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piedpiperslists · 3 years ago

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JJK: College / University AU [E-N]

List of all Jungkook fics tagged under 'College / University' AU with titles starting with 'E-N':

* ² - two shots s - contains smut sm - social media format

* Last updated: 18/02/2024

D R A B B L E S

Early Mornings by lveclouds arts major!Jungkook

Façade by jkeuphoriadreamland s preppy!Jungkook

Focus on Me by aquagustd s FWB

Forgetful Confessions [pt2] by yoonoclock friends to lovers Summary: In a less than sober minded state, Jeongguk stumbles into your apartment confessing feelings you didn’t know were there. Well….You weren’t confident was there. The sad part is, Jeongguk remembers nothing of what he said the night before.

Got No One To Blame by candlewaxandp0lar0ids angst Summary: “I think I messed things up, I’m not in love with her, I’m in love with (Y/N)”

Haste by yoonia roommates au Summary: “I wish I could hate you.”

Head Over Skates by mercurygguk ice hockey player!Jungkook Summary: Jungkook doesn’t get jealous but here you are, bringing out new sides of him.

Helpful College Cutie by mercurygguk Summary: You stumble upon a helpful cutie on the first day at your new college.

i.n.v.u by koostarcandy friends to lovers Summary: It's ironic you envy and love him at the same time.

Ice Me Out by taeshobipop childhood friends to lovers Summary: The last way you expected this night to end was to have Jeon Jungkook, captain of the ice hockey team and number one hindrance in your oh-so-great life, trail after you as you leave his Christmas party.

In the Frosty Air by gukyi roommates au Summary: Two weeks ago you and your roommate slept together. Which would be fine, if you knew you both felt the same about each other. But you don’t. And now it’s Christmas, and Jungkook is still gorgeous and gentle and wonderful and here, and and you don’t really know what to do about that.

In which he’s being for real… by minstrivia fuckboy!Jungkook

Jeon Jungkook Hates Parties by joheunsaram shy boy!Jungkook Summary: Jungkook hates going to parties. That is until he meets you at one.

Just Friends by jeonqkooks s FWB Summary: Jungkook doesn’t like it when other people look at you the way he does.

Learning the Hard Way by thatlongspringnight s Summary: Just some good old fashion school au with Tutor!Reader and sub!Jungkookie.

Like That by dawnagustd s Summary: Running into an awkward situation at a house party? Your first instinct is to hide. And because you have the worst luck, your hiding spot is already being occupied… by another awkward situation.

Maybe? by bubmyg new relationship Summary: “I remember practicing how to ask you out to the mirror.”

My Condolences by bubmyg established relationship Summary: “What do you want to do?”

Five More Minutes by bubmyg established relationship

Nightmares by bubmyg established relationship

Dinner, Maybe? by bubmyg established relationship

Bath Bombs and Cheesy Bread by bubmyg established relationship

Colder than Normal by bubmyg established relationship Summary: Jeongguk doesn’t know how to handle arguments let alone proper apologies or it’s supposed to be cold and you’ve left your favorite hoodie at his apartment.

* Me Time by hansolmates s Summary: The first time virgin!MC meets her mans (but she doesn’t know it yet).

Move Along by bangtanstanst friends to lovers Summary: Running into your ex isn’t exactly what you’d call fun, especially when the break-up wasn’t… amicable, to say the least. Fortunately, you always have your good friend to help you out of a tight corner.

Nervous by jeonbunnie exes to lovers Summary: Jeongguk runs into his ex-girlfriend over the holidays.

* New Year’s Kiss by seoulnotes Summary: Jungkook a frat boy meets you who is trying to hide out at his party and maybe you share a New Year’s kiss.

O N E S H O T S

Ego Season by sparklingchim s wc~6.3k / hockey player!Jungkook, brother's best friend Summary: POV: You make ur secret fuck buddy jealous.

Number 7 by sparklingchim s wc~3k / hockey player!Jungkook, brother's best friend Summary: POV: Your jealous fuck buddy pounds you in his jersey.

Enchanted by kjhmyg wc~6.8k / friends to lovers Summary: “Seeing those two look at each other like that makes me think that love might actually be real.”

Euphoria by 94hixtape s wc~8.8k / ft PJM, PWP

Fake It ('Till We Make It) by hyunnows wc~23.8k / fake dating Summary: In which Jungkook fake dates you to win a bet.

Falling by starshapedkookie s wc~31.4k / soulmates au Summary: soulmate (noun): a person who is bound to another through the strongest level of emotional and physical connection. one is given a name on the body upon 18 years of age and any transgressions against the laws of soul-bonding will not occur without harm.

Flick or Treat by junqkook s wc~3.3k / fuckboy!Jungkook, PWP Summary: You hate Jeon Jungkook with every fiber of your being; but arousal doesn’t discriminate between like and dislike.

Ghost of Your Touch by strawbkoo s wc~2.2k / friends to lovers Summary: Jeongguk’s been ignoring you. It’s been 3 weeks now with no contact, your heart hurts. Out of all people, you would never have thought Jeon Jeongguk would leave you alone after taking your virginity.

Ghosts Just Wanna Have Fun by sugaxjpg s wc~20k / med school au, psychic au Summary: When Jungkook discovered that he could communicate with dead people, the last thing he expected was that they would be there to give him romantic advice.

Go Ahead and Cry by jeonverselol s wc~3.6k / fratboy!Jungkook, FWB Summary: Jungkook has commitment issues when it came to love and you are always ready to fall in love. You two want to be loved, and you’re ready to attach yourself but that’s what scares Jungkook and he finally confronts all his fears.

Go to Hell by bangtanficsforyou s wc~5.3k / football player!Jungkook, enemies to lovers Summary: You hate Jungkook, he's the bane of your existence. But what happens when you willingly land yourself in a situation you never thought you'd be in.

Gotcha by whatifyoulivelikethat s wc~11k / childhood friends to lovers Summary: The color blue. Two white hairpins. “Hey, Jungkook.” A laugh with shaking shoulders that Jeon Jungkook thought he would hear and see forever. Hey, Jungkook. But then those words became a memory, until she was standing in front of him again, sporting the title of “Virgin Killer” and Min Yoongi by her side. Was this his second chance or just another memory?

Habits of a Broken Heart by softykooky wc~26.3k / art student!Jungkook, English student!reader, subtle enemies to lovers, soulmates au Summary: Jungkook and you are soulmates. So says the matching crescent moons on both your wrists. However, things are never as easy as they seem, and you are quick to learn that falling in love with someone who does not believe in love is a one-way ticket to heartbreak. Alternatively, “you still are, you know. Worth it.” You release a shaky breath. “but I was stupid to think that I am too.”

Hands-On Learning by ladyartemesia s wc~5.3k / PWP Summary: You have - most inconveniently - become obsessed with your dissertation partner’s hands. In an effort to relieve some stress about it, you begin sending texts to your best friend detailing - explicitly - what you want those hands to do to you. Perhaps you should have checked the number a bit more carefully.

Heart Taping by minyfic wc~3.3k / soccer player!Jungkook, enemies to lovers Summary: The problematic goalie of the soccer team just needed some TLC.

Heaven’s Open by btsmosphere wc~3.5k / friends to lovers Summary: It’s never a good time for the heavens to open, trapping you to wait out the storm. But your own piece of heaven is stuck right there with you - maybe the rainclouds will shed some light on the cold front that has formed between you and Jungkook.

Here I Come by chateautae s wc~3k / PWP Summary: Tipsy hide-and-seek turns into more when you and Jeon Jungkook choose the same closet to hide in.

Hold You Tighter by arcticguk wc~5.6k / strangers to lovers Summary: Jeongguk doesn’t want to take Taehyung’s advice, but when he’s falling asleep in class, he thinks he might have to. Although, he was not expecting the pretty girl that woke him up in said class, to be the one that Taehyung calls for help.

Honest Fuckboy by hobiwonder s wc~3.1k

Hot Boy Bummer by jungkxook s wc~14.6k / fuckboy!Jungkook, friends to lovers, FWB Summary: When Jungkook offers you a proposition of just sex, no strings attached, how can you possibly say no? After all, what are best friends for?

How Do You Like Me Now by pjxmin s wc~4.2k / established relationship, PWP Summary: You decide to have a little fun with a remote controlled toy in class and Jeongguk will do anything for his relief.

How to Make Him Cum 101 by mimithings97 s wc~15k / established relationship Summary: You’ll love each other in sickness and health, hungover or hangry, sexless or… well, it’s becoming a little harder for the pants to stay on despite the calls of ‘let’s take this slow’ on the first date.

Hush by aureumjeon s wc~2.5k / established relationship, PWP Summary: When you invited your boyfriend to a study date at the library on a Friday night, studying was your only intention. Of course, Jungkook always had a knack of ruining your plans.

I Don't Like a Gold Rush by candlewaxandp0lar0ids wc~17.3k Summary: Jungkook is the golden boy, an excellent student, the star of you college’s football team. Rumor has it, there’s simply nothing he can’t do. The same cannot be said about you, but you’ve never had an issue with that. You’re happy with your small group of friends and your lack of talent in sports. And then, Jin befriends Jungkook, and you find yourself spending a lot of time with him. Before you know it, you’ve taken an interest in him — and you’re sure you shouldn’t. There’s no way this can end well for you… right?

I Heard a Rumor by taeshobipop s wc~8.1k / friends to lovers Summary: One slip of a finger, and you realize you’ve liked an Insta photo of college hotshot Jeon Jungkook…from two years ago. You manage to unlike it within seconds, except it’s too late — Damn Kim Namjoon and his lightning-fast eyes. Do not tell a soul, you hiss. The man merely smirks. Next thing you know, a rumor is spread throughout campus. Y/n likes Jungkook…and now he knows.

(I Think) I'd Have a Heart Attack by euphorajeon wc~4.9k / roommates au Summary: Having feelings for your roommate is never not complicated, all awkward glances and (not-so) subtle avoidance. After weeks, you think you’ve buried them deep enough for your roommate not to notice. But Jeongguk digs deeper.

I Will Not Lose! by jimlingss wc~6.2k / rivals to lovers, magic au Summary: A single bet - use every means to make Jeon Jungkook fall in love with you.

If I Told You by gukyi wc~22k / friends to lovers Summary: In order to pay for university, Jeon Jungkook decides to market his most valuable asset to the wealthy socialites of campus: himself. Donning a suit and tie, tousled hair, and glasses (to look smarter), he becomes every rich daughter’s dream: the perfect boyfriend to bring to balls, dinners, and business gatherings. All while you watch from the sidelines, only able to dream of having that much money to buy yourself what you really want: him.

Infatuated by namsjunies s wc~3k / university au

Interlude: You by mangowillow wc~4.1k Summary: As you go through life and its fears and doubts, Jungkook is there to ground you, to serve as your anchor in a very messy tide.

“Is your refrigerator running?” by joheunsaram wc~4.2k / fratboy!Jungkook Summary: Who knew the annoying prank calls you were receiving would become the favourite part of your day.

Joyride by minisugakoobies s wc~12.8k / ft KTH, strangers au Summary: Senior year spring break sucks, thanks to the annoying spoiled little rich boy who won't stop trying to get your attention. When a scenic drive in his ridiculously expensive sports car goes wrong, you meet two sexy mechanics who decide to teach him a lesson - and show you the real meaning of "joyride."

Just Benefits by sangsanghaebwa s wc~4.3k / FWB Summary: You don’t know a lot about the man you share your bed with and it doesn’t necessarily bother you. However such things are never meant to last, which makes you question what the outcome with Jeon Jungkook will be in the end.

Keep Driving by ugh-yoongi wc~6.8k / friends to lovers Summary: The one where you and Jeongguk go on a road trip to nowhere and finally say all the things you usually hold back, and then you just keep driving.

Kiss It Better by jincherie s wc~11.7k / cheerleader!Jungkook Summary: When one goes to Kim Seokjin for advice, it’s almost guaranteed to never end well. This is something Jungkook learns quickly when he mistakenly follows treasured advice to ‘be smart’ and ‘use his assets’. He just did what he was told! Of course, the execution was a bit poor… and embarrassing. But hey, if rocking up to cheer practice in a skirt doesn’t woo your crush, what will?

Late Fee by 1kook s wc~10.3k / fuckboy!Jungkook Summary: “Captain Underpants isn’t glorified by all the tryhards, so when I pick those books, you’re unknowingly more interested in me.”

Lifeline by aamalaaa wc~3.6k Summary: You've been feeling off these days, though you don't know why. Jeon Jungkook being the best friend ever checks up on you after you've ignored his messages. But is he only a friend?

Like I Want You by divinelyparkjimin s wc~5.4k / friends to lovers Summary: Setting your nerdy best friend up with a girl from your class was the biggest mistake you ever made.

Little Library Girl by kooksgalaxy wc~5k Summary: Jungkook is the star quarterback of his college, but he has to keep his grades up in order to continue to play. With calculus being his hardest subject, he is tutored by Y/n, someone who is the complete opposite of him. With stress rising with the upcoming championship, his feelings for Y/n are making things much more complicated. Take the glory of football, a little library girls, and throw in a malicious opponent… you’ve got a whole lot of trouble.

Love Letter by whatifyoulivelikethat s wc~7k / neighbors au, university au Summary: Jeon Jungkook gets love letters shoved in his mailbox and under his apartment door all the damn time. You, too, get love letters shoved in your mailbox and under your door. All the time. It could be a sweet gesture, but this is the twenty-first century. Love letters aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Lovestruck by sparklingchim s wc~5k / established relationship Summary: Jungkook wants you. And who were you to deny him? Of course you'd let him fuck you.

Lowkey by joonbird s wc~6.2k / strangers au Summary: Jungkook is the nude model for your art school’s life drawing class.

Make It Feel Like Christmas by yoongiphoria s wc~2.9k / friends to lovers Summary: Thanks to the storm of the century, you and your best friend are trapped in your college town just before the holidays.

May 31 by jeonjeonggukenergy s wc~5k / roommates au Summary: On the last day of your senior year living together, you’re still fighting your feelings for your roommate Jungkook. Before you can fully move out and move on, he makes a pretty significant scheduling error. #and there was only one bed

Micro-Orgasm by dovechim s wc~3k / established relationship Summary: Biology lab takes an entirely different spin when you find something unexpected in your cheek cell sample.

Microwave (Mis)adventures by bymoonchild s wc~20k / enemies to lovers, roommates au Summary: Out of all things to be afraid of, Jungkook, the seat-stealer of your 8am class and annoying housemate whom you despise with every fiber of your being, chooses to have a phobia of microwaves, but he loves buying microwaveable food – because come on, they’re irresistible – and you somehow find yourself getting dragged into his microwaves (mis)adventures. Cue chaos, sarcasm-laced banter and an unplanned romance.

Mission Impossible by hobiwonder s wc~9k Summary: When you find out that your groupmate is whoring it up on tinder instead of handing in his part of the project, you go on a mission to teach him a lesson. And maybe get him to finish his part.

Never (K)not You by jiminrings wc~5k / established relationship Summary: Established relationship ft. jock!JK and shy art major!Y/N, Y/N gets an unexpected pep talk and Jungkook doubts himself, and either so much tears or so much dust according to Kook.

New Rules by moon-baby95 s wc~10.4k / FWB Summary: ___’s roommate is concerned about her ongoing hook ups with Jeon Jungkook, and takes it upon herself to write a contract to keep her away from him and from getting hurt.

Night Crawlers by alphabetboyluvr s wc~26k / drug runner!Jungkook, sugar baby!reader Summary: Jungkook’s always been good at running. Track, field, red lights, shit outta luck. Drugs, now, too. But he doesn’t expect to run into you. In your shared lecture halls, sure. Maybe. But not down the back alleys of daerim at ass o’clock in the morning. There are only three types of women he ever sees in daerim: hookers, sugar-babies and addicts. You aren't any of those; you're a trust-fund baby who can get percocet on private repeat prescription, if you really want it. He's sure of it. So it then further begs the question: why the fuck are you here?

Nochu Unsolved [AO3] by yoonivy s wc~8k / established relationship Summary: Your boyfriend, Jeon Jungkook, drags you out for a cryptid hunting adventure. It doesn’t go quite as planned…

T W O S H O T S / S E R I E S

Effortlessly by gyukult s friends to lovers Summary: “Reciprocate feelings?” Jungkook crosses his arms before he continues, “They should know that you’re the only girl in my life.“ Jungkook has been your best friend and neighbor since you could remember, but what you can’t recall is when your feelings began develop for him.

Ego by suga-kookiemonster s fuckboy!Jungkook Summary: What’s a girl to do when her sweet, innocent baby lab partner isn’t quite so sweet and innocent? Well, he’s a grown-ass man, and you’re about to learn that the hard way

Epiphany by nightbts enemies to lovers Summary: You hated his guts, especially after he ruined your chance at getting a good grade in one of your toughest classes. But why did your heart beat a little faster every time you saw him? And why did he feel the same way?

Evolution of a Lover’s Heart by jeonstudios s fuckboy!Jungkook Summary: The rules are simple: first one to take the virginity wins.

Fall for You by kimvtae s fuckboy!Jungkook, FWB Summary: You hate a lot of things about Jeon Jungkook; you hate his arrogance, his reputation, and his pet name for you to name a few. But most of all, you hate how right it feels for you to fall into his arms, and how easy it is to fall for him.

For Science by boymeetsweevil s nerd!Jungkook, friends to lovers, FWB Summary: Jungkook asks you to let him watch you get off. For science.

Glitter and Disquiet ² by joheunsaram s CEO!Jungkook, YouTuber!reader, enemies to lovers, chaebol au Summary: Poised to inherit Korea’s largest gaming company in a few months, the world looks at Jeon Jungkook as a symbol of envy. Why wouldn’t they? He has everything, riches, power, and according to the rumour mill, endless women. Little do they know that his father’s company is on the verge of downfall, he barely has respect of his employees, and regardless of the rumours, he’s just a virgin saving himself for true love.

Gold Rush by venusiangguk s established relationship, PWP Summary: JK comes back from a weekend away and he wants to show you just how much he missed you.

How to Get a Guy ² by taeshobipop s fuckboy!Jungkook, roommates au Summary: Star basketball player Jeon Jungkook has a reputation as the ultimate fuckboi. He’s loved by everyone. Everyone. And you would have followed suit if he had not broken all your strict Roommate Rules™ within the first week of his stay. Jungkook, on the other hand, thinks you’re absolutely bizarre. But there’s a silver lining — Mr. Fuckboi here knows basketball captain Min Yoongi, your dreadfully clueless crush. He strikes up a deal with you: he’ll teach you the ways of flirting if you lessen your load of rules (so Jungkook can continue perusing his way through the ladies on campus). Yet the longer Jungkook spends with you, the more he realizes that maybe he doesn’t want to be the campus fuckboi anymore. The problem is, how does he prove that to you?

I'd Love You to Stay but That's Simply Insane by taexual s childhood friends to lovers, fake dating Summary: Jungkook is an uncontrollable lead vocalist of the campus band, and you’re a goal-oriented top student that’s known his rich and complicated family since childhood. You don’t want anything to do with each other, until each other is exactly what you want to do.

Instant Gratification by dovechim s fuckboy!Jungkook, cheerleader!reader, FWB

Love Formula by kimnjss s sm shy boy!Jungkook, fuckgirl!reader Summary: You’re barreling into his life when he least expects it, stealing all his attention until the nights spent studying are replaced with rolling around the sheets. He’s hopelessly romantic and you’re in it for the fun, but no one told you it would ruin your life.

Lunchbox Lovers by jiminrings stem major!Jungkook, cold senior!reader Summary: Cold senior!Y/N having a crush on shy stem major!Koo.

Maniac ² by strawbearytae exes to lovers Summary: A mutual breakup from your long term boyfriend leaves you inevitably devastated, but a unexpected collaboration may just be the breakthrough the two of you needed.

#jjk list #jungkook fic

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thedanceronthestreets · 4 years ago

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PEDRO PASCAL GQ GERMANY - OCTOBER 2020

Original text by Esma Annemon Dil

Fotos by Doug Inglish

Styling by Simon Robins

Translated by @thedanceronthestreets

Intro: A broken tooth could almost have been the reason for our meeting with Pedro Pascal to be cancelled - and with that our conversation about roots, his new movie and times of change.

Interview: It is almost eery how empty the streets of Los Angeles are under the gleaming sun. While Europe is finding its "new normal", people in L. A. are cutting their own hair even without being neurotics. Many of them have not seen their friends in half a year. The pandemic is out of control. So are the reactions to the situation. Inviting someone to a "distance drink" in the backyard can lead to the same consternation as proposing a relationship partner exchange.

All the more of a surprise was Pedro Pascal's immediate confirmation. To the drink, not the partner exchange. He is one of the winners this year - and if Corona had not forced the movie industry to go on a holiday, he probably would not have had the time for this drink. After "Game of Thrones", the series in which his head was squished, followed 2015 the leading role in "Narcos" as a DEA agent on the hunt for Pablo Escobar, and now the leap onto the big Hollywood screen. As of 1. October the Chilean will appear in the blockbuster "Wonder Woman 1984". Furthermore, the second season of the "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" will start in October with him as the main character - unfortunately underneath the helmet. But we all seem to be under the same helmet in 2020. It is this man we want to meet, who worked as a waiter in New York a couple of years ago. Whose parents are political refugees that settled in Texas, and one day their son decided to walk into a drama club in high school.

And then the cancellation. While we were preparing the house and garden for Pedro's drink and fashion shoot, which isn't an easy task under L. A.'s restrictions, his management called in with terrible news: Pedro has - no, not Corona - had to receive emergency surgery due to a sore tooth and is now lying in bed with a swollen cheek, making talking or shooting impossible. The sun shines onto empty streets. And our empty garden.

A few days later, he stands in front of the door anyway, no huge bulge in his face, but stitches in his gum. No limousine service that dropped him off, he arrived in his own car and picked up his makeup artist on the way. He helps her to carry in all the equipment and states first and foremost: "I've got time today!" What a star! It does not seem like we are about to ask him how he managed to become a Hollywood sensation, but rather him asking us that question. Pedro Pascal! So, what kind of star is he then?

Pedro Pascal: Sorry for ruining your plans. The operation was a total emergency.

GQ: Really? We were wondering whether the swelling was the result of a secret trip to the plastic surgeon. Apparently, because of the quarantine in Hollywood, their schedules are packed.

Sorry to disappoint you. A few days before our appointment I raced to the hospital with a tooth fracture and the worst pain I've ever felt - a hospital where the severe Corona cases are treated. I was unable to contact any dentists! Right before I parked, a specialist called back. I'll spare you the details of the surgery, gruesome. The pain was excruciating despite the 10 anaesthetic shots. The doctor said I wasn't the only one going through this, a lot of people grind their teeth at night thanks to stress.

What are you most afraid of at the moment?

The way the government is handling the pandemic scares me more than the virus itself. The lack of intelligent crisis management is a moral disgrace. The leadership crisis makes orphans out of all of us - we're left to fend for ourselves.

How have you spent the last few months?

With frozen pizza in jogging trousers in Venice Beach. I live in a rear building that's in the garden belonging to a family. In reality there are enough good takeout restaurants around that area, but for some reason I like salami pizza from the supermarket.

That doesn't exactly sound like the movie star lifestyle. What does it feel like to be forced from top speed to zero?

Considering the things happening in this world, my own state really isn't the top priority. But I would have to lie, if I said I wasn't disappointed. The entire cast and crew of "Wonder Woman 1984" put so much heart and soul into the production. We had so much fun on set. I had hoped to carry this feeling of exuberance around the globe to the openings of this movie.

You are part of a political, socialist family that fled the Pinochet regime in Chile. What do you remember from back then?

My sister and I were born in Chile, but I was only nine months old when we claimed asylum in Denmark. From there, we moved to San Antonio in Texas, where my dad worked as a doctor in a hospital.

Texas isn't exactly considered to be socialist utopia. How well did you settle in?

San Antonio isn't a cowboy city but rather very diverse with large Asian, Afro-American and Latino communities. In my memory it's a romantic place, culturally inclusive. The cultural shock only hit when we moved to Orange County in California later. Suddenly, the environment was white, preppy and conservative.

How were you welcomed in California?

To this day I'm ashamed when I think about how I let my classmates call me Peter without correcting them. I'm Pedro. Even without growing up in Chile, the country and language are part of me. I was quite unhappy in that place. At least I was able to switch schools and visit one in Long Beach, where I felt more comfortable. With its theatre programme, I found my path.

Could you visit your family's homeland as a child?

Yes, after my parents ended up on a list of expats that were permitted to re-enter the country. First, there was a big family gathering, then me and my sister were parked at some relatives' place for a few months while my parents returned to Texas. They probably needed a break from us. They'd had us at a very young age, had a vibrant social life, and my mother was doing her doctorate in psychology.

Was your mother a typical young psychologist that tested her knowledge at home?

You mean whether I was her lab rat? Absolutely. I can remember weird sessions camouflaged as games, where someone would watch my reactions to different toys. Even though I couldn't have been older than 6, I knew what was happening. My favourite thing was to be asked about my dreams. That was always a great opportunity to make up fantastic stories.

Was that your first performance?

Definitely! My strong imagination alarmed my mother, because I'd rather live in my fantasy world than in real life. I didn't like school. I ended up in the "problematic kid" category. At some point the subjects got more interesting and my grades improved. So many children are unnecessarily diagnosed with learning disabilities without considering that school can be daunting. Why is it acceptable to be bored out of your mind in class, when there are more stimulating ways to convey knowledge?

With everything happening in the world this summer: Do you believe that social hierarchy structures are genuinely being reconsidered?

Hopefully. After the lockdown my first contact with people was at the Black Lives Matter protest. The atmosphere was peaceful and hopeful until the police got involved and provoked violence. At least during these times we can't avoid problems or distract ourselves from them as easily as we usually do. It seems that the pandemic provided us with a new sense of clarity: we don't want to go on like this.

The trailer of "Wonder Woman 1984" represents the optimism of the 80s. That almost makes one feel nostalgic nowadays.

That holds true. It's two hours of happiness. Patty Jenkins, the director, managed to make a movie full of positive messages. We shot in Washington, D. C., then in London and Spain - which now sounds like a different time.

Do you miss travelling?

I've only now realised what a privilege it is to just pack up your things and fly anywhere. With an American passport you can travel freely. And that's why the small radius we live in now is kind of absurd. Over the last few years I often retreated in between takes, because I was always on the road and overstimulated. Friends complained about how comfortable I had become. We all took social interactions for granted and realise now how reliant we are on human connection. Now, I wistfully think about all the party and dinner invitations I declined in the past.

In L. A., people spend more time indoors or in nature than in other metropolises. Could this city become your safe haven after New York City?

My true home is my friends. Ever since I was young I've lived the life of a nomad and haven't set roots anywhere. Until recently, my physical home was a place for arriving and leaving and hence I didn't want to overcomplicate living by owning lots of things. The opposite actually: Without having read Marie Kondo's book, I got rid of all the stuff that was unnecessary and lived a very minimalistic lifestyle.

Is there something you collect or could never say goodbye to?

Books! I still own the literature I read during my teen and university years. Recently I found a box of old theatre scripts and materials back from my uni days at NYU. I can't separate from art either, same as lamps or old pictures. Furniture and clothes are no problem though, they can be chucked.

Do you remember any roles that were defined by their costumes?

Yes, "Game of Thrones" comes to mind immediately. During that time I first understood what it means, as an actor, to be supported by a look. I owe that to costume designer Michele Clapton. She developed these very feminine robes and brocade cloaks for my role that looked very masculine when I wore them. I felt sexy in them. And very important were of course Lindy Hemming's power suits and Jan Sewell's blond hair for the tycoon villain Maxwell Lord in "Wonder Woman 1984". Relating to the style, I couldn't really see myself in the role since the shapes and colours of the 80s don't really fit my body. My type is the 70s.

Do you adopt such inspirations into your private closet?

At this point in time, I'll choose any comfortable outfit over a cool look. Sometimes I mourn the days when I defined myself with fashion. It's a bit mad when I think about how, in the 90s as a teenager, I would go to raves; a proper club kid with crazy outfits: overalls, chute trousers, soccer shirts and a top hat like in "The cat in the hat knows a lot about that!" by Dr Seuss. Later in NYC I was part of a group that placed immense value on wearing a certain style. The fact that I only walk around in joggers nowadays is actually unacceptable!

Normally, actors who work on comic screen adaptations become bodybuilders and eat ten boiled chicken breasts per day. You don't?

My body wouldn't be able to handle that. I find it difficult enough to maintain a minimum level of fitness. As of your mid 40s, you suddenly need a lot more discipline. Until the tooth incident happened, I worked out a couple of times a week with a trainer to keep the quarantine body in shape.

What would annoy you the most, if you were your own roommate?

I can be very bossy. I have to gather all my goodwill not to force my movie choice on to everyone else. When I want something, I'm not passive aggressive about it, I attack head on. Also, I can get caught up in tunnel vision: When i feel down, I can't imagine that I'm ever going to feel better again. I have difficulty with seeing the bigger picture when experiencing problems or emotions. Method acting really wouldn't be my thing. That's why I try to only work on projects that feel good and where people encourage and lift each other up.

While you were trying on the outfits you pointed out a lack of self-esteem. How does that coincide with your career?

Isn't it interesting how traits and circumstances go hand in hand? Self-esteem comes from the inside, but it's also influenced by what society believes. We use critical stares from the outside against ourselves. I lived in New York for 20 years, I studied there and worked as a waiter up until my mid 30s, because I couldn't live off acting. It was always so close. The disappointment of always just barely missing a perfect part or opportunity is exhausting. When is the right time to stop trying and what's plan b? That's not just a question actors ask themselves, but anybody who struggles to earn a livelihood - unrelated to how much potential they have or how close their dream may seem. We are beginning to see now how our narrow definition of success is destroying our communities. At the same time, it's becoming obvious that, until this day, your family background and skin colour determine your chances of living a dignified existence.

What are the positives of becoming a leading man later in life?

I have the feeling that I've got control over my life - without the pressure of having to accept projects or be a social media personality. That surely also has to do with the fact that I'm a man. Women are surely pressured to appear quirky at any age.

Life is always a management of risks - especially at this time. For what would you risk losing something?

Usually, if you don't play the game you're not going to win anything. That applies to friendship, love, work, creativity. Anything that really means something to me, is worth the risk.

Wonder woman 1984 will appear in cinemas 01.10. The 800 million dollar earning DC comic franchise is moving into the New York 80s with its sequel. It looks spectacular - only Pedro Pascal with blond hair in a three piece Wall Street suit looks better.

#pedro pascal #gq germany #Gq

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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago

Text

Teenage Rebellion

I wanted to do something completely different. And I realized I had never really used Adrien’s character that much. Apart from the standard salt. So I decided to give him a better voice. Test my skills with a new character.

Adrien didn’t know what happened. What snapped inside of him? But he just knew that, one day, while his father was giving him a lecture and laying out demands, a funny little word popped in to his head; no. Then he started to wonder if he could say no. Then he heard Marinette her new internship only allowed her to work so many hours because she was only a kid. Then he heard something magical; child labor laws. He looked them up and was amazed. He wanted to know more; wanted to know what his options were. So he went to Marinette and Nino. Then explained that he had rights. When he mentioned about getting taken out of school, they gave him options of how to retaliate.

Nevertheless, it would be weeks before he decided to implement his new idea; not daring to yet. When he finally struck, he knew exactly what the final straw had bene.

“You’ll be taking Miss Rossi to the gala next weekend,” Gabriel told his son.

Adrien blinked, “No.”

The room went silent. Nathalie and gorilla looked stunned. Gabriel glanced at his son, “What do you mean no. This is not up for debate.”

Nothing ever was, Adrien thought, and that was problem.

“You’re right,” Adrien nodded. “Which is why my answer is still no.”

Gabriel assessed his usually obeying son. “I’m not asking.”

“And yet my answer is no.”

“And if you could no longer attend that school of yours?” Gabriel threatened. It always worked.

Adrien shrugged. “Then I will no longer model.”

More stunned silence.

“Adrien,” Gabriel pinched his nose but was cut off.

Adrien crossed his arms, “You can’t make me model.” He looked around at his three caretakers. “And if you try, I’ll scream loud enough for every reporter in Paris to hear me. And while we’re on the subject; I read something about child labor laws. You’re breaking them. I’ll scream that too. If that doesn’t stop, if I don’t start working normal kid hours and eating a healthy amount of food,” He threw the last part at Nathalie. She had been instructed to keep him on a strict diet. “I’ll go to the police. CPS. The news.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak again but again was cut off.

“Even if you try to keep me in here,” Adrien added. “It will just look worse. People will question where I am. The Brand will hurt. My friends will look for me. They’ll ask questions. They’ll spread what it’s really like for me. How unhappy I am. My fans will riot. Even more when I finally do get out of here and go straight to the police, a reporter; maybe do a tell-all on Alya’s blog. Oh wait, I already left several copies of that already previously recorded interview that will be released if I don’t show up for class for a few days.”

The three adults stood with opened mouths. Nathalie was the first to recover, “Adrien, we can discuss this…”

“No!” Adrien glared. “I’m done. You worked me to the bone, starved me, neglected me,” He threw that viciously at Gabriel who flinched, “Attempted again and again to isolate me from my friends. All of which is called child abuse. And now you want to control my romantic interests; tell that shrew Rossi to stay the hell away from me. I will never work with her again. Let me make this very clear. I have evidence of the child labor laws broken. I have video proof the various meals I’ve been served that never once met my nutritional intake. Recordings of various times you threatened me with my removal from school if I didn’t meet various demands and achievement. I have witness testimony from other models, my friends, current and former Agreste fashion employees of my treatment. I have no trouble releasing every last bit of information.”

Adrien took a breath after his rant. “This is my life. I will live it my way. From now on, one third of every paycheck I earn, and I do know the amounts, will be deposited into my personal bank account. The rest of into the saving account mother set up for me. In fact, I want the last six months of checks deposited the same. I want freedom. And if I have to destroy you to get it, I will. Push me, and I’ll push back.” With that, he spun around and left the room. Gorilla followed after him dutifully.

“What do we do?” Nathalie asked. “About Adrien, sir?”

Gabriel glared harshly at where his son at stood, “What can we do?” As much as it killed him to admit it, his son had them on the edge of cliff and looked rather happy at the idea of pushing them off. “I don’t look good in prison orange.” He sighed. “We’ll get him back under control soon enough.”

Nathalie nodded. Neither did she. “I’ll call Rossi and tell her plans have changed.” Everything had changed.

Later that day, Nathalie presented him with his bank card that she taken at Gabriel’s demand and gave him a stiff nod. He turned with a beaming smile to Gorilla, “We’re getting McDonalds!”

Nathalie let out a cry of protest but was ignored.

That day Adrien had his first big mac and fries. It was the biggest meal he’d eaten in months, so his stomach hurt a little, but he couldn’t stop smiling.

He got a call from his father when he was finished. When his dad immediately began to yell at him about not following his diet; Adrian hung up on him. The blond shook his head. He had warned his father; push and Adrien would push back.

He looked around and spotted some punk skaters skating down the street. Adrien smirked. Oh, he had an idea.

Marinette had been thrilled when he called to see if she was free to go shopping with him. Less thrilled, when they wound up at Hot topic.

“Why?” The bluenette whined. “Just why? I have so many ideas.”

Over the last two years, the two had become really good friends. They got even close when Chat Noir and Ladybug revealed their identities to each other. Mostly because they lost their crushes on each other. Marinette on Adrien. And Adrien on Ladybug. It was just too weird for either of them.

“This is what I want!” Adrien smiled as he looked through the band Ts and a lot of nightmare before Christmas merchandise.

“But sunshine!” Marinette pleaded. She started to pull out shirts and accessories that look like they would fit Adrien’s build. “Happiness?”

Adrien laughed, “Storm cloud. Make my father miserable.”

Marinette paused. “Happiness.” She nodded. She had wanted to stick it to Gabriel Agreste for years; the rotten bastard.

The girl ended up approving seven potential outfits from Hot Topic. Adrien bought them all. Then Marinette dragged the boy to other various stores. If Adrien was going to punk rock; then it would be a fashion and, dare she say it, chic punk rock look. Though she did have to drag Adrien away from the piercing salon.

When Adrien got home, Gabriel attempted to discipline him again but was met with stony silence. Adrien pulled out his phone and played a recording of Gabriel chastising Adrien not being thin enough and that his diet would be limited to 1000 calories a day.

The blond boy raised an eyebrow, “I can have this trending within the hour. Your move.”

Gabriel growled and stomped off. He had honestly thought his son had been jesting about the recordings, about evidence, or at very least could be cowed not use any of it. He was wrong, apparently; very wrong.

When Adrien left for school the next mornings, he caused his father to have a panic attack. Gone was the preppy, sunshine child the world was used to. The fifteen-year-old Adrien wore dark green ripped jeans; a studded leather jacket over a black My Chemical Romance shirt. He wore combat boots and eyeliner. “You were warned,” Adrien told his father on his way out of the door. “Keep pushing though.”

“Oh my god, he’s dead,” Nino said to Adrien when he got to class. “Gabriel Agreste.” He started to pretend to tear up. “You want something for so long. And when it finally happens. You wonder what to do.” He suddenly straightened. “I know let’s throw a party. It will end will a conga line over the SOB’s grave.”

“My father’s not dead,” Adrien rolled his eyes as he took his seat in the back. When Marinette had been moved there, he had follow much to the complaints of Lila. “Though it was a pretty close call this morning.”

Most people hadn’t recognized him as he walked through the halls of the school. It was a relief to just be normal.

When the other students arrived, he had gotten double glances. The first was when they said hello, then quickly looked again when they realized something was very, very wrong.

“Holy shit,” Juleka said loudly. The loudest anyone had ever heard her speak. She blushed. “Sorry. You look rocking, Adrien.”

Rose just kept blinking at him. “But, but, team sunshine?” She whispered. Adrien cooed. The two had been dubbed that by the class after a bad storm came in and all the class got soaked but the two kept smiling and trying to cheer people up.

“Team positive?” He offered.

A squeak let him know, Marinette had arrived. She looked over him, “What did I do?” She sat went to her desk. “What did I do?”

“Not enough,” Nino stated. “A little bit more. And we could’ve been doing the Cha slide over Gabriel’s grave right now. Step your game up, dudette. Cause you’re slacking.”

Marinette just closed her eyes and prayed for patience; having boys as her best friends wasn’t easy. Adrien and Nino had become her closest friends, after Lila came and tried to tear everyone away from her. She sort of succeeded. Alya was no longer her friend. Neither was Mylene, Sabrina, Ivan, or Kim. Everyone else in chose to believe the girl they’d known forever over the some chick they just met. Unfortunately, this cause Alya and Nino to break up. Nino was fine with remaining a neutral about whether Lila was a liar, though he thought she was, to keep the peace with his girlfriend. But Alya hadn’t budged and kept harping on the situation; about Nino being friend with Marinette. Nino had no choice but to end things which just cause the girl to get even angrier.

“Group selfie?” Adrien asked. “Juleka, you too. Come on, Rose.”

The five grouped together, and snapped a picture of Adrien’s phone, “Hashtag: new Look, new me. Hashtag: Smells like Teen Spirit.”

More gasps were heard as Lila and Alya, their posse, arrived. “What happened?” Lila frowned.

“Got a new look,” Adrien grinned.

Lila glared. She had been warned that Adrien had gotten out of Gabriel’s control but hadn’t believed it. “You won’t wear that on our date to the gala, right?”

“We’re not dating,” Adrien said bluntly. “I’m not going to the gala with you.” He shook his head. “I’ve told you too many times already, Lila. I will never date you. I don’t like you. I have never liked you. I’m sorry.”

Lila huffed, “Your father!” She started.

Adrien cut her off, “Can my ass!” He yelled. “I don’t care. Call it teenage rebellion or whatever. But It’s my life. Get over it.”

No, Lila thought, this couldn’t be happening. Adrien was her ticket in. At the gala she’d be on his arm and get attention from all sorts of celebrities.

Alya bristled on behalf of her friend, “You don’t have to be so mean.”

Nino glared back, “He wouldn’t have to be if she could take a hint. No means no.”

“He could give her chance,” Alya continued. “How will he know if he really likes or not if he doesn’t.”

“Because he said he doesn’t,” This time it was Rose who spoke. “Adrien, and everyone else, is allowed to decide that they don’t like someone; that they don’t want to date them. You should respect that.”

Lila started crying, big fake tears rolled down her cheeks, “I like you so much,” She pleaded. “I know you’d like me too if you got to know.”

Adrien scoffed, “I know exactly who you are, Lila. And that’s the root of why I don’t like you.”

At this Lila had to force herself not to glare. Fine, she thought, if he wanted to be like that, then she had another card to play. “Marinette put you up to this, didn’t she? She’s been bullying me. And got inside your heard with all her mean words; that’s why you don’t like me.”

Everyone on Lila’s side turned fierce looks toward the Asian girl, accusation on their tongue.

“How could you?” Mylene asked. “You’ve changed, Marinette.”

“Not cool, Bro,” Kim added. He had been crushing on Lila for months and followed her around like a puppy.

“You’re as bad as Chloe ever was,” Alya shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d hurt Lila over your jealously!”

Adrien wasn’t having it, “I. Don’t. Like. You!” He yelled at Lila. “I didn’t like you the moment you first came to this class. It has nothing to do with Marinette. It’s you. You’re the problem. Get it? Got it? Good.” He looked at Lila’s friends. “Marinette is not a bully. She is one of my best friends; my sister, even. And unlike you, she actually listens to me; what I want. Not pant after Lila’s every word.”

The class blinked, stunned because they never really heard Adrien tell anyone off before.

“Well, who are you taking to gala,” Lila asked snidely, and gave a quick mean look at Marinette.

“His boyfriend!” Nino suddenly blurted. “Ouch!” He hissed.

Marinette had kicked the glasses-wearing boy’s chair as hard as she could.

Adrien just went with it. He had come out to most of the class the year before and never made his sexuality a secret; he liked guys, or at least preferred them. His desire for Ladybug had come from his love had for the freedom he got whenever he was Chat Noir. He was happiest as Chat Noir, and seeing as Ladybug had always been present; he thought he’d be happiest with Ladybug. He was only a little right.

“He’s looking forward to it,” Adrien smiled, or at least, whatever guy he could convince to go with him, hopefully would be.

“What were you thinking,” Marinette hissed at Nino as soon as the bell rang ending first period, and they were in the halls.

“What?” Nino asked. “You’re the only who can make an attempt on Gabriel Agreste? Nope. Don’t think so. First best friend gets dips.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Adrien whispered.

“So, borrow Marinette’s,” Nino shrugged.

Marinette gasped, “I’m not sharing my boyfriend with Blond Wonder over here.”

“What? Can’t take the competition?” Nino asked.

“I’ll end you, Lahiffe!”

“That’s not a no.”

Adrien laughed.

Juleka brushed by him, “I can ask Luka if he’s free,” She asked with a whisper. “If you want.”

The three paused. It was a good suggestion. “Aurore would come for blood,” Their newest friend had the biggest crush on the guitarist.

The rest of the school had been interesting. Adrien’s photo was trending; though nearly everyone in school had tried to get look at him.

When Adrien got home from school that day, it was to Gabriel and Nathalie’s angry looks. They had tried to do damage control. But for everything they released, Adrien had been quick to either deny their claims via tweets. Or lease video on Instagram about his new fashion direction.

“This is enough, Adrien,” Gabriel stated calmly. “You’ve gone too far. You will be escorting Miss Rossi to the gala, and this look will never be seen again. Am I understood?”

Adrien pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and put it on speak, “Hey man, do you still have that video of my dad pulling me out of school, during an important, test to go to a photoshoot?”

“Sure do.” Nino replied smugly.

“What about all the videos I sent you from overnight shoots?” He asked. “Where I worked like all night. Videos that clearly depicts that child labor laws were broken.”

“Saved on several different clouds.” Nino answered. “I can have them online in five minutes. And sent to the police and CPS in ten.”

“Thanks, talk later.” Adrien disconnected the call. “You were saying?” He asked his father. Silence was all he got. “Thought so. I’m taking my boyfriend to the gala.” He turned around. “I’m going out.”

Gabriel pinched his nose, “He’ll ruin us.”

“No sir,” Nathalie said. “He’ll destroy us.”

Adrien showed up at Marinette’s room an hour later, with a pleading look on his face and a box of hair dye.

Marinette took it with a sigh, “Are you sure it’s not me you’re trying to hurt.”

“It’s not permanent?” He offered weakly. “Should last a week, maybe less. I wash my hair a lot.”

When Adrien came to school sporting bright blue locks, three girls fainted.

“Awesome,” Nino high-fived the former blond. “How’s your dad?”

“Collapsed and fell down the stairs.” Adrien gave a small smirk. At the sight of Adrien’s hair, Gabriel had clutched his arms and just fell. “He was near the bottom so he was hurt too much.”

“Righteous,” Nino said and turned to look at Marinette in her seat, “What part of bestie gets dibs do you not understand?”

Marinette crossed her arms and sniffed, “Maybe I’m not the one needs to step their game up.”

“What?” Nino gasped. “Oh it’s on!”

Nino would later met Adrien and Marinette for ice cream, he’d come on the back of some guy’s motorcycle. “Hey,” Nino waved. The dude he was with gave them a stiff nod and a cocky smirk. He was blond with a cool haircut, tattoos, and two different colored eyes. “This is Jace. I know him through my cousin Simon. He’s seventeen. He has tattoos, drives a motorcycle, dress primarily in black and leather, and he’s been to jail. He agreed to be your date to the gala.”

Marinette and Adrien just stared. Adrien blinked too hard to shake the shock away, “Wow you really want my dad dead.”

He blushed red. Jace was rather attractive. He was the type who knew just how hot he was too.

“Hi I’m Marinette,” Marinette waved to Jace. “You’re freakishly hot. And if you manage to take out Nathalie too, I’ll be your best friend.”

Jace chuckled. This could be fun. Maybe Simon hadn’t steered him wrong when he told him to hang out with his cousin if he had the time. He had research Nino and his friends to the last detail, just in case. “Hi Marinette. I’ll do my best to try. My sister Isabelle and my best friend Clary love your MDC designs. They’d kill for them. Won’t even make it look like an accident.”

Marinette blushed, “Pull this off and I’ll design the dresses of their dreams for free.”

Jace fought the urge to wince. Failure was no longer an option. Clary and Izzy would hunt him down if he failed. So would Magnus for that matter. He’d been wanting to meet the young designer since he saw Jagged Stone’s latest red carpet look. And then Alec wouldn’t be happy about his sulky husband… even if he turned Jace into a toad.

Jace nodded and put an arm around the pink hair boy, “Let’s make it count.” The smaller boy blushed. Jace gave him a wolfish grin. “This is going to be fun.”

The rest of week had Adrien dodging a whining Lila and her attempts at getting her hooks into him in time for the Gala. She had been Akumatized three times over it. A fourth when Adrien had enough and got her mother to come to school and where truths were revealed.

Alya still refused to budge on the matter. Lila was Ladybug’s best friend after all. She couldn’t be lying, or so she said. Which caused most the class to groan. Marinette didn’t understand. After Ladybug had disavowed the Ladyblog for too many lies, asked Alya to take down Lila’s stories, and even went as far as getting a new fox hero (Juleka); she thought Alya would’ve wised up now.

Sabrina who had been converted back to light side after Lila’s mom had confirmed they had only ever lived in Italy other than France, said that Alya was probably just stubborn. She would have to admit that she struggled that she turned her back on her best friend, ruined her relationship with her boyfriend, and been a bad friend to most of the class for nothing. It was a hard pill to swallow.

Outside of school, his dad and Nathalie’s attempts to get him back under their thumb had gotten desperate. The first time they took his phone and his laptop. He had already gotten a prepaid one hidden in his room, once he got back to his room, he texted Marinette and Nino. Second later, a video of Gabriel ranting at his son for failing to be perfect during a photoshoot and threatening to remove him from school had surfaced. It took the media by storm.

Less than an hour later, someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” He called from his bed.

Nathalie stared at him for a moment. “You posted the video.” She sounded like she still couldn’t believe it. “We didn’t think you would.”

“Now you know better.” Adrien stated. “My things.”

“This will hurt the brand,” Nathalie said as she place his phone and laptop on the bed. “Hurt the business. Stock prices will from the bad press.”

Adrien put down the book he’d been reading and leaned forward, “Then maybe you and dad will finally learn this is a game you won’t win,” He said. “I’ll see Gabriel Agreste’s entire legacy burned to ashes before I give in.”

“…Your mother would’ve done the same,” Nathalie whispered and was gone from the room before Adrien could say anything else; door closed behind her.

The day of the Gala, Saturday, Adrien had go to Marinette’s first thing in the morning. He left suit his father had laid out for him the day before in the fireplace. It wasn’t lit but he knew his dad would get the message.

Marinette had designed him and Nino suits for the dance. Adrien had made sure to add his two best friends to the Gala’s invite list months ago. The host of the Gala’s daughter was a big fan of the blond; it took an autograph or two to get two more invites. Normally, Adrien would wear a classic black suit of his father’s design.

Adrien wanted something different, something to make everyone talk, something to go with his pink hair. When he told Marinette this, she got a spark in her eyes, and he knew he’d get exactly what he wanted. And he did.

The pink-haired boy arrived to the Gala on the back of a motorcycle to the stunned faces of the Paparazzi. The valet who took the keys from Jace had looked excited at parking the bike though.

Adrien wore a slim fitted glittery sliver suit, that under the right light reflected a rainbow look, with a black tie and shoes. Jace wore ripped jeans, tight sleeveless undershirt, and his leather jacket. His tattoos on his neck was plain to see and he had on a eyebrow ring he didn’t before. Jace wrapped his arm around Adrien and escorted him inside. Just as the paparazzi suddenly got their senses back.

The pair found Marinette and Nino by the refreshments. They walked right by an angry Lila who looked ready to kill. She’d come with Alya, and how his father managed to swing that on such short notice, Adrien didn’t know. Nino wore a black and green suit. Marinette wore a sparkly midnight blue pixie dress. Marinette’s boyfriend Connor had arrived not after. Connor brought his friend Cassandra who seemed interested in Nino.

Adrien and Jace danced after speaking with the four a bit. As the two glided across the dance floor, Adrien found it hard to keep an eye out for his father when Jace kept looking at him so…

Well in a way that left him frazzled.

However Adrien’s first clue that his father had arrived was the sound of someone choking.

And then Nino shouted, “Yes, I did it!” Was his second clue.

“Gabriel’s fainted,” Nathalie yelled. “Call for an ambulance.”

“That’s one,” Jace whispered in his ear. “Care to make it Two for Two.”

Adrien looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding earnestly. A second later, Jace’s lips caught his own. Then they were making out on the dance floor.

“Nathalie’s down,” He heard Marinette cackle. “Poor thing. Must be the stress.”

The kiss broke. Jace smirked down at Adrien, “Not bad Agreste; might make this a permanent thing.”

Adrien hid his blushing face in his date’s chest; content to ignore the chaos erupting around them.

Freedom never felt so good.

#ml salt #ml fic #adrien agreste #adrien deserves better #Marienette Dupain Cheng #Marinette deserves better #nino lahiffe #alya salt #lila salt #jace lightwood

4K notes · View notes

beanfic · 5 years ago

Text

Don’t tell my dad!

Pairing: peter parker x stark!reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: you overhear your Dad’s intern talking about a party, and you decide to sneak in with your best friend

Warnings: underage drinking, poorly made decisions, rebellious teens

Author’s note: it’s not really peter parker x reader, more like in a platonic friend way? I just had a dream about this happening, so I decided to write about it :) Also meet Kenzie! She is an OC and I decided to add her into this as y/n’s bff. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

You had heard about the party from your Dad’s newest intern, Peter Parker, when asked about his weekend plans. He mentioned he was attending a party at a friend’s house, and you were interested immediately. You had talked to Peter a few times while passing in the tower. He was a nice guy, the same age as you, also. Both of you were 17. He didn’t strike you as the party type, but you weren’t going to question it.

You had been raised in the tower since you were five, the year your Dad had taken custody of you after the death of your Mom. Living with the Avengers and bearing the last name ‘Stark’ meant that you never got a chance to go to school with other kids. Instead, you were homeschooled, first by your Dad, but now you were learning the complex subjects from Dr. Banner. You didn’t surprise anyone when you showed the same interest in engineering at a young age, being a Stark and all. You were greatly appreciative about the challenging schooling you received, but you regretted not developing the social skills a normal teenager would have.

You have a few friends including a best one named Kenzie, a daughter of your Father’s friend but that didn’t help with socializing. You wanted to experience a high school party, just like the ones you had seen in the movies. It was a perfect plan, you could find out the address somehow, and go along with Kenzie. Kenzie was also homeschooled but was more normal than you could ever feel.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Kenz said as she sat beside your bed, strapping her shoes.

“Yes! My Dad is out tonight and I had FRIDAY do some research, and this guy, Flash, is known for throwing huge parties where multiple high schools go. It’s not like we are going to see anyone we know.”

“What about your Dad’s intern? Isn’t that how you heard about the party?”

You shrug, “He doesn’t seem like the party type so I doubt he will even show up, and if he does I’m sure we can find a way to avoid him. We can just find a corner to drink in.”

“This is so risky, Y/N!” Kenzie grabs your arm and shakes it.

“I know, it’s exciting.” You shove Kenzie off of you and you flash an annoyed smile.

“Ready?” Kenzie stands up and you nod. Both of you tiptoe down to the garage, avoiding Steve who was usually in the training facility at night. Fortunately, he wasn’t there.

“Should we take the Mercedes?” you ask Kenz who look over at you with wide eyes.

“You have a Mercedes? You have options?”

You giggle, “My Dad lets me drive any of his cars except his Lambo. We can also take the Porsche.”

“I’m good with the Mercedes, we’re trying to lay low! Plus how are we getting back if we both want to drink?”

“My Dad has programmed FRIDAY into each of his cars so it can do autopilot,” and right on cue, the car lit up with FRIDAY’s voice.

“Hello, Y/N Stark. Where are we going tonight?”

“Whoahhhh,” Kenz gasps under her breath. You repeat the address that FRIDAY had found back at the car.

“I’ll drive, FRIDAY.” You grab the wheel and rev the engine a little before pulling out of the garage into the cold streets and the starry night sky.

“I’m nervous,” Kenzie admits as you park down the street from the house. It was big and lit up with multi-colored lights. It was on an isolated street down a private drive, which was a good thing because with how loud it already was from the outside, you were certain police would show up at some point.

“It’s okay, I just need to make sure no one recognizes me and that we avoid Peter.”

“Sounds easy enough, sure, yeah, whatever you say” Kenzies’ tone is filled with sarcasm but you just roll your eyes at her.

“I’m not that famous.”

“No, of course not! Just the rightful heir of Stark Industries, no big deal!”

“C’mon, let’s just get inside and grab a drink.” You open the car door and are greeted by the chilly night air. You walk up to the angular house, flashing a smile at the group of preppy looking kids playing beer pong on the huge and perfectly manicured front lawn. The music pounds out of the crack in the door as you push it open. A kid in a colorful floral hawaain shirt spills beer over himself as he stumbles past you in the hallway. Immediately, you know you're in the right place.

“FRIDAY, check for Peter,” you whisper to the black glasses on your face. It was a good thing fashion glasses were in style, but you think to yourself that these might look a bit outdated. “Hm?” Kenzie turns to look at you. You point to your glasses and she mouths an “ohhh”. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able to hear her over the music.

“We’re good, no Peter yet. I’m sure the drinks will be in the kitchen, right?” you ask and Kenz nodded. It was difficult to maneuver through the sweaty, heaving crowd but eventually, you discover the kitchen. There's a sign above the granite counter that says “live, laugh, love”. These people fuckin suck. You notice a crappy cardboard sign that says “Shot Station” written in bold sharpie.

“Should we do shots?” Kenzie asks you nervously.

“I’m down,” you smirk, letting the Stark in you take over. You remember your Dad’s famous words in your head “never do something I would do when I was your age.” Doing something you knew you weren’t supposed to do made you bubble with excitement.

You take lead and grab two tiny red solo shot glasses and fill them up with a bottle of Malibu someone pulled from the fridge. It smells strongly of coconut and alcohol.

“To being adventurous!” Kenzie shouted, raising her cup for a toast.

“Being adventurous!” you yell back, bringing the cup to your lips and letting the warm liquid slide down your throat.

“What now?” Kenzie asks.

“Let’s make a mixed drink to carry around with us and we can go explore the rest of the house. FRIDAY told me there is a game room!”

“Okay!” Kenzie agrees. You throw some lemonade and the rest of the malibu into a bigger cup, and Kenzie does the same. You hope that the drinks are for everyone, after all they are just sitting out so you don’t worry too much.

“Sorry, I made ‘em kind of strong!” you hand Kenz the drink and she takes a sip, eyes going wide.

“That’s delicious!”

“That’s why mixed drinks are dangerous.”

The two of you wander around the house, making sure to watch for Peter until you find the game room. Both of your jaw’s drop when you first open the door. There are pool tables, foosball, ping pong machines, and tables for card games.

“Hey! We’re playing a game of rage cage, want to join?” a slurred voice calls out towards the two of you.

“Us?” you and Kenz look at each other.

“Yes!”

You look over at Kenz with a questioning look, and she raises her eyebrows in a confirming manner. The people seemed nice, and you didn’t recognize any of them.

“How do we play?” you ask, taking a sip of your drink. A taller blonde guy, probably around your age as well, shuffles the cards and smiles down at you.

“You never played?”

“Nope,” you shake your head, feeling the heat bleed into your cheeks.

“It’s easy, you just try to make the ping pong ball into your cup before the person next to you, and if you don’t make it you have to chug the drink and try to make it again. If you get stacked then you have to drink.”

“Seems simple enough,” you muttered.

“Let’s do it!” Kenzie cheered, causing a few others to cheer with her. You wish you had the same charisma as her, but maybe the alcohol was already playing a role. You take another large gulp of your drink hoping you would feel something soon.

The game was confusing at first, and both you and Kenz ended up chugging about three glasses of beer before understanding. You both got a hold of it and ended up doing pretty well.

It was down to the last cup, the bitch cup as they called it, and it was your turn next. If you didn’t get the ball in the tower of red solo cups before the person next to you, you had to chug the entire cup of randomly mixed alcohol.

“No!” you shouted as the person next to you stacked their cup on top of yours.

“You gotta drink the bitch cup, bitchhh!” Kenzie sloppily points her finger into your shoulder. You looked over at her, and you could sense she was pretty drunk.

Fine!” you grab the bitch cup and everyone starts chanting “chug! Chug! Chug!” and you down the nasty drink.

“holyyy,” the everyone at the table all gasped at how fast you drank the bitch cup. You wiped your mouth and smiled with glee. You were a Stark, after all.

“I need airrrr,” Kenzie leaned on your shoulder.

“Me toooo,” the room was spinning as you started to walk out of the room, into the hallway and back towards the stairs.

“I feel so funny,” Kenzie giggled clumsily. “I feel like I can dance in the… in the sky!” She starts spinning in circles, flapping her arms like a bird.

You laugh until you can’t breathe as you watch your best friend drunkenly dance her way upstairs. Your stomach is spinning with alcohol, and you need fresh air, quickly.

“I feel sick,” you mumble to Kenzie.

“But I wanna dance!” she grabs your hands as you reach the main floor where the music is pumping and everyone is swaying together in synchronized rhythm.

“Kenzzzz,” you groan.

“Y/N Stark, you have a blood alcohol concentration level of .228. It is best you get along home.” FRIDAY’s voice sounds in your ear. You grab your glasses and shove them in your pocket. You can hear FRIDAY objecting as her voice is muffled in your jeans.

“I need to-,” you start to tell Kenzie as you feel the contents of your stomach start to fill up to your throat and you grab your mouth as you tumble out the back door to the dark patio before falling over into the damp grass. You spill your guts into a bush the moment you reach the backyard. You know that a ton of people probably are watching you right now, but, at this point? You could care less. You wipe your mouth with the sleeve of your sweatshirt.

“Y/N?” a familiar voice calls out behind you.

“Peter!” you whip around quickly, causing you to trip over your own foot and spin right into him. Peter’s arms were around you instantly, keeping you from hitting the concrete.

“What are you doing here?” he helps you stand up.

“Please don’t tell my Dad!” you manage through clumsy lips.

“I won’t, Y/N.” He wipes a strand of hair away from your face as he studies you. You feel uncomfortable with his gaze.

“Y/N? Where are yo-oh.” Kenzie stops mid-sentence as she sees Peter holding your shoulders.

“She threw up,” Peter looks over at your friend.

“I thought FRIDAY was supposed to tell you when he was nearby,” Kenzie tries to whisper to you but fails as Peter hears her.

“What?” he looks over at you as you grab the glasses from your pocket, showing him them guiltily.

“Ah, I won’t tell your Dad! I promise! You should go home though, you’re really sick Y/N.”

“I’m fineee,” you lean into Peter’s arms, resting your head on his strong shoulder.

“Erm.” Peter’s cheeks blush, he had barely talked to you and now you were drunkenly resting in his arms.

“I wanna danceee, are you drunk too Peter?” you ask him.

“I don’t, um, drink, but I really think you and your friend should go back home. Did you drive here?”

“We took a Mercedes!” Kenzie giggled.

“Right, well how about I drive you two back home?” he suggests.

“FRIDAY can driveee,” you hiccup. Peter couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I think it would be best if a human made sure you two got home safe.”

You pout, “But Spide-” but Peter’s hand comes closing in on your mouth before you could finish your sentence.

“Let’s go!” Peter grabs your hand and Kenz’s arm and pulls both of you towards the very recognizable Mercedes.

“Hi, Peter, headed to the tower?” FRIDAY’s voice chirps over the speakers. Kenz was in the back seat laying down. You stared over at Peter, taking in the brown curls that lay gently on his forehead.

The drive back to the compound was short, but maybe that was because you had closed your eyes and dozed off a couple of times. There wasn’t music playing either, so the silence was only filled with the soft snores of Kenzie in the backseat.

“We’re here,” Peter shakes your shoulder softly, trying to wake you up from your dazed state. You could barely keep your eyes focused on the brunette in front of you.

“Kenzie” you mumble but you hear her stretching and yawning in the back.

“I’ll help you too upstairs, you’re on the third floor right, Y/N?”

You nodded, “Next to my Dad’s room.”

Peter nods, shutting the driver’s door and walking over towards the passenger side to help you out. Kenzie ends up being in a better state than you. She was able to walk but you rely on Peter to even stand up.

“You’re cute, Peter.” The words slips off your tongue as you all manage to stand upright in the elevator.

“Erm, thank you.” He scratches the back of his neck with his free hand. The elevator doors open with a ding to the third floor.

“Well, this is a surprise,” your Dad’s stern voice greets you. He walks into view with his arms crossed against his chest.

“Damnit,” you groan. You keep your eyes on the ground, avoiding your Dad’s glare.

“Hi Mister Stark, I found Y/N and Kenzie at the party and thought I should get them home safely. I made sure nothing bad happened to them!” Peter rapid fired.

“I think I will take it from here, thank you Peter,” your Dad patts his shoulder, looking up at you knowingly.

“See you around,” you slur. You almost begin to stumble over when Peter removes his arm that was holding you up, but your Dad catches you.

“Whoa there, are we drunk?” His voice has a hint of sarcasm in it.

“I don’t knowww, am I?” you giggle.

“You should sleep, same with you Kenzie. Do your parents know what happened tonight?”

“No, sir,” she shook her head.

“I won’t tell them, but take it from a parent. Being honest is better than keeping secrets. You can sleep in the guest room, I’m going to go take Y/N here, to bed.”

“Thank you, sir.” Kenzie walks down the hall towards the familiar guest room. You feel a bit guilty that you had put her in this position, but you were not expecting to get as blasted as you were. Your Dad practically carries you to your room and you lay down on the bed, feeling the warm pull of sleep immediately.

“Y/N,” your Dad begins to speak.

“Mmm, tired,” you mumble. You lay in the fetal position, head on the pillow and eyes already closed. You can hear your dad sigh heavily and feel a heavy blanket being pulled up and over your body.

“We will talk about this tomorrow and discuss consequences, but for now I’ll let you sleep. Love you, Y/N.”

“I’m sorry,” you squeak.

“I know, but we will talk tomorrow. Get some rest.”

“Okay, love you Dad.”

It didn’t take long for you to fall asleep, and even though you were mentally prepared for the lecture from your father, nothing would have prepared you for the massive hangover you were about to be greeted with in the morning.

#marvel fanfiction #avenger fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x reader #peter parker x stark!reader #stark!reader #irondad #tony stark x stark!reader #avenger fanfic #avenger oneshot #avenger imagine #marvel imagi #marvel onesh #peter parker fluff #peter parker angst #beanfic

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bisluthq · 4 years ago

Note

It’s your kaylor historian here who still can’t remember my log in details to my KH account 🤦‍♀️ (so please make sure this anon just in case it isn’t... I fear them 👀)

Karlie’s tea post before masters heist:

Ok so I can’t remember who posted first and don’t feel like looking, but taylor posted a selfie and captioned it “Friday calmness” and we (kaylor fandom) had been speculating taylor was going to come out as bi on the last day of June / 🌈pride month🌈 since she’d been doing so much stuff that could be seen (and was) as queer coded. We celebrated the “Friday calmness” thinking it was like a ‘calm before the storm’ with the storm being her coming out.

I think Karlie posted after taylor, but am not 100% sure. Karlie posted a selfie with a cup with a caption like “what’s the tea” and the fandom, thinking they were still together, collectively lost our shit. It looked to us like Karlie was playing off Taylor’s post. (I’ll admit, I didn’t think kaylor were still together, but that weekend I was thinking ‘I can’t believe I doubted them!’ Lol)

*there were also rumours that the YNTCD video and single were delayed a couple of times and meant to be released sooner and serve as a soft coming out, but that taylor kept changing her mind about it and is also why she kept the tracklist length under wraps, because she wasn’t sure if she’d go through with it. She was way more vague than ever before. There were also rumours she had a rolling stone cover planned that she was going to come out in but it was scrapped —— I can’t even remember where these “she’s actually coming out” rumours originated anymore and I can’t remember if people had legit sources and gossip or if it was fan fiction planning, but it was mentioned outside the kaylordom too, so take that as you wish.

Then came the masters heist.

Now, to understand the thought process of Kaylors at the time, you have to remember that we thought Karlie & Taylor had a secret romance, Joe was a beard, Josh was a beard - but since he comes from a crime family who have done a lot of bad things (to put it lightly) and are stupidly rich, Josh had Karlie trapped in such a tight contract and has so much blackmail material that Karlie was forced to fake marry him against her will - remember, it was only meant to be a photo shoot for a Vogue wedding spread showing what wedding fashion was available, it wasn’t meant to be a wedding! But josh had his team leak the photos and instead of saying it was all for a photo shoot, Karlie had to say she was now married. <- that was the narrative and thought process within the fandom.

So the fandom thought 🛴 and Josh conspired to announce the purchase of big machine/ taylor’s masters which would derail her coming out plans. The fandom thought Karlie had no idea it was happening. Scooter and Josh were worried Taylor was going to come out, which would ultimately out Karlie since there were so many rumours about Kaylor already, and it would then out Josh and ruin Josh’s image, making it look obvious to everyone that Josh and Karlie were just beards, but kaylor was real. To avoid tarnishing Josh’s hetero card, scooter waited until the end of June to announce he bought taylor’s music for maximum impact.

(Never mind that someone spent $300M to keep a client in the closet) that was how we interpreted the situation (kept writing the fan fiction) and that it was a blow to taylor and a huge betrayal from scooter to Karlie because now they had extra leverage / ways to hurt Karlie.

So yeah. It was a very sad time. This also is why some kaylors think hoax lyrics point to their everlasting love “my best laid plans” = tay ready to come out end of June “your sleight of hand” = scooter tricking Karlie when he bought the masters and any information about taylor that Karlie mentioned innocently was used against them, “my barren land” = taken on a new meaning since Karlie announced her pregnancy, but initially it was seen as the land that was meant to be blooming with love was left barren and empty because of the masters incident delaying her coming out.

It sounds absolutely ludicrous, but the only way to understand how it was easy to rationalise is to understand how adamant the fandom was/ is that Josh and joe are just beards, Karlie is locked in a contract, and taylor is trying to free the both of them. If there were any truth to this at all, it is nothing short of ghastly situation for Karlie and paints taylor as a Nobel warrior trying to save her princess from the tower 🦸🏼‍♀️👸🏼 ....

Karlie had what I think was a scheduled post cause it was ad content , but otherwise was unusually silent on social media for a week + after the announcement. We thought they were grieving together.

——-

Now for Emily Poe. Ok so I really didn’t do my research - I thought Emily was only one or two years older than Taylor, so it never even occurred to me that the idea of that relationship would’ve been extremely predatory and badbadbadbad. I regret not doing my due dillihence when I was part of a fandom that consumed this theory. So Emily theories have been around since Taylor first had gay speculation. Part of this was because of some funny photos like that one where taylor is standing next to a truck that says “...gay Texan” and emily and a guy in the band I can’t think of his name were pointing to taylor and smirking. It’s a funny photo. I can see my dumb teenage self making similar jokes long before I knew my sexuality because LOOOOL GAY was a thing back then. There’s the video taylor made for Emily where she held up the “we love you emily” sign and she went to everyone she toured with including brad paisley to hold up the sign and make heart hands and just be extremely cute - platonic or romantic - both seem plausible - and cute as hell! The video was set to the dashboard confessional song ‘stolen’ which is basically just the lyric “you have stolen my heart” over and over again. This video got renewed interest when people went back and looked back at the you belong with me video. The idea of taylor and her make love interest holding these a4 sheets of paper with “I love you” written on them seemed familiar. The story of how YBWM came about was that Taylor heard her guitarist on the phone with his girlfriend and his gf was yelling at him for something seemingly insignificant/ the gf was painted out as high drama and her guitarist seemed miserable every time he spoke to her for a while. So Taylor had the idea of a song about a girl thinking her friends girlfriend is horrible, but turn it into a love story where the two friends get together - classic romantic comedy trope - she took the idea to Liz Rose and it was one of the last songs written for Fearless and specifically made to be upbeat and preppy because taylor thought the album was lacking that vibe. If you take the story Taylor said inspired the song and swap it from her male guitarist (who she also said she had no feelings for), and change it to her female fiddle player, the story behind the song can be the same, just tweaked to be hetwashed. Emily was a cheerleader and had a boyfriend when she toured with taylor, so it’s easy enough to take those things at surface value and think there was some truth to Emily. Also the two biggest gaylor rumours pre swiftgron came from comments on a gossip site/ forum. One was that ‘Emily was fired after she was caught relieving taylor of stress’ and how ‘emily was interested in law, but this incident cemented she had to leave the band but the swift team gave her money so emily wouldn’t sue for being fired on a sexual harassment issue’ (of course, knowing the age difference, we know this would NOT be the case at all) and it is speculated it inspired taylor to write breathe because she was so sorry for how things ended. They were inseparable and then after her birthday, never seen together or mentioned each other on MySpace again.

The other comment was that taylor ‘was a pillow princess in high school’ and that she was happy to receive but not give because she wanted to maintain her virgin status and thought if she reciprocated it would make her gay — the comment was something like that.

Of course it would’ve been incredibly easy for idk, some random on the internet who has never even met taylor to say those things.... but it was taken as gospel by the gaylor truthers.

People who looked further found a girl they believed was Taylor’s high school gf, her name started with L... but I never really believed it so I don’t have the greatest knowledge of that one. It seemed ridiculous to me she had a 3 year gf as a teenager and not a single person from her high school - or anyone who knew her alleged gf - ever spoke about it publicly??? That would be a lot of NDAs and payouts to keep silent, but a lot of other people believed NDAs and hush money was spent, so yeah... 🤷‍♀️

She also had some fruity MySpace posts which seemed to help the case for gaylor, but imo, it also falls under the ‘teenagers on the internet are dumb especially when social media was brand new and thank god myspace doesn’t exist cause I don’t want to see my old one ever again’ category.

Sorry for the essay, I felt I had been summoned and wanted to give background on the fandom. When I log back in I think I need to change my bio, I’m not really here to talk kaylor , but the fandom. Cause it’s really sad what that narrative within the fandom has become and heartbreaking what that narrative has done to fans, especially queer kids trying to figure themselves out. I couldn’t see how toxic it was for a long time, I’m happy I’m out of there now. but I think it helps to understand how the fandom thought and saw things as to how easy it was for things to spiral to the state it’s in now.

As old T used to sign off, - lovelovelove 💜

Brilliant post thanks KH!

#nat talks the konspiracy

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rocksandrobots · 4 years ago

Text

Of Rocks and Robots Ch 31 - Karaoke Night

Carol propped her feet up on the porch railing and leaned back in her chair. She let out a contented sigh as she reached into the bag of chips to feast upon the salty snacks.

She was waiting for Varian and his friends from SFIT to arrive. Midterms had just ended and Varian had invited her to come with them to karaoke, knowing how she loved singing.

Carol didn't really know any of his other friends, though she had met the tall girl, Honey Lemon, a few times, but she was always keen to meet new people and even more keen to party, so she had readily agreed.

Right now she was killing time and keeping a lookout for the group. Varian mentioned something about a car pool.

Just then a limo pulled up and parked itself between the two houses that made up the sorority and fraternity. Carol curiously peered over her toes to get a better look at the out of place vehicle.

Out stepped a lanky guy with shoulder length blonde hair and wearing a baggy Kentucky Kaiju t-shirt and knitted beanie. She figured it was one of Brad's snobbish friends come to see him, or perhaps a new prospective student signing up to join the frat. Though he didn't look like the usual preppy rich kids that hung around the frat house. Must be one of those guys who wears things ironically, she thought and rolled her eyes before going back to eating.

She then almost fell out of her chair when she saw Varian also step out of the limo as well. Her mouth dropped. What other secrets did this kid have?

She then looked down at the crumbs of potato chips down her shirt; suddenly embarrassed. She ducked and scrambled back into the house while Varian and the other guy exchanged some friendly words.

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

Varian walked up the porch steps of the sorority house and knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately. He gave a wide grin upon seeing Carol but before he could say 'hello' her hand shot out, grabbed the front of his shirt, and dragged him inside.

She slammed the door close and ran to the window to peer out from behind the curtain.

"Who's that?" She whispered hurriedly as she pointed to the window.

Confused and now completely knocked off guard Varian walked over to look out to where she was pointing.

All he saw was Fred standing next to the limo waiting on them. The other teen was singing a made up song about being a superhero under his breath and rocking back and forth on his heels impatiently.

"Oh that's just Fred. We took his limo because it had more room for everybody than Wasabi's car." Varian explained.

"His limo?! You didn't tell me you were friends with a millionaire!" She snapped back in a hushed tone, as if she was afraid the other boy could hear them from across the street outside.

Varian could only blink back bewildered. Why was that a problem?

Carol rolled her eyes and went back to watching Fred.

"Does he go to SFIT, too?" She asked, never looking away from the window, "Is he one of those super smart guys?"

"No, Fred's not in college."

"Oh, don't tell me; he's in high school." She responded back sarcastically.

"Umm… no. I think he graduated from homeschool this year." Varian blithely answered. He didn't see how it mattered what school Fred went to or if he went at all.

Carol tilted her head, "Wait, so is he closer to my age or yours?"

Varian thought a moment, "Uh, yours... I think he had a birthday just a couple of months back."

"Soooo he's what.. eighteen then?"

"Uh yeah, just a year younger than you." Varian scratched head, he still didn't understand Carol's odd behavior. "Look, I'm sure he can answer all these questions himself." Varian walked towards the door as he tried to coax Carol to come along. "Why don't you come on out and meet him-"

"Is he single?"

Varian paused mid-sentence and looked at Carol in surprise. The girl hadn't moved away from the window and was still peering through the curtain.

"Umm...Yeeesss." Where was this going?

"Is he gay?" Was the next the next question.

"Uhhhh...."

"Like, he is into girls or boys?" She hastily explained.

"I, honestly don't know." Varian slowly answered. Who Fred might prefer to date was not anything he had considered before, and not a subject of conversation that had ever come up.

She finally stopped looking out the window and instead looked down at the sweater she currently wore. Then to his surprise she turned on her heel and ran upstairs.

"Wait! Carol where are you going?" He yelled after her as he followed her upstairs.

"Everyone's waiting for-" He was interpreted again by a bra to the face as soon as he stopped in front of her room. Followed by a series of other assorted clothes being thrown his way. Dresses, shirts, shoes, were flung in his general direction as Carol blindly tore through her chest of drawers. One particularly floofy dress landed on his head and hung there as he stood momentarily stunned.

"Ugh! I have nothing to wear!" She shouted in frustration.

Varian tried to gather his wits again and pulled the dress off the top of his head. "What's wrong with what you got on?" He asked.

"This thing?" She asked incredulously back. "This ain't impressive. I need something that'll wow him."

Varian once again looked confused. "Who?"

"Who? Who do you think?" She rolled her eyes but failed to explain further. She then held up two dresses and asked. "Which do you think is better? The tight black one that's off shoulder, or the fun summery one with the flowers that shows off more leg?"

Varian darted his eyes back and forth at the two dresses, still utterly lost as to what was happening.

"Umm.. I'm not a fashion expert."

She sighed with exasperation. "Which do you think Fred will like better?"

"Fred? Fred's not going to care what you wear." He snorted.

Carol looked offended, "Oh you don't think a guy like that might be interested in me, hun? He's out of my league just cause I'm not some preppy uptown girl who buys Gucci handbags!"

"What? No!" Now Varian was even more lost, and not just because he didn't know what a 'gucci handbag' even was." No, I just meant you look good in anything. Also Fred's not like that. He doesn't care about clothes or handbags. I'm not even sure he cares anything about dating."

Carol stopped holding up the dresses and gave a pout. "You really don't think he'll care?"

"Why would he?"

"Cause everyone else does. I got into this school and the sorority house on a scholarship. I won a grant, but a lot of the other girls are here 'cause they got money or their family knows the dean or some crap like that." She sighed and hugged her knees. "It's the same with guys over at the frat house. Most of them are nice enough but, it's hard to feel like you fit in when you're still buying your clothes from the bargain bin over at the Goodwill."

"Naw, Fred's not like that at all, and neither are any of my other friends. Just wear what you want."

He gave her an encouraging smile and she returned it with a small one of her own.

"Okay." She conceded. "Then I want to wear the one with the flowers." She held up the dress again.

"Fine, then I'll be down stairs waiting." Varian gave a mock sigh of frustration before they both broke out into giggles. He then headed down stairs to let her change.

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

Yamasho was a sushi restaurant that held karaoke night every weekend. It was the typical hole in the wall that locals from the neighborhood frequented. Nothing fancy but decent food when on a budget and the family owned establishment took good care of it's regulars.

The gang of college students were given a large table near the stage. Well it was actually two tables shoved together to accommodate the large group, who sat around eating, laughing, and just enjoying the freedom from their studies fnow that midterms were over with.

Karmi walked over to the table to join her friends carrying with her a black three ring binder.

"I got the song list book!" She said as she handed the folder to Hiro.

"I'm not sure if I'll sing anything, but I'll take a look."

"Oh, but ya got to!" Karmi urged as she took a seat next to him and peered over his shoulder at the list of songs. "That's the whole point of karaoke night, silly."

"Why? So you can post my embarrassingly bad singing online?" Hiro shot back good naturedly.

"If she won't then I will." Varian quipped. He leaned in to look at the booklet as well. "So how does this 'karaoke' work anyways?"

"You pick a song off this list and give it to the DJ over there." Karmi pointed to a man standing next to the stage with a soundboard and computer.

"Then when he calls you up on stage he'll play the music and you just sing along with it." Hiro explained. "There's also a screen that'll flash the lyrics up in case you forget the words."

Varian scanned the listing looking for something familiar. "Does it have to be a song from this list specifically?"

"Sometimes the DJ will do special requests," Wasabi added in, "but it might not have the words on screen if he does."

Just then the piece of nigiri Wasabi held fell from between the chopsticks and landed on his shirt. This ignited laughter from the group and cry of frustration from the larger guy as he furiously tried to wipe off the stain.

"Oh, that's right!" Honey Lemon said through a giggles, "this where you got your nickname from. Remember? It was last year we came here right after midterms."

"I remember," Gogo confirmed, "it was our first semester and we wanted to celebrate."

Fred chuckled. "Yeah old Wasabi had butter fingers then too." He turned to Carol to explain since she was new, "We hounded him for days about it and the name just stuck."

"So wait, your name isn't actually Wasabi?" Varian asked.

"No. Do you honestly think my mother named me after a condiment?" Wasabi snapped back.

Varian shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know what the usual naming convictions in America is. In Corona, I once knew a girl who was named after lettuce, ok."

"So what is your real name? I've never heard anyone one call you anything else but Wasabi either." Karmi asked.

"Noel."

Hiro snorted as he tried to contain his laughter "Noel?" He inhaled deeply and opened his mouth wide as if to belt something else out, but was interrupted by Wasabi.

"I know you're not about to start singing a christmas carol right now, or I'll have to shove this whole nori roll into your mouth." He said in a deadpan voice that told everyone present that he heard the joke before.

Hiro quickly snapped his jaw shut and swallowed hard. "Noooo, n-not all buddy." He squeaked. "Noel is….is a... festive name."

Wasabi raised an annoyed eyebrow at him and Hiro plastered on an apologetic grin.

"Sooo, how did you two get your nicknames?" Carol chimed in hoping to change the subject.

"Well I have this favorite lotion that I always like to wear," Honey Lemon chirped, "its lemon and honey scented, and so Freddie…

"So I started calling Honey Lemon," Fred joined in."cause she smells just as sweet as her personality."

"Awe thank you," she blushed, "My real name is Amanda, but I really like the nickname so it's what I go by all the time now."

"Oh, so that's what I smell whenever you fall asleep on.. me-" Varian paused in this realization as everyone turned to look at him. He coughed and started to stuff his face with sushi to distract from his faux pas.

"Ok then…" Carol laughed, "So what about you Gogo? What's your real name?

"Lei."

"Lei?" Karmi asked. "But that's actually shorter than Gogo. Why not just go by that instead?"

The biker chick only shrugged and pointed back towards Fred.

"Cause she's always on the go, ya know." Fred explained.

"I don't really care what people call me." Gogo added. "I'm still Lei to my dad and Gogo to my friends."

"Well then Gogo," Hiro asked as he passed the song folder down, "are you going sing anything?"

"No."

"Oh come on Gogo; it'll be fun." Honey Lemon encouraged.

"Nope."

"Then I'll pick something out." Fred grabbed the binder from her. He glanced over it's contents and said, "I think I wanna do a rap song."

Hiro snorted, "You can rap?"

"Sure I can rap. " He said indignantly.

"I'm not sure if I'd call what you do 'rap'." Wasabi interject.

"Oh yeah, well then just watch this." And with that Fred got up and walked over to the DJ, taking the binder with him.

"Rich and talented" Carol mused after he was out of ear shot, "I'm surprised none of you are dating."

Gogo burst into laughter. "You mean Fred? Oh, no noooo no; that's big nope. You haven't known Fred very long."

Carol frowned.

"We all love Freddie," Honey Lemon interceded, " He's a great guy. It's just...sometimes he can get a liiiitle…"

"Insane." Gogo said.

"Intense!" Honey Lemon quickly corrected and then paused as she realized this was perhaps not the best alternative. "No. Wait. That's not the right word...hmm…Passionate! Yes. He's a very passionate person."

"He's also insane." Gogo whispered to Carol.

That's when Fred walked on stage and picked up the microphone.

youtube

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

The night went on. Everyone sang, laughed, and carried on as young people do. Then it was time to head home.

They dropped Carol off first at the sorority house.

"Here let me get out first." Fred said as he opened the limo door and stepped out, "that way you can get out easier with having to crawl all over me." He reached a hand out to help her and Carol grabbed it as she scooted across the long seat to get out.

"My you are quite the gentlemen, ain't ya?" She flirted as she stepped out of the car. She flashed him a wide grin but Fred didn't catch on to her meaning behind the words.

"Ah, I try." He shrugged obliviously.

Varian got out as well. "Well good sir, if you would be so kind as to leave the car running." He said in a mocking manner, imitating the upper nobility he'd sometimes see in court.

Fred caught on to the joke and put on his best fake upcurst accent. "Indubitably, abd will that be all my lord?" He gave a mock bow and they both broke out into snickers.

Carol rolled her eyes and started to walk off, irritated that Varian had gotten in the way.

He followed after.

"I don't need you to walk me to the door you know." She said under her breath.

"I know, I just…"

"Just what?" She reached the porch and whirled around. "We aren't dating, remember?"

"I..I know." Varian looked surprised. "I just figured since I asked you to come along I should be the one to say goodnight to you." He awkwardly explained.

Carol crossed her arms.

"Did I do something wrong?"

She sighed. "I don't want Fred to think we're a couple."

Varian turned back to look at the other teen. He spotted them both looking at him and waved. "Goodnight. It was nice meeting you." He yelled.

She smiled and waved back.

"You..you really like him?" Varian asked.

"Well yeah," Carol said."He's nice, and the fact that he can afford to spring for a taco now and then doesn't hurt either."

She paused as if a thought occurred to her. "You think I'm being shallow."

"What? No. If you like him that's great. Hey, that's two friends of mine who get along. Wh-what's not to like about that."

She raised an eyebrow. "You jealous?"

"No." He pouted. "It sure didn't take long to get over me though." He joked.

Carol laughed, "Awww, I'm sure you've broken plenty of hearts."

"Who me? Yeah right." Varian scoffed. He then became thoughtful. "I haven't had many chances to meet people until I came here."

"Well of course not. You're only sixteen." She rolled her eyes and then smiled. "You've got plenty of time to find love."

Varian only returned a half smile."Yeah...time…that's also something I always feel like I'm running out of."

"Ugh, I know. Midterms were killer this year, and we gotta do it all again in a few more weeks for finals." He turned and walked back towards the door. "Night. This was fun. Next time y'all decide to do something like this be sure to invite me again."

"We will."

"Oh and if you could maybe find out what Fred thinks of me between now and then? Maybe drop a hint or two…"

Varian rolled his eyes, "I'm not playing messenger."

Carol stuck out her bottom lip and gave a pleading look.

"Fine." Varian conceded. "But unless you're waving a comic book in front of his face I don't think you're going to get him to notice." He warned.

"Comic book fan, gottcha." She dismissed the warning. "There's tons of guys here who are into those. There's even a sequential art program here at the school."

"You don't get it. Fred doesn't just like comic books...he lives comic books. You should see his room."

"Oooh should now?" She teased.

"I didn't mean… forget it."

She laughed again, "I thought you weren't jealous?"

"I'm not." He said defensively. "Look I'll ask, but just don't get your hopes up, that's all I'm saying. Fred's...well…he.. doesn't pick up hints very well."

"So I need to be even more obvious?"

"Or just more up front."

She furrowed her brow in thought. "Hmmm...ok, then I'll keep that in mind for next time. Thanks again, Varian, your a good friend and night."

He returned the farewell as she closed the door.

#Varian #Tangled #Fred Frederickson IV #big hero six #crossover #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #big hero 6 #bh6 the series #bh6

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ridemedaddyjames · 5 years ago

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Split - Part I

Pairing: Kevin Wendell Crumb x reader

Warnings: angst, kidnapping, cursing, stockholm syndrome

Words: 2,500

Summary: The reader gets kidnapped, and starts to find a certain light in her mysterious captor.

Birthday parties. You hated them with a burning passion, and you wouldn’t be mad if you never had to go to another one again. The girl from your art class had given you a pitty invite, but secretly hoped you wouldn’t show.

Part of you wanted to prove her wrong, but the other part of you didn’t care enough to even try. Unfortunately for you, your mother had forced you to go. She insisted that some ‘quality time with friends’ was exactly what you needed.

That was until you’d arrived, and ended up sitting alone at the end of the table. Everyone else was taking pictures, gossiping, and flirting with the “cute” waiter boy. You could’ve hurled at the thought.

When the party was over, you sent out an S.O.S. to your mom in the hopes that she would come to your rescue. Fifteen minutes had passed, though, and she still hadn’t shown. Somehow you’d managed to be the only one without a ride, and you cursed her for letting this happen. Your mom knew how much you loathed the idea of social interaction, and you wanted more than anything to be back home in your bed with a good book. Why did she have to be late?

“We are not going until she gets picked up,” Claire’s dad finally said as his daughter demanded that they leave.

“It’s fine, I can wait, I’m sure she just forgot,” you assured them all with a half smile. All you could think about was the long lecture you’d be giving your mother on the way home about how this whole thing wasn’t fair, and that it didn’t help that she couldn’t remember to show up on time. Of course, you knew that when the time came, you’d just bite your tongue and leave your thoughts and opinions to yourself. Opening up was something you never were able to do, and you weren’t going to start now.

Claire’s dad immediately rejected the idea, though. “Y/N, don’t worry about it, I can drop you off. I have to take Marcia home anyway,” he insisted, not giving you any other option.

“Okay,” you finally agreed, following them out to their vehicle. Marcia and Claire took a seat in the back while you opted for the passenger side. There wasn’t enough money in the world to make you sit back there and gossip for the whole ride home.

Instead of focusing on them, you’d let your eyes wander to the rearview mirror, watching Claire’s father load up all of her presents. You’d have thought she were a Queen by the amount of gifts she’d been given, but when you peeled your eyes to look ahead, you couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

Glancing back again, there seemed to be no sign of Claire’s dad, and you’d assumed he had gotten everything loaded and was finally ready to leave. Upon closer inspection you’d found that the takeout boxes had been spilled across the pavement, and wondered to yourself what might’ve happened. That was until another man climbed into the drivers seat, and stared blankly ahead.

“Pardon me, sir. I think you have the wrong car,” Claire stated, more than annoyed by his stupidity of not knowing which vehicle was his.

Just then, everything changed. The man was covering his face, Marcia and Claire were being sprayed by some type of liquid, and all you could do was stare, curiously, at him while they passed out in the backseat. Why hadn’t he done the same to you? Did he not think you would fight back? What made you so special? You had to stop these questions from rolling through your head; were you really about to romanticize a kidnapper for being generous enough to keep you conscious?

There was a slight pause where you tried to regain your thoughts, this wasn’t the time to panic; you needed to think rationally. So you slowly slid your fingers to the door handle, grabbing the latch and giving it the slightest pull until the alarm went off, alerting the man that the door was ajar.

The look on his face seemed to be disappointment as he realized he’d have to knock you out too, and, you hadn’t even had time to panic before everything went black. When you finally woke up, the parking lot had disappeared. It looked as if you were in some kind of makeshift room in someone’s basement.

Something smelt off, and you assumed it was the stale air mixed with the earthy scent of the rock wall above the small cot you were resting on. Taking in your surroundings, you found a bathroom that was way too clean. Apart from that, the room you were in was definitely a work in progress. One wall was completely dilapidated, and pieces of the wood were hanging, limply. The two other walls seemed to be completely brand new as you recognized the sudden smell of fresh drywall, and the concrete floor did little to hold the heat of the room. It was dark, and dingy and, as terrifying as this should’ve been, you couldn’t help but be glad that this had happened to you.

No more school, no more family, no more pretending. Your mother would finally be off your back about leaving the house, and making new friends. You’d finally have some peace and quiet from the chaos that was your life. No, it didn’t matter what he did to you; just so long as you never had to go back.

Your eyes darted to Claire and Marcia who were sat on the other bed, holding each other tightly. Their whole demeanor had horror movie written all over it, and you could almost laugh at the irony. Yeah, ‘they would be the first to go,’ you thought to yourself.

You heard the two of them talking to each other before immediately turning to you, and asking you something you couldn’t quite understand. Apparently whatever he’d knocked you out with had been some pretty hard core stuff cause it was taking you a minute to snap out of it; still stuck inside your head.

That was until the door came open, revealing the same man you’d seen in the car. The one holding you captive. He was holding a chair, and placed it just inside the room, guarding the doorway. Before sitting down, he wiped it with a bright yellow cloth, folded it up nicely, and tucked it back inside his pocket. When he crossed his arms, you could see the outline of his thick muscles, bulging against his tight shirt. ‘The three of you didn’t have a chance’ was the first thing that came to mind. His face went blank as he stared at the wall, eyes finally landing on Marcia as she tried to tug on her short mini skirt; regretting her choice of style all of a sudden. The man took a second before gesturing to her, “I choose you first,” he decided, his voice coming out thick and gruff, expression never changing.

He picked up the chair, snapping it together before setting it aside. When he reached for Marcia, he spoke again. “This will only take a minute,” he said, thickly, dragging her away from Claire as if she were a rag doll. She squirmed, breaking free from his grasp, before diving at the two of you, but it was no use, he’d sifted her into the air, straight off her feet. The way she struggled against the door made you wince to see her so scared. Marcia latched onto the doorframe, horror blazing in her eyes. Even as she slapped him across the face, it still seemed to do no harm. This should’ve horrified you, it should have made you want to get up and fight for her, but a part of you didn’t care. Was it wrong of you to think she deserved it? To be the first to die while you and Claire had to wait your turn. What was this man doing to you? You didn’t even know who he was, in yet, here you were, willing to stay forever. Willing to throw everyone else under the bus just to be alone. ‘Maybe you were just as crazy as him’ you thought before Marcia let out a loud shriek that brought you back.

Her sobs could be heard through the thick, wooden, door, as Claire pounded against it. Marcia was begging him to let her go, and you could count the seconds on your hand before she reappeared once again. Her back was pressed against his chest, tightly, as he set her down, gently on the floor. She must’ve bit his hand as a loud grunt passed his lips, anger filling his face, before he took a firm grasp on the doorway, and growled again. This time, shaking his hand in pain before slamming the door on you once again.

“He wanted me to dance with him,” Marcia said, still shaken up by what had happened just moments ago. “The outside door is locked.”

“Everything is okay,” Claire assured you both, “we’re okay. We’re okay,” at this point you were pretty sure she was just saying it to keep herself sane. She continued to tug on the door, but it didn’t budge. In typical Claire fashion, she went into a full on pep rally in her attempt to motivate the two of you to kick his ass. You being the psychopath that you were, refused to participate. Which only led to her throwing a temper tantrum instead, and managing to turn this whole thing into some kind of democracy to get Marcia against you.

The two of them were trying to convince you that the only way out was for you to gang up on him, but it was no use. You should’ve been pumped, you should’ve been willing to risk your life to bust out of this room, and back to your happy little home life. But you weren’t. Because your home life wasn’t all peaches and cream like theirs was.

Sure, your parents were still together, and, no, they didn’t beat you. What they had done, though, was toss you to the side like you didn’t even matter. This place was sounding a lot better than anywhere else right now; because at least here you mattered. Maybe not to them, but you sure as hell did to the guy behind that door. You knew you’d never make it out of here with her plan. You’d glanced him over long enough to know that there was no getting out, and that, whatever she had up her sleeve, was a suicide mission.

That’s when you snapped. “Did you see how strong he is? There’s no way we’ll ever make it past him,” you reminded her, bringing the preppy blonde back to reality. “Right now we just need to stay calm, and do what he says. Maybe then he won’t hurt us.”

“So what, you’re just gonna sit here? This isn’t some kind of game, Y/N, this is our lives!” Claire shouted, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

“Exactly!” You hissed back, getting in her face. “And he’s been thinking about this longer than we have. No matter what you try to do, he’s already ten steps ahead.” Just like that, you went back to your spot on the bed, and sat down.

Deeming silence better than arguing, the three of you remained quiet for what felt like forever until you finally heard a woman’s voice on the other side of the door. Both Claire and Marcia dove to try and peek through the lock, but they couldn’t make anything out except her lower half. From what you could hear, the woman seemed to be arguing over something with the man who’d brought you here. All of it becoming one big jumbled mess over the girls shouting. “Don’t go in there!” The man shouted over Claire and Marcia’s screams for help before the door opened and you saw him standing in the doorway in woman’s clothes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him,” he said with a promising smile, pretending to be someone else. “He listens to me. He’s not well. He knows what you’re here for. He’s not allowed to touch you. He knows that.” Without another word, he disappeared just as quickly as he’d come; every appearance weirder than the previous.

Again the girls began to panic, assuming this was all just some clever scheme. They’d barely had any chance to talk before the man came back in again, dressed in his original clothes. He was carrying a bucket, handle draped across his arm. There were cleaning supplies organized perfectly inside, and he seemed to act more ordinary than ever.

“No!” He said, slightly panicked, when he entered the bathroom. “Please, keep your area neat. The bathroom, it’s unacceptable. To make it easy, I’ve color-coded these.” He gestured, showing you each individual bottle. “Use the blue bottle for the floor and the pink bottle for the ceramic surfaces.” The way he cringed at the spotless bathroom made you finally put two and two together. Between wiping down his seat, folding his napkin before putting it away, and how neat and orderly he always seemed to be, this man had to have a the most extreme case of OCD you had ever seen.

Finally, he motioned for the three of you to join him. You had been the first to go, knowing you were the only one brave enough; although others may have called that ‘suicidal’. No, you seemed to find a soft spot in the way this man was acting right now, and, as much as you wanted to hate him, you couldn’t. Instead you found yourself wanting to learn more.

Taking the bucket from him, you found a place on the floor, looking up at the man with nothing but genuine interest, and, thankfully, he hadn’t seemed to notice. There was an awkward silence before he spoke again, shoving his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the doorframe. “Patricia has reminded me that I was sent to get you for a reason. That you are sacred food, and I promise not to bother you again.” You wanted to believe he said it apologetically, but it didn’t come off that way in the slightest. This should’ve horrified you, but your mentality was so off that you found it almost reassuring that you’d be staying here longer.

The three of you cleaned the bathroom in little to no time, each of you picking a different surface. Although it had been clean before, you somehow had managed to give the room a whole new sparkle and shine. By the time you were finished, the energy from your body had been completely drained; both from the cleaning and the kidnapping. The small, uncomfortable, cot now looking like a five star mattress as you fell face first into the pillow, and passed out from absolute exhaustion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Split - Part II

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ireadyabooks · 4 years ago

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The Best Summer Reads! 🏖

Even if you can’t read a book on the beach this year, it’s still summer!

We’ve pulled together some binge-worthy summer reads that will have you swooning over an adorable romance or turning the pages of a fast-paced thriller.

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn

Kimi Nakamura’s mother disapproves of her passion for fashion design, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi's entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies. Start reading!

The Night of Your Life by Lydia Sharp

All year, JJ's been looking forward to going to prom with his best friend, Lucy. But nothing goes according to plan and the best night of their lives quickly turns into the worst. That is...until JJ wakes up the next day only to find that it's prom night all over again. At first, JJ thinks he's lucky to have the chance to get innumerable chances at perfecting the night of his life. But each day ends badly for him and Lucy, no matter what he does. Can he find a way to escape the time loop and move into the future with the girl he loves? Start reading!

Lie to Me by Kaitlin Ward

Ever since Amelia woke up in the hospital, recovering from a near-death fall she has no memory of, she's been suspicious. Her friends, family, and doctors insist it was an accident, but Amelia is sure she remembers being pushed. Then another girl is found nearby -- one who fell, but didn't survive. Amelia's fears suddenly feel very real, and with the help of her new boyfriend, Liam, she tries to investigate her own horrific ordeal. But how can she tell who's trustworthy, and who might be -- must be -- lying to her? Start reading!

Screenshot by Donna Cooner

Skye's social media game is always on point. Until her best friend, Asha, films an embarrassing video of Skye at a sleepover and posts it online. But Asha quickly deletes the post, so everything's okay. Right? Then Skye gets an anonymous message. Someone has texted her a screenshot from the video. This person threatens to share the shocking photo online . . . unless Skye does whatever they say. Skye's perfect image -- and privacy -- are suddenly in jeopardy. What will Skye do to keep the screenshot under wraps? And who is trying to ruin her life? Start reading!

Listen To Your Heart by Kasie West

When Kate’s best friend, Alana, convinces Kate to join their high school's podcast, Kate is not expecting to be chosen as the host. But to Kate's surprise, she turns out to be pretty good at the hosting gig. Then the podcast gets in a call from an anonymous guy, asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is gorgeous Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana. Kate is excited for her friend . . . until Kate herself starts to develop feelings for Diego. Suddenly, Kate finds that while doling out wisdom to others may be easy, asking for help is tougher than it looks, and following your own advice is even harder. Start reading!

Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

Nina was artistic, fearless, and wild. She inked landscapes onto the soles of her Converse, and covered her tank tops in portraits of people she saw on the street. She was Ellie's big sister and favorite person. And then one day she was gone. Two years later, Ellie stumbles upon a drawing of Nina's that might just contain a clue of where to find her. So she takes off on a road trip with the one person who believes she's got a chance. Start reading!

Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel

While on a run one day, Maisie gets into a terrible accident. A hot-burning electrical fire consumes her, destroying her face. She is lucky enough to qualify for a face transplant. But with someone else's features staring back at her in the mirror, Maisie looks -- and feels -- like a stranger. The doctors promised that the transplant was her chance to live a normal life again, but nothing feels normal anymore. Before, she knew who she was -- a regular girl who ran track and got good grades, who loved her boyfriend and her best friend. Now, she can't even recognize herself. Start reading!

It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Avery Dennis is a high school senior and one of the most popular girls in her class. But a majorly public breakup with the guy she's been dating causes some disastrous waves. It is right before prom and Avery no longer has the perfect date. Post-breakup, Avery gets to thinking about all of the guys that she has ever dated. Avery decides to investigate: she tracks down all of the guys she's ever dated, and uses that information, along with the thoughts of her friends, family, and even teachers to compile a total account of her dating history. Avery discovers some surprises about herself and the guys she's spent time with just in time for prom night! Start reading!

The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice

Ever since her mother left, Maia has struggled with depression -- which once got so bad, she had to go to an institution for a while. She doesn't want to go back. Maia's sure that if she finds her mother, if the two of them can talk about whale songs and constellations, then everything will be okay again. When Maia sets off on a road trip in search of her mom, her crush Billy unexpectedly comes along. They drive up the East Coast, stopping along the way for lobster rolls and lighthouses. Maia learns that Billy has dark secrets of his own -- and wants to outrun his past, too. But what will the future hold if they reach their destination? Start reading!

Where She Fell by Kaitlin Ward

Eliza knows the legends about the swamp near her house -- that people have fallen into sinkholes, never to be seen again, maybe even falling to the center of the earth. But when her best friends drag her onto the uneven ground anyway, Eliza knows to be worried. And when the earth opens under her feet, there isn't even time to say I told you so. As she scrambles through one cave, which leads to another, and another, Eliza finds herself in an impossible world -- where a small group of people survive underground, running from vicious creatures, eating giant bugs, and creating their own subterranean society. Eliza is grateful to be alive, but this isn't home. Is she willing to risk everything to get back to the surface? Start reading!

Lucky in Love by Kasie West

Maddie's not impulsive. She's all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment, she wins! In a flash, Maddie's life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she's talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun . . . until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn't sure who she can trust. Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn't seem aware of Maddie's big news. And, for some reason, she doesn't want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret? Start reading!

Truly, Madly, Royally by Debbie Rigaud

Zora Emerson is not here to play. She's enrolled in a prestigious summer program, and is ready to use what she's learning to change the world. Zora's not expecting to vibe with any of her super-privileged classmates. So she's shocked to find she's got chemistry with Owen Whittelsey, who is charming, funny, undeniably cute...and turns out to literally be a prince. As in, his parents are the king and queen of a small European country. What? Suddenly, Zora's summer is looking a lot more complicated -- especially when Owen asks her to be his date at his older brother's wedding. Can her feelings for Owen, not to mention her sense of self, survive the royal chaos? Start reading!

Maybe This Time by Kasie West

Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family dramas. Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Entitled, arrogant, preppy Andrew. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there is Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn't so bad after all. Start reading!

Snow in Love by Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, Nic Stone, Kasie West

It’s still summer, but we’re already looking forward to the holidays and snuggling up with a mug of hot chocolate! So what's better than one deliciously cozy, swoon-worthy holiday story? Four of them! Snow in Love is an adorable, wintry collection of four short stories about the romance of the holiday season, from some of today's bestselling YA authors. Start reading!

Fake by Donna Cooner

Maisie Fernandez is fed up with the bullies who taunt her about her size and her looks. So, one night, Maisie goes online and creates a fake profile. "Sienna" is beautiful, skinny, and confident -- and soon she's messaging the most popular kids in Maisie's school. Maisie doesn't care about being friends with them. She wants to use Sienna to take them down. But as Maisie's web of deception grows, she's in danger of being exposed. And what will happen when the actual Sienna -- the girl whose photos Maisie has been using -- shows up in real life? Start reading!

Sorry Not Sorry by Jamie Reed

Janelle and Alyssa used to be best friends. They knew each other's deepest secrets and went through the hardest times together. But that was then. Now? Their status is somewhere between frenemies and full-on rivals. Until the day Alyssa collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Suddenly, everyone knows about her declining health and race against time. And, in a stunning twist of fate, the only person who might be able to save Alyssa's life -- is Janelle. But will the girls' bitter past get in the way of their futures? Start reading!

#I read YA #blog post #book recommendations #summer reads #beach reads

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lasttimeonthenegaverse · 4 years ago

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The Life and Times of the Negaverse- part one

Back to Bright

Negaduck screamed as he was pulled down the universal drain. His hands gripped tightly the sloping sides of eternity and he struggled to escape the cake before it collapsed in on itself. He’d dealt with the multiverse collapsing in on itself before. Not a pretty picture. There was no way to note how much time was passing in non-existence before everything fixed itself and you woke up in your propper reality. ….. Yeah. He’d lied to Darkwing Dunce. Shocker. But the fact of the matter still remained that his beautiful Saint Canard was ruined . And now he had to deal with an actually competent team of super zeros. He managed to scramble out of the cake and jumped off. He hadn’t been launched out, which was a testament to how far gone it was. Pity. The slight concussion was always a nice warm welcome that said ‘hey honey, you’re home’. But for now….. Negaduck growled under his breath, standing back and watching as the cake twisted, turned, and finally folded into crimson light. Shit. He’d need to make another one of those soon. He left the back room to see. …. His beak curled back in disgust. Those preppy do gooders had cleaned the BAKERY! The absolute NERVE of some jokers. And there was no sign of LaunchPad or the Muddlefoots…...more importantly, Gos. When he found her he was gonna make her…..He blinked, trying to figure out what was wrong with his eyes as he left the building. But….the sun. How had they gotten rid of his precious smog clouds so quickly? He frowned, sensing the hand of someone much smarter than the ‘Featherbrained Four’ at work. Ugh. Grounded . That brat was GROUNDED the second he got his hands on her! Granted, Gos wasn’t the main problem here, but the main problem was a literal world away and right now he was tired and sore and didn’t feel like dealing with clawing his way back across interdimensional lines. They’d all show back up sooner or later. The heroes were too moronic to keep them for long. Instead of worrying he plotted as he stalked through the city. The plants were flourishing thanks to that Buffon BushRoot. Liquidator the Lousy had made all the nice black water clean again. And worst of all MeekVolt had started the power everywhere. That’s probably what made the smog go. Uggghhhh, and the power being up meant that the disgusting dog was clearing all of the slime via the water filtration plant he’d never gotten around to blowing up. Time got a little weird with traveling through the fourth, fith, and sixth plane of existence. Let alone at the same time. It was kept stabilized by the cake, however that worked. It had been a ‘I’m too good for this world so notice me’ gift from Morgana. And it was probably the only spell she’d ever done right. But he was sure he could replicate it with science….and the right greased palm. Since the cake had gone funky near the end he could have been gone an hour, or a year. He shouldn’t have been gone a year, but this looked like more damage than an hour. Then again, what had they called themselves ‘Darkwings Ducks’. Urgh. One was bad enough….and crepilly efficient. Four was going to be the ‘Pests of the night’. Joy. Just what he always wanted, bedbugs. The trip back home was mostly uneventful, and that was the most irritating thing he had to deal with. Rather than cower and hide, people looked at him on the street. Like they had any right to. Like they had any rights at all. He’d have to stop by the mayor’s office and put some good old fashioned fear back into the city. Annoying. All thanks to the four flies that had ripped apart his magnificent chaos. Luckily the people weren’t too far gone. He must not have been missing too long. No nimrods tried to stand up to him or evil forbid follow him. But they watched him, only scattering away when he sneered. He didn’t want them to scatter with a sneer. He WANTED the streets clear in terror of him ever WALKING them. Fucking annoying . The door had been kicked open some time ago, and he’d know that bootprint anywhere. A wilted Rosebush was in pieces on the ground, along with a bag of toys. Hmmmm…..it had gotten ripped up and slashed so it hadn’t had water, but the flowers weren't so withered that he couldn’t tell what they’d been. He was gonna eyeball and say he’d been gone a week or two. Maybe a month. Not a year by the trepidation he was still treated to. No one had settled into foolish hope to snuff out. He checked the toybag for the amount of dust on it. Yeah, two weeks, at most a month. But hey, the kitchen was nice and filthy. She’d done a good job on that at least. He looked at the fridge but decided against it. Anything in there after this long wouldn’t be edible. He’d order something later. Not for the first time was he glad to have abandoned The lair on top of the bridge. It was nice and intimidating, but it didn’t have the space for a battered and overstuffed couch, which was where he flung himself. He didn’t have to worry. No one he trusted was stupid enough to end up seriously hurt by the idiots known as the Feable Four. But he on the other hand, was bruised. And not in the good way. Venomous green eyes slipped shut as he slipped into rest.

DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD

Negaduck wasn’t sure how much time had passed between when his eyes had closed and when he woke up. He didn’t know how much time he’d had an atual restful sleep, but he had gotten some actual rest. He registered the sounds of screams before his eyes slid open. With a deep breath he took a moment just to relish in them. Ohhhh, that was nice. A particularly pitchy scream of agony still had the sound of a cracking bone to accompany it.

“That eyebrow wiggle thing means you’re awake boss” Nega scowled slightly at his husband’s tone. Playful, but not ‘lets go cause some chaos’ playful, more ‘affectionate but still going to lecture you’. Hmmmm, maybe if he curled up further into the bed he found himself occupying? A heavy weight settled on the mattress. “You know the longer ya take before making me happy, the worse I’ll complain about it later.” Negaduck scowled and threw off the covers, sitting up abruptly to glare right into the amused smirk of one LaunchPad.

“How long?” The question had to fight through grit teeth.

“Did ya sleep? I got home about two hours ago so...longer than that. Were ya missing? A little over three weeks.” the larger duck let his hands tap absentmindedly on his own knees. “I held down tha fort fer ya, no worry on that ND, but….” And he made a sound. A sharp, short laugh forced through teeth grit with bitterness. “Little over three weeks.” Shit. Negaduck groaned.

“Ya know. If I’d known ya’d fuckin NAG me about her, I’da never picked up the fuckin brat.” That was a lie and both men knew it. The simple fact of the matter was that LaunchPad had been vocally against the twerp at first, but she’d been captured for almost a month of a far too quiet house and he was horribly worried, whereas NegaDuck had seen her less than an hour ago and so was significantly less worried. The stupid city was still standing….for now . Better calm down his husband. “Ya tracked her or do I have to do everything around here?” He snarled. “Didn’t need to. They’re holded up in the Mayor’s office giving hopeful speeches near round the clock.” And to prove it, the Television was turned on. The Liquid Lunatic was warbling his way through a speech about the importance of clean water and how he was working together with BushRoot to make the air clearer. The redheaded ten year old sat just in view of the camera, kicking her legs slightly and smiling at everything. “Wonder how any of em have time to do anything.” Nega nodded with the information, absentmindedly thinking. Hmmm, she was kept on camera, which made things a bit more difficult. But those goody goodies probably had her on a bedtime. Night break in then. Or…..well, depending on what she was thinking they may be able to get a mole in. LaunchPad knew better than to storm their hideout without his husband, even for their daughter, but the big softy was anxious without her. Probably watched the news like crazy to make sure she was alright. “Alright. I’m gonna go grab that lil bitch and see if I’m better off letting her rot with hero scum, you get her room set up for if I let the little turncoat’s sorry ass back in here. LaunchPad rose, grateful for the order. By the set in his jaw that poor girl’s room had been cleaned and rearranged at least fifty times. He always got like this when she went missing. After a while, Nega just stopped letting her out of the house. This was the ‘nightmare scenario’. One of many. The longest she’d been missing before was two weeks. He grabbed LaunchPad by the wrist before he could leave the room, and pulled him backwards. The taller man understood and lowered his head so that Nega could grant one of his rare kisses to his temple. “Relax. You’re going to stress yourself out and die. Then I’ll have to marry Herb and neither of us wants that.” It works and the old and odd joke causes LaunchPad’s eyes to soften as a grin slits across his beak. Then he’s gone. Into Gosolyn’s room to arrange everything just so for her return. Negaduck pays full attention to the T.V. watching to see when they switch off or put her to bed. He can’t run in blind, not with them being smarter this time around. He couldn’t let the Dimwit’s ducks know he was back yet, not till he had her back. Hopefully he’d been vicious enough to the idiots that had seen him on the way home that they didn’t go BLABBING.

See, Unlike the Morons. he could count . He had more people to work with, and he alone was smarter than them putting their heads together. They lose automatically. It was stupid of them to try, but even this single lucky victory grated on his NERVES.

Watching the news he’d noticed that only one of them was ever on at a time. And that they responded to disasters based on who specifically was best to solve them if the way Liquidator had runoff like a swimmer upon hearing about a fire. Gos was alone for almost a minute before QuackerJack had raced onto the scene. Some dead air time where she’d just read a book with a soft smile. Idiots the lot of them. Who freaked out if a ten year old was left alone for two minutes? While the WHOLE CITY was watching her? It was ridiculous and stupid, but it did give him a plan by the creeping light of dawn. Said plan was recorded in a notebook once LP came back in the room to settle into a restless sleep beside him. It was frustrating. Nega was tired. He had his favorite sound playlist of breaking bones and anguished screams, LaunchPad’s arm was heavy on his chest, almost crushing him. He had a great plan that only required the bareest amount of intelligence from his next door neighbours. AND he didn't have to deal with his BRAINLESS allies anymore. That being said, he felt the missing warmth from the spot where Gos usually would have fluttered her eyelashes to squirm into. He could feel LaunchPad’s erratic pulse every time the other man had a night terror about her. At the end of the day, his family was broken . This couldn’t happen again. He needed a way for LaunchPad to live AND for him to have fun while not letting her get taken. What kind of ‘princess of malice’ got STOLEN once a week!? The hints of a plan nudged at his brain, but he was too tired to fully acknowledge them.

ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND

“Excuse me?” BushRoot looked up at the studious looking boy at the gates. “Hello. I don’t know if you recognize or remember me.” “Of course I do!” BushRoot smiled brightly and the boy took a step backwards. “You’re Gos’ little friend . Oh I’d know you anywhere. You know come to think of it, we should’ve taken you too! Your family was awful. Are you here to see her?” Tank nodded with a slight smile.

“Yes actually. If that wouldn’t be too terribly horrid a thing to request?” He asked. BushRoot smiled down at the boy and ruffled his hair.

“Oh no it’s absolutely fine! We were just about to switch out her guard in fact. Megavolt was just going to run to do patrols.” Tank smiled happily as he was led through the hallways and to the center office, where the mayor had been before they vacated and left the city in the less than capable hands of NegaDuck. “That’s my report Dear Lovely Citizens” Megavolt smiled happily. “Please enjoy your new freedom as we continue to fix this town from the misery and suffering perpetrated by the evil known as NegaDuck.” He turned as the two came in, Bushroot waving at him. “TANK!!!!” Gosalyn jumped out of her chair and ran to her best friend as Quacker Jack took over the programming. The boy hugged her tightly for a moment before they both turned to BushRoot.

“Um….Mister BushRoot sir. Would it be possible to get a different room? I mean. I haven’t spoken to Tank in sooooo long and we really shouldn’t do anything that interferes with the oh so necessary hope building Programs.” BushRoot smiled at her and thought about it. “Well….we didn’t want to leave you alone in case the awful LaunchPad came to try and capture you. But you’re absolutely right sweetheart! You and your friend should have some time time to talk to each other alone.” He paused to think again, before snapping his leaves. “we’ll just hide you someplace you won’t be found. And I know just the spot . Common kids.” Tank and Gosalyn followed as Tank checked the time. 3:50. Away from the cameras BushRoot spoke a bit more freely. “I’m going to put you in QuackerJack’s lab. He’s our leader! And his lab needs a secret code to get in so you’ll be extra safe there. Tank’s eyes sparkled. “A Whole Lab? Boy oh Boy, does Tank like those” Gosalyn volunteered. “He just loves science.” Tank blushed, but nodded as they were led down to a bunker. BushRoot typed in a code, uncaring if the two little sweethearts saw. After all, they were good kids. “Thanks So MUCH Mr. BushRoot” The Redhead smiled brightly as she and her best friend went to examine the lab, heavy steel door closing behind them. The kids looked at the playground or mechanical wonder before looking at each other and grinning. “Cool Beans. This place is perfect ”

DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD

At exactly 4:02 pm Honker and Binkie stood underneath the powerlines that connected the main grid to the city proper. At 4:00 every day-both morning and night, Megavolt had to recharge his batteries. Information gotten not from the few hours of programing, but from the alternate dimension. NegaDuck had only checked to make sure that the mouse was still as annoyingly predictable as he ever was. And Honker in particular had a bone to pick, having gotten shocked into oblivion on his birthday. Mother and Son looked at each other to smile. Then the handy dandy bazukas they had were put to good use, blowing up the poles, and their attached wires. See, had Megavolt been inside the main grid. He wouldn’t have noticed the shut down. And if he was outside of the building, wherever he’d been sucking power from was now gone. The two stood side by side waiting to see if he’d come either from being called or to get juice. If he was already in. Well, normally they wore leather jackets and leather pants. Said articles of clothing had been replaced with rubber, so he wasn’t going to cause too many issues .

Outside as it turned out. Great guess on Lord Negaduck’s part, that as a ‘hero’ he would be too moral to use public property for private use or something like that. After ten minutes he arrived, stepping out of his car. He glared at Binkie, whom was waving her gun around and shooting in the air while laughing maniacally. “Stop right there vile Villain!” Surprisingly, she stopped and waved at the hero. “Oh hello there!” She smiled. Megavolt, though confused, was polite. He waved back and nodded to her in greeting. “Do you remember me?” Binkie asked brightly. It caused the mouse to think for a bit before. “Um….no…..sorry. When did we meet?” She giggled. “Oh. I’m Binkie. We met at the bakery. It was my Baby Boy’s birthday! Remember! That whole thing with Darkwing? You shocked him so bad you sent him flying!” She giggled again. “He just wanted to say hi, same as me. Say ‘Hi’ Honker!” Well, evil had to have a few screws loose, but other than that she seemed fine. He turned with a smile to greet the villain he’d thwarted.

“Hi Hon-” That was as far as he got before a baseball bat of weighted glass was very violently introduced to his skull. He flailed and fell and that was all she wrote because Honker jumped off the car to follow him, swings as wild and crazy as his cackling.

ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND

QuakerJack looked at the alarm, dragging his eyes away from the camera, where he was giving the kiddos an informative after school message with the help of his trusty clown. Two alerts. One at the Water Processing Plant and another at the Botanical Gardens. It was only 4:30 but the frequency of the alerts was what was getting to him. He shook it off as he pressed the hidden buttons on the back of the clown, smiling brightly to the kids. Bud and Bushie would easily handle their areas and rush back to the other’s side. He didn’t like all of them being gone at once, but Mega had been recharging when the power cut. Luckily, the broadcast was still going on due to a generator, but the second someone else came in, he was going himself to check out what happened and how far the extent of the blackout went. The Liquidator didn’t know what he’d find at the scene of the crime, all he knew was that suddenly the alert had gone off for high amounts of Pollution entering the drinkable water supply. Quacks had sounded the blinking alarm- be careful . Approaching the building, everything seemed normal. No signs of a breakin. He opted for stealth, going back around the building to sink into one of the waterways that was being admitted for cleaning. As he slunk around he definitely sensed….a presence whatever it was, it was big. Liquidator peeked his head up to see……..a man. He blinked twice to see if it was in his internal catalogue of villains that had been showing up to try and take NegaDuck’s place. …..No. Just….a rather large ordinary man. He appeared to be grilling in a Water Filtration plant which was odd enough to ring an alarm bell. …..shame, he just, couldn’t figure it out more than that it was undoubtedly odd . The man opened one of his many coolers and tossed out something slimy and with a sickly greenish yellow color. Just…..just upended the WHOLE COOLER while he hummed lightly. He’d also been at this for a while from both being able to jam the system and the fact that there were only four coolers left.

“EXCUSE ME!” The man started as he turned around and as if the color and smell wern’t indicators of something foul going in, the man himself was wearing rubber gloves.

“Oh Hi there Neghberino!” He waved. “Fine day ta get ridda somma the stuff around da house init it?” A warm smile. Was this man…... evil or just very stupid? “Yeah I’ve had this hangin around since last year. That’s a thing wit rotten fish bait. After a while, ya just don’ know what ta do wit it.” He shook out the cooler, poisoning the water as he placed it back down. “But when da wife says it’s gotta go. Well ol Herb aint stupid now ishe? Nosirie bob. My Binkie says it goes I says, ‘whatever’ll make you happy honey bun’ ‘s how Ah keep a happy marriage ya know?” Stupid he decided. Very VERY stupid. “Sir.” The superhero crossed his arms. “You can’t stay or dump here. This is a water treatment plant. It holds about forty percent of the water for the Reservoir of this fine city!” The man blinked a few times, flabbergasted. “Oh?” He got up and went to his grill “And here I thought the place what was cleaning was da bes fer tossin. After all, Water’s gotta get dirty afore it’s clean don’t ya know. Oh well. I’ll just empty mah coals n leave ya to yer lonesome sir.”

“Absolutely not!” And to save the water, the Luididator left it, going to grab the grill before ‘Herb’ could empty the coals. Poor Hero. He didn’t stop to wonder why one needed rubber gloves and as he touched the metal of the grill, the electricity surged through him, dissolving his form. Herb grinned as he looked down at the puddle and went for another cooler. Water absorbing powder solution. “Looks like you and me, we’s gonna be real good neighborinos. That is if anything’s lefta yous by tommara” He gave a slightly whistling ‘maniacal laugh’ as he cleaned up the Crimefighter.

DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD

BushRoot was aware that there was a problem when he got too close to the Botanical Garden. He could hear his children screaming in agony before their lives were cruelly snuffed out. He just didn’t know what they were screaming about. As he went inside he saw that the door had been kicked off its hinges. There was no sign of any of the scientists that worked there, and what’s more- there was enraged screaming coming from the same direction of the screams of his children. Scariest, it was the Rare plants division.He sniffed at the air. Whatever the odd smell, it was causing them discomfort. He needed to fix that first. He looked carefully at the lab portion of the garden as he raced over. It struck him how odd it was that there were a few open flames, but he dismissed it as the scientist having been scared away before they could extinguish. He tried to keep to the sidelines so that he could see the problem as he entered where the cries for help were coming from. He needed to evaluate, figure out how best to handle the sit-

“YOU!!!!” BushRoot froze, feeling his stems shake. Upon entering the room it was just his luck that the problem was staring him down. And it was none other than a LIVID LaunchPad armed with a flamethrower. He had a weed killer in his hand and a shovel on his belt but the flamethrower was what really got him. All of the precious plants in here could be gone in an instant thanks to that Mad Man. A sinister smile crawled over the beak of the larger man. “You’re gonna tell me where Gos is. Else, all o ya kids….well. Longer I aint got mine. Worse off yours are gonna get. Capisce?”

“You are never going to harm that sweet little angel ever again!” BushRoot raised an arm and a tree near where the man stood swung down a heavy branch to club at him. LaunchPad barrel rolled away from the hit, but the tree picked up it’s roots and followed him. BushRoot got closer to his kids to better hear what they were screaming, but the smell was unbearable. He took a handy dandy water bottle as he let Susan handle the interloper. LaunchPad wasn’t as scary without his fearless leader. A little bit of water should handle the shiny looking nasty chemical on the leaves of his babies. As he gave a spritz he noticed that….it wasn’t coming off, almost arguing with the water. But the chemical was also by their precious roots. “HEY!” BushRoot looked up. He was on the second floor, by the roof. LaunchPad had a slightly manic grin. “Last chance freak. Tell me where Gos is, or alla ya kids are mulch.”

“As far as I can see, You’re running away. And I’m NEVER letting that poor girl near the likes of your EVIL ever again. She’s MY new Eco warrior of justice!” LaunchPad let out a snort and lit the flamethrower. BushRoot scoffed at seeing the sprinklers activate. “What’d ya THINK that’d do right under the….” His words caught in his throat. While the first few seconds had been water, that nasty smelling chemical had hit the fire and ignited “GAS!!!!!! EVERYONE OUT!!!!!” How had he not recognised the smell . He grabbed the plants he could as he ran for the exit but…..

BushRoot shook as he saw it. It wasn’t just the room he’d been in. All the fire sprinklers had been filled with Gas. All of the plants. All of the research….. He took the few samples he could and sprinted for it, feeling his own legs becoming dried out from the intense and rising heat before he got out. He did manage to make it out...though he didn’t know how. His mind had been filled with fear and adrenaline as he desperately ran for safety. But he crawled away from the inferno. Him and the Children in his hands. Crawling until the point of collapse. And He collapsed right in front of a combat boot. “Did I say Mulch?” LaunchPad started Conversationally. “I meant Firewood. Opps, slip o the tongue. Coulda happened to anyone . Now. I turned the daycare into a crematorium, where’s Gos?” BushRoot shuddered. This wasn’t a man in front of him, smiling brightly and still holding unto the flamethrower.

“She….she’s at the Mayor’s office. C-City Hall” Right now all he wanted to do was cuddle up with Bud. He felt like literal crap turning the girl over to the likes of…. this. But….But he was the weakest link…..yeah…..yeah. The others would forgive him for what he was doing. He was scared. They…..They could get her back. NegaDuck was Gone. Darkwing had seen to that. They couldn’t give up after one little hiccup! “ WHERE ” And that Flamethrower was right in face as he scrambled away from the maniac and towards the conflagration. “ EXACTLY is she” BushRoot trembled. He was kneeling on the ground and begging for his life here. They could get the girl back later.

ND~DD~ND~DD~ND~DD~ND

NegaDuck chanced a look at his cell. LaunchPad, Binkie and Herb had all called that their targets were neutralized. He let out a pleasant sigh. It was so nice dealing with people that were only mostly morons instead of COMPLETE Morons. Why didn’t he spend more time in his St. Canard? He pulled down the brim of his Fedora, closing his trenchcoat more tightly around himself as he walked up the stairs. Of course nothing could go right. At the top of the stairs the doors opened and two figures walked out, causing him to hide before he was spotted. “So He probably got them all already?” He knew that voice. That was her pouting voice. “And he’s just waiting at home. I know he’s grumpy, but that’s oh so very rude . He couldn’t even stage a kidnapping himself after I was gone almost a month!”

“Ah-Hem!” NegaDuck stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed. Gosolyn’s face brightened upon seeing him but he stopped her in his tracks with a single finger. “You are grounded. How grounded you are depends on your reasoning for this” He gestured around the still clean and bright once home. “DISGUSTING Mess.” “First, we haveta get away from City Hall. Too many nosy naughty cameras lurking around to spyie why.” As she spoke she hurried up, Nega falling into step behind her. “COMMEON HURRY!!!” He groaned, but followed his charge as she raced to his hidden ‘civie’ car. …..WHAT it was fine and good being the Evil Overlord, but it came with Do gooders and sometimes he was just getting groceries! …… or kidnapping people to cook said groceries! Either way. “We gotta get home by five! Tanky, what time is it?” Tank showed her his watch. 4:45 And she gasped. “FUCK! We gotta get everyone home and in front of the TV! I’ll explain there.” NegaDuck scowled but aquissed to her crazy request, sending out a mass text and FLOORING it to get back home with his charges. She scrambled to get out the generator so that the T.V. would work. Excitedly plugging it in she started the crank. LaunchPad came down the stairs as he heard the enthusiastic pitter patter of malicious feet. Seeing her at the Generator he cracked a grin. “Shoo” The word was soft as he lightly tossed her away from the generator. He was bigger and stronger and so better at cranking the damn thing. Unfortunately, once QuackerJack went out to get his little boyfriend he’d undoubtedly fix all their hard work. But more importantly. His daughter was back for him to yell at. And possibly kill. He hadn't decided yet what he was going to do to her. “Well!” She started when the TV was up, playing the same old 24/7 Newscast of Hope. “I had this plan for awhile. Just not any real way to put it into action until Darkwing Duck somehow showed up here! Luckily” And her voice went sing song, as it always did when she was particularly pleased about something. “I’m fucking fabulous!” Nega rolled his eyes, shooing Herb off of his coved space on the couch with just a glare. The large father of two relocated to the floor to his happy wife as she gave Honker another wep nap to clean his bat with. “But this, undoubtedly the BEST PLAN EVER is not truly my plan. I mean….I did all the thinking and hard shit. But a TRUE plot is always for the benefit of yourself. And this plan was created only half for me.” She shrugged as QuackerJack continued talking on screen. A cold smile grew on her face as the Jester themed Super got visibly nervous, checking his watch for the alerts to be handled. “The other half was for my dear Papa” “Me?” LaunchPad blinked uncertainty. With Gos there were only two options when she planned something catered exactly to you. Either she HATED you with every fiber of her being, or she was being nice in her own way. You’d know by weather or not you continued with your meaningless existence. “Oh yes. And it worked even BETTER than I thought.” She hopped up on the couch, snuggling into NegaDuck and patted the cushion next to her. LauchPad did a mental tally of who owed whom a near death attempt. He was pretty sure cyanide in the cake evened out livewires on the ground, so he took the chance to sit next to her. “I knew that there were Nasty lil wanna-be Heros trying to muck up Daddies city.” Herb and Binkie both flinched at the ‘sweet lil angel’ casually calling LORD NEGADUCK by such a title. Something so bright and sweet and cute and filthy. But she continued irregardless of their discomfort. Or perhaps, spurred by it. “I also know Daddy kept leaving to that other St.Canard. With their Other heroes to fight and their other Papa and their other GOSALYN” They weren't allowed to have nice things in the house, Gos ripping apart the seat cushion as she got angry. Binkie flinched at such wondrous ferocity coming from well, a ‘sweet little girl’. Gos took a deep breath and a smile spread across her beak. “Darkwing taught them to be better Heros and in Daddie’s absence, they made St. Canard a better place. One of laughter, of light, overflowing with seeds of new hope!” Tank’s watch went off and the little girl pointed to the Television with unrestrained glee. “What’s that noise?” QuackerJack spoke from the TV. And then they heard it…..the recording-Gosalyn screaming for dear life. “Gos? Sweetie? Pumkin?” And as he ran to try and rescue her, the room started shaking. The camera fell to the floor, then there was an ENORMOUS multicolored explosion. Screams from an unseen QuakerJack and his pained face before an even LOUDER BOOM. Then the camera was destroyed and the broadcast finally stopped. “They think they can win now! Their own hope will keep them trying….and trying…..and stupidly trying.” A giggle. “Even more fun than going to some other world and ripping their hopes away? Snatching the faint hope that tries to grow like a revolting rosebush!” Another giggle ripped from her system. “They’ll see that broken dream of theirs and despair. Then the heroes will try to regroup because surely if they did it once they can do it again. And YOU” She snarled at NegaDuck. “Can play right here with Papa and ME!!!!” It was vicious and evil and well thought out and…..

“Awwweeeee. My sweet little MONSTER ”

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iwillgiveyoumyhappiness · 5 years ago

Text

Lee Yongsoo, 이용수

Group: OnlyOneOf (온리원오브)

Member: Mill

(A/N) I am disappointed by the lack of OnlyOneOf gifs out there. But you know what? Mill looks like an 11 out of 10 in every shot and every angle, so it’s all good.

It hadn’t been the best day for her, but it also hadn’t been the worst.

It was one of those days where everything was mediocre and just mildly disappointing. She felt like she had to pageant-smile, because she knew she wasn’t really happy.

She unlocked her door, tossing her purse and keys onto the table in the hallway. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror above it. She ran a finger across her skin, a little less bright and glowing than usual. She examined her under-eyes; the beginnings of dark circles and stress-wrinkles.

She sighed to herself. “You’re okay,” she whispered halfheartedly. “You’re okay.” She slipped her shoes off, hissing at the realization that she had matching blisters on the backs of her heels.

What a wonderful end to the day.

Just when she felt herself about to start crying, music started playing faintly from another room; preppy and disco-ish. Now, her first instinct was to grab the closet heavy object and attack, but a familiar voice reached her ears, stopping her in her tracks.

“Next up on the runway, world-famous model—Mill!” the voice said, sounding like it was narrating a timeless tale. “What a heartthrob he is. Look at the way he walks with such confidence and style!”

Slowly, she walked to the arch right before the hallway, peeking her head around the corner, brows quirked.

Sure enough, there was her friend—Yongsoo—swinging his hips back and forth sassily as he walked up and down her hallway wearing sunglasses and a fluffy hot-pink boa, timing his steps with the rhythm of the poppy background music.

She almost started laughing, but she magically managed to hold it back.

At least until she realized he’d also wiggled himself into a pair of her stilettos, bright red and bedazzled from toe-to-heel. She questioned how he managed to fit into them, considering they weren’t the same size, but the absurdity of it made her laugh harder than she had in weeks.

Yongsoo screeched, immediately tumbling over in surprise and somehow throwing the sunglasses half-way across the room. Once he realized it was her, he calmed down a little, but not much.

“What’re you doing here?” he pouted, staring at her with comically hurt eyes.

She slid down the wall, matching his current height and stared right back at him with the corners of her eyes crinkling up in laughter. “I was going to ask you the same question,” she said, still chuckling. “How did you even get it?”

He turned his head away, sulkily crossing his arms. “I saw you slip the spare key under the mat that one time we went out for bagels,” he admitted.

She shook her head in amused disbelief. “You’re incredible,” she sighed. She gestured to the heels. “How’d you manage to shove yourself into those? Didn’t it hurt?”

He huffed. “Unlike you, I’m willing to suffer for fashion.”

She laughed again, throwing her head back. It lightly bumped against the wall, but it didn’t hurt much. She looked back at Yongsoo, noticing the way he’d started laughing too, despite how much he tried to hold it back.

“You know,” she started, “you’re my best friend.”

His eyes widened. “All of a sudden?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “You just make me really happy sometimes, I guess.”

#kpop icons #kpop fluff #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop #onlyoneof #I wish only the best for him #for myself #for my mutuals #fluff #fluffy #kpop drabbles #slight crack #crack

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fereality-indy · 5 years ago

Text

Firstly (Pt 2)

Flashback To Earlier In The Evening

"And that does it!" Dipper says as he pulls away from the computer McGuket built for him when he headed to college, "The last bit of editing is done and it looks great."

"I hope so, it's one fifth of our final grade." Tambry said from the chair next to him.

"It will, Tambs. Between your great camera work and the editing we've done..." Dipper said as he turned to look at his violet haired roommate.

"Geez, Dip. I'm messing with you, dork." She said as she pulled him into a hug.

"Hmm, am I interrupting something here?” Wendy said from the door more than a few moments later.

Tambry practically jumped out of her skin as she backed out of the hug. “What? No!”

“We got our project finished.” Dipper said as if he hadn’t noticed Tambry’s action.

“I could tell, there wasn’t any grunts and groans coming from in here.” Wendy teased, watching Tambry blush frantically.

“Well there really wasn’t too much physical effort to be done on it, mostly editing and computer work.” Dipper said seemingly oblivious to the true intent of the comment.

“We should do something to celebrate.” Wendy said as she joined them in the small room.

“Well I have been working on a new D, D, & More D adventure.” Dipper replied. When he noticed a lack of an enthusiastic response from the girls he added “Or we could do a movie night.”

“We’ve got a movie night planned for tomorrow. How about going out and getting some Chinese?” Wendy suggested as she placed an arm around Dipper’s shoulder.

“Well a guy in my film theory class told me about a party his roommate is throwing tonight. I told him I’d think about it but I had other plans, mostly working on this project. But since we got it done, I kinda feel like partying.” Tambry said as she watched them doing that standing snuggle some couples do. Maybe she could find someone who could distract her from them for a little bit.

“You know what, Chinese sounded good but we haven’t partied since your birthday.” Wendy said as she gave him a playful lil squeeze “How about it, Dip?”

“Sounds good, but I’m driving.” He replied as he kissed her cheek, “Just in case there’s alcohol.”

“Always the responsible one, dork.” Tambry said as she poked him in the forehead. She then headed out of the room saying, “I’m gonna go get out of these sweats and toss on something a lil more party appropriate.”

When came out she was wearing black jeans and a light purple spaghetti strap camisole. Dipper was still in his grey jeans, but had tossed on a Weird Al tee and a blue flannel. And Wendy was still in her green flannel and jeans.

The ride to the party was uneventful, well except for some DJ on the college’s radio station trying to bring ‘Straight Blanchin’ back to popularity which cause Wendy and Dipper to chuckle a little bit. Once they arrived at the party, it was pretty much what they expected. They saw a few classmates they recognized and talked for a bit, but mostly Dipper and Wendy hung out by themselves. At first Tambry was with them for a bit, but she eventually made her way through the crowd gregariously. Dipper had just excused himself to hit the rest room when Wendy saw Tambry working her way back to them with a guy she didn’t recognize in tow.

“Hey guysh. This is Leon, Leon these are my roommatesh.” Tambry said as they walked up. It was evident that the drink in her hand was not the first she had had tonight, though Wendy had known her long enough to know that she was playing it up for some reason. “Wait a minute, where’s Dip?”

“Sup. Nice to meet you.” Wendy said as she gave the guy a once over. He was definitely not the type her friend usually went for. He looked somewhat like a nerd who had tried to dress preppy by following his mother’s ‘They’ weekly magazine on the latest fashion trends. She wasn’t real sure she liked this guy and not for the usual reasons she didn’t like her friend’s dates. Something was just off here. Turning her attention back to Tambry, she tossed her thumb up towards the back of the house and said, “Dip had to hit the head. Too many cans of Pitt.”

“Ah.” Tambry said with a nod of her head, then she continued. “Leon here ish in my poli-sci clash. He always hash the clash notesh if you need them.”

Leon looked like he was about to add something to the conversation when a big, meaty hand landed on his shoulder. It belonged to an equally big and bulky bruiser. He was almost as tall Wendy and mostly muscle.

“Hey Leon, I’ve been looking all over for you man.” The big guy said as Leon turned towards him.

“Oh, hey Rodney. What’s up man?” Leon asked looking up at the bigger guy.

“Not much, just checking on my roomie. Should’ve known I’d find you with a beautiful young lady or two.” Rodney said as he looked over at Wendy and Tambry, "You gonna introduce us?”

“Oh, yeah. Ladies, this is my roommate Rodney.” Leon said as he motioned his way, turning towards the girls he added “And Rodney, this is Tambry and her roommate, umm, I don’t think I caught your name yet.”

“It’s Wendy. Nice to meet you guys.” Wendy replied as she tried to look around the two to see if Dipper was on his way back yet. She was really not liking these guys for some reason and she was thinking that between the two of them that they could talk Tambry into leaving.

“Hey Leon,” Rodney said, catching Wendy’s attention, “I thought I taught you better than this.”

“Huh?” Leon replied craning his neck at his friend.

“The ladies’ drinks are empty.” The big guy said with a wave of his hand in the general direction of Wendy and Tambry’s cups, “Be a gentleman and go get them a refill.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary.” Wendy said at the same time that Tambry said “Thanksh, I’ll take another one.”

“You sure?” Leon asked as he started to pick up Tambry’s cup. Tambry flashed her a quick puppy dog pout and so Wendy relented with a nod. As Leon left to get the drinks Rodney started in on the importance of a proper diet to exercise.

Dipper was walking back from the bathroom when he noticed this preppy geek dropping two pills into a set of drinks he had just filled from the party’s main keg. He was just about to confront the jerk, when he quickly righted himself and briskly started back through the throng of the party. He decided to just confront him in font of his intended victims. He just hoped Wendy would be able to see him if things went south and he needed her help.

He caught up with the gaudy geek as he handed the rinks off to the girls. Quickly he called out, “Wendy! Tambry! Don’t drink those, he dropped something in them.”

“And you,” Dipper said as he grabbed Leon by the shoulder and turned him around roughly, “It’s bad enough that you were trying to roofie someone, but you royally fucked up trying to do it to my girls.”

Leon attempted to punch Dipper, but he dodged. That was when Dipper threw a right cross that would have made Stan proud if he had seen it and Leon fell to the floor. The next thing anyone knew Rodney punched him so hard Dipper lifted off the floor almost a good foot high. Before he could get another punch in, Wendy tackled him. Tambry had fished out her phone and began dialing nine-one-one.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Wendy yelled as she proceeded to rain punches down on Rodney.

Two more guys about the size of Rodney rushed out of the crowd and tried to join in the fight. Dipper had regained his footing by then. Tambry noticed that he had shifted his right leg so it was pulled back. As the first guy made it to him, Dipper slammed his right knee into his breadbasket. As he started to fall back Dipper continued the move by snapping his foot out and catching him under his jaw. Wendy Met the other guy with a kick that caught him at the knee. As he started to go down she grabbed his head and forced it onto the floor. Rodney attempted to get back up, but Tambry busted a vase over his head. By the time the cops arrived the four jerks were tied up waiting on them. Leon ended up spilling the beans after the cops found enough pills on them to knock out half the party.

And Now We Return To The Present

“Tambry, you don’t have to fuss so much over me. I’ve taken worse shots breaking up gnomish bar fights.” Dipper said as Tambry finished checking the bruise on Dipper’s stomach. “Besides, I’m more worried about Wendy’s knuckles. That big guy’s face seems to have given them quite a beating.”

“You scoff, but they are a little sore.” Wendy replied with a chuckle.

Dipper noticed these attempts at humor did not seem to be amusing Tambry, “Are you ok, Tambry?”

“Yeah, I’m goo…” She started before seeing the worried look on her friends’ faces, “You two aren’t buying that are you?”

“Nope.” Wendy replied with a smirk as she placed a hand on her shoulder, “Spill.”

“You know we’re here for you.” Dipper added as he placed a supportive hand on her other shoulder.

She looked at the floor for a moment, savoring the contact before she started. “I’m so sorry guys. Going to that party was my idea. And because we went, you two got hurt.”

“Don’t be sorry. It was a good thing that we were there. If we hadn’t been, who knows what those four would have gotten up to. We saved someone from having the worse night of their life. ” Wendy said as she pulled Tambry into a hug.

“Yeah, this was a good night in my book.” Dipper added as he joined the hug.

“I do have to say, it seems like you sobered up quite quick.” Wendy remarked after they broke the hug.

“Oh, well. I wasn’t really as drunk as I seemed. I only had the one drink before I ran into Leon. But he always seemed like he was the type who didn’t think a cute girl would talk to him, let alone dance with him, so I played it up a little bit to boost his ego.” Tambry explained as she sat down in the center of the apartment’s couch.

“But why?” Wendy asked as she joined Tambry on the couch. She had one leg under her as she sat facing her friend.

“I dunno. He was there.” Tambry replied as she picked up her phone and began absentmindedly fiddling with it, “I was lonely. I mean, yeah. I’m always here with you guys, but I feel like a third wheel some of the times. I guess I was just feeling a little jealous and wanted someone to show me some attention.”

“Wait. Why?” Dipper said as he joined the girls on the couch. And then in a voice that didn’t have any of the confidence he had shown earlier he added, “You don’t have to feel that way. I mean, you know you’re not a third wheel. Right?”

Tambry chuckled at how much he sounded like he did that first summer, “Well you two are the couple, I’m just the camera woman.”

"What. No. You mean so much more than that to us.” Dipper stammered out.

“What Dip, is trying to say is that we’ve never thought of you as just our camera woman. You are one of us. We care deeply for you.” Wendy said. She scooted a little closer to Tambry as she continued, “For the longest time we’ve wanted to talk to you about it, but we were afraid you would reject the idea and so we were content on just keeping our friendship.”

“Wait, is that what you meant when you told Leon that he 'royally fucked up messing with your girls’?” Tambry asked Dipper.

“Uhm, well, yeah.” He replied rubbing the back of his head, “I mean, I know no one person ever belongs to another. But you two are two of the most important people in the world to me. If something had happened to either of you, I don’t think a even a gremgoblin would want to face me.”

“You mean it don’t you?” Tambry asked as she looked between the couple. Here she was between the two people she had been crushing on for the last couple of years and they both seem to actually be into her too.

“Yeah, we do.” Wendy said as she gently placed a hand on Tambry’s shoulder.

“And we completely understand if you don’t feel the same way.” Dipper added with a smile that practically melted Tambry’s heart right there. “We just had to get it out in the op…”

He was unable to finish as Tambry pulled him into a kiss and he nearly melted there on the spot.

“Well I guess we have our answer.” Wendy said as she watched her boyfriend being kissed by, well, their new girlfriend.

When Tambry released Dipper she turned back towards Wendy and said “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.”

She then leaned forward and gave Wendy a kiss.

After they separated and Tambry had caught her breath she said “You guys don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Well then, let’s not wait too long to do it again.”

#gravity falls #tambry #wendy corduroy #dipper pines #wendipbry

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mono-moonchilds · 6 years ago

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Second Chances

Genre: High school love affair, fluff, a lil angst?

Pairing: Calum Hood x OC

Word Count: 1.3k

Summary: Where Calum tries to get the girl to talk to him after blowing their date off.

Warnings: None

A/N: This idea came from a first line prompt. The ending is a lil blah but that’s okay. The title as well is blah, I couldn’t come up with something different.

He knew he must keep very still while he waited or else his plan of trying to get her to talk to him would fail miserably once again. Calum wasn’t used to this; usually, he had every girl in this school wrapped around his finger but when it came to Leigh Anna she didn’t seem to fall under his charm as easy. It would be an understatement to say she was giving him a hard time and if it was anyone else he would’ve just given up, but this time he accepted the challenge.

The two were polar opposites and it showed in every way. She was more preppy and he was what everyone considered your typical no good delinquent student, and their paths probably would have never even mixed if it was not for them randomly being paired together by the unlucky draw of a hat for a class project. Of course, they knew of each other: Leigh Anna constantly heard the locker room gossip between the girls about Calum and for Calum, it was quite hard to miss anything about Leigh Anna she was a top student and generally the favorite of everyone at their snobby private school.

And until that day they were paired together they both had each other wrote off in their heads as what the other students had made of them- especially Calum. He really didn't see Leigh Anna as anything but another stuck up smart kid that went to their school. It wasn't until a few days after they had been paired together and she came up to him at his table during their lunch and handed him a neatly typed of the outline of their project wanting to know when they could start staying after school to work on it. It had caught him off guard, usually, most students that were only half as smart as Leigh Anna would just do the project themselves and slap both their names on it, too scared to even approach him. Not that Calum really minded though, because he ended up with a decent grade without having to do any work.

At first, Calum thought if he ignored and blew Leigh off long enough she would just end up doing it herself. But boy was he mistaken, he found that out when one day after school she approached his car, tapping angrily on his window and demanded he either help her or she would do it herself and leave his name off. To be honest, Calum didn’t really care if Leigh Anna put his name on the project or not, it wasn’t like he actually wanted or needed good grades. Calum already knew what he was going to do after high school, he’d been knowing since he was born and it didn’t involve college, but the fact that Leigh Anna had the actual guts to approach him again he decided to entertain her.

The project only required for the two to only be around each other for a month at the latest but even once it ended Calum would find reasons to be around or bother Leigh Anna. Whether it was fiddling with her curly hair during Anatomy with his pencil or asking her to explain something to him during Math that he didn’t understand or really care to understand. Calum knew he was probably annoying her but since Leigh was to nice to tell him to screw off he took advantage of it. Calum wouldn’t admit it but he had developed a small teensy crush on Leigh, he always thought she was a pretty girl, but actually being able to talk to her he realized she wasn’t as stuck up as he thought, Leigh Anna was kind of funny and interesting in her own dorky way.

It wasn’t until he was presented with two tickets for the Fall Formal that he decided to act on his crush and ask Leigh Anna out. Arguably when Jessica gave him the tickets he knew that it was really to encourage him to ask her friend Dani to the dance who he’d been messing around with since sophomore year but in his usual Calum like jerk fashion he turned around and asked Leigh Anna out instead. While it took some convincing because Leigh hadn’t been to a dance her entire four years of high school nor did she have any urges to attend one she finally agreed. And that’s what had landed him in this situation, the day of the formal Calum did not show despite begging Leigh Anna for almost a week to go with him. It wasn’t like he didn’t show to be a jerk but Calum had things come up.

So now he was standing in the stairwell in the cut waiting for her to leave class. Calum would sometimes tease Leigh for being so predictable and always having a schedule for things but this time knowing what she would do was working in his favor. Right on cue, the bell rings and a few seconds later he can hear her talking to her friends as she entered the stairway. Calum waits for her to come down the second case and when she does he steps out in front blocking her way. But instead of saying anything to him Leigh stares at Calum blankly then tries to move around him.

“ Can we talk?” Calum asks stepping to his left back in front of her again. “Alone.” He adds. Once her blonde friend comes down the stairs behind her.

Leigh surprisingly sighs then turned to her friend telling her to go on to lunch without her. “ Okay, what do you want?” She says adjusting her books in her arms.

“ Are you going to keep ignoring me?”

“ I’m not ignoring you. I just don’t have anything to talk to you about.” Leigh speaks quietly picking with a corner of her notebook.

“ I told you things came up, it wasn’t like I blew you off just to do it.”

“ Yeah, you told me on Monday, two days after the dance. You didn’t bother to even call or text me. Do you know how stupid I looked waiting for you to show?” Leigh Anna tells Calum remembering how she was sitting outside on the cold bricks for an hour and a half, waiting for no- hoping that at any moment Calum would walk up. “ And then you didn’t even apologize.”

“ I’m sorry,” Calum says and Leigh Anna rolls her eyes trying to walk around him but he grabs her arm stopping her once again. “ No wait, I really am.”

“ That’s great Calum, I forgive you.” Leigh Anna says dryly.

“ Listen, Leigh, a family emergency came up and I’m sorry. I didn’t ditch you at the dance on purpose, I wouldn’t do that to you and you know that.”

“ How am I supposed to know that?”

“ Because I actually like you, like a lot, and it obvious,” Calum admits honestly. The confession catches Leigh Anna off guard for a moment. Of course, she knew Calum probably had somewhat of a crush on her but hearing him actually say it was different. “ Just give me a chance to make it up to you.”

Calum notices a slight pink tint covers Leigh’s brown cheeks and then her face softens a bit. “ I’m not one of these other girls you date or whatever you do with them and you're not going to make me look stupid.”

“ Is that a yes,”

Leigh pauses and then shrugs as if to say why not. “ This is your last chance and if you're a minute- no second late, I will leave and I won’t give you another chance.” Leigh threatens and Calum smiles nodding in agreement. And from that moment on Calum was hers and Leigh was Calum’s.

#calum hood #calum hood imagine #calum 5sos #5sos fanfic #calum hood fluff #fluff #cute #stories #short stories #monomaxii #5sos imagine #5sos images #5 seconds of summer #5 second of summer imagines #calum hood one shot #maybe a part 2

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sprnklersplashes · 6 years ago

Text

burning the memories

AO3

On a trip to visit her grandparents and Aunt Veronica in Ohio, Janis comes across her Aunt's high school memories and learns more about her than she thought she could. Veronica's past comes back to haunt her and she realises she can't outrun it unless she lets it go.

Words: 7k

(Set in a universe where Veronica is Janis’ aunt)

Janis is convinced her Aunt Veronica is the coolest person on the planet. From living on her own with her two cats in her New York apartment to being a kick ass social worker to somehow always knowing exactly what Janis wants every birthday and Christmas, there is no one like her. Her style still seems stuck in the 1980s; she’s almost always wearing a blue blazer and a skirt but she makes it work. She still turns heads and despite a few flings with men and women here and there, she doesn’t seem to want to commit to anyone. She just flies above it all, not caring about what anyone else has to say, stating simply that she ran out of fucks to give in 1989.

So of course, when her mom proposes that they go to his childhood home in Ohio during the summer to meet up with her and her grandparents, Janis has her suitcase half-packed. Aunt Veronica is the one thing that can make these reunion trips worth it. It’s worth the four hour drive in her dad’s car and people asking if she has a boyfriend yet and having that awkward conversation (how many times can people “forget” that she’s a lesbian?), casting eyes at the tips of her hair and her clothes and fake nails and heavy make-up, the rolling eyes and fake smiles when Janis tells them about her plans to study art. She has to fight the urge to flip them off until she can get home and vent everything to Veronica in private over coffee.

They get into her grandparents’ place first, with her grandma remarking how much she’s grown and asking about school and giving her cookies and her grandpa handing her a ten dollar bill and asking if she’s keeping her hair like that and mentioning how her outfit (graphic tee shirt, ripped black shorts, fishnet tights and an oversized blue shirt) is very creative.

“Creative is one word for it,” a voice says from behind the stairs. She turns and sees a thin, dark haired woman in a blue blazer and grey skinny jeans leaning on the banister, smirking.

“Aunt Veronica!” Janis laughs, running up for a hug.

“You got tall,” she remarks, throwing her arms around her and squeezing her tightly. “Though that might the boots.”

Within half an hour they’re all sitting around the kitchen table. It’s more cramped now than it probably was when her mom and Aunt Veronica were living there, but her grandpa insists on sitting on the armchair in the corner to make room.

“So Janis how’s school?” her grandma asks, pushing her pasta bake around on her plate.

“Fine,” she says. “I won a prize at this art expo.”

“Oh my god, Janis, that’s awesome!” Veronica says, nudging her with her elbow. “What was it?”

“It was this portrait I did of me and Damian and Cady,” she explains. “Cady’s new, she just joined this year.”

“She moved there from Kenya, right Jan?” her dad adds, refilling his glass of Coke. “Janis stepped in to help show her the ropes.”

“Well that was sweet of you,” her grandpa remarks from the chair.

“What brought her from Kenya to Illinois?” Veronica asks, snickering slightly.

“She said her parents were researcher zoologists until they lost their funding,” she explains. “But yeah, Cady’s pretty cool. I mean, she’s a little weird, but she’s awesome.”

“And… how is Damian?” her grandma asks, twirling her fork around, and Janis suppresses the urge to groan.

“Damian’s great, Grandma,” she says patiently. “He just started dating this boy from his drama club, so that’s great.” Beside her, she swears Veronica laughs before disguising it with a drink.

“And what about you, Janis? Any girls making your head turn?” she asks, looking over at her grandma.

Coolest. Woman. Alive.

“Not really,” she says, looking down at her plate. No girls had really caught her eye-except for the girl Damian took to calling ‘Danny DeVito girl’ after that one episode in the bathroom, but she knew her name was Gianna. Still, she barely sees her outside of history class.

“Oh, Ronnie, before I forget,” her grandma said. “We found a bunch of your old high school stuff in your old room. It was all boxed up, we didn’t know what you want done with it. It must have been left here when you moved out.”

“Oh, thanks,” Veronica says. “I’ll take a look at it tomorrow.” She stays quiet for the rest of the meal, making small, three word comments on whatever comes up in conversation, even about her own job, which is weird, as well as supremely disappointing. There’s few things Janis loves more than hearing about how she took another kid off shithole parents, and Veronica loves talking about it. Still, she shakes off whatever was bothering her when the apple pie is rolled out, sliding second helpings onto Janis’ plate when no-one’s looking.

“You know,” Veronica says in a low voice while the rest of the adults are stuck in conversation about the traffic on the way up. “If you don’t have any plans this summer… maybe you could come up to New York for a bit?”

“Are you serious?” Janis asks, feeling her heart begin to pound.

“Sure,” she says. “I know there’s art galleries around where I live that you’d love, and I’d get some quality time with my favourite niece.”

“Your only niece,” she reminds her, but she can’t supress the smile on her face. If she were Cady, she’d probably start squealing. “Thank you, Aunt Veronica!”

“Let me talk it over with your parents first,” she reminds her, placing her hand over hers and draining her glass.

“You’re the coolest person here,” Janis says, and Veronica blushes, laughing. “When and how did you get to be so cool?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she says, her voice quiet.

Janis leans on the doorframe of her Aunt Veronica’s old room, having snuck away from the brunch discussions of what their neighbours were growing in their garden. She knocks on the wood, holding a plate of French toast, fried eggs and bacon in one hand. Veronica looks up from the box sitting on her bed. The bed is covered with all sorts; photos, books, clothes, all from her aunt’s high school years.

“I come with gifts,” Janis says, waving the plate in front of her. “You wouldn’t want to miss Grandma’s French toast, would you?”

“Of course not,” she says, taking the plate from her with a grateful smile.

“Is it cool if I hang here?” Janis asks, sitting on the bed like the question was already answered. “I’ll go insane if I spend any more time down there.”

“Sure, kid,” she says, placing the plate on her nightstand and taking a piece of bacon in her hand. There’s something in her face, how her smile doesn’t quite meet her eyes, how her eyes look kind of… well, scared. “Feel free to check out the Westerburg High memorabilia.”

Janis picks up a pile of polaroids and starts looking through them.

“You know these are back in fashion now,” she remarks, waving the photos. “This girl… my friend Karen, she loves them.” It’s odd, referring to the Plastics as “friends” now that they’ve disbanded. She’ll never in her life refer to Regina as one, but Gretchen’s not too bad and Karen is actually kind of fun, in a lost kitten kind of way that makes Janis want to protect her for the rest of her life. “Is this you?” The girl in the photo has to be Veronica, same cheekbones and wild dark hair and brown eyes and cheesy, wide smile (Janis kind of feels like she’s looking in a mirror), but she looks way different. She’s wearing a long red dress and denim jacket, a far cry from what she wears now. She looks like she didn’t even look in the mirror before leaving the house.

“Yeah, that’s me. March 1989,” she reads. “I was a junior.” She chuckles under her breath. “God you’re the spitting image of me at that age. I think that was my best friend Martha’s 17th birthday.” She points at the other girl in the photo, dark haired with glasses and a pink sweatshirt. “Yeah, she was my best friend from diapers.”

“What’s she doing now?”

“Kindergarten teacher up here,” she says with a soft smile. “Martha loves Sherwood so much she couldn’t leave if she tried. We’re still close though.” Janis hums and continues looking through them, finding more photos of Veronica and her friend Martha, sitting at school, in the park, in what she guesses is Martha’s room, all while Veronica keeps looking through the other stuff.

Suddenly, she finds one in which her aunt seems to have done a complete metamorphosis. Gone is the frumpy, slightly too big clothes of the ones before, in this one she’s in a fitted blue blazer and grey miniskirt, her eyelids blue and lips red, standing in someone’s backyard with a croquet mallet on her shoulder with three other girls; a tall, blonde girl in a red blazer and shoulder pads, a bright red scrunchie in her hair and a smirk that echoes Regina George on her face, a smaller blonde girl in yellow whose hair is in curls and an Asian girl in green with her hair pinned back. They’re all wearing the same style of all-American preppy blazers and miniskirts, and all have croquet mallets matching the colour of their clothes. While they all stand in a cluster, Veronica distances herself slightly from them, but still leaning in and still smiling at the camera. Along the bottom, someone wrote ‘Heather, Heather, Heather and Veronica-September 12th, 1989’.

“Woah, Aunt V,” she remarks. “What happened in September 1989?”

“What?” Veronica asks hastily. She comes over and looks at the photo in Janis’ hands and her face turns red.

“Aunt V?”

“It’s fine,” she says, not clarifying what ‘it’ is. “For a while… I was friends with some popular girls.”

“You were a plastic?” she asks in disbelief. No way. She refuses to believe that Veronica was ever a Regina George.

“Plastic?” she repeats, wrinkling her nose.

“It’s what we called this trio of megabitches in my school,” Janis explains. “Gretchen, Karen, and Regina George at the centre of it all.”

“Oh, that bitch Regina,” Veronica says. When her life fell apart after the “space dyke” incident, it was Veronica who had sped like crazy down the freeway to Illinois and took her out for ice cream and movies until she could smile again. She had even offered to pay for her to go to a private school in New York when her parents pulled her out. She could never be a Regina George. “We called them the Heathers. There was Heather Duke…” She points at the green one. “Heather MacNamara…” The yellow one. “And… Heather Chandler.” Her finger lands on the red one. She takes in a deep breath.

“I take it Chandler was your Regina,” she says. “Why were they all called Heather?”

“Universe is weird like that,” she answers off handedly. She’s staring at the photo so intensely she might burn a hole through it.

“Aunt V… you okay?” she asks.

“Fine,” she says, shaking her head. “We weren’t friends for that long anyway. We were at this homecoming party and they wanted to do this really bitchy thing to my friend. So….” She twirls a lock of hair around her finger. “I puked on Chandler and told her to lick it up.”

“Oh my God!” Janis laughs. “You’re such a badass, Aunt V!” Veronica chuckles and shakes her head. She looks around at the stuff around her, two cardboard boxes worth of high school memories.

“I’m going to get some trash bags. At least half of this stuff I want to throw out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s just junk now,” she says. “Be right back.” She runs out the door, her footsteps fading as she went down the hall. Janis keeps flicking through the photos, mainly ones of her and the Heathers.

The she finds another one. Veronica, still in the “popular girl” look, sitting on a wall, staring up at the sky, laughing. Then the next one, a dark-haired, brown-eyed boy is on the wall with her. The camera is so close that he must be holding it. The old school selfie. His arm is around her and the other holds the camera. She rests her chin on his shoulder, her smile easy and open, her eyes sparkling. The boy is smiling too. The writing on the bottom reads “September 30th, 1989, Our Love Is God”. The next one is them cuddling, him standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her, kissing the back of her head while she laughs. Someone else must have taken it for them or they set it on a timer. “October 3rd, 1989, You’re in my heart like a Madonna on a pedestal.” And another one of Veronica standing against a brick wall, her hands flat against the wall and one foot leaning against it “October 10th, 1989, We love the things we love for what they are”. And another of the boy, who clearly doesn’t know he’s having his photo taken, drinking a red slushie. “October 15th, 1989, JD doesn’t know I’m taking a picture and still looks good”.

“Holy shit, Aunt V,” Janis mutters. Who knew she had a thing for bad boys? She flicks through more photos, all of her and Mysterious Trench Coat Kid (JD, she assumes), until she finds herself back at the start. She puts the pile down and keeps sorting through stuff, finding a yearbook and older class notebooks and a small, black book with 1989 written on the spine in gold lettering.

Holy shit. Her diary.

She looks over at the door and back at the book. She knows it’s wrong. She knows she shouldn’t look through her aunt’s private stuff. But then again, it’s from 1989, what could she have done as a teenager that she’s so scared of people finding out? And… Okay, she really just wants to know who the mysterious JD was.

“September 1st, 1989, Dear Diary,

I believe I’m a good person, you know I think that there’s good in everyone, but here we are, first day of senior year. And I look around at these kids I’ve known all my life and ask myself…. What happened?....”

“September 22nd, 1989, Dear Diary

It’s been three weeks since I became friends with the Heathers. Well, friends isn’t exactly the right word. It’s like the Heathers are people who I work with and our job is being popular and shit.”

“Still September 22nd, 1989, Dear Diary,

Why when you see boys fight does it look so horrible, but feel so right? I shouldn’t watch this crap, that’s not who I am, but with Mr No Name Kid here… damn.”

“October 2nd, 1989, Dear Diary,

JD’s dad will not be speaking at our wedding.”

Holy shit, she thinks. Wedding? She was planning a wedding already? Calm down there, Aunt Veronica. So JD. It had to have been a nickname. It suits the boy she sees in the photo-the rebellious bad boy apparently sweeping her off her feet. She imagines some sort of Bonnie and Clyde style love affair, or a Romeo and Juliet whirlwind where Veronica’s dad had been desperate to keep his squeaky clean girl away from the troublemaker?

She hears her footsteps in the hall and quickly closes the book, dropping it back in the box. Aunt Veronica comes back in with two trash bags in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.

“Sorry, got sidetracked by coffee, although I did bring you a cookie,” she says, handing her over one.

“Thanks,” she says, taking a bite out of it while Veronica starts tossing bits and pieces into one of the bags. “So… who’s JD?”

Something changes in her. Janis expected her to blush or laugh off the bad boy she seemingly had a little affair with as a teenager; instead the bag falls from her hand, her eyes look up at her, wide and fearful, her breathing gets faster, her face paler. She looks so much younger now, like the seventeen year old she saw in the photos.

“JD?” she repeats weakly. “Where… how did you hear about JD?”

“I found some pictures of you and him.” She slides her hands into her back pockets, regret pounding in her chest. Veronica picks up the photos and Janis can see them shaking in her hands. She feels like she opened up Pandora’s Box, unleashing all the terrors inside. Another terror sits heavily in her chest, fighting its way up her throat and out of her mouth almost against her will. She could never keep stuff from Veronica. “And… I may have peaked in your old diary.”

“My diary?” she asks sharply. “My 1989 diary? You looked in there?” Her voice gets more frantic and Janis gets more scared and even more guilty. She can feel her ‘favourite niece’ status slipping away.

“I know, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have looked in there!” she apologises. “I’m sorry, Aunt V.”

“What did you read in it?” she asks. If Janis didn’t know better, she’d have sworn she was scared. No, she is beyond scared. Terrified is a more accurate term. Veronica looks like she’s struggling to catch her breath, her fists curling and uncurling. “Janis I need to know; what did you read in it?”

“Nothing important,” she says. “Just… like the stuff about the people in your senior year and the Heathers were people you worked with and how JD’s dad wasn’t going to be speaking at your wedding!” She feels her lip begin to tremble and she swears to herself she won’t cry. “I’m sorry, Aunt Veronica, I know I shouldn’t have look in it.”

Veronica sighs and lowers herself on to the bed, burying her face in her hands.

“It’s okay,” she says. “It’s okay, Janis. I’m sorry I got so worked up.” She pulls Janis’ hand and gets to her sit down next to her. She lets out a breath and laughs slightly, running a hand through her hair. “JD was my boyfriend in senior year.”

“That much I gathered,” she jokes. “I mean…Our Love Is God isn’t something you’d say to your friends.”

“He said all kinds of stuff like that,” she tells her. She pulls her jacket tighter around herself, her eyes filling with tears. Janis puts an arm around her.

“It ended badly?” she asks softly. Veronica stays quiet, looking at her hands.

“He killed himself,” she whispers after a while.

“Shit,” Janis says. “Aunt Veronica, I’m so sorry.” Veronica threads her fingers in Janis’.

“Kid, it was nearly 30 years ago,” she says. “I’m not… I’m not over it but, I guess I moved on.” She reaches over with her free hand and takes the pile of photos, looking at the one of him and her at the 7/11. “And yeah… it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows when he was alive. His dad was an ass, for starters. He messed JD up pretty bad. And that’s…” She wipes tears away from her eyes and Janis’ heart breaks. She wishes she’d never looked at the damn photos. “I guess that’s why I try so hard now. Try to take kids off bad dads like that. Stop future JDs in their tracks.”

“Aunt V,” Janis protests. “You know it’s not your job to stop people, right? If people are bad, then they’re bad.”

“I know,” she says. “I just never stopped thinking what if his dad had been good? Or if someone had looked out for him.” Janis wants to shake her head and tell her that his problems don’t matter if he hurt her (and she can tell that he did) but she keeps her mouth shut. “I’m sorry for getting mad, Jan. And for unloading all of this on you.”

“It’s fine,” she says. “I’m sorry I read your diary.” Veronica shakes her head and pulls her into a hug.

“You know, you’re the only one in this family who knows he was my boyfriend?” she asks. “My mom and dad thought that we were just friends and your mom was away at college while it was all going down.” Janis smiles, feeling small sense of pride amongst all her guilt. Sharing a secret with her aunt, even if it’s about her bad boy former flame. Though she does wonder how her grandparents missed the fact that they were more than friends.

She knows there’s more she’s not telling, and she’s more than okay with that. First things first, she knows she doesn’t want to know exactly what went down between them. She’s not sure she can stomach the details. And she knows that it’s probably better if Aunt Veronica keeps them to herself.

By Veronica’s count, it’s been twenty one years since her last JD related nightmare. Her and her partner Anna had just started getting serious, and Anna was staying over at her house. That night, while curled up next to her, Veronica had dreamed about Anna pounding on her closet door while she barricaded herself inside, telling her about after and destiny and how they were meant to be together, the words “meant to be yours” being repeated over and over again until the voice turned into something different. Into him.

She had woken up screaming and she broke up with Anna the next week.

Still, after that episode, she went twenty one years nightmare free.

Until she bolted up in bed at 2:30 am, muffling her scream with her hands, an old trick she learned in college, feeling her heart in a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

She had dreamed about him blowing himself up again up again, except this time he was taking her down with him. She still feels her arms wrapped around him, the bomb digging into her chest, her fingers fisting in his coat as he tells her again “I worship you” and she just numbly nods, Heather Chandler pressing against her, whispering “see you in Hell, biotch” just before the bomb goes off and rips her to pieces.

After senior year, she had stashed everything into a box and hid it under a pile of other stuff in her room, hoping to never have to look at it again. She had almost forgotten about everything that was in there. It’s everything she wishes she could erase from her memory about her time in high school. Everything she regrets and misses the most.

She kicks the blankets off her, feeling suffocated by them, and looks at the bags of trash filled with all her high school memories. She had just wanted to get rid of all of it, clean the slate, to use JD’s turn of phrase, act like those months had never existed, but now she’s not so sure.

She gets up and opens one, looking at its contents from the lamp on her bedside table. She still can’t sleep in the dark, even now. Inside there’s her old notebooks and clothes that haven’t fit since she was a teenager and her old yearbook. She pulls out the yearbook, running her finger down the spine. She somehow opens it to the last page she wants to see; “In Memory Of Heather Chandler”. Heather’s photo beams out from the middle of the double page, all red lipstick and blonde curls. Words from students crowd around it “Always In Our Hearts”, “Rest In Power Heather”, “Drinking Rum and Coke With The Angels” (because there’s plenty of that in Heaven), “I’m Sorry I Didn’t Know” “You Deserved Better” (well maybe that’s not an unfair statement). And pride of place, close as possible to her picture “Best Friends Forever-Heather M” and “Miss You Forever-Heather D”.

She turns the page and finds Kurt and Ram’s memorial page, adorned with rainbows. She bites her lip as tears well in her eyes. More messages from the students are scattered around the page, promises to make the world a better place, to stamp out bigotry and prejudice. Apparently their dads did that until the day they died.

When she turns the page, there’s one more memorial page; Jason Dean. It’s blindingly different from the other two. One picture of him in the middle, God knows where they got it because it wasn’t taken at school. A little blurb explaining how he came into the school in September and died in November during the pep rally. The official explanation was that he had killed himself during the rally by blowing himself up in the football field.

Veronica had forged a pretty great note for it.

Hardly anyone had any words to say about him, though a couple of well-intentioned kids on the yearbook committee added some. “I Wish I’d Known Him” (trust me, she had thought when she first read it, you don’t), “Rest In Peace, Jason”, “Your Time With Us Was Short But Wonderful”. In the corner, there’s her handwriting, “I wish you’d stayed around a little longer”, then scribbled out so violently the page tore. She wishes a lot of things, but not that he had stayed around. Not in the way he was anyway.

She puts the yearbook aside and keeps looking through it, finding an old videotape. No title, except a white label with “Halloween, 1989” written in her handwriting. She wracks her brain for what happened then, and she draws a blank. Thankfully, her old TV and video player are still in her room, so she pulls them both onto the floor with her and slides it in, turning the volume low enough so that only she can hear it.

The picture comes into view and it’s her, wearing a long sleeved black minidress and tights and a pair of cat ears, raising her eyebrows and laughing, putting candy into a large orange bowl decorated with black cats and spiderwebs.

“Are you filming this right now?” the 1989 version of her asks.

“Yeah of course,” JD replies, taking a step closer. “Look at this folks, pure Halloween commitment right here.” The camera zooms in on her dress, on her cat ears, the whiskers drawn onto her unimpressed face with eyeliner.

Her heart stops at the sound of his voice. He sounds so different to what she remembers. His voice is higher, softer. He doesn’t sound like he does in her nightmares. He doesn’t sound like the kind of person who would storm into her room, tell her he wanted to kill her, tell her he was blowing up the school. He doesn’t sound broken or damaged. He sounds normal, happy, relaxed and it cuts her deep.

“Oh, okay,” the younger version of her says. “Now, look at this.” The picture shakes as the past version of her tries to take the camera off him while he makes tiny noises of protest. “No, give it, give me the camera.” Her voice is high pitched and nearly whiny, but she’s laughing, the same loud, dumb laugh she always used as a teenager. She used to complain to him about it and he assured her he loved the sound of her laugh.

“Or what?” he replies.

“Or you don’t get candy,” she teases.

A different fight plays out in the back of her mind, when they fought over something much more sinister. The two teenagers in the video didn’t deserve that. They didn’t know how it would all play out. The girl didn’t know the monster she was creating. The boy didn’t know just how broken he really was.

The younger Veronica wrestles the camera off JD with a triumphant laugh and turns it on him, snickering.

Her breath catches at the sight of him. He’s just like he is in the photos, except he’s moving. He’s more alive, laughing and twirling to show off his full costume. He’s even discarded his trench coat, she can see it sitting on the couch behind him, instead wearing a puffy white shirt and leather pants and an eye patch of all things.

“He’s a sexy pirate,” past her sings, zooming in on him. He leans against the wall dramatically and pouts at her, making her laugh.

“I’m a regular pirate,” he corrects her. “I just happen to always be sexy.” She laughs again, the camera tilting slightly like she’s leaning back.

“Yeah you are,” she agrees. The camera is place on the counter and she goes over to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. He wraps his arms around her, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. She moans as he pulls her closer, getting rid of whatever space there was between them. Her hands get caught up in his hair while his trail on her legs, but never lifting her skirt.

It always got heated between them. Simple goodbye kisses turning into him letting her push him up against the wall and tongues and teeth clashing while hands were running along waistlines and through hair. He always let her take the lead, set her pace, be in control. It used to make her feel empowered. Having him underneath her, being willing to do anything she wanted, to obey her wishes. She never took it too far, asked if he was okay with it too, and he always was, looking at her with wide eyes and nodding enthusiastically.

She wonders now how much of it was real and how much was just him letting her get comfortable with him. Comfortable enough to be clay in his hands. It’s all so confusing to her know, love or infatuation, how much of her memories are viewed through the rose coloured lens she uses to make it hurt less, was he broken and damaged or just bad?

“Okay,” the younger Veronica breaks away, sounding breathless. “Movie time.” JD joins their hands as she lifts the bowl from the counter. Her eyes fall on the camera and realisation dawns on her. “Shit!”

“What?”

“We left the camera on,” she laughs, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “Oh we filmed that!”

“Oh my God,” he replies, laughing too. “Oh my God we filmed that. We filmed us making out.”

“Do not even talk about that,” she laughs.

“It’s your camera, right?” he asks as he wraps his arms around her. “So your parents will never see it?”

“They might!” she squeaks, wriggling out of his arms. “Okay, go get the popcorn started, I’m going to turn this off.”

Her face fills the camera as she lifts it, still laughing. Still young. Not too many scars.

“Sex tape!” JD whispers in the background, and she laughs harder.

“JD I swear to God-”

The picture changes and they’re in her living room. JD holds the camera, tilted at an angle so a sleeping Veronica is visible, curled up and using JD as a pillow. He’s smiling, open, earnest. His arm is around her and he kissed her forehead gently. She murmurs and snuggles closer to him. The way he looks at her can only really be described as reverence. Like she’s the Virgin Mary and he’s the most devout follower there is.

“Hello, person who is watching this tape,” he whispers. “Probably in the year 2127, when we’re all dead. You might notice this, but Veronica Sawyer is currently asleep on top of me. It is 1am here in Sherwood, Ohio and she fell asleep on my shoulder.” He runs his fingertips up and down her back, losing himself in thought for a moment. “If you’re in the future you probably never got to know her. Which is sad for you, really, because she’s the best damn thing humanity has to offer. And nothing that comes after her will really compare. And I am in love with her. I will love her until I die and even after that, I’m going to keep loving her.” Veronica shifts in her sleep and JD looks worried for a moment, but she just stretches her arm across his chest and settles down again. His face breaks out into a smile once more. “She’s the only thing that’s good in this world. I’m going to turn the camera off now so I don’t wake her up.”

The picture turns to black and he’s gone.

Veronica presses her hands to her mouth to muffle the sound of her crying.

This shouldn’t be happening. This was nearly 30 years ago. While she couldn’t get help with everything, she got counselling after JD’s death. She shouldn’t be sitting on the floor of her childhood bedroom, trying not to cry over a 29 year old video. She shouldn’t be falling back in love with a dead man, let alone a dead man who made her life hell for years and is the reason she flinches away from love even now, a man who was terrible and wanted to kill people and she shouldn’t even be thinking about because he’s been dead for nearly 30 years.

She’s reopened all her old wounds. All it took was one look from him and she’s back where she began.

Stupid heart. Holding onto someone who shouldn’t be allowed in there anymore. She used to think it would be better if she could just rip it out and stop herself from feeling anything again. But then she met people and made friends and reconnected with old ones and then Janis was born and took her heart in her tiny little baby hands. She would never stop herself from feeling all that. Even if it means she has to feel all of this too, the ugly and painful side of loving someone.

She keeps crying as she looks through the rest of the bag, Her fingers brush against something hard and she tenses. Her diary.

She kicks herself for keeping it. Putting aside every painful thing she put in here, it’s evidence. When Janis said that she’d gone through it, her heart had stopped and she had felt the world around her crumble. She only got as far as her first meeting with JD’s dad. But just one page later she wrote “Dear Diary…. Technically I didn’t kill Heather Chandler, I know that, but I still feel bad. But not as bad as I should. And that makes me feel even worse.” And then just two pages after that is the amazing line “Dear Diary, my teen angst bullshit has a body count”.

The most incriminating lines she could have written.

Janis thinks she’s the coolest person alive. Wonder how she’d feel about her after knowing that she’d murdered three people.

“Not you,” JD had told her. She supposes he’s right. But she doesn’t like saying that she was just an unwilling accomplice. She handed Heather Chandler the mug of drain cleaner, she shot at Kurt, she let JD shoot Ram. She fell for the “Ich Luge bullets” lie. Their blood is on her hands just as much as it was his. She doesn’t know if she believes in Heaven or Hell any more, but she knows that if there is a Hell, then she’ll burn for that.

And besides, in the mortal world, accomplices still do jail time.

She knows what she has to do. She’s just far too scared to do it.

It’s still pitch black outside when she sneaks out of the house, key in the pocket of the coat she wears over her pyjamas. She keeps the diary clutched to her chest as she makes her way down her old street to the one place she’s sure no one will suspect her of going.

Westerburg High stands just as imposing as it ever did before her, locked behind an iron fence. She started her senior year desperate to leave it then two months later she was risking everything to save it.

And where was her damn gratitude?

After the news broke about JD, things changed for her. People gave her sad eyes as they passed in the hallway, whispers of “I’m so sorry” and “if you need anything, I’m here” and teachers offering support and then the newspaper offering her an interview.

Still, she finally saw the hierarchy fall. Heather Mac started eating lunch with her and Martha and, seeing that she can’t exactly lead a clique of one person, so did Heather Duke, eventually. Heathers and Marthas sitting at a table together. Heaven on Earth. Checkmate, JD. MacNamara and Martha even dated until their second year of college. People stopped hating each other and it became beautiful.

Janis says that the same thing happened in her school. Her little jungle friend Cady broke the dance queen’s crown and shared it and told everyone they were beautiful. Now she’s braiding the former popular girl’s hair like it’s nothing. Everyone sits where they want and there’s no cliques or rumours or stupid bitchy girl fights. No one is afraid, all because one cute little mathlete made a speech. And yet for her school to get to that same kind of peace, she had to steal a scrunchie and four people had to die.

Outside the school fence, she finds an empty trash can, just like she hoped she would. She takes a look around the deserted street. No one’s around to see her. She’s completely alone and yet she still feels like all eyes are on her. Street lights glare down on her like an interrogation and she feels eyes on her back, even though she doesn’t see anyone when she turns around. She flips up the hood of her jacket, pulling it over her face.

She pulls the diary out of her pocket and drops it in the empty trash can, flinching at the sound it makes. It must be louder in her mind. Her shaking hand lifts out the matches. It takes longer than she would have liked to get them to light; her hands are trembling so badly she drops a few before she can get them to the matchbook, and others she can’t seem to strike hard enough.

The ground is littered with matches rolling in the light breeze when she finally gets one to work properly. The flame dances in front of her eyes, bright against the darkness of everything that surrounds her. She looks down at the diary, lying dead, almost invisible at the bottom of the trash can. It has every good memory of her time with JD, every time he made her laugh, every time he made her smile, details about what she felt when he kissed her. But it also has evidence and that’s a risk she can’t afford to take.

She lets the match fall from her hand and set the book ablaze.

“No!” she yells immediately after watching it start to burn. She presses her hands to her mouth because she knows that if she doesn’t do something she’ll reach in and try to grab it out.

She feels like she’s burning him. Like she’s seventeen again and back on the football field watching him explode, feeling her heart get torn apart while her soul and conscience are knitted back together. Simultaneously finding it hard to breathe and being able to for the first time in weeks. Saying goodbye to the worst and best thing to happen to her. She's burning every good memory she had of him and wonders if she'll forget if she doesn't have it to look back on. Does she even want to remember it now? Maybe she shouldn't, but she does. She wants to remember the good but also the bad. The bad reminds her why she keeps going and keeps fighting now.

She stays watching it, silently sobbing until the fire burns out and it’s nothing more but a pile of ash at the bottom.

Her clock reads 3:45am when she gets back into her room, climbing in through her window, nearly falling over the empty trash bag. As quietly as she can, she moves her TV back to where it was and takes the video out of it. She kneels next to the trashbag and fishes out the pack of photos. She had wanted to get rid of them, act like that year never happened. But she’s never going to forget him, no matter what she does. He’s burned into her mind whether she likes it or not.

She places the photos and videotape on her shelf and reties the bag. Maybe if that’s all she has of him, she can pretend he was something else.

After waking up at 11 the next morning and missing breakfast, Veronica decides to take Janis out for pancakes and coffee in town.

“Late night, Aunt V?” she asks, watching Veronica down another coffee.

“Yeah,” she admits, pushing her hair out of her eyes. She predicts she’ll crash out at 9pm at the latest tonight. “Just… looking through some old stuff. Kept me up.”

“Some old high school stuff?” Janis asks quietly, her shoulders hunching. She looks small and it doesn’t suit her. Ever since Janis could walk she’s been unapologetic about how loud she is and how much space she takes up. Even though the Regina incident knocked her down, all she did the next year was come back louder and bigger. She doesn’t look at Veronica, keeping her eyes on her half-constructed pancake house.

“Yeah,” she says. “I found some more stuff of when I was with JD.”

“Aunt Veronica, I’m really sorry,” she says. “That I brought him up. I know he can’t be easy to talk about.”

“Jan, it’s okay,” she assures her. “I’m actually, weirdly kind of glad you did. I just sort of needed that kind of release, I guess. I needed to remember him.” Janis nods, but the confusion is visible on her face. “It’s complicated.”

“Are you going to be okay?” she asks. Veronica smiles and takes her hand.

“I’ve been okay for the past 29 years, Jan,” she explains. “And besides, you don’t need to worry about me. It’s my job to worry about you. You’re the kid here.”

“I’m seventeen,” Janis corrects her. Veronica nods. Seventeen’s a fun age. She felt so grown up when it started and then everything happened and all she needed was someone to hold her.

“That’s not as old as you think it is,” she tells her. “Go be seventeen. Go do dumb stuff and don’t worry about me. Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time for all that later.”

“How do you know all that stuff?” she asks. “How do you know what to say?”

“Easy,” she answers, taking another sip of her coffee. “I just say what I wish adults had said to me at that age.”

#veronica sawyer #heathers the musical #janis sarkisian #mean girls broadway #not sure why im putting this here but its here now #fanfic #character study #i guess?#barrett made me do it #long post for ts

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