#somewhat sudden sign up for MS

[bubblegeon]

Hennexxi, who broke a 7-year hiatus, "I have to let go of the regret of Madtown activities" [Interview] 02.2023

“I haven’t had a chance to stand on stage for nearly 7 years. I want to quench my thirst while working as a solo singer.”

Singer HENNEXXI (real name Kim Seoul, former name Buffy) from the boy group Madtown overcomes the pain and runs again. Hennexxi, who left the music industry for a long time after the team disbanded, returned to the fans with a stronger appearance than before and released his solo debut song 'RATM' on the 28th.

As long as the blank period was long, his determination to be active is different. In an interview with E-Daily at a cafe in Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul ahead of his solo sortie, Hennexxi said, "It's been 7 years since Madtown released their last album in 2016, and it's my first time releasing a solo song, so I'm nervous. However, I am also looking forward to it because I completed a satisfactory result with good people,” he said with a smile.

Seven years is a long time for a generation to change in the music industry. Hennexxi started military service after Madtown disbanded, and after being discharged, he had time to build up his music skills alone while working part-time. Hennexxi looked back saying, it was a time when he seriously considered whether or not to continue with music.

The wounds in his heart made him ponder whether to walk the path of music. Hennexxi confessed, "I received treatment for depression and panic disorder until last year."

Hennexxi was selected as an idol trainee while attending Seoul Performing Arts High School. In 2013, when he was 20 years old, Hennexxi entered the music industry as a member of the duo ProC, and then started working as a member of Madtown the following year. However, Madtown disbanded in 2017 after being unable to fully expand its activities due to the issue of transfer of the agency and termination of the exclusive contract.

Hennexxi said, "I've been 'all-in' for a long time since I was young, but after the team disbanded, thinking that I hadn't achieved anything made me feel anxious," he said.

While preparing for her solo debut, Hennexxi, who said he has made up his mind again, is trying to loosen up the lump in his heart little by little in the future. He is determined to build his own territory by promoting rap metal music, a genre that is still unfamiliar to domestic listeners. 'RATM' is a song at the starting point, and the lyrics contain the message that you will go your own way without being swept away by the evaluations or reactions around you.

'RATM' also draws attention in that it is a song featuring Haengzoo of hip-hop trio Rhythm Power, winner of Mnet's 'Show Me the Money 6'. Hennexxi said, “When I felt that the song needed a featuring artist, the first thing that came to my mind was Hangju-hyung."

In addition, regarding the reason for mentioning the late singer Iron's song 'ROCK BOTTOM' through the lyrics, he said, "I don't have a personal relationship, but I liked it because it was an artist who tried rap metal music early.” he explained.

Hennexxi, who has played the bass guitar since middle school, said, “I respect the American band ‘Rage Against The Machine’ (RATM), whose song was named after them.” “My goal is to become an artist who contributes to the popularization of rap metal music.” he said forcefully.

He also commented on his thirst for the stage, saying, “I want to become a shining singer in the concert hall where I can most definitely feel the pleasure of the band’s sound.” In addition, they picked Kim Tae-won of Resurrection and Kim Do-gyun of Mt. Baekdu as the artists they want to collaborate with, and Jay Park as their role model.

The last words he said were thanks to the fans. Hennexxi said, “There are fans who have been waiting for a singer who hasn’t released a single song, let alone an album, in 7 years. Even these days, they send messages of support through social media,” he said, promising, “I will do my best in my music activities to repay them.” [Google trans]

[silentcartoonist2018]

CU Epilogue AU Chapter 4

Date Night

*SPLASH*

“Hah…….huff……..Huh??”

A sudden rush of cold water hit his face and woke up Mr. Krupp from what felt like the best sleep he ever had. After a yawn, he realized he was back on familiar territory. It was his office, completely back to normal, but from what, he doesn’t really know. He could make out a faint smell of melted plastic coming from somewhere on his desk but didn’t see what it was.

In a split second, he remembered the dream he had. About the clown and three porta potties. 

It felt too real.

“Naptime’s over, Principal.” Said a familiar, and somewhat condescending voice. 

It was Reid. 

“R-Reid? Wha….what just happened? And…what’s everybody doing in my office??” Mr. Krupp stammered.

Upon closer inspection, Krupp could see that some of the teachers had been peeking into his office as if there was a big commotion going on. Also present were a couple of paramedics who had been checking his vitals for who knows how long. 

“Sir, do you know what your name is?” Asked a paramedic.

“Wha? Of course! Benjamin Krupp.” The principal answered.

“See? He’s perfectly fine. Just like I said.” Reid said to the paramedics.

“I see….but we should take him in to check for any possible head concussions.”

“Hold on!” Exclaimed Mr. Krupp. “What’s all this commotion about?”

“You were unresponsive for almost 6 hours” Said Ms. Anthrope. “So we called 9-1-1.”

Mr. Krupp looked up at the clock. 4:15

Everything came back to him all at once. 

MY DATE! He thought.

In a rush, Mr. Krupp got up and readjusted his tie and crammed his way through the door, past the teachers and staff and….

“Edith?”

“Oh my gosh,” said Edith as she clutched her smartphone. “A-are you okay? Everybody thought you fainted and—“

“I-I’m fine! I-I-I’ll explain later, tonight! See you at the restaura—I-I mean, later!”

Krupp probably crashed into two or three lockers on the way out of the building.

………………………………………

“You’re kidding, right?” Mr. Krupp exclaimed. He had difficulty finding a parking space and ended up 3 blocks away from the restaurant. Then he had to wait in line just to reach the reservation desk.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Said the Maitre’D. “I’m afraid we never got a call to make a reservation under that name.”

A spark went off in his head. Mr. Krupp had been too busy looking for a gift for Edith that he forgot to make the reservation.

“B-but I….” Mr. Krupp stammered. “Tonight’s my fourth anniversary date with my girlfriend! It’s kinda, sort of a big deal?”

“Isn’t it usually the Fifth Anniversary that’s a big deal?”

“No……The fourth’s a big deal too.” Mr. Krupp paused awkwardly. “Can I still get in?”

“Like I said, you’ll have to sign the waiting list.”

Having signed the list, Mr. Krupp walked outside and leaned himself against the wall of the building next door. 

“Ok, no biggie.” He said to himself. “At least I still have the chance to propose. I have that stupid—Oh no.”

Mr. Krupp checked his pockets frantically for the ring he picked up, but found nothing. He patted his jacket pockets, nothing. Under his toupee, nothing. “No! Where is it??”

He thought hard. He picked it up off the floor, danced around the office a bit, probably passed out the entire day from all the excitement, and had this crazy long dream about a clown and three porta-potties—not too important— then…..

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “Darn it! I left it at the school when I fainted! Tonight’s gonna be a disaster!”

Krupp sighed. “Ok, no big deal. Proposing with a toy ring could have been more cost effective, but is an overall stupid idea anyway. I don’t need it. And another positive: It probably would have been embarrassing to propose to her in public! If she said ‘no’, I’d have died from embarrassment! But now I’m short one engagement ring! What do I do? What do I do??”

After asking himself “what do I do” over 25 more times, like a crazed madman, Mr. Krupp felt someone tap his shoulder.

“AAH!” He screamed.

“S-Sorry!” Squeaked the other person. It was Edith.

“Oh! Hey! Edith!” Krupp chuckled nervously. “Wha-what’s up?”

“Umm…the line ended up gettin’ longer” Edith explained “…and I wasn’t sure what name our reservation was under so I ended up waitin’ in line. Then I saw you and walked over and…very likely lost my spot.”

“Well,” Krupp said sheepishly. “I, uh, kinda forgot to make the reservation, actually. So, we ended up on a waiting list.”

“Oh, that’s, uh, a shame.”

Both chuckled nervously. For Mr. Krupp, this really did feel like going back to square one, after all.

“So, um….” Edith continued. “Are you doing okay? I mean with the faintin’ and all?”

“Napping.” Mr. Krupp said, bluntly.

“Huh?”

“Napping. Got so excited about the date, I ended up sleeping.”

“On the cold tile floor?”

“It was, uh…comfy!!”

“Oh…” Edith paused. “Ok, then.”

She bought it! Mr. Krupp thought.

“I don’t buy it, but I’m guessin’ this is some matter of self-pride or somethin’…”

Right on the nail.

Mr. Krupp tried to change the subject. “Anyway, the sky’s nice and clear tonight.”

“Oh yeah,” Said Edith. “Perfect night for stargazin’.”

“Do you like stargazing, Edith?”

“A little bit.” 

“You the type who thinks about whether or not we’re alone in the universe?”

“I think it’s been established that we’re not. Remember that time you fired the other Lunch Ladies and hired those space aliens? And that giant toilet that came from space? Both of those times you—“

“Moving on, “ Mr. Krupp interrupted, trying to keep the conversation from turning the wrong direction. “You got a favorite star to look out for?”

“Well, there is one.” Said Edith.

Krupp pumped an imaginary fist in victory. 

“I think P.O.O.P.S.I.E designated that one as P-59009.” Edith continued. “It’s kinda weird humanity’s named all the planets after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, then all of a sudden, all the other planets and stars out there are just alphanumericals. That takes away the mysticalities of space!”

Yep, Picked a good topic. Krupp thought to himself.

“You know one thing I don’t get? Purchasin’ a star. What’s up with that?”

“Yeah, I mean, who are we to just go claim jumping all those other stars?”

Edith laughed. “Exactly! It’s that whole Manifest Destiny thing in space! But minus all the blood and gore, the dysentery, and maybe the zombies.”

“Isn’t that from a video game?”

“Oh, speakin’ of dysentery—“

“What’s there to talk about…” Krupp paused and whispered. “…diarrhea?”

“It’s related to what happened on our first date. The part you keep not wantin’ to talk about? It’s toilet related?”

“What?”

“Remember what happened on the night of our first date? The part involvin’ that freak toilet monster attack?”

Krupp felt a chill going down his spine. He knew where this was going. Edith always brought up the same thing every year. He never wanted to talk about it. Ever. “Can we not?”

“But it was literally the best part of the date!” Edith said excitedly while holding Krupp’s hand.

“”H-how about we talk about the more…romantic part of that date? Like the one part when I was like, “My Lady” and you were like “My Man”? Both of us were laughing…oh and how about that one joke we laughed about earlier?”

“Oh. I forgot about that part completely.”

Krupp was incredulous. “You don’t remember??”

“Yeah, I kinda forgot a lot about the first part of that date and remember the second half.”

“What a pure coincidence! My memory of the first half is remarkably less spotty than the second half, but how about you fill me in on the details? But avoid anything involving monster toilets or anything traumatic that may or may not have happened that night.”

“But if I take that part out, it all just goes straight to both of us hugging and just going home with you in your underwear.”

*BAM*

Krupp had punched the wall of the building. Trying not to remember that part of the date.

“You ok, Principal?” Asked Edith.

“Edith…How about we leave that part alone?”

“But—-!”

Krupp raised his voice. “I don’t want to remember me showing you how much of a coward I was!’

“Coward?” Edith said, perplexed. “Principal Krupp, you saved our lives that night!”

Mr. Krupp’s interest piqued. “Say what?”

“Sorry, everyone.” The Matre’D shouted to the whole line. “But we’re closing early due to a plumbing issue.”

Everybody groaned and headed back to their cars. Mr. Krupp stood there in astonishment until Edith grabbed his hand.

“Come on. Let’s go home.” Said Edith, trying to reassure him.

As the couple walked a few blocks down the street, Krupp was lamenting over how the date ended up ruined and had himself to blame. The two were passing by another couple who were happily chatting, making Krupp a little jealous.

Edith was still trying to encourage him. 

“I mean, celebrating four years isn’t that big of a deal anyway.”

“I guess,” Mr. Krupp said sadly. “I really wanted tonight to be perfect…but things sorta happened.”

“Well think of it like this: you at least saved some money.”

Krupp held his head low.

“Maybe we can try again tomorrow, if they got that plumbing thing fixed by then.” Edith reassured.

*SNAP*

“Maybe I’ll make the reservations next time…and we can go in a lil’ earlier. How’s that sound?”

Mr. Krupp let go of Edith’s hand and stopped in the middle of the street.

“Principal Krupp? What’s wrong?”

Mr. Krupp didn’t respond. She tried shaking him, but he didn’t respond. He just stood there, staring blankly at nothing in particular.

He was just…gone.

“Principal??”

……………………………………….

When Krupp regained his senses, he stared at his right hand, only to find that Edith’s hand wasn’t in it anymore.

“Edith….?”

Krupp looked around frantically, but found no sign of the Lunch Lady. Instead he was on a slightly wet platform surrounded by three doors again. He pinched himself repeatedly, but didn’t feel anything. “No, no, no, no, no, no!! This dream again??”

“Boy, did you get in trouble!” It was the clown from earlier and he had set up a beach chair on the edge of the platform and was munching on some popcorn. Krupp walked angrily up to him.

“What am I doing here again??” Krupp growled, poking the clown in the shoulder.

The clown pushed his finger away. “Shhh! I’m missing the movie!”

“Movie?”

“…….Principal?…….Principal Krupp??……” echoed a third voice.

Krupp looked around and saw a sort of round, foggy screen above the water just off the platform. There was a blurry image of someone’s face on it. There were two distinctly blue, blurry dots.

Krupp recognized the image “That’s Edith! EDITH! I’M RIGHT HERE!!”

“She can’t hear you from in here,” the clown interjected.

“Oh, goodness. Are you having another blackout?”

“Another blackout??” Exclaimed Krupp.

“No,” the clown interjected quickly, “This isn’t a blackout, it’s a—“

*BEEP* *BEEEEEEP*

There was a horn somewhere in the distance.

“What was that?” Krupp asked again.

“Wasn’t me,” replied the clown. 

“Principal…..Hurry! The truck!!”

“A TRUCK??” Exclaimed the principal and the clown simultaneously.

Krupp ran over to the EGO door and tried to pry it open again. “I-I-I-I gotta get out of here!!”

“You can’t wake up on your own!” Shouted the clown.

“Shut up, Shut UP! SHUT UP!!” Screamed Krupp as he kicked the door, not feeling any pain. He kept punching. He kept kicking. He kept pulling. The truck was still getting closer. Nothing worked and Krupp needed to get out NOW.

Suddenly, Krupp felt a familiar drowsiness come over him again as mist began to form around his feet. “Nnnngghh….!!! No….! No, not again…!!”

Krupp struggled to stay (somewhat) conscious even though his grip on the door handle was loosening, but his efforts were all in vain. Finally, he collapsed onto a cloud, completely unconscious. Almost…

“I…..have to….save…her….!!!!”

The moment he spoke those five words, a small light floated outside his chest and started glowing red like a piece of ember. It twirled above Krupp’s body and danced in the air as if it were finally experiencing freedom for the first time in years. 

After a while, it flew out into the misty waters off the platform and hovered into the hands of a mysterious figure thought to have been lost forever. In a bright flash that bathed the entire world in red, the light elongated itself into a long, flowing shroud that tied itself loosely around the figure’s neck.

The figure quickly dashed into the EGO door and slammed it behind him.

The clown scoffed, then smiled. “Long time no see.”

[mushroom-for-art]

Lmao I was inspired, I'm meant to be writing the horrors and yet the movie au dorks are at the helm, featuring the wonderful @oogaboogaspookyman s monochromatic actor

April fools

May casually walked down a hallway within the studio before sliding into broom closet to her left with efficient quiet her back bumping into the monochrome two already hiding in said broom closet who made a slightly startled squeak at their close proximity though May didn't care much keeping her back to him but tilting her head up slightly to look at him.

"You got the goods?" She asked though in a hushed tone.

"Why do you say it like this is some mafia trade?"

He sighed softly at her antics as she turned to face him properly.

"Because you're trading your goods, for my services," she cast a wink as she poked his chest lightly, unable to see his embarrassed expression for the dark of the closet. "And if you don't got my goods well buddy boy this deal is gonna fall through and you may like me so much because I can be real dangerous when I don't get what I'm owed," though she threatened her voice was entirely playful.

"This mafia movie you're shooting is getting to your nogging. But yes I have 'the goods'."

He exaggerated with quotation marks finally turning the closet light on earning a hiss and what the fuck from May at the sudden light as he pulled out a large carry on bag, he unzipped it slowly for emphasis opening it to reveal it loaded with different kinds of treats.

"Hersheys, Moreos of varying delightful flavors for your enjoyment, aero bars, dairy milks, milky way buttons large, caramac, Pokey sticks, reeses pieces, m&ms and many other delightful treats await."

He quickly closed it, zipping it up closed.

"If you can hold up your end of the deal."

"Darlin' you were just speaking my language, don't you worry toots, I'll treat you right." She grinned playfully doing some sort of accent as she booped his nose, "though, surely you could part with something, for my troubles, call it a down payment hmm, keep me sweet? Gonna treat me well Shugs?" She put her hands on his chest as though fiddling with an invisible tie.

"You're enjoying this too much."

He snorted softly but chuckled finding her demeanor somewhat amusing as he pulled out a random thing he paused ripping off the packaging with his teeth before holding the chocolate bar out for her watching her just bite the chocolate and hold it in her teeth with a grin, she gave him a wink and slipped out of the closet as he sighed zipping up the carry bag and hiding it for later.

It was in honesty a difficult job, he wanted her to complete many tasks in advance for April fools, he was always the butt of jokes, but not this year! This year he had help.

It started when everyone had left to go home, she put her plan into motion, firstly the put all the cameras on loop to cover her tracks, secondly she hit the bathrooms carrying carrier bags of jeans and shoes she set them up matching up shoes and trousers in the mens to make every stall appear occupied locking them all from the inside and putting out of order signs on all the doors to cause frustration and the reasonable idea that all of them were full due to the previous closures.

Next she booby trapped different doors and chairs, taping Foghorns so when the door was slammed open or chair sat in it would honk loudly and startle people, she hid them all over some obvious to throw them off the tracks some very expertly hidden. She also took this time to sneak Rubber chickens and whoopee cushions under seats and cushions. On Marie's desk she put a paper cup with "Spinarak inside! Very big! Only lift cup if you're ready to get rid of it!" She'd asked a local Spinarak to make an exit hole in the cup so it looked as though a large spider escaped and it looked authentic.

She removed the bottom of Derricks keyboard carefully, in honesty this one was personal as he has been incredibly rude and quite mean to her for no reason for quite some time, she carefully placed down tissue paper and super fast growing seeds, watering them generously and offering a little psychic help and replacing the keyboard top, and did the same to his work station so when he came tomorrow it would be taken over by nature.

She hit Kathleen's office next, this one was personal to her monochrome friend as she'd not been doing her job properly and fucked up his appointments, she looped a ziptie around a Febreze spray bottle trigger, "fire in the hole!" She pulled it tight and threw it into her office, closing the door as it hissed letting out all its content. In all honesty she would've used a fake fart spray herself but she figured monochrome just wasn't that evil.

Finally, her magnus opus, she spilled hundred upon hundreds of sticky pads and concentrating her psychic energy they flew everywhere sticking to everything along halls window chairs plants set pieces everything! It was a whirlwind of color and chaos.

When she finished she kisses her fingers in an exaggerated mwah of her brilliance before setting the cameras to start recording live footage seconds before the new work day began leaving no trace of her crimes. With that she slipped away into the night to her movie trailer, she preferably would've been enjoying her prize but he's clearly hidden or taken it with him because she couldn't find it.

The next day was complete and utter chaos, there was accusatory yelling frustrated screams, loud HONKS of Foghorns and Kathleen came running out her office coughing and gagging at the overwhelming Febreze scent while Derrick yelled and raged over his computer. He smashed it into a wall and punched a hole into a door before higher management called him into their office. In all honesty probably would've been easy to remove the plants but he was a hot headed asshole anyways.

A worker pointed an accusing finger at ??? Shouting that it must have been him. The boss quickly told them that no it couldn't be because the monochrome one was with him. Another pointed at May, "then her then! She used her powers to do it!" They cried.

"Me? I, I mean I don't know how to break it to you but I'm not the most gifted with psychic abilities," she frowned a sad frown managing a very sad voice that was pitiful without it being obvious that was the intention. Monochrome was impressed by her acting as another worker snapped at them saying that May wasn't capable of such a thing, stop being an asshole.

It halted all work and filming that day as everyone worked to clean up the unexplained mess of pranks with more yelling as hidden jumping snake pranks leapt out from places at cleaning workers. May effectively bumbled along as though just as unsure as everyone else despite knowing where they all were leaping in fright with a squeal at the peanut spring snakes and getting shocked by hidden shockers to really strengthen the image of innocence.

May collapsed onto her bed in her trailer exhausted, setting it up and taking it down was tiresome stuff. She grumbled to herself that her supposed friend hadn't looked at her once or made any indication of trade off, angrily thumping her tail into her bed at his betrayal. She'd get him for that as she snuggled her cushion.

She groaned as someone knocked on her trailer door dragging herself out of her comfy bed.

"Imma coming Imma coming it better be worth it," she emptily threatened as she opened the door to the monochrome bastard she was just thinking about. "You." He smiles at her unaware of his supposed treachery.

"Yes? Me-eh!"

She yanked him into her trailer with one hand holding him against a counter, "you got a lot of nerve showing up you slippery snake." His mouth hand open in confusion as he awkwardly ah'ed? Before making an oh holding up the carry on bag of sweets.

"I didn't want to give it to you where people could see in case they suspected anything. Honest!"

She eyed him taking the carry on with one hand keeping the other holding him to the counter using her teeth to open the zip and stick her nose in sniffing, yup, smelt like sweets in there and it was heavy.

"Hm." She removed her hand to stop pinning him, "you're forgiven, could've been mighty bad for you otherwise pardner"

"Western mafia huh?"

She nodded as she pulled out some Pokey sticks, nodding firmly as she popped one in her mouth confirming around the biscuit, "Western mafia." He chuckled as he watched her nibble the Pokey slowly making it disappear into her mouth seemingly satisfied with the trade off.

"Am I free to leave unharmed?"

May chuckled, stepping aside so he could get to the door, popping another Pokey in her mouth with a "suppose." He grinned putting his hand on the door he paused and leant over close biting the pokey and snapping it before rushing out the door as she stood there in confusion.

"The fuck??" She finished chewing what was left of her Pokey. "What a bastard."

[sunny6677]

Flames.

Summary: Skid is saved from a situation he never thought he'd be in. But now he has to heal from everything he went through. And he doesn't know how.

Chapter 7: An Outing.

TWS: SKID IS TRAUMATIZED, BUG MENTIONS, TRAUMA IMPLICATIONS, IMPLIED VAGUE KIND OF FLASHBACKS OR AT LEAST BAD MEMORIES????, KIDNAPPING IMPLICATIONS.

(SERIOUSLY. SKID GOES THROUGH A LOT IN THIS SHIT. BE WARNED. YES, THIS IS A STORY ABOUT HIM SLOWLY HEALING FROM HIS TRAUMA, OR AT LEAST TRYING TO. BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN ITS NOT SOMEWHAT DARK. BE WARNED. DONT WORRY THOUGH, IT DOESNT ROMANTICIZE ANY OF THE DARK THINGS IN IT THOUGH. IT IS POTRAYED AS A BAD THING. THIS IS JUST ABOUT SKID HEALING FROM A BAD EXPERIENCE.)

(I ALSO PARTIALLY WROTE THIS STORY TO KINDA COPE WITH MY TRAUMA, SINCE WRITING ABOUT PEOPLE SLOWLY HEALING FROM THEIR TRAUMA KINDA MAKES ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT MY OWN EXPERIENCES.)

————

Skid and Pump stared at the door as it opened, their conversation and game interrupted by such a portrayal of sudden light. The door creaked, and in its light of blinding luminance was revealed a figure. Of course, it was just someone they knew. It was Skid's mother. Skid couldn't help but feel a little anxious though whenever doors opened, as he had grown accustomed to the sounds of opening doors being a sign of danger.

Skids mother walked in, a smile on her face. Though by the twitch of the line on her lips that was curled up into a smile, Skid could tell that she was forcing it somewhat. Why she was, he didn't know. Yet even so, he remained quiet. His mother then said in a chipper manner, "Hey, kids! You wanna get ice-cream now? I think we can probably go now since I've changed and everything.". She appeared to be in a slightly different outfit, merely wearing a white dress and black boots.

"Uh.. su—sure, Ms. Lila!" Pump tried saying, with a nervous grin on his face. Pump then turned back to Skid, his gaze fixed upon him. "Come on, let's go get ice-cream together!" He held out his hand, and took Skid's hand in his. It was his own silent way of saying, "Hey, let's just forget about what happened, okay?".

"Uh.. o—okay. I think I might have to change though." Skid replied, nervously taking his hand out of Pump's grip. Pump looked at him for a moment while arching a brow, but he then slowly nodded, "..well, okay. If you say so.."

As Pump walked out of the room, Skid's mother raised a brow at the odd tension in the room. Though of course, she said nothing. She then pulled out a few clothes from the drawer in Skid's room, and handed them to him. With a smile, she said, "Just change into them and we'll be out here waiting for you, okay?".

Skid nodded, softly smiling. His mother gave one last smile, before walking out of the room.

Skid looked at the clothing he received as his mother closed the door. It wasn't anything too special. Just a dark purple t-shirt, some black pants and shoes that were his size. He had to admit, it was at least nice being able to wear clothing like this after so long of being forced to wear the same thing thing say.

An unknown flickered at the back of Skids head. It felt wrong, but he didn't know what felt wrong. Everything was fine now. He wasn't in the hands of someone he didn't even know anymore. Yet it persisted in his mind.

Even so, he shook his head, and changed into his clothes.

————

Sunlight blazed it's comforting glow against the town, and a warm but almost unbearable air filled the atmosphere. The light blue sky practically glittered with clouds of white stuffing that resembled cotton. Birds chirped, bugs buzzed. As of now, the three had already left the house. Skid had his hand held in his mother's hand, while Pump walked near him and stumbled around while grinning.

"And then we can go get candy cans together!" Pump cheered. He had been.. kind of doing this for the past few minutes now. He kept exclaiming the endless possibilities that could come now that Skid was back. Skid didn't exactly know what to say in response to all of his suggestions, but he listened with a smile the best he could. "Yeah.. and then I can see Kevin again!" Skid suggested softly in a tone meeker than Pump's.

Pump grinned in response to this. His hands balled up and rocketed to the air. And from his mouth, he exclaimed, "Yay!". Despite it having been a year since he last saw Pump, he was still ever the excited one. It was at least nice to see nothing much had changed. His mother didn't exactly question who Kevin was since she had already known about him due to the various times Skid had rambled about his day and mentioned him in it.

She seemed to be off in her own head, in her own thoughts. Occasionally, she'd look at the two, and she'd smile. But she was oddly quiet the entire time. Skid couldn't help but feel a little anxious. Silence did unnerve him a little, but only for the reason that it just scared him in general. He was always so used to being loud before being taken away that silence grew to scare him a little.

Of course, Skid tried not to comment on this. Instead, he noticed that most of the buildings hadn't changed much either. All of them looked about the same, except for a few new things here and there, and occasionally, there would be something he didn't remember being in a certain place. The suburban town hadn't changed just as he hoped. Though he wondered how many times someone from his town came to the beach and didn't realize that he was there..

He shook his head. He couldn't think about that. He didn't want to think about that.

"...are.. you okay?" Pump asked, seeming to have noticed him shaking his head. Skid looked at him, and blinked. "O—Oh.. yeah, I'm fine! I was just thinking about.. something."

"Oh. Okay!" Pump smiled, quickly accepting it. Pump then said, "Maybe we can make a new costume so we can continue to be spooky!"

That was right. A new costume. Skid only gave Pump another little smile, "Yeah.. maybe. I don't really know how to make a costume though."

"That's okay! I think I know enough from arts and crafts at school!" Pump cheered, his tone chipper as ever. Skid only looked at Pump once more, and gave a slow nod. "..well, if you say so.."

As Pump continued talking, his speech became somewhat muffled to Skid. He thought about going to see Kevin again. But.. the thought of the very building he also worked in occurred in his mind. For a moment, it was there, like a frozen image stuck in his mentality.

Skid held back the urge to shake his head, and only shut his eyes tightly as to not worry Pump. There was no use in thinking of that. Everything was fine.

Everything was fine.

Everything.. was fine.

He didn't need to worry anymore.

...right?

————

The three continued to walk along a different sidewalk for quite some time, passing a few weird things here and there. There was a broken fire hydrant nearby that people appeared to be trying to fix. There were two monarch butterflies that were following eachother, occasionally dipping down into nearby flowers. The warm air reminded Skid of the metal feeling of a hot car seat. Or at the very least, the feeling of hot metal. Hot metal was a very painful thing to have to endure after all.

Though as they walked, Skid's mother spoke. "Hey, son. I was thinking.. what if we went for some candy after we get some ice-cream? You and Pump we're talking about that, right?"

Skid looked up, and he blinked. "Oh—yeah! I think I want some candy anyway. I haven't had any in so long.."

"Yeah! We should get lots of spooky candy! Like chocolate and gumdrops and candy cans!" Pump grinned. Skid looked over at Pump, and only chuckled slightly. "..yeah."

He then went quiet. He could feel Pump's gaze on him. A bead of sweat went down his little face.

He then heard his mother speak. "..uh, are you sure you'll be okay—"

Then, a masculine but familiar voice suddenly echoed loudly from a nearby white van. "Kid?!"

///////////////////////

FINALLYYYYYY I WROTE IN IT JSJEMEJE PROCRASTIONATION IS A BITCH HOLY SHIT

[doubtingthomasin]

i am here to prove that i am god's weakest soldier once and for all.

kinktober: hellcheer edition

prompt 1: orgasm denial

word count: 4k

MINORS DNI FFS

(i'm really not sure how many of these i can do since i'm also working on a larger piece...but i just had to try.)

@viharker

------

Just act natural, Chrissy thinks to herself, standing outside the door to the drama room. Well, not the drama room itself, but the place where they store set pieces and costumes and the like. Her stomach roils in anticipation all the same.

Eddie had slipped a note in her locker between third and fourth period that day, simply asking her to meet him there once school let out, even more simply signed E.M. She ignored how her heart leapt, as she did every time it made any motion around him. It doesn’t make sense to her, how infatuated she already is with him after only a few weeks of hanging out, if that’s what you can call it. She had agreed to help tutor him for Ms. O’Donnell’s class, and things were going well so far. Probably just wants extra study time, she assures herself, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

She’ll take anything as long as he doesn’t say what she’s dreading to hear the most.

None of this makes sense, Chrissy. We shouldn’t hang out anymore. We’re just too different.

The knots in her stomach tighten again at the thought. She knows he’s actually a good guy, wouldn’t do anything to embarrass or hurt her on purpose, so why else would he want to meet so privately if not to call this whole arrangement off?

It’s a little longer before she realizes she’s been standing there for about five minutes. Maybe he left. Maybe he’s smoking. Maybe she should just knock, for crying out loud.

She does so, timidly so that she thinks it might not carry enough.

“You may enter.”

His sudden voice makes her gasp, and she shakes her head. Get it together, Chrissy. It’s probably just a tutoring session.

She pushes the door open slowly to find Eddie sitting on what looks like a throne at the head of a large table, one foot on the chair, the other leg dangling over the side carelessly. He’s leaning on the chair arm with his hand dangling in front of his mouth, but he rests his chin on his fist as she walks closer. Smiling a little at her obvious confusion.

He looks so damn good she could die.

She offers a small, nervous, “Hi,” little wave and all.

“Hey.” It's all he says, staying still. She can't see how his pulse is jumping in his throat or how she's stolen his breath just by walking in the room.

She looks around the room, empty of any other occupants. Still. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

He shrugs, folding his hands over his t-shirt. “‘S just us, gorgeous.” Chrissy swears her whole body shudders at the endearment, but it doesn't seem that he noticed.

“Right, yeah. The note.” She nods, taking him in again. His jacket and vest are on the table, his tee dotted with slashes and holes she's sure he made himself–and she realizes he's one of those guys who looks dangerously attractive in one layer. Calm down, Chrissy, holy hell.

“Sorry to be so mysterious." He's up off the chair in one fluid movement, slowly walking toward her. "But I figured if you accidentally lost it, you wouldn’t want someone explicitly knowing who you’ve been hanging out with recently.” He raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't actually mind being her secret friend. Or whatever she wanted to call him.

She can call him anything. No matter what, he's already hers.

She shakes her head. “I don’t care if people know.”

That actually surprises him a bit, though it doesn't show. “Really?”

“No," she insists with a shrug of her own. "I mean…they have you all wrong.”

His somewhat smug grin softens a tinge. “How so?”

“They think…well, don’t make me say it.”

“Why not?” he asks innocently.

“I don’t want your feelings hurt," she implores. Eddie's eyes widen before he scoffs, which then turns into a genuine laugh. It'd been years since someone around his age had given even two shits about his feelings. “Did I do something? Say something?”

He swallows the rest of his laughter before playing coy again. “What makes you ask that?” He's standing right in front of her, and he hopes she can see the affection in his eyes past the teasing.

But he's not sure she can. Instead, she just seems suspicious. “You’re just…acting different.”

“I guess I’ve made a decision." God, here it comes, she thinks miserably. "It…occurred to me when you told me you were breaking up with Jason soon, but it took me a few days to, I don’t know, imagine the possibilities.”

She thought she knew what he was about to say, so the strange turn in subject matter has her shaking her head again. “I’m not following, Eddie.”

“D’you know what makes a good DM, Chrissy?” He looks at her expectantly, leaning back against the table on his hands.

“DM?”

“Dungeon Master." He's moving, can't seem to stop moving actually, walking slowly around her. "It’s a Dungeons & Dragons term. It’s what I am, actually. I decide what happens to all the player’s characters, in a manner of speaking. They roll the dice, but I’ve already laid out what could happen ahead of time. Whether they roll well or badly, I’m always ten steps ahead." 

He puts his hands softly on her shoulders for a moment, but it still makes her jump. "You gotta be. It’s more than just having a good imagination. I mean, I do…God, I do." He's standing right behind her, his voice suddenly heavy, and she thinks she might know what he's looking at. She refuses to get her hopes up. "The point is, in this room, I’m in charge. I rule with an iron fist and very little mercy. So now, being forewarned," He walks back into view, eyes shimmering as he crossed his arms, "I ask you, Chrissy Cunningham. Do you have what it takes to join us?”

She'd been so caught up in wondering whether he was checking her out or not that she almost misses his question. “I'm sorry. Join who in what?”

He looks to the side, wondering how he could've been clearer. “D-Dungeons & Dragons. We’re starting a new campaign next month, and we’ll have the full group as long as…Lucas doesn’t abandon us for basketball camp.”

“W-..." A smile spreads across her face as she realizes this is the opposite of what she thought would happen. "I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“I’ll teach you," he says supportively, waving a hand. "You’re gonna need something to distract you from the heartbreak and I am more than happy to provide that.”

She's honestly not sure what to say. The fact that he wants to include her in a hobby that she knows is vastly important to him has her blushing for some reason. “I…I guess I can try.”

He claps his hands in triumph, making her laugh. “That’s my girl! I was so hoping you’d say yes. Trust me, it’s so fun, especially when you get to make Dustin mad. I do it on purpose all the time." He's grabbing his lunch box and textbook when he remembers the nervous look on her face when she walked in, so he stops, mirth evaporated. "Just out of curiosity, Chrissy, what did you think we were meeting to discuss?”

“I thought maybe an extra tutoring session," she says honestly, but he's giving her that look. The searching one he gave her that first day at the picnic table, like he's trying to read her mind. She decides on more honesty. "Or that you didn’t wanna hang out with me anymore or something stupid like that." She's not making eye contact, fiddling with her hair as she kicks her foot a little on the floor. "It’s so stupid.”

He leaves his things on the table to put his hands on her shoulders. The seriousness in his eyes gives her goosebumps. “Why would I abandon you?”

The way he says it, as if there's no possible way he'd ever consider it, finally brings her eyes to his. “I don’t know.” 

She said it in such a small, quiet voice that it was a good thing he was looking at her lips anyway. He knows she's not naturally quiet, no cheerleader is. It's been instilled in her, forced on her somewhere along the way. He definitely wants to gut whoever did that. 

“I guess," he begins, scratching the back of his neck, "I could…go ahead and tell you something else I’ve been debating. I just don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or make you change your mind.”

Her brow furrows before she smiles softly. “How could you make me uncomfortable?” He's close enough now that he can smell her strawberry shampoo, see the mascara meticulously coating each pale lash above those beautiful blue eyes, the shine of her plush, glossed lips.

He's so close. So dangerously close.

And she doesn't seem to mind.

That knowledge gives him the courage–or stupidity, he'll find out which soon enough–to continue.“ I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time, like years. Like…since the talent show back in eighth grade when you were, uh, the only one who clapped for our song. And um…the last thing I’d ever want to do is make you feel obligated or…I don’t know." He swallows nervously, smiles a little frantically. "I’m losing my words. That’s not a good quality in a DM, by the way.”

“You like me?” Chrissy asks, taking one of his hands in hers. “As in…romantically?” She's almost too calm, but she's still trying to comprehend how this can be possible. He's older and gorgeous and so much more sure of himself than she fears she'll ever be.

Eddie's heart hammered in his chest, trying to escape because it's still too far away from her. He gives a wry nod. “Pretty sure that’s the word for it." Dropping her hand, he shifts both his tone and his body away. "So, yeah. Much bigger chance of you leaving me. And that's what I'm giving you a chance at right now, I guess."

She's starting to get whiplash. "I'm lost again."

"Leave if you want, kill me now before I get attached to you or something." He laughs a bit manically on the "kill me now" like he expects it. She can tell he means it, not taking his eyes off the table as he idly flips at the textbook cover. But he's waiting, breathing heightened as he tries to brace himself for the worst.

"Eddie…" She crosses the small distance, reaching up to touch his cheek. Relief floods them both at the moment of contact, his eyes closing against her cool fingertips on his cheekbone. He exhales sharply, the sound making her thighs clench. She presses even closer, her thumb ghosting over his bottom lip and he shivers. "It's too late for me."

When he opens his eyes, hers are so warm, so innocent and wide that he feels his pants tighten. He almost protests when she removes her thumb, the words lost yet again when she leans up to press her lips to his.

It's a chaste, sweet kiss that his brain doesn't even compute until it's over, so quickly he easily could've dreamt it. He has before. He swallows thickly as he opens his eyes again to find hers are still closed–and his darken as he thinks of the ways in which he wants to consume her. Ways he'd only ever let himself imagine in his room in the dark, now released unbidden in his mind with one, soft kiss.

His eyes are dazed as if he'd gotten hold of some really good bud. He might as well have, for how intoxicating she proves to be. "You haven't broken up with Jason yet." It sounds like a valid reason to stop, but his hands are already resting on her waist, the back of her neck.

His voice is barely above a whisper, reverberating through her chest. She thinks she's already wet. But then her eyes fly open for a moment as his cool fingers reach the heated skin on the back of her neck, and she sees his face and knows she is. "Is that a deal-breaker?" Her voice is high, quaking and strained at the sight of lust in every feature of his.

And then he's smiling, hand sliding into her hair to hold her tighter, leaning into her lips just to brush against them. "Not even close." He chokes it out, already sounding desperate as he kisses her again.

He's almost bruising, he's wanted this so goddamn long, their tongues meeting as she lets him in. But she squeaks, pulling back a little, and he realizes he pulled her hair too hard. "I'm so sorry," he says quickly, panting as she pulls away completely.

Chrissy catches her breath, not taking her eyes off him as her mind absolutely reels. It's obvious from his face, from the red flush and the set of his jaw, that she'd just caught a glimpse of a side of him she wasn't meant to. His eyes are wide, apologetic, and she looks toward the door.

Oh, God, please don't leave me.

"What am I doing?" she asks, staring at the floor for a moment before moving toward the exit.

Eddie's stomach falls in a sickening way, his brain frantically searching for the right words. "I'm so sorry, Chrissy, please." He follows after her at a distance like a puppy, anxiety clawing up his throat, watching her strawberry blond ponytail bob up and down for what could be the last time. “I’m such a creep, I’m sorry. Please don’t leave, yell at me or hit me or–” That’s as far as he gets before he sees her shut the door and lock it, turning to him with a partly amused grin.

“Hit you?” she asks, walking back over to him. He stays perfectly still, unsure whether or not he actually messed up. But she places one hand against his cheek, letting the other slip slowly down from his shoulder to his stomach, leaving a trail of fire in her wake. Her eyes stay trained on his, fleeting glances at his lips, as she presses her body firmly to his. “I could never hurt you, Eddie.”

Oh, if she only knew how horribly wrong she was.

His breathing slows as he realizes everything’s okay, but his heart is making a beeline for her yet again. “I thought you were leaving.” His voice sounds pitiful to his own ears, but he can’t even find any shame in that.

“Don’t think I could do that either,” she whispers, her roving hand resting on his belt buckle. Oh, Christ. "Just thought…we wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us…would we?"

Her eyes are hazy, her bottom lip jutting out slightly, begging to be bitten. Never so fast has relief turned to white-hot need in his gut. A groan escapes him as he feels one of her fingers pressing against his stomach, and the sound makes her ache in all the right places. He says nothing, his voice stolen by the vixen currently letting her fingertips ghost over his collarbone. 

God, she’d wanted to touch him for what felt like ages.

Even just the small movements of her hands has him on a knife’s edge, and he wants to let her do whatever she wants, but he needs clarity. “What exactly are you asking for, Chrissy?”

She slowly blinks up at him. “Whatever you’ll give me, Eddie.” She sounds so pleading, so breathy, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Careful.” He finally moves, taking her hand from his chest and placing it on the back of his neck. “That’s everything, princess.” He’s glad he sounds more confident than he feels.

She smiles as he looks at her reverently, his hands on her hips. “Then…I just want you to touch me.”

At the request he groans again, lower in his chest. “Where?”

And then she says the three most beautiful words he’s ever heard.

“Anywhere you like.”

She tilts her head, leaning up to kiss him, when he suddenly lifts her into the air. Chrissy yelps, her hands meeting behind his neck, and her legs have no choice but to quickly wrap around his waist. He exhales sharply as he feels her heat against his fully clothed erection, and she gasps at feeling him grind into her, happy that she went with a skirt that morning.

Eddie gives her a mischievous smirk before capturing her lips, his hands on her ass and thighs as hers weave their way into his hair. They moan freely, loudly into a furious assault of tongues, lips, and teeth, and she barely feels gravity pulling against her as he lowers her onto the table.

He has one hand on her thigh, halfway under her skirt, as his other hand grabs her chin to break their kiss. She whimpers at the loss of contact, which only makes him laugh, a low, dusky sound as he meets her eye to speak. “Can I taste you, too?” His voice betrays him, shaky and full of hunger.

She’s stunned, her eyelids fluttering as she comprehends his meaning. Jason had said before that boys didn’t like going down on girls, refusing to do it himself even as he asked for a blowjob. The fact that Eddie wants to has her legs opening wider on their own, her skirt falling back prettily against her hips. So she nods, her world tilting on its axis as his thumb presses into her bottom lip.

He swears he’s going to burst just looking at her. “I need words, baby.” 

She exhales shakily, trying to find her voice. “Yes…please.” She somehow makes eye contact, his pupils blown wide so that his eyes look almost black, and wonders if she looks the same. His thumb is still pulling down on her lip, laser-focused as he moves it inward across her teeth.

Oh.

She’d read about this move in Cosmo.

Her tongue languidly laps at the tip of his thumb as she closes her lips around it, sucking him further into her mouth. She gives him those big doe eyes again and she can tell right away that he hadn’t been expecting the lewd display he was currently receiving, his mouth falling further open as he groans loudly.

“Jesus Christ, Chrissy.” He removes his thumb quickly to kiss her again, hand sliding back into her hair as he lays her down. He moves away from her mouth, peppering kisses over her cheek until he makes it down to the pulse in her neck, growling into her skin. “You’re so fucking beautiful, you know that?”

She can’t focus to respond as the hand on her thigh hooks into the waistband of her panties, pulling gently in question. It’s the only response she can afford, pulling down from the other side as they remove the thin fabric together. Once they’re off, he shoves them in his back pocket, nipping her neck a little when he finally feels how wet she is.

She cries out at the sudden contact, his large fingers stroking almost immediately up and down her opening. “You’re drenched, baby.” Chrissy whimpers at the smile in his honeyed voice, marveling at how he can play with her when he’s just as aroused. 

“Eddie, please, I need it.” And he almost breaks, almost gives into the temptation to rip her clothes off and fuck her into the table. Instead, he removes his hand, neglect drawing a pained whine from her pretty little throat.

“What do you say?” He’s almost kicking himself mentally, on the edge of Heaven itself and he still wants to push for more. Her legs wrap tighter as she ruts against him, and he presses both hands into her hips, pinning her to the table. She whines again, eyes closed with the most gorgeous, agonized expression on her face, and she’s perfect how she is. 

He doesn’t need her eyes open yet anyway.

Eddie catches her chin again, firmly turning her face to where he can rest his lips against hers, speaking into her mouth. She’s already burning up. “What. Do. You. Say?”

“Please,” she cries softly, her cunt throbbing. “I said please.” He’s smiling again, his fingertips brushing the inside of her thigh, a promise of more on its way that makes her squirm beneath him.

“‘Please,’ what?” He doesn’t know exactly why he’s pushing her so much, but she sounds so fucking good that he can’t seem to stop.

She’s almost confused, and she searches her mind for what word or phrase he wants her to use. It doesn’t take her long, and the knowledge of what he wants to hear surges straight down to her clit.

“Please–” she begins, faltering. But she was already too far gone. They both were. “Please, master.”

The hand on her thigh stops, his eyes closing as hers open, his jaw clenching as the sound of her plea reaches into his gut and turns him inside out. He’s kissing her again, lazily licking into her mouth as he resumes stroking her. She moans with relief as he sucks on her neck, her head lolling to the side to give him better access. She’s just relaxing into his hand, smiling and biting her lower lip, when a finger slides inside her. 

Chrissy arches up slightly, mouth falling open as he curls the digit against her inner wall. “Oh, my God.”

He kisses up her throat, trailing his hand down from her hair to over her clothed breast, squeezing. “Let’s stick with ‘master’ for now.” She laughs, a small, clipped sound cut off by his thumb finding her clit, rolling it in small quick circles. She keens at the intensity, and she’s so loud they might actually get caught. Fuck it. “One more finger?” he asks once she’s quieter, his voice somehow stronger.

She nods desperately. “Please, please.” He obeys, and her eyes roll back as he strokes in earnest. His hand slides under her shirt, under her bra, finding her nipple and pinching. Her hand tightens in his hair as she yelps, legs starting to shake. She feels cool air on her chest as he pushes her clothes up, trading his pinching fingers for his mouth.

“Yes, yes, fuck!” She really is being so deliciously loud, and he’s never been harder in his life. He groans as he sucks, but his patience with himself is wearing thin. The fingers inside her quicken, her whimpered words incomprehensible as she gets closer to her breaking point. But he does catch, “Eddie, I’m so close.”

And that’s his cue. His hands and mouth cease their onslaught, and he pulls her bra and shirt back down as she feels an honest flare of anger in the pit of her stomach. She hides it, opting for just as honest confusion instead. “W-What are you doing? I didn’t finish.”

“I know,” he says simply, his cock leaking as he slides her panties up her legs. She catches his wrist firmly. He figured she would, and looks up at her with feigned innocence.

“Why can’t I come?” She sounds so heartbroken that he almost changes his mind.

He sits her up, takes in the exquisite sight of her rucked up skirt, messed hair, her pouting swollen lips and pink cheeks. Christ, she’s perfect. And she wants him.

“Sweetheart,” he begins, grabbing his coat and vest to put them on, “you’re loud enough to wake the dead.”

Her face falls as she looks down at her legs. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no, no,” he says softly, taking her chin again and planting a comforting kiss on her lips. “That’s never a bad thing.” His fingers caress her neck and she leans into the touch. “I’m so hard it’ll probably be painful to walk, if that’s any indication of how much I love it.” Her lips curl up in a shy smile as he presses his forehead to hers. “And while I’d love nothing more than to ravish you on this table, you can’t afford to get caught on school grounds, can you?”

It’s a really good point, and she nods against the aching emptiness between her legs.

“So, my lady,” he concludes, pulling her off the table and into his arms, “we’ll just have to move this party outside.” And with one more kiss that makes her giggle, he gathers his things, takes her by the hand, and leads her out to the parking lot.

[youwontlikethisblog]

Betty! My Betty.

Two post in a day, or window of twenty four hours!

Finally we make it to the day of the new collection launch.

Now in the previous post I wrote I made note that we had established that Armando trusted, unwavering, Betty. He knew of her fidelity and trusted her for it.

He questioned her but, by the time she leaves he quits his show of being mad at her and asked Mario what he thought of what she had said.

Now I want to add some points here that discribe and prove my theory that Armando was already having feelings outside of work related feelings towards Betty.

1) When Mario tells Armando that Marcela has no idea who she's talking to we know he means that Betty is the owner of Eco Moda, therefore she shouldn't be yelling at her but Armando thinks otherwise as he tells him "I know! She's my guardian angel!" which once more proves that Armando wasn't mistrusting of Betty and his concern was with how Betty treats him and how she is with him, unconditional.

2) When Mario starts with his paranoia again Armando defends her, defends his trust, and lets us all know that he would never doubt Betty nor her unconditionality and fidelity.

3) That day Armando behaved differently towards Betty.

We've all at some point in middle or high school gone to google and searched "how to tell that he likes me." and the very obvious answers in every post is that he finds excuses to be near you, finds excuses to touch you, blah blah blah, and very cliché this begins to happen. I already had my theory that as the show progressed to this point of the story that Armando found excuses to touch Betty such as when he starts to rub her shoulders as he is telling her that he's very aware of her loyalty and all she does for him, hugging her, to then asking her to stay in meetings, being confused when she doesn't sit next to him whereas before Betty could sit anywhere in the meeting room that wasn't near him (don't quote me on this I didn't pay much attention to the first few episodes because I was zoned out most of the time)and he didn't care. During the business with Macro Textil he was leaning towards her as they discussed with Ms. Colombia and the guy incharge of sells. Which I already talked about this in another post as well where he finally stops having all eyes on Ms. Colombia and is absorbed by Betty.

At the meeting the day before the launch Armando pulls a chair for Betty and tells her to sit by him and when she goes to sit he pulls his chair closer to her and leans towards her, when he usually is always leaning to his right, he now leans towards his left, where Betty is. That's not the only noticeable change. When Marcela starts yelling and insulting Betty, Armando visibly looks ticked off until he finally raises his voice at her and then adjusted his tone and talked to her calmly. Then later that night when Marcela and him are together discussing Claudia, Armando tells her that he can't do anything because Hugo will throw a fit, then Marcela decides to let her vandetta with Claudia go and asks for another head, to which Armando says anyone's head.

Remember how I said that Armando is really dumb with feelings and that when he has them he blurts them out unthinkably and then proceeds to correct himself?

Here Marcela gives him the ultimatum; Claudia's head or Betty's head.

Armando pulls away from her and says no, to which Marcela asks "You can't do it or you don't want to?" and he says "I don't want to- I can't." and he looks bothered by the idea of it. Like a kid told to share his toys with someone. We then see him feeling guilty over Betty being the owner of Eco Moda because Marcela is saying that she's gotta run everything by Betty.

The last point was a long one :)

Armando still yells at Betty and he still is a crappy boss but the last two days he has blended and blurred the lines so much while Betty has remained a good employee and kept boundaries with him.

Now this is the scene we've all been waiting for.

Armando finds out that Nicolas is Betty's "platonic love".

The day starts off with Marcela going to yell at Betty, as one does, and Armando seems bothered by it, while before it did bother him it wasn't much where he interacted or reacted to it. As he said he knew Betty could handle of them[Paty and Marcela].

Now one could simply say "But this is all because of Eco Moda and Betty is the owner now and he doesn't want her to turn against them."

Had that been the intention of the writer we wouldn't had gotten any of the previous details mentioned in the previous post. We wouldn't be seeing the subtle change, the blending of their personal lives, the obvious act of defending Betty against Mario's paranoia and the obvious stupidity of Armando towards his feelings.

Remember! Armando wasn't paranoid and he sure as hell wasn't questioning Betty's loyalty to him.

So if he isn't having those feelings? Why does he all of a sudden run to her aid against Marcela? Why does he not only defend his decision to hiring Betty as he did in the past but Betty's role and job in Eco Moda?

Here's the thing we all need to understand Armando is somewhat smart in his line of work. He knows how to manipulate, convince, and make deals. He is a very mechanical guy. Women enter him through his eyes. We've seen him be a womanizer and seggs is the way to his heart. Which is exactly why he was so stupid and clueless about his feelings towards Betty because unlike all the other woman, Betty didn't enter him through the eyes or sex. She did through action and personality and it all comes crashing down in this very scene. However, Armando is very stupid and I mean colossally stupid when it comes to feelings. He is a mechanical man, even in his relationship with Marcela, his parents, his best friend, his lovers, and he isn't fazed by people's emotions. He is uncomfortable with them and as a person who happens to be the same, when it comes to recognizing feelings and defining them as what they are it's really hard to do that when you spend your time avoiding and running away from any feeling and it can take months for someone to identify those feelings. Which is why the subtle changes and his reaction to this news leaves him uncomfortable, confused, and most of all scared and he tries to justify and identify these feelings as other things. Once again I talk from personal experience.

The writing from the previous episodes is meant to bring all of this together. Scenes that we might asume had nothing to do with the romance between B and A all of a sudden hold a lot of weight here. For example the scene when Sofia cries over her husband's lover working there, it shows Armando visibly uncomfortable as he turns to Betty's office and looks like he wants to stand up and leave the room when he sees her crying. However the last time Betty cried in front of him without her even asking or making any insinuation of it, Armando goes to hug her so he can comfort her. Mariana once said that he could watch someone cry and be unfazed by it but we had two more incidents previous to that that show us little by little how he begins to change for Betty. If they weren't important than we wouldn't had gotten them.

Bertha burst into his office with a smile on her face. Armando is as normal and typical as always, Betty enters the room and hands him the paperwork for him to sign.

That's when Bertha mentions that "Your love, your boyfriend, Nicolas Mora just called you!" and we get a close up of Armando's face(they wouldn't have shown us this if it weren't important). His eyes are focused on Betty, brows narrow, lips on a line and nostrils flared, meaning my boy is mad. When Betty asks if he signed the papers, without breaking eye contact with her, with a very serious and dead tone he tells her he did and hands them to her.

Skip a scene ahead we then see Armando exiting Betty's office, head down, shaking his head, looking confused and angry. When Mario walks in he asks if something happened and Armando nods, goes back into her office, steps back out and leans against the door frame, wrapping his arms around himself which is something people do to self sooth and he proceeds to tell Mario that something very grave has happened. Mario's facial expression shows worry.

Now let's go back to the episode when Betty gave Armando the papers that showed that Eco Moda was now under seizure for the debt they had with Terra Moda, how his voice was during that, which was somber. We know it hurt him to see that and that it was a hard thing to accept as he studied that most of the scene. Here in this scene he has the exact same tone of voice, somber, which means he is truly bothered and sad over Betty having a boyfriend.

Mario then proceeds to laugh and joke about it. Armando angrily tells him that the monstrete that he is making fun of is the owner of Eco Moda now and then his voice changes to say "She has a boyfriend." to which Mario again proceeds to make fun of. We see Armando's body language, he turns his back for a brief second, he doesn't look at Mario or make eye contact while he is making those jokes and for a split second we see a confused look on his face.

What does this mean? Armando sudden change of heart and his frustration towards the news aren't solely based on Eco Moda for what he continues to make apparent and continues to repeat is that Betty has a boyfriend because that's what he is hung up about.

I'm sorry I keep saying let's go back to a post or episode but this all comes imploding here, now, to prove the theory. Remember how I mentioned that Armando seemed unbothered by Nicolas and even defended him against Mario and his paranoia?

When Mario asks who the unfortunate person was Armando does as he does best, react emotionally.

All of a sudden Armando is furious as he refers to Nicolas. All of a sudden the person who he himself said was trustworthy, who he assured Mario was someone Betty collaborates with becomes an idiot and an object of disdain to Armando.

While Mario seems more concerned over the company and who the owner is; Armando seems more concerned over the fact that Nicolas is Betty's boyfriend.

He then proceeds to tell Mario how he found out and he tells it like he were telling him something traumatic, he is stuttering every few words, pacing, talking fast, unable to sit for more than a second and mocking, something we later see as a jealousy act of his, and gets angry( he makes it more dramatic by saying that Bertha said Nicolas was Betty's eternal love, her lover) when he gets to the point of the story that they talked about Betty's boyfriend in front of him which lets us know he felt it was disrespectful for Betty to do that.

What kind of boss thinks it's disrespectful for their employee to have a boyfriend and talk about it in front of them?

One that likes you and thinks there's something special going on between you two.

My theory is that Armando wasn't in love with Betty at this point but he was mixing up his feelings because he liked her and felt possessive over her. He felt that Betty's unconditionality, fidelity, loyalty, and faithfulness was all towards him and that made him feel special(when Betty was offered that commission by RagTela when she confessed it to Armando he went to her and told her he was glad he was a part of such an important test in her life which feeds the idea that he felt special to her) because of course, the "ugly" girl would never have a boyfriend to give all that to and he felt special to be the one to receive that from her without Betty asking for anything in return. Those exact qualities were the things that lead Armando to even have feelings for her(that he's not aware of) and all of a sudden there's someone who could be receiving those exact same qualities of Betty's and more which makes him react the way he does.

In his own words what offended him most (which means he was offended by Betty and Bertha talking about her personal love life in front of him) was that Betty didn't say anything about it.

Why is that?

Up to this point we've seen Armando slowly blur the lines of personal and work with Betty. Little by little we see him let his guard down, expressing his inner thoughts and feelings regarding his biggest burden and how it'll affect him. Betty knows him very well and he is very well aware of that as he tells her that he knows she understands more than anyone what he's doing while Armando barely knows anything about her. He knows she's got ethics, morals, and principles she sticks by. He knows her family and how humble and moral they are. He knows the most important parts of her character that makes her a trustworthy employee but he knows nothing about Betty's personal life like Betty does his.

In his own words again he says "I don't know, I don't know why she didn't confide in me. Me who has been very special to her-" please, let me bring you back to the past. In a post I mentioned that every time Betty gave him more of herself her rewarded her by doing the same in return. For example, when Betty showed loyalty to him he became more kind to her. When Betty showed unconditionality he showed loyalty. We begin to see a pattern of behavior. Whilst Betty's affection is shown through means of work and being respectful and having boundaries with him and living off her daydreams, Armando's is different. His affection is shown by blurring the lines between personal and work. By giving more of himself to her in an emotional sense.

He then concludes to say "This hurts me a lot, listen to me Calderon, I don't like this at all." Mario's perspective is that Amranod is worried for the same thing he is: Eco Moda. However Armando is on a different solar system as Mario tells him they should have investigated her more and again Armando goes to defend her. Saying that she is unconditional and has always been loyal to him. That he knows her perfectly, wouldn't you say this contradicts the plan?

"How the hell was I supposed to imagine that Betty! My Betty... would have a boyfriend?"

Armando then gives way to paranoia saying that Betty's personal life is deeply entwined with his, the companies, and his family's personal lives. Which means that Mario's seed of paranoia has now began to flourish in Armando and it shows his confusion. One moment he is defending Betty, the next he is questioning her. One second he is sure of her loyalty and the next he is worried about her having Eco Moda.

This is when the roles switch. In the previous days and scenes when Mario was paranoid Armando truthfully defended Betty and her loyalty. He was so sure of it but why does her having a boyfriend change that? Because Armando felt betrayed by Betty. He felt that she should have told him this. In other words Armando feels bamboozled because he isn't Betty's special man and now instead of Mario being the paranoid one he is the one to remind Armando that Betty is trustworthy. He tells him that Betty says "He's important for the company." and that the fact he's her boyfriend doesn't change anything he then proceeds to ask "Or what? You jealous?" and Armando laughs.

Notice his body language? He's biting his thumb nail, eyebrows arched and eyes worried. Yes, he is paranoid but he's also now struggling with the feelings that are left behind from the revelation that Betty has a boyfriend.

This will be part 1 of the next couple of episodes to break down Armando's inner struggle and why he is so stupid.

I need to get some rest lol

[sleepingvalley]

Futakuchi Kenji Brainrot Angst

Warning: Sad, Angst, and sad

Characters: Futakuhi Kenji, Kanji Koganegawa, Aone Takanobu, You

The sun takes a gander at you and your lover in bed. What a rude awakening it brings you. Rolling over to the opposite side of the small bed, kenji groans at the shift of the bed but once the sweet comforting weight is placed back, his annoyance turns into hums. "Ugh...what time is it..." "We're late" your chuckle is accomodated with light slaps to his cheeks. A friday such as this was much more appreciated with a quick day at school and some street candy afterwards. As the monotone pur of the microwave heats up your bentos, kenji reaches for you in the kitchen. "I dont have practice today, wanna go to the arcade later?" he struggles to open his eyes, however opening his eyes to you was never an unrewarded task really. His perfect match, you were. Your perfect match, he was.

Almost in synchrony both of you get ready. Opposite coloured mugs,pastel green and pink, of your chosen drinks. His a dark brew of coffee, yours a light cup of tea. Footsteps in harmony, a piano and violin accompaniment, towards the shower. Once both of you finish drying, you climb on top of your boyfriend's shoulder while you reach for the blazer at the back. His uniform unhanged from the lower cloth rack. Kenji crouches down, you getting off him, taking both of your shoes from the side. He passes the shoes to you, you passing his bag. "Hey did you charge th-" "Phone" passing your phones before he even finishes. You hurry to the kitchen to lock the gasoline to then reach for the bentos. Wrapping them up in a food cloth, the brunette giant walks to you carrying your bag and other school materials. "I got the lunch this time, burger patties." informing him, him giving you a smirk pulling you out of the apartment by now.

"Lock" "Key." He finishes. With each paired rythmn down the flight of stairs, a beep from his and your phone comes in. "Who was that?" Futakuchi takes a glance at your screen, clear with aone's messages of how late you both were. Always so respectable of course. "Ah shoot, we missed Ms. Hina's lecture again. You know how she gets when we-" " 'Have the audacity to even show up late together' I know I know hahhaha You think she'll get tired of it?" The hazel bowled boy mocks the mentor you two know so well by now, always scolding you two for the double trouble you bring. "Who texted you?" your voice not really striken with any emotion, "Probably aone as well. I'll let him know, we're on our way." he responds and brings his phone a bit closer to himself.

Soon approaching the awfully steep down hill path, you run down with all the resistance to not tumble. Kenji snorting at your silliness, "I hope you fall on your face!" He jokingly tease at you, "Oh yeah? I hope you trip and fall with me!" a fiery glint in your eyes with that mischevious smile he falls for. Running towards you, like the two stupid teens you are. You spin and laugh racing towards the school's backgate.

You remember being so scared the first time he even convinced you to jump. You were just first years then, so young and so scared of the rules, but he didn't care. You were miss careful, dubbed by kenji himself, as you thread carefully to every situation you came accross. You were careful in every decision until you chose to be with your long term boyfriend now.

You were in middle school when you first met him. He was tall for his age, like his best friend aone, but unlike the latter boy he wasn't any sort of a gentle giant. He'd pick on the other team if they even so do something wrong when playing. He was a bit of a bully, he even teased you at one point, nevertheless it didn't make you less in love with him then and now. You remember confessing at graduation, an impulse decision, a decision you accidentally made while your best friend nobu tried to ascertain your feeling for the 1/3 of your friend group. As an asshole does after shamelessly evesdropping on the conversation, kenji obnoxiously comes out and teases you right before he goes...

"Woah I didn't even know how obssessed with me you are! That's soooo crazy, like you. Well I can't leave you disappointed, Humour me. Let's start dating then!"

It even took you a minute or so to understood his bullshit way of just saying he liked you back.

Crawling into class with him, both of you take your seats behind aone's massive frame. You apologize to the frost giant, but your apology was rather piled up at this point.

With the time passing, and the passing of morning bread underneath the table, break time comes where you just apologize to aone for once again covering for the 2/3 of the group. When the free period gives you the time to finally get to your spot, you invite nobu and drag your complaining hazlenut boy there. Nobu sets up the cloths for you to sit on, kenji comes back with the drinks and from chatting with the girls from the other class, and set up the food with ease. When he comes over you smile at him reaching for your drink, "Who was that?" you question but more likely just asking for a question's sake. "Ah the girls were just asking about the next time. Shall we?" he drives the attention back to the food where you all say your prayers.

"Thank you for the food" kenji thanks. "Thank you for the food" You thank. "Thank you for the food" Nobu thanks. "Thank you for the food" Kogane thanks.

Wait kogane? "Oi! Get your own damn food!" The whining boy points to the newly arrived blonde. "But Y/N-chan's food is too good!" "Yeah, obviously, but Y/N's food is also my food so buzz off"

Despite futakuchi's protests, you hand the rice ball over to kogane. You bring out another for your partner to settle his steaming head. A couple of minutes of chatter and aone huffing about the train problem, you suddenly grow a craving for some curry.

"Kenji, curry for dinner later?" he glances over at you, thinks to himself and makes a note on his phone. "Shopping later, then?" almost asking you. With your nod, you two go back to the group's banter.

Curry was somewhat a special dish for both of you even if it didn't seem like much. You still remember both of your awkward demeanors as you met up for your first date. Gosh you both had no sense of fashion. You showed up in an awkward get up, but you would never forget the dumb shirt futakuchi wore to look cool. Sleeveless and all. Considering both of you were only first years back then, all you two could really afford was the family diner near his place. Both of you fidgeting, a cat catching your tongues even when the lady at the front desk was asking you where you two would like to sit. Your faces too hot and too evident of embarrassment to even face each other. It was funny how your fingers fumbled to reach for each other's hand under the table. You mispronounce his name a few times, and his stomach churned at the curry plus milkshake combo he had. Why did he ever think that was a cute idea?

You two seperately thought both of you would surely leave the other because of this. Strangely enough, this dumbass never let you go. Strangely enough, he never let this dumbass go too.

Your hands both linking like cogs, he rests his head on your lap along with kogane sleeping at your shoulder. Sometimes you thought that the blonde boy was just your adopted kid, he synced in with you and your bully-of-a-boyfriend quite nicely. Scrolling through his phone, nobu signs to you about the incoming summer festival plans. You three always going together since you were little. With the gentle giant even being the one to choose which flowers to put in your hair when your mother decorated it. Futakuchi being the one to decide what kind of games the three of you would go to. It was your favorite memory of them.

Yellow tinted stones, loud crowds and jingling of bells, an attention grabbing stall every once in a while. Oh how you loved your second year summer festival with all 3 of them. The same year you first started inviting your boyfriend to sleep over at your place. He hates to admit it but he knew you caught him studying how to dress you in a yakuta the few days before the event. If you hadn't fallen in love with him before that, you surely did afterwards. The day of the festival rolls with you and him even wearing matching clothes, a splash of wonderfully coordinating colours. Kogane was the only one wearing a more casual outfit really. With nobu tracking behind you, all of you climb up the hill nearby for the fireworks. Dazzling into their eyes. The picture of that night bore into your mind while you inform your bestfriend of the plans.

"We should get candied apples too! They're the best treat-" you were interupted by the sudden awakening of the two. "WHAT?! Noooo... Y/N-chan, takoyakis are the best!" "Now I know that's not true because you can't have a festival without the yakisoba..." kenji's annoyed voice ready to start a fight. As the two bicker, you glance over the sweet one agreeing with your sentiment of candied apples.

The bickering, and mundaness of the discussion had left you with a sense of contentment. Ever satisfied to be so young to simply argue over yakisoba and takoyaki. Ever so young to simply discuss curry and festivals. This was the epitomes of your youth. The ever radiant light of the sun always followed the young.

But the sun would not follow you for long. As the overzealous moon grabs one's attention, the same goes for such promiscuous women.

You squeez and stiffen at his collared jersey, a piece of clothing you had once adored and taken care of. Practically clawing out his clothing from the cabinet, you hear his please in the living space. "What the fuck is going on with you? Babe, tell me please" "You, that's whats fucking going on." Clothes and sentimentals being thrown at him from across the room. Your anger high comes down after a bit of screaming and throwing, with your knees giving up sitting you down. "What happened? Tell me..." His eyes were true and his voice was sincere. "I know you're fucking her." it was supposed to be a whisper but it had sounded in the room as a sharp hiss at him. His eyes widen and taking a few steps back he sighs deeply. "I-im...Im sorry..." 'Dont...just leave. Now."

Seeing his way out, his back on display before the creak of the door erases him. He hadn't explained or given you any room to ever doubt what he did. He simply gave up. You knew behind that broad back, he wanted to say something. He wanted to dispute every claim you maid but he had enough dignity to stand back when he needed to. And as that rusty bolted door closes, your highschool love, your youthful memory was simply a memory to look back on now.

[dragoqueen]

Whoops! Wrong Way 3/8

Summary: Peter has been living at Avengers Tower for 2 years, known to the workers and Avengers as Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers.  When his teacher announces that they're going on a field trip to Avengers Tower, or SI,  he's going to have to attempt to survive a day of embarrassment and keeping a secret identity.

Words: 2023

And here it was, the day of his death. The day of his misery. The day all his worst nightmares would come true. Friday... the field trip.

He had done all he could to convince each and every avenger to not mess with him. He got positive answers from Bruce, Steve, and Thor. However, he was going to have to deal with the rest in any way he could. He had tried to figure out their plan, knowing that they stayed up at night to plan his demise. However, he couldn't figure out a single thing. He had the bright idea to try and figure out what they were doing when he arrived by asking FRIDAY but until then he was doomed.

Tony woke him up an extra 30 minutes earlier than he usually did, not wanting Peter to be late for the field trip. The only good thing he had gotten out of it was that Bucky and Steve had gotten up early too to cook him a smorgasbord of food. He quickly scarfed down enough food to last him the beginning of the day before changing into his outfit and meeting Happy downstairs to get a ride to school.

Somehow, despite getting up early and getting a ride with Happy instead of walking, he was almost late. Almost. He made sure to spend extra long eating his food in hope that he would miss the bus and the school would just make him attend normal classes. Unfortunately, he was just in time to get on the bus and clamber to the back where Ned and MJ were sitting. Sadly, Flash wasn't too far from them either which made the ride to the tower, which he had planned on spending sulking and dying inside, worse.

Flash spent the entirety of the bus ride making jokes of Peter and insulting him. Most of them were intern-related, reminding Peter how he "didn't have an actual internship at Stark Industries" and "wasn't even smart enough to get an internship even at McDonalds". Luckily, before Peter knew it, they had arrived at the tower and the teacher was trying to keep them quiet so he could go check them in and make sure everything was ready.

Then, he got them out of the bus and lined them up in the lobby of the tower for their tour guide to explain the rules to them and hand out their badges. "Alright everyone. I'm Mars and I'm going to be your tour guide today. First, I know you all signed NDA's so please remember anything that happens in this tower that could be secretive you will be forced not to tell anyone or risk getting sued and, let me tell you, we have some very good lawyers. Speaking of the NDA, we are also going to have to confiscate your phones so we don't have you taking pictures or recording things. So I'm going to come by and hold out a basket I expect you to all place your phones in." Mars began walking down the row of children, having them all drop their phones in. when he got to the back where Ned, Peter, and MJ were, he just smiled at them and walked away, having already recognized them and knew that they were authorized to have their phones. Then, he returned to the front of the line where he placed the basket on the counter of the security desk and resumed his place at the front of the line.

"Now, first up on our tour is the Avengers museum. There are all of the first, fails, and worthy achievements of the Avengers. Everything from suits to fun facts can be found there. You will have 45 minutes to wander around before we head up to the intern labs so no dilly-dallying. However, first you're going to have to go through these scanners and scan your badge. For example..." Mars walks to the metal archway and scans his lanyard on the scanner before stepping through. The voice of FRIDAY spooks everyone except for Mars, Peter, MJ, and Ned, "Mars Bars, level 4, access limited."

"What the heck was that?" Cindy asks.

"That was FRIDAY. She's an AI that Tony built, she basically runs this building. But, back on track. Who's next?"

"Me!" Flash shouts, pushing his way to the front and scanning his lanyard before walking through, smug and confident that he was first.

"Eugene Thompson, Level 1, access very limited."

Flash smirks at his name being said by something that Tony Stark created. He walks forward to stand next to Mars while his next classmate goes. One by one, each of the students scan and walk through for Friday to announce their name and the same level and access type. Up until it was MJ's turn. She did the same as all of her other classmates, scanning her lanyard and then stepping through the metal archway but this time FRIDAY announces, "Michelle Jones, "Boss Girl" level 9, full access. Should I alert Scary Girl or Ms. Potts of your arrival?"

"No, that's okay FRIDAY. I'm on a field trip."

"Okay, have a good time." FRIDAY responds, causing everyone to stare at MJ in surprise. She just smirked before returning to her normal glare and stepped into the cluster of kids. Next was Ned, "Ned Leeds, "that one annoying hacker kid" level 9, full access. Shall I alert Science Bro #2 of your arrival?"

"No, FRIDAY. Bruce knows I'm on a field trip. Thanks though."

"Enjoy your time." FRIDAY answers.

Same procedure. The entire class stares at Ned in wonder and confusion. He blushes in response to the sudden attention and takes his spot in the cluster next to MJ. Last in line was Peter. He had been fearing this moment, knowing that he had the highest level in the tower, next to the other Avengers. Plus his nickname from Tony and Clint was sure to cause some questions to arise. However, dutifully, he stepped up and scanned his lanyard and stepped through. "Peter Parker, "Mini-Stark" level 10, full access. Would you like me to alert Mr. Stark of your arrival?"

"No! I mean... no that's alright FRIDAY. He probably knows I'm here anyways."

"Enjoy your trip, Peter."

He inwardly groans at the fact that she called him Mini-Stark, but was happy she had called him Peter Parker, rather than Peter Parker-Stark-Rogers. Tony must have cared somewhat of Peter's confidentiality if he changed that. He ignores the stares from his classmates and the smirk from Mars as he joins MJ and Ned in the middle of the group. "Alright, continuing with the tour if you will all join me in this elevator we will go up to the Avengers museum,"

While they all walk over to the elevator and begin piling into the cramped space. When Peter's in, Mars asks FRIDAY to take them up to the 12th floor where the Avengers museum was. Flash leans over and whispers into Peter's ear, "hey, Penis, how'd you manage to hack the AI to make it seem like you and your nerd friends have such a high access? We all know you're lying so just give up." Peter sighs and doesn't say anything, opting to move out of reach of Flash so that MJ is blocking them.

A/N:

For the sake of my sanity let's assume it's a big and strong elevator that holds all like 25-30 of his class okay? Thanks y'all

The door opens to the museum and the class spills out and begins exploring all of the corners of the museum. Each section was dedicated to a specific Avenger. The kids who wanted a more in depth explanation of things stayed by Mars who was walking around and giving his little "tour guide spiel" about the museum. Peter, MJ, and Ned, who had already explored the museum many times, walked around leisurely to explore different things that appeared to have been updated since the last time they were here.

At one point, Ned dragged Peter excitedly to a new section where Tony had added in a Spider-Man section. Peter observed the information happily...

" 1. Spider-Man prefers hanging from the wall than standing on the floor

2. Spider-Man's favorite snack is gummies.

3. Spider-Man is deathly afraid of spiders. "

"Dude, you're afraid of spiders? How?"

"First of all, shut it. Second, just because I have spider-like powers doesn't mean I like the creature. They're freaky."

Ned just laughs and continues to explore the exhibit. Peter looks over the things and makes a mental note to thank his dads later. The things included in it were incredible, a plaque with the phrase, "with great power comes great responsibility." And referencing his Uncle Ben. His first suit was also in a display case along with some of his old web fluid and a physical design of his webs that wouldn't disintegrate.

Suddenly, he felt an eerie presence provided by his Spidey Sense. He looked around the room, trying to detect where the threat warning could be coming from. Flash and his goons were all in a different section so it definitely wasn't them. And no one else was really around that could be threatening. Just then, he got a warning that someone was going to be coming out of the vents in 3... 2... 1... he stepped out of the way just in time to watch Clint fall out of the vents and crumple onto the ground. Then he jumps right up as if nothing had happened and smiles at Peter. (A/N: Clint was the imposter)

"Clint what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to embarrass you. But also Bucky made cookies this morning and Morgan threatened to take away my venting privileges if I didn't bring any to you."

"And you got scared of a 6 year old because... why?"

"She's scary. Also she has Wanda and Pepper on her side."

"Ooh, yeah. You'd better watch out for that. But, Bucky made cookies? Gimme."

Clint grins and reaches into his pocket to grab a cookie that's wrapped in a plastic bag. It's a triple chocolate cookie with extra chocolate chunks. The cookie is still warm so Peter can only assume it came out of the oven moments before. He takes a bite into it and it almost melts in his mouth. He lets out a sigh of comfort and tucks the cookie, in the plastic bag, into his pocket.

By this time someone had noticed that The Hawkeye was here and had shouted to the rest of the group. A crowd had gathered around him and were all shouting questions.

"What's your favorite thing about being an Avenger?"

"Whos' the scariest Avenger?"

"How do you know Pen- Peter?"

Peter cringes at the last one. He's sure Clint hears it and his suspicions are only confirmed when Clint's casual smile disappears and he turns to glare at Flash. "What did you call Peter?"

"I- uh.. I called him Peter, sir."

"Is that right? Mmh... you better watch yourself kid. And you'll have time to ask questions at the Q & A at the end of the tour with some of the other Avengers."

"Uh... Q & A? That's not on the list of things to do." Mars comments, having migrated over to where the crowd of kids had formed.

"One of your co-workers will inform you of the change in schedule during lunch. Don't worry, it was pre-approved by Tony."

"Mr. Stark? Oh, well... okay cool. Anyways, I think it's time Mr. Barton has to go. After all, we have to continue on with our tour as our 45 minutes are up. Everyone say bye to him."

A majority of goodbyes are shouted out, along with quite a few phone numbers. Clint gives them a mock salute before jumping back in the vents and crawling off to who knows where. Peter only calms down when his heightened senses are no-longer able to hear Clint clambering through the vents. Mars leads them all into the elevator and the doors slide shut, taking them up to their next destination, the intern labs. 

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Kiro’s R&S - Stunning Young Idol (Eng Translation)

🍒This R&S (惊艳的少年偶像领军人物) was part of the Dream Heart Lake event which will unlikely come to EN🍒

Context: An article in a Japanese magazine

Cancelled Kiro R&S:

> top experimental subject (by another user)

> stunning young idol ♡

> youthhood

> heaven’s home for children (by another user)

[ Chapter 1 ] 

Our interview with Kiro went very pleasantly. No one who attended the interview disliked him. Even our photographer, who has always been averse to young male idols, was full of praise.

Come to think of it, it’s no easy feat for this child to maintain such a transparent and innocent heart in an industry where crooks mix with honest folks. Readers who know him are definitely aware that he debuted in France at the age of six.

Back then, he accepted an interview in Paris for a television program. His tiny frame was seated in the large sofa, his legs not long enough to touch the floor, and were dangling in the air.

Many people were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to find this precious video clip. It was only through the recording Agent Savin sent that we could obtain this young and tender moment of Kiro.

Although the video clip has already been kept by Kiro’s agency and not accessible to the public, I can disclose it slightly through this interview.

The person who interviewed Kiro was Eva Saidel, a French female singer who was tremendously popular for a time. The beautiful Eva had asked Kiro if he could perform a song for her. Young Kiro nodded, obedient and filled with a gentlemanly demeanour as he responded, “Yes ma’am.”

-

[ Chapter 2 ]

Kiro performed Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”. It wasn’t surprising that he liked Beethoven - all pianists definitely like Beethoven.

Saidel asked if he knew how to play other instruments. He replied by saying he also knew the violin, but was afraid that his neck would become crooked if he kept practising it. Everyone at the scene started laughing. Ms Saidel laughed excessively as well, and it was evident that she liked this child very much.

At the time, Kiro was wearing an adorable checkered shirt and a small, adorable hat. He even wore an official-looking tie. His cute appearance was sure to attract the attention of many.

A large proportion of Europeans knew of a mixed-race child who spoke fluent French, and would occasionally appear on the television to sing for them, or play classical pieces. They also gradually knew that his name was “Kiro” - this was a stage name he called himself when he debuted.

Eva Saidel, who had once interviewed him, liked him very much. Kiro said that he would always remember Ms Saidel’s luxurious and spotlessly white mansion. He would sit on the sofa in the mansion and listen to the old albums played by Ms Saidel.

Saidel also hired an incredibly renowned celloist from France to teach Kiro how to play the cello. I think many people don't know about this period from his past.

As of today, Saidel is already in her sunset years, and still remains in contact with Kiro.

When Kiro held a concert in Paris last month, the first person he invited as a guest was Saidel. He also played the song “Träumerei” using the cello she gave him.

“Back then, it was as though I returned to my childhood years. Ms Saidel is very kind, like a mother. She is extremely giving towards me.”

-

[ Chapter 3 ]

After junior high school in France, Kiro listened to Ms Saidel’s advice and studied in a high school in California. The intelligent Ms Saidel predicted everything - Kiro’s talent would be discovered very quickly.

After one performance, he was signed on with the renowned Warner Music Company. At the time, he was in Year Three, but never forgot his homework, and even entered Berkeley University with stellar results.

By the time he was in Year 4 (in contrast to Japan, high school in America spans four years, while elementary school spans five), he had already formed a band and was touring in various places. Warner Music is an experienced company with incredible foresight, and they allowed Kiro to return to France to begin his music career.

The number of fans Kiro had in Europe was astounding. The women in Europe found his mixed-race looks and his breathtaking voice unforgettable. Their concerts drew large crowds, and it would sometimes be difficult to obtain tickets. 90% of the females were there for Kiro. Such attractive force was rarely seen.

Actually, when we were interviewing Kiro, we could also feel the charisma he exuded. It’s a kind of magic which renders people unable to resist.

With just a smile, he easily won our hearts.

We have no idea why that’s the case. Perhaps it’s because he’s Kiro. 

-

On the topic of whether he gleaned anything from his four years in Berkeley University, Kiro spoke without reservation and commented that he felt a lot of stress as there were many elite students. Hence, he had to fork out even more effort than usual to face each examination.

When he was in Year Three, Kiro continued touring with the band. He disclosed that he used to do his homework on the plane. When his band was touring the entirety of Europe, his band members would spend their spare time exploring the picturesque towns while Kiro would be holding his books and revising in the hotel.

When we asked why he was so hardworking, he replied by saying that he didn’t want his professors to stop liking him because of a drop in his grades.

In reality, every teacher who has met him like him very much. But because of this, Kiro always remained in fear. From beginning to end, he felt that the love and care from people was akin to smoke - surging at first, but dissipates gradually.

-

[ Chapter 4 ] 

Kiro told us that he had felt very scared when he made the sudden decision to return to China after graduating from university. After all, there were many excellent artistes in China, and he was afraid that he wouldn’t receive love from fans.

But reality is always unexpected. His act of returning to China to develop was extremely correct. It allowed people in Asia to notice his radiant light. The artiste from China that the media in Korea likes reporting on the most is Kiro. Every now and then, he would cause a sensation there, but they would be for issues that aren’t important.

In Japan, he truly stirred a sensation through “Three Kingdoms”, a movie he was in half a year ago. He played the role of Sun Ce.

“The History of the Three Kingdoms” enjoyed widespread popularity in Japan.

This movie adaptation of “Three Kingdoms” was incredibly well received in Japan, and everyone was enthusiastic about the contents of the movie.

Even now, Kiro can recall how life was like with the cast and crew. in order to play the role of Sun Ce, he had to dye his golden coloured hair black, wear headgear, don extremely thick armour, and he had to put on brown contact lenses. His headgear was very cumbersome and heavy. If it hadn’t fit, it would have squeezed and pressed on his head, turning him into a “Flat Kiro”.

In the process of filming “Three Kingdoms”, his favourite scenes were the ones where he was on a horse, because the horse could help share the weight of his armour, and the horse would always end up gasping for air. His most deeply etched memory was when he didn’t control the amount of pressure when riding the horse, causing it to toss him onto the ground. His chest was almost trampled by the horse, and he almost lost his life.

He rarely shares this incident with others. “It’d be so embarrassing if other people knew about it,” he laughed while telling this to us. Even now, I can still remember his brilliant smile. “The agent gave me a scolding after he found out about it. The director and assistant director also said that I had angered the horse, which is why it took revenge on me.”

Afterwards, the crew and cast from “Three Kingdoms” specially came to Japan to promote the movie. During that time, “Three Kingdoms” ranked number one in the box-office ratings. And this was even though Kiro didn’t have many scenes in the movie - he only made an appearance for ten minutes.

But because of this short opportunity, movie fans in Japan started to know of Kiro. Looks like our meeting with Kiro was also destined.

He said he could never forget the image of how numerous fans rushed to Haneda Airport to receive him when the crew and cast just arrived in Tokyo.

Kiro confessed that he had never thought that he’d receive such a large fanbase in a foreign country.

The enthusiasm of the fans in Japan caused him to feel extremely flattered. And his trip to Japan this time was no exception. There were even more fans who received him at the airport than before.

Precisely because of this astounding attractive force, Kiro became a superstar who could perform in the Tokyo Dome. 

-

[ Chapter 5 ]

At this point, I think everyone has some basic understanding of this adorable boy. He isn’t just a pretty face (even though there are many such artistes nowadays).

I highly recommend his latest single, “Ash”, which has a somewhat heavy metal rock music style. But he has recently started shifting towards pop music, and has clearly stated that he would spend even more time on music, and would temporarily reject a few invitations to variety shows or television dramas.

This means that for now, we might not see an invigorated Kiro on television screens. Fans will definitely grieve over this, but there’s no need to be too upset, because Kiro will bring a new album to us. During the interview, he revealed that the first song in his new album would be a heavy bomb!

The composer who was involved in producing this song also noted that this song could potentially alter what “popular music” is in Asia.

So, let’s look forward to the surprises this youth will bring us, and letting us know from this interview --

That we should never underestimate this youth.

The concert at the Tokyo Dome will commence a week later. Although tickets have already been swept up, there’s no need to feel discouraged. This magazine still has a lucky draw activity for fans. We will select three lucky readers and give out three front-row tickets to the concert at the Tokyo Dome. More information can be found on our official website.

-

Other cancelled R&S: here

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Two of Souls

A Stitched Story

JSE Fanfic

Ohhhh boy this is a long one. And there’s not even that much action! I started out intending it to be some catching up with the boys and some exposition, but shit happens, I guess. Hopefully it’s as interesting to others as it is to me haha. So now that the boys are in this supposedly safe place with the magicians, what’s next? What’s the deal with those strings? And what about Jackie and Marvin? Find out here!

Tagging @septic-dr-schneep for inspiring this AU with this post.

Read where it started: Stitched Together | Season One | Season Two

Previous Season Three stories: Torn Apart | Tales to Tell | Threads | Twice Bitten, Never Shy

Taglist (finally): @bupine​ @violet--majesty @ari-trash

With a small ding! the doors to the elevator opened, and Jack stepped out onto the ground floor. He looked left, then right, then down at the note in his hand. ‘Investigating Storage Room 1, first floor, 3:00. On the right side, look for nameplate.’

They’d been in the Sanctuary for almost two weeks now. There had been no sign of trouble, but none of them had dared leave the building anyway. The result was a mixture of stress and boredom. But yesterday, something finally happened. Yvonne met with them and said that the magicians had finally gotten around to analyzing the strings. After some talking, Jack had volunteered to meet up with the magicians and relay the information back to the others. Of course, now that he was here he was feeling somewhat nervous, but he pushed that aside.

Folding the note and putting it in his pocket, Jack turned right and soon found the door they had directed him to, identifiable by a nameplate on the wall nearby. At a glance, it didn’t look too different from any other door in the Sanctuary. It didn’t have any of the numbers that the hotel-like rooms did, but then again, not all of them did. He wouldn’t have paid any attention to it at all, which might’ve been the point.

After a couple seconds, the door opened, revealing Delyth standing there. “Oh good, you’re here,” she said. “You’re early.”

Jack laughed nervously. “Well, I wanted to make sure, y’know? Is being early a problem?”

“No, not at all. Please, come inside.” Delyth stepped away so that Jack could walk into the room, closing the door behind him as soon as he had.

Contrary to its door, the room beyond was much stranger than the rest of the Sanctuary. It was dimly lit, with only a few lamps dangling from the ceiling casting concentrated beams of yellow light onto the floor. Not that there was much floor space at all. The room was filled with boxes. Neatly stacked, bigger ones on the bottom, all made out of metal with a coppery sheen. Each box had a label and what looked like a colorful warning symbol, like the sort that was put onto hazardous materials. Jack couldn’t remember if the symbol had a specific name, but he remembered it was a diamond made of four colors. These symbols were similar, except they were circular, divided into four colorful sections with another circle in the center.

In the middle of the room was a table. Delyth was quick to guide Jack over towards it. Yvonne was already there, as well as an older man with dark hair and a beard, both of which looked like they’d been hit by lightning. The man was wearing a coat that was decorated like a labcoat, but dark blue and with a symbol of a four-pointed star on the lapel. Oh the table was one of the coppery boxes, about the size and shape of a shoebox, and a strange device with several large lenses attached.

“Jack, this is Mr. Griffin, he’s one of the wizards studying at this Sanctuary,” Delyth explained.

“Pleasure to meet you, young man,” the older man said in a precise British accent.

Jack couldn’t help but stare. “Uh, yeah, the pleasure’s all mine. You...you’re a wizard, then?”

“I’m not what you were expecting, I understand,” Griffin laughed. “It’s alright, I get that reaction a lot, I’m very used to it.”

Jack laughed a bit as well. “Well, as long as I’m not the first.” He sighed, then returned to the seriousness of the moment. “Anyway, what’ve you found?”

“Well, I’ve examined these strings—”

“We’ve examined them,” Yvonne interrupted. “I helped, don’t forget.”

“Yes, Bell has been very helpful,” Delyth said, sounding as though she’d rather not admit it. “Her knowledge as a soul magician is valuable.”

Yvonne puffed herself up proudly.

“Anyway, we’ve examined them,” Griffin continued. He tapped the side of the box, and Jack leaned forward to look at it. The box actually had a lid, though he hadn’t noticed it since it was made of glass, giving a clear look into the inside of the box. The strings tangled about, writhing like worms and slamming against the sides. “These are not actually physical strings.”

“They’re not physical?” Jack asked, confusion obvious. “But...they can, like, touch things. Interact with them.”

“That’s true, but they’re not made of actual matter,” Griffin explained. “You see, magic can become solid, if concentrated enough. So they’re more like energy than anything else.”

“I...but...isn’t there a thing about how you can’t touch energy? Isn’t that what e=mc2 is all about? Something like that?”

“Magic follows its own rules,” Delyth said. “Just accept that if you take enough magic together, it can become a tangible thing.”

Jack nodded slowly. He figured it was best not to think about this too much. “Okay. So they’re just magic?”

“They’re more than just magic, actually,” Griffin said, suddenly grave. “They’re very dark magic.”

Delyth nodded. “From what we’ve figured out, the strings were most likely caused by a black magic spell backfiring. Terribly backfiring.” She sighed. “That’s the cost of dark magic. It may seem easy, but when it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big way. Not to mention the effect it’ll have on a magician’s mind and soul.”

“A spell backfiring...” Jack muttered. “We...thought that Marvin and Jackie cast a spell. And we thought that it went wrong, too.” He paused. “Transference.”

“It’s all my fault!” Yvonne suddenly blurted out. She slammed her hands on the table, looking pale. “That book was in my shop. Marvin saw it, he wanted to borrow it, and I-I didn’t think anything of it! When he gave it back, it looked fine, but he could’ve easily copied—”

“Bell!” Delyth looked shocked. “You had a book with a transference spell in your shop?”

“Yeah,” Yvonne mumbled. “I thought it would sell for a lot. I never would’ve dreamed it could lead to all...all this. If I knew, I never would’ve stocked it.”

“You shouldn’t have been selling a book with that spell in the first place!” Delyth scolded. “Think of all the harm it could do!”

“Well, it’s not really my fault if someone wants to buy it, is it, Mae?” Yvonne said angrily. “If someone showed up looking for a book like that, then they knew exactly what they were doing. There are warnings with each spell and they’re very descriptive, if anything happened, it was on them!” She stopped, then slowly deflated. “At least, that’s what I thought at the time. If I knew...if I knew...”

“There’s never just one person responsible for a spell backfiring,” Griffin said. “Nor the consequences of it. Your Marvin friend shouldn’t have used the spell in the first place.”

Yvonne took a deep, shaky breath. “A-anyway, that’s what the strings are probably from. That spell going tops-up.”

Jack was silent for a moment, watching the strings in the box as they wriggled. “But...okay, if they’re just magic, that’s fine. But why are they moving? Why do they...it seems like they always make a beeline for Jackie and Marvin, why is that?”

“Ah. Well...” Griffin paused, stroking his beard. “This is where Ms. Bell comes into play.”

“Right.” Yvonne straightened her shoulders, collecting herself. “Jack, this—” She patted the device with the lenses “—is one of the many tools we use in soul magic. We, uh, don’t really know what souls are, to be honest. But we know that with this, we can at least see them. It helps us visualize souls into something more...tangible.” She slid two of the lenses into place and angled them so that Jack could look through them at the strings. “Go on, have a peek.”

Jack hesitated, then leaned over. He gasped. His view of the strings had suddenly been magnified by a thousand percent. He could see that the glowing strings were actually woven together of smaller threads, which appeared translucent when looked at individually. Caught in the woven threads, too small for anyone to see with the naked eye, were tiny, broken lights. Blue and red. They couldn’t have been bigger than dust motes, and there weren’t that many of them, but they shined with light.

“This is...kinda fucked up, honestly,” Yvonne said. “The bits of light you’re now seeing are actually bits of...soul.”

“Holy fuck...” Jack had to take a step back.

“I used a similar device to look at Marvin when he was at my flat,” Yvonne explained. “And his soul looked...broken. My only thought is that when he and Jackie performed the transference, both their souls were broken. And bits of them got mixed in with these strings, which must be the magic cast by the transference. It probably had nowhere to go, so it solidified.”

“That...that must be the case,” Jack breathed. “I mean, they’re even the same colors.”

Silence.

Jack, noticing the sudden quiet, looked around. All the magicians were staring at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“What do you mean...colors?” Delyth asked.

“The, uh, the lights are red and blue. Just like Marvin and Jackie’s souls,” Jack explained.

“Wh—” Yvonne choked.

“You can...can you see souls?” Griffin asked.

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” Jack tapped the area below his left eye. “Only with this eye, though. JJ and I think that when he used his magic to replace the one I lost, it kind of overcompensated.”

“And...these souls have colors?” Griffin asked again, looking very interested in this.

“Yeah. Of course.” Jack looked back and forth at the others. “Are they...not supposed to?”

“Even with the Lens, all souls appear colorless,” Yvonne said in a hushed tone. “Even to soul magicians like me. They’re all...white light.”

“Oh. I guess...I’m special, then? Because they definitely have color to me.” Jack closed his right eye. “Yeah, I can see all yours now. Delyth’s is purple like her magic, Yvonne’s is blue with a bit of purple, Mr. Griffin’s is bright, and I mean bright, yellow, and mine is green. Huh. Also all yours are kinda...sparkly? Mine isn’t. Yours kinda looks like how JJ’s is, but different.”

“Wait, can you see—are you maybe seeing our magic?” Griffin gasped. “That’s incredible!”

“Uh, thanks, I guess. I had no say in it.” Jack opened his eye and laughed. “It’s a bit ironic that I can see all these colors and you guys can’t, I’m actually slightly colorblind.”

“Okay, but the soul bits in the strings match Marvin’s and Jackie’s,” Yvonne hurried to say. “The colors here are the same as the colors of their souls?”

“Yeah.”

“That confirms it, then,” Delyth nodded. “The strings are attracted to them due to having parts of them inside. They want to be reunited.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing in principle,” Yvonne said slowly. “Except for the fact that Marvin got a lot more angry and attack-y once some of those strings got together with him.”

“I suspect that’s the black magic,” Griffin said.

“Okay, but is there any way to get rid of them?” Jack asked, a desperate note in his voice. “These fucking strings are causing all sorts of trouble.”

“Hmm.” Griffin furrowed his brow and looked up at the ceiling. “I know we looked into that, but I think I left the notes in the other room.” He reached down and tapped the top of the box. It turned an opaque, coppery color, the same as all the rest. “I could go get them now, if you’d like.”

“Nah, that’s fine, I could go get them if you want.” Jack took a few steps back. 

“Oh. Well, if you’re offering, then that would be great, thank you,” Griffin nodded. “They should be next door, in the Investigative Room. I doubt I left them in a drawer or anywhere, so they’re probably out on a surface.”

“Alright.” Jack turned around. “I’ll see you later, then.” He hurried to leave. Those strings...he wasn’t eager to spend much more time with them.

— — — — — — —

There was a wide open area in the basement of the Sanctuary. At first glance, it looked like a gymnasium, except without the bleachers and basketball hoops. It was also much bigger, with a small climbing wall at one end, an archery shooting range at the other, and a wall in between lined with strange perforations. Delyth explained it was made for agents who wanted to practice spells in their spare time. However, it had sat empty for the entire time they’d been here. But that was fine. Schneep actually preferred it empty.

He pushed open the doors to the room, automatically tensing, searching for anyone. He didn’t think anyone was there. Or at the very least, that strange sixth sense that let him know when people were around was telling him the room was empty as always. He sighed, relaxing, and walked into the approximate center of the room.

Now that things were relatively peaceful—well, actually, that was a stretch, it was better phrased as “now that there was no one actively trying to kill them”—he’d thought it would be best to practice this magic of his. Strange, how things had changed to the point where he readily accepted his new magical abilities, when just a few years ago he would’ve denied it to the ends of the earth. Schneep laughed to himself. Well, time flies.

He started this practice by summoning and vanishing his scissors a couple times. It was still unclear where they came from and went off to when he wasn’t using them. All he knew was that if he reached to the side he could feel their handles, seemingly hovering in midair right where he needed them. Perhaps the scissors were stored in some sort of pocket dimension that only he could access. 

What was interesting was that other things could come from this pocket dimension. Shortly after arriving at the Sanctuary and getting frustrated with the unfamiliar layout, Schneep had wished for something that could help him know where things were. He’d reached out, and suddenly found something there. A long, thin stick, that could extend in length. Bringing it to Jack confirmed his suspicions: it was a cane. Exactly what he’d needed. Unusual, he thought, that he’d found it at the exact moment he was thinking about it. Perhaps the pocket dimension could provide what he wanted? But it didn't provide anything other than the scissors and the cane so far. Well, he was still working on that theory.

Second matter of business. Simple jumps, to get him warmed up. That was what he decided to call this teleporting or whatever it was. The act of walking somewhere and having the world around him change, so he was somewhere else entirely. It was sort of like portals, except Schneep didn’t need a fancy gun to jump, he just did it at will.

He jumped back and forth across the width of the room a couple times, touching the wall to orient himself. Then across the length. Then from corner to corner. He never really got tired from the jumping. And last practice, he realized it didn’t even need to be on solid ground. Though that had been an accident, and he’d ended up landing flat on his face. Moments like that were why he practiced alone.

Schneep paused for a moment, reaching out to feel the base of the climbing wall. Perhaps...? Bracing himself, he took a step forward, and ended up not on the floor, but falling through the air. Fear instantly shot through him, and he waved his arms wildly until his hands brushed against something. That texture—! He tried to grab, and—

“Ow!” Schneep gasped. His arm felt like it was being yanked out of its socket. His fall was suddenly stopped when he managed to find one of the climbing wall’s holds, but the sudden change of speed had caused a shot of pure pain through his shoulder. God, he hoped that wasn’t dislocated.

Kicking his legs a bit, he managed to jump back down to the floor, where he immediately started rubbing his shoulder. He’d been aiming for the flat bit at the top of the climbing wall, but it appeared he missed. Luckily he was close enough to find that hold, otherwise he’d have to deal with falling all the way to the floor. Even though the climbing wall was half the size of most, it was still twenty feet tall.

Schneep didn’t allow himself to pause. He wanted to try one more thing before stopping for the day. Walking over to the side, he found the perforated wall of the gym area, and walked along it until he found a control panel. There was a touchscreen on it, which wasn’t much use to him, but there was also a button and a dial. He’d asked Delyth about it earlier, and she explained the button was to start or stop the “course” and the dial was to time it, with the maximum being thirty minutes. Twisting the dial, he set it to about five minutes, then hit the button.

“Projectile training course set for: four minutes.” An automated voice rang out through the gym area. “There is: one minute before start time.”

“Alright, here we go.” Schneep took a deep breath, and jumped back to the middle of the room, tensing with anxiety. He’d have to be careful here.

“Thirty seconds remaining before the projectile course fires,” said the automated voice. Then after a while. “Ten seconds remaining. Nine. Eight.”

Schneep bounced on his feet, ready to move at any moment.

“Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three.”

There was a slight humming sound coming from the wall. He braced himself.

“Two. One. Firing.”

The darts of magic started to fire, each hole making a chnk! sound as they shot and the darts themselves causing a whhst! sound as they passed through the air. Schneep started moving, listening carefully for the noise of each one firing and flying forward. He started running, then skidded to a halt as there was a chnk! from a space near him. The dart whizzed past his face in a gust of air. He ducked just in time to avoid another, then turned around and jumped to what sounded like a safe spot.

Four minutes was not a very long time, but it certainly felt that way as Schneep dodged, ducked, and jumped across the room. He tried not to think too much, just listen and notice the small signs of the nearby darts. Eventually he got into a rhythm, jumping whenever he heard several chnk!s in the area around him.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Soon, one of the darts hit him in the leg and broke his concentration. “Ah!” He instinctively leaned down to clutch at the spot, but that just brought him right into the path of another whhst! “Fick!” And everything broke down from there as a quick barrage of about a dozen darts soon knocked him to the ground. He jumped to another area, only to get knocked right in the chest the moment he arrived and knocked down once again.

“Projectile course finished,” the automated voice said. “Thank you for participating.” A loud beep signaled the end of the course.

Schneep sighed. He wasn’t sure what those darts were, other than pure magic, but he knew that they hurt. It reminded him of the time Chase had dragged him to a paintball match, and he was sure that there would be similar bruises left over. Wincing, he climbed to his feet. “Need more practice on that,” he said to himself.

Well, there was always tomorrow. He turned and headed for the nearest wall, following it to the exit.

— — — — — — —

“Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase.”

Ignoring the repeated, nagging sound of his own name, Chase rolled over and pulled the blanket over his face. What time was it? Probably sometime in the afternoon, judging by the light coming in from the bedroom window. Also, who opened the window? The curtains at the Sanctuary were pretty good for blocking out light, they must be open if he could see light even behind his eyelids. Good thing this bed had thick blankets, too.

“Chase. Chase. Chase.” Now something was poking him with every repetition. It soon became something shaking him. “Chase. Chase.”

Finally realizing he wasn’t going to stop, Chase groaned and pushed away the covers. He opened his eyes and looked over to see Jackie standing by the side of the bed. Staring at him. Was he...was he there the whole night? Because apparently he didn’t sleep anymore—or at least, not as much, and not when Chase or JJ were watching. The thought was...disturbing. “What is it, Jackie?” he asked, sighing.

Jackie didn’t answer for a while, just blinked. It was a solid thirty seconds before he asked, “When are we leaving?”

Chase had been about to go back to sleep, but that question sent a shot of nerves through his heart that woke him right up. “Um...I don’t know. Wh-why? Do you want to go somewhere?”

“I need to find the rest of us,” Jackie said insistently. “I know I’m out there, but I can’t tell where.”

“...right.” Chase sat up. “Well, uh...I mean, is this really that importa—”

“Yes.”

Chase fell silent. There were moments when Jackie just acted a bit unusual, but there were also too many moments like this, moments that left him with a crawling feeling across his skin, and he could see how Jackie was once part of Anti. “Um...okay.” Chase inched away. “Well, I don’t know when we’re leaving, so don’t ask me.”

Jackie looked disappointed, but wandered away to look out the window. Chase paused, then glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:00 on the dot. He sighed. It was pretty late, but given how he hadn’t gone to bed until six in the morning last night and had trouble getting to sleep once he did, he wanted to pull the covers up and try to get another hour or two. But he was also pretty hungry, so he should get some food while he had the energy to. So he climbed out of bed and left the room.

The magicians had been providing them with groceries when they asked, as well as anything else they needed. Chase left the bedroom, waving a hello to JJ sitting on the living area’s sofa, and headed straight for the kitchenette. He opened one of the cupboards and took out a box of cereal. The brand was unfamiliar, something generic and probably store-brand, but the bits of cereal were coated in sugar and that’s what mattered. He took out a bowl and spoon and poured.

“You should take a shower.”

Chase yelped, spilling some of the cereal, and looked up to see Jackie had followed him and was now standing in the middle of the living room and watching him. “Jesus, don’t do that,” Chase breathed, setting down the cereal box.

“I don’t think you’ve used the shower since we’ve been here,” Jackie continued. “That’s not good.”

“Uhh...” Chase leaned to the side so he could see JJ around Jackie.

JJ set down his book—something that Yvonne had given him a few days ago—and said, Well he’s not wrong. But anyway, can you handle this right now?

Chase nodded slowly, then leaned back into place and looked at Jackie. “I think I’m fine, Jackie. It’s not like I smell or anything. Uh...right?”

“You lie in bed a lot,” Jackie said bluntly. “Has that always been a thing with you? I think it has, for some time. I remember that. You should at least move to somewhere else. Actually use the other rooms.”

And then sometimes there were these moments. Moments where Jackie seemed almost normal, talking in the same way and giving the same advice he did years ago, before that black magic spell had killed him and created Anti. Honestly, these moments made the whole situation creepier. Chase took a moment to respond. “Well...maybe I will take a shower, then.”

“That’s a start.” Jackie’s eyes slowly drifted to the side, and then he turned away, walking around the room in an aimless manner.

JJ waved in Chase’s direction for his attention. You alright?

Chase let out a breath, and nodded. Yeah, I’m fine. He responded in sign. They’d learned from experience over the last two weeks that Jackie would butt in on the conversation if Chase started talking out loud.

Jameson raised an eyebrow. His expression was hard to read under his new mask—this one was black, and had also been provided by the magicians once he’d asked for one—but if Chase had to guess, it was probably concerned. I was thinking maybe if we switched places, he might give you a break.

You mean if you pretended to be me? I’m pretty sure he’d be able to tell. We have some very obvious identifying features.

JJ huffed. I suppose you’re right. And we can’t get Jack or Henrik to do that, since the same can be said for them. Maybe if Henrik covered up his scars?

I get the feeling he’d be able to tell anyway. Chase sighed, and headed for the fridge, grabbing the milk. He was turning back around when he noticed it. Jackie had suddenly stopped walking and was now standing, shoulders tensed, in the middle of the room. “Um...Jackie? Are you alright?”

Jackie didn’t respond. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked right to the door, opening it and leaving the room.

“Wh—Jackie!” Chase put the milk down on the nearest counter, JJ stood up, and the two of them quickly followed him into the hallway.

Jackie had taken a turn to the left, moving quickly and purposefully towards the stairs at the end of the hall. “Hey! Jackie!” Chase and JJ broke into a run. Jackie glanced over his shoulder, then started sprinting as well, reaching the stairwell in no time.

“Stop!” Chase paused in the entrance to the stairwell, watching as Jackie ran down the stairs two at a time. “Where the hell are you going?!”

JJ pulled up next to him. Should I stop him? He flicked his fingers, making a blue disc of magic appear.

Chase shook his head. “No, let’s follow him first.” And they started running again.

Jackie headed down all three flights of stairs to the ground floor, pausing for a moment as if getting his bearings before taking the right hallway. “Wh...what?” Chase panted. That hallway would only lead deeper into the Sanctuary. What could he possibly want down here? He glanced over at JJ, who looked just as confused.

From farther down the hall, they heard a “What the—” and then someone screamed.

Jameson’s eyes widened. Isn’t that—

Chase immediately broke into a dead sprint.

Farther down the hall, a door was swinging wildly, and someone was lying on the floor as if they’d been knocked over. A few loose papers were scattered around. Chase gasped. “Jack!” He hurried to his friend’s side and helped him stand up. “Are you okay?!”

“Fine,” Jack said shortly, rubbing his arm. “Was that—was Jackie just here?”

“Yeah, ran all the way down here,” Chase said. “What were you doing here?”

“It was that thing, that thing about the, uh, strings,” Jack explained.

Jameson, having just caught up in time to hear that statement, looked shocked. He whirled towards the swinging door and grabbed hold of it, rushing inside.

“Did he go in there?” Chase asked, also pointing at the door.

“Uh, I think so?” Jack gasped slightly. “But that’s where—”

A loud clattering sound came from inside. Jack and Chase glanced at each other, then ducked into the room.

Inside, Jackie was struggling with the three magicians already inside. Yvonne had her arms wrapped around his, while Delyth’s eyes were lit up purple and her hands held out in a defensive position. Griffin clutched the copper box with the strings inside, holding it protectively while JJ covered him with a shield. A stack of other boxes had been knocked over and were now strewn across the floor.

“What’s going—Jackie, stop!” Chase stepped in front of Jack. “You’ll hurt them!”

“I d̛on't ̛ca̛rè,” Jackie hissed. “Give me back!”

“You two get out of here!” Delyth said to Jack and Chase. “This could get messy.”

“No—” Jack started to protest.

There was a flash of red light, and Yvonne suddenly cried out. She stumbled backward, now bleeding from a cut that had appeared across the left side of her face. With his arms free, Jackie lunged towards Jameson and Griffin, eyes fixed on the box. Jameson threw his hands forward, and the shield expanded outward, pushing Jackie to the ground. He hissed again and made a sharp gesture. A slice of red light cut through the air and right through Jameson’s shield, making it flicker and die. Jackie started forward again, only for Delyth to block him with a crystalline shield of her own.

“Fuck this!” Yvonne wiped the blood out of her eye and lunged right at Jackie, managing to grab him again. He shrieked, the sound full of rage, and more red light flashed. Yvonne suddenly dropped again. She clutched her leg, which was now bleeding.

“I said for you to get out!” Delyth snarled. “This is danger—”

There was a sudden, almost inaudible snap! sound, and then there was another person in the room. Schneep appeared directly behind Jackie, hitting him hard on the back of his head with the butt of a cane. Jackie crumpled to the floor, clearly breathing but now unconscious. Schneep let out a long breath. “Please say that was the correct thing to do,” he muttered.

“Hen! That was—where’d you come from?” Jack gasped.

“I was passing by,” he explained. “On the way to the elevator back to the rooms, which may I say, very inconvenient to have an elevator just to get to the basement, but it worked out this time. I could tell there was a fight, so I decided to step in.”

“Wait, how’d you know to hit Jackie?” Delyth asked, lowering her shield. “I thought you were blind.”

“I am. Do you not see this?” Schneep waved the cane in her general direction. “But it seems part of my magic is knowing where people are. And who they are, too. Which is very lucky.”

Jameson clapped his hands for attention. May I suggest we continue this conversation after getting this young lady some medical care? 

“Yes, great suggestion,” Yvonne said. “I am bleeding quite significantly.” Her tone said it was a joke but her face betrayed her real worry.

Delyth sighed. “Yes, of course. There’s a small clinic with supplies further down the hall. We’ll finish this up in there.”

— — — — — — —

It didn’t take too long for them all to relocate to the clinic and get Yvonne taken care of. They also took Jackie there as well, setting him down on one of the clinic’s three beds. Once Yvonne’s wounds were wrapped up, everyone immediately returned to the  matter at hand. Chase and JJ explained how Jackie had suddenly left the room and ran downstairs, and Jack told the others the information about the strings he’d found out just before Jackie appeared.

“Did he somehow sense the strings, perhaps?” Schneep speculated. “But then why hadn’t he reacted before? They’ve been here the whole time.”

“That may be my fault,” Griffin admitted. “The crates we keep magical artifacts in are designed to keep any magical signals from escaping, but if we need to look at them, the spell to make the crates transparent allows a small bit to get out.” He shook his head slowly. “I’ll have to add that warning to their container.”

“They weren’t even visible for that long,” Yvonne muttered. “And it sounds like Jackie realized they were here after barely a minute. Well, what d’you expect, when they’re part of his soul?”

“Can we talk about these soul strings in more detail?” Chase asked. “Like, for example...how do we get rid of them?”

“Oh, I-I still have those notes I was supposed to get.” Jack reached into his hoodie pocket and took out some crumpled pieces of paper. “Sorry, I kinda...dropped them when Jackie pushed me away, then didn’t really pay too much attention when I picked them up.”

“It’s fine, just hand them over.” Griffin held out his hand, and Jack passed over the papers. He began uncrumpling them.

What do you think will happen to the parts of their souls that are stuck inside the strings? JJ asked, his expression drawn and worried. Will they disappear? Would that hurt? Jack translated for the part of the room that didn’t understand sign.

“That’s a...very good question,” Delyth said. “Bell?”

“Don’t ask me, Mae, this has never happened before!” Yvonne said defensively. “Maybe we could ask the guy with deus ex soul vision.”

Jack hesitated. “Maybe...the bits will just go back to the full person?” he suggested tentatively “I mean, it’s hard to know which ones belong to who, since whenever I look at Marvin and Jackie their colors are all mixed up—”

Yvonne’s head shot up. “Wait, does that mean their souls are mixed up?!” she shrieked.

“Well, I think...” Jack trailed off. “I...hadn’t thought of...”

Silence fell in the room, only broken by the occasional ruffle of paper as Griffin continued to smooth them out. “Well, I...suppose that makes...sense,” Schneep said haltingly. “Jackie has...abilities now. Magic. He never had them before. If magic is in the soul, perhaps having bits of Marvin gave him...some of that?”

“But is there a way to undo it, then?” Chase asked with more than a hint of desperation in his voice. “Is there a way to make them better?”

More silence. Everyone looked at Yvonne, the only soul magician, but she had nothing to offer, so she looked over at Griffin. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. “Well...I’m sorry, but I don’t think so,” he said as gently as possible.

Chase’s expression visibly fell. Jameson, standing nearby, reached over, offering his hand. After a moment, Chase breathed in deeply, and took the hand. “Right. I guess...that was stupid to think.”

“It wasn’t stupid,” Jack said gently. “It was hopeful, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“But there may be a way to improve this situation a bit,” Delyth suddenly said. “The strings...they’re black magic, and I don’t doubt that’s affecting your friends. If we get rid of them, perhaps we could stop them from being so oddly hostile...and prevent this Anti from ever returning.”

Chase looked up, and slowly nodded. “Okay then. How do we do that?”

“It would need to be strong magic,” Griffin said, looking over his notes. “But it’s not impossible. We may be able to burn them with an intense blaze, freeze the spell inside, or take them apart until they cease to function...either way, I don’t think just one magician will have enough power for that on their own.”

“Okay, so we next work on figuring that out,” Schneep stated. “How? If you need help, I will offer.”

I will as well, JJ added.

“We’d need to try,” Griffin muttered. “Just...try many different things. That’s the only way I can see forward.”

“The old trial and error,” Yvonne said. “Well...I’ll help too, if you need it.”

Chase let out a long, long sigh. “I...I’m done for the day. This was a lot for just a few minutes, and I just woke up.”

“Oh yes, by all means, all of you return to what you were doing,” Delyth said. “We’ll come tell you if we need anything, and remember you can ask us for anything as well.”

And slowly, they dispersed. Chase and JJ took Jackie back up to their room, while Jack and Schneep returned to theirs. Yvonne remained in the clinic for a while longer before retreating to her room, too. Nobody said anything as they left.

There was no way to reverse this. The fact was slowly sinking in to all of them. Whatever Jackie and Marvin had done, it could not be undone.

Yet maybe, just maybe, they could salvage something from this.

Just maybe.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, SE02, Ep22

I was pleasantly surprised that this was one of the best balanced eps concerning tohru as of yet!! They touched upon her being mom-figure in the first half but proceeded to humanize her afterward, depicting her as normal girl!, frustrated, vulnerable & somewhat silently struggling. I was right in my prediction that the moment yuki lets go of mom-tohru image, the show will too!! I’m happy!! finally, No more angels in the sky. But only real tohru with flaws, ugliness & humanity.

-Yuki’s acceptance of past feelings & change towards new ones:

The show is aware that they’ve been using the fake love-triangle initially but it actually has an explanation within the story. Yuki is attracted to tohru, so much, but it isn’t romantic at all. his attempts in “correcting” how he perceived her didn’t set right with him & he felt weirded out more! The show brilliantly depicted these “flirty scenes” with a hint of uneasiness. Yuki’s lines/ moves felt cringey & artificial “do you like my act, princess”,”I’ll kidnap you”, being encouraged by Aya to compliment tohru as a boy should. The signs are all there except not in your face, & the writer deserves praise!! Yuki, being perceptive, was able to reach such conclusion, not only by looking into himself, but by also at looking how kyo interacted with her, differently from him. Kyo sees tohru as a woman & is attracted to her romantically & altho kyo’s words & interactions with tohru lacks princely smoothness & have a hint of awkwardness, it was natural, genuine & spontaneous. Kyo didn’t put on an act or forced himself to flirt or deliberately chose words to impress tohru. Yuki was able to notice tohru only looked romantically towards kyo. Yuki used all his observations to reach another conclusion abt himself too!!! What he wants in a relationship is sth similar to kyo/tohru!! Mutual & equal relationship. He won’t be satisfied by one-sidedly giving or taking.

-The Author’s brilliance in writing traumatic-based behavior ( Kyo/yuki’s best interaction!! ) :

-an anon cryptically warned me that I’ll be disappointed in kyo this ep cuz of a certain scene with yuki. After watching it, I can tell you without a doubt I’m not disappointed at all!! Rather I’m beyond satisfied that I’ve decided to trust the author. Ms. Takya is genius in depicting traumatic-based behavior! Any other writer, would write the scene less raw, yuki would still shine defeating his inner demos, but kyo would only grunt, or say sth mild. cuz the writer might fear that it might risk showing kyo as the stupid guy behind in his growth compared to the successful yuki ,or annoy the readers/viewers who are so eager for these boys to reach mutual ground. Only a great writer will be brave enough to write kyo as his trauma/ faulty copying mechanism logically dictates!

-We spent an entire season with yuki, saw him yell at kakeru’s insensitive hurtful remarks, cry knowing he was saved cuz a friend risked freeing him, it took a locked dark room, paint fumes, PTSD, tons of monologues before yuki finally let it all out! & you want such brilliant writer to make kyo turn around & be nice to yuki all of a sudden after episodes of fights & no perspective insight? You bet such amazing writer will give kyo’s perspective its time & his development the logical progress he needs. This writer is all abt logical & realistic progression! whether positive or even negative, the characters will come across human, raw, realistic & real during & after their journey.

- Going through kyo/yuki’s dialogue, it will tell you that furuba is NOT abt friendship saving the day, or abt successful growth. It is abt the journey these traumatized children are undergoing now that they are nearly becoming young adults. Yuki’s journey was amazing not cuz he succeeded (as amazingly as this is) but cuz it made sense from his perspective, was realistic, logical, matched his coping mechanism & character traits & it took the needed time. Now for kyo, all his reactions should match his perspective, & make sense giving his coping mechanism. He wasn’t given time yet. so, he won’t grow much yet. “Making a fool of me?” kyo didn’t see yuki’s perspective abt the hat. he thinks yuki did it on purpose to taunt him.That HE saved tohru while kyo fails as always. “Praised by others, needed by them” Kyo like everybody in school, always thought yuki is a prince, loved, & admired. Kyo is not the audience, he didn’t see yuki’s struggle.”surpass me easily while I struggle” kyo may train for years with tears & blood, but the rat will beat him always cuz he is superiors. “an idiot that never gets anything, wants an idiotic impossible thing” “if only I gave birth to the rat, I’d ve been happier” kyo’s mom wished or the impossible. So did kyo. He wished that he’d prove to her that he can be the rat’s equal. She shouldn't have died becuz of him. An impossible wish.

-I personally think that kyo’s journey will take a different path from yuki’s. Unlike yuki, kyo’s been accused & proved to harm others somehow, intentionally or unintentionally. Some not even in this world anymore. So there are things in kyo’s journey that can’t be fixed. Nothing will bring his mom or kyoko back to life. He can’t apologize to them. There is NO forgiveness here as kyoko said!. Hence, the writer will brilliantly make kyo fall so hard & reach rock bottom so bad before he stands up again!! It matches his personality too!! He’s a person who struggles in expressing himself verbally, gets overwhelmed with emotions, stubborn, hard on himself & fiery in nature. Moreover, due to his trauma, he harbors very low self-esteem & due to his guilt, he is drenched in self-loath.

-The addiction of destructive coping mechanism ( Writing Brilliancy):

Kyo has one of the most destructive coping mechanism in the show. Similarly to what his father did by illogically dumping all the blame of the mom’s suicide on 4 year old child, which resulted in hurting kyo, kyo adopted his dad’s ways & dumped it all on yuki. Illogical. wrong. but it works!! it numbs this tingling sense of guilt, it puts the voice that goes “ you’re unforgivable” temporarily to sleep. All the hate is on someone else. not me. I’m not a monster. does it work all the time? NO. cuz NO drug does! All drugs has this temporary effect, that unless you break away from, will end up destroying you. “don’t you want it that way? you wouldn’t want to have anyone to hate?“  I’m still confused if this is kyoko or his mom. It has kyoko’s hair, the words are very harsh. Kyoko from kyo’s perspective shifts between extremely kind & cruelly harsh! but regardless, the truth has been spoken. Kyo’s eyes are opened. He can’t force blind himself anymore. he does NOT hate yuki. he “ acts like hating yuki is sth you needs to do”, as shigure said! hating yuki is his way to escape from his destructive self-loath. He hasn’t been hating or fighting yuki for a long while, he tries now, one more fight, one more dose of the drug, let the pain go away! Nope. Yuki is not participating, yuki is in the light now. You are drenched in the darkness, as unforgivable as you are. Monster eyes & all. Kyo breaks the window to break away from the memory. from this point on, it escalates to rock bottom as the drug is no longer working & hating himself with no escape is all he’s left with.

-Protecting leading to hurting:

yuki brings kyo attention that while he’s been hard on himself & resisting change, he is hurting tohru. Sth kyo chose confinement in oder to NOT do. Kyo being distant from class activities “life” is his choice. Tohru suffering is a consequence to that choice. Kyo, once again, overwhelmed by tohru’s desire to include him in their activities “ life”. Helplessly & painfully looking at her & acknowledging yuki’s words. Kyo in one of his most vulnerable moments, matched only by true form hug scene, is desperate for a hug. Not only cuz he loves her, but cuz he needs her, cuz he’s so tried of himself, cuz she’s so endearingly stupid waiting for him all by herself when she could’ve easily caught him home!! Ugh! tohru! T_T. Except this time, kyo is aware of his surroundings, it’s school, no place for transformation. As kyo decides to change his position from hug to head rest, he stares so intently in her eyes. Embracing her with his presence. For a moment there I felt weird. Like I was intruding on a personal moment between two ppl. XD. This moment was this excellently weird mix of tenderly romantic, bittersweet cuz they cant be together hug, & sexually tensed! one of the most successful kyoru moment that truly depicted emotions visually without needing much dialogue!

Side Notes:

kyo/yuki interaction was their most honest, filter-free & raw moment! each said what he really felt. yuki’s directly telling kyo to complain to him, which kyo did. yuki urging kyo to see that punishing himself hurts tohru.

I appreciate that Yuki won’t tell tohru now, cuz it will ruin their progress towards a better balanced relationship. Tohru’s lid hasn’t even been touched, so she would be cautious interacting with him. But once she opens her lid, her self-worth increase & her desire to focus on herself more is ignited!, she’ll listen to him without taking his burden as hers. just like kakeru did. Equal friends.

I wanted to talk deeper abt machi & yuki, but didn’t want it to be overshadowed by kyo’s analysis. Next time for sure!

I love how the writer included the most spontaneous flirting moment between kyo & tohru right after yuki explained that he saw her non-romantically. The writer wants the comparison to be clear cutting ties to any love-triangle misunderstanding that might linger from previous scenes. Moreover, it showed yuki fully & genuinely accepting kyoru!!

I’ll never be over tohru acting like normal teenager & chasing kyo, trying to catch the script!!!! These small moments while having not much effect on the grand plot, help depict tohru with her own feisty style of stubbornness beyond the one-sided kind image we always see.

This ep has well-written & visually appealing scenes. Visual imagery were well-implemented in kyo/yuki scene & kyo/tohru last scene.

Thank you anime for drawing tohru older, pretty & more mature in the final scene. She looked like a woman in love & silently in pain. My baby is growing!

Why is kyoko holding the hat in KYO’s flashback!!!! she’s wearing the same white dress from yuki’s memory?? What the heck is the hat’s story?!!!

[originofjaehyun]

Interlude: No More Drama | Part 11 | Not Alone

Interlude: No More Drama Masterlist

Word count: 5,432

Warnings: Graphic description of violence, mentions of rape, language

Part 11 | Not Alone

“One step, one step, one step each. Closer, closer, closer to the place that appeared in my dream that looks like me, can you feel not alone?”

Prev • Next

The laughter and the applause in the room are quickly replaced by whispers between each other. They are clearly baffled with the turn of the event, trying to solve the puzzle.

“What is the meaning of this?!” While he still talks in a somewhat calm manner, the way his eyes stutter tell Jaehyun that he is anything but calm.

The officers in uniform reached to where they are standing, each proceeds to hold the arms of Mr. Jeong’s and Kyungmi’s. As expected, at least one of them goes berserk.

“Don’t touch me!” Kyungmi swatted the officer’s hand, refused to be taken away, “Jaehyun, tell them who I am! They don’t have the right to do this!”

“Oh, but they do.” Jaehyun talks calmly. A side of him that you know –when he locked on his prey and he knows the percentage of his success is almost absolute.

“Jeong Jaehyun, you don’t want to do this.” His father warned him, and for the first time that night, he whispered instead of speaking proudly, possibly so that the mic wouldn’t catch his words. “Don’t mess around.”

He took a glance at his father and his so-called fiancée that he never acknowledges. He gave a nod to the officers, cueing them to proceed with the arrest.

Before any of them could make a scene, Jaehyun took the mic again, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m terribly sorry for the commotion.” He didn’t even bother about the ruckus behind him, “I understand that today was supposed to be a celebration of our new launch, but I’d like to use this opportunity to address a few things, and why it is important to announce it right here, right now.”

His eyes are now directed to your table, where he mainly locks his gaze to yours, “Also, I’d like to apologize to the involved team, especially to Mr. Seo and also Ms. [Y/L/N] as the person in charge of this project. Really, I do regret that I need to steal the star of the show.”

The way he calls you flinches you. Not only does it causes the whole hall to look at your direction, but also it feels extremely strange for Jaehyun to address you that way. It’s foreign, so foreign.

“Objections!” Frustrated that his own flesh and blood did not obey him, you can tell that he starts to lose his composure, “Jaehyun, what are you doing?! You’re clearly not thinking straight. You exposing me means you exposing yourself.”

Jaehyun just stands there, giving his father a disdainful look.

Obviously you can hear a bit of their words from the microphone, but not enough for you to grasp the full picture as the stage was quite far. Everyone seems perplexed and share the same sentiment with you, except for Johnny.

“Johnny,” Noticing that it is very strange for him to be this calm, you called him in hope you could get an answer, “What is going on? Do you know anything?”

Smirk appears at one corner of his lips, “Just wait and see.”

“Mr. Jeong,” Jaehyun said, purposefully talking in front of the mic so that the whole hall could hear him loud and clear. There’s a hint of contempt in the way Jaehyun called his father. 

He no longer addresses him as his own.

“Before you could object to anything, I’d think it would only be fair for our valuable guests to know where I’m coming from.”

“Don’t you dare…!” He tried to threaten Jaehyun, but at the same time he was being careful not to taunt him too much. He didn’t want to lose his pride, even so, there was a trail of fear in his tone.

“Oh, I do, sir,” Jaehyun said, ice cold. “Taeil, would you please.”

“Guards!” His father tried to intercept, calling his own men.

However they never arrived. The imperious man finally lost his presence of mind, looking around, puzzled. On the other hand, the strikingly handsome person who is stationed at the FOH immediately granted Jaehyun’s command.

“So, your father, how is he?”

The screen at the stage displayed an audio-only footage. And even without the picture, it is no brainer to figure out who is the owner of the voice.

“You know, it’s the same old, Jaehyun.” The other counterpart owns a fairly high-pitched voice, and it was no other than Kyungmi’s. “Thank God your dad is well connected to Chief Jang! If not it will be over for us.”

“Chief Jang?” 

“Yes, him! Daddy was telling me he was involved in poker scam when all he did was to invite that stupid rich guy from Sri Lanka!”

“Ms. Hyun, if I were you I wouldn’t say such information in a public place like this.” That is when you realized the audio was mixed with rustles, including a few sounds of people’s laughter in the background.

“Oh, Jaehyun, you’re so square!” Kyungmi squealed, borderline annoying, “We’re going to be husband and wife soon anyway. Also, I know your father would take care of it if things go bad, so it’s toots fine!”

“So yeah, I was saying,” She totally dismissed Jaehyun’s warning, “Daddy’s worst habit is he never checks on his client’s background. Who would’ve thought he was a criminal, a mafia or some sort!”

“Well that’s a surprise,” The clinking sound of cutleries being put down –presumably fork and knife– leaks in the audio, “I mean, knowing our backgrounds, Ms. Hyun, I thought your father would take extra precautions.”

“I know right! But I think daddy felt safe because we’re about to get married. Nobody messes around with your father, Jaehyun, we all know that. In any case, the seven hundred million that daddy gets from him will also be split to your father’s bank account too.”

The whole audience gasps.

“Nonsense!” His father tries to escape the officer’s grip. “Jaehyun, I command you to stop! This is ridiculous!”

“Jaehyun! You recorded our conversation?!” Kyungmi also protests.

“What are you doing, son?!” His father used all of his strength to move closer to where Jaehyun is, suit all wrinkled from trying to escape the officers’ grip. “Don’t you realize the consequences we’ll have to deal with once all of these leaks out?!”

“Everyone!” She pleaded, “This is all fabricated! My father and I are people of honor! We, The Hyuns, would never do such things!”

“Fabricated?” Jaehyun stared at the two people who looked awry in front of him. 

That is when they know they just landed on the minefield.

Jaehyun scoffed, mockingly, “Initially don’t want to show this because the footage is not very pleasing. Believe me, if only the two of them would admit the truth, I wouldn’t.” He speaks to the audience, dismissing the protests behind.

“For the record,” He continues, “I would like to warn everyone that what I’m about to show you is containing graphic content and might be upsetting to watch. So if you are sensitive to the subject, I advise you to not look, but this is needed to unfold the truth.”

Jaehyun gives Taeil a nod, permitting him to play the infamous clip.

Suddenly the screen plays a motion image of a corridor. By the setup, you’re guessing the location was in the corridor of a luxury hotel. A penthouse, probably.

“Ready, Chicago?”

“Whenever you are, Winnie.”

The unfamiliar voice called for the unfamiliar name, but after spending so much time meeting with him, you know that the voice belongs the man who’s sitting next to you. You seem to be the only one who realized this, as you are the only one who shift your gaze to him who casually watching the footage while crossing his legs.

At the cue, they forcefully enter the room, at the sight of middle-aged men in the middle of intercourse, where a lone woman is unconscious. There are no subtitles available, but it is evidently clear that she was drugged. One of the men who was in the middle of recording the lovemaking panicked. He tried to escape but unfortunately for him the person who wore the camera got him. Johnny, on the other hand swiftly took care of the man who was raping the lady.

“Do we got them all?” Johnny checks.

“We do,” Another man appears on the frame. He was wearing a uniform so you couldn’t tell who it was.

“Good.” The cameraman applauds them for their swift and clean job. “Teddy, help Winnie tying them up. I got business to ask this guy.”

“Roger that, Casper,” The person with code name Teddy exclaims, before the camera pans to a disgusting figure of the rotten old man. Not only you were horrified with the fact that the footage wasn’t censored, but you were also shocked by the fact that you know there could be only one who possessed the low velvety voice like the cameraman’s – no other than Jeong Jaehyun himself.

“Chief Jang,” He approached the man in question, filming the man’s then-horny face. “Look what we got, a prestigious man gang-banged an immobilized woman. What would the society say?”

“Don’t!” The man asked for mercy. “Please, I’ll do anything! Don’t let people know!”

He whimpers, but Jaehyun shows no sign of backing off, “Anything?”

“Yes, yes! Anything! What do you want? Money? Gold? Oh, I can give you women, too!”

Johnny clearly was not satisfied with his answer. He almost lost his temper at the way this man looked down on women, he reactively choked the man out of anger.

“Easy,” Jaehyun commands, “Now listen you piece of shit,” Jaehyun squatted so he can be on the same eye-level as the man. He pulls his hair so he could get a clearer shot of his face, which in return gains a shrieking yelp from the man.

“Tell me, where did you get all of these accesses?”

The man writhed in pain but refused to speak a single word.

“Chicago,”

Johnny slammed the man’s head to the end of the bed, causing him to scream in pain, and blood started to ooze from his head. The audience screamed at the sudden violence. Some even took a napkin and rushed to the nearby toilet, feeling nauseated.

“Talk,” He pulls the man’s head once more, revealing his ugly sobs that are mixed with blood. “You don’t want to mess around with our friend here,” He gestured to Johnny, “He’s a man of brute strength.”

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” It’s almost disgusting how he easily gives in. “It’s Wonshik Hyun! He told me if I could let him out of his gambling cases, he would exchange it with these!”

“Wonshik Hyun?”

“The founder of Hyun Ventures!” He choked, almost out of breath due to the pain. However when he looked at Jaehyun’s glare, he was instantly intimidated, “He is addicted to gambling, and it is thanks to his partner, the founder of NCT Corporation he’s able to walk away!”

“You’re from fucking law enforcement, Chief Jang.” Jaehyun scowled, sickened by the way he acted, “At the highest ranking for fuck’s sake, yet here you are.”

“I’m sorry!” He cries, “I was about to investigate it but I just can’t stop.”

Jaehyun clicked his tongue in disbelief.

“Please let me go! Don’t tell anyone about this! I have a family back home.” He sobs, asking for their pity.

“My son, yes, my son!” His pathetic face quickly turned bright, as if he just found a way out. “He’s about to enter college! My child, he aims to enter law school this year, surely you don’t want to ruin his future?!”

A fist landed on his cheek, snapping his nose into a grotesquerie. He didn’t stop with just a punch, not until Johnny held him back.

“Enough, Casper. He won’t be able to speak.”

“Fucking bastard.” Barely holding his anger, you never know Jaehyun is capable of releasing such wrath. “We are the one who’s gonna ruin his future? Look at yourself you filthy fuck–”

The video stops, and the crowd quickly starts to murmur. They closed their mouths at the sudden revelation, and it’s obvious that they’re giving displeased looks to Jaehyun’s father.

“How…”

Cat got his tongue. He can’t say anything when the evidence is crystal clear.

“Sir,” Jaehyun answers confidently, “You, introducing me to Ms. Hyun is exactly the key that I needed to unfold the truth. That part I have to thank you.”

“Jaehyun, you used me?! How could you, I’m your fiancée!”

The crowds let out a loud gasp before Jaehyun calmly handles the situation, “Fiancée? Did I ever say yes to the engagement? You’re the one who’s acting on your own. Our meetings are always arranged by my father, telling me I should get close to you. But I’m glad I can turn our dinners to gain the information I needed, Ms. Hyun”

His statements made Kyungmi lost all the strength on his legs. She couldn’t accept if this is her fate so she continues to freak out, “How dare you, Jaehyun! I loved you, and I thought what we share was real!”

If a gaze could cut, Kyungmi would be in pieces right now. Jaehyun’s stare was sharp, and cold, causing her to flinch. “How could I love you when I don’t even have your number, Ms. Hyun? I know nothing of you, except the fact that you own a loose mouth.”

You can start to listen to the people behind you talking to each other.

“She’s his fiancée?”

“What kind of fiancée that doesn’t have each other’s number? What a crazy woman!”

“She’s just delusional, Jeong Jaehyun probably just talked to her once and she thinks he’s her!”

“Ms. Hyun,” Jaehyun continues to speak, this time looking directly at her, still standing near the mic. “I’d like to thank you for giving me the most crucial information regarding…” He hesitates but decides to proceed. “This father of mine. But I’d like to tell you and,” He looks forward to the guests. “To everyone who attends.”

“There’s only one woman in my life that was able to change my heartless soul. She’s the one that I will always treasure. I never know my heart is capable of beating the way it beats when she’s around me. Her views, her visions. She’s different from any other woman I knew. She’s a fighter, a firecracker, in fact. And that is why I love her. She’s the one who introduces me that there is always hope.”

“Because of this,” He looked back at the two people, scornfully, “I was unable to keep her. But like a ray of sunshine after rain, I hope tomorrow, or the day after, or even after it passes seventy years.” He took a quick glance at you, before directing it back upfront. “I hope it could bring her.”

You bring both of your hands in front of your hand, not expecting his sudden confession. You swore you’re not a crybaby, but the last few minutes are probably the most information you have to take in a short period of time and it’s understandable that you’re unable to keep your emotion in check.

Your heart is about to jump out of your chest, heart racing from his words. Tears welled up, but you’re not a fighter –like what Jaehyun mentioned, if you didn’t try to fight your own tears.

“Fool!” Finally snaps, his father uses every bit of his strength to escape from the hands that are holding him. “You just expose our family, Jaehyun! Do you think you can escape this?! Or your filthy ungrateful brother?!” He said, grabbing his son’s suit. Jaehyun, who’s clearly on the upper hand in term of strength, easily broke free from his grip.

“Don’t act like we’re your own,” Jaehyun grunts, “I’ve not used a single penny you gave to me. You can check my bank account where you always transfer my money. The amount is exactly whatever you gave to me in years.”

His face slowly lost its vibrance, “And don’t act as you care about Mark,” Jaehyun looks at Mark’s direction, nodding at him to make him feel secured. “I did this for our family, when you failed to do so. I bet all of my net worth that you don’t even know that Mark has been working part-time for his own spendings. Also, from this day onwards all of his necessities will go through me as I will be his guardian.”

Mark’s jaw drops, he could not believe the turn of the events –of his rotten father finally meeting his doom.

You thought by now his father would turn himself, but you were wrong. Instead, he started to laugh hysterically.

“Heh, do you think it will be easy, boy?” His father snickers, as if he lost his sanity. “Wait until I talk to my lawyer. Do you think my men would stop? You just took one person, son. That is barely enough to take me down.”

“Oh?” Jaehyun raised one brow upwards, “Three months ago when you first introduced Ms. Hyun at Seo’s office, we’re already more than halfway in on our operation.”

“Not only I was involved, but I am connected to your people too. I hope you haven’t turned insane to not remember that you do planned on making me the next heir.” He said, unfazed.

“Most of your powerful men are now waiting for their trials. You’ll be the next in line. You’ll have the right to consult with a lawyer prior to any further questioning at your own expense. Though, your personal lawyer, Mr. Yang would not be able to attend due to the fact he receives money from illegal transactions.”

“You son of a bitch!” Jaehyun’s father finally lost it, about to throw his fist to Jaehyun. Him, being well-trained in combat, is able to tackle it easily, twisting his father’s arm.

“Bitch? Who are you referring to, my deceased mother?” He looked low at his father, who’s writhing in pain. “Let’s finish this in the court. Though, I’m positive you’ll end behind the bars for the rest of your life. Then, go and think twice before you call my mother that way.”

He pushed his father away and the officers quickly grab him. With Jaehyun’s commands, they finally take both Mr. Jeong and Kyungmi away.

“Sorry for the scene,” He runs his hand through his hair, fixing it before he greets the audience, “There will be another separate session for the press release regarding this. So for tonight, do enjoy the food and the champagnes. I was told the canapés are marvelous.”

He then goes down the stage, to where Mark is. Mark practically runs to his older brother, asking for a further explanation about the whole situation. Same goes with the rest of the people. As expected, the crowds start to swarm around both of them.

“I guess nobody is interested in the canapés, huh?” Johnny said, finally turning his body to where the rest of you are.

“Duh. But before that,” You lean forward so you’re closer to Johnny, “You are a fucking secret agent? What the heck is going on! How could I not know?!”

“Language, [Y/N]. And if you do know then I’m doing a lame job as a secret agent, no?” He chuckles, rightfully earned your tiny punches.

“I thought you invited me for your project launching party, [Y/N].” Yuta finally spoke, after every single one of you on your table was silenced due to the drama that happened on the stage. “You never told me that… we’re going to watch a soap opera.”

“Believe me, Yuta,” You rolled your eyes, “How could I know?”

You guys were busy discussing what just happened, and then suddenly you sensed that flocks of people were coming to your direction.

You turned your head to find the fine man in white suit was the one who brought the crowd to you.

“[Y/N],” He says softly.

“Jaehyun,” You reactively rose from your seat, but quickly hesitated. Jaehyun did declare his love to you. Sure, he never mentioned your name but that doesn’t change the fact that the first woman he approached was you –and you know how much people quickly jump into the conclusion. The last thing you want is to gain people’s attention by being together with him.

“Johnny,” As if he could read your mind, he quickly glanced at Johnny’s direction, which Johnny replied with a single nod.

“Alright, everyone,” Johnny stands up, fixing his suit. “Donghyuck, let’s guide them to the VIP room.”

Without any further explanation, Donghyuck escorts both you and Yuta to the designated room. The journey there was tedious, you couldn’t imagine how Jaehyun could even walk to you with the crowd constantly barging him with questions. 

“Mr. Jeong! What makes you do this?”

“Is it out of revenge, Jaehyun?”

“Our transaction with NCT Corporation is legal, right?”

The crowd was more persistent than what Jaehyun thought. They keep pushing, demanding for an answer while Jaehyun kept his mouth shut. As the result, they squeezed you. Of course, Jaehyun would stay by your side in a heartbeat if he could, but there’s a line that he couldn’t cross –Yuta trying his best to protect you next by your side. But there’s so much that Yuta can do, fighting the rest of the hall by himself.

“Sicheng,”

Jaehyun uses his eyes to point in your direction, and a person named Sicheng who was stationed nearby quickly guards you. It becomes more bearable, since he granted you with enough space to walk, especially when you’re wearing an evening gown.

When they almost reach the end of the hall, more bodyguards are stationed, letting you and the rest of the group in while they hold the crowd who are still curious.

“Alright,” Johnny closes the door, now that everybody is inside the room. “So, how should we start, Jae?”

Now all eyes are on Jaehyun, including yours. But Jaehyun only fixes his gaze to yours.

He was drained. He might win this, but that was after he pulls every of his ace cards. All he wanted was to hold you, and for you to pat him on his head and thank him for his effort. 

But he can’t, not when Yuta is crossing his arms in front of his chest, waiting for an explanation. Yuta might not be directly involved, but now that he knows, he won’t accept a cliffhanger.

“Uhm, so where should I start…”

In contrast to his excellent stage presence, he is now stuttering, clearly awkward after engaging in eye contact with you. You are equally as nervous, fidgeting on your own fingers.

Yuta seems to notice the tension, breaking the awkward atmosphere, “I think you guys should talk.”

Everyone is in shock with his statement. Clearly giving him a ‘you just let your lover talk with her ex, though?’ kind of look. Yuta, on the other hand, finds his action to be very logical.

“I think you owe [Y/N] plenty of explanation, man. Probably something that’s only between you guys.”

You give him a look, asking him once more whether he’s sure with his decision. He gives you a gentle nod. “Just make sure you’re back for me.”

As much as Jaehyun is thankful to Yuta for giving his permission to talk to you, it doesn’t change the fact that his last sentence stings. The fact that Jaehyun is no longer the owner of your heart makes his heart feels heavy. 

Eventually you and Jaehyun agree to his suggestion, making your way to the room next door.

“I, uhm,” He scratched his head.

“Since when, Jae?” You asked first, giving him the hint where he should start.

“Well, let’s sit down first.”

He then proceeds by telling you that it started after he met Johnny again. They were teammates back in high school but turned out the friendship actually didn’t start there. Johnny entered NCT Corp. due to the fact he was the agent that was stationed there, for a mission that was obvious; arresting the head of Jeong.

He approaches Jaehyun, but Jaehyun outsmarts him to figure out his identity. Johnny thought he failed his mission, with his target’s son finding out who he was, but what a twist of an event it was for Jaehyun to actually offer his hand to help.

“So you were living this life even when we were together?”

“[Y/N]...” He gently speaks, as if he was afraid to break a heart that is so dear to him, “It was never my intention to put you in danger. It was a miscalculation on my side to fall for you that night.”

“Miscalculation?” You emphasized his choice of word, ready to snap at him.

“The best mistake I’ve ever made.”

Your cheeks start to turn pink at his remark, makes you forcefully break the eye contact.

“Uhm,” You awkwardly converse back to him, “No wonder you always came home late. You were rarely at home before midnight.”

“Aren’t you pushing yourself?”

You were about to tug one of his wild strands of hair, before you back off and remembered that he’s no longer yours.

He lets out a disappointed smile.

“I met you and I was already in the middle of my mission.”

“Yet you’re still asking me out?”

“I wish I could blame it on the alcohol that night, but I know they just unleashed my deepest desire. I couldn’t forget you ever since that night where we met at the bar. Ever since we made the first eye contact.”

“But you’re keeping secrets from me, Jaehyun. And not just any secret, you being a COO is already a big step that I have to take. Then suddenly you are the next heir of an underground business, and the next thing I know you’re also a secret agent! I was living a pretty normal life, Jaehyun, then you suddenly came into the picture. How do you expect a person like me, dating a powerful man like you?”

“It’s just the consequences that I have to take eventually.”

“You could’ve just told me properly, you know, as a warning.”

His voice was saturated with regret, “I know it’s wrong, but I swear I would never purposely put you in danger. The reason why I didn’t tell you all of these was because the egoistic part of me didn’t want you to leave me out of fear. I was overly confident that I could overtake my father in no time. I thought I could keep it hidden and live my life peacefully with you, but I didn’t expect him to... meet you.”

Part of you felt guilty at the way he mentioned how you would leave when you discover the truth. On how accurate his predictions were.

“It’s just…”  He sighs, “I was this close, [Y/N]. Of course, Hyun Kyungmi was an opening I never knew would come, but even so I was confident I could arrest him on my own. And I have to do this. For Mark, and for my future, our future.”

The sentence ended with a pregnant pause, both of you unsure how the conversation should continue.

Was it always this awkward with Jaehyun?

“So…” He finally breaks the silence, “Yuta, I think he’s a great guy.”

Your eyes quiver at the way Jaehyun speaks Yuta’s name. 

“He is, Jaehyun.” You carefully replied, “Though his jokes are borderline rude, it’s just his way to show his affection.”

Jaehyun dryly laughs, “He’s different from me, doesn’t he?”

His words stop you from going, prolonging the pause.

“But I’m glad he’s able to make you laugh like that.”

You saw how his gaze turns soft. It’s been forever since Jaehyun got a chance to look at you, and only you. It’s been a while he could have all of you for himself, for you guys talk in private like this.

He was intoxicated, in you. And he let you slipped away. He finally reached his goal, but he didn’t receive his prize.

“I miss you, [Y/N].”

You pressed your lips together. Air of melancholy filled the way you look at him.

“Jaehyun, I-”

“I know, I know. Just… let me get this out of my chest.”

He took a deep breath in, “Please let me this one go,”

He hugs you, and it feels like years since the last time you’ve felt Jaehyun’s warmth. 

There was a momentary pause before you could react.

Is this okay?

Is this fair, for you, Jaehyun, most importantly, for Yuta?

But how could something that feels so right be so wrong?

So you hug his broad shoulder back, pulling him closer to you. Indulging his embrace that’s been missing from you.

“You know, I always thought by hiding it from you means I can have my own haven. Living a triple life is can be quite chaotic.”

You laughed, “I could imagine.”

He scoffed warmly, “I have to wear three different masks in each settings, and there are times where I feel like I could break into pieces.”

“But then I met you,” He carefully caressed your hair, making sure he didn’t ruin your hairstyle for the night. “Every time I woke up next to you, I just knew what I’ve been missing in my life. How our mind connected, the sound of your laughter, and the way you teach me how to love, and the way you loved me back.”

Jaehyun always feels perfect, but he is a human too. You can feel he’s trembling, fighting the waves of emotion, “For once, I could be just myself when I’m with you. Not COO Jaehyun, or the next heir for some underground business, nor a secret agent. I can just be just Jaehyun, and it was liberating.”

His words hit you hard. You never knew how much weight he has on his shoulder, and how he hold everything on his own. You never knew that Jaehyun leaned on you that much.

It’s not fair for him to tell him all of this now. Not when you thought you can live your life without him.

“The next morning after you left, I thought I just had a nightmare.” He continues, “That night was probably the longest night I ever experienced. I fell asleep, drunk. When I woke up and I couldn’t find you next to me, I thought you were in the kitchen. You always said you wanted to make me breakfast.

Jaehyun took another breath in, “Yet the only sight I saw was the mess from the night before and everything finally became a reality for me.”

He lets you go, to see that you’re about to cry. He forcefully smiles, trying his best not to show the already apparent sadness.

“Don’t cry. You’re kind, that’s why you pitied me.”

No, that’s not it, Jaehyun.

You wonder why it is so hard for you to tell him so, but words just won’t come out.

“I realized that I meet someone and we sometimes drift apart. Sometimes it seems to be too much and too vague, so I get anxious over it. Even so, the world moves on, and so are you.”

Are you?

“I’m happy that Yuta’s able to make you smile. Something that I took away from you that night. I’m sorry for hiding things from you, but please know everything that we shared, our relationship, is real. Probably the most genuine feelings that I ever felt.”

You took one of your fingers to wipe the corners of your eyes, preventing the tears to ruin your makeup.

“Jaehyun, please don’t be so hard on yourself. Now that I know every reason behind it, it would be stupid of me not to forgive you.”

He nods, and there goes another silence.

Are you OK leaving things this way? How could you figure out your heart when your mind is filled with numerous tangled threads?

Suddenly the room next to you became so loud, surprising both you and Jaehyun. 

“Looks like he’s here,” Jaehyun stares at the wall, seeming to know the reason behind the fuss.

“Let’s go?” He offers his hand, shocked with his own action.

“Sorry,” He quickly shoved his hand to his pants pocket. “Old habits die hard.”

Oh, Jaehyun.

That, you too know very well.

Both of you walked to the first room to see Taeyong who’s busy crying while Mark continuously patted him, telling him to stop.

“There’s no way I could not cry, dumbass!” Taeyong pouts, receiving tissue from Johnny, “You’re finally free, Mark.”

A/N: Can you believe next week we’re going to have our last chapter? :o

So quick question, are you team Jaehyun or team Yuta? lol

[themuzzleofnemesis]

Prologue--The Intruders

The Muzzle of Nemesis, pages 4-15

When I looked out the window, I saw that at some point it had started snowing.

The inside of the hospital had heating, so I didn’t feel the cold even in my light clothes. When I pulled my eyes from the window and looked to the bulletin board, I saw a sheet of paper was pinned to it declaring that the Christmas party had been canceled.

That there was no sign of anyone in town wasn't just because of the snow. Nobody had the time or resources to celebrate Christmas anymore.

How many people are even left in the world in the first place?, I wondered. Probably half of when the population was at its highest--no, even less than that. Even the news playing on the radio never reported any precise numbers, perhaps because it was being restricted.

Though, I was certain it hadn't yet dropped to "0".

Because I was still here, at least.

Even so, the day when I wouldn't be wasn't far off.

There were many things I needed to do before the world fell to ruin completely.

.

My colleagues had all returned to their homes. It seemed I was the only one in the hospital.

The patient beds were also empty, but that wasn’t necessarily limited to tonight. This hospital wasn’t a facility made to cure “normal” patients to begin with.

It would probably be more accurate not to call this a hospital but rather a "research facility". People who had a very specific ailment were quarantined here, and made the subjects of research—however, our last patient died just the other day.

She had pressed her switch herself--in a word, "suicide".

So it wasn’t like we could carry out any new clinical studies by working overtime. The director had told everyone to go home and spend time with their families for the night, but I didn’t feel like doing that at all.

I’m aware that I’m a bit eccentric, but my mother and my brother are even weirder than I am. And I saw them practically every day as coworkers in this very hospital, so there was no need for all three of us to get together and spend Christmas at home tonight.

My mother and brother probably hadn't gone home either. My mother was most likely staying overnight with some new man, and my brother was--well, he'd be tottering around somewhere, dressed like a woman, as usual.

Even without a test subject, there was still a large amount of clinical data that had yet to be put in order. I was at my desk tonight to put it all together into a single thesis.

There wasn’t necessarily a place I could publish the thesis once it was finished. And there was no guarantee that it would be of any use.

But when the day came, I would stop being able to perform the research I had been doing up until now. When the project moved into its next stage, I would be given a different role.

I wanted to bring all that research to an end before then, no matter what.

.

The sound coming from the radio had cut off. The broadcast for today had finished.

I didn’t do well with this stillness, without any white noise in the background. All the more in the middle of the night like this.

It's not--that I'm afraid or anything.

It was right when I stood and drew towards my antique music player, intending to have some kind of white noise in the background

"--Evening."

I unintentionally gave a start at the sudden voice that I heard behind me.

"Who's there!?"

I fearfully turned around.

The entrance door was open, and there was someone standing there--Although well, it’d be even more frightening if there had been just the voice with no one standing there.

They were short, wearing a cap that hung so low as to conceal their eyes, and the collar of their coat hid their mouth.

For a moment I thought, "Santa Claus?", because their coat was red, but of course that couldn't be it. Thinking on it realistically, the kind of visitor who would come here suddenly in the middle of the night like this—would probably be a burglar, or a deviant; no one here for anything good, at any rate.

I took out a pistol that had been carelessly left on top of a locker and pointed it at the other person.

"Get out. Anyone who’s not authorized is forbidden to be here."

Even though they had a gun pointed at them, this person didn't falter in the slightest. I couldn't see their face so I didn't know what expression they had on, but they didn't run away or put their hands up, simply standing at attention and saying, "How odd for a gun to be in a hospital."

They sounded young. It appeared to me that it was either a young boy's voice, or a girl speaking with an attempt to imitate a male tone.

"A product of the times. You never know when you're going to be attacked by some deviant, so it's only natural, don't you think?"

"These 'deviants' you're talking about--do you mean the people who become your research subjects?"

"Yeah, you could say that. And…people like you."

He reached a hand into his coat, and pulled something out.

The moment I realized it was a gun--I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"--!?”

--The bullet passed right by the other’s head, and embedded itself into the far wall.

“You missed. Or…perhaps you did that on purpose. If so, you have quite good aim.”

"Next time I'll hit you for real. --I'll say it again, get out of here now!"

He flung the gun that he was carrying onto the floor, and finally raised both hands.

But even so, he still didn't move to leave.

“Please don’t misunderstand—I’m not a thief, and I’m not a deviant like you’re thinking. I came here seeking a psychiatric examination.”

"I see. Seems like you need one."

"It's not for me."

So saying, he left the room.

I’d chased him off—Though I was only left to think that for a moment, as he then returned to the room pushing along a wheelchair.

A girl was sitting in that wheelchair. She seemed conscious but her eyes were empty, and simply showed no sanity at all.

"She’s the one I want you to diagnose. Her name is Nemesis Sudou. Sadly, due to what she’s faced she has fallen to this doll-like state you see now.”

“Unfortunately I don’t take walk-ins. You’ll have to properly set up an appointment and come back during the day.”

But he shook his head in refusal.

"I can't do that. We don't have a lot of time left."

“Your problems aren’t my concern.”

“…But we came all this way. I’m sorry, but I’ll force you to do this examination if I have to.”

I could hear the sound of glass breaking from outside the room.

At the same time, there was the cacophony of several men’s voices.

Apparently, this person and the girl in the wheelchair weren't the only intruders.

“The building is already surrounded. Even with a gun, you’re completely outnumbered.”

I didn’t know if what he said was true or a bluff—and I figured that testing that would be a risky gamble.

“…I’d like some guarantee of my life, at least.”

"Of course. Please relax about that. I haven’t the slightest intention of killing you--Dr. Levia Barisol."

“That’s not very persuasive, coming from someone who deliberately wields a gun.”

"Ah…you mean this?"

He scooped up the gun that he’d dropped and then held it out to me.

"It's not loaded. I didn't really bring it here as a weapon."

"Then…why did you?"

I took the gun. It was a revolver, but of very old make.

"She--Nemesis once killed six individuals with this gun."

"Oh, she's a murderer, is she? Then perhaps instead of taking her here you should go to the police?"

“You know yourself that the police aren’t really functioning anymore, don’t you?”

"…True."

It was as he said. Hence a mere researcher like me having a gun.

Right now I was in a world where I had to protect myself, by myself.

“—Well then, what should I be examining about this criminal?”

"I want to know about Nemesis' life. How she lived, and how she came to kill those six people."

"Are you not…an acquaintance of hers?"

"Acquaintance…I suppose so. I know her. But I don't know much about Nemesis."

"I don't understand what you mean when you say that."

"Don't worry, you too will understand that…that is, if you examine her mind.”

This entire time he had been speaking with a calm tone, but I felt as though I was getting glimpses of desperation underneath.

As a psychologist I was somewhat interested in his state of mind, but first it seemed I wouldn’t be able to evade this situation without examining this girl named Nemesis.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Nemesis," I said to her.

For a moment her eyes flickered in my direction, but then she immediately started staring off into the distance.

Next, I lightly patted her cheek with my hand. There was a reaction, but she didn’t move to brush my hand away, merely keeping silent.

"…There's just one problem." I took my hand from her and said to her attendant, "Looking at the state of her right now, it seems like any kind of mutual understanding will be difficult. I’ll be unable to perform an initial counseling session.”

"Right. Normally, that would be the case. But--isn't there another avenue you can take, Dr. Levia?"

So, he'd come here because he knew about me--about my "ability".

In that case, any half-hearted deception I tried wouldn’t fly.

“Feh.” After I made a harsh sigh, I steeled my resolve and turned to him once more. “So, you want the ‘Swap’—Mind type.”

“Yes, exactly. I’m grateful you’re so quick on the uptake.”

“It’s a very dangerous method. In a worst case scenario it could have a significant negative effect on the subject’s mind—"

“There’s no problem there. As you can see, she was broken a long time ago.”

“…I don’t care much for putting it that way. You shouldn’t be using a word like ‘broken’ to refer to a human being.”

“I apologize if I’ve offended…But I didn’t come here tonight to debate with you over ethics and word choice. Please answer me—yes, or no?”

I had an uncomfortable feeling. Judging by his voice, the person before me was quite young, but yet he was too calm. Talking with him gave me the impression that I was interacting with some elderly person who had walked a life of several decades.

He had said he wasn’t a thief or a deviant. And that he had no intention of killing me.

However—he also hadn’t said a word about not harming me.

…This didn’t seem to me like a situation where I could simply say “no”.

“—Alright. But we’ll need some preparation to perform the ‘Swap’. Will you give me some time for that?”

“Please work as fast as you can.”

He sat down in the chair that I had been sitting in shortly before.

It didn’t look like he was going to leave the room until the preparations were done.

.

--The ‘Swap’ was a special psychiatric examination technique discovered and advocated for by the head of this facility, Professor Held Yggdra.

In principle perhaps you could say it’s a scientific revival of the occult that spans across both the Eastern and Western world. Well, simply put, it is a method through which one can vicariously experience parts of a subject’s life by aligning with their mind.

Naturally, the only people who would be able to do this single-handedly are those with extrasensory perception or psychic mediums (if such people were to actually exist)

But thanks to collaborative research with authorities of other fields, Professor Held was able to successfully construct a device which would make it possible to create a visualization of the mind using brain wave analysis, and to align it with that of another person.

This was a revolutionary invention, but at the same time it had several problems. In order to align with the subject’s mind, it followed that you would need someone to perform this task. But it was also established that the practitioner would need a certain "ability”.

To enter into the consciousness of another means to have two minds co-habiting inside one being. It would be impossible for a normal person to bear such an enormous strain.

Many tests were conducted to find someone with the ability to be this practitioner—this so-called “licensed person”—and I was one of several others who were ultimately selected.

This device that carried out the “Swap”…popularly named the “Black Box”, wound up being used for research in other fields as well. For example, the physicist Seth Twiright (one of the other developers of the Black Box) was able to carry out the observation of parallel worlds, which had until this point had their very existence disputed. That would likely have become the talk of the world if it wasn’t currently in chaos from the destruction crisis that was going on right now.

The Black Box has also been a great aid to my own research as well. My psychiatric analytical methods of the deviants who are responsible for the chaos of the world—technically named “HER”s—have progressed by leaps and bounds thanks to the Black Box.

…Though, well, that wasn’t always a good thing.

.

“That’s quite a large-scale device,” the red-coated boy said to me as I had the girl named Nemesis sit down in the Black Box, now fully prepped.

“It’s actually much smaller than the prototype.”

“I see…So, this—is the Black Box.”

“Are you interested in this kind of machine? Though, the average person’s not liable to ever lay eyes on one, so I suppose that does make it a curiosity.”

"Huh? …Yeah, well, that’s true.”

As the name suggested, the device had an exterior that looked like a black box. It was large enough that two people could just barely fit inside, and there were two seats set up in its interior for the “subject” and the “licensed person” to sit in.

After putting Nemesis in the seat for the subject, I connected several wires to her. I could stab the needle directly into her head…--Of course I wouldn’t do anything savage like that, but still, when I had all of the arrangements settled she had electric wires wrapped around her entire body.

Now then…this is the annoying part.

I had to do the same for myself. This is ordinarily where I would have an aide give me some assistance, but unfortunately the only people here were myself, Nemesis, and…the boy in the red coat.

“You—err, what’s your name?” I asked him.

“Me? …Right. Well—just call me ‘Postman’.”

“That’s an obviously fake name. …Whatever. Well then, Mister Postman. Could you lend me a hand?”

After I sat down in the seat for the “licensed person”, Postman went to attach the wires under my instruction.

“—Is this okay?”

“Yeah, it’s perfect. …Okay, lastly…Please press that red switch. When you do, the ‘Swap’ will commence.”

“Finally.”

“Once you press the switch, leave the Black Box within thirty seconds. After that don’t touch the machine while it’s in operation. Worst case, the hospital will be blown away, not to mention the device.”

That was, as one might expect, a lie, but I figured I ought to say that much.

“So all I can do is wait, huh? How long do you expect it to be until it finishes?”

“That depends on the mind of the subject, but…Whatever the case I’ll make the device halt after an hour.”

“An hour?”

“Neither mine nor the subjects’ spirits will be able to handle any more than that. I’ll probably have to take several breaks to see everything relating to these ‘six people’ you spoke of—the people she’s killed.”

“Nothing for it. If you say you have to. …Well then, I’m pushing the switch.”

Postman pushed the red button with his finger as directed, and immediately left the device.

The black door slowly closed up.

Sigh…What an annoyance, having to align my spirit with that of a murderer.

Sighing inwardly, I began to prepare my mind for the ‘Swap’.

.

Another person’s life. Their experiences.

The next time I was called to consciousness, I—had become Nemesis.

directory------next>>

[ymiwritesstuff]

How about Dio x Clairvoyant Reader? DIO’s getting increasingly concerned about the stardust crusaders and the threat they pose to him, so he tracks down a woman said to have the power to see the future so he can enlist her help in eliminating his enemies. However, she’s VERY picky about what she says and who she speaks to due to the fact that what she says can very easily change the future. (She’s basically Sapphire/Garnet from Steven Universe)

I had SO much fun with this one holy shit. I really really hope you liked it (I haven’t seen Steven Universe so apologies if the reader wasn’t anything like you had hoped), thank you so much for the request! And I must admit, I'm really proud of this one.

Changing Destiny

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Dio Brando x Fem!Reader

Summary: Dio had been growing increasingly concerned about the threat of the Joestars and turns to a mysterious woman, said to have the power to alter one’s fate.

Notes: Spoilers for part 3

Worry was something Dio rarely felt. He couldn’t allow himself to appear weak in front of his followers by showing signs of concern and he pushed those thoughts away in order to focus on his goals. However no matter how much the Lord tried to distract himself, there was no denying the constant threat those who wished to kill him posed. With most of the stand users he had sent out in hopes of defeating the Joestars and their petty little group defeated, Dio felt the increasing sensation of worry eating away at him. It felt as though every time a stand user was defeated, a barrier of confidence and safety guarding him crumbled away, weakening him. The uncertainty of what would happen next disturbed Dio. With the power of his stand, surely he would be able to defeat them, right?

He needed to be certain of his victory. He knew his destiny and yet the uneasy feeling of not knowing it for certain poked him like a dull dagger. What would await him once the Joestars broke through the door leading to his mansion? He was confident in himself, he was sure that with the overwhelming might of his stand, he would be able to reach his goals. And yet, even he didn’t know that for certain. It was just a feeling, a guess, just mere speculation and the fact that he couldn’t see the image of his victory with his own amber eyes bothered him far more than he should’ve allowed it to.

When Dio learned about the mysterious woman capable of seeing the events of the future and changing them, a sparkle of hope ignited within him. This woman was his only chance of confirming his destiny and giving him the peace of mind he was desiring. The rumors were however very vague and no one knew for a fact if this clairvoyant even existed. Furthermore, Dio couldn’t help but to think back at his previous encounter with a fortune teller and just how poorly that had ended. However the Lord was hopeful, he just had to find the woman first.

~

The pleasant taste of the high quality red wine tingles the receptors on your tongue as you take a sip from the glass, carefully examining the man sitting in front of you. His burning gaze is locked within you, his expression neutral but holds a certain sense of superiority in it as he sips the red liquid from a glass of his own.

When he initially approached you, asking for your aid just like any other person who had found out about your abnormal abilities, you were intrigued by his demeanor. His voice was soft and gentle when he expressed his proposal, but buried deep in it, you sensed something.. Sinister, in a way. This was something you had never experienced with any of your previous customers so you found it fascinating, hence you agreed to meet him in the depths of his isolated mansion under the moon.

“I am so very glad that you were able to arrive, Ms. (Surname),” His deep voice breaks the admittedly ominous silence around you, his lips curling into a satisfied grin through which you swear you could see something that looked like a pair of fangs.

“And I am delighted to hear that my services may be of use to you, Lord Dio” You say, addressing the male as he had requested upon your first meeting and take yet another sip of the wine, savoring the quite delicious taste. “However, there are certain.. Regulations I must mention before I journey to the depths of your future.. If I may?” You raise your eyebrows, giving him a questioning look which he responds with a nod. Placing the glass on the small table in front of you, you lean back on the chair and take a deep breath.

“My visions of the future are absolute. Whatever events my eyes witness will become reality no matter what.” Your (E/C) eyes look up at him, only to notice him looking back at you with that intense gaze that sends faint but cold shivers down your spine. “There is however a way for me to alter these events.. If I deem them alterable. Or in other words,” You pick up the glass again and drink the remaining wine, feeling a warm sensation in your throat as the liquid travels down. “If you can convince me.”

Changing someone’s future was a terrifyingly effective ability and so you had decided to save that ability for those who managed to leave a significant impression on you. Well, no one had so far, but you were interested if Dio would be able to do that. He had managed to catch your attention the very moment your (E/C) eyes landed on him so you were extremely curious about the possibility of him convincing you to change his destiny, if needed.

“There’s also one more thing I must ask you, if you don’t mind.” With a single motion of his clawed hand, Dio gave you the permission to voice your question which would decide if you would even look into his future in the first place: “Why do you wish to witness your destiny?” Though you were sure that the reason for his desire to know what would await him was reasonable enough, but it was always thrilling for you to hear why one wished to know what would happen in their lives. Dio chuckles at your question before bringing the rim of the delicate wine glass to his lips again.

“You are quite sharp, (Name),” He says, enjoying the way your first name rolls on his tongue. “In truth, I do know what my future holds.” You raise a curious brow at his remark, encouraging him to elaborate. “I simply wish to.. Confirm it to be true.” His gaze locks with yours again. So that’s what this was. He was unsure of his destiny and wants to know it for certain. “Very well, then.” You move to sit on the edge of the chair, holding your hand out to him.

“Give me your hand.” Dio follows your request without a word and places his clawed hand on top of yours, its cool temperature surprising you somewhat. Your other hand finds its way on top of it and you close your eyes, ready to see the images of Dio’s destiny.

Dio’s eyes catch something materializing beside you, immediately recognizing the figure as the manifestation of your fighting spirit. So you were a stand user and judging by the fact that you hadn’t asked if he was one as well, he figured you were most likely oblivious to their nature and definition. Interesting.

He suddenly feels a strange sensation on his hand that quickly travels and spreads across his entire body. The aura around you seems to have grown stronger, your stand beside you glowing and radiating strange, unfamiliar energy. To you however, this energy is very familiar as you’re experiencing visions of the future. You can see Dio, but there’s something different about him. He’s ruthless, bloodthirsty and even downright frightening but.. He’s dying. Slowly crumbling and disintegrating in a cruel, brutal manner, the left side of his body cracking like pottery while he screams in increasing agony.

Did he say he was aware of his future? Aware of him meeting such a gruesome end? While your visions weren’t picture perfect as some of the surroundings and even the person causing him such pain were unclear, you were sure that this utterly horrible vision was indeed his destiny. And what a horrible destiny it was.

You open your eyes, surprised to find yourself panting, which had never happened before and retreat your hand from Dio, him noticing your distressed state. “Well? What does destiny have in store for me?” He asked, his voice calm as usual but you can hear small bits of something that to you sounded like.. anxiety? You look at him, brows frowned and your stand disappearing.

“It was.. Dark.. So very dark.. You.. Who are you?” The man before you wasn’t the same man you saw in your vision. What had he done to deserve such a terrifying fate? The aura around him, the sinister aura you had immediately noticed was stronger than ever in the illusion you witnessed. You couldn’t possibly tell him that he was about to lose his life. He was still a mere stranger and that unsettling presence made you think that he wouldn’t take the truth well.

“I do not believe that’s what we are here for, (Name),” He says, hints of irritation clear in his deep voice. Your face was far too disturbed for someone who should have witnessed his success. Something wasn’t right and it made Dio’s insides twist in a rare feeling of nervousness. You regain your composure by clearing your throat and sitting up properly.

“What I just witnessed was..” You pause for a brief moment, trying to find the right words to hopefully ease his clearly growing discomfort. “Surely not the destiny you were hoping for.” You notice Dio’s eye twitching, seemingly agitated by your words. His reaction is understandable, however a part of you can’t help but to feel pity for him. “Now, like I said.. There is a way for me to change your destiny into something better. If you can convince me. Tell me Lord Dio, why should I alter your future?” Dio’s eyes suddenly regain their previous calmness and his lips curl into a smirk, followed by a chuckle.

“(Name), do you believe in gravity?” You frown your brows in confusion at his sudden question and that confusion only increases when you notice something forming beside him. With widened (E/C) eyes you stare at the form beside him shuddering at the sheer power emitting from the spirit. “Y-You.. Can you witness the future as well?” Yet another chuckle escapes his lips as he slowly shakes his head. “Not quite, my dear. This-” He turns his head to the muscular figure next to him, “-is called a Stand. It is a manifestation of one’s fighting spirit and just like people, they come in various forms and possess various powers.” His amber eyes move back to you, his gaze burning through your form, reaching the very core of your entire being.

“Yours is unique, just like mine and with the power of this Stand, The World, I’ll be able to fulfill my destiny. That is, if you change it.” You stay quiet, unsure what to say. You knew there was something strange about Dio the second you saw him, but you never could’ve thought that he shared the power of a stand with you. Dio suddenly stood up from his seat and slowly approached you. “I believe that a certain gravity.. Brought you to me. I believe our meeting was fate. And that unsure expression on your face only leads me to believe that you haven’t looked at your own future. Am I mistaken?”

“No,” You say, feeling Dio’s hand slowly being placed on your chin and tilting your head up to meet his eyes. To you, destiny was meant to be unknown. Even if you wanted to witness your future, your stand didn’t allow that, forcing you endure the uncertainty of destiny. This was how it was supposed to be and you often viewed those who wished to see their future as pathetic and cowardly, but Dio was different. Perhaps this was your destiny. To help him by changing his cruel fate. Perhaps it was something else entirely, you didn’t know, but something was pulling you towards him, making you want to change his fate for the better.

“So what do you say, my dear? Shall you allow this undeniable gravity between us to convince you, and ensure my victory?”

You didn’t understand why, but his words stuck to you like tar, his soothing voice ringing in your ears like a spell, bending you to his will. And it was working.

“Yes, my Lord.”

And so, Dio’s destiny was going to be exactly how he envisioned. He would win the difficult battle and it was all thanks to you and that bizarre gravity that pulled you towards each other. Dio could hardly wait for his victory that you had so kindly promised.

[blissfulparker]

Borrowed scarfs and apple tea→fratboy!Tom

Parings→fratboy!tom x reader

Summary→after a semester of flirting and teasing, one apple cider tea on a windy autumn day changes it all.

Warnings→ fluff

A/n→ this is late but its better than not posting it at all, this was requested as a concept by an anon and I loved it and made it into a fic. Hope you enjoy! Also I couldn’t add a read more link since I’m on mobile so I’m sorry!!!

At the beginning of the semester, no one would think that playboy, party-going, fratboy tom holland would calm all his activities for some transfer girl who studied literature.

Shakespeare, Edgar Allen poe, staying in to study, being kicked out of the library at closing time, wearing soft plaid skirts and sweaters in the autumn time. That’s who tom was falling for.

It started out simple, tom noticed you in his literature class when couldn’t understand anything. Tom was always bad at reading and always hated it, swearing whatever he had to do in life wouldn’t revolve around reading and writing. The irony, tom loved to act, he loved the be on stage and perform and become different character every day.

One day, Tom was in the library struggling to understand just about everything when he built up the confidence to talk to you. He walked over and asked for some help which you gladly gave him and the two of you studied until you got kicked out of the library.

It became little moments with tom like this that were special. Meeting tom in the library with coffee, tom jogging up to your dorm with pizza and books to study, borrowing his clothes when you got cold or him staying in your dorm for the night because his was simply ‘too far’.

The boys called him whipped, absolutely whipped. In fact, they were confused as to why it was You. Not some girl with half a shirt and smeared makeup ready to fuck, not some girl who’s jumping at every single party idea, not a girl who’s attached to tom as if he’s her life support. Just something simple this time was perfect.

Now it was a cold windy afternoon. You stayed the night at Toms place by accident since you studied until 2am. You curled up on Toms hard bed with soft blankets and tom laid opposite side and cuddled up with his own blanket. His lips would leave soft snores and you smile every time he’d try to cuddle into you and he’d wake up apologizing for holding you.

“I’m missing something I swear.” You opened your backpack and looked around his room. Thigh high boots, soft plaid mini skirt, simple cream sweater and you had a scarf but now it was gone.

“Are you sure?” He looks around and you sigh knowing if you keep looking you’ll be late.

“Yeah, it’s fine. It was just my scarf. I’ll see you later.” You pick up your bag and he stops you real quick.

“No, no, just wear mine. Here.” He wraps the thick black scarf around your neck. No, it doesn’t match your outfit but it’s adorable that he’s trying.

“Thanks. This is cute.” You feel the fuzzy and slightly scratchy material.

“My mum made it.” He says shyly and you smile at how innocent he is. “I’ll pick you up from class? So we can work on—“

“Your lines for your play, of course.” You smile before he grabs your hand just to touch it before he goes. “I’ll see you soon, Holland.” You smile trying not to be awkward. The boy of the schools dream was melting in the palm of your hand.

That was this morning. Now tom leaned against a cold light pole with a bagel, yogurt and an apple cider tea. Tom remembered on the first of September you smiled about the cider tea from the small cafe you would study at. Always have promising to take tom there and make him try it, so he hunted it down and picked up your favorites.

“Hey you!” You adjust your bag as you wrap your arms around him. You caught him slightly off guard and he somewhat jumped.

“Hey, How was it?” He asked as the two of you started walking.

“It was okay, I have an exam next week and thank god she told us today because I would’ve never been prepared.” You sigh and then look down at his hand. “What’s that?”

“These are for you.” He hands you the tea and the bagel. Your heart melts as he went out of his way to get you breakfast since you didn’t have time this morning.

“How’d you remember I like apple cider tea?” You asked and he shrugged as if it was nothing when in reality he listened to every single thing you tell him and wishes to give you every single thing you want.

“I think you mentioned it a while back.” He sniffles with how cold it is. You take a sip, the warm drink filling your body with bliss and tom watches as it does. How your shoulders shrug up and how your eyes shut to take in the moment.

“So, my dorm or yours?” You asked and he snaps out of his trance. He almost forgot the whole reason why he came to pick you up was because of his lines for the play he’s doing. “I think my roommate is out so if you want—“ you start and he shakes his head.

“My place is closer. All the boys have class or are just out.” He nods and you put the bagel in your bag as you walk with him. Your hand gently grazes his as you want to hold it but remind yourself that it’s not time yet, tom isn’t wanting anything serious and you have to remind yourself that.

There was something different about tom today. Something completely different. This morning when you woke up, in his bed, book stiff under your arm, his back to you as he let out soft snores, that was different. Maybe it was when he gave you his scarf, he had a few, some designer even because you knew he had money. No, he didn’t give you a Ralph Lauren scarf or any other pricey one to borrow. He gave you one that his mum made for him and it was a little small so he’s probably had the thing for years. Or maybe now, when he remembered your favorite autumn drink and went out of his way to go get it.

You two were changing. Almost like how the leaves changed on the trees. You were nervous, you weren’t supposed to end up with guys like him. Guys like him liked girls who were ready for everything. Ready for a party and a good time. Not girls who studied until they passed out on their books and certainly not girls who spent most of her days reading and writing for fun.

“Tom?” You stop and he turns around to stop too. No one was around, just you and him and the leaves falling from the oak trees.

“What is it?” He asks walking closer. He has a furrowed brow look because of your sudden stop.

“Why me?” You think aloud and he tilts his head with a few curls falling to the side.

“W-What are you talking about?” He comes closer and you look down at your shoes.

“I mean, the scarf, the tea, the bagel, the sleepovers, the study dates, you inviting me to your plays. I mean, maybe I’m reading this all wrong but I think you’ve got the wrong girl.” You step back and he places his hand on your arm.

“What do you mean ‘I’ve got the wrong girl’?” He asks and you look up.

“I’m not popular. I’m not a party animal, I’m not a sorority chick, I’m not staying up til 5am every Friday night I just...I don’t understand.” You felt stupid for saying anything, maybe you shouldn’t have said anything and now you might’ve just ruined one of your only friendships at this school.

“I don’t understand I thought you liked us hanging out? Do you think I expect that from you?” He steps forward and you feel your heart racing.

You read it wrong, maybe he was never flirting and this was just his personality, maybe he was just being nice and you fell for him and took every little nice thing he did as a sign.

“I do, I do, I love haning out with you I just...I feel like we’re something more and maybe I’m just reading into everything too much.” You shake your head and he looks away and tries to think of the right way to word everything.

“Maybe you’re not.” He taps his foot anxiously. He looks down at the both of your shoes to avoid eye contact.

“What?” You asked and he rocked back and forth on his heels.

“I mean...do you think I’m running around getting stuff for other people?” He jokes a little and you think about it. All the things he was doing for you he wasn’t doing for other people. Or was he?

“I mean—“ you start and he shakes his head.

“I’m not, I promise.” He looks up with a lopsided smile and reaches to touch the scarf he gave you this morning. “I think you should keep this.” He touches the black itchy material.

“Didn’t you say your mum—“ you start and he shakes his head.

“She makes one every single year, I have at least ten.” He speaks and you smile at how sweet that is. “What if we tried us out?” He asked and you gave him a head tilt.

“What do you mean?” You ask and he bites his lower lip.

“I mean like took our friendship to the next level and we ya know...started dating.” He was nervous, you made the party hard fratboy nervous.

“Are you doing this to get the math homework answers?” You tease and he rolls his eyes.

“I’m serious. If you’re not ready I under—“ He starts and you cut him off with a kiss on the cheek. You move your coffee into the hand with the bag and hold onto his.

“Don’t break my heart, Holland.” You tell him and he holds your hand tighter. He was going to try his best to not hurt you, or hurt himself but he knew that you were going to be the best thing that’s happened to him while he’s been at this college.

“I promise I won’t.”

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[lightsburnbrite]

Things We Do for Love: Part 2

(Third part to Such a Thrill and The Devil is in the Details)

As the months passed, Leon slowly started to form normalcy. His apartment resembled more of a bachelor’s pad as Karina’s personal items were removed. In an effort to get his mind off of things, it wasn’t uncommon for two or three of Leon’s friends to come and stay for weeks at a time and he genuinely appreciated the company but it didn’t replace the fact that Karina was gone. Mathea, never one to miss an opportunity, soon moved herself in and resumed her role as the doting girlfriend.

“Ha! I’ve found her.”

Leon let the basketball rebound off the floor before holding it still. Putting the net up in the living room seemed like both his best and worst idea to date. “What? Found who?”

“Karina.” Sebastian called back out. He wasn’t Leon’s official agent, but he acted in a managerial capacity in addition to being Leon’s close friend. “She’s listed on the website as the Associate Curator of European Art.”

Leon put the ball down and walked over to the sofa where Sebastian was lounging. He stopped short, trying to decide if he would feel better knowing where Karina was or if he would feel worse. “What website?”

“AGO.” Sebastian looked up from the screen at Leon. “Does Marius really not know where she is?”

Leon shook his head. “No. Their parents haven’t come out and said it but he figured they’d cut him off too if he tried to get in touch with her. What does AGO stand for?”

“Art Gallery of Ontario.” He turned his laptop towards Leon. “As in Ca-na-da, eh?”

Leon smirked at Sebastian’s over pronunciation but he couldn’t help but smile at Karina’s picture placed alongside her bio. She looked essentially the same, her hair might have been a bit longer and she had it straightened in this picture, but she looked genuinely happy. Leon knew that Karina had a “professional smile” that she used to counteract her natural inclination to frown but the smile she wore in her picture proved her to be happy and proud of this new position.

“Oh damn,”

Leon turned back to Sebastian who was on his phone now. “What now?”

“Looks like she’s got a new…” Sebastian hesitated. “Well, have a look.”

Sebastian had pulled facebook up on his phone but he didn’t know the person who’s profile it was. It was a picture of a group of six people at what looked to be an outdoor wedding reception, the bride and groom were placed in the middle with two people on either side. Karina stood to the very right, tucked neatly against the side of man who looked to be about the same age, her hand resting on his chest while his was placed low on her hip. Again, Karina smiled brightly while the man had more of a smirk and that instantly put Leon off him. He had been hoping maybe she was just the man’s plus one as a favor but then he read the caption and his heart sank.

Happy Siblings Day to these two weirdos. Loved having everyone together again at my wedding. Loved it even more that we finally got to meet baby brother’s new girlfriend who is the sweetest!

“What’s his name?” Leon looked over to Sebastian again. “Can you tell?”

Sebastian took his phone back and shrugged. “Look at the tagged names. Obviously we know Karina’s and if they are siblings then look for last names that are the same. Here we go…Cosmo is your guy. Or, I guess it’s more like her guy. Heh. What the fuck kind of name is Cosmo.”

Leon groaned but curiosity eventually got the better of him. At various points throughout the day, he was looking through multiple forms of social media belonging to a floppy haired hipster that had somehow caught Karina’s eye. He was mainly active on instagram, posting random landscapes and other seemingly artistic compositions. Leon was relieved that he didn’t see any pictures of Karina on there but when he came across a few pictures of Elsa, that was somehow worse. It had now become a serious relationship in his mind because Karina had allowed her beloved dog around this man.

Karina had effectively vanished from the face of the Earth in the 14 months since she left Leon. At first, Leon thought she had just blocked him but when she ‘liked’ one of his posts about a charity endeavor he and Joshua were working on, Leon realized she had just been silent. That initial ‘like’ broke the seal, it seemed, and just like that, she became active again. There were a few selfies and a few more pictures of Elsa but then came the pictures of Elsa and the new boyfriend. It wasn’t a blatantly obvious picture of the two of them, but he recognized the fragment of a roman numeral tattoo he had on his arm from other pictures.

While laying in bed one night, Leon was scrolling through pictures. Mathea moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, um..” Leon cleared his throat and thought of how he could explain that he was essentially stalking the new love interest of his estranged wife. “Karina has a new boyfriend.”

Mathea took his phone and looked at pictures of the two of them and sneered. “He’s got a big nose. Whatever, you’re hotter.”

It made Leon feel at least a bit better to hear her say that, but there was now way Mathea could be objective. He had decided to give Karina a call and see if she would actually answer. Karina had donated a sizable amount to his charity and calling to say thank you seemed to be a good reason. To his surprise, she answered.

“Hi Leon, what’s up?”

He instantly smiled. “Hey, Maus. I, uh, wanted to say thank you for your donation. That was really generous of you.”

“Of course.” She held the phone away and coughed. “You and Joshua are doing great things, I’m happy to help.”

“Right…” He nodded even though she wouldn’t be able to see him. He wanted to say it was good to hear her voice, that he was happy she was ok and hoped she was doing well but all of a sudden, the words came before he had the chance to stop himself. “Mathea found your wedding dress the other day. I guess I could ship it to you?”

“Oh, um, honestly, I don’t want it back. You can do what you want with it.” She hesitated. “Listen, Leon, I was thinking it’s time that we finalize things. We’re kinda in limbo right now and I think we both just need to move on. I’m going to be in Munich next week, would you be able to meet with our lawyers?”

Leon let out a sigh. She was right, but it still hurt him to hear it. “Um, yeah. We can do that.”

They sat in a meeting room around a circular table and had an unsurprisingly civil conversation.

“I see that you maintained separate accounts so that makes the division of assets somewhat more straightforward.” Leon’s lawyer shuffled some papers before addressing Karina specifically. “Will you be petitioning for spousal support, Ms. Müller?”

Karina shook her head. “No. I’m not asking for anything, I just want this to be finalized so we can move on.”

His lawyer nodded. “And you are fine with returning the ring and vacating the residence?”

“My client has already returned the ring and has maintained a residence in Toronto for the past year.” Karina’s lawyer interjected now. “We are mainly concerned with making sure that your client will not be trying to get anything from Ms. Müller.”

“I see there is a dog, was the animal obtained together-”

“Elsa belongs to Karina. I’m not contesting that.” Leon spoke up. “Any piece of artwork too, it’s all hers.”

“Ok,” Karina’s lawyer responded. “Both parties agree to part with what they entered the marriage with. Is this correct?”

“I don’t know…I guess i just feel like…” Leon sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I feel like we’re rushing things along.”

Karina sat perfectly still in the chair next to him, straight as a pin. “Leon, we’ve been separated for over a year, it’s time for us to move on.”

Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, Leon sighed again and tried to wrap his mind around how their relationship had progressed to this point. “Alright. What do you need me to sign?”

Once the papers were signed and notarized, their lawyers shook hands and departed leaving Leon and Karina to sit in silence.

“Do, um…” Leon was getting frustrated with how hesitant he was feeling. “Would you want to get dinner tonight?”

Karina opened her mouth before frowning slightly. “Leon, that sounds very nice but I’m not sure if that’s the best idea.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s just this feels like a shitty way to close things.” He shrugged. “I thought this would be an ok way to make it up to you.”

She started to say that there was no need to make anything up to her, she held no ill will towards him but ultimately she thought better of it and simply nodded. Karina would have rather done anything else than to sit down to dinner with him but considered it one last good faith effort before moving on completely.

Leon set the reservations at the restaurant of the Charles hotel where Karina was staying. He had done so out of convenience for Karina, she knew that, but she also knew he had probably forgotten the time when they sat in the same restaurant and she confessed that she was hopelessly in love with him.

With a sigh, she pulled a simple black shirt dress from the closet and made sure it hadn’t gotten too wrinkled in travel. After deciding that her hair and makeup were fine, Karina checked at the front desk but was shown to the table despite Leon having not arrived yet.

She glanced over the menu but didn’t see anything that really jumped out at her so she let her eyes wander around the restaurant. Karina looked up towards the entrance just in time to see Leon holding the door open for Mathea who was wearing the same dress Karina wore to their wedding. Seeing the two of them walk in together caused Karina’s stomach to plummet to the floor. She saw a server pass and she held up one finger to flag him down. “I’m sorry, could I get a double vodka soda with a slice of lemon, please? Thanks.”

She stood as they were ushered to the table, avoiding any sort of eye contact as they sat down.

Leon smiled and placed a hand on her forearm. “You look great, Mausi.”

Karina smiled but more out of a desire to be polite. Mathea being there to begin with put her on edge, but the display of affection from Leon only made it worse.

Mathea didn’t pass up the opportunity to look her over from head to toe, ending her gaze with a smirk. “Do you ever wear anything with color?”

“Rarely.” Leon had to stop himself from laughing as Karina delivered the line deadpan.

Her expression turning to a sneer, Mathea would not let Karina get away with besting her. “You look like a nun only there’s the problem of your devil worship-”

“Mathea, enough.” Leon cut in now, attempting to keep a somewhat civil conversation.

“It’s nice to see you as well, Mathea.” Karina offered a kind but entirely forced smile. “A bit unexpected if I do say so, especially in that dress.”

Mathea grinned. “It’s lovely, isn’t it? I needed to have it taken in, I was practically swimming in it before!”

Leon immediately ducked his head. “Sorry, I thought you’d be bringing…sorry.”

“Bringing who?” She pressed him, curious as to who Leon would have had in mind.

He inhaled deeply. “I thought your boyfriend would have come with you.”

“Nope. Just me.” Karina forced a smile. “No boyfriend.”

“Hmm.” Mathea smiled more smugly now. “That’s a shame. Leon and I just got back from Ibiza, we had a great time together with Marius.”

“Lovely.” Karina nodded slightly, attempting not to bristle at the mention of her brother. “Glad you had fun.”

Leon went on about various events and goings on, seemingly oblivious to Mathea’s desire to agitate Karina and Karina’s subsequent distress.

“You know,” Mathea looked over to Leon and smiled fondly. “I’ve always wanted to see what you call ‘the big house’. I’ve always wondered of it really was that big.”

Leon hesitated, knowing that would be a sore spot. “No, that’s not really-”

“It's being rented, actually,” Karina hadn’t intended it to be a jab but the shocked look plastered on Mathea’s face was incredible satisfying. “About eight months ago.”

Mathea shook her head. “No, you had no right to do that without consulting us. What if we wanted to use it? I thought it would make a nice setting for a wedding.”

“A wedding…” She spoke softly and did her best not to show her irritation that Mathea was even part of this discussion. “It's my house, my estate. I discussed my thoughts with Olga and she was ready to move on as well. Apparently Marwin told her that he didn’t want me to feel weighed down by the house and should sell it if I wanted to. I thought about that but I didn't want to part with it because of my memories with Marwin there.”

It wasn't intentional, but Karina enjoyed watching Leon flinch when she mentioned wanting to hold on to her memories of Strohmann.    

“But you were married. Leon should have gotten half.” Mathea was practically scowling now. “Or spousal support.”

Leon held his hands up. “No. There is no reason for me to ask anything of Karina just because she’s worth more than I am. I’m not going to be petty or vindictive because you want a bigger place to live.”

The waiter had arrived with Karina’s drink and prepared to take their orders as well when she stopped him. “Thank you, but I think I’m actually just going to take this to my room. If you could charge their meal to my room as well?”

Slightly dumbfounded, the waiter nodded as Karina stood and raised her glass to Mathea and Leon. “Enjoy.”

Back in her room, Karina drained her glass quickly. The alcohol hit her hard on an empty stomach but it wasn’t enough to numb her yet. She grabbed the room service menu and ordered a dinner she would appreciate much more than anything at Sofia’s and a bottle of Prosecco to wash it down with.

Leon was visibly sullen for the rest of the evening which only frustrated Mathea.

“What are you so pissed about?” Mathea sat in the passenger seat and sulked.

It took Leon a minute to respond. “You could have pretended to be nice.”

“Sorry? I just figured we’re never going to like each other and we’re never going to see her again so why bother?” She reached over and rested her hand on his thigh. “Besides, we can actually talk about getting married now.”

Leon didn’t respond. He figured it would be better to wait to tell her that he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to get married again.