#okay but johnny and rod are the same

[jojosbizzarewife]

Their favourite Animal Crossing villager

Steel Ball Run

Johnny, Diego, Valentine

Johnny

Diego

Valentine

[peachesofteal]

And Johnny couldn’t have that. He knew what you were dwelling on, knew the streak of jealousy from last night was still present, sitting heavily on your mind. He tried to push you, kept prodding, ignoring the warning signs, blowing past your indicators that you were in an extremely sensitive state, until you turned on him with a snarl, body language tense and face closed off.

“Did you have him more than twice then?” you had asked, “Was he like me?”

“No one is like you, darling.” Johnny had tried to assure you, comfort you, but it fell flat.

“Yeah, okay. Why then, did you always tell me, you never slept with anyone more than once… and then there’s a guy in the bar not even down the fucking block that the two of you conveniently forgot to mention you shared at least twice!”

—

i’m just curious about how that conversation went. like how did it come up, how did it go, things like that?

(This ask is referencing the beginning of this.)

I think you’re asking what the precursor conversation/situation was? Like what started this, and how that went? (I hope, because that's what I wrote. I was going to just explain it but decided to write it out instead so I hope this was the explanation you're looking for!) 🖤 Let me preface this also, by saying, the guys are not perfect. They are dumb sometimes. Okay?

18+ MDNI / dead disco canon / angst, jealousy, explicit sex, fem oral receiving, fingering, Simon talks you through it a little.

"Are you with them tonight?" The blonde half yells at you over the noise in the bar, leaning into your personal space. You shrink away instinctively, and frown.

"With who?"

"Johnny. And Ghost." Ghost. This guy knows them? Or at least, kind of knows them, if he only knows Simon as Ghost.

"Uh, yeah." You glance over at where they're waiting at the bar, helplessly pleading with your eyes for one of them to see you, but Johnny is pre-occupied by ordering another round, and Simon's clocking the game finishing up at the pool table.

"Pity, would have loved to have another go." The last sip of your drink goes down your throat like acid, burning into flesh of your mouth, turning to something bitter and leaden once it hits your stomach. Oh my god.

You knew that the guys had previous partners. You weren't an idiot. But to be confronted with one so, brazenly, like this left you feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

You give the blonde a half smile, and a nod. Maybe he'll get the hint.

"Some of the best I've ever had. Kept coming back for it like a lost puppy, swear they fucked me dumb. Nothing like gettin' that call when they're back in town, right?" He continues, and you blanch, spine straightening like a lightning rod in the rickety wooden chair. You sneak another glance at him, high cheekbones, perfectly wavy hair, broad, tanned chest with the top button undone. Gorgeous. Like a Ken doll. He looks you over briefly, lips pursing in consideration.

"Kept coming back for it like a lost puppy."

"Nothing like gettin' that call when they're back in town, right?"

It plays over and over in your head, sinking into the soft matter of your brain. Didn't they always says they never took the same partner twice?

"Didn't even know they swung both ways, if I'm honest." He's still talking, but now Johnny's got drinks in his hands, and he's turning away from the bar, face twisting in displeasure when his gaze finds yours.

"But you look like a soft thing. That's cute. Bet Ghost li-"

"Calvin." The blonde freezes, mouth half open on his words, as Simon looms over his shoulder, eyes severe above the black cloth mask.

"Ay, Ghost. I was jus-"

"I see you've met our partner?" Partner. It almost erases the spiral of emotions you've experienced in the last few minutes. Almost makes the nasty green streak of jealously completely disappear. Almost.

"Partner? Uh, yeah." The blonde, Calvin, stands sullenly by as Johnny hitches himself against your hip, an arm slipping around your waist. It's not casual, and the intention is clear to the four of you. "Well. I'll just be going." He gives you a nod, and looks at both of them with a weird, sappy face before slinking back into the sea of bodies.

"Ye alright?" Johnny murmurs against your ear. You want to lie. Bury it all, make it go away, stick it somewhere deep in your heart and pretend it's not even there. If you don't acknowledge it, you can't be harmed by it. If it's not real, it can't ruin things.

After all, don't you think you're being a little dramatic? Being thrown so off course by this?

"Darling." Simon's hands cup your face, holding you tenderly in the middle of this overcrowded pub, and he stares down at you like you're the only person in this entire fucking place. "Are you okay?"

"I- I don't know." You whisper, and it's all that's needed.

"Alright, let's go home." Johnny pulls you into his side, arm still wrapped around you, holding you snug. You melt into him, and you can feel the heat of Simon at your back as he guides the three of you out the door with a hand on your shoulder.

"I was jealous." you admit to them sullenly. "He said something about, when you guys call, when you're back in town and I just- I felt so..."

"He shouldn't have said that." Simon hums, unbuttoning your shirt one by one before peeling it down your arms. "Lay back." He directs, and you go easily, skin warming beneath them palms that skate down your ribs to your jean's button and zipper. "Good girl." He skims over the seam of your jeans before pulling them free, your own hands going to help by starting to pull your underwear with them, until Johnny is stopping you with a light touch, laying on his side next you to with his head propped up.

"Ye're our world, darling. Dinnae let some one night stand bother ye." But it wasn't a one night stand. At least, not the way he made it sound.

You want to protest, push the issue, talk about how badly it's bothering, and at the same time, you don't. You are their partner, aren't you? And you're here in their bed, with them, day in and day out. You share a life with them now. Aren't you above this petty jealousy?

Simon spreads your thighs wide, even though you're still wearing panties, mouth closing over the fabric at the top of your cunt and you choke on your breath at the feeling. You're flooded with want, heat curling through your body at just the simple touch. Having their attention solely on you is enough to make you soak through your underwear, and they know it.

His thumb traces the seam of your pussy, just barely stroking light touches against your clit, still over your panties, and you whine, hips wriggling towards friction. "Please, Si. Please." You whisper, and Johnny chuckles, leaning over to dab his tongue across one of your nipples, warm breath rippling across your skin. When he pulls away, you look down to where Simon is seated between your thighs at the edge of the bed, thumb still running up and down your cunt.

"I think our girl needs some attention, Johnny." He muses, pressing a bit harder against where your clit is, instinctively knowing where to find the rapidly swelling bud. You whimper, and his eyebrows crease in mock concern. "Should we check?"

"Yeah, yes, please." He hooks a finger into your panties and pulls them to the side, keeping one hand against the inside of your thigh to ensure you're fully exposed. It's a little humiliating, and your cheeks fill with blood, as your body roars with desire. You know you're soaked by now, and he's eye level with your cunt, practically inspecting it.

"Poor darling. Your little clit is so swollen." He clucks his tongue. "Do you need some help?" You groan, but it's not words, which is what Simon wants, so you try to hiss out another yes, the S being lapped up by Johnny when he presses his mouth to yours. "Words, darling." Simon encourages, and you huff against Johnny in frustration, who chuckles in response.

"Yes!" you repeat, your fingers knitting into the long strands of the mohawk as he tongue swirls with yours. "Ff-uck Johnny, 's not fair." You mumble, and he smiles into your cheek, teeth nibbling down your neck to your chest, where he pulls a nipple into his mouth. There are fingers against your pussy now, broad strokes moving up and down, circling your clit before teasing your entrance, but never pushing inside, or applying enough pressure, dragging you to the edge of frustration little by little. "Please, please." you beg, mouth fully free, staring up at the ceiling with desperate eyes. You're about to beg again, the word just nearly forming on your lips, when Simon pushes a finger inside of you, and you moan, clenching around him.

"That's it." He encourages, sliding out and pressing another in, two fingers moving in tandem. He pumps in and out of your body slowly, methodically, setting up a pace as Johnny watches you, dreamy smile stretched across his face. Your hips chase, looking for more friction against your clit, and when Simon intentionally moves his palm away, you moan hopelessly, fire burning in your belly. It's not enough. "I know, I know darling. You need more? Just need this little clit rubbed?" He coos, lowering his face closer, his tongue darting out and licking around your sensitive bud, but never coming in direct contact. Torture. This is torture.

It goes on forever, the teasing, before he finally presses against your clit and you practically wail, trembling beneath his touch as Johnny watches, his fingers spreading you like into a V to give Simon room to work. "Good girl, this what you needed? I know. Your poor pussy just needs someone to help, that's all." It's relentless, the talk, the humming into your cunt, the vibration of the gravel pitched accent that just sends you into orbit, Johnny holding you open for him so you're unable to escape.

"Oh-" you pant, helpless against your swelling orgasm. "Oh, I'm- please don't stop, I'm gonna come-" you beg, and he obliges, working your clit faster in time with his fingers, stroking along your walls that clench around him, your body spiraling into a mess of build up, peaking at the top of the roller coaster until tension ruptures across your body, exploding and melts into a heap of pleasure, everything crashing down around you in a wave of your orgasm. You ride it out beneath them both, shivering with the aftershocks, limp in their arms. Simon tucks your face into Johnny's neck as he rubs your back and shoulder soothingly.

"We love ye darling. Dinnae forget that, yeah?" He whispers, and you agree automatically, arms tightening around his waist. The room goes darker, and then a damp cloth presses between your legs, wiping you clean before being discarded, the cold at your back replaced with the warmth of Simon's chest.

"I think it's time for bed." He rumbles, and you nod sleepily, eyes slipping closed, unresolved thoughts and feelings being locked away for another time.

[stupidsexpotflanders]

🔥Carmen sandiego

I loved how Gray's redemption arc was more or less centered on him wanting to get Carmen's agency back,instead of some grandiose "greater good" motivation(I don't have anything against those characters or redemptions,but they have to care about ethics in the first place,even if in their weird,fucked up ways - Zuko in AtLA,Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid are great examples. We did see Gray care about it,but it was his morally brainwashed phase,and he even said the only thing he regretted was "ever hurting Carmen" after gaining his memories back. Okay,there was the Crackle rod set to stun,but that might be just Gray finding to kill unpleasant and/or because Carmen's gotten disappointed at him for the first time due to his willingness to kill) - selfless and selfish at the same time. Plus,it was somewhat incomplete at the finale - despite not being a murderer anymore,Gray was still a thief and didn't seem to regret it.

Another part of the finale I liked was Team Red going on separate ways - Zack and Ivy doing good on the side of the law,Carmen learning more about herself and having an open ending. True friendships are distance and time-resistant. Plus,Carmen's legacy of doing good was a nice touch.

On another note,I'm pretty sure Carmen will call BS on Gray's wanting to keep distant from her because he doesn't want to complicate her life.

[iheartgracie]

shannon lynch and johnny kavanagh quotes in keeping 13

“Johnny…"

"No, hear me out, Shan," he hurried to say, resting a hand on mine. "I can only tell you what I know," he added, tone hoarse, eyes heated. "And that's from the very first day you walked into my life, you changed me. That very first time I saw you? You sparked to life something inside of me." Releasing a heavy sigh, he shrugged, eyes locked on mine. "And I haven't been the same since."

My heart galloped wildly in my chest. "Really?"

He nodded slowly as a small smile crept across his face. "Boom."

I blew out a shaky breath. "Boom.”

“I want what we have together. I want our friendship. I want your company. I want our conversations. I just want time with you. And I'm not in any rush. I don’t want you to feel like you don’t know where this is going, or when I'm kissing you that I'm looking for more than you're ready to give. I won't do that to you. I won't take what you can't give, and I won't push, okay?”

“You make me happy," he whispered. "I want to stick with that. I want to stick with you."

"Johnny…" my voice trailed off as I contemplated the importance of what he'd just said. "You make me happy, too.”

“The way she held me, clung to me like I was her lifeline, well, that evoked emotions inside of me I wasn’t sure I was old enough to feel. And I didn’t mean sex. It was deeper. A chord of connection channeling deep inside of me and connecting to her. I hoped she never left me, because I was never going to get over this girl.”

“Reaching over, I took her right hand in mine and pulled it onto my lap.”

“You can do it, Johnny," she encouraged, smiling brightly. "You've got this."

“Are you ready?" she asked, sounding a little breathless as a playful smile tipped at her lips.

"Yeah." I nodded, feeling the burn on my skin from having her eyes on me. "Go for it."

She held the ball out for me to take, but when I reached for it, she backed up a few feet.

A small smile curled at my lips and I tilted my head, studying her mischievous expression. "Oh, so it's going to be like that?"

Shannon laughed loudly – she actually fucking laughed – and nodded. "Come and get it, Mister Rugby.”

“Shannon, I can't," I called after her when she ran too far ahead of me for the millionth time. "I'm too stiff." And embarrassed…

"No, you're not," she encouraged, breathless and beaming back at me. "You're just out of practice." Turning around so that she was walking backwards, facing me, she said, "It's just us, Johnny – just you and me. And you can do this," Shannon repeated, looking more confident in this moment than I had ever seen her. "I promise."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." She skipped ahead of me with my ball in her hands and my heart in her ass pocket. Christ, she had me hook, line, and sinker, as I trailed after her like she was holding a fishing rod with a line that was attached to something deep inside of me. Forcing down my anxiety, I did as she asked; I lowered my defenses and moved my legs.”

“I couldn’t do this with the lads. I would be too embarrassed. But it was different with Shannon. Everything was different when it came to her.”

“You're going to make it," I cut in quietly. There wasn't an ounce of hesitation in my voice. "I'm sure of it."

He stared hard at me for the longest moment before tearing his gaze away and focusing on the roof of the car. "I wish I was so sure."

"Well, I'll be sure enough for the both of us," I replied, squeezing his hand. "It's going to happen." You're going to leave. "You're going to shine.”

“I'm here for Johnny the boy," I told him, cupping his face with my trembling hands. "Not Johnny the rugby player." Exhaling a shaky breath, I leaned closer and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth before pulling back to look in his eyes. "I'll stay for both, but I'm only in love with one.”

“You're so perfect,”

“you're not on your own anymore," he whispered, wrapping me up in his arms so tightly that I didn’t care that I couldn’t breathe. I wanted the world to stop and let us both off because this, right here, was where I wanted to be – where I wanted to stay”

“I'm just saying that it would be easier for you if –"

"Well, I don't want easy, I want you," he cut me off by saying. "Just the way you are."

My breath hitched in my throat. "Really?"

"Really," he confirmed, not missing a beat. "Every part and every piece."

I grimaced. "Even the broken parts?"

He winked. "Especially the broken parts.”

“Taking her hand in mine, I led her down the path to my car. "You look so fucking beautiful." You said that already, lad. "Seriously, you're gorgeous." Shut up, Johnny.

"Uh, thanks." Under the street lamps, I could see the blush on her cheeks. "It's the clothes and makeup."

"It's the girl," I corrected, giving her hand a squeeze.”

[icantswim-03]

Jake N Bake: Jake Guentzel

Busty Rusty: Bryan Rust

Sumo Dumo: Brian Dumoulin

Lebang: Kris Letang

No Kap: Kasperi Kapanen

Pickle Jar: Tristan Jarry

The Zach Attack: Zach Aston-Reese

Bluey: Teddy Blueger

Simon Says: Dominik Simon

IAMSCORE: Evgeni Malkin

SC87: Sidney Crosby

The Other Brian: Brian Boyle

Dan’s Not My Dad: John Marino

Dach: Chad Ruhwedel

Zuck You: Jason Zucker

Hot Rod: Evan Rodrigues

#1 on the ice #1 on ur heart: Casey DeSmith

Petty: Marcus Pettersson

Jake N’ Bake has created a group chat!

The Pen Den

Busty Rusty: wtf is this

Jake N’ Bake: U know exactly what this is

Sumo Dumo: but why tho

Jake N Bake: mostly because I wanted to see what ur guys usernames are

Busty Rusty: well now u saw can we leave

Jake N Bake: no

Sumo Dumo: why

Jake N Bake: I wanna know who everyone is

Pickle Jar: actually same

Jake N Bake: who tf are you

Pickle Jar: Tristan…

Jake N Bake: Tristan?

Jake N Bake: ohhhh jars

Busty Rusty: Jake low key scares me sometimes

The Zach Attack: felt

Jake N Bake: shut up with your lame ass username

The Zach Attack: well idk what else to make it

Jake N Bake: gee I don’t know Zach

Jake N Bake: maybe REESE’S PIECES

The Zach Attack: no those are gross

Bluey: BITCH YOURE GROSS

The Zach Attack: talk to me when your username isn’t a kids show

Simon Says: wait you don’t like reese’s??

The Zach Attack: not the pieces

No Kap: Wtf why not

The Zach Attack: idk they’re like peanut butter skittles

Sumo Dumo: bruh you just ruined reese’s pieces for me

The Zach Attack: plz never “bruh” me again

Sumo Dumo: bruh

Busty Rusty: bruh

Jake N Bake: Bruh

No Kap: ~bruh ~

Simon Says: bruh

Pickle Jar: bruh

IAMSCORE: BRUH

Sumo Dumo: lol even geno “bruh” ed you

IAMSCORE: WHO IS ED

Jake N Bake: ...anyways

Jake N Bake: how about we figure out who everyone else is?

Sumo Dumo: well I gotta assume that SC87 is Sid

Jake N Bake: seriously SC87

Jake N Bake: what? did you steal that from Cristiano ronaldo?

SC87: Hey! Maybe he stole it from me

Lebang: doubt it

Jake N Bake: sounds like somebody needs to try a little harder

Busty Rusty: you better watch how you talk to Sid or he might get you traded

Jake N Bake: nah I’m too important to the future of this franchise

Busty Rusty: damn, cocky much

Jake N Bake: ha you said cock

Sumo Dumo: you are a literal child

The Other Brian: jake..

Sumo Dumo: dang you have all the Brian’s coming after you

Jake N Bake: wait! we have like 3 of them

Busty Rusty: you just realized??

Jake N Bake: pshhh of course not

Sumo Dumo: sure

Jake N Bake: ANYWAYS back to figuring out who is who

Jake N Bake: who the fuck is “dans not my dad”

Busty Rusty: who the hell is dan?

Sumo Dumo: Potash maybe?

SC87: or Bylsma

Jake N Bake: I literally have no clue who either of those people are

Dan’s Not My Dad: DAN MARINO

Dan’s Not My Dad: SO MANY PEOPLE ASK IF IM RELATED TO DAN MARINO

Jake N Bake: literally no one has ever asked you that

Sumo Dumo: one elderly lady on the street asked him about it and he’s held onto ever since

Lebang: anyways before johnny throws a fit

Zuck You: can we all appreciate my name?

Sumo Dumo: it is pretty sweet ngl

Busty Rusty: meh

Busty Rusty: I’m kinda feeling dom’s tho

Simon Says: thx bro

Jake N Bake: but is it pronounced like the game or like your last name

Busty Rusty: his last name you dumbass

Jake N Bake: there is no need to call be names asshole

Busty Rusty: you wanna fight

Jake N Bake: you wanna have more points than me?

Busty Rusty: I was out more games than you, bozo

Jake N Bake: excuses excuses

Sumo Dumo: okay but who’s dach?

Dach: me

Jake N Bake: DONT TELL ME I WANNA GUESS

Dach: k

Jake N Bake: bitch did you just k me

Dach: yuh

Jake N Bake: bitch ass

Jake N Bake: is it petty?

Sumo Dumo: petty’s name is literally petty

Jake N Bake: hmm is it my man E Rod?

Hot Rod: look at the last word you said and the last word of my name

Jake N Bake: dang that’s tough

Sumo Dumo: is it Casey?

Jake N Bake: NO SHUT UP IM GUESSING

Sumo Dumo: dang kid chill out

Busty Rusty: no it isn’t

Busty Rusty: Casey is ‘#1 on the ice, #1 in ur heart’

Jake N Bake: geez why is that so long

#1 on the ice #1 in ur heart: you know what else is long?

Jake N Bake: …

#1 on the ice #1 on ur heart: my blockers you gutter minded fool

Jake N Bake: good thing you didn’t say your dick

Jake N Bake: cuz we all know that isn’t true

#1 on the ice #1 on ur heart: Jake why were you looking at my dick

Jake N Bake: I wasn’t

#1 on the ice #1 on ur heart: then how do know

Jake N Bake: umm

Jake N Bake has left the chat!

[freakie-deakie]

Lucas // How To: Kill an Idea

i have been really struggling with feeling numb lately and i super projected that onto this character. i really do apologize if it doesn’t make for the most interesting read. i may or may not end up rewriting this when i’m feeling better.

Warnings: emotional numbness and detachment

Masterlist

THIS IS PART 2!!! Read part one here: How To: Hurt My Feelings

Lucas x Reader (angst // 7.3k words); ft. stepbrother!Johnny

The way the lights reflected off the water brought only distant memories of the Han flowing through the city of Seoul and mirroring the life around it. The bustle of the city, the calm of the river banks. The things that you neighbored so long ago.

You could become so lost in the remnants of the past - that you would forget to lose yourself in the readiness of the moment.

You owed the Garonne. After tirelessly looking over you for months on end, you owed her your presence at the very least. How dare you look at her in all of her beauty and only think of another.

She smiled at you nonetheless. The Garonne sat with you one last night and told you how much she would miss you - how much all of Bordeaux would miss you. She told you that the stone buildings, the ones in the alleyway that you cut through every night as you return to your dorm, didn't know what they were going to do without you. She told you that the little birds that had nested outside of your window had practiced a sadder song to sing after you left. She swore that the lights in the city shone brighter than they ever had before when you landed and that they would fade upon your departure.

She made you promise that you would come back to see all of them: the buildings, the birds, and the lights. On your own accord, you promised you would come back to see her.

The Garonne waved you off that night, sending you to bed and wishing you a restful slumber and a safe flight in the morning.

Tired and stiff, you limp out of the terminal with your laptop clutched to your chest and a yawn escaping your lips. You mindlessly followed the crowd of other travelers to baggage claim and patiently waited for your suitcase to be sorted onto the conveyor belt.

"Pardon me, Mademoiselle," a familiar voice reached your ears, "I believe a poor boy has been waiting far too long to see you here."

You spun on your heel, a bright smile suddenly overtaking your features. "Lucas," you call quietly as you envelop him in a tight hug. You had barely moved for sixteen hours straight, but once in his arms, every desire for motion ceased. It seemed that he agreed, as he latched onto you and refused to let go.

"I missed you," he admitted before placing a kiss on the top of your head and moving to grab your bag off the belt.

"I missed you more," you answered softly.

He took your hand and kissed it before leading you through the airport and down to the parking garage where your brother was waiting, leaned up against his car, and dusting the cigarette ashes off of his sleeve.

"Hey there, Miss France," he says as he moves to envelop you in a hug of his own. "How was your flight?"

"It was fine," you answer simply. "Long, but fine."

"Well, you have an hour-long car trip to give us the highlights of France, if you're not too tired. We could stop by a late-night diner too if you're hungry."

You nodded along as you climbed into the car, enjoying the banter after your long trip. But as you rode in the passenger seat home (funny, you thought, that you still called it home), you took in things about the city that you never really appreciated.

The locals that ignored the do-not-cross signs, the billboards that were so shrouded in smog that you could barely read them, the stray cats that freely wandered the city like it was their own personal playground. All the things that you used to neighbor.

And when you got to the bridge that you'd longed to see since you left, the Han welcomed you home with as much love for you as it had six months ago. You made it a point to tell him about the Garonne sometime. You think he would enjoy hearing about her.

"The pastries," you say simply. "It was France; of course the pastries were the best."

Johnny dropped you back at your apartment and your boyfriend opted to stay the night, helping you settle back into the space that you could once again call your own.

Another tenant had contracted your apartment for the time you were away - there were a few more cuts and bruises than you remember leaving, but it was nothing you couldn't patch up. The bed wasn't where you had it, the shower knobs had been replaced, and an empty curtain rod rest stretched along your window seal.

"The stuff you left with us, it's still back at the frat," he chuckles awkwardly.

"That's okay." You offer him a small smile and plop down on one of the only four pieces of stand-alone furniture left in the space, the old black sofa in the same spot it's always been. "At least they didn't take my couch."

"Y/N, darling, I don't know if I would lay on that if I were you."

His words took a moment to register, but when they did your eyes shot open and you were out of your seat comically fast. "Oh God, ew..."

He laughed again and pressed a small kiss to your temple. "Let's take a shower and then we'll figure things out, okay? And you know, you don't have to sleep here tonight. There are no sheets on the bed or anything, so you can-"

You cut him off with a quick kiss and lead him to the bathroom, ready for a warm shower to take away all of your travel pains.

"Not really," you answered honestly, rolling your head to the side to look at your boyfriend. You'd been looking at his ceiling for a while, head resting on his thigh while he played with your hair. It felt nice, you thought, to get a chance to live in your memories - specifically the memories you had left with him here in his room, the ones that always waited for you while you were away. "All of my days in France were spent doing something or another. By myself, with the people that I met. So no, it never really got mundane. I didn't think that kind of life existed for anyone over the age of nine." You let out a small but heavy breath. "I guess I had to experience it for myself to understand."

Lucas doesn't say anything for a moment. Instead, he focuses on gently detangling a knot that his fingers had caught on. Your hair was longer now than it was.

"I'm happy for you," he reassures you. He doesn't quite know what he's reassuring, but he reassures you nonetheless.

"Lucas?" you ask softly.

"Hmm?" he responds, his gruff voice sounding tired.

"What would you have done if I didn't come back?" His finger stop working in your mess of locks and all of his attention is focused on dissecting what you just asked him.

"I don't know what answer you want me to give you," he says smally, glancing down at you before retraining his gaze on the ceiling, its texture nearly lost in the dark.

"There isn't a certain answer I want. I'm just curious."

"I don't understand the question," he almost interrupts, suddenly a bit tenser than he was only moments ago.

"I don't mean anything by it, Lucas. It's not a loaded question." Your soft voice is enough to lul his hand back to its comforting motions. "Would you have gone after me or would you have let me go?"

"I would have gone after you without a second thought. Definitely, I would have."

"I thought about staying you know."

There's a pause, a small silence of thought on both ends.

"Why didn't you," he asks with genuine curiosity.

"It wasn't home. You weren't there."

A wolf whistle follows you into the kitchen the next morning and you feel the need to suppress your groan.

"If I knew you were staying the night, I would have held a cup against the door."

"Oh, gross, Jaehyun," you sneer, turning to jab your elbow into the older boy's side.

"What? Not everyone gets to tour France." You can't help but dramatically roll your eyes and threaten him with a punch.

"Do you want a cup of coffee? I was about to put on a pot."

"Sure," he smiles gratefully. "And you can tell me about Bordeaux while we wait."

"Oh, it was beautiful," you think back as you prepare the grounds. "As the sun was setting, the sky would turn golden. If there were any clouds that evening, they would turn all different shades of pink. The lights over the water - words wouldn't do it justice."

Jaehyun chuckles before yawning out, "Well, that's a first."

"Jung Jaehyun, if you are trying to say that I talk too much-"

"That's not what I'm saying," he defends. "I mean you always have a way with words. It's your thing, ya' know. Words."

You hum, turning back to your task. "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way - at least not for a while."

The door to the kitchen swings open and another boy ungracefully stumbles into the kitchen. Haechan is clad in a plain T-shirt and dark shorts (if you could call them that). His hair is no longer silver; it's now a dusty brown, curling up into the picture of a sandstorm blowing about his head. He looked healthier, or maybe just more mature since you last saw him. He'd filled out a bit, and grown into those long limbs of his.

"Man, what's will all the commotion in here? It's Saturday and- Y/N?" The boy immediately perks up upon seeing you. "Oh my gosh, Y/N! You're back!" He hugs you and sits down at the island beside his older friend, suddenly as energetic as a child on Christmas morning. "Great, because I made a list of pranks we're gonna pull together. Jaehyun, since you're here, I guess you can help us too. Okay, first of all, we're gonna shove a bag of chocolate powder mix down the shower drain. I'd like to make sure that one gets Mark because he blamed me for breaking Johnny's lamp."

There were things you would have to readjust to in Korea. Things that you didn't think would catch you off guard, yet still managed to turn you around every now and again. The wet bath was one of them; you were going to miss your tub. You also suddenly found bowing a bit more strange than you originally had, as well as keeping personal space when you greeted someone altogether. Most prominently, the language barrier that you weren't so sure you'd ever really overcome in your first life in Korea.

Words were suddenly weird to you again. Ideas that could manifest themselves in one language but not another. At times, there were no proper parallels, nor were there ways in which to express everything going on inside your head.

Though you tried your hardest, what little French you learned simply wouldn't translate properly to English, or the English wouldn't translate to Korean, or the Korean to French, or the French to Korean, or the Korean to the English. The words just never came out the way you wanted them to, and in a way, it was like a piece of you fell away from the rest, lost somewhere between all of your different lives.

Lucas noticed how much quieter you seemed since you'd returned.

You made it a point to generally avoid contact with everyone while you were away. You occasionally checked in with them to let them know that you were alive, but other than that had kept your space. You became more dedicated to learning about yourself and how to care for your well-being. You began making decisions of your own, from what you would eat every night and how early you would wake up every morning to what debacles were worth your time and energy. You decided that most of them weren't. You decided that pondering your life was taking years off of it, and that you didn't like to eat snails. You decided that you weren't so bad after all, and for that matter, no one else was either. You decided to live.

"Hey, can I see something on your Instagram real quick?" you asked softly, setting your bowl of fancy ramen on the coffee table in front of you. "I think one of my friends just had a baby and I wanted to see if she's posted any pictures yet."

Without giving it much thought, Lucas hands you his phone and turns back to his meal. "What happened to your Instagram?" he questioned.

"Deleted it," you quip, pulling up your friend's account. He hears you coo before you shove the device back into his hands, urging him to look at the baby. He thought the child, redfaced and wet, looked like an alien, though he'd never tell you that.

"Why'd you delete it?" he pursues.

You simply shrug and cover more of your legs with the blanket that rested on the both of you. "Didn't need it." He gives you an unsatisfied groan, but you can't think of a better answer. It was simple - while you took plenty of photos to document your life, you no longer found it necessary to post them.

"Okay," he tries, "what about your Kakao Story?"

"Deleted."

"So you no longer use Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Skype, Instagram, or Kakao Story? What if someone needs to contact you?"

"I still have Kakao and Discord."

"Okay, what about my posts? Or your other friends'?"

"If they have something to tell me, they will," you sip your hot tea and lean into his side.

"It’s like she doesn't want to talk to me. She doesn't want to talk to anyone," groans Lucas as he sprawls out on Mark's bed. "She doesn't talk nearly as much as she used to."

Mark's hand didn't stop relaying notes to his journal as he talked with Lucas, translating as many of his lyrical ideas onto paper as he could keep up with.

"She's not the same person she used to be, Lucas."

Lucas had trouble making sense of it, why Mark sounded so sure about that. It almost hurt his pride that one of his roommates was telling him something about you, his girlfriend.

"Who is?" Lucas rubs his eyes. "We've all grown up since then."

Mark's hand halts. "Since then?"

"Since-" he sighs. "Ya' know, since... Since we..."

"Don't hurt yourself," Mark chuckles. "Maybe," he offers, "this chapter of your life is written in a different style. Did you even notice? That your life hasn't been going the same since she got back?"

"Of course it's not the same," the elder defends. "It's infinitely better."

"Spare me. Look, I'm just saying, the less she talks, the more dialog you're putting in your own book. And I think it's better this way. I mean, I can't tell you how to write your life, but I can honestly say I think you're doing better now than you were before. You started using your words instead of acting on impulse. That's not easy, man. Words are hard."

Words: your staple, your foundation, your life. They were your nothing anymore.

And Lucas didn't know how to understand.

He tried not to take it personally, but soon you fell into almost complete silence both with him and his friends. When you joined them for a Smash Bros competition, you didn't exclaim your victories nor mourn your defeats. When you dressed, you didn't ask for his opinions on the color of your lipstick nor the type of heel you should wear. When you laid in bed with him and watched his fan turn above your heads, you refused to humor his desire to hear your voice. And he took the fault upon himself.

He felt guilty asking anything of you anymore because you never opened your mouth to ask for favors in return.

"Y/N, will you come cuddle with me?" he calls with as much endearment as he can shove into his tone.

This was for your own good, he reminded himself.

You hadn't watched the news in months, and he knew that. You, ever the stickler for meaningful conversation, had devoted large portions of your time to staying up to date before. As of late, however, you preferred "to watch the world crash and burn around you from a first-person point-of-view rather than a third-person point-of-view."

He hoped that sitting you down to watch the news for a while would spark a fire in your opinionated soul. So imagine his reaction when you crawled into his arms and fell asleep, paying absolutely no mind to the colors or words on the screen.

His next plan was to plant your favorite novel in the hands of your favorite philosopher.

This was for your own good, he reminded himself.

He shoved the book into Doyoung's hands with a stern "fix her." Needless to say, Doyoung had the book read within a couple of days and Lucas invited you over as soon as his friend flipped through the pages for the final time.

"A piece of modern art," he suggests. "A sorrow lost to the sands of time and a meaning forgotten by society."

Lucas watches in amazement as you sit and nod along to everything that Doyoung says. You didn't interject your ideas even once. You just listened.

He was running out of ideas. So his last plot was his last hope that there may be a bit of yourself left inside of you. He would take you on a date - the best date you've ever been on - and thrust so much happiness and gratefulness onto you that you wouldn't be able to contain it so silently. He knew it was a dirty trick, but how else was he to make sure that you were okay if you would no longer tell him anything about yourself.

This was for your own good, he reminded himself.

Really, he should have asked you out first, before he came barging into your apartment (tidier than he'd ever seen it before and reeking of cleaner) with a bundle of flowers and demanding your attention for the evening.

Surprise.

He was about to push open the door to your bedroom when he heard a soft sniffle from inside. His eyes widened and his shoulders fell. His heart broke when he heard a small sob fall from your lips.

He peeked inside. It was dark, mind the laptop that sat on your desk and illuminating your shaking form. You laid your head on one arm and used your other hand to rake through your stringy hair. Your glasses had been tossed to the shadowy void and your cheeks were wet and sticky.

The header of your philosophy paper stared you down as you unraveled before it. The rest of the blank page was absolutely daunting. Your acceptance of the world around you had drained away your ability to have a coherent cognitive thought about it, forget about writing one.

To some extent, you missed the days when you were confident in your ability to build empires out of words. Now, you couldn't even build a ten-page paper, especially not by 11:59 pm that night.

To a greater extreme, you couldn't understand why you would want to return to your opinionated ways or your charismatic skills that abused fact until it bent to your will. What purpose did fact or, more importantly, idea have anymore, other than to aid your ability to charm others to abide by your purpose?

It felt wrong to write a definitive philosophical thesis, especially when you couldn't bring yourself to definitively believe in anything particular.

"Y/N," you jumped at the sound of your own name and quickly wiped your cheeks with the back of your sleeves, sitting up straighter and making yourself more presentable before you turned around to face him. Lucas saw it all. He watched you put your mask back on right before his eyes, and he realized that you were hurting in ways that he couldn't see until now.

"Lucas," you cursed your shaky voice. "What's up? Why are you here?"

He takes a few quiet steps until he's standing before you and kneels to look into your eyes. There are things that he wants to say, 'you're scaring me' being the most prominent, but he knows he should choose his words more carefully.

"I want to know what's going on. I want to help." He slips his hands into your own and rests them on your knees.

"I just don't think you can," you answer simply.

"Can you tell me what's the matter?"

You shake your head and the tears come rushing back to your eyes. "I don't know what's the matter." It's honest. You don't know why your head can't wrap around your assignments, or your conversations, or your own thoughts as of late.

All that time spent with yourself taught you how to understand yourself and your own needs. You feel that you have exchanged your understanding of the world around you for a simpler version of life. Did that make you selfish? You didn't know.

All Lucas could do was watch you as you fell back into your frustrations. It didn't take long before your brows were knitted back together, your nose was running, and your eyes had glazed over as you retreated back inside of yourself.

"Y/N," he softly called. Your eyes only met his for a second before they were cast somewhere else and your attention ran away from you once again.

"I think," you started, unsure of every word that slipped past your lips. "I think you should go."

You didn't know how to explain to him that you were afraid of what he might think of you at that moment, or that you didn't want to hurt his feelings any more than you guessed you already had.

"I don't want to go. I'm tired of leaving you alone." He stood, gently pulling you to stand with him, and led you to the edge of your bed with a delicate touch. "You don't have to sleep. You don't have to talk. Just lay here with me for a little while and let me be close to you."

"You know," Lucas started as he tossed the noodles in the pan. He'd tucked you into the couch earlier that evening and told you to forget the paper you'd been stressing over. You happily complied. "I don't know how to say this any better." You listened keenly as you pulled a throw pillow into your lap and wrapped yourself around it. "I know that this is probably the last thing you want to talk about, but I did something very wrong to you. I'm still sorry, and I hope you know that. But..." He cast you a quick glance over his shoulder before reaching for the seasoning in your pantry. "I don't think I ever gave you the chance to yell at me. Or like, to be mad at me - ya' know?"

You thought for a moment, front teeth chewing on your thumbnail before you shook your head softly and answered, "I don't want to yell at you. I don't want to be mad at you."

You heard a repressed sound of discouragement before looking to see him dishing your dinner plates. "I wish you would. I wish you would yell at me and tell me what I did was wrong. I wish you would be angry with me for a little while. I wish you would just tell me something about how you feel about it."

He handed you your plate and watched as you ran back inside of your own head. He watched your eyes glaze over as you replayed his words, and yet you made sense of almost none of them. You didn't understand what he was asking of you.

You toyed with your food as you tried to process his request. You didn't even notice when he took his seat beside you, nor did you notice the burning gaze he watched you with.

"Y/N," he called, shaking you out of your trance. "I want you to yell at me." You looked at him like a deer caught in headlights - big black eyes staring down a deadly light. "How did you feel when it happened? Shout something horrific at me about what was going through your head at the time."

You took a small bite and swallowed, training your eyes on the coffee table before you. "I don't remember."

You looked so small, so helpless, and so distant. You were there, right next to him, and yet you were so far away. He was having trouble finding you.

"Yell. Break something. For fuck's sake, please."

The more pressure he applied, the further you seemed to slip away. Before he knew it, you were gone.

"That's not her anymore." He found himself on Mark's bed once again, tucked into the younger boy's covers and pouring out his heart. "She's not all there. She just looks so empty now."

"Dude, I don't know why you come to me for this sort of thing. It's not like I'm just great with girls," the younger quips from his desk chair. "And Johnny would know more about her than I would-"

"No. He absolutely cannot know that I broke his sister."

Mark hummed in thought for a moment before he laid his pen down in his textbook and turned his full body to his friend. "Lucas, be honest with me about something." Lucas nodded. "Did you see anyone else while she was in France?"

Lucas shook his head as he took in his friend's words carefully. He had no right to be mad at the accusation, so he kept his temper in check until a particularly vile thought trotted across his mind. He sat up immediately. "Oh God, do you think that she did? Do you think she considered it a break and she slept with someone else?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying- hey- Lucas, stop." Lucas was already to his feet and out the door before he could finish. "So not my fault," he grumbled to himself.

Finally, it all made sense to him. You couldn't be mad at him if you were also guilty. You couldn't yell at him for committing a sin you'd also committed. He was going to redress the scale. He was going to make you the word again. He was going to be the action.

The solid thuds against your wooden door made you jump up from your floor. Adrenaline spread through your fingertips and you took a step back towards your bedroom.

"We need to talk."

Lucas sounded angry. You pushed and pulled with your memory, but found no trace of experiencing this feeling before: fear of him. You moved against your gut to let him in. You barely opened the door before he pushed his way inside, rattling off accusation after accusation.

"Did you think we were on a break? Because we weren't on a break."

You just listened.

"Did you just forget about me while you were there? Did you just ignore the fact that I was waiting for you? I was stuck here, waiting for you every day while you were in France."

You didn't speak.

"So you just got to do whatever you wanted while I had to sulk here? You just couldn't control yourself, huh? Do you know how hard it was to keep control of myself while you were gone?"

'It was hard?' you thought.

"How about we take another break then? How about this time, I get to sleep with whoever I want? Well? Aren't you even going to open your mouth to defend yourself?"

You didn't.

"Am I wrong?" He prompted. "I didn't think so. Now we're on a break. Now you can fuck around with whoever you want."

Shocked couldn't begin to describe the state he left you in. You stood there, clambering for answers as to what could have sent him on a warpath to your apartment in the first place. His seemingly unprompted fit of jealous rage couldn't really have been sparked without a cause, you figured.

Maybe he'd seen pictures of you with your male friends in France. Maybe a rumor had been spread about you. Maybe he was just tired of you and feeding himself a rotten narrative as an excuse to break up with you.

You didn't want to know. You opted to rather accept his decision, and all of your own emotions that came flooding back with it.

"Hey man, have you talked to Y/N lately? She took one of my classes last year, and I wanted to see if I could get her notes before semester tests." Haechan asks his elder who lay sprawled on the couch.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p.'

"What?" Haechan asked, looking up from his phone. "What do you mean you haven't talked to her?"

Lucas lazily yawned and reached for his soda can beside him. "It's not like she's my girlfriend or something. I'm not her keeper."

"Shit, Lucas, you didn't," Mark groaned, rubbing his temple.

"No, you were right. She was sleeping with other guys while she was in France. She didn't even try to deny it."

"Hang on, I never said that. You conjured that one up all on your own, buddy."

Haechan frowned as his frat members debated. He was focused on a much bigger issue at large.

"When did you break up with her?" he asks cautiously.

"Hey, we're just on a break. Don't go getting any ideas-"

"Jesus fuck, can your ego get any bigger?" Lucas crossed his arms and refocused his attention on the television, jaw clenched tightly. "You're so annoying," Haechan mumbled under his breath, already moving towards the door and shooting your brother a message telling him to meet in front of your apartment.

"Damn, you got called annoying by Haechan. How does that feel?"

"Can it, Lee."

You could feel it all, the swarm of emotions swirling and twirling around inside your chest, and yet you couldn't begin to name any of them. All you knew was that it hurt and you wanted it to stop.

You laid in your bed and watched your ceiling fondly. You liked how it didn't move. You didn't struggle to keep up with it. And it was dependable; it would always be there.

You didn't move when the knock at your front door finally registered in your ears; you were tired of playing doorman in your own residence.

You were just tired actually.

"Y/N," Johnny called, lightly pushing open the door to your bedroom. A strong sense of deja vu winded you. You knew this scene, you'd lived it before. "It's me and Haechan. I'm sorry we didn't call first." You didn't know how they managed to get inside, nor did you care. You just wanted to sleep.

Johnny took a seat next to you on the side of your bed. He brushed a strand of hair out of your eyes in an attempt to capture your attention. That's when the smell hit you. The heavy stench of cigarettes washed over all of your senses causing you to retract from his touch. He looked shaken at first, scared that he might have hurt you.

"You didn’t smoke before," you recalled. It was almost a feat in and of itself to remember the bitter past, but the small victory was stifled by the thick, wet air of the bitter present.

His eyes softened before he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack he'd bought just a few days before. "I started a few months ago while you were away. I knew you wouldn't be happy about it."

"I don't care," you answered promptly before slowly pulling yourself to sit up against your headboard.

Haechan watched from the doorway. He wondered if he'd ever seen someone in this state before, or if he ever would again. He looked at you and almost failed to see the human being in front of him. He watched you move like a frightened animal, stiff and weary. He watched your untrained gaze flicker between your brother and your brother's outstretched hand. 

This couldn't have just been the work of Lucas, he concluded. There were more deeply rooted implications here. There was an unresolved issue before your idiot boyfriend played to his own role.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't know," you answered honestly.

Johnny looked to Haechan for support, but the younger could offer only his presence in this situation.

"That's okay," your brother soothed. "Haechan," he turned to your mutual friend, "can you call Ten and Yuta and see if they've, uh, noticed anything weird lately about..." He gestured to you. Haechan excused himself to place the calls. "Food? Food always helps, right?" he tried with a dry chuckle. You paid absolutely no mind to him.

"I can't take this," Ten muttered to himself, excusing himself from your bedroom. Five boys had soon found themselves huddled in your doorway, watching your every move intently as you resisted every attempt your brother made to move you.

You felt like a lab rat, being looked at from all angles as Johnny poked and prodded to see what would make you tick. It felt humiliating.

"Let's just go for a drive," he tried again, gently pulling your arms away from your chest and trying to guide you out of bed.

"No," you answered again, pulling yourself away from him and settling further back into your bed.

"Maybe we should just let her be for tonight," Jaehyun suggested, moving to stand beside your brother whose head was fallen in defeat.

"I can't just leave her like this, Jae. I still don't understand what's going on."

"Just give her some space," Jaehyun tried again. "This clearly isn't very effective."

Johnny sighed but ended up in compliance as everyone except for Jungwoo moved to your living room. They quietly deliberated as Jungwoo read allowed one of your favorite novels from the end of your bed, hoping against all hope that it would in some way bring you back from the void in which your mind seemed to currently reside.

"Honestly, we had planned to just come and cheer her up," Haechan had said. "We didn't know we'd find her like this. But I can't say it really surprised me, she's been off for months now."

"I thought something seemed weird. She hasn't said much to me in a while."

"Me either."

"Yeah, same."

Everyone generally agreed with Ten's statement.

"Do you guys think something happened in France?" Jaehyun suggests.

"Or maybe things haven't been going so well between her and Lucas for a while?" Yuta offers.

"Everything just feels like it's spinning," you said, cutting off Jungwoo's reading of Mary Shelley's finest work. He was just happy to have heard you say anything at all. "Everything is going so fast around me. I just wanna take a nap, sleep for a while." As you relayed your simple disposition, you found yourself moving to lay on your side, plenty warm but unwilling to relinquish your comforter. "I don't feel like I belong here, so I'm going to sleep instead."

Jungwoo set the book to the side and laid himself down at the end of your bed. "I don't feel like I belong here sometimes either," he relates.

"But you do," you say, looking over his features and seeing every sharp and jagged curve for the first time.

"You do too," he promises.

Hours of hushed worries bled into the night, and you awoke alone in your apartment in the morning. You had no initial intention of getting out of bed. It was the hardcover copy of Frankenstein standing upright on your bedside table that stirred your aching joints into motion.

Then you remembered.

How could you ever even forget?

The Han River smiled when you arrived, taking a seat on his bank. He asked you why you'd been such an unfamiliar face as of late, to which you had no reply. He thanked you for coming to visit him nonetheless and told you about how much Seoul had missed you while you were away. He told you about the alley cats and how they missed the treats you would occasionally leave for them on your way to classes. He told you about how much the sky cried about you spending spring away. He told you that the city lights drowned out the stars while you were gone, but let them peak back into the city when you returned.

You had no beating heart to pour out into his water, so instead, you gave him your soul. The Han understood and sat with you until you bore no more faults on which to complain. He told you he missed you. You told him that you missed him too. You told him about the Garonne and how much you thought he would like her. Then he sent you off into the afternoon bustle of the city with a watchful eye.

You wondered the streets for a while. Not a penny in your pocket, and still you found so many little joys in all the cracks and crevices of Seoul. You pet the stray cats; they'd always been particularly fond of you. You walked around an antique shop making wild guesses about the past lives of every item in sight. You climbed a tree in the park without a damn to spare the onlookers. By sunset, your feet had taken you back to your campus and directly to the front door of your apartment.

"How about some tea?" you ask yourself as you push the door open, not half expecting to be ambushed by a group of concerned young men demanding to know where you were.

"Would you all like some tea too?"

It was still a struggle to hear your voice most of the time, but visible relief settled over those who'd seen you cowering from your brother in your bedroom only days prior. They all continued to check in on you frequently, as they still had difficulties coaxing you away from your apartment.

"Lucas," Johnny had finally caught him lurking in the kitchen around midnight. He was beginning to grow irritable with how troublesome he had become to locate.

Lucas froze, cup ramen clasped in one hand with chopsticks in the other. Busted like a child with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Look, I'm sorry about your sister," he started without really knowing where he was going. "I know that I kinda jumped the gun-"

"I don't want to fight with you again," the elder said. He had kept his calm since the situation had arisen. The last time you and your boyfriend had a falling out, all hell broke loose in their dorms. He had landed a good solid punch on the more-than-deserving idiot and held the belief that he probably deserved a few more. However, he'd rather not have everyone in a frenzy once more, turning against one another. "I just need you to tell me what was going on before you left."

Lucas's shoulders slump and he sets his late-night meal on the countertop. "I was just so frustrated. She always let me into her head before - but when she came back, she just stopped talking to me. She shut me out," he relayed. "I tried everything I could think of. I tried to make her really happy, I tried to make her really mad. She wouldn't talk to me."

"She won't talk to me either," Johnny said, resting a reassuring hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he responds, taking some measure of the blame upon himself. He felt that maybe if he'd had more patience with you, he could have helped you to get better. Now you were detaching yourself from not only him but your other friends and family as well. "Do you think she would want to see me?"

Your brother shrugged but a small smirk played on his lips. "I dunno. Maybe you should go find out tomorrow."

Needless to say, Lucas felt displaced and burdened by heavy guilt as he stood in your doorway, looking down on your fragile body. The last time he came knocking on your door in the most awful hours of the morning, he begged and cried on his knees for you not to leave him. He felt himself resist the urge to fall to the ground and repeat his mantra of pleas.

You didn't ask him why he was there so early in the morning, nor did you ask him if he wanted to come in. Your stare made his skin feel cold. He cleared his throat to dispel some of the awkward tension that he felt clawing at his airways.

"Can I come in?" Without a word, you moved to the side. "Thank you. Were you asleep?"

"No," you say simply, trailing behind him as he steps into your kitchen.

He lets out a low chuckle as he glances around the room. It looked so surprisingly unhomely and clean. Not a single dish in the sink, nor a potted plant out of place. "I keep messing up pretty badly, don't I?"

He hated the empty way you looked at him. It was as if you didn't know him. It was as if you had just let a complete stranger into your apartment.

"I don't understand, and I'm really trying to. I know that you know that things have changed since you got back. I don't know what that means yet, but I do know that I still love you. And that I'm stupid. I know that too."

You hummed along, a thoughtful expression overtaking your blank features.

"And I know that I’m sorry. I let a stupid idea get into my head and I let it hurt my own feelings. I shouldn’t have taken that out on you. Please don't leave me."

You didn't offer an answer, instead opening your arms and inviting him back into your embrace. He placed a small kiss on your lips, something he felt like he hadn't done in ages, and wrapped himself around you in an effort to keep you by his side forever.

"Are you happy here in Seoul?" your boyfriend asked, picking at the grass in front of his crossed legs. He looked at you as you looked down at the water. "I mean, I know you don't want to go back to (country), and I have a feeling that you don't exactly want to go live with my family in China. But like, would you rather be in Bordeaux? Or would you rather stay here?"

"I don't know." He hummed and waited for you to elaborate, but you made no real effort to.

"I know that we're still young and we don't have to make any decisions about where we want to live yet," he cooed, looking up to watch the sun set behind the large city towers, "but would you stay here in Seoul with me for a little while?"

You nodded, reaching over to take his hand in your own before pulling him to lay in the grass with you.

"You know, you're not the same person that you were before you left. I've realized that," he said with a sad smile as he looked over at you and placed a small kiss on your chin, pulling a small giggle from your lips. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I can't wait to get to know you again."

[skylarmoon71]

AU Blind Murdcok Reader x Leonardo (TMNT 2014/2016) Chapter 2

The good thing about being blind was no one ever questioned when you walked in with a bruised eye or swollen cheek. You’d simply say you walked into something, or someone, and the person questioning you would immediately get uncomfortable and drop the conversation. This particular someone being your homeroom teacher.

“W-Well please take your seat.”

So you did, sitting quietly. The little murmurs always sounded so loud in your ear, you’d long learnt to shut it out.

You grimaced when you reached under the desk to get your book.

“Damn it.” you’d managed to completely cover your arm, you didn’t need anyone asking why you were bleeding. Worse yet, realizing you had a bullet wound.

You encounter last night was still fresh in your mind. You barely believed it.

~Flashback~

“She’s waking up, step back!”

“What? That's impossible she should be out for a couple days.”

“Guys let her breathe.”

The number of voices around you wasn’t helping, especially since you had very little recollection of what happened, or where you were.

You took a few calming breaths, getting worked up wasn’t going to help. If you panicked, it would be harder to focus on anything.

“Leonardo.”

That was the name you recalled, the one the others kept calling. The leader, he had to be.

“Leonardo.” your tone surprised them all, and they took a step back. You supposed they didn’t expect you to be so calm. You felt a little more relieved at the steady beats of their hearts. So far so good, no threat.

“I’m Leonardo. I’m surprised you remembered, you were pretty out of it. “

“You helped me..” Saved you was more like it. Your senses were slowly coming back. You could feel the cloth on your arm. They’d thoroughly covered the wound in gauze. From the feel of it, they got the bullet out too.

“Of course we did, I’m Mikey by the way. We’re always down for helping a fellow vigilante!” That same excited voice from before. So you didn’t imagine it. Their weapons or their size. The one behind you kept shifting, you could feel the unease just oozing off him.

“Is there something bothering you, I can feel you squirming. It’s distracting.” 

He huffed. Didn’t need sight to know you’d struck a nerve.

“You’re lucky we didn’t just leave you out there for the police!” you could understand why he was upset, you did hold a blade to his brother.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” If there was one thing you weren’t, it was ungrateful. Whoever, or whatever they were, they didn’t just save your life, but also your identity. You straightened from your spot on the bed. “Thank you for helping me.” The little grunt was an indication that the angry one was still mad, but Leonardo sounded relieved. “You’re welcome. I have to admit, you took us by surprise. Usually we’re the ones leaving others speechless. But you..are you really..”

“Blind? Yes.”

It was always uncomfortable for others. You figured they didn’t like asking, maybe as much as you liked being treated like a cripple. Something else you appreciated is the fact that your mask was still intact. You finger glided over the top, and Leo caught the action.

“We didn’t move it, I swear.”

“I believe you.” you didn’t even hesitate, slipping your fingers under the dark fabric as you pulled it off.

You could physically feel the stillness in the air.

“I’m (Y/N) Murdock, but everyone seems to like the name Daredevil. Nice to meet you.”

~Flashback end~

It was weird, but you really hope you’d get to see them again. You memorized the route to their lair, so it wasn’t like you didn’t know where they lived. The smell of the sewers were a dead give away. You didn’t want to go searching though, it felt a bit intrusive. If you were lucky, you might run into them on your nightly ‘walks’.

All you could do was wait and see.

“Heads up.” you didn’t even flinch when the book knocked into the back of your head. Laughter filled the room, and your teacher started yelling at the students responsible, and you rubbed the area, unimpressed.

That was the third one this week. Your head should have been strong as vibranium by now. Usually it was just paper, or plastic. They were really stepping up.

“Are you alright Ms. Murdock.” you nod at your teacher’s question. “Maybe you should head to the nurse.” She rounded the corner to check your head, and as she reached out to survey the damage you flinched, grabbing her hand. She froze, and the students were quiet.

“I’m fine.” you said stiffly. You released her hand, and she pulled back. “Y-Yes, I apologize.” you could tell she didn’t expect it. Sometimes it was hard to turn off your other half. The stronger half. More guarded.

“Freak!” the yell echoed, and the laughter continued. Poor woman was back to trying to regain order.

It would surely be a tedious day.

~~~~

“Murdock, wanna come to the party tonight, might be some brail you can read.”

Little snickers, snide remarks, did they ever get tired. You would have liked to say that you were numb to it, but it was more like you’d grown used to it. The teasing, the menacing statements. You considered doing something about it too. But you figured it was a wasted effort. A few more years and you would be out of there. Hell, from the looks of it, you might even run into a couple of them in the future, hopefully not though.

As you exited the school, you tapped your stick along the concrete. It was still a bit of a task to move around. With how much blood you lost, it wasn’t unheard of. You figured you would need a few days to recover, so no strenuous activities for the time being. Only problem was, crime didn’t exactly care about your schedule. As you rounded the corner, you made an abrupt stop at the light. The conversation of the men behind you didn’t go unnoticed.

“Did you hear, apparently that daredevil guy was seen close to the docks last night. Place was a wreck when the police got there.”

“That’s crazy, thought he worked in Hell’s Kitchen.”

“Maybe he’s on vacation.” the two males laughed, lifting their heads when the light changed. You were about to take a step forward, but someone behind you went rushing past, you evaded easily, but panicked when you heard the aggressive honking not too far ahead.

Dropping your stick, you dove forward, crashing into the person and successfully pulling them out of the way. The both of you hit the ground with a harsh thud, and you could hear a few yells from onlookers. The car that rushed passed didn’t even stop and you moved your head, sighing when you heard the rapid heartbeat of the young boy under you.

“Johnny!” From the sound it was his mother. She ran over and you moved off so she could get to him. He was now crying, probably realizing what could have happened.

“Thank you so much you saved my boy!” You assumed her eyes were now trained in your direction, and a few other people moved over, someone helped you to your feet, and another picked up your cane.

“That's some good reflex you got there.” A man said handing you the rod. You took it gratefully, dusting off your shoulder.

“People really have no conscience, the dickhead ran a red light and he didn’t even stop to see the damage. “

There were a number of other comments, you could understand their dismay. It made you smile a little. In Hell’s Kitchen everyone probably would have just gone on their way. Maybe take a few pictures.

“Thank you.” you say softly to the individuals you helped you out. The fall didn’t exactly help with your already battered body. You were grateful you made it in time. With your injuries you realized that your response was a bit delayed, luckily no one was hurt.

“Johnny, you should be more careful when you cross the street, you almost gave your mother a heart attack. You have to look out for her okay, so be careful. “

“I-I will! Thank you Miss.” you smile, nodding your head.

“You’re welcome kid.”

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #290

Tue Jan 05 2021 [10:04 PM] Wack'd: Annihilus has knocked out the Four and is now gloating [10:05 PM] Wack'd: Blastaar's like "Why are you gloating? If not for me you'd still be a prisoner!" [10:05 PM] Wack'd: Annihilus sees the obvious logic problem there [10:05 PM] maxwellelvis: So Blastaar reversed their Bugs Bunny shenanigans to trick them into setting Annihilus on them, yeah? Just to sum up? [10:05 PM] Wack'd: Yeeeep! [10:06 PM] maxwellelvis: That's gotta be a real shot to the pride for Johnny. [10:07 PM] Wack'd: So Sue points out Annihilus should be dead [10:07 PM] Wack'd: Reed for once can only shrug [10:07 PM] Wack'd: "Like yeah, I'm pretty sure he died, I don't know what to tell you" [10:07 PM] maxwellelvis: "And at the moment I'm a little underprepared to work through this puzzle." [10:08 PM] Umbramatic: *shrug* [10:08 PM] Wack'd: Annihilus and Blastaar are thankfully preoccupied throwing each other around but Blastaar has called in reinforcements [10:08 PM] maxwellelvis: Reed seems to think best when he can stretch all over the place, is what I'm saying. [10:08 PM] Bocaj: Blastaar and his nephews Spewie, Rudie, and Kerplooey [10:09 PM] Wack'd: He called in an armada and yeah all the folks on these ships seem to look just like him but with different haircuts [10:11 PM] Wack'd: We're into full-on cosmic mode now as one of Blastaar's underlings in the calvery takes him out and declares himself the new leader of the Decepticons Baluurians [10:11 PM] Wack'd: As revenge for...something vague [10:12 PM] maxwellelvis: "He knows what he did!" [10:12 PM] Wack'd: Oh good Annihilus has saved me from politics by wiping the floor with the Baluurians [10:13 PM] Bocaj: That’s sad, baluurians [10:13 PM] Wack'd: Reed has decided their only hope is for him to touch Annihilus, thus blowing them both up [10:14 PM] Bocaj: DO IT REED [10:14 PM] Wack'd: Sue is like "hey, uh, gonna be making me a widow and a single mom, you get that, right?" but Reed convinces her because greater good etc etc etc [10:16 PM] Wack'd: I like how angry Sue is that he's doing this. Good expression work on her in these panels

[10:16 PM] Bocaj: "If you're so horny for the greater good then why don't you marry it?" "Believe me, I've looked into it" [10:16 PM] Umbramatic: reed x greater good otp [10:16 PM] Wack'd: Also Reed's last words to his wife are "thank you, darling." Jesus [10:17 PM] Umbramatic: "tell my wife hello" [10:17 PM] Bocaj: Pfft [10:17 PM] Wack'd:

[10:17 PM] Wack'd: More good expression but also jesus Johnny she's allowed to be sad [10:17 PM] maxwellelvis: Okay this new look has to go [10:18 PM] Bocaj: Sue amd johnny have the same haircut now [10:18 PM] Bocaj: (Who wore it best?) [10:18 PM] maxwellelvis: they look almost exactly the same and it's creeping me out [10:18 PM] Bocaj: How very Lapis and Lazuli [10:18 PM] Umbramatic: two of them [10:18 PM] Wack'd: Also: this is kinda all Johnny's fault huh. His idiocy directly resulted in Annihilus getting loose and indeed in any of the bad guys having the cosmic control rod at all [10:18 PM] Bocaj: Hey, yeah! [10:18 PM] Wack'd: So like, maybe show a little remorse, dude [10:20 PM] Wack'd: Okay his actual last words are "I love you, Sus--". That's better

[10:21 PM] Umbramatic: pretty explosion [10:21 PM] Bocaj: Reed's last act was to declare his wife sus [10:21 PM] Bocaj: She'll be voted on next [10:21 PM] Wack'd: Boooooooo [10:21 PM] Wack'd: Is what a ghost would say [10:21 PM] maxwellelvis: I am guessing it's because up until the moment Annihilus charged him, Reed was still hoping that he'd think of some way to get out of this, but he still could have said that before she left. [10:22 PM] Bocaj: "I can't read his lips" Reed says [10:22 PM] Wack'd: In fairness he's got a Doctor Doom esque mouthpiece [10:22 PM] maxwellelvis: I thought it was a huge mandible. [10:23 PM] Bocaj: I didn't even know that was a mask for a long while. I - yeah [10:23 PM] Bocaj: Thought he was a bug man [10:23 PM] Bocaj: Perfect Cell vs Pissed off Annihilus [10:23 PM] maxwellelvis: I mean, they draw him as a bug man more these days. [10:23 PM] Wack'd: It has been open to interpretation for a long time but Kirby drew them basically identically so [10:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Maybe when he looks more insectoid that's him without his helmet on? [10:23 PM] Wack'd: *shrug* [10:24 PM] Bocaj: I searched annihilus without helmet and the first result was Nova tearing his guts out his mouth [10:24 PM] Bocaj: Good call, google [10:24 PM] Wack'd: And so the Negative Zone is closed for business. Fury scrambles SHIELD to look for any trace of Reed in space but Sue points out, uh, there's maybe a minute before that becomes pointless [10:26 PM] Wack'd: This is the kind of bonkers bathetic juxtaposition I come to comics for

[10:26 PM] maxwellelvis: I forgot SHIELD has flying cars [10:27 PM] Bocaj: Hey Nick looks Reedish from a distnace. They should get him to join [10:27 PM] Umbramatic: beep beep [10:27 PM] Bocaj: Mr. Irascible [10:27 PM] Umbramatic: bocaj i noticed the same thing [10:27 PM] Wack'd: I'm pretty sure this exact flying car is in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [10:27 PM] maxwellelvis: I did a double take [10:27 PM] maxwellelvis: to see the cigar [10:28 PM] maxwellelvis: Maybe Avery Brooks should have joined SHIELD [10:28 PM] Wack'd: And so we cliffhang on, uh. Well

[10:28 PM] Bocaj: Dammit, stop breaking time you dinguses [10:29 PM] Wack'd: It is deeply weird to me that rather than letting Sue (or Johnny or anyone) process Reed's death it's straight to another wacky adventure [10:29 PM] Wack'd: But that seems to be the way it works for Sue, huh

[hoe-for-yukhei]

Clean Freak Idol BF taeyong — Soloist [fem] reader

Everybody knows the tea between 10th floor and 5th floor.

Then there's Taeyong.

"We are here because we want to talk about the most awaited collaboration of the most iconic ship in the kpop industry, before we talk about your new mini album 'NO HISTORY' let me ask you guys a question first. The whole world knew you two used to date, isn't it awkward to work with each other?"

Man, what is this girl saying?

Taeyong and I stared at each other and laughed.

"Hahahahaha what are you guys laughing about? hahahaha"

The audacity to ask us.

Before inviting guests into your show, please dig some information about them.

"No hahaha sorry it's just so funny. Such a ridiculous question."

Taeyong stopped you for saying anything blunt, you have this image that you're straightforward and blunt, and to others they see it as rude.

You're not doing it for clout or to be savage wannabe, that's just who you are.

"No, we didn't broke up, we just lived apart. We moved out of our dorms and shared an apartment. But we didn't take it well so we moved back in."

Really taeyong? We didn't BROKE UP? interesting..

"Why? What didn't work out for the two of you?"

Oh let me tell you the story.

"Taeyong what are you doing? Stop covering your face! smile!"

"Eh-Andwae! I just woke up!"

What is he talking about?

Bare faced Taeyong is art.

Everyone who gets to see him fresh out of bed is so blessed, this would add 10,000,000+ on your lifespan.

"Oppa you stopped eating, Isn't the dish good?"

"Yes it's good! You should try that side dish too! I was just thinking about something."

Here we go again.

Taeyong is zoning out lately, I thought he's worrying about the NCT comeback, yearbook and all but turns out he isn't.

"What is it? Tell me hmm?"

"I was thinking, since we're already dating for 5 years why won't we live together already? I mean we're already in the right age and all."

Hmm I haven't thought about that.

"Why? Aren't you happy here with the members? And besides you have the whole room to yourself it's just like having your own house. Why need one?"

"Of course I'm happy. We grew up together and I treat them as biological brothers.. it's not about them. I want to start a life with you.. but if you don't want to then fine with me.."

"What do you mean I don't want to? I would love to move in with you. But heads up honey I'm a living mess. It will drive you nuts clean freak."

Everyone knows he's a clean freak. Aesthetic, spotless, and organized. He can't stand dirt. He's the type of guy who always bathe unlike jungwoo, the guy who would always wear gloves when handling food and dishes unlike jaehyun and yuta who uhh never you know what,he has sheets on his bed (and it's white as fuck no creases and lints jaehyun has been slapped hard),the guy who gets cranky when his clothes are not handled right so he ends up doing laundry everyday, he's also the guy who praises febreeze. Febreeze is his life,addiction,religion and many more.

Yes he loves febreeze more than me.

2 years went by like a bliss. Everything's good.

Actually too good.

We spent happy days together loving each other more as time passes by until he can't take it all anymore.

He knelt to the ground and pulled a ring and said 

"Marry me y/n."

"T-taeyong.."

"I know I know.. but please hear me out. y/n we spent 7 years together full of love,laughs,and cries. I know you're finally going to have your debut next week and can't be seen in a relationship for like 2 years, but I can't take it anymore I don't want to lose you..this industry is fucked up y/n.Just please promise me you'll hold on to me.. to us.."

"Of course. You're my rod in this dark world without you I'll be lost. I'll forever hold on you. But you sure this isn't an engagement ring?"

"*sighs; you know it's not. I really want to but I already know the answer after I proposed for you like 3 times already. You're not yet ready.. but I'll wait."

"I'm sorry taeyong–"

"No don't say sorry I understand"

You were both in the right age but still young to marry.. and both of your careers are not helping.

NCT PROJECT again. You're happy for Taeyong, he really likes it whenever the whole 23 of them perform together.

But also pitied him.

"What is wrong with you two?! I expected better than this. You better composed some good ones or I'll give back the job to  composers."

"No sir, I really want to participate again in composing I can give you a better one—"

"Then do it. I want it done by next week. I only let you boys play composer and lyricist again because the crowd wants to. You get me Johnny? Taeyong?"

It's the 6th time this week. You always pass by the room because it's in the same way of the recording studio. He was getting yelled at again.

And again.

And again. 

Taeyong's been stressed for the whole 2months. Johnny and he were told they could participate in producing the album.

At last they can express themselves.

Johnny really wants to write songs but never given the opportunity to. So Johnny and he are working hard. Knowing SM they're controlling as ever this means it's a one and only lifetime opportunity. 

His dog died. His best friend and buddy.

The warm condolences of his fans comforted him. He's thankful to have them.

Y/n's first ever single is coming out. You have been pretty busy too. Recordings, photoshoots,MV filming etc. And SM and fans are breathing down your neck everytime you move.

Some anti spread fake rumors about you. Usually you'll ignore it but right now is different. Being new to this industry brought pressure to you and you don't know what to do but just cry..

You saw a cat. You always love cats, they calm you down. It gives comfort to you. You decided to bring it home to your shared space with taeyong.

You did him a favor and put a little spice in his composition then while drinking your hot chocolate you were called by your mother leaving the cat,the chocolate and the house you hurried to the hospital.

Stressed ate taeyong. He's frustrated at the moment he wants to shout and cry his heart out.

The 8th song they made just got rejected. again.

It's the last draw and they can't participate in writing on the album anymore. Mark, xiaojun and taeil got injured while practicing,the new choreographer is a dick. A stubborn stylist doesn't follow anyone's instruction causing jaehyun to be called out because of his hair and the management wants them to do nothing. Some anti is making fun of his dog's death and a sasaeng is following him right now.

The house is where he rests,it's his favorite place .

But now it isn't.

The house is a fucking mess.

Dishes on sink

Furs on sofas and floor

Chocolate drink spilled on the carpeted floor of his work space.

The computer is on

Somebody touched his music

The air smelled like a stray dog or cat

Shits on his pile of clothes and a cat is napping on the end of the bed.

Lee. Taeyong. Mad.

He's angry asf.

"Oh hey taeyong you are home?? How was your da-"

"What is that?"

"A cat?"

"and that?"

"My drink.."

"That?"

"Dishe–okay what is your point?"

"Nothing.  Just you being a pig."

"Wh-what?.."

"You're disgusting. Be ashamed of yourself y/n can't believe a woman doesn't know how to take care of a house."

"What's wrong with you?! That's so sexist!"

"What's wrong with me?! Your stupid new cat shitted on my clothes! The house is shit! Everything's shit! Even you! You messed up my song!"

"Taeyong calm down there was an emergency and about your song i-"

"shut up y/n! I'm tired! The last thing I want to see is a dumpsite! I have to keep up shits at work and I have to keep up with your everyday shits too?! I'm so sick! It looks like the house isn't the only one that needs cleaning. My life too.. I can't believe I put up with a garab6e like you. You should've been taken out a long time ago—"

"The only shit here is you."

You took your new cat and went.

Your grandmother died. That's the emergency.

It's heartbreaking and with taeyong earlier the last hanging piece of your heart shattered completely.

You went back to your own place, you ask hae-un a friend of yours who's a model under the same entertainment to get all your stuff in your house. 

She came back with seong-hyun his boyfriend carrying boxes and bags.

"Y/n.. take a break..I'm here for you."

"He wants to talk to you y/n. he said he was—"

"SEONG-HYUN!STOP!"

"okay.. I understand. Everything will be fine y/n hae-un and I will never leave you. We'll get through this together just like the old days.."

"Thank-you.."

Hae-un take care of your things at work. You decided to wake up from the slump and change labels,made depression your motivation, you skyrocketed. Soon after many articles about you were made.

“솔로이스트 Y/N L/N은 왜 SM 엔터테인먼트를 떠났을까?”

(Why did Soloist Y/N L/N leave SM entertainment?)

"할머니의 갑작스러운 죽음으로 솔로이스트 Y/N이 망했다. '나는 망연자실했다. 어떻게 해야 할지..' "

(Soloist Y/N went hiatus due to Grandmother's sudden death

"I was devastated. I don't know to do..")

"솔로 퀸 Y/N L/N 7년 동안 NCT 이태용과 데이트 했었다고?!"

(SOLO QUEEN Y/N L/N USED TO DATE NCT LEE TAEYONG FOR 7 YEARS?!)

"엘, 채널, 헤르메스 뉴 앰배서더, 모델 Y/N L/N. 그녀가 어떻게 도망가는지 지켜봐."

(ELLE, Channel, Hermes New ambassador and model Y/N L/N. Watch how she rules the runway)

P-NATION의 솔로퀸 Y/N L/N이 NCT 김도영, 루카스 웡과 함께 메디컬 로맨스 드라마 '더 터치 오브 유어'로 데뷔한다.

(P-NATION's Solo Queen Y/N L/N, will debut as an Actress in a Medical romance Kdrama "The touch of you" with NCT Kim Doyoung and Lucas Wong)

You have so many projects going on. Actually you were not ready for this. At SM you’re only an underrated singer who mostly writes others songs instead of doing yours. What can you do? It’s the higher ups orders.

Haeun recommended PNATION this is where you really felt like you’re an artist and family rather. Of Course you love your sunbaes and colleagues. It's just that SM restricts everyone and they try to shape them into KPOP robots that everyone will buy. 

You love all of your projects well..except one.

"P-NATION의 솔로퀸 Y/N L/N이 전 남자친구 NCT 이태용과 함께 새 미니 앨범 'NO History'를 발매한다!"

(P-NATION's Solo Queen Y/N L/N will release her new album "NO HISTORY" with ex-boyfriend NCT Lee Taeyong!)

Oh great…

You haven't 

Communicated with Taeyong since you left the house.

You actually avoided him.

Taeyong would straight up walk to you when on stage such as Music Bank, Inkigayo, Mama etc. But you always find a way to avoid the guy.

The fans ship you guys after finding out your 7year relationship with him. You were chill with it but you always reminded your fans that you're not together anymore theyy should snap back to reality.

Y/N doesn't like the reality now.

His ex boyfriend is in front of him doing arrangements eating Sweet Potato cubes from Starbucks and guess what.

He's formal and silent asf.

Like you guys didn't date and almost got married.

There were 5 songs in the Mini Album

Ethereal

Seoulite

Letters on the floor

Sunset 

DOUCHEBAG

The title track is Ethereal. You have to dance to that sexy love hoe song. Produced and composed by yours truly.

You just sat on your swivel chair discussing with the other producer while Taeyong wrinkles his forehead seeing the album content.

Track 6. "DOUCHEBAG"

Who The fuck would name their song douchebag?

Taeyong is confused but at the same time a little hope and warm blooms at his heart. Thinking DOUCHEBAG is all about him. Little did he know it's a diss track about MNET.

Don't worry taeyong douchebag may not be about you but most of the songs are.

He's keeping his distance letting you adjust to him..but that doesn't look like it to Y/N.

The audacity of this guy to ignore me. Bitch.

It's noon and you haven't eaten breakfast yet. Taeyong comes to your side to invite you to lunch until he is cut off by a high pitch squeal of yours.

" y/n ssi—"

"DOIEEEEEEEEEEEEE~"

"Hahahahahah calm down, you miss me that much?"

"YEAH!"

It's Doyoung.

He knows you have a few modeling projects with doyoung and an ongoing drama but he didn't know you two were this close.

You smooch your face on doyoung's face and smile brightly at him.

Ah he hates it.

"Hahahahahah enough y/n I'm here for hyung. Hyung do you want to go grab lunch?"

"Ani. Doyoung-ah i’m not hungry. Comeback next time."

"I'll come with you oppa."

“YAH!”

Taeyong stood up.

Oppa was the last straw for him. You don’t call anyone oppa.

Let alone smooch your face to someone’s chest.

You’re that brat girl who only warms up at him. 

Only him.

Doyoung and Y/N were surprised by Taeyong’s sudden actions.

Why is he angry? Did you guys do something wrong?

“Taeyong-ssi, gwaenchana? Is there something wrong?”

Taeyong suddenly realized what he did. So foolish of him. Now he looks like an ex-boyfriend who’s jealous of his ex’s friend.

He isn’t like that. He just wants closure with you.

We’ll look into that later.

“‘Y-YAH! What are you guys doing there? I thought we were going to eat?’ that’s what i’m trying to say.”

“Ahhhh~”

You and Doyoung just nodded, you thought you guys did something wrong to upset him hahaha.

Taeyong is literally speaking in small fonts as he says his excuse. As stupid as it sounds. You two believed him. Thank god phew.

You survived your 1 month with Taeyong. And for guys who dated for 7 years you two were awkward as fuck. It’s like the first time all over again. Calling each other with Honorifics and bowing whenever you two meet at the hallways, Just keeping it civil. But you gotta admit it to yourself, you start to warm up again to Taeyong these past few weeks. Dyed his hair black, and has that boyfriend material aura again.

YOU ARE A HUGE SIMP Y/N L/N.

Taeyong is planning something to win you back . He just woke up and realized ‘What if I show her again why she fell for me in the first place?’

He’s doing simple things to get close to you again. Your heart beats fast whenever he comes close.

“Jduigywfwygf Lee Taeyong i swear to god you-”

“I am what?

“You Scared me! Stop doing that! Why are you even here? I won’t record today. I'm going to learn the choreo.”

“Me too.”

“What?”

“What?”

Our Choreographer came and hell he was teaching us some sexy ass moves. I didn’t even know Taeyong was supposed to dance with me too. I suddenly have  flashbacks to Hyuna unnie and E’dawn sunbae’s Cage Dance Performance.

“One, Two, Step, Three, Step, Four”

“Y/N what are you doing? You missed the step.”

“I did?”

“Yes, It’s the 5th time already. Taeyong teach her. I’m going to take a break”

Y/N is very tense. He felt it. Especially whenever you two grind and to that one part where you kneel in front of him.

“You’re stiff and tense right now. How about you take a break?”

“Omg! Finally!”

“You left your body while we're dancing. Something wrong?”

“Nah I just feel Awkward and all. Knowing our history and everything.”

“Why would you?”

“It’s just you know uhmm.. I don’t know how to explain but you get what I mean.”

“Then Let’s be friends again! So it wouldn’t be awkward.”

He’s just waiting for you to open the topic. That’s all it takes to get Taeyong creep back to your heart. You don’t know if befriending your ex is good or what but it’s nice to have him back. It’s like normal. The teasings, hugs, and laughter are back. It’s like when you two were still together minus the label of course.

Since you two were close again why not invite him to your shoot? Besides Doyoung and Winwin are there.

Taeyong internally passed out when you invited him. He’s so happy for you. The dream of you being an actor never left his mind. Now he gets to see it with front-viewed seats, until that scene comes up.

Myeorin’s starts to tear up. He run after Haju and  hugged him behind. “H-haju you don’t have to..” 

The man just kept a blank face but you can see he’s having a hard time letting go.

“Go. I want you to be happy. You love him Myeorin”

“H-haju no! I love you!”

“You know you don’t. You're just stuck in our past memories.”

Haju breaks free from Myeorin’s hug, he cups her face and their foreheads touch each other while sobbing.

“I still want to live in that past. With you haju.”

He stared into Myeorin’s eyes and landed a soft peck at her temple.

“‘The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.’ The person who taught me doesn't apply it to herself. Pabo. Go, you have  no time left i heard he’s leaving”

Myeorin realizes Haju’s words and runs to chase the one  that she truly loves. “Do Hyejeong you bitch you didn’t tell me you’re leaving”

The Set changes and moves to a different venue.

Myeorin stands outside of Hyejeong’s penthouse sobbing. He erratically rang the bell 30th time already and no one’s answering. 

A Janitor saw Myeorin and confronted her.

“Miss Myeorin! What are you doing there?”

“Ahjussi *sniffs* have you seen Hyejong?”

“Ah! sir Hyejong?  He just left a while ago carrying his personal belongings. Why?”

Myeorin just stared at Mr.Kang and suddenly wailed.

“Ah-Uh M-miss did I do something wrong?”

Myeorin just missed Hyejeong. Knowing him  he wouldn’t come back ever again.

“What are you crying at you brat? You’re causing a scene in my property.”

“Hye-Hyejong!” Upon hearing that cold voice she stood up and faced Hyejeong with swollen, teary eyes, and a dripping nose.

“Sir Hyejong I promised I didn’t make her cry! She just suddenly weeps when I said-”

“It’s okay Mr. Kang I know. No need to clean here anymore. you can rest now. And you brat go inside.”

The two of them went inside. Hyejeong comfortably sat on his aesthetically white L-shaped sofa in front of his Floor to ceiling big windows. While Myeorin stands there dumbfounded.

“I-I thought you’re leaving…”

“Well yeah I am until Professor Shin said I have to cover his surgery tomorrow because his wife is in labor.”

“So you’re not leaving anymore?”

“I still am.”

Confused about Hyejeongs statement, creases were formed at her temples. She extended both of her hands trying to block the huge door. The lad just lowkey snickered at her actions.

“What do you mean?! No! nuh uh you won’t leave this place over my dead body.”

“”Why Won’t I leave?”

“Because I love you.”

Hyejong suddenly stopped sipping his drink and just stared at her with those big bunny-like eyes.

“What?”

“Do Hyejong Saranghae.”

He rose from the chair and met her body.

“You lose.”

“I don't careabout the bet anymoret. I love you.”

Hyejeong's mind left the earth. His lips unconsciously guided him to  Myeorin’s plump, soft, pinkish lips. It tasted like pure heaven.

“CUT!”

Taeyong got startled at the director’s cue. No thoughts, mind empty, just watching his love of his life kissing his best friend. He knew it’s part of their work and he’s proud of the both of them  but a part of him just aches knowing you’re single and doyoung single, you might fall for his kisses that used to be his.

“Y/N! Focus!”

“You okay?”

“Yeah just out of character.”

Y/N didn’t know the kissing scene and suggestive scenes are the ones that they'll be filming today. It’s supposed to be Next week! Now she felt odd knowing Taeyong’s here. She turned to Taeyong’s space, seeing him sending her a death glare while eating sweet potato chews.

“KISSING SCENE TAKE 2”

“KISSING SCENE TAKE 3”

“TAKE 6”

“TAKE 12”

The number of takes irked taeyong. Was he invited here just to suffer? Finally you guys nailed the scene. He thought it’s over yet there’s more to come.

Myeorin and Hyejeong were intoxicated with each other. A peck on the lips results in a very deep passionate one. Hyejong carried her in his arms, not letting go of her tasty lips together and they traveled towards the bedroom.

Taeyong stormed off the set. Right in front of my Sweet potato chews he said.

“Taeyong! Where are you going?”

“Don’t follow me. I’ll go home now.”

“What? why? I brought you here. I thought we were going to have ice cream after this?

“EAT ICE CREAM WITH ‘HYEJONG’ INSTEAD hmp.”

He mimicked her voice. Taeyong tried to look angry. But in Y/N’s eyes he’s a baby pouting.

“H-Hyejong? Who is that?”

“Duh? Doyoung?”

“Why would i eat ice cream with him?”

“Yeah right. Why would you guys eat ice cream if you two can just suck each other’s faces off.”

“OMG HAHAHAHAHA ARE YOU JEALOUS?”

“No! Why would I?”

“Hmm..”

“Fine I am! You said today’s going to be fun. Yeah fun for you you kissed doyoung 17 times.”

You grinned like a mad man  at his accusation even though you’re guilty of it. It’s just so cute you can’t help but to..

 “Why would you do that?! You kissed another guy then you kiss me? Don’t give me false hope Y/N.”

“Okay.. I won’t kiss you anymore. You said it yourself.”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just that it’s giving me false hope..”

“About what?”

“About you. About us being together again. So don’t kiss me i you don’t mean i-”

Yeah you kissed your ex. He needs to shut up.

“Do you still love me?

“Of course. I have always been Taeyong.”

Cut the chase and hide and seek. You  won’t deny your feelings anymore. The feeling of missing him, his warmth, and love. You won’t deny it all again.

You two left the Area hand in hand, talking while having a little stroll.

“Hey I have a question?”

“What is it?

“Did you change your perfume?”

“Yeah. It’s Yves Saint Laurent’s  Black Opium”

“I like the old one better.”

“What smell do you love the most? Me or Febreeze? ”

“Definitely Febreeze.”

The sound of your laughs and voices faints as you two went back to the set

"If you were to pick what is your favorite song in this album? And What part of it makes you like it?"

The Interviewer  asks.

You picked up your mic and said

 “Ethereal. I like the pre chorus part the

 i can't wait to see him next

and witness his ethereal glow

he is my darling

and nothing or no one

could ever come between

bonded for life

he is my king. 

It just reminded me of someone. Someone I missed..” The crowd goes wild, they're squealing and most of them are screaming Lee Taeyong!

Taeyong goes shy.. He can’t believe you wrote him that song when he asked you who’s your inspiration you just said ‘my grandma why?’ now he knows.

He Throws you a ‘you’re hiding it from me’ look while you just replied a simple wink.

“Okay, Let’s get back to the unanswered question.. What didn't work out for the two of you?”

You two stared at each other's eyes knowing the answer.

Once again you grabbed your mic and said

“Let’s just say he’s a major clean freak.”

[chaosworthyarchive]

                                                             8.26.3227                                                                                                                                Location ¦ Starlight

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

     How much time had passed, even Sonic didn't know. Turns out it really was easy to lose track of time, not only in the throes of fun but in a place that had no clock, or windows for that matter. He had no idea what time it was when last call was announced, nor when the music started to die down and people filed out of the building in droves. All he knew was that it was late and he, like the rest of his team it seemed, was exhausted. In good spirits, but drained. 

     Which made the next notable event of the night a tad troublesome. 

     Stepping out into the dark streets of the city, the first thing the hero noticed was the quiet. Being some of the last to leave, The Freedom Fighters were met with nearly empty streets, minus a few groups chatting along the sidewalk. Perhaps it was for the best. It made it easier to spot the small group who had been on their tails all evening as they walked along the deserted street, Sonic and Johnny exchanging a glance before ducking into an alleyway, goading the rest of the team along. It didn't take long for questions to come, but one look from the hedgehog seemed to be enough for the others to realize something was up. 

     And, sure enough, once they had gotten mostly down the dead-end alley, the hero turned to face the four almost silhouetted figures who had followed them inside. And they were...an odd bunch, to say the least. A female wolverine with long orange hair covering half of her face and donning a masquerade style mask, a grey bat with half their face obscured by another style of mask, a skink with a black full bodysuit and...well, Sonic couldn't place the last one but he didn't need to in order to know that the last member had them all beat when it came to height and sheer size. They were colossal. 

     Moreover none of them looked familiar, not in the slightest, and yet there was a heavy feeling in the hero's stomach. One he couldn't place but spoke of ill tidings as the two groups stood there for a few moments, staring at one another. By this point the rest of The Freedom Fighters seemed alert, cautious. Tense. 

     It was Sonic who broke the silence, eyes shifting between the four strangers, unsure whose idea he had to blame for this meeting but clearly unimpressed. “I don’t suppose you want t' do this the easy way, do you? It would save us all a lot of trouble.”

     It had been a test, an attempt to see what the foursome wanted and the hero did not like the way they all seemed to sneer in perfect unison. It was the female who replied, her boots clicking on the pavement as she stepped forward, ruby eyes boring into the hedgehog. There was confidence in her stance, a self-assuredness that was as telling as it was troublesome. 

     “Your wish is my command, handsome.” The last word was sickeningly sweet (and Sonic was pretty sure he heard the faintest growl from Mina at his side) and came with a narrowing of her one visible eye. Her entire demeanor spoke of trouble. “I’d say it’s an honor to meet you all, but I wasn’t raised to be a liar.”

     “Who are you?” Johnny was far less polite with the matter, and no one blamed him for it. 

     It was the bat who scoffed, wings twitching almost anxiously behind them. “We're the Fundamental Four, and unless you give us what we want we’re going to be the worst people you’ve ever met.”

     The Freedom Fighters exchanged looks, each as clueless as the next. None of them had heard of the foursome, much less what they wanted, and Amy was the next to respond in less than friendly tones. “At the risk of sounding cliche, what do you want?”

     The female, again, smiled, her tone deep and with purpose. “The Chaos Emeralds.”

     This time, Sonic was certain he heard his partner growl and it was a frightening sound indeed. “How...?”

     There was a shift in the air as it grew heavy with strain, one side agitated and the other giving off a boldness that seemed far too certain. Sonic could see his team bracing, ready for what had to be an inevitable confrontation. Johnny was already subtly reaching for his pocket, Amy had tensed with Tekno right beside her. Mina had shifted her stance ever so slightly and Porker...had actually taken a step back towards the rabbit. Along with everything else, the pig had never been a fighter either.

     The skink scoffing only made those actions stick out tenfold to the hero, and emerald eyes would meet beady black ones with a dangerous spark. “It doesn’t matter. Give them to us, or else.”

    “Fat chance. You don’t know who you’re messin’ with, do you?” Johnny’s words were punctuated by an all too familiar metal rod making a very public appearance, one click of a button bringing the rod to its full length and already sparks danced along its ends. The first die was cast, and the foursome looked pleased.

     “Oh, we have a pretty good idea,” the female seemed unimpressed, but eager. Her eyes were dead set on the blue hedgehog and him alone as her teammates stirred behind her with hostile intentions. “Too bad it won’t help you.”

     The next few seconds were nothing but chaos, in the most literal sense. Had things not turned so dire in the blink of an eye Sonic would have reprimanded the rabbit for forcing open that door, though he had to wonder if it even mattered. Nonetheless, it didn’t change that they were vastly unprepared for what they were met with. The female had rushed forward so fast that even the hedgehog was startled, which meant there was little to no time for Mina to react to the very solid ball of fire that had been launched in her direction thanks to the wolverine. 

     Fire teeming with an all too familiar energy, a tainted power.

     Whatmore, her teammates offered more of the same. Too preoccupied with not meeting a wall of flames head-on, Sonic wasn’t entirely sure what was happening beyond that. He saw smoke, stones and water all making a straightaway for his team out of the corner of his eye, all originating from the mysterious trio and all with lethal intent. The only relief came when he saw his partner, singed but otherwise looking unharmed, joining the fight. Which left him alone with the female and the fire surrounding the two of them like a menacing snake. 

     Ignoring the swelling nausea in his stomach, the hero turned his attention to his opponent for the time being, his eyes sharp and tone even colder. His team would be fine, he knew. She had gotten him alone for a reason, and he wanted answers. 

     “Who are you?”

     “We’re the new kids in town, so you better get used to us, Blue.”

     It was all she offered, moving again with a speed that betrayed her appearance. Unfortunately for her, the hero had already seen her trick and met her head-on. She was easy to read, he could tell her speed wasn’t natural that it came from her apparent ability to manipulate fire. It was sluggish, but still dangerous because of those flames that served as an offense and defense. It was a problem, took away the possibility of a real physical attack. Luckily, the hero had the wind on his side.

     It was obvious she hadn’t expected the burst of air that erupted between them, giving a much-needed distance to the hero. The shock was only temporary, her composure regained as her hands lit with bright red flames. Sonic didn’t know whether to count himself lucky that the next few fireballs aimed in his direction were smaller than the initial one, smaller even than the ones he was used to dodging from his brother, but they were rapid. Where he dodged one, he had to slice through another with razor-sharp wind or risk getting burned and then repeat the process, all in a matter of seconds. It would have been an easy task any other day but the excess of negative energy was making the hero dizzy, causing his body to shake, and he mentally cursed. 

     He was vaguely aware that things seemed better for his team on the other side of the walls of fire, but how much was something he wasn’t certain of. Nor did he have time to even think of breaching the wall to regroup. The fire-wielder was determined, not letting up for a moment before rushing him again, covered from head to toe in flames that never seemed to hurt her. A Mobian torch.

     It was a mistake. 

     There was a common rule in science that fire, when exposed to air, had a habit of expanding, growing uncontrollably, and that was what the hedgehog had been banking on. 

     Fire met wind with a timely explosion, though the hero had easily gotten a good portion of it all. Momentarily blinded by embers and smoke, eyes and lungs burning, he coughed as he wisped the grey fog away. It was just in time to see the female, clothes burned and expression outraged, mere inches from his face. It wasn’t enough to stop the oncoming, flame-covered kick, nor the white-hot pain that erupted in his side. In spite of himself, the hero cried out. 

     Be it the blinding pain or a sense of urgency, even as he fell to his knees, the hero raised glowing green eyes to the wolverine. The rage in them seemed to jar her, more so than the shift in the air. In one fell blast, a wave of energy and wind washed over the alleyway. It was violent, a galeforce, that sent the elemental foursome slamming into the nearest walls with audible cracks. Yet, it never touched The Freedom Fighters, all of whom had paused at the sudden show of intensity, only to turn towards the source a second later. 

     “Sonic!” Seeing their leader on the ground was enough to kick them into gear and they all rushed over. Again, there was relief felt on Sonic's part seeing that they all seemed okay, battered and a little bruised (and damp, oddly enough) but alright. The same couldn't be said for himself, or the Four. 

     Yet the bat on the opposite end of the alley had gotten to their feet, dazed but not as wounded as the rest of his team, unfortunately. One look at The Freedom Fighters, one look at the blue hedgehog nearly baring his teeth in pain, and they were quick to gather their teammates and pull out a golden ring. A warp ring, and one that was soon activated where the bat stood, where he gave the heroes one last, seething look. 

     “We'll be seeing you all again real soon.” And with that, the other prostrate three were unceremoniously dragged through the ring, and they were gone. Like a bad nightmare; and no one went after them. Had it not been for the state of the alley, fractured, burned and soaked, it almost would have been easy to believe it was just a dream. Almost, if not for the sound of discomfort that came from Sonic just a moment later. 

     Mina wasted no time kneeling at his side, her expression just as worried as his own as he looked her and the other’s over. “Are you okay?”

     It was a dumb question, everyone there could see as much, but the hero still held up a hand to signify that was the case. It wasn't fooling anyone, not between the blue one's heavy breathing and pained expression, not to mention the coughing that came every few seconds, but there was another pressing question. 

     “Who were those guys? And what the hell did they do to you?”

     A slightly better question by Johnny, and one Sonic would have loved to have the answer to. He had undoubtedly gotten hit, his side was in too much pain to suggest otherwise, but that was the problem. It was in too much pain. The hero had been burned before, had been shot, stabbed and a great number of other things, but this? It didn't feel...right, and he didn't know how else to explain it. And maybe that was why he felt the compulsion to move his hand and look at the damage. 

     He regretted it the moment he did.

     He had expected the charred fur and skin, expected the black and red dots that came with it. What he hadn't been prepared for was the sickly ashen color around it all, nor the unnatural black spider-like veins that clashed terribly against the parlor, creeping up his side a few more inches until they were obstructed by kempt blue fur and the remains of his shirt. It all hurt, burned, terribly so. It almost looked dead.

     Looking between his teammates, the hero could see the same confusion and wariness in their eyes as they looked from it back to him. With the question hanging in the air, he could only think of two words. 

      “Nothing good."

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #216: “... To Avenge the Avengers!”

February, 1982

"Avenge us, Tigra! The Molecule Man must die!”

Eesh, the Avengers plus Silver Surfer have gone full Hamlet’s Dad on Tigra and she’s gonna cat Molecule Man and his plush himself to death. But he’s ready for it.

But why? Well...

Last time: Silver Surfer inadvertently gave Molecule Man the idea to eat Earth. The Avengers and the Surfer teamed up to stop him but he just Molecule Manned their sweet gear into nothing, captured them all, and then stomped them under a giant boot-o-matic crusher! Except Tigra who he kept around because he wanted someone to talk at and because Tigra had claimed that she liked him!

This time: “Tigra... the Last Avenger!”

Nice touch that the book name inside the book has been changed to match even if the cover hasn’t.

That is a tough hat to wear. Did you know its only been a little over a week since she joined the team?

And in that time she got thrown into space by an Elf-Queen, watched a founding Avenger have an emotional breakdown and try to kill his friends to make them like him again, had her soul set on fire, been repeatedly harassed in public, and watched the whole team be killed with her life only being spared because she begged for her life!

Is this the worst week and change in Avengers history? IT MIGHT WELL BE!

“She was spared. The fear of death has drained away now, leaving only emptiness behind. She has never felt so alone.”

This narration set in the same panel where Molecule Man is all but slapping the giant boot and going ‘this bad boy can crush so many fucking Avengers in it.’

Well really, its more like

Molecule Man: “Well, cat-lady, they’re dead! Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and that Silver Surfer guy -- squished flat by my giant boot-o-matic crusher! You know, I made this thing out of molecules from a scrapyard! Yessir, I believe in recycling!”

But that’s about the same level of dissonance between jolly goofus villain rambling and hollow despair.

Anyway, Molecule Man calls her out on being such a bummer because she’s moping over there when he’s feeling good about killing the Avengers and really Tigra try to consider how he feels geez.

So she shakes off the despair and asks hey what exactly is Molecule Man going to do with her?

Tigra: “Am I going to be your mate or...”

Molecule Man: “What? Nah! I never got along with girls! I mean, you know... that way! Yessir, mom always warned me about... that! And she was right! You can be my friend! No! Make that -- my pet! Here, kitty, kitty!”

Wow.

That. That dodged a bullet in a cool Matrix bullet time way right into another bullet.

Let’s please not get too creepy with this, huh? You listening to me, comic published nearly forty years ago? Let’s not get creepy!

Molecule Man decides to be a responsible pet owner and feed his pet. He can control molecules so obviously it should be no trouble to just rearrange them into any configuration he--

Okay, its apparently really hard to make food! Way too complicated!

He’s going to be an irresponsible pet owner and not feed Tigra. And meanwhile he’s going to chow down on some undifferentiated mush or possibly a pile of dust. Its all molecules so its all the same to him.

Tigra didn’t even want food but asks him where the bathroom is.

Molecule Man: “Bathroom? Hmm... well, I really don’t understand how plumbing works, so I couldn’t make a bathroom! If you want, though, I could sort of fake it...”

Tigra: “No, I’ll be all right! i just feel a little sick...”

Molecule Man: “So go be sick for a while! I’ve got to get started on my little project anyway! If I’m going to eat this stupid planet -- I’ve got to prepare by clearing away all the living things from a few square miles of land.”

And he gets started! A giant ridge of land just peels up from the ground, like Molecule Man is skinning a fruit before eating. Also a volcano erupts. Pretty sure there weren’t any volcanoes in New Jersey before now.

Fairly sure.

Outside the dome, thankfully the army has been evacuating everyone in a fifty-mile radius or else a lot of people would be dead. VOLCANO.

Then the Fantastic Four arrive.

Yayyyyy! Oh whoa whoa, Fantastic Fourrr!

They’ve got the best Molecule Man mashing record so they’re here to do what they do do.

Which in this context is fail like champs.

Ben Grimm the Thing tries to shatter the dome with a punch and no dice. Then Human Torch cranks up to nova flame and applies the heat of a sun on one little spot on the dome.

Johnny about wears himself out doing it and still no result.

Guess Iron Man, Thor, and Silver Surfer > a pinpoint miniature sun.

Meanwhile inside, Molecule Man tells Tigra hey get a load of this. And then he levitates a couple billion gallons of water from the Delaware River and dumps it on the Fantastic Four, plus the army, washing them away.

Invisible Woman: “Reed, it -- it doesn’t seem possible!”

Mr. Fantastic: “Everything is made of molecules, Sue! Anything is possible for the Molecule Man!”

Molecule Man far too hax.

But meanwhile, gasp, the Avengers weren’t actually all killed in a book with their name on it! This is unprecedented!

And Silver Surfer is ready to explain their unlikely survival of giant crushing boot.

See, Silver Surfer wasn’t quite as knocked unconscious as the three Avengers so he played possum. When Molecule Man put the Avengers plus Silver Surfer in the crushing boot and when it was just about to crush, Silver Surfer used the Power Cosmic to disintegrate the bottom part of the boot so that the Avengers and him fell to a lower floor. Completely uncrushed!

So that’s good.

The bad is that Silver Surfer has to report that Tigra is still in Molecule Man’s clutches.

The awkward is that Iron Man and Thor lost their armor and hammer respectively so Cap is like ‘wait, what are Tony Stark and Perfectly Normal Dr. Donald Blake doing here??’

So Tony and Don come clean about his secret ID.

Tony Stark, Actually Iron Man: “I feel a little foolish about keeping that secret from you till now! I’m sure Don feels the same way...”

Donald Blake, Dr. Thor: “Right, Tony...”

So now Cap is in on the secret which previously bound Tony and Don together as the Best Friends Avengers Who Aren’t Beast and Wonder Man.

Remember when they discovered each other’s secret IDs? Good times. Well, weird times. That was the issue when that hates-robots group suicide bombed Vision for dating a meat woman.

Also, Tony was only wearing underwear under the Iron Man armor so Don gave him his suit jacket to wear as a loincloth. Mighty nice of him.

Silver Surfer has just been standing on the sides not caring about all this secret ID nonsense or personal drama so he chimes in to point out that Molecule Man is going to eat the planet unless they stop him.

Cap decides that he and the Surfer have to strike before Molecule Man realizes they’re alive. Tony and Don have the important mission to hide somewhere safe.

Tony and Don object to being sidelined. Strongly.

Tony: “You think Iron Man is just a suit of armor, Cap? Is that what you’re saying?”

Don: “I found this rod to use as a makeshift cane! It won’t change me into a thunder god, but it’ll help me get around -- if only to draw fire!”

Tony: “Like it or not, we’re with you!”

Don: “The Avengers stand assembled, Captain America! Now, lead us!”

Cap: “All right! I get the message! I should have known better than to think you’d -- I mean, you two are the best...”

Tony: “Save it, Cap! We’ve got work to do!”

Aww.

This is everything I could have hoped for out of secret ID reveal. Cap starts thinking of them as civilians now that they have real person names but ultimately it brings them closer as teammates.

I love it. Granted, I love it because my favorite form of Avengers is a group of friends and set of interpersonal dramas roughly shaped like a superhero team.

Later, in the nighttime and in the room that Molecule Man made for Tigra.

... Wow, Molecule Man.

Wow.

So we’ve got a giant cat shaped bed. A giant, terrifying cat head on the wall. And a giant ball of yarn. But not giant sized cat tree? Fie and shame.

Anyway, Tigra is sitting on bed lamenting and decrying the Fantastic Four’s failure. Especially as it pertains to her situation.

Tigra: “I -- I just can’t believe the Fantastic Four failed! How could they let me -- and the world down like that? How could they? Right now, Reed Richards is probably locked in his lab trying to invent a gizmo that’ll pierce the dome! Hmf! Who knows how long that might take? The Molecule Man plans to eat the Earth tomorrow morning!”

Nothing like a nice filling breakfast, I guess.

She grants that Reed doesn’t know there’s an everyone’s-deadline so instead Tigra bemoans that it’s all up to her.

Tigra: “I should have tried to jump him today! I can’t believe I didn’t! I was standing right next to him a couple of times! I’m cat-quick! Why didn’t I lunge at him and claw him to shreds before he could move? Could it be because my muscles felt like jelly -- ? I was trembling -- ? In shock -- ? Afraid of him? Hey, shouldn’t I be? I mean, I saw him crush my friends to a bloody smear! And I had a spooky feeling that he was somehow, secretly ready for an attack -- and hoping I’d give him an excuse to dice me into furry cubes!”

And because this is a Tigra character beat page, she also thinks about how easy the hero gig used to seem when it was for smaller stakes. But with the actual literal fate of the world at stake... “I never thought that when the big test came I’d be a scaredy cat!”

But she remembers what Cap said during the Ghost Rider story that its not wrong to be frightened if you don’t let fear dictate your actions.

So she creeps out into the night to Molecule Man’s bedroom.

Oh, that’s a neat touch.

Her shadow on the wall looks a lot like a tiger because her hair curls at the end like a tail.

Neat.

So anyway, she doesn’t understand how Molecule Man can be so confident that he’s just sleeping with his door wide open and with no defenses and wonders if there’s a trap or whether he’s just counting on her to think that there’s a trap.

She’s about five seconds from a full-blown I know you know that I know that you know episode.

The only way to find out is just go for it so she creeps into the room. The garish room.

This is even more wow than Tigra’s room.

But as she creeps into the room and up to the enormous, ridiculous bed, she realizes that she has to kill him. If she attacks and doesn’t kill him with the first strike, what he could do is too horrible for her to imagine.

But what she doesn’t realize is that Molecule Man isn’t sleeping soundly and isn’t unprepared. 

He’s stretched monomolecular filaments across the room, too thin for even Tigra to spot.

Now usually monomolecular filaments is one of those ‘oops I’ve been cut to pieces by invisible wires’ thing. You’ve probably seen it in a couple of anime. But this is more like a bunch of cans on a string.

Tigra breaks one of the filaments while she creeps forward. Something that she couldn’t possibly know but which instantly alerts him.

And his response is a “Oh, ho! Just wait’ll she tries it! This’ll be fun!”

Because Tigra’s instinct was correct. Molecule Man was keeping her around just to kill when she finally tried anything. Its been a game. See how far he can push Tigra and how messily he can deal with her when she loses.

This is pretty tense stuff! Well, it lasts a page so it doesn’t overfocus on this specific tense scenario but still!

Tigra: “I’m in range! All I’ve got to do is spring and... and kill him! He murdered my friends! He’s going to destroy the whole world! I’ve got to kill him! Come on, lady! Do it! What’s wrong? He deserves it! He’s a murderer -- ! A rotten little wimp! He calls you ‘kitty’! Kill him! I hate him! I hate him! but... i just can’t kill him!”

And apologizing to Cap for not being able to go through with it, she slinks out of the room trying to think of another way.

Inside the room, Molecule Man sits up disgruntled, just not understanding at all why she didn’t go through with it. There’s no way she could have known that he was ready for her so why wouldn’t she try to do a murder!

And then as Tigra is wishing she had someone to talk to, someone grabs her and pulls her around a corner.

Boom, a comedy after all that one page of tension.

And it’s Cap because there’s like four people it could have been.

Tigra is elated that the Cap is alive, that she’s not alone anymore! And she tries to confess that she attempted to kill Molecule Man to avenge the Avengers. That maybe she should have because now she might lose them again!

Tony: “You did fine, Tigra! Relax!”

But she doesn’t feel like she did fine so she tries to explain that she let the Avengers down by giving into cowardice. She told Molecule Man she liked him to stay alive.

Cap: “Good strategy, Tigra -- preserving your life so you’d be able to carry on the battle!”

She tries to explain it wasn’t strategy so much as being terrified but she gets distracted because she’s just realized that in this group of Cap and Silver Guy there’s two people she doesn’t know.

Cap: “Dr. Don Blake, who’s secretly Thor and Tony Stark who is Iron Man’s alter ego!”

Her mood immediately flips.

Tigra: “You guys are really Thor and Iron Man? Really? And it’s okay for me to know? Really?”

Tony Stark: “Why not? Somehow those secrets seem pretty trivial, what with the world on the verge of being the Molecule Man’s breakfast!”

He says that but he still looks pretty annoyed at Cap just blurting it out.

And geez, Cap, you gotta let people reveal their own secret identities. Or make up some dumb excuse that everyone instantly believes.

Its the done thing.

In terms of Avengers drama though this is pretty good. Thor, Cap, and Iron Man have been working together for a really long time. Even though Cap didn’t form the Avengers he’s basically been there so long they consider him an honorary founder.

Cap learning Iron Man and Thor’s secret identities can be a ‘we should have told you sooner!’ thing.

Tigra just joined the team! Like a week ago!

They need to work together now and there’s probably no smooth lie that could paper over where Iron Man and Thor went and why these two are here now but its probably still a little galling that Cap just blurts it out to the newest person on the team.

Its great. I’d love to see the repercussions of this.

Anyway, time is short so Tony gets to explaining the plan.

He found his broken armor and managed to scavenge enough bits and pieces to make a little device he’s calling a screamer. It’ll emit a high-pitched noise that should disorient Molecule Man.

And then the device just poofs into smoke in Tony’s hand.

Whoops, Molecule Man overheard their plan to beat up Molecule Man and also heard Tony call him names.

So he pulls together all the loose dust in the room and uses it to strangle Tony.

Wow, they’ve gone from having a “layered assault” to watching someone literally choke on Molecule Man’s dust. That’s got to be the quickest turnaround from hope to nope.

Tigra goes wild, rushing at Molecule Man and screaming that she shoulda killed him before and she’s damn well going to scratch his face off now!

But Molecule Man asks her to talk to the hand. Zing.

Puns.

Although “Don’t scream at me, Kitty! ‘Cause I’ll slap you down!”

Sure. That’s good wordplay too.

Having just been comedically (although seriously) WHAP!’d across the room, Tigra has her own words to say.

Tigra: “You -- you weak, slimy excuse for a human being! How could I have stooped so low as to humble myself to garbage like you? So you’ve got power! Big deal! You were a nerd before -- you’re still a nerd! You were a mistake! You shouldn’t even have been born! You crybaby! All you do is blame the world for your own inedequacy! Go on, kill me, nerd! I despise living in the same world with you!”

Wow. She really took all those personal details he shared and slapped him upside the head with them.

Goes to show. Don’t try to destroy the world. People will have rude things to say.

Meanwhile, Cap and Silver Surfer are trying to save Tony but can’t clear the super condense dust faster than Molecule Man gathers it.

Cap tells Tigra to get Molecule Man because that’s their only chance but Tigra is too hurt from being slapped by a giant hand.

Molecule Man: “I’ve got to hand it to you guys, it must’ve taken some doing to escape my crusher! This time, I’m going to make sure you’re dead! Hmm... someone’s missing! But who?”

And he’s done process of elimination and realized that the guy Thor turned into is missing and figures he ran away when Entirely Normal But Furious Dr. Donald Blake tells Molecule Man to grit his teeth.

And then Molecule Man runs off yelling because Dr. Donald Blake can throw down. He possibly broke Molecule Man’s nose with that one punch.

Good job, Dr. Donald Blake.

With Molecule Man not focusing on the dust thing, Tony is free of the dust thing but unconscious. Dr. Donald Blake tells the others that he’ll take care of Tony and that they should go chase Molecule Man since they can run better than he can.

So Cap, Tigra, and Silver Surfer go off in pursuit of Molecule Man.

Silver Surfer reminds that he can track Molecule Man’s unique energies. Cap helpfully points out that they can also just track the trail of blood drips from Molecule Man’s nose. And Tigra goes ‘also I can smell him’ because its good to have three different ways to find a guy.

They find him in some sort of throne room (curled up in pain on the throne) and charge at him. But he’s not in the mood for their shenanigans.

So he sends a tidal wave of molecules at them.

Cap shouts for Silver Surfer to do something and he does do something indeed.

The Surfer blasts the wave of matter with the power cosmic so hard that it transmutes into raw energy and just explodes through the top of the palace in a beautiful pyrotechnic display.

It also completely exhausts the Surfer and he just kind of plops down for a nap right there on the ground.

Cap tells Tigra to watch the Surfer and then goes to take the Molecule Man on alone.

This isn’t a great plan but also their already small roster has kind of dwindled to this point.

And maybe Cap sort of doesn’t want to throw Tigra at Molecule Man when she’s already been hurt and was voicing all those doubts earlier. Can’t say for sure. She’s about to offer for help but Cap is like ‘WHOOPS NOW OR NEVER!’

Molecule Man must be in a whimsical mood, I mean more so than usual have you seen what he’s been getting up to? Because he converts some of the furnishings into a bunch of stars to shoot at Cap.

Its funny because Cap wears a star. It’d be ironic if he got smacked in the face with one, probably.

But Molecule Man activated Cap’s speechifying and that buffs him because nobody likes hearing Cap talk about freedom and justice and doing right more than Cap probably.

What I’m saying is that he leaps and gambols between the stars and I feel its because he has Stuff To Say that he’s doing so well.

Cap: “You make me sick, mister! They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,  and you’re living proof of it! You might kill me! After all, I’m just an ordinary man -- but men like me have always found a way to bring high-and-mighty tyrants like you to their knees! There’s never enough power to save madmen like you -- from ultimate, bitter defeat!”

WAK!

And perhaps it wasn’t just his agility that was improved by inspirational speeching himself. Because he knocks Molecule Man down with that one punch and he doesn’t get back up.

Or maybe Molecule Man just has a glass jaw.

Don Blake and Tony Stark show up and Silver Surfer wakes up but he runs in with the rest anyway for some reason. Tony tells Tigra to watch Molecule Man while he has an Important Debate with Cap.

See, Tony has realized something. Knocking down Molecule Man is just the first step. If Molecule Man gets back up, he might start eating the Earth again and the Avengers might not be able to stop him.

So he asks Don Blake if there’s a medical way to just sort of keep Molecule Man knocked out.

Don Blake: “How? We can’t just keep hitting him on the head -- this isn’t a T.V. show! I mean, how hard do you hit him? How many times can you do that before causing serious brain damage... or death?”

Realism? In a comic book? What are YOU doing here??

Anyway, Tony doesn’t see any other option but to kill Molecule Man.

Cap protests that Molecule Man is a human being with rights to due process and a trial by jury of his peers!

But Tony is convincing the others. As an Actual Doctor, Don Blake doesn’t like to hear this. He wants to save lives. But he can’t refute Tony.

And Silver Surfer also seems on Team Tony.

Silver Surfer: “I understand what it is to sacrifice one life so that a multitude, a world might live! It seems clear that this Molecule Man cannot be imprisoned or held in check! He... must die to save the Earth... though I could never bring myself to slay him!”

Don’t you have the power cosmic? Surely there’s a power cosmic option available?

To be fair though his the power cosmic might be exhausted at the moment.

Still. Geez, Silver Surfer. ‘He gotta die but 1-2-3-not-it’ is really how you’re playing this??

Meanwhile, Tigra has decided that being asked to watch Molecule Man implies a certain duty perhaps even responsibility to tell him how much he sucks. Which is a lot.

And recall that she’s already told him how much he sucks earlier in the fight. So she has found a second wind in telling him how much he sucks.

Tigra: “You little jerk! Don’t you see? Cap was wrong! Power very seldom corrupts! It usually doesn’t change anything! It just magnifies what’s already there, whether it’s good and noble or evil and petty!”

“You were a nerd before... now you’re a powerful nerd! Big deal! Dummy! The shame of it is that with your power you can build... you can contribute! You don’t have to be a loser anymore!”

“Why are you such a fool? Why can’t you see that killing a planetful of people doesn’t make you even -- it just make you lonelier than ever!”

Wow. It feels like Tigra could hypothetically be talking about all different kinds of entitled nerds who then become the jerks as adults!

Anyway.

Tony and Cap are still arguing.

Tony, at least, isn’t going to ask someone to do something he wouldn’t do himself. I.e., he’s going to kill Molecule Man himself and save four billion people.

Cap: “Tony... please! I can’t let you do this!”

Tony: “You can take me in for murder afterward, Cap, but for now, stand aside! I’m warning you...”

Cap: “You’ll have to go through me, Tony...”

You’re warning him, Tony? You don’t have armor. You don’t even have pants. What are you going to do to supersoldier Captain America?

Logic aside, what strikes me is how much this foreshadows.

Before Civil War contrived that superhero registration, the big hot button superhero debate issue is whether superheroes should kill in extreme circumstances.

Spoilers for the NINETIES but the Regular and West Coast Avengers will come to schism and Cap and Iron Man will basically break up over whether or not to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence after it engineered a war that killed 90% of the Kree people on purpose.

Shooter is long gone by that point but I guess someone is going to pick up the thread.

Because the debate doesn’t get settled here or rather does, sorta, in favor of Cap but not in a way he expects.

Interrupting the sad fist fight between Cap and a nearly naked man, Molecule Man pops up and tells everyone that Tigra has convinced him to turn his life around.

Tigra: “Guys, Mr. Owen Reece and I have talked, and, well, I convinced him to give himself up!”

Mr. Owen Reece: “Yes, I want to start seeing a therapist!”

Cap: “huh?”

Mr. Owen Reece: “I know I’ll have to go to jail... but that’s okay! It’ll give me time to think things out! I’ll make an opening in the dome now so you can call the authorities!”

Don Blake: “s-sure!”

God, that is just great. I love this as a resolution so much. This is a resolution that Squirrel Girl would bring us, although we’d get more of the actual convincing.

Still very, very good. Good to be optimistic in comics sometimes. Sometimes villains can seek redemption if only a cat yells at them long enough.

Although I think the best part is how baffled everyone is by the plot twist.

So with but a “Soon...” caption, the police have come to pick up Mr. Owen Reece and brought Miss Hanrahan who is going to be his therapist.

Holy crap, a therapist in Marvel who isn’t Doc Sampson but will work with superpowered nonsense!

Can we bring Miss Hanrahan back??

A couple things I like here.

One is that Mr. Owen Reece has changed off-panel into a suit instead of his supervillain costume. Now that’s him making an honest effort.

Two is Very Annoyed Tony Stark in the back of the pack of Avengers. He’s wearing a handkerchief as a mask because someone might recognize him as Tony Stark and then wonder ‘hey why is Tony Stark here.’

Three is the proud smile from Tigra when seeing Mr. Owen Reece meet his therapist.

Melts my heart a little.

Before he goes away to jail, Mr. Owen Reece takes a quick sidebar with the Avengers.

He retroactively feels just awful about ruining their various gadgets so he decides to make right.

He reintegrates Mjolnir, Toomie the surfboard, and Cap’s shield exactly as they were. Original molecules and all! They were so weird that he remembered where they all went.

As for Iron Man’s Iron Man armor.... look, he did his best.

Mr. Owen Reece: “But your armor, with all those complicated electronic gadgets is just too tricky for me to reassemble! You needed something more proper to wear till you get home, though -- so I whipped up some red and gold cloth and made you an Iron Man leisure suit! I hope it’s okay!”

Amazing. Simply incredible.

Although I think my favorite part was Mr. Owen Reece realizing ‘hey Iron Man should be wearing pants!’

Anyway, he also takes apart his Molecule Man Doom Fortress and puts those molecules back where he found them. More or less. He tries.

And, yes, he does rebuild the entire town of Netcong, New Jersey. Except the plumbing.

In a funny call back to Reece admitting he doesn’t really understand plumbing, none of the plumbing in the rebuilt town works.

Later, back at Avengers Mansion, Silver Surfer is offered a spot on the team but turns it down.

FOR THE PATHS OF DESTINY DO BECKON HIM DOWN A LONELY ROAD THAT MUST BE TRAVELED ALONE

Its the only who he has ever known. Except for all the time he spend with Galactus. Or the Defenders. Or later on when he has a companion to take on space nonsense.

Tigra also takes this time to say farewell.

Tigra: “I’m just not in the same league as you guys! I mean, sure I’ve got lots of super-ability, and, usually, I'm even pretty heroic -- but not up to your standard! I mean two of you, without your powers, no less, really showed me what it’s all about back there! And let’s face it, you guys mess with some heavy-duty opposition! I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead!”

=C

Noooooooooo

But but but Tigraaa you were a source of joy and fuuuuuuuun

You only joined at the end of #211! It’s only been about a week in-universe!

Darn.

The three other Avengers all say their goodbyes.

Thor reminds her that she was the one who turned around Mr. Owen Reece but Tigra says she got lucky.

Iron Man gives her one of Tony Stark’s cards and tells her to call Tony Stark who is definitely not him anytime she needs anything.

Jarvis even tears up at her leaving, although he denies it because a good butler never dies on duty and then blames his allergies.

And then Tigra is off. Damn. If I didn’t know who might be joining the Avengers soon I’d be completely inconsolable instead of just very.

So now the Avengers are down to just three members. That’s not a team. That’s a crossover. Probably why Jarvis wonders if a membership drive is in order.

NEXT: The return of... Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and Egghead!

I’m game for Wasp coming back! Don’t think it likely that Yellowjacket is just going to come back to the team just like that! And Egghead? The villain who blew up a city with a killsat and killed Hawkeye’s brother? Unlikely recruit!

(No I know that’s not what the NEXT means)

Hey, follow @essential-avengers​ because the Hank Pym just keeps happening. Like and reblog too please. Be sad with me that Tigra is gone.

[willmelon]

i don’t usually do this but i feel Compelled to do a liveblog/review of Mouth Dreams so here goes

Please don’t read this if you haven’t heard the album yet as it’ll spoil Everything

(i’ll admit the idea came to me After i listened to Just a Baby so these first ones are gonna be relistened reviews)

first we got Yahoo. what can i say about this song? neil starts off Strong with incredibly sustained notes and just one phrase, in typical neil style. and he makes it work in so many different ways! honestly didn’t expect myself to get so attached so fast but that’s just the way his magic works ig. when the hoooooooos harmonise it almost brings tears to the eyes. i would love to see a group of choristers singing this with another guy on an electric keyboard. what a cold open. 9/10

of course then we go on to the titular track, the dimension of sound, the dimension of imagination, the dimension of doors. rod serling narrates the intro in his traditional monotone as the warbling twilight zone theme plays in the background. i tell ya i was actually Screaming when the track finished and he dropped the title! it may not be a song per se, sort of like Blockbuster from Mouth Moods, a ‘filler track’ if you will, but the effort in those fifty seconds cannot be ignored. it just goes to show once again how Good he is at what he does. 6.5/10

oh lawd, my favourite so far, Spongerock. reading the title i had absolutely No idea what to expect. the goofy goober song from the movie? winner takes all from band geeks? i was pleasantly surprised to find myself tapping out queen’s distinctive boom boom CLAP as the song progressed, and i was in complete Hysterics the whole way through, chanting along with the kids as the pirate encouraged me to sing louder. it’s such a beautiful fit the way they mesh together, and it’s one of those mashups that you listen to and think ‘why has nobody done this before?’ but neil is on a higher plane of existence than us and Knows where it’s at. you’re never the same after you’ve listened to Spongerock. 7.5/10

Just a Baby, where i stopped to begin this thing, is a melancholy song, which i’m not usually a fan of. i admit i don’t know the original song so i kept quiet until the last chorus or two. it’s the yang to the yin of Wow Wow from Moods, another sentence-mixer that was like a full Bop and barely gave you time to catch your breath. in Just a Baby you begin to empathise with the singer as he regales confusing times of his constant youth, including the time his mother (a train) shot a man in cold blood. it’s a powerful ballad, and it’s got a tasteful amount of justin bieber adding backing vocals to the chorus. i may have to deduct a few points cos the lyrics are gonna be hard af to remember. 7/10

ok next up we got Superkiller. this one’s totally blind! i’m. ehhhhh okay not diggin this one very much. ok that say something once line being repeated was comedy gold but talking heads are just like. kinda tuneless tbh. i’m glad he’s trying to lassoo it together with u can’t touch this but it’s kinda falling short tbh. i wouldn’t skip it but it’s not as memorable as the previous ones. 5/10

starting Get Happy. i’m not gonna lie i think i Know what this is, there are only so many options after all. i predict it’s a mix of “get dancin’” by disco-tex and the sex-o-lettes and “happy” by bahrrel williams, and i really hope that ain’t the case cos i Love the first one but despise the latter. oh well let’s see if he can pull it off. sounds like village green by the kinks so far lol uhhhh i have no idea what to make of this. okay i feel like i’m gonna like this after all. hey it’s got memorable lyrics at least! is it gonna get faster? or just more bassy? yknow maybe i was too critical at the start, but i had no idea what to expect. this is a feel-good pop song and it’s definitely making me feel happier than i was when i was listening to Superkiller. 7/10

Ribs? wtf do i expect from a song called Ribs lmao another song i’ve never heard of IH IT’S EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE TH WORLD OH YEEEEEEEEES omg i Love this song i sing it to myself when i’m walkin my dog cos his little paws click-clack on the pavement to the exact rhythm of the song omg i’m in Love! another one with odd lyrics but i think after a Lot of repeat listening i’ll be able to properly croon along to this one omg! it reminds me of Best from Mouth Silence in that they’re both about products, only instead of folgers in your cup it’s about chili’s baby back ribs omg neil you’re Perfect! how come more advertisers haven’t contacted you for a product placement deal?? 7.5/10

next we got My Mouth. welcome to? who knows let’s hit play. ooooh minor key. is this a real song? it sounds like oney singing a cover of something. oh That’s the gimmick? 2:30 long i hope there’s something else tbh cos otherwise it’s gonna get pretty thin pretty fast. mm not a fan. the weakest so far imo especially after Ribs blew me away. definitely a bad dream. 3.5/10

Aerolong don’t fail me now! okay see This is how you do a mashup. I DON’T MISS YOU BABAY AND I DO WANNA MISS A THING THAT’S GOLD!! this is just a song about saying bye to your ex lmao i love it. wish it was longer though. 6/10

Sleepin’ here we go! ok in the youtube version the first half of this song is just silence so that wasn’t fun. gee this one’s only moderately better than My Mouth i’m feeling very shortchanged. 4/10

what to expect from Aamoorree? hopefully this one’s another jam but...okay i’m likin this one. it’s Fun and isn’t trying too hard! it’s just a drunk dean martin singing about pizza pie on karaoke night, what more could you ask for lol. 6/10

Where Is My Mom? by the p-p-p-pooo-oo-ooo-oooool of course. i don’t recognise the other song but it’s decent. i’ve listened to slowed-down songs before (the sludgefest chipmunks albums lately) and this one’s kinda ok. not a fan of the ending but points for effort ig. 5.5/10

Fredhammer ay? might there be some peter gabriel in there? undoubtedly. yup there it is lol ok now bring in the flintstones? oh ig that’s fred durst? mm not totally feeling it so far but censoring he** was funny lmao HEY THERE’S SEINFELD i’m wheezin that was a good way to end a song, well done neil. 6.5/10

here goes Limp Wicket. i’m on the edge of my seat. and Again i’m disappointed. is this a bunch of ewoks singing some kind of star wars song? or is it jarjar? either way this is Not a good song. it probably wasn’t before he mashed it up but this wasn’t an improvement. bringing in Fredhammer didn’t help this song much at all, in fact i think it brought both songs down actually. last one was a 7/10 but i Have to dock it points now that it’s a two-parter. as for this one? i’m being generous cos the limp bizkit song was good. 1/10

Cannibals runs for 4 minutes. PLEASE don’t let this be a repeat of the last one. i get that miners can’t dig up gold every time but don’t just show up with a bunch of rocks and iron pyrites yknow i’m just gonna start. i don’t want to be angry at this album. i recognise that sound in the bg! from a cyriak vid i think. thx comin in. loooooooong drone. ugh UGH there are Too many lucid dreams on this album. starting to regret liveblogging this cos i Loved the other three mouth albums. this one’s just falling flat again and again. 3/10

here comes The Outsiders. there is NOTHING to say about this. 1.5/10

come on Johnny. okay that got a laugh out of me, not many songs start with a booing crowd like that, is that meta? wouldn’t put it past him tbh. ah i’ll give it a 5/10, for a kinda filler song it wasn’t too bad.

Closerflies, this has gotta be gold. PLEASE. intro’s goin on for a little too long...mm having never heard the original version of closer i gotta admit i thought it’d be faster, like the one used in Rollercloser in Silence. this version seems very sloppy and sluggish, especially the bassline. 3/10

Nightmovin’ i’m not expecting much OH good intro oh YES now here we go. this is a good one, it’s got clear lyrics and a catchy tune, i’m liking this one more and more by the second. cuts off weird but it’s going into the next one. so i’m gonna leave the rating out of this one and see how it is after the next one.

Whitehouse i’m holding my breath. mm it’s Good but not great tbh. criminal that the last one was half as long as this one. think i’m gonna give both of these songs a 5/10 i doubt they’ll be anyone’s favourites. the title is a nice little joke too i respect that.

Wah! what’s neil’s obsession with using wannabe as a source lmao! it’s another decent one but nothing memorable again. 5/10

Pee Wee Inc i’m expecting big things. good intro I’M IN LOVE okay this is Much better than i imagined it’d be. did he use the radio edit of feel good inc? this is a heck of a way to bring it back to the gold stuff and i wouldn’t be surprised if this is what neil’s head sounds like all the time. 7/10

on to 10,000 Spoons. not sure what to expect from the title. okay this is a Nice one i think. throwback to the likes of Just a Baby with the two songs and the sentence mixing and it’s Good. and really 10,000 spoons is So ironic anyway, don’t you think? 7/10

oh another song called Mouth Dreams? an extro? that was Weird lol ok the intro i wasn’t too keen on, def not as much as the intro, but i got to appreciate it as it went on. like Rlly appreciate it i was beginning to reflect on what a journey i’d been through tonight, especially writing it all down. felt very poetic. and then WHAM, out of nowhere, after being gone for 23 songs, all-star came Back and How! gotta give this one a 7.5/10

keep the train rolling Brithoven! i can hear faint bits of instruments in britney’s song in the back of her audio which sound like a mistake but knowing neil.......yah lmao. this song’s kinda like Promenade (Satellite Pictures at an Exhibition) from Mouth Sounds, i liked what i heard. very nice. 6.5/10

the final song. we’re gonna be hit one more time for Ain’t! and i have NO idea what i’m in for! in the hall of the mountain king eh? is this like a way of looping around to the first song of the first album with classical music? ok the snoring’s a nod to Bustin i’m sure lmao funny anyway. i thought i heard a hey now in there but i must be going nuts. wouldn’t call it a grand finale but it is what it is. 5/10

now the question that must be asked - was Mouth Dreams trying to make a point? was there a reasons so many songs were of lower-quality than previous albums? perhaps it’s just a matter of taste, or perhaps it’s as rod said back on track two, that this album is a doorway into another dimension, and the further you progress, the more mind-rattling, brain-melting concepts you come across. the album gets an average of 5.5 which is kinda disappointing. don’t think i’ll be listening to the whole thing again. thanks for reading!

[fatandnerdy30]

Land of the Avengers chapter 2

"This is the flight simulator," Dr. Storm showed the boy's the dome shaped room in the middle of the floor. "The main reason why there's so many generators in here because of this. It takes a lot of energy to run the simulator. Probably enough to run the entire city for three years."The boy's were stunned. It took that much energy to run the simulation machine?

"That's insane," Peter whispered. "But, isn't that bad for the environment? I mean, the generators make so much heat and the gasses they're known to produce have been proven to deplete the breathable air and-" Susan held up a hand with a smile. "I know all of that, but Richard actually developed these specially with that in mind. It's a new kind of energy, a renewable energy. It's something the world has never seen. Actually, you're the first people outside this building to see it." Her watch let out a beep and she turned her wrist to see the time. "And now it's getting late, so you two better get in there. You have today and tomorrow to practice before your test. I'd wish you boys luck, but I'm sure you won't need it." She opened the door latch. "Just so you know, there is a water dispenser and a bathroom. People tend to spend a long time in here and I got tired of having to clean up after they left." She sent a glare to the doors her brother went through. "So, I had Reed put in a bathroom." She gave the boys a tight smile. "Go on in. And we'll be monitoring you from out here, so we'll be the first to know if there's a problem." Peter and Harley gave a nod in unison and stepped into the chamber. As soon as the door was shut behind them, they looked at one another. "Let's do this," Harley said, holding his hand out. "And kick its ass doing it," Peter replied with a smile and they grabbed each other's hands in their secret handshake. "Did I mention that we have cameras and microphones in there, too. So no bad language," Susan's voice made the two jump and look up at the camera that had turned to look at them, feeling her admonishing look through the lens. "Sorry!" they yelled in unison and began making their way through the dome to the two seats in the middle of the room. In some odd way, they made the room seem emptier. Together they sat and buckled themselves in, looking around the white room. "Good job on buckling up, boys. You don't know how many trainees make that mistake and treat this as just a VR ride instead of a potentially dangerous experience. You two signed the wavers, right?" The boys nodded. "Good. The room will make an odd noise as the simulation starts, but soon it will fade into the noise of the flight sim. Simulation starting in three......two....one....good luck boys." They didn't get a chance to respond before the room started making a high pitched whirring noise before the room actually disappeared! In its place was the inside of a sub-orbital craft.Harley stared out the window and actually looked real, even down to the birds! "This...this is amazing!" His voice didn't even echo in the cockpit, as it was a small, full space. "The reality is so real." He reached out and touched a control, surprised to feel the yoke in his grasp. "Amazing." "I wonder how they do it? Maybe it's something to do with the brainwaves that measure your senses? That would be amazing tech to put into use in the real world! Imagine what could happen if people didn't have to leave their homes in order to work, that would mean they'd be able to spend their lives in filtered air and therefore increase their lifespan by at least ten years!" Harley gave him a look as if to say 'shut up'. "But, think of the damage the power one of these needs in order to run. Could you imagine something like that in every home? It would kill the planet indefinitely. It was a good thought, though, kid." The younger nodded and got a 'thinking' look on his face. "Worry about it after we're done, okay? Our futures ride on this simulation. We have to do good, or else those scholarships should be taken away." Peter's face turned serious in an instant and he gripped the yoke. "I'm ready. Let's get started." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twelve hours the boys stayed in the room, and the next day it was the same. It was Colonel Richards who came into the dome with a grin on his face. "Well, well. If I had known you would take it this seriously, I would have said yes to Virginia sooner. Twenty four hours in two days. You boys are probably my most determined students." He walked into the room and frowned. "Have you boys turned up the temperature in here?"The answer was obvious as Peter and Harley were drenched with sweat, their heads soaking wet as if they'd just taken a shower. "Didn't anyone tell you that you could turn on the air in here?" "Yes, sir, but we wanted this to be a challenge. We've done every simulation, but we needed a challenge." Peter wiped his forehead, grimacing as it came away wet. "Is that so? So, if I were to give you a test, you two think you would pass?" "With flying colors, Colonel," Harley said proudly. "Well, then I still hope you feel that way next week during your test. Now, get home so you can get some rest. You two still have class in the morning." The boys saluted, their actions half-hearted in their tiredness and they trudged out of the room. "What do you think, Susan?" He turned towards one of the camera's facing him. "I think Johnny is going to be upset at not being the youngest pilot anymore," the woman laughed. Reed smirked."I think you may be right." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning was a sluggish one for both boys. Both yawned with almost every step. With all the excitement from the simulation practice it was to be expected, though. Pepper felt bad for the young boys, especially Peter, who looked as if he hadn't gotten an sleep at all. In the morning class, she'd given her usual lesson, but had been lenient on her students and didn't give them the test she'd planned for that Monday. She would give it to them tomorrow. That would give the boys enough time to sleep. When the bell rang, the two tiredly gathered their belongings and were just out of the classroom when a coffee colored fist made impact with the wall next to Harley's head. "Hey there, fruity boys. I didn't expect to see you back in school this morning, with you being expelled and all." The older teen quirked a brow. "Expelled? What do you mean?" "Oh, everyone's talking about it. You don't get called to the Headmaster's office if you're not in trouble. So, what was it? You lost your scholarships and can't afford to pay for this school anymore?" Flash stuck his lower lip out. "Is that it? Mommy's part time job at the diner isn't enough to even cover one class here, and let's not talk about the orphan here," he jabbed his thumb at Peter, who simply looked down, his face flushed in embarrassment. Harley saw red at that movement and took a step towards Flash, his head towering over the freshman's. "Listen here, you little silver spoon lackey. We were not expelled. In fact, Colonel Richards has given us the chance to take the graduating test this weekend." He spotted the Colonel sauntering down the hallway, his face worried as he spotted the position of the trio and began making his way over to them. "Don't believe me? Ask him yourself." Peter was the first to alert Flash of the headmaster's arrival, going rod straight and saluting. "Colonel Richards, Sir!" he exclaimed, his voice breaking on the last part, causing his red face to turn redder. Harley was next, with Flash a second behind him. Richards smiled at the boy. "At ease, Cadets. Would there happen to be a problem here?" He eyed Cadet Thompson, who looked a little pale. "Actually, we were just discussing our test coming up, Colonel. Can you please tell Flash the rumors of our expulsion are false?" "Expulsion? Of the school's best two cadets? I don't know why you would be expelled. But, the flight test is true." He checked his watch. "Which means you two had better get to class." Peter and Harley saluted again, and hurried off. Flash tried to do the same, but Richards wouldn't have it. "Cadet Thompson, a word if you would." He was tired of hearing about this boy causing trouble. If he thought because his father was the mayor of New York he could get away with anything, he was about to be sorely mistaken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two boys made it to Sergeant Barton's class just in time, as the bell rang as the youngest stepped foot into the classroom. "Heya, boys. Take your seats." Clint gave them a cheeky grin as they walked in. He had planned a video lesson because he knew the two would appreciate that after having a word with Pepper earlier. So, he lowered the lights and brought down the lights. "Remember to take notes," he reminded the class and started the videos. In seconds, both Harley and Peter were out, heads on their notebooks, slight snores coming from them. Clint wanted to wake them, but he didn't have the heart, so he made it like he didn't see them and sat back for the rest of the lesson, watching over his students. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For both boys the week went by so quick, it was almost as if some kind of magical genie had snapped their fingers and made the week rush by. Flash hadn't been bothering them since the Colonel had straightened things out, and both cadets had been getting odd stares from the others on their way to class. But, in the end, it was Saturday and Peter was packed and ready to go, his suitcase next to May's in the living room. "Come on May! My test starts in two hours!" He was pacing by the door, listening to the woman puttering around the dorm. "That's two hours, Peter! Relax and take a breath!" The woman came out smiling as she fixed the large glasses on her face. She walked over to him and pulled the boy into a hug. "Breathe, Petey-Pie. You'll be fine. And we'll leave as soon as I can find a camera." The day the boy had mentioned his test, and she had gotten clearance from her boss at the hospital, she'd been spending her time after work buying all the camera's she could in order to take enough pictures of Peter and the sights on the trip to show to her colleagues. To say they were both proud and jealous was an understatement. As soon as she was ready, the two rushed from the apartment. Or, Peter rushed May out to go pick up Harley, who was sitting on his dorm porch saying goodbye to his mother. The boy gave the woman another hug and ran towards the mono-taxi, a smile on his face. "Hey Pete!" The two boys did their handshakes as the oldest sat in front of them. "Thank you so much for picking me up, Ms. Parker." May was busy telling Mrs. Keener that her son would be in the best hands as they were pulling away. Harley waved again and sat back. "I'm so excited, worried and ready for this to be over." Peter nodded in agreement as he yawned. "That's what you get for being over anxious," May chuckled.The mono-taxi pulled up to the shuttle port, the driver staring at it with wide eyes. "You know, I ain't nevah taken anybody here, and nevah been here myself. These things are too expensive." He turned in his seat. "You goin' anywhere good?" "Actually, my nephew and his friend are about to take their pilot tests." May sounded so proud and Peter liked the tone she used. "Really? They look so young!" The man's eyes widened comically. "Pete here is the youngest cadet ever to take the test," Harvey said, ruffling the red faced boy's hair. "So if he passes, then that means you'll have had the youngest pilot in history in your taxi." "Hey, can I got your autograph, kid? It could be my feature moment here." The man produced a pen and paper from his glove box. Peter nodded and signed the blank paper, handing it to Harvey, who also signed. "Thanks, boys. Hey, good luck!" The trio got out of the cab and together they rushed to the entrance, the guards stopping them for a moment before, with shocked faces, let them pass. Once they walked in, they were greeted by a crowd of travelers, all walking fast to get to where they had be before their flights left. Peter and Harley grabbed on to May's luggage as she stepped into the crowd. They dodged and pushed past angry people, until the loudspeaker in the sub-port buzzed, gaining everyone's attention. "Cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port thirty-four, cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port post haste. I repeat, Cadets Keener and Parker to sub-port thirty-four post haste." People around them started looking around for the cadets, but Peter and Harley didn't even notice the attention they were getting, being the only ones in cadet uniforms, racing with May to the gate they needed to be at. Once they ran through the gates, the sunlight blinded them for a moment. "Cadets Keener and Parker," came the booming voice of Colonel Richards. Instantly the two young boys stood at attention, their hands coming up in a firm salute. "Colonel Richards, sir!" they shouted in unison. A second later they heard a chuckle. "At ease, boys. You have a long test ahead of you, so it will take all of your strength you don't need to be wasting saluting an old man like me." Reed patted both stunned boys on the shoulder then Ben walked up to them, his eyes alighting with interest at the sight of the older woman. "And who is this stunning young lady?" he asked, his gruff voice sounding husky as he gave the woman a once over. "H-hello, sir. I-I'm May Parker, Peter's aunt." The woman was turning red and stuttering over her words, and making Peter silently gag next to her. "Really? Well, who would have ever thought you of all people would be an aunt." Ben took the woman's hand and kissed the top of it. "I do hope you enjoy your trip, Ms. Parker. Pity I'm not going with you." "We-well, I'll be enjoying time with my nephew." She smiled, noticing the man hadn't let go of her hand as of yet, so she slid it from his grasp. "I'm going to put my bag on board, she said, but Ben suddenly grabbed her suitcase like it was nothing. "Allow me, Ms. Parker." He gave her a suave smile and walked away, his shoulders straighter than they'd ever been, making Reed chuckle. "Now boys, don't let this vacation let you think you'll be able to goof off behind the yoke. I won't have anything happening to my best pilots." He waved his hand and both Virginia and Clint came from the shadows under the plane. "I'll give you two over to your teachers. Good luck, and have fun." He smiled and walked away, going to the air control tower to watch how Peter took off. "Ready?" Clint asked, and both boys turned a certain shade of green he'd never seen before as they nodded. "Come on then! Vacation awaits!" The man walked off, having to practically push Ben out of the way to help May onto the plane, the gruff man glaring at the teacher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter sat behind the yoke in the pilot's seat, looking over all the instruments, like he did in his simulations. But, this wasn't a simulation. This was real and he was about to fly a suborbital plane for the first time in real life. Captain Potts took the seat next to him, giving the boy a soft smile. "Nervous?" Peter nodded rapidly, eyes wide. "What if something goes wrong and I wind up crashing the plane?" The woman laughed and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be right here. It's just like the simulation, okay? Just think of it that way and you'll do fine. Besides, after two hours, Harley can finish the test and you can go relax with your aunt." The teen nodded and shifted his vision back to the circuit board of switches. His palms were sweating so much he thought they might drip onto the control panel and fry something. It's just like the simulation, Peter. You can do this, he thought to himself. "Peter, just breathe. I'm right here, and I'll help you as much as I can." The trainee nodded and took control of the yoke. He could do this. It was only a short flight and if everything went right, he'd have his protege wings as be able to co-pilot the planes and take over on the longer flights when they pilot had to take a break. It wasn't like he was going to start flying by himself today. He still had a lot to learn and practice and his age required him to have an experienced co-pilot.. With an audible gulp, he nodded to the captain. This was it. Time to take this test and show it who's boss. He began flipping switches and watching lights blink all around him. In his rear flight camera he moved the rudders first up, then down, then left and right. They moved smoothly. He switched the view to the wings, watching as he moved them, noting they were smooth, too. "You're doing great," Captain Potts said with a smile. Peter nodded and grimaced. He made sure he was buckled in, then with a shaky hand, reached for the ignition button. The plane started so suddenly it made the boy jump, but he settled down at a chuckle from the captain, which he would not hold a grudge for.Two sets of eyes stared at the large black spot in the sky in front of them, hoping he was seeing things. But, Harley's question affirmed he wasn't. "The air space is clear for your test to begin," Colonel Richards' voice came over the communicator. "Have a safe flight, and may the light guide your way." "Thank you, Colonel. And you as well." Pepper responded and turned to Peter. "Whenever you're ready, Cadet." The boy nodded and started forward. It went slowly at first, but then the plane picked up speed until they were going at top ground speed. Peter glanced at the circuit board, noting that all the lights were green. Prime for takeoff. With steady hands, he brought the nose of the plane up, and up and up, until all wheels were off the ground and they were in the air. Peter didn't relax until he leveled the plane out, then he took a shaky breath. He'd done it. "Great job, Peter," Captain Potts said warmly, clasping his shoulder. She never called the cadets by their first names, so she must have been really proud. "Now you can sit back and look at the view. You've earned it." And that's what Peter did. With an awed look, he stared out the cockpit window. Below the hull of the plane lay the Earth and all the cities, though they were barely visible through all the smog and pollution. That made Peter sad. So, instead of looking at that, he fixed his gaze ahead of them. The transition of the black emptiness of space to the lit up horizon of the Earth, with the light bouncing off the ocean, and the clouds below them were white, looking nothing like the white balls of poof he was used to seeing from the ground. "It's beautiful," he whispered, awed. Sure, he'd seen the view in the simulator, but this was the real thing. It was amazing. "Isn't it? This is what we see every day." Pepper smiled at the look on the boy's face, sitting back to watch as Peter controlled the plane like a pro. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Susan was watching the screen for any anomalies, when suddenly something blipped. It was fast, so she didn't pay it much attention, until another blip came from that same spot, but this time it stayed and was bigger than the last time. "Reed, come in," she called over the communicator. "What is it?" her fiance's voice came from the console. "I don't know, but there seems to be something....oh no....it's in the path the cadets just took! Reed, get them to come back now!" The blip was growing and soon it was the bigger than the small plane. Big enough to swallow it whole. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pepper was pulled from her dozing state by a buzzing coming from the communicator. "I've got it, Peter. You just keep flying." She didn't want to distract the young boy from his task. Leaning forward she pressed the button that allowed the colonel's voice to break through the silence. "Pepper! Pepper, you have to return!" Reed's voice sounded panicked over the radio. "Pepper, do you copy! You have to return to base!" "Colonel, we copy. What's wrong?" "I don't-I can't explain it," this time it was Susan's voice coming over the communicator. "But there's a massive amount of gamma and radioactive energies coming straight ahead in your flight path." A beeping came out of the console and flipping a few switches, a map came up. The only problem was, they were too close. "We're too close to turn. We'll try going under that disturbance." She turned to Peter. "Do you need me to take over?" He shook his head. "No, Captain. I need to be ready for anything." Slowly the boy started to go down, but suddenly the plane started rumbling and turning around in the air. No matter what Peter did he couldn't control the plane. With wide eyes, he stared at Captain Potts. Suddenly, a big black cloud appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and started sucking the plane towards it! "What is that thing!?" The young teen was gripping the yoke tight, his fingers doing white. "I don't know, Cadet," Captain Potts said, her voice calm, but it had a wobble to it, letting them know she was nervous. "Just try and avoid its pull." "That's not an option," Peter retorted, his face going pale. "The systems are shutting down!" "What!?" Captain Potts shoved Peter out of his seat, taking it in his stead. "No, this can't be! Clint! Get your ass in here now," she called over the speaker. A second later the door slid open and in ran Clint, his eyes wide as he hung on to the doorway as the plane started rocking. "What the hell is going on? May is back there demanding to know also....and what the fuck is that!?" "That's what I need help with," Pepper cried in exasperation. "It keeps pulling us in!" "Peter, get to the passenger area," Captain Potts called, not looking back at them. "Go sit and buckle in, okay?" She finally took her gaze away from the black blob in the sky, smiling at the scared boy. "We'll be okay." Peter nodded, believing the woman, and was the first to leave the cockpit. "Peter?" May asked as soon as the boy had managed to stumble to his seat , eyes wide as she looked to the cockpit. "It's okay, Aunt May," the boy said, patting her hand after he buckled himself in. "We'll be okay." The plane shifted violently so suddenly, that were they not wearing their seat belts they would have been thrown about the cabin. Peter whimpered, his hand gripping the older woman's and Harley's. "We'll be okay!" he shouted over and over like a mantra. "OH shit!" The passenger cabin suddenly became pitch black. "Hold on!" Harley screamed. "Brace for impact!" Came the captain's voice over the loudspeaker. But, as soon as she said it, light encompassed the cabin, blinding the people inside. Instantly the plane stopped shaking. "What happened?" Peter asked, his head swiveling back and forth trying to see out the windows. It looked like a normal, sunny day, but there was something off about it. Before he could figure it out, though, the plane suddenly jerked, and fell. The passengers screamed all the time they fell, not even noticing the greenery that had encompassed the plane. The metal hull hit something hard enough to cause an explosion behind the seats. The noise had Harley and Peter jumping in their seats. In the next instant, they were hit with the powerful suction of the wind as the plane hurtled toward the ground. May was gripping the seat belt for dear life, the buckle clearly broken by the force of the explosion. Peter turned towards her, to grab his aunt, do something, when the plane was rocked violently, the sound of trees hitting the outside loud to everyone's ears. In the turbulence, May had lost her grip on the seat belt and was sucked out of the gaping hole on the side. It happened so fast, Peter didn't even have time to react. "May?" He whispered, shaking his head, staring at the seat the woman had just been sitting in. "May......MAAAAAAYYYY!!!!" "Everyone hold on!" Came Sergeant Clint's voice over the loudspeaker, but Peter couldn't react. He felt numb, like all of this couldn't be real. It just couldn't. A second later, the plane slammed into the ground, throwing Harley and Peter to the ground as their seat belts broke from the force of the impact. When Peter saw Harley go flying past him, he acted on instinct and grabbed his friend, holding tight to keep him from suffering the same fate as his only family member. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A pair of blue eyes were watching a radar-like map, studying it with an intense stare. There had been a small, moving object on the screen and-there it was again! "I've got something," the person called out. A head of red hair appeared by his side to study the screen. "What is it?" Her voice was smooth as silk as she bent down to look at the screen. "I don't know," the man replied, his eyes staring at the screen still. "But, it was small and came from the direction of the electromagnetic interference." "Really?" Suddenly the blip came again, and this time it stayed on the screen longer, but it seemed as though it was falling. The red head stood and smirked at the man. "Looks like we'll have to go check it out." "All right. I'll notify Tony and be right with you. I don't think we have to suit up for this." He stood and stretched, groaning when his back popped. Too many hours sitting can do that to you. The woman reached out and touched the holograph where the little blip had fallen. "Damn. It fell outside the compound's vicinity...this is going to take all of us to search an area that wide. I'll call the others." With that, the woman left the room. Blue eyes looked one last time at the screen before getting on the phone, walking out of the room. "Tony. We got something," was all he said before hanging up.

[williamismyhomeboy]

Interview from www.popmusicfan.com 2005

If you only choose one new band to listen to this year, don't let it be anyone other than The Academy Is. With a brand new debut CD out on Fueled by Ramen records and a tour with labelmates Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes, this band is ready to show everyone that they take their music seriously -- but still have fun while doing it. We hung out with lead singer William Beckett on the April 14th stop of their tour and somehow braved the freezing Florida weather.

How's the tour going so far? William: Well, the tour has been pretty spectacular so far. This is our first tour having had the record out and it's been really overwhelming, the response from people and from the other bands as well. We're good friends with all the bands on tour, we didn't know Silverstein until like two days ago, but they're really cool guys. But yeah, it's been great, I miss Midtown... but there's always next time. If you had to choose three bands for the ultimate tour, either to go see or to play with, who would you choose and why? William: Fleetwood Mac because I love Fleetwood Mac, they're one of the great rock bands that did it in a pop way, in a really classy way, too. Led Zepplin.. to go see or to go play with? Jennifer: Either one. William: Oh, yeah, it'd be the same anyway. Pink Floyd, I wouldn't want Pink Floyd because it'd be bad to play with them, they're just too conceptionally profound. Their show is far too extravagant, we'd look like amateurs. Jennifer: Well, if you were just going to see them... William: Oh, yeah, so Pink Floyd. What are your pet peeves about the other guys in the band? William: I've never been asked this before, this is interesting. Yeah, there's a lot. It's a cool thing about being in the band, you never spend that much time with anyone ever. Even married couples don't spend that much time together and that's not even just one on one, that's seven or eight dudes sleeping on a bus. So yeah, we have our differences, just being different people, having different personalities. One day we'll be in a bad mood, one day we'll be in a good mood, one day someone will smell bad and we won't, you know... But for the most part, it's a really brotherly love/hate relationship like most brothers and sisters. For us, we're like a family, the way that we sort of stick it through, for the most part. If you found out you were adopted and you had two celebrities as your birth parents, who would you want them to be and why? William: Wow, I haven't been asked these questions before, this is really cool. If I found out I was adopted... do they have to be like during the same time? Jennifer: Nope, whoever. William: For a mom, I'd probably go with Audrey Hepburn and I'd probably go with... this is tough. I should pick someone like Abe Lincoln or someone crazy. Yeah, I'm gonna pick George Bush. Jennifer: Which one? William: GW, I'm gonna pick GW. Jennifer: Do you like Bush? William: I don't want to talk about it. But his kids seem to have a good time. [everyone laughs] Jennifer: True! William: Right? So there we are.

What's the most embarrassing CD you have in your collection? William: Well, I have a lot of guilty pleasures, stuff most people would think is like, 'What?' Like Rod Stewart and Prince, a lot of stuff that you guys probably don't like or listen to. But my first hip hop CD that I ever bought was Ginuwine so bad. Jennifer: That's not that bad, it could be worse! William: No way, that's so bad, that's so terribly bad. Jennifer: What about Sisqo or something? William: Well, that's... wait, is that you? Jennifer: No! [everyone laughs] Well, I do have his CD, but it's from like seventh grade! William: Yeah, Ginuwine... well, Sisqo's probably worse. But at any rate, I'm a big opera fan, too. That's not really an embarrassing thing, but yeah. Jennifer: Have you seen Phantom of the Opera? William: Yeah! Jennifer: Was it good? William: Uh, no. I've seen the actual opera before... Jennifer: I did, too! On Broadway? William: Yeah! And it's amazing, I was raised on the Andrew Lloyd Webber performance disc and then I saw the movie and it was cool, but they changed some lines and it was just really Hollywood. The singing wasn't great, all the actors actually sang so it was cool but they just didn't do it very well, I don't think. Who's the most famous person that you have in your cell phone? William: Probably, like... I don't like name dropping. Jennifer: You can do it, we'll forgive you. William: [laughs] I should make a joke... Pete Wentz, and that's a joke, but Pete's getting pretty famous. That I actually talk to? Jennifer: Um... yeah. Or do you have any random people in there that you just got from a friend or anything? William: Yeah, I have Jakob Dylan's number but I never use it. I have, I don't know, I don't really look for famous peoples' numbers but the most famous person I have is probably Lyor Cohen, you probably don't know who he is. He owns Warner Brothers and Electra and Atlantic. He's like a multi-billionaire and he's one of the coolest guys in the world. I've met a lot of label people before but yeah, he's probably the most admirable one. If you had to describe yourself in five words, which ones would you choose? William: Myself? I'm really bad with self description, I'm really good with self reflection and creation and song writing and things like that, but actually flat out 'this is who I am?' Honest, passionate, polite, moderately-conservative... hyphenated! And, uh, sexual. Jennifer: Oh, that's a good one! Just kidding. William: I'm actually kidding, that wouldn't be my top five. Jennifer: None of them? William: No! None of them wouldn't except for sexual. Kidding once again, there we are! There we are, just joking. So there's my four. What's the biggest purchase that you've made since getting signed and everything? William: Other than my laptop... uh, yeah, it's my new Mac G4, I don't know I feel like a nerd talking about it. But yeah, my new laptop, probably. I try to conserve, to save my money, I don't really like to spend it on a lot of things. What are one of your favorite lyrics from one of your songs? William: It's really hard because... I think you'd have to take each song for it's whole, the song in it's whole is the work, you know what I mean? But I guess in the bridge of "Down and Out," I don't know if you know which song that is, but that song is the closest to me personally. The bridge is really cool and really close to me and all of our friends, just because we name dropped all of our good friends who really helped us and who we wouldn't be here without, and a bunch of records that we were influenced by during the writing process. Like, uh, Johnny and Tony, if you know the lyrics, they started a small record label called LLR and we had our EP on there. I had a solo project in high school.. Jennifer: Wasn't that Remember Maine? William: Yeah! Wow! You did your homework. So that was sort of like the moment in my life where I was making the decision to do music versus going to school, and no one believed in me really except for me and Johnny and Tony. It was a little bit later on that Tony came into the picture but Johnny was and is my best friend and the reason why I'm here, so he helped us get our foot into the door and we've sort of had this success since then which surpassed what they did for us. But we kind of took them with us, like now Johnny is head of retail at Fueled by Ramen. We were like, 'Hey, Fueled by Ramen, this dude is awesome, pick him up!' And Tony is our tour manager, on tour with us, so it's great, it's awesome. That's pretty much the bridge. Jennifer: We were kind of talking about that last night, about how random all the names are and stuff? We were wondering about that. William: Well the song sort of starts with this story about domestic abuse and escaping and getting away from something that you're afraid of or harmed by, it's sort of really dark. But the whole essence of the song, we didn't want to just focus on that, we wanted to focus on the ups and downs of life and growing up. The second verse says a lot about that growth process and friends and coming to that realization that most of your friends in high school, you're going to have to say goodbye to relatively soon and that's something that's hard for everybody I think, to say goodbye to anyone, be it death or be it whatever someone chooses or ends up having have happen to them. But for us it's not about like finding a dark corner and hiding and blaming other people and getting angry and aggressive, it's about accepting darker times and sort of welcoming those things when they happen, you know, to better understand and appreciate the great things in your life and the people that love you. Are you okay? Jolene: Uh huh! William: You're just cold, aren't you? Do you want my jacket? Jolene: No, it's okay. William: Are you sure? Jolene: Yeah, I'm fine! William: So yeah, for us it was really fitting to make the song about more than just that instance, you know, to make it a little more well-rounded so that was just, yeah.

What's something that people would be surprised to learn about the band? William: Probably our seriousness and what we're trying to accomplish. We have a lot of fun, we do, we indulge but our main scope isn't to be a big band and get famous and get chicks, or to get drunk and do drugs and be like this icon. Like, no one will tell you that unless they're just straight up rockstars, but for us, we really want to help people and change the world in the smallest way or globally and that's really what our end of the road goal is. To transcend age, to transcend sex, to transcend race, to transcend languages. Bands like U2, bands like Pink Floyd and bands that I was talking about earlier, bands that shaped generations and shaped people. It's like, 'You're playing these indie tours, you're playing to these young kids, how are you supposed to change the world?' But for me, I see that as an opportunity also. I also want to appeal to older crowds, I want to appeal to people our age, or maybe people that are a little bit older, like twenty-six, twenty-seven years-old and I think that our record does and will once they hear it. But for the future, as we expand and grow and as our minds grow and as our musicianship and our scope and those things grow, we want to be one of those bands that can make a difference and can help people. We want to be that band that you saw when you were fourteen, like our parents loved the Beatles or whoever when they were fourteen years old and they still love them today, and they're like fifty or sixty years-old. That's the band that we're going to be, because we're going to be the band or the songwriters that stick with the generations. I think the way you do that is being fucking straight up honest and genuine and unselfish. If you write about things that are self-loathing and very trendy and very high school angst, those are the people you're going to appeal to and that's it. You know, your mom's not going to listen to a band that sings about slitting their own throat or hanging themselves or crappy metaphors that are in like, Goosebumps books, you know? I think being genuine and honest and smart and unselfish and really looking at the world in a different light... if you have a minute, I try to do this exercise every morning. I think about people's minds, in this example let's think about the musician or whoever that's on a label that's writing these lyrics, okay? I sort of think of their creative mind as a room and let's take one of these singers that sings about one of these things like self-loathing or slitting wrists or something. So they're in this room and it's totally dark, and they have this candle in front of them and it's creating this light that they can only see like three inches in front of their face. They can only relate to those three inches in front of them which is their own little isolation bubble where they can't relate to anything beyond that because they don't know it exists. So they're so wrapped in themselves, writing about how much life sucks and how much it's unfair and about how much they've been mistreated. Or also things that are very self-righteous, like, 'I'm the best, this is how you do it,' things like that. There are those people everywhere, they're in high schools, they're parenting children, they're on their death beds... they're everywhere, you know? These people, I think, especially these artists are too wrapped up in themselves to realize that there might be a wall behind them with a light switch and if you flip that switch there's this whole room around you that illuminates. And for me, that's the world around me, that's everything. That's this tree, that's you guys, that's my family back home, that's this show, these people that are here, the people that are staying at this hotel. It's how it's cold and you're cold and I'm sorry that you're cold, you know? It's the world around you. Every morning I try to wake up and turn on the light, I try to turn on my creative room light to make sure that I'm always viewing the world in the way. I think if more people did that, a lot of things could change for people in their own lives and in other people's lives. That's one of the main things that I'm trying to convey, especially in our newest stuff that we're writing for the next record, so yeah, that's sort of something that people probably don't know about me or us. Jennifer: You're awesome, I decided that. Just now. What's the strangest voicemail or answering message that you've ever received? William: Received? I've given a lot of crazy ones. Probably the strangest one I've ever received... man, it's on the spot, you got me again. I'm tongue tied. Ohhh yeah, this is awesome! [everyone laughs] There was a point when I got a lot of prank calls when people hated me and stuff, it was that stupid, like... Jennifer: Jealousy? William: Kind of, but it was before I had really any success, it was just myself going for what I believed in. Since I was doing something different and not going for a screamo band or something, so it was a big deal when I was playing an acoustic guitar and singing melodies, so it was like 'What the hell?' It was a big uproar. So I got like crazy ones like, 'You're a faggot, you should kill yourself,' stuff like that. Jennifer: That's so mean! Jolene: That's terrible! William: Yeah, but it's awesome, though. No, for real! It's so funny, I know for a fact that that person has grown up and has seen me live by example and that I went for my dream and it's totally paid off, and it's going to pay off in the future more fruitfully than ever. Instead of me feeling anger and being like, 'Fuck that guy, I hope he's burning in Hell' or whatever, I hope that he realized that the way that he was living and the fear that he had about being his own person, I hope that he turned that around, so yeah, it's kind of funny. Jennifer: What about one of the funny ones that you've left people? William: Oh, man, there were some nights that I just called people singing crazy songs that I totally made up at four in the morning, I don't even know, man. I can't really get into too much detail, there were some wild ones. I do voices, I'll be like, 'Hey, yo-a, it's Johnny from over at Auto Repairing, I got your car and it's looking sweet.' [everyone laughs] I have this British voice and this gay voice and some other shit and it's hilarious, I would leave people messages like that and not tell them who I am. What's the last movie that you saw? William: Last movie? Oh, man, that's bad, that's terrible. I had a journal that I write on the website and I actually just talked about this. I'm on this weird horror movie kick right now, and I'm into crappy old horror movies right now. Not even old, like eighties or nineties. I don't recommend them to anyone, it's like Pet Sematary and From Dusk Til Dawn. Well that's like a Quentin Tarantino movie so that's actually a good movie, but the last movie I actually watched was House of 1000 Corpses. [everyone laughs] Jennifer: Oh, God. Jolene: Did you like that? William: I think it's great! For two reasons, alright. One, it's not original by any stretch of the imagination as far as a horror film, it's like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets something vile, you know. It's basically like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets a strip club, that's what that movie is. But, BUT-- Jennifer: Oh, I want to hear the but, because I don't think there's any defending this movie. [everyone laughs] William: The way that the movie is edited and the way that the movie is shot, with the color contrast and the way that it looks is just fucking phenomenal. I think the movie is so cool purely because of the way that it looks and because of the cinematography of it, but I'm just a geek like that, those are the kinds of things I look for. But if we're talking about movies that are actually good, go buy Big Fish, it's a great movie. Jennifer: Is it good? I heard that it's really depressing. William: Did you? No way. Jennifer: I work at a video store and that's what everyone's told me, I haven't watched it. William: But those people that told you that mind be those people-- Jennifer: Oh, the close minded ones, yeah. William: The people with the light off! If you watch that movie it's so cool because it seriously confronts some issues like death and memories and relationships being parents and fathers and mothers and their children. I thought it was a really heartwarming movie, especially at the end. It's not this cheese fucking Hollywood ending that everyone wishes would happen but doesn't, you know, but yeah I think it's a great movie. Jennifer: Have you seen I Heart Huckabees? William: I have not, yet. Jennifer: It seems like a movie you'd like. William: I'm sure I would like it. Jennifer: It's kinda like, off the wall, it seems like one you'd like. William: My girlfriend got it and said that it was pretty cool and I'd probably like it. Yeah, I should probably get it. Jennifer: Yeah, I didn't like it that much. William: You didn't? Jennifer: I like my stupid girly movies. William: Like what? Like what? Jennifer:: Like, have you seen the Notebook? William:: I haven't seen that one yet! Jennifer: What?! It's so good. You will cry, I bet. William: I'm one of those dudes that cries in movies, like seriously. Jennifer: Everyone cries in that movie! William: Dude, I even cried in, this is so embarrassing, I even cried in A Walk to Remember. Jolene: Oh, I cried in that one. Jennifer: That movie is so sad! William: I cried like seven times in that movie ALONE, I was alone! I have a huge crush on Mandy Moore, too, like a Hollywood Crush. Jennifer: That one was really sad. William: But at the same time, you know, it's also very... Jennifer: No. William: You don't think so? Jennifer: No! She should've lived. William: But she did through him! She changed. Jennifer: I know, I know! But wouldn't it have been better if she just lived forever? William: Well, it's not Hollywood. Jennifer: I know! What's in your pocket right now? William: Like, seventeen cents in change and a guitar pic, and that's it. Oh, and my cell phone is in my jacket, if that counts. Jennifer: It counts! William: These are cool questions! Did you make them up, too? Jolene: No. [laughs] William: Maybe you should let her make some up next time! Jennifer: I tried! I was like, 'Jolene, help me think of some questions.' She said, 'We're going to do it on the way there.' Two and a half hours later, oh no, no questions. [everyone laughs]

What's in your CD player right now? William: I have an I-Pod. Jennifer: Well what's on your I-Pod that you're listening to a lot lately? William: I'm just going to be difficult. No, I have an I-Pod, sorry. [everyone laughs] I listen to tapes, I don't even have a CD player. No, uh, what am I like loving right now? I'm loving Ryan Adams right now. I'm loving Muse. Jennifer: Oh, they're so good! William: I was on this huge Muse thing and I totally forgot about it and didn't listen to it for forever. I listened to them again today and I was like, AH! I was like, [does Italian voice] yes, yes, yes, this is so good. [everyone laughs] I'm listening to a lot of Radiohead, I'm always listening to Simon and Garfunkel, I'm a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan. Prince, I'm listening to a lot of Prince, a bit of Bowie. It's sort of today's little shuffle encompassed, so that was that. What's the last concert you've went to, other than one that you've played at? William: Damn... I was at South by Southwest but I didn't see any bands, I was just wandering throughout the streets. Last time I was at a show, watching bands... oh, yeah! it was an acoustic show in Chicago, it was Bob Nanna from Hey Mercedes and Justin Pierre from Motion City Soundtrack. They just played acoustic, it was really cool. What are some questions that you hate hearing in interviews? I probably should've asked you this at the beginning so I wouldn't have asked you any of them. William: [laughs] Yeah, right! There really aren't any questions that I really hate, I encourage tough questions. I enjoy people asking tough questions. Hard hitting questions or ones that are condescending because it's their right as journalists to ask those questions. I wouldn't ask somebody, 'What songs do you hate? And I won't write those.' No, I wouldn't ask anyone that, I would just write what I love and write what I want. So yeah, that's my answer. What's a question that you've been wanting an interviewer to ask you but they haven't? William: I haven't thought of one because with every interview, with a few exceptions, I've been asked new questions that I haven't heard before, like today for instance. That's enough for me to keep interested.

[gvbejvmes]

Drabble: Reflections

Rating: Somewhere between PG-13 and R Genre: Slice of Life Relationships: Gabriel/Johnny, mentioned Gabriel/Jill Disclaimers: Some of Johnny’s dialogue comes from the man himself. 

Friday, February 28, Opening Day of Reflections

7am

“Gabe?” Nik’s voice echoed through the gallery. “I really hope you’re in here and someone didn’t break in.”

Using a creeper, he was laying on the floor of the gallery, installing rods to support one of his pieces.  It was an intricate installation piece and he was terrified that due to the nature of the base, the glass bits were going to weigh down the base, break, shatter all over the floor, and he was going to be a disgrace in the art world.

“I’m in the inner chamber!” He called out. When she had left the night before most of the temporary display walls he’d set up to separate the sections of his show hadn’t been completely installed yet. Now her gallery was one giant maze.

There was no response for a moment, and Gabe figured that she was trying to orient herself. “How do I get there?” She called out in response.

“What room are you in?” The thin rods were weaved inside of the base to blend in so they weren’t noticeable to the viewer. He wasn’t sure how many rods he was going to need, but he figured if he weaved in at least ten, it would be strong enough. 

“I think I’m in hell.”

Gabe groaned. “Yep, I’m changing the lighting in there. I knew it needed to be brighter.” He huffed out. “Either walk past the wedding rings or come in through the back and come through the looking glass.”

It was quiet so Gabe figured she was maneuvering through the exhibits and got distracted. He went back to weaving another rod through when suddenly a  hand was on his foot, and he startled so badly that he almost broke the damn thing he was trying to fix. “The fuck.” He snapped out as he was rolled out of his piece. “You break it, you buy it. And my shit isn’t cheap.”

Nik just raised an eyebrow at him. “Did you sleep at all last night or were you here the whole time?” She asked, even though he was pretty sure she knew the answer to that. 

“It just needs to be perfect.” He said as he sat up. “All my shows are personal but this one is…”

“A love letter. I know.” She told him, giving his knee a gentle pat. “Go home and sleep. I’ll fix the lighting for you.”

Gabe shook his head. “I need to get that done, and I need to put the hands in this piece and-”

Taking his hands, Nik pulled him to his feet. “I know, Gabe. I’ve seen the footprint you provided.” She said pushing him towards the back. “I have to set up for the cocktail portion of the evening, too. I’m perfectly capable of finishing the things up here. You need to sleep.”

“I still have-”

Nik shook her head. “I’ll call your kids on you.” She threatened. “All three of them.”

Gabe groaned. “And you’ll follow my directions exactly?” And he regretted the question as soon as he saw the look on Nik’s face. “Fine, fine. I’m going, I’m going.”

9:51am

He was lying face down on his bed, George and Gulliver asleep on either side of him while Scully lay on her bed, snoozing away when his phone went off. Still more asleep than awake, he blindly reached for his phone and answered it with a tired, “Uh-llo.”

“Briel? You never responded to my text. What time am I picking you up tonight?” 

Still more asleep than anything else, he let himself drift back towards sleep. He knew that voice so it was okay to fall back asleep.  That was a good voice, a trustworthy voice. “Mmhmm.”

“Let me guess. You were up all night doing finishing touches on your show and you’re just now sleeping.” The other man theorized. He really did know Gabe well.

Gabe snuggled his face deeper into his pillow as he listened to Johnny talk. “Got kicked out.” He slurred. His whole life he’d talked in his sleep, and offered out pure gibberish in response to questions when someone woke him up. Chances were that he wouldn’t even remember this conversation. It wouldn’t be the first time he had a full conversation with Johnny and didn’t remember a single word. It probably also wouldn’t be the last time.

There was a warm laugh. “Briel, are you awake or asleep?” His ex-husband asked him, knowing very well from first hand experience what he was like when he was asleep.

“Yes. The sirens call to me to lull me back to the place of dreams.”

Another laugh. “Briel, who are you on the phone with right now?”

“JJM.” He mumbled out, letting sleep wash over him, going back to his habit of referring to people by their initials. He’d done it a lot when he was younger, which was how the kids wound up with their nicknames of CJ and DJ.

There was no response at first. “Who is JJM?” And there was a strange hitch to the other man’s voice. 

“Jonathan James-Michaels.” Gabe responded like it was a stupid question.

It was quiet and Gabe was almost fully asleep again before: “What time am I getting you tonight?” He asked tentatively. 

“5:30.” 

“At your place?”

The phone felt really heavy in his hand. He was going to be non-responsive any minute now.

“At CJ’s. GB wants to see our pretty clothes.”

He never heard Johnny’s response; he was already fully asleep again.

11:15am

Gabe’s arm was lifted and a little warm body slithered underneath before Bella put her head on the same pillow that Gabe was using. His granddaughter usually ran warm, but she was warmer than usual. 

“Dad,” Cordelia touched his face until his eyes opened and he was actually awake and blinking up at his youngest child. “Dad, I’m going to the tailor to pick up your outfit for tonight. Bella’s sick so she’s going to sleep here with you while I go run errands.” She kept her hand on his face until she was sure that the words made sense to him.

Yawning, Gabe sat up and laid on his back, Bella immediately readjusting and snuggling onto his side for warmth and comfort. “W’a ‘ime issit?” He asked tiredly, an arm wrapping around Bella so she wouldn’t roll off the bed. He had no idea where the dogs wandered off to.

“A little after eleven.” His daughter told him. “But go back to sleep. I’ll wake you both up when it’s time to get ready.” She reassured him before slipping out of the room.

“Family should respect my vampirism.” He mumbled out incoherently.

“I res-ped.” Bella agreed before they both fell back asleep.

4:45pm

“I don’t know what to wear.” Gabe whined as he ransacked through his closet. He was already dressed in the slacks that Cordelia had picked up from the tailor, and wearing a light blue button-up that Juliet had picked out for him. 

“Dad, the outfit you already have on is more than fine.” Cordelia tried to soothe from where she was flopped on his bed, Bella half on his pillow and half on her mom’s lap.

Bella nodded. “G’ampa looks pretty.” She agreed.

“You’re stalling, which is totally adorable.”

He made a face at his daughter. “I’m not stalling. I’m just nervous about tonight.” He admitted, pulling himself away from his closet and sitting on the bed with the girls.

Cordy shrugged. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous. It’s just a date, and you guys were married for like 10 years.” She said nonchalantly. 

Gabe blinked. “I meant about the show.” He said, giving her a weird look. 

“Oh. I don’t know why you’re nervous about that part. I would be more nervous about going on a date with my ex-husband.” 

He groaned. “Gee, thanks for that.”

5:30pm

“Why is he picking you up from here?” Cordelia asked as Gabe held onto Bella so she could put medicine in the three year old’s ears. She always tended to be slightly more agreeable when Gabe was involved in her medicine-giving, but only slightly.

Gabe shrugged. “I got a text when I was sleeping telling me he was, but apparently I was on the phone with him for five minutes when I was asleep so I probably told him to.” He admitted, petting Bella’s hair when she squirmed against him. “I probably figured I needed a chaperone.”

His daughter rolled her eyes as she scooped Bella away from him and started towards the back. “I don’t want to be your guys’ chaperone. Gross.” She murmured out. Cordy was half-way down the hallway to Bella’s room when there was a knock on the door. “Dad, could you get that? It’s probably your date!”

“Shut up.” Gabe grumbled out before doing as his daughter told him. He swung open the door, and then just stared at the man in the doorway. Now he knew why Juliet was so damn determined to get him in light blue; she wanted him to match her father’s eyes. “I feel like we’re fucking going to prom.” 

Johnny’s hands were stuffed into his pockets and when he looked at Gabe, really looked at him, Gabe found that he needed to hold onto the door frame for support. “You look better than going to prom.” His ex-husband murmured out, looking uncomfortable, like he didn’t know what to say or what to do in this given situation and then… “How are you feeling? You always used to get so nervous.”

A smile slid onto his features, all previous thoughts immediately dismissed. Years later and the other man still knew him better than anyone else in the world. “I still do.” He looked down at his feet, once again feeling like a teenage girl about to go to Prom with the Quarterback. “I’m feeling a lot calmer now.”

7:00pm

They’re sitting in the car outside of the gallery, and it’s taking everything in Gabe to not run away. This was probably the most nervous he’d been for a show in a very long time. When he first got out of prison, he’d opened every emotion he’d ever felt for other people to see, but lately he hadn’t been as raw, as open, as intimate with his art as he was in the beginning of his career. Hell, this is probably the most intimate and public he’d ever been.

“You’re terrified of what everyone’s going to think.” Johnny told him, staring out at the gallery, instead of looking over at Gabe. “What’s so different about this one?”

He ran a hand over his mouth as he thought about an answer that wouldn’t ruin the truth of what Johnny was about to walk into. When it came to his shows, Gabe liked to generally keep Johnny in the dark. His reactions to Gabe’s work was always one of the rare times where his features weren’t schooled, when his emotions showed all over his face. Those were his favorite reactions. “It’s more personal than usual.” He finally admitted. “My heart is spread out there on the walls. Every ounce of it.” 

“You’ve gone through a lot. You used to tell me that’s what made the best pieces.” His ex laid his hand over Gabe’s and gave it a squeeze. His hand lingered over Gabe’s for a couple of extra moments, and Gabe wanted to grab his hand back when he pulled away. “I’ve wanted to ask how you are after… everything. After Jill, but I’m guessing I’ll get my answer in there.”

Gabe couldn’t help but to close his eyes, his hand already feeling cold. “I’m… probably less broken up than I’m supposed to be. I feel like it was the right thing to do for me, for her, and that I should feel guilty about ending things after they got so serious, after I got her hopes up for a happy ending.” He swallowed and glanced over at Johnny, chewing on his lip as he did so. “It’s not just stuff about Jill in there.”

The other man swallowed and then took a deep breath before making eye contact with Gabe. “Whatever it is, I’m not going to be upset.” He promised. “Unless it’s my ass again.” 

Gabe’s laughter filled the car.

7:15pm

The nerves returned as Gabe and Johnny stepped into the gallery. These were his familiar pre-show jitters. The ideas he had in his head didn’t always translate to other people, which was the risk that came from being an artist. Opening night meant translating his mind onto a canvas of some kind. Not everyone would understand his vision, which was so fucking nerve-wracking. Taking a deep breath, he took Johnny’s hand and they walked into the gallery.

He’d taken over the entire gallery, something that Gabe was incredibly grateful to Nik for allowing. She said it helped her more than it helped him, but he was still grateful for her and everything she’d done for him. As soon as anyone walked through the front door, they were greeted by a white display wall. Mounted on the wall were 15 mirrors, each surrounded by iridescent painted metal, surrounding the varying sized round mirrors like a cage. A 6”x6” sign was on the far right corner: Inside the Mirror, 2019, metal on mirrored glass. Gabe watched as Johnny detached his hand from his and wandered along the path, his fingers hovering over the caged mirrors, as though he was doing his best not to touch them,.

Inside the Mirror was the beginning of the little maze that Gabe had created. If the person walked to the left, they were led to a small room that had a half-wall of blown-glass flames, back lit by lights to make the guest feel like they were standing in fire. A 6”x6” sign was on the far left corner: Red Hot, 2020, glass. 

It didn’t look like they were in hell any more. Nik had shifted the lights down so the room was bathed in what Gabe would only describe as campfire light. It felt like flames were lapping at their feet, but not like Lucifer was about to come around the corner any more.

On the display wall opposite the glass wall of flames, there were three paintings. The first painting was mascara painted on a faded out mirror.  The was a 6”x6” sign to the right of the painting: Feminine Vulnerability, 2019. It was a pair of woman’s legs spread open with a blank space instead of being biologically correct. A smirk slid onto his features as he watched Johnny stand in front of the the piece, as he’d designed it to be an optical illusion. From this angle, it looked like he was going down on a woman. He didn’t know why it amused him so much, but Johnny didn’t stay at that one for very long before moving onto the next piece. 

The sign to the right of this one read: Fading Sunrise, 2020. It was a naked woman’s body from the thighs to the neck drawn on canvas in charcoal. He had a feeling that if he had included her face in this piece, Jill would have killed him. The body was painted out in watercolors. Starting in a light yellow at the bottom of the thighs and moving up to a deep red at the neck. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he’d always thought of Jill in shades of orange and red. She was fire in human form. 

The third painting was on what used to be someone’s oak dinner table. A hundred different wedding rings were painted out in melted chrome. Some were embedded deeply into the wood, while other ones were just barely on the surface. This one had taken months for get right. The sign for this one read: Wooden Rings, 2019. Of all the pieces in this room, this piece was the one that had Johnny’s attention. He stood in front of it for what felt like a long time, his fingers tracing over the rings. Sometimes Johnny was worse than the kids when it came to his work; he needed to be reminded to touch with his eyes. Something about seeing him with this piece though… He didn’t have the heart to tell him not to touch.

“There’s more.” Gabe murmured out, not wanting to speak too loudly in the quiet atmosphere he’d created. “This room leads to a bigger room, but I don’t want you to see the middle room yet. I need you to go back the other way.” 

He didn’t know how to explain it, but Johnny didn’t look like he was listening to Gabe, like he was in the current moment. It was like he was hypnotized by Gabe’s work, which left him very proud. “Why?” The other man finally told him, even as he was wandering back the way they had just come. “Stop worrying.”

The room to the right was laid out similarly to the left room. Instead of flames, there was a wall of blue ocean waves made out of blown glass, back lit the same as the other room. The sign for this one read: Cool Blue, 2020. As an opposition to the piece in the other room, this one made the person feel like they were standing in water, like it was lapping gently at your feet. Seeing Johnny standing in the middle of this room made his stomach do little flip flops. The lighting brought out the blue in his eyes just right, which almost took Gabe’s breath away. God, that man was gorgeous.

On the opposite wall, there were three paintings, same as the other room. The first painting was done on a sheet of translucent blue glass. It was very similar to the first painting in the red room, except this time it was a pair of muscular male legs painted out in car oil. Like the other painting, it was an optical illusion making it appear as though the viewer was giving head. Seeing Johnny stand in front of it, gave Gabe a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. It just looked… weird seeing him standing like that in front of his own legs. The small sign next to it read: Masculine Vulnerability, 2018. 

Thankfully Johnny didn’t stand in front of it for very long before moving onto the next painting. If Gabe was totally honest, this painting was probably his favorite of all the paintings he had on display. The plaque for this one read: Ocean Dreams, 2019. For once one of his paintings was actually on a traditional canvas. It was layer after layer of blue and white paint, giving an ocean effect. In the beginning he hadn’t actually known what he was doing, but when he realized what effect the layers of paint had, he kept going. It turned out quite good, if you were to ask him. Johnny’s fingers hovered over it, like he wanted to touch, but he behaved himself this time.

The third painting was done on an old wooden glass window with four panes. He’d acquired it last year during one of his wandering through antique shop adventures, but he’d been hanging onto it for months, not sure what to do with it. A few weeks ago it had hit him, and he’d worked on it feverishly until it turned into what his mind had wanted.  In each pane was hand drawn burned out divorce papers. He’d painted carefully onto the backside of the glass so that if someone touched the front, the paint wouldn’t smear or flake. The sign for this one read: Burning Regret, 2020.

Johnny stood in front of this one for a very long time, and when the meaning behind this piece, behind the show it him, it was like watching a light bulb go off over the other man’s head. “I…” He watched his ex-husband swallow. “What’s next?”

It took Gabe a stupidly long moment to realize that they were holding hands again. When had that happened? The only place left to go was the room in the middle - to the piece that Gabe had been working on in the morning. To be fair, there were three pieces in there, but Gabe was only really worried about one of them. “You can’t touch the piece in there.” He reminded Johnny, knowing the other man too well. “You’ll know the one I’m talking about when you see it.” He whispered out. “I didn’t do a weight test on it yet. Eventually it’s going to be interactive, but I wanted it to be ready for this show. There’s a lot of starch, and glue, and magic holding it up.” He gave his ex’s hand a squeeze. “You go in first.” 

The first piece in the room was his latest piece in the Mythology of Muse series, Hades & Persephone. It was glass painted into wood. Like all of the pieces in this series, the subjects were seen from behind, and they weren’t wearing anything clothing. This time it was two men, seen only from behind from the waist up. They’re holding hands, but their hands are burnt. One man was made to look like fire and ash while the other man was made to look like water with water lilies. The men balance each other out: fire and water, seemingly very different but necessary to the other to stay in check. Their bodies are tilted away from each other, but their heads are bent towards each other. 

Johnny stood in front of this piece for a very long time, and Gabe couldn’t help but to find himself wondering if Johnny understood what he was trying to say. As much as he loved his ex-husband, the man could be incredibly dense when Gabe’s art was about him. He never seemed to understand why Gabe found him so fascinating and why he was constantly a feature in his art. He hoped this time, he’d get it. Gabe thought it was pretty clear what the painting signified, but he was also the person who made it, so what did he know? 

The next piece in the room was a last minute addition. This was the piece he’d been obsessed with and made in the last week. He’d had inspiration after a conversation with Johnny and hadn’t been able to get the imagery they’d created during that conversation out of his head. It had been a couple of weeks ago, and Gabe had broken a mug. They’d stood in the kitchen of a house they’d designed together, but now belonged to Johnny. Blood had been pouring freely from Gabe’s hand while Johnny had stood between his legs, a cloth in hand as he tried to stop the bleeding. 

The sheer imagery of that moment, nothing longer than a few minutes, had bounced around Gabe’s head for days before he finally figured out a way to bring it to life. It had been his obsession this whole week. This was the piece Gabe had been the most nervous about. Every ounce of who he was and what he wanted to tell Johnny was poured out into this piece. 

It was an art installation piece, and there was a small stand with the plaque displaying the name: String of Fate. It was a sculpture of two hands made out of glass, and it looked as though they were balancing on nothing but red string. 

One hand was made out of white glass and the other hand was made of black glass. The black hand was holding the white hand, forming imagery of yin and yang. It went along with his theme of two things balancing each other out. The white hand had a cut in the middle and red string poured out of it like blood. The string wrapped around both hands and the string twisted around and around in circles forming a stand that held the two hands up. The metal rods he’d been weaving into the string that morning seemed to be holding all right, which sent a wave of relief over him.

Unlike his other pieces, Johnny barely looked at this one before he was turning away from it. For a moment Gabe was terrified that the other man hated it, but then he saw his face. His face was flushed and tears were on his face. Before Gabe could process what was happening, Johnny’s hands were on his face and he was kissing him.

It was like coming home after a long time. The nerves were melting away. They still had a ton of sh!t to talk about and work through, but all that mattered in the given moment was that Johnny was kissing him. 

When Johnny pulled away, all Gabe could think to do was wipe the wetness away from his ex-husband’s face as the other man gently cupped Gabe’s jaw. “This is my love letter to you.” Gabe managed out when he was able to say words again. “I take it that you like it?” 

Johnny laughed. “Yes, I love it.” And his lips were on his again. “I love it.” He repeated, his hands moving to straighten Gabe’s shirt. “And everyone else will too, but not as much as I do.” 

And that was all Gabe needed to hear for the stupid smile to slid onto his features. That was the only critic that Gabe ever cared about anyway.

“There’s another piece.” He murmured out, glancing back at Through the Looking Glass, an interactive piece that guests needed to literally walk through to get to the party in the other part of the gallery.

His ex nodded, and tugged Gabe against him. Suddenly Gabe forgot what they were talking about. 

9:30pm

The party was in full swing, and Gabe had long since been separated from Johnny. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t know where the other man was; he’d been able to catch his eyes from across the room all night. No, now came Gabe’s least favorite part, where he was being passed around from person to person. Weirdly enough, it reminded him of prison - that feeling of too many people in too small of a space. 

“Gabriel,” The art critic from the Times brought Gabe back into the present. “There seems to be an ongoing theme of duality in your pieces this evening. Is there a reason why you chose to call this show Reflections?”

He took a sip of champagne, if only to buy himself some additional time to think of his response. Why did these guys always assume that he had some sort of hidden meaning and philosophy behind his work? Thankfully over the years, he’d mostly gotten good at throwing random shit out there that the reporters tended to buy. 

“The duality theme is in reference to me and my exploration of my sexuality and what I wanted out of life. In general, every piece is a study of my own self-reflection. The past two and a half years have been about me figuring out who I am, what I want, and where my heart lies. Sure, there are mirrors. I’ve always enjoyed using mirrors as a canvas, but really all of this is a reflection of who I’ve become as a person.” And Jesus fvck. He needed to stop drinking soon. He always waxed poetic when he was buzzed and drunk.

The art critic ate up Gabe’s words and Gabe glanced around to see where Johnny had wandered off to. However, the next question had Gabe’s head whipping back to the critic. “Your break-up with D.A. Michaels was pretty public. Divorce tends to be messy when both parties are in the limelight. The political world and the art world are two very different scenes, but it was a pretty public breakup by New York standards nonetheless.”

Gabe didn’t know where the reporter was going with this, but he found himself finishing his drink and nodding anyway. “Yes, but we handled it maturely.” If anyone called one party losing himself in bottles and going to Hawaii with his legal secretary while the other got very very high at an artist’s retreat and then burning pictures from said Hawaii trip mature.

“I can see that.” The reporter said slowly, and Gabe just knew he was going to hate the next words out of the other man’s mouth. “Does your ex-husband usually come to all your shows? Or only when they’re about him?”

And suddenly Gabe wished he hadn’t finished his drink. What was it that Johnny had said when Juliet found him and Johnny hiding near String of Fate earlier kissing and wanted to know what that made them? “I won’t be answering any questions about Jay- D.A. Michaels at this time.”

10:15pm

“Dad!” Delilah looped her arms around her neck, her blonde hair smacking into his face. Yep, someone had definitely been dipping into the free booze. Dusty trailed behind her, obviously having been playing her chaperone all night. “There you are! I can’t believe you made all that stuff!” She leaned into him, and Gabe just laughed and gave his daughter a hug. “It’s so shiny!” 

“I think someone should be cutting you off soon.” He said with a laugh before turning his attention over to his cousin. To be fair, he wasn’t sure what his cousin was going to think about this show, especially given the subject matter. “What did you think of the show?”

His cousin shook his head. “I gotta say, I don’t entirely get it, but it’s intense.” He wasn’t sure if he was talking about the art or about Johnny. “Jill was going to come, but she’s sick. I just wanted to let you know that she’s not boycotting the show or anything.” He shrugged. “Although she’d probably be pissed seeing naked drawings of herself up there.”

Gabe took a sip of his fresh glass of champagne. He’d actually wondered if she was going to come tonight, but he wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t. She never had understood his art or his obsession with the human form. “Well, you’re the only other person in this room who knows what she looks like naked.” He said shrugging, as always not understanding what the big deal was with nudity. It was totally natural, why did people get so weird about it?

Dusty snorted as Delilah wandered off again after mumbling something that sounded a lot like ‘awkward’. “The pieces are dramatic like they were right after your divorce, but even more so.” And Gabe wasn’t entirely sure what his cousin was talking about until he tilted his head in Johnny’s direction. “Don’t you think it’s a little too soon after your break-up?” And Gabe must have made a face because his cousin rolled his eyes. “You’ve never been subtle when it comes to him. Besides, I saw you guys holding hands earlier. You have a weird thing about holding hands. What was it that you told me once? It’s one of the most intimate things two people can do?” 

Gabe found himself blushing, but he didn’t break eye contact with his cousin. “It’s like someone pressed pause on an old cassette tape. It’s a little warped, but it still picks up where it left off.” He told him, his gaze searching across the room to find Johnny again. “Excuse me.”

10:30pm

His back was pressed against one of the walls in the gallery, the light from the ocean room the only light. All he knew was that it was dark enough in the room that no one would find them, unless they were really looking for them. There were lips on his neck, a leg wedged between his, and a hand on his hip. For his part, he had one arm wrapped around Johnny’s neck and the other one on his ass.

“Think anyone will notice if we run away?” And at this point he’d had too many glasses of champagne and just wanted to be away from all the people.  

His ex was saying something, but Gabe wasn’t paying that much attention since he was kissing him, pulling back only to say one word before kissing him again. He was in sensory overload. All he could smell was Johnny, all he could feel was Johnny, and all he could taste was Johnny. In the back of his mind, he found himself wondering if he could taste the half a pack of cigarettes he’d smoked prior to Johnny picking him up. 

“Come home.” And Johnny wasn’t kissing him any more, but they were sharing the same air. They were so close that all Gabe needed to do was tilt his head up just right to kiss him again. The other man’s words caught Gabe off-guard. Home. That was such a foreign concept to him at this point. It was strange to think that after these years, Johnny still thought of the house as theirs. “Just for tonight, just so I can keep kissing you. Say yes and I’ll stop dragging you away from your party.”

Maybe it was the emotions of the day, or maybe it was the alcohol, but Gabe couldn’t imagine giving him any other answer than the word that poured easily out of his lips. “Okay.” And his mouth was on his again. “Okay.”

11:05pm

“Seriously?” Juliet groaned as she got a good look at Gabe who’d slipped out of the back part of the gallery before Johnny did. “What are you guys? Teenagers?” She wasn’t faring any better than Delilah in terms of dipping into the free booze and her shoes were long since abandoned somewhere. “Can’t take you anywhere.”

Her hands straightened out Gabe’s shirt. “I really don’t want to know what you guys were doing in there.” She murmured out before trying to tuck the tail of Gabe’s shirt back in. “But you have a hickey on your neck.”

“I do not.” He said with a half laugh, twisting his head to see if he could see what she was talking about. There was a small flash of purple, and he groaned. “Okay, I do. I’m going to kill him.”

Juliet laughed. “It’s good to see you happy, Papa Bear.” She said, hugging him tightly. “Both of you.”

He sighed. “Jules, we still have a lot to work through.” He tried to tell her, but his step-daughter just laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll check on your dogs tomorrow.”

“That’s awfully presumptuous of you.” He called after her as she moved through the crowd of people for another drink.

1:38am

Stumbling into the bedroom, he toed his shoes off and dropped his jacket on the floor before flopping face-first, ass-up onto the bed. Johnny had taken Felony outside, and between the booze and his weird-ass pre-show sleep schedule, he was fucking exhausted. Blindly he reached out for Johnny’s pillow and buried his face into the fabric, inhaling the familiar and comforting scent. He was halfway asleep when the bed dipped and there were hands on his hips. 

“Take your pants off before you fall asleep, Briel.” He was being manhandled onto his back, and if it was anyone else, Gabe probably would have fought them on it, but it was Johnny and he trusted him. Johnny straddled his legs and unbuttoned his pants for him as Gabe laid there, watching him. “Really? You’re not going to help me at all?”

Gabe shook his head, sliding his hands to Johnny’s ass and pulling him down on top of him. “Uh uh.” He said, hugging his ex to him, nuzzling at his neck. “Shouldn’t have drank so much. Wasted a good opportunity.” He slid his hands under the back of Johnny’s shirt to pull him closer to him.

“This isn’t the last time you’re sleeping here.” Johnny said with a laugh before freezing and pulling back to look at Gabe. “It isn’t, right?”

Gabe rolled them over so he was straddling Johnny’s stomach. “Not even close to the last time.” He murmured out before kissing him. 

They were both too buzzed for it to lead anywhere else, but if there was one thing Gabe had always liked, it was kissing Johnny.

4:45am 

“Briel.” The bed dipped and Felony yelped from where she had been curled up next to Gabe’s hip as he slept. She jumped off the bed at the intrusion and wandered out of the room. 

“The rabbits have escaped the compound, babe. I need to find them.” He mumbled out, trying to stay asleep. “I can’t go to school yet.”

Laughing, Johnny pushed him into a sitting position, despite Gabe’s groans of protest. “Wake up.” He slid behind Gabe, leaning against the headboard and pulling Gabe against his chest. Kissing the side of Gabe’s jaw, he smacked his thigh with a newspaper. “I have today’s Times.” 

Now Gabe was awake. “I don’t want to read it.” He whined out, burying his face against Johnny’s chest. “I don’t want to know what he thinks of the show. He hated it. I’m sure he hated it.”

Ignoring him, Johnny flipped through the paper until he found the section he was looking for, and then pulled Arts and Design out so both he and Gabe could see the article. “It’s tradition.” He said, which was why he had a paper copy and not a digital copy. “Now shush and let me read to you.”

Unable to look at the page himself, he closed his eyes and let Johnny read the article to him. “The Duality of Reflection: Marchette Gallery reopens with the hottest show in town.” Johnny nudged him. “That doesn’t sound bad so far.”

Gabe groaned, and opened his eyes. “Keep reading.” He whined out.

“There’s a sense of quiet upon walking into the Marchette Gallery. The gallery has been sectioned off into four main rooms, which is Gabriel James’ style - transporting the viewer into the dreamscape that is his mind. The lighting is low lit, forcing calm over anyone who enters the gallery.

“The first room is nothing but a white wall with a series of mirrors mounted onto it. The mirrors set the stage for the other rooms in the show. It’s at this point where the guest gets to choose their own path. If they venture off to the left, they find themselves in a red-themed room. Despite the harsh shades of red, the room exudes femininity, mixed in with James’ signature style of sprinkling vulgarity and crudeness into his pieces.”

“Ugh.” Gabe rolled his eyes. “Ever since the penis tree, suddenly my style is vulgar.” He whined out.

Johnny laughed, the sound and motion making Gabe’s body vibrate. “Briel, you have paintings up in this show that make it look like people are rounding third.” He pointed out, and Gabe didn’t have to turn around to know that the other man was smirking at him. “Anyway, where was I?”

“I have a vulgar style.” Gabe prompted, settling back against his ex again.

There was a kiss pressed against his shoulder before the reading continued. “According to James,” there was a nudge at his side as though to point out that the critic was now quoting him. “‘It’s always bothered me that soft, light colors are associated with women and femininity. Women are strong, powerful and beautiful. To me I’ve always associated women with fire: beautiful, but if you don’t touch it carefully, it’ll burn you alive.’”

Johnny laughed. “How drunk were you when they finally found you?” He asked, the paper shaking in his hands.

Gabe flipped him off. “Do I need to take over reading or are you going to do it?” He asked, half-turning his head to look at Johnny.

“If the guest goes to the right, they find themselves in a blue-themed room. Everything is soft and cast in shades of light blue. In spite of the soft colors, it’s very obvious that this room represents masculinity. The pieces in this room all have a theme, the jewel of this room being the overly textured Ocean Dreams,”

The sound that escaped Gabe’s mouth wasn’t entirely human. “Overly textured???? It’s just the right amount of fucking texture.” He hissed out, but Johnny ignored him and kept on reading.

“The pieces in the main room are the reasons for coming to see Reflections. ‘The middle room is the equivalent to my soul.’ James said in explanation to why the most striking pieces are the ones tucked away in the middle of the show. ‘These pieces are the most personal pieces I’ve ever created. As much as I overshare when it comes to my personal life, I like to keep some emotions bottled up and hidden. I finally came to a point in my life where I realized how stupid that was. I’m not ashamed of how I feel, and I need to share my feelings with the world.’“

Johnny stopped reading for a moment, and Gabe turned his head up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Keep reading.” He breathed out. “I need to know what he thinks of the other pieces.”

“The latest installation in the Mythology of Muse series is by far James’ best work in the series. The only other piece in the series that features a portrayal of James himself is Apollo & Artemis. James has said in interviews before that he doesn’t like including himself in his art so when he does, the pieces carry a deeper meaning than the ones without him in it. There’s a sense of awe that comes from seeing an artist included in their art - especially an artist like Gabriel James.”

Gabe closed his eyes, not wanting to see the paper any more. “I don’t know what he thinks about String of Fate. You liked it; that’s enough. I don’t need to know.” He said, almost nonsensically. 

Another kiss on his shoulder. “Yes, you do.” Johnny said before straightening the paper out again. “If you need one reason to see Reflections, go only to see String of Fate. Though all the pieces in Reflections are well-thought out and beautiful in their own right, String of Fate is James’ masterpiece. When art historians talk about James in the future, String of Fate will be the piece most associated to James. This will be the piece art students study.”

He couldn’t breathe. His eyes were open again, and somehow Gabe’s hands were clinging to Johnny’s arms. When had he even grabbed his arms?

“Reflections will be on display through the end of March at the Marchette Gallery. Can’t make it before April? Don’t worry. String of Fate and Hades & Persephone will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Gabriel James will be the artist in residence throughout the summer season.”

Johnny hit Gabriel with the paper. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be at the MET this summer!” He accused.

Shaking his head, Gabe turned his head to look at Johnny. “I didn’t know.” He breathed out, looking at him in complete surprise. “Pants!” He scrambled out of the bed. “Where are my pants at?”

“The hamper.” His ex told him, before flushing as he realized what a married thing that had been to do. Gabe didn’t live there any more, but it seemed like Johnny had forgotten when he’d tossed both their pants in there. The simple gesture shouldn’t have made a grin appear on Gabe’s features, but it did none-the-less. “But I put your phone and wallet on the dresser where you usually, uh, used to put it.”

With shaking hands, Gabe unlocked his phone and scrolled through his texts, looking for the one from his agent, Sully. It felt like the air had been punched out of him as he read the text out loud. “Congratulations, G! We’ve gotten more than a dozen offers on your pieces, and a few museums that would like to purchase the rights to Ocean Dreams and Fading Sunrise for both display purposes and to print reprints for sale. We also received a generous offer from the MET for Artist in Residence. I know how you feel about the MET and your relationship with them so I told them yes, pending a contract review. I know you’re probably celebrating so I’ll call you on Monday. Congrats, again!”

He set the phone back down on the dresser and in a daze walked back over to the bed. “I... they... I...” Once again he was experiencing sensory overload. Not knowing how to form words, he instead crawled onto Johnny’s lap, straddling his thighs. Only knowing one way to express the sheer amount of emotions that were washing over him right now, he pressed his lips against Johnny’s, kissing him as hard as he could until he couldn’t breathe any more. Then he buried his face into the crook of his neck as he struggled to catch his breath. And was he crying? Fuck, he was crying. 

“I told you they were going to love it.” His ex-husband soothed, his hands trailing gently up and down Gabe’s back. “Not as much as I did, but I told you they were going to love it.”

He nodded against the other man’s neck, still unable to talk. Maybe it was the sheer amount of emotions put into the show, or from the stress of reading the review, or the lack of normal sleep he’d gotten over the past couple of days, but within minutes he was asleep, still clinging to his ex-husband like he was the only thing keeping him anchored to the world. And maybe in this current moment in time, he was.

[maylovexhs]

Coincidence

Author’s Note: Where do I begin? I started college, so I’m swamped with work. I’m filled with requests so I still have to write those even though they are VERY LATE. But anyways, how have y’all been? Enjoy this one. xxx M

Masterlist

Concept: H is running late for a show and he thinks it might not be a coincidence.

Tags: @justanotherdaydreamersoul

*Y/N’S POV*

“If you want my body and you think I’m sexy. Come on, sugar, tell me so” I sang, spinning around in the chair.

“If you really need me, just reach out and touch me. Come on, honey, tell me so” Taylor joined in, singling along to Rod Stewart’s song with me.

I tapped on my thighs as I heard the drums in the song play.

“You’re off by a beat” Taylor commented on my fake drumming.

“Thanks, obvious” I said, teasing him.

“No problem” Taylor said, not recognizing I was insulting him.

“I was joking” I told him.

“I know you are” Taylor said. “I’m just an amazing drummer who knows when someone has horrible drumming skills”

I was about to respond to his comeback but we were interrupted by a knock on the dressing room door.

Knock knock.

“Come in” I said out loud.

The door opened, revealing Andrew. Again. He was in charge of performance set times. He was probably reminding us of how much time we had left. He kept checking in every five minutes.

“Hi guys,” Andrew started to speak. “I-“

“We know, we have 15 minutes until stage” I told him. “I was about to get my mic checked in”

“We are all done and ready except Y/N” Cristina said as she sat on the couch with Andy and Alexa. “It only takes 2 minutes anyways”

“It’s not that news” Andrew said to us.

We all looked to each other, knowing we either got rejected last minute or something was wrong.

“What is it then?” Andy asked him.

“Harry Styles, the act after you is running late” Andrew explained. “He’s stuck in traffic”

“And?” Taylor asked Andrew. “What does he have to do with us? He’s after not before”

“The manager asks if you can do your set longer.” Andrew said. “We don’t want the crowd to know he’s late and negative attention towards BBC”

“You want us to stall?” Alexa asked him, getting up from the couch. “We can’t do that. We only rehearsed the songs we knew we were going to do”

Andrew let out a breath, clearly nervous seeing he was the one who had to convince us to do this.

“I know this is last second,” Andrew said. “But you are the only people I have left to ask. BBC will forever be in your favor”

“But we are unprepared” Andy said to him. “It’s gonna take time to change the setlist”

Taylor crosses his arms.

“We definitely are not doing it” Taylor said.

“We came for one thing only”

“Why?” I asked him. “I think we could”

Taylor turned to me.

“Are you serious? We have a 25 minute set.” Taylor said, having the tone of hostility in his voice. “If we do this, it could be an hour long. We didn’t sign up for this”

“It will be good promo” I told him. “And I know we can figure out which other songs we can sing fast. We can do covers”

“Yeah, but it’s not so easy playing it” Cristina said. “We’re probably gonna mess up”

“We’ll blame it on technical issues” I said, looking to Andrew. “Can we?”

“Why not?” Andrew said in an uncertain voice. “I just need an answer now”

I looked to my band mates.

“All in favor of not doing it?” I asked them.

Taylor and Cristina raised their hands.

“All in favor of doing it?”

Andy and I put our hands. We all looked to Alexa as she slowly put her hand up seeming unsure.

I looked to Andrew.

“It’s a yes” I told him. “We need more than 15 minutes to get ready”

Andrew nodded his head at me.

“I’ll push for 25 minutes” He said to me. “Thank you”

Andrew left, shutting the dressing room’s door closed. Taylor uncrossed his arms at me.

“So crazy,” Taylor said to me. “What’s your plan?”

*HARRY’S POV*

“You know the entire setlist? You don’t need any sheet or anything?” Jeff asked as we quickly walked to the side of the stage.

“Yes, I am” I said to him. “Are Mitch and everyone else here?”

“Of course” Jeff answered. “They’re at the side, waiting for you”

“For fuck’s sake” I cursed to myself. “I should have left earlier”

“H!” I heard Clare call my name.

I looked to her, seeing Jeff was right. Mitch, Sarah and Adam stood next to her. Even Nick was there. They all turned to me. Everyone was at the side of the stage, all ready to go on. I walked over to them.

“Oh look who had arrived finally!” Nick said, exaggerating how upset he was with me. “Did you purposely come late so you can finally be a diva?”

“I wish” I answered him.

I looked to everyone else.

“Sorry” I apologized. “I couldn’t do anything in the traffic”

“We forgive you” Nick said, accepting my apology even if it wasn’t meant for him. “Besides I found someone else to dance to. You really missed out on good shit”

I chuckled at Nick’s choice of words.

I looked to the stage, watching a brunette woman talk about a song to the crowd.

“Umm, this next song I wrote with one of my band mates” She said in a soft voice. “His name is Andy and he plays the guitar in my band”

She waved to a man who I assumed was Andy.

“And usually whenever I sing this song, he would come up here and play the guitar as I sing, so . . .”

Andy walked towards her. He held his guitar closer to himself.

“This song is called The One That Got Away” She said.

Andy began to strum the strings on his guitar, playing the song.

“Summer after high school, when we first met. We make-out in your Mustang to Radiohead and on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoos” She began to sing. “Used to steal your parents liquor and climb to the roof. Talk about our future like we had a clue. Never planned that one day I'd be losing you”

“In another life, I would be your girl” She continued to sing. “We keep all our promises, be us against the world”

I turned to Adam who was standing beside me.

“What’s her name?” I asked him.

“Y/N” Adam said. “She’s great. Watched her play since she got on”

I looked back to the stage, watching Y/N perform. I smiled as she continued to sing.

“I was June and you were my Johnny Cash. Never one without the other, we made a pact. Sometimes when I miss you, I put those records on, whoa”

Y/N looked to my side of the stage. Her eyes grew in surprise as she noticed me. I let out a chuckle. She looked back to Andy.

Nick poked my arm. I looked to him.

“Be careful, H” Nick said. “You’re starting to fall in love with her”

I laughed at his joke.

“I already am”

*Y/N’S POV*

“Hey, I’m gonna go” I heard Taylor say behind me. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

I tugged tighter on my hair tie, making sure my ponytail would come apart. I spun around in my chair to him.

“That soon?” I asked him. “You’re not gonna stay until the end like Cristina and Andy?”

“No” Taylor answered. “The last minute show tired me out”

“Oh,” I said. “Okay”

“See you at rehearsals?” Taylor asked.

“Rehearsals” I said, smiling at him.

Taylor nodded at me before heading out. He shut the door behind him, leaving me alone in the dressing room. I turned around in my chair to see myself in the mirror. I looked a bit tired too. My dark circles were peeking out under the layers of concealer. Maybe I should have left with Taylor.

Knock Knock.

I got up from the chair and headed to the door. I expected Taylor to be knocking since he probably forgot something to take. Except when I opened the door, I didn’t see Taylor. Instead, I saw a handsome man with gorgeous green eyes and brown curls. The same man I saw on the side of the stage when I sang earlier. He was holding a bouquet of flowers this time. He must be Harry.

“Hi” He said. “I’m Harry”

“Hi, I’m Y/N” I introduced myself to him. “Are those for me?” I asked, referring to the flowers he was holding.

“Uh, yeah” He answered. “They’re a thank you. For tonight”

I blushed. Harry smiled, his dimples being clearly seen. Harry handed me the flowers.

“Oh, it was no problem” I said to him. “You should be thanking my band mates. I had to convince them to play”

Harry laughed.

“Are they here?” He asked me.

“Oh, no” I answered. “They all left. Do you want to come inside?”

“Love to” Harry answered, shooting me another smile.

I let him in, letting the door close on its own. I settled the flowers on the table next to the couch.

“I really enjoyed your set” Harry told me.

“Did you? You mean only the two songs at the end?” I asked him in a playful tone.

Harry chuckled.

“Yes, those two” He answered. “I was wondering . . . can I take you out for dinner?”

I smiled immediately, blushing.

“Now?” I asked him. “I can’t now”

“Tomorrow then?” Harry asked. “It’s the most I could do for earlier”

“I can’t do tomorrow either” I told him. “I’m swamped with rehearsals. Tuesday, I can. After my show”

“Perfect” Harry said. “Where’s your show?”

“The O2″ I told him. “It starts at eight”

“I’ll be there” Harry said. “And I’ll stay for more than two songs”

I chuckled. I took a pen from the dressing room draw and wrote my number on a piece of scrap paper.

“Here” I handed it to him. “My number”

“Thanks” Harry said. “I’ll call you, Y/N”

I smirked at him.

“Well, I gotta go” I told him. “Need my sleep for tomorrow”

Harry nodded at me. He walked to the door, opening it. He turned to me before walking out.

“Thanks again” Harry said. “For the coincidence”

Harry shot me a wink and walked out. I stood still, watching the door close on its own.

That wink was definitely not a coincidence.