#so i got stuck on that and looked it up online mostly just to confirm that it's actually possible at this stage of the game

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than drama

Booted up Cavern of Dreams for the first time in too long and immediately found and 100%'ed the 2nd world (Airborne Armada)

[hoedamn-eron]

baby, please - part 1

You're successful, you're independent, and you pride yourself in both. But your friends think you could do with a man.

Warnings: Mentions of drinking wine. Reader is a bit of a workaholic. Like, one swear word. Proofread but probably a mistake or two in there somewhere. Word count: 2,031 F!Reader, no use of Y/N.

Welcome to the re-write! I wanted to write this last year, around the same time as my Doctor Steven Grant, PhD series, but it got put on hiatus due to some not nice real life stuff, but it's back! I hope you enjoy it!

These are your texts. These are Santi's texts.

Series Masterlist ● Part 2

You had the tendency to prove people wrong. Only when they had negative connotations of you, of course. You didn’t do it to be an obnoxious know-it-all.

For instance, you stuck it to your family when your parents scoffed at your idea of going into marketing instead of medical, like your sisters. You’d worked your ass off at college and graduated top of your class, those naysay comments from your parents in the front of your mind as you tossed your cap at your ceremony. Because of your hard work, you had moved to Florida for an amazing job opportunity. Granted, it wasn’t New York (which is the end goal for you jobwise), but you were the head of your very successful team, and it gave you the chance to separate yourself from your hometown (and therefore, your judgemental parents).

Let’s not forget the time you bought your apartment. Your friends had laughed at the size of it, claiming that you would want more space eventually, but it was yours, and you made it your own. Now your friends had decided your apartment was the best for your wine nights (which used to be bi-weekly, but plans changed when kids were coming into the picture), because it was the most quiet and you had the comfiest couch.

And lastly, you had proven than you didn’t need a man. Sure, it would be a nice perk to have, but you were happy being single. Whilst your friends were settling down and looking to move to nice neighbourhoods with good schools, you were dating around. Your love life was mostly filled with a few dates and one-night stands. You had dabbled in online dating every now and then, but that usually fizzled out after a few weeks. It didn’t bother you, you enjoyed meeting so many new people and having all these experiences to share.

Your dating life was a common topic of conversation between your peers. Your friends frequently teased you over it, wondering when you were going to ‘settle down’ yourself. You usually laughed it off. It never bothered you, why would it? You were a full-grown adult who could make decisions for herself, and it wasn’t any of their business at the end of the day. You’ve come to embrace being ‘that friend’ who was perpetually single.

It made sense that they would tease you about it, you were nearly thirty (not like there was a deadline or anything, you had plenty of time to ‘find’ someone). You weren’t even sure if you wanted kids, or to settle down. It may have worked out for others, who was to say it would work out just the same for you? You were perfectly happy focusing on yourself and your career.

Your day started out like any other. You woke up early, already sweating, huffing at the hot air of Florida. Your AC conked out last week, and you hadn’t found the time to get someone out to look at it. Your biggest client is launching their brand in a month’s time, so you and your team had been working aggressively hard to make sure you were meeting your deadlines and that your effort was up to par and more.

Which meant you’d been spending your weekday evenings mostly at the office than in your own apartment.

Answering a few morning emails and eating your breakfast before getting ready for work, you sent a quick text in your group chat to confirm that wine night was still good to go for later that night, since it was unusual to have your girl nights on a Monday (but it was the only time anyone had free, and it had been a long time since any of you were free at the same time). The evening was planned out perfectly, you’d even treated yourself and your friends to some decent wine, since this was the first wine night in months. You were truly happy for your friends, and you still saw each other every now and then, but God, there was nothing like your wine nights.

You weren’t expecting a text back from anyone until later in the day, so you continued with your morning. You made it into work with the usual traffic, a coffee in your hands from the local Starbucks. You sat at your desk and booted up your computer, checking your voicemails in the meantime.

“Good morning!”

You held back a grimace as you greet your desk mate.

Emily is nice enough, but overly chipper. She was blonde, bubbly, and always wore bright clothing. She was young, straight out of college and had joined the team a few months ago. She was still trying to find her feet in the company, and tried hard to make friends, something that she had frequently come to you about. Recently, she’d been hanging out with George and Juliet in accounts since they were of a similar age.

You suspected she had a thing for George.

“How was your weekend?” Emily asked, throwing her pink handbag to the floor and sitting in her chair.

“It was good. How was yours?” you ask.

“It was fine, thanks. Our new roommate moved in.”

Emily had been living with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. Turned out the boyfriend had been sleeping around with some of the girls and guys from his gym and Emily and her sister had kicked him out. Last you heard he’d moved back in with his parents out of town.

“How’s that going?”

“Good, so far! Think Becca is just glad to have all his stuff gone and have her own space back.” Emily shook her head with wide eyes as she logged into her computer. “But she’s panicking now, because she wants to settle down. She’s nearly twenty-six, she thought she would be married by now. She was even talking about kids with this guy, so she’s feeling a little nervy about being on her own. Oh! That reminds me…”

Emily turned to look back at you, a grin on her face. You raise an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“There’s someone I think you should meet.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes at your co-worker. One, because Emily had linked her sister’s ‘impending doom’ at being single with you, and two, it was the same story every time. Someone knows someone you should meet, and you go out on a date, but nothing ever comes of it. “Who do I need to meet, Emily?”

“My neighbour,” she replied, smiling widely. “His name is Santiago. He’s great, he was in the army for a while, but he’s retired now.”

“Retired?” you pulled a face. Trust Emily to try and set you up with an old fogey.

Emily shook her head quickly at you, almost as if she’d read your mind. “No, not retired like you think, he’s not old. He’s barely forty. And he’s really good looking, and nice.”

You shook your head at her. “I don’t know, Emily, work is busy, and the launch is soon…I don’t even have time to fix my AC at home, never mind go on a date.”

Emily pulls a face and makes a noise that reminds you of a toddler not getting their own way. “Come on, he’s funny and charming, and he might be ‘the one’!”

You had never believed in that kind of stuff; ‘the one’ and ‘soulmates’ and all that. You believed that there were so many people in the world, that you can (and will) fall in love multiple times throughout your life. Sure, sometimes people do just find one person who they are happy with and choose to be with for the rest of their lives, but that just wasn’t you.

But – saying that - it had been a while since you went out on a proper date. You could do with having a bit of fun and getting out the office and your apartment. And Emily liked to think she was some sort of match maker, so you’d like to humour her, just this once. “Okay, fine.”

Emily smiled widely as she excitedly gave you Santiago’s number, telling you that he was already expecting a text from you. You pull a face at her at the fact she had already anticipated you would say yes (or were you just that predictable?) and had given Santiago the heads up. You saved his number quickly before throwing your phone in your desk drawer and turning back to Emily. “Let’s finish up these mock ups and get them sent out. If we get these out of the way, we can focus on looking into finalising the merchandise.”

Your day was filled with multiple phone calls, plenty of meetings, and regular catch ups with your clients. You had hit a few snags, which could potentially delay the launch, but you were determined not to get to that point, already setting up possible plans and sending them to your client for approval. You finally sat down for your lunch when everyone was readying up for leaving for the day and going home.

You scrolled through your phone as you ate your lunch (which might as well be your dinner at this point). You caught up on your texts (wine night was still on!) and scrolling through what you’d missed on the client's social media (not much). You suddenly remembered about Santiago, who Emily had decided to set you up with. You grinned as you found his number and started a new text chain.

Hi, you introduce yourself. I’m Emily’s co-worker, she might have mentioned I would text you today?

It was a few minutes later when you received a reply.

Hey. Emily did mention you’d message. I’m Santiago. Have you thought about where you'd like to go for our date? Any preference on food?

Oh, okay, straight to the point.

I'm open to suggestions. I like pretty much anything, do you have any recommendations?

There’s this little Italian restaurant called Bella Cucina. The food is amazing, and it has a cosy atmosphere. It's not too far from where I live.

Italian sounds perfect! What day works for you?

How about Saturday? We could aim for a 7:30pm reservation if that suits you? Emily mentioned you’d been spending a lot of time at the office.

And considerate.

Saturday sounds great. 7:30pm works well for me. I'm really looking forward to it. Just to be sure, Bella Cucina is on Main Street, right?

Bella Cucina is on Main Street. I'll make the reservation for two under my name.

That’s great, I’ll put it in my schedule. I look forward to meeting you!

See you then, have a great rest of your week.

He seemed nice enough. A little stiff, maybe, but that might be due to his army background. You wondered what he looked like. You could look him up on social media if you wanted to, but you barely used the accounts you had; mainly you updated your client’s posts as requested. You imagined Santiago to be a stereotypical, muscled man with a buzzcut and lots of tattoos. One who was stoic and stern, very set in his ways.

You’d definitely dated that guy in the past.

You placed your phone back into your bag before gathering the packages of your lunch/dinner. The office was quiet, meaning everyone had probably gone home. You threw away your rubbish, walking back towards your desk to finish up a few more emails and shut down your computer. Your friends would be arriving at your place in just over an hour, so you had to make a move.

You lock up the office and make your way out of the building, making your way to your car in it’s usual parking space in the lot next door. Luckily traffic didn’t look too bad, so you should have enough time to get home and quickly and shower before setting up for wine night for when your friends arrived.

You knew you’d be fine. You could do it. You were you, and you get shit down. Apart from fixing your AC. You really needed to call someone about that.

[xiubaek-13]

The Busiest Night Manager In Seoul Part 1

Part of the Crimson Aurora Hotel & Spa collaboration

Genre: Hotel AU, eventual smut.

Pairing: Night Manager Baekhyun x Hotel Guest Reader

Word Count: 3,932

Warnings: Christmas tree innuendo? Roleplay if you squint. Nothing really for this chapter, its mostly an intro to their characters.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this. There will be 3 parts to this short fic. I wanted to break it up a bit rather than drop a 15k monster on all of you.

You checked your booking information one last time before leaving for the airport. You’d gotten ready too early, a trait your mother had ingrained into your subconscious, at least you weren’t as extreme as her - she’d be at the airport 8 hours before the flight boarded, you were only a couple of hours ahead of schedule. Still not quite believing that you were off on an all expenses paid trip to Seoul, you shut the door behind you and rolled your suitcase towards the taxi that had just pulled up in front of your building. When you’d topped the sales board for most insurance policies in your branch last year you had been gifted a $100 voucher for dinner so it had come as a huge surprise that this year instead of a gift voucher, you received an envelope through the internal mailing system that contained a plane ticket, a 5 night hotel booking confirmation and details of a one day meeting that you were to attend on behalf of the company. 

After confirming that the trip was indeed real and not some sort of joke you’d looked the hotel up online and it was fancy with a capital F. You just knew you’d look out of place there. The Crimson Aurora Hotel & Spa was a top tier, very expensive, luxury hotel. You had this image of all of the guests in their designer clothes, nary a hair out of place. Your personal style did not scream ‘I have lots of money’, not that you cared. You liked your style, it wasn’t bad, it would just stick out like a sore thumb in a place like that. 

The hotel had recently been renovated. You’d spent a decent portion of your flight to Seoul reading up on the new and improved Crimson Aurora. They offered a wide range of services, more than you’d seen on any hotel list that you’d stayed at before: 24 hr room service, on-site pool, spa, sauna, gym with personal trainer, yoga sessions, cocktail bar, celebrity chef, top of the line security, tour guides, live music. The list went on. Surely they were offering too much? How many employees did it have? It would have to be a lot to accommodate all of those services. 

You were due to arrive late at night, checking in around 11:30pm due to your flight times. You had been given instructions from one of the very helpful receptionists on how to contact the night manager once you arrived so that he could check you in and see you to your room.  While the taxi from the airport took you to your destination you rang the number you’d been provided with. After two rings the night manager answered. 

“Crimson Aurora Hotel & Spa, Night Manager Baekhyun speaking. How may I be of assistance to you this evening?” His voice was soothing, the tone of it comforting. It made you feel like you were speaking to an old friend which kind of startled you.

Pulling your mind from the odd tangent it was headed down Do I know him? Surely not right? But his voice…it feels familiar… “Oh hi, I was told by one of the daytime receptionists to call this number when I was on my way to the hotel. I’m in the taxi from the airport right now.”

“Are you checking in for a stay with us?” He asked.

“Yes. I got stuck with a late flight. Christmas in July and all that. The driver says we’ll be arriving in about 15 minutes. Can you let me in once I arrive so I can check in? I’m sorry to be arriving so late at night.” You apologised. You knew that check in had technically finished hours ago but you’d specially organised the late check in after realising at the airport that your flight was delayed.

“It’s a very busy time for tourists, that's for sure.” He replied, not at all fussed by your late arrival.  “Ma’am if you could provide me with your booking reference I’ll have most of the check in process completed by the time you arrive.” He said kindly.

“Ok great. My booking reference is CHS-01004099.” You replied.

“Thank you ma’am. I’m just bringing the booking up now.” He hummed softly as he pulled up your booking information. The sound was pleasant to your ears but was not doing anything to help keep you awake. “You’re going to be spending a week with us. On behalf of Crimson Aurora Hotel & Spa I hope you enjoy your stay.” You could hear the smile as he spoke. “Now when you arrive, walk up to the glass doors and press the white button on the left hand door frame. That will notify me of your arrival and I will come out to assist you with your bags and finalise the check in process.” He stated.

You nodded, then realised that duh, you were on the phone so he couldn’t see you, and spoke. “Thank you. See you soon then.” You hung up, stifling a yawn as you made sure you had all of your bags ready for when you pulled up to the hotel. 

***

“Ok you are all set,” He smiled warmly at you as he handed you your room key. “I’ll have Jinki, our bellboy, bring your bags up to your room in a moment. You’ll need to use the room key to access floors above the restaurant level, which is level 3. On behalf of the Crimson Aurora Hotel & Spa I’d like to welcome you and hope that your stay is everything you wish it to be.” He guided you through the hotel lobby and stood with you while you waited for one of the three elevators to arrive. 

You don’t know what you expected the night manager to look like but it sure as well wasn’t what had greeted you when you had arrived. In head to toe black his ash blonde hair stood out almost as much as his incredibly warm smile. He’d greeted you and helped you inside, his ring clad fingers taking your bags from you as you followed him to the reception desk. It had been difficult not to just stare at him, there was no denying that this night manager was handsome. If he’d noticed your lingering gaze on his face and the few too many undone buttons of his shirt, he made no comments about it. Maybe it was the jet lag setting in or maybe it was just him but you continually found yourself stealing glances at him during the entire check in process. Baekhyun had remained a consummate professional so either you weren't staring as much as you thought or he was ignoring it. 

He grinned and waved after you stepped into the elevator. "Sleep well. Just call the front desk if anything in your room isn't right." You nodded in thanks, a small smile creeping onto your face.

The bed in the room was so incredibly comfortable that as soon as your head hit the pillow you fell asleep. You didn't even hear the knock at the door when the bellboy arrived with your bags, nor the way he quietly opened the door and placed them just inside before leaving. The long flight coupled with the huge comfortable bed meant that you slept a lot longer than you had planned. You managed to wake up right before breakfast had finished for the day. One hurried shower later you arrived at the restaurant just before the breakfast buffet closed.  You’d read about this buffet on the flight over and the way it had been described made it a must on your ever growing list of things to see and experience while you were here. 

The review you’d read had been correct, if anything it had undersold on just how unbelievably good the food was. Every single thing that you had off that buffet was delicious to the point that the food was making you mad. Whoever they’d hired as the chef and kitchen staff were worth every cent, possibly more.

Once you finished eating you took yourself on a tour around the hotel grounds, past the gym where you saw a few people taking a class with a very enthusiastic instructor, the pool; manned by a seemingly disinterested pool boy, the massage parlour; which was manned by one overconfident man who winked at you as you wandered by, the yoga studio where a class had just finished, the beautiful gardens and a second restaurant spot. You found your way back to the main area of the hotel and passed through the bar lounge and games area before you came to a stop in the lobby. The hotel was beautiful and whoever had redecorated had done an amazing job. You had read in the information pack that the Kim Kibum (better known in the art world as Key) was the mastermind behind the interior decorating.

The rest of your day was not very busy. You took yourself on a tour around Seoul, taking in all of the sites, doing some shopping and eating some local foods. Tomorrow would be the day of your actual meeting so you worked out the building that you had to go to and the most efficient route between it and the hotel. You went back to your room to look over the schedule for the day as well as key points and topics to be covered. Most of it was boring pseudo sales crap but you made sure to read all of it, not wanting to be under prepared. You are an excellent sales person but you also like to be prepared for these sorts of things, not wanting anyone to surprise you and make you look like a fool.

***

Baekhyun POV 

“Yah Junmyeon! When are you gonna hire more staff? I can't keep doing this on my own every single night. There's too many jobs, too many guests and I'm the only one apart from Jinki who works the night shift.” He half whined down the phone at his friend and boss. He was tired. Tired of demanding shifts with little to no thanks. He needed at least one more staff member and one more security officer before his job could become smoother. He also needed the damn bartender and the musician to start already. He was being run ragged and if the issue didn’t resolve itself soon, he’d be in danger of burning out.

Ever since the refurbishment of the hotel Junmyeon had been busy searching for and hiring new staff. He only wanted the best - he had a vision of what his hotel could be and this was his chance to get it right. So far he had hired a world class celebrity chef, an incredibly attractive pool boy, a masseuse who was good at his job but would steal your heart, a flashy bartender and a new musician. However, not all of these hires had commenced work yet. Some were still in mandatory training and others weren’t due to start until August. He couldn’t have pulled this difficult period without his events coordinator who was a true lifesaver almost as much as Baekhyun was. Junmyeon truly didn't know how he would have continued to run the hotel without Baekhyun's help. He was willing to do a shift that no one else wanted to, giving up his nights to cater to the whims of tired, grumpy, drunk and handsy elite guests. He was always available to work, was never sick and Junmyeon was pretty sure he hadn’t had a day off in at least three months. It was something he wanted to change but it would have to wait until after the Christmas in July period because he couldn’t trust anyone else to keep up the charade to children in the night when Santa was concerned.

“Soon Baek, I’m interviewing more candidates today.” He sighed, the pressure to get his staffing issue solved quickly weighing down on him. “I’m doing my best to find more staff to cover the nights and we’ve got others starting next month. We’ve just got to get through July.” Junmyeon couldn’t risk hiring the wrong people so his screening process was lengthy and demanding. 

“I know you are hyung. It’s just been a lot this past week. Christmas in July has made my shifts incredibly busy and while I’m amazing, arguably the best night manager there ever was or ever will be, I’m only one man.” He said.

“You know how much I value you Baek. I’m going to find you the staff you need but I can’t rush it. We’ve gotta trust the process.” He paused. “I’ve gotta go, the first candidate for the day has arrived.”

Baekhyun hung up and continued his journey to his room. One of the perks of being Night Manager was a suite on the eastern side of the hotel. His suite was lovely, he’d done his best (much to the chagrin of Key) to make it feel like home. He accepted all of these shifts, as well as the title of Night Manager, because he loved working for the hotel. He considered Junmyeon to be one of his closest friends, he didn’t even mind that his close friend was his boss. 

He loved his job, he just wished that he didn't have to wear so many hats at the moment to please the guests that they had. As it was newly refurbished they were trying to bring in new clientele and in order to do that it had to seem like the hotel was fully staffed at all times including the night shift so not only was he night manager but he was everyone else during the hours of 10 until 6. To say that this was exhausting and kind of boring in the beginning was not an understatement but he turned it into a game to keep it interesting for him.

Behind the reception area where no one could see he had a coat rack full of the other uniforms that staff would wear to fulfil their various roles and when it was called for he did a very quick costume change, disappearing and reappearing as someone new. For him the most fun was when he impersonated the staff that weren’t there.

Most of the guests were so full of themselves or the business that they were there for that they didn't really pay much attention to the staff as long as the staff member was good at their job and present so Baekhyun had gotten away with his ruse for quite some time. He had it down to a fine art. Until you. You saw him and he didn’t know how to feel about that. At first he was scared that you’d make a complaint to the hotel about him, but you seemed to enjoy watching him play his many roles. He wasn’t sure why the thought of that thrilled him as much as it did.

It had been quite some time since a guest had stared at him the way you did, as though you were transfixed by him. He was used to people looking through him, just seeing a staff member that they needed for something, which was fine with him, but you looked at him. That first night when you checked in he hadn’t had time to change back into the suit he wore for his main role. He’d been serving drinks at the bar right up until you buzzed the front door. He hadn’t missed the way that your eyes kept drifting to his lips, chest, hands, and thighs. It felt good to be looked at like that, as someone desirable, but he kept quiet about it. He didn’t want to make you embarrassed as he was pretty sure you weren’t aware of how unsubtle you were being after having been in transit for most of the day. He hoped he’d get to know you better during the course of the week. 

***

Your POV

After two days at the hotel you’d come to know a few things. 1. During the day, the place was bustling with both guests and staff. 2. At night, it was still bustling with guests but the staff… well the staff seemed to just be Baekhyun and Jinki. 3. Baekhyun denied this vehemently. 

The first night after your arrival you headed down to see the Christmas tree in the main lobby and grab a drink at the bar, maybe even listen to the dulcet tones of their newly hired pianist. You saw Baekhyun at the reception desk, giving him a small wave as you passed by. He smiled and waved back as he continued to assist the couple in front of him with directions.

You stood in front of the large tree in awe. You’d never seen a Christmas tree of this magnitude before. It was lit up, well like a Christmas tree, the red and gold baubles accenting the green of the tree beautifully. It was a lot grander than your small tree at home. Granted, yours was a real tree and you had to keep it alive (something you wouldn’t say you were excelling at but the thing wasn’t dead). 

“I’ll give you a drink voucher if you can spot my favourite decoration.” His voice startled you. You turned to your left and found Baekhyun grinning as he stood next to you. “Sorry, I thought you’d have heard me walking over. You must have really been immersed in the tree.”

You nodded. “Yeah, I’ve never seen one this big before.” He laughed. “It’s huge! Who has a Christmas tree that’s at least three storeys high and isn’t amazed by it?!”

He shrugged. “I guess I’m just used to it. I see it every day so its size doesn’t distract me.” He fought the urge to wink as he spoke. “Anyway, my offer for a drink voucher stands. You just have to find my favourite decoration. I’ll give you one chance per day.” The distinct ring of the bell at the front desk sounded and he sighed. “I’ll be back. Go get up close and personal with it.” 

Not one to pass up a free anything, you moved closer to the tree as Baekhyun went about doing his job. At first glance you’d only focused on the red and gold baubles but the longer you looked, the more decorations you noticed. There were ornaments spread across the entire tree. You spotted a candy cane, a nutcracker, various glittery pine cones, some snowmen, some varied Santa ornaments, and angel or two, a range of coloured balls with odd symbols on them, random animals with vaguely Christmas themed objects; like the corgi with a snowglobe. 

You decided to pick the European gnome style Santa ornament, with his hat covering all of his face except for his nose and beard but when you turned around, Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen. You decided to go to the bar, figuring you’d see him on your way back to the elevator when you were ready to return to your room for the night.

***

“Why are you everywhere?” You asked, pointedly.

The bartender, who was without a shadow of a doubt, Baekhyun replied. “I don’t know what you mean.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “You served me a drink then disappeared, only to suddenly be over at the piano accompanying the jazz singer who’s here tonight, and now you’re back serving drinks.” 

“You’re mistaken.” He gestured to the tag on his shirt. “I’m Taemin, as you can see from my name badge and the pianist is Chanyeol. We’ve got similar hairstyles so I could understand why you might confuse the two of us.” He pointed at his attire. “But as you can see, I’m wearing completely different clothing. Maybe you need your eyes checked. We staff aren’t all the same, you know.” He smirked as he shook a cocktail for another guest, expertly adding little flourishes as he worked. You were not convinced. This man tending the bar, as far as you were concerned, was Baekhyun and he was doing a terrible job of convincing you otherwise. Maybe the other guests didn’t notice him the way you did but you had memorised the features of his face, and apparently some other features as well.

You leant forward on the bar counter. “You both look alarmingly similar to the night manager…” 

He chuckled as he shook his head at you in disbelief. “So our CEO has a type. How is that our fault?”

“Baekhyun…” You started.

He tutted at you as he moved to stand directly in front of you, only the bar counter separating the two of you. “I might have to cut you off little lady, I just said my name was Taemin. How could you get that so wrong?” He tilted his head, a mischievous glint in his eye. It felt like a challenge, one you were willing to play along with for now.

“My apologies, er Taemin was it?” He nodded, happy that you were playing along. “Your drinks must be stronger than I anticipated. You see I was talking with the aforementioned Night Manager before I came in here. He offered me a free drink voucher if I could guess his favourite decoration on the Christmas tree.”

He leant forward on the bar, his closeness almost distracting you. “Did you guess correctly?” He asked, a knowing smile forming on his face.

You shook your head, pouting. “No. He was nowhere to be seen when I was ready to make my first guess.”

“Ah, he is a busy man.” Not-Baekhyun offered. “I’m sure you’ll see him before you return to your room.

You sighed. “True, but I wanted to make my guess. I really stared at that huge, girthy tree for so long and got so close to it to inspect all of the details.” 

He cleared his throat. “Now I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone describe the Christmas tree like that before.” 

Before you could continue your innuendo another guest arrived at the bar which demanded Not-Baekhyun’s attention. He offered you a slight shrug as he turned to focus on the guest’s order. You couldn’t say that you minded though, you enjoyed watching him tend the bar. He was remarkably good at it, flipping bottles and providing easy banter. You weren’t sure why he was pretending to be someone else, changing his shirt, jacket and sometimes his hair wasn’t enough to fool you. Clearly it worked for the other guests as you’d spotted quite a few people who you’d seen speaking with him at the front desk not even take a second glance at him as they ordered their drinks.

The whole bit with the size of the tree? You’d picked up on his suggestive yet playful tone when he’d first mentioned it. You were here for a few more days and there was absolutely no harm in flirting with the very attractive man who seemed to be doing everyone’s jobs. He seemed interested so even if nothing came of it, you could both have your fun until you left.

As you sipped your drink, a devious little plan formed in your mind. One that would achieve a few goals for you. It would catch him out on pretending to be others and explore the extent of the wardrobe options he had on hand. If it went really well, then you both just might get to have a very Merry Christmas…in July.

Part 2

A/N: Thanks for reading and enjoying this collab. Please don’t forget to check the other writers out @myeoning-call @leewalberg @yourkeeperoftherunners @taem-min @ouvuo @dreamylittlesugarcube @jxstadaydreamer and @sojuri

[astaroth1357]

Demonic Pregnancy (But It Makes the MC… Problematic)

Okay, so hear me out. I know the prevailing idea is that a human getting pregnant with a supernatural kid would sap their strength and what not… But what if the opposite happened? So basically, getting pregnant by the brothers would make the MC physically stronger, but more susceptible to their sin… Oh this is going to be fun. 😈

Trigger Warning: Pregnancy

Lucifer

First noticed something was up when the MC came into his office to bring him coffee and casually ripped the door of its hinges… with one hand… by the handle…

He didn’t even have time to be mad about it because he was already frantically texting Diavolo and Barbs that there was something very wrong with the human. They’re not supposed to do that.

Meanwhile MC is in the background marveling at the newly freed door in their hand… They hadn’t even thought about it! Is this what having power is like?? Are they actually dangerous now??? Better not let it go to their head…

*it is totally going to go to their head*

Lucifer learns two things pretty quickly, (1) The human is pregnant with his child and (2) They’ve just been given access to a whole lot of power and they’re mind is set on one thing: Domination.

The next nine months for him are spent practically having to leash the MC or else they’ll go out to pick fights with anything that moves to prove their “superiority”… His brothers and even Diavolo included!

It wouldn’t be so bad if their body wasn’t still very human and very breakable… and also they’re PREGNANT, so please STOP!!

This baby, honestly, could not come fast enough… Good thing demons don’t develop grey hairs… Poor guy…

Mammon

Noticed something was up when they were chatting out at RAD and they dodged a stray ball from Beel. 

They dodged a ball. From Beel. And he throws at, like, Mach 7 speed… And it didn’t even look hard!

… But being the dumbass that he is, he just thought they had gotten a lot better at their magic. It was Lucifer who saw something wasn’t right when the MC was actually holding their own against Mammon and Beel in a race.

Was thrilled by the news at first but then quickly learned that he must have infected them with Greed somehow…

They wouldn’t stop begging for new stuff! Sometimes for him or the baby, but mostly just whatever struck their fancy the second that they saw it.

He’d try to tell them no but then they’d look all sad or whine about hard it was to be pregnant and how they couldn’t do things like tie their shoes or stand for long periods of time or…

(Never mind the fact that they could bench-press Beel if they wanted to, no no, that didn’t matter.)

His nine months were pretty much spent pandering to Lucifer and Levi for more loans to keep his MC happy… and praying they’d snap out of it after the baby finally came because he CANNOT keep paying for their crap…! 😥

Leviathan

MC and Levi playing games in his room and one of their online matches got particularly heated… The MC may or may not be prone to gamer rage, but that night they got so frustrated that they snapped his controller in half like a toothpick…

They were too busy trying to frantically apologize to take notice of their sheer strength, but HE did. And he was thrilled!!

Like, sure, it sucks that he’d have to buy a new controller but that was So. Cool. Their strength was like something out of a shonen!! He was honestly fanboying too hard to question, “Wait a minute, how did they even get that strong??” The MC later went to Lucifer themselves to get it all got sorted out (really Levi was no help whatsoever) and man was he shocked by the news…

Though he was even more shocked by the sudden spike of jealousy that they seemed to exhibit afterward… Like, extreme “You better not leave my sight” level jealousy… 😣

One the one hand, he’s kind of into it because being alone with the MC is all he’s ever wanted!… but on the other hand, dude really wants some space… 

He tolerates the next nine months for three reasons: (1) He does honestly love the MC, (2) Watching them break (other people’s) stuff and fight demons with their bare hands will never stop being cool, and (3) He’s somewhat afraid of what they’d do if he tried to leave so…  😥

Let’s hope the effects are temporary…

Satan

Found out something was wrong when he and the MC went to the park. He saw an old acquaintance of his and left to go say hi but came back to find that the MC had uprooted an entire park bench to squash a nosy lesser demon…

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, he’d ever read about humans told him that they were capable of that!

Figuring this has some kind of magic origin, he doesn’t bring them to Lucifer but to their resident human sorcerer instead, Solomon…

…and THAT bright idea ended up getting the MC magic tag-along throughout their pregnancy since Solomon wanted to make "a few” observations, the lying bastard… 🙄

Even more unfortunate though, is that the introduction of Wrath into their system also gave the MC an utterly monstrous temper which didn’t help their newfound strength at all…

Poor Satan gets saddled with caring for what amounts to a hair-triggered glass cannon… (though really it’s less protecting them from the world and the world from them 😣).

Needless to say, he’s lost quite a few bookcases over the next several months…

Asmodeus

It was another night with Asmo, so another night out clubbing. He and MC were together for most of the time, but they had left him briefly to get another round of drinks… and somehow got dragging into a straight up brawl in the process.

And they WON…

Asmo brought them right to Lucifer after that. Like, he loves you sweetie, but there were like ten lesser demons there and no way a little human like yourself could pull that off without something being up.

Oh he was overjoyed by the news, but the real test was yet to come… Who would give out first? The Avatar of Lust or a very, very, astronomically horny MC…?

In truth, no one in the House ever wants to talk about what happened for those next nine months ever again… The things they saw… The things they heard… Filthy, filthy things….. 😖

And more broken beds than anyone could care to count…

Let’s just say that they’re all happy the MC was already pregnant, otherwise they’d be dealing with a LOT more demon babies running around… What a hellscape that would be…

Beelzebub

The MC was helping him move some of his weights between rooms. They were only supposed to carry the lighter ones (which really weren’t that light) but they were carrying them so easily that the two got suspicious… They tried to lift one of his heaviest barbells and, to their amazement, they picked it up even easier than he could!

They both just kind of stared at each other for a few seconds before calmly agreeing to go find Lucifer. This probably wasn’t normal…

What pregnancy even was had to be explained to Beel since he doesn’t really understand humans and he only needed one thing confirmed…

So, they’re eating for two now?

And boy did they act like it! The MC’s appetite practically tripled as the months went on and he did his best to keep up for them. He even missed a meal or two for the first time in his life because he was so preoccupied making sure his MC had enough to eat… 😣

Their tastes also got weirder as time went on… At one point they asked for Solomon’s cooking which nearly had him “Nope-ing” out of the relationship right there. He stuck through it to make them happy, but he couldn’t watch them eat it… Even he has his limits, MC… 😟🤢

Wants the baby to come out already if for no other reason than he can finally go back to being the biggest eater of the House again. Having to work around two is a nightmare for everyone…

Belphegor

Would you believe he straight up didn’t know for weeks?

Like, they told him they were pregnant a while ago but all the pregnancy seemed to do was make them really sleepy…

Combine their naps with how often he’s dead to the world and it just never got brought up. 🤷‍♀️

That was until the day it was his turn to vacuum the common room and the MC was resting on the couch…

“MC, can you move? I need to get under there.”

“Hm? Oh, sure. Let me help.”

They then proceeded to get up and lift the couch with one hand like they were Beel or something!

He was, perhaps, slightly miffed that they didn’t think it was necessary to mention they had gotten a butt ton stronger for like a month, but you know…

Belphie has probably the easiest time managing his MC anyway because ALL they want to do is sleep. At most he just has to take on the responsibility to remind them to eat and move around a little.

Lucky bastard always gets off easy… 😖

[blu-joons]

Your Relationship Gets Revealed ~ Johnny Seo

You looked to Johnny with a panic in your eyes as he opened up the comments section to the statement that SM had released a short while ago confirming the rumour that the two of you were together after an article had been released.

“It’s fine,” Johnny smiled empathetically across at you, “we’ve got nothing to feel bad about, regardless of what anyone has to say.”

You knew that it wasn’t going to be as simple as moving on without a care about what everyone else had to say about the two of you, especially those who supported him.

It had been a case of dodging everyone for the two of you for some time, knowing that reporters were onto you. Whilst you tried your hardest to get away from it all, eventually they caught up to you, and couldn’t wait to begin to share their findings online.

“What do the comments say?” You pushed Johnny once again, refusing to allow him to shield you from it all. “I bet they all want us to break up, don’t they?”

A soft chuckle came from Johnny as he watched over how nervous you were. He had always been the more level-headed of the two of you anyway, and even though he was nervous too, he was never as terrified as you were.

“Most of them seem happy,” he informed you, keeping his phone away from you, “but of course, there’s a few not so happy ones.”

“And what do those ones say? How bad really are they Johnny?”

His head shook as you tried to reach out and take his phone from him. He was determined to protect you, whatever it took, the last thing you deserved was to be surrounded by negativity for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

But what Johnny failed to realise was the shield he was keeping around you was only scaring you more, with your hand pushing against his arm encouraging him to speak up.

“You don’t need to worry about those ones,” he tried to assure you once again, but your head could only shake back at him. “Put it this way, I don’t want you reading those comments because they talk a load of nonsense that you don’t need to see.”

Your eyebrows raised questionably back across at him, whilst you appreciated his concern, you were more than capable of dealing with a few hateful comments written on a keyboard.

“Fine but let me find bad ones that I want you to read rather than you scrolling through.”

You smiled in relief as Johnny finally caved, scrolling meticulously through the feed until he found a couple of comments that he was happy to let you take a look at.

“You can’t keep me from all of this forever,” you reminded him as you took his phone from his hand, “it’s not that simple.”

Johnny’s head nodded as you read through the couple of comments, trying your hardest to keep yourself composed. As you did, intrigue very quickly got the better of you.

Johnny watched on with wide eyes as you decided to continue scrolling, reading through every single comment that you could until he snatched his phone out his hand.

“That’s unfair Y/N.”

“Why? Especially when all of that is written about me too?” You questioned firmly, biting down on your bottom lip to stop yourself from getting too attached.

Whilst the comments that you were able to flick through were mostly positive, one comment in particular stuck with you. You were sure it was harmless and unintentional, just a fan who was in shock and taking that out on you, but the more it played on your mind, the more you began to doubt whether the fan was telling the truth all along.

“Can I ask you something?” You quizzed Johnny.

His head nodded back at you as he closed off his phone, keeping it well out of reach of you down the side of the sofa where you wouldn’t be able to get to.

“Are you sure this is what you want? This is going to bring a lot of attention onto you.”

No response came from Johnny as his eyes stared blankly across at yours. He tried desperately, but his mind couldn’t understand where such a question had come from.

And then he remembered how quick you were to scroll, he recalled closing his phone off and reading through the comment that he’d managed to take his phone back on. The comment that questioned whether you were really worth all of the hassle that Johnny was about to go through.

“It’s alright for you to say no,” you added as he continued to remain quiet, “I would probably be a little bit doubtful too if I was in your position right now.”

With that, Johnny’s head instantly shook, with his hands falling against your arms to keep you in position and looking at him. “You. You’re the one I want, you’re worth everything that we’re about to go through and more Y/N.”

Before you could reply, Johnny’s arms flew around your frame and pulled you tightly across into his chest. Your hands collapsed against his chest to support yourself as several kisses were scattered gently over the top of your head.

“Johnny, I can’t breathe,” you laughed, nudging his chest gently for him to loosen his grip around you.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered down to you, “I just don’t want you to ever feel as if you’re not worth it or doubt my dedication to you. Whether we’re dating in private or in public, I don’t care about anything else as long as I can go through it with you still by my side.”

Getting through the next few weeks at least was going to be far from easy, although your statement was one of honesty, it was never going to be enough to keep all of Johnny’s fans on side, there was always going to be someone who disapproved of the two of you.

All he wanted to do was keep you safe, whatever happened, Johnny wanted you with him so that he could prove to you, and everyone watching how serious he was about being with you.

“The majority of fans adore you, and that’s what we need to focus on right now,” he spoke up once again, “we can’t let a few negative comments defeat us like this.”

“I’m sorry, I just saw that one comment and panicked, I don’t know what happened.”

His head shook, squeezing you a little bit tighter, “you don’t need to apologise, I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must be for you to deal with this when it’s all brand new for you.”

“I can’t believe this is the sort of thing that you guys all go through on a daily basis, now I see why you guys are all so strong.”

“You learn to ignore it,” he reasoned, “and I know that with time you will too, as long as we have each other then no comments are going to get the better of us, how does that sound to you.

Instantly, your head nodded, “as long as we support each other, nothing will break us up.”

“Exactly, and I won’t ever let anything, or anyone, do that,” Johnny swiftly assured you.

“Do you think things will get easier?”

“Of course, they will. Just with time.”

---

Masterlist

[digitalstowaway]

I wrote a jokey parody fic with a OC who shows up to a Klavier concert with a law book based off a joke in a discord server

Klavier Gavin’s concert was at seven, and I started getting ready at 6:30. 

I would have gotten ready sooner, but I was in class until six. Besides, it didn’t take long for me to get ready. All I had to do was change out of my jeans and blazer and into casual shorts and a tank top. I pulled my hair out of my bun and let it fall over my shoulders. I kept my Converse on. 

The venue was packed by the time I got to the concert, but thankfully it was a small show. It was supposed to be lowkey. Just a small club show where Klavier would, according to his managers, get his standing as a solo artist. Not that he needed much time to get an audience again. Klavier was the most attractive and talented of the group. At least, that was what most people said. I couldn’t care less. The Gavinners were catchy radio tunes. I much preferred pulling out my vinyl records and listening to vintage bands. Real music. But still, I was there to give the show a chance. Mostly for one reason. 

My phone buzzed in my purse. I dug through the mess of headphones and a law textbook to get to it. 

Sorry to cancel but I got stuck at work! I’m selling my ticket online! 

I groaned. My friend, Clio, was the Gavinners fan. She had been since we were teenagers. It was her idea to see Klavier Gavin at his first solo show, and now she was bailing. What was I supposed to do? The ticket was so expensive, and I had busted my ass at my job to get it. It would have been a waste to just leave. No, I had paid to see Klavier Gavin. I was going to see Klavier Gavin.  

I pushed my way through the crowd. The opening act was playing some pop song I didn’t know, but the audience sang along to it. I found my way to the bar and ordered a drink. Whiskey on the rocks. I opened my textbook and pulled out a pencil and began reading. I had forfeited a night of studying for this, and I had big exams coming up. I wasn’t going to miss out on precious cramming time.

I pulled my hair back into my bun and took a sip of my drink, my eyes never leaving the page. The room was getting hotter and even more crowded as people pushed in to see the exclusive show. I managed to tune them all out. I had learned how to tune out most noise after living in a noisy apartment complex through all of law school. 

I was jotting down a note in the margins of my book when someone stood a little too close to me. 

“Can I have a couple of waters for backstage?” 

He was a short man, dressed in red. I barely looked at him. I gave him a nasty glare he didn’t even notice. He wore a lanyard around his neck with a badge that told everyone he had access backstage. I went back to my book. 

“Oh, is that Denning?” 

I looked up again. He was looking right at my book. 

“Landmarks of Law,” I said, impressed that someone at this show would know who Denning was. 

But then I got a closer look at his face and gasped. I recognized him. It was Apollo Justice. A rookie lawyer working for Phoenix Wright aka The Turnabout Terror. I had watched his trials all year. There was something so special about him. 

And of course, he was there! He was Klavier Gavin’s rival. And lover. Apparently. The rumors had yet to be confirmed, but there was an undeniable tension between them. Not that I cared. I usually scrolled past the speculation on Twitter with a roll of my eyes.

“It’s a good read,” Apollo said.

“It is,” I said. I felt so stupid. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m in law school.” 

“Yeah? What are you thinking of doing after? Defense or prosecution?” 

“Defense,” I scoffed. “I’d never be a prosecutor.” 

I blushed. Apollo laughed. I would never become a prosecutor. I had always had my goals set to be a defense attorney. My mother had been one, and I was going to follow in her noble footsteps. But Klavier was a prosecutor, and I had just insulted his field in front of his possible boyfriend. 

“I’m sorry,” I said, waving my hands in front of me. 

“No, it’s okay. I get it. Prosectors can be flashy, and it’s not a life people like us would like.” 

I blushed again but for a different reason. 

“What’s your name?” Apollo asked. 

“Claire.” 

“Claire.” 

My name sounded beautiful being repeated by those chords of steel. Was I into Apollo Justice? I barely had time to notice men, I was always so busy with my studies and work. And most men I knew were boys. They were immature. They only wanted to talk about how many women they had slept with and video game high scores. Apollo was different, I could tell. 

Apollo leaned in closer. I held my breath. “Why don’t you meet us after the show, Claire? Klavier would love to see you.” 

“Uhh… I should really get back to my apartment and study—” 

“I get it. Law school. But the offer is there. Just meet us backstage and say that you’re Claire and that we’re expecting you.” 

I could only nod. I didn’t know what to say. Apollo took his water and left. 

Klavier came on stage after that. I put my nose back in my book as he began playing. Girls were screaming in the front row, but I ignored them after feeling a little secondhand embarrassment for them. After a while, I noticed I was tapping my foot and humming along to the songs. I had never heard any of them before, but I began singing under my breath. I harmonized well. The bartender smiled at me and gave me another drink. 

The show ended without me noticing. I finished my chapter and when I looked up, I realized it was quiet and people were filing out of the club. I thought about what Apollo had said. I could go home and keep studying, or I could slip backstage and meet up with him and Klavier. 

The first option was so tempting. I really needed to study if I wanted to stay at the top of my class, but the offer was right there. And my friend would never believe I had caught the attention of those two. It would serve her right for flaking out. Yeah. I would go have a good chat with Klavier and Apollo and rub it in Clio’s face later. 

I put my book away and walked around the stage to the back. A large man stopped me. 

“I’m Claire,” I said, voice confident and steady. “Klavier Gavin and Apollo Justice are expecting me?”

He looked embarrassed and quickly let me by. “Go down the hall and into the first door on the left. That’s where Mr. Gavin is.” 

I thanked him with a nod and walked down the hall. I stopped outside the door, suddenly nervous. I felt too exposed. My shorts felt too short, and my top felt too low-cut. I let down my hair again in hopes it would make me look more modest. I didn’t want them thinking I came with the hopes of getting lucky. 

I knocked on the door. Apollo answered. His face lit up when he saw me. 

“Claire!” he took my arm, like a gentleman, and led me in. “Klavier, this is the girl I was telling you about.” 

I hated to admit to myself the butterflies that erupted when I saw him. He was sitting on a couch, out of his rock attire and in a robe. He played with a lock of blond hair and smiled lazily up at me. 

“Ah, the famous Claire.” So, the accent was real and not a gimmick. “Apollo told me all about you.” 

“What was there to say?” I asked. My voice caught in my throat. 

“That you’re a law student too busy with studying to really appreciate a concert,” Klavier sighed, turning his head away from me. 

Oh no. Had I offended him? But he laughed. 

“I really liked the concert,” I said. “What I listened to.” 

“What was your favorite song? Stroke my ego.” 

Apollo pushed me forward a little with his hand on my hip. He led me to the couch and sat me down next to Klavier. 

“Uhh… I liked this one song. I didn’t know the name. But it was acoustic. And it went like—” I cleared my throat and vocalized a few lines, singing little la’s instead of the lyrics. 

Klavier’s eyes widened. “Schatzi,” he said to Apollo, “you didn’t tell me she sung.” 

“I don’t!” I quickly said. “Just in the shower!” 

Why did I mention the shower? Now Klavier and Apollo were probably thinking about me naked, lathering my long hair and belting out songs. 

“I didn’t know.” Apollo sat next to me, making me wedged between the two of them. “I would have told you if I had known.”

Klavier’s hand rested on my knee. I was showing way too much skin. Apollo pulled my hair back behind my shoulders, exposing my neck. 

“What do you think of her?” Apollo asked. 

Klavier’s hand went from my knee to my hand. He kissed the back of it. “I think you found a real gem in the crowd. Usually, the girls at my concerts are too excitable for my tastes. I like getting women riled up, don’t get me wrong, but I’d much rather have the company of a woman who can read Denning.” 

Klavier kissed my hand again. Apollo put his hand on my hip and kissed my shoulder, moving up to my neck. It was all too much. I wanted to bolt from the room. I wanted to run out of the club and hide away for the rest of my life. But god, when would I get the chance for a threesome like this again? 

I thought about Clio again. If Apollo could give me a hickey, I would have proof. Proof that she left me for a good time all by myself. 

“So, tell me about your classes,” Klavier said as Apollo kept going. 

I stuttered. I couldn’t think at a time like this. 

Thankfully, there was a knock on the door. Apollo pulled away. The door opened to reveal another large bodyguard.

“The car is ready,” he said. 

“Thank you, we’ll be right out,” Klavier said. 

The door closed, and Klavier sighed. He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. 

“We’ll have to meet again,” he said. “But you know where we work, don’t you? Drop by any time. Say it’s for… research purposes. We can pretend you’re an intern doing work for one of us.” 

I nodded. I was a little disappointed, but the weight of my purse reminded me of my priorities that night. I still had a lot of studying to do. 

Klavier and Apollo showed me to the door, and I walked out to the parking lot in a daze. I sat behind the wheel for a minute, taking it all in. Eventually, I pulled down my visor and looked in the little mirror. I pulled my long hair to the side. There was a bruise darkening where Apollo had nibbled. 

I flipped my visor back up. Maybe I would stop by to see Clio before returning to study. 

[labomi]

play by the rules [1]

Nanami Kento is a well-known bodyguard who always adheres to his own set of principles when completing a job. But when his next assignment is protecting you, he suddenly finds himself second-guessing his morals and questions whether or not some rules are just meant to be broken.

pairing: nanami kento x f!reader

words: 2.7k

warnings: none for this chapter, please look at the series masterlist for general content warnings

notes: i’ve been meaning to write a multichap fic for nanami for so long and i finally got around to outlining most of the story and writing the first chapter yay! i’m a little unsure if the plot will actually be good or not lol but i’m hoping it’ll turn out okay! thanks for reading!

series masterlist

There’s a distinctive knock on your door that pulls you out of your thoughts as you lay on your bed with an unopened book in your lap. You had been meaning to read the story for the past three months after seeing rave reviews about it online, but for some reason, you couldn’t quite find the energy to start reading. Every morning, you pulled the book from your shelf with the full intention of getting past the first page. But every night, it was returned to the same spot on your shelf, remaining untouched.

With a quiet sigh, you force yourself to crawl out of bed, leaving behind the comfortable warmth of your blankets. You drag your feet as you walk over to the door, dreading the imminent conversation you’re about to have.

To be honest, you’d rather he just leave you alone to wallow in self-pity in the comfort of your own room. You knew he had good intentions, but you dreaded his frequent check-ins with you. If he had no good news to deliver, you didn’t want to see him. And there had been no good news for the past three months.

You have no expectations that today will be any different.

With a hesitant hand on the doorknob, you take a deep breath and try to suppress the bitterness you feel towards the person on the other side of the door. Once prepared, you open the door with a wide grin and a bright twinkle in your eyes.

“Hi Dad!” You greet him with a high-pitched, chipper voice.

Your father looks pleased to see your lively expression. “Good morning, princess. Do you mind if I come in?”

You manage to hide your surprise. Most of his visits consist of a quick hello just to confirm you’re alive in your room, but he heads off to go back to work. If he intends to enter your room, there must be something serious he wishes to discuss. You try to ignore the small glimmer of hope that flutters in your chest. 

“Of course!” You waltz over to your bed and sit down, patting the space next to you. Your father sits on the plush bed beside you, twiddling his thumbs idly in his lap.

“I’m aware these past three months have been hard on you, princess,” he begins.

You dig your nails into the palm of your hands and bite your tongue to prevent yourself from spitting out a harsh retort.

Yeah, no kidding.

“They’ve been tough for me too.” He pats your leg comfortingly, giving you a sincere, apologetic look. “I hate seeing you stuck in your room all day, but you know I only do this because I love you and because I want to keep you safe.”

Your father’s words are genuinely heartfelt. There’s no doubt he cares for your well-being and bemoans the unfortunate situation, but you’re not in the mood to be swayed by his guilt.

After all, it’s because of him that you’ve been trapped inside for three long months.

“It’s okay, Dad. I don’t blame you.” You try your best to act like a caring daughter who wants to console her father and assuage his fears that you despise him for his actions. “I know it’s for my own good.”

Three months ago, your father fired your personal bodyguard. 

This also meant that three months ago, your father shredded your only ticket to the outside world.

You can only venture outside the family’s property lines if a trained professional, tasked with keeping you safe from potential harm, accompanies you to pre-approved destinations.

Your father worries about your safety in public, because he often does business with local mafia groups in the area. He is not an influential or well-known member of the underground economy, but in this line of work, it isn’t unusual to piss off the wrong person in a deal gone bad. Family members are the most common targets, so you are a natural choice for disgruntled clients to take their frustrations out on. 

On one hand, you believe it is unfair that you are forced to live a restricted life under the constant protection of a bodyguard because of your father. You have nothing to do with his business, yet you must suffer from the consequences of it.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that you reap the benefits from the success of your father’s career. You had never worked a day in your life and always received any material goods you asked for, so perhaps you do deserve to face at least a share of the consequences.

Your father is insistent that you must have your own personal bodyguard after an incident involving your mother that occurred when you were just a baby. There was an altercation when she had encountered one of your father’s enemies while doing some errands alone in the city.

It hadn’t ended well, to say the least.

So for three long months, you were stuck inside. To his credit, your father had immediately begun the search for a new bodyguard, but his vetting process was so rigorous that it was not a timely process. There had been some mishaps in the past with previous guardians, and your father had vowed to never let those mistakes happen again.

You know you should be grateful that your father cared about your safety enough to have a dedicated group of his team spend endless hours thoroughly investigating each and every potential candidate. You also know you shouldn’t complain about being trapped in a luxurious mansion, but you hate being at home.

You hate seeing your father’s workers around the premises.

You hate thinking about what sort of shady business deals are happening just a floor below you.

You want nothing to do with it. You don’t even want to think about it, which is why you prefer to spend as much time as possible away from home. 

“I’m so glad you understand,” your father says with a relieved sigh. “But I have some good news this time.”

Your breath hitches in the back of your throat. The moment feels almost surreal. You had been waiting to hear those words for so long, you almost thought it would never happen.

“I approved your new bodyguard.”

This time, you didn’t have to fake your excitement.

“Really?” you gasp, looking at your father with wide eyes.

He nods at you.

Unable to contain your burst of elation, you throw your arms around your father with a squeal, giving him a fierce hug. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Your father lets out a hearty laugh, patting your back as he revels in seeing your utter joy. “He starts tomorrow, so you may leave the property again in the morning.”

In less than 24 hours, you are free to once again explore the city, visit popular shops, and stop by your favorite restaurants. You can barely contain your enthusiasm as your heartbeat drums in your chest from the rush of adrenaline after hearing such wonderful news. Pulling away from your father, you continue to beam at him, feeling an unusual wave of gratitude towards the man.

A loud beep disrupts the heartfelt moment.

Your father looks at his smartwatch with a tight frown. “I’m so sorry, princess, but I have to go to a meeting now.” He gets off the bed and gives you a small smile. “I’m glad I could finally give you some good news. I’ll hopefully see you for dinner tonight.”

Before your father can leave, you reel in your scattered thoughts after being almost too excited to think straight. “Dad, before you go, can I at least ask for this name?”

You cannot believe you almost forgot to ask such a crucial question.

“Nanami. Nanami Kento.”

You nod at him. “Thank you! Good luck at your meeting!”

Alone once again, you throw yourself a little celebration which consists of childishly dancing around the room blasting your favorite “good vibes” playlist. Afterward, you grab your laptop and plop onto your bed with a satisfied grin. You crack your knuckles. 

It’s time to get to work. 

In order to maximize your free time tomorrow, you need to have a rough idea about what you want to do and where you want to go. But before you start the task, you need to make one important phone call.

“Hey, Itadori.”

Itadori Yuuji is one of your father’s henchmen, but he’s a sweet boy who had nowhere else to go when his grandfather died. Luckily, he isn’t directly involved in the main operations of your father’s business. Known for his fast feet and powerful arms, he is mostly used as a source of manual labor to move heavy boxes that are brought in or shipped out of the various underground warehouses scattered throughout the property.

The two of you had become friends when you saw him trying to sneak food out of the main kitchen during the late hours of the night. Only your family and your father’s trusted confidants had permission to be in this part of the mansion.

Itadori immediately got on his knees and begged you not to tell anyone that he was stealing food, but you just laughed and showed him where the good snacks were located. Together, the two of you had a mini feast using the leftovers from the culinary staff. It was the first of many secret dinners to be held.

“Hey. What’s up?” he answers.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Can you sneak into my father’s office and copy a file for me? It’s someone named Nanami Kento.”

There’s a groan. “Seriously? But you know how hard it is to sneak into his office,” he whines over the phone.

“I’m sorry, Itadori,” you apologize. You know you aren’t making his life any easier, but you need him to do this for you. “But I know you can do it. You’ve done it plenty of times before without a problem.”

Itadori sighs. He knows he can’t refuse you, not because he’s afraid that you’ll turn him in for punishment (or worse). No, Itadori genuinely likes you, and he’s grateful for your presence in his life for many reasons. Therefore, he does whatever he can to help you out whenever you ask.

“Alright. You got it.”

“Thanks, Itadori.”

Several hours later, a manila folder is slipped underneath your door. With a victorious grin, you grab the folder and set it on your desk. You shoot Itadori a quick text confirming that you got the delivery and thanking him once again for his help.

Quivering in anticipation, you open the folder and see a grainy, black and white copy of a man’s photo on top of the stack of papers. Even with the image’s poor quality, you can see the man’s sharp cheekbones and styled, light-colored hair. You think he looks rather handsome, but you’re not quite sure with the fuzziness of the copy.

Setting the photo aside, you read his file with an interested hum. Because of your father’s rigorous vetting process, the folder is stuffed full of numerous background reports. You vaguely wonder how Itadori slid such a large stack of papers under your door.

Nanami Kento, huh.

You flip over a page and continue reading.

What an interesting man.

“Did you finally accept a new job?” Gojo asks curiously, craning his neck to get a better look at the papers spread about on Nanami’s desk. He spots a photo of a woman among the various files that catches his attention. “Who’s that?”

Nanami rubs his face with an exasperated groan, wishing his coworker would mind his own business for once. He tries to hide the photo under other papers, but Gojo is too quick. The white-haired man easily snatches the photo off the desk before Nanami can touch it and waves it in front of him in a teasing manner.

“Nice try,” he grins, pulling back to observe the photo up close. “Oh, she’s pretty cute. I’m guessing she’s your new client?”

“No,” Nanami answers begrudgingly. He knows Gojo won’t return the photo or leave him alone unless he partakes in the conversation. “Technically her father is, but she’ll be the one under my protection.”

“Oh, so you did accept a new job then.” Gojo returns the photo with a satisfied grin now that his original question had been answered. “Surprised it took you this long to choose one. How long has it been since you finished your last assignment?”

“About three months. I wasn’t in a rush to start a new job.”

Nanami can afford to be picky about his assignments now. Over the years, he has built a strong reputation as a proficient bodyguard who always follows orders and always gets the job done. Now that he is well-known in the industry with a long list of satisfied clients, Nanami no longer has to scramble to accept any odd job. Plus, as part of Gojo’s renowned bodyguard service agency, he can rely on the secretaries to filter out any scams or seemingly impossible requests before they reach his desk.

Nanami is now constantly flooded with inquiries from influential celebrities, notorious mafia members, and other wealthy figures. These people are always willing to pay big bucks for an extra sense of security as they go about their lives, but Nanami is no longer interested in solely the money now that his multiple bank accounts are flush with cash. Instead, he wants to take it easy with a simple, straightforward assignment that won’t involve a lot of gunfire, blood, or death. 

Being a bodyguard is a lucrative career, but it is also both physically and mentally taxing.

Simply put, Nanami is tired.

This is why he waited three long months to find his next job. With each additional request, he ignored how many zeros were listed as compensation and instead took his time to scrutinize the client, their family, and their motivations in seeking a bodyguard. He had a mental image of what he was looking for in his “perfect” job and much to his surprise, he stumbled upon a request that checked almost every box.

While Nanami was lost in his thoughts, Gojo had secretly snatched your file from the desk and had been skimming through it. He couldn’t resist learning more about this new client.

When Nanami returbs to his senses, he sees the missing file on his desk and glares at his white-haired coworker. Gojo just laughs in response. 

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just curious to see what kind of person would pique your interest after all this time, Mr. Picky.” He purses his lips. “Hmm, she’s not much younger than us. Surprised she’s still single too. Aren’t most women in these sorts of families forced to marry early to strengthen business ties? Oh, maybe her personality is so bad her father can’t marry her off to anyone!”

Nanami rips the file out of Gojo’s hands with a scowl. “None of that concerns me.”

“Aww, come on, Nanami,” the white-haired man pouts. “You’re going to be spending a lot of time with her. What is she’s a demon in disguise? Women are pretty scary, you know.”

Nanami figures Gojo skipped the part in the file where your father had described you as a “bright, bubbly young woman who loves to shop and eat”.

“I think I can handle it,” Nanami responds flatly. “After all, I can reasonably get along with everyone except you.”

Gojo clutches his chest dramatically, acting like he had just been shot. “Nanami, you’re so cruel to me!” He then drops his hands and places them on his hips with a devious grin. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone now. Good luck! And don’t fall in love!” He lowers his sunglasses and winks. Gojo can’t help but get in one last jab to irk his coworker.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

Nanami is a serious professional, one who always plays by the rules. He adheres to a certain set of principles in order to remain successful in this line of work. Without them, situations can get messy, and he has all too often witnessed other bodyguards make the mistake of deviating from protocol and facing the consequences.

There are three fundamental rules that Nanami always follows without fail:

Never go above and beyond what a job asks you to do.

Once a job is finished, leave immediately.

Never get personally involved with a client.

And under no circumstances would he ever disregard any of these rules.

[carmenxjulia]

I put together a transcript of the 1 hour Q&A Interview the Carmen Sandiego Discord did with Abby Trott (Ivy) and Rafael Petardi (Chase Devineaux). All of the questions were submitted by server members. You can read everything below the break!

PizzaHorse:

Hello everyone! Please welcome Abby Trott and Rafael Petardi to our Q&A today.

Abby Trott:

Hiiiiiiiiiii!

Rafael Petardi:

Hello Bonjour!

PizzaHorse:

Let's get started. How did you get started as a voice actor? Was there anything that inspired you to pursue it as a career?

Abby Trott:

Oh MAN. Long story.

Rafael Petardi:

Mine is very short. I'm an actor and my agent started sending me on voice auditions and eventually I booked some!

Abby Trott:

This is a novel so I started typing it ahead of time, haha. I was an acting/theater major, and when I graduated from college I moved to Japan on the JET program to teach English because I wanted to travel so freakin' badly. I had never even been on an airplane. I was placed in rural Akita, (inaka), and absolutely LOVED it. The only problem was I wanted to be and actor/singer… womp womp. At that time, I also started to mess around with characters and voices - I would record voice memos and conversations with myself while driving around. One day, a friend was in the car and my phone was on shuffle and one of my "scenes" started playing - I was absolutely MORTIFIED. But that moment solidified for me that I need to move to the big ole city if I wanted to really pursue acting. I ended up heading to Tokyo, where I performed in children's musicals, and did other gigs here and there. That's where I started doing VO professionally! I was able to do some character voices for the shows I was in, and some other side projects. I realized how much I loved VO, and eventually decided to move back to the States to pursue it, since most English VO for games and animation is produced here.

When I moved back, I started searching online for VoiceOver opportunities, and stumbled across a contest hosted by Bang Zoom! Entertainment. I BARELY got my entry in on time. The contest took place over several months, and in the meantime, I moved to NYC and started taking VO classes. For the finale of the contest, they flew me to LA. I ended up winning! Still can't believe it. (O-O) I got to dub my first anime "Miss Monochrome," and realized that if I wanted to work in games and animation, I should probably move to LA… and the I DID.

THE END

PizzaHorse:

What do you think are the best and worst things about being a voice actor?

Abby Trott:

Oooh. The worst things? Job insecurity... constant rejection...

Rafael Petardi:

The incredibly talented and cool people you meet and work with.

What Abby said

Abby Trott:

The best things? Working with amazing people, AND it's so much fun - even auditioning is fun!

PizzaHorse:

How did you land your role on the show?

Rafael Petardi:

I auditioned

Got the job

pretty boring I know

Abby Trott:

I auditioned through my agency, and got a callback. I went to the callback and their note was "more Boston." Then I had a second callback and their note was "even MORE Boston." So I went WICKED BOSTON and got the job

PizzaHorse:

What was your favorite/the most fun thing to record (episode/scene/line)? Any least favorites?

Rafael Petardi:

For me, the funnest scenes to record are the ones I got to play opposte the incredibly talented cast.

The least favorite... did not have enough scenes with the Wonderful Abby Trott

Abby Trott:

Awww Rafe! Singing was the MOST FUN! The Karaoke Ep, and the choose-your-own adventure one, where we got to sing the theme! Mikey (Zack) was cracking me up constantly.

Least favorite was the last ep because I didn't want it to eeeeeend

PizzaHorse:

Were you allowed to suggest lines to be said by your character, or improvise the script at all if you thought something would add to the scene?

Abby Trott:

YUP! And Mikey and I definitely did, hahaa. It was encouraged. Always fun to see what they keep...

Rafael Petardi:

Yes we were. I improvised mostly sounds and noises. Words once in a while but not very often. Thank God for Duane

PizzaHorse:

What was the hardest part of voicing your character on Carmen Sandiego? Was there a particular episode that was difficult to record?

Rafael Petardi:

Keeping the consistency episode to episode of the Chase's accent, pitch and energy

I did not want hime to sound different ever

Abby Trott:

I think the hardest part was keeping up the EXTREME Boston accent. But it was also SUPER fun...

PizzaHorse:

What traits do you share or have in common with the character you play?

Rafael Petardi:

I am like Chase in the sense of a Dog with a Bone. If I get pasionate about something, I go to extremes. Abby Trott has scene this for example in my bread making endeavors

Also, I'm an idiot in life too sometimes

Abby Trott:

Ivy and I are both... from Mass! we both have brothers who we argue with but really do love when it comes down to it. We love chocolate, aaaaand... I think we're both brave. (brag?)

Can confirm Rafe is v. passionate about bread. And and idiot.

Rafael Petardi:

All True

PizzaHorse:

What character on the show would you voice if you had the chance?

Abby Trott:

Chase

Rafael Petardi:

I would love Maelstrom

Abby Trott:

Jk... Coach Brunt seems SUPER fun

PizzaHorse:

If you could meet a character from Carmen Sandiego in real life, who would it be and why?

Abby Trott:

Carmen! she is the coooooleeest. I'd ask her to teach me some tricks

Rafael Petardi:

Julie Argent. She's cute

PizzaHorse:

Which character do you think you are most like or that you most identify with?

Rafael Petardi:

CHASE

I think that's partly why we're doing the roles we do

Abby Trott:

I think Ivy, for real! Casting was ON IT. I can be serious when I need to be, but I'm a giant goofball (if you couldn't tell from my latest tweet/insta post...)

PizzaHorse:

Who is your favorite character, other than your own?

Abby Trott:

Mime. Bomb.

Rafael Petardi:

Other than my own? Hmmm... uuuh... mmmm. tough...

Abby Trott:

Seriously, I think Mime bomb is hilarious.

Rafael Petardi:

Yes Mime Bomb!

PizzaHorse:

Do you wish your character had more interactions with another character in particular?

Rafael Petardi:

Yes, I would love to interact with Ivy and Maelstrom

I think the interaction would be odd and awkward and funny

Abby Trott:

Yes. I would love to see how Ivy handles the specific VILE members... I would love to see IVY try to go to VILE academy...

PizzaHorse:

Are there any themes or lessons from the series that you would want people to remember?

Rafael Petardi:

yes, don't jump to conclusions and be an idiot

Abby Trott:

Yes! That! also, don't be evil. ALSO also, be loyal to your friends.

PizzaHorse:

Do you ever look at fan content?

Rafael Petardi:

yes all the time. It helps when I'm tagged rafaelPetardi on Instagram

Abby Trott:

Yes! I look at fanart sometimes, and see what cosplays are happenin'

Rafael Petardi:

I've posted many as well

Abby Trott:

Haven't read much fanfic... but I know it's out there.

PizzaHorse:

What did you think about your character's development and arc throughout the series?

Rafael Petardi:

I absolutely loooooooved Chase's arc

Love redemption stuff

he was just misguided

just was alway his thing

Abby Trott:

I love Ivy's journey - she really grew up, from a troubled kid to an adult, accepting responsibility and accepting new challenges. Donning the hat, if you will.

Rafael Petardi:

*justice as always his thing

PizzaHorse:

How do you feel now that Carmen Sandiego is at its end?

Rafael Petardi:

sad. miss evrybody so much

we will have to have a cast reunion when this pandemic thing is over

Abby Trott:

SAD! But grateful. It was THE MOST fun to record, and I wish it could continue forever.

Rafael Petardi:

I'm grateful too. yes

Abby Trott:

and YES reunion!

PizzaHorse:

Yesss can't wait for that group photo to pop up on social media!

Were there any moments in the series that had you legitimately emotional?

Rafael Petardi:

yes ofcourse

losing Julia was tough

Abby Trott:

A lot. But one that stands out for me is after Carmen gets stuck out in the snow, and is reunited with her crew. (:_;). Also the stuff with Shadowsan and his brother... and anything with baby Carmen...

Gah. So many...

PizzaHorse:

Did you enjoy how the show ended? Is there anything you would have changed or would have liked to see more of?

Rafael Petardi:

I loved the way the show ended! I think Duane did a fantastic job tying loose ends and bring the story to a satisfactory close for all characters

I do hope for an ACME Ivy, Zak, Julia and Chase spin-off

Abby Trott:

I love how it ends. I think it wrapped so well considering the number of eps - the writers really got it done. I WISH Ivy and Zack could follow Carmen forever, but she has her own story to unravel it would seem.

And Ivy does look good in that suit let me tell ya

PizzaHorse:

Can you share a favorite behind the scenes moment?

Abby Trott:

Mikey. Is. So. Funny. Hard to choose one moment - he would make me laugh harder than anything. Especially when we were singing. Or any time he had to gag...

Rafael Petardi:

OMG!

That singing stuff we had to do together was hilarious

we could not stop laughinh

PizzaHorse:

What, in your opinion, are the best pizza toppings?

Abby Trott:

Cheese. Caramelized onions. Roasted garlic. Spinach. Mushrooms.

Rafael Petardi:

buffala mozzarella and tomatos period

oooooo fancy Abby

Abby Trott:

Rafe why aren't you as obsessed with pizza as you are with bread? And can you be?

Rafael Petardi:

I am

Abby Trott:

!

Rafael Petardi:

I just don;t like to share pizza

PizzaHorse:

Here's a specific question for Rafael. Did you sometimes get mad at your own character for the way he behaved towards Julia earlier on in the Series?

And one for Abby. As a Massachusetts native, how did you feel about voicing a character from Boston with the iconic accent?

Rafael Petardi:

I did not. I always felt, however misguided Chase was, he was always on the path of turth and justice no matter what was in his way. It's the same principals that led hin to see the truth about Julia

*principles

Abby Trott:

I think it's so cool, and kind of an honor, in a way. I was worried about it being too much, and people saying it's over the top. Turns out comedy wins, haha.

PizzaHorse:

Were you familiar with the older animated series when you started work on the Netflix original?

Rafael Petardi:

I never heard of Carmen Sandiego before I did this series

Abby Trott:

Yes! I had seen a bit. I also remember watching my brother play the game. Someone gifted me a mini arcade version of the game this year, and I'm excited to play :slight_smile:

Rafael Petardi:

Which I think helped when I had to say the iconic line

"Where in th world..." there was no pressure

LoL

Abby Trott:

LOL

PizzaHorse:

Okay, last question. Do you have a favorite quote from the show?

Abby Trott:

"La Femme Rouge!"

or Mime Bomb's classic "..."

Rafael Petardi:

"the game is over!"

PizzaHorse:

Woohoo!

Abby Trott:

Hooray!

PizzaHorse:

Thank you so much Rafael Petardi and Abby Trott for joining us today! I hope everybody had a wicked awesome time.

Abby Trott:

Thanks for having us! What a pleasure.

Rafael Petardi:

It was great! Thank you to all the great questions.

Abby Trott:

Thanks for watching the show! Great questions. I'm sure I'm going to think of more quotes as soon as I log off... haha.

Rafael Petardi:

See you all soon!

Abby Trott:

Stay safe, take care, and see you all on various social media platforms!

[unmaskedagain]

Oh Lady Luck (How I miss you so!)

Okay; first off. I hated this. I had a massive case of writer’s block while doing it and lost inspiration near the end.

Oh Lady Luck (How I miss you so!)

           Bustier’s class was the luckiest in school, everyone knew it. They got to go on the most amazing trips, win contest after contest, competition after competition, met all sorts of celebrities, frequently got to meet Ladybug, through the best dances and school plays, and always seemed to have a pep in their step. Anything any of the students went after they always managed to get. Everyone knew Bustier’s class was the luckiest in school. Then one day that changed dramatically.

“You’ve changed,” Alya accused Marinette after the class voted her out as Class president. “You become a bully.”

           Alix snorted, “More like a jealous bitch.”

           There were nods from the other students in class. Lila smiled at Marinette; happy that her promise to ruin the girl was coming true.

“You’re always so mean to Lila,” Rose added. “It’s not nice.”

“You’re worse than Chloe now,” Kim glared.

           Juleka frowned, “We miss the old Marinette.”

“You should’ve chilled out like I told you to, dudette,” Nino said with a shake of his head, clearly disappointed.

“We can’t be your friends anymore,” Alya crossed her arms.

           Marinette had listen to them quietly as they relayed reason after reason why they were ending their friendships with her; all to do with Lila. She didn’t bother to look at Adrien. He had warned her what was going to happen; Nino had told him. There had also been a group text apparently. Adrien made it clear he stood with Marinette. Even more so, when he chose to sit with her in the back of the class, a fierce glare on his face at the other students.

The bluenette placed down her pencil, closed her sketchbook and said, “Fine. Then we’re not friends anymore.”

“That’s counts double for me,” Adrien hissed. “Lose my number. In fact, don’t bother; I’ll just change it. That goes for every last one of you. I’ll be informing my Father and Nathalie that only Chloe and Marinette are on my visitors list.”

           The class blinked in shock. Not expecting that reaction from the blond boy who was usually so amicable and nice.

           Chloe watched with amused eyes. She had been sentenced to the back of the room not long after Marinette. “We’ve never been friends but consider all extra little perks you’ve gotten used to: dead and over with.”

           That was it. None of the other students knew what to say or do. They hadn’t gotten the reaction they expected. Marinette didn’t seem to care. Adrien seemed ready to set them on fire. Chloe looked rather pleased at the idea of seeing them burn. Most shrugged it off; figuring at least two of the three (Marinette and Adrien) would come crawling back in no time.

           They didn’t.

           Things started to change for the students in Bustier’s class the next day.

           Lila woke up in the morning to an email confirming that she would no longer being a model or any type of employee for the Gabriel Agreste brand. Or as Nathalie put it when the sausage hair girl called her, “We will no longer be needing your services, Miss Rossi. Do not contact us again.” Click.

           That was when Lila realized her plan of using Gabriel to get Adrien under her thumb had went up in flames. She hoped that Adrien wasn’t informed so that maybe she could still use his father as a threat against the boy.

           When she go to class, the blond model sent her a vicious smirk. Lila paled. She knew without a doubt that Adrien didn’t just know Lila was fired, he was the one got her fired.

           Nino woke up to the news that the gig he was due to play, his big break, had replaced him. It would’ve been huge for his career.

Oh well, he thought, back to DJ-ing for birthday parties.

           Alya accidently dropped her phone in the toilet; ruining hundreds of videos and pictures for the Ladyblog.

           Alix took a dive while skating; broke her ankle and the watch her dad gave her.

           Max broke his glasses.

           Kim got food poisoning.

           Ivan’s dad ran over his drum set while parking in the garage.

           Rose tried to call Prince Ali and found out he changed his number.

           Nathaniel spilled coffee all over his Ladybug comic strips. Marc had been pissed.

           Juleka’s mom accidently put bleach in with a load of her laundry; it ruined everything.

           By the time they had all got to class, all the students were in a terrible mood. However, when Marinette walked in with a box full of delicious smelling breakfast pastries; they perked up. The bluenette always seemed to know when they needed a pick me up. And there was nothing like a treat from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

           Marinette didn’t acknowledge any of their presences. She walked straight to the back of the classroom, sat in her seat between Chloe and Adrien. “Morning!” She beamed at her friends. “I brought treats for the three of us.”

“Awesome!” Adrien smiled, quickly opening the box and snagging a chocolate croissant. “Delicous, Thank you” He said. Or least they thought he said that. His mouth was full and it was mostly garbled.

           Chloe rolled her eyes. She grabbed a mixed berries and cream cheese pastry, “Perfect way to start the day. Thank you, Marinette.”

           Marinette took out her favorite: a berry and jasmine scone. Then she promptly through the box away; making clear that she hadn’t brought any for anyone else. “Anything for my friends.”

“We’ll do lunch at Le Grand Paris,” Chloe said. “On me of course. The chef there is to die for.”

           The other students visibly wilted. Alya in particular who loved going to Le Grand Paris as her mother was the head chef.

           It all went downhill from there.

           Over the next week things went from bad to worse for the students.

           Bustier told the class their trip the Presidential office was cancelled due to an unexpected flooding incident. The plan had been for the class to tour the office and have amazing picnic on the beach afterwards

           Lila’s mother, who had been busy nearly 24/7, officially went on vacation, meaning she plenty of time to spend with her daughter. Her daughter was panicked when her mother inquired about visiting her school.

           Alya discovered that the hits to her site had started to declined dramatically. She didn’t have time to worry about that as her internship with a local new studio had been cancelled; something about realizing Alya didn’t have enough experience. So her summer plans were cancelled.

           Nino’s Dj equipment sparked or shorted out or something but nothing would work anymore. He had cancel the rest of his gigs until he could buy new ones.

           Kim lost a swim match against Ondine.

           Markov got a virus and broke down causing Max to break down in tears.

           Nathaniel lost the expensive sketch pencil he won in a contest.

           Alix’s grandmother brought her a new dresses; frilly monstrosities that Alix’s forced her to wear to school for the entire week.

           Rose, Ivan, and Juleka were heartbroken when Luka announced he was going Solo.

           It didn’t help anyone’s mood that every day Marinette, Chloe, and Adrien walked into class with big smiles on their faces and pleasantly discussed their amazing plans.

           On Wednesday, Adrien invited Marinette and Chloe to come with him to meet the Prime Minister.

           Apparently, Adrien’s dad had called in favors so the three would tour Palais Bourbon, where the French Parliament meets.

“He said I could invite all my friends!” Adrien smiled.

           Marinette had been shocked at this. Until Adrien explained that his aunt had threatened to reveal to the world Gabriel Agreste’s neglectful behavior, his tendency break child labor laws, and his need to isolate Adrien. Thanks to his aunt, Adrien had a much free-er schedule and Gabriel had been in therapy for weeks. “I’ll bring food from the bakery. We can have a picnic!”

“Beach day!” Chloe cheered.

           No one else so much as smiled at the news. Even more so when pictures surfaced on Friday of Marinette, Chloe, Adrien, Ondine, Marc, Mireille, and Aurore with various members of Parliament; including the prime minister.

           Thursday, Chloe loudly invited Marinette and Adrien to an event for her mother, “It’s a fashion show! It’s tonight. Adrien can relax behind the scenes, while Mari and me model on the run way. Mama’s lost a few models so I told her I could recommend a few friends.”

“I’m modeling!” Marinette paled so much, her friends were sure she’d pass out.

“I get to do nothing!” Adrien grinned.

           Pictures of Chloe and Marinette modeling exploded across the internet; multiple fashion websites and online magazines deeming the girls’ Style Queen’s secret weapon and modeling next big thing.

           Most of the guys in class shrugged it off. But a few of the girls turned greened with envy; Lila in particular.

           On Friday, Marinette invited Adrien and Chloe to meet her uncle and her cousin, “He’s back in town on Saturday and he wants to meet all my friends.”

           No one else in class paid too much to that. Who cared about Marinette’s uncle? Or her cousin? They were probably just as stuck-up and nasty as she was.

           Then on Saturday, picture of the same group who went to Parliament, plus Luka, with Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale started trending on the internet. Jagged Stone posted a tweet about how awesome his honorary niece was, with a picture of him and Marinette. Clara posted a pic with her favorite little cousin, Marinette.

           Alya couldn’t believe her eyes and immediately started texting Marinette for the deets. She received a text back saying; new number; who dis?

           Nino flat-out called Adrien only hear that the number had been disconnected.

           The rest of the class faced the same issue.

           And then one by one, they each remembered that they weren’t friends with any of the tree Ostracized students anymore.

           Monday, Alya found out that BugOut, a competing Ladybug blog, had been officially endorsed by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Something that hadn’t happened with the Ladyblog.

           Max lost the science fair. For the first time. He had to go see the school guidance counselor.

           Kim got kicked off the team for his poor grade.

           Lila’s finally called the school to schedule an appointment. Lila was Akumatized within the five minutes.

           Alix’s grandma brought her more clothes; some which were tacky sweaters with cats all over them

           Nathaniel misplaced his new sketch book, with his redone Ladybug comic strips. He never found it. Marc wasn’t happy.

           Nino got a call to dj a huge event only to have to decline as he hadn’t bought new equipment yet.

           It was Adrien that brought in breakfast for the other two; Mcdonalds. Much to the Chloe and Marinette’s dismay, but they didn’t say anything as the boy was clearly happy about being allowed to eat it for the first time.

           Marinette unwrapped her sausage Mcgriddle, wondering who she hurt in a past life, “Jagged is doing a private concert. You two want to come?”

           Adrien nodded, his mouth full of fried hash brown and bacon. “Count me in,” They think he said.

           Chloe held the egg mcmuffin in her hand like it was physically hurting her to do so, “I’m in,” she said. “And I’m bringing breakfast tomorrow.”

           The class was dismayed at missing at meeting Jagged Stone again.

“Are you going to invite us?” Alya asked with a huff.

           Marinette didn’t even look in her direction, “Sorry Uncle Jagged said I can only invite my friends.”

           Ouch.

           Over the course of the next few months, things continued to fall apart for the class. They tried planning one of their usual amazing dances, only for everything to crash and burn. Then they remembered that Marinette planned everything, and before her, Chloe.

           The class never made enough money fundraising so nearly all planned class trips were canceled.

           They had to deal with seeing pictures of Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe and all their friends meeting all sorts of celebrities.

           Ladybug disowned the Ladyblog; causing Alya to burst into tears.

           No matter what any of the students tried, did, competed in, they never won. They practically failed at everything.

           Rose tried to bake cookies for the class; her kitchen caught on fire.

           Max applied for science camp; all spots were full.

           Nathaniel who had lost his comic drawing for the twelfth time in a row was finally told by Marc to take a hike.

           Nino lost his hat, broke his glasses, a dog at his homework, and he tripped landed face down in the mud; all on the way to school one morning.

           The students were constantly late, frustrated, and always seemed to have something accidently spilled or thrown on their clothes.

           Lila’s  mother, who finally decided to just randomly drop by the school after being told repeatedly by her daughter that it was closed so she couldn’t do the appointment for months, was shocked to say the least when it was clearly opened and active. She had a long talk with the Principle and all of Lila’s lies were revealed to class.

           Class was very apologetic to the three ostracized students after that but it didn’t matter. The three made it clear they weren’t interested in renewing their friendships.

           By the end of the year Bustier’s class went from the luckiest in school to the unluckiest kids on the planet.

           The students of Bustier’s class couldn’t help but wonder aloud why they lucked changed do much.

           Tikki, Plagg, and Pollen, hidden away in their chosens’ school bags just smirked.

[soulmate-game]

“Alright, so tonight is going to be fairly standard. Arkham is silent, and there’s no solid leads on what any of the free rogues might be up to. Harley is sick and Ivy is stuck at home taking care of her, so they aren’t going to be up to anything on either side of the law for a few days. Catwoman is the only person we’d have to look out for right now, but her kleptomania has taken her out of the city for a change,” Barbara was typing away at the large Batcomputer keyboard as she brought all of the Gotham vigilantes up to speed on what to expect for patrol that night. “So, Red Hood and Black Bat will take the Narrows and surrounding area patrol route like usual. Nightwing and Batgirl, Upper east side and fashion district patrol route. Red Robin, you’re taking the route that passes city hall and through Old Gotham and Diamond District, and if you don’t throw a fit maybe you can take Robin with you. Batman, crime alley and Newtown patrol. Robin or no Robin, pick your poison,” the redhead offered, finally spinning her wheelchair around to look at everyone. “We’ll be pretty spread out tonight, but like I said, there’s nothing. No whispers of anything planned on the dark web, no news from any of the rogues, Blackgate and Arkham are, dare I say, peaceful right now. But if you see anything, I’ll redirect you guys so you can get backup ASAP.”

This was a rare night. Usually there was at least a plot or red flag to investigate, but not that night. For some reason, it seemed like Gotham had gotten a dose of sanity that it had been desperately missing.

“Actually,” Alfred took that moment to walk in, a slight pep to his step that seemed to catch everyone’s attention. “I do have news. Batman, you of course know that I have been keeping a close eye on Paris’s situation as per your orders, yes?”

Bruce, who had already been inching towards the batmobile none too subtly, suddenly stood stock still and slowly turned to look at his father figure. He could feel the eyes of his many children honing in on him, silent questions behind those orbs.

“Of course, I remember,” he confirmed cautiously. “You haven’t had an update for me in years.”

Years? Tim furrowed his eyebrows. That meant this had to be something that stretched very far back, because everything that Batman tried to keep secret from him since he became Robin had already been outed. Right? Well, he supposed there was always the possibility that Bruce could have snuck something by, but not a large one. Between him and Oracle, any new secrets he tried to squirrel away were unearthed pretty swiftly. So, most likely this was something Bruce had asked Alfred to keep an eye on at least back when Jason was still Robin. Maybe even further back than that.

“Yes, well you wouldn’t have appreciated any prior updates, sir,” Alfred said pointedly, raising an eyebrow. He always would be the one to understand Bruce Wayne and Batman the best out of all of them. “But this is a big one. I used our inside contact to check up on the Paris situation like I do every month, and this came up,” Alfred pulled out a remote from his pocket and clicked it at the computer, triggering it to bring up an article that likely had been hidden and only accessible via that remote signal. If Barbara had had any reason to check for hidden files she would have found it easily, but Alfred was good at never giving any hints as to when he was hiding something.

But what was on the computer was far more interesting than the all-too-familiar, cryptid ways of Alfred Pennyworth.

Because it was a news article from an online Paris newspaper. It was still in untranslated French, but nobody in that room had any trouble reading it. It was dated to have been published two weeks earlier.

On the cover picture for the article was a man that everybody also recognized, being high-profile and extremely influential in the fashion industry. Most of them had even met the man at least once, the aging Gabriel Agreste. In his early seventies, it was odd to see the man being herded into a police vehicle. He didn’t seem all that threatening, though he still struck an oddly intimidating figure with his cold glare and straight back. Being herded behind him was a woman of around Bruce’s own age, with long brown hair in several elaborate braids. Her dark, almost muddy green eyes bore into the camera and a snarl was on her face. Lila Rossi, the model that had been employed under Agreste for quite some years now and had turned into a sort of reality TV celebrity after she got too old to be hired for as many modeling gigs. She was known as highly untrustworthy, a lie monger and the most infamous gossip in the celebrity world. The headline for the article was;

“THE PARISIAN NIGHTMARE FINALLY OVER! AFTER THIRTY YEARS OF TORMENT, THE HAWKMOTHS OF PAST AND PRESENT HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.”

Underneath that title picture was another, this one detailing the Parisian heroes to stop Hawkmoth, who had been replaced years ago by his female counterpart Monarch, a play on the Monarch Butterfly. The Heroes, on the other hand, had remained mostly the same after the infamous confusion of the early years of Hawkmoth’s reign of terror, where Ladybug had temporarily started adding hero after hero to the team before mysteriously and suddenly retiring almost all of them.

On the right was Ladybug, who stood proud with her arms crossed and a somber gaze directed towards the two unmasked villains. On the left was Chat Noir, in a weird black leather costume that was like a bizzare yet fashionable meld of DiscoWing and the classic Batman uniform. Minus a cape or cowl, of course. Standing behind them, all fanned out, were the last four members of their team. Viperion, in a dark teal snake-themed costume. Ryuuko, standing next to him in a black and red ensemble with her elemental symbol proudly on her chest. Bunnyx, in her bright baby blue and white, and lastly the imperious Stinger behind them in her black outfit with gold accents.

As everyone but Alfred and Bruce read the article and examined the photos as quickly as they could, the eldest vigilante in the room slowly removed his cowl. His eyes were wide, disbelieving as they stared only at the two pictures on the screen and didn’t pay any heed to the article itself.

“Thirty years,” Jason remarked, turning to face Bruce angrily. “Paris has been under attack by magical madmen for thirty years, and you never told us? We knew nothing about this, and this has been going on since before us. Since before you, even,” he waved a hand at the screen angrily. “You know that they have been under attack since before Batman was even a thing, and you never said anything? We could have helped! The league could have—“

“Been a liability,” Bruce interrupted, but it was the uncharacteristic softness to his tone that ultimately shut Jason up and attracted everyone else’s rapid attention. “The league knows. The founding members, anyway. It was something I briefed them on back when we first founded the League, but we were careful to keep any mention of it off of any electronic system. The magic behind the attacks stopped any word of the terrorism from getting out through normal means. We pretended to put the JLE in Paris, when really they are centered miles out of city limits and never set foot inside Paris’s boundaries.”

“Why?” Dick asked, his own mask off so that he could glare into Bruce’s eyes without it obscuring his expression at all. He wasn’t explosively angry like Jason, but it was clear that Dick wasn’t happy either. “They all look to be your age, Bruce. Which means they’ve been fighting HawkMoth since they were teenagers, on their own, since before there was any Justice League or very many other established heroes at all to provide backup. And I get that HawkMoth and Monarch seem to have controlled or fed off negative emotions and a lot of us would have been liabilities, but there are Leaguers who have extreme control over their emotions. You could have gone. Or J’onn, you could have even sent Tim. Anybody to help even a little.”

“Paris isn’t my city, it’s Ladybug’s city. The League and most metahuman heroes stay out of Gotham because I asked them too, but I am not the first to have the idea that keeping other heroes out of a volatile city can be beneficial for damage control. Ladybug herself told me not to allow any interference in the situation,” Bruce braced himself against the back of one of their metal debriefing chairs, leaning forward so it could take most of his weight. That, and the way he never looked away from the photos displayed on the computer, tipped off everyone else that Bruce might not have stayed uninvolved willingly. That he had a deeper connection to the whole Paris mess than just keeping a shrewd eye on a possible issue.

“You know Ladybug?” Tim decides to speak up, leaning back against the desk that housed the batcomputer keyboard. His voice was decidedly softer than that of his elder brothers’.

Bruce nodded, still in an odd partial trance. “We met when I was on a trip to Paris, before I became Batman. It was twenty-three years ago, I was eighteen and found out the hard way about the situation that the rest of the world was somehow oblivious to. I was able to meet Ladybug during one of her patrols, and confronted her. Even after I became Batman two years later, she refused any help. It wasn’t until about a year before I adopted Dick that I finally decided I couldn’t keep worrying about a situation and people that I wasn’t being allowed to help, so I told Alfred to use the sources that Ladybug had given me back when we first met to check in on the situation every month or two. I know that it was not the best decision, making Alfred do what I couldn’t bring myself to, but by the time I adopted Dick I had mostly forgotten about it. I was too worried about trying to figure out how to raise a kid and then deal with raising a vigilante kid after that, for the first time.”

Silence reigned for a while. This was, essentially, news that Bruce had been waiting to hear for over twenty years. An outcome that he had been barred from being a part of. Talk about bittersweet, especially when Bruce seemed so passionate about wanting to have helped. Probably too guilty about not being allowed to.

In the end, it was Damian who made the connection between this news and his father’s foreign mood and behavior first. Or at least, he was the first to vocalize it. Cass probably noticed it sooner.

“You have feelings for Ladybug,” Damian somehow managed to make the declaration sound like a reprimand. “I admit, she is likely much better of a suitor for you than that mangy cat, but I hardly think that trying to start courting her again after so long apart is reasonable. She could have changed from—“

“I know, Damian,” Bruce’s knuckles were white from how tightly he was gripping the chair. “Trust me, I have spent more than enough hours contemplating calling her again to catch up, but I knew it was best to stay away. I had grown busy with Batman and the League anyway, and adding the time difference on there was no way any relationship between us would have been feasible.”

“So you cut yourself off from even being her friend. Which, might I remind you, I heavily advised against,” Alfred finally cut back into the conversation, hands clasped behind his back. “The two of you had maintained a perfectly stable long distance friendship for over five years, and I still consider the day you cut her off to be one of your stupidest mistakes, master Bruce. On an unrelated note, I received a call from the designer that you always commission your more high-fashion suits from, sir. She is coming to Gotham for a time, and I gave her an invitation to come visit for dinner tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind.” With that said, Alfred turned on his heel and walked away.

“That man never raises his voice, but somehow still makes you feel like absolute shit when he gets mad,” Stephanie mused aloud when the butler had left, earning silent nods from everyone else.

“How are you still alive, Father?” Damian asked, raising an eyebrow over one vibrant green eye. “If you cut off Ladybug only to continue to commission the person that I assume is her civilian identity on a regular basis, how has that idiocy not blended into the rest of your life?”

“It has,” Jason added in, always up for a game of Rag on Bruce. “He’s just always had this annoying ability of surviving even the shittiest situations he ends up in. It’s like he has plot armor or something.”

Bruce only grunted, pulling his cowl back on. “Patrol. Robin, you’re with Red Robin today. Don’t kill each other.”

“Oh no, I want to live to see the girl you’ve apparently been crushing on since you were a teenager,” Tim said as he ambled over to his motorcycle. “Seeing THAT reunion is gonna be way better than picking another fight with Demon Spawn.”

“Tt.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“Your tie won’t get any straighter,” Barbara teased Bruce, watching as he fiddled with the tie around his throat for the millionth time in just the past ten minutes. Alfred had made sure that he couldn’t escape this, even going so far as benching Batman for the night.

And to make matters worse, it was still far too early for patrol so all the Wayne kids were present. Stephanie had other obligations to see to, unfortunately, but other than her even Jason had come over to the manor to see the fallout.

“Master Bruce, she is here,” Alfred’s voice cut through the almost palpable nerves emanating from the usually stoic or charismatic man. Batman was nowhere to be seen at the moment, but neither was Playboy Billionaire Brucie Wayne. No, this was Bruce Wayne, as genuine as anybody could see him. And more nervous than his kids had ever witnessed.

The door was opened, and in stepped someone that defied any of the Batkid’s preconceptions. They were expecting someone suave, sophisticated, with hard-earned muscle trying to hide under her skin. Like a Wonder Woman type of person, bursting with strength except for when they made an effort to disguise it. But that was not what they got. No suave, sophisticated bachelorette of a businesswoman and reputable fashion designer. No goddess-masquerading-as-a-human. Not even a femme fatale like Selina Kyle or most of Batman’s exes.

But there was a distinct observation that the kids made the moment they saw her.

Black hair, so dark that it seemed to reflect blue in the light, and clear blue eyes that were dark, vibrant, and seemed to glow with intelligence and humor, with just the slightest gray tones that hid in them grim experiences and disillusion.

She had a smile that was eerily similar to Dick’s when she laid eyes on the family and let it spread across her face. It was like the warmth of the sun, and instantly made the impersonal foyer feel cozy and welcoming. But the sharpness in her eyes as she scanned over all the people gathered, more than she expected if her eyebrow raise was any indication, was just like Tim. Too much like Tim.

She came to a stop a few feet away from the Wayne clan, and rested one hand on her waist as she popped her hip out. Jason’s attitude.

Her hair was up in a simple but elegant bun, with a braid curling around the base of it. She was small, about five foot four if their estimates were correct, and the sleek sleeves of her midnight blue dress simultaneously emphasized and disguised the lithe, corded muscle mass that seemed to flow smoothly down her arms. Not a brawler’s muscle, but an acrobat or gymnast’s. The delicate silver embroidery along the sleeves and trim of her dress, and curling around her waist like a belt of thread, was in actuality a string of bats in various flight poses interspersed with silver swirls and tiny ladybugs. Her own playful personality, it seemed, something innocent and daring and subtle all at once that didn’t quite fit any of the kids, it was solely hers.

“I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” the woman finally introduced herself, holding out her hand even as her radiant smile stayed firmly in place. When her eyes found Bruce again, they stayed there. “An old friend of your father’s. And by the way, Bruce. If you ever cut contact with me again without ever explaining yourself, I will not stay twiddling my thumbs in some other city again. I will hunt you down and get you to tell me what exactly possessed you to freeze me out, and only if it is some really good reasoning will I let you off without giving you a remedial lesson in the importance of dodging.”

Damian’s fire.

Dick looked over at Bruce, then at Marinette. She caught his eye, nodded and winked, and looked back to her old friend.

“But I do have to say, this looks suspiciously like a family we might have had if you had ever gotten up the courage to ask me out all those years ago instead of not realizing that I never specifically forbade you from visiting Paris, only heroes in general. You’re lucky I’m patient. I spent thirty years waiting to get back the Butterfly Miraculous and lock those two up for good, but making me wait twenty years to finally confess to you is a bit much, don’t you think? And adopting kids with only blue eyes and black hair is a bit on the nose, even for you.”

Scratch that, Damian’s loyalty.

Bruce really had adopted kids that reminded him of Marinette in some way, and the way he would grin or smile at Damian when he was displaying his usually subtle but steady loyalty, or the way that Bruce had almost unending tolerance for Damian’s stubbornness, it all started to make sense.

Bruce had tried building a family around the one he imagined he could have had with Marinette.

“Mari—“

“Nope. You’ve made me wait this long, you don’t even get a hug until after dinner. Then we can catch up, and you’ll take me out to dinner in a few days,” suddenly what was happening seemed to creep up on the woman, and she fidgeted. Sheepishness rose to her face, and she winced at her own words. But damn, she had imagined this day for so long, she couldn’t help but get assertive! “I mean, if you want to. I get it if you lost interest in dating me, but—“

“How about I set up a private dinner on the top of Wayne enterprises, day after tomorrow. We can even do a patrol afterwards if you’re up to it.”

His sons all facepalmed, some inwardly and some outwardly. Barbara groaned and Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. But, to their astonishment, Marinette’s smile just came back full force.

“Aww, you know I can’t resist the offer of a patrol. But just one, I want to enjoy some time off now that I’m not perpetually on-call as Paris’s main hero.”

Bruce finally grinned back, his eyes soft for the first time in a while that wasn’t directed at his kids. In way that they had never been soft towards Selina or most of his past flings.

“Just one patrol, then.”

“Sounds like a date.”

First attempt to upload this goofed and deleted the first part, so here is attempt number two! Again, Brucinette has been invading my dreams.

Apparently there is a part 2 now.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Visits & Visions

A JSE Fanfic

This story is about a page shorter than my usual stuff, but it’s still a lot of pages. There’s a lot of setup with not as much action this time around. Chase visits more people. We check on Schneep again, finally returning to his POV. And then Anti acts like an evil asshole, because he is an evil asshole. Yeah, not much to say about this one. Hope you guys like it regardless :>

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

Chase opened the curtains on the bedroom, letting in a wash of sunlight. The bright light was quickly absorbed by the dark blue paint on the walls, but still lit up the desk and swivel chair, dresser and closet, shelves with books and knickknacks, and the bed with the nightstand next to it. Marvin, lying in bed, pulled the blanket up over his head and groaned.

“Sit up and absorb the Vitamin D, bro,” Chase said, sitting down in the swivel chair. Marvin’s cat Ragamuffin was lying on the desk nearby. On top of Marvin’s laptop, to be exact. He peeked open his eyes when Chase sat down, then dismissed him and closed them again.

“No,” Marvin said stubbornly. “I’ll eat a lemon or something instead.”

“Well, first of all, that would be really sour so, uh, maybe not,” Chase pointed out. “And second of all, that’s Vitamin C.”

Marvin groaned again, this time clearly putting on an act. He pushed away the blankets and sat up, running fingers through his messy hair in an effort to semi-comb it. “I look like shit,” he muttered.

“Didn’t you have a hairbrush in here somewhere?” Chase asked, looking around. “Oh, there.” He stood up and walked over to the dresser to grab the brush, which he then handed to Marvin.

“Thanks,” Marvin said, accepting the brush and running it through his hair. He managed to untangle some of the worst of it when he stopped and put the brush on his nightstand. His eyes were cloudy, staring out the window with a vague, far-off gaze. Then he lowered his head into his hands. “Fuck this,” he said, a sob catching onto the end of his voice.

“Oh geez.” There was a tissue box on the dresser as well. Chase picked it up, pulled out a tissue, and handed it to Marvin. 

Marvin accepted the tissue, mumbling another “thanks” and pressing it to his eyes. He...well, he’d looked better. Chase was pretty sure he’d been in bed for at least a whole day. Which, Chase had to admit, he could relate to. Sometimes it was tough. And having your friend kidnapped wasn’t easy, for obvious reasons. Jameson had been missing for about three weeks now, and Marvin was having trouble with that. True, he hadn’t reacted this strongly when Jackie disappeared, but even then, he’d had to take a week to himself. And Chase knew that Marvin was pretty close with JJ. He hadn’t been crying about it as much lately, but it would still happen, seemingly triggered by him just...thinking about the situation.

“You need to drink some water, bro,” Chase said. “Losing all this, uh...moisture isn’t good.”

“Moisture?” That momentarily distracted Marvin as he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say ‘fluids.’ You probably would’ve called that out, too.”

“Ah, fair, I guess.” Marvin crumpled up the used tissue and dropped it into the trash bin he’d recently moved near the bed. “Anyway. What’s up with you? What’ve you been doing?”

“Hey, I’m serious about that water thing. You want me to go get a glass from the kitchen?”

“I...yeah, sure. I have a hydro flask in one of the cupboards, use that, not a glass. I don’t want to knock anything over.”

“Great. Be right back.” Chase stood up and hurried to the kitchen. He quickly found the water bottle in one of the cabinets, filling it up with tap water and a few ice cubes before heading back to the bedroom. When he returned, Marvin was lying down again, slowly petting Ragamuffin, who was sitting on the pillow nearby with his head on Marvin’s neck. Chase raised an eyebrow. “That can’t be comfortable.”

“Shhhh. You don’t know the fluffiness,” Marvin said.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve pet him many many times before.” Chase handed Marvin the water bottle. “Good thing I used the lid with the spout thing. Here. Drink that.”

“Mmm.” Marvin started sipping through the attached straw while Chase retook his usual position. After a while, he said, “Soooo...can I ask you what you’ve been doing now?”

“Well I mean...a lot,” Chase said. “I’ve been visiting Schneep and Jack. Both of them are looking a lot better. You should really come with one time, they’d both love to see you, probably Jack especially. Though I mean, talking might be a bit awkward at first. You ever heard of a communication board?”

“Of course. Is Jack using one of those?”

“Yeah, exactly. Cause his, uh, talking and moving isn’t up to par yet.” Chase rubbed the back of his head. “Also, uh...I’m trying to find out more about...Anti.”

“Wh...” Marvin stared at him. He set the water bottle down on the nightstand next to him. “Why?”

“I don’t know, man, I’m ju—I’m tired of not doing anything,” Chase said. “I thought, hey, maybe if I can find something out, I can...I dunno, really. Just help a bit.” He sighed. “I mean, it’s not exactly easy.”

“Oh I can imagine,” Marvin mumbled, reaching up to scratch Ragamuffin’s ears.

“Yeah, he’s a criminal, you know? And a good one. We didn’t even know he existed until Dr. Laurens escaped and confirmed that he did.” Chase made a frustrated noise. “So I mean, looking up news sources is hard. I’ve been trying to find mysterious deaths in the area, going back a few years, but that’s still a lot. And like, he’s gotta have a base somewhere, right? Where he’s keepin—where he has supplies and shit. But how do you find that? God, how did Jackie do this? Seriously, how do you be a detective?”

“Well Jackie, like, went to school for this,” Marvin reasoned. “He knew—knows tricks. What do you mean by news sources? Like, online?”

“Yeah. Why, do you think I should go to the library? Check out old newspapers?”

“I mean...if you’re looking online, maybe he has a website.”

Chase stared at Marvin for a solid thirty seconds. “I’m sorry. A website? A website...for a guy who kills people?”

“They exist,” Marvin said casually. “You remember how I got almost killed back in March?”

“How could I forget that?” The whole story was still pretty unbelievable to him. Marvin had been working for a seemingly normal clothing shop, but because of suspicious activity, decided to look into it. And he’d soon found out that the shop was a front for some sort of smuggling operation, with firearms involved. Not long after that, he’d been attacked on his way home from work, and very nearly died. It hadn’t taken too much thought to realize the shady people behind the operation were behind the attack. “That’s the whole reason you left suddenly.”

“Yeah.” Marvin nodded a bit. “Well, I got curious. I was like, how exactly do you hire someone to kill someone else? So I took my old laptop that I left at my grandma’s house, because like, whatever, it probably should’ve been e-recycled a while ago, or whatever they do. So it didn’t matter what I searched up there, cause I was gonna get rid of it after. And I searched up stuff. And long story short, there is...totally an online market for stuff like that.”

“I...you’re serious?” Chase asked, gaping at him.

“I wouldn’t mess with you about this.”

“It just...seems unbelievable. If there were websites like this, couldn’t the police find them?”

“Sometimes they do.” Marvin’s eyes darkened. “But...there’s a whole...section of the Internet that...isn’t...good. It’s like...for that exact stuff. And if Anti was hired to kill me, he has to have some way for people to...to contact him for stuff like that. A website would be good for that.”

“Oh,” Chase said softly, looking away as he contemplated this new information. It made sense, really. It was more that he didn’t want to believe there was something like that out there. But he had to. So he took a deep breath. “You, uh...know how I’d go about finding something like that?”

Marvin nodded slowly. He gently pushed Ragamuffin away, who didn’t seem to mind and just rolled over, and then sat up. “Hand me that spiral book and one of the pencils from the desk,” he said, pointing. Chase did so, and he started writing down a few things. It took a while, since he would occasionally stop, think about something, and erase and rewrite, but eventually he tore the page out and showed it to Chase. “Here. These are some of the websites I remember, mostly because of the, uh...memorable URLs. Don’t—don’t use a computer you want to keep or have a bunch of information on.”

Chase took the page, scanning the URLs Marvin had written down. There were five of them, and...yeah, he could see why these stuck with him. “Are you gonna do some searching, too? It’d probably go faster with two of us.”

“No.” Marvin immediately shook his head. “I only have my laptop right now, and I really don’t want to compromise that with viruses or anything. That model was expensive, and it’s so much trouble to replace.”

“Oh. Yeah, good point.” Chase hesitated. “Do you...I mean, if you wanted to help me look for Anti, that would be...good. Too. In whatever way.”

Marvin hesitated. Chase could see the battle going on mentally, his usual fiery nature contrasting with the lack of energy he’d clearly been having lately. “I mean...I guess I’ll help you if you need anything,” he finally said after a while.

“That’d be great, bro. I can talk about it when I come over,” Chase said. God, he’d been doing so much visiting lately. Going everywhere, all over the place. It was...tiring. And that wasn’t even including the weekends when he had the kids over at his house. Another reason he hadn’t been able to find much on Anti was because he just didn’t have the time to do any thorough searching. But this website thing seemed easy. He could do it when he got home. “Anyway, keep drinking water. You, like, really need it. And you don’t really get it until you don’t have it.”

“Speaking from personal experience?” Marvin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chase laughed. “Ah, you caught me. But seriously.”

“Alright, Chase, I understand.” Marvin picked up the water bottle again and started to sip.

——————

As it turned out, searching for illegal websites was not easy.

Chase had an old computer that he’d been keeping in his closet for ages, ever since he got a new, better one for playing and recording games. He dragged it out, booted it up, and set it through a factory restart, since Marvin had advised against having much personal information. From there, it was a bit of...a shot in the dark, really.

The search took a while. Chase was sure that looking at these websites was putting him on some sort of watchlist somewhere, and he couldn’t help but glance around the room every few minutes. Wasn’t there a video game like this, once? Jack had played it on his YouTube channel. Some game where you searched the messed-up dark side of the Internet. Yeah, that was the one where Jackie showed up in the second episode to help him with the puzzles and stuff. But that was just a game. This was real, and he was paranoid that someone would pop up in the window, staring at him.

By the time he found what he was looking for, it was well into the night, and Chase was positive that his browser had logged this worrying activity and possibly sent it to some agencies somewhere. But the search was a success. He’d clicked on a link reading ‘Antiseptic: For Taking Care of Infections.’ Harmless-sounding, if it hadn’t been on a website that listed several other websites, all somehow involving hiring someone to do shady shit for you.

The website from the link was, admittedly, pretty professional-looking. It could have been for a proper business. But it wasn’t. This was a website where you hired a hitman. And that hitman was Anti. Chase unconsciously leaned back from the screen as he clicked around the webpages. Something about rules, something about rates, something about reviews from customers (all anonymous, of course.) And an About page. Chase hesitated, then clicked on that.

The page that popped up had a bright red banner plastered across the top, reading: ‘IMPORTANT: I am not taking any new jobs for the time being. How long, you ask? Until further notice. Why, you ask? Something needs to be taken care of. Wait for your killing. Or go hire someone else.’ Blunt and to the point, while still being vague. Chase didn’t like the sound of ‘something needs to be taken care of.’ He had the strong suspicion that ‘something’ involved Jameson, and possibly Jackie.

He should tell the police about this website, right? It could be an important lead, not only in finding Jameson and Jackie, but in catching Anti altogether. Chase thought about it, and decided he would. But just in case, he’d keep the computer around and remember this URL. So he could search through this website on his own time.

It was late. He really should go to bed. Well, he might be too anxious to, after spending so much time looking at stuff like this, but he should try. But before he shut down the computer, he decided to check out the reviews section. What sort of reviews would a mercenary have?

He glanced at a couple of them, not wanting too many details, but suddenly stopped. The lowest rated review on the front page—god, killings had ratings, that was messed up—read: ‘Left a complimentary review in March when I thought he efficiently killed the target. But now, turns out the bitch is alive, and this bastard made me pay just for the CHANCE of going after him again. And he hasn’t even done it yet! Hurry up, you’—Chase winced at the word used—‘that Irish fucker could tell anyone by now!’

It was probably just a coincidence, but...the attack on Marvin’s life had happened back in March. And Marvin was Irish. And it had happened because some criminals thought he would tell...no, it was probably just a coincidence. It was a big world, after all.

Chase quickly wrote down the website’s URL and, just in case, the path he went through to get to it. He then closed the browser and shut down the computer. This was intriguing, but he’d have to look it over more later. He had to go tell the police about this the next day. It would have to be early in the morning. He had plans. More visiting to do.

——————

By now, Chase was pretty familiar with the visiting room at Silver Hills, as well as the visiting procedure. Enter, sign in who you were and who you were there to see, go wait in the visiting room, and after a while, the patient you were there to see would show up, along with a doctor in tow. Or, well, maybe the doctor was just for a few patients, to keep an eye on the ones who were somehow risky. Either way, the procedure hadn’t changed at all. He breezed right past it today, as always, and didn’t even have time to sit down before the other door in the room opened.

“Chase, my friend!” Schneep gave Chase a quick hug. “It is good to see you again so soon.”

“So soon? It’s been a week, like always.” Chase patted Schneep on the back before pulling away. “But it’s always nice to see you. You look good.”

“Ah, thank you.” Schneep smiled, a bit nervously, twisting his medical bracelet around his wrist.

“I’m serious, Doc.” And it was true; Schneep looked better than he had in a while. His skin had more color, and he’d gained a bit of weight. He was still pretty pale and thin, but it was a welcome, and noticeable, improvement. “Like, your hands aren’t shaking anymore.”

“Hmm?” Schneep looked down at his own hands, holding them still for a moment. “Oh yes. I hadn’t even noticed.”

“Well that’s good,” Chase said encouragingly. “I mean, it’s gotta mean that they’ve figured out, like, medication and stuff.”

“Yes, I think so,” Schneep said, glancing over to the corner of the room where Laurens was sitting, working on something on a clipboard. “Things have stopped changing.”

“Great.” Chase sat down on one of the couches, patting the cushion next to him so Schneep would sit down, which he did. “Anyway, you said last week they’d be moving you back to your first room. Have they done that yet?”

Schneep’s expression brightened. “Yes, they have! Chase, it is so much improved. Even just looking through the window at the ground—well, the window does not open, which I understand, but even just that is so much better. I do wish they would let me wear my own clothes again, but I think that is happening soon.”

“Well it should.” Chase folded his arms, eyeing the plain white shirt and pants Schneep was wearing. “I don’t even understand. Is it that much of a risk?”

“Ah...” Schneep reached up to rub his neck. “Well, not for everyone. You say you do not understand, but I do.”

“If you’re okay with it, then,” Chase said slowly. “Oh, by the way, I brought you something.” He shrugged his backpack off his shoulders, pulling it around to hold in his lap while Schneep watched quizzically. “Stacy and the kids were baking, and they decided to drop some off, and I-I thought, well, I don’t know if there are like sweets in the hospital cafeteria or something, so...” After a bit of rummaging, he pulled out a plastic ziploc bag with a pair of chocolate chip cookies inside. “Here.”

“Oh really?!” Schneep gasped, immediately taking the bag.

“Yeah, really.”

“Thank you!” He wasted no time in opening the bag and taking out one of the cookies, biting into it.

Chase laughed. “I was right, huh? No sweets in the cafeteria?”

Schneep swallowed so he wouldn’t answer with his mouth full. “Well, there are sometimes. I think there is a schedule, maybe for every other day, I do not know. I only started going into the cafeteria...well, I did at the start, but then there was an incident, and—anyway, the point is, I have not been...attending, is that the word? For long enough to learn a schedule. I have only been allowed in the cafeteria and the, ah, rec room recently.”

“Really?” Chase kept a positive note in his voice. “That’s good, right? People say you need a change of environment.”

“Yes.” Again, Schneep glanced over at Laurens. “I hear it is advised. Which is one of the reasons why that—that other doctor was not good at her job.”

“Boy, you are so salty,” Chase said. “But you know what? Go ahead. She was an asshole.”

Schneep laughed.

Chase smiled. “Go ahead and be saltier than those, uh, fucking salt flats in America, or whatever.”

“S-salt flats?” Schneep was laughing so hard that it devolved into coughing. He had to take deep breaths to calm down.

“Yeah, they like, test the speeds of cars out in this spot in the middle of nowhere because it’s so flat. And it’s, like, made of salt, I think.”

“Is that a fact?” Schneep asked, amused.

Chase pulled out his phone. “Well I’m about to check if it is.”

The rest of the visit flew by. They talked about nothing, which was a welcome change of pace. Briefly, Chase considered telling Schneep about Jameson’s disappearance, as he had for the past two visits. But, just like those previous times, he decided against it. It would probably just upset him. And he didn’t even really know who Jameson was, apart from that one time he freaked out after seeing him. And that encounter certainly didn’t leave a good impression. So they talked about little things. Music, and movies, and what was happening with Chase’s kids. Small talk, yes, but it was the only chance they got to have this small talk each week.

Eventually, the time was up. Chase said goodbye and good luck, which Schneep returned, and left, heading back towards the front desk so he could check out.

Shortly after signing out on the visitor’s sheet, he heard footsteps. Chase looked up to see Dr. Laurens had followed him out. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.” Chase nodded in greeting. “Uh...everything okay?”

“Yes. Why, are you expecting it to not be?”

“I dunno, it’s just that usually when a doctor talks to you after you finished visiting someone, it’s usually with some sort of news.”

Laurens laughed. “No, it’s all fine. Schneep is doing really well, you know, making a lot of progress. Obviously, it really helps that, ah...the head doctor is no longer holding me so tightly to regulations.” She said it delicately. “So he can actually get the help he needs.”

“Yeah, a doctor with a revenge plot isn’t exactly helpful,” Chase commented. “He wasn’t even the right person for that plot in the first place,” he added, muttering.

“Well I-I guess if you want to be blunt about it,” Laurens said. Clearly, that had never been her style. “Anyway, yes, everything’s going great. I just wanted to ask, I was going through his files recently and I noticed you were down as an emergency contact. Are you still okay with that?”

“Yeah, sure. He doesn’t really have any family who’d respond,” Chase said. “Am I the only one?”

“No, your friend Marvin is there, too,” Laurens said. “We, um, tried to contact his wife—or, uh, separated wife—Mina. She hasn’t responded, so I just thought I’d confirm.”

“Really? Did you, like, call her or mail her or something?” Chase asked, intrigued. Mina had sort of been a distant figure for a while. And even before she and Schneep separated, he hadn’t been too familiar with her. A bit odd, really.

“Yes, Schneep gave us her number and mailing address,” Laurens confirmed. “I guess he could have misremembered it, or she could have changed those. But the point is, no response. So you and Marvin are the only contacts.”

“Got it.”

“Great.” Laurens paused. “Um...do you need anything? I-I understand your other friend woke up, Jack. You’ve got to be pretty busy.”

“Yeah, really.” She didn’t know the half of it. It was...actually really tiring. But he refused to let this stop him anymore. But...Chase considered something, then leaned closer, and quietly said, “Hey, uh, you’re a therapist. Do you know any, like...other therapists? Not here, like, more casual places. That you go visit.”

“Oh yeah! Hang on a second.” Laurens flipped through the pages of her clipboard, unclipping a blank sheet at the back. She took her pen out from behind her ear and wrote something down. “Here. This is the agency I worked for before here. Well...I mean I worked here before. But then I quit and worked there, and came back here—you get the picture.” She laughed awkwardly. “Anyway, there’s a website I’ve written down there. They have listings for different therapists, sorted by specialties and methods, and including, uh, short biographies so you can get to know them a bit before you actually make a booking. So you can know what you’re looking for.”

“Thanks.” Chase took the piece of paper and looked it over. “That was...more information than I thought, really.”

“Well I wasn’t about to just recommend someone,” Laurens said. “That’s for you—or, uh, anyone who’s therapist-shopping.”

That got a laugh out of Chase. “Alright. Anyway, thanks again.” He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket. “I’ll see you next week.”

“See you,” Laurens waved as Chase left.

Yes, next week. Assuming nothing went wrong and she had to contact him beforehand. But it probably wouldn’t.

——————

The recreation room of Silver Hills was a large, wide room on the second floor. Schneep hadn’t been in there much. Of course, for a long time Dr. Newson hadn’t allowed it, on the basis of it being dangerous. But even when he first checked in, he didn’t go down to this room that often. Maybe once, to see what it looked like. He hadn’t exactly been in the right mental space for recreation at the time. Too...well, he supposed ‘paranoid’ might be the right word. He didn’t want to get too attached to the space in case this whole thing turned out to be a trick.

But now, he thought he should give it a try. Maybe it would be helpful, to have more to do. He might be able to take his mind off things.

The room had a wall with windows overlooking the front of the hospital, and two doors on the walls to either side. Because of safety concerns, the entertainment was a bit limited. For example, some rec rooms might have a pool table. Not here. Some might have cabinets with board games. Not here. But there was still several playing card games, some pinball machines, and a TV with access to television channels and able to stream movies. There were three tables, each with a cluster of chairs, a couple sofas and armchairs near the TV, and paintings on the wall as decoration.

There were several people already in the room when Schneep peeked in. Mostly patients, with a few orderlies sitting around, identifiable by their uniforms. A group was sitting at one of the tables playing a card game, a couple were at a different table talking to each other and drawing with crayons—maybe a bit childish, but Laurens had stated that colored pencils weren’t allowed—and a few more were sitting around the TV, watching. A few of them had paused whatever they were doing to look over towards the door when it opened, and Schneep immediately froze.

“You okay?” Oliver, the usual orderly, was accompanying him to the room. They still hadn’t lightened up the rule about him being able to walk around on his own, though Laurens had said she was working on it. “Do you want to go back?”

“Nein, no no, I am fine,” Schneep muttered, stepping further into the room and looking around. He couldn’t help but notice he was the only one wearing the standard-issue white shirt and pants. Was that why some of them were staring at him? Or did they just like staring at people?

“Alright, just tell me if there’s anything wrong,” Oliver said, walking in behind him and keeping to the edges of the room, as he usually did.

Schneep nodded vaguely, glancing around to give everyone in the room a second look. Unfamiliar, all of them. There was one, part of the group playing cards, who was really staring at him, but everyone else had turned away, so that was probably her problem more than anything. Folding his arms—well, it wasn’t technically folding his arms, he just sort of grabbed each elbow with a hand—Schneep walked over to the seats by the TV and sat down in the nearest empty armchair. This was fine. That one other patient had stopped staring by now and looked back at the card game, which meant that nobody was looking at him. And that was good. Well, Oliver was there, keeping an eye on things. But nobody was watching him. Really. Nobody was. He didn’t see anyone looking. Everything was fine.

Okay, time to see if he could distract himself. What was on the TV? Schneep took a deep breath as he checked it out. It was definitely a movie of some kind, live-action, but not one that was familiar to him. It had that appearance of an older movie, something in the grain of the film or the delivery of the lines giving away that it was at least a couple decades old. Huh. That was...interesting.

“Hey.”

Schneep jumped, looking to the side. A man was looking at him. Sitting on one of the sofas, near the end closest to his own chair. “Ja? Um, yes?”

“Are you new here?” The man didn’t look too intimidating. Sandy blonde hair and freckles, wearing a blue t-shirt. He had a medical bracelet on his wrist, too.

“No, not at all,” Schneep said. “Why?”

“I just didn’t recognize you. I’ve been here a couple months, I think I recognize the usual crowd in the room. How long’ve you been?”

“Um...” Schneep paused for a second to do the math. It was now November, so that was...“A half a year.”

“Oh.” The man’s eyebrows shot upward.

“Yes, I, um, have not been in this room much. I was not—things were not...not good,” Schneep said awkwardly.

“Ohhhh.” The man nodded in understanding. “I see. I’m Finn, by the way.”

“Henrik.”

“Henrik? Are you—I mean, I don’t want to assume, but your accent, uh, are you German?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. Nice to meet you.”

“Thank you. The same.” This was starting to feel a bit awkward. Or maybe it was just him, Finn seemed perfectly comfortable. Schneep turned away, looking back at the TV. “What...is this?”

“The movie? Uh...I don’t know.” Finn shrugged. “I came in when it was already playing. I think Kellie chose it. But it’s, like, something about cars? And this family where the dad’s an inventor? I don’t know. It’s a musical.”

“Hm.” Schneep glanced around the room again. Was there anything else to do? The card game group was starting something new, one of them shuffling the deck. No, no. He didn’t want to interrupt. Maybe he could ask for some drawing supplies from the two who were coloring. Laurens did a drawing exercise with him once, and it had actually been kind of fun. Oh, wait, was there someone new here? There was something moving in the corner of his vision. It could just be in his head, but he turned to look anyway—

The moment he caught full sight of the movement, he cried out, jumping backwards and awkwardly falling out of the chair. He landed on his back, legs still up in the air, but quickly scrambled to his feet, looking back towards what he’d seen.

No. Nobody was there. But it was near one of the room’s doors, what if he left? What if he was—everyone was staring at him. They all were, they all had to be.

“Are you alright?” Finn asked, a concerned expression on his face.

“I-I-I—” Schneep backed up, once again assuming the folded arms position from before. “Don’t—look at me.”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” Finn looked away.

Schneep shuddered a bit, eyes fixed on the point where he saw—he couldn’t really have been there, it must have been in his head. It’s happened before. He’s seen him before...in his head. It. It was the same now. Had to be. Just. Just in his head. Not real.

But he couldn’t fully convince himself. Slowly, he backed up until he hit the nearest wall. Oliver, who’d been sitting nearby, stood up and walked over. “Do you need anything?” he asked quietly.

“I-I—am—will go back to safe—to my room,” Schneep stammered.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Oliver gestured to the door. Not the one that was close to...what he’d seen. Schneep nodded vaguely, and walked over to the door and out, with the orderly trailing behind him. Once they were out of the room, Oliver asked, “Anything else?”

Schneep took a deep breath in, then out. In, then out. It was a relaxation technique, and concentrating on that helped. Gave his brain something to do. “I...the hospital is—is very secure, yes? You cannot break in?”

“It’d be very difficult,” Oliver agreed. “You’d need a key card. And we do have security cameras. Someone would notice.”

“Good. Very good.” In. Out. In. Out. Laurens had reassured him many times before. Anti couldn’t get in here. So what he saw...it must have been...not real.

I’m real as ever, Henrik.

Schneep almost responded, but then firmly shut his mouth. It didn’t help to acknowledge the voices. It didn’t help to acknowledge any of them, even if he wanted to. Everything was going to be okay. This was a safe place. He didn’t have to worry about anything.

He kept reminding himself of these facts even hours after the incident. Anti couldn’t get in here. It wasn’t possible. This was a safe place. Everything was going to be okay.

——————

Well that was a failed test run.

Anti flipped the keycard between his fingers, watching it twirl through the air as he leaned back in his desk chair. He hadn’t been expecting to be spotted. They didn’t know what he looked like, and he had a small disguise, just in case. He thought that hiding his scars and darkening his hair would be enough to prevent him from being noticed. But apparently, he’d left quite an impression on the good doctor.

No one would believe him, of course. Judging by that psychiatrist’s notes, the one in the turquoise notebook, spotting Anti was a common hallucination of Schneep’s. No one would know that it was real, this time. But still. It was the principle.

Sitting up straight, Anti swiveled in his chair to face a computer monitor. The screen was divided into four sections, each showing a different angle of a single room with pale yellow walls and a pair of bunk beds. Maybe four cameras was overkill, but better safe than sorry. It looked like the two people in the room were having a conversation. He turned on the audio so he could listen in.

“—never had any siblings,” Jackie was saying, slowly swaying from side to side where he was sitting in one of the chairs. “Mom wasn’t very, uh—I-I was a miracle baby. Though sometimes I joke that I had a sister, but really it was me before I transitioned.”

So I’m the only one in the group, JJ signed. He was sitting in the other chair at the table, across from Jackie. Each of them had a plate in front of them with a sandwich and a bottle of juice.

“Yeah. Unless you count Chase’s sister-in-law, but eh. None of us do.” Jackie shrugged.

JJ laughed a bit, which soon faded. I should have asked about your family sooner, Jackie. Even before...all of this happened. I’m sorry.

“No, it’s fine,” Jackie reassured him. “I mean, family was probably a thing for you, right? Considering...this whole situation.”

Jameson nodded, looking a bit paler.

Watching the conversation, Anti frowned. That was hardly fair.

Anyway, I’d much rather talk about other people’s families, for obvious reasons, JJ continued. Like...for example, your friend Henrik. He doesn’t have any siblings either?

“No. And, uh, before you can ask about his parents...they’re assholes.” Jackie’s voice turned bitter. “They don’t live here, they’re back in Germany, and he’s very glad for that.”

Ah. Sorry for asking.

“No, it’s fine. Really.” Jackie frowned, and sat up straight. “You, uh...I-I don’t remember you apologizing as much before,” he said slowly. “Are you...okay?”

Jameson started to sign sorry, but then caught himself. He leaned over onto the table, briefly hiding his head in his arms before signing, I was working on that with my therapist. But now, it’s just all...He couldn’t even find the words and just threw his hands up in the air before hiding his head in his arms again.

Jackie leaned forward and placed his hand on Jameson’s arm. “It’s fine. We’re, uh...under a lot of stress. It makes sense that you’d, uh...things would happen again. It’s not wrong or anything. I think you’re doing great.”

Anti switched off the audio and looked away. Nothing was wrong with apologizing. It certainly wasn’t something you needed to talk to a therapist about. In fact, why did Jameson even need a therapist? He was fine.

Well...no, he wasn’t. Because he was different. Anti had backed off for a bit, giving him space to adjust, and then started talking with him again. Not for very long, but he’d come into the room, Jackie would back off and stay quiet, and he’d talk to Jameson. The goal was to regain trust, but it just wasn’t working. Jameson was anywhere from unresponsive to aggressive towards him. He didn’t get it. Yes, the initial approach wasn’t good, he’ll admit that. But what else was he supposed to do? He was trying to make up for it. The room was starting to get a bit crowded with all the things he’d given him. Books, a music player, even a beanbag chair. Anything he wanted.

Well, almost anything. He couldn’t give him everything right away, otherwise there would be nothing left for good behavior.

Anti sighed. And once again, he twirled the keycard through his fingers. And it gave him an idea. What if...one of those rewards...yes, that might work.

That might work indeed.

Anti slowly grinned, and opened up his calendar to figure out when would be the best time to enact the plan that was forming in his mind.

[yungidreamer]

Blackout Part 1

Summary: When a storm blows in just before finals it throws life into chaos with no power. But the trio’s home becomes a refuge in the storm. A place of warmth and happiness where everyone can gather to ride out the storm and enjoy some time together. Seonghwa and his love, Yeosang, find some special time together. A moment of respite in the storm.

Word count: 6.6k

Content warnings: fluff and smut, this time featuring Seonghwa and Yeosang, sex (m/m), a bathtub, the stress of finals and a blackout across town. Mostly happy bonding with friends and partners by candlelight.

‘Twas the weekend before finals when all through the city, not a building had power, it was a true pity. An ice storm had blown through late on Thursday coating everything with half an inch of ice bringing down power lines and tree branches. Classes were canceled on Friday and departments mailed out plans for finals, with professors encouraged to make finals something people could take at home if possible to leave halls that might need to be powered by generators for those that absolutely had to take tests on campus.

The dorm halls and residences were dark but at least heated, however, with no promise that power would be restored soon, people were eager to go home for the holidays as soon as possible. Students who were given the option for take home or online files were all making plans to head home early. Those who weren’t were forced to go to pick up meals from the one of the few functional cafeterias on campus. No one was happy with the situation.

In their little house near campus she, Mingi, and Yunho were happy to be in their cozy little home together. They were especially thankful for their fireplace and for the gas stove the place had come with, since it meant the interruption in power hadn’t given them nearly as much trouble as it was giving most of their friends. With the fridge and freezer down, they moved the frozen foods out to the backyard. The weather had remained around freezing since the storm and it would keep it as well as the freezer would have. The things that needed to be kept cool but not frozen, they kept in the little entry porch in a cooler that was just enough to keep things from freezing but was plenty cold. All in all, it was actually pretty nice, minus the fact that they couldn’t watch anything on TV and were only keeping only one phone on at a time. Their travel batteries had been real lifesavers actually.

On Friday evening they learned that Yunho’s chemistry class was keeping their scheduled practical final on Tuesday which he needed to stay for. Mingi’s math teacher, an old crotchety tenured professor, insisted on having an in person final for his 200 + person introduction course. He didn’t trust people not to cheat, nor did he trust the newfangled online tests some people in the department had started using. Luckily that was scheduled for Monday afternoon so it wouldn’t keep them there any longer than Yunho’s. She was lucky and had already been sent her four finals she had left for her classes and was hoping to have them done before they drove home for the long Christmas holiday.

At around 7 that Friday Yunho’s phone rang. It was a frazzled and stressed out Hong Joong wondering if he might be able to come and study with Yunho at their place. With no power he had been studying as much as he could during the daylight hours and making due with a hanging flashlight he had set up in the evening. He grumbled about not being able to make any of the food they had and being stuck with sandwiches for days with no way to cook in the house.

“We can cook here if you want to bring stuff to make some food here,” Yunho offered.

“You can cook?” Hong Joong perked up on the other end of the phone. “Do you have power?”

“No we just have a gas stove and oven,” Yunho explained.

“Wou...would you mind if I came to stay for a little while?” Hong Joong questioned hopefully. “I can bring food. I also have a solar charger we can share to charge phones and stuff. Also a radio I’ve been using to keep me sane.”

“Oh yeah sure, that would be fine,” Yunho agreed. As he finished speaking, he heard a shuffling, and then Hong Joong make an exclamation of objection.

“You can cook?” Came the tight voice of Seonghwa over the line.

“Ye...yes…” Yunho replied slowly.

“Can Yeo and I come study there?” Seonghwa sounded tense and close to begging. “I will cook food and I am good at it. Please. I miss warm food and I want to get out of this tiny dark room. I will do anything.”

“Sure,” Yunho laughed. “You guys can come, too. Maybe bring some candles or light as well as some food to make.”

“Thank you,” Seonghwa’s voice was full of relief as he said it. “I have to call Yeo and tell him to meet me. We will bring whatever we can. Ugh, if only one of our dorms just had one of the functioning cafeterias, I could bear to stay there. I just wish we weren’t going to have to come back and forth.”

“Do you mind if they stay for the weekend?” Yunho covered the mic and whisper asked the other two. When they nodded he brought the phone back to his ear and offered, “You guys could stay the weekend. Just come and bring whatever you need to study and clothes for a couple of days.”

“Seriously?” Seonghwa said, unsure if he could trust what his ears had just heard. It was too good to be true.

“Yeah,” Yunho confirmed. “We have room and it will be good to have everyone together in one place for studying. It will be a big help if you cook and bring extra food, so...yeah, you guys are welcome.”

“Thank you,” Seonghwa said gratefully before passing the phone back to Hong Joong.

“We can stay over?” Hong Joong asked, a note of extra hope entering his voice.

“Yeah, bring what you need,” Yunho confirmed. “Or at least what you can. We will make the best of this studying time and time to get the finals done before the holiday.”

“You guys are the best,” Hong Joong laughed. “Okay, we will see you soon.”

“So we’ll be having some guests it seems,” she said, setting her study material aside for the moment. “Guess that means I should clean up a little.”

“I’ll help,” Mingi offered, closing his math book for the moment.

“Me, too,” Yunho turned off the screen of his phone and set it on the coffee table. The boys redressed their beds to give the guests places to sleep while she cleaned up a little in the kitchen, doing the last of the dishes and checking what they had in their cabinets, thinking about what they might need. Yunho, when he was done making the bed, went out and grabbed more wood for the fireplace. It was starting to get dark and, while the furnace was keeping the house warm, the light and extra coziness it was giving the house was making the blackout much more pleasant.

They had decorated the house for Christmas after getting back from Thanksgiving with their families. They had bought a tree from one of the lots, strung it with colored lights, and bought a cacophony of colorful glass balls and bangles. It wasn’t the sort of tree that would have made it into one of those home life magazines but it was homey. Off on one side of the tree Yunho had eventually discovered a trio of special ornaments she had bought and tucked off to the side. They were little enamel picture frames, each with a photo of one of them, with Our First Christmas Together and the year written on the back. Yunho was in a bright blue oval shaped frame that had a sunburst sort of design under the enamel that caught the light when the tree was lit. Mingi was in a bright red square frame that had a sort of scaled or feathered sort of pattern that seemed to shimmer in the light. Hers was purple and round with little gems that dangled off the bottom. He wasn’t sure how long they had been there before he noticed, but he made sure to bring it to Mingi’s attention when he noticed it. They both loved it and wished they had thought of the gesture first, but of course she had done it. Silently they promised, next year they would surprise her, but this year they could both still get her something amazing for Christmas.

Mingi had gotten her an antique style pearl choker with a small square panel in front that had a starburst pattern in silver and crystals. He liked the idea of her wearing it, like a mark that she was his, even if everyone didn’t know it. He hadn’t given it to her. He was still deciding if he wanted to give it to her before they went home or save it for when they got back. There were still days to decide, so it stayed tucked far back in one of the drawers in his bedroom, waiting for the right time.

Yunho had bought her a hair comb from a local antique shop. He had gone expecting to get her something simple like earrings but had laid eyes on the ornate, two pronged, silver comb and knew it was what he needed to get her. She often twisted her hair up into easy buns on the back of her head, held there with one or two simple wooden hair sticks she used. This comb, with its gorgeous rococo style curved decorative plate would look perfect sitting in her hair. It was something she would use, which meant he would get to see his gift on her often; just a little something saying she was his.

They had gotten each other something as well. Yunho had bought Mingi a new, expensive pair of Bluetooth headphones he could use when he needed some isolation to keep his mind on studying. His last pair had started to wear out, the battery only lasting three or four hours these days. The new ones were better and would be more forgiving for his usual forgetfulness when it came to putting them on the charger when he was done.

Mingi had bought Yunho a new suit set including dress shirt, jacket, pants, tie, and pocket square. Yunho had noticed that he had outgrown his last set over Thanksgiving and knew that he needed to get something soon but had been putting it off due to school. Mingi had gotten him a steel grey suit with white button up and sky blue tie and pocket square. Honestly, he couldn’t wait to see him in that and really wanted to come up with some date, some occasion to see him in it. The color would go perfectly with his current blond locks he had gotten lightened even a shade brighter during his last visit to the hairdressers. That he was going to give Yunho before he went back home for the holidays, as there was a good chance he might have a reason to wear it then. As long as he brought it back home, since Mingi was dying to take him out in it with their girl.

Before long the house was really ready for guests and for more studying. She pulled out a few more candles and put them on the dining room table to light when people went there to eat or study, whatever might be needed. They had been concentrating the light in the living room, with a few candles around the room and a couple of wall sconces lit that she happened to have. They were remarkably good at lighting the room with their mirrored backs and high hanging light. She had bought them because she liked them, not knowing they would come to be genuinely useful and not just frivolous pretty things she just enjoyed having. 

A little after eight, Hong Joong arrived at their door with a heavy bag in tow behind him, packed with school things, clothes, food, and other useful supplies he thought he could provide. He came into the house, grateful to be in the warmth again after battling icy sidewalks and freshly falling snow that was now coming down. It took him a moment after he took off his coat to take in the room he had entered. The whole place just oozed cozy warmth with its cheery decoration and surprising brightness given that he had been making due with a hanging flashlight.

“Wow,” was all he said when he looked up, taking it all in.

“Welcome to our home,” she greeted him with a hug, helping him take his things into the room. “Is there anything that needs to be kept cold in your stuff?”

“Oh yeah,” he shook his head, bringing himself back to the moment. “This stuff here is perishable.” He pulled out a bag with cheese, milk, meat, condiments, and a few other odds and ends he had that he and Hwa had decided he should take to be useful. “I also have this stuff that needs to be cooked but doesn’t need to be kept cold,” he said, passing a bigger bag to Mingi, who was standing nearby. “I think Hwa and Yeo are going to bring more but this is what I was tasked with bringing.”

“Thank you and make yourself at home,” She said, walking off to put the perishables in the makeshift fridge. “You can take one of the boys’ rooms. The beds have been made. You can leave your stuff in there and pick a place to study. We can do something about food when everyone gets here.”

“You guys are lifesavers,” Hong Joong said as he dragged his bag back towards the bedrooms.

It didn’t take long for Seonghwa and Yeosang to arrive at their front door, laden with food and other things they needed to study and make their place home for a short time. Seonghwa looked like he was ready to cry when he saw the cozy and welcoming interior of their house. After having faced the possibility of having the stress of studying in the dark with bad food, the relief was fresh and sharp.

“I am going to be in your debt for eternity,” he said, dropping his things near the door and drawing a slightly surprised Mingi into a tight hug.

“You’re welcome,” Mingi replied with an amused laugh and a gummy smile.

“This place is really nice,” Yeosang said, taking everything in with a slow scan of the room. “You even have a fireplace...wow.”

“You can put yourselves in the room that Hongjoong didn’t take,” Yunho instructed. “Is there food we need to deal with?”

“Yes but don’t worry about it,” Seonghwa picked up their other things and prepared to take things to the bedrooms. “Let me put things away and then I am going to deal with food. Where am I…” Yunho pointed down the hall and the two boys happily made their way back to take the unoccupied room. They re-emerged from down the hall with Seonghwa’s arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder and one of Yeosang’s slung loosely around his waist in return. Hong Joong appeared behind them, his arms laden with study material.

“Okay,” Seonghwa gave Yeosang a kiss on the side of his head before heading to get the food things he had left near the door. “Show me the kitchen.” Yunho gave an amused chuckle and led him through the wide doors that opened into the kitchen. Seonghwa looked like he was tempted to hug the stove when he laid eyes on it. He was almost in despair at the idea of not having ‘real’ food between now and finals. He instead settled for hugging Yunho again before he set about pulling everything out he had brought so that it could be organized and put away. Yeosang helped to gather the things to be put into the cold as Seonghwa decided what to cook for everyone.

“Is beef stew okay for everyone?” He asked after having taken stock of all the ingredients. Everyone gave affirmative answers and Seonghwa set to work preparing everything to go into the dinner. Yeosang wandered into the kitchen to help and she joined them shortly thereafter, making quick work of the chopping, peeling, and the searing. Soon, all that was left was the hour or so everything needed to simmer in the large pot.

With dinner sorted, everyone settled in around the living room with their books and notes to study. She settled in near the fireplace next to Yunho and Mingi, wrapping herself in a blanket as she pulled out the psych final she had decided to work on first. Yeosang and Seonghwa settled themselves on the smaller loveseat, Yeosang tucked in between his boyfriend’s spread legs as they both studied from large textbooks. Hong Joong stretched out on the couch, his head near the end where Yunho was seated near the fireplace, allowing him to poke at him occasionally as they both studied the material for their final.

By the time dinner was declared done by an ecstatically happy Seonghwa, everyone was ready to take a break from their studying. They served the stew in whatever dishes worked, not having quite enough bowls to go around. She and Hong Joong made do with a couple of large mugs, which were actually much easier to carry into the living room than the bowls. With the plentiful light and warm atmosphere, they decided it was the best place to eat.

“How many finals do you have?” Yeosang asked the room in general as he took a bite of the delicious stew.

“Three,” Mingi replied. “But only one has to be done on campus. The rest were changed to take home stuff given the circumstances.”

“I have four, but they are all take home,” she followed up. “I’m just hoping I can get them all done before we drive home for the holidays.”

“Oh that’s right,” Seonghwa waved his spoon in the direction of the trio. “You guys all came from the same place, didn’t you? Are your families all friends or something?”

“Sort of,” Yunho scrunched up his face a little as he rolled the explanation around in his mind. “They all know each other, but mostly because we know each other, not the other way around.”

“So then how did you all meet,” Yeosang asked as he leaned against his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Mingi threw us all in the water at summer camp.” Yunho said with a wide grin, successfully eliciting the reaction he hoped from the other boy.

“Hey,” Mingi objected, putting one hand on his hip as he spoke. “I did not...okay I sort of did. But it wasn’t like it sounds.”

“He got better with the canoes,” she noted with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Especially when there wasn’t the threat of ducks.”

“Come on,” Mingi pursed his lips and grumped at the two of them.

“Imagine if you hadn’t,” Yunho reached out to him, stroking his cheek softly. “Our girl might be with San and...well...we would probably be alone or something. Oof, not a pleasant thought really.”

“I guess we really owe those ducks,” she joked, falling into peels of laughter at the thought. Beside her Mingi huffed, pulling her into his lap for a kiss that ate her laughter. Yunho scooted over, wrapping his arms around both of them with the warmest expression on his face. 

“I think you had to be there,” Yeosang faux whispered to his boyfriend, causing him to give a snort of laughter and slap his shoulder playfully.

“I am so single…” Hong Joong sighed, his eyes looking between the two couples who were there in front of him. He tucked into his soup with a shake of his head, glad to be there but also wishing he had someone to bring with him, like his roommate did. Seonghwa glowed when he was around Yeosang, or Sangie, as he often called him, getting groans and eyerolls from those near enough to hear it. He and Hwa had met in a dance class together last year and the two had been nearly inseparable since then.

They finished the stew and Hong Joong, Yunho and Mingi volunteered for dish duty since they hadn’t helped with cooking. Even though it was nearing 11 at that point, most of them wanted to press on with studying.

“Hey love, can you bring in the big bottle of cider?” Yunho asked Mingi as they finished the dishes. Mingi nodded and headed to the porch to bring in the gallon bottle of cider they had bought a few days ago. While Mingi retrieved that, Yunho scoured the cabinets to find the packet of mulling spices they had somewhere.

“Here you go,” Mingi set the heavy glass bottle on the counter, pressing a quick kiss to the side of Yunho’s neck, causing the other boy to blush and giggle. “What are you making?”

“I thought some cider would be good as a sort of desert,” Yunho shrugged.

“Mmmm, good idea,” Mingi moved to hug him from behind, tucking his head in on Yunho’s shoulder as he watched him work. “Warm and cozy.”

“It’s kind of fun having everyone here,” Yunho noted as he lit the burner under the pan. “Don’t you think?”

“Mmm,” Mingi agreed. “It’s more fun than just studying alone would have been. And Seonghwa can cook; that stew was delicious.”

“Maybe we can have them over more often,” Yunho suggested, swaying in the arms of the other boy.

“Sometimes,” Mingi agreed. “I still want time just with the two of you.”

“Of course,” Yunho turned his head and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Time with you is the best part of my day.”

“Yeah?” Mingi asked shyly, flashing him a gummy grin. Yunho made a mhmm sound and moved to put his arms around his shoulders and took his lips in a slow, lazy kiss.

“Awww, am I missing all the fun?” She teased as she joined them in the kitchen, having come to see what had been keeping them since the dishes were done.

“Yes,” Mingi teased, looking at her over his shoulder, not letting go of the man in his arms.

“Poor me,” she pretended to pout. “Good thing I came to check, I suppose.”

“Come here,” Yunho beckoned, pulling slightly out of Mingi’s arms, enough to lift her onto the counter next to them. Mingi took her lips and Yunho nibbled down along the side of her neck below her ear. She gave a moaning giggle into Mingi’s mouth, shivering at the tickling sensation being sent through her.

The hiss of the cider starting to simmer in the pan brought them apart. They portioned the cider into mugs and took them out to the others in the living room. Hong Joong took his mug in his hands, clasping it joyfully and breathing in the fallish scent with a contented grin.

“I forgot how good this stuff could be,” he sighed.  “I swear I haven’t had this in years and I don’t know why.”

“Mmmm,” Seonghwa hummed happily in agreement. “I am loving this all but I am starting to get tired. I think I am going to have to shower and get ready for bed after this. I am pretty sure that the words are just passing through my brain and leaving no mark at this point.”

“Well we have showers and hot water,” she offered. “We even have a nice bathtub if you want to use it.”

“Oh man, it has been so long since I had a bath,” Seonghwa sighed.

“You and Yeo could, uh, share it,” Yunho suggested. “It’s big enough for two if you want to relax a little before you head to sleep.”

“Really?” Seonghwa sat up straighter and sent a look to his boyfriend. It had been a while since they had a place to relax together that wasn’t one of their dorm rooms when their roommates happened to be out.

“If Mingi and I can fit in it, you two should be just fine.” Yunho chucked. “I’ll show you where it is.”

Seonghwa hopped up, taking Yeosang by the hand, and followed Yunho down the hall. They made their way through the shared bedroom to the master bathroom, candles in hand. Yunho pulled out a couple of towels for them and showed them where they kept the bath bombs and scented oils they used in the bath. They thanked him for the help and for the accommodations and let him go on his way. Seonghwa started the bath while Yeosang got their toothbrushes and pajamas from their room for them to change into when they were clean and ready to go to sleep.

The candle light danced off the pale tiles and glinted off the chrome fixtures. The room was warm and cozy as snow fell outside the small distorted window high up on one wall. The sill had a growing line of snow that was building on it as it continued to fall, deafening the world around them. 

Seonghwa stripped his clothes off and slipped into the warm water he had scented with rose. The steam rose from the surface of the water, wafting the scent into the air with it. He shut off the water just before Yeosang returned, clothes and toiletries tucked under his arm. 

“Getting started without me,” he tsked, setting them down on the counter by the sink.

“Just making sure it is perfect,” Seonghwa retorted, sending him a tempting smile. He slid himself under the water, dampening his hair and face in the warm water. He stretched out his hand to his boyfriend, inviting him in with a hungry look through his damp eyelashes. “Come in, the water is fine.”

Yeosang smiled down at him as his hands went to the hem of his shirt, slowly lifting it off over his head. Seonghwa bit his lip as he looked at the smooth stretch of skin he exposed in the flickering light of the room. He could never get enough of him. His slim, muscular body, the soft ripple of his abs that ended in the softest wisp of a happy trail.

Yeosang loved the feel of Hwa’s eyes on him as he undressed. The way he looked at him made him feel like the sexist thing on the planet. There was always a fire in them; an unsated thirst. He loved it, so he took his time as he slowly unfastened the button on his jeans and slid the zipper down. His eyes watched the flash of emotions that crossed Seonghwa’s face as he languidly slid his pants and underwear past his hips and thighs before letting them drop and stepping out of them.

He walked over to the tub and slid into the water, sitting himself on Seonghwa’s waiting lap, looping his arms around his boyfriend's broad shoulders. The water lapped lightly around their chests, filling the near silence of the room. Yeosang let his gaze meet Seonghwa’s with an unbroken intensity, not needing words to tell him how much he wanted him.

Seonghwa leaned forward letting his hands reach up from behind to hold Yeosang’s shoulders as he pressed a kiss to his chest. His lips brushed along the soft skin, feeling their way over the lean muscles of his pecs and up to his collarbone.

“It’s been too long,” Seonghwa whispered against him as Yeosang let his head fall back, allowing his lover more access.

“It’s only been a week,” Yeosang gave a breathy chuckle as he felt the other boy’s lips follow the line of his pulse up the side of his neck.

“That doesn’t count,” Seonghwa protested, one hand traveling up to tangle in the soft blond locks of Yeosang’s hair.

“Oh?” He asked breathlessly.

“Sneaking something in during the twenty minutes it takes for Hongjoong to go get something to eat from downstairs definitely doesn’t count,” Seonghwa clarified sternly, before nipping the soft skin just below Yeosang’s ear.

“I thought you liked the thrill of maybe getting caught,” Yeosang teased. “The possibility of someone seeing you fall apart with just my hand down your pants.”

“Maybe a little,” Seonghwa admitted, his lips quirking into a half smile. “But how could I have said no with all that teasing you were doing all day. Sitting in my lap and grinding your wonderful little ass on me every time you knew someone wouldn’t catch you. Ugh, tease.”

“Like you were any better,” Yeosang pointed out, his hands moving to splay over Seonghwa’s chest. “Slipping your hand in my pocket. You knew that hole was there before you did it, too.”

“That will teach you to put off fixing holes in your clothes,” Seonghwa laughed before bringing Yeosangs lips down to his. Their kiss began as a slow, sensual exploration of their mouths that slowly became more heated as Yeosang pressed Hwa’s head back. He raised himself slightly onto his knees until he loomed over him, leaving Seonghwa breathless and at his mercy.

Yeosang pulled back from the kiss and looked down at the wanton face of his boyfriend. He loved seeing him like this. His assertion that what they had gotten in last week ‘didn’t count’ was pretty fair he decided. A quick shared handjob they could sneak in with the risk of getting caught might be fun, but he loved to see the pleasure dazed face he could bring to him even before he really touched him. He loved taking his time with him, tasting the saltiness of his skin and the sweet flavor of his lips.

“Can I make love to you tonight?” Yeosang asked, kissing his way across Seonghwa’s beautifully high cheekbones.

“Make love to me now,” Seonghwa urged.

“Here?” Yeosang gave a low chuckle. “In someone else’s bathroom?”

“Turnabout is fair play,” He snorted, thinking of the first time he had met those three.

“Mmmm, true,” Yeo admitted, letting one hand sink down to brush the pad of his thumb over the tip of Hwa’s growing erection. “Switch places with me?”

“Sure,” Seonghwa nodded and twisted himself to allow Yeo to sit with his back against the edge of the tub and move him into his lap. Hwa felt his boyfriend’s erection brush against his inner thigh as they switched places, sending a shiver through him. He loved when Yeo was inside him as much as he loved the times the roles were reversed. When he was in his lap, he could look down at that beautifully sculpted face with it’s perfectly symmetrical features. He would never get tired of those warm eyes looking up at him.

Hwa brought his face down to Yeo as he felt the other boy's hands slowly make their way down along his back to the curve of his ass. His fingers brushed over the muscles there, enjoying their softness as he gave them a quick squeeze. With excruciating slowness, he moved the tip on one finger to brush over the pucker of muscle nestled between the soft cheeks.

Hwa let out a sigh and ground himself forward at the sensation of the tentative touch. He knew it wasn’t reluctance that slowed the touch of his lover, but the enjoyment he got from drawing out the moment; from the pleasure he caused with his teasing. When they had the time, there was nothing Yeosang loved more than bringing Hwa near to tears with his teasing before he would take him; waiting for that moment of desperation at his teasing before he would do as he asked. Seeing the hunger and desire twist his features into a mask of craving always gave Yeosang that pang of power and pleasure.

“Tell me how much you want me,” Yeo prompted, massaging Hwa’s entrance as he did.

“I need you in me tonight,” Hwa obliged, letting his desire be on full display as he spoke. “I need this moment this week. It’s been so hard and I just want a moment that is just you and just me.”

“I wish I could always take you into my arms like this,” Yeosang admitted as Hwa leaned in to brush his lips over his forehead. “I want to hold you as we go to sleep every night.”

“If only one of us didn’t have a roommate,” Hwa lamented with a sigh. Much as he loved Hong Joong as a friend, lately he had been wanting more space. He wanted privacy and the freedom to do what he wanted, when he wanted.

“Maybe next year we can get our own place, like this one,” Yeosang proposed as he finally pushed one finger inside.

“You want to live with me?” Hwa gave a shuddering sigh and let his head fall slightly back at the sensation.

“Yeah, I want to be with you more,” Yeosang conceded. “I’d love to be with you every night and make love to you in the morning.”

“That sounds like heaven,” Hwa smiled and pressed his lips to Yeosangs.

“Is that a yes,” Yeo questioned, broadening the circles he was making as he worked Hwa’s body open for his entry.

“Yes,” Seonghwa nodded, cupping Yeosangs cheeks in his wet hands and kissing him more deeply. Their tongues battled slowly as Yeosang worked another finger in, then scissored gently to make sure his lover's body was ready for him. 

When Hwa whined with need, Yeosang finally sunk down slightly more in the water and positioned himself to enter Hwa. He let the other boy work himself down his length, going as fast or as slow as he wanted as he took him in. When he was finally all the way down, Hwa let out a breath he had been holding, relishing the sensation of Yeo so deep inside him.

“Fuck, you always feel so good around me,” Yeosang groaned, his hands coming to grip the other boy’s narrow hips.

“I love the way you fill me,” Hwa returned, gripping the sides of the tub for leverage as he prepared to move. He threw his head back and arched as he slowly began to move himself up and down. Yeosang could only admire the smooth, broad expanse of his lover's chest as he moved. In the candlelight he looked divine, droplets of water sparkling over his skin as they dripped down its smoothness. 

“Have I told you today that you are beautiful?” Yeo breathed quietly.

“Next to you, I hardly compare,” Seonghwa leaned in to press his forehead to the other boys, slightly increasing his speed as he moved himself up and down his length. Yeosang’s hand went to encircle the turgid length of Hwa’s erection wanting to bring him as much pleasure as he could.

Hwa’s movements stuttered at the increased sensation, he shuddered and let out a little moan. “Do you think you’ll last longer than me if you do that,” He challenged, his eyes locking on Yeo’s hungrily as he continued to move.

“Yeah I think you’ll come first,” Yeo set his chin with an angle of defiance as he looked up a Hwa with hooded eyes.

“I guess we’ll have to see, won’t we,” Hwa breathed, moving faster and taking him as deeply as he could. The room was filled with the sound of their breathing and the sloshing of the water around them. It was a battle of wills between them and there would be no losers. They both threw themselves into the sensations of pleasure, both the giving and the taking. For the moment there was no one else, nothing else. They were the pleasure and the tension itself.

“I think you’re going to win,” Hwa shuddered, his knuckles going white with the strength of his grip on the curved edges of the tub.

“Then cum for me,” Yeosang demanded with a soft confidence as he expertly moved his hand over Hwa in the way he knew he loved. He watched Hwa’s face with rapt attention as his face and body contorted with the almost painful rise of pleasure he was riding. When his orgasm hit, he paused in his movements, half collapsing forward as his arms and legs quivered from pleasure and exertion. He let out a broken moan, his head lolling forward as he lost himself in the sensation and burst of peaceful satisfaction that filled him up as it passed.

“Can I…” Yeosang asked for permission to move. Seonghwa nodded and braced himself as he tried to catch his breath. Yeo gripped his hips harder and thrust himself up into Hwa as his muscles fluttered around him. He was close and it had been a near race to their finish. It only took a few minutes of his enthusiastic thrusts for him to find his own pleasure, emptying himself into Hwa’s body, loving the way it held him in its warm depths as waves of pleasure rode him.

Seonghwa pressed his lips to the corner of Yeosang’s mouth as he panted, lying limp in the bath beneath him. He looked so beautiful, damp and exhausted by pleasure.

“We definitely need a place with a bathtub.” Seonghwa said as he held Yeo’s face between his hands, his thumbs stroking his cheekbones, leaving droplets of water in their wake.

“Liked this that much, did you,” Yeosang let out a tired scoff and cracked one eye open.

“If I had known you looked this good wet,” Seonghwa joked. “I would have gotten you into a shower or tub months ago.”

“See, you promise that now,” Yeosang gave a dramatic sigh, mischief sparkling in his eyes. “But watch us move in together and have you get bored of me since you can have me anytime you want.”

“Please,” Seonghwa scoffed, and smacked Yeosang’s chest lightly. “As if I would be so fickle.”

“Promise?” Yeosang smiled up at him, pushing a lock of hair off the other boy’s forehead.

“Cross my heart,” he captured the hand as it was pulling away and pressed a kiss to the palm.

They stayed sitting in the cooling water for another couple of moments before Hwa felt strong enough, in both body and spirit, to lift himself off of Yeosang. They both shivered as they finally separated, Hwa giving an unsteady giggle at the sensation. He was able to get himself out of the water, pulling one of the towels off the rack and wrapping it around himself. Yeosang followed, taking the other towel before he pulled the plug on the drain, allowing the water to slowly be siphoned away.

“I think we were a little vigorous,” Seonghwa laughed, feeling the slight puddle on the tiles under their feet.

“Too much water,” Yeosang agreed, dropping the towel he had used on the floor to soak up the water now that he was mostly dry. Seonghwa pulled his pajamas on and hung up his towel to dry and Yeosang did the same when he was satisfied with his sopping up of their little puddle. They brushed their teeth and gathered their dirty clothes under their arms, ready to go to sleep.

They made their way out to the living room, after dropping their things in the room on the way, and bid everyone good night after getting glasses of water from the kitchen. Sex could be very thirsty work. Hand in hand, they padded back down the hall to the room they would occupy during their stay. Crawling in under the covers, Seonghwa curled around the body of the other boy, happily tucking himself along Yeosang from the back.

“Whose room is this, anyway?” Yeosang asked as he laced his fingers with Seonghwa’s where they held him around the waist.

“Mingi’s I think,” Seonghwa replied.

“How many nights do you think he has actually spent in here,” humor danced in Yeosang’s voice as he asked the question.

“Not many,” Seonghwa admitted with a laugh.

“Lucky guy, isn’t he?” Yeosang observed as he closed his eyes with a yawn.

“Not as lucky as me,” Seonghwa muttered as he buried his nose in Yeosang’s neck. Sleep claimed them quickly as the rest of the house also moved to settle in for the night. Outside snow continued to fall, but inside the house was warm and cozy with each room filled with love and contentment. 

[xcziel]

get to know me

tagged by @vishcount (thank you!!) and i'll follow her format bc making two posts seems a little much - i'm not that interesting!!

(hilariously, this post shows up as blocked for me bc of the tag 'joker' which? tumblr?????)

Part I

name: i'm an internet old, so i never use my real name online, mainly because it's spelled in a very unique way (thanks mom & dad) - i mean like, if you googled it you could find my home address in a few seconds kind of unique - but also, though i do enjoy the spelling, i actually don't like it very much when it's said out loud? (is it weird that my name written down is 'me', but my name aloud has never felt like 'me'?) always wanted a nickname but never acquired one :/

at any rate, i've had the username xcziel forever and i go by that 😊 (pronounced ex-SEE-zee-el, similar to etc. or ex-SET-er-ah! thanks @xia-xueyi for pointing out that it can be confusing to guess!)

rest behind a cut because it got long!

pronouns: she/her

star sign: i don't ... really *do* astrology? but technically saggitarius

height: 5'4" (162.5cm for the intl folks)

time: 5:43pm but these thing take me forever to type out so ... ???

birthday: playing the 'internet old' card again .. but it floats around american Thanksgiving depending on the year

nationality: american

fave bands/groups/solo artists: lumping these together because i just .. don't really do music much anymore. if you had asked me this back in my 20s i'm sure i would have had all kinds of opinions and things to share, but these days i actually mostly prefer to listen music from when i was a kid. part of it is also that as an old, i prefer to buy my music, even digitally, and i don't really use spotify - which does so much to enable diverse music exploration i admit! but i mostly have earplugs in all the time and music does not work for me as background noise, so...

so i guess my answer would be 70s disco and classic rock and 80s new wave artists? i've never liked any artist's entire discography and prefer greatest hits-type compilations, but i guess duran duran and def leppard and depeche mode would be considered formative? i love new order but specifically late 80s new order, NOT joy division. the only concert t-shirt i've ever worn was the cult? i loved sonic temple but i can't listen to most of it anymore though i still adore love removal machine. i think maybe if you get old enough, for some of us there's TOO MUCH good music and we can't pare it down anymore

song stuck in your head: jamiroquai's canned heat

last movie you watched: re: the above, i re-watched center stage, the 2000 one with zoe saldana and the mandy moore soundtrack, bc it's a happy comfort movie and i just got a digital version

last show you binged: i can't really "binge" very often bc after a couple of hours i need a break, so i guess i'd say the tgcf donghua on netflix since it was short enough to get through all in one go

when you created your blog: in 2012 i stopped lurking so i could post about the avengers movie

the last thing you googled: 5'4" in cm? lol before that it was chinese wrapped street food

other blogs: everything is here! i discovered i compartmentalize about as well as i tag reliably (😓) but i do have several automated ao3feed-tag style sideblogs. and i did, very briefly, have a *winces* hockey sideblog too

why i chose my url: ooh i know i've done this before, sorry if it's repetitive, basically it was the username i picked back when my family first got aol: short, unique combo of letters - 14-year-old me really thought about it! and then it wouldn't let me use anything other than my name. thirty-some-odd years later, trying to come up with a livejournal username that wasn't already taken and getting fed up, i plugged it in and went: good enough!

how many people are you following: like 760-something last i checked? although many, many, many of them are deactivated

how many followers do you have: idk i don't like looking at that stuff, but way fewer than i am following

average hours of sleep: it varies too much day by day, my sleep schedule is too wonky, i have no idea what the average would be

lucky numbers: 7? cliché i know, and again not really buying into it, but somewhere in my hindbrain i like it that my first, middle, and last names all have seven letters

instruments: none. i like singing

what i'm currently wearing: giant black t-shirt and baggy black drawstring shorts, standard sitting around the house gear

dream job: don't have one. if i did it would give me something to be working towards *sigh* this is how you end up in retail for decades, kids! but also, to quote a random post i saw in true tumblr fashion "i simply do not dream of labor"

dream trip: covered this one before but: back to the uk and some railway daytrips, or a really fancy northern cruise, atlantic/pacific either one

fave food: uhhh, don't really have a favorite but i'm almost always in the mood for pizza

top three fictional universe you'd like to live in: none really, if i had to still be me..maybe some kind of actually utopian future? but the pandemic has confirmed for me that i do NOT like living in interesting times, so most fictional story universes are RIGHT out. my favorites to read about like discworld or diana wynne jones' worlds would be way to chaotic for my comfort. possibly diane duane's young wizards universe would be safe enough to be okay?

Part II

last song: watching center stage made me think of my dance playlist so sunrise by simply red

last movielast stream: i don't watch streams or youtube often, so it was the same as you, vish! liu chang's birthday stream was SO enjoyable i screenrecorded the entire thing just so i could play it back (and maybe gif sometime if i ever get the drive to actually do it)

currently reading: well i just finished the translated quan qiu gao kao or global university entrance exam novel, which was sparked purely from catching a single rec post here on tumblr and basically just *falling* into this 166 chapter epic that is *amazing* and not coming up for air until i got to the end, which is typical novel-reading behavior for me (yes i was the kid who read through lunch period and got hassled by people who kept pestering me with "what're you reading" questions and yes i realize probably a lot of you on tumblr were too) plus, the new murderbot novel is out tomorrow!!!!! so that'll be where i end up next!

currently watching: the entire dmbj verse (that i can get my hands on) but ... sporadically and stopping at random different parts because the thing is ... this type of show is not really the kind i enjoy so much? so since it's more for "research" and learning character arcs (and let's be honest: shots of liu sang), etc. it's easy to get distracted by other stuff. i'm also watching the sleuth of the ming dynasty, mr queen, bromance, the expanse, re-watching farscape and stargate sg-1, just finished the falcon and the winter soldier, and then anytime something new and short gets introduced it jumps the queue. there are just. so. many. things. to. watch! (now i have to look into anti-fraud league too!? you all are cruel ...)

what is antipoetry to you: i ... don't really think much about poetry? i know what i prefer is usually the more basic rhymed kind like lewis carroll, emily dickinson, poe, coleridge, etc. so i suppose i don't have much use for classifying non-rhyming verse? i can appreciate stuff like rupi kaur which i guess would qualify? or that william carlos williams plums poem? but it doesn't really stick with me the way lyric-like verse does

currently craving: i never know what exactly this is meant to be in reference to ... hmmm, i would love a new high-concept, high production-quality movie like say, pacific rim, to be released, just for that massive, excited energy that comes with something new that hasn't already got tons of disappointing or conflicting history behind it - that would be so fun!!

other than that, right now, i mostly kinda want some fried fish? but that will have to wait until i go to get my second vaccine shot on wednesday since it's on the way there. i'd also like my internal body parts to settle down and fly right but it's been more than a month and they don't seem inclined :(((( maybe once i'm fully vaxxed i'll think about consulting somebody about it

tagging @foxofninetales @xia-xueyi @momosandlemonsoda @memorydragon @thewindsofsong @elvencantation @mylastbraincql @hesayshesgotboyfriend @aurawolfgirl2000 @smaragdine-galaxy and anyone who wants to! but never feel obligated and if you don't get around to it for like half a year that's totally fine, i am still interested!!!

[lokilickedme]

Submitted by @fudgemuffinanon

Ok I think I’m up to date….

1. HOLY SHIT WOMAN! You had Covid and just learned about it? How did you find out? Was it with a test? And you handled the asshat at the grocery store way better than I would have. I’m not patient, nor diplomatic, and I have major RBF syndrome… The temper goes with the face more ofter than I care to admit…

2. Your grandmother’s story was incredible. I know you don’t need another project but this could be a beautiful book. No fandom incorporated, just her story.

3. As @mollage said, the Universe is after you! But you may be one of the strongest woman I know, going through all your adventures with that attitude. Thank you Elizabeth for passing down your fiery spirit!

4. With everything that happened to you in the last few weeks, I can’t expect you to write anything. I’ll just wait and take what you give us. Fuck, I just have to deal with Baby Girl’s online school - Big Boy is responsible enough to deal with his class mostly alone - and I have to tell her to go back to the computer every 5 minutes and I’m going NUTS! And we have one more month to go…

Ontario has been in stay-at-home order since April 8th, and non-essential stores MAY reopen mid-June at 15% capacity and outdoor activities in small groups MAY resume IF we have 60% of population vaccinated with their first dose. We’re about 58% now according to Health Minister but they stopped giving Aztra as first dose, so all the pharmacies that could give it now can’t. There’s a lot less Pfizer and Moderna doses available so I don’t know how fast it will happen. But it means I will most likely get my second dose quicker than August. Yay me! Second phase won’t happen until we get 70% 1st dose vaccination. So we’re stuck for a while. We’re going out in the woods for walks once in a while so we don’t get too close to people but I want to go to a fabric store sooooo bad!! I’m done picking ticks off hubby everytime we get out.  And I’m running out of crafts to learn on youtube. 

Ok, enough ranting…  gotta go finish knitting Baby girl’s bday gift. A 6" turtle. With clothes. And a shawl. And boots. Yeah… Love ya!

*******************************************************

Fudgey!!

Yup. All four of us had covid back in November of 2019, before it broke wide and before anyone really knew it was in the US. Husband was able to track it back to a coworker who’d returned from a family visit to China (he works with a large community of Asian Americans who travel back and forth a lot). The coworker came home sick, and shortly after that our household got the worst “flu” any of us have ever had (that was what we thought it was, a weirdly violent flu that hit each of us differently). I’ve never been sicker in my life, my husband thought I was going to die and he claims I told him to just let me go if it looked like I wasn’t going to make it. I’m pretty sure I meant it…it was that bad. I may have actually requested an assist to the other side at one point.

So anyway, a little while later it broke wide and when the symptom lists started coming out we started wondering if that wasn’t what we’d had. Husband finally a few weeks ago went and talked to the guy that had come back sick from overseas and the guy said “Oh yeah, I had the covid, did you get it too?”

By that time there had been approximately 150 known cases at husband’s workplace and six confirmed deaths from it. Grrrr.

At this point it was too late for us to get confirmed, but husband contacted a friend in Colorado who is a covid specialty ER nurse and described our symptoms and the timeframe of our illness to her. She said we absolutely had it - she’d had it too during that same timeframe, before it broke wide and before anyone knew what it was.

So now all my lingering weird-ass symptoms make sense. Big and Little are fine, they don’t seem to have any long-term problems, though I’m keeping an eye on them (especially Big). Husband is fine as well. Me? I took it in the seat of the pants, but like I was telling someone the other day, as soon as one of the longhaul clinics sets up here I’m gonna be there.

The putz in the grocery store was nothing unusual for here. What really gets me is the way people glare at us for continuing to wear masks - it’s almost scary. WTF is wrong with people.

Glad you liked my grandma’s story. Honestly I don’t know enough to write a book about her without having to speculate on a lot of in-between stuff because she was a very secretive person (probably for a good reason tbh) but what a tale it would be. She was a mess :D My mother has always been mad at me for taking after her - she never liked my grandmother much, there was some bad blood between them from decades back, and yeah that’s kind of a good story too lol

Ah, speaking of writing, I’m going to toss out a short chap of that silly self indulgent side-thing for The Department tonight (probably as soon as I send this reply off) and then I’m shooting for a chapter of the actual fic tomorrow at some point. Taking advantage of the husbandary absence (yes I know that’s not a word but it works)

I feel ya on the homeschooling - the boys finished their semester two weeks ago and the stress of that final week for Big (9th grade) was insane.

I wish we were under a stay-at-home order, but where I live hardly anyone obeyed it when we WERE. I love living here but I swear sometimes the people make me want to move off-planet just to find a higher intelligence demographic.

Anyway, I gotta see this turtle when you’re finished with it. You mentioned it so now you gotta show it. I’m going to bug you every day until you provide pictures because even though I can crochet a blanket like nobody’s business I cannot crochet a doll to save my own ass. Gonna have to rely on you for that ;P

@fudgemuffinanon

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Eleven

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Fluff and Smut! 5K

Masterpost

“Oh my god.” You say and turn to him. “Oh my god!”

“Oh my god!” He squeals and picks you up to spin you around. “We’re gonna have a baby!” He sets you down carefully. “Okay, from this point on, this house is a no stress zone. You’re not lifting a finger, I’ll-“

“Harry, Harry!” You put your hands up. “Please, it’s okay. Don’t spiral.” You giggle. “We need to make an appointment with my OBGYN first, take a proper test. She can tell me how far along I am.”

“I wonder if it was the night in your office.” He smirks. “Pumped yeh good that night.”

“Jesus.” You swat an arm at him and wipe some tears from your eyes. “I’ll call tomorrow to see when they can squeeze me in.” He grabs your face and kisses you over and over again.

“Thank you for waiting until I got home. I couldn’t cancel on that client.” You both walk out to the living room and he sees the papers from the university on the coffee table. “What’s all this, lovie?” You both sit down on the couch.

“Well…Dr. Harrison, who I met with today, told me there’s going to be an open position in the Communication Department for the spring semester. She wants me to consider applying. The position is going to open at the end of the month.”

“So it’s not a guarantee if you get it?”

“Something tells me it would be a formality. I was looking over everything, and I’d be able to take classes for free after my first six months, I could go for my PhD.”

“That would be amazing!”

“But where does a new baby fit into all of this?”

“Well, think of how much easier it would be for you to take time off. You may not even need to work every day of the week.”

“I don’t think you get that privilege as a junior faculty.”

“Still, plus you’d have summers off, right?”

“Yeah, major upside. Plus, the winter break is like six weeks long.”

“Oh my god, think of how much time we could spend in London with my mum. The baby would really be able to spend time with her.”

“I know! I was looking over the benefits and they’re actually better than Mark It’s. I think I’m ready for the change. I could at least apply and see what happens, right?”

“Yeah, I think it’s a great idea.”

“If I have this baby when I think I will, I wouldn’t need to use the maternity leave right away because I’d be off contract for the summer, so I could just teach online next fall or use it then.”

“Look at you finding the loopholes already.” He smirks. “I’m really proud of you, this is huge.”

“It just feels right, I think. I mean, Niall’s about to leave, him and Sarah live in their house now, and they’re engaged. I feel like we’re all forming our own little lives and growing up more and more. Rachel even said she was thinking of proposing to Mariah soon, Isaac and Seth seem to be moving in that direction just the same. I don’t wanna get stuck in the past, you know?”

“No, I get it. I think this could be a really good move for you, for us.” He puts his hand on yours. “Apply, see what happens. Stay in contact with Dr. Harrison too, she could help you with the application or coach you through the interview.”

“I’m gonna talk to the doctor too, all of this could add so much stress…but I appreciate you being so supportive.”

“Always.” He takes your hand and kisses it. “I can’t believe that test said pregnant on it. I’m so happy.”

“Me too, babe.”

//

The next day at work you were in the middle of a meeting when you had to get up to leave. You rushed down the hall to the bathroom and threw up. Niall rushed after you to make sure you were okay.

“I won’t come in unless yeh need me to.” He says from outside the door.

“I’m fine!” You get up and rinse your mouth out. You open the door and see the concerned look on his face.

“Are you sick?” He gives your back a little rub.

“Not in the way you think…we’re keeping things quiet for now, just in case, but…I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon…we think I could be pregnant.” You whisper.

“Oh my god!” He gasps and then he quiets himself. “That’s amazing.” He whispers.

“I took the test yesterday, but the doctor will really be able to confirm it. I’ve been nauseous all morning, I guess this is just the beginning.”

“Well, whatever time off yeh need don’t be afraid to ask for it. I got your back.”

“Thanks.”

Around 3PM you leave to meet Harry at your doctor’s office. He dropped Buster off at home beforehand. Your name gets called and Harry gets up to go in with you. The nurse gives him a funny look.

“He, uh, I want him in there with me…” You tell the nurse, and she nods.

Harry had never been to the OBGYN with you before, why would he have needed to? He found it interesting that they made you pee the second you got there. He supposed it was the best way to tell if you’re pregnant or not.

“Alright, Y/N, what’s going on today?” The nurse asks.

“Well…I think I’m pregnant. I took a home test yesterday and it said so. And I’ve thrown up a few times in the last couple of days.”

“Any fever or anything like that?”

“Nope, just nauseous, really nauseous.”

“Alright.” The nurse makes a few notes and looks over your chart. “And this is your…?”

“Husband, Harry is my husband.” You smile at him. “We just got married in April.”

“Oh, congratulations!” She smiles. “Here, put this on, you know the drill. Dr. Johnson will be in with you shortly.”

The nurse steps out and leaves you to change into the hospital gown.

“Why would you need to put that on? Isn’t she just going to look at your stomach?”

“No, she’s going to examine me as well, make sure everything’s alright. It’s pretty standard.”

“Even for this kind of visit.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you putting it on backwards?”

“It’s easier for them when it’s open in the front. Harry…” You sigh. “I’ve been coming here for over ten years, I know what do.” You cling to the front of the gown and hop back up on the bed. There’s a knock on the door.

“Hi Y/N, oh!” She looks at Harry. “We have a visitor today.”

“Dr. Johnson, this is my husband, Harry.” The two shake hands.

“Very nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot of good things over the years.” She looks at you. “Heard we’re feeling a bit nauseous today?”

“The last couple days, actually. As you know we’ve been trying to get pregnant basically since the end of April. I took a test yesterday and it came back positive.”

“I looked over your urine sample.” She beams. Harry stands up to hold your hand. “You’re pregnant, Y/N.”

You and Harry get teary eyed as you look at each other and smile.

“Congratulations.” She puts some gloves on. “You’re only about six weeks along. Now, Harry, I need to take a peek at your wife, and I’m sure you love looking, but-“

“I’ll sit down.” He says.

You lay back as she quickly examines you, making sure everything was fine. She examines your breasts next.

“You’re going to want to take these out if you plan to breastfeed. If you don’t then it doesn’t matter. Your belly piercing for sure you’ll want to remove though, and soon.” She covers your breasts back up. “No lumps or bumps, looking good.” She smiles and gets the ultrasound ready. You wave Harry back over to hold your hand. “This’ll feel cold at first, I’m sorry.” You jolt slightly from the cold jelly on the end of the ultrasound. She moves it around a bit. “Since you are six weeks, we may be able to hear the heartbeat today. There! See that tiny dot on the screen?” She points to it. “That’s your baby.”

“Harry, look.” You sniffle.

“I know.” He also sniffles. You both start to hear something. “Is that it? That’s the heartbeat?”

“Yes.” She smiles at the two of you. “I’ll send you home with the little clip, and we’ll print up some sonograms for you.”

She takes the ultrasound off and wipes your belly clean. She makes some notes on her laptop before sitting down to look at the two of you.

“Now, I know it took us some time for this to happen, so there are some precautions you’ll want to take. Y/N, you’re an active person. I want you to stick to walks and low weight exercises. Maybe even try some yoga to keep yourself relaxed. Is your job very stressful?”

“It can be…my biggest stress right now is that I might be changing jobs. I’ve been asked to apply for a teaching position at my old college.”

“That’s wonderful! Do you think all of that will be too much for you?”

“I’m not entirely sure. Something tells me I’ll get the job if I apply. It’s mostly the unknowns, like switching insurances and a new commute, stuff like that.” Dr. Johnson nods and looks at Harry. “And what do you do for work again? You’re a photographer?”

“Yeah, I own my own studio. We do really well.”

“Good, so you can be home for her when she needs it? Help out with things?”

“I already offered and she told me to calm down.” He chuckles.

“Y/N, I want you to let Harry help you. I know you like things a certain way, but let him pick up the slack alright? I wanna get you through this first trimester. I’m gonna give you a list of vitamins and nutrients you’ll need, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I want you to know though, if for any reason something happens, and…well…you miscarry, it’s not because you did anything wrong, okay? I’m sending positive vibes, but just be aware that those things happen.”

You shudder at the thought, but know she’s right.

“Maybe we should wait to tell our families and friends then…just until I’m farther along.” You say to Harry.

“Good idea. Although, didn’t you throw up at working this morning?”

“Okay, so Niall has an idea, but other than that let’s keep it quiet.”

“Okay.” He smiles and looks at the doctor. “Anything else?”

“Come see me again in three weeks. You can make an appointment on the way out. If anything feels weird though, come see me sooner.”

“Thanks, Dr. Johnson.” You smile as she exits the room.

You hop off the bed and get dressed. The woman at checkout hands you the sonogram prints and the copy of the video of the baby’s heart beating. She gives you an appointment card and out the door you go.

“So, should we head to the market and get you some pickles and sourcrout?” He jokes. He wipes a few tears from his glossy eyes.

“No.” You laugh. “I don’t have any cravings yet, but we should go to the store and get some of the vitamins on this list. I don’t have any of this stuff at home.”

“Alright.” He puts his hand on your thigh as he drives off. “I’m trying not to be too excited because I know things could…not go the way we plan, but-“

“I think it’s okay to be excited. We shouldn’t worry about something that could easily not happen. We just need to be careful.”

“Shit, I should’ve asked her if it was okay to have sex or not right now.”

“I’m sure it’s fine, Harry.”

“Six weeks ago, what was six weeks ago?” He furrows his brows. “That was definitely the night in your office, it had to have been.”

“What does it matter?” You laugh.

“I’d just like to know so when I’m old and grey and have to give some type of speech I can embarrass the kid and say they were conceived on mummy’s office floor.”

“Harry.” You pinch your nose. “If you ever-“

“Relax, I’m only kidding.”

“I don’t think you are.”

“Half kidding.” He grins.

//

After that, Harry started taking your picture every week. He’d have you stand in front of a blank wall with your shirt up in the same clothes so you could look back and see the progress.

“When you get to be farther along we should do a maternity shoot. I can set something nice up down here for you so you won’t have to climb the stairs.”

“That would be really nice.”

Before you’re able to roll your shirt down he comes over to you and kneels. He kisses on your lower stomach and hugs you before standing up.

“Was it sad taking all your piercings out?”

“A little…I can always have them put back in if I want later. I’m kind of glad I took the nipple ones, my boobs have been so tender.” You go into the kitchen to fill up your water bottle.

“My poor baby, I wish I could like absorb all your discomfort.” He pouts.

“I know, and I appreciate that.”

“What size is it this week?”

“Let’s consult the app. At twelve weeks, it’s the size of a passion fruit.” You smirk as you show him the picture.

“Oh wow! That’s kind of big.”

“Still just a fetus though, it’s not really a baby yet.”

“Can you believe the end of this week will be the end of your first trimester?”

“I’m so happy, I’m sick of throwing up all the time. I was talking with Eleanor and she said her second trimester was much better. I’m sorry I haven’t really been in the mood lately.” You wrap your arms around his waist.

“It’s okay, I understand.” He kisses your forehead. “Have you heard back from the school yet?”

“They said they’d be contacting me soon for a second interview.” You smile. “I’m really excited.”

“They know you’re pregnant?”

“Just Dr. Harrison. She said it’s not something I need to disclose yet.”

“I can’t believe Niall’s leaving Mark It soon too.”

“I know.” You frown. “I’m really going to miss him, but it’s what’s for the best. The startup that approached him is such a good opportunity for him, and he’ll be the director of their marketing department. It’s what he deserves. His last day is in two weeks.”

“That’s so wild, I remember when he started working there. He’s got like two years on you?”

“Mhm.”

“Harry, this really pretty girl started workin’ with me. She’s really funny too!” He says in Niall’s accent.

“Would you stop?” You laugh and nudge your husband. “It was platonic love at first sight.” You giggle.

Harry makes you both some dinner and you decide to eat on the sofa. You get a call from Seth.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I asked Isaac to marry me, and he said yes!”

“What?!” You spit out the food in your mouth. “That’s amazing! How did you do it?!” You put the phone on speaker. “Hold on, I have you on speaker, Harry’s here too.”

“Okay, so I took him out for a walk to our favorite park near our place. You know the one.”

“I do.”

“And I just got down on one knee and asked him. He cried, I cried. It was really nice.”

“I’m so happy for the both of you!”

“Me too, mate, that’s amazing!” Harry exclaims.

“Harry?!” You both laugh when you hear Isaac’s voice.

“Congratulations!” You both say at the same time.

“Can I have the phone back, sorry, he’s very excited.” Seth laughs. “Rightfully so, I’m a great catch after all.”

“Remind me to vomit later.” You roll your eyes.

“Anyways, we’ve been talking about it for a while. We both wanna just do the courthouse thing, we don’t want a big ceremony, but we’ll definitely have a party to celebrate.”

“Wouldn’t be you if you didn’t have a party.”

“Exactly. We’re making the rounds calling everyone. We’ll keep you up to date on everything.”

“Sounds good! Congrats again!” You hang up the phone.

“Okay, Rachel and Mariah are next for sure.” Harry says.

“I’m so happy for them. Oh my goodness! Sarah and Niall set a date too, did he tell you?”

“What?! No! When?”

“Next fall! October 20th I think. He just told me today.”

“If he didn’t already know about the baby, I’d say let’s keep the news from him the longest.” He rolls his eyes.

“Speaking of that…why not invite our friends over soon for a little lunch so we can tell them the good news. I know we’re going to my mum’s this Sunday to tell her and my siblings. And then we’ll FaceTime your mum and Gemma. We need to call Nannie too.”

“I think havin’ the crew over is a great idea.” He kisses your temple and leans back into the couch.

//

Your mother cried when you told her you were pregnant. Your siblings were all really happy for you. It turns out Erica had also been keeping her pregnancy to herself and was 15-weeks along. It was a really nice day with family. You stopped off at your dad’s house as well, and he was thrilled to hear the news. When you got home you FaceTimed with Anne and Gemma. Anne was trying not to sob as she was absolutely overjoyed.

Your Nannie cried on the phone as well. She couldn’t believe two of her granddaughters were having babies at the same time. You were able to celebrate so many things with your friends when they came over. Niall’s last day at Mark It and his first day at his new job, Isaac and Seth’s recent engagement, and Rachel and Mariah officially passing in adoption forms with an agency.

“Okay, so I know you’re all here and it feels like we’re here for a ton of different reasons…” You start. “Harry, is the FaceTime set up?”

“Mhm, Lou and El are here.”

“Hi guys!” Louis exclaims from the phone.

“Great, well…” You turn to the side and rub your lower stomach.

Rachel and Sarah gasp and squeal and rush to you to hug you.

“Oh my goodness! How far along are you? You literally can’t tell.” Sarah says.

“Thirteen weeks, I’m officially in my second trimester.”

“That’s amazing!” Rachel wipes a few tears away. “I can’t believe it.” She hugs you again. “You’re gonna be such a great mom.”

“I can’t wait to be an auntie.” Sarah says. “For the both of you of course. Still keeping my fingers crossed for the two of you with this agency.”

“Thanks.” Mariah says. She gives Harry a hug and kiss. “Congrats, I’m so happy for the both of you.”

“Seriously, it’s amazing.” Seth says. He gives you a hug next. “This kid is gonna be so loved.”

“Do you think Buster will get jealous?” Isaac jokes.

“If he’s anything like his father, which we all know he is, then yes.” Niall says.

“Oi! I’m not that clingy.”

Everyone laughs including Louis and Eleanor from the phone. You were happy everyone was finally in the know. Your doctor’s appointments were going really well. Everything was good.

//

“Harry.” You whisper in the middle of the night. “Baby.” You nudge him and he groans. “Honey, please, I need you.” His eyes flutter open. He got slightly excited because he thought maybe your hormones were making you a little needy.

“What’s up?”

“Could you go to the corner store, the 24-hour one? I really need a slim-Jim.”

“Y/N, you don’t eat meat.”

“I know, but I really need a slim-Jim. I can’t get it out of my head. Please? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I can’t sleep.” You pout.

“Alright.” He yawns and sits up. “Anything else you need?”

“No, just a slim-Jim.” You smile. “You’re amazing, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Harry slips out to head to the corner store. You sit up in anticipation. This was one of the first real cravings you had. You weren’t sure what it was, you just needed the disgusting, processed meat. He returns with it shortly and you devour it.

“Oh my god, thank you. That really hit the spot.”

“Probably shouldn’t eat those all the time. Maybe that vegan bacon we have could suffice.” He says as he climbs back into bed. “Sure that’s all yeh needed?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason.”

He was desperate for you. He loved the way your body was making slight changes. But he didn’t want you to feel pressured because he was the reason your body was changing.

The next day you had your second interview at the university. The faculty were really impressed with you. They told you a final decision would be made soon and you’d hear from them either way. You were extremely excited. Work had gotten boring without Niall. You two would text each other throughout the day, and you’d even FaceTime a couple times a week during lunch breaks.

As the days got shorter and colder, you found yourself feeling needy for cuddles. You either had Buster with you every second, or you had Harry’s arms around you. You still hadn’t quite gotten your sex drive back. You wanted to offer to blow him, but even that you, for the first time since you’ve known him, just couldn’t bring yourself to do. You felt terrible.

“I have to work late tonight, honey.” He says on the phone. “I’ve got an evening shoot for a family.”

“Okay…”

“I’ll grab myself something for dinner.”

“When do you think you’ll be home?”

“Maybe around nine? I’m not sure. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I know you need to do what you need to do.”

You found yourself turning in earlier to bed as you noticed yourself getting more tired easily. You tried reading to tire your eyes out, but you felt something in the pit of your stomach that just wouldn’t go away. You look over and see the bare spot next to you and sigh. You wanted Harry. Oh shit, you really wanted Harry.

“Fuck.” You groan and get up.

You go into the closet and pull down your special box. You sigh when you grab your little bullet vibrator. You couldn’t even remember the last time you used it. You wiggle your pajama pants off and get back on the bed. You touch yourself with your hand first before turning the device on.

Harry was just coming in from his session, getting home a tad earlier than he expected. He even picked up a new jar of pickles to put in the fridge for you. As he walked down the hall to the bedroom he heard soft whimpers.

“What the…” He says to himself as he opens the door. His eyes nearly pop out of his head when he sees you.

“Harry!” You throw the vibrator somewhere else on the bed out of embarrassment.

“Sorry!” He nearly walks out of the room and then shakes his head at himself. “Wait a second, why am I leaving?” He asks himself more so than you. You reach for the bullet and turn it off. “So…has this been what you’ve been doing?” He sits on the edge of the bed. “Instead of with me?”

“What?! No! This is the first time I’ve even wanted to…and you weren’t home, and well…” Your cheeks were beat red. “I’m sorry, ugh, I’m so embarrassed.” You hide your face in your hands, but he pulls them away.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed, it’s okay. What made you want to use it?”

“I don’t know, I was missing you, and then I realized how much I was really missing you, and I just wanted you. And the damn thing wasn’t even doing it for me anyways.” You pout.

“Well, I’m here now.” He perks up. “You still in the mood?”

“Very much so. I’m sorry things have been so stagnant between us these last couple of months. I’ve just felt gross and nauseous and all of the above. I’ve wanted to do things for you, but-“

“It’s alright, I really understand. When El was pregnant with Eliza May, Louis sort of told me this might happen. I was prepared for it. I know it really doesn’t have much to do with me.”

“It really doesn’t, but I think I’m over that hump now. I love you so much, I hope you know that.”

“I do, and I love you too. You’re sacrificing a lot to grow this little one.” He gives your lower belly a little pat. He stands up and undresses down to his boxers, and gets your shirt off so you’re completely naked.

“I feel bad, you just got home. Did you eat and all that?”

“I did. Don’t worry, there’s really nothing else I’d rather be doing than lovin’ on my wife.”

He gets back on the bed and kisses you. It’s a slow kiss, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth, licking into your mouth. Doing all the things he knows you like. Even though you didn’t love all of the changes your body was making, Harry still, somehow, made you feel beautiful and sexy. He kisses down your chest, and plants nice wet kisses down your belly. His head gets between your legs and he gets to work.

You feel him groan against you as he licks into for the first time in ages.

“Got this wet thinkin’ of me?” He smirks and you push his head back down.

“Get over yourself, will you?” You laugh. “And yes, I did.” His tongue explores your folds before sucking on your clit. “Oh fuck, oh my god.” Your hands grip at his hair, and your legs start to shake. It didn’t take him long since you were already wound up. “Shit.” You breathe as he gets himself settled against the headboard.

“Come here, baby girl.”

You straddle his lap, and line yourself up with his hard dick, his boxers now long gone. You slowly sink down on him and moan out loudly when he bottoms out.

“Feel okay?” He grunts, desperately hoping he doesn’t come too soon.

“Feels amazing.” Your slot your mouth over his as you move up and down on him. You couldn’t get enough of him right now. All your senses were heightened.

“Y/N.” He moans as he thrusts up into you.

“Harry.” You moan back.

His hands grip your ass to help you move faster on him. You cling to his shoulders to give him full control of the pace. You both had the bed shaking as you took him so well.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” You throw your head back as you release again, his come spurting up inside you at the same time. “Holy shit.” You press your forehead to his shoulder as he catches his breath. “I’m so sorry.” You kiss him. “How awful of me to make you wait like that.” You kiss him again. “Never again.” You kiss him a third time.

“Babe, babe! It’s okay.” He chuckles. “I’ve missed yeh like crazy, but don’t feel bad, alright?”

“You’re so amazing, I’m…I just love you.” You start tearing up. Another side effect of being pregnant. You cried all the time. He holds you close and rubs your back.

“I love you too.” He coos. “Come on, I bought you a fresh jar of pickles.”

“You did?!” You slide off of him and get your feet on the floor.

“Mhm.”

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

//

Things with you and Harry had gotten really got and heavy during your second trimester. You had even gotten to a point of sexting him at work. You just couldn’t help it. You had never wanted him so badly before. And he was always right there, ready to give it to you. You both would often only wear underwear around your apartment to have easier access.

Just as you were getting home one night, you got the call you had been waiting for.

“Dr. Harrison, great hear from you!” You get upstairs and into your living room.

“Hi, Y/N! How have you been feeling?”

“Much better, thanks. The nausea has definitely stopped.”

“Glad to hear it. The search committee has made a decision.” You take a deep breath, knowing this phone call could go one of two ways. “And we’d like to offer you the position.”

“Oh my god! Are you serious?! That’s amazing!”

“I’m glad to hear you’re excited.” She chuckles.

“I’ll just need to chat things over with my husband. I know he’ll be just as excited.”

“Great! Do you think we could schedule a meeting for Friday? There are a lot of things we’ll need to go over, especially with HR since you may not end up teaching in the fall. Luckily, you’ll have the entire winter break to prep up for the courses we’ll need you for this spring.”

“Yeah! Uh, what time Friday? I could probably leave work around three, and get to campus for like 3:30 if that works for you.”

“I’m open!”

“Wonderful, thank you so much. I’m very excited.”

You hang up the phone and squeal. Just as you’re celebrating with yourself, Harry walks in with Buster. He rushes over to you excitedly. You run over to Harry and give him a big hug and kiss.

“Guess who just got offered the job of being a junior faculty member?!”

“Shut up, are you serious?!”

“I am! I have a meeting with Dr. Harrison Friday to go over a ton of things. And I’ll have the entire winter break to prep up for the classes I’ll be teaching. I’ll be able to negotiate my salary too, they know what I’m expecting, and I won’t take anything less. We have a baby on the way after all.” You rub your hands over your lower belly where the cutest bump was finally starting to form.

“I’m so fucking happy for you. This is amazing! We should celebrate.”

“We can this weekend. Let me get everything finalized first. But…I know another way we can celebrate right now.” You wrap your arms around his neck.

“I really like this whole thing of you not gettin’ your period for nine months. It’s nice to just do it whenever.” He kisses you.

“I was looking up some safe positions we can try too.”

“Oh really?”

“Mhm.” You wink at him and you both shuffle down to the bedroom.

You were amazed at Harry’s stamina. He was never too tired to fuck you when you asked. Sometimes you wouldn’t even need to ask, he could just tell you wanted it sometimes, like he could smell it on you. He truthfully couldn’t get enough of you, and he was happy that you seemed to be back in the groove of feeling the same way.

He loved going to work with fresh scratch marks or love bites. He’d love when you’d send him a risky text in the middle of the day. The second trimester was treating him very well.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Slashers + Jennifer Check x Reader || Oneshot

Title: Peeping Toms and Bets

Notes:

This is a remake and revamp of an old Oneshot request I did in my old blog. I hope you like this! 

Jed is changed to Bubba, because in this shot the character does act most like Bubba then Thomas or Jedidiah ^^ 

The 2 would you rather’s were found online.

Plot: Jennifer has invited you over for a sleepover and you ask her a very interesting question. Oh and the boys are all listening together in and betting on your response to the question. 

Warnings: Suggestive or course language. 

Chucky, walks down the hall, headed for the kitchen while he knows the succubus and her friend are hidden away in the living room, feels a harrowing sense of disgust at what he sees. Well, the disgust being only on a strictly face value basis. Mostly he’s interested to hear the excuses his fellow Slashers have for their camping outside the closed living room door while two teenage girls have a sleepover inside. The first one to notice his presence, when he stops is Bubba who was taking a break from straining his ears to listen to whatever’s happening inside and look down the hall. Where he spots the bright hair and plastic features of child terror. He gasps, quickly and quietly, and alerts the others by tapping spatially on Michael and Stu.

They all turn to see Chucky, and Michael’s shoulders drop heavily in exasperation. Can’t he be left in peace? Why’d all these people have to join him? Stu gasps along with Bubba, before dissolving into a slightly guilty turned down grin, on one side, looking to the floor. Freddy has the good humour to look guilty, too. But isn’t really.

“… what the hell are you two doing??!” Chucky finally manages to spit out, past his pure amusement of the, concerning and slightly horrifying, scene. He raises an eyebrow and feels a tad out of place but stands his ground, when Stu and Bubba ‘Shh’ him, violently. Spit breaking from their mouths, he’s sure.

Freddy nearly panics entirely and immediately smacks Stu’s hand away from his face, looking between those two idiots and the door. “Shut up! Both of you, you were louder than him!” While he goes off on the two, Michael just sighs and opts to look back through the crack in the door that he was peaking though. “And you! Shut it! They might hear you, and then we will all be in trouble.”

“’All’??” Chucky exclaims furiously, eyes wide and wholly incredulous. “I’m not playing peaking Tom on teenage girls as an old man- “

Freddy’s voice is barely a whisper, in fact it’s much more like TV static then a human voice, due to his burnt vocal cords. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, they’re dressed. This is not a porn video. To my knowledge girls don’t, in fact, get undressed to sleepover with each other.” Stu mumbles a quiet ‘Yeah, unfortunately’ and pouts, as a couple of them share a moment of silence for the tragic misconception. Including Chucky and even Bubba. Michael rolls his eyes, still stretching his neck to look through the crack, back against the wall. “Haven’t caught a glimpse. We’re just listening.”  

“And you don’t think they’d mind?” Recovered, Chucky smirks smugly, words dripping with sarcasm. Almost evilly, as if he’s 2 seconds from blowing their cover and telling Jennifer-or, worse. Jason, - what they’re up to.

Bubba looks nervous, at that, touching the tips of his meaty pointer fingers together and looking ashamedly thoughtful. But then Michael makes an audible ‘Pfft’ sound from under his mask like he really couldn’t care less if they minded, causing their plastic acquaintance to raise his eyebrows in surprise, he relaxes. If Michael doesn’t care, maybe he shouldn’t either. Michael is cool.  

What would Jason say, though? Just as Bubba’s thoughts on that are immediately shut off, when the TV inside the living room turns off and silences engulfs the area. Then the girls inside start talking, which understandably makes every boy or man on the other side of the wall turn on their listening ears to level 99 and lean towards the sound.

Chucky makes a split-second decision and joins them on the floor. To tell the truth, he doesn’t give a flying fuck whether the girls mind, either. But he had to pick on these assholes, so if Stu doesn’t stop snickering at him, he’s going to cut out the teenager’s tongue, wrap it up and use it as a stress ball. Stu seems to get the message when Chucky connects gazes with him, slowly touches his own tongue, and then mimes violently tearing it out.

//

After the obligatory 3 movies (One romance, one horror which was a tough decision due to your friends living arrangements of course, and one comedy), you and Jennifer stop to recoup and recharge, and start talking. You’re wrapped in blankets and your favourite pyjama’s, and she’s dipping into her coloured popcorn. The only sugar, to your knowledge, that this girl intakes. Its no wonder she’s so gorgeous. She decides on a diet and exercise regimen and sticks to it. Truly amazing. You? Well… you prefer your snacks to a model perfect body.

Surrounding the two of you are many, many pillows and blankets. Some you’ve come to realise were stolen from some of her roommate’s rooms, due to their particular smell and some concerning stains. Also, the one that evidently belongs to Michael has a violent looking hole in it and has stuffing poking out.

Another is a full size Hatsune Miku body pillow, and you don’t dare to ask whos’ room she snatched that one from. Although, you have your suspects. Confirmation, though, is an entirely different experience. And one that you would rather not have.

As you start talking, you dig into your own chosen caffeine for the night. You’re playing would you rather, of course.

Because its fun, to give your friend two horrible or disgusting options and make them choose one.

“Would you rather have uncontrollable gas at work for the rest of your life or for every first date you have for the rest of your life?”

“Work!” Jennifer decides, immediately, apparently horrified by the other prospect. “If I was an uncontrollable fart machine for all of my first dates, I would starve! Who cares if my stuffy boss smells eggs for the rest of his miserable life.”

She sure has some… strong feelings, about her non-existent future boss. You snigger, sipping your drink through a chewed straw. “Okay, okay…”

“Would you rather have an animal best friend, any animal, meaning if it were a bear or a horse you could ride them around, or be married to someone who is peak attractive for you.”

That stumps you, and for a moment you just sit there with your mouth open, thinking furiously. Jennifer grins wide. “A wonderful pet buddy or best sex??” And at that, she starts to laugh a bit, patting your knee. You’re lost! “Impossible!”

“I know what I’d pick-“

“Yeah I know what you would pick. Evil one.”

She laughs some more.

Evilly.

After a couple of minutes of that, her teasing you and you thinking, you finally decide. Although, you only say it very, very quietly and into a pillow, so no higher power hears and grants it.

After that, you feel the need to be evil as well and think for a few moments deeply about wat to ask her… then come up with something perfect. You smirk at her over your pillow and sit it back down on your lap, still holding it. “If the world was ending, and it was up to you to save it, and you did want to save it, and you had to sleep with someone to do that… who would it be?” She immediately opens her mouth to say a name, but you quickly, mischievously hold up your hand halt her, and add the evilness. “Thing is!! It has to be one of the Slasher boys that you live with. Patrick and Carrie don’t count.”

Like you did before, she stops. Slowly closes her mouth, and looks off into the distance. Stuck. “Uh, so… one of… Bubba, Chucky, Freddy, Jason, Billy, Stu, or Michael?”

Oh, damn. You think, realising you forgot to cast out Billy and Stu. Well, that was a bust attempt at causing her strife-

“That’s impossible! What the fuck??”

Oh, okay. That’s kind of sad for Billy and Stu… But, uh, good for you!

//

The creepy group outside the door, which has grown a few more hands and legs belonging to Billy and Jason. The former only being there as he was trying to stop them from being weird but had given up and got tired, so he sat down. Now he was, apparently, apart of this. Somehow.

Billy is here because his DVD player got jammed.

After hearing Y/N’s question, multiple reactions come from these Slashers.

1.       Chucky and Freddy are very creepy and partake in some wolfish grinning that frightens Bubba and puts off Jason.

2.       Stu goes very, very red, and grins a little goofy. He shut down the moment the question was issued, so he didn’t hear the incriminatingly insulting thing that Jennifer hinted about him.

3.       Bubba also goes bright red, and covers his face.

4.       And Billy pauses momentarily, having caught the ego crushing material, then takes a deep breath and sits up straighter. “Oof, so, lets lay some bets?”

Billy holds up 10 fingers, sitting cross legged the furthest away from the door or wall, in general. “For Jen saying Michael.” The said shape of Haddonfield turns gruffly to the Ghostface original, who shrugs and grins his knowing grin. “I could explain it to you, but then you would think I checked you out.”

“Oh no, but in reality, you just watch his movie once a month- once a week in 91.” Stu narrowly escapes Billy’s wrath, ducking out of the way and practically into Bubba’s lap when his friends reaches for his hair. Michael just deeply sighs, along with Jason and continues to watch.

“Moving on from that borderline embarrassing bit of information that I’m sure we’re all going to ridicule you for later, I have a bet too. Since you think she’ll pick Michael, I’ll put 50 on myself.”

“30 on Billy. Despite, his gayness.” Freddy adds, preoccupied listening into the living room, but never too preoccupied to tease.

“I’m not gay!”

“Its okay, Billy, its 2020. You can be open with us.”

“Fuck you man, you suck, you’re going down on the favourite Slasher list.”

Freddy just giggles at that, turning his full concentration back on Jennifer.

Jason sighs deeply, his shoulders literally raising and falling in an obvious effort to make it noticeable. It is noticeable, its just that no one cares that he disapproves. He sighs again, this time quieter to himself, in hopelessness. He refuses to gamble on this.

Stu holds up a hand full of fingers and a thumb, five. “On Y/N picking Jason.” Michael nods to that, agreeing and holding up both his hands, 4 times. He’s got 40 on Y/N picking Jason. Jason himself looks specifically at his fellow voiceless murderer Michael, in horror. He thought better, of him. Michael only shrugs in response, like ‘You shouldn’t have though so highly of me. That was stupid.’. besides, its October, he’s naturally bound to take more risks. Plus, he’s had an odd inkling, that Y/N’s liked Jason for a while. She comes over a lot for Jennifer, but sometimes she hangs with Jason instead.

Chucky smirks at the interaction. “As I’m obligated to always contradict everyone else, I’m going to bet fifty-five, on her picking Freddy.”

“Oh. Hell no.” Billy butts in, unhappy with these high ass numbers. “I’ve been flirting with Y/N for weeks. It’ll pay off, she’ll pick me.”

Bubba doesn’t bet. He remembers how Drayton and Chop Top get when they used to bet on horses, and it wasn’t pretty. He doesn’t want to be like that, no.

//

Jennifer’s still thinking a couple minutes later, and you’re starting to worry when she finally moves. And flops back on her mattress that she’d had Bubba carry down here for her, in the hopelessness of it all. You will be sleeping on the couch, but you’re on her mattress too right now for until you go to sleep. If you go to sleep. This particular question may take some time.

“Uhh… lets see… “You crawl up to her head and plonk down where you can see her face. She chews on the inside of her cheek, and then starts to think out loud for your benefit. “Billy’s our age, and so pretty,” You nod, understanding. He is very pretty. “But… “

“But?”

“Well, but… Michael is so big!” She throws her arms onto the mattress on either side of her body for emphasis, causing you to open your mouth and raise your eyebrows and the boldness, then laugh and nod at the same time. Yeah… yeah… that true too…

And a very interesting point… You think to yourself, dusting a gentle pink across your cheeks.

“Y/N, no. This is not a laughing matter!” She’s grinning, though.

You raise your hands, playing surrender. “No, no, of course not! I’ll stop!”

“You better.”

//

“Stop fucking around!” Freddy exclaims, not loud enough for either of the girls to hear of course. He grits his teeth. “I’m betting on the outcome of your decision, bitch! Shut up and say ‘Billy’!”

“So… “Chucky starts to rethink his decision to bet. “What happens if they don’t decide? Is the game off, or… ?”

Billy halts for a moment, then looks at Bubba for a second. “Oh, yeah Bubba? You think the money should go to the new TV fund?? Well, if you say so!”

Bubba immediately looks panicked and confused, a serious squawk escaping him aimed towards the others. He didn’t say that! He didn’t even think that! Honestly, he thinks it’s should go towards a chicken coup…

Jason quickly pats Bubba’s shoulder, still in a perpetual state of exasperation and tired, but still wanting to assure Bubba that, they know. Billy’s full of crap, we know you didn’t say that.

//

Finally, Jennifer decides and makes an ‘Ah!’ sound, moving her finger from her lips thoughtfully, to the air excitedly. She sits up and faces you.

Oh, this is very serious. It must be. It demands eye contact. “You’ve decided?

“Yes.” Her finger lowers to her shoulder height. “Okay so, I simply boiled it down to a science.”

“You did?” You ask, just humouring her.

“Yes. So,” She starts counting off Slashers from her list of possibilities with her fingers. “First of all, Freddy killed his wife. So, he’s out.” Well that makes sense. “And Billy tried to kill his girlfriend, so even though he’s sexy, he isn’t trustworthy either, so he’s gone too.” So far so good. “Jason’s rotting away, and ‘Au Decaying’ doesn’t really stimulate me to do anything apart from spray him with anti-bacterial and Hello kitty deodorant, despite his wonderful shoulders.” Oh, yes. Jason does have nice shoulders. “Then Bubba’s flesh mask is a complete turn off, Chucky’s a Good Guy, not a bad boy. And Stu’s a weirdo.”

You nod, a smile reaching your lips and the pure simplicity of her end decision, coming to the only conclusion. “So… Michael.”

“Yeah!”

“I don’t think he showers regularly.”

“Eh, neither do a lot of the boys I eat.”

//

Stu is gaping, very wide and very deeply. “A weirdo??” He looks in disbelief to his best friend and the victor. Michael nods, being hurtfully honest with the kid and Billy comforts him with a shoulder pat. He is also reeling. He hadn’t previously identified his Sydney fiasco as a warning for other girls… maybe he should have. This could be an issue.

“Yeah… man, you are a weirdo.”

“Thanks so much, buddy.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome.”

“Bad boy?” Chucky asks, pleasantly surprised. He turns to Bubba, who’s looking indignantly at the door because his fashion is ahead of their time! “Do I have bad boy energy?”

Freddy sulks. “Oh… I get it… “

Jason rolls his eyes at them all. They’re all ridiculous!

//

“What about you?” Jennifer asks, turning the tables on you.

“Me?” You squeak.

“Yeah, you.”

“Well… “You square your shoulders, ready in the face of a challenge. “Well, lemme see… Well, Jason is strong, and sweet- “

“Oh yes.” You wince, at Jennifer’s sudden cold tone, as she squinty glares at you. “I know you think Jason’s sweet. You’ve abandoned me multiple times, to ang with him the kitchen! Betrayal!”

“Aha… ah… well, moving on! Chucky’s got a very hot aura!” You quickly push on, afraid of your friend’s wrath about Jason. “A-and, um… He’s also very handsome as a human, so I guess it wouldn’t be bad if he were in that form… “ Jennifer breaks out into a grin, glad to have made you stutter a bit, and back to her good mood. You sigh, back muscles relaxing. Evil girl.

“Yes, and the rest…?” Oh, she still wants you to answer the question, okay.

“Well. Stu’s tall, and rich. Which, of course, isn’t a deal maker but it’s a good point to mention.” Jennifer nods solemnly at that. “Michael provides a very nice… well, err, he would make a nice nude model. And Freddy’s got a really attractive voice, which I don’t think he knows which is very good thing, don’t let him know. And, Bubba’s so sweet. And Billy… is Billy. I don’t know what to say, he’s been flirting with me for weeks now.”

Jennifer rolls her eyes. “Mood.”

//

“I’m… Billy.” Billy grins, feeling proud of his persona for a moment and puffing out his chest in pride. Chucky gazes at Jason, like ‘Yeah, I guess he is the whole package… ‘, and Jason himself scotches away from the ginger doll. “I knew she was picking it up! I learnt all I know from movi-“

“Me, you know all you know from me.” Freddy cuts through, deadpanned.

“Which explains why she wasn’t jumping for joy when she mentioned it.” Chucky yawns.

“Hey!!” Chucky gets a chuckle out of that reaction from the two.

“Who cares?! This girl is just after my money!!” Stu exclaims, looking hopeless. He chuckles, haughtily then and crosses his arms. “Well guess what? None of its mine! It belongs to my parents! So, ha!” Michael shakes his head and looks disappointedly at the teenager. That doesn’t help your case… It really does not…

“Well Charlie, maybe I don’t need to flirt. My voice does it for them,” A devious smirk slips across Freddy’s face and he evilly cackles after a moment. Jason looks severely exasperated at him, and Freddy just sticks out his tongue. “Jealous.”

Bubba is touched that they think he’s sweet. That’s nice.

___ NOW MAKE YOUR DECISION! ___

Billy Loomis:

“I’m gonna have to disagree with you, Jen.” You grin and can’t help it. Its sort of a nice thought, to have to fuck Billy. “Billy’s the only choice.”

She scoffs and throws some of her popcorn at you.

//

Billy stretches and yawns, like he’s so very exhausted of that thing called being fuckable, and turns to look weirdly smug at Michael. “That’s right, only competition. She chose me.”

“-Only competition!? Excuse you, former bud!” Stu smacks his friend, scowling.

“Well that is what you get for outing my obsession with the Halloween movies to Michael fucking Myers.”

“You bitter thing!”

Bubba Sawyer:

“Aww, Bubba.” You decide, finally truly thinking about the cinnamon roll. You smile. “It has to be Bubba. He’s the cutest, and the nicest one here.” Jennifer makes a ‘yuck’ face.

“The mask??”

“That can be removed.” You reply quickly.

//

Bubba blushes brightly in the dimness of the hallway, pulling away from the wall he was listening to, between Stu and Jason continues to look bashful and gooey at the floor for a little while, until Jason realises he’s going to have to guide him home to hid basement bedroom and looks deeply unamused about it. But, still kind of happy for his-pseudo brother.

“BUBBA?! Who bet on Bubba?!”

Chucky/Charles Lee Ray:

Lowly, with an embarrassed, dark blush on your face, you mutter. “Chucky… “ Jennifer looks two seconds from king shaming you, so you rush to add. “In human form!! Dear God.”

“Oh… “She doesn’t look convinced, making you roll your eyes. “Yeah, sure. You tell yourself that. You go be nasty on the couch.”  

//

Chucky looks smugly at everyone, in turn, very, very happy with the outcome of that despite not winning the bet. “Yeah.” Freddy scowls at him.

“Don’t you look at me.”

“Yep, me.” Chucky ignores him. “Suck it.”

Freddy Krueger:

Realising who it would have to be, you widen your eyes and consider lying. But of course, decide to be honest. “Uh… well, um, Freddy… yup.”

She raises her eyebrows. “What if he goes batshit and tries to choke you to death?”

You laugh, at that. “Honestly, I do think choking would be a part of it, but in the case of danger I’ll just call you!” You grin cheerily at her. “Best friend!”

“Aye,”

//

“I don’t understand her.” Chucky feels the need to inform everyone. “But I just one the bet so good on her.”

“Four weeks, of my wonderful flirting, and I’m stabbed in the gut.” Billy groans, and throws is money on the floor. Shaking his head, he gets up and leaves, put out.

Stu sniggers, and gets up to follow him, turning back just to tell the others. “He’ll never recover.”

Freddy looks like he thinks he’s just won an Oscar. “I’d like to say a couple words!”

“Oh, christ.”

“I’d like to thank all my competitors for losing, and uh,” he finishes shining one of his knives on the edge of his jumper. “I promise to say hi to Y/N for you all later tonight when I visit her in her dreams.” Michael facepalms.

Jason Voorhees:

Finally, you decide and nod your head firmly. And exclaim, cheerily. “Jason! He’s perfect, I love, what a guy.”

When you look at Jennifer, immediately you let out a ‘YAH!’ scream and jump back, seeing her horrifying aura.

“I NEW THERE WAS SOMETHING GOING ON!”

“Stop itttttttttt!”

//

Stu facepalms. “Why did I only bet five???”

On the other hand, Michael smirks proudly under his mask, collecting his money. Yep, Jason. What a guy, indeed.

Everyone else, looks to the hockey mask wearing Slasher, who this whole time was against their listening and betting. How will he react?

He… has gone into silent shock. He may need some minutes alone. You… him?? You would pick him??? You… would pick him?? He raises his eyebrows under his mask like ‘Oh’. What is he supposed to do with this information?

“Yeah, I know hockey puck. This may be a shock for you, being ugly and all, but- Jason?”

Jason’s already up walking thoughtfully down the hall.

Michael Myers:

“Ahh, I have to agree with you. Totally Michael.”

“Told you!”

//

Michael but sits and experiences his punishment, which is many, many upset Slasher outcry’s.

“Both of them??!”

“Greedy bitch.”

“How??”

Michael sighs, and turns to an indifferent Jason for help. Jason looks at him and feels zero remorse for him, he brought this upon himself. He should not have been betting and spying.

Stu Macher:

“Well, these are all… interesting choices,” You start, cautious. “But, um… I think will go with Stu. Very cute, very funny. Very not connected to anything rotting, and... less stabby, then the others..”

“Well, that’s true. Probably a good choice.”

“Yeah,” You smile. “Okay, so, moving on. About that movie… “

//

Stu has this goofy ass, shocked, love struck look on his face that makes the rest of them a little nervous for about 2 seconds. Chucky takes the initiative pokes him. “Hey, Daffy Duck, what wrong with your fac- “

The 2 seconds ended, and so does Stu’s quiet, as he lunges up and grabs the doorknob, ready to throw it open and rush on in there and blow all their covers. Michael immediately shoots to action and grabs Stu’s leg to stop him, fighting not to let Stu shake him off. Everyone tries to vein to persuade him not to go, shut him up and clam him down, but their efforts are weak compared to the power of a horny teenager.

“Hey, hey!” Chucky exclaims, through everyone’s panicked whispered, grunts and frantic arm waiving, patting Michael on the shoulder. “… he’s gone.” With that out, Chucky shoots down the hallways as fast as his little legs can take him. Michael and Billy follow, because like hell they are going to get caught because Stu’s stupid, and Stu bursts into living room, revealing the other 3 still on the floor in the doorway… Freddy, incriminatingly on his knees just where the crack in the door would be, slowly, awkwardly waives and Jason bows his head in apology.

Bubba bolts.