#my brain fried both from excitement and complexity

[keferon]

…..SO. AHAHAHAHAH. I finished reading Mistakes on mistakes until (technically I finished chapter 68 which is the last one currently~)

What a ride OH MY fuckINg god

[elikajinnie]

How Can I Choose?

P: Roommates!Heeseung & Jake X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, Bonding, Alcohol Drinking, Clubbing, Teasing like LOT of teasing, Possessive Behaviour, Suggestive Content (i mean it), they both kinda whipped for you, Ambigious Ending.

Synopsis: After months of crashing on friends' couches, you finally find a cheap apartment, only to realize your new roommates—Heeseung and Jake—both have feelings for you. As flirtation turns into tension, you must navigate the complexities of living together while deciding how to handle their surprising willingness to share you.

a/n: boaf. baof? BOAF! -- i HOPE the link of the drawing i made of the apartment is accessible! pls tell me if it isnt. anyways! i got this idea in the shower and fried my brain by writing it in the span of a few hours :) SO PLSSS DONT MIND HOW STUPID IT IS.

-----

You stand in front of a tall, gray apartment building, boxes and suitcases piled around you. One of your friends had been kind enough to drive you and your stuff to this new place, and as their car drives away, you're left with a sense of excitement. This is your chance to finally find some stability after a long stretch of uncertainty.

There’s an excitement buzzing in your chest, but a trace of exhaustion lingers. For weeks, you’ve been crashing on friends' couches, juggling multiple jobs, and the demands of school alongside the perpetual search for somewhere—anywhere—to land.

Finally, though, things seemed to be turning around. Just days ago, you’d been clocked in for a slow shift at the convenience store, trying to squeeze in some schoolwork behind the counter.

With only a handful of customers trickling in over the hours, you found yourself browsing for rental listings once you had finished your assignments.

Luck seemed to be on your side that day. The first ad you saw was for an apartment close to the city, with a store nearby and plenty of bus stops in the area. It was perfect. The listing described a single room available in a decently sized apartment, affordable and ideally located. The ad was put up by someone named Sim Jaeyun, who had a picture of a cute dog as his profile picture but no other personal information.

You scrolled through the pictures of the apartment, noting its clean, functional layout. The description specified the need for a tenant who was clean, could cook for themselves, wasn't excessively loud, and could pay rent on time. You nodded, realizing you met all those criteria, and sent in your request without hesitation.

As you close your laptop that day, a customer walks in, and you go back to your duties, hoping that this will be the break you've been waiting for. The prospect of finally unpacking your suitcase for good after moving out from your parents' house was a comforting thought that kept you going.

Now, standing at the building’s entrance, you can’t help but feel a small, hopeful thrill. You walk towards the door and pull your focus to the side panel by the intercom and scan for the familiar name: Jaeyun. But your eyes catch something else—Jake and Heeseung. You tilt your head, curious. Jake was the name you’d come to know him by in your recent conversations, the person who’d warmly accepted your request and walked you through what to expect. You hadn’t known there was another roommate. With a shrug, you figure it’s something you’ll ask him about once you’re inside. Pressing the buzzer, you wait.

A few seconds later, a soft buzz sounds, and the door clicks open. You place a wooden doorstop to prop it open and start bringing in your belongings, piling up suitcases and boxes just inside the entrance. The elevator dings, drawing your attention as the doors slide open, revealing a man stepping out. His dark hair falls casually around his glasses, framing a face both handsome and warm. His clothes are neat but relaxed, hanging comfortably on his frame, and his easy smile grows wider when he spots you.

“Hey! You must be the new tenant,” he greets, extending a hand as he reaches you. “I’m Jake.”

You introduce yourself with a grunt, and he nods, giving a friendly chuckle before he glances down at the boxes and bags. “Let me help you with that.” With his help, it doesn’t take long for you to gather your belongings into the elevator.

Once all your things are inside, Jake presses the button for the third floor, and the elevator doors glide shut with a soft hum. He turns to you, slipping easily into what sounds like a well-rehearsed rundown of apartment essentials.

“So, first thing,” he says, glancing over at you with a friendly smile, “I’ll get you a key for the front door. And the apartment itself has a digital lock, so I’ll give you the code as well. We usually change it every few months, just to be safe.”

You nod, taking it all in as he continues.

“The laundry room is in the basement. It’s shared with a few other units, but it’s usually pretty quiet. Most people don’t do laundry until the weekends, so if you want some quiet time down there, mid-week is best.” He gives a quick chuckle. “Also, there's a schedule sheet down there if you want to block off a time.”

As the elevator rises, he ticks off other small details—the garbage room is down the hall, recycling day is every Tuesday, and there’s a spot by the door for your shoes, since he prefers to keep the place tidy. It’s all practical, straightforward, and reassuring.

As he speaks, you think back to the other name on the door panel and decide to ask. “So… Heeseung?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s a good friend,” Jake replies, giving a small nod. “He’s crashing with me. His schedule is intense, so you won’t see much of him unless there’s something big planned. But he’s a good guy—you’ll like him.”

You nod in understanding, unable to keep the fleeting thought that if Jake looks this good, Heeseung might be just as handsome.

The elevator dings, signaling that you’ve arrived. Jake reaches down, effortlessly lifting a heavy box as he steps into the hallway. He walks to door 3F, punches in the code, and holds the door open as you step into your new apartment.

The first thing that strikes you is the openness of the space. Sunlight filters in through large windows, illuminating the clean, modern living room. A spacious couch faces an oversized TV, framed by soft, neutral-colored walls and minimal decor that gives it a cozy feel. Further in, to the right, lies an open kitchen and dining area. There’s a polished dining table set against the wall, and you can picture yourself here, finally settled and able to take in a meal in peace. A small staircase with four steps sits to the right, leading up to what you assume are the bedrooms.

Jake steps up beside you, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. “I, uh, did a bit of cleaning before you came. Wanted to make sure you had a good first impression.”

You chuckle softly and assure him it’s perfect as he leads you up the stairs. At the top, he pushes open the door to a room and steps inside, placing the bag and box he’s holding down carefully. “Here we are. This is your room.”

You step inside, taking in the space that is, for now, just walls and an bed frame. But with your belongings, you can already imagine turning it into comfortable. Jake heads back downstairs to grab more of your things, leaving you to take in the moment.

Setting your suitcase and bag down, you take a deep breath, just as Jake returns, balancing a final pair of bags. He gives a small, easy smile as he sets them down by the bed frame.

“Oh, by the way,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, a little sheepish. “I took the liberty of getting you a mattress. Figured it’d make the first few nights a bit more comfortable.”

Your face lights up in gratitude. “Thank you, Jake. That’s really thoughtful.”

He shrugs it off with a smile. “Glad it helps.” Gesturing around the small hall outside, he continues, “So, my room’s just across from yours, and the bathroom’s at the end of the hall, next to my room. Heeseung’s room is right beside yours, but he’s out right now, so no worries there.” He hands you a small, brass-colored key. “Here’s your copy of the front door key.”

You take it, the weight of it feeling like a tiny anchor, grounding you here. With a nod, he gives you a quick smile and quietly steps out, closing the door behind him.

As the silence settles, you glance around, noticing—thankfully—that the door has a lock, which brings a small comfort. You exhale, feeling a rare sense of privacy and security, and decide it’s time to start unpacking. Unzipping your first bag, you begin pulling out clothes and books, setting them on the bed.

With each item you unpack, the room slowly takes shape. Clothes find a place in the closet, your books line up on a narrow shelf, and you tack a few personal photos and mementos on the walls, bringing color and comfort to the once-bare space. A small, soft rug unfurls at the foot of the bed, and a cozy blanket drapes over the mattress. By the time you finish, hours have slipped by without you realizing it.

Just then, a loud growl from your stomach reminds you it’s well past dinnertime. You leave the room, closing the door behind you, and step out into the apartment. The lights are dim, shadows stretching through the now quiet space, and Jake is nowhere in sight. Shrugging, you make your way to the kitchen.

You open the fridge and peer inside, noticing containers labeled with Jake and Heeseung’s names—and a few others you don’t recognize. One container in particular catches your eye, with a handwritten label that reads Ni-ki. Just as you’re about to open it, wondering who this Ni-ki is, a soft chime sounds from the front door, signaling someone’s arrival.

Turning, you see a tall man standing in the entryway, framed by the dim glow of the hallway. He’s effortlessly cool, dressed in baggy pants and a leather jacket, a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. His dark hair is swept back, and his gaze sharpens as he looks at you.

“Who are you?” he asks, his voice low and slightly gruff.

You introduce yourself, explaining you’re Jake’s new roommate, and he nods in understanding.

“So, you’re the girl Jake was talking about,” he says, almost to himself. “I’m Heeseung.” He then glances at the container still in your hand and raises an eyebrow. “You might want to avoid eating Ni-ki’s leftovers,” he advises with a small smirk. “He can be… protective of his food.”

You tilt your head. “Who’s Ni-ki?”

“A friend,” Heeseung replies simply, slipping out of his jacket and hanging it by the door. As you place the container back in the fridge, he suddenly reappears in front of you, holding out a takeout bag.

“Here,” he says, passing it to you.

You take it, peeking inside to find a neatly packed dinner. You look up, surprised. “Thank you, Heeseung.”

His expression softens, a faint smile curving his lips. “You’re welcome.”

A voice from behind interrupts. “Can you close the fridge?”

You and Heeseung turn to see Jake standing at the kitchen entrance, dressed in pajamas, rubbing his eyes with a sleepy smile. You quickly apologize and shut the fridge door, but Jake waves it off as he turns his attention to Heeseung.

“Hey, man,” Jake says, stepping over to Heeseung. Then, with a gleam in his eye, he looks back at you, resting his hand on your shoulder and playfully bouncing on his feet. “Isn’t she great? The new roommate?”

Heeseung chuckles, looking down at you with a gaze that feels unexpectedly warm. “She’s even better than you said,” he says, his voice dropping to a soft, teasing tone. “Got a good taste in roommates, huh?”

Jake nods, grinning. “Right? A good pick for sure.” He tosses you a lighthearted wink, adding, “We’re lucky to have you here.”

The playful compliments catch you off guard, and you can feel your cheeks heating up. Silently grateful for the dim light that hides your blush, you stammer out a thank you, bidding them both goodnight before slipping back to your room.

Once inside, you lock the door and settle onto the bed, setting up the takeout and opening your laptop. The food is still warm, and you relax against the pillows, pulling up an episode of the series you’ve been watching.

-----

The next morning, your alarm jolts you awake, piercing through the calm of your dreams. You groan and fumble to turn it off, rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you sit up.

After changing into a fresh set of clothes, you grab your toiletries and shuffle out into the hallway, relieved to find it empty. You lock the bathroom door behind you, a small sigh of relief escaping your lips.

Inside, the bathroom is decently sized, its neutral colors soothing. A simple shower sits in the far corner, while a toilet is tucked beside it. Two sinks stand side by side, both topped with a huge mirror that reflects the morning light. You notice one sink is filled with various male grooming products—shaving cream, two toothbrushs, and a few other items—while the other sink remains empty. A smile tugs at your lips as you remember Jake mentioning that the empty sink was yours.

You get to work, brushing your teeth and washing your face, the cool water refreshing against your skin. The cabinets hold a few decorations and essentials, but you keep it simple as you focus on getting ready for the day. Once you finish, you take a last glance at your reflection, before exiting the bathroom. You head back to your room to grab your bag. After making sure the door is locked behind you, you head down the stairs and out of the apartment, trying to be as quiet as possible. You hope you didn’t wake Jake and Heeseung; they both have classes later in the day, and you’d hate to disturb their sleep.

Once outside, you take a deep breath, the crisp morning air filling your lungs as you walk toward the bus stop. You decide to skip breakfast this morning, opting to grab lunch on campus and planning to pick up groceries in the afternoon instead.

The elevator ride down feels swift, and as you step outside, you see the bus pulling up just in time. You board, find a seat, and settle in, clutching your bag on your lap as you pull out your phone. With a few taps, you put on your favorite playlist, letting the music drown out the morning chatter around you.

As the bus rolls along, you gaze out the window, watching the world blur by. Trees, shops, and people merge into a soft painting of morning life, and a small smile spreads across your face.

----

After a long day of classes, you make your way back to the bus stop, the familiar rhythm of your routine guiding you. Once on the bus, you relax, your mind still buzzing from the lectures and discussions. The bus stops at the mall, and you hop off, ready to clock into your shift at the clothing store.

The hours fly by as you assist customers, folding clothes, and restocking shelves. Each sale and every smile from satisfied shoppers makes the time pass a little quicker. When your shift finally ends, you clock out, ready to head to your next job.

Another bus ride takes you to the convenience store, where you cover for one of your colleagues who is running late. Luckily, your shift is only a few hours. You greet familiar faces as you work the register, and soon enough, your colleague arrives, a bit flustered but apologetic. You clock out, the end of your shift bringing a welcome sigh of relief.

With a little time to spare, you decide to shop for groceries. The store is busy, but you quickly gather the essentials you need for the week. With bags in hand, you hop on the bus again, this time heading to a nearby takeout place where you’ve already called in an order. The thought of cooking feels too exhausting after a long day, so you indulge in the convenience.

Once you pick up your food, you decide to walk home since it’s not too far. As you approach the apartment, you pull out your keychain, finding the key that now feels familiar. Unlocking the door, you step inside, your feet heavy with fatigue. The elevator ride up feels like a small victory, and as you reach the third floor, you shuffle down the hallway to your door.

You punch in the code, the door clicking open as you step inside. Kicking off your shoes and hanging your jacket, you’re immediately greeted by the cheerful presence of Jake and Heeseung. They’re in the living room, and their warm smiles lift your spirits.

“How was your day?” Jake asks, leaning forward with genuine interest.

“Exhausting,” you reply, dragging your bag into the dining area and setting down the takeout food on the table.

Jake’s eyes light up, and he hurries over, his curiosity piqued as he peeks at the food. Meanwhile, Heeseung moves to help you with the groceries, offering to take the bags to the kitchen.

As you unpack, you can’t help but smile at Jake, who is now sneakily grabbing some fries from the takeout container. You shake your head playfully, and he grins, unrepentant in his munching.

The three of you settle around the table, sharing the fries and nuggets, laughter filling the space as you recount the amusing moments from your day. But soon, Heeseung checks the time and realizes he has to get to work.

“Alright, I gotta run,” he says, grabbing his jacket and helmet. “See you guys later!” You and Jake wave goodbye as the front door closes behind him, leaving you and Jake alone in the apartment.

The atmosphere shifts to a cozy calm as you both move to the couch, where Jake grabs a blanket and hands it to you. You settle in, finding the couch surprisingly comfortable.

“Alright, what are we in the mood for?” Jake asks, glancing over at you.

“Something light, maybe a comedy?” you suggest, settling into the cushions.

He nods, his finger hovering over a title. “I’m down for that. Do you have a favorite comedy?”

You think for a moment, a smile creeping onto your face as you recall one of your all-time favorites. “I love Superbad! It’s just so ridiculous but really relatable. What about you?”

Jake grins, leaning back. “Classic choice! I’d have to say The Hangover. That movie just cracks me up every time. The whole concept is just so over-the-top.”

You laugh, remembering the wild escapades of the characters. “It really is! And the way everything just spirals out of control—it's like a train wreck you can’t look away from.”

He clicks on a rom-com, and you settle in to watch. As the opening credits roll, you continue chatting. “So, what got you into movies?” you ask, genuinely curious.

Jake shrugs, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. “I guess I grew up watching them with my family. It was always a thing for us to have movie nights on weekends. How about you?”

“Same! My parents were big on movies too, so I was basically raised on classic films. We’d have popcorn and everything. I think that’s where I got my love for them.”

You share stories of your favorite movie nights, each anecdote flowing effortlessly between you. You talk about the films that have made you cry, the ones that made you laugh until your sides hurt, and the thrillers that kept you on the edge of your seat.

“I’m a sucker for horror movies,” Jake admits, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “The adrenaline rush is just so addictive. Have you seen The Conjuring?”

You nod vigorously, recalling how it had you hiding behind your hands the entire time. “That one is terrifying! I had to sleep with the lights on for a week after.”

Jake laughs, and it feels easy and comfortable, the way friends can be. “Same! I love the ones that mess with your mind. You think it’s just a simple scare, but then it leaves you questioning everything later.”

The warmth of the couch and the soft hum of the movie make it hard to keep your eyes open. You fight against the pull of sleep, telling yourself you should stay awake, but it’s a losing battle. Your eyelids grow heavier, and soon enough, they flutter shut, surrendering to the comfort enveloping you.

Time slips away, and you drift in and out of consciousness. The sounds of the film fade into a gentle lull, a backdrop to your dreams.

You only briefly wake when you feel yourself being lifted. Your eyes flutter open, and you blink a few times, trying to make sense of your surroundings. When your gaze meets Jake’s, looking down at you with a sleepy smile, warmth spreads through your chest.

“Go back to sleep,” he mumbles, his voice low and soothing. You can’t find it in you to argue, and you let the comforting haze of sleep pull you under once more.

Jake carries you effortlessly, maneuvering through the apartment, and you feel the gentle sway of his movements. You catch brief glimpses of your surroundings as he struggles momentarily with the lock on your bedroom door, the soft click echoing in the stillness.

He finally succeeds, and with a gentle motion, he lays you down in your bed. The softness of your plushies welcomes you, and you instinctively snuggle closer to them. You hear Jake’s soft chuckle, and it makes you smile even in your half-asleep state.

Just before you fully drift off again, you feel a soft brush against your face as Jake tucks a stray strand of hair behind your ear.

He smiles down at you, a quiet moment shared between you. Then, with a gentle touch, he walks out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

A few moments pass before he returns, this time holding a makeup wipe. You stir slightly, feeling his presence as he approaches the bed. Carefully, he leans down, and you can barely register what he’s doing as he begins to remove your makeup from the day. His movements are soft and precise, and you can’t help but feel a rush of warmth at his tenderness.

“There,” he whispers when he’s done, a smile on his lips as he looks at you. “Pretty...” The word lingers in the air, and even in your half-asleep state, it makes your heart flutter. He tosses the used wipe into the small bin underneath your desk and quietly closes your door.

The sound of the movie plays softly in the background as Jake settles back into the living room, the soft glow of the screen illuminating his features. He waits for Heeseung to return, glancing occasionally toward the hallway, a small smile on his face as he thinks of you tucked away in your room.

----

The next morning, you wake up slowly, the soft sunlight filtering through your window, casting warm rays across your face. It feels like a rare luxury to have a late shift, and you stretch lazily under the covers before finally rolling out of bed. You take your time with your morning routine, enjoying the rare moment of leisure before a long shift ahead.

Once you’re dressed and refreshed, you make your way to the kitchen, the familiar scents of home enveloping you. You decide to whip up some breakfast, you switch on the TV, letting the sounds of a morning show accompany your meal prep.

After breakfast, you head back to your room to tackle some schoolwork at your desk. The quiet hum of the apartment is comforting as you focus on your notes.

It’s not long before you hear the soft sound of Heeseung’s bedroom door creaking open, followed by some shuffling footsteps. Curious, you glance toward your door, wondering if he’s finally awake. Moments later, a knock at your door pulls you from your concentration.

“Come in!” you call out, looking up to see Heeseung standing there, looking adorably disheveled. His sweatpants hang low on his hips, a baggy t-shirt swamping him, and messy hair sticks out in all directions, giving him a relaxed look. His fluffy socks peek out from beneath his pants as he shuffles inside.

“Can you make breakfast for me?” he asks, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Can’t you?” you reply teasingly.

“Too tired…” he mutters, a hint of a pout on his lips.

“Late night at the bar?” you inquire, stepping around him and heading to the kitchen, a grin spreading across your face as he follows you like a sleepy shadow.

“Yeah, I had to cover for my friend while he hooked up with some girl… and he took too long,” he explains, his tone flat as he leans against the kitchen island.

“Oh, that sounds terrible. When did you get home?” you ask, measuring out ingredients for waffles.

“Four a.m…” he mumbles, and you can’t help but chuckle softly, shaking your head at his apparent misfortune.

You hum as you mix the batter, the rhythmic motion soothing in its familiarity. Suddenly, you feel Heeseung draping himself over you from behind, his arms wrapping around your waist and his head resting against the crook of your neck.

“Heeseung?…” you mumble, surprised but not entirely against the sudden intimacy. All you receive in response are muffled grumbles, his warm breath sending shivers down your spine.

After a moment of stunned hesitation, you decide to carry on with your waffle-making, pouring the batter into the hot waffle iron while he clings to you like a sleepy koala. The gentle weight of him against you is unexpected, but oddly comforting. You focus on the task at hand, feeling the warmth radiating from both the iron and his body.

You try to push the knowledge of how close you both are to the back of your mind, reminding yourself that if Jake were to come in, he wouldn’t see you from this angle. The thought makes your cheeks warm, but you push it aside, trying to maintain your composure as you concentrate on breakfast.

As the waffle iron hisses and the sweet smell begins to fill the air, you steal a glance at Heeseung, who seems perfectly content with his head resting on you, his grip tightening slightly as if to anchor himself in place.

When the waffles finally finish cooking, the kitchen fills with the delicious scent of warm sweetness, and you can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Heeseung slowly releases his hold on you, finally letting you go as he moves to grab a plate. He fills it with a few waffles, drizzling syrup over them before taking a bite, a look of sheer bliss crossing his face.

“These are amazing,” he mumbles with a mouthful, and you can’t help but chuckle at his eagerness.

“Thanks! Just don’t forget who made them,” you tease, your heart warming at his genuine happiness.

He finishes chewing and leans over to wrap his arms around you once more, pulling you in for a brief hug. “Seriously, thank you. You’re a lifesaver,” he says before plopping down on the couch, clearly ready to enjoy his breakfast in comfort.

You linger in the kitchen for a moment, a smile still on your face, before opening the fridge and grabbing a vitamin drink. You pop it open and take a refreshing sip, as you walk out into the living room.

As you step into the space, you pause at the sight before you. Heeseung has sprawled across the couch, the half-eaten waffle left hanging from his mouth, his eyes shut and small snores escaping him. It’s an adorable sight, and you can’t help but laugh softly, shaking your head in disbelief at how cute he looks.

You quickly grab your phone, snapping a picture of the moment before sending it off to Jake, knowing he would appreciate the humor of the situation once he sees it after class.

With a playful smirk, you approach Heeseung, carefully prying the half-eaten waffle from his mouth. As you do, you notice his shirt has ridden up slightly, exposing a sliver of skin. You gently pull it down, wanting to make him more comfortable. Then, you grab a nearby blanket and drape it over him, ensuring he stays warm.

Ruffling his messy hair affectionately, you step back to admire your handiwork, a fond smile gracing your lips. With Heeseung settled and blissfully unaware, you retreat back to your room, determined to continue your studying.

A little while later, as you immerse yourself in your notes, your phone buzzes with a notification. You glance at the screen, seeing Jake's name light up, and you can’t help but smile at the excited message he sent:

“OMG, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Heeseung is literally draping himself over the couch like a cute baby sloth!”

You laugh, unable to help yourself as you imagine Jake’s exaggerated reactions. You quickly type back a response, “Right? He’s impossible! Just don’t tell him I took that photo.”

As the afternoon rolls around, you glance at the clock, realizing it’s time to get ready for work. You quietly shuffle around the apartment, careful not to wake Heeseung, who remains soundly asleep on the couch, still draped in the cozy blanket you had covered him with. You smile at the sight, finding it hard to resist the urge to snap another picture, but you decide to let him rest instead.

After changing into your work uniform, you grab your bag and head out, giving one last look at the peaceful scene before closing the door behind you. The chill of the air greets you as you make your way to the bus stop, excitement bubbling in your chest for the shift ahead.

Once you arrive at the sweet shop, you clock in and prepare for the bustling evening. Just as the bell above the door jingles, a wave of children floods in, their faces lighting up at the sight of colorful candies and pastries. You jump into action, serving up scoops of ice cream and filling bags with sugary treats, the cheerful chaos making the time fly by.

After what feels like hours, the rush of kids finally calms down, and you lean against the counter, wiping your brow with a sigh of relief. You chat with two of your colleagues, sharing stories and laughing about the antics of the day.

“Did you see the way that kid tried to sneak in an extra gummy bear?” one of them chuckles, mimicking the child’s guilty expression. You join in the laughter, easing the fatigue from your day.

Eventually, your shift comes to an end, and you clock out, tired but satisfied. As you take the bus home, you pull out your phone, ready to check messages. To your delight, you see a new notification from Jake. He’s sent you a picture, a selfie of him looking triumphant, with Heeseung still sprawled across the couch behind him, the blanket now haphazardly draped over his body.

You can’t help but laugh at the scene, Jake’s grin wide as he gives a thumbs-up, and you quickly save the picture to your phone.

“You’re not letting him sleep the whole day away, are you?” you text back, adding a laughing emoji to convey your playful tone.

Almost immediately, Jake replies, “Nah, I just let him be while I made some dinner. He’s gonna regret sleeping through the day!”

You smile at his enthusiasm, enjoying the banter as you make your way back to the apartment.

----

The days zoom by in a blur of laughter and warmth, transforming what started as an uncertain arrangement into a comfortable home.

Your first few weeks are filled with shared meals and movie nights, late-night chats about everything from favorite foods to secrets. Heeseung’s easy-going charm and Jake’s playful energy bring out the best in you, and you find yourself laughing more than you ever thought possible.

When you finally meet their friends—Ni-ki, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Jay—you feel a mixture of nerves and excitement. Ni-ki, in particular, is quick-witted and charming, but you shoot Heeseung a warning glare, determined to keep your near mishap with the leftovers under wraps. To your relief, he complies, stifling laughter as you all share stories and get to know one another.

It’s surprising how easily you fit into this lively group, your personality blending seamlessly with theirs. Sunghoon and Sunoo’s humor keeps the atmosphere light, while Jungwon’s gentle nature balances it out perfectly. You also introduce them to your friends Wonyoung, Yunjin, Kyrell, and Yeonjung, and the two groups meld effortlessly, laughter and teasing filling the air whenever you all hang out together.

Despite your busy schedules—your classes, Jake’s shifts at the pet store and smoothie shop, and Heeseung’s late nights at the bar and his job at the sports store—there’s always time for fun. You all make a point to coordinate your schedules, planning outings that range from shopping sprees to casual movie marathons at home.

Amidst the joyful chaos, there comes a time when you begin to question your place between Jake and Heeseung. It’s subtle at first, just fleeting moments that flit past your consciousness like shadows. They both treat you with a warmth that feels more intimate than just roommates or friends.

Jake’s flirtation is often lighthearted and playful, a gentle tease that leaves you smiling longer than you should. He’ll come up behind you, throwing an arm over your shoulder as he watches whatever show you’re binging, the warmth of his body brushing against yours making your heart race. “What do you think about this one?” he’ll ask, his voice light, but there’s an underlying sincerity in his gaze that leaves you pondering what’s really behind his casual demeanor.

Heeseung, on the other hand, has a more physical way of expressing his affection. He’ll sneak up behind you while you’re washing dishes, his arms wrapping around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder as he hums a tune. “What’s for dinner?” he’ll ask, his breath tickling your ear. The way he lingers there—so close, so familiar—sends a shiver down your spine. It feels like more than just a friendly embrace, a tenderness that wraps around you like a warm blanket.

It’s in these moments that you find yourself questioning the boundaries of your relationship. Are they just being friendly, or is there something deeper at play? You try to dismiss the thought, laughing off their behavior as just typical friend antics.

Then there are the times when Jake becomes almost puppy-like, trailing after you, eager to join in whatever you’re doing. “Can I help?” he’ll ask, hovering by your side while you prepare dinner, his eyes sparkling with excitement. There’s a softness in his gaze that makes you feel special, cherished in a way you hadn’t expected when you first moved in. And when you catch him stealing glances at you when he thinks you’re not looking, your heart skips a beat, your breath catching in your throat.

You wonder if they’re both feeling the same way, caught up in a strange blend of friendship and something more. The ambiguity weighs on you, and late at night, when you lie awake in your bed, you can’t help but replay their actions in your mind. Are you just imagining things? Do they see you as more than a roommate?

The days blend into a delightful routine, filled with laughter and playful banter. But beneath the surface, Jake and Heeseung have started to engage in a little game of their own, one that you’re blissfully unaware of. You can’t quite pinpoint when it began, but it becomes clear that they’ve both developed an interest in you that goes beyond friendship.

During one lazy afternoon, the three of you gather in the living room, the sun streaming through the large windows. You’re sprawled on the couch, engrossed in a book, when Jake plops down beside you. He leans over, peering at your pages with a mischievous grin. “You know, I could help you study,” he teases, his voice dropping to a lower, suggestive tone. “I’m a great tutor, especially with… hands-on experience.” You look up, caught off guard by his words, your cheeks flushing as you playfully shove him away.

Heeseung, who’s been lounging in the armchair across from you, raises an eyebrow. “What are you studying? Maybe I could lend a hand, too. I promise I won’t distract you—much.” He flashes you a charming smile that sends your heart racing, and you can’t help but laugh nervously, your mind racing as you try to focus on your book instead.

Later that week, you’re preparing dinner, humming to yourself as you chop vegetables. Suddenly, you feel a warm presence behind you. Jake sneaks up and leans against the counter, his arms crossed, a playful smirk dancing on his lips. “Need a sous chef?” he asks, leaning closer, his voice low and teasing. “I can stir the pot and keep you company at the same time.” You chuckle, rolling your eyes, but the warmth of his body so close to yours sends a jolt through you.

“Yeah, because that’s what I need right now,” you respond, your tone light but your heart betraying you as it races.

Heeseung strolls in just then, a knowing smile on his face as he catches the two of you. “Am i interrupting something?” he chides playfully, arching an eyebrow at Jake. You feel your cheeks heat up as the playful banter continues, and you can’t help but feel like the center of attention, albeit in a way that leaves you both flustered and exhilarated.

What you don’t realize is that behind the scenes, a little competition has begun. Jake and Heeseung have started making bets on who can get your attention first, whispering and laughing about it when they think you can’t hear. “I’ll bet you a smoothie I can make her blush before dinner,” Jake declares one day, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Heeseung chuckles, countering with, “You’re on. But I’ll raise you—I’ll bet you can’t make her laugh while doing it.”

These little moments of rivalry only heighten the flirtation. One afternoon, you’re lounging in the living room when Heeseung walks in wearing a fitted shirt that highlights his toned physique. He notices you staring and grins, leaning casually against the wall. “What? You like what you see?” he asks, his voice dripping with playful confidence. You can’t help but feel your cheeks burn as you stammer a response, the heat creeping up your neck as you try to find words.

“Shut up, Heeseung,” you manage, your laughter mingling with embarrassment, but he only chuckles, clearly enjoying the effect he has on you.

Then there are times when Jake gets a bit bolder. One evening, he finds you in your room, studying. He leans against the doorway, arms crossed, looking utterly relaxed yet undeniably handsome. “You know, if you need a study break, I’m really good at helping people… unwind,” he says, a teasing glint in his eye. You can feel your heart race, and your response gets caught in your throat, leaving you momentarily speechless.

As weeks turn into months, these playful exchanges become more frequent and more suggestive, leaving you in a constant state of fluster. They often playfully compete for your attention, showering you with flirty comments and lingering touches that send your heart racing.

It’s not just the comments that leave you flustered; it’s the way they both find excuses to be close to you. Jake will brush against you as he reaches for a snack, his fingers grazing yours in a way that feels charged with something more. Heeseung will lean in while you’re cooking, his breath warm against your neck as he whispers a playful remark, leaving you shivering with both surprise and delight.

One afternoon, after weeks of playful banter and flirtation from Jake and Heeseung, you decide it’s time to turn the tables. You’ve been thinking about how much fun it could be to throw a little flirting back their way, to see if they can handle a taste of their own medicine.

You wait until a Saturday when everyone is home. The living room is buzzing with energy as you all relax together, the sound of a movie playing softly in the background. Jake is sprawled across the couch, while Heeseung sits in the armchair, legs casually crossed and an easy smile on his face as he scrolls through his phone.

Feeling a rush of confidence, you take a deep breath and lean against the doorframe, crossing your arms and adopting a playful smirk. “You know,” you begin, drawing their attention, “I could really use some help getting my grades up. Maybe I should schedule some one-on-one study sessions with the both of you.”

Jake looks up, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise, and Heeseung’s mouth curves into an amused smile. “Oh? Are you sure you can handle all this help?” Jake quips, his tone teasing, but you can see the flush creeping up his cheeks.

“Just think of it as an opportunity to show me your expertise,” you reply, maintaining eye contact with both of them as you saunter closer. You can feel the charged atmosphere as you lean casually against the arm of the couch, inching closer to Jake. “I could use some practical lessons.”

Heeseung sits up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing playfully. “Practical lessons? Sounds like someone is trying to get a little more than just academic help,” he retorts, the hint of a challenge in his voice. You can tell he’s intrigued by your sudden boldness.

“Oh, I definitely am,” you say with a playful wink, enjoying the way both of them are momentarily taken aback. “But only if you can keep up with me.” You’re met with stunned silence, and for a moment, you wonder if you’ve gone too far. But then, Jake bursts out laughing, his cheeks slightly flushed.

“You’re on!” he declares, shooting you a cocky grin that ignites a flutter in your stomach. “But just so you know, I’m not going to go easy on you.”

Heeseung rolls his eyes in mock defeat, trying to maintain his cool demeanor. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when you can’t keep up.” His voice is low and teasing, the challenge hanging in the air between you.

As the afternoon unfolds, you continue to flirt playfully with both of them, tossing comments back and forth. You compliment Jake on his “impressive knowledge” of pop culture, leaning in just a bit too close as you whisper about how his recommendations have been “so helpful.” You watch as his cheeks flush, caught off guard by your boldness.

Heeseung, not to be outdone, makes his own moves. “You know,” he says, his voice smooth, “if you want to study hard, you might need to take some breaks. I could think of some fun activities to fill those breaks.” He winks, and you can’t help but laugh at how easy it is to keep the teasing going.

The three of you end up in a lighthearted competition, each trying to out-flirt the other. You toss compliments like confetti, and they respond in kind, each line making the tension between you thick and exhilarating.

“Wow, I didn’t realize you two were so charming,” you remark, feigning innocence as you watch them squirm a little under your gaze. “Maybe I should have taken you up on that help sooner.”

Jake grins, leaning back against the couch with a newfound confidence. “Well, now you know. We can definitely provide the special assistance you need.”

You feel a rush of satisfaction at finally flipping the script. The laughter fills the room, punctuated by playful banter, and it feels good to see them flustered for a change, struggling to come up with responses to your flirty remarks.

Eventually, as the evening winds down, you sit back and bask in the warmth of their attention.

You’ve made your mark, and it’s clear that your flirty game has raised the stakes between you and your two charming roommates, setting the stage for whatever might come next.

----

The late afternoon sun filtered through the curtains of your room, casting a warm glow as you returned home from work. Your phone buzzed with a notification, and you quickly glanced at the group chat. The excitement in the messages about a night out at a local club had your heart racing with anticipation. Without a second thought, you agreed to join, feeling a surge of energy at the prospect of a night filled with laughter and music.

You rushed to your closet, rifling through your clothes until you found the perfect outfit: a fitted black top that hugged your curves and a high-waisted skirt that accentuated your figure. You quickly changed and turned your attention to your makeup, after curling your hair into loose waves, you added a touch of glittering highlighter to your skin for that extra glow.

Grabbing a small, chic purse to carry your essentials, you made your way downstairs. As you descended, you spotted Heeseung standing in the living room, his back to you as he exchanged goodbyes with Jake, who lounged on the couch. Both of them turned as you approached, their expressions shifting from casual conversation to admiration.

Jake’s mouth fell slightly open, clearly impressed. “Where are you off to?” he asked, his tone a mix of curiosity and admiration.

“The club,” you replied, a smile forming on your lips as you noticed the way Heeseung’s gaze lingered on you.

Before you could say anything else, Heeseung quickly chimed in, “I can drive you.” He moved toward the closet, retrieving another helmet with a casual ease that made your heart flutter. The prospect of riding on his motorcycle sent a thrill through you.

You nodded, excitement bubbling in your chest as you took the helmet from him. After throwing on a short jacket to ward off the evening chill, you turned to Jake. “See you later!” you called out, waving goodbye. He still looked slightly dazed, clearly caught off guard by your transformation.

You followed Heeseung down to the parking lot, the anticipation of the ride sparking in the air around you. As he climbed onto his motorcycle, you felt a rush of adrenaline. You slipped on the helmet, securing it snugly before getting on behind him. As you wrapped your arms around his waist, the warmth of his body seeped through your jacket, and he started the bike, the engine rumbling beneath you.

With a twist of the throttle, you felt the bike lurch forward, and you leaned into Heeseung’s back as he expertly maneuvered through the streets. The cool wind whipped past, sending a shiver through your exposed skin, but you didn’t mind; the thrill of the ride was invigorating.

The ride to the club was quick, the familiar streets flying by as you soaked in the freedom of the moment.

As you both arrived at the club, the vibrant energy of the nightlife buzzed around you, the pulsing music spilling out into the cool evening air. You hopped off the motorcycle, feeling exhilarated, and removed your helmet, shaking your hair loose and letting it cascade down. Just then, a group of drunken guys standing outside caught sight of you, their eyes lighting up in appreciation.

“Hey there, beautiful!” one of them hollered, followed by a chorus of wolf whistles. “Looking good! I’d love to have you hugging me from behind like that!” Their comments were laced with crude humor, and you felt a grimace form on your lips as you rolled your eyes in annoyance.

Before you could respond, Heeseung had already dismounted his bike, removing his helmet and stepping forward with a glare aimed at the group. “Back off!” he shouted, his tone sharp and commanding, making it clear he wouldn’t tolerate their disrespect. The guys exchanged wary glances but quickly retreated, their bravado faltering under Heeseung’s fierce expression.

You let out a small sigh of relief, thankful for his protective instinct, and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the entrance of the club. “Come on, you gotta clock in,” you urged, eager to escape the unwanted attention. As you reached the door, you noticed your friends waiting just outside, their faces lighting up at the sight of you.

With a friendly wave, you called out to them before turning back to Heeseung. The bouncer, recognizing him, waved you both through without hesitation, allowing you and your friends to enter the lively club atmosphere.

As you stepped inside, the beat of the music enveloped you, and the dazzling lights danced around the room, pulling you into the vibrant nightlife. Heeseung squeezed your hand gently before letting go, heading toward the bar to start his shift.

----

The night had unraveled into a blur of laughter, music, and drinks, with you and your friends dancing under the flashing lights, letting loose in a way you hadn’t in a while. You’d managed to get a couple of cheap—or even free—drinks thanks to Heeseung working behind the bar. Every time you looked over, he would give you a quick wink or a grin, sending another round your way.

And you weren’t short on attention either, noticing that a few guys in the club were more than happy to flirt. Their compliments and eager smiles were flattering, and you enjoyed the easygoing fun of it all. Still, as your friends leaned in to shout in your ear over the music, you noticed something: Heeseung’s gaze wasn’t just casually lingering. He was watching, his eyes sharp, his attention shifting from you to each new guy who tried his luck.

At one point, a guy offered to buy you a drink, and you agreed with a polite smile, following him over to the bar. As he ordered, Heeseung’s expression changed, his smile a touch too tight.

He set both drinks on the bar with an innocent smile, and you took a sip of yours, which tasted surprisingly perfect. But the guy next to you sputtered, coughing immediately as he spat his drink out, splattering a bit on your sleeve. He turned, red-faced, looking horrified.

“Why is this so… spicy?” he demanded, voice hoarse. Heeseung kept his face impassive, busying himself with a rag and the counter.

You couldn’t hold back a giggle as you watched Heeseung discreetly nudge the hot sauce bottle further under the counter, his lips twitching into a smile as the guy stomped off, grumbling. Not a minute later, you headed for the restroom, shaking your head in amusement at Heeseung’s antics.

In the quiet of the restroom, you took a moment to breathe, glancing at your reflection in the mirror. You slipped off your jacket, draping it over a nearby hook, revealing the full outfit you'd carefully chosen for tonight. The cool air in the room brushed against your exposed skin, a reminder of how much thought you'd put into tonight's look.

You ran a hand over your clothes, smoothing out any creases, then turned to check your makeup. With a practiced hand, you reapplied a touch of lip gloss and adjusted your eyeliner.

As you strolled back into the club, the pulsing lights and thumping bass surrounded you, momentarily drowning out your thoughts. You barely glanced at the guy from earlier, who was now fully engrossed in conversation with another girl, when your gaze was irresistibly drawn to the bar.

There stood Heeseung and Jake, leaning casually against the polished counter. Jake wore a pair of fitted jeans that hugged his form just right and a simple shirt that accentuated his toned physique. His hair was pushed back effortlessly. Heeseung was a perfect match, dressed in jeans as well, but opted for a sleek black t-shirt that clung to his broad shoulders. His hair was also slicked back now.

The moment they turned their attention to you, their eyes locked onto you with an intensity that left you momentarily breathless. You couldn’t help but feel a rush of surprise and excitement at seeing them both here, looking so undeniably handsome.

Heeseung’s gaze was unblinking, a flicker of something bold and daring mixed in with his usual confident smirk. His posture was casual, one hand braced against the bar while the other rested on his hip, but his eyes… they seemed to trace over you with a slow, almost deliberate sweep, lingering a second too long. The defiance in his smirk spoke volumes, as if daring anyone else to look at you the way he was. There was a possessive glint in his eyes, as if he was barely holding himself back from reaching out.

Then there was Jake, whose gaze held a different kind of heat. His eyes softened as they traveled from your face down to your outfit, then back up. He took in every detail—your makeup, the way your clothes clung to your figure, the glint of confidence in your eyes. When he met your gaze again, his lips curled into a grin, the warmth of his smile undercut by the intensity in his eyes. It was as though he was studying every inch of you, and his lips curved, like he knew exactly how captivating he found you.

You caught a brief exchange of glances between the two of them, each sizing up the other’s reaction, before they turned their focus back to you, their eyes following every step you took. Their shared gaze left you feeling bare, like they were both trying to pull you closer without needing to say a word.

“Well, well, here comes trouble,” Jake teased, his voice low and smooth, though the smile he wore was anything but innocent. He raised his glass to you, his eyes reflecting that warmth that always made you feel seen—but there was something else tonight, a sharper edge to the way he looked at you, as if he was waiting to see how you’d respond to their attention.

Heeseung’s smirk only deepened, a spark of mischief flickering in his gaze as he straightened a little, his posture shifting subtly closer. He kept his eyes locked on yours, every part of him seemed to radiate a daring energy, as though daring you to close the distance between you.

With a steadying breath, you made your way to the bar, fully aware of Jake and Heeseung's gazes. As you reached them, Heeseung leaned forward, elbows propped on the bar, his smirk never faltering, while Jake wasted no time slipping an arm around your waist, pulling you close with that effortless charm he wore so well.

"Dressed to impress,” Heeseung drawled, his tone laced with amusement as he gave you another lingering look, head tilting as if to take in every inch. “Gonna be a distraction all night, aren’t you?”

Jake tightened his hold on your waist, bringing you even closer, his lips dangerously close to your ear. “He’s just jealous because you look this good, and he’s stuck working.” His voice was smooth, and his breath sent a warm shiver down your neck. “Right, Heeseung?”

Heeseung scoffed but didn’t pull back, the gleam in his eyes only intensifying. “I think I’ll manage,” he shot back, but his eyes never left you, tracing the subtle way you leaned into Jake’s embrace. “Besides, it looks like you’re already in good hands.”

Feeling bold, you turned to face Heeseung fully, resting one hand on the counter as you smiled, the challenge in your eyes clear. “Is that a hint of jealousy I hear?”

He raised an eyebrow, a slow smile tugging at his lips. “Only if you’d do something about it,” he replied, his gaze unflinching, taunting. He reached over, his fingers brushing lightly over yours where they rested on the bar. “Think you could handle both of us?”

Before you could respond, Jake chuckled softly, his arm around you tightening, as he glanced over at Heeseung. “Oh, she can handle anything we throw at her,” he teased, his eyes locking on yours with a hint of something darker. “Right?”

You laughed softly, finding yourself delighting in their attention, the playful tension between them only adding to the thrill. Heeseung shook his head, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest, while Jake’s fingers absently traced along your waist, making it clear he wasn’t planning to let you go anytime soon.

You leaned closer to Jake, letting him feel the warmth of your smile against his cheek. “Oh, I can handle you two just fine,” you murmured, voice barely above a whisper, but you knew they both heard it. The shift in their expressions told you enough—they were both thoroughly captivated.

Heeseung exhaled a low laugh, eyes twinkling with intrigue, while Jake’s hand at your waist stilled, his grip firm, like he wasn’t about to let you out of his sight for the rest of the night.

Jake tilted his head just slightly, the corners of his mouth curving up in a half-smile. “Is that so?” he murmured, his voice low, almost daring. He let his gaze drift slowly over your face, down to your lips, and then back to your eyes.

Heeseung watched, clearly enjoying the exchange, a slow, amused grin spreading across his face. He leaned across the bar, his gaze locked on yours as he teased, “Guess we’ll have to test that out, then. Wouldn’t want you getting too comfortable.” His voice was smooth, the subtle challenge in his words matched by the spark in his eyes.

Feeling both their gazes, you couldn’t help the little smile that played on your lips. You leaned slightly closer to Jake, keeping eye contact with Heeseung as you replied, “Maybe it’s you two who won’t be able to keep up.”

Jake let out a breathy chuckle, but his eyes never left you, even as he responded, “We’ll see about that.”

Heeseung raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained but also intrigued, and he nodded in agreement, watching as Jake held you close. With an easy grin, he said, “I think you’ll keep us busy.” He reached out to hand you a drink, fingers brushing against yours in the brief exchange, his eyes lingering on you.

You took a sip, feeling their attention wrap around you like a warmth that made the crowded club fall away.

Just as Jake’s hand tightened on your waist, you felt a tug from behind—your friends, appearing at just the right moment, grinning as they coaxed you toward the dance floor.

“Come on!” they called, laughter in their voices. Before either Jake or Heeseung could react, you slipped from Jake’s hold with a wink. Both of them stared after you, looking mildly stunned—and maybe just a bit thrown off by how easily you’d gotten away. Jake tried to reach for you, a playful protest on his lips, but your friends swept you into their midst, pulling you into the rhythm of the music.

On the dance floor, you let yourself get lost in the energy, moving in time with the pulsing beat. You stole a glance back at the bar, where both Heeseung and Jake were watching intently, as if sizing up their next move. Heeseung raised his drink to you, that confident smirk still plastered on his face, while Jake looked torn between amusement and a slight, playful irritation at your escape.

Laughing, you lost yourself in the music, feeling their gazes follow your every move.

----

The night took an unexpected turn when one of your friends became a little too enthusiastic with the drinks. Before you knew it, she was outside, hunched over on the sidewalk, throwing up. You quickly moved to her side, pulling her hair back and rubbing her shoulder, doing your best to soothe her as she mumbled apologies.

Once she was done, the group decided it was best to get her home. You all piled into a car, the designated driver taking the wheel while the rest of you kept a close eye on your friend.

When you reached her place, you carefully helped her inside, guiding her up to her bedroom and laying her down, making sure she was comfortable. With her settled, someone found a stash of drinks in the kitchen, and before long, the vibe had lightened back up. One friend pulled out a karaoke machine, and soon everyone was singing loud, off-key renditions of your favorite songs, letting the night carry you all along.

As the hours ticked by, one by one, everyone found a cozy spot to curl up, and before you knew it, the house was filled with the soft sounds of snores and murmured dreams, a blur of a night settling into a peaceful sleep.

----

The next morning, you woke up with a pounding headache and the usual regret that came with a night like this. Squinting against the morning light filtering in through the window, you groaned, reaching for your phone. Your notifications were littered with messages and missed calls from both Jake and Heeseung. You smiled a little, heart warming at their worry, even if it made you feel a bit guilty.

You dialed Jake’s number, and he answered almost immediately. “Where are you?” he asked, his voice filled with relief and lingering worry. “Are you okay?”

"Yeah, I’m okay," you mumbled, rubbing your forehead. “I’m at my friend’s place. She got a bit… too drunk, so we crashed here for the night.”

Jake exhaled, sounding both relieved and a little exasperated. “Alright, just hang tight. I’ll come get you.”

You thanked him, already feeling a bit better just knowing he’d be there soon. After the call, you stumbled to the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle and downing some Advil. You checked on your friends, giving soft goodbyes to those who were half-awake and murmuring farewells to the ones still knocked out.

Stepping outside, you saw Jake’s car pull up, and you hurried over to climb in. As you slipped into the backseat, you noticed both Jake and Heeseung in the front seats, eyes full of concern as they looked you over.

“Good?” Jake asked, glancing up and down to check on you. You nodded, managing a small smile as he pulled away from the curb.

When you finally got back home, Jake parked and turned to open your door, but Heeseung beat him to it, sweeping you up in his arms so you wouldn’t have to walk barefoot on the pavement. You laughed, feeling a bit like royalty as Jake carried your heels and purse alongside.

Once inside, they led you straight to the bathroom, letting you shower and wash away the remnants of the night. As you closed the door, you couldn’t help but feel grateful, a smile spreading across your face as you let the hot water soothe away the morning’s aches.

After finishing your shower, you called out for one of them to bring you some clothes. “Hey, could you grab me something to wear?”

A moment later, Heeseung’s voice came through the slightly cracked bathroom door. “I got you.” You heard a rustling, and then he slid a pile of clothes through the gap. You reached out, taking them gratefully.

“Thanks!” you replied, quickly pulling on the comfy oversized shirt and sweatpants. Once you had dried your hair with a towel, you opened the bathroom door to find both Jake and Heeseung sprawled out on the couch, looking cozy under a soft blanket.

You joined them, settling down in the middle, feeling the warmth radiating from both of them. They shifted slightly, making room for you as you grabbed some popcorn from the bowl resting on Jake's lap. The familiar comfort of their presence wrapped around you like a warm hug, and you let out a content sigh as you nestled deeper into the cushions.

The movie played on, but your eyelids grew heavier by the minute. The soft light from the screen flickered in the dim room, casting gentle shadows over their faces. You leaned your head against Heeseung's shoulder, feeling his warmth seep into you.

As the movie continued, you felt Jake's hand brush against yours, and his fingers intertwined with yours, a comforting gesture that lulled you further into relaxation.

Eventually, the movie ended, and you barely noticed Jake turning it off. Heeseung glanced down at you, noticing how peaceful you looked, and he exchanged a knowing look with Jake. They both smiled softly before leaning back against the couch, pulling you with them.

Before long, the three of you were all asleep, the quiet hum of the world outside fading into a blissful silence as you cuddled together.

----

The atmosphere in your room was relaxed and comfortable as the three of you lounged together, the glow of fairy lights casting a soft ambiance. You felt a sense of warmth and belonging, but there was an unspoken question hanging in the air—what was this dynamic you had built with Jake and Heeseung?

After a while, you turned to them, curiosity piquing your interest. “So, what do we call this? This… thing we have going on?”

They both exchanged glances, a playful light dancing in their eyes before they climbed into your bed. Heeseung settled on your right side, while Jake nestled to your left, and you found yourself sandwiched between them.

“We like you a lot,” Heeseung confessed, his voice low and sincere, “and we’d love to have you for ourselves. But we also don’t want to see you with any other guy.”

Jake nodded, chiming in, “Yeah, same here. We both want you.” He paused, his expression serious. “At the end of the day, we’d rather share you than lose you to someone else.”

Your heart raced as you processed their words. You couldn’t help but smile, feeling warmth spread through you at their admissions. “But wouldn’t one of you get jealous of the other?”

“No,” Heeseung said, his tone firm yet gentle. “We both love you, and that’s what matters. You belong to both of us.”

As you gazed at them, a flutter of excitement and apprehension filled your chest. “I— I’ve been unsure about this. It feels wrong to like two friends at the same time.”

Jake pouted, tapping his lips thoughtfully. “Doesn’t seem wrong if we like you at the same time,” he reasoned, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

You found your gaze drawn to his lips, swallowing hard. The tension in the room shifted, and Heeseung noticed, a teasing smirk creeping onto his face. “Looks like someone’s interested,” he quipped, nudging your shoulder playfully.

“I am not—” you started to protest, but before you could finish, Jake leaned in, closing the gap between you. His lips pressed against yours, soft yet insistent, and you gasped in surprise before instinctively kissing him back.

The moment was electric, and as Jake deepened the kiss, Heeseung leaned closer, trailing kisses along your throat. The sensation sent shivers down your spine as he nipped playfully at your skin, and you couldn’t help but let out another gasp, caught between the two of them.

Jake pulled back from the kiss, his grin widening as his gaze landed on the marks Heeseung had left on your throat and the exposed skin of your shoulder. The contrast of their playful possessiveness sent a thrill coursing through you, and you felt heat rise to your cheeks.

“We have to show you that you’re ours,” he declared, his voice laced with a mix of mischief and determination.

Before you could fully process what that meant, both of them leaned in closer, their intentions clear. You gasped as Heeseung pressed his lips against your neck, his mouth warm and insistent as he began to leave his mark. Jake mirrored his actions on the other side, nipping and kissing a trail that made your head spin.

You whimpered at the sensation, the combined heat of their mouths igniting a fire deep within you. Your fingers tangled in their hair, gripping tightly as you succumbed to the intoxicating wave of pleasure and need. The soft sounds of your enjoyment filled the room, and you could hardly think straight as they lavished attention on your sensitive skin.

“Yours,” you breathed out, the word slipping from your lips as they continued their ministrations, creating a symphony of sweet tension and fervent desire. Each gentle tug and nibble sent shivers racing through you, and you could feel your heart pounding in rhythm with their touches.

“Just like this,” Heeseung murmured against your skin, his breath hot and teasing. “You’re ours.”

Jake's hands roamed down your arms, his fingers trailing along the exposed skin, amplifying the sensations coursing through you. The way they worked together, each touch calculated yet spontaneous, made you feel cherished and desired in a way you had never experienced before.

Heeseung's hands found their way to your waist, pulling you closer as he pressed his lips against yours. You instinctively grabbed his bicep, fingers digging into the firm muscles as you deepened the kiss, losing yourself in the moment. It felt right; the heat between you was undeniable, intoxicating. His kisses were fervent, each one making you crave more, driving you to the brink of madness.

Meanwhile, Jake positioned himself on the other side, his fingers weaving into your hair as he leaned in to claim your now vacant lips as well. The sensation of his mouth on yours was electrifying, and you could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Your grip tightened around his neck, anchoring yourself as he kissed you with a mix of urgency and devotion.

In that tangled mess of limbs and kisses, they continued to explore every inch of your skin they could reach, marking you with their lips and leaving a trail of warmth in their wake.

Heeseung's kisses danced along your collarbone, trailing lower to your shoulder, each gentle nibble igniting a new spark of desire. His hands roamed your sides, fingertips brushing just beneath the hem of your shirt, teasingly inching upward as if he were mapping out every curve of your body.

Jake, on the other hand, his hands glided down your back, holding you against him as if he never wanted to let go. He would pull you closer, the heat radiating off him intoxicating. With each kiss he pressed to your lips, he’d angle your head just right, deepening the kiss and making you melt.

As Heeseung’s mouth found its way back to yours, he captured your lips in a heated kiss, his tongue teasingly brushing against yours. It was playful yet fervent, drawing soft moans from you as you surrendered to the sensations. Your hands were restless, instinctively roaming to their arms, gripping tightly as you sought to anchor yourself in the overwhelming pleasure.

With every caress, they exchanged knowing glances, a silent agreement to share this moment entirely. Jake leaned down, kissing a path from your shoulder to your neck, nipping lightly at the sensitive skin while Heeseung took his turn, trailing kisses down your jawline. You gasped at the sensations, feeling completely lost in the ecstasy of it all.

“We’ll take care of you.” Heeseung murmured between kisses, his breath hot against your ear.

Jake’s hand slipped beneath your shirt, his fingertips brushing against your bare skin, sending shivers coursing through your body. “Yeah, we’re not letting you out of our sight,” he added, his tone both playful and serious.

Your mind raced with thoughts, a delightful confusion enveloping you as you relished in their attention. All you could focus on was the pleasure they were giving you, the way their bodies enveloped you.

[partyhorn]

Very long personal 4am rambling. Honestly, I'm trying to really think about what direction I want to take MFM in. I will say that I'm still always going to make it as a comic first and foremost, I'm very excited for the story and don't plan on putting it on hiatus or discontinuing it (my love for comics as a medium is too strong to NOT see it through to the end!) I hate to talk about personally on this account, but in all honesty, I'm trying to figure out what's best for my own health. Drawing all these pages physically exhausts me, especially with how much more complex the art is becoming. My passion for the story is endless, but it's almost at a detriment. Came to the realization that it's one of the only things I feel genuine joy for anymore (...but that's already kind of shown itself in the themes of "passion can drive you to crazy lengths" in the comic.) I'm pretty much in the same regard when it comes to making this whole story. I completed all of chapter 45 in just 2 weeks, a whole 27 pages of highly-rendered panels in a very short amount of time for that kind of work. And I love it! But it's exhausting.

But really, I'm not sure what else I could do. My current financial situation isn't great, and I'm just trying to focus on what I can do to finally get financially stable (and then I'll focus on my health and crazed work ethic later). In relation to art, my main idea is to try to jump back in the indie animation scene to help draw more attention to the comic, which I'm getting a start in with the coffee short film. That's a ton of work as well, even more so than comic work in some aspects, but animation IS more popular and is sure to draw in at least some new folks. I'm just gonna have to see where this little short film leads me when it's finished a good few months from now (luckily 3D animation is miles easier than 2D for me.)

I feel like I've expressed my frustrations before at how unpopular comics are as a medium in general. It's a ton of work and deserves much more recognition for sure. I've enjoyed drawing comics tenfold as much as animating, and that's what I'd majored in during college! But comics are just not a popular medium. I don't even really want to jump into huge animated projects again with my current exhaustion (and a couple projects already still sitting on the back burner... sorry Parvey) but I feel as though I have no choice if I truly do want MFM to reach a bigger audience. Which in all honesty, I'd love more than anything in the world to happen.

I've put years of work and driven myself to physical exhaustion working on these comic pages. It's me alone who's drawn all 1100+ pages of this story (with a handful of commissioned chapter covers every now and then), and I'm tired of lying to myself- it IS a ton of effort. I'm considering really shifting gears to focus on more animated content relating to MFM- first the short film, then maybe jumping right into the huge animated adaptation, and then whatever comes after that. 2D or 3D, I don't really know at this point. Both are a lot of effort, and it's hard to judge when I'm so tired. But it might be a better investment of my effort in the end if it gets me anywhere in life. If it's any indication given how I've drawn these thousand pages myself, I could probably one-man-band this as well. But, that's also just the passion speaking.

I'm not really sure where I was going with this at this point. My brain is kind of fried. I don't plan on quitting the comic, I'm going to draw it to completion no matter how long that takes. But I'm also becoming very aware of how it's affecting me to be working myself to death for seemingly nothing, driven by an extremely intense passion. I don't even know if I'd be able to slow my pace down on making these pages if I tried- it's like an unscratchable itch to keep the story going, even during times where I force myself to focus on other more important tasks. I feel as though it really reflects in recent themes in the comic itself: grind culture sucks, and once you slip into that mindset it's hard to climb out. Even if it's something you do entirely to yourself, even if it's something out of love, it can still severely affect you. That's as best as I can describe it.

But that's not all to say that I'm ungrateful for the amount of support for the story I've gotten- in fact, it's one of the things that really keeps me going. It's great to get asks, genuine or goofy, and I appreciate everyone who's ever told me how the story has impacted them and such. It makes all of the time and effort I've put into this whole comic feel worth it. Frankly, I'd love for this whole story to get fandomized to hell and back. I don't know if it'll ever get there, but it'd be cool. Thank you all for the continued support, for real.

I think I just want to focus on ways for this story to reach an even bigger audience, even just for the sake of putting this endless passion into something that'll do me good as a physical person. If I suddenly shift gears and decide to jump headfirst into making a full animated adaptation, then that'll probably be why. But I also might wake up tomorrow and completely change my mind. Either way, chapter 46 is probably going to be done in a few week's time, just because I know that's how my brain works.

[magicpotatoobsession]

Can I ask about what shizusumi means by 'that suffering of yours is alien to me' to uenoyama? I don't really get it. Or do already have an explanation about that but I just didn't find it? And also, I am curious if uenoyama falls in love at first sight with mafuyu. It's true or maybe not.

Hello fren! Yes, I did sort of cover this in my Chapter 42/Mix_12 Initial Thoughts! Shizu is using music as a means to stay beside Hiiragi. Like if Hiiragi said to Shizu "oh, let's disband tomorrow". Shizu would be like "cool no worries as long as we get to stay together". While Ue is suffering from Mafuyu's hesitation towards music because music is Ue's life passion. Why Shizu feels the need to stick to Hiiragi like glue is talked about in more depth in this post here.

Does Ue fall in love at first sight?

Hmnnn..... I read your question and I was thinking about it the WHOLE way home from rehearsals about how I was going to answer this and the thing is....it depends on how you define and whether you yourself believe in

"love at first sight".

So I define love as being something a little more complex and comprising of several stages:

a) physical attraction: I think yes you can find someone cute when you first see them

b) emotional attraction: you develop a crush and you feel something stir in you, you feel emotionally moved by that person.

c) companionship: but to truly fall in LOVE, like GENUINE HEALTHY LOVE, you want the person you crush on to share the same needs, wants and values as you do. That's when you can envision a life together.

KEEP THIS IN MIND I'LL BE REFERRING TO THESE POINTS. I just want to recognise that there are so many different forms of attraction but for the purposes of this meta, I'll just be referring to these two forms of attraction, I hope that's ok with everyone.

Ideally, all three aspects need to be fulfilled in my opinion for someone to be IN LOVE. Therefore, love cannot be achieved at first sight so I don't really believe in "love at first sight".

So personally I think Uenoyama didn't fall in love at first sight, in fact I think Ue actually was annoyed at Mafuyu (LOL) for:

stealing his napping spot

rusty guitar strings

But then Mafuyu has those sad-ass puppy dog eyes that no one can resist so Ue, because he's inherently a really kind bean, was like "OH MAH GOD STOP LOOKING SO SADDDDD" and fixed it for him.

Ue was just annoyed, like "bruh, look after your expensive-ass Gibson plzzz".

BUTTTTTTTT 🍑

Then just out of habit, Ue played a quick chord after tuning the strings and Mafuyu did this "PLEASE TEACH ME MUSIC!!!"

Ue didn't know it at the time but he just had

c) companionship: his core need of wanting to do music with someone fulfilled.

Remember Haruki mentioned in Chapter 13 that:

Ue always seems to clash with his previous band members. Ue's life passion is music so I think whether he knows it or not, he actually really wants someone his own age (Akihiko and Haruki don't count because seniority is a thing in Japan), whether it's a friend or a partner, to be able to share his life passion with.

Ue REALLY freaking enjoyed the attention he was getting from Mafuyu following him around like an excited puppy, Ue would never admit it tho HAHAHHAHAHA. But we could definitely tell from his bored ass face when Mafuyu stopped following him HAHHAHA. But that's because @deep-fried-brain-cells both agree that HAHAH, Ue is a bit of an Tsundere LOL

So when Mafuyu says that even though, he went to the light music club, he still found Ue to be "cooler". This subconsciously fulfilled Ue's top needs and wants of finding someone that he can share his love of music with by guiding them. This really appeased Ue's core attribute because

Ue's an ~Ore-sama~ 😆😆😆

But I don't think he's in love at this point. Yes Ue did seem mindblown at Mafuyu's response but Akihiko and Haruki were also shooketh so the explosions were more shock rather than a sign of love.

---

Fast foward to when Ue heard Mafuyu sing. That's when

b) emotional attraction: Ue felt something stir inside him emotionally. Mafuyu's singing SERIOUSLY moved Ue!

From a young age, Ue found an oasis, a safe space in listening to music which then turned into a passion for composing. But somewhere along the way, he felt a bit lost and lost his passion for music. Honestly, I think Ue went through a bit of depression. (A clear symptom was how much he was napping at school T_T)

But seeing how well Mafuyu expresses himself through music (remember Mafuyu only thinks he expresses himself badly) through his singing REMINDED Ue of how much he himself used to LOVE and care for music.

Mafuyu's music shook Ue to his core.

Which is why after that moment, c) potential companionship actually finally registers in Ue's brain and he realises that maybe, JUST MAYBE,

Mafuyu's needs and wants and his own needs and wants could be aligned!

Which is why he asks Mafuyu to join the band! He wants to do music together with Mafuyu! He wants to share his life passion with Mafuyu!

Ok ok ok, so it could be interpreted that THE VERY MOMENT THAT Ue heard Mafuyu sing and asked Mafuyu to join the band,

Ue fell in love. <3

At least Akihiko noticed it.

Akihiko does that crazy 🤖robotic 🤖laugh LOL but he knows EXACTLY how overwhelming it is to fall in love FOR THE FIRST TIME. Not only that, remember Akihiko fell in love with Ugetsu not because he simply saw Ugetsu, but he heard Ugetsu play the violin and overtime understood why Ugetsu was such an amazing player. It was because like Mafuyu, Ugetsu expresses his emotions through his music. Akihiko and Ue are very similar in this way that they are incredibly moved by Ugetsu and Mafuyu who express their raw vulnerable selves through music.

Are Aki and Ue music-sexuals LOL? Is that an orientation? 😂😂😂 (honestly super relatable tho! My friends and I were literally talking about how the cohort at our music Conservatorium seem so normal and then the moment they pick up their instrument, sing or play, they all become so attractive 😂😆)

Three other hot clues as to why I think Ue fell in love the moment he listened to Mafuyu sing are:

In the anime when Mafuyu first declined to join the band, Ue first asked Yayoi about how she’s still hanging out with Akihiko even though Akihiko turned her down and Yayoi smacked him with a cushion 😆😆😆

Ue fricking searched up “how to ask someone out even after they have rejected you” on his phone 🤣🤣🤣 as a reference to try and pitch to Mafuyu again about joining the band LMAOOOOO

We hear Mafuyu’s singing in episode 2. Episode 2 is titled “Like someone in Love” 🤭🤭🤭 LERCHE studios knows what’s up.

Ue was so moved that he couldn't help but try to process his feelings but composing a song for Mafuyu <3

---

Chapter 5, Ue finally noticed Mafuyu laughing out loud for the first time and makes a mental note of it!

I honestly believe this is ACTUALLY the first time it registers in his dense-ass brain that "Mafuyu is kind of cute when he smiles????" But Ue's still thicc-headed HAHAHA

After, Ue learns about Mafuyu's past and we get the whole:

"It's Jealousy"

scene where Ue feels the need of wanting to be someone's No.1 for the first time. BUT EVEN THEN, he doesn't realise it until finally finally finally

Akihiko has the talk with Ue and makes him realise that a) he is physically attracted to Mafuyu, Mafuyu is freaking cute! Ue FINALLY REGISTERS that "holy shit"

❤️"I may be in love with MAFUYU!"❤️

lmao then Akihiko did this with his hand

TRUST ME THIS IS THE MOMENT when Akihiko made Ue's virgin self desperate for graduation HAHAHHA! Previously our nerdy composer boi was too busy doing music and napping! So it was only AFTER that conversation with Akihiko that it actually registers in Ue's brain that in addition to wanting to have some sort of c) companionship with Mafuyu and music and b) feeling emotionally attracted to Mafuyu, he is ALSO a) physically and sexually attracted to Mafuyu and then starts to FULL BLOWN ~GAY PANIC~ when he is in physical proximity to Mafuyu hahahahha. ------

So this is interesting....

For most heterosexual and heteroromantic people (I am generalising here to make a point), you'll have things happen in the linear order of a), b) then c), but for Ue it was backwards. Some may attribute this to just Ue being dense AF and while that is partially true,

CODE chapters is the story of Ue essentially coming to terms with his sexuality and navigating the bombshell of a confusion that is his first romantic relationship.

Or as @a-voice-of-my-own puts it, Ue's a BABY GAY. Humans as a whole filter reality through the way we are brought up, our experiences, decisions, what media we consume and how society reacts to us.

The lack of LGBTQIA+ representation means that LGBTQIA+ individuals lack the resources to help them easily identify sexual/romantic attraction compared to cis hetero individuals.

Furthermore, societal and political marginalisation of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially in a conservative country like Japan means that internalised homophobia and trauma make it even harder to recognise feelings of love and attraction.

So following my definition of love, I don't think Ue fell in love at first sight. Ue may have found Mafuyu subconsciously cute from the beginning (who can resist the lost puppy AWWW) but he processed that as a feeling of ANNOYANCE and WANTING TO CHEER HIM UP rather than as a feeling of romantic or sexual attraction. Even then, at first Ue just really enjoyed the attention and teaching Mafuyu music. Uenoyama and Mafuyu were becoming good friends. However, slowly he realised that Mafuyu shared the same values, needs and emotionally touched him in a way that no one else has ever before.

Mafuyu touched Uenoyama with MUSIC🎵❤️

Ue is by no means perfect as he is a growing teenager and navigating his overwhelming feelings but it's been established by everyone around Ue that he's a really honest and standup guy. The reason why Mafuyama is so good for each other is because they both value honesty.

In summary, perhaps Mafuyama chemistry was there from the beginning but to me, falling in love is a slower process than “at first sight”.

What I absolutely adore is that the moment Ue recognised his love for Mafuyu and realised that Mafuyu loves music as much as he does,

UE IS TRYING TO AIM FOR A FUTURE WITH MAFUYU AND MUSIC IN IT AND THAT'S TRUE LOVE 💕

-> For further reading, I don't know if you've checked out this post where I pinpointed exactly when Mafuyu falls in love with Ue.

—-

Masterlist of my Given Metas

If you like what you read, all I post in Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

[voiceswithoutlips]

Calico - Chapter Three

— pairing: Hybrid ot7 x Human Reader (Female) — genre: hybrid AU , fluff, angst, slow burn (like real slow), eventual smut — word count: 1.8K — Rating: M — warnings: trauma, mention of past abuse.

Click for Tag List

— chapter summary:

Y/N runs a animal shelter, Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. What will Y/N do when her sanctuary is threatened by an unexpected hybrid?

— A/N: This is going to be a series, I’m just getting back to writing, so I’d really appreciate your input and feedback <3

Ch. 1  Ch. 2 Ch. 3.5  Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6

Yeah, you fucking with some wet-ass pussy

Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet-ass pussy

I woke up to WAP blazing through the house at eight in the morning. That was the moment I knew I was going to kill Jason. Well, not literally, but there will be payback. 

It was Monday, my favorite day of the week. Mondays have such a bad reputation for absolutely no reason. Personally, I liked a good Monday, it was the day when I organized the rest of my week. In case you are wondering, yes, I’m a nerd and the sight of stationary makes me drool. I got ready quickly, I had planned lunch with Song Hwa today, and after that DOBBY WAS FREE! 

“JASON,” I screamed as I stumbled into the kitchen, “you are so dead.” 

“Nah, you love me too much!” He laughed. How dare he! 

“Who told you that? Just you wait, one of these days I’m going to disown you, you brat!” 

Jungkook was sitting at the table eating cereal Jason must’ve gotten him. At least one of us was functional. I could barely take care of myself. Jungkook had gotten a bit more comfortable with us over the past week. The first two days he had stuck to his room but then I introduced him to our PS4 and he was hooked. The kid was a natural. He was wearing Jason’s clothes that were a size too small on him. His eyes widened at my murderous declaration. He was so cute.

“Don’t worry bunny, I won’t kill him ...yet,” I narrowed my eyes at Jason. I still couldn’t understand how we ended up becoming friends. Jason and I were always at each other’s throat when we were in college. Not a day went by without us going head to head, don’t even get me started on the mountain of assignments that we had to do as a punishment for disturbing the peace. 

“I’m going out today, do you want to come to the town with me? We could get you some new clothes, and maybe some ice cream, we are running dangerously low,” I asked while sipping on some overly sweet coffee. I mean, I could buy clothes for him but first, I had no idea what his size was, and second I had no idea what his style was. I myself was a walking fashion disaster, if it was socially acceptable I’d wear pajamas every day, to every event but alas! This world is cruel to those who can’t match their clothes. 

Jungkook nodded his approval and after our not-so-filling breakfast we left. It was a 2 hour ride to Seoul and on the way I pointed out landmarks in case Jungkook ever wanted to go out on his own. I made a mental note to teach him how to drive. The aircon was on full blast, it was summer, the grumpiest of all seasons. 

I was wearing black sneakers, black jeans and a black hoodie like a goth pauper. Jungkook was wearing Jason’s oversized hoodie and jeans, a size smaller, that hugged his lower body like a second skin, I had to constantly remind myself to keep my eyes on the road. Hey, I hadn’t gotten laid in months, not that I’d ever look at Jungkook that way, he was just a kid, even if he had the body of a Greek god. 

“Here we are, bunny, you gotta follow some safety guidelines okay?” I said as I parked in front of the mall. 

He nodded. I wondered when he was going to start talking comfortably. Was he just shy or scared? Or both?

“First, don’t go anywhere alone, stay in my sight. I don’t want to lose you. And second, let’s hide your adorable ears,” I leaned over and pulled the hood over his head. He blushed, I almost cooed at him, why was he so cute. Be still my heart!

“If it gets too scary, just hold my hand, okay?” I said as we walked in through the doors. It was a good day to go shopping, there weren’t as many people on a weekday. “Go on, you can buy whatever you want, I’ll follow you around,” I grinned, his eyes were darting around from shop to shop.

“Can I?” he asked nervously. 

“Of course honey,” I encouraged patting his head. 

We spent the next two hours going from store to store. Jungkook was hesitant at first but after he realized that I had meant what I said he got excited. He’d take something off the shelf and run over to show me, he did that with every single thing that we bought. I was having the time of my life looking at him having fun, he was like a kid in a candy store. I wondered how excited he’d be if I actually took him to a candy store, I mentally added it to my to-do list. 

He was still non-verbal, which was making me worry. Was he uncomfortable with talking? Was he nervous, scared? I kept wondering. The only times that he had spoken, his voice was small and unsure, as if the words he was saying held the weight of the world. 

We ended up being late for the meeting with Song Hwa. The shopping bags barely fit in the trunk but somehow we achieved the unachievable. She had called me in to talk about Jungkook’s case, she had done some research and she insisted on talking in person. It worked for me though, that meant I could take the day off and relax. 

Song Hwa’s office was in one of those big commercial complexes. We had her on retainer but she worked for one of the biggest law firms in the country. Jungkook grabbed my hand as soon as I opened the office door. He was sniffing the air furiously, fear on his face. I peeked through the little crack that I had opened. There was a man sitting across from my favorite lawyer. I had seen him around Song Hwa’s firm, he was one of her colleagues. I had no idea why Jungkook was afraid of him, he seemed perfectly normal to me, but then again I didn’t have superhuman abilities unlike my bunny. 

His voice got closer and the door opened. As usual, my brain stopped working. I grabbed Jungkook’s neck and pulled his head on my shoulder to hide his face. Song Hwa and the man stepped out of the office and looked at us as if we had sprouted a fifth head. It must’ve been a sight, us holding hands and Jungkook’s face buried in my neck. I just looked at Song Hwa who made some excuse to the man in the beige suit to get him to leave. I was too embarrassed to register what she had said. 

“Is he gone?” I whispered, before Song Hwa could answer, Jungkook nodded in my neck. I stepped away from him, still holding his hand. “I’m sorry, are you okay?” another nod. He was redder than a tomato, I guess he was twice as embarrassed. 

“What the fuck?” Song Hwa’s expression matched her question. I sighed. I told her what happened as we sat down in her office. 

“His name is Brian, he is a sleazebag and a coward. I wouldn’t worry about him,” Song Hwa reassured Jungkook. I didn’t like it, I could see how scared and uncomfortable Jungkook was. He hadn’t let go of my hand and he was clutching it as if his life depended on it. We ended up leaving her office and going to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was well past noon and I was starving, I’d bet my Bleach collection that Jungkook was starving to. I was used to skipping meals and starving until I got a hunger headache but I couldn’t do that to him. I sucked at taking care of people. 

“Here,” Song Hwa handed me a newspaper while I was stuffing some fries in my mouth. She had highlighted a small article, just a paragraph not worthy of front page news. It was about a stolen lab equipment from an Apexi lab. There was no mention of a hybrid. 

“Please tell me this is good news,” I said through clenched teeth. Even though I knew it was terrible news, I could always hope. A multinational pharmaceutical company doesn’t just hide the fact that their lab animals were stolen along with a hybrid and their research destroyed. Unless it was something big. 

“It's not and you know that,” Song Hwa had terrible bedside manners. 

“Let’s talk about this tomorrow, today we feast!” I tried to sound enthusiastic but I failed terribly. Worrying about it would only ruin the rest of the day, not like I could do anything about it at the moment so I decided to ignore the screaming voice in my head and focus on the delicious meal that had suddenly turned bland. 

Jungkook had fallen asleep on our way back. His head was resting on the back of the seat, eyes closed, soft lips slightly parted. Every time he scrunched his nose my heart made cooing noises. How was he even more adorable when he slept, I could watch him for hours. His hair was covering his forehead, I had forgotten about his haircut. I wondered if they were as soft as they looked. I lightly ran my fingers through his hair, yep, his hair was super soft. I felt like a stalker so I mentally shook myself and focused on the road. 

Previous  ||   Next

[jinjofitzo]

🩰Intro to me and my blog, i guess!🫧🇵🇸🍉

hey! 2023 update LOL! I’ll be keeping things from my 2021 post, but here is how i am as of august 2023 :]

actual introduction under the cut, important links:

https://en.pronouns.page/@jinjofitzo

https://jinjofitzofunny.carrd.co

Commision prices:

Dm if interested!

Furry ocs may be applicable depending on the complexity!

🌸🐇

Hysha! I’ve betcha you’ve already looked at the title. It is exsactly 1:23 am (i am on the west of u.s.a) here and I decided to make a blog! This’ll be a fun ride, huh?

Basic info, hi! I’m London. I’m african-american (born in america,,) but has alot of german family. Kinda odd if I do say so myself. Though my (personal) family speaks more english so i’m bad at both english and german XD

I’m bigender! That means that I identify or fluctuate between two genders. I was originally female, but I also can be very masculine at times. “that doesn’t mean you’re a man!” i know, i know, but this is my personal life and I’m exploring my identity. I’m masculine and feminine. So now I go by She/Him! Additional information regarding my pronouns will be at https://en.pronouns.page/@jinjofitzo !

Here I will post about my oc’s, my friends oc’s, and even some fandom stuff i’m in for the time being. I do a lot of shitposting and only sometimes be serious, so that’s a warning. My main thing is g/t if you couldn’t tell, i’ve never been able to tell anyone about my “special interest” as i call it around my friends, so trumblr was just the best outlet! i’ve been watching the g/t community from afar and wow i’m so excited to join!! I hope i’m accsepted :))

(Btw! G/t stands for Giant/Tiny, Which is basically just normal people with an extreme height difference! it’s very cute, and i don’t see it as sexual!)

My discord is jinjofitzo (all lowercase)! I also have a youtube channel named FluffyZuffy, and I have no other socials other than the platform we’re on as of now.

By the way,, I’m doing this on ipad! So things’ll be just a tad harder on my end.

I don’t know to much how to make an intro so that’s the best i’ve got for now and my fried brain. Get ready for a lot of memes and stuff!! More about my oc’s later and,, great to meetcha! Thanks for reading!

An edit! I have sideblogs now aswell! @fluffyzuffy​ for my silly little thoughts, and occasional vents, and @dkdoafdoaf​  for other stuffs!

!! QUICK DNI!! 

Terfs, anti-lgbt, kink blogs, pro shippers, camp camp fans (i mean you can if you want,, i just don’t really like camp camp at all…) nsfw blogs, hardcore dream stans, pedophiles, people who thinks minors should die, people with “minors dni,” ableists, hardcore religious people, hardcore vore blogs, and i think that’s it for now!!! tell me if i missed some!!!

By the way, here’s a couple of picrews of mine i’ve made to represent me. I’ll show you some _actual drawings _i’ve made after this post. Muahahaha.

(by the way.. Sjnce I first made this post i have chanegd from Biromantic to Queer/Gay[Romantic]  (i like masculine ppls :] ) and have also started to present more masculine at times, other times more feminine, so that’s why the picrews switch overall feelings) 

EDIT edit, I’m andro! (attraction to masculinity regardless of gender.)

ok i’ll actually go now

[ericsonclan]

Dinner Buddies

Summary: Omar and Ruby spend an evening hanging out and being dinner buddies.

Word Count: 1375

Read on AO3:

Omar smiled as he walked through the grocery store, his eyes focused on countless different ingredients. All the colors and smells sparked his creativity and his mind spun with dozens of recipes he wanted to try right then and there. He was nearly tempted to stretch his budget for this week and go ham, grabbing as many ingredients as he could, but he stopped himself. Omar glanced back when he heard the automatic doors slide open and saw Ruby bustling forward.

“Sorry I’m late, it's raining cats and dogs!” Ruby shook the rain off her umbrella, turning it back into its small, compact form.

“That’s okay, ready to shop for dinner?” Omar strolled forward, the basket draped over his arm.

“I sure am!” Ruby was beaming as she jogged forward. “What are we making for our dinner buddy night?”

“Hmm,” Omar studied the produce carefully. His mind ran with several different ideas until he noticed the sweet potatoes. “Let’s make some pork and fontina burgers with roasted sweet potato fries,”

“Oh, that sounds divine,” Ruby smiled happily and noticed the small, excited smile on her friend’s lips.

“Okay, then let's start in this section.Grab  a few sweet potatoes - it's okay if you get extra, I’ll use them,” Omar wandered forward, spotting some onions. Those would be nice on the burgers. Snatching up two onions he placed them in his grocery basket; he could use the extra to make a good breakfast hash. He soon spotted the garlic and grabbed a few of those. With each ingredient he added he saw the recipe materialize further in his brain. His excitement slowly built as Ruby placed the ground pork in her basket. The two friends talked happily as they grabbed ingredient after ingredient.

Once that was done Ruby bustled over to grab the stuff she needed for sweet tea and then they were all set. “Oh, I’m so excited I can hardly wait!” Ruby smiled back at Omar, noticing a smile that was larger than normal on his face.

“Yeah, this recipe should be good.” Omar thanked the grocery bagger and the cashier then held the groceries while Ruby got her umbrella ready. Luckily both of them were rather short, making it easy for Ruby to use the umbrella to shield both of them from the rain. As they wandered about both were trying to find Ruby’s car. It took a minute or two thanks to the heaviness of the rain but soon enough they were in the car.

“Good Lord, it's a raging one out there today,” Ruby shook off the rain from her umbrella.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make us some tea when I get back to my place,” Omar double checked the bags to make sure none of the ingredients were damaged.

“Sounds good to me,” Ruby turned on the car then carefully got out of the parking lot. Driving through the rain, the redhead made sure that they arrived at their destination quickly and safely. Ruby immediately got the umbrella ready and opened the car door for her friend. Running forward, they stopped at the front door where Omar quickly put in the code for his apartment complex. When that was done they walked up the stairs and stopped in front of the apartment door.

“So, where’s Aasim tonight?”

“He’s having a trivia night with Prisha. I think both are raring to go and prove that they’re the smarter one,” Ruby chuckled as she helped get the ingredients out of the bags.

“They’re going to run in circles then,” Omar smiled as he got out the proper cooking instruments.

“Yeah, knowing ‘Sim he’ll probably be in a huff if Prish wins,” Ruby moved to bring over the cutting board and knife to the table.

“Prisha will be the same way if she loses.” Omar set the oven to the right temperature then got out the baking sheet. “Hey, can you wash the produce?” “Sure thing,” Ruby hopped up. Bustling over to the sink, she washed the sweet potatoes. Her eyes soon spotted Omar’s Remy plushie by the stove. “I see our usual cooking buddy will be here tonight,”

“Yep, I always cook with him when I’m at home,” Omar smiled before feeling a bit embarrassed and refocused on another task. Ruby soon resumed her own. After it was done she followed Omar’s instructions to cut the sweet potatoes into bite sized wedges while Omar worked to get the other mies en plas done. Slicing up the onion into one inch rounds he then worked on the cloves of garlic, mashing them into a paste.

“You know, I find cooking with ya so relaxing,” Ruby smiled as she tossed the sweet potato wedges in olive oil and some salt and pepper. “I know we already do this for work but they’re nice, these dinner buddy nights,”

“I agree. I find it calming,” Omar smiled softly as he worked to prepare the  burgers while Ruby placed the baking sheet in the oven. “I’ll handle the burgers and the buns. If you can finish up the cheese and spicy ketchup, then we’ll be set,”

“I’m on the job!” Ruby started humming a happy tune as she continued her work. The two worked in quiet harmony. Omar shaped each burger then went to work cooking them after waiting a minute or two to get the timing right with the sweet potatoes.

“Always the perfectionist,” Ruby teased lightly, making Omar look over.

“You can do it or you can do it right, all it takes is a little bit of patience,” he countered then placed the patties down. While the patties and onions were cooking in the same pan Ruby fluttered around the kitchen to make what she claimed was the best damn sweet tea in all of West Virginia. Omar hadn’t tried every single sweet tea to know for sure but he always gave high praise to Ruby’s.

It only took a few minutes for the burgers to get that beautiful color to them before Omar placed the slices of fontina cheese on top of the pork patties. Covering the pan with a lid, he watched the heat from the steam slowly melt the cheese. The velvety shimmer of the cheese glistened on the patties as Omar turned off the heat. Taking the patties out and placing them on a plate he then poured a splash or two of balsamic vinegar to finish off the onions’ cooking process.

“Hey, Ruby, mind toasting the buns for a minute? I’m going to set the table,” Omar looked over at Ruby who had just finished making the tea.

“Sure thing!” Ruby bustled over, immediately getting to work on the task at hand. She started to hum a new tune, one she always did while cooking at the diner. A few seconds passed before Omar’s deep, calming voice joined in. The two smiled and continued to hum the tune before the alarm went off for the sweet potato wedges. Ruby worked to get the oven mitts on and pulled out the sweet potatoes for Omar to coat with garlic oil.

Once that was done both of them worked together on the presentation of the meal. It was important to them that it was done right. Ruby assembled the burger according to Omar’s instructions while he got the spicy ketchup and sweet potato wedges on the plate. When that was all finished the two shared a high five then washed up for dinner.

“It looks absolutely amazing, Omar. Oh, I can’t wait to dig in!” Ruby beamed over at her friend.

“Thanks, I’m excited for this meal too,” Omar lifted up his drink, clinking it with Ruby’s. After taking a sip his eyes sparkled with delight. “This is amazing as always,”

“Why thank you, Omar,” Ruby’s face brightened with pride. The redhead soon took a bite and swallowed it before giving a compliment. “This is delicious!”

Omar smiled, a gentle warmth appearing in his heart at those words. He loved when his cooking made people happy and Ruby always seemed to have a nice word or two to say. As the pair enjoyed their meal they talked excitedly about what they wanted to make next time they had a dinner buddy night.

[yandere-tech]

Comfort (Jin Bubaigawara X Reader)

Being alone with your thoughts was possibly the worst thing you could be doing right now. Sitting in the darkness of your room, cheeks stained with tears and eyes red, you tried to get rid of the overbearing sensation of...guilt, sadness, loneliness. It all seemed to swirl around in your brain like an angry swarm of wasps, ready to attack with each second you weren't distracted. Having thrown on some feel good music on low, trying to read something that would bring back that smile. When was the last time you smiled? You were sure it was over something stupid like a tiktok video or short clip about a cat. A quick, small laugh and half smile that would dissolve the moment the video was done. The more you thought about it- when was the last time you were happy...?        A shudder of a cry escapes past your lips as you try to keep quiet- knowing the walls of apartment complex were thin as paper- and it was one in the morning. You didn't need to wake up anyone- you certainly didn't need to accidentally wake your boyfriend either. As much as you'd love to cry and cling to him, he had it far worse and you knew it. Constantly battling himself- much like you did. But you knew how to silence your pain, you were his 'home' and, honestly, he was yours. Despite trying to hide these feelings behind dark humor or a half assed smile, he somehow managed to make things better. His ability to somehow deal with everything and still be the most kindest and most loyal man you had ever met.         Your hand had slipped over your mouth as a hiccup and slight whimper manages to slip out. Nothing was helping this time and it felt like the world was slowly closing in on you. Your tears come back full force as the thoughts take off with you again, reminding you of how worthless you were- how lonely you were- how you weren't worth the life you were given. It bombarded you to the point you were doubled over, hand now firmly pressed to your lips to keep from crying out or sobbing, your other hand shakily gripping your hair. The feelings would be gone by morning...You'd fall asleep and you'd wake up feeling numb once again. But right now- in the late hours of the night when sleep wouldn't drag you in, when the darkness swallowed you whole- it felt never-ending.        And that's when you heard his voice, gruff from sleep and concerned. Just the way Jin said your name made the darkness reel back just enough as you quickly look toward the other side of the bed, where the blonde had shifted slightly, propping himself up on his elbows, blinking in the low light of your computer glow. Quickly closing the laptop, you wipe at your eyes and try to find a way to make your voice sound normal.        "Sorry, Jin. I didn't mean to wake you." You tell him as you slide your laptop to the side of the bedside table and slowly curl up under the blankets with him. The moment your body is under, he sinks down as well, an arm snaking around your waist to pull you closer.        "Are you alright...?" "We need our beauty sleep, babe." He says before grumbling and opening his eyes once more to look at you in the dark. A small hum escapes you as you run a hand through his hair.        "Just fine." You lie easily. However, you soon feel his hand on your cheek as he strokes his thumb in small circles.        "Then why is your cheek still wet?" "Lying to me- I'm hurt!" He shakes his head a bit, making you tense slightly.        "It's nothing, Jin, really. I just get sappy and over emotional at night." You tell him, taking his hand off your cheek.        "Mnn...You seriously suck at lying..." Jin yawns as he sits up again, pulling you up and into his lap. "Now let's try that again... Why were you crying?" The male asks, resting his chin on the top of your head, his arms wrapped around you in a comforting way.        There was a long pause as you try to think of if you should tell him or not. Unconsciously, you begin to bite and chew on your lip. You wanted to tell him, you really did. But the thought of being so vulnerable- the thought of letting him see the real you, the broken, the damaged, the pieces of you that wanted nothing more than a short drop and sudden stop. Certainly he'd understand better than anyone else! He had too! But- he had so much to deal with already- adding onto that- you didn't want to burden him- or scare him off. You were his rock after all- and if that rock started to slide- who would catch both of you?        As thoughts begin to start up again, Jin gently nuzzles his face into your neck, making you tense slightly.        "Calm down, your heart rate is astronomical." He mutters against your neck, only really making it skyrocket further. "Hah, look at that, I still have the power to distract you." His other personality chuckles, making you huff lightly and look away. "Come on, just tell me what's up... I always open up to you. I always come to you for help when I start to feel down, like I'm splitting- you're my comfort. So- let me do the same for you." Jin says, now messing with your hair. "I'll do my best to help-" "Or at least help in distracting you and making you smile!"        Giving a small sigh, you glance at the male out the corner of your eyes before looking down.        "Okay- but- please- don't hate me." You say, making the blonde pull away briefly to look down at you, confused.        "I couldn't hate you even if I wanted too." "Except when you eat my leftovers! I still haven't forgiven you for the deep fried cheesecake last week!" At this, you can't help but give a short, small laugh as you lean back into his chest.        "Well...I've struggled with really bad depression my whole life." You finally admit, closing your eyes, almost as if afraid to see his expression. "I've been able to bury it around others pretty damn good though. I can easily be around the League or Giran and you- but the moment I have to deal with myself on my own- I dig myself into a deep hole." Feeling Jin's arm move from your waist to lightly tracing your jawline with a finger, you relax a bit more. His touches really were such a nice thing. Gentle and slow. "Most days I just feel nothing. Like- like going through the day is just another task I have to complete. Other days, like tonight- I end up feeling everything at once. There's no stop to it, really." You feel tears slowly stirring up again as you continue. "People half my age have done so much more than me, I feel like, at my age, I should have done something- anything! Yet, I can't find a job, my best friend, only friend and boyfriend are all the same person, I only talk to the League- I don't have friends. And-and." You hiccup as you curl up in his lap, a hand gripping his wrist as you pull it to you in a comforting manner- much like one might a pillow to hold. "I feel like such a disappointment, a failure. Like my life isn't even worth it." Turning to have your face against his chest, you bury your face there and try to stop the flow of tears. "You have to do everything for us- I'm useless- I don't- understand why you'd want someone like me. All I am is a huge headache and mess of a person. I have nothing going for me- so why? Why keep going?" By now, you were sobbing between words and trying to stop the shaking that rocked your body like a chihuahua.        Jin was silent for a moment or two- a real concern, as he was almost never quiet. It seriously made you feel like your heart was in a vice grip- maybe you shouldn't had said anything. You start to pull away, looking up at Jin, who had tears in his own eyes as he held you tighter.        "I'm sorry- that you felt you couldn't talk to me about this." He says, pressing a few kisses to your forehead, he hugs you as if he could lose you the moment he lets go. "I know how it can be- the loneliness- the fear....I know how it feels." Jin's voice wavered, as if he was keeping himself from sobbing on you as well. "But you're my heart. I can't live without you, doll." He states, his breathing hitched slightly. "We're both pretty fucked up, huh?" A weak laugh escapes the male as he nuzzles his face into you again. "Please, if you're going to help me- let me help you too. When you feel like this, I want to be there to cry with you." "And trust me, I can cry a LOT." This earns a small laugh from you as he smiles down at you in the dark, wiping at your tears. "I'm sorry you feel like that. But I want you to know that I love you, alright?" "Like- a lot. It's unhealthy. I think I might be love sick~" He says, gently clutching his head and hissing. "Shuddup." He mutters before sighing lightly. "I'm here for you, okay? And all these thoughts you have? They're just thoughts. We can get rid of them- like fighting off heroes! They may be strong, but we can overcome them!" "Through love and friendship!" Jin gives you a bright smile. "And you'll always have me! Sorry, you already threw out the receipt , no returns." He then gives you a few little chaste kisses, earning one of those laughs you know he adored so much.        A small smile pulls onto your lips as you look up into those grey-blue eyes of his. Maybe this was a good thing for you- for both of you. Opening up to him was relieving and he seemed all too happy to hear you out. Jin had a way with words- even when he didn't mean too. It really did brighten the rather deep and unending tunnel. You knew the feelings wouldn't just vanish...But at least with Jin, there was someone to help you battle off these demons with. The way ahead would be heavily loaded with trials- but maybe just having someone there for you- at your side- would be the saving grace to keep you from diving into a permanent solution to this feeling.        "Okay, okay." You sniffle lightly before leaning up and kissing his lips lightly. "I'll try and come to you when I'm like this from now on." You assure him before he gives you a rather excited smile.        "I'm gonna be such a good supportive man." He says, pulling you back onto the bed with him, with you resting on his chest. "We're both pretty crazy, huh? Like we cancel out each other's weirdness." He teases as you get comfortable.        "Cancel out is a strong way to put it." You hum as you look up at him, his hand gently stroking your hair.        "Fine, fine- we help each other out mutually now." Jin chuckles, the rumble in his chest sending such a small signal of happiness to your brain that you finally feel a slight genuine smile. He was such a good man- How you were so lucky to have him, you didn't know.        "So- how about some depression sex~?" His other personality asks, making Jin smack a hand to his forehead. "I-Ignore that." He mutters, shaking his head. "This is seriously not the time for that." He says, lightly smacking himself a few times in the head. You grab his hand and gently pull it down, placing a kiss on his palm.        "Mnn, maybe it would help distract us though." You tease before giggling as he get's all flustered.

[fangirl-on-bitches]

Bittersweet

Javier Peña x Female!Reader.

Word Count: 4k approximately.

Summary: You and Javier have a particular way of saying goodbye, so particular you get a surprise when you get back to the US.

Warning: a lot of cursing, a bit of pregnancy shenanigans, a lot of dialogue and a little messy plot and timelines lol.

A/N: Okay, listen before you continue. When I was younger I used to write, maybe not with the best grammar or the best plot, but sure as hell with a lot of creativity. Now I just can’t be that creative to write a complete fic or hc, so if you find this boring or a waste of time I’m really sorry. If you like this, I appreciate it as I really made an effort to finish it (a crapy ending anyways). I’ll be sincere, I had this idea and couldn’t get it out of my head so I wrote it. I feel like the scenarios aren’t realistic to what could happen in real life (I feel like they are forced or way too dramatic) I really hope I don’t waste your time. (and yes, I chose the name in honor of Pedro’s role in triple frontier)

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You were cursed. Definitely.

You were back in the states, had been for a few weeks, enjoying the warmest sun Miami had to offer along with Connie. You loved relaxing by a peaceful beach after years of chasing after Escobar with your life on the line every hour of every day.

That day you were really excited to wake up and meet Connie to go to the beach, it had been so long since you saw her and little Olivia. You felt at the same time a little uncomfortable with your body that day, bloated and kind of heavy, like there was extra gravity, but the excitement overwhelmed whatever other feeling you might be having.

The beach had some people because it was a nice day, so you lounged along Connie and baby Olivia, eating fried fish with chips as it was beach food. You were laughing at something Connie said about Steve, something about being a pain in the ass, which you agreed with. It was all fun and games until you felt horrible nausea and a pushing need to vomit. Connie, being observant noticed immediately.

“What’s wrong?” before you could answer you ran to the restaurant’s bathroom, puking whatever food you had that day. Connie came close behind you. She gave you a paper towel so you could wipe your mouth.

“Okay, I might be sick.” you admitted flushing the toilet.

Of course, your mood just plummeted to the ground when you were sitting in a private room in the hospital. Connie couldn’t check you, but she was looking for her friend on-call, meanwhile, you looked as baby Liv (as you called Olivia) slept peacefully by your side.

You didn’t like hospitals. They reminded you of your time in Colombia, and although you weren’t shot, your compañeros might have been shot multiple times. There had been too many close calls and so many lives lost, you just got the creeps whenever you heard a gurney moving.

Soon, Connie came back and carried Olivia outside, leaving you with her friend. She presented herself, and asked routine questions. How are you feeling? What happened? Does something hurt? Is your period late? Did you fall and hit your head? Do you have any diseases? Or do you take any medication?

“I do have nausea and I threw up after eating.” She nodded as she took your blood pressure. Then you started thinking. You were thinking really hard.

Your period was late, you didn’t remember how late, but it was late. Two months ago, Steve and you caught Escobar. Steve went straight back home and you had to stay, to finish completing paperwork. Then Javier was back in Colombia to follow the Cali Cartel, but you were assigned back to Miami and couldn’t stay.

To be fair, you were glad to be back home, but you really missed Javier. When shit went down with Los Pepes you were pissed off at Javier. You knew he usually overstepped the line to get intel, but this time he had stepped so far off the line, he wouldn’t be able to see the line.

The night before he left you decided you would drink your consciousness off because you hated to even think that Javier Peña was living in Colombia; after a glass of a really strong Rum and Cola you decided against it and knocked on Javier’s door.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, suggesting that he wasn’t up to listening to more of your nagging. Your head had a million thoughts racing, you wanted to tell him so many things varying from ‘you are an idiot’ to ‘why the fuck did you do this?’ but the only thing you articulate was something like ‘I don’t want you to go’

Javier’s face softened, although you cast down eyes couldn’t actually look at his face, he had stepped aside and invited you inside. “Do you want something to drink?” you shook your head, looking around the apartment. It was almost empty, but it has been pretty empty since the beginning. You sat on the floor, Javier following with a beer in his hand.

“Will you come back?” you asked him, but you already knew the answer.

“I don’t think so, it depends on the higher ups in the states” you nodded, looking at him. You were really going to miss him. “Look, it’s not like we won’t see each other anymore, when you guys catch Escobar-” you laughed humorlessly. How long would that be? Months, another year perhaps? 

Both of you stayed in silence for a while. “I should go.” you told him, standing up, he stood up as well.

“You shouldn’t go.” He told you, squeezing your shoulder tenderly, a familiar touch. You looked at his sweet dark brown eyes, a silly small smile playing on the corners of your lips.

“What do you mean? You have a plane to catch tomorrow.” you remind him, wondering if he was drunk, he clearly wasn’t. His hand, which was still on your shoulder, moved to cup your face. For a second, you were lost and didn’t understand what was happening, until you looked at his eyes again and understood. You didn’t wait for him to lean down, you just wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him.

You would lie if you have never felt curious as to why every informant in Colombia gave Javier the intel he wanted. After that night you understood why. He was passionate, attentive and a really generous lover. You might have even believed him if he had blurted out an ‘I love you’.

The only reason why you let this happen was because Javier was supposed to stay in the US, officially he wasn’t your (or Steve’s) compañero anymore. And that was true, even when he came back.

“Okay, so your results are in. After you told me you’ve been missing your period for quite a while, I drew some blood to analyze it.”

“Yeah, it must be stress. You know, I worked in Colombia with Connie’s husband and moving back here plus all the work I have to do was really stressful. Also, I had a UTI back in Colombia, I wasn’t drinking enough water and I read that the strain might move my period a little.” you started rambling. For some reason, you felt jittery, almost anxious at the look on the Doctor’s face. She had a grin in her face, really big and excited.

“That may delay your period for two weeks, but it won't magically make it disappear, dear.” She read the results once more and nodded to herself. “As I suspected, you are pregnant.”

“W-w-what?” you mumbled. “But I didn’t pee on the stick.” clearly, your brain had short-circuited.

“I have some pregnancy tests if you wish to take them yourself, but the blood analysis is pretty accurate.” she offered with a nice smile. You nodded and took the box going to the bathroom, trying to focus on reading the instructions.

The stick said you were pregnant. And you knew exactly who was the father.

You sighed at the papers you were reading, the office already empty, way past dinner time. Since catching Escobar, hours were cut short, but to you they were really slow. Steve wasn’t there, he had left a few weeks ago, Javier obviously wasn’t there. It was just you, some files and occasionally some booze to help you relax before sleeping. Thankfully, you would be leaving shortly.

On your way back to the apartment complex you stopped by a grocery store. You needed ice cream, and lots of chocolate, and some chips. Probably some booze too. You had bought a flask of whisky that reminded you of Javier, although whisky might not be your first choice of booze.

That same flask almost fell to the ground when you saw goddam Javier Peña entering his apartment, a big suitcase by his side.

He also noticed you, the dark bags under your eyes and messy hair evidence of your hard work. 

“Oh my god” you whispered, unbelieving. You walked and hugged him, relieved to see him again. “You are back?” you stupidly asked.

“Yeah, they want my intel and help to track down the Cali Cartel.” he answered.

“Well, that’s weird.”

“What?”

“My orders are to finish paperwork and return to Miami. They didn’t tell me to stay to help.”

“Well, it’s a different operation this time, more discreet.” he tried to hint you that it wasn’t just DEA business anymore, it was more a CIA kind of work. You invited him to your apartment, that had two boxes of things you were going to give to charity, you didn’t need all this stuff back home, you already had them.

He explained his situation while you shared the flask of whisky and bid good night like the old times, no kisses or sex, or nothing like that. Which was fine.

Everything was fine for the next few days. Javier even helped you pack your stuff and sort it out. The night before returning home he offered to go to the bar you always went to with Steve and him on Friday’s or Saturday’s (sometimes even a Monday)

Both of you drank like you always had, but instead of bidding goodnight and going to bed separately, you both had sex. Again. It was probably a coping mechanism, the way both of you said goodbye to each other. Such a complicated method.

So, so complex that now you were pregnant.

With a child.

Javier's child.

It had to be his, you only had sex with him within the last 3 months. Since Colombia you hadn’t have sex.

This was bad. It was complicated. You didn’t plan for a child; working at the DEA (chasing after Escobar) left you almost no time to think about dating, much more less building a fucking family. 

Could you do this? Hell yeah, you are an awesome strong woman.

What you couldn’t do was tell Javier.

When you came out the private room, you were fidgeting with your hands, Connie came and took them. “I’m pregnant.” you blurted out. Connie looked at you shocked; then you noticed little baby Olivia wasn’t on her arms.

Steve, in all his blonde mustache glory stood with his daughter on his arms, looking as shocked as Connie. “What?” he asked.

“Who is the father?” Connie inquired.

“What are you doing here?” You asked Steve.

“I came to pick up my wife and daughter for dinner. Why don’t you come with us and tell us more about this?” You nodded out of inertia, but you looked at your hands while walking, Connie hooking her arm with one of yours.

As you sat on traffic, you tentatively touched your belly. It was... normal. No kicking, no large or really hard belly. It was like there was nothing there.

You would have declined dinner if you knew the questionnaire that would come from the Murphy’s. Well, questionnaire would be an exaggeration, but you didn’t really like the single question they were asking.

“Who’s the father?” 

“I- I can’t tell you.”

“Why? We don’t know him?” you sighed and reassigned. You knew they would ask forever.

“Please, please, please you have to promise me you won’t tell anybody. Both of you.” you looked pointedly at Steve. He nodded but held your gaze, trying to figure out what you were really trying to say. A second later he muttered something.

“Jesus fucking christ.”

“What?” Connie asked but soon realized. “Oh, no way. Javier?”

“It’s Javier.” you confirm their suspicions.

“Are you certain?” Connie asked.

“Of course.” you paused and then added. “You can’t tell him Steve.”

“What? Why?” he sounded slightly offended.

“I should tell him first. He should hear it from me.”

“I can’t believe this. The minute I come back home you two just pound at each other.”

“It wasn’t like that, and technically you were still in Colombia the first time.”

“The first time?” he asked with a chuckle, he looked very happy.

“The second time I was the one leaving!” you paused, moving the food around your plate. “How the fuck am I going to tell him? I can’t just call him and be like, ‘hey I’m pregnant and you are the father. How’s the Cali stuff going?’. This kind of news aren’t told over a call.”

“But it’s different, it’s not a normal situation. Javier could be in Colombia for years.” Steve reminded you.

“It wouldn’t make a difference. He can’t come back until his work is done.” You rolled your eyes, there was no good alternative.

“So you plan to just hide this from him?” Connie asked, her look full of pity, if it was for you or Javier, you didn't know.

“Only until I know he’s coming back. I’ll check on him every once in a while. I’ll need you to call him too, Steve. I don’t want him to suspect me.” He sighed but nodded nonetheless. You sighed as well, a million thoughts racing through your head.

You called Javier that same week. Of course, it was unexpected for him but really welcome. Colombia was not rainbows and sunshine. “So how’s the Cartel treating you?”

“It’s a fucking nightmare, but hopefully it won’t take long. I can't talk too much over the phone about this, who knows who might be listening.” he sighed, sounding really 

“Yeah, you are right.” for a minute, you thought about telling him. Then you decided. “Please take care and be careful.”

“Of course compañera.” he assured, you could practically hear the smirk in his lips. After ending the call, you pressed the heels of your palms in your eyes. How in the world were you going to tell him?

–––––– 

A month turned into two, and then five months flew by in the blink of an eye. Javier was not coming back for the time being and your belly was starting to pop. Your head was still working on how in the world were you going to tell Javier, which was the only problem you had right now. It wasn’t even a big problem, if Javier wanted an out of fatherhood he was free to go, but you had been so happy since day two (day one was a full shock) that you honestly didn’t care.

You were getting way too ahead of yourself. Maybe Javi wanted to be a father and he would be really happy with the little baby. But that wasn’t the Javier you knew, and that’s why you were so afraid to tell him. 

Today looked like the best day to tell him. You were going to probably get to know if the little baby was a girl or a boy. You were waiting patiently for him to pick up the call in the hospital public phone. After a while, he picked up.

“Hello?” his voice sounded gruff and stressed.

“Hi, compañero. How are you?” you asked, a hand on your belly.

“As fine as I can be here,” he answered. “What did you want?” he asked abruptly, almost tired of talking to you. It stinged a little.

“I just called to check in…” you lied, maybe it wasn’t the best time to tell him after all.

“I’m going to be as clear as I can. Don’t call me, unless you are fucking dying.” you felt a piercing pain in your throat, a tight knot forming, making it really difficult to talk.

“Fine.” you hissed and hanged the phone, tears slipping down your cheeks. Fucking hormones. Fucking Javier. 

Connie, who was waiting for you anxiously to come back, hugged you. “It’s okay sweetie, it’s okay.” you nodded and wiped your tears.

“I’m okay. I just need to focus on my baby and myself right now.” you told her and rubbed your belly.

“Of course honey.”

––––––– 

It had been a really smooth and sweet pregnancy, you were really happy with your 5th month old baby boy Francisco. He was really sweet, but he had so, so much of his father, the resemblance was uncanny. Deep brown sweet eyes, and a mop of soft brown hair.

Javier had not called you since that horrible last call. You knew he called Steve every once in a while, but you asked Steve please not to tell you anything about him. Both Murphy’s just assumed you had told Javier about the pregnancy and that he had not taken it well.

This was a lie. Javier had no idea you were pregnant, much more less with his child. But he was still in Colombia, so unless you told him he would not hear it from anyone. 

It hurted you deeply, not being able to tell your son who his father was. However, all around your house there were pictures of Steve, Javi and yourself from Colombia. Connie and Olivia were there too, even Carillo. 

Anyways, the baby was too young to notice the absence of his father. Maybe by the time Francisco starts wondering about daddy, Javier would be around the USA to talk.

Your son cooed and asked to be held up, it was time for his nap. Just in time, you thought, Steve was coming over to pick him up as you were going to meet your best friend in an hour or so. Your baby boy soon fell asleep, you held him in against your chest, rocking him gently.

Then the doorbell rang.

“Steve, you are early. Fran just fell asleep.” you told Steve. But it wasn’t Steve. Javier fucking Peña stood in the door way, his eyes looking at your son. You frowned and tried to hide Francisco’s face sneakily from him. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello to you too, compañera.” he said, but his mind was not entirely focused on whatever he was saying. His mind was in the baby, and about how quickly you had moved on.

“Don’t compañera me.” you hissed, in a hushed tone, the baby in your arms sleeping soundly. “Come in.” you told him, as you turned around to leave your baby on his cradle. 

Javier looked around, looking for any sign of the baby’s father. But he only found pictures of you, Steve, Connie, baby Olivia and other people he knew. Then he started thinking, what if the baby was his child?

No, that’s not possible. 

“So?” you asked, really anxious. You had no idea he would be here. You were not prepared for this. But really, would you ever be prepared?

“I came to apologize.” Javier simply said, his hands on his hips.

“Took you a little long.” you said, rubbing your hands together. “If you apologized sooner I could have…”

“Could have what?” you exhaled and sighed, trying not to cry. 

“You are not supposed to be here.” you whisper, your voice cracking softly as you sit on your sofa. Javier sat by your side and you felt the weight of your decisions constrict your chest, making it harder to breath.

You were a horrible, horrible person. How could you deny him knowing he was a father? That he had a child? It didn’t matter how angry you felt, or how much of an asshole he had been. The baby was made by both of you. He had the right to know.

“I’m sorry.” he was not sure why, but he really was sorry. You shook your head, and started to tell him that you were sorry, repeating like a prayer. “Hey, hey” he tried to calm you down, rubbing his hands up and down your back. “Breath, baby. Breath.” you complied, breathing deeply. After a minute of silence you took his rough big hand and held it, squeezing it slightly.

“Javier, I got news for you.” you started, and felt his hand tense. “The baby boy, Francisco, he’s your son, our son.” He looked at you, his eyes wide, looking like a deer in the headlights. “That time I called you, I was pregnant, and I wanted to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me after?”

“You told me not to call you unless I was fucking dying.” you exhaled and stood up. “Look you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to, I had Francisco because I wanted to, but I didn't expect anything from you.”

“Not getting involved? What are you talking about?” he asked offended.

“I’m sorry, and I mean no offense, but you don't strike as the kind of guy who would want a family, or children.”

“And what the fuck do you know?” he raised his voice a little, making you cringe a little.

“I’m sorry, and I can’t do anything to return back time.” you told him sincerely. A loud whine was heard from your room, where the crib was. You sighed and went to your room, to calm Francisco down. Unbeknownst to you, Javier followed you looking how you delicately held him and rocked him. The baby’s eyes were still closed, he was just a little disturbed.

You looked at the door frame, Javier stood there, looking at the child. You walked to him, your intentions clear. “Do you want to hold him?” you asked your voice soft and soothing. Javier gulped, feeling suddenly nervous, he didn’t know how to hold a baby, what if he dropped him? “Don’t worry, I’ll help.” you offered, a kind smile in your face.

Javier extended his arms and you walked closer, softly passing your son to Javier’s big arms. Francisco whined a little and Javier’s face cringed, making you smile. “Hold him against you,” you helped, gently pushing his arms, closer to his chest. Francisco was fast asleep again. Javier just looked at him, marveled. You guide him to the sofa, making him sit there with your son. “I’ll be right back.” you tell him, and at the panicked face he made, you had to quiet your laugh. “You’ll be fine.”

You called your best friend, telling her you wouldn’t be able to meet her. When you stepped back on the living room, someone knocked on the door, it must be Steve. You opened the door and gestured to him to be quiet, pointing at the couch, were Javi sat (finally) relaxed.

Steve did not enter the house as you promised to call later. You returned to the living room and sat beside them, contemplating how peaceful they looked. Javier had moved your son, laying him against his broad chest. You caressed the baby’s hair, looking at him with doe eyes.

“Want to stay for dinner?” you asked standing up. Javier nodded and then lay his head on the back of the couch, closing his eyes. You smiled and entered your bedroom to change your clothes into something more comfortable.

You had nothing figured out, but you were happy knowing your son had a loving father to grow up with. You’ll figure your relationship out (if there was going to be one).

After some minutes, you heard some gurgles coming from the living room. Javi fell asleep, and Francisco was wide awake, looking at his father curiously, moving his little hands. You took the baby from him, kissing his chubby face. “Your daddy is sleeping, baby. C’mon, let’s give you some mashed banana.” you told him, caressing Javier’s hair back.

You spent some long 20 minutes feeding and nursing your baby boy while you also checked dinner. Javier, still fast asleep on the couch, woke up with a start, touching his chest, as if missing something. “Where’s the baby?” he asked, looking around.

“He’s here, Javier.” you told him from the kitchen, a silly smile on your face. Javier sat by the table, feeling self conscious at the baby’s gaze over him. His son’s arms moved up and down, talking unintelligible gibberish. “He likes you.” you commented, cleaning his chubby face. Javier held his hand out and Francisco took one of his fingers, squeezing with his baby strength. Javi’s heart skipped a beat.

Eating together was really weird, but at the same time it felt right. You noticed Javier’s tired face and wondered if he came straight from the airport. So you asked, sparking some conversation. You talked about what finally happened with the Cali Cartel.

“You got a place to stay?” you asked, but you knew the answer. “You can stay here if you want. Hotel’s are really expensive right now.”

“You sure?” you nodded. You forgot how well you clicked with Javier, it was a nice reminder.

He helped you with the dishes, and then went to shower, getting his suitcase for clean clothes. You prepared Francisco for bed, giving him his formula bottle after changing his diapers.

You saw Javier getting out of the bathroom, and thankfully had the decency to wear full pajamas, you would have fainted at the view of his bare chest.

“So, I’ll go to the couch, do you have a blanket?”

“What are you talking about?” you asked. “I was going to tell you to sleep in the bed with me. We already shared a bed before, so I don’t see a problem. Plus, I could use the help if Francisco wakes up.” you commented with a cocky smirk. You usually wore just a t-shirt to bed, but today you had to use full pajamas, like Javi did.

“Okay.” Javier said, not really convinced. Francisco was asleep already, his father caressed his little hand with his finger. You were already under the covers, ready to hit the bed, Javier looked tired too.

He laid down, under the covers as well, looking at the ceiling. He moved looking at you, you were both face to face, generous space between both of you. “I’m sorry.” You shook your head, and took his hands on yours.

“Sleep Javi, you look tired.” you kissed the back of his hands and closed your eyes, sleep getting the best of you. Javi smiled, his face soft, getting a little closer, leaving his hand on yours, then he shut his eyes. He had never felt more at home. 

[imagining-supernatural]

What Happens in Vegas...

Part 1 of Seventy Percent 

Series Summary:  When you left on your trip to Vegas, you’d planned on letting loose for one last weekend before heading back to reality and getting your affairs in order so your best friend wouldn’t be left cleaning up your mess when your cancer finally ended your life. What you hadn’t counted on was waking up married to a celebrity who has a knight-in-shining-armor complex, connections with an oncologist, and amazing insurance…

Chapter Summary: You wake up in Vegas with a brand new wedding ring on your finger next to Sebastian Stan

Word Count: 1641

A/N: I am super excited about this series! And it’s completely written (except maybe an epilogue), so I won’t leave you hanging when writer’s block hits. 

What was a Vegas weekend without waking with a major hangover and a random naked guy next to you?

Ideal. That’s what that would be.

Yet, here you were. Hungover as hell. With a naked guy next to you. In your hotel room. So you couldn’t even sneak out.

Not Ideal.

Aw well. This was your last Vegas weekend ever, so you might as well go out with a bang.

The form beside you groaned and shifted until you could see his face.

“Holy shit!” you exclaimed, prompting him to squint at you, slowly waking up. It didn’t take long for his blue eyes to open. Eyes you’d only seen on the big screen. “What the fuck are you doing in my room?”

“Who are you?” He shot back, voice still scratchy with slumber.

“This is my hotel room so I think my question should get answered first.” Sitting up, you pulled the sheet up to your chin. It was pretty obvious what had happened last night, but if he was even half as drunk as you had been, he wouldn’t remember. So… there was no need to flash your assets.

Sebastian Stan – yes, the Sebastian Stan – looked around for a moment before his thoughts were gathered enough. “I… don’t remember. I mean, I think I remember you from a club? But the rest of the night is blurry.”

“Yeah. I’m dealing with a lot of different kinds of headaches right now.” As soon as he left, you were going to dig out your medication and down a pill or two. You must have forgotten to take your pills last night.

His eyes widened when he looked at your hands holding the sheet up to cover your body. “You’re married? Fuck, how did I not notice that last night. I—shit.”

“Married? I’m sure as shit not—” Now it was your turn to ogle the giant ring on your left hand. “Wait a goddamn minute.”

The look of disbelief he was giving you sent your mind into hyper drive. “You’re saying that we…”

“Not necessarily. I mean, maybe it’s just a ring, you know? Maybe, shit I don’t know. Maybe it’s fake and we won it from one of those machines where you put a quarter in and twist the knob and you get a toy, you know?” By this point, you weren’t talking to Sebastian anymore. You were muttering to yourself, trying to calm the fuck down. And, for the record, when you tapped the diamond you knew it definitely wasn’t plastic. There was still the hope it was fake. Glass or something…

“And even if we did have a ceremony, that doesn’t mean it’s legal, right? Like, there have to be documents filed with the state and shit. I feel like I would have remembered that. But if we did file those, we’re in Vegas! The town that probably processes more annulments than any other city. It can’t be that hard. We’ll sign some papers at the courthouse and bam! No more marriage, no legal financial obligations when I die. I mean, this isn’t how I expected to end my weekend, but whatever, it’s an adventure. Something to tell my fri—”

“What do you mean, when you die?” he interrupted, latching onto the one part of your blabbing that you definitely hadn’t meant to say aloud. “You got plans to get in an accident or something?”

You could see the worry in his eyes and it took you a second to process what was beneath his question. “Oh, no. No, I’m not gonna kill myself. Don’t worry about that.”

“So what did you mean?”

How much to tell him? As a stranger, you didn’t owe him anything. But he was your husband, maybe. At the very least, you were both naked in the same bed. And anyway, what could it hurt? Telling him the truth wouldn’t change your prognosis and it might light a fire under his ass to figure out how to cut all ties with you.

“I’m not planning on killing myself, or anything. But my body seems to be doing a great job on its own. I have cancer, can’t afford treatment, and this weekend was my last weekend to cut loose before getting my affairs in order, you know?” Hopefully he would let that all slide. Not question further. “But that’s not your problem. We need to focus on figuring out if we really did get married, and if so how to—”

“Won’t your health insurance cover treatment?”

His well-intentioned question startled a bitter laugh from you. You relaxed back into the pillows, starting to say more than you needed to. “Yeah, sure. It already covered the chemo and radiation I went through. Those didn’t help enough. And I can’t afford to cut my hours back again at work. If I do, corporate will shunt me down to part time and take away my benefits. Ain’t that the American Dream?”

Shaking your head, you determined that it was time to get away from your sob story.

“Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I can, uh, get dressed and poke around a bit to figure out how to see if we really are married. It can’t be that hard. I mean, how many accidental, drunken, Vegas weddings do you think happen here? There’s probably a website somewhere called, like, help-i-woke-up-married-to-a-stranger.com or something.”

That stupid joke rewarded you with a half-smile on Sebastian’s face. “By the way, wife, what’s your name?”

“Y/N. And,” you shrugged, “I already know yours.”

“Yeah?”

“How could I not? You’re in the fucking Marvel Cult.”

“Cult?”

You grinned. “What else would you call it?”

After a soft chuckle, he leaned back against the headboard, sheets pooling around his waist and you tried extra hard to keep your eyes on his face. “Cult’s a good word actually. All the secrecy.”

“Y’all got so many devotees, man. Like, if all of you sent out a tweet that said something about taking over the world, it would be yours.”

“You one?” At your eyebrow raise, he clarified. “A devotee?”

“Ha, no. A fan, sure. I’m far too lazy to get in a cult. While y’all storm the capital, or something, I’d be at home watching YouTube videos of Kelly Clarkson singing while I’m eating chips and salsa.”

“Kelly Clarkson?”

At his question, you got defensive. “She’s a goddess.”

“Kelly Clarkson devotee?”

“I—” you stopped to consider that before tilting your head. “I suppose so. But only because she wouldn’t want to take over the world. She’d tweet something like Everyone come over to drink wine and chat and I’d be there in a heartbeat.”

He grinned and you found yourself wishing this was real. That this really was the morning after your wedding to a handsome man.

But that wasn’t your life.

“Never thought I’d marry a Kelly Clarkson Devotee.”

“Not to, uh, cut this marriage short, but I have to be on a flight tomorrow morning. So we should probably get on with figuring shit out today. Get that annulment if we’re actually married.”

A playful frown toyed with his lips. “You’re divorcing me because I made fun of you for being in the Clarkson Cult?”

“Yes,” you played along. “I’m sorry, Sebastian, but I just can’t stay with someone who doesn’t share my absolute love and adoration of KC. If I’d have known this last night, I would have definitely left you at the altar.”

Briefly, you caught sight of a shy smile before he turned his head away. “So, uh, you mind if I grab a shower?”

“Not at all. I’ll start researching,” you motioned to your laptop that was laying over on the desk.

After he nodded, he started looking around the room. It took you a minute to remember that you were both naked. Though it shocked you that he would be as shy about his nudity as you were, you didn’t point it out. Instead, you pointed to your travel blanket that was draped over a chair within his reach. With a grateful nod, he grabbed it and secured it around his waist as he stood.

As he walked over to the bathroom, you found yourself staring at a wrinkle in the sheets, letting your brain start shutting down just enough to process the whirlwind of the last few minutes.

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Yeah?” You glanced up.

“I, uh, I just… Look. With my job I just wanted to ask that you not share anything on, you know... Twitter or anything.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. No one would believe me even if I did.” You offered him a reassuring smile. “I don’t really know what it’s like to be in the public eye, not like you are, anyway, but I’m sure it’s not all glitz and glam.”

With a nod of thanks, he disappeared into the bathroom.

That brought up a whole new side of worry. If you were married and did need to get the annulment, how would you keep it from getting out? You needed to make sure all of this stayed out of the press. You couldn’t let your reputation tarnish his. Not when you were going to die and leave him to deal with your bullshit.

As soon as the shower started, you darted across the room to quickly pull on some clothes. Once you were no longer naked, you dug out your medication and popped a pill, knowing you’d definitely need it to keep up your strength. Hopefully it would also work some sort of wonder on your hangover headache as well.

Once you swallowed your medicine, you grabbed your laptop, only to have a paper fall to the ground. You bent down to see what it was and stopped cold at the calligraphy written across the top:

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE

PART 2: THE FIRST DATE

[dragonclef1]

Sarms Enterprises Limited

Structure.

Content

Puori Cp1 Pure Collagen Peptides (300g).

Call Us Regarding This Innovation.

Required Info.

What Are The Side Effects Of Sarms?

The S glycoprotein is activated and also cleaved by host proteases, such as transmembrane protease serine 2 as well as TMPRSS11D, which enables cell surface area non-endosomal virus access at the plasma membrane. CoVs then release the viral genome RNA into the cytoplasm as well as the uncoated RNA converts 2 polyproteins, pp1a as well as pp1ab. Comprehensive autoproteolytic processing of pp1a as well as pp1ab by primary protease and also 3C-like protease create mature non-structural healthy proteins, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase as well as helicase necessary for duplication. RdRp, NSps and host aspects put together right into membrane-bound replication-transcription complexes to manufacture viral RNA. Recently created genomic RNA, nucleocapsid proteins and also envelope glycoproteins assemble as well as form viral fragment buds that fuse with the plasma membrane to release the infection. Enter your email address listed below to register for normal updates on all our latest offers, skin treatment recommendations as well as new item launches, plus receive an exclusive 10% OFF code.

Host defence peptides are produced by a large range of immune and epithelial cells in the body and also can be shared constitutively or generated during infection. They are also thought to be among one of the most old types of immune support.

Global Biosimilar Therapeutic Peptides Market Report 2020-2030 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Manchestertimes

Global Biosimilar Therapeutic Peptides Market Report 2020-2030 - ResearchAndMarkets.com.

Posted: Fri, 08 Jan 2021 12:22:16 GMT [source]

Glucagon-like peptide 1 comes from a family of hormonal agents called the incretins, supposed since they enhance the secretion of insulin. Glucagon-like peptide 1 is a product of a particle called pre-proglucagon, a polypeptide which is divided to generate lots of hormones, including glucagon. Due to the fact that they originate from the same source, these hormones share some similarities, so are called 'glucagon-like'. Cells located in the lining of the tiny intestinal tract (called L-cells) are the major resource of glucagon-like peptide 1, although it is also produced in smaller sized amounts by the pancreas and the main nerves. Glucagon-like peptide 1 encourages the release of insulin from the pancreas, boosts the volume of cells in the pancreatic that create insulin and also holds back glucagon release. Glucagon-like peptide 1 additionally increases the sensation of volume during and also between meals by acting upon cravings centres in the brain as well as by slowing down the emptying of the stomach.

Puori Cp1 Pure Collagen Peptides (300g).

Unique peptides which assist to part the trend for the remainder of the 30% peptide mix solution to penetrate with the skin. MATRIXYL ™ 3000tricks skin cells into producing even more collagen, while Argirelox blocks signals for contraction to minimise the look of expression creases. Each "designer" peptide can be created to particularly activate a younger element of skin, as an example a peptide to make more collagen, or shut down a trouble in skin, like stop making so much unusual melanin. Hey there, I'm Paula Begoun, founder of the skincare line Paula's Option, and also today I begin my function as the Marie Claire Skincare Master. In my columns I will certainly be de-bunking skin myths, allowing you in on skin care tricks and telling you exactly which active ingredients the skincare industry is currently stressed with and why.

This is what causes the skin becoming thinner as well as tackling a crepey, extra wrinkled appearance.

As you age, protein production in the skin weakens as a result of both age as well as external environmental factors.

Numerous peptides can be incorporated in one product, as well as the majority of are discovered in anti-ageing products for skin that has actually started to show a decline in the production of those vital healthy proteins.

Various kinds of peptides have different impacts, from smoothing creases or fixing obstacle function to enhancing firmness and also hydration.

In skincare peptides are made use of to aid reinforce those proteins normally happening in the skin, consequently renewing and preserving it.

There are so many different kinds of peptide that it's hard to popularize, but some may trigger irritation for certain skin types - so do your study prior to investing, as products including them can be expensive.

On collaborating using highgrade-labs UK s4 andarine Sarms look for words that finish in "peptide"-- numerous additionally begin with "palmitoyl".

This regularly up-dated page offers a summary of the artificial processes involved in manufacturing of stomach peptides, and guideline of these procedures. Pharmaceutical items which resemble the effects of endogenous peptide ligands are call peptidomimetics. Some instances of peptidomimetics and also their matching endogenous ligand consist of desmopressin-- vasopressin, octreotide-- somatostatin, and insulin glargine-- insulin. Medicines which block the receptors for endogenous peptide ligands can be peptide or non-peptide molecules.

Call Us About This Technology.

In the context of a peptide, the amide group (Carbon Monoxide-- NH) is referred to as the peptide group. CoVs enter the host cell by means of the endosomal path and/or the cell surface area non-endosomal path and release their genome right into the target cell. The S glycoprotein assists in viral entry right into host target cell by directly binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 cellular receptor. ACE2 is a zinc metalloenzyme and also carboxypeptidase which is very expressed lungs, kidney, endothelium as well as heart.

The peptides can also be made use of to deliver cytotoxic agents to tumours with profound effectiveness. Incredibly, the peptides show very rapid tumour penetration as well as retention coupled with quick clearance from systemic blood circulation. Professor David Craik offered an interesting presentation on cyclotides - cyclic peptides generated by a selection of plants.

Required Information.

Subsequently, permitted ɸ worths will be fairly limited compared with other amino acids. The peptide bonds that connect amino acid residues in a polypeptide are developed in a condensation response in between the acidic carboxyl group of one amino acid and the basic amino group of an additional amino acid.

Eyebrows have actually grown back out and also I think it's to do with the peptides. Extra pricey that TO items but it is worth it, it's much better than the initial Buffet serum. Collagen as well as elastin production is enhanced, great lines as well as wrinkles are smoothed and also the skin's natural shops of hyaluronic acid rise.

What Are The Side Effects Of Sarms?

A beta sheet types as a result of hydrogen bonding interactions in between peptide foundations of parallel or antiparallel beta strands, which as the name recommends are primarily linear. On the other hand, the 'polar zipper' system refers to hydrogen bonding communications between the amino acid side chains on nearby beta strands. In 2019 Vapourtec developed a cooperation towards peptide synthesis with Teacher Peter Seeberger and also his Team at Max Slab Institute, Berlin. This work has actually been published in the paper shown right away listed below. The side-chain of proline is covalently bound to the N of the amino team, so in polyproline, there will certainly be much less freedom of rotation regarding the Cα-- N bond than with various other amino acids.

Extremely efficacious, its sheer power is maximised by a cutting-edge drone-based shipment system that guarantees every peptide is activated within the layer of skin that it is needed most. This packed, 30% peptide mix utilizes an introducing drone shipment system to target visible indicators of skin ageing. Neuropeptides are little proteinaceous cell-cell signaling molecules created and also launched by nerve cells. They vary from peptide hormonal agents because they are secreted from nerve cells and also act in your area on neighbouring neurons, whereas peptide hormones are secreted in to the blood by neuroendocrine cells and act at distant sites. Neuropeptides are one of the most diverse class of indicating particles in the brain, and are involved in a wide range of mind functions, consisting of analgesia, recreation, learning and also memory, benefit, food consumption and more.

Ostarine.

These peptides, consisting of three disulphide bonds that form a "knot", are both different and also durable. Prof. Craik provided a summary of these peptides and also their utility as a foundation for the shipment of therapeutic peptide epitopes. The peptides can surviving the digestion system, making oral shipment of peptide drugs a genuine possibility, although presently the bioavailability of such orally-administered peptides is reduced. If you have any inquiries or worries about the services and products provided on connected 3rd party sites, please speak to the 3rd party straight.

We are additionally offering expedited distribution times for Covid-19 related projects. Whilst the generation and also distribution of peptide rehabs represent significant difficulties, the easy storage space of peptides can be problematic. Hao Luo from Merck clarified the trouble of peptide fibrillation as well as methods for alleviating the dangers of fibrillation. It ends up that a super-fast heat and also high pH treatment making use of circulation chemistry can dramatically postpone the onset of fibrillation with no significant deterioration of the peptide. The generation of new highly discerning peptide-based medicines is being resolved by Bike Therapeutics Ltd as well as Liuhong Chen gave understandings right into the exciting advancement of Bicycle peptides. These bicycle-shaped peptides can be generated in chemically-constrained phage-display libraries, which makes it possible for the selection of peptides with high target specificity. Conjugation of the peptides to imaging representatives enables high-contrast, tissue-selective imaging.

Host support peptides are additionally referred to as anti-microbial peptides, although more lately they have actually been revealed to demonstrate a number of other immunomodulatory functions. They were initially recognized as having antibiotic results on a variety of germs, fungis as well as infections. Many HDPs are cationic, and also this is believed to moderate their anti-microbial activity by hindering microbial membrane layers.

The Best Peptide Skincare Products to Help Build Collagen and Elastin - Coveteur

The Best Peptide Skincare Products to Help Build Collagen and Elastin.

Posted: Wed, 23 Dec 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Generally, attempt to liquify peptides in sterile pure water or clean and sterile dilute acetic acid (0.1%) remedy to give a stock solution at a greater concentration than that required for subsequent usage. If the peptide persists as visible bits, sonication might confirm of help as it boosts the price of dissolution. If, after sonication, the 'solution' has actually gelled, has a persistent haziness, or has a scum floating on the surface, the peptide has actually probably not liquified but is simply finely put on hold. Never be without your much-loved Boots products with our international delivery choices. UK rad 140 testolone Sarms which is anti-bacterial, making it really good for oily, spot-prone skin types, as well as any slightly a lot more fungal-type problems. I have actually written extensively concerning my love for NIOD CAIS, yet it is that excellent-- copper peptides are likewise anti-bacterial and also splendidly revitalizing on the skin. A safety peptide that is normally created in the body, carnosine blocks skin-damaging sugars from binding to collagen in the skin, protecting against the development of creases.

Nonetheless, they are additionally able to secure host tissues from proteases and also control innate as well as adaptive immunity using both pro- and anti-inflammatory activities. These activities include immune cell activation, recruitment, chemoattraction as well as guideline of immunomodulatory particles such as cytokines and also complement. Peptides help to bolster the performance of this retinol night lotion. Packed with a rich mix of ceramides, peptides and oligopeptides this glamorous moisturiser assists enhance the skin's structure while reducing the appearance of great lines as well as wrinkles. Created with a mix of 9 peptides, this giant moisturiser restores diminished and tired skin to its previous splendor. " Peptides are pieces of protein and it's these healthy proteins that are the foundation of the skin," states Dr Ewoma Ukeleghe, medical and cosmetic doctor at SKNDOCTOR. Zentraxa uses the power of engineering biology to make peptides which are as well challenging or pricey to create utilizing existing innovations.

Can you mix retinol and peptides?

Do Mix: Retinoids + Peptides Dr. Mariwalla says it's a great idea to use both a retinoid- and peptide-based night cream at bedtime. “You get the collagen-building effects of the retinoid, but it also works to improve the penetration of the peptide cream, which can help improve skin's firmness,” she explains.

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[taeken-my-heart]

Independent {f} Chapter 16

Summary: Your mom calls you stubborn, your friends call you wild, and the boys you’ve left in your wake call you a frigid bitch.  You’ve built a life of independence and you like it that way. Kim Taehyung, however; seems to be able to change your mind.

Pairing: Taehyung x ReaderGenre: fluff, mild angst

Word Count: 4718

Warnings: Ongoing themes of death. Her father is always mentioned briefly. 

TN: This is it, guys. This is the final chapter. It’s all just gooey fluff and I hope you enjoy!

**There is a read more linked but it doesn’t seem to be working and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m sorry! TT 

***

“OK, but see, I don’t get it.” You said.

Taehyung sighed, flabbergasted. “It’s not something you have to get, it just is.”

“But why does she talk like that?” You mused, shifting on the couch and Taehyung squeezed your arm gently, pulling you closer to him. 

“Y/N, you’re seriously analyzing this way too much; it’s just a movie.” He chuckled.

“Because you told me this movie was deep!” You cried smacking his stomach and he groaned like a drama queen. “Oh, come on, I barely touched you.”

“The movie is deep, but her tone of voice is literally not important to the plot.” He complained, fingers massaging his abdomen. 

“You know what’s nice?” Jimin called from his spot in the bean bag on the floor and the two of you stopped your bickering to look over at him. “Being able to watch a movie and actually hear it. I wonder what that’s like.”

“Bite me, Jimin.” You chuckled and he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.  

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Hey!” Taehyung scolded, throwing a pillow at his friend’s laughing face. “Stop flirting with my girlfriend!”

“He can’t help it,” you laughed, “my sass is like a siren’s call. You should know this, of all people.”

“Yeah, but it’s my sass.” Taehyung pouted, pulling his arm from your shoulder and linking his fingers with yours. 

“So, uh…are we still watching the movie?” Jungkook called from his spot, sprawled on his stomach on the floor. “Or are you guys just going to continue being gross?”

***

Your house was empty when Taehyung dropped you off and he followed you in, kicking off his shoes and coming up behind you to kiss your cheek. “Where is everyone?” He asked. 

You walked towards the kitchen, dropping your bag off on the table and reaching for a glass. “Sarah and Charlotte are out watching a movie and Anna is out on a date with her boyfriend. You want a drink of water?”

Taehyung smirked, shaking his head no and you filled your own cup, taking a generous gulp. “So, we’re alone? How interesting.”

“Is it?” You mumbled around the rim of your cup, watching as he stalked his way over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and dropping a kiss to your shoulder.

“I think so,” he smiled, looking down at you. “I’m curious, though, what’s something we could do while we’ve got the house all to ourselves and how long do we have?”

“I don’t know what you’re alluding to.” You lied, grinning as you turned your back to him, finishing your water and putting the cup in the sink. 

“I think you do,” he whispered, kissing the side of your neck up to your cheek as he curled his arms tighter around you.

“Tae.” You said and he hummed against your collar bone. “Have you started packing?”

The tip of his hair dusted the side of your cheek as he shook his head no. “We’ve still got a week before the semester is over,” he murmured, kissing against your jaw and your eyes fluttered closed.

“Yeah, but you have a lot of stuff.” You said, turning in his embrace and he pouted. 

“Baby, I don’t want to talk about packing right now, can you just kiss me back?”

“Kissing leads to trouble.” You reminded, linking your arms around his neck and he smiled. 

“But it’s fun trouble.” He wiggled his eyebrows and you laughed.

“You think you can be done in 15 minutes?”

He frowned down at you, “Is that even a question? Give me 10.”

“That’s not something to brag about.” You giggled as he hoisted you up, allowing you to wrap your legs around his waist. 

The hallway to the bedroom was cramped and you bumped your knees against the wall a few times before finally making your way up and around the corner, kicking the door to your bedroom closed behind you.

***

Most of your classes had concluded by now, but you still had a few final exams so you spent the majority of your days packing, studying, or just lying in bed until the early afternoon out of sheer boredom. 

Taehyung had classes until almost the last day of the semester so you didn’t get to spend as much time with him as you wanted. At least you had the evenings. You also reminded yourself that he was coming home with you for a month so it was unreasonable to be so greedy with his time when you’d very shortly have all of it to yourself. 

After Taehyung and you had decided to start over, it was like a switch had been flipped. Everything just fell into place so easily and for the first few weeks you lived in constant fear that it was going too well; it was too easy. 

It just kept getting better, though. Sure, there were definitely times when you’d fight. Like that time Tae had insisted that tying your shoes with two bunny ears before even making a line across was the correct way stuck out in your mind. 

He was super wrong, but the way his eyes widened and he began to talk wildly in pout was really cute. Or the time that he insisted on buying those hideous knockoff fur lined Gucci slippers. You’d definitely threatened to burn them a couple times and he’d definitely nearly cried each time.

Charlotte looked at the two of you like you were losing your mind and Anna just smiled, swooning about young love. It was gross and weird and strangely domestic. You actually didn’t really mind it.

You also learned pretty quickly that he was kind of a slob. The first time you saw his bedroom, only a month ago, was a bit of a shock. To describe it as a war zone was, honestly, too kind. 

He told you everything had its place, but you weren’t really sure why he thought his favorite pair of jeans belonged tucked behind the front right leg of his single bed. That didn’t seem like much of a “place” in your opinion, but you quickly got over the idea of trying to figure him out. 

He was an odd ball and you loved it. You hadn’t said the L word yet, because it was still a bit soon, but honestly, you already felt it. You weren’t sure there was even a “right time�� to say that word, but two months seemed…fast. You really wanted things to go right with him, you wanted to do your best so that if things with him ever did end, you could say it wasn’t from lack of trying.

You were both trying and really hard, too. The thing about dating and relationships is that people romanticized them and they were so different from what you’d expected. It was a lot of sacrifice and compromise, thinking about his needs before your own. That made it damn hard sometimes because honestly, there were times that you just really wanted to watch a freaking episode of The Bachelorette and he wanted to watch Avatar…the non-animated version. 

But you loved him and you’d watch Avatar every day if it meant he was happy. Well, maybe not every day, but the sentiment was there. Choose your love and love your choice; that was your new motto.

The you from a year ago would faint if she could see you now. You smiled at the idea, taping the top of a box of clothes and knick knacks until it felt secure. You could hear Anna out in the kitchen humming, likely deep cleaning the counters. The end of the semester meant white glove…which meant your own personal living hell. A time when the school (or whoever owned the complex people were living in) came to check your apartment to see if it was appropriately clean for the occupants of the next semester. 

Because you wouldn’t be coming back until next winter, you also wouldn’t be keeping the house, so packing and cleaning was your life right now. 

“Y/N!” Anna’s shout was muffled and you made your way out into the kitchen to see what she needed. 

“What’s up?” You asked, eyeing her standing beside the stove.

“I need you to help me pull the stove out so I can sweep behind it.” She smiled, tapping her fingers against the surface. 

“Yeah, that’s a hard pass from me.” You said, “last time I helped you move that thing there was a mouse behind it. Nearly crapped my pants.”

Anna laughed from the memory, clutching the broom in her hand a little tighter as she bent at the waist with her giggles. “That was hilarious. Don’t worry, though, I got on the counters and checked behind before I asked you. It’s mouse free!”

“Is it sad to say I don’t trust you?” You mused and Anna scowled.

“Y/n.” She scolded lowly, “I know where you sleep.”

“Fine!” You griped, moving towards the stove to help her shuffle it away from the wall and towards the center of the kitchen. 

“You excited for the break?” she asked once the stove was out of her way and she could begin sweeping. 

“Yeah,” you shrugged, “it’ll be nice to take a break from studying, my brain is pretty fried.”

“I feel that.” Anna nodded soundly. “You nervous to take Taehyung home? This is the first time your family is meeting him, right?”

“Yeah,” you frowned, picking at the worn wood of the top of one of the kitchen chairs. “Do you think it’s too soon?”

She paused in her perusal of the area just behind the fridge to look over at you, brows furrowed in thought. “Honestly, it’s all pretty individual. For some people, it’s too soon, and for others it’s not. You’ve never introduced a guy to your family before which means a lot. You don’t take that sort of thing lightly so I think whenever you chose to do it, it would be right.”

“Thanks, Anna.” You smiled, “it means a lot.”

“Of course, you’ve got this and you know it. Your family is going to love Taehyung and he’s going to love them.”

“That’s exactly what I needed to hear.” You grinned, walking over and giving her a hug, “you’re the best.”

“I do hear that around.” Anna nodded solemnly, hugging you back and you chuckled.

“Anyway, I’ve got a final in about an hour so I’m gonna get ready and when I get back, I’ll start cleaning the bathroom.”

“Sounds good.” Anna said, turning back to her sweeping.

***

Whenever a semester ended, it was usually pretty bittersweet. Happy to be done with classes and tests, but sad to put the memories to bed. Leaving this semester was much better than last, though, and you smiled fondly, watching Taehyung pulling a bag over his shoulder and dragging his suitcase behind him, feet shuffling awkwardly.

“I’m nervous,” he said, coming to stand beside you at the bus stop and you wrapped your arms around his waist, kissing his chin to distract him. 

He looked down at you, smile soft. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.” You said, squeezing his waist firmly. “My family is going to love you; seriously.”

“But what if they don’t?” He pouted and you sighed; melancholy.

“Then I guess I’ll have to ship you off.” You giggled at his squawk of protest. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s somewhere nice. You like the beach, right?”

“You’re mean.” He whined and you chuckled, reaching up to pull his chin down towards you, kissing him firmly and he returned the kiss with eager enthusiasm. Mouth humid and skin flush with humidity, you stuck to each other in the late spring weather but you’d never been more thrilled to be uncomfortably warm with someone. “OK,” he mumbled against your mouth, “I forgive you.”

The sound of the bus rumbling around the corner had you pulling away with a grin, patting his bum for good measure and then pulling your own bag over your shoulder. “I knew you would.”

The bus was warm, leaving you feeling sticky around the edges and you pulled open the window beside your seat to let in the breeze. The weather wasn’t quite hot enough to merit air conditioning yet, but on a bus this full of students (some of whom had not figured out how to use a shower) they probably should have turned it on.

“It’s an hour ride, right?” Taehyung asked, pushing his suitcase into the shelving over your seats and his bag under the seat in front of him. 

“Yeah, and I’m daydreaming about using your shoulder as a pillow for naptime. What say you?”

Taehyung sat down beside you, fiddling with the seatbelt as he clipped it over his waist. “Sure. You know how boney it is. Sleep at your own peril.”

“You gonna listen to music?” You asked, leaning your head against his shoulder and peering up at him. He nodded, pulling out his earbuds and you kissed his cheek quickly before closing your eyes and trying to make yourself comfortable enough to nod off. 

You didn’t really sleep well in tight spaces and Taehyung’s shoulder was uncomfortably boney, but you managed to get about 20 minutes of rest before giving up and taking the other earbud he offered to you, focusing on his music. The sun had reached its highest point when the bus pulled into the station and you glanced out the window, fogged from the humidity inside and you could see your family waiting for you at a huddle of benches off to the left.

“There they are.” You smiled and Taehyung glanced out the window.

He swallowed, groaning, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

You laughed, swatting at his arm and ushering him to stand. “You’ll be fine.” You insisted. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand and guide you through everything.”

Stepping off the bus, you took a deep breath, the cool air in the station refreshing on your heat drenched skin. The bus driver pulled your suitcases from under the bus for you as Taehyung walked to your side, lumbering awkwardly with the weight of his own cases behind him.

“Do you trust me?” You asked and he looked down at you, smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

“Forever.”

“Then we’ve got this. They’ll love you; I swear.”

Your mom’s smiling face was who you noticed first; hands clasped under her chin in excitement. She’d been talking about meeting Taehyung for weeks now, so you were pretty sure she was already half way in love with him. 

Truthfully, the only one you were a little nervous about was Ben. Paul was a pretty supportive guy and he wasn’t really one to meddle. As long as you were happy, so was he. Ben was overprotective, though. If he wasn’t accepting of Tae, you’d all know it and you really wanted them to like each other.

“There’s my girl!” Your mom called, pulling herself from Paul’s embrace to run over to you, arms outstretched. Wrapping your arms around her waist, you clung tight as she giggled, rocking you back and forth. “Ah, I’m so glad you’re back. This must be Taehyung.”

She stepped back as Taehyung held out his hand and she chuckled, swatting his hand away. “I’m a hugger.” She supplied, giving him a quick hug to which he blushed and smiled.

“Taehyung, this is my mom, this is Paul, and this is my brother Ben.” You pointed to each member of your family as he shook hands with the other two, fingers from his other hand laced tightly between your own. 

“Nice to meet you.” He said, and if he hadn’t told you he was nervous beforehand, you never would have guessed it now. He was the picture of confidence.

“Nice to meet you, man.” Ben smiled, clapping him on the back. “My sister’s told me a lot about you.”

“Really?” He grinned, looking down at you and you faked a glare for his amusement. 

The five of you began to walk towards the car, Paul and Ben grabbing your bags as the three men began to chat away. “He’s cute.” Your mom whispered, linking her arm with yours. 

You turned to smile at her, nodding. “I agree.”

“I’m so glad you came home for the break.” She continued, “we’ve missed you a lot these last few months.”

“I mean…not to be captain obvious, but I am only an hour away. You could always drive down if you really missed me.” You sang and your mom pinched your side with a laugh.

“Hey now, none of your sass missy. I’m really glad that you could come back and that you could bring Taehyung with you! We’ve all been so excited to meet him!”

“Really?” You asked, eyebrow raised, “even Paul and Ben?”

“Oh yeah. Honey, you haven’t mentioned even having a crush on anyone since you were a little girl. We were really excited to meet the man you talk so highly of.”

“He is pretty wonderful.” You smiled, watching as he walked side by side with your brother, laughing at something the former had to say.

After some serious maneuvering of your suitcases in the trunk of the car (and one on the roof, because honestly, you didn’t know how to pack lightly) you’d all piled into the car, you the unfortunate soul crammed in between Tae and Ben in the back seat.

“Y/N, you didn’t tell me your boyfriend was famous.” Ben complained and you huffed, looking at him bemused.

“Because he’s not famous, you weirdo.” You chuckled.

Ben scoffed, “He signed with TTIG, that’s as good as it gets. He practically is famous already.”

Taehyung laughed, blush high on his cheeks, “Ah, we’ll see once I start really auditioning for gigs. Right now, I’m just another body in their crew.”

“I highly doubt that,” Your mother said from the front seat, turning to face the three of you in the back. “We saw some of the videos the school put up online. You’re a very talented young man.”

“Thank you very much!” Taehyung smiled, “I don’t deserve all this praise, but I’m definitely gonna take it.”

Your mom laughed, turning back to face the front. “Good.”

***

Once you’d reached home, your family helped you to bring your suitcases into your room and helped Taehyung bring his to Ben’s old bedroom. You had the feeling that most nights the two of you would be sharing a bed, but it was nice to know you each had your own little space if you needed alone time. 

“What do you think?” You asked, entering Ben’s old bedroom as Taehyung stood beside the dresser, unpacking some of his things. 

He turned to look at you, dark hair skimming across his eyelashes. He’d let his hair grow out the last few months and he looked a bit shaggy, but warm. He smiled at you, big and bright and you walked to his side, wrapping your arms around him.

“What do I think of what? The room?”

You nodded into his shoulder and he peered around the room, taking in the dark colors and warm patterns. “It’s nice.” He confirmed, turning to look back down at you.

“And how do you feel?” you asked, blinking up at him.

“I’m still a little nervous,” he admitted, “but less than before. Your family is really nice and welcoming.”

“I told you there was nothing to worry about.” You grinned, smacking his butt and walking back towards the bed to sit down.

“You did.” He nodded, placing a folded shirt into the top drawer of the dresser before coming to stand in front of you. “Thank you for inviting me.” 

You lifted your hands to his, linking your fingers and wiggling your hands in front of you idly. “We’ve still got a whole month to go, you sound like you’re all ready to say goodbye and jet back off to California.”

Taehyung chuckled, pushing you back onto the mattress and coming to lay beside you, leg hitched over your hip to pull you closer to him. “Don’t pout, that’s not what I was saying.” He grinned, “I’m just really glad I could be here to meet everyone. Your family is really important to you and I feel really lucky that you wanted them to know me too.”

“You should feel lucky.” You nodded and Taehyung laughed, smacking your thigh as punishment.

“Stop being so obnoxious.” He scolded and you smirked, running your fingers through his hair.

“You’re so hot when you’re annoyed.” You complained and he grinned, pinching your hip.

“Stop changing the subject!” 

You pulled him closer, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him. 

“I’m glad you’re here.” You whispered.

“Me too.” He sighed, nudging his nose against yours as he kissed you again; needier.

“Don’t get carried away,” you murmured against his tongue and he whined. “My family is all still downstairs and they will definitely hear us.”

He sighed, kissing wet into the juncture of your neck and shoulder. “Fine, but I’m gonna be without you for two months after this, I’ll need some memories to keep me company while I’m gone.”

“You’ve always got your hand.” You teased, sitting up and he glared up at you, hand ruffling through his hair.

“You’re actually so mean.”

“This is true.” You nodded solemnly as you helped him to stand. “Don’t worry, you big baby, there will be plenty of opportunities while you’re here. You’ll see.”

“I’m looking forward to them.” He grinned.

***

You were right when you suspected that you’d end up sharing a bed. Taehyung slept in your bed most nights, cuddled up around you like a koala. Because of this, you now slept with no blanket on because his body heat was enough to melt the polar ice caps.

You were also right about your mom practically being in love with him. She spoiled him with food and became his own personal chauffer and you couldn’t even think of the last time she’d doted on you like this. Even Paul and Ben loved him. 

“I’m pretty sure you’re trying to fatten him up so he can’t leave.” You complained at dinner as your mom piled his plate high with food.

“Oh stop,” she chuckled, waving the serving spoon at you, “I just want to make sure he’s well fed.”

“Yeah, well, the little pooch he’s developing around his midsection is an indication of how well fed he actually is.”

Taehyung grinned at you, face stuffed full of dumpling like the doughboy he was. Wiggling his eyebrows at you, he wrapped his arm around your shoulder, kissing your cheek. “You like me chubby.” He remarked.

“That’s true.” You admitted, poking his little tummy. “You’re just so soft!”

“Hey, Ben’s coming over after dinner.” Your mom said after she’d sat back in her own seat, newly opened soda in hand. “We should watch a movie or something.”

“OK, but not Princess Bride again, we can’t watch that every night!” You complained and Paul laughed.

“We have watched that a bit too much!” He nodded, rubbing your mom’s arm.

“No such thing!” She quipped, “that movie is a classic and it’s got everything you could ever want in a movie. But fine, we’ll watch something else.”

“Are we having dessert?” You asked, grinning at your mom and she rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her drink.

“Of course, we are. I’m no chump.”

***

After dinner (and after Taehyung had sufficiently stuffed himself and likely put on a few more pounds) you helped your mom clean up before heading to the living room to set up for a movie. 

You could hear Ben in the hallway, making his way in from the front door and he barreled into the living room and over to your boyfriend with a loud and friendly hello before turning to you and ruffling your hair. 

“Hey Tuck.” He grinned down at your scowling face as you attempted to fix the mess he’d made of your hairdo.

“I’ll actually kill you.” You muttered. 

Taehyung and Ben made their way over to the couch to talk as you grabbed the remote to flip through the movie options on Netflix. You could hear your mom and Paul talking in the kitchen as they finished putting away the last of the dishes and you smiled. 

This was such a good night. There was literally nothing extraordinary about it, but it was still special. Your family around you, getting to know your boyfriend and everyone was happy. You really couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

You made your way to the couch, curling under Taehyung’s arm as he continued chatting with Ben. The only thing that could have made it better would have been having your dad around. He would have really liked Taehyung and that settled the ache in your heart at the thought of him. 

Someday you wanted to take Tae to your father’s grave and introduce them. You weren’t sure if he’d be interested in that sort of thing or if it would feel too morbid for him, but you hoped that he would understand how important that was for you. 

For now, though, things were perfect as they were. Your mom and Paul made their way into the living room, everyone turning to the subject of what movie to watch and bickering lightly until finally you’d all decided on Home Alone and got comfortable with blankets, popcorn, and your mom’s fudge brownies. 

You were of course predictable and about half way through the movie you were out like a light. It would have been embarrassing had you been around anyone else, but everyone in the room already knew you were a hopeless case. 

You woke with a start as Taehyung was setting you in your bed and you looked up at him blearily. “I fell asleep huh?”

“Yeah,” he grinned, “It’s OK, though. It’s not like you’ve never seen that movie.”

“True,” you yawned, stretching your arms over your head. “Sleep in here tonight?”

He nodded, helping you to stand as you both went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. After curling back under the blankets and pulling them up to your chin, you stared up at Taehyung as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

His eyes blinked blearily closed as he fought the fatigue of the day and you watched as he shuttered to a close, letting his body sink, exhausted, into the mattress. You couldn’t believe you were so lucky, then again, maybe it wasn’t luck. Meeting each other, sure, maybe that was, but where you were now? That was hard work and love.

Tae?” You whispered.

He shifted slightly; eyes still glued shut. “Mmm?” He hummed, running his fingers up and down your spine.

“I love you.”

His fingers stopped their quiet perusal of your back and he opened his tired eyes to look down at you. “What did you say?” He asked softly.

“I said I love you,” you whispered back. “Thank you for coming with me to meet my family.”

He smiled, pulling you closer to him, kissing you with tingling lips. “Thank you for inviting me. I’m so glad I got to meet your family, they’re really awesome.”

Everything settled for a few moments and you began to wonder self-consciously if he’d even heard your confession. Maybe he had and he just wasn’t ready to say it back. That was OK, even if it did sting a little bit. You were still happy with what you had with him now.

“Oh, and Y/N?”

“Hmm?” You murmured; eyelids heavy.

“I love you too.”

You looked up at him, heart jumping into your throat. “You do?” you whispered. You were afraid if you spoke any louder that the emotion of it all would choke you.

He nodded, running the tip of his nose along yours before kissing you. “I really, really do.” He whispered. 

And somehow you knew, not only was he going to be the greatest adventure of your life, but he was going to be it. He was your forever and you were his. You couldn’t have asked for a better new beginning.

This was euphoria.

***

Oh my gosh, it’s over! This story is so precious to me and I’ve spent so long thinking about it and agonizing over it. I can’t believe it’s over. It’s really, really bittersweet to say goodbye to it. I hope you enjoyed this fluff fest chapter and that it made you feel as warm and fuzzy as it made me feel <3

Thank you so much for sticking around and reading this story. It means so much to me!

I love you guys!

Chapter 15

Copyright © 2017  by taeken-my-heart (Nora.) All rights reserved.

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Not Alone (Reigen x Ghost Script)

This one was fun! Below the readmore is a script I wrote for a fan-voice audio I made of Reigen Arataka from ‘Mob Psycho 100.’ The audio can be found here! Both are essentially safe for work, aside from kissing/makeouts with a ghost.

Summary: Tired of spending the night alone in his apartment with his unhappy thoughts, Reigen goes for a walk.  On his way, he spontaneously decides to visit a beautiful, yet abandoned park -- one that was supposedly exorcised...

Warnings: None for the script (the audio has one mild jump scare, though!) 

Not Alone:

Seated at a well-worn desk, holed up in his apartment, Reigen Arataka sighs wearily and shuffles through stacks of neglected papers.  They’ve been collecting dust for too long, and he knows they can’t be further ignored -- the curt and threatening phone call he’d received earlier was enough confirmation of that.

Reigen: (Shuffling through papers) Taxes… rebate slips… bills… returns… AGH! Invoices from 2014…!

Reigen: (Groans and slams the papers down) I can’t take this anymore! Adulthood was a bad idea.

Reigen: (Glances outside the nearby window) But… I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life, huh? Had lots of bad ideas.  Guess I’m not really one to talk, then.  Still… (looking back at the papers momentarily -- )

Reigen: -- Still… the worst paper trails I’ve ever left behind have been the legal ones.

He considers this statement for a moment, additionally realizing how much he’s been talking to himself lately.

Reigen: Okay, that’s enough introspection for one night -- and enough pencil pushing.  This whole psychic gig is supposed to be exciting.  (Sighs again) Maybe if I get some air.  Get out of this stuffy… empty… apartment.  (Clears his throat, not wanting to go too far down that path) Yeah, a change of scenery is all I need tonight.

Reigen grabs his coat off the floor and leaves his apartment, attentively locking the door behind him.  As smooth a talker as he could be, he’d experienced some run-ins with his neighbours, and isn’t currently in the mood to turn on the charm.  Not tonight.  Instead, he clicks his tongue -- that silver tongue, ole’ reliable -- and briskly trots down the rickety stairway, away from the complex, and down a dimly-lit street he knows well.

Reigen: Huh… nice weather tonight.  (Cringes).  Shit, when did my internal monologue get so boring? Is that another symptom of being in my late twenties? Screw that.  I’m out here for a change of scenery, and I’m going to find one.

Reigen: (Turns his head surreptitiously) Where was that weird, hidden park we exorcised the other day? (Pauses) Well… the one that Mob exorcised...

His sentence -- attached to yet another thought he doesn’t want to dwell upon -- is left lingering as he spots a copse of spindly, twisting trees hiding a small stone gate.

Reigen: Right! There it is… that’s definitely the right gate… but… wasn’t the park way further than this? It’s a lot closer to my apartment than I remember.

Reigen: (Shakes his head) Well, whatever.  It’s late, I’m fried.  This is the place.

He steps through the little bundle of trees, carefully hopping over some displaced stones.  His footsteps crunch upon the tiny, bright red maple leaves that have been steadily falling throughout October.  An abrupt chill arrests Reigen as he fully crosses the boundary and surveys the empty park.

Reigen: Great… I’ve got it all to myself.  Yep, all alone here.  (Another pause, then a smug smile) Exactly what I’d hoped for, uh-huh! No one to bother me… no one at all.

Reigen: (Wanders toward the only bench in the park, and sits) The maples always look nice this time of year…

Reigen: (Frowns) I wonder what Mob and his friends are up to? Movie night? Is that what he told me? Yeah… that was it.

Reigen: (Looking around) He did a good job on this place.  Barely took him any time at all, and then off he went.  Must’ve been a low-level spirit.

At this, the wind dies down, and a whisper seems to echo through the trees, very, very gently.  Reigen’s eyes widen for only a moment before he waves a dismissive hand.

Reigen: The wind makes weird noises through these trees, but that’s all that it was -- just wind.  Mob exorcised this park, there’s no way anything would be left behind.  I have to stop being so jumpy.  It wouldn’t be good for my reputation.

The whispering sound abruptly returns, this time louder, seemingly closer.  Now, Reigen does jump.  With an undignified yelp, he leaps away from the bench, standing shakily.

Reigen: Alright, whoever’s around, you might as well show yourself! I realize that I can be intimidating, as the world’s greatest psychic, but I’ll be happy to give you an autograph if you come on out from behind those trees…

He stands bravely, adopting his best “grownup face”, half-expecting the false bravado to pay off, as it has many times before.  But, lurking in the other half of his mind is the suspicion that this isn’t a situation charisma alone can solve.  It’s the latter that’s proven, as Reigen is swiftly pulled from his feet by a gust of armed wind, and dragged across the brightly gleaming, snapping leaves.

Reigen: (Panting from shock) Shit, shit, shit! (Dazedly) Where’s my… mobile…?

He strains to move, but is pinned by an unseen weight.  Though his breath was knocked from his chest during the fall, when he’s flipped onto his back, in the middle of the park, the motion is surprisingly deft, and tender.

Reigen: I can feel you sitting on my chest! I… I know you’re here!

Reigen: (His breaths slowly calming) O-okay… while it’s true that I’m a grand psychic and all, I have to admit that you’ve got me stumped.  And pinned.  So… I guess I might as well tell you -- and this is pretty embarrassing for me, never happens, I swear -- I… I actually can’t see you.

Reigen: (Pauses, listening to the softer sighs of the wind) So who… are y --

But his question is abruptly stopped by the sensation of a cold and desperate kiss.  The air seems to shimmer.  Reigen, shocked, allows the kiss, even deepens it, while his brain scrambles for some wild idea -- some scheme -- to escape.  But then… the kiss is actually nice.  And it’s not so cold now.  The weight on his chest shifts, allowing him to breathe more freely, and Reigen finds himself abandoning his usual cache of schemes, at least for this brief moment in his life -- and fully, truly returns the kiss.

Reigen: (Parting from the kiss slowly, in time with the unseen presence) Well…

Reigen: (Staring at the still-shimmering air above him) I… wasn’t expecting that.  Congratulations, Spirit.  You almost had me speechless for a moment there!

Reigen quickly notes that he somehow feels more at ease than earlier this evening.  His thoughts are interrupted though, as a low moan slips out of him when the presence suddenly presses their unseen lips against Reigen’s neck and collarbone, gently trailing kisses upward, toward his face.

Reigen: (Breathing heavily again) Your kisses feel like they’re burning my skin, but they’re also cold… it’s so… soothing… I’ve never --

Again, his rambling words are swallowed by another deep kiss -- shared with a ghost.  Reigen can viscerally feel what he assumes is a tongue, curiously exploring his mouth between parted lips, and though this is so vastly unfamiliar to him, he marvels that it’s not unfamiliar for the reasons it should be.  He simply hasn’t been kissed this way in a long time.  Reigen reaches upward, as if to touch the air above, and for a moment, he feels something like skin, silky, freezing.  Then the feeling disappears under his fingers, becoming just another night-glimmer.  The weight is still on top of him.

Reigen: (Reluctantly parting, drawing his hands slowly back) It feels like you have to go.  I just want you to know -- if you want me to come back, I will.

The wind stirs, sighing.  And Reigen understands the loneliness in it.

Reigen: I know I asked earlier, but before you go… please, please tell me who you are.  A name, anything.

He waits in silence for a moment.  Then, those cold, unseen lips lower, now beside his ears; able to whisper in both at once.

Reigen: … Oh.

And, somehow, he has his answer.

[seize-the-sprace]

(Sprace) The Extra Chicken Deal

Pairing: sprace Summary: A special promotion at Race's favorite chicken joint prompts a more serious conversation. Word count: 1430 Read it on AO3 (Shoutout to @crystallizedtwilight for making up headcanons for Race's and Spot's jobs and first meeting so I didn't have to. You’re the best!)

“Oh my god, yes. Yes yes yes, I am so ready for this—”

“Race.”

“Hmm?” His mouth is already full of meat. Spot thinks he’s drooling.

“It’s chicken.”

“So?” Race says between chews. Half the meat is already off the drumstick, and Spot is sure he’ll watch the rest disappear in just a few short seconds. It fascinates him in a morbid sort of way, how much Race is enjoying today’s special promotion.

“So? You’re eating the chicken, not having sex with it.”

“Jealous, Spotty?” Race winks. Per Spot’s prediction, Race tears off the rest of the meat from the bone, which he discards immediately while his spare hand reaches for another piece.

“Honestly? A little. I don’t get it, didn’t they announce this beforehand?”

“If they did, I didn’t hear anything. It’s not like they have a newsletter.”

Spot raises an eyebrow. “If they did, would you subscribe?”

Race scoffs. “Of course. Especially for a deal like this. For a limited time only, buy two pieces, get one free!” He slowly waves his hand as he says it, as if tracing out an invisible headline between them. “And they’re geniuses for making it a surprise.”

“You don’t know it’s a surprise.”

“I know it’s limited time only.” Race waves his second chicken bone at Spot. “Gotta indulge while I can.”

Spot looks down at his own tray. He bought the standard two pieces—they’re big pieces, to be fair—but he won’t deny feeling a tiny rush of pleasure when the cashier double-checked his understanding: “You know you can get three, right? No charge.” He only moderately likes fried chicken, but it’s a good deal. Almost too good to be true.

Race, on the other hand, has ordered no fewer than three two-piece combos. Put another way, he has obtained nine pieces of chicken, so many that Spot can’t make out the placemat on his tray under the baskets. He’s almost certainly going to regret it, but in that Race-style “hashtag worth it” brag that will have Spot secretly smiling as he reaches for the antacids.

His curiosity is flagging. Spot picks up his chicken and takes a bite before it cools and he loses his nerve. It’s good, but…

“It’s nothing special,” he tells Race, who raises both eyebrows.

“You wanna try that again?”

“It’s fried chicken. How good is it supposed to be?”

Race sets down his chicken, and Spot knows he’s in for it—Race is going to need gestures for whatever he says next.

“Spot,” he says with a breathy sigh, “this goes beyond fried chicken. Imagine, if you will, the most comforting thing imaginable.”

Spot blinks when he realizes Race is actually pausing to let him come up with it. In bed with Race raining warm blankets nap flits through his head. He nods for Race to go on.

“Now imagine it in food form.”

“What if the thing I thought of was food?”

“Knowing you, it was probably protein powder, and thank god I’m here to save you from yourself.” Race winks at him as if to reassure him that he knows Spot is more complex than that. Spot never doubted that, but he still frowns minutely. He wonders if Race knows what he was actually thinking. He thinks he does, but now he's not sure.

Race takes the frown as an invitation to elaborate. “See, this ain’t the first time I’ve been here,” he says, gesturing around at the kitschy red and white décor of the joint. “I know you CUNY folk don’t hang out much with us NYU kids, but this is where we, and particularly I, spent a lot of really late nights. Sometimes to study, sometimes for wrap parties, sometimes just because we were too drunk to go home.”

“You, drunk?” Spot can’t help but smirk. Race is a bartender; it’s how they met, with Spot’s friends pushing him towards the beanpole whose smiles went a bit beyond good service. Spot’s seen him drunk, but nowhere near the plastered levels he hears about from Race’s circle of friends.

“Don’t you wonder where all the legends come from?” Race laughs along with him. “Yeah, the nights of my youth usually ended right here. Sometimes at this table.”

“So it’s not just the chicken, then.”

“No, it’s definitely partially the chicken. This stuff soaks up alcohol like a sponge, or at least drunk me thought so. Enough to get me down the subway steps, anyway.” Race shakes his head. “But also it tastes like home, you know?”

“Sounds like your arteries are already clogged with this stuff.”

“If this is how I go, it’s how I go.” Race flashes his boyfriend a grin and reaches for another piece of chicken. Spot watches him silently, thinking of how Race all but blew up his phone while he wrapped up his last client’s tattoo. Spot had kind of thought Race was in the hospital until he managed to check his messages and scroll through the texts consisting of nothing but exclamation points and excited emojis.

“Imagine,” says Race suddenly, as if the thought he’s been trying to express has finally popped up in his brain, “imagine that suddenly you could get more of something you already wanted. I mean, whatever the reason, happy memories or whatever, I love this stuff. I come here when I’m down or tired or stressed, and I always leave in a better mood because of this chicken. Why wouldn’t I want more when they’re giving it away for free?

He seems to have finished his thought, because he returns to his meal. Spot takes another bite too, but he’s lost in a different world from his boyfriend. There’s a half-formed thought rolling around in his head, something to do with fried chicken and happy memories and getting more of what you want.

Race’s near orgasmic groaning when he took his first bite of chicken was amusing, but also, in a weird way, Spot can empathize. He feels that blissful relief every day, but he doesn’t get it from food—he feels it when he comes home and Race is there. He doesn’t even have to be conscious. He can be sprawled out on the bed, drooling in his boxer shorts, and Spot will do nothing but drop his shoulders and crawl into bed beside him.

“Race,” he says. Maybe if he starts the sentence, he’ll figure out how to finish it. He’s a lot better at cheek kisses and completed chores than he is at actually voicing how Race makes him feel.

“Hmm?”

“I…” Damn it. “You’re my fried chicken.” Spot puts his head in his hand as soon as he says it.

Race sputters out a laugh. Spot looks up at him only to make sure he’s not choking. “Okay,” he says when he’s gotten the worst of the laughter out, “you know you have to elaborate on that one.”

“Never mind,” Spot grumbles.

“No, seriously.” To prove his sincerity, Race pushes his half-full tray to the side of the table and leans on his elbows. “Tell me about my deep-fried beauty.”

“I’m not saying you are fried chicken,” Spot says, still with his head in one hand. When Race doesn’t retort, he dares to look up. “I just…when you have a surprise night off, or. When I come home and you’re on the couch crying at Queer Eye. I like that as much as you like this stuff.” He gestures to the trays with the hand that was once holding his head. “And I’d…definitely take more if I could.”

Hesitantly, his eyes meet Race’s, hoping his boyfriend doesn’t think he’s gone insane for the metaphor. They’ve been dating for a year and a half now, and they’re well past love confessions. But every so often, Race deserves to hear him repeat it in words, even if they’re not exactly the ones he means to say.

Fortunately, Race seems to understand what he’s trying to say. Under the table, his leg extends to rub against Spot’s ankle. Above it, Race’s smile has turned gentle and a bit proud.

“Yeah, well,” he says, “maybe one of these days we can put that option on the table. More of what we already want, and all.”

Spot is still for a second. Then his shoulders jolt in a sudden laugh, and he examines Race to confirm he’s hearing right.

“Make it good, Conlon,” Race says teasingly. He leans back against the booth, but his ankle hasn’t left Spot’s. “I ain’t gonna be proposed to in a chicken joint.”

[dammit-stark]

Hi, can you write some married parent thorbruce? Thanks!

sorry this took so long… I hope the length makes up for it haha

On Tuesdays, young Delilah Banner comes home demanding father’s specialty meatloaf. Thor always presents it with pride, and Bruce never lets on that he feeds his piece to the dog.

On Wednesdays, Delilah’s Dada likes to cook various foods he learned about from his travels. Sometimes she likes it, and sometimes Bruce has to stick some frozen fries in the oven because she refuses to eat the traditional pig stomach stew, but she always learns something new about a different culture, and Thor exults Bruce’s culinary talents even on the worst days.

Friday’s are Delilah’s favorite day of the week though. Her Dada will bring her Uncles Steve and Tony home with him after a day of work downtown. They always bring a pizza or Burger King or whatever other fast foods are on the way home from the Tower.

“Uncle Stevie!” Delilah squeals when they meet her where the bus drops her off. She takes a running start and leaps into his arm. She waves happily to the other first graders as Steve carries her off to the Banner house. Bruce follows nervously after, a soft smile hidden under his bowed head.

When the trio storms the front door, Tony gives Delilah a noogie and a kiss on the cheek. Everybody pretends to ignore the matching kiss on the cheek he gives Steve, too.

“What’s for dinner, father?” Delilah demands as she bounds up to Thor in the kitchen.

Every week he makes the same lame joke, “You’re expecting food? When I was a kid we had to fight for our food! I should go make you tackle your Dada, see who wins, huh?”

The joke still goes over her head, but she doesn’t dwell on it anymore, just toddles on the balls of her feet and peers over the skyscraper-tall granite counter.

The five of them sit at the kitchen table with their fast food portioned out on ceramic plates, glasses full of Bruce’s favorite exotic juices. Tonight’s dinner features Kentucky Fried Chicken. Delilah sits excitedly on her knees in her chair, waiting for Uncle Tony and Bruce to find their way to the dinner table.

Steve turns his napkin into an origami bird for her in the meantime, and she crushes it minutely in her clumsy hands as she laughs. He smiles brightly down at her, a gentle little person-sized Hurricane.

Tony and Bruce finally make it to the dinner table. Their conversation is suspended mid-ramble, some complex physics equation on the tips of their tongue, and Tony grins, “Smells like we’re eating right tonight- right, Lila?”

Only her beloved Uncle Tony’s ever been allowed to call her Lila, a habit he managed to slip past her nickname-faring sensors after the continuous dazzling of science. Delilah certainly takes up after her dada, always easily distracted by Stark’s genius brain. Unfortunately, she’s seemed to adopted her other father’s ravenous appetite.

Delilah wields her fork and knife in her tiny hands like twin daggers, grinning innocently as the scientists meander into the room, “Hurry Up, Dada!” She says, pushing on the table excitedly, “I’m hungry!”

Tony feigns slow motion the rest of the way to his chair, and Bruce laughs, shaking his head nonetheless, “You washed your hands, right, girly?”

Delilah so much as rolls her eyes, “Of course, Dada. Can we eat now?”

“Dig in.”

Thor gives his daughter a big ol’ scoop of mashed potatoes, and she goades him into giving her extra gravy.

A hush falls over the five of them as they eat, Bruce and Tony interrupting the silence intermittently with science jargon that goes over the others’ heads (though in only a few years, Delilah will surely understand every word, she’s as smart as her dad).

“Delilah,” Steve says, taking a big gulp of Bruce’s papaya dragonfruit juice, “Did you learn anything at school today?”

Delilah screws her face up pensively, “We started reading a new book in read aloud, but I’ve already read it. My friend Mary is really excited to find out what happens next though, and I promised I wouldn’t tell her this time. I pinky promised.”

Steve’s confused, “But did you learn anything new?”

Delilah shakes her head, “Not really.”

Bruce and Thor share a look over the bucket of chicken. This has been an ongoing problem, Delilah’s smarter than her teachers are able to challenge her. They’ve been talking about it a lot lately, maybe setting something up with Tony or Peter Parker who’s been working with gifted kids in the city.

Suddenly, Delilah brightens, “Wait, Uncle Steve! I did learn something today!” Everybody at the table is surprised, hopeful, “Mary taught me how to play four scare at recess! Her cousin showed her how to play over the weekend. Now we can play when we’re outside, it’s really fun!”

Oh. Not what they were expecting, but at least it’s something.

Steve comes off as incredibly interested as Delilah explains all the rules in a very zigzag way, going back and forth and quoting all her friends. They all know there’s no way he’s actually interested, but he puts on a hell of a show for the sake of the second grader.

Mid-explanation about the rules of getting out in her new game, Delilah’s face falls and her thoughts trail off ubiquitously.

“What’re you thinking about?” Steve asked her softly. Thor and Bruce and Tony gnawed on their chicken legs and pretended not to be listening in.

“Brenda said something today,” Delilah reports, brows furrowed in thought, “And it was weird. I asked if they wanted to come to my house and play four square with me and she said that her mommy wouldn’t let her come here because they’re afraid of what might happen. What does that mean?”

Tony chokes on a piece of chicken, Bruce suddenly has to pick his fork up off the ground, and Thor’s ramrod still. Steve usually knows how to deal with Delilah like it’s nothing, but this time he looks to Thor and Bruce for guidance.

Their pasts haven’t ever come up, so as far as Delilah knows her dada has always worked with Uncle Tony and her father and Uncle Steve have always run off on bimonthly unexplained business trips.

“Delilah?” Bruce asks very slowly, “Do you know that your father and I would protect you at any cost? Your uncles, too?”

Delilah nods, still confused. Steve’s arms are crossed defiantly, poorly hiding the indignance he feels towards a certain ignorant mom.

“Well, some people don’t know that, honey,” Bruce continues solemnly, his voice soft.

“Why don’t they believe it, Dada?”

Bruce takes in an involuntary, sharp intake of breath, eyes dark as they sweep towards Thor whose big hands are twiddling anxiously on top of the table. That was the question they dreaded.

It’s not that they were never going to tell her. They were going to do it really, just when she was older and more capable of understanding the weight of what it meant to have two dads that moonlight as superheroes. Instead, they have to do it now. Thor shifts a hand over the back of Delilah’s chair as Bruce continues. Steve and Tony both look like they’re trying to make themselves invisible (an awkward feat for a Stark).

“You see, we- um- well, your father and I used to lead a very different life from this. Not bad necessarily, but more dangerous. We were very well known, and so your friend’s mom is probably just worried that something from our past might come back and hurt your friend.”

Delilah looks pensive again, “What did you do?”

“We were, um-“

“Superheros.” Steve finishes for him. It’s either out of pity, or he simply couldn’t sit by quietly anymore. Neither would surprise Bruce, but he’s just grateful he didn’t have to say it himself.

Delilah looks up at Thor with big eyes, “You too, father?”

“Yes, my little one,” Thor says, “I fought many villainous forces alongside your father and uncles.”

Slowly, she nods, “Okay, Dada. Can I have another piece of chicken?

Bruce watches her for a moment, decides she isn’t repressing that she’ll need therapy for later, and passes the chicken, “Sure, honey bun,” He says, hesitating with his arm stretched over the table, “You’re sure you’re fine?”

Delilah smiles, “I’m hungry, Dada.”

And just like that it’s over and done: the concern and anxiety they’ve felt since the moment Delilah first appeared in their lives, that loaded conversation is finished off by the appetite of a seven year old.

Tony taps his foot on the ceramic tile of the kitchen, pushing his chair back with his legs and holding his arms out magnanimously, “Good thing then,” He says, “Because Stevie and I brought pie!”

Delilah’s eyes light up, and Bruce and Thor share a relieved look over the buffet of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Delilah skips after Uncle Tony to fetch the dessert. Everything is… okay.

[lillaxtrigger]

Young Hope: Chapter 24

Out far beyond the chaotic urban jungle of Townsville stood a calm, serene forest as thick and vast as nature can possibly grow; streaming rivers upsetting the woods that lead out into a large lake sitting right in the middle. Disrupting the morning twilight be a column of black smoke that rises out from the west part of the woods; both the orange and magenta skater venturing out towards the source of the smoke with curiosity and cation in mind. “And you sure that it was a spaceship and not just another drunkard who wrecked his ride out in the middle of the woods.” Mally questions, a yawn escaping from her mouth. “I’m positive, Mal. Saw it plummet from the sky just last night. Thought it might be best for us to get to it before anybody else does.” Biz answers. “Gotta be honest here, I’ve never really seen an alien before. I’m kind of excited to see what kind of insanely extra terrestrial beings we might come across here.” “With what we’re dealin with here, it could really be anything. They could be insanely complex creature beyond any semblance of understanding...or it could just be some human looking motherfucker; who knows, really. In any case, we best be prepped for whatever they can do. These guys could turn our brains into fresh squeezed fanta orange if we think of the fresh autumn breeze, or shoot out boiling tanning oiling from their tentacles that can turn us into deep fried human kebab sticks.” “Sounds fun.” Hearing such an unexpected comment from her pupil, Biz turns back towards the orange girl to discover her wearing an anticipating grin; Mally’s mentor forming her own small smile as she gazes out towards the trail ahead.

In their travels through the dense forest, the duo soon come to what seems to be a clearing; Mally gazing up to the morning sky above. “Ah, the morning sun; natures blinding alarm clock. It’s always just so peaceful right at the crack of dawn, ain’t it.” The orange girl soon feels the neck of her mentor’s hockey stick softly against her stomach, the pupil tumbling back from the weapon. Glancing to her mentor herself, Mally asks the magenta woman: “Ah! Hey, what’s with the toll stick, Biz?” Answering her question, Mally’s mentor points down towards the grounds ahead; the pupil beholding a bottomless dark crevasse before them. Staring out beyond the long dark abyss, she soon finds the other side in her site; the forest continuing beyond the cliffs plains. “Whoa! I wasn’t even paying attention. Can’t believe I almost fell in there.” Glancing out towards both sides of the endless chasm, she finds next to nothing that could help them cross over. “I’m not really seeing any signs of a bridge here, and I don’t think my grapple yo is long enough to reach the other side.” “Well if we can’t do either, we can always just jump it.” Biz suggests.

“Um...” Upon her masters suggestion, Mally glances back towards the other side of the gorge; the distance between both sides of ground being quite far ways apart. “This chasm’s...pretty wide. You sure that’s a good idea?” “Kid, relax. We can probably make it if we get a fast enough start.” her mentor reassures, heading back into the woods behind them. “Probably?” “Just watch and learn.” Saying such, Biz backs away from the steeply deep chasm; venturing out into the thicket of the forest to make herself some distance. Her pupil keeps a close eye on her retreating mentor, having to focus on her figure once witnessing her head deep into the woods. The magenta mentor finally takes a stop, turning back to see bits of the gorge ahead between the mixture of oak and pine. Unzipping her camo backpack, Biz digs inside to pull out a pair of dirty off road skates; their wheels being far bigger than her regular street pair. Fastening those skates on her feet nice and tight, the magenta skater stands back up as she gazes back out towards the crevasse; spotting her orange pupils standing by and awaiting for her to take off.

Not wanting her to wait one more moment, Biz lunges out towards the gorge ahead, weaving around the dozens of trees in her charge. Finally picking up enough speed, the magenta skater streaks past Mally; the orange pupil watching as her mentor gracefully glides across the chasm. Flipping across the dark abyss below, the skater begins to close in on the other side; holding her arms out towards cliffs edge. Biz latches onto the grassy edge by her palms, dangling over the cliff’s steeping inward face; hearing her pupil cheering from her successful jump. “Woooh! That was sick Biz! 100 feet of distance cleared on the first run!” Pulling herself up on the solid grassy ground, Biz glances back to her orange pupil and declares that: “Yep. And now its your turn, Mal.” “Yeah,I-...Huh?” Mally utter. “You brought those off road skates I got ya, right?” her magenta mentor asks. “Uh...Ye-yeah! Just gimme a minute and I’ll meet ya on the other side.” the pupil informs, running back into the woods. “Remember to pick up as much speed as you can!” Biz advises across the chasm.

As the orange pupil takes in as much distance as she can away from the gorge; waves of worry and anxiety crash against her psyche; the girl taking in a deep, calming breath. Alright, just cool it Mally. You’ve made it through far deadlier obstacles than this. Just think about the times that you’ve been frozen, kicked, tossed, thrown, beaten, smacked, and nearly slashed and impaled. Some stupid bottomless chasm doesn’t come close to all the shit you’ve took. Psyching herself up with these memories, Mally comes to a sudden stop; gazing back out towards the direction of the cliff as the morning sun shines through the tree’s. Unzipping her own backpack, she soon pulls out a pair of brand new off road skates; their clean surfaces evidence of their less than worn use. As she dons her newly bought skates, she glances back towards the other side of the chasms to discover her mentor patiently awaiting. Hell, if Biz can make it across a 100 foot bottomless ravine, then so can this 13 year old skater.

Telling herself such, the orange skates stands upon her new off road skates; taking a moment to balance herself on their larger wheels. After retaining her balance, Mally blasts off towards the morning light ahead; mimicking the way her mentor weaves around the clusters of trees as she feels the dirt and leaves crunch under her wheels. Bolting out from the dense woods, the skater bolts out towards the edge of the cliff; leaping across the dark bottomless chasm below. Gliding above the shadowy abyss, Mally twirls over the darkness like an airborne ballerina; stopping her pirouette towards her mentors prideful smile. That very same smile swiftly dissolves when her pupil begins to drop before reaching the other side; Mally plummeting down towards the pitch black abyss. “Mally!” the magenta skater screams. Biz lunges to the edge of the cliff, helpless to only watch as her pupil falls towards the shadows of the bottomless gorge. The student acting fast, Mally quickly pulls out her trusty grapple yo; casting her gadget out towards the light of the sun. “Biz! Catch!” Mally shouts. The yoyo rising out from the deep chasm, the gadget entangles itself around the mentor’s hockey stick; Biz keeping a tight grip of her weapon. “Hold on, Mal!” With one mighty pull, the magenta mentor jerks her pupil out from the edge of the abyss; Mally soaring out from the chasm and past the top of the tree. Her ascent eventually comes to a stop, the orange skater finding herself continuing her plummet downwards; Biz holding her arms out and backing away in attempting to catch the falling girl. Though her glide across the gorge may have been graceful, her landing proves far from such; Mally crashing straight into her mentor and tumbling onto the grass below.

Recovering from her rough landing, Mally groans aloud as she rises from the cold cliff grass, soon hearing a similar groan coming from her mentor. “Thanks for the save, Biz. Hey, uh...Where are ya?” “Right under you.” she hears her magenta mentor utter. From this, Mally checks under herself to discover her mentor right under her and soon scuttles off. “Eh!...Nn. Sorry.” After getting up from the cold grass, the magenta skater can’t help but let out a giggle; her pupil soon joining in her laughing fit. “Guess it ain’t as easy as you made it look, huh?” Mally states. “Not really, dude. I’m fumbled a tone of times before I could make jumps like that.” “I probably wouldn’t have done the same if I went through a more streamlined route; would’ve gotten a lot more speed for take off.” “Eh, don’t beat yourself up too much over it. Best part of making it outta spills like this mean learning from them. Keep them in mind and you’ll get better.” To her mentors advice, Mally can’t help but give out a warm smile. Breaking them out from the moment, the sound of a nearby explosion catches the girls attention; glancing in the direction of the boom before swiftly skating off into the woods. The duo glide through the dense forest on their off road skates, weaving around the tree’s as Mally wonders aloud: “What’dya think that explosion might’ve been? Think it came from the aliens themselves?” “Nah. Might be better guess to say that it came from their ship. It did crash land around here, there’s bound to be a couple of technical fuck ups.” “Guess we’ll find out soon, huh.”

Their questions are soon answered when coming to a clearing of snapped tree’s and dirt to find the source of the rising column of smoke: a sleek, dark black space craft dug into the dirt. The design of the ship itself is dark, dangerous, and lethal; not exactly screaming E.T friendly here, more along the lines of Predator kinds of dangerous. A shiny onyx finish mixed with bright red highlights, almost betting the bastards inside it could pop out at any moment and start coming out with plasma swords and magma blasters; it’d be one hell of a welcoming party if anything else. Approaching the crashed vessel, the orange skater is left in awe of its wicked design; the onyx black shell reflecting the light of the morning sun. “Holy hell on earth. This thing looks awesome! It’s like if Night rider told the earth that he’s sick of its shit and turned into a spaceship to blast off into the stars!” “Eh, it ain’t all that. Pales in comparison to others I’ve seen.” Biz comments. “Really?”

Sliding the palm of her hand across the sleek black surface of the ship, Biz deduces that the vessel is: “Too big to be an escape pod. Too small to be a warship.” “Think it might be some kind of scouting ship?” Mally wonders. “I was just wondering the same thing. If it’s true than we might be dealing with invaders here. Might be best to break in and stop them before they can call for backup.” “I don’t know here.” Hearing the admittance of hesitance coming from her pupil, Biz gazes towards the orange skater and hears her continue how: “Don’t you think we might be jumping the gun too quickly here. I mean, we don’t even know why these guys crashed here anyway.” “Oh, and like you do? Kid, don’t forget who the expert is here.”

Her mentor deflecting her suggestion, Mally’s curious glance slowly deflates into a crossed glare; hearing her mentor continue with: “Besides, being so cautious can waste time. And in case’s like this, we can’t afford to waste ours. Just stay out here and keep watch.” “You mean to keep anybody from coming in?” the pupil wonders. “To keep whatever is in here from coming out.” the mentor corrects. “And how might you be planning on getting in? I’m not exactly seeing any kind of doors or wind-” Interrupting her own question, Mally finds her mentor beating her hockey stick against the vessels hull; soon tearing open a way inside the ship. “Oh...” After watching Biz squeeze herself through the torn hull of the spacecraft, the orange skater drifts her gaze out towards the surrounding forest with a gloomy sigh; the site of footprints soon catching her attention. Upon closer inspection of the trail, Mally finds the prints to be strikingly humanoid in shape; reflecting similar design to boot soles. Mally soon traces them back towards the hull of the ship, their direction suggest them to be leaving from it rather than entering; tracing them out into the forest ahead. Such a discovery makes the skater wonder what kind of extra terrestrial life that they could be dealing with; a more curious question sprouting from her thoughts: are they as threatening as her mentor may suggest.

Venturing from the leaking morning light from outside, the magenta skater travels deeper into the dark depths of the alien spacecraft; keeping tight grip of her hockey stick as she cautiously walks across the ships twisted and oppressing corridors. Lighting the passages before her be swirling, magma red lights that curve and trail across the walls and ceiling; the ominous glow keeping the skater on edge.

Her search eventually has her turn through a curving corner, discovering a looming shadow that stretches beyond the next corner, the skater brandishing her weapon as she sneaks towards the cast shade. During her slow approach, the skater notices the shadow failing to budge even a single inch, dropping her careful sneaking for a more curious stroll. Finally peaking out to find what’s awaiting behind the corner, Biz suddenly backs away against the wall; finding before her a robotic black sphere with three legs on the other side. Her back on the onyx wall, the magenta begins to calm herself when noticing the droid not lunging after; the black sphere moving not an inch from where it stands. Curious of the immobile automaton, she slowly approaches with her hockey stick pointed towards its eye, seeing her reflection along its onyx shell as she nears. The skater soon pokes the black sphere front, drawing out next to no reaction from the alien tech; even with repeated tap to its face. Biz’s constant prodding eventually causes the onyx droid to collapse onto the floor, the thunderous crash echoing across the spacecrafts twisting corridors. Once the echoing bang ceases, the intruder shakes off the encounter; traversing past the robots remains continuing deeper into the crashed vessel.

Biz’s search through the ship has her pass through an open doorway; discovering beyond it a layout of seats and buttons. Four passenger seats spread across with one in front of a large black window, a console of buttons and controls clustered alongside a couple of screen; pretty safe to say that this is the ships control deck. The seats themselves seem to be in pretty good shape; no scratches, no tears, seat belts attached, anybody in these chairs would have no problem surviving a crash landing. It’s a shame that the same can’t be said about the console though; the panels cracked, screens shatter, buttons and leavers broken. The screen above it all is cracked and blacked out, guessing it might’ve been the camera for the front of the ship. With fractures like that, its a wonder how the hull wasn’t breached on impact. In the midst of her investigation, the magenta skater’s ears pick up the faint sound of light taps coming from the doorway she had entered through; no doubt the pilot of the ship. Might scare them off making any sudden movements, just need to act natural.

Feigning a distracted appearance, Biz keeps her eyes to the broken screen above; soon finding its reflection showing a limb stretching out from the doorway. Within the arms hand be a lethally sharp dagger, the limb flinging the knife out towards the back of the skater’s head. Just when the dagger was ready to plunge itself in the back of her skull, Biz’s swift turn back and deflects the oncoming knife with her hockey stick; the dagger digging into the roof of the deck. It’s stealthy assault having failed, the arm swiftly retreats from the front decks door; the life it attempted to take swiftly skating after in hot pursuit.

Awaiting outside the wrecked spacecraft, Mally sits along the edge of its onyx black shell; a disinterested sigh leaving past her lips. The skater’s gaze drifts off to the bright blue sky above, her eyes soon catching the site of wavy air off to the side; trailing the heat waves out to find them coming from the woods nearby. Kind of a strange thing to be happening in the middle of fall; those look way to big to be from any kind of campfire, not even from something as big as a bonfire. Just before Mally could go off to investigate, a loud, thunderous boom catches her attention; the skater’s site turning back towards the ship. Her head turns back and forth between the heat wave out across the woods and the wrecked ship beside her, indecisive on which she should hurry to. Soon enough however, Mally sets her mind and charges towards the crashed spaceship’s side; leaping right through the torn hole her mentor had made.

Back within the ships warped corridors, Biz skates across its onyx black floor in pursuit of her failed assassin; following the sound of footsteps that echo across the hallway. Her hunt soon leads her out into a lit chamber with orange core sitting right in the middle; the light from the proving dim and bleak in color and shine. Approaching the core has her feel the mild heat irritate off of its surface, the dying heat warming her side as she prowls around it. In her encircle around the dimly lit core, the sound of rolling metal catches her attention; the skater turning back to witness a small black ball encircling the core after her. Anticipating what the ball might be, Biz thwacks the orb out towards the chamber wall; witnessing the sphere exploding on impact. The light from the explosion reveals the reflection of a figure in the polished onyx floor; attempting to swing down a blunt weapon overhead. Swiftly turning back, the skater blocks the figures hammering swing; discovering her assaulter to be a green humanoid alien girl that rivals her in height. The core’s dim orange glow bounces off the magenta hooded aliens green hair and white pointy teeth; her blue eyes locked onto Biz’s own. Feeling her space baring foe push down against her blocking hockey stick; the magenta skater acts fast and drives her knee into the aliens stomach; the blow causing her foe to flinch. In the midst of her opponents stagger, Biz follows her knee blow with a swung hockey stick to her foe’s face; the swing sending the alien woman skidding across the onyx floor. The green girls slide comes to a sudden stop against the chambers wall, glancing to her side to notice the exit right beside her. Witnessing her extra terrestrial foe scuttle out the core’s chamber, Biz proves unwilling to give up the chase and quickly continues her pursuit.

In her hot pursuit after the green girls hide, the magenta skater takes turn after turn through the ships twisting corridors; the aliens figure shrinking less and less as both of them race across the magma lit hallways. Following her foe’s reflection throughout the winding tunnels of the ship, Biz takes a sharp turn towards the corner and finds the path before her split in two; a single door awaiting at the end of each way. Unaware of which hall her pursuit ran down, she basically takes a guess between the two corridors and charges out towards the right; busting the door at the end right down with one strong as hell kick. From beyond the doorway, the magenta skater comes upon a basic looking bedroom of sorts; the furniture housed inside matching the overall black and red motif of the ship, though with nothing in terms of decoration. Taking a look around the inside, Biz checks underneath the bed for any sign of the ships passenger; all but aware of the very alien she was chasing after aiming her high tech gun at her from across the doorway. The green girl aims her guns barrel right towards the intruder’s head, her ocean blue eyes squinting at her magenta foe. Mere moments before the space faring woman could pull the trigger, she feels something wrap around her magenta garbed waist; glancing down to find the string of a yoyo tighten around her waist. The sudden noise makes Biz glance back towards the bedrooms doorway, watching as her alien pursuit is jerked away. Sent careening back across the ships corridors, the green girl soon discovers the owner of the yoyo that binds her waist; witnessing an orange hair girl race out towards her with a hockey stick at the ready. With one hammering swing, the girl slams her weapon right onto the aliens head; the blow rendering the extra terrestrial unconscious in one hit.

The green girl’s consciousness starting to return, muffling voices invade her ears; their muffle starting to form into coherent sentences. “I honestly never thought that aliens could look so sexy.” “Fawn over E.T ass some other time, Mal. She’s coming to.” Like the voices predict, the alien opens her eyes to behold the magenta and orange skater staring down upon her. Glancing to the woman who chased her through her crashed ship, the green girl finds Biz glaring to her with cold and piercing eyes. Taking a look to the girl who knocked her out however shows a much more opposite feeling, Mally’s cheeks glowing bright red as she stares upon her with curious arousal. “Nice to see you finally awake. How was your little nap?” the magenta skater sarcastically asks. Attempting to flee from the two, the extra terrestrial woman soon finds herself bound by a set of twisted black pipes; the green girl tied to one of the ships pointing ends. “Yeah, I’m afraid you ain’t gonna be leaving anytime soon. How about we pass the time with a game of twenty questions.” Biz offers, pointing the blunt end of her hockey stick to the green girl’s face. To her captors threat, the extra terrestrial woman turns her head away from the two; the magenta skater pulling back her weapon as she declares to her: “Not in the mood for it, eh? Well we’ll see if a couple of swings might change your mind.” Saying such does the green girl see Biz swing her hockey stick towards her head; the alien bracing for the skater’s strike. From her brace, green gal hears the sound of clacking wood; opening her eyes to find the orange skater stopping her swing with her own stick.

“Biz, do we really have to resort to this? It seems kinda hostile.” “Mally! For Christ sake, stop thinking with your vag already.” Mally’s mentor order. “I’m serious here. Maybe we don’t really gotta be so assertive here. Perhaps we can be a little bit more...inviting.” “Invitin-! Mally, she aimed a gun to my fucking head!” “Yeah, cause you broke into her ship! She probably thought you were gonna kill her! If you crash landed on an alien planet and one of them busted through the hull of your rocket, you’d probably be on the defensive.” A small sigh passes through the magenta mentor’s lips; returning her hockey stick to her side as she explain to her pupil: “Mally, listen. I know you’re a really smart kid and how you wanna see the best out of everyone. But I’ve been working with and dealing with the paranormal and aliens for literal years; I got a lot more expertise on stuff like this and I know what I’m doing. So just let me handle this, alright?” Having this subject lectured by her mentor, the orange is left wearing an upset glare; the magenta skaters own confidence drifting away.

Cutting off the moment be the sound of a volcanic eruption, all three of them gazing out towards the direction of the explosion; finding intense heat waves floating up from the cold fall forest. “Um...obvious question, but there wouldn’t happen to be any active volcano’s around here, are there?” Mally asks. “Nope. First I’ve seen something like this. Imma go and check it out; you say here.” Biz orders while heading towards the heat waves. “What!? No fair. You’re always leaving me out of the fun stuff. I wanna come with.” “And give the green bitch we got tied up a chance to escape? Hell, No. You’re staying here to make she doesn’t try anything. I’ll be right back.” Relaying those orders to her pupil, Biz skates off towards the rising heat waves; leaving Mally herself mad as she strolls back to the side of the space craft. “Why don’t you watch her then?” the orange skater questions under her breath.

Streaking across the woods of pine and oak, Biz weaves across the countless clusters of tree’s; the cold air of fall swiftly warming up the closer she races to the source to the heat. God damn, this place is starting to feel like the inside of a metal factory. Just the fumes and fire from the lava itself is enough to fry anybody’s skin. Even Mexican summers aren’t this intense, practically burning up in these winter clothes already. In her dash through the woods, the magenta skater starts noticing the burn marks left in the bark; the singe spread across its wooden surface proving very recent. Seem that ain’t the only thing that’s burning around here.

Biz eventually finds before her an intense glow radiating just beyond a pack of shrubs; the sweltering heat at its very peak. Peeking out from the foliage, the magenta skater discovers the source of the intense heat; a large crater full of boiling hot lava, slowly leaking out onto the surrounding grass. The chunks of rock and cracks surrounding the hole suggest that the molten liquid was recently uprooted; almost as if its being pulled out from the bowls of the earth itself. Wishing to search further, the magenta skater sneaks around the red hot crater, keeping herself concealed behind the shrub. Magma just doesn’t do this kind of weird shit on its own, somethings obviously making it boil to the surface; the only question being who, or what is pulling it out. Biz soon comes across the answer to her question, spotting along the other side of the pool of lava a lone alien; sporting green hair and skin like the first. This one however proves to boast a shorter figure, but much longer hair; garbed in a long sleeve, zip up shirt with brown gloves covering her hands. The spying skater watches as these hand flow in tandem with the spurting molten liquid in front of her; the lava bits of the lava rising out from the crater out her command. Well, guess that answers the what; the other question next to wonder would be why.

From the crater before her, the green girl draws out clumps of the earth fiery hot blood to her palms; her ruby red eyes closely inspecting the molten liquid’s pattern. A dissatisfied growl escapes from her sharp teeth as she shakes her head, the aliens eyes squinting from the lava’s glow. Beyond the liquids light, her site glances out towards the shrubs surrounding the crater; noticing the greens shifting around of their own accord. The molten manipulator swiftly casts one of the clumps of lava out towards the bushes, soon finding her magenta spy leaping out from the shrubs before the red hot liquid could engulf her hiding spot.

Descending from her emergency exit, Biz drops down towards her alien adversary; swinging her hockey stick down towards her head. Just before her foe’s weapon could smack her green haired head, the extra terrestrial blocks her magenta foe’s hammering assault; her other arm ready to toss the second clump of lava to her foe’s face. Biz jumps back right when the magma manipulator chucks her other clump of red hot liquid; feeling the intense heat as it careens by her cheek. As soon as her skates touch the scorched earth, the skater bolts around the side of the lava pool; watching as her extra terrestrial enemy draws out a huge chunk of the earths blood from the crater. The skater watches closely as the green girl rapidly fire out the chunks of molten liquid piece by piece; Biz jumping over the oncoming barrage as it splashes to the grassy grounds. Her magenta menace airborne, the molten manipulator throws the rest of her magma out where the skater will drop towards. Descending back onto the ground, Biz slides across its burnt grass; coasting right underneath the flying barrage of molten lava. Jumping back on her skates, Biz pulls out a switchblade from her pants pocket; tossing the knife out toward the green gals head. Witnessing the sharp weapon flying towards her, the extra terrestrial erects a wave of red hot lava to stop the blades path; the metal knife melting into the wave of molten lava. “My favorite pocket knife!” Biz laments. In the midst of her brief morning, the magenta skater witnesses the waves that consumed her blade quickly begin to widen; soon gushing out towards where she stand. With the wall of molten liquid threatening to consume her, Biz can do little but away away from the approaching storm; reaching out towards the tree’s in front of her.

Out on the other side of the crater, the green gal watches the wave she cast crash onto the trunks of the tree’s; finding not a single sign of her magenta assaulter anywhere in site. Assuming her foe’s demise, the alien turns her eyes back towards the lava pool; pulling out more of its molten liquid out from the depths of the earth. From this batch of freshly uprooted magma, she inspects the spots long its glowing liquid; an irritated growl escaping from her teeth. Baiting her attention back be the sound of breaking wood, noticing the lava she’d splashed at her spy burning away the bottom of the tree; the lumber collapsing in different directions. One of them descends down near the magma manipulator, the green girl herself begging to notice something atop its crown as it falls. Leaping out from the top of the collapsing tree, the magenta skater lunges down towards her extra terrestrial enemy with hockey stick in hand. Though she attempts to block Biz’s descending strike, the magma manipulator proves far too slow and too late; feeling the sting of her magenta foes weapon smack across her cheek. Successfully landing her surprise ambush, Biz sends as her alien adversary falling into the pool of molten liquid beside them; watching as her foe reaches out to solid ground as she quickly sinks into the red hot lava. With no sign of her foe climbing out from the pool, a small hiss leaves out from between her teeth as she glances away. Aw jeez. Maybe Mally might’ve been onto something. The magenta skater soon gazes back towards molten pool lava, noticing the starting to boil over and rise. Backing away from the crater, Biz watches as something begins to emerge from the pool; the coat of lava dripping away to reveal the magma manipulator herself. Her burning red gaze locked to her magenta foe, the green girl gathers lava from the pool below her; soon morphing the molten liquid around her arms to forge giant burning bright hands. Shit.

Back at the calming scene of the wrecked spacecraft, Mally sits along the side of its onyx black hull; looking out towards the sound of explosions from nearby. A bored sigh seeps through her lips, going on to complain to her alien captive how: “It just ain’t fair. Biz get to do all the fun stuff, while she always sticks me to the sideline.” Bound to the side of her own ship, the green alien can do little but reluctantly listen to her captors plight as she paces back and forth; left annoyed as she hears her bitch on how: “Even when I try and help out, She just doesn’t take me seriously enough; never listening to anything I suggest. I say that the undead pirates are just looking for their treasures; she goes off to pick fights with them. I tell her to be careful with the crystal of wind; she goes to use it as a hockey puck to kill a Lovecraftian horror. I warn to not to go off to poke the hive of unholy bees; she winds up getting a whole small village coated in demon honey. It’s like she doesn’t trust my judgment in the slightest.” The orange skater’s last statement catches the aliens attention, a smile creeping out from between her cheeks.

Sitting back down on the side of the ship, a defeated sigh escapes from Mally’s lungs; concluding on how: “I just wish she’d at least consider my word from time to time.” “The whole deal sounds pretty bullshit, don’t it?” Hearing the new voice makes the orange skater jump up from her seat, Mally swiftly scanning through her surroundings. “Who…?” The girls gaze then locks towards her alien captive, finding her blue eyes staring upon her as she asks: “You...you think so?” “Damn straight.” the green girl confirms. “So you can talk. Why didn’t you say anything to us before?” “Gee, I don’t know kid. Why’d you two break into my ship?” Hearing this makes the orange skater slightly wince, scratching her cheek as she admits how: “Uh, yeah…fair enough...Why are you even here in the first place?” “Think that’s obvious, isn’t it? Me and my siblings crashed landed on this ball of water and dirt after going through an asteroid belt.” “So...you aren’t here on an invasion?” “Of course not, kid. What kind of paranoid idiot put that in your head?” Again, Mally cringes from her captives question; showing doubt in her eyes before glancing away. “Sound like that lady your with doesn’t have that much faith in you, huh?” A small sigh leaves the skaters lungs, simply admitting to the green girl that: “Yeah...”

“Well, now that you found out I ain’t no invader, you can let me go and I can explain how all this is just one massive fuck up on all ends, sound good?” Mally turns back towards her bound captive, reluctant on how: “I don’t know. You almost wound up shooting Biz in the back of the head.” “Kid, gimme a break, it was in self defense. Like you said, you’d pretty much try the same thing if you were me.” Turning away once more, Mally lets out a small groan; informing how: “I need to think about this for a sec.” “Meh, you’re probably right. You’d just be better off listen to your partner and not even bothering what you think.” It’s this that makes Mally slightly glance back towards her captive, tightening her grip on her grapple yo.

With one single slice, the orange skater breaks the metal ties that bounds her prisoner to the onyx ship; the former captive falling to the ground. Rising from the cold dirt, the green girl find her former captors hand; Mally offering her a hand up. A smooth smile painted across her face, the extra terrestrial takes the skaters hand; standing tall next to the earthling. Another explosion draws their attention; both Mally and the alien gazing out towards the direction of the heat wave. “What’s the deal with all that?” the orange skater wonders. “Sound like some of my sis’s handwork.” the green girl answers. “That’s the same way Biz went. We gotta stop them before they wind up killing each other. You ready?” “Yep.” the green gal confirms, raising her hand back. From there, the orange skater feels a sharp sting at the back of her neck, Mally collapsing down on the cold hard dirt. Walking past her unconscious body, the alien heads towards the direction of the heat wave; finishes her confirmation with: “I am now.”

Raising her red hot fist up high, the magma manipulator hammers her lava hand down towards her magenta foe; Biz skating out of her extra terrestrial enemy’s slamming punch. The green girls magma fist breaks straight through the scorched earth, erupting columns of molten liquid that burst out towards the escaping skater; Biz strafing around the approaching lava flow to make u turn back towards her alien adversary. Jumping above her foe’s dug in magma fist, the magenta skater grinds up the aliens stretched rocky arm with hockey stick at the ready. Just before Biz could take another shot at her foe’s head, her swing is promptly caught by the green gals other hand; the alien entrapping the magenta skaters arms in her own lava palm. Though Biz feels not a single burn from her foe’s grip, she nonetheless struggles under the aliens tight grasp; soon finding herself being flung out towards the flowing lava crater. In the midst of her careen, the skater notices one of the tree’s that fell over the boiling molten liquid; aiming the wheels of her skates towards its burning bark. Landing onto the flaming pine, Biz grinds across the wood as it sinks down into the lava pool; leaping off the tree just before it plunges into the earth’s hot blood. From the pool of molten liquid, the magenta skater hooks onto an untouched tree by one of its branches; perching atop the branch to survey the battlefield. With over half of the ground surrounding the crater covered in molten liquid, there looks to be very little room for anybody to even stand, much less skate through. Hot damn! This green bitch ain’t playing around. Don’t think taking a chance splashing around in bone melting molten goo ain’t worth this.

Thinking such does the magenta skater feel the tree she stands on tremble, glancing down to witness the flowing lava burning the pines stump; the tree itself coming down fast. As the pine tumbles down towards the spreading molten liquid, Biz jumps out towards the patch of untouched ground. Landing upon the unsullied grass, the skater gaze back towards the magma manipulator to find her on the approach; casting forth her lava infused palms out towards the magenta woman. Flipping up from her alien adversary’s reach, Biz kicks back from the solid magma hands back out towards the surrounding tree’s; flying over the patches of red hot lava and escaping into the woods. After watching her magenta foe flee from the fight, the green gal flows the lava spread through out back into the crater it came from; uncovering the singed grass that burnt under the molten liquid. The patches of burnt foliage cause the alien to let out a small groan; soon turning her attention back toward the lava pool.

Biz weaves around the countless pine and oak in her retreat from the crater; feeling the cold fall air returning as well as a hint of regret. Might’ve been a better idea to take Mally along after all. Girl’s been getting better at combat and skating to hold her own. At the least, that literal hell raiser would’ve had a tougher time dealing with two kick ass skaters; might at least have gotten in more than one hockey stick swing in.

Out from these thoughts does the sound of rustling bushes catch skaters attention, Biz lunging out towards one of the more thick tree’s for cover. Peeking out from beyond its bark, the magenta skater eyes widen upon finding the alien that Mally and her had caught; leisurely strolling free through the woods. What the- Mal- How-how the hell did this bitch get out!? She was bound tight to her own fucking ship!? Where the hell is she even going, anyway? These questions swirling in her head, Biz stealthily trails the extra terrestrial through the forest of oak and pine; taking cover behind tree after tree in her pursuit.

Following her escaped alien, the magenta skater starts to feel the fall air heat up once again; wiping off the sweat from her forehead. Of course that, green bitch is meeting up with that hell raiser, obvious to say that they aren’t working alone; but for what end. A question that she intends to find the answer to as she cautiously continues to stalk the extra terrestrial visitor.

Her pursuit leads her back to the molten crater where she had once fought the magma manipulator; the shorter green girl herself continuing to inspect clumps of uprooted lava. The taller alien catches the other’s attention by calling with: “Yo, Tizzy. How the search coming along?” The magma manipulator turns her gaze out towards the approaching alien, the taller of the two standing beside her as Tizzy wonders: “And where in the seventh star system have you been? I’ve been out here, searching tirelessly for traces of Volcanium X in this planets magma while you’ve been slacking off back at the ship. You’re supposed to be helping me fix it so we can get off this planet.” “Easy Tiz, gimme a break. I was figuring out how much damage the ship took; til a couple of the locals busted in and tied me up. Was close to blasting one of them too, til the tinier bitch wound up sneaking up on me and knock me out. Still feeling the sting on the side of my head.” Dropping the lava in her palms back into the pool before her, Tizzy fully turns towards her sister and questions: “Cat, you’re not getting in fights with the natives already, are you? We can’t risk pissing the people of this planet off; especially when we’re stranded here with next to not communications!” “Will you chill out already, Tiz. It was just two of them, doubt anyone else living on this rock is gonna give a shit. Besides, they broke through the ship to try and beat my sexy ass It’s pretty safe to say they shot first.” Scanning through the ground surrounding the molten crater, Cat takes note of the patches of burnt ground and singed grass across the clearing. “And from all this, I’m guessing I ain’t the only one they tried their luck on.” With her sisters accusations, Tizzy covers her face as she lets out a loud groan; soon admitting to Cat that: “Let’s just hope that Vain hasn’t gotten into as much hot water as we have.” “Pssh! Knowing him, he’s probably splashing is scaly ass around in some lake, or river, or whatever this ball of dirt has.” “Do you think those two natives will go after him?” “Pretty safe bet. But with the kind of greeting we gave them, they’d be smart to stay away.” Upon saying this does Cat’s blue pupil drift towards where the skater was hiding; Biz crawling back when meeting with her gaze. Spotted from within the bushes, the magenta skater retreats back into the woods and away from the two alien visitors.

Sprinting back towards the direction of the wrecked ship, a slew of questions begin to erupt in the magenta skaters head; some of which were revolving around what the two alien visitors were discussing. What is their brother out there doing? Why do they all need this stuff called Volcanium X? But the biggest one to one her mind being what that Cat bitch did to Mally.

These thoughts weigh heavily on her as she races through the forest; soon coming back to the wreckage of the ship. Lying along the ground beside the crashed vessel be the magenta skater’s own orange pupil, Mally left face first on the cold broken ground. “Mally!” Approaching the unconscious girl, Biz picks up her limp body and shakes the orange skater as she urges her to: “Come on, Mal! Wake up! Don’t give out on me!” The magenta skater soon puts her ear up to the girls chest in hopes of hearing a pulse; a deep sigh leaving her when hearing the faint beat of Mally’s heart. “Ahhh...Thank god. Scared me for a sec there.” Though the skater has little time to relax however, hearing a couple voices approaching from nearby: “I wanna see how much they damaged the ship.” “It can’t be any worse than it already is, right?” Cradling her unconscious partner in her arms, Biz skates away from the aliens onyx black spacecraft; sprinting out in the dense cover of the wilderness.

In her escape from the wrecked vessel, the magenta skater take Mally to a set of massive set of rocks protruding out from the ground. Approaching the side of these stones, Biz carefully lays her resting pupil against their side; just in time for the orange girl to awaken from her slumber. From her sleep, Mally opens her eyes to the site of her magenta mentor, hearing her ironically greet the awakening skater with: “Morning sunshine.” “Biz? Wha-what happened?” “You were taking a nap on the side of the ship and I had to haul your ass over here before the aliens came back.” “Oh...oh god...” “Now, you mind of I ask the same thing? How the hell did that mean green bitch managed to get loose? We had her tied tight to the bumper of her own god damn ship.” Her mentor’s questionings make Mally avert her gaze towards the ground, hearing Biz continue with: “It just doesn’t make any sense. If she had any kind of powers up her sleeve, then she would’ve used them in our fight back in the ship. So how the hell did she slip...away?”

Questioning this does she notice tears running down her pupils face; hearing a small snivel escape the orange skater in this saddening scene. “Mal?” “I let her go...” Mally finally confesses. “What!? Why!?” “I don’t know. She feed me some lie about crashing here with her siblings and how they just wanted to get back home, and I was dumb enough to believe her. Not only that, she also played with how you never have any faith in me. All the times when I got upset with how you just rush into stuff without thinking it through. God, why did I even talk to her in the first place! I just let her slither her way into me like a fucking idiot!” “Hey hey hey. Quit beating yourself over it.” Biz advises, lowering herself to her pupils level. “But I let her stab me in the back like some kind of gullible idiot! Why should I?” “Cause...I’ve been in the same boat you are a couple times before.” “You...have?” “Yep. Some people that I worked with wound up fucking me over a couple years back. It’s why I don’t usually have partners anymore. Well...that is until I met you.” The magenta mentor’s last line baits Mally’s attention; Biz putting her hand over the orange skater’s shoulder and continuing with. “Mally, I know you’re a really trusting girl. You like things to be nice and wanna see the best in everybody. But...you gotta learn that other people are just gonna take advantage of that. You shouldn’t feel too bad about one bad bitch screwing you over. You wanna know why?” “...Why?” “Cause they don’t deserve to have a badass bitch like you.” Hearing this compliment uplifts the saddened skaters spirits; a small smile cracking between her cheeks as she utters. “Thanks Biz.” A warm smile is drawn out from her pupil’s thanks, a little giggle escaping from Biz’s teeth.

The moment soon dissolves however; Mally’s smile fading away as she concedes how: “It doesn’t matter anyway. That lying bitch is probably long gone by now. Still can’t believe she lied to me so easily.” “Eh, she might not be as full of shit as you think.” Biz softly contradicts. “What are you on about?” “After I had a little run in with her sister, I manage to catch them talking about searching for stuff to fix their ship. You’ve might’ve been on the mark after all, Mal.” “But then why would she...What are her siblings like?” “The one I went up against sounded more honest and focused out of the two, if not the toughest. They mentioned something about their brother taking a dip somewhere around here. If we manage to find this guy before his sisters do, we could probably straighten things out and pull off this whole cross species peace treaty yet.” “You’re really wanting to go with my suggestion?” “Honestly, my methods aren’t really getting much ground here, maybe letting you take the wheel might steer things in the right direction. Sound good?” Her mentor all ears, Mally stands off from the stone she had sat on and starts to climb the rocky protrusion. After climbing up to the very top, the orange skater gazes out to the tree tops ahead; asking her mentor if: “Are there any good places to swim around here.” “There’s a pretty big lake across the woods. Big enough for a couple of drunken assholes to go diving in and drown forgetting how to swim. Think we should check there first?” Mally turns to her mentor with a determined smile; asking Biz to: “Lead the way.”

Upon her pupils request, Biz leads the orange skater out to the outskirts of the forest; both of them soon discovering a beautiful site before them. A gorgeous crystal blue lake stretching out a fair ways along the wide clearing, boasting a size comparable to a stadium football field; the afternoon sun reflecting off its shimmering waters as they flow out into a couple of branching rivers. “Wow...” “Yep. Pretty hard to swallow that this beauty was once a dumping site once.” Mally strolls to the side of its gorgeous blue lakeside, gazing into her reflection among the waving waters. “Bullshit. This lake is as transparent and gorgeous as a glass figurine of a sexy beauty star before falling into a drug fueled madness.” “It oughta be. Some magical environmental organization spent five long years filtering the radioactive sludge out. Not a single hint of green to be seen.” “Speaking of green, how you think were gonna get this alien swimmer outta these waters?” Mally questions, her gaze turning towards her mentor. “Eh, don’t know. Wasn’t exactly planning on bringing any swimming gear. How bout you try thinking of something.” Upon Biz’s suggestion, the orange skater ponders on how they plan on fishing the guy out from this lakes clear blue waters. Mmm...Fish, water, blue, alien, beauty star...That’s it!

From her pack, she pulls out both her hockey and her grapple-yo; swiftly twirling her trusty yoyo around her weapon. With these two combined, Mally proudly present to her mentor a makeshift fishing rod of her own slapped together design. “Ta da!” “Hey, not a bad idea. Literally fishing this bastard out.” “Yep. All that's left now is to find some bait.” “Think I might have something that might do the trick Claiming this does her magenta mentor reach back for her camo backpack, digging several of its pockets for this supposed bait she can provide. “Ah...Come on...I know I put it in here….Ah got it.” From the depths of her pack, Biz pulls out a king sized candy bar; the word “Chocosplosion” surrounded by exploding chocolate etched on the wrapping. “Behold! The ever famous Chocosplosion bar. Packed to the brim with exploding chocolate flavor that no living being in this very existence can ever hope to comprehend.” As she starts to unwrap the savory chocolate bar, Biz explains that: “I was saving this baby up for lunch later, but it probably make fantastic bait. Catch!” Tossing the delectable chocolate bar out to her pupil, Mally catches the treat in her palm and stick it to her grapple-yo. “Thanks a bunch, Biz.”

After thanking her mentor for the bait, Mally sticks the delicious chocolate treat onto the shell of her yoyo; soon casting her grapple-yo out towards the clear blue waters ahead. Careening its way out towards the center of the lake, her gadget splashes along the waters with the choco bar attached; eventually bobbing calmly along the crystal blue waves. With her bait cast out in the blue water, the orange skater can only stand and await for their alien to show themselves; with only the winds of the fall air to listen to. Its not long before the constant waiting starts to take its toll; Mally growing antsy as her arms constantly fidget and nudge the bait around. The orange skaters face starts to scrunch as a small growl escapes from her teeth; her boredom starting to swiftly come to a boil. Once watching her bobbing gadget long enough, Mally’s agitation soon makes her let out a roaring groan;  finally complaining how: “Why do people like this so much!? It’s so tortuously boring!” “Hey hey hey; simmer down there, Mal. You need to relax. Nobody said that fishing would be an exhilarating sport.” Biz assures while grasping her pupils shoulders. “But this is just asinine. How do people out in the wild and survival show’s do this?” “Well, the first thing I’d do is stop fidgeting so much. You scare the fish away like that.” Like her mentor advises, the orange skater stops her constant moving; holding her hockey stick completely still as she locks her eyes out to the lure. “Ya gotta be stead fast with this; wait for the lure to sink into the water. Only in that moment can you jerk back and pull in your prey.”

Doing as her mentor instructs, Mally continues to remains motionless; her site focusing on nothing but the bait in front of her. The cold fall air blows across the lake side; the chilling breeze doing little to break the orange skater’s focus. Before long, Mally’s stoic patience pays off; witnessing the lure floating along the lake being pulled into its water. In turn, the fisher herself jerks back as hard as she can; feeling something pull against her gadgets string. “I-I got something! I got something!” “Nice going! Now pull it in!” Biz exclaims. As Mally pulls the string of her grapple-yo through her weapon, she starts backing away from the edge of the lake; her feet dragging against the grassy shores as she fights against her catch. “Come on, Mal! You can do it! Make this alien fish your wet bitch!” her mentor cheers. “I’m...trying...to…” the orange skater strains.

Mally’s words are soon cut off when she feels her feet leaving the ground, finding herself threatening to take a plunge into the lakes crystal blue waters. Just before she could swim with the fishes, the orange skater feel something grasp tightly at her legs; glancing back to find her mentor keeping her from flying out towards the lake. “Keep pulling, Mal!” Biz demands. With help from her mentor, Mally continues to pull against her potential catch; Biz herself heaving her pupil back towards solid land. Even with the two of them towing back together, their catch refuses to let up; both Biz and Mally struggling against their foe’s pull. Soon however, both pupil and mentor succeed in breaching their catch from the clear blue waters; the girls tumbling back onto the grassy lakeside from the sudden recoil. Her back against the cold hard ground, Mally opens her eyes to a scaly figures eclipsing the sun above; they’re long white locks flowing in the wind.

Witnessing the scaly figure land behind them; both the magenta and orange skater rise off the grassy shores as their catch turns to face them; Biz and Mally beholding the androgynous aliens staring upon them with his red and blue eyes. Watching as the extra terrestrial takes a bite out of Biz’s chocolate bar, the two humans approach the scaly alien; Mally first greeting him with: “Hey, um. Are you-” Her welcome is swiftly interrupted when the amphibious alien points the palms of his hand out towards her; a clear sign to stay silent as their fresh catch chews on his newfound snack. The two are to simply wait as their alien visitor slowly consumes the chocolate bar held in his hands; both Mally and Biz looking less than patient for the extra terrestrials slow eating pace. The aquatic alien lets out satisfied moans as he takes his time with the candy bar, almost as if he’s wanting the two to know how delicious it truly his. “Well...at least we know we picked the right bait.” Mally mentions with a smile. “I burnt 20 bucks on that fucking bar.” Biz silently complains with a vindictive glare.

At long last however, the alien finishes off the rest of his bait; swallowing the last of the bars chocolaty flavor. The extra terrestrial than turns back towards those who pulled him out from the lakes waters; simply telling them that: “Now you may speak.” “Um...is your name Vain?” Mally questions. “Indeed it is; it’s only natural that word of my beauty has spread across the universe. It must be why you two were so eager to bait my attention with such a delectable gift. I suppose it makes up for rudely interpreting my swim.” “Oh god, he’s one of these motherfuckers. Do we really gotta-” Biz whispers. “Biz, shush!” Mally whispers back as she nudges her mentors side.

Both of them glance back towards the amphibious alien, noticing Vain glaring at them with utmost suspicion; Mally quickly returning to the conversation with: “A-actually, we heard about you from your sisters. Cat and...uhh-” “Tizzy.” her mentor quickly whispers. “Tizzy! Both of them sent us out here to go look for you. All of us are just tearing the whole forest up just trying to find ya.” “Well if that’s the case, you two monkeys can go off and fetch them for me. I wanna spend a bit more time swimming here. This swimming spot is simply just magical.” From the amphibious motherfucker passive arrogance, Biz can’t help but let out a lowkey growl; whispering under her breath: “Scaly ass mother fu-” “Uh, T-there’s actually lot of predators around this part of the planet; so it might be best to safely escort you back to your ship.” “Hmm. Tempting, but I can manage.” Its in saying such does Vain strut back towards the lake, passing by the two earthlings in his stylish swagger back; ordering how: “If they want to see me so badly, then why don’t you two tell them to come here themselves.”

Its this that pushes Biz to the breaking point, grasping the extra terrestrial’s shoulder right after he passes them: scolding the alien on how: “You’re sisters are worried about your scaly asshole, dammit! You’d rather splash around in some fucking lake then go find them!?” A brief moment of silence passes between the three; the alien breaking the silence by correcting the magenta skater with: “My sisters sent me out here to look for components for our ship.” Biz lets go of the amphibious aliens soldier, Vain himself glancing back with a dastardly smile as he finishes explaining how: “If you really were as chummy with my siblings as you claim, then you would’ve know that. Wouldn’t you?”

Before Biz could take the chance to retreat; their amphibious foe punches the magenta skater right into her big nose; the unexpected blow causing her to stumble. In the midst of her stinging schnoze pain, Biz soon feels her aquatic adversaries scaly arms wrap around her waist; Vain throwing her out towards the far depths of the lake. “Biz!” Glancing back towards her amphibian foe, Mally finds the aquatic alien lunging for her next; the skater blocking his approach with her hockey stick. Fighting against Vain’s pushing assault, she hears him criticizes her on how: “Did you two really think that I’d be this stupidly gullible? I got a lot of brains behind all this beauty.” Her extra terrestrial enemy proves to be stronger than he initially looks; pushing the orange skater down as he continues scathing his foe with: “My big sister thrives on causing chaos. Cheating, breaking, and lying to people, tricking them to do her dirty work. So I’m pretty good at spotting a couple dirty liars when I see them. You’d have to be a real idiot to fall for something like that.” His last statement sets the orange skater off; Vain caught off guard when his human foe pushes back against him, Mally herself pulling her hockey stick back as she demands that he: “Don’t remind me!” With fury in her swing, Mally smacks the amphibious alien across his face; sending Vain careening back towards the lake that he once swam through. Watching as her alien adversary tumbles through the air, the skater notices a piece of string trailing back towards her; glancing down to find her own grapple-yo string around her ankle. A frustrated sigh escapes from her lungs before she curses her foe with: “Mother-” Before she knew it, Mally is forcefully sent flying after her amphibious foe; screaming out across the lakeside: “Fuckeeeeeer!”

Swiftly swimming across the lakes clear blue waters, Vain drags the human girls gadget from behind; laughing as he gazes back to see his foe skipping across the surface like a tiny pebble. As Mally is dragged across the beautiful prestigious lake, she reaches out for the string of her own gadget; grasping hold of the thin thread and tugs it back. Her yoyo is jerked out from the amphibious aliens scaly hand; the gadgets returning to its master’s hand as Mally starts to slow down. Once the orange skater’s skip eventually stops, she starts to sink down past the lakes surface and into its depths; Mally holding her breath as she starts untying her yoyo string from her ankle. Freeing herself from her grapple-yo’s string, the orange skater reeling back her gadgets thread as she swims back up to the surface. Rising back up from the lakes waters, Mally takes in a much needed breath of air; soon using that air to shout out: “Biz! Where are you!” Her call drawing no response from her mentor, a terrifying mix of worry and dread starts to bubble inside the orange skaters head. Oh god, that amphibian asshole better not be trying to drown her.

Her boiling anxiety simmers down when hearing Biz’s responding call echo across the lake, Mally’s ears catching: “Mally!” Waiting not another moment, the orange girl skates frantically swims out towards the direction of the call; soon finding her magenta mentor floating across the lake’s waves. The floating skaters soon reunite; Mally reaching her arms out towards her mentor as she cries: “I’m sorry, Biz. I didn’t thing it turn out this-” Before she could take the chance to hug the magenta skater, Biz herself holds her pupil back; advising that she: “Save it for later, Mal. If I know amphibious aliens, then we’re practically fish food out here. We need to swim our asses back to land before-” Just when she was finishing her thought, the magenta skater witnesses her pupil swiftly pulled under the lakes surface; reaching out for her hand as she screams: “Mally!” Grasping her sinking pupils palm in attempts to surface her back up, Biz is soon pulled into the depths of the lake with Mally.

Once their eyes adjust to the crystal clear waters, Mally glances down to discover Vain pulling her down towards the lake’s bottom; taking a tight grip on the human’s leg. Wielding her hockey stick, the orange skater smacks their amphibious foe’s arm; forcing the scaly alien to free Mally from his grasp. Watching as Vain retreats from her pupil, Biz observes the green guy dart around the duo; soon finding their extra terrestrial enemy lunging right towards her. Attempting to intercept his charge, the magenta skater swings her weapon out to the approaching alien; Vain ducking right under her swing and landing a clean blow to his foe’s stomach. The amphibians stomach blow causes air to leak out from Biz’s mouth, the bubbles that expel out floating up towards the surface. Holding onto whatever air she has left, the magenta skater takes another swing at her fishy foe; this time smacking the extra terrestrial swimmer away. Vain once again swims around his pair of human foe’s, this time racing out towards the smaller of the two. Mally finds their foe bolting too fast to smack away in time; opting to block their amphibious foe’s approach instead; her scaly foe sending her slamming straight into a rocky formation left to the side. From her pupils slam into the underwater stone, Biz witnesses the orange skater loosing air fast; a dozen bubbles leaking out from Mally’s mouth. Fearing her partners breath running dry, the magenta skater frantically digs through her coat pockets for whatever could aid their escape; soon pulling out a cylinder grenade from her jacket. While her breath begins to leave her, Mally gazes out behind her amphibian foe to witness her mentor tossing the grenade out in their direction; recognizing what kind of explosive biz has thrown. Knowing what’s coming, Mally punches their alien enemy right in the face; Vain letting go of her hockey stick to cover his features. This gives the orange skater the chance she need to get the drop on him; swimming out towards the stunned alien and turning him out towards the oncoming explosive. His eyes forced open, Vain is helpless to watch as the grenade goes off right in front of him; producing an intense flash of light that burns his pupils. Their fishy foe blinded by the flash grenades light, Mally kicks off from the rocks behind her; swimming back up towards the surface with her mentor.

Finally breaching the crystal clear lakes surface, both Mally and Biz take in much needed breaths of air; Mally coughing up a little bit of water she swallowed. “We...we need to get to land fast…That grenade ain’t gonna blind him for long.” Biz informs as she catches her breath. Mentioning such do both Biz and Mally start swimming out towards the shore as fast as their arms could carry; the flash of light shining underneath the beginning to die down.

Their swift swim eventually takes them back to lakes welcoming grassy shores; both girls catching their breath as they crawl out to solid ground. The two skaters rise from the wet lakeside, Mally as regaining lost air as she admits that: “This...all this turned out way worse then I wanted it two. I never would’ve figured the self absorbed prick would catch us in a lie.” “Yep...You’ll get asshole like that from time to time. It’s kinda my fault, really; just saying shit without thinking. The narcissistic fish dick wound up catching onto us.” Biz adds. “I’m more worried that his sisters might trail us here through that light show we pulled back there.” “That and your screaming.” a third voice confirms. Both skaters jump from hearing the unexpected voice, brandishing their hockey stick as the face the woods before them. Emerging out from the shadows of the forest, Cat and Tizzy stand before the duo; their red and green gazes locked onto their two human foe’s.

“See! Told you these two monkey’s would be dumb enough to go after our bro. And you didn’t believe me when I said they were after us, did you?” the taller of the two claims with a smug smile. The magma manipulator lets out an audible growl, soon admitting to her taller sister how: “Fine. You were right! Are you happy!” “Hold on, we weren't trying to-” “I think not!” a familiar voice corrects. Both skaters glancing back, everyone witnesses the third and final alien of the trio rise from the depths of the lake; Vain going on to continue boasting out: “Don’t think that the credit goes solely to you. I managed to corner them in my very element; I am therefore the reason all this came so beautifully together.” Letting out a mocking laughter, Cat points out towards her amphibian brother and claims how: “It’s funny how you’re trying to make yourself sound smarter than you really are. You didn’t even know about them until now. They obviously listened while me and Tizzy were talkin and tracked you out here; I’d only be a matter of time before they led us to you’re scaly ass.” “Hmph! At least I knew you long enough to know what lying, manipulative prudes they were.” Vain bites back. “And what in the burning sun spots of Razd 7 is that supposed to mean, huh?” “Why don’t I leave you to guess for yourself?” “Both of you shut up! None of us would be even stuck on this dumb wet rock if you two hadn’t messed with the controls like I said.” Tizzy barks to her siblings.

While the three otherworldly siblings bicker among themselves, the two humans between them await side by side; Mally scootching up to her mentor’s side and whispering if: “You got anymore of those flash grenades on ya?” “Nada. Afraid that was the last one. Though I think I might have a better idea in store for these three goons.” “Which is?” “If we try and tak’em all on at once, there ain’t no way in hell either of us are winning. That’s why we’re gonna separate them. While Imma try and tango with Lava lucy and amphibians next top model, you can drag the alpha bitch out into the wood so you and her can have a little chat.” “Are you sure about that? You barely got out of facing one of them last time.” “Hey, don’t worry about me, kid. I’ve danced through worse scraps that this. I’ll give you enough time to try and “Negotiate” with their big sister. Kay?”

After nodding for her mentor, Mally dashes out towards the tallest of the trio at breakneck speeds; ready to swing her hockey stick right for the aliens stomach. Just before she could land the blow, Cat catches the orange skater weapon before she could strike; Tizzy taken aback by Mally’s sudden appearance. Grasping her foe’s weapon tightly, the older sister glares into the earthlings eyes; questioning her if: “Did you honestly think it be that eas-” Right in the middle of her taunting threat, Cat soon feels the blunt shell of her enemy’s gadget against her jaw; Mally uppercutting the alien with her trusty grapple-yo. The orange skater swiftly follows her uppercut by tying her alien foe’s ankle with the very same gadget; soon speeding out deeper into the forest with Cat in tow.

As she watches her orange foe drag her older sister away, Tizzy attempts to halt her pursuit as she reaches out for the escaping skater; her efforts soon thwarted when she feels something knock her to the ground. Pinned against the cold hard shore of the lake, the green gal glances behind her to find the magenta skater holding her down; asking if: “Why don’t you and I go another round while my partner has a little talk with yours?” To Biz’s surprise, her alien adversary proves much stronger than her figure suggests; Tizzy easily knocking her magenta ass back. In her hurl across the lakeside, the skater notices herself careening out towards the trees; Biz sticking her hockey stick out towards one of its branches as she approaches. With the momentum that her extra terrestrial foe had thrown her with, the earthling hooks herself onto the branch of the tree and flings herself around; flying back towards the fleeing green gal. Before Tizzy could resume to chase after her sister, she feels the sting of her foe’s foot at her back; the green gal sent slamming onto the bark of a nearby tree. As the alien rises from the trunk of the pine, a furious growl escapes from between her teeth; the ground beneath them beginning to rumble in tandem. Bursting forth from the cold hard ground, columns of molten lava spew out from the earth; Tizzy casting forth the flowing liquid out towards her magenta foe. Biz swerves around the flowing molten liquid, feeling its intense heat as she skates towards the magma manipulator; preparing to take another swing at her face. Attempting to halt her foe’s assault, Tizzy uproots a wall of molten lava out from the warm ground; pushing the earths blood towards her approaching adversary. Witnessing the wall of burning liquid swiftly nearing, Biz leaps over the passing molten lava and descends down towards the magma manipulator. Tizzy blocks her dropping swing just before her foe could land, holding back her hockey stick as the magenta skater lands. Gazing out beyond Biz, Tizzy looks out towards the lake aside them to find her brother leisurely floating across the clear waters. “Dammit Vain...Get your sorry ass outta that lake and help me!” the green gal demands. “Are you kidding me? I can’t possibly get out right now, I still have to wash the dirt out of my graceful green scales from last time.”

Before she could demand for her brother’s help any further, Tizzy feels her foe’s knee dig into her stomach; the sudden blow stunning the alien for a brief moment for her foe to strike her out towards the waters of the lake. Passing over her brother underneath, the green gal acts fast and commands a wall of magma to erect out from the lake; stopping herself from taking the plunge as she lands upon its the cooled liquids hard surface. From the hardened lava, the magma manipulator jumps back towards the lakeside; stomping onto the ground hard enough to cause columns of lava to erupt out from the depths of the earth. The spewing molten liquid begins to coat part of the grassy shores, Biz retreats from the enlarging puddles of lava; Vain in turn retreating further across the lake as he warns his sister to: “Watch where you’re spewing that stuff, Tiz!”

With the pools of hot liquid closing in on her, Biz soon bumps her back against the bark of the tree behind her; glancing up towards the pines very top. Before the lava could make contact with her skates, the magenta skater swiftly climbs up towards the tree’s crown, the molten liquid below beginning to consume the pines trunk in its burning ooze. The tree’s support burning away at the seems, Biz feels the pine starting to collapse down towards the spreading lava below; soon jumping out towards the neighboring tree before it falls to the burning ooze below. Witnessing her magenta foe hoping from pine to pine, Tizzy shoots out globs of molten liquid out towards the tree jumping skater; Biz jumping to different parts of the woods to evade the extra terrestrial’s oncoming lava chunks. Finding the grassy shores below clear of spreading lava, the skater starts her slide down towards the safe grounds below; tempting to climb back up when noticing the magma manipulator ready to send a massive glob of lava her way. The magenta skater scuttles her way back to the top when Tizzy tosses the ball of lethal liquid towards the bark of the tree; the lava splashing onto the pine and immediately burning away its cold bark. The tree she stands upon starting to break down and plummet, Biz readies to drop down towards her magma manipulating foe; caught off guard when she finds the tree she perched on descending in the opposite direction. Leaping out from the clear waters of the lake, Vain plucks the last of the rubble off of his scales; glancing back to witness the pine plummeting towards in. Upon witnessing the tree descend atop her amphibious brother, Tizzy’s glaring anger flinches to anxious worry; screaming out for the white haired alien with: “Vain!”

From the other side of the fallen pine, Biz arises from the cold hard ground while shaking off whatever needles may have stuck themselves to her; hearing the sound of shuffling branches coming from behind. Gazing back towards the crashed tree, she witnesses the brother of the alien trio emerge from the pile of pine leaves; Vain surfacing to glance to the wood that fell on top of him. The white haired extra terrestrial then immediately brushes his hands through his snowy locks, his entire body shivering as he feels countless pine needles disturbing the flow of his main. “M-...My-My hair!” he utters. Once finished inspecting his locks, his burning red gaze soon locked towards his earthling enemy as he vindictively growls out: “You!” Biz starts to slowly back away as the scaly alien stomps out from the branches of the fallen tree; Vain hissing through his sharp teeth to her how: “Do you know how many countless hours it takes for me to make my locks as magnificent as they once were? To defile my beautiful main is nothing short of blasphemous! A sin that I shall make you pay tenfold!” Tizzy leaping out from the other side of the fallen pine, the magma manipulator swiftly erupts an entire river of magma that encloses her foe from the rest of the woods; the green gal hearing her brother declare how: “Tizzy, this foolish charade has long since run its course.” “Hate to say it, but your right. We need to wrap this up fast so we can get back to our big sis.” Say such do both of them lunge forth towards their magenta foe, Vain leaping back into the waters of the lake while his sister surfs across the molten lava; all the while Biz starts to race away from the pursuing pair of aliens.

Swiftly skating throughout the lush forest, Mally weaves around the countless mix of oak and pine as she drags her alien foe behind her; Cat bumping into the hard barks of the tree’s as she reaches for her orange foe’s string. Once skating far enough into the dense forest, the skater feels the load behind her loosen; her grapple-yo swiftly returning to the palm of her hand. Mally comes to a skidding halt as she gazes back, finding not a single trace of the alien that she once was dragging through the woods. “Don’t be stupid, kid; you’re nowhere close near my league. You’d be better off saving your own skin.” A furious growl escapes from the orange skaters teeth; questioning her foe in a raging roar: “I opened myself up to you; sympathized with your plight! I offered my aid and you immediately backstabbed me; lying to your own siblings about it all! Why!?” “You mean besides it being fun?” Cat questions, soon letting out a sinister laughter that echo’s through the woods; the aliens chortling making Mally tighten her grip on her weapon. “I’ve been taught on the full course to cause chaos at every turn. Ever since I was born, it just brought a smile to my face bringing people despair; manipulating and tricking others at their expense.”

Listening carefully to her foe’s loud boasting, Mally skates across the rough forest grounds as she follows the echoing aliens voice; drawing out more of her adversary’s response by questioning her if: “And you really think that’s the smartest thing to do in your situation? Screwing with people who could help you for shits and giggles?” “Gah, will you quit spewing that space shit already! I get enough of it from my sis, I sure as stars don’t need to hear it from some backwater planet monkey.” “Maybe it’d be a good idea to listen to her from time to time.” “Oh, and like you have any idea what any of us think? Breaking into our ship and attacking outta nowhere. As far as all of us are concerned, we’re practically defending ourselves against the two of you.” “Look, we’re sorry about that, okay. Biz’s sort of welcome probably wasn’t the best message to start with. But I still took a chance to make up for it, I still wanted to make the best out of this whole mess and invite you to our lovely little planet. But you just spat all over that just for the LOL’s” “What can I say, kid; that’s life for ya. You reach your hand out to it, sometimes it bites it off. And my teeth are extremely sharp.” Hearing her foe’s mocking laughter echo through the forest, Mally makes a quick turn out towards the left; warning back how: “Biting down here might just get your teeth broken.”

Tracing Cats laughter across the dense woods, Mally starts to hear her voice becoming far more clear the further she goes; eventually hearing her around a nearby oak tree. The orange skater’s eyes locked to the tree, she readies to lunge around and strike at who hides behind its bark; her palms tightening around her hockey stick as she approaches. Going around the towering oak, she readies to swing her weapon out to who’s behind it; her potential strike being thwarted by a wayward branch that smacks her in the face. Falling onto the crackling dead leaves below, Mally glances back up to find her extra terrestrial enemy jumping out from behind the branch packing a pistol blaster; Cat firing down upon the downed skater. The earthling back flips off the cold ground to evade the approaching ray, backing away towards the tree’s behind her for cover. Mally attempts to close the distance by dashing from tree to tree, all the while her alien foe does the same as she continues to fire down a whole barrage of beams her way; racing across the woods in their struggle against one another. In the midst of the laser fray, the orange skater casts her trusty yoyo out towards the blasting Cat; hoping to put an end to her trigger happy bullshit. Witnessing her foe’s gadget incoming, Cat catches the earthlings tool in the palm of her hand; pulling a reverse card on her primitive ass and instead pulling the orange monkey out to her. Jerking her tumbling human foe back, the extra terrestrial prepares to end it all; aiming her blaster right down to the approaching skater. Just when her alien adversary pulls the trigger, Mally gets back on her feet and leaps out from her foe’s descending beam; feeling rays heat as she jumps over. Caught off guard by her enemy’s unexpected recovery, the green gal attempts to aim her gun at the descending earthling; her weapon knocked smacked out of her hand by the skater’s hockey stick. After smashing her outer world opponents blaster against the cold hard ground, Mally then swings her weapon out towards the aliens stomach; Cat catching her weapon in her red gloved palms just before she could feel its sting. Having caught her foe’s weapon in her hands, the extra terrestrial takes the moment to deliver a powerful punch to the girls face; the blow hard enough to send Mally careening back into the hard bark of a nearby tree.

Sliding down to the stump of the hard pine, the orange skater feels a strand of blood drip down from her nose; Mally wiping off the crimson off her lip as she rises from the bark. Facing the green gal ahead of her, the earthling witness the alien visitor take what seems to be a sort of fighting stance; Cat giving the girl a taunting smile. With this, Mally charges out towards her green adversary with determination in her eyes; pulling back her hockey stick as she readies to swing. Predicting the earthlings next move, Cat puts her hands out towards the direction where she thinks her foe will swing; caught off guard when Mally instead thrusts the other end of her weapon into the extra terrestrials stomach. The alien takes in the unexpected impact, soon countering the blow by driving her knee into the earthlings face. When Cat attempts to follow up her assault with a kick to the human’s own stomach; Mally swiftly dodges her thrusting leg; countering with a swift punch to her foe’s chest. The strike to her cleavage sends Cat stumbling back as she grasps her punched breasts: the orange skater twirling about as her alien proves in too much pain to move. Mally soon delivers a spinning hockey stick strike right to her stunned foe, sending the extra terrestrial over the branches above. The orange skater hurls her grapple-yo out towards her leaving foe to attempt and follow up her assault; Cat once again catching the gadget in her hand as she starts to descend back down. Once back onto the cold ground, Cat jerks her human adversary’s string down; tugging Mally herself out towards punching range. The human meanwhile expects the aliens strike, the skater blocking her opponents fist in the palm of her hand; left puzzled when she finds the extra terrestrial giving her a sinister smile. Cat then pushes the dangling earthling hard enough to send her looping across the branch overhead, soon delivering a powerful kick to her foe on return. Mally sent careening across the woods, she yanks her beloved gadget out from the palm of her alien enemies grasp.

Tumbling throughout the dense mix of oak and pine, the tree’s surrounding Mally quickly begin to clear out; soon realizing that she’s on the verge of sliding off a cliff. Though she slips off solid ground, Mally manages to grasp the cliffs edge before she could fall; the rubble from her slide plummeting down towards the abyss below. Pulling herself back up to the top, the young earthling soon discovers her extra terrestrial enemy standing right before her; the aliens tall and menacing figure eclipsing Mally’s own. A calming breath escapes the green gals lips as she stares down upon the dangling human; admitting to her that: “Ya know, there’s a certain satisfaction in watching my foe’s struggle beneath me; just watching as the last of their spirit shrivel up and die. Something of cosmic magic to watch. Both my siblings are probably tossing are your partners corpse as we speak. Just passing the time with a little game of fleshy volleyball. Fleshyball? Volleycorpse? Um…burnt...ball…? Ah, who cares; she dead either way.” Attempting to further pull herself up, a loud growl escapes from the skater’s teeth; Mally glaring towards the alien above and demands to know: “Why?...Just...why are you like this!? Why do you find it so amusing to play with other peoples good will; to emotionally torment those who just wanna help you!?” A little giggle escapes from Cat as her gaze drifts off towards the sky above, as if she’s glaring beyond the atmosphere of the planet. “Simple. You know the stars and planets beyond your pathetic little world? I’m gonna take them all. Each and every one of them plucked out from the very cosmo’s. It’s my very destiny. To become the worst tyrant that the universe has ever birthed. The desire to spread chaos and destruction passed down from my family, their burning blood coursing through my veins.” After proclaiming these desires to her dangling foe, Cat glances back down towards the skater with: “And besides…” The extra terrestrial places the soul of her boot underneath the humans head, finishing her explanation by claiming that: “You two shot first.”

Finally, the tyrant to be boots the earthling off the cliffs edge; listening to her echoing screaming as she approaches the edge. Peeking down towards the abyss, she notices not a trace of her defeated foe anywhere among the darkness of the pit. Hmm...guess she fell faster then expected. Must be cause of this planets gravity. Either way, that nuisance finally is dead. Wonder how the sibs are doing with the other bitch. Might have to check on them just in case they fucked up. Shrugging off the matter, the extra terrestrial tyrant starts heading back towards the depths of the forest; unaware of a familiar tool flying out from the cliff behind her. Gliding down towards the retreating green gal, the yoyo wraps around her ankle; Cat turning back as she feels the gadget tether itself to her leg. Before the alien could do even attempts to unravel herself, she feels the yoyo jerk at her leg; falling to the ground upon her backside. From the tumble, the extra terrestrial is dragged across the clearing; approaching the edge as she attempts to repeatedly grab the grass to stop herself. “Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit Shit!” As much as she attempts to resist, the alien is eventually swept right off the solid ground; soon plummeting down towards the shadowy abyss beneath the cliff.

Amidst her descent towards the darkness, Cat comes a suddenly feels herself come to a sudden stop; glancing up in her case to find herself just along the darkness’s edge. Gazing down from the darkness, the green gal traces the string that suspends her over the abyss; soon meeting with her human foe’s furious glare. Having plunged her hockey stick into the rocky cliffs face, Mally holds the string suspending her extra terrestrial enemy over the chasm’s abyss; feeling her foe struggle squirm under her yoyo’s hold. “Motherfucking piece of shit! When I get up there, I’m gonna throw your sorry ass back up that cliff and-” “Shut your fucking mouth, you vomit colored, shit spewing cunt!” Mally screams at her.

The burst of demanding profanity takes the green gal aback, the orange skaters roar echoing through out the entire forest. Pulling her seething rage back a little bit, Mally takes in a deep breath before going off to explain out: “I have been trying to be nothing but nice, welcoming and supportive this whole time since I’ve met you three. Things might have a bit of a rough start with my mentor being less then welcoming, But I have done my absolute damnedest to attempt and make things right with you three. And yet, every time I’ve tried to help any of you; you just seem to take the greatest of pleasure in unraveling every piece of good will I’ve attempted to bestow. I don’t give a single shit who you are, what your dreams may be, or what you plan to do after you get off my planet. You are going to stop your siblings before them and my master end up killing each other, and we’re all going to settle this nice and peacefully. Or help me god, I will beat your sorry ass against the edge of this cliff and use your remains to bludgeon them down to the earths core; do you understand!?” The last of Mally’s threat echoes across the rocky canyon; Cat herself left speechless for a moment before bursting out in laughter. Her orange foe’s glare squinting further as the aliens cackling dies down; soon hearing the extra terrestrial compliment: “Nice acting kid. I almost felt scarred for a second there. Face it. You ain’t got the bite to back up your bark. Everything you’re saying to me is just nothing but bullsh-”

Interrupting her shit talk, Cat is suddenly sent flying away from the rough cliff; Mally swinging her alien captive as high as she can take her. Once reaching the arch of her forced ascent, the skater jerks the string of her gadget back; the green gal swiftly descending back down towards the chasms stone face. Cat entire body is slammed straight into the hard rocky surface of the cliff; the impact causing the alien to let out a small grunt. From there, the extra terrestrial glance down towards her suspended captor; a smile between her cheeks as she taunts the skater by questioning: “That really all ya go-” Before she could let her dangling foe finish her insulting remark, Mally tosses her captive high in the air once again; hammering her down right into the cliffs face just like before. The skater keeps repeating this brutal procedure of slamming the green gal into the hard stone face of the gorge, so much so that the entire crevasse quakes each time the alien is smacked against it; its loose rubble plummeting into the voice below.

Eventually, the orange skater ceases beating her captive into the very wall she hangs off of; Cats entire body sporting bruises and drips of purple that leak from her body. “So. You ready to play nice and cooperate yet?” the orange skater asks. “Kid, I don’t think you’re understanding who in the fiery pits of quadrant 9 you’re dealing with here. Did you not take in fact that my family are a bunch of tyrannical destroyers through your thick calcium skull or wh-” Breaking off her speech once again, Mally flings her other worldly foe high in the air; making her feel the hard stone of the cliffs face once again. From the ringing in her ears, Cat listens as her captor goes off to remind her bleeding ass that: “I think it might be you who doesn’t understand what’s happening here, so let me feed it to your green haired noggin one more time. You and your siblings are stranded on an alien planet with next to no communications to speak off with your sorry E.T. ass dangling over a bottomless cliff by a pissed teenage earthling who is smacking you senseless onto a hard stone wall. Not to mention that you and your sibs are on the verge of getting an entire planet all up through her alien rectums for murdering a couple of kids. So I suggest the best course of action for you to take right now is to apologize for all the shit you pulled and help me set things straight with you siblings. We clear yet?” After a painful growl escapes from between her teeth, Cat backtalk her captive on how: “Yeah, remember the part that I said my family is from a line of tyrants? How do you figure they’re gonna react when they’ve all found out we died on your watery ball of dirt? I’d wager the first thing my mom is gonna do is take her entire fleet out towards your planet and reduce what little you have into cosmic space dust. You willing to bet your entire species just to get me to stop?”

Breaking her confident grin, the dangling extra terrestrial hears her captor let out a little giggle; demanding to know: “What is your primitive ass even laughing at? I’m being serious here!” “Oh nothing, really. It’s just that ever since I’ve met Biz, I took kind of an interest in reading up about all the aliens that came and visit our quaint little planet throughout the years. It simply just amazes me how many times a good half of them have attempted to invade the human race and take our world for themselves. And yet, no matter how severe it got, no matter how much things seemed utterly hopeless, lost, or doomed it all looked; we humans managed to miraculously stave them off and win each and every single time. Kind of inspiring, really. All those extra terrestrial coming to try and screw us over and we all turn out fine in the end. So if you worried that your mommy is gonna come out here to turn our entire planet into a molten ball and death and sorrow; I can promise without a doubt that we’ll all be fine, thank you.” After confidently declaring such a statement to the otherworldly visitor, Mally resumes to swing the aliens bleeding body into the cliff face several more times; Cats painful grunts echoing across the stretching chasm each times she slammed onto it. As the aliens beating continues further, whole chunks of the chasm begin to break off and plummet into the dark void below; none of them left to be seen from the light of the top. The orange skater finally ceases her slam down once more, hearing the painful groans of her alien captive echo throughout the gorge. “So…you give yet?” Dangling upside down near the crevasses shadowy void, Cats begins to coughing up traces of purple blood from her mouth; soon vomiting out a whole chunk of her bodily fluids down the void below. On the brink of barely able to keep herself conscious, the green gal finally admits to her foe’s whims; uttering: “Fine, kid. You win. I’ll call off my siblings.” Hearing her captive finally give in, a small smile cracks underneath Mally’s nose.

“Just one question there, kid. How can I make sure you won’t just try and screw me over with all the bad shit I’ve done.” Asking this question, Cat soon feels herself flung up high once again, this time careening straight out of the chasm’s depths entirely. Descending from high over the gorge bottomless gorge, Cat is smack straight onto the cold hard ground on the cliffs crown; each of her limbs trembling as she stands herself up. Gazing back towards the chasm, the green gal witnesses her captor climb back to the edge; answering her with: “That’s how.” Peeking down to to her feet, the extra terrestrial notices the orange skater’s string still wrapped tightly around her ankle; sarcastically asking with a smile: “Think the feeling might be mutual?” Standing up from the edge of the cliff, Mally approaches her alien captive and harshly answers with: “Obviously not. Now march your sexy green ass out towards the lake before I have to beat it all the way there!” “Sheesh, kid, alright. Is your whole species this intense?” the extra terrestrial questions with a grin as they both race off into the forest ahead.

Back towards the crystal clear lake, burning molten lava starts to coat the waters edge; threatening the magenta skater as she races away from the other two aliens who pursue her. Commanding the molten liquid to wrap around her arms, Tizzy forms from it all blades of solid red hot lava; soon swinging their burning razor edge out towards the retreating skater. Witnessing the magma manipulator lash out with her molten swords, Biz leaps out from one of her swings; feeling the intense heat from her blade emanating from below. Following her missed shot, the green gal takes another lash at the magenta earthling; aiming her swing towards where the human would be landing. Landing back on solid ground, the skater swiftly ducks underneath the orange hot blade; the raw heat surfing past her body as she slides. Sick of her slippery foe’s shit, Tizzy forms both of her blade hands into one massive molten morning star and hammers it down towards the rising earthling. Standing back on her skates, Biz skates sideways out of the magma manipulators crushing blow; the skater nearing the lake in her evasion away from the morning star.

Immediately taking this fresh opportunity be the green gals scaly sibling, who surfaces out from the depths of the lake and lunges out for the approaching earthing. Feeling the amphibious alien hug at her back, the magenta skater feels Vain start pulling her out towards the water, hearing him asks if she’s: “Ready to take a swim?” “Nope. You ready to take a tumble?” “I beg your pardo-” Before Vain could finish questioning the humans statement, Biz pulls out a reverse card on his scaly hide and grasps at at his midsection, soon flipping him forward and lobbing the alien out towards his younger sibling. Swiftly dissolving her molten morning star, Tizzy holds her hands out as she attempt to catch her oncoming brother; feeling his entire scaly body smack into hers. Clearing up a section of the magma behind her, both of the aliens land atop solid singed grounds; Vain complaining to: “Watch where your tossing that lava of yours, Tiz. All this heat is just roasting my scales.” Involuntarily rising from the scorched earth, the amphibian glances underneath himself to find Tizzy lifting his arrogant ass of her; demanding that her brother: “Keep priorities straight, Vain!” Advising this, the youngest of the trio tosses the scaly alien out towards the lake; hearing him respond before he splashes down: “I am!” Glancing back towards the lakeside she left their earthling foe, Tizzy discovers the magenta skater herself right in front of her; moments away from swinging her hockey stick. Finally catching the magma manipulator up close, Biz doesn’t wastes her chance and lashes out to the green gals side; swinging hard enough to send her extra terrestrial foe out towards the lake.

Just before Tizzy could take an unwanted dip into the lakes crystal clear depths, Vain breaches out from the surface like a rising dolphin; snatching his sibling and rescuing her from plunging into the water. Landing safely back on dry land, Vain lets his sister stand upon the patch of flowing magma; both aliens glaring towards there human adversary. “This alien is more annoying than we give it credit. Its idea of this game of chase is beginning to bore me.” Vain elaborates. “Couldn’t agree more. We need to wrap this up as fast as we can. The faster the better.” Tizzy agrees. From this meeting do the alien duo split off, Vain diving back into the lake while Tizzy resumes her surf across the earths molten blood; Biz swiftly retreating from the approaching lava surfer.

Fleeing from the approach magma manipulator, Biz soon notices a stretch of molten liquid coming up ahead; discovering unsullied soil beyond the burning puddle. Picking up as much speed as she can, the magenta skater bolts faster towards the red hot lava; feeling the blistering heat grow as she approaches. Reaching the molten goo, the earthling leaps over the large patch of lava; soon surprised to see the amphibious alien awaiting at the other side. Thinking fast, Biz lands upon the untouched soil with a sliding skid; sending the resulting dirt flying out to her waiting foe’s face. Before the extra terrestrial could lunge forth to his oncoming opponent, his foe’s flung dirt showers against Vain face; the bits of earth flying right in his eyes. The self proclaimed super model covering his face, he lets out an irritated cry that echoes across the lakeside; his human foe taking his blinding moment to charge forth with hockey stick at the ready. Biz swings her weapon out to her alien adversary’s side, smacking Vain away from the lakes clear waters beside them

Feeling an intense heat behind her, the skater looks back to discover his lava controlling sister right behind her; ready to punch the earthling down with a magma covered fist. Biz quickly jumps back from Tizzy lava coated punch, feeling the ground beneath her trembling and cracking as she skates away. Lunging out from the forest side, Vain pounces out towards the magenta skater like a lunging shark; grounding the air breathing human on her front. Pinned to the earth by the amphibious alien, the skater glances up to take in the site of a sinister smile stretching across his gorgeous as fuck face; soon realizing that he’s not pressing her down as hard as she anticipated. Knowing this, Biz easily breaks free from his scaly grasp; punching his sexy features back towards the lakes crystal clear waters. After sending the amphibious alien back, the skater soon feels the ground beneath her quickly begin to warm up; obviously prompting her to move her ass. Just as she predicted, Biz narrowly avoid being fried alive by a column of lava that burst out from the depths of the earth; soon finding herself surrounded by the molten liquid.

Spread out behind her, burning lava. Spread out towards the forest to her side, burning lava. Spread out before her, obviously like the rest. Every single path of potential escape aside from the lake that the magenta skater could take left covered in intense molten liquid. Though the lake isn’t really much of an option either, her amphibious foe likely to snatch her up while she’s trying to swim away. Her options of escape snuffed out, Biz is left to face her two extra terrestrial as they encroach upon her; their red and blue glares locked onto the cornered earthling. The grip around her hockey stick tightening, the magenta skater takes her stand against the alien duo; lunging forth towards her two outer worldly opponents. With both Vain and Tizzy following suit, the three ready for their final clash; a pair of figures soon leaping out from the forest to halt their clashing charge.

Feeling her dash come to a stop, Biz glances to her hockey stick to find another one halting her assault in her tracks; discovering her own pupil standing in her way. “Mally, what are you-” “Cat, what’s with you!” she hears the magma manipulator question. Glancing behind the orange skater, she finds the tallest of the trio blocking her siblings advance. With his sister standing in front of him, they take a quick look at her sisters rough condition; noticing the bruises and blood littering her body. “Oh Cat, please don’t say that little alien did all that you. That’s just sad.” he questions. Breaking from her horrified gaze, tizzy swiftly swerves around her injured sister; her burning red gaze locked towards the smaller human as she threatens her with: “You! If you did all this to her, I swear I’m gonna-” “Tiz!” the older sister screams, causing Tizzy to halt where she stands. Turning back towards her sister, the magma manipulator stares out as Cat turns to face her; the oldest of the trio simply stating: “Don’t.” “Cat...why!? These two broke into our ship! They’re trying to kill us!” “Yeah, about that. I got something to admit.” The aliens younger sister grows silent, awaiting for whatever Cat has to get off her chest. Her gaze drifts out to the orange earthling behind her siblings; Mally’s squinting gaze awaiting for her to come clean. The extra terrestrial takes a moment to breath before finally admitting that: “They’re not here to kill us. They’ve been trying to help us. Offering to lend a helping hand. I just said they were cause I thought it’d be funny.” Taking in her older sisters words, Tizzy stands utterly baffled; the dumbfounded look she wear quickly morphing into anger. “Heh, that is kinda funny.” Vain support. “Oh...oh...oh dammit Catastrophe! Are you being serious! We almost fried these guys for nothing! We’re fucking stranded on this planet for stars sake!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s always my fault, ain’t it.” Cat mouths back. “It is your fault! This exactly what happened on Belos 10! You just decide to screw with the natives for the LOL’s and almost getting ourselves in deep shit. What in the fiery pits of Quadrant 9 is wrong with you!?” From berating her older sister, Tizzy starts to withdraw all the fiery lava that she erupted back into the depths of the earth; the grounds that were once covered left burnt and singed.

After cleaning up the molten mess she made, the magma manipulator approaches the two earthlings; Tizzy mentioning how: “I can’t apologize enough for all of this. I was just so caught up in trying to fix our ship, that I got paranoid and just believed that you guys were hunting us down to try and make skin rugs outta us. Wouldn’t be the first time its happened.” “Hey, don’t sweat it. You’re on an alien planet, gotta expect everything right? I kinda fell for the same thing, too. Luckily, I had my partner here to snap me out of it.” Biz explains, placing her palm on her pupils shoulder. “Uh, yeah. We can help out with whatever you need. Food, clothes, parts, you name it.” Mally reassures. “Thank you all so much, especially for knocking some sense into my sister. She can start a riot in mere seconds.”

Strolling past the magma manipulator, Mally goes off to face the oldest of the trio, meeting with Cat’s vengeful glare. Putting her hand out to the towering alien, the orange skater puts on a welcoming smile as she says farewell with: “Our first visit might’ve been a little messy, but I hope things go smoothly the next time we come around.” Her vindictive frown transforming into a calm smile, Cat reaches for the earthlings hand and shakes back; adding out: “Sure thing, kid. Can’t wait til you come back next time, cause when you do-” In that moment does the extra terrestrial lower herself to the human’s ear, whispering to her that: “I’ll be sure to make you pay tenfold.” Rising from the earthlings ear, Catastrophe limps away from the orange skater; informing her siblings that: “Come on guys. About time we head back.” Both her brother and sister joining her walk back towards the direction of their ship; Vain can’t help but brush through his white locks as he mentions: “It’s about time. These needles needles looks just dreadful stuck to my poor hair.” “Eh, you honestly look better with them on.” Cat taunts. “Hmph, like you have any experience with hair care.”

Watching as the three extra terrestrials make their leave, Biz lets out a deep sigh before claiming how: “Gotta admit, things turned out way better then usual this time around. Good thing I brung you along Mal, else I might have wound up melted into a molten liquid slurry of melting flesh and bone. Ya did good today, kid.” Though say all this, the magenta skater hears no response from her pupil; glancing down to her as she utters: “Mally?” Gazing upon her student, Biz discovers Mally’s face to be beat read; sweat running down her entire body as her knees shake. The site makes her mentor let out a little sigh, going off on how: “Yep, I remember my first extra terrestrial crush.”

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Catastrophe, Vain, and Tizzy belong to: @princesscallyie