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neoheros · 5 years ago

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how would haikyuu boys handle falling for someone out of their league? feat. kuroo tetsuro + iwaizumi hajime

kuroo tetsuro

the way i see it, if kuroo is crushing on anybody it’ll most likely be on someone he’s either been close to for a while now or someone who’s really caught his attention in a big boom bam kind of way

when it came to you, it was a mix of both

he knew you from class but never really talked to you since there wasn’t any reason to

but then one 2 am ramen venture in the nearest 7/11 later, the two of you officially met

it was so weird for you to see a classmate in the same convenient store at 2 in the morning buying hot patches and gatorade

you: so are you a really energetic murderer or is that for the volleyball thing

kuroo: somewhere along both but i keep the volleyball part a secret

kuroo was certain that the minute those words came out of your mouth he was GONE

a one way ticket to having the fattest crush on you

he only wanted to get something for the cold since he couldn’t fall asleep and instead he’s met someone from class who’s way too cute in pajamas with yakult and ramen on hand

kuroo: i’ve never had that kind of ramen before

you: if you don’t murder me then i’ll share

kuroo, smiling: you took out the best part

you: i am the best part

after that night, kuroo’s pretty sure that you singlehandedly derailed his thoughts and emotions in a snap

he’d see you wave at him in the halls and sometimes when he’s not too busy you’d let him sit with you at lunch

it was definitely weird to be friends with him since he’s never really talked to you before but the day you two exchanged numbers and the first thing he sent you was a tiktok, you knew how much you’d like being close to him

you’d spent nights on end facetiming or sending each other funny links and tiktoks and it always felt like you could talk about anything

lots of repeats of 2 am in the same 7/11 spot where you two had your first encounter and each time it’s just get more and more memorable

kuroo: the more i see you, the more tired you look

you: i told my aunt who has a modeling agency about you ❤️ she said no 😌

you two became best friends in no time and even though you told him countless times how much you hated the smell of sweat and getting hit in the face by a ball you never failed to attend all his practices and matches

kenma: are you two dating

kuroo: no

kenma: are you lying

kuroo, sighing: i wish :/

when kenma pointed out the obvious that you two should be dating, he was just hit with an overwhelming feeling in his chest

he thought about it and honestly? the more he did the more he felt like he didn’t have a shot

you were so nice and kind, the teacher’s go to when they need help, and he’s basically seen you turn down 2 guys in the midst of walking home together

yaku: we know you’re lame and stuff but shoot your shot y’know

kuroo: how am i friends with you

so one day he decides that he’s just had about enough from staring at you from afar !!! he’s gonna try his luck and if he strikes out then so be it

it was 3 in the afternoon and they didn’t have practice so he asked you to come over— which at this point, something you did every so often

it was chill at first, the two of you watching a movie in the living room together but then he gets up from his seat

a goofy smile on his face as he says, “let’s make a tiktok,”

you’re confused but you agree nonetheless

the two of you have made tiktoks in the past but they usually stayed in the drafts because you never could get past one without breaking into laughter

he never told you the sound or what tiktok to make but as he put his phone against the kitchen cupboard a smile immediately broke into your face

you look at him and he’s anxious which by nature also made you anxious

the audio played and you really didn’t recognize it, you curse yourself for being so out of loop in the latest fyp trends

he stares at the camera as the song played and you’re unsure of what to do except laugh

he turns to you when the beat drops, and your smile becomes nervous with confused eyes

you are out of my league

he mouths along with the song, the smile on his face matching yours as you let out a brighter grin

you realize what he just said and you laugh, softly hitting his arm, “i am not!”

he pulls you into a hug as the video played, the song looping in the process

he’s laughing as he hugs you, “yes, you are.”

you look up at him, pressing a soft quick kiss on his lips and when you pull back, you’re sure he’s got the stupidest grin on his face

kuroo: i can’t believe we had our first kiss on camera

you: i can’t believe i kissed the lamest boy in school

iwaizumi hajime

being friends with iwaizumi immediately means being friends with oikawa too

it’s okay though, you love them both

you forgot when the three of you became that close but at one point in your life, two boys came running around your local playground and hit you with a ball and the rest was history

later on you guys find out that all three of your moms were close also and everything felt like it just clicked yk?

you go to school with them and it’s pretty ditzy how they force you to go to all their volleyball practices and tournaments

you: i don’t want to go

iwaizumi: but we’re not asking you to

oikawa: we’re TELLING you

you’re close to both of them in a level that they’re like your brothers and they knew that

oikawa was really flattered when you mentioned that and he went on and on about how he’s gonna be the best fake brother you can look up to

iwa however ? nah fam he was silent

and (unfortunately for him) oikawa noticed

iwaizumi wasn’t sure why he felt a bit uncomfortable when you told them how you thought of them as family but all he knew was that he had the most bothered look when you said it

oikawa: omfg you’ve got a crush this is so exciting

iwaizumi: a what

it didn’t surprise him that much when his friend told him the possibility of crushing on you because to be honest? it was weird enough to not like you like that

it takes a while for him to get used to the idea but then it clicks and he realizes

all the times he’d take off his jacket in the freezing weather just to give to you

the days when you’d fall asleep on the corner of the gym so he can walk you home

even those annoying 3 am starbucks trip you’d never stop bugging him about until he agrees

now he’s irritated and flustered because all this time when he felt an overwhelming urge to punch the guy that’s been relentlessly hitting on you it was actually because of what he felt about you

oikawa: nope that one was definitely your anger management issues

at this point everyone in the team basically knows about how hard he’s pining even when he’s sure it’s not that obvious?

and it’s true !! he’s really fricken discrete with the entire thing that you feel like he’s physically repulsed by the idea

he had a sharp tongue and he certainly didn’t hold back on comments but whenever you wouldn’t notice, he’d have a soft gaze at you matched with a tiny light red dusting across his face

kunimi and kindaichi had to tell him that if he didn’t do anything about his feelings he’d risk the chance of seeing you date someone else and Boy ! he did Not like that

some guy trying to ask you out: h–hey

iwaizumi, staring them down as he stands next to you:

the guy trying to ask you out: bro nvm lol

you were sick of it !!!!!!!!! even your guy friends were starting to get too scared to be seen with you and you’re just like ?????????

you: stop making my friends too scared to talk to me

iwaizumi, irritated: you said you saw me as an older brother, this is what they do !!

you: when i said that i obviously meant it as a joke ?? brothers are cool not MEAN

iwaizumi: wait what

HE !!!!!! was ecstatic !!! but in his own iwa way so he had to play it cool !!!!

this was it !! he finally had the chance to shoot his shot !!!

so before his confidence could water down, he texted you immediately if you’d be cool with him driving you to school tomorrow

you: omg iwa never offers to do that, thank you sm body snatching alien <3

iwaizumi: due to personal reasons i will be passing away

he arrives at your house at 7 and he’s very nervous because even though he has a plan on what to do, it’s your reaction he didn’t know how to handle

once you got in his car, you were suspiciously quiet and the brim of your nose was oddly coated in a red hue

before he starts to drive, you stop him, a shy smile on your face, one that is easily out favored by your mischievous one

“let’s make a tiktok,” you tell him, and if it was any other time he’d 100% tell you no, but it was 7 in the morning and the sun had just come up and you looked so adorable he just couldn’t resist

he looks aside, softly muttering, “fine.”

you put your phone on the dashboard of his car, softly pressing play as the song started

iwa recognized this song, in fact, he loved this song

he didn’t know much about tiktok but he was very familiar with the ones that oikawa would send him at 4 am

and one of them happened to be this exact trend

his face flushes a dark red as he realizes what you’re about to do and you’ve got a silly grin on your face as you’re looking at him

you are out of my league

you laugh as you mouth it, pointing to him when you looked at the camera again

he playfully rolls his eyes, nudging you a bit to look at him

“you’re so stupid,” he tells you with a smile and you’re still laughing from the song

the rest of the song plays, and he’s got his eyes on you the whole time like !!!!!

you spend the rest of the morning repeating the song over and over again and it’s just you and iwa pointing at each other whenever that specific line comes up it’s 🥺

when you arrive at school, before you unbuckle your seatbelt, he takes your hand and pulls you close, giving you a quick peck on the forehead

you: does this mean you’d finally go with me to starbucks whenever

iwaizumi: no but that’s a nice try ❤️

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myfriendsarerealidiots · 4 years ago

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Comparing Adaptations

‘Kay so I went on one of my whims again and did something stupid. Couple weeks or so ago, I wasn’t really in the mood to watch anime so I opened up Netflix and watched a Cdrama that I wanted to watch for a while now.

That Cdrama was ‘The Untamed’ which, prior to me watching it and doing said whim, I thought was just your typical historic Cdrama. Oh boy I was wrong. As I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, “This show’s really selling itself off as BL.” Which, I found out after finishing it was because it is BL. Hah...and that was just the start of it.

As I was doing my ‘Post-show research,’ I found out that it was based of a novel, called ‘Mo Dao Zu Shi’or as translated by the people on the internet as ‘Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.’ Said novel had 2 more adaptations along with ‘The Untamed’ which were a manhua and a donghua. So me being me, I decided to watch the donghua adaptation and read both the og novel and manhua.

So how I went through this was...

The Untamed (2019)

The Donghua aka Anime I guess

The Manhua which I read while having class (such a responsible student aren’t I)

The original novel

All hail this person who has too much free time on her hands.

Anyways, as it says on the tin, I’ll be comparing the 4 adaptations/versions of the story and see what changes between them as well as the pros and cons. (Wow I sound so professional)

Some background of myself just to avoid confusion

I am not a mega hardcore Fujoshi. I don’t really enjoy reading smut, nor am I old enough to do so bear that in mind

I have 7 years worth of Chinese lessons under my belt which means I barely understand a thing and that I can get some of the jokes like how Wei Ying’s sword is called ‘Sui Bien’ and it’s funnier to hear in Chinese. In other words, compared to like actual Chinese people who live in China, I pretty much have the knowledge of a 10 year old.

The versions of the Manhua and Novel that I read were translated in English so somethings might have been lost in translation.

I have a bit of a goldfish brain so forgive me if I wrote something wrong or forgot the name of a certain character, most likely I will look it up to correct it but if I don’t...well sorry.

I am writing my opinions on each version as I finish them, so if they don’t link up to the original that’s the reasoning behind it.

All of these are my opinions and thoughts on the story. You are not entitled to follow them if you disagree. I personally believe that everyone has a voice of their own and they should use it. (Even though I don’t half of the time.)

Slight Spoiler Warning

I will be breaking down some of the scenes and characters for my comparisons so please keep that in mind.

The Untamed (2019)

As this was my first exposure to the story, I didn’t know what to expect. I loved everything about it except for the fact that literally half of the show was spent in the past, building context for what was happening in the present.

The characters were lovable and all had distict personalities, especially Wei Ying and Lan Zhan which I guess makes sense since they’re the main characters (their actors are also cute and have good chemistry.) Speaking of characters, Yanli has a more forward role in the story here compared to the other versions. The way certain characters were introduced was different too. Since it’s live action, it’s also harder to show things like extreme blushing and such so it makes Lan Zhan look very stoic and way more unexpressive here than in the other versions.

The soundtrack is nice to listen to, especially with the 2 mains singing the theme song together it’s so cute and gives it another meaning in itself. Although, I do wonder how that poor bamboo flute Wei Ying made in like 2 mins plays decent sounding music. Chen Qing(is this the name of it?), the flute he uses after his trip to the Burial Grounds has the same sound quality as that bamboo flute which is just, “how???”

They took out most of the extreme BL!!! I feel like that is the biggest difference between this version and all the rest. I know they did that to appeal to more people but it does remove some of the context to things. That doesn’t mean the moments that were kept in weren’t cute though. It did make the pair look more plantonic than romantic.

As for the story itself, as a story on its own, it’s nice, as an adaptation that’s where the line gets blurry but it leans more towards the good side. They did indeed change some things, made them work better with the medium than if they didn’t.

An example I can place is the mask. Where the other versions used white make up with oddly placed red circles around the eyes, this one used a mask instead. I agree with the choice they made, seeing as they removed the fact that Mo Xuanyu was homosexual and so the make up wouldn’t make sense. It also looks nicer than what I imagined what could’ve happened with they kept with the make up. They do make a reference to this in the show when Jin Ling and Wei Ying have a conversation in Carp Tower. “You’ve seen my face right?” “How do I know? Your face is always caked in make up or covered by that mask.”

Another issue I had which I’ll touch on later was the first episode—I had no idea what was going on for those 40 minutes of screentime.

Donghua

As of writing this post, season 3 of this has yet to come out.

My first reaction to this was “Man, the animation’s pretty, and they made Wei Ying look scarier.” Watching stuff at 12 in the morning isn’t the best thing but that’s what I do.

Anywho, this version made Wei Ying really attracted to going down the path of ‘evil’ compared to the other versions. I don’t really understand why they made this change...but they did so we have to deal with that. And his eyes glow red!! It makes him look scary and cool at the same time. I love it!!

The transitions between certain events were a bit weird to say the least. For example, at the end of episode 2/3 Wei Ying gets forcibly dragged into the Cloud Recesses and the episode ends there. By the next episode, we’re 16/23/13 however many years in the past. This makes it really confusing for someone who hasn’t watched or read any other version of the story. It definitely made me confused and I already finished one.

While ‘The Untamed’ told us everything in one long flashback, the donghua broke it up into small chunks placed whenever information was needed. I don’t think that was a good idea, but then I also think it was a better decision than what they did for the Cdrama. As I watched this adaptation, I found myself confused from time to time because what happened in the prior episode didn’t always match what happened in the current episode like I mentioned earlier.

As for the artstyle, personally, I think some of the characters look similar minus the hair. However, I do like the little ways they made Lan Zhan express his feelings towards Wei Ying.

Speaking of which, when I first saw them together in this version in the forest near the Goddess Temple, I had to do a bit of a double take because of the height difference which wasn’t so evident in ‘The Untamed’. I soon found out that Lan Zhan was taller than Wei Ying before and after he gets reincarnated(?) Prior, it was just a small gap of 2cm which later turned to 6cm after possessing Mo Xuanyu.

I didn’t notice their height gaps while watching ‘The Untamed’ because Wei Ying’s actor, Xiao Zhan, is taller than Lan Zhan’s actor, Wang Yi Bo by about 2 inches which is like 5 cm? and so they had to do some weird thing with platforms to make Xiao Zhan look shorter in comparison.

Soundtrack wise, I personally think that ‘The Untamed’ was better in that sense. Where it had an amazing souding flute, this one had minor earrape in a nutshell.

This version made itself, in my eyes look more like a historical fighting anime as opposed to the BL vibes I was getting from ‘The Untamed’ and the other versions. They added a lot of action scenes and made the mystery more interesting for me. Along with this, the overall look and feel of this made it seem like it came from a completely different source material.

Manhua

Small FYI, as of writing this post the Manhua is at 147 Chapters.

(I should’ve kept up the trend and got a screenshot from that scene in the Manhua but I didn’t so here we are with gay rabbits.)

As your local internet friend who reads more manga than normal books nowadays, I enjoyed reading the manhua and finished it in a couple days.

Compared to the first 2 versions here, these last 2 are both things that you have to read to get through, albeit one has pictures and one doesn’t.

While normally, one would read silently, I like listening to music while I do. And seeing as the OST of ‘The Untamed’ sounds really nice, I listened to it while reading both the manhua and novel when I could.

This one brought out the BL elements that were missing from the first 2. They gave Wei Ying and Lan Zhan a lot of kissing or just straight up affectionate scenes which I think ties in with the general theming of the original novel more.

As this one is probably the closest of the adaptations to the original, it’s the least confusing to read, although that might’ve been influenced by my experiencing the story for the third time at this point. I say that, however, there were many story elements that weren’t present in either one prior to this.

Examples this can be seen with their collecting of body parts that belonged to the former Nie Sect Leader. In ‘The Untamed’ they find the sword spirit which guides them through the rest of the story. In the Donghua adaptation, they get the arm, but also get the head of the the Jin with the hundred holes curse which was an original addition. Here, they get the arm from Mo Manor, find the other one then find the torso and so on before finding the head in Jin GuangYao’s possession.

The flashbacks in this version were also executed really well, in my opinion, as it doesn’t feel super confusing while reading it and it gives just enough information to help the events unfold. It also gives us a chance to see how much of an ass(sorry) Wei Ying was when he was the Yiling Patriach from his own perspective as well as give us a moment of WangXian in the middle of all that chaos.

Novel

Here’s a picture of gay rabbits for everyone.

At this point, I was switching between the novel and the Manhua to read whichever one I wanted at any given time which might have blurred my sense of what belonged in each one so I’ll try my best to make sure.

Since this one is the original source material, it was clear from the get go that this will be the one with the least confusing version of events and the most amount of detail.

I was surprised on how close the manhua and ‘The Untamed’ was to the novel. Although, the former condensed the mystery to fit within the timeframe while the latter hasn’t finished just yet.

Personally, I like this author, and will probably read more of her works further down the line. Even though the version I read was in english, I still could feel the meaning behind certain aspects which I think shows her skill as an author.

The novel clearly shows the mischief that goes through Wei Ying’s head and their gradual (I say gradual but I think Lan Zhan just snapped) change of attitudes towards each other.

Arc One- Mo Manor

Past here I’ll break down the first arc of each one because I think all of them did it in relatively different ways. Be warned for spoilers if you haven’t watched or read all of them.

The Untamed (2019)

Out of all of these versions, this one definitely had me scratching my head in confusion the most even after watching it a second time once I finished the entire show.

As the only version that had the curse issued at the start as a moving factor of the story as well as the Yin Iron which was specifically made for this version, it didn’t explain enough at the start.

There were many things I could say were wrong about this beginning, from starting at a flashback to not properly introducing us to our characters but the biggest problem in my mind was the lack of explanation at the present.

Like I mentioned, starting at a flashback is a terrible idea as it gives the viewer high expectations only for it to be crushed the second it ends. Here, it shows a small portion of the battle at the Nightless City without much context then it quickly changes to 16 years later with a seemingly random group of people.

Another issue is the amount of useless characters who were introduced. In the other versions, there were only 2 Lan disciples who were given names and were introduced properly while here there were more than I want to count. Add to that the one telling stories about the YiLing Patriarch and the weird guy walking around with a flag, and you got yourself total confusion.

Donghua

This one was slightly less confusing to watch. As it starts with a clip of Wei Ying commanding corpses which matches the overall feel of the donghua. The rumors that he died stretched over the time skip and we meet this version of Mo Xuanyu who is caked with make up, whether or not he was a cut-sleeve (gay) in this version, I forgot.

It fully explains the curse and instead of having a couple of Lan disciples just standing there watching, we get to focus on the 2 important ones, Lan Sizhui and Lan JiYing. It gives us a slightly deeper insight into Wei Ying’s mind, as he states ‘you got the wrong one,’ just after being reincarnated, indicating that he isn’t as vicious as painted by the first few minutes of the show. Like the other versions, they also show how he considers the cons of using his demonic abilities and that Sizhui would probably tell on him to Lan Zhan, meaning that Sizhui was a keen, observant young man.

Manhua and the Novel

As for the introductions, these two were very similar. Both have the rumors of the Yiling Patriarch across the screen as we get further down the story and meet our main character.

It gets the details from the Donghua adaptation and mixes it with more information to create a more detailed account of what was happening, also making this Wei Ying seem smarter compared to his counterparts in other versions. He also hesitates more on showing his abilities, knowing that he’s going to be caught if he does.

Final Thoughts

As of writing this, I’m only halfway through the novel but it covers the portion until where the manhua is currently at. I would finish reading it before posting this but it would take too long and probably make this post even longer than it currently is, which isn’t such a good idea. If I had much more patience and effort I would really like to break down each arc and their differences from one another but I can’t be bothered right now. (Sorry)

I can safely say that in terms of adaptations, ‘The Untamed’ is relatively close to the novel, albeit a very condensed version. As flashback filled as it is, it wasn’t very confusing to watch past the first two episodes.

The Donghua adaptation takes several liberties, going more of an action oriented route instead of the calmer more, I wouldn’t say love but character oriented novel.

The manhua is definitely the closest to the novel, so if you really don’t want to read a lot of words, and I mean a lot of words, then go ahead and read it.

What else do I have to say...if you’re new to the story, welcome, if you’re a veteran who’s been here longer than me, sorry for taking up space on your feed. And congrats for making it to the end.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #manhua #donghua #cdrama #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #fujoshi #comparisons #mdzs #wangxian #yiling patriarch #yiling lao zu #hanguang jun

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theseuss-ship · 5 years ago

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Heaven

Homecoming is this weekend. The losers were planning on going in a group. But they still wanted dates. Ben asked Beverly a while back. He was scared that someone else would ask her before he could.

Stan and Bill were going with each other. They were quietly dating. As if, you weren’t sure if they were dating but they had announced their relationship.

Eddie’s mom would murder him if he had a date, so he didn’t bother. But Richie wanted to bother. He just didn’t know how.

Richie and Eddie have been hanging out a lot recently. Richie’s parents were never home, so he always asked Eddie to come over. He loved Eddie’s company. He couldn’t stand being alone and Eddie made it a lot easier.

One night at Richie’s house, Eddie came in looking very pissed off. “God, my mom is such a total pain in the ass. I can’t stand it anymore.” Eddie ranted. He sat on Richie’s bed, still rambling.

Richie was staring at Eddie. He didn’t want to stay inside tonight. And some walking would probably good for Eddie. “Let’s go somewhere.” Richie says.

“What? Are you even listening?” Eddie asks.

No. Richie gets up from his position on the bed and reaches his hand out to Eddie. “Yes. But I think a walk on a night like this would be good. C’mon I know a place.”

Eddie blinks. “Richie, I swear to god if you try to murder me-” Richie laughs heartily at him.

“Calm down. It’s just boring in here!” Richie waggles his hand.

“Fine,” Eddie grabs Richie’s hand. “But I don’t want to be out long. It’s cold.”

Richie picks up two jackets off his floor. He gives the comfier one to Eddie. “Now you have nothing to bitch about.” Richie sticks his tongue out.

Eddie follows his best friend to a small playground. It looks as if it hasn’t been used in a while. Like it was a hot spot for young kids long ago, but it lost its charm. Eddie smiles. “I should’ve known you would take me to a playground.”

Richie chuckles. “I like coming here to distract myself.” He sits on an old swing.

“Is this sanitary?” Eddie inspects the swings. They’re rusted and used. The chains creak with a slight push.

“I’m still alive so, yes.” Richie says sarcastically. “Just sit. You’ll be fine.” He pats the swing next to him.

Eddie sits down on the seat. There’s a breeze that makes him shiver. Involuntarily, Eddie huddles into Richie’s huge jacket. He has one foot on the ground and is swaying more than swinging. Richie clears his throat to catch Eddie’s gaze.

“So,” Richie starts. “I was thinking about homecoming. It’s coming up soon.” Richie is clearly nervous. His attention on the dirt beneath him. “And I know we both don’t have like, dates. So, ha, can I take you to homecoming? As your date. As a date. Yeah.” Richie doesn’t dare look up at Eddie.

But Eddie didn’t dare take his eyes off of Richie. “Richie,” Eddie’s voice was barely audible. “I’d really like to go to homecoming with your dumbass.”

Richie looks up at Eddie. “Wait really? You don’t think it’s weird? Because like..” Richie gestures between Eddie and himself.

"If I didn't feel like it was okay, I wouldn't say yes. I want to go with you, Rich." Eddie smiles warmly at Richie. And Richie feels like he's melting.

"Wow. This is not what I expected." Richie sucks on his teeth. "Well, okay maybe I was prepared for a yes. Would you want to come hang out at my place after homecoming? Just to chill. Because I always feel so crowded during homecoming. No time or space to connect or bond."

Eddie leans back in the swing to think. "Ma would never let me." He sighs.

"Spaghetti, just tell her homecoming ends at 12." Richie says.

Yeah.

"Alright. Bet." Eddie says. He laughs at his own response.

It's the night of homecoming. Richie and Eddie are so excited. Eddie has prepared for everything. He can not leave anything behind that he may need in an event like this. The germs.

There's just one thing that Eddie shoved to the back of his mind. That fucking slow dance. He knows it's going to happen. So what's he going to do with Richie?

Eddie knows what he wants. Richie owes him that dance. But he's terrified of people seeing. He doesn't want to be labeled as a "fag" again. It was just dying down.

Eddie was dressed up in his very special Sunday clothes. It was a salmon tuxedo with a red bowtie. His mother was fawning over how cute he is and taking more pictures than a child could count.

Eddie's mom was touching his face and making sure he looked perfect. According to Richie, he always did. Eddie swatted her hands away. "Mommy, I'm going to be late. Let's go."

"Alright. But just a few more pictures." She snapped some more and Eddie tried not to scream at her. She grabbed the keys and left for the dance.

When they arrived, Eddie's mom kept asking him if he had all of his meds. He didn't know how many times she asked the question. "Okay so pick up at 12?" She asked.

"Yes. But I could maybe get a ride home with Stanley. That way you don't have to drive out." Eddie said.

Sonia frowned at this. "Okay. Make sure to be safe and have fun. Don't touch anyone. And no romance." She warned.

"Bye, mommy! I love you." Eddie leaned over to give her a kiss and then got out of the car. Eddie had texted Richie to meet him in the lobby. He took a deep breath and went through the venue's entrance.

There he was. Looking around nervously for his date. For once, Richie's hair doesn't look like a rat's shit house. It's still curly, but a comb has run through it. He looks oddly nice. His tuxedo isn't buttoned at all. His tie hangs around his neck, untied. The tuxedo itself is slightly wrinkled. The black tuxedo obviously hasn't been used in quite a while.

Eddie almost couldn't stand looking at him. He couldn't believe that this was his date. He loved it.

Richie caught sight of Eddie and raced up to him. "M'lady." He said. Richie extended his arm to Eddie. Eddie wrapped his arm in Richie's and pushed up the oversized glasses Richie wore.

"I hate you." Is the only thing Eddie could say.

They dropped arms once they went into the main event area. The music was loud. You could already smell the body odor and perfume mixing in the air. The crowd by the speakers was humongous.

Right away, they spotted the losers in the area towards the seats. "Look at these babes! Wow! So you can look attractive, Richie." Bev exclaims.

Richie laughs at her. "I'm sorry if I embarrass you because my looks are superior."

"Shut up, Tozier." Eddie says.

The night goes on. Random pop songs from the radio come on. The losers are dancing along with some of the songs. Mike surprises the group with some moves he had up his sleeve. Everything is perfect. Richie and Eddie keep sharing longing glances at each other throughout the night.

Then, the dreadful part came around. A slow song that's probably trending on the radio. Immediately, the air in the room changed. Couples got together to dance. Ben and Beverly paired up to dance. Bill and Stan even paired. But then there was Richie and Eddie.

They made direct eye contact with each other. Both of the boys visibly froze up. Richie is the first one to do anything. He comes in close to Eddie's ear. "I'm sorry, Eds." Richie whispered. That's how Eddie knew Richie shared the same fears he had. They were too scared of what others would say if they had been spotted.

Richie gestured over to the chairs so they wouldn't have to stand awkwardly. Eddie followed him to the area. When they sat down, Eddie felt okay. He wasn't upset. He knew it was going to happen. "It's okay, Richie." Eddie said. He gave a genuine smile to Richie.

Richie let out a breath he wasn't holding in. He leaned back to get more comfortable in the small chair.

The homecoming dance ended. The losers were saying their goodbyes to each other. They all had such a fun time. They didn't say much because they were tired and probably just going to talk over group chat.

Richie's house was close enough from the venue to walk. Along the way, Richie and Eddie had their usual mindless conversations. They got to Richie's house and made home in his bed. “Was it just me or was the music terrible?” Richie says. He turns on his speakers.

Eddie chuckles. "It was really bad. Like really fucking bad." Eddie lies down on Richie's bed. He felt like his ears were ringing. The music was so loud and it shook his whole body.

“Good. Because my music taste is way better.” Richie smirks. He turns on a playlist he made in Spotify. He titled it “vibe check!” The first song to come on is Let It Happen by Tame Impala.

Richie sits on the bed next to Eddie. Eddie stares up at the ceiling, letting the song go through him. He finds himself humming along to the song.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight.” Richie murmurs. Eddie almost doesn’t notice Richie’s words.

“It was fun.” Eddie says back. The atmosphere was weird. There was a strange silence between the boys. The music provided a weird background for them to rest. Yet, they were both comfortable.

The song changes. The Night We Met by Lord Huron sounds through the speakers. Eddie feels the bed shift next to him. Richie’s footsteps were soft. Eddie sits up.

Like the night Richie had taken Eddie to the playground, Richie had his arm extended with his hand open to Eddie. “This is a dancing song. Don’t you think?” Richie says.

Eddie smiled. “I’m going to check that out.” He places his hand in Richie’s. Richie helps pull Eddie from the bed.

They had no clue how to actually dance. Their hands were placed weirdly on each other’s sides. Eddie moved his hand that was not captured by Richie’s to his shoulder. Richie shifted his hand on Eddie’s waist to a better position.

Richie rested his forehead against Eddie’s and shut his eyes. He couldn’t help himself from smiling. Eddie looks at Richie’s face. It was unbelievably close. They shared breaths. Eddie found himself wanting to be even closer. Every nerve in his body was on fire. Is this safe? Should I be feeling like this? Eddie thought. But he didn’t care.

Without even thinking about it, he met Richie’s chapped lips. Eddie had never been so aware, yet lost all in one moment. But it was a good lost. Like his mind was gone and he was content with it.

Eddie took in every detail. The way Richie was so apprehensive until he was sure Eddie did want it. It was a first kiss for both of them. It felt much better than in daydreams. It felt real.

Eddie felt his stomach twist and form into a pit. If you had asked Eddie what that pit was, he would surely say appendicitis. However, it was clearly love.

Richie pulled away and stared at Eddie. “You’re better at kissing than your mom.” Richie jokes.

“I literally hate you.” Eddie laughs. They’re still holding each other and dancing. Eddie didn’t want to let go.

“I know.” Richie says. His smile was big. Richie felt like this was heaven. He had no other explanation for it.

So the both of them decided that it was heaven. Their dance would forever be the heaven that only the two of them would share. A wordless love.

#please go easy on me i am babey #i dont write very often #reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #it richie #it eddie #it2017 #it2019 #it2movie #it chapter two #reddie fanfic #it au #finn wolfhard #jack grazer #bill hader #james ransone #fluff

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imagine-a-killingharmony · 6 years ago

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Opposite Talent S/O! (V3 Boys)

I just had another random thought. How would the v3 boys be with a fem s/o that has the opposite talent of them. ( example shuichi with ultimate criminal. Or gonta with a s/o that is a exterminator *poor gonta*) might have to do this myself aswell. Please and thank you.

Thinking of... opposite talents took a while, especially for Kiibo, let me tell you I tried to not sound robophobic I swear... but there’s not a way to make most of these completely opposite so I just did my best ideas I had...

Actually... how do you get the opposite of an Astronaut? Or Antropologist? What I did? Well ehe... I literally gave Kaito a underground (opposite of up up above) S/O while making Korekiyo’s S/O study future trends, considering he studies culture.

(Gives each talent an opposite personality straight in return, oh shucks.)

Kiibo (Ultimate Lucky Student)

Your talent? Easy. You had nothing about you that had been interesting at all, you had gained an letter nothing more... such an average person like you had somehow gained the heart of the most abnormal student in your class somehow... “The Ultimate Robot”.

It was... weird, you both hadn’t any “real” talents to discuss anything over, yet he stood above you because of how he was born, while you only gained an advantage recently because... because of pure luck...

Kiibo was... gentle though, even if you were untalented, he had no restounsing features besides the ones built into him, so it was almost impossible to feel beneath him, it helped that Kiibo was a sweetheart who was new to romance just like you...

You made a perfect couple despite that one difference between the two of you, talking about whatever came to mind, no need to worry about who you were or what you currently are...

Kiibo especially enjoyed not feeling rushed with your relationship, despite Kaede’s optimism, Shuichi’s empathy towards him, Miu’s close bond with him with sharing such a closeness to him talent-wise...

He chose you, he admits it proudly that he’d do it a million times over again.

Shuichi Saihara (Ultimate Escape Artist)

Your talent? Heh! Ultimate Escape Artist, you’ve broken out of many sticky situations, picked many locks, it’s impossible to catch you since you’ve currently been on the run your entire life, until Hope’s Peak accepted you... so you didn’t have to stay in jail, somehow you gained the eye of what should be your rival: “The Ultimate Detective”.

You picked your way into his heart, Shuichi couldn’t help it he had fallen in love with you despite how... your title caused such a... crack in most of his beliefs.

Of course... don’t think he’s letting you go free, whenever he catches you do something bad, which is a lot he stops you almost immediately after a second of hestitation.

It’s terrible, you’ve been on a losing streak ever since dating him, he’s always so kind of you when you act all nice and good but whenever you do “one” bad thing he’s all up on your case telling you to try to not do it again...!

Guess his sense of righteousness triumphs over your love, but he always reminds you that he’ll visit you each day after your academy days are over in your jail-cell till the day of your release, that he’ll catch criminals that make you look like a knock-off!

How romantic~...!

Ryoma Hoshi (Ultimate Student Counsil President)

Your the Ultimate Student Counsil President, it’s your duty to keep the school in tip-top shape ever since joining and you’ve done it with passion and vigor! It’s uh- too bad the “Ultimate Tennis Player” refused to join, so you... got close to him in attempt to instill moral justice...

You both fell in love, your talents aren’t anything close to eachother, quite the opposite really considering you place justice and studies above all else while he’s... been arrested, using his brawn.

He tells you he doesn’t deserve you, especially with how enthuastic you are about bringing the class together, a guy like him wants nothing to do with most people, you being an special... exception... who’d refuses to leave...

So... you bring him closer with the rest of your classmates much to his dismay, he doesn’t like it but you force him to get along with everybody so you can have what should be the best damn year of your lives... You even make sure he keeps up on his studies, it’s a real hassle having someone so organized take up on your life.

... he won’t admit it, but he appreciates it.

Kaito Momota (Ultimate Miner)

As the Ultimate Miner you dig deep underground, all there is to it you really don’t care about your talent. It’s tiresome as it is but somehow the “Ultimate Astronaut” thought it be a good idea to boast to you about his talent to you, “both of you were explorerers of different frontiers!”

Yeah right. He got too close, it was stupid. You somehow fell for an idiot who say’d he travel new brand new heights, including you.

He doesn’t know anything about being a miner but it’s not like you ever get to gaze at the stars often yourself, so he usually tells you about how “amazing” it is, thousands of glittering speckles up in the sky that one day he’ll be able to cup thousands of those stars in his fuckin’ fist.

You used to think it was stupid, yet looking at the passion in his eyes, brighter- more beautiful than striking gold...

It paces in your chest, what should be a charred-black coal heart.

Rantaro Amami (Ultimate NEET)

As the Ultimate NEET you’ve... gained your talent from Hope’s Peak really wanting to complete it’s set of Ultimate’s, you hated it too considering your parental figure made you go but you never hated anything more than a blasted “Ultimate” who didn’t remember his own talent who insisted you become his buddy and open up.

As if, until he actually, made you open up, fuck- why did he have to be so suave and cool- wahhh- as Tsumugi would say- damned normie step on a landmind and die!!

You hated it, but he would bring you out daily to make sure you had gotten exercise, even tried to make it so you ate better for your own sake as chips and soda aren’t proper nutrients to substain living.

Going on the longest hikes, the longest boat rides which had you walk around so much as he complimented you for doing your best in the end of it all... it was terrible! Awful even...

So why do you keep doing it...? God knows, but whenever Rantaro smiles at you your heart flutters so... fuck he’s used his playboy magic on your heart!

Gonta Gokuhara (Ultimate Exterminator)

Your the Ultimate Exterminator... you live a fucking lie now, you met the Ultimate “Entomologist” who literally asked if you liked bugs the first time meeting him, you were about to answer but then before you could answer he said he “dislikes bug-haters!” with the most horrifying expression you’ve ever seen... so to keep your kneecaps you lied...

To your now-boyfriend who still doesn’t know the absolute truth, so now you live each day in paranoia at your title- and Kokichi-fucking-Ouma snapping and telling him the truth.

Gonta loves bug- you hate them with a burning passion, that’s the whole reason you got the job, most of them crawl on your skin and- it’s disgusting- but he loves them so you go along with him...!

Gonta is... kind... you don’t want to lose that, not ever, not now, not anytime... but your bound to when he figures it out... so you just try your best to find the perfect time to unveil the news...

Especially with the fact you unconsciously stepped on a few bug-friends he had in his lab, which made you grimace.

Kokichi Ouma (Ultimate Friend)

Your the Ultimate Friend! Ah but you could use the word buddy or pal or chum too, whatever works, you’ve made a whole bunch of friends with your entire school and have gained a weird fan base but all of you are equal, “The Ultimate Supreme Leader” calls you the most gullible thing he’s ever laid his eyes on...

Whatever that means, heehee... he asked you out and your dating now, for some odd odd reason he’s asking for tips on how to easily gain the trust of others which you don’t get... like at all?

But he said in return he teach you how to lie... but you don’t wanna lie, but you didn’t want to hurt his feelings either so you said okay! All you told him was you just be super duper nice to them... promise your loyalty for ever! Like... BFFS!!!

Kokichi squinted at you after you said that, you still don’t understand why he asked you out of all people but... he just tsked as he put on that super-cool cape of his that he kept lying around.

“... It’s fine, I’ll just control your already growing fan base behind the scenes sweetie, mwah.” Kokichi presses a light peck against your cheek, you embrace him tightly and lovingly in return.

Korekiyo Shinguuji (Ultimate Trendsetter)

As the Ultimate Trendsetter it was a basic goal to spread the word upon the newest dads and trends, but there was a certain somebody not quite getting the memo... a “Ultimate Anthropologist” who wore an mysteries mask yet... oddly old clothes...

He needed a gentle push in the right direction! Despite how he told you how his attire was quite “fine” you told him that couldn’t be the case, darling- weird mysterious vibes are sooo last month!

With you by his side he was sure to rock this entire school to it’s core! (He doesn’t want to do that S/O.) it’ll be a guarantee everyone will have his eyes locked on him! (S/O please.)

It’s quite difficult to pay attention to the folklore stories that he tells you but it gives you ideas for the newest fads that might be coming along, kimonos were quite cute- shit let’s bring those back in town-!

Korekiyo... always wondered if sister would find your behavior to be... model or just... unacceptable, he’ll need to pay her a call soon...

#mod shuichi #mod shumai #ndrv3 imagines #ndrv3 x reader #kokichi ouma #shuichi saihara #rantaro amami #ryoma hoshi #kaito momota #kiibo #korekiyo shinguuji #gonta gokuhara

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heymusings · 6 years ago

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Things I loved in individual Marvel Movies (FYI...there’s a lot)

Iron Man

The epitome of showing character development within the time frame of a single film through Tony Stark.

Pepper Potts pretty much being Tony’s baby sitter.

Soundtrack

A man who has everything and nothing.

It’s literally just a well balanced action movie.

The fact that is was mostly just RDJ improvising and the other actors having to work with it.

Tony realizing he is part of the problem and finds his purpose in trying to fix those problems, and by doing so working to become a better person.

The fact that Tony is still not a fully realized “hero” at the end of this film-- he still has some quirks to work through and is a little too arrogant. But this really sets up for even more amazing character development in the next films.

It is a movie of its time-- terrorism and greedy businessmen as the villains.

The fact that Tony and Pepper are not a couple by the end, even when I ship them.

“I am Iron Man” The instant new trend of not hiding their identity.

Tony: Throw in a little hot rod red. Jarvis: Yes, that will help you keep a low profile.

Pepper buying herself a birthday present from Tony.

Tony seeing her in the dress.

Pepper “taking out the garbage”-- burn

Tony’s suite tests and Dummy trying to put out a fire.

Tony making the first suite in the cave-- i love that montage

Stane’s moment in realizing how the suite worked-- it’s such a silent but great moment

“Don’t waste your life.”

The acting that takes place in the moment Stane takes the reactor out of Tony’s chest is amazing-- RDJ doesn’t even say anything.

Pepper getting the thumb drive out of the office-- and having the forethought to have Coulson follow her-- Coulson just sitting there waiting (it was oddly funny to me).

The eventual use of the SHIELD acronym

Proof that Tony Stark has a heart.

I don’t have anyone but you.

Iron Man 2

Tony and Pepper kissing for the first time....admittedly the first two films came out at a time when the thing I mostly cared about was shipping.

Soundtrack

Stark clearly still developing as a person and superhero...I love me some character development.

Stark refusing to give the suite

“If your priority was to actually to...”-- Tony questioning governmental control

“I am Iron Man. The suite and I are one. To turn it over will be to turn over myself which would be tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution...”

The Iron Man suit as a “shield”--- interesting.

I love watching Tony in his workshop.

Dummy.

Pepper taking charge several times throughout.

Natasha totally taking out Happy when he assumes she can’t.

Pepper actually coming to like Natasha as her assistant.

Tony dealing with his mortality

Tony: Were you aiming for him or me...I can’t tell!

Happy just ramming into Whiplash with the car over and over again.

I told you I don’t want to be part of your super secret boy band.

Fury and Tony talking about Howard Stark and how he was one of the founding members of shield.

Shout out to the tessaract.

Phil: I will taze you and watch super nanny as your drool into the carpet. Got it?

The ex wife.

Tony: Hammer tech? Rhodey: Yea.

Two seals fighting over a grape.

Phil leaving to go to New Mexico-- Thor shout out.

“Nice work kid.”

Pepper!!!

War machine and Iron Man working together to beat the iron suites-- I am partial to the shots of them in the Park area

Natasha beating the shit out of all the guys as she makes her way down the hallway...doing so very nonchalantly-- while happy takes on one guy.

Tony: You have a big gun but you’re not the big gun.

Hammer’s shock that Pepper is having him arrested while Pepper just glares at him totally unafraid of him.

Captain America shout out.

Pepper and Tony kiss.

I was here first, get a roof.

Tony: Text book narcissism?....agreed.

Getting the guy who hated Stark to present the award at the end.

“Funny, how annoying a little prick can be.”

Iron Man 3

Tony interacting with Harley

The question if Iron Man is the suite or the man-- Tony clearly needing to come to terms with the question if his heroism comes from the man or the suite-- and has to do so by accepting his weaknesses.

Tony proving he can still be a hero without the suite. He is a mechanic-- him infiltrating the mandarin mansion without the suite and just a bunch of every day items is amazing. This film just reminds us that his bad-assery comes from his mind. It is honestly just one of the best Stark moments all around.

Continuity in how Tony is affected by what happens to him.

Pepper coming to the rescue.

The fact that Tony went back for Dummy after his home was attacked.

In the end Tony is sure that even without the suite he is still Iron Man-- You can take away my tricks and toys, but the one thing you can’t take away...I am Iron Man.

The Dora Explorer watch

Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird.

Captain America

Agent Carter totally beating the men into place and Steve clearly loving it.

Bucky: Weren’t you smaller?... What happened to you? Steve: I joined the army. Bucky: Did it hurt...is it permanent? Steve: A little...so far.

The introduction of the heart of the character-- good man vs perfect soldier

He’s artistic-- this really says something about his character.

The flag bit will not make me laugh.

Peggy Carter...enough said...literally...everything about her.

Steve using the garbage lid as a shield-- I just like the foreshadowing... someone get that man a shield.

I can do this all day-- even when he is tiny and doesn’t stand a chance he doesn’t back down against a bully knowing he won’t win (but he still called out the bully)

Knowing Peggy touching Steve’s chest was technically an honest reaction by the actress-- she was literally so shocked by seeing him without a shirt for the first time.

The fact that I can say, “aw look how cute and little they are,” about both Bucky and Steve.

Steve jumping on the grenade...is this a test?

He’s still skinny.

“You have no idea how to talk to a woman do you.”

“Waiting for the right partner.”

“How do you feel?” “Taller.”

“I could do this all day.”

Peggy making a kill shot on a man that is in a car and at quite a distance.

Peggy non nonchalantly shooting at Steve to test shield, but mostly out of jealousy...and Steve looking ready to pee himself.

Kid: go get him, I can swim.

The extreme differences in the reactions to the “performance” in the cities compared to the camps.

I really like the leather jacket.

“Where I am going if anyone yells at me I can shoot them” “Undoubtedly they will be shooting back.”

Fondue

Peggy: You can’t give me orders. Steve: The hell I can’t, I am a Captain.

Steve: You sure this thing works? Howard: It’s been tested more than you, pal.

Do you know what you’re doing? Steve: Yeah, I knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times.

Until the end of the line.

Bucky: You don’t have one of those do you?

Bucky refusing to leave Steve behind.

Cap and Bucky leading the rescued men back to camp.

I couldn’t call my ride.

Bucky: That little guy from Brooklyn that was too dumb to run away from a fight, I am following him.

Bucky: I am visible, I am turning into you. This is a horrible dream. Steve: Don’t take it so hard. Maybe she has a friend.

Bucky’s face of pure confusion after realizing Peggy wasn’t going to give him the time of day.

The subtle development of the friendship between Howard and Steve.

Bucky’s sniper skills.

Bucky: Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island? Steve: Yeah, and I threw up. Bucky: This isn’t payback is it?

Bucky: I had him on the ropes. Steve: I know you did.

Any time Bucky and Steve work together-- it just comes off very natural.

Bucky wielding, if only for a moment, the Captain America Shield.

Peggy and Steve’s kiss

I am not kissing ya.

Steve’s sacrifice.

Steve being able to think coherently enough to recognize that something is wrong when he wakes up by realizing the baseball game is too old.

The shot of Steve on a modern New York City.

“I had a date.”

Captain America Winter Soldier

The opening running scene (rather than something more actionesque-- and the banter that builds as Steve continuously passes Sam... this also really sets up the fact that this is a film that concentrates almost solely on characters (despite having great action sequences).

On your left....two passes later...Don’t say it.

Steve’s speech over the intercom, “...It’s a price I’m willing to pay. I may be the only one...but I am willing to bet I am not.”

Steve in glasses.

The Winter Solider-- his knife skills....the clear progression throughout the film as he becomes more and more conflicted.

“I am 95, I am not dead.”--- I need more information about this line.

“Does anyone want to get off?”

Natasha and Steve as a team-- Steve becoming more trusting of her

The fact that of any movie he could have watched after waking up Steve watched “Saw”

Steve/WS hand to hand battle

“This isn’t freedom; this is fear.” (Steve seeing Shield as a bully...he doesn’t like bullies)

Steve’s progressive realization that the power of the individual to make choices is more important than orders from an entity that may have ulterior motives.

Falcon/Sam treating Steve like a regular guy and just developing a loyal friendship that I appreciate.

WS catching Steve’s shield with one arm.

Until the end of the line.

Bucky/WS’s murder walk.

Nat: Where did Captain America learn to steal a car? Steve: Nazi Germany, and we’re borrowing, take your feet off the dash.

It’s really not your style Rogers. Steve: You’re right, it’s not, it’s hers (then commence Nat still trying to find Steve a date).

Captain America Civil War

Bucky noticeably uncomfortable when he first hears the sirens, then his relief when they pass him and the immediate return to being on edge when he notices the man looking at him from across the street.

So many reminders that Bucky’s nature is not toward violence.

Steve confronting Bucky in his apartment only for Bucky to run, trying so hard to avoid a fight...but the fight that happens I love, especially in the stairwell.

Bucky going after the reactor of the Iron Man suite-- noticeably not going for killing blows during the final fight and despite Tony full out trying to kill him.

How tired and sad Bucky sounds when he tells Cap, “It always ends in a fight

Wanda: You guys know I can move things with my mind right.

Wanda: You were pulling your punches.

Steve’s talk with Wanda about doing and saving who you can and that it doesn’t always mean everyone.

Tony managing to disarm the greatest assassin with nothing but a gauntlet while wearing a three piece suite.

Steve’s clear conflict regarding his friendship with Tony and willingness to forgive him at the end.

Wanda’s relationship with both Clint and Steve... I wanted more of this.

Steve understanding the dangers of the accords more than Tony (based on experience)-- and the importance of his message, “you can’t save everyone,” but you can save the majority.

I admit...this movie got me so worked up about how Tony wants so much to start pushing away the blame for even one lost life that he becomes so willing to place all the responsibility on a governmental power rather than the individual (as Steve believes) even at the cost of putting targets on the back of his friends/allies. I will never not be shocked at his shock when he talks of Wanda as a weapon or his shock when they put them all in prison. But I also love that I got so worked up about this-- it makes for a great watch.

“No you move.”

Bucky and the motorcycle-- wow, that was not only cool...but it was really, REALLY hot.

I can’t control their fear-- only my own.

I retire for like what five minutes and it all goes to shit.

You want to mope go to high school. You want to make amends, you get off your ass.

I can’t, but she can.

You locked me in my room.

Bucky being totally done with all the weird stuff going on around him.

“I can do this all day.”

Geez, Tony. How old is this guy.

Bucky moving in front of Sam to protect him from Spiderman.

You couldn’t have done that earlier? (I hate you.)

Can you move your seat up. (No).

“You don’t deserve it-- My father made that shield”-- he sounds like a child trying to defend himself and his actions. Steve dropping the shield and taking Bucky is pretty much him winning the fight-- taking the higher ground-- good man vs. good soldier being reiterated here. The shield doesn’t take away from Cap’s strength at all-- what made him a hero is his heart, the fact that he is a good man and he doesn’t need the shield. This is something that Tony is still learning and coming to terms with in his developmental arc.

This is the first time that we see Tony truly angry during his first with Steve-- he is being driven by his instincts to get revenge at that moment-- he is devastating but it takes away from one of his strengths-- thinking things out.

Tony is in the wrong regarding his trying to kill Bucky, he even practically admits it when Steve attempts to get him to see reason, “I don’t care, he killed my mom.” Tony is in the wrong and yet Steve still understands Tony’s feelings, yet he can’t let Bucky die even from someone he calls a friend-- this just makes for good emotionally intense conflict that is matched by the actual physical conflict.

Steve: He’s my friend. Tony: So was I-- this line literally emotionally devastates both characters.

Steve: I can do this all day. (Cap refusing to back down to protect his friend).

Tony losing because of one moment Bucky helps Steve simply by providing a seconds distraction.

Natasha being there for Steve at Peggy’s funeral

Tony trying to appeal to Steve’s past in order to get him to sign the accords using pens from Howard (one for each of them) and Steve’s response, “Some would say it bought us closer to war.” What a way to immediately set up where these two stand.

The idea that there are two sides to “right”-- Steve concentrating on moral and Tony being a realist... it really calls in to question which side you agree with most, and I love that.

Steve: If I see a situation going south I can’t ignore it. I wish I could. Tony: No you don’t. Steve: You’re right, I don’t.

Tony clearly trying to use the accords as an excuse to help him stop because he keeps finding excuses to not stop even when he wants to for Pepper

Did you know?-- the fact that it finally is made clear that Steve is not perfect and is willing to lie. He has reasons, but I think it is great to realize the contrast between the legend of perfect Captain America and Steve Rogers.

Steve realizing that the accords are similar to what Shield was doing in trying to deter war using fear/threats/control before it happened (which never works)-- Steve’s, “She’s a kid!” vs Tony’s, “She’s not a U.S. citizen and they don’t grant visas to weapons of mass destruction!” is really Steve’s break away from any possibility of him signing the accords.

Tony’s greatest fear of being alone coming to pass as he is left at Avengers headquarters alone.

Steve: Where you from kid? Peter: Queens. Steve: Brooklyn

Tony never really seems to truly agree with the accords (not only does he also break them) on a moral level and he seems haunted by it throughout the film, while Steve is made stronger by his decision because he is sure of his position

Tony: I am trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart. Steve: You did that when you signed-- how upset Tony is vs. how calm and matter of fact Steve is (who is surer of themselves?)

Thor

Frigga and Loki’s relationship

Darcy... she needs to be around more in the other movies.

Not that it’s a favorite thing, but I am honestly always confused how Thor is so hero worshiped when he’s kind of a dick at the beginning, and then when Loki starts doing similar things that Thor did he’s the bad guy (not saying he should have done them...but double standards and hypocrisy abound in this movie). The more you watch the more you realize that everyone treats Loki like crap... like wow, they were all lucky Loki loved Thor and his family or he would have done something much sooner.

Loki’s manipulations.

Sif: I did. Thor: True, but I supported you.

“ What happened, silver tongue turned to lead?”

Loki’s entire storyline.

Sif.

Loki using magic and daggers-- his fighting style is so interesting, wish we saw more of it.

“Go home little princess.” “Damn”

Loki being touched by the frost giant.

Loki more actively protecting the warriors three and Sif on Johtunheim than Thor.

Loki’s face while listening to the argument between Odin and Thor.

Darcy: Does he need CPR, because I totally know CPR.

Darcy: Yeah, we can tell you’re hammered, it's pretty obvious.

Jane: I grazed him, but she tasered him. Darcy: Yes, I did.

The number of times Jane hits Thor with a car.

Loki’s confrontation with Odin and the pure emotion that Hiddleston portrays in that moment.

Thor’s new found love of pop tarts and coffee

Next time you decide to taser someone make sure he’s already in the car.

Jane and Darcy’s reactions to Thor’s attractiveness.

“I used to know this scientist. I pioneer in gamma radiation. SHIELD showed up and I never saw them again.”

The first introduction to Hawkeye...being told to grab a gun but taking the bow and arrow instead.

Barton: You want me to slow him down sir or are you going to send in more guys for him to beat up.

Thor: You’re big- fought bigger.

Barton: I am starting to root for this guy.

Science Fiction as a precursor to science fact.

Science Fiction is just science we don’t understand yet.

My realization that even as early as the first Thor film Thor and Loki’s earth fashion sense was already very much established- high power businessman vs. “very comfortable/casual”-- symbolic, maybe.

The fact that Loki as a villain is perfection-- he is a match for Thor, he is personable, his motivations are similar but he has different methods, and you can see some reason in them.

Donald Blake shout outs.

Loki going from being rather meek at the beginning compared to his second return to Johtunheim to strike a deal with Laufey.

The fact that Loki clearly had no intention of letting Laufey kill Odin.

Heimdal’s learning that Loki is a better sorcerer then he was given credit for and can cloak himself even from the gatekeeper.

Thor and Jane bonding over science/magic.

We got xena, Jackie chan and Robin hood.

“Found you!”

“Is that one of Stark’s?”

Thor’s sacrifice- I love the drama of it.

Thor’s powers being returned- again, very dramatic.

So this is how you normally look-- it’s a good look.

Loki: I never wanted the throne! I only wanted to be your equal.

Thor pinning Loki just by putting the hammer on his chest.

Loki: I could have done it, father!Loki’s look of devastation when he is again rejected by his father.

Thor Dark World

Ta Da!

Loki totally ignoring the chaos of battle around him as he reads a book.

“I like her.”

You’ll what? Kill me? Evidently, there will be a line.

Loki: Now they’re firing at us. Thor: Thank you for the commentary Loki, it's not at all distracting.

Loki and Thor teaming up and using Loki’s magic in battle... I would have loved to have seen more of this team up happening in the films

To be honest, the only real saving grace of this movie was Loki... which I can get behind.

“I didn’t do it for him.”

Loki lecturing Thor about his escape plan and Thor pushing him out the open hatch in their ship.

Loki being revealed on the throne.

“Oh dear, is she dead?”

“I think you missed a column”

Loki’s reaction to Frigga’s death.

Loki’s look after having yelled at his mother.

Frigga attempting to make Loki’s imprisonment comfortable, she will never not see him as her son.

Who put me there! (There are so many levels to that statement and the acting is amazing).

Thor Ragnarok

Soundtrack

The whole play that Loki had written for himself and his pure enjoyment of it while pretending to be Odin.

“Beg your pardon?”

“You had one job. Just the one.”

“I am not a witch.” “How come you dress like one?” “Hey (offended).”

Thor’s powers

“I’ve been falling for 30 minutes!”

Hela-- love her-- a little anti-climatic ending.

Loki’s epic eye roll.

“Oh shit.”

Thor totally fangirling over Valkyrie.

Thor’s story about when he and Loki were 8 and Loki pretended to be a snake before stabbing him.

“It’s in my brain now”

Thor being full out God of Thunder and the soundtrack during the scene is amazing.

“I am not doing get help.”

“Do you have a better plan?” “No.” “We’re doing it.”

Loki cheering the Hulk smashing Thor.

Loki using his daggers again...I still wish we got to see more of that.

Your savior is here.

“I saw you coming.” “Of course you did”

“I’ve never met this man in my life.” “He’s my brother.” “Adopted.”

“I’m here.”

Avengers

There is something I greatly enjoy about the shot of Loki being taken in shackles down the hallway of the Shield based-- he definitely still feels in control even then.

Learning to become a team and not just automatically being a well-oiled machine.

Tony and Bruce’s science bromance

There will always be men like you.

Loki: I am listening.

Tony: Doth mother know you wearath her drapes.

Fury: 10 bucks says your wrong...Cap paying up on his bet with Fury.

Cap’s simple response: You should have left it in the ocean.

Avengers theme

I’ve got red in my ledger, I’d like to wipe it out.... the whole scene between Loki and Nat and the changing power dynamics during it is simply great writing and acting. And the end line of Nat’s being, “Thank you for your cooperation,” to show she came out on top in that battle is extra awesome.

She turns out not be another pretty face--- and then Natasha proceeds to annihilate them single-handed

Coulson calling Natasha through her targets phone then arguing with him on the phone that she’s too busy working, while also being tied up.

Natasha being convinced to leave her mission by being told Barton was compromised.

Bruce is on the run but still trying to do good.

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce

“No its won by soldiers”...fade into Captain America’s first intro in the film.

Tony: Like Christmas, but more me.

12% of a moment.

Tony: his first name is agent.

Pepper: Is this about the Avengers initiative...which I know nothing about. Tony:...I didn’t qualify for. Pepper: I didn’t know that either. Tony: Apparently I am volatile, self-obsessed, don’t play well with others. Pepper: That I did know.

Phil and Pepper being chummy with each other...I would have enjoyed more of this.

Coulson totally fan-boying over Cap.

Coulson: I watched you while you were sleeping.

Natasha: I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Has he asked you to sign his trading cards yet? They’re vintage, he’s very proud.

Bruce: They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container? (sees its actually going to take flight instead) Oh no, this is much worse (in complete sarcasm).

Cap immediately accepting Bruce.

How obviously uncomfortable Bruce is upon first going on the helicarrier surrounded by people. Such good acting.

Cap: Mr. Stark. Tony: Captain

Fury: Ant, meet boot.

Stark needing entrance music to confront Loki.

The near instant tension between Cap and Tony after capturing Loki.

Loki: I am not overly fond of what follows.

Cap: Stark, we need a plan of attack. Stark: I have a plan, attack.

Loki: I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness.

Tasha: He’s killed 80 people in two days. Thor: He’s adopted.

Cap: I knew that reference!

Hill: When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics. Tony: Last night.

Tony: I am a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.

Tony: An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome.

Bruce being uncomfortable naming the Hulk and calling him ‘the other guy’

Bruce looking so uncomfortable during the first act of the film

Tony and Cap bringing up phase 2 at the same time in two different ways-- action and intelligence.

Tony: I am sorry Nick, you were lying.

Bruce: I am not leaving just because you get a little twitchy.

Tony: How is this now about me? Cap: I am sorry, isn’t everything.

Cap: You may not be a threat but you better stop acting like a hero. Tony: Like you? Everything special about you came out of a bottle. (pretty much this entire conversation)

Cap: put on the suite let’s find out. Tony: I am not afraid of you old man. (explosion) Cap: Put on the suite. Tony: Yep.

Cap: It seems to run on some form of electricity. Tony: Well, you’re not wrong.

Loki: Are you ever not going to fall for that?

Phil: So that’s what it does.

Man: You an alien...no...well, then son you’ve got a condition.

Tony: He wants a monument with his name plastered...son of a bitch.

Thinking he is going to die wants to call and talk to Pepper.

Tony: We have a hulk.

Tony: We may not be able to protect the earth but you can damn well be sure we’ll avenge it.

Cop: Why the hell should I take orders from you. ( Cap destroys some aliens...cop then immediately obeys orders.)

Bruce: That’s my secret... I am always angry.

That epic Avengers assemble round shot.

Barton not even looking while he makes a kill shot.

Fury: I recognize the council as made a decision, but given that it is a stupid ass decision I’ve elected to ignore it.

Hulk saving Tony

The “A” left on Stark tower.

Avengers Age of Ultron

The reaction of the Avengers when discovering Barton’s family life.

The fact that Barton has a normal family life.

Language.

Please be a secret door...yay!

Tony: Good talk. Random Hydra Extra: No it wasn’t

The teamwork in the opening scene

I somehow found myself shipping Nat and Bruce.

“A great deal of complaining and tales of torn deltoids.”- Thor

“He’s the boss”- Tony about Cap

“He’s fast and she’s weird” - Maria Hill

“What kind of monster would allow a German scientist to experiment on him in order to protect his country?”- Cap to Hill

“Unlike you, I don’t have a lot of time...will...Thor be there”

Sam: following cold leads on our missing person's case (Bucky).

“He’s also a huge dork...chicks dig that.”- Natasha flirting with Bruce by describing him...then Cap totally shipping them.

Cap: I’ve seen her flirt up close...As may be the world’s leading authority on waiting too long...don’t. Bruce: What do you mean up close?

The team trying to lift the hammer.

Cap: Together. Tony: We’ll lose. Cap: Then we’ll do that together too.

Black Panther references

Tony admitting that watching his friends die is not as bad as watching them die and he doesn’t.

Tony: I cracked into the Pentagon when I was in high school on a dare.

Cap: I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science created was me.

Barton: You’re no match for him, Captain. Cap:...Thanks, Barton.

Natasha: Cap, keep them occupied. Cap (out of breath): What do you think I’ve been doing?

Wanda....everything Wanda

Wanda: Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it; where do you think he gets that?

Vision handing Thor’s hammer to him like its no big deal.

No one listening to Pietro so he comes back with a gun...”get off your asses.”

Cap: You get killed, walk it off....you didn’t finish....what were you napping.

I actually never realized just how snarky Steve is in this movie.

The teamwork between Thor and Cap is awesome.

Wanda’s entrance as an Avenger...YES!!!!!

Cap: We are not clear...we are really not clear.

Pietro: Keep up old man. Barton: No one would know...no one...last time I saw him Ultron was sitting on him...quick little bastard.

The fact that the above line was improvised by Renner.

Thor:...I am running out of things to say....you ready.

Pietro’s sacrifice. Wanda’s reaction after feeling it.

Barton names his son after both Natasha and Pietro.

Cap and Tony arguing that Vision picking up the hammer doesn’t count...and an elevator is also not worthy.

Wanda: I’ll protect it (looks at Hawkeye). It’s my job.

Vision: He’s right, he hates you the most.

Hulk having an obvious soft spot for Natasha

Natasha opening up to Bruce about her past.

Tony: Like the old man said, together.

Natasha: Still think you’re the only monster?

The whole idea of what makes a monster and how many people view someone else or themselves as a monster is so interesting and play a huge role in characterization.

Steve refusing to leave the flying city as long as there was even one civilian left there... Nat agreeing with him, “There are worse ways to go.”

Fury’s entrance and Steve’s, “Fury, you son of a bitch.”

Avengers Infinity War

Cap’s entrance by walking out of the shadows

Tom Holland’s improvising his death scene.

We don’t want to kill you, but we will.

Earth just lost her best defender.

Wanda being a complete badass-- she literally destroyed a stone with one hand and held off a nearly fully powered Thanos with the other

Caps glorious beard.

“I see you copied my beard.”

Strange seeing only ONE possible win in thousands...then giving up the stone... we’re in the endgame now...it was the only way.

Shuri making Bruce feel like an idiot.

Someone get this man a shield.

Steve and T’Challa running to the front of the battle line.

“I hope they remember you.”

Bucky alive and well

You speak groot...it was an elective.

Bring me Thanos!!! (In fact, the entire scene of Thor arriving to join the fight is cinematic gold)

Thanos on the farm-- yes, let them reiterate he won...like wow... you don’t get that much

What was she doing up there all this time?

“She’s not alone.”

Loki revealing the tessaract...trying to take Thanos on alone...and getting in one last jab with, “You will never be a god.”

Quill attempting to mimic Thor’s voice.

Rabbit

Any interaction between Thor and Rocket

Rocket engaging Thor in a meaningful conversation to comfort him-- such a huge growth is seen in his character.

Quill: What kind of weapon are we talking about here. Thor: The Thanos killing kind. Quill: Don’t you think we should all have a weapon like that.

“Stop messaging his muscles.”

Thor: Your bodies crumble as your minds collapse into madness. Rocket: Is it weird I want to do it even more now? Thor: A little bit.

Thor: He’s never fought me. Rocket: Yes he has. Thor: He’s never fought me twice.

It will kill you. Thor: Only if I die.

I’m way past asking for permission.

The 50% of me that’s stupid, that’s 100% you.

Rocket being picked up by Bucky and both continuing to shoot.

Oh, I’ll get that arm.

Thor being heartbreakingly optimistic and hiding his pain behind a smile until Rocket asks, “What if you’re wrong?” and Thor responds, “What more could I lose?” and Rocket’s, “I could lose a lot.”

The snap...”Oh god.”

You should have gone for the head.

You’re an Avenger now.

Peter: I should’ve gone home but it was such a long way down... If anything it’s kind of your fault that I am here. (Tony’s face is great)

Tony: The kid has seen more movies.

Tony and Thanos’ confrontation.

The adults are talking.

Steve giving his all to hold back Thanos with his bare hands and Thanos’ face of momentary confusion that a single man could hold him back even for a second.

My constant wondering what the result would have been if Tony and Cap were together in any of the scenes-- they work best together despite their contrasting personalities.

Doctor Strange

An arrogant man being forced to reconsider his world view and grow

Strange’s reaction to killing a man is perfect for the character but also just great acting from Ben.

Strange being called Master Strange and not wanting the title and being very adamant about not wanting the responsibility

Refusing to kill and being called a coward for it, but refusing to budge from his belief which results in a very interesting and wholly creative end battle... and fully earning and owning the title of Master.

Strange: You lack imagination. (No you lack a spine).

Dormmamu, I’ve come to bargain.

A hero actually using an infinity stone.

Say what you want about this film but I honestly think it has a great character arc for Strange.

The cloak.

Strange’s jokes.

Strange using astral projection to learn more.

The Incredible Hulk

It was better than the first one...remake it with Mark Ruffalo and we’ll talk.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Soundtrack

Introduction to Star-Lord

The mugshot line up and jailbreak

“You said it yourself bitch, we’re the guardians of the galaxy”

Dance off distraction... also perfect part of his characterization.

Quill trying to get Gamora to join in on the dance off.

The circle moment where Quill first becomes emotionally open and asks for help-- ending with Rocket’s “We’re all standing now.”

Peter coming to terms with his mother’s death as signified by his finally opening her final gift to him.

We are groot.

Rocket’s commentary while on the public while tracking down Quill

Rocket: What’s a Racoon? Quill: You are stupid. Rocket: Ain’t no thing like me except me.

Rocket’s bed fur.

Gamora: You must be joking. Rocket: No I really heard they find you attractive.

Let’s just say I really like Rocket.

Quill: A bomb? And you just leave it laying around? Rocket: I was going to put it in a box.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2

The Guardians team...this movie was pretty disappointing in most areas but I did enjoy the interactions among the characters.

Ego brainwashing Quill through so much of the film to convince him that he is above his team and be swayed to Ego’s side

The bodies of Ego’s children reveal

Yondu being revealed to be the hero and the real father figure

You look like Mary Poppins...Is he cool....Yeah... I am Mary Poppins y’all.

Peter’s discovery of the cause of his mother’s death-- that moment is amazing cinema

Ego: You are a god...if you kill me you’ll be just like everyone else. Quill: What’s so wrong with that? (aka being perfect doesn’t mean shit)

By the end, the Guardians become a family.

Rocket and Yando interaction... they’re both assholes that care.

Rocket’s shock that the colors shined for Yondu in his death... Quill accepting and sharing in Rocket’s pain in that moment.

Spiderman Homecoming

If you’re nothing without the suite then you shouldn’t have it.

The car intense car scene-- amazing cinema there

Peter: Come on Peter...come on, Spiderman.

Training wheels protocol

If you even cared you’d actually be here.

The adult is talking.

Peter is pretty bad at keeping his secret.

MJ reveal

Peter deciding to continue being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman for a while longer.

Happy having kept a ring on him for years.

Peter speaking revealing he can understand and speak Spanish when the shop keeper talks about Aunt May.

Ant-Man

The father-daughter relationship is adorable.

“I hope you don’t catch him.”

My days of breaking in and stealing shit are done. What do you want me to do? (I want you to break into a place and steal some shit.)

Scott as a father.

Ant-Man and Wasp

The montage of what Scott does in his spare time while under house arrest.

Again...father/daughter relationship.

The fact that Scott and Paxton go from viewing each other with low opinions in the first movie to seeing each other like family... it's so healthy.

Black Panther

Killmonger’s entrance into the throne room and very nonchalantly stating that he wants the throne before demanding to be asked who he is and letting it rip. The calm to intense anger is awesome.

This corset is really uncomfortable so can we wrap this up and go home?

What are THOOOSSEE?!

Everyone is shooting at me...wait let me put on my helmet.

Okay...let us just assume most of this list would consist of the wonder that is princess Shuri.

“Americans”

Great another broken white boy for us to fix.

T’Challa’s growth as a character by coming to understand the world differently through Killmonger’s actions.

The fact that T’Challa and Killmonger actually want similar things but come into conflict by their complete opposite ways of going about accomplishing their goal.

Stand up, you are a king.

The fact that T’Challa surrounds himself with females rather than men as his most loyal, fierce, and intelligent people.

Killmonger and T’Challa sharing a sunset and having a moment of understanding before Killmonger’s death.

The truth behind Killmonger’s reasoning and goals.

“Would you kill me, my love?” “For Wakanda? Without question.”

You can’t blame me, I almost died.

The moment I believe T’Challa became king: You were wrong! All of you were wrong! We let the fear of our discovery stop us from doing what is right!

.....I’ll add more, I’ve just been working at it for so long as I rewatched the films I am just posting it now and will add on later

#things fangirls say #marvel #mcu #captain america #tony stark #iron man #black panther #spiderman #guardians of the galaxy #thor #loki #film #doctor strange #avengers #text #steve rogers #bucky barnes #natasha romanov

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wordsablaze · 6 years ago

Text

chapter four: addicted enough

Pastel Protection Phenomena Phil’s a pastel in a shady orphanage, Dan’s a punk with a shady lifestyle. They find each other like opposite ends of a magnet and slowly but surely fall into a mutual shadiness they call love. *PREQUEL* to the oneshot ’Protective Punk’, enjoy!

A/N: A/N: Happy pride month! Also, I’m doing commissions! <3

"What's the green stuff?" Phil asks after he's finished his chips.

Dan had started eating his fish first, only after Phil had eaten half his chips and his stomach had quietened, so he now has only chips left but he also has a little tub of what looks like green mashed potatoes.

"They're mushy peas, do you want to try some?" Dan offers, dipping a chip in the paste and handing it to Phil with a warm smile on his face.

Phil shrugs, definitely wanting to try it but having had his food stolen enough times before to know that it doesn't feel nice. "I don't… I don't want to steal your food."

But Dan only smiles. "It's not really stealing if I let you, is it? And anyway, I can never eat all of it."

That blows Phil's mind. He can't imagine that there are people who can afford to throw away food just because they don't want to eat it when there are others, like him, who don't always have even half a meal to eat every day. And then he sees the glint in Dan's eyes that tells him Dan is lying – he's good at reading people and their lies by now – and it occurs to him that Dan had just been making an excuse so Phil doesn't feel as bad for eating his food.

"Thanks for lying," Phil whispers as he takes the chip, then bites into it and gasps at the strangely nice taste that floods his taste buds. It's much sweeter than he'd thought but there's an edge to it, something interesting that he knows he'll now always associate with Dan.

Dan chuckles. "I guess you like it, huh?"

Phil wants to say he loves it but he'd rather not emotionally force Dan to give up his food so he just shrugs a little. "It's alright. Fish are cuter though."

"No way! Peas are much cuter!" Dan argues, going with the sort of random statement instead of being weirded out, something that Phil really appreciates.

"They're squashed so badly they don't even look like peas anymore!"

He takes a moment but then Dan laughs and replies: "You're eating processed fish covered in bread or whatever, it's not like you can say anything."

Giggling, Phil throws his hands up in surrender. "Touché!"

A sort of nostalgic look settles in Dan's eyes and he smiles fondly. "You have such an addictive little giggle."

For a full ten seconds, Phil panics because nobody has ever told him that and he's not sure what he's meant to do about that. Somehow, he finds enough confidence to say: "I do not giggle!"

Dan raises an eyebrow into a lopsided arch. "Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure you just giggled…"

"You're definitely hearing things," Phil says, a smile playing on his lips as he stares into Dan's eyes.

Dan might say something in response but Phil stops paying attention, instead staring at the woodland that is Dan's eyes, the bright brown and the darker, richer, flecks of chocolate that seem to sparkle as he watches. It's mesmerising and Phil wonders why he's never appreciated brown so much before because Dan's eyes have quickly become his favourite colour to ever exist.

"You alright? Phil?" Dan asks, his voice gentle but piercing, cutting into Phil's musings.

"Who?"

Dan chuckles, shaking his head. "Are you not called Phil?"

"No, I'm called-"

Before he can finish making his sarcastic reply, Dan fumbles and drops his plastic takeaway container, making them both jump, then promptly laugh at each other. Phil's stomach flips because he hasn't laughed with anyone for a long time and it feels nice to just let go of his worries for a little while. It feels nice to let himself be happy, to forget about the people who just want to see him in misery, and just relax, alone but not alone enough to feel lonely.

"Phil? You alright?" Dan asks, making Phil realise that he'd gotten lost in his thoughts again. He can't help it, it's like a second nature to him, but he wishes he could control it so other people didn't get mad at him. Not that Dan was mad at him, but just in case he gets mad when it happens again...

"Yeah, thanks," he answers eventually, bringing himself back to the present.

"Hey, did you clean up while I was gone?" Dan asks, finally noticing the different piles of leaves.

Phil smiles. "A little. I didn't want you to make you eat in the middle of a mess."

The confusion in Dan's eyes morphs into appreciation and he grins at Phil, the corners of his eyes crinkling into crossroads and dimples appearing on his cheeks. He just stares at Phil for a long while before finally blinking to clear his watering eyes, then clearing his throat. "Sorry, you're just so damn cute."

Phil can't help thinking that the slight blush on Dan's cheeks suits him perfectly, contrasting with the black outfit he's sporting making him a lot less scary, a lot less like a thief. He doesn't comment on it though, because he can't be sure how Dan will react and he'd rather not gain himself any more bruises before the ones from yesterday heal properly. Layers of bruises make pretending a lot harder.

"What can I do?" Dan asks brightly, the two of them now having finished their meal.

"I... what?" Phil frowns, his eyebrows reaching for each other in the middle of his forehead.

Dan just smiles again. "What can I do to help? I can't let you sleep here... at least, not again. You deserve so much better."

"I don't," Phil says without missing a beat, but Dan doesn't seem to hear so he carries on talking: "Um, I guess you can help me to get rid of the leaves and stuff, we can throw them around the edge of the garden 'cause nobody else really comes out here."

"Nobody?" Dan echoes, but his mind is clearly elsewhere.

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like this place is particularly interesting..."

"Phil!" Dan exclaims, making him jump, "You're here, how can it not be the most interesting place in the whole universe?"

Phil opens his mouth to explain the state of the garden but then realises Dan hadn't asked about the garden and blushes so hard he feels like he has a fever. He can't reply to that so he just smiles, biting his lip and trying not to look at Dan because, otherwise, he'll forget how to function again.

"I will literally fight anyone who disagrees with me!" Dan adds and, oddly enough, Phil totally believes him.

"Please don't," Phil manages. He's not sure why he says it, he can't decide if he doesn't want Dan to get hurt or if he just doesn't want to lose the only person he can maybe call a friend. It's selfish of him, he thinks, to hope for someone's safety not for them but for himself, and he suddenly hates himself again, wondering if Dan would still come back if he knew what Phil was thinking.

"I would." Dan's voice is quiet, soft, and somehow the scariest thing Phil has heard all day.

"Wha- What?"

Dan clears his throat, fiddling with his hands, "I don't know what you're thinking but I'd still come back, no matter what it was."

He'd said it out loud. Phil curses himself but pushes it aside for now because he can't decide if he'd just imagined Dan suggesting he'd come back no matter what. Instead of voicing this, however, he opens his mouth and closes it again, biting his tongue to avoid accidentally admitting anything else.

"Unless you were thinking of drinking my blood or something. I don't know what my blood type is but it's probably not your type of drink."

He looks ridiculously proud of himself for that pun and Phil bursts out laughing without meaning to, clapping a hand over his mouth as he does. Dan joins in and the two of them fall into hysteria, both lost in each other's eyes and laughter. They don't stop laughing for what feels like hours, until Phil's stomach hurts and Dan can barely breathe, his eyes watering. At some point, they'd stopped laughing at the pun and started laughing at their laughs, but neither of them mentions it as they recover, catching their breath.

"Don't worry, I'm not a vampire," Phil assures Dan, still smiling so hard his face hurts.

Dan places a hand over his heart and gasps dramatically. "Really? I would never have known, what with your sharp teeth and ivory skin..."

"Ivory? Alright, drama queen." Phil rolls his eyes, then panics at Dan's dumbfounded expression. "Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or anything!"

The expression on Dan's face doesn't change for a whole thirty seconds, after which he full on beams. "You are just... full of surprises..."

"Do you like surprises?" Phil asks slowly, unsure of what Dan means and if he means it in a good way or not. He can't help worrying; surprises can be good or bad and, ironically, the way they're taken is always a surprise in itself.

There's a moment of silence in which Dan gives Phil an odd look and ponders the question but then he nods. "I think I like your surprises..."

"You think?" Phil repeats quietly.

Dan nods. "Yeah. I mean, I don't know anything for sure. Like, am I even really alive? Does humanity actually exist? I don't know. But I'm as sure as I can be that the surprises you have are great."

Phil blinks. He doesn't think he's ever met anyone who's made casual existentialism so simple and easy. Then again, he's never made anyone who's made anything simple and easy so maybe it's just him that's behind on the trends in existentialism and the like. Either way, Dan fascinates him and he really hopes he doesn't have to lose him too.

"What do you want for lunch?" Dan asks, apparently randomly. Seeing Phil's extreme confusion, he reiterates: "Tomorrow. What do you want for lunch tomorrow?"

"I don't..." Phil shakes his head, understanding the question but not really following Dan's train of thought.

Chuckling a little, Dan shakes his head. "It's not that hard to get, is it? What do you want to eat at this time, tomorrow? Pizza? 'Fish 'n' chips' loses its charm if you have it two days in a row."

"You want to have lunch again tomorrow?" Phil asks, still slightly behind, having expected many things but not this. Definitely not this.

His eyes brightening, Dan nods. "Of course. I'm addicted to your giggle."

As if on cue, Phil giggles. He then claps a hand over his mouth again but his eyes are smiling when he looks to Dan with a look of gratitude. As soon as he's stopped giggling, he lets his hand fall and beams. "Pizza can be your payment then."

"Oh, what, now you're a drug dealer?" Dan asks, scoffing, but there's a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"Only for you, Dan." Phil winks. Or rather, he tries to wink. He ends up just blinking, making both Dan and himself laugh.

Thankfully, Dan seems to understand that he's embarrassed and emits what sounds like an audibly lopsided cooing sound, putting both hands over his heart and leaning forwards. "Damn, Phil, I feel special."

Without thinking about anything and acting purely on instinct, Phil replies, "You are."

He's not lying when he says so. To him, Dan is special. There aren't many other people who have held a conversation with him and nobody, nobody, has ever actively tried to do something for him instead of just pitying him and leaving. Nobody had ever complimented him or his garden and nobody had felt anger or sadness on his behalf before. He can't think of one person who had found shelter in his company and there's never been anyone who's sat in the middle of a mess just to spend time with him, only to then offer to help him clean the mess. Dan's different to everyone else and that makes him special, special to Phil.

"What the heck, Phil," Dan mutters, "you can't just say stuff like that, I have a reputation to maintain."

Phil just cocks his head, confused.

Dan chuckles. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. I guess it's my fault that I find you so cute... No wait, it is your fault. How dare you be so adorable?"

Now Phil laughs, laughs at Dan's apparent inner conflict and at the way Dan's scowling and blushing at the same time. It occurs to him that Dan had compared him to a drug - or at least, his giggle - but, really, it's Phil who's utterly addicted to Dan and everything about him.

Dan's very presence is intoxicating and Phil can't get enough. A part of him hates the idea of liking Dan so much so quickly, because, in his experience, people don't tend to stick around and, if Dan leaves, it'll hurt so much more than anything else has ever hurt. But another part of him loves being able to love, loves being able to be loved, and he doesn't want to let go of that just yet, if ever. He's more than a little addicted to Dan and he doesn't want to get over it.

"Sorry," he says in the end, literally unable to express anything else.

The grin on Dan's face suggests that it's alright and that Phil's belated, half-hearted apology says more than Phil thinks it does. The two of them then catch themselves staring at each other, lost in one another's eyes, and awkwardly cough, not having realised they'd stopped focusing on the rest of the world.

"You should, um, go," Phil says.

"What?" Dan asks, looking almost hurt.

Immediately, Phil shakes his head, slightly worried, "No, no, I just mean that I don't want you to waste your day- uh, your afternoon with me."

Halfway between a frown and a smile, Dan shakes his head. "Nope. You're a cute little drug, remember? Why would I want to do anything other than stay with you for as long as possible?"

Phil smiles to himself. Not wanting to just let himself blush and lose the ability to string words together again, he forces himself to smirk. "Then I hope you're ready for some manual labour."

"Right, yes, the leaves! Shall we?" Dan stands up without waiting for an answer, holding his hand out for Phil to take. It's honestly one of the best sights Phil has seen in a while, and he's seen some of the most beautiful flowers known to man so that's saying something.

"Shall we, what? Dance?"

It's not even a second later when Dan doubles over laughing, then exhales heavily, clumsily catching his breath, and shrugs. "Since when does dancing consist of throwing leaves around?"

Phil chuckles, taking Dan's hand and pulling himself up. Once he's on his feet and has let go of Dan's hand because the skin contact makes him dizzy with a warmth he can't name, he grins. "Props are a thing, right?"

"Right." Dan agrees, nodding pretty seriously. Which lasts about five seconds before he dissolves into giggles again like someone who's just inhaled a dose of laughing gas, something that anyone else would probably have to do before they could tolerate Phil for so long.

Either way, Phil is addicted enough to Dan to agree in some way or another, because that's an accurate summary of what everything is to him at the moment: just right.

like/reblog but don’t repost, thanks!

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mellicose · 7 years ago

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That Woman Over There - Chapter 23

A You Me and Him Fix-it Fic

Rating: Teen, for some mature themes

Word count: 3832

Warnings: none

Summary: ~ Set after the birth of Monty, Olivia’s baby ~ A dear friend of Olivia comes to visit for a week, and she disturbs the fragile peace between her, Alex, and John.

Alex slammed into the gallery, cursing. She forgot to bring a damn umbrella, of all things. She shook herself off and threw down her bag. Rainwater dripped off it, to the parquet floor. The place was eerily dark. She wondered whether it was on purpose. She sniffed at the air. It smelled a bit like John’s house.

Her chest burned. “Fuck,” she said out loud. She wondered whether he hated her, and whether she’d ever smell his house again. She looked around and noticed pieces of art in pools of light. She walked to the closest one.

A painting. Fleshtones. Abstract, but the image began to take form in her brain almost immediately. Bodies. There was something about the sumptuous curves of the negative spaces … but she felt like she was missing something. The paint had a matte quality, a texture that fascinated her.

“It looks like living, breathing flesh, no?”

“Goddamnit!” she said, jumping aside. A lithe man in a striped t-shirt and a pair of jeans stood behind her.

He stood beside her and smiled a cheshire cat grin that was oddly nostalgic. He hugged his slim arms.

“Flesh, no?” he repeated.

“Yes, but there’s something off. I can’t tell where one body ends and the other begins,” she said. Her heart was only slowing now. He drifted the scent of cedar to her. Cedar and … violet? Her eyes drifted to him again. He wore a neat goatee and mustache, and his eyes were the color of his hair - golden brown.

He nodded, and stretched. His shirt rode nearly to the bottom of his ribcage. His smooth belly flexed. His jeans rode low on his hips, and she saw so much happy trail it made her blush.

“You can look away at any time,” he said, giving her a half grin. She didn’t know she was staring. “Not that I mind. You’re cute.”

Her cheeks were hot. Whether it was embarrassment or something else, she didn’t care to figure out.

“You are Alex?” he said, turning to her.

“How’d they get the paint to look like that?” she said, looking back at the painting.

“I don’t know how she does it. That’s why it’s here,” he said.

“Ah,” she said. “Yeah. I’m Alex.” She held out her hand. Again, he smiled as they shook hands.

“How professional,” he said. “You’ve got a firm handshake.”

She shrugged. “Want to see my work?”

“Of course. No more flirting. Straight to business.”

“I’m not flirting,” she said, walking to her bag and digging in it for her laptop. “I’m-” she stopped. She was going to say she was gay. But it wasn’t true. At least, not all the way true. But she could still say it. She gave him a sidelong glance. She decided against it.

“You’re what?” he said. “Taken? If so, I’m sorry.”

She frowned. “No. Not taken.” She coughed.

He nodded. “Come, let’s go upstairs. There’s more light in my flat.” He walked to the far corner. He opened a door to an elevator.

“It’s one of those fancy personal ones,” she said as she entered behind him.

“Yeah. I don’t want a nosy visitor finding their way to my personal space,” he said. He punched in a code. It moved up smoothly. She caught another whiff of cedar.

“Again, you’re sniffing,” he said, smiling.

“Oh. Yeah. You smell a lot like a friend of mine,” she said, smiling bashfully.

“You close?” he said, opening the door. Beyond, was open space with islands of tasteful furniture.

“He’s my best mate,” she said. She hoped it was still true.

“He has good taste, then.”

“It’s not a perfume. It’s, uh, he works with wood, so the smell sticks to him.”

“Carpenter?” he said as he guided her to what looked like an office.

“Artist,” she said confidently. “He makes beautiful things. Precious things. You know, keepsakes.”

“Ouiai,” Alphonse said, and offered her a seat in front of his computer.

“The screen big enough for ye?” she said, and chuckled. It was at least 45 inches.

“I use this to view art,” he said.

“Sure, mate. Art.” she said, and handed him her USB with a sardonic grin she couldn’t wipe off.

His lips trembled with mirth. “You’re not terribly formal, are you?” he said.

“Should I be? This isn’t like, a proper interview, is it?” she said, and slung a leg over the arm of the office chair. “This chair’s rad, by the way. It’s ergonomic, right?”

“Maybe not how you’re using it,” he said. The screen came on and she lost her balance and fell back.

“Holy fuck! I can see colors I didn’t even know existed,” she said, crawling back up to the desk and standing up. “Sorry about the language.”

“Speak however you like. This isn’t the Vatican,” he said.

She looked over his shoulder.”There’s the folder with my work.”

She swore when he clicked on the first photo. “That’s bloody gorgeous,” she said. “Okay, you’re absolutely right. This screen is a requirement. All I’ve got is my mam’s grotty little 200 quid laptop. I can see every single brush stroke with this thing.” She leaned forward. “It’s brilliant.”

“Now you see the method to my madness,” he said.

“Yah, I do. It’s definitely not just for porn,” she said. She nodded.

He burst out laughing. “You have absolutely no filter, do you?” he said.

“Why? Should I? I have a feeling the posh art buyers might cringe at me, eh?” she said.

“Maybe you’re not the affected art school type, but it honestly doesn’t matter. Most of them don’t even know what they’re looking at anyway. They just buy to say they did. It’s very rare to find collectors with an actual eye for talent. That’s where I come in.”

“You’re an art dealer,” she said, emphasizing the last word. “You make the good shit available to ‘em.”

“Exactly,” he said.

“You scare your fancy customers down there?”

“You were in my space,” he said.

“You could’ve made noise walking up, like normal people.”

He crossed his legs, and she noticed that he was barefoot. “Again, my space.”

She smiled. “Sorry. But I almost wee’d myself.” She squirmed.

“You need the loo?” he said.

“I think so,” she said. He pointed to a frosted glass cube in a corner of the apartment. She sighed. “Seriously?”

He winked. He watched her walk away. She was a bit rough around the edges, but her honesty was refreshing. Perhaps he had been around posh art students for too long. Even her shape was more inviting – curvy in places where so many others had on-trend angles.

“This is ridiculous,” she yelled as she closed the glass door behind her. “There’s no privacy whatsoever.”

“I live alone,” he said. He felt strange yelling in his own apartment.

“And when you have … guests?” she said.

“I don’t really hold parties in this space – any guests here are usually beyond that kind of embarrassment.”

“Oh. Yeah,” she said, and flushed. She looked around. There was a large shower in front of her, also glass. It was fancy in a way that made her uncomfortable. She couldn’t imagine washing her body in a place like that. And it was a place, not just a shower. The chrome fixtures gleamed, and the bottles on the shelf were not in English. She wondered whether they smelled like wood. She washed her hands, saw no towel, and dried them on her shorts. She felt weird letting the water dry on the sink. It would get spots.

“Hey, do you wipe down the sink?” she said as she walked back up.

“Shhhhhhh,” he said. He leaned forward, looking intently at one of her blue period pieces. At least, that’s what she called it. It was not naturalistic, but also not as abstract as some of the pieces she saw downstairs. “Viens-ici,” he said, and beckoned to her. “Tell me about this.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s the last piece I painted before I stopped for a while. I just sort of … sat in front of a canvas and let the brush do the talking.”

“Yes, it speaks volumes,” he said. He hugged himself again. “What’s most striking is that although the composition hints at desolation, you did not use the stereotypical washed out palette. It’s searingly bright.”

“I couldn’t stand using muted colors.” She echoed his action, hugging herself. “She deserves better than shades of gray.” She shivered.

“She?” he said.

“Jo,” she said softly.

“An ex?” he said.

“My daughter, who died last year right before being born.”

He gasped.”Ah, petite. J'en suis désolé,” he said. He patted her hand, and for some reason, she burst into tears again. He stood and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his narrow frame and wept into his chest.

“I’m a mess. I’ve had the worst day ever. I think I just lost everything.”

“How do you mean?” he said.

It surprised her that he even cared. She didn’t know where to start. He was a stranger, so lying wasn’t worth the effort.

“My fiancee just broke up with me. She was right to do it. And I just fucked up my relationship with my best mate. At least, if he’s got any sense.”

“Eh,” he said. He didn’t expect the full truth. She was extraordinary.

“When you say “just”, do you mean in the last month or something?” he said. He rubbed her back. Her hair smelled like cigarette smoke and satsuma.

“I mean, today. Earlier.”

He pulled her away to look at her. “Putain. And you’re here?”

“I’ve got nothing left … what’s your name again?” She wiped her face with her arm.

“Alphonse. You can call me Alfie if you like.”

“Alfie. Sounds posh,” she said. “You don’t like Alphonse?”

“I’m named after my dad. He’s as asshole,” he said.

“‘Least you know ‘im,” she said, and sniffed.” I’ll call you Alfie, then. Don’t wanna be bringing back any bad memories. I don’t usually get like this.” She finished wiping her eyes, but her lips still quivered.

“You want a beer?” he said.

“God yes,” she said. He ran to the kitchen space and opened a giant fridge built into a brick wall “Jesus, man, got enough space in there?” she said. There was actual food in it. Like John, he liked to cook.

“You peckish? I’ve got some leftover cold sesame noodles,” he said, putting two bottles of beer on the counter. She shrugged, but approached the counter, curious. He pulled out a plastic tub and opened it.

“It’s not takeaway,” she said. The noodles were glossy with oil, and dotted with toasted sesame seed and green onion. “Smells amazing.”

“I made them for dinner. As ever, I made too much. I suppose some habits die hard,” he said, and handed her a fork.

“Cooking a lot?” she said around a mouthful of noodles.

“Adjusting to cooking for one again,” he said, and sat on a stool opposite her. “Tell me more about that piece. I noticed that it’s unfinished. Or am I wrong?”

She took a sip of her beer. “That’s perceptive,” she said. “This is delicious, by the way. Better than from a restaurant.”

“Merci,” he said. “I have a mild obsession with asian cuisine.”

“Was your ex girlfriend from there?” she said, taking another generous mouthful.

“Perceptive,” he said. She winked. “No, she isn’t. She’s Portuguese. But she’s a chef who specializes in pan-asian cuisine. She got me hooked.”

“She’s a chef? If I dated a chef I’d gain two stone in a year,” she said. “I’d wear it as a point of pride.”

He laughed. “I wish, but I can’t. Genetics won’t really let me gain much of anything. Some might consider it a blessing. I guess it is.” He shrugged.

“Uhuh,” she said. “I was like that until I hit 25. After that, things started happening in this area,” she said, gesturing to her middle.

“I’m quite a few years over that, and nothing’s happened yet,” he said.

“How old are you?”

“39,” he said.

“Really? You look amazin’, bruv,” she said. She blushed at the ease with which she gave him the compliment, but she didn’t regret it. He beamed.

“I avoid sunlight whenever possible,” he said.

“Okay, Nosferatu,” she said. She looked at the sweating bottle of beer in front of her. She liked him. He seemed like a good bloke, and he hadn’t acted funny when she burst into tears. She didn’t know what she expected when she came, but definitely not him. She looked at him. His eyes were gold, with flecks of green near the iris. It was one of her favorite color combinations.

“You’re staring again,” he said. She was so zoned in she didn’t see his smile.

“Your eyes. The green is nice,” she said, then stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“Thanks. My maman has Persian blood. I get my eyes from her,” he said. “And in more ways than one. She’s the artist. My father thinks art is a hobby.”

She snorted. “My mam’s the same. She thinks I should go to school to become a nurse’s assistant. But I can’t stand the sight of blood. I’m working on being a teacher, maybe.”

“Maybe?” he said, opening another beer for her. She took it gratefully.

“Liv, my fi-my ex-fiancee, suggested it. She had a baby too, Monty. He’s the sweetest little guy you’ll ever meet. He’s gonna be one year old in a month and a half.” She took a deep swig of beer. Her eyes started to swim again. He walked beside her.

“He’s going to be one. And you said you lost Jo last year…” he said.

“It’s a hella long story, mate,” she said. “And you’re a stranger.”

“I’ve got an empty dance card and a case of beer,” he said, walking to a nearby sofa. “Let’s get acquainted.”

She stared out one of his large windows. The night was setting in, and it was pouring rain.

“I think we should wrap up the art stuff. It’s pissing outside and I’ve got to take a train back to Bristol...” her voice failed. She didn’t know where she was gonna go once she got there. She would have to speak to Olivia, then her mam. She dreaded the latter far more than the former.

“I can give you a ride to the station, if you like,” he said.

“Ah,” she said. “You that bored that you wanna listen to my long list of fuck ups?” she said. She sat on the other side of the sofa. She wished she could kick off her boots.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said.

“You just wait till I get into it, boyo,” she said.

“So that means you’ll stay for a bit,” he said. “I will open my ears and refrain from any possible censure until you’re done.”

“Century what?” she said, making a face.

“Censure. It means a strong or vehement expression of disapproval.”

“Huh. Whatever.” She looked down at her lap. She looked so lost. It made him want to stroke her rain-frizzy blond hair. She broke up with her fiancee just today, yet here she was, braving wind and rain to show him her worth. It was beyond his capacity to understand. He had not gotten out of bed for three weeks after Lorena left him, and it had been over two months until he was able to face the world. It was still difficult to adjust. She had been his life for six years.

“Where are you?” he said.

“I couldn’t finish it,” she said, tracing the shapes printed on her tights. She took a deep breath. He waited patiently. “At the time. It was, like…”

He moved a little closer, but made sure to give her plenty of space.

“It was like admitting she was finished. That her story was over,” she said. “I couldn’t bear it.” She hiccuped, but kept her composure. “I don’t even know why that’s in there. It’s a mess.”

“You keep saying that,” he said.

“Because it’s true. My life’s a mess. My work. My brain. They’re all one great big horrible mess.”

“You also said it’s unfinished,” he said softly.

“The painting? Yeah.”

“You don’t get me,” he said. He used his hands to speak, and it was beautiful to see. “I mean, it’s unfinished. Your life. Your brain. You. You’re young, no?”

“Old enough to know better about things, though,” she said, crossing her arms.

“You haven’t told me your unforgivable trespasses, but obviously not,” he said.

Her mouth dropped open.

He smiled. “I know you can’t see it from the inside looking out, but I have faith in you. You’ll right the wrongs of which you speak.”

“You don’t know me, bruv,” she said, taking a sip of beer. “I’m, like, the queen of fuckups.”

“That’s why it’s faith. If 2.2 billion Christians can believe in an invisible God, I can believe you’re not an incorrigible fuck up.”

She scratched her head. This bloke was something else. She rolled her eyes and gave him a half-grin.

“Alright. But you haven’t heard what I did yet,” she said.

“Will it explain the mystery of you and your ex being with child at the same time at some point? I am very rudely curious about that. Did you do it on purpose?”

“No,” she said loudly. “I didn’t.”

“Okay,” he said, and stretched his legs out. “We’re getting to the meat of the story.”

“I’ll bore you with my stupidity, but what does this have to do with my art?”

“We’ll figure it out along the way,” he said. “Talk to me.”

“Whatever. So my girlfriend got pregnant without telling me. I was really angry, and I got blind drunk and got off with our next door neighbor, John…”

“Wait. You’re gay?” he said.

She bit her lip. This was the first time she was going to say it out loud to someone she didn’t really know. But considering the stuff she was sharing, it couldn’t be that bad.

“I’m bi. I go both ways,” she said. She paused, as if waiting for peals of thunder and lightning, but the rain continued, silent and dark. “I didn’t know it at the time. But that comes later.”

“I see,” he said. “Take your time. I’m here all night.”

“Yeah. So, all it took was one night, and I was well preggers.”

“By the neighbor? Fuck,” he said. “And he was okay with it?”

“John? We became best mates during the pregnancy. He was in love with me or whatever, but we dealt with it. Now he’s in love with Connie.”

“What?” he said up. “So your ex girlfriend got pregnant without telling you. Then, you got off with your neighbor John, got pregnant after one night, and you’re still living by each other?”

“Yep,” she said.

“And now Encarnacion is with John, the father of Jo, and in love? Wasn’t she with Ella?

“Her and Ella went kaput last year. Big drama – at least, the bits I heard. Super messy.”

“I believe you now,” he said, eyes wide. He had to call Encarnacion. Her and Ella had once felt as immutable as a mountain. But Vesuvius most probably felt the same to the Pompeiians. “You remained friends?”

“Of course. Even after Jo. Like I said, he’s my absolute best mate. Or, possibly, was.”

“If you could endure that triangle, what happened to break it?”

She looked out the window again. She wondered what he was doing. Connie, most probably. He deserved happiness. She couldn’t get the indignant look on his face when she confessed. She never wanted to see that look on his face again.

“Oh,” he said softly. “Oui.”

“What?” she said, snapping out of her train of thought.

“You developed feelings for him. That’s why you broke up with your fiancee.”

She kicked off her books and started pacing the open space in front of the window.

“I’ll have you know she broke up with me,” she said. “He’s the father of my girl,” she said. “Jo was ours.”

“You said he was in love with you. What happened to change that?”

She snorted. “I’m a fool. A damn fool.” His brows rose. “He moved on. I suppose to keep his sanity, but he did. Fully.”

“With Encarnacion,” he said.

“Who is Olivia’s best friend,” she said.

He brightened up. “How is Olivia? She was a hell of a drinking buddy, back in the day.”

“Drinking buddy, huh? Of course,” she said, but she didn’t ask. It was just another story Liv hadn’t bother to tell her. “She’s fine, I hope.”

“You’ve given me only the blurb, but it already sounds like a hell of a story,” he said.

She sat on the windowsill, which was lined with silk pillows. “I think I’ll need something stronger than lager to really get into it,” she said. She held out the half-empty beer bottle.

“I’ve got vodka in a freezer,” he said, taking it.

“That’s good. Pour a drop of juice in. I’m still nursing a hangover.”

“As one does,” he said with a smile, and handed her a glass. He sat against the wall, at her feet. “So, start at the beginning.”

“At the actual beginning, or when everything got fucked?”

“At the very beginning,” he said, nursing his beer. He was a believer that you could tell a lot by a person by the kind of conversation they had. There are people who could talk your ear off for hours, but in the end, you didn’t know them any better. And there were people like Alex – open to a beautiful fault. He already knew he would be crazy about her. Whether it was romantically or not, he couldn’t ascertain now. But he’d know soon enough.

“I met Olivia online, on a dating site. I’d joined as a gag, but in less that 24 hours, I had over 30 messages…”

They talked until dawn, and in the interim, he figured it out.

Next Chapter

#That Woman Over There #you me and him #fan fiction #alex deserves the world #we're almost at the end #It's gonna be so hard to let these characters go

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miyoron · 7 years ago

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Miyo’s Anime of Various Notes 2017 Edition

This year was a good year for anime. I liked a lot of shows this year and I thought I would write up another one of these! Again, they're in no order really!

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Dragon Maid

Dragon Maid as a series has definite problems. There's some kind of gross fan service and some really unhealthy feeling fetish stuff, especially from what I've heard and seen from manga snippets. However, despite all that, Kyoani was able to polish this show up into a nice little story about a dragon and her love for the woman who saved her life..and drank with her a lot out in the boonies one night. It's a really nice story though of a lonely person slowly getting a new lease on life with new friends who happen to be dragons. There's lots of good little character moments and it's nice that all of the characters grow as time go on really, even when one just plays MMOs all day and writes curse doujinshi. Also I can't listen to the opening theme without getting butterflies in my stomach from cute lovey doveyness.

Girls' Last Tour Girls' Last Tour takes place in the shell of a world that is on its last legs. There are crumbling buildings, technology long since in use and even the occasional grave site. Really, the world itself is kind of bleak, but the story of Chito and Yuuri is not an overtly sad one. It's the story of how as long as you have each other, you've got all you need in life. Seriously though, there are some good heart warming moments in here. The girl's have weirdly cute wide Hidamari Sketch style heads against the bleak background but it works really well. It has some really nice music too: the rain drops song in patricular is super duper chill and is just a joy to listen to.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie It's nice to see an anime about people my age, that might be why this one interested me at first. On top of that though, it's a show where one can find a lot of familiar stories, especially if you've touched an MMO at any point in time. First and foremost though, Recovery of an MMO Junkie is a story about relationships though and how helpful they can be. These don't pertain to just romantic ones of course. Friends are super helpful when you're having a bad time, and as the show goes on, you can see just how much the friends Moriko is making along the way mean to her. It's a cute little story with some very cute moments and character designs. Morimori-chan is one of my favorite characters this year and I support her in every way. Sakurai is also a very good boy of course.

Love Live Sunshine Season 2 Last year I had season 1 on my list and the trend continued this year. The girls in Aqours just seem so much more realistic in their struggles than Muse ever did in the original show. They don't always get what they want; life does not just throw out miracles like Chika wants it to. But they don't let it stop them, and the girls keep going because, to quote the opening "we got dream." Seriously though, I am consistently pleased with this show and it helps that my favorite girl got her own episode early on. Also the studio has FINALLY figured out how to make the CGI look good compared to the previous series' attempts. Good music, good girls, good show. It still has 2 more eps but I'm confident with placing it here in my shows of the year of note.

Little Witch Academia Little Witch Academia has been bouncing around through various OVAs for the past couple years, so it was nice to finally get to see this show...be an actual show. It has a few ups and downs, which mainly are wishing a few characters got more screen time, and one specifically LESS screen time, but it's a very nice show. It's got a fun doofy protagonist who is doing her best even though she is terrible at magic. It has a haughty rival, even though only Akko sees her as on the same level, a cute nerd pal who reads anime Twilight and a mushroom obsessed creepo who got vored by a slime monster. I really do not know what else you need me to say. It's by Trigger so it's beautiful to watch? It has a Moomin reference? You can see the dumb guy from Pawn Stars but anime? It's a really good show. Real good.

Restaurant to Another World This show is a guilty pleasure honestly. It's fun to see the weird fantasy creatures ordering, mostly Japanese, cuisine in an interplanetary restaurant, yes. The main draw though is seeing the wonderfully animated and drawn food though. Every week watching this just made me hungry and it was hard not to drool a lot of the time. The characters are all really fun, even if they're essentially all interspersed between episodes. Almost all of them get their own little spotlight episodes in conjunction with their favorite particular dish. Most of all, I'll never forget Restaurant to Another World for giving me so many furry vore retweets from a random image I got from an episode. It's a fun show you can watch in the background and just admire the tastiness. Just, you know, maybe eat dinner first.

Interviews with Monster Girls Interviews with Monster Girls is not Monster Musume, that's the thing I can stress the most about this. It's about a world where there are just...monster girls! Join our way-too-into-them sensei as he...tries to honestly just learn about the differences between the folklore surrounding various monsters and how it ties into how they actually live in society. Also root on for a succubus as she tries to just let her mature woman side fly. It's very rough being a succubus in a super packed society did you know? Seriously though, it's a nice little show that oddly has more continuity than you'd think since it's not just an episodic 4koma style show. It's also got a dumb vampire with a shirt that has a cape design on the back, it's great.

Kira Kira Precure a la Mode This was the first Precure I've watched as it was on-going so it's been a fun ride. It has a bunch of magical girls who are also animals but ALSO are desserts. It also has some of most fun looking CGI I've seen in anime before, but that seems to be what Precures are good at so it's not that surprising for series veteran watchers I'm sure. Either way, it's a good story about friends and fairies and sweets. It's made me want to bake dumb anime cookies for an upcoming con and fill them with kira*kiraru. It has a really fun ending theme too...well both of them really. I'll look forward to see what the Precures are up to next in the coming series, but I'll never forget these girls.

Umaruchan R I liked the original Umaru season well enough, but the second season has really been going all in on the fun. On top of that, a lot of the characters have gotten more screen time and more character development even. We learn more about Sylphin, Kirie and Ebina, and Umaru and Taihei's sibling relationship is shown to be a lot nicer too. It's not like before where she was always just a terrible brat trash girl, now she's just that SOME of the time. You can tell they really love each other though, and not in a gross way that other anime like to do with siblings. Also it's shown just how being friends has helped the other girls, and even Umaru herself really. It's a good show and I'm glad that it managed to get better on its second at bat.

Big Gold Star Show

Kemono Friends Kemono Friends is...well It's not really a good show. It has a hilariously low budget and even worse CGI. It's a lot like a picture drawn by your 5 year old where it's not fine tuned yet but it makes you feel kind of good anyway. It has some really cute character designs of this bunch of doofy animals that are just living their lives. Whether it's going to battle every day against their long time rival, wandering ruins looking for coins or just singing to their hearts content, there is something about the Friends that just makes you root for them. It's not a show you need to watch, but you might just like it if you do. Sugoooooi~

Old Anime of the Year

These are shows that I watched that didn't necessarily come out this year but that's when I watched them. It's pretty simple!

Osomatsu-san Sheeeh! I watched this one on the recommendation of a buddy. A remake of a series from the 1960's about sextuplet brothers modernized into terrible dirtbag NEETs. This show is full of weird, often gross, things, but there's something about its manic humor that just speaks to me. The brothers are terrible terrible terrrrrible boys but you can find good points about them too. I've been watching season 2 as well this season so this will probably carry over into next year as an old anime of the year. Sooo...let's just say Osomatsu-san is an Old Anime of the Year 2016-2018. Ok? Cool!

Yuri on Ice I had this on last year's list of shows to look into and I'm very glad I continued it. It tells a really good story about gaining confidence and learning to feel good about yourself. Yuuri's journey along the way is wonderful. Because of that, this is another series I'm looking forward to the second season of to see where it goes. My only complaint was that it was a little repetitive but that's probably how sports anime go huh? I liked watching the routines and listening to the songs. It also has a great cast of side characters like Chris with the great butt, the weird vampire guy and Phichit, your best friend. There's also J.J. who is full of himself, sure, but there's just something fun about him still. Here's to more ice boys!

Konosuba Konosuba is a series full of lovable dummies. Like...execeptionally dumb. Like..super..SUPER dumb. But that's really what's so fun about them. I had some Ah! My Goddess vibes with the series' set up except Aqua is a much much much more flawed goddess than Belldandy ever was. Seriously though, this series takes the isekai/reborn in another world from our world genre and takes it in a direction that's actually fun instead of retreading the same old stories. It's got explosion mages, it's got really awkward paladins and it has a very put on dullahan who just wants to have his evil schemes go the way he planned. I need to watch season 2 still, and if it's more of the same, I'm in for sure.

Heart Catch Precure This show was actually my first Precure several years ago, but my buddy and I didn't finish it before. Since we had been watching the new show, we decided to double up and watch both of them at the same time. Heart Catch is honestly a delight and has some of the things I like most in a magical girl show. It has fun heroes, it has really doofy villains and it has a whole lot of heart. It's episodic sure, but it has a really great art style that just makes it even more endearing to me. Also, episodic magical girls with dumb monsters is why I loved the original Sailor Moon anime. I also enjoy that the Precures just punch and dropkick things as their first course of action. You just can't step to a magical girl that's gonna just pop you in the jaw.

Ugh show?

Gabriel Drop Out I don't know whether to call this show an UGH show or just an ultimately lame one. I know it definitely is a 1 or 1.5 character show though. The best character is sweet dumb demon Satania who the show seems completely content to just dump on whenever it has the chance. I do not appreciate that anime. I don't at all. Please do not bully this sweet evil girl because she does not deserve it. This show was not as heinous as last year's Kuma Miko, but one of the characters is for sure a bad bad ugh one.

Anime to Check Out

I have a few shows I've had on my list to look at, mostly on my Crunchy Roll queue that I haven't gotten on due to a crazy good Fall season/laziness. Here they are!

Alice to Zoroku I watched the first episode of this back in the summer and I didn't take the time to finish it up. I plan to fix that in the coming year since I like the premise and I really liked the old man especially. I look forward to learning more about them in the future!

The Ancient Magus' Bride This one I've mostly seen interesting looking pics of so I'm curious. I like cool skeleton wizard looking things and anime. This seems reasonable enough to me.

One Punch Man This is still happening right? Yea, definitely gonna watch that.

#MiyosDumbAnimeList #DragonMaid #GirlsLastTour #NetJuu #LoveLiveSunshine #LittleWitchAcademia #RestauranttoAnotherWorld #InterviewswithMonsterGirls #KiraKiraPrecureAlaMode #UmaruchanR #KemonoFriends #Konosuba #YuriOnIce #Osomatsusan #HeartCatchPrecure

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modernstoryteller · 7 years ago

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An unexpected Birthday Surprise

Anne tried to look pleased, she really did. It’s just that her….Aunt had a funny idea of what would constitute as a ‘good’ birthday gift. For example, she was 25 years old and Aunt felicity still thought she needed a gift at all. It was nice really, but kind of pointless when Anne could just go out and buy whatever. Hell if it was money then that would have been even better. But no, Aunt Felicity thought that it should be personal. It had to be unique, had to be meaningful. Which given her Aunts love of novelty teapots meant her top cupboard was virtually overflowing with porcelain. Her Aunt meant well, really, it was just…

Anne’s smile turned more into a wavering grimace as she beheld the small bundle of colour and silk. It smiled back with a red painted grin, bells faintly tinkling. “..the breeder was all but throwing the little guy at me. Seems to be the runt of the litter. Is it a litter? A brood? A carnival? I’m not sure. But I couldn’t just leave it there. All alone. The last one, but I don’t have enough time myself to look after one of these guys and then I thought to myself…” Anne nodded on encouragingly, mhmming at the right points. Once her Aunt got going it was like a verbal steamroller. Nothing could stop the flow of words. She long ago learned to just roll with it. “…so since it’s your birthday, and your living all on your own now, I thought that a companion might help liven up the place” Anne’s face froze. She tried to speak, cleared her throat and tried again. “Ah, that’s very…nice of you Aunt Felicity…” “Please, It’s Aunt filly” “…but I don’t think I have the space.” Or will, but there was no need to be insulting. Her and pets didn’t get along at the best of times. The one attempt at goldfish she had tried three Christmases ago went belly up. Literally. Besides, it was hard to keep something in a tiny apartment like hers. Which she gestured around quickly to show, less her Aunt had somehow missed that fact. Hard to do as the Kitchen table doubled as a living room one and the two were taking up pretty much all the space. “Oh that’s no worry” Aunt Felicity waved her off, “these guys make great apartment pets. They only grow to the size of their home” “Are you sure that’s not fish?” because she distinctly remembered that being one of the selling points. “It’s small anyway” Actually about the size of a medium cat, with golden eyes watching everything like one too. That stare was a little unnerving, and she swore it’s smile got bigger on noticing her unease. “and I’m going to be leaving for my trip in two days, and I can’t possibly find anyone else on such short notice to…” “alright, alright” Anne sighed, knowing she had lost this one. “I’ll look after it while your gone” “Excellent” Aunt Felicity beamed. “Who knows, you might even decide to keep him” “I wouldn’t go that far…” but she was mumbling to herself. The matter settled, Aunt Felicity promptly started discussing her travel plans as Anne nodded along dutifully. She left not too long after, with a wave and a promise to call her once the flight had landed. Which was just how Anne fell into one of the more lucrative pet markets out there. Clowns. Why did it have to be Clowns?

Clowns were one of the more bizarre pets in the trade, and surprisingly fashionable at the moment. It was probably why her aunt had gotten one in the first place, even if she claimed it to be a gift. Expensive too. she didn’t know much about pets, but she did know the basics of responsible pet buying. This one seemed to be...malformed. The forehead was a little too big, it’s coat seemed ragged and worn, three little orange splotches on it’s chest where the pompoms would come through later. It’s eyes were bright and alert, which were a good sign and it didn’t seem to flinch back so it hadn’t been mistreated. Perhaps it really was the runt of the litter. It’s deformity would of kept most customers from purchasing it, leaving it the last one there. Anne felt a pang of pity. Which was quickly gone when the Clown started to gnaw on a cushion. “Wha..hey! no!” she tried to pull it away, only to have it tugged back insistently. Small teeth firmly embedded into the material. “No! down! Bad Clown!” The clown shook its head furiously, trying to dislodge Anne from it’s prize. Bells faintly tinkling. It would have been cute, except that she was losing this tug-of-war . “Let..goWOAH!” The clown complied, sending her sprawling arse over teakettle from the edge of the sofa. A tiny high pitched giggle followed. Gods that’s creepy Anne sat up with a glare . It puffed up in response, trying to glare back. It didn’t quite manage it, still far too small and round eyed. “What am I even going to do?” She had no experience with this sort of thing. She was terrified of her Aunt coming back only to find it had run away. Or worse yet, gotten killed somehow. And wouldn’t that be fun on her conscience. “Okay okay, breath..” There was no use panicking just yet. First things first, information. Find out what exactly she’d need to get to house this thing. And maybe a name. She couldn’t keep calling it ‘you’ all the time. The internet proved…somewhat helpful. It linked her to many pet stores which stocked clown related paraphernalia. There was one specialist store two towns over that looked promising, even though the cost of shipping would be a bitch and a half to pay. Links to book recommendations, links to vets whom had experience treating Clowns previously, some clown enthusiast blogs and even a local group that met up weekly at the park to socialise. There were some tibits on such things as diet (Strange unidentified meat? The hell?!) as well as exercises (juggling balls were not recommended until past a certain age) and a list of common clown names. Flossy nope Bozo nope Chuckles She looked over briefly, contemplating. It did like to giggle a lot. “Hey Chuckles” The Clown did not look impressed. “That’s a no then” Daffy, Happy, Koko and Smiles were all summarily ignored. She did not even try with Tickles, shuddering at the mental image of that. The clown meanwhile had begun exploring the apartment. Sniffing everything, and occasionally gnawing at it if it seemed interesting enough. It was like a cat. A jingly, puff sleeved cat with ruffles that would bite her ankles if she didn’t lift them up out of reach already. Maybe a laser pointer would work on it. Oh hell, she was going to need to find a bed for this thing too, wasn’t she. Because there was no way she’d let that thing in her room at night. Clowns were only cute in daylight. A box would work right? She had some lying around somewhere surely. She did not, in fact, have any as she later found out (after another three pages worth of names. By the end she was getting desperate and just throwing out words to see if anything would stick. Lettuce was not one of the better options). By then it was getting into the late evening and the Clown itself had not shown any signs of being tired. Anne however, was. Coffee only did so much and she hadn’t even thought about the food issue yet. Limbs popping from sitting so long, Anne trundled over to the fridge to find ‘something’ that might fit the bill. pizza, leftover Mac and cheese. Some milk that hadn’t spoiled yet. (Clowns were lactose intolerant, the web page has stressed this). There was spam in the cupboard, surely that was ‘strange’ enough to cater for them. she scooped it out onto a plate and offered it before him (he had taken to perching on the kitchen divider like a gargoyle). The clown huffed, turning it’s nose up. “Oh come on, NO one knows what goes into spam” Another huff. Turning its head the other way. “Fine fine..” She pulled out a steak. “I guess it could do..i mean, if I cut it in half and..” There was a weird half honk of delight and Anne found herself suddenly with armful of clawing Clown. It was instinctive. She screamed and threw the plate. The air was full of flying meat and hissing before landing with a thud (and jingle) on the tiles. The clown looking oddly pleased as it perched over it’s prize, eyes glittering in warning. “You know what? It’s cool. I’m not even hungry anyway” backing away slowly with unease beating a thrum in her chest. Don’t turn your back, don’t turn your back. Christ almighty, how was she going to survive two weeks of this?

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Notes: So I’m jumping on one of the WEIRDER bandwagons out there. Clown Pets! I don’t know what I find so gosh darn likable about this sudden new trend, but I for one am delighted by it. Enjoy my not at all serious fickletts as I play with the zany possibilities of this.

Several things to be noted:

1. Pennywises are not TRUE clowns. They’re like parasitic Cuckoos but a lot meaner.

2. I am unsure of the word for Baby Clowns but I feel like it should be ‘Chucklett’

3. This Chucklett is small and has not yet grown into many of its abilities. This will not stop it at all from causing mayhem.

4. Always support registered breeders and ensure you know what type of Clown you are getting before bringing one home.

#Clowns #Pet Clowns #Pennywise #It #Humour #Not to be taken seriously #I shouldn't be allowed to write #someone take away my keyboard

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theboredtanuki · 7 years ago

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Writing practice #1: Starbucks promote

*Author's not : So this was supposed to be a short AU thing to help get me back into the writing mood but it turned out longer than I expected. I even started writing an alternate version but I don't know if I'll post that one. Anyway, this is a simple love at first sight story. Enjoy.

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Title: Something Interesting.

"We are truly sorry for the inconvenience. Please have a nice day. " As he watched yet another disappointed costumer storm out into the crisp morning light, Yoichi's strained business smile finally twitched. "tch...fucking idiot." he whispered harshly under his breath. 'What is wrong with people these days!?' The whole unicorn frappachino debauchery had been the bane of his existence for the past few weeks. The stupid trend had died months ago yet there were still a few doltish Instagram wannabes who kept crawling back asking for a goddamned unicorn frappachino and the worst part was that he got yelled at when he told them they didn't make the damn things anymore. Why!? He didn't know how to make them, he never even liked them! Honestly, he was so close to yelling back and calling them out on their bullshit, but he wasn't ready to get fired over some silly costumer's antics. Going job hunting again would just be one big hassle plus it would be difficult to find another manager who was understanding enough to let him wear a light dusting of makeup on a workday.

He heaved an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his dark, slightly waved hair that fell just past his shoulders. Damn, it was still morning but he already felt like punching someone in the eye. "You hanging in there, Chi? " Like a dull butter knife hacking through his slightly murderous thoughts, Eugenie's flat toned voice rang out as she worked the espresso machine behind him. There might have been a hint of concern in there somewhere, he wasn't sure. One never knew when it came to his small bestie. "Haa... sometimes I wish internet trends could just burn in hell." " 'nother unicorn frappa order? " "It's the 10th one this week and it's just Tuesday! Whatever happened to regular plain coffee!?" "Don't let it bother you, sweets. Just blame the internet like everyone else does." "Tch... I hope they trip on a fidget spinner and break their IPhone. " He heard a chuckle for his tiny friend. 'Oh...she laughed. There might be a blue moon tonight or something.' It was very rear to get away sort of reaction from Genie (emotional or otherwise), so much so that he and most of their other close friends used her sparse emotional responses as either a forecast for natural disasters, a luck/love horoscope or a sign of the second coming of Christ. Whichever one it was, she never seemed to mind. It was all in good fun anyway. "Well, 'nough about the internet," her voice returned to its original stoic tune, not even hinting at her brief moment of amusement, "You need to cheer up. You promised to help me with my new piece after work. Can't have my pretty model being all pissy now, can I? "

He smiled. "Still won't give up on calling me 'pretty', will you." "Nah. " "Even if I offered to clean your house for a week? " "Oh, please. Both of us know you can't clean worth shit. " "Haha... Yeah, you're right. " And just like that, he was laughing again. Like whole ordeal with the customer never happened. It was amazing how she could cheer him up without even trying. It might be some weird superpower or something but nevertheless, he was lucky to have her as a friend. "Hey... Thanks, Gee." She glanced over her shoulder at him with the same blank look but her calm blue eyes had a gentle sparkle that somehow conveyed her appreciation. "Any time, babe." With that, she scurried off to deliver the espresso order, leaving Yoichi to face his counter once again. He took a deep calming breath and was ready to give the day another try. Eugenie was right. He didn't have to time to get so worked up over a few dense costumers. Who knows, maybe something interesting might take his mind off the whole incident. Just as that thought crossed his mind, a dull thud drew his attention to the front entrance as a tall man made his way in with a hand lightly rubbing his forehead. 'Wow, that hair... Wait, did he just walk into the glass door...? ' Yoichi quickly covered up his upcoming giggle with a discreet cough but he didn't miss the open chuckles of the few patrons in the cafe who witnessed what happened.

'Poor guy ' He began to observe the slightly disoriented young man. He looked to the first thing that had caught his attention, the man's hair. At first he thought it was a normal dark colour but when it caught the light of the sun, he realised that it was dyed dark purple colour that faded into navy blue at the tips. It was also very VERY long. It ran past the man's firm looking rear and was pulled back into a single braid with a cute little red bow at the end. It was rare to see guys who kept hair like that. It was almost...whimsical in fact. He took note of the man's pale green eyes darting from the menu above the counter to the white floor tiles, desperately trying to avoid any eye contact after his embarrassing entrance. He also took note of his height. He was a tall guy, about 6"2 from Yoichi's estimate, with a somewhat muscular frame that was draped in a casual shirt, light sweater and jeans. He had an overall gentle disposition despite his current state of nervousness of which Yoichi began to find oddly adorable in a way. He didn't usually make it a habit of checking out the odd male costumer who came in and out of the cafe but this guy was different. Just seeing him filled Yoichi with this strange urge. An urge to tease him relentlessly until he was too embarrassed to function. It seemed like a perfectly normal feeling to have. Almost.

"Welcome" to Starbucks, sir. How may I help? " The guy almost jumped through the roof at the sound of Yoichi's voice, as if he hadn't realised he had just walked up to the counter. Yoichi began to have a hard time keeping his business smile from turning into a full on grin. The guy was way too cute. "Oh! umm... I-I'm sorry. I would like a C-cascara Coconut milk Latte. P-please... " Yoichi never thought he'd hear the voice of an angel until today. Despite his constant nervous stuttering, his voice had this odd placidity to it, as if it belonged to some lake fairy or something. He wouldn't mind listening to him talk a bit more. "Okay, and what size will it be? " "Umm... a-uh - what are the sizes again?... Ah, yes! Grande, please." He looked quite proud that he could remember those silly size names and honestly, it was hard not to feel proud of him as well. Not when he had that small triumphant smile on his face. "And your name, sir? " "Oh... Akito. " 'Akito...' Yoichi committed it to memory. He wouldn't forget that name. He didn't want to for some reason. "OK, sir. Your order will be out shortly. " "Alright. Thank you very much. "

The nervous tension seemed to ease off Akito. His face relaxed into an easy smile and Yoichi thought he had lost his heart for a moment. 'Not fair. That smile is just not fair ' Yoichi reluctantly pulled himself away and began making the latte. He stole a few glances at him every few seconds. They had made eye contact a few times, he was sure of it. He watched him fiddle with his phone in an attempt to be discreet. 'Hehe... such a cutie. ' "Cute one, eh. " Eugenie came up beside him to make another costumer's order, "you going for it? " "You think I should? " "He's not the usual spot on your radar but, " she glanced back to give Akito a quick once over, "he seems harmless enough. " He smiled and gave his petite friend a small playful nudge. "I don't need your approval, short stack." She nudged him back. "You never ask for my approval. That's why you've had such shit exs." "Hey now. They weren't all that bad. " Nope, they were. But he wasn't planning to admit he had shit taste in guys. Genie sighed and shook her head like a disappointed mother. "Just go before someone else picks him up. " She was right. Most of the store's patrons had gotten over Akito's not-so-graceful entrance and were now throwing curious glances his way, some were openly starring at him. One brave soul even took a quick picture. And from his sudden stiff posture, Akito noticed them as well . 'Ha, don't even think about it. You leeches.'

He was about to put the finishing touches on the latte but stopped. Why was he suddenly interested in this guy? Akito wasn't even his type. He usually went for the stereotypical bad boy and this guy gave off more of a big puppy vibe but there was just something oddly interesting about him. This was the first time he picked a partner on the basis of being "oddly interesting" but since he hadn't dated anyone in almost 8 months, maybe "interesting" was what he needed. With his mind made up, he finished the order and called out for Akito to pick it up. He looked up at him as he made his way to the counter, making sure to keep eye contact. He dropped his stiff business smile and went for something more friendly albeit a tad bit flirtatious and lastly he made sure their fingers brushed against each other as he handed over the drink. "Have a nice day, sir" "I-um... T-thank you." Yoichi didn't miss the bit of red that creped up on Akito's cheeks as he turned to leave, stumbling a bit with the door on his way out. Yep. Interesting was definitely what he needed. **********************************************

And that's it. I hope you enjoyed that. Some feedback would be nice. Thank you.

#writing practice #oc #oc prompt #otp prompts

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cutiecrates · 5 years ago

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Cutie Reviews: NMNL March 19

Okay, I wanted to let you guys know that I’m probably going to be moving. Long story short our land owner gave us an ultimatum we don’t agree with, and we only have this month to find places, check them out, pick one, pack, and get moved. We might be able to extend this to September, but we’re not sure. A month seems like a long time but not when you can only work on it a few days of the week.

I was devastated when I was told this back on Friday, I felt really sad and angry over the whole thing. But at the same time there is actually a whole, HUGE list of positives in this move; like a bigger home, an actual porch and backyard, I can modify my room to fit the current me instead of the me that moved in almost 20 years ago, we’ll finally go through things we’ve been putting off, central cooling~

Basically, I just wanted to keep you guys updated so if my activity slows down you know why.

“Tired of the cold? Don’t worry, spring is on its way! Everything is coming to life: flowers start blooming and colors around us are becoming more vibrant. That’s why in March’s box we’ve included Japanese and Korean beauty products that are also giving off vibrant vibes so that you can create colorful and fun spring looks!“

Contest Prizes

This month, the winners would get Cherry Blossom cleansing oil, and 5 hyaluronic acid face masks.

Glam Gift

This month the glam gift seems to be focusing on pretty pastel colored items for the face. The two featured brands are Missha and Nihonshu.

Meanwhile, this months horoscope is a Must-Try Activity. For example, mine (Libra) suggests a new recipe to work on cooking skills, my friend is a Gemini and it suggests she take friends on a picnic. The featured celebrity is JooE from kpop group Momoland, who is also the face of the makeup brand Baker7.

Hair Curler Set & Mineral Ion Hairbrush

First we have this unique set of hair curlers (you get 4 of both pieces), that bind the hair over night to produce lovely waves without the use of a hot curling wand. Depending on how you use them, you might also produce curls instead... which happened to me because I didn’t realize I was putting my hair into it wrongly. The book gives you no instructions, and the back of the packaging just made it look like gibberish to me. You’re supposed to like... flatten/spread out the hair, if you just wrap it around you get curls.

Rating: ♥ ♥

So curls or waves, I’ve used this twice and as a warning, this probably wouldn’t be a good item if you get headaches easily. I got one both times of use. Once I wore them over night (9 hours give or take), the second time about a few hours, and I actually got the same results: curls that hold for a limited amount of time and still look kind of messy.

But to be fair, you do get a result. If you want it to last then you'll need spray or something to hold it.

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Our next item is this mineral infused mini-brush to repair and nourish the hair by stimulating the blood flow. If used repeatedly each day, there should be a noticeable improvement with split ends. The brush was available in pink or blue.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As a brush, I use types like this (my current is a really old bamboo brush that I was obsessed with and need a new one of) because any other type hurts me. Initially I thought it’s smaller size would make it difficult, and it did feel a little weird holding but the more I use it, the more natural it feels. I also feel like there has been some difference in my hair since using it a few days ago, so I think it works.

Cake Hand Cream

Our next item is a Baker7 Cake Hand Cream, which was available in Pink Berry, Banana, and Blueberry. The creams are made with ingredients that brighten, prevent aging, and protect the skin.

Out of the 3 I could have got, I’m sure you can tell I got the one I really wanted x3 it has a really pretty pale pink color, and it has a faint strawberry scent, it kind of reminds me of strawberry chocolate; and a very light hint of banana.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Well besides the adorable packaging, scent, color, it’s pretty much a typical hand cream. My hands feel really soft and nice after using it, and it seems to soak into the skin pretty quick so your hands don’t get greasy.

Candy Lip Tint

Another BK7 product, this time with JooE on the package as you can see. This lip tint comes in 3 delicious candy colors; from cherry red to red orange to coral. They’re also scented.

I think the creative design of the package was adorable, but after you take away the stick you’re left with the top half; so I was like “how does this open? Is it just liquid? is it on something?“

Well here’s my answer; it’s a wand. According to the back of the package I got Cherry Red. I agree there is a scent, but it doesn’t bring cherry to mind. Initially I was getting like... cinnamon? But now I can’t really place it.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I really like the unique packaging of the product. It’s really cute looking and fun to use, and the wands brush is very soft on the lips so the product glides on with little effort. It does tint though, so yeah it did take me like five washes to get it off my hand, and even now it’s still barely on my hand. On the lips it seems to come off easier, but you’re left with a pretty pink hue.

One oddity is that I noticed that when applied, my lips feel weird. I’m not really sure why that is. I did notice it lacked a foul taste though, which I appreciated. A lot of tints and “lip tattoo” products taste horrible.

Etude House Eye Shadow

Our next item is the Etude House “Look At My Eyes eye shadow“, available in red or pink with an adorable heart pattern in the product ♥ As you can see by my finger, the product is a bit of a... smoky copperish red color and has a vibrant shimmer with sparkle.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The product applies very easily, you can use it as is or build it up. I feel like the color would work with a lot of things, and I can’t get over how nice it looks. The hearts etched in the product is very cute, and I love how the container is clear.

Color Mascara

Our next item is this colored mascara, available in either red or blue (like delicious snowcones~) which as you can see is by Crayon Touch-me, like the lip product in February’s box. Ironically, this one says it’s made in Taiwan, rather than Korea or Japan.

As of late colored mascara seems to be growing as a trend, and I really like the concept but worry I can’t pull it off. But given my hair color, I feel like this would actually be a really nice color to compliment it.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

The image on the package shows the product being applied all over the eyelashes, while the book suggests giving your lashes an ombre look with it. I’m not really sure a full lash is possible, because the product is fairly scarce on the wand (which the book also shows) and in most cases, applying too much mascara makes your lashes clumpy and gross. I noticed that I had an easier time applying the product with my eye shut and doing it in swooping down motion.

But if you don’t mind a medium-minimum look, then the gradient/ombre is pretty good, and you can tell the product is there. It’s definitely noticeable though, and I’m planning on using it when I go to the mall, either later today or tomorrow.

Facial Cleansing Brush & Animal Mask

Okay, so any long-time readers will recognize the facial brush. I recently got in some boxes back and I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it if you can find it! It’s super-soft and feels amazing on the skin, and your face will thank you.

In saying that I won’t be reviewing it since I already have.

The next and final item though is an adorable animal mask by berissom: available in either collagen kitty/tiger, Vitamin C + arbutin sheep, blackberry panda, or hyaluronic acid puppy. These are called animal masks because they resemble a specific animal. All you do is wear it 15-20 minutes, then pat the remainder of product onto the skin.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

In terms of scent, it smells really good in a pleasant sense. Oddly enough, I get a combination of the store Target and shampoo. It was very wet and moisturizing when I put it on but it ended up being a lot longer than my face actually is, so I probably wasted three minutes or so fiddling with it. Because of that (I assume anyway) the ask dried very quickly, so I barely wore it for even 15 minutes before it got on my nerves.

But my face did feel better than it did prior to using it.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4.5 out of 5. Everything is practical and I like the items a lot. I just think some of them could have performed a little better.

Theme: 5 out of 5. Yeah, I guess I see it. I mean, the items are very vibrant looking and fun, I’m not sure they all fit spring well but I do like how all of the items were in pink-red and blue themes, to match the cover design.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10. I’m pretty happy with this box, I liked it a little less than the previous box, but I still thought it was really good. As I noted above, there was some minor issues, but nothing was useless and I know I’ll use these.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Mineral Hairbrush - I was kind of surprised by this decision, but I actually really really like this. I’ll probably be using it for now, if I can force myself to throw away my old brush...

2. Eye Shadow - the color is really pretty and I love how the piece looks; the product reminds me a lot of my favorite eye shadow palette to use.

3. Cake Hand Cream - Again the packaging says a lot, I love it! It smells so good it makes me want to eat shortcake... or strawberry chocolate.

4. Candy Lip Tint - I’m still not sure about the scent, but the color is really pretty. I can’t get over the unique package~

5. Color Mascara - I really like how it looks, I just wish it was possible to get a fully coated eyelash without having to use so much product...

6. Animal Mask - The package is very cute, and the smell was lovely. But the quality wasn’t doing it for me.

7. Facial Cleansing Brush - I’m not rating it low because of quality, if I went by quality this would probably be the #1 item! I just put it here because I already have it, and because I really liked the other items too.

8. Hair Curlers - They’re very unique, and although they are a little uncomfortable and can induce headaches, they aren’t unbearable. I would probably reach for my curling wand over these though.

#nmnl #nomakenolife #etude house

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toekneetv · 6 years ago

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These Are the Ugliest Crossovers and SUVs of All Time

Not only did Karl Benz invent the car, he invented the ugly car in the same effort. His 1885 Benz Patent-Motorwagen wasn't exactly a looker, as it resembled a bicycle-tired kitchen chair. But you’ve got to start somewhere (we're talking, of course, about ugly vehicles, not cars in general). It would be many decades after the world was put on wheels for SUVs to appear, though not long after that ugliness caught up with that vehicle format, too. Pretty much everyone is (or should be) in agreement that Pontiac's Aztek, produced from 2001-2005, is the most repulsive of the breed. Nearly 20 years later, the misshapen crossover, with its narrow hips and insectilian face, remains the butt of jokes and the scapegoat for the death of the Pontiac brand. But is the Aztek really the ugliest SUV ever? Here we've gathered a list of 20 others that have a shot at the title; many also count among the greatest automotive flops of all time. To give these uggos a shot at fairness, then, we've arranged them in unbiased, alphabetical order.Pontiac

Acura ZDX (2010–2013)Our original road test of the 2010 Acura ZDX begins: "We're tempted to believe that ZDX stands for 'zero demand expected.'" Our clairvoyance proved accurate, and the fastbacked, bubblebutted, and birdnosed ZDX found few takers and lasted just three years in the U.S. Acura put this chopped-top version of its popular MDX out of misery in 2013, ironically right as today's "crossover coupe" trend, such as it is, was beginning to build steam behind BMW's X6 and the format spread elsewhere in that brand's lineup, as well as Mercedes-Benz's.Acura

Bentley Bentayga (2016–present)Regardless of what you’ve heard, Bentayga is not a Swahili word that means cross-eyed cow, but the mistake, were you to make it, is understandable. Despite the Bentley Bentayga's severe case of Strabismus, known more commonly as misaligned or crossed eyes, it has become is maker's best-selling model. It also is Bentley's first and only SUV.Chris Doane Automotive - Car and Driver

Buick Rendezvous (2002–2007)Sharing its platform and therefore its unsightly, lumpen-potato shape with the Pontiac Aztek, this poor mutant was doomed from the start. Although there is little resemblance between the Aztek and the Rendezvous, which was produced from 2002 to 2007, the Buick proved GM’s design studio could make many of the same mistakes twice.AARON KILEY

Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT/GMC Envoy XUV (2004–2005)In the early 2000s, GM’s design studio was apparently looking to corner the market on ugly SUVs, and it mostly succeeded. Two of its worst projects-besides, of course, the Aztek-were the extended-wheelbase versions of the Chevy Trailblazer and the GMC Envoy. GM stretched these rigs limo-style, adding 16-inches to their wheelbases, deforming the three-row SUVs into proportions so misshapen they have a fun house mirror quality. That the Envoy XUV's roof could be partially retracted (the part over the cargo area) for carrying tall things both made no sense and was completely overshadowed by the GMC's hideousness.

Chrysler Aspen (2007–2009)Based on the second-generation Dodge Durango, which itself looked like a Pug sucking on a lemon, the Aspen was the first SUV marketed by the Chrysler brand. That is pretty much where the fun facts end, unless you count the hybrid version Chrysler sold a few hundred of before pulling the plug. Anyway, the Aspen's overly chromed flanks go poorly with the overly flared wheel arches, while the grille appears to be pulled from a 1972 Mercedes and turned on its side. Somehow, the Chrysler still managed to be vapid and generally unattractive. Since most Americans that drive do have eyes, it was a flop.Chrysler

Dodge Nitro (2007–2012)Chrysler doubled down on hideous SUV design in 2007 by launching the Dodge Nitro, a rebadged and offensively squared-off version of the Jeep Liberty, right around the same time as the similarly bad Jeep Commander and Chrysler Aspen. Despite its overwrought flared fenders, the Nitro manages to look tall and narrow. Even more intriguing is its underbite face, which appears bearded in the style of C. Everett Koop.

Honda Crosstour (2010–2015)Honda's design team must have shaped the 2010 Crosstour on a bet. As in, "I bet we can make this new wagon/crossover look like a Platypus and the executives will still sign off on it." Well, they did and they did. The resultant Crosstour wasn't popular, but it sure was hunchbacked. After just five years and a single generation, the Crosstour was crossed out.Honda

Honda Element (2003–2011)The Honda Element seemed to be inspired by Picasso's Figure dans un Fauteuil, but it's no exercise in Cubism. Instead, it looks like a mail truck got busy with a Honda CR-V-actually, that's not far from the truth, as this relentlessly rectilinear SUV was based on the un-weird CR-V crossover. Later in its life cycle, the Element became slightly less repugnant, thanks to Honda's decision to paint more of its previously raw gray plastic bodywork.Honda

Hyundai Santa Fe (2001–2006)The original Hyundai Santa Fe is so frumpy it surely was designed by at least a dozen people who didn't talk to each other but enjoyed group play with clay like Patrick Swayze in the movie Ghost. The SUV's shape is wrought with odd concavities and bulges, like Play-Doh squeezed by a child's fist; from some angles it actually appears dented, as if its front fenders have been hit with a baseball bat.Hyundai

Infiniti QX56 (2004–2010)The first-generation Infiniti QX56 (now known as the QX80) was a chromed-up version of the Nissan Pathfinder Armada, meaning that both full-size SUVs were based on the Titan pickup truck. Infiniti fitted the massive QX56 with a car-like nose and elements from its sedans, creating a centaur-like monstrosity with an oddly domed roof and none of the mystical creature’s elegance or muscularity. Its immediate followup wasn't great either, with a beluga-like front end; a refresh for 2018 transformed the design into something actually good-looking.Infiniti

Isuzu Vehicross (1999–2001)If the Suzuki Vehicross has a calling card, it's that it appears to have more bottom than top, if that makes sense. It also predates the Pontiac Aztek. When the concept version debuted at the Tokyo Auto Show in 1993, we called it fish-faced. Later, we said the production version looks like an escapee from the set of "Battlestar Galactica." Hey, it's still the only SUV ever produced with vampire fangs.Isuzu

Jeep Compass (2007–2017)The design of the current Jeep Compass is clean, decently proportioned, and appealingly upscale (in sharp contrast to the rest of the little crossover, which is decidedly down-market). Mostly, this is because the second-generation Compass resembles a smaller Grand Cherokee. Too bad the original Compass was the exact opposite, with a bug-eyed face, weird roofline, and blocky lower-body detailing. It sold in strong numbers from 2007 to 2017, though for the life of us we can't figure out why.Jeep

Lamborghini LM002 (1986–1993)Cool can be ugly, and vice versa. And SUVs don’t come much cooler or much uglier than the Rambo Lambo. Angular to a flaw, the LM002 could use a curve or two. Its body panels are as flat as Fenway’s Green Monster. And the styling, such as it is, is applied liberally and seemingly without consideration. Hey, why not bend this that way, or toss an angle there? Originally designed for military use in the 1970s, Lambo built about 300 twelve-cylinder "civilian versions" from 1986 to 1993.Al Satterwhite

Lexus LX570 (2012–present)If there’s one vehicle that combines everything wrong with Toyota and Lexus design over the last 30 years, it’s the current LX570. The luxurious Lexus version of the venerable Toyota Land Cruiser is now in its third generation and has been homely ever since it debuted in 2008. The LX grew downright grotesque in 2012 when, to the already cosmetically challenged SUV Lexus began adding mutations of its spindle grille along with low-hanging rocker trim. Today’s version of the SUV seems to be a caricature drawing of itself, and, wait, isn't it supposed to be for off-roading?Chris Doane Automotive - Car and Driver

Lincoln MKT / Town Car (2010–present)Sometime around 2006, someone at Lincoln must have decided American luxury car buyers wanted a three-row SUV with the grin of a baleen whale and the appearance of having a loaded diaper. So began the development of what would become the 2010 Lincoln MKT (at least, so we think), which was based on the Ford Flex. A minivan-esque silhouette, grossly long overhangs front and rear, and, though we've already mentioned it, that awful grille are co-conspirators in the Lincoln's ugly play. Even though the MKT remains in production for fleets and hired-car services, it has never sold in respectable numbers; fewer than 3000 were bought last year.Lincoln

Nissan Juke (2011–2017)According to Nissan, the Juke's greenhouse resembles the visor of a motorcycle helmet and the small SUV’s curvy fenders evoke the so-called "Coke bottle" styling popular in the late 1960s. It sound pretty cool, but in reality the Juke’s design is a hot mess, exacerbated by a painfully overdesigned, frog-like front end the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the Aztek was put down in 2005. Some people actually find the bug-eyed design cute. We don't.Nissan

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet (2011–2014)Allegedly, Nissan's now-former CEO Carlos Ghosn pushed the Murano CrossCabriolet into production because his wife liked the idea of it. Well, nobody (okay, almost nobody) else did. The two-door convertible crossover was a packaging disaster and visually challenged whether its cloth top was raised or stowed. Like the Aztek 10 years its senior, the Nissan became a punchline and it lasted just three years on the market before we had to say goodbye. Bizarrely, these days CrossCabriolets enjoy a cult following; meanwhile, Mr. Ghosn, for the first time, has bigger problems than being tangled up with the CrossCab's birth story.Nissan

Subaru B9 Tribeca (2007–2014)Subaru claimed the B9 Tribeca's front-end design was inspired by Alfa Romeo race cars of the 1930s. And you could see the resemblance if you squinted really, really hard. The look, which debuted in 2006, triggered more gag reflexes than sales-or, maybe, it was the three-row crossover's inexplicable name-and an updated model with a less controversial face was rushed into production for the 2008 model year. At the same time, Subaru mercifully dropped the "B9" part from the Tribeca's name. Apparently, this arbitrage was enough; the SUV lasted essentially unchanged until its discontinuation in 2014.Subaru

Suzuki X-90 (1995–1997)The next time someone tells you there is no such thing as a bad idea, show them a picture of the Suzuki X-90, a two-seat SUV with about the passenger and cargo space of a Mazda MX-5 Miata. Basically a chopped down Suzuki Sidekick, the X-90's tiny dimensions and odd proportions kept its appeal in check. With its narrow track, high stance and tall greenhouse it looked like roller-skate. It's of little surprise, then, that the Suzuki was only sold here from 1995 to 1997.

Suzuki XL-7 (2007–2009)Automotive designers are always looking to other art disciplines for inspiration, and the designers of the Suzuki XL-7's second generation divined their vision from the face of rock god Alice Cooper. At least, they must've-how else can you explain the drooping, curvy headlights on the unpopular SUV? The XL-7 also features-if that's the right word-an oddly long nose and too long a wheelbase and overall length for its narrow gait.Suzuki

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5hfanfiction · 8 years ago

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Too Close To Home - Chapter 15

“DINAH, STOP DESTROYING MY MAKEUP KIT,” I yell from the bathroom as I hear Dinah rummage my stuff. I’m currently fixing my hair in the bathroom with a white crop top and panties, getting ready with the girls for our night out.

“Don’t be so dramatic Walz, my face is too cute to destroy them. Actually, if they were living-things, they would actually be grateful that it’s on me and not you.” Typical Dinah, narcissist at its finest.

“Hey Mila, can I use the toilet?” Normani says as she pops her head into the room, startling me from the sudden intrusion.

“Sure, just let-”

“Thanks,” she interrupts and walks over to the toilet, not even bothered that I’m here or to close the bathroom door.

As the echo of Normani peeing fills the room, Ally comes with her own makeup kit to the bathroom.

“Are you done? Dinah’s messing with the powder that the mirror doesn’t even reflect anymore. Can I use the mirror here?” Ally says, as she walks over to me, placing her kits on the counter.

“DINAH!! MY MAKEUP!” I shout again.

“YOU’RE A SUCCESSFUL SINGER, I’M SURE YOU CAN BUY MORE!”

“YOU ARE TOO.. WHERE’S YOURS?”

“IN MY BAG.”

“THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU USING MINE?!?”

“TOO TIRED.”

“SO YOU’RE TIRED TO FIND YOURS BUT YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM SEARCHING FOR MINE?”

“YEAP.” And with that, our conversation ends. Stopping her would be useless by now since the damage is done. I’m just thankful that I already applied my makeup.

Ally is now putting on makeup while Normani is still sitting on the toilet with her phone on her hand, scrolling through God knows what. She doesn’t seem like she’s peeing anymore though.

A few moments later, after I think that my hair seem presentable enough, I heard another distinct clashing sound outside.

I grunt. Dinah is such an ass sometimes.

The girls decided to get ready in my suite. Their management sent people to send their necessary items here for the next few days since they decided to stay in the hotel building until I get back on the road.

This was actually how we used to get ready. Everyone moving around, making a mess everywhere. I used to hate it, because I always lose my stuffs as a result. But now that I’m alone on the road, I seriously miss the chaos we used to create.

I walk out of the bathroom to the bedroom, finding Dinah sitting on my bed with a phone in front of her, probably taking selfies. Who am I kidding? Of course she is.

She is wearing a halter crop top with an aztec print and a matching shorts. From the looks of it, she looks ready too.

“Dinah, you make it seem like there was an earthquake here,” I point out, gesturing the whole room as I do so.

“Oh puh-lease, it was already messy before I came, I just merely added more trash inside the bin.”

Instead of arguing (because she made a point), I start searching for my jean shorts. putting it on once I found it.

I decided to keep it simple for our night out today. A white crop top and blue shorts was the way to go.

“Eww, Mila… what are you wearing?”

“Dinah, I swear to God, I will fight you if you start judging the way I dress.”

“Oh, come on… Like you would beat me.”

“You wanna try me?” I playfully ask in a menacing tone.

She looks at me with a smirk plastered on her face. But just as she opens her mouth, the bell rung.

I jump from the sudden sound. I look over at Dinah, hoping she would get the hint to open the door but failing miserably as she continues posing on her phone.

I sigh in defeat and walk over to the front door. Lo and behold, Lauren came to view. She’s wearing a black dress that has a weird asymmetrical cut on her chest. There’s also deep cut on the lower part of her dress. But as odd as the dress is, she made it beautiful - just like always.

My eyes drift to Lucy beside her, she’s wearing a simple silver dress that was spaghetti strapped that is holding her dress together.

“Hey guys, what are you doing here?” I ask politely as I step away from the door to let them walk in.

“We were going to go dinner but we decided to stop by before we go first. You look beautiful, Camila, as always,” Lucy compliments, hugging me before letting herself in.

“Thanks, but not as beautiful as you though,” I reply, giving Lucy a wink as I do so. She just chuckled in response.

We all walk to the couch and sat down. But just as we all sit, Lucy excused herself, saying that she needed to go to the bathroom.

Now, it’s just Lauren and I. I just look at her in awe. She looks so beautiful tonight that I couldn’t stop staring. I know it’s wrong, considering Lucy is just a few feet away, but the way her dress is hugging her right now, I am now deaf to the blaring warning sirens.

“You really do look beautiful, Camz,” Lauren says, repeating what her fiancé said just a few minutes ago.

“Thanks, you do too,” I smile, still staring like a fan girl meeting her idol for the first time.

“So, you know what club you guys are going to?”

“Normani does.. I really don’t know anything about clubs and stuffs. I haven’t really changed in that aspect.”

She chuckles, knowing how true my statement is. If it wasn’t for the girls, I wouldn’t go out today. I would’ve preferred staying in and read a book or watch a sappy chic flick.

We just lock eyes at each other. I couldn’t stop. Seriously. It’s just that her green eyes are so mesmerizing and so-so magnetic. Now that she’s wearing dark eye shadow and thick eyeliners, it just enhanced her green eyes more.

Someone clears her throat, making me snap my attention to the source. Dinah’s leaning against the frame of the bedroom door and look at me knowingly.

“Mila, can you help me with my makeup for a minute?”

I nod, walking towards the bedroom, knowing very well that she had done that already.

Once we were out of earshot, Dinah closes the door softly and asks, “So… What’s happening between you and Lauren?”

“What ever do you mean?” I ask, playing innocent, elongating the inevitable discussion.

“Umm, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you looked like you were eye-fucking Lauren a few minutes ago. I actually noticed this a few days ago, especially when I saw your pained expression when you were looking at Lauren and Lucy together. But I thought it was just because Lauren was your ex. But now, what’s happening?”

“Nothing…”

“Really? Cause that didn’t look like nothing. You know you can talk to me about it, right?”

“Nothing’s happening..” I say with finality, getting defensive by the minute. It wasn’t on purpose but I didn’t want to feel vulnerable yet. I can’t just open up to her right now, Lauren’s her best friend too. And the fact that Lauren is currently outside this four walls isn’t really helping. “Now that that’s all cleared up, can I go now? Or should we talk about Normani?”

“Don’t think one second that I’m letting this go, Walz. You should be thankful that we have to go soon, I would’ve given you a Poly Beatdown but I don’t wanna mess my hair just yet,” she says playfully, letting it go for now. Thankfully, I have about a day, enough to collect my thoughts.

I just laugh in response and turn the door knob. “Wait, why did you bring Normani up?” she asks with a hint of nervousness.

I contemplate whether to disclose what I heard or not. Maybe I heard wrong. Maybe there’s really nothing happening between them.

I decided to let it go now. I feel like I should observe them first before making a conclusion that big.

“Nothing, was just tryna redirect the conversation.”

“Oh…” She seems relieved but I decided to ignore that too, “And Camila… Please remember that Lauren’s engaged.”

I nod and walk out. Lucy’s back and is now sitting close to Lauren on the couch.

I mask my facial expression from a pained to a happy one. If Dinah saw it, it means that I haven’t really hidden it well.

I sit back down on the couch that is perpendicular to them. We talk more for a few minutes, before they decide that they should go.

Once they were out of sight, I released a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding. That was a lot harder than I thought.

***

“LETS DO SHOTS,” Dinah shouts over the blaring music.

3 hours through clubbing and 5 shots later, I’m a mess. I haven’t stopped thinking about Lauren. It’s 11pm now and I can only imagine where they are right now.

Probably fucking.

It used to be me. I was the one dating Lauren. I was the one kissing her. I was the one who was able to wake up next to her. And now, I’m not anymore. Since I’m drunk, every thoughts that I hid in the corner resurfaced. So yes, my thoughts circulated around her.

I should be moving on. I know I should. But knowing that she’s happy with someone else, it’s the biggest revenge she can have on me.

When Lauren came with that sinful dress, I became more sexually frustrated. I mean, her cleavage was just there for me to stare at. I feel like she’s doing it deliberately.

At that thought, I drank one more shot, feeling the drink burn through my veins. My thoughts start to deplete, numbing my mind. Finally..

I make my way to the sea of people on the dance floor and just dance, moving my body around random people. Dinah, Ally and Normani just laughed from the booth as they look at me dance around with no sense of rhythm.

Lauren and Lucy. Their names are so perfect together. It’s like they’re meant to be. Though, let’s be honest here, their ship-name is quite ugly. Laucy. Like, how do you even pronounce it, Law-C? Lo-C? Lau-C? It’s a mouthful. Even my drunk thoughts can’t enunciate it right.

Camren however. It’s the most beautiful ship name I’ve ever heard. I have a feeling that the name will be a trend for baby names in the next generation. I have to thank the Camren Shippers for that. At least if mine and Lauren’s relationship is dead, they’re still able to say that Camren is alive, by technicalities.

Just as I dance, a girl leaning against the bar caught my attention. She looks oddly similar to Lauren. Dark hair, thick brows. The only difference was her height - she seems taller than Lauren.

We lock eyes. She smiles seductively, causing a shiver down my spine. She’s not Lauren, but she would do.

She walks towards me, slowly and seductively. My eyes lands on her assets. God, she’s just as curvy as Lauren. My thoughts are running wild on what I wanna do with her.

When she was in front of me, she doesn’t say anything, just danced with me. At first, I fought the urge to touch her, but as she looks at me invitingly, all inhibitions were hopeless.

She grinds on me, moving her body sexually, knowing that she has me wrapped around her finger. Hell, I would have dragged her to the bathroom and have my way with her. But bathrooms are way too gross.

Lauren and Lucy came then, sitting on our booth. She’s looking at me, her brows contorting into a frown as the unnamed-girl and I grind on each other.

I’m so tired of this. What does she want? She looks like she wants me, and her actions could affirm that. But then, she has a fiancé. She can’t cheat. She’s not the type of person to do that. I’m not the type of person to do that. I can’t be the mistress. I can’t be the one who would allow her to do that. So unless she breaks up with Lucy, she’s basically impossible.

But then, why is she acting like a jealous girlfriend right now? It was actually flattering at first, but now, it’s just pissing me off. What right does she has to actually act like this? We’re not together nor does she own me.

“Hey? You wanna sit for a while?” I ask the unnamed girl after sometime, sweat forming on my forehead.

“Yeah sure.”

I grab her hand and basically drag her to the U-shaped booth where the girls are sitting. I sit on the end while Lauren sits across from me, on the other end of the booth.

Awkward silence ensued. Not knowing what to do, I take the last shot, finishing the drink we bought.

Dinah seem to notice the growing tension while Ally and Normani were oblivious and talking amongst themselves.

“Hey, baby, I’m gonna buy more shots okay?” Lauren shouts to Lucy.

“Sure, do you want me to come with?”

“No, it’s okay… Camz, come with me..” Lauren suddenly says. I look at her confusedly while Lucy frowns.

But nevertheless, she lets us go and we walk to the bar together. I almost feel bad for leaving the unnamed girl with a bunch of strangers but I can’t really argue with Lauren if she’s dead set on it. She also looked like she wanted to ask something.

After she orders the drinks for everyone in the booth, Lauren turns against the bar and leans on it, facing me.

I decided to start the conversation since Lauren doesn’t look like she wants to start first, “So, why are you guys here? Don’t you guys have a date or something?”

“That was like, three hours ago.”

“Yeah, but still… You guys have the night to yourselves.. Why hang with the single ladies?”

“Why not? You guys are my friends too. And Lucy said she doesn’t mind.”

“Bu- Nevermind.”

“Who’s the girl?” She asks after a few seconds of silence, changing the subject.

“Dunno,” I say, adding a shrug to the mix to appear nonchalant.

“You guys seemed close.” We literally had this same discussion just less than 24 hours ago. But now that I’m drunk, I have no restraints to say what I’m thinking of.

“Does that matter?”

“Camila, you’re a well-known artist now. Don’t hook up with her. She might take advantage of you.”

“Why do you care?” I sneer. Everything that happened between us was now coming into the light. Yes, we fought a lot, but there are still some grudges that I can’t seem to amputate.

“You know I do, we’re friends..” She says, crossing her arms as a defensive stance.

“Are we, Lauren? Who are you trying to kid? Me or you?” I ask, emphasizing ‘you’.

“Camila, just please stop,” she says, redirecting the conversation to the girl, “I have a bad feeling about this. I just don’t want you to hook up with random girls. You’re not like this,” she says softly, infuriating me further. I know it’s temperamental but I just love the feeling of finally letting my emotions run wild. She says that she knows me but we haven’t really talked in a really long time. I changed. I know I did. Maybe hooking up with a random stranger is one of them.

“Just let it be Lauren..” I walk back to the booth without saying anything more, situating myself back next to the unnamed girl.

“You okay? You seem agitated.” she asks.

“Nothing, just tired,” I whisper.

Lauren came back with 8 tequila shots. She sat across from me and place them on the table.

“LET’S PLAY TRUTH OR DARE!!” Dinah shouts.

Not knowing what else to do, we accepted. A bunch of young adults playing a game that teens play when having a sleepover. What am I doing with my life?

“Alright, Camila.. You start first since yesterday was your birthday.”

“Alright, Dinah.. Truth or Dare?”

“Pshh… Dare,” She says daringly.

I crack my head, searching for a dare that would be suitable for Dinah. As I look around, Normani came to mind. I smirk, “I dare you to make out with Normani for 2 minutes.”

Dinah’s eyes are now as wide as a whore’s vagina (no judgement). Her cheeks grew redder by the second. Interesting.

Normani is beside Dinah so we don’t really have to reposition ourselves. Normani looks over at Dinah and smiles mischievously. The others were just as eager as she seems. Dinah looks like she’s having an internal battle with herself.

But before I push them further, Dinah forcefully place her hand on Normani’s cheeks and leans in. At first, Normani looked surprised, seemingly unable to respond. But after a few seconds later, she starts to reciprocate. Their lips locked like a jigsaw puzzle, interchanging their lips from top to bottom after some time. They look like they’re enjoying themselves too.

Ally looks at her watch, counting the minutes as they continue making out. After some time, Ally says, “Time’s up,” but they still haven’t pull out from each other.

Okay yeah.. Now it’s uncomfortable. Two friends basically making babies with their mouths in front of us.

Fortunately, they pull out after a few seconds later, but not without Dinah biting and pulling Normani’s lower lip first.

They seem like they’re in a daze, just staring at each other, smiling as they do so. Something’s definitely going on. I wasn’t deluded then.

Finally, Dinah shifts her attention back to earth, “Now that that’s done, Lauren.. Truth or Dare?”

“Umm… Truth.”

“Such a pussy.. Fine. Who was your first girl kiss?”

“Uhh..” Lauren shifts her attention from me to Lucy, “Lucy..”

I’m confused. I know I wasn’t her first kiss in general, but I was pretty convinced that it was me when it comes to girls. We never really outwardly talk about it, but what I did know was that I was her first girlfriend so I assumed that I was.

“Wait what? when?” Normani asks.

“Middle school…”

“Huh? Why?”

Lauren shrugs and look down. Normani still looked confused and divert her eyes to Lucy expectantly.

“We were a thing before the X-Factor. We were never officially together but we were pretty exclusive,” Lucy divulge, not realizing that what she had just said basically killed me.

I feel my heart drop to my stomach. I’m just more confused and rightly pissed. I feel like I just got slapped on the face. She lied to me. Fucking Lauren lied to me.

When we were together, Lauren used the reason, 'platonic soulmates.’ And I did assume that she lied to me at that time. But when Lauren said that she never cheated on me, I believed her and concluded that her feelings grew into a romantic one after we broke up. But now that they said that they were a thing before we were, it feels like she’s just rapidly stabbing my heart.

I don’t even know if what we had is even real anymore.

I look over at Lauren, maybe it’s just a joke, maybe Lucy was just being cocky. But by the looks of Lauren’s embarrassed expression, I know that it wasn’t a lie.

Lies. Lies. Lies. That word repeats on my head. Even as the game continues. Even as Ally confesses her kink as a result of her choosing Truth. Even as the game continues from Ally to No Name to Normani.. Which means by default, it’s my turn.

“Camila, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare,” I answer, I don’t want to confess anything at this moment.

“I dare you to take a body shot on…” she trails off as she looks at No Name.

“Alycia-”

“-on Alycia..” Normani ends.

I shrug nonchalantly, not even bothered to be coy about it. Lauren seemed uncomfortable and bothered. I smirk, “Where?”

“Um.. let’s keep it simple. On the neck.”

“Boring… but sure,” I say, taking the salt shaker from the table. I shake the salt out to her already sticky neck. I retrieve the lime and put it between her teeth. After that was finished, I took ahold of one of the drinks.

I flash a look over at the girls as they all gaze at me, waiting. They seemed excited for some reason. All except one of course. Lauren just glares sternly.

I look back at the girl, and lick her neck slowly, sucking it as I do so. She moans softly. I took my time on her neck before pulling back to take my shot and lean to capture her lips and the lime. I bite the lime but our lips were still on each other. Things escalated quickly as I retreat for a second to throw the lime off and lean back in to kiss her once more. The girls hollered and laugh as we make out. Moments later, I break the kiss and glance at the smiling girls. Again, all except one.

Throughout the night, it was pretty uneventful as we just danced and drink. Lauren didn’t look like she had a good time but why the hell do I care?

We called 2 cabs and drive back to the hotel. I brought Alycia with me and the rest was history.

***

I wake up naked the next morning with a strong headache. Alycia was gone by then, knowing where we stood. At least I didn’t have to deal with kicking her ass out.

I walk to the kitchen to retrieve two Advil, popping them into my mouth to relieve my banging head.

The rest of the morning was just me mopping around alone in my suite. Dinah slept over at Ally and Normani’s room since I had a visitor last night.

When afternoon rolled around, I received a link from Dinah, asking me to check it because it’s important.

'Camila Cabello Had A One-Night-Stand With A Girl’

#UPDATE #series #non AU #camren #norminah #angst drama #romance fluff #submission #Too Close To Home

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knightsoflight · 7 years ago

Text

Chapter 4: A New Beginning Pt1

Three young people must fight the darkness to survive. Warning: Fowl language and intense/uncomfortable moments. DO NOT REPOST!

That morning, Eric was sleeping peacefully with window shades shut as well as the door. He had went out after saying good night to gather the few belongings he had, which he put in a safe place near by. All he had was a suitcase and a hand bag full of some clothes, hygienic materials, and a few toys and books. He had put them neatly in the closet before heading off to bed. He put on a comfortable pair of black, clean pants and a baggy shirt. Then gotten under the covers and instantly went to sleep.

The boy was so tired that he slept into the early afternoon and Tenna decided not to disturb him especially since he was a vampire. It was hard for Tenna to keep quiet though. She had to entertain herself and went outside a few times to get the extra energy out. Finally, the young vampire woke up and put his regular clothes back on.

"Finally you're awake." Tenna replied. "You must have been tired, but then again I was kinda expecting you to sleep all day."

"I do sometimes." Eric replied. "Mainly cause I have nothing better to do." As soon as Eric walked into the pastel sunlight that glistened in the window "POOF!" a cloud of smoke appeared and Tenna screamed!

****

"So let me get this straight..." Devi replied as she looked at the situation. "Eric walked into the sun and now he's a bat?"

"Yeah..." Eric replied as he fluttered in his newly found form. Newly found for Devi and Tenna anyway. His bat form was black with unusual white collar and chest fluff. He had long ears and his usual blue eyes.

Tenna grabbed and cuddle him. "Isn't he so cute!?" Tenna squealed. "I squealed on how cute he is!"

"You mean you screamed like a banshee..." Devi replied. Eric struggled to get out of Tenna's grasp and finally popped free.

"You need to be careful doing that, Tenna." Devi replied a little concern for Eric. "Bat's I've learned, are very fragile."

"So, this is what you meant that you don't take up much space during the day!" Tenna replied as she giggled.

"Yes it is..." Eric sighed.

"How come you turn into a bat in sunlight?" Devi asked

"From what Magnus told me..." Eric replied "A great and powerful vampire lord, known as the king of vampires, cast a spell so powerful it would effect all vampires. He wanted a way to protect his children (all the vampires of the world), from burning away in the sun. So instead of turning into dust when hit in sunlight, the vampire would obtain a bat form to conserve energy in a smaller body. Some how it protected vampires from the sunlight. It also disguised vampires from hunters during the day."

"Interesting story." Tenna replied "But whose Magnus?"

"Magnus is the one that turned me into a vampire and saved me." Eric replied "He comes around from time to time, teaching me a few things and sometimes helping me out in a tight spot. I kinda see him as my guardian and of course teacher."

"Aww cool!" Tenna replied

"So you have to stay in this form all day?" Devi asked

"Well for the most part, yeah." Eric replied "There is away for me to turn into my normal self for at least two to four hours during the day." With this he flew up to Devi and kissed her on the lips. Then "POOF!" he was back to normal.

"Wicked!" Tenna replied excitedly. "So you have to kiss someone to turn to normal form?"

"Well someone of the opposite gender then me." Eric replied "And don't ask how I found that out!" He said this while putting out his hands in the middle then spreading them a part, in a "out of the question" gesture. Then he put his hand on his head with a grieving look, to show that he really didn't want to relive the experience he had, when he first found that out.

Devi touched her lips chastely and then hit Eric over the head. "Eric! You idiot!" She shouted a bit flusterly.

"Ow!" Eric replied as he rubbed his head. "Sorry, I was just giving a demonstration!"

"Next time use Tenna for a demonstration!" Devi shouted.

"Hey!" Tenna snapped!

"Sorry..." Eric replied this time with in a honest form as he rubbed the back of his head.

Devi looked with slight guiltiness. She knew he didn't mean any harm doing that and said "Well, I guess I shouldn't snapped like that..."

"You're still bothered from last night, aren't you?" Eric asked sadly.

"I guess..." Devi replied.

Eric looked down and then noticed Devi's hands wrapped in bandages. "What happen to your hands?" Eric asked.

"Um..." Devi replied nervously. "I kinda got frustrated at the doll in my head and well I ended up having an accident ..." She then nervously rubbed the back of her head as a flash back came into her head.

"Will you please stop!" Devi told the doll. "It's already bad enough some psycho freak is after me!"

"Devi...." Cried the little doll. Devi sighed and collapse against the wall as put her hands over her head.

The doll laid on the ground as tears ran down its face. Devi saw this and couldn't help but feel bad for it. Devi was just scared and frustrated inside, maybe she just needed to calm down and think straight. She reached her hand out to pet the doll but it disappeared before she could touch it.

She sighed as she got up and took a glass jar she had on the ground from painting, and went to put it away. However, she tripped and fell breaking the glass jar within her hand. As she got up, she accidentally leaned on the glass that had shattered around her. She yelped in pain as she looked at her bleeding hands. She realized she wouldn't be able to paint in a while.

*end flashback*

Devi put her injured hand to her arm in discomfort. Eric put his hand on Devi's right shoulder to comfort her.

"Hey don't worry Devi!" Tenna replied as she touched Devi's other shoulder. "It will be alright. I promise ya." Devi looked at her friends and nodded slightly.

"Hey, why don't we all go out together?" Tenna suggested "Just the three of us. No dates or anything, just three friends having a good time!"

Devi looked at her oddly until Eric replied "It might get your mind off things for a little bit. We'll just hang out like regular people would."

"Yeah and won't mention anything like magic or anything unusual." Tenna replied as she stuffed Mr.Spooky back into her bag when he was about to pop out.

"But Johnny..." Devi replied

"Leave him to me, Devi." Eric replied "If he attacks, we'll make sure you get to a safe place. I promise I won't let him go near you."

Devi looked at her friend worriedly as she thought about the time where he saved her but nearly died for it.

"Don't worry..." Tenna reassured her. "After watching this dude kick butt, I'm sure he can handle him without a problem!"

"Yeah, don't you worry about a thing." Eric assured "I've been fighting bad guys for years now, Devi. I know when to be careful."

Devi sighed and nodded with a small smile "Alright, lets go."

"That's the spirit Dev!" Tenna replied.

****

They first went to the mall to shop and gaze at the weird and useless junk people spent hundreds of dollars on. No one dared to go into the prissy shops as E-Clair's Accessory store and the trendy stores Abrocronic Fintch. Though Devi hated most malls just like she hated every other social trend place, there were a lot of decent stores at the mall they were at. Such as antique shops and special findings stores like Crystal Witch's Blow Glass and Ornaments.

As Devi was looking through an Asian themed antique store, she stumbled upon an old narrow length box. She opened it and inside was an old reddish brown brush and a paper that had a description of the brush. It said it was a brush that was used by many Taoist and Buddhist priests and priestesses to banish evil. It also explained something called the "Nine Syllable Seals", also known as Kuji-in . A practice in which the user would use a special meditation in the form of spells, mostly written on paper using a brush. This technique would often be used to banish evil spirits and cleanse one's soul.

They would banish evil through painting a syllable on paper? Devi thought

"Only when they put their mind and heart to it..." Said the little doll in her mind.

"I thought I told you to be quiet?" Devi asked in her mind.

"I know, sorry, but I wanted to add that..." The doll said

Devi said nothing. She didn't want to yell at it for reasons being she was out in public, which was the main reason and that she felt like she no longer wanted to fight it anymore. In some ways, she was thinking maybe it was time to listen to it. Devi put the box back and then looked at something on the wall. It had a very brief description of the religion Taoism.

It read.

"Taoism is a powerful spiritual belief in which one accepts all of human nature and life itself. The word 'Tao' means 'way' or 'path' in which one works in harmony with reality, essence of the natural world.

Taoism emphasizes the Three Jewels of the Tao; compassion, moderation and humility, however, Taoists primary focus is the relationship between humanity and the cosmos and to be in harmony with all nature surrounding them."

Devi tilted her head as she read this curiously. She wasn't one to be into any type of religion. She wasn't exactly Atheist or anything, just didn't felt strongly to any type of belief or religion, especially since people fought to so much over their beliefs. She felt it just wasn't even worth it nor did it matter, however, the whole thing on Taoism intrigued her to maybe do some research on it, later on.

She then moved onto the back of the store then looked at a couple of strange posters on the wall. By the drawings and ancient writing, it appeared to tell of an ancient story. The first had what looked to be a large black tower and large black clouds. At the bottom of the tower were, what looked to be, four people standing up against the black tower and clouds, with ghostly faces that indicated it brought despair to everything.

The next poster showed the people having something in them, it was in the form of a round dot or ball in the middle of them. The people in the second poster had an unusual shape to them. It showed what looked to be features like hair and a stocky figure, like they lack muscular strength. The middle one had what looked to have shoulder pads.

The 3rd poster showed the same as the first picture but with the four people had lines out around them, indicating glowing and what looked to be more people rising from the ground. Finally, the fourth poster showed the four people that were rising to have the same spot on the chest, and with the figure in the middle being higher up than the other three. This figure had what looked to be wings on it. The light from the figure looked to be banishing or destroying the dark tower and clouds.

Devi looked intrigued by the posters. Upon looking especially at the middle figure that she thought must have been the leader of the group, that arose up against the darkness. "A darkness is coming...." She remembered suddenly as she looked at the poster's again. Suddenly, a strange, dizzy feeling came over her that caused her to fall back in a slight faint spell. However, Eric who was looking for her, ran and caught her just in time.

"Whoa!" Eric replied as he caught her. "Are you alright?"

Devi opened her eyes and shook her head, snapping out of what just came over her. "Yeah, sorry, I guess something just came over me. I'm fine now." She replied upon gaining her balance and standing up on her own.

"Come on, maybe something to eat may help you feel better." Eric replied as he guided his friend out and staying close behind her in case she fainted again. Then "POOF" as soon as Eric and Devi were out the door, Eric turned back into a bat. Devi heard the owner of the store say "What was that?!" and as soon as she heard the owner, Devi grabbed Eric and hid him behind her back.

"Oh, it was nothing!" Devi replied surely "I gotta be going now! Bye!" Then she ran out with Eric clutched in her hands. Both of them sighed when the coast was clear.

"I suppose you want me to kiss you so you can turn back to normal?" Devi asked this time in an non-annoyed manner.

"No, its alright." Eric replied "I can just wait until the sun goes down."

"Really?" Devi asked to be sure. "You sure you want that?"

"Yeah, I have no problem with it." Eric replied in an upbeat tone. "I don't mind 'hanging out' in this form." Upon saying this he hung upside down on Devi's finger.

Devi giggled upon thing this and said "You haven't changed a bit since last time." She rubbed Eric on the head with her finger.

"Well...Yeah maybe..." Eric replied. "Glad I was able to make you laugh."

Devi paused a bit upon hearing this and smiled warmly at her friend. He then hopped on her right hand shoulder.

"You should be careful." Devi replied. "Some people don't take kindly to people having pet bats."

"If I stay still though, they'll just think I'm a toy or an accessory." Eric replied.

"Yes that also includes being quiet." She replied with warmth in her voice as she rubbed his face with her finger. They walked over to find Tenna, at the children's playground on the mini merry-go-round. Devi looked at Tenna like she was a lost cause, while Eric just gazed in surprise at how overly cheerful she could be.

****

Mean while, in a dark area in another dimension, a large black knight took what looked to be a whip inflamed with a purple inferno and slammed it down over Johnny's shoulder. Johnny screamed in pain and sighed as he knelt before the knight. A large "dough" like creature or man, came out beside the knight. The dough like creature was about the size of a large stuffed animal.

"You see!" the dough man said in a pig like voice. "You should have killed that girl along time ago, when you had a chance!"

"Now don't be that harsh on the boy, Mr. Eff." Said another doughish like man with elf ears. "The girl did have a strong immense power. Johnny wasn't ready to stand up against that power.

"Oh shut up!" Mr.Eff replied "I'm tired of you feeling sorry for this fucking piece of shit!"

"Well, Master tends to punish him enough..." D-Boy said with a smart smile. "Kinda have to feel a little bad for him. Master is not so happy when he doesn't get his way. "

"Oh just shut the fuck up!" Mr.Eff snapped "Hit him harder!"

With that the knight slammed the whip down on Johnny again harder and a couple more times, before Johnny fell to the ground. He laid taking deep breaths to brace the pain, but it seemed like even breathing hurt. His whole back and arms were covered in bloody whip marks.

"Get up now!" Mr. Eff snapped.

With that Johnny struggled to get up and breathed heavily in the pain. As soon as he got to his feet, Mr. Eff shouted "Now, go find that girl and kill her! And as an added bonus, kill her wimpy ass friends!"

"Yes, they too have the light that threatens our Master!" D-Boy said "You must eliminate them too, Nny!"

"Yes..." Johnny replied in a exhausted and painful sigh. Johnny struggled to walk and left to do his nasty superior's bidding.

"Perhaps, we should let him take a rest first." D-Boy suggested "His powers are weak. He won't withstand the girl and her friends."

"Fine!" Grumbled Mr. Eff grumbled "Hey, wimp! You may rest for a couple hours! But after that you must do as we ordered and kill those losers! Got that!?"

"Yes!" Johnny manage to call out as loud enough as he could. He then went into his chambers to rest and be left with some peace.

"And don't mess up, you piece of shit!" Mr. Eff echoed

****

While Tenna was doing other things, Devi with Eric on her shoulder decided to watch the sunset on the roof of one of the shops. Devi was thinking about all the stuff she went through so far. She kept thinking about all that has happened in her life. She sighed an unhappy sigh.

"Things are just so messed up right now." Devi replied

"It will get better." Eric replied. Devi looked at her friend as he continued. "Things don't stay bad forever. Magnus once told me that... Just saying, things constantly change from good to bad to good again. We just gotta learn to deal with whatever comes around."

"I guess..." Devi replied. "Believe me I understand that fully. It's just...."

"I know." Eric replied "You know when I became a vampire, I felt the same way. I quit my old life, school, left the rest of my friends, since I felt I couldn’t balance all that and be a vampire. Eventually, I just learn to accept what happen and just adjust to it."

"So basically, you're saying anyone can get use to anything." Devi stated "Even the craziest shit..."

"Pretty much..." Eric replied "It just takes time."

"Hmm..." Devi replied. "

"Hey, can I ask you this?" Eric asked

"Hmm?" Devi replied

"Tenna's got Mr. Spooky as her familiar and you can see him..." Eric replied "So why do you think you're going crazy if you're seeing this doll?"

Devi thought about it for a while and then replied "I guess I just don't want to accept it. I don't want to accept any of it and if I say that I'm just going crazy...I guess... a part of me thinks it will go away."

"You're afraid of what will happen if you do accept it." Eric replied Devi just looked at her friend sadly and then looked down. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have asked that..." Eric replied

"No..." Devi said "I'm glad you did actually...I guess I'm not being honest with myself as you were about yourself."

"Devi..." Eric replied as he flew into her hands to face her. "Well....We all can be a little dishonest with ourselves now and again."

Devi smiled a little bit and nuzzled her friend with her face and said "Well I'm glad for one thing. Least you're patient and don't nag on me, unlike a certain best friend I can name..." She said that last part sarcastically but in a teasing manner.

Eric laughed and said "Well, you gotta admit. Least with Tenna, you can never get bored!"

"Oh no..." Devi admitted. "Bored around Tenna? Not possible...Well I admit on my worse days, she won't faze me, but yeah, Tenna's Tenna."

"At least she's a loyal friend." Eric added

Devi smiled warmly and said "Yeah... Don't tell her I said this, but I guess without Tenna I think I'd be more miserable. She annoys me, yeah, but she was the first person in a long time that ever stood up for me and has stood beside me, even on my worse days. I have to give her credit for that."

"Yeah..." Eric replied warmly.

"She kinda reminds me a lot of a friend I had back when I was real little..." Devi replied sadly.

"Well, that's a good thing right?" Eric asked. "Least it's like having your old friend around again."

Devi thought about it for a moment and nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, it is."

"And I'm glad that you came back." Devi added as she cuddled her friend again. "I really did miss you, even though our first meeting was short. I'm glad you're here right now."

"I missed you too..." Eric replied as he cuddled back and then they looked over at the horizon.

"The world tends to look pretty from a far, doesn't it?" Eric asked

"Yeah, it does, actually..." Devi admitted.

As soon as the last bit of sunlight started to fade, Eric flew in front of Devi and then "POOF!" Eric turned back as soon as the sun went down.

“It must be hard for you staying out in the day.” Devi commented.

“It is sometimes...” Eric replied. “That’s why I had to quit school, least one of the reasons. I always feel wrong when I had to do that kissing thing...I mean...”

“Yeah, sure...That’s why you had to do that demonstration.” Devi teased.

“Well, sorry...” Eric rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I just didn’t know how to show it...Ugh, I’ll shut up now...”

Devi giggled and said “I was just teasing you!”

Devi and Eric looked out in the horizon.

“Hey, I hope it doesn’t hurt to ask but what were doing all this before you found us?” Devi asked.

“Well, as I said, I did look for you for a while, but I figured maybe it was best if I had left you alone...I mean, you were traumatized by it. I just thought maybe it was best for you to think I died and moved on from it...”

“Eric...” Devi said as she looked down. Feeling bad for the feelings she had before.

“It’s alright...” Eric assured her confidently. “Everyone I know thinks I’m dead, well besides you, Magnus and Tenna.”

“How can you think that’s alright?!” Devi snapped at him. Eric’s eyes widen and he jerked his body slightly defensively, surprised as she continued. “You have people who care about you and you think that it’s okay for them to just think you died? You said your friends aren’t nothing so how can you believe such things?”

“Well, what was I suppose to do?!” Eric snapped back. “Look at me! I turn into a bat, I have wings, claws and I drink blood, Devi! Not to mention I shoot lightning bolts out of my hands! To humans, I’m considered a freak! What should I have done? Wait until the secret’s out and I soon become some experiment at a science lab?!”

Devi gave a sympathetic look to him as Eric sighed.

“What this taught me is that everything comes with a price...” He said finally calming down. “I had to do everything I had to survive, hoping that no one ever caught me with my wings out or something, unless I had to scare them. I stopped criminals for a living and stole some things from them so I could at least had enough to rent rooms and eat and if I couldn’t, I had to make due somehow.”

“I see....I’m sorry, I snapped at you...” Devi replied remorseful.

“Well, I shouldn’t have snapped either...” Eric replied looking just as remorseful. “I miss my friends, believe me. I miss them so much!”

“What about your family?” Devi asked.

“My dad hated me and I mean it! He did...” Eric explained “My mom left a long time ago, when I was young. I dunno what happened to her...I had cousins and they cared but I couldn’t live with them and I rarely got to see them that much.”

“Oh...” Devi replied “I’m sorry....” She then remember what Oblivia had said, about his rough past.

“Thanks, Dev.” Eric replied.

“I guess, everyone goes through their own storm.” Devi replied as she stepped closer to Eric.

Eric nodded and said “Yeah, I guess so...” He then finally smiled a small smile. Devi smiled back with a nod. Finally just sharing a moment of peace.

"I'm gonna go and find Tenna, so we can maybe figure out a place to eat dinner." Eric told her. "You coming?"

"Nah, I'll catch up." Devi replied. "I kinda wanna clear my head on somethings."

"K..." Eric replied unsure about her being alone. "Well, don't stay up here too long."

"Alright..." Devi replied. She thought about something and then thought "I wish..." Then sighed again "Forget it..."

"You need to be more honest with yourself..." Said the voice of the doll.

Devi made an annoyed expression at the voice and sighed sadly as she looked toward where her friend walked away.

****

Eric and Tenna were sitting at a booth at a restaurant called the Crazy Chicken. They were waiting for Devi to come by. Eric was being very quiet. Tenna notice and had to ask.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Tenna asked

"Oh, its nothing..." Eric replied.

"Oh don't give me that..." Tenna replied. "Believe me, after being around Devi, I know when something is on in anyone!"

Eric just smirked and before he could say anything they heard a large commotion.

"What the hell?!" Tenna shouted.

Eric stood up as he saw smoke from the left hand corner of the restaurant. When the smoke cleared, they could see a figure. It was Johnny. Tenna gasped as Eric braced himself for battle. Mean while, as Devi was going down the stairs to meet her friends, she felt something wrong and rushed down to find them.

"Spooky, staff form now!" Tenna called out. Spooky poofed into it's staff form.

"No, Tenna!" Eric told her. "Leave him to me! Go find Devi and get her some place safe!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Johnny replied "Neither any of you, for I must kill all three of you now!"

"Say what?!" Tenna replied

"Tenna, get out here!" Eric told her.

"My master wants all of you dead now!" Johnny said in his insane tone of voice. With that he shot a blast at them. They tumbled to the ground but manage to get back up to their feet.

"Earth's Eternal Slumber!" Eric called forth.

"Spirit Star Rush! Tenna called as she raised her staff, a spell ruin circle with multiple circles around it appeared and as she swung her staff on it, a white blast came from each of the circles.

However, Johnny was determine to finish his mission. He just counter the attacks and sent them right back at them. By this time, Devi had found the restaurant and ran in from the left hand corner of it. She called out to her friends. Then realized her fear was correct as she saw Johnny standing there, who spotted her the moment she walked in.

Eric and Tenna also spotted Devi standing there.

"Devi!" Eric replied

"Get away!" Tenna told her.

"Sound you finally showed up..." Johnny replied as he slowly walked up to her.

Nny..." She called him from his nickname.

"Hmm..." Johnny smiled and said "I see you remember that nickname. Lot of my superiors use it back home, which reminds me why I have to kill you. Don't take it personal...I just have to do what I need to do."

"Johnny, wait!" Devi called out "Please stop this! Least tell me why are you doing this?!"

"Devi, get out of here!" Eric told her.

"I've been confused of why I have these powers and why you do too!" Devi replied. "Tell me, why you doing this?! Why do you want to kill me and my friends!? It doesn't make sense!" Devi started feeling tears run down her face. "Please just tell me....I'm tired of not knowing what's going on!"

Her friends looked at her sadly.

Johnny just looked at her sadly but sighed and said "I'm sorry...but I can't tell you. My master doesn't want you to know..."

With that he lifted his fist and said "Devi...Bye-bye..." With that he shot a blast of energy. Eric sprang forth and blocked the blast using his hands, focusing his powers to counter attack. However, it just shot Eric back and he went flying.

"Eric!" Devi called out.

When Tenna was about to run to protect Devi, Johnny just lifted his left arm slightly and blasted Tenna back.

"Tenna!" Devi called out again. Then Johnny walked closer to her and raised his hand forward.

"Johnny!!!!" Devi cried out before he blasted at her but the moment that happened a bright light shot out. Devi went flying before slamming to the ground and then sliding to a stop. Everything went black!

#jhonen vasquez #invader zim #johnny the homicidal maniac #fantasy #fanfic #i feel sick #goth

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