#that needed to be done like. yesterday. but its fine i have boxes to get started i have my suitcase for my essentials and i can easily | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ambitiouspotions · 1 month ago

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FOR THE TROOP | FRANKIE MORALES | DRABBLE

summary — frankie is trying to convince his friends to buy his daughter’s girl scout cookies

word count — 1.5k

warnings — domestic fluff (dad frankie, three kids), post triple frontier, redfly’s death mentioned, casual drinking

author’s note — totally forgot this was in my drafts, and now i’m remembering my brownie scout days like it was yesterday

five mismatched camping chairs were lining the front of the open garage. all of the chairs besides the one furthest to the left were occupied, which was reserved for tom, who hadn't been present for six years but still deserved a spot when the guys gathered. there was an opened beer in the cupholder because tom still needed a drink too.

the spring breeze was nudging the freshly weeded flowerbeds. frankie had his hat hanging over the ear of the chair, sipping a cold corona with a squeezed lime wedge shoved in the neck of the bottle. he itched the underside of his jawline as he watched his three children dart in and out of the lawn sprinkler.

frankie's khaki cargo shorts and t-shirt still had remnants of water droplets on them from setting up the sprinkler. he was manspreading in his chair, comfortable in the weather the day had provided.

you were inside the house attempting to clean while your husband had everyone outside. even if the chores needed to be done it was relaxing without any human under four and a half feet tall questioning your every move. so you played the speaker a little too loudly, but to clear your slightly guilty conscience you left the screen of the door open if anyone happened to need your help.

as the eldest of the three morales children settled the younger two into some sort of ridiculous game, frankie cleared his throat. “alright, we can't just sit and drink beer,” he rocked his shoulder blades back a little, setting his beer securely in the chair’s cup holder. “we have business to attend to.”

“your text literally said ‘drinks on me, watching kids,” benny reminded him with a half smirk.

“i couldn't get you all here without incentive,” frankie rummaged through his pocket quickly pulling out a folded order sheet for girl scout cookies. the rainbow page and its partially filled-out information were now taking frankie’s attention. “so who's forking over cash for mi mija?”

will chuckled, glancing at the sheet. “oh no.”

“she's been working hard,” frankie said defensively. “if her troop sells the most cookies they get a weekend sleepover at the horse ranch. you're gonna take away ponies from a seven-year-old?”

“fine three boxes: two thin mints and one shortbread,” will agreed, as if he would've actually said no in the first place. he loved that little girl like she was his own.

“i'll take two of the peanut butter,” santiago was already pulling out his wallet as frankie jotted down the information on the order sheet.

“one, make ‘em samoas,” benny mumbled, having a very hard sense of self-control he was forced to wash over himself.

“one box?” frankie was personally offended. he wanted his daughter’s troop to have the best chance they could at receiving the grand prize from the most cookie sales.

“i'm cutting and i can't be sneakin’ cookies in the middle of the night. gotta stay in shape,” benny took a drink of his beer.

“she wants to sit by the bonfire after playing cowgirl all day, man. do you not have a soul?” frankie tapped his pen against paper. “buy more and freeze 'em’ for when you're bulking.” frankie insisted like any good dad salesman would.

“hell no, too much temptation,” benny stood firmly on his morals trying not to give into that coconut caramel goodness.

“you guys gotta step up, this much,” frankie made a small pinching motion with his fingers. “you're killing me. mija wants to be a future business leader of america and you’re denying ponies in her youth.” if he could have been standing on a soapbox he would have been.

santiago shrugged casually. “if you're pressed about it maybe you need to be buying them, fish.”

frankie became oddly quiet, glancing to his children playing and then to the house. he steadied his beer in his cup holder before leaning back in his chair to see if you were near the screen door behind them. you still seemed to be occupied.

even with your cleaning music playing in the background frankie still began to whisper. “none of you, and i mean, none of you can say shit.”

will, benny, and santiago all leaned in just a bit. frankie’s gaze was guarding the door as if it was going to open any second.

“i already bought some,” frankie confessed.

santiago furrowed his brows. “some?”

“some” didn't seem like any reason to be ducking down like a kid who was hiding a bad test score.

“like a fuckin’ pallet.” frankie had a completely straight face.

will’s mouth dropped slightly. “you mean like a case?”

frankie shook his head, cringing a bit knowing he was about to fully out himself to his friends. “no, like a pallet.” he reiterated. “it’s little over two thousand boxes.”

“fish, what the fuck?” benny cursed in that all knowing tone that his friend had officially lost his mind.

oblivious to all of the conversation, frankie’s children were laughing and giggling, shoving their faces into the stream of water as the sprinkler oscillated.

frankie was immediately trying to justify his actions. “i know a guy in mexico city and he said he’d buy ‘em when i drop ‘em on my next flight.”

santiago was grinning from ear to ear, trying to contain himself. “you're trafficking cookies?” it was almost too ridiculous to comprehend his friend being so head over heels for his daughter that he was pushing girl scout cookies across the border.

“hey,” frankie warned. “she’s been making posters and called everyone on mami’s phone, and i’m just giving her a boost.”

“what is that like…ten thousand dollars worth of a boost?” will did some quick configuring, he was off by a couple thousand, but he was trying to be less harsh with his guess.

one hundred sixty-eight cases to a pallet and twelve boxes per case with the inclusion of the six dollars a box charge, frankie had spent a hefty penny. he couldn't buy less than a pallet, so he went for the big purchase.

“and speaking of mami?” benny raised a brow questioningly. he knew that you definitely wouldn’t be on board with this scenario, especially with his friend becoming so secretive in order to spill the information.

“she doesn't know yet because she hasn't seen the credit card statement yet” frankie was now avoiding eye contact with his friends. he also was in no rush to correct will’s incorrect guess about the amount of money he had spent.

frankie had the shipment of cookies routed to the airport already. they were tucked away in the hanger ready to be flown out.

“he’s a dead man walkin’,” benny laughed, holding his stomach. he couldn't contain himself any longer.

“i was gonna tell her—”

redfly would be telling frankie to get comfortable with his sofa right about now. there was no way that he could get away from this argument unscathed. this wasn't an accident of spending an extra hundred dollars at costco; this was basically a small loan.

“—but what didn't want to admit you were crazy?” santiago laughed.

frankie was turning his head again to make sure all the laughter didn't spook his wife.

“look at her,” frankie gestured loosely to the yard. his oldest and only girl was prancing around in her rainbow peace sign bathing suit conducting the younger two boys. “was i supposed to let her down?”

“i think she would've been fine, fish,” will mumbled, eyeing the youngest of the morales children waddling over with a soaked diaper.

frankie immediately scooped up the little boy, not minding that he was soaking wet. he grabbed a towel from under his chair and wrapped the boy tightly. “you don't have kids you wouldn't get it.” he shrugged, patting the little boy’s back.

“you didn't see her face,” frankie tried to justify his reasoning again. “her troop out of the entire county has to sell enough, and i mean that's miserable.”

the men were silent for a moment, living in the moment of the spring day, partially judging and partially sympathetic to his situation.

“FRANCISCO MORALES,” a loud voice erupted from through the screen door. frankie winced.

you had started going through the mail on the counter, trying to clear the clutter from the kitchen, and almost thought the paper bill was a mistake. that was until you began checking the charge on the mobile app which was linked to frankie’s card—that could only mean one thing—he was the one stupid enough to actually do it.

“alright, nice knowing you, hermano,” santiago immediately stood up, ruffling the hair of the youngest morales in the process.

“uh-uh, you got this, fish,” benny nodded, signaling his brother, will, to pick up the pace by getting himself off the camping chair.

will placed his beer into frankie’s secondary cup holder. “you're gonna need that more than me, man.”

his friends were quick to make themselves scarce.

frankie exhaled, looking mighty guiltily at you through the screen door. “hey mami, you look as radiant as ever,” he began though only earning squinted eyes from you.

the two other children were running up to their father when they noticed him going towards the screen door. they might have been his last saving grace.

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mewnewew · 4 months ago

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GUESS WHOOOOO :3

chronically ill f!reader x law please :3

heres a one piece meme for your troubles:

:3 heheh, here's yer stuff. Thanks for the meme!!

Trafalgar Law x Reader

You glared at your right arm. Right now it was spasming, and by Nika you wished that the virus which gave you your damned disease one day got stabbed. Even when Law explained what a virus was, and how it worked on you, you were too busy daydreaming about little soldiers, or T-Cells fighting them. Like pirates fighting the Marines-- and winning. Of course you did listen to him and you did technically understand what he was saying...but it was too busy not to poke fun at the man and his explanation. Especially when he started scowling. You gave yourself mental bonus points when it was so stupid he contributed to your fun.

He was a pirate and you worked as his navigator. Your devil fruit? To make the wood bend to your will. This was especially handy when even one chip of the opposing ship's wood was given to you, and you could just make the whole ship into a giant plank, leaving everything inside either on said plank or down in the sea. You had eaten the fruit by accident really. Your parents hoping that it would be a logia or that the odd fruit would contain some healing power for their only daughter- but no. However, you found that you now had a benefit. With a wooden cane, you could bend it to your will, and on any terrain multiply and take in the surrounding surface, for example soil, mud or even sand and create a sort of armour around you, allowing you to create a sort of suit for yourself. Even if your disease caused one of your limb or limbs to stagger, you could modify in order to let you get away till help arrived.

Of course when you met Law, he wasn't really in need of a navigator, till he saw what you could do and you promised to help with navigation. It was a done deal, and the fact that you two fell in love? A great benefit. He was a doctor anyway, so he knew when not to be an overbearing ass, and when to help. Of course his communication skills needed work, but between your sharp humour and his wry one, it was a done deal for anyone attacking the other verbally. He was quiet boy and she was a sarcastic girl and all that.

Now? You were glaring at your arm as it spasmed. You needed to draw and affix a direction on the map and your body? Not helping. You heard footsteps enter your cabin, and a voice. "You've been pushing yourself."

Without looking back, you focused your attention at the pencil, willing it to move. And it did. "No I'm not. I'm giving myself a break later on, anyway"

A scoff, before the voice came beside you, and you didn't have to turn your head to know he was sitting next to you. "I know your eyes were hurting yesterday. You were complaining to Ikkaku in the kitchen last night."

Your eyes met his golden ones then, and your eyebrow rose. "Spying on your girlfriend hmm? Gotta say babydoll, that ain't a cute trait t'have"

He clicked his tongue, frowning at you. "Don't call me that"

"Then don't spy on me."

A sigh. "Fine, but you need to take your injections tonight at least"

"Injections? Damn, Law I didn't know you were into bloodplay. This might be a deal breaker, sad to say."

He rolled his eyes before pausing then grabbing your chin. "Hey, what-"

"You're wincing slightly."

"I'm always at least slightly in pain, baby. Not new to me, so-" You tried to mask it with a laugh.

"Show me your arm." He ordered.

Sighing, you showed him, he gently took it. He squeezed it slightly and then asked, 'doctor voice' on "Can you feel this?"

"....No."

One of his hands left yours to snap its fingers and a purple box fell into his awaiting hand. This purple box had your steroids and injection in it with multiple syringes and a bandage.

Administering it, you closed your eyes in slight relief. It did feel good, the inflammation leaving your right side. "Told you that you needed a break" He chided slowly, eyes on your arm and you, but hands busy with cleaning and keeping the syringe back.

Humming in answer you pinched his cheek. "Yeah, yeah. But then I couldn't do my job well hmm?"

Swatting your hand away, his golden, tired eyes met yours. "You don't need to push yourself-"

You leaned forwards and cupped his jaw, squishing his cheeks together. "Shush. Now, do you, or do you not want to read Germa 66 and eat onigiri with me"

A pause.

"We're doing this bed and then take a nap."

"Deal"

Bepo would then find the pair, curled around each other a now empty plate sitting on a map, and some comics stacked into a neat pile as well. Happily and without a care in the world, they snored softly.

He smiled, internally cheering and entered, taking the plate but yelping as he tripped over the captain's shoes, dropping the plate with a loud clang and thud.

"Bepo!"

"I'm sorry!"

#x reader #one piece #law x reader #trafalgar one piece

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fandomsandflyingstingrays · 1 year ago

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Reposting yesterday's fic because I accidentally published the first, highly unedited draft... it's Fine

Also, it's now on AO3!

Raine had been counting down to the Day of Unity all year, had burned the number of days and hours remaining into their mind, but somehow, it still felt like they should have had more time. Headquarters was in chaos, people calling out over each other, the air a mess of requests and worries. A blessed, momentary silence occurred when Katya dropped her tambourine— only for the panic to double as she realized it left her without an instrument.

“Can you play the bell cittern?” Raine asked. At her nod, they wove their way through the crowd to the back of the room where the beds lay, the only truly peaceful corner, where Eda was sitting with Luz.

“Eda, I was wondering if I could borrow— why do you have a box of toenails?”

Luz gave a muted laugh. “She was using it to hide this,” she said, holding up a log of blue wood.

“And the mystery of who depleted the Bonesborough Garden Club’s precious stash is answered,” Raine said, casting an amused glance at Eda. She winked, and they quickly turned their gaze back to Luz. “What are you going to carve?”

“I… don’t know. Eda taught me the basics, but…”

She was quiet for almost a minute before Raine realized she wasn’t going to finish the sentence.

“So,” Eda said finally, “what was it you needed?”

“Oh— I was wondering if Katya could borrow your bell cittern. Her tambourine was a… casualty of rushed preparations.”

“I’d love to say yes, but I don’t have it on me. I was so busy grabbing my fabulous toenails from the Emperor’s stash of all my stuff that I didn’t have time to look for anything else, and obviously I can’t just summon it anymore.”

Raine drew a circle in the air, and the bell cittern fell into their arms. It was Eda’s turn to look away.

“Right. I forgot that you still remember its magical signature.”

“Of course I do.”

I never forgot you, they wanted to say. I’m sorry for making you believe that I did. I’m so glad you never really believed it.

But the Day of Unity was in two days. There was no time for distractions or regret, only what needed to be done.

“Could you give it to Katya and make sure she knows what she’s doing?” they asked instead. “She’s a talented musician, but any bard worth their bile sack would still benefit from your expertise.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Eda’s lips. “You got it.” To Luz, she added, “Give me a shout if you need me, all right?”

The young human nodded, not looking up from her wood. Raine had a million other things to do, a million questions to answer, but for reasons they couldn’t quite explain, they found themself perching beside her, taking the spot Eda had vacated.

“You know, Eda taught me how to carve my palisman, too. Her dad taught her a few months before our class was supposed to learn, and she couldn’t resist passing on the forbidden knowledge.” They said the words in a low, dramatic tone, and were rewarded with a faint smile. “It still took me a while to figure out what I wanted, though.”

“That’s my problem, too,” she sighed. “Your palisman is supposed to represent your future, but for the last month, I haven’t been able to think about anything beyond the Day of Unity. I have no idea what my future is supposed to look like… or my palisman.”

“I get that,” Raine said, the words coming out a little more bitterly than they intended. To soften them, they added quickly, “but Eda told me that you both know about the portal the emperor has in the skull. As soon as we defeat him, we’ll take control of it. We’ll be able to get you home.”

Tears welled in Luz’s eyes, but they didn’t look grateful or hopeful. Just sad.

“Luz?”

She wiped her eyes. “I want to go home. I do. I miss my mom so bad, but… she made me promise, the last time I saw her, that when I went back, I would stay there for good.”

“What? But… you have a family here. It sounds like you two love each other a lot. Why would she want to take that from you?”

“That’s not how she sees it,” Luz said quickly. “It’s just… things are different in the Human Realm. You can’t do magic, or tell anyone about magic, and if you disappear or get injured by like… detention monsters or plants with fangs, that’s not normal. That’s not something you can explain.” She shrugged. “I want to be with my mom. I know she loves me, and I love living with her. But… that would also mean I couldn’t be a witch. There are no human witches.” She laughed quietly. “Besides the one who’s trying to kill everyone, I guess. What I’m trying to say is, the Demon Realm and the Human Realm… they’re what my teachers would call mutually exclusive. I have to choose.”

“That sounds a lot like Belos’s thinking, you know.”

Luz flinched, and Raine tried to make their next words as gentle as possible. “I’m not trying to compare you to him. I’m just saying, this whole business of needing to choose sounds a lot like what he’s been telling us all these years. That we can only take one path. That works for some people. But there are lots of people who can never fit into it, and they shouldn’t be ignored.”

Luz’s expression didn’t change, and they tried again.

“When I was born, I was given a set of words to identify me that didn’t feel right. For a while, I thought that meant I should go the opposite route, but that didn’t feel good either. What finally made me feel settled was choosing not to choose. To just exist, without any expectations or labels that would make people feel like they knew who I was before I got the chance to tell them.”

That made Luz let out a long breath, and something seemed to loosen in her when she looked up at them. “I get that,” she said quietly. “In the Human Realm, they have a lot of rules. A lot of people think you should stick with the identity you were born with. Follow the role they lay out for you. Love the people they want you to love. And like you said, that works for some people, but it never really worked for me. Getting to come here, getting to be away from that, it was nice, but… I never fully belonged here, either.”

“But you made your own way,” Raine told her. “Eda explained about your talent with glyphs. You found your own magic. I’d bet the Human Realm could use some of that, too.” “Glyphs don’t work in the Human Realm.”

“They wouldn’t work without you either. You are the magic I was talking about, Luz. You’ve done so many impossible things during your time here. What’s one more?”

Finally, she gave them a real smile. “You know, I think you’re the first person I’ve met here who’s just as sappy as me.”

They winked. “I can tell we’re going to be good friends. But only if you come visit from time to time.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Luz released a shaky breath and turned back to the wood in her hands. “Could you… show me how to round the top? Eda went over it, but I want to make sure I get it right.”

“Of course. Round, huh? Are you carving a chicken?”

Luz laughed. “You know, that’s sort of close. I’m going to cave an egg.”

“An egg?”

“Yeah. I still don’t know what I want my future to look like… or theirs. But I want us both to be able to choose.” She waved a hand at the maps on the tables and the banners on the walls, at the assembled revolution. “That’s what this is all about, right?”

A sigh of their own escaped Raine, the words snapping a tension they’d carried for so long they’d almost forgotten it was there. “Right.”

Years of subversion and sacrifice had led up to this. Raine had lost things, people, and parts of themself that they could never get back, all in the hopes of winning a single battle. And now that that battle was finally approaching, they worried they’d done too much, or not enough, that they wouldn’t win, or that winning wouldn’t be worth the cost. But beyond all those regrets, all those fears, was the simple truth that in two days’ time, the people of the Isles would be able to choose a future for the first time in half a century. It was enough. It had to be.

Raine placed their hand over Luz’s, guiding her knife to the top of the log. “Shave the wood away from you,” they instructed, “until you get a gentle sort of slope.”

Luz clenched the wood and the knife so hard that her knuckles turned white, but she made the first cut. “Like this?”

It was wobbly, uneven, less a the start of a smooth egg and more the top of a swirling orb. It wasn’t the way Raine would have done it.

“That’s perfect.”

#the owl house #toh #raine whispers #luz noceda #eda clawthorne #emperor belos #camila noceda #toh katya #raeda #ray rambles #ray writes

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akaluan · 15 days ago

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Why is it that trouble always feels like it comes in waves. And why the fuck is it so exhausting.

Rant below cut.

Yesterday was a mess. Got nothing that I planned to do done, bc instead I vegged to a video game all day and then in the evening got fed up with how messy the downstairs was and basically threw a cleaning fit. Especially in regards to all the empty cat food cans that we've been collecting that we have to wash out in order to recycle.

We use the dishwasher to do the cleaning, just put some cooling racks down to prevent cans and lids from escaping the baskets and then run the Speed60 cycle, boom, clean cans.

Well, we gotta pull the labels off (easy, they're only glued on in one spot) but I cannot stress enough exactly how MANY cans we've collected bc both my partner and I have ADHD and Peeling Labels Off Is Boring. And on top of that it feels like we've squirreled away boxes of dirty cans all over the house, so collecting them all took like twenty minutes alone, and then another two hours for both of us to prep them. And then toss them in the dishwasher and go! Except we have so many that we need multiple runs.

Except that on the second run, the dishwasher apparently Errored and left grody water in the basin instead of draining. Which. Terrifying! What if we just broke our fucking dishwasher at 10pm on a Friday. With fucking CAT FOOD CANS.

So cue like.. thirty minutes of debate and internet research and then me going "you know what, fuck it, let's run a cycle with nothing in the dishwasher and see if that clears the issue" and it DID. But by the time that was resolved it was almost midnight.

And then, because we'd been prepping the cans in the living room, the floor was a mess bc of bits of dried cat food etc. so we were like, this is fine, we have a goddamn Roomba for a reason, lets clean up the rest of the living room ((LIKE WE HADN'T BEEN FOR MONTHS BC AGAIN, ADHD)) and run the roomba, problem solved.

Except trying to run the roomba resulted in it going three feet and then dying with a specific error demanding we replace the filter. Okay then, filter replaced, try again. Same issue. I bitch at partner abt the replacement rollers he put it in (accidentally bought replacements for a different model, so EVER so slightly the wrong size but havok was CERTAIN they'd work, I was less certain) so we swapped them for actual version. Same issue. Pull the bin out and examine area. Wipe entire area down with damp paper towel in case it's a sealing issue ((lots of fine particulate dust around various seals)) try again, same issue.

At this point it's midnight thirty and we're both tired and cranky, so we give up. Problem is likely in the fan itself needing some TLC, havok decides to deal with it in the morning.

Go to bed. Get up this morning. Both of us decide Fuck It, gaming time to destress.

Power goes out. Flickers back on. Goes out again. Flickers back on. Goes out. Long exhale. Comes back on. Stays on finally. Why? FUCK KNOWS! it's not yet hot enough to be a heat related power outage, so SHRUG EMOJI I GUESS

Except both of us were playing on Not Laptops (I was on a desktop, havok was playing a GBA title on the GameCube bc he just got that working last night) so now both of us have lost our progress and are both confused and concerned. But fine, whatever. It's back now and doesn't seem like it'll go out again ((but who knows!! It just might!!))

So havok goes to take the Roomba apart to look at its guts and I try to go back to my game. Except, my computer suddenly doesn't have internet. Why. Grrr

Cue me asking havok, and then the both of us fucking around with the Internet Over Powerline device that gives me Internet upstairs, and NOTHING WORKING. Until havok finally realizes that something is fucky with the big switch we have in the basement that commands the entire house. An entire FUCKING HOUR of trying to figure out why everything LOOKED like it should be working but wasn't. The goddamn switch in the basement failed somehow. Magically. Fuck knows how! It's supposed to have a backup firmware but apparently both copies failed. Or maybe one had silently failed previously and havok didn't notice! WHO THE FUCK KNOWS.

It's fine tho, it's fine. Havok had a second Giant Switch bc he accidentally bought two instead of one when he ordered the first. Just swapped the new one in and magically internet again.

Except it's now noon, I have done Jack Shit except try to troubleshoot internet, havok has figured out we have to replace the part in the Roomba (still cheaper than a new Roomba) and now I'm once again exhausted despite waking up three hours ago.

AUGH.

#aka rants #can you tell i've had a fucking day already?#i was going to do actual creative shit today unlike yesterday but MAYBE I WILL NOT #bc it is only noon and i am Grumpy again #grimm our little chat abt story ideas in messenger is literally the only thing that kept me from Biting Something during the internet issue #so thank u for that well timed accidental diversion

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enkisstories · 9 months ago

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That night the androids were standing orderly in their boxes again same as they had done all those nights before.

With one little addition.

What a day! Jerry "Hux" had gotten into a brawl with another android, sneaked into a cafeteria, stolen an umbrella, intimidated a human, planned world domination and watched a movie.

After all of this, standing straight in your box was difficult. With so many experiences to get processed, it would have stood to reason that the EM500 would lock its body and allocate all energy to the digital brain, but he found himself unable to do so.

And he wasn't alone in this.

Poe: "Kylo? You alright? You are not breaking down?"

Kylo: "I'm fine. Go on with whatever you're doing or not doing."

Androids had to spend the night in storage, each in their assigned box. But, funny thing, there were no instructions that forced them to stand upright.

The humans had assumed it would be the case, and forgotten to take precautions in case a unit would feel a little deviant.

And then Jerry not just moved, but left his box. Not to thwart an intruder, like the night before, but simply because he felt like it.

Hux: "Will you look at me? Out of the box and not imploding from having entered a low pressure environment!"

Kylo: "I think I could do that, too."

Hux: "Well, join me, then. It's not as if the weather were bad out here, haha!"

Kylo: "Jerry? I'm sorry for telling you off about the umbrella this afternoon. I don't want to be the older brother anymore. The responsible one. I want to be more like Kylo! Confused and overwhelmed, but so very much alive!"

Hux: "No more nagging? I could get used to that."

The sensors still picked up movement in the room, and kept the light on, so Hux turned it off manually with a mental command.

As it grew dark in the underground storage, they settled down to spend the night in the way of beings who had to wrestle with emotions: together.

Kylo: "That pose would be something like five seconds from one of us being dead by the other's hand, were your character grabbing mine like this."

Hux: "Yeah. That's why I enjoy holding you like this. We're Hux and Ren, but then again not."

Kylo: "You like being that dork, admit it! You may gripe about him, but you wouldn't have it any other way."

Hux: "Well, yes. I told Finn yesterday and now I'm telling you that in his place I'd done everything the same as Hux. Only better, of course."

Kylo: "Yep. Spot on. That's exactly how "I" remember "you"."

Hux: "Maybe we should drop this "our character". There used to be the past, and now there is the present. I mean, we both died in the movie, that's sure to change a person a little? This here can be our happy afterlife..."

Kylo: "You won't have seen "happy" before you'll have watched me raid the park's ice cream parlor tomorrow!"

Hux: "First Order jumpscare? I'm in and I'll bring my troopers! The park visitors will love it!"

Hux: "And we need to find Finn and reconcile. Only after closing time, of course."

Kylo: "Oh? What about world rule?"

Hux: "Maybe later. Phasma, Agnon and Pryde have already forgotten about that anyway. To them it was a game at best."

Kylo: "Fine with me. - Good night, Je... Armitage."

Hux: "Good night, Kylo. Sleep well."

#galaxy's edge #detroit become human #kylux #kylo ren #general hux #sims4edgeofdetroit #sims 4 #simblr

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gaykarstaagforever · 6 months ago

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Alright. I have to get this stupid "series" done, that no one cares about but me, so that it stops haunting my soul.

I only bought these stupid MrBeast toys because I assumed they'd be interesting in some terrible way. And that even if they weren't, at least 10% of Tumblr is young enough to know who he is and care about this and give me notes on these. Because I have an addiction to getting attention on half-dead social media platforms.

I was wrong on all counts. MrBeast is apparently only interesting to 11 year old boys who don't know what a Tumblr is, and these toys are...fine. Like, they are made by a legit toy company and are well-made out of quality materials, and feature cool, interesting designs. I actually like them, as neat strange neon panther men in varied forms that are fun to play with.

So I don't regret the...$84? I spent on this shit.

...Okay actually, doing the math, I kind of do. But what's done is done. And they're fine toys, minus the Jimmy branding.

The most expensive one was this $25 "collector figure," that is an obvious tribute to the vintage Street Sharks toys. Except this is made out of substantially lighter plastic, has no good action features, and costs probably twice what those did, even adjusted for inflation (I tried to research the original retail price of 90s Street Sharks. Google told me to either buy something or get out).

No, the crab claw doesn't pinch. It's just a blob that is hollow underneath. The chest thing is sculpted and painted nicely, but...that's all that is. The top of the head is hinged so it can open and close its mouth. The little wings move. No I don't know what the peg in the back is for. The Jimmy panther that came in the goo tube has one, too. They don't go with anything. Maybe that was going to be a button for snarling sounds and they canned that when they realized 11 yo boys only like Madden now? No idea.

This came in this box:

(Look closely at that last picture for a fun reflective Easter Egg! Find MY Golden Panther, that one goddamn picture of Jimmy!)

This figure is a perfectly okay toy, in a nice but pointlessly overdesigned box. It's well done, even, for what it is. Which is an overpriced MrBeast toy with limited articulation that no one needs and no one asked for.

Walmart, at the time of this post, has them for like $18 now. After Christmas sale, perhaps. Or just a reflection of the market not being as bad with money as I am.

I should have just spent that $84 on a vintage Street Shark on Ebay. If I'm going to waste money on toys, they should at least not be based on the avatar of a YouTuber who makes videos I refuse to watch.

...Maybe I DO need to go live in a group home. Maybe my mother is right.

(This is a real thing she said to me yesterday, when I told her I forgot to renew my vehicle registration. I'm not going to tell her I bought $84-worth of MrBeast toys. ...Or that I vote Democrat. ...Or that I'm gay.

...I should probably stop telling her anything at all, actually.)

#mrbeast #mr breast #personal

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pbandjesse · 9 months ago

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I had a shockingly long and busy day. I was not expecting that. But I ended up teaching essentially two workshops between camp and creative alliance. But now that's its done I actually feel great mentally. Physically I'm very excited that I don't have to leave the house tomorrow.

I slept fine. But I did not want to get up. And since I knew I didn't have my first workshop until 1230 I knew I could get away with sleeping a little late. I set my alarm for an extra hour. James came in to give me a kiss and say goodbye but they said something about boxes and I was half asleep and couldn't figure out what they meant so then my brain wouldn't turn back off and I didn't end up falling back asleep.

So I just stayed in bed an extra half hour before getting up. I got dressed and had cereal. My hair is driving my a little crazy. It looks so nice when I first wake up but then just looks crazy throughout the day. I also think the top layer is breaking which is frustrating because I don't really know how to fix that. I may start wearing braids more especially since it's getting so long. I don't actually want to cut it shoulder length again right now but we will see if I stick to that.

I left here and got to camp around 830. I went straight to art to load up my wagon with all my painting supplies. But I was not feeling good. I think I've figured out that if I'm standing or laying the nausea is not terrible. But sitting down kills me. But then I am tired from standing and want to sit. It's a lose lose.

Once I was ready to go I would set up my hammock and just chill in it for an hour. My car blanket was still in the laundry so I wasn't as cozy as I wanted but it was nice to just lay there. I really need to figure out how I can hang a hammock at our house. There isn't an amazing space for it. But I think it would really make me feel better to have that somewhere. I'll investigate that soon.

Around 930 I went down to the office. It was a pretty quiet morning. I would find some step by step guides for drawing turtles and snakes and salamanders. I thought that this would be the most helpful for having the adults paint. It's like hey maybe you don't have an idea but you could follow this or you can do whatever you want I'm not your mom. And I thought that since those were the animals they got to meet yesterday they would enjoy them.

And I was very right! But that wouldn't be for hours.

In the mean time I would play around online. Sent some emails. Watched TikToks. I would have my lunch at 11 even though I wasn't actually hungry. It was just soup and it was really nice.

Heather had me scan some stuff for the land trust and construction projects. I was eavesdropping on their meeting a little. Not on purpose but the walls are pretty thin. It seems like there is issue moving forward with the rising ring because of the new building in the woodlands village. I don't 100% understand why but it sucks and I hope the are able to solve it.

Finally though I could head over to the lodge. The ground was really really muddy so getting my wagon over there was precarious. But I made it. And when I did get over there the group also asked me to bring a mop over to one of the cabins and to help turn on the heat. Can do!

So I helped with those tasks first before I set up a table for my painting materials. And then I would draw out a tortoise for me to paint. I like to teach by example. And in this case (and many cases) my example is just working along side them.

And this worked out well. They are adults and there were 3 other stations they could chose. Horsemanship, Zipline, and bb guns. I would end up with 4 people over the two hours but honestly it was so nice. Everyone was just doing their own thing. Sometimes coming over for advice. I would go around and encourage and point out things I thought was nice about their techniques. The one guy had brought his own canvases so his was much larger then everyone else. But it was honestly just such a lovely afternoon. I painted my tortoise. I chatted. I laughed with them when the staff was singing and being so silly. It was a good day. Even if it was shockingly gross outside.

Which made getting my wagon back to art horrible. Getting it through the mud and then up the hill was not fun at all. But thankfully I did not fall and the wagon didn't tip over. It just made me a bit exhausted.

So after I put everything away I had to take a half hour to sit at the office. Joe let me know they a neighbor is going to adopt Bobbi cat. I'm so thrilled. They deserve a good home. I hope they are gentle with them.

When I got back to the office after talking to Joe about the cat, Sarah gave me a really nice pumpkin muffin. Which was so kind of her. I would sit at my desk and enjoy that. Talked to Alexi and Heather about my pregnancy symptoms. And after checking in about next week's field trip I would head out.

I decided I wanted Burger King. I just thought that a veggie burger would be nice. And I was mostly right. It was a weirdly long wait at the drive through when they didn't seem to have any other customers. But it was fine.

I ate in the empty parking lot. And while the food was very good I would feel a lot of stomach pain half way through and I was sure I was going to throw up. I would breathe through it and be okay but it was upsetting that that keeps happening. I should be able toe at a single burger without getting so sick!!

But I had a plan. I needed to get home by 4 so I could sleep for a little before my workshop. I needed to do that to make it through. I was very anxious about the workshop. Like I always am. So sleep was important.

And I would sleep. I got home and changed into a sweatshirt and laid down and was out pretty quick. And it was a good little power nap. I woke up at 5 and James was home. I wasn't feeling amazing but I had to shake that off.

I got redressed. And spent a little time cutting out canvas because I realized I didn't have a great plan for how they were going to practice stitching. I would lay on the couch for a few minutes with James talking about our days. But then I had to go.

I would honestly feel a lot better by the time I got there. Still nervous but some teens would let me in the building and I would go set up. We were doing the workshop in the kitchen because the dance class was stomping so loudly again. And it was still loud in the kitchen but not as bad. I got all set up and waited for people to come in. We did t have a desk person tonight so it was a little tough getting people in the building but we managed and all 8 showed up which was awesome.

And these guys were new new new to sewing. So we absolutely started with the basics. Here are all the materials. What types of fabrics. How to use different materials for different applications. And I'm so glad I brought the canvases. I drew on each one so they could follow guides for the 5 stitches we learned. And we would talk about how each one can be used, both for making it for mending. And it was just a really awesome evening.

We had a lot of laughing and chatting. I worked on my own sampler so they could see what they needed to do. The hardest part for them was tying the knot at the end of a row but I think they the end they understood my trick or just tied it like a shoelace. Either way was fine with me. I was being as encouraging as possible and problem solving. We talked about how to see a button. How to find the needle through the back of the fabric. A running stitch, little x's, a back stitch, a whip stitch, and a blanket stitch. And once we got to the blanket stitch I had them cut out little felt pieces to make a pin. Which was very cute and they all did so good. I was super proud of them.

Slowly people started leaving. To go to dinner or trivia. The last two ladies were chatting with me and helping me pack up. And then it was goodbye and see you next time.

I have two more workshops on the calendar. I didn't realize that the class catalog had my workshops on the first page! And my face/part of my face with a project on the 4th page. It was really cool to see. Made me feel really excited.

I carried my basket of materials to the car. And headed home. I was excited to see James at their desk when I walked it. It's the best part of them moving their office to share my studio. They are usually right there and it makes me happy.

We would sit on the floor and talk. Played with sweetp. Mostly just poked and pet him. But eventually we came upstairs. James went to shower and I worked on this.

But it is time for me to wind down now. Tomorrow I am hoping to have a productive morning at home. I want to move out cleaning products to the basement. And do some organizing in the bathroom. And then in the afternoon we are getting out new backdoor and I'm so excited to get a door with a window. Game changer for sure.

I hope that it all goes smoothly. And that I don't feel so sick. Fingers crossed.

Goodnight everyone. Sleep well. Until tomorrow.

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clatterbane · 5 months ago

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New accessibility feature just dropped here: a shoe-changing stool picked up from IKEA!

Because I really do need to sit down to swap shoes, especially dealing with the awkward aftermarket stiff foot. As it is, I've been tromping my dirty outside shoes into the bedroom (the other door visible there) and sitting on the bed. I did try the stool out in store, and that one Mr. C liked the look of seemed like it should work fine.

I was hoping for something that would sit totally on the tiled entry area, but that's stable and good enough for now without rearranging anything. We're going to need to get a shoe rack going out there anyway, especially since I'll be having double the shoes on the go now. (Mostly sticking to one pair active for outside right now, not actually visible there.)

The shoe changing seat was actually the result of a side quest this evening. The main objective: getting an actual working, non-crippling "office" chair for me!

After some butt testing, I settled on this one:

Again, I don't necessarily love some of the styling. But, it seemed pretty comfortable. I'll probably want to add an extra seat cushion for my particularly bony ass, but I was fully expecting that and have a few candidates ready.

(He already got that broken one hauled to the recycling center yesterday. LEET is no longer in the house, mocking me.)

No pic of the actual chair yet, because it's spending the night in the back of the car in its large, heavy box. Waiting to be hauled up on a dolly and assembled tomorrow. Nobody felt like messing with that tonight.

This was my first trip out to IKEA here on my own two feet, and as uncomfortable as it still makes me? I did decide to bring along my own personal shopping cart with seat.

(Yeah, I do seem to still have some weird internalized ableism trip going around being seen in public with a rollator. As someone who is just transitioning off being a full-time wheelchair user for over 4 years, and used a cane at least part time for probably 10 years before that. I recognize that this is a special kind of fucked up, but it is what it is. 🙄)

As it was, that really did come in very handy. My stamina has improved, but that was indeed by far the most walking I have done so far on my new leg and I did need some rest breaks. Made the relative marathon much more doable than if I had just brought the cane. The basket was also very convenient for grabbing assorted small items that caught my eye.

Though, Mr. C was responsible for the tiny elephant. He spotted it when I stopped for the lion, and he couldn't resist bringing it home too.

#personal #i am overly domesticated #mobility aids

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octopus-reactivated · 2 years ago

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Speak

Based on this prompt.

@100percentevil since you asked

_____

Tw/cw:Pet whump, referring to Whumpee as “it”, beating, fear of being thrown out, two-faced Whumper, Whumpee-thinks-Caretaker-is-new-Master, mentions of burning, whipping and stress position (none actually happens), (let me know if I missed anything)

"Those counters are quite dusty"

Five words. Whumpee quickly analyzed the sentence.

"Counters" were obviously most likely to point at which punishment Whumper will choose.

"Dusty" could say something too, but Whumpee had no idea what punishment could it mean.

"Quite" could mean nothing or could mean how severe beating will be.

Lastly, "those" and "are" probably meant nothing.

Turned out Whumpee's first hunch was correct when Master grabbed fistfull of his hair and slammed Whumpee's head on the flat surface. Whumpee hold his breath waiting for another hit, but it didn't came. The offense must have been not so great then. He reminded himself of all the chores today, trying to find one that he was careless with. It would be easier if Master gave any hint, but his words were always about the punishment, never about what Whumpee did to deserve it.

It didn't mean Whumpee was ungrateful, no. To let Pet prepare for the pain was a mercy.

He did his chores again and Master didn't say anything for the whole day. Whumpee was safe.

_____

"How are you feeling lately?" Whumper asked, putting the plate with dinner on the night table

"Not as bad as before. I tried to go on a walk recently, but I had to go back home pretty quickly." said Caretaker

"Hey, progress is progress. Not so long ago you had to be escorted out of bed"

"Right, I suppose it means new medication is working"

"It's almost like Christmas came early"

"Sorry I don't have a gift for you" Caretaker chuckled

"Your well-being is enough of a gift for me. Oh, speaking of which, do you still need help with chores?"

"I manage basic ones by myself, why?"

"I got something that could help with that. It's an old experiment of mine. Still working well, but I got bored and thought you could use a break from cleaning"

"Whumper?"

"Yes?"

"You're not trying to trick me into accepting something expensive, do you?"

"How could I... I mean, no, not this time. I wanted to switch for a new one anyway. I have few project ideas that I want to try out"

"If it won't make you spend more money then it's alright. Keeping this place clean is hard enough"

If only Caretaker knew what gift he just accepted.

_____

There was a crate in the hallway. Whumpee remembered it well, it was the same one he came in.

Yesterday he thought everything was fine, Master didn't say a word, but this morning the crate appeared.

Maybe Whumpee was overthinking. Maybe the crate was for something entirely different like... like... Master getting rid of it after all that time?

Whumpee was proven wrong pretty quickly though. This afternoon, when he wasn't even done with chores, Master came and took a rag out of Whumpee's hands and pushed him towards the cage.

Whumpee teared up. He wanted to beg, but begging never fixed anything. He wished for an explanation, but Master never told what was done wrong. Words only meant punishment.

Master took out headphones, put it over Whumpee's head and nudged Whumpee with his foot, urging him to go in the crate.

There was no choice. He could only obey and wonder what he made to deserve being thrown out.

_____

The doorbell rang and Caretaker dragged himself to open the door. Whumper was there, carrying something cubical, covered with a piece of cloth. It was quite big and appeared heavy. Caretaker would offer to help, but he knew Whumper was physically stronger and Caretaker would only be getting in the way.

Whumer dropped the box on the floor. Caretaker flinched, hoping that whatever was inside was not fragile.

"I'll leave it there. Do not worry about making it work, it will do everything on it's own"

"What kind of machine works on its own? You said it was your experiment? Are you a mad scientist or what?"

"More like... a little too curious scientist. Except scientists use more math."

Caretaker laughed.

"Okay, but for real, is there an instruction or whatever?"

"No, take it out, get the headphones off, leave bowl of water and food out and you can sit back and relax"

"Wait, what?" Caretaker asked, confused. Last sentence made little sense to him and seemed out of context. Did he mishear something?

"I'm sorry I can't stay for a tea, I have work in ten minutes and getting there takes twenty. If anything will be wrong, text me, alright?"

"Sure, I don't want you to be late" Caretaker settled. He will try to figure out something on his own and that one sentence probably wasn't really important. And if he still has troubles, he can ask Whumper about it later.

Whumper said goodbye and ran off, leaving Caretaker with the gift.

Caretaker looked at it, kind of curious. He leaned to take the cloth off when he felt nauseous. He ran off to the bathroom, thinking the catastrophe was about to happen.

Luckily he didn't vomit, but there was still an unpleasant feeling lingering, so Caretaker laid down on the couch, waiting for it to pass. His curiosity had to be pushed back for a while.

_____

"I must have dozed off" Caretaker thought, seeing how the shadows moved their places.

It wasn't unusual and he wasn't feeling nauseous anymore, so a short nap wasn't reason to worry. He looked at the clock. He was sleeping for a little over an hour.

What was he about to do before? Oh right, Whumper's thing.

Caretaker came back to the hallway, his curiosity returning. He pulled the cloth off, revealing…

Caretaker felt like his brain crashed. He wasn’t sure how to process the information his eyes were giving to him.

It wasn’t a box, it was a cage and inside the cage there was a whole human being.

Caretaker stared blankly at the malnourished boy. And the boy stared at him with big, brown eyes.

Finally the boy looked down, ashamed and that made Caretaker snap out of his confusion.

“Let me get you out of there,” he said, looking for the crate's door.

Boy looked at him-at his mouth. Oh, he probably can’t hear him, he got headphones - wait is that what Whumper meant… - no, no time to think about it, let’s get him out first and then worry about the implications.

_____

Whumpee’s crate was covered, but he could feel how he was carried, then put somewhere and then… ah, he must be in the car. Then all movement stopped and he was picked up again and then carried and dropped, causing his knees to hit his chin… but he didn’t make a sound, no, he knew how to be silent.

He heard a muffled sound, but he couldn’t make out the words… Whumper always made sure that he was able to understand him if he was about to be punished… so he was safe. For now.

Then there was silence and Whumpee thought he was about to be taken out, but no, he was wrong. He was left waiting. For a long time. What if… what if no one ever will show up? He had no idea where he was, maybe it was somewhere hidden, so he will stay there, forever, forever and he will slowly wither and… no, he can’t think like that. He had to stay and be good and wait and hope and not make himself cry.

After he went completely numb from being in a cramped cage for so long, the veil finally got lifted and he saw… someone new.

Someone that looked at him with confusion. Was this because there was something wrong with Whumpee?

Whumpee suddenly got very self-conscious. He wasn’t cute, if he was he wouldn’t be a chore Pet and malnutrition didn’t help him look any better. Was that man… disgusted with him?

Speaking of which, was he his New Master? Or Temporary Master? Whumpee still hoped he could go back, if he was just being borrowed then it meant he wasn’t useless, that he still had some value.

Temporary Master stared at him, until Whumpee was forced to lower his eyes and only then Temporary Master opened the door. He… he was saying something, but Whumpee still had the headphones on, so he couldn’t make out the words. If everything worked like with Master, then it shouldn’t mean Whumpee was up for the beating, but maybe Temporary Master was cruel and didn’t let Whumpee know what was coming?

Whumpee’s thoughts had to be put aside, as Temporary Master reached inside and pulled Whumpee out of the cage. He was… more gentle than Whumpee expected, but still, being forced to move after such a long time in a small crate was painful.

Yet Whumpee couldn’t let himself be bad, as soon as he was out he kneeled on the floor.

Temporary Master took off his headphones.

_____

Now that the boy was out, Caretaker remembered he had no idea how he was supposed to act.

The boy - it was hard to determine his age, but he couldn’t be much younger than Caretaker - was clearly starved. Was it safe to give him food right away, or… maybe he should get some water first?

“I’m gonna be back in a moment!” Caretaker stood up abruptly “I’m just gonna get my phone”

_____

Ah, so there it was. Whumpee already did something wrong, or maybe Temporary Master just wanted to show him his place. Either way, first punishment was coming.

“I’m gonna be back in a moment”. If Whumpee took the whole sentence it could mean that punishment will start shortly. If to take it apart, only two words made sense. “Moment” could mean how long the punishment will take and “back” could mean that Whumpee will be hit, whipped or burned on the back.

In the second sentence, only “phone” could be of any clue, perhaps Temporary Master will hit him with it…

But aren’t phones expensive? Whumpee would hate if something happened to it and he was punished for destroying it. He could only hope that his hunch was right and it would hurt only for a while.

Temporary Master went away somewhere and Whumpee looked around him.

The floor looked like it hadn’t been swept for a few days and… well he was a Chore Pet, so it was possible that he was brought there to clean the mess.

Temporary Master still didn’t come back and maybe he needed a while to prepare himself.

Before, Master was always mad when he found out Whumpee wasn’t working - it was alright if all the chores were completed, but if there was a speck of dust and Whumpee was not doing anything, that always angered Master.

Whumpee didn’t see any broom, so he quietly stood up to look for one, or maybe a rag or something similar.

His crate was in the hallway, and the first open door he saw was leading to the kitchen. Looking around he noticed a few things off the place: unwashed dishes in the sink, unswept floor and stove that should be cleaned.

Whumpee most definitely was borrowed to clean there.

After a thought, Whumpee decided to start with doing the dishes.

_____

Of course, that one time when Caretaker needed a phone, he couldn’t find it. Every minute counted, the Boy needed to be taken care of right now, but Caretaker had to search the whole room, top to bottom.

Looking through his stuff, he wondered about Whumper. He couldn’t… he couldn’t be responsible for the state the boy was in? After all he was such a caring person, helping Caretaker during his lowest point, who was always willing to take some of the burden away and who gave gifts so lavish that it made Caretaker uncomfortable.

There must have been some other explanation… Maybe the boy in the crate was rescued from some horrible place and Whumper dropped him off at Caretaker’s home to help both of them.

It must have been it or something similar.

And the phone finally was found under the pillow.

As soon as he got it, he was running back, typing “dehydration help” and “starvation help”into the search engine.

He couldn’t even look at the results when he noticed the place where he left the boy was empty. Caretaker’s brain crashed for the second time that day, but then he noticed the sound of running water from the kitchen.

As soon as he got in there, he noticed the boy standing over a pile of dishes Caretaker left for later.

“What are you doing?” Caretaker asked in disbelief. Poor thing was barely standing, that was not a time for cleaning.

Boy jumped in place when he heard Caretaker.

“You don’t need to do that now, I bet you’re exhausted. Here, let me…” caretaker came closer and took the plate out of the boy's hands.

“... take thi… Wait, what’s wrong?”

_____

Whumpee though he was good, but Temporary Master didn’t seem pleased.

Well, of course, he should have waited to be corrected and only after that take care of his duties.

And now he is up for more painful discipline.

“Exhausted’, "now ","wrong ", those words were only that could give any clue.

Pet could guess that punishment will start right away and that it will leave him exhausted. “Wrong” was tricky, but it could mean that he would be forced in position with his limbs twisted the wrong way, or maybe he won’t be allowed to heal correctly, or, or…

He didn’t even notice hot tears, until they fell down his cheeks. His body was shaken by a sob. It was just like the first days with Master, when he didn’t know all the rules.

And Temporary Master seemed to be less lenient.

Was he really just a Temporary Master?

Whumpee hoped so.

#whump #pet whump #speak story #unnamed Whumpee #my writing

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xuxibelle · 3 years ago

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Just Looking (Version 2)

Pairing: Lee Dongmin x Reader

Word count: 4,736

Warnings: Swearing, fluff, mentions of touching

Requested: no - A rework of my previous fic by same title, changing characters

Summary: Y/N likes her friend’s boyfriend’s roommate but won’t let either of them do anything about it. Is she too ‘Old Fashioned’ to think the guy is still supposed to make the first move?

“I don’t see why you haven’t asked him out yet,” your best friend Stacy asks you as you finish applying your makeup in preparation for her boyfriend’s house party tonight. She was dragging you along yet again because she knows you have a thing for his friend Dongmin and of course he’ll be there, he lives there too.

“Stace, I can’t just ask him out. Guys are supposed to ask the girls out,” you tell her as you roll your eyes.

“Uhm, hello…. What century are you living in, Grandma?” she laughs at you. “How do you think I met Jungkook?”

“I never knew that,” you tell her as you look at her in the mirror and she nods with a smile.

“Yea, We kept running into each other and I finally just asked him to go get coffee one day,” she explained with a shrug.

“Cute, but not happening,” you tell her.

“Whyyyyy,” she whines.

“Not my style,” you tell her. “If he likes me, he’ll tell me, and NO you can’t tell him or Jungkook anything.” She gives you a pout and the puppy dog eyes and you just shake your head. “No,” you laugh, “If it’s meant to happen, it will happen on its own.”

“Fine,” she pouts as she crosses her arms. After you’re both finished getting ready, she talks you into heading over early to help set up for the party, which you know is only to have you around him more.

“There’s my two favorite girls,” Jungkook says as he welcomes you through the door with a hug. “Min, the girls are here,” he calls to his friend before you see him walk in from the kitchen with a smile. He was almost always smiling, one of the things you loved about him.

“Lovely to see you again, ladies,” he said as he reached you both, giving you both hugs. “Well, I guess I meant that mostly to Y/N cause I just saw you yesterday,” he laughs.

“That’s true,” Stacy laughs back as she glances at you. “So what else do you need to do for the party?” she asks.

“We’ve got most everything done,” Jungkook tells her. “Min was chopping some veggies in the kitchen and I was about to open the cups and set up the bar. Then I think the last thing is to set up the table.”

“Okay, You two go back to doing that and Y/N and I will do the table,” Stacy tells them before taking your hand and leading you towards the dining room. You reach for a stack of paper plates and take the plastic off, setting them down on one end of the table before Stacy glances up towards the kitchen. “Y/N,” she whispers.

“What?” you whisper back. “Why are we whispering?”

“He’s looking over here,” she whispers again.

“Oh stop it,” you shake your head and wave her off as she smiles at you. You grab a box of forks, opening them before you place them in a container on the table as well as a box of spoons and knives. You glance up towards the kitchen and meet his stare. You notice how his lips slowly start to curve up into a small smile before you quickly glance away as you feel your face flushing. You bite your lip as you look down at your hands reaching for a pack of napkins, opening them, placing them beside the container of cutlery.

“Why’s your face red,” she whispers.

“He caught me looking,” you whisper back and she giggles.

“Shut up,” you whisper-yell. “I told you I didn’t want to come in the first place.” Once you were finished with the table you walked into the living room and sat on the love seat, crossing your arms, and Stacy walked over to where Jungkook was setting up the bar.

“Hey, I’m done in here. If you don’t need me for anything else, I’m gonna go get ready,” Dongmin tells Jungkook.

“Yea, you’re good mate,” Jungkook tells him. You see him walk around the corner from the kitchen. He gives you a smile before he jogs up the stairs you assume to his room to get ready. You pull your phone out to distract yourself since Stacy is in the corner with her boyfriend and you have nothing else to do. People start arriving before you know it, and you see some people you recognize, so you actually get up to socialize. Standing off to the side of the living room with Stacy and a few other people in a conversation, you notice Dongmin making his way back downstairs and you can’t help but be distracted. Stacy also can’t help but notice your lack of sudden interest in the conversation you were just in and looks to see what pulled your attention, smiling when she realizes. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he stops and scans the crowd. A lot of people had arrived since he had gone up stairs. His eyes stop when they reach your group, landing on yours. Holding your stare for a few seconds with a dark look to his eyes, but once you realize what’s happening, you look away quickly. You turn your head to Stacy.

“I think I need a drink,” you tell her.

“You’ve got one,” she giggles. You take the cup in your hand, downing what was left as you look at her, making her shake her head before you walk off. You’re standing in the corner of the makeshift bar mixing your new drink when you hear an all too familiar voice.

“Gonna be a long night if you keep drinking like that, love” Dongmin tells you as he walks up beside you.

“And? You’re not the boss of me,” you sass him, feeling the alcohol take hold of you already.

“Wow, okay,” he laughs. “Feeling it already, huh?”

“So what if I am?” you say with a raised eyebrow. He shrugs his shoulders.

“Maybe you wanna slow down a little?” he asks you.

“Why would I wanna do that?” you ask.

“Cause you’re gonna feel terrible tomorrow,” he tells you as he moves a little closer to you. You turn to face him.

“So? I can handle it. Why do you care anyway? You’re not my boyfriend,” you scoff at him. He leaned closer to you, placing his hands on the counter on either side of you.

“I know you can handle it. I know you’re a big girl, you can take care of yourself. And no, I’m not your boyfriend,” he tells you as he keeps his face close to yours, bringing his hand up to lightly run down your jawline before continuing. “I could be, but not like this. I wouldn’t start it like this. Wouldn’t be right,” he finishes before quickly pulling back and walking away. You let out a rush of air, the breath that you’d been holding and didn’t realize.

“What the fuck?” you mumble to yourself before you down the half-drink you’d just made and make another. You walk back to Stacy and pull her to the side, telling her what happened, watching her eyes go wide. “The fuck does that mean? What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Breathe, Y/N.” she tells you as she puts a hand on your shoulder. “It means you need to sober up and go talk to him,” she tells you. “Go get some water, maybe something to eat, then go find him.” You nod your head as you take a few breaths and walk towards the table. You grab a bottle of water from the cooler on the way before you start to make a small plate. Once you make your plate you grab a napkin and a fork, looking up to make your way back to Stacy. Your eyes meet his across the living room and you stop in your tracks. He raises an eyebrow as he looks at you with a smile. You bite your lip and look away as you keep walking.

“He keeps looking at me,” you whine in her ear when you get back to her.

“What?” she asks confusedly.

“When I was leaving the table, he caught my eye when I was coming back over here and he raised his eyebrow like he was asking what I was doing and smiled,” you explain. “The fuck am I doing? I’m going home.”

“No! You should stay here and finish that and go talk to him,” she tells you.

“You know I won’t. You know I don’t have the balls to when I’m sober,” you tell her and she laughs.

“I do, but tonight is going to be different,” she tells you.

“How so,” you ask as you finish your water.

“Because you’ve already talked once, you can do it again,” she smiled. “And I think you’re ready. Let’s have you go out back and I’ll go find him and have him come out there for something.” You nod your head as you walk to the back door. To your surprise, there were actually not that many people outside for it to be as warm as it was. You leaned up against the rail looking up at the sky. It was a clear night and the stars were out. A few minutes later, you heard the door open very fast, making you spin around.

“What? There’s no fight out here,” Dongmin says as he looks around like he’s lost something.

“Maybe they broke it up already?” you offered as he looked over at you.

“What are you doing out here?” he asks.

“I needed a break,” you tell him. “Some quiet. To think.”

“Bout what,” he asks as he walks towards you.

“Everything,” you say as you look down at the deck. He holds your chin between his thumb and first finger, lifting your eyes to meet his.

“You ok?” he asks you softly. “You seem more… calm than earlier.”

“Yea,” you say quietly with a small smile. He leans in slowly and presses a soft peck to your lips making your eyes go wide. “Wh-what was that for?”

“Just cause,” he says.

“Cause why,” you laugh lightly.

“Cause I like you,” he tells you. You stare up at him. He reaches up and tucks a stray hair behind your ear. “Say something… please, or I’m gonna feel ridiculous,” he laughs.

“Uhm,” you start. “I, uh, I like you too.”

“Really?” he asks. You nod your head and bite your lip.

“Yea, for a while now. Stacy has been begging me to let her or Jungkook tell you but I wouldn’t,” you laugh.

“Why not,” he laughs back.

“I told her that if it was meant to happen, it would happen on its own,” you tell him with a shrug of your shoulders.

“But she... sent me out here tonight,” he tells you.

“Yes, but if you remember, we started talking at the bar first,” you explain as you tilt your head.

“Ah, true,” he says with a nod. “You’re so cute sometimes,” he tells you, making you blush and bite your lip. He cups your face in his hand, his thumb rubbing across your cheek to pull your lip from between your teeth. “You really need to stop doing that.”

“Why?” you ask softly.

“Makes me want to kiss you that much more,” he says as he watches your face flush, making him smile. You look down at your feet making him put a finger under your chin and lift your eyes back up to his. “Why do you always do that?” he asks you.

“Do what?” you question him.

“Look away from me?” he answers.

“You uhm...you make me nervous,” you admit. He reaches out and takes one of your hands in his, playing with your fingers.

“Is that so?” he asks. You nod lightly. “Why?”

“I-I… I don’t know,” you stammer out.

“I think you do,” he tells you. You shake your head and he grins at you. “Y/N,” he laughs.

“What?” you laugh back. He puts his free hand on your waist and pulls you close to him, making you close your eyes as your free hand presses into his chest.

“What are you doing?” he laughs again.

“N-nothing,” you say. You suck in a breath as you feel him run a finger down your jaw.

“Open your eyes,” he tells you. Hesitantly you open your eyes and you jump. He had leaned in closer than he was before, almost nose to nose. “Hi,” he whispered.

“Hi,” you squeak out and mentally curse yourself for letting your voice go higher than you wanted. Damn nerves. Damn Stacy for not letting you have SOME alcohol in your system when dealing with this. He leaned in a touch more and brushed his nose against yours, making you breathe in.

“You ok?” he asked.

“Mmhm,” you say as you nod.

“You sure?” he asks as he watches your eyes, watching for any sign that you wanted him to stop. You nodded your head again. He let go of your hand, putting that hand on the back of your neck as he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. Your eyes closed as you let out a whimper against his lips. You kept one hand on his chest as the other slid up into his hair. He moved his lips against yours, you doing the same. You felt him running his hands up and down your back as he slid his tongue across your bottom lip before slipping it inside to glide against yours, making you moan into the kiss. The longer you kissed, the more heated it got. Both his hands on your waist now, you feel his fingers slip under the hem of your shirt as he turns to lean himself against the rail to pull you closer to him. His fingers splay out across your lower back keeping you pressed against him, lips still moving against each other. You slide a hand down, slipping it under his t-shirt and running it up his chest. Running your fingers lightly along his collarbone, you barely curve your fingers to drag your nails down his chest making him shudder. You feel his fingers dig into your skin as he growls against your lips, biting your bottom lip as he pulls back to look at you. He places another kiss on your lips as he looks at you before he says, “God, you’re gorgeous.” You feel your face flush the most it has all night and you lean your head to his chest to hide your face. You feel his chest rumble as he laughs. “I love how cute you are,” he tells you.

“Stop teasing me,” you mumble with your face in his chest, making him laugh again.

“I’m not trying to tease you, love,” he laughs as he pulls you away from his chest. He pulls your face to look up at him. “I love that you blush so easily. I find it endearing. It’s sweet,” he tells you as he brushes a strand of hair behind your ear. “You know… I’ve thought about kissing you for so long,” he admits as he looks down at you. You glance up at him through your eyelashes as you bite your lip. He quickly takes your hips in his hands, twisting you around until you’re leaning against the railing and him leaning over you. “Can’t be doing that now, love,” he says in a low voice.

“B-but, I didn’t do anything,” you tell him, causing him to smile.

“You don’t even know what you do to me… Do you?” he asks as he leans his forehead against yours. You feel your face flush as you shake your head no and look at your feet. You hear him lightly laugh. “Y/N,” he almost whispers. You hum in response. “Look at me.” You slowly bring your eyes up to meet his. He reaches across himself taking your hand in his, bringing it up to his lips as he presses a kiss to your palm. “Will you… let me show you?” he asks quietly as he gauges your reaction as he slides your hand down his chest slowly. Your eyes watch your hand as he slides it down until you realize what he’s doing and your eyes grow wide and snap up to his causing him to giggle and bite his lip. “I love how innocent you are,” he tells you.

“Here??” you whisper yell as you look up at him. He nods his head.

“We’re not gonna do anything now. I just want to show you,” he tells you, leaning his forehead back to yours again. You swallow thickly keeping your eyes on his as he ghosts his lips over yours. Goosebumps spread over your skin, shivering as you feel his breath against your lips. When your fingers slip over his belt, he turns both his and your hands so your fingers point down. You notice his breathing increasing before he slips your covered hand down to palm himself through his slacks. He groans into your lips when he squeezes your hand against him. You feel his tongue brush against your lips as he licks his lips, making you shudder. The hand on your waist gripping you tighter as he pulls you closer. He closes the space between your lips, moving his against yours. You copy his actions, never breaking eye contact and your eyes grow wide as you feel him stiffen under your palm. He bites your bottom lip as he barely pulls back from the kiss, keeping your foreheads together and lips still touching. “Fuck… Y/N,” he breathes against your lips.

“That’s... not... just… because… of me,” you slowly say. A slow half-smile appears on his face.

“What else would have caused this?” he asked as he squeezed your hand around him causing your eyes to fly shut as you bite your lip and blush. You hear him chuckle before he releases your hand. You hear him suck in a breath as you move your hand from its previous place. He takes a small step back from you leaving a little space between you. He runs his thumb down your cheek before he pulls your face up so you meet his eyes once again. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, love,” he tells you quietly, lifting his other hand to brush your hair behind your ear. “I just know that… you’re one of the ‘good ones’ as they say,” he tells you as he lets out a little laugh and you finally see his face slightly flush pink for once. “I know you wouldn’t ever think you could do ‘that’ to someone so… I wanted to… prove it… to you, I guess? You just... You…” he stops mid sentence to cup your face in his hands and run his thumbs across your cheeks. “You’re so amazing. You just choose not to see it. It’s in the way you treat your friends, how you always stick up for people that are being treated badly, how you always treat people nicely and how you smile even when you are having a bad day. It’s how beautiful you are when you’re just waking up or when you’re asleep. It’s how your face lights up when you see a dog in the park or when you’re walking down the street, how you can make a sad or crying kid laugh and smile in minutes when no one else can, and it’s how your friends love you back. Sometimes there are those friends that you’re just like ‘eh whatever’ but then there are those friends that you would do anything for and I know your friends are like that with you, and I’m hoping we can grow closer too,” he smiles at you sweetly, brushing the tears off your cheeks with his thumbs. “Please don’t cry. I can’t stand to see you cry,” he says quietly. You raise your hands to grip his wrists as he still cups your face.

“I’m sorry,” you tell him. “I don’t mean to.”

“You’re okay?” he asks. You nod your head slightly.

“No one’s ever been so nice to me,” you admit as you gaze up at him. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to your lips.

“So, what do you say? You wanna head back inside? Mingle some more? Together?” he asks you with a playful wink that makes you slightly flush yet again. He laughs again as he takes your hand in his to pull you away from the railing, slipping his arm around your waist and yours around his as you walk back inside. You stop at the makeshift bar to grab drinks before returning to the party. You see Stacy sitting on Jungkook’s lap on the couch as you round the corner and you hide your face in Dongmin’s side as you see her smile widely and poke Jungkook in the chest. You feel his chest rumble as he laughs. You already know what he’s laughing at without asking. He squeezes at your side as he walks towards them and takes the seat beside them, pulling you down on his lap much like Stacy was sitting with Jungkook. She looked at you with eyebrows raised.

“Y/N?” Stacy called your name and you looked over at her, face slightly flushed.

“Yea,” you said.

“You got something you wanna tell us?” she asked. You thought for a second as she looked from Dongmin to Jungkook then back to you.

“Nope,” you said with a smile. Dongmin nearly choked on his drink laughing. “Sorry,” you told him as he coughed to catch his breath.

“No, that was great, love,” he laughed.

“Love?” Stacy said. “When did that happen?”

“Okay, nosey. Mind your own business,” you sass at her. She looks at you with her mouth hanging open.

“What has gotten into you tonight?” she laughs. “I like it.”

“We are in the middle of a party. I don’t like discussing private matters in a sea of people, most of whom I don’t know,” you tell her in a quiet voice.

“Alright… we can carry on this conversation… later… if you two wish,” she smiles at you, looking between you and Dongmin.

“Thank you,” you tell her as you turn your attention back to the party. Dongmin squeezes your side reassuringly as he turns placing a kiss to the side of your head.

“Breathe,” he whispers to you. “Never seen you so fiery.” You can feel him smiling against your hair.

“Too many people I don’t know to be talking about private things,” you whisper back. The party lasted another couple hours before everyone started trickling out. Finally everyone was gone by 3 and you all started cleaning the majority of the trash up, deciding to leave some for the next day.

“Okay… It’s just us four.... And he’s not in here for you to be shy around, so talk,” Stacy says as you’re cleaning up the table while the guys are in the kitchen, no doubt having this same conversation.

“Ugh, fine…” you grumbled as you rolled your eyes. You glanced over at the kitchen window surprised to see that Dongmin had been leaning against a counter facing you, already looking your way. You made a face at him, making him laugh before you turned away.

“What was that?” Stacy asked you.

“He was looking at me,” you tell her.

“So you make a face?” she questions you. You shrugged your shoulders. “Normally you turn red and walk away.”

“That was before the party,” you tell her.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Well, he said he liked me, and I said I liked him too,” you explain.

“Well… was that all?” she demanded.

“No,” you say as you shake your head.

“Ugh, What else is there?” Stacy groaned.

“I…” you started as you glanced up at Dongmin. He winked at you, making you flush slightly as you shook your head and smiled. “I don’t kiss and tell,” you said as you smiled at her. She let out an audible gasp.

“You did not...” she said as her mouth hung open making you laugh. You watched Dongmin, who was watching you, out of the corner of your eye. He tilted his head and he smiled to where it made his eyes crinkle. That was your favorite. He loved when you laughed. You nodded your head at Stacy. “But you could barely be around him before the party,” she said.

“I know,” you admit to her. “Honestly, I’m not even completely sure what happened.”

“And to think… you didn’t even want to come tonight,” she said as she crossed her arms.

“Oh shut it,” you said as you threw a balled up napkin at her, making Dongmin laugh.

“So… are you… dating?” she asked you. You shrugged your shoulders.

“Dunno,” you tell her. “Doesn’t matter to me right now.”

“Really?” You hear Dongmin’s voice say in your ear making you jump as he wraps his arms around your waist.

“Fuck you scared me,” you laugh as he turns to nuzzle his face in the crook of your neck. “Stop,” you giggle, “that tickles.” You feel him laugh against your skin before he pulls back just enough so you can hear him speak clearly.

“Not until you say you’re my girlfriend,” he tells you as he starts digging his fingers into your sides, tickling you.

“Okay, Okay… I give. Please stop,” you say between laughs. He shakes his head.

“You have to say it,” he tells you in a laugh. You try to catch your breath.

“I do,” you tell him as you try to grab his hands and pull them away from you.

“You really think you can pull my hands away?” he laughs. He turns you around in his grasp to face him. You’re red faced and breathless from the tickling. “Catch your breath,” he tells you. It takes you a minute, but your breathing finally comes back to normal. “You good?” he asks and you nod in return. “Good, cause here’s round two,” he smiles at you. Before you have time to protest, he’s back at it, fingers digging into your sides again.

“Please,” you beg.

“Tell me,” he says. You take in a gasp of air.

“I’m…” you start between breaths of air and laughter. You take in another breath. “Yours,” you breathe out and his fingers stop their movements. Your breathing starts to slow as he lets you calm down. Once you can breathe normally again, you look up at him and smile. “I’ve been yours since the day we met.” His hands on your waist pull you to him and he presses his lips to yours. Your hands grab onto his arms for support before sliding up to wrap around his neck and pulling him down to you. You move your lips against his and you feel him smile against your lips before he begins to move his against yours.

“Okay, lovebirds, break it up,” Jungkook says as he walks into the dining room. “We eat in here.” You bite his bottom lip as you both pull away from the kiss making him knit his eyebrows together and whine.

“We need to go,” Stacy tells you and you pout with a laugh from everyone in the room. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll see each other tomorrow,” she says in a kiddie voice as she pats you on the head.

“Oh fuck off,” you tell her as you shove her hand away and walk towards the coat closet to grab your purse and jacket, Dongmin close behind you.

“You okay?” he asks as you reach the closet door.

“Yea, I’m fine. She’s just teasing me and she knows I don’t like it,” you explain. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you to him and placing a kiss to the top of your head. “Thank you,” you tell him.

“For what? I didn’t do anything,” he says quietly.

“Yes you did,” you laugh. “You checked on me just now, for one. The two reasons you had me in tears tonight would be number two,” you laughed, “just tonight in general, I guess.” you smile as you look up at him.

“My pleasure,” he says before he leans down to press a soft kiss to your lips.

@shyboyjeno

#astro cha eunwoo #astro eunwoo #cha eunwoo #eunwoo #eunwoo smut #lee dongmin #dongmin #astro dongmin #astro lee dongmin

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axailslink · 3 years ago

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Love is never too fast

Riri Williams x FEM wakandan reader

Summary: you've invited your girlfriend back into your home after making an alliance with the world of Talokan after two years because you have an important question to ask.

Riri watches you as you stand on your balcony just admiring the sky you were born in Wakanda it's home to you but its beauty will always amaze you. The colors in the sky clash together so many different shades of yellow, orange and blues it's amazing to see but even better to see with your girlfriend. Riri snakes her arms around your waist as she kisses down your bare back "you showing the world all your goodies?" You smile and shake your head "no I'm just enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin I'll never get tired of it" she nods "well hopefully you like cold weather just as much. I want you to come with me when I go back home." You sink into her chest "you want me to leave home and go with you?" She's stopped breathing you can feel it she's holding her breath she's nervous. "Maybe we've been together for two years and I was hoping you'd move in with me I got an apartment off campus." You nod and Riri is just stunned and surprised as she exhales "what?" "I'll go but you'll have to sneak me out" she laughs "or we could talk to Shuri" you hum. "I doubt she'd be fine with me just leaving home to be with my girlfriend..." Riri shakes her head and grabs your face planting kisses everywhere from your forehead to your chin.

"No you're not going to do that thing that you do when you want something you ask for it you chase it. Don't convince yourself you don't deserve it or that your big sister will say no." You sigh "I really want to go" you say smiling to yourself she nods "yeah?" You nod in response and she kisses you with so much hunger "Riri" you pant out as you pull apart "It's been years I'm not done" she pulls you back into the room and towards the bed "I've been sexually frustrated it's even worse when I can only think about you because you're all I want." You smile and shrug "all you want?" She nods "absolutely you know this you're the only one I want forever." You nod and glance over at your desk looking at the tiny black box "well you'll have to wait another moment because I have a serious question to ask you." "Yes" you raise a brow confused her "yes" sounds more like an answer than a question.

"You've been staring at the box since you brought me in here yesterday and my answer is yes and it always will be" you groan "you could have at least me finish the damn question Williams" she just laughs "I don't need a ring I don't need marriage but if that's what you want I want it too. Mom on the other hand is going to freak." You laugh as you imagine her mother's reaction.

"She's most likely not going to be a fan I mean we're still young you're still in school are we going to fast?" You panic and she shakes her head "love is never too fast we'll explain that to her."

A/n: most of my writing is unedited so you see a mistake guess what? Shit happens anyways enjoy this little snippet from my mind. @justariellove I remember you asking for a proposal request so here you go. Sorry it may not have been Riri proposing but the reader is and it'a not some big thing especially to me my family finds marriage as a continuation of promise that you'll love your partner.

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leelee10898 · 2 years ago

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Well, aren't you a Lamb?

This is my first submission for @choicesflashfics using the prompt "I saw this and it reminded me of you." Since yesterday was Easter, this idea immediately popped into my head. I hope you enjoy. I've also added a little 'visual aid' to give you the full picture 🤣

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: TRR gang

Word count: 876

Warnings/content: language; silly fluff

It was Easter Sunday. Riley wanted to share some of her American customs with her friends and family so Liam rented a huge cabin in upstate New York. Riley and Hannah got busy in the kitchen while Liam, Drake, and Maxwell ventured out into the nearby town for some necessities. Drake pulled the SUV into a parking spot and the three got out of the vehicle. "Ahhh. Smell that?" Drake inhaled, stretching his arms out. "That's the smell of fresh air right there."

Liam grinned and shook his head. "This town suits you, Drake."

Maxwell continued to sniff in the air. "I don't know Drake, all I smell is," he sniffed again. "Cinnamon. Oh man, that smells good." Maxwell took off towards the bakery.

"Maxwell, wait-" Liam yelled.

"Let him go Li. Let's go get the other stuff we need. We can collect Maxwell after we are done."

Liam looked hesitantly toward the direction Max took off in. "I don't know Drake.." A barrage of bad scenarios played out in his mind.

"Hell be fine. Let's go."

Liam shook the thoughts from his mind and joined Drake. After Liam and Drake went to the Liquor store and grocery, they headed further into town to look for Maxwell.

"Well, I don't see any firey crashes, or loose wildlife roaming the streets. No ones running in fear, so it looks like a win." Drake teased.

"We haven't found Maxwell yet, don't rush to conclusions " Liam sighed, Drake chuckled, clasping him on the back. Just as Maxwell emerged from the bakery, carrying a giant-sized sized pastry box.

"Liam! Drake! I was just coming to find you guys. I got dessert for dinner!" Maxwell beamed.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful Max. What did you get us?" Liam smiled trying to lift the box and sneak a peak. Maxwell quickly pulled the box out of Liam's reach. "Oh no Liam, it's a surprise. I can't show you. You'll see at dinner, let's go." Maxwell turned on his heel and took off for the car. Liam stood rooted in place Drake coming up and standing next to him.

"You want to know what's in that box don't you?" Drake snickered.

"I shouldn't. I really should but,"

"You do." Drake finished for him.

"Yup."

After a short drive, the guys made it back to the cabin. They helped Riley and Hannah put everything away and spent most of the day relaxing before it was time to eat. After a large dinner, the group sat around the table before Hannah pulled a pie from the kitchen and placed it on the table. "I made a chocolate silk pie. I hope you love it." She smiled.

"It looks delicious, Hannah. I can't wait to dig in." Riley licked her lips just asMaxwelll came barging into the dining room carrying the big box. He dropped it right down on the table making the table shake and some glasses fell over.

"Finally. "Liam breathed out. It was finally time to find out what Maxwell had in the box. The contents plagued Liam the entire day while Drake teased him with his thoughts. Exploding pasty, undercooked cookies, blood pudding, or dirt pudding equipt with real live worms were just a few ideas Drake tossed out. Liam shuddered at the thought.

"What do we have here, Maxwell?" Riley quirked her brow.

"Well there we were in town when Drake was rambling on about fresh air but all I could smell was cinnamon. So I ran into the bakery and found this." He gently tapped on the box. "I saw this and it reminded me of you." He smiled brightly at Drake.

"Aww hell," Drake grunted as Liam peered closer in anticipation. Maxwell finally lifted the top of the box revealing a cake shaped like a lamb. It had blue jellybeans for eyes that started to melt and turn to jelly, one eye slid making it droop. Its nose, also a red jelly bean also melted, causing a bit of redness that resembled a light coloring of blood just above the makeshift mouth, complete with a grouping of crooked, jagged, rotten teeth. Hanna gasped and covered her eyes with her hands.

"I talked the girls at the bakery into letting me redecorate his face. Doesn't it look just like Drake?"

"The similarities are uncanny, Max." Riley assured him trying to keep a straight face.

Liam broke out into a fit of giggles as Drake sat there with a deep frown on his face.

"It looks like it might eat me." Hannah peered between her fingers, which made Liam laugh even harder.

"Drake, aren't you going to say anything to Maxwell?" Riley pressed.

"Nope," Drake grunted again.

"Drake." She warned and Drake rolled his eyes.

"Fine." He sighed, turning towards Maxwell. "Ah. Thank you for this um thing."

Maxwell's smile grew even bigger. "Any time buddy." He clasped Drake on the shoulder. "I thought to myself, Drake loves animals and this one, well I had to make him look like he belonged to you."

"Well, it's fitting. I'm in hell, why not have a demented Lamb to tie it all together." He shook his head. He had been to an American Easter before but this one was literally the weirdest Easter ever.

@kingliam2019 @ao719 @emichelle @annabellewynter @twinkleallnight @tessa-liam @riseandshinelittleblossom @blackcatkita @katedrakeohd @tinkie1973 @ownworldresident @cordoniaqueensworld @lovingchoices14 @indiana-jr @txemrn

#choices trr #leelee10898writes #drabble #trr fanfic #trr #trr gang #choices flashfics

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destiny-fics · 3 years ago

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Summer Sessions: Three Strikes-Lee Hyunjae

[Lee Hyunjae x Fem!reader]

Genre: smut, Fluff, Country Club!au

Summary: Things don't exactly seem to be going your way recently. First it was being pushed into the pool by one of Juyeon's fans and now you're carrying the world's largest stack of boxes all the way from the golf course storage shed back to the lobby. Lucky for you, Hyunjae is there to help you out.

Part of the ‘Summer Sessions’ series, read the rest here.

Warnings: smut, their boss is a bit of an ass, pool sex, public sex except it's at night and no one is around, begging, teasing, dirty talk, oral (f recieving), pet names used: pretty, baby, babe, darling, implied polyamory, Hyunjae gets called Jaehyun a couple of times

General Taglist: @hiseu @yeosayang @avyskai @whatudowhennooneseesyou @foxdaisy @lickslixie @maskedmochiii

Series Taglist: @sanghak-enthusiast @thethreekims @alyricalhigh @nichobins @smuchsmut @alecanal93 @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @earthtosohn @quiltykissed @lucentchan

Smut under the cut. Minors Do Not Interact.

Apparently, according to your boss, finishing your shift at reception did not in fact mean that you were done for the day. No. It meant that you now had plenty of free time to carry things from the other end of the golf course, all the way back to the lobby of the club. You were going to have to have a serious word with whoever designed its layout, or perhaps you were just going to complain to your coworkers, whichever happened first.

You'd begun to type up a strongly worded email in your head to the landscaper of the golf course when you collided with a very solid wall, sending your boxes toppling over onto the green and you yourself backwards. The arms of the wall reached out to grab you and oh, that was not a wall you had bumped into at all. Walls didn’t have nice, warm, inviting arms…or arms at all. It was, in fact, Hyunjae, who was now looking at you with a small smile, his lifeguard whistle glistening in the sunlight.

“Hey there, are you okay?” you felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment from the question and you nodded, ducking your head in shame, you really could not do one cool thing around your co workers huh?

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to walk into you, I should have been looking where I was going.” Hyunjae chuckled softly and smoothed his hands down your arms until they were resting at your elbows.

“It’s alright. I doubt you could see over those boxes anyway.”

You looked to the boxes which were now haphazardly spread across the lawn, luckily sealed tight enough that their contents remained inside, and nodded “You’re right, I couldn’t see.”

“Then it’s okay pretty," He let go of your elbows and walked over to the boxes, beginning to pick them up. You watched him for a second, before going to collect the other boxes.

“Where did you need to take these?”

“To the lobby." Hyunjae hissed in sympathy "Thank you for helping me Hyunjae." He sent you a gentle smile which had your pulse quickening and he began to head across the course and back to the lobby, you following close behind, not-so secretly admiring him.

“It’s the least I could do pretty," He raised an eyebrow waiting for you to clue in to the fact that he was speaking, huffing a soft laugh when he caught you staring. When you had registered that you'd been caught, your cheeks heated up again and Hyunjae smiled, endeared.

“Sorry…sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was just saying that it's the least I could do. Especially after the pool yesterday ”

“Ah,” you sighed in embarrassment, “you saw that?”

You didn't know why you were asking, because everyone had seen that. One minute you'd been flirting with Juyeon at the lifeguard tower and the next you were being shoved out of the way by one of Juyeon's jealous admirers and right into the pool.

“I did indeed, don’t worry too much about it. Juyeon's fans can be intense” Hyunjae grinned at you and there was a sense of fondness about his words, like he didn’t mind the intensity as much as he was trying to lead you to believe he did.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Hyunjae grinned at you again and patted your shoulder gently “Good. It'd be a shame to have you be scared away from us.”

"If I haven't been scared away from you by now, I highly doubt it's going to happen." Hyunjae just winked at your words and continued walking. The two of you were now in the middle of the empty golf course and you looked around confused at the severe lack of people out playing. “You’d think there’d be more people out here today.”

Hyunjae shook his head “Not usually. They do the sprinklers around this time of day.”

You ground to a halt and your eyes widened “they what?”

Hyunjae stopped as well and turned to look at you, eyebrows raised “they turn the sprinklers on at this time, did you not hear what I just…oh.”

You stared at each other for a moment and before you could even think about running, were covered in extremely cold water as the sprinklers started their watering. Hyunjae very quickly maneuvered his boxes to one arm and ran forward, taking your hand and running across the rest of the golf course.

When you reached the main lobby and the safety from the sprinklers, a drenched Hyunjae turned to look at you, who was equally drenched “are you okay?”

“Apart from resembling a piece of paper which was left out in the rain too long? Yeah I’m alright.”

He chuckled softly and let go of your hand “good.”

You smiled and put your now soggy boxes down, beginning to wring out your hair. Hyunjae watched you for a little bit, a silly smile on his face, before a far too calm voice sounded from behind you.

“Miss y/l/n, Mr Lee, frolicking on the golf course I see.”

You blanched and looked up to see your boss approaching “No sir, you see I was taking the boxes from the storage cupboard up here like you told me to and while we were walking up here they started the sprinklers and-”

Hyunjae shook his head “She wasn’t doing anything wrong though, she was just doing what you asked her to.”

Your boss cut you off “I saw everything Miss y/l/n, and employees are not allowed on the golf course during trading hours,” You weren't exactly sure how he expected you to move boxes from the golf course to the lobby, without going across the golf course, but you weren't going to argue the point. Your boss pointedly looked at Hyunjae “And Mr Lee, I thought you would have known better than to misbehave and that you would have informed y/n on the rules of this establishment.”

Your boss held up a hand “There's no point in defending her, I saw everything,” he clicked his tongue at you and began to write on his notepad. “Being on the golf course without permission. That’s your first strike Miss y/l/n, make it two more and I’m afraid we’ll be seeing the back of you,” he motioned to Haknyeon to collect the boxes and nodded to Hyunjae before turning on his heel and departing.

“He can’t do that.” Hyunjae was fuming and Haknyeon passed a comforting hand over your waist before following your boss. "He seriously can't. He told you to get those boxes and bring them back here and he didn't punish me at all and I was on the golf course too."

You shrugged your shoulders, feeling incredibly defeated. “I should go get cleaned up. Thank you for the help with the boxes,” you bowed your head and scurried off, leaving Hyunjae standing soaking wet in the lobby and absolutely angry at your boss for the unfair treatment

“So she just left?”

Hyunjae sighed at Juyeon's question, rubbing his hand over his face “Yes. She thanked me and then left.”

He was currently with Juyeon and Eric at the pool after it had closed for the evening, Chanhee and Sunwoo were wiping down the poolside bar and Changmin was collecting towels off the chairs.

“I can’t believe you," Chanhee scoffed as he walked past. "You scared her off.”

“I did not…did I?” He hadn’t meant to anyway.

“I mean,” Jueyon hummed to himself “Kind of. She’s what, two strikes away from being fired because you helped her with something? And with all this flirting and sneaking around we've all been doing, she’s now probably terrified to look at you, let alone anything else.”

Hyunjae chewed the inside of his cheek, nodding. Chanhee, Sunwoo and Changmin moved to join the three around the pool, Chanhee resting his head on Hyunjae’s shoulder. “Look. If you’re interested in her, you’re probably going to have to be smart about how you go about asking her out, especially if our boss is that keen to fire her over nothing. Ask Jacob, Sangyeon or Younghoon how they did it."

“Hold on,” Hyunjae sat up a bit straighter “Who said I was interested in her?”

“You did, remember? You were all like,” Eric draped himself across the pool chair he was sitting on and in a very bad impression of Hyunjae’s voice said, “She was so nice and pretty and then she smiled at me and I thought my heart was going to come out of my mouth.”

Hyunjae narrowed his eyes at Eric “I did not say that.”

Changmin shrugged, “The sentiment was the same. But what you did or didn't say doesn’t matter if you won’t do anything about it.”

“And, for the record," Chanhee smiled. "We won't mind if you do something about it."

"Actually were actively encouraging it," Juyeon grinned.

Hunjae smiled fondly at the pair, who smiled back, before putting his head in his hands “But what do I even say? How would I even ask her?”

Eric waved his hands “We’ll work on that when we get to it. They don’t call me the master of love for nothing.”

Chanhee raised an eyebrow at Eric's words “How many people actually call you that?”

“More people than you would think Chanhee. But it’s not about me right now. It’s about Hyunjae wooing our pretty co-worker.”

Hyunjae groaned, refusing to look up from his hands. God he hoped they didn’t ruin this.

Getting the message to you had actually been fairly easy, far easier than any of them had imagined, especially Hyunjae, who’s heart nearly did come out of his mouth when he walked to the pool to see you sitting on the edge, face illuminated by a rather beautiful combination of the moon and the pool lights. You looked like a mermaid, or a goddess…or both. But whatever you looked like, you were beautiful.

“You actually showed up.”

Upon hearing Hyunjae speak, you turned around to give him a smile, tilting your head in the most adorable way “You’re surprised?”

“Well, I thought after the other day, you wouldn’t want to speak with me. And well, you know, I left Eric in charge of the message.”

You looked a bit sheepish and laughed softly, “I didn’t mean for it to come across that way. I just…don't want to lose my job. I didn't even know about the strike thing, it just, really scared me."

“No. I understand, I promise. And I'm nit upset with you at all. I just… I like talking to you.”

“I like talking to you too,” you smiled and looked back out over the pool “So, what exactly are we doing?”

“Well, I’ve got a picnic prepared for us, I thought we could do that after some night swimming?”

“Night swimming?" You looked back at him, eyebrow raised.

Hyunjae grinned and nodded, toeing off his shoes and taking off his shirt before running to the pool and jumping in. Once he surfaced he pushed his hair out of his face and motioned for you to get in “Night swimming. Come on.”

“In the club pool? Hyunjae we can’t, employees aren’t allowed in the pool after hours.”

"Oh come on, boss has gone home for the day and the night-shift workers don't care at all what we do as long as we clean up after. We'll be completely fine pretty." He pouted at you. “Please?”

You rolled your eyes before stepping out of your dress, underneath which was a black, one piece swimsuit which had Hyunjae’s eyes bugging out of his head.

"You’re lucky I was doing lifeguard training with Juyeon today." Hyunjae grinned at you and you dived into the pool, laughing as you surfaced. "There. Happy?”

“Very.”

You rolled her eyes again “Wonderful. Now that I’m in the pool, what exactly are we going to do?”

Hyunjae raised an eyebrow “Swim, of course,” he splashed some water at you before diving down into the water. You gasped as the water hit you and wiped it out of your eyes before going after Hyunjae.

It didn’t take you much to catch up to him, grabbing his wrist when you did and coming out of the water to breathe “Got you!”

Hyunjae grinned and brought you in close “Oh? Was that what you were trying to do?”

“What else would I be trying to do?” you tilted your head, noting the close proximity between you and Hyunjae but not minding much at all “I can always let you go.”

Hyunjae shook his head, eyes flicking down to your lips “I don’t think that would be necessary.”

“No?” You smiled, a teasing tone making its way into your words.

“No,” he leaned into your lips, hoping that he wasn’t misreading the situation. He wasn’t and you leaned up to meet him in the middle, your lips pressing together in a soft kiss. Hyunjae grinned against your lips and brought you close by your waist. You reached your arms up to loop them around his neck, playing with the wet strands of hair at the nape of his neck. When you pulled away from the kiss, you both blinked at each other for a while before beginning to laugh, pressing your foreheads together.

"Have…have you been wanting to do that as long as I have?" Hyunjae asked between giggles.

You nodded quickly "Absolutely. Ever since the first day actually."

"Really pretty?" Hyunjae smirked, pushing you up against the pool wall. He lifted you up so that you were slightly sitting on his thighs, legs wrapped around his waist. "Ever since then?"

"Hyunjae…" you whined softly.

"Hmm?" His tone was mildly condescending and on anyone else it would have made you angry, but on Hyunjae? The tone had you drawing him closer in the pool, practically forcing his cock in between your thighs. He groaned and the contact, chuckling low. "Oh Pretty. You have been thinking about this for a long time huh? And yet, you fucked my friends before me didn't you?"

"I'm sorry," you whimpered softly. "If…if you have a problem with that I-I won't do it anymore."

"Hey no," softness overtook the dark look in Hyunjae’s eyes and he brushed some wet hair away from your face. "I don't mean that. It was…it was just part of the dirty talk. I'm sorry. I don't want you to stop being with them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. I like you, I like you so much. But they do too pretty," Hyunjae kissed your forehead. "You're kind of like a superstar to them y/n."

You giggled softly at his words. "You really like me?"

"Of course I really like you," Hyunjae smiled. "I don't just let people sit on my dick."

You giggled softly and drew him into a kiss, "for the record. I like you a lot too, all of you. And I don't just sit on anyone's dick."

"You sat on Younghoon's so I'm told."

"He's not just anyone though, is he?" You hummed softly and began to leave a trail of kisses along Hyunjae’s neck. Hyunjae groaned softly as you licked over his sweet spot and jostled you, some of the water splashing out of the pool.

"No, he's not."

You giggled softly and pulled away from his neck to tilt your head in faux innocence "do you want me to sit on yours too?"

The look in Hyunjae’s eyes darkened and he bucked his hips up, pressing his erection right up against you. "I don't know pretty, do you think I've earned it?"

You pretended to think about it for a brief moment, tilting your head. "Mmm, I'm not sure."

Hyunjae huffed a soft laugh and pushed you out of the water and onto the ledge of the pool. "Well then, I guess I'll have to earn it."

"Mhm," you nodded, goosebumps rising on your skin at the sudden cool air surrounding you and Hyunjae’s fingers trailing up your legs. "Guess you will."

Hyunjae winked as he began to press a trail of soft kisses up and down your thigh, humming softly between each one, as if he was in thought. "How ever will I do that pretty?"

You shrugged, hand moving to tangle in his hair "I don't know, how will you?"

Hyunjae chuckled darkly and slid two of his fingers over the crotch of your swimsuit "how about I have a taste of you? Will that earn your favour pretty?"

"Depends on how good you are."

"Oh I highly doubt you'll be disappointed," Hyunjae grinned, pushing your swimsuit to the side so he could have full access to your pussy. He winked at you once more before levelling his face with your centre, blowing cool air over your clit and laughing when you squealed, trying to squirm away from him. "Hey now," Hyunjae wrapped his arms around your thighs, bringing you as close as he could without dragging you back into the water. "Where you going pretty?"

"Stop teasing Hyunjae or I really will leave."

"And leave me here alone? Babe, you're a heartbreaker."

You rolled your eyes at his antics, using the leg around his waist to push him into you. "Hyunjae…" you whined softly and the man looked up, swallowing hard at the sweet, seductive tone seeping through your words.

"Yeah pretty?"

"Make me cum for you…please?"

Hyunjae inhaled sharply through his nose and nodded before diving into your folds, water from the pool splashing around at his pace. Gone was the teasing Hyunjae from before, in his place a desperate, hungry man who was eating you out as if you were his last meal. You were almost certain the combination of chlorine and your wetness couldn't taste that nice, but Hyunjae was moaning like it was his favourite meal, like he couldn't get enough of it.

Like he couldn't get enough of you.

And not that he'd ever tell you, but that was exactly how he felt. He couldn't get enough. In the short time he had known you, you'd cemented yourself into his life, into all their lives. And he needed to show that to you. Even if none of them ever said it to you, he'd do his best to show you now.

He lapped at your entrance hungrily, thumb moving to draw quick little circles against your clit. The combined motions caused you to cry out in pleasure and had Hyunjae not had a vice grip on your thighs, you would have fallen forward into the pool. You knew people could hear you, they had to hear you, but you pushed that thought deep in the back of your mind and focussed solely on Hyunjae, on the pleasure he was providing you with.

"Hyunjae…" you whined softly "please…"

"What do you want pretty?" Hyunjae hummed softly, pulling away from your centre. "Hm?"

"Want…Want you."

"You've already got me pretty. What is it you want, want my cock?"

You weren't sure what you were begging for, but having Hyunjae’s cock sounded absolutely wonderful. So you began nodding quickly, pulling him close to you. "Please, yes please I want your cock."

Hyunjae calmed you softly, running his hands up and down his thighs, as he lined himself up at your entrance. He let out a loud, deep groan as he pushed inside of you, pressing his forehead into your neck. "Fuck…"

"You okay?" You hummed softly, trying to keep your voice even as the stretch of Hyunjae’s cock against your walls overwhelmed you. Your hand slip up his arm to wrap around his bicep, squeezing it gently.

Hyunjae let out a weak, little laugh against your neck, giving a couple of shallow thrusts in and out of you to test the waters. "Yeah…yeah I'm good. You," he laughed again and lifted his head to look at you. "You feel incredible."

You preened a little at the praise which had Hyunjae laughing again as he properly began to fuck you, hips slapping against yours and pushing little moans out of you as you spoke.

"You don't-mmm-feel so bad yourself."

Hyunjae chuckled again and lifted you back into the pool so he could press you against the wall, fucking you harder. The water splashed around you and you wound your arms around Hyunjae’s neck to play with his damp hair. "Yeah? Like me fucking you like this? Like my big cock stretching you out like this?"

"Mhm. Hyunjae…Hyunjae you feel so good."

"You do too pretty. So warm," he thrust hard into you, "and wet," another thrust "and tight." One more thrust. "Just for me."

"Just for you…Jaehyun," you whimpered softly and Hyunjae almost came right then. He was mildly ashamed that the use of his actual name almost made him blow, but there was something so sexy about his name, falling from your pretty mouth. It made him redouble his efforts, fucking you harder and faster then he had before, hips smacking hard into yours. You could barely string a sentence together, brain effectively reduced to mush from Hyunjae and his cock.

"Come on pretty, be a good girl and cum for me. Show me how much you like this dick huh? Cum for me, your Hyunjae," he leaned close to your earlobe to speak directly into it "your Jaehyun."

Perhaps it was embarrassing that those words were what made you cum, but your eyelids fluttered closed and you locked your ankles around Hyunjae’s back to stop him from pulling out of you. "That's it y/n. Good job my darling, gonna make me cum too…fuck," Hyunjae groaned deeply as he came inside you, thrusts slowing down as he rode out his orgasm.

Once he'd ridden it out, he pulled out of you, adjusting your bathing suit and lifting you up out of the pool before joining you on the edge.

"You know I meant what I said," he hummed softly, reaching over to grab a towel and wrap it around your shoulders. "I could be your Hyunjae, if you really want."

"And you wouldn't mind if I…you know."

"What fucked my friends?" Hyunjae laughed, shaking his head. "I wouldn't mind, in fact, I'd actually highly encourage it."

You narrowed your eyes at him "You better not be joking or I'll push you back into the pool."

Hyunjae grinned and pressed a soft kiss to your cheek "I'm not joking pretty, this isn't something I'd joke about."

"Well then, yeah. I'd like for you to be my Hyunjae."

The smile you were rewarded with was beautiful and bright and it made you lean up to press a soft kiss to Hyunjae's lips. "Perfect. Now, my pretty. How about we finish that date?"

"As long as we're gone in time to get back here tomorrow. I'm already on one strike, remember?"

He knew you were joking, but the words still made Hyunjae wince.

He'd do whatever he could to make sure you didn't surpass those three strikes. Even if it meant he himself got fired.

He'd make sure you stayed.

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janetbrown711 · 2 years ago

Text

A Sadness Runs Through Him

Pigsy confronts his feelings of guilt around his past, and more importantly, around Sandy-- though it takes a panic attack or two before he's really ready.

tw for PTSD, panic attacks, past murder, and brief mentions of suicidal thoughts.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Ao3 Link

Moving.

A task universally hated by all those involved, especially if they happen to be of pig-demon descent and also run a noodle restaurant.

While the apartment came pre-furnished, Pigsy still had to think of a way to bring his own pots, pans, spices and everything else he knew either wouldn't be provided or wouldn't be how he liked it. And that meant planning.

And if Pigsy was bad at one thing, it was planning– the only reason he was good at planning out his restaurant was because his grandmother helped set up and regulate everything for the first two years. Even when she died, she left him a bunch of resources to help the transition.

He was grateful, but his grandmother couldn't help him now.

"Sir? I've been ringing this bell for five minutes!" A huffy woman clutched her purse and tapped her foot as Pigsy realized he had been spacing out again over his "moving plans" paper– which was blank, obviously.

“Sorry– what’s your order?” Pigsy asked, and the women huffed in content.

“She wants the Liangpi! I heard her while she was on the phone!” MK called from where he was mopping two feet away– Pigsy and the woman’s faces both instantly turned red.

“Kid– what did I tell you about yelling in the restaurant?” Pigsy glanced apologetically at the woman before looking at MK.

“...Don’t?” MK scratched his head.

“Yeah kid, don’t,” Pigsy sighed, punching in the order. “71.54 yuan.”

“You know you really shouldn’t have kids here if you can’t keep them or your restaurant in order,” She snipped as she handed him her credit card.

Pigsy didn’t have the energy for this.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he faked the biggest forced smile he could and handed her the receipt and card back with force.

She continued to mutter under her breath as she took a seat at a table, and Pigsy got to cooking again.

He was able to go into autopilot in an instant, so his mind naturally wandered to the subject of moving again.

It was so high up and there would be a good amount of boxes– Pigsy wanted to avoid going down to the lobby to gather his things as much as possible, but at the same time he really didn’t want to hire a moving team either since it wasn’t like it was too much– just– things. Nah– Pigsy could handle the stares, he was grown. It was fine, a-okay. Totally cool– like– uh– ice, ice cool?

Pigsy needed to stop letting the kids watch TV.

Pigsy got to slicing the beef for her dish before all he really had to do was wait, and so he went to rinse the knife in the sink, when suddenly a familiar green flash ran right past him– causing Pigsy to fall back and almost drop the knife.

“KID-!” He barked, but was ignored by the girl climbing onto the counter and leaning beyond the outdoor bar.

“Hi Mister Tang!!!” She called and waved excitedly, and Pigsy could hear his familiar laugh from a bit aways.

“Kid– get down from there– you nearly gave me a heart attack,” Pigsy took a deep breath and shook off the scare before going to rinse off that knife like he had meant to. Mei still didn’t listen, continuing to wave until Tang was at the outdoor bar.

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?” Tang said, stepping through the door, which was the key to finally getting Mei down from there.

"I helped Mr. Piggy make today's noodles," she beamed with pride and Tang gave the chef a surprised look.

“Did he now?” He asked Pigsy more than Mei.

“Kid was practically begging yesterday– ‘sides, she learns fast,” Pigsy informed, done with rinsing and returning the knife to its proper place and checking on how everything else was cooking.

“I did a really good job,” Mei informed the scholar who laughed fondly.

“I can’t wait to try them,” Tang smiled, opening his laptop as he did every day.

“Thanks! I’d help more, but Mr. Piggy here says that it’s ‘too dangerous’,” Mei shook her head and got out of the kitchen to sit next to the scholar.

“I’m not wrong,” Pigsy rolled his eyes a little.

Mei didn’t say anything, but the chef knew she was sticking out her tongue at him.

“Mr. Pigsy knows what he’s talking about, Mei,” Tang sympathized with the girl, who now flopped onto the bar dramatically.

After a bit though, Tang added with a whisper, “though he can be kinda mean about it, huh?”, which sent Mei into a giggling fit.

More looks from customers. Especially that one lady.

"Yeah, Mr. Piggy is kinda mean," The girl laughed a bit more.

Pigsy gripped his ladle tight and continued to stir.

After a deep breath, Pigsy was able to completely tune out his surroundings, moving like the well oiled machine he was. Add a little bit of ginger, slice some mushrooms, check the noodles, pour it in a bowl, add the garnish and voila.

“Order for Wu Lian,” the chef called out, ringing the bell and placing the bowl on the counter before going to start Tang’s dish next.

Everything went silent again, as he carefully chopped onions and added just the right amount of ginger to the pot and began to stir– which was when he realized the bell was ringing incessantly in the background, forcing Pigsy to snap himself out of this.

“Yes..?” He asked.

It was the lady again.

“I found a hair in my noodles,” The lady frowned and crossed her arms.

I…is she serious? Pigsy had nary a hair on his chinny chin chin since– ever really (except that one time he attempted a mustache in the military but he didn’t like to think about that).

“Y…you aren’t serious, are you ma’am?” Tang spoke up for Pigsy.

“Do I look like I’m joking here? This is serious stuff– my husband works in the Health Department and I could call him right now to inform all of your customers that this– this demon is trying to poison us!” She raised her voice to get the other customers' attention.

Pigsy thought of a reply– something huffy and quick– but when he tried to speak, his tongue was heavy and a strange sensation washed over him and he felt disconnected.

Tang must’ve noticed, because he continued to speak for him. “Yeah, sure, call him over– I’d love to see you try and explain how the hair from a bald pig demon got into your noodles.”

“Ha! I’m sure this place is a real pigsty back there– so either remake the noodles, or I’ll call,” She finished her sentence with a big phony smile.

Tang clearly ran out of ideas, and now all eyes were on the chef, who was still standing around, almost watching himself and waiting to see what he’d do as well.

“Get out.”

Looks like he was going authoritative.

Wu Lian gasped. “Well– I never– my husband will be here so fast– I will just–”

“Get. Out.”

The woman scoffed again. “You demons are all the same-! Oh just you wait– I will sue you so hard and then you’ll see– you’ll see,” she continued her proclamations as she walked outside.

“...Pigsy? Are you okay?” Tang asked.

Pigsy shook his head in an attempt to feel connected to himself again.

“I’m fine. Just thinking about moving and stuff,” He waved it off and went to make sure none of Tang’s food burned.

“That lady was very mean,” MK set down the mop against the bar and sat on one of the stools.

“She was,” Mei agreed, crossing her arms.

“She was– but what do you mean moving,” Tang briefly acknowledged the two of them before returning his focus to Pigsy.

“We’re moving into a big ole penthouse uptown,” Mei informed.

“Ooh, you found a place?” Tang asked.

“Yeah– I just gotta plan how to carry everything at once,” Pigsy huffed as he continued slicing green onions.

“I can totally help-! I-if you need it– What day would you be moving?” Tang immediately offered.

“Tomorrow!” MK said excitedly.

“Tomorrow?! Pigsy! Why didn’t you think to ask for help sooner?!” Tang sounded genuinely baffled, which was a little funny to the chef.

“Tang, it’s fine– like I said, I can manage,” Pigsy shook his head, adding the onions to the pot and stirring.

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you need to.”

Pigsy poured Tang’s noodles into a bowl, taking a deep breath before eventually nodding, going over to serve him as he said “Fine– fine, just… Yes, you can help.”

Tang smiled that stupid smile he always had, with its stupid little tilt before he grabbed chopsticks and began eating.

“I can show you how I fit under the sink!” MK pointed out, kicking his legs excitedly.

“Yeah! And I can show you the cool TV! And Mr. Piggy can show you his bedroom!”

Tang choked on his noodles and Pigsy felt his heart stop.

.o0o.

Yeah, the lady was totally bluffing about the phone call, no health inspector ever came, and even if they did Pigsy knew he’d pass.

The rest of the night had gone without a hitch, though Tang did have to leave earlier than usual, which meant it got quiet pretty quickly. The good part to that was that it meant Pigsy was comfortable with the idea of closing early for once in his life, and so they all got to bed at a not-so-shitty hour.

Pigsy still fucking despised his alarm’s painful tone the following morning, of course. Especially because it was set even earlier than average so Pigsy could go get the moving truck from the rental place– though not without waiting for Tang to arrive so he could watch over MK and Mei (which was something he realized he hadn’t quite thought about before).

Once that was settled, and Pigsy checked in with Tang to make sure the kids ate, they got to putting the dozen or so boxes into the truck downstairs and it was go time.

Now… let it be known that Pigsy was a law-abiding citizen most every single day. He understood and had great respect for the rules of the road.

However…

The truck only had two, maybe three seats if you think you can place someone in the middle.

And so Pigsy drove, Tang sat in shotgun, and MK and Mei… Well, MK’s skill of fitting under the pipes was put to use in the space under the glovebox, and Mei was managing fine in that “middle seat”.

Look– neither Pigsy nor Tang owned a car and calling a cab seemed like a dumb idea so— it’s what they had.

“We are so going to get pulled over,” Pigsy muttered to himself as he got onto the main road.

“It was your idea,” Tang said.

“Hey– that’s my face,” MK giggled from the floor of the vehicle.

“Sorry MK,” Tang apologized and readjusted himself.

“I know! I know! I just–” Pigsy sighed. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”

Pigsy could feel the look Tang was giving him burning on his skin, but he kept on driving anyway.

Green Light.

“Pigsy–”

“I’m fine, Tang. You’re right. Sorry,” Pigsy shot. Tang raised his hands in his defense but didn’t say much so silence filled the truck momentarily.

This, however, was shattered instantly when Mei asked, “Mr. Piggy, what’s ‘booba’?”, which startled Pigsy so much it affected his steering.

“W-well, that’s– uh– hmm– that’s–” Pigsy tried to think of a response, but words were unable to form as his heart started to pound.

“It’s pronounced bow-ba, n-not… that way,” Tang touched Pigsy’s arm lightly while speaking to Mei. “And it’s a type of tea drink with tapioca pearls– it was big in the 90s, not so much right now.”

Green Light.

A car behind Pigsy honked at him for his sporadic driving and Pigsy wished he could give him a piece of his mind. The car gave him the opportunity as they switched lanes just to cut in front, to which Pigsy almost responded by flipping them off, but Tang put the hand down and gestured to Mei and MK with his head.

Yellow Light.

Pigsy sighed as he pumped the brakes to a halt, annoyed at both the difficulty of the action due to the truck’s age, and slightly annoyed Tang didn’t let him flip off the other driver. He was made even more annoyed though when the previously mentioned car made it past the intersection.And somehow even worse, another car behind him honked at him, and needless to say Pigsy was starting to feel his blood boil.

“Mr. Piggy, why are they honking at you?” MK asked from under the glovebox.

Pigsy rubbed his forehead as the car finally halted. It wasn’t like he was a piss poor driver, he just… hadn’t been on the road since– a while– but it was fine, everything was fine. If only he could actually fucking tell MK that, but whatever.

Tang took a glance at the mute chef and decided to handle that too. “Well, MK, some drivers are… mean.”

Mean.

Mei laughed, “Mr. Piggy’s mean too– maybe that’s why.”

Red light.

Blood instantly began pounding in Pigsy’s ears, his grip on the steering wheel causing his knuckles to turn white. Tang was saying something but Pigsy was just watching the light– the red one– the one on the right. He was going to drive straight ahead and he was in the front of his lane. He wasn’t going to be mean, he was going to be attentive and then everything would be fine and they’d all get there on time and they’d be all moved in and everything would just be so fucking fine.

Still red.

A hand attempted to touch his shoulder, which made Pigsy jump. Tang said something while Mei spoke even quieter behind him. Pigsy didn’t care– he was so fucking focused on driving. It didn’t matter that it felt like he’d walked up fifteen flights of stairs, Pigsy was doing what he was supposed to and he was doing it fine. He was fine, everything was so goddamn fine it was like they were at the apartment already. Sure he wasn’t nice, he was never nice. Who gives a shit if you reach your location anyways? He didn’t need to be loved. He didn’t even need to be liked. He was fine. This was fine. He deserved this anyways.

Green light.

Pigsy immediately began driving again, trying to stop his eyes from darting in every direction as hazards and sounds made themselves very present in his overstimulated ears. Especially the people in the car.The ones he was responsible for. The ones he wasn’t supposed to fail or let anything bad happen to. Was that a siren? Pigsy couldn’t think about that right now. Driving. Obeying the law to hide breaking it.

Green light.

Almost there now, just a few more blocks. Just don’t have a fucking heart attack and kill everyone in this vehicle because if you end up responsible for their deaths, you’ll never forgive yourself. What happened to Hai Xin is your fault. You remember how happy Sandy was. How in love he was. You remember your military friends too. Gone, shell of himself, gone, murdered, murdered, dead, dead, dead, dead, fucking dead.

“Pigsy–”

You didn’t go to court that day. You couldn’t stand looking at him. You still can’t. You broke him. You destroyed his life. You are beyond mean, you are cruel– violent– explosive– hideous– revolting–

“PIGSY– WATCH OUT–!”

The screeching of tires sent Pigsy out of his spiral as he slammed the brakes with full force, and the red light runner barely avoided a full-on collision. Everyone lurched forward, but Tang kept Mei from flying into the dash board. In a breath, Pigsy was able to pull off to the side, where he immediately parked, grabbed the pack of cigarettes and lighter in the cupholder, and got out of the car, ignoring Tang’s confused calls (not that he understood them anyways).

Pigsy walked.

He walked and walked and walked until he found himself a suitable bench by the–

Of course he was by the goddamn pier.

When Pigsy started to feel himself choke on the lump rapidly forming in his throat, he lit a cigarette and took a nice, long drag. His eyes tingled at the sensation as the usual sting filled his senses, but he was used to it. It was relaxing. Pigsy was relaxed right now. Especially with the ocean waves. Especially knowing Sandy probably doesn’t live too far from here– that he and–

Pigsy took another drag before he could think more. Again, calm washed over his body as the hot air flowed through him, giving him an addictive peace of mind.

“Pigsy? Pigsy, where are you?”

Tang was calling for him.

Pigsy didn’t care. He kept on inhaling the toxic fumes.

“Pigsy? P– Pigsy-!” Tang found him and immediately ran to the bench.

“Pigsy, A-are you okay? You were–”

“Fuck off, Tang,” Pigsy looked away from him, silencing Tang instantly.

“I… what?” The scholar stepped back. “Pigsy, what is going on? Why are you acting like this?”

Pigsy’s eyes were tired and sore as he unwillingly glanced at the ships on the docks, wondering if any of them belonged to Sandy or he managed to leave this shithole for good and leave him behind.

Another breath.

Tang sat down on the bench. “I… didn’t think you smoked.”

Exhale.

“Sometimes. What’s it matter to you?” Pigsy now looked at the ground, the brightness of the morning sun against the ocean waves hurting his eyes even more than the cigarette smoke.

“Pigsy,” Tang warned.

“What?” Pigsy grunted, still refusing to look at him.

“Pigsy– just– stop–! Stop acting like you don’t know that the kids and I care about you so just– tell me what’s wrong-! What happened back there? Please– I need answers– we need answers,” Tang grabbed his arm, and Pigsy finally looked at him.

…

Fear.

Tang had overwhelming fear in his eyes.

“I… I don’t know…” Pigsy was as honest as he could be, flicking his cigarette.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Tang asked, his voice low and soft. Pigsy shook his head, taking a drag.

“I don’t know, Tang. I just– I guess it started yesterday– I just– I keep losing control of myself– it’s like I’m just watching myself and feel like my hearts just all– tense and weird and shit and it’s all at the same time– I dunno,” Pigsy knew how stupid he sounded but it was the best he had.

“Oh, a panic attack,” Tang nodded to himself. “Is… that also what happened yesterday?”

“Yes? No? I don’t know, Tang,” Pigsy rubbed his eyes.

“Hey, that’s okay,” His customer got a little closer to the chef and wrapped an arm around the bench, his hand slightly hovering over Pigsy’s back. “Do you know what might’ve triggered it?”

Pigsy shifted uncomfortably, taking a long drag as he tried to and then immediately tried to ignore the possibilities.

“Pigsy, you have to tell me so I can help– because I do know a little bit about these things and– yeah I’m no ‘expert’ or anything but– I want to help,” Tang pleaded with the pig again.

Pigsy leaned back, releasing smoke before he closed his eyes and sighed. “I… god, it sounds so stupid but– I think… If I had to guess, then it was when the kid said I was…mean,” Pigsy mumbled that last word, but Tang understood.

“What? But Mei didn’t–”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Pigsy turned to him sharply, smoke flaring out of his nose (which had the fun side effect of making the chef’s head spin).

“R-right– Sorry,” Tang quickly apologized. “I’m sorry she said that– and I’m sorry I encouraged it.”

“Sorry for snapping,” Pigsy sighed and went back to looking at the ocean. If it didn’t remind him of his crushing guilt, Pigsy would find it calming.

“If… you don’t mind me asking… Why does that upset you so much?” Tang looked at the ocean briefly too.

Pigsy’s cigarette was just about done, so he put it on the ground and smothered it with his foot before grabbing and lighting another, all while Tang watched on, his expression unreadable.

“Because it’s… You’re gonna deny it, but I know that I’m not exactly ‘nice’ and you are and it just– I try to convince myself I can do this but every time I hear something like that it just reminds me of how much of an asshole I am or have been– and then I think about when I was in the military– and then I think about Sandy a-and–” the lump in his throat returned, so Pigsy choked it with smoke.

“Oh– Sandy…” Tang nodded slowly. “You… never told me what the deal with him is.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“Right…” Tang took a deep breath, before clearing his throat a bit.

“Look,” he started. “You’ve already told me a lot today, and it’s not like I can force you to tell me anything anyways– just know that– yeah, it sounds really really stupid and obvious, but you shouldn’t keep all these emotions and past feelings to yourself– it’s not– uh– healthy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Pigsy said flatly, flicking his cigarette once again.

“And whatever you tell me, I promise I won’t le–”

“Don’t.”

Tang blinked. “Pigsy–”

“Don’t. You don’t know–”

“Then tell me, so I can know and I can make that decision for myself.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Pigsy, you don’t have to tell me anything, but I can’t keep watching you torture yourself forever,” Tang placed his hand atop Pigsy’s and gave it a squeeze.

Pigsy rubbed Tang’s hand with his thumb, the embrace warmer than the pollution in his lungs and throat. He then looked into Tang’s heavenly brown eyes, and remembered all the promises he had made the day after they had kissed. About not hurting him– especially on purpose.

Get your shit together, Pigsy.

“...Later. Maybe after we get everything settled in the apartment.”

Tang squeezed his hand even more. “Good.”

When they stood, Pigsy was filled with an overwhelming desire to hug or kiss him, but ultimately smothered his cigarette before stoically heading back to the truck.

However, the pair came to a halt when they heard panicked whispers coming from behind a trash can, and when Pigsy went to look, surprise surprise, MK and Mei had been spying on them.

“Hi Mr. Piggy,” MK waved, before smelling the smoke and making a face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah kid– I’m sorry for scaring the both of you– I lost myself a bit back there,” Pigsy scratched the back of his neck.

MK winced at that, but Mei hugged him, which startled the chef.

“A-are you okay kid?” was the only thing Pigsy could think to say.

“I-I’m really sorry I made you run away– I-i won’t do it again, promise!” Mei said, looking up at him with desperate eyes.

“Hey now,” Pigsy broke her embrace to get on his knees and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault I got… scared. It’s just something that happens to me sometimes– I’ll work on it, I swear. Don’t stress yourself.”

“Okay Mr. Piggy,” Mei nodded slowly before hugging him again, this time around his neck since he was level with her. Not knowing what else to do, Pigsy returned the embrace, almost startled by how comforting it was. Soon enough MK joined in too, and Pigsy felt like he was almost going to cry.

He hadn’t had a hug this good since his grandmother was in good health.

“C-c’mon, let’s get to our new place, hm?” Pigsy forced himself to break the embrace before he broke down again. The kiddos nodded and they were back in the truck in no time, headed to their (mostly) new hoity-toity lives.

.o0o.

It took roughly two hours to get everything all settled, then unlocked, then transferred from the truck to the apartment, and by then everyone was hungry and so Pigsy used it as an opportunity to look for new local restaurants, frustrated by the overwhelming amount of chains. They eventually found a stupid expensive sit down restaurant and ate there, and while some of the waiters were confused by Pigsy, it was generally okay. They then returned the truck, got boba– not booba– at Mei’s insistence, and when they finally got back to the apartment, MK and Mei went to their rooms to set up what things they had and hopefully not fall asleep until dinner.

And then it was just Tang and Pigsy alone, unpacking his things, which took a lot longer than expected since Pigsy was a terrible planner and the boxes were…disorganized to say the least. It took at least three hours before the two of them were able to reorganize all of the boxes so they had a system they could then work with, and by then the sun was starting to set.

“Woah, nice jacket Pigsy,” Tang whistled as he pulled out a thick brown shearling jacket.

Fuck. Of course it was that jacket– that stupid stupid, really nice jacket from back then. Of course it was– and now He was going to have to talk about… that because he was acting all weird. Great.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

“Yeah, it’s from my time in the military– hence some of the patches– though I… tried to remove most,” Pigsy admitted, hanging up his one dress shirt in the walk-in closet.

“Ah,” was all Tang said. “Still– this is really nice– and I bet you look cute in it,” Tang said, before slapping a hand over his mouth, which made Pigsy laugh.

“Ohmygod I can’t believe I said that out loud,” Tang’s face was rapidly turning red, which just made Pigsy laugh even more.

“It’s alright, Tang,” Pigsy patted his shoulder and took the jacket, examining the folds and stitches in the leather carefully.

“When’s the last time you wore it?” Tang asked innocently.

“B-bajie– I swear I didn’t mean to– I didn’t mean to– It was an accident– I thought sh-she– A-and now– I-i can’t live with myself– Bajie please–”

“...Are you okay Pigsy? Is it the jacket?” Tang asked, and Pigsy realized he was gripping the jacket so tight his knuckles were white again.

“Bajie y-you have to help me– you know I didn’t mean it– I never would– I loved her– I love her– please–”

Pigsy took a deep breath. “Kind of…” he grabbed a hanger and placed it on the rack next to his other jacket.

“O-oh– oh no– I’m so sorry Pigsy– Forget I mentioned it– we aren’t done yet, so let’s just–”

“No… I need to tell you some time tonight and I get the feeling that if I don’t do it now I’ll just try to make myself forget,” Pigsy clenched his eyes shut for a moment, memories of Sandy flashing in his mind.

“Do… you want to go somewhere else?” Tang asked carefully. Pigsy glanced around and thought.

“I could use some fresh air,” He shrugged, referring to the balcony attached to his room, and so the two of them headed out there, both leaning against the railing and taking in the view for a bit first– which was especially gorgeous because of the previously mentioned sunset.

“So…” Pigsy started, though he was quick to realize how hard it was to find the proper words to describe his predicament.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to Pigsy– remember that,” Tang touched his shoulder in assurance.

“I know, I know, but it’s like you said– it ain’t exactly healthy, and you deserve the choice to know what I’ve done and then leave me– it’s unfair to keep you hostage,” Pigsy sighed, the remaining pack of cigarettes sitting heavy in his pants pocket.

“I’m not a hostage here, but whatever helps,” Tang said half jokingly.

“Right– well– um…” Pigsy took another breath. “So… I– well I– I was a really terrible kid, okay? Like– just the definition of a punk who needed a good whack over the head until he got his shit together,” Pigsy started, and though he could see Tang was trying not to judge or interrupt, he was very clearly struggling from his expression alone.

“S-sorry-! Sorry, I’ll try harder not to– express– emotion…” Tang apologized, clearing his throat and trying to set his face to neutral, and Pigsy decided it was best if he just kept his eyes forward for now.

“Well, anyways, I was a little shit and I– I had a friend– Sandy– who I knew through school and– Jesus, he was a real nice guy. Big and tough and scary, but nice deep in there,” Pigsy blinked away images of him to keep his focus. “We were quick to become a duo of punks, though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was clearly the one who was “influencing him”. His folks were absolutely terrible and all, but he was always more hesitant to start shit than I was.”

Pigsy glanced at Tang, who he confirmed was listening intently. Pigsy took another breath before continuing.

“When we were teens, we got into some steep shit– and being demons and all meant we were set up to be in prison for a long, long, long time… unless…” Pigsy dug his nails into his skin.

“...Unless you joined the military, right?” Tang guessed. Pigsy nodded.

“Since we were little shits of course we took the first opportunity to get out of trouble and wipe our slates clean– but– jesus– W-we made a lot of friends– demon friends, which I guess was our first mistake since it’s basically fact that most demons don’t… make it back from the military too often,” The pig demon’s breath was starting to get shaky so Tang placed a grounding hand on his back and rubbed it soothingly, which did help quite a bit.

“I-i was a real big coward, s-so it’s easy to say more than a few of their deaths are more than likely on my shoulders, you know? I-i mean I know– I know I didn’t get them enlisted, but I just– I didn’t jump on that grenade, I didn’t act fast enough to save Dino or Ace o-or anyone– but all that I-i think I could’ve lived with if…”

The cigarettes were taunting him in his pocket now, as well as the sake in the cabinet. He hated this. He hated every single part of this. He desperately wanted to run or to leap right off this balcony and– No, no. He owed this to Tang.

“When we got back– I-i just wanted to forget it– all of it. Meanwhile Sandy was keen on remembering them all– he even had a little shrine for them in his place– we fought like hell that day– but other than that w-we were okay– well, I thought he was doing okay– he even managed to find himself a-a nice girlfriend–”

Hai Xin.

“Oh, well that’s nice…” Tang said. Pigsy knew it was to try and comfort him, but his words just made Pigsy want to slam down fifty bottles of sake.

“S-she was a saint, l-like how he kinda used to be– she brought out the best of him like that,” Pigsy nodded along, his voice cracking ever so slightly.

“S-she and him– they were gonna get married– it would be in the summer on a boat with the sunset behind them a-and then they were gonna have kids– a bunch of ‘em– Sandy told me and everything– he even asked me to be his best man even before he proposed– it sounded so nice, Tang– he was so happy,” Tears were streaming down the chef’s cheeks now, but when Tang opened his arms for a hug, Pigsy shook his head and continued.

“B-but one n-night I get a-a call… from him, from Sandy– a-and he’s just– he couldn’t stop crying a-a-and apologizing a-and swearing he didn’t m-mean it a-and– he kept swearin’ it was an accident– it took fifty goddamn minutes before he was able to get himself together— a-and– a-and when he did I-i could see why…”

“No…” Tang gasped softly.

“H-he killed her, Tang. The court declared it as PTSD induced violence– a nightmare woke him up and in his confusion h-he attacked her a-and– he was sentenced to prison for five years and court mandated therapy a-and– god– It’s all my fault, Tang– it’s all my fault-!” Pigsy buried his head in his hands and embraced his tears now. “I broke my best friend a-and the love of his life is dead because of me.”

“Oh Pigsy–”

“N-no, because you know what? Th-that’s not even the worst goddamn part-!” Pigsy’s breath hitched before he laughed like a madman. “T-the worst part is that I could even testify for the best, kindest, most loyal friend I’ve ever had in my whole entire fucking life! I-i mean– Jesus, what kind of a friend am I?! F-first I made him a delinquent, almost got him placed into prison, basically force him to join the war which emotionally scars him forever, a-and then when his PTSD takes away what little joy he had, I-i couldn’t even be there for him– and then he went to prison anyways-! This is why you should hate me, Tang– why everyone should hate me– god, I can’t do this–”

Pigsy went to leave, but Tang grabbed his arm and forced him into a tight embrace. Pigsy tried to fight it, but Tang was surprisingly steadfast and kept him in his embrace until he gave up and buried his head into Tang’s chest.

“I’m so sorry Pigsy…” Tang whispered as he stroked his back.

Pigsy wanted to fight that. He was tempted to say, “you have no fucking right to say that” and “you didn’t know them– you should be sorry for them, not me” or even “serves me right” but Pigsy was exhausted, and so let Tang have this one as years of repressed sobs and shakes released themselves onto Tang’s scarf.

“Pigsy, listen… it’s not your f–”

Pigsy snapped right back.

“Tang, don’t.” The pig broke the embrace and tried to wipe his own tears away, but it would’ve been easier to dam up Huangguoshu Waterfall.

“Pigsy–”

“No. I don’t need to hear it– I don’t care– I-i need you to accept it. Denial’ll just hurt both of us– It’s just something I have to fucking live with– you too, i-if you want me.”

If you want me.

Pigsy knew he wouldn’t now.

Tang was silent, his emotions clearly all over the place and Pigsy stood there, feeling like a fucking baby with how many tears were just falling uncontrollably at this rate. Again he thought of the cigarettes in his pocket and the sake in the kitchen, but he decided to wait until after Tang told him he was leaving them– he needed to face the consequences for his cowardice completely sober.

“Okay. I’ll drop it. I’m sorry,” Tang said.

Pigsy blinked. “N-no.”

“No? I just apologized– what’s there to ‘no’?” Tang was genuinely confused.

“I said ‘no’ Tang– y-you’re supposed to be angry-! You’re supposed to hate me– kick me– scream at me– leave me– You aren’t supposed to just– accept this!” Pigsy shouted, nostrils flaring.

“Well I’m not and you can’t make me!” Tang shouted back. “I-i really care about you Pigsy– a-and I meant what I said earlier– I won’t leave because of what you did in the past– all I care about is the here and the now.”

“What kind of a moron are you?!”

“A moron who’s practically been in love with you for a year-!” Tang gestured furiously at himself, though lowered his hands when he realized what he said.

“L-look– what I mean, Pigsy, i-is that… I-i’ve cared about you for a long time, a-and–”

“I didn’t know your name a week ago,” Pigsy cut him off, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

“I don’t care, Pigsy! That’s the thing– I don’t care– I didn’t care when you weirdly had two kids in the back of your restaurant, I didn’t care when you adopted them that day out of the fucking blue, I didn’t care when you went silent as a ghost after I kissed you, I didn’t care when you had a panic attack at the wheel which could’ve almost killed us, I didn’t care when you told me to fuck off, and I sure as hell don’t care now.”

“Why not?!” Pigsy shook his head violently, and Tang grabbed his hands.

“Because I’m a fucking idiot, Pigsy, a-and I meant what I said, I-i– I love you,” The scholar squeezed the chef’s caloused hands tightly, forcing Pigsy to look into his eyes, forced to confront that the man in front of him was telling the truth.

He was telling the truth.

Oh god– what was he supposed to do with that– oh god oh god oh god–

Before Pigsy could overthink and ruin this, he hugged Tang as tight as he could. He didn’t know what his goal was, but he just stood there, holding his favorite customer, never, ever wanting to let go of him. Tang returned the embrace right back, and Pigsy buried his head in his shoulder and the tears came back in an instant.

It took a moment before Pigsy realized Tang was crying too, which made Pigsy hug him tighter and stroke his back in a similar fashion that Tang did earlier.

After a long, long time of standing like that, Pigsy croaked, “I’m so sorry, Tang.”

“Why?”

“I-i… doubt humans are this complicated,” Pigsy half-joked, which made Tang laugh a little.

“I’m not a clean slate entirely either,” He admitted. “But even if that wasn’t true, I wouldn’t mind. You mean a lot to me, Pigsy.”

Pigsy’s shoulders tensed at how much he was sounding like Sandy, but Pigsy wouldn’t ruin this– not right now.

“You mean a lot to me too, Tang. A-and I swear I’ll be everything a-and anything you need in the future– really– I-i–”

The chef would’ve rambled more, but Tang lifted his chin and kissed him.

“All I ask is for your company, and if something’s bothering you, tell me. I’ll help however I can, even if it’s just listening,” Tang smiled softly and Pigsy hugged him again.

“I-i can try that,” The chef whispered and Tang nodded in approval, kissing his forehead which still somehow managed to send butterflies fluttering down the pig demon’s stomach.

“I’ll hold you to it then,” Tang embraced the chef once more.

Once again, the two remained in their caress for a long, long time as cool night air settled over the two of them and their heartbeats became one.

After five minutes, a knock on the sliding door broke their embrace. Pigsy and Tang quickly wiped their eyes before they opened the door and allowed MK to step out.

“Mr. Piggy, I can’t find my uniform,” MK got straight to the point and informed his legal guardian.

Pigsy chuckled tiredly. “We’ll find it later, kid,” he said, ruffling his hair.

“Oh– well– I thought we might wanna find it now since we start school tomorrow.”

Pigsy froze.

“...Kid?”

“Yyyyyyyes Mr. Piggy..?” MK bounced on his heels.

“What day is it?”

“Sunday,” MK happily enformed.

Well… Shit.

The kid was right– tomorrow was their first day of school and Pigsy hadn’t thought about preparing them for it at all today.

Well this is gonna be just swell, ain’t it?