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nerdieforpedro · 2 years ago

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Chucho’s Magic Pickles

A Pickled Peña Fic

Javier Peña x Luna (plus size OFC)

Fanfiction 18+

Javier Pena Masterlist / Main Masterlist / A03 link

Word Count: approx 3.2k

Warnings: Chucho is his own warning (we kinda see where Javi gets it from), food (besides the pickles - this is me people), father/son time, overuse of pickles, angst, cursing, fluff

Summary: Javier Peña had something that he wanted to discuss with Luna. His father’s been mentioning it every chance he gets. Chucho sings of the wonders he has found with his jar of gherkins.

Notes: I actually had a difficult time coming up with an idea for this fic because I haven’t written much for Javi P. I enjoyed giving him a bit of comedy because my other fics with him were angsty. Hopefully I can write some more fics for him this year. 😎 I dabbled in Canva for the graphic and the banner. 💚

Luna knew several things:

Her coworker Anna needed to come back to work to pick up her part of this project.

Her boyfriend’s father was the cutest old man who seemed to call every woman at the clinic he went to “Bonita (pretty)” and reserved “Hermosa (gorgeous)” for the older receptionist, Maria, who she may or may not have seen at his house when she dropped off food to him on occasion.

She wasn’t sure if she should tell her boyfriend about this, but she did encourage Chucho to talk to his son about it.

She’s been with her boyfriend for two years and she’s very happy with that. She doesn’t want anything to change. It’s the happiest she’s been in years.

Chucho sat on the couch, patting his thigh. He’d just come in from brushing the horses when he heard a truck pull up. It belonged to his only child Javier. He was happy to see him, they agreed to have lunch twice a week now he was home from Columbia and retired from the DEA. There were many things said about his son, some of which he’d heard from a few of his lady friends. They said that he was a coward for running away from his then fiance at the time, all the way to Columbia. They also said that his son had quite a way with women, not unlike Chucho did back before he met his dear late wife. He took all these with a grain of salt, especially when he finally returned to the United States.

He worried for his son, who he thought may remain unmoored while back in Loredo. It turns out, it was for naught as Javier worked with the sheriff’s department. He had responded to a sighting of a fugitive which didn’t pan out, it was an overeager young cop who thought they saw someone on the most wanted list but it was really old man Loggins who hadn’t been by the barbershop in two months due to a fishing trip and not wanting to leave his house.

As Javier walked up the steps to his father’s porch, he carried some lasagna that he was handed in town to deliver to his father from one of Chucho’s lady friends Ms. Lucia. It reminded him of when he met Luna, his girlfriend, she had been eating the same meal that day.

Two years prior…

It was a blistering hot day in Loredo, temperatures were over one-hundred degrees in the direct sun and even in the shade, they hovered around ninety-five degrees. Despite Javier forgoing his tan jacket to match the tan pants and shirt that went with his uniform, he still had large wet spots under his arms and around his neck. He stopped in Ms. Lucia’s restaurant hoping she’d take pity on him and not charge him for some iced tea. He wouldn’t be getting any whiskey until after he was off duty. His drinking had significantly cut down due to his hours, but his smoking not so much. Thankfully, Ms. Lucia gave him the water and iced tea in exchange for saying hello to his father for her. His father was popular with the older women despite spending most of his time on his range with the animals. The restaurant was fairly full for the lunchtime crowd and there weren’t really any open seats, Ms. Lucia walked Peña over to a table and sat him down across from a woman in a baby blue sundress.

He saw a woman who had a sheen to her skin from the heat despite the air conditioning. It was likely from the number of people in the restaurant, talking, eating, laughing and the like. She had a head full of hair and a mouth full of pasta when she looked up after hearing something across the table he assumed and covered her mouth as she was confronted with a grinning Javier sipping some cold ice water, feeling a few drops dribble down his chin and chest. It felt refreshing in this sweltering heat. The woman swallowed her food, her wide eyes trying to figure out who he was. He didn’t recognize her so she might be a transplant, just moved back or someone who came after he left. She cleared her throat and sipped some of her own water that some of the ice had melted clearly.

“Sorry about that. I didn't expect Ms. Lucia would sit someone at my table. I thought she’d give me a warning at least.” She smiled softly, clearly a little embarrassed but he found it endearing that and the small splotch of tomato sauce that was on the corner of her mouth. Peña grabbed a paper napkin from the dispenser in the middle of the table and tapped her cheek, wiping inward toward where the sauce was. He surprised himself by the action, he’d meant to hand it to her and point it out, but his hand moved on its own. What surprised him more is that she didn’t move, she just let him wipe her cheek, closing her eyes for a moment until he pulled back.

“Did you get it all?”

“Yes I did. Are you typically a messy eater?”

A soft chuckle rolled from Javier as he sat back, setting the napkin on the table. The woman folded her hands and sat a bit straighter, exposing that her sundress was form fitting on the top, hugging her chest, while it looked like the bottom flowed out from under her bust, it had short sleeves that stopped short of her elbows and were similarly stained as his shirt was.

“I can be at times. The lasagna here is delicious. Thanks for wiping that for me.” He saw her move a non-existent piece of hair behind her ear, probably a nervous habit. “I haven’t seen you here before? Do you know Ms. Lucia?” She asked, drawing him back from watching her movements.

“Yes, I knew her from when I was little and she’s aquanitted with my father.” A sentence Javier never imagined saying, he’d found that he’s said it a times about several women his father knew. He found himself wondering if this is how people thought of him, in Columbia and when he was last in Loredo. Her brows furrowed, did she know his father too? Normally Chucho went for age appropriate women, this would be a first that his father had a lady friend in his age group.

“Is your father Mr. Chucho? I see him sometimes at the market a few times a month. I remember him because he always had his large white hat on and a big smile. You guys have the same mustache.” A loud giggle made her body bounce. Javier shook his head and smiled, but was still unsure if he liked being compared to his father or not.

He nodded adding, “I don’t know about the mustache though. Mine still has color.” Pena flashed a toothy smile as he watched her face soften after her laugh. “What’s your name cariño (dear)?” Javier took a few more swallows of his water before setting the empty glass down, licking the last of the water off his lips. He watched as she tilted her head, grinning.

“You haven’t told me yours yet you know, but because I’m nice and you did see me with a mouthful of pasta, I will answer. My name’s Luna, Luna Stevens. Given who your father is, I assume your last name is Peña?” She quipped and his eyebrow raised, she was a smart one, he liked that. He reached across the table again and held her hand.

“My name is Javier Peña. You come here often, Mrs. Stevens?” He asked, eliciting another laugh with his cheesy joke. She squeezed his hand when she answered.

“I do and it’s Ms. Stevens. Never been married, no children. You?”

“Almost was once, but never did. No children either.”

After establishing some very basic facts about each other, it took about an hour before Peña’s partner came looking for him and said they had to head back to the office. Javier frowned but duty called. He stood and so did Luna, she walked him to the door, stating that she also had to get back to work, she’d been gone for too long. Thankfully, it wasn’t so busy today so she’d be able to catch up. Before Peña could ask, she told him that it could be made up to her with a date and handed him her phone number and name on a napkin. She told him to keep it safe and Javier did. He stuck it in his front chest pocket so no sweat would get on it and called the number that night. They ended up talking for a few more hours and set up a date later that week.

Back on Chucho’s porch…

“Hey old man! I’m here. You alright in there?” Javier walked into his father’s home, heading to the kitchen first to put the dish in the fridge and then went to the living room. He watched as his father had his hand in a jar of pickles, removing one and gave it a loud crunch.

“Hey hijo (son)! In here!” Chucho waved with his free hand and continued to chew the pickle before swallowing it and washing it down with some whiskey.

“You can’t be drinking that. It’s the middle of the day and didn’t the doctor tell you to back off a bit?” Javier chides him and takes the glass, downing the remainder of it. Chucho frowns.

“I’m an old man. Leave me be. It cleans out the pipes. Plus the pickles will wash it out too. Want one?” He offered and Javier declined, going back into the kitchen and pouring two glasses of water. He set one next to his father and sat in the chair across from him.

“This is your lunch, these pickles? I bought lasagna from Ms. Lucia, now you’re not gonna eat it.”

“I’ll still have room for the food. Don’t worry hijo. Plus I need to eat just a few more just to be ready for tonight. You should consider some of these. Maybe then I’ll see you married with children before I meet your mother again.” Chucho finished his current pickle and started another one pointing it at his son, “I know you’ll tell me no. But don’t tell me you haven’t thought about moving Luna into your house and making an honest woman out of her. Neither of you are spring chickens and these pickles have been better than those little blue pills they show on TV. Now I have two things I want from you hijo for the upcoming year: the first is to at least ask Luna to move in with you and second, is to Maria on a small road trip.”

Javier slumps back in the chair and covers his face, he is not having this conversation with father and he cannot take this seriously while he is eating pickles.

“Pop, I’m gonna go. You enjoy your pickles and I’ll be back later this week when you don’t have your hand in that jar, okay?” He stood up and left, sitting in his truck for a bit before driving back home. Luna was supposed to be stopping by tonight for dinner and a movie so he was going to straighten up the house and make some tamales and rice.

He would like to talk about what they’re future was going to look like. Had he still been in Columbia he’d be fine with having a life separate from the woman he was seeing. That was actually necessary both there and when dealing with the Cali cartel. Now he’s at peace, sort of, he was out of the DEA and now just keeping track of weird shit that happened with cows, horses and highways. It was boring, but a good boring that he welcomed along with something he never thought he’d have, a steady girlfriend and at this point, he felt she was a partner. Not in the same way Steve had been but someone who he could rely on, like when he got sick with whatever flu that was, she took a few days off to stay with him and take care of him. Maybe he pouted a little extra and got her to feed him a bit but he was sick and not feeling well and why can’t he be babied a little? Point is, Luna did it with only minimal teasing and even gave him a back massage too.

Luna arrived at Javier's house at seven on the dot. He promised her dinner, a movie and knowing her Javi, they may make it to the bedroom or not. She brought some wine and chocolate cake that she had made the day before when she’d gotten home earlier. Javier wasn’t really one for sweets, but she could convince him of some red wine and cake after dinner. She knocked on the door and heard him yell that he was coming. Javier wore a light blue polo shirt with a pair of dark wash jeans. He didn’t have any socks on and she frowned, he’d just gotten over a cold not too long ago.

“Javier, where are your socks?” Luna asked as he took both bags that she had been carrying, while she held onto her purse. She was wearing a purple sundress that had a deep V in the front and was complemented by her red lipstick and black ballet flats. Luna reached in her purse and pulled out a small bag when she had a small pair of slippers. She made a point to put them on in the foyer so Javier would see.

“Bebita (baby girl) relax. I’ll go put something on my feet in a few. Let me take the wine and dessert out, then I’ll go set your overnight bag in the room.” He gave her a small kiss on her cheek, followed by one on her neck, purposely rubbing his mustache against her skin. That earned him a giggle from her and removed her frown. She entered the kitchen and removed the cake, wine and a gift she had gotten from Chucho earlier in the week. The elder had told her that his son loves them so she figured she would bring them over and Javi would eat them later. They don’t quite go with the tamales they were going to eat tonight.

Javier returned to the kitchen and saw an abomination of his counter, Luna was dishing up their plates and turned to her boyfriend confused by the look of anger on his face. “Javi? Javier? What’s wrong? I normally dish up the plates.” Shaking his head, he stomped over and picked up the jar, shaking it.

“This! These damn things! Why are they here? Did you bring them?” Peña screamed and Luna was taken aback, never in their two years together had this happened. Sure she’s seen him pissed but never yelling. Setting down the plates, she crossed her arms and tilted her head.

“Javier Peña. Why are you yelling at me right now? Are you really yelling at me about pickles?” She questioned, confused as to why pickles of all things would set him off.

For the last few weeks, Chucho has been preaching to Javier about the merits and blessing of pickles both for health and in the bedroom. He needed no help in either place he assured him, but then he would talk about marriage and for Javi not be scared of it. It’s a good thing, obviously Luna is not Lorraine. She’s not trying to trick you into anything. Hell, he’d never heard the woman say the words marriage, bride, wedding or engagement. On the same token, because it’s never been talked about, it also felt like he could never bring it up.

“I just need these out of my house Luna. I can’t look at them.” He set the jar down as they both looked at it. “Lo siento mi amor (I’m sorry my love). My father keeps talking about what his magical pickles can do for him and mar-marinating them.” Javier embraced Luna and she wrapped her arms around his back, she took a step back to look at him.

“Your father only marriantes meat Javier. What else does Chucho speak to you about? What aren’t you telling me Javi?” She asked, knowing him well enough that when he sucks on his bottom lip like that, he’s holding back something. Javier sighed and released her, starting to pace with his hands behind his head.

“You stand there and accuse me, but where were you at the time?” He fired back.

“That makes no sense, you have lunch with your father twice a week, while I’m at work. How would I be-”

“I mean after work, before work and on weekends. You’re not here. You’re at your apartment and he might not keep bugging me about marriage and kids if you were here with me in my house. We’re going to go into another year without talking about it.” Javier has let it all out, though angrily instead of calm and over dinner like he planned. Fucking pickles. He snuck a glance at them before looking back at a bewildered Luna.

“So, your father, bugging you about getting married and having children, is my fault because I haven’t moved in with you? Javier, I am a woman in her late thirties living in Texas! You don’t think I hear that weekly and sometimes daily, especially this time of year!” Luna yelled back, Javier took a few steps to the left, placing the kitchen island between him and his girlfriend. She pressed her palms into the island and exhaled. “What do you want Javi? Do you want to marry me? Do you even want children? We’ve never talked about this. I’d been nervous to bring it up because I don’t really care either way.” Luna’s voice softened, “I’m just happy to be with you Javier. Do we need to do all those other things?”

Peña cleared his throat and walked over to Luna, kissing her forehead and took her hands in his, “Mi amor, I’m so sorry. I love you too and I don’t need anything else. Never really thought about having them to be honest. I do know I would like to wake up to you without seeing that damn overnight bag in the corner of the bedroom.” The pair raised their hands together and laughed again, making their way back over to the food, dishing it up and sitting down at the table. After finishing dinner, they popped open the wine and cut up a few slices of cake. Luna brought over the jar of pickles to watch ‘The Last Seduction’ Javier squinted his eyes at the jar as she set it on the coffee table.

“I figured since it made us have a serious conversation, sort of. The pickles could join. Maybe there’s something to what Chucho says.” Luna chuckled as she curls up in Javi’s arms and he leans his head back on the couch.

“You, my father and these damn pickles. As soon as you doze off during this movie, I’m tossing them. Don’t accept any more pickles from Pop. he needs to keep them over on his ranch.” Taking a sip of the wine, Javier started the move and kissed Luna’s shoulder.

He cut his eyes at the pickles again - fucking magic pickles. Javier would never tell his father that the old man may have been onto something.

Admirers of Javier’s pouty lips 👄 :

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randomvarious · 8 months ago

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Today's compilation:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption (Limited Edition Soundtrack) 2000 Industrial / Score / Heavy Metal / Goth Rock / Electro-Industrial

Went a bit out of my element today with this one, folks. Before this week I'd never once heard of an apparently very popular role-playing tabletop game series called World of Darkness, or a computer game that it eventually spawned called Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption, either. But today I learned that for the week of its release in 2000, this Vampire game was actually the third-bestselling Windows one in the US, trailing only behind The Sims and a second edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. So, a pretty hefty blind-spot for me, to say the least.

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However, if this accompanying soundtrack that came with the limited collector's edition of the game is any indication, then I think I, uh, might actually prefer to stay blind on this whole franchise 😅. Even within an oft-intersecting turn-of-the-millennium scope that included some different types of metal, goth, and industrial, this was still far more eclectic than I'd expected—and for that, this release definitely deserves some kudos—but I really just can't seem to get down with almost any of it regardless. A lot of industrial and goth stuff, especially from the mid-to-late 90s and onwards, has always kinda struck me as being a mix of subversively strange, eerie, played out, and above all else, a bit hokey. And no disrespect intended to anyone who digs it, but I kinda wish that *most* of this music had gotten capped off in the early 90s 😅.

But still, one of these songs almost got me anyway. I really didn't think that I'd be hearing a lick of drum n bass on this album, but I actually did: something called "Hinterland," by a UK band called Cubanate, who've been around since the early 90s. With this song's high-powered and dark instrumental beginning, I was fully on board for the ride, but right after I'd finished typing the name of the artist and song into my highlights list, I was forced to retract, because that was the moment when frontman Marc Heal's angsty, screamy, aggro-scratchy vocal came in and ruined it for me 🙁. Left as an instrumental, I would've absolutely adored the shit outta this thing as a beautifully dark and twisted, high-octane dnb adventure, but with that kind of singing on it, I'm afraid that I just viscerally have to tap out. Sorry 😔.

I'd be interested to hear how this music was incorporated into the game itself, though, if it was at all. This soundtrack here consists of songs that'd been released throughout the mid-to-late 90s, but it also has a bunch of instrumental music that appears to've been part of its own score too. And apparently the game takes place in two different time periods—the 12th and late 20th centuries—so I'd imagine that these 90s songs play during the late 20th century parts. But I just don't really know, and if that's not the case, then I'd be intrigued to hear how it was used otherwise, even if I'm not particularly fond of the music itself in the first place.

And if you managed to make it all the way to the bottom of this post, then thanks! Here's a treat for you: a seemingly random goth rock tune that you've probably never heard of that I happen to love: "Celibacy and Anadin" by a UK band called Children on Stun, which I discovered on the unprecedentedly scuzzy Cleopatra Records' 1998 Gothspotting comp. If you didn't know any better, you'd undoubtedly assume that this song was made at some point in the 80s, but it wasn't! It may sound like a perfect fit for any number of 80s movie soundtracks—and for that reason alone, I like to think of this song as gothic Kenny Loggins—but it's actually from 1995. Enjoy it, it rocks! 😎

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miscfandomwrites · 2 years ago

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Mama Chapter Nine

A/N: SO I WANT SOME THIRST and y’all are gonna get it. Just a small hint: the next few chapters will be more action and angst. As usual, if you want to be on the taglist please let me know. Also, sorry for the half-month hiatus, I’m not doing too well in school and mentally. Working on it.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Mom! Avenger! Reader

Warnings: Language

Words: 3.4k

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

“I love you Mom!” was Lillith’s only reply as she ran towards the playground, her red backpack bouncing along with her each of her steps.

I chuckled as she immediately dumped her backpack on the ground and went for the slides. I stood and watched her for a bit, before turning and getting in my jeep. Per Lillith’s request, she wanted to come to school in my old wrangler. That thing was older than me and that was definitely saying something.

I started it, feeling the entire frame shake as if my jeep was not in fact, a machine but a living breathing beast that had just woken from a ten-thousand year nap. Damn, this thing needed to be fixed. I hummed along to the radio as I drove back to the tower, enjoying the cool fall morning.

As much as I hated to admit it (I didn’t hate it) I would miss my kid. She was definitely the light of my life these past few years. It’s a wonder that she’s basically a little human and had thoughts and-Wait, I was starting to dissociate. I turned my focus back onto the road, and was delighted to find that I was less than a block away from the tower, instead of halfway to Poland.

I parked and got out, deciding to work in my workshop rather than face my empty floor. After making sure my phone and other miscellaneous belongings were with me, I headed to my main work area.

Dumping my coat and eventually my shirt on the island, I kept going through and loggin my ammunition. Someone had fucked my systems up, and I had been dutifully working on organizing things. The one thing that really fucking pissed me off was the fact that my experimental batches of my 45 ammo were mixed. It seemed like someone just took the trays and dumped them in a spare ammo can. Like seriously? Every batch had different power and some had different primers and oh-was this frustrating!

I decided that it was better to get rid of them than to deal with having ammunition that wouldn’t work out in the field. I’d rather not rest my or anyone else’s life on defective ammunition.

I kept muttering to myself about how stupid someone had to be to just mix ammunition without looking at labels as I retrived my old 45 from my gun cabiniet and grabbed some empty magazines.

I’d used the gun range in my workshop before, but I wanted to see what the tower had to offer, after all it was made of steel and glass. In fact, I was surprised I hadn’t seen the tower’s range yet.

I took out my personal 45 from its place at the small of my back and replaced it with my old one, and started loading the magazines. Bullet after bullet, magazine after magazine. I was roughly halfway through the box when I decided that two guns would be more fun, and I grabbed one of my thigh holsters and slid my personal 45 in.

As much as I’d like to not fuck with my concleled carry, I had nothing better to do the rest of the day. I was still figuring out some things as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. went to pay me, and was mostly trying to figure out if I’d need an actual job or not. Besides, I had the parts needed to make another 45 on hand.

I finished loading the magazines and counted them as I placed them back in the ammo can.

“Seventeen? Damn, I thought there’d be more…” I quietly said as I placed the last one in. I grabbed the can and headed to the elevator, where I asked FRIDAY to take me to the range.

Not even two minutes later I arrived on the sixtieth floor, which only furthered my anxiety. Glass windows surrounded us on all sides (Although they were mirrored so we could see out, but no one could see in) and there were the standard targets and stalls. Thankfully, most of the team was up here anyway. Steve was talking with Sam and Bucky around a table that held various revolvers, and Natasha was showing Wanda how to hold a handgun properly. I headed over to the boys and set my can down on the table before turning towards the rest of the room, trying to figure out how we could shoot in it.

“What’s in the ammo can?” Sam questioned me as he pulled it over to him. He opened the lid and nodded to me. “Looks like you’re gonna have some fun.”

I only grinned wolfishly in response. “So, the glass windows won’t break if we shoot them?” I asked Bucky. He nodded as he held one of the revolvers on the table, examining it carefully.

“Good to know.” I replied as I headed to the farthest range away from everyone. I grabbed a pair of headphones as I walked past Natasha and Wanda, and didn’t stop even as the both turned and stared. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to shoot. To feel the recoil. The cold metal of the handle… The smell of gunpowder. Man, I miss it all.

I set the can down on the shelf next to me in my stall, and sent my first target down the line. I pulled the 45 out of my back holster first, and grabbed a magazine. Muscle memory had me snapping it in place and sending the slide forward. The metallic click brought me back, and I centered my feet and took up my stance.

I focused down the sight of the gun to the center of the target and took several breaths, focusing my heartrate and my body. I curled my finger on the trigger and the muffled bam! had me already craving the recoil.

Breath in, pull. Breath out, pull. Breath, pull, breath, pull, breath, pull….

The same pattern had me going through magazine after magazine after magazine. I paid no mind to the burning hot shells as they occasionally hit my arm, nor did I feel anything besides the recoil and the steady calmness that accompanied it.

It was only until the seventh magazine in which I stopped and took a breath. I lowered the now-smoking gun and ejected the magazine, and pulled back the slide and set it on the side table. I stood there for a minute or two before deciding to send the target towards me.

The target was almost torn in half; I had shot at the midsection of the outline and there was just a huge hole, or rather several smaller ones that made the target almost completely obliterated.

“Jesus Christ, (Y/N)...” Came Steve’s voice from behind me.

I turned to see everyone just….staring. What, like this chaos wasn't what Natasha and Barnes inflicted upon the enemy every mission?

I shrugged and took the target down, balling it and tossing it into a nearby bin as I grabbed a second one.

“I think I should reinforce those windows some…” Stark muttered as I loaded a handgun and stacked more magazines next to me. I sent the new target down the line and I repeated the cycle of emptying the magazines. I swear, next time I’m just going to move everything by myself. Although this is fun.

Everyone eventually went back to what they were doing before, and before long it was only the boys and I on the floor. Eventually even they left for what I was assuming lunch. I finished emptying the magazines and headed back downstairs, gun oil and the scent of gunpowder sticking to me. Either way, I needed to keep myself moving. Pausing gives time for my anxiety to reappear, so it was better that I keep myself busy.

I set the handguns on the reloading bench as a reminder to clean them later, and restacked the ammo can where it belonged. I turned off the lights and headed up to my floor, skipping lunch. Once there, I changed into a pair of black workout pants with a baggy sleeveless shirt and my pair of running shoes.

Grabbing my water bottle and wireless earbuds, I took the elevator down to the gym floor. The gym floor, or, floors rather, were two floors merged together in the middle. All sorts of expensive exercise machines and weight bars, along with punching bags and mats scattered the space. The middle of the floor had ropes that hung from the ceiling of the second floor and had the largest mat. Thankfully we had a multi billionaire that paid for this place, and Stark went all out with it.

I started with stretching, then moved to the punching bags for a bit, then decided on pull ups. I haven’t really been able to take time out of my day to work out, rather the afternoons and mornings.

That was the great thing about being my own boss-My company was my own. I did a little bit of everything, or as I liked to refer to it: Freelance Hacker / Creator.

Yup. I checked servers for weak points and helped people create websites and platforms. Hell, I even took down a few...unsavory websites when I could. I had my own hours that I adapted as I needed. Especially with Lillith, it was easy for me to look after her when we were at home.

Shit, I need to clean up the space. I remembered. I stayed up late last night making a draft of a site for a client….which I had to make a meeting with tomorrow.

I drifted off into my thoughts as I ran through my cycle of sit ups, push ups, pull ups, and bench presses. Twenty per each set, five per each round. Damn, when was the last time I took a self care day? I let my brain sort out ideas and organize my thoughts for a few more minutes before focusing on what I was doing. I finished two rounds before heading over to the left wall and grabbing a pair of heavy chains.

Natasha and Wanda were sparring, with Natasha pushing Wanda back with offensive moves. Hand-to-hand combat wasn’t Maximoff’s strong point, but after insisting from both Strange and I that there might be a point where she would need to use physical combat despite her showing practically limitless magical abilities, she started.

First it was with both Strange and I, with my abilities making me a bit more resilient to her magic and Strange being….strange. Then her and Natasha started sparring when my long days turned into longer nights, and I’m fairly certain Barnes is taking some part in the cycle.

I finally watched Wanda get a solid hit on Nat’s torso in, and the assassin didn’t even flinch as she swept Wanda’s legs out from under her. The redhead was panting heavily, her hair tied back in a short ponytail with some hair framing her face. Wearing a black t-shirt and some black leggings, and black tennis shoes (Not going to lie, black looked really good on her). I tore my gaze away, albeit with some difficulty as I turned the mental list of tasks into a digital one on my phone.

After doing that and sipping some water, I used the hem of my shirt to wipe away the sweat on my forehead. Deciding to forego the shirt entirely I peeled it off and tossed it next to my water bottle. Draping the chains over my shoulders and grabbing the bar, I pulled myself up.

First few rounds of ten were easy, but the added weight of the chains (about twenty pounds, if the labels were correct for each) soon slowed me down. Which was fine, it had my arms and shoulders using more effort than usual. I looked up and was surprised to see both Natasha and Wanda looking at me. Both girls were by the water fountain, Wanda holding her water bottle and phone, and Natasha sipping hers with a towel over one shoulder. If it wasn’t the fact that they both were working out, I would swear that Natasha’s face was red. I could feel the sweat dripping down my chest and stomach, and was eternally grateful for the serum that kept me at a decent four pack.

I winked, and Natasha choked on her water. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she cleared her throat and headed towards me. Wanda stayed there, and started scrolling on her phone again.

She practically sauntered over, and my face slipped into a grin as she stopped right in front of me. Not bothering to pause, I kept going, making sure to keep my chin above the bar when I went up.

She stopped and crossed her arms, smirking at me. I returned her smirk, along with “Anything I can help you with, Ma’am?”

She grinned, before walking straight in front of me. She stopped, not even a half a foot away as I was about to pull myself up again. She gently ran her fingers along the chain of my dog tags, and tugged them out of my sports bra. I kept them in there so they wouldn’t make noise and so I had them close to my heart.

There were three tags in all on there, two of them being mine. She held the third up to read it and I stayed still, almost stiff as she smiled softly. It was my wife’s tag.

She let the tags fall back onto my chest and pulled them straight, and as she let go she gently, almost ghosted, her hand over my stomach. I stiffened more, and then dropped from the bar. She backed away a bit as I took the chains off and returned them to their spot on the wall, then as I wiped away the sweat on my face with my discarded shirt.

“I think….” She started as I opened my water bottle. Facing her, I gestured for her to continue. “That is something that is honorable. There’s no other word to say it, but it is. It’s out of love and respect, yes?” She questioned, pointing to the tags. I nodded, setting my water bottle down.

“Hey, do you want to come pick up Lillith from school with me?” I asked her, throwing my shirt over my shoulder and grabbing my water bottle. I checked the time on my phone and tucked it in my pocket.

“Sure. Can we get coffee?” She said as she walked besides me to the elevators. I selected both of our designated floors as we got in, and we started chatting about my little human.

Her floor was first, and with a wave and a “I’ll see you in the garage in fifteen minutes” she got off and headed towards wherever her room was.

I ran a hand through my hair, tugging it out of its ponytail as the elevator stopped at my floor. Getting off, I headed towards my room. Grabbing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and some new undergarments, I quickly took a shower. Brushed my hair, teeth, and decided on a bit of eyeliner and mascara for the rest of the day. Pulled on some boots and grabbed my black leather jacket, making sure I had everything I needed for heading out. Finally, I grabbed my silver aviators and headed downstairs, before almost tripping over the shoes that littered the front entryway. Damn, my entire floor needed to be cleaned.

I met Natasha by my car, wearing a white, loose sleeveless tank top and leggings. Along with sneakers. Her hair was damp and down, and she had a black duffle bag over her shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I questioned as I popped the trunk to the challenger.

“I was hoping you could take me to my studio, if that’s alright.” she said as she shut the trunk lid with her duffle in it.

“Yeah, that’s no biggie. Coffee first?” I asked, starting the car.

“Please.” She sighed as she leaned her head against the seats. I smiled and pulled up to the open street.

We got our iced coffees and I made sure to get a frappuccino and cookie for Lillith, and I drove towards where Natasha said her studio was.

“I’ll just be about forty minutes. I need to get some stuff done and it might be a bit.” She said as she leaned in the car door frame, her duffle over one shoulder and a hand on the car door.

“That’s fine. I’m going to go pick up Lillith and then I’ll drive back here. Is that alright?” I asked, looking at the redhead. She smiled and nodded, shutting the car door.

I picked up Lillith from school, who excitedly told me that she made not one, but four new friends in her class. Her happy shriek had me laughing as I gave her the frappuccino and cookie. “I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!” She yelled as she grabbed said drink from my hand.

“Careful with it please.” I chucked as she quickly sipped on it. She hummed in response, staring out the window.

I shook my head and shifted the car into drive and headed downtown. Not even halfway there, and already….

“Mom I have to go pee” Lillith said, scrunching her nose and the bag the cookie came in.

“Okay. We’re almost there to pick up Natasha and then we can go inside and you can go pee.” I replied as I turned another corner.

I had no idea if her studio had a bathroom, but I had the idea that my toddler couldn’t hold it very long. That girl drank more water than I did, and that was saying something.

We pulled up and immediately she was getting unbuckled and wiggling her way out of the car. I got out and tucked my keys in my pocket, and helped her out of the car.

I gently kicked the door shut and led Lillith through the doors with a hand on her back, and followed the signs to where the bathroom is. Other than the fact that this place looked completely deserted, it was nice.

No outstanding decorations, and there was little furniture. An old cork board held flyers and photos of various ballet dancers and activities. I paused at that, remembering what Nat had said that one night.

I dance.

After having Lillith wash her hands (Which she complained about, but did anyway) we walked around until I found a half wall, half window point.

Lillith was short enough to where she couldn’t see in, but thankfully I wasn’t. It must’ve been a two way mirror, judging by the same pattern around the walls. A set of hip bars in the middle on a hardwood floor, and one of the most beautiful women lightly dancing to music I couldn’t hear.

My grip tightened on Lillith as I took in the sight before me. Natasha was wearing a black leotard with black tights, and the thing that caught my attention was the shoes. Pink, with the ribbon wrapping around her ankles. The way she moved reminded me of all of the ballet shows I went to in school when I was a kid. There was something majestic about how she moved, how delicate she seemed.

Of course, it was Natasha Romanoff. She may appear delicate, but she’s the complete opposite.

She turned on her heel and bowed down to the floor, hands barely brushing the wood. She went up, arms gracefully moving out in a way that kept my focus on her. That was, until Lillith yelled at her.

“HI NATASHA!” She yelled, jumping up and down and aggressively waving at said women. Natasha didn’t start, rather smiled at the small child and waved.

I facepalmed, dragging my hand down my face as I tried to fight down the flushing of my face.

#avengers x reader #miscfandomwrites #natasha romanoff #black widow x reader #mama #marvel x reader #marvel #natasha x reader

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the-firebird69 · 7 months ago

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David Loggins - Please Come To Boston 1974

youtube

My wife never said this to me but I know who the singer is and I know the story. She was in Boston and he was away on business and she got nervous and afraid and said I think we're in trouble and he is a morlock and he was out somewhere on a boat now he's in a foreign country any fell asleep in drove off a cliff and died and the song came out before that happened everybody was freaking out and he died completely. It's not Trump's car go off a cliff and they thought that he may have had something to do with it and it turns out that he didn't. But what he's going to tell is a very spooky story and I didn't know about it

Ken

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_Island_(Massachusetts)&ved=2ahUKEwj0zJe6jcyKAxWcSDABHdurB80Qqa4BegQIQxAA&usg=AOvVaw08qDsx9hiG9CV2WGI1j_Et

I'm a young guy everyone calls me that and my wife is a young girl and we and Lady really but we haven't seen too much of this stuff but this is strange and it was during a period when I was hanging out with Billy z but Grandpa was running the show and the big thing and the island I think and people say yeah that was him and the boat disappeared and The mooring was gone and we don't know what happened to The mooring usually George's competent and would probably have replaced it that's what they said I hear just full of water and it was feeling slowly but the markings didn't match perfectly and he probably took it over to deer Island and out the upland tunnel effluent tunnel there's a big tunnel there people knew about it to a waiting submarine and threatening me in front of Jen who is Katya and would not allow us to continue seeing each other and it was him again and he threatened me a lot and people say that he went to the grave and is still there I'd be surprised he might be but this is a story that you need the answer to. I used interpolation to figure out that you need a ball to get a ball you don't necessarily need 100% but boy would it make it a lot easier as a few reasons and it would make sense and really it's a size that makes sense then there's creature that matches it and there's demons that match it they're like big hooks hulks and they can withstand the radiation and they wouldn't be able to push it out and it is a strange story but I believe it's true and the reason why it's important is that George was already addicted and I don't think he's had a ball and use cable testing it for all sorts of things and if you found a really big ones and made Spears the Shields and those things can withstand almost anything that you guys can come up with at a certain size but he would learn that if you got it and he started it studied it

Zues

Yes he would. There's some other important factors it's a psychological thing if you have it you can try and do things with it and Tommy f passed up on it yeah and he went ahead and started working and that was George I remember his stuff he was saying I'm going to get those two kids and they deserve it and s*** like that and I was really mad it makes sense now and he was talking about us and I remember that he was running that project I started getting mad at my husband for putting it down now it's mentioning he was guy running it and that's the big thing it says I know what you're saying a word and he wouldn't tell him so he ran around saying it and it did help us but this might be authorium ball and we think it's why Queen Elizabeth II disappeared you can see in the movie Star Trek Khan's face changing cuz he told them and he got on the line with Captain Kirk and said I really feel badly about this but I know you didn't do it to her and I didn't see her but we think we know who did and he's talked about it off stage with me that's how it is it says ironically he looks like him and he probably played Ricardo montalvan and it was one of his characters and Mack Daddy gets really bad and since we need you to back off so we can get away from the stuff and they both decided to we think

Hera

This is good work it's a pain in the ass for them but yeah they could be a big trouble and we're going to start looking at it and someone is pointing it out it might be willing bill and they're saying we've had enough and you guys are stupid and you don't even remember this you didn't remember he brought the suits there we're smiling and laughing and he's saying well I don't believe it and even if he brought them there why would they still be there and why would they fit it was very surprised he remembers though getting the signs like a 44 it couldn't believe it was fat and it looks a little fat he looks a little fat now this is too impossible I can't get rid of it that's funny it's because he's a baby we're going to say this people want to riding all over the place and he just can't do it his body is not recovering yet and you're wrong and this is important

Preston and Big Joe

Olympus

#Youtube

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therecordconnection · 7 months ago

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Playlist: A Ship of Fools Connected or, the "What a Fool Believes" Riff Repeated Through Time

Expanded Youtube Edition Featuring Bonus Non-Spotify Tracks Can Be Found By Clicking Here!

Cover Photo Created By The Record Connection // Record border Created By: @saradika-graphics

Playlist Description: Like Prometheus defying the gods and bringing fire to humanity, so did Michael McDonald when he delivered yacht rock's most powerful and enduring riff and bounce with one single song. Upon hearing this, an entire ship of fools believed that was the most secret of sauces and repeated it through time with direct ripoffs, variations, and accidental and direct references.

This playlist was born after I watched the new Yacht Rock Dockumentary on Max. I got fascinated during the section where they covered the sheer amount of songs that "What a Fool Believes" birthed. That documentary covers a few of the songs on this list, but I've since found that they could've covered and shown so many more. This playlist is in chronological order, with the first half mostly covering the legion of blatant ripoffs and copies in the late seventies and early eighties. Some of them are just songs inspired by the Doobies hit and simply wanted to capture it's overall vibe ("He's So Shy" and "(Want You) Back in My Life Again" are good examples of this.) In Nicolette Larson's case, she had experience working with the Doobies and Michael McDonald on previous work, so "Talk to Me" is just a case of being connected and having an artist's style rub off on you. In other cases, such as Roger Voudoris' "Get Used to It" and Ronnie Milsap's "If You Don't Want Me To", it's borderline plagiarism and McDonald definitely could've sued if those had been bigger songs. The Reigning Champion of the "What a Fool Believes" Ripoffs is still Robbie Dupree's "Steal Away" and you best believe that's here ("Hollywood" Steve Huey even jokes in the documentary that "steal" is right there in the title).

Towards the end are a few modern songs that use the "What a Fool Believes" groove, but unlike most of the songs on the first half, the modern songs featured are more accidental cases where it just happens to pop up (and in the case of "Tokyo Night", it pops up as a self-aware reference/homage).

If you choose to listen via Youtube, you get the benefit of hearing three more imitators with songs so obscure that I don't even think their next-of-kin could recognize them.

Anyway, it's fascinating how one major hit song can inspire a legion of ripoffs and imitators and it's doubly fascinating how this kind of thing can never happen again in a post-Blurred Lines world, where music copyright law is so fucked that if anything even sounds remotely close to something else that already exists, there's a court date scheduled. Sure, a lot of these songs are ripping off one specific thing and some of them are wholesale plagiarizing McDonald's original riff, but a number of these artists are jacking that groove in different ways and doing their own variations on it. Nobody is going to confuse the Doobie Brothers with the Pointer Sisters, but it's fun to look at the common musical threads they have.

It's also wild to think that McDonald almost didn't make this song. The dockumentary (that's how they spell it, by the way) covers McDonald playing around with that "What a Fool Believes" piano groove right before co-writer Kenny Loggins showed up at his house. Michael reveals that he originally wasn't going to play it for Kenny. Meanwhile, Kenny reveals that he heard Michael playing that while he was outside the door of the house and immediately asked him to play it again because, "I think I know how the next part goes." Michael then says that if Kenny had rolled up ten minutes later, Michael would've forgotten about that song and it probably wouldn't have happened. If "What a Fool Believes" doesn't exist, then most of these songs don't exist either, and that's wild to think that one song can have such a ripple effect.

Track Listing:

The Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes (1978)

Roger Voudouris - Get Used to It (1979)

Nicolette Larson - Talk to Me (1979)

Ronnie Milsap - If You Don't Want Me To (The Freeze) (1980)

Robbie Dupree - Steal Away (1980)

Dave Raynor - I Can't Take It (1980) [The "We have Michael McDonald at home" of guys] (Youtube Version Only)

Pointer Sisters - He's So Shy (1980)

Rita Lee - Lanca Perfume (1980)

Dick St. Nicklaus - Bye Bye Baby (1980) (Youtube Version Only)

Joe English - Midnight Angel Choir (1980) (Youtube Version Only)

Carpenters - [Want You] Back In My Life Again (1981)

Marty Butler - I'll Cry Like a Man in Love (1982)

Finis Henderson - Making Love (1983)

Ronnie Laws - In the Groove (1983)

Kirk Franklin - Love Theory (2019)

Magdalena Bay - Hysterical Us (2021)

Jonas Brothers - Waffle House (2023)

Vulfmon, Jacob Jefferies, and Evangeline - Tokyo Night (2024)

#original post #playlist #the doobie brothers #what a fool believes #Spotify

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donnerpartyofone · 1 year ago

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Because I've had some really destructive run-ins with for-real pathological liars, I'm often thinking about what makes people dishonest and what are the different kinds of dishonesty. Like I don't LITERALLY think that (most of) the people above were "lying", I'm just being petty whose version of reality is valid here, but there are versions of this kind of suspicious ignorance that I think are more or less innocent, and I spend a lot of time analyzing them. Some examples are:

My dear friend who is more or less a self-made woman exhibits this weird virginal helplessness where she will spontaneously pretend not to know really basic information. I don't think she conspires to do it, I think she does it instinctively out of a deep feeling of insecurity that makes her project "Help me! I'm helpless!" to everyone around her, just in case someone is willing to take responsibility for her. One time I made some joke involving "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins--ya know, from the best-selling TOP GUN soundtrack that peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts the year it came out and was probably blasting out of every single radio in the city all summer long. My friend claimed to have never heard, nor heard OF the song, and I swear to god she was on the verge of saying she never heard of TOP GUN even though she is a very with-it person and a rock musician herself and she would have been in her teens or 20s in NYC when the song was out and could not possibly have avoided it. Amusingly, the idea of someone being inexplicably, ludicrously ignorant of the song "Danger Zone" is a joke in an episode of Archer that made me feel so seen I almost felt spied-on. Sometimes my friend chooses less plausible things to be ignorant of, though; like she's kept dogs all her life, they're honestly her most important relationships, and one day I made some remark like "owning reptiles is interesting because they can't 'love' the same way a mammal can, like how dogs really love their owners," and my friend goes "THEY DO?!?!?!" like this had never ever occurred to her. And I was like, girl...please don't make me take that seriously, you're being ridiculous and I think you know it.

I had this classmate in college who was a huge slob with no real personal boundaries, and his lack of physical and social hygiene was also reflected in this kind of mental disarray where he had a really hard time telling the difference between literal events that were stored in his memory, and random ideas that just popped into his head. We quickly learned that if you just suggested something to this guy, he would start filling in the blanks; you could go "Hey dude remember that time that we (did something that could not possibly have happened)?" and he would automatically say "Yeah that was hilarious!" and start adding details. And then if you said, "That never happened, I just wanted to see if you would lie about it as usual," he'd start fuming and turning red and going SHUT UP YOU GUYS, JUST SHUT UP!!! I think some of this behavior was related to the fact that he just couldn't stand to be alone and he would say literally-anything to be part of the conversation, and I guess he felt entitled to say literally-anything that popped into his mind without being questioned on it. I do also think that some of this is related to being drunk most of the time and having a generally hazy sense of reality, so he just never developed the discipline to check himself on anything. I don't ever remember proposing something absurd to him and having him say "I don't remember that/That doesn't make sense/That's not true and I know it." One time as a test I repeated to him one of the things that a REAL pathological liar I knew had claimed--that if you have an IQ of 80 or lower you have to be in a wheelchair--and this guy automatically agreed and insisted that he had been taught this fact in health class; when I revealed that this wasn't true, he got all pissed off, with his usual attitude that anything he said should be taken for granted. He would come up with his own bullshit too, you didn't even have to prompt him. One night my crazy trivia-obsessed friend declared that mouse sperm is bigger than whale sperm, and the liar guy instantly replied, with the confidence of someone who had studied this matter all his life, "That's because it has a shorter distance to go." You can guess what happened when he was asked why the fuck he would say such a thing. Later in the same conversation we were commenting on the surprising athleticism of somebody in the group, and the liar guy spontaneously volunteered "Yeah yeah! Remember that time you picked me up over your head?" The athlete guy, who hated the liar guy with all his heart, fixed him in a burning gaze and replied carefully and deliberately: "Do you know what I would have to do to pick you up over my head? ...I would have to grab you by the crotch." Shut up you guys. Just shut up!!!

One of the worse types of intrusive thoughts is like, when someone says something wrong and/or annoying and your brain won't stop coming up with ways to correct them even though there is no pressing reason to do so and in fact you might seem insane if you insist on it. MONTHS ago I was having this conversation with my husband and my dad, both of whom are very aesthetically keen (like professionally so), where we were talking about physical description in prose and when it tends to make writing worse. We generally agreed that if a character's exact appearance isn't that relevant to the plot then it's excessive to keep harping on facial and bodily details, and doing so is usually the province of pulp and romance genres; it's kind of porny to do that, basically, and it can undermine whatever else your point is. I admitted that I happen to have trouble with names of esoteric clothing items, and I find that the revered Haruki Murakami is guilty of (among other things) making these crazy wardrobe itemizations that to me read like "He wore a waffle weave jersey beneath a mauve linen tunic under a navy Marino wool jumper beneath a periwinkle windbreaker under a camelhair duster" and on and on and I'm like, do I need to know all this, I might need to look some of this up, is this fucking important? And then as if to agree with me, the men started pounding the podium about how they don't understand any common descriptions of people's faces. First up was the "heart-shaped face" and I'm like OK, that may sound a little abstract but if you literally drew a heart with eyes and then drew a wig on top, you would probably start thinking of people you've seen with pointed chins and broad foreheads and soft jawlines and stuff. But then they both started angrily insisting that they have no idea what "high cheekbones" are and it was like, yes you fucking do. That's like the #1 most desirable facial feature in at-least the west. Every single fashion model has them. Almost every single person you see on TV has them except for like comic relief characters who don't have to be attractive. The description itself identifies the geometry and even the length of the face perfectly well, there's no metaphor in place like a "heart" or whatever. You fucking know what high cheekbones are, you're just doing that thing where you've tricked yourself into bragging about ignorance (a very American thing I must say) and you're coming dangerously close to the territory of classic lies like "I'm so straight I have no idea what an attractive man even LOOKS like!" Don't fucking say you don't know what high cheekbones are. Actually both of you have them and you're probably pleased with them, so STOP LYING.

Next time on "I can't handle when people don't know things": My friend (b. 1981) who is obsessed with 80s hip hop especially novelty songs claims that he has never heard or heard OF "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie; my pop culture nostalgia nerd friend (b. 1983) who I've seen in like Count Chocula tee shirts claims he doesn't know what a Crunchberry is; and finally, my old coworker (b. 1990 or smth idk) who insisted that he had never heard of a valentine and doesn't know what one is even though someone else in the room confirmed that he went to a primary school where they were all forced to exchange them in class. All you guys STOP FUCKING LYING!!!

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the-cooler-kira · 3 years ago

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Totally Not || Joseph Joestar x Reader

cw: female reader, joseph in denial, reader is slightly oblivious, fluff

summary: caesar makes joseph realise he's in love with y/n

MASTERLIST

It was another beautiful and early morning that began with training on Air Supplena island, the sun had only just started to rise.

You had woken up before everyone else on the island, intending to train with your Hamon alone in hopes of getting some peace and quiet before the absolute chaos that came with trying to master and perfect an ability within such a short amount of time.

Messina and Loggins were using every opportunity to work you, Joseph, and Caesar to the point of exhaustion. Did it improve your skills? Yes. Do you wish they were a little easier on you? Absolutely.

Lisa Lisa was also incredibly strict, but she did less of the practical work and more of the theory after your physical sessions. However, she was a little more sympathetic than her assistant instructors.

At the end of the day, Suzie would always cater to the three of you. Water bottles and towels in hand, a wide smile plastered on her face, as she skipped over to you and your fellow students. Her presence made staying on this island that little bit more bearable.

Caesar was always there to compliment your skills. Some days, if he wanted to annoy the other male in your trio, he would lay it on strong and even get a little touchy. Yesterday, he had used an Italian pet name and kept flirting with you. You didn't really have a clue what was happening, but it allowed Caesar the opportunity to call you cute and it made you flustered. What were you supposed to say to that!?

Then there was Joseph. He had to physically restrain himself from going ballistic. When you left the room, he had marched straight up to the casanova and interrogated him. Why on earth was he suddenly interested in his (Y/N)? Wait, his? Unbeknownst to the both of you, you made him feel things that nobody has before.

Neither of you were aware of it...but Caesar was, and he was fully willing to make the both of you realise you have feelings for each other.

"Ah- what the hell?" You cursed after an annoying stone got into your shoe and poked at the bottom of your bare foot. Instead of sitting down like a normal person, you decided to hop around on one foot to try get it out.

Little did you know, a certain trickster was watching you from his window.

Joseph didn't really know why he was awake at this time, considering he liked to sleep in, but something about your focus and determination to improve kept him awake. While you were zoned in on training, he was zoned in on the way your body gracefully moved. The way your face scrunched in annoyance when you slipped up. The way you looked like you were ready to face the Pillar Men right this second.

"How about you take this opportunity to train with her?" Caesar's thick Italian accent called out from the doorway of Joseph's room. The tranquil silence suddenly being broken was enough to make him jump out of fright.

"Caesar!" He clutched his chest as he tried to calm his heart rate. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Well it's pretty weird that you're just watching (Y/N) from the window, y'know, instead of talking to her."

Joseph didn't bother responding.

"If you want a girl to like you, it might actually be worth talking to her, Jojo." It wasn't hard to tell he had a crush on you, especially not for Caesar.

He noticed every time Joseph's eyes longingly stared for a while; every time Joseph would linger his hand during a hug for too long; every time Joseph would try to protect you, even if you were perfectly capable of defending yourself.

Normally, Caesar would have to teach him (the hard way) how to be respectful towards women. Whether that be a random citizen or Lisa Lisa herself, considering the grudge he held after finally completing Hell Climb Pillar.

This time, however? This time was different. Granted, he always tried to show off but that was Joseph being himself. This time he was surprisingly gentle. He might not seem different to everyone else, but he did to Caesar. He knew. Lisa Lisa knew. Suzie knew. Even Loggins and Messina knew. You, on the other hand, didn't.

You were more focused on making it out of this alive, and you were going to make sure everybody else did too.

Maybe that selfless personality, and how you care about your slightly unstable found family, are some of the many things that enticed Joseph. He constantly thought about you, especially right now as he watched you from afar.

"Like me? What are you talking about? Of course, (Y/N) likes me! We are pretty close." He tried playing it cool and acting dumb, but his blonde best friend wasn't having it.

"You know what I mean." Caesar folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"No I don't, if she disliked me I would know. Like I said, we're close friends!" Joseph shrugged nonchalantly, finally turning around.

"Are you?"

His quick question was enough to tell anyone that you and Jojo weren't as close as he claimed you were. Sure, you've had many light-hearted conversations, but he doesn't know much else about you.

He knows you were here before him and Caesar, and he's picked up on your personality traits, maybe even some of your quirks. But he doesn't know you intimately. He doesn't know your full past. He doesn't know everything about you. More importantly, he doesn't know how you really feel about him. Unfortunately, he never picked up if you acted differently around him. Did you? Or did you act the same with everyone?

"It's obvious you have a crush on her." Caesar kept interrupting his thoughts, walking closer so he could also see you and maybe make Joseph confess. It worked.

He dropped the act, "well yeah! How could someone not have a crush on a girl like that!?"

"I will admit, I liked her in the past... before I realised she wasn't interested."

"Ha-!"

"Listen, Joseph, just tell her. It's better than keeping it to yourself, though with the way you act around her she'll probably figure it out herself."

"How I'm acting?" He repeated. "I'm not that obvious!" The unspoken rhetorical question of 'am I?' was answered anyway.

"Yes you are. You're staring at her right now! How long were you watching her before I walked in?"

"Hey! I'm not staring!" Well... he was, and still is.

"Mhm," Caesar hummed before starting to leave. If Joseph wasn't going to take this opportunity to talk to you, then Caesar would take it to train his Hamon with you.

"Hey, wait for me!" Joseph called after him.

"Yeah, totally not a crush," the blonde muttered and chuckled to himself at his denial.

"Shut up!"

#joseph joestar x reader #caesar zeppeli #fluff #jjba x reader #slight found family #joseph joestar #jjba battle tendency #jjba part 2 #CK fics ✍︎

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sarahk4 · 2 years ago

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80's Songs That Remind Me Of Each Party Member

I shared all of the songs on my 80's playlist between the six members of the Party! There's a few that are on more than one list and some lists are longer than others cause I feel like I have more similar music taste to some than others!

If you would of put any of them anywhere else let me know, I'd love to hear what you think ♡

MAX

Running Up That Hill- Kate Bush

Every Breath You Take- The Police

Time After Time- Cyndi Lauper

I Wanna Dance With Somebody- Whitney Houston (Also in Will & El's lists. Imagine them hanging out dancing to it. Like sleepover)

Girls Just Want To Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper

True Colours- Cyndi Lauper

Heaven Is A Place On Earth- Belinda Carlisle (I imagine Nancy as a Belinda Carlisle fan too and they bond!)

I Get Weak- Belinda Carlisle

World Without You- Belinda Carlisle

Leave a Light On- Belinda Carlisle

Super Trouper- ABBA (I feel like Joyce loves ABBA and it rubs off on all the kids)

Chain Reaction- Diana Ross

Material Girl- Madonna

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now- Starship (Lumax ♡)

Angel- Madonna (S3 sleepover scene)

Wouldn't Change A Thing- Kylie Minogue

True Blue- Madonna (Max would be the biggest Madonna fan)

Like a Prayer- Madonna

La Isla Bonita- Madonna

Like a Virgin- Madonna

Express Yourself- Madonna (I feel like all the girls would like this one)

On and On and On- ABBA (Also on El's list. They would love it)

I Think We're Alone Now- Tiffany

Edge of Seventeen- Stevie Nicks

Stuck With You- Huey Lewis and The News (Also in Lucas's list cause I love Lumax)

Fame- Irene Cara (Also in El's list)

We Got The Beat- The Go-Go's

LUCAS

Every Breath You Take- The Police

I Want To Know What Love Is- The Foreigner

Footloose- Kenny Loggins

The Way You Make Me Feel- Michael Jackson

Man In The Mirror- Michael Jackson

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go- Wham

Endless Love- Lionel Richie and Diana Ross (He's a romantic! Would constantly try to make Max duet with him)

If I Could Turn Back Time- Cher (Also on Dustin's list. Would be their mutual guilty pleasure they hide from the others)

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now- Starship (Also on Max's list. They're adorable)

Waiting For A Star To Fall- Boy Meets Girl

Lay All Your Love On Me- ABBA

Mary's Prayer- Danny Wilson

Opposite's Attract- Paula Abdul

Stuck With You- Huey Lewis and The News (Also in Max's list cause I love Lumax)

Total Eclipse Of The Heart- Bonnie Tyler (He and Dustin would do dramatic performances of it)

Love Shack- The B-52's

Everywhere- Fleetwood Mac

WILL

Everybody Wants To Rule The World- Tears For Fears

Should I Stay Or Should I Go- The Clash

I Wanna Dance With Somebody- Whitney Houston (Also in Max & El's lists. Imagine them hanging out dancing to it. Like sleepover)

A Little Respect- Erasure (I feel like Joyce would love this one too)

(I've Had) The Time Of My Life- Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes

The Winner Takes It All- ABBA

Under Attack- ABBA

Who Loves Ya Baby?- Debbie Gibson (Will and El would both love Debbie Gibson)

Electric Youth- Debbie Gibson

Together in Electric Dreams- The Human League

Love Changes (Everything)- Climie Fisher

Alone- Heart

How Will I Know- Whitney Houston

Walking on Sunshine- Katrina & The Waves (Also in El's list)

Mickey- Toni Basil

I'm Still Standing- Elton John

Holding Out For A Hero- Bonnie Tyler

I Wanna Dance With Somebody- Whitney Houston (Also in Will & Max's lists. Imagine them hanging out dancing to it. Like sleepover)

Girl's Just Want To Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper (El would love bubblegum pop!)

9 to 5- Dolly Parton

I Know Him So Well- Elaine Paige

Slipping Through My Fingers- ABBA

What A Feeling- Irene Cara (I feel like Nancy would have really similar music taste to El which is where she finds most of these songs)

Material Girl- Madonna

Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi- Kylie Minogue (Bubblegum pop!)

It's No Secret- Kylie Minogue

I'll Still Be Loving You- Kylie Minogue

The Loco-Motion- Kylie Minogue

I Should Be So Lucky- Kylie Minogue

On and On and On- ABBA (Also on Max's list. They would love it)

Uptown Girl- Billy Joel

Out Of The Blue- Debbie Gibson (El and Will would both love Debbie Gibson)

Electric Youth- Debbie Gibson

We Could Be Together- Debbie Gibson

Xanadu- Olivia Newton-John

Morning Train (Nine to Five)- Sheena Easton

Crazy For You- Madonna

Fame- Irene Cara (Also in Max's list)

I'm So Excited- The Pointer Sisters

Walking on Sunshine- Katrina & The Waves (Also in Will's list)

DUSTIN

Neverending Story- Limahl

Africa- Toto

The Best- Tina Turner

All Night Long- Lionel Richie

Careless Whisper- Wham

Islands In The Stream- Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (Idk why this reminds me of him but it does)

If I Could Turn Back Time- Cher (Also on Dustin's list. Would be their mutual guilty pleasure they hide from the others)

(I Just) Died In Your Arms- Cutting Crew

All Out Of Love- Air Supply

Love In The First Degree- Bananarama

Somewhere In My Heart- Aztec Camera

Don't Dream It's Over- Crowded House

The Boys Of Summer- Don Henley

Total Eclipse Of The Heart- Bonnie Tyler (He and Lucas would do dramatic performances of it)

Don't Stop Believin'- Journey (Steve would love it too which is where Dustin would pick it up)

Take On Me- A-Ha

MIKE

Don't You (Forget About Me)- Simple Minds (This song just screams Mike to me)

The Power Of Love- Huey Lewis and The News

Summer of '69- Bryan Adams (He would be a massive Bryan Adam's fan)

Just Can't Get Enough- Depeche Mode

Heroes- David Bowie

Can't Fight This Feeling- REO Speedwagon

The Longest Time- Billy Joel (He, Will, Dustin and Lucas have tried to do this whole song themselves at least once)

Tell Her About It- Billy Joel

Danger Zone- Danny Loggins

Need You Tonight- INXS

Little Lies- Fleetwood Mac

Glory Days- Bruce Springsteen

The Whole Of The Moon- The Waterboys

Livin' On A Prayer- Bon Jovi

Don't You Want Me- The Human League

This is just my opinion and if you have another opinion, I'd love to hear it ♡

#stranger things #80s music #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #el hopper #will byers #dustin henderson #mike wheeler

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spellbook-gayboy · 3 years ago

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i didn't manage to send in anything for writing prompt friday yesterday, but if you're still doing these all weekend long maybe prompt 57? 💛

57.

"Well, I saw it and thought of you, Mom!" Mark answered, a bashful look on his face. The necklace he got her was beautiful, an array of glittering yellow gemstones wound into a delicate silver frame. He must've definitely asked others to chip in to afford it, especially with how little salary the government actually gave superheroes.

"Aww, thank you, Mark! I've never had something this nice for my birthday!" Debbie thanked, drawing her son in a tight hug. While the both of them had been very comfortable financially, Nolan had never placed that much value on birthday presents, a fact which made much more sense with the reveal of his true age. It also made her son's effort all the more endearing as a result.

"Well, if you think that's nice..." the half-alien teased, a smile growing. "You, uh, might wanna turn on the TV!"

Debbie picked up and flicked over to one of the main news channels, but instead of the usual two presenters giving a tired recap of recent events, she saw quite a strange sight.

"Is this thing on?" Frontline asked, speaking into a sleek black microphone as he faced the camera projecting his image into the Grayson's home. "We're good? Alrighty then!"

Debbie struggled to find the correct words to describe her surprise. "Oh my god, is that... that's him, isn't it?"

"Trust me, it gets even better!"

"Okay, let me just..." the old soldier continued, pulling a note out of some compartment in his suit while clearing his throat. "Okay: 'Dear Mr. Frontline, my momma Debbie has always been a mighty big fan of yours. One of the earliest memories she has of you actually happened thirty-eight years ago today."

"Wait, is he...?"

"It was the night of her fourth birthday, and my Grandma and Grandpa sat her down to watch that week's episode of Solid Gold. Only that particular episode had you as its guest star, singing the song Footloose by Kenny Loggins. She always thought that you had sung it for her personally, so in honour of that, I was wondering if you actually could? Thanks, Mark'." he smiled as he finished the letter. "Well kid, I first gotta tell you that you're a real angel for wanting to give that to your momma. And Debbie?" he continued, before miming to someone off-screen, and the opening notes of Footloose began to play in the background. "This one's for you. Happy birthday!"

Debbie clapped both hands over her mouth. A moment of silence passed while Frontline began to sing, before she let out a squeal of pure joy at the sight. "Oh, Mark, you shouldn't have!"

"You serious? Once he heard about the idea, Kyle- I mean Frontline wouldn't let it go. He helped pay for this, too!" Mark confessed, pointing to the necklace still in his mother's lap.

To say that Debbie felt like a young girl again would be an understatement. It was like the clock had been turned way, way back to her childhood, to the start of her first celebrity crush, and to the best birthday she'd ever had.

Well, second-best if she included this one.

#three cheers for the birthday girl!#invincible #invincible show #invincible amazon #invincible oc #🦅🛡#Kyle Washington #mark grayson #debbie grayson #my asks #sequids #writing prompt friday

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gothprentiss · 3 years ago

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the best part of glass onion twitter is ben shapiro being really mad about all the best parts of the movie though. world’s stupidest Smart Guy being mad that a genre which works by sleight of hand got him with the ball-and-cups trick it was clearly playing. buhhhh how come i didn’t figure it out before it enacted the process of discovery and revelation that’s central to the genre

also while i’m here that’s one of my biggest beeves with that extremely famous youtube vid about why bbc sherlock sucks. a well-crafted mystery won’t give you the material you need to solve it as it goes. it will often work by deus-ex-machina style revelation. the question is whether that revelation feels worthwhile to you (and if glass onion’s doesn’t, uh. maybe lay off the mysteries. you might find the work of cinemasins more fulfilling.), its explanatory function in the work, and how well that hidden narrative maps onto what we’ve experienced thus far.

glass onion spoilers or whatever

i am begging glass onion twitter fandom to watch any of the like five hundred million adaptations of cozy mysteries available all over the internet and stop acting like rian johnson personally walked into all of their homes and smooched them sweetly on the forehead before tucking them gently into bed to dream soft and impressionistic dreams of the death of the billionaire class as an entire liberatory politics unto itself

he isn’t a hard boiled jerk because he isn’t in a hard boiled detective story. you are complimenting a norm of characterization that you don’t know how to recognize because you did immediate character association with his role in girl with the dragon tattoo and then you went into tweet mode and started generating takes.

what you may be picking up on is the movie’s fusion of the ethos and stakes of the cozy mystery (small, close setting comprising a few locations and interpersonal drama, fundamentally light-hearted and colorful, seek a return to order, detached from the institutional justice system, violence and danger are present but stylized) with the political stakes of the hardboiled detective story, wherein the system is fundamentally flawed and no more aligned with justice than crime itself, making the detective almost a vigilante figure. the difference in these genres is also that the detective is, in the cozy mystery, one of many characters, and it is their job to bring to the fore the tensions between the other characters. the hard-boiled detective is frequently themself the psychological and emotional center of the hard-boiled mystery.

however, it’s worth noting that this, too, is not unique, and that the turn of the amateur detective against an easy juridical solution to crime (as blanc does in glass onion) is fairly common in any mystery series which starts light. e.g. poirot is an obvious parallel to blanc and likely inspiration too: poirot dies because he sees no justice available for his current case except the murderer’s death, and knows there is no way to guarantee it but their mutual destruction. but beyond this there are loads of cozy mysteries which accept or enable various characters’ crimes because they are, within the narrative, viewed as essentially good and right, as helen is.

#mysteries are about worldbuilding blah blah #loggin off just had to say some things #whodunit tag

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bevioletskies · 4 years ago

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meet me halfway (across the sky)

summary: Video calls back home were a rare treat for Apollo, considering how busy his life in Khura’in could be. Catching up with Trucy, Athena, and Phoenix was one thing. Getting a sudden call from Klavier was another. And talking to Klavier every day for hours about everything they never knew about each other was possibly the most unexpected thing of all.

word count: 12k | read on ao3

a/n: For @klapollo-week, day five of seven (prompt: "parallels"). All seven of my fics take place in the same continuity! However, each can be read as a stand-alone, with the exception of day seven being a sequel to day five.

Mild spoiler warning for Spirit of Justice, along with implied spoilers for Dual Destinies. Fic title is from the song Meet Me Half Way by Kenny Loggins.

“Uh, Mr. Wright, you’re way too close to the screen. Can you sit back a little?”

“Oops - sorry, Apollo! Still not used to this kind of technology, heh.”

“Sheesh, Daddy, you make yourself sound ancient - ”

“Ah! Did you guys start already? Attendez-moi!”

Chuckling, Apollo leaned back in his seat and waited while the three of them rearranged themselves in front of their webcam. He’d missed this, this camaraderie that he didn’t quite have with his current companions in Khura’in. There was something immensely comforting about it, about every time he managed to schedule a video call with everyone back home. It didn’t happen as often as they would’ve liked, given how busy they all were, how tricky the time difference could be, but when it did, it was the best part of Apollo’s week.

“Hey, guys,” Apollo said, waving sleepily. “What’s been going on?” He leaned closer, peering at his screen. “...Athena, why do you have a banana sticker on your forehead?”

“Why don’t you have a banana sticker on your forehead?” Athena retorted, peeling hers off with a flourish. “Anyway, everything’s been sehr gut! We’ve had, hm...I think four clients since we last talked? All acquitted, of course!”

“Anything interesting?” Apollo asked. “I’ve had twelve clients, myself.”

Phoenix frowned. “I’m...not so sure that’s a good thing. Are you getting enough sleep? I can’t imagine you having that many cases and not mixing them up. Keeping track of evidence alone must be a nightmare!”

“It’s been...a process,” Apollo said diplomatically, trying not to think about the dozens of folders he had on both his desktop and his actual desk that needed to be sorted in a way that made some semblance of sense. “Don’t worry about me, Mr. Wright, I-I’m fine!”

“Famous last words,” Trucy huffed. “Polly, you need rest! We want you back home in one piece, after all.”

“At least I’m not accepting odd jobs anymore,” Apollo chuckled. “I don’t mind helping someone set up their internet or move their couch every now and then, but I can’t do everything.” He startled suddenly at the sound of his phone going off. “Oh - sorry, one sec.” His brows knitted together when he read the call display: Klavier Gavin.

“Apollo? Is something wrong?” Athena asked, concerned.

“I - uh…” Apollo hesitated, unsure of what to do. “I’m gonna mute myself for a second, hang on.” He did just that, then answered his phone. “Gavin? Are you...wait. Did you call me by accident?”

There was a long, lingering silence. Then, “Ach, I only just realized what time it is where you are. I should’ve texted first, ja?”

“Yeah, probably,” Apollo said, laughing awkwardly. “Is this, uh, urgent? It’s just - I’m in the middle of a video call, so…”

“Nein, nein, not all!” Klavier’s voice was too loud, too sharp. Apollo didn’t need to see his face to know what that meant. “You know what? Forget I called, it’s nothing.”

“Hey, no, don’t do that,” Apollo protested, frowning. “If you wanna talk for whatever reason, we can - ”

“I have somewhere I need to be, anyway, so, er - Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Forehead.” Klavier quickly hung up before Apollo could get a word in edgewise. He stared at his phone, perplexed, before unmuting himself. The others looked as confused as he was.

“What happened?” Phoenix asked.

“...Prosecutor Gavin called me?” Apollo shook himself a little. “I’ll get back to him later, so - anyway, what were we talking about?”

_____

Three days passed before Klavier responded to the inquiring text message Apollo had sent him after he’d finished talking to the others. He still didn’t seem ready to talk about it - whatever it was - but he did suggest they do a video call of their own, to which Apollo agreed. Something about Klavier’s behavior was bothering him, and he was more curious about it than he expected to be.

“Forehead? You’re staring, achtung. I know I’m handsome, but you should really keep those eyes of yours under control. They’re going to get you in trouble someday, I’m sure of it.”

“I - ” Apollo’s eyes narrowed. “Really, Gavin? That’s how we’re starting this?”

“It was you who started it,” Klavier said petulantly, his tone not unlike a five-year-old’s. But really, Apollo couldn’t stop staring - not because of Klavier’s looks; he’d long made peace with how attractive he thought Klavier was and how much he didn’t want Klavier to know, but because of how tired Klavier seemed. Apollo had expected him to be in his usual “uniform”, his silver jewelry and perfect makeup and impeccably styled hair. Instead, Klavier was wearing an oversized sweater, his hair up in a loose topknot, his face completely bare. He still had that lazy, slightly flirtatious smile on his face, but he was slouching quite a bit, his arms loosely wrapped around his propped-up knee. With his cracked lips, acne scars, and hunched shoulders, he looked more human than Apollo had ever thought possible.

“How’ve you been?” Apollo asked, ignoring him. “I’m surprised you called. I haven’t heard from you in, like. Three months? Four? I swear, I’m losing all sense of time here.”

“Well, it’s not like we had a habit of talking in the first place, ja?” Klavier pointed out. “But...to borrow a phrase, I’m fine, though the courts have been so boring without you here. I almost miss the ringing ears I got after every single one of our trials.”

“Har, har,” Apollo drawled. “Congratulations, you and everyone else have broken me down into exactly two personality traits: sarcastic and loud. Are you proud of yourself?”

“You forgot ‘oblivious’,” Klavier supplied helpfully.

Apollo blinked. “...to what?” He blinked again. “Wait - ”

“Too late,” Klavier interrupted gleefully, beaming. “You’ve proven my point beautifully.” Apollo glared; not five minutes in, and he was already prepared to hang up. “Anyway, I’ve been sehr gut, for the most part. Work has been keeping me busy. You?”

“I’m pretty settled here by now,” Apollo said, shrugging. “It’s rough, y’know, trying to rebuild an entire legal system as the only defense attorney in the country, but, uh...at least I’m not completely alone. And as nerdy as it sounds, I’m actually really liking the work. Not the stress - that, I could do without - but the fact that I get to be a part of this big...thing. It’s exciting, I guess.”

“It’s not that nerdy,” Klavier reasoned. “Nerdy is reading law textbooks at night, under the covers. As a child.”

“...is it weird that I actually did that?” Apollo asked, wincing.

Now it was Klavier’s turn to blink, stunned. “Wait, really? I was talking about me.”

“Oh.” Apollo shifted in his seat, surprised. “Never would’ve guessed. I mean, obviously, I know you became a prosecutor at seventeen, but I just assumed you were a musical child prodigy and...I dunno, switched career paths at some point.”

Klavier let out a soft laugh. “Again, you flatter me, Herr Forehead, but I’m not a prodigy of any kind. Just some good old-fashioned hard work, you know?” He then frowned very slightly. “Though...I’ll admit, I’m not sure how much of my standing at the prosecutor’s office also came down to good old-fashioned nepotism. After all, Kristoph…” He trailed off, unwilling to say more.

Apollo shuddered. Even after all this time, he couldn’t get his former boss’s maniacal laughter out of his head. “Right, um...oh, have you had any interesting cases lately? Athena was telling me she had a literal gravedigger as a client - no prizes for guessing where the victim’s body was discovered…”

The next hour seemed to fly by surprisingly quickly, with the two of them exchanging light-hearted anecdotes about work. As it turned out, they’d both had many interesting cases since the last time they spoke. It wasn’t until Apollo could barely keep his eyes open that he realized what time it was.

“Ach, don’t let me keep you,” Klavier said when Apollo yawned for what seemed like the hundredth time in a row. “You have work in the morning, I’m sure.”

“Wait, but - ” Apollo yawned yet again “ - but we never got around to...whatever it was you were calling about the first time. Your so-called ‘nothing’.”

Klavier’s expression sobered instantly, his mouth pulling back into a hard line. “I’m not going to bother lying to you, Apollo. But I’m not interested in telling you, either. So let’s leave it at that, ja?”

“I...oh.” Apollo nodded, feeling somewhat chastised. “Fine. Fine, we don’t have to - but if you wanna, y’know, catch up again sometime, let me know, okay? I’ve got time to talk. Er, I think.”

Klavier laughed, surprised, though his eyes were still wary. “Do you actually...miss me, Forehead?”

“You really know how to ruin a moment, Gavin,” Apollo sighed, shaking his head. “Anyway, talk to you later...maybe. Haven’t decided on whether I actually want to anymore, jerk.”

Klavier continued to grin. “Auf Wiedersehen, baby.” Apollo tried not to think about how the last word had made him shiver.

Weeks went by before Apollo heard from Klavier again, a few days after he’d had a two-hour long call with Trucy. Apollo’s voice was a bit hoarse from all the talking he’d done - not to mention how angry he’d gotten in court just yesterday after a particularly smug witness tried to take over the entire trial - but nevertheless, he was surprised at how happy he was to see Klavier, a feeling he was mostly unfamiliar with.

“Do you have a cold?” Klavier asked. “Your voice sounds a bit strained and raspy.”

“My brain feels strained and raspy,” Apollo groaned. He then paused; for some reason, the exchange sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. “It’s nothing, I just got pissed and yelled at someone in court yesterday. Not my finest moment, I’ll admit.”

“But isn’t yelling your default?” Klavier smirked. He looked more relaxed than last time, the tension in his face less noticeable. “I hope the rest of the trial went well, at least.”

“Oh, it didn’t,” Apollo said, snorting. “But...past’s in the past. I have too many cases to deal with to bother worrying about one crappy witness. My client was acquitted, I got the real culprit, you know the deal. It’s all starting to blur together, to be honest.”

“It sounds like you need to get out more,” Klavier suggested, not unkindly. “Is there any sort of...nightlife in Khura’in? Recreational activities, maybe? Don’t make me bother Fräulein Detective and get her to drag you to a bar every now and then.”

“We go out to eat or drink sometimes,” Apollo replied, shrugging. “But...I dunno. I don’t really have the time to take up a new hobby or whatever. My free time is for eating, sleeping, and catching up with people back home.”

“Fair enough, though you really should lighten your workload,” Klavier said sagely. “It’s not like you took cases every day when you were here, ja? I know Khura’in needs your help, but what good are you to them if you’re burnt out?”

Apollo’s eyes widened slightly, stupefied. Then, he tried - and failed - to stifle a laugh. “Okay, Dad. Sheesh, you sound like Mr. Wright trying to give me a pep talk.” He sat back in his seat, loosely running his fingers through his hair. “Fine, then, question for you - when’s the last time you took a day off?”

“I went to visit my parents last Saturday,” Klavier answered after taking a moment to think. “They needed help cleaning and packing away some of...some of his things.” He visibly swallowed, though he tried to hide it with a sharp cough. After some consideration, Apollo decided not to comment on it.

“That’s hardly a day off,” Apollo retorted instead. “I mean, it’s technically not work, but - wait. Do you usually work on weekends, too?”

“Natürlich,” Klavier replied, confused. “Do you mean to say you don’t?”

“No, I - I work on weekends more than I should,” Apollo admitted. “But it’s kinda hypocritical of you to tell me to get out more when you don’t have much of a life, either, y’know. Also, are you seriously telling me you don’t have, like. Other things to do? People to see, places to be? Not that spending time with your parents is a bad thing, I-I mean, it’s cool that you do, it’s just...well.”

Klavier averted his eyes, reaching across his desk to pick up his mug of tea. He took his time with it, drinking at a leisurely pace, before finally speaking again. “Do you actually care to know, Forehead? Or are you just asking to ask?” he said evenly.

“I…” Apollo found himself caught off-guard by both the question and his own answer. “No, I actually wanna know. ‘Cos it’s just - it’s not what I imagined. I’ve seen all the headlines and photos and stuff, so…”

“Ah.” Klavier smiled ruefully. “From the early Gavinners days, I take it? Back when I had Daryan around to be my bad influence? Nein, that’s not exactly my style anymore. I already feel too old for that kind of scheisse. Now, I do these things out of obligation, you know? Work parties, family events...nothing too wild. Not when I’ve been involved in too many scandals. Better to lay low than to put myself out there again, ja?”

“I...I see.” Apollo went quiet for a moment, ruminating. He couldn’t help but notice Klavier had neatly avoided the word “friend”; he was starting to wonder how many he actually had. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time Klavier had ever mentioned anyone outside of people that Apollo himself already knew.

“You’re staring again, Forehead.” Klavier leaned closer, resting his chin in his hands, a wicked grin plastered across his face. “There’s no one nearly as pretty as me in Khura’in, I take it? Don’t worry, I’d be surprised if there was.” Apollo said nothing, instead lifting a hand from his own mug of honey lemon tea to flip him off. Klavier merely laughed in response, delighted.

_____

After that, the gap between video calls went down from a few weeks to a few days. Neither of them knew why, but somehow, they’d come to a silent agreement that they were going to talk once or twice a week about nothing in particular. However, Apollo still hadn’t quite figured out why Klavier had called him the first time. Initially, he suspected it had something to do with Kristoph, given that the Gavins were finally starting to pack up his things. Maybe Klavier had visited him recently, or maybe he’d reminisced a little too long about their shared childhood, whatever that looked like. But when Apollo had asked, Klavier had simply shrugged it off.

“It’s no secret that even thinking about thinking about Kristoph puts me in a foul mood,” Klavier had replied. “But I haven’t seen him lately, nein. I’m done, I’m - I just want to move on with my life, without his shadow lurking in the darkness.”

Not all their conversations were so heavy, though; once they’d finally caught up on everything they’d missed out on over the last several months, their topics turned mundane, even silly. Apollo never expected to spend one of his precious free Saturday mornings arguing with Klavier, of all people, about breakfast, of all things, but here he was.

“Yes, I’ve had instant ramen for breakfast, what of it?!” Apollo had exclaimed defensively. “Add an egg, some bacon bits...what’s your problem?”

“My problem is your sodium intake,” Klavier had protested. “Bitte, tell me you eat actual fruits and vegetables from time to time. Tell me you have some semblance of a balanced diet and your stomach hasn’t just turned into a toxic wasteland.”

Apollo wasn’t sure why he was talking to Klavier so often, so suddenly, in all honesty. Part of him supposed it was because Klavier just happened to be there - after all, he seemed freer to talk than Phoenix, Trucy, or Athena, and he wasn’t bad company when he wasn’t not-so-stealthily insulting Apollo in court. But another part of him, the part he desperately wanted to ignore, felt oddly comforted by Klavier’s probably-fake accent and his too-wide smile. Klavier’s presence in his small, chilly Khura’inese bedroom almost made him feel like he was back home.

“Have you seen the others lately?” Apollo asked one evening, bundled up in the thickest blanket he could find. There was a draft coming in from somewhere that he had yet to take care of, and neither Datz nor Ahlbi were too interested in checking it out, either. “Or...I dunno. Watched any of Trucy’s shows?”

“I’ve only seen them around at crime scenes and the courthouse,” Klavier replied. Apollo couldn’t stop himself from sneaking a peek over Klavier’s shoulders at his surroundings in curiosity. For once, Klavier was sitting on his bed instead of at his desk or in what was presumably his home office. Unsurprisingly, he seemed to have a huge, ostentatious-looking bedroom that was probably bigger than Apollo’s office. “Things have been...busy at the Gavin estate. I don't have much time to socialize with colleagues.”

“Busy?” Apollo echoed, sitting up. “More cleaning, you mean?”

“My parents aren’t retired, but sometimes, they act like they are,” Klavier said wryly. “They want to remodel so many rooms - the kitchen, the conservatory, my old playroom...so I’ve been going home quite a bit these days, helping them with the little things. It was nostalgic, seeing all the toys I used to play with. Feels like a lifetime ago, achtung.”

“What was your thing?” Apollo asked. “Beanie Babies? Barbie Dreamhouses? Legos? Wait, let me guess - you had one of those Fisher-Price piano playmats, didn’t you? Don’t even lie to me.”

“I would never own something so tacky,” Klavier protested; he almost seemed offended. “Nein, Mama was all about wooden toys - blocks, cars, dollhouses, kitchen sets - it’s very aesthetically pleasing. With the occasional soft toy, ja, but we never had plastic.”

“Interesting,” Apollo said, humming. “Same here, no plastic for us. Only, uh - not for the same reasons. More out of...necessity.”

“Oh.” Klavier’s expression softened. “Ja, I suppose in your...situation, you wouldn’t be able to get new things easily.” He then smirked. “Now I’m trying to imagine you and Herr Sahdmadhi as children. I can’t picture either of you with dolls or teddy bears.”

“Try actual frogs and actual bunnies,” Apollo said, sinking down further into his chair. “We were outdoorsy kids, believe it or not. Scraped knees and sunburns and all. But now, uh, good luck dragging me away from air conditioning and indoor plumbing. You couldn’t pay me to abandon my weighted blanket.”

“Picky, picky,” Klavier teased, grinning. “I don’t blame you, though. I’m too comfortable with being comfortable to like change. Though...I suppose that’s not really up to us, is it? Changing?”

“How philosophical of you,” Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes. “It’s not that deep, Gavin, I’m just saying I’m not interested in sleeping outdoors again anytime soon. One instance of me waking up with ants in places that you definitely don’t want ants was enough.” He then chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “And honestly, who does like change? It’s like when I get a new client, right, and every time, something changes on me. Evidence, circumstances, logic...hell, it’s your fault sometimes!”

“When did this become about me?” Klavier chuckled, still smiling.

“Isn’t everything?” Apollo shot back. “It’s like you have this...this uncanny ability to turn any normal conversation into an opportunity for you to wax poetic, just so you can sound cool. If you ask me, it’s more dorky than anything else.”

Klavier’s mouth dropped open. “...Apollo Justice, are you calling me a dork?”

“Maybe I am, Klavier Gavin. What are we, Prosecutor von Karma?” Apollo snorted. “Sorry, Gavin, but between you and her, I think I know which one of you is actually German.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m very German,” Klavier protested, wagging an accusing finger at his screen. “Both of my parents grew up in Germany; they only came to the States so they could get their master’s. They had me learn German by watching Janoschs Traumstunde and Die Sendung mit der Maus, and Mama taught me how to make spätzle and schupfnudeln and reibekuchen - ah, and my favorite dessert? Bienenstich.”

Apollo held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I believe you. I just think your accent’s a little...questionable. You sound like someone who got too overconfident in their dedication to Duolingo.”

“Ach,” Klavier said, laughing. “Anyway, do you mean it? Am I really...dorky?”

“Wow, you’re even more hung up on that than I thought,” Apollo teased, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing as well. “Though I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Image is a big deal to you, after all. Yes, Gavin, you’re a huge dork. How can you not be when you say shit like - like ‘tell me you share my angst, Herr Forehead’ - ”

“And you think my accent is terrible,” Klavier mused, sighing. “So sue me, I like to embellish. I like a little romance in my language - it makes life more interesting, you know? Though I suppose you wouldn’t understand, being the kind of person that you are. You wouldn’t know romance if it asked you to dinner.”

“Ugh, that reminds me.” An involuntary shudder went through Apollo’s entire body. “I had a client ask me out a few weeks ago. Like, seconds after I got him acquitted. As if that was all he was thinking about while the judge declared him not guilty.”

Klavier went still. “...really? What happened? What did you say?”

“I said no, obviously!” Apollo exclaimed, loud enough that he briefly wondered if he’d accidentally woken up his neighbors. “He wasn’t a murderer, but he was still a shitty person. Besides, shitty or not, it’s kind of an unspoken thing to not date clients and co-workers, isn’t it?”

“Ja, of course,” Klavier said, waving a hand aimlessly. “I’m just...surprised.”

“That someone was interested in me? Thanks, Gavin,” Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes.

“That someone thought it was a good idea,” Klavier corrected, mouth twisting into a slight frown. “You’re perfect...ly acceptable, Forehead. As a, ah, person to go on a date with, I mean.” He cleared his throat; it seemed to get stuck quite often these days. “Anyway - surely, he didn’t think you would agree!”

“I dunno what he was thinking, if he was thinking at all in the first place,” Apollo sighed, shivering once more. “At least Ema got a good laugh out of it.”

Klavier straightened up, his expression quickly returning to normal. “How is she, by the way? I can only imagine that Khura’in is completely covered in luminol by now.”

“She’s adjusted pretty well, though she’s used to living overseas,” Apollo shrugged. “Her Khura’inese needs some work, though. Er, not that mine’s much better, I’ve been gone for too long. It’s coming back to me...slowly. Very slowly.”

“Sometimes I forget that you speak another language, too,” Klavier remarked. “Considering your grasp of English…”

“My English is fine, thanks,” Apollo huffed; it seemed like he couldn’t go one conversation without wanting to stick his tongue out at Klavier like they were unruly children on a school playground. Or, alternatively, flipping him off like they were fighting over the last parking spot. “Just ‘cos I don’t get all fancy with it - ”

“Here we go again,” Klavier sighed, dropping his chin into his hands. “And you say I make everything about me, hm?”

“Two-way street, Gavin. Two-way street,” Apollo said, leaning back in his chair with a smirk. “Besides, that’s...it’s kind of our thing, isn’t it? Poking at each other until someone gets legitimately pissed? Usually me, but still.”

“I didn’t know we had a ‘thing’,” Klavier said, cocking his head in curiosity. “Tell me more about this ‘thing’ of ours, bitte.”

“See? There you go again!” Now Apollo’s neighbors were definitely awake; he didn’t have to look out the window to know that their lights were coming back on. “You can’t go two seconds without being...smarmy about something. It’s like a bad habit of yours, and I know a thing or two about bad habits.”

“What’s yours?”

Apollo blinked. Klavier had asked so suddenly, so immediately, that he’d barely heard what he’d said. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Your bad habit,” Klavier elaborated. “I know you were talking about spotting other people’s tells, but I’m more curious about yours. You’d think that, since I get on your nerves so easily, I’d be able to see it myself, but…” He shrugged, still smiling. It was one of those indiscernible expressions of his that frustrated Apollo so much, the kind of bland, indifferent smile that seemed to mean anything and nothing at the same time. The kind of smile Klavier had in court as he reviewed the facts of the case, or when he ran into Apollo at a crime scene, or even when he talked about not talking about his brother.

“I...I, uh, never really thought about it.” Apollo hummed, thinking it over. “Messing with my hair, I guess? I’ve definitely, literally pulled my hair out before whenever I’m, like. Nervous. Stressed. Worried. Or, y’know, all of the above. I even had a crooked hairline in high school ‘cos I used to do it all the time.”

Klavier lifted his head from his hands, looking at Apollo in awe. He was quiet for so long that Apollo almost asked him if his internet connection had cut out, only to watch Klavier fuss with his bangs, then push them back completely, exposing his hairline, near-identical to what Apollo’s used to look like. It was only then that Apollo realized he’d never seen Klavier with his hair completely up. Of course, he’d seen Klavier do ponytails, braids, even space buns if he was feeling particularly stylish, but his bangs were always swept over his left eye. Now, he could see why.

“...oh.” Apollo wasn’t sure what to say. “I...I see. Is that, uh, recent?”

Klavier nodded shortly, then briefly turned away to grab a hair tie from his bedside table. He held the hair tie between his teeth while he gathered up his hair and twisted it into a neat knot; Apollo tried not to stare at the fullness of Klavier’s bottom lip, sticking out in a perfect pout, as he did. “Can I tell you a secret, Herr Forehead?”

“Oh - er - okay, abrupt change of topic there,” Apollo muttered, more to himself than to Klavier. “I guess so. What’s up?”

“I...haven’t decided how I feel yet about my parents remodeling our family estate.” Klavier’s tone was casual, but Apollo knew by now that it meant nothing. “I know why they’re doing it, I just don’t know why they’re doing it now. Nothing has changed, you know? They’re still working, I’m still working...Kristoph is still in prison.”

“Well, I don’t...know your parents or anything,” Apollo said carefully. “But i-it could be, like, a healing process thing. Starting fresh and all that, you know? But maybe it’s really not that deep. Maybe they literally just felt like, hey, now’s the right time to renovate. You could ask ‘em.”

“Ah - nein, I couldn’t inconvenience them like that,” Klavier said, chuckling awkwardly. He was already starting to mess with his hair once more. “If I expressed anything other than my complete support, they would stop immediately. And they’ve already sacrificed so much for me, I would never...I can’t…”

“Gavin,” Apollo said softly.

“It’s just a few rooms.” Klavier inhaled sharply. “What does it matter? It’s not like I live there. If Mama wants to turn our playroom into a crafting room, it...it makes sense.”

Their conversation, understandably, didn’t last too long after that. Apollo crawled into bed, still wrapped up in his blankets, with over a dozen trains of thought trekking through his mind, more of them about Klavier than he wanted to admit. He’d never thought of Klavier as an inherently private person - at times, he seemed almost too open to speaking his mind - but now, he could see that in some ways, he had been completely wrong.

_____

Unlike before, a few weeks passed before they had another video call. Klavier was wearing a muscle tank this time, his hair scraped back into a messy bun, his bangs perfectly placed. Apollo found himself more than a little distracted by the broadness of Klavier’s shoulders, by the length of Klavier’s neck. “Entschuldigung for last time,” Klavier said smoothly, by way of greeting. “Let’s not have me treat our conversations like my therapy sessions, ja?”

“It’s fine, Gavin,” Apollo reassured him. “One comment about how you’re feeling is no big deal. If you wanna talk, then...talk. Honestly, I’m a huge law nerd, and I could talk about Khura’inese legal practices all day, but, uh, I could definitely use a conversation or two that’s about something completely different.”

Klavier nodded, seemingly thinking it over. “...I like your hair.”

Apollo raised an eyebrow. “...and I like your shirt. What, are we on a shitty speed date? C’mon, you can do better than that!”

“Ach, you didn’t let me finish,” Klavier protested, chuckling. “I just meant...I like your hair like this. It looks...soft. Less severe. Something that would be nice to touch, you know?”

“I...oh.” A pleasant tingle went up Apollo’s spine. Klavier’s voice was low, warm, especially through his headphones. He brushed his hair back behind his ears, ducking his head slightly so Klavier wouldn’t notice the heat rising in his cheeks. “Trucy introduced me to some new hair products a while back. Said it was stuff she uses to make her hair look extra shiny under the stage lights. Er, n-not that that’s why I’m using it, just...it’s nice to treat myself every now and then.”

Klavier suddenly perked up. “Speaking of treating yourself, that reminds me - you know the best way to help you with all that stress and tension you’re dealing with? A gut massage. Surely, there are some facilities like that in Khura’in, ja?”

Apollo fixed Klavier with a withering look. “...Gavin, we just had a revolution here, like, six months ago. Getting a massage and a facial is hardly anyone’s priority right now, believe me. It’s not like the legal system is off in its own little world, y’know? The economy, the sociopolitical order…everyone considers themselves lucky that they can go about their day-to-day lives, but luxury goods and services? Not here, not yet.”

“Shame, though I can’t fault Khura’in for having its priorities in order,” Klavier said, frowning slightly. “Well, if I ever get bored enough and feel like hopping on a plane, maybe I’ll come visit and give you a massage myself.”

“I’m not paying for your ticket,” Apollo retorted, his cheeks reddening once more. “And are you even qualified?”

“I always massage Papa’s shoulders whenever I go to my parents’ house,” Klavier mused thoughtfully. “He gets sore from all the gardening he does. You should see our estate garden; it’s like something out of a fairytale.”

Apollo’s nose twitched. “I’m, uh, I’m sure it does. Hey, so - tell me about your parents. You’ve mentioned them a bunch of times, but I don’t actually know that much about them.”

“High school sweethearts,” Klavier said with an almost dreamy smile on his face. “The old-school kind, slipping love letters into each other’s bags between classes and all that. Now, they’re both college professors at the same school. They both act like practical, no-nonsense people, but the truth is, they're both romantisch at heart.”

“And then passed that on to you,” Apollo nodded. “Makes sense. They sound adorable, actually.”

“I never had a high school sweetheart of my own,” Klavier sighed wistfully. “I can’t imagine how...all-consuming that must feel. To be so young, to be so sure that this one person, the only person you’ve ever loved, will be the only person you’ll ever love.”

“I guess that’s where we differ,” Apollo said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, surprised at himself. He wasn’t sure where his comment had come from, why he’d blurted it out loud without a second thought. “I, uh, I had...something like that. Someone like that.”

“...oh.” Klavier furrowed his eyebrows, confused. “What happened?”

Apollo ducked his head, unable to look Klavier in the eye. “...you know what happened to him.”

Klavier’s eyes widened in realization. “Ach - Apollo, I’m so - ”

“Don’t, I - don’t,” Apollo insisted, a lump forming in his throat. “It’s not, uh. It’s not something I really wanna talk about.”

Klavier seemed unable to speak for a moment, his eyes shining with pity. Apollo hated it, hated how genuinely sorry Klavier looked, as if he had anything to do with it at all. Klavier opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “...I’ve written songs about my parents, actually. Not that you’ll find them on any Gavinners’ albums, just little love ballads that I played at their anniversary parties and vow renewal. They were big hits with my extended family - the one I wrote when I was ten years old is an absolute classic.”

“I’m sure it was,” Apollo chuckled, shaking himself out of his thoughts. “How about now, you write anything recently?”

“Barely a tune since the Gavinners disbanded,” Klavier admitted. “I haven’t felt all that inspired lately. Maybe someday it’ll come back to me, but right now...nothing. Nichts.”

“Good luck, I guess,” Apollo offered. “By the way, what’s with the tank top? Is it that hot over there already?”

“I’ve always been hot, Forehead, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Klavier said, grinning victoriously at the almost too obvious bait.

Apollo groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “I will hang up on you someday, Gavin, don’t think I won’t.”

_____

The gap between video calls quickly dwindled down from a few days to no days at all. Text messages were constant, to the point where Apollo had to sheepishly ask Nahyuta how to upgrade his phone plan. Even phone calls started to increase in frequency; Apollo was starting to think he heard Klavier’s voice more often than he heard Ema’s, and they often spent entire days in each other’s presence.

“How do you feel about peaches?” Apollo asked, his phone carefully sandwiched between his ear and his shoulder as he deftly navigated his way through the farmer’s market, nearly tripping over a stray dog as he did so.

“Great emoji,” Klavier replied semi-seriously, though Apollo could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Although...Forehead, if this is your subtle way of asking me for my opinion on Call Me By Your Name, I’ll have you know I never learned how to play Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo. Now, Zion Hört Die Wächter Singen, on the other hand - ”

“Need I remind you, I only speak English, Khura’inese, and college-level Spanish?” Apollo interrupted, shaking his head. “Anyway, peaches are basically a delicacy here. Sucks for me, since I’m allergic to stone fruit.”

“Same, I can only eat them cooked. I love a good cherry pie,” Klavier hummed. “Did you remember to get kale this time?”

“Yeah, I got a huge bundle of it right here,” Apollo said, jostling his wicker basket loudly enough so Klavier could hear. A few market patrons turned to look at him strangely. “Thanks again for the tip, by the way. I’m still getting used to cooking stuff that’s not instant or frozen, so roasting vegetables is a total game-changer.”

“Glad to hear you’re eating actual fruits and vegetables now,” Klavier replied, chuckling. “So, I had a case go kaput today. Thought you might want to hear about it.”

“Obviously!” Apollo said, lighting up. “What did you do?”

“Achtung, why do you think it was my fault?” Klavier protested, his laughter warm in Apollo’s ear.

“Isn’t everything?” Apollo shot back, laughing as well. “Seriously, what happened? Can’t be as bad as...literally anything that’s happened to me.”

“Nein, not quite,” Klavier agreed. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t up against Athena or Herr Wright. Some rookie, I think; I was going to go easy on them. That is, until the defendant, apparently overcome with guilt, decided to bring their own decisive evidence to prove that they did, in fact, kill the victim.”

“No!” Apollo exclaimed. More market patrons turned in his direction, glaringly so. He shot them apologetic grimaces, then ducked behind a watermelon display. “Really? Like, are we talking fingerprints, photographs…”

“Everything, Forehead, everything. I couldn’t have convicted them better myself,” Klavier remarked. “Obviously, I take no joy in celebrating crime, especially murder, but ach, I consider that one of the highlights of my career. The only thing that would’ve made it better was if you were there. I can picture your dumbfounded expression now.”

“You’re terrible,” Apollo informed him, with no real bite behind his words. “But...not gonna lie, that’s kind of incredible. I feel bad for the defense, though. I’ve been screwed over by clients before, but usually not that badly.” He then heard a sharp wuff somewhere by his feet; he glanced down to see the dog he’d nearly tripped over before was now sitting on top of his toes, looking up at him with literal puppy-dog eyes. “...uh, hello. Did you need something?”

“What’s that?” Klavier asked.

“Oh - sorry, not you, Gavin. A stray dog just came over to say hi, I guess.” Apollo crouched down, taking care not to tip his basket. “Hey, buddy. I’m not the one to beg for food, if that’s what you’re looking for. All I can offer is, like, a belly rub.”

“Wait, switch to video, I want to see this,” Klavier pleaded, laughing again. Sighing, Apollo turned on his camera, then aimed his phone at the dog, who was now rolling over onto its back, its tail thumping enthusiastically against the cobblestone. “Ah, what an adorable hündchen! Go on, Forehead, don’t make him wait.” Sighing yet again - at Klavier, naturally, not the dog; he could never begrudge the dog - Apollo carefully set his basket down, then began rubbing the dog’s belly, smiling at the adorably goofy look the dog gave him in return, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, his eyes closing in utter bliss. “Hold still for a moment, bitte? I want to make this my contact photo for you.”

“Gavin, I swear - ”

“Uh, Apollo? What are you doing?”

Apollo startled at the sound of a new voice; his eyes widened when he looked up and realized who it belonged to. “Ema! He-e-ey, wh-what are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Ema replied, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you petting a dog while video-calling Gavin at the farmer’s market?”

“...because I can?” Apollo offered meekly, straightening up. He quickly hung up on Klavier before Ema could attempt to talk to him, silently noting the need to send him an apology text later. “Hey, um - th-there’s a discount on tangyuan today, you wanna go all out and split the cost with me?”

Ema continued to eye him suspiciously. “Sure. But please don’t insult my intelligence - you can’t just distract me with snacks, you know.”

“I know, I know,” Apollo sighed, giving the dog one last pat on the head before leading Ema across the market, towards the aforementioned snack stall. “We just...we talk sometimes. What’s the big deal?”

“Nothing, if you guys just do video calls every now and then,” Ema said. “But here you are, shopping for produce and chatting with Gavin at the same time. It’s...a little domestic, don’t you think?”

“D...domestic?” Apollo echoed, scratching the back of his neck.

“I just didn’t think you and Gavin had that kind of relationship, that’s all,” Ema continued, shrugging as she popped a grape from her own basket into her mouth. “Listen, I couldn’t care less about that guy. But you’re my friend, so...I have to ask. Is something, y’know...going on there?”

“Wh - no, no, no, o-of course not!” Apollo ducked behind Ema the second he felt the glares of the market patrons turn to face him, again. He was starting to think he wasn’t going to be welcome back for a couple of weeks, at least. “I - he - we’re friends! It’s kinda new, b-but we’re friends. Just friends. He’s, like...pretty decent when he’s not being obnoxious in court. Or at a crime scene...or just in general.”

Ema snorted, reaching over to steal a strawberry from Apollo’s basket next. “I think it’s time you hop off that bicycle of yours, Apollo, because you’re obviously backpedaling.”

“Tortured metaphor, but okay,” Apollo muttered, glowering at her.

“How’d you guys end up talking in the first place, anyway?” Ema asked, chewing noisily. “I can’t imagine you were the one to initiate it.”

“It...I’m not sure, actually,” Apollo admitted, slapping her hand away before she could steal his entire carton of freshly-picked strawberries. They were probably more expensive than all the vegetables he’d purchased, combined. “Gavin called me a while back, seemed embarrassed about it, and then hung up. I asked him later what was going on, we started doing video calls and stuff, and then it turned into a thing, but…I never figured out why he called the first time. And I don’t think there’s any point in asking.”

“Fair enough, though I gotta admit, I’m still curious. For scientific purposes, of course,” Ema added, humming to herself. “Maybe he...no, there’s no way.”

“You know something I don’t?” Apollo asked, nudging her. “What happened to ‘I couldn’t care less’?”

“Believe me, I really couldn’t,” Ema retorted, elbowing him back. “Surprises me that you have enough to talk about, though. I mean, it’s Gavin.”

“Hey,” Apollo protested; suddenly, he felt weirdly defensive of Klavier. Again, it wasn’t a feeling he was too familiar with. “We have more in common than you think. It’s not all just - just guitar riffs and hair tosses with him.”

“If you say so,” Ema sighed, clearly uninterested in pursuing the topic any further. “C’mon, let’s pick our flavors already. And if you short me on black sesame, I will be taking those strawberries of yours.”

Later that evening, Apollo was cocooned in his usual plethora of blankets, poring over the evidence for three separate cases - honestly, the autopsy reports were starting to blur together, which explained why, for a moment, he thought one of the victims had somehow ended up with a bullet hole in their stomach from being stabbed with a blunt object - when his phone went off. He immediately perked up when he read the call display. “Gavin, hey. Sorry again about earlier, you know how Ema is.”

“Keine Sorge, you already apologized,” Klavier replied. “That’s not why I was calling, in any case.”

Apollo frowned slightly, putting Klavier on speakerphone and nestling his phone among his files. “Oh? I, uh, I thought you were just calling to chat.”

“Ja, we can talk about whatever we feel like after, it’s just - I had a question for you.” The deep breath Klavier took before speaking again made Apollo nervous. “Are you homesick?”

“...huh?” Apollo wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that. “Well, I mean. Yeah. Yeah, obviously. Khura’in was my home once, so it’s not like I’m in a completely new place, but it’s...yeah, I miss being back home, traffic jams and heatwaves and all. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Klavier said innocently, in that sort of tone of voice that made Apollo want to reach through the phone and strangle him. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“There’s either no reason, or a reason that I’ll learn soon enough. Pick one, Gavin,” Apollo drawled, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. All he got in response was warm, throaty laughter that sent pleasant tingles down his spine. “Fine, don’t tell me. So, what’re you up to?”

“Just got back from my morning run.” There was a rustling of sound on Klavier’s end that suggested he was still walking around somewhere, presumably inside his apartment. Apollo could only imagine how sweaty he still was, how his skin glistened in the mid-morning sun - and now, he realized belatedly, he wasn’t sure if it was something he should be thinking about at all. “You know, after all this time - I still hate it. Running, I mean.”

“Then why do you do it?” Apollo said, trying not to laugh. “Though to be fair, I feel the same way. Athena used to make me run laps around the agency’s neighborhood sometimes ‘cos I need to ‘improve my cardiovascular health’ or whatever. Never got any good at it.”

“I do it because it’s good for me, but achtung, I wish I actually liked it,” Klavier sighed. “The fresh air, the endorphins, it’s all gut and well, but you know what I can’t stand? Sweat-soaked hair. Sore ankles and stiff knees. Don’t get me started on the sunburns, ach.”

“Okay, old man,” Apollo chuckled. “You sound like a guy twice your age, you know that?”

“I’m not the one who once said they were starting to prefer blander foods over spicy foods - calling me an old man, mein Gott, the disrespect - ”

A few hours later, Apollo was fully curled up beneath his duvet, head resting on his pillow, eyes closed, with his phone tucked under his ear. Neither of them had spoken in a little while, though Apollo could hear Klavier humming under his breath while he worked on clearing out his email inbox. “...you really should take a day off, Gavin.”

“You first,” Klavier said without missing a beat. “Don’t trick yourself into thinking you have to take every case in the country, ja?”

“Same to you,” Apollo mumbled; he was starting to drift in and out of consciousness. “You’re working, like...stupidly long hours. It’s not like you’re the only prosecutor in the district.”

There was a long pause. “Mama said that to me the other day. She told me I should live a little.”

“And she’s right,” Apollo yawned. “Anyway, I’m not gonna get into this again. And it’s not like you have to do anything major, just...take a day off. Go get a massage or whatever. Hang out with friends, go on a date, I dunno.”

“Go on a date, right,” Klavier drawled sarcastically. “Easier said than done, ja?”

“What, is it the fame thing?” Apollo asked, eyes snapping open in curiosity.

“It’s the, ah. ‘Trusting people’ thing.” Klavier let out a quiet laugh. “After convicting mein Bruder, after convicting someone I thought was my best friend...who’s to say any future romantic partner of mine wouldn’t end up facing that same fate?”

“...oh.” Apollo’s face softened; part of him wanted to see Klavier’s expression, while another part of him had the feeling it was better this way, to only hear the slight rasp, the slight crack in Klavier’s voice as he spoke. He could only imagine the noticeable twitch in Klavier’s eyes, the forced smile on his lips, that he’d seen a surprising amount of times over the past few months. “I see. I-I get it. Not like I’m any good at trusting people, either.”

Klavier went quiet again. “Apollo?”

“I...oh. Yeah?” He couldn’t remember the last time Klavier had called him by his actual name.

“Be honest with me, ja?” Klavier murmured. “When we talk every day, when we text and chat and send each other silly things...is it something you actually like doing, or...or are you just bored?”

Apollo snorted. “Oh please, you know my schedule. I couldn’t be bored if I tried.” He nestled deeper into his pillow, yawning. “Nah, you’re...we’re friends. Talking to you is like...part of my routine now.”

“You mean it?” Klavier asked. He sounded so uncertain that it made Apollo’s heart ache.

“I don’t send stupid memes to just anybody, you know,” Apollo teased. “And look, I’m not pretending like this isn’t weird. If you asked me a year ago if I could see myself talking to you on a daily basis, I would’ve said, y’know, ‘never in a million years’. But things are different now, so...yeah. You’re not so bad, Gavin.”

“Ah, danke. What high praise, coming from you,” Klavier drawled, laughing. “But really, I’m glad to hear it. I...wasn’t sure if I was bothering you. When I called that first time, I suppose I had my answer. Then after that, I never really knew for sure.”

“Now you do,” Apollo affirmed, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling too much.

“Now I do,” Klavier echoed, satisfied. “So, how about you, Forehead? Any clients ask you out again recently?”

“No, thank god,” Apollo said, shuddering. “Besides, I’m, uh. I’m not exactly looking to date right now, either. I’m...I’m pretty good with how things are going at the moment. Maybe after I get back. Thinking about thinking about dating, I mean.”

“Smart.” Klavier’s voice was so clear, so warm, that it almost sounded as if he were in Apollo’s bedroom, too. Apollo briefly wondered what it would be like to have Klavier visit, to wander the farmer’s market with him, to take evening walks along the river and watch the fireflies together, to go through an endless number of cases with him by his side. He had to admit, it didn’t sound half-bad. Better than half-bad, really, not that he was going to say so out loud. “Long-distance is never easy. The time zones, the uncertainty, the inability to truly be together...I can only imagine.”

“Right,” Apollo hummed, his eyes drifting closed once more. “I can only imagine.” When he woke up the next morning, he found a text message waiting for him - a screenshot of Klavier’s home screen; its background was a photo of Apollo and the friendly dog. sehr süß, Klavier had texted, and the hündchen isn’t so bad, either. It was too early, in Apollo’s opinion, for his heart to be racing this quickly.

_____

Almost four months to the day since they started talking, Apollo arrived at the post office with a delivery slip in hand, visibly confused by its earlier presence on his front door. “Was this really meant for me?” he managed to ask in his steadily improving Khura’inese. “I never ordered anything from the United States. Just paying customs would make me broke!”

“It really is for you, Mr. Justice,” the receptionist replied. Apollo watched, stunned, as she dragged a crate-sized package out from behind her desk. “You must have people who really love you back home, sir.”

“I...w-wow.” Apollo didn’t know what to say. “Er, do you have someone who can help me bring this back to my office?”

Twenty minutes later, Apollo was sitting on the floor of Justice Law Offices, embarrassingly sweaty and sore from how much effort it had taken him and one of the post office employees to haul his delivery here. Groaning, he reached for his pocket knife, then carefully sliced through the tape, unwrapping the enormous package layer by layer. When he finally reached its actual contents, he sat back on his haunches, stunned by the sheer amount of items inside.

The package consisted of two sturdy boxes; one was labeled with Ema’s name, so Apollo took it out and set it aside. He then opened the one that bore his name, only to find it was packed surprisingly tight. Boxes and boxes of his favorite snacks that were too expensive to import to Khura’in, well-loved copies of his favorite manga that had clearly been taken from his apartment back home, thick stacks of the most obnoxious California-themed postcards known to humankind with handwritten notes on their backs - before Apollo knew it, his eyes started to well up with emotion. Finally, at the bottom of the box, cushioning the other items nicely, were a few of his sweaters and hoodies, some of which still had a few stray Mikeko hairs on it.

“Oh,” Apollo said faintly, wiping his eyes hastily despite being completely alone. Then, he frowned. “Wait, what is…” He pulled out the only item of clothing he didn’t recognize, an unusually large hoodie in a familiar shade of purple with an embroidered rose on its breast pocket. Stuck to its left sleeve cuff was a sticky note; Apollo peeled it off and began to read what was on it.

herr forehead,

wear this the next time you go out, just in case you run into that hündchen again. It smells just a little bit like my parents’ dog - and like me, if you’re into that sort of thing.

alles liebe, klavier

Later that day - well into the evening, really - Apollo was eating dinner at his desk, rummaging through a hefty stack of police reports, when his laptop pinged, reminding him he had a scheduled video call that was about to start. Grinning, Apollo turned on his webcam, his heart pounding in anticipation. “Hey, Gavin. So, what do you think?”

“What do I think about - oh.” Klavier’s mouth fell open. “You’re...I didn’t think you were actually going to wear it.”

“Is, uh...is that a bad thing?” Apollo asked, suddenly nervous.

“Nein, nein, not at all! You look...achtung, you look good,” Klavier said hoarsely, swallowing. He then cleared his throat; his cheeks were flushed pink, much to Apollo’s delight. “Bitte, stand up for me? I want to see how long it is on you; it’s amazing you haven’t completely disappeared inside of it.”

“Asshole,” Apollo said affectionately, getting out of his chair and taking a few steps back so Klavier could see. He smoothed out the front of the hoodie, realizing belatedly that its hem only just grazed the tops of his bare thighs. “Er, don’t mind my legs. I-I’m wearing shorts underneath, I swear!”

“I don’t mind at all,” Klavier replied, cocking his head. His eyes were darkening, shining with something that Apollo couldn’t quite identify. “Have you worn it outside yet?”

“Nah, not yet. I was actually planning on wearing it to bed since it’s kinda cold, and this thing’s the biggest thing I have,” Apollo admitted, sitting back down. At Klavier’s exaggerated eyebrow raise, he groaned. “Shut up. Don’t make it weird.”

“I said nothing,” Klavier teased, dropping his chin into his hands. “So, did you like our care package? Trucy reached out to me on the same day you ran into that hündchen and asked if I had anything to contribute. I also sent Ema some old Gavinners’ merchandise, in case you didn’t know.”

“Oh, I heard about it from her, alright,” Apollo chuckled, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “Amazing how you manage to continue torturing her from several continents away. Maybe that’s your real talent.”

“To be fair, I was also the one who got her the beaker shot glasses and the glow-in-the-dark periodic table blanket,” Klavier pointed out, laughing as well. “I think all would be forgiven if she knew that was me.”

“So she gets new stuff and I get hand-me-downs, huh? I see how it is,” Apollo said, tucking his knees into his chest and yawning. “Seriously, though, thanks. This thing smells like that cologne of yours I don’t like.”

“And the backhanded compliments continue,” Klavier said, amused. “I hope you feel a little less homesick, at least.”

“Oh, I’m more homesick than ever,” Apollo snorted. “But I appreciate the care package, really! Having all this stuff here is amazing. It’s just...well. Stuff isn’t, uh...it’s not exactly a substitute for people, y’know?”

Klavier nodded thoughtfully, his smile sympathetic. Apollo took a moment to look at Klavier, to really look at him, and see how he was doing. He looked good; his skin had a glow to it, and his eyes and hair seemed to shine a little brighter than they had the very first time they’d talked. Klavier was bare-faced more often than not - aside from his tattooed eyebrows and eyelash extensions - though he seemed to be experimenting with his hair here and there, occasionally sporting different styles of ponytails, braids, and updos. It almost made Apollo forget how sullen he’d looked four months ago.

“Is that why you’re staring again?” Klavier asked, smirking. “Are you finally ready to admit you miss me, Forehead? That you miss my charming personality and my devastatingly good looks?”

“So what if I do?” Apollo huffed. He then frowned at Klavier’s wide eyes. “...what?”

“Nichts, it’s just - you do realize you just said you actually miss me, ja?” Klavier said disbelievingly. “Do you really mean it, or...or are you just saying that?”

“I-I...well.” Apollo shot him a small smile. “Yeah, Gavin, I miss you. Thought that was, uh. Kinda obvious by now.”

Klavier grinned victoriously; he looked seconds away from pumping his fist into the air. “Achtung, I knew it!”

“And the dorkiness continues,” Apollo said mockingly, rolling his eyes. “I mean it, how did you convince an entire generation of teenagers that you were cool? You go around saying crap like ‘let’s rock with these documents’ and ‘you have to get on up in order to get on down to prosecuting’ - are you an internationally-renowned rockstar, or an awkward dad trying to connect with his teenager through the power of classic rock? What’s next, Gavin, you gonna go buy a lawnmower and some cargo shorts? Fire up the grill and wear a kitschy apron?”

“Mein Gott, you’re vicious sometimes,” Klavier sighed, his eyes sparkling with mirth. “Ich vermisse dich auch, by the way. I think I've been...a little more obvious than you.”

“Maybe,” Apollo hummed. “But hey, I’ll take it. It’s nice to feel appreciated for once.”

“When do you think you’ll be coming home?” Klavier asked.

“I’m, er...I’m not sure,” Apollo said hesitantly, leaning back in his chair. “I didn’t think I was gonna be sticking around for this long to begin with, and now it’s...it’s gonna be the rest of the year, at least. Maybe even another year on top of that.”

“You...you think so?” Klavier’s voice was small. Nothing about his expression seemed remotely cheerful now.

“It’s not like I can leave whenever I want to,” Apollo shrugged, sighing. “Khura’in needs more defense attorneys before I could even begin to consider it, and that’s not gonna happen overnight. Not with their deeply ingrained feelings towards ‘em.”

“Wait - you’re not still in danger, are you?” Klavier asked worriedly, his voice suddenly filling with urgency. “No threats, no death sentences - ”

“I-I’m fine, Gavin, don’t worry,” Apollo reassured him. “It was a little touch-and-go there for a minute, back at the beginning, but everything’s fine now. Trust me, if something was going on, you would’ve heard about it earlier.”

“Gut,” Klavier said, satisfied. “After all, if something were to happen to you…” An odd expression flitted across his face, too quickly for Apollo to catch, though he had his suspicions. “Well. Trucy would be devastated, natürlich.”

“Right...just Trucy, huh?” Apollo murmured, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. “What about...oh, I dunno. Athena would be upset for sure. Can’t forget Mr. Wright, either.”

“Nein, definitely not,” Klavier said, clearing his throat. He paused before speaking again. “Forehead, do you ever wonder what Herr Wright really thinks of you?”

“Sure, all the time,” Apollo admitted. “We didn’t, uh...well, let’s just say we didn’t start off on the best foot, you know that. Why?”

“Because I do, too,” Klavier confessed. “Ach, I want to go the rest of my life not thinking about mein Bruder and all the lives he ruined, all the lives I helped him ruin, but - ”

“Gavin, that’s not what happened and you know it,” Apollo said gently. “And I’m not exactly sure how Mr. Wright feels about you, but I seriously doubt he still has a problem with you. He probably just feels a little, y’know, awkward. You guys went seven years without knowing the whole truth, after all.”

“Ich weiß, ich weiß, it’s just…” Klavier laughed bitterly. “...I’d like to go at least one day without worrying about what someone else thinks of me. Just one.”

Apollo suddenly found himself wishing he could reach through the screen and pull Klavier into his arms; it wasn’t the first time, and he knew it wasn’t going to be the last. “Well, you don’t have to worry about me. You already know what I think about you.”

“Do I really?” Klavier teased, though he still looked somewhat worried.

“Yeah, sure,” Apollo replied, smirking. “You’re the most insufferable person I’ve ever met. And, uh...I wouldn't have it any other way. I think.”

Klavier laughed, shaking his head in amusement. “You have a way with words, Forehead, you really do.”

“Thanks,” Apollo drawled, chuckling. “So, today’s case went about as well as expected - meaning it didn’t go well at all…”

_____

Khura’in was beautiful year-round, Apollo mused as he walked alongside the riverbank, but it was especially picturesque in the height of spring, during the month of May. He’d woken up unusually early today, especially given it was one of his very rare days off, not to mention the fact that he’d stayed up late last night, talking to Trucy, Athena, and Phoenix. For whatever reason, he had felt like taking his breakfast - anpan and a warm thermos of green tea - outside, while the sun was still rising. It was a peaceful backdrop for the start of what he hoped would be a peaceful day.

Yawning and stretching, Apollo dropped down to sit in the long grass, the worn-out toes of his boots grazing the water’s edge. He lifted his saddlebag off his shoulders and set it aside, raking his fingers through his hair. It was getting quite long in the back, he noted, but he didn’t care enough to cut it. Before he could take his first bite of his anpan, his phone started to ring. “...Gavin? What’s up, aren’t you going to bed soon?”

“I just wrote a song for the first time in ages, so I’m too alert to sleep at the moment,” Klavier admitted, his voice deeper and raspier than usual, sending shivers up Apollo’s spine. “I’m surprised you’re awake, too. It was only when I started calling you that I realized you were probably still in bed.”

“Felt like catching the sunrise for once.” Apollo turned on his phone camera, then switched it to the rear-facing one so Klavier could see what he was seeing. The entirety of Khura’in, it seemed, was momentarily bathed in a warm, yellow-orange glow. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“It’s wunderschön,” Klavier remarked, awed. “Almost makes me wish I was in Khura’in.”

“I wish you were here, too,” Apollo said quietly. His eyes then widened. “Er, I-I mean - ”

“...Apollo?” Groaning internally, Apollo fumbled with his phone, reluctantly switching to his front-facing camera so he could shoot Klavier a nervous smile. He could see now that Klavier had turned on his camera, too; he appeared to be sitting on his bedroom floor, leaning up against a window, his face illuminated by moonlight. Somehow, his blue eyes were even brighter in the darkness, the angles of his jaw and cheekbones sharpened by the shadows. Apollo’s breath hitched as he was momentarily rendered speechless. “Achtung, you still manage to surprise me after all this time.”

“I-I said nothing!” Apollo said hastily. “You’re - I - i-it’s early, I don’t know what I’m saying!”

“If you’re planning on staying for even longer, I really should come and visit, ja?” Klavier continued, his grin equal parts sleepy and teasing. “For one thing, I can finally make good on that massage I promised you, get all that stress and tension out of your body. I could also bring you more of my clothes, since you seem to really like that hoodie of mine.”

“What would you even do here, anyway?” Apollo asked, momentarily looking away so Klavier wouldn’t see how red his cheeks had gotten. “There’s no nightlife, barely any recreational activities...not to mention the wi-fi kinda sucks. Besides, it’s not like you’re allowed to prosecute in Khura’in.”

“Let me be your co-counsel,” Klavier offered. “After all, if Herr Blackquill can help Athena, why can’t I help you?”

“That...would be kinda interesting, actually,” Apollo admitted. “And where would you stay?”

“WIth you, natürlich,” Klavier replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “After all, if you want me there, I should be as close as possible. I’d make the perfekt roommate, you know. I can cook for you, clean for you...it’d be domestic, nein? Like I’m your stay-at-home husband or something.”

Apollo shivered again. Despite his distaste for his lyrics, Klavier certainly had a way with words. “You wouldn’t be...I dunno, bored out of your mind? Things are definitely slower here compared to California, you know.”

“The change of pace would be nice,” Klavier said diplomatically. “And I certainly wouldn’t complain about the company.”

“Well, uh, sorry to break up your super-specific fantasy, but I think I’m actually pretty close to getting out of here,” Apollo said, trying not to linger too much on his own mental picture of what Klavier had described. “Another few months, maybe? Six, at most. And since it’s sorta unknown, I wouldn’t recommend booking plane tickets anytime soon.”

“Really?” Klavier perked up. “You’re coming home? Have you told the others?”

“Yeah, I talked to ‘em last night,” Apollo said, setting his phone down by his bag so he could finally take his first bite of anpan. “It’ll be weird once I return, that’s for sure. I’ve been in Khura’in for exactly one year, right down to the day, but...well. It’s definitely grown on me, even with all my...my mixed feelings about it. Though I, um...I guess those mixed feelings are more about a person than a place, and he’s...he’s, well...you know.” He swallowed thickly, reaching for his thermos and taking a generous gulp of his tea.

“Any regrets?” Klavier asked softly.

“About Khura’in, or d’you mean in general?” Apollo asked, his sarcastic tone betrayed by his nervous laugh.

“However you’d like to interpret it,” Klavier said, gesturing aimlessly. “I can be generous sometimes.”

“Yeah, real philanthropist, you are,” Apollo retorted, chuckling. “Well, you know I’ve had days where, like. I feel like I shouldn’t have stayed behind, after all. Like I’m way in over my head, and..like I’m not...not good enough. Like I’m just winging this whole thing, which is scary, ‘cos it’s like the entire country’s future is in my hands, and I can’t just - I can’t improvise. I can’t make it up as I go along, I-I have to know it. Do it, be about it. Make it my whole life, you know?” He stopped to take a breath; the sympathetic crinkle of Klavier’s brow was more welcome this time. “But no, I don’t regret sticking around. I just wish I’d gotten some closure.”

“Closure?” Klavier echoed.

“Yeah, there’s...I’ve got stuff I wish I’d been able to do or, or say before I ended up living here for twelve months,” Apollo confessed. “It’s not like I knew I was moving here when I did, so...it’ll be nice to head back home and settle in and...and get all of that out of the way.” He took a few more bites of his anpan as they ruminated in their shared silence. “How about you? Any regrets about, well, anything?”

“Me?” Then, to Apollo’s surprise - though maybe not to his surprise, given all that had been said and done between the two of them, just the two of them - Klavier let out a bitter laugh. “Always.”

Apollo’s face softened. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not particularly, nein,” Klavier said, visibly shuddering. “Just once, I’d like to not drag our conversation down. Ach, and I used to think you were the buzzkill. Now look at me, ja?”

“Don’t worry about it, Gavin,” Apollo insisted. “I get it, you - you feel things really intensely. I know that now, and, uh. Well, I do it, too. And we hold it all in and we don’t say anything ‘cos there’s bigger things to worry about, a-and then it’s like...like a dam breaks. Like everything just comes rushing at you all at once. There’s no way of stopping it, as much as you want to, and when it’s finally over...you never know how to feel about it. Because it’s not cut and dry, i-it’s not black-and-white, it’s just...it just is. So you move on, ‘cos there’s nothing else you can do about it, and you keep going. And then it starts all over again.” He let out an awkward laugh. “Or, uh, or maybe I’m just describing what a trial feels like.” Apollo glanced back at his phone, only to see Klavier staring at him in wonderment. “...er, too much?”

“Not at all, it’s just...you’re always full of surprises,” Klavier murmured; he almost sounded impressed. “That was incredibly astute, especially for you.”

Apollo wilted. “...thanks. Glad to know you think so highly of my intellect.” Still, Klavier’s warm laughter managed to get him to crack a smile. “So, you said something about writing a new song? How’d that go?”

“I had a burst of inspiration, you might say,” Klavier said, nodding. “Like my muse sat beside me on the piano bench and hummed a melody in my ear.”

“That sounds more creepy than anything else, but okay,” Apollo snorted. “Can I hear it?”

“Nein, not yet,” Klavier replied mysteriously. “When the time is right, ja? Besides, it’s...it’s a bit personal.”

Apollo shifted slightly in his spot. “Personal, huh?”

“It’s about...someone who means a lot to me, and something I’ve been meaning to say to them,” Klavier said carefully. “Because...I’ve been looking for closure, too. And possibly, if I do it right, I might also get a new beginning. Does that make sense?”

“It’s a little cheesy, but, uh, yeah. Makes sense.” Apollo pulled his knees into his chest, resting his chin on top of them with a quiet exhale. “Do I know this someone of yours?”

“Ja, definitely,” Klavier murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. “And they’re not mine, but...I want them to be.”

“I...I see.” Apollo felt his own pulse pounding in his ears, so loudly that he could barely hear his own voice. “Hey, Gavin, I - I wanted to - there’s something I’ve been wanting to say, and...and I…”

“What is it?” Klavier asked, sitting up, hopeful.

“Well, I...no, n-never mind.” Apollo cleared his throat. “Probably should, um. I should probably save it for when we see each other in person.” Klavier leaned back, disappointed. “Anyway, you, uh, you should probably sleep now if you wanna be awake enough for work. Unless you take the day off like I did.”

“I might actually consider it,” Klavier chuckled. “And we’ll talk tomorrow, ja? Or later today for you, I suppose.”

“Definitely,” Apollo confirmed, nodding.

Something in Klavier’s eyes seemed to shift then, something Apollo couldn’t quite understand. It happened more and more with each passing day, with every conversation, and Apollo wasn’t sure if he was ready to figure out what it meant, if it meant something other than what he hoped it meant. “Du siehst wunderschön aus in diesem licht.”

Apollo blinked. “Sorry?”

“Never mind,” Klavier said, a sleepy grin stretching across his face. “Guten Morgen to you, Herr Forehead.”

“And goodnight to you, Gavin,” Apollo replied, waving briefly before ending the call. He sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing his tea and enjoying the sun’s warmth. Then, he stood, stretching his arms over his head, and smoothed out the creases in his pants and what was now his oversized purple hoodie. “Someday,” he mumbled to himself, slinging his bag over his shoulder and turning back in the direction of the bazaar. “Just...not yet.”

_____

a/n: Welcome to my fifth entry for Klapollo Week 2021! Continuity-wise, this is the second of seven fics, but again, there is no need to read the others to follow each fic on its own. However, as I mentioned in the top notes, day seven is a sequel to this one, so look out for it! This is the second-longest fic of all my Klapollo Week fics, and for good reason - I could've easily included an endless number of random conversations and made this fic twice as long if it weren't for the posting deadline. One of my favorite things about writing Klapollo is their back-and-forth, so I love writing fics where they simply just...talk, and hang out. And I know it's definitely a concept that's been done before, but someday, I wanna write my own version of "Klavier visits Apollo in Khura'in and they fall (more) in love". That might end up being my longest Klapollo fic yet 😜

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated. Hoping you’re all safe and healthy and doing well ❤️

#KlapolloWeek2021 #klapollo #kyodoroki #klapollo fic #ace attorney #ace attorney fic #myfic #long post #not sure if this one or day seven is my favorite #i definitely wanna write an extended version of this in the future

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go-dark-turtle · 4 years ago

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(Here it is Chapter 2 of Hamon Daze. If you haven't read chapter 1 I suggest giving it a quick read before this one. You can find it here

Just like the first chapter there is a saucy n spicy warning if you wish not to read further. Also @thisbloghasnoaesthetic has been a HUGE inspiration for me to continue this saga. Now let's continue~ onwards to Caesar's revenge. 😎)

Hamon Daze

Chapter 2: Caesar's Revenge

(A Caesar x female reader fanfiction Saucy n Spicy edition)

The next morning Caesar stirred awake and rubbed his eyes, a fake set of eyelashes fell onto his bedsheets and he picked them up to exam them.

"What the hell is this?" He pondered to himself confused.

He looked over to his table and noticed his beloved vase was gone, did JoJo steal it again? He sighed with annoyance and headed to his small en-suite bathroom. He softly yawned as he opened the door and looked up at the mirror.

"MUMMA MIA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP ON MY FACE!" Caesar screamed as he looked at himself in the mirror. His lips were bright pink, purple on his eyelids and red rosy cheeks.

He was furious, he knew JoJo was behind this. He grabbed his washcloth and a towel and scrubbed everything off except for his red rosy cheeks. He gritted his teeth trying to get rid of the redness in his cheeks but he sighed in defeat, he was starting to get hungry.

***Meanwhile across the hallway***

You and Joseph were in Joseph's bed giggling hearing Caesar's reaction to your prank.

"If only we could see his face" You giggled.

"Heh, the best part is he has to eat breakfast with a pretty face ohhhh!" Joseph made a kissy face mocking Caesar.

You both giggled and cuddled but it all came to a halt when you both heard Caesar open his bedroom door.

"JOJO! Are you awake? Get your arse down stairs for breakfast!" Caesar called heading straight to Joseph's bedroom door.

Joseph scrambled out of bed with you, he pushed you into his wardrobe and slammed the door. Caesar slowly turned the doorknob, the door clicked open and Joseph's eyes widened.

"CAESAR I'M AWAKE! DON'T COME IN! I'M NAKED!" He panicked at the italian about to see him in the nude.

"UGH! I didn't need to imagine that first thing in the morning... just hurry up and get down there" Caesar screwed up his face and let go of the door knob and walked down the spiral staircase to the kitchen.

"Sorry about that Y/N" Joseph opened the wardrobe door and you sat up in a daze.

"It's okay JoJo. I'd rather hide than face Caesar right now oh man he sounded pretty annoyed, but oh my god he sounded repulsed at the idea of seeing you naked." You giggled

"Glad you aren't repulsed seeing me naked Y/N. Ah we shouldn't keep the others waiting... though after lunch time we could always meet up" He winked, you immediately went bright red.

*** Meanwhile in the kitchen***

Suzie and Lisa Lisa were at the table having a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. Caesar walked in and grinned at Suzie and took her hand in his.

"Mamma mia. You look so bellissima this morning, Suzie." Caesar kissed her hand and sat down next to her. "I didn't get a chance to ask you yesterday. How was your trip to town with Y/N?"

Suzie giggled "Grazie Caesar, well we got everything including a lovely blue dress for Lisa Lisa. Ah we even stopped for some lunch and that's when she told me something about you... ohhh.. umm.."

She clasped her hands over her mouth, Caesar looked at her with his emerald eyes and gently pulled them away. "What did she say tesoro?"

Suzie blushed she couldn't resist his gaze "Well she admitted you were attractive...."

"Oh? Maybe that explains her attitude last night..." Caesar whispered to her.

Lisa Lisa watched them both rolling her eyes and sipped her orange juice. Just then both you and Joseph scrambled into the kitchen giggling and nearly knocking over the other chairs in the room.

"JoJo! Y/N! You are both late care to explain yourselves?" Lisa Lisa folded her arms

"Sorry Lisa Lisa. Because of Caesar making me run laps around Fight island... I woke up late this morning..." You turned your head away from him trying to keep a straight face, one because of his red rosy cheeks and two you started to see how handsome he was.

"Yeah Caesar's snoring echoed into my room and also made me wake up late..." Joseph shrugged and winked at Caesar “Oh someone is a little blushy this morning"

Caesar huffed and shrugged "Well aren't you obsvert this morning!" He looked at you and noticed your shirt missing two buttons. "Say Y/N why aren't you wearing your pjs? Did you fall asleep in your clothes?"

You clench your fists and looked down your face went bright red from what actually happened "Well uhhh."

Caesar knew something was up and he wanted to find out what was going on. "Perhaps you can tell me later.. JoJo hurry up we have training with Messina and Loggins. Don't forget Y/N you are training with Lisa Lisa this morning."

You sighed with relief "Oh good.. " You giggled nervously "Ah I mean um.. right thank you for the heads up..."

*** After Breakfast ***

Caesar returned to his room to get ready, he opened his wardrobe and noticed his jackets and his tank tops were lying in the bottom of the wardrobe. He was confused why they would be lying there. As he picked them up and placed them on his bed to smooth them out he noticed a button. He picked it up and realised it belonged to you. He knew JoJo was behind the whole make up prank but did you also join him?

He smirked "Bingo! I finally have evidence..."

He grew more curious, he had a feeling you didn't return to your room last night. He sneaked into JoJo's room while he was in his shower singing very loudly. Caesar's gut feeling paid off, another button he pocketed from the floor. He quietly left and returned to his room to get ready for morning practice.

***During morning practice***

You followed Lisa Lisa to the docks for a light work out with her but, an intense training session awaited Caesar and Joseph over on Fight island. The boys focused their fingertips on the spikes in the centre and held their whole body weight with their hamon, while the tall trainers ran laps around Fight island keeping an eye of the boys from all angles.

"By the way JoJo" Caesar whispered to Joseph "I know you put that ridiculous crap on my face..."

"Heh. So you figured me out.. But you can't prove it to Messina or Loggins without proof." Joseph whispered back with a smirk.

"Oh? Well perhaps your partner in crime will definitely tell me everything." Caesar smirked and pulled out the buttons from his pocket giving them a quick flash to JoJo.

"Huh? what do you mean my partner.... wait they are from Y/N's shirt! Where did you find them?" Joseph started to sweat a little.

Caesar finally caught him and put them back in his pocket "Well I went to check on you earlier, I opened your door and found one of them on the floor. The other in my wardrobe."

Joseph started to wobble and his breathing nearly went out of sync, he knew he couldn't get out of this one.

"JoJo concentrate more!" Messina shouted at him

"Sorry..." Joseph called his trainer and closed his eyes and tried to focus again. He grunted and whispered to the italian glaring at him "What do you want Caesar..."

"Nothing. I just needed you to confirm everything for me.. Oh, and have fun running around fight island" Caesar smirked and nudged him off balance

"Wha.." Joseph tried to question him before he was knocked off balance and he nearly landed in the spikes.

The tall trainers stopped in their tracks and pulled Joseph out the pit they pointed and scolded him for not paying attention and told him to run 50 laps around fight island. Caesar smirked and launched himself into the air and bowed at his trainers before heading back inside.

***An Hour later in the kitchen for lunch***

Morning practice had wiped you out, you rested your head on the table not wanting to move a muscle, Lisa Lisa went over the basics twice.

"Ah Y/N was training with madam Lisa Lisa really that tiring?" Suzie poked your shoulder

"Leave her be Suzie. I'll allow her to rest for now but I'm sure Caesar will get her back on track after lunch" Lisa Lisa sipped her coffee and looked at the door seeing Caesar walk in.

Your eyes widened at the thought of intense training with Caesar, his training was difficult enough. Now you didn't want to face him knowing he would pick up your guilty energy.

"Buon pomeriggio ladies, how was your morning ?" He smiled at Lisa Lisa his voice was so soft it made your cheeks flare up. Did he always sound like this?

"Well Y/N seems to be distracted, Caesar I'll need you to go over the basics again." Lisa Lisa huffed and wasn't impressed by your mornings poor efforts.

"Huh? Funny thing JoJo was the same." He pretended to be surprised. He knew you two were up to no good the night before.

"Oh JoJo is lacking too! Oh my, do you think they have a cold or something?" Suzie was concerned. Caesar giggled at the ridiculous idea.

You looked up to see Caesar's smirk, your cheeks flared up and hid your face in your hands. He squatted next to you and patted your head. "Rest up lil Y/N because later we will go over everything.... again" He looked at Lisa Lisa "Um Madam Lisa Lisa, is the bath house free this afternoon?"

"Yes it's free, Messina and Loggins are having the afternoon off. I'm with JoJo after lunch. Did you have something in mind?" Lisa Lisa was curious.

"Just thought a reminder of the basics might be helpful in there." Caesar nodded, you groaned in frustration, you already went over them TWICE and now a third time with Caesar this was going to be hell.

She nodded "Very well and perhaps a clean up might also help Y/N get her mind to focus." She took a bite out of her sandwich. You were more nervous than on your first day. Caesar bowed to his teacher and looked back down to you.

"Oh and in case you wondered where JoJo is Y/N." He took your hand away from your face and gently guided you to the window. He noticed your blush and how nervous you were around him compared to the night before.

You blushed more feeling his large leather glove touch your hand and his fingertips gently gripping your smaller hand. You saw Joseph run laps around fight island, he was already exhausted but he kept going, whining to his trainers. You swallowed hard, you felt this was all Caesar's doing and you were next.

*** 20 minutes later***

You nervously followed behind Caesar heading to the bath house on the right side of the island. You had no idea what he had in store but you knew it was going to be exhausting, with Caesar boasting for sure. You carried a bucket, mop and a few cleaning supplies trying to keep with Caesar.

"Come on lil Y/N we are almost there." Caesar smirked while waiting on you with his hands on hips.

"Caesar please, I can't carry this all by myself." You whined as you caught up trying your best not to look at his beautiful green eyes.

"Well if you paid attention to this morning's practice you wouldn't be in this mess now would you?" Caesar folded his arms and raised his eyebrow.

You sighed in defeat, he smirked again and opened the door to the bath house and held the door to the first room. Inside was a giant shared bath by the balcony and showers on the right of the room with benches either side and lockers on the left with a sink behind the door.

"Okay Y/N set everything on that bench over there and stand up straight" Caesar slammed the door shut and glared at you.

You gulped and nervously set everything down and stood in the middle of the room. You looked down, you knew you were in deep trouble. Caesar walked behind you and placed his hands on your shoulders. You looked ahead, your eyes widen, feeling his hands on your shoulders. You had never seen this side of Caesar before, even though you were nervous your mind raced with the idea of kissing him.

"You are in for a treat let me tell you." He leaned in closer and whispered. Your thought bubble was popped by his comment, especially with the tone of his voice, your eyes widened, you swallowed hard and your hands began to shake releasing the reality of what's going on. He smirked more knowing his comment made you sweat, he licked his lips.

"I know you helped JoJo with his little prank, I'm not very impressed you messed up my beautiful face." He reached into his pocket and held your hands open and placed your buttons in your hand "Don't leave evidence behind next time."

You looked down at them, your whole body was shaking, you were caught out, you spun around and clasped your hands and dropped to your knees, dropping the buttons and closing your eyes shut. "I'm so sorry Caesar, please dont tell Lisa Lisa!"

Caesar barked at you while grabbing the bucket and held it out. "We'll see about that, on your feet now! Hands behind your back!" Your eyes sprung open, his voice was so cold and commanding.

You nodded and did as he said, he walked behind you and placed the bucket in your hands. You looked down not daring to look back, you knew this wasn't going to be pleasant.

"I'm disappointed in you Y/N, I thought you were the type to behave. Tsk, tsk, I guess that's what happens when you get involved with JoJo." Caesar waggled his finger. "It's such a shame I have to punish you like this Y/N, you are so pretty, but you know this brings back memories of when I didn't behave."

You looked up and loved hearing he thought you were pretty, you shook your head trying to stay focused by trying to get on his good side "You misbehaved one time?! That isn't like you Caesar."

"Don't be cute with me Y/N, well it was 3 years ago when I first arrived on the island...." Caesar pointed at you and thought back to his early training days.

***Three years ago***

Caesar was summoned to the Island to meet Lisa Lisa upon meeting her he held her hand and kissed it "My, my, you are sbalorditiva. It's such an honour to train under your beauty" Caesar winked at her.

"My training is very strict, I expect nothing but the best." Lisa Lisa pulled her hand away trying to keep her cool from his flirting.

"Hm, well you are looking right at him, say why not we skip the training and get right into the good part and perhaps we can kiss with a moonlight diner later." Caesar flashed his smile at her. "You can come too, Suzie I wouldn't want to leave you out."

Suzie blushed at his actions but Lisa Lisa wasn't impressed. She folded her arms "You lack respect, I'll knock that out of you before we continue..."

"Oh I bet you will." Caesar smirked "Oh my Lisa Lisa aren't we jumping into this far too quickly? We haven't even kissed yet." He raised his eyebrows, with his mind thinking unspeakable things.

Lisa Lisa huffed. "Just come with me!"

He followed her to the bath house and instructed him to hold the bucket behind his back, at first he smirked thinking it was easy but within a few minutes she brought over hamon fused water and slowly filling up the bucket, his body started to shake and his arms were like jelly.

"Please Lisa Lisa I'm sorry, please let me have a break my arms are going to fall off. I'm sorry I was disrespectful towards you please forgive me." Caesar pleaded almost in tears.

"From now on you will respect my training methods and respect me as your teacher, not some girl in the streets. Do you understand?" Lisa Lisa stopped bringing over more water and watched him quiver.

"I promise! I'm so sorry madam Lisa Lisa, I will promise to respect you from here on in!" Caesar cried out his hands shaking

"Good, you may let go of the bucket" Lisa Lisa smirked.

Caesar released the bucket and dropped to his knees not caring his legs got wet from the water spilling everywhere. "From now on I'll take your training seriously."

***End of Flashback***

Your eyes widened. He was going to give you the same treatment you opened your mouth but he placed his finger over it. You blushed at how close he was. The scent coming from his tank top, a combination of white flowers, rose, lily of the valley and sandalwood. He smelt so nice and very comforting. The bubble of comfort from his scent popped as he pulled away from you.

"Hush now lil Y/N, it's time for you to receive your punishment and unlike what happened to me, you know how to use hamon, so I need you to hold that bucket but keep the water in place do you understand?" Caesar walked over to the sink and grinned

You nodded and held the bucket tightly he brought over a handful and dropped it into the bucket, at first you had no problems but as he got to the 5th handful that's when you felt the tension in your arms. Caesar knew exactly how you felt and went for a 6th handful.

Loggins had finished with his lunch. He made a quick detour through the bath house hallway to get to the docks to enjoy his well deserved afternoon off and that's when he heard you and Caesar talking. He stopped by the door and listened in.

"Please Caesar my arms hurt, please let me take a break!" You cried out to him

"Quit whining I'm not done yet, just endure it a little more." Caesar barked back

"I'm already at my limit Caesar please, I can't hold it anymore!" You whined more.

Loggins clasped his hands over his mouth "Good heavens what on earth are they doing in there" He couldn't stop listening as if it was like a trainwreck, he pressed his ear against the door and listened more.

"Y/N, I'll be nice and let you lean against the bench but keep those hands where they are." Caesar sighed.

You knelt on the floor and your chest leaning onto the bench it felt a little better, but your arms still ached. Caesar walked in front of you and raised his eyebrows, while giving you a disappointed look.

"I said you can lean, not kneel, now get that cute butt of yours in the air" Caesar loved that he was in control heading to the sink once more.

"Sorry Caesar" You blushed and sighed. You raised your legs and buttocks, the bucket was almost at max capacity leaning your chest still on the bench. You gripped with all your might and charged hamon through the bucket keeping everything in place.

"Perfect, now let's add some more shall we, I'll be nice with just my pinky finger, instead of my hand." He smirked as he walked over with a glob of water encased around his pinky finger.

"No Caesar, please I can't handle anymore, anything but that!" You pleaded out in a panicked cry

Caesar didn't appreciate you answering him back, he clapped his hands in front of you making the water explode over your face you shivered on the spot. Loggins couldn't handle listening anymore and he scurried out of the hallway and headed straight to the docks horrified.

You looked up to Caesar your arms felt like they were about to break, you clenched your eyes shut and screamed "Please, I'm sorry I followed JoJo in his prank, I'm sorry I didn't go back to my room, I'm sorry, please Caesar, let me drop the bucket, I'll do anything!"

"Anything you say?" Caesar leaned in close the smell of his scent felt comforting again, you opened your eyes seeing his emerald eyes shine. "Well perhaps that kiss I wanted from you last night might be enough to let me stop this punishment and of course keep hush hush."

You bit your lip, no way out of this one, you sighed and closed your eyes but slowly loved the idea of Caesar kissing you, but stood your ground. "Fine, but just one kiss."

"That won't be a problem, one is all I need." Caesar finally had what he wanted.

He knocked the bucket out of your hands and spilled the contents everywhere. You sighed with relief but before you could shake your arms from the aching pains, Caesar scooped his hand under your back and you fell backwards into his arms. You flinched thinking you were about to fall but you looked up and saw his bright emerald eyes lock onto yours. You blushed hard in his arms looking up at him he looked so handsome and you couldn't help but stare at his face.

"You'll fall for me guaranteed." He smirked with an evil glint in his eye. "You can't resist me"

Before you had a chance to say anything his lips crashed into yours he held you close at first you were shaking but soon enough you held onto his shoulders, closing your eyes all while enjoying his powerful kiss. He knew you couldn't resist his soft lips. He held you close and deepened the kiss, you gasped at how amazing he was at kissing.

He pulled away from the kiss you were in a complete daze, your face bright red, he smirked and looked down at you " Hmm, I'm glad a little birdie told me that you thought I was attractive."

"Well about that ..." You went super quiet and turned your face away from him.

"It's okay Y/N I understand, so if you like shall we continue?" He nodded and cupped your chin.

You couldn't resist as if he put you under a spell. You nodded a thousand times and looked to his face, you wanted him so badly you couldn't wait anymore and he knew it. The kiss unlocked everything.

(SAUCY N SPICY WARNING)

"Relax for me my darling" Caesar sat on one of the benches and had you sitting on his lap both facing him, your arms wrapped around his shoulders. Both of you had discarded your tank tops and they landed on the other side of the room. He gently pressed his palms, while wearing his leather gloves, against your nipples, you blushed and gasped at the feel and how cold they were.

"Sorry Caesar, it's just your gloves are so cold.." You looked up at him softly gasping.

"Oh then perhaps I should try something else out instead." He smiled with an evil glint.

He brought his hands together and clapped them and then formed two large bubbles. He caught them with his hamon and smirked, he pressed them against your nipples, the hamon energy clamped onto your skin and no matter how much you squirmed you couldn't release their tight grip.

"That's your punishment for.... last night." He whispered in your ear and nipped your neck

You jolted back in pain and pleasure, almost falling off Caesar's lap. You tried to pop the bubbles with your own hamon, Caesar gripped your hands and held them in place with one of his hands while slowly pulling off his headband.

"So naughty Y/N, so now you need more discipline." Caesar shook his head.

He knelt you onto the floor and tied your arms behind your back with his headband, you looked up not knowing what side of Caesar was coming up next. He crouched next to you and gently tilted your chin upwards again and planted another kiss on your lips. He softly hummed and locked his eyes on you as he dragged his hands down your stomach and gently unbuckled your belt and unzipped your jeans. You closed your eyes and bit your lip, his hand slipped in and he gently rubbed the fabric of your underwear against your sensitive nub.

"Caesar.. it's too much please slow down" You rested your head on his chest panting hard as he made small fast circles.

"Hmmm, that's going to be a no Y/N, this will teach you to behave." Caesar smirked.

He continued on, his other hand reached down his own jeans and gently pleasured himself at the same time with you, he licked and bit his lip, you grew more and more wet with his long fingers rubbing against you.

"Oh my, feels like you are enjoying this, your panties are soaked." Caesar licked his lips "Alright, since you're so excited I'll let you have a break but you have to do something for me..."

You let out a soft moan when he pulled his hand out from your jeans, he smirked and kicked off his jeans all that remained was his dark blue boxers. You looked up and saw how excited he was, the nerves kicked in.

"Hmm, well since I made you feel good, it's time you made me feel good, I'll need you to be creative Y/N. You are only allowed to use your mouth, so what are you waiting to get to work!" Caesar placed his hand on his hip and brought you closer gently gripping your hair.

He opened his legs as he sat back down on the bench, you sat by his legs. He smirked, you looked down at his boxers and leaned in gently trying to work out what to do. Your eyes beamed when you noticed the buttons, you gently tugged the first button with your teeth prying it free, once you got the hang of the technique all three of the buttons were loose. You sighed and grinned sitting back while having a breather.

"I don't have all day Y/N, get busy!" He shoved your face back in, he was certainly excited.

You darted out your tongue and reached in the opening of his boxers and encouraging his length to pop out by curling and wrapping your tongue against him. After a few minutes of trial and error it eventually popped out, you saw it in all its glory it was average sized but thick. You swallowed hard and started to lick the tip gently not wanting to screw this up.

"Ah Y/N... your tongue is like heaven please don't stop.." Caesar threw his head back in bliss and patted your head again.

You loved how he tasted and how smooth he was, you shifted forward more and gently suckled on his tip leaving small kisses on him inbetween. Caesar was in bliss; he softly moaned and closed his eyes.

"Y/N please more... please..." He was begging for you.

You loved to hear his soft moans and hear him beg for you was something you thought you'd never hear, it made you more excited. The bubbles clamped on your nipples bopped against his thighs as you sucked him deeper causing more friction for your nipples. He was almost at his limit.

"Ah okay that's enough" Caesar quickly pulled you away and pulled off his boxers. "For now..."

You sat there arms still bound, the bubbles still clamped on your nipples catching your breath. He smirked, bending down to you and gently removing the rest of your clothes. He walked back to the bench and leaned over to pick up the mop.

"Y/N you did such a good job, how about a reward, hm?" He looked down at you with a smirk. Holding the mop tightly in his hands `

"What did you have in mind Caesar...?" You were frozen on the spot looking at his smirk, what in the world was he going to do.

He sat back down and brought you forward again, your eyes focused on his thighs, he was twitching with excitement. He looked down at you and smirked, holding the mop head in his hand, he guided the wooden handle down to your sensitive and wet area and gently rubbed it against your outside folds.

"AH CAESAR!" You moaned out it felt so good rubbing against your sensitive area, you flung your head back and bit your lip.

"Hm, that's what I like to hear now let's finish this." Caesar tilted his head and winked while he pushed your head into his crotch again.

You quickly suckled on him, your tongue licking and wrapping around, as he gently rubbed the wooden handle against your sensitive nub, you were so close your body was shaking you wanted to release your wave of pleasure so badly.

"Ah Y/N, you have such a talented tongue... oh god..." Caesar began to shake along with you.

You picked up the pace hoping he would do the same, he unleashed his wave inside your mouth you let go of him and swallowed it all you looked up to him panting hard wanting him to rub your nub more to let you finish.

"I think we are finished now" He threw the mop aside and looked down at you "Aww don't look at me like that Y/N, I did say this was a punishment"

You begged for him to continue. You wanted to have that satisfaction like he did, he shook his head and he released the bubbles from your nipples. He slowly walked behind you squatting down untied his headband, wrapping it around his forehead again.

*Cue Roundabout*

"Don't think this is over yet, Y/N. Both you and JoJo still need to learn your lesson. Whether he likes it or not, I know you'll behave for me." He smirked and pointed at you as he stood up "Meet me in my room tonight, 9pm sharp and don't be late."

You sat there with your eyes wide following his movements, your nerves kicked in again your body began to shake.

"Oh and don't worry, I'll be sure to tell JoJo...." he leaned by your ear and whispered

"Everything...."

[<--------To Be Continued----------]

Chapter 3

#jojo bizarre adventure #caesar zeppeli #caesar x reader #battle tendency #saucy n spicy

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duchesschameleon · 4 years ago

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codependent idiots

an ajf playlist for @winterscaptain

hello tali! and everyone else reading this.

music is something incredibly important to me, as a musician and as someone who hates existing in silence. I always need something in the background. so, what better way to celebrate 100 ajf fics than with a playlist? tali, I am so incredibly proud of you for 100 ajf fics and so honored to have been part of the journey. and to be your friend. seeing the hard work that goes into this universe and how much you love it is just incredible. I cannot wait for what comes next and to see you continue to create and grow this universe that I love so, so much. you are amazing and wonderful and I love you to bits and pieces darling.

so without further ado, here’s the playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0RpXkdEbsdMqX6l5daBdaL?si=bae62e4556674c84

These songs make me think of ajf or just fit the universe - it’s not about one specific moment or one specific relationship, it’s ajf as whole. So I’ve included a little explanation for each song, considering there isn’t a cohesive sound.

paper rings - taylor swift

this one is pretty self explanatory. it’s a song about loving someone so much you don’t care how, when, or why you marry them. considering meraki, I think we can all agree this fits.

I will follow you into the dark - death cab for cutie

this is a song that screams going to the end of the line for someone. and we’ve seen time and time again (and I’ve referenced it in many a commentary) that aaron & mom lean on each other for everything. they are so reliant on each other for everything and I feel like this song captures it.

be my baby - the ronettes

another classic love song. and just the right amount of sweetness for aaron & mom I think. their love, to me, is a deep and everlasting love that endures and as we’ve seen in the fic, is filled with sweet moments between each other. and there’s a lot in this song about knowing you love someone from the start.

can’t keep on loving you from a distance - elliot yamin

this fits into berry hill/mean it ajf I think. it’s the yearning guys. it’s the not being able to love someone from afar anymore and wanting to do something about it. yeah I threw in a little angst, but this is one of my favorite songs. it’s good and it fits. it’s a crossroads.

die a happy man - thomas rhett

pretty self explanatory, listen to the lyrics. it's all about needing just the love of the person you love the most in this world. that is aaron and mom to a t.

unforgettable - thomas rhett

okay an upbeat song! this one is not forgetting any detail from when you met the person you love. again, aaron and mom. also it’s one of my favorite thomas rhett songs. it’s about inevitability, knowing that you’ve found your person, and not forgetting a single thing about them.

this will be (an everlasting love) - natalie cole

aaron always gives me classic song vibes, he likes the oldies and what he was raised on. this song is...it is happiness personified. it is happiness and joy in a song and you cannot convince me it wasn’t played at the wedding.

make a life, not a living - brett kissel

okay so first off: brett kissel is an amazing canadian country artist whom I love dearly. this is his newest song and it was released just in time for this. this ENCAPSULATES ajf for me - this aaron that allows himself to live and love again, to have this happiness and joy. it’s all about making a life, and making a good one. this is ajf for me.

between you and me - brett kissel

and this one is for all the 18+/nsfw moments. listen to the song and it's pretty self-explanatory.

at last - etta james

it took them like 6 years (? I think) to get together and another 2.5 to get married. someone played this at the wedding and you cannot convince me otherwise. again, it goes to inevitability and how everyone was waiting for this to happen. we knew it was gonna happen, it was just a matter of when. so when it does happen, everyone’s screaming “AT LAST!”

kiss me - ed sheeran

okay this album came out in 2011, mean it happened in 2011...it fits. and this song screams mean it to me. that’s really all I have to say

give me love - ed sheeran

same reasoning as kiss me. I just couldn’t decide which one fit more. but they both work.

growin’ up - bruce springsteen

this song is less mom & aaron and more ajf in general. it’s rebellion and doing what you want - hello bau - and it’s just a great song about learning and growing up and doing things your way. also it’s me, there had to be springsteen on here somewhere

mary’s place - bruce springsteen

run with me on this one: you’re driving in the car with your family, people you love, and this song comes on. you can’t help but smile and sing along and it is happiness personified. this one is all about the vibes, not the lyrics or meaning of the song. this to me is a bit of a party starter and something that could play at every bau party. familiar faces, laughter, gathering people together….this is all about having a good time with people you love.

we take care of our own - bruce springsteen

last springsteen song I promise. this one is similar to above, it’s all about a family and being there for one another. looking out for your own, looking out for each other.

some day one day - queen

this is a great soft, sweet song talking about hope for mom & aaron. much like this is early in queen’s discography, it fits into the early years of ajf.

you’re my best friend - queen

self explanatory. they are codependent, they rely on each other so much, they are best friends and lovers. it fits so well. and this song will always put a smile on my face.

another one bites the dust - queen

another unsub bites the dust because the bau is great at their jobs. and, this screams hotchner’s dancing around the kitchen or the living room. they seem like the kind of family to dance around and film each other for….no ulterior motive whatsoever (/sarcasm)

my wish - rascal flatts

so this fits for the wedding vows BUT ALSO - during enough when aaron is thinking about how he’ll fit into reader’s life. he just wants them to have a good life, to find happiness. that is his wish for them.

danger zone - kenny loggins

we all know the hotchner’s love top gun. they absolutely, unabashedly love this song and blast it for a dance party.

landslide - fleetwood mac

maybe it’s because we sang this at my camp as a last night campfire song, but I can see this being a song sung to the littles to get them to settle down. the lyrics might not make total sense but it’s a bit of a vibe.

this is it - scotty mccreery

it’s a great love song and I love it. it gives me ajf vibes for many reasons and many moments in the series

not alone - mcfly

OH ITS TIME FOR MY MCFLY SOAPBOX. mcfly is a band that yes, I mostly know because of the close geography of the internet and early 2010s british youtubers. they are a big band in the uk and they were in an early 2000s movie called just my luck with chris pine and lindsay lohan. I love the movie, I love mcfly. seriously, they are one of my favorite bands ever. not alone is a great song and one I think can be the background for many ajf scenes. and yes this is about to start a few mcfly songs on the playlist

I wanna hold you - mcfly

it’s just about being close and wanting to hold the person you love. how many times during ajf do we see mom & aaron with a hand on each other and reaching for one another?

it’s all about you - mcfly

I tend to find this is the most well known mcfly song. it was written for one of the band members’ wife and it’s so good. and yes, again, it encapsulates the love aaron and mom have.

being alive - company

I kinda had the realization that this song screams aaron to me. that for so long he fought against his feelings and was almost content with being alone, with not having anyone. he sort of holds himself at arms length, like bobby does throughout company. and then at some point, there’s a switch. and he realizes that being alone is not the same as being alive and he wants to have someone to hold and someone to be alive with. and that’s what this song is about.

louder than words - tick, tick, boom

there are so many times where aaron and mom just look at each other. they use their actions, their body language, and their eyes to communicate and forgo words. they don’t need words. and it’s not just with one another. it’s with jack and the littles and the whole team. actions truly do speak louder than words in this universe.

always will - bright star

it’s a mean it & mistletoe song. “we’re supposed to be/together it’s true/I’ve had my doubts/but not about you.” these lyrics SCREAM ajf and this is one of my favorite songs from bright star - WHICH IS AN UNDERRATED MUSICAL.

dirty little secret - all american rejects

okay so it’s never a dirty secret, but this fits in during the mean it arc. they’re so secretive and sneaking around. we needed one unhinged song here okay???

the power of love - huey lewis & the news

this is a song that fits the relationship, but is also something that could play in the hotchner house and get everyone singing and jamming. or could be played at dinner at uncle dave’s house to get everyone up and dancing on the flagstones.

sharp dressed man - zz top

it’s aaron hotchner. also, this is a song I can see aaron making his kids listen to (yes my dad made me listen to this a lot growing up)

I want to hold your hand - the beatles

yes we need a beatles song on here and yes this is one that always makes me think of ajf. there’s always some way people are touching - linking pinkies, holding hands, a finger through a belt loop, hands on the top of someone’s chair - touch and contact are important here so yes this is the requisite beatles song.

the heart never lies - mcfly

one more mcfly song. just listen to the lyrics and you’ll know why it’s one of my favorites. for as long as these two fought their feelings and denied them, the heart never lies. and their eyes can give it away.

#ajf 100 #fic stuff #ajf stuff #tali is masterful #music #lets not talk about how long putting together the playlist and writing the commentary took #and then the formatting #oh the formatting #BUT ITS DONE #it doesn't have fancy cover art #yet #that might change #but i hope you all like it!

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duhragonball · 4 years ago

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Battle Tendency Liveblog: JJBA Ch. 77-82

Here’s a nice map that explains the current plot situation. Lisa Lisa resides on “Air Suplena Island”, an ancient Ripple Clan training facility off the coast of Venice. Apparently there’s a second, smaller island for fighting. The boys were supposed to have their final tests here by fighting their instructors-- Joseph vs. Loggins and Caesar vs. Messina. But...

Esidisi showed up first and killed Loggins just as Joseph arrived for his test. Esidisi seems to have found some clue that the Red Stone of Aja is here, although for some reason he checked this “adjacent island” first instead of the main one. Anyway, Joseph shows up and quickly puts it all together.

This particular moment gets crapped on a bit in the fandom, because Joseph observes that Loggins’ lungs were ripped out, and the lungs are vital for Hamon users, but they’re kind of vital for anybody, so it feels like a silly thing for Joseph to say out loud. I think the real point he’s trying to make here is that Esidisi killed Loggins with a single kick. As formidable as Loggins is, Esidisi knew exactly where to strike for a one-hit-kill. Like, Santana wouldn’t have known to do that, because he’s never fought Ripple Clan guys before. He might have gone for another vital area, not realizing that a skilled Hamon-weilder like Loggins could defend it as long as he could breathe.

Anyway, the stakes just got raised for Joseph’s final test. Beating Loggins was going to be a challenge in itself, but now Joseph will have to defeat the guy who killed Loggins in one blow. But Joseph was going to have to fight Esidisi eventually anyway, so we might as well get it out of the way now.

But it’s JJBA, so no climactic battle would be complete without some absurd shots of buff dudes striding towards each other. Well, the early parts more than the later ones.

I’m not sure why there’s a pit full of spikes on this island, but I assume Loggins planned to fight Joseph here, since Joseph easily uses Hamon to walk on the spikes without getting hurt. As for Esidisi, he just impales his feet on the spikes, because he can regenerate his body anyway.

You know, actually, that seems like a really bad move on Esidisi’s part. If these spikes are made of metal, and attached to a metal plate on the bottom, then Joseph could send his Ripple through the whole structure and zap Esidisi right now. At least, I’m pretty sure Hamon conducts through metal.

I just looked it up, and apparently metal can’t store Hamon, but it will pass through metal, so I think that would be good enough for a trick like this to work. Or maybe these are just stone spikes and they’re not interconnected. Also, I finally found out that “Hamon” is just the Japanese word for “Ripple”, so that explains why the terms are used interchangeably.

This fight is pretty awesome, but it’s tricky, so I’ll try to summarize the action as best I can. Initially, Esidisi doesn’t even want to fight Joseph, because he’s only here to search for the Stone of Aja, and he doesn’t think Joseph has improved enough to bother wasting time on him. But Joseph insists. He wants to avenge Loggins, and he has to stop Eisidisi from proceeding to Air Suplena Island, and he wants the antidote to that poison ring in his throat.

Esidisi is surprised when Joseph’s Ripple is strong enough to force his finger through Esidisi’s hand, but he still thinks he’s strong enough and fast enough to kill Joseph before he can channel more Hamon through his finger. But that was just a diversion. The whole time, Joseph had been unspooling a string, the other end of which was tied to the hand of Loggins’ corpse. Joseph loops it around Eisidisi’s other arm, and it’s been soaked with vegetable oil, so it’s perfect for charging with Hamon.

I guess he only tied the string to Loggins’ body to provide a weight on the other end while Joseph sprang his trap. Anyway, he lops off Eisidisi’s forearm, and dedicates the attack to his dead teacher. You know, I have to think Joseph had a lot of these tricks ready in advance. I mean, he came here to fight Loggins, so maybe he figured a string soaked in vegetable oil would give him an advantage.

Joseph expects Esidisi to be furious, but instead the dude starts bawling like a baby. Joseph is confused and unnerved by this...

... and he’s even more unnerved when Esidisi regains his composure. He explains that a good cry helps him balance his mood. Earlier, Joseph mentioned Sun Tzu, so Esidisi tops him by suggesting that he knew Sun Tzu during his travels in China. I’m not sure why Esidisi would have bothered meeting or reading Sun Tzu, though, since the Pillar Men have been so dismissive of “primitive” humans up to this point. This is the most any of them have spoken to a human, so far, and it seems pretty clear by now that they only bother talking to Joseph because he’s proven himself to be a mildly worthy adversary. Unless Sun Tzu had super powers, I’m not sure why Esidisi would bother remembering the guys name. Then again, maybe Sun Tzu had super powers in the JoJo-verse.

Esidisi’s point is that Joseph only thinks that he won this battle before it began. The missing hand isn’t even a setback, as Esidisi just hops over to Loggins’ corpse and grafts Loggins’ forearm onto his own. Then he melts Loggin’s body just to show off his ability. Back in Part 1, Dio could freeze things by altering his bodily fluids, but the Pillar Men have even greater control over their bodies. Esidisi, for example, can heat his own blood to 600 degrees Celsius, hot enough to burn stuff. I’m not sure why his blood doesn’t burn, but whatever. He calls this his “mode”, and compares it to Wammu’s talent for manipulating air currents. Perhaps appropriately, Joseph prepares his steel balls to use Clacker Volley. So you can see how we’re getting closer and closer to the introduction of Stands in Part 3.

But Esidisi can do more than just burn things with his blood. He can also extend blood vessels from his body, and shoot hot blood at his opponents. And it looks like he’s got a clear shot at Joseph’s face...

Meanwhile, Caesar just finished his battle with Messina, who concedes defeat and gives Caesar a passing score. Caesar immediately checks in on the other island to see how Joseph is doing, and Messina finds that odd. A couple things here. First, Caesar remarks how Joseph has a “heart of gold”, which I’m pretty sure is what Joseph himself said of Josuke and his friends at the end of Part 4, so that’s pretty neat. Second, Messina compares Caesar’s friendship with Joseph to falling for a girl, so clearly Messina ships it.

Anyway, Caesar discovers that Joseph is fighting a Pillar Man instead of Loggins, but they’re too far away for him to help. Luckily, Eisidisi’s hot blood attack only hit Joseph’s breathing mask, so he doesn’t suffer serious injury. But Eisidisi sprouts blood vessels from his back, too, basically trapping Joseph from all sides.

Ah, but Joseph has been unraveling his wool hat the whole time, creating a trap within the trap. This is where it gets kind of confusing.

See, Esidisi’s whole deal here is that he seems to be one step ahead of Joseph, and he even rips off Joseph’s thing where he tells the other guy what he’s about to say next.

All Esidisi has to do is cut the lines Joseph set up, and he won’t be able to conduct any Hamon through them. Whoops.

Except, no! Because... Huh? Joseph talks about how magic tricks and illusions became popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, something Esidisi wouldn’t have known about, but Joseph is all into. He didn’t just make one string through these spikes. He did two, and wove them together in such a way that the second string would still be in tact even when the first was cut. But he made sure that one of these strings would be at Esidisi’s back, so that when he cut the first he wouldn’t notice the second.

Long story short: If you were wondering why Joseph’s Stand is Hermit Purple in Part 3, it’s because he used strings and ropes for almost everything in Part 2. He wraps the remaining string around Esidisi, fires up his Ripple, and Esidisi has no choice but to take it head on.

Unlike Santana, who simply turned into a stone-like material, Esidisi friggin explodes. And this is why I doubt Santana survived for long after Part 2. Now, Joseph’s Ripple is strong enough to destroy Santana quite easily, and we never saw that happen because by the end of this story killing Santana was probably a formality. Anyway, Joseph finds Esidisi’s nose ring and drinks the antidote inside.

Only thing is, Esidisi isn’t dead. His brain and nervous system survived that last attack, and somehow he snuck onto Joseph’s back. On his way inside, Joseph runs into Suzie Q, Lisa Lisa’s... butler? I’m not really sure. Anyway, she’s never seen him without his mask on and they flirt a little before he goes to report to Lisa Lisa.

But she’s taking a bath, and Joseph decides to check her out before he goes in. I gotta say, this shot is way more tasteful than what they did in the anime version.

I’m kind of rushing through this part, but it comes down to this, Esidisi jumped off Joseph’s back, then infiltrated Suzie Q’s body. Controlling her like a puppet, he then found the Red Stone of Aja and gave it to the mailman. Then he reveals himself to the others, and declares his intention to hold them off so that they can’t get the Stone back.

I assume Esidisi isn’t powerful enough to put up much of a fight now, because his strategy mostly boils down to using Suzie Q as a hostage. He’s willing to attack Joseph and the others and to injure Suzie Q’s body, but he knows they can’t kill him without using a Ripple so powerful that it would put too much strain on Suzie’s heart.

Really, I’m not sure I understand that. Hamon is fatal to vampires and Pillar Men, sure, and it can be used to hurt humans, but we’ve also seen it heal people too. You’d think a concentrated Ripple would purge Esidisi from her body without harming her at all. But then I guess we’d have no tension here, so whatever. Joseph tries to call Esidisi’s bluff, but it doesn’t work.

Instead, Joseph reminds Caesar of the trick he used to get out of the Hell Climb Pillar, and they both attack Suzie Q at the same time. Joseph sends repelling Hamon through her body, while Caesar sends attracting Hamon into her heart, and that somehow cancels it out so that she doesn’t die from this. I’m not sure why the diagram needed nipples. Well, I know why, but you know what I mean.

And that finishes off Esidisi. His brain grabs hold of Joseph as it gets forced off of Suzie Q, but there’s nowhere to go from here. They’re out in the sun, and everyone else in the room has Ripple powers, so what else can he do but succumb to death? Caesar is disgusted by Esidisi’s underhanded tactics, but Joseph respects Esidisi for fighting so doggedly to support his comrades and their cause. This stunt with Suzie Q was pretty shameful, but it was all Esidisi could do, so he went for it.

I dunno, I’m with Caesar on this one. Esidisi’s a pretty awesome villain, and I respect the heel heat of using an innocent woman as a hostage, but I can’t respect him in a “noble warrior” kind of way. Rest in piss, Esidisi.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #battle tendency #joseph joestar #caesar zeppeli #suzie q #lisa lisa #esidisi #loggins #messina

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nerianasims · 5 years ago

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Billboard #1s 1986

Under the cut.

Dionne & Friends -- "That's What Friends Are For" -- January 18, 1986

While listening to this song, I think it's a very squishy ballad with a nice sentiment that's not for me but is tolerable. Until a certain point. That point is when Elton John has his big part. Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight: Great, amazing, I love them, and though their talents are wasted on a song this slight, they make it listenable. Elton John's talents are not wasted on a song this slight. Couldn't they have brought in someone else? There's no way Prince would do something like this, but what about Paul McCartney? Kenny Loggins? Billy Ocean? I guess George Michael was too young for the song's schtick. But I'd take even Lionel Richie over Elton John.

Whitney Houston -- "How Will I Know" -- February 15, 1986

Whitney Houston was an amazing, phenomenally talented singer. And she oversang. Almost all the time. She didn't have to; she knew how to sing with subtlety and grace. But oversinging was (and is) popular, so that's what she did. It means I don't like most of her songs, including this one.

Mr. Mister -- "Kyrie" -- March 1, 1986

I'm not Christian any more, but one can pull inspiration from anywhere. I love the phrase "kyrie eleison." There's something beautiful about that combination of sounds, and there's also something beautiful about the sentiment. The music does not live up to it, unfortunately, though the opening is gorgeous. It also gets super repetitive at the end. It's pretty good, but I want it to be great, and sadly it is not.

Starship -- "Sara" -- March 15, 1986

I'm going to have to listen to "White Rabbit" a dozen times to cleanse this from my brain. A band that used to do stuff like that devolving into making this garbage is extremely depressing. This song starts with music box tinkling which sounds nice. Then saxophone over it which... okay. Just the sax would have been nice, but over the music box it's a little much, but I can keep going with it. Then they add a harmonica layered over it, and it's like I'm listening to a parody of mid-80s easy listening. And then randomly there's a drum crash and the weak voice of this guy comes in along with massive synth, and I start to wonder if I'm being punked. Are we sure this song wasn't a joke?

Heart -- "These Dreams" -- March 22, 1986

I watched the video probably hundreds of times when I was a kid. (On Betamax!) I adore this song. I got to it and went well, this is gonna win 1986, because there's only so much rational distance I can take from what was my favorite pop song when I was 9 years old. This song didn't start my Romantic sensibility, but it spoke to what was already in bloom. "There's something out there I can't resist." We'll see what else is on the list.

Falco -- "Rock Me Amadeus" -- March 29, 1986

I love the movie Amadeus, even though it constitutes a massive slander against poor Salieri. It gets Mozart pretty spot-on though. And I always loved classical music, was surrounded by it from infancy, so I was glad to see its popularity spread by the movie. (Yes, at age nine. I've always been a huge nerd.) This song is really fun and well-made too, though of course I can't understand any of the German lyrics.

Prince -- "Kiss" -- April 19, 1986

Prince sings this almost entirely in falsetto, so one would guess I would hate it, since falsetto usually sends me running in the other direction. One would be wrong. I adore it. Prince was that kind of artist -- he could get away with anything. He was notoriously arrogant, but was it really arrogance when it was just a proper conception of his own abilities? Anyway,

of course "you don't have to be cool to rule my world" deeply spoke to my experiences. I was the most uncool girl in school. Until high school, when somehow my not giving a damn about being cool (as I'd failed at it my whole life) actually helped me.

Also when Prince drops to a low note on the last "kiss," it is incredibly hot.

Robert Palmer -- "Addicted to Love" -- May 3, 1986

I have no idea what I'd think of this song without the video. The video infuriates me. The clone-looking emotionless women aren't "sexualized." No, you have to be treated like a human being on at least some level for that. They are purely objectified, treated literally as blank interchangeable things, with nothing at all inside them. The song is skeevy anyway, though I guess the music's good. But blech.

Pet Shop Boys -- "West End Girls" -- May 10, 1986

I've never liked this song and I've never really understood why. It's the kind of song I felt I should like. But I've always felt (since I noticed it as a teenager) that there was something missing. Now I know why: According to the Stereogum article about it, the band leader doesn't like rock n'roll, and is a pop critic. Oh. Some rock is exactly what this song needs. Without it, it's too cold and removed, and to me sounds smug. Also how can you be a pop critic and not like rock n' roll? That is a wrongness.

Whitney Houston -- "Greatest Love of All" -- May 17, 1986

Whitney Houston doesn't oversing on this song as much as usual, so that's good. Though she still oversings. What's not good are the music and lyrics. The music is bland as can be. Lyrically, it starts with "I believe the children are our future" and there's a verse about "the beauty they possess inside." Blargh.

Then after the first verse there's a total change in theme, going into how the narrator never found anyone to look up to. And that the "greatest love" is loving yourself and only depending on yourself and no one else. I despise this sentiment deep in my bones. Not of loving yourself -- though the song claims that's "easy to achieve," which is bollocks of the first order. Rather that you should only depend on yourself. That's literally inhuman. We are social creatures; without depending on each other, we are adrift in nothingness. So yeah. I hate this song.

Madonna -- "Live to Tell" -- June 7, 1986

This song gives me chills. The music is gorgeous and perfectly suited to the lyrics. I listened to the "True Blue" tape many, many times from about age 10 until, um. Well, I listened to the album on Spotify the other night. This song is the standout for me on it. I always thought that Madonna was singing about having been emotionally abused as a child herself. That is apparently not it at all; it's a song for a movie soundtrack. But to me it's about familial abuse. And always has been. It felt like she was singing for me. "The light that you could never see/ It shines inside, you can't take that from me."

Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald -- "On My Own" -- June 14, 1986

Not the Les Miz song, sadly. It's about how the narrators are breaking up. Patti LaBelle is great, but I am so bored. Michael McDonald isn't bad, but he can't match Patti LaBelle, and even she can't stop this song from being deadly dull. It took me like 5 tries to be able to listen to the whole thing.

Billy Ocean -- "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" -- July 5, 1986

What makes someone decide to put a parenthetical in a song title? Is there a formula? Anyway, he's singing (in his head) to someone he wants to be with. The "sad songs" are not actually supposed to be sad songs, it seems, but love songs that make him think of her. I guess. I don't know. Something about this song is turning my brain to mush. The tinkly parts and the violins are nice I guess. But I'm going to fall asleep at my desk if I try to listen to this song any more.

Simply Red -- "Holding Back the Years" -- July 12, 1986

Just looking at the lyrics, this song should be deeply depressing. He feels that so far his life has been a waste, but somehow he'll "keep holding on." There's a beautiful saxophone part. The song is not depressing -- it's Blues. It's terribly sad and cathartic at the same time. I'm not thrilled with Mick Hucknall's voice though.

Genesis -- "Invisible Touch" -- July 19, 1986

I did not pay attention to any of the lyrics of this song except the chorus until just now. I thought it was about a woman with an "invisible touch" whom people fall for left and right, and that's true. What I did not know was that she was supposed to be doing it on purpose. Which, okay, sort of like "Maneater"? Except no, because "Well I don't really know her, I only know her name." Then how do you know this about her?! He sounds like a stalker. Or this sounds like a first draft. The music is good enough, and the chorus could make for a good song around it lyrically, if they had bothered with that.

Peter Gabriel -- "Sledgehammer" -- July 26, 1986

I used to think this song was meant to be about a guy who was going to basically tank for you (and also have sex with you.) Well, apparently he wants to solve only one of your problems in particular: namely, that of your lacking orgasms. The "sledgehammer" is supposed to be a metaphor for his dick. Ow? Whatever, I'm going with my own interpretation of it. I like the beginning flute part, which is actually from a keyboard demo. It's a fun song, but it gets pretty repetitive.

Peter Cetera -- "Glory of Love" -- August 2, 1986

"We did it all for the glory of love" is a sentiment I usually adore. But this song is a limp dishrag. Did what for the glory of love? Why does she seem to be thinking of leaving him? And Peter Cetera being "the man who will fight for your honor" is a hilarious idea. His voice is nasally and he sounds like a faker. He comes off as someone who only vaguely understands the small-r romance of flowers and chocolates, and not at all as someone who understands the Romance of a castle far away. Bryan Adams did much better with this kind of thing in the 90s.

Madonna -- "Papa Don't Preach" -- August 16, 1986

The article I'm reading about this says there was a controversy over this song regarding abortion somehow, with left-wingers being upset that the narrator didn't consider it and right-wingers praising her for keeping the baby. Maybe in California. That is not what I remember in Michigan, and I do clearly remember a controversy. What I remember is right-wingers being absolutely incensed that Madonna was singing about the pregnancy of an unmarried young woman (or teenager, though I always felt the narrator was college-age) at all. I also remember one on the radio being angry that this working class girl was keeping her baby rather than giving it up to a rich family.

It is a really good song. Actually it is kinda Romantic. The narrator's in a dramatic life-changing situation, she has to choose whether or not to marry a guy before she's sure she's ready, and there are intense violins. Her father disapproves of her boyfriend, but she needs her father's advice. She's also not ashamed. She's in a difficult situation, but there's no guilt. Good. And this is what made so many people so angry with Madonna, and what was so deeply important about Madonna. She refused to even pretend to be guilty about sex in her music, ever.

Steve Winwood -- "Higher Love" -- August 30, 1986

I think this is about wanting to believe in a god. But then there's "I could make the sun shine from pure desire." Maybe it's about Aphrodite. Chaka Khan sings on this song, and she's obviously the best thing about it. It's not great, but it's enjoyable enough.

Bananarama -- "Venus" -- September 6, 1986

Speaking of higher loves. Bananarama are obviously having a wonderful time singing this 80s dance version of this song, and who wouldn't? The "she's got it" of the song of course also means "I've got it", hence "I'm your Venus." And Bananarama leans into that in a really fun way. It's a great version of a great song.

Berlin -- "Take My Breath Away" -- September 13, 1986

This is the big love ballad from Top Gun. I have managed to escape ever seeing Top Gun, though I've picked up some ideas about it. Mainly that it's a commercial for the U.S. air force, that Tom Cruise looks blank in it a lot, and that there's some kind of volleyball scene. Before I knew it was a commercial for the U.S. air force and therefore avoided it, I avoided it because of Tom Cruise. He has always been a total cold shower to me. As I've said since I started noticing these things (which was right around 1986), he reminds me of a Ken doll.

So the song. It sounds more like it belongs with a fantasy movie than in a modern military movie. Though I guess Top Gun is a fantasy too. But not the kind in which people usually look through hourglasses. It's a big, emotional ballad. I like it but I don't love it. If it weren't associated with Top Gun possibly I'd like it more.

Huey Lewis and the News -- "Stuck With You" -- September 20, 1986

This is a middle-aged man singing to his middle-aged wife about how he's "happy to be stuck with you." It's like if dad jokes became sentient and got married. It's cute and bouncy, and honestly pretty true-to-life. You can't be all higher love all the time.

Janet Jackson -- "When I Think of You" -- October 11, 1986

If "Nasty" had gotten to #1, it would have taken my "best of the year" spot. Sadly, it didn't, and this was Janet Jackson's first #1. "When I Think of You" is a really good song though. Janet Jackson is the best of the Jacksons and always was in every way. I think she was even a better dancer than Michael. (I don't know about "is", considering her age, but she's still a better artist.) "When I Think of You" is a very simple love song lyrically. When her "world gets crazy," she thinks of you to calm down. If this were easy listening, it would be unbearable. But it's a dance song, and a fun one. There's some great bass and interesting syncopation.

Cyndi Lauper -- "True Colors" -- October 25, 1986

This is such a beautiful song. It's helped me through some rough times ever since it came out -- the tape it's on was one of my first. It's straightforward in both lyrics and music, so there's not much to say about it besides that it's a great song.

Boston -- "Amanda" -- November 8, 1986

I am listening to this song now, and I don't recognize it. When they get to the chorus near the end it sounds kinda familiar, but I'm not sure that's because I recognize this song in particular, or because it sounds like every song like this in existence was put in a blender and this is the resulting slurry. Either this wasn't played on the radio much where I lived, or I changed the channel as soon as it was. It wants to be a power ballad, but it's an absolute nothing.

The Human League -- "Human" -- November 22, 1986

I guess it's an apology song, but "I'm only human" doesn't sit right with me as a real apology for something truly bad. He cheated on her. Which I do consider forgivable, depending on the circumstances and apology, but his is that she wasn't around so he was driven to cheat on her. And he should forgive her because he's "only human." Then the woman comes in and says she cheated on him too when they were apart, because she's human too. That makes the song tolerable. Maybe they need an open relationship. They still both sound whiny. And I don't like the music. It's boring and repetitive.

Bon Jovi -- "You Give Love a Bad Name" -- November 29, 1986

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART! AND YOU'RE TO BLAME! I love this song. Also I thought Jon Bon Jovi was hot at the time, though nowadays that 80s perm is hilarious. His voice is still hot though (so is he nowadays, grey hair and all, with his more contemporary haircut.) This song got plenty of radio play. Still does. And deserves it. It's technically a heartbreak song I suppose, but the video gets it right: It's Bon Jovi goofing around on stage in front of a joyous crowd. I love the bass, I love the guitars, and I did mention Jon Bon Jovi's voice is hot, right? Voices over looks every time for me, though both together is obviously welcome.

Peter Cetera and Amy Grant -- "The Next Time I Fall" -- December 6, 1986

Christian fundies had a deep and abiding hatred for Peter Cetera. Maybe they still do. I encountered this multiple times online over the years, and finally looked it up -- it's because of this song. Amy Grant used to be a singer of Christian music only. Then she had a pop hit with this dweeb, and certain usual suspects decided she was being corrupted by him.

The only way this song could corrupt anyone is if they started smashing things because they were so bored. The narrators have been heartbroken but are gonna try it again with each other, and it's as passionless as possible. Amy Grant's a better singer than Cetera by a ways, as she does not sing through her nose, but it's not like anyone could elevate this sludge.

Bruce Hornsby and the Range -- "The Way It Is" -- December 13, 1986

People are racist and treat poor people like shit. And people say that's just the way it is, but don't you believe them. This is true. We have come incredibly far, and things change. It's a good sermon, but as a song it's too simplistic for me, both musically and lyrically. I agree with the sentiment, but it's not a song I really want to listen to either.

The Bangles -- "Walk Like an Egyptian" -- December 20, 1986

Of course I loved this song when I was a kid, all the kids did. But I was already a Bangles fan. I had their first tape, which is their best and has the least pop sheen. I would prefer "Hero Takes a Fall" had been a big hit, but oh well. "Walk Like an Egyptian" is still fun.

BEST OF 1986 -- "These Dreams" by Heart WORST OF 1986 -- "Sara" by Starship

#billboard number ones

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