#stop saying ''get that good good'' & ''we out in these streets'' ffs you live in fucking nova scotia

[songbirdstew]

When a white man dies and another white man says, "Rest In Power," it's even worse than when any white man describes any bass line as "funky"

[siriuslychessi]

Day 02 - Quizzical

AO3 || FF

There was a knock on the door. It didn’t sound urgent but it was persistent. So persistent that it had woken up Sirius from his nap on the sofa.

He had had a long night chasing some false tip on a Death Eater and he had sat to have a drink, which ended up with him falling asleep on the spot and the drink served but untouched.

Sirius barely registered the knocking at first, until finally he went to the door, guarded about who might be on the other side.

Grabbing his wand he stood next to the door asking: “Who is it?”

“Marlene, I’ve known you since you were 11, and we went to have matching tattoos last week, not even James knows. Now open the door.”

Sirius sighed in relief and opened the door, getting to look at a recently dyed brunette Marlene, lately she had a different coloured hair almost every month. He supposed it was her way of going through the recent events. 

Her blue eyes on him, looking at the bags under his eyes, he was almost sure of it.

“You look like rubbish,” she said, pulling him close and pecklink his lips, “I’m glad that you’re back.” she added softly, like saying it outloud would make her break. 

Sirius his arms around her, “Rubbish tip, nothing happened, just a lot of non sleeping, you just woke me up.” he pointed, pressing his forehead on hers and closing his eyes for a moment, letting his body relax, he had been tense before opening the door. These days no one could be sure of who might come to visit.

“No wonder your breath stinks, like something died in there” she joked, pulling away just a bit. “C’mon, help me with something.”

Sirius looked at her, frowning at the comment, it didn’t sound urgent. “Can it wait? I’m beat.” he admitted.

“No, someone might take it before you wake, it’s just downstairs.”

He rose an eyebrow, like asking ‘what the fuck do you want help with?’ which she replied by taking his hand and pulling him downwards to the street. There was a desk, next to a pile of literal rubbish, which made Sirius consider Marlene’s sanity for a second. 

He looked at her, “Why are you sorting through rubbish?”

“It’s not, the desk is in good condition, and I would have levitated it to your flat, but you decided to live in muggle London.” she replied carefully, taking the pieces of glass from it. “You always say you need furniture. Here you have some for free. Now help me get it up.”

Sirius frowned, “You know I have money right? To buy a new one?”

Marlene rolled her eyes, “Yes, but you never have time, this is right here, and with the right spell we can make it new. Now stop being an arse and help me.” Sirius didn’t move, he just stood there staring at her, like she had grown a second head. “Not everything needs to be brand new. Some things can be a little broken and still be beautiful, if you give them a chance.” she offered, “Also you can’t not have just a sofa and a bed, that’s not a home.”

It doesn’t feel like one. He admitted to himself, before sighing, “If you give rats into my place you are getting rid of them.” He grabbed an end of the desk.

“I thought you like rats, you always hang out with Pete.” she teased, grabbing the other end.

Sirius rolled his eyes, a smile on his lips, “That’s different, Wormtail is family, there would be unwelcome guests.”

And with that they made their way back to the flat.

[daja-the-hypnokitten]

Jukebox reviews part 14! For context, see my post “A Project”   under  this same tag. If you want to see a full list of his EMCSA   stories,  they can be found here, sorted alphabetically.And if you want to see some of his drabbles, check out his blog at @jukeboxemcsa  

 Sharp Dressed Man

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/10/2010                                     mc mf md

Trust someone in marketing to care more about the presentation of something than the content. And, as a scientist, I do resent the way Nina just acts as though scientists don't know how to dress. Just because I get to wear street clothes to the lab (look, you don't want synthetic fabrics around chemicals. You just don't. Cotton all the way, folks! Or linen or wool, depending) doesn't mean I don't know how to dress up and look stunning when I want to. Or, at least, my partners have used stunning to describe me, but I suppose they may just be biased. REGARDLESS, Nina's being a bit catty here, and that definitely makes me feel like she deserves what she gets. But the control isn't ... it isn't a style I enjoy in my kink stories, so on a lot of levels this is just a miss for me. If you like someone being overwhelmed with ... well, ok, in this universe it's science but no, that isn’t how any of this works, so it's magic. You might just enjoy this. 3/10 spirals.

Show Don’t Tell

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/17/2010                                     mc ff cb

Given who Adventure Girl makes me think of, it's WEEIRD to see her juxtaposed with Venus Ascendant, given who Venus makes me think of. (Look, her age says Supergirl, but her origin says Ms. Marvel. And I'm a Carol Danvers fan.) But holding that aside, because it isn't really important, gosh this is a Good Story. The Girdle of Minerva works so well, and watching Adventure Girl grapple with the same sorts of "but good girls don't!" that I too had to unlearn is ... cathartic? Kind of? It doesn't hit my hot buttons exactly - too much magic, which if y'all have been following my reviews won't come as a surprise - but it's still really good. 7/10 spirals

  Closer to the Heart

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/25/2010                                     mc mf fd

How can I even *start* to review this one? This isn't just my favourite Jukebox story - my favourite story on the EMCSA *other* than one my spouse wrote for and dedicated to me! - but it was FORMATIVE to my hypnokink, to my sense of what I might possibly *find* in a relationship. I didn't know what healthy, happy romantic relationships looked like when I was as young as I was when I read this story, back when it was first posted. Not *really.* My parents were always so very private about their relationship, and I knew enough to know that media wasn't ... it just wasn't. Add in the "I'm not really interested in sex itself" with the strong hypnokink, and I was so adrift. Sure, there were, like, 2 book series I read that had Healthy Relationships, but they didn't have any of the kink nuance, so that didn't help.But this story. This story has so many moments that I read and my brain went "that. I want *THAT.*" The mix of romance and fun kinky things in this story became my measuring stick for relationships I was in, and if I realized that a partner wasn't living up to that? That they weren't showing me the respect Lynn shows Michael? I was done. And I needed that, more than once, unfortunately. But it also helped me internalize that I *could* have that kind of relationship. And now I do - 4 times over! I've mentioned before on my blog how a line from this story became a guiding benchmark for me, the idea of "everything we do comes from love." Whether love of community, love of a friend, or romantic love, that central tenant has helped me know when to stop doing something I was no longer doing for the right reasons, and to grow into an adult who knows when to - and how to! - say no.That's a LOT to put into a story, I realize, and it isn't just this story that did it. But it was absolutely a catalyst for so much of that. I would not be who I am today if it weren't for this story. I probably wouldn't have even felt like I belonged in this community without this story, and a few others (one by Jukebox, and a couple by Wiseguy).So all that said, let's get into the actual text of the story, shall we?

While we start with sexual stuff immediately, it's also instantly clearly part of the conditioning/brainwashing process, so that's all good by my standards. There's such obvious love and connection between Michael and Lynn, and she so gently and tenderly reinforcing her control as she moves through the chakras. And then, when we get to the heart chakra, and Michael stops being passive because he loves Lynn so much, and has such a need to communicate that to her... it melts my heart. The way she drops out of pet names and just uses his name in that moment, the mantra... so much good here. And then the moment where we see Michael is so aware of how much Lynn loves him in return is so tender... to me, that's the true climax of this story, the sharing in love that has been well tended and grown by *both* of them. It's just tender and sweet and lovely and I am so very fond of both Michael and Lynn, here and in every story we see with them. 9001/10 spirals.

Already Gone

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

5/2/2010                                       mc ff

There's a really interesting suggestion in here, and it's one I definitely plan to use for (short-term) shenanigans with a partner at some point. The idea of them being consumed by curiosity, focusing entirely on a fixation object as it sucks their thoughts away? Oh yes, I'm using that. The rest of this story? It's good enough, but doesn't quite get me invested the way other stories have and do. Some of that is the contrast to Closer to the Heart, of course; I remember 12 years ago, reading this one the week after Closer to the Heart and wishing that this had been closer to that - and I still do. But this one stands well on its own, if I make myself stop comparing it to Closer to the Heart. Seeing how Cat's mind changes in response to the control is *delightful,* and it's well thought out. It's just a bit impersonal for me, is all. 8/10 spirals.

  I Ran So Far Away

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

5/8/2010                                       mc mf md

Hmm, another one of those stories that never quite feels erotic - surreal horror, maybe? Still really good for what it is, just a bit ... not quite fitting amongst the rest of the stories on the archive. But it's well written, we really, TRULY get a sense of what Monica was running from and why she's scared, and it fits so very well. Though I have to wonder how nobody's noticed this before now. Surely enough folk gathered by those who serve would have people who miss them! 7/10 spirals

  Zombie

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

5/15/2010                                     mc mf md

I feel bad for Addison here; he's mostly an innocent bystander in this one. Wouldn't it have made more sense to just tell him to forget the secrets involved and only have to worry about one person - a seemingly not well-liked one! - disappearing? Ah well, leaving my opinions on what makes sense aside, this is a bit ... clinical? which is the point, of course, but it makes it hard for me to see it as erotic, personally. But the method works, and I enjoy the (entirely too brief) description of the experience Addison has. If you like more detatched/clinical control, you'll likely enjoy this one? 6/10 spirals

  Talking In Your Sleep

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

5/22/2010                                     mc ff

This ends the only way it possibly could, and I don't think that's inherently a bad thing? Because the *how* we end up where it ends up is a bigger draw than the "where is this going?" sentiment would be. It's fun to watch how Alicia slowly brainwashes herself with Holly's voice, though I can't help but shake my head at her not realising she was doing that. Ah well, hopefully it will work out for the best and they can be a happy trio; I've seen well how two subby gals can be in love and reinforcing their submission to a shared dominant partner; it can be *super* cute. Though that does involve more consenting submsision, but what can you do, I suppose? I do have to wonder just how much actual rest Holly was getting, but it seemed to work for her? 8/10 spirals

  You’re the Inspiration

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

5/30/2010                                     mc

Another of the inductions Jukebox has written, and one very not to my taste; a central image of it is, effectively, serial recruitment, which is a hard limit for me. So it's not an induction I can rate well, though the technique is as solid as always.

  Common People

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

6/5/2010                                       mc mf md fd

I feel like the last part of this sort of skews away from what would be - to me! - a much more interesting story. But it ends up more or less exactly where I expected it to - after 139 stories, I think I'm getting a sense of where Jukebox is going with these pretty quickly from the tone. The first two thirds of the story is good - the approach of a telepath who's trying not to give into her powers is fun! But the cruel ending to it, caused by another telepath, is less my vibe. 6/10 spirals.

  Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

6/12/2010                                     mc ff

Honestly, do people not understand the idea of too good to be true? I suppose there would be fewer good stories if they did, and after all it can be hard to resist temptation. And to be fair, Isabelle did speak truly, for all she left significant details out. It's a fun story, and the sense of how Sylvia is overwhelmed and conditioned and brainwashed is wonderful. Having said that, I don't actually like the light and sound machines - unless I'm already SUPER fractionated, they just give me a wicked headache (I should know, I experimented with them once upon a time, thanks to Wiseguy) - so I do wince a little at the idea of waking from sleep right into one. But that's a me thing - plenty of folk really like light and sound machines, and I know from friends' testimonies that they can be amazingly hypnotic for a lot of folk! So that just makes all of this feel more real, and more personal. It's just all around a good story that hits a lot of things I like. 9/10 spirals.

[uelden]

Vanity Fair interview translated

Just a side note before the actual translation; I don't know why, but instead of reporting the full questions and answers in full as she should, the journalist decided to report only summarized fragments of what Måneskin said and patch these fragments up into messy clusters. She also worded a couple phrases in a very confusing way (and yes, she's fully Italian). In short, she did quite a poor job, so the final shape of the interview is not that good. I didn't expect top-tier journalism from Vanity Fair but ffs. You'll see what I mean.

I translated it as it is, adding just a couple footnotes to give you insight on Italian pop culture references.

Translation under the cut

Måneskin: "Different from whom?"

by Lavinia Farnese, 09 June 2021

"True justice is being judged for what you do and not for what you are." The ones who are convinced of this are Damiano, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas who, by being the emblem of a generation that is finally free, refuse labels and conformism. In life, in love and on the stage. Where, maybe precisely because of this, they're winning everything

With the still unexpected (first place at Sanremo Festival) and the incredible (triumph at Eurovision) in their eyes, Måneskin are on the sofa of the house-studio they rented - to resume writing songs and rehearsing them - like you are after a won battle: lying in a calm and unreal silence, alert and a bit irreverent, happy.

In the garden there's the tennis table and the pool, the light of summer when it's starting and calming the country all around, and it filters inside from the large windows, and it goes onto the shining black of Ethan's hair, which blends with Thomas' eye shadow and the butterfly he has tattooed oh his naked forearm, which completes the picture of Victoria's golden crucifix hanging between neck and tank top and ends on the black nail polish of Damiano's stretched hands.

It's a human fresco, a Theatre of wrath [translator's note: "Teatro d'ira"] - to call it with the title of their latest album, a platinum record already - where their flaunted 20 years of age, their irregular femininity and virility are grown into proud and challenging custom, a pop glam rock generational manifesto of hard-earned liberties in a finally-unconditional expression of the self.

To watch them from any angle and from another age is to think that a great love will be born in those who'll understand: this new way of being in the world, the true and sovereign realm they hold where "diversity=exceptionality", the power of the artistic and cultural revolution of which they are healthy carriers in establishing in all lyrics and gestures the right to live according to one's own nature past the "people (who) talk, the people (who) unfortunately talk, and don't know what the fuck they're talking about." [tn: "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

We go where we're afloat, where the air isn't gone. [tn: journalist's own variation on "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

Miley Cyrus says hi – The numbers of a phenomenon

"The streams of Zitti e buoni are growing by the second, and they bring us above Muse, at the top of English charts, twelfth in the Spotify Global Chart. Followers almost tripled, in the post-Rotterdam period (from 1,4 to 3,3 millions, ed.) Contagious and universal folly: t-shirts and merchandising sold out in 10 minutes. Like the records, the tickets for a tour that keeps adding dates and expanding over geographic maps. They're contacting us even from some festivals were The Rolling Stones went." Thomas

"After the pretextual controversy over cocaine that France built against us, later disproven by my drug test, some graffiti popped up in Spain depicting me as a “No drugs” poster guy. Some tweets made us laugh: "Congratulations, Italy! I've never been more certain that four people have had sex with each other." Miley Cyrus started following us -You're great. -You guys are greater." Damiano

From the garage to the stars – Story of a flight

"It was only 2016, and we played in restaurants, in the streets, in via del Corso. Damiano without even a microphone, Thomas' guitar with wonky strings, Ethan was drumming on a cajón. During Rome highschools' sit-ins (Kennedy, Virgilio, Mamiani) we had our first confirmations and half-hours of celebrity, playing among those who criticized us and those who went "wow they're really cool." One of the rare times when they would have paid us – 50 euros each – we gave the money to the next band in the lineup so that they would make us play in their spot, later in the day, when there would have been more people. We had already realized how things worked. Visibility mattered more than money. And we still think that." Victoria

The intimacy of rock – Choice of a genre

"Music allows us the miracle of extending to others some very personal and private topics, sometimes even difficult and thorny ones. They are and they remain deeply your own, but at the same time they become a confession that reaches a wider audience, and in this passage that is alike a delivery, they find a place in you as well, a processing of them. You overcome them, you accept them. One second it's something aggressive, the next it's a ballad. Cathartic». Damiano

Against panic – The stage as therapy

"I've suffered a lot from anxiety and panic attacks, it's an issue I've worked on thanks to a psychotherapy course, my friends and my family. Playing helped me in not letting myself be paralyzed by my fears, not making myself limited in my private and professional life. I've learned to accept, to live with this side of myself. I don't hide it. I don't feel ashamed of it." Victoria

Analysis as necessity – Relying on someone saves you

"This belief that only madmen go to the psychologist is a widespread ignorance. No-one's born learned. [tn: common Italian saying] And it's often hard to understand the very reason why we're here, let alone the origin and direction of our desires. It's a long and legitimate journey towards lucidity, a kind of backing to become transparent." Damiano

Being out of our minds – But different from them [tn: "Zitti e buoni" lyrics]

"When you feel a strong passion towards something that is not a canonical job but an artistic language, that already puts you on a level of anomaly, which is not superior or inferior to other people, but it puts you in the position of the one who breaks the mold and also works at a loss, the one who sustains great risks while trying to do something that who knows if it will take you anywhere. "Why do it if it doesn't pay?". You want to give this dream of yours an aesthetic, but it becomes "You're dressing so weird! You must be gay!" - now that I'm 22 I laugh about it, but when I was 17 it had an effect on me, too." Damiano

The beauty of uniqueness – Of believing in it and defending it

"And I mean, at the end of the day if we're all different it's not because we want be alternative but because, really, no-one is the same. Justice is being judged on what you do and not what you are. Justice is equality, respect, beauty." Ethan

Fluid sexuality – Pride is freedom

"Heels for men that like themselves in them, kisses among ourselves, we have an open, extended mind, and we're proud of it. The horizons become vast, past the oppression of conservative families. With the information on the web knowledge becomes greater and with it the possibility that minorities will be less and less minorities, because the majority will be less of a majority. This way we'll make insults and bullying grow quieter. If social media get to a village of 50 souls and reveal to a girl who's afraid of the dark that someone has felt her same fear, then there's no reason to give a name to that fear, to mark it with labels which also limit and restrict. Definitions always had this effect on me. You shouldn't even consider the gender when judging someone, let alone their orientation." Victoria

Sexism – A culture to be dismantled

"Emma [tn: Emma Marrone, Italian singer] drops the bomb: “At Eurovision when I was there they massacred me for a pair of shorts, while they said nothing to Damiano – bare-chested and in heels.” The easy judgment against women is more fierce, constant, debasing (if I have a lot of sex I'm cool while Vic is a whore, where I show myself strong I'm a leader while Vic is despotic and a pain in the ass who reached success because she's hot.) As a male I'm privileged, the abuse I get is not comparable to those a woman has to live through, the comments over my aesthetic are centered only on my aesthetic and don't insinuate anything about my professionalism and my competence, while women are victims of this kind of thought in a systematic way. It happened though to find myself standing with a woman who while pulling me to herself to take a selfie, started licking my face out of the blue... I mean, what the hell do you want? Who asked you? Consent exists, and it's due." Damiano

Grow yourself – The only commandment

"To me conformism is the opposite of education [tn: could also mean "politeness"] and is the asphyxia of expression. I fortunately never endured heavy bullying, heavy enough for the the judgement of others to change me. But the mold of the small crumbs of bullying I got and of the kind of aggression that scars is the same. If I'm a kid who dances and likes dolls you have to let me do what I like. I was a kid who wanted to keep his hair long and played with Barbie. As a teen, my friends looked at my hair: " You have to find a girl with short hair to be at your side." My grandparents took away my dolls: "Stop it, they're not for you." Ethan

"When I was six I was already sick of them, the distinctions between masculine and feminine. I've always had strong ideas about how I wanted to be. I refused things that were typically defined as girly, and all around me they mocked me because I went skateboarding, I played soccer, I didn't wear skirts, I was giving myself the chance to be as I wished. I endured it a little, I suffered a little, but I had courage, and now thanks to that courage I know that I could have gotten even much more hurt, otherwise I would have left to others the most important choice: the one about myself." Victoria

Love in progress – Music, girlfriends

"I've been married to music for the last 20 years. I can't wait to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary." Ethan

"Everyone makes their own experiences, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes wrong, but it's always not anybody's business." Thomas

"When I first felt feelings and attraction towards a girl it was a bit disorienting because I had never had the courage of going beyond the limitations I had put for myself. For society being heterosexual is the norm and so you often define yourself in that way automatically, depriving yourself of the freedom to live many shades and faces of love. Once I overcame the initial insecurity of having to call into question my certainties I've lived my sexuality in a very natural and free way, as it should be for everyone." Victoria

"I had paparazzi at my door every day and night. So, after four years of relationship, I revealed her name. I still have paparazzi at my door every day and nigh, but at least I don't have to hide anything anymore." Damiano

The worth of the group – Phenomenology of protection

"The true engagement though, the true family is among ourselves, our band. We've believed in it since day zero, even before we called ourselves Måneskin (Moonlight in Danish), even before Ethan drew a giant moon on the flier for the first concert we ever did. We share everything, even the pain for the tragedy of Seid Visin, who committed suicide at 20 because of racism. [tn: I think the journalist asked them their opinion about Seid Visin's death, which was a current events topic in Italy, and then pasted it syntaxically in the middle of Thomas' answer, which was not a great move] A group is what we all should be: stay united and not back down an inch in the face of oppression that is generated by a distorted view of diversity." Thomas

I'm not of the right age – Like Gigliola [tn: Gigliola Cinquetti won Eurovision with her song "Non ho l'età", which means "I'm not of the right age"]

"Before you the only one who won both Sanremo and Eurovision on the same year was Cinquetti (1964). If there's anything I feel I'm not of the right age for? No, honestly no. Maybe having children. Regarding children I'll be honest: I'm not of the right age." Damiano

Having touched the sky – The fears that remain

"We're more than inside the dream, we're in the conquered dream. When you fly high there's the risk of plummeting and hurting yourself, but we'll work hard not to end up like Icarus, who burns his wings with the sun. Everything is in our hands. And this - a bit pretentiously - reassures us rather than scaring us." Damiano

[certifiedlovergirlsstuff]

Parker

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Genre: AU 

Word Count: 2.3k

Summary: There’s a new Spider person in town and it’s not Parker.

A/N: This is a continuation of the Parker story that I posted last year. I’m sorry to everyone who reads and likes my ff, I’m very slow when it comes to writing. I’ve been feeling down for a while and now I’ve decided to try and work on stories that I was already in the process of writing. So hopeful I’ll do better in time. Also I don’t live in NY so streets and stuff might not always be correct. Also I can’t spell half the time and spell check doesn’t always catch things and sometimes I miss words for a sentence to make sense, I never reread my writing I just didn’t in school and so I don’t really do it now, SORRY!!

You’ve reached the phone number of (Y/n) (L/n) please leave a message at the tone of the beep...

Peter groaned as he tried to reach you for the third time wondering when you will be home since you had to work on a chemistry project with him. Even though you weren’t the best in the science area you said you didn’t want Peter to do all the work on his own. You told him to come to your house around 4, but it was now 6:30 and he didn’t know when you would be home. Your aunt allowed him to stay in your room until you came back, he thought it was a little weird she didn’t really seem that worried about where you were.

As Peter looked around your room, he realized that he didn’t know that much about you. All he knows is that you transferred from a different state to New York to live with some distant relative in 8th grade. The both of you would have small encounters with just a small smile here or a quiet ‘hi’ there if you were sitting next to each other.

Then out of the blue one day during sophomore year, you just sat down at the same table as him during study hall. 

---

Peter was working on his calculus homework having not finished the night before, having to focus on his chemistry homework and then having a tiny project for World History, which he had to do all by himself because no one else chose to help him out. He didn’t stress himself too much about the homework, his brain worked fast enough to understand the problems plus his class was after lunch and if he didn’t finish now he’ll just finish then. He was brought out of his thoughts of fast working math problems and numbers, when a loud thud sounded through the library and even louder when it was placed in front of him at his table. He heard the librarian shush the person from her desk.

“Sorry” the person responsible replied back loud enough for only Peter to hear.

Peter looked up to come face to face with the culprit. They looked disheveled, their hair a bit of a mess, their shirt had a couple of stains in different colors on the front. They just had a simple jean jacket covering them from the slight autumn breeze of Queens, New York. You seemed to have noticed Peter’s gaze on your face having turned towards him with a bashful expression on your face.

“Sorry, sometimes I don’t know my own strength.” you said quietly.

“No problem” Peter said with a light smile on his lips.

“I’m (Y/n)” you outstretched your hand for a shake.

“Peter” he said, grabbing your outstretched hand.

---

7:13pm

‘There seems to be no more crime happening at the moment’

“Okay, well I guess it’s time for me to head home then. At least I have far less bruises than normal so it’s not gonna be a big deal when I get home, I don’t want to have to sit through another lecture.” you rolled your eyes behind the mask on your face covering your features. 

‘You seem to have missed a phone call, you have one voicemail from a Peter Parker’

“Hey (Y/n)...um I’m at your house right now waiting for you so we can work on our project. I’ve been here for about two hours now and it's getting late so I’m probably gonna end up leaving since my aunt is probably waiting for me to get home. I guess I’ll just see you tomorrow at school. Okay, bye (Y/n).”

“Crap! I forgot about the project, Peter’s probably upset with me.” you sighed and decided to call Peter.

Nothing. You called again. Nothing. Again and again. Nothing. You tried five times and he never answered, a part of you thinks he’s probably just ignoring you for standing him up. The other part worries that he could be in trouble right now. It is Queens.

“Hey Karen can you do another sweep of the city? Any type of crimes or assaults happening at the moment?” worry lacing your voice hoping nothing is or happened to Peter, sweet Peter.

‘There is no crime at the moment (Y/n)’

“Can you search for Peter Parker? Can you give me his current location?” you ask with a slight shake to your questions.

‘Peter Parker is currently on the streets of 7th and Jefferson ave’

He’s not that far away from me you thought to yourself with a sigh.

You were only a few buildings away from Peter so you lept from rooftop to rooftop, sitting nicely on top of an apartment building's roof looking down onto the passerbyers, everyone in their own world and minding their business. As you were watching everyone walk by you kept your eyes open for Peter, even though he did look like every normal teenage boy with brown curly hair from atop, he did have little charms on his backpack; for one being a Ironman POP! Figure keychain for the opening of the big pocket.

---

You were walking down the halls of Midtown trying to find your locker on the first day of sophomore year. It was kinda difficult with everyone walking to and fro not minding you any time or stepping out of the way just a little.

‘Rude’

Just as you found your locker someone ran into you causing you to drop the notebooks and textbooks out of your arms, dropping to the floor with a loud thud. You just scuffed yourself and chose to open your locker first so you don’t have to deal with the weight in your arms. After trying your combination for a third time and nothing happening, you just leaned your head against the metal doors and just sighed out through your nose to try and keep yourself calm and not cause tears or your fist to hit the metal. 

“Um...sorry to bother you, but do you need help?” Someone beside you asked timidly and quietly.

You looked up from the floor being face to face with someone who was kneeling beside you on the ground stacking some of your textbooks onto each other. He was a boy around your age with a delicate sprinkle of freckles dotting his face. He had glasses on the bridge of his nose and eyes that looked to be brown colored, but it wasn’t his eye color it was the way his eyes looked at you that drew you in a bit. He looked a bit like a deer in headlights mixed with puppy dog eyes that were just looking into yours with some concern and maybe embarrassment coming in since you were taking a long time to answer him and was just staring at a stranger.

You blinked out of your stupor and smiled at him and asked if he could try and place your locker combination for you. Because if you tried one more time and it didn’t work you might actually punch it. The boy smiled at you and was able to open your locker for you and helped hold half the textbooks.

“Thank you for helping me, since everyone else chooses to be rude.” You grumbled out the last bit.

The boy just smiled at you and said it was no problem and then he walked away probably to meet up with his friend.

---

7:35pm

 You still haven’t seen Peter walking anywhere and you were just about to give up and head home when Karen alerted you to a crime in progress.

‘There is a mugging in progress two blocks from here in an alley behind a deli’

You rushed over to the position that Karen sent you and hoped that it wasn’t Peter. Well, it was Peter sadly who was on the ground and shaking with his backpack ripped open and the contents spilling out. The thug was pointing a knife at Peter and yelling at him for money.

Deciding that now was the time to intervene you shot a web to the thugs knife and yanked it out of his grasp.

“You know you shouldn’t be pointing sharp objects at people, what would your grandma have to say?”

Honestly you had to roll your eyes a bit, really (y/n)? His grandma?

You jumped down from the balcony of an apartment and landed in front of Peter blocking him from view. You rose to your full height and placed your hands on your hips, cocking to the right a bit. You turned your head to look at Peter making sure he was okay and safe for the moment, he wasn’t shaking anymore which was good, but he now was just staring wide eyed at you.

“Are you okay?” You asked him

He just nodded his head then looked to your left and pointed a finger, presumably at the thug. When your spider senses went off you just lifted both hands and grasped the thug's arm and flipped him over onto his back making him gasp for air. You then webbed him up to the balcony and had Karen call the cops.

When you were done you walked back over to Peter and knelt down to help grab his stuff off the ground and place them back into his backpack. You then held out your hand to help lift Peter off the ground. When Peter placed his hand in your grasp you might have pulled a little more than you meant causing Peter to collide with your chest and moving your arm to his waist making sure he was stable.

You both stood still in the position for a few seconds before breaking apart chuckling awkwardly. Peter rubbed his neck and you just held your hands behind your back. The silence was starting to become suffocating, so you were about to ask Peter if he wanted a ride home, but he broke the silence first.

“Thank you for what you did earlier.” Peter said quietly

“Eh, it’s no problem.” You shrugged off

You both still stood there not knowing what else to say at the moment. So Peter just took that as a cue to leave since he started to walk out the alley. That prompted you to remember what you were thinking earlier.

“Hey!” You called out to Peter

He stopped in his spot and turned around facing you.

“Would you like a ride? Or even a walking companion?”

Peter just smiled at you showing that the requests weren’t weird to him so you started to walk towards him.

“I could use a walking companion. I would take the ride suggestion, but I’m pretty sure you mean swinging on webs about 15ft or more in the sky away from the ground and I already have a bad fear of heights.” Peter rambled out

You just chuckled to yourself and walked next to him prompting the both of you to walk in silence for a while.

“So what were you doing walking by yourself? It’s never a good idea to be by yourself, especially if you don’t have some type of weapon.” You questioned

Peter didn’t answer right away so you turned to look at him and he was looking at the ground with a slight pout to his mouth. You already know he’s gonna say it was because you never showed up at your own house.

“Well I was supposed to work on a school project with a classmate at her house, but she never showed up for some reason and I was there for about three hours and I told my aunt and uncle I would be home around 8 so I just decided to leave hoping to make it home before it was really dark out. Then I was cleaning my glasses and they dropped, so I had to pull a Velma from Scooby-Doo and look for my glasses. I think the thug was hiding behind the trash or something.” Peter spoke while still looking towards the ground.

You could tell that you not showing up really hurt him, he probably thought you were just using him for a good grade and lied or something.

“Looks like I’ll be doing the project by myself like usual. I just thought that I made a friend, especially for that class since my friend Ned doesn’t share it with me.”

“Well I’m sure she didn’t bail on purpose. Maybe something she accidentally forgot.” You tried to save yourself from looking bad in Peter’s eyes.

Peter just shrugged his shoulders and the conversation ended since apparently you ended up outside of Peter’s apartment. You both turned to each, having yet another awkward silence between the both of you. You took the silence to look at Peter’s features which looked softened in the moonlight, but also harsh with the fluorescent lighting of street lamps. As you were getting lost in Peter’s details Karen rang in your ears telling you that your aunt wants you home in the next 20 minutes or you’re grounded.

“Um well Peter I got to leave, but I hope you have a good evening.” and then you salute in a flirty way at least you hope it came off like that.

As you swung off into the night, heading home to finally relax; Peter was eating dinner with his family and as he was slowly chewing his chow mein he realized what was bugging him for the past 15 minutes, he never gave you his name. He was both curious and a bit worried, worried that you might have been following for a while before tonight and curious because if you weren’t a stalker which he decided to rule out since you have to protect Queens; that means you probably know him from somewhere else. And Peter was going to find out where.

[meetmeatthecoda]

Now that I’ve had some time to cry & mourn & actually think about that horrendous excuse for television... I have... some thoughts.

Firstly, the pace of that episode was insane. I mean, the season itself felt like we were slowly & tortuously hacking our way through a tangled rain forest, trying desperately to see the forest for the trees, but instead stuck cutting vines & branches down one by one... until we got to that finale, which felt comparatively like finally cutting away all the dense foliage only to immediately fall off a fucking cliff. You could just tell they were using the least amount of dialogue they could to move through so many weird emotions at fucking breakneck speed. I mean there was... the brief aftermath in Latvia, the 4 second plane ride to re-introduce Red’s illness after how many eps, Liz’s 3 second long recuperation, the awkward attempt at humor with the helium followed by a crash landing into solemnity at Red’s talk with Cooper, the abrupt & unsatisfying discussion with Red & Liz where he makes his rEqUESt, all the different “heartfelt” one-on-ones with Liz’s people, the fucking forced af “romance” with K**nler, the shoe-horned “chance meeting” with Beth Ryker, the most Agnes has ever talked in the history of ever, the weirdly morbid & fucking heartbreaking walk in the park, the choppy restaurant scene, to the unmentionable... end event. It went all over the place, which is very unlike TBL imo, which usually seems to stick to a theme or emotional center for an entire episode, whether blacklister or mythology driven. I think it was painfully clear how poor their planning was (when they have literally no excuse bc they knew this was coming the whole season???) & just how much shit they were trying to squeeze into one episode.

Secondly - & this may seem obvious, but I think it’s worth talking about anyway - Liz should have gotten her answers. And I’m not just saying this as a Lizzington shipper (I mean, mostly I am, but there are other reasons also!) Primarily, I think bc... literally everyone expected them. Not just bc they were advertised (it’s certainly not the first time they’ve delighted in false advertising in promos when it comes to the all-important AnSwErS) but bc THEY MADE SURE EVERYONE KNEW BEFOREHAND THAT IT WAS MEGAN’S LAST EP. It might have been mildly acceptable to play coy for yet another season finale IF she was coming back in some capacity later to eventually wrap things up, but - given that they fucking slammed the door on that possibility - THEY SHOULD HAVE GIVEN US ANSWERS. I don’t think anyone considered the possibility that they would KILL her & NOT give us answers bc it makes no fucking sense. Additionally, Liz should have gotten her answers simply bc SHE!! DESERVED!! THEM!! They’re literally the thing she’s been fighting for for eight seasons & she fucking died without them? WTF??? But, most importantly to us Lizzington shippers, Liz not getting her answers ruined the park fantasy. I think we all imagined (BC IT WAS MEGAN’S LAST EP) that Red & Liz would finally talk & Red would give her the answers she wanted. I think we all expected from the (misleading) promo that he would make some sense out of the potentially jumbled memories/visions (?) from 8.21 &, most importantly, there would be SOME KIND OF EMOTIONAL TURNING POINT, SOME CATHARSIS, AN UNDERSTANDING & RENEWED LOVE BETWEEN THEM DRIVEN BY THE AFOREMENTIONED REVELATIONS (& LOVE OF WHATEVER KIND, MIND YOU, WE WEREN’T PICKY, JUST SOMETHING FOUNDED ON RECONCILIATION & PEACE.) But - bc they denied us that - Liz was still in the dark & waiting on answers for the entire ep, unable to forgive or reconnect with her true feelings for Red (whatever you believe them to be) & this made her reaction to Red’s rEqUeSt ring very hollow & detached, the whole park bench conversation stilted & awkward (on Liz’s end) & - THE WORST PART - it made the whole park fantasy feel FALSE. It cheapened it. Like she was just indulging him, letting him walk with her & play with Agnes & enjoy one more day of life before she indifferently killed him. The one thing we expected to get, should have gotten, & THOUGHT WE WOULD HAVE NO MATTER WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN THE FINALE was ruined. With the assisted suicide talk beforehand, the almost begrudging acceptance from Liz, the obvious morbid mindset from Red, the song in the background, the context of it all. It put an awful spin we completely didn’t expect on what should have been our beautiful Lizzington park fantasy. And I think that may be the part that hurts the most - the fact that I can only look at gifs of that scene - bc the music & dialogue & context completely undermine what Liz’s fantasy should have been, that she got for just one afternoon, when she was supposed to be happy & at peace with Red & Agnes.

Thirdly, (anyone still there? lolz) the whole “plot” of this episode was fucking nonsensical. Chiefly - & many other people have pointed this out before now - Red would never ask Liz to kill him. I simply call bullshit. No matter how hard they tried to justify it (& boyyyyy, did they try) Red has never wanted Liz to be a killer, criminal, or have to live a life like him. He has canonically said as much. I could maybe buy the whole “taking over his empire” thing as the seasons progressed, but asking Liz to live with the guilt (however slight or delayed) of killing him, after everything they’ve been through together, after she told him she loves him (seasons ago, but the feelings are still there, albeit buried deep)? And thereby launching her (& by extension Agnes) directly into harm’s way as the “new” Concierge of Crime (?), without him there to guide her from the shadows? No way. Bullshit. Also - & @iwouldlovetoeatyourtoast mentioned this first, I believe - the whole idea of it was stupid anyway bc Liz has spent the entire season chasing him, has repeatedly gotten opportunities to take the big shot, & has always been unable to kill him. It wasn’t even an engaging tWiSt to throw in at the very end bc - even when she agreed to do it - we all knew it wouldn’t happen, also bc Megan was the one leaving & not James. So, it wasn’t a surprise when she broke down at the end & said she couldn’t, so wtf was the point?

Fourthly (almost to the end, god this feels good) & this was a huge tell imo - everyone was OOC. Now you might say that’s the bitterness talking & you might be right... but you fucking try & tell me that 1) Red all of a sudden decides he’s ready for death after how long of not accepting it or mentioning it & absolutely must be killed by Liz & no one else within the next 24-48 hours 2) Liz would willingly go along with that for even a second 3) Dembe wouldn’t try his damnedest to talk Red out of assisted suicide in general & especially coercing Liz into doing it 4) Ressler would be the one to fucking figure it out & hightail it out of bed AFTER BEING ON DEATH’S DOOR WITH A BUSTED LUNG & SEPSIS FFS 5) Wolf Man Van Dyke would even know where to find Liz on a random fucking street corner outside a random fucking restaurant 6) Red wouldn’t see him behind Liz taking aim 7) THERE WOULDN’T BE A DECLARATION OF FEELINGS/LOVE CONFESSION BETWEEN RED & LIZ IN THE 14 MILLION OBVIOUS PLACES THERE COULD HAVE BEEN *PRIMARILY AFTER SHE SAYS “I CAN’T DO IT, I DON’T WANT TO” I MEAN, HELLO????? WTF, WHY WASN’T THERE AN “BC I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU TOO, LIZZIE” LIKE HOW HARD WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN, IT WAS THE PERFECT PLACE, THE LAST CHANCE, & WE FUCKING DESERVED ITTTTTTTTTTT *ahem* & lastly, & most importantly, & I’m definitely going to cry typing this... 8) if you fucking try to tell me that Red would allow himself to be pulled away from Lizzie’s dead body for a second time by Dembe or anyone else (especially when it was only the stupid task force arriving???) without simply crossing the street to load his gun with trembling fingers, pull the trigger, & join her... you’re fucking crazy.

In conclusion, bc this has gone on long enough, this was just... a hasty, sloppy, rushed, unprepared, careless ending on all fronts, no matter how hard they tried to convince us it was totally-100%-on-purpose-of-course-why-do-you-ask? (And I’m not even touching on the Redarina bait bc fuck that shit.) Like, did anyone else feel like when Red was telling Dembe that he was sure & this was what he wanted & really he’s positive so please stop asking, and when he was explaining things to Liz in almost too much detail, and when he was telling Harold this was absolutely necessary... that it was really the writers trying to convince us? It just felt so sudden & forced & heavy-handed & absurdly preventable & at the same time ridiculously unstoppable... I mean, look, whatever drama clearly went on behind the scenes? I think we can all agree that they did a terrible, awful, shit-tastic job on all fronts. And it’s just such a shame that that’s how it ended 💔

[ringmyheart]

Hey was wondering if I could get something for lookism characters with an older s/o, like they're 3-4 older. Please do goo, Jake kim and Scott kwon.

Good luck with the blog🤩🤩🤩

Goo Kim

When you get into the relationship, of course he knows ur age and that you’re a few years older than him, and at first he doesn’t mention it but once ur like just a little bit closer he’s probably gonna poke fun at the fact

Because there’s nothing wrong w u being older it’s just that in all the stereotypical or general movies or shows or books it’s like the older person in the relationship is usually the like stronger or more providing person ends up being the oldest in the relationship and ur not useless in the relationship at all but he’s out there like killing ppl and raking in thousands a day at like 19 😭

If ur walking around in public and someone stares at u for a little longer or one of the ten geniuses is looking at u just casually he’ll get up in their face and b like “whaaat?! Do you know who you’re staring at? That’s your elder over there!! Show some respect!!”

He definitely sends u cringy texts like “how’s my favorite 21 year old 😍😍😍😍” and it’s clearly somewhat condescending but he means it endearingly simultaneously

If u don’t know something that he asks u he’ll raise a brow and go “really? A four year head start and u can’t tell me that 🤨” and it’s all good fun but he’s always gonna say stuff like that

And this is all unprompted, if he knows ur actually kinda like insecure for whatever reason that ur older than him, maybe bc he’s already getting cash like crazy at his age, he’ll either start making fun of u relentlessly OR if ur serious about it he’ll cut it out of course and never mention it again. He might try to make u feel better by being like “don’t worry!! Physically and mentally im probably years older than you 😘” and it doesn’t really make u feel better probably but he kind of tries

It’s honestly no big deal to him what ur age is, but if he knows u don’t like him mentioning it so much he will bc he likes to be annoying LMAO and whenever u accomplish something he’ll be like “did u see what my s/o did?! My 21/22yr old s/o?! At their old age they’re still kicking it!!” And ur in NO means old but he just wants to strike a nerve in u and fight in public for fun

But when u put him joking about it aside, it really doesn’t mean anything in the relationship honestly. He doesn’t feel like there’s a certain way for things to go nd just goes about things normally, and he doesn’t really see people older than him as wiser or anytning so he’s not gonna like go to you for advice or ask you to figure things out for him just bc ur older

And honestly u don’t even need a job anymore bc ur gonna b together for a long time and he makes SOOO much money so if u hate ur job or college u have the opportunity to do what u want in life without worrying ab the pay bc he makes it all for u

And yeah he’s pretty stingy w money besides being filthy rich but when or if u need it he’ll give it to u ofc and he wants u to pursue what u like too so he’ll even go to ur job or college and just inform them “btw (y/n) isn’t gonna work here anymore” for u and gets u a job as whatever u want. He beats up ur boss so u can get promoted or something but if u ask about it he’ll deny it anyways and it’s like who else would beat tf out of my boss and he shrugs

Or if u like ur current job or college he’ll threaten the school or ur boss LMAO and have them give u more money or make u pay less or promote u

Even tho ur older than him he sees himself as the like leader of u two ?? Like he’s a really joke-y guy on the exterior but behind the scenes he is doing all the like hard stuff so u don’t have to. Like he sees it as he helps u and if u never offer much help or advice he doesn’t gaf, it’s like he helps u and in return he gets u LMAO

If u like ur job or college, don’t wanna quit and don’t want him threatening ur superiors he is like the number one customer of u guys

Like if u r working retail or as a cashier he is always going to that store nd buying stuff nd funding ur business and he gets chairman choi to do so too

Or he’ll just buy ur company or college LMFAO and suddenly sales r booming and u don’t know why r ur classes r so much easier

Yeah ur older than him and the twelve geniuses but he doesn’t let u near them 😐 he doesn’t want u to be a part of that type of business and honestly keeps u away from it besides maybe gun bc he’s always around him but that’s it

Like he doesn’t want u anywhere near his business or that type of stuff and if ur curios about it he says “u will understand when ur my age” or something LMAO so u will stop asking. It’s like the 1 time he’s suddenly rlly serious

If anyone else mentions how ur older than him in a demeaning way he’ll def be mad it’s like HE can make fun of u but no one else can, like ever. He will fight them nd win even if it’s just on the street or something

He’s threatened like two of ur friends behind ur back bc they made fun of u once and u mentioned it LMAO

He makes u do taxes (does he even do taxes ????? LMFAO) but if he does he makes u do them bc suddenly he thinks ur so much smarter and wiser

If he’s in a rut and needs ur help and it’s something dumb like he lost something he’ll b like “cmooon ur so much smarter than me 😣😩 ur like 21 u would know this for sure” to make u do it and he uses flattery

None of the ten geniuses know ur name bc he’s tryna keep u safe lol

If ur ever in a situation somehow vaguely similar to one he’s in and he needs help on it he’ll ask u what u did, and if u say something surprisingly smart or wise he’ll be kinda surprised bc I feel like he’s cocky and doesn’t think others can help him that much but u do

But overall, it means nothing to him and it doesn’t matter how much older u r he’s still gonna feel like the protector

Jake Kim

It REALLY means nothing to him. Like he honestly never mentions it and ur like does he even know??? Bc a guy like him who’s like a leader of a whole enterprise type thing gang usually seems like he’d wanna be the elder in a relationship so ur like “... u know I’m like 4yrs older than u right?”

And he’s like “...yeah? Was that important or something?” And just blinks at u so ur like ... never mind

Honestly he probably makes u a bank account and puts money in it to surprise u on ur birthday or something like a little fund thing and he has a bank account on the side for u that has like thousands of dollars

If u ever feel bad or weird that ur older than him bc he is so successful and younger than u, he wonders why it even matters??? Who gaf??? And he’ll just hug u or something and is like pls don’t even worry about that... wth

If u ever feel petty bc he’s so much more successful than u bc it’s like when u have a hobby that u love and then a kid ends up being so much better at it than u but SO much worse bc he has like millions at like 19 💀 then he’s like okay but it’s OUR little enterprise now since we r together to assure u. He’s not cocky about it at all

But he won’t offer for u to join or try and help him out in making money even if he’s got to or it’s vital bc he also doesn’t want u involved w Big Deal at ALLLLLLL either, u could literally b like the smartest person in the world but once ur his s/o he probably doesn’t want u involved in his business at all

He does assume ur kind of wiser than him bc of ur age, so he’ll ask u for help or advice more often

Tbh regardless in a relationship he probably doesn’t leave any work for u to do like he does everything the financial stuff the living stuff everything so it doesn’t matter if ur older than him or if u see it as ur responsibility bc of that he’s still gonna bring in the money for y’all

Like he’s gonna take care of everything even if ur older so there’s no pressure for u to “act ur age”

Never brings up the fact that ur older than him, but maybe once in a fight it got bad and he yelled “ffs ur 21 u should know better than this!!” And that hurt ur feelings or something so from then on he just never ever mentioned it

And when others mention it he makes a cut throat motion like “stfu😡” bc he took it as u not liking ur age being brought up rather than u not liking it being held against u but it’s still kinda sweet how he tries to preserve ur feelings sm

If ur in college or something, he tries to help u w hw and stuff and he’s rlly educationally smart I think like he might’ve gotten bad grades but he understands quickly

And eventually he’s just doing ur hw for u LMAO

One time he probably accidentally wrote “Jake Kim” on the top of ur hw and u had to explain to ur professor why that happened

If u work, he probably also bribes ur boss or something to give u a raise and promotion or if u wanna move jobs but r scared of the low pay he feels like it’s a dumb fear bc he is clearly rich af, like u probably don’t even need a job 😭😭

Ur allowed to since ur in ur 20s legally but he doesn’t like or doesn’t let u go around casinos bc he’s seen firsthand how bad gambling is and he has the money to compensate if u ever get into gambling and lose a lot but he just doesn’t want u to feel guilty or get addicted

Like if u pass a casino and wanna go in and r like hey wanna check it out he just grabs ur hand and keeps walking and is like “let’s not” and probably asks u at one point to pls not get into gambling

If ur kinda petty bc he’s so much better at fighting than u despite being younger he’s like u don’t even need to fight I can literally do that for u???? Bc he feels like the only reason U would ever need to fight is to protect urself so if u wanna do it for fun he’ll teach u but doesn’t take it that srsly

He maybe made like one joke ab ur age or sent u a meme he saw ab relationships but u left him on read and it was just a bad joke or something but yeah overall he really refrains from bringing up ur age like ever 😭😭

He thinks ur insecure bc ur getting older or something and that’s y so he might start going like “looking youthful today 😀👍” every morning to u and ur like oh hehe thanks ????????

If someone else ever voices that they think it’s weird ur older than him he’ll fight them too like first he’ll go “(y/n), is this ur friend ?” Like he did w jiho and if ur like no he’s like oh :)) and then punches them or something

Doesn’t tell u stuff ab his business and ur like I’m 20-23 I can handle it and he just refuses anyways and will leave u in the dark bc yk won’t even risk it

Someone in Big Deal might be like “use ur s/o to help us work nd get money since they’re old they seem professional” he kicked them out immediately ur not touching that shit

But generally, he doesn’t care about it at all, and honestly just cares ab u and not ur age

Scott Kwon

He definitely uses u to get into places only ppl 20+ can enter LMAOO

He’ll have u walk in first and then slip in past u and if he gets caught he grabs u and goes “THIS is my s/o!!! They’re clearly of age, and I’m their s/o so clearly I am of age too 😤😤”

Ur banned from like 50 bars because of this like there’s a little “if these two come and ask u to enter their bar DO NOT LET THEM ENTER!!” Wall for y’all

He might try and hide in ur coat or something to get in but it never works

He definitely makes fun of ur age in a cocky way like haha... an older person wanted to get with ME. Little old me. And he feels like hot stuff bc of it for sure

Brags about it a lot like will take out ur photo and goes “u see this?? My s/o?? Yeah they’re in love w me and THREE YRS OLDER... hold ur applause guys” and it boosts his ego sm

He sends u scarily recent memes or jokes on the internet ab older s/o’s if there r any, and eventually when u go on his Instagram at least 1/3rd of his feed is just ageist jokes

If it really hurts ur feelings, he won’t tell any jokes ab it and won’t mention it ever again but will continue to utilize ur age to do things he can’t at age 18-19

He feels proud that he’s making sm money and is such a good fighter despite being younger than u bc he feels like it makes u look up to him so he’ll boast about it like he’ll punch something and go see that babe????? I can do that and I’m only 19!!! And ur like omg that’s so cooollll!!!!! <3 and his heart just swells

Pays for anything u want like buys u everything u ask for or just look at tbh, and also feels like u have no responsibility just bc ur older and seees himself as like the “leader” if the relationship and has a sense of duty to helping u and everything

Steers u away from trouble ASAP too it doesn’t matter if u can hold off on ur own, if he sees guys that just look mean he and u r walking the other way and ur like bro what?? And he just lies and is like I liked the sunset this direction or smmn and he doesn’t confide in u ab scary things

Bc yeah u can probably handle scary or threatening news but he’s not gna risk it regardless

If he’s rlly stressed ab something that can’t endanger u he won’t tell u that much ab it but might vaguely describe his predicament and looks to u for help and comfort and u just listen and he feels so much better afterwards and he’s telling u all this and ur just like mhm uh-huh :) and so he starts confiding in u more

But ruins it by going like “damn old ppl r good listeners 😆” and ur like STOPPPPPPP

Everyone in God Dog knows ur name age face and occupation bc he’s always talking ab u LMAO

When he was younger and didn’t have that much leniency with the law he made u his legal guardian so he can do what he wants and he tries to use u to get him to do stuf by pointing to u and going “they’re my legal guardian and they say I can drink all this!!” And ur like “no I absolutely do not???!!!!!” And he thought by doing that he’d get anytning but u prioritize his health 🙄 and he’s annoyed but secretly loves it and loves u doting on him nd worrying ab him and his well-being lol

In general, he rlly doesn’t care that ur older than him. His only big concern I. A relationship ever is how he can keep u safe bc he’s in pretty like tough stuff, and he’ll make fun of u but in all good fun and loves u sm

Thank you for the request, and thanks for the wish of luck <3 I’ll the my best w this blog!! I’m not that good at writing for Jake Kim, btw, because his character can kinda confuse me sometimes but he seems to be popular so I hope I get more requests of him so I can get his character down and write him properly. 💘I hope this was what u wanted 😭

[wefoundloveunderthelight]

Mystery Of Pixie Hollow by GleefullyCaptainSwan

Chapter 1/11

Read on AO3: | Chapter 1

Or on FF

Stacy's Tortured Crew: @teamhook @kmomof4 @stahlop @lfh1226-linda @ilovemesomekillianjones @itsfabianadocarmo @mariakov81 @qualitycoffeethings @zaharadessert @jrob64 @jonesfandomfanatic @natascha-ronin @tiganasummertree @xarandomdreamx @therooksshiningknight @batana54 @superchocovian @onceratheart18 @ultraluckycatnd @snowbellewells @karlyfr13s @the-darkdragonfly @xsajx @deckerstarblanche @jonesfandomfanatic

Chapter 1: Neverland

Emma stood at the register, a pile of coins and dollar bills sitting in front of her as she began counting her tips. She had been working nonstop for the last three weeks to save every dime she earned in order to take Henry on a special treat for his birthday. He had seen the flyer in the window of the diner after school one day, immediately calling the carnival to her attention. A traveling amusement park themed to the story of Peter Pan was visiting their town. Henry hadn’t stopped asking questions about it since.

Do fairies really exist?

Can Peter Pan actually fly?

If I really believe do you think I can fly when I’m there too?

With his birthday approaching, Emma knew the best birthday gift she could give him was a trip to the park when it came to town. It was only visiting for three days, and Henry had been completely gutted when they fell on Emma’s weekend at the diner. He had been putting on his best face when she got home from work, her feet tired from standing all day, reciting to her his day, and trying to pretend that he wasn’t disappointed after sitting all day listening to the sounds of the park lofting through his window.

She could barely contain her secret last night when she tucked him into bed, and he told her that he got to spend the day watching Peter Pan skip through the park and it was just as good as being there.

Henry was such a sweet boy, he never asked for things he knew he couldn’t have. He knew that money was tight for them. Emma had been on her own ever since she gave birth to the boy, his father was long out of the picture before he was even born. It wasn’t that the boy was ever without something important, Emma made sure that she saved her money to spend it on things he needed, and when she couldn’t afford it, her best friend, Will Scarlet always pitched in to help her out.

Which was what had happened with Henry’s birthday gift this year. Emma had saved almost enough for the admission price but knew that Henry would want tickets to ride the rides and play a few games, and of course Will tossed some money into the pot, so that the three of them could enjoy the last day of the park together.

“Did you save enough?” She turned to see her boss Mrs. Lucas approach her from the kitchen.

“I made $25 bucks today, I should be able to get him some dinner while we are there.” She said with a smile.

“Get him something from me too while you’re there.” She responded as she held out her hand, a white envelope in her palm. “It’s his birthday after all.”

Emma tentatively took the envelope, lifting the top to see a crisp $20 bill tucked inside. “Gran, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but it’s his birthday, just be sure to tell him it’s from Gran.” She reached out and hugged the woman, a smile growing on her face. The bell above the door made a sound and they both turned to see the customer walk into the diner. “Get out of here, you’re off the clock.”

Emma looked at her watch. “I still have ten minutes left in my shift.”

The woman shook her head and pulled out her notepad to assist the man who sat down at the counter. “Clock must be slow.” She said with a grin. “Get out of here. Take that boy of yours on an adventure.”

“Thank you, see you tomorrow.” She hollered back as she ran out the door to her yellow bug parked outside the diner. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Henry they were going to Pixie Hollow.

When she opened the door to her apartment, Henry was running circles around the couch as Will chased him through the living room. “You can’t get away from me, mate.”

“You’re too old to catch me.” Henry hollered and Will stopped in his tracks and grabbed his chest.

“Oi, that was quite rude.” He said in a feigned outrage. “I’m not that old.”

Emma laughed and they both turned toward her. “Mom!” Henry ran and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“The lad is being hurtful on his birthday.” Will scoffed.

“Tell your Uncle Will that you’re sorry for calling him old.” She leaned over and whispered. “But say it loudly because his hearing isn’t what it used to be.” Henry fell to the ground in a fit of giggles.

“You know he gets his mean spirted nature from you, right?” Will complained.

“We love you.” She teased as she ran her hand through his short locks and pinched his cheek. She turned and faced Henry.

“Why are you home? I thought you had to work tonight.”

“I wanted to surprise you!” She grinned. “Thought maybe we could go see this Peter Pan you keep talking about.”

Henry’s face brightened. “Seriously? Oh my God.” He squealed “You mean it?”

“Happy birthday, baby.” She smiled. The boy launched himself into her arms. “Ok we gotta get ready to go, get your jacket in case it gets cold after the sun goes down.”

Henry disappeared in a fury to his room to collect his jacket, just as Will’s phone rang.

“Don’t answer it.” Emma protested as he held up the phone and Will groaned.

“It’s work, I can’t ignore it.” Emma groaned as he greeted his boss, a chorus of “Yes, sir” “I know, sir” “Of course, sir.” Carried through the room.

“Yes but I was planning to…” He frowned. “I understand, of course, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He said sadly. Henry came bounding into the room as he disconnected the call.

“You’re going in to work now?” Emma complained.

“I’m sorry Em, it can’t be helped. They had some sort of emergency, and they need me there right away.”

“So, we aren’t going?” Henry said sadly, looking up between them. Will hesitated, staring between the two. Emma knew he wouldn’t disappoint Henry if it couldn’t be helped.

“I’m sorry lad, I don’t have a choice.”

“We’re still going Henry.” Emma announced.

“Emmie, you can’t go alone.” Will began to protest.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Stop it, I’m an adult. I don’t need you to babysit me everywhere we go.”

“I’m not there to babysit you, I just don’t like it when you and Henry are out late at night without someone else with you.”

“Without a man with me, you mean. I don’t know if you realize this yet, but I don’t need a man, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Are you sure you two will be alright?”

Emma chuckled. “I think I can handle a carnival for children on my own.”

“Alright, but text me when you get there, and again when you get home.”

“Ok dad.” She teased and he slapped her playfully on the arm.

“Happy birthday, Bub.” He picked the boy off the ground and squeezed him. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

“That’s impossible.” The boy replied.

“Did I tell you that you’re my favorite six-year-old out of all the six-year-old kids out there?”

“But I just turned six. You don’t even know all the six-year-old kids.” Henry wined with a playful smile.

“I don’t have to because you’re still my favorite.”

“You said that when I was five.”

“And I’ll say it when you’re seven or fifteen.” Will said as he sat the boy back on the ground.

“I love you, Uncle Will.”

“Love you too Bub.” He raised his hand, and they exchanged their ridiculous handshake that they had made up when Henry had turned four.

Two taps, spin around, tap down low, shake your booty, tap up high.

It was ridiculous and heartwarming and a reminder of how lucky she was to have such an amazing best friend. Even when she showed up on his doorstep, a positive pregnancy test in her hand, tears streaming down her face, Will simply pulled her into his arms and promised he would always be there for her. Over the years he had been her shoulder to cry on, her Lamaze coach, her sounding board, and her support system. Even with the one drunken misstep that neither of them ever spoke of again, there wasn’t anyone that Emma relied on more than Will.

“Ok I’m off, have fun tonight.” He smiled and left through the front door. As soon as the door closed Henry jumped up and down in front of her.

“Can we go now?” Emma chuckled and pushed him toward the door.

“Of course, let’s go.”

“You have to say it mom.”

“Say what?” She asked, confused on what he was meaning.

“Second star to the right.” He began excitedly.

“And straight on til morning.” She continued as they closed the door to the apartment and made their way to the park across the street. The lights shone bright into the sky with all the rides and attractions that had their own music playing all around them as soon as they entered the park.

Henry could barely contain his excitement as he bounced about from ride to ride. More than once Emma had to remind him to stay close by, not to get too far ahead of her, but the boy was hard to be contained.

“Mom, look, it’s a house of mirrors, can we go, can we go?” He jumped up and down in front of her.

“Ok, but don’t get too far ahead of me.” Emma laughed as he handed his ticket to the man at the front of the attraction. She didn’t like the way the man glared in her direction, there was something about him that made her uncomfortable in a way that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. Henry ran ahead into the building and Emma yelled for him to wait as the man seemed to take an extra-long time to allow her to enter behind her son.

When he finally raised the gate, she ran toward the fun house, entering the building and exhaling when she saw Henry standing at the corner waiting for her. “Come on mom, this is so cool.”

“It’s very cool.” Emma replied, looking around the disorienting room. The mirrors at all angles making it appear that Henry was in more than one place in front of her.

“You could get lost in here for days.” He joked as he stepped into the room, his arms outstretched in front of him to avoid running into anything.

“Let’s try and avoid getting lost, I’m starting to get hungry.” She joked.

“Come on mom, I bet you can’t find which one is really me.” Henry yelled, rushing forward, and turning a corner until she couldn’t see him anymore.

“Don’t get too far ahead of me.” She warned, turning the corner he was just at and seeing three versions of him in front of her. “Ok which one is my Henry?” She questioned as she stepped forward, her hand coming into contact with a mirror. She then touched the one next to her but that was a mirror as well.

“I’m right here.” Her son mimicked, before running around the corner again.

“You’re too good at this.” She chuckled, turning, and chasing after him until she ran into one of the glass mirrors. She really hated this attraction. “Ok Henry, I’m really getting hungry. Which way did you go?”

“I’m over here.” She heard him toward her left and she turned to stumble in that direction as she caught a glimpse of him just as she turned the corner.

“Henry, can you just stay in one place until I get to you.” Her tone was starting to sound agitated as she felt her way through the glass around her, dipping in and out of the crevices until she reached a dead end.

“Henry, where are you?” She yelled.

“Mom.” She heard him shout and then it got quiet.

“Henry?” She hollered toward the last place she heard his voice. She felt her way through the attraction until she heard music and felt the breeze of the outside, stepping through the small doorway, she found herself on the other side from where they entered. She looked around for Henry, but only saw other children, families standing around the exit area.

“Did you see a little boy come out of here?”

“I’ve seen a lot of little boys.” The guy grumbled and wandered away from her.

“Henry, where are you?” She yelled, trying to control her voice as the terror started to race in her heart. “Henry?” She ran toward the entrance and the man who took her ticket. “Where is my son, did he come back out this way?”

The man frowned, “No one comes back out the front ma’am. Did you check the exit?”

“Of course, I checked the exit, you idiot, how else did I get out here!” She yelled and he turned to take a ticket from another family.

“I need you to find my son.” She grabbed at the lapel of his jacket and turned him back toward her.

“Hands off lady.” The man warned. “I’ll get my manager.”

“Good, get your manager. I need to find my son.”

The family tried to push past her, and Emma stood in front of them, blocking the exit. “My son got lost in there.”

“It’s not my problem that you can’t keep an eye on your boy, get out of my daughter’s way.” The man pushed around her, leading his daughter into the entrance of the attraction.

Emma ran after them, and the ticket idiot was on her heels. “You can’t go in there without another ticket.”

Emma shoved his hands off her, “Get off me, I’m going in there until I find my son.” She screamed, wandering back into the fun house, her heart racing as she turned in every direction screaming her son’s name. “Henry, where are you?” She yelled, pushing forward through the maze. There was no response except for the grumbling of the people in front of her who she continued to push aside in her quest to find her son.

When she reached the exit again she immediately screamed his name, grabbing at random strangers to ask if they had seen her son, a photo of him pulled up on her phone. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind and she turned quickly to see the ticket asshole with a man. “You can’t go around grabbing our customers.” The man sternly growled at her.

“My son is missing. He went in the hall of mirrors, and he didn’t come out.”

“That’s impossible. There is only one way in and one way out. He must have come out; you’ve just lost him.”

“I didn’t lose him.” She cried. “Don’t you have something you can do. Call the cops, make an announcement, just find my son.”

“Of course, I’m Felix. I’m the assistant manager. Let me make a few calls.” He said with a grin that certainly didn’t set her at ease. There was something off about the man, something menacing and scary, and Emma just wanted to get her son and get the hell away from all of them. “Come with me.” He didn’t ask but tugged at her elbow. “Nothing to see here, she just lost her child.” He announced to the people who had suddenly taken an interest in the commotion.

Emma was too concerned about her child to admonish the bystanders for gawking at her, their looks of contention and disappointment apparent on their faces as if they just watched an irresponsible parent simply leave their child by the side of the road instead of the fact that her son vanished without a trace.

“Ok ma’am can you explain to me what you think happened to your son?” The man closed the door to the trailer and gestured for her to take a seat in the dingy office.

“What I know” she paused, “was that my son and I went into the Hall of Mirrors and when I got to the exit, he wasn’t there.”

“Do you normally let your son run off without you?”

“Excuse me?” She stood up from her seat. “He did not run off without me, he was playing in the goddamn funhouse with me in the room.”

“Yes ma’am so you said, however if he was simply playing with you, then you would know where he was, isn’t that correct?”

Emma was done with this man’s treatment of her, she was done with people not ripping that god forsaken fun house to the ground until they came upon her little boy. She pushed her way past the man and shoved the door open, ignoring his plea for her to stay put. As soon as she stepped out of the trailer, two men approached her.

“Are you the woman who lost her son?”

Emma recognized their badges and the names on them from the Sherriff’s station. “Thank God you are here, these idiots won’t do anything to find my son.”

“I’m officer Nolan, and this is officer Locksley, can you tell me what happened?”

Emma took a deep breath, “My son, Henry, he just turned 6, it’s his birthday today.” Tears started to fall down her cheeks. “We went into the Hall of Mirrors, he was playing hide and seek and trying to get me to find him, but then he called out for me, and I couldn’t find him anymore. When I got to the exit, he wasn’t there, and no one can tell me where he is.”

“So, he wasn’t with you in the Hall of Mirrors?”

“Did you just hear me? I told you we went in together. He was only a few feet in front of me, it’s not like I let my fucking kid just run around alone.”

The man held up his hand. “Alright ma’am, there is no need to get upset.”

“No need to get upset.” She stated, shocked at the audacity this man had standing in front of her like everything was normal that was happening to her. “I lost my son. My baby is out there somewhere, and no one will fucking help me.”

Officer Nolan stepped forward and took her by the elbow. “Ma’am, if you keep cursing in front of the children here, we are going to have to take you down to the station to discuss this matter.”

“Matter!” She yelled. “My son is missing; I don’t give a fuck what you think about my goddamn cursing. Find my son!”

“Is it possible that he simply ran away?” The other man asked.

“Ran away? Why would you even think he would run away?”

“Is his father here with you?”

“Why does that matter?”

“I’m simply asking if the boy could be with his father.”

Emma shook her head. “No, his father isn’t around. He’s most definitely not with that asshole.”

“So, the situation with the father, it’s contentious then?”

Emma couldn’t believe the crap she was hearing. “This has nothing to do with his father. He’s lost, he’s probably scared and all you can do is sit here and ask me stupid questions that aren’t doing anything to find him.”

The men looked at each other and nodded, Officer Locksley stepped into the trailer and shut the door behind him. “My partner is just going to talk to the manager and find out if they know anything else.”

“He’s the assistant manager and he knows jack shit.” She said as she rolled her eyes.

The door to the trailer opened and he gestured for his partner to join him. They whispered at the door for a moment and then returned in front of her, closing their notebooks. “Ma’am, I’m going to give you my business card, we can’t do anything about a runaway until after 24 hours. If he still hasn’t come home by then, give us a call.”

“I already fucking told you he’s not a goddamn runaway.”

“Ok ma’am, we’re going to have to take you down to the station if you can’t control yourself.” She felt their hands on her arms and she pulled away from them, holding her hands in the air.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Well, you can’t stay here.” He announced, looking back at the ridiculous assistant manager who was glaring at her.

“So, I’m supposed to just leave my kid?”

“Most times, they show up in the morning, a little scared, hungry, and apologetic for causing a scare. Go home and get some sleep, they usually show back up at home.”

Emma couldn’t believe this was happening, that she was just supposed to go home and leave Henry out here, lost. She looked toward the fun house, wanting to make a run back to it, wanting to search frantically for anything she could find, but she knew he wasn’t there. Something had happened to Henry.

“Ma’am. We need you to leave or come with us.” They stepped toward her, and Emma backed up from her spot. She surveyed the crowd and then paused.

“I’m going.” She announced, turning on her heels and storming toward the exit. When she got to her house she climbed the stairs, screaming her son’s name, hoping he would answer and explain that he got lost and simply went home, but the house was still, dark, and ominously quiet. She went into Henry’s room and pulled open the curtains, the lights from the fair spilling into the window. She pulled the chair over to the wall and sat down, staring at the scene in front of her. She would wait there until she found him, until he made his way back to the house.

Looking down at her phone, she sent another text to Will asking him to call her immediately. Pulling a blanket around her she sat and waited.

Henry, where are you?

~*~

Henry woke with a start, a painful beating in his head. He reached up and winced at the swollen knot on the back of his skull. He looked around in the dark, trying to figure out where he was. Just moments ago he was in the Hall of Mirrors with his mom, they were playing a game. He remembered seeing her, just a few feet away and then his back hit something solid and then it moved. Arms reached out and grabbed him and then everything went black.

He felt around on the ground below him, dirt digging into his fingernails. There was a small light coming in from a tiny opening up high in the room. He groaned as he tried to sit up.

“Don’t sit up too quickly, I’m sure you’re dizzy.”

He jumped at the sound of a female in the room. “Who’s there?”

A face came into view, the light streaming into the dark onto her golden hair. “It’s ok, just give it a minute. You can see in the dark after you get used to it.”

“My head hurts.” He groaned.

“It will only hurt for a couple of days. Then it will go away.” The girl moved closer to him, sitting down next to him.

“What do you want with me?”

“I’m a friend, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Where are we?”

“Underground. I don’t know really. We move around a lot.”

“Who’s we?”

“Pan’s crew.” The girl said softly, and Henry almost started laughing.

“As in Peter Pan? I must be dreaming. That’s what’s going on. This is a nightmare.”

“I wish it were, but sadly this is real. What’s your name?”

Henry peered at the girl in front of him. “I’m Henry.” Suddenly the shadows moved behind her and he pushed back against the wall.

“Don’t be afraid, they won’t hurt you.”

Henry stared at the faces of the children staring back at him. “Who are you people?”

“We’re the lost ones. Just like you.” She said sadly.

[sunflowerspectre]

Hellfire and Ectoblasts

For @cleanlenins

Title: Hellfire and Ectoblasts Fandom: Danny Phantom x Lucifer Summary:  The devil works hard, but Vladimir Masters works harder. When Vladimir Master dabbles in dealing favors to others to get his way - much easier than constantly possessing everyone - Lucifer Morningstar has a few choice words for the business tycoon. Rating: T for cursing (multiple uses of the F word, mentions of drug abuse) Final Word Count: 5005 Ft. Uncle/Redeemed Vlad AU

Read on A03 Read on FF

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Los Angeles is new territory, despite all the places Vladimir Masters has traveled. He has drunk martinis in the sands of Bahamas, made deals in Cancun, and has a passport larger than most politicians. He has even traveled further into the Ghost Zone than most of the fully ghosts there.

Yet the city of angels has always eluded him, or rather he eluded it. It never quite appealed to him, with the oddities and gaudy casinos. It felt almost beneath him and it has, honestly,  never been on his priority list - at least, not until now.

Business is business and Vlad Masters will always go where business is; even if it is in a city like Los Angeles. Even if it is with an admittedly annoying sixteen year old teenager for a long extended amount of time.

Honestly, what was he thinking when he wanted Daniel as a son? He should have gone after Jasmine, he begrudges. At least she knew when to be quiet.

“Are we there yet?”

Vlad feels his eyebrow twitch, a vein throbbing in his neck. Daniel Fenton has the nerve to look at him with large innocent, doe eyes as if that is not the hundredth time he has asked that question in the past hour.

His somewhat nephew had jumped on the chance to go to LA with him; he would have been more suspicious of Daniel’s intention if not for the fact that the space shuttle endeavor will be within one quick bus ride from their hotel. As challenging, and even powerful, as Daniel can be - he is very much an open book that has been quite easy to read.

Danny opens his mouth, as if to ask that infuriating question again, but is stopped short by a small ecto blast. The ectoplasm effectively sticks against his mouth and despite the way he claws it, it refuses to budge. He settles for crossing his arms in a huff with a narrow glare. He idly considers it for a moment before a middle finger raises in contempt.

“Curse at me all you want, Daniel, but I refuse to listen to that infernal question the entire trip.”

Danny’s body language makes it clear that he is mocking him. Vlad waits until his fit is over before removing the ecto blast. Danny, huffing about being cut-off, leans back into the seat of the private jet. When he glances out the window, catching glimpses of clouds, he can not help but think wistfully how much better it would be to be flying Airline Danny. Jets, private or otherwise, are too confining now that he knows what it feels like to touch clouds.

He bets that the skies of Los Angeles is beautiful up close. He absently wonders if he gets far away enough to the nearby desert if he will be able to get a good view of the stars. The Orion constellation, not to mention a few planets like Venus and even Saturn, should be more visible here than it would be in Amity Park. He wonders if he flies high enough if he can get a good picture with a smartphone.

“Why are you going to LA anyway? Don’t you have enough money that you don’t need to be blowing it at casinos? Or is that the whole point?”

He barely even spares Vlad a glance through the corner of his eyes, arms crossed lazily against his chest as his cheek presses against the cool glass of the window. While being with Vlad is not the worst thing in the world - at least not anymore - he can not help but wish he would’ve been able to bring Sam and Tucker along. He imagines that they would be thrilled to go somewhere that’s not the Nasty Burger. At the very least, they would be better conversationalists.

Well, I guess it’s at least fun to mess with him, Danny thinks wistfully, a more devious smile on his face. If anything, it is a great way to pass the time. Messing with Vlad has always been a treasure, but now with little repercussions, at least nothing that compares to the way he used to threaten to kill his dad, it is like the entire world is his oyster.

“You can never have enough money, young badger.”

Danny coughs something into his elbow that sounds suspiciously like ‘ eat the rich’.  His eyes watch Vlad carefully with feign innocence, as if he never said anything at all. His elbow hides the large shit-eating grin threatening to break on his face.

Vlad makes a point to ignore the comment, continuing easily, “Since our - my -”

He struggles to find the right word, fumbling a bit with a strained look on his face. Mentions of the past have always been hard to bring up when he is, honestly, doing his best to move forward from it. He feels strained at the mere mention of how he behaved beforehand, somewhat even embarrassed by the things he tried to pull. He cannot be thankful enough that the Fentons, including even Daniel, have even given him this second chance. The young badger’s trust is not an easy thing to earn.

“ Your redemption arc,” Danny offers somewhat helpfully.

While not fond of the term, Vlad has to admit that he cannot think of a better phrase.

“-Yes.”  

He accepts the term Danny offers with clenched teeth, “-and as such, possession has become quite unfavorable . I have taken up doing business the old-fashioned way.”

Danny turns to face him. His innocently blinking eyes do not fool anyone with the gleam of mischief shining brightly in them.

“-Legal suits and proper paperwork?”

Vlad snaps at him suddenly, a vein throbbing in his forehead as he regrets taking off the ecto-gag.

“Oh will you - stop that?”

The outburst sends Danny reeling  into a laughing fit, clenching his sides tightly.

__________________________________

Danny’s smartass comments cost him; though, in his opinion, it was absolutely worth it. To his dismay, Vlad drags him along through the city of angels instead of leaving him at the hotel. He claimed he needed to meet a new potential business partner. He gave an entire speech of how it would be good for him to learn how the business world works, but Danny can only recall maybe the first few sentences of said speech. Vlad even went as far as stuffing Danny into the most uncomfortable expensive clothes that he could find. Honestly, couldn’t the man at least get comfy expensive clothes? Gucci makes sweat suits. He makes a mental note to send some links to Gucci sweat suits to Vlad later.

Comfy or not, he still would have preferred to have just headed straight to the space shuttle endeavor. At least then, he would be in ghost form most of the time anyway. It would have been a ten - maybe fifteen - minute flight himself from their hotel room; he even promised Vlad that he would stay invisible the whole time and not touch anything he was not supposed to. A promise that was hard to give since oh man did he want to touch the shuttle just to say he touched something that was in space. He even begged his uncle. Slipped in a few mentions of how his mom would be so happy if he was able to go and get pictures.

He almost got him too, but alas, his efforts were in vain. Instead, he is stuck in a limo. It is not a bad thing in and of itself, but even a luxurious car feels suffocating when you want to be somewhere else.

He eyes the protesters lining up on certain streets. Sam would have loved it here. He keeps track of all of the ‘trendy’ vegan cafes he spots along the way for future reference; he even spots a few goth-centric stores. He snaps a few pictures, sending them over their group chat. He follows them up with pictures of pictures of every BBQ stand he finds for Tucker’s sake.

Sam: Still with the ex-villain?

Danny snorts, scooting away from Vlad as much as he could before snapping a picture of his unsuspecting ex-arch nemesis. Vlad visibly sighs, the exhaustion showing on his face as he does not even bother to look at Danny anymore.

Tucker: Someone looks like he’s having a great time

Danny: He’s with me, of course he’s having a  great time. I’m a joy to be around. An absolute blast.

Tucker: Isn’t every party you’ve gone to nowadays a bit - dead?

Danny audibly groans at the bad attempt at puns, sending a quick message of how puns are his thing; it’s his whole shtick.  But like all group chats do, the conversation grows dead pretty fast.

He is already growing bored again after having sent all the memes he could find ( and how dare they not laugh react at them) . He settles for rolling the window up and down obsessively, occasionally even sticking his head through it. When that adrenaline rush is short-lived, he ends up leaning against the door while obnoxiously clicking the window button repeatedly until Vlad is forced to ask the limo driver to put on the child lock. He considers the idea of just phasing his head through the window, but as weird as LA is, he thinks even that would be a stretch.

He could just phase away entirely. After all, the limo is not ghost proof. Vlad even got rid of most of his more outrageous contraptions and traps so he knows that the seat will not suddenly grow restraints if he tries to get up from it. He wonders if the oddity shop that they passed is still open? He did promise everyone souvenirs and the weirder the better (as is the whole point with souvenirs).

But he also promised his mom that he would get along.

Besides, Vlad said he would pay for lunch when they are done and they passed the most delicious looking burger place.

After what feels like forever, watching all the places he wants to go but can’t right now like a sad puppy begging for the window to be let down, the limo finally pulls up in front of a nightclub. LUX. Danny raises a brow. He may not be the smartest out of his family, but dead languages are his specialty. He glances to Vlad, wondering if he should be more concerned about his pseudo-uncle doing business here. Any nightclub named after light that looks this shady can not be good.

He is also pretty sure that he just saw a drug deal around the corner and some of the people in line already look under the influence of something .

“Am I even allowed here,” Danny questions, pausing a moment to count on his fingers, as they exit the limo. “I’m only like - sixteen? I am a literal child. ”

Vlad continues walking as if he does not hear Danny’s voice grating on behind him. Somehow, the teenager has a voice that seems to stick out like a sore thumb against the boom of the music coming out from the club’s doors.

“You are not a child, Daniel,” Vlad finally acknowledges.

“Uh the law would disagree, sir,” Danny waves a finger after him, “I am a minor.”

The sun is already starting to set, which means the club is steadily filling up; a majority of people are still out in long lines outside of the club’s door. He glances at them briefly, if in a bit of curiosity at the club wear. He blushes wildly at some of the more out-there club wear and focuses quickly on the fact that Vlad is steadily getting ahead of him.

“We are not here for drinking, Daniel,” Vlad’s voice comes out a bit exasperated as he fixes his tie. He eyes the people in line with a bit of disdain, but otherwise ignores them.

Vlad continues on past the lines, not acknowledging the way that some of them call after him. He keeps his hands in his pockets as he gets closer to the crowd; Danny realizes that it likely has something to do with the high possibility of getting pick-pocketed. After all, Vlad does not exactly blend in, but neither does Danny in the suit that Vlad forced him in.

Danny is close in tow as they head straight for the bouncer at the door.

If Vlad was not so used to the way that Maddie could ( has and absolutely will) beat him, he would have been more surprised at the woman at the club’s door. The choice being a bit abnormal in the job. Her intimidating presence is enough to make most of the more pushy people at the front second-guess themselves. A few of the people who dare to test the boundary of the velvet rope quickly change their mind as she just glances at them. Danny’s first thought is how much Sam would like the bouncer. The entire leather outfit is just something that feels like she would like, compared with how tough the woman seems to be. If the woman didn’t scare him so much, he would have tried to take a picture.

His second thought, however, is how off she feels. The closer he gets to her, the more his core vibrates deeply in his chest. As if it is trying to transform and get him out of there, like an animal’s instincts to a predator. Run. RUN. RUN. He digs his heels into the ground and refuses to listen to his gut. He refuses to let his gut determine what he thinks about someone, or how he acts on them. He learned the hard way to control that impulse.

Besides, she does not seem that dangerous - he thinks? He glances to the knives strapped to her thigh and the mean look in her eyes. Mostly. But his ghost sense has never gone off. That means that possession is off the table - so is her being a ghost. But he has never felt his core vibrate this way, in such a paralyzing instinctual fear. The only thing that comes close is when he faced Pariah.

Danny is sure that Vlad notices it too, he is way too smart not to. Vlad’s expressionless face does not give a single thing away, staring straight on even as the woman looks him over closely, a sneer on her face. Something about the way she bares her teeth feels more like a threat, as if she is prepared to rip your throat out herself at any given moment. The worst part is that it feels like that is something she is very much capable of doing. She gets startlingly close to Vlad’s face, sniffing him. He refuses to flinch and let this woman know how much she intimidates him.

He seems to pass whatever test she was giving him. Finally she just snorts, taking the card that he offers her. Danny only catches a glimpse of the red and  gold lining against black with some sort of name written on it. He barely sees the flash of some sort of horned symbol on the edge. Just who is Vlad doing business with anyway?

Whatever the card is, it works. She backs off, crossing her arms against her chest as she moves out of the way of the door to let them through. The glare she gives some of the people at the front of the line scares them out of even thinking about shoving their way in through the open door.

Danny sticks close to Vlad’s side this time, feeling the urge to get as far away as he can from the woman. He is not sure if she will stop him. He would love to get out of this situation with Vlad, but he would hate that it meant staying anywhere near the woman. The wild beating of his core is getting worse and it feels like he can’t breath.

He is unsure if he can handle being around her much longer with his core acting up like this. He feels like he is this close to a heart attack.

“You smell weird, but whatever. He’s inside.”

He smells weird, Danny wonders how she can smell anything especially when all he can smell is all the people around them not wearing deodorant. He tries his best to brush it off as some sort of intimidating tactic. But when Danny passes by the woman, she leans forward, visibly sniffing him as well.

“Sorry it’s my - uh - aftershave,” Danny’s panicked lie confuses even him as he just waves at the woman as he enters the club, finally taking a deep breath in as the door shuts behind him.

Still thoroughly weirded out by whatever that was, something that does not improve when he’s suddenly surrounded by drunks and loud blaring music, he sticks abnormally close to Vlad. The people surrounding them are too drunk to notice when he phases through the elbows that are just too close to him or the shoulders that almost bump into him. Vlad looks back at him briefly, a ghost of a smile on his face, before he turns attention to the crowd.

“Whatcha looking for? The bar? Drugs? A confessional?” Danny asks as they finally reach a section that gives them some elbow room. He brushes off imaginary dirt, and not so imaginary something , off of his shoulders.

“My business partner,” Vlad answers curtly, eyes still scanning the crowd. He knows what he’s looking for, despite not having met the man before.

When Lucifer Morningstar reached out to him, insisting that they meet in person to discuss business, Vlad almost brushed him off. However, a combination of the man’s obsession with the devil and the fact that Lucifer Morningstar’s very identity doesn’t go back any further than a few years intrigued him. How does a man who legally has only been around for a few years get so ahead in the business world? More importantly, who is he really?

“What does he look like, maybe I can help.” Danny offers, looking over the crowd as if he would suddenly be able to who they are looking for.

“It is our first business meeting, I’m afraid, but if he looks anything like his photos, you can’t miss him.”

That gets Danny’s attention. He swerves suddenly on Vlad, jutting his hands out to form a T, his fingers press against his palm, “Whoa, time out! You brought me to a business meeting with someone you never met before? How do you even know the guy’s like, I don’t know, a ghost hunter?”

“You're a paranoid teenager, young badger.” Vlad’s voice is dry with a lack of amusement, “I’ll have you know that I reach all my partners quite well. Lucifer Morningstar is nothing more than a lunatic, however he is quite popular with our mutual partners.”

“ Lucifer,” Danny harshly whispers, his voice only half-way kidding, “Don’t tell me you actually made a deal with the devil?”

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise him if Vlad did - if such a thing is really possible - but it would put a strain on their now alliance. Vlad’s about to retort, likely something along the lines of you’re being ridiculous Daniel, but he gets cut off prematurely by another voice.

“Well not yet, but let’s see if that changes today, shall we?”

A particularly British voice gets their attention as a man in a well fitted suit, looking vastly more comfortable in it than Danny is, struts their way. Despite looking like every other business man he’s seen, the man doesn’t feel like the usual stuffy suit type. He feels dangerously charismatic, with an easy smile on his face and a magnetic pull that makes it difficult to turn their attention away from him. He has a few beautiful women, and at least one man, at his side. He whispers something that Danny wishes he didn’t hear, to each of them before they regretfully leave his side.

“You must be Vladimir Masters.” The tone of voice is not a compliment, coming off more mocking, “Look at you, a bit older than I expected, but ultimately age is never an issue. Provided you’re at least an adult.”

The sultry look that the apparent Lucifer Morningstar has as he looks Vlad up and down appreciatively reminds Danny too much of how Vlad used to look at his mom. He starts to feel sick to his stomach, gagging exaggeratingly in the background as he tries his best to ignore the way his core has returned to vibrating, thumping hard against his chest.

Whatever the woman at the door was, Lucifer Morningstar must be at least the same thing - or something close to it - to make his core react the same way. He should be more concerned over it, but he glances toward Vlad. He looks stony as ever, the only sign of discomfort being a vein beginning to throb on his neck. Ah, so he does notice.  

He doesn’t seem surprised either.  Danny wonders if this is some sort of test again, to see what he will do and how he will react. Especially in front of an unknown factor. Shit. Danny curses when he realizes that’s why Vlad brought him along in the first place and then curses again - more directed at Vlad himself this time - for Vlad being as cryptic and vague as Clockwork.

 I just wanted to see the endeavor, Danny bemoans as the man ushers Vlad (and by extension, Danny) to a clear booth. Taking Vlad’s lead, Danny acts more confident this time around, trying his best to act like every inch of his being isn’t screaming to run.

“Drinks,” Lucifer offers, seeming comfortable in the booth with his arms stretched out wide against the edge of the seat across from Danny and Vlad. While Vlad accepts the offer, ordering a simple old fashion, Danny speaks up with a cheeky grin.

“I’ll have a coke on the rocks,” Danny orders, showing a lot of teeth in his grin as he gives finger guns, of all things. After a pause, he adds on, “Not shaken nor stirred, please.”

Vlad’s exasperated sigh is barely audible as he breathes out through his nose. At the very least, he should be glad that Danny is acting normal - as awkward and tiring as normal is.

“I must admit Mr. Morningstar, I was a bit surprised to receive your invitation,” Vlad speaks easily. He politely sips at his drink, but otherwise leaves it untouched, more focused on the conversation. He tries to not let his eye twitch when he hears Danny suck up his coke through a straw.

Lucifer looks at Danny in amusement, seemingly unoffended by the teenager’s manners (a small blessing). Unlike Vlad, Lucifer doesn’t shy away from his own drink, downing it easily. He orders a few more at one of the ladies passing by, followed by flirtatious compliments that make her giggle and once again, makes Danny wish that he couldn’t hear what was being said.

“Well how could I not invite a man such as yourself, Vladimir,” Lucifer’s voice is exaggerated, almost strained, “Or is it Vlad? Vladdy?”

Vlad does twitch at that and Lucifer grins, “Vladdy it is. Better than douchebag, I suppose.”

Danny snorts at the sudden word, laughing hard enough that he barely stops the coke from pouring out of his nose. He takes in a deep breath, wiping at his face with a cocktail napkin as his nose burns from the soda.

“I prefer to use the term fruit loop,” Danny speaks up helpfully.

Lucifer seems delighted at this information, his eyes lighting up in glee as Vlad visibly sinks into the seat.

“ Fruit loop,” Lucifer repeats gleefully, “Lacks a bit in curse words for my liking but fruit loop it is!”

“You can always say fucking fruit loop,” Danny offers as if he is still being helpful, the grin on his face more genuine, “Or fruit by the fucking loop?”

Lucifer’s laugh is infectious, his eyes gleaming as Danny joins him in laughter at Vlad’s expense. For a moment, the two continue back and forth before Vlad is forced to intervene; the vein is his neck is more noticeably throbbing at this point.

“Mr. Morningstar,” Vlad cuts in, his voice stern, “What exactly was the point of the invitation, if I may? I hope it wasn’t to just call me outrageous names.”

Lucifer nonchalantly waves off Vlad’s growing ire, “Oh no, I invited you over for much more than just that. Favors, you will find, are my  specialty. One could say it’s my whole business. I grant favors and I do not take kindly to others who sneak up on my business and steal it away.”

There’s a flash of something in Lucifer’s eyes. Something dangerous. As brief as it is, it’s enough to make Danny’s core hum against his chest, his hand grips his knee tightly. His eyes flicker to Vlad and as much as the older man is trying to hide it, Danny can tell that he’s just as suddenly bothered by whatever that was.

“It’s the point of the matter, you know,” Lucifer continues, “Steal my business, shame on me, steal my shtick, shame on you.”

He downs another glass and grabs something off a platter as someone passes by. It looks suspiciously like a joint. He lights it up without a second thought; Danny tries his best to act like he doesn’t know what it is as Vlad eyes him through the corner of his eyes.

“Word is that you, Vladimir Masters, have been sneaking around granting favors to a chosen few. I don’t know how you grant said favors, I don’t particularly care. But I do wish you would stop.”

The dangerous aura that’s thick in the air is heavy, but the realization that Vlad has still been up to shady business is heavier. Danny slumps into the seat, leaning forward with a heavy sigh.

“So you have been up to shady shit,” Danny mumbles under his breath as he absently stirs the straw in what has to be his third glass of coke.

“If you don’t stop,” Lucifer continues, “I’m afraid I’ll have to make you stop. If Mazikeen does not get to you first.”

He gestures his thumb toward the woman that was outside the door; she hovers nearby as if she knows exactly what they’re talking about. The grin on her face is malicious, bordering on feral as she twirls a knife across her knuckles without breaking eye contact. That woman is intimidating, Danny swallows thickly, but grins wildly at Lucifer.

“Oh he’ll stop,” Danny reassures the man before Vlad can even get a word in. There’s an edge to his words; a very clear message underlying his words. “Otherwise I’ll make him stop myself.”

A flash of ectoplasmic green swirls across his eyes. Vlad, not quite intimidated by a sixteen year old still going through puberty, simply mumbles under his breath, oh stop with the ‘scary’ eyes, Daniel, honestly. Lucifer catches the moment, eying them both with interest as he relaxes into the chair. He makes a motion with his hand and suddenly the woman - Mazikeen - isn’t there anymore; Danny isn’t sure where she went, if he should be worried about it, or if it was a sign of good faith.

“ You are a very interesting child,” Lucifer says, “At first I thought you two may have been one of mine, but that’s not really the case is it?”

Danny isn’t sure what one of mine really means; he doesn’t really want to know either. The way Lucifer says it feels off, as if he’s not concerned by it or that they would have been in worse trouble if they had in fact been one of his (whatever that means). Vlad recovers fast, eying Lucifer with narrowed eyes.

“Just what is it that you’re inferring, Mr. Morningstar?”

“Why, that you’re not human, of course!”

He says it as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, a large grin stretched on his face as he finishes off the suspicious joint, making a point to blow the smoke away from them. It may have been a trick of the light, or even just a magic trick, but Danny swears that the smoke formed some sort of devilish face. Complete with the horns and all.

Danny’s grin falters as he watches Lucifer closely.

F-uck-ing typical. At this rate, he will never get to see the endeavor or any other of California’s space museums. Why can’t he have just one normal road trip for once? No circus ringleader, no reality altering devices, no ghosts, and no ghost hunters. He just wants to get a selfie with a space shuttle, order as much hotel food as he can off of Vlad’s card, and then crash. Maybe even go to the Griffith Observatory. Fly to the Hollywood sign. Sneak into a Disney park and take a selfie on top of Cinderella’s castle. Just a normal trip (with a few added advantages to being a half-ghost boy). Now, he has to instead worry about some devil-obsessed (but definitely weird and maybe not human at all) club owner finding out his secret.

This is exactly what Danny told Vlad; meeting someone you don’t know is just a risk. At the very least, Lucifer doesn’t look like a ghost hunter. He definitely doesn’t fit the M.O. of a Guys In White agent. There could be other agencies out there though, other people who want to hunt them down. Who knows, maybe whatever this guy really is likes to eat ghosts or hunt them for sport. This is exactly what he was concerned about. Now, his secret, and Vlad’s secret too he supposes, could be blown all because Vlad had to go make a shady business deal.

Danny turns to Vlad, not even bothering to whisper as his voice cuts through the loud music.

“I told you so.”

[sailtoafarawayland]

Entwined: Family Outtakes Ch. 3

Summary: A little bit of Wish Captain Cobra bonding from early on in the Entwined universe. 

Rating: G

AO3 - FF

Chapter Three: An Unexpected Emergency

Henry lunged forward, nearly leaving his seat on the couch as he slammed the joystick home and button mashed to gain the last kill of the round, letting out a whoop of victory. He scrolled through the stats while his friends went for another bag of chips, pausing when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Pulling it free and glancing at the screen, he saw the house number pop up under his mom's name. That was weird – as far as he knew she was at work with Killian, and Hook didn't typically call him. He frowned, immediately worried. They did live in Storybrooke after all, and even though things had been peaceful since the Black Fairy, there was always that lingering worry that any day the other shoe would drop.

“Hello?” he asked, raising the phone to his ear and moving from the couch to the window, pushing aside the curtain and glancing down the quiet street to make sure there were no signs of strange colored clouds billowing.

“I'm glad you answered, lad,” Hook's voice came through the speaker, his discomfort clear in the heavy exhale that followed. “I've a bit of an emergency at the house.”

“Have you called Mom?” Henry was already moving back through the living room, motioning to his friends that he had to head out as he grabbed his bag and shoved his feet into his sneakers. “Are you okay?”

“Perhaps emergency was a tad overzealous, but I – I didn't want to disturb your mother or Killian at work. Is there any chance you could stop back in?”

“I'm already on my way,” Henry reassured, wondering what could have gotten his...well, not his dad, and maybe not quite his stepdad yet, but Hook had certainly slipped easily into a space above 'his mom's boyfriend', and Henry knew one day he'd care for him the same way he did Killian, the man who had become a father figure to him. “Can you tell me what happened? This isn't like a curse thing or something, right? Because if it is, we should really – ”

“Not unless you consider this bloody machine accursed,” Hook spat on the other end of the line, several more curses that Henry was pretty sure his mom would not appreciate him hearing following alongside the sound of something clanging against metal.

“I'll be home in five minutes, okay?”

“Aye,” Hook sighed, “You've my thanks, lad.

Henry nodded and smiled even though Hook couldn't see him.

“Just try to keep everything in one piece until I get there. See you in five.”

/

Henry took the steps to the front door two at a time, the handle leaping out of his reach as Hook yanked it open, the muscle in his jaw ticking wildly as he ran his hand through his hair.

That was what made Henry notice the bubbles – clumps of frothy bubbles clinging to Hook's ear and streaks of them dissipating along the edges of his jaw and between the strands of his hair.

“The bloody washer box is possessed,” Hook growled, stepping back and letting Henry inside to shoulder his bag onto the floor, his eyes widening as he took in the steady stream of suds pouring out of the laundry room and into the hallway. “I thought I'd help with some of the laundering, and I've seen your mother do it often enough – put them in the front, pour the lye into the box, push the buttons, and then they come out clean.”

“Yeah,” Henry hesitated, stepping gingerly across the damp floor and peeking around the corner into the laundry room. “I guess you could say that's about how it works...how much soap did you use?”

“Your mother just pours it in, so I did the same – and all seemed to be going well until I came back down to this. I've pushed every button on the bloody thing, but it won't stop.”

The lights across the top of the washer were a steady blue, the drum still churning out an ungodly amount of suds that bubbled and fell from around the door seal, making their way across the floor. Stepping carefully, the tile slick beneath his sneakers, Henry made his way to the machine and held the power button, hoping that would solve the issue, but the washer ignored him, all of the lights staying stubbornly lit.

“I guess we'll have to unplug it,” he grimaced, glad that the cord was at least accessible above the unit.

“Unplug it?” Hook questioned, standing in the doorway, the bottom of his jeans damp from wading through the bubbles.

“Yeah,” Henry, muttered, heaving himself out of the water and entirely on top of the machine, making sure his sneakers weren't touching anything wet. “You might want to back up, so you're not in the water – and just, don't touch anything with your hook, okay?”

“Aye, that sounds simple enough,” Hook agreed, glad to be relieved of the burden modern technology presented. He backed across the hall and dropped to the bench seat, hook in his lap.  

Henry carefully gripped the edge of the large plug and – after a tense moment of quiet prayer that he wouldn't get shocked – the rhythmic shushing of the machine came to a sudden halt, the bubbles crackling meekly from around the door as it stopped agitating.

“Well done, lad!” Hook called, getting up from his seat and peering into the laundry room, his hand running wearily through his hair and dislodging a few more bubbles. “I was beginning to think not even magic could have ceased its destruction.”

“No magic here,” Henry smiled, waving the gray cord in his hand. “Machines don't work in this world without being plugged in – this thing's kind of like its heart, so when you take it out, it – ”

Henry stopped as Hook's smile faltered and disappeared, his throat bobbing as he swallowed, gaze dropping to the floor and fingers tightening against his palm.

“Hook, I'm sorry,” he rushed, dropping the plug to the top of the washer and sliding back to his feet, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. It wasn't as if he didn't know Killian's history, and he knew that Hook shared almost all of it – including the thing that had cost him his hand and turned him into a revenge-obsessed pirate for hundreds of years. “I shouldn't have...that was stupid, I – ”

“It's quite alright, m'boy,” Hook sighed, the tension slipping away from him as quickly as Henry's words had brought it on. “I've lost many things in my life,” he said, stepping forward and clapping Henry on the shoulder, “but I've gained much as well.”

He couldn't help but smile at the weight of Hook's hand and the way the sadness in his eyes was tempered by  joy – it was the same look he'd seen so many times in his own mom's eyes, and Killian's as well.

“We're gonna find her, I know it,” he promised, lips tightening with determination. “My mom won't stop until we figure out how to fix your heart, and neither will Killian – it's kind of what our family does, we always find each other – and we've never let a curse stop us before. We are going to get her back.”

“I hope so – I think you'd love Alice. She has an imagination just as big as yours, and a love for books as well, though you'll have to explain the – what are they again, video games?”

“Yup, and I bet she'll love them too. I can't wait to meet her.”

Hook nodded, stepping back into the hall and surveying the mess around their feet once more.

“Well, I suppose I should see to cleaning this up, and you're free to return to your day off, lad – I can't thank you enough. Learning everything there is to know of this realm, it's not been easy, and I hate to be a burden.”

“You're not, you should have seen Killian and...well, a lot of other people too when they first got here. Maybe next time just, use less soap – like way less soap.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Hook saluted, eyes narrowing as he stared down the washing machine. “I certainly never imagined I would lose a battle with the bloody washing box. I think perhaps I'll leave the laundering to either Killian or your mother in the future.”

“At least the floors will be clean,” Henry shrugged, grinning as he headed back toward the front door, Hook's dry chuckle following him as he picked up his bag and headed back out. “I'm gonna check in with Regina, but I'll be back for dinner...it's not fish, right?”

“I think by the time I'm finished righting this mess, it's likely to be pizza.”

“Perfect!” Henry called back, shutting the door and skipping down the steps.

There were no curses clouding the horizon, no Leroy running down the street screaming, no Black Fairy plotting to tear apart his family – life was good. It was better than good, and even though they'd yet to find a solution to Hook's cursed heart, Henry knew it wouldn't be long – he just believed.

END

Tagging: @justanother-unluckysoul @kmomof4  @the-darkdragonfly​  @teamhook  @zaharadessert @xarandomdreamx   @jrob64  @wefoundloveunderthelight @tiganasummertree  @pirateprincessofpizza  @lfh1226-linda @alexa-fangirl-forever  @alifeofdreams  @superchocovian @donteattheappleshook  @hollyethecurious  @caught-in-the-filter @snowbellewells  @itsfabianadocarmo  @stahlop  @karlyfr13s @elizabeethan  @rkrbirdgirl  @batana54

[ironmariposa]

(The things I did) Just so I could call you mine

Chapter 3/4

Also found on Ao3

Notes: A huge thank you to @writing-as-tracey for giving me key words to use for Heather & Rays project and for all their encouragement for this story!! Keeps my motivation going. If you haven’t yet you should definitely check out their ff!

“The Senior baseball tournament.”

“Oh.” Heather laughs holding up her hands, “There’s no way you want me on the team.”

“Not a choice, Hill. Everyone has to play.”

Heather shakes her head, “Trust me, Ray, you do not want me.”

His eyes flash and she swallows because damn why does she keep slipping up like that. Making off the wall comments that have double meanings.

“I mean on the team. You don’t want me on the team. I’m horrible at organized sports.”

He leans towards her, “You can’t be that bad. Come on, it’ll be fun. Just. Go out to Andy’s and practice in the batting cages.”

Andy’s is the local putt putt place that is mostly a piece of shit but pretty much the only fun outing that’s close by. Her, Bishop, and Natalie spent most of their middle school years there. Playing putt-putt but for the one time. One time Natalie was crushing on a baseball player and forced the three of them to go to the batting cages. It was an absolute disaster.

“Lets just.” Heather sighs, “get back to work. I only have another hour before I have to pick up my sister.”

Ray drops his chair back to four legs and picks up the book she slides across the table to him. “Just think about it.”

She studies him as his eyes flicker through the book. They’ve had multiple meetings together at the library and sometimes at school. He’s given her rides home, teases with her sister and just recently started calling out to her in the hallways. The first few times she jumped, because in the past it meant he was about to mock her or Bishop.

He’s different and as the due date for their project approaches she finds herself almost sad. Because after they’re done she won’t have a reason to hang out with him. And she finds she actually likes hanging out with Ray Hall.

“Are you serious?” Heather stares at her friend, her best friend, in complete shock. The news she just dropped on them as they sat on the side of main street was shocking. To have known someone for so long and not see such a bombshell coming…. Heather was lost for words.

Bishop just shakes his head, “You know what, I'm not even that surprised.”

Heather looks at him then back at Nat, “Well I am. You’ve always said it’s a stupid game for idiots to play.”

“Nooo.” Nat says with a tilt of her head, “You've always said that. I just agreed.”

Bishop points his drink at Heather, “She’s got you there.”

“I mean…” Heather shakes her head and picks up her drink. Hearing that Natalie plans on playing the Senior game after two Seniors died last year playing it, is just terrifying. She never thought she would have to watch someone she cared about go through it. Although, the closer she grew to Ray, she knew in the back of her mind she would have to watch him. There was no way he wouldn’t play, especially since his brother won just a few years ago.

Nat nudges her with her arm, “You’re not mad, are you?”

“No. Not mad.” Heather meets her friend's dark brown eyes and cringes, “Just …worried.”

Nat laughs, “It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah. I’m sure that’s exactly what Jimmy and Abby thought too.” Bishop says with a bit of a bite to his voice. Both girls look at him with wide eyes and he makes a face, “Too dark?”

“Yeah.”

“Just a bit dude.”

They all laugh and if it’s a little strained, well, no one points it out.

Heather rushes into their established room in the library with an apology on her lips. “Sorry, my boss made me stay later because he wanted to get high with his girlfriend.” She slams herself in a chair and begins to unload her bag.

“Sounds like a douche.”

Heather grunts, “He one hundred percent is a douche.” She slams one book then another down on the table before pulling out her notebook and flipping it open, “But he pays me. Most of the time. So I have to put up with him.”

Ray closes the book he was reading and leans forward, “What do you mean he only pays you most of the time?”

Heather shrugs, “Doesn’t matter. So did you figure out which chapters we should focus on because I was thinking …” Heather stops her ramble as Ray's hands fall on top of her notebook, covering it completely.

“Heather, it’s illegal for them not to pay you.”

Heather sighs, “Well considering there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.”

“You could quit.”

She laughs harshly at that, “You sound just like Nat and Bishop.” He makes a face at the comparison, “I can’t quit. I need the money. The portion my mom doesn’t take for living in her house, I’m saving for college.” She looks up at him with a desperation for him to understand because her friends never could. They both come from families that love and support them. Families that can afford to send them to college. Families that lift them up instead of dragging them down so deep, it feels like she will never be able to dig herself out no matter how hard she tries

But if anyone could get it, it would be him, “I have to get out of this town.” She says in a quiet voice and there it is. His eyes say it all, complete understanding.

She feels relieved at having someone understand her so completely. She feels like she can actually breath.

He nods after a moment and pulls his arms back, “I was thinking chapters ten and eleven and then the last few chapters.”

Heather nods as she flips through her notebook to those chapters.

“Hey.” Ray steps up to her locker and she glances quickly at him before focusing back on the contents of her locker. She can still see him out of her peripheral as he leans up against her locker door, grinning, “We’re taking the boat out tomorrow afternoon, want to come?”

Heather nudges him with her arm and grabs her locker door to shut it, “Did you finish your character analysis and also who’s we, because I have no interest hanging out with a drug dealer and a pediphile.” She starts to walk to class and he follows. Moving around her to walk backwards so he can face her. And it works for him because no one wants to be the one he trips over so everyone makes a path for them.

Ray chuckles, “I did finish it.” He waves the paper at her and she takes it, her eyes skimming over his handwriting, “And Adam’s not a pediphile.”

“Did he not date that freshman for a few months?” She asks as she tucks the paper in her notebook.

“Well sure but he was still seventeen at the time.”

Heather shakes her head at him silently. He laughs, his dimple flashing and her eyes once again lingering there. He notices. Of course he does, his eyes say it all.

“It’s not just them. Sarah will be there and probably Ruby Anne.” Ray stops causing her to stop or run into his chest. And she kind of wants that. At school he manages to keep his shirts buttoned but any other time she sees him or spends time with him, he usually has his bare chest on full display. And she’s been getting the urge to touch it more and more.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” He urges.

“Okay.” She finally agrees. Ray shouts loudly and steps around her to head off to his class. He continues celebrating loudly as he leaves her and she shakes her head in embarrassment. Glancing around she finds no one is paying them much attention besides a curious look or two. Thankfully neither of her friends have class down this hallway.

She actually has that Saturday off but she tells her mom she’s working. She can’t use that excuse on her friends because they’ll expect her to meet them on her break so she tells them she has to watch Lily and work on homework. They don’t question her because it happens often enough. She feels bad for lying to them. They both mean well but they’ve been making little comments here and there about how much time she’s been spending with Ray.

She approaches the dock with trepidation. She can see Adam and Sarah already on the boat. Ray is messing with a fishing pole off to the side. He looks good in low riding swimming trunks and a sleeveless button up. Of course it’s unbuttoned. Adam gives a soft whistle and nods to her when Ray glances at him. Ray turns to her, the smile on his face wide and genuine. He pushes his sunglasses on top of his head and her heart pounds at the look on his face.

“You came.” And he sounds genuinely surprised.

“I said I would.” She smiles back at him and they stand there for a long moment.

Tyler pushes past them, “Let's go bitches.”

Ruby Anne follows behind him and smiles apologetically at Heather. Her eyes find Rays again and he nods his head to the boat.

They’re last on the boat after Ray unties it from the dock and other than the captain's chair there’s nowhere for Heather to sit. Ray fixes that by pulling her onto his leg once he sits to drive the boat. She looks over his shoulder at him.

“Is this really necessary?”

He winks at her, keeping his eyes on the water but for that small glance, “Unless you prefer the floor?”

Heather glances over her shoulder. Sarah smiles at her as she lounges back in her seat, a can of beer already open in her hand. Tyler and Adam are passing a joint back and forth. Ruby Anne is sunbathing in her seat.

They're going pretty fast and as Ray turns the boat around a corner she falls more into his lap. She tries to move back to just perching on his knee but he maneuvers his arms around her waist to steer. After a moment of hesitation, Heather relaxes against his bare chest, her head resting just below his chin. He nudges her slightly with his nose and she glances up at him.

“Are you smelling me?”

He laughs out loud and she smiles at how much it thrills her to make him laugh. He presses his nose against her hair again and takes an exaggerated deep breath.

“Smells like peppermint.”

She doesn’t respond. Just enjoys being in his arms, letting herself relax for once where it concerns Ray. No one here is going to tell her it’s wrong or how horrible he is. Or how stupid she’s being. She can just enjoy the moment.

And she does. It takes them another twenty minutes before they get to where they’re going. Ray tells her it’s his favorite fishing spot. The others jump out and make their way to a floating dock where they continue their activities of sunbathing, smoking and drinking. Ray waves them off when they ask if they’re coming.

They spend the entire day out there on the water, not returning until twilight. Heather knows she’ll be red from playing in the water with Ray, to sunbathing on the dock with Sarah and Ruby Anne. She even had a semi deep conversation with Tyler about how honeybees play an important part in their ecosystem and how without them we wouldn’t have coffee or avocados or even medications. Heather's mind is blown with how much knowledge Tyler seems to have on this one subject but Ruby Anne informs her that when he’s high, Tyler likes to watch nature documentaries. They all laugh so hard at him, he storms off a huff.

Ray walks her to her car. The others already went on their way as she helped him unload the boat.

“Thanks for…” she turns and is left speechless as he his eyes meet hers. It’s dark out, hard to see much but his eyes are filled with want. For her. He takes one step, then another, crowding her smaller body back against the truck. And she thinks this is it. This is when he’s going to kiss her. And she was going to let him.

She whispers his name as her legs fall open, giving him room to press against her. She feels the hardness of him all over. He brings his hands up but instead of touching her like she expects. Like she wants, he brackets her head between them as he presses them against his truck. His head tilts down and she lets out a long breath as he drags his nose up her neck and to her ear. His breath is hot as he whispers in her ear, “You’re so far from cute, Heather Nill. I could absolutely devour you with how fuckin sexy you’ve looked all day. I’ve been hard since the moment you appeared on my dock.” And he proves this by grinding himself in the warm space between her legs. Heather's head falls back against the truck with a groan. She curls her hands with want. She wants to fill them with him. To touch him all over, starting with a handful of his hair and ending with a handful of his ….

Ray's nose is back to dragging over her neck and he nips at her pulse causing her to jump. She reaches for him, her hands spreading over his bare back as she pulls him in. He lifts his head, his lips a breath from hers.

Her phone goes off and it’s obnoxious enough that it pulls them both out of their lust haze. Ray pulls his body away from her as she reaches in her pocket to pull it out. It’s her neighbor and she knows she has to answer. It’s never good when she calls.

Glancing at Ray she flashes her phone at him, “I have to…” he just nods and she steps away from him as she presses the accept button.

As she suspected, Bo and her mom are at it again and Lily needs her. She quickly explains to Ray who accepts it with more understanding than she expects. Her friends aren’t usually so understanding but then again they have perfect families that never have drama. Ray on the other hand…

Ray sends her off with a tuck of hair behind her ear and a soft smile she’s never seen him give another. Her thoughts are on getting to her sister but her body is still aflame with desire as she speeds to the trailer park. And after she gets Lily settled in bed, the house now quiet with Bo gone and her mom passed out, Heather lies in her bed thinking of that moment out by his truck and how she knows without a doubt she would have let Ray take her to his bed if they hadn’t been interrupted. And she wonders if that’s a good thing or not.

Heather is waiting for Bishop to finish switching books in his backpack at his locker when Natalie runs up to them and grabs Heather's arm, squeezing tightly.

“Ow Nat.” Heather attempts to pull her arm from her friend's grip but the taller girl refuses to let go.

“You went on a date with Ray Hall?” Natalie practically shouts.

Heather shushes her as she glances around. Bishop looks up from his backpack, frozen. They stare at one another for a long moment before he says one word through gritted teeth, “Well?”

“I…”

Bishop slams the door to his locker so loudly, if people weren’t looking at them before, they sure were now. Natalie seems to notice this as well and pulls them into a dark empty classroom, closing the door behind them.

“Ruby Anne is going around saying you and Ray hooked up this weekend.”

“We didn’t hook up.”

“That you spent the day with them out on his boat. But that couldn’t be true, right? Because you told us,” Natalie points between her and Bishop, “That you couldn’t hang out because you were watching your sister all day.”

Heather presses the heels of her hands to her eyes and then runs them through her hair, “Okay. I lied.”

“You lied?” Bishop says.

Heather avoids meeting his eyes, instead choosing to look over his shoulder into the dark corner of the classroom, “Look, I just didn’t want you guys to give me shit about hanging out with Ray.”

“We don’t give you shit.” Natalie tries to protest.

“You actually do. Even when it’s just to work on the project, you give me shit. I’m so..” Heather takes a deep breath and lets it out, “I’m so sick of feeling guilty for wanting to spend time with someone.”

“Not just someone.” Bishop says through clenched teeth, “But Ray Hall.”

Heather tilts her head back as she breathes in deeply through her nose. Here it is.

“Ray Fucking Hall.”

“Okay, Bishop. I get it. You hate him.” She runs her hands through her hair again but says the next words without hesitation, “But I don’t.”

Bishop blanches at her words and she looks at Natalie who wrinkles her nose at her.

“Heather, you know what he is. You know.” Bishop says with so much heat. Heather just stares down at her feet as Bishop continues his rant. She knows he’s been building this up ever since she was partnered with Ray. She thinks maybe if she lets him have his say then he’ll just back off. Because between him and Ray and everyone else she feels so confused. “All he is and all he’ll ever be is a Meth Row idiot, heading down the same path as his father and brother. You have to see that. You have to know that after all these years.”

“Okay Bishop, that’s enough.” Natalie finally steps in. His eyes flash to her then back to Heather. Without another word he turns on his heel and storms away.

“He’s an idiot.” Natalie says.

“He is.” She agrees.

Natalie wraps her arm around Heather and guides her back out of the classroom, “But you know it’s because he’s in love with you.”

Heather tilts her head back with a groan, “He is not in love with me, Nat.”

Natalie just gives her a look. The look, “If you say so girl.”

After the confrontation, Heather keeps to herself. She doesn’t see either of her friends the rest of the day. She attempts to smile at Ray in class but he just turns in his seat to talk to Adam. She’s too distracted to think anything of it and slides into her seat silently. It’s the week before Spring Break which means their presentations are all week. Their day to present is on Thursday and so Heather sits through the week watching the other presentations. Bishop isn’t talking to her at all and Nat is being distant. She spends her days after school working and keeping Lily away from their trailer as much as possible. The fallouts between her mom and Bo usually last longer than a day or two and it’s always safer to keep their distance.

But then Thursday comes and Ray is nowhere to be seen. She sits in class as the bell rings and picks at her nails. Mrs. Plaza calls her up to the front, “It looks like your partner isn’t going to show. Are you comfortable doing the presentation on your own?”

“I am. But he’ll show.”

Mrs. Plaza looks at her with sympathy, “I’ll put you and Ray last on the list.” She reaches out a hand and places it on Heathers, a comforting touch, “But, Honey, I wouldn’t count on him showing up.”

Heather smiles, “He’ll be here.” And though she sounds confident, with each minute that ticks by, her confidence falters.

Finally, there’s no time left and it’s their turn to present.

He doesn’t show.

[wecanlivelikejackxsallyifwewant]

So a week ago yesterday, we were back from Florida. I was given inspiration, from a friend, to recap what all we did (that I can remember) from our time in Florida so it can be solidified in history and I can look back on this post and reminisce! Here it goes!

August 10: All packed in the car, there was nothing else to do but go. My friend was staying with my dogs and it was so hard to say goodbye. Clayton hopped in the back seat, me in the front with my Halloween doggo blanket and my eye mask/head phone combo and Kevin driving. I specifically remember warning Clayton that he should switch sides bc at some point I’m going to want to recline my seat. I also specifically warned him that I snore really bad in the car 😬 idk what it is! Is it the angle of the chair, is it that I’m not laying flat? I truly don’t know. Anyway, that night was just driving, stopping for gas, smokin’ weed, and sleeping. Nothing to write home about.

August 11: We’ve arrived! Our condo is on the 3rd floor- all steps, no elevator 😑 it’s fine. We’re all sleep deprived, a little cranky and snippy w each other. It’s fine, we get over it once we see the view! Hermitage by The Bay!

… We start talking about all the stuff we want to do. We did none of it, but it was still a special time! We immediately unpack and unwind for a little bit. A couple naps. Then we linked up w the husband-to-be and hit the beach! Me, Kev and Matt went for a late night bite at Rockin’ Tacos. Bomb food!! Great street corn 🌽

August 12: We get pretty good nights rest! The beds were really comfortable- at least mine and Kevs was! We woke up leisurely and we hit this great Asian cuisine restaurant for lunch. So good. Rained for a bit, didn’t last long at all. Hit the beach again! Met a cute lil crab 🦀 his body was like the size of a silver dollar. Then we went to the strip cluuuuuuuub 💃 Nick fell in love w a beautiful, Colombian stripper. Clayton fell in love w a petite, blonde stripper. I met a stripper who was from MO! She hung out w me and the bride-to-be for the rest of the night fr, unless she was up of course. Two strippers told me my makeup looked amazing 💁‍♀️ We were given the most delicious shot from the bar tender: pineapple upside down shot. One word: DANGEROUS. Too good. Somewhere along the way “FF” was born 🙄 when I said it, it stood for “Fucking Fuck” others weren’t as kind *disappointment*

August 13: Woke up, went on a minor grocery store run then landed at Floyd’s Shrimp House. Cajun chicken pasta for me… you know the deal! We got a mountain of fried pickles. Then we did a night walk on the beach and some lounging around the condo. Had Whataburger for the first time!

August 14: Wedding Day! Dustin came over to avoid seeing his bride. We chilled. The wedding was great. I got a lot of good shots! There was definitely a storm a brewing!! We got off the beach just in time. The reception was great. Matt and his bridesmaid “hopped up” and Nick and his did a secret handshake. Cute. One person asked me if I got my makeup done w the bridal party, one person asked if I was a makeup artist and two people complimented my makeup! We danced forever. Don’t stop believing was the last song before it was over. Then we went to Vibe night club. The drama that ensued, pssssssht. Dumb. So, Matt saw these two girls, started talking to them, it was going fine. Then he starts yelling at them, the music did get louder but they kind of looked over at me w a weird look on their face. I talk to them one time and I’m a cockblock. Okay 🙄 we continue, they sat next to me so I talked to them a few times. Got them hooked up w a pineapple upside shot! They loved it. Matt tried to talk to them again but I said something while he was and he got mad again talking about me being a cockblock. I was TRYING to get them to talk to me more to trust me to enough to get them to at least dance w Nick and Matt but he didn’t give me a chance!! Matt dances w a crackhead and that was interesting. Anyway, it gets kind of boring honestly, doesn’t really start jumpin until this group of girls comes in and they’re all twerking on the dance floor, the only ones out there living they’re best lives! Then a bikini contest was happening but thankfully we all agreed to close out our tabs and leave so we were walking out the door when this happened. Bless. We get back to the condo, Kevin’s the first one to pass out. Nick and Matt are bad influences! *Shaaaaaaame* Then Matt passes out. Nick and I stay up talking for like an hour about tattoos and a bunch of other stuff. I’m pretty fucked up but not as much as him. So he inevitably ends up on the floor. I ask him if he wants help to bed, we get him on his feet and I’m like “okay, you ready to walk?” He says “yep!” Then instantly becomes dead weight. I drop this dude 🤣 I laugh at first but then make sure he’s okay and he didn’t hit his head or anything. He says he’s good so I get him a couple pillows and a blanket, he’s out. I’m the last one up!

August 15: We don’t start out great. Everyone’s in pain, Kev and I get into a fight- you know how people get when they’re all together for too long. You butt heads, it’s fine. We get past that and hit this amazing Hawaiian restaurant. Soo good. Then we meet up w the newlyweds and go to the pier. It was awesome! We saw dolphins 🐬 and sea turtles 🐢 and this pelican flew down right next to me! It was awesome. After that we go to the Crab Trap. Again, Cajun chicken pasta! Then we head to the condo to pack. ☹️ we had a good time and ate great food. I got some saltwater taffy from the crappy Irvin’s (there were two right across the street from each other) plus my souvenirs.

August 16: Nashville! On our way back we hit Nashville for some Jacks bbq. Made it home pretty late. The dogs went nuts! It was so good to see them 🐶🐶 Thank goodness we had the next day off!

August 17: Blaire is born!

August 18: I QUIT MY JOB!!

[nevermindirah]

Ok it's Jewish Booker o'clock, I can no longer stop myself, let's do this!

Why Jewish Booker? Dude was born in Marseilles in 1770, which happens to be a FASCINATING time and place in Jewish history, and it adds ridiculous layers to his character (without excusing a damn thing). Alternately just because I think he’s neat :)

Jewish Booker headcanons that make me happy:

not to be all "real Jews do X" but Jews fuck with candles hard. Book of Nile thrives on old/modern analog/digital giggles. Booker lighting Shabbat candles, lighting yarzeit (memorial) candles for his wife and sons (sob), lighting a menorah, lighting candles just because he's feeling emotional even though it's not chag (a holiday) or a yarzeit and Nile thinks he's trying to be sexy but he's really just in his feelings. just like. so many candles.

maybe Booker was the person who punched Richard Spencer at Trump's inauguration, just bringing back that time somebody punched a famous neonazi in the street and said neonazi has all but stopped appearing in public after a few rounds of public punching

were the Old Guard in Charlottesville in 2017? how many times has Booker the Blond Jew infiltrated North American white nationalist / Klan type activities and then stolen their weapons and/or killed them? likewise there's plenty of horrifying white nationalist shit happening across Europe this century, how many Pim Fortuyn types has he been involved in taking down? (I Am Of Course Not Endorsing Violence TM ;) ;) )

SINGING. Mattias Schoenaerts sings in Away From the Madding Crowd but it's church shit, sigh, anyway he has a nice voice. a lot of Jewish prayer is sung/chanted (depending on when/where you are and the gender rules of the community you're in) and there’s been a lot of innovation to Jewish singing in Booker’s lifetime, and I just want Nile to overhear him singing to himself on Friday afternoons

Nile Freeman was four years old when The Prince of Egypt came out, she grew up on that shit, she would want to introduce her new family to that shit. Please join me in picturing Booker, Nicky, Joe, and Andy all shouting "that's not how it happened!!" throughout this beautiful nightmare of a movie with lovely animation and songs but where white people voice most of the Egyptian and Jewish characters, because Booker Nicky and Joe's religious texts all frame the Exodus story a little differently and Andy was probably there when it happened (except for how it didn't actually happen it's an important story but it's just a story pls just let me giggle about Andy being super old)

Read below the cut for sad Jewish Booker headcanons, French Jewish history (mostly sad), context on antisemitism (enraging/sad), and all the way to the very end for a himbo joke.

Jewish Booker headcanons, I made myself sad edition:

he is a forger. who was alive. in 1939. visas. VISAS. V I S A S. how many of us did he save? how many more could he have saved if he didn't sleep that night? how heavily does that weigh?

how do we think he BECAME a forger? most likely he was doing what he needed to do to support his family, which gets extra poignant if he was also trying to help his people, forging documents as well as money even during his mortal life

Booker raised Catholic by crypto-Jews adds ANOTHER layer to the forgery thing, no shit he'd get good at falsifying paperwork and coming up with plausible cover stories

do we know how Booker made it back home after his first death in 1812? his route between the Russian Empire and Provence in 1812 would've been a patchwork of laws about Jews, in case starvation and frostbite weren't enough for him to have to deal with, he's blond and could maybe get away with pretending not to be Jewish if he had to, alternately maybe synagogues and yeshivot took him in on his way home

the structural and sometimes-interpersonal dynamics of antisemitism cause many individual Jews to experience feelings of teetering on the fence between a valued member of a not-exclusively-Jewish community and a scapegoat/outcast/problem. HOLY SHIT BOOKER. "what do you know of all these years alone" is the most Jewish loneliness-in-a-crowd shit I've ever heard. fear that we're not wanted, or only wanted so long as we're useful — that's something that basically all people struggle with under capitalism, but it's especially poignant for many Jews because of the particular way antisemitism operates. (NOTE this can tip from a legit Jewish Booker reading to woobification of the sad white man who couldn't possibly be held responsible for his own actions because he's so sad, which, NOPE. it's very understandable for him to feel left out and misunderstood and not as wanted, as the youngest and not part of an immortal couple and maybe Jewish, but NONE OF THIS excuses his betrayal.)

Crusaders murdered a lot of Jews on their way to the ~holy land~. how many of Booker's people did Nicky kill on his way to kill Joe's people? has Booker ever actually talked to either of them about it?

I read this really beautiful fic about Joe needing to circumcise himself after getting run over by a cart (ouch) — this is a hell of a thing for Joe and Booker to have in common

just generally Jewish Booker adds more layers to him and Joe so clearly being such close friends, ugh that look Joe gives him when they're leaving the bar at the end of the movie, and I very much do not mean this in a gross Arab-Israeli-conflict way because Joe is Amazigh not Arab and Booker is Jewish not Israeli (and also a lot of Jews are Arabs) (but most importantly there's no ~eternal conflict~ between Muslims and Jews) (more about OP Is Not A Zionist below)

like, the UK and France (and to a certain extent Italy) carved up the former Ottoman Empire after WWI; among other things, the UK took Palestine, and they could've worked on eradicating European antisemitism so Jews wouldn't have to leave but instead they used their control of Palestine to encourage Zionist emigration of Jews out of Europe, and France took what is now Iraq, which has some pretty direct implications for US military involvement in that country in Nile's lifetime; France colonized Tunisia in the late 19th century and still held it during the Vichy era which means Tunisian Jews were subject to Nazi anti-Jewish laws which is just layers upon layers of colonial racist Islamophobic and antisemitic nightmares for Joe and Booker to live through

to be crystal clear before anybody gets ooh Muslim-Jewish conflict up in here, antisemitism is an invention of European Christians that they imported to the places they colonized, the European colonial powers encouraged Zionism because it was easier for them to encourage Jews to leave Europe and set us up as middle agents between the colonial powers and the ~scary brown people~, the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim governments historically have had a second-class citizenship category for non-Muslims that rankles my American first amendment freedom of religion sensibility but was very much not targeting Jews specifically, and these two men who've lived for a long-ass time through many varieties of geopolitical awfulness (and alongside a certain unwashed Crusader who has since learned his lesson) would have Things To Say about how our current mainstream discourses frame these things

getting off my soapbox and back to this action movie I'm trying to talk about, the ANGST of Booker's exile, which is simultaneously a very valid decision for Andy Joe and Nicky to make, an extremely long time for Nile who is only 26 years old to be separated from the one person on the planet in a position to really understand the crisis she's going through, and holy shit expelling a Jew from your group when he's already been expelled from mortality and his family and being expelled from places and continually having to start over somewhere new is THE curse of surviving through antisemitism, OUCH MY FEELINGS

Some French Jewish history:

France, like basically all of Europe, periodically expelled its Jews, but Provence (where Marseilles is) wasn't legally part of France during the expulsions up through 1398 so Provence had a continuous active Jewish community; about 3,000 Iberian Jewish refugees ended up in Provence after the expulsions from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s

the 1498 expulsion of French Jews DID apply to Provence but many "converted" to Christianity and reestablished a Jewish community when enforcement of the expulsion chilled out (which was in the government's interest because they were really into taxing Jews at higher rates, so much so that they taxed "new Christians" at higher rates once they realized expelling Jews meant they wouldn't be around to overtax, ffs) — by the mid-18th century Provence had notable communities of Jews and crypto-Jews (forced converts and their descendants who still kept some Jewish practices in secret)

Booker would've been 21 when revolutionary France granted equal legal rights to Jews in 1791 — his mortal life and first century of immortality happens to line up almost perfectly with the timeline of legal emancipation of Jews across Europe

the American and French Revolutions happened pretty much concurrently and took different approaches to religious freedom that make Book of Nile with Jewish Booker and canon Christian Nile extra interesting — French emancipation, at least from my American sensibility, is about secularism and religion not "interfering" (hence French Islamophobic shittiness about banning hijabs), whereas American religious freedom is more of "the government can't stop me from trying to evangelize / religiously harass people at my school/workplace/etc" — to be clear I think both countries' approaches to religious "freedom" are hegemonic as shit and have devastating flaws, but they're different models that emerged at the same time in Booker's youth and Christianity is clearly a source of emotional support for Nile and there's so much to explore here

Napoleon tried to ~liberate~ the Jews of places he conquered for his dumbass French Empire, but liberation from ghettos came with strings attached (like banning us from some of the only jobs we'd been legally allowed to have for centuries, and liberating us for the stated purpose of getting us to assimilate and stop being Jews) and many places that were briefly part of the French Empire reinstated their antisemitic laws after Napoleon was gone, can you imagine being a French Jew forced to fight and die in Russian winter for that jackass and then have to trudge back through a dozen countries whose antisemitism was all riled up by French interference?

Some facts about antisemitism:

antisemitism operates differently than many other oppressions, it doesn't economically oppress the target group in the same way as antiblackness or misogyny or ableism etc — the purpose of antisemitism is to create a scapegoat to blame when European peasants are mad at the king / the church / the people actually in charge, and structural antisemitism encourages a system where some Jews become visibly successful so that those individuals and our whole community are easier to make into scapegoats

one of the historical roots of antisemitism is stuff in the Christian Bible about moneylending as sinful — Jews in medieval Europe were often barred from owning land and Christians barred from moneylending, so some Jews found work in finance and some of us became very visibly successful for working with money — a few individual Jews running a particular bank or finding success as jewelry dealers turns into "Jews control global financial systems" scapegoating — a more recent example of this is the participation of nonblack Jews in white flight and the role of Jewish landlords doing the visible dirty work of non-Jewish institutions in American antiblack housing discrimination, Nile grew up on the South Side of Chicago and would have seen some shit along these lines and might repeat hurtful ideas out of a lack of knowledge, here's Ta Nahesi Coates on some of these dynamics

Booker canonically being a forger (specifically of coins in the comics?) needs a little extra care to avoid antisemitic tropes about Jews and money, I will happily answer good-faith asks about this if you want to check on something for a fic/etc

antisemitism in the United States where I live in October 2020 isn't institutional in the sense of targeting Jews for police violence or anything like that. it IS systemic, however, for example in all the antisemitic conspiracy theories the Trump administration and several other Republicans peddle (ie QAnon), and in how the Trump administration points to support for Israel as if that means support for Jews (it doesn't, it's evangelical Christians who push the US government to support the Israeli government because they think Jews need to be in the ~holy land~ for Jesus to come back that's literally why the United States funds Israel at the level it does). antisemitism also gets weaponized to encourage white Jews (those of us of European descent, who in the United States are definitely white because the foundation of US racism is slavery and antiblackness as well as anti-indigenous genocide, maybe European Jews aren't included in whiteness everywhere but we definitely are where I live) to side with white supremacy instead of building solidarity with other marginalized people (ie a lot of mainstream Jewish groups shit on the Movement for Black Lives because of its solidarity with Palestinians)

the Nation of Islam has a major presence in Chicago and its leader Louis Farrakhan who lives in Chicago has long spread a variety of antisemitic as well as homophobic bullshit but there are genuine good reasons many Black people find meaning/support in the Nation of Islam and Nile would've grown up with that mess in the air around her, this is a good take from a Black Jew about the nuance of all that

the way the Old Guard comics draw Yusuf al Kaysani is HOLY SHIT ANTISEMITISM BATMAN I hate it please summarize the comics for me because I DO NOT WANT to look at that unnecessarily caricatured nose why the fuck did they do that human noses are beautiful there is absolutely no need to draw Joe like a Nazi would

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice is a local NYC group that recently developed a fantastic resource for understanding and fighting antisemitism (pdf) 11/10 strongly recommend

Zionism disclaimer: A lot of Jews feel strongly that we need a Jewish-majority country in order to be safe from antisemitism. I strongly disagree with this idea on its merits (Jews disagree about who is a Jew and making Jewish status a government/immigration matter means some of us are going to get left out; also non-Jews aren't fundamentally dangerous and separatism isn't going to end antisemitism) but I have a lot of empathy for the very valid fear that leads a lot of my people to Zionism. Whether I want a Jewish-majority country or not, what Israel has done and continues to do to Palestinians is a deal breaker. Emotions run very high on this subject — I spend a lot of my not-Tumblr life talking to other Jews about Zionism and I'd rather not have this Jewish Booker headcanons post become yet another place where fellow Jews yell at me in bad faith. Block me if you need to, you're not going to change my mind. Call me self-hating if you want, I know I love us.

Racism in fandom disclaimer: I feel weird about increasing the volume of meta about Booker in this fandom. Nile Freeman is the main character and deserves lots of attention and adoration from the fandom — and she deserves emotional support from as many friends and orgasms from as many partners as she wants. I think Jewish Booker makes her friendship and potential romantic relationship with him even more interesting, hence this post. Ship what you ship, but be aware of the racist impact of focusing your fandom activity on, for example, shipping two white men while ignoring awesome characters of color especially the canon man of color one of those white dudes has already been with for a millennium. Please and thanks don't use my post for shenanigans like sidelining Joe so you can ship Booker with Nicky.

Oh and a non-disclaimer fun fact, Matthias Schoenaerts was born in Antwerp which apparently has one of the largest Jewish communities still remaining in Europe?? ~Jewish Booker headcanons intensify~

In conclusion: Jewish Booker! Just because it's fun! It exponentially increases the angst of his mortal lifetime and it puts his first century of immortality smack in the middle of the most intense changes to Jewish life since the fall of the Second Temple (aforementioned emancipation, also founding of Reform Judaism, the Haskalah, Zionism, and then of course the Holocaust). It makes his relationships with Nile, Joe, and Nicky more interesting and potentially angstier and with more intense commonalities and tenderness about their differences. It's very common for Jews to not believe in God (this confuses the shit out of a lot of Christians) and this would probably have further endeared him to Andy.

One more thing: Booker as golem. (A golem is basically an earthenware robot of Jewish folklore.) He's tall and blond and the most Steve Rogers-looking of all of them and from the Himbeaux region of France. THE trope of Book of Nile is he will do WHATEVER Nile wants or needs him to do. I was today years old when I learned that Modern Hebrew speakers use golem figuratively to mean "mindless lunk" and I'm choosing to squint and read that as "hot kind and dumb as rocks" because it amuses me.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Hauting existence (Chapter one)

Summary: She lived with a negletful life, choosing one way to survive this despicable kind of life, disowing her own name to something she decided to take as her own name,  “ Tsuyoi”, meaning of strenght. So this way she could at least have someone to count on, herself. While him had the good luck, born on a hateful and abusive familybut adopted by a kind yet strict agricultor... raised with morals.

Funny thing how these two actually manage to know each other

Chisaki Kai x reader

Warnings: I will see only if the feedback of this fic is good to continue, if not oh well that’s life. It contains beating, mental and physical abuse, curse words, prostitution, sexual assaultt and rape... need I say no more?

either way, enjoy.

You closed the door of the man’s car with a laugh. Winking at him as he cursed under his breath at receiving a call from a woman, probably from his wifem you didn’t doubt it.

“Best reply your sweatheart~!” You giggled at his desperation as he drove the car far away from the post. Adjusting the wig in your head as you walked until the street, being greeted by your “friends” as they whistled and looked at you getting to your usual “spot” as always.

“Rough shift tonight huh?” you heard a femine voice from beside you as you rolled your eyes and smirked at her.

“Kussaku-san.” You greeted as the older woman snickered and poked your shoulder with her fist.

Those weren’t your given names... Yet, no one would ever know your name as far as you et them. Kussaku could be Akemi-san while in day as she took care of her teenager son... a ngrateful one for that matter. She was ony a bit older than you but sadly worked on the same breadwinner as you...

“How many did that old man gave to you for one round?”

“Bastard is a married bussines man, so I charged him triple.” You waved the bills at her face as she laughed in shock.

“You’re such a evil little thing!”

“I do it for survival, just like all os us.” You spoke more seriously as the others left the place, leaving you and Kussaku to chat a bit until no “clients” apperead...

“If no more appear I’ll have to get back home with only 500 yen...” The older woman sighed and you had the slightest pity over her until she adjusted her purse on her shoulder “I have to get goin’ see ya Tsuyoi!” 

You snorted, supporting your weight on only one leg as you watched the cars pass bu the street... A van got closer and stopped by the gas station... You arched an eyebrow up until you saw a man getting out of the car, tall and buff frame with a mask on; the color of his hair was an oak and what caught your attention the most was the gold in her eyes. You smirked, bitting your bottom lip as you walked elegantly towards the man, ocasionaly wiggling your hips.

Supporting your self on where the man was picking some gas fro his car you smile devilsh.

“Heyy~” You purred, finally catching the attention of the guy as he looked down at you. One of his brown eyebrows up. “Wanna have a goo time handsome, for such a full course meal I will only charge the tiniest bit.” You licked your lips while looking up and down at his body, adoring how even despite him having a mask on how embarresed he got at your words, yet still stuck on the same stoic expression.

“My apologies, not interested.” He placed the cash on the balcony and gave you one look before leaving, you furrowed your eyebrows before trailing after him.

“No? Well, maybe is because you don’t want to dissapointed your wifey or girlfriend then?” You snorted as he stoppe, but soon got shocked when he gave you a look over his shoulder.

“Pardon. I guess maybe someone cant take “no” as an answer?”

You frowned and scoffed at how his cheeks liften up slightly, showing that dammed smirk beneath that mask of his.

“Full of yourself.” You mumbled as he rolled his eyes and got in his car as you chuffed, knocking on his window. “At least give me a ride back home will ya?”

The man looked at you with a deappan look, before sighing and unlocking the passenger door as you chuckled in victory and got in despite his annoyed look as he drove.

“Not much of a talker daddy’s boy?” You smirked from your seat, seing how his gloved hand tighten on the wheel as he breathed in and out slowly.

“Usually I dont give rides, esoecially for, well, your type of person.” 

“uhuhuhu!” You laughed in sarcasm at his words “I poked at the sting didn’t I??”

Although your lips parted in shock as a chuckle escaped hismouth looking at you from the corner of his eyes.

“I know what you’re got. And let me explain that was not what I meant, I usually don’t give rides for strangers... idiot.” He snorted at your scoff and continued driving. “You have a name?”

You looked at him with a devilish smirl, so maybe he was interested...

“Tsuyoi.” you almost purred your name as he scoffed.

“I meant your real name idiot.”

“Oi! More respect towards my name will you?! You got a problem with my name so say it instead.’

“Is a adjective this, not a name.”

“Well mister gramatic, is MY NAME.” you talked back as he pinched his nose with one hand as the other stayed tight on the wheel.

How much would you will be owning to that guy for this..?

“Where do I drop you off anyway?” you didn’t catched his wordsas you saw a car getting too close to your liking, and even before you could even coment something the car got in the side of the man, and hitted with such a brute force that made you scream and the car to fly out of the street. You heard the man shouting a curse as the car rolled in the dirt as you were throw out of it and landed on the grass with a groan,

“Fuck...” You groaned, touching a place on your fprehead and wincing, seing the fred velvet fluid on your fingers... You looked behing you and saw a masked man throw some liquid in the car and a bit on the grass from a safe distance before you widened your eyes at when them took a phosphor and dropped into the ground before walking away.

You cursed and got up from the grass to gasp at seing the man still on the car, passed out.

“SHIT!” you screamed and took off your heels to get to the upside down car and try to take off the seat bell out “MAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WAKE UP!“

Unknown to you was that you lost your wig and your truly hair fell as you shaked him and pulled the seat bell, wakening him up as he groaned before widening his eyes at seing you, how beautiful he found you on your true nature and how much you looked like a.. a

“Angel..?” he muttered as you screamed and begged him to move.

“SIR PLEASE WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE IS GOING TO EXPLODE!” you cried as he finally come to his senses and strated t figet to get out.

‘I’m trying! Its stuck”“ he shouted as you panicked seing the fire getting close until you let put a gasp, grabbing a knife you always carried for protection on your abandoned purse and cuted the seat belt out of him as you pulled him out of the upsided down car.

“COME ON!” You grabbed his arm and pu on your shoulders as both of you tried to run, only to the explosion to happen, sending both of you straight to the ground.

You got up, looking mortified at the scene in front of you as the man besides you groaned and got promped into his his arms as his eyes widened.

“For the love of...” He mumbled as you looked at him.

.

.

.

Continue...?

“That will be all Chisaki-san.” the woman spoke while giving him a paper as he looked over at it, looking over his shoulder to see you were gone.

His feet moved on his own and found you at the exit of the hospital, not getting why he finally got to breath again at seing you standing there.

“You seem like a magnet for trouble.” He sighed as you looked at him before rolling your eyes.

“I can say the same for you... The van was yours, I could have died because of you, ya know?” You mumbled as he stood tall besides you with a arrogant aurea that surely pissed you off to no ends.

“Yet you didn’t.” He spoke nonchantly, hands stuffed on his jacket as he mantained looking at you, until you clenched your teeth and snapped.

“Stop staring at me like that!” You shouted as he remained unfazed by your attics “ If you got nothing to pay for it or to complain about it so just leave dammit!”

“Can’t a person just look at something because is beautiful?” You gagged in your words at hearing him speak so nonchantly before seeing him, even witha patch up on his forehead still looking so good and beutiful, smirking, fucking smirking at you “Cat got your tongue brat?”

You narrowed your eyes at him and pointed a finger at him as you spilled acid with your words.

“Listen, you little shit. Just because you paid for my consultation to see if I had any broken bones doesn't mean you can at least have the fucking audacity to talk to me like that, did you hear me right?” you growled as he glred back at you, but soon a snort came out.

“Whatever you say.. brat.” You scoffed and marched your way away from him as he looked at you “To your concern, my name is Chisaki, Chisaki Kai... a true name. Hope to see you around.. Tsuyoi.” you could hear the snicker behind his voice as you flipped him ff and got on your way home.

If only you knew you would be crossing paths with this misterious man again...

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

wait a minute. So I've read your bits on civil war 2008, and I have a question for you: all the characters in the civil war event, at least the major players(like stark, Cap, Spidey, FF), do you believe that they are acting OOC, or that the writers chose to bring out the character's worse qualities to create drama?

And do you think that if the writers had written them In Character, or at least written them to be more balanced, would it have improved the story? Actually, do you think that Civil War could have been... at least A not Bad Story under an intense rewrite? or that the whole concept should have been thrown away?

The OOC talk is tempting and also partially justified. There is a batch of previous stories scattered through the years with the Fantastic Four dealing with similar scenarios where Reed is pretty much anti-government.

1) In one Social Services sue the FF4 for endangering Reed and Sue Kids by keeping them in the Baxter Building despite it being blown up once every 2 weeks. They ask them to "register" them and put them in a safe government facility, so to spearhead a new law where they can get pre-teen superhumans "out of harm way" or some shit.

Keep in mind Franklin is still a Mutant in this story (And still is right now because FUCK YOU SLOTT). Anyway, Reed seemingly agrees,only to set up a dummy facility and "register" his kids there. He doesn't even announce it he literally only writes it in the Government's documentation and shit.

The facility is razed to the ground a couple hours later. Because yes the Baxter Building can explode at any time but AT LEAST they are there to protect the kids from the countless people.

2) In another story, Reed is asked by Congress to create a device that outs mutants and "abnormal" humans, so the government can better individuate them for "reasons." Reed agrees, and makes a device SO POWERFUL it detects every deviations from the supposed norm, so when he gives a demonstration in Congress, he reveals half of its members would qualify as "Mutants" if they kept that line of inquiry, which makes them hastily drop the whole thing. This was intentional, because who the fuck are they to decide who is or isn't not normal?

3) Compare and Contrast with Civil Ear Reed Richards, who is a McCarthy apologist who goes "Logically speaking, we need to listen to the government on this one otherwise we might get burned just like my (gay coded) artist uncle was by the McCarthy Trials in the 50s when he told the court to shove it and his life was ruined as a result. It's the rational way to do it."

4) (The three main proponents of the Registration Side being Rich, White, Heterosexual Men in positions of powers, with jobs in the science field that justify their decision with "Facts and Logic" was PROBABLY unintentional, but is also a great unintended allegory for this kind of shit. The ones who are hurt the most but these kind of laws are the ones who can't afford it after all, and who is ever going to go after the rich and powerful first? Especially if they come with little repercussions on their lives (Tony, Reed and Hank where all already outed as Superheroes after all))

5) Peter is OOC in OMD mind you, Civil War goes pretty much how you'd expect him to go (gets manipulated by authority figure into it, MJ and May are supportive of him because they see only half the facts, the SECOND Peter realizes that those people are monsters he drops them and gets the shit beaten out of him for it, unlike Reed or Tony who can AFFORD having their identities public Peter barely has the money to survive which ends with May getting shot for it). It's an incredibly poignant scenario that I wish was used to TELL A MESSAGE rather than just a backdrop to shoehorn OMD in.

6) Which is to say Civil War could indeed be written better under the same premise. If they want to keep the Patriot Act Allegory, they should be aware of what that would entail for the characters that support it.

We are currently seeing a similar scenario going on in Marvel in the Champions comics where the registration side is pretty much spearheaded by an unambiguous evil corporation and shit. In light of Civil War I existing the whole thing kinda loses its impact (Like that one joke scene where Tony goes "Maybe we should register them" with a smug look on his face as if he isn't responsible for so many deaths), but at least they are trying to shift the conversation? The villain is not the Government of course it's Evil Apple, but at least it's not a "Both Sides are equally ok" centrist bullshit take like they did in Civil War or in Skyrim.

Like, fuck, it's literally called CIVIL WAR to invoke the American Civil War in the context of the "brother kills brother" interpretation some bastards are so fond off, I wouldn't call THAT a "Both Sides are valid" scenario by a long fucking mile, yet here we are.

7) I think the best way to put it would be to set up the same scenario but make it realistic to the setting and shit.

Hank and Tony still support the Government because one is a Skrull Chaos Agent the other is misguided, Carol takes Reed's place in the Triad because Women can be War Criminals too (She was leading the equivalent of a child soldier program during Civil War so she is one already at least). Steve is also anti government because this is happening during the fucking BUSH ADMINISTRATION and he goes "When will Washington decide who the villains are?" Like he did in canon but in, like, a poignant moment.

Speaking of Reed he will keep his family neutral and go "I admit superheroing does need failsafes and some kind of oversight mind you, I just don't this this country's government has demonstrated their right to be that."

Let's not put the "Cap you are out of touch because you don't know what MySpace is" or "Luke every time I see a Sentinel that's like seeing a Burning Cross" rants in the story too because those were some raw shit.

Tony, again, lives in privilege, so it wouldn't exactly affect him, and is genuinely trying to do good, so we need to put him as the "Patsy" who gets duped by Skrull Hank Pym for it, the government is the one with the secret prison for Superheroes, Hank is the one recruiting Nazi Scientists and starting child soldier programs, clones Thor, sets up with the Government a Super Prison in the Ocean (can't use the negative zone without Reed), outside of US Jurisdiction so the government can ship then there with no trial and torture them. When Skrull Hank Pym is confronted for it, and the blame is attempted to be pinned on him and him alone, he goes "Are you earthlings daft or something? I did almost nothing, it was your government who did most of the work in their desire for security and safety, I just sped up the process for them, they would have done all of this with or without me."

Around the ending Tony finds out and is devastated and drops the whole thing."

When someone tries to comfort Tony over it because he didn't know any of this he goes "Oh, that's were you're wrong Peter. I knew. Deep down, I knew things weren't right, unjust, but I did nothing, because I could make things better from the inside, because it didn't affect me, because It would have been inconvenient to me to stop this. This is on me for passively accepting it as it is on the ones who enforced it." Which leads him to make amends, that way he is not as much of a awful character here.

The scene where The US kidnaps Ororo so they can strong arm Tchalla into getting registered happens but is treated as a international crisis as it deserves.

The Prison Break finale happens because Namor discovers the prison in HIS FUCKING DOMAIN and just goes ham on it with the help of the Anti Registration side, he drops a line like "I've seen shit like this before, I've seen what happens when man declares another man a criminal for things out of their control, for what they've been from birth, and I say NOT IN MY KINGDOM!" or some shit (He is a WWII veteran after all).

Since Steve isn't pummeling to the ground Tony in this scenario there isn't the dumb as fuck Everyday Heroes scene and he doesn't get shot by Sharon later on..

We have instead the scene from Secret Invasion where Skrull Hank Pym kills Steve (In SI it was Skrull Queen killing Janet Van Dyne) on national television, which leads to the anger of everyone involved who rush him, only for Tony to be the one who pull the trigger.

Tony is put in charge of SHIELD, which leads to Iron Reign (Dark Reign equivalent), and the story ends with him going "Let's see if things can reach change from the inside this time" as he actually reforms Shield from his position of power. The Registration Act becomes unpopular due to Steve's death and Alien Interferences, so that helps, and leads to actual protests in the streets after Namor reveals to the UN the war crimes the US is committing. It's a slow process, but is something.

OMD doesn't happen, The Peter storyline remains pretty much the same, but instead of Tony bragging about his private prisons for Superheroes in hell, it's the Punisher who shows up to him and reveals some troubling shit he discovered, Peter Confront Tony for it who dismisses it as fake news because he doesn't want to believe, Peter drops the registration side out of disgust, which then leads to the government sending villains after him rather than Tony. Tony is then seen strongly arguing with Maria Hill for this since Peter almost died from what he got from his suit readings (which he never hijacked or deactivated), but the Skrull Hank Pym shows up and supports Maria Hill for it, and Carol is busy with her child soldier program to comment.

May still gets shot and dies right as Peter and MJ discover MJ is pregnant with their second Daughter, which is ripe for lots of good stuff.

Maria Hill will therefore have to take even more of a role as a Government Plant and shit, but what's new.

Johnny Storm still gets hate crimed on but not by black people. Maybe confirm him as Bi while we're at it? You know, to get topical and all.

Ideally No More Mutants never happened so mutants are still a thing and most of them are vehemently anti registration. Emma Frost appears neutral at first glance, but ultimately she is playing the long game, secretly helping militant mutant groups and shielding the school from unwanted attention. She still has a restraining order filled for Tony Stark, she still points out to Carol how fucking dangerous a mutant life can be if outed via mind powers.

Can't think of much else for now, maybe Felicia helping MJ and May while they are in hiding? MJ is nauseous and all and she goes "must be the nerves" and Felicia agrees but May knows. This could lead to the polycule post May death since Felicia blames herself for it for not being fast enough, and MJ now is pregnant and scared and the Registration Act is getting repealed by the future is still glum and Peter is depressed so they all comfort each other and then 69 issues later we have a two parter maxi event where they face their fears and BANG we get the polycule.

Aunt May still poisons the Chameleon while he was posing as Peter. She actually actually poisons him rather then just drug him this time, because she knows of that one time he tried to force himself on MJ while posing as Peter which lead to MJ beating the shit out of him with a baseball bat, and May is a nice old lady but there are things she really can't stand you know?

Felicia and MJ help her hide the body. Peter never finds out.

And that's it?

[il0veyoujk]

New Girl

Welcome to my acc! This is my first ff and I hope you’ll like it!

Summary: Nefeli (20) is new in Seoul town and a young band called BTS are helping her. On a party-out night, the boys tho discover her guilty pleasure and next morning are using it against her in a playful way

Warnings: None

Notes: None

This is a tickle related ff, if you are not interested in it, please keep scrolling

Lots of love Nef 💕

“Ha bro, I told ya, this movie was sooo boring!” Jungkook exclaimed as he and his friends, Jimin, Namjoon, Jin, Taehyung, Hoseok, and Yoongi were sitting on their usual spot in the park.

The boys, well known as BTS, own a little unpopular band in Seoul. They do small shows at the local clubs just for their fun and when friends are coming around their place, they sing together to entertain them and they live all together since Jin turned 23, in 2015.

They all met at that exact same park years ago. Jimin and Taehyung had gone for a typical walk after a long school day, same for Hoseok and Namjoon who were studying at the same college. That park was Yoongi’s inspiration to write lyrics, so he was there to do his hobby. As for Jin, he had taken out his dog for a walk and Jungkook was waiting for a date that didn’t end up well.

Jimin had brought his guitar with him so he and his friend started singing ‘Stupid Love’ by Jason Derulo. Minute after minute the seven boys were singing together. One song, then another and another one, and another one until they had sung 12 songs together. And that’s how they met for the first time.

So now, seven years after their first met, the seven men were sitting again at the same bench and talking about everything and nothing and laughing like mad, which wasn’t rare when they were all together.

Just then a girl walked by. She was a girl around her 19s, with dark brown, curly, long hair. Her eyes were dark brown too and she was juicy… Her chubby cheeks were light red from the heat and 5.2 height was making her like she was 14 years old.

Her black – styled outfit caught the boys’ attention, as they were used to Korean girls wearing more colorful clothes, but she didn’t seem Korean. And also, the fact that she was looking around like she has amnesia and she couldn’t find herself made them more curious.

“She seems lost,” Namjoon noticed and that earned nods from his friends.

“Should we help her?” Jin asked which earned more nods. Yeah, for such a noisy boys, they were too quiet when it comes to girls.

“Um, excuse me, girl” Jimin said a little loud because he was away from her.

She turned her head and smiled softly at them as she came a little closer “Yeah?”

“You need some um… help? You seem lost” he asked her, returning the smile.

The girl looked around her and then back at the seven pair of eyes which were looking at her. The eyes were giving her the sense that the warmth of them was all around her.

“Yeah, I’m new to Seoul and I have no idea where am I or what to do” she explained.

Jungkook, Namjoon, and Taehyung let out some ‘ohs’ while the rest of them said nothing and just looked at each other.

“So, you’re looking for your house?” Jimin asked her again.

Their eyes widened as her answer which came out of her mouth was “Actually I don’t have a home yet”

The boys looked at each other, speechless. They had nothing to say. How’s even possible a girl was homeless and lives on the streets in a town like Seoul, it was too dangerous.

There was an awkward silence for some seconds before she spoke again, understood what they were thinking. “No no no, I’m not homeless” she laughed. “We exchanged houses with a girl from Korea, but she forgot to tell me where the house was, so I don’t know how to get there. She told me that she would text me the address, but she hasn’t yet, so I’m staying at a motel until she text me where to go”

The boys let sighs of relief as they heard that. They may meet her for the first time, but they were feeling bad for homeless people and they were always trying to help them.

“I’m Jimin and that’s my friends, Jin, Yoongi, Namjoon, Hoseok, Taehyung and Jungkook” he introduced themselves, pointing at each boy.

“I’m Nefeli” she said “My friends call me Nef tho” and smiled.

“You have a beautiful name” Jin said, which made her blush a little.

There was another awkward silence between the boys and Nefeli, so she decided to leave. “It was nice to meet you, thank you” and she made her way to go but she was stopped by a deep voice.

“Well, we can help you if you want” Taehyung suddenly said, earning looks from his friends and a surprised expression from the girl.

The boys were surprised too but then they changed into smiles and confidence. “Yeah, we can show you the town and help you get used to it” Jungkook explained happily.

Nefeli was seemed to be more surprised than she was before. She didn’t want to trust some random strangers, but she didn’t have a choice if she didn’t want to end up sleeping in the streets that night.

‘I can’t trust them, what if they are dangerous?’ she thought to herself. ‘But they seem so nice and they looked confused when I said that I don’t have a home’ she rethought. ‘Maybe I should trust them’

She kept staring at them lost in her thought when she understood that she hadn’t responded, and she was looking at them like she was from Mars.

“Um yeah, sure” she finally said. However, the boys sensed the fact that she was unsure about them. Her eyes could tell them. She just put a little smile on her face and then just sat there and waited awkwardly.

The boys really wanted to be polite to her, but they all knew they wouldn’t be more concentrated on her. They were just gonna help her but she wouldn’t their first priority at that time. They had wayyyy more important things to deal with, such as their job or colleges and their friends or family dramas.

As Nefeli’s eyes were traveling all around the place, they landed on a poster. She left from the spot she was standing to watch the details. The boys were watching her movements confused until they understood what this poster was about.

 “Oh, are they you?” she asked them curiously/surprised and they all chuckled.

“Yeah, tonight is our last appearance, wanna come?” Namjoon kindly asked.

Nefeli was a huge fan of music. Not just K-pop, she was listening to every genre of music. From pop to metal and from rap to classic music. The truth is that she had missed going to bars with friends and having fun. Her college was very demanding, and she had a lot of work to do every day, so she didn’t have time to go out and have fun. Now that her Erasmus made her come to Korea to finish her studies, she thought it was a good idea to have some fun. She was the only one who had high grades enough to go to an Erasmus. So, when she heard their invitation, she immediately thought it was a good idea to have some fun, even with some random guys she met just that day. And she wouldn’t be in danger because they wouldn’t be with her, she would watch them singing.

“Yeah sure, that’s a great idea!” she happily exclaimed. “What songs do you prefer?” she asked. She always wanted to know details about what she was about to watch and have planned the near future and her deeds. It was a part of her personality.

The boys chuckled. They weren’t the most popular band in Seoul, so they weren’t used to reply to questions about themselves and their program. So now that one girl asked about their show made them feel pleased and flattered.

“Well, the songs are ours and they’re pop. Me and Namjoon are writing the lyrics, Jimin is playing the guitar and Taehyung is playing the piano, while we are all singing” Yoongi explained. It was the first time Nefeli had ever heard Yoongi speaking. “However, I, Hoseok, and Namjoon are doing the rap parts”

“That’s amazing!” she said, a little louder. That caught boys’ attention, but not in a bothering way. They were more flattered than before; it was the first time someone was showing interest in their songs.

“Ugh… We should get going now, we have to practice” Jungkook sighed. The time was almost 20:00’ and they were only two hours left for their concert to begin.

“Jin and I have some time tho, we don’t have many lines today” Namjoon said “Let’s go for a coffee” he suggested.

Nefeli thought about it for some seconds. They were some guys she had met some minutes ago, in a city she was new to, and they were speaking a language she couldn’t understand.

However, the warmth of their eyes and their positive and pleasant aura confirmed her that they would not harm her and that she could trust them, so she nodded lightly. Yeah, that’s true. For someone who doesn’t trust people very easily and she’s afraid that they would hurt or abuse her, she trusts them very easily.

“Great” She was so excited to go for a coffee and eventually has some fun with friends, but now she was feeling weird. Like she didn’t belong with them. They were friends since… Well, since forever! And she was just a random girl they had met at the park some minutes ago, to who just showed pity and asked her if she was ok.

That was something that Nefeli hated most of all. People showing pity for her. It felt like people were talking to her because she was hopeless, and they were feeling sad about her life. It was like one time when her ex-boyfriend told her that he was staying with her because she didn’t have where to live, and he was feeling bad to leave her on the streets. Needless to say, that she broke up with him straight away. Fortunately, she found an apartment quickly, so she didn’t have to leave on a motel for too long.

But now it was different. She was feeling like a left-over piece of a puzzle. Like a coin between diamonds. Like a fly into milk. Her arms were folded in front of her chest and she was watching the boys chatting like she wasn’t there made Nefeli looking like an idiot. Her eyes were stuck to their backs and her pace was similar to theirs.

 Jin’s P.O.V

When I and my friends saw that girl, Nefeli, walking in the park, like she was an alien who came to Earth, we all thought we should help her. She seemed so… I don’t know… Out of this world.

When I noticed her black clothes, at first, I was confused. I’m not used to too many Korean girls wearing dark clothes. But she doesn’t seem to Korean. She’s wearing a black hoodie with a skull on it and black ripped jeans with black converse. I kinda like that outfit.

So Jimin decided to make the first move and asked her if she needed some help. It was the best choice. Namjoon wouldn’t know what to say like Taehyung and me, Yoongi never talks too much and that’s noticeable. And as for Jungkook, we all know how shy he gets when girls are around. I don’t know why Hoseok didn’t say anything, probably got shy too.

I was shocked when she told us that she didn’t have where to live, I don’t like people who live on the streets. I feel bad about them. Nefeli must have seen the sadness in our eyes when she said that because she fell a little bust, she covered that with giggles and explained the whole situation.

Gosh, those giggles were so cute, it reminds me of me and my brother when we were younger and he used to tickle me just too forced me to go and steal the cookie jar, then, when our mom would say that the cookies where gone, he would say that I ate them.

I’m so glad that Tae had the idea to help her and she accepted it. Usually, people wouldn’t have trusted some random guys they just met. She was about to leave when he suggested that to her.

And I’m really happy that she will come tonight to the club for our show. When she noticed the poster, I didn’t expect her to be so warm and interested in our little band. No one has ever been if I want to be realistic. Kids in our schools don’t give too much attention to us and it felt good that someone eventually did.

However, when Jungkook said we better should get going, Namjoon had a nice idea. We all saw that she was feeling still a little bit awkward with us. I don’t blame her; we’re some strangers in a completely new town who suddenly cared for her. So Joon said that I and he have some time free because we don’t have too much work or something like that and that we could go for a coffee.

The truth is that we have A LOT of work, but I didn’t want Nefeli thinks we’re some creepy boys who find random girls and just ask them questions. To be fair, I was surprised when she nodded.

Sometimes it’s like Joon and I have telepathy. He can guess what I’m thinking just by the look, so as I do with him. One day he had guessed that one of my sugar gliders was sick just by how I was looking at the TV. We don’t have the relationship Tae and Jimin have but we’re very good friends too.

Now we’re walking down the street tho, she’s not talking to us. Namjoon told me something about his ex-girlfriend to which I laughed a lot, but Nefeli didn’t seem to catch up. I don’t know what to do. She’s walking behind us with her arms folded and noiseless. I looked over Namjoon and mumbled a ‘do something’.

I know how she may feel. When I moved from Gwacheon to Seoul for my studies, no one was talking to me. When I finally found the company, they weren’t talking with me too much. Fortunately for me, I quickly took a step and started talking to them. But I was surrounded by boys my age. Unlike Nefeli, who’s surrounded by guys older than her.

 Normal P.O.N

Jin looked at Namjoon and mumbled a ‘do something’. They had sensed that she was feeling lonely and weird. But Namjoon had something on his mind.

“So Nef” she called her with her nickname hoping that would make her feel more comfortable. She looked up at them and smiled softly, didn’t want to show them how she felt alone. “We’re almost there. Let’s play a game while we’re on our way”

Nefeli sat near the window with Jin cornering her and Namjoon across her just when a nice little girl with short curly blonde her and two big hazel eyes got their order. Jin got a blueberry flavor tea, Namjoon an Americano, and Nefeli got a hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Namjoon had noticed the disappointment in her eyes when Jin announced that they were there, and they wouldn’t play the game so when their drinks arrived, he decided to just do that- “We can still play the game you know”

A little grin made his appearance on her face again while at Jin’s was confused. But that didn’t seem to bother him as he smiled too, and he was just waiting as impatient as the girl beside him for Namjoon’s decision.

“Let’s play 21 questions” he suggested which made Nefeli’s smile wider and Jin’s smirk appear. Nefeli like that game so much. She liked learning facts for other people. And also, it was a good time to learn things about those strangers.

‘Gosh, what am I doing? They’re complete strangers and I’m gonna play a game a have a chitty-chat with them!’ she thought to herself again. But that time the thought was a little faded. They had earned her trust and she didn’t know-how. She was just feeling safe with them for a weird reason.

“Okay Nef, you go first,” Jin said. His voice had something amused in his voice. Maybe it was the thing that they could know more about that mysterious girl who met just some hour ago at the park.

“Okay… Um… Fav song?” she asked not knowing how to start

“ME!” Jin answered quickly.

“Run with me,” Namjoon said too after he thought about it a little more and then asked, “Fav food?”

“Italian!” Nefeli exclaimed immediately, blushing a little.

The boys chuckled at her childish behavior and smiled at her “Lobster” Jin replied too and then proceeded to his first question.

“Biggest fear?”

“Elephants” Namjoon admitted not too loud, which earned Nefeli’s giggles as he playfully glared at her.

“Spiders” the girl said and now was the boys’ turn to giggle which made her glare at them just like Namjoon did.

The hour passed like that, with questions, giggles, and even some storytimes. The atmosphere was so light and nice. The guys turned out that they weren’t dangerous or that they wanted something from her, just like she thought. She had learned many things about them and some things for the rest of the guys too. Things like their most embarrassing moments, fav movies, first crushes, things about their families, and many more.

Just when she thought the game was over, Jin said that it was one question left and that he would ask it. He was thinking for a long time. He didn’t even look at Joon or Nefeli to concentrate more on his thoughts. Until it hit him-

“Biggest weakness?” he asked a mischievous smirk on his face, looking both at his friend and her.

“Um… I don’t know hyung… I don’t think I have one” Namjoon said, taking Nefeli by surprise.  ‘Everyone has one, he must have one too’ she thought and made the one thing she knew that would make him talk; she stared at him. Somewhen she read on the Internet that if you stare at someone who’s lying, that automatically makes him tell you the truth. And it worked. Soon Namjoon was looking at her and looking away immediately until he cracked.

“Okay, okay! Untidiness, satisfied?” he shot his arms up in surrender and leaned back on his chair. “Jeez kiddo, where did you learn to do that?!”

The pink line, which was on her cheeks by the heat, became clearer with the mention of the nickname. One of the things Nefeli really LOVED was nicknames. She was feeling nicknames are something special between her and her friends. Like something only, the two knew about and was important for their friendship. Especially when the nicknames were coming from her older friends.

Yes, Nefeli was feeling Jin and Namjoon, friends. They were the only ones from the group she knew well, and she was familiar with it. She laughed so hard that sometimes she was holding her belly of laughter. And she learned facts about the boys she couldn’t even think the boys were able to have done. Also, they shared with her stories of their lives. Childhood memories, teenage crushes, and adult adventures.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Jin’s voice who was looking impatiently at her, waiting for her answer. “Nefeli? What about you?” he asked her. ‘Oh my… I can’t say that! It’s weird’ she said to herself as the boys were looking at her and were waiting for her to answer.

“Uh um…” she opened her mouth to say something, but she hesitated to even though it was just a game.  

“C’mon Nef, it’s just a game,” Namjoon told her like he was reading her mind. “You don’t have to be embarrassed about anything”

And he was true. It wasn’t something she had to be embarrassed about, she just couldn’t realize that. The first time she told someone about it, it was her older cousin and after that, he couldn’t stop using it against her.

“Yeah Nef, everyone has one and that’s not bad. I’m sure it’s nothing you have to be insecure about” Jin comforted her. It was incredible how two boys she had met some hours ago, could give her the comfort she needed and read her like an open book.

“Well, it’s childish” she started to say. “So what?” the asked in unison. ‘Gosh, it’s just a game! Just say it already’ she pushed herself until she finally said it.

“I’m ticklish!” she admitted, immediately covering her face with her hands to hide her now tomato face.

The boys looked at her for some seconds before they chuckle and give her a comforting smile.

 Nefeli’s P.O.V

The boys were so sweet with me the whole time. I have a great time with them. Who knew that some random stranger would end up being some of the nicest people I’ve ever met? I don’t know about the rest of the boys, but these two are awesome! Namjoon even invited me to their concert tonight.

At first, when their friend, I think Jimin is his name, asked me if I was okay, I felt a little nervous and weird. I’m not that sociable and it was new for me people talking to me at the park. But their warm aura made me feel like I’m safe. Don’t ask me why! I don’t know either.

However, as we were walking down the street with Namjoon and Jin, I felt alone. They were talking and laughing together, while I was walking behind them, with my head down. I didn’t know what to do or say. Thank God, Namjoon is a clever guy and sensed how I was feeling so he suggested playing a game altogether. When Jin told us we were already there, I felt disappointed. I thought it was a good idea to get to know them better. Maybe the game was a good opportunity to see if they’re indeed dangerous and they wanted something from me, or they were just kind and gentle. But, instead of a rethink about the game, we just entered.

The café was so cute. There were also some posters of my fav band, Guns ‘n’ Roses. We sat at a sweet corner, beside the window, on a soft red velvet couch. I sat beside the window, Jin cornering me and Namjoon across me. An amazingly sweet girl came and got our orders. It was cold outside, and we just wanted something to warm our bodies.

So, when our drinks were on our table Namjoon told us that we could still play the game. He must want the same as I did. Probably.

So, he suggested one of my favorite games, ‘21 questions’. I always liked that game. I could learn facts for people and understand something more about their personalities.

I did the first question, even though I hesitate. I’m not the girl who would start the games so at first, I didn’t know what to say, but in two seconds I had said the first question that came to my mind.

The rest of the game was so nice. The boys told me so many stories and they made me laugh so hard. Jin told me about how his first date went when he poured a whole vinegar sauce on his girlfriend’s head as the waiter was passing by them and Jin accidentally kicked him. I laughed so much at it. Or when Namjoon had stuck his head under his bed because he was looking for his glasses which were on his head and he had forgotten about it. But the story I laughed at the most was one where they were all had gone to an amusement park and Hoseok, who’s afraid of heights, has stuck on the top of the wheel. He was screaming like me when I was five years old. I know that it wasn’t funny for him when he had to face his fear, but the story and the memory are.

However, when Jin asked about our biggest weakness I hadn’t had too much time to think as Namjoon spoke first and said he didn’t have one. I immediately knew he was lying. Everyone has one! So, I did the only thing I could think to make him spill it; I stared at him. Many years ago, I knew for a fact that one girl was lying to me about something. She had stolen twenty dollars from me, and I didn’t know how to prove it. I decided to make a research on Google until I finally found out that if you want to make someone who’s lying tell you the truth, all you must do is to stare at him. And it works every time! I finally got my twenty bucks back and I learned Namjoon’s weakness.

But soon it was my time to say my weakness. I really didn’t want to tho. It’s so embarrassing! The word itself makes me have so many butterflies in my stomach.

Since I told John about it, he tic… He does that to me every time! For love’s sake, he’s 42 years old! He got married this August and he still uses that when he wants me to do something and I don’t want to or when he’s just bored. And what’s the worst? I like it when he uses my weakness against me. Oh gosh… No one should ever learn about it! It’s too embarrassing and weird!

“Uh um…” I started but I closed my mouth immediately, realizing how weird it would sound. What if they wouldn’t want to spend time with me anymore? They were so sweet and caring with me. What if they thought it was creepy?

“C’mon Nef, it’s just a game, you don’t have to be embarrassed about anything” can Namjoon and Jin really read my mind? Because they comforted me for the exact same thing I was thinking about.

I was pushing myself and I was trying to make me sure that it wasn’t too weird and that I should not be embarrassed about it. And their eyes nailed on me, didn’t help the matter. It was like they were saying ‘Say it already!’. I was feeling like I’m under… Well, I don’t exactly know what, I was feeling stressed. And without even realizing it, I just said it out loud!

“I’m ticklish” as soon as these words left my mouth, I covered my whole face with my hands -at least I tried, my hands are super tiny!- to hide my now tomato face.

The boys chuckled and I looked up at him only to be met with two smirking boys, making me recovering my face. Even though they were trying to hide them, I could see them. I could never imagine them smirking at me. I met them one and a half hours ago! However, I liked it. I like people smirking at me. It hides something mysterious behind them and you can never know what’s hidden. And most of the time it’s not bad.

“Was that all?” Jin asked me to which I just nodded, behind my black sleeves, which I pulled high enough for them to reach the top of my fingers. If the skull on my hoodie could blush, it would.

“Cute” I heard Namjoon saying under his breath. Just then I felt some pokes on my sides. Jin! His fingers hit some of my most sensitive nerves, making me flinch so much that I would have fallen on the ground if I hadn’t had the table blocking me.

I backed in the corner of the couch and brought my legs up to my chest to block his devilish fingers as hysterically giggles were escaping my mouth unstoppably. I still can’t understand how he managed to hit my worst spot for the first time!

Namjoon took a ship of his coffee, wide smiling at the scene while Jin was laughing along with me as he was poking me all over my sides and tummy. Fortunately for me, the rest of the customers weren’t looking at us.

“JihihihiHIHIhin! Stohohohohop!”

“Leave the poor girl alone hyung” Namjoon finally saved my while I was trying to beat his hands away, successfully after Namjoon’s saving.  

“I like your weakness” Jin winked at me, making me blush one more time. I’m not the kind of person who blushes too easily, how did those guys managed to make me blush at least three times in one day? Well, it was kind of cute tho…

However, when I saw the clock on the wall I immediately turned to the boys and said “It’s 21:47” Jin and Namjoon jumped from their chairs, Namjoon ran to the barstool to pay for the drinks while Jin rushed outside the shop. I just sat there watching their super-speed like Flash had gotten into them in a cartoon program. I giggled as the two ‘animes’ made their moves in ten seconds. I tried to imagine them like real animes, and I tried my best not to burst put of laughing!

 Normal P.O.V

Nefeli snapped out of her thought when one hand landed on her shoulder, shaking her and pulling her to sit up. Namjoon. She looked up at her and grabbed her coat before she was pulled by a much stronger man outside to enter the car.

“I think I’ll walk until the club. I must learn the streets” she said right before she got inside. The boys looked at each other and then back at her. They were in a hurry, so their eyes were uneasy, and they were making quick moves.

“Nef get in the car” Joon insisted, making her more nervous and trapped in her thoughts. ‘If I got inside and they take me to a quiet place and do something?’ she thought. ‘I won’t get into the car, I’ll walk, nice opportunity for a nice, long walk’ and with that, she shook her head earning a look from both. However, they quickly sensed that, and they covered it with a warm smile and Jin told her “Okay, we’ll see you in some minutes, the address is…” she typed the address on her phone and saved it so she could ask the strangers if they could help her or the taxi driver she may take.

She looked at the car as it was running down the road fast, leaving some smoke behind it. That’s when she realized that they would be completely screwed up if they got late.

Nefeli let out a small smirk appear on her face and paced the exact way the car drove some seconds ago. Just then realization hit her. ‘Oh my gosh! It’s 21:50’!’ she yelled inside her mind and started running down the street. The boys would be very disappointed and sad if she didn’t show up. After all, they were so gentle and sweet with her that it would be at least rude not to go.

So, she did the only thing she could think at that time; she started looking for a taxi.

 Meanwhile

Jin and Joon had finally arrived at the club safe. When Jin is in hurry, his driving can be dangerous, and everyone knows that.

As they got inside, the audience was already waiting for the boys to start. They hadn’t seen too many people in place for their songs before. Even Namjoon, the tallest member, couldn’t see the stage properly.

The club was a huge, dark place, with low light. At the left there was a small stage, facing a large hall, filled with small and tall tables with two tall leather backless chairs. Behind that, there was a glassy bar, with a mirror from the right to left sides of the wall, with selves on it with the bottles of alcohol. The ceiling had all the lights for the shows and four huge black speakers. Also, colorful balloons and confetti were waiting for a great time to be released. The walls were leather with some marble details and gold corners.

They struggled to make it to the backstage (a little room behind the stage) to meet the rest of the boys, who all sighed in relief as soon as they saw their leader and the eldest member.

“Thank God you’re back! We start in like two minutes!” Jimin exclaimed, making the others nod while they were getting ready.  

Jimin was holding his guitar, ready to make his appearance on the stage, Taehyung was looking at his scores, Jungkook was drinking a water bottle and the rest of them were just sitting there enjoying the relax, before the big time’s arrival. They were all so nervous and yet so excited about their first ‘big’ show. Yoongi and Namjoon’s legs were shaking up and down.  

However, Jungkook was the first one who noticed that someone was missing as he popped his head from the door to see the audience and its amount.

“Where is she?” he asked a tone of sadness in his voice. Immediately all the eyes turned to Joon and Jin, looking at them quizzingly. They were waiting for her so much.

“She said that she will come by foot” the eldest explained, not looking at their bandmates while trying to fit the microphone in his pocket, God knows why.

Shock ran through them as soon as they heard that. They weren’t expecting that, partly because Nefeli didn’t know the town and partly because the boys thought she was trusting them.

Hoseok opened his mouth to complain but a guy from the club shut him when he came in to announce to them that it’s time and that they must come on the stage. “C’mon guys, it’s time, the audience will eat us alive if you don’t come up there anytime soon” earning nods from the small band.

As soon as they got out, on the stage, cheers and applause filled the room. Colorful lights fell on the boys as soon as they got on stage. A glossy piano was on the edge, and a base for guitar as well as a base for scores. From up there, the band could see all the people. It was an amazing experience!

“Hello guys, were BTS!” Namjoon started explaining and introducing the group. “Me and my bandmates are gonna entertain you for tonight! We hope you’ll have a great time!” the boys took their places. “Our first song is called ‘Run’” he announced before they start their show.

Time was passing so quickly and the band was getting more flattered. All that love was unprecedented. The lights were on them and blue, pink, and green lasers were playing with the dancing figures under the stage.

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

It had passed an hour and more and the girl hadn’t shown up yet. Namjoon, Yoongi, Jin, and Jimin had lost their hope to see her again, in contrast with the rest of the members who were still waiting.

However, they didn’t let that eat them alive. They had better things to do at those moments. Let’s face it, she was just a girl they had met in a random place who just seemed lost. If they weren’t so carrying, they wouldn’t even discuss about talking to her. They may be waiting for her and be disappointed when they didn’t see her, but their show was their number one priority.

Now, the boys had sung more than half of the songs they had prepared for tonight's show. And they were so energetic that they were jumping and dancing like maniacs all night long.

“Say what! Jjeoreo Jjeoreo Jjeoreo!” Jungkook finished his part as well as the song. Cheers, clapping hands, screams from little girls, and people were screaming for more, as the band’s faces were something more than excited and thankful. Their hard work was finally recognized and appreciated.

“Saranghae-ah!” Hoseok shouted from the microphone and the audience went mad. It was by far their best concert and they were feeling blessed.

As they were ready to start their next song, Yoongi and Taehyung noticed a familiar figure in the audience looking at them with a soft smile. Nefeli. She finally made it and now she was sitting there, on the bar, watching them and having fun.

Yoongi grabbed the microphone before Jin could take it “We have a very special person here with us tonight” he announced, earning everyone's attention. However, the rest of the boys immediately realized who he was talking about and they made sure to wear their biggest, gummiest and sweetest grin they could.

“Give us your warmest cheer for our friend, Nefeli” he exclaimed. In a flash of light people were screaming, whistling loudly, and clapping just for her.

It felt so… Sweet. Never someone had done this for her and she felt like she was special. In her life, people aren’t giving her compliments or talking and treating her so kindly and making her blush so hard. She was so flattered and red that she was feeling like she would explode from all the blood that was in her heart at that moment.

The smiles and the grins on their faces could tell they were happy she was there. Suddenly it felt like she was their first priority. It was so kind she made it and came to their concert. They were sad but at the same time so concentrated on their work, but now they were relieved.

“Our next song is dedicated to her and it’s called ‘Euphoria’” Jimin cut his words, gaining a glare from Yoongi and some chuckles from Jungkook and Hoseok.

The song was so nice! Its lyrics were sweet and so emotional (in a good way) she thought she would break out with tiny, crystal tears. As the song was going on, the girls were all amused and you could see hearts flying above their heads for the seven young singers.

The hours were passing so pleasurable. It turned out that the boys were so talented and their songs were very good. Nefeli liked a song called ‘Run’ the most. It was obvious that she liked that so much tho. She was moving with the rhythm and she learned the refrain for the first time, even if she couldn’t understand the language. It was a heart-touching song it was clear.

Now it was 01:02’ and the program had finally come to an end. More people had come and now the place was more crowded than before. The boys were in the backstage and Nefeli was outside the club. She was freezing cold but she could handle it.

It was the first time she had so much fun in months! Her college had swallowed her and the lessons were tough. Music was her favorite thing in the whole wide universe, so it was like she was in Heaven. Live Pop music in a nice club, just paradise.

‘Why didn’t I bring a coat with me? Jeez, the weather here is so cold’ she mentally complained, hugging herself. And she was right. The nights in Seoul are too cold in December and Nefeli wasn’t prepared for it.

Just as she was thinking that a tap on her spine makes her flinch and let out one single giggle before turning around to see the seven singers. They were dressing in heavy clothes, their faces were sweaty and their hair was messy. Their breaths were coming out like smoke as they were mixed with the cold air and Jungkook and Jin were wearing skull caps. The boys were exhausted and Nefeli could sense that, however, they were super happy about their success and they were smiling like crazy, from ear to ear.

“Wow, guys that was perfect! Congrats! You’re very talented!” she exclaimed, couldn’t wipe the excitement off of her face, making boys’ smiles grew and let out some chuckles.

“Thank you, Nef! Where were you? We were looking for you” Jin asked too happily, gosh knows why.

“I was here, I was waiting for you to come here and congrats you to go f-” She couldn’t finish her sentence due to Jimin pulling her with them back inside. “No no no no, you’re not going anywhere!” he said.

Nefeli started getting anxious. Jimin was pulling her with them, inside a bar, not knowing why. After all, she wasn’t knowing them too well. Sh4e was so confused. ‘Why do they insist so much? I came here, watched them, had fun… What do they want now?!’ she asked herself, so she stopped.

“No!” she shouted, gaining weird and confusing looks from the boys, and some strangers. “I-I’m just tired, I wanna go to a motel for some rest,” she said, realizing she had snapped out. She didn’t want to be rude, just defend herself, and make sure she was safe.

“It’s okay, we understand... We just wanted to have some fun with you and get to know you better, like Jin and Joon” Yoongi explained, making the boys nod in agreement. However, their face dropped to the ground. “So, that means we have to say bye” Taehyung continued looking sad in his eyes which were screaming tiredness too. “It was so nice to meet you, we hope we’ll see you again sometime!” Namjoon gave a warm smile and waved at her like the others before they turned their backs to get back inside.

She immediately felt bad. They were all so kind and sweet to her and they helped her feel so comfortable. And how she returns the favor? She lies to them, confuses them, and disappoints them. She didn’t like disappointing people. Seeing them sad, was making her sad too. Especially when she was the cause of their sadness.

“Wait!” she yelled, walking up to the boys, making them stop their way. “I’ll come with you” she smiled. Jungkook and Hoseok pulled them inside happily, and the rest of the band followed them, satisfied with the way things turned out.

The place was more grounded than before and the bar was full. Music was all around and some couples were making out too. There was a barman behind the bar who was purring vodka in shots.

“One round of eight” Jungkook ordered immediately.

“It was so nice coming with us after all” Namjoon said, side hugging her. That caught Nefeli by surprise. But hugged him back anyways. Cuddles and hugs are her number one favorite thing in this universe.

“I’ll just have only one, I don’t like alcohol,” Nefeli said as her chubby cheek was pressed on Tae’s torso, afraid of being drunk, gaining some chuckles and giggles from the band.

“As you wish, girly” Hoseok joked, making her smile widely and blush at the nickname.

“Here we are,” Jungkook said excitedly, bringing the shots with him, making the rest of them cheer, along with the young girl.

“Okay on count on three,” Jin said as everyone was holding his glass. “Oneeeee” he started counting “Twooooo” he continued, everyone ready to drink “Three!” he yelled and drunk and laughed.

“More more more more!” Yoongi commended, hitting his glass on the table they were at, everyone nodding in agreement, except Nefeli.

“Oh c’mon Nef… Just one more!” Jimin pleaded while the six others were giving her puppy dog eyes. She giggles too at the boys’ childless. She didn’t want to destroy the atmosphere tho, so she finally agreed “Fiiiiiiiine, but only one!” she said, holding the new glass of vodka.

 One shot became two

 Two became three

 Three became five

 Five became eight

 Eight became twelve

 And soon she was drunk!! Just what she didn’t want to.

She was dancing and laughing with nothing, just by herself. And she was saying incomprehensible things. Alcohol had a bad effect on her, after all, she wasn’t used to drinking.

The seven singers had noticed that and they were trying to stop her, unsuccessfully. At first, they were laughing at her deeds, but then, when things started getting worse, they were trying her best to calm her down. Everyone was expecting Yoongi to drink too much, but no! It was her.

“Slow down girl, you’re gonna pass out!” Jimin tried to grab the glass of her hand, but it was useless. She had an iron grip on it.

“Noooo I’m *hic* okayyyy, look!” she dragged out the words, before she made a turn, around herself. However, she fell onto Namjoon, bursting out in laughter, only she knows why. Fortunately for her, Namjoon was quick and he caught her before she could reach the floor, face down.

The leader looked at his friends like he was saying ‘we should do something’ and they all agreed while her giggles were hitting their ears, still on Joon’s arms.

“I think we should get going” Jimin announced to the girl out of blue after his mental conversation with the band.

She shook her head furiously, her mood changing immediately and she was really close to tears now. “Noooo, I don’t wannaaaaa goo” she complained, giving them her best puppy dog eyes. She hugged the table, refusing to let it. Jin took a step closer to her and tried to wrap his arms around her waist to pull her.

As he did that she did something unexpected; she flinched away and giggled harder, making the boys look at her confused.

“Hehey! Stohohop!” she yelled, glaring both smiling at the eldest. Jin and Joon just chuckled, realizing what the girl was talking about in contrast with the five who seemed to be more confused than before. “You know I’m deadly ticklish!” she continued, bringing grins to their faces as soon as she said that. It was clear that she couldn’t understand who she was talking to so she kept going “You know, I actually love when people making me laugh with that! It’s super fun!” they all awed at her confession.

“Oh really? Whyyyyyy?” Jungkook played with her drunk self. “Because I like laughing and when they tickle me I laugh and it’s so nice to laugh and I like it and it’s good and my mind goes whoooooo and I don’t think of anything bad and sad” she laughed so much at herself, making the band laugh along with her.

Suddenly her expression changed and became serious “But don’t tell the boys! It’s too embarrassing!” the boys laughed and all nodded in agreement. “Sure, girl” Taehyung joked around.

All of sudden, she started looking around like she was in the space and she could walk properly. Her arms were reaching whatever they could and her head was too dizzy. She was feeling her stomach spinning right round like a washing machine and her legs couldn’t stand her anymore. Her mouth was numb and her breath was sharp.

“What’s happening?!” asked Jin worried, trying to catch her arms.

“She’s just too drunk” Yoongi explained, having been in her position too many times so he knew what she was doing and how she was feeling. “Just give her some seconds”

Jin, Hoseok, and Jimin were trying to hold her now still, Jungkook, Namjoon, and Taehyung was trying to make space for them and watch their moves so that they could help if it was needed and Yoongi was just sitting there doing nothing but watch. “Some seconds to what?” asked a very worried Hoseok. “I don’t feel well…” Nefeli said out of blue, getting them all by surprise. “Oh Jinnie I didn’t know you had a twin brother, neither for you shortie” Jimin’s jaw dropped while the others were trying to hold back their laughter unsuccessfully. “I think- I think I need to-” she started.

“3, 2, 1…” Yoongi counted under his breath. And then BLACK. She fell onto the floor, making everyone in the building look in their direction.

The band was shocked! Was it a good idea to invite her with them? What were they going to do with her? Was that their fault? They were the ones who were insisted on more shots and yet they were the only ones who were not drunk. Guilt was filling them, and at the same time, the boys didn’t know what to do.

The crowd had circled the eight young adults, watching the scene. However, no one made a move to help the poor singers. A glare from Yoongi tho, made all the people look away and follow separate ways in the club, holding their drinks.

“I think we should keep her home” Namjoon finally said. He may be the clumsiest, but his ideas were always the bests and the boys were following each and every word he was saying.

Jungkook picked her bridal style, letting her long curly hair fall behind his arm, leading to the car. Hoseok left some money on the table and followed him, as the other five members were already in the car. Namjoon was at the driver’s seat, next to Yoongi. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jin were behind them and Jungkook, Hoseok, and the girl would be sitting in the third seat.

Jungkook set her on the seat and Namjoon start the car. Yoongi was used to drunk people, but Jin, Jungkook, Taehyung, Jimin, Hoseok, and Namjoon weren’t.

They were all super silent during the ride and their thoughts were complicated. How did they managed to get under their protection a random girl? Even if that protection is for only one night. Yes, they were insisting to meet her and know her better, but they could never imagine things turning like that. But they were feeling guiltier than under pressure.

As they parked at the parking lot and got inside, they decided to let her sleep on the couch. They all needed a good rest so as Nefeli. And their couch was huge, in contrast with her who was too short.

Hoseok grabbed a duvet for her. The house was too cold. Jungkook, who was holding her bridal style once more, set her on the sofa softly and Jimin covered her tiny body with the duvet, before they all headed to their rooms, saying goodnight whispery.

   “Ughhh, my heeaad…!!” Nefeli complained as she opened her eyes. The boys were already awake and chitty chatting in the dining room when they all turned their heads towards her.

Her head felt like someone was hitting it with a hammer, her eyes were red and puffy, and her stomach was spinning right round. Her hair was a mess, she couldn’t feel her legs and she was still wearing the same clothes she was wearing the day before.

As the eyes scanned the room, she immediately understood she wasn’t at the motel she was staying at and shoot up from where she was laying. Well… She tried to… She fell back on the couch, realizing she was too dizzy to stand up.

As soon as she noticed the boys tho, she got panicked, getting she was at some strangers’ house, not knowing why. “Why am I here?” she asked, a little harshly for her normal talking”

“Good morning to you too Nef,” Tae said, making her feel bad straight away. However, she still needed some answers so replaced that feeling with anxiety.

The seven were all sitting there, watching her moves, which made her feel awkward and yet more nervous. Yoongi wasn’t smiling too much to her, when was he? And as for the rest of them, they were all giving Nefeli some warm smiles, which made the young girl return the smile.

“You were too drunk to let you go just like that, so we decided to bring you here” Namjoon kindly explained. That didn’t help the matter…

However, Hoseok was more awake than his leader so he caught what she was thinking. “You can leave whenever you want, you’re not forcing you to stay forever” he chuckled to lighten up the mood and gained some surprised yet weird looks.

“I think that’s obvious” Jimin spoke up. Nefeli just nodded.

As soon as Nefeli heard these sentences, she felt guilt rising inside her. These boys took care of her when she couldn’t take care of herself, and then she got scared of them. How could she think like that? It wasn’t fair for what they did for her. However she didn’t let those feelings showed up on her face, she didn’t want the seven men watching her like that.

There was a comfortable silence as Nefeli leaned again at the couch, watching the room better, noticing it was decorated both cutely and boyish. It was a brown-pastel color, with a wooden floor, and a fan on the ceiling, at the same color. The kitchen, the living room, and the dining room were one and behind the table, there was a huge glazing. The apartment wasn’t too big, but she could see ten doors. Maybe eight bedrooms and two bathrooms. ‘How did they managed to fit all them in such a small house’ she thought.

The smell of fresh coffee hit her nose which made her broke out of her thoughts. Jin had prepared a mug for her and set it on the table where they were all sitting. It was a nice smell. She traveled her back in time when she and her mum were sitting on their balcony, Nefeli drinking chamomile and her mum coffee.

She made a last effort to stand up and walk but failed one more time. “Ughhh” she complained, holding her head, earning some chuckles from the boys.

“Wanna come help?” Namjoon asked kindly, offering a hand to help her stand up and she happily accepted it. He passed an arm around her back and with his free hand he held her arm and lightly pulled her on, walking her to the table and sitting her between him and Jin, in front of her mug.

“How was your sleep, baby girl?” Hoseok questioned her. ‘Babygirl? Am I still drunk’ she asked herself, hearing the nickname. ‘It was cute tho’ she felt a little more comfortable, so she nodded and gave a soft smile.

“Thank you so much,” Nefeli said before she took a sip of her coffee, feeling better straight away. However, they all seemed confused about what she said. “About what?” Jimin asked her. “About bringing me in and taking care of me when I wasn’t able to do it for me” being shy she was, she didn’t dare to look at them.

“No need to thank us,” Yoongi said, smiling at her too. Just then a box of painkillers inside a huge hand appeared in front of her mug.

“Those should do for your headache” Taehyung assured the young girl, placing the box and a glass of water beside the dirty pink mug full of sweet coffee. She thanked him and opened the box to take the magic pill which will solve her problem.

She swallowed the water with the painkiller and felt immediately better. The hammer stopped and the washing machine in her stomach was spinning softer.

“Sooo” Jungkook started. “Wanna stay for lunch?” he suggested. Now all the eyes were on her. But instead of feeling comfortable, she nodded straight away. She wanted to spend some more time with them. After all, they had proved that they are not dangerous and that they were kind and friendly, so why not? Also, she wanted to thank them for all the care they showed towards her.

“Of course!” she exclaimed “I’ll cook,” she said, a little too loud, which made her grab her head in pain and the boys grin.

“I’ll do it for you. You’re in our house and we must make you feel comfortable” Jin disagreed. “I’ll help you tho!” she made sure her tone was both imposing and sweet, so they won’t feel bad.

“Okay, so get up!” the eldest playfully commended, banging his hand on the table, making her groan in pain as her head felt like it had just been hit by a bell. “Jiiiin!” she complained, the boy immediately apologizing and pulling her. “C’mon, it’s 13:30’ already!”

“What?!” she exclaimed, still holding her head, turning it to look at the clock on the wall. “Okay fiiiiiine” she stood up, tiredly, following Jin in the kitchen, some steps away.

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

Half an hour had passed and the apartment was all filled with a delicious smell of Korean fried chicken and some fried rice tingling in everyone’s nose.

Laughter was all around the living room as the eight young teenagers were sitting on the couch, chatting, while eating what Jin and Nef had cooked in the kitchen. It turned out that the young girl was a fast learner when it comes to cooking.

“Last night was so good! And your songs are super amazing!” she said out of blue. The singers all grinned, satisfied with her having fun with them. At first, they thought she wouldn’t even show up at the club. Even though they didn’t care so must at all when they invited her, they lit up when they saw her.

Their songs were all written by them and the majority of them were written a long time ago. Due to their colleges, studies, and works, they were able to write too rarely, either lyrics or music.

“It was our pleasure” Jimin smiled at her.

“Did I do or say something too weird?” she innocently asked. Only if she knew… They looked at each other not knowing what to say. If they told her the truth, they would make her feel uncomfortable one more time. But it was her right to know what she did last night. It wasn’t too loyal of them to hide it. Jin and Namjoon were in the worst position tho. There were the first ones who learned about it and they promised her not to say anything to anyone.

“So?” she insisted, waiting for an answer impatiently. She immediately understood something was wrong and that she indeed had done something embarrassing.

“You were just too happy and you were dancing and laughing alone” Hoseok tried not to bring her in a bad mental position, bringing fun and nice memories to all of them and making all chuckle. Except of course the poor girl who was too drunk to remember a single thing.

“That’s so embarrassing…” she smiled nervously, pulling her long, black, sleeves to her fingertips and hiding her face with them.

Suddenly, a nice noise echoed in the room. She lifted her head and saw a nice, wooden guitar on Jimin’s lap. The melody tho was too familiar. It was a heart-melting song, which we're bringing images of her teenage life when she had had a hard time. Images of her idol, one of the biggest guitarists of all the time who owned that specific song with his band, images of her and her best friend singing that song, images of her group of friends doing their stuff in public without giving a damn about what people say or think about them, images from an age that passed irrevocably. Until those thoughts were cut off of the first lyric.

She's got a smile that it seems to me, Reminds me of childhood memories…

Jimin’s voice was ringing in her ears like paradise. She hadn’t had listened to that song for a long time and now it felt like she was a teenager again, with all those amazing memories and moments being brought back to life in the most amazing way!

And soon, when Jin, Jungkook, and Taehyung added their voices it was even better!

I’d hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain…

She was moving with the rhythm, humming the melody. Namjoon, Yoongi was sitting on the couch taking videos of the moment, smiling, while Hoseok decided to join the singing club.

And that’s how their day passed. With songs, jokes, and laughter. Sitting on the couch, talking about everything and nothing, with small breaks for some singing.

Now, Nefeli was lying, her back against Jungkook’s side, thinking about what she would do and listening to the boys’ chat.

‘I think I should get going’ it was the first thing that came to her mind. She didn’t want to bother them… ‘But I’m having fun… Plus I don’t know how to get to the motel…’ Nefeli changed her mind.

However, what made her break out of her imagination was a simple poke on her ribs.

She flinched and squirm around, only to see Jungkook lightly smirking at her, not showing his (A/N cute) bunny teeth.

“What?” she asked the grinning boy. What she got as a reply? Another poke. She squirmed, even more, not knowing what Jungkook was trying to do. “What are you doing?” Now all the eyes were on them. The boys caught were their youngest friend was doing. Jin and Namjoon glared at him, Hoseok was grinning widely, Yoongi was just watching (everyone could see a hint of amusing in his eyes tho…) and Jimin and Taehyung were smiling fondly.

Nefeli knew them for only some hours but yet she was feeling close with them. That was a part of her character, when people were treating her like a piece of glass and sweetly, they had automatically win her and her heart.  And that happened with those seven; they had won the girl. She was feeling close and she could be herself with them. Playful, sad, happy… Whatever she felt…

“You woke the toddler inside him, kiddo” Namjoon noticed mockingly, earning some wider grins and smiles from his bandmates and a giggle from her.

Now, Jungkook was slowly putting her in a playful mood. Even if she didn’t know that they knew about her ‘guilty pleasure’, she wished deep inside they could tickle her.

“I’m not doing anything!” the bunny-tooth boy said innocently, jabbing her some more, making her back away, a stupid grin on her face as she was trying to swallow her giggles.

No one made a move to help her, enjoying the fun scene. As she was backing away, Jungkook following her movements, she reached the arm of the couch. Her playful mood was 126% on, like the boys’ mood. So she did the only thing she could; she got up and ran, followed by Jungkook.

“Get her!” the young singer yelled to his friends, and they did as he said. Unfortunately for her, she passed by Taehyung, who grabbed her legs and throw her over his shoulder with ease. Leading her back to the couch, she begs for letting her go mixed with her giggles were all around the room, making the boys laugh under their breaths.

Nefeli slapped his back multiple times, trying to get him to put her down, which did literally nothing. She was hanging over his shoulder, giggling her heart off. Taehyung lay her on the couch, pinning her arms above her head with only one hand, everyone circling the pair. Hoseok was facing her feet, Namjoon and Yoongi her knees and thighs, the Jin and Jungkook her sides and ribs, Jimin her neck and Tae her armpits.

The only thing which was escaping her mouth was a waterfall of small shyly giggles and some small breaths in-between them. She knew what they were up to, she didn’t know why, but she was enjoying every second of it. She didn’t want to admit it tho as she still wasn’t aware that they knew about her little secret.

“Look at you, all red” Tae teased, poking her armpit, making her flinch and laugh harder, the band laugh along with her. Soon enough, her laugh grew an octave when Taehyung dragged zillions of times his finger from her elbow to her armpit, its speed getting faster by every second, which drove her insane.

As things couldn’t get any worse, some pokes were added on her sides by Jungkook on the left and Jin on the left; one of her two worst spots. “Aaaha” she screamed as a reflex, making the guys smirk wider. “Soft spot?” teased Namjoon who was now digging under her knees, making Nefeli kick her legs.

However, when Taehyung decided to sit on her arms she was unable to move an inch. Electric shots run up her body when she felt someone play with the very middle of her sole. Hoseok. “Nohohohohoho” she giggled, trying to get free, which turned out it wasn’t easy. That was until Yoongi and Jimin decided they wanted to join the fun with Yoongi squeezing her thighs and Jimin fluttering his fingers around her neck, satisfied when he found a sensitive spot on the crook of her neck. “PLEAHAHAHSE!” she pleaded, as she was attacked to all her sensitive body.

Jin out of blue sat on her waist, smirking down at her as he bends down on her ribs’ level. Scribbling all over them Jin brought to the surface some of her loudest laughs and shrieks he could. “JIHIHIHIHIN NOOOHOHO” she yelled as his finger slipped in a space between her lowest and second-lowest rib.

“Hey, do you remember that song… How was it going…?” Hoseok innocently asked, playing with her toes like piano, earing some childish-like giggles from her. “HOSEOHOHOK!” she cried, wiggling her toes like crazy, trying to stop the torturous fingers. “Aish, this piano is so noisy!” the rapper teased, not stopping his assault.

Jungkook, that evil little boy, was now pinching her sides with his thumb and index finger, as squeaks were leaving her mouth every time, mixed with the hard laugh from the rest tickling. “One for me” he said pinching near her hips, earning a squeal. “One for Jinnieeee” he continued, pinching near her ribs, the squeals getting louder. “One for Yoongiiii” he sank, pinching in the middle of her sides, making her scream more than before. The young boys knew he had hit the jackpot with that spot, so he just continued with the pinches and clawing there, while he was counting all the members, five times each of them. “JUNGKOOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA!”

They had get her for sure and were rough from the start. That didn’t seem to annoy her tho. She was enjoying it so much. She had some centuries to laugh like that and she needed it.

“Oh-huh… Looks like someone’s afraid of crabs!” he said, as his friends laughed at his comment.

Just then Jimin had the most evil but at the same time a good idea he could think. “Hey Nef you like raspberries?” he asked innocently. Her eyes would widen if they could, as he bent down and nuzzled his nose in her neck. “No no no no nooOOHOHO JIMIHIHIN!” her laughs were all around the room. Smiles were growing bigger on their faces as they were watching the girl smile and laugh like that. It was so nice making sure they weren’t scaring her. If they wanted to be honest, they were into tickling too, just like her. However, only those seven men knew about each other’s guilty pleasure and they were only using it on each other too. They didn’t know if people were okay with that. But when they found out about Nef thinking the same about it, they knew they were gonna give a try. And they didn’t regret that…

“Oh no, look two spiders!” the eldest mocked, pointing at his fingers. “They’re coming towards your belly, they spiders are gonna get ya!” he played with the laughing girl underneath him. When the spiders- sorry, fingers, came in contact with her skin, they run wherever they could. “STOOHOHOHAHAHAHP!” she pleaded with watering eyes, trying to shake her head from side to side, unable to do it tho, due to Jimin’s head blowing raspberries and nuzzling at the crook of her neck.

Namjoon’s fingers were squeezing her kneecaps with difficulty. Nef was jerking and kicking her legs so much that he couldn’t even catch them at times. So he decided to go back behind her knees, but this time he had something in his mind. He got out of his pocket a big feather and dragged it at the spot, making the poor girl arch her back. Jin then got the opportunity to blow a raspberry on her ribs, and Nefeli collapsing her torso back to the couch and wiggling. “Ah, a lil worm is trying to escape!” the eldest mocked, his hot breath tickling her ribs more.

Yoongi tho, who had sat on her too, had a hard time with her thighs. As she wasn’t too sensitive there, the rapper couldn’t find a nice spot on them. However, when he reached her inner thighs, he knew he had a sweet spot to play for a looooong time. He was scratching and pinching and digging there, making the girl underneath them rocking her hips and laughing harder and harder.

“NOHOHOHAHAHAHA!” she couldn’t do much more than wiggle her torso and arch her back. She was starting to get exhausted and no one could blame her for that. They were in that position for only 15 mins but still, it was like hell. Well… In a good way.

The tears had no stop on her eyes and the smile on her face wasn’t leaving its place. It couldn’t anyways. The tickling was never something she could resist and her ticklishness wasn’t something she could hide from anyone. And she thought she could take it more until-

“NOOOOHOHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT THAHAHAHAHAHAT!” she must have woken up the dead people from their graves with her scream when a hairbrush simply touched her sole. Immediately all the tickles stopped and the eyes were on her panting self. Nefeli’s breathing was heavy and her cheeks were redder than a cherry. Her eyes closed and she wasn’t moving.

“Are you okay sweetheart? Did we go too harsh?” asked a very worried Jimin. He was feeling bad and could say that the rest of them too. They never wanted to scare her or make her uncomfortable with them.

“Nohoho I’m *cough* good. I just haven’t experiehehence something like thahat before and I was surprihihised by the hairbrush” she giggled when she calmed down, ghost tickles still on her body. Relief formed on everyone’s faces and some sighs could be heard around the exhausted girl.

“We’re sorry Nef,” Jungkook said, rubbing her palm with his thumb, helping her relax.

“Yeah, we know you like it so-” Taehyung started but when all the eyes -including Nef’s- fell on him he stopped, aware of the stupid move he had just done.

Nefeli’s eyes widened and if her face could turn redder, it would do. The secret was out and no one could do something about that. She glared at Namjoon and Jin who shot their hands up in surrender saying in unison “It wasn’t us!”

“Then?” she asked, folding her arms in front of her chest as she sat up. She was feeling so embarrassed and now distant towards them.

“Y-Yesterday, when you were drunk you told us about that and no one managed to stop you” Namjoon explained, looking down. “Also we like it too and we thought it would be a nice way to break the ice” Yoongi continued. Nefeli had nothing to say. She was just blushing more and more and a shy grin appeared on her face.

“We’re sorry, we thought you’ll like it… If you wanna go then you can, we didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable” Hoseok apologized and everyone started backing away and sitting up from the couch.

‘Nononononononoo’ Nef mentally cursed herself for letting that happen. She didn’t want that, she wanted more fun. She wanted more time with them. She wanted more laughter. She wanted more… “Um…” she started and the boys turned their heads at her. However, she was just too shy to ask. Just the idea of the word was making her flustered, red, and… A strange knot was making its appearance every time in her stomach. Her smile would turn shyly and her eyes would shine and not even dare to look at something else than her feet. “Yeah?”

“I-It’s um…” Nefeli started, not knowing how to tho. The band circled and towered her, looking at her with wide eyes, waiting for an answer. She took a deep breath and finally said “It was okay, it um… I didn’t feel uncomfortable…”

All the faces lit up and relief filled everyone’s heart. They smiled at the shy girl in front of them, Jin sitting beside her. The eldest threw his arm around her body and hugged her. The hug was warm and calming, making Nefeli melt in it and hug him back.

“So? We can continue?” Jungkook broke the nice moment, making the hugging duo look up at him and the girl flush redder. With all her might she brought her body closer to the young many next to her and lightly nodded “B-But n-not all together…” the words escaped her mouth like a river, surprising everyone.

They discussed with their eyes, confusing her. Hoseok and Jungkook took a step towards the girl after that and Jin lied her down, leaving her with the two boys. The youngest sat on her waist pinning her arms above her head with one hand, her childish-like giggles filling the room, the boys smirked. Hoseok sat again where he was, facing her feet. She was feeling nice with the whole situation and she was giggling like a toddler from anticipation.

“Now you have calmed down I think I shall continue what I started,” Hoseok said before he scribbled the hairbrush all over her soles, bringing a whole new waterfall of hysterical laughter to the surface. “NOHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” A huge grin appeared on everyone’s face and they all get comfortable, enjoying the view of the laughing girl. He, OF COURSE, had to start with one of her two worsts spots…

“That must tickle a lot” teased Jimin, making the things much worse for Nef. One thing the young girl hated (OBVIOUSLY loved) was being teased. She didn’t know why but she did and it was always nice and fun.

The boy continued his assault, not caring if he was currently tickling a screaming girl. Jungkook was still sitting on her, looking at her red face, as she was frantically shaking her head from side to side. Her curls were moving with her head, becoming messier.

“Aww… Is our poor girl too ticklish to stand a lil hairbrush?” Hoseok scribbled faster the thing on her feet. “Ow ow ow ow!” she yelled, the scribbling becoming softer. “Sorry baby girl” if she could smile more, she would to the nickname.

Just then, the younger singer pulled up her hoodie and bent down near her face. “I wanna eat some ribs, how many can you gimme?” he smirked, immediately bringing his fingers in the first pair of ribs, rubbing his index ones on the bones. Nefeli arched her back, feeling her nerves shake in her body. “Oneeeee… Twooooo… Threeeee…” he counted, slowly and torturous, still rubbing the bones back and forth. The next number, the next bone. Losing the turn now and then, starting from the beginning, driving Nef crazy.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” the hysterics were poured out of her mouth without stopping. Taehyung, Jin, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jimin were watching amused from the other corner of the room.

“Aaaand tweeeelve…” Jungkook counted, finally setting her poor ribs free. Hoseok was now using his blunt nails to scratch right below her curled toes. Her knees and feet were shaking, as she was trying to avoid the feeling, unsuccessfully.

“Coochie coochie coo,” Hoseok said near her feet, his hot breath not helping the matter. He was alternated between playing with her toes and digging in the back of her knees, Nefeli going mad.

“What’s the matter, sweetie? What’s so funny?” Taehyung innocently asked. If Nefeli could glare at him, she would, but she couldn’t. She was busy laughing and getting tickled. Hoseok made sure he had hit every sensitive spot on and behind her knees, making were kick her legs.

“I think it’s time to eat,” Jungkook said, as he bent more. He opened his mouth ready to touch the spot, making Nef mentally wide her eyes. “DOHAHAHAHAHAHAN’T!” she cried inside her laugher.

“Don’t what Nef?”

“DOHOHAHAHAHA IHAHAHAHAHIHIT!”

She fell…

“As you wish” he teased, nibbling with his sharp, bunny teeth all over her right ribs. They were running up and down, touching every bone they could and every time his mouth would close, they would end up on her sixth and most ticklish rib.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Jungkook started poking her side, earning a wild scream from her “AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”

Worst spot pt.2…

All the boys smirked wider and continued enjoying the view. Not that Nefeli wasn’t. In fact, she was having so much fun and she was the one who was enjoying the most.

“Ohhh soft spot I see,” Hoseok said, running his index and middle finger up and down her foot. Why was it necessary to be hit to her most sensitive spots at once?! The rapper’s fingers felt like it was a billion tiny bugs running up and down in the most torturous, yet enjoyable way. Her toes had curled up and her feet were shaking right and left.

Jungkook on the other hand was squeezing her sides furiously, electric shots hitting her body with every squeeze. She couldn’t do something more than lay here and take it. She was so exhausted and red. And then he remembered something…

“Ah, I almost forgot your favorite,” he said as then, without warning he blew an abnormally ticklish raspberry just above her belly button. “NAHAHAHAHAHAT AGAIHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAN” Nefeli couldn’t control the waterfall coming out of her bunny-tooth mouth. Things got worse when he blew on her sides yet again, bringing hot and salty tears out of her mouth

As the tickling was going on, Jin had got out his phone and he was recording the whole scene. The truth is it was a very nice and funny scene. They were all clearly loved it.

However, when her laughter fell silent, they all sensed she had had enough. Her face could tell. Her mouth had turned a shape which was yelling it wasn’t enjoyable anymore and her breathing was hard and shaky.

Jungkook and Hoseok creased their tickling and they finally stopped, letting her catch her breath. They even rubbed her spots, helping the ghost-tickles disappear and her relax more. Jungkook came down from above her and cuddled with her, as the rest of the bad circled them.

“Are you alright love?” Jin asked sweetly, stroking her curls. She nodded, smiling softly and leaned more into the boy behind her.

“I hope we didn’t go too harsh on ya,” Yoongi said, sitting on the floor below Nef.

“No, it was good” she admitted, hiding her face, making everyone chuckle. She didn’t want to say that she loved it…

After that day, Nef was every day with them. Having fun, laughing, with some tickling and mostly love and care. They became best friends and the boys welcomed her in their group like she was belonging to it since forever.

It also turned out that the house she was staying at, was just a few meters away from the boys’ and they were all glad about it.

Who could imagine that a walk in the park would turn out so good?

Who could imagine that a stranger would become their new best friend?

Who could imagine that a new girl would fit so well in a new town?