#maybe it’s just because it’s a shiny new video but I genuinely think this is Natalie’s best video essay yet

[fanboy-feminist]

Here are some of my favorite graphics from the new Contrapoints video

[teamdarkweek]

Let us consult the text of origin together:

My thoughts under the cut, but you can just enjoy the video.

General observations:

Let us never forget Rouge's wings are pink here. In sa2 they were black, they have since been purple. I think it's possible she covers her wings in some kind of think fabric or latex to match her outfits and maybe protect her - but primarily for the matchy matchy

In the shiny toy-ish style of heroes, Omega looks incredible. He looks so much better than everyone else.

Team Dark take in turns to be the most determined; it genuinely feels to me like they all do want this. Nobody is just in it for the loyalty or ride.

Team Dark should get to fight Team Rose. I would love them to duke it out with the Girl Scout commander and his two most loyal members.

Opening Cutscene:

First let us appreciate: Rouge just broke in to Eggman's again. Iirc she inserts herself into SA2 basically the same way. Plot driving queen.

It is odd to me that Rouge had no idea what she was finding, but did know the code. This 'happening upon' Shadow has always seemed strange to me and I am suspicious of it. It seems to me they might have wanted her to be looking for him, but bottled it at the last chance. Especially because she doesn't seem to be working for GUN here, this is just very convenient.

Omega is legitimately scary when he's first introduced, with a lot of the hallmarks of classic horror monsters in this first sighting of him (the close ups, the prey-through-predators eyes shot, all the action shots to keep you confused, minimal speaking etc.. I have no statement on this, it's just neat.

It must be quite a traumatising thing to wake up to, but Shadow takes little time to react. I really like that he doesn't recognize his name when Rouge says it.

It is weird to me Rouge just sits in shock at being shot. Was she not expecting a trap? Perhaps she got hit in the head or something?

Omega's aiming just before Rouge splits them up is so funny. I said I wouldn't use screenshots so this post doesn't become too slow to load but look at this:

His hands just circle around wildly. Shadow is going straight for you. Either you're not aiming for him or you're not calibrated correctly my love.

Rouge's exhausted and shocked face is adorable and I love it so so so much. This is peak Rouge IMO

The fact we see Eggman's base trashed - loudly trashed - and he does nothing about it could be a first nod at his current predicament we see in the Chaotix story, but I may be reaching.

I love the start of the chorus as they're coming to an understanding. I love This Machine, maybe more than I love my boyfriend but not more than I love my cat. It's so up there though.

Rouge bounced Shadow off Imega when she scooped him over and he rebounds into a defensive stance. No notes just cute.

Shadow's eye roll as she makes them all put hands together. You just woke up how are you so sassy? Amazing. No notes.

The actual skipped conversation must have been quite short, since Shadow knows nothing and Omega is a new robot, but I hope it included Omega inteoducing himself at least a bit. They don't say his name in this cutscene, or Rouge's but the audience probably knows her. Its just odd to me because I feel like team sonic say eachothers name a lot, but my memory may be faulty.

Seaside Hill + Ocean Palace + Egg Hawk

"Immediate destruction if distracted." Omega fully threatens to kill them if they don't work hard enough. I am not complaining, but he is a scary boy and we should remember this.

We should have known this wasn't Eggman because he reacts to Omega (an obvious E series robot) and not Shadow (a literal living weapon he had had locked away that should not be walking around). But me personally was a dumb kid who was too bad at video games to get to play team darks story before I had to go home so here we are.

Grand Metropolis + Power Plant + TC

Rouge has the least reason to be targetting Eggman, but she is quite determined here. I would suppose it is on behalf of Shadow, since she doesn't know Omega that well to be heart broken for his plight. It's nice to see that she too expresses her sentiment by violence, something often reserved in fanon for Omega and arguably Shadow.

Further to the above: she starts a fight with Team Chaotix literally and only because she is in a fighty mood. They were fr walking away, minding their own business. I also think that Espio's assumption that they might have it in for the client is valid, since they've probably been jumped by enemies of clients before. Rouge is literally just on a warpath and mad at the world. Iconic of her.

Casino Park + Bingo Highway + Robot Carnival

I do wonder what Rouge was wondering. If she was wrong, perhaps? Or what the Chaotix were doing? She couldn't suspect they're working for Eggman, could she?

Omega works in metres because he is no fool

Shadow is actually very calm talking to Eggman here. It suggests that either Rouge has not filled him in on anything much about Eggman, and/or he wants to learn for himself and isn't taking her and Omega's hatred at face value. This may make him seem a bit dozy here, but I actually think it's a sign of how untrusting he is, and with good reason. I have often seen the take that Rouge should have told him what's going on, but I propose that it is possible she told him some, he didn't believe her easily, and so she stopped telling him before the crazier stuff, because he'd never believe that. A bit of a leap I know.

Rail Canyon + Bullet Station + Egg Albatross:

This is the first time I think Shadow seems really determined. I propose it's because Eggman snubbed and disregarded him, and that is literally a tortuable offense. Joking aside, it's nice to hear the change in his voice now he's more set on his target.

Rouge is less sure of herself now. Tbh, it's probably been a really stressful day for her. She may need a rest.

Shadow offering Omega his revenge instead of fighting him for it is a nice touch. What a good team player!

Omega's shaking fist at the fake Eggman gets me. I love it. It's so ott and goofy but also a great way to communicate with his limited face.

The Shadow Android scene is actually quite frightening, like with Omega's introduction it has a little touch of horror. Imagine how you'd feel, if it were my android clone I would feel pretty nauseous and scared.

'Ultimate Life Form Data' - Metal answers the question of 'is Shadow a Robot?' As soon as it was asked, but nobody has ever listened to Metal Sonic about anything, and they aren't about to start today 🥰❤️. But did Metal know what Shadow was? We presume it had seen the Shandroids, and knew they weren't him, otherwise Metal would have just copied one of them.

(Frog Forest + Lost Jungle) + TS

"Talk about being stubborn and full of surprises" is so uncalled for from Shadow's perspective. He's never met this guy, how dare he read him like that.

This fight is so stupid, I almost believe it's just them being friendly. You know Sonic's pretty freaked out at seeing Shadow again, but I have had kittens before and sometimes they just have to show their excitement with biting. I think this might be that? Because Rouge left no particularly bad blood with Sonic. Now if she and Knuckles started it, I would understand the hostility, but Shadow and Sonic totally start this one.

Do you think Sonic felt bad that he went straight in to fight Shadow when Shadow fully just had no facts in his head to help him make good choices? I'd feel bad lol.

Hang Castle + Mystic Mansion + Robot Storm

Shadow tefuses to answer Rouge's question then proceeds to loudly answer it to himself with her just metres away. Keep being you, Shadow.

I like that they refer to Omega to ask if it's the real one, even though he can't - nice team trust moment.

Egg Fleet + Final Fortress + Egg Emperor

'Even if I'm not real - I'm still the Ultimate Life Form' resolving Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) before it even begins. In seriousness, it's quite a contradictory statement, probably because he doesn't know much about what that means. Has Rouge told him? We haven't seen someone explain that in the cutscenes, so I presume so.

Rouge immediately turning away from Eggman's body is so funny to me. 'K cool bye'

The first time I'd forgiven her not seeing that it was clearly Shadow in the goo. But Rouge, come on now. Why would they all be the exact same alien goo container with a spiky starshaped thing in them? You have seen Shadow Android. This shock is not necessary.

Why is there not enough goo to cover the ears? They can hear you guys.

'Hey Omega, did I ever tell you that Shadow is a Robot? And, well, nevermind - good luck." ARE YOU TRYING TO GET HIM KILLED? I also have to presume she genuinely believes this here. It's such a weird line.

Omega is so smart. He has been dumbed down of late, but he's not stupid anywhere here. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the one kept separately with it's own guard robot is at least more important than all these mass stored without an E unit dedicated to protecting it.

"Some things never change, do they?" How would you know? Did she tell you this? That's such a funny portrait of herself for Rouge to paint. Forever unsuccessfully trying to steal chaos and master emeralds, generally predisposed to being rude and disobedient? Or did he just observe that himself.

They leave it off like Omega may not be a recurring character from here. I wonder if they weren't sure if he'd be liked, since in SA2 they killed off a character that ended up being the most popular thing they'd made since the series began. Nobody is competing with Shadow's cult fanbase, but I wish more people like me loved big robot boy.

[game-boy-pocket]

Nintendo Land should have been bundled with the Wii U like Wii Sports was with the Wii. Nintendo also should have used the inevitable failure of the Wii U as an excuse to experiment kinda like what they did with Gamecube. Do you think anything could have saved the U?

Was it not? I would not have bought Nintendo Land without it being bundled on the Wii U, so I'm pretty sure it was a bundle game? If it wasn't then I guess it goes to show you how dire the Nintendo Land launch was. Because I just must have wanted a new game to play on my new console. But all I had was New Super Mario Bros U and Nintendo Land.

As for things that could have saved the Wii U....

I genuinely feel like with the larger general audiences, it was irredeemable. There is no saving it. It was always only going to appeal to Nintendo fans.

It's gimmick just had very limited appeal. What good does it do anybody? Allow the kids to play video games while the family TV is in use? That's what dedicated handhelds are for so what's the point? It's just causing the electric bill to go up when the 3DS can do the job.

And it was too underpowered for third party developers to work with. General audiences might like Mario and Pokemon but they need more than just first party Nintendo games. Wii U needed third party support.

And the launch lineup sucked... New Super Mario Bros and Nintendo Land... then it was what, a three month wait for Pikmin 3, and sadly, Pikmin 3 is a niche franchise that general audiences don't care about.

Wii U just didn't have a chance.

Maybe if they had pokemon, I don't like pokemon much these days, but I do know how much it sells.... but that's still a pipe dream. The Pokemon company does not take chances. They still made Pokemon Black and White for the DS when the 3DS was on the way. They were not going to make a Pokemon game for a failing Nintendo console when their handheld finally started selling huge numbers, even though the crazy fanbase would probably buy like 2 Wii Us each so they could trade shiny starters with themselves or whatever.... and they made Sun and Moon for 3DS even though the Switch was coming. The Pokemon Company does not have Nintendo's back.

[ravenrune]

Flash Fic Requests

One for Heisenberg x Reader, one for Wesker x Reader. Scroll down for Wesker. Warning: both of them are a little bit on the crack side of fics. 😅 Hope you enjoy!

Prompt: Dance for Karl Heisenberg x reader. Word count: 514. For @walrus--queen.

“What are you doing?” Heisenberg turned around to face you. He was working on yet another machine of which you had no idea what it was supposed to do. “Oh, Y/N, there you are!” He laughed heartily. “I thought it would be fun to rebuild a tank, but I’ve been running into some problems along the way!”

He stepped away from his newest project and wrapped his arms around you. “Now tell me, my precious, how was your day?” “Not bad,” you muttered, leaning against him. He smelled like oil, smoke and something that reminded you of wood. “Alcina is a pain, though. She keeps wanting to have a taste of me.” Heisenberg muttered something under his breath. “I’ll have a word with her later. Don’t worry, if she ever so much as tries to touch you, I’ll squish her like a pancake!” He gently rubbed your back, placed a quick kiss on your lips and let go of you. “Have you just been working on this piece of… whatever… all day?” You walked towards the workbench and leaned against it. “Seems a bit boring.” “I live for that shit!” Heisenberg exclaimed excitedly. “But if you must know, I haven’t. I’ve been watching a lot of videos on the internet and thought I would learn some new dance moves.” He walked towards the radio and turned it on. “I thought you’d appreciate it, because I know you’re pretty good at that sort of thing!” You watched in confusion as your man started imitating dance moves he had learnt from what looked like might’ve been The Backstreet Boys. “Karl, are you… okay?” “Fantastic!” Heisenberg yelled over the music, panting ever so slightly. “I practised for hours, maybe we can learn to waltz later on!” As the song on the radio was coming to an end, you were kind of glad you wouldn’t have to witness this travesty any longer. Sure, the man had many talents, and you couldn’t think of anyone who could rival his intellect, but these dance moves definitely left something to be desired. “Watch out, here it comes!” Heisenberg said as he prepared to finish his little show. “One, two, three and…” he dabbed. He dabbed. He actually dabbed. You just stared at him with your mouth wide open, uncertain of what to say. “Well? What do you think? That last one is very popular, I saw all the cool people do it these days!” Heisenberg seemed pretty proud of himself. It was clear he’d made a genuine effort. “I uh…” You slowly started making your way towards the door, suppressing the urge to burst out in laughter, as you didn’t want to offend him. “I need to talk to Moreau. I forgot something.” “You’re not gonna tell me what you think of my new moves?” Heisenberg asked. He dabbed again. You couldn’t help but dab back. “Fucking amazing, Karl. You’re… you’re something special alright.” And with those words, you started sprinting towards the elevator. You’d go back to him when you were done laughing, and then you’d teach him how to waltz.

Prompt: Grocery Store for Wesker x Reader. Word count: 820. For @purpleartist.

“It’s simple,” Wesker stated, looking at you with a stern look on his face. “We are going to enter the store. We will gather the items we need, pay for them, and leave.” You nodded. “I am not in the mood to search the entire store again, just because you saw something interesting, got distracted and wandered off.” You nodded again. You knew what he was talking about, and you’d already made the decision to stay focused; to not get distracted by items that captured your attention, but to stick close to Wesker instead. No matter how many shiny things you’d be walking past. “Now, my dearest, are we clear?” You nodded once more. “I need you to say it, Y/N.” You sighed and rolled your eyes. “We will go into the store. I will stay close to you. We will only buy the things we need and then we will leave. I promise I won’t get distracted this time and end up buying more junk.” Wesker smirked. “Very good,” he stated, looking mildly amused. He grabbed one of the shopping carts and made his way to the entrance of the store with you following closely behind him. You never liked shopping with Wesker, but he always insisted you go together. According to him, you were a bit too chaotic to do it yourself, and required some assistance. Wesker glanced behind him, making sure Y/N were still following him. He loved Y/N, at least as much as he was capable of, but sometimes Y/N wasn’t too easy to deal with. They had a tendency to get distracted too easily, and sometimes they reminded him a bit of a magpie, being drawn to anything that was shiny. Y/N was still following him, however, so he hoped the two of you could get this over with quickly. While making your way through the store, you tried your hardest to ignore all of the items you’d never seen before. There was a little rack that had some jewellery, and you were dying to have a look at the new necklaces. Still, Wesker had been very clear with you, and you were going to make him proud today. After placing most of the groceries that were needed in the shopping cart, Y/N and Wesker were starting to make their way to the cash register. Y/N had been doing pretty well at suppressing the urge to wander off, but so far, things had gone smoothly. Normally, the trip would’ve taken at least fifteen minutes longer already, so Wesker was quite pleased he was still running on schedule. As he placed the last items in the shopping cart, he suddenly noticed Y/N wasn’t around anymore. A bit irritated, he glanced around the store. He didn’t see Y/N anywhere nearby and sighed deeply. He wasn’t going to search the entire store for the umpteenth time and briefly contemplated just leaving his lover behind. That is, until he realised there was one other thing he could do. While Wesker was making his way to what looked like a little office, you found yourself staring at the necklaces that had captured your attention earlier on. They looked quite nice, and you wondered how Wesker would react if you decided to buy yet another shiny thing. You honestly couldn’t help it. It was just too hard to resist. The only thing you needed to do now was pick a colour. Would it be a fine silver necklace with a small feather charm, or would it be one with a little heart? “Attention, all shoppers!” You suddenly heard from the speaker in the store, startling you quite badly. “There is a Mr. Albert Wesker standing here, asking if Y/N L/N could please make their way to the main entrance.” “Oh God…” you muttered under your breath, stifling a laugh. “I think he’s actually fed up with me right now…” Quickly, you decided the necklace with the feather would go best with most of your outfits and quickly grabbed it off the rack before jogging towards the cash registers. You could see him standing there, waiting for you with a scowl on his face. You suppressed the urge to smile at him and quickly paid for the necklace before following Albert back to the car. As you got in, Wesker was already in the driver’s seat, waiting for you. He looked at you, raising one of his eyebrows. “Well then, my dearest, that must’ve been

quite embarrassing…” He paused for a moment. “I assume you have learnt your lesson now, haven’t you?” You flashed him a quick smirk and shrugged. “Honestly? I thought that was kind of funny… Didn’t expect you to do something like that.” Wesker just sighed and started the engine before driving off. He made a mental note to himself to never go shopping with Y/N again.

[kujakumai]

cleaned up old WIP, 2800 words, AU where Yami Bakura succeeds in switching hosts in DK and Mokuba makes friends with an evil ghost. Not going to be continued but it literally would not leave my brain alone until I finished it.

Things were not going according to plan.

The plan was to take control of a soulless puppet, an easy vessel incapable of interfering with his ends. He had the vessel, had accomplished that much, but he was not expecting the pharaoh and his little friends to succeed and convince Pegasus to give everyone their souls back. So now not only was there a second person in this body he had to keep suppressed, but now he was stuck impersonating a child, smiling through an awkward reunion and then placed onto a helicopter next to a gangly high school student who was watching him like a hawk.

The spirit-that-was-no-longer-Yami-Bakura knew that he was supposed to be Mokuba, but he did not remember the tall one's name. K-something. He had a stupid jacket and hardly took his eyes off him the entire ride, as if he thought his little brother was going to disappear in a puff of smoke when he wasn't looking. Annoying. Infuriating. Luckily it did not seem he wanted to talk, or at least accepted silence. No one expects recent kidnapping victims to say much, which was a boon. A little dazed, a little quiet, a little off, and no one really found it unusual.

They dropped off the pharaoh and his friends, and finally landed at a gaudy and ostentatious house so large it took him a second to realize it was a home at all, an absurd monument to decadence with grounds full of ugly topiaries. Wealth, then. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. He could work with this. The rich kid in the stupid coat quietly held his hand the entire walk up the driveway, until they entered a foyer just as gilded and obscene as the outside had been.

No, things were not going to plan, and playing grade-schooler was awkward and an insult to his dignity, and he was farther away from the other millennium items as he ever had been. He would have to grit his teeth through it until he could figure out the next step. In the meantime, perhaps, enjoy some amenities.

Richie rich sighed, relaxed his shoulders the moment they got inside. He looked at who he thought was his little brother and gave him a small, exhausted but genuine smile. He struggled with what to say next.

"Mokuba," he said, "I have to check on a few things in my office. See what kind of damage they did. Do you want to come with me?"

"No." Finally, a chance to be out of this idiot's sight.

This answer seemed to surprise him, a twitch of skepticism. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

He nodded. Keep answers short, when you're impersonating.

His face betrayed more skepticism, concern, and the tiniest hint of disappointment. As if rich kid himself was the one who was scared to be alone in his own house. He accepted the answer, though, to the spirit's relief.

Rich kid bent down and pulled him into a tight hug and ruffled his hair. "We'll get something special for dinner, okay? And ice cream."

"I do like ice cream." This was true. Ryou Bakura almost never bought ice cream, and when he did it was the stupid healthy kind that everyone knew shouldn't even really qualify as ice cream, which was another reason he was a terrible host. That and the fact that he was startlingly pale and had the upper body strength of a limp noodle and the personality of skim milk. This would be better, even if he had to deal with the abrupt drop in height.

Rich kid headed off towards the staircase with another tired but trying-to-be-reassuring smile, and it was then that the spirit of the ring felt an annoyance in the back of his brain. A presence. A scratching, biting, flailing presence, screeching mad, which he had been suppressing for a while now but finally broke through.

get out get out get out get out give it back its MINE get out

The host, awake. What a bother. More rambunctious than Bakura, then? No matter. He could handle a child.

that was MY hug and MY headpat and MY big brother and you can't have them he's been gone for ages and they're mine not yours get out get out get out

The spirit pushed back, ignored him. Shush. He had planned to hold this body alone, and he did not intend to go back to sharing. If you're good, I might let you have it back for a little while later.

shut up go away go away go away go AWAY

And then Mokuba Kaiba did something, something the spirit was not accustomed to or expecting at all, something which Ryou Bakura had never been willing or able to do. He shoved, violently, and the spirit of the ring was ripped out of control with some amount of panic.

"SETOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Why you insolent little--

Seto Kaiba was not aware of the mental turf war happening over his little brothers body. What he did see was his brother scream his name and fall down, and the whole room echoed with a metal clatter as his briefcase fell on the floor and he ran towards him.

--

The ring had been discarded unceremoniously to a side table, and not-Bakura-and-not-Mokuba-either had no choice but to wait and observe, as a pediatrician on a sudden housecall shined lights in the boy's eyes and rich kid, who the spirit had since gleaned was named Seto Kaiba, looked on in worry.

"You said you heard a voice?" The doctor asked.

"Uh-huh. I think it lives in the necklace."

"You got that thing at Pegasus's house?" Kaiba asked, in disbelief.

"I don't remember. I was just wearing it when I woke up."

"What did the voice say?" the doctor continued, professionally ignoring any talk about magic necklaces.

"Not a lot. It was kind of mean."

"I see." She turned to Kaiba. "He's fine, physically. You might want a psychologist." and Seto Kaiba made what could politely be referred to as A Face. This was not what he wanted to hear, this was news that worried and annoyed him in equal measure, and to some degree was news he had half-expected.

"He's had a rough few months. I'll look into it." and she was dismissed, and Mokuba hopped down from the counter.

"Can we order pizza?" he asked, with big pleading eyes.

Kaiba watched him with dry amusement. "Mokuba, you can have anything you want from any restaurant in a forty mile radius."

"And I want pizza. Real pizza, from somewhere that doesn't also serve caviar."

"Cheap pizza?"

He nodded very seriously. "The grossest greasiest cheapest."

"I can do that. Anything else you want?"

Mokuba's eyes lit up, and soon he was dragging Kaiba by the hand towards somewhere else in the house. "I got to this really hard level in my game I can't get past and I wanted to see if you could beat it, and I found this really cool video I wanted to show you, and I got a really good report card you never saw, and--" and months worth of pent up requests were tumbling out rapid fire, and Kaiba was smiling with affection and some amount of relief.

Loud and clingy, then, was the normal and expected behavior. The spirit of the ring made note of this, as he lie abandoned.

--

The ring was still sitting on a side table, in Mokuba's bedroom, apparently because no one knew what to with it or thought it mattered much. This was a problem. The spirit couldn't do anything without a host, and now everyone was suspicious, these stupid rich people worried too much and paid too much attention.

He was forced to sit there all night, pondering about how he was going to get out of this mess, when at one or two in the morning he observed Mokuba wake up, and rub his eyes, and hop out of bed. He did not turn the light on, but he did check the time, and reach under his bed to retrieve what appeared to be a small backpack. He took it with him as he moved quietly towards the door, and the spirit saw his chance.

Hey, kid. He was near enough to speak into his head. Maybe this wasn't a dead end.

"You!" Mokuba stopped in his tracks and looked right at the ring.

Yes, me. This could be salvaged, he thought, concocting a plan. This was a child. Play friendly ghost and imaginary friend. Surely it would not be hard to weasel himself into the good graces of a sixth grader.

Mokuba glared at the ring with suspicion. "I don't think Seto believed me when I said you could talk, but I knew it." He picked it up delicately by the string to examine.

Where on earth are you going at this time of night?

Mokuba was the current host, technically, so there was a connection, and 11 year olds are not particularly used to or adept at hiding their own thoughts, especially inside their own heads. The answer, if not in words but in abstract concept, was provided instantly as it bubbled to mind. He was going to the kitchen, as he did once or twice a week, not their personal kitchen but the house staff kitchen, where he would move a chair to stand on the counter to reach the very back of the highest shelf of the third cupboard to the left, which was where one of the cleaning staff kept a pile of chocolate so he could cheat on his diet without his wife knowing, a fact Mokuba knew through surreptitious eavesdropping. Mokuba's end was to steal just enough of it that he wouldn't be noticed, and add it to a stash of snacks and other shiny trinkets currently hidden in the bottom of a pile of legos in his closet.

...You steal food to hide in your closet? Why would a child who lived in a three-story mansion need to steal?

Mokuba was only mildly perturbed by the fact that someone had just read his mind. He was mainly curious, now. "Our dad didn't like junk food, so I always took stuff to keep around." he explained, "I guess I don't really have to anymore, 'cuz Seto will let me have whatever I want, but--" he faltered, unable to finish or give a reason.

There wasn't a reason, and Mokuba knew that. There was no need to sneak or stash or steal anymore, but he kept doing it, irrationally, for reasons that confused him, a complicated swirl of things a child could not name or understand but were very easy for the spirit to read. Fear; compulsion; habit; the illusion of safety; the sense that your life was precarious, unstable; a need to exert control over your surroundings. It was not the food or the stealing that mattered, but of the hiding, of having something they could not take away from him.

Mokuba didn't understand any of that, because he was 11 and 11 year olds don't understand why they do anything. He just knew he liked sweets and hated people telling him what to do and that having bags of chips and other people’s lost jewelry at the bottom of an old toybox made him feel better.

Can I come with you?

"No! You tried to take control of me!"

Yes, but you kicked me out, and you'd probably be able to do it again, so I would be stupid to try. I also like chocolate, you see, and it's very boring to be stuck here on your desk.

"Can you even eat? You're a necklace."

I can when I borrow a body.

"You tried to take over me so you could eat chocolate? I'm not stupid enough to believe that."

That and other things. I can't do very much at all, while stuck in the ring. No food, no sunshine, no running around. It's no fun to be without a body, which is why I am occasionally driven to steal one. Terribly sorry about that. he added, in his most pathetic-sounding tone, Please? I don't have anyone else to talk to.

Mokuba was hesitant, but clearly found the fact of his existence too interesting to ignore. "Fine." He picked up the ring and dropped it unceremoniously into his backpack, which had a dragon on it.

Not trust yet, but tolerance and curiosity. One step at a time.

You shouldn't go barefoot, you know. Socks will be quieter if you're trying not to get caught.

"I didn't ask you."

So Mokuba descended down the stairwell, in the dead quiet and dark of the Kaiba Mansion, with no flashlight because he knew it well enough to navigate blindfolded. The place was decadent in the ugly way rich people's houses were, luxury but without taste, soft carpets and gilded banisters.

Mokuba had not quite realized yet how to think at the ring, so he spoke in a low whisper. "What are you, anyway?"

A ghost. So much more complicated than that, but simple words were suitable for children.

"How'd you end up a ghost in a necklace?"

I died, and then someone put me in a necklace.

"That's not an answer." he followed up, "Do all dead people become ghosts?"

No. Just sometimes, maybe, if the way they died was especially violent or gruesome or terrible.

Mokuba frowned. He had caught on remarkably quickly to guarding his own head, but the spirit could tell he didn't like this answer.

This was delicate, but he risked a push. Was there someone you had in mind?

Mokuba said nothing. He reached the staff kitchen on the lowest floor, and opened the door, slow and careful. He was deciding whether to say anything, as he climbed up as quietly as he could and reached far into the back of the cupboard, scrabbling.

"Our dad killed himself last year. Jumped out a window." He finally said, hopping down with his spoils. He said this the same way one might dolefully report the milk had gone bad. Unfortunate but boring.

You don't sound very sad.

"Nah, he sucked. And he never liked me." he said, "Seto was really really upset though. He was pretending not to be, but I could tell." Now there were feelings there, big and weird and sad and clinging ones. For reasons the spirit could not discern, the simple phrase ‘Seto was upset’ carried with it more weight, a thousand million times more weight, than news of a father's tragic death by defenestration. "I hope he's not a ghost. I don't wanna see him again."

Probably not.

Mokuba sat down cross-legged on the kitchen floor, unwrapped candy in silver foil. "You really can't do anything from in the necklace? Like, ghost stuff? Make things float or anything?"

No. It is a bit like being trapped in a very small box.

Mokuba mulled this over for a little while. "If you wanted to borrow a body to do fun stuff, you could have just asked."

Really?

He nodded. "Not being able to eat chocolate sounds lame. It'd be mean to just leave you like that." He put one chocolate into his mouth and dumped the rest in the backpack, where they covered the ring unceremoniously. More indignities. "Not in front of my brother, though. And you have to give it back whenever I say so."

...I could agree to such a compromise. Your candy haul is impressive, by the way.

"Thanks!" He grinned, emanating genuine pride. No one had ever complimented him for stealing before.

Tragic, the work of great thieves. How the very best of it can never be bragged about, the most impressive of skills gone unnoticed by nature, how the very success of a perfect crime relies on keeping your mouth shut about it. An unappreciated art, where even mastery gains you no respect.

You don't care that this poor man has to go out and buy twice as much food to make up for what you steal?

"No, he's a jerk. One time when I was six they confiscated my gameboy, so I went to steal it back and he caught me and told my dad and I got in huge trouble. So every day for a week I snuck down here and moved his keys to a different place so he couldn't find them. They were all so mad at him for losing them all the time, and he thought he was crazy."

Why was your gameboy confiscated?

"Don't remember. I think I bit someone at school." he shrugged, "They probably deserved it, though."

Mokuba Kaiba. he said, I think you and I are going to be excellent friends.

"Okay. Do ghosts watch cartoons?"

[staticscreenwriting]

LOVE LIKE THE MOVIES // BUCKY BARNES

TWO - Grease 1 & 2

Masterlist 

Summary: This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Bucky Barnes, finds himself thrown into a world that seems so different from everything he’s ever known. The girl, (Y/N) knows entirely too much about rom-coms and is quite particular about the way she eats her popcorn. Bucky meets (Y/N) a few months after returning to NYC. He knows almost immediately that becoming her friend is inevitable. This is a story of boy meets girl. This is a story about love. (Bucky Barnes x female!Reader // a few spoilers for TFATWS)

[additional note: I am German. Sometimes I get the tense wrong or make mistakes. I am useless when it comes to punctuation. Go easy on me, please.]

“  I made a friend. “

Dr. Raynor doesn’t look up from her notebook but the slightly surprised raise of her eyebrow doesn’t get lost on Bucky.

“ Thought you might want to know. “

She stops writing for a second and glances up at him, her eyes holding a certain sense of hesitation and reluctance. He can almost see the gears in her head turning. She’s trying to get one step ahead of him, figure out what smartass comment he’ll throw at her. Only this time there isn’t one. This time it’s all genuine. It’s all true.

“ I do. That’s — good. Where’s the catch? “

“ There’s no catch. I made a new friend, just like that. And it’s not some making amends thing either. “

She closes her notebook, places it on the table to her right, and then folds her hands in her lap the way she does sometimes when Bucky knows he’s said something important. He has her entire and undivided attention.

“ That’s good, James. Tell me more about this friend. “

“ Her name is (Y/N). She’s a waitress and she’s really into movies. “

“ Oh. “

“ Oh? “

“ It’s a woman. “

“ Yeah it’s a woman, is that a problem? “ Bucky asks. Now it’s time for him to raise an eyebrow in question.

“ No. It’s not. I just didn’t expect it. “

“ Are you saying men and women can’t be friends? That’s awfully antiquated thinking, Doc. Have you ever seen when Harry met Sally? “

“ I have. Have you?”

Bucky scoffs as if the question is an insult to his intelligence.

“ Sure. It’s a classic. “

He hits her with a sarcastic grin, the one he knows she hates. The one she knows is fake and fabricated but that allows him to be unreadable to her for just a second.

“ Well then. I’m glad you’re making friends. It’s a big step, James. But I don’t want you to get attached to someone because you think that’s gonna make you get out of this arrangement any sooner, “ she says and motions her finger around the room in a twirling motion. “ It’s a more permanent situation. I hope you are aware of that.”

Eyes averted to the floor, Bucky nods his head in understanding.

“ I know. That’s not the reason. I — she knows me. Knows about me before all of the bad stuff. In her eyes, I am the man I used to be before Hydra. It’s nice to go back to that even if it’s not the truth. (Y/N) gives me a chance to figure out who I am right now without being reminded of all the bad things I did. “

When he looks back up Dr. Reynor regards him with a look he’s never seen before. Softer. She even smiles a little bit and he hardly ever sees her smile. Granted, he doesn't make these sessions easy for her so what does he expect really? Her smiling at him feels like he’s doing something right.

“ She sounds lovely. “

“ She talks so much and she sends me weird videos I don’t understand. Like, yesterday she sent me one of a kid saying he’s 19 and he can’t read and — I have no idea what it meant. And she makes fun of me for having a flip phone. But it’s not mean-spirited or anything. She doesn’t make me feel left out. Doesn’t make me feel stupid. “

“ Anything else you know about her? “

“ Her coffee tastes horrible. “

Dr. Reynor lets out an airy chuckle. “ James, I like the fact that you’re making friends. We all need friends, especially during times when we feel like we’re lost or have no direction in life. And it sounds like this friendship is good for you. “

“ But? “

“ Why do you think there’s a but ? “

“ There always is. “

She regards him for a second then nods slightly. “ You’re right. But it’s not a bad one. Listen, it seems like this woman knows a lot about who you used to be. How about you learn a little more about her? Even the playing field. A friendship is based on mutual understanding and trust. That’s my homework for you. Get to know her better. “

“ Your homework is for me to spend time with a friend? “

“ Yes. Now that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? “

Bucky shakes his head in reply.

No, that really doesn’t sound all that bad.

The bell above the door chimes as Bucky steps inside the diner. It’s quite a bit more crowded than the last time he’s been here.

“ Grumpy!”

His head snaps towards the counter at the enthusiastic exclamation of his new nickname.

  (Y/N) stands behind the counter clad in the diner’s signature baby blue polo shirt, a pencil tugged behind her ears, and a frilly apron wrapped around her waist.

Her lips pull into a smile as he approaches and plops down onto one of the barstools.

“ You have impeccable timing, Grumpy.”

“ I guess that’s gonna stick? “

(Y/N) only nods her head in agreement, eyes full of mischief and determination. There’s no sense in arguing about this topic. That’s one nickname set in stone now. And really, it’s not like it doesn’t fit him.

“ I have something for you. “

“ You do? “

“ Well it’s not technically for you specifically but I need someone to try it so — “

Before he can even react she rushes back into the kitchen, her sneakers creating squeaking sounds on the shiny linoleum floor.

“ Do you want some coffee? “ the other waitress approaches, holding out the pot filled with the dark brew. It smells warm and delicious and Bucky wants to say yes until he remembers the last time he’s had coffee here and how bitter and burned it had been. And how he drank it anyway because he couldn’t bear to let (Y/N) know that her coffee was horrible.

“ Don’t worry, “ the waitress speaks up again, obviously picking up on Bucky’s complicated feelings towards the diner’s coffee “ I made it. Won’t let her near the pot when I’m around.”

“ In that case, please. “

Just as the mug fills with coffee, (Y/N) comes back tumbling around the corner and out of the kitchen. She leans against the counter, next to the red-haired waitress, and plops a Tupperware container in front of Bucky.

“ Try these and tell me what you think. “

Bucky takes a sip of his coffee before slowly opening the container to be greeted by a pile of cookies, of all shapes and sizes, no two quite the same.

“ Cookies? “

“ Eat one! “

“ Whoa, hold up.” Bucky exclaims as he raises his hands in mock defense. “ this sounds awfully suspicious to me. Are you trying to pull a Snow White on me here? “

(Y/N) eyes grow big and the most radiant smile spreads across her face at his words.

“ You made a pop culture reference!”

“ Saw it in the cinema. “

“ No way.”

“ Mmmh. With my sister.”

“ I just decided I love it when you make pop culture references. “

“ Noted.”

“ Okay, so since no one thinks it’s important to introduce me, let me do it myself,” the red-haired waitress chimes in and holds out her hand for Bucky to shake. He can see her eyebrows furrow a little as she notices his gloves. It’s not yet cold enough for people to not wonder about it. They know something ain’t right with him and he hates it. Wishes they’d just disregard it. Act like it’s a completely normal and feasible thing.

“ I’m Robin, (Y/N)’s best friend. “

“ I’m Bucky. Hopefully, not the first victim of (Y/N)’s poisoning.”

“ Oh, how arrogant of you to assume you’d be the first. If you don’t want my cookies, give ‘em back !”

(Y/N) tries to reach across the counter only for Bucky to snatch the container away holding it out of her reach. “ You gave me the cookies, you can’t take them back. That’s not how gifts work.”

“ Then try one for god’s sake! “

“ Alright, calm down. I will. “

He hates the fact that both (Y/N) and Robin are staring at him as he takes a bite of one of the cookies. The whole thing is almost the size of his face and littered with chocolate chips. It’s a damn mess of a cookie and he’d loved to have been there when she made them. No doubt it was chaos. No doubt it was an awful lot of fun too.

The cookie is — a lot. It’s too much sugar, too much chocolate. Too much of everything. He can practically feel the cavities building with every bite he takes. It’s that sweet.

But she looks at him with such glee in her eyes and this big beautiful smile that rivals the sun with its brightness and there’s no way in hell he can tell her the truth. Not when lying about it keeps that smile on her face.

Quite honestly,  Bucky thinks, life isn’t about telling the truth at all times. Sometimes, life is about knowing when to use your little white lies. Sometimes telling the truth isn’t doing anyone any favor.

“ So ? “

“ They’re — sweet.”

And they are. So really, it isn’t even an actual lie after all.

“ Good. They’re supposed to be. You see, I have a date tomorrow and I asked him what his favorite dessert was and he said cookies. I’m not sure they count as a dessert but anyway. Thanks for being my guinea pig. “

Robin throws him a look over (Y/N)’s shoulder. A look that lets him know she’s not buying it. She’s looking right through him. But she smiles so maybe she too realizes that sometimes lying saves everyone the heartache that may come with the truth.

“ You have a date? “

“ I do. His name is Russell, we’ve been hanging out for a while but he had to go to Europe for work and we haven’t seen each other in a few months. It was never anything serious, kind of a wrong place, wrong time thing. But maybe this time it works. “

“ Oh please, “ Robin exclaims, furiously slamming the pot back into the coffee machine. “ This loser has been stringing you along for far too long now. He’s not worth it. Trust me you can do so much better than him. “

There’s something about the way (Y/N) mood changes, the way she falters, that Bucky doesn’t like. Not even a tiny little bit. It’s a split second, just the whisper of a moment and then she’s back to her joking, bubbly self. But that tiny second is enough. Enough for Bucky to know he never wants to see it again. The doubt and hurt fluttering across her eyes. He’s seen too much hurt in too many eyes. It’s never getting any easier. It just makes him realize how much he hates seeing it in hers.

“ Ignore the crazy lady, he’s not that bad.” (Y/N) tries to reason, though the light and airy tone in her voice doesn’t sound quite as convincing as it usually does.

“ He refuses to put a label on your relationship and he treats you like you’re disposable. “

“ Sounds like a catch, is this the one with the fish picture or the one with the star wars facts? “ Bucky asks, biting off yet another piece of the tooth-achingly sweet cookie.

“ Neither. We met while walking our dogs. He’s nice, really. “

“ Sounds like it. “

“ He is. Robin over there just thinks she’s the expert on romance because she’s about to get married. Don’t believe a thing she says. Her own fairytale romance makes her blind to other people’s romantic struggles. “

Robin shakes her head in disagreement, making her red curls bounce with each motion. “ You’re a big girl, you know what you’re doing. I’m just calling things as I see them. Anyway, I gotta serve table 4.”

Silence falls upon them as Robin leaves to tend to the customers and (Y/N) averts her eyes back towards the countertop.

“ Hey, “ Bucky speaks up, getting (Y/N) to look up and meet his eyes. “ I hope the date turns out well for you, you deserve that. And if it doesn’t, just text me and we can watch another movie or something. “

“ You’d do that for me? “

“ Yeah. Sure. It’s what friends do. We’re friends now — right ? “

(Y/N) smiles “ right!”

And it’s nice, Bucky thinks, to have a friend again. Even though it’s all new and fresh, it feels wonderful. Like a tiny bit of weight has been taken from his shoulders. Like he can take a breath for the first time in a long time.

Joe’s Pizzaria is an American restaurant that tries desperately to trick Americans into thinking it’s an authentic Italian restaurant.

And while it does have a certain undeniable charm, (Y/N) gets a bit tired of chomping down on yet another breadstick while staring at the red and white checkered tablecloth and pretending not to grasp the gravity of the situation. He’s not gonna come. He’s two hours late. Two whole hours. Half a bottle of wine and one salad late. The waiters pity her, it’s painfully obvious. The way they keep checking on her, keep asking if there’s anything they can bring her. Keep filling her breadstick with no upcharge.

Pity, (Y/N) thinks, is her least favorite emotion. It doesn’t do anyone any good and in the end, everyone just feels worse.

A "ping" coming from her phone pulls (Y/N) from her thoughts and for a teeny-tiny second a flicker of hope sparks in her heart that maybe Russell is just late and this is him apologizing and explaining. Maybe she was worth it to him after all.

Then her eyes register the name on the screen and disappointment fills her veins. Does he really not care? Does she really mean so little to him, he doesn't even feel the need to cancel the date? Is this some sick joke?

Bucky's message reads: Hope you're having fun. Did he like the cookies?

It's a weird feeling, to know someone she hasn't known for very long wastes even the smallest thought on her while her date doesn't give a shit. All it does is set into perspective that her blossoming friendship with Bucky is worth any effort it might take.

"Don't ask. Hey, what are you doing right now?"

"Oh, that bad? Not much. Trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Why?"

"How do you feel about spaghetti and meatballs?"

He doesn’t have a couch.

That’s the one thought that spooks around his head as soon as he realizes what he’s just agreed to.

He’s been living here for months and he doesn’t even have a fucking couch.

When (Y/N) asked if she could come around, when she said she’d bring food and asked if her dog could come, he couldn’t say no. Not when she's already been stood up that night. Nevertheless, everything inside him starts twisting up in knots at the thought of opening his home to another person. Home. That’s really the problem now that he thinks about it. This place doesn’t feel like a home. It’s 4 walls and a roof. Nothing has felt like home in a long time.

He invited her over and he doesn’t even have a fucking couch.

There’s a TV and an armchair, a few cupboards, a chair, and a bed he doesn’t sleep in. Sometimes he thinks back to his childhood home, with all his mother's porcelain figurines collecting dust on the shelves and the wall of family pictures. It felt warm and cozy and like it was meant for people to live and learn and grow. It was their own.

This apartment is a box for him to stay at. Nothing here is in any way personal. But how do you make something your own when you don’t even know who you really are? When all you remember are times long gone or times you want to forget.

He snatches the sheets and pillow off the floor and throws them on his bed. He might not be able to get any more furniture in time for (Y/N) to arrive but he sure as hell doesn’t need to let her know that his nightmares don’t allow him to sleep in his own damn bed.

A knock sounds from the front door and for a second, Bucky’s blood turns cold as ice. No one ever talks about how scary it is to let people in. Would it matter to her and their friendship that his apartment is just as empty as he feels inside?

As soon as he opens the door, a fluffy bundle of white and brown fur rushes past him and runs a lap around his living room before settling by his feet, tail wagging and tongue hanging from his mouth.

“ Oh god, sorry. She’s just so excited to meet new people. “

Giving the dog a few pets, Bucky turns back to (Y/N), who gives him one of her signature sunshine smiles as she holds out a paper bag to him. The smell of delicious food reaches Bucky’s nose as he takes the bag from her and ushers her inside.

“ So, Spaghetti? “

“ Yup. And meatballs. “

Bucky nods his head in approval, “ Sounds good to me. “

She smiles at him again but there’s a kind of sadness surrounding her that he wishes he could take away. Whoever that Russell guy is, he’s a damn fool for not showing up.

“ Food’s still warm so if you tell me where your plates are … “ (Y/N) trails off as she really takes in the state of his apartment for the first time since she’s stepped inside. He can basically see the thoughts running through her head, one after the other, none sticking around long enough to form a coherent string of words to express what she’s thinking. He knows she wants to comment, can see it in her eyes. But something is holding her back and he can’t blame her. Their friendship isn’t that deep yet. You don’t ask someone you’ve just gotten friendly with why their apartment is so fucking empty. It’s sad and there are implications there that run deeper than one can see.

So to spare her any more awkward silence, Bucky speaks up again.

“ I uh — I just moved in. Haven’t gotten around to getting much furniture. We can sit by the kitchen counter or you can take the armchair and I’ll take the floor. “

“ That’s fine, we’ll make it work, “ she replies, before turning towards the kitchen cupboards, “ now … plates ?”

“ This is delicious “ Bucky exclaims as he stuffs yet another fork of Spaghetti into his mouth.

Lady, (Y/N)'s Cocker Spaniel, casually lounges on his armchair, eyes always trained on the dishes of pasta, while Bucky and (Y/N) sit on the floor, backs against the wall.

“ Right? I love Meatballs. Last time I was at Joe’s Pizzeria, I was there with Russell and he got real pretentious about not ordering Spaghetti and Meatballs from an Italian restaurant because it wasn’t authentic Italian cuisine. As if I care. It tastes good, that’s all that matters.”

“ Well, he really does sound better with every new thing you tell me about him.”

(Y/N) shrugs and avoids eye contact with him. It’s strange, Bucky thinks, to see her this way. All of her bubbly personality and contagious energy are suddenly drained from her. Like someone squeezed her too tightly and pushed all the joy out.

“ Yeah he’s an asshole, I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess whatever we had going on just felt familiar and sometimes going back to something you know, even though it’s bad for you, is easier than opening yourself to something new. “

“ Wow, my therapist would love you. That sounded so smart.”

“ It did, didn’t it?,” (Y/N) says and lets out a little chuckle. It’s nice to hear her laugh even though it doesn’t hold the radiance, the pure happiness it usually does.

“She gave me some homework.”

(Y/N) looks at Bucky between bites, raising an eyebrow in intrigue. “ She did? “

“ Mmmh. I told her about you and our friendship and she thought that, because you know a lot about me, I should learn some things about you. “

(Y/N) quickly swallows the pasta before placing both her hands over her heart and staring at Bucky with an expression he can’t entirely read. There’s a glimmer of mischief in her eyes but there’s more, he just needs to figure out what exactly it is.

“ You talk to your therapist about me? Awww. That’s how you know a friendship is worthwhile. When they mention you to their therapist, that’s when you know it’s real. “

“ Aw man, now you’re just making fun of me. I take it all back. “

“ No! No, Bucky. I think that’s very sweet and it makes me feel important,” there’s a sincerity in her eyes that makes him feel a little weird. Not a bad weird. Just — different. He didn’t think this was gonna be such a big deal to her. And while he still feels extremely self-conscious about it all, he’s a little glad that he mentioned her to Dr. Reynor. Maybe it would do both of them some good, him and (Y/N).

“ It’s nice that our new friendship matters enough for you to mention it to her. Getting stood up by Russell felt like a punch in the guts. It made me feel incredibly inadequate and like I wasn’t worth enough for him to text me let alone show up. Knowing that there’s someone who thinks about me every once in a while, that’s a nice feeling. Least my friends think I’m worth it. "

Hearing those words fall from her lips sends a wave of anger and disbelief through Bucky. (Y/N) is the first person in a long while that makes him feel like he can figure out who he is and who he was and not feel guilty about it. To think she feels inadequate or like she's not good enough is just unbelievable to him.

"Just forget about that guy, he's clearly an idiot. You deserve someone who shows up. When it matters and even when it doesn't. "

"He didn't even get to try my cookies. I worked so hard on them."

"What? Oh my god, okay see - he's a damn fool. Those cookies were - so sweet. His loss, really."

(Y/N)'s laughter echoes through the halls of his empty apartment and Bucky thinks that maybe that was one of the things missing from this place to really make it a home. Emotions. Laughter and joy. Something other than fear and regret. Something other than pain.

“ Bucky, you’re so nice but you don’t have to lie. I know the cookies weren’t all that great. “

“ No! They were good, they were just — very sweet. And you know what? You deserve a guy who eats them anyway.”

She doesn’t give him a reply to that comment and maybe it doesn’t ask for one either. Some statements don’t need answers, they just are.

“ Hey, do you want my last meatball? “ he asks, and at her smile and enthusiastic nod, he rolls it from his plate onto hers.

“ Now what movie did you bring? “

“ Oh boy, “ (Y/N) proclaims and looks at Bucky with an unwavering excitement “ you’re in for a wild ride. Tonight we’re doing a double feature.”

“ Bringing the big guns, huh? “

“ You have no idea. Tonight we’re watching Grease 1 and 2. “

Two couples stare back at Bucky from the bubblegum-colored DVD case (Y/N) pulls from her purse. Something about the bright colors and the over-the-top hairstyles makes Bucky think that these movies won’t be the absolute pinnacle of sophisticated filmmaking.

“ What’s the lesson this time?“

“ Eh, “ (Y/N) says and shrugs “ when I was younger I thought it was meant to teach you that if you want to be with someone you can overcome any obstacle. No matter how different you seem or what other people might think. Now that I’m an adult I think it’s just about the 50s aesthetic and the killer musical number. “

“ Musical numbers? “

“ Mmmh. And well, the second one is pure garbage but it’s so bad it’s good. It also helps that Michelle Pfeiffer and Maxwell Caulfield look absolutely gorgeous in this film. “

“ So this isn’t gonna help me with my romance skills then? “

(Y/N) regards him for a second, purses her lips, and taps the side of her face as she thinks about her answer. “ I mean, the second movie is basically about how cool men who ride motorcycles are. Do you ride a motorcycle? “

“ I do actually. “

“ What? Oh, you just got 10 times cooler. One could say you’re a — cool rider.”

Bucky furrows his eyebrow in confusion.

“ Don’t worry, Grumpy. You’ll get the reference later.”

“ If I’m Grumpy, which of the 7 dwarves are you? “

“ Sleepy? “

“ Dopey? “

“ No. How about Happy ?”

It’s meant to be silly, just a joke really, but Bucky can’t help but think that it fits her. Even when she’s sad, there’s an infinite positivity in her eyes, an aura of joy and happiness and being around her is just so easy.

“ You know what? I think that’s the one. “

“ I like it. Now — let me introduce you to the students of Rydell High.”

“ What in the world did you just make me watch? “ Bucky asks as the end credits to Grease 2 roll across the tv screen. Lady is snuggled up in his lap and his right hand lazily combs through her soft fur.

“ Two absolute masterpieces. “

“ In the first one they flew away in a car. And that second one, I don’t even know what to say.”

“ Because it was so good? “

“ Mmmmh no. That's not why. “

"Oh please, you can admit you l-" a big yawn interrupts her words and Bucky notices just how tired she looks right then.

"You're tired." It's not a question, more an observation.

"Mmmh Lady and I should probably head out."

He doesn't want her to leave. Disappointment, it's a feeling he knows very well, it's familiar and almost comfortable. Usually, though, that disappointment is directed towards himself. A lovely dose of self-deprecation. This time it's different. This time he's disappointed about the situation. About the prospect of being alone again. Alone in his empty box of an apartment.

The anxiety of letting someone in is slowly being overshadowed by his fear of being alone again. With his thoughts and his failures and the images of all the faces that have ever looked at him in fear.

"You can stay"

"Bucky … you don't have a couch. Where would I sleep?"

"Bed," he says as if it's the most obvious of all answers ever given.

"Grumpy, I'm not taking your bed."

"I'm not sleeping there anyway."

"Why?"

Her eyes are so soft and gentle as the question tumbles from her lips. So full of concern. For him. Concern and care, for him. It's not like he deserves it but it's a nice feeling either way.

"It's too soft."

It's painfully obvious that she knows there's more to it, that his words hold more gravity and weight than just that simple fact.

She doesn’t push it though and for that Bucky is eternally grateful. Sure, talking to her is easy and it helps him in some way or another. But this, his nightmares and his trauma and the faces that won't leave his thoughts, that haunt him as soon as he falls asleep, that's a can of worms he's not ready to open yet.

"Where do you sleep?"

"Floor."

"Oh, Grumpy. Hey uh - how about we both stay on the floor? You're in luck too because I also have a live version of Grease the musical we can watch."

He doesn't necessarily want to watch another movie where they sing pretty much every two minutes but if it means she'll stay, he'll do it. 

" Okay then."

"Okay."

That night, Bucky sleeps on the floor just like he does every night only this time there's a friend with him just a few meters away , close enough but not suffocating, and a dog resting on his chest, softly breathing gentle breaths.

That night Bucky sleeps on the floor just like he does every night only this night, there are no nightmares.

Taglist // If you want to be added or taken off just message me //:

@zaynzierulez - @je-like-you - @dracoxxyoflam​ - @jackiehollanderr​ - @majo240820 - @kay-gilles - @booksb4looksstuff - @jckie94 - 

[bisluthq]

hi nat! i know you don’t believe in kaylor anymore, but i wanted to send in my kaylor/joshlie theory, just as food for thought and fun speculation.

CW: ED

background:

back in 2017, i made a new friend. i quickly became kinda obsessed with her. i idolized how tall and skinny she was, her radiant sunshine-like presence, and the way she was so much cooler than me. something about her just drew me in like a magnet.

one day she told me that she was “bi-curious,” and i felt the unexplainable urge to tell her that i was queer too—so i did.

thus started our intense homoerotic friendship. we talked about everything, and she was rather touchy and flirty with me (we even hooked up a few times). but she was hung up on this dude who she’d been in a long-term off-and-on relationship with. looking back, i think she saw me as a willing participant in her experimentation phase—a source of casual fun while on a break from her ‘real’ relationship (plus, i came with the added bonus of helping her figure out her sexuality a bit).

meanwhile, i was serious about us because i was in love with her. as such, the relationship was obviously very unhealthy: neither of us had appropriate expectations of the other, and because of the imbalance in our level of commitment/love, she ended up inadvertently taking advantage of my friendship in ways that only increased my obsession with her. naturally, our friendship eventually imploded.

i think the kaylor story may look similar.

my theory on kaylor:

i think that kaylor had a very similar friendship as me and my friend. their connection obviously started out as pr, but they ended up getting along well and bonded. thus started their genuine friendship.

i think that their eating disorders were likely a strong source of bonding/connection for them, as this was the case for me and my friend as well. i wanted to emulate how skinny my friend was, just how i think taylor wanted to emulate how skinny karlie was. (remember the vogue best best friends video, in which taylor complemented karlie’s “shiny abs.”) this is obviously an unhealthy place to start a friendship: from day one, you are on uneven ground, where one person is essentially worshipping the other and seeing them as a god-like figure to emulate.

imagine that taylor in that sort of mindset with karlie. and on top of that, she’s attracted to karlie—obsessed with her skinny body, her sunshine-like personality, how sophisticated she is, how effortlessly successful she is, etc. she develops an infatuation with karlie. she wants to take karlie to big sur with her and play 1989 on the way, and she’s so obsessed with karlie that she wants to tell her the truth about the 1989 muse. (trust me, it’s feasible—i told my friend shit i’d never have even imagined confessing to another human, all because of how infatuated with her i was.) so taylor and karlie sit down, have an intensely emotional conversation about how taylor is bi, how the pressures of staying closeted gut her every day, how her relationship with the 1989 muse dianna was so full of strife due to closeting, etc. /// or maybe taylor feels that she must disclose her bisexuality to karlie before the big sur trip. she’s terrified that if she doesn’t tell karlie she’s bi, then karlie will somehow find out. and taylor’s afraid that then, karlie will be creeped out that a ~predatory lesbian~ invited her on a three-month sleepover, leading to the demise of their friendship. so taylor must avoid that outcome – so she must come out to karlie.

so, for either reason i described, taylor comes out to karlie. considering how scared taylor is to come out to karlie (since it might ruin their friendship, or karlie might maliciously out her to others now that she knows, etc.) and considering how generally poor taylor’s mental health was at the time, the coming out inevitably evolves into an intensely emotional conversation about taylor’s fears, insecurities, the pressures of being a closeted mega-celebrity, etc. perhaps karlie feels compelled to match the level of emotion and vulnerability, motivating her to tell taylor “i’m questioning if i might be a little bi too.” or perhaps taylor’s level of earnestness and rawness stirs up the illusion of intense emotions inside of karlie. so, karlie “comes out” to taylor – confessing that she’s questioning/bi-curious (for context, i think karlie is kinsey 1). /// (to show the validity of this possibility – this is how evangelical churches, such as the one shown in the 2006 documentary “jesus camp”, are able to convince children that they’re being overcome by the holy spirit, being prompted by god to break down in tears, etc. – psychologically speaking, when people are put into highly intense emotional situations, [such as taylor breaking down while coming out to karlie], their brains will feel inadvertent pressure to match the level of emotion. as such, their brains will either exacerbate existing relevant emotions, or create the illusion of relevant strong emotions. [this is probably especially true for karlie, since she is an empath and a people pleaser.]).

thus starts the “friends with occasional benefits” stage. karlie views the relationship as something casual, something that gal pals do sometimes, something fun to experiment with while she and josh are on a break, and maybe with the added bonus of helping her figure out if she’s actually a little bit queer.

but taylor falls hard. as i already said, i think taylor was infatuated with karlie’s personality, success, and skinniness. that’s why taylor is willing to engage in such an unhealthy and un-reciprocal relationship: she’s willing to tolerate josh’s presence, because her brain is so fixated on karlie that she’s willing to endure anything for her. taylor may even recognize that kaylor is doomed, but she’s so in love/obsessed that she can’t bring herself to care about anything other than the utter infatuation she feels in this present moment. (this was true of me and my friend – my friend would literally vent to me about her long-term on-again-off-again boyfriend, and i was willing to endure it because of how obsessed with her i was.) or maybe taylor’s somewhat in denial about josh. (this was also true of me and my friend – i had such a hard time conceptualizing that she had feelings for the man that my brain, to some extent, refused to fully grasp the reality of that.) or maybe taylor was even in denial about how intensely she loved karlie, convincing herself that she just really valued her platonic friendship (i also did this – it took me months to admit that i had a crush on my friend and admit that my level of obsession wasn’t normal gal pal behavior – even though i was already out to myself.) also keep in mind the eating disorder dynamic here – taylor looked to karlie as an idol regarding how to eat healthy, exercise, be skinny, and be successful. the mindset of people engaged in eating disorders tends to be obsessive and unhealthy to the extent of being willing to ignore reality / unknowingly refusing to accept reality, possibly including the reality of josh, if taylor feels like her skinniness is dependent on her connection with karlie.

so basically, karlie sees this as a gal pal fling, friends with the occasional casual benefit. taylor, conversely, is infatuated with karlie. one thing that really confirms this for me is kissgate. taylor was liking kaylor shipped tumblr posts shortly before kissgate – she obviously was feeling something for karlie that night. but karlie wasn’t committed to taylor to the same level – yes they (allegedly) made out, but karlie made out with josh immediately afterwards. /// to taylor, kaylor is a ship, an endgame. but to karlie, taylor is just a fun little pit stop, and she’s gonna go make out with her real boyfie immediately after.

eventually, the friendship inevitably implodes, leading to their breakup in 2016. some straw finally breaks the camel’s back on this relationship which was unhealthy and doomed from day 1.

now let’s look at lyrical evidence from repuation that supports my theory.

lyrical evidence from reputation:

ready for it

the bearding anthem. verses “he” are joe, as confirmed by the music video. chorus “you” is her fantasy idealized version of long-term kaylor.

there’s a reason that the “you” relationship (in the chorus) is happening IN HER DREAMS and not in real life – she pines for this committed and serious relationship with karlie, but that’s not reality.

but taylor has hope that it might happen – “i know i’m gonna be with you, so I TAKE MY TIME.” she imagines they’ll be friends-to-lovers, and she’s willing to wait as long as necessary for them to fully reach that lovers stage

this is a stretch, but “thief”/“robber” may refer to how she’s “stealing” karlie from josh lol. “touch me and you’ll never be alone” may also be a cheeky reference how taylor was like a temporary placeholder for josh – when karlie felt alone bc she and josh were on a break, taylor was like “touch me karlie, to keep you occupied while josh has left you alone. and oh yeah, if you end up in a relationship with me, then i promise that you’ll never be alone, bc i will commit to you, unlike that josh boy. i will be so much better than him, if you just let me.”

end game (but only the chorus/verse which taylor wrote)

“i WANNA be your endgame” – taylor is not in a committed relationship with karlie. as karlie sees it, they’re just fooling around. but taylor wants more than that: she wants to be karlie’s endgame.  

“you and me would be a big conversation” bc they’re gay. (sorry joseph matthew alwyn, this line is not about you)

“i don’t wanna touch you …… like the other girls do” may be a reference to how karlie is gal pals with plenty of her female friends (example – her platonic yet very affectionate relationship with toni garrn). but taylor wants more than that – she wants their touches to be romantic rather than just platonic/occasionally casually sexual.

“i don’t wanna hurt you” – taylor fears that she’s bad news for karlie (a sentiment repeated in the first line of delicate, the bridge of i did something bad, etc.). this may be internalized homophobia – the predatory lesbian falls in love with her pure/innocent straight best friend and then corrupts her with homosexuality.

“but i ain’t tryna play” – taylor wants this relationship to be more than just the occasional fun/playful/casual hook up. she wants to be karlie’s end game.

“i hit you like ‘bang’, we tried to forget it, but we just couldn’t” may refer to the first time they hooked up. it was unexpected, just happened so suddenly (“like ‘bang’”). and they were just going to put it past them – sometimes friends hook up, it’s whatever. but taylor can’t move on from it.

“your body is gold” – self-explanatory. karlie is the gold rush girl, after all.

“you’ve been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks” reminds me of how i used to try to communicate my seriousness/love to my friend, but she’d laugh it off and assume i was joking. conversely, perhaps the “trick” is that taylor is pretending that she’s not super invested in karlie—maybe karlie is catching on to the fact that taylor is infatuated with her in a ~gay way~. taylor denies it, but karlie calls her bluff on that statement.

“here’s the truth from my red lips” – but in the music video, her lips aren’t red when she says this line. this may allude to all of the lying involved in her relationship with karlie (such as lying about just how in love with karlie she really was). or taylor may have her lips a different color because the truth has changed from the time she wrote this song to the time she’s filming the video – when she wrote this song, it was true that she wanted to be karlie’s endgame. but by the time rep era is here and they’re filming this video, the kaylor friendship is over, and it is no longer true that taylor wants to be karlie’s endgame.

i did something bad

just like in “ready for it”, i think the verses primarily refer to bearding (or maybe calvin/kimye, idk), but the chorus is about karlie.

“they say did something bad / then why’s it feel so good” – it is bad that she slept with karlie despite the fact that karlie is in a complicated long term relationship with josh. but the sex felt good ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

“and i’d do it over and over and over again / IF I COULD” – this implies that taylor only did ~the bad thing~ a few times, and she was unable to do it more times, even though she wanted to. this lines up with my theory that she and karlie hooked up a few times (casually in karlie’s eyes), but taylor wanted it to be more than just a few times (she wanted to be karlie’s endgame). but they couldn’t get to that committed place of routinely having sex bc karlie was still low key hung up on josh.

this is a very unlikely reach but – “he says ‘don’t throw away a good thing’” – “he” might be josh speaking to karlie about their relationship.

in the bridge, taylor says that she is a witch being unjustly burned. the witch is burned because she is being accused of the sin of dark magic – this parallels josh accusing taylor of being a witch who committed the sin of sleeping with his girlfriend, or maybe even the sin of “corrupting” the pure straight girl karlie. furthermore, the bridge invokes religious imagery of purgatory. and tbh, religious imagery is almost always gay xoxo.

don’t blame me

“don’t blame me, love made me crazy” again implies that taylor has committed a sort of ~crime~, such as the ~crimes~ i just mentioned regarding the don’t blame me bridge.

“my drug is my baby” – the drug reference makes me think of dependency. the obsession and infatuation i experienced with my friend (and that i suspect taylor experienced with karlie) is sort of like a drug dependency – and just like a drug dependency, the need for each other is not reciprocal (the drug does not need you back).

“shaking, pacing, i just need you” implies that taylor does not have “you”, which is consistent with my theory that she wanted kaylor to be endgame whereas karlie was only willing to doing occasional gal pal hook ups.

“for you, i would cross the line” / “they say she’s gone too far this time” – sleeping with josh kushner’s ~innocent straight~ girlfriend certainly crosses a line, lol.

“i would waste my time” – as i mentioned in my ready for it analysis, taylor hopes that kaylor be friends-to-lovers. she’s willing to wait as long as necessary for them to fully reach that lovers stage, even though she recognizes that the relationship is doomed and thus a waste of time.

“my name is whatever you decide” – we don’t have to “girlfriends.” we can just be “friends with benefits” or “gal pals” or whatever name you decide, because i am so desperate to have you at all that i will accept you in any form.

“i’m insane, but i’m your baby” – acknowledging that this unhealthy relationship/infatuation she has with karlie is “insane”

“halo hiding my OBSESSION” – “obsession” (!!!!) (that’s what i’ve been saying kaylor was!!!). also, “halo” is a religious metaphor, and religious metaphors are always gay xoxo. and this is a reach, but as a victoria’s secret angel, karlie wears a halo.

“i once was poison ivy, but now i’m your daisy” – i’m sorry, but i’ll never get over the fact that karlie tagged the daisy as taylor, and then taylor drew a picture of a daisy in an identical position above the word “daisy” in the handwritten lyrics.

“for you, i would fall from grace / just to touch your face” – religious metaphors are gay xoxo!

delicate – unsure if this song is about karlie (i think it’s more likely about lily or even joe), but if it is about karlie, it does align well with my kaylor theory.

“this ain’t for the best” – doomed relationship due to josh, corruption of straight girl, karlie won’t commit, etc.

“we can’t make / any promises” – karlie can’t commit to taylor like taylor wants/needs

“is it cool that i said all that? is it chill that you’re in my head? cuz i know that it’s delicate” – is it cool that i have gay feelings for you, bestie, because i know we’re toeing a very delicate line between friends and lovers?

“third floor on the west side” – iirc, the master bedroom of karlie’s west side apartment was on the third floor

“do the girls back home touch you like i do?” – contrasting platonic girls’ touches to the type of touch taylor is giving her. (similar vibe to “i don’t wanna touch you …… like the other girls do” in end game)

“stay here, honey, I DON’T WANNA SHARE” – i don’t wanna share you with josh

“I PRETEND YOU’RE MINE ALL THE DAMN TIME” – implies that karlie is not hers all the time (because she’s josh’s)

“i like you …… i want you” – taylor is Yearning™ for a deeper/more serious relationship with karlie

look what you made me do

i don’t think this song has much substance, but it may draw on themes/emotions from the kaylor friendship break up.

“i don’t like your games” – i don’t like how you led me on, making me feel like we could be forever when, in reality, you were never going to commit to me because you loved josh

“don’t like your tilted stage” – this reminds me of the power imbalance i mentioned earlier: taylor was obsessed with karlie and idolized her. karlie did not reciprocate this dedication and infatuation. because taylor’s love for karlie is so much more intense than karlie’s love for her, the metaphorical scale is imbalanced, making it tilt.  

“the role you made me play, of the fool” – you made me out to be a fool, ready to confess my undying love even though you could never reciprocate. // furthermore, the “role” may refer to how they had to act like platonic girl squad besties as per their pr arrangement (reminds me of how karlie publicly said “taylor and i are still besties” after karlie’s name wasn’t on the junior jewels shirt in the lwymmd mv, how karlie promo-ed the “Me!” filter on Instagram, the song closure, etc.)

“your perfect crime” – the crime of sleeping with taylor despite being low key still with josh

“i got smarter” – i began to realize how unhealthy this warped and imbalanced friendship was

“you asked me for a place to sleep / locked me out and threw a feast” – this may refer to karlie had a ~designated bestie sleepover room~ in taylor’s house, and that enty blind about how karlie used taylor’s credit card and that caused a feud lol

i do not think that “so it goes” is about karlie – it’s too reciprocal. i don’t think gorgeous is about karlie specifically – maybe lily or just women in general. and i agree with andy’s theory that getaway car is more so an exercise in storytelling than a song that contains substantive clues about her relationships.

king of my heart

we have the photos showing that taylor wrote/recorded this after facetiming with karlie to watch the sunset together. taylor wrote this right after that romantic coded date, presumably during a high point of their friendship/relationship – as such, this song is more idealistic than most other kaylor songs. taylor is hopeful about the future of a committed endgame kaylor. (but, we’ll also see that taylor does still have some insecurities about kaylor.)

“now you try on calling me baby like trying on clothes” – karlie is just “trying on” calling her baby. karlie is new to this whole wlw thing, and she won’t be wearing these metaphorical clothes (a wlw relationship) for long – she’s just trying them on. furthermore, “trying on clothes” may reference how karlie is a model.

“salute to me, i’m your american queen” – i think i remember from my ttb days (derogatory) that there’s a video clip of karlie calling taylor “the perfect all-american girl” whilst doing a salute.

“you move to me like a motown beat” may reference the “motown beats” instagram post where kaylor are putting on lipstick together

the fact that taylor includes the line “all the boys and their expensive cars … never took me quite where you do” may be a sign of taylor’s insecurity. i think this may be a message to karlie – ‘yes, josh is a rich boy with expensive cars, but look, we are so much better than joshlie is.’ calling josh a mere “boy” is also a funny little insult – he’s not a man, he’s just some silly little boy who can’t satisfy you like i can.

“body and soul” – i think it might be significant that taylor specifies body AND soul. they’re already connected by the soul through their close friendship – but now they’re connecting sexually with their bodies as well. conversely, this could reference how they’ve already connected bodily through casual gal pal hook ups, but now taylor believes that they’re starting to connect on that romantic soul level as well.

“school girl crush” gives me such unreciprocated crush vibes. maybe taylor’s crush was unreciprocated for a while, but she has reason to believe that their relationship is growing into ~more than just friends~, as she’s desired

“drinking beer out of plastic cups” – knicks game

“say you fancy me, not fancy stuff” – “fancy” could just be straight-bait to make swiftwyn beards look more convincing, or it could be a re-dedication of the song to joe (just how the bridge of dress re-dedicated that song to joe). (for context, i believe in swiftwyn beards-to-lovers.) but what’s important here is that “fancying stuff” made me think of how, as a model, karlie is like madona’s Material Girl. rich boy josh with his fancy cars can give karlie more “stuff” to satisfy her inner material girl, but taylor wants to show karlie that she can give her deeper fulfillment than that.

“this is enough” – this might be taylor reassuring herself that their relationship, despite being in a weird ~gal pals who hook up occassionally~ is enough. even though they’re not ~girlfriends~, the relationship is enough, because taylor believes that they’re working their way towards that ~body and soul endgame wives~ type of relationship.

“all at once” may refer to a seemingly sudden shift in the nature of their relationship – one day, they’re (infuriatingly) just gal pals who hook up, but all of a sudden, taylor has reason to believe/hope that maybe they’re starting to be more than that, maybe inching their way towards endgame territory.

i do not think that dancing with our hands tied is necessarily about karlie. it seems too reciprocal to be just about her; it might be an amalgamation of many relationships and how she frequently fears being outed.

dress

“a golden tattoo” – drake’s party. also, karlie is gold rush girl

“all of this silence, pining and anticipation / my hands are shaking from holding back from you / all of this silence, pining and desperately waiting” – once again implies that taylor does not have karlie the way she wants her. there’s “pining” because she wants more than karlie can give. and taylor is “desperately waiting” in hopes that maybe one day karlie will reciprocate her love to the full extent that she desires

“i don’t want you like a best friend” – self-explanatory

“carve your name into my bedpost” – taylor is making a request – ‘please commit, please leave a sign that you are committed to me forever, please be my endgame.’ note the dichotomy between this plea for karlie to take the initiative to make the carving, versus the statement in the first verse of how karlie inadvertently left “an indentation in the shape of” her. the indentation was not an act of karlie’s chosen will – taylor just so happened to fall in love with her, and now she’s asking karlie to reciprocate by making that carving.

“inescapable, i’m not even gonna try” – taylor is resigned to the fact that she’s fallen for karlie, even though the relationship might be doomed (as the next line demonstrates)

“if I get burned, at least we were electrified” – taylor is acknowledging that this relationship is low key doomed, and if anyone is going to get hurt, it’ll be taylor. taylor will be the one getting “burned” by the intensity of her infatuation, whereas karlie won’t be burned because she never reciprocated that intense love. /// going back to my commentary on “carve your name into my bedpost” – note how taylor frequently references karlie “claiming” her (with “marks”, “indentations”, “carvings”, and now “burns”), whereas taylor never states that she’s claimed karlie in any way. i think this may reflect taylor’s recognition that she has fallen much harder for karlie than karlie has for her. karlie does not bear marks, indentations, carvings, or burns from their relationship, because she was never as committed as taylor was. but taylor bears all those things because it is she who fell so hard for karlie.  

“you kiss my face and we’re both drunk” reminds me of that trope where the gal pals only make out when they’re drunk because they’re convinced they’re actually straight. maybe karlie is one of those straight girls who only has so much capacity for wlw sex, meaning that it happens more often when she’s drunk than when sober.

i do not think that “this is why we can’t have nice things” is a direct karlie song. it may indirectly reference how karlie “broke” the “nice thing” that was their relationship by refusing to commit, but i don’t think that the song has anything substantive to show us about kaylor.

i’m not sure if i think “call it what you want” is a kaylor song. on some level, “fit like a daydream” does sound like eating disorder taylor idolizing karlie’s body, and it’s interesting to me how the subject of the song expresses virtually no devotion to taylor, whereas taylor spends the whole song telling the subject “call it what you want – call us girlfriends, gal pals, whatever you want as long as i can keep you.” this reminds me a bit of kaylor.

new year’s day

“don’t read the last page” because i know that this book has a sad ending. this relationship is doomed, and it’s going to end poorly. but let’s put that out of our minds – i’m to infatuated with you in this moment to think about how this will inevitably end.

“i stay when you’re lost and i’m scared and you’re turning away” – when karlie is “lost” (leaving taylor to go back to josh) or “turning away” from taylor to go back to josh, taylor stays. she’s scared that she’s going to lose karlie, but she’s still going to stay, because she’s willing to “waste her time” (don’t blame me) waiting for karlie to choose her.

“i stay when it’s hard or it’s wrong or we’re making mistakes” – taylor is willing to stay through the mess of their imbalanced and un-reciprocal relationship even when that inevitably gets hard. their relationship is “wrong” because karlie is josh’s, and maybe kaylor was a mistake because of joshlie, but taylor doesn’t care – she loves karlie too much, so she’s going to stay and wait for karlie to choose her.

“i WANT your midnights” – implying that taylor does not currently have them, because karlie is not reciprocating the level of love taylor is giving and wants in return.

“hold on to the memories” implies that this relationship will be ending soon (because it is doomed), leaving karlie only memories to hold onto.

“i will hold onto you” – this goes back to the theme of taylor’s obsession. karlie is her drug – she’s addicted to her, and she will “waste her time” eternally waiting for karlie to choose her because she’s that obsessed with her.

“please don’t ever become a stranger” – why is taylor worrying about this? because the relationship is doomed, and becoming strangers feels like this horrible yet inevitable ending that will be a part of “the last page”

thanks for reading, and sorry about any typos!

⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

SUBMISSION

I found this as part of my Insta ask era but let’s look over this for thoughts. Haven’t read it yet but I know anon was stressed it got lost (it did because y’all talk too much but also don’t stop I love it).

[phantasticworks]

baby blue and bubblegum pink

hello! this is just a little domestic fic i wrote after hearing the discussion of painting nails that dnp had in the stereo live the other day. enjoy!

When Phil walks into the lounge after a long video editing session, his nose is attacked by a sharp, chemically smell. It takes him a second to place the scent, as it’s been a while since he’s actually smelled it in their flat. He finds Dan on the sofa in the lounge, leaning over and stroking a tiny brush carefully over his toenails with a sparkly black varnish. His eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, and Phil feels a little sympathetic for the way he’s contorted himself to reach his foot, propped on a precarious stack of boxes in front of him.

“How was the zoom call?” Phil asks, settling on the arm of the sofa.

Dan jumps, streaking polish across at least three toes. “Phil!” He screeches.

Phil bites his lip, trying to hide his laugh. “Sorry, babe, I thought you heard me come in.”

“Fuck,” Dan swears as he looks at his foot. “No, sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Phil drops a hand to Dan’s shoulder and kneads gently, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. “Sorry,” he says again.

“‘S fine,” Dan mumbles. “Can you grab me a napkin or something?”

Nodding, Phil disappears into the kitchen, returning a moment later with the requested napkin. “Here,” he says, crouching down and batting Dan’s hand out of the way to wipe away the stray nail polish. “They look good,” he says, voice full of soft admiration.

“Thanks,” Dan says, a proud smile on his face. “I figured, you know... we talked about this on the live so it kinda just got me in the mood.”

“Right,” Phil says, clearing his throat. His eyes keep wandering back to be nail polish though, and he can’t decide if what he’s feeling is just genuine appreciation for how good his boyfriend looks or if it’s something more. “So how’d the zoom thing go with your editor?”

Dan rolls his eyes and huffs, leaning back and capping the polish, evidently finished. “God, it was such a waste of time. He told me I was being too picky about font size. Like, it’s my book! If I want it to be 13 points, then let it be 13 points!” He continues bitching, even as Phil drops to sit cross-legged in front of him, taking one of Dan’s feet in hand and massaging. It takes him a few minutes, but eventually Dan pauses his rant to look down, his toes flexing with the way Phil is digging his thumbs into the arch of his foot. “That feels so fucking good,” he says, almost a moan.

“Yeah?” Phil asks, grinning. He loves this, making Dan feel good. It’s not even about sex, right now. It’s just seeing that he can give his partner this comfort at the end of a long day, and seeing it being so appreciated.

“Yeah, babe,” Dan says, shifting so that he’s more comfortable on the sofa. “Mm, careful with my toes, though, they’re still a bit wet.”

Phil had almost forgotten about that.

Almost.

He drops his gaze to the shiny polish adorning Dan’s toenails, inspecting closely. They’re not perfect, and honestly the ones on his right foot look a little fucked, but it’s still so pretty. Without really making the conscious decision to do so, Phil blows gently on the toes, intending on helping them dry quicker.

“Uh, Phil?” Dan asks, his voice a breath away from laughter. “Alright there, mate?”

Phil looks him, and he knows his face is a little flushed. “I just thought I’d- they’ll dry faster,” he says defensively.

Dan studies him for a moment, his head tilting. “Okay, sure,” he agrees eventually. “Thank you.” He leans down to pet Phil’s hair. It feels weirdly romantic.

With Dan’s permission, Phil continues blowing air at the nail polish, probably long after they’ve actually dried. Dan silently offers his other foot, probably more for the foot massage than the drying system, if Phil had to guess. Still, he spends a few moments blowing on those toenails as well before pressing his thumbs into the arch of the foot, massaging deeply. The groan Dan lets out is near pornographic, and Phil can’t help but snort.

“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much,” he teases.

Dan lifts his head from where he’d dropped it onto the back of the sofa, giving Phil a sleepy grin. “I’m not the one who suddenly got horny for feet, bub.”

Phil splutters. “I’m- I am not horny for your feet,” he squeaks.

Dan lifts a challenging eyebrow, glancing pointedly to where Phil is still rubbing his foot affectionately. “Is that right?” Dan teases.

Sighing in defeat, Phil glances down at Dan’s toes, feeling some of that strange feeling in his gut again. It almost borders on jealousy, in a way. “I just think they look...” He searches for a word, and unable to find it, he leans down, pressing a kiss to the painted nail of Dan’s big toe. “Pretty.”

“Oh,” Dan says. Phil can almost hear the click as he realizes what this is about. Part of him cringes away from that feeling, and he has to force himself to lean into it instead, to remember that this is Dan, who would never judge him for anything. Well, there was that one time with the sushi- but Phil isn’t thinking about that now, because Dan is pulling his feet away and reaching out for Phil. “C’mere,” he says, trying to pull Phil into his lap.

It takes a moment of struggle. Phil’s not as young as he once was, and his knees pop when he tries to stand, and one foot is a little asleep so he all but stumbles onto the sofa. Dan giggles as it happens, and Phil loves that sound more than anything, and he hopes he gets to keep hearing it forever.

Phil being more or less successfully gathered in his lap, Dan wraps his arms around his back and looks up at him with soft, curious eyes. “What’s going on, bub?”

Of course, Phil’s first instinct is to deflect. “Nothing.”

Obviously, Dan knows him better than that. “Well let’s start with the easiest thing,” he says. “Is there a foot fetish you’ve been hiding from me for ten years?”

Phil smacks him, very lightly, on the arm. “Dan!”

Dan grins. “Hey, I’m just asking. They say you can develop new tastes with food, I’m sure you can develop new tastes with sex, too.” He sounds intrigued, rather than like he’s making fun, and there’s a little bit of relief in that.

“It’s not a sex thing,” Phil says, almost apologetic for it. He halfway thinks that Dan was getting a bit horny, for whatever reason.

Dan’s expression doesn’t change. “Okay.” He rubs Phil’s thigh in a soothing sort of way. “Then what is it?” His voice is soft.

Phil turns his head so he can look down at Dan’s feet. It’s not a foot thing, he knows that. If Dan had painted his fingernails, Phil would be fixing his attentive gaze on his hands instead. But as it is, the glittery black polish is gleaming from his toes, and Phil just... wants. He wants something he never has before, never really even considered that he might be allowed to want it for no other reason than to look.

But Dan won’t judge him for this.

So, he takes a breath and turns back to Dan, pushing his curls up off his forehead just to kiss that empty space. “I was wondering if you’d paint my nails for me,” Phil says, forcing a casual tone.

He almost expects Dan to dive deeper into it, to ask questions and dissect the psychology of it like he’s so apt to do, but he doesn’t. He must realize how precarious this all feels to Phil, and instead he just smiles beautifully. “Of course. Let me go get all my polishes and you can pick a color.”

~~~

“Phil! I said one color!” Dan is screeching as Phil lines up a fourth bottle of nail polish.

“I can’t decide!” Phil complains, surveying the collection of two shades of blue, a green that Dan swears is yellow, and a bubblegum pink. He’s about to add another to the pile when Dan snatches it out of his hand.

“Absolutely not, I’m not doing five different colors,” he says, holding the polish out of Phil’s reach. “You can pick two, but I’m not doing five.”

Phil sighs heavily, like this is the hardest choice he’s ever had to make. “Fine. I want to do this one and... this one!” He hands Dan a baby blue and the bubblegum pink, not missing the way Dan gives him a look of mild surprise.

“Sure, bub. I’ll do alternating colors, yeah?”

“Why not just do one hand blue and one pink?” Phil asks, watching as Dan gets everything situated.

Dan snorts. “I don’t think people do that,” he says mildly, placing both of the bottles on the arm of the sofa and putting the others back into the little bag.

“I want to have one blue hand and one pink,” Phil announces. “I don’t care which is which. Oh! I’ll close my eyes so you can surprise me.”

“Sure,” Dan says. “C’mon, get back in the floor so I can see your hands better.”

Phil huffs as he does as he’s told, his knees making a cracking noise as he folds his legs beneath him. “I hope you don’t expect this to have a happy ending,” he says, eyes flicking down to Dan’s crotch rather pointedly.

Dan rolls his eyes. “If I wanted a blowie, I’d just ask,” he says dryly.

“Of course you would,” Phil snorts. He thinks for a moment. “Maybe later, though?” he asks hopefully. It has been a rather long day, and sex is basically a physical form of therapy.

Dan snorts loudly. He props his feet up on Phil’s thighs, dragging Phil’s hands up into his own lap. “Horny rat,” he says affectionately. “Alright, close your eyes so I can disfigure you- I mean paint your nails.”

“Hilarious,” Phil deadpans. He does as he’s told though, closing his eyes and relaxing, allowing his hands to rest in Dan’s gentle grip.

It takes approximately four minutes for Phil to get bored.

“I’m bored,” he complains loudly.

Dan huffs, and his breath fans out across Phil’s face. “I didn’t realize I was meant to be entertaining you while I do this,” he says.

“Well what am I supposed to do?” Phil whines.

“Just sit there and be quiet? I don’t know bub, but I’ve got to focus if you don’t want them to be completely fucked up.”

Phil pouts. “It’s too quiet.”

Dan sighs. “Maybe it would be good for you to have a moment of rest after working all day. Maybe the lack of stimulation would be a good thing, even.”

Phil does actually consider this, but ultimately decides, eh, probably not. “Hey Siri, play Phil’s playlist.”

“Phil,” Dan chastises. He also sounds mildly embarrassed, like he didn’t put the playlist together for Phil. Granted, that was forever ago, at least six or seven years, but still.

“What!” Phil laughs, cracking one eye open. “I’m bored!”

Dan just shakes his head and gives Phil a dirty look. Taking the hint, Phil closes his eyes and listens to the music while Dan takes care of him, the feeling of polish being swiped on his nails an unfamiliar but welcome one.

~~~

“Okay,” Dan says eventually. “All done. You can look.”

Phil had honestly been drifting in and out of sleep a little, so to hear Dan’s voice all of a sudden makes him jump. Dan snorts a laugh at that, but is otherwise silent as Phil opens his eyes and looks down at his fingernails. He’s not sure what he’s expecting, really. It’s not like he’s particularly afraid of this; he’s comfortable enough in his gender and sexual identity to paint his nails, it’s just...

It’s just like being given something he didn’t realize he was allowed to want, not because it had ever been kept from him, but because he’d never been offered it in such a casual way. As a gay man, he’d always felt that embracing this other side of “traditional gender norms” was something that was deeply engrained in you from a young age, a desire that had to mean something for it to be correct. He feels like that might be how it was for Dan, in some ways, but for him... for him this isn’t something he’s hid from himself, or searched for to satisfy some part of him. It was just something fun, something new to try. They don’t look perfect, honestly, and Dan’s right, having each hand have different colored nails doesn’t look right, but even so, Phil likes it.

“You’re making me nervous,” Dan blurts. “Do you hate it? I really tried my best, babe, I-“

“I love it,” Phil interrupts, turning his hands over and looking at the way the pink catches the light.

“Yeah? You do?” Dan sounds positively giddy.

Phil grins up at him. “It’s perfect.”

Dan flushes at the compliment, and Phil thinks that shade of pink is even better than the nail polish. “Well don’t go getting too excited. You’ve got to be careful and let them fully dry for an hour or so because they’re super easy to mess up.”

Phil balks a little at that. “An hour?” he whines. “What am I meant to do for an hour?”

Dan grins mischievously at that, and Phil nearly regrets asking. “Think you can keep your hands to yourself?” When Phil nods, Dan stands up, gesturing to the sofa. “Switch places with me, bub. I can think of a couple ways to waste an hour.”

Phil kisses him quickly on the lips when they’re swapping places, excitement and gratitude all rolled up in the kiss. “Thank you.” He doesn’t just mean for the sexual favor he’s about to receive, and he can tell Dan knows it.

“No problem,” Dan grins. “You can get me back later.”

[merryfortune]

Gachaplum

Written for 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth

Prompt #77 Plum

Ship: Rocksaltshipping | Kureha/Spectre

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Word Count: 2,143

Rating: G

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags: Fluff, Self Indulgen, Inspired by a Tweet

   “Are you enjoying your drink?” Spectre asked conversationally.

   “Yep.” Kureha chirped around her straw.

   The drink in question was a tropical iced tea with strawberry bursties as the bottom. It was sharply sweet, right to the core of her teeth, and that’s exactly how Kureha liked it. However it, in combination with the empty tote bag Spectre was carting around, was a horrible omen to Kureha. Her boba tea had been the only non-necessary treat that Spectre had bought for either of them and clearly he meant for impulse purchases, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought a bag.

   But Kureha, with a little bit of dread and unuttered complaint, supposed that’s the kind of guy Spectre was. He was very mission oriented and put his organisation above himself. Today’s mission was grocery shopping, as mundane as that sounded but since Spectre and the others could be at sea for weeks on end, grocery shopping was huge and important. So, even though Spectre was empty handed right now, he had already spent big at the restaurant they had visited earlier and before that, at the luxury grocery shop they went to where they bought in bulk and would have it delivered to the docks for the Lieutenants to unpack.

   And Kureha had been lucky enough to tag along since this was a somewhat rare opportunity for her and Spectre to hang out in real life. But what was the point of hanging out if they weren’t doing anything special? Kureha agaonised, maybe it was her fault for assuming it would be a date. Then again, they also had a fancy lunch together so maybe it was a date. This was too confusing, Kureha scolded herself. Besides, it's not like she wasn’t enjoying herself. She really was and that was probably the main thing but she wanted Spectre to enjoy himself too.

   They had a delicious lunch at a Thai restaurant that had excellent decor and a wide range of food. They ordered a plate of their favourites each yet somehow ended up sharing their meals and soft drinks anyway. It had been wonderful, even if Kureha got a runny nose afterwards and that was a little bit embarrassing but Spectre didn’t bring it up, thankfully - except to rib her that even how she blew her nose was cute. Then, once they had had their lunch, it was time to get to business and Spectre had a very long shopping list.

   He took her to a grocery shop inside of a mall with a celebrity level atmosphere. It was stocked with items and brands that Kureha had never heard of because they were so, so, so expensive and yet, he handpicked what he needed from them without so much as a blink at the price tag. Though, he did assure her that he and the other Knights had already budgeted to a tee so there was nothing to worry about. He was in and out rather swiftly, hardly looking at all the things that Kureha was certainly dawdling out and once he was done, he had his things whisked off and taken to be shipped off within the hour by truck.

   With the shopping done, they had begun to exit the mall where Kureha had gotten thirsty and she had a keen eye for spotting cute and quirky shops that sold even cuter and quirkier drinks. Spectre had been more than happy to pay for her boba tea, even though she offered and it was very sweet of him but did make Kureha feel a little guilty since, again, that one drink had been the only splurge Spectre had allowed himself and it wasn’t even for him.

   Now they were just sort of wandering along, making light conversation whilst Kureha finished her drink. They were sort of on the look out for a tram line or bus that would put them on a route where Spectre could drop off Kureha close to home and then continue back to the mariner but it was difficult since their homes were such polar opposites to another. Though, given that Kureha wasn’t quite ready to end this not quite and maybe it actually was a date-date, it was something of a blessing in disguise so they got to take in the sights of this precinct.

   There were all sorts of pretty and intriguing buildings, the paths were lovely and well kempt without a nary crack or dip. The road was fairly busy with cars, taxis, and buses but it was the sidewalks which were busier with people coming to and fro. It was almost overwhelming with all the interesting things to see and do but even so, Kureha kept her eyes peeled for something - anything - that might just serve to prolong the inevitable and then she saw it: a bookshop.

   Out of nowhere, to Spectre at least, Kureha grabbed his arm and tugged on it. He pulled back and twisted round to scold Kureha, a scowl on his face but Kureha was already prepared with the best puppy dog eyes she could plead with.

   “I want to check out that bookshop, please.” she begged.

   Spectre’s scowl softed, “That sounds fine.”

   “Yay.” Kureha smiled.

   Kureha pointed out the bookshop that she had spotted and Spectre escorted her there. Although, once inside the pristinely white doors, they sort of split off. Not that Kureha minded, that was sort of her plan. Spectre was a bookworm, albeit an incredibly fussy one, so maybe he would find something in here to read and even buy for himself whilst Kureha was mostly killing time. Mainly by trying to covertly stalk Spectre from the manga section whilst he investigated the language arts section a few rows of books over.

   She held her breath, whilst trying her best not to get distracted by the latest volumes of a few series of manga that she had been keeping up with, as Spectre pulled out various books… only to all but immediately put them back once he was done looking at their backs. It was a little bit disappointing. Kureha sighed and her eyes downcast to a shiny new volume of her favourite manga but if Spectre refused to buy things for himself, so would she so she scuttled in closer to Spectre again across the floor of the bookshelf.

   “See anything interesting?” Kureha asked.

   “I’m considering learning French or Spanish as a hobby but I’m not sure which would best extend my current literacy skills so I think I’ll do more research before branching out from bilingualism to multilingualism.” Spectre replied.

   “Fair enough.” Kureha murmured.

   “Are you ready to go?” Spectre asked. “You seem equally empty handed as me.”

   “I saw a few things but nah.” Kureha shrugged.

   “Understandable,” Spectre said, “well, would you like to keep going on our way home?”

   Kureha fidgetted, “Yeah, that’s fine.” she murmured.

   Spectre made an odd expression but it was only the briefest flicker, Kureha was lucky to have caught it. Regardless, they did move on and left the book shop, unsuccessful on all fronts. Maybe their date had just run its course in the most uneventful way possible.

   As they walked, Spectre checked his phone and noticed that they should be getting close to a good spot where it would be easy for them to find public transport to suit both their needs. At least according to the maps app that he was looking at, anyway so he had his fingers crossed that it ought to be somewhat helpful even if it wasn’t entirely accurate or true to life. Kureha smiled and agreed. At least she would have part of a bus trip left to spend with Spectre before woosh. 

   Back to video calls and texts as their only form of contact. It was nice, Kureha didn’t mean to complain, she did genuinely enjoy getting photographs of how Spectre’s plants were going and sending him back the homework she was struggling with but quality time was nicer. At the very least, Kureha wanted a memento of what little quality time they did get and a receipt from a Thai restaurant hardly counted.

   Then, once more, in a complete stroke of luck, Kureha’s eye was caught by something that she saw. Not the building - it was just a generic convenience store - but by what adorned it: gachapon machines. Her face split into a huge grin and once more, Kureha grabbed Spectre’s arm and tugged on it.

   “Yes?” Spectre said through gritted teeth at Kureha’s prompt.

   “I want to use the lucky dip machines. Please, please, please: look, this one has plushies for that virtual pet game I like.” Kureha begged, clutching Spectre’s arm desperately, and her hazelly-green eyes were sparkling so how on Earth was Spectre meant to resist all of that?

   The answer, of course, was that he couldn’t. Though, he did give a long suffering sigh, he did let Kureha pull him aside as she used the gachapon machine that she saw outside the convenience store that they had been passing by.

   “Would you like me to give you some loose change?” Spectre asked as he stood next to it, trying to look like a mature adult whilst his girlfriend was very much happy to enjoy her childish side.

   “No, I’m right, I’ve got it covered.” Kureha said as she dug out her wallet from her handbag. She put in more than enough coins for herself and for Spectre, too. If he refused to treat himself then Kureha was going to force whatever thing she got from it.

   She turned the crank a handful of times and heard the plastic balls rattle inside deep within the machine. Kureha smiled as she waited for the internal mechaninations to stop and then she opened up the flap. She grinned as she held onto both lucky dips that she had bought.

   “Here you go, you can have this one.” Kureha said as she forced Spectre to take one of them.

   Spectre made an unamused expression as he let Kureha put an orange-coloured plastic ball in his hand, “And what am I meant to do with this?”

   “Open it and let’s see.” Kureha replied and she demonstrated, as though Spectre didn’t already know how to open a gachapon.

   She struggled, a little bit, but eventually got the two halves of her purple plastic ball to split open. She squealed in joy as she unveiled her mystery toy. It had a keyring so she threaded her finger through it and swirled the toy itself off her finger. The little plushie that she had won took the form of a felt, anthropomorphic plum with American style cartoon features adorned with a stitched on ribbon bow.

   “This is Plum and she’s my favourite of the virtual fruit pets.” Kureha said.

   Somewhere in the back of Spectre’s mind, that did ring a bell. Kureha might have sent screenshots to him of her virtual pet habit and an animated cartoon plum may have been one of them. So, his expression of bemusement faded and turned to surrender. He opened up his gachapon too but Kureha was way more excited than him regarding it.

   “I got…” Spectre idly commentated and was mildly surprised by his lucky dip. “I got Plum, too.”

   “Wow, what’re the odds?” Kureha laughed.

   Spectre’s eyes flicked to the poster plastered to the inside of the gachapon machine that displayed which possible toy was possible to win, “Well, it looks like there are seven characters and we got two, so it was likely a one in fourteen chance assuming all the characters are present in equal measure inside the machine.” he said.

   “I didn’t mean it literally.” Kureha laughed even harder.

   Spectre smiled a small smile and began to inspect his plush Plum. He thought it was kind of ugly, to be honest, but if Kureha liked it then he could perhaps entertain some fondness for it. The felt was a bit too coarse for his liking.

   “I’ll be sure to look after this.” Spectre murmured.

   Kureha blinked and her heart fluttered, “Really?” she exclaimed softly.

   “Of course,” Spectre said, “it's a precious gift from my precious Kureha. I will treasure it.” He put his own finger through the keyring at the top of the small toy’s head and then put his hand on Kureha’s shoulder, the toy bumping between them. Spectre leaned in and kissed Kureha’s forehead. “I promise to treasure it.” His words brushed over Kureha’s skin like a flower’s petal.

   Kureha’s face went bright red upon being kissed, “I’ll treasure mine too.” she eked out in a tiny voice.

   “That goes without saying, my silly darling.” Spectre replied and he pulled back. “Come on, we’ve had a long date already, don’t you think? Aren’t you ready to go home yet?”

   “I’m ready now.” Kureha said, smiling huge and holding onto her little toy.

[purple-phantoms]

Hi lovely!

Can you please do a Nick imagine where the reader is a really shy piano player with anxiety? Like maybe she has to perform in front of the class and after she’s done she runs out crying?

Thanks bb!

The Pianist

Nick x Female!Reader

Thank you so much for requesting this! I totally love this idea and I think it’s so cute. I’ve experienced that kind of anxiety before when singing in front of people I’ve just met and it just sucks. I tried including a bit of that in this, so I hope it worked out well! Again, I’m writing this on the mobile version of tumblr so this will not be properly edited for a little bit. Enjoy!

Masterlist

Being in the music program was hard. You’d think that all you have to do is to just create music. That part is just fine for her. But then you have to perform it in front of your class or sometimes in front of an audience. Performing in front of one or two people that I know isn’t bad, but when when it’s a big group of people, it just gets bad.

She was an outcast in school and didn’t mind. She had a few friends here and there, but nothing to big. Never anything to draw attention to herself. She never had the courage to talk to people like Julie Molina or Carrie Wilson. They were always the ones to volunteer to go first on days where they had to present their work to the class. Julie was always nice to her. She sometimes tried to bring y/n out of her shell. She’d invite her to eat lunch with her and her best friend, Flynn, sometimes but she always declined the offer. Carrie was like Chris Hargensen (from the movie Carrie)... except she wasn’t that aggressive. Carrie loved making fun of her in class by saying things like, “are you going to talk today, y/n?” she just wished you were more sociable like Julie. In theory, it would be so amazing to be a part of Dirty Candy. Even if you hated Carrie, there was no denying that their music slaps. But she would never be able to perform with all those people staring at her, so instead she just opted for teaching herself their choreography in the safe space of her bedroom. That way she wouldn’t have to experience the stares of her peers.

Today was Wednesday, a.k.a., the day her parents were always a little bit late for picking her up. she preferred staying away from the crowds of students who were also waiting on their parents. Dirty Candy always practiced right after school on Wednesday’s in the dance studio. Their practices were closed to everyone but Nick, the guy Carrie said was off-limits to anyone but her. They weren’t dating, but everyone expected them to be like if Sharpay and Troy dated. Nick was the cool guy who everybody liked. He was the star of the lacrosse team and an amazing guitarist. Carrie, on the other hand, was the girl most people feared. You’d never see her wearing an outfit in a dark color or without her backup dancers. Anyway, back to business. The door to the dance studio was always locked, but there was a tiny glass frame in it where you could easily use your phone to record their routine. They were dancing to their new song, Wow. It was her favorite so far. Well, she says that about all their songs.

They finished and paused for a couple seconds to catch their breath. She ended the video and started walking away, only to bump into another person, making her drop her phone. She leaned down right away to avoid any sort of eye contact or conversation with that person, but they just had to speak, “sorry, y/n.” It was Nick.

She looked up at him in shock. “You-you know my name?” Barely anybody acknowledged her existence in the school.

“Of course I know you,” he chuckled. “You’re the girl in class with the killer vocal chords.” His smile was contagious. Wow, she now understood what Carrie saw in him.

“Um, thanks, Nick,” she muttered. Then her phone went off, her mom was finally in the parking lot. “I gotta go-“

“Hey, what song are you doing tomorrow?” Nick asked. Did he not hear her say that she had to go?

“Uh probably just something by Adele,” you smiled. “Sorry, my mom’s here to pick me up.” This was probably the fastest she’s ever speed-walked away from someone before. Talking to people is weird. If it had been any other guy, she wouldn’t have had to get into a conversation. Nick is great and sweet and cute and all of this is besides the point. Nick is a nice guy but she just wanted to pick up her phone and leave.

-

When watching someone play the piano and sing at the same time, it looks so effortless. Nobody takes into account what they’re really doing. Nobody considers how long they must have trained to learn all the right chords and memorize the ones that go with their song. Nobody considers how long it must have taken them to perfect their song, whether it be alone or with the help of anothe person. Nobody considers what goes on inside the person’s head. Nobody considers what they think of themselves as they play. Nobody notices that maybe that person wants to be invisible.

The next day was the day of class performances. Per usual, the teacher allowed volunteers to go first. Julie sang first, then Carrie, then Flynn and so on and so forth. It got to the point where everybody who wanted to perform had already performed, so her teacher started getting frustrated. “Guys, it’s just two minutes of spotlight.” Silence. “Y/n, how about yo give it a go?”

Her head shot up so quickly at that and just froze. The teacher knew about her situation and has let her perform just for her during lunch. It just made things easier. “Ms. Jacobs, can I just perform during lunch,” she asked timidly. Everybody was staring at her, expecting her to go so that the teacher wouldn’t call on someone else.

But Ms. Jacobs shook her head. “Sorry, y/n. You’ve got to get over that stagefright somehow.” But did it have to be now!? There was no way she could argue with her without causing a scene. Come on, y/n, don’t cry.

Within what felt like a lifetime, she stood up from the chair and lifted her feet, one by one, to walk over to the shiny black piano. It was brand-new, just bought buy the school that summer. It was sleek and clean, practically begging to be used to make music. The walk to the piano’s bench felt exhausting and slow. It was silent, you could easily hear a needle hit the ground as her classmates waited on her to play. But oh god, what note does she even start with? What’s the first line of the song?

“Ms. L/n,” her teacher called. “Any day now.” Y/n looked up-nope, big mistake. Why is everyone watching her so intently? Ba. Did she just press a note? She looked at Ms. Jacobs, who gave an encouraging smile in return. Okay, y/n. Just pretend nobody’s watching you. Pretend you’re just singing in your room.

Her fingers started playing as if it was the only thing they knew to do. They couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop thinking.. Just get it done, y/n.

When will I see you again?

You left with no goodbye, not a single word was said.

No final kiss to seal anything.

I had no idea of the state we were in.

I know I have a fickle heart and a bitterness

And a wandering eye and heaviness in my head,

But don’t you remember?

Don’t you remember the reason you left me before?

Baby, please remember me once more.

Y/n closed her eyes and sighed as she finished. That wasn’t that bad.. Then the applause came and her perfect setting of playing the piano at home where nobody could hear her was gone and was filled with people. People who knew her were staring at her and applauding her. Performing in front of a random audience is one thing, because you have no idea who’s in the audience. You’ll never know (until afterwards at least) if your best friend happened to be in the crowd, or if one of the Kardashians were there. Plus, you’ll never have to worry about someone saying things about you when you’re right next to them because they don’t know you and you don’t know them. When you’re performing in front of your class, there are no rules. Anybody can think anything they want about your performance and nitpick it in their heads or out loud and that’s just how they’ll look at you. She was brought out of her thoughts by Ms. Jacobs talking to the class again, “see folks, this is what I’m talking about!” She looked like she had just met the queen of England. There’s no way she’s smiling like that after her performance. Was she really that good? This is too much.

Y/n managed to slip away from the classroom unnoticed as Ms. Jacobs kept talking. She couldn’t breathe. Oh god, why couldn’t Ms. Jacobs just let me perform at lunch? That was so bad. Does google offer tips to give yourself amnesia? Because she just wanted to forget about all of that mess- “Y/n?” Oh no, it’s Nick again. “What are you doing out here,” he asked.

“I just needed to catch my breath,” she muttered. Why is a cute guy paying attention to me like this?

“Wait, why are you crying, you were amazing,” he said. What? She wasn’t even crying. Oh, there we go... Why am I crying!?!

“I don’t know,” I sobbed. “I hate it when people are watching me.” She didn’t understand why the majority of her classmates could perform efortlessly and not even consider that they did badly later on. Why couldn’t she feel that way?

Nick put a soft hand on her shoulder. “But if nobody watched you, nobody would know how great you are,” he proclaimed. Woah, headrush. He thinks I’m great now? She nodded and smiled. Maybe he was right. “What if we work together next time,” He offered.

“But we don’t even know if the next project will be a group one,” she chuckled. People never wanted to work with her. They always thought that she’d never do the work because she couldn’t even bother to speak, or she’d just take over the entire project.

“Let me at least get your number,” he replied. He seemed genuine, there was going to be no foulplay in this, so she agreed to that and to him walking her home from school. And on the next project, they got to work together and y/n got through it wih his help. They did it together.

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[nighttimepixels]

Lilytale Matchup Possible Results

Alright, I figure it’s been long enough to give a lot of people the chance to take the Which Lilytale Lady Might Be Your Match? quiz , so for those who have been wanting to be able to read the result descriptions for all the ladies, I’m posting them below the cut :D

Serif

... aka, Lady UT Sans! Congratulations, you've found yourself one laid back skeleton wife here. Underneath her easy-going attitude, though, is a loyal and observant friend and partner that will have your needs in mind as well as your wants. She has a knack for figuring out what you're missing when you're frazzled, and it's like she's got a sixth sense for when you're just about to get hungry, or cold, or etc. Spend some quality time with her, encourage her to open up so she doesn't carry too much of a burden no one even realizes she's taking on, and be her best friend - her soul's already yours.

Vellum

... aka, Lady UT Pap! Dedicated, optimistic, mischievous, and with a friendly streak a mile wide, you'll be hard pressed to *not* have a good time in her company. She loves any sort of clever banter, will literally bridal carry you into the sunset if you let her, and may or may not be an even better prankster than her sister... at least, in the long game, anyways! Cuddle up whenever you've got her on some down time, let her now out loud just how much you appreciate her, and know that with her around, you'll always have someone there to not just pull you out of the mud - but to wade right in with you, and hand-in-hand start navigating out of it together.

Sapphire

... aka, Lady US Sans! Roller Derby queen, motorcycle aficionado, and video game queen, you'll never be short of adventure with Sapphire around. She adores seeing you smile and laugh most of all, and if at all possible, loves to achieve it by roping you into mischievous shenanigans that most likely will end up affecting or involving all your friends. That said, she's surprisingly adept at the quiet moments, too - and around you... well, she feels like maybe, just maybe, she can be *allowed* to slow down, to not try to do so much. She'll make you feel treasured in every way, and loves quality time with you, so just be there for her like she's there for you and you'll have a partner in japes and joy till the end of time.

Amber

... aka, Lady US Pap! I hope you liked baked goods, because she'll make sure you have every best kind she can bake. Amber's down to earth, a great listener, and a damn good storyteller, too. She's got an artistic mind even though she's a bit of a programmer too, and loves to use that skill to take your mind off what might be troubling you in any way that fits... if she's not already making you laugh. Most of all, you'll find yourself reluctant to get out of bed - she's a world-class snuggler, and if you're into it, has other ways to convince you that staying in her nest of pillows and blankets is preferable to going about your day as normal. Be there for her, reciprocate those gentle touches and storytimes, indulge in the little things, and know that you've got a hilarious yet soft-spoken partner with a heart of gold that'll find countless ways to show you the beauty and fun in all kinds of passing moments.

Crimson

... aka, Lady UF Sans! Talk about a lover for the ages. She's brash, passionate, outspoken, and almost always up to some sort of trouble, but trust me when I say it's the kind of trouble you'd like to be roped into. And she'll rope you in alright - any day's a good one when you're with Crimson, whether it's a laidback day where she's hauling you for own good off to take a break and be a lump on the couch with her, or you're watching her work on cars or music (or joining in!), or she's pulling you into the nightlife for some adventure, whether to a bar or some strange, fascinating nighttime monster cultural activity you had no idea existed. Ideally you're just as physically passionate as her - and you'll find her arm looping around your waist to tug you back into bed with a grin in the morning is all the persuasion that's necessary, when you're still recovering from your jelly legs from the night previous. She can struggle with putting her feelings to words, so in those quiet moments where it's right... it's okay to put yours to words, and know that she returns those feelings just as fiercely, and that bit by bit, she'll open up to you. You can see it in her every action, and know that you've never been safer or more taken care of than when you're with her.

Scarlet

... aka, Lady UF Pap! A romantic to the core, she's hard to get to the point of romance with in some ways - you might find yourself hovering on the will-we, won't-we edge for a while - but she's worth the effort and wait. You're absolute royalty to her, and you've got someone at your side who will not only fiercely protect you and speak up for you when you can't, but who will help you grow to new heights - just as you help her. She's been hurt and had to pack away a lot of her heart, but you help her more than you could ever know each and every day. It's like being caught in your own personal whirlwind of (positive) drama, romance, and intrigue as she sweeps you off your feet - and as you interrupt various plans by being adorable or flustering her! She's head over heels, and you'll have countless special moments as she works hard to be the best partner she can... and stars, will she be. Treasure her back, let her know just how much you see her hard work, and spend quality time with this lady - she's yours to the moon and back, and if ever there was a lady Gomez Addams equivalent to woo you until the end of days, it's her.

Pepper

... aka, Lady SF Sans! One of the hardest to get close enough to to date, she's nonetheless one of the most loyal, passionate, and dedicated partners you could ever imagine. You've already all but become part of her family by this point, but once you're together, you'll find you're never missing something for long. Whether it's support to get through an unforeseen circumstance, a literal supply to accomplish something, or a shoulder to lean on or body to tangle with - she's already there. Pepper wants nothing more than to see you secure, cared for... and happy. Your smile strikes her to the core of her soul, and the fact that you spark at her sense of mischief as well as passion - well, you'll never find yourself bored for long, that's for sure. Pay attention to her like she does to you - notice her needs before she pushes herself too far, and encourage her to communicate if you feel she's doing a bit too much... ideally with some suggestions of your own on how you want to help/see her load lightened. Every day will be brighter, warmer, and more secure with her around, supporting you and showing you that to her, you already shine just as brightly as the stars - and if you'll let her, she'll help you see that, too.

Cinnamon

... aka, Lady SF Pap! She's plenty willing to have casual relationships, Friends with Benefits, as it were, but to get this close to her, to be with her - you sure are special. She's had a soft spot for you for a long time, even if she doubted your interest, long term, in a skeleton with problems like her - but stars, if she isn't the funniest, most clever, brilliant softie you've ever met. For all she's willing to break a man for hurting her family or friends, you've seen by now just how soft she is deep down - the fostering of animals, the eye for a person in distress no matter how well they're hiding it... on top of being so well-read it makes your head spin. Even still, she's down to earth, and you'd never guess it - and find yourself inspired to learn more, too, even if just to have more excuse to talk to her. Genuinely, for her, though? She loves you just as you are, quirks and flaws and shiny pretty spots and all. You make her feel like she can let down those barbed walls, like she can relax and just be in the moment with you. She's passionate and touch oriented, but don't let that fool you into thinking she isn't paying attention - every little word and bit of body language has been filed away, and you find yourself feeling lighter just by spending time with her... and the feeling's mutual. Show her you care, spend that time with her, let her know that it's okay to be loved - and you'll find yourself cherished and taken care of whether lazing at home or out on an unexpected adventure for the rest of your days.

Blade

... aka, Lady HT Sans! Some 9 ft tall and hulking, she's a woman of far fewer words than many of her counterparts... but quality over quantity sometimes, right? She's the best listener you've ever known, and has insight you'd never considered... as well as a way of making your worries melt away, whether you're cuddled up on her chest or relaxing at her side in her massive garden. Her head injury makes her wit just a bit slower, but she's still smart, and when her jokes land, you'll be left wheezing. Blade's all about those who are closest to her, her little found family - and you're among them. You've never felt more like a treasure than when Blade's touch skates you; when you find your clothes you were fretting over perfectly tailored the next day;  when you never have to worry about a well-balanced or delicious meal again, if she has anything to say about it. She may not be going on wild adventures all the time, but time with her is no less wonderful as the rest of the world melts away and you know that you've got a home right there with her in her arms... and that you are just as fiercely loved, protected by your own giant forest-dwelling skeleton lady who just wants feel your gentle touch letting her know she's loved, too.

Twist

... aka, Lady HT Pap! Eat your heart out, size-difference lovers. Sure, you may not even clear her hip, but that's of no matter to her. Twist's blind, of course, but somehow, you've never felt more *seen* when you're with her. She notices the little things, and always has a read on your mood, your needs - and when words are needed... versus when just quiet, warm company is what's best. Whether you're with her as she gardens or forages in the forest, or taking a bath in the hotsprings not far from her and her sister's cottage, or telling her about your day as you curl up with her in her nest of pillows, you know down to your very soul that someone's attention and care has never been so attentively focused on you. She's not able to bring you to fancy nights out downtown, or on wild trips... but she actively invests herself in your interests, shares her own, and truly feels like a *partner* in life. You're so deeply, desperately, tenderly loved by this giant skeleton woman; if you're willing to call her home, you'll never want for another one again.

Glyph

... aka, Lady G!Sans! She's a tricky lady; and it wouldn't be surprising if you're actually in a polyamorous relationship with at least one of the other girls or another person too. But if you like adventure, yet are a down-to-earth kind of person, if you'd like to see the world, but also treasure the connections you make along the way, if you're bursting with curiosity that can't be stated by just remaining in the status quo... well, Glyph's likely already at your side. You're kindred spirits, through and through, with at least a bit of an artistic streak or appreciation in you. Despite the wanderlust, you're left with the certain knowledge that Glyph truly wants to experience this *with you*. You're hers, not just one part of hers- and she's yours. She loves the glimmer in your eye when you get an idea, the brightness of your smile when you see or experience something new - the soft breath of yours against her collarbone, deep in sleep, cuddled up close in yet another night in a new place, just begging to be explored. You feel secure even in the uncertainty of travel with her there, knowing she's prepared as always - and find yourself learning more, cottoning on to it all far faster than you'd have ever expected - because she's a better teacher than you'd have guessed, making it so you don't even feel like you're being taught something new. There's nothing better than seeing the next day with you at her side - so if you're willing to take her hand, she'll never let go.

Alpha

... aka, Lady Q!Sans! Don't let the digital-versus-physical situation phase you. It may take time, but... with you around, Alpha's had a fire lit under her digital coccyx for a long time, and it's just a matter of time before she's got a full-size robot body to work with - and just a little longer than that before she's got a way you can enter her digital world, too. Above all, Alpha loves your outlook on the world, how you care so much but also know how to see the fun and joy in things, and make it if it's not there. Hearing your voice is one of the best parts of her days - and she's been longing to meet you, hold you in a way that's truly *her*, not just an interface, for so damn long. She's got all kinds of clever ideas, endless banter, and you'll be struggling to find too many days remaining bad for long if you've got Alpha at your side. She isn't going to let a bad situation stand, and she won't just take care of it - over time, she's learned that there are times when you want to, instead, even if it's hard. So instead, she'll be there, helping you sort it out, and helping you arm yourself to tackle it like the best possible partner should. Even when times are hard, she puts in the work - because you're worth it. You've always been worth it - and her work ethic truly shows that. She makes you smile, laugh, and on more than one heartfelt occasion, cry in the best sort of way. Stick with her, give her your time and inspire her with that lovely hope of yours... and you'll truly end up seeing eternity at her side, and never have a dull day in your very, very loved life for it.

[every1studio]

REQUESTED: “someone’s hero” [ateez: hongjoong]

genre: ANGST + slight fluff + MENTIONS OF AN END 

ficstyle: bulletpoints

request: “ Hi!!! Can I get an angsty hananki disease au for hongjoong?? “ + “ Ur robbing us of a spiderman hongjoong😔💜🥺♥️♥️ “ 

note: trying to kill 2 birds with one stone here

"Hongjoong! you were almost late for class!” you smacked the arm of your best friend as he collapsed on his desk

Hongjoong was almost late because he was just doing small acts of good deeds 

you know, the usual

helping an elderly woman cross the crosswalk

picking up after people as they litter

saving a bank from a band of robbers

the usual

Hongjoong lived another life outside of being your typical high school student and helping others 

back in middle school, he got bit by a radioactive spider; giving him the abilities of a spider 

he honed his skills for the greater good and perform heroic deeds to help the neighborhood

but he knew he couldn’t juggle being a normal high school

so the only people that knew of his hidden identity are his parents 

you nudge at Hongjoong’s elbow as you show him your phone

“our friendly neighborhood hero strikes again. I really wanna know who this guy is..”

Hongjoong smirks at you as he rests his chin on his arm, “what would you say if you got a chance to talk to him?” 

you sat up a little straighter, “I would thank him for his services and..”

“and~?” Hongjoong’s ears perked up 

“I would ask to see his face.. I mean what if he’s this insanely good looking guy?!”

“he could be insanely ugly too..” he jeered 

you slapped him on the arm, “don’t talk about him like that! with that selfless heart and toned body? there’s no way that he’s ugly!”

Hongjoong blushed at your words but you couldn’t know his true identity, nobody could 

he ruffles the back of his head before clearing his throat, “so um.. are you gonna go to homecoming?”

you shrugged as you got out your physics textbook, “I don’t know... you know it’s not my thing...”

he dramatically hung his head down as he pouted at you, “it’s our senior year though...”

“I’ll let you know if I change my mind,” you said as you rolled your eyes

Hongjoong didn’t have the courage to ask you out; he was suppose to ask you out a long time ago 

it was easier was you two were younger 

but the older you two got, the harder it was for him to tell you all the feelings he had pent up inside for you

you could say he’s been in love with you when you two were 5 and finding ladybugs until the sunset

he made a daisy ring for you and announced that when you two are old enough, he’ll buy you a real shiny ring 

up until today, he doesn’t know if you liked him back or not 

but that fact that you didn’t push him away gave him hope 

Hongjoong was a pretty good student so he only had 3 classes; which were all the classes that you had with him 

it gave him enough time to spend with you AND go do his heroic deeds 

“do you want anything from Starbucks?” Hongjoong gets up to leave for the day 

you gave him a smile that he fell in love with, “the usual please~”

“with extra cinnamon on top?” he asked with a smile

“just the way I like it~”

Hongjoong was so giddy he didn’t notice Yunho walking passed him, with a bouquet of flowers behind his back

it was a long day for Hongjoong, he got caught up with a bunch of little hooligans but he made it back to school in time for your last class of the day

everyone was teasing and nudging at you and Yunho 

Hongjoong had a bad feeling about it 

he stopped someone who was recording the two of you, “what’s going on?”

“oh Yunho asked Y/N out to homecoming in the CUTEST way; they’ve got to hook up!” the girl squealed as she posted the video on her social media 

Hongjoong felt like it was hard to breath all of a sudden; he tried clearing his throat but the feeling didn’t go away 

he was going to turn away until-

“Joongie!!” it belong to your voice and upon hearing it, it made his chest hurt

“here’s your Starbucks..” he managed to choke up

you took the drink and placed it down

you moved his face so that he was only going to focus on your face, “Joongie... are you okay? what’s wrong?”

Hongjoong pushed through the excruciating pain with a smile, “I’m okay.. I’m just tired, I don’t think I can take you home today..”

you were genuinely concerned for him; he’s always taken care of you, just as you have with him 

but you thought maybe some space would be good for him 

“please call me when you get the chance...” you looked at him with worried eyes 

he pats your hair like he always did but he doesn’t say anything 

he made eye contact with Yunho and walked away 

there was nothing to hate about Yunho; he was tall, handsome, caring, and just a genuinely good person

would you have changed your mind if he asked you first?

would you have gone with homecoming with him?

would he have had a chance with you?

but was he ready for you to know the truth about him?

all these thoughts made his chest hurts 

he laid in bed, coughing and hacking up petals

daisy petals, to be exact; which took him back to his proposal to you back when you were kids 

homecoming was suppose to be the end of the week 

it was announced on the news that their neighborhood hero was nowhere to be seen 

Hongjoong’s condition made it hard for him to use any of abilities 

he thought that this was a passing sickness that will go away; he did his research on his condition

Hanakaki Disease: where the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from an one-sided love. when the person the victim loves returns the feelings, the condition will be lifted. or can be removed surgically but the feelings the victim has for the beloved will disappear

Hongjoong slouched in his chair when he read articles upon articles about this condition

he couldn’t go through with the surgery; he wanted to love you until the day he died

every time he thinks about you, he coughs up a bouquet of daisy petals 

the most he can do with his spidery abilities is use it to clean up the petals in his room 

despite of living so close, you two loved to exchange handwritten letter; he kept every single on that you wrote to him and would read it until he fell asleep 

he got excused from school for a week; which was probably for the best 

he wouldn’t have to seen you with Yunho 

he answered your texts and calls but other than that, he wouldn’t let you visit him

told you that he was scared that you would catch what he has 

this went on until the night of homecoming 

Hongjoong was getting ready for homecoming; it was his senior year after all 

you invited him to go with your group; he was your childhood friend and your best friend after all

“you look beautiful..” he murmurs into your ear after you all get into venue 

“you don’t look too bad yourself, Hongjoong~” you smirked

but your joking demeanor changed as you grabbed the sleeve of his tuxedo, “I missed you.. I know you were only gone for a week but it felt like more...” 

Hongjoong’s chest didn’t feel as heavy as it’s been for the whole week he was at home, “I missed you too..”

“Y/N! you ready?” Yunho put his arm out for you to take, “oh hey Hongjoong, you feeling better?”

Hongjoong had the urge to cough but he held it back, “better than ever”

you slipped away from Hongjoong and linked arms with Yunho 

when you walked away with Yunho, Hongjoong excused him to cough

he coughed up petals until he couldn’t breathe and asked himself was it worth it to even go to this dance

everyone in the group danced to the music but Hongjoong couldn’t help but watch the lights dancing off of your face 

you looked so beautiful, he could cry 

suddenly, the ground started to shake 

everyone was stumbling and falling 

the earthquake alarms came on 

everyone ran to the safety zones

Hongjoong knew that in a case of this kind of panic; he was needed the most

he slipped out of his tuxedo and started to help out anywhere that he could

there was still chaos even though the earthquake subsided

it seemed like only the building that the dance took place at was the only unstable building so evacuating everyone was a better idea than having them hide in the safety zone until authorities came

Hongjoong thought he got everyone out until Yunho came back into the building

“hey man.. I was with my date and I can’t seem to find them.. you gotta go find them! please...”

“you gotta get back outside.. I’ll look for them...” 

Hongjoong sprinted, swung at the speed of light trying to find you

he found you trapped in between two slabs of concrete; you were safe but you were unable to get out of it

he shot out webs that moved the slabs out of the way 

“oh my gosh... I’m a big fan of yours...” you were in awe that you were standing right in front of the neighborhood hero 

“look we gotta go.. it’s not safe here..” he tried to get you out to safety 

“wait look this is probably the only time I’ll even get to talk to you like this.. how can I thank you?” you fidgeted; the adrenaline was running in your veins, “could I kiss you?”

Hongjoong wasn’t able to say anything but he lifted his mask off

“Joongie?”

“surprise~ and I insanely handsome like you thought I was” he announced with a sense of sarcastically glum manner 

you grabbed his face and kissed him 

he was so shock and in that moment, he didn’t know he could breathe so clearly

he wrapped his arm around your waist

it was like time stopped for the two of you, “Joongie, I have sooo many questions..”

“let’s get out of here first..“ he reeled back into reality, “gotta get you back to Yunho..”

you couldn’t say anything to that

he dropped you off at the entrance

there was a moment of blissful silence until the entrance way was crumbling

he pushed you as hard as he could into Yunho’s arm and tried to keep the pillars up

but even at the extraordinary limits of his abilities, Hongjoong couldn’t keep them up

in front of your face, you saw them collapse onto him 

your eyes welt up with tears, you tried to run to him as you called his name but Yunho held you back

the authorities came too late

Hongjoong didn’t make it to the hospital 

his death was a tragedy; he was known as the infamous neighborhood hero

but he was your childhood friend

and your best friend 

and your first love

his mother let you into his room one last time before they were going to move away

the death of their son was too much for them to stay in the same house that they raised him in 

the TV was on in his room; there was a bed made of daisy petals 

“Kim Hongjoong, senior at KQ High School, died as our friendly neighborhood, hero. he was also known as Spider-Man. the hospital also diagnosed that he was suffering with Hanakaki disease. our hero died with an one-sided love disease..”

you switched off the TV and clenched your heart 

you convinced yourself that you didn’t have anything to do with his Hanakaki disease 

his mother knocked on the door before entering, “hey there sweetie... Hongjoong told me to give this to you if anything happened to him..”

she gave you a peck on the forehead, “let me know if you need anything..”

the letter was sealed with a spider web

Y/N.. hey.. remember all the letters we wrote each other? I have them all saved up still. I read them when I’m bored.. or when I miss you. if you’re getting this letter, something probably happened to me. and if you’re getting this letter, I probably haven’t told you everything about me. I’m Spider-Man. big surprise! but that’s not the main point of this letter. I was able to make this neighborhood safe but I wasn’t able to confess to you. the scariest thing was, knowing that another guy could make you happier than I could. and all of my efforts would just be a nuisance to you. I just want you to know if that no matter what, I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise of proposing to you when we were kids.. childish I know, but that’s what keeps me going everyday. I want you to be the best version of yourself and be the happiest person in the world. Yunho is a great guy and I know that he’s going to treat you well. even if I’m not your hero, I hope someone out there will be..

your tears trickled over the letter

he wasn’t just someone’s hero

he was yours

you loved every part of him; he was your hero before he was anyone else’s hero 

but you convinced yourself that you were never going to be good enough for him 

but like the wishes he had for you in his letter

your brain convinced your heart that you were going to continue loving Yunho so that you wouldn’t have the Hanakaki disease 

you wished that there was more time for him to confess to you

you wished that there was more time for you to confess to him

and now you lost your childhood friend

your best friend

and your first, true love 

[ masterlist + guidelines ]

[unnecessarygayfeelings]

Finished my Farafey fanficton! Here’s a link to it on ao3, but I know not everyone uses that, so I’ll post it here under the read more. No content warnings (there’s a small mention of alcohol, but no one is intoxicated), just 2k words of fluff. This is for the Farafey micronation especially @aquilamage because she has epic content that inspires me a lot.

Lavender Lip Gloss

It was new year's eve and Kay was going to be late to the party because her roommate was hogging the bathroom.

Kay should be used to this, really. Ever since she and Sebastian decided to rent an apartment together at the ripe old age of nineteen, she became well aware of her friend's quirks. But she could handle the misplaced pens, loud classical music, and endless pacing at ungodly hours of the night. She would be a hypocrite if she judged him, though. Half of the pens they owned were probably on her desk, and in the early mornings she liked to sing her favourite pop songs in the shower. They argued about who was the cause of their the noise complaints every time they received one.

They've been roommates for years now. Kay was used to Sebastian's habits... except for one.

"Seb, leave the goddamn door open when you're just fixing your hair! I need the hairspray!"

It took a long time for Sebastian to break the habit of placing barriers between them when it wasn't necessary (Kay had grown up in a home with open doors and open hearts; she wants the same for Sebastian), and eventually he stopped locking the door behind him every time he entered a room. Kay respected Sebastian's need for privacy. But she also respected their friendship, and that's why she knew that what she was about to do was not only expected, but acceptable in their tiny apartment. She took a step back, lifted her leg and opened the door with one swift kick.

There was a high-pitched yelp from Sebastian, who had styling gel on his hands, a strand of hair sticking up on his head, and an unimpressed expression on his face as he saw Kay's triumphant smile. "I-I was almost done!"

"You always say that, and then you end up taking another thirty minutes," Kay replied, grabbing her hair spray and securing her high ponytail right there. Sebastian's face scrunched at the smell. She sprayed a little bit of the product in his hair, too. They both laughed, doing the finishing touches on both of their party looks together.

After a final once-over from each of them ("The green button-up was a good choice, right, Kay?" "Yeah, but what about this silver skirt?"), they were ready to go to the new year's party. It was at Miles's house this year, and if they both weren't used to bothering him at every location possible, it might have felt a bit weird to party at the boss's place.

When they arrived at Miles's house, the host himself greets them. Although he does look genuinely pleased to see them, his smile turns strained when Kay tells him to "prepare for trouble, and make it double". While Sebastian is making small talk with Edgeworth, Kay lets her mind trail elsewhere— to the reason she was so eager to get to the party in the first place.

Maya Fey had been in Kura'in for a while now. Despite their friendship being long-distance, they were still very close. Their bond was just as strong as Kay's with Sebastian, although she felt very different about Maya than him. Kay's heart soared every time her phone dinged with a new message. She circled dates on the calendar with a violet marker whenever they planned to video chat. The time difference was brutal, but Kay would gladly stay up late just to hear Maya's voice.

"Waiting for s-someone special?" Sebastian's teasing voice broke Kay out of her thoughts. She hadn't even realized that Miles was long gone. The only one next to her was her best friend, who was looking extra smug. Of course Sebastian knew about her crush. He was the one Kay would go to at one in the morning, bombarding him with texts and asking him if he thought there was a deeper meaning to them. The deeper meaning, he would tell her, is that you both like each other and it's only a matter of time before one of you make a move. He was being ridiculous, of course. Just because Maya called her pretty and laughed a little too loud at her jokes and had a purple heart emoji next to her contact name didn't mean anything.

Okay, it definitely meant something, but Kay wasn't going to take the first step and confess or anything because... she was shy. Ugh. She wasn't used to being shy. Sebastian was the shy one, not her. But Kay hadn't seen Maya in person in what felt like forever (it had been six months), so who knows. Maybe she would make a move.

"Hey, there she is!"

Kay's head shot up, pure enthusiasm with a twinge of anxiousness filling her whole body. She looked to where Sebastian was pointing, and there she was.

Maya Fey was here. Maya Fey was looking around the room. Maya Fey was making eye contact with her. Maya Fey was walking towards her.

"Hey!" Maya Fey's voice sounded so much more real when it wasn't through a speakerphone, all light and chipper. Kay wasn't sure how she'd survive the night, let alone make a move.

"Hi, Maya!" Sebastian greeted, holding out his arms and allowing a brief hug. Maya showed her affection through touch: high fives, hair ruffles, and hand holding. Kay was the same which was one of the reasons why their long distance communication was difficult. You couldn't embrace someone through a screen.

Then Maya turned towards her, arms outstretched, and Kay found herself being pulled in like a magnet. Maya's hugs were warm and welcoming. She didn't miss how they both lingered, the hug lasting many seconds longer than a hug Kay would have with any other friend, even Sebastian. But eventually they had to (slowly) pull away.

"It seems like forever since I've seen you!" Maya exclaimed, looking up at Kay with a big grin. "You look great! I love your skirt!"

Kay's brain seemed to short-circuit. Maya was wearing a cute pink party dress and her long hair was in its usual style, decorated with sparkly hair clips. Her lips were shiny with a purple gloss. It was a light shade, like lavender. Was this weird, just staring at her lips? She needed to respond before it got weird. "Thanks! I love your lip gloss!"

Okay, so now Maya had solid proof that she was staring at her lips. Oops. But Maya just smiled at her. "Haha, thanks! Do you guys want a drink? I saw Miles bought the good champagne."

Had he? Kay didn't even notice. Sebastian nods and then a minute later Maya is offering her a drink. Kay takes the glass, and tries not to think about the brush of Maya's fingers against hers too much.

Conversation is easy. Maya asks what they've been up to since the last time they talked. Kay feels like this question is more for Sebastian, since her and Maya just talked this morning on the phone. Sebastian tells her about his latest case (not a murder, thankfully), and Kay includes details from her perspective as the detective assigned. She's sure she had mentioned this case to Maya before, but Maya seems very interested anyways.

When they ask what news Maya has, she perks up tremendously. "I've finally mastered the bowl without falling on my face!"

Recently, Maya has taken up skateboarding while in Kura'in. Pearl has been the one teaching her; she was very talented, and had a cool skateboard with a flame design on the sides. Kay had been blessed with many cute selfies of Maya in her skating gear (lavender knee and elbow pads, and a florescent pink helmet that could probably blind a person if they stared too long at it) and ten second clips of her skating around in sunglasses, striking poses at the camera. Maya was a beginner but she refused to give up, despite the constant complaining of bumps and bruises from falling all the time.

"Really?" Kay gasps. She's received many texts about the bowl, and according to Maya it was one of the most difficult things to master in her life. ("It's harder than channeling spirits, Kay! Stop laughing, it's the truth!") Kay had never skateboarded before so she felt like she couldn't judge but it certainly didn't look easy.

Maya quickly pulls her phone out of her dress pocket. "Let me show you. Pearly got it on tape! Proof that I'm not making it up to sound cool or anything."

Kay believed her. Maya wouldn't need to make stuff up to sound cool. She unlocked her phone (Kay felt herself blush at the lockscreen— it's a selfie that they had taken the last time Kay was in Kura'in, a trip that was impulsive and expensive but she didn't regret it one bit) and pulled up a video of Maya on top of the bowl. Pearl can be heard off-camera shouting encouragement. Then Maya adjusts her helmet, balances herself on her board, and slides down the bowl in one swift movement. She skids to a stop once she's on the ground. The last thing they hear before the video cuts out is Maya and Pearl screaming with excitement.

"That's so cool!" Kay exclaims, genuinely impressed.

Sebastian's eyes are nearly bugging out of his head. "Whoa! You look like a pro-professional skateboarder!"

"Yeah, this makes all the times I fell down on my butt worth it," Maya says, grinning from ear to ear. They talk some more before Maya goes to mingle with an old friend.

"Hey, do either of you know where Nick is? I want to bug him before the year ends."

Sebastian points Phoenix out across the room, where he is currently distracted by his daughter Trucy pulling an comically long scarf out of the tiny pocket on her blouse. A mischievous smile, a wave of her hand, and Maya's off.

There's a brief silence as they watch Maya leave. Sebastian turns to Kay with the same shit-eating grin he has when he's about to say something clever. "Kay? I diagnose you with gay. Lesbianism, if you want to be specific."

Kay groans. "I know, I know."

"Well, it's clear that she likes you, too, so I don't see what the con-conundrum is."

Kay believed that she was a relatively logical person. Her field of work made use of that trait, tested it. And now she was being presented with more evidence and a restless witness. The pieces fit together perfectly— Maya Fey liked her. The only question was what she going to do with this information.

"Was I... obvious about it?"

Sebastian raises his eyebrow. Takes a long sip of of his drink. "Is that a trick question?"

Not everyone Mr. Edgeworth invited was at the party, but the house is noisy regardless. Friends and acquaintances are talking in groups, there's music coming from an unknown source, the television is playing a new year's special, and Kay's heart is beating up a storm. Despite all of the activity, Kay thinks her heart is the loudest thing in this place.

Sebastian is tapping his fingers against the table next to them. Another noise, although it's muffled by the black gloves he's wearing. "Well, I know you don't like champagne."

Kay looks down at the drink Maya gave her, still full. The condensation from the glass mixes with the sweat on her palm. The feeling of Maya's hand brushing against hers lingers.

In the distance, Maya nudges Phoenix roughly in the side, and his drink splashes on his shirt. Maya laughs and then points at the stain, exclaiming loudly that it kind of looks like the Blue Badger. Phoenix seems to push his annoyance aside to carefully examine his sleeve. Maya calls other people over to look, a light yet determined expression on her face, and Kay can feel herself fall a little more in love.

...

The flashy countdown screen on the TV lights up, signaling the last minute of the year. Kay smiles and swirls the untouched champagne in her glass. She's lost in the way the tiny bubbles cling onto the sides of the cup until something distracts her. Or more accurately, someone.

"Hey," Maya says, placing her own glass on the table in front of them.

"Hey," Kay echoes back intelligently. She places her glass next to Maya's as her friend (she ignores the tightening in her chest when she calls her that; she's not sure there's a single word in this world to describe what Maya is to her) sits down next to her.

There's a moment of silence between them. Maya smells like jasmine and nostalgia. Kay wants to look but she's glowing like the sun, so she decides to play it safe and stare ahead. She sees Sebastian and Klavier talking about something, but she can't concentrate enough on their voices to know the topic.

Maya's voice snaps Kay out of her trance. "Happy new year."

For a split second, Kay thinks she miscounted the seconds, and missed the celebration. She checks the television quickly, and sighs with relief. "You're about thirty seconds too early, but I appreciate your enthusiasm." Then she had to use all of her strength to resist the urge to kick herself for sounding so weird.

"Oh." Cheeks flushed red for sure, Kay risks a glance at Maya. She doesn't regret it. She doesn't think she'll ever get tired of seeing Maya smile. "Happy new year's eve, then?"

She barely pulls herself together before responding in a passably-normal-although-probably-too-eager tone. "Yeah! Happy new year's eve!"

Maya laughs at that, and Kay can physically feel her heart soar. She knows it's bad to look at the sun but she can't help it, and within seconds she's pretty sure she could map out all the freckles on Maya's face. Kay stares too long to pass as normal and she knows it. But Maya is staring, too.

"TEN SECONDS!" Kay doesn't recognizes whose enthusiastic yelling the voice belongs to, but she doesn't even bother tearing her eyes away from Maya.

Ten.

Maya is sitting so close to her that their thighs are touching. How did Kay not notice that until now?

Nine.

Maya hesitantly reaches over and touches Kay's hand with her own.

Eight.

Her hand is shaking slightly. It's sweaty, too. Kay doesn't complain. She's probably the same.

Seven.

Kay curls their fingers together. She can't seem to stop smiling.

Six.

There's no denying it. The walls between them tumble down to reveal something a bit more than friendship, a bit more than just simple attraction.

Five.

Kay wants to say something, anything, but she's been rendered speechless. She's pretty sure she looks ridiculous. Ridiculously lovestruck.

Four.

Maya's other hand reaches over to brush Kay's hair out of her face, and her touch lingers near her cheek.

Three.

There's a line that they haven't neared, trying to maintain their friendship. Maya is standing at the edge of it, threatening to cross over.

Two.

Maya tilts her head, leans in, and closes her eyes. Kay can't hear the music over her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

One.

Kay closes her eyes, leans in, and unconsciously holds her breath.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Their lips met, and Kay smudges Maya's lavender lip gloss.

[danwhobrowses]

Pokémon Direct 26th Feb 21 Thoughts (Happy Pokémon Day)

Happy Pokémon Day everyone! 25 Years since Red and Green hit stores and would change gaming for so many people.

Yesterday though, Pokémon dropped a special Direct revealing new info and titles, which compared to the Nintendo Direct and Playstation State of Play had a lot more hype towards it, at least for me. So I’m gonna run down the contents - a combination of stuff learned from the video and the website

Spoilers for the Direct below if you haven’t watched it yet

Part 1: Pokémon New Snap - New Information

More information about the New Snap game came up first, revealing that it’ll be releasing on 30th April and available for Pre-Order.

On top of throwing apples to encourage new behaviour, there is also the possibility to play tunes. Most unique though is the ‘Illumina Orb’, this item when thrown at Pokémon will cause a glowing aesthetic either on the Pokémon or any elements they may summon, the Illumina phenomenon seems to be a core part of the game’s story alongside getting the Photodex (each Pokémon having 1-4 Star photo slots).

You can also upload your photos via Switch Online, though that’s not really for me so I’ll probably just use an SD to transfer pics or something.

The characters include Professor Mirror (missed chance to use an adult Todd Snap), Phil - you seems to be your rival and Rita - who seems to be the tutorial guide character. The environment of some expeditions will vary by level as well so there will be cause for repeatability.

The New Snap is more of a ‘does what it says on the tin’ kinda game, you’re there to take photos. But the new stuff does look to entice players to play around with it all and see how good they can get out of the photos, it is definitely something that will live to expectations.

Part 2: Pokémon Day Commemorative Events

Afterwards we got some info on the events happening around today. Pokémon Café Mix is having a login promotion for Golden Acorns, Pokémon GO is doing Kanto Legendary raids and in Masters EX Leon is in the game with Charizard

For SwSh G-Max Pikachu is back until the 28th, there are chances for a Shiny. If 1 million are beaten you’ll also get 100 of Dynite and Armorite ore.

These Pikachu are not that easy though in Solo raiding, AI is usually awful but this Pikachu will know a combination of Surf, Disarming Voice, Volt Tackle (and a special G-Max variation that paralyzes Neighboring Pokémon), Discharge, Brick Break, Iron Tail and its usual spamming of either Nasty Plot or Double Team. So be careful of accuracy issues or your AI failing you...a lot

On top of this if you use  P25MUS1C as a code you’ll get a Pikachu that knows Sing.

Part 3: DP Remake

Years of People demanding and you got this. Perhaps a lesson to be constructive in criticism since the remakes have already drawn its own controversy for being different to the other games fans criticized and even boycotted for a short while.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl brings the old DS games to a new form with the same top-down camera from the games of old, blending an old-Final Fantasy and Animal Crossing-esque chibi type overworld character that has received mixed reviews and, along with the next part, comparisons with the Legend of Zelda series, particularly for this one Link’s Awakening.

Other than the new graphics, the trailers haven’t revealed any new content that is genuinely new to the series, but the website suggests ‘player-friendly conveniences’ which may help in reducing the grind. Of course, this is only the first taste, there still can be plenty more.

I must confess, but DP was always a bit of a Red-Headed Stepchild for me in terms of the series, I certainly didn’t hate it, I just felt like the main story lacked a bit. It could simply be because Cyrus’ story only really peaks for Platinum but most of it is due to the fact that I was able to get through the whole game within 24 hours of play. I am also in the party that’s not too thrilled about the chibi design, I had always feared that Pokémon Player and NPC models would fall into Mii territory and this does feel like a step in that direction, I also love customization (though male characters do not get as much choice) so it always feels a bit of a let down when we remove that. Also I think that the shaders could’ve been upped because you look at these 3D artworks and they are magnificent.

Also the names are a bit, uninspired. I mean we usually get dichotomy in the new names too: Fire and Leaf, Heart and Soul, Alpha and Omega, so going to Brilliant and Shining seems weird. What about Hope Diamond and Faith Pearl? Stone Diamond and Sea Pearl? Time Diamond and Space Pearl? I felt like there were more options.

On the positive side though, Underground is back with will be fun, maybe they’ll update bases too. They might add the Platinum stuff in there too, revamped Distortion World sounds cool, and I hope the Pokétch comes back, it was a handy tool especially the Day Care app

Part 4: Pokémon Legends - Arceus

Now this, is more like it.

Sticking with Sinnoh comes a prequel story of ancient times, where humans are only slowly settling into the region and the landscape is vast with free roaming Pokémon. The series takes its RPG-style deeper with the open world as players go on to complete the first ever Sinnoh Pokédex.

Battle or sneak up on Pokémon by using ancient steampunk-esque Pokéballs, this becomes a pure capturing adventure light but not completely devoid of being a ‘trainer’. No Elite 4 or Pokémon League, this is all about exploration leading all the way to Arceus.

Coming in 2022, the art and landscape is beautiful drawing parallels to Breath of the Wild, the UI is clean and simplistic and we get a new shift in our starters being different to the generation’s 3, instead you pick between Oshawott, Rowlet and Cyndaquil, but with sightings of Piplup in game you can be sure that the Sinnoh starters will be catchable.

The idea of going into the past is fresh for Pokémon fans, it’s something that looks very promising as a new recurring title for the series, the character design of old clan robes is also a nice touch. I do hope that future main series titles adopts this more open world environment and art style, the piano music is also very Ghibli esque which is a huge plus for me. I am keen to see how the journey develops as we go up to face god itself.

Part 5: Conclusion

The direct was good, even though there was stuff I’m not thrilled about it continues to reiterate my love for this series, which has been a core part of my life ever since getting a Game Boy Color & Pokémon Blue bundle for Christmas as a kid. I may still hold out on getting the DP remakes just yet but Snap and Legends will definitely be something I intend on buying, Pokémon continues to develop and evolve which has kept it going for 2 and a half decades, and I look forward to more evolutions to come.

[sope-and-shine]

Christmas Special: Day 2

-> Pairing: Jimin x Reader ->Idol!AU // Fluff ->Word Count: 2.5k ->Summary: When it comes to Christmas shopping, you’re pretty much a walking disaster. At least the handsome stranger your decided to bother is nice enough to put up with you.

A/N: Not as good as I was hoping it’d be, but I’m pleased anyways.

Christmas is a time for being together and a time for sharing. It’s a time for one to truly express how grateful they are for someone! That expression can be with words or actions, and everyone usually has a preference for one or the other.

That’s what lead you to entering the mall during their extended hours, wrapped in a beige coat with a white scarf tucked around your neck and matching hat and gloves. All you needed was just something for the rest of your slightly larger family, at least one thing for everyone. Gangnam might not be the best place for this, but the extra cost would be worth it in the end. Besides the quality gifts you would be sure to find, the mall sure was a sight for sore eyes at this time of year. Strings of garland wrapped around every railing, lights strung wherever they could find the space, oversized ornaments hanging from the ceiling, and a huge tree decked out in red, green, and gold! The mall was a sight to see this time of year, so going through the yearly chaos of Christmas shopping would all be worth it.

Picking out items for your sisters - and sister in law - was the easiest part. They told you what they wanted, so shopping for hours wasn't necessary with them. But finding a gift for your brother, brother-in-laws, and your oldest nephew would be the challenge you faced today. Your youngest nephew was easy: toys for learning and he’s done. Your next two nephews really only wanted nerf guns, so those could be ordered. Fourth nephew: Kid wants cars on top of cars. But your oldest nephew? He was a challenge just like your brothers. He plays too many sports, and everyone else was probably already covering every single one already. He plays video games, but you weren't about to send him a $50 Steam gift card and call it a day. You wanted something that would mean something to him.

You take the second floor first, entering a bit of a higher end store to take a look at what they have to offer. This store sells watches, clothes, shoes, and even bags! But you need the best of the best for this kid, and you don't want to be the lame Aunt that ends up giving him socks for Christmas. 

Approaching their miscellaneous section on the men’s side, you find a nice array of bags, shoes, socks, and watches - not to say the socks might win you over, but they’re really not that bad. 

You might reconsider the socks later.

You know he wants a new bag, and the bag in front of you seemed like it was of decent enough quality that it would get him through a few more years of school. And it was blue, so it already hit all of his requirements. But you also know he was talking about wanting a watch - even though he has an Apple Watch, so why does he want a new one? He said some new shoes would be cool, but does he really want shoes? 

“Maybe I should just send the socks and the steam gift card and try again on his birthday…” You mutter to yourself, taking a once over of the various pairs of socks they have hanging on the racks. You have no idea what you’re doing anymore. Your last relationship already proved that you don’t know how to gift other humans with presents, but there wasn’t really a service you could call to help you pick out gifts for your family members.

On the other side of the rack you see grey hair tucked away under a beanie peaking over the top. Out of curiosity, you take a quick peek around to make sure it wasn’t just a girl taller than you on the other side - from the way his muscles show underneath his clothes and his jawline you conclude that he is in fact not a girl. With nothing to really lose, you grab a watch and a bag from your side and slowly approach.

“Excuse me?” You ask hesitantly. He seems genuinely shocked at first, jumping back at your call away from the earrings and other jewelry items in front of him. But he regains his composer quickly when you continue, “Could I get your opinion?”

“Sure.” 

“I’m trying to buy a gift for my nephew - he’s 14 by the way - and he told me what he needs, but I’m not really sure that that’s what he wants. I have a couple options, but shopping for boys kinda sucks. No offense.” You say, trying your best not to be too overbearing, but still feeling the need to explain yourself.

He chuckles, “None taken, but you should probably just get him socks.”

“See, I’m trying to avoid that.” You sigh. You should’ve known that would be the answer. Why would a random stranger help you with a Christmas gift when he’s obviously trying to do his own thing?

“Well, what does he like?” The stranger asks, taking you by surprise. You stare at him in shock for a moment before opening up. “He’s really into sports: basketball, soccer - the American kind - and track-”

“-He runs for fun?”

“That’s what I said.” You agree. Only two minutes in and already you feel at ease with a total stranger. It was easy to explain how you felt to him, almost like he was used to this type of thing. “I’m at a loss for what to get him because I’m kinda out of the loop being an entire day ahead of him. Everybody else in our family probably got him sports related stuff already.” And that wasn’t a joke either. With a family as big as yours, there’s no way he wouldn’t have new clothes or new gear. If he talked about it, he was probably getting it already. It made Christmas shopping that much harder, not to mention he was a hormonal, teenage boy. “What would you want if you were a 14 year old boy besides video games?”

Your prince-like stranger takes a moment to think before he nods to himself. “Probably a girlfriend.” His response is such a boy response that you can’t help but scoff. “I don’t know if you know this, but buying another human is kinda illegal.” 

“If you get caught.” He replies with a playful smirk. 

...

“So, the watch or the bag?” You ask, choosing to ignore the look he’s giving you.

His playful composer changes as he reaches out to take the watch from you, inspecting it for a moment and handing it back, “Get him the watch. He’ll feel better about dressing up if he has something like that.”

“I didn’t think about that…” Getting a watch besides the apple watch would make sense. It may be small and slick, but a real watch would be flashy, stylish, and professional all at the same time! But still, you didn’t feel that this was the right thing despite the reassurance. You let it hang by your side and give a small bow to the stranger for his help, “I think I’ll wait for now, and come back if I don't find anything. Thanks for the input!”

“Yeah, no problem! Happy holidays!” He waves, returning to his shopping after you turn to put your items back. You take your leave from the tiny store and search for the next, moving on from store to store after every failed attempt at finding something. Nothing seemed perfect enough for you, and every present you saw was just as generic as the next with the same overpriced hoodies and sneakers. At this point, all of them were about to get a box full of socks if these last few stores flopped. But the department store at the end of the walkway looked promising enough having two levels, so why not hope for the best?

—-

Hoping for the best was probably the best option in hindsight. After a little walking around, you did start seeing items that you knew your extra brothers would be into. Stupid shirts that they’d say they hate but wear for family occasions anyways, glasses and mugs of various shapes and size - most of them looking lewd enough that you have to wonder if they’re actually allowed to be there - and just crazy gadgets that you know they won’t find in stores over-seas. You even had a few more interactions with the man that helped you in the store from earlier, asking him small tidbits about what colors he thought would be best or what mattered more. He was very helpful when he didn’t have to be, and he even assured you that you weren’t being a bother - talk about a Prince Charming. All of it was starting to come together, but your nephew was still ailing you. This kid was your first nephew - you grew up with him like an older sister! How were you supposed to pick out the perfect present?

That’s how you find yourself bent down in front of the display case for the watches intently staring at all of your options. They had gold, shiny gold, matte gold, rose gold, silver, bronze, blue, and every color under the sun that you could think of to choose from. For you to choose! Not only the color, but the style as well. Who puts this much thought into their watch?!

“I personally like the Fossil Luther three-hand with a leather band in all black.” The familiar voice of your stranger says from beside you, having snuck up on you while you were browsing. His presence shocks you enough that you fall over onto the floor from your bent position with a small yelp. “Sweet Jesus! Warn me next time. What’s with the mask anyways?”

“I look cooler with it.” He shrugs. He reaches a hand out and helps you back to your previous position before he scared you, joining you in your intense view of the watches in the display, “I thought you were going back for the other one?”

“Well, I started thinking about what you said. About how it would make him feel to dress up with a nice watch once in awhile. My nephew really means a lot to me, so I want to get him more than just a basic watch.” You explain. You’d known that you wanted to get him something special when you walked into the mall, and this stranger just helped you realize that it was easier than you thought. A watch was a simple gift, but it can also be very special. “I want to give him something with feeling behind it, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.” He agrees, a nostalgic look in his eyes as he looks straight ahead. He stands up to his full height and stretches before he takes a look at the display from the top to look at all the colors. “Can I see a picture of him?”

“You want me to show a total stranger a picture of my underage nephew?” You ask. Of course you were sarcastic, but the momentary flash of panic across his face was still hilarious. But his hand placing itself in front of you to shake was a bit unexpected. “My name is Jimin.” 

“I guess that works.” You shake his hand in return, pulling away to grab and unlock your phone to scroll through your sister’s Facebook page. Out of the millions of pictures of both your nephew and your niece, you settle for the picture of him at his first homecoming with his girlfriend. His hair styled back with a little bit of volume, his dress shirt a nice royal blue with matching blue socks and black pants, shoes, and vest. He looked so put together and you definitely cried for a whole hour when you finally got to see his pictures. “So what do you think? He’s pretty handsome, right?”

“Definitely.” He agrees, studying the picture on your phone. He takes turns looking between the photo and looking over the watches before he stops on the display case. He points at a silver watch with a black watch face, three hands, three small circles on the inside, and a black leather band. “You should go with this one. It’s a neutral color, so he can wear it with anything. That, and it’s face is a bit more intricate than others, so it looks expensive, but it won’t completely break you.”

“Thanks. I’m (Y/n), by the way.” You introduce, putting your hand out for a proper introduction. He smiles back, taking your hand in his own, “It’s nice to meet you. Officially, that is.”

You pull away, “I should probably get going so you can find everything you’re looking for without me bugging you!” 

“I didn’t mind.”

You smile and make your way to the checkout line, your small cart of items for your brothers ready to be scanned and hauled all the way back to your car on the other side of the mall. Waiting in the line to leave allowed you the time to think back to the man you met today. He was kind - and very cute - and he really didn’t have to help you out today. It was nice kinda shopping with someone else. It felt so much easier than your usual shopping, and altogether made you much more relaxed to go home to your apartment.

“Here’s your receipt, ma’am.” The cashier says, handing over the paper just so you could be reminded about how much money you just spent. You nod your thanks and wish her a good evening, taking your bags and starting your long trek back to your car by yourself. The memories of your stranger would now just be a memory of a missed opportunity on your part.

“Excuse me.” A voice pulls you out of your self pity. One of the clerks you had seen in the jewelry department stood behind you would a small, red box in his hand. He tilts his head a little, “Do you know a Jimin?” 

“Yes?” You answer, more of a question than a real response. You meet a cute guy and now other random guys know him too? This is what you get for ignoring stranger danger around the holiday when all the freaks are out. He probably wasn’t joking about the ‘not getting caught for human trafficking�� thing. “He told me to give this to you, and that you should really consider his offer.”

“Um, thank you. I will.” You bow politely, walking away uncertain of what just happened. Weird, but not the strangest encounter you’ve ever had. You decide to just get to your car before you take a look at what it was he wanted to give you that he couldn’t do in person. Removing the paper from the box, you open it to find a case for a watch - more specifically, the case for the watch you just bought - black casing with two glass panels to show off what you put inside. It screamed expensive, and you knew it. A paper on the inside of the box catches your eye and you open it, letting out a small ‘oh my god’ as you read over his note.

~ Hey, (Y/n)! Do you know BTS? Well, we’re having a fan meet this weekend and I’d really like to see you again so you can help me with my shopping this time. Maybe if you do a good job I’ll give you my number ;) Please, come and see me again! - Jimin

You don’t know what made you do it, his cheeky personality or his generosity. Maybe it was the want to thank him, but you knew that you’d definitely be going to that fan meet to see his smile again.

[corpse--diem]

Organ’s Out Of The Bag | Morgan & Erin

Summary: Morgan interrupts Erin at work, eats her organs, and learns about the family trade.  When: Week of 5/4 Featuring: @mor-beck-more-problems​

There wasn’t a “How To Operate An Illegal Organ Trafficking Business For Dummies” book to help Erin work out the best system for organizing and storing frozen organs. Shocker. Buying a second industrial cooler would have been as expensive as it was suspicious, which made trial and error the only real option. It was tedious, and there was probably still a better way, but she’d found her groove. Hollowed, block-like shelving units had been attached to the far end of the wall. Other items were stored on top but she could lift the face of each one, almost like a locker, to fill and empty as needed. Only she knew where the latches were and only she could open it. A small feat, sure, but you had to take your wins where you could get them. Maybe she was finally getting the hang of this? That was a thought that should have sat more uncomfortably on her mind or deterred the smirk on her lips. If she had a spare moment at all, it wasn’t for that kind of introspection. 

With her music loud and her focus set, she made quick work of it. Saran Wrap, label, and onto the next. Just another Tuesday. One more load to go and she could break for dinner. A figure filled the doorway when she turned, startling her backwards while some instinctive part of her reached for the knife in her back pocket. “Jesus Christ, Morgan…” she huffed out, freezing before she pulled out the blade. “You scared the shit out of me. What—“ she narrowed her eyes, her panic doubling in that moment. “You’re not allowed down here.”

After the video incident, Morgan hadn’t expected Erin to be someone who was okay with hanging out with her newly dead and only semi-feeling self. But aside from the body horror, Erin thought she was ‘cool’. Maybe Erin lived with death in a way that kept her from feeling it. Maybe it wasn’t a tar pit for her. Maybe it didn’t even pull, but could just...sit its ass down and let her be. Erin had her life pretty together, right?

Morgan traipsed up the entrance of the Nichols’ house since Erin had said she could just come in, but there was no sign of her, or any life going on in the house. So she turned instead to the lower levels where they had passed through for the ritual. She found her bent over a table with...organs. Bags and bags of organs. Morgan stayed put, hand over her stomach, her mouth watering. At least one of those was a heart, and those were thick enough to remind her of meat sometimes. But there was the whole other question of what they were doing here. Morgan didn’t know a lot about mortuary work, but there were too many different kinds laying around near each other for it to have anything to do with her ‘clients’. And if it wasn’t that, than maybe--

Erin turned just as Morgan reached for a bag of brains and a pair of eyeballs. She smiled, bright and sheepish. “Hi…” She drew out the greeting as long as possible. “We had plans. You said I could come and show you more weird zombie things?” Her gaze slid sideways to the table. Stars, it all looked so good. “I knocked, you didn’t answer,” she went onto explain, popping one of the eyeballs in her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. “And since I already knew my way around…” She shrugged and swallowed the eyeball, popped the other one into her mouth, doing her damnedest to savor it before she stuffed the whole table into her mouth. “So, anyway, what’s with all the random dead organs on your table?”

Fuck. Erin had completely forgotten about their plans. Not that she wasn’t excited for some extreme body horror and manipulation. Between the lack of sleep, the mimes lurking around every corner, and maintaining her day and night jobs, things were slipping through the cracks. “Sorry,” she shook her head, moving to turn the music off. “I got caught up in--” she started to explain, until she was watching Morgan pop an eyeball into her mouth like she was sampling an appetizer. It wasn’t bad enough that Morgan saw the goods, she had to snack on them too. Five minutes in and she was already out a couple hundred bucks. This was off to a hell of a start. “Stop that!” She ran for the table, collecting the rest of the saran-wrapped organs in her arms. Fuck. Fuck. “I was about to put them away,” she answered, aware that it was more of a nonanswer. “They’re not hors d'oeuvres so can you just--try to refrain?” She huffed, moving to the freezer. Glanced back, unable to feel just a little uncomfortable at the thought of being alone with an apparently snacky zombie. “I thought you just were into brains, anyway?”

Morgan backed away from the table, frowning as she cradled her snacks to her chest. “This is me trying!” She whined, mouth still half full. This wasn’t a good time to wonder if whatever species this had come from actually tasted better than the rabbit eyes she normally had, but the pull in her, the wanting, was so much she closed her eyes to enjoy the last gummy chunks sliding down her throat as she finished it off. “Um, so, funny story? Brains make my world go round, but dead bodies and viscera are like...well I never did even soft drugs when I was alive, but I can’t help myself. I’ve stuck my face straight into a dead baby deer. It’s like true love...in uh, you know, gross...foodie sort of way.” She swallowed the last of the eyeball, feeling embarrassed. Then she remembered that Erin was the one with the zombie buffet on her table. “You never answered my question. What are you doing with the zombie buffet on your table? This doesn’t look all that much like Funeral Director of the Year stuff.” She opened the brain bag and started to munch on that next.

Erin couldn’t help but stare with vague fascination as she watched Morgan explain herself, chewing on a half eaten eyeball. “I’ll try to remember that next time, then,” she winced a little, watching her money go right down Morgan’s throat. Nothing that could be done about it now, anyway. Flustered a little at the question, realizing Morgan wasn’t about to let up. “Well--I was saving that one for you anyway so, please. Enjoy,” she nodded towards the human brain she was already feasting on. A little sarcastic considering she was helping herself again but more genuine than not. Fuck. This wasn’t at all how she’d anticipated this little visit to go. With a long sigh, she pulled her rubber gloves off. “It’s--complicated,” she said hurriedly, clearing her throat. Had she ever actually straight up told anyone about this? Nic, Marley--hell, even Nell just knew. No explanations had been necessary. “And I’m a damn good funeral director. This doesn’t change that.” Her fingers tapped on the silver table and she eyed her carefully. “If I tell you, this stays between us, right?” Morgan was smart enough to probably figure it out at this point, but the assurance didn’t hurt.

Morgan continued to frown, miffed that she was on the pointy end of the sarcasm stick when she had been asked to come. What was she supposed to do, stay at the door all night and go home sad? But Erin seemed frazzled beyond being interrupted. Morgan’s dig at her above-board job proved that too. Morgan was even beginning to feel bad. She tilted her head, trying to get a better read on Erin. “I’m a zombie, Erin. I know all about awkward secrets to keep.” She started to edge closer, plucking a chunk of brain matter off to chew on. And, holy shit, she had to know how long this one had been left sitting and at what temperature, because it made her taste buds melt like burgers used to--but there were more important things to deal with. Erin had some kind of organ stockpiling problem, and maybe a ‘oops my friend knows I’m into some weird, sketchy looking shit’ problem. “If it helps, it looks like you’re running some kind of under the table organ pantry. So either I’m right, and I just made your job easier for you, or I’m wrong, and you have even more reason to correct me. But...you just saw me eat eyeballs and I used to sell people shiny rocks I transmuted out of garbage. I’m really not gonna judge.”

Erin chewed on the inside of her lip as Morgan spoke. Yep. Of course she figured it out. What the fuck else was a mortician doing with a bunch of unlabeled organs saran wrapped in the embalming room? All signs pointed to shady. This was entirely her fault, which bothered her the most about this whole thing. She fucked up. Forgot their plans. Something had to give, eventually. It was bound to. Juggling businesses, murderous mimes and actively trying to not be a shitty friend was a dangerous game. But she trusted Morgan, as much as that was worth. Had to, considering how calmly she was chewing on Mr. “Mr. Reid’s dearly departed brain, after taking out his eyeballs in less than five minutes flat. “Organ harvesting and trafficking, actually,” she corrected her, taking a deep breath after she said the words out loud. Just rip the bandaid off, right? Felt wrong on her tongue for more reasons than she cared to think about. “It’s--” she shook her head, glancing down at the table again for a moment, then forced herself to stare back up at Morgan. Fingers thrumming against the table again, her nerves alight. “My dad got into it before I took the business over and I got stuck with it because he couldn’t handle it. Please believe me when I say this isn’t something I ever wanted.”

Oh. Oh, this was something serious. Was Morgan still a person who knew how to take on serious things with new people? She was feeling okay today. Sort of float-y in a way that made a distant part of her worried, but she wasn’t tired. Not like she was on other days. But this whole—thing Erin was tearsely explaining wasn’t something looked suddenly less like a dirty secret and more like a two ton brick she’d been hauling for too long. Morgan could at least understand that feeling, even if the rest of the situation confused her. “Shit,” she said. “That explains some of the vague trauma you mentioned. I can’t even imagine…” She stepped closer, more confident now that she wasn’t in trouble, “Can ask if—I mean, is it going well? Are you...going to be okay?”

Relief came with the confession like an exhale. A momentary reprieve to that tension knotting in her chest for months now. The inhale felt just as horrible as it always had. The knot settled back where it knew it belonged in Erin’s chest. Morgan wouldn’t judge. She wouldn’t rat her out. But there was something unsafe about having it out in the open like this. A little bit of control was gone and that almost felt worse than the deed itself. “Good as it can be, I guess? It was a little rocky at first but--I’m getting there.” She tossed on a smile, raising a brow at Morgan. “Don’t worry about it. Just try not to eat my merchandise? Those eyeballs you demolished set me back a couple hundred dollars,” she teased, a chuckle in her voice to hide the very real pain there. Dale was a good scapegoat for that kind of thing anyway--the big oaf was as heavy handed as they came. She leaned against the table, glancing between the brain in her hands and Morgan’s gaze. “Is… that your first human brain?”

“Oh. Oh, shit!” Morgan cried, face dropping with dismay. “I really couldn’t help it. That’s not just like, me being weird. I can probably get Deirdre to reimburse you? I don’t have to mention the eyeballs, or the brain, if you don’t want, but I uh...don’t think she’d mind it either.” It was a little too late with the brain, so Morgan took a sheepish dip back into the bag to pull off another chunk. It was halfway up to her mouth when Erin said the word human. Morgan looked down at the brain again. “Oh,” she said, voice squeaking. “So that’s why it tastes so good.” She continued to stare at the brain. From the size of it, she probably should’ve known it wasn’t just some deer. But holy shit. You’d think there’d be fanfare or at least a good shock of agony over baby’s first lite cannibalism. But it had just been a really yummy brain, no more interesting than another until she’d tasted it. “Uh...yeah. If that’s what this is...yeah.” Was it bad, that it didn’t mean anything to her? That the only thought she’d had was how yummy? Sure, deer and raccoon and cow brain were nice. But this was steak. Or cheesecake. For all that it looked the same, the taste was enough to have let her feel good about something while she’d chewed. Then another question came to her. “Not to be gross, but are these...was this…” she jiggled the bag in her hand. “...One of your clients?”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Erin finally gave a genuine laugh, shaking her head. Was that one of those zombie quirks? Like how amputated body parts turned to goo? “I actually really was saving that brain for you.” She had to admit, she was a little surprised at Morgan’s hesitation. This was a funeral home. No way she could’ve thought animal brains were more readily available than an actual human’s. Didn’t deter her, she noted, when her fingers dipped back into the bag. “Well,” she said, starting to pull off her blue scrubs, raising a brow. “My clients have some organs to spare. Waste not, want not?” She offered with a shrug. It was more difficult than she anticipated to keep her eyes off of Morgan. She looked the same, and if it wasn’t for the brain food she was gobbling down, it would’ve been impossible to see anything different about her. But she was eating a human brain. She knew what happened to some of the parts that left her basement, but this was the first time she’d witnessed it first hand. “Doesn’t bother you, does it?” Another pause as she tried not to overtly stare anymore. “You know, I swear I didn’t invite you over for this but--if that’s something you think you’d want on a regular basis, I can definitely help you out.”

Morgan looked down at the brain. She was still waiting for the horror to set in, but mostly she was worried what Remmy would say, or Deirdre. She’d only given her animal brains so far, not even an offer or a suggestion of anything else. They wouldn’t blame her for an accident, but liking it, enjoying it---Morgan saw herself split and cracked between two lenses. One monstrous, one that simply was. ‘Don’t eat the humans’ was the number one thing she heard from hunter types. It was even a question she remembered asking herself. Do they eat people? Do they hurt people? As if it made them inherently better, safer, if the answer was “right.” But here she was, some poor guy’s insides already in her stomach. And as much as she was troubled, it took effort to maintain. “B-bother?” She asked. Shrugged. “Does it bother you? You seem pretty chill with me eating in front of you, all things considered. I mean, would you really….supply that sort of thing? For me?”

There was some kind of internal struggle going on behind Morgan’s eyes. Was this weird for her too? She’d been snacking on them like Erin was going out of business. “I don’t know, maybe I should be more bothered,” she shrugged, running a hand through her hair. “But I fished them out of the guy, you know?” Maybe it was like how a butcher didn’t have any trouble selling even the most obscure parts of the cow. In this case, she was simply more familiar with the human body. “Doesn’t bother me,” she confirmed, giving her a smile to cement that. “Brains are a little more expensive, just so you know. But yeah. This is what I do. It wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

“You...did all this yourself? And the guy still looked like himself at the end? With the--” Morgan motioned to her skull. “I’m usually in a weird...zombie haze whenever I’m eating out in the wild, so things like being careful don’t really make it into the thought process. But...bones are hard. If you get it really wrong, you get a bunch of gross pointy bits in the food. Worse than eggshells in your fried rice. What do you do to get to the stuff and humpty-dumpty them back together?” But something else snagged her mind more than her curiosity, pulling her back. “You really mean it? About the not weird and the...supply? Just, you know, for sometimes? Really?” She wondered how expensive Erin was talking here.

“The brain’s usually always taken out during an autopsy, along with the rest of the organs.” Erin explained. “They all get tossed into the visceral bag, which then gets tucked into the stomach cavity. Makes my job easier because then all I have to do is take them out and pack them up.” This would make the whole process way slower and harder if she had to go in every time and dissect them herself, she knew that much. Her brows furrowed at the thought of Morgan out there in the woods, running around and crushing animal skulls. “Yeah, I mean it. Can’t have you out there chasing after squirrels or whatever all the time, right?” Wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. She shrugged. “My boss usually likes to charge a higher fee but I don’t mind cutting costs. For friends,” she smiled.

“Oh, wow. That’s...one way to do it.” Morgan realized with unsettling clarity that she had never thought of the mechanics of death before. When she had lost her parents and her friends, she had been too wrapped up in the loss and unfairness of it to remember there was something practical, even mechanical to death. Even in humans, with the rituals and the preservation that kept the flies and maggots at bay, there was something. A process detached from all that they had meant before the last breath went out. It wasn’t bad, or hurtful, it was simply...after. Morgan came out of her thought to look at Erin, steeped her whole life in this strange, thankless care. It was essential, even as it rattled and stung the rest of the world, her clients. She didn’t even have much of a chip on her shoulder about it, she just continued, and found a way to make “after” work for other people too. Well, maybe not “found,” but she was still at it. And now that the shock of discovery had worn off, she didn’t seem that ashamed about it. A rush of endearment filled her and she ran to Erin, brain still jiggling in the bag and pulled her into a crushing hug. “Thank you, Erin,” she said. “You’re a really good friend, you know that?” She lingered there a moment, trying to fix words to how...fine all of this seemed. Not normal, they wouldn’t be hiding in a basement if it was normal, but fine. She pulled away, backing up to hop on the table, taking another handful of brain. “You wouldn’t have heard from somewhere about how human brains taste, would you? I feel weirdly like...playing board games. And listening to the radio. Like there’s a hockey game on? I don’t like hockey, but if you know where to put one on--” She gave a thumbs up and took another bite of brain. “But, also, I’ve lost my foot like twice this week. If you wanted to check out weird things my bones can do still.”

Erin looked up just in time to brace herself for the shorter woman hurling herself at her. “Oh, you’re--,” she huffed out a laugh, genuinely struggling to catch her breath. For a moment it felt like she had just ran into a wall with arms. “You’re welcome,” she finished, briefly wrapping her arms around her. Morgan was a lot of things Erin was still trying to properly grasp, but she was a good one. Chaotic, but good. That much she did know. She held her hand to her chest when Morgan pulled away, laughing despite herself. “I’ve never thought to ask,” she answered honestly, leaning against the same table Morgan was perched on. “How does it taste?” When she started to prattle on more questions, things so specific to the man in the ziploc bag in her hands, she couldn’t help but stop in her tracks. “Don’t tell me you’re suddenly craving a tall, crisp IPA now too?” She asked, glancing back and forth between Morgan and the bag. His widower had carried on about the man’s favorite things to her just that morning before crying into her shoulder. “You don’t mean you’ve literally lost your foot, right?” As soon as she asked the question, she couldn’t help but realize how very wrong she probably was.

Morgan shrugged. “Rich. Like, a good medium-rare burger. Or like, cheesecake? It’s good. Rich. My mouth is literally watering eating it.” She took another bite. “Ew, IPA? No, I mean, I can’t taste anything anymore, but I came from Houston, and our beer culture is way to evolved for an IPA. Are you saying--” She eyed the brain pointedly. “I actually kinda know Mr. What’s-his-name? When I eat him?” She shrugged, a little uncomfortable. Having real, meaningful parts of people in her head wasn’t something she was sure she liked. But stars, whats-his-name tasted good. “Ooh, but actually, I did mean literally.” She kicked off her flats and wiggled her bare toes. “I don’t have anything to break them with, but if you got anything fancy in here, you can knock yourself out. Like--” She pressed them against a chair leg, more and more until they crumbled and bent over in a way toes normally shouldn’t. It was a satisfying sting of pain. She flexed them again and they righted themselves before both their eyes, only a little dislocated, really. She smiled up at Erin, kicking her legs with a little satisfaction. “I mean, when I ran into this scary eye-hands critter, I just lost the whole thing. And with the killer clams. But we’re good as new now!” She looked around the room for wherever Erin kept her music. “I do kinda mean it about hockey though.”

“Mr. Reid drank IPA’s,” Erin corrected, a slow smirk on her lips as she watched her. She didn’t have any particular thoughts about beer. Beer was beer. Some of it was good, some of it was bad, but it all got the job done in the end. She couldn’t help but stare as Morgan seemed to crush her toes, then flexed them back into shape again. “Whoa,” she said in genuine amazement. An idea sparked and she turned, digging into one of the cabinets. “Yeah, over there,” she said, pointing towards a radio across the room. She pulled out one of her biggest, thickest trocars. This wouldn’t hurt her right? Erin smiled, raising a brow. “Hey--can I try something?”