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floralseokjin · 4 years ago

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final sleigh drabble #1

❛ a few hours later...❜

original oneshot here // drabble index here

kim seokjin x reader smut, comedy 8,156 words (🥴)

Rushing to the door as you heard the low knock against the wood, you took a few deep breaths before yanking it open, knowing what was about to happen once Seokjin stepped inside.

He smiled as you came into view, a tiny one that seemed to round his cheeks something crazy. Something inside you went a little gooey. He was dressed in a thin black sweater that hugged his body, a basic silver chain hanging around the neckline. You were half expecting him to turn up in another one of his Christmas jumpers — the one he had been wearing earlier was still embedded inside your brain, but mainly because of what you’d been doing... Seven hours ago you’d thrown caution to the wind and participated in something that could 1000% get you fired. Although... It had been your idea, so.

“Hey,” you said with a smile, feeling momentarily a little awkward. This was no innocent visit after all. He was here to have sex with you. Please, he’d begged. Let me fuck you. The memory of his words were enough to tinge your cheeks a darker shade.

“Hey,” he greeted, taking the first step inside. For a brief second his face appeared not so far from yours and you wondered if he was about to kiss you. You had kissed with abandon earlier on in the day after all. But instead, his lips flickered up into a smirk. He was amused as he spoke. “Pizza guy just pulled up too.”

“Oh.” It took a moment for your brain to process what he was telling you. “Let me grab my purse.”

You toddled off, into your living room and through to the kitchen, leaving him by the open door. Jerk, you thought, realising he’d been messing with you, or at least, that’s what you thought. Who knew, and you weren’t about to ask him. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

When you got back to your entryway Seokjin had his wallet out in front of the pizza delivery guy, fishing for bills. “What are you doing?” You demanded.

Seokjin shrugged. “I’ll pay, it’s no big deal.”

“No way.” You thrust inside your purse, eager to beat him.

“Y/N.” It sounded as if he was half warning you, voice low.

“It was my idea, I’m paying.”

Inviting him over just for sex seemed a little... crude, for lack of a better word, so suggesting pizza helped soften the intent – in your eyes.

Seokjin looked at you incredulously and when he realised you weren’t going to give in, he sighed loudly. “Let’s go dutch then, I am eating half after all.”

“Fine.” You weren’t happy about it, but fine.

You both handed your cash to the delivery guy who had watched the whole exchange wordlessly. You took the boxes from him and waited as he counted out your change.

“Here,” he said, reaching his hand out to pass it to Seokjin, who shook his head.

“She can have it.”

The guy changed direction, holding his arm out as he waited for you to take it (hands full, mind you...).

“No, you can have it,” you told Seokjin.

He turned his head, dismissing you. “I don’t want it.”

You choked out a noise of frustration. However “gooey” you’d been feeling five minutes ago had well and truly disappeared now. Nothing had changed, despite what had happened earlier, he was still an annoying ass when he wanted to be.

“Can someone just take it?” The delivery guy exclaimed, causing you to startle. “I have five other pizzas getting cold.”

“Fine,” you hissed, displeased by his attitude. Yes, okay, you were wasting his time but no need to be so rude about it. “Put it on the box.” You glanced at Seokjin, seeing him try to hold back his laughter. That just annoyed you more.

“Wash your hands,” you ordered him as soon as the mannerless delivery guy left.

He slipped his sneakers off and followed you into the kitchen, stopping halfway as you dropped the pizza boxes onto your coffee table. He washed his hands in silence, absentmindedly looking around the room, as if he was getting familiar with the place again, and then it dawned on you; he’d been here before. Last weekend, after your drunken make out session that had resulted in him packing you off to bed with a glass of water... Your memories were still hazy, but it was something.

As you washed your hands too, you noticed Seokjin watching down at you with a smile that had you feeling a little uneasy. “What?”

Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Nothing,” he shrugged, but his eyes twinkled more than usual, the last syllable bubbling in his throat as he held back another laugh.

You opened your mouth, ready to tell him something. You didn’t know what, maybe to shut up? But then he shifted, moving in one swift motion to lean in and kiss you.

You made a small shocked noise as he pressed his lips against yours, eyes wide open even though his were fluttered closed, but soon enough you relaxed, settling into his touch as he cupped your hips, yours reaching to grip under his elbows.

He pulled back suddenly, grinning. “This is the best. All I have to do is kiss you and you shut up.”

Huh? “You can’t weaponise kissing, Seokjin,” you scowled.

“Wanna bet?” And he was on you once more, you, miraculously quiet again. His mouth was a little more eager now, presses harder as your lips glided together, and your mind was quickly becoming cloudy. Kissing Seokjin was a little addictive. You couldn’t hate it even if you tried.

“Mhm.” He groaned a little against you, sending your lips tingling. “I swear I just experienced the slowest 3 hours of my life.”

You had to agree. From half 5 to now, you’d been practically counting down the minutes.

“Actually,” he added as an afterthought. “I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since we had to stop.”

You couldn’t help but smile, fingers lifting to play with the chain around his neck. Since when did he accessorise, and why was it so hot?

“Well, you’re here now,” you said, your voice a little softer than you’d expected it to be, but whatever, Seokjin wanted to kiss you just as much as you wanted to kiss him. You’d leave it slide.

“Come,” he jerked his head in the direction of your living room, taking your hands in his. “Pizza first, you’ll need your energy.”

The wink he gave you was completely uncalled for. Your legs instantly felt a little shaky.

You spent maybe an hour eating and chatting a little. It was a little strange to be having a proper conversation with Seokjin, in light of what you both had been this past six months, but when you thought about it, you’d shared numerous conversations ever since you’d began the Christmas party planning, so it wasn’t too bizarre. Actually, it was nice. You felt less nervous about the obvious direction tonight would soon go.

You scrolled Netflix, choosing Brooklyn Nine-Nine as background noise as you were in the middle of binging the series and it was something light and funny to fill the sometimes small silences that fell between you. Only, Seokjin informed you he’d already watched all available seasons three times and that meant he could recite any given episode on cue. It was slightly endearing watching him go, if not mildly annoying too, but whatever, he was enjoying himself.

You didn’t know who started kissing who soon enough, it might very well have been you. One minute you were sneaking looks his way, checking out his biceps in that sinful sweater and the next you were wrapped up against his body, tongues furiously crashing together. The line had been crossed once again, only this time things were leading somewhere even more exciting.

You were ready for this. You’d showered before he’d arrived, made sure there were no stray hairs poking out of random places on your body – because this afternoon had taken you by surprise, but now you were prepared. You had your sexiest lingerie on, a black lace two piece that you hadn’t had a chance to wear yet. It seemed to show more skin than cover it, but that’s exactly what you wanted. You’d even painted your god damn toenails. You wanted to knock his proverbial socks off.

Your phone was on silent, no room for interruptions no matter whose house was on fire. Ana had already been informed of your dick appointment, and while her first instinct had been to gloat, you’d stopped her right in her tracks. You didn’t want to hear it and you didn’t want to hear from her tonight, because she often liked to call you when she was bored – very often.

Tonight you were going to get laid and nothing was going to get in your way. It had been a long six months, and yes, it was sex with Seokjin, but honestly, that just made it better. You thought back to this afternoon, how good it had felt to be touched by him and how hard he’d made you cum. You didn’t want to jinx things, but you had very high hopes for tonight...

“This afternoon feels like a dream,” he confessed against your mouth, taking the moment to pull you onto his lap, his hands snaking their way down to ass to give it a firm squeeze, rolling you into his crotch.

You let out a throaty groan, mouth open, giving him perfect access to lick into it, stealing your tongue to suck the muscle gently. You clutched tightly to the nape of his neck, catching some of the small hairs and he moaned. You were under the impression Seokjin liked having his hair tugged...

“It definitely happened,” you grinned as he pulled away, and you took the opportunity to nibble on his plump bottom lip.

“I don’t know, you’re going to have to remind me...” He gave a throaty chuckle, nudging his hips and you felt the very obvious bulge in his jeans.

“What do you think I’m doing right now?” You laughed at a sudden memory, placing your hands on Seokjin’s chest to ease up. “No one had a clue.”

He held your wrists, keeping you to him as he laughed along. “Not even Jungkook. He was so oblivious.”

“Even with the lame excuse with the cake.”

“Hey,” he whined, “in my defence, I panicked.”

Humming, you leaned in to press against his lips, pulling back before he could part them. “Yeah, we probably should’ve thought of a reason beforehand.” Terrible lack of judgement on your part.

“Do you think?” Seokjin asked rhetorically, impatient as he lunged to kiss you, clasping your arms tight to your side to keep you still until they strayed, caressing your sides, ghosting the sides of your breasts. Your skin felt electric, despite the layers that blocked his touch.

You squealed as he gripped your hips, finding your back flush with the sofa cushions in an instant. Seokjin liked to throw his strength around a lot too it seemed. Not that you were complaining, it was hot, and you spread your legs, letting him nestle between them as his mouth found yours again. You clutched at his shoulders, gasping into the kiss from the sheer want you were feeling.

“Been waiting so long to get my hands on this body,” he grunted against you; leaving you wondering if he meant all day, or longer? The way he was tugging at your mouth with his made you want to believe it was the latter... Ridiculous, but maybe...

Hands riding up your shirt as you moaned in agreement, he made goosebumps appear against your stomach, his fingers glided along the hot skin, and then, suddenly, they were on the buttons of your jeans, fiddling in haste.

Anything more was wasting time, and your stomach leaped with anticipation, knowing you didn’t need to wait much longer. Soon he’d be fucking you. You were beside yourself.

An exasperated sigh stole your attention and you felt Seokjin move, kneeling between your legs, sofa cushions dipping with the weight as he yanked at the waistband of your jeans, a groan leaving him now.

“Why do you insist on wearing sex proof clothing?”

You used your elbows to sit up a little, narrowing your eyes at his dramatics. “They’re jeans, Seokjin. Hardly difficult to take off.” Yes, admittedly there were a few more buttons than usual but they were simple to undo. You reached down, swatting his hands out the way to unfasten them. “There. See.”

You watched his bottom lip stick out slightly, his voice small and annoyed as he spoke. “I wanted to do that.”

“Shut up,” you scoffed lightly, grabbing his arms to tug him back to you. You went to kiss him but he was moving you again, hooking his hands around you waist to prop you up.

His mouth found the crook of your neck, half pinning you to the sofa as his right hand slipped into your jeans, and you moaned when the pads of his fingers found your clit above your underwear, rubbing you firmly a few times before he slid down to your opening, feeling and hearing how wet you’d already become. It had soaked through your panties no issue at all.

Seokjin let out a tight grunt as he felt it, lifting his hand to bypass the lace and feel you for real. It was pretty restricted down there, your jeans still snug around your hips but he made it work, rubbing your whole mound, spreading your arousal.

“I can’t believe I’m going to fuck you...” He murmured, although his voice wasn’t particularly soft, more thick with lust. He was sucking on your earlobe, working out you liked that very much by now and you struggled to gain your bearings. “Be inside you...”

“Mhmm,” you moaned in agreement, the noise breaking in half when you felt him insert a finger inside of you.

Again, room was tight and even though he couldn’t finger you like he wanted he still made it feel amazing – or probably you were just too far gone now. Everything he was doing was driving you wild. You dragged your hands up and down his torso, clinging onto any muscle you came across.

“I swear you haven’t felt nothing yet,” he informed you, mouth tight to your jaw and your moans turned into mild tugs for breath if anything, your head falling back against the edge of the sofa. “Jiin–“

He paused his kisses, his hand following suit trapped in your underwear. “Jin?” He repeated, tilting his head back to meet your eyes, his left eyebrow ever so slightly lifting. “Why did you call me that?”

What was he going on about? You were hot and desperate and here he was suddenly questioning you. “It’s your name, isn’t it?”

He looked mildly concerned. “You’ve never called me that before.”

You breathed out a confused laugh. “Am I not allowed? Everyone else calls you it.”

His expression grew softer, sincerity pooling in his words. “You’re not everyone else though. I love it when you call me Seokjin.”

You had to admit you were a little speechless. You knew in the past you’d never used the shortened version of his name because you refused to be friendly with him like everyone else. ‘Seokjin’ held a distance between you, or so you’d thought... In reality it had become something special between you both...

“Fine,” you whispered, pushing your hips into his hand as you moaned lightly, catching his eyes. “Seokjiin.”

He found that funny – you both did, laughing together before you lifted a hand to play with his necklace, giving him a small smile. “Wanna go to my room now?”

You lead him by the hand all the way and he followed you eagerly, eyes hungry. You switched on the lamp by your bed, and safe inside your room he got a little distracted, his eyes darting around the unfamiliar setting, as if he was soaking it all in, but that only lasted for a little while, something, or someone, far more interesting needing his attention. His gaze found you stood at the foot of your bed.

You followed the hand that tugged at his crotch and noticed the now incredibly visible tent inside his jeans. Your gut lurched as he strode towards you. “Come here,” he breathed, reaching for you, and just like that his lips were on yours again. Somehow you ended up in his arms again, his hands firmly cupping your ass as you clung on, moaning into his mouth as your enjoyment started to reach breaking point.

You squealed out his name when you felt him lift his knees to the bed, dropping you down to cage you under his body.

“I got you. Relax,” he chuckled, finding your reaction amusing as you squeezed your fingers into his biceps. A low noise emitted from his throat as he nosed at your neck, mumbling into your skin, “I love feeling you touch me.”

Your heartbeat skyrocketed, sure he could feel your pulse against his lips and you moaned a little too loudly when you felt his teeth bite down on the flesh, continuing his descent down to your collarbones and chest before it became too much and began to tickle you.

“You’re really finding that ticklish?” He asked curiously, lifting his head to catch a look at your face.

You nodded, sucking your bottom lip into your mouth as you stroked down his arms, a little pleased now that you knew it drove him crazy.

He smirked down at you, his eyes near black. It totally altered his face – his whole demeanour actually. “Do you like a little pain, Y/N?”

He had to see the mild shock on his face, but you quickly composed yourself. Where had that come from? His mouth seemed to run wild when he was turned on, if the storage room was anything to go by, and you found yourself enjoying it immensely. You hooked your hands around his neck as you sat up and he eased away, kneeling straighter. Your teeth reached to nip his bottom lip. “Depends on what kind,” you purred as he hissed at the sensation.

He watched you lean back, never taking his eyes off you as you removed your arms from his neck to pull your shirt over your head. Immediately he stood up, his sweater gone in one swift motion as he dropped it at his feet. You soaked in the view, his torso toned, chest firm. The silver chain hung around his neck, patches of skin flush, revealing his evident arousal.

He tilted his head and smirked. “Like what you see?”

You rolled your eyes. “Cocky much?” But yes, yes you did.

He snorted, laughing pretty loudly as he knelt back on the mattress. “I’m just messing around.”

You couldn’t help but touch him, your hands travelling up his body and across his chest as he crawled over you. He grunted as your lips met and you kissed one another hungrily, more eager now than ever. His hands grazed the cups of your bra and no more than a few moments later he was on one breast, licking and sucking at your nipple, quickly soaking the lace. You moaned loudly, the sensation sending you partially shaky until you had to hold the back of his head, rooting yourself in fear of falling backwards.

His left hand travelled around your back, fingers fumbling with the strap of your bra. “Can I?” He asked, and you strained out a yes.

He broke away from your nipple as he used his other hand to help hook you free. The straps fell lose against your arms and he tugged at the middle of your bra to remove it entirely. His eyes ate you up before cupping the soft flesh in his palms, jaw slack as he flicked his eyes up to yours.

“You have the prettiest tits.”

Slightly abashed by his words but turned on by the way his thumbs rubbed circles against your sensitive nipples, you found yourself chuckling. “That’s good to know.”

“No, really,” he half-awed, reaching to kiss you again. “You’re just... perfect.”

He sounded so sincere it shocked you, made you unsure what to respond. Not that you could anyway, his tongue down your throat again, his body pressed against yours as your urge for him continued to grow.

You were thankful when you felt his hands tug at the waistband of your jeans. “I need to get you fucking naked,” he muttered against your shoulder. You were unable to keep track of his mouth, he was kissing every inch of bare skin he found.

You lifted your ass off the bed, helping him shimmy the fabric down and over your ass before they became jammed at your thighs. Okay, maybe skinny jeans had been a bad idea... He got them down to your knees with quite a struggle, leaning back to yank them off the rest of the way. He nearly fell backwards with the force, irritated eyes finding yours. “I swear to God, you don’t want me to fuck you.”

You tried your best not to laugh, he was putting way too much effort into a simple(ish) task, if he carried on like this you’d have no other option than to think he was incapable at stripping women. Instead, now that you were finally free of your jeans, you spread your thighs, revealing your barely there panties.

“Really?” You cocked an eyebrow. You were now more aroused than ever, the delicate fabric stuck damp to your sex, and Seokjin’s eyes immediately wondered to the sight you’d put on display, his eyes glazing over slightly, darkening with lust.

He stood from the bed suddenly, unzipping his own jeans to remove them too, throwing them to the side with haste. You could easily see the curve of his impressive erection in those tight black boxer shorts and as he crawled back to you, you couldn’t help but cup him, tracing your fingers across the thick length before rubbing him, feeling him push into your touch and groan as his lips pressed into yours.

You pulsed when you felt his hand cup your mound, knowing he could feel the heat that radiated from it instantly. He pinched at the sticky fabric, pulling it back and snapping it against you. Annoyingly, he didn’t seem to take much interest in the underwear as you’d hoped, more concerned about what was underneath, so near enough immediately, he had them gone – successfully this time. His gaze travelled to your nakedness, soaking in the view before he traced the outline of your folds with his fingertips. “You’re literally fucking naked in front of me,” he awed, never once taking his eyes off you.

He had to feel you pulsing beneath him, eager for something more, but he didn’t give you it. “I didn’t think being this wet was possible,” he whispered smugly, eyes flicking over to your face.

You grumbled, although probably more frustrated he was teasing you than by his words. “Stop trying to inflate your ego.”

He chuckled, shifting closer, and then suddenly there was a finger inside you. You sucked in a breath, no time to get accustomed to the sensation as he began fingering you, curling and pressing the long digit against your velvety walls. “Fuck. Seokjin!”

He grinned wolfishly down at you, strands of hair falling into his eyes, but you could still see them twinkling with mirth. “Found another way to shut you up.”

You would’ve scowled if your mouth wasn’t too busy moaning. He was not going to weaponise fingering too...

His actions sped up as he slipped a second digit into you, straightening them as he fucked you with them, sending you splayed out on the mattress as he knelt between your legs. You should’ve maybe felt self-conscious by now, but the pleasure coursing through your body was too distracting. Plus, the way Seokjin watched you, eyes hungrily staring at your breasts jiggling with each snap of his wrist, had you basking in the attention.

You were shocked to find out how close to coming you had been when he abruptly pulled out of you, your body on a come down as shaky breaths wracked throughout you. His mouth was on yours immediately, kissing you messily, shallow breathing. His voice shook as he spoke. “Fuck. I can’t think straight.”

He kneeled up, looking between your legs again as he vigorously rubbed at his dick. “Let me eat you out again.”

He went to dive in, but you stopped him, placing your hands on his shoulders as you sat up. “Wait, you’ve already done that.” As much as you’d loved it and wouldn’t mind a repeat, what was the point in waiting? He was obviously as desperate for you as you were for him. There was no point dragging it out, anymore would just be considered teasing.

You looked up at him with half-lidded eyes, running your hand down his chest. He was a little sweaty and you loved it. “Just fuck me. I want to feel you already.”

He looked down at your hand, fingers now toying with the waistband of his underwear and swallowed. “Yeah... Yeah, good idea.”

Standing on the floor, he looked around for his jeans, spotting them near the left side of your bed. You shuffled closer, reaching out to grab his elbow and stop him in his tracks. “Take those off first, I want to get a good look at your ass,” you prompted, gesturing to his underwear.

He looked a little surprised by your request, but listened, giving you somewhat of a bemused smirk as he stripped himself of his boxers. He turned slightly, protecting the fullness of his butt as he reached down for his jeans, but you were more than satisfied with the curve of the flesh you saw. Seokjin always did have a nice looking ass in his work pants – not that you’d been staring, of course...

“I feel like a piece of meat,” he told you, eyes narrowed as he stepped closer, foil packet between his fingers.

“A tasty piece of meat,” you corrected, feeling excited when he sat down on the side of the bed and dropped the condom beside your bodies. You were literally a couple of minutes away from having him inside you, and you quite honestly couldn’t contain yourself.

Crawling into his lap, you hooking your arms around his neck, feeling his wrap around your waist, his cock bouncing slightly against your inner thigh. Pulling you closer he pressed his mouth into yours, his grip firm, kiss passionate. A hand travelled down to your ass, another cupping one breast and he moaned loudly as he pulled away from your lips. “God. I love your body so much.”

You smirked, very much appreciating the praise and as if your body couldn’t help it, you pressed your hips into him, rubbing against his thigh partially.

“You really like to grind,” he commented, looking down between your bodies and that’s when you couldn’t take it any longer, reaching down to wrap your hand around his dick. His hips jumped at the sensation, and you couldn’t help but run your fist up and down the length, feeling the hot, ridged flesh pulse against your grasp.

Condom back between his fingers, you watched him start to tear it open, rushed slightly, his hips absentmindedly jutting up into your hand. Randomly, your eyes caught the writing on the gold square and instantly your mouth became dry.

“What?” Seokjin asked, pausing his movements as he noticed something was wrong. Did your face give it away?

“N-nothing,” you stuttered, tearing your gaze away from the bolded King Size to look down at your hand. Seokjin’s dick almost taunted you. You hadn’t really paid attention to it properly since he’d gotten naked, forgetting the shock you’d felt earlier on in the day when faced with the massive task. Your mouth had accustomed well, but your vagina?! You were getting reservations...

“You really do have a fucking massive dick.”

Seokjin chuckled, angling his head low to kiss your mouth. He knew you’d noticed the text on the condom packet now. “You’ll make him go shy with all these compliments.”

He lifted you in one smooth motion and you found yourself spread on your back, head on the pillow as he hovered over you, sliding the condom on. He held his cock in his hand as he dropped to his knees, tugging it a couple of time just to make sure all was secure and then he leaned in to place a kiss on your shoulder. “Can’t wait to be inside you,” he murmured, rubbing the head if his cock against your sex. You could hear the noise of the latex and you clenched unconsciously, now nervous. “Hm?” He prompted, waiting for a likeminded reply. When you didn’t give him one he lifted his head to look at you, looking a little concerned. “What is it?”

You wrapped your arms around his middle, feeling comforted by the heat of his body and the softness of his skin. It was funny, you didn’t feel embarrassed to confide in him right now, to ask for reassurance. There had been a time, even as far as quite recently, when you had not for even one second wanted to look scared, worried or dumb in front of him. Now that seemed kind of silly...

“You will fit, right?”

“Of course I’ll fit,” he laughed, looking instantly relieved. Had he been expecting something bad?

“You better. I don’t want you breaking my vagina in two.” You warned, chest feeling a little lighter, enough to joke around with him.

“You’re acting like it’s dangling above my knee or some shit.” He repositioned himself, easing his dick away from your heat as he rolled his eyes playfully. The action touched you. Even though he was teasing you, he still wanted to make sure you were comfortable...

Ever so gently, he rubbed the inside of your thigh, his way of reassuring you while also helping you relax. Were you that tense under him? You keened into his touched, loving the way he made you feel.

“You been fucking men with tiny cocks this whole time?” He joked, making you scoff out a small laugh.

“No, just not that... big.”

You expected him to make another joke, something about stroking his ego, but instead he leaned in to kiss you, his hand rubbing circles on your hip now. “I’ll go slow. Don’t be worried,” he reassured. You bucked into him instinctively when you felt his fingers at your entrance. He slid two fingers inside, moving slowly. “I stretched you out pretty good anyway.” He pressed upwards, causing you to moan. “You’ll take it.”

His words made you tingle all over, something kind of vulgar about them that made you not so anxious now. Pulling out, he ran his fist over his length again and you felt a little sorry for him. You didn’t want to keep him waiting anymore. You didn’t want to wait anymore.

Seokjin caught you watching him and smiled, leaning closer. “Yeah?” He asked your permission.

You nodded, crossing your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. “Yeah.” He repositioned himself, sitting taller on his knees as he pushed the tip of his cock up against your entrance. You wanted him closer, reaching for him as you murmured, “Kiss me.”

He listened immediately, moving over your body to meet your lips. He started to push inside, carefully, an inch or so at a time. “Fuck,” he mumbled, as your warmth continued to surround him. “You feel amazing.”

You moaned out in agreement, the stretch nothing but pleasurable as he sunk a little further. You went to look between your bodies, curious.

“No, don’t look down.” He stopped you, kissing your mouth over and over again, distracting you successfully. “Not yet. Wait until I’m fully inside.”

You didn’t know why he was so adamant. Maybe he didn’t want you to potentially freak out and see him pushing that massive ass dick into you, or maybe he just really wanted your first sight to be you stuffed full of him... You moaned at the thought, feeling him push even deeper. God, you loved this feeling.

“Seokjin–!”

His mouth was against your neck now, kissing you softly. “Just a little bit more.” His voice was tight, strained under the increasing pleasure he was feeling, mixed with the urge to delve straight inside.

You planted your feet to the bed, widening your legs just a tad to silently let him know you were more than ready. With one more nudge he slipped all the way in. You knew because you felt his hips press into yours, that and the moan he gave out. “Ngh. Yeah. Shit.”

You looked down, Seokjin’s lips frozen against your shoulder. “Oh, my god,” you whispered, taking in the sight of where your bodies met. You felt incredibly full, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. If anything, it was pleasant. Incredibly pleasant.

“Can’t believe I’m inside you,” he awed next to your ear, and it took you a moment to realise he was staring too.

You cupped his face, sliding your hands around the back of his head to weave your fingers in his hair, grip firm. “Move,” you informed him, needing him to start fucking you immediately before you cried.

He got to work, your hands now travelling the expanse of his back as he rocked his hips into you at a painfully steady pace, the chain on his neck swinging back and forth. His hands were either side of your head on the pillow, his breathing heavy as he cast his gaze down to your eyes. “You literally have the warmest cunt I’ve ever felt.”

Your face heated up immediately, not expecting such an admission and instinctively you dipped your chin. You might’ve really liked it but it was still embarrassing, nonetheless. You heard him chuckle, a hand reaching to cup your cheek, making you look at him again. “What? Not used to guys talking dirty to you?”

“It’s not that.” You shook your head. “I usually don’t like it.” It was true. Nobody had been able to pull it off well in the past, usually feeling cringey and unnatural. But with Seokjin... It made you feel some type of way.

He smirked, although it looked a little strained due to the way he was still thrusting inside you. “That’s because they never did it properly. It’s an art form.”

He was lucky his bragging held up...

You ran your hands down the small of his back, cupping his ass gently as you pushed down with each thrust of his hips. You couldn’t help but moan each time he bottomed out, wriggling under him.

“It feels good, right? Nothing hurts?” He asked, nuzzling his face into the side of yours. You shook your head. “Good.”

With your assurance, he thrust into you hard, causing you to shoot up the bed. You dug your nails into his ass with the shock. “Seokjin—!”

He repeated, slowly pulling out until just the tip of his cock was inside and then slamming back in. “Told you I’ll fit.” He murmured, sliding out again, looking down your body as it shook. “This pussy couldn’t wait for me to fuck it.”

You cried out as he hit deep, even more pleasurable because of his shameless mouth. “Again!” You begged, hands raking up his back now as you attempted to roll your hips into his, but it was no use, he had you pinned down, held prisoner by his dick.

“Patience, baby,” he purred against your ear. “It’s not a race.”

Your breath shook. There it was, that word again. When he was inside you like this, it didn’t sound half as bad.

Despite his comment, he gradually started to speed up, straightening his back to fuck you harder, his hands gripping your thighs to keep you planted, although you couldn’t help but grind your hips into him, chasing more and more. When his fingers brushed over your clit, you fluttered your eyes closed, brows furrowed.

“Don’t stop,” you breathed, soft moans leaving your mouth involuntary, enjoying the sensation of him circling your clit.

“Yeah? Gonna cum?” He asked – more like goaded. Your skin prickled, his tone setting you alight. “Gonna cum all over my dick?”

You let out a strangled cry, squeezing around him, your thighs spreading further, desperate to feel him deeper. Grunting, he leaned over your body, snapping his hips harder, his motions against your clit firmer, the pads of all four fingers rubbing tight circles.

“You feel so fucking good.” He groaned. “Tell me how much you love it. Don’t be shy.”

Once again you felt your cheeks heat up, reluctant despite how good he was making you feel.

“Y/N.” He commanded gently, and you slowly found his gaze, jaw slack. “Let me know how you’re feeling. How much you love me fucking you.”

You wanted to. You really wanted to. It was only fair given how much he was praising you too. There was nothing wrong with him wanting you to stroke his ego right now, despite how unaccustomed you were to dirty talking.

“I love it so much,” you moaned. “Please don’t stop. You’re going to make me cum.”

Not that you could label that as dirty talk... You sounded a little awkward, cringing at yourself, but Seokjin seemed to like it, dropping lower to kiss you, grunting into your mouth. You felt encouraged enough to continue. You weaved your fingers in his hair, loving the sound of his panting. “Seokjin, please make me cum. You feel so fucking amazing. I love your dick, don’t stop fucking me.”

His hips stuttered as he processed your words and then he growled, kickstarting them again – much harder. “That’s a dangerous thing to ask, Y/N,” he warned, breaking away from your mouth to stare down at you, expression dark. Each thrust sent your headboard into the wall.

“You want me to keep fucking you even after you cum?”

“Oh, god,” you moaned as he slammed into you, his fingers against your clit unrelenting. “Ye-ss! You can fuck me all night if you like.”

“Don’t,” he whined, his face dropping into the crook of your neck before he growled again, flinging himself up.

Still on his knees between your thighs, he lifted one of your legs up, hooking it casually over his shoulder, fingers on his left hand digging into the meat of your thigh. You spread your other leg, resting it on top of his knee, his right hand holding you flat until he found your clit again, two fingertips stroking it steadily.

Your thighs started to shake, the rest of your body tense as your middle jerked up against his touch. He kept fucking you, stopping each time he was fully inside of you to grind against your insides.

“Seokjin, I want to—” You couldn’t even finish your sentence, pleasure too strong. You were so tense your release seemed like it would never come.

“Just let go. Cum.” He told you, his voice tight, neck strained. “Just think of how good I’m making you feel. You’re so wet, I’m sliding everywhere.”

You could hear yourself, squelching with each snap of his hips and circle of his fingers. Suddenly he slapped down with his hand, not especially hard, but it made your body jerk, a cry of surprise leaving you. “Seokjin, fuck.”

He instantly went back to playing with your clit, you pulsed red hot. “You like that, baby?” He purred, voice low, rolling his dick inside you at a deadly rhythm. “You’re such a fucking tease.” He smirked. “Knew you’d be dirty, or do I just bring out that side of you?”

All you could do was moan, the shock of his palm against your core still zapping up your body, your hips moving with his, urging him to keep going because you were so close, teetering over the edge. Pushing his body weight into you, still gripping your leg against his chest, you sunk further into the mattress.

“Just concentrate on how my cock feels.” He helped you along, words flying out of his mouth as you squeezed around his cock tightly. “How my fingers feel. I really want to make you cum.” He groaned loudly, determination in his tone. “Soak me.”

“Fuck.” This was it, you could feel the build-up of your orgasm cresting. “Seokjin, I’m—!” You broke off with a moan as pleasure engulfed you. “Coming. I’m coming.”

Your body stiffened, foot trembling above his shoulder, but Seokjin kept fucking you through the waves that wracked through you, his fingers against your clit easing up slightly, careful not to overstimulate you. Your head was spinning as you started to feel your orgasm gradually wane, warmth flowing through your veins as your limbs started to relax again. You gasped for breath, amazed by what had just happened. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d come like that... if ever.

Seokjin’s hips slowed down, carefully dropping your leg to the bed as he eased up and crawled over you, mouth finding yours, your tongues meshing together sloppily. You wrapped your arms around his neck, legs around his waist and tugged him closer. He was still inside you, not moving, but that soon changed as you started to roll your hips into his. You still wanted him, orgasm only making you hornier, however possible that was.

“I-I can carry on?” He asked thickly, shallowly fucking inside of you now, pace uneven.

“Please,” you murmured against his ear. “I said don’t stop.”

He groaned, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips before knocking into you harder, slow but calculated. He felt bigger inside of you, the result of your walls tightening, but you loved it, your fingers playing with the chain at the nape of his neck. The metal was cool, a big difference to his skin which was hot and slick with his sweat.

“Not too hard?” He asked, grunting with each thrust.

You pulled him to you closer, ignoring the way his pelvis rubbed against your core, still a little sensitive. “Fuck me however hard and fast you like.” Running your hands along his muscular back you felt him shiver, a tight whine escaping his lips as your words got to him. You felt pretty chuffed.

“You feel so fucking amazing, Seokjin. You’re so good at this.” You praised, words falling from you naturally and unprompted.

His brain didn’t seem to be functioning anymore, unable to respond to you, the feeling of his impending orgasm too distracting, but he moaned at your words, face falling to your shoulder as he just. Kept. Fucking. You. His thrusts were hard, but not as calculated as before. You could tell by the way he was breathing he was close, his grunts muffled but still audible.

“Gonna–gonna c–”

You could hear that too, feel the way his body stiffened instantly, and he rammed deep inside you, waiting for the first spill of cum. You gripped him tight, loving the way his body shook as he came, and you welcomed each tremor as his cum filled the condom.

“Oh, my fuck,” he gasped, the last surge the strongest, and you suppressed the giggle that wanted to escape your throat. He was pretty speechless, you guessed. “Shit. Fuck. Shit.”

He laid on top of you for a few moments, catching his breath while muttering expletives into your skin. You liked being weighted down by his body, you couldn’t describe it, it just felt good.

“Seokjin?” You questioned, turning your head as much you could to rouse him. His back was all clammy, the hairs against the back of his neck damp with sweat.

He slowly lifted himself up, hands pressing into mattress. “I think my brain just blew to pieces.” Blowing air out of his mouth, he noticed his lips were wet. He brought a hand up to feel. “I fucking dribbled.” He chuckled, wiping himself clean.

“Hot,” you teased, watching him roll off you and remove the soiled condom, tying a knot at the top. He sat up, looking around for your trashcan before spotting one near your closet. It gave you a great view of his ass when he walked over to throw it away.

You rolled onto your side as he came back, joining you on the bed, stretching his arm behind his head as he looked over at you, a smugness to his face. “I don’t want to take all the credit but I’m pretty sure that was the best sex I’ve ever had.”

You shrugged casually, trying your best not to smile. “Yeah, I’d rate it like an 8/10.”

“Hey,” he exclaimed incredulously.

“I’m messing around.” You laughed, your hand reaching to play with his necklace, your eyes skimming down his torso. “It was amazing.”

“Yeah?” He smirked, stealing a small kiss.

You nodded. “I kinda want to go again...”

He raised an eyebrow. “So you don’t want me to leave?”

Laughing, you hit his chest playfully. “Did you imagine I’d kick you out straight away or something?”

“No,” he insisted, looking a little embarrassed. “I just... I don’t know.” He looked really happy that wasn’t the case though. As if you’d kick him out after that performance. You were making the most out of tonight…

You laid your head down on the pillow, still looking at him, weirdly uncaring that you were still naked. “You have more condoms on you, right?”

“I came prepared – just in case.” He felt the urge to add, not seeming to care his junk was still out at all. “Do you want to go again right now?”

You chuckled. “Give it a little while. You wore me out.” Although, you’d be highly impressed if he was able to go for round two immediately.

“Sure,” he agreed, folding his other hand behind his head too, Adam’s apple bobbing as he spoke. “I could do with a nap.”

A nap definitely sounded good right about now. You tapped his chest, sitting up. “Let me pee first.”

Standing, you grabbed the gown draped over your wicker chair and slipped in on. Not before Seokjin snuck a glance though, groaning to himself and burying his face into the bed as if he couldn’t go on any longer.

“Ugh, your body.”

You woke up to a phone ringing. It sounded like it was coming from the floor because you could hear vibrations against the wood. Seokjin groaned and then slipped from under you, letting your head down gently to rest on the pillow.

Once you’d come back from the bathroom you’d immediately jumped under the covers, feeling it cold now and encouraged Seokjin to follow. You’d cuddled for a little bit, your head on his chest and before long you’d fallen asleep. It couldn’t have been that long ago, and one look at your alarm clock as Seokjin searched for his phone in his jeans, told you it was half past midnight.

“Who was it?” You asked sleepily, hearing it ring off just as he grabbed it.

“Jungkook.”

“Why is he calling so late?”

Seokjin put the phone down on your dresser and got back into bed, wrapping his arms around you. He was still naked, the thought got you a little excited.

“Probably gonna ask if I want to play a game of League.” Video games at this time? What was he, still in high school? You halted your judgement though, settling back against his chest.

“I’ll just pretend I was asleep,” he shrugged.

“You were asleep.”

There was a pause, and then you felt his hand travel to ass, giving it a firm squeeze. You still had your gown on, but it was thin, and you could feel the heat of his palm easily. “I’m awake now,” he murmured. “Are you?”

“I guess so,” you teased, nudging your pelvis into his thigh ever so gently, silently giving him the go ahead.

“I’ll tell Jungkook I was a little preoccupied then...”

You lifted your head, looking unimpressed. “Don’t you dare.”

Laughing loudly, he leaned in to kiss you. “As if he’d believe me.” You weren’t particularly listening though, too busy getting addicted to his mouth again.

You soon found yourself on top of him, his dick hard against your stomach as you made out furiously , his fingers brushing against the lips of your entrance, teasing you.

He pulled his head back, a boyish grin on his face. “Can you ride me this time?”

Written 2020 - 2021. Please refrain from posting my work elsewhere. No translations allowed. © floralseokjin 2021

#seokjin smut #bts smut #bts fanfic #seokjin fanfic #floralseokjin:writings #fic:final sleigh #drabbles:final sleigh #final sleigh:drabbles

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pinkysfaultorbrainsfault · 4 years ago

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animaniacs - season 1 episode 38 - spellbound

episode summary: inexplicably stuck in camelot times, brain tries to get the ingredience for a magic spell that allows the caster to take over the world. this episode has no relation to the other camelot episode and i don't... know why.

the rundown: we begin our episode with the assertion that this is England in 1194. at this point in history, everyone from fire emblem 16 has grown up and is gay married, but we're not focusing on them right now. we're going to camelot and asking about their round table.

lol.

anyway after we see this creepy spider do whatever he's doing, we meet... merlin, i guess.

my dude??? he looks different. did you go on queer eye, merlin? whatever. he technically doesn't say he's merlin, so... maybe he's the other guy? the older guy? who's like merlin's dad?

this fucker. is he in the original king arthur? idk man i only watch cartoons. anyway he is casting a spell and it is very important. important enough to require components from yoko ono, apparently. like she hasn't suffered on this show enough.

but who do we have here?

"mouse" as my flatmate elegantly put it when he walked past the tv room to get a water. but even better than mouse??? mouse in SHORTS. MOUSE IN SHORTS MOUSE IN SHORTS??? MOUSE IN SHORTS. MOUSE IN SHORTS LOOK AT HIS LITTLE LEGYS MOUSE IN SHORTS MOUSE IN. SHORTS MOUSE IN SHORTS. MOUSE IN SHORTS.

YES.

pinky is not wearing shorts, which is incredibly disappointing. he's wearing some sort of sleeveless shirt dress tunic thing in an awful colour that someone like kanye west or justin bieber probably sells on their merch store for like a thousand dollars. he got the yeezy fit, damn. despite the designer status of his clothes, his bedroom eyes still do not convince me.

"i wish i was a windowsill so i could be--! ah. um."

"an imbecile?"

"ah! haha good rhyme, brain!" the bop of the century. kanye west sells the "windowsill" remix in vinyl on his online store for an additional fifty dollars.

after naming a few more celebrities ("I win, you win, edwin newman") the cauldron explodes in a puff of green smoke! and we get!

a pie. “lo!” he cries. “i’ve made a nice pie.”

hm. pinky is impressed. brain is uh. i think he mentally checked out? whatever he's doing i cannot stop fucking laughing at it. i actually had to put this post on pause for longer than anticipated because brain’s stupid face got to me. i’m so sorry. i started writing this at like 11pm gmt on the 11th and it just didn’t get to y’all in time because of brain’s stupid fucking face.

i’m sorry. brain is less impressed and declares it a “waste of magic”, and that he “would never squander such mystical powers over mere pastry.”

“poit. but what if you were eating dinner and you forgot dessert?”

“maybe then.”

but there is trouble afoot! Old Man Merlin has realised that king arthur will want some of his pie, and decides he’d better eat it in the dungeon so that doesn’t happen.

brain takes this opportunity to look through Old Man Merlin’s big book of spells. he “will use merlin’s magic to take control of the world” and then we get another nice closeup of his funny little face.

i don’t know why animaniacs was so keen on doing this? does it happen this much in the reboot? it feels like every episode we stare brain down to assert dominance.

“oh, no, no. where will you find a magic spell for that?”

“in the table of contents, pinky.”

“oh, well, very good.”

(the table of contents also contains a spell to “win at blackjack”, next to the taking over the world spell. brain considers this, for a moment, and then decides now is probably not the time.)

so good thing they have all the components for the magic spell, eh? including the Half Eaten Gingerbread Cookie That’s Been Left On The Counter All Night.

hmm.

oh, wait, no they don’t. turns out they’re fresh out of red dragon toenails, so brain’s solution to this problem is just to... go and get more, which is obviously a thing people do. they have to cross the enchanted forest to do that. it has witches and stuff. pinky rightfully points out that that is a lot of danger to overcome, and brain gets his stealing-the-minivan vibes back and nicks Old Man Merlin’s magic wand. he only knows one spell, but that won’t stop him.

the first obstacle they have to cross is the gingerbread house owned by... witch hazel from looney tunes. she’s a lot less annoying here than in bugs bunny lost in time, and informs brain that she is “waiting for pudgy german children.” instead of taking her suggestion to “get outta here”, brain magics her ass.

charlie sheen, ben vereen, shrink to the size of a lima bean.

they do get their ass handed to them by aforementioned pudgy german children, but then the german children decide that the mice have syphillis and yeet them in the general direction of slappy squirrel, who is here now.

she starts an argument with the goodfeathers, who are also here now, and brain takes it as their cue to leave.

but never mind all that! good thing there’s a handy bridge over this stream!

unfortunately, the bridge likes to spawn Giant Purple Hands That Kidnap Goats, so brain concludes they should cross said bridge using Stealth. unfortunately pinky drops the wand on the source of the Giant Purple Hands, and it is... relatively unhappy.

so brain pulls out the old “ charlie sheen, ben vereen, shrink to the size of a lima bean” again.

i did definitely think the troll was going to kick him in the crotch. i was very much sure of this, actually. instead it yeets him into rita and runt and fucks off.

“for goodness sake boxy” i hear you cry, “aren’t they at the dragon yet! this review has lasted a good twenty years of scrolling down my dashboard!” and i hear you, and you’re right, but the first thing you need to understand is; pinky has spent this whole episode singing. that little guitar he has? he has spent the whole episode replicating windowsill. “we’re in the woods so dark and stinky, to conquer the world, go brain and--” and then he forgets his name and brain has to remind him that it’s pinky. or remind him of his own name, or suggest like, steam to rhyme with stream. that is the running gag of this episode, and it is very important, at this stage, that you know that. pinky has not, as of yet, stopped singing and playing the lute.

so even though they make it to the dragon pretty mucn unscathed (aside from brain getting sat on by a giant, but i won’t go into that unless y’all specifically want details) pinky just has to have his little song in order to keep the dragon asleep.

and then brain yells at him for forgetting the word “sandman”, which breaks the toenail off completely,

and also wakes up the dragon, which can’t be good. it’s not happy! it was growing its’ nails out for paris fashion week.

brain tries his best to rectify this situation.

“charlie sheen, ben vereen--!”

charlie sheen and ben vereen are dead. i’m sorry to have to tell you. they shrunk down so much they got stuck in the quantum zone from antman and the wasp. someone should probably do something about that.

anyway the mice decide to hightail it back to Old Man Merlin’s.

conclusion:

spoilies: they do make it back in one piece. i won’t detail the whole chase scene because it’s just a bunch of running, because the post is long enough already, and also because tumblr has eaten it three fucking times and i could basically type all this in my sleep now. the things i do for y’all. donate to the wavemaiden.

so pinky shoves all the ingredients into the pot, while brain finds The Take Over The World Spell. the dragon is harassing them this whole time, which feels unfair.

“listen carefully, pinky. i need to recite this spell exactly, and once i start i cannot stop. so i need you to be extra quiet, okay?”

“sure thing, brain.”

this lasts for approximately five minutes.

“brain’s the boss! he’ll rule with ease!”

“mystical powers, your might unfurled, grant that i become--”

“he’s the one! the big, erm. banana?”

“cheese!” yells brain, who has given up entirely by this point. “it rhymes with ease! big! cheese!”

hm.

“are you alright, brain?”

“i feel. odd.”

this is an interesting development.

so brain is cheese now! cool. i guess they have to wait for merlin to get back from Pie Heaven and turn him back, somehow? with his spare wand or whatever. this is definitely pinky’s fault, because brain did ask him to stay quiet for a bit surprisingly nicely (in brain terms) and he... did not. and now brain is a cheese.

on the other hand, this would probably work again if they tried it again, once merlin goes back to pick up some more toenails.

brain: 2 pinky: 3 outside influence: 5

“can i get you anything, brain? some medicine? a cracker?”

“were i not a large cheese, i would make you pay for that remark.”

#patb #animaniacs #pinky and the brain #a!#tumblr has now eaten this four times.#this time i saved the html though.#anyway sorry this took so long the heatwave is making everyone tired xnx

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balancingdiet · 5 years ago

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Tabula Rasa

Detective Conan & Magic Kaito Characters: Shinichi/Kaito Words: 2000 ish Chapter: (1) ... (4) (5) (6)

Shinichi always finds his neighbour weird. But he didn’t expect to find his neighbour lying on a patch of grass and donned in Kaitou Kid’s costume, too.

Shinichi had been so focused that he didn't realize the door opened until he heard it closed. He glanced over, watching as Detective Takagi approached him.

“How is it?” Takagi asked, staring at the suspect sitting in the interrogation room behind the one-way mirror.

Shinichi swallowed a sigh. Things weren’t good, and the interrogation was going nowhere. He had switched himself out and let Inspector Shiratori take over at the moment. Despite all the evidences already laid out in front of him, the suspect was still a tough nut to crack.

“The suspect isn’t saying anything," Shinichi explained.

“I see,” Takagi said, glancing at his watch. Out of nowhere, he started fanning himself. “Did they switch off the AC?”

Shinichi frowned. Now that Takagi mentioned, he did feel a little hot… He uncrossed his arms, considering to take off his jacket, but stopped mid-way as he crossed his arms again.

“I don’t have the time to play games at the moment,” Shinichi muttered.

Takagi tilted his head. “What do you mean, Kudo-kun?”

“Detective Takagi doesn’t wear his wedding band during work.”

Silence fell, until Takagi laughed—with a pitch that Shinichi found all too familiar.

“Really?" Kuroba said as he fiddled with the wedding band. "But he was wearing it when I knocked him out."

“I lied,” Shinichi drawled and turned to the one-way mirror again. “It’s to bust you out, but I didn’t expect you’ll admit it so quickly.”

“I’d figured you have enough things on your plate at the moment.” Kuroba stuffed his hands inside his pockets and gestured towards the suspect sitting in the interrogation room, alongside with his lawyer, Inspector Shiratori and Inspector Megure. “Who’s he?”

“Do I really have to drag you out?”

Kuroba ignored him and pressed his face close to the mirror, eyes squinting at what Shinichi guessed was the name tag on the suspect’s hotel uniform. “Adachi Sakamoto...” Kuroba widened his eyes and looked back at Shinichi. “Adachi? He’s not the chairman of the hotel, but he’s related to the chairman?”

Shinichi really shouldn’t have said anything, but the word simply slipped, “Yes.”

“Interesting,” Kuroba peered through the glass again. “Given his authority, he must have the master key to gain access into those victims’ room to see their holiday plans on their computer… That’s how he knew where the victims were going, killing them when they were alone...”

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. “How much have you read from the file?”

“Till the part where the first victim made a complaint that her make-up kit was stolen from her room.”

“That’s already two-third deep into the case file.”

“Speed-read is my forte.” Kuroba smirked, which was weird for Shinichi when it didn’t quite fit Takagi’s features. “So what’s the thing you got from the hotel that made you think he’s the killer?” Kuroba asked.

Shinichi pursed his lips. He’d broken more rules today than he’d ever did since he worked here three years ago, and it puzzled him just how much he was growing less concerned about it. Maybe it was because Kuroba was wearing Takagi’s face, or maybe it was just Kuroba that he was getting used to—

No. Not ever.

Shinichi watched as Inspector Shiratori slammed the table in the interrogation room, but the suspect didn’t even flinch.

Maybe he just had too much on his plate to care, like what Kuroba said.

“Adachi Sakamoto made a stupid slip-up,” Shinichi began to explain, “he managed to delete all the footages outside those victims’ room, but he’d forgotten to delete the one when he accessed into the security room to erase those footages.”

“What’s his excuse?”

“He said he went in there to take a nap.”

Kuroba scoffed.

They stood in their spots in silence, looking in vain as Inspector Shiratori and Inspector Megure dealt with the suspect, but nothing seemed to be able to rile him up enough to confess—

From Shinichi’s sidelong glance, Kuroba suddenly straightened.

“What is it?” Shinichi asked tentatively.

Stroking his chin, Kuroba glanced over his shoulder, his face split into a stupid grin. “In exchange for my information, I want the gemstone.”

Shinichi wished he was surprised at Kuroba’s demand, but he wasn’t, which made it all the more annoying; to think that he understood Kuroba well enough to see it coming. He looked at Kuroba warily. “How valid is your so-called information?”

“Very valid, which also explains why no one suspicious, much less anyone that looked like Adachi Sakamoto, was found following those victims in any of the security cameras around the crime scenes."

Shinichi closed his eyes and rubbed a thumb between his brows. “You’ve read the entire case file, didn’t you?”

Kuroba grinned and put out a hand. “Gemstone, or nah?”

“For the sake of those three victims, shouldn’t you share the information without any compromises?”

“For the sake of the three victims, shouldn’t you compromise and give me the gemstone, in exchange for the information?”

“…”

The clock ticked behind them as they began their staring battle. The lack of AC was not helping with the growing tension, but Kuroba showed no sign of retracting back his hand, and Shinichi, too, refused to move the arm that was pressing against the jewel in his jacket's pocket

Another slam came from the interrogation room, and this time it came from Inspector Megure—

Kuroba suddenly turned, catching Shinichi off guard momentarily. Close to the mirror, Kuroba pointed at Adachi Sakamoto. “Look at his fingers.”

Unsure of what to say towards the change in Kuroba’s heart, Shinichi followed his instruction instead. It took him a while, but now that he realised, he figured it was natural for Kuroba to notice it faster than him too, given his disguise expertise; it wasn’t just his fingers Shinichi should look at—there was a slight, glossy tint on all of his clean and trim nails.

Adachi Sakamoto had painted his nails with clear-gel nail polish.

Those four words was all it took to unlock all the locks Shinichi couldn’t break before.

Shinichi brushed past Kuroba as he stalked off towards the door, but he turned around right at the last moment, catching Kuroba’s stare.

“We’ll talk when I get back home,” Shinichi said, before gesturing a hand over Kuroba’s disguise. “And you might want to change out. Similarly to Hattori’s case, I’m sure Detective Takagi’s wife wouldn’t be pleased to know you disguised as her husband.”

Kuroba chuckled. “Is she going to throw me to the ground?”

“No, but she has a gun.”

With that, Shinichi dashed towards the interrogation room.

----

After Shinichi went into the interrogation room with the new information, Adachi Sakamoto broke down half an hour later. (He even took out his shoes and threw it at Shinichi in anger, revealing his red-painted toenails.) Adachi had been struggling with his gender identity for a long time and occasionally, he would resort to stealing visitors' make-up to let out steam. But soon after those desires and turmoils escalated into something darker, and so he disguised as a woman, followed three victims for the past one month and killed all of them.

Once the confession was made and the culprit was taken away, Shinichi let the rest deal with the press conference that would be held during the evening news slot. Although Shinichi’s colleagues had gotten over the shock of the entire Edogawa Conan’s mess, his reason to shy away from the media wasn’t known to most people, except for Inspector Megure. As a former colleague of Ran’s father, he understood Shinichi’s decision to keep a low-profile, and he agreed with his doing, which Shinichi was thankful for.

(Because unlike Inspector Megure, his mother, Professor Agase… they all wished he and Ran could get back together again.)

In the midst of the press conference preparation, Takagi suddenly trudged out from the toilet, his clothes a little wrinkled and eyes looking disoriented. But no sooner after hearing the outcome of the case, Takagi seemed too distracted to question why he fainted in the first place.

Ignorance is bliss, Shinichi thought.

(Though in his head, they were spoken in Kuroba’s voice.)

----

It was only till Shinichi reached home then he remembered he hadn’t eaten for the entire day, but his stomach seemed used to it, or perhaps it had given up trying to remind Shinichi it even existed. He shuffled his way to the kitchen and switched on the lights, wearily looking around to find something to eat (not drink i.e. coffee).

He spotted the basket of fruits sitting on the counter—the fastest meal he could find—and reached out for an apple.

His hand hovered over the fruit as he frowned.

The Kaitou Kid card, along with the little imprint that should be on the apple was gone; it was clearly a brand new apple.

Shinichi turned to his fridge. The bag, which contained most of Kaitou Kid’s costume, was gone too.

Sighing, Shinichi grabbed the apple and gave it a bite. Now that he had some solid food, he wouldn’t feel too guilty for his non-empty stomach if he drank some coffee. He took a mug from the rack, and another bite from the apple—

Shinichi nearly choked.

Through the kitchen window above his basin, he spotted Kuroba squatting in his backyard.

He dropped the mug and apple and stomped outside.

“What are you doing?” Shinichi scowled over Kuroba’s shoulder.

Kuroba stood up and turned, dusting his hands and (Shinichi’s) shirt. “Your plants are dying because of your pathetic care.” Kuroba gave Shinichi the side-eye.

Shinichi looked down to check Kuroba’s deed. The only two potted plants he had in his backyard were now neatly pruned, and they looked much alive and new, like the first time his mother gave them to him last fall. The dead leaves and stems were gathered next to the plants.

“I wouldn’t say dying when they’re growing,” Shinichi muttered.

Kuroba rolled his eyes. “It’s called overcrowding. And that’s bad.”

“Ok, plant expert. Now get out of my property.”

Kuroba put out his hand. “You promised to give me the gemstone.”

“I didn’t,” Shinichi reminded. “I said we’re going to talk.”

“The murderer confessed, and I saved your plants. I don’t think there’s any need for a talk. Just give me the gemstone.”

Shinichi couldn’t deny Kuroba did help in getting the murderer to confess, but he certainly didn’t ask him to save his plants. Still, he didn’t intend to bring that up and cause another pointless conversation, so he took out the gemstone from his jacket.

Under the dark sky with little light, the gemstone looked even more impressive than he saw earlier this morning. Shinichi glanced up, checking for Kuroba’s reaction. He looked unimpressed, though Shinichi figured the thief must have encountered much more valuable ones.

Which only made Shinichi wonder why Kuroba was so desperate to get this gemstone back.

“I only have one question,” Shinichi said. Before Kuroba could argue, Shinichi continued, “Just tell me who stabbed you, and I won’t pursue the matter.”

Kuroba frowned. “I’m still not telling you.”

“Take it as that I'm curious. Once I know who it is, I’ll never speak about the stabbing incident again.” Shinichi waved the gemstone in his hand. “And you’ll have this back.”

Kuroba considered for a moment. “You have to delete the photos of me as Kid too.”

Shinichi pursed his lips. He was still hoping he could hold onto them and used it in the future for real threats, but he knew if he refused, this negotiation would go nowhere. Sighing inwardly, he nodded. “Ok.”

There was a few seconds of silence in which Kuroba readdressed the potted plants by their feet, and Shinichi wondered if he was going to back out on the deal again. But then Kuroba looked up, and something in his eyes changed. It wasn’t like the gutsy gleam Shinichi saw in the hospital, or the playful glint that could be found on a daily basis.

His eyes looked tired, and a little sad. And both seemed out of place and strange on someone like the ever-charming Kuroba Kaito and the invincible Kaitou Kid—

“It’s me,” Kuroba said. “I stabbed myself.”

Taking the gemstone from Shinichi’s weakened grasp, Kuroba raised it under the moonlight.

#kaishin #detective conan #dcmk #Kuroba Kaito #kudo shinichi #Tabula rasa

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s-j-ace · 5 years ago

Text

The Same Question

Chapter Six

Characters: Shuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi

Words: 14290

Summary:

After Detective Shuichi Saihara encounters mysterious thief Kokichi Ouma for the first time, a game of cat and mouse ensues as both men ask themselves the same question. Why exactly does the elusive phantom thief do what he does?

This is Chapter Six, Here are Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, and Five

Read on AO3

[Log of Text Messages from Maki Harukawa’s Cellular Device]

From: Me

Did you touch down at Haneda yet?

From: Principal Emo

Yeah

A while ago actually

I’m actually on the train home right now

Which I guess is a little silly considering I’m coming right back over tomorrow

But also I definitely need to sleep in my own bed at least once before meeting people Kaito works with

From: Me

Ugh

Meeting people

From: Principal Emo

Yeah

Especially meeting people with Kaito “What’s your favorite blood type?” Momota

From: Me

Hey that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about

And your description is completely accurate, continue

From: Principal Emo

Ugh sorry that was mean

I’m mean today and I don’t like it

I need coffee :(

From: Me

Or, you know

A decent night’s sleep

From: Principal Emo

Too hard

From: Me

Oh, you’re right, taking care of yourself is too hard

Back to relentlessly roasting Kaito it is

From: Principal Emo

What no

I’m not roasting him

I’m just

Trying not to be mad at him because the only reason I have to be mad at him is that I’m going to miss him while he’s on his mission and I don’t understand why he didn’t tell me he was going on the mission soon enough that I had time to ease into missing him and if I’m just angry at him about that then I’ll be missing him when he’s here so I should try and not be angry at him so that I don’t let time with him go to waste while he’s not in space yet

That makes sense right?

From: Me

I mean feel about it how you wanna feel

But I’d just be mad at him if I were you

From: Principal Emo

From: Me

*>:(

From: Principal Emo

*<:(

From: Me

What is that

A party hat?

From: Principal Emo

No its like

Concerned eyebrows

From: Me

What are you concerned about?

From: Principal Emo

Right now? Or in general?

Because right now I’m worried that people on the train are giving me weird looks because my suitcase is taking up too much space

But like in general I fear that I am somehow secretly inadequate according to an unclear set of standards that only exist in my own mind

From: Me

Cool

Well not cool actually

You want me to give you a ride to the open house so that you don’t have to take the train again tomorrow

From: Principal Emo

I would actually very much appreciate that

I know that the lines under the Towa bridges have the newest trains and the most up to date security and all

But also there’s just a lot of people on trains and places to hide knives one would use for a train stabbing and even thought that’s super unreasonable maybe it’s not that unreasonable because we have a lot of stabbings in proportion to other countries but also we have a low homicide rate

From: Me

Ah so you don’t just want to carpool for my charming company

From: Principal Emo

If you’re trying to be sarcastic let me just say your company is genuinely more charming than the motley crew of characters one would expect on the Towa to Tanegashima line at ten in the morning

From: Me

Even though my car has the same amount of places to hide knives?

From: Principal Emo

Yeah but those knives are for your purposes and not train stabbings

From: Me

My purposes?

From: Principal Emo

You know what I mean

From: Me

Yeah I do

Also

While I do not want to validate your fear of train stabbings via the association of an abrupt subject change

I’ve been meaning to say for a while that I am sorry that I don’t trust your detective work more often

Well I don’t know about more often

What I mean is

I think that you are a good detective

Even when you say stuff that obviously sounds stupid

And if I implied a different stance through my words or actions

Then I regret those words and/or actions

From: Principal Emo

What?

Oh are you talking about what you told me before I went to Paris

From: Me

Yeah

I mean I don’t think I’m in the wrong when I say clowns stealing toilets from the louvre is a stupid premise for a crime

But I guess criminals are stupider than popular media and common sense would lead me to believe

And I think I should have believed in you more

But also I think I was right that you need a vacation and you haven’t taken one yet and I think that’s not great for you either

From: Principal Emo

Oh um

I guess not?

From: Me

And Kaito told me you’re not allowed to chase the clowns anymore

So maybe you should take a break now

From: Principal Emo

Well

I feel like in a way following the DICE case was a break?

Because I essentially didn’t get any cases done the whole time I was working it

Which means I’ll have catching up to do when I get back to the office

From: Me

Not if I kill you first

From: Principal Emo

Sorry, we’ll have to fit that in later

If you kill me then I’ll be even more behind

From: Me

Your eyeballs better be behind your eyelids at 8pm today or else I’m taking them

From: Principal Emo

Taking what?

From: Me

Your eyeballs

From: Principal Emo

No I need those

From: Me

Then hide them because I’m coming for you

From: Principal Emo

Okay, maybe I’ll sleep a little tonight

From: Me

You better still be sleeping when I get to your house

I’ll be there 8:30

From: Principal Emo

Maki if you want me to sleep at 8pm then that means you want me to sleep for 12 and a half hours

From: Me

Did I fucking stutter

From: Principal Emo

<:( --- Kokichi Ouma's flight from the Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy to the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan was the first time he had ever been on a plane by himself. He had done that on purpose when organizing the flight groups yesterday. Ace and King had suggested that groups be made up of twos and threes to avoid "unnecessary danger," which Kokichi heard as avoiding "letting our boss eat paper and be in vents." Naturally Kokichi responded that it was a positively splendid suggestion, considering he had come up with it already, and he had obliged by it, organizing them into four groups with Kokichi's own group including Queen and Jack. Except somehow they had booked tickets for the wrong flight. Oooh noooo, how could that be? And Queen had been the one to book the tickets too…

Kokichi supposed that he hadn't quite thought this whole being on a plane alone thing all the way through when he was hacking into the airline's online ticket system last night. It seemed now, in the daylight of sitting in the window seat of aisle 22 watching the clouds stroll listlessly across the sky so that he wouldn't have to look at the lady next to him paint her toenails, that there was nothing overtly beneficial about the lack of a familiar audience to his exploits. Sure, it was nice that he could have his blue eyes white dragon on the plane with him in his pocket instead of hidden within the checked bags, but what was the point of it if there was no one to duel with?

Basically he was bored.

But also weirdly not motivated to do anything to end the boredom. Which seemed counterintuitive, because not being bored was his whole deal. Then again maybe having a whole deal was counterintuitive to his supposedly liquid personality. If he wanted to stir things up maybe he should indulge this part of himself that wanted to be boring because then that would vary from his constant need to not be boring, which in excess could be viewed as boring. Then again, changing things about his personality just to avoid an arbitrary standard of boring-ness would also be pretty boring, wouldn’t it?

He tried to think of what the Kokichi who didn't want to be bored with all of his being would do right now. Maybe he would turn around and just start picking apart the insecurities of miss "my toes need to be pink for the beach!" over here until she started crying and jumped out of the plane. Then again, he didn't trust his brain not to imprint onto the next person who had long eyelashes and who he thought might fuck up his whole deal if he let it wander free into the dangerous world of airplane small talk. Sure, he could steal something or break something or just cause some sort of problem on purpose, but, very concerningly, it didn't seem like he wanted to.

It just... seemed like a hassle right now, to think about things and scheme. If he was the maitre d' of mischief then what was the point of it if there wasn’t someone important's perceptions to attend to?

So his brain was left here, grasping at straws, rewatching episodes of Detective Conan in his head, and wondering where he went wrong with the whole dashing phantom thief thing.

It also felt like there was something he was supposed to be doing that he was forgetting to do but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it, what with the recently discovered antique fabregé egg being stolen from the Suzuki Modern Art Museum in Osaka and all. How did Kaitou Kid do it?

Oh, wait, Kokichi knew what this feeling reminded him of. It felt something like being twelve again. Back when DICE was just around a year old and they were still living in that apartment in Hokkaido. They were barely scraping by at that point. Spades and Clubs were in junior high, still seriously considering going back to the old home. All the other teens were still in highschool, except for King, who was just starting nursing school, and Ace still had their first job with that phony resume Kokichi made them. Wait, they hadn't even come up with their code names yet had they? Yeah, they still called him Ouma-sama back then.

That seemed kind of silly, looking back on it. While everyone was at school or work, Kokichi would stay in that little apartment and watch anime for hours, sometimes making nasty little bills disappear through some light, white collar crime. Well, it wasn't always anime he watched while committing tax fraud. Sometimes he would watch game shows or browse the internet while sending emails that would topple companies in just the right way so that rice cakes would be on sale the next week. He memorized a lot of different security detail layouts while lazing around and rerouting rubber horse mask deliveries to the CEO of the Towa corporation because their stupid TVs were too expensive. He also played a lot of video games. Like… a lot a lot. Most of his time was spent playing video games now that he thought of it...

Recalling those times now felt like looking down at half of a person. Or more like looking back at someone who didn't know he was a person yet.

Except now he was a person and he knew that he was one and he was on a plane by himself because he wanted to sulk defiantly. Wait sulk? Sulking? Was that what he was doing?

Well yeah, maybe he was a bit bummed about Saihara. He hadn't been able to think about that earlier because if he thought about the pit of disappointment sapping in the back of his head it might suck the rest of him in too and then he'd be no use to anyone. But now he was alone and it didn't matter how he felt about anybody and somehow he was still confused by it.

Maybe Saihara just wasn't the hot shit Kokichi thought he was. Actually, Kokichi was probably just being dumb for expecting more. Or, on the other hand, Saihara might just be doing things the right way. Tracking an internationally traveling thief through flight records was logical, but somehow knowing how the trick was done made it lose a little bit of magic. Or all of it, seeing as magic isn't real and all. Maybe Kokichi had just been excited by the possibility that Saihara had presented, and thus blew his minor deductive talent out of proportion.

Obviously whatever had made Saihara so interesting to him was of no consequence now, because the detective wouldn't be able to find them with his little method this time, what with DICE staggering out the ticket buying and all. He wasn't even going to leave a note to Interpol this time around. And so the semi-epic story of Shuichi v. Kokichi would end here.

Then Kokichi could just keep leading DICE in heists. Forever. He guessed. He didn't know, actually, what the long term plan was vis a vis their ever escalating chain of petty thefts. Bishop had said they made ¥2,000,000 this month. Kokichi didn't even know how much they had saved up in out of country bank accounts. It seemed like too much.

What was he supposed to say about that to DICE though? Ok guys, we’re making too much money actually, time to slow it down a bit and face the fact that we've wasted our young lives on being only mildly disruptive to but somehow somewhat supportive of the institution of capitalism.

Then what would happen after that?

When he started planning these heists, Kokichi had never really thought of an “after” to becoming an internationally wanted thief. He had seen it as the end goal. The destiny career.

How do you end that?

Maybe he should just pull a Ryo from GX except instead of a heart condition killing him he could just jump off a-

“Ladies and gentlemen,” The crackling voice of the Captain over the plane intercom interrupted the train of thought Kokichi was having as well as where he was in his mental Detective Conan Kaito Kid best hits Marathon, “As we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Thank you.”

Uh. What? This was a twelve hour flight and that sounded an awful lot like a landing announcement. Was the Captain on crack or someth-

Kokichi realized that the sky outside the window he had been spacing the fuck out through was dark now. Even more telling of the passage of time, though, was the fact that he was on episode 703 now, the train one where Kaitou Kid disguises himself as a maid.

In order to function like a real living person who experienced the passage of time, Kokichi banished anime from his brain.

Okay, not thinking about anime anymore… thinking instead about what to do when not on the plane….

Right, he was supposed to wait at the baggage claim until Rook, King, Queen and Jack’s flights came in. Then they would drive to the rendezvous in central Tokyo where they would meet the members who landed at Haneda instead of Narita. Then they would head to the JAXA launch site on one of the islands in the Kagoshima prefecture and Kokichi would lay out the heist plan he came up with on... the…. plane….

Oh... he forgot to do that, didn’t he?

…

See, who needed a nemesis when Kokichi had self foiling down to a science? --- Shuichi Saihara really meant to sleep last night. He really did. He went through the whole thing too, brushing his teeth, putting on a sleep t-shirt, and lying down in the bed. Yet somehow his brain never got the message that it was time to shut down.

Instead, it compulsively lit up with anxiety, which began dueling it out with the half hearted self reassurances he postulated to pretend he was coping.

The afternoon before, Shuichi had returned to the small building which served as his dual purpose home/office to find a slew of missed phone calls and letters. He spent three, gut-wrenchingly guilt-ridden hours sorting through everything from distress calls from potential clients, some well wishes from clients he had been following up with, and worst of all extremely distressed calls from clients he had failed to follow up with in wake of the DICE case.

He felt like the stupidest, most pathetic excuse for a detective on the face of the earth. He knew that he shouldn’t feel that way, but how could he not come to that conclusion with all the evidence that lay before him? Every call and letter was from a person that Shuichi had failed to help because he had somehow decided vainly pursuing international thieves was something only he could do. Maybe early on it had seemed like the logical step to pursue the thieves where interpol couldn’t. Shuichi had just come off of a big bust in the organized crime sector of Towa City, tracing back a series of revenge killings at the behest of a secretive swordswoman, and had been passively keeping up with the DICE case on the side. When he had managed to get his hands on one of the encoded letters sent to Interpol, he was certain DICE was going to hit the Smithsonian, so he and Kaito had gotten on a plane to America. And then they didn’t catch the thief and obviously that was Shuichi’s fault because the evidence was all in his hands if he had only been fast enough… So he got the next letter and pursued the thieves to Paris and he got even closer and when he failed it was even more obviously his fault because he should’ve been smart enough to notice an internationally wanted thief sitting literally right next to him. And then some how he had decided that? Stealing plane records was the next logical step? How did he even get there? It was so obviously over the line… But would he really have been satisfied, then, if he had just given up on the truth? Was he really satisfied now? He couldn’t possibly-

It didn’t matter whether he was satisfied or not. Not everything was about him. He had his own job to do here in Towa City and he had forgotten that for about a month and a half to chase after a group of essentially harmless thieves. There had been four murders in Towa City since then! And Shuichi knew that because four people had called him to investigate them! And Shuichi was aware that people would be calling him about violent crime! And he had seen the evidence that the thieves had a zero casualty count! And yet somehow he still had to have Agent Ishimaru spell it out for him that he should’ve just stayed home!

Okay he was freaking out a bit, things were fine. Interpol was going to take care of DICE now. It wasn't Shuichi's case. He needed to calm down. Stop trying to convince himself there was more to the case. Why would he think he knew the case best when he worked on it for less than half a hear? Interpol had been tracking criminal activity suspected of the organization for nearly a decade now. Then again maybe that was a point against interpol. What if they were in-

Stop! No! Not his case! Stop being suspicious!

Shuichi had other things to focus on now. He had managed to get into contact with most of the people who had left him messages, and to make up for lost time he had decided to try and take up a few cases at a time. Except contrary to his own self-conceited beliefs there were more detectives in Towa City than just him, and everyone who had called him about a case had managed to hire someone else already.

He tried to convince himself this was a good thing, as he lay awake at night. Everything was fine. He wasn’t failing anyone. There were so many other capable detectives in Towa city. No reason to be concerned.

Yeah, nobody needed him, the pathetic detective he was anyway. He hadn’t even managed to get close to catching DICE’s leader, let alone the nine other members of the group…

Well maybe he had gotten pretty close. He remembered grappling with the thief in Taipei and Milan. The close contact with the pilferer of his pursuit only made Shuichi’s own incompetence more frustrating, his mistakes made more obvious in the light of hindsight.

He really wanted to know why-

Not his case. God what an idiot. What had Dr. Iruma diagnosed him with after the thief escaped? Ah that’s right, shit for brains.

… That reminded him, he should follow up with the Idabashi labs people. He had gotten so caught up in making sure he stayed on DICE’s tail that he forgot to even perform the most basic courtesy in his practice as a detective. Being able to check up with clients, bystanders, and victims without risking a witness tampering charge was one of the main benefits of being a private detective versus being a police detective. When he had started his private practice Shuichi had promised himself that now that he could put the people involved in a case before the case itself he would do so to the best of his ability. He usually took much better care to address concerns of breaking and entering victims, what had he been thinking leaving the labs immediately to pursue DICE? Dr. Iruma had still been uncertain if her friend would recover from being shut down right in front of her! Shuichi was shocked at his own behavior. It was the kind of awful thing he would have pulled as a reckless teen detective, pursuing the truth without regard for who he accused or lied to along the way. The resurfacing of this behavior seemed appalling to him now.

He should call Idabashi labs right away to apologize.

It was this thought that finally stirred him from his half-awake stupor at 4 AM. At realizing the time, the part of Shuichi’s brain that was still capable of higher reasoning decided that calling would be rather rude at the hour, but he was too anxious he’d forget to call at all if he postponed now to abandon the idea altogether. In compromise, he took out his laptop and began drafting a letter to Dr. Iruma instead, expressing his regrets and apologies of every little thing he could think of. The broken windows, the used bomb, the cup of coffee he had made in her kitchen without asking…

He was typing and retyping the sign off at the end of the letter (Sincerely was a good stand bye but not very personal? Concernedly? Too personal. Thank you for your time? Ugh not the right tone) when he heard the knock at the door.

Shuichi blinked, breaking the trance-like state that he now realized had led him to write a four page letter. He looked at the grandfather clock on his mantle. It read 10:31 AM. Which meant it was actually 8:27 AM because that clock was 2 hours and 4 minutes fast and Shuichi was too afraid he might break it to try and fix it.

Maki had promised to pick him up at 8:30 so by process of logical deduction Shuichi could safely assume that it was her outside, coming to bully him for being sleep deprived.

Sure enough, the sound of the spare key he’d given her and Kaito could be heard jiggling in the door knob. Maki opened the door.

The desk Shuichi was working at was in his client reception area, which was unfortunately immediately in view of anyone opening the door. Maki locked eyes with him almost instantly, and the look in hers was that of disappointment.

“And here I was thinking you might actually be asleep.”

“Uh. Sorry.” Shuichi said, closing his laptop. Then he opened it again. “Hey if you were apologizing to someone for not catching a burglar in their home/place of work and then leaving while their friend was sick so that you could chase said crook to another continent, would you sign the letter ‘sincerely’ or with something more like ‘once more expressing deepest apologies...”

Maki frowned, coming in and closing the door. “I’m not good at apologies. Those both sound polite but, knowing you, you probably didn't do something you would actually need that level of politeness to apologize for.”

“Um.” Shuichi went with ‘deepest apologies, -Shuichi Saihara.’ “Better safe than sorry?” He hit print. The printer his laptop was connected to was upstairs in the office where he kept his case files, so he had to run up the stairs to grab the printed letter.

Maki, seeming to sense he was going to need a second to put his four page letter in an envelope, sighed and came into the building from the entryway. She took off her shoes, heading towards the kitchen in the next room over.

When Shuichi got back down stairs with his four page apology letter safely tucked away in an envelope with a nice international stamp on it, he came into the kitchen to find Maki unplugging his coffee maker.

Both took a moment to register what one another was holding in their hands. Then they both frowned disapprovingly.

“Maki come on…” Shuichi protested weakly. “I don’t want to fall asleep at the JAXA open house.”

“Shuichi you’re at ten-page-apology-letter crazy right now and you think caffeine is going to help you?”

“Yes.” Uh. Wait. Was that healthy? “Maybe.” Probably not. “It’s only four pages.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Okay Shuichi was not on the winning side of logic here that much was clear. But still…

“Okay you win.” Shuichi relented, moving toward the kitchen counter as if to set down the envelope in his hands.

The second he dropped it, he made a mad lunge for the coffee maker cord. Maki effortlessly pulled it out of the way and grabbed his wrist, twisting him into a lock and then bringing him to a pin on the ground.

“What was the plan there?” She asked. Was it just him or did she sound bemused? He couldn’t really look at her face to garner her expression because his own face was currently smashed against the tile of his own kitchen.

“No plan.” Shuichi admitted through a mouthful of the floor. “Only caffeine withdrawal.”

“Okay.” Shuichi felt his center of gravity flip once more, “You’re sleeping in the car.” Shuichi realized that Maki had scooped him up into a princess carry too late to actually do anything about it.

“Hey!” Shuichi protested, a little indignant.

Being close friends with Maki Harukawa came with the knowledge that you were going to be treated like you weighed less than a ragdoll from time to time. She had a tendency to muscle her way through social interactions if at all possible. Her significant other just gave her a compliment she didn’t know how to deal with? Punch him. That guy at work wouldn’t stop talking to her about his fucking car? Walk through a door and close it in his face if he tries to follow. Her best friend wants to make a series of regrettable decisions? Physically prevent him from doing so because he is easier to lift than a handful of grapes.

Shuichi had been friends with Maki for about seven years now, and he knew this all well enough, but that didn’t mean he had to go down without a fight. “Maki I have to get my letter to the-”

“Shuichi when you get back to that letter tomorrow morning you’ll be embarrassed you even wrote it.”

Okay, maybe Shuichi would go down without a fight. Maki made a good point, Shuichi was very often embarrassed by things he himself did while off his daily recommended prescription of z’s and or caffeine.

“Okay! I give! You’re right.”

“I know.” Maki had gotten to the front door and seemed to be puzzling out how to open it with her elbow.

“Here I can walk by myself.” Shuichi made a move to roll out of Maki’s arms, but she was still gripping his shoulder in place.

“Walk to the car by yourself or walk to your kitchen and feed your caffeine addiction?” She looked down at him with a stern expression that implied only one correct answer.

“The car.” Shuichi relented.

“Alright then.”

Maki set him down and opened the door while he grabbed his coat from the closet.

She gave him another look.

“What is it?” Shuichi thought she was scrutinizing his appearance, so he mentally did the same. “Oh! I forgot to do my eyes-” Today his morning routine had been: get out of bed, go to computer, write apology letter, whereas usually it went: get out of bed, apply eyeliner, worry about inadequacies, drink coffee, feel marginally better. Shuichi had skipped the second step, and he was about to rush to the bathroom to correct it, but Maki grabbed his arm.

“Shuichi we’re going to Tanegashima in August. It’s 30 degrees there. Your eyes are going to melt. Along with the rest of you.”

Shuichi took a moment to realize that Maki herself was wearing shorts and a loose aloha shirt. Meanwhile he was standing here in his baggy sleep t-shirt, skinny jeans, and black trenchcoat.

“Uh.” Shuichi took off his coat and tied it around his waist. “Better?”

“Hmph.” Maki grumbled, walking out onto the sidewalk. “If you die of heatstroke on the way there, I’m not going to your funeral.”

“Not even if Kaito went?” Shuichi followed, locking the door behind him.

“Especially not if Kaito went.” Maki pulled out her keys and unlocked her car, which was parallel parked on the street by Shuichi’s office. “He’d cry like a baby. It would be insufferable.”

Maki’s car was an old black honda that always smelled a little like burnt sugar. With Maki, Shuichi couldn't be sure if the smell came from a baking mishap or the trace of nitroglycerin from a recently fired gun. It was probably both. On hot days the air inside was unbearably warm until the AC was turned on for at least a minute, because the seats were made of a dark, greasy pleather sort of thing that made it its mission to absorb as much heat as possible. Shuichi had a distinct memory of pressing his face against the material to avoid being shot from behind. In fact he sort of had a slideshow of bad memories associated with riding in this car on various high stake chases or on the approach of even more stressful social situations. Yet despite all that, the second Shuichi settled into the passenger seat and pulled the seat belt over himself, he felt more at home than he had pulling up the covers when he’d been trying to sleep last night.

What happened next was embarrassingly predictable. From Shuichi’s point of view it seemed like Maki started the car, he closed his eyes, and then when he opened them his face was pressed against the window and he could see the Towa Bridge Expressway zooming past him.

The road was on the upper side of one of the bridges Towa Corp had built about a decade ago connecting Islands like Tanegashima, Yakushima, and Towa City to the mainland. On the underside of the bridges were bullet trains that ran underwater between the islands.

Regardless of this, all roads feel the same under the wheels of a car you forget falling asleep in.

“Hghh.” Shuichi was half aware that his throat was the thing that just made that noise.

“Wow you got a whole REM cycle in there.” Maki seemed to hear his rooster cry of wakefulness despite the interference of some sort of j-pop song coming out of the car speakers. As Shuichi’s eyes adjusted to the pale daylight stinging his retinas, he could make out that his friend had her eyes fixed on the road. “That must be a new record.”

“If you’re gonna-” Shuichi realized his speech was muffled and that it was because his face was still against the window. He made an effort to sit up straight and started his sentence again, unobstructed. “If you’re going to make fun of me for sleeping the same as not sleeping then why should I even bother?”

“Because your health is your health and that isn’t beholden to my judgement.”

“Everything about me is beholden to judgement.” Shuichi muttered, still thinking miserably about his poor uncle’s good name, which he was most certainly running into the ground by having the office closed for another day. He was working a sum total of NO cases right now. Maybe he should write his uncle an apology letter too. Then again he wouldn’t want to bother him in his retirement… Who would want to have their nice day interrupted by their whining nephew? No one.

“Yeah, you should fix that.” Apparently driving for an hour and a half hadn’t changed Maki’s stance. She still had biting comments about his poor self esteem at the ready.

“Hghk.” Shuichi replied eloquently.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Maki muttered in reply.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Maki replied a little too quickly. She was chewing her lip. After a moment of thought she went on. "Well I guess it means something. But I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and I don't want to tell you until I have it phrased right in my mind."

"Hm. Okay."

Shuichi tried to regain faculty over his higher social functions in an attempt to discern what Maki was upset about and to make sure it wasn’t anything that he did. But while he was performing this heroic feat he closed his eyes on accident and then when he opened them again Maki was parking, presumably on the campus of the Tanegashima Space Center.

Shuichi groaned, now finding himself leaned in the opposite direction of the window. “Why does it feel like the part of my brain that produces melatonin is always waiting to get me by surprise?”

“Because you keep trying to drown it in caffeine,” Maki replied readily, seeming to have lost her contemplative mood after another hour of driving, “it’s fighting for it’s life, of course it’s going to use guerilla tactics.”

Shuichi shook the feeling back into his legs as Maki pulled into a spot. He remembered when he used to drive a lot more. When he was on the force he had access to a police cruiser, but nowadays Shuichi had trouble driving a car while he was on his own. He kept having intrusive thoughts about accidentally hitting pedestrians. A lot of grisly murders happened like that. Even now he could picture that guy whose head had been crushed under the wheel of a yakuza boss’s car…

“Come on, we haven’t got all day.” Maki tapped him in the arm with her fist, then got out of the car. Shuichi was going to follow suit, but he paused to check himself for eye crusties in the pull down mirror. He had just regained the mental capacity to remember he didn’t put on his eyeliner and now it was time to be anxious about his appearance again. Well, at least this would probably go better than the last time he encountered a social situation without doing his eyes. He really thought he’d be safe going to ask Keebo about the wi-fi, but he had managed to stumble into a robbery in process, which had then turned into a hostage situation, which had then turned into an all night police investigation and journalists tried to talk to him again and then Dr. Iruma was doing robot surgery and he got chewed out by Ishimaru again and-

“Shuichi?” Maki had ducked her head back into the car. “Are you coming?”

Shuichi startled out his internal anxiety tirade. “Y-yeah! Sorry.” He shut the mirror and opened the door of the car. It took a second to untangle his coat from the seatbelt, but he managed to get out and retie it around his waist.

“Hey…” Maki had locked the car and come around to his side. Her eyebrows were furrowed. “Are you alright?”

“What?” Shuichi blinked. Did he really look that bad? “No, yeah, I’m fine.” It only occurred to him he was kind of lying for no reason after he said it. “I mean, well. I’m just like. Embarrassed about not being able to see that case I was doing through all the way to the end. Like, I’m thinking about all the ways I messed it up, you know?”

Maki nodded. “Yeah. I feel that way too. About my own stuff. Sometimes. A lot of times. Actually.” Her fingers tangled into a strand of her hair. “But… Well, you know what he would say about it already, don’t you?”

Oh yeah. “Probably something like… the past is the past. What really matters is what you do now.” Just thinking about what Kaito would say made him feel better... He shook his head. “I really should just get ‘what would Kaito do’ tattooed on my brain…”

“Yeah, as long as you’re not in a haunted house.” Maki pointed out.

Shuichi laughed. “Yeah… I guess so…”

Maki looked down at her feet, still carding her hands through her hair.

“I’m… Going to miss him.” She confessed.

Shuichi suddenly felt extremely guilty. Here Maki was trying to keep his anxiety from preventing the performance of his every day functions and he had totally neglected to consider she was going through a lot right now too. Shuichi knew that Kaito had been a lifeline for Maki for a long time, and even though she was in a much better place now Shuichi would be much less of an awful friend if he had realized how much harder Kaito’s absence would hit her.

“What’s with that expression?” She muttered. Shuichi realized he was making a very fretful face. “Ugh. Nevermind, talking about this is pointless anyway…”

“It’s not pointless!” Shuichi rebutted quickly. “Of course you’ll miss Kaito. Talking about your feelings is an important step in processing them… And you know I want to be here for you if you ever need that. I’m your friend.”

“Yeah.” She pushed her hair back from her face. “I know.” She was chewing her lip again. “Uh. Thanks. Sorry if I’ve been kind of… mother henning you today. It’s just. I don’t want to be… Alone again.”

Now Shuichi really felt like a bad friend. “Oh, Maki-”

Shuichi was interrupted by the 2012 song ‘Space Unicorn’ blasting from Maki’s phone. Whenever Shuichi heard that song, it reminded him of udon noodle soup, because that’s what he’d been eating in the college cafeteria when Kaito set it as his ringtone in Maki’s phone.

“Ugh. I hate that song.” Maki took the phone out of her pocket. “We’ll talk later.” She told Shuichi, before answering the call.

“What is it.” Shuichi overheard Maki’s side of the conversation. “We just parked… Yeah… Where?... That’s troublesome… I’m kidding… Ok, see you there… Gross.”

She hung up.

“He says he’s waiting for us by the bus terminal at the museum. Which is on the other side of the campus.”

Oh, Kaito… “It’s like he’s making us run laps again…”

“I’ll try not to leave you behind.” Maki offered, kindly.

“Hey, maybe I’ll be able to keep pace…” Shuichi postulated. “I’ve been in a lot of chases recently.”

“You won’t be.” Maki said, already jogging in place.

“I’ll try my best…” Shuichi promised. --- Kokichi Ouma found himself wondering where exactly that big old brain of his had wandered off to. He knew that by all accounts he was very good at coming up with plans on the fly. Yet for some reason the performance of the actual organ that processed his mental functions was lacking at the moment. Like it didn’t know it was supposed to be the brain of an internationally wanted criminal today. Spontaneity was supposed to mean fun for him, but for some reason this whole build a plane plan seemed more like a point of stress than anything else. Which was weird because Kokichi didn’t usually get stressed. There was just something about this heist that he wasn’t looking forward to and he couldn’t identify what exactly it was or how exactly he was supposed to get around it.

Kokichi was still trying to halfass his way to a half decent plan when DICE reunited in Tokyo. And on the drive down to the Kagoshima prefecture he had more than enough time to think about a plan. In fact he had another 15 hours. And he just… Didn’t. He just didn’t think of a plan. He just sat around pretending to be sociable and analyzing the rest of the group’s conversations and sleeping habits. He thought that maybe he was anxious about them scheming behind his back again, but realizing that he was anxious should have made the being anxious go away, so he decided that it wasn’t that.

So when they finally did arrive at the Tanegashima Space Center in their stolen Space Center Tour bus the next morning and everyone huddled in the backmost rows of seats to hear what exactly the plan was, Kokichi had to pause for a second.

Uh. Okay. Plan time.

“You may not have noticed,” Kokichi started off after compiling some observations in his head, “But there’s an open house happening at this facility for JAXA employees and family members right now. We’re going to capitalize on that for our fakeout heist, which will be centered around the museum’s gift shop.” Right because the open house wouldn’t let them have access to the non-touristy shit. “Rook, King, Bishop, you’re going to be on that.” Ugh that wasn’t very detailed. “The fake mark is…” Fuck think of something stupid. “As many of those freeze-dried ice cream things as you can carry.” Okay that left him with 7 pieces for the real heist. “Jack, Clubs, Spades you’re on floor duty, make sure to call in suspicious personnel, we have the map of the space center in the heist planning chat.” He had remembered to do that much at least. “So spread out as much as you can.” Four pieces. “Queen, you know what you need. Get Ace to handle transport.” Should he really be delegating that much power to Queen after his little upstart? Or did it just show insecurity to not trust him? Too late to contemplate. “When you get back to the bus, text us and then take off ASAP.” The jet engine would take up most of the tour bus, so they had to get an alternative means of escape. “Hearts, you and I are going to disable security systems and get the secondary escape car.” That was something he knew how to do at least. “Any questions.”

Kokichi would usually expect a hearty “No sir!” to that concluding statement, but instead he observed a smattering of queer looks from the car full of clowns.

Hearts was the first to pipe up. “Uh, boss, your plan for disabling the security system wouldn’t happen to involve getting into the vents, would it?”

“Yeah.” There wasn’t really a better way to covertly sneak around a facility like this when their identities may be compromised. “What about it?”

Kokichi really didn’t have time for Hearts’s whole ‘I don’t like getting vent dust on my white uniform’ thing. He would just pretend like the whole group misheard him and he assigned her to ground duty in the first place if she said she wanted to swap-

“No, I just think maybe I could handle the security system myself.” Oh. That was a new one. “There’s not really a need for you to... You know, risk yourself.”

Kokichi was suddenly made aware of the bandage that was still wrapped around his forehead. He consciously resisted the urge to graze his hand over it. He didn’t want to play into the whole damaged goods bullshit that was going on right now in terms of how his subordinates were viewing him. Then again maybe that’s exactly what he should do…

“Believe me, I’ve considered the consequences,” Kokichi compelled himself to shed a single tear, clenching his fist like a shounen anime protagonist. “And though I may be suffering great pain and personal injury… I’ll risk it if it means not letting my friends down…”

Queen rolled his eyes, seeming to buy Kokichi’s bit, but Hearts still looked concerned, and now King was getting ready to add his two cents.

“Uh, Boss.” Ugh him and his stupid Nurse’s license, “It’s really fine if you wanna stay back…” Maybe if Kokichi cried he could derail this? “Your head is still healing and if, you know, an accident happens, you could re-open it and then we might have to suture...”

No, crying would just make him look worse now. The power dynamic would make it look like he was trying to convince King to let him go on the heist, which didn’t make sense at all. Maybe he could slot himself into a different group? No, most elements of this plan involved being in civilian wear and that’d just remind his crew about that time he just casually let a detective get a police sketch done of him like one of his french girls. Besides, he didn’t strictly need to participate in every step of this heist anyway. Kokichi’s real goal here was to maintain the idea in his subordinates’ minds that he was not a twerp trying to find the most unreliable time to bleed out. Hmm, okay, let’s go with this then.

Kokichi flashed an incredulous grin before smothering it into an exaggerated damsel expression. “Oh,,, I hate to admit it, but you’re so right, King.” He leaned over dramatically, “Every second is torture in this frail body of mine, it’s taking all my strength just to stand here before you!” He wasn’t standing but that was probably the easiest thing he was lying about right now, “I guess I’ll just have to.. Stay here, and.. Regain my strength… While you guys do all the work.” He pulled out the handkerchief he just remembered he had and was going to blow his nose into it before he remembered at the last second it wasn’t his handkerchief. He settled for a grotesque imitation of blowing his nose instead. He lay down across the back seat in a faint. “Ohh, alas, I fear I am not long for this world…”

“I vote we leave him here to die.” Jack bought in, rolling her eyes.

“I second the motion.” That was Queen, and yeah, Kokichi had expected that much.

“Hey, since when is this a democracy?” Kokichi sat up, adjusting the fluidity of his motions to reflect perfect health once more.

“Since our boss died,” Jack wiped away a fake tear with her finger. “I miss him every day… Sometimes I even hear his voice…”

Kokichi tossed aside the handkerchief and took a bag of chips out from the seat in front of him where he had seen Bishop stash them earlier. He poured the chips into his own lap and then crumbled up the bag into a ball before throwing it at Jack’s face.

Jack, in turn, batted it away, and it hit Spades, who caught it and threw it back at Jack, who dodged, which led the bag to hit Rook instead. Rook picked it up and got ready to throw it again, but Hearts took it out of their hands, leading to Rook just throwing air at Clubs, who squealed despite nothing actually hitting him and jumped out of his seat.

Okay, success. Concern about Kokichi’s injuries had all but dissipated as Club’s reaction got a smattering of giggles.

“Wow,” He remarked to Hearts, who was still holding the crumpled chip bag. “I’m sure a dove of peace such as yourself can handle the security system all on your lonesome.” He gestured to his lap, which was still covered in chips. “As you see I have other business to attend to.” He picked up one of the chips and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly. When he finished the first chip he issued his final direction. “You guys better get started on your assignments. I’ll be here when you need to hijack the second getaway car.”

“Yes, Boss!” Most of his crew said the words more for their ritualistic purpose of ending the team huddle rather than out of genuine enthusiasm. They collected their gear, mostly stored in beach bags and casual purses, and filtered out of the van one by one. Everyone was still in their civilian clothing, so they’d blend right in with the crowds of tourists and open-house-goers.

And then Kokichi was alone again. Except instead of a plane he was on a tour bus. Eating chips off his lap. He got through them in about four minutes, which he estimated was about how long it would take DICE to get out of sight’s distance from the bus. When that time had passed, he licked the remaining salt and grease of his fingers and then stood up, brushing chip crumbs off his lap. Once he was clean, he picked up the handkerchief he had thrown aside earlier. He folded it up along the crease lines into a square, and put it in his pocket again. He convinced himself it was just because he wanted something to do.

He went up to the driver’s seat, sitting down. He didn’t have his license to drive a normal car, let alone a bus, but it didn’t really matter because the bus’s windows were reflective from the outside. They had parked the tour bus close to the entrance in the bus lane, so Kokichi had a good view of the people coming and going from the space center. If he had put any effort into this plan at all, he might’ve stationed Club or Spade here as a look out. Well, he guessed he was the look out now. Hah. Great.

….

BORED. He was bored again. Hgghghgfffkk.

He considered hitting his head against the horn of the car just to do something and by “considered” he meant he tried to actually do it but missed and almost hit his head on the dashboard before stopping and realizing that was a bad idea. For one, honking the horn would just make the vehicle look conspicuous, which was not ideal for a getaway car. And then there was also the fact that his plan had needlessly included bashing his head again which could open his cut and just cause a big hassle when King got back with his whole ‘I’m a licensed practical nurse’ thing he had going on.

So, okay. No horn honking. Right.

Kokichi took out his phone and checked Discord. The channel for heists had no new notifications. He put his phone away again.

God he was going to die in here. Wow, needy much? Shut up brain. Um.

Kokichi leaned over, smushing his chin against the dashboard, and occupied himself by looking at the passersby and picking out random details to build conspiracies about them. That guy’s shirt was untucked, untucked had eight letters in it, magic eight balls could see the future, eight balls were round, you know what else is round? An eyeball. Illuminati, natch. Next. That woman’s achilles tendon was chapped even though she was wearing sandals, which meant she wore heels a lot. Heel was something you said to train a dog. Who was trying to train the human race like dogs? The Illuminati. Next. That guy had really ugly hair. Looked like he used a lot of gel. Gel has three- wait, what?

Kokichi recognized that dumb hair style. It was almost like… No, it couldn’t be. The guy who had been with Saihara at the Smithsonian. What?

Kokichi didn’t let himself get excited until he spotted the slightly less dumb and slightly more familiar haircut on the guy standing next to him.

There was Shuichi Saihara, who was, apparently, the best detective in the world. Also, he was wearing a T-shirt, which was hilarious because he usually wore business casual button ups under his dark trench coat. Kokichi could see his arms, which were-

Wait, no, forget about his arms. How did any part of him even get here? How did he know? There wasn’t any way- Did he lie? HE LIED TO INTERPOL.

Wow, Saihara had more balls than Kokichi had originally anticipated. He should get out there and tickle them a little.

Kokichi started reformulating everything he had originally thought about this heist. If Saihara was going to buy into the phony heist he would have to get into the mix himself. How much would the detective have learned from their last bout in Milan? He knew about Kokichi’s head injury, surely. Kokichi stood up and headed for the door out of the bus. He would have to make his approach subtly, but the buffoon probably wouldn’t be much trouble to deal with. If anything he might make Saihara easier to trick. They were on the move, Kokichi would have to catch up. Was that woman in the hawaiian button up with them too? Yeah, it seemed like it. When she paused to look around, they paused too, looking back, presumably to see what was keeping her. Her eyes were scanning the crowd like she was some kind of terminator bot or something-

Every part of Kokichi froze when that gaze slipped past his.

He saw her face in that moment. Blunt brunette bangs. A dark birthmark. Blood red eyes.

For one shallow breath, a metallic tang poisoned the air in his lungs.

The eyes glanced unnotably over the JAXA tour bus. And then the red woman just... turned and walked away.

Saihara followed her into the building.

Kokichi sat back down.

…

What the fuck was she doing here. --- Shuichi Saihara’s best, it turned out, was most certainly not enough to keep pace with Maki Harukawa in a run across the Tanegashima Space Center’s beautiful green campus. Shuichi had plenty of time to admire that beautiful green color the grass had as he stood doubled over trying to catch his breath in front of the center’s main entrance.

Maki was standing by Kaito, breathing perfectly fine with only a modest sheen on her forehead as evidence of the run. Meanwhile, Shuichi was over here sweating through his t-shirt and trying not to let his lungs burst.

“Is he okay?” Kaito not so quietly whispered to Maki.

“He will be.” Maki replied, “He’s just an idiot who decided black skinny jeans were the way to go even though it’s the middle of the sunny season…”

“In my… Defense…” Shuichi panted out between gulps of air. “I didn’t… know… I’d be… running�� today…”

“Hey man, sweat’s just another word for hard work.” Kaito claimed, coming over to pat Shuichi on the back. “Awesome effort, sidekick.”

“Thanks… Kaito…” Shuichi was still trying to suppress his aching lungs into a normal pattern of breathing.

“Hold your hands over your head.” Maki advised, “It’ll open up your chest.”

Oh right, right. Shuichi should know that by now. He moved up from his hands-on-knees-to-make-sure-he-didn’t-fall-over position to one where his arms were up with his hands on his head. Immediately he found breathing easier, although the air was just as hot and stifling as before.

“You know,” Maki was looking at Kaito now. “We wouldn’t have had to run if you had been more specific before I paid for the parking permit… You said you wanted to show us the launch spectation sites, so our car is parked all the way out there...”

“Well, yeah, I did say that…” Kaito was characteristically unflustered by the accusation, “but, then I realized it would be better to show you guys the museum building first! This way we can take our time looking at the launch viewing sites without having to worry if the museum will be open or not later...”

Shuichi wondered if that was just an excuse for Kaito changing his mind about hiking when he realized how hot it was today. Kaito had a tendency to be a little unreliable when it came to making plans with friends, but then again Shuichi also had a tendency to forgive him for that.

Maki usually did not. So when Maki just sighed and shook her head, Shuichi took that as a signal to let Kaito off the hook on this one.

…

It was so strange to think that in just another week, Shuichi wouldn’t be able to make any plans with Kaito at all…

Ugh. He shouldn’t think about that right now.

“Hey, what’s with the sour looks, you two?” Kaito’s words made Shuichi aware of his own conflicted expression, “Come on, I know what’ll cheer you up!” Kaito turned, walking towards the entrance and gesturing for them to follow him with a sweeping arm movement.

Shichi complied, but stopped when he noticed Maki wasn’t moving with them.

Instead, she was scanning the parking lot behind them with a dangerous look in her eyes…

“... Maki?” Shuichi asked hesitantly.

She didn’t seem to register him, but Kaito did, turning back around.

“Is something the matter, Maki Roll?” He called.

That seemed to snap her out of it. “It’s nothing.” She shook her head and started walking into the building. “Let’s go inside.”

“Hey, what’d I say about secrets?” Kaito confronted her, but he followed her through the doors anyway, Shuichi not far behind him.

“I never agreed to that…” Maki muttered, still walking. “But it really isn’t anything. I just felt like someone was watching us out there…”

Shuichi felt a chill go down his spine. He had also felt something off, but he thought it was just a him thing. He had been seeing the faces of DICE in random passerby ever since he touched down in Tokyo and it was setting him on edge even though he knew his suspicions were completely unsubstantiated. In fact there had been that big tour group of 9 or 8 people that passed them by while they were at the entrance... Could-

“Oh well, they probably were,” Kaito shrugged, “You know, I’m a famous astronaut and all.”

Oh. Yeah. Duh. Maybe the chill Shuichi had felt was just the museum’s AC …

“That isn’t…” Maki cut herself off, seeming to think better of whatever she had been about to say. “You’re probably right. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Alrighty, whatever you say, Maki Roll.” Kaito moved forward as if the issue was entirely settled and had maybe never been unsettled in the first place. “Now come on! I want to show you something!”

What Kaito had wanted to show them turned out to be a series of star maps that were up for display as a promotion for the upcoming launch. Included were larger infographics about which lights in the sky were actually satellites, but those weren’t what Kaito was interested in.

“Look!” He exclaimed, pointing at a section of one of the maps, “Right here! What do you see?”

“Stars?” Maki asked, looking mildly amused by her boyfriend’s enthusiasm.

“Well, yes but…”

“Oh!” Shuichi exclaimed, now pointing as well. “I recognize this one! It’s the beard of despair!”

He was pointing to a circle of stars that he and Maki had named after the cheek to cheek beard Kaito came back from his winter break with in their last year at Towa Community College.

“Hey, that’s right!” Maki exclaimed.

“Why is that the only one you guys remember…” Kaito grumbled.

Come to think about it, a lot of the stars looked familiar… “Are these the stars that appear over TCC?”

“Well, it varies depending on the season, but yeah that’s what we were looking at most of the time!”

Shuichi was overcome with a wave of nostalgia. He first met Maki and Kaito when he had been doing the mandatory two years of training it took to become a Towa City police officer after he had passed the national exam. He had been disillusioned with a future in his uncle’s practice because the idea of getting paid to dig up dirt had skeezed him out, not to mention that he still had huge doubts about his own ability as a detective to earn a living off of it. A police detective had seemed like a more secure, if more restricting, job than private detective work.

Well, maybe it was more accurate to say that Kaito had met Maki and Shuichi and then decided they were all going to be friends because he said so. He used to make them meet him in the school court yard every night after dark to do exercises of various kinds. Sometimes they put aside exercise in lieu of star gazing when Kaito was in the mood.

“Hey, do you remember when Kaito told us which planets he thought were most like us?” Maki asked Shuichi, probably remembering the same times he was, “And when we asked him what planet he was, he said the sun?”

Shuichi squinted. “Oh yeah… I think I remember…” he vaguely recalled thinking that the planet Kaito assigned him was weird, but he didn’t remember why or which planet it was.

“Well, now that I know more about space and stuff, I think he was right.”

“Aww… Maki Roll.”

She smiled a little. “Yeah… The sun is a big ball of gas, just like him.”

“Hey!” Kaito smacked his chest, acting as if taken aback, but Shuichi was pretty sure he was secretly delighted that Maki admitted to knowing more about space now.

Maki laughed, “This is what you get for talking about astronomy every night…”

Shuichi remarked to himself how long it had taken for Maki’s laugh to seem commonplace in a conversation. She was really a lot more open then she had been when they spent those first few nights under the stars. It was understandable, though, considering…

“Which planets did you say we were again?” Shuichi found himself asking.

“Hm?” Kaito paused, squinting for a second in thought. “Uh… I’m pretty sure it was…”

“You said I was Mars,” Maki supplied, “And I think Shuichi was Venus.”

“Oh yeah!” Kaito made a sort of ‘That’s it!’ gesture with his palm and fist, “Maki was Mars because she tried to seem dry and uninhabitable, but there was definitely a frozen ocean in there somewhere, and Shuichi, you were Venus, because even though you thought you tried to blend in with the stars all the time, sometimes you could appear in the day as a second sun!”

Huh. That was pretty nice to say, but Shuichi wasn’t sure it was what he remembered…

“Oh, wait.” Maki interjected, “Didn’t you say something else last time?”

“Hm?” Kaito put on his ‘I’m remembering something’ face again. “Did I say… Oh yeah!” He laughed. “I said Venus suited Shuichi because Venus is the goddess of love and Shuichi’s clients keep falling in love with him!”

Shuichi suddenly remembered exactly why he had been so offended by Kaito’s characterization of him all those years ago.

Maki gave him a bemused look, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the face you made last time too...”

“Yeah, that’s because it’s a really weird thing to say about my clients Kaito…”

“Oh yeah?” Kaito grinned now that he wasn’t the one being teased, “You can’t say I’m really wrong though, bro…”

Shuichi shook his head, “A detective can’t think that way about his clients! It’s exploitative!”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking that way about you…” Maki pointed out.

“I- What- Maki-” Shuichi did not want to talk about this actually, he turned to Kaito hoping for some kind of escape, but his so-called friend just shook his head.

“You gotta face facts some time, Shuichi. You’re a heart-throb!”

“I don’t know what you mean…” Shuichi was finding that there was nowhere to hide his face and he cursed himself for letting Kaede talk him out of wearing his hat again.

“What about that girl who gave you chocolates?”

Oh, why had he told Maki that story?

“They were just for gratitude-”

“What about the guy who invited you on his yacht?”

Maybe asking his friends to help him out on cases all these years had been a mistake…

“That was to set up a trap for the-”

“The person who asked you out for dinner?”

Hghk.

“That was only to meet another contact-” “But then the contact didn’t show up and it was just the two of you.”

“They got in a car accident!”

What about the guy who pretended to be your husband on a plane? His own brain supplied rather unhelpfully.

*Bweeeeoop* *Bweeeeoop* *Bweeeeoop*

Shuichi had never been so grateful to hear an alarm sound off in his entire life.

Maki and Kaito stopped railing into him, looking around as if to see where the noise was coming from.

“I didn’t even know we had one of those…” Kaito muttered, barely audible over the continuing beep of the alarm. “I’m going to go ask someone what’s going on.” He declared, before storming off into a door marked ‘employees only.’

Maki, seemingly unperturbed by the sign, was about to follow him, but Shuichi grabbed her arm.

“Wait,” He said, retracing his own memory, “Come with me, please.”

“What?” She looked at him like he was crazy. “Where are you going?”

“Somewhere I’m more likely to get in a fight than Kaito…” Under scrutiny, Shuichi found that he didn’t recall seeing that group of suspicious tourists among the exhibits… They disappeared at the entrance, which was by the...

Shuichi started making a beeline for the gift shop, untying his coat and wrestling it onto his shoulders as he went.

“You two are so high maintenance…” Maki grumbled, following him nonetheless.

Sure, Shuichi had thought his gift shop theory was pretty on point, but when he got to the doorway of said gift shop the cartoonishly big mallet coming down over his head took him by surprise.

Maki grabbed him, pulling him back just in time. “Watch where you’re going, idiot.” She scolded him before grabbing the hammer and pulling it out of the hands holding it, which were the gloved hands of, you guessed it, a clown with a checkered scarf, standing over the doorway and poised to pounce.

This wasn’t one of the DICE members Shuichi recognized, but it seemed that they recognized him.

“What the hell is this guy doing here?” They called back into the shop, where Shuichi realized two other DICE members were shoving freeze dried ice cream into a bag, before diving down and trying to sweep Maki’s feet from under her. Maki jumped up and tried to use the gravity of her dodge to kick the clown in the head, but the clown rolled away, hopping back up, where Maki was waiting to meet them with their own mallet in the face.

Shuichi heard a sickening crack and the clown crumpled to the floor.

“Rook!” The leaner looking of the two members grabbing ice cream dropped his bag and ran up to help his friend.

“Maki!” Shuichi exclaimed, rather horrified at this level of violence, “They’re just thieves!”

“What?” Maki asked, unshaken. When she saw Shuichi’s expression, she blinked as if genuinely confused. Then she straightened up in a gesture that Shuichi recognized as sheepish even though her tone remained flat as she clarified, “That wasn’t the clown’s skull, it was the hammer.” She raised the big mallet to show him the end of it, which had popped off, “This is just a toy.”

“Yeah! That don’t mean it don’t smart, lady!” The one on the floor, ‘Rook’ if their friend was to be believed, waved off the other DICE member, rubbing their face under their mask.

“Was I talking to you?” Maki fixed the clown with her patented death glare, taking the stick of the broken mallet and twirling it into a fighting ready position like a bo staff.

“Where’s your boss?” Shuichi muttered aloud. “And the rest of you for that matter…” Maybe the gift shop was a distraction, it didn’t seem like the most attention had been given to it. Then again if there were something happening further inside the facilities then Kaito’s people were probably wise to it by now, so there might not be any point in wondering...

“I dunno, ask your mom!” The bearded DICE member standing next to ‘Rook’ threw something at him.

Maki acted quickly, hitting the object dead-on with the broken mallet handle before it could smack him in the face. It burst open, and by the time Shuichi realized it was a smoke bomb his eyes were already stinging from exposure.

“Gah!” He exclaimed, hiding his face in his arm to prevent himself from inhaling the smoke.

Maki, however, ignored the smoke, pressing forward into the gift shop.

Shuichi stayed back, blocking the doorway and tried to remember if he had seen an external entrance to the gift shop. The question was dismissed from his mind as he heard the clattering of shattering glass and remembered that these thieves had no qualms about making their own exits. When the smoke cleared, Shuichi saw that Maki was now holding the bag stuffed with freeze dried ice cream. She dropped it and started walking towards the wall of windows opposite to the entrance. She pulled back her hair and grabbed the side of the window like she was going to try and climb out the hole at the top, which the clowns seemed to have escaped out of.

Except… As Shuichi came up the steps from the entrance he didn’t see any clowns beyond the window. Remembering DICE’s knack for misdirection, Shuichi did a quick glance around the room and… There!

“Maki!” He called as he moved forward, “There’s a sliding door back by the register!”

It was open just a jar, and as Shuichi got closer he spotted the last DICE member vaulting over the balcony just outside.

Maki beat him to the door, sliding it open and hopping on the balcony. She paused for a second, then turned back to look at him. “Stay here.” She ordered, as if it had crossed her mind Shuichi might try to scale down the wall as well.

He would have found it weird that Maki would take the time to tell him something so obvious as ‘you would fall if you tried this,’ but Shuichi remembered what Maki had said to him before, about not wanting to be alone again. He nodded in an effort to reassure her. “Right, I’ll call the police.”

She seemed satisfied with this, turning around and shifting off the balcony to climb down the wall. Shuichi, in the meantime, pulled out his phone and called 110. The operator put him through to the Kukinaga substation, which was the Tanegashima police station only four minutes away from the space center. Shuichi reported what had happened, and the substation representative asked him to stay put to give a report to the officers when they arrived. He voiced acquiescence and thanked the representative before hanging up.

And then Shuichi was standing alone in a gift shop with broken glass and a bag full of freeze dried ice cream on the ground. He noticed some things he hadn’t before. For instance, it looked like the gift shop was partially divided into a sort of cafe, with a freezer full of purchasable food and tables by the windows to sit and eat. For some reason, he decided that sitting alone in a gift shop with broken glass and a bag full of freeze dried ice cream on the ground would be marginally better, so he pulled out one of the chairs, sitting at the table.

…

It was weird how much time Shuichi sat around, waiting for things to happen. Well, maybe less weird and more just plain old pathetic… He wasn’t really the action type like Maki and Kaito were. A lot of his work as a detective was done in the aftermath of events. He was usually only trying to figure out what had already happened. This whole DICE thing was a bit of a change of pace, requiring him to be able to predict the next course of events and perhaps even stop potential crimes. Except, well, maybe he wasn’t so good at that part of it… Today was pretty clear evidence of that. This gift shop robbery was obviously a ruse covering up some sort of bigger crime. Something similar had happened in Egypt, where in order to keep one room’s artifacts secure, Shuichi had to alert the actual museum security to take care of things. Except, had that really been the right choice? The entire museum besides the room Shuichi was in were rugless because he refused to take action. Shuichi knew that staying in this gift shop would prevent it from being robbed, but he had to weigh that against the great uncertainty of what was happening elsewhere right now. It just felt shitty, knowing he could do nothing right now but wait. It had been part of the reason being a detective had yucked him out when he was a teen. For a while he had been solving exclusively murder cases, which were the worst way to be reminded his job was usually only useful after the horrible things happen… Maybe working on the DICE case had felt good because so much of the work was preventative. Predicting where DICE would strike next always gave him the hope that the next time would be the last and it would all be thanks to him… How stupid…

A memory flashed through his head

“You’re really something else, Shuichi.” A face very close to his had said.

Maybe that was something else about the case that felt good. Chasing DICE’s leader had been light and exciting. A mystery less pursued out of a sense of requirement or needed justice, but rather because the mystery itself was genuinely intriguing. Shuichi had started out fearing that DICE may have had some sort of tie to organized crime or some sort of international conspiracy, but… After investigating into such ties and looking at all past robberies attributed to them, Shuichi had turned up nothing. It was almost comical how good these clowns were at going about their globetrotting crime-spree untraced. And it was weird that Shuichi kept crossing paths with them by almost complete happenstance. Sure, he had predicted their movements in DC, Paris, Reno, and Milan, but Egypt, Taipei, and now… Yeah, completely by chance. Unless… DICE weren’t following him, were they? No, there really would be no point to that at all… Hah, Shuichi was starting to see why Interpol suspected that he had ties with-

Oh, fuck. Interpol.

For about four minutes, Shuichi had forgotten how much trouble he was going to be in. --- [Log of Text Messages from Kaito Momota’s Cellular Device]

From: Me

Hey where are you guys?

I can’t find you anywhere?

From: My Sidekick

Sorry I’m talking to the police right now

From: Me

What??

Bro

I’m gonna need like

A follow up on that

From: Maki Roll

Did you not know the police were here?

From: Me

Uh no

Should I have?

Oh I get it

They’re here about the alarm right?

Well you can tell them it's nothing to worry about

We figured out that a sleeping security guard tripped it on accident...

From: Maki Roll

The museum got robbed

From: Me

What??

From: Maki Roll

Well Shuichi thinks something was stolen

I’m pretty sure I chased the clowns away though

From: Me

Wait the clowns are here?

From: My Sidekick

Sorry Kaito! I’m back

Maki is being questioned now

The alarm going off was probably staged as part of the distraction

Did you check the other exhibits to see if anything was stolen?

From: Me

Yeah everythings fine we did a whole check

From: My Sidekick

What about other buildings on the campus?

Anything missing?

From: Me

Nope everything is where it should be

From: My Sidekick

Well I guess that’s somewhat of a relief

Although that does open up a lot of questions about what exactly happened here…

From: Me

Shuichi I need you to come down to the Space center building

The one with the rocketship

Like right now

From: My Sidekick

What?

What happened?

Kaito?

From: Maki Roll

Where are you guys?

The police are gone and you’re not by the space center

From: Me

We’re chilling in the museum gift shop

From: Maki Roll

What?

It’s not closed?

Isn’t it a crime scene right now?

From: Me

Nah nothing was really stolen

So me and Shuichi were fixing the window

But now we are c h i l l i n g

From: Maki Roll

Huh

I thought you might be investigating still

From: Me

Nah

Shuichi needed to do something with his hands

From: Maki Roll

Oh so you mean Shuichi was fixing the window and you were watching

From: Me

I was moral support!

From: Maki Roll

You know you won’t be able to get other people to do your chores when you’re in space…

From: My Sidekick

He wasn’t making me do it

It was something I needed to do

To like

Avoid freaking out

From: Maki Roll

Are you okay?

From: My Sidekick

Yes

I just uh

Lost an entire space engine and i can’t do anything about it

From: Maki Roll

What?

From: Me

He did NOT lose a space engine

He was interrupted while doing an investigation on our STOLEN rocket engine

From: Maki Roll

What????

The engine in your shuttle was stolen???

Are you not concerned about that? You can’t fly without one of those right?

From: Me

Hey we’ll find it!

Or maybe we’ll build a new one

It doesn’t matter I’m going to space no matter what!

From: Maki Roll

Wait and you’re not out looking for it right now?

From: Me

Well Shuichi was having a moment here

And hey when it comes to looking after your ride or looking after your sidekick your sidekick has gotta come first

From: Maki Roll

A moment?

From: My Sidekick

Found out I’m on red notice

From: Maki Roll

What’s that

From: My Sidekick

It like

Means that

Interpol thinks I should be arrested

But Interpol doesn’t actually have the power to arrest me

So they’ve basically told every recognized country in the world to arrest me if I’m spotted

So maybe Japan will try to arrest me if they find that they agree with interpol that I should be arrested

From: Maki Roll

What??

Did you do something???

From: Me

No! He didn’t!

Get this

Some asshole in a green coat just came up

And told Shuichi that his boss thinks Shuichi is too good of a detective to be doing things legally

But it's like

No actually he really is just that good

From: My Sidekick

Hhhhghhhghghhghg

That was Agent Sakakura

Them sending him means they really want me dead…

From: Maki Roll

That’s so stupid

You’re just doing your damn job

Hey do you want me to kill that guy for you?

Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill him for you

From: Me

No you won’t because killing is not good

But your anger is valid I am also very angry about this

From: My Sidekick

Hghfgfhhghhhgggggggggg

From: Me

Hmmm Maki roll Shuichi needs to vent some more so we’ll stop texting

From: Maki Roll

I’m bringing the car over

Tell me if you want me to kill someone for you Shuichi

From: My Sidekick

No thank you

But I appreciate the sentiment --- [Log of Messages sent via Discord to “#boss-where-he-shouldnt-be” from ???’s Cellular Device]

Ace: Hey, I know this is like a meme chat

Ace: But it's like the only one boss doesn’t have access to

Ace: And I wanted to know if anyone has noticed anything up with him?

Ace: Because I feel like he’s been kinda weird since we got the rocket

Queen: It’s not a rocket its an engine

Queen: In fact it’s actually only about 2/3s of an engine

King: What do you mean weird?

Queen: Rocket engines are built with mechanisms of fuel oxidization that won’t be strictly necessary for an aircraft that isn’t designed to operate in 0 ppm oxygen environments

Queen: So we’ll have to substitute it with an intake mechanism

Queen: Although the pre-existing combustion mechanism is EXQUISITE

Rook: No one cares queen

Queen: Its an important distinction

Hearts: Queen we have a channel for infodumping

Hearts: rn this channel is for gossiping about boss

Ace: He’s been quiet

Ace: Idk ive been worrying about it

King: Do you think it has to do with his injury?

Ace: Naw like

Ace: I feel like he was actin weird because of that before the space station

Ace: But now he’s actin weird a different way

Ace: Like before he seemed a little terse

Ace: And now he’s like catatonic in conversation

Queen: wym

Queen: I literally talked to him five seconds ago

Rook: no wait that is suspicious

Rook: if I were him I wouldn’tve just sat there and let you yap

Queen: oh shut up

Rook: MAKE ME

Ace: honestly i don’t know

Ace: but like you guys saw that detective guy there right

Ace: Do you think something happened with them that we didn’t see

King: What??

Jack: Oh you mean how boss definitely has a crush on him

King: What?????

Jack: Literally in Paris he dropped his entire 100 page plan just to go bully that guy

Jack: He’s like a middle schooler pulling pig tails

Hearts: Hmm… Hate to bring it down but pulling pigtails is a misogynistic notion that reinforces the normalization of violence against women...

Jack: It's true tho

Jack: My pigtails got pulled all the time because as you all know I am extremely attractive

Hearts: Maybe they were just bullying you darling

Spades: Yeah I can see that /s

Spades: Hey you know who really normalizes violence against women?

Spades: That detective guy

Spades: He flipped me in Milan!

Spades: Guy knows fucking aikido or some shit

Spades: And boss isn’t really a fan of violence

Rook: No wait

Queen: What? I thought he really liked yamikawaii shit

Rook: Even though that guy’s friend literally gave me a black eye

Spades: No I’m pretty sure he hates it

Rook: I see what Jack is saying

Rook: Boss totally has a thing for him

Rook: Like literally you can see the hearts pop into his eyes when he spots that guy

Rook: He dropped a display case on my foot when you told him the detective was in Cairo

Ace: Okay well thats not what I meant though

Jack: What you mean you don’t think he got his heart broken by aged up kid conan

Clubs: Conan’s name in his adult form is Shinichi Kudo.

Clubs: Also I think that talking behind Boss’s back is kind of not cool guys. :(

Spades: If you snitch I’m firing you from being my brother

Clubs: :(

Ace: I just meant like maybe he embarrassed himself platonically

Ace: Or I guess adversarially? Idk whatever word you would use for that

Queen: kismesissitude

Ace: What?

Spades: I will swiftly execute you

King: I mean i guess i could see him getting bent out of shape about that

King: But we were kinda onto the detective the whole time

King: I don’t think they would’ve had time to interact at all

Jack: Maybe he’s just sad he missed him

Ace: Ok sorry I don’t know if he’s sad

Ace: Just maybe in a weird mood

Ace: We haven't been in japan for a while and we haven't stuck around a place for more than a week in an even longer while

Ace: It’s putting me in a weird mood too so maybe that’s it

Hearts: Yeah he always likes to be on the move maybe he’s just antsy

King: Or maybe he feels bad cuz Rook got kinda beat up today?

King: I mean I feel bad about that

Rook: I’m okay <3

King: I know <3

Queen: Gross

Queen: You two are literally sitting right next to each other get a room

Bishop: He seems fine to me

Spades: Oh wow Bishop stopped scarfing for a second to weigh in...

Bishop: And by fine I mean terrible because he just dipped his pork dumpling in his panta right in front of me

Bishop: Also you guys know he can see you texting each other right

Bishop: We’re literally all eating at the same table rn

Queen: Oh yeah

Spades: Oops

#shuichi x kokichi #shuichi saihara #shuichi danganronpa #kokichi ouma #kokichi danganronpa #oumasai #saiouma #fanfiction #Phantom Thief AU #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #danganronpa v3 killing harmony #danganronpa #writing #whooeee this is a whole big thing innit #read on ao3 if you need warnings #i also have an update on my update schedule over there

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lastbluetardis · 6 years ago

Text

Family of Six (2/14)

After James and Rose bring their newborn twins home, they work to find a balance between all four of their children, and each other. Ten x Rose AU, Soulmates AU.

This chapter: teen, 5500 words

Ages of the Tyler-McCrimmons at the start of the chapter: James: 39, Rose: 33, Ainsley: 9, Sianin: 5, Twins: almost one week

If you like reading my stories, consider leaving me a tip? Or leave a reply on this post to tell me what you thought? And as always, reblogs are very much appreciated so more people can see this.

Chapters will be posted every other week --- next update: July 23rd

AO3 | TSP | FF | Perfectly Matched Series

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13 | Ch14

Despite not having had a baby in the house in nearly five years, James and Rose fell back into their old habits faster than they expected. Contrary to popular belief, they found caring for newborn twins to be relatively easy. Well, as easy as it can be when caring for any young infant. But it didn’t feel like double the amount of work—instead, it was as though the normal amount of work had simply been applied to two babies.

Though they needed tending to every couple of hours, the twins couldn’t exactly do much apart from eat, sleep, and poo. And unlike their other children, wherever James and Rose set the twins down, they were always in the same location when they returned.

While James and Rose appreciated their babies’ lack of mobility, Sianin did not.

“They’re so boring,” she grumbled as her mother temporarily abandoned the coloring book they were doing together so that she could feed the babies.

“That’s their job right now,” Rose replied, arranging the U-shaped nursing pillow to give herself and the babies better support. “They’ll get more fun when they can start interacting with you.”

“I want to play with them now.”

“I know, but they’re too little to play like you. You have to play to their level for a while, like Ainsley does for you.”

Sianin blinked up at Rose as though she’d never considered the possibility that Ainsley had to alter how she played in order to include Sianin.

“They’ll start smiling in about a month or so,” Rose continued. “That will make it more fun.”

Sianin huffed out a disbelieving breath.

“It will,” Rose assured. “I remember when you were a baby, Ainsley would spend hours on the floor with you doing anything she could to make you smile and laugh. It’s more fun than it sounds, I promise.”

Sianin didn’t look convinced, but she set down her crayons and scooted closer to her mother. She didn’t have an open arm, otherwise Rose would have drawn Sianin into her side, but Sianin rested her head on Rose’s shoulder and peered down at the babies’ faces.

“Does that hurt?” Sianin asked, pointing to the babies latched to Rose’s breasts.

“Not usually,” Rose replied. “When their teeth grow in it’ll get uncomfortable at times. But that’s when we’ll start transitioning them to solid foods.” She stroked her fingertips across her babies’ scalps and watched them nurse. “So what do you think of your sisters?”

“They’re boring,” Sianin repeated, making Rose snort. “And loud. And messy.”

Rose frowned. “Isn’t there anything you like about them?”

Sianin reached out and traced her fingertips down Hannah’s arm until she got to her tiny hand. The baby clamped her fingers around one of Sianin’s and held on tightly.

“I dunno.” Sianin tapped her finger to make the baby’s hand bounce. “They steal you and Daddy a lot.”

“I know. They’re really little and need loads of help and attention,” Rose said, her heart aching that Sianin didn’t seem completely thrilled about having baby siblings.

“Maybe it would be better if there was only one,” Sianin suggested, and Rose couldn’t help but laugh at her daughter’s hopeful expression.

“We can’t exactly return them,” Rose chuckled.

“Can’t we just… give one away? She could get adopted.”

“‘Fraid not,” Rose answered. “Besides, how would you pick which one to give away?”

Sianin shrugged. “Close your eyes and point.”

Rose shook her head, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sianin’s head. “Even though you might not like them very much yet, your Daddy and I already love them both as much as we love you and Ainsley.”

“Really?” she asked dubiously.

“Really really,” Rose answered. “Could you imagine your Daddy or me wanting to give you or Ainsley away?”

“No.” She breathed out a sigh that was far too dramatic for a five-year-old. “I miss spending time with you and playing with you.”

“We’re spending time together now,” Rose pointed out.

“But it’s not the same.”

“Our routines are going to have to change a little bit. But change isn’t a bad thing, y’know.” Rose kissed Sianin again, wishing she could pull her baby into her lap. “Do you think Ainsley didn’t struggle with the adjustment that happened when you were born?”

“I asked Ainsley. She said she can’t remember but she always loved me and was happy to have a baby sister.”

Rose, remembering back to the many tantrums Ainsley had thrown when they were busy with the new baby, smiled.

“I’ll tell you a secret.” She leaned in close until her lips were at Sianin’s ear. “Ainsley didn’t like having a new baby around for the first few months either.” Sianin’s eyes went wide, and Rose winked. “But now look at the two of you. You’re best friends. I hope that you have the same relationship with these two that you have with Ainsley.”

Sianin sat silently for a few minutes, resting against Rose’s arm.

“I guess they’re kind of cute,” Sianin said eventually, though her tone was reluctant.

“I think so, too,” Rose agreed.

“Their faces aren’t as smooshed anymore.”

Rose laughed. “All newborns have smooshed faces. Even you and Ainsley. Go grab a photo album so you can see.”

Sianin slid off the couch and trotted to the bookcase, collecting her and Ainsley’s baby books. She carried them back to the couch and climbed up beside Rose and opened the album across her thighs.

“See. Ainsley’s face was smooshed, too,” Rose said, looking at Ainsley’s newborn photo. In her opinion, her children were all the most beautiful newborn babies in the world, smooshed faces and all.

Sianin giggled and opened her album next.

“I was a fat baby.”

“All babies are fat,” Rose said. “That’s half their charm.”

“But look.” Sianin pointed to her height and weight measurements, then to Ainsley’s. “I’m fat.”

“You were perfectly average,” Rose said firmly. “Ainsley was a few weeks premature—a few weeks early—so it makes sense that she was smaller. And as for these two, twins tend to be smaller because there were two of them growing in my belly at once.”

“I suppose,” Sianin allowed.

She flipped through the photo albums lazily, giggling as Rose recounted various memories associated with some of the photos. Like when Ainsley was a wee toddler and went through a phase of refusing to wear clothes. Or when Sianin had colored all of her toenails with permanent marker.

Rose was relieved that Sianin hadn’t stayed disappointed that their coloring session had been put on pause, and she hoped her daughter adapted soon to the new family dynamic.

She had to admit, she hadn’t considered the notion that maybe one of her children might not want a baby sibling. It made her heart hurt, especially since she and James had tried so hard and for so long to have a baby. Was she a selfish mother for focusing on her own happiness at the arrival of the twins instead of Sianin’s? Was she a neglectful mother for not realizing how apathetic Sianin was to the presence of the babies?

Something cold twisted in her chest, and she tried to banish those negative thoughts. Surely Sianin would come around? And if not, Rose would simply have to try extra hard to make sure she spent as much baby-free time with her daughter as she could. Though she prayed it wouldn’t be like that; she wanted nothing more than for all of her children to love each other as deeply as she loved them, even if that was a high bar to set.

Rose swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat. “I love you loads, Sian.”

“I love you too, Mummy,” she answered, turning her face to kiss her mother’s shoulder.

A few minutes later, the front door opened.

“We’re back,” James called out unnecessarily.

“Why don’t you go help your dad and sister put away the shopping?” Rose suggested to Sianin.

Sianin closed the photo albums, put them away on the bookshelf, then went to the kitchen.

Rose looked down into her youngest daughters’ faces. Maddie had finished nursing and was staring at Rose’s chest, blinking slowly as a bit of milk dribbled down her chin.

“Was that yummy?” Rose brought the baby up to her shoulder. She rubbed and patted Maddie’s back, coaxing out not only a burp, but some spit-up as well.

“Bet that feels better,” she whispered as the warm, viscous liquid rolled down her chest. Since the onesie was soiled anyway, Rose shuffled the baby so the outfit sopped up more of the sick. “Mummy will get you all cleaned up in just a minute. How about you lie down while I burp your sister, eh?”

She made quick work of getting Hannah burped—spit-up free, thankfully. With Hannah content and drifting off to sleep, Rose wiped up residual milk from the corners of her mouth and chin, then set the baby in her cot.

When she turned to take care of Maddie, Ainsley skipped into the room.

“Hiya, Mum,” she said brightly, then crouched down beside Maddie. She wrinkled her nose and said, “Ew.”

“Ew indeed,” Rose said, though the mess on the baby’s clothes was fairly mild. “Can you grab a new outfit for her?”

Ainsley sped off down the hall, returning with a long-sleeved, long-legged onesie.

“Can I do it?” Ainsley asked as Rose went to unsnap the buttons on Maddie’s soiled onesie.

“Sure,” Rose said. She gestured for Ainsley to kneel beside her. “Remember we have to be very, very gentle with her head and neck. Move slowly.”

Ainsley unfastened all of the buttons on Maddie’s onesie, then eased her sister’s arms out of the sleeves. Rose talked Ainsley through working the fabric up the baby’s torso, and how to hold the back of her head and neck while pulling off the fabric.

“Well done,” Rose praised. “Naked baby: check.”

Ainsley laughed, then rolled up the tiny onesie and dropped it to the floor.

“Let’s change her nappy while she’s naked,” Rose said, seeing the colored stripe indicating the nappy was wet.

Rose made quick, efficient work of changing and cleaning Maddie, then set the soiled nappy to the side to supervise the rest of the dressing process.

“Next we pick her up and put her on the new outfit,” Rose instructed, hovering her hands over top of Ainsley’s just in case her nine-year-old didn’t support the baby properly. But Ainsley picked Maddie up, only looking a little awkward while doing it, and she set the baby down on the fresh outfit that Rose had opened up and splayed out on the sofa.

“Next we’re gonna guide those little arms through the sleeves,” Rose cooed, both to Maddie and to Ainsley. “Be careful to not get them stuck. She might be extremely floppy and flexible, but you can still hurt her if you move too fast or try to force her limbs through.”

After a bit of finagling, Ainsley got the baby’s arms and legs into the proper locations.

“Now we kiss that little belly.” Rose peppered kisses to Maddie’s bare torso, careful not to touch the umbilical cord stump. Apart from some flailing limbs, the baby didn’t react. “Then we zip her up and it’s all done.”

Ainsley zipped the front of the outfit closed and beamed at her mother.

“Well done, sweetheart.” Rose kissed her eldest’s temple. “Do you like helping with the babies?”

“Yeah,” Ainsley said, nodding enthusiastically. “They’re so fun!”

Rose was pleased that at least one of her children enjoyed being a big sister. Stifling a sigh, she kissed Ainsley’s head again.

“Thank you for everything you do to help, Ains.” She cradled her daughter’s jaw in her palm, tilting her head up to look into her eyes. “I really, really appreciate it.”

Ainsley’s cheeks flushed with the praise and she flashed a wide, toothy grin that looked achingly like James’s.

“Mummy, can we go back to coloring now?”

Rose looked over as Sianin walked into the room.

“‘Course,” she answered. “Give me five minutes to clean myself up, though.”

Rose stood, then picked up the soiled onesie and nappy.

“Should I move her?” Ainsley asked, nodding to the baby on the sofa.

“Nah, she’ll be okay for a few minutes,” Rose said. “Can you make sure she doesn’t roll off though? She shouldn’t be able to, but just in case.”

Ainsley nodded, then focused all of her attention on Maddie. Rose’s heart clenched to see Ainsley playing with the baby, even though the baby didn’t have much of a reaction yet.

Rose chucked the nappy in the bin and the onesie into the laundry pile, then went down the hall to her bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind her, she sat down on the edge of the bed and kneaded the heels of her hands into her forehead.

“What’s the matter?”

Rose yelped and jumped; she hadn’t realized James had been in their loo. He held up his hands in apology. She sighed. “I dunno.”

James frowned and came to sit down beside her. Before he could, though, he must have seen the baby sick caked onto her neck. “Just a sec.”

He went into the en suite, turned on the faucet, and came back with a damp flannel. He mopped up the lingering spit-up, then sat down beside her.

“Was everything all right when Ainsley and I went out?” he asked softly, wrapping his arm loosely around her waist. “Were the babies awful?”

“No, no. They were perfectly fine.” Rose leaned against her husband and was quiet for a minute. “I don’t think Sianin likes the babies.”

Her eyes burned and her nose stung at the admission.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“It’s just… she never wants to help with them. She doesn’t want to interact with them. I asked her today if she liked them, and she couldn’t find anything good to say. She even suggested we give one of the twins away.”

James’s snorted, but wrapped his arm tighter around her body.

“I’m serious, James. Did we make a mistake?” Rose whispered, a tear falling. She wiped it away impatiently. “Should we have realized ages ago that Sianin isn’t the type of kid who would do well with a younger sibling?”

“I think it’s a little early to be jumping to conclusions,” James said carefully. “We’ve been home for all of four days. You and I both know it can take quite a bit of time to get used to the new routine that comes with having a baby. Or two, in our case.”

“I know, I know,” Rose grumbled. “I just… I don’t want any of my babies to be unhappy. And Sianin seems unhappy.”

“Give her more time, love,” he said gently. “I think she’ll come around.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not just trying to make me feel better?” Rose asked.

“I always try to make you feel better,” he said. “However, I truly believe that Sianin will adjust. It might take her more time than Ainsley, is all. But if she still has her heart set on giving one of the twins up, let’s keep Maddie, eh? She’s quieter.”

Rose laughed out loud and pinched his ribs.

“You twat, you’re not supposed to have favorites!”

“I’m not picking favorites. I’m merely picking what’s best for my eardrums.” Rose could hear the grin in his voice, and just like that, most of the weight lifted from her shoulders.

Rose snuggled closer into his side and breathed him in for a few minutes. She would have gladly stayed there for hours. It was quiet in their bedroom, and he was soothing. It would have been so easy to lie back and take a nap, especially if James curled up beside her.

“I should go back out,” Rose said. “I told Sianin we’d keep coloring.”

James pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then stood up, holding out his hand for hers. She stretched her back once she was standing while James went to her dresser and rooted through the drawers. He returned with a new shirt for her.

When she donned it, he slipped his fingers loosely through hers and brought them to his lips for a kiss.

“We’re gonna be all right, Rose,” he said. “I promise. There hasn’t been a challenge yet that we haven’t overcome together.”

Rose squeezed his hand. “I think you’ve found a side gig as a motivational speaker.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, but opened the door for them to walk down the hall. Now that the barrier of the door was gone, they realized one of the babies was fussing. Not full-blown crying, but raspy whimpers that threatened oncoming wails.

“Everyone all right?” Rose asked dropping James’s hand to speed ahead of him into the living room.

Ainsley was sitting on the floor with her elbow on the couch cushion, peering down at Maddie.

“I dunno what she wants,” Ainsley said, stroking her index finger down the baby’s cheek any time she let out a noise.

“Come here, my sweetheart,” Rose cooed, lifting Maddie to her shoulder.

“Mummy, you said we’d color,” Sianin whined, coming over to tug Rose’s hand.

“In a minute, love,” she replied.

Sianin stomped her foot and tossed her head back in an exasperated growl. “Give her to Daddy. You promised you’d color with me!”

“Sianin Noelle, do not tell me what to do. That’s disrespectful,” Rose said. “You need to be patient.”

“I’ve been patient,” Sianin groaned, flinging herself onto the couch rather dramatically and folding her arms in front of her chest.

It would have been a funny picture if not for the attitude.

“I think someone needs to go sit quietly in the laundry room for five minutes to calm down,” Rose countered.

Sianin huffed out a breath and crossed her arms tighter around her chest. “No, I don’t.”

“I think you do. Now, Sianin,” Rose said firmly. “Go sit quietly and calm down. I’ll be in in five minutes.”

Sianin’s eyes filled with tears. Her face crumpled as she launched herself off the sofa and ran down the hall.

Rose watched her go with a low exhale.

“Shit,” she whispered to herself. She nuzzled her nose across Maddie’s scalp, but not even the scent of her baby was enough to soothe her.

“Should I talk to her?” Ainsley asked, looking down the hall after her sister.

“No,” Rose said. “Let her cool down by herself for a bit.”

James came up beside Rose and wrapped her in his arms, being careful not to smoosh Maddie between them.

“It’ll be all right. I promise,” he whispered into her ear. He softly kissed the top of her head. “Here. I’ll take her. You go take a breather, too.”

Rose sniffed against the tears in her throat and nodded, giving the still-fussing baby to James. She walked into the kitchen and got herself a drink, listening to the sounds of James cooing to Maddie.

She kept her eyes on the clock as she sipped her water. The instant five minutes had passed, she walked down the hall. Sianin had closed the door to the laundry room, so Rose eased it open and peered inside.

Sianin was sitting in the corner rather than the designated time-out bench. She’d hugged her knees to her chest and looked up with red-rimmed eyes when she heard Rose enter. The moment she saw her mother, Sianin’s face twisted and more tears leaked down her cheeks.

Rose crouched down in front of her daughter and opened her arms for a hug, if Sianin wanted. She did. Uncoiling from the floor, Sianin careened into Rose’s chest, sending Rose off balance and tumbling onto her bum.

“Breathe, Sianin,” she murmured, hugging her tightly with one arm as her other hand stroked Sianin’s hair. Her daughter trembled as she clung to her. “Breathe.”

Sianin sobbed into Rose’s neck, sending Rose’s heart splintering into a million pieces. She continued stroking Sianin’s back until the worst had passed. It took a couple minutes, but Sianin finally stopped shaking and wasn’t breathing as erratically.

“Your quiet time is over, but do you want to stay in here for a few more minutes?” Rose asked, pulling back to look at her daughter.

Sianin’s face was bright red and streaked with tears and snot. Rose pulled a crumpled tissue out of her pocket and dried Sianin’s eyes, cheeks, and nose.

“Will you stay with me?” Sianin asked, her voice warbling.

“Of course,” Rose answered. “Let’s move to the bench though. The floor isn’t comfy for Mummy.”

Rose was quite proud of herself that she managed to leverage herself to her knees then to her feet all while keeping Sianin in her arms. When Rose was seated on the cushioned bench, Sianin straddled her thighs and tucked her face into the side of her mother’s neck. Rose rocked them slowly from side to side and hummed a jingle from a radio advertisement that had been stuck in her head all morning.

“I love you very, very much, Sianin.”

Sianin sniffled.

“You understand why I sent you for quiet time, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I told you what to do and was dispectful.”

“Disrespectful,” Rose corrected gently. “I need you to learn to be more patient, okay? I’d said I would color with you, and I will. But you need to wait until I’m not busy.”

“Why couldn’t Daddy take Maddie?” Sianin asked miserably.

“Because I had her,” Rose said simply. “Sometimes passing a baby off to multiple people makes their fussing worse.”

Sianin heaved a heavy sigh, but said no more. She instead kept her face buried into Rose’s neck.

“I know you’re used to it being just you and Ainsley,” Rose said, “but now you have to share me with Hannah and Maddie, too.”

“I know.”

“Your daddy and I are trying really hard to make as much time for you and Ainsley as we can, but sometimes the babies need our attention first. Can you promise me that you’ll try really hard to be patient with me and Daddy? ‘Cos we’re still learning too.”

“Yeah.”

“Good girl,” Rose said, kissing Sianin’s hair. “Do you want to go back out to the living room and color?”

“I don’t want to color anymore,” Sianin said.

“Oh. Then what would you like to do this afternoon?”

“Can we make a cake?”

“We sure can.” Rose nudged Sianin. “Up we get.”

Sianin clambered off of Rose’s lap and rubbed her arm across her nose. Rose reached down and combed her fingers through Sianin’s hair. “We need to schedule a haircut for you, little missy.”

Rose pulled the back of Sianin’s hair up and over her head until it fell in front of her eyes. Sianin laughed and ducked out from under Rose’s hands, smoothing her hair out of her face.

“I’ll try and make an appointment for next weekend,” Rose promised. “For you, me, and Ainsley. The three of us can get out of the house for a bit and do something together. Would you like that?”

Sianin nodded vigorously, then led the way to the kitchen where James was showing a pacified Maddie the artwork taped to the fridge.

“And here we’ve got a blossoming tree that your big sister Ainsley painted a few weeks ago,” he said. “Look at all the colors. We’ve got pinks and whites and green and brown. Isn’t it so lovely? And lookie here’s one that your clever, talented, beautiful Mummy drew.”

He winked at Rose, who rolled her eyes at him. She then approached Sianin and said, “Right, let’s…”

They were interrupted by a very loud and sudden wail from the living room. James strode towards the noise and Rose made to follow. When she turned around to Sianin, she saw the five-year-old’s shoulders were hunched.

“Hey, Sian…”

Sianin spun around and flinched, her eyes widening. “I’m sorry!”

Rose frowned and ignored her wailing baby for another minute to crouch in front of her other upset child. “Hey, hey. I’m not angry. I was just going to suggest you work on getting the bowls and ingredients together while I help your daddy calm your sisters. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Sianin let out a breath and the tension left her shoulders. “Okay.”

“I’m not angry or upset with you,” Rose said, grasping Sianin’s hands in hers. “Okay?”

Sianin nodded, then moved about the kitchen.

“Er, Rose, a little help?”

“Coming,” she called out.

When she arrived in the living room, she saw Ainsley had her jumper tugged up over her nose. Rose understood why a moment later when the stench of a dirty nappy assaulted her.

“We’ve got a blow-out,” James said grimly as he picked Hannah up out of her bassinet. He gingerly held her out in front of him, keeping his arms and hands free from her bum.

“Ick,” Rose said, wincing. “Your turn to deal with that.”

“I don’t suppose I could offer a trade?” he said.

“There’s absolutely nothing in this world that would entice me to trade with you,” Rose said, giving him a sympathetic pat on the back.

James groaned in defeat, then carried a red-faced, screaming Hannah down the hall to the nursery.

“That was disgusting,” Ainsley commented from the sofa.

“Just a bit,” Rose admitted. She then turned to Maddie, who had begun whimpering again upon being set down. “Come to Mummy, my love. Your daddy got pulled away to clean up your sister. But you can come with me and we can make a cake with your big sister, Sianin.”

“Cake?” Ainsley asked, perking up.

“Yep, Sian and I are going to make one. Want to help?”

“Yeah!” Ainsley jumped off the couch and headed toward the kitchen

“I’ll be in in a minute,” Rose said. “I’m going to grab the baby sling.”

Rose ventured down the hall and into the nursery. James had Hannah stripped naked on the changing table and was working on wiping her down.

“I chucked that onesie,” he said without looking at her. “That was never going to get white again—not enough bleach in the world.”

Rose chuckled at him, not bothering to reply as she grabbed the baby sling they’d picked up in Bora Bora a few years ago. She set Maddie down for a few seconds to start the process of wrapping it around herself, then she securely strapped the baby in, too.

“How do you make baby-wearing look sexy?”

James was facing her, holding a naked and placated Hannah, with a somewhat glazed look in his eyes. He absently ran a wipe down Hannah’s now-clean bum.

“I could make anything sexy,” Rose boasted, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Yes, you could,” he murmured.

He stepped up to her and hauled her in for a long, hard kiss that sent delicious tingles through her body. Both of her hands were free, thanks to the sling, and she used them to first cup his cheeks, then scrape her nails against his scalp. She smirked against his mouth when she felt more than heard him moan. She dragged her teeth against his full bottom lip as she broke the kiss.

“You’ll be the death of me,” he gasped, looking dazed. His dark eyes made something clench deep in her belly.

“And what a marvelous death it would be,” she said, winking. “Go on. Get her back in a nappy before she decides to poo all over you as well.”

He grimaced and muttered something that sounded like, “You sure know how to ruin a mood,” before he turned away from her and complied.

Maddie, meanwhile, was resting contentedly at Rose’s breast. Her fat cheek was cushioned to Rose’s chest and she was blinking slowly as she sucked on the side of her fist.

“Time to bake your first cake,” Rose whispered, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the top of Maddie’s head.

When she returned to the kitchen, Ainsley and Sianin were already getting to work on the cake. All of the ingredients were sitting on the counter, and Sianin was carefully scooping a teaspoon of baking powder into a large bowl. There was no recipe book in sight.

“Let’s not be too hasty,” Rose said, moving to the cabinet to retrieve the cookbook that contained the chocolate cake recipe.

“What?” Sianin asked, frowning.

“We need to make sure we add the correct amount of all the ingredients if we want it to taste good,” Rose said.

“But I did,” she insisted.

“What have you added so far?”

“Flour, sugar, and now the baking powder,” she answered.

“How much did you add?” Rose asked.

“One and three-quarters cups of flour. Two cups of sugar. And a teaspoon and a half of baking powder.” She pointed to all of the measuring cups and spoons as she spoke. “I was gonna put the dry stuff into the bowl ‘til you came back. Was I s’posta wait?”

Rose flipped through the pages of the recipe book until she made it to the marked page of the chocolate cake recipe. With amazement, Rose saw that Sianin did in fact measure out the appropriate amounts of the ingredients.

“How did you know how much of everything to add?” Rose asked

Sianin shrugged her shoulders and began fiddling with the tab on the salt canister. “Daddy lets me measure the ingredients when we bake together. But only the dry stuff. I accidentally dropped all the eggs on the floor once and he said I needed to get a little bit bigger before I could do it all myself.”

“How much salt are you gonna add?” Rose asked, cocking her head at her child.

“A teaspoon,” she answered. “Can I?”

Rose nodded, and Sianin turned back to the bowl. The tip of her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she focused intently on pouring the salt.

“Oops,” she said when a rush of salt came out and overflowed the teaspoon. “What do I do now?”

Rose stepped up to Sianin and took the heaping teaspoon from her daughter. She poured about three-quarters of the teaspoon into the bowl, then dumped the rest into the sink. “There. That’s probably about one teaspoon. Hey, Sian?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s very impressive that you remembered exactly how much of everything to add to make the cake,” Rose said. “I’m very impressed.”

A proud smile crossed her daughter’s face. “Thanks, Mummy!”

Rose supervised Sianin scooping out the remaining ingredients, double checking the recipe book but amazed that Sianin’s memory was spot-on.

“Oops, try and level that out a little bit,” Rose said when Sianin was about to dump a heaping quarter cup of cocoa into the bowl.

“Nuh uh,” Sianin countered. “When Daddy and I make it, we do a normal half and a big quarter. It makes it extra chocolatey. Daddy says he adds a little less flour and a little extra oil to…” Sianin’s brows furrowed in concentration before she said, “To copmensate.”

“Compensate?”

“Yeah, copmensate,” Sianin repeated.

Rose didn’t try to correct her again. Instead, she said, “Let me double-check with Daddy really quick though, baby. Wait just a minute.”

Rose went into the living room, where James was curled up on the sofa and cradling a sleeping Hannah to his chest. He was reading a book aloud to her, only it was a book James had been reading for himself over the past few days instead of a children’s book.

“Our daughter is a genius,” Rose murmured into his ear. She ducked down, being careful not to crush Maddie against the back of the couch, and planted a long, smacking kiss to his cheek, then reached down and stoked the tip of her index finger against Hannah’s hand, which was clenched into a fist in James’s shirt.

“Oh? Which one?”

“Sianin. She remembered exactly how much of every ingredient to add to make a chocolate cake.”

“My clever chef,” he said proudly.

“Your clever chef is also insisting that it’s a heaping three-quarters of a cup of cocoa powder, then a bit less flour and extra oil to ‘copmensate’,” Rose said.

James’s face softened at the botched pronunciation. “She’s my clever, clever chef.”

“All right. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t trying to make this an overly-chocolatey cake.”

“Well, she is, but no worries, it’s an authorized recipe modification.”

Rose pecked another kiss to his cheek.

“Aye aye, captain,” she said. Then she glanced down at the book in his hands. “Agatha Christie? Really? That’s not exactly child-appropriate.”

“It’s not like she can understand anything,” James said. “She’s been sleeping through this riveting tale anyway. I guess people being murdered one by one on a remote island is a bit too boring for her tastes.”

“Or maybe it’s you who’s boring.”

“Rose Tyler-McCrimmon, you take that back!” he exclaimed, pouting.

She gave him a wink, then went back to the kitchen to finish the cake.

Rose was relieved that Sianin’s mood improved over the course of the afternoon, and by the time they were icing the cake, it was as though their earlier fiasco hadn’t even happened.

If you’ve made it to the end, consider leaving a comment or reblogging? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

#doctorroseprompts #ficandchips #dwfic #doctor who #ten x rose #ten x rose au #soulmates #soulmates au #soulmates verse #james x rose #romance #fluff #family fic #kid fic #baby fic #my fic #perfectly matched series #family of six

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knowyourincantations · 5 years ago

Text

Soft and Warm - Hermione/Pansy/Tracey

For Sapphic September 2019 Day 3: ‘Socks’ from @rockmarina‘s prompt list.

Teen | 1,246 words | EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Established Relationship, Polyamory, Polyfidelity, Christmas, Socks, Teasing, bickering

(AO3 | My other Sapphic September 2019 works: AO3 | Tumblr)

Soft and Warm

“You know, I can’t decide if she’s mocking me or if she really does like them,” Hermione mused, watching as Pansy scrunched up her toes and splayed them out again. The motion was obvious even through the thick socks. “She hasn’t taken her eyes of them for ages.”

Tracey finished topping up Hermione’s wine glass and then, after putting the bottle down, sank into the sofa with a sigh. She’d just finished dealing with the dishes, grumbling the whole time even though it was her turn. Hermione had enjoyed hearing it, since she was mocked relentlessly about her own reluctance to do the dishes.

She’d keep it to herself, but she was sure Pansy had rigged the fork they’d spun to pick who had to clean up. As long as she hadn’t had to deal with it, she wasn’t going to complain.

“Who cares? They’re not really for her, they’re for us,” Tracey said, before taking a sip from her own glass and sighing again. “Protection from her permanently freezing feet in winter. Thanks, love. The book I got you pales in comparison to this gift.”

In the armchair by the fire, Pansy continued to watch her own toes flex, seemingly oblivious to their conversation.

Hermione scrunched up her face and put her glass down on the side table.

That was true, the bed socks were more a gift for herself and Tracey, but she had at least tried to make a few pairs that Pansy would like. Not that she’d really had any clue what that might be, since she never saw Pansy in socks at all.

When questioned about why she never wore socks if her feet were always cold, Pansy had only declared that socks would be a travesty, as they’d hide her toenails, which she regularly got done with beautiful designs.

“She’s never captivated by something so mundane,” Hermione muttered, scooting deeper into the sofa cushions. “She’s mocking me. I should tear them off her feet and burn them.”

Tracey snorted and uttered the wandless spell to switch the wireless station. It was late, but each station she tried was still playing Christmas songs.

“Ugh, not everyone loves all this holiday cheer,” Tracey huffed, swishing her free hand.

The wireless abruptly stopped. A few moments later, Pansy looked over at them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, shifting in her armchair and looking around.

“Awful Christmas songs, I’m sick of them,” Tracey declared. “Play us something, will you?”

Pansy perked up and Hermione bit back a groan. When she went to fetch her violin, Hermione shot Tracey a dark look.

“Oh hush,” Tracey said, flapping a hand in her direction and nudging the side of her leg with one foot. “Not every song she plays is sad.”

“No, some are just sinister,” Hermione huffed, reaching for her wine. “A fine way to tie off Christmas, music that makes you want to cry or check all the locks in a fit of paranoia.”

Tracey turned fully sideways, leaning her back against the arm of the sofa and worming her toes under Hermione’s thigh.

“Don’t be a snob,” she laughed. “She put up with your horrid knitting, you can put up with her compositions.”

“Hey, I’m a lot better now!” Hermione said, jabbing a finger at her. “Neville adored the hat and scarf I made him!”

She really had come a long way since her terrible attempts at knitting things for the House Elves of Hogwarts. She’d even managed it without Molly’s help, though she had certainly offered enough times.

“Did they have to be so fluffy though?” Tracey asked with a snort. “She’s going to slip and fall over on the hardwood floor.”

Hermione finished her wine and put the glass down. “You’ll thank me for that later. I wove permanent warming charms into them as I was knitting them. I bet you’ll be rubbing your feel all over them tonight. Fluffy and warm like that horrid hot water bottle cover you won’t throw out.”

“Leave off, that was a gift from my niece!” Tracey hissed, pulling one foot out from under Hermione’s leg to jab at her thigh. “She’s only eight, she’s doing her best!”

“And yet you insulted my socks,” Hermione said with a scowl.

“Leave off the socks,” Pansy said, startling them both as she appeared behind the sofa. “They’re wonderful. You’re just jealous you didn’t get a pair, Tracey.”

While Tracey spluttered something incoherent, Hermione squinted at Pansy’s back when she moved closer to the fireplace. If she was anyone else, then everything she was saying and doing would indicate that she liked the socks. But she wasn’t anyone else, she was Pansy.

“You don’t have to pretend you know,” Hermione said, wanting to head this off before it turned into something drawn out, like when Pansy had mocked her for over a month the one time she’d tried her hand at baking. “I’m a big girl, I can take it.”

Pansy turned and frowned at her. “I’m not pretending.”

Beside Hermione, Tracey snorted and reached for the bottle of wine. “Should have left it alone,” she said.

Hermione gestured at Pansy’s feet, still ensconced in the fluffy yellow socks. “You keep staring at them and wriggling your toes. You don’t have to keep wearing them if you don’t like them.”

With an even deeper frown, Pansy set her violin and bow down on her armchair and put her hands on her hips.

“Can’t I enjoy something without you two suspecting I’m pretending?” she asked. “I’m not a snob about everything you know.”

Tracey snorted into her wine glass and then choked for a few seconds. Pansy glanced at her, then back to Hermione. She looked more hurt than anything.

“No one’s ever hand-made me something before,” she said, still frowning. “Of course I can’t stop looking at them and wriggling my toes. They’re so soft and warm I never want to take them off. If I’d known your woollen monstrosities were this comfortable, I’d have bullied you into making me some years ago.”

Despite her expressions appearing totally genuine, Hermione still wasn’t sure. “Really?”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” Tracey muttered, prodding at Hermione’s thigh again with her toes. “Take the compliment before you start a fight.”

Hermione shot her a glare. “You were just insulting my knitting yourself!”

“Why settle for home-made when you can afford something far nicer?” Tracey scoffed, raising her eyebrow and her foot, waving her own fashionable sock in Hermione’s face.

Before Hermione could think of a response to that, Pansy leaned over and yanked Tracey’s sock off her foot.

“Oi!” Tracey hissed, almost spilling her wine.

Pansy snatched up the other pair Hermione had made her and then swiftly slid one onto Tracey’s foot.

Tracey froze, mouth still open to snap something, eyes wide. Right near Hermione’s face, the sock wriggled as she curled her toes.

“So warm,” Tracey whispered. “So soft. How is it so soft? Wool is always so scratchy when it’s not cashmere!”

With an eye-roll in Tracey’s direction, Pansy leaned down and tilted Hermione’s chin up with two fingers. She kissed her lips and then the tip of her nose before Hermione could protest that strange habit of hers.

“The socks are lovely, really,” she said, and this time Hermione believed her. “I expect more for my birthday.”

“Absolutely not!” Tracey cut in, sticking her foot between their faces. “I get the next pair, or I’m stealing one of yours!”

End.

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider reblogging to signal boost it and/or leaving a kudos/comment on AO3 =)

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vfdbaudelairefile13 · 5 years ago

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Chapter Five:

The One Where the Kids Connect the Dots

Violet and Klaus reached their table to find Duncan and Isadora playing patty-cake with Sunny.

“You okay?” Isadora asked when she looked up to see her friends joining them.

“Yeah,” Klaus commented as he sat down.

“You look like you’ve been crying,” Duncan commented.

“I promise I’m fine,”

Duncan frowned but he dropped the subject. “So you guys are related?” he asked.

“Yep,” Violet said opening her locket. “The woman in this photo is my birth mother and when I showed Sunny this photo she said ‘mama’,”

Duncan and Isadora looked at the photo and then at Violet. “You look like her,” Isadora remarked.

Violet smiled. “Thank you. My father told me that a lot,”

Klaus turned to Duncan and Isadora, “When you guys lived in the shack how did you guys deal with the crabs?”

“Oh!” Duncan said laughing. “Isadora had this brilliant idea to tape metal to our shoes to be extra noisy,”

Violet smiled at Isadora. “That’s a really good idea. Do you invent?”

Isadora blushed. “N-no,” she replied.

Violet began to tie her hair up with one of her ribbons, “Well, you’re very resourceful,”

“Thank you,”

“The noisy shoes scared the crabs, but it was exhausting to tap dance all the time,” Duncan commented as Isadora nodded.

“Nobody likes tap dancing,” Klaus said laughing.

“Spats,” Sunny chimed in, which meant, “except for Carmelita,”

“Maybe...I can invent something less exhausting than tap shoes,” Violet began. “But I’m going to need materials. Can everybody empty their pockets,”

Klaus sighed as he began to take all the two photographs and other random papers that he had collected during his and Sunny’s adventures on to the table. Isadora who sat across from him began to empty her pockets and just like clockwork, both the middle Baudelaire and the middle Quagmire triplet took out half of a spyglass. Klaus and Isadora looked at one another in confusion as they held their halves of a spyglass in their hands. Violet noticed this and her eyes got wide. Klaus and Isadora pushed their halves together and the five children heard a faint click! As the two halves of the broken spyglass fit together perfectly. Violet’s mouth gaped open as she reached into her backpack and took out the whole spyglass that her father had stuffed into her backpack just before he died.

“Where…” Violet began.

“Did you get that?” Duncan asked looking from Klaus’ half and Violet’s full spyglass.

“From the ruins of our parents’ home,” Klaus mentioned. “You?”

“Same…” Isadora said.

Sunny looked at Violet. “You?”

“My...father put it in my backpack before he died…”

“I think we need to talk,” Klaus said looking at Violet, who nodded.

Violet led the four other orphans to the Orphan Shack. Isadora and Duncan sat down on one of the hay bales as Sunny began to chase away the crabs. Klaus held the spyglass that he and Isadora created, closely examining it.

“We found it in the ashes,” Duncan explained. “We’d never seen it before,”

“This isn’t a coincidence,” Violet said matter of factly. “Three fires, two halves of a spyglass,”

“Your intact spyglass,” Isadora mentioned.

“I think it’s more than a spyglass,” Klaus said as he continued to examine his and Isadora’s spyglass. “There are dials, similar to ones I read about for cracking codes,”

Violet nodded. “You’re right. There are over two million combinations,” she muttered.

“How do you know that?”

“A...friend told me,” she said.

“But why would our parents have a device for cracking codes?” Duncan asked.

“Why would mine have the same device,” Klaus asked.

“Friends?” Sunny asked, which meant, “They must’ve known each other,”

“Why don’t we know each other then?” Isadora asked after Klaus translated for his sister.

Violet stood there quietly. Unsure whether or not she should tell them what she knew. It wasn’t much but...it was more than they knew.

“It’s like they were hiding all this stuff,” Klaus said sadly.

Violet sighed. “It’s because they were,” she said finally. “Our families are connected by an...organization,”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know much because the little information I do know, I had to snoop to figure out. But from what I know is the organization is called VFD. I’m not sure what those initials stand for...but it has something to do with ‘volunteering’ although...it’s not volunteer work,”

“But why didn’t our parents ever tell us?” Duncan asked.

“Maybe they were going to tell us, but...never got the chance,” Isadora said.

“Maybe they were hiding it for a reason,”

“Periculo?” Sunny asked, which meant, “Maybe it’s cause it’s dangerous?” Klaus quickly translated for his sister.

“Maybe?” Violet repeated. “It is dangerous,”

“You’re sure you three have never heard of Count Olaf?” Klaus asked looking from Violet to the Quagmires.

“Only when you and Sunny mention him,” Violet replied as Isadora and Duncan nodded their heads. Violet finished with her mobile, turning it on.

“Since we lost our parents, we’ve seen things we can’t explain,” Isadora mentioned.

“Us, too,” Klaus admitted.

“It’s all connected,” Violet replied. “That’s a little better. It’s scaring the crabs and it gives the place a little style. You can relax now Sunny,”

“It’s a lot better,” Isadora muttered as Violet blushed.

“Thanks,”

“At our Aunt Josephine’s, Sunny and I found a book that might contain our answers. But...we lost it in a hurricane before we could read it,” Klaus said.

Violet’s eyes went wide. “Do you remember the title?”

Klaus closed his eyes and tried to remember, after a few moments, he shook his head. “No...sorry,”

Duncan opened his green commonplace book handing it to Klaus. “Did it look like this?” he asked. Klaus and Violet looked at Duncan’s doodle of the book. Klaus nodded his head.

“My father had a copy...but I didn’t have time to read it,” Violet admitted.

“Our last guardian locked it in a safe after she lost her wife,” Duncan commented.

“Same,” Klaus replied. “If we all saw the same book, there must be more copies,”

“How can we find one?” Violet asked.

“Is the library open?” Klaus asked desperately.

“Not for long,” Duncan said looking down at his watch.

“Let’s go,” Violet said. “Together...we can figure out the bigger picture,”

“Our parents were all a part of something,” Duncan commented as he picked up sunny and headed for the door of the Orphan Shack.

“Our guardians, too,” Klaus added. “It might be why these terrible things keep happening,”

“We’ll never find out if we’re stuck here, though,” Isadora replied.

“Says who?” Violet asked. “This is a school...let’s see what we can learn,”

The four younger orphans all looked at Violet and nodded their heads. The five children raced to the library. Following Duncan, who lead the way, carrying Sunny who kept waving at the other three children. They had reached the library and to Klaus’ horror, Carmelita was there. He stepped behind Duncan and Sunny in hopes that Carmelita couldn’t see him behind the shorter boy.

“Get out of here!” the librarian who had greeted Klaus and Sunny during their tour with Carmelita shouted at her. “Give this a decent burial,”

The librarian handed Carmelita a shoebox. Carmelita simply smirked. “You told me you like To Kill a Mockingbird, so I did it for you,”

The angry librarian turned Carmelita towards her and sternly stated, “This is your last chance, Spats. Next time, I call your mother and steal your tap shoes,”

Carmelita ignored the librarian and turned to the five orphans. “I smell people who lost their parents in fires, ” she said mockingly. The librarian merely frowned as Carmelita skipped away. Klaus grabbed onto Violet’s arm at the exact time Duncan grabbed Isadora’s stopping their sisters from chasing after Carmelita.

“Let it go,” Duncan whispered to the girls who both rolled their eyes.

“Quagmires! Baudelaires! Miss Snicket! Lovely to see you, and together, I might add,” The librarian stated smiling at the five children.

“Are you still open?” Klaus asked desperately.

“I’m afraid I was just locking up. Ten minutes goes by fast,” she said rolling her eyes but giving the children a kind smile. “But you can come back tomorrow,”

“We can’t wait,” Violet said.

“Please,” Sunny pleaded giving the librarian the cutest puppy dog face.

“We’re trying to find a book,” Duncan explained.

“An important book,” Isadora added.

“It might have the answers...to all of our questions,” Violet said.

The librarian smiled and motioned for the children to follow her into the library. The five children smiled at each other as they followed her. “What’s the title?” she asked.

“The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations,” Violet replied.

“Let me see what I can do,” she said smiling at Violet. “We only have a few minutes before Nero comes on his rounds. If he catches you, he’ll make you trim his toenails,”

“He wouldn’t,” Violet and Klaus said simultaneously.

“He would,” Duncan and Isadora said simultaneously.

“He would,” the librarian reiterated. “You don’t happen to know it’s Dewey Decimal number?”

“We don’t even know who wrote it,” Klaus explained.

“That’s okay. That’s what I’m here for,” she replied walking over to her drawer. She impressively scanned through the notecard as she repeated the title of the book that the five orphans were searching for. Finally, she turned back to the children, a frown plastered on her face causing each child to frown back at her. “I’m sorry,”

“You don’t have it?” Klaus asked still a bit hopeful.

“Due to budget cuts, crumbling infrastructure, and the priorities of a certain vice principal, I’m afraid this place has become something of a faltering institution,” she replied. She gave the children a quick smile, “Although, I do have a few other books that I think you might like. The Incomplete History of Treachery? The Incomplete History of What’s Been In and Out? The Incomplete History of Rules and Laws? The Incomplete History of Knives and Other Surgical Tools? The Incomplete History of Circuses and Carnivals? Or, the Incomplete History of History? ” she read off each title, flawlessly throwing them behind her and to the children's amazement, each book landed in its correct spot on the shelf.

“Those do sound fascinating...but…” Klaus began.

“I know, in every library, there is a single book to answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind,” the librarian stated.

Sunny and Klaus’ eyes went wide. “Where did you hear that?” Klaus asked as he shuffled through his documents that were in his pocket.

“Dada,” Sunny chimed in sadly.

“I don’t know...I must have read it somewhere. Why?”

“Our father said that once,” Klaus explained showing the librarian the scrolled quote.

“It’s awful to have people missing from your life. It’s like a question that haunts you, and you never know if that question will ever be answered,”

“That’s exactly what it’s like,” Duncan muttered.

“We think it might be answered,” Isadora explained.

“With the right book,” Violet finished as Sunny nodded.

“I see,” the kind librarian sighed. “Well, a friend of mine is sending me some new titles now that she’s abandoned her dissertation to become a welterweight boxer. I’ll ask her about it. Check back with me in a day or so,”

“Mind if we look around?” Klaus asked as her timer rang.

“Drat,” she said panicked.

“Drat?” Sunny asked.

“Vice Principal Nero will be here in…” she began trying to rush the children out of the library.

“ Vice Principal Nero will be here,” Nero mimicked in his high pitched squeal. “Vice Principal Nero is already here, and this library is supposed to be closed!”

“It is closed,” she explained stepping between him and the five students. “And it’s empty. You must be having a bad dream,” she said waving her hands in front of his face.

He grumbled in response. “That only worked on me once,”

“Darn it,”

“Miss Caliban explained to me why these children are in the library,” Nero asked angrily.

“They only had a question about a book. They were just leaving,” Miss Caliban said smiling at the children.

“She’s right,” Duncan said finally. “We were just leaving,”

Violet grumbled as she led the four younger orphans out of the library.

“Oh! Before I forget! There will be a mandatory pep rally at the athletic field tomorrow after class,” Nero explained turning to the children. “Attendance is absolutely mandatory. ‘Mandatory’ means ‘anyone who doesn’t come has to buy me a bag of candy and watch me eat it,’”

“That’s not what mandatory means,” Violet said.

“Besides we know what it means,” Klaus stated.

Nero rolled his eyes at the children. He stormed out of the library as if he was allergic to common sense, knowledge, and books. The kids turned back to Miss Caliban, who stood alone in the doorway of her library. “Sorry,” she called out to them.

They each gave her a small smile as they went about their day. The children decided to spend the rest of the day in each other’s company as they awaited dinnertime. Klaus and Duncan spoke for two hours about Moxie Mallahan and how amazing she was in the world of journalism. Isadora sampled poems, reading them aloud to Violet and Sunny who both listened attentively during those two hours. It wasn’t until Violet had suggested that the children find an easy way to get to know each other. They sat in a circle outside of the Orphan Shack, asking each other questions pertaining to their likes and dislikes. Duncan learned that Klaus was really into Disney and that Peter Pan was indeed his favorite, which Duncan blushed when Isadora told Klaus that the same could be said about Duncan. Violet learned that when Isadora was ten, she had various crushes on female characters like Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Klaus and Sunny learned that Violet had a real knack for inventing and that her father had described her as a mechanical genius. Isadora learned that Violet was super into horror movies, which was something the two girls had in common. Duncan, Isadora, and Violet also took the time to listen to Klaus translate for Sunny, doing their best to understand her. Duncan even taking notes in his commonplace book about how Sunny spoke.

The five children smiled and laughed, all having a great time. For a moment, all five children forgot about their pain. Duncan and Isadora Quagmire briefly did not feel the intense pain of losing both their loving parents and their younger triplet brother. Klaus and Sunny momentarily forgot all about their troubles with Count Olaf and his lackeys. Even Violet temporarily forgot about her father’s death and the news that she would never meet her birth mother. For this moment in time, the two Quagmires, two Baudelaires, and Snicket girl were happy and it is at this time that I feel I should warn you. Turn away. Look away from whatever device you are using to read this God awful tale. You can end it all here. You can pretend that Olaf never shows his face at Prufrock and that these five children find a happily ever after as if they lived in some fairytale.

But if you choose to look on, please note that the story gets worse. It is all downhill from here. Once you continue, you will have rare opportunities to turn back. You can save yourself from the terror, grief, and heartache that these children are soon to endure or you can allow your curiosity to kill you like a cat named Rocket. If I was given the same warnings that I am giving you, I could not say if I would have turned away because my researching of this story comes with a purpose of finding these three children or maybe all five of these children and maybe then they can get their happily ever after.

As the five children sat on the dead lawn in front of the Orphan Shack, Violet and her siblings were smiling and the two Quagmire triplets were also smiling. I’ll admit although I have not researched the Quagmires nearly as much as I have the Baudelaires, I can say with reasonable accuracy that they were smiling for the same reason. It is a relief, in hectic and even frightening times, to find true friends, and it was this relief that all five children were feeling as The Quagmires, Baudelaires, and Miss Snicket learned random facts about each other.

Friends, as I’m sure you know, can make you feel that the world is smaller and less sneaky than it really is because you know people who have similar experiences, a phrase which here means, “having lost family members in terrible fires and lived in the Orphan Shack,”. It could also be because you know people who have similar interests, and the great things about friends nowadays is that they don’t always have to be physically with you. They can be halfway across the country or even the world and you would still feel that same sense of security and pleasure whenever you get to talk to them or share personal details about your life with them. It’s a feeling that I and my associate have felt countless times in our lives, and I am happy to report that it’s that relief and feeling that the five children felt as Isadora would slide over and whisper something into Klaus’ ear about Duncan which caused Duncan to do the same thing in return but to Violet. It was that relief and feeling that Sunny got when she would watch as either one of her siblings or a Quagmire triplet would blush and start stammering their words, causing her to say “Get a room,” which caused all four older orphans to burst out laughing. It was that relief and feeling that Klaus received when he spoke about his favorite books he had read in the Baudelaire library and it was that relief and feeling that Violet endured when she held Sunny close to her or asked Klaus a question about her birth mother and he’d answer it smiling and even describing his and Sunny’s father. And it was because of that relief and feeling that caused Klaus and Sunny to think that perhaps their troubles were coming to an end at last.

I had to be the bearer of bad news but they were wrong about this, of course, but for this moment, that didn’t matter. These five children had found friends, they had found each other, and as they sat in a circle in front of the dismal Orphan Shack, the world felt smaller and safer than it had for a long, long time.

When the sun began to set, Isadora suggested that they go to dinner before Nero’s boring and ear-piercing concert. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny were not excited at all to end their fun to be tormented by awful violin playing, but Duncan explained that there was a secret way out of the concert hall. All the five children would have to do is make an appearance, wait until everyone else was praying for death, and they could sneak out.

Once in the lunchroom, the five children decided to split up.

“Duncan and I will go get a table,” Isadora explained.

“Can you get us our dinner?” Duncan asked.

“O-of course,” Klaus stuttered. He then quickly turned to Sunny, who was smirking. His baby sister opened her mouth, he glared at her. “Don’t say it,” he warned jokingly.

“Get a room,” Sunny stated sticking her tongue out at her brother. He quickly scooped her up in his arms and began to tickle her.

“You little monster,” he said laughing.

“Stop it,” Sunny squealed.

“We’ll meet you at the table,” Violet said to the Quagmires, who hurried to find a table.

Klaus continued to hold Sunny tickling her, the young toddler was squealing and laughing. Violet watched as both of her younger siblings seemed to be happy and having a good time, which was the exact opposite emotion that they gave last night. She smiled to herself. How could someone hurt these two? She thought to herself. They’re so pure!

Sunny glared at Klaus, “I bite,” she warned through her laughter. Klaus rolled his eyes but stopped tickling Sunny.

“You’re such a cheater,” he said laughing as he and his sisters got into line. “Oh, I forgot to ask how was class with Isadora?” he asked Violet.

“We heard nothing but pointless stories,” she whined.

“That's language arts,” Klaus pointed out.

“You?” Sunny asked Klaus.

“Duncan and I spent the morning writing down meaningless measurements,”

“That’s math,” Violet pointed out. “How was work Sunny?”

“Longum,” Sunny said, which meant, “Tedious,” Klaus quickly translated for Sunny so that Violet could understand her.

As the children got to the salad bar, a familiar face shocked the two Baudelaires. “Hello, I’m Larry, your lunch lady?”

Klaus’ eyes got wide. “We know you!”

“Of course you do,” Larry said nervously. “I work in the cafeteria. See my hairnet?”

“No, we’ve met before,” Klaus explained.

Violet looked at her brother confused. Seeing his eyes widen, she glared at Larry. “Is this Olaf?” she asked in a dark tone. Larry shivered when Violet’s cold eyes stared back at his.

“No,” Sunny said before Violet could harm Larry.

“He’s the waiter at Lake Lachrymose,” Klaus explained. “He was dressed as a clown,”

“Pep mints!” Sunny explained, which meant, “I ordered peppermints and you gave it to us to help us escape from Olaf!”

Klaus quickly translated for Violet and Larry. Violet began to calm down still staring at Larry.

“Wait, if you helped them escape Olaf…” she said. “You knew my father!”

“Uh, peppermints are not a recognized part of the lunch program,” Larry said to Klaus and Sunny. He then looked to Violet, who’s saddened face made his heart hurt. He could see both her parents in her face. She had the eyes of Lemony but the face and demeanor of Beatrice. He frowned at her and nodded his head in response to her question.

“What happened to him?” she asked in a whisper, tears forming in her eyes.

“I have something to give to you,” he said to Violet.

“Does it have something to do with my father?” Violet asked. “Or their parents?”

“Or our guardians?” Klaus asked reaching his hand in his pocket, his fingers gracing the two photographs he took from Aunt Josephine’s.

“Olaf?” Sunny asked, which meant, “Will you explain to us what Olaf’s fucking problem is?” Klaus translated for Sunny as Larry frowned at the orphaned toddler.

“All your questions will be answered as soon as I give you…” Larry began as he took off his empty backpack. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny’s eyes were wide with anticipation. They desperately wanted all their questions answered. “Wait…” he looked up at the kids as he fell to the ground to search his empty backpack. “I’m sure it’s in here somewhere,”

“Out of my way!” Carmelita shouted pushing Sunny and Klaus back. “I deserve a heaping portion because unlike you, I’m heapingly adorable,”

Violet glared at her. “You can wait in line like everyone else, Carmelita,”

“I don’t have to,” she replied sticking her tongue out at Violet. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to. Vice Princie Nero likes me best,” Carmelita glanced at Larry’s lunch. “And there’s a beef and bean burrito with a ribbon on it just for me.”

“Where is it?” Larry asked himself desperately, then turning to Carmelita. “That is my lunch that I brought from home,”

“What did you have for us?” Violet asked desperately, still glaring at Carmelita.

“Give it to me!” Carmelita demanded.

“Sorry, I have to go look for something,” Larry explained.

“What were you going to give us?” Klaus asked desperately.

“Uh...macaroni and cheese with boiled weiners,” he said handing Klaus a plate full.

“No, thank you,” he replied as Larry ran away.

The three children looked at one another and then at Carmelita who was skipping away. Violet watched as Larry disappeared from the cafeteria, her heart shattered. He could’ve told her everything she wanted to know about her father. Klaus looked down at the plate of food Larry had given him wondering what in the world Larry was actually going to give them. Sunny glanced all around the cafeteria looking for her two friends, whom she considered to be honorary older siblings. She didn’t know what Larry was going to give her and her siblings but she didn’t care. She wanted the nice feeling that she felt earlier outside the Orphan Shack to stay with her for as long as it could. She didn’t want anything to ruin that. As Violet sat down next to Isadora, handing her a tray of food. Klaus sat down next to Duncan, handing him a tray of food. Sunny noticed her siblings weren’t speaking. Both obviously had their minds on Larry and what in the world he was doing here.

Sunny watched as her siblings quietly ate, she turned to the Quagmires who were confused but allowed Violet and Klaus to have this peaceful dinner. Sunny snuck glances at Duncan and Isadora as they turned to her trying to ask her what happened with just facial expressions. Sunny simply shrugged her shoulder indicating she didn’t know how to explain it. Both Quagmires gave Sunny a small smile as they continued to eat. Sunny wished that everything from their past would just leave them alone. No more random, semi helpful adults, no more danger, no more misery, and especially no more Olaf. She just wanted every minute of her life to be like it was earlier. Happy. Safe. Comforting. Fun.

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mygiantesslove · 6 years ago

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Christmas Eve at My Cousins Feet

A Giant Angry Hormonal Teenage Girl

December 28th 7:01am

The next day you wake up and see the giant soles that you masturbated to and feel very awkward. The thought of the soles of your cousin's feet turning you on and causing to act like a fool is something that makes you feel very weird inside.

"Oh man what the hell came over me? Why do I keep trying to convince myself that the only option I have is to become Bianca's devoted foot slave? I've been through many traumatic experiences inside and under my family these past few days, I hope I'm not losing my mind? It was only a weird lust for her feet. Just a weird lust for her feet. That's all. (Sigh) Oh man, do I really still want to do this? She is the only one who can help me grow back because she is the one who shrank me? I suppose whether or not I really want to be her foot slave, at the very least I'll have to play the part to find out how she shrank me and then find the antidote. If there is an antidote?"

You walk over to Bianca's heel and begin to push as hard as you can. It only caused her to reposition her foot to lay on its side, so you climbed between her toes and start squirming between them hoping that you would tickle them enough to wake your sleepy cousin up. Bianca moans groggily and then instinctively kicks you back onto the bed. It was a relatively rough landing but when you look up you see your cousin rubbing her eyes and then widening in response to seeing what she thought she lost forever.

"Jake? JAKE! Is that really you? OMG, I'm so happy! I thought I lost my foot slave and you were stuck underneath someones shoe and dragged outside. I looked all over the place for you, you have no idea."

Bianca's joy is rivaled with a kid in a candy store. She just got her favorite toy back, but her expression quickly changes from happiness to anger.

"I can't Believe you, Jake. I go out of my way to show you what everyone's feet smell like to further appreciate mine and you take all the time in the world so your sister puts her shoes on with you in them. You should have come out on your own. Do I have to tell you to do everything? Don't you realize you could've been lost forever? I bet that's what you wanted huh? To escape and go smell some other girls feet. And what would've happened if Jennifer had found you? She probably would've have wanted to grow you back and then I wouldn't have had a foot slave anymore. Would you like that Jake? If I didn't have a foot slave anymore and you wouldn't have to live under my feet forever?"

Jakes Thoughts. (Well yeah duhhhh. Do you really think I've always dreamed to be your slave? Ooo she's getting mad, I should probably answer her now.)

"Bianca I...(Stomp)"

Before you even had a chance to speak, Bianca, still sitting on her bed lifted her light purple pajama-clad leg up and sent the sole of her bare foot crashing down on you in anger. You saw her light green panties through her leg hole. It turned you on for a second, but you became instantly distracted by pain when she started to twist and turn her foot, grinding you into the soft bed. You were lucky you weren't on the hard floor, but it still didn't feel good.

"Jake. I can't have this. I can't risk you trying to escape me anymore. Don't you realize how important you are to me?

"I...I am?"

"Yes. If you weren't around, then who would massage and take care of my feet for me. Don't you realize that of all the boys in the world I wanted you to be living underneath them? You Jake, out of everyone, you were the lucky guy I wanted to serve me. Do you know how many guys would fall in line just to be able to give me a foot rub, just to be able to touch my skin? They would be honored."

Jakes Thoughts ( Yeah they might, but when her big toe is bigger than their entire body, they might think otherwise and run away, like I first did.)

"I'm sorry Bianca. Please forgive me, I beg you. I didn't mean to get worn as Jenny's insole. She surprised me I swear."

"Shut up. You wanted to be found so you could show off that you've been shrunk. Just so you can get all the attention from everybody like you always do. That's another reason why I shrunk you. Nobody's gonna think you're so great when you're massaging my heels and painting my toenails as a career. With you underfoot in your rightful place, people will pay more attention to me and I'll feel great knowing that the boy who used steal it from me is currently squirming between my sweaty and smelly toes in my gym socks. I'd be wiggling my toes just so you could feel the full force of them pounding you while I got all the glory.

"Bianca, please...

"Exactly. That's all I want to hear from you. My name and you begging me for something. It's what someone in your position should be doing. Begging a giantess for mercy or approval. Wait till you meet my friends. They'll tear you apart. That is If I decide to show you to them. And that all depends on you, Jake."

Jake never thought about her friends before. Just one spoiled brat as an owner was bad enough. How many girls was she going to share him with and what would their reactions be?

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because I can. Why can't you understand that? I'm Bigger. You're Smaller. Therefore you do Everything I say without question or you face my wrath and punishments. Like right now for example. You let yourself get taken away by your older sister and then took an Entire day to get back to me so now your being crushed underfoot. Am I enjoying this? Yes. Would I rather have one of your famous foot rubs? Oh God Yes. But you disobeyed me and this is what happens to puny shrunken slaves that disobey their giant mistresses. Start licking the old sock lint between my toes. Maybe then I'll decide not squish you into a gooey paste beneath me."

Bianca's arch lifted up a little at her heel and you could breathe easy again. However she repositioned her foot and lowered her toes on you, so they were tongue reachable. You saw the fuzzy sock lint between each of her toes and didn't want that foul cotton lint inside your mouth. Even though this would make you a hypocrite after last night, you decided to refuse her request because you didn't like the way she was treating you.

"No, I won't do it. you're going to have to treat me nicer than this if you want me to be an obedient foot slave"

"What did you just say to me?"

Bianca's big and second toes lash at you and seal around your face so fast you barely knew what happened. She squeezed your head in a jaw breaking, vice grip and said

"You do not speak to me like that. I am your owner and will not tolerate any disobedience from my pets. I thought you were learning your pathetic place in life as a lesser being beneath my perfect soles? But it seems I haven't made my point clear enough yet. I'll have to give you a punishment that will make you never want to escape or back talk to me ever again."

Bianca searched around the room and looked for something she could use to punish her stupid cousin. Bras, Dirty underwear, used tissues and tampons in her garbage all crossed her mind. Until she saw an item that she had worn many times before, for many years. An evil smile formed on the young teenage girl's cute face.

As you saw that malicious grin appears on her face, you realized your error of making a giant angry girl even angrier.

"Bianca, Wait I'm sorry...I know I belong at your feet, please don't do this....I..."

"Too Late Jake. It looks like you're going to be in a living hell for the next 3 days inside my............."

#giantess #g/t #g/t writing #foot crush #foot slave

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years ago

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Witch’s Crew”

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Boo! It's the Fly! Pow! Bye! Spooktacular!

On this dark and not-stormy-until-someone-says-"how can things get worse" night, Princess is readying a magic spell at a place that may or may not be her house. Apparently, Princess is the Magica De Spell of the Powerpuff Girls universe, who knew? I always had a feeling that certainly PPG 2016 plots seem to be made willy-nilly, and then they just put in whatever character they feel fits the most. This was definitely true of The Squashening, and this concept kind of makes me feel the same way.

I could even see some sort of alternate universe plot where this takes place in some sort of fairy-tale kingdom, like that one Looney Tunes where Yosemite Sam is suddenly a knight with a pet dragon guarding a magic sword. If that fairy tale kingdom is the same one from Once Upon A Townsville, it's probably for the best that it is not.

I guess from all of the magical smoke in the air, the Powerpuff Girls show up to stop her from practicing black magic without a license. See, they decided to justify why the Powerpuff Girls are going to prepare to beat up Princess, since she's technically not doing anything wrong by trying to improve herself, so they pull out this excuse out of thin air. I'm surprised there's even any justification; previous episodes were happy without one.

Also shocking from this show: the Powerpuff Girls apparently decided to skip Halloween this year, as they're still in their ordinary clothes. Maybe they think they're popular enough to where they can just dress up as themselves for Halloween. Or maybe they just didn't bother when 80% of the episode won't have them in them.

One character sure still does the Halloween tradition, though: Discount Jojo. The real Mojo Jojo would be taking over the world with a death ray that happens to be powered by children's candy. We don't even get that justification; he just wants candy just like an 80's one hit wonder and/or Shaq defeater. Specifically, he wants black licorice. He would not even need the ray gun if he tried that at my house. That is, if I even had that vile weed.

Princess disagrees and most likely lies about not having any candy, and Jojo responds by pulling out his ray gun. The good news is that Princess just happened to have a mirror that reflects the ray. This causes this apparently rubbery ray to bounce across the room until it hits the vat, drowning the room in "magic stuff".

As soon as Princess awakes, she finds out she became an ugly ogre that can burp fire. Discount Jojo gets the rawest end of the deal, as he only turns into an ordinary cat. A talking cat, but we never really confirm if it's one of those Wild Thornberries type situations where only Princess can understand him. One thing we can understand is that the Powerpuff Girls get new costumes after all.

Specifically, these color-coded witch costumes. While Princess and Jojo kept their personalities and general lack of morality, the Powerpuff Girls are fully evil, and are ready to cause mischief with their newly gained evil magical powers! They still seem to have flight and super-speed, right down to the contrails, but they now just shoot beams out of their hands and anything can happen.

Princess has to reverse this spell, and thankfully, her spellbook just happens to have the exact ingredients to reverse this situation, right down to who has what. For example, the first ingredient, which she gets immediately, is one of Discount Cat's whiskers. Apparently, this curse seems to guarantee. Of course, Princess is doing this for selfish reasons; she just wants her old, beautiful body back! Turning the Powerpuff Girls back into heroes that can be beaten by ordinary rope is just the unintended side effect of that.

It's not just because they had very little personality to begin with, but because they may have asked themselves what would each Powerpuff Girl do if they lost their morality and got magical powers. Here, Witch Bubbles is stealing all of the kid's sweets with her new magic, because she's usually the sweet one. Well, not always, but I think that was the theory.

According to her book, her second ingredient is a pigtail from Bubbles. What if the girl she accidently transformed into a witch didn't have her hair in pigtails? We'll learn later that this is pretty much random.

While she figures out a plan, she gets interrupted by a boy in a chicken costume. He asks this person with a great and scary costume where Elm Street is. The joke that is Nightmare on Elm Street exists. She then burns him with some orc fire by complete accident, and he runs off crying. Clearly, this will lead somewhere, but I'm not sure if it is going to be anywhere good.

Princess uses a trail of candy to lure Bubbles to a giant wrapped gumball. The Ogre Princess confronts her and challenges her to a bubble-blowing match. Bubbles blowing bubbles, I think that may be the idea here. Bubbles ends up overdoing it.

The next ingredient on the list is a toenail from Buttercup. Well, she’s screwed; the Powerpuff Girls don’t have toenails. She gets a pretty good hint on where to find her, as she finds tons of tiny Mayor clones running across the neighborhood. Hey, Tom Kenny needed to have his paycheck justified somehow. Witch Buttercup has been going around trick or treating, and turning everyone who didn't have a treat into a tiny Mayor clones. Apparently, Townsville has a lot of houses that give out toothbrushes.

Princess needs an idea to take on this monster, and she needs the book to figure this out.

Immediately after saying she needs the book, she uses it to whack Buttercup on the head. Again, this is fitting, because Buttercup seems to be the Puff that punches people far more often than the other two. Not that great for the whole series, but I get it. I guess you can not prove that she also got orc-like strength from that magic brew, and witches aren’t known for their resilience to bludgeoning.

She then decides to extract the toenail while she's knocked out with a chainsaw. We certainly did not need to be reminded of that commercial that also involves an ugly creature lifting up someone's toenail. Apparently, someone on the crew agreed, as we don’t get to see where Princess could find a toenail on a toeless character design. This all happens off-screen.

We do get to see Discount Jojo-Cat puking into his hat...and putting it back on his head without realizing what he has done. This may explain a lot if this is his normal procedure with puking. We do get to see said toenail once it is extracted, complete with a scream sound, but I already did enough damage by reminding you of that commercial.

Speaking of hate, uh oh, that kid she accidentally burned got an angry mob to go after Princess! They sure love those angry mobs! Clearly, she's going to be chased all the time, hated by even the people she thought loved her.

Or, she can just hide in a bush in a forest, and the angry mob just runs right past it, never to be seen again. Subplot over! Unfortunately for Princess, Discount Cat is stuck in a tree, leaving her all alone in the dark black forest. Even worse, it starts raining just as soon as she says that nothing can get worse. See, I wasn't lying in the beginning. While other shows would make fun of it, this show uses the cliche as straight as humanly possible.

Speaking of cliches, Princess starts to lament about how this was all caused by her want for "beauty, power, and riches", and now she lost it all. Didn't she already have riches? It could be commentary about how the rich just love to get richer.

She sees a cottage nearby, and randomly says that it isn't a five-star hotel just to remind you that this ogre is supposed to be Princess Morbucks. This cottage is owned by a kind old lady, who happened to have really poor eyesight so she couldn’t see the horror before her.

While the old lady is comforting this ogre, she tells her a story about her past that, in no way, is supposed to remind Princess about her evil ways. She used to be this super rich person who lived in a big city, until her greed angered a witch. The witch cursed her to be poor. Princess assumes this made her really angry, but the old lady subverts her expectations by saying it made her happy! She learned that she didn't need beauty, power, or even riches to be happy!

Yeah, that Bat Boy impression is pretty fitting. Once she hears this, she faints.

She wakes up, only to be tied up in ordinary rope over a boiling pot. If buildings-full-of-people-strength can't bust through that, orc-like strength has no chance. Turns out, the old lady was going to cook her as the main course in her "ogre stew"! I guess since Princess is now the heroine of this story, she gets to be the damsel in distress, too. That isn't the only twist, either.

Blossom: You’ve been tricked to be the treat!

The Reboot Puffs just can't think of any other Halloween puns, can't they? Yeah, that old lady was Blossom this whole time. Unlike some other twists this show has done, there are some hints to this:

She wore pink. That's a good tell.

The glasses made her look like she had bug eyes, just like the bug eyed freak that her real form is.

Blossom is the only one of the three that want her to see the light (i.e. see that money isn't everything) in more than one episode.

I could see Blossom doing this even without the evil brew corrupting her mind. Well, aside from wanting to eat Princess alive.

Thankfully, this heroine does get a man to save her! Well, a cat who used to be an evil ape, but still a male cat who used to be an ape. Discount Cat jumps out of the window and causes the second vat of green water to fall in this episode, this time with his body instead of a ray gun. Blossom-Witch doesn't follow Wizard of Oz rules, but she does get knocked out so that she can grab that ribbon.

She has to get to the house quick, and grabs one of the witch's brooms that happened to be lying around. She specifically refers to the room she has to go in as "the house", I'm still not sure if it is Princess's, or if Princess decided to go into some random witch's house to do all of this Magica De Spell activity.

This Princess chase scene isn’t anywhere near as good as the one in the Christmas special, but that's kind of a foregone conclusion. Of course, I'm talking about the real one, not the Generic Tree Lighting Day one. How can she manage to beat these girls who may still have super-speed in a race?

Tree Punch, Witches Down, womp womp. Well, I guess that’s to be expected from the Reboot Puffs, even if they’re supposed to be evil witches; the Reboot Puffs can’t escape their penchant for failure. Also, Buttercup should get those eyes checked out.

She makes it, and throws in all in the apparently self-filling vat. Magic! Discount Cat raises a point that Princess has to give something related to her, too, such as her crown. Princess has to think about it for a minute. Considering what happens later, it would have been a good scene for her to throw some sort of Burger King crown instead.

She relunctantly throws her real crown in, and then frantically has to chant the reversal spell. The Witchy Puffs show up, but the curse gave them Stormtrooper-caliber aim! Maybe Princess's curse made them nearsighted, too, just like Blossom's story. Nothing in the episode disproves that, especially the tree scene!

After completing the spell, the Powerpuff Girls are back to normal. It even had the courtesy to regrow Bubbles’ hair and Blossom’s bow. I would not say it regrew Buttercup’s toenail, because she shouldn’t have toenails in the first place.

Jojo's back to his discounted ape self, too. Because the puking scene wasn’t good enough, we get to see Discount Jojo coughing up a hairball. However, the spell to change everyone back turned out to be imperfect, because Discount Jojo’s is missing a little piece of his cape! Well, either that or it's just another aspect of the curse Craig McCracken indirectly put on this show.

Princess: All that time as an ugly ogre, I’ve learned that inner beauty...

Oh look, she may learn a lesson after all, prove that she is just a one dimensional villain!

Princess: ...is for CHUMPS!

Oh, reboot! I thought you were going to be like a real show for once! If they really want to turn Princess into this good person, why can’t they just do it without these cop-outs? Princess ends up praising herself for becoming her beautiful self once again.

Though, in a karmic twist, this spell gave Princess a tail. She didn’t have in her ogre form, so I can just assume the spell did it. The Puffs and Jojo decide not to tell her about it. They can also not tell her about all those Mayor clones that are now running around Townsville. As this episode proves, continuity is for chumps, too.

Does the title fit?

A singular witch could have a "crew" of other witches, and Blossom is supposed to be a leader.

How does it stack up?

Out of all the Halloween episodes, I can argue that this one is the best of all of them. That is not that much of a contest, though. Squashening had a decent ending, and Midnight At The Mayor's Mansion was just a wreck through-and-through. This one at the very least had a decent idea, switching around villains and heroes, and the execution isn't too terrible. Above average for the reboot, really.

Of course, the plot could still use some work. The ending is a particular sore point with me. There was no reason why Princess needed to stay evil besides she has to be. Poorbucks has proven she could still be evil even if she gets a soft spot, and it's kind of sad we'll never see that again.

All in all, not as bad as black licorice. At least, to me anyway.

Next, we go from Halloween to Generic Tree Lighting Day 2...Christmas?!

← Small World: Heart to Heartstone (Part 4) ☆ The Gift →

#fpb reviews #fpb ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #ppg 2016

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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How making guitars helped save a man from addiction

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/how-making-guitars-helped-save-a-man-from-addiction/

How making guitars helped save a man from addiction

He was 12 years old and hundreds of miles away at his grandparents’ house in Florida when his father broke the news over the phone. When young Moore returned home, his mother was inconsolable.

“I felt like I was unlovable. I really felt small,” the 44-year-old said. “I wanted to do all I could to make the house better, to feel better at home. And I didn’t know how to do it.”

Moore discovered the power of opioids to take that pain away while attending college at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. After a series of minor surgeries for ingrown toenails, Moore ended up with more than 400 pain pills in his medicine cabinet.

“My friend came over and showed me that I could use these pills then to feel better, to study longer, to just have increased performance and it was great in the beginning.”

It helped him feel more comfortable in social situations too — but on the outside, Moore says, he looked ridiculous — slumped over and drooling.

Moore’s addiction lasted more than 15 years — before he finally found the help he needed. It was a nightmare odyssey that led him to steal his grandmother’s cancer pain medication and his police officer brother’s ATM card to pay pills.

He says he tried to kill himself twice and spent nine months in jail where he was beaten in a prison riot.

Moore went through five different drug treatment facilities but always ended up using again.

Not until Moore says he found a 12-step program and a mentor who showed him the art of building stringed instruments — did he find the self-love and confidence that turned his life around for good.

Turning wood into music saves a man’s life

Moore was trying to get clean yet again in 2012 when he heard a master luthier — an expert stringed-instrument maker — was coming to his hometown of Hindman, a tiny hamlet nestled in the lush mountains of Eastern Kentucky.

The town has a quaint main street, but it has been ravaged by unemployment with the downturn of the coal industry and a brutal epidemic of opioid addiction.

Moore had been doing carpentry, building cabinets and had a love for guitars.

The desperate young man made a point of showing up to see a band one night where the luthier, Doug Naselroad, was performing.

“He said, ‘I need to come to work in your studio — I need you to teach me how to make guitars’,” recalled Naselroad.

“I said, ‘Well, that’s no problem. That’s what we do.’ And he said, ‘No, you don’t understand I need to come and do this.'”

Moore admitted he had a felony on his record and thought that might be an obstacle to apprenticing under Naselroad. At the time he was going through a 12-step program to fight his addictions.

“There was some discussion about the wisdom of bringing people in addiction into our studios,” said Naselroad.

In the end, Naselroad and his employer — the non-profit Appalachian Artisan Center, said yes. Moore was elated.

“I was probably headed for death that time. How many more chances do you get in life?”

Finding peace in a wood shop

Moore found himself in Naselroad’s wood shop nearly every day learning how to craft guitars from Appalachian native hardwoods in a town where the mountain dulcimer was first made in the late 1800s.

“Music has always been a part of this community ever since pioneer days,” said Naselroad.

What started out as a one-year apprenticeship became a six-year journey that brought Moore back to life.

“(Naselroad) would bring in what people would throw away and he could see through the rough grain and see that there was beautiful wood laying underneath,” said Moore. “To be able to do that and see beauty through dark places, is a gift he has and was able to show it to me.”

Moore says he began to see the beauty in himself peering through those dark places and his confidence grew as he built a new skill.

“You don’t realize what you’re capable of until you’re able to produce something in an artistic form. Art releases something deep inside you don’t know you have.”

Since he began, Moore has made more than 70 instruments. He’s sold many of them and kept others. And while building instruments at night, during the day he earned a master’s degree in network security administration.

Eight years later, Moore is still sober and works as the director of information technology at a residential treatment center where a large percentage of the employees are recovering addicts themselves.

One addict’s recovery inspires arts program

Moore’s success inspired the creation of the “Culture of Recovery” arts program at The Appalachian Artisan Center. The non-profit already had pottery, luthiery and blacksmithing studios, and in 2018, with a grant from ArtPlace America, started inviting people in recovery into their studios to work with mentors.

“We don’t do the difficult work that the recovery centers do. We don’t take people in who need to go through detox,” Naselroad said. “What we do is we accept people into our studios when they’ve phased into a place where that’s useful to them; when they’re ready to come out into the light of day. We try to occupy them and mitigate their recidivism.”

The program is voluntary and invites people who are enrolled in local drug rehabilitation programs like the Hickory Hill Recovery Center and Drug Court, which uses a non-punitive approach to recovery.

“There are creative individuals that this just fits like a hand in a glove,” said Kimberley Childers, Circuit Court Judge for Knott County, whose own family members have struggled with opioid addiction.

“The recidivism rate is very low when a person goes through this program — I would consider it to be 10% or less,” she said.

The judge said the program speaks to the soul of the people in a region that has a strong tradition of craftsmanship.

“Our culture is so rich in these things. We’re using what we have.”

So far, a couple of hundred people have taken part in these classes. They come once or twice a week to learn how to make pottery, guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, or chef knives and axes.

Kimberly Patton was one of the Culture of Recovery’s first students who learned how to make pottery. Five years later, she’s now sober and teaches other recovering addicts at the Artisan Center.

“Sitting here, you’re focusing on one thing. It shuts the outside world down. It really helps,” Patton said. “If I get mad or upset I can just come here and everything goes away.”

“When they gave me the key to this place — I was like ‘Wow, I finally got a key to something. I’m gaining back trust.'”

Taking instrument skills to the next level

Naselroad felt that a natural extension of the program would be turning those skills into jobs. Last year, he made it happen.

After turning over the luthiery teaching to one of his best students, he opened up the Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company — a factory which builds instruments and hires students trained at the “Culture of Recovery” program.

“The jobs we create are an economic development engine. But they’re also helping to keep our guys off the streets, which is part of recovery,” Naselroad said.

The Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company has only five employees — two of which are recovering addicts — but his dream is to have 50.

“The guitars that are made here, the mandolins that are made here — each one of them has a piece of the life of these individuals in recovery made right into them. And so, in the end result, you have an instrument that’s got a lot of life in it.”

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davidcarner · 7 years ago

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Sarah vs The Life Unexpected Ch 9, In Sickness and in Health

A/N: Sorry for the lateness, my daughter had an accident today and I spent ALL day in the doctor's office. She's okay, but I'm exhausted (something about sitting at the doctor all day WEARS you out) Thank you for the continued love. On with our story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, but I do own the Bartowski/Grimes 2016 presidential poster…

Sarah wet a washcloth, walked over to the couch, and laid it on her patient's forehead. She heard a mumbled thanks and smiled. She had changed out of her clothes from the night before and was watching the sun come up.

"Did you know?" her patient asked.

"Know what?"

"That someone that small could regurgitate that much?" Chuck asked. "I mean it was like something out of the Exorcist. It just kept coming and coming and coming."

"Clara never thrown up like that before?"

"No. I mean she's spit up some, but that…that was truly something I have never seen…nor want to again." Chuck laughed. "When I was a kid and I got sick, Ellie used to have to fight me. I would cry and moan, but Molly, she was great. Ellie always said I deserve to have a child act like me. I guess I'm lucky my girl isn't," he said. Sarah grinned at him. He took the washcloth off of his face, sat up, a worried look on his face. "Sorry, she's your daughter, not mine."

"Really?" she asked. "If I'm not mistaken, you sat up with her last night, you manned the explosion that happened in the bathroom. You kept her calm and held her hair and told her you were there."

"I overstepped my bounds, didn't I?" Sarah swatted his arm.

"Chuck Bartowski, quit being an idiot. You were exactly the father that girl needs and deserves." The look Sarah gave him gave him no room for argument. He grinned at her.

"You approve?" she leaned over and kissed him.

"One thousand percent," she said. "Now, get some sleep. I have some paperwork I need to take care of…where are you going?" she asked Emma as she came down with Clara.

"Mama!" Clara yelled holding her arms out. Sarah stood up, walked over, and took her. Clara hugged her neck and giggled.

"How's my girl?"

"Hu," she said. Sarah walked over, and grabbed a bad of dry cereal, and Clara began to go to town on it.

"I steal your kid, you steal mine?" Chuck asked, smiling.

"Sharing," Sarah said winking.

"Hey, Clara, is Sarah pretty?"

"Retty," Clara said, hugging Sarah. Sarah looked like she would cry. "Mama retty."

"Yeah, she is isn't she," Chuck said.

"You two getting married next week, or Monday?" Emma asked dryly.

"We haven't decided," Sarah replied, in a playful mood. Both women turned to Chuck, who's head seemed to be short-circuiting again.

"I think you broke him," Emma said.

"He'll reboot in a minute," Sarah replied. "You know you're pretty?" she said to Clara who clapped and giggled. "Yes, you are." Sarah turned to her mom. "Where are you off to?"

"If Chuck doesn't mind, I'm going to take Clara over to our apartment. I figured the two of us should spend the day over there, if not the night, so as not to spread this thing."

"You okay with that Chuck?" Sarah asked.

"Hey, Pumpkin?" Clara turned towards Chuck. "You okay staying with just Granny for a while."

"Gran!" Clara yelled, holding her arms out. Chuck looked at Sarah.

"How did she pick up on that so fast?"

"How does she pick up on calling me Mama so fast?" Chuck looked up at the ceiling where his room approximately was. In the bed in that room lay Molly, asleep. After her throwing up, which Chuck swore was things she ate when she was three and possibly her toenails came out of her, Sarah gave her a bath, put her to bed in Chuck's bed, and washed the sheets on her bed.

"You know, I think when she's better, we might have a little talk with one Miss Molly," Chuck said.

"Sis!" Clara yelled. Both Chuck and Sarah looked at Clara. Chuck's eyes were about to close.

"Mom, I'll call you when the coast is clear," Sarah said. "You sure you don't mind?"

"I'm fine, in fact, I was going to take Molly and give you two some alone time," Emma said. "I figured you two needed to have a conversation." A soft snore made both turn as they saw Chuck laying there, his head awkwardly on the couch, mouth slightly open, snoring. "Hard to find a guy who will stay up all night with your child."

"Hard to find a guy you love, who will stay up all night with your child," Sarah countered.

"Sarah, don't overthink it," Emma said, pulling her in for a hug. Clara gave Sarah a one arm hug and patted her back. Sarah pulled away and tickled Clara.

"I'm not," she said smiling. "But it's not just my decision."

"Let the little one loose on him if you have to," Emma said, heading out the door. "All's fair in love and war," she said, and she left. Sarah looked over at Chuck, still snoring.

"I feel for you Chuck," Sarah said softly, running her fingers through his hair. "I've got Emma, Clara, and Molly on my side. It just doesn't seem fair.

}o{

About 9, Sarah looked up from her computer. She was working on putting together the consolidation of the three companies, which was impressive since Carmichael Industries really didn't exist yet. She heard thumps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Molly making her way down.

"Mommy, I love our new house," Molly said. Sarah saw Chuck open one eye, and quickly close it again. "When can we move the rest of our stuff in?"

"Honey, it's not our house," Sarah replied. "We haven't been invited, but I take it your good if we were invited to move in?"

"Why hasn't Daddy asked us to move in yet?" Molly asked.

"You'd have to ask Chuck, Sweetie," Sarah began, but never got to finish. Molly walked over and got right in Chuck's face.

"Daddy? Daddy?" Chuck opened one eye and shut it. Sarah knew she should stop this, but she was enjoying it way too much. "DADDY!" Chuck jumped. "When can I move the rest of my stuff in? Can I do it today?"

"You should probably ask your mother that," Chuck replied, trying to figure out why this little person was screaming at him.

"So you don't mind if I move my stuff in?" Molly asked. Chuck's head was in a fog, and he knew he should be careful, but he just wanted some sleep.

"No, I don't care," Chuck replied. Sarah hid her laugh with her hand. Chuck had no idea what he had just stepped into. Sarah started to say something when her phone went off.

"Hello," she said, grinning. The grin fell from her face in seconds. "I mean…I really can't…are you sure? I could do that. Are you sure it's her? She was the mole!? She's going by herself? Well, no I don't blame her, and all this time I thought it was Zondra. Well, Molly was sick all night." Sarah looked at Chuck, her eyes pleading. Chuck had managed to pick himself up off the couch.

"We got this, Mommy," Molly said, holding her fist out to Chuck. Chuck just looked at it. Molly turned and gave him the evil eye. He bumped her fist and she exploded it. Chuck didn't. That got another evil eye. Chuck did it again, and exploded it. Molly nodded, turned to Sarah and smile. "We got this," she said, and leaned back on the couch both hands behind her head.

"I understand what I'm about to say is going to complicate my life to no end, but when she starts dating, I'd feel better if you talk to the boys beforehand," Chuck said. Sarah nearly dropped her phone.

"If that's what you want," she said shakily.

"You'll show them the knives?"

"Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "When I get done with this, we talk?" Chuck gave a single nod.

"Yes," Molly said, doing a fist pump. "I'm getting a baby brother!" Chuck and Sarah shared a look. Chuck just grinned and shrugged. Part of Sarah did a flip that she didn't know she had.

"I'm here, Carina," Sarah said, never taking her eyes off of Chuck. "I'll be in as quick as I can." She hung up, got up, walked over, and stood right in front of him. "I promised no secrets, but can we wait until I get back to talk to you about this."

"Sure, a couple of days?" Sarah gave him a look. "Got a pressing knife fight in Jakarta?"

"No, it should take a couple of hours, and I'm staying here with Carina and covering Ops. I'd explain more, but I really need to go," she replied. "I love you both, and I will talk to you soon.

"Love you," Chuck said, grinning. She bent down to kiss him and he pulled back. "I wouldn't, sleep, bad breath, drool."

"You owe me one," she said winking. She kissed Molly, got to the door, stopped and turned back. "Molly, if your serious about this, what he says goes, you got it."

"Got it, Daddy and I, we've got an understanding," she said. Sarah grinned.

"Chuck, we are so talking when I get back," Sarah said, and with that she was gone.

"You're ordering my baby brother tonight, aren't you?" Molly asked. Chuck looked at her, and decided to be honest.

"You know that's not how that works, right?"

"I figured, Jerry isn't that smart, but I'm five, how about you give me this talk when I'm older?"

"Don't you want your Mom to?

"Nope, she'll be all technical, and you'll blush, and sputter, but you'll be honest. That's what I love about you, Daddy," Molly said. "TV?" Chuck reached over and ruffled her hair, causing a quick little tickle/slap fight to break out.

"You watch TV, I nap, and if you need something, you wake me?" Chuck offered.

"Deal," she said. "Daddy, thanks for letting me live here. Don't worry, I'll make sure Mommy comes with me."

"Love you, Molly," Chuck said halfway asleep. Molly lay with her hands behind her head, sure she was on her way to completing Project OMAHA.

}o{

Sarah watched the computer monitor, not believing the footage she was seeing.

"I always thought it was Zondra," she said softly. "Carina, I feel so bad." Carina had just been starting at her the whole morning. For two hours they watched as Amy was tracked on the cameras and Zondra was leading a strike force to bring her down.

"Walker, are you seriously not going to tell me what happened last night." Sarah was looking at the monitor. She sat up, grinned, and turned toward her friend.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Oh, for the love of Pete! You can cut the sexual tension between you two with a knife! What went wrong?"

"How do you know anything went wrong?" Sarah asked innocently. Carina smirked.

"Because you're not mad like it was terrible, and you're not glowing like you would be if it was half of what you were hoping." Sarah knew she shouldn't say anything, but she couldn't help herself. She and Carina had shared so much the last five years.

"Okay, I wore the purple thing I showed you a few weeks ago," Sarah began. Carina's eyes lit up. "But, someone lied to me yesterday," she continued.

"No. You didn't!"

"I did."

"But, didn't that punish you more than him?" Sarah blushed.

"At first, I thought he had learned his lesson, and first thing in the morning, we'd have our fun, but then," Sarah paused.

"What did he do? Massage? Kiss you? Rub you?"

"He opened the door, so he could hear Molly in case she was scared or got up since it was her first night in the house." Carina sat down.

"Your ovaries exploded didn't they?" Sarah didn't answer, but the blush returned. "That's not it, is it?" Sarah shook her head. "Walker…tell me!"

"He heard something in the middle of the night. It was Molly, she had a fever and was having a chill. He picked her up, carried her downstairs, gave her medicine, and slept on the couch holding her. Two hours later, Emma woke him so he could give Molly the other medicine, and that's when I saw it all. I went back to bed when I heard a commotion. Molly got sick, and Chuck took her to the bathroom, held her hair, and nursed her all the way thought it."

"Are you marrying him Monday, or do you think you'll wait 'til next week."

"I told him that we were having a talk tonight," Sarah said. She looked down at the floor. "I know what I want to do, but…"

"Here it comes," Carina said.

"What?"

"It's complicated. The kids, our work situation, our housing situation. Sarah what do you want to do?"

"Spend every minute with him," Sarah said, surprised by her own honesty.

"If there was no romance involved, what would you do about work?"

"Exactly what we're doing."

"If he were an asset what would you do?"

"Move in and provide 24 hour guard."

"What's. The. Problem?"

"I'm scared."

"There it is," Carina said, hugging her. "Sweetie, you love him, of course your scared. You're scared he'll realize he fell for the wrong former federal agent and you'll find him swinging from my chandelier one night." Sarah just gave her a flat look.

"You have a chandelier?"

"No," Carina admitted. "But, you know what I mean."

"What if we break up?"

"Do you think he'll ever not be in Molly's life?"

"Not unless I ask him not to be," Sarah admitted.

"Then it comes down to two people, you and him."

"He's never actually asked me if I would move in," Sarah said softly.

"Have you ever asked?" Sarah just looked at her. "If you want it, go get it!" Sarah smiled.

"Miller, Walker, I got her," the comms exploded. "We've got Amy, we got the mole!"

"Zondra, I owe you an apology," Sarah said.

"You don't owe me anything, Walker," Zondra replied. "I thought it was you."

"Next time you're in the area, why don't you drop by," Sarah offered.

"You got it," Zondra replied. Sarah smiled, signed off, and found her phone.

"I'm going to call Chuck, and we'll wrap up," Sarah told Carina. She dialed the number, and was surprised by what she heard.

"Chuck's phone," came Molly's voice.

"Is he asleep?" Sarah said, and heard an awful retching noise in the background.

"If he is that's impressive," Molly answered.

"Molly, what's going on?"

"According to Chuck he just threw up something he ate in third grade." Sarah ran her hand over her face. "Ohhhh, that sounded painful."

"I'm on my way," Sarah said. She turned to Carina who was fighting a smile.

"Go, nurse your man back to health." Carina said, grinning. Sarah hugged Carina and raced out the door.

}o{

Sarah walked in and saw Molly sitting on the couch, watching TV, coloring, and eating potato chips. She came in and sat down beside her. Molly looked up, sad.

"I'm sorry, Mommy," she said. "I ruined this weekend."

"How did you ruin this weekend?" Sarah asked.

"You and Daddy were supposed to have a big family weekend with all of us and order me a baby brother. I got sick and ruined it, and now Daddy is sick." They paused when they heard a terrible retch. Sarah held up a finger.

"You need anything?"

"All good," he choked out.

"We have different definitions of all good," she muttered. She turned back to Molly. "Being a family isn't just about being a family that goes to a park or Disneyland, or goes and get ice cream. It's about being there at all times."

"In sickness and in health," a weak voice came behind them. Sarah looked back at Chuck. He looked awful, but she couldn't love him more than she did right now. She hopped up and went to help him. He tried to shoo her away, but she was having none of it, and walked him to a chair that he sunk into. "Family is about being there during loss, during the hard times, and during the times no one else is there for you," Chuck said.

"Like when you were there for me when I found out I was adopted?" Molly asked. Chuck nodded.

"But, you had family, Molly, why didn't you say something?" Chuck asked. Molly looked down.

"I didn't understand then," she said.

"Understand what, Sweetie?" Sarah asked.

"I didn't understand that you wouldn't give me back," Molly said. Sarah's mouth dropped.

"Molly, you are my daughter. I may not be your biological mother, but I will never give up on you, and I will fight tooth and nail for you," Sarah said looking her in the eyes. Molly hugged Sarah.

"And Clara?"

"Yes, Molly, and Clara, as long as Chuck lets me," she replied.

"Why would I ever not let you, and, how could I stop you? Seriously, how?" Chuck asked. Sarah looked at him and shrugged.

"You couldn't," she replied grinning.

"And, Daddy?" Sarah never quit looking at him.

"In sickness and in health," she said softly.

"In sickness and in health," he replied.

"As long as we both shall live," she said, parts of her body doing dances she hadn't felt in a while. Chuck grinned.

"As long as we both shall live," he replied doing the eyebrow dance.

"I do," she replied.

"I do too."

"I'm not kissing you right now," Sarah said, smiling.

"I wouldn't kiss me right now," Chuck replied. Sarah grabbed Molly's hand.

"Come on, let's go make your bed, wash my sheets, and talk about where you got those potato chips," Sarah said. Chuck made an ohh face at Molly. Molly made a scared face back at Chuck.

"Wait, your bed?" Chuck asked. Sarah stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked at him.

"My bed," she replied, giving him a look that challenged him to say anything. Chuck situated himself in the chair.

"The big walk-in closet is empty," he replied. "There's plenty of room in the attic for storage, and in the basement for some things as well," he said, his eyes closed. He opened one eye and saw her still looking at her.

"You asking me to live with you?"

"I thought you just told me you were going to," Chuck said as the door opened. Emma walked in holding Clara, rolling a big suitcase behind her.

"There's two more in the trunk," she said. Chuck just watched her come through, and she stopped right in front of him. "If you hurt her," she began.

"If I hurt her?" Chuck asked. "She knows over 100 ways to physically hurt me and she has my heart in her hands." Emma smiled at him.

"What happens next?"

"Well, I thought I'd take a nap," Chuck said. "But, apparently you women-folk aren't going to let me."

"Women-folk?"

"I have a fever, I'm delirious, and I don't know what I'm saying," Chuck said quickly. Emma bent down and kissed his forehead.

"You have a slight fever, did you throw up?" Chuck nodded. "That explains the smell." Chuck looked hurt. "Go shower, now" she said pointing toward the bathroom. Chuck got up, and walk by, turning his head so as not to look at her, he came to Sarah, and did the same thing. She slapped him on the backside as he went by.

"You are going to be the death of me."

"If you don't shower, that smell will be the death of me." Chuck turned and started back up the stairs. The four watched him go.

"You sure about this, Sarah?" Emma asked. Sarah looked at her.

"I'm sure I love him, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him, but I'm scared to death," Sarah admitted. Emma smiled.

"See, not that complicated."

"Does that mean you'll call the stork tonight?" Molly asked. Sarah put her hand over her face.

"Jerry and I need to have a long talk," Sarah said, and started up the stairs of her new home.

A/N: Sorry it's short, today has been a day, but I wanted to get this up. Probably nothing until Friday. A lot going on tomorrow, and Thursday I've got Star Wars tickets for 7 pm, and I'll be hyper all day. See you soon.

#Sarah #Chuck #Charah #MOLLY!#Sarah vs the Life Unexpected #fanfic #fluff

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ninaahelvar · 8 years ago

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We Were Staying In Paris (2/2)

Summary: Wolfgang and Kala get Paris. They get more than that then they realise.

Chapter: 2/2

AO3 (part 1 on tumblr)

A/N: lol it’s like 3am, and i just finished this and I can’t believe it took me this long to get it finished. I hope you like it. (also, just tagging in case you miss it; @our-connection-is-a-miracle @sunbakkoush and @timisaliar)

Days passed, and the tension of BPO around the corner was climbing down - not close anymore. Some days they would just sit and have conversations, talk until the moon overtook the sun. Other days, they would have heated skin against heated skin, moments filled with the purest sensation of bliss.

Kala tugged on her shirt, rising from the bed after not finding Wolfgang at her side. Assuming he was off making breakfast again, she smiled, tucking back hair that always fell on her face. Shuffling to the little kitchen out of the corner of the living room, kala found the kitchen bare and untouched. Brow furrowing, Kala bound her hands in the bottom of her shirt before walking back into the living room. “Wolfgang?” she called out. There was no response. Kala hurried off to the bathroom, anywhere that he could possibly be hiding. “Wolfgang!” she called out a little desperately this time. Still nothing. She was about to hurry off to the bedroom to change when the front door opened. Kala froze, worried it was Rajan or BPO. She couldn’t move. Not until she the dusty blond hair of the man she loved. “Wolfgang!” she exclaimed, hurrying over to him.

“Woah,” Wolfgang chuckled slightly, placing down bags in his hands. Kala rushed into his arms, holding her as she shook slightly. “Calm down, mein schatzi, I just went to get some eggs,” he said, kissing the top of her head. She moved off from his hold, pushing against his chest and crossing her arms in defiance.

“Don’t do that to me again, I was scared,” she grumbled, not wanting to look up at him. Wolfgang’s hand reached down, stroking up and down her arm, cautiously stepping into her.

“When I left you were fast asleep,” he said in a soft voice. Kala stepped back again, pushing a finger into his chest to try and keep him at bay. She needed to stay mad for just a minute.

“You should have left a note. Or made me go. Or something else! You could have been seen,” she huffed, looking up from the floor to see Wolfgang’s shoulders relax, a small smile appearing across his lips as his hand guided up her cheek.

“I’ll try not to make a habit of worrying you,” he said, just before stealing a kiss. Kala couldn’t help but let the anger of the moment go. She softened at his touch, her toes nudging at the floor, Wolfgang tugging her closer for another kiss.

“I doubt you’ll succeed,” Kala quipped and Wolfgang stopped, looking down at her. His lips curled at one side, his smirk became mischievous with every passing second.

“Oh, now you’ve done it,” he chuckled, picking Kala up to her surprise and holding her up against the wall. He laced kisses all over her; lips, neck, jaw - anywhere he could get his lips. It took some reasoning, but Wolfgang let Kala down so they could put away the groceries. But, after everything was put away, Wolfgang took Kala up onto the kitchen counter. She giggled as he kissed her with sweet and rough kisses, the giggles turning to moans and her legs pulling Wolfgang in closer. It wasn’t long until Wolfgang was stripping out of his shirt and buckling his pants, their tempered kisses turning into sweat-laced skin and pleasure that they could never fully comprehend.

Then, life oddly became a party with the rest of the cluster coming to visit. They stayed in, music tearing up the apartment and late night movie binges with the clust, everyone piled on the couch and floor - a makeshift area for them all to relax and be content for a few hours. They managed to get through three movies before the cluster started breaking apart with with their lives to catch up on.

Wolfgang had dozed off in the fifth movie, not quite enjoying the romance that Kala wanted to watch. As Kala decided it was time to go to bed, Lito dropped in, somewhat in a daze, waking up with Hernando. Lito interrupted his morning just so he could smirk to Kala with a plan written in his eyes. He went to their bedroom, talking all the while and coming back with nail polish in hand. Now, Kala wasn’t the mischievous sort - she rarely ever played pranks on Daya - but right now, Kala wanted to behave badly.

They managed to stay together for a few minutes, painting Wolfgang’s nails and toenails, gossiping briefly about Lito’s new job and how excited he was. He was also - finally - telling Hernando and Dani about the cluster. He was worried and needed to visit someone; might as well have some fun whilst talking it out. Kala gave some comforting words as they waited for the nail polish to dry.

“I must go, my sister,” Lito whispered, Wolfgang stirring in his comfortable spot on the couch.

“Have a good day, Lito,” she whispered, kissing Lito’s cheek before he was gone. Kala sheepishly tugged on Wolfgang’s arm, getting him to sit upright. “Wolfgang, we should go to bed,”

“Hm, bed,” he hummed and Kala chuckled, helping him up to lean on her hip.

“No, just sleep,” she said and he grumbled. They stumbled to the bedroom, falling over each other trying to find the bed. Falling on it, Kala was practically crushed by Wolfgang, who was far more tired than Kala was. She adjusted them, and Wolfgang wrapped his arms around her, a tight hold on her body.

“Sorry,” he smacked his lips, finding comfort in her chest once more. Kala pulled the sheets over their bodies, carefully keeping them both in place.

“Shh, let’s just go to sleep,” she hummed and kissed at his forehead. She dozed off, happy with her life that had belonged to her for only a few weeks. How perfect only a few weeks could be to make up for months of uncertainty and naive feelings.

In the night, they had separated to their own sides of the bed, nearly truly straying more than a fingertip away; Wolfgang’s presence was always right beside her, she could always tell the distance.

Waking, Kala found Wolfgang’s eyes on her, his smile waiting for hers. When she let her lips rise, his grin was wide and it quickly swept in, stealing a kiss from her lips. Wolfgang’s hand cupped her face, thumb stroking the curve of her cheek. Kala purred, her palm covering his, just trying to keep the electric sensation of his touch on her skin for as long as possible. No matter how many times they touched, in every way possible, a single moment their skin met, it was like magic at a fingertip’s edge.

“Kala?” Wolfgang started.

“Hm?” she hummed back.

“Do you know who painted my nails?” he asked and Kala sprung up, a chuckling Wolfgang rising at her side.

“Well, I did,” she bit her lip nervously. “But Lito visited and helped,”

Wolfgang admired his nails for a moment before shrugging it off. “At least it's black.”

“You're not mad?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

“Why would I be mad?” he asked, hand playing with her hair.

“Because I painted your nails while you were asleep,” Kala bit at her lip again, Wolfgang’s hand sliding down to bring her into his hold, as though he couldn't bear the small distance between them.

“You could never make me mad,” Wolfgang smiled. Kala sighed, a breath of relief escaping her as she pulled herself into Wolfgang’s arm, her body laid next to his chest.

“It’s different,”

“What?” he asked.

“Everything,” she chuckled, tucking hair out of her face. Wolfgang pushed it back further, hand resting on her jaw. “Everything about us. About my life. About being happy. It’s all different,” she explained and Wolfgang returned a grateful smile - knowing the feeling entirely.

The day went on with a lazy attitude to things; they didn’t do a proper lovely breakfast, they didn’t properly get changed, they sat around in each other’s arm or on the couch just reading and talking about life. It felt comfortable and natural, like they didn’t have to strive for perfection because it already was. As the day went on, they had a few visits, Will and Wolfgang talking about safety as Kala and Riley spoke privately. It was just quiet conversation on how the other was feeling. It was quick and a mutual understanding was underpinned in their words - they were in love and they were happy; they didn’t need to say anymore.

Later on, Kala found Wolfgang on their bed, sitting up and watching TV. He was watching one of the singing contests when Kala walked in. He shut it off as Kala hopped on the bed, her legs barely covered by Wolfgang’s oversized shirt. She chewed at her lip, contemplating something before Wolfgang reached out, his hand laying on her hip. Kala moved his hand away, his brow crinkling.

“I want to try something,” she reassured him.

“What is it?” he asked, trying to sit up straighter. Kala pushed on his chest, making him lie back slightly.

“Sit there,” she whispered. Taking in a large breath, letting it out, Kala started to bound up the ends of her shirt in her hand.

“Kala, you don’t -”

“I’m being sexy here and you need to enjoy it,” she protested and Wolfgang smiled, leaning back once more.

“Done,” he replied.

Kala watched as Wolfgang let his eyes linger on her thighs, his hands at either side of him, impatient but waiting nonetheless. Slowly, and with a tremble in her fingertips, she moved her shirt upwards, watching Wolfgang carefully as the shirt came off completely, thrown to the side of the bed. Wolfgang’s eyes, hungry and lustful, staying on her but his hands clenched with eager demand.

There was a chill that run up Kala’s spine, utterly bare and naked in front of the man she loved. She had been somewhat naked with Wolfgang over their course in Paris, yet this moment, of stillness and eyes lingering for one more glimpse - it was far more intimate than any of the previous days had ever been. Kala bit at her lip, batting her eyelashes before Wolfgang reached out to her. Taking his hand, she moved up onto his lap, his hands laying on her hips.

Wolfgang took down his boxers, having Kala remain on his lap. There was always part of Kala was wasn’t sure about sex, that knew she was inexperienced and didn’t know as much as Wolfgang did; which made what she wanted so much harder. “What’s wrong?” he asked, the obvious thoughts seeping into his mind too.

“I want to take the reins, but I don’t know how,” she replied weakly. Without so much as a warning, Wolfgang took Kala’s hand, guiding it up and down his shaft, the friction aiding in the hardening of his length.

“I’m all yours,” he nodded, his breathing a little hitched. Wolfgang’s hand guided hers, his head falling back slightly as he made her hand go faster. Kala stilled to a slower pace, and he hissed as Kala’s thumb ran over the tip.

“Slow,” she whispered, leaning up and having confidence surge through her. Her inexperience didn’t limit her desires, making Wolfgang’s tip run over her heated core, stealing a desperate kiss from Wolfgang’s lips. Their lips never parted when Kala let herself sit back down on Wolfgang’s lap, his moan vibrating through her lips. He filled her in the most intimate way, the pleasure of their bodies was almost overwhelming. Wolfgang laid a hand on Kala’s hip, helping in the softs rocks she performed on his lap.

Her hands gripped into his shoulders, using him as a leverage point as to ride him better. Kala expected Wolfgang to lead after a while, let himself stew in desire until it all boiled over. Instead, Wolfgang laid gentle hands on her, guiding her slightly to perfect a rhythm on his cock. Her pace was slow, making sure they both became impatient before the other fell apart. Circling her hips, just to add a little more friction, she found that Wolfgang enjoyed himself yet was ultimately frustrated with the change in their dynamic. He bit softly into her chest, his hips involuntarily thrusting up into her; he wanted to take charge, but not wanting to stray Kala from her task.

Running her hand up his neck as she moved up on him, her other hand moved his from her hip back to her ass, slipping it over the curve of her flesh. Hand gripping hard into her skin, before his grip loosened to make way for the hard slap he inflicted. Kala hissed at the impact, her back arching as the wave of it rippled through her. “Shit,” she heard Wolfgang mumble against her skin and he completely still. “I’m sor -” he tried as Kala interrupted his words with a kiss. It was a learning experience, but one where she discovered she liked the way it felt - his hand so demanding on her body, yet so forgiving with the way his body encouraged her pleasure.

The pleasure her body was feeling, it started in her stomach, the anticipation and impatient way it crashed waves through her body. Wolfgang was now letting his body react naturally to hers, his hips meeting hers and having her throw her head back. Wolfgang brought himself up further, holding onto Kala, thrusting up into her with every motion she tried to give. He knew she was giving over to her pleasures, unable to hold back what she felt from him a moment longer. A hand rested back onto Wolfgang’s thigh as Kala rocked against Wolfgang’s thrusts. Before she could fully brace for the oncoming orgasm, it was already filling her body; pins and needles in her fingers and goosebumps prickling over ther smooth skin.

“Ah! Mein schatzi, let go for me,” Wolfgang moaned, his mouth trailing sloppy kisses over her neck and chest. Kala felt her leg shaking, the tremble that echoed over her body was forcing her to slump against Wolfgang, not quite done but her body was unable to continue in the position it was. Wolfgang picked up on it quickly, turning them around and laying Kala on the bed, his thrusts eager but soft, helping her ride out her orgasm before tempting her with another.

Kala locked her legs around Wolfgang’s waist, tugging him into her with every thrust and feeling it deeper than she thought she had before. Wolfgang laid kisses all over Kala, her own littered across his shoulder and nails in his back. He held her close as his mouth trailed down her chest, tongue tracing over her nipple and letting his teeth catch around it, just to tease her. Kala arched her back, her legs tightening and bringing Wolfgang in for a harder thrust.

“Wolf -, Oh, Wolfgang,” Kala murmured between heated breaths. She knew she was shaking slightly, not out of fear or uncertainty; she was experiencing a pleasure that was unlike anything she could have ever dreamed of. Wolfgang’s pleasure was mixed with her own, her body meeting hers and being hers and everything in between. Their bodies fit together and moved well against each other to create the perfect meeting of two souls. She craved for her climax to come, and she could feel Wolfgang begging for it himself.

He pushed himself into erratic thrusts, his hands either gripping hard into her hip to meet her circling hips, or gripping hard enough into the bedsheets to tear them from the bed completely. Kala was torn between kissing Wolfgang with all the passion she had left and screaming his name. It alternated between the two. As Kala’s chest heaved, Wolfgang moaned and groaned into her neck, their climaxes not far off, and their bodies craving the last bit of friction that would get them over the line.

It took little time for Kala to be clawing at the bed and Wolfgang’s back, his hands binding into the bedsheets and Kala’s hair. Their orgasms rippled over each other, an ecstasy that tore into them and left them breathless. Wolfgang rolled to Kala’s side, both glancing at each other as they were both covered in sweat. Kala’s smile grew before it turned into a joyous laugh, to which Wolfgang joined in on. It was just happiness that radiated through the air, their love and happiness so intoxicating even after everything, that they couldn’t help but giggle amongst themselves. Wolfgang tugged Kala into his chest, having their legs tangle.

They laid in bed for a few hours, not doing much else but watching TV and talking about things that they hadn’t discussed before. Wolfgang talked about his mother and Kala talked about her family; they talked about school and the adventures they used to perform. Wolfgang seemed proud of himself when he talked about lock-picking a bully’s locker and putting spiders inside, until Kala confessed to almost burning off her eyebrows due to an explosion gone wrong in her little back garden.

As the night drew in, and fatigue wouldn’t grip them, they just touched each other, memorising the way their hands felt against each other and how their skin felt on edge whenever their touch was absent - forever craving the next time skin would touch skin. Wolfgang was underneath the covers, his lips trailing down her hip as Kala laid on her side, flicking through channels.

“I left a mark,” Wolfgang’s voice was muffled under the duvet, his hand delicately rounding her ass.

“Hm?” Kala hummed.

“Right here,” he said just before her teeth nipped at the sensitive area.

“Stop it!” she giggled, as Wolfgang nipped at her skin again. As Kala sighed, Wolfgang’s kisses returning, she saw an unexpected visitor. “Will?!” she squeaked, bringing up the blankets further on her chest, even though she was fairly covered beforehand. Wolfgang emerged from underneath the covers and Will, looked up to the ceiling, realising what he had walked in on.

“Knock, next time, would you?” Wolfgang huffed, leaning back next to Kala.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise you guys would be…” he said, suddenly clearing his throat. “yeah.” Will’s hand landed on his hips, not fully able to look at their of them. Wolfgang rolled his eyes to Kala, who smiled to him.

“What is it?” Wolfgang shrugged, kissing Kala’s shoulder. Will scratched the back of his head before sighing, a small smile appearing on his lips.

“Nomi says that BPO seems to be less alert and more sensates are coming out now, less afraid. We think you can come out of hiding,” he explained. Kala bit her lip, smiling back to Will, reaching out for his hand. He walked over slowly.

“That’s great news. Thank you, Will,” she said as he leaned down, kissing her cheek.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he whispered and she laughed.

“See you soon,” she whispered back, his visit short, but worth it. As Kala looked back at Wolfgang, he gave a large grin, because he knew that Kala’s plans for Paris could now fully get underway.

The next day, Kala and Wolfgang got dressed in their best casual clothes, the day full and packed with places to go and things to see. They started out by the Eiffel tower, marvelling at it in the morning light. But it wasn’t why Kala remembered it so well; it was the first time and place that Wolfgang held her hand. It was strange, she never held someone’s hand and felt like she belonged there, utterly comfortable with them at her side and everyone knowing. Kala held tighter to Wolfgang’s side even as they went to the Arc de Triomphe, to the Louvre, and their final destination for the day, Notre Dame Cathedral. Though neither of them were Catholic, in the slightest, Kala wanted to see the church for its architecture.

They walked in with their group, standing next to each other as the tour guide walked them around. Eventually, when the tour ended, they were able to go see the rest of the cathedral on their own, just looking at all the different windows that breathed colouring life into the old church. Kala turned to Wolfgang for a moment.

“This is a very beautiful church,” she whispered.

“I’ve never liked churches. But this is nice,” he replied in the same small voice.

“Wouldn’t you want to get married in a church like this?” she asked, the red rushing over her cheeks the moment she realised what she said. Wolfgang smiled, a grin that was held just for her. He only nodded in response, tucking Kala under his arm and kissing her crown. They left the church, the sun leaving a streak of pink and blue transfixing a purple across the sky; the perfect end for a perfect day.

Wolfgang suddenly stopped them, his brow furrowing as he looked around. “You know, we missed Musee d’Orsay, right?”

Kala’s mouth dropped open. “And you’re telling me as the sun sets? What kind of boyfriend are you?” she exclaimed.

“Awful,” he replied, cracking a smile. “We’ll spend the entire day there tomorrow.”

“Really?” she said gleefully, biting at her lip. “Are you sure?” Wolfgang nodded his reply.

“Wouldn’t want to go anywhere else,” he said as Kala rose on her toes and stole a kiss from his lips.

Back at the apartment, Kala collapsed down on the couch, Wolfgang falling on top of her as their tiredness was catching up with them. They barely moved for a few moments before Wolfgang rose, climbing up and over Kala, his face hovering near hers, nose touching nose. “I never thought I could be this happy,” he whispered, his voice almost scared to say it in case the universe may hear him. Kala held that voice for herself, and only her. “I love you so much, Kala,” he said, jaw tightening as he waited for her to reply.

“I love you too,” she whispered back, just as a bright and intoxicating smile took over Wolfgang’s face, leaning down and taking a kiss he so sorely needed. Love in Paris; who knew, right?

#this has been a post #my fics #kalagang #wolfgang x kala #kala x wolfgang #kalagang fics #sunbakkoush #softestjohn #timisaliar

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