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chibienvychan03 · 4 years

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My Fictional Secret Admirer - Part 1 of That Damned Pikashaw Series

Secret Santa gift for Sakurras on a MLQC Discord I’m a part of.

Pairing: Gavin x MC, side of Minor x Willow

Warning: potty mouth/pervert Shaw, Sassy MC, little shit Zappy

Summary: Argh a certain someone is moving slower than an ice berg on a cold day. You voice your frustration to your gal pals, but a certain brat happens to overhear. He somehow convinces (ropes) you into pranking Gavin big time.

After a long day, you and a few female employees decide to have a girl’s night out. Sorry, not sorry Minor. It’s been awhile since you’ve done something with only your gender, and you’re going to have fun, not worrying about the opposite gender especially a certain someone who moves slower than an ice berg on a cold day, and that’s his good day too.

“And I’m not kissing him until he gets lessons.”

WHAT?! This sends you crashing back to reality.

“Ouch. So mean to your boyfriend,” Kiki pouts as she plays with the straw in her drink, twirling it around and sometimes blowing bubbles just because she can.

“And what about you? You haven’t kissed yours,” Willow points out as she’s stirring her drink. At least she can drink alcohol. Due to your low tolerance and Kiki turning the age where she can legally drink alcohol, you’re the designated safe person/driver.

Kiki sticks out her tongue and blows a raspberry. “We’re taking things slow. You’ve told me not to rush into things.”

This statement Willow can’t refute. “For once, you actually listen to me.”

“HEY! I listen to you, but that doesn’t mean I’m paying attention,” Kiki replies with a cheeky grin. “But at least we have boyfriends.”

You want to say the two of them have boyfriends. On the other hand, you do not as someone is taking his sweet time and NOT asking you. You’re not even sure he wants to be with you on that level. Instead of responding, you flag down the bartender and ask for another soda, but this time with a few cherries in it. The bartender doesn’t give you a look this time as he knows you’re the designated driver, meaning you can’t become impaired. He doesn’t question it once he finds out.

The two are looking at you. “What?”

“You have a boyfriend, right?” Kiki pokes you.

“Er… I’m too busy with work to consider having an intimate relationship.” In other words, you have no boyfriend even if you want one in the first place.

“Aren’t you dating that handsome cop? Gavin.” Willow prods while waggling her brows. How she manages that move, you don’t know nor do you ask.

In response, you turn a bright red, enough to make a tomato green (red) with envy. “He hasn’t asked.”

“He what?!” Kiki shouts after she almost chokes on her drink. She hits her chest to clear her airway.

“He didn’t ask her,” Willow reiterates your response, saving you the trouble of answering two times. She picks up her cherry by its stem before twirling it. “Then why don’t you ask him?”

“I don’t know if he feels the same way I do, and he doesn’t give other women any thought,” you say after some hesitation. It’s not that you’re jealous of the other women. More like frustrated with him and how slow he’s moving. Sometimes you wonder if he’s even moving at all.

Willow snorts upon your confession. “Girl, have you seen how he’s all over you? He’s crazy about you. And you’re crazy if you let him go.”

“He’s worried about me,” you say, not wanting to admit it… just yet. “Being his junior from high school. You know?”

This time Kiki snorts. “Oh it goes beyond worrying about junior classmates. You’re too blind to see it.”

“What do you mean by that?” you huff and cross your arms over your chest while waiting for your soda to arrive so you can have something to play with.

“Oh my gods, the two of you are painfully ignorant. It’s ridiculous.” Willow picks up her drink and starts sipping from what remains of it. “Woman up, ask him on a date. It’s the twenty first century. Unless he grows a pair of balls, it’s up to you.”

“What do balls have anything to do with dating and boyfriends?” You glance between the two of them who in return are giving you looks of exasperation. What? “Aren’t they toys for kids and pets?” Last time you recall, balls are spherical objects mean to give joy to whoever played with them whether it be for sport or simply having for.

“Even I know what that is, and I’m younger than you.”

Like ouch. Does Kiki have to point that out? “Gavin does have a ball cactus.”

As if on cue, both Kiki and Willow bang their heads on the bar like you see in the manga you’ve read where someone is exasperated at another person. What? Is it something you said? You’re left in the dark again. Maybe it’s time to do research on this kind of stuff… if you ever have the time. Between your work, taking care of yourself/home, and hanging out with friends, you don’t have time to do this research. Besides you do a lot of research for your work and sometimes you’re researched out!

“His name is Thorny and is surviving.” Surviving from Gavin giving it too much love (more like water).

“So is Gavin’s love for you,” Willow adds. “Don’t keep him waiting too long.”

“Yeah, you don’t won’t to become that old cat lady.” Gee thanks Kiki.

“HEY!” You huff. “It’s not my fault he’s moving slower than an ice berg on a good day.” Finally the bartender arrives with your soda, and he’s given you a little umbrella. Oh how sweet. It’s your favorite color too, pink.

“This dance is never going to end,” Kiki sighs a long one. She knows something or maybe it’s the alcohol talking, but either way, you want to know.

“Touche. It’s too painful to watch these lovebirds dance around each other.” Willow glances upward as if she’s asking some heavenly deity to do something about these two lovebirds.

“Someone has to get it going,” Kiki says as if you’re not sitting right next to them at the bar.

Willow nods her head. “Indeed. Dropping hints is useless since we all know how excruciatingly painfully oblivious both parties can be.”

Ouch and double ouch. Are you really that ignorant? Scratch that, you don’t want to know. “You two are drunk.” Yeah, that has to be the case.

Kiki bursts out in giggles. “You wish. I think I’m a bit tipsy, but I still can think! Unlike a certain someone we all know too well.”

Great. Now Kiki’s roasting you too? It makes you wonder if she’s been secretly spending time with a certain CEO who has a penchant for roasting you on a regular basis. Nah, it couldn’t be, could it? Between her school work, work, her boyfriend, and close friends, you doubt she has much time to learn the fine art of roasting people.

You smack her with your purse, not too hard since you need her to be able to work in a couple days.

Her response? She starts giggling hysterically.

“Ignore her. She’s drunk.” Willow waves her hand, the one not holding her drink. “But all things serious. Be direct and up front with Gavin. Dropping hints will get you nowhere.”

“I don’t know. What am I supposed to do? Walk up to him and demand to know why he hasn’t asked me on a date?” Or kissed, but that happens after you start dating. It’s not like you’re complete strangers. You already have a long history with him even if a fair chunk of it is you misunderstanding him.

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You always have.”

“Or you can pull him down by his tie and kiss kiss.” Kiki makes kissing sounds.

The mere thought of doing what Kiki suggests causes you to turn bright red. “I don’t think he’s into PDA.” As for you, you don’t think your heart can take it even if you want it.

“Oi vey. Of course he’ll want to stake his claim on you, but it’s only if you let him. Guys are like that. Trust me. He’d want to let the entire world know you’re his.”

“Wow, I didn’t know Officer Gavin has a possessive side. Maybe Kiro would be a better choice.” Ah the Kiro fangirl emerges.

Willow rolls her eyes. “Not that kind of claiming, more like being in an exclusive relationship, and you’re off the dating market.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Just not that night. All you want to do is go home and sleep.

But first you need to make sure your drunk and slightly drunk friends make it home in one piece. After all, you’re the designated person… and a responsible boss.

Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin

Unlike your so called friends, you wake up the next day hang over free, which puts you in a very, very good mood. Good enough to tease those two through texts about what a wonderful day it is. When they do not reply, you’re not surprised. They’re probably hiding underneath their blankets and covers, waiting for the world to stop spinning or for the loud noises to go away. You’re tempted to suggest getting noise cancelling headphones. Being an unfortunate traveler (for work sigh), you procured a pair of your very own. Plane and train terminals tend to be quite noisy. Sometimes you want to hear yourself think.

When you unlock your phone, you notice you have a few messages. You start reading your messages.

Levi : When’s a good time to bring over my gifts for you?

“Big brother spoils me,” you giggle. While you’re not officially related or by blood, he’s taken you under his wing. The last time someone tried coping a feel, well let’s just say he wound up in the hospital with two broken hands.

You then remember him saying something about an overseas trip he’s taking back to the States, something about visiting his adopted family. He rarely mentions them and when he does, it’s bits and pieces. Since you respect his privacy, you try hard not to poke your nose into it and ask too many questions. If or when he’s ready, he’ll tell you. So far, you know he’s adopted and has one adopted brother but no sisters.

MC: How about having lunch? It’s been a long time since we got together.

Levi: Sounds like a plan. That new café? The one you mentioned in your moments post? :D

Wow. Does he have his phone in his hand all the time? Or maybe you’re lucky and catch him when he’s actually looking at his phone?

MC: That sounds great, and no we’re going double dutch. You’re NOT paying for mine.

Levi: ): I’m catching up on all the years I haven’t spent with you.

MC: I bet you bought me a ton of souvenirs.

Levi: XD Caught red handed. Okay, we’ll pay our own bill.

Seeing those emojis, you can’t help but giggle again. It’s not that many, however, you don’t recall any male you keep in contact using them on a regular basis. You decide to not say anything about it especially since it appears he’s having fun.

Anna: You forgot to text me when you arrive safely at home.

Oh oops?

MC: Sorry! D: I knew I forgot something, but I couldn’t remember. Next time I’ll write myself a reminder.

Okay next text.

Kiro: Miss Chips! Hear anything about Souvenir? QAQ They haven’t been opened lately, and I’ve been craving their food.

Kiro: Forgot to tell you, I’ll be busy for the next 2 to 3 weeks. If they open, you have to let me know. K?

MC: Are you planning on sneaking out if they’re open?

Kiro: Please don’t tell Savin! I’m tired of the same old, same old food.

MC: Fine. You owe me for keeping an eye on that restaurant.

Kiro: Miss Chips is the best! Crap. Gotta get back to work. Chuu.

You stare at your phone. Did he just? Nah, you’re probably reading too much into things like a certain couple of busybodies do on a regular basis. Since you don’t want Savin to catch him texting you, you decide to text him later with an update on his favorite restaurant.

Gavin: I’m free today. Would you like to have lunch with me? My treat.

Er… You already made plans to have lunch with your big bro. But the more the merrier, right?

MC: You can join me and my big bro for lunch. He got back from his trip.

Gavin: Since when do you have a big brother?

MC: A few months ago. I meant to tell you then, but you were swamped with work and then it slipped my mind. Sorry! It wasn’t on purpose I swear.

Gavin: He sounds kind of fishy if you ask me.

MC: He’s not like that. Just wait until you meet him.

MC: For the record, he broke two hands of someone trying to touch me.

Gavin: Why didn’t he beat the guy up?

Unbelievable. You can’t believe Gavin would suggest such a thing.

MC: It was crowded and we’re in public.

Gavin: Give me his contact info. I can help him.

Something tells you between the two of them if anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way, he’d be sent to the hospital with multiple broken bones, and that’s if they’re feeling generous enough to let the guy live. You’re having second thoughts about the two meeting, but then again, big bro has been pestering you about the guy you’re interested in.

MC: Ask him at lunch.

Gavin: Understood.

The next text you send is where and when to meet. You hope this won’t be your worst decision, letting these two get to know each other and having team up against anyone who bothers you. “I’ll worry about that later.” While you hope they get along, you hope they don’t get along to the point of being accomplices.

The last few texts are spam. Didn’t you sign up for that thing about spam texts? These companies obviously aren’t letting that stop them. Whatever. You delete them.

Thaw: Unlock your window. I know you’re awake.

MC: Why are here this early?

Thaw: Just open it!

MC: It’s early for YOU! *suspicious eyes*

Thaw: You want to know why I’m here or not?

This guy. Although you’re tempted to leave him out there in the cold, your curiosity once again gets the better of you. Wait a second, Shaw never said which window, leaving you to look out of every window until you manage to find the one he’s crouched next to.

“Took you long enough,” Shaw grumbles once you open the window and slips into the warm room. The way he’s dress, he resembles a punk snowman. It causes you to giggle and him to pretend he never heard or saw what you did.

“If a certain someone told me which window he’s behind, I would have opened it five minutes earlier. Did you forget, I have a lot of windows?” You poke him on his chest, which he swats away your finger.

“Whatever.” In his language, it means he admits his guilt without actually admitting it. “A little birdy told me something interesting yesterday.”

“Pearly?”

“What?”

“Zappy?”

“What the hell?”

“Fiery?”

“You describing me or yourself?”

“Icy?”

“The fuck?”

You’ve run out of birds you know, which is a total of four who belong to a certain Birdcop the one you want to move faster. Sheesh. Sometimes you wonder if he’s moving backwards in spite of him wanting to spend time with you.

“Forget about the birdy. Don’t you want to know?”

“Something tells me I don’t want to know.” You close the window as soon as you’re reminded you have yet to close it. No need to let perfectly good warm air outside or let the cold air into your warm home.

Shaw pretty much laughs in your face, to which you’re tempted to slap him… using both hands. “My brother is an idiot.”

“That’s not nice to say,” you pout. Sometimes you wish you had biological siblings, but you suppose your adopted big brother is better than nothing. His spoiling you has no part in your decision. How does he have all that money in the first place? His first job must be well paying though he never tells you nor do you think he will.

“I could call him something much worse. You want to hear?” One shake of your head. Nope. “I admit he’s damn good at his job, but when it comes to his personal life, he’s very shitty.” While you don’t appreciate his language, you do agree with him.

“What about it?”

“Grab your laptop or a pen and paper. We’re going to get my fucking moron of a brother to ask you on a date.” Did he just say what you think he said?

“What are you waiting for? Chop, chop. Unless you want me to look for them myself.”

On second thought, you’d rather find the items he requested than have him poking his nose or any other part of his body where it doesn’t belong. You grab both your laptop along with a pen and paper. Laptop for research and the pen/paper for keeping notes. Sure, you can use your electronics to keep your notes, but your older brother has told you many times that even if you delete it, that incriminating information can be pulled from the depths of the hard drive. You’d rather not take any chances.

“Pen and paper? Old fart.”

You scowl. “It’s called decreasing my paper trail. Did you know they still can find what you’ve deleted on your computer or laptop?”

Shaw gives you that disbelieving stare. “You finally said something smart for a change. Who told you that? I know you couldn’t have figured that out.”

Why you! Then again… “I also have a big brother. Want to meet him?” you tell him as you bat your eyes in a suggestive manner. More like you want his face to meet your big bro’s fist.

“What the hell? You don’t have any siblings. Quit fucking messing with me.” As if he doesn’t do that to you on a regular basis.

“Well I do now. A few months ago. Got a problem with it?”

Shaw plops himself down on one of your plush chairs. Hey. Shoes! But he doesn’t seem to be too concerned with it. “As if I care about your family.”

You tap your foot while crossing your arms over your chest.

“Next time have a pair of fucking slippers next to the window.”

“Normal people enter through the front door.”

“Have I ever been normal?”

Point taken. You use his distraction to yank off his shoes, much to his surprise and bring it to where he’s supposed to place them. Since you never know when your older brother or Gavin will drop by, you have a few larger slippers waiting for them. You grab a pair and then throw it at him.

“Feisty. No wonder my stupid brother is smitten.”

“What?”

Shaw pushes off the slippers until they fall onto the floor near him. “But he’s too much of a damned chicken to ask you.”

“Ask me what?” Not that you’ve actually gone on a date with him or been together long enough for him to pop the question.

Shaw sighs a long one. “You’re just as stupid as he is. No, it’s not marriage. You haven’t even kissed or gone on a date. So what do you think?”

“If it’s not that, then… on a date?”

“FINALLY! She gets it. Yeah, we need him to get his shit together and grow a pair of balls.”

“We?” There’s that reference to balls. You’ll have to ask your big brother later.

“Being the ‘loving’ little brother I am, I want him to be with the woman he’s heads over heels over.” Loving? Ha, yeah right. What’s his motive?

“And how do you propose we do that? You plan on pranking him?”

“Heh, maybe you’re not as stupid as you look.” Grrr….

“Like whoopee cushions? Stink bombs? Switching the salt and sugar? Bucket of water on his head?”

“I take that back. You’re fucking stupid.” Geee thanks, THAW!

“Whatever you say, Thaw.”

“You want my help or not?” He’s about to put his stinky feet on top of your nice and clean table. When you glare at him, he plops his feet on the chair nearest to him.

“Is it illegal?”

“Is it illegal to be this stupid? If things go according to plan, it shouldn’t.” How many times has he told you his fool proof plans only to have them spectacularly backfire in both of your faces?

“Then what is it?”

Your stomach interrupts him as it reminds you that you have yet to eat breakfast. Oops? Since you know the big brat of a mooch is on your chair, you might as well feed him before kicking him out of your apartment.

“Is that a stomach or a dragon?”

“You want free breakfast or not? Yes, I do have Pepsi and Coke.”

Shaw shrugs and follows you into the kitchen area where you have a table for everyday meals. “I like living on the edge. Why not? It’s free food.”

What is that supposed to mean? It’s not like your cooking is hazardous to one’s health, not after all those lessons from the certified teachers and your mentor (big brother) and even rare, a certain Tsundere who happens to be a 5 star chef in the disguise of a CEO. You pull a can of Pepsi and Coke from your fridge before placing it in front of your so called guest. Next you set a large plastic cup in front of him.

“Plastic? I’m not a kid.”

“I’m not taking any chances.”

Since you’re going to be discussing… plotting how to get Gavin to “grow some balls and ask you on a date,” it should be something that doesn’t require much concentration. You decide on egg scrambles. As to what you’re going to put in it… Your fridge is nicely stocked thanks to you having gone on your weekly grocery run. You’ll put in red bell pepper, spinach, onions, sausage, and a bit of cheese.

“No complaining,” you say this as you’re about to start chopping the veggies, waving a large (and sharp) knife at him.

“Gee. My brother is going to be so whipped when you two get hitched.” He holds hands up in a mock surrender. “Smitten kitten.”

“So what is your big and glorious plan to get him to ask me on a date?” Thanks to your big brother, your knife skills have vastly improved to where you’re no longer cutting yourself… unless you’re surprised or startled. Since you pretty much live alone, there isn’t much to distract or startle you.

Shaw props himself up on his hands, his arms on your table. “We are going to give you a secret admirer.”

“Say what?!”

Shaw winces and in an exaggerated manner tries to clear his ears. “Gods… I don’t think they heard you in Japan or Australia.”

You ignore the comment on the volume of your shout. “What do you mean by giving me a secret admirer? Is that supposed to be you?”

Once Shaw ceases his fake deafness, he becomes as serious as he can be, which compared to others isn’t that much. “No, it’s not me. Why would I want to be a secret admirer of an idiot?” Intense glaring. “We’re going to make up a secret admirer.”

Of all the ludicrous plans of his, this takes the entire take and then some. “… Are you planning on hiring someone to give me gifts?”

This time Shaw laughs, but stops when he sees your knife. “No, we’re going to do it ourselves. Mail takes too long. Borrow Zappy from my idiotic brother.”

Eh? Does not compute. How does Zappy come into this? “Why Zappy?”

“The little guy is like me. He’ll be more than happy to be a little shit to his owner.”

“….”

“And he’s easier to bribe. Hope you have canned mandarin oranges.” Recalling your most recent grocery run, you remember picking up more than a few cans of mandarin oranges. What? You like eating them out of the can when they’re stored in your fridge.

After chopping your ingredients, you crack several eggs before you beat them in a bowl, imagining each yoke to be a certain annoying person’s face. It’s a productive way to get your frustration out. “Yeah, I have some cans.”

“One less thing to take care of. Knowing you, you wonder what Zappy’s involvement in it is. Remember way back when, birds were used to deliver messages?” Nod. “Zappy is going to be our delivery bird.” Wait a moment, how would this cute little bird know where you are? Or carry anything? “Trust me on this. That little shit can find anyone when he wants to and I’ve seen him carrying several kilos in weight.”

“But how would he get what needs to be delivered?” Now you’ve moved to your pan and heated up the oil. Your next move is to stir fry your onions, sausage, and veggies until they’re mostly cooked. If you put them in all at the same time, your eggs will end up burned before the veggies and meat finish cooking.

That’s when he points to himself. “I’ll be holding onto Zappy until it’s time for delivery and you get back home. My idiotic brother doesn’t recognize my handwriting.”

“Then how would you get the gifts to give me? I know you’re not fond of shopping for anything you’re not interested in.” Not to mention, he was a cheapskate… most of the time.

“We’re going shopping today.”

“I’m having lunch with my big bro and Gavin.”

Shaw scowls at first but then brightens up. “You can ask your soon to be bf for Zappy.”

“Won’t it be weird if I ask him?”

“Heh. Must I explain everything to you. Never mind. I’ll go ahead and do it. You’d think the wrong things. Tell him you need Zappy for a project you’re working on. Technically you’re not lying to him. You have a project but it’s not for work.” Ah that smug smile whenever he comes up with a brilliant plan.

Since you’re not lying, you decide to go along with it. What Gavin doesn’t know won’t hurt him in this case. “Logistics taken care of. What is my ‘secret admirer’ going to give me?” He gives you a blank stare. “You don’t have any idea.”

“How am I supposed to know what you like? Remember the key is to make him jealous enough to ask you. That means your secret admirer knows your every preference.”

That totally makes sense. “And I guess we’re going to be buying everything today?”

“Most of the stuff. Your secret admirer will be buying you meals to be delivered to your work.”

Once the scrambles finish cooking, you start toasting the bread. It’ll be done by the time you finish plating your creation. “I guess you’ll be making those calls?”

“Correct. He can’t see or know you’re ordering them for yourself. Otherwise what’s the point in creating your secret admirer? He’d have to be blind and deaf.”

You nod your head. “Minor tends to be a blabbermouth.”

“Fuck… I knew I was forgetting something.” Eh? So Shaw does make mistakes. Good to know.

“Um? He can tell Gavin what I receive?”

“I was going to say post your gifts to your moments…”

“Can’t I do both? It’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s another to see.” You slide over his share, toasted bread and fork included.

“So you do have a brain. Why don’t you use it more?”

You reach over to your used frying pan. “How about I start using this more?”

“You’re perfect for each other.” What is that supposed to mean? “Since you have time, we’ll need to figure out what your secret admirer will be giving you. Minimum of three per day.”

Monday.

1. Favorite tea

2. Favorite snack

3. Fine candy from overseas

Tuesday

1. Bouquet of flowers

2. Lunch delivered from fast food restaurant

3. Cute cell phone case

Wednesday

1. Tea set

2. Lunch delivered from fancy restaurant

3. Coupon for massage

Thursday

1. Earrings

2. Bracelet

3. Necklace

Friday

1. Lunch for employees

2. Candy making machine

3. Me in a naughty lingerie

You make another list and group them according to where you’re buying them. Grocery, candy place, cell phone store, your fave tea place, jewelry shop, massage parlor, and that naughty ahem. Seven shops. Looks like you have your work cut out for you that afternoon.

“Don’t take forever to eat lunch.”

You roll your eyes at him. “Of course not, we have a full day of shopping and not a lot of time to do it.” The New Light mall should have everything you need except for that shop. For that, you’ll need to walk a block down, but that’s the last thing on your list as it’s open much later than the others. You guess it’s due to the cliental and emergency purchases.

When Shaw starts talking about the naughty lingerie, you decide it’s time for him to leave so you can prepare for your lunch date. You kick out a hysterically laughing Shaw.

Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin

When you arrive at the restaurant on time, you notice two things… or rather two people having a nice conversation with each other. Your big brother and Gavin. Seeing their phones out, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out they have exchanged contact info. You hope it won’t end up with either of them in the hospital as you care for them both in different ways. You race up to them.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting for long.”

“Nope. I’m excited to see my little sister.” That’s when you notice several bags near him. “These are all yours.” How are you supposed to carry them?

“I’m too early, and I can give you a ride,” Gavin offers.

Speaking of which, you remember what Shaw has told you about your plan. “Er… mind if we swing by your place?”

Gavin blinks several times in response.

“Mind if I borrow Zappy? It’s for a project I’m working on. Please?”

Gavin runs his hand through his hair. “Sure, but don’t expect him to cooperate. He can be… a pain to deal with.” That’s what he thinks. You know how to bribe this little birdy so it’s no problem. The three of them are smart and each have their own personalities.

“I have my ways. So let’s grab a table?”

“Why don’t we put this in my car?”

Eh, car?

This time Gavin blushes. “Bought one.”

Oh. You recall you complaining about the rain and snow whenever he drives you anywhere. While he doesn’t mind it, you do. Not that he’s a horrible driver in inclement weather. You know you’ll arrive in one piece, but that doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy the ride there.

When you carry your gift to Gavin’s car, you notice your big bro’s truck parked nearby. While it doesn’t stand out, you’ve ridden in it enough time to be able to recognize it even if it’s raining or snowing. Considering how much he’s given you, it makes sense for him to drive this beast of a vehicle. It seems your big bro and Gavin approve of each other so far.

After you placing your order, an awkward silence ensues. You fidget in your seat as you’re unsure what to start talking about, and you notice your big bro is tired in spite of him trying not to show it. Also you have no clue as to what they’ve discussed in the time before your arrival. You want to know, but at the same time, you know both of them well enough to know they’d clam up before they tell you anything they don’t want you to know.

“So how was your trip?”

“Eh. It’s okay. My little brother wasn’t his usual pain in the rear self. My parents were their usual selves.”

“You mean pestering you about getting a boyfriend and adopting a kid?”

Your big brother chuckles as he scratches the back of his head. “Yeah. I haven’t found the one, you know?”

You nod your head, glancing over at Gavin who has taken to playing with his drink as the two of you chat. “You can say that again.” You pause. “I found someone, but… I don’t know if I’m good enough.”

“Pah. He should be grateful you’re interested in him. If anything, it’s he who isn’t good enough for my little sister. I mean you’re funny, friendly, caring, generous, talented, and hard working.” Just like your one, your brother says what he means and means what he says. So in short, he’s being his genuine self. “If he breaks your heart, let’s just say he’s going to need an ambulance.”

“Er… that’s not necessary. He’s sweet and caring, but he’s kind of slow on the uptake.” You say while you keep watch of Gavin from the corner of your eye. It seems he doesn’t take a hint as his demeanor becomes sour. Maybe you should stop talking about this as you want him to be in a good mood. “So what are you looking for in a guy?”

“Hm… Someone strong, honest, loyal, direct, caring, and has an open mind. It helps if he’s smart.” Oh wow, your big brother has really given thought to this. Your thoughts wander to the guys in your life. Two of them fit his description, but one of them happens to be the person you like and the other… well you’re not sure which way he swings. Hell you don’t know if he’s interested in a romantic relationship with anyone. “Not anyone would do.”

You nod your head. “Agreed. You need to have that special connection.”

“So who’s your one?” Your brother just had to ask that question. In spite of you two knowing each other for about a year, it feels like you know each other since you were kids. You know he can’t read minds nor see into any time. He so happens to be too smart for his own good.

Seeing as Gavin is focused on his drink, you nudge your big brother with your foot and then point to Gavin from under the table. It takes him less than a second to get the hint. Could get any more awkward? You have the feeling the answer would be yes, it could. “It’s a secret,” you answer in a sing song way and then stick your tongue out at him.

Your big brother chuckles before reaching over and ruffling your hair like a pet. By now, you’re used to this and actually don’t mind it. He’s your first sibling, and it gives you the warm feels. “All right, keep your secrets. When I find mine, I’m not telling you.” He glances over to the silent Gavin. “What about you? Have you found your one?”

Gavin stops playing with his straw and profusely blushes. He attempts to say something, but it comes out as gibberish. Between you and your big brother, you have no clue what to make of it other than he’s completely embarrassed about who he likes. Part of you wants to poke him until he confesses, however, you want to respect his privacy just as he respects yours.

Although a blushing Gavin looks incredibly adorable and you somehow manage to sneak in a short video of him playing with his straw, you decide to help him out of this. “What about kids? You said you’re going to adopt once you find the one.”

“Probably two, one girl and one boy. Personally I could care less what their gender is so long as they’re healthy and happy, but I suppose that’s how most parents feel about their kids.”

Gavin’s mood goes down. You know bits and pieces about his past, but enough to know that his shit of a father never treated as a son, more like a useless tool. Hah. Useless. Just because someone doesn’t have an evol doesn’t make them useless. Sometimes having an evol is more dangerous than it’s worth.

“Until I find that person, my kids have feathers and beaks.”

“Birds?” You hope you can pet them or maybe birdsit them while your big brother is away.

“I’m in the process of adopting three siblings.”

“Three at once?”

Your brother scratches the back of his head. “I’d rather not separate them. They’re close.”

“Then what’s the delay?”

“They’re not old enough to leave their parents.” That makes sense. Young birds need their parents just as humans need theirs. “I’ll let you know when I bring them home.”

“Do you know their genders?” You plan on spoiling his babies, but you need to know their gender, not that they care about colors.

“Won’t know until their first molt unless I get them tested.” Levi pauses. “I don’t plan on getting them tested. They’re all getting unisex names.” Before you can ask, he answers your question. “They’re normal grey cockatiels. My friend thought he was getting two guys. Turns out he has one guy and one gal. He never saw it coming.”

“They’re going to a good home.” Between the two of you, they’re going to be so spoiled. Thinking about it, you notice Gavin has gone back to playing with his drink. “How’s Pearly, Fiery, Icy, and Zappy?”

Gavin looks up. “They’re doing okay. Those three keep breaking out of their cage.”

“No way. I lost count on how many locks you’ve tried.” It appears all three of them are master escape artists. Good thing they’re well behaved and don’t cause much damage. Before you can ask more questions, your food has arrived.

You each ordered something different. Gavin has a burger with fries, your brother some pasta, and you have their house special salad. Your brother decides he also wants fries so he orders two. Why two? Because he knows you like them. Ah screw it. You need your carbs to keep you full longer. Plus since your salad is healthy, you can afford to eat the fries he ordered for you. Since he ordered it, he said he’d pay for it. You two squabble over it until you hear someone chuckling and look over to find it’s Gavin. It seems the two of you behave like siblings. You let him buy you the fries since they don’t cost a lot, but you’re not budging on the salad. However, when you go to pay for it, you discover someone already has paid for it. You round on your brother who shrugs and promises you he only paid for the fries. Additionally Gavin is acting strangely around you. It appears he paid for your salad. Your brother has kept his promise, however, you know Gavin made no such promises.

Oh well. It frees up funds for your next project. After giving your big brother a few hugs and telling (warning) him to get some sleep, you join Gavin in his car and head to his place. He doesn’t ask you what or why you need that specific bird to which you’re thankful for.

At his door, you hear all four of them making a racket. You wonder if they know you’re there. Since the three birds keep clustering up in one cage every single night, Gavin sells two cages (reserves third for transport) and buys one large cage for the three of them. They’ve been content. Once he unlocks and opens the door, the three birds rush out to greet you, chirping happily. Meanwhile Gavin groans and covers his face with both hands.

Once again, they’ve outsmarted him. Birds: a lot, Gavin: 0

“Nice to see you too.” You give each of them scritches as you greet them.

Gavin relieves you of Fiery and Icy who are annoyed they’re being taken away from you. Zappy cuddles against you, enjoying the attention you’re giving him.

Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin

After acquiring your delivery bird and dropping him off at your apartment, you head over to the New Light Mall where you plan on meeting your partner in prank. Unfortunately, you’re not dealing with one little shit, but two of them. You feel something on top of your head and then comes that familiar chirping.

“Zappy, you’re really an escape artist.”

Zappy happily replies as if to confirm your statement. They jump off your head down to your shoulder and snuggle against your neck. Since it’s more of a pain to go back home and put him in their cage, you let them be. More than likely, Zappy will escape again and again until you let them stay with you. They maneuver to underneath your hair. Silly bird.

Your wait for Shaw is rather short.

“I see you have that bird.” Shaw skateboards towards you. When he’s close, he hops off and does this weird trick where he flips his board so he can grab it.

“He followed me,” you grumble. While you don’t mind them, you prefer they stay in their cage where you leave them. “Reminds me of you.”

Shaw laughs. “You don’t say.” He reaches over to pet the bird who hesitantly accepts it. His expression is all too clear, the ‘I told you so’ one.

“Let’s start from one end and work our way to the other,” you suggest. It means less walking, which your feet greatly appreciate.

“Works for me.”

Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin <3 Gavin

Once you’ve finished your errands at the mall, you’re more than ready to go home except you have one last store and the most important one according to Shaw. However, you’re completely embarrassed to even think about going there. You have a feeling you’re going to be resembling a tomato until tomorrow at this rate. Your little stowaway doesn’t care where you go. You don’t think they’d be embarrassed by anything.

“You can’t chicken out on me. I don’t know your size, and you’re not willing to tell me.” Point taken.

You pull your hood over your head, dislodging Zappy in the process. They squawk before poking you with their rather sharp beak (not enough to break skin) to voice their displeasure. When you get to see them, their feathers are fluffed up and they’re glaring at you. They wait until you finish adjusting your hood before they crawl into it and settle between your neck and your hood.

At least you know where they are and don’t have to chase them like at the mall where you had to chase them more than a few times. It takes bribing them with mandarin oranges to get them back to you. Good thing there’s a supermarket in the mall. You buy extras even if it means carrying those heavy cans. Actually you make Shaw carry them since he’s usually the main reason why you have to chase after that bird. Shaw grumbles and makes threats against Zappy, but he sees the little guy as a bird version of him. In fact, you swear they can be siblings… if they’re the same species.

“Fine, let’s get this done and over with.” You really want to go home before you die of embarrassment or are mortified (petrified) in place.

Zappy keeps your neck warm the entire walk there. They’re like a little heater though not effective unless you’re trying to warm your hands or in this case your neck. Every now and then they poke their head out to see what’s making that noise. What a very curious little imp you have there. It makes you wonder how Gavin manages to deal with all three of them. You recall him mentioning this little one is the ring leader whenever they’re up to their shenanigans.

Once you reach the door, you hesitate until a certain someone shoves you into the store. It turns out Shaw predicted your hesitation and made you go in first so he could give you a little push when you stall at the entrance. You stumble a little inside, causing Zappy to fall off their perch, but you manage to catch them in spite of your bags. They climb back up your arm before snuggling against your neck and chirp in appreciating of you saving them from a harsh meeting with the hard, unforgiving ground.

Shaw grabs your hand and drags you to where they display the lingerie most men would like to see their women dressed in. He scans the racks as they have quite a selection of them. Anything that catches his eye would be pushed in front of you as he determines whether or not it would look good. They end up back on the racks as he doesn’t think it suits your complexion and/or figure. How would he know what you’re figure is considering you’re wearing baggy clothes, thanks to the weather. At least by now, it’s dark outside. You hope it’s enough to make you less conspicuous. It would help if they place your purchase in a plain bag with no store logo on it. Somehow you have the feeling they would.

“Are you planning on looking through the entire lingerie section?” you ask as you reach in your hood to pet Zappy, who is more than happy to receive this attention. They say petting animals can calm a person. Right now, you need that calm before you strangle your accomplice in this prank.

“If you had a better figure, I wouldn’t have to.” Now you’re tempted to throw a bag at him, but since you paid for it, you’d rather not waste it.

You look beside you to find a cute pink lingerie and pick it up to inspect it. When you hear Shaw snort, you lower it to see him giving that disappointed look. “What?”

“You want it to contrast with your skin, not blend in. What are you not thinking?”

“I’m thinking I want to get this done and over with,” you grumble as you place it back. So pink and skin tones are out of the question. That’s when you see something shoved behind the lingerie Shaw vetoed. Reaching over, you somehow extricate it. Oh, it happens to be your size.

Shaw sighs and is about to tell you not that pink lingerie, but stops when he notices you’re holding a red one. He tilts his head and then grabs it to place it before you. “This will do.”

As he’s inspecting the garment, you notice a certain STF uniform. You can’t see who it is, but you’d rather play it safe than sorry. They know who you are thanks to you knowing a certain someone and being friends with his friend. Gossip travels faster than Shaw to his favorite band playing in a concert. You shove an unsuspecting Shaw behind the taller racks, hoping that the person hasn’t seen you and that they’d go away soon.

Shaw squawks, but at least he hasn’t dropped the lingerie. “What is it?”

“STF.”

“It isn’t illegal to be in this shop,” Shaw points out.

You counter with, “But you forget a certain someone will find out when word gets around.”

Instead of giving you a complement, Shaw peers in the direction you’re looking. You both watch as that STF officer talking with someone who you don’t even know is as they’re standing in the shadows. When are they going to leave?

Minutes go by.

At last! They leave. You two scramble to the cashier who doesn’t question you about your odd behavior. Maybe it’s normal for people to hide in there? It’s better you don’t mention it at all. You pay using cash. Good thing they have ATMs at the mall since you were running low. You try not to keep that much on you as you don’t want to be a walking target. Since you’re with two living stun guns, your safety is assured. Zappy wouldn’t let anything happen to you as you spoil them along with the other birds, and Shaw needs some entertainment in his life which unfortunately happens to be you.

When you see the nondescript bag being used, you let out a sigh of relief. The cashier doesn’t bat an eye. They’re probably used to this kind of behavior from new people. However, they raise a brow when they see the two of you together.

“Something you’re not telling me?”

Shaw rolls his eyes. It seems the two know each other. “Not what you think. She isn’t my type. I prefer messing with her and my brother.”

“So you’re her advisor?”

“She’d be completely lost without me.” Shaw leans close to that person. “Trying to seduce my idiot of a brother.”

“I thought you hated each other.”

Shaw shrugs. “He’s okay. We tolerate each other now.” He glances over to you. “A certain someone played therapist.” Gee thanks, Pikashaw. “And I get to mess with him.”

“Nice. Good luck on seducing Gavin.” Just great, they know.

Leaning forward, Shaw whispers something in their ear and both have impish grins. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

“We have your favorite flavor in stock.”

“I’ll grab some later.”

The person reaches below the counter and pulls it up. “I came prepared. How many you want?”

“I’ll take them all.” Shaw then tells the guy a size and requests double his usual.

When he’s finished, you try to see what he bought, but he keeps it above your head, and you’re not about to jump on him to find out. You’re tired and you’d have one unhappy Zappy, one unhappy combo. Not to mention, by now the little bird is most likely full, thus, not as easy to bribe. Well outside of finding something shiny they’d be interested in. A glittery ball (one that doesn’t have glitter glued on) will suffice. Alas, you’re short one glittery ball.

After you arrive at your place, you’re both dead tired on your feet. You order take out to be delivered, and oddly enough Shaw is willing to fork over the money this time. With the exception of lunch, you paid for everything including Zappy’s bribes. Good thing Shaw doesn’t like to move when he’s tired. You’d rather not have to explain to your neighbor, Lucien, why you have male company who isn’t him or one of your employees.

As you’re digging into your Chinese take-out, you feel something brush up against you. You’re first instinct is to scream, but your mouth is full of egg roll. Oh, it’s just Zappy who’s stealing a noodle from you. HEY! You doubt you’re supposed to feed them that since it’s probably not healthy, but something tells you that they most likely snag some from Gavin when he’s not looking, It’s just one noodle.

On the other side of the table, Shaw laughs at the sight of the bird pilfering one of your noodles. Why don’t they grab one of his noodles? Since he paid for dinner, you let it slide. After you finish eating and throw out the empty containers, you plan on kicking Shaw out, but when you’re back from getting ready for bed, you see him out cold on your couch. Perched on top of his chest is a sleeping Zappy.

Just this time, you’ll let him stay. After all, you don’t want to wake up the cute little bird.

Day 1 <3 Day 1 <3 Day 1 <3 Day 1 <3 Day 1

When you wake up this morning, you find Shaw organizing your purchases and nearby him are materials to wrap the gifts from you “secret admirer.” Next to him is a playful Zappy. They’re rolling around with one of those shiny bows. You figure Shaw threw it at them or let them have it to keep them entertained while he worked on the prank.

“Morning.”

“Chirp!” Zappy’s on their back with their legs holding the bow up. What an odd position, but the bird seems fine and isn’t panicking.

“Breakfast is on the table.”

You glance over in the direction of your kitchen. Did he cook something? You’re not sure how good of a cook he is, but you definitely know your culinary skills are much better than his.

As if reading your mind, “I woke up early and got breakfast.”

“Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Shaw?”

Shaw rolls his eyes. “I can wake up early if I have an incentive.”

“And pray tell, what is the incentive?”

“I get to mess with my brother.” Why doesn’t this surprise you?

In addition to breakfast being on the table, you see he brewed a pot of coffee. You squash your giggles. The brothers are more alike than they care to admit. Breakfast is on the cold side, but it’s edible and tastes good. Coffee could use improvement on. At least he tried.

Once you’ve changed in your room and grab what you need for work, you give Zappy some scritches which they want more of and leave a surprised Shaw a spare key to your apartment. You tell him it’ll be a pain if he keeps breaking in, and when he leaves to do whatever he does, you’d rather have your place secured. He can’t lock it from the outside.

When you reach the spot, you find your ride nowhere in sight. You glance at your watch to find you’re actually early for a change, early by ten minutes. Normally you’re a patient person, but with this weather, you’d rather not be waiting outside. Three minutes after texting, your ride arrives.

“Good morning, Gavin,” you greet him as he hands over the second helmet.

“Morning,” Gavin replies. Something is bothering him like really bothering him. It’s not your place to poke your nose in his business. At the same time, you don’t like seeing him this way.

The ride becomes awkwardly silent as neither of you know what to say other than your greetings. It’s as if you’ve gone back to square one. No matter, by the end of this week, he will definitely be happy. You’re sure of it.

At your place, you hear your employees gossiping. Haven’t you given them enough work? Working and gossiping at the same time? Meh, you’ll deal with it. However, it’s the topic of their discussion that grabs your attention. A few of them move out of the way so you can get to your desk. On top of it, you see a very familiar package.

“A gift? It isn’t my birthday,” you say pretending to be surprised.

Kiki slides over to you and starts shaking you. “Open it. Open it!” She’s more excited than. Granted she has no idea about your plan.

When you reach your desk, you notice the gift has been meticulously wrapped. Not a single crease or ribbon out of place though it’s a bit bent in a few areas due to delivery. You open the card first. In it, Shaw has written some sappy poem and signed it with Secret Admirer. Knowing your employees will not get any work done until you tell them, you read it out loud. A few catcalls and one shut up glare later, you’re tearing through the wrapping.

“How did he know I’m running low on my favorite tea?” He doesn’t. You picked it yourself. Having received random gifts in the past, you take it in stride. The idea of it being poisoned doesn’t pop in your mind.

“Oh wow, Boss,” Kiki whistles. “I bet it’s from Kiro. You two like the same stuff.”

“I doubt it. He’s been too busy with work.” You decide to make yourself a cup. As you’re heading to the kitchen area, you realize the tea arrived before you did. Not to mention, Shaw was in the middle of getting it ready when you woke up.

Oh right, messenger has wings so of course they’ll reach your work faster than you.

When you return from making your tea, everyone scrambles to look busy. You know they’re very much curious about who your secret admirer is. Trying to ignore their stares is harder than it appears. How does Gavin do it?

Time to enter the battlefield.

Some time later, Willow calls for you. She doesn’t sound panic, more like confused.

At the window, you find Zappy outside, tapping the window. No one has opened it. You open the window to let them in. They stay for a whole minute before high tailing it out of there. What they leave you is another package wrapped in a similar style as the tea.

You pull out your phone to take a picture of it and then proceed to open it. As to why you hadn’t taken a picture of the previous present, it didn’t occur to you until now. After you read the cheesy romantic poem, you tear through the wrapping and reveal your favorite snack. Good timing too as it’s too early for lunch, but your stomach says it wants something. You (along with your employees) take a picture of it. As you’re nibbling on it, you make a post on moments and include the photo.

By the end of the day (no need for OT yet), you’re gathering your belongings and ready to head home when you hear something run into a window. You (along with your employees) rush over to the window and find that same bird. Zappy appears to be fine, making you wonder if they purposely flew into the window.

You open the window and go over the same process. This time it’s foreign chocolate. Wait a moment, this isn’t the one you picked up with Shaw. You wonder if the brat went out to buy something else. Nah, he’s too lazy to do it when there are acceptable options available to him.

Now your entire office is buzzing. Perfect.

Instead of Gavin coming to pick you up, it’s your big brother. “Lev! What’s up?”

Levi crosses his arms over his chest. “Your last moments post.” Eh? “Those are the chocolates I bought you.”

Aw crap, they looked familiar to you. “Ehehehehe. Funny you should mention that.” You break down and tell him your secret admirer plan.

Instead of being angry or annoyed, Levi seems to be on board with this. He offers his help without being prompted or hinted. You hug him before you put on the helmet and hop onto his motorcycle.

What’s up with guys and their motorcycles?

Day 2 <3 Day 2 <3 Day 2 <3 Day 2 <3 Day 2

Second day. Gotta hang in there and keep it a secret. When Shaw found out you told your other brother, he almost lost it, but you reassure him that your brother is on board with the plan. Now you have someone who can assist should you need it. Somehow you have the feeling you’ll need all the help you can get.

An hour into work, a delivery person shows up with a bouquet of flowers. He asks for you since you’re the recipient. When you make yourself known, he hands over you the bouquet and an electronic device for you to sign it saying you’ve received the package.

In this time, your employees gather around you, whispering and of course gossiping. They also pull out their cameras and are openly taking pictures of it. Are they paparazzi? You search for the card and read it out loud, the customary poem and signature. Thankfully you have the foresight to buy a vase to be delivered with it. After a moment arranging it on your desk, you take a picture for you moments post.

Concentrating on your proposal, you forget you’re supposed to eat until another delivery person arrives. Instead of flowers, it’s your lunch. He hands you the bag and an envelope as if he does this on a regular basis. You tell him to wait a moment and tip him with a snack as you don’t have time to dig through your purse. Also, it looks like he could use something to eat. He thanks you for noticing it and heads on his way to his next delivery.

By now everyone is crowded around you, you use your outdoor voice to tell them the latest poem except this time you leave out who sent it to you. They should know it’s from your secret admirer. After all, who has been giving gifts on a regular basis? Well yesterday.

You, Kiki, and Willow have lunch together. It’s almost like a pot luck with the way you’re sharing your lunch. Both Kiki and Willow spend time trying to figure out who your secret admirer is. Kiki believe it’s Kiro while Willow says it’s from Gavin due to the poems. You remind them poetry is more of something Lucien would do. They have forgotten him.

Close to the end of the day, you manage to have good timing when you look out the window and see that familiar yellow/black bird flying in your direction. You abruptly stand up, startling your employees and open the window. They stare at you until they too see that bird drop off your latest gift and leave.

The same routine happens and you open your gift to find a cute cell phone case. “Oh wow, how does he know I have this model of phone?” you gasp in (what you hope) surprise.

Willow frowns. “Your secret admirer knows a lot about you. You sure this person isn’t a stalker or something?”

You wave her off. “I doubt a stalker would go through this.” Once you take a picture of the case, you replace your old one with it. Then you upload the picture onto moments.

Day 3 <3 Day 3 <3 Day 3 <3 Day 3 <3 Day 3

“Hey Boss,” Minor says hesitantly as if you’re going to attack him. Or maybe it’s Gavin.

“Yes?”

“Bro is upset. I mean really upset. Haven’t seen him this way since… high school.”

“Which bro are you talking about?” Your question reminds him that you have a bro, and that he should specify which one when referring to them.

“Gavin.”

This worries you as it’s way too early. “He hasn’t done anything, has he?”

Minor shakes his head. “I mean I like hanging out with him and all, but all he does is sulk or rant about your secret admirer.”

“He’s not drinking?”

“I offered him a can, but he refused. He takes his job seriously.” Minor sounds proud of Gavin as if they’re father and son instead of being high school friends.

You lean closer to Minor. “Whatever you do. Do NOT give him alcohol unless you want your New Year’s bonus to disappear.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And no telling Gavin I told you this.”

Minor gulps. “I’ll try.”

When you return from making your morning tea, you find that tea set, sitting on your desk. How Zappy delivered it without breaking anything leaves you confounded. You scurry over to your desk and open your gift. The rustling draws the attention of your employees. After removing the last piece of wrapping, you hold it up as high as you dare to show everyone. Unlike the other gifts, the note is in the tea pot. You open it since you hadn’t seen any note. Where is Shaw getting all these poems? You don’t think he’s into poetry.

Then it dawns on you… big bro is helping.

Anna brings order to the office as she ushers everyone back to work. “How many presents have you received?”

You start ticking off each one. “I think this is the seventh.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t lead him on. If you’re not interested, tell him.”

“Uh… how am I supposed to tell him when I have no clue who he is?” You’d give yourself a pat on the back for that superb performance if it wouldn’t look foolish as no one would have a clue as to why you’re congratulating yourself, and you’d rather not them questioning your sanity… what’s left of it once you and Shaw finish this plan.

When you open your moments, you notice a number of replies. In fact, this is the highest number you’ve received ever since you started the account. It’s what you don’t see that starts worrying you. In all your posts, Gavin has yet to make a comment. You know that he knows, thanks to Minor blabbering to you.

What sounded like a good idea at the time is now sounding like a horrible one. You don’t want to see Gavin this depressed or crushed. It’s almost the halfway point. You can do this. You just hope the other two birds can keep Gavin’s spirits from sinking way down. Sure, Pearly is cute and cuddly, but he doesn’t pick up on emotions like the other two do.

You text your big brother asking him if this is the right thing and that you’re questioning yourself whether it’s a good idea or not. His quick response doesn’t surprise you by now. You’re used to it. He tells you it’s like going to get a shot at the doctors or pulling off a bandage. The thought of what’s to come is worse than the actual act. You thank your big brother. He always knows what to say to encourage and support you even if it’s something you regret much later on.

Lunch is delivered and served from a fancy restaurant. The chef herself has put on a performance for you as she prepares your meal. Your coworkers look on in awe by the way she moves her cooking utensils and the food goes where it’s supposed to go, not flying all over the place. At the end of her performance, she hands you the card with the cheesy, romantic poem.

Your female employees are gushing over how you have a very generous and thoughtful secret admirer as he’s giving the stuff you like. Not to mention, he isn’t cheap either and going all out for you. You laugh nervously, saying that one day you hope you can see who likes you enough to go out of his way. The girls swoon over the thought and their vision of what/who he is.

The next delivery is a simple envelope via Zappy. When you show what you receive, they’re clearly disappointed and go back to working except for those two and Anna. You open it to reveal a coupon for a complete massage package at the trendy massage parlor. When Kiki squeals in excitement, your other employees snap their attention back to you and gather around you. This has become quite normal.

“So what are you planning to do?” Kiki asks as if you’re planning to give it away, and she hopes you’d pick her.

“Go after work. I haven’t been sleeping well.” Your thoughts drift over to Gavin and how he’s coping with all this.

“Aww…”

You chuckle before tapping her on her head with the envelope. “Last time I checked, it’s addressed to me.”

“This secret admirer must want you badly.” Willow whistles. “They only have the highest quality service and equipment.”

Anna gives you that look, but at the same time, you promised not to tell anyone else. “Kids these days.” She sighs and heads to wherever she is before your envelope arrived.

Day 4 <3 Day 4 <3 Day 4 <3 Day 4 <3 Day 4

That was one of your best night of sleep ever since you could remember. Ever since the first day, your big brother has been playing chauffeur. He doesn’t mind since he can arrange his work schedule around to fit yours and has assured you many times that you’re not a burden to him. In fact, he’d be quite troubled should you ask someone else to drive you to and from work.

You hear bits and pieces of a conversation you’re not supposed to be a part of. It’s not that you’re trying to eavesdrop. More like, your entrance isn’t noisy so they don’t know you’re here. You frown when you piece together the info.

When you appear, they cease their conversation and act as if nothing has happened. You decide to let them off with a warning this time.

“There will be no gambling here so you can stop wagering on who is sending me these gifts.” Your employees groan and grumble, but they comply with your wishes or at least they appear to. You hadn’t thought this far ahead. As for Shaw, you’re not sure he has even considered this.

When you reach your desk, you find a small jewelry box. Unlike the other gifts, it’s not nicely wrapped but placed in a see through bag for transport. You read off the poem. The first part of today’s gift is a pair of earrings.

“Oh my, he is serious,” Anna says as she looks over your shoulder.

“I’d answer only if I had someone to give that answer to.”

Anna gives you a supportive smile. “I know. You’re not the type of person to play with someone’s emotions.” She heads to her desk.

Hearing her say those words, you start feeling guilty. Are you playing with Gavin’s emotions? You’re not stringing him along as you’re trying to get him to ask you. The easiest way is to go up and tell him to his face, but as they say, easier said than done.

Willow leans back in her chair. “Why are you moping around? You have a very generous and wealthy secret admirer.”

You sigh a long one. “I just don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of his generosity.” Yeah right, you paid for all of these.

“Then he should grow a pair and tell you how he feels.” You know Willow is on your side no matter what you do and that includes the amateur mistakes you made when you first started. Not to mention, Kiki and Anna feel the same way. As for Minor, you’d rather not have him choose between you and Gavin.

“I hope he does soon. For my sanity.”

“And for Bro’s too,” Minor chimes in the conversation.

Everyday you’ve brought your own lunch even though you know you’re going to be receiving something from your secret admirer. If you brought your meals on the days you’re not going to have food delivered, then it would appear suspicious. As you’re about to tear into your sandwich, you hear a familiar chirping. You grab a mandarin orange, hiding it in your hand and head over to the window where an expectant Zappy is waiting with your gift. Positioning yourself between you and the bird, you use the hand with the orange to reach over and grab the parcel. However, you let Zappy grab the orange and let them take off.

“What is it?”

“Calm down, I’m opening it.” True to your word, you read the poem and open the jewelry box to reveal a matching bracelet. By now everyone knows the drill. They gather around you taking pictures. However, you decide not to post anything in moments as you know certain people are following you.

“I bet you’re going to get a necklace,” Kiki giggles from her seat to which you roll your eyes.

“We’ll see.”

Hours later, that necklace arrives. Kiki gives the ‘I told you so’ look. You two tease each other for a few minutes. Now that you think about it, she’s like a sister you never had, a younger sister. Maybe this is how Levi feels towards you. It takes Willow pulling on her ear to get her back working until you all call it a day and head home.

“Having second or third thoughts?” Your big brother asks when you approach him.

“Yeah. I just wish he’d do something, but he hasn’t contacted once,” you grumble and take his place behind him on his bike. Of course, you wear a helmet.

“Oh he’s been doing something all right,” Levi says though he doesn’t start his bike. “He’s been bothering me about who your secret admirer is. He believes you tell me everything.” Yeah, while you do tell him a lot, it’s not everything.

“Did you tell him?”

“I told him to ask you directly.”

Phew.

Day 5 <3 Day 5 <3 Day 5 <3 Day 5 <3 Day 5

When nothing arrives for you in the morning, your employees are greatly disappointed. Don’t they have something like work to do? You suppose it has been their entertainment for this otherwise boring week, and they need something to help them get through it.

“Everyone!” Anna yells over their chatter. After it becomes quiet, she continues. “Courtesy of our boss’ secret admirer, we have lunch!”

Your employees cheer and anyone close to you thanks you for having such an awesome secret admirer. Some even tell you to keep this person. You’re relieved when they don’t ask any questions. Between you and Anna you organize how the lunch is to be distributed. There will be four different groups, going at staggered times to pick up their meals. When the current group is almost finished, you call for the next group to line up and begin. It’s like one of those buffets or pot lucks where people fall in line and then pick up what they want.

Later that afternoon, you hear a thud and a squawk at the window. You rush over since you know who made that noise and find a very tired Zappy on top of a very large box. Poor little guy. You pick up the bird and take them in, leaving the box for now. Once they’re at your desk, you go back for the box. It’s heavier than you thought. No wonder why Zappy struggled to fly it over.

“I knew it. That bird looks exactly like bro’s,” Minor announces to the entire office. He reaches over only to pull his hand back when the bird snaps at him. “Maybe not. Zappy’s nicer.”

You keep the window open for when the delivery bird feels ready to make the trip back to your apartment where you know Shaw has been hanging out lately. He claims he doesn’t want to haul your gifts to his place and would rather crash at yours. You’re annoyed at first, but then realize, it’s more practical for him to stay there with you, the gifts, and the bird.

“Boss, do you even know how to use it?” Kiki asks as she reads the side of the box. This isn’t wrapped, and instead of being in an envelope, your poem along with signature has been taped to one side.

Your eye twitches. “That’s why they come with instruction manuals.”

“How many instruction manuals have read and understood?” Trust those two to give you a hard time. They’re not doing it maliciously. It’s more on teasing in a good way. Like you’re three sisters.

“Youtube.”

They both sport this ‘oh’ look as if they practiced doing it in synch. You guess you’ve been around each other long enough that your small habits have rubbed off on each other.

“And here I was going to share the candy with you.”

The two become much more friendly and helpful. When you open it, they’ll help you use it… at your place on the weekend.

Zappy is too tired to fly back, and you hide them until everyone has left. Then you call your big brother up to your company and have him carry down the candy making machine while you carry the little bird. On your way, you give a slight nod of your head to the security guards who do a double take when they see your little bundle. By now, they’re used to having your big brother come and go from your work place. It also helps he’s on friendly terms with them.

Instead of his bike, Levi brings his truck along with Shaw and Zappy’s cage. You hand over the exhausted bird to Shaw before hoisting yourself into the front passenger seat. Then you notice the gift you’re supposed to be wearing and the other items to set the mood.

Your next stop is Gavin’s place. It dawns on you that you don’t have a key to his apartment. How are you supposed to enter his apartment without one? You glance over to Shaw and then your big brother. It seems they have it planned out or so you hoped.

When you reach Gavin’s apartment, Levi pulls out what looks to be a lock picking set. He gets to work on the door. A few seconds later, you hear the sound of a door being unlocked. He gives you a cheeky grin. “Bet you didn’t know I could do this.”

“You never told me.”

“You never asked.”

Levi apologizes for driving you there and running. He has an appointment with a client. You’re grateful he at least brings up Zappy’s cage. He tells you he’ll drop by your place after to deliver your candy making machine.

Shaw shrugs. “He demanded I give him your spare key.”

Right. You thank every deity Levi has taken things into his own hands and got your spare key back. Knowing the brat, you figure he’d give you a hard time for awhile and then let you have it. It occurs to you he may have created a duplicate. You’ll ask your landlord if you can change locks later at your expense. Your landlord can be a real piece of work, but if you’re offering to cover the expenses and the request is within reason, he’ll give it the green light.

You place Zappy back into their cage with the other two who are very worried for their companion. The birds start chirping up a storm. You have no clue what they’re talking about and figure they’re catching up on whatever they missed. Not like Icy and Fiery have anything interesting to say except for how Gavin has been behaving lately.

Shaw takes out your lingerie. “You get changed. I’ll set up here.”

Since you’ve been there quite a few times, you know your way around even without any lights. You can walk around there in your sleep for crying out loud. “Thanks for everything.”

Instead of replying with ‘You’re welcome,’ Shaw motions for you to get going and rifles through the bag for something.

Once in the bathroom, you realize you’re not sure how to put on this lacy garment without accidentally ripping it. You were too embarrassed to ask the person who sold it to you, Shaw’s friend… acquaintance. Turning it around and around gives you no clue how to don it. As you become frustrated, you take a deep breath. What did you say about Youtube? Oh yes.

Good thing you take your phone with you and start searching for instructions on how to put the thing on. You find something, but it’s not on the website you thought you’d find it. As you’re following it step by step, you see something off. Oh Shaw has removed all the tags. How thoughtful of him… when he wants to be. You swear he does most of the things on purpose to get a reaction of you.

Since you’d rather not rip it before you have a chance to actually wear it, you go through the motions slowly and handle the lacy gently. With the tags removed, there goes any chance of returning or exchanging it. You swear it should come with a set of instructions on how to wear it.

You look at yourself in the mirror and turn around to make sure you have everything where it needs to go, not that there’s much in the way of fabric or lace. This is for Gavin so it has to be perfect. He’s given so much to you and you want to show how much you appreciate him. You squash your rising feeling of guilt for what you’ve most likely him through these past… four and a half days. This day isn’t over so it doesn’t count as a full day.

Seeing everything in order, you blush as you think about how Gavin would respond. Would he be a stuttering and blushing mess? Tripping over his words? Or would he be like a hungry wolf ready to pounce on his prey? It brings up memories of when you dressed as Little Red Riding Hood while he was the Big Bad wolf for your Halloween party. You’re not the only couple who came dressed as a set. Kiki and her boyfriend came as Cinderella and Prince Charming while Minor and Willow as Snow White and her Prince. Before the party, you decided to go with a fairytale theme.

When you pick up your phone, you notice how much time has passed. You place your hand on the knob ready to exit, but… do you want Shaw to see you like this? Maybe you can cover yourself with your jacket until he leaves. No, that won’t work as he needs to help you arrange yourself on Gavin’s bed. That means he’ll have to eventually see you wearing it.

“Here goes nothing.”

As you open the door, you involuntarily hold your breath. Your body reminds you to breathe once you step out of it. “Shaw, we need to hurry up!” With your attention on carrying your clothes and cell phone, you miss seeing something important.

That is until…

“Shaw, what the hell are you doing with her?”

This voice could only belong to… Gavin. You raise your head to see Gavin on the verge of strangling his own brother who was trying to fight back the tears… no, laughter.

“This isn’t what it looks like!”

Gavin’s eyes drop onto the bed where Shaw has laid thick ribbon, a bow, a flower, and a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. Then his gaze moves over to you and your huge blush.

“SHAW! When did you get this?” You point to the fuzzy handcuffs. The ribbon, bow, and flower, you already know about it. But that adult toy is something you’ve never laid eyes upon until now.

“You two are boring. I’m spicing things up between you two so sue me.” Shaw shrugs as if it’s an everyday occurrence to break into a brother’s place with someone who likes him and that kind of toy.

Gavin frowns before he slams Shaw into the nearest wall. Good thing they’re not far away from it. “You…”

Instead of being upset or angry, Shaw starts laughing hysterically as if he’s lost his mind. You stare at him as if he’s grown an extra appendage. On the other hand, Gavin is too furious to care.

“Date. Date. Date. Date.” Since none of you are talking and no one else should be in the apartment, you and Gavin start scanning his room for the source. Meanwhile Shaw is laughing so hard he looks like he’s crying. If isn’t for his older brother, you swear he’d kiss the floor by now.

As soon as the chanting resumes, you and Gavin stare in disbelief. Never in either of your wildest imaginations (and you have a very active one) did you think any of these birds can speak, but here they are chanting one word. Date.

With Shaw out of the picture (laughing), Gavin turns to you for an explanation and when he really gets a good look at you, he too resembles a tomato. He averts his gaze to anywhere except you.

After taking take a deep breath, you somehow manage to get your feet moving over to him. You place your hands on his arm as if reassuring him. “Nothing is going between us.” You point to Shaw and then to yourself. “Promise.”

“Then why is he here and you’re wearing… that.”

Shaw manages to calm himself down to where he can speak. “My idiot of a brother needed to grow a pair of balls.”

“What did you say?” Gavin pushes him back into the wall.

“Man up.”

“….”

“Isn’t it obvious why she’s doing this?”

“…. No.”

“She wants you to fuck her.”

“SHAW!” You’re tempted to slap him, but with the way the two brothers are positioned, you’re not tall enough to reach over and give him a smack.

“All right. All right. Since you’re too much of a coward, she needed to take drastic measures.”

“You’re not the secret admirer?”

Shaw snorts. “There never was one.”

“Then how… what… those gifts.”

“I bought them and Shaw helped me send them to myself,” you finally admit. “Are you mad at me?”

Gavin exhales in relief, all that pent up anxiety and frustration released at once, now that he knows you never had a secret admirer. At the same time, he’s a little annoyed. “But why him?”

“Err… he knows you better than I do.” You hope this will suffice. It does to a certain extent.

“Now that you know, you can let go.”

“Why should I?”

“You plan on going on a date with her holding me like this?” Shaw motions to the two of them.

“No. Why didn’t you tell me?”

You puff up your cheeks. “For the same reasons why you didn’t ask me.”

Conflicting emotions appeared in those amber eyes. “I see.”

“Great, now that you two lovebirds have made up, you can release me.” Shaw pauses. “I left you a little surprise under the pillow.

Curiosity gets the better of you and you reach over to yank the pillow off. What you reveal causes your blush to intensify, Gavin to become a stuttering mess, and Shaw to laugh hysterically again. You hastily shove the pillow back over the items, wanting them to disappear.

“Gavin, I—”

You notice Gavin on the move still holding a hysterically laughing Shaw. You follow him until he reaches the entrance and literally throws his brother out. He slams the door with a little too much force, causing the walls to rattle along with your nerves. You gulp.

Man, you’re in big trouble.

The loud pounding on the door diverts both your attention. “I forgot to mention. I left a book in the bag. You’ll need it for tonight.”

“The bag” happens to be on a table close to Gavin. He reaches over to open it and then closes it immediately.

All three birds wolf whistle and make suggestive chirps. At least they’re out here and not in the bedroom. You open your mouth to say something when you’re swept off your feet and carted off to his bed.

Gavin uses his weight to pin you. “A little bunny has been very naughty.”

#mlqc #mlqc mc #mlqc gavin #mlqc bai qi #mlqc haku #mlqc shaw #pokemon #zapdos #Zappy #sibling complexes #brotherly love #little shit Shaw #naive MC

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smilesthroughfandoms · 5 years

Text

Random List of things I want from episodes of Hazbin Hotel (and Helluva Boss) when it gets greenlit cause we all know it will

Mimzy, Baxter, and Crymini joining the hotel. Think that's a pretty obvious one.

Mimzy and Alastor backstory, I know that info on Mimz being in love with Al is probably outdated but I think it would be fun if they still at least knew each other in life. (Were the friends? How close were they? Did Al fucking kill Mimzy, if so was it an accident or on purpose?) The sky’s the limit here!

On that note: Backstories on how each mortal soul involved in the Hotel ended up in Hell. Especially people who (for now) it’s kinda tricker to imagine why/how they ended up in Hell in the first place. I’m namely thinking of Vaggie and Niffty. Vaggie is a little more believable cause of her apparent reliance on weapons the first sign of trouble. But Niffty is a sweet little sugar bean who I imagine is legally forbidden from saying bad words.

I’d like to see why Niffty ended up in a Hell cause I'm a sucker for the “Cinnamon Roll is actually Deadly Murder Baby” trope, don't judge me.

Royal Family Backstory! How did Lucifer and Lillith meet? How did they acquire their stations? When was Charlie born and how did this affect hell’s demographics, particularly in the realization that “Shit, some of us can create kids here”

Also, what other biblical figures are canon in Hazbin Hell? We already saw Stolas (though I’m still unsure if he’s the Stolas in bible or this is just, like, an avatar or version of him or something). Is Beezlebub in Hell?

What about historical figures? Jeffery Dahmer and probably Lizzie Borden (that ax chick from Charlie’s song). Is Hitler in Hell? What about Vlad the Impaler or John Wayne Gacy?

I want Lucifer to be voiced by Weird Al. No, I will not explain or apologize for this wish.

More musical numbers!

Valentino backstory and his relationship to Angel Dust (Ik Vivz said this would be explained more in those comics but c’mon, it’d be a cool episode too).

Rosie, Vox, and other overlord backstories. I also wanna know who that cute overlord girl was with Vox and Val in the opening. She’s so cute and looks fun.

Vaggie and Alastor team up for some reason. I know they don’t really like or trust one another but I think they could play well off each other. Also character building.

Angel Dust and Charlie team up as well. Maybe a subplot to the above. More character development!

Sir Pentious, Cherri Bomb, and the Egg bois join the Hotel because why not and it’d be fun.

Angel gets a boyfriend. Cherri gets a girlfriend.

Chaggie moments. I want their relationship to be shown in the same way Moxxie and Millie’s relationship was.

Who are the Von Eldritch family? Why to Helsa and Charlie not get along? Who is the son and why did he and Charlie break-up? What did their parents think of this? How does Vaggie (if at all) factor into this?

An episode where they focus on all the background characters in Hell (kinda like that one episode of Gumball).

Angel telling Val where to stick it being framed as him finally, seriously, giving redemption a shot.

Alastor and Vox fight framed like a big anime showdown no I will not apologize for this either, deal with it.

ALASTOR FROWNING!!!!!!

NIffty having a habit of saying really dark, morbid, depressing, horrifying things in the bubbliest, happiest voice in all of Hell. Everyone is kinda unnerved by it.

Husk is an odd combo of Rick Sanches and Grunkle Stan.

Baxter making inventing or “creating” something that destroys something in the Hotel off-screen. It becomes a running gag.

A running gag of Alastor literally shoving anyone out of the way to talk to Charlie.

Mimzy somehow becoming the mom friend despite being terrible at it.

This kind of conversation: Angel Dust: What’re you doing? Crymini: Teenage Rebellion. Angel: Fuq yeah, stick it to the old people!

An episode where Sir Pentious tries to destroy the Hotel and goes whole ham to do it... but no one in the Hotel ever notices his schemes or accidentally thwarts him without even trying,

Tom bitch slapping Katie. He deserves too.

Are there other religions in this universe? Did God and Lucifer inadvertently kick out all the old-timey deities in their rise to power?

Are any of said deities or mythological characters in Hell? Do they like it there? Do they deserve it? Again, sky’s the limit

A crossover with Helluva Boss

Or at least references back and forth.

Blitzo and Stola’s relationship played with more, but not necessarily Blitzo ending up with Stolas. Although if Stolas has good character development I could change my mind

More Moxxie and Millie relationship. They’re so cute!

Baby Loona and Blitzo adopting Loona. That is all.

That bratty kid becoming a sitcom archnemesis for I.M.P. but no one taking it seriously.

Stolas and Blitzo busting their asses off to keep whatever they have a secret from Stolas’s wife. But she knows, she has known for a long time (Blitz did tell her that first time) and she actively encourages is because hey, she’s sleeping with someone else besides her husband. Stolas and Blitzo’s reaction can vary.

Moxxie, Millie, and Loona memeing on Blitzo whenever Stolas calls. Like, yeah, they don’t like Stolas much either, but still, Blitz kinda had it coming.

Stolas gets a musical number. But not a good one. More on the lines of this.

On that note, maybe something like a Starkid musical episode? C’mon, it fits.

I want Charlie and Stolas to know each other. Not friends but at least they know each other. Royalty and all...

Blitzo family backstory? Who are those ladies in the poster with him? Was he actually in a circus? How did the O become silent in his name?

Stolas’s daughter, Natasha (or Tasha, whatever) shows up. Maybe she’s the spoiled, bratty, daddy’s little girl trope. OR EVEN BETTER: She’s a mix of E.B. from the Netflix Green Eggs and Ham and Louise from Bob’s Burgers. Let her be smart! Let her start working for I.M.P. and run it better than any of them.

Tasha actually has a strong moral compass and actually kinda likes Charlie’s idea and wants to help, but she’s a kid and her dad says she can’t so... (She probably does anyway or Charlie tells Tasha to come back and help when she’s a bit older and has more freedom from her parents.

Blitzo and Angel Dust meeting, tell me that wouldn’t kick ass. (And Stolas meeting Angel Dust and getting “I’m here to steal yo man” vibes from him). Whether Angel and Blitzo hit it off that way is completely arbitrary.

A crossover of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss culminating in the entire crew having to defeat some big baddie and it kicks ass.

More found family tropes in general. That’s the good shit.

That’s all I got for now. Feel free to reblog and add on!

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kathyprior4200 · 4 years

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Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss: Potential Finale

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss: The Final Episodes

2025

The Second Heaven Hell War has begun! Charlie attempts to redeem her clients at the hotel and after several fights against Helsa, Vox, Valentino, Velvet and Katie Killjoy, she has successfully done so. Unfortunately, Heaven is not so keen to let sinners into Heaven unless they do the impossible and become saints. The angels also are elitist, only wanting the virtuous into Heaven to not overcrowd their realm. Charlie pleads with the Archangels to give them a chance, to have Angel Dust, Alastor, Husk and Niffty reunite with their Heaven families (Molly, Alastor’s mother, etc.) Meanwhile, I.M.P struggles to kill more bad mortals as C.H.E.R.U.B. keeps reviving them.

Some people in Hell (Three Vs, Alastor, Rosie, Lucifer, The Seven Ring Rulers) attempt to keep their status at all costs. Alastor attempts to control and slaughter more demons, angels and humans, before Charlie helps him discover what he truly wants: entertainment, love and finding his mother. After long hard battles and agreements, Angel Dust is free from Valentino and a redeemed Alastor lets Husk and Niffty go. Rosie, Helsa (who wants Charlie’s position as princess) and the Hell-born attempt to keep the lower class sinners in line, joining with the Three Vs to try and shut down Charlie’s hotel (Lucifer’s idea.) Vox and Valentino try and brainwash Hell into watching TV and buying into Valentino’s porn. Angel and Aracknis confront their stern mafia father. Baxter, Crymini, Mimzy and the Hazbins work together to defeat them. Vaggie and Charlie grow closer after a formerly love-struck Charlie finds out that Alastor betrayed the hotel for his own purposes. After Alastor betrays them, he realizes that they were his only friends and decides to make it up to Charlie (by apologizing and helping the Hazbins defeat the Overlords.)

I.M.P. goes on adventures throughout the Seven Rings and Stolas bonds deeper with his daughter and Blitzo. However, I.M.P. makes one fatal mistake, leading the humans to suspect that demons and angels are out there. Alastor jumps at the chance to enter the human world and cause more chaos (before he is redeemed). Charlie and the others stop him and bring him back to Hell.) C.H.E.R.U.B. tries to make friends with I.M.P., telling them to stop killing, but they don’t listen, saying it’s their only way to survive in a world that sees them as dirt. The cherubs rely the info to Gabriel and Michael, who send more angel spies to crack down on demons. Ironically, the humans accept C.H.E.R.U.B., even worship them as mini deities in their desires to constantly be revived. However, their revival results in more human population and formerly deceased criminals being able to cause trouble once again. The fight over humanity between angels and demons is ongoing! Could saints (former humans in Heaven) and sinners (former humans in Hell) be the realm mediators led by Charlie?

Lucifer tells Charlie to stop pursuing her fruitless dream, as it is tradition to have Exorcists kill demons every year. Charlie refuses to do so. Lucifer warns her that Heaven will find out and she’ll be in danger. (He had wanted to protect her as well as make her into a worthy heir). Lucifer explains that he made an agreement with his brother, that Lucifer could rule Hell as he saw fit but only if the Exorcists do their job to instill fear and to reduce the population. Charlie and Lilith suspect that it’s a tactic to keep them in line, to say “you sinners deserve to suffer and die.” Lilith forms an army of performers in secret while Charlie continues her work. Baxter creates armor and chemical weapons for the demons, working with Cherri Bomb and Sir Pentious. More Exorcists arrive, this time killing twice as many demons as before as a warning. But the next time, Charlie and Hell’s rebellion would be ready. Lucifer confronts Michael who tries to pacify Charlie into letting the angels decide the fate of demons.

The second Heaven Hell War soon begins. Lucifer, Lilith and Charlie led the Infernal Rebellion, while God, Adina, Michael and Jesus lead the Heavenly Order. I.M.P. and C.H.E.R.U.B. join the fight as well. Exorcists fly in by the hundreds, fighting off demons who now have weapons, technology and magic powers. The war takes place mostly in Hell, but extends to Heaven and Earth. Lucifer battles Michael, as Lucifer attempts to take God’s throne again. Lilith and Charlie work to defeat Adina and the consort of God, who doesn’t want to fight. The Archangels battle the Overlords and the Seven Ring Rulers…for the first time, Hell’s denizens work together to survive. However, some angels are good and agree to Charlie’s plan, thus join her. While a few evil demons become influenced by Adina and a desire for more power. But soon, many beloved characters die their second deaths.

“When the seven Rings collapse, when the Heavens crash aground”

Before long, Heaven and Hell start to crumble. Both strict hierarchies fall as the evil Ring Rulers are stripped of their status. The only way to escape was to go to the human world. Stolas sacrifices himself for Octavia and to keep the portal open long enough for the remaining demons and angels to enter. Charlie and the others arrive to the human world but not everyone makes it. All the demons put on their human form disguises and their backstories are revealed! Alastor reconciles with his mother, Mimzy, Niffty Husk and Charlie, giving her a kiss. Angel hugs his mother, brother and sister. Those who survive finally get to see their families.

But now the terrified humans have discovered them and are off to hunt down all the demons! They demand them to perish and get off of Earth, though many mortals want to use demons and angels alike to do their bidding. The demons, having been dead, chaotic and from different time periods… they wouldn’t mesh well with current humanity (the world would end!). Charlie tries to reassure the mortals that her kind are only there to help them and live peacefully among them, that they now need a new home. God decides to create a hidden Safe Haven for the characters (similar/the same to Zoophobia!) It isn’t Charlie’s original idea of Heavenly paradise, but as the angels and demons try to work together, it makes her happy all the same. Of course, the demons mourn the loss of their home and comrades. I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B. still try to kill and revive humans but soon find other musical theater callings. I.M.P. become excellent slayers of monsters in the other Hell as well as great performers. C.H.E.R.U.B. alternatively become healers of those in new Safe Haven and still travel to the human world to spread hope…while agreeing to let the natural cycle take its course. Charlie’s plan had (nearly) succeeded!

But it wasn’t over. God, Charlie and the powerful authorities use the last of their powers to create Purgatory and the Astral Realm. Along with the new Hotel, Charlie leads the Purgatory rehabilitation program, where souls face their worst fears and themselves, giving them a second chance. As a consequence for switching worlds, the demons and angels could die mortal deaths (and could only use their diminished powers in their hidden sanctuary). All souls now entered the vast Purgatory world with five choices: go to Zoophobia’s Hell or Heaven, die a natural final death, be reincarnated into the mortal realm, or…like Charlie and her friends eventually do…be redeemed and enlightened in a new starry paradise.

And so the next generation of Viv’s world begins…with I.M.P. and the Hazbins merging with Zoophobia and Ashley Nichol’s world of Far Fetched. Any children the characters have could either go to the alternate Zoophobia academy or help an aging future Charlie (before she obtains enlightenment) with another larger hotel to redeem others.

#hazbinhotel #hazbin hotel theory #helluvebosstheory #helluvaboss #zoophobia #vivziepop

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idealnreal · 4 years

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Please overanalyze the shadows in his palace I am begging you.

@appleyjuiceboy / jester owns my braincells of course i would do this for u

Okay so i think its best if i go about the order of shadows we meet in the game so. I’m not going to go into the persona/shadows in maruki’s palace. I’ll leave that for some other day. Now! Lets hope i can remain fully coherent.

1) The fluffy haired noodle shadow we meet for (ka)sumi’s awakening

First off, look at the design of this shadow--it has the fluffy hair parted to the right like maruki, its androgynous figure, and that swirly face mask as well! The mask has two eyes, and it even looks like theres a smile there, lopsided.

We have never seen any other palace shadow taking a similar shape as the palace ruler (except maybe the yaldaboath palace). Shadows are meant to emulate what the ruler thinks of as protectors of their heart. Maruki doesn’t trust anyone other than himself with this secret. And particularly at this phase of his distortion -- there are no scientists, to attendants, no patients. Just an empty, beautiful palace -- with possibly only one type of shadow and protector. The type that represents himself.

(Also androgynous/nb maruki confirmed ?? yes)

Okay then lets look at what this shadow says to Kasumi.

Shadow: ... Heresy. You dare to spurn our lord’s mercy. Accept yourself... Our lord laments the foolishness birthed from your pain.

Having the context that Kasumi is Sumire here ... Because this scene comes about because Kasumi sees a cognitive version of herself (Sumire) blaming herself -- and so, a part of her is probably trying to remember that she is Sumire. Thus ‘spurn(ing) our lord’s mercy’. And yeah accepting herself as Kasumi instead of trying to remember that she is Sumire.

But most important is the fact that Maruki’s palace shadows refer to him as a religious or god-like being (’our lord’s mercy’ calling back christian themes). Someone who is merciful and, most of all, does feel grief over one’s pain. Painting an ideal picture of a loving and caring god, ala abrahamic religions. This is a running theme with all the shadow’s dialogs. Let’s put a pin in this for now.

These design shadows are seen again later in the container room of the palace. They’re slightly faster. The container room is a strange one -- because it doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the laboratory/hospital/garden of eden thing going on. While yes labs and hospitals do have storage areas, i cant imagine them being a container warehouse like this. I do headcanon that this is a storage area for the pain and suffering that Maruki has taken on from other people in order to heal them, due to his hyper empathy -- but i’ll analyse the room some other time. For now it’s interesting that the Maruki-like shadows are now relegated to this specific and really dark section of the palace.

Like the throne room/centre of eden that the Maruki boss fight takes place in -- He resigns himself to the darker gloomier parts of his palace. And the same goes for these shadows. This is where he belongs.

Also abso-fucking-lutely we’re going to talk about how this shadow transforms when it ambushes you:

Skin suit opening up to reveal fangs and rows of teeth, and a formless monster inside. Maruki ... dude ... are you okay? If these shadows are meant to emulate him -- is this how he sees himself sometimes? HHh boy...

2) First lab coat wearing shadow at the start of his palace investigation

Prior to this, while we understood that Maruki was a researcher, it was never a defining feature of him. Like the first thing that came to my mind on Maruki was that he was just the school counsellor and snack purveyor. Now this entire researcher, scientist, side of him is in full display. And this is the most common type of shadow we see, some which are violent, and others are non violent. Maruki sees scientists as the main residents of his palace -- his drive towards investigation and discovery, to puzzling out the intricacies of the human heart, human mind, and human pain. To better further his ability to heal. But there’s also a sort of cold, methodical nature to these scientists. Their ‘healing’ is methodical, based in science.

This coupled with the religious reverence and ideology that their dialog suggests, is a nice contrast. Experiments, data, research, are people’s salvation. Not the simple belief of a deity or of a higher purpose -- but science. Science, in many ways, becomes part and parcel of their religious belief.

Shadow: Those guises ... You aren’t among those who desire salvation. Leave. You are unwanted intruders. Do not disturb our lord’s research-- this world’s salvation. Why do you willingly strive for self-suffering? Why are you reaching out to your own pain?

So here -- the shadow wants them to leave the palace well enough alone. To leave Maruki to his research, and to allow this reality to exist. They don’t want this to end violently and it seems like they’re okay with the trio not ‘desiring salvation’. And when the trio refuse to leave, the shadow asks them why they want to suffer. It’s something inconceivable to them. Maybe even challenging their resolve-- to reconsider their current path, which will only lead to more pain. Also ‘salvation’, ding, on the christian theme counter. Deliverance from above from sin, even redemption. Not for one person, but for the whole world.

We see this type of shadow again before the scene in the auditorium.

Shadow: You are misguided. Do not search for pain. Only tragedy awaits you beyond here. [After defeating it] Such a fool, rejecting our lord’s mercy. In that case -- witness it for yourself.

Same themes. Delicious. Lets move on now shall we.

3) Hastur -- the shadow that appears with Maruki at his reveal as his second-in-command / bodyguard

I don’t think i’ve talked about how much i love the lopsided smiles on these masks. Because i love it. it’s just the right amount of unsettling and creepy. fUCk. And the twitching, twisting, and the weeping blue paint that Hastur’s shadow form does before transforming is /chefs kiss. I wanted more.

Anyway, onto Hastur’s design. Not a labcoat this time, just an ordinary looking white suit with no tie. This is the only time we see Maruki have a bodyguard shadow -- something else he relies on. Hastur’s presence in this scene only shows how deeply afraid and uncomfortable Maruki actually is with intruders in his palace. This experience is a reminder that someone had come into Rumi’s parents house to kill him years ago (a theory for another time). Like that incident years ago, he doesn’t resort to violence here -- he did and does try to negotiate. But when that didn’t work, at least now he has something that can fight for him.

( It is only in the second infiltration when we see Maruki actually take a more active role -- but I won’t get to that here. )

Hastur: Stubborn imbeciles, rejecting our lord ...

There is a running theme here, unfortunately. The shadows again cannot comprehend why anyone would choose to reject Maruki’s salvation, why anyone would choose suffering. And words like ‘foolish’ ‘misguided’ and finally ‘imbeciles’ here are all used to describe those who choose to reject it. While i do think Maruki only bends reality if the person wishes it (subconsciously or consciously), and does accept that there are people who won’t accept their wishes being granted and is aware of the reasons why-- He cannot fully understand or emphatise with it.

4) These deformed Maruki-like shadows guarding the control room

Jesus christ above, i don’t like these, because they contrast with all other designs as these are more brutish and deformed. There’s used as gatekeepers at certain points of the palace, in the first control room, and later on in the brain-pod-room (my brain cells are stopping to work now excuse me) before the garden puzzle portion, at his final will seed and the entrance to the garden of eden.

We know Maruki isn’t a brute strength kinda person. And yet we see these few who’s only purpose is to defend certain things and areas with force. Its uncharacteristic, but at the same time, given the things that these shadows are defending -- it makes sense. No cunning, no wit, no negotiation, no compassion -- just forcefully defending very important parts of his heart and his work.

Shadow (at the control room): So you dare defy His Excellency. You shall not interfere with our master’s work!

Shadow (brainwash room): Foolish rebels! You won’t take one step past here!

Shadow (entrance to garden of eden) : You?! I can’t believe you’ve made it so far ...

I had to do a double take on this. I think this is the only time this title ‘His Excellency’ has been used in the palace. While it is used for catholic bishops and that sort -- its mostly used in the context of heads of state, ambassadors-- more secular roles. The other times this shadow speaks is also similarly less reverent, less religious orientated. Of course this makes sense if the only function of these shadows is to use force to defend. They’re not the scientists or the first maruki-imitation shadows -- they’re not as devoted, and they dont have to be.

5) Finally, these limbless noodles

This one is found during the horticulture portion of the palace. I can’t exactly figure out why. And as far as i can tell, they only appear in this portion of the palace.

As far as the design goes -- these are probably the most unhuman like. Slender, androgynous with only a mask. I’ve got nothing. Braincells ran out. Sorry!

(Haha androgynous maruki go brr)

SO! That’s it. thanks for coming to my ted talk and following me down this rabbit hole. I need to go and drink some fuckin tea.

#(( jester being a real bro here #(( enabling me and my insanity #f: notes #c: the self #takuto maruki #(( slides this into the main tag #appleyjuiceboy #p5r spoilers

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weaselbeaselpants · 4 years

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All you need to know about my sucky rewrite

Since the actual show’s getting greenlit here’s my sooperoriginal ideas of my reboot/rewrite/reimagine thing called “Happy hotELL”

The cast of “Happy hoteLL” are renamed versions of the Hazbin cast:

Charly, Vee (she’s nick-named “Vaggy” by Engel) Engel, Niftie, Hux, Alastair, Lord Satan and Lilian, Flim-Flam and JibJab, Karen Killjoy, Sir Pantsless.

The main villains would be human!archangels based on Estus Pirkle and Kirk Cameron.

The main demons under Charly all embody a deadly sin in how they ended up in hell: Engel = Wrath (hated himself and other people), Niftie = Envy (tormented people at school in order to impress a boy), Hux = Lust (stalked/objectified various women in his life), Vee = Pride (too proud to admit she made bad choices), and Alastar = Gluttony (for reasons already discussed here).

Setting

The “afterworld”, the setting our characters inhabit, is separated into three sections: HEAVEN which is where the Archangels rule and were “good” souls go; HELL, which is the main setting of the show and where the archangels swoop down to purge of all the “bad” souls that end up there; and LIMBO, a primordial pocket-dimension with no direct portal to through the other two worlds. Limbo turns out to be the place the archangels, the true rulers of Heaven, are hiding. The mortal or ‘human’ world is between Heaven and Hell and is accessed by similar means to how it is in Helluva Boss.

Angels and demons which were never human are referred to as ARCHANGELS/OVERLORDS and CHERUBS/IMPS. Ascended/damned souls are those of people who’ve ended up in either Heaven or Hell.

Heaven and Hell both have class systems. Imps and Overlords and Cherubs and Archangels are SUPPOSED to rule over all the human souls in their care. But Heaven’s archangels have gone missing - abandoned their posts for the peaceful content of limbo - leaving human angels to rise up and over time dictate how Heaven is to be run and who gets redeemed....this is as bad as you think it is, as the human!archangels care only for their “purity” over everyone else and keep people who should be allowed into heaven out just for not being to their standards - like Vee. The Overlords of Hell are unaware of this and have been unknowingly doing the human!angels’ business for hundreds of years.

>The implication that this system for disposing of evil souls has failed is made well before the second season twist because damned human souls (Alastair) have become overlords and exist in Hell without being purged as an open secret, even to Charly’s parents. The only reason the true Overlords oppose any of the human!Overlords’ reign is because it disrupts their order in Hell, not out of any sense of justice.

There is NO monotheistic deity in this world; angels and demons used to live in “pantheons”, aka tribes, across the earth where they created life and the ecosystems there as well - thusly, they became gods to the people of these regions too. Satan and Lilian are from what would come to be the Abrahamic angels. In time, other mythologies’ underworld counterparts - and even some benevolent gods - would have the power diminish on earth and they’d have to live in Hell if they didn’t want to be wiped out by the crusades the Archangel’s influence over humans. Understandably, a lot of non-Abrahamic angels and demons are NOT fond of this appropriation/erasure of their culture and want their own realm’s back, even trying to run their own redemption operation/afterlife control in secret or in limbo. (Imagine Charly meeting a Vivziepoped versions of Hades and Persephone or Oxhead and Horseface telling her to fuck off and her just being like “I KNEW someone had the same idea! I JUST KNEW IT! <3<3<3″)

ALL mortal souls are supposed to be sent to hell but a great many of them are KEPT from heaven because of the human!archangels.

A demon is redeemed by either setting right a wrong they did in life or sacrificing their happiness for another. This is what happens to Vee at the end of the first season, which leaves Charly without a manager through season 2.

Satan’s backstory is a parody of Paradise Lost as he was the most beautiful angel in his pantheon before the others kicked him out. In revenge he took Lilian, their “first woman”, for his wife and rallied up an army which apparently ended with one mass-extinction event on earth.

There’s a section of Hell where demons who represent different vices/drugs live. It’s referred as “Viceland” and is treated like a kitty theme park.

Demons (overlord, imp, or damned-souls) can all be summoned by mortals who know their way with unholy magic. They’re summoned at really inconvenient times and for really worthless deeds and this would be a great source of comedy for the show and an excuse to get characters to the mortal realm.

Story

The first episode/pilot/episodes/minimovie/whatever would be basically the same as the pilot but with a few tweaks:

It shows a person dying, going to Hell, becoming a demon, and being purged (which the audience not quite knowing what just happened to him) with Engel happily takes the dead demon’s things once the dust clears. Then Charly and Vee’s limo pulls up to him and ask him if he’s interested in a “new gig”. Que title and credits.

Charly initially opens the hotel with the promise that it will be a place for vice and booze but lets it slip that it’s a front for rehabilitation. Once Engel’s story is picked up on by the network, Vee and Charly’s assistants (Flimflam and JibJab) attack Karen and destroy the news station.

It’s Engel - not Vee - who recognizes Alastair as the threat that he is - later it’s revealed that Engel was present during Alastair’s initial takeover and that his radio frequencies damaged Engel’s eye. Vee doesn’t believe him until she sees Alastair’s absorbtion powers, which is when she allows him to stay employed by the hotel to help take Alastair down.

Alastair stresses the need for Charly to keep him working with her a secret, ESPECIALLY from her parents. He’s technically a criminal in hell and he convinces Charly that her parents will be impressed with her bad deed once the jig is up.

The rest of Season 1 would probably be Alastair setting up the hotel while the main cast of demons become more aquainted with each other and the different levels of Hell.The end of season 1 would feature Alastair double-crossing Charly and consuming the hotel in his likeness while it’s hosting a demon’s ball - in the hopes of getting enough souls to reignite his takeover. Vee, Engel, and Charly manage to escape the hotel and Charly overpowers and defeats Al by destroying his microphone - thus releasing all the souls he’s trapped, and then destroys his physical form.

Season 2 would start with a face reveal of Satan, Charly’s father, as he forces her to eat Alastair’s heart which will put him under her control. She does, but Alastair’s conscience manifests inside Charly’s head and mocks her ideas throughout the season. Also in the opening Vee would become and angel and ascends for Heaven, leaving Charly to manage the now very popular hotel alone until Engel rises up to become her #2.

Season 2 would be more explorative, with more stuff featuring the demon’s lives as humans, Charly’s role in Hell, and even Vee in Heaven. We’d learn more about the way Hell, Heaven and Limbo work as Charly manages to redeem a couple more damned souls. At the end of the season, the demons discover a dead cherub with a message from Vee begging Charly for help. Charly first attempts to pass through the hidden realm of Limbo to get to Heaven, but Hux runs off with their means to get there, so instead she vomits up Alastair, the only other demon who knows how to get to heaven, and he assists them on the condition that he be granted amnesty once they return to Hell. In the end, Charly and co. discover Heaven’s corrupted state and realize the Archangels are missing, Vee looses her wings but ascends into a fallenangel, and they all escape the bloodthirsty angels due to Lilian’s interference.

The Overlords of Hell prepare for a new war with Heaven and Charly’s parents send her to the mortal realm for her protection. In the mortal realm, Charly and the demons disguise themselves and their base of operation as a bed and breakfast. Charly has trouble reeling in the overexcited demons who are out of place in this new time while also keeping Alastair, who has stashed away with her, from trapping souls.

Halfway through season 3 Engel and the other motel staff find out Alastair’s human identity, which he was desperate to hide, and bring his now elderly human daughter to him. This causes Alastair to freak out and consume the bed and breakfast. Once Charly brings him to, his physical takes on that of a baby deer but his psyche and abilities are completely nulled.

While this is going on Vee, Hux, and Charly’s parents have their own adventures in Limbo where they meet the Archangels who have no idea how corrupt Heaven has gotten in their absence. It’s only through Hux and Vee that the main group is finally all reuninted in Hell where the finale takes place :

Engel and Niftie ascend into fallenangels and alongside Vee lead a brigade against the angels who now want to wipe out all the demons; Charly guilt trips her parents and the Archangels into taking action and combining their power to dismantle the angel’s weapons; Alastair comes back and personally takes out the main human!archangel and himself by throwing them into the center of Hell; big stupid happy lesbian ending fartjoke.

end

Characters

Charly’s relationship dynamic to her parents is flipped: her father, Satan (he doesn’t like being called Lucifer) LOVES her. He shares a lot of her personality and at worst doesn’t take Charly seriously or cares about her ambitions. Lilian, Charly’s mother resents her daughter. Lilian was hoping her daughter would bring forth the apocalypse but Charly doesn’t want to do that. It’s implied Charly’s optimism and need to help people comes from her father’s days as an Archangel, and her mother especially hates the angels for casting her out, which leads to her resenting Charly.

This doesn’t stop Satan from being genuinely impressed with his daughter’s achievements and for Lilian to be be the panicked-parent when she learns that Charly has broken into Heaven at the end of season 2.

The Royal Family is not actively malicious. They’re more like privileged jailers on the top of the Hell-foodchain. The most evil things about them are their apathy towards human atrocities (and their subjects pain, of course), their occasional bouts of sadism, and their genuine glee at the thought of destruction - namely the apocalypse, which Satan and Lilian speak fondly about like a married couple would their retirement plans.

After Charly shows her true form while taking out Alastair, the other Overlords and Imps (i.g. Karen and 666 News) start heaping praise on her out of fear that she’ll retaliate for all the mockery they made of her when she unveiled her plan. Charly is uncomfortable with this.

Engel is BAD at his pornstar/sexworker career. He tries to sell himself as a sass-master incubus but can’t achieve this status in the demon hierarchy because of his short fuse and violent nature.

Engel thinks he’s in hell because he’s gay and likes crossdressing. In reality it’s because he was a member of a crime family and a murderous gangster, named Anatole Slinkoff. The first people he killed were his father and brother as he was assisting a young-up-and-coming rival who would eventually become his boss.

Speaking of that boss, Anatole fell in love with him. On Anatole’s birthday he and the boss got drunk and he ended up confessing his feelings. The boss invited a sobered up Anatole back to his flat the following week and seemed to return his affections with a kiss...which was then followed by a fatal stabbing. Engel never got over the heartbreak/betrayal.

Engel starts off as a toxic enabling jackass who lives in denial and uses sex and drugs to cope with how unhappy he is with himself. In season 2 he becomes Charly’s #2 and builds a strong friendship with her. Also in season 2 Engel meets his father, brother, and mother who are also in hell for their crimes. His father and bro amazingly forgive him for killing them while Engel’s mother - a god-fearing woman who would beat Engel if she found him wears makeup or playing with dolls as a child - asks him for forgiveness, saying she’s the reason her family and he specifically ended up where he did. After Engel patches things up with them he tries to locate the souls of the people he killed and in the process finds out his old boss went to Heaven. At first Engel sets out to kill his boss and get revenge, but upon actually finding him living in fear in Limbo, he can’t bring himself to do so and instead chooses to just not forgive him.

Engel ascends/becomes a fallenangel in the final season when he meets an imp with a similar taste of humor and style. Rather than rush into a relationship as he’s done with every person he’s got with since he ended up in hell, Engel tells his new lover he wants to wait until he’s stable for a relationship, which triggers his transformation.

Molly doesn’t exist. Molly is instead the name of Engel’s feminine alterego and later the name Engel takes up as a fallenangel.

Vee, like Engel, also thinks she’s in hell for all the wrong reasons: She ran away from her controlling parents, thinking she could live on her own just fine. She could not. Instead she wound up turning to a life of crime and prostitution to support herself after a plethora of bad decisions and heartbreaks. When her parents sent word out all over the country, begging her to come back and that they were wrong, but she still refused. In the end one of her clients ended up strangling her. Her soul SHOULD have been one that went to Heaven but was barred off by the human!archangels for being a “thug”. Vee tried to get herself purged after her first few months in Hell, convinced that she deserved it, but Charly saved her and the blast instead only took out one of her eyes. Vee and her story are Charly’s main inspiration to open up the hotel.

Vee and Charly obviously have a romantic relationship from the start but Vee doesn’t see their love as anything serious. When Vee becomes an angel at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2, she rather cruelly leaves Charly without a second thought and discards their relationship is ‘passing sin’. It isn’t until she spends more time in Heaven, seeing the other angels’ being restricted (including her parents, who admit to actually being miserable in Heaven) and finding her rejection notice from the human!archangels that Vee realizes she does love Charly and that her redemption was always HER doing, not someone else’s.

Vee makes the unwise decision to confront the Archangels (whom she doesn’t know are actually human souls) about this treatment. They respond by locking Vee away and performing a “purification” on her which is like electroshock therapy. This sedates Vee into a mindless drone, much to the horror of the cherubs, angels, and eventually Charly and the gang.

Vee, in her purified state, doesn’t want to leave Heaven and go back to Hell. Charly, realizing the woman she loves is gone, tearfully tells her she won’t ask Vee to be anything she doesn’t want to be and that she loves her. This confession breaks through to the real Vee. Their happy reunion is cut short however by the human!archangels who rip off Vee’s wings, causing her and Charly to fall. It’s here though that Vee again ascends, this time into a fallenangel, and grows her own pair of wings and an angels’ weapon which she uses to kill Perkins, the head archangel and save the rest of the cast.

Throughout season 3, Vee and Charly’s parents turn the Happy Hotel into a refuge for human souls and imps while the angels and demons prepare for new spiritual warfare. Vee also tracks down Hux and multiple other “lost souls” in Limbo in her search for the Archangels.

Vee commands Hell’s army alongside Molly and Niftie in the show’s final climax and she gets a happy ending running a shanty motel in Limbo alongside Charly.

In life, Niftie was a teenager who tried to grow up too fast and gave up her hobbies and interests to impress her childhood friend (whom she was in love with). By following the lead of a more popular classmate, Niftie became a bully who ruled her school’s social status. Then she learned that her “teacher” had been in love with the same guy and he was returning her feelings - which drove Niftie into a rage and she tried killing the both of them on their senior prom night. She tried running them over with her car, putting the girl in the hospital, paralyzing the boy forever, and ruining her reputation at school (for saying she couldn’t drive when she did; not for the attempted murder). The boy she loved hated her, and the rest of the school bullied her until she gave in and took her own life in the bathroom.

The other demons are especially sympathetic towards Nifty. Charly finds it horrible that she end up in hell at such a young age. Hux is very protective of her. However, Niftie is more self-aware than she appears; she acts more childish than she actually is because she wishes she was still a kid, but does NOT like being treated like a literal child - especially by Charly and Engel. She only warms up to Charly when Hux abandons her and she’s forced to be an authority figure under Engel while the group stages things out in the mortal realm.

In the mortal realm, Niftie ends up coming across her old hishschool friend, now an old woman in a wheelchair, who believes it’s her fault everything ended the way it did. Niftie tells the lady not to feel guilty and instead apologizes to her - which ignites Niftie’s ascension into a fallenangel.

Hux was a moderately successful show magician. Heartbroken by being unable to woo a woman he loved with his success, he turned to drinking and took up relationships with women who worked under him - all of these relationships were toxic and Hux would break their hearts and ruin their lives. When Hux arrived in Hell it was during a purge. He found his original sweetheart there but she, not him, was purged, cementing Hux’s views of redemption and justice...that there is NONE.

Hux is mostly apathetic and disbelieves along with everyone else in Charly’s plan UNTIL he finds out that one of the women he hurt escaped into Limbo. When the main cast tried to use their one passage to Limbo to get to Heaven in season 2, Hux takes the pass for himself.

In Season 3, Vee finds Hux enjoying his time in Limbo and calls him out for his selfishness. Hux introduces her to all the women he wronged, who DON’T forgive him, and also his new business in Limbo selling drinks that make people recall their past lives.

Together with Vee, Hux thinks up a plan to have the overcrowded souls of Hell and Heaven wait out the war in Limbo while simultaneously kicking out the Archangels so that they won’t notice the influx of souls in their realm.

Sir Pantsless is the show’s biggest buttmonkey and is constantly abused. He’s a tiny demon trying to ride off other Overlord’s success and who’s design is a wimpy, trying-to-hard version of Charly’s dad. In life, Sir Pantsless was a Victorian-era businessman who lived a long, happy life of abusing child-workers in factories and getting away with all his evil deeds. Charly’s dad even admits to keeping him out of the purge purposefully because he finds Pantsless’ pain amusing.

Themes and other stuff worth noting

If there’s a lesson I guess I’d try to push with the ending of this rewrite it would be, ironically, that neither Heaven nor Hell hold your true morality. It’s on you for making mistakes; it’s up to you to overcome them - you literally have to go through hell - to fix them! It also shouldn’t be up to Heaven and Hell how punishment/enlightenment works or why it’s worth anything.

This is NOT supposed to be an antireligion/antiChristian story. Not at ALL. It’s anti absolutism and anti religiousSUPREMACY story. I know then that people will probably not want me basing this version of Heaven off Evangelicals, but like Viv, that’s the religion that closest for me to criticize. If I were Jewish or Hindu or Muslim I would so be about tearing their hypocrisies down....but I’m not. I know all about the injustices in those religions but I’m not comfortable tearing them a new one as a white Christian. My mother’s fam are recovering Christian Science-folk. Also, have you watched anything about Left Behind? It’s genuinely an eye opening experience when it comes to Americanized Christianity and even the lore of Hell and Demons in regards to the book of revelations.

Lotsa references to The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost with the implication that these works are fan fiction to the demons of actual events with Dante never even making it out of Hell because he was too prideful. (Charly’s father has two faces in his wings/comb which are constantly chewing parts of Dante like chewing gum).

I know Viv says she’s hoping to get Weird Al to voice Lucifer. Personally I think a better unlikely but TOTALLY FITTING devil would be mah man Martyn Jacques of The Tiger Lillies. They even have a circus motif!

Engel probably claims his name is supposed to be misspelled on purpose. In reality, it’s cause he was drunk when submitting his resume to be an incubus and made a typo for his new name.

Vee’s human name is Marianna Posada. GET IIIIIT.

Alastair’s human name is Edward Hastings. Edward being the name of the American Murder Song which inspired my Alastair, while Hastings is the last name of the man who helped doomed the Donner Party.

#hazbin hotel rewritten #redesign #rewrite #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel angel dust #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel alastor

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master-gaia-tetron-crystalblue · 4 years

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Similarities between Quintet games

The Quintet Trilogy

There are a few connections between Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma:

Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma deal with world regeneration and all three games deal with the concept of reincarnation.

Blazer and Will (in form of Shadow) have the technique of launching the spirit of the Firebird/Phoenix and apparently in Terranigma the weapons of the Hero, Ark, are shaped like a phoenix, too.

In both the Japanese and PAL versions the Soul Armor of Soul Blazer, appears in Terranigma.

In Illusion of Gaia, Will uses his powers to attract "Gems" like Blazer.

In Neotokio, the most advanced city in the world, Ark fights a ghost hidden in a garbage can, there by reviving the Quintet programmers, including a chicken, who are creating the game Illusion of Time 2 that is Terranigma. In the Japanese version the game, he is developing 天地創造 (Tenchi Sōzō), they were literally making Terranigma. Also, in that version, you could answer a questionnaire (Quintet Quiz) if you were an expert in the games of the company, among them Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia.

Some characters and locations seem to appear in more than one game with different names:

All three games feature a dog named Turbo: in Soul Blazer, he appears in Greenwood; in Illusion of Gaia, he's at the Diamond Coast; in Terranigma, he's Meilin's dog.

In Illusion of Gaia, "The Moon tribe" people, are in the form of a Soul Blazer enemy: Ghost.

The enemies of Illusion of Gaia, Dinapedes and Nitropedes are similar to Metapedes of Dr. Leo's Lab in Soul Blazer.

Both Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma deal with Dark and Light Gaia.

In Illusion of Gaia the secret boss is Metal Mantis, who was the first boss of Soul Blazer.

Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma share a painter in their story.

The "Tulip" that appears in Illusion of Gaia in the of Edward's Castle Prison, is the same as those that appear in Soul Blazer.

Terranigma has Capetown in South Africa (though it can't be visited) and Illusion of Gaia begins in South Cape.

Mu exists in Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.

In Soul Blazer there is a place called St. Elle's Seabed, in Japanese "Palace of St. Ells" (セントエルズの宮殿), name like Elle (エル) of Terranigma.

Some characters are equivalent to the same ones from Soul Blazer:

Guardian of the Forest = Ra Tree

Queen Magridd = Bloody Mary

Magridd Castle = Sylvain Castle

Dr. Leo = Beruga (Dr. Leo says "I am not passing away, rather, I am going to sleep. When a scientist with my knowledge is needed, I will be back.", and Beruga was alive in the ancient world, before it was revived by Ark).

Connection of the Quintet classic games between Quintet Trilogy

ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2: For being the beginning of the Quintet Trilogy and their complementary games (Robotrek and The Granstream Saga), there are different references in these:

In Soul Blazer, The Master (a non-playable character this time) is represented as a serious, kind, understandable, positive, and pious deity. He forgave King Magridd and never gave up hope that Blazer would triumph against Deatholl.

In ActRaiser 2 The Master has the power to turn into the spirit of the of Firebird/Phoenix for a few moments to attack the enemy.

In the Japanese version of the ActRaier 2, "Tower of Souls" is the "Tower of Babel" (バベルの塔戦]), which appears in Illusion of Gaia.

In Angel Village, appear enemies similar to Ramskulls which are from ActRaiser.

The outside of Angkor Wat temple of Illusion of Gaia is very similar to ActRaiser's Marahna temple.

In Terranigma, you can see two paintings: The Master of ActRaiser 2 painted by Matis and located in Mati's, which is in Loire, and the other in Britain in Sir Rich's mansion. Like some statues of one of three angels that help him in ActRaiser 2, specifically The Warrior Angel in Loire Castle.

ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2 are of the games that appears in the Quintet Quiz of Neotokio in Terranigma in the Japanese version.

In Terranigma the virus created by Beruga, "Asmodeus" is a reference of ActRaiser 2 the boss: Deception, in Japanese version: 欲望|Lust. Deception, apart from his attacks, sludge spit, fireball and bomb; he teleports to escape and uses his "Teleportation orb" to take The Master to another site on the same battlefield. Unlike "Asmodeus", that demon teleports the combatant, but doesn't erase him forever.

Although in interview of Koji Yokota by John Szczepaniak of his book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 1, he revealed that The Master is part of the games Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia. It's believed that he is also Light Gaia and Tanzra is Dark Gaia. This is believed because of the opening of Terranigma, (both in the original and the European version) which says, "They came to be called 'God' and 'Devil'."

The damaged sound effect of Blazer is the same of the ActRaiser when The Master is damaged.

The sound effect when defeating an enemy can be heard in ActRaiser, Soul Blazer, and Illusion of Gaia.

Sound effect of the enemies attacks bullet firing can heard in ActRaiser and Soul Blazer.

Robotrek: The game is a parody of the Quintet company's themes; such as is creation and destruction, human ambition, the use of science for good and evil, the theme of immortality that is implicit in Nagisa an assistant android with the resemblance to the deceased mother of the protagonist, problems between neighbors and among others. In addition to having some elements found in the ActRaiser and Quintet Trilogy, Robotrek would be the complement of those games:

The "Blade 4", in the Japanese version is called "Soul Blade" (ソウルブレイド), which could be the replica of the legendary weapon of the hero of Soul Blazer, with the technique of launching the spirit of Firebird/Phoenix.

The form of Tetron (bipyramid) resembles with the "Shrine of the Master" from Soul Blazer.

In the Clock Tower of Count Polinky's mansion where there is an enmity of some dolls with the mice of the place, this part of the game could be a reference to Soul Blazer in parody form.

In the Japanese version, the chicken on the farm is called "Catherine" (カトリーヌ), which is made a small mention in Terranigma, and are the only Quintet Super Nintendo Entertainment System games where chickens appear and the main character can talk to them.

On Robotrek "Rococo Town" (ロココ町) is a reference of the art style that originated in Paris in the late 17th and early 18th century. In Terranigma, Ark buys for 800 Gems: "Rococo Apartment" (ロココアパート).

In the computer of the main character (Hero's house) and that of his father, mentions ActRaiser 2 and Illusion of Gaia (in the Japanese and American version).

With the CyberJack, the player can enter the computer in dad's house and meet the Development staff of Quintet. This secret is present in Actraiser 2 and Terranigma, too.

The outside of Gateau's space fortress is shaped similar to that of the Tower of Babel.

In Rococo Town, The Master is mentioned in one diary where it narrates the preparation of a wedding: "We must thank the Deity" (神), doesn't seem to refer to the deity of South Isle. In addition to the fact that the main character of the game learned to create replicas of The Soul Blade.

Robotrek is one of the games that appears in the Quintet Quiz of Neotokio in Terranigma in the Japanese version.

The opening of Robotrek (Japanese version) the planet Quintenix "Paradise Star"(Gokuraku Hoshi) it's mentioned as small "star" (星):

"Infinite universe Among them, various forms of life were performed. There was a small star called Gokuraku-hoshi somewhere in the universe and there was a town called Rococo". "無限にひろがる大宇宙その中では様々な生命のいとなみが行われていたその大宇宙のどこかに極楽星という小さな星がありロココ町という町があった…"

In Japanese opening of Terranigma, the planet Earth is also called "star": "The star had two hearts front and back faces Light Side and Dark Side The 4.6 billion years since the star was born... The two great wills are repeating evolution and decline." "その星は二つの心を持っていた表の顔と裏の顔ライトサイドとダークサイドこの星が生まれてからの 46億年という年月は… 大いなる二つの意志によって進化と衰退をくり返している。"

In both the Japanese and American versions, a girl's dog and her grandmother's have the name Turbo (ターボ), a name given to the Turbo that appear in Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma.

In one video "Brute Press" VHS Vol.24 July 1995 (【非売品】ブルートプレス Vol.24 1995年7月号) published Terranigma Beta version.The sound effects can heard is the same of the Robotrek.

The Granstream Saga: It's not certain if the story takes place on Earth or in another planet in a distant future.In American version the story of manual tells us:"One hundred years ago, on the planet of Granstream, a great war devastated the land"; while the Japanese mention "the world" (世界) and "land" (地表) or "above ground (地上): "Going back in time, 100 years ago. The war that divides the world broke out, and humankind was on the verge of extinction. Based on different magical powers as the basis of civilization, the two opposing forces "Magical Empire Army" and "Spirit Alliance Army" do not yield to each other, and finally the empire destroys the enemy's center with forbidden super magic weapons Executed the operation. It shattered the earth's veins and caused cataclysms. The earth's axis tilted greatly and the surface of the earth was completely submerged. And all life and civilization rooted on the earth have perished".

"今より時をさかのぼること、百年前。世界を二分する戦争が勃発し、人類は滅亡の危機に瀕した。異なる魔法の力を文明の基盤とし、対立する二つの軍勢「魔導帝国軍」と「精霊同盟軍」は互いにあい譲らず、ついに帝国は禁断の超・魔導兵器で敵の中枢を破壊する作戦を実行した。それは、大地の地脈を粉砕し、大変動を引き起こした。地軸は大きく傾き、地表は完全に水没した。そして、地上に根差したあらゆる生命と文明は、滅びた。"

Although in an interview Koji Yokota, identifies Terranigma and The Granstream Saga different from ActRaiser, Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia,these two games from different consoles, presented various themes related to the company's previous games, for these that suggest to be possible sequel of Terranigma. Due to the fact that the connection with the others isn't official, it could be considered as another complement to ActRaiser and Quintet Trilogy:

In the game Eon and Arcia make it a goal to raise the other continents to restore the world.

The level of Stalagmite Castle just like Dr. Leo's Painting of Soul Blazer.

A stone appears named: Star Stone.

Among Eon's weapons we find a sword called: "Arc Blazer" that increases damage to enemies that are weak against ice.And the axe of the Spirit King: "Gaia Edge."

The stained glass window of the church is very similar to the one that appears in Terranigma in Litz's church, but not the colours.

Outside of Airlim, the magic control Tower, it's similar to the form of Tower of Babel.

The background of Curio Shop, you can find a vase with two handle, just like Illusion of Gaia.

Appears the enemy "Mimic", like in Soul Blazer.

Eon use"Dried herb" and "Special herb" to heal like the herbs from Illusion of Gaia.

The original form of the Demon King Demaar (Digol) looks like the final form of Dark Gaia of Terranigma.

In The Granstream Saga, if Eon decides to sacrifice Arcia using her pure soul for defeat demon Demaar. In the end, The Master (Deity) appears, sitting on a throne in the Palace of the Heaven, talking to her.

The most powerful weapons of Blazer and their connection with the Quintet's classic games

In Soul Blazer, if you want to use the Phoenix, previously invoked, it's essential to equip the Soul Blade, the Soul Armor and have enough Gems in order to face Deathtoll. The games that followed represented the equipment menu of Blazer and the need have Gems:

Weapon: Soul Blade (Robotrek: The replica of the Soul Blade).

Armor: Soul Armor (Terranigma: Soul Armor).

Magic: Phoenix (ActRaiser 2, Illusion of Gaia, and Robotrek).

Item: Super Bracelet (the Scepter of The Granstream Saga).

https://quintet.fandom.com/

#actraiser #soul blazer #illusion of gaia #robotrek #terranigma #granstream saga

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prettywordsyouleft · 5 years

Text

A New Spring

jinyoungmoans said:

Okay so! I dare you to write Jaebeom a Greek God au (my god Jaebeom you're stealing attentions now? I don't even request Jinyoung smh! Okay Jinyoung no. Leader first.) Anyways, I know I can trust you with this. (Kill me with fluff and suggestive moments) You're my fluff queen (and slowly a smut queen hahahahaha).

Pairing: Im Jaebum x reader (ft Jackson Wang)

Genre: CEO! au / greek god au / angst / romance

Warnings: some strong language

A/N: So I have gone a little different with this dare and I am really happy with the result! I chose to write the story of Zephyrus and Chloris and I’ve done my best to incorporate both a god au and set the story in modern time. The italics parts are naturally telling the tale and the rest is in a modern setting. I know that sounds confusing, but it really isn’t!

Word count: 5578

As he walked through the garden slowly, he smiled.

The fruit trees were full of ripening delicacies, the channelling of his winds this year producing the finest flowers and foods to supply the entire city. Spring had arrived with his gentle persuasion; Jaebum’s work already being praised by all of his people. As a deity, he enjoyed providing winds that would encourage ample harvest. But he also had a love for beautiful things, and as he reached out to touch the bloom of a camellia, he smiled. It was almost as stunning as you were. Clipping off the flower, he carried it around with him on his walk to the pergola at the edge of the gardens, his heart racing as he practised how he would confess to you.

There was no flower that could rival your beauty. Nothing could encapsulate your gentle heart either, and although Jaebum could throw out gusts of winds whenever he was frustrated, you never turned away from him. Your flowers would still bloom.

He had loved you for as long as he could remember.

“I no longer wish for us to be friends, Y/N,” he murmured as he walked, thrusting out the flower in his hand. Shaking his head, he cursed lowly, furrowing his brows together. It was too tacky. Everything he could think of just didn’t sound as lovely as you were and Jaebum grew anxious the closer he came to the pergola. He could see you now, standing there staring at something out of his view, your smile easing the flurry of options within his mind. He was surprisingly calm now, the effect you had over him each time.

Until he saw who you were smiling at.

Right before you, holding a bouquet of flowers, was Jaebum’s brother and best friend. Jackson was chuckling, saying something that Jaebum couldn’t quite capture. He didn’t need to hear the words spoken, the winds had already carried enough of the confession through your interactions. His best friend reached for your cheek tenderly, which you nuzzled into, pure adoration filling your gaze. You moved closer, taking the flowers from his hand to place down beside you before you closed your eyes, heads lowering towards one another.

Jaebum turned, breathing as heavily as the winds now blew around him. The flower he held dropped to the ground, carrying off out of his reach before he could retrieve it. He had been too late. He had been too naïve.

He had trusted you loved him as much as he did you.

Betrayal felt bitter. Being a step too late maddened him. And he knew then that he had been too gentle. He had harvested this himself, allowing Jackson to be at your side had been as dangerous as a thorn on a rose. He had charmed you to touch him and now you were unaware of the pain that may come from your union.

Jaebum couldn’t accept this deceit.

As he stormed away, oranges falling to the ground and bruising upon impact, he knew that this season wouldn’t be the prettiest time of year after all.

But Spring would come around once more, and when it did, it would be his turn to claim the prettiest flower in this garden.

“Honestly! This is the best project we can take on right now and you know it!”

Jaebum eyed his best friend warily, shaking his head. “Jackson, it’s three times more than the current budget allows.”

“Yes but think of the money we’d save in the long run if we use these types of turbines. The amount of power we’d generate would supply more than an entire district and bring down living costs in multiple ways. This is about providing for new generations, for our future.”

“I know what the plan indicates Jackson, but we don’t have the money to fund such a project yet. We need to build up the company first so we can get to your idea.”

“So find the money!” Jackson exclaimed, pointing at Jaebum repeatedly. “When it was your plan to create that wind valley-”

“You know that we got lucky that funding came then, I didn’t just pull it out of my ass like you’re expecting me to right now!” Jaebum cut in and the door opened then, both men looking at you stepping in.

You had the effect of a diffuser, Jaebum sucking in a deep breath and swallowing back the curses he knew he was about to send in Jackson’s direction. A smile now graced his best friend’s face and you approached them both. “Not fighting again, are we?”

“Us? Never,” Jackson humoured and Jaebum gave you a pained smile. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company for, Y/N?”

“Mindy Sparks is out in the lobby and wants to have an interview with you, Jackson. She says it’s urgent.”

Jaebum watched as Jackson perked further, leaning in to kiss your cheek and then headed for the door, your hands that reached out to swat him away not quite reaching him. Jaebum wondered if you truly had aimed well enough of enjoyed the ruse of Jackson’s playfulness too much.

It was a complicated mess, the three of you. You had joined the pair during university and when Jaebum had come up with the idea of creating a company that worked in channelling wind and working with the seasons to provide a better life for citizens, both you and Jackson had joined hands with him. Back then, all you shared was the same vision for a better life. Jaebum had never expected it to become entangled like it had, feelings and unspoken confessions placing pressure where connections needed to remain fluid.

Jaebum knew Jackson liked you, and that his best friend equally knew of his feelings for you too. And whilst you never quite let on, always appearing right when they both needed you to calm them down, he was certain you wanted more than this entangled web that lacked any true clarity.

Yet none of you were ready to make that move.

“His idea is a brilliant one,” you mentioned as you looked over the proposal on Jaebum’s desk, your boss glancing up at you exasperatedly. “And I know you’d fund it immediately if you could.”

“Jackson’s too passionate for business.”

You shook your head. “Passion will get him somewhere.”

“Am I failing then?” he wondered, more asking himself than you. The zest Jackson had was once Jaebum’s as well. Until he was weighed down with legalities and finding further funding for their projects. Jackson didn’t understand how hard Jaebum was working at times and it frustrated him.

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself. Maybe if we reach out to Park Corporation again-”

Jaebum shook his head, refuting your offer. “No, I won’t deal with that smarmy CEO Park Jinyoung again. It was degrading.”

“He offered us more than enough financial backing though.”

“We’d lose our name,” Jaebum pointed out and you stared at him for a moment and then shrugged.

“Is it a name we care about or the future of natural power sources? You may control the winds, Jaebum, but too much control means we can’t grow. Think about Jinyoung’s offer again.”

It was tense for the next month, further blowouts with Jackson had pushed Jaebum to the limit and he was now refusing to talk to the man. He felt as if he had been ganged up upon, both you and Jackson both pushing for change faster than he could work it. There were steps involved, practicalities that Jaebum wanted to maintain the quality process of. He was trying every angle he could.

And finally, he had arrived at Park Jinyoung’s offer.

“To what do I owe the pleasure from you, Im Jaebum?” the CEO wondered with a gracious smile, gesturing to the chair across from him. Jaebum smiled weakly. It wasn’t that he hated Jinyoung, no, he much rather say he admired his tenacity in business. He was the youngest CEO in the industry who had such a solid financial backing and 10-year future plan. Park Corporation was a stronghold that no one could take down, and many sought allegiance with. And whilst securing the funds for Jackson’s project was important, he had hoped to do so without losing the name of his own company in the process. Park Corporation would gain the credit for all their hard work.

“Are you here to finalise the deal?” Jinyoung wondered after greeting the man before him and Jaebum frowned, leaning forward in his chair.

“The deal?”

“Your partner, Jackson Wang, was in my office earlier this week, did you not know? We’ve agreed to fund the project.”

“He came to you?”

Jinyoung was surprised. “You really didn’t know?”

“I mean, we were discussing it, but I have been rather busy and-”

“Jackson was adamant this was a done deal. Is it not?”

“Has he signed the paperwork already?” Jaebum asked tersely and the man before him nodded. “I see.”

“You really should have come to me yourself earlier, Jaebum. You know how interested Park Corporation is in innovative ideas like Jackson’s. Sitting on things for too long makes you messy in business.”

He didn’t come here to be told how he was a step behind from the likes of Park Jinyoung. In fact, Jaebum had only been trying to make amends for his best friend. The betrayal closed up his throat, making it impossible for him to bite back, to express exactly how he felt.

Loosening off his tie as he stormed out to his car ten minutes later, Jaebum slammed his hand on the steering wheel before he took off, unable to understand why things had to be like this. Why did Jackson have to go behind his back? Was he dabbling in more than just secret deals? Your face flashed within Jaebum’s mind as he flung his car into gear, heading back to the office and moving like gale force winds throughout the building. Opening the door to Jackson’s office with a bang, he found you both in there, smiling at one another.

A laugh left him then, hollow and painful. He had been so foolish to believe anyone had cared about him and all he did these days. You went to shift away from Jackson but the man grabbed your arm, Jaebum’s eyes narrowing on the movement, another bitter laugh rolling out.

“Jaebum, what’s wrong?” you wondered tentatively, glancing between the two men. “Are you fighting again?”

“No, we’re done,” Jackson announced, surprising Jaebum with how bold he was. “I told you we needed to make a move and-”

“And so doing a deal with Park Corporation behind my back was the right thing to do huh? When I specifically said we needed time!”

“Jackson, did you really do that?”

The other man in the room merely stared at Jaebum with a hard expression. “Why did we need time when Jinyoung could offer us everything we needed? And clearly, you were going to end up there since you somehow know before I told you.”

“This is our company! You just sold out our name!”

Jackson shook his head. “No, this is your company. It’s always your way and I’m sick of being under your control! Business isn’t always graceful and slow, Jaebum! You can’t wait until every opportunity is ripe enough to take. We needed to move on this!”

“You already have. I want you gone.”

“I’m already prepared to leave,” Jackson announced with a huff, shaking his head all the same. “If you can’t support my vision, then you don’t deserve my position here.”

“GUYS, COME ON!” you exclaimed but neither backed down, heavy breathing seeping out from them both.

It was immature, the whole fight was. And yet Jackson had taken so much from Jaebum all this time. He was always moving faster, getting all that he wanted one step ahead of him. Just like in a dream that plagued Jaebum often, Jackson was as prickly as a rose. Charming to look at but dangerous to hold. And right now his hand was upon yours.

“Y/N stays with me.”

“I’m not part of any deals,” you mentioned and Jackson gripped you tighter, in which you yanked out of. “Don’t bring me into this.”

“You can take your project and all your ideas made under this company but you cannot take her from me. Do you hear?” Jaebum continued and Jackson let out a scoff, only to turn silent a moment later.

“Why are you both being like this? Listen, we can solve this.”

Jackson nodded at his best friend, stepping away from you despite his eyes not leaving you once. “Deal. But coveting something doesn’t make it your own, Im Jaebum.”

You didn’t like the separation one bit. It felt suffocating, watching the two most important people in your life pull away from each other because of business. Their friendship had been lost in amongst it all and despite your efforts, it couldn’t be revived.

You didn’t want to have an opinion over who was right and wrong, yet it seemed to be all that was asked of you. After the fight, you had followed Jackson to his apartment, asking him what the hell he had done to make Jaebum lose it like that.

And he had told you of his efforts, insisting it had been for the better of the company. Jackson was sick of being the secondary figure in this business and wanted his project to come into fruition. Jaebum’s approach was not even allowing the seeds to be planted in the ground to grow.

You had been angry, though you could understand some of Jackson’s frustrations. Still, you hadn’t believed in betrayal and hoped that there would be a way to remedy the split. It wasn’t as if Jaebum was against the view Jackson had for the future either.

“He’s against us, though,” Jackson had told you, sighing heavily as he reached out for your cheek to caress it. You stiffened, right now wasn’t the right time to discuss the budding romance between you and him. “You know he likes you too.”

“Jaebum doesn’t like me like that,” you assured, shaking your head. “And frankly, we have bigger problems than that to worry about.”

“We’re not a problem,” Jackson assured, leaning in to kiss you. “We’re definitely something. And he’ll crush us if you don’t leave him. Does he honestly think he can keep you there? You could quit tomorrow if you wanted to!”

“And leave him with not only a broken friendship but a tattered reputation too? Do you want all our hard work to fail, Jackson?! You’re being greedy.”

“Can’t I be? I’ve worked too hard for this!”

“And Jaebum hasn’t?”

Jackson groaned at your comment, wiping a tired hand down his face. “Can’t you just side with me for once?”

“I’m not siding with anyone.”

“You know my project is worth its time.”

“We should be working on it together.”

“You don’t think I don’t want that? It was him who kicked me out, remember?”

“He’s hurt you went behind his back!” you defended and Jackson cursed, shaking his head as he walked away towards his kitchen. Retrieving a bottle of water and downing it in one go, the man then pointed at you as he crushed the bottle with his other hand.

“You can’t keep riding the middle of us like this, Y/N. You need to choose what’s best for you. And when you realise that it’s me, I’ll be waiting.”

Jaebum wasn’t any better. Although he didn’t argue or even insist you side with him, his brooding was intolerable. You often attempted to get him out of his funk, reminding him of the staff that relied on this company to continue to be prosperous. Yet he didn’t react to anything and you were sick of fighting to get through to him.

“I’m done, Jaebum. What more can I do to support you if you don’t let me?”

“Since when does anyone support me?” he asked with a bitter laugh, looking up at you from the stack of files he was reading through. “I’m too slow to support.”

“Don’t be like this.”

“Like what? A sore loser? Why not? A project that I was fucking working on, that I even went as far to support through Park Corporation myself is gone and now I have to figure what we’re going to do to compete against that since Park Corporation has an individual contract with Jackson now!”

“You went to Jinyoung to get funding?” you asked, surprised that he had done such a thing. Your heart ached; you knew how much it meant to Jaebum to do that. You cursed Jackson for being impatient and not waiting for his friend. This whole mess would have been solved had they used better communication. You knew both men were too prideful and it had really done enough damage. Still, you couldn’t help but hold hope with this new knowledge.

“Does it matter? We don’t have the project or Jackson now.”

“Well, it was you who kicked him out, remember.”

“So when are you leaving?” he asked, dropping his focus and then turning away altogether. “You liked Jackson’s plan quite a lot. You like Jackson a whole heap more too.”

You held your breath, feeling the prickling of tears at the backs of your eyes. You could tell Jaebum was broken and yet you had accepted Jackson as your romantic partner two months ago. You didn’t know what to say or do. Jackson’s warning that Jaebum liked you echoed in your mind and you wanted to laugh at how naïve you had been to not realise both men liked you.

You had always thought it was one-sided with Jaebum.

“Face it, I’m always a step behind. Even when it comes to you,” he added on and you jerked forward, eyes wide with emotions. You soon couldn’t see through the veil of tears, gripping onto the chair in front of you to keep you up. Jaebum didn’t turn around even when he heard you crying, instead cleared his throat shakily. “In a dream I often have, I saw this happening. You choosing him. You loving him. It always ends with me wanting to take that from him. And I want to, believe me. I want my time. I want to have what I worked hard for. What I was working towards confessing to you. But will that be honourable? Like Zephyrus abducting Chloris from Boreas, will my forcing you to stay at my side truly make you love me any more than him? My gentle winds cannot produce anything to tempt you to stay here.”

He got up then, walking out of his office and didn’t return for the rest of the day, leaving you there crying for what could have been.

You couldn’t take being in the middle anymore. To protect yourself and Jaebum further, you stepped away from his side, going to Jackson’s instead. And whilst his love warmed your heart, it didn’t fulfil your soul.

You were always looking out to see what Jaebum was doing.

The company hadn’t fallen and out of sheer desperation, you could tell Jaebum had found his way through. He was working diligently, as your friend at the office often assured you of and this eased your mind somewhat as you helped Jackson with his project. Work was going steady for you both, and Park Corporation had followed through with all its offers, installing the first of many turbines that would give hope to this nation. Your hard work was paying off. With Jackson in charge of a big team, you were often expected to attend galas and conferences on ethical powering; something that Jaebum and Jackson had gone to without you in the past. However, Jackson preferred bringing you upon his arm and whilst you had been initially excited, they soon became too overwhelming.

Especially when you saw a different girl on Jaebum’s arm each time.

He had never dated whilst you worked with him and you had always joked that he was married to his job. Although you had hoped he would see you as more than his personal assistant, he had never held out his arm for you to curl your hand around once. So seeing girl after girl adorning his side felt so unfathomable. It left a sour taste in your mouth.

“Jaebum,” Jackson greeted politely as you both approached him and the daughter of Rainbow Industries, who was his date tonight. The man who had been laughing at something Iris had uttered soon stilled, lifting his gaze to you both.

You couldn’t break away from his stare whatsoever.

“Jackson,” he replied whilst staring back at you for longer than necessary. Blinking slowly that emphasised his long lashes, he tore his gaze away and then smiled at his long-time friend. “Congratulations on your project. It’s shaping up incredibly well.”

“Well, uh, thank you.”

“I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in the future. Sorry, but if you could excuse us, I need to go speak with the CEO of Greenhouse Enterprises. Iris, are you coming?”

It was too fleeting, like a gust of wind bringing forth the warm floral scent of spring, only for it to float away and leave you cold again. Jackson was distracted, soon pushing for more time with the various individuals at the party. You weren’t in the mood anymore, telling him you wanted to head home. Instead of leaving with you, Jackson remained at the function working on a deal with a new company and so you headed out to the hotel lobby, looking around for a taxi that could give you a ride home.

A car pulled up in front of you and the window slid down. “Need a ride?”

“Where’s Iris?”

“With her father,” Jaebum commented, smiling warmly. “I was only chaperoning her tonight as a favour to her old man. I’m leaving now; it’s up to you if you’re coming too.”

It wasn’t awkward as you expected it to be.

The first few minutes were quiet but not uncomfortable, like returning home after a long time away. You thought he had changed drastically when you had been away from Jaebum, but he was still the same person you had crushed on for seven years.

He smiled at you after turning the corner. “Are you hungry?”

“Are you?”

“The one thing I’ll never understand about galas is that they expect you to dress up nicely and then offer you basically nothing appetising to eat. I know we’re all aiming to waste less and be more ethical, but I dunno, I always want to eat a burger when I leave.”

“A burger sounds amazing,” you agreed, and he chuckled, changing lanes and heading to the closest fast food chain. With greasy food between you both, you talked over a range of topics, just scratching the surface. You could tell he wanted to know more, and yet he continued to ask you about the last movie you watched and what new food had you taking a shining to recently.

But when he asked you if you had been out to the old farm lately, you blinked rapidly, shaking your head. “No, have you?”

“Mm, I’m there every day,” he admitted shyly, looking over at you and then chewing on his lip momentarily. “I’ve been making some changes. You want to see?”

The farmhouse had once been yours before your family had struck misfortune, Jaebum purchasing it fresh out of university before starting the business. It was in the barn that the three of you had come up with the first project for the company and even created all the prototypes in. It was the home base for any of you to go to, a solace from the craziness this world had to offer.

You had been so busy lately that you hadn’t thought about visiting in some time.

After nodding, Jaebum navigated his way through traffic towards the outskirts of the city, the drive now quiet. You could tell he was anxious about something and you were equally overwhelmed about where you were heading. Eventually, the vehicle drove along the all too familiar gravel track, rounding through the tree lined drive towards the homestead.

It hadn’t changed on the outside, much like Jaebum.

After getting out of the car, you followed him inside carrying your food, Jaebum unlocking the door and letting you inside. You frowned when you saw his favourite sofa from his apartment in the living area. Looking at your friend, you tilted your head to the side. “Are you living here?”

“Yeah, I moved in about six months ago.”

“Why? Your apartment in town was-”

“Something I could sell to fund new projects,” he answered for you, shooting you another smile and then shook his hands to dismiss the sadness in your eyes. “Don’t worry, I love it out here. It’s helped me realign my goals for the company. It’s a good thing, I promise. But I didn’t bring you here with an ulterior motive or anything. You don’t have to worry about me doing something to jeopardise you and Jackson. I just want to show you something I’m working on.”

You didn’t correct him, you couldn’t right then. Following him as he quickly headed towards the back door, you stepped outside again, taking Jaebum’s outstretched hand when you needed to climb over the fence style to get to where he was taking you. For some reason, you started to giggle as you walked through the pasture, kicking off your heels in the process. Looking down at your dress, you then grinned at Jaebum. “It’s just funny to be dressed up like this out in the fields I used to play in all the time.”

“Why can’t you play now? It’s just a dress Y/N.”

He had loosened the tie around his neck and popped open a few buttons, spinning around in the field as he held his bag of food in one hand. You laughed and danced along with him, rounding the row of trees that shielded the old greenhouse from your view.

You stopped, staring at how different it was now. Even under moonlight, you could see how much Jaebum had been working out here.

Letting you inside, you followed him around in silence, looking at the various plants he was cultivating in here. It was heavenly.

Sitting down on the bench in the middle with him, you glanced at your friend who had pulled his burger out and began to eat. You wanted to tell him how proud you were, how amazing this place looked. But it felt like the wrong timing. Instead, you giggled and reached to wipe away the excess sauce from his cheek. “Always putting so much in your mouth when you eat.”

“It tastes better that way,” he managed through his mouthful, smiling all too happily at you as he chewed his food. You started eating, though you weren’t nearly as hungry as he seemed to be.

It was too breathtaking in here. Staring at one flower in particular, you got up, approaching it to view it more closely. You gasped when you read the tag and then turned to look at Jaebum. “You found it?!”

“Well, you always said you wanted this flower growing in the fields here one day. I’m trying to grow enough of it to start planting it outside when spring comes.”

“You remember that?”

“I remember a lot of things when it comes to you,” he admitted, wiping his palms on his slacks before approaching you. “It was your dream to turn this place into something that served the community with food and flowers. I’m working towards making it efficient enough to run that way in at least a year’s time. I’ve also got the house off-grid and working on natural power resources already.”

“Why are you doing all this when I’ve not been here to help you?”

“Because I believed in your dream. Just like I did for Jackson. See, it’s totally working for you guys with Park Corporation’s backing. We just needed to find funding and I knew it would be a great hit. I never doubted his plan once.”

“Why didn’t you tell him you went to see Jinyoung?”

Jaebum shrugged. “What would it change? Jackson saw me as not doing enough. And I guess I wasn’t. I was annoyed with him for well…”

“You knew about us?”

“Mm. I knew. I guess I was frustrated and didn’t separate work from personal. So that’s my fault.”

“Jackson and I are just workmates, Jaebum. It didn’t work between us,” you told him and he merely stared back at you, eyes dark with emotions. It made you continue rambling. “It’s not that I don’t care for him, I do. I cared for you both. But he wasn’t the person I loved and I thought because he liked me back it would be enough. I couldn’t stop thinking about you though. It was obvious I-”

His lips crashed down on yours, hands gripping the table behind you as he entrapped you in his embrace. Your own flew to his neck, sliding up into his hair as you pressed into him, a wanton moan escaping you when his tongue flicked over your bottom lips, asking for entrance. The kiss deepened and grew hungry, passionate. You were soon up in his arms, leaving the greenhouse and out in the gentle night air breeze, your world spinning the longer you kissed Jaebum.

Panting heavily when you pulled apart to gather much needed air, you slipped back to your feet on the grass, staring up at Jaebum and smiling. He groaned before resting his forehead on your shoulder. “I should have done that years ago.”

“I won’t disagree with you. But at the same time, I was convinced you had friend-zoned me in university.”

“You were the only woman I saw. You still are,” he confessed and you pulled his head up from your shoulder, kissing him just as hungrily as before. Slowly you weaved around the field, laughter floating away with the breeze in between passionate outbursts, each step closer to the house and then his bed.

Euphoria had never felt this good before.

When you woke the following morning, the space beside you felt cold, your eyes snapping open when you didn’t find Jaebum there. You were greeted by your favourite flower instead, a note attached to it. It’s not as beautiful as you are. Come find me when you’re ready to.

Throwing back the blankets, you hurried to dress in the clothing Jaebum had set out for you, dashing outside with your flower in hand.

You had a new dream now. Still, you wanted to see the fruits of your labour come to life on this land but you knew you wanted to so much more with Jaebum at your side too.

The winds had finally carried you home.

A new spring had arrived and after the lashing west winds of last year’s harvest that was worse than the year before, it uncharacteristically was still. The sweet smell of fruit infiltrated the air as Jaebum walked along, inspecting the bountiful pickings upon each tree.

Everything looked better than it ever had before.

Reaching up to pick an apple from the closest tree, he inspected the skin, smiling at how red it was.

“Papa! Can I eat it?!”

“Didn’t you have enough for breakfast already?” you chastised your child, rolling your eyes as his father bent to his level, holding out the apple towards the boy. With a thank you shouted energetically, he bit into it, murmuring in happiness. This fruit would be the talk of the town.

“The garden is lovely this year,” you told Jaebum as you walked along beside him, watching your son run about chasing butterflies. You then smirked. “It would have been lovelier over the past few years as well had you-”

“Must we speak of dark times?” Jaebum interjected and you let out a laugh. “Even a God is not privy to simple emotions.”

“You were certain to gain my attention and yet you ran around the place with wind destroying all it touched. It’s amazing I fell for such a tumultuous deity.”

“But you did,” Jaebum commented, pointing towards your favourite flower in the garden now full in bloom. He clipped one off and then handed it out to you whilst smiling. “Your heart found a home in among my winds.”

“As long as they remain gentle,” you warned with a smile, pulling the flower up to smell its fragrance. “We are responsible for bringing around spring for the people. Flowers and good harvests give hope to everyone. You hold a powerful gift, my love.”

“And you hold an even greater one,” Jaebum replied, pulling you into his arms.

“What is it?”

“You calm even my hardest of storms,” he told you, kissing you tenderly. The winds picked up, swirling fallen petals and floral scents around you as the embrace deepened. When he finally pulled away, he caressed your cheek with his hand. “May you never part from my side.”

“Would your winds ever allow for such a thing? I’m sure you’ll just pull me back each and every time.”

_________________

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