."

Wait. He and Adrien were genetically brothers?

Well, that would explain how they looked similar enough to pass for each other with a clothes change, a hairstyle switch, and a little bit of hasty contouring with some makeup to cover up the few differences. Felix had known that technically, if one just considered genetics, that the two of them would be half-brothers since their moms were identical twins, but this...

Well. Felix had wondered how he and Adrien had ended up looking so alike when their fathers looked absolutely nothing like each other.

"Ah," Felix managed instead, deciding not to make any comments about how really, it was probably for the better that Mr. Agreste hadn't been able to have kids. Unlike Felix's own father, Mr. Agreste was- well. Not exactly model material, to say the least. "That- yes, okay."

He would have to ask Adrien how much he knew about the whole fertility issues thing, because he had never been told. That- that seemed like the kind of thing that would be really important to mention, like, years ago.

Also, did Mr. Agreste ever share information with his son in a way that didn't involve dumping it in one abrupt, overwhelming go? That seemed like it might be somewhat damaging.

"I'll admit, we should have done an exam for potential health problems first and made sure that everything came back healthy, but your aunt and uncle offered and Emilie seemed quite fond of the idea, so we were a bit lax on our screening." Mr. Agreste's face pinched, clearly irritated. "Not that it would have been easily available at the time, anyway. Add in the fact that we were rather fond of the idea of knowing the donor, instead of having it be some faceless, homely nobody who might have a dozen kids already across the country, and- well, never mind that. Your screening came back clear, after all, and with Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous, we will fix the damage from the broken Peacock and get your mother back."

"I- right."

"But I think that's enough information for now. We don't want your aunt to come snooping because we're taking too long." With another press of a button, metal shutters closed over the glass chamber and Gabriel Agreste turned, leading the way back up the walkway. Felix glanced back once before hurrying after him, trying his best not to fall behind. "With your help, now, we'll be able to get the Miraculous in no time and have your mom back with us. Like I said, it will very likely involve you working with Ms. Rossi, and I expect you to be on your best behavior with her. If we can get Ms. Dupain-Cheng akumatized...she has avoided my butterflies on more than one occasion now. I suspect that she would make quite the powerful akuma. Her creativity could make her more than a match for Ladybug."

Felix only just hid his disgust at that, instead turning a distressed look on Mr. Agreste. "But- but Marinette is my friend!"

"Akumatization causes no long-term harm, Adrien, we have already been over this. And I thought it would be obvious enough already considering how many times some of your other friends have been akumatized. It's not as though her akumatization would be any different." Mr. Agreste sent him an exasperated look. "If it would distress you that much to upset Ms. Dupain-Cheng, then Ms. Rossi can take care of that bit. You would just need to stay out of the way and not rush after her to try to offer comfort."

Felix knew full well that Adrien would never agree to that, not after Marinette had pulled him in and offered comfort during his breakdown. Still, he had to agree- or at least pretend to. "I- I'll try."

Mr. Agreste's lips flattened. "No, Adrien, you will. There is no try. I am not asking for an impossibility here."

Felix swallowed a sigh. He wasn't surprised, really. "Yes... father."

"Good. And I plan to change the timeline, to keep your mother from ever falling into a coma in the first place, so Ms. Dupain-Cheng won't even remember her akumatization." They stepped onto the platform, and Mr. Agreste tapped the button that would take them back up. Felix tried his best not to scowl as they ascended into the dark tunnel again, trapped with no space to step back and away from the madman that was his uncle. "So you see, I am not the villain after all. Paris will not remember this, if all goes to plan, and we will have your mom again."

For a moment, Felix was almost tempted to forget the whole stop Hawkmoth thing. If Mr. Agreste changed the timeline- would he change it so that the Peacock wouldn't be broken, and Mrs. Agreste might actually be able to find a cure before his dad died? After all, it sounded like she had been trying to find a cure for all of them, not just in case Adrien had the same condition. But...

Well, all signs pointed to it not being a particularly good idea for him to trust Mr. Agreste's stories. He was clearly a madman, and it was incredibly likely that there would be consequences for such serious magical tampering. Maybe their immediate family wouldn't see those impacts- or maybe they would, and Felix would lose his mom instead- but either way, Felix knew deep inside that his dad wouldn't approve.

They went up and up, and Felix turned his attention to his secondary plan- stealing the Miraculous. Adrien had guessed that it was hidden under that hideous ascot- not that he had actually seen the pin, he was just assuming based on where he had seen Hawkmoth wear his Miraculous- and getting it unnoticed would be difficult unless he could figure out a plan. Maybe he could pretend to lose his balance and fall against Mr. Agreste, but how to make that look realistic...

Despite his earlier show of confidence, stealing the Miraculous was always going to be a long shot. Rings were easy, and bracelets. But pins, and particularly hidden ones?

Felix shifted, shuffling his feet as though uncomfortable- and that wasn't hard to act at all- and was about to 'trip' over his own feet when the elevator gave a sudden jolt. Felix's carefully-planned 'fall' turned into a real one, right against Mr. Agreste's chest.

And as luck had it, right against the bottom edge of Mr. Agreste's ascot. As the elevator gave another jolt- good god, please don't let it actually break now- Felix let his hand slide under the ascot (a clip-on, how utterly tasteless and embarrassing for a fashion designer) and felt the bottom of a pin at once- hopefully the Miraculous, and not just a normal pin. As Mr. Agreste's attention was on cursing out the elevator system and trying to keep them upright and not getting their clothes caught in the few bits of exposed machinery, the pin practically shifted itself into his hand and Felix unpinned the Miraculous, letting it slip out of his hand and up his sleeve, trying not to flinch as the pin suddenly changed shape.

Somehow, miraculously, it was mission complete. And his uncle seemed none the wiser.

With one more jolt, the elevator started moving normally again, just as though the near-breakdown hadn't happened. Felix frowned against the darkness, then narrowed his eyes when he caught a glimpse of something small and dark up above, something that vanished into the shadows before he had a chance to get a better look. There was another flicker of movement on the other side of the tunnel, but it too vanished before Felix could figure out what it was.

"Do- do we have rats?" Felix asked, still frowning into the darkness as they continued upwards. "I thought I just saw something."

"Perhaps. The cavern is not exactly completely insulated from the world, so while I shudder to consider it, it's not impossible. Did you see something?"

Felix shrugged, taking a step back- well, as much of a step as he could, without risking stepping too far back and into the walls they were moving past- and letting his hands fall by his sides again. The Miraculous slid back down his sleeve and into his hand, and Felix pocketed it at once. "I thought I saw something small moving along the side of the tunnel, but it's too dark to see."

Mr. Agreste just let out a noncommittal hmm.

After another few seconds, the floor above split and they ascended into the office. Nathalie glanced up as the elevator platform clicked into place on the floor, giving them a brief smile and nod before returning to her work. Felix stepped away from Mr. Agreste at once, giving himself a bit of breathing room.

"I don't think that I have to remind you not to tell anyone," Mr. Agreste instructed him sternly. "Don't make me regret trusting you. I know that you want your mother back as badly as I do, and this is what we need to do. The opinions of the city do not matter."

"Of course, Father," Felix lied at once, very aware of the weight of the Butterfly Miraculous against his leg. "Should I go check on Felix and Aunt Amèlie now?"

Mr. Agreste nodded, leading the way over to the door and unlocking it. "That would probably be for the best. If my memory serves me correctly, your cousin has rather sticky fingers. You wouldn't want too many things to go missing."

Felix very nearly felt offended, but then promptly remembered that his original plan for their visit to the Agrestes had included snitching his cousin's phone and just now, he had stolen his uncle's magic jewelry and was planning on trying to steal his ring for his mom if possible.

Maybe he did have somewhat sticky fingers, but only when he had a goal. It wasn't as though he was a common pickpocket.

"Of course, Father," Felix said again, stepping out of the room. "Will we see you at dinner?"

"No, I've wasted quite enough of the day already, so I'll be taking my meals in the office as usual," Mr. Agreste told him. He scowled. "No matter what opinions your aunt has on the matter."

Felix tried not to smirk. His mom would absolutely be vocal about that, and it would be hilarious to see the face-off. Mr. Agreste well deserved her ire, after all. "Right. I'll see you later, then."

He didn't get a response, and he hadn't expected one. After lingering another half-second, Felix trotted up to Adrien's room, hoping that his memory would serve him right and his cousin hadn't changed rooms or anything since he had last visited. Thankfully, the door handle he remembered gave, and Felix stepped into the room that he remembered, excessive even by rich people standards. His mom and Adrien were there, hovering anxiously by the door. They both let out a sigh of relief when they saw Felix, letting him into the room at once and locking the door behind him.

"How did it go?" Amèlie wanted to know at once, ushering him further into the room and handing over a makeup wipe and a comb so that Felix could start putting his appearance back to right. "Did you see Emilie? Did your uncle suspect anything?"

"Well as it could have, I suppose." Felix shrugged. He hadn't been ill despite the- well, despite the reminders of death and coffins that he really hadn't needed- and Mr. Agreste hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. "I saw Aunt Emilie, yes, and I don't think he suspected anything, and, well..." Felix let a small smile slide onto his face, reaching into his pocket and pulling his hand back out, opening it where both his mom and Adrien could see. "I managed to grab this when the elevator malfunctioned on the way back up."

The twin gasps this time made Felix grin. Amèlie reached out as though to take it, then drew her hand back. "That- you're sure that's the Miraculous?"

"It sprouted wings after I grabbed it, so I assume so, yes." It had been so hard not to react when he felt the brush of wings sprouting out of the Miraculous, but Felix had managed it. He tapped it, a little curious, but- no. He couldn't want it. He wasn't going to be like his uncle. Felix refused. Besides, the Butterfly itself really couldn't do much beyond make tacky villains in an attempt to take Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous, and considering that his uncle had been trying and failing to do that for ages, the likelihood of Felix actually succeeding in a much shorter timeframe- after all, a non-zero number of people knew about his plan to get the Miraculous- was pretty much nil. "And, well. I managed to get this set up before coming into the house, and it's a good thing, too."

Felix pulled his phone out of his pocket, finally hitting the end button. The screen blinked up at him, announcing that he had been recording for just over forty minutes and his phone's storage was nearly full. It had been a last-minute idea, really, but he was glad that he had thought of it now. His uncle had said quite a few interesting things, and it would be important evidence soon enough.

Adrien grinned as soon as he recognized what Felix was holding. "That's great! More proof for Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"I'll make some copies of the file this evening," Felix told them. He turned his attention to Adrien. "Do you know of a Lila Rossi? Apparently she was freely working with Hawkmoth."

Adrien's jaw dropped, and then a slow grin spread onto his face. "No way! That's great- I mean, it's- well, she's a terrible person," he hastened to explain. "She likes lying to get her way, and it's frustrating to listen to, but if we fight her, then she might get akumatized and cause a lot of problems. I know Marinette has been butting heads with her a lot, and Ladybug loathes Lila, so for Lila to be ousted as willingly working with Hawkmoth..."

Felix smiled at that. "Yes, I gathered that she might not be the kindest character. Mr. Agreste was talking about having her deliberately upset people to get them akumatized, and apparently your friend Marinette was next on his hit list."

"He- what? No, he had better stay away from her, how dare they go after Marinette-"

"Oh, is she your girlfriend?" Amèlie asked in delight. "I did wonder, since you two seemed quite close, but I didn't want to pry, it didn't seem the time."

Adrien promptly turned pink, which seemed like a pretty clear answer to Felix, but he was also shaking his head. "No, I- we're friends! And she does so much for all of us, to help everyone out and keep people happy so that people don't get akumatized, and so for them to target her..."

...yeah, Felix's cousin was pretty obviously sweet on this girl. Before Felix could call Adrien out on that, though, there was a knock on the window and Ladybug waved at them from the other side. Felix stepped that way, ready to hand over the Butterfly Miraculous at once, but Adrien stepped in front of him.

"I want to make sure that it's actually Ladybug," Adrien murmured, just loud enough for Felix and his mom to hear but not Ladybug, who was still standing outside of the window. "The Peacock is still out, and we've seen some odd sentimonsters recently. You put yourself in danger to get this, and I don't want to lose the Miraculous right back to Nathalie again."

Felix nodded, letting Adrien take the lead. He wasn't sure how Adrien was planning on ensuring that this Ladybug was the real one, because Felix was pretty sure that his cousin wouldn't know anything more about Ladybug than any other person in Paris did. He could admit, though, that the timing seemed pretty strange, since how would Ladybug know to come now?

"Hi, Ladybug," Adrien said, pushing open the window and stepping aside to let Ladybug in before Mr. Agreste or Nathalie could spot her on the security cameras. "Um, how are you?"

"I'm- well, I've had an interesting day," Ladybug said, rubbing the back of her head. "Marinette waved me down when I was out for a run- I had heard horns and yelling, so I thought that there was maybe an akuma out and so I was searching- and told me about your father and that, well..."

Adrien nodded. "That he's Hawkmoth."

"And that you were maybe going to try to get the Miraculous, if possible." Ladybug glanced between them. "So I was mostly curious about what more you had learned, and if you maybe...?"

Adrien nodded, then paused. "Ah, one quick question, just to be safe- when Jackady was attacking the house, what did I do when I got to my room?"

Ladybug blinked, clearly puzzled by the question, but only for a moment before her expression cleared in understanding and her cheeks turned pink. "You, uh, went to go take a shower."

"And what did we talk about after I came out?" Adrien asked, just as pink as Ladybug was. She smiled at him, bright and happy.

"I saw the picture of your mom on your computer screens...and I said that you had your mom's smile."

"Okay," Adrien said, nodding and flashing her a wide grin. "Thanks, I just- I just had to make sure."

Ladybug nodded, smiling back. "That's fine. I understand wanting to be careful, and I appreciate that. It's really smart."

There was a pause.

"I got the Miraculous," Felix announced when it seemed as though neither Ladybug nor his cousin were about to speak. He produced it from his pocket. "I understand the Peacock is still at large, but I didn't want to push my luck with trying to find it."

"It's not worth it, not when we know who has it," Ladybug agreed. She took the Butterfly Miraculous, popping open her yo-yo as she did. After another good look at the pin, she tucked it into the yo-yo and snapped it shut. "That's incredible that you were able to get it. I would have thought that Mr. Agreste would have been too protective of the Miraculous to let anyone get close to his neck."

"I got a lucky opening and I have practice swiping things unnoticed," Felix told her, ignoring the fact that anyone would be able to figure out that there wouldn't be many positive applications of that particular skill. That was entirely beside the point. "I also got an audio recording of my entire experience with Mr. Agreste and our visit downstairs. I'll be making a copy of it tonight- mom, what hotel are we staying in?"

His mom frowned, thinking. "I don't recall- it's not the Grand Paris, I know that much, because the last time we visited and stayed there, it was a bit too expensive even for my tastes and I wasn't particularly impressed by the place. It reads as more of a bragging rights project than an actual high-end hotel, so I decided to go elsewhere." She frowned in thought for a moment more and then smoothed out her expression automatically- after all, she couldn't get frown lines, that wouldn't be nice- before digging out her phone and navigating to her email, showing Ladybug the confirmation email before tucking the phone back in her pocket.

"Here, I can give you a USB drive now," Ladybug said, popping one out of her yo-yo. Felix tried not to stare, because seriously, how many functions did that thing have? But maybe he shouldn't be surprised, because it was magic, of course it could do whatever Ladybug wanted. "And then I can pop by later?"

"Well after dinner," Amèlie told her. "We're staying here for our evening meal, and then leaving an hour or two later, as though we were taking the last train of the evening out of the city."

Ladybug nodded in understanding. "Okay, I think I know when that is. I'll give you some time to get settled in before I stop by. And I thank you for turning the Miraculous over. I know not everyone would. The idea of powers like that- well, it's too much for some people to resist."

...well, okay, now he was going to feel guilty if he didn't say anything. Also, everything that he had heard before about the Miraculous and the wish that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous granted was just guess and conjecture, and he- he wanted to know. Surely as the holder of one of those Miraculous, Ladybug would know more.

"I..." Felix trailed off, glancing to the side. "I will admit, I considered it for maybe a couple minutes. The opportunity to have my father back...and with the price, well, what if we traded my dad for Adrien's father? It's not like having the world be down one supervillain would have been awful, especially because my dad was actually nice. He cared about others, not just himself, and he wouldn't have even considered doing what Mr. Agreste did." He glanced back at Ladybug. "But that's not how the wish would work, would it? That seems too neat and tidy, to be able to pick and choose the person to trade."

"It's definitely more unpredictable," Ladybug agreed. "Even Chat Noir and I's mentor- he's been studying the Miraculous for years, and he made a really dumb mistake that caused a lot of destruction. You would think that he would use the Cure and fix that, but even he doesn't want to mess around with the Wish. There's just no way to control what the price would be."

Felix nodded. "Okay. Thank you." There had been no opportunities missed, after all. That would keep him from staying awake at night, wondering and wishing and cursing himself for not at least trying.

With one last bright smile, Ladybug thanked them again and took off out the window, vanishing quickly. They all watched her go before falling into a somewhat uneasy silence as Adrien and Felix finished swapping back their appearances. Once they were finished, Felix's mom spoke up again.

"We'll have to be careful going forward," she told them. "Adrien, your father is bound to notice that his Miraculous is missing at some point today. I doubt that he would try to make a fuss with Felix and I here, but once we leave- well, I don't think that you should stay here tonight."

"I can lock my door and sneak out," Adrien offered. "I've done it before, and even if Nathalie and Father have the key to the door, I know how to block the doors so that they can't be opened. And, uh." He ducked his head, a small smile on his lips. "Marinette just texted me and said that I can stay over at her house, since they have a guest room."

"Oh, good. Perfect." Amèlie beamed at them. "So I think that unpleasant business has been as sorted out as much as possible, then, and we can move on to more pleasant topics and actually enjoy the rest of our visit here. So. Uh. Ideas?"

"Uh, maybe just one," Felix starting, figuring that- well, he was curious, and this was probably as good of a time for it as any. After all, the visit was already a bit awkward with his uncle's impending arrest for domestic terrorism via magic supervillains, so surely it couldn't get much worse. "Earlier, in the cellar, Uncle said something about him and Aunt Emilie having fertility problems and Dad helping out. Uh, can I just ask- what?"

  Gabriel Agreste let out a long breath once the Graham de Vanilys had finally, finally left, barely sparing Adrien a glance before heading back into his office and calling up a generous glass of scotch to sooth his nerves. His in-laws were as absolutely infuriating and interfering as he had remembered, barely deterred by the loss of Amèlie's husband, it seemed. Add in the fact that Amèlie still couldn't get her thick head around the concept that, family heirlooms or no, the twin rings belonged to him now, and the fact that Adrien's dash after learning about Gabriel's secret identity had caused no small amount of stress, and the fact that Amèlie hadn't accepted no for an answer and had forced Gabriel out of his office for dinner, just to make her stop pestering him and shut up- well, it really was no wonder that Gabriel had been nursing a small but persistent headache for most of the day.

But now they were gone- at least for now, he didn't doubt that they would be back in another couple of months to pester him some more, that family was nothing if not annoyingly persistent- and he could take some Advil with his scotch before settling in to plan out how he and Adrien could work together to take down the superheroes. With any luck, they could steal another Miraculous from one of the lesser, temporary superheroes and Adrien could use that to tip the scales. Gabriel wouldn't allow it for many battles- Adrien would only go out if conditions were solidly in their favor, because if he got his identity exposed that would be a disaster- but it could be the extra thing they needed, a strong akuma plus a sentimonster plus him and Mayura and Adrien.

"I could design the perfect akuma to make Ladybug and Chat Noir pull out one of the temporary heroes," Gabriel mused to himself once his drink was gone and his headache had receded, already rising to head for his elevator. He could plot better up in his lair, and he would also be ready if any negative emotions showed up in the city. There had been a surprising lack of them so far today, and he didn't understand why. "Which could very well mean re-akumatizing one of the people who got that reaction again. That could be difficult, unless I can direct Lila, perhaps." That wouldn't be hard, he was sure, considering that the girl seemed to jump on every opportunity to attack Ladybug. "But I might need to plan this one out some more. Nooroo, remind me what akumas brought out the B-team."

There was silence. Gabriel frowned, his fingers mid-reach towards the elevator buttons that would whisk him up to his lair. "Nooroo?"

Nothing. Dread started to pool in Gabriel's gut, and he scrambled to pull off his ascot, tossing it to the side to get a clear view of his neck.

His neck, which was- for the first time since he had put the brooch on- bare.

"No, no no no!" Gabriel snarled, sure that there had been a mistake. He dropped to his knees, snatching up his ascot and rifling through it in case the brooch had simply gotten snarled in the knot of fabric. His search yielded nothing. "Come on, come on, I couldn't have lost it!" The only new person who knew about him being Hawkmoth- who would have any idea about the hidden brooch- was Adrien, but he wouldn't dare steal his father's Miraculous. He wasn't anywhere near slick enough, after all- it was Felix that was the silver-tongued thief- and besides, he had clearly been very interested in his mother's return.

So where had it gone?

"Okay, breathe," Gabriel muttered to himself, determined not to let himself panic, even as he undid the pin-on ascot so that he could flatten it out. Panic led to dumb decisions, which could mean an end for him. "Adrien couldn't have taken it without tipping me off, he has no control over his emotions. He would have been nervous, and I would have been put on high alert. Maybe I just didn't fasten it right this morning and then it got knocked off."

Yes, that had to be it. Gabriel remembered that he had had to scold Nooroo in front of Adrien when they were in the underground cavern, so he had had the Miraculous then, at least. Which meant that it might have gotten knocked off down there. Where the walkway was not solid and there was rushing water down below.

That would not be good. Visions of the Miraculous getting whisked away by the rushing water danced through his head, and Gabriel's blood pressure spiked again before he remembered that Nathalie still had the Peacock Miraculous. They had to be careful with their usage of it, sure, but surely they could manage a transformation and a sentimonster that could sniff out the Butterfly Miraculous and return it. They might have to wait a week to make sure that Nathalie had fully recovered from her last transformation- or maybe it would be smarter for him to use the Peacock. The thought made Gabriel clench his hands, because the mere idea of subjecting himself to the peacock's weakness was-

Something was wrong. It hadn't been immediately obvious, but when he clenched his fists….

Gabriel's gut twisted as he looked down and then once again, he froze. This time, it had nothing to do with his missing Miraculous. Instead, Gabriel was staring at his bare hand. Specifically, his bare ring finger.

His ring. It was gone. Gone. Just like his Miraculous, vanished into thin air.

No!It-it couldn't be! He had been so careful to not let it out of his sight, and he certainly had never taken it off for more than a minute at a time to clean it. It wasn't as though he would take it off for any other reason- the smooth surface of the ring was hardly going to snag on any fabric, and he was hardly going to deign to do any sort of baking- which meant that it had been removed. Somehow. Without him noticing.

Two incredibly important pieces of jewelry gone without a trace in the span of a day. Gabriel scrambled for his phone, suddenly paranoid that maybe the Peacock had vanished from Nathalie's possession, too. If it had- well, then all was lost, wasn't it?

No. No, it had to be a coincidence. There hadn't been a single opportunity for Adrien to steal his Miraculous, but there certainly had been an opportunity for Felix to palm the ring when they shook hands. He should have been on the lookout for that, should have been on high alert the entire time that his sister-in-law and nephew were within his sight, should have put the ring in a safe until they were gone.

And by now, they were on a train back to London. Gabriel couldn't go after them, and even if he could, Amèlie wouldn't admit to her son taking the ring. They would hide it and play dumb and never let him see that they had it. No, it was well and truly lost to him now, and maddeningly so.

But that didn't mean that the Butterfly was. If he summoned Nathalie back to the house at once- she would be annoyed, certainly, since she had only just left, but as soon as she found out what was going on she would understand the urgency- then they could start the work of figuring out where the Butterfly had gone.

He wasn't going to let Emilie down.

(a/n: If ML is going to make Adrien and Felix inexplicably identical, I'm going to give them a completely bonkers justification for it. In this case, the chances of them looking so similar are a LOT higher if they share a father on top of having identical mothers.

This was meant to be the second and final part of the story, and it very well might be- I do like my open endings, after all- but it is possible that I might return to this story at some point and write a part 3 that ties up a few of the lose ends. It depends entirely on my inspiration and amount of other projects I have on the go, though, so no promises.)

[femalechibiblogger]

Mae Borowski Character Bio (Night in the Woods)

Age: 20

Occupation: College Student (dropped-out)

Family: Stan Borowski (father), Candy Borowski (mother), Aunt Molly (aunt), Grandfather (deceased)

Likes: Hanging with Gregg, playing bass, smashing stuff, walking on power lines, traveling through tunnels, being home, her parents, her grandpa’s ghost stories, reconnecting with old friends, feeling safe, tacos, pizza, fitting in, constellations, poetry, Witch Dagger, reminiscing about old times, horror movies, the train tracks, music.

Dislikes: Remembering ‘The Incident’, being away from home, fighting with friends, arguing with her parents, The Cult, having anxiety, mushy romance, school, beer, losing friends, being judged by her past, being forced to be someone she’s not, Possum Springs falling apart.

Voice Actor: None

Description

Mae Borowski is the main character of the mystery-thriller game: Night in the Woods. Mae is a 20 year old, college dropout who returns to her hometown, Possum Springs, and reconnects with her old friends: Bea, Gregg, and Angus. But many things have changed since she was last home, and Mae soon uncovers a dark secret within the town.

Personality

Mae is a tomboy with a troubled past. For some years, she has had a history of depression, anger issues, social anxiety, and has even suffered from hallucinations. Mae’s mental state has caused her problems throughout her life, and has landed her in trouble. Mae has a reputation of being a troublemaker and a delinquent, which is why she didn’t have many friends as a child. 

When Mae returns to Possum Springs, she has a difficult time adjusting to the changes that occured while she was gone. Mae tries to reconnect with her friends, but it proves to be a bit more difficult than she thought. Mae has a hard time adjusting to change. She is saddened to see that some of the places she loved years before are no longer around, like the restaurant ‘Pastabilities’ and the old Maellard float. Mae also has a hard time adjusting to the fact that her friends all have jobs and responsibilities, and are no longer as carefree as her. 

When angry, Mae will take her anger out by smashing bottles or breaking things. When she is very frustrated with someone, she will snap back at them for being so depressing and thinking that she doesn’t understand how they feel. She is especially like this towards her old friend, Bea, who had to give-up on her dreams of going to college in order to run her family’s store. 

Mae suffers from depression and social anxiety, which is shown to be quite severe if she is in an unfamiliar place. The reason Mae dropped out of college was because she grew very depressed and scared, as she had never been away from home before, and even began to suffer from hallucinations. She would either scarf down a whole pizza at once or go hungry, and couldn’t even sleep unless she downed a bottle of cold medicine. Mae has low confidence when it comes to her appearance and personality, as she does not believe that she is attractive, and even believes that everyone hates her. 

However, Mae is shown to have a kind and caring side. She tries to be optimistic and encouraging towards her friends when they are down. For example: She tried to tell Bea that her life was not over, and that she still had her whole life ahead of her. She also comforts Gregg when he starts badmouthing himself, and voices her disgust towards Angus’ abusive family. Mae also worries about a group of kids who hang out in the tunnels when she witnesses someone being kidnapped, and advised them to be careful. Mae is also willing to listen to someone’s concerns and worries, and also shows interest in their likes and hobbies. 

Mae shows a natural talent in demolition, as some have pointed out that demolition would be a good career for her. She also shows an interest in stars and constellations, and loves to hear the stories behind them. Mae likes to hear about Possum Springs history, especially if it involves mystery and ghosts. 

Mae is hinted to be pansexual. She had briefly dated a guy named ‘Cole’ when she was in high school, and even took a bit of interest in a girl that she met at a party. Mae doesn’t care about any specific genders when it comes to dating, and states that she is not too picky about it. She may not be aware that she is pansexual, as she does not know what that word even means.

Relationships

Stan Borowski: Stan Borowski is Mae’s father. He is a friendly but forgetful person, as he forgot which day Mae was supposed to come home from college. Stan loves Mae very much, and often urges her to spend time with him by watching tv with him. He likes to tell jokes that others do not find funny, and works hard to provide for his family. In the past, Stan had worked as a miner and even worked at the glass factory...before they were both shut down. He now works at the store ‘Ham Panther’, but admits that he hates it due to the low pay and lack of union. Mae mentions that he used to drink when he worked at the mine, but had to quit when he began to put his wife and daughter in danger (he likely became reckless while drunk). Like his wife, Stan wants what’s best for Mae and often worries about her. 

Candy Borowski: Candy Borowski is Mae’s mother. She is a kind and caring woman who loves her daughter very much, and is very patient with her. Throughout the game, Candy tries to get Mae to tell her why she dropped out of college...but Mae always avoids to answer her. Mae loves her mom, but the two of them often butt heads with each other. Candy may have pressured Mae to go to college, as she and her husband had high hopes for her after having multiple miscarriages before Mae was born. Candy can end up snapping at Mae, but the two of them make-up after talking things out. Candy often worries about Mae’s safety and well-being. Candy works at the church doing administrative work, and shares Mae’s love of murder mysteries.

Aunt Molly: Molly is Mae’s aunt and Candy’s sister. Molly is a police officer who takes her job very seriously. Mae doesn’t really get along with her, mostly because Molly is a cop and Mae often makes trouble. Despite the hostility, Molly really loves and cares about Mae, as she only wants Mae it be safe and to stay out of trouble. Mae knows that Molly is just trying to protect her, and will try to stay out of trouble when needed.

Mae’s Grandfather: Mae had a good relationship with her grandfather. He would often tell her ghost stories when she was a child, which is how she got her love for them. Like Mae, he was a bit of a troublemaker when he was young, and even vandalized his boss’ car because of the low pay and poor conditions. Mae’s grandfather worked in the mines when he was younger, and may have known about the mine workers pulling the teeth of their employers out. He was Stan’s father, and had passed away some time before the events of the game. He appears as a ghost in the Church library.

Beatrice ‘Bea’ Santello: Bea was Mae’s best friend until 7th grade. The two of them have known each other since they were little, and were even like sisters. The two of them grew apart in 7th grade, when Mae started hanging out with Gregg. Despite this, Mae still considered Bea to be her best friend, but was unaware of the hostilities between them. Bea had wanted to go to college after graduating high school...but her mother passed away during her senior year and her father grew depressed, to the point where he just stays home and no longer tends the store. Bea had to give-up her dreams of going to college, move out of her house and into a small apartment with her dad, and take over the store instead. Bea resented Mae for being able to go to college, and grew hostile towards her even more when she dropped out after two years and returned to Possum Springs. Because of the hardships that she faced, Bea has become pessimistic and cold after being forced to give up her dreams and witness Possum Spring’s economy slowly decaying. Unlike Mae, Bea is more grounded in reality, and has no time or patience for childish things. When Mae tries to help, Bea becomes angry and believes that Mae has no idea how hard life really is. Mae tries to help Bea realize that her life isn’t over, and that she can one day make her dreams come true. Bea thinks of this as just wishful thinking, and lets out all of her pent up frustrations. In the end, Bea and Mae apologize to each other for how they both acted, and their relationship slowly becomes more stable. When Mae told Bea why she dropped out of college, Bea voiced her concerns and realized that Mae has been dealing with serious issues her whole life. Bea was very worried when Mae was hurt by a cultist and was unwilling to let her confront them alone, as she revealed that Mae was like a sister to her. In the end, the two of them officially makeup and plan to go on a road trip together. Bea plays the drums on her laptop in their band.

Gregg Lee: Gregg is one of Mae’s bestest friends since 7th grade. Mae and Gregg often caused trouble and would often commit crimes together. Gregg is rebellious and talkative compared to his boyfriend, Angus who is tech savvy and quiet. Mae and Gregg are like brother and sister and are able to understand each other, as they both deal with problems involving mental illness and insecurities. Gregg is likely bipolar, as he states that he has ‘up days’ and ‘down days’ (Bea definitely believes that Gregg is bipolar). Like Mae, Gregg believes that people don’t like him, but Mae reassures him that he is loved very much. Gregg loves Angus very much, but he believes that Angus could do better than him...but Angus loves Gregg very much, and Mae believes that their relationship will survive. Gregg works at the Snack Falcon, so he and Angus could save money so they can move to Bright Harbor. Mae does not want Gregg and Angus to move away, but Gregg tells Mae that she can visit them in Bright Harbor any time. Gregg plays the electric guitar in their band. 

Angus Delaney: Angus is Gregg’s boyfriend and one of Mae’s closest friends. At first, Angus and Mae were not very close, but would hang out with each other because of Gregg. Angus is quiet, humble, and tech savvy. Angus wishes for Gregg to not commit crimes with Mae and hints that Mae may not be a good influence on Gregg, as he and Gregg are trying to save money so they can move to Bright Harbor. However, Angus is willing to help Mae when her laptop was glitching from a virus. He also allows Mae to hang out with him and Gregg...though he wanted it to just be him and Gregg. Angus does care about Mae, as he was very worried about her when she got drunk at a campfire party, and was willing to help and protect her when the cult was after her. Angus also told Mae about how he was abused as a child by his parents, to which she voiced her disgust and showed that she cared about him very much. The two of them become closer as friends as the game progresses. Angus works at the video store, and is the lead singer of their band.

Germ Warfare: Germ is one of Mae friends. Germ is two years younger than Mae, and have known each other for quite some time due to their friendship with Gregg. Germ is a bit of a mysterious person, as he often shows up out of nowhere and then disappears. Germ hints that he knows about the cult, as they had tried to sacrifice him at one point and was stalked by them...though he seems to have been spared since his disappearance would have definitely been noticed by his friends and family. Germ sees Mae as someone whom he can relate to, as they both have problems related to Possum Springs’ dying economy and being lonely. Germ often asks Mae to hang out with him, and even introduces her to his family. He lives with his parents, uncles, grandma and sisters. He had a brother who died, and states that if ghosts were real...then he would have been able to see his late-brother. Germ often watches Mae, Bea, Gregg and Angus’ band practices, and seems to enjoy their music. Germ and Mae become closer as friends as they continue to hang out together.

Selmers: Selmers is a girl who lives in Mae’s neighborhood. Selma is laid-back and easygoing, and is often seen sitting on the stoop of her house. In the past, Selmers was addicted to painkillers and even stole them from the Ham Panther when she worked there...which led her to do some jail time and spent some time in rehab. Selmers had also been married to a guy named ‘Dennis’...until he left her for a girl he met at a gas station. Selmers is a recovered addict who writes poetry, and is even a member of the Possum Springs Poetry Society. Mae often listens to Selmers’ poetry whenever she walks by her house, and likes to listen to her poetry and cheers her on. When Mae had been injured by one of the cult members, Selmers was upset and was angry that someone had hurt Mae so badly. Selmers want to live near the beach one day, something that Mae believes is a wonderful idea.

Lori Meyers: Lori is a 14 year old girl who often hangs out on the rooftops. Like Mae, Lori is a socially awkward and is a bit of a troublemaker. Lori tends to hang out by herself, but Mae ends up hanging out with her on the rooftops and train tracks. Lori lives in the poorer neighborhood of Possum Springs, which is right by the train tracks. Lori loves horror movies and likes to make her own, something that Mae encourages as she believes that Lori is talented at making horror movies. When Mae was injured by one of the cult members, Lori was angry and stated that Mae did not deserve to be hurt...as she felt that Mae was the only person who understood her. Mae acts as an older sister towards Lori, and wants her to give-up being a troublemaker so she can go on to have a better life. 

Pastor K: Pastor K is the new pastor at the Possum Springs Church. Pastor K is a kind and understanding individual who wants to help people, especially Mae and a homeless man named Bruce. She often butts heads with the City Council when she tries to set up a shelter for Bruce in the church, as they see him as just another ‘bum’. Mae sees Pastor K as a good person who cares about those less fortunate than others, and likes that Pastor K does not judge her for her past or lack of faith. Pastor K has some moments where she questions her own faith, but continues to pray and be optimistic. Pastor K prayed over Mae as she laid unconscious after being attacked by the cult, showing that her faith is still strong. 

Bruce: Bruce is a homeless man who sets up a tent behind the church. Bruce is a nice guy whom Mae gets along with, and likes to listen to his past from before he became homeless. Bruce had lived in Possum Springs has a miner back in the 70′s, and has a daughter with whom he is estranged from. Near the end of the game, Bruce decides to leave and reconnect with his daughter, as he feels bad that Pastor K has been going through so much stress from the City Council while trying to build a shelter for him. Mae hopes that Bruce and his daughter will be able to make amends.

Mr. Chazokov: Mr. Chazokov was Mae’s astronomy teacher in high school. Mr. Chazokov describes Mae as his ‘best/worst student’, as she hated school but love the constellations. Mae will go up on the rooftop to look at constellations with Mr. Chazokov, who will tell her the legends behind them. Mr. Chazokov cares about Mae very much, and even cried when she had been injured by one of the cult members. He was very happy to see that Mae had recovered.

Danny: Danny is a guy who is carefree yet always being fired from his jobs. He is 3 years older than Mae, and the two of them sometimes talk about employment and other things. Mae tries to be optimistic about him finding full employment someday. Danny began to work at the Ol’ Pickaxe, which Bea runs in place of her father. He was eventually laid off but found a new job at the new taco restaurant, and that he is actually good at making tacos. Danny lives with his parents and once had a girlfriend who dumped him.

Jackie: Jackie is Bea’s friend with whom Mae does not get along with. Mae tries to warm up to Jackie, but she makes it clear that she does not like Mae for not knowing about Bea’s troubles...though Mae cares very much for Bea just like Jackie does. Jackie is shown to be politically active and is against fascism. She often throws college parties, to which Bea always attends and allows Bea to pretend that she is in college, just so she can have the experience. Jackie is actually transgender.

Steve Scriggins: Steve Scriggins is a delinquent with whom Bea greatly dislikes. Bea has known Steve since high school, and is well-aware of his reputation of being an even bigger troublemaker than her. Mae only hangs out with him because he is friends with Gregg, though Mae sees Steve as an even larger bad influence than her, as Steve has them help him break into the old Food Donkey to steal an animatronic character from the basement. Though he is an adult, Steve still attends high school parties and hits on Lori’s classmates, showing that he may be interested in underaged girls. 

The Tunnel Teens: The Tunnel Teens are a group of teenagers who hang out in the old tunnel where the old trolley remains. The Tunnel Teens often make fun of Mae whenever she tries to relate to them. Despite this, however, Mae shows genuine concern for them when she witnesses a teenager being kidnapped by one of the cultists, and advices the Tunnel Teens to stay safe and travel in groups. 

Bombshell: Bombshell is a girl who Mae met at a college party in another town. Bombshell is a laid-back girl who finds Mae interesting, and even begins to flirt with her. Mae also finds Bombshell interesting and even finds her attractive. Unfortunately, their interactions are cut short as Mae goes to find Bea at the party. Mae realizes that she did not get Bombshell’s contact info, but has a feeling that they will meet again at another college party. Her real name is not actually ‘Bombshell’, as it is just the name that Mae gives her in her journal. 

Cole: Cole was Mae’s ex-boyfriend from high school. The two of them went out a few times, but their last date was senior prom. The two went together...but Mae accidentally caused him to bleed after trying to kiss him, accidentally chokes him with paper towels while trying to stop the bleeding, throws up on him, and floods the bathroom after stuffing the paper towels down the toilet. Cole ranaway and Mae returned home on a classmates’ tractor crying all the way home. The two of them broke-up after this...but Cole appears to not hold a grudge against Mae for what happened. When Cole returns to Possum Springs for the weekend, he was happy to see Mae and was worried about her. Mae becomes really anxious around him due to the prom incident, and gets drunk on watered-down beer and causes a scene. Mae once wrote a song about him called: Go Get Dead Angel Face. She is very, very embarrassed by that song.

The Janitor: The Janitor is a mysterious man whom Mae meets at the bus station when she arrives home from college. The Janitor is very down-to-earth and gives Mae cryptic messages and warnings, which she does not seem to understand. The Janitor appears and disappears quite mysteriously at certain parts of the game: The bus station. the Ol’ Pickaxe, the hospital, and downtown. When Mae was hospitalized, the Janitor appeared and reassured her parents that she would be alright. It is possible that he is some kind of deity or spirit that is watching over Mae, as he may have supernatural powers of some sort. 

Andy Cullen: Andy Cullen is an unseen character...but he plays a big role in Mae’s character. Six years before the story, Mae became dissociated with reality and began seeing objects and people as shapes. During a baseball game at her school, Mae had a breakdown and saw Andy as nothing but shapes...and began to beat him with a baseball bat. Mae eventually snapped out of it, and was horrified by what she had done to him. After this incident, the parents of Possum Springs told their children to stay away from Mae, and Andy was hospitalized for quite a while. It is unknown what happened to Andy afterwards, although it is likely that he got better and no longer lives in Possum Springs. Mae still feels a strong amount of guilt over the incident, and doesn’t even know why she attacked him.

Casey Harley: Casey was Mae’s friend from high school. Mae and Casey were very close and would do crimes together with Gregg. Casey played the drums in the band before Bea took over after his disappearance. While Mae was away at college, Casey suddenly disappeared and no one had heard from him since. Everyone believed that he ran away and hopped onto the tracks, which was something that he had often talked about doing, so no one was surprised when he disappeared. Nevertheless, Casey’s parents put up ‘missing’ fliers of him all over town, and all of his friends missed him dearly. It was later revealed that Casey had actually been kidnapped and sacrificed by The Cult, as they believed that he wouldn’t amount to anything and that no one would miss him if he was gone. The Cult claimed that Casey was going to deal drugs with his cousin, who died in a meth-explosion, but it is unknown if any of that is true. While Casey appeared to be a troublemaker, he was well-liked by everyone and loved by his parents. Mae and her friends were deeply sad and angry after learning of his death. It is unknown if Mae will tell his parents of his true fate or not.

Eide: Eide is a member of The Cult and the pseudo antagonist of the game. Not much is known about Mae, but he appears halfway through the game. Mae first spots him during Harfest, in which she witnesses him kidnapping a teenager and runs after him. Eide is somehow able to go through the tall fence and disappears. Eide appears to follow Mae at the graveyard, Possum Jump, and the Historical Society. At first, Mae believes him to be a ghost and is determined to learn more about him, and is also afraid that he will kidnap other teenagers. When Mae encounters him again, Gregg shot him in the arm with his crossbow, causing him to runaway. Eide then appears with the other cultists, and is angry about being shot in the arm. When Mae and her friends are allowed to leave, Eide follows them on the mine’s elevator and tries to take Mae with him. Mae is her friends are able to pull Mae away from him, and he goes down with the elevator. His fate is unknown, but he likely died when the mine caved in. As a member of The Cult, it could be that Eide wanted to sacrifice Mae to the Black Goat, meaning that he believes that Mae is not important to the town and will not be missed if she were to suddenly vanish. Eide appears to have supernatural powers, which allow him to become transparent and even teleport. While his real identity is unknown, some fans believe that he is the cult’s leader, Ed Skudder, who is said to have been granted the power to ‘walk through walls’. Other fans believe that Eide is actually a heavily brainwashed Casey Hartley who, instead of being sacrificed by the cult, became a member instead. Eide is shown to be a cat like Mae when she kicks off his helmet.

The Cult: The Cult is the hidden antagonist of the game. The Cult was formed many years ago by a man named Ed Skudder, who worked as a miner in Possum Springs. Ed came across a bottomless pit, where he claimed he heard an entity known as ‘The Black Goat’ sing to him. Ed claimed that the Black Goat offered to keep Possum Springs existing if Ed threw people into the pit. Since then, many more people joined the cult and sacrificed people to the Black Goat, as they believe that it is the only way that Possum Springs will survive. The members of the cult only sacrifice people whom they believe will not be missed, such as homeless people and runaways. The Cult has no intention of hurting Mae or her friends...rather, they want them to join because the current members are all old. However, Mae and her friends are disgusted by the Cult’s beliefs and practices, as what they are doing is murdering people. Mae believes that the cultists are doing this because it is the only thing that makes sense to them and gives them hope, though she is still disturbed by them. The Cult is located in the old mine. After an accidental mining collapse, it is very likely that the cultists became trapped in the mine, meaning that they will likely die from starvation and dehydration. Mae, Bea and Gregg felt guilty at first...but Angus felt no guilt for them because of their murderous actions. It is likely that the City Council does not know about the Cult, as they appear to keep themselves a secret. 

The Black Goat: The Black Goat is a mysterious entity that is worshipped by a cult in Possum Springs. The Black Goat supposedly lives at the very bottom of a pit inside the old mine, and is said to sing to people and give them strange dreams. According to the cultists, the Black Goat sung to Ed Skudder and made a deal with him: The Black Goat would help Possum Springs’ economy, in exchange for sacrifices. Since then, the cultists would sacrifice people whom they deemed ‘unwanted’ and would not contribute anything to society. It is also said that the Black Goat granted Ed Skudder powers, and that it is the one responsible for Mae’s strange dreams. It is unknown if the Black Goat actually exists or not, or if it actually kept Possum Springs from falling apart years before. The Black Goat may be more of a figment of Mae’s imagination, or possibly symbolize the Cult and Mae’s fear of losing their home and not knowing what else to do about it. 

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Weekend Top Ten #470

Top Ten Films to Watch on Star on Disney+

We’ve been watching a lot of Disney+ lately. This is partly due to the fact that our family movie nights have become, almost accidentally, a quest to watch every bit of Star Wars content on the service; so far, we’ve watched the entire Skywalker Saga and are now moving onto the spin-off movies. The younglings have become addicted: Daughter #1 is getting stuck into The Clone Wars, whilst Daughter #2 is demanding we jump straight into The Mandalorian. As for the Princess to my Scoundrel, well, she and I have been thoroughly enjoying WandaVision, which by the time you read this, will have finished. Sob! Nothing to do but gird our loins until the arrival of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in a couple of weeks! At least this excellent TV programme appears to have whetted my wife’s appetite for watching more of the MCU movies. Maybe soon I can make oblique references to Mary Poppins, y’all, and someone else in the house will actually know what the hell I’m on about.

Well it looks as if there’s going to be even more use out of our Disney+ sub as the months roll inexorably on, what with their new Star channel. This is where they’ve shoehorned all the mucky films they bought from the naughty boys and girls at Fox; sweary adult dramas, sexy bits, and scenes of explicit wrist-slapping abound. So now we have this toybox of grown-up content to savour! What to watch? What not to watch? I’ve already started at the most obvious place by diving into some vintage Arnie with Commando, one of the funniest action movies ever made. It did not disappoint.

So where to next? Re-watching semi-forgotten classics, films I’ve not seen in literally decades? Or checking out things that slipped me by (there’s an entire list to be made of “films I read about in Empire in the ‘90s, got really excited about, but never saw”). Do I watch the crappier Die Hard films, or cheesy action movies (er, like Commando, I guess)? Or dive deep into prestige fair? Or just watch Spy Hard for the Weird Al theme tune, practically the only bit of the film I remember? The options are virtually endless.

So that’s what this week’s list is: ten films I intend to watch on Disney+ very flipping soon. Or, y’know, just play Zelda until Falcon starts.

9 to 5 (1980): there was a lot of talk of Dolly around the New Year, and my wife and I even watched a documentary about her. As a result, I had a scoot around to see if it was possible to buy 9 to 5 as a birthday or Valentine’s gift for my better half; it’s a film neither of us have seen in years if not decades, and we’re both big Grace and Frankie fans too. Alas, it’s a difficult film to get a hold of; there doesn’t appear to be a Blu-ray readily available. Praise be, then, that it’s now on Disney+; a terrific comedy film, with a nice bit of feminist bite. I’m not sure if it’ll feel dated or – post-#MeToo – oddly prescient. But I’m really, really looking forward to watching it again.

Crimson Tide (1995): I do love a good tense thriller, and I seem to remember this as being a particularly great tense thriller. This feels like one of those “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” candidates; a claustrophobic two-hander with no real action, almost a theatrical chamber piece, but made with huge stars and a big-time director (the late, great Tony Scott). I saw it once, on video, when it came out, so it’ll be great to revisit.

The Color of Money (1986): another minor classic that I’ve not seen for decades, and a film I remember even less well than Crimson Tide. It’s cool to revisit (or discover for the first time!) films by great directors, and this is Scorsese we’re talking about. Cruise as a freshly-minted movie star, still taking risks; Newman as a great elder statesman. I’ve genuinely no idea what it’s like, it’s been so long, but I’d love to see it again. Just wish The Hustler was on D+ too!

Quiz Show (1994): I’d mentioned before that there are loads of films from the ‘90s that I read about as an eager young film fan but never saw; this is one of them. An apparently-great drama about corruption at a hugely popular TV show in ‘50s America, with Ralph Fiennes in a very early Hollywood role. I think I’d enjoy it.

Looking for Richard (1996): another of those ‘90s films…! This fascinated me as a teen, and I’d love to see it: a documentary about Richard III, made by Al Pacino, featuring people talking about Shakespeare (got a lot of time for that) and also scenes of the play performed and filmed. It’s a real curio; also weirdly came out around the same time as McKellen’s Richard III. Maybe something was in the water? We’re due another big Rich in my opinion.

Jennifer’s Body (2009): a follow-up from Juno writer Diablo Cody, a horror centred around high school and female sexuality, this has always seemed like it might be a dark, delicious delight; it wasn’t very well received at the time, but has grown in cult status; as has its star, Megan Fox, who I’d argue has not had the easiest time within Hollywood. Anyway, I really like the look of it, and it’ll be cool to check it out.

Tombstone (1993): I love a good Western, and I seem to remember that this is a very good Western. A story of Wyatt Earp that goes beyond the famous gunfight, my memories of this are very vague; I know that there’s a very good Val Kilmer performance as Doc Holliday, and of course Kurt Russell as Earp himself. I might try out that “watch along” feature and watch this, remotely, with my dad.

Romancing the Stone (1984): I probably haven’t seen this since the eighties so I’ve got no idea if it’s really any good, but I do remember enjoying its Indy-inspired adventurism and – in particular – Danny DeVito’s bad guy. Douglas is always great value as a leading man, although from what I’ve since read this is really Kathleen Turner’s show. It’ll be interesting to see if it holds up, but hopefully it’ll be a good stop-gap until they finally get the Indy films up on the service.

Good Morning, Vietnam (1988): another film that I want to revisit, even if I remember it a little better than others on this list. My memory is that it’s utterly fantastic, a really stark look at the realities of Vietnam during the time of the war, and also a phenomenal, very human performance from Williams. Also I remember it being very funny when he does let off some steam (sorry, bit of Commando creeping in there). And really, it’s Williams I want to see again; that earnest, real, pained but beautiful Williams we get in his very best performances. It’s very likely I’ll cry just watching him on screen. God, I miss him.

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016): I needed some crappy sequel to talk about, and here it is. I can’t overstate how much I loved the first Independence Day in ’96, so the (apparent; I’ve not seen it) terribleness of this sequel hit me like a sledgehammer. It can’t be that bad, can it? Is it not at least so-bad-it’s-good? I mean, the trailer made it look atrocious, and it’s killed off Will Smith – the best character! – off-screen, so odds are not good that it’s a hidden gem. But I’ve got to know.

This was actually a pretty tough list, and I had to knock off some films that I’d love to rewatch (Conan the Barbarian, The War of the Roses), as well as stuff like Idiocracy and Office Space that I’ve never seen. Also Kingsman: The Secret Service, which is a fairly recent release that slipped me by, and I’m not sure why I’ve never gotten round to seeing; I blame the kids! Also, there was going to be some xenomorph or xeno-monkey action on here, but frustratingly all the Alien (and Predator!) movies are missing, and the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy – which I’ve also never seen! – is only served by its middle instalment. Yeah, I can watch the seminal ‘60s original again (and I may!) or the indecipherable and strange Tim Burton version, but what about, y’know, the trilogy that everyone raves about? I assume this is due to pre-existing deals keeping the films elsewhere (elusive…), but the sagas of Alien, Predator, and the complete Die Hard package are – I believe – being kept until most profitable (mark my works: Die Hard at Christmas). Anyway, it’s a bit frustrating, that, as I’ve never seen Covenant or The Predator, and I’d love to watch the whole lot from the start anyway.

I guess I can console myself by also watching the one Die Hard film I’ve never seen, namely the critically-acclaimed A Good Day to Die Hard. I mean, I’m assuming it’s critically acclaimed. I guess I’ll find out.