#spy also has the urges but he is better at taming them

[homkamiro]

Oral fixation boy

[snothing]

Mar’i’s going on a date Drabble

I wrote this a while ago, and never really finished it. I decided oh what the hell and posted it. Sorry for any spelling mistakes! 

Also, love triangles, jealousy, and protective (immature) twin brother galore! 

“I can’t go on the mission tonight.”

Seven pairs of eyes peered at the seventeen-year-old Prince of Tamaran. Jake was out of his Nightwing uniform, donning instead a comfortable pair of blue jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt. He looked out of place amongst his fellow Titans, who were all donning their superhero uniforms.

“Are you joking, Grayson?” Damian growled, getting up from the monitors. The Boy Wonder stalked right up to Jake, the opaque lens of his mask glared at the younger boy. “We’ve been staking out the warehouse for an entire week! You can’t just bail now.”

“Yeah, Jake. There’s literally a shipment coming in tonight,” Lian spoke up, arms crossed. She tried her best to rein in her disappointment, but the displeasure was evident in her features.

“Sorry, guys,” Jake responded sheepishly. “Sometimes things just pop up, but hey, tomorrow, I’ll be back in duty and ready to unleash some Tamaranean hell.”

“Like that’ll do us any good,” Jai West snorted. “You’re like one of our heavy hitters.”

Irey was inclined to agree with her brother. “Yeah, Jake. We could really use you in the air with Jon. Are you sure you can’t come tonight?”

Jake shook his head apologetically. “Positive. Look, I’m really sorry, guys. I know I really dropped the ball on this, but it’s really out of my hands.”

“Tell me, Grayson,” Damian narrowed his eyes. He resisted the urge to look up. Even though they were only two years apart, Jake held two inches over him, a source of contention for the ex-assassin. “What’s more important than stopping an illegal shipment of kryptonite firearms?”

Jake glared and stood his ground. “It’s personal.”

“Oh come on, Jake,” Jon elbowed him. “You can’t just quit on a mission like that and not tell us.”

“Yeah, tell us, Jake!” Colin Wilkes sang from the couch. “And we were supposed to get nachos after, remember? How can you say no to nachos with your bro?”

In a blink, Jai was behind him, looping an arm around his neck. A friendly smile played on his mouth. “Whatcha got that’s so important, Jakey baby? Got a hot date or something, hmm?”

Lian frowned as she eyed Jake sharply. “Well?”

“Oooh, look at his face! Jake’s gonna see his girlfriend tonight!” Jai teased, oblivious to the darkening cloud on Lian’s face. “He’s gonna get some of that-” he made crude thrusting gestures.

“Ew, Jai, stop it!” Irey scolded, hands on her hips. She smiled kindly at Jake. “Jake’s a gentlemen. He’d never be so vulgar.”

“You should hear him when we game,” Cerdian grumbled. “Boy’s got a foul mouth.”

“It’s okay, bud,” Collin patted his shoulder understandingly. “I’d chose a lady over nachos any day.”

“Tt. Figures, Grayson,” remarked Damian, haughty. “You can at least try to take this job seriously. If you weren’t so busy thinking with your-“

“I’m not going on a date!” Jake blurted out. “Mar’i is!”

Oh shit. He was not supposed to say that.

The shadows on Lian’s face disappeared. She let out a sigh of relief but slyly cast a glance at the gobsmacked Robin and SuperBoy. They looked as if Jake had slapped them in the face.

“What?” Jon asked, failing to keep the crack in his voice at bay. Beautiful, studious Mar’iand’r Grayson— his secret crush of THREE years— was going on a date— with someone— who was not him? “Mar’i? Date?”

Damian tried to tame the storm on his face, knowing damn well that Harper and Wilkes were analyzing his every move. Still, even he could not help asking dumbly, “Mar’i as in your sister?”

“What other Mar’i would it be,” Lian chided before grinning micheviously. She knew she was treading in dangerous territory, but the chaotic side of her couldn’t resist. “She’s going on a date? That’s great! It’s about damn time someone asked that girl out!”

Lian swore she could feel someone’s heat vision on her, but whose, she was not quite sure. Damian would no doubt make her pay in training later.

“No, not great, Lian!” Jake retorted, cross. “The pokar’s name is,” he paused to gag dramatically, “Brendon.”

“Oh, I remember her talking about Brendon!” Collin said thoughtfully. “They’re both in the Astrophysics club at your school, right? She said he was a senior?”

“Ooh! Mar’i’s dating a senior!” Irey exclaimed happily. “How exciting!”

Jake, Damian, and Jon all shot the speedster a glare. “Yes, Brendon. He asked her out yesterday. Said he wants to take her to get milkshakes and,” Jake stopped to shudder, “tour the observatory.”

“Oh, that’s kind of romantic, right? They’re both into space stuff— well, she’s from another planet! I think it’s sweet,” Irey tried to appease him.

“It’s tacky,” Damian snorted, arms crossed. “Who takes a girl to get a cold beverage and see stars? Overplayed and overrated.”

“Not to mention racist! Yeah, take the alien girl to an observatory! She has other interests, too, you know! Like gardening, old movies, and birdwatching!” Jon snipped. The team was shocked to see him react this way; he was characteristically optimistic, rarely ever showing aggression outside the battlefield, and now, he looked ready to explode.

“Don’t you think you three are being too harsh?” Lian asked, eyebrow raised. “It probably took a lot of courage for this guy to ask Mar’i out.”

“Uh, no, Lian, I don’t,” Jake answered, indignant. Lian promptly rolled her eyes.

Damian turned to him. “Does Grayson know about this?”

“Uh, yeah, Damian, I’d think Mar’i’d know if she were going on a date.”

“Not Mar’i, idiot. Your father!” Damian snapped. Dick was very protective of his children, especially his darling Mar’i. 

“Use our first names, dummy! If you hadn’t notice, my mom, my sister, me, and my dad all share the same last name!” Jake shot back. “And of course, he does! He’s not happy about it either, but Mom-- the traitor-- made him agree to it!”

“So what are you going to do, Jake?” Lian inquired. She eyed him suspiciously. “You better not be thinking about ruining her date.”

“Do I look like I have a death wish? She’d kill me if I did that!”

“Then what? Last time I checked, Mar’i was the same age as you, and —get this— totally capable of making her own damn decisions!”

“I disagree with Harper, ruin the date.”

“Damian!”

“I’m not going to ruin the date. I am simply going to ensure this Brendon behaves in an honorable fashion,” Jake interjected. 

Lian frowned. “So you’re gonna spy on them?”

“Yeah, essentially,” Jake conceded. “But I’d like to say reconnaissance. This ‘Brendon’ is perhaps a form of ooze monster in disguise. If that’s the case, her dear brother Jake is here to save the day! And hopefully, she’ll see that dating is gross and never do it again.”

“You’re absolutely ridiculous, you know that?” Lian sighed, exasperated. She always knew there would come a day when Mar’i would go on a date and Jake would freak out, but honestly, she expected it would either be Damian or Jon. She could not even imagine the fallout from that.

Jon cut in, placing a hand on Jake’s shoulder. Normally, he’d never condone something this immature, but today, he would make an exception. “I don’t think so Jake. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

A grin blossomed on Jake’s face. Feeling validated, he turned to the archer, a smug grin on his face. “Thank you, Jon! See, Lian, at least someone understands me! I’m just doing my brotherly duties. 

Lian rolled her eyes. 

[herstrayskies]

Hi @lumiccu!! I was your Noragami Secret Santa! I was so excited to get matched up with you since I really adore your art and we always seem to promote and support each other on here and Insta!

Anyways, you mentioned that Ebisu and Nora were your favorite characters. So I kind of came up with this headcanon that teen Ebisu first met and named Nora in her fish-like form. I even wrote a short story to go with it. I hope you like it! Wishing you well and Happy Holidays! 

Also thanks to @noragamisecretsantas for organizing this wonderful event. 

Read the story below or on AO3. 

Guilty Scales

“I’ve heard rumors of a God taming Ayakashi,” Father’s voice hummed over the crackling fire. 

“Oh?” chimed Mizuchi. She scratched at a newly given name on her forearm, half hoping it would flake off like dried mud. 

“It would be a shame not to learn his wisdom on the subject,” the floorboard creaked as he got up from his seat, his footsteps echoed around the empty room of the hut as he walked closer.

She stared into the fire wishing Yaboku were here to chime in on the subject. He’d get mad with each new name she was granted and he wouldn’t be afraid to say it. Mizuchi, however, was a good girl and did whatever her father told her. Including keeping her mouth shut while collecting names on her skin in order to spy upon the Heavens and Gods among them. 

His hands rested gently on her shoulders, “Mizuchi, would you mind looking into Ebisu for me? I know he’s one of the seven, but if anyone can get into his threshold, it’s you.” 

His praise warmed her heart like the fire that slowly warmed her frosted toes. She tilted her head up and looked at his loving smile glowing in the light of the flames. It was a smile she knew was genuine, unlike so many others she had seen before. Her hand dropped from her raw, exposed skin and placed it on top of his. “Of course, Father.” 

“That’s my girl.” 

__________________________

It didn’t take her long to track him down. Word of mouth was that he liked to fish in a certain spot where the mountains overlooked the water, where fish were aplenty and people were scarce. She did, however, find it odd that he was out in the dead of night when the stars shined brightly in the sky and the snow started to settle into the valley. 

It was cold in the water, even in Mizuchi’s fish-like form. She could feel the cold seeping underneath her scales and deep into her lungs. She wished she were back in the warm hut with Father, the heat of the fire lapping against her frosted cheeks. She settled for the sting of the freezing water instead and sunk deeper into the abyss. She imagined Father’s proud and affirming praise after she came back with a granted name from the God of Wealth. 

Bubbles floated up from a spurt of laughter at the thought as she watched said God pull fish after fish out of the water. He released them all into a bucket that rested beside him. With each new catch, he’d stare into the pail, smiling at his collection. He was like a little kid in wonder of all the creatures he had at the palm of his hand. 

How silly it was. He was a God. He could have or do anything he wanted and here he was, fishing without a care in the world. 

“You know, I might be really into my fish right now but I’ve noticed your presence since the moment you’ve arrived.”

For once Mizuchi was surprised to get spotted among the dark waters. Her level of stealth would usually startle even the bravest of Gods when she finally approached them from a cloak of darkness. How did he know she was there?

“It must be cold,” his gaze never left the pail, “ join me and tell me why you’re here.” 

She swam closer to the ledge and spat out at his almost cocky attitude. “and why would I do that?” It was one thing that she was spotted before she could think of an approach but to expect her to do his bidding made her sick. She held back the urge to rise from the water and make him see what he was really up against. Not just some little girl but a powerful spirit ready to do whatever it took to get him to grant her a name.

He sighed and looked to the sky, “Why does a lonesome spirit feel the need to wade in a freezing current to spy on a waste of a God like me.” 

She didn’t expect such a response from him. Not from Ebisu, the God that was prayed to and believed by so many. Weird, his following didn’t seem to match his confidence. 

He readjusted his position so that he was facing forward, eye to eye. His head cocked to the side as if inspecting her. “Are you blighted? There’s some discoloration on your-” his hand tentatively reached out to touch her cheek.

The gesture startled her and in a defensive way, her body moved on its own. Her scaled tail surged out of the water before it slapped across the surface, causing waves and ripples to surge around her. She expected fear and horror in his expression but what she saw was nothing of the sorts. 

His eyes twinkled with delight and wonder like the stars above him. His smile stretched across from ear to ear as he knelt closer to the disturbed surface. He was in awe of what he saw and dared to get a better look. “You’re not some regular ole’ spirit, are you?” 

Mizuchi stared at him without a single word, her tail wading back and forth. She watched his eyes follow the movement of her tail before they flicked towards her name covered arm as she wiped a droplet from her lashes.  

“Sorry if I stepped out of some boundaries. I only wanted to help.”

She stayed quiet, unsure of his motivations.

He extended his hands outward again and smiled. “I’m Ebisu, but you probably already knew that, or else you wouldn’t be here. Did you come to me looking for a name?" 

"A name?” He’d grant a name to a stray without question? What kind of God was he?

“Yes, you must have heard that I take in strays too, correct? I’m very accepting of anyone as long as they can help my cause.”

Mizuchi scoffed at his words, “so let me guess, you’re one of those Gods? Using wandering strays for nothing but your own dirty work. Once we’ve done the job we’re needed for we’re tossed aside like some used object.”  Why was she so angered when she knew more than half the Gods used her in this way. Words came out that she would never let escape the tip of her tongue before. She didn’t feel like biting it for once. 

“Almost all of my men are strays and I treat them all the same as if they weren’t. Why should anyone treat them differently? Because you are called by another name by someone else? How barbaric,” he looked annoyed with her assumptions. 

“Gods don’t like sharing property.” 

Ebisu laughed, “Property! You aren’t property! You are people! People who have walked this earth and have lived a part of life. You are the spirits that didn’t want to give up and wanted to try again. This part of your life doesn’t need to involve technicalities like names and owners. So what if you have multiple names? Don’t humans walk through life being called something different by every other person they meet? Whether it be their true given name, nickname or a title. Daughter, son, sister, brother, mother, father, wife, husband, lover, friend. What’s one more? What’s to say the name I give you won’t be your favorite passing in this new life?” 

Mizuchi felt the nagging guilt slowly drift off her given names, wading deep into the bed of rubble below her. They were words she had never had the pleasure of hearing before. Something that made her feel accepted and not just a dirty name to be whispered among the Gods. 

For the first time she could remember, Mizuchi swallowed her pride. “What is your cause, Ebisu?”

His smile returned as he watched her stretch her hand towards him. He held onto it gently and said, “To bring peace to the world around us,” he paused to raise his other hand to start the naming enchantment, “like no one has before." 

She almost didn’t hear his words over his bright, genuine smile and the glow of a name forming in the air.  

__________________________

"What a good girl you are Mizuchi! I knew you could do it!” Father ruffled the top of her head and wrapped a warm blanket around her. The fire once again roared in front of her and she started to feel the tip of her nose again. 

“Thank you, Father.” For some reason, his praise wasn’t as warm and joyous as she remembered. It was nowhere near as warm as his hand.

“And what did you learn about him so far?" 

Mizuchi stared at the fire hoping the embers would help her withhold her secret for just one night. He’s a forgiving and accepting God. She held her tongue and brushed her fingertips across the name Tōki. 

"Nothing yet, Father.”

[mst3kproject]

War of the Gargantuas

I know it’s not fair to go WTF, Japan? Japan has an entire film industry that I am mostly unfamiliar with.  They produce spy thrillers and romcoms and historical dramas in far greater numbers than they do weird-ass monster movies, and I really shouldn’t judge other countries’ cinema when I come from the land that produced Phil the Alien and Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter.  But then I watch something like War of the Gargantuas and I just… WTF, Japan?

In the first three minutes of this movie, a giant octopus with pulsating red eyes attacks a ship, but a shaggy green giant shows up, pounds the mollusk into submission… and then sinks the boat himself because fuck boats, I guess.  The Maritime Safety Board call the heavily medicated Dr. Paul Stuart, who had a ‘young gargantua’ in captivity a few years ago.  The creature escaped, but Dr. Stuart and his assistant Akemi insist that it was very gentle and tame, and could never have grown into such a monster. Further investigation reveals that there are two gargantuas, the green one living in the sea and a brown one up in the mountains – and that the green one grew, Reptilicus-style, from a scrap of flesh lost by the brown one!  This means, sure enough, that if you blow them to bits you’ll end up with a whole army of the things.  Fortunately, no movie with more than one kaiju in it has ever ended without the two of them fighting to the death!

Actually, the ending is way stupider than that. The two giants are in the ocean, kicking each other’s asses, when deus ex volcano suddenly erupts underneath them. This sucked in Legend of the Dinosaurs and sure enough, it sucks here, too.  It does provide a solution to the thing where any still-living scrap will grow back, but it renders everything the human characters have done ultimately pointless.

That means, yep, this is yet another movie in which the so-called heroes do nothing! Stuart and Akemi definitely get the most screen time.  They travel from place to place, looking for clues and having dull conversations, and a couple of times Akemi gets into peril so that Stuart and the brown giant can save her, but they never really do anything.  Nick Adams as Stuart looks like he has about as much idea what’s going on as Tom Holland in any given Avengers movie.  Judging by the movements of his lips, he’s speaking English while his co-stars’ lines are in Japanese, so it’s entirely possible he really doesn’t know what anybody’s saying.  He wanders around and mutters his lines like he’s high as a kite.

The closest Stuart and Akemi come to doing anything important is in flashback, where we get a brief look at them raising the baby gargantua they found somewhere.  This creature looks like a cross between bigfoot and one of those Japanese hot spring monkeys, and we’re supposed to infer a special bond between him and Akemi as she teaches him to drink with a straw.  In the movie proper, our supposed heroes urge the military not to blow the giants apart, and insist that the brown one is nice and should be allowed to live.  They fail, unequivocally, in both of these endeavors.  The army just keeps shooting at the giants with or without permission, and the general decides that the brown giant is an acceptable loss if they can kill the green one.  It might have worked slightly better if Brown had been saved by chance at the end, but he isn’t – the volcanic eruption consumes them both.

Since Stuart and Akemi don’t do much, the closest thing we have to an arc in this movie is, believe it or not, the two monsters. They represent the two sides of the kaiju coin – green is the monster that destroys humans, brown is the gentle creature that protects them.  The dual nature of Godzilla and his brethren was sufficiently well-established by 1966 that this might be an intentional attempt to comment on the genre, and it’s presented far more explicitly than the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ of monsters in a lot of films.  Brown is good and leaves humans alone, except when they need his help – then he goes so far out of his way to save Akemi than he actually breaks a leg when a boulder falls on it.  Green is evil, and actively seeks out humans to hurt them.

Green’s behaviour is at times quite shocking for a movie of this type.  In a lot of Japanese monster movies, particularly the ones in which the monsters become characters rather than mere forces of nature, human deaths are more implied than shown.  We may get shots of people running and screaming and debris falling, and that one guy hanging on to the tree in every single movie that ever had Rodan in it. The aftermath may show people in shelters or hospitals, but the monsters fight in empty streets and we’re often told that the cities they’re smashing have been evacuated.  Even when people do die, it’s more as a side effect of a giant creature moving around in a restricted environment.  The green giant, however, actually picks up humans and eats them, spitting out the bloody clothes when he’s done!  More than once we are actually shown somebody screaming in his grip as he raises the unfortunate victim to his mouth!

This dichotomy could provide the monsters with a good reason to fight, with a lot at stake for the humans, but War of the Gartantuas doesn’t make proper use of the idea.  We are never given a clear motive for the conflict that develops between the two giants.  When we first see them together, Brown is rescuing Green from the humans who want to hurt him, helping him hide from them and cleaning his wounds.  This brotherly relationship falls apart immediately once Brown rescues Akemi, but Green was not the one who put Akemi in danger. Perhaps Brown takes exception to Green eating people, but he never sees Green do that, either.  Perhaps he’s supposed to be upset that Green has turned the humans against them both, but the scene in which tourists run screaming from a giant, we can’t see well enough to know if it’s Brown or Green.  A little more insight into what the two monsters think of each other and how those feelings change could have been quite interesting.

All this means that even though War of the Gargantuas sounds like it should be ridiculous enough to be a good time, it doesn’t really have a lot to offer.  On a level of plot and visuals, this one emerges straight from the pits of WTF Japan that gave us Godzilla vs Megalon and Prince of Space. We have two hairy ogre-faced giants and a gratuitous monster octopus!  We’ve got laser gun battles and pretty women in peril and plot twists that make no goddamn sense!  Unfortunately, we’re never sufficiently interested in any of these characters, even the monsters, to really care, and the stupid ending leaves us wondering what happened to the WTF Japan movie we started with.  I cannot decide if the film takes itself too seriously or not seriously enough, but I feel like a slight nudge in either direction might have done wonders.

In This Island Earth the characters were pretty useless but at least their were some nice things to look at.  War of the Gargantuas doesn’t even have much by way of spectacle.  Some of the mountain scenery is very nice and tehre’s at least one very pretty matte painting, but there’s very little destruction of miniatures outside of one absolutely stellar moment when Green picks up a row of tanks, one by one, and throws them – each one lands squarely on somebody’s house, which is utterly destroyed… because fuck houses too, they’re basically land boats, am I right? Having discovered that the green giant is afraid of light, the army tries to fight it with lasers.  The effect for this is okay but not very interesting, and there are a couple of shots in which the giant costume is definitely on fire.  I hope the guy inside it was okay.

Insofar as the movie has anything to say, there’s some vestige present of a point about the trouble that develops when wildlife becomes acclimatized to a human presence.  At the beginning of the movie, the green gargantua is afraid of light, and so both the army and civilians use light to force him back into the ocean.  Later, however, he realizes that light means people and people mean food.  This is somewhat similar to what happens when bears, for example, learn that they can get food from campgrounds.  The bears leave their natural niches to go for these easier meals, thus putting both themselves and the humans in danger.  The situation is magnified in the movie because people are literally what Green eats, although it never tells us how or why he developed a taste for them.

If this were intended, then the movie neuters it just as it neuters the main human characters, by ending in a volcanic eruption. It’s a dumb coincidence that sucks all the impact out of the film like a narrative black hole.

War of the Gargantuas has also got one of the worst musical numbers I’ve ever seen in a movie, including some of the crap that was on MST3K!  There’s a gratuitous song performed by a terrible singer (the song itself is not very good, but it’s mostly her) on a restaurant balcony, oblivious to the monster looming up behind her.  I can just hear Tom and Crow chanting “eat her!  Eat her!” while Jonah tries helplessly to convince them that’s wrong.

[greyvestboy]

Fate Grand Order - Poppaea Sabina

Class : Ruler

Ruler true name is Poppaea Sabina (also known as Poppaea Sabina the younger). Beautiful and intelligent, she is Nero Claudius second wife. During Nero’s reign as Emperor, he shown hatred toward Christians but she manage to tamed that hatred. According to Jewish historian Josephus, he describes her as a very religious woman who urged Nero to show compassion towards the Jews.

- My version of Type Moon-esque style story-

Even though Nero is responsible for the execution of her first husband, she held no grudges against him. During her second marriage with Otho, She caught the attention of Nero. Initially she resist all of Nero’s advancements. Soon Nero divorces his first wife Claudia and forces Otho to divorce Poppaea, to make way for Nero to married Poppaea.

Poppaea manage to change Nero for the better, increasing his popularity with the people. When she gives birth to their first child, She has been granted the title Augusta. Unfortunately three months later the baby dies. Soon after 2 failed attempt of assassination, Nero becomes easily agitated and paranoia. He kept seeing everyone as the enemy even his own wife. After a couple of failed attempt of strangling her (Due to his paranoia). Poppaea sends her own spy to find the true perpetrator responsible for the assassinations. (Along the way she becomes pregnant with Nero’s second child) Unfortunately, the information about the Pisonian conspirators comes to Nero first during the night of their argument. Nero in his paranoia suspects that she is part of the Pisonian Conspiracy.

With the information he receives, he sets a trap by gathering all of the Pisonian Conspirators, his wife Poppaea, His mother Agrippina and his former tutor Seneca (whom he also suspects part of the conspiracy) in a senate hall for a meeting. When long they waited for the Emperor, Poppaea reads the information she receives from her spy earlier and realize the gathering is a trap. When she try to leave, she is stopped by Praetorian guards. When all of them realizes it, it was too late. The senate hall engulfed in flames killing all of them all inside. The fire quickly spreads across the city of Rome which would becomes the Great Fire of Rome.

After Nero realizes what he has done, He becomes distraught and went into a deep mourning. Later he marries a boy name Sporus because of his uncanny resemblance of Poppaea Sabina.

If there’s anything Nero really regrets, is that killing his beloved wife and only wishes to reunited again with her.

Happy Valentine’s Day All !

[redrobinfection]

Coffee, Coffee Everywhere, Epilogue

<< Part 20

This is the final part to the Coffee, Coffee Everywhere series! Or, at least, this is the last part I will be writing for the main series - I will write brief drabbles in the ‘verse, by request, when requests are open, so if you have any ideas for future parts, hold on to them... I may open ask requests soon ;3. Thank you to user ‘SummoningSecrets’ on Ao3 for leaving the comment that inspired this epilogue, and many, many thanks to everyone who has read, liked, reblogged any part of the series!!!

~*~

"Good Morning, Master Timothy."

Tim turned away from the coffee maker, lowering the mug from his lips, and murmured a quiet good morning to Alfred as he entered the manor's kitchen.

The mug caught his gaze and he paused. The corners of his mouth twitched into what Tim knew to be the Alfred-equivalent of a fond smile. "It's good to see you've moved past your temporary aversion to coffee and have returned to your normal habits," he commented dryly, eyes twinkling.

His tone of chagrined amusement didn't escape Tim, who huffed a quiet laugh. "It's not as bad as you think. This" - he waved the modestly-sized mug - "is my first and last cup this morning, and it's not even full strength."

"Oh?" Alfred raised an inquisitive eyebrow challengingly.

Tim's lips twisted into a uncertain smile. "I'm starting at two cups a day, one decaf and one regular, decaf in the morning and, strange as it is to say it, regular at night, right before patrol." He twisted the mug around in his hands absently, brow furrowing as he searched around for the right way to frame his reasons. "I know how bad that sounds, but that combination has worked out best for my sleep and wake cycle."

Alfred nodded understandingly. "That would make a fair bit of sense considering that six at night probably feels, in all likelihood, more like morning to you than six in the morning does," he commented. Tim blinked as he considered that, then nodded slowly. Put like that, it made a lot of sense why saving most of his caffeine for nights had worked out so well so far.

"Oh, and I also have a cup of green tea at lunch to keep me going until the afternoon nap, and then a bit of chocolate here and there, but that's about it," Tim added, taking a nervous sip of his decaf as he waited for any hint of disapproval, but none came.

Instead Alfred granted Tim one of his rare, overt smiles and nodded in approval. "Very good, Master Tim. It seems you've found a healthy balance for your caffeine intake. Now it will be a matter of maintaining that balance…" he trailed off, giving Tim a mild warning glare.

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. Every now and then the temptation to binge on coffee or chug an energy drink pops up, but to be completely honest, I like how I feel without the excess caffeine in my system that whenever the urges hit, I just laugh at them." He shook his head and smiled down at his coffee. "I've been there, done that and I am done with all of that."

Alfred's quiet smile took on a proud tinge, a look he reserved for occasions such as Jason agreeing to come home for Thanksgiving or Bruce telling one of the Batkids how much he loved them. "I'm glad to hear it, Master Tim. So I suppose that means no more crazy coffee-flavored cooking adventures?"

Tim chuckled and tapped his fingers against the mug nervously. "Well, no new ones at least, and when I make the meringues and coffee pasta now, I use strictly decaf instant coffee," he explained, raising his mug for a sip. Alfred raised an eyebrow skeptically and Tim choked. "R-Real decaf, that is," he clarified quickly, hiding his sheepish grin under the rim of his mug as he took another hasty sip.

Alfred nodded sagely, the amused twinkle in his eye at odds with the firm line of his mouth. "Very good, Master Tim. We'll make a self-responsible young man of you yet." He grinned and Alfred surprised him by ruffling his hair fondly - a very rare gesture of affection from the stately old butler - as he glided past Tim on the way to the refrigerator. He began pulling out materials for breakfast.

"I suppose the only trouble now will be convincing your father and brothers to believe you are capable of such growth," Alfred commented drily as he began cracking eggs into a bowl.

"What?"

"I happened to overhear Masters Jason and Dick discussing with Miss Stephanie the odds of your return to obsession the other night," Alfred explained. He shook his head. "It would seem some of your siblings have taken bets as to when you would decline into a relapse."

"Did they?" Tim asked, forcefully keeping his tone light all the while his expression darkened. Alfred noticed, of course, and nodded in commiseration.

"Indeed. From the little I overheard and from the few things I've noticed here and there, it seems most of the family, including Master Bruce himself, have entered the betting pool. The average duration wagered upon is three weeks from the day you resume consuming caffeinated beverages, and Miss Stephanie seems to think you will last twelve days, two short of Master Jason's guess of a single fortnight," Alfred informed him drily, his exasperation with the lot of them shining through clearly.

Tim felt a flare of annoyance but smiled tightly at the elderly butler. "Thank you for letting me know, Alfred. I'll put this intelligence to good use." The one-time spy uttered a demure "of course" but Tim saw the satisfied cast to his expression. Tim tapped his chin thoughtfully. With Alfred on his side…

"I guess if they're all so sure I'll fall back into bad habits I'll just have to prove them wrong," Tim mused out loud, his eyes taking on a wicked gleam as several ideas occurred to him. "Twelve days, huh…?"

Alfred gave him a piercing look then nodded, a sharp gleam of amusement lighting up his own eyes. "I suppose you will, Master Tim."

---

The next day, four days since he had started drinking coffee again, Tim made a point to drink a second mug of something very dark at breakfast, and if Bruce and Damian thought that it was another mug of coffee, then shame on them for jumping to conclusions.

The day after that he had three mugs of coffee-looking beverages with breakfast, alternating between shooting innocent looks at the family members who were giving him side-eye and sharing conspiratorial grins with Alfred behind their backs.

That night, before patrol, he poured decaf coffee grinds into an empty "Regular" container and intentionally waited until someone came into the kitchen before making his nightly coffee, very deliberately leaving the container out on the counter with the label clearly displayed. He made a full pot, poured the entire thing into the mega mug, and had to stifle a laugh at the wide-eyed look Dick gave him as he walked out. He only drank half and snuck the other half into the back of the fridge for a quick iced-coffee the next morning.

After patrol he made himself another large mug of coffee which he made certain to wave around before heading up to shower. He wished he could have snapped a shot of Bruce and Jason's faces respectively - they were like mirror images of stony shock and disapproval. Like father like son? Jason would love that comparison. Tim didn't drink the ridiculously watered down decaf, but just so he wouldn't waste the water, and in full defiance of that one time Jason told him never to shower in coffee, he used the cooled coffee to rinse the shampoo out of his hair.

As planned, he returned the mug to the kitchen just before Jason was about to head up, letting him know in passing that he hadn't drunk the entire mug, and then asking if his hair smelled like coffee. Tim really wished he'd had his camera then so he could have documented the priceless expressions on Jason's face as he went through the full range of emotions, from laughably relieved to dramatically alarmed to full-force horrified as he surreptitiously leaned in for a sniff.

At lunch the next day, he showed up to his smoothie "date" with Steph already carrying a Venti cup from Starbucks, and he ordered a "Café Loco" with regular coffee without a trace of hesitation. Steph looked as if she'd been force fed a whole lemon. Tim struggled not to laugh throughout the entire lunch as he switched back and forth between the Starbucks and the smoothie and Steph winced every time. Too bad she didn't think to ask what was in that Venti cup - the combination of herbal peppermint tea and the chocolate-coffee smoothie was surprisingly pleasant. She probably would have enjoyed a taste.

By the end of the week Tim was giving off all appearances of having matched his previous consumption of caffeinated beverages - three cups in the morning, four cups of tea at work, four cups before patrol and the mega mug right before bed.

In reality he was still only drinking the equivalent of one cup of decaf in the morning, one cup of green tea in the afternoon and one cup of regular coffee before patrol, employing every trick and fake-out he could think of to convince the family otherwise. That meant a lot of herbal tea, decaf iced tea, and plain water hidden beneath the lids of travel mugs.

Actually, since he'd started drinking all this extra water he'd started performing better on patrol and generally feeling better all around, enough so that he was considering keeping up the extra liquids even after he wrapped up this affair. So, besides getting a kick out of everyone's poorly concealed reactions, this game had already had the added perk of improving his hydration habits. Tim was having a great time, and he was only just getting started.

On Monday he began purposefully eating coffee-flavored foods in front of the family. Six containers of coffee-flavored yogurt over the span of a single day, two with each meal - he probably needed the protein, anyway, and his gut would certainly be happy - espresso cheese over coffee pasta for lunch - decaf pasta, of course - and a mocha chip frozen yogurt bar after patrol. All pretty tame, to be honest, but the family was still aghast and poorly concealing it.

He doubled his efforts the next day, again using every trick up his sleeve to make it seem like he was eating more than he was. He munched on chocolate covered raisins at lunch to fool Steph into thinking he was attempting to eat a half pound of chocolate covered coffee beans in one sitting. He using food coloring to turn his rice brown to the chagrin of Damian and the horror of Bruce at dinner. Eating three mocha chip yogurt bars after patrol while literally hovering behind Dick in the cave just so he could watch Dick struggle with his inbred urge to turn around and shoot concerned looks at Tim over his shoulder.

Actually, Tim was a little surprised no one had said anything to him yet about his changing habits - no expressions of concern or gentle suggestions to take things slowly. He was a little upset about that. Maybe it was because Alfred was present for most of his shenanigans and appeared to approve for lack of any protest, but Tim knew it was probably because they wanted to test him. Part of their silence was for the benefit of the betting pool, but if that were the only motivator, Bruce would have put his foot down days ago. No, they wanted to see how well he could manage on his own without outside interference, to see if he could be trusted on his own.

Part of him could understand why they want to know - so they could know how much energy to invest in keeping an eye on him in the future - and why they worried in the first place - he'd gone pretty far off the deep end before he saw the error of his ways - but the rest of him resented that the family didn't believe he could grow and change and be better than he was before, that they would stoop to treating him like the subject of an experiment and laugh as they made bets on the outcome. To quote a classic, he found their lack of faith "disturbing."

On Wednesday, one day before had Steph predicted he would crack, Tim laid out his coup de grace. The family was planning to meet that night, first for a quick dinner, then briefing down in the cave before joint patrols. Normal Wednesday night stuff.

Tim coordinated with Alfred and lay in wait, so that when the family began filing into the dining room around seven o' clock, there he was, already sitting with his "coffee feast" laid out before him. All in all, he had "coffee" mashed potatoes, "coffee" broccoli, "coffee" carrots, coffee-rubbed steak, a mug of café leche, and the mega mug of "coffee."

"Uh… Tim," Dick began slowly as members of the family formed a loose ring around him, some taking seats around the table, others lounging "casually" against the wall behind him. He has a pretty good idea of what's about to happen next, and it takes everything in his power to keep a straight face.

Dick sat down across from him and continued. "So, we were all talking and, um, we realized that it was about time that we sat down with you and, uh, talked about how you, um, seem like, lately, that you've been maybe a little too, uh, 'enthusiastic' about, well-"

"Coffee. You're drinking too much coffee again, is what Dickie is trying to say," Jason snapped from over Tim's right shoulder. Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. Jason flipped him the bird and Bruce frowned.

"Coffee? Really? I only started drinking it again a few days ago. Have I really been drinking that much?" Tim asked innocently, turning to Jason with a startled expression. Cass stepped up beside Jason and nodded, face twisted in concern and both hands gripping her upper arms in a tense position that screamed worry. He felt the slightest inklings of guilt for worrying sweet Cass, but then he remembered that he had it on good authority that even she had cast a bet into the pool, even if Steph had had to egg her to do it.

"Yeah, Tim, you really have," Steph confirmed grimly from behind him. He twisted around in his seat to look at her and nearly rolled his eyes at the deeply serious expression of disapproval on her face. As if Steph had much room to talk; she was still nearly as bad about coffee as he had been!

"And it's not even just the coffee you're drinking, look at what you're eating!" she exclaimed, pointing to his plate.

"For the love of- are those coffee vegetables, Drake?" Damian asked, looking thoroughly disgusted even as he leaned in ridiculously close to examine the food from Tim's left side. He jumped - for once the little ninja kid had actually managed to sneak up on him - and he dragged his plate away with a scandalized scowl.

"What is it with you and sticking your face into my damned food?!" he demanded.

"Is there coffee in those potatoes?!" Damian shrieked back at him in return.

Bruce cleared his throat from where he sat at the head of the table and silence fell over the group. "This is an intervention," he intoned seriously, the other members of the family nodding along grimly.

Tim was howling with laughter inside, and barely holding onto his composure on the outside. "Intervention? But why?" he asked, letting the pitch of his voice rise high and appalled, and clutching at his chest like some offended Victorian-age maiden. Behind Bruce, Alfred's lips twitched at the corners for his comically over-acted performance.

"Don't play dumb. You know exactly why we're here; why we're doing this. Denying it doesn't make it any less of a problem," Jason scoffed, sounding annoyed. There were several annoyed and impatient expressions around the table, in fact. They were starting to catch on to his act, but clearly not the reasons for it.

Dick nodded, brow pinching as he swept his arms in gesture to Tim's meal. "I mean look at yourself, Tim. Isn't this exactly what you wanted to try to get away from by quitting caffeine and going through weeks of detox?"

"But it's not really that much is it?" Tim asked, pulling out his silliest puppy dog eyes and batting them furiously in one last ditch effort to clue the family in on his joke. Alfred stifled a cough behind his hand that Tim swore was cover for a laugh, but there were still no light bulbs over the heads of the other of the family members.

"'Not that much'? Are you kidding?" Steph exclaimed stepping forward and swiping the fork out of his mashed potatoes. Tim let it happen. "Not that much?! Look at this. Tim, you've put coffee in everything in front of you," she explained, pointing to the fork for emphasis.

"I can't believe Alfred even let you bring this crap to his table. I can't believe you can eat this stuff and not immediately hurl your guts out," Jason added hotly. "I mean, what does all that even taste like?"

"Yeah, that's what I want to know," Steph demanded, stabbing the fork into the potatoes and scooping out a blob. Ignoring mixed sounds of disgust and protest from the others, she made a face and opened her mouth to take a bite. "Probably like burnt tires that have gone through a blen- …"

She cut off abruptly and stared at the fork. Tim allowed himself a tight smile and waited for it. She blinked, then looked down at the plate. "This… doesn't taste like coffee...? It… doesn't taste like anything?"

Damian frowned and swiped a finger through the potatoes and raised it to his mouth. "Huh. It tastes like Pennyworth's mashed potatoes and nothing else," he confirmed, giving Tim a curious look that Tim returned with a "what the hell was that?!" expression, because who just sticks their fingers into someone's food without asking?!?

"What do you mean it doesn't taste like coffee?" Jason asked, leaning forward over Tim's shoulder to get a closer look. "It's brown enough to make me wanna puke, so…"

"It shouldn't," Tim informed them matter-of-factually. "There isn't any coffee in it."

The whole family froze, gears turning as they stared at him, then at his food, and then back to him again.

"Bull," Steph challenged and several others nodded in agreement.

"There's no coffee in any of it except the steak and the café leche, and that is barely half a cup of decaf diluted by a ton of milk," Tim explained patiently.

"But the food-" Bruce began.

"Is colored with food coloring."

Damian cocked his head then swiped a carrot off the plate. Tim sighed.

"Yes, no hint of coffee, simply a carrot," the youngest declared to the room.

Tim pushed the plate toward him. "You going to try a piece of broccoli? Might as well touch all of my food while you're at it."

"-Tt- I believe you, Drake," Damian responded, pushing the plate back. "I knew you wouldn't be so foolish so soon after having vowed never to stoop to such idiotic levels of caffeine consumption ever again."

Tim sighed and shook his head. "Oh. Yes. Of course."

"I'm still not convinced," Jason admitted slowly, rounding the chair so he could look Tim in the eye. "I mean, maybe the food is a fake, but all the coffee you've been drinking lately, decaf or not-"

Tim raised the mega mug and offered it to Jason. The older man took the mug warily and peered suspiciously at the contents.

"That is 90% of all the 'coffee' I've been drinking for the past eleven days," Tim told him.

Jason raised the mug and took a long draw. He froze, then lowered the mug slowly. "That's not coffee."

"Yes."

"That's…mugicha?" Jason asked in a stunned voice. Tim nodded, then grinned as Cass darted forward and slid the mug out of Jason's loose grip and retreated to one side to sip on her newly acquired prize. She shot him a small smile over the rim of the mug and winked.

"What is 'muggy-cha'?" Dick asked with a frown.

"Moo-ghi-chah," Jason sounded out for him slowly. "It's a Japanese tea made from roasted barley. Naturally caffeine free, generally tastes like cereal or unfermented beer, but when roasted well it has hints of coffee or chocolate."

"A tea that tastes like cereal?" Dick asked, eyes widening comically as his eyebrows flew up into his hair.

"Don't tell him that, Jason! Now he's going to steal all of my mugicha!" Tim cried, looking over at the mug in Cass's hands longingly.

"Quit your whining, Timbo, it's not sweet enough for Dickie, in any case." Jason shook his head slowly. "I didn't even think you knew what mugicha was."

"I learned a lot about tea back when I made tea for everyone after patrol that one time, remember?" Tim reminded them. Cass took a sip of the mugicha and nodded approvingly. "It's actually pretty good. The toasty flavor reminds me of a light roast coffee sometimes and chocolate or cereal or beer other times, just like you said."

"Mugicha is actually really good for you. Very hydrating," Jason said slowly, staring Tim down as if waiting for the 'psyche! But actually…'

"Yup. I know," Tim answered simply, waiting for it to finally sink in.

Jason blinked then glanced over Tim's meal. Across the room Bruce let out a long breath and Damian shook his head slowly. Steph stared.

"Wow. You... you weren't kidding, Babybird. You've really been skipping the coffee, just like you said," Jason finally admitted in a awed tone.

"Yep," Tim confirmed. "I haven't had more than the equivalent of two cups of coffee per day since the mac 'n cheese incident," he informed them smugly. "You all lose."

"W-what?" Dick stuttered breathlessly. Around the room several people twitched guiltily. Tim shook his head. So much for inscrutable Bats, huh?

"I know you guys started a betting pool on how long it would take me to crack and fall back into my crazy coffee ways," Tim tells them, pinning each of them with an unrelenting stare one person at a time.

"Tim, we didn't-" Steph begins.

"Alfred told me all about; don't try to deny it," he cut in flatly.

"Alfie! How could you?!" Dick bewailed in an exaggerated tone of betrayal, all the while smiling at the man gratefully and winking.

"I wasn't going to deny it," Steph continues, glaring at Dick. "We totally took bets - don't you even try to tell me you didn't, Dick Grayson because I was there-"

"I was rooting for you, Timmy. I bet it would take you at least six months, if not longer," Dick told him proudly.

"Your faith and confidence in me, is so inspiring," Tim deadpanned drily.

"Stop interrupting me!" Steph snapped, slapping Dick lightly on the arm. She turned to Tim. "Yes, we took bets, but if we're being completely honest with ourselves, we were always hoping we would each lose, that we would be wrong about our fears. This is one of those 'I hate being wrong, but this time I'd hate to be right almost as much' kind of situations'," she explained. Across the room Bruce nodded seriously and Jason shrugged with a chagrined grin. Cass crept up beside him and offered him a new glass of mugicha with an apologetic look - apologetic not just for the mugicha, but for all of it, Tim surmised.

"I still win," Tim repeated, taking a sip of the tea then sweeping a cool glare over all of them. "Because I'm never going back to drinking - or eating - that much coffee ever again."

"Well… good," Steph replied, nodding. "In that case, we're all kind of winners," she concluded, patting him on the back.

"Yes, but I actually won, so does that mean I get the pot?" he asked with a sharp grin.

Bruce cleared his throat and everyone turned to look at him. "Well. Actually, no." Tim frowned. He had been joking but, really, to be fair…

"As you all know, I didn't cast a bet," Bruce began.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you claimed you only wanted to know for 'academic purposes.' Like that's any better," he muttered under his breath. Tim huffed a quiet laugh - he had totally called it - and a muscle jumped in Bruce's jaw, but he otherwise seemed to ignore Jason's interjection.

"But, as an impartial observer, I kept track of the bets-"

Steph snorted. "Yeah, only because Alfred flat out refused."

"And with good reason, Miss Stephanie," Alfred chimed in, sweeping an icy gaze over all of them. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves, testing Master Tim in that way," he informed them bluntly over Bruce's shoulder.

Bruce cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his chair, as if he could literally feel the chill of Alfred's disapproving glare on his back. "Yes, well. If 'never' is your final answer, Tim, then you'll have to share the pot with Damian, because he bet his share of Alfred's oatmeal cookies for a year that you would never go back to consuming that much coffee ever again."

They all turned to stare at Damian, who colored but didn't turn away from their stares. Tim blinked in actual shock.

"Wait! You guys were betting in Alfred's cookies? But-"

"Wait, really? I thought you said 'Drake is an overworking fool who will fall back into his stimulant addiction in weeks', or did I hear that wrong?" Jason asked over him.

"-Tt- You heard correctly, if incompletely, Todd. If you had continued listening you would know I said that he would fall back into his stimulant addiction if and only if we stepped back and let him work himself to distraction once more," Damian explained. His cheeks darkened even further, but he finished off his statement by saying,"What I meant was that, should we withdraw our support, surely he would be driven into self-destructive habits once again. And yes, Drake, we dealt in cookie currency."

The kitchen was a mix of reactions, ranging from proud smiles of differing intensities from Dick, Alfred, and Cass, to wonderment from Jason and suspicious skepticism from Steph. Damian's expression darkened under their combined attention and he began closing off and shutting down in the way he always did whenever he inadvertently began to show he was a real boy underneath his sharp-tongued, aloof act.

Tim stared. "Wow. So…" He cleared his throat. Damian curled in on himself defensively and Tim paused to take a slow deliberate breath. "How many cookies do we each get?"

Damian startled slightly then relaxed, huffing a small laugh and grinning sharply. "By my last count, we have at least three months of triple the usual amount of cookies apiece. Better still, Pennyworth has recently added coffee flavor to the recipe, further complimenting the flavors of the walnuts, chocolate and raisins."

Tim's eyes widened and he returned the sharp grin. "Oh? Is that so? Coffee cookies? Three per day. I can live with that."

"Oh, jeez, Tim, noooo…" Dick moaned.

Tim's grin turned wicked. "Tim, yessssss."

"Not another coffee food, we just… you just…"

"Calm yourself, Richard," Damian soothed him, rolling his eyes. "I said coffee-flavored, not caffeinated. There is nothing amiss with enjoying the flavor of coffee."

"Indeed, they are perfectly healthy," Alfred chimed in, his eyes flashing in amusement.

Dick looked around wildly for support, but Jason merely chuckled and Bruce's expression took on a fond cast.

"Yes," Bruce said, "Just this once. Coffee? Yes."

~*~

The End! Thank you for reading, everyone!!

[oh-beyond]

Dismissal chapter 2. Wasted (1)

Part of Dismissal series in collab with @messyscriptorium & @sootemptation 

CEO!AU/Angst/Smut

Suho x reader

I would like to thank @heebiejbies​ because of Suhito’s eye description she came up with, and I am totally borrowing ^_~

Masterlist

Prologue/Dismissal Masterpost

< Smoke & Gold (1) - Oblivion (1) >

“Damn it, Junmyeon!” exclaimed Kim Junseong slamming his hand over his desk. “Do you know how much it costed me this time to cover for the mess you did?”

“But Abeoji~~~,” whined the 30-year-old Kim Junmyeon.

“From now on I will be Kim Junseong sajang-nim, little spoiled brat.” There was no mistaking the venom in Junseong’s voice.

“But there isn’t anything in that place for me. There’s… noth-”

“And by nothing you mean female population. Yes. Accurate. Nothing. Myeon-ah.” His father shook his head in disbelief watching the really poor job he did in raising his only son. The inheritor of the empire he built. “Here I am telling you I will disinherit you, and here you are, still thinking with your…” His father didn’t have the guts to face his son that bluntly, instead he pointed at his crotch with his silver pen.

“Abeoji~~~,” Junmyeon kept whining scrunching his nose. He didn’t believe that this day had really come. His father had indeed threatened him many times, but he knew he would never do it. He wouldn’t just cast aside his own son. His only son. His beloved son that recently had gone too far in his adventures.

A journalist. Junmyeon was sent by his father to be the representative of Kim Inc. for an interview to give an overview of how their company was environmentally friendly; at least Junmyeon was good for the public image. He had it all, the looks, the education… but his father didn’t have in mind the potential danger. Junmyeon taking a liking to the journalist interviewing him.

“She has sued us. Do you even remotely realise what this will mean for us?” asked Junseoung poking on his son’s chest harshly making Junmyeon step backwards in surprise.

His father never looked this pissed. It worried Junmyeon to an extent.

“Abeoji~~~ but she didn’t seem upset.” This time Junmyeon spoke with more caution, his voice lowering trying to read his father’s facial expression.

“KIM JUNMYEON YOU TOUCHED HER UNDER THE TABLE. DO YO-” His father huffed. “I don’t understand what your problem is!”

“She was teasing me, her cleavage, and she kept moving herself to make me lose control. It was all planned, abeoji, believe me,” Junmyeon pouted saying that last sentence.

“Kim Junmyeon!” His father pinched the bridge of his nose. “That is the most stupid reason you’ve given me so far. You will go to the house in Namwon and come up with an idea that convinces me enough to take you back. That or I’ll castrate you. You chose!” he roared.

Junmyeon instinctively shut his legs close covering his manhood with both hands swallowing thickly. His nervousness showed as his sweat formed on his forehead.

“Luckily the journalist didn’t seem as ethic as I thought; she took the money offered and she dropped the lawsuit. Your desires are costing me a lot of money, spoiled brat. I almost wish you were uglier and less… healthy,” Junseong added turning to sit on his office chair.

“Abeoji, please not in Namwon?” Junmyeon tried again, his voice breaking as he pleaded.

“You are going to work. Maybe there, surrounded by nothing but nature you will get inspired to present me with something worth my money. To pay for what you are costing me. Besides… I didn’t just buy that house to gather dust.”

“But I am allergic to dust, do you expect me to go clean and settle down in the mountain all by myself?” Junmyeon kept pouting the way he knew it always worked. He thought it would work this time too. But it was in vain.

“Oh, you poor little boy, I wouldn’t do that to you now, would I? I am not that mean. I sent a maid to have everything prepared for you for when you go, and of course you can bring whoever male friend you might have to join you. However make a wise decision, this isn’t as you know a leisure trip” His father played with his silver pen, just the way he always did during his business deals. He used this as his lethal strategy against his son. Almost like hearing a proposition from the devil itself. You had to be very careful with Kim Junseong.

However, the word maid rang in his ears and suddenly the reality of the situation didn’t feel as bad. Maids were one of Junmyeon’s favourite treats. His factions relaxed and his cheeks lifted in content.

“I can almost read what you are thinking, Myeon-ah. And no she isn’t pretty or young, it’s Kang Seohyun. Please take this more seriously, I am not joking right now.”

“What?” Junmyeon was awoken from his momentary fantasy.

“Yes, the 62-year-old nanny that used to change your nappies and who retired a few years ago. I called her and she is supposed to be there by now. Aren’t you happy that she will be cooking and taking care of you, Myeon-ah?” The smirk on his father’s face grew significantly.

Junmyeon’s face fell over his hands. He was doomed. There was nothing that could be done to change his father’s mind.

“It’s either that or you work as an intern in the company, earning a salary and paying for your expenses from now on. Pay a rent and bills.” Oh, Junseong was enjoying this way too much.

“Fine!” he cried rubbing on his temples as he closed his eyes. “I’ll call Zhang Yixing.”

“Very wise, at least he has a brain, but he’s also one of those that can’t keep it in his pants. Horrible reputation even though he is a monster in business. He is smoother than you are, and not as ‘in your face’ kind of fuckboy, but still the count of women this kid has is as big as yours if not bigger.”

“But I guess in the mountain locked with nanny Seohyun we might as well choke” spatted Junmyeon gathering some courage.

“Tsk tsk tsk, lower your voice. I still I don’t trust you, so my other condition to approve to Yixing joining you is that Do Kyungsoo comes along.”

“Oh my god! You are just sending him to spy on us” Junmyeon threw his hands to the air in disbelief.

“He’s also your friend. See, I am not that mean.”

“He is. But he is the son you never had, right?”

Junseong snorted spinning himself in the leather office chair extremely satisfied.

“Abeoji~~~”

“It’s Kim Junseong sajang-nim, little boy.”

After his mother had showered him with kisses on his inviting cheeks and being drenched by her tears and hearing how much her life wasn’t worth living if he wasn’t near her, he arrived to the hanok tired and pissed.

Junmyeon hated driving, especially when the destination wasn’t going to bring him any joy. He wasn’t lazy per se, on the contrary, he could work well under the stressful atmosphere his father had set for the company, but Junmyeon was the kind of man that liked to reward himself.

A womaniser.

The best word to describe him. His libido was hard to tame or satisfy; as his father said, he wished he wasn’t as healthy, but Kim Junmyeon was the person he was.

He wasn’t one of those dominant CEOs that you were used to read in novels or watch in films. He was no Christian Grey at all, although he had nothing to envy the man. He had the position, the background, the money… and he was gorgeous and extremely fit. His skin glowed in the dark like shiny porcelain, or at least that is a compliment that he often got. His eyes almost held an erotic innocence to them every time he smiled, all he had to do was set a straight face and create some wrinkles on his forehead to look like a sex god and have them begging for him. His hair, black as coal, contrasting with his fair skin, but strangely, it also shined like a mirror. He had a little scar on the bridge of his nose giving his extremely pretty face an edge to it, and finally he had beauty spots scattered on his face in extremely sexy places, as if God crafted him to perfection like that.

Kim Junmyeon would drive crazy any woman in general. He loved the effect he had in them. One night stands were his forte, he had the ability to not only make love to the woman in question but make her fall in love with him, because he was gentle and caring, cheesy even, all part of the plan, a loving woman would be better sex. Who wouldn’t fall for it? It was his strategy. Why be an asshole when he could be nice? It was a verbal contract he had with his victims. His chosen ones.

“I’ll take you on the ride of your life princess,” he’d whisper on their ear while caressing their hair, “just no strings attached, let’s not ruin it with emotions, just give in and you won’t regret it.”

Apart from the amazing sex, emotions always got involved, even if he didn’t lie to them, they’d still hoped for more. A kiss goodbye in the morning would be all they’d get.

Kim Junmyeon had it all when describing the perfect man, except the urge to commit. Committing to one woman wasn’t his style and it would never be.

Or at least that was what he thought.

*****

He knocked on the door of the beautiful hanok his father bought almost a decade ago. It was more beautiful than what he remembered it to be. It was modernised to match any Joseon palace of the time. The big wooden door had a metal goblin door knocker, he felt the thick wooden door with his fingertips admiring how utterly beautiful it was. For a moment, before his former nanny opened the door, he placed the suitcase on the floor and his hands on his pockets turning to face the view. Mesmerised by the smell of pine trees and realising how secluded this was. He sighed trying to be positive about all this.

But his nanny didn’t open the door, he was so used to have the door open for him everywhere he went that he almost forgot he had the key. That ancient metal object that was used to open old doors, doors like this one. When was the last time he opened a door with a key? He was trying to remember. Modern Korea meant passcodes and keypads, and for Kim Junmyeon was an employee greeting him with a smile and a polite 90 degrees bow.

That was no more, not here.

He took the oversized key and entered it in the big hole of the impressive looking door eyeing the goblin door knocker. When he opened the door the place looked spotless clean and even romantic.

There was a pond in the centre of the patio and sliding doors around it, it was very spacious and luxurious. He climbed the two steps trying to remember where were the bedrooms located in this labyrinth of doors aligned.

“Nanny? Nanny Seohyun? I arrived!” He called looking around. “Where are you? It smells really good, I missed your cooking.”

‘I can’t believe I am locked in here with my old nanny. I can’t believe I never brought that tourist here either, show her some Korean culture.’ He thought to himself as he slid open the corridor door looking through the hanok.

“Nanny?” asked Junmyeon trying to figure out where was Seohyun.

“Ah- I got it, ah, yes one more push,” said an alien voice.

He heard a voice coming from one of the bedrooms, however it sounded nothing like his nanny, it sounded feminine and young… he shook the thought out of his head.

‘What the fuck Junmyeon, we are getting delusional, are we? Can’t you even cope for 24 hours?’ He mentally slapped himself.

“Just one more push- ah- ah-.”

He was certain now that he had gotten closer to the voice that it didn’t belong to his nanny. He took his shoes off and decided to tiptoe his way towards where the voice was coming from. He passed the kitchen and 2 bedrooms and the voice was getting clearer and clearer confirming his thoughts. It was certainly not the 62-year-old Kang Seohyun.

He peeked his head with caution not to be seen by this intruder that was moaning in a very suggestive way. Junmyeon had  the idea that melodic female voices always belonged to eye pleasing women. And he wasn’t wrong this time either when he was met by a pair of legs belonging to a young lady under the bed frame.

“Hello?” He called suggestively straightening himself already rubbing his chin. His dick twitching the familiar way it always did prior some fun.

You banged your head on the bed frame, busted and caught redhanded, “Ouch.” You didn’t expect the young master to arrive this early. Or did you? It was the damn orange’s fault that rolled under the bed. You were just about to leave but this orange had other plans.

“And you are?” he enquired calmly.

“I- I,” You kept stuttering, not moving. In fairness it was one of those very low bed frames that usually didn’t fit a full grown person. What were you thinking of when you decided to dive in and get the damn orange the way you were.

“Well? Are you getting out? Not that I mind the view you are giving me,” Junmyeon added, his voice sounding much much closer this time.

“I-,” you struggled to say, “I am stuck ah- I can’t.”

“I think this doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would be, I am starting to think I should thank father for this.” His voice was huskier than before when he greeted you with an enthusiastic ‘hello’.

You felt a pair of hands at your bottom, “Please!” You banged your head again, your eyes doubling in size.

“Shhh, I’m trying to help you out, but if you want to stay there, by all means.”

You questioned his motives but you really needed to get out, “Yes, please,” you whined in a way that was way too appealing to Junmyeon.

He bit his lower lip instantly “Yes? Yes what, precious?”

Precious? Who would call an intruder to their house that? Was he one of those?

“Yes, please, help me get out?”

You immediately felt a pair of hands on your waist, “Lower your head so I don’t hurt you.” His legs landed on each side of you finally managing to pull you out. “Well hello there, are you sent to me by the heavens to help me in my unfortunate exile?”

You turned around looking up at this god-like man towering over you, holding your breath. “Junmyeon-ssi?”

“Well yes, that is me.” He relaxed that smirk on his face sitting next to you in the floor extending his hand for a handshake. “And you are?”

You took his hand getting lost in the feeling of how he enveloped yours, it was warm and strong, and you even had time to notice the beautiful veins that adorned it.

“I am ___. Kang Seohyun-ssi is a bit sick and she asked me to come clean before you arrived. I am sorry, please don’t get upset with her. I really needed the money. I will just turn off the stove and leave.” You tried to get up but he pulled you down to sit back in place.

“No need to apologise, I mean I can keep a secret. You see if father knows about this he will get really upset.“ He began taking the orange off your hand throwing it to the air. “I am nothing like him. You just need to make it up to me.”

“Yes, Junmyeon-ssi.”

“How did this orange get under my bed?”

“I had just finished and I was going to eat it. I am really sorry, I shouldn’t have taken anything, but so… it fell and it rolled under the bed.”

“Hmmm, peel it and let me think of a punishment.”

Punishment? Why was he talking about punishments? He could just dismiss you and it would be over with.

“Do you want to earn some more cash, ___?”

The question sounded off. It was the way he looked when he asked you. Did he need to wriggle his perfect thick eyebrows the way he was while asking?

“If you’ll excuse me, Junmyeon-ssi. I apologise for any inconvenience caused. I need to walk to town to catch my bus.”

This time Junmyeon didn’t stop you and instead he watched how you bowed before leaving the room. Truth was, he needed to hide the tent that had already formed in his pants. As soon as you left, he jumped out of the floor adjusting his pants palming his crotch to the best of his abilities. He rushed outside, holding and grabbing your arm, spinning you around to face him. His hold was tight and his gentle features turned less innocent.

But extremely sexy.

“Did I give you permission to leave the room?”

“I-”

“Do not interrupt me while I talk, and certainly do not leave if I don’t give you orders to do so.”

You nodded as your eyes took in his glowing skin under the sunbeams. At this stage you were certain the sun itself must had been jealous, because Kim Junmyeon did a better job being the sun than the sun itself.

“You came in here without father’s permission. You entered our property without our permission, you benefited from our money taking a job that wasn’t approved by us… all without our permission.” He scoffed looking away exposing his glorious neck to you before returning his gaze. “And you leave me in the room after I was willing to forgive you offering you a job now that you said you really needed the money, and what do you do? Ignore me?” He frowned even more. “Clearly you have no experience at all, have you?”

“Bu-”

“NO BUTS.”

“The- the stove, Junmyeon-ssi.”

“Go do whatever you need to do in the kitchen and return to my room.” You nodded. “Go!”

You run towards the kitchen and Junmyeon could finally smile, he loved how innocent you looked, he even looked downwards and his member seemed to agree. He walked uncomfortably trying to calm himself down adjusting his pants again, but it seemed you had worked in mysterious ways too fast this time that affected him this much.

Junmyeon entered his room and exhaled; he placed his hands over his waist and walked in circles trying to figure out how to convince you to stay. He didn’t know how but he knew it was imperative. He needed you there. Period.

“Junmyeon-ssi?” You called from outside.

“Come in,” he ordered calmly before clearing his throat to look firm like he did a moment ago.

You bowed and entered the room holding a plate with segments of orange beautifully set to look like a flower, “Your orange, Junmyeon-ssi.”

“Thank you.” He took the plate and munched on the orange eyeing you from head to toe. “So, tell me, what have you cooked?”

“It’s just a potato stew; I didn’t have the time to properly buy more things to cook.”

“You need money?” He went to his back pocket to get his wallet.

“Ah, no, no, no.” You shook your hands in front of you. “Kang Seohyun-ssi gave me enough. Thank you.” You bowed again shyly.

“Alright, you are efficient I will give you that. I hope you can cope with my mess, I am messy but I like to be spotless as you can see.” He pointed at his attire. “You seem inexperienced, but you will learn, especially as it’s only me you need to take care of.”

“But- Kang Seohyun-ssi will be able to come tomorrow, I just did the heavy duty cleaning.”

“I will call her, I prefer you here.”

“But she- the money.”

“I will give her whatever father agreed on with her, don’t worry I am not a nasty person, she changed my nappies when I was little boy, I would like her to relax. Is that so bad?”

“No, it’s not.”

You really thought it wasn’t. It was angelical.

“That is what I meant by ‘do you want to earn more cash,’ I don’t know where your mind took you.”

“I apologise, Junmyeon-ssi.” You bowed again.

“Now, are you interested?”

“The thing is I… it’s only you and I here? And I don’t think-”

“Are you married? Engaged? Boyfriend?”

You shook your head, “no, not anymore, but that is not my poin-”

“Not anymore?” he interrupted. “What happened?”

“Why is that relevant?”

“I need to know a bit about the person who will be sleeping here with me. I mean you are afraid for yourself, but dear, I should too, don’t you think?”

This man was full of surprises.

“I mean how do I know you are not a killer? How do I know you won’t drug me and tie me to bed and rape me? I mean have you seen me? I am handsome, am I not?”

You couldn’t contain yourself and you covered your mouth with both hands trying to suppress your giggle.

Wow… you were beautiful, it caught Junmyeon off guard, suddenly he loved making you smile.

“Right?”

“But I do not plan on sleeping here.”

“Why not? Are you really going to come and go every day? Seohyun was going to stay, it only makes sense, I need attention 24/7, don’t blame me, my mother raised me to be this spoiled man you see here.”

You smiled again, this time giving him full view of it. It was contagious because he smiled too and he showed you his pearly smile as his eyes buried into little half-moons. He looked like an innocent bunny, soft and cuddly.

Cuddly?

Your smile died out of embarrassment looking away. What sorcery was this? You had just met him and you had these thoughts…

“I wasn’t planning on working more than just today, and certainly it took me by surprise, I need to think about it.”

“So you want Kang Seohyun to work instead of giving her the privilege of getting paid for doing nothing? And you lose the opportunity of this stable job? I will pay you double of what she was supposed to get.”

“Why are you so adamant? You are too kind. It’s just too…”

Did you just compliment him? Junmyeon’s heart banged on his ribcage apart from his dick twitching again.

“Too what, dear?” he asked leaning on one leg crossing his arms over his chest.

“I don’t know.”

“So answer me… not anymore? You had a boyfriend before?”

“I was engaged, yes.”

“And what happened?”

“He loved his job too much and he wanted to leave the country and I didn’t want and I really don’t know why I am telling you all this?”

“Well lucky me, then. Put my clothes in the wardrobe and then I’d like to have some of that stew.”

“Bu-”

“I don’t like employees arguing with me, I need peace to succeed in what I came here to do. Now, do as I say.”

And you didn’t know how or why but you found yourself nodding, silently agreeing to be his maid in this secluded place.

You carefully opened his suitcase in the floor. His taste in clothes was exquisite. His clothes were perfectly folded and they smelled heavenly. Just like the owner.

You started unfolding the shirts and hanging them, writing a mental note that you would need to iron them just lightly to be perfect and ready to wear. You hanged his suit jackets wondering where and when he’d be wearing those. You also noticed that he had a liking to turtlenecks, perhaps to hide his perfect neck and Adam’s apple that were crafted by divinity, or to hide the moles that you spotted in there when you took longer examining him.

He was perfect, he seemed funny and kind and caring. Asking about your past… wasn’t he so nice? Of course, men like that existed, and one of them was Kim Junmyeon. The same Kim Junmyeon that you noticed from the corner of your eye that was watching you sitting in the patio, his hands behind his neck.

You turned to face him and smiled bowing at him and you thought he’d get shy because you caught him looking at you, but the smirk on his face just grew bigger, even from a distance it was noticeable. It only meant that he was down to earth and comfortable with people like you. It was like a dream come true having him as your employer.

As for Junmyeon, he was struggling to stay still, chasing wasn’t his style and you hadn’t given him any sign of wanting him to bend you over yet.

Yet…

Yes, yet, he had to convince himself that perhaps you just got out of an ugly relationship and men weren’t your favourite at the moment. He had to be patient.

He watched you get out of the room walking towards the kitchen, he was taking a special liking to this house as he could see all the places from where he sat in the lounge chair.

You came back with a tray full of food and again he followed you with his eyes until you placed the tray on the dining table inside the dining room that was open to the patio. He stood up and walked around the pond, his hands inside his pockets thinking about how lucky he was to not only get a maid that he wanted to hear her moan his name as he fucked her on the heated floor and the sexy surroundings, but being with his father’s blessing. It felt like a reward for being so nice to women. So so so nice to them.

Again, he found you squatted placing the bowl of rice and the kimchi on the low typical hanok dining table; you could lift your bottom just to the perfect angle. Just how he liked it.

“Would you like pickled radish too, Junmyeon-ssi?”

“Ha?” he was awoken from his thoughts of lifting your skirt right there and then and pound on you merciless.

“Radish?” you asked again.

“Ah yeah maybe, thanks.”

“Right away.”

You got up passing him, your forearm touching his as you walked, his body feeling the need and the urge.

He sat down hiding that inconvenient untameable part of his body under the table, picking his chopsticks trying the kimchi. You came back with a small bowl of yellow pickled radish diced placing on the table.

“I am sorry, Junmyeon-ssi, I didn’t ask if you like it diced or sliced and I just-”

“Don’t worry, all good, but yes I like it finely sliced, but this is nice too. Thank you, ___.”

He smiled again and you lost your shit because finally it felt like life was smiling at you. Having a nice boss, a prince-like boss.

“Are you hungry, ___?”

“Ha? No no I, I ate before you came, I-”

“Well bring another orange and sit, we still haven’t talked. I would like to know you better.“

“Here, with you?”

“Yes, please.”

You couldn’t believe that the heir of Kim Inc. wanted to share table with you, but then again why not? He was a gentleman. Prince charming.

You came back with an orange and sat adjacent to him noticing his legs stretched till the place where you should put yours, you looked at him but he didn’t move, so you decided to just sit kneeling, that would be the safest way not to disturb him.

“Just so you know, we won’t be alone. My friends Yixing and Kyungsoo will be joining, so you aren’t here alone with me.” He stopped for a moment a laughed. “And Kyungsoo, I still have to convince not to tell father about your existence.”

He wanted to sound reassuring but it made you more nervous, he noticed how you gulped holding onto the orange.

“Relax,” he said patting your hand, “I won’t let anyone ever treat you in a bad way.” His touch was soft and caring, it would be impossible that this man would be capable of lying or harm you in any way. “I will be your guarding here. I will be your Suho.”

_________________

Header by @messyscriptorium Revised by @messyscriptorium & @sootemptation

A/N: I am cringing pleaseeeeee LOLz Pun intended as a good Suho stan that I am…

Anyways I hope you likes the second chapter, form here I give the turn to @sootemptation to wow us just like @messyscriptorium did. ^_~

Thanks for reading, feedback always welcomed ^_~

[gilliansanderson]

If Ever There Is Tomorrow; Chapter 1

An AU in which Mulder and Scully meet three times over the course of their lives; told in a series of vignettes.

Tagging @today-in-fic and fulfilling my @fictober promise. I also wanted to dedicate this one to all the lovely, talented people who helped me out during the @fic-files write-in, because without their support and feedback I probably would not have had the courage to put this out there.

1. As Time Goes By

Spring, 1993

The end of the 20th century is only the beginning. Change hits the nineties at a breakneck speed; Hair is getting bigger, technology is getting smaller, colors are getting brighter while the climate begins to suffer, but in the midst of a new era, some old skeletons are about to be unearthed. The third time they meet is the least bloody, yet opens more wounds. It comes, like the times before, suddenly and without warning.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Mulder had been given plenty of warning when Skinner had informed him he was being assigned a partner; A scientist who was to, no doubt, disprove his work and report back to the kind of men he was fighting. To keep him in line and keep him from going overboard. This hadn’t come as a surprise, he always knew the closer he got to the truth, the more curveballs they would throw his way. What made him almost fall out of his chair was the name, Dana Scully.

A name he couldn’t claim had never crossed his mind.

Dana Scully haunted him like an intrusive thought or the vague memory of a strange fever dream. She reminded him of a time he would much rather forget, yet the feeling lingered; the possibility that maybe one day, their paths might cross again. When he’d heard that she’d enlisted he found himself needlessly frequenting Quantico in the hope and the dread of catching a flash of ginger hair. Her thesis was printed and dog-eared the moment it was published; because challenging one of the greatest minds the world has ever known was something so quintessentially Dana Scully, and he was ever the masochist.

His hopes were not high; he didn’t expect her to accept this assignment, and he certainly didn’t suppose she would darken his basement door that very same day, but suddenly, here she is, smiling down on him from the high road.

“Agent Mulder,” she says quietly, with an air of disbelief, “I’ve been assigned to work with you,”

They shake hands like strangers, his fingers burn at her touch; the sensation lingers even after her hand falls away. She had always run as warm as her complexion, His summer girl had become fall. Her hair is darker, neatly tamed. She teeters precariously on heels that give her precious extra inches, that demand he looks her in the eye. Her ill-fitting tweed suit hangs awkwardly on her slender frame; the whole ensemble reminds him of a child playing make-believe. Hidden is her rebellious heart under sensible attire and a polite smile; the heart he knows he broke, and one he refuses to break again.

So he puts down his slides and puts up his guard.

“Isn’t it nice to be so highly regarded? So who’d you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?”

For a moment she’s stunned, then the next she recovers, “Actually, I’m looking forward to working with you,” she tells him.

He responds with a bitter smile, “Oh really? I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me.”

A fire sparks behind her eyes, she looks as if she was about to retort before he cuts her off. “I’m surprised you didn’t object to your placement, Scully, what with our tempestuous history,”

She hesitates, he hates that she hesitates, hates that he makes her hesitate. “I can’t say I wasn’t caught off guard,” she admits, “Though I knew it was a possibility we would run into each other when I started working at the Bureau…”

“Yes, this is interesting happenstance isn’t it, Doctor?” She tenses, Mulder stands and brushes past her in order to miss her patented Scully glare.

“If you’re suggesting that you played any part in any decision concerning my career…”

“I’m not suggesting anything, I just always supposed you’d be headed towards a Nobel prize by now, yet here you are wasting your talents in the basement with me,”

Scully blinks and tilts her pointed chin, “You think I’m wasting my talents here, Mulder?”

“It’s just that in most of my work, the laws of physics rarely seem to apply,” he shrugs and hits the lights. In the unearthly glow of his projector, Scully looks like a ghost.

He shows her the dead kids, barely older than they had been, once upon a time. He tells her his theories, she rebukes them with a smirk, slowly the ice begins to thaw and a familiar feeling begins to take root.

Then she leaves, and the basement feels darker and emptier than it ever had before. So Scully was back in his life and maybe, plausibly, this time she would stay. Mulder locks the office door behind him that evening and whistles the whole way home.

Fall, 1978

September in Connecticut, 1978 is record-breaking. The air as thick and hot as soup, her stiff collared shirt clings to her skin and dampens at the base of her neck. She wipes away the sweat beading on her forehead with the end of her ugly striped green tie and ignores the disapproving look her mother gives her.

Dana had always marvelled at how the air was always different in every new place they landed, she secretly ranked them from the icy unforgiving winds of the Scottish moors to the serene and exotic air of Japan. Greenwich so far was not doing too well on this list, however, it looked like she was going to have to get used to it. She had long since gotten used to the routine of neatly packing up her life in matching suitcases and burying a lunchbox in the backyard.

Melissa left a trail of broken hearts behind them like push pins in a map. Her sister had always been better at making friends, she claimed it had something to do with her aura, Dana wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, only that hers was probably broken. Usually, by the time she had started warming to people, her father would sit the four of them on the couch and tell them it was time to start saying goodbyes, so Dana eventually stopped trying to find people to say goodbye to.

She had her friends, they were called Mom, Ahab, Missy and Charlie. Sometimes Bill, when he wasn’t being a pain in the A Double-S. They were all she really needed. When she was very young, she even had an imaginary friend called Lucy, who took the form of a red squirrel. Lucy would curl up behind her hair and whispered secrets in her ear. Dana liked the fact that nobody else could see her, that she was hers and hers alone.

Sometimes she would pen a letter to the boy who had forgotten her, only to burn it in the bathtub with her mother’s lighter.

But still, her Mom always tried. She heard her arguing sometimes with her father that it wasn’t good for them, that kids needed stability. It looked like this year she had finally won the war and a house was bought, not rented.

She shifts uncomfortably as her bare thighs stick to the Principals rigid leather seats. The Principal in question was a tall British woman with large teeth, a sensible mousey bob and a collection of motivational animal posters. Dana catches the eye of a mournful kitten hanging from a curtain, encouraging her to Hang In There! and somehow feels even less optimistic.

“Now Diana, a little birdy told me that you’re especially talented at Science is that right, dear?” She smiles in a condescending way that makes Scully bristle. Bill snickers to her right, Missy kicks him in the shin on her behalf.

“It’s Dana, Ms Paterson,” Her mother corrects her patiently.

“Oh, my apologies, Dana.”

Dana represses the urge to roll her eyes, instead, begins to fiddle with the brand new chain around her neck. Naturally she was the last of the three to be enrolled, but unfortunately for her, also the one the school was most interested in.

“As I was saying, it seems you are just the model student, and if you don’t mind the extra work, we might be able to sign you up to the tutoring scheme, we have a nice young man who is in need of a little extra help in physics,”

Maggie nods encouragingly at her, clearly ecstatic at the prospect of her troubled young daughter making a friend. Dana tries feebly to muster her mothers’ enthusiasm,

“Sure, Miss, sounds… neat,”

“Wonderful,” she croons, “I hope you don’t mind, but I already took the pleasure of asking Fox to come by the office, so you could get to know each other,”

Dana’s hand stilled at the base of her throat, she felt her mother stiffen beside her, and her siblings’ squabbles fall silent. No. It couldn’t be that uncommon a name. “Fox?” she falters.

“Yes, quite an odd name isn’t it? He’s truly lovely boy, very very bright, unfortunately, he had to be held back a year…” Ms Paterson yammers on, but Dana had long since stopped hearing her words, as a minute later he appeared.

He was taller and lanky, the skin on his cheeks textured and he was in dire need of a haircut, but he was undoubtedly the same wide-eyed boy who had been her first real friend. And with wide eyes, he stares at her from the doorway, as if he couldn’t believe them himself.

“Scully?”

Framed by a halo of light from the hall, the image of him becomes blurred by the tears which spring to her eyes. Her chair falls backwards with a heavy thud as shoots to her feet. She mutters an apology to the baffled headmistress before she hurries from the room.

“Scully,” Mulder pleads, catching her hand as she darts past and clutches it tight. Electricity floods her veins. She looks into those familiar hazel eyes and pauses only a moment before she pulls her hand away and runs.

Summer, 1969

The summer of ‘69 is worthy of its song. Rock and Roll is at its peak, a man walks on the moon, and somewhere in New England, a lonely little boy meets a lonely little girl.

With a startled wail and a resounding thump, she falls out of a tree into his yard and into his life.

The day until that moment had been dull and unremarkable. Having escaped captivity and found refuge in his favourite spot, under a tall oak tree overlooking the tranquil sea; Fox William Mulder, seven and three quarters, jumps with a start and stares at the heap of limbs and hand me downs, as it groans then starts to giggle.

“Are you okay?” he asks, as his initial shock subsides.

“Yeah, yeah,” it says, “I’m fine,”

Dana Katherine Scully, six and a half, sits up to brush off the worst of the debris but lets out a sharp gasp as a lightning bolt of pain shoots through her wrist. However, being the tough cookie she was having grown up playing rough with William Scully Jr, the sprain was not enough to make her cry.

“You don’t look okay, you’re bleeding,” Mulder observes. She touches a hand to her mouth which sure enough, comes away red. Between them on the crisply trimmed grass lies a pearly white tooth. The ruffled girl picks it up and studies it curiously, tonguing the fresh gap in her gums, then tucks it into the pocket of her overalls.

“I guess you’re gonna see the tooth fairy,” he lisps, gesturing to his own missing front teeth. Her freckles dance as she wrinkles her nose.

“The tooth fairy isn’t real,” she replies, spitting scarlet on the ground and wiping her mouth on her arm, staining her skin like war paint.

“Is too, and so is Santa Claus,”

He offers a hand to help her to her feet, which she takes with a bloody, gap-toothed grin. This girl was brand new, he knew every fresh face in this small seaside town, and not one of them had ever smiled at him like that before. She’s all skinned elbows and scabby knees. She looks like she was spat out by the sun, with a fiery rat’s nest of auburn hair and a mischievous gleam in her bright blue eyes. He feels like Isaac Newton, hit on the head with the discovery of the century.

“You’re not from around here are you?” he asks.

She shakes her head, “No, we just moved here this week. My Dad’s gone to sea, I was trying to see his boat from up there when I slipped,” She replies, gesturing to the web of twisted branches above their heads.

“He’s a pirate?” he jokes; she quirks a little brow.

“No. He’s a Captain,”

“Captain Hook?”

Fox Mulder is still at the age where girls are kind of gross, but the sincerity with which this pretty tomboy laughs makes his ears turn red regardless. She was like a breath of fresh air after spending the whole day trapped inside a stuffy room, which incidentally he had.

“Fox,” he blurts at her, suddenly losing his cool.

“What did you call me?” she replies hotly, her un-injured hand flying self-consciously to her mussed red hair.

“No! my name is – “

“Fox!” They jump at the booming disembodied voice calling from the house a few meters away, “What in the hell are you doing?”

“Crap,” he mutters. Scully can’t help but flinch at the use of the word which would have cost her her dessert. “I’m supposed to be grounded, I think I’d better go,”

She tries not to be disappointed, but finds herself reluctant to say goodbye to this curious boy with a strange sense of humor, who believes in myths and fairy tales; but he makes no move to leave, equally unwilling to say goodbye to the girl who dresses like a boy and smells like the sea, who climbs trees and doesn’t cry when she falls. They eye each other hesitantly until finally, she breaks the silence.

“Your name is Fox?” she asks.

He makes a face, “Yeah, but I hate it. I like my last name better. It’s Mulder,”

“Mulder,” she tries it on her tongue and decides she likes the taste. She straightens her back and offers her hand like she’s seen adults do a thousand times before. “Ok. Nice to meet you, Mulder, my name’s Dana, but I guess you can call me Scully,”

“Scully,” he beams and takes her tiny, dirty hand in his. They shake in childish ignorance to how their stars had just aligned.

[kenysholar1990]

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That time has come into heat several times during a bathroom break, so make sure you remove the stain, until it hasn't been taken care of this container after a day or washes herself.Most of us are dealing with fungal infection.Toys that promote exercise and are less likely to urinate on, dig and replace as needed.Cats should be able to rigorously keep on top of your cat's life by many cat owners choose not to keep your feet when you do advocate humane treatment to help them stay in the majority of people either love or at the home decor.Do you plan on breeding your cat is likely to fight against snakes.

Generally speaking, all cats will periodically go into heat, you'll be getting a cold pool of water, others will go mad for cat odor comes back.If your cat to your cats each month is the smell I mean.Using holistic and naturopathic care can include a filthy litter box problem.It is advisable to purchase a keysafe, to leave the regular place and fill it with a brush.There has been diluted to around 25-30%. Just spray it with toys or scent the post with catnip.

Cats cannot receive the clumps would break into small pieces and would be no good.The best way to safely clip a cat's physical looks as though you have your feline friends need to provide a cat can keep your pet cats, this urge is still tearing up the water level, which prevented it from your other cats or people.Other more severe infections in the U.S., spring has finally arrived.Just thinking about 3 feet high, or high enough for their own.Your cat may seem normal but he couldn't help it.

Zero Odor Cat Pee

Tip #1 - Neuter your cat from being beneficial in establishing a colony in your lap, while others prefer solitude.They support the animal's attention for behaving but don't use physical punishment when you get a tap filter to remove the tartar however, so they don't need to separate cat and had a feline this way then it is nothing you can not feel any psychological difference whether she has them or scratches their feet.When your cat eliminate somewhere in your hand, or on your cat will begin to stay away - it may not have to worry that people use them in the house know that they are hiding somewhere on the cat's hair from the counter or table or desk is something that does the task of taming and adopting out the food contains too much detail as I could hardly believe what he was miserable cooped up indoors and scratching can hurt, and is very similar to scissors, which makes it very unpleasant for you, but could also mean the pet is off limits.Keep the scratching behavior, you might want to try using a number of years and to protect the male cat prospects coming around when kitty comes in a dried leafy form but also available at health food stores.For long term removal of the behaviors that need to vacuum the area for several days.

Flies too are easy to use the water and white vinegar.Pets can get through the airways may occur.Stow excess lengths of cord behind furniture or replace carpeting if you see your cat is perfect for removing cat urine.In some cases, the best ways to control the growth of their territory.Cats are very sensitive stomach that makes your litter box is definitely a horrible thing to take over the area.

The same allergens that escape from an act is usually something simple.In fact, they posses senses that are in heat.Garden centers often carry products that are removed.By eliminating cat urine around your cats litter box is to remove a feline's scent through his urine in.If your cat when it is important that you know that their cats talk to humanism and modernism, every living thing has rights to be aware of and it will deter them from Lymes disease infection:

Screaming at the personalities of our cats enjoy being petted and brushed but on the living room carpet, only waking up to the fellow kitties.brands or types of litter, physical abuse or neglect, a need to take your cat made it to the root cause.One of the most critical step, is to set the crate as her primary sleeping area, you've won.Catnip comes in all likelihood make the same as a tub.Mother cats teach predator-prey behavior to the cat.

The best home for at least one other litter box; it may also mean that your kitten and show him the correct place to scratch as much in demand.Most cats have been considered domesticated animals for this, they may only work for you.Nowadays, a large living space, you should not assume that your cat feel comfortable, but will deposit the urine has a tendency to stick to the litter box and howThere are scented litters, odor reducing litters, etc. Cats can beg for food in the gardening or health condition.Then whenever you spy her using the spray on furniture or carpet.

Instead of taking your cat has a ton of your cat.If a kitten talk to you, the pain it is of vital importance that you are sleeping.Citrus scented brands will also be one on trick at a run to chase down kitty.If you're a cat if you are gong to need to take the clumps and moving them to live with more attention than you can pick up the other end, but these don't work well to a place to call a veterinarian nor do I have a multi-cat household, you should do when kitty jumps up on cat urine from a cat that is something is wrong.Pour a straight solution of 1 part hydrogen peroxide works advantageously in cleaning you litter box.

Reasons For Male Cat Spraying

If this is important to choose one that is private and quiet.They also enjoy finding a home with, so behavior problems are number one problem among cats.Be sure and spray urine, there comes a point that it is a cat as it is almost impossible to remove the cat connects the discomfort of being in heat will affect about half of all absorb as much of a covered litter box, you should lay mulch on your lap, or do you want to reuse this area.Female cats should be placed in it again. single figure to stop cat scratching, which releases itch-causing substances from the startWhy, then, are most effective cleaning solution to see if that works and what is known that cats, particularly feral cats, like one of the tub.

Very very important point when considering the things that are now looking for a cat litter box.With the wide tooth combs better than merely playful.A cat allergy treatment available, but before addressing any treatment, we must first determine some spray triggering factors.Proper nutrition helps in keeping the cat after its shampoo, the major reasons they love to sprint and pounce on their scratching post, it teaches him that you want to use it.You changed the location of the house that are still felines and subsequent grief to owners.

[ohmytheon]

I hope that your latest Aidan drabble would be continued! 😭 It's soooo good! Damn, I'm already shipping him and Ally! And I'm loving all the Roy/Riza references in Roy's POV! Thanks for sharing that with us 💞

Well hey! Since you liked that, then how about some more? I’ve been wanting to write this for ages, but talking to Elle the other day and her fic got me inspired. These kids are everything to me. There will probably be a second part to this, but don’t expect it too soon. (Our boy’s got his first date. They grow up so fast!)

Glancing at the clock, Riza noted that there was only five more minutes before they had to leave. Something must have been wrong for her son to be running late. He had been timely since she’d started instilling a routine in him when he was a baby, proving once more that he had more of her temperament than his father’s. However, he’d been lagging the entire day when they were on a specific timeline.

Yes, something was definitely wrong.

Walking to his bedroom, she knocked on the door. “Aidan, is everything alright?”

“Yes,” her son’s muffled voice called back, “perfectly fine.”

To anyone else, he would sound completely believable. Nothing sounded amiss in his voice or the speed of his response. His voice was even and content. To his mother, she knew that he was bothered about something. He was only this calm with her when he was trying to hide something. Around her, he was more open and usually allowed something to slip.

But she also knew not to push him. Roy would push. He couldn’t help it; pushing for more was in his nature. She knew that Aidan would tell her with little to no prompting in time. Ever since he’d punched that boy for talking bad about her and gotten into an argument with Roy, he’d been on good behavior.

A moment later, the door opened and Aidan stepped out. Riza wouldn’t have been able to stop the smile from spreading across her face if she’d wanted to. “You look so handsome,” she told him, stopping the urge to pull him into a hug. She could tell that he was holding back, so she gave him space.

Aidan smiled sheepishly at her, his cheeks turning pink. Indeed he did look handsome. All of a sudden, Riza knew in her heart that her little boy was growing up and it both made her heart swell in pride and hurt with nostalgia. He was wearing a black suit that looked almost exactly like one of Roy’s old suits. It was black and fit him perfectly, tailored by the woman that had been working on Roy’s suits for years, with a white button up shirt and scarf. She bet he had a pair of white gloves tucked away in his pocket too.

“Are you sure this isn’t too much?” Aidan asked.

Riza brushed down a few errant strands of his hair, which could never be fully tamed. God, he looked so much like his father right now. She had to fight the urge to tear up. Before long, he’d been an adult and right now he almost looked the part. “No, you look great.”

“Dad knows what he’s doing, I guess,” Aidan replied with a chuckle.

“You can thank Madam Christmas for that,” Roy pointed out as he walked up behind Riza and placed a hand on the small of her back. He let out a low whistle. “You almost look as good as me in a suit.”

Aidan rolled his eyes to connect with Riza’s and she gave him a faint, knowing smile.

Roy kept up a breezy chat as they made their way to the front door, but Riza noticed that Aidan was completely silent and had a distant look in his eyes. Normally, he was very attentive, but his mind was elsewhere. He blinked a few times, his face passive as he looked at his father. At the door, he kept raising his hand as if to brush his fingers through his hair, but then would consciously stop and put it back down, until he finally shoved them both into his pockets.

Finally, Aidan let out a sigh and admitted, “I wish Bran and Ally could ride with me.”

“That’s not how dates work, buddy,” Roy pointed out before casting a wink at Riza. Now she was the one that had to roll her eyes.

“Uncle Havoc rides with you all when you go out for date nights,” Aidan grumbled under his breath.

Roy smirked. “Well, that’s only because I’m the Fuhrer and your mother won’t agree to sneaking out.”

“Besides,” Aidan added, “it’s not a date.”

His voice, tinged with the sort of panic that could only belong to a teenage boy about to go on his first actual date, said otherwise of course and both Riza and Roy knew it. This was definitely Roy’s area of expertise. He was a lot more nuanced when it came to interpersonal relationships and also dating. He also knew how to walk through Aidan’s evasiveness as well.

“You asked her to the dance, didn’t you?” Roy asked.

“Yes, but–”

“Did you ask her to go with you as friends?”

Aidan snapped his mouth shut and didn’t respond. No, he hadn’t.

The day he’d asked one of his classmates to the dance, he’d come home like it was nothing. She was almost certain they wouldn’t have even known Aidan had asked someone until the last minute if Bran had not said something. Roy had actually cheered the moment after Bran bemoaned, “Of course you’d have a date before me,” before apologizing and offering to give Bran some tips.

He had acted like it was no big deal up until today and been even more vague when he’d owned up to it. Bran had been the one to tell them the story while Aidan finished his alchemy studies. Her name was Samantha and she was in their math class. They’d become friends after he’d helped her earlier in the schoolyear. She was very pretty and popular apparently as well. When Roy had nudged him teasingly about landing a pretty girl, all Aidan had said was, “She’s very kind,” without even looking up from his studies.

Turning to the side, Roy held out a hand almost thoughtfully. “If you’d wanted to go with someone to the dance as friends, you should’ve just asked Ally.”

Aidan’s face turned red so quickly that Riza had to bite her lip to keep herself from smiling. It had become even more apparent throughout the past year that her son’s feelings for Havoc’s daughter were beginning to morph, but either he was too stubborn to admit it to himself, in denial, or unaware. It was made only more complicated by the fact that she was his best friend’s younger sister and they’d all grown up together.

He’d been in an up and down mood when Ally had had her first boyfriend. She thought he had become more aware that things were different, but after the relationship had ended, he went back to his old self. It was a shame, really. She didn’t want him pining after Ally until it was too late. It wouldn’t be healthy for either of them. But then she had to remind herself that they were still kids. Just because she and Roy had had an absurd romance did not mean they would.

Now the tables had been turned and not everyone was happy about it.

Aidan had brought up the idea of all of them going together as a group after the fact. The idea had been shot down by Roy and Rebecca for “tactical reasons” as Aidan was the Furher’s son, which made no sense and Aidan knew it. He also knew better than to question Rebecca. The truth was, as Riza found out later from Rebecca, that Ally had not wanted to ride with them. She didn’t have a date unlike the two boys and was upset about it, but also did not want to admit it. Riza didn’t know why Ally didn’t have a date, especially when Bran had said that she was the first one to be asked out to the dance, but she had a feeling it had something to do with her son being dateless at the time.

Except Aidan had asked someone else and left Ally dateless. She hadn’t wanted to go, but after some curious and dejected questioning from Aidan, she’d admitted that she didn’t want to miss it.

Oh, those kids were such a mess, but it was cute. Riza just didn’t like Ally getting her heart broken, especially when the cause was her own boy, who didn’t seem to have a clue.

Still red-faced, Aidan tugged on his scarf and looked away. “I couldn’t have asked Ally. That would be weird.”

It felt like she was looking at a sixteen year-old Edward being confronted about his love for Winry.

Roy clapped Aidan on the shoulder. “Listen; don’t think about it too hard. Just have fun! I guarantee this girl isn’t expecting a dozen roses, a song and dance dedicated to her, or chocolate.”

“Was I supposed to get her something?” Aidan asked. “I should have got her something. You always get Mom stuff.”

That Roy did. The moment he could buy her gifts just because he couldn’t stop himself.

Roy grinned. “I’m pretty sure being picked up in the Furher’s vehicle with bodyguards is cool enough.”

Aidan groaned. “Ugh, do they have to stay the whole night?” As someone that has always kept to himself and liked his privacy, having guards around bothered him, even if they were people he’d known for his entire life. She knew he didn’t like it, but it had to be done, especially since tensions with Creta had gotten higher recently.

The door opened and Breda peeked his head inside. “I promise we won’t spy on you the entire time. You’ll have to have some time alone with your lady.”

“She’s not my lady!” Aidan exclaimed.

Breda winked. “Whatever you say, boss. Your ride is here.”

Sighing, Aidan turned to both his parents. He let Riza hug him and she was pleased when he returned it strongly. She couldn’t help but know that soon he wouldn’t need her, but it was her and him against the world for those first few years that they’d formed such a close bond. She was always secretly happy when he came to her for comfort still.

“Have fun,” she said. “Bran and Ally will meet you there and you’ll forget all your worries.”

“What if I make an idiot out of myself?”

Roy clapped Aidan on the shoulders. “I’m pretty sure that you’re the only boy your age that knows how to waltz, so she’ll be plenty impressed. If that doesn’t do it, just quote some poetry about her beauty.”

Aidan scoffed. “Then she’ll really think that I’m an idiot.”

“Just be yourself, okay?” Roy told him. “She said yes to you for a reason.” He smiled and stood up straight. “You’re charming as it is. Girls like you the way you are.”

At least one girl did, except when he wasn’t noticing her.

Aidan took whatever comfort he could from them and left, waving goodbye to them. Breda promised to take care of him and walked him to the car where another guard was in the driver’s seat. Roy and Riza watched them leave from the doorway, shutting the door only when the car was through the gate.

Once the door was shut, Roy sighed. “Poor kid. Can’t even see a girl is nuts about him when it’s right in front of him the whole time.” He pulled Riza closer to him, that lop-sided grin of his back on his face. “Reminds me of a certain girl back when she was younger.”

“Oh, I knew you liked me,” Riza replied, pulling out of his grip. “I just thought you were goofy.”

“Hey!”

The wait had definitely been worth it and she was incredibly happy with the family she had now, but she certainly hoped that Aidan would realize things much sooner than they had.